Playable characters in Final Fantasy Record Keeper originating from games VIII through XV.
See also:
Squall Leonheart
"A natural born warrior who wields a gunblade on the field of battle. Stubborn to a fault, Squall can come off as brusque and standoffish, but there's no doubting his skill."
- Animal Motifs: Lions, just like in VIII; lions and words associated with them provide Theme Naming for many of his tools.
- An Ice Person: His main element is Ice.
- Elite Tweak: Squall is one of the few characters for whom his Burst Soul Breaks are still considered viable in top-tier play, by combining them with his Awakenings. With their matching elemental Awakening active, and if his Legend Materia procs to dualcast their first Burst command, his Steely Blade and Revolver Drive Bursts only need a single turn to charge up three Junction levels, when normally they need three. At that point the second Burst command on both is a 7-hit attack with higher power than 6* Spellblade abilities and an increased 25% critical hit chance, and it is also compatible with the dualcast effects of his Awakening and Legend Materia. Even his first two Sync Soul Breaks couldn't match that level of damage output. This combo became so well-known that Squall's third Sync is basically a revised version of it, with Sync commands that act similarly to his Burst commands and granting Squall a buff that grants him a one-time charge to his Soul Break gauge and instantcast on his next turn after his first attack — the intended strategy is to use his Sync command to charge one level, launch his Awakening the next turn, and then dual-cast the Sync command, reaching full charge and with the benefit of his Awakening and Sync both active.
- Playing with Fire: His secondary element is Fire.
- Secret Art: His Hero Ability is Renzokuken. It deals five phycial Ice/Fire attacks to all enemies, and is stronger against single targets.
- Spam Attack: His Burst Steely Blade has a Burst command that charges up his Junction level up to three levels, with his second Burst command dealing up to seven hits with three stacks. He later got Revolver Drive as a third Burst, which is identical to Steely Blade, just Fire-elemental instead of Ice.
- Spell Blade: His specialty ability school.
- Stylistic Suck: For several of his weapons, the icon takes the blade of a Gunblade used by Lightning in XIII and edits it onto one of the Gunblade handles from VIII. It looks like a quick Photoshop edit, but it reflects the design of Gunblades in VIII; different blades being swapped onto the same two handles.
- Theme Naming: "Blast" and "Blasting" are used in several of his Soul Breaks. Later "Fated" and "Revolver" became more common, and work as a way to designate his Soul Breaks: "Blast" and "Blasting" ones are Ice-elemental, "Fated" and "Revolver" ones are Fire-elemental.
Rinoa Heartilly
"Rebelling against her father, a powerful figure in the Galbadian military, Rinoa joined the Timber resistance group known as the Forest Owls. She met Squall at the SeeD graduation party and fell in love."
- Black Mage: With Black Magic 5, Summon 5, and Witch 6 under her belt, she's packing a lot of offensive spells.
- Dishing Out Dirt: One of the few Earth mages in the game.
- An Ice Person: Her main element is Ice.
- Secret Art: Her Hero Ability is Angel Wing. A Witch ability that does 6 magical Ice/Earth attacks with a long cast time.
- Sword and Sorcerer: She's the Sorceress to Squall's sword, with their common focus on Ice cementing them as a powerful team fighting together.
- Theme Naming: "Angel Wing" is used for most of her Limit Breaks.
- Useless Useful Spell: She has Support 3, Celerity 2, and Sharpshooter 6, and she has no use for any of them, as her Attack is terrible. The best they provide her is some status attacks from Support, but with Black Magic 5 she can equip spells that inflict those statuses.
Quistis Trepe
"An exceptionally talented young woman who became SeeD in fewer years than anyone before her. As Squall's assigned instructor, Quistis feels a personal responsibility for him."
- King of Games: Her secret status as the King of the Card Club in Balamb Garden is referenced with her using the Card ability in her Soul Break animations, and her Arcane Overstrike is called "King of Triple Triad".
