Final Fantasy 1 NES Character Class Tier List (for casual play)

[@lvitntnmrcls]

This is the best tier list there is. The reason I say that was because of how many play throughs you have done. Also you aren’t bias, have a favorite character that moves it up higher then should. I’d be guilty of that. Love the black belt, grand master. Love your content

[@shanezell]

Black belt is my least favorite class by a lot, still have him in S tier at the end because that's just the truth.

[@jeanbob1481]

The only use of a black belt is to lessen the cost of equipping the rest of your team. He is inferior to red mage, red wizard, fighter, knight and ninja for most of the game. Basically if you do something like 2 fighter you are better off picking a black belt then a third fighrer due to you not having enough equipment to fully equip a third knight and not wanting to have another expensive class to equip. But then again you are basically covered on the fighting front with 2 warrior. Black Mage and White Mage are pretty useless so that leaves 2 red wizard if you want to do a little magic, sure they won't grind as easy as black mage in the early game but in the end it does not matter a lot. You need at least one mage user for warp or exit utility so may as well pick the guys who can fight too. It is kinda sad how much the mage class sucks. They fixed it a little too well in the second and third game and the rest of the series however. Second game you can abuse yourself to infinite MP pretty easily but then again you can abuse yourself to infinite punch to the face or infinite sword. Third game has perfect balance especially in the endgame you ain't running out of charges that easily. Can't recall about MP items altough this was pretty bad for the NES games.

[@BeKindRewind77]

I always relied on the Heal spells (as opposed to Cure) so I always found a white mage/wizard helpful in battling bosses. To be fair, this is a bigger issue in remakes where Chaos has sooooo much more HP while dishing out larger AOE damage

[@shanezell]

Hel2 is the best AoE healing spell in the game and it is only level 5. The white MAGE can learn it also. Hel3 is the same power in combat as Hel2 but Hel3 is better out of battle and can also be learned by the Mage.

[@sjohntube]

Amazing, summarizes the absolutely overwhelming info that exists on this game to how each class is forced to engage the gauntlet. I hadnt really understood just how far ahead knight is at every step of the game

[@DiscoCokkroach]

0:00 - Intro 0:52 - Early Game (Lv. 1-9) 11:54 - Mid Game (Lv. 10-19; from Astos through Ice Cave) 23:48 - Late Game (Lv. 20-30ish; from airship & class change through final dungeon) 41:32 - Hyper Late Game (Lv. 32+) 49:15 - Overall Rating 52:08 - Outro

[@wafersmash338]

You're the first person I'd listen to when it comes to anything FF1, especially the NES version. This video proves why! Great video

[@shanezell]

Honestly it was just me rambling on for an hour with very little direction lol.

[@wafersmash338]

@shanezell I was interested so it wasn't rambling to me lol

[@BelvaCompany]

I find it funny when your characters "evolve", they visually clash with the other characters like the merchants.

[@hv433]

I think it showcases that your characters are just "built different". They're literally on another level.

[@randy8324]

Great to see you back on ff1. I was worried you moved on to ff6.

[@zyzzy01]

Not that that's a bad thing or anything lol

[@jeanbob1481]

lol ewww he moved to the greatest rpg of all times ewwwww. But yeah FF1 runs are more fun then ff6 runs.

[@charlettmoon2693]

That makes sense. The best White Magic are the things like Exit and stuff, which I think Red Mage can use, so RDM are just better about that in general. The fact that Black Wizard is so difficult to use regarding bosses... is a big reason I just give him Masamune. At least then he can FAST himself and assist in the murder at the end. They're so weird by endgame. I would laugh if your next video was just a tier list of Speedrunning classes, and it's two tiers. "Use/Don't Use" and then the video itself is just ten seconds on the list, with absolutely no speaking. And then the video cuts XD

[@shanezell]

I mean they all have a different use...except for Black Belt.

[@charlettmoon2693]

@@shanezell I mean, for Any% wouldn't it just be "Use: Fighter, Red Mage/Black Mage" and "Don't Use: White Mage, Thief, Black Belt"?

