In Octopath Traveler 2, all of its characters have defined primary jobs that cannot change. They can, however, add a side jobincreasing their stats and giving them a whole new arsenal of abilities to choose from.
You will need to visit job guilds to get permits to set side jobs. You can change your character’s side jobs at any time, so there’s no need to worry about setting one and making it permanent.
Some of the side jobs supplement a character’s latent stats and abilities better than others. While we’re not sure these are the “best” ones (we haven’t tested every single combination or crunched the numbers), here’s a list of our favorite working combinations we’ve tried so far. If we discover more broken job combinations, we’ll update this guide.
Temenos (cleric) with a secondary academic job
Through it all, Temenos led my team with his secondary student. His latent power, which allows every hit that turn to break the shield isn’t particularly impressive when he’s just a cleric. However, once you throw the scholar’s “Elemental Barrage” ability into the mix, suddenly Temenos is able to bust through the boss’s shields like they were nothing. At base level, Elemental Barrage hits three to five times, but when you level up, that number increases. Build up your Elemental Barrage while also using your latent power, and suddenly that level eight shield on the boss is gone.
Also, Temenos as a cleric is good alone. Its EX ability, “Prayer for Plenty”, allows you to heal, so if you have a particularly squishy member of your party, you can set them up with extra health. Not to mention his holy damage does a ton as is.
Throne (thief) with hunter secondary job
This one isn’t really an ideal and perfect choice, but I just liked it a lot. Throné became a master shieldbreaker, as this side job gave her a wide variety of weapons to use (dagger, sword, ax, and bow all rolled into one). Furthermore, using Hunter’s “Precise Shot” and her own “HP Thief” made her able to land multiple hits successfully and frequently.
Throné also becomes the queen of debuffing (which she kind of already was, as a thief), as the Huntress adds “Leghold Trap” to her repertoire. Leghold Trap sets the enemy to be last in turn order, which is great if you’re struggling to defeat a boss.
Combine all of her debuff and break abilities with her latent power, which allows her to act twice, and you’ll be able to deal damage while keeping the enemy down and at bay.
Hikari (warrior) with weapons master secondary job
As a warrior, Hikari already has high physical damage stats and is generally a monster when it comes to using physical weapons. This takes it a step further, giving him the full arsenal of weapons to use at his disposal and enhanced attack.
This comes with a caveat, as you have to specifically unlock the weapons master by bringing an ancient weapon to a man in Gravell. This job won’t unlock until you’re around 40, but once you get it, it will turn Hikari into a beast.
Image: Square Enix via Polygon
Agnea (dancer) with a side job as a merchant
This isn’t anything particularly special in terms of combat, but it’s great for making money. Agnea’s latent ability allows her to turn single-target abilities into multi-target abilities. Combine this with the merchant’s “Collect” skill and you can now collect money from multiple enemies in one turn.
You can also use the trader’s “Boost-Start” support ability to let Agnea start with more BP each fight, which you can then use to bet with “Bewildering Grace”, but to be honest, there’s a better strategy for that. . .
Partitio (merchant) with secondary job as a dancer
This is a cheesier choice, but if you like to gamble, this is the working combo for you. Partitio’s latent power allows him to max out his BP meter, and one of his Merchant Support abilities also allows him to start the battle with a full latent power meter.
Combine that with the Bewildering Grace random effects of the dancer and now you have a really fun way to play. Bewildering Grace “has a curious effect,” and if you increase it, more things will happen. The effects are completely random and can help you a lot – or literally kill your entire team.
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Image: Square Enix via Polygon
Bewildering Grace’s buffs include healing your entire party, turning enemy monsters into rare monsters (like Caits), or the coveted x100 EXP multiplier. This does exactly what you’d think: it multiplies your EXP from that battle times 100. We’ve only managed to do this once in the countless times we’ve used Bewildering Grace, but it did skyrocket our group from level 40 to level 50. Yowza.
Again, this isn’t really a really sustainable strategy, but it sure is fun to gamble.
For more help with Octopath Traveler 2Check out our Secret Workplace guides and learn how to farm EXP more efficiently.