- Making a Splash: She picked up Water as a secondary element late in the game's 4th year.
- Master of None: Her base skillset is Black Magic 4, White Magic 2, and Support 4; she needs her Record Spheres to get Black Magic 5 and White Magic 4.
- Poisonous Person: Her specialized element, such as it is, is Poison.
- Secret Art: Her Hero Ability is Hail To The Queen. A Black Magic ability which deals 5 magic Water/Poison attacks with no cast time.
- Support Party Member: As Poison was phased out of the player's arsenal, Quistis became a buffing character.
- Took a Level in Badass: After being shifted to a dedicated buffing character with Poison phased out of the metagame, she rebounded with new Relics, including an Awakening, for Poison and Water.
Zell Dincht
"A SeeD candidate studying at Balamb Garden. Zell is known as a hot-headed young man who lets passion guide his actions, with reason taking a back seat. Though small in stature, his relentless physical training has turned him into a true dynamo."
- Bare-Fisted Monk: Monk fighter.
- Charles Atlas Superpower: Addressed as the source of his strength.
- Playing with Fire: His element is Fire.
- Secret Art: His Hero Ability is Meteor Barret. a Monk ability which deals 6 physical fire attacks.
Selphie Tilmitt
"A SeeD cadet who transferred from Trabia Garden. Unabashed, and with a ready smile, Selphie is the life of any party."
- Dance Battler: To the point DeNA forgets she's FFVIII's only White Mage.
- Mechanically Unusual Fighter: Her Awakening has an opener move similar to Lenna's, but instead of keeping itself on White Magic, it gives Selphie Awoken Dancer, which follows her dance with damage protection on par with the Dance ability's rank.
- Secret Art: Her Hero Ability is Slots. A dancer ability that debuffs the enemies Attack and Magic and heals the party for around 1500 HP.
- White Magician Girl: The VIII realm's sole healer.
Irvine Kinneas
"An expert sniper who took part in the plot to assassinate Edea. Irvine is a consummate ladies' man who acts as though he doesn't have a care in the world, but it's nothing more than show."
- The Gunslinger: His Relics are Guns and his specialty is Sharpshooter abilities, and he can get Machinist 4 through his Record Spheres.
- Out of Focus: Much as with Zell, Irvine is trying to be a Fire DPS and debuffer in a game where many other characters fill the same roles and can do more in them, and in VIII specifically Quistis is just superior to Irvine as a support buffer with a wider array of tools that have better effects. He got thrown a bone with the VIII Realm Chain, one of the first Realm Chains to be released, but VIII is an ice-focused Realm and had two Ice Chain holders in it, so it didn't make much impact, and then Quistis got the Gen 2 VIII Realm Chain anyway. Also like Zell, Irvine is without a Sync going into the game's sixth year, when even Fujin, Kiros, and Ward have them.
- Playing with Fire: His element is Fire.
- Secret Art: His Hero Ability is Canister Shot. A Sharpshooter ability that deals 5 ranged physical fire attacks and imperils fire for five seconds.
- Support Party Member: He specializes in debuffing enemies, and he was one of the first two characters (with Steiner) to get a Realm Chain.
- Useless Useful Spell:
- He has Black Magic 1 and White Magic 2, which just gives him access to status inflicting and healing spells. Even if the player needed to inflict status ailments, Irvine has Support 5, which includes the "Status Buster" attacks that do the same thing.
- His Combat 3 ranking doesn't give him anything noteworthy but the Break abilities, but his Support 5 access encompasses superior versions of those abilities in that school.
Laguna Loire
"A person with a connection to Squall, who views Laguna through mysterious dreams. Though Laguna was once no more than a clumsy Galbadian soldier, before long he becomes a crucial player in events that will determine the fate of the world."
- BFG: From the Dissidia series he retains his two-handed laser cannon modelled after the Ragnarok airship.