[@shanezell]

@@charlettmoon2693 It just depends on the safety level that you want. A white can be used well if you want to route it to be safe but a bit slower. Thief can be used for running while low level. Both mages are good, one for more safety and the other for speed.

[@charlettmoon2693]

@@shanezell booooooo stop having good ideas :V

[@DonaldRoy-nr9xe]

Something players don't realize (xcalibur/masamune) X ==> has **all attack type (effective against all foes)** does fire,ice,lit,earth,poison,status,time,death "type" damage (and only Chaos resist all damage types) Good versus all fights except the last one (knight only) M ==> highest power/accuracy/critical (period) good versus Chaos (equipped by all characters)

[@AnthonyCurley]

I like your take, nobody is an expert more than you are. I'm still a little surprised why people consider the class changed versions as separate, though. I thought no-class-change challenge runs were a lot less frequent than regular runs, so I always think of the original class in the context of "I have to deal with this class in the first half and their class change in the second half." So I always have Thief higher, and I dislike the White Mage. FWIW. But yeah, great video as always.

[@shanezell]

I mean it's not mandatory to class change. There is a good chance that some people will beat the game without class changing. In most cases it's best to class change but I'm not going to tell people how to play the game, whatever is fun for them.

[@jeanbob1481]

@@shanezell I wonder if back when the game came out people actually beat it without ever finding out about class changing. I miss the era when you had no internet to basically spoil everything about the game and immediately tell you the best and most optimal way to play through a game. The most fun I had in a long time was playing and finishing Brandish 2 due to the game having no playthrough and no guides at all online (now there are playthrough on youtube but back in 2010 there were none)

[@NightSprinter]

I just wanna throw out that when you deal with any enemies that can petrify or use Poison element attacks (like the green dragon or Tiamat), the Knight can equip the Aegis Shield. It protects from that element, which nullifies petrification and death from the Bane spell.

[@shanezell]

@@NightSprinter This is also true yes, they also free up a ribbon. The game only has 3 and only 3 battles in the game are scary without a ribbon for a Knight.

[@NightSprinter]

@@shanezell just wish it was available before Earth Cave for Warrior, because of those FUCKING COCKATRICES!!

[@nosaurian]

Thank you Shane, I Loved this video; I like class tier lists, usually for roleplaying games, but I Love FF1 and this is Just spelendid.. thankyou!!

[@seraphcreed840]

Awesome to see you making content still! Good stuff.

[@benoitalain5833]

Hi! Awesome video! Just wanted to disagree on one point. I think the White Mage should be higher in general than what you've given him, mainly because he can act as a tactician in ways other characters can't. They have a special ingredient for each of the early game's bosses (which are the one you're most likely to struggle against): - Garland and the Pirate are easy so nothing there. - For the Wizard fight, you can set a WM up in the first or second slot and use RUSE. Once you stick 2 RUSEs, you've basically created an immovable wall in the fight and you're pretty much guaranteed to win that fight afterwards. - For Astos, you have MUTE, which you can reset and use again and again until it lands, since there's no dungeon before the fight. - The Vampire and Lich are undead so they will fall to HARM/HRM2 similarly to FIRE/FIR2 - a bit slower but the WM's extra HP makes them more likely to survive through the fight longer and you have ALIT/AFIR/AICE for Lich if you want to take the fight slowly and pretty much be sure to win. - The Eye can be MUTEd, and Zombie Ds are undead. And if you're into fighting Kary early, then she's easily MUTEd too and the RUSE-up strat works well there too. To add to that, most of the difficulties from the early game come from either getting stun-locked by undead or the specific hard bosses: Wizard, Astos, and Lich. Your Black Mage or Red Mages won't want to use their precious FIR2/LIT2 spell slots for regular fights, so you'll end up being frugal and are more likely to get stun-locked. the White Mage on the other hand can just use HARM, a L1 spell, and kill half of the undead and make the rest easy to pick off, which makes those situations a lot less dangerous. I think the WM is a very powerful tool to get any weaker party through the game. If you decide to play without a Fighter, you can RUSE at the right moments and make a poor man's fighter. If you have no black magic user, you can still grind against ZomBULLs or defeat screens of enemies at the right moments. If you struggle with weaker armor and seem to never have enough HEAL potions, your WM can get you the extra distance. Also a honorable mention to HEL2 should be made. Since it's bugged to work like HEL3 in combat, it's a very potent spell to keep the party afloat against AOE spells from harder enemies, including Chaos. Your arsenal of healing spell slots being a combination of all your L5 and L7 slots makes it pretty plentiful, while the Red Mage's few CUR3 uses is hardly worth anything in that fight. Basically, without a White Wizard, you need to rush the Chaos fight or you will lose relatively quickly, but with a White Wizard you can get a feel of the fight (if it's your first time making it there) and even survive past his first NUKE with a bit of luck and discipline. All that being said, of course I agree with Fighter being OP and Red Mage being a close second. Great video and lots of precious knowledge about the game, thanks for sharing!

