This is important to the fate of Ivalice, but also makes sense when looking at her character stats.
Ashe has low hit points, but tremendous magic and a large MP pool.
As a trade-off, she’s not fantastic in any of the physical stats. This makes the road of support or healer a very attractive road for her to walk.
And it’s super fitting for somebody of her royal status.
In fact, only Penelo can stand with her in terms of magical stats.
Let’s take a knee and talk about how to best build Lady Ashe in your next FFXII playthrough.
3. Foebreaker + White Mage
The backbone of Ashe’s position in the party is her power as either support, a healer, or both. However, she can supplement this role with a variety of other jobs that help her contribute to the damage pool – as well as keeping her alive. After all, if the healer stays alive, so does the party. Foebreaker fortifies her low defenses and hit points. Wearing heavy armor is super helpful too, as is being able to wield weapons a little more damaging than the standard White Mage rods. Foebreaker also has the Shades of Black technic, which casts a random black magic spell and fits perfectly with Ashe’s magical powers – as well as giving her a good choice for when a magical attack is needed. As or the White Mage job, this gives Ashe… white magic. The curative power of these spells help keep people alive. White Mage, by nature, is a very squishy class (as is Ashe). So giving her the power of Foebreaker balances everything out. What you have is an Ashe that can restore the party’s hit points, while removing HP from enemies. Also worth mentioning that as a whole, Foebreaker lowers enemy defenses and attacks. And that’s just cool.
2. Time Battlemage + Black Mage
If at some point Ashe finds herself needing a break from being the healer, then turning to the other mage side is the perfect option. The mix of Time Battlemage and Black Mage takes Ashe away from the healer avenue, and puts her squarely onto support boulevard. Her aptitude towards magic gives her great accuracy with time magic, both the buffs and debuffs. Stuff like Stop, Break, and Decoy will have much better chances to land and stick around for longer. Time Battlemage gives Ashe heavy armor and crossbows, making her like a sturdy turret on the outskirts of battle. A turret that can fire crossbow bolts, debilitating time magic, and of course, black magic too. Yes, I haven’t forgotten that. The addition of Black Mage further powers up Ashe’s magic, as well as gives her a whole slew of harmful spells. Slowing down a group of enemies and then blasting them to pieces with a barrage of -aga spells is immensely satisfying – and something that Ashe does much better than her contemporaries.
1. Red Battlemage + Machinist
The White Mage job is the most popular healer. But not the only healer. There are a few jobs that can fill that role, but the best for our Lady B’nargin would have to be the Red Battlemage. It has a smattering of spells, and included in them are the important white spells, including Curaga and Regen. Machinist bolsters this a bit more with the important Hastega spell. These two jobs put together a big list of not only healing and support spells, but also damaging magics for when things get dicey. Machinist has the three swiftness panels on its license board, too. So this brings up Ashe’s speed by 30%, which is a much-needed boost. And the Machinist board also has the potion lores, making items better and further cementing Ashe’s place as a top dog healer. And the gun! Ashe can use guns better than Balthier. And this can prove useful early-game for the displaced princess, since all guns in FFXII only rely on their attack power (and not any other stat) to determine their damage. A Red Battlemage Machinist Ashe is a terrific healer and support to the party, and can even do respectable damage. She truly is the triple threat!