- Breakout Character: Aside from Squall and Rinoa, Laguna is easily the most prolific and supported VIII character, acting as one of the game's standout Ice-elemental fighters who holds a Gen 2 Ice Chain Soul Break and is very good at being a dedicated Imperil debuffer.
- The Gunslinger: His Relics are Guns and his specialty is Machinist abilities.
- An Ice Person: Ice specialist.
- Secret Art: His Hero ability is Desperado. A machinist ability which deals 5 ranged physical AOE Ice attacks and imperils ice for five seconds every second use.
- Shock and Awe: His secondary element is Lightning, though he only has one Soul Break for it.
- Theme Naming: His attacks often include "Freeze" or "Ragnarok" in them.
Kiros Seagill
"A soldier who teamed up with Laguna and Ward when they were in the Galbadian army. Though constantly dumbfounded by Laguna's behavior, Kiros has resolved to stick with him to the bitter end."
- Balance Buff: At the same time Kiros got his Awakening, which supports Darkness and Ice, he got buffed to have Sharpshooter and Monk access, and around that time an Ice-elemental Celerity ability was added to the game, giving Kiros several options for Ice attacks.
- Casting a Shadow: Darkness is his primary element.
- An Ice Person: His secondary element is Ice.
- Multi-Melee Master: He has Combat 4, Support 4, Celerity 5, Ninja 5, Monk 5, and Sharpshooter 6.
- Out of Focus: He and Ward were added in the game's 3rd year and had no Ultra Soul Break, Legend Materia, or Legend Dive, when those are standard for everyone at the time. It took until the game's 5th year, two full years after their introduction, to get the Balance Buff they were waiting for.
- Secret Art: His Hero ability is Exsanguination. A Ninja ability which deals 5 physical Dark/Ice attacks with reduced casting time.
- True Companions: With Laguna and Ward. His Awakening's follow-up attack has a 100% critical hit rate if either of them is in the party.
- Support Party Member: He focuses on debuffing enemies.
Ward Zabac
"A Galbadian soldier who, along with Kiros, was part of a team led by Laguna. Ward loses the ability to speak after being wounded in battle, but still manages to make himself understood through sheer affability and charm."
- Balance Buff: The addition of his Awakening and other tools included giving Ward access to the Sharpshooter school, to give him Ice and Water abilities to use with his Awakening.
- Characterization Marches On: After his introduction treated him as an Earth-elemental Dragoon, his Awakening and Ultra Soul Breaks moved him to a generalist Heavy Combat and Sharpshooter route.
- Dishing Out Dirt: His main element is Earth.
- Evolving Attack: His first Burst command executes faster and faster the more he uses it, up to five times.
- An Ice Person/Making a Splash: Ice and Water are his secondary elements.
- In a Single Bound: A Dragoon fighter.
- Mechanically Unusual Fighter: He's an Earth-elemental Dragoon, when most Dragoons are Wind or Lightning. This unfortunately works against him, as the Dragoon ability school has no Earth abilities, and he has less utility in the Dragoon school than others. When he got his Awakening Soul Break and Ultra Soul Break, his Dragoon affinity was heavily downplayed.
- Out of Focus: He and Kiros were added in the game's 3rd year and had no Ultra Soul Break, Legend Materia, or Legend Dive, when those are standard for everyone at the time. It took until the game's 5th year, two full years after their introduction, to get the Balance Buff they were waiting for.
- Secret Art: His Hero Ability is Massive Anchor, an Earth/Water/Ice Jump that only deals one hit, but can break the damage cap.
- Took a Level in Badass: He got Heavy Combat 5 when that ability school was added to the game, which gives him Earth-elemental abilities to use when previously he had none. The addition of his Hero Ability gives Ward something that synergizes with all the tools he has at his disposal.
- True Companions: With Laguna and Kiros. His Awakening's follow-up attack has increased damage if either of them is in the party.
Seifer Almasy
"A SeeD candidate with uncanny abilities, Seifer's recklessness and unwillingness to follow orders prevented him from passing the SeeD exam. He harbors a fierce rivalry with Squall, his fellow gunblade-wielding SeeD candidate."
