Swordsmen are formidable fighters who combine an arsenal of offensive and defensive capabilities with powerful charge attacks.
Tutorial Description
The Swordsman is a Basic Job in Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin, and is the first job available to Jack at the start of the game. Leveling this job is required to unlock the Knight, Warrior, and Berserker jobs. Swordsman is a Defender type job able to use greatswords that strike balance between offensive and defensive play. These weapons can deal serious damage to foes, but can be sluggish and slow in certain situations.
[Attack Type: Slash] [Stat Bonus: Stamina] A spinning slash-type attack. Hold to continue spinning and gradually pick up speed. Switch to a charged attack by pressing , or an enhanced guard by pressing .
[Any Link] Can be set to any link ability slot.
Its Job Action is Spinning Slash, a quick and powerful attack that can toss the surrounding enemies away from the Swordsman. The character will continue spinning until they run out of MP, gaining more and more speed with each rotation and even more speed through its mastery passive.
Temporarily decreases the amount of time required to charge certain attacks and the likelihood of being staggered.
The Swordsman obtains the Reinforce support ability that can decrease the charge time required for any chargeable attack while decreasing the character's stagger chance. This extends to casting gauges, normal attacks, and all chargeable combo abilities, making for an excellent boon any Caster or Defender type job.
Swordsman is able to use greatswords that strike balance between offensive and defensive play. These weapons can deal serious damage to foes, but can be sluggish and slow in certain situations. The combo effects build on this with its damage reduction and simple increase in physical damage dealt.
Partial unlock for the Berserker Job. Also requires a similar ability in the Marauder Job Tree.
New Class: Conqueror
Class Unlock
All Swordsman tree abilities
Unlocks the Evocation Class for Swordsman, Conqueror. Only available in the Trials of the Dragon King DLC.
New Class: Lightbreaker Champion
Class Unlock
All Swordsman tree abilities
Unlocks the Ultima Class for Swordsman, Lightbreaker Champion. Only available in the Trials of the Dragon King DLC.
Class Trees[]
Introduced in the Trials of the Dragon King DLC, These classes are unlocked after visiting Bahamut's Cave and completing the "A Token of Courage and Strength" conversation with Bahamut and the abilities thereof can be bought by using Rat Tails which are accumulated by completing missions on the Bahamut difficulty onward and purchasing them from the Bahamut Exchange Shop via Dragon Treasures:
Enemies broken or brought to 0 HP by this attack will be finished with a soul burst.
Intellect +5
Passive
8
Elemental Vulnerability Resistance +40.0%
Increases intellect.
Swordsman Master Points +3
Passive
13
Intellect +5
Increases swordsman master points acquired.
Gameplay[]
The role of the Swordsman as a Basic job can be quite limited. In the lower levels, Swordsman is expected to tank enemy creatures. It can become primarily offensive in nature, dealing heavy blows to quickly deplete enemy health and break enemy formation. At later levels, a Swordsman can be a useful tank with its Enhanced Guard trait and the Conqueror class to remain defensive while maintaining a stable damage output. This job excels the most out of any job with the use of Greatswords.
Strengths[]
Very high damage capacity with greatswords.
Good defensive options, making it easier to learn the game combat mechanics with.
Most weapons and items of clothing have a certain percentage of Job Affinity for a certain job. By combining them together and raising this percentage, the character may not only gain extra EXP to that Job, but also unlock abilities and bonuses to their stats. The bonuses for the Swordsman Job Affinity are:
Name
Job Affinity percentage
Description
Swordsman's Wisdom I
20%
Increases the corresponding stat(s). Stamina+2
Swordsman's Wisdom II
30%
Increases the corresponding stat(s). HP+25 Stamina+2
Defense Bonus I
50%
Decreases damage taken by 5.9% during attacks.
Swordsman's Wisdom III
80%
Increases the corresponding stat(s). HP+50 Strength+2 Stamina+4
Defense Bonus I
120%
Decreases damage taken by 9.8% during attacks.
Swordsman's Wisdom IV
160%
Increases the corresponding stat(s). HP+75 Strength+4 Stamina+6
Soldier's Soul
250%
Greatsword: Increases attack speed on a successful enhanced guard.
Greatsword Master
400%
Greatsword: Enables the use of all weapon abilities for the greatsword and increases damage dealt with greatsword combo abilities. Including Spinning Slash.
Ninja is the most common support job for any job. Utsusemi is helpful to avoid any attack when the Swordsman gains the greatest enmity or in case they need to Provoke to save other party members, making it very useful when tackling higher level enemies who can kill with one attack.
Samurai is a valuable support job for Swordsmen who want to take advantage of the greatsword's Enhanced Guard trait and defensive combo abilities. Samurai both helps the Warrior gain MP quickly through the Meikyo-Shisui ability and the normal attack MP Recovery thereof, but it also provides the ability Mind's Eye which gives abilities a Critical boost after parrying.
Monk probably remains the most popular support job for Swordsmen at any level. The Monk's stats compliment Swordsmen well and provide a moderate boost in total HP and means of quick attacks. Also, the Monk's Focus ability is useful for total damage output and damage mitigation.
Thief is a good support job upon reaching level 30 and obtaining the Rouge Evocation class. Mug grants the chance to gain a Potion with every steal attempt, which makes it a good choice for healing in addition to agile attacks. Thief also will assist in stats with the Azure Lore support ability, which spends any Instant Abilities stolen to increase stats. Thief-specific job traits such as Treasure Hunter are among other important boosts that help any job.
[Attack Type: Slash] [Stat Bonus: Strength/Stamina] Deliver a single powerful slash that deals heavy break damage. Hold [Ability] to increase the attack's power.
[Attack Type: Pierce] [Stat Bonus: Strength/Stamina] Ready your weapon before lunging forward with a piercing attack. Hold [Ability] to increase the attack's power.
Slash]
Stamina]
to continue spinning and gradually pick up speed. Switch to a charged attack by pressing 
, or an enhanced guard by pressing 
.
Strike]
Pierce]
Agility]
Strength/
