A Guide to Crafting an EPIC F2P Party FFBE

There are several key mechanics in this game that you need to be aware of in order to create a cohesive and powerful party capable of defeating powerful bosses and difficult content.

This guide is aimed at helping you craft this sort of team with common units you can easily acquire without spending money on the game to pull specific units.

Also, we'll assume you wont be farming any Trust Master Rewards (TMR's) since these take a very long time to acquire. And are best acquired by owning multiples of the same unit. Something that is tough to accomplish as a F2P player.

1. You have no control over which unit in your party gets attacked by NPC's.
2. Some units (like Cecil) have taunt mechanics that draw enemy attacks to them via skills like Provoke.
3. Some units like Rain can soak damage for other party units via traits like Cover.
4. There are several basic roles, physical attack, magic attack, support and healing.
5. There are units that can take on several roles (like Rain) such as support and physical attacker.
6. There are various buffing and debuffing mechanics like Power Break and Leadership.

Understanding how these mechanics work is fundamental to understanding the capabilities and limits of your units. So that you can create a party of 5 units that together are much more powerful than any individual unit.

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Unit Roles

Units can be roughly split into 3 basic roles. And most units fulfill a combination of these roles to a certian degree. But it's important to know what level is required for a unit to fulfill a certain role on your team.

For example, you'll read online that Refia is a top tier healer, and when you pull a 3 star Refia and look her up you're probably going to put her on your squad instantly. The problem is that Refia doesn't even get a healing spell until level 60, and can't heal the entire party until level 12 after awakening to 5 stars. Not something you can do early on without spending money.

However, Fina is a character you get for free pretty early on and she can heal from level 1, and AoE heal the party at level 28 after being awakened to 4 stars. Making her a much more effective at the healer spot than Refia, even though Refia is rated much higher. Fina can also debuff status ailments pretty effectively as well.

Again, the goal of this guide is to teach you how to identify the best unit compositions that cover most if not all the roles listed below:

Offensive Roles

Physical attack

You're going to want a unit with a high attack stat and abilities that can damage all enemy units (AoE). A major benefit of physical attackers is that they can still deal heavy damage while being silenced and do not rely on MP to deal damage. 

The unit in this role will be the backbone of your offense. Xiao is a great example of a strong physical attacker that doesn't need much in the way of equipment to be good, due to her Brawl passive.

Magic attack

Magical attackers are often require to deal with specific monsters that are tough to kill with just physical attacks, such as Bas's and Headstones. They rely on MP to use black magic abilities. Their ability damage is improved based on their MAG stat and the level of the black magic they use. 

A key metric to look at when choosing your magic attacker is their magic level, not to be confused with their MAG stat. This is found under their stats on the unit page.

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Defensive Roles

Tanks

Tanks have high HP and DEF stats. As well as abilities that help mitigate or centralize your party's incoming damage. Tanks help focus the incoming damage on on party member (the tank) that can mitigate a large amount of damage though a high DEF stat or even high SPR to mitigate magic damage.

Skills such as provoke and cover help mitigate group damage as well as centralize heals since AoE healing is harder to find and costs more MP. Cecil is a great example of a strong tank that can also help heal, Pally Power!

Healers

Healers rely on MP to cast white magic abilites to restore HP to their team. Healing abilities are improved most by the SPR stat and also partially by the MAG stat. A good healer can support their team in many different ways. Such as reviving, aoe healing and cleansing.

Defensive stats and protection from crippling ailments is important to healers. You dont want you healer getting silences, turned to stone or paralyzed. Several items such as the White Cape can help in this aspect.

Utility Roles

Buffers

Buffers increase your teams stats and resistances. Abilities such as Rain's Leadership ability increases your teams ATK, DEF, MAG and SPR stats by 50%. A powerful skill to have on your team.

De-buffers

Debuffers are important because they reduce the enemies parameters so they take more damage and deal less damage to your party as well. You're going to want a unit that can "break" several stats of your enemies. Such as their ATK DEF and MAG depending on the enemy.

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Knowing the different roles and which of your units can effectively cover each role is important in creating an efficient and battle-ready team that can take on the biggest and baddest bosses in FFBE.