[@shanezell]

I will agree that a white mage can be a backup tank with ruse but, of you aren't lucky the enemies can easily kill your white mage before you get any casts off. Combat turn order is heavily favored for enemies to go first. For a casual play I wouldn't recommend anyone to put a squishy white mage as your tank for a battle. Mute can be a useful tool on Astos and eye sure... But it fails often on Astos and it's hard to tell people to just reset a bunch of times until it lands... That's not a very sound strategy for a new casual player. Aspells can be great when you know what an enemy is going to be casting on you. When you don't know what they will be casting they are nearly useless. You also have to factor in turn order and often times you won't get that Aice off before lich nukes you. I think it's okay to disagree, but I stand firm on my placements. They have useful tools sure, but they aren't as easily used in most circumstances.

[@kyaban5192]

I'm wondering if this applies to the several ports of FF1. I play the GBA version, Dawn of Souls. I know a lot of spells and weapons were fixed in later versions but I'm asking if the classes had any rebalanced stats to make them more or less viable.

[@shanezell]

This is no where near the same as any other version of the game. NES has totally different balance and bugs. A basic run down of GBA would be... Fighter is tank, thief is a DPS, monk is late game DPS, red mage is meh, white is healer, black mage nukes. They all have a use.

[@kyaban5192]

@@shanezell Good to know. I know Dawn of Souls is a big departure from the original but still a good way to play Final Fantasy. I'm very new to it and very interested, so thank you.

[@jeanbob1481]

@@kyaban5192 The red mage is much more shitty on Dawn of Souls and that is because he works as intended AKA dominates early game but falls off completely later on. On the NES he dominates even more early on and despite falling off he remains about as useful as the other two mages despite them being much less useful during the whole game.

[@jakewhit9000]

Another great video dude thanks

[@fortrixx_LeVrai]

I love you vidéos. What is you nationality?

[@shanezell]

Just a boring old American.

[@linceed]

white mage 4ever baby, anyone who has ever played FFXI can attest to the fact that they are the most underrated job!

[@shanezell]

@@linceed I was a whm main in xi.

[@captainbarbossa289]

Fighter definitely needs the big shoulder pads for all of the runs he’s carried.

[@ryanance9871]

Just finished Earth Cave around Lv 15. And the entire game so far my Fighter only takes 1-3 damage from Physical hits.

[@shanezell]

Oh yeah, Fighter is very much Over Powered!

[@markdorrough5324]

what about getting through level 3 in the ice cave? You need Life1 or run away ability

[@shanezell]

You don't NEED Life for ice cave, it can help sure...but it isn't a must. I have gone through that dungeon at least a thousand times without life and it is fine. Everyone by the mid game has the ability to flee...so I'm not sure what problem is.

[@nicktoons21]

It would be really helpful to see how these stats compare to the PS1, GBA, and PC versions of the game, especially since the NES version is the most buggy!

