Party Building in Final Fantasy XIII, Part 3: Lineups
March 26th, 2010 by Samodean
On the surface, Final Fantasy XIII seems pretty straightforward. Look a little closer, however, and you’ll see that the party system is full to overflowing with options and strategies. The purpose of this guide is to put some of that into perspective, help those that are confused, or just draw attention to the elements that some may have overlooked.
We’ve covered Roles and Paradigms. Now, we’re going to pull it all together and make some actual party lineups.
These lineups are again based on only the natural Roles of each character. With enough CP grinding, any lineup can work. Refer to Part 2 for more information on the Paradigms listed. I’ve also presented some lesser used Paradigms specific to their teams, though.
Lightning, Fang and Hope
This is the most popular lineup, and with good reason. You’ve got the two strongest Commandos in Fang and Lightning, as well as the two strongest Ravagers in Lightning and Hope. Fang is a powerhouse Tank and Hope is phenomenal in a support role.
Suggested Paradigms: Relentless Assault, Aggression, Delta Attack, Solidarity, Diversity and Evened Odds (Medic/Saboteur/Synergist)
Additionally, Combat Clinic is an option for especially tough fights, though don’t count on Lightning for too much healing.
Fang, Snow and Hope
This is my team. I’ll admit, my initial reason for forming this team was wanting to use Snow. I love hand-to-hand fighters in almost any game, and wanted to see him punching dragons in the face with his bare hands. Second, you can’t NOT use Fang’s Eidolon. This team is admittedly weak on magic power, but Snow is still effective at building the Chain Gauge as a Ravager. One bonus I like about this party over the first is I don’t have to lose my tank to debuff the enemy.
Suggested Paradigms: Relentless Assault, Aggression, Delta Attack, Solidarity, Diversity and Premeditation
Additionally, Consolidation (Sentinel/Sentinel/Medic) is an option.
Sazh, Vanille and Hope
Everybody remembers the part early in the game when you’re stuck with this team. And it sucked. With some development, it can become a fun, glass cannon damage dealing group. Start in Relentless Assault, then switch to Tri-Disaster for quick staggers and quick kills. Also, having both natural Synergists gives you early access to all the buffs in the game. This party is all about gaining the advantage over your enemy, and has several “different” Paradigms.
Suggested Paradigms: Relentless Assault, Tri-Disaster, Diversity, Evened Odds (Synergist/Saboteur/Medic), Superiority (Synergist/Saboteur/Synergist) and Bully (Commando/Saboteur/Synergist)
Snow, Sazh and Vanille
This takes the Fang/Snow/Hope team and swaps strengths and weaknesses. This team is strong on magic, but weak on physical damage. Again, the Tri-Disaster tactic is a solid option here.
Suggested Paradigms: Relentless Assault, Tri-Disaster, Delta Attack, Solidarity, Diversity and Premeditation
A slight difference from the previously mentioned party, Aggression isn’t really worth it here.
Lightning, Sazh and Vanille
This is essentially the same as Sazh/Vanille/Hope, but gives up the extra Synergist for the versatility of Lightning.
Suggested Paradigms: Relentless Assault, Tri-Disaster, Diversity, Evened Odds (Medic/Synergist/Saboteur), Bully (Commando/Synergist/Saboteur) and Hero’s Charge (Commando/Synergist/Medic)
This is by no means a definitive list. These are just the five parties I happen to like the best, based on effectiveness and simple FUN. Final Fantasy XIII is an incredibly flexible game and I would LOVE to see what other strategies people have come up with.
Tags: Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy XIII, group, Paradigms, Roles
Hey buddy, haven’t commented in a while and just wanted to stop by to say that I’ve enjoyed this series. I’m playing through the game right now myself and it has all been spot on: reaffirming what I thought and enlightening me to some stuff I may have missed. Keep up the good work :-).
@Fulg: Either somebody took the day off work, or you’ve got some serious Firewall voodoo going on.
Thanks for the compliments, it really does help. These guides I write always seem like a good idea and make perfect sense when I start writing them, but become convoluted somewhere along the way. It’s nice to see that this one made it through.
For snow/sazh/vanille who would you have as the commando in relentless i have heard intresting things about sazh as a commando. not sure how great snow would be as a ravanger though. if the dps/chain lost by making snow rav would be covered by sazh.
Sorry i meant rather would you build sazh as strength dependant or magic?
For the most part, I’d use Snow as the Commando in Relentless Assault. Sazh is a decent Commando, but Snow is a fairly poor Ravager. He can build the chain fine, but his damage is low. Of course, elemental weakness is a consideration. If you’re fighting enemies that are weak to ice/water, then Snow is a much better Ravager option than Sazh.
In either role, though, Sazh should focus on Magic. Ruinga is a devastating spell, so Sazh can deal massive damage as either a Ravager or Commando with high Magic, his Strength will always be lacking. Snow, on the other hand, seems best suited as a well-balanced character.
That’s the great thing about FFXIII, though. Every crazy setup and combination has its uses.
Hello
I seem to lost my delta attack and have tried ever possible combo to get it back but nothing seems to work…. please help
@Ceez: When you switch party members, the game automatically assigns a set of Paradigms, and most of them are sub-optimal. Check in your Paradigm menu and manually assign delta Attack to an appropriate lineup.
Hi, I’m trying to decide between Lightning, Fang, Hope, and Snow. I want to definitely have Snow in my party, he is my favorite character and I like his combat styles. I don’t know whether to remove Lightning or Fang, or even Hope. Would lightning serve as a reliable Medic when I need it or that would just be a fail? Snow is my only definite party member, I need some help deciding on the other two between Hope, Lightning and Fang. Thanks.