[@shanezell]

Each version is a lot different for sure. Each class does play differently.

[@jeanbob1481]

Thief and third positions always run on the NES if I recall correctly. Thief is much better in other games due to the swords he can use not being bugged. Mages should be better in other games if it uses the MP system rather then charges and half the spell on NES flat out does not work. Fast work but Temper does not and Temper is a major damage boost. If we talk about Pixel remaster that has MP regen items Mage absolutely destroy the game.

[@shanezell]

@@jeanbob1481 The third slot on the NES only has about a 50% chance of using your luck to flee, the other half you will fail. In later versions of the game they didn't give the thief better weapons, they just gave him a bandaid fix by doubling his hit growth.

[@nimaiiikun]

Red mage was pretty op in the original game, in the early game. As strong as fighter with both white and black magic. too bad they fall off quickly

[@shanezell]

@@nimaiiikun They do fall off, but they start you out so well it's hard to say no.

[@nimaiiikun]

@@shanezell im surprised that the black belt was better than the master. is it because of the magic defense glitch?

[@shanezell]

@nimaiiikun The magic defense yes, working around the black belt is a pain casually. That magic defense makes a huge difference on enemies that hit hard with non-elemental damage like Lich 2 and Chaos. If he's changed too early he will just be shredded too fast and die. He still does the same damage but you don't need the black belt being any squishier.

[@jsteen84]

I feel like the bb and master diff went too far apart on that third bucket. I think you are talking 5 levels with lower m def growth. I don’t disagree the gap between growth values is far apart, but the stat impact can’t be that high? Maybe I missed it… just a thought.

[@shanezell]

Honestly it all depends on when you class change them. If you get a master early it really hurts them...but if you level the guy a lot before class changing it is noticeable when it comes to the hard bosses.

[@zenyousapprentice3732]

Safe to say black magic is useless in this game? Except maybe SUPER early game AoE spells?

[@shanezell]

That is not at all the case. Black magic is great, it is just that the black mage is very fragile. The red mage makes great use of the AoE and doesn't die.

[@zenyousapprentice3732]

@@shanezell 2 bb, red mage, and fighter sound good?

[@shanezell]

@@zenyousapprentice3732 having more then a single black belt is never the right play. Black belts need all of the experience to shine. Having more just makes it twice as long to have a power house. If you want two of anything in that party 2 fighters or 2 red mage would definitely be more helpful.

[@zenyousapprentice3732]

@@shanezell okay sorry

[@frost_94]

So max out blackbelt then job change?

[@shanezell]

Maxing out the levels you want on the black belt before class changing is the best bet yes, but you can always class change early...it just hurts your magic defense.

[@54raynor]

No way should the Black Belt/Master be so low. The sheer number of hits they get per turn make them the best melee attackers in the game, to the point where they break the game at level 30 or higher.

[@shanezell]

In the late game the black belt is very powerful yes. The average person beats the game around level 28. At that level a black belt still can't scratch Chaos and it's still a liability. He really doesn't do anything until you get to level 32+. For a casual run of the game it's not a recommended class by me because it takes far too much playing around and babysitting to make it a good class by the end.

[@54raynor]

@@shanezell an unequipped Black Belt is your best melee fighter from levels 10-15 when he gets 4 hits while nobody else in the party gets more than 2. He becomes the best again at level 21 when he gets 6 hits per turn, and stays there for the rest of the game. The increased number of hits also practically guarantee he gets at least one critical hit on every turn. He is far more likely to damage Chaos without Fast than the Knight as a result.

[@shanezell]

@@54raynor This is actually wrong on multiple accounts. A level 4 Fighter with a silver sword will deal more damage to any enemy that is even slightly challenging. Let's say you are fighting Astos with a level 4 fighter with a Silver sword and a level 10 Black belt. The fighter has 34 Attack power meaning he has 2 swings that can deal between 1-24 a hit with a 9% chance to crit per swing and deal on avg 60ish. A black belt can will have 4 swings with 20 power that can deal between 1-1 damage and he has a 5% chance to crit per swing. Those crits deal about 20ish. By the time the Fighter hits level 14 he will have 3 swings with that same silver sword that you got as early as Elfland. For fighting Lich at 15 the Fighter has 40 Power and deals 1-40 a swing with 3 swings with a 9% crit chance per swing. Each Crit dealing around 80ish. The Black belt has 30 power now dealing 1-20 a swing with 6 swings with a 7.5% crit chance per swing. Each Crit dealing around 60ish. So he can deal about the same damage if he crits a lot and is really lucky. This also assumes that you don't progress further into the game where the fighter gets much much better weapons and way better armor. Don't get me started on Chaos damage. I have played this game for tens of thousands more hours then you have...I know what I'm talking about.

[@54raynor]

@@shanezell One problem with your analysis: you are dramatically underplaying the Black Belt’s critical hit rate. A Black Belt has a critical hit rate that is their Level x 2, meaning the rate is 20 percent at level 10, 30 percent st level 15, 40 percent at level 20, and so forth. Combine that with the increases in total number of hits per turn, and the Black Belt/Master is almost guaranteed to get at least one critical hit on every turn by the time you hit level 21. This makes him the most powerful melee fighter at that stage of the game, and more powerful than the fighter during the time when he has four hits and the fighter only two. Also, while your comparison between a L4 fighter and a L10 black belt was intended to be extreme, it is still incorrect because a fighter doesn’t get his 2nd hit until L5. And you are not the only one who has sunk thousands of hours into this game.

[@shanezell]

Yes in the late game they are the most broken class by far, and I say that. You can literally one shot everything... But that also takes a bunch of extra grinding of experience that most people will not do in a casual playthrough. They are an advanced class that is best used for people that want to break the game, not recommended for a casual experience.

[@markdorrough5324]

HOW is black mage that high? When a Red Mage gives you just as much. My guess is that you are not using cost benefit analysis instead using just benefit analysis. Even then Black Mage sucks.

[@BruckerHouse]

ah hell yeah

[@AxeMain]

ZaneShell

[@Shorty_Lickens]

In case anyone doesnt know, the Black Belt has horrible physical defense and terrible magic defense. In the late game they get slaughtered easily by most enemies, especially spell casters. Even their respectable hit points won't help them much. You can offset this with the opal bracelet, but theres only one of those in the game. And given that mages are overall more useful, you may just wish to give one of them the opal bracelet. Later versions of the game improve their defense (Gameboy Advance, PSP, Pixel Remaster) so they dont die as easily. But in the NES version Black Belts really only help you by saving money, because theres no equipment or spells for them to use.

[@54raynor]

Why would you not just give the Black Belt one of the three Ribbons in the game? And the Opal Bracelet is an easy call for the Black Belt because the mages get the White and Black Shirts.

[@adamconchas9659]

The black belt is an offensive juggernaut who is quite frankly the most powerful physical attacker you can have. Once they hit level 12 you can remove their weapon and have them fight bare handed, this is where they begin to really shine.

[@Shorty_Lickens]

@@adamconchas9659 Umm, OK?

[@LB-yg2br]

Thanks. Going to finally beat this damn game on emulator. Sold me on F/F/Rm/Wm to finally "get this done"

[@potatopotato9221]

Put a sock over your mic.

[@EveryDooDarnDiddlyDay]

Vancian magic is hot garbage that makes magic users basically useless for long campaigns.

[@jakewhit9000]

Do the stat effect video YES PLEASE

[@shanezell]

No promises but maybe.

[@jakewhit9000]

KZbin is being trash and won't let me leave a like on the video ...only your video too wtf it says "resources full quota" at 19 likes and it takes it away when I click on it

[@Barbe]

Uh, Shane? I really don't think you know what you're talking about, despite playing this game a lot. The rankings do not fit these units, due to the fact it's all up to the player. Oh, and Black Belt does INSANE amounts of damage if he's unequipped.