- Casting a Shadow: His main element is Dark.
- Evil Counterpart: To Squall. Seifer's Gunblades are Ace Custom versions of Squall's Gunblades, modified to use the handle of his Hyperion and possessing variant blades of the ones Squall uses, such as Seifer's Revolver using his cross emblem instead of Squall's Griever, or his Twin Lance being dark blue and teal instead of grey and red. Seifer's second Ultra is Knight of Destiny, paralleling Squall's Ultra Lion of Destiny, and the animations are mirrors of each other, including using stills of their duel from VIII's opening FMV.
- Playing with Fire: His second element is Fire.
- Secret Art: His hero ability is Bloodfest. A Darkness ability which deals 5 physical Dark/Fire AOE attacks with a higher multiplier with fewer enemies.
- Stance System: His Awakening automatically changes his elemental infusion between Dark and Fire to match the last damaging ability he used in one of those elements.
- Theme Naming: His Gunblades that are modified versions of Squall's are prefixed "Almasy" to denote them as being for Seifer's use.
- The Unchosen One: As noted in his profile, Seifer was never made a full SeeD, but he still plays a critical part in the Sorceress War.
Fujin
"A silver-haired woman who forms part of the Balamb Garden Disciplinary Committee. Fujin is known for her direct and terse manner of speaking. She adores Seifer, blindly following his every decision."
- Blow You Away: Her element is Wind, and she's one of the few dedicated Wind mages in the game.
- Breakout Character: Despite her minor role in VIII, in Record Keeper she is one of the game's few dedicated Wind mages. This means she's gotten regular support throughout her lifetime, including a Gen 2 Wind Chain.
- Secret Art: Her Hero Ability is Zan. It deals five hits of Black Magic Wind damage, the last of which ignores Resistance.
- Theme Naming: Keeping with her unique attacks in VIII, and Fujin's distinctive speech patterns, many of her Soul Breaks have single word names.
Raijin
"A large, imposing man who forms part of the Balamb Garden Disciplinary Committee. Raijin claims that he and Fujin are part of Seifer's "posse," and his only real friends. Despite Raijin's rough outward appearance, he isn't a bad guy, and even though he often finds himself opposing Squall and his squad, he doesn't harbor any ill will against them."
- Bare-Fisted Monk: His specialty ability school is Monk.
- Secret Art: His Hero Ability is Raijin Special. A Monk ability which deals one physical lighting attack that can break the damage cap.
- Shock and Awe: His element is Lightning.
Edea Kramer
"A bewitching sorceress who wielded vast magic powers to bring Galbadia under her control. She harbors a deep-seated hatred of SeeD, and she works tirelessly to see them destroyed."
- Casting a Shadow: Her secondary element is Dark.
- An Ice Person: Her primary element is Ice.
- Secret Art: Her Hero Abilities are Ice Strike and Astral Realm. The first is a Witch ability that deals 4 magical Ice/Dark attacks and grants her Quickcast for one turn. The second one is a Black Magic ability which does five magical Ice/Dark attacks.
- Theme Naming: "Astral" is used in several of her Soul Breaks.
- Useless Useful Spell: She has access to Sharpshooter 6 abilities, but her awful Attack means she has no use for them.
Ultimecia
"A sorceress from the distant future whose wrath knows no bounds. She means to exploit sorceresses from the past in order to compress time itself."
- The Archmage: Fitting for the most powerful Sorceress in all of time. With Black Magic 5, White Magic 5, Summon 5, Witch 5, and Darkness 5, Ultimecia has access to pretty much every magical attack in the entire game; the only ones she's missing out on are the handful of magical Ninja skills.
- Blow You Away: Her primary element is Wind.
- Casting a Shadow: Her secondary element is Dark.
- Irony: The Witch ability school has no Wind or Dark-elemental abilities in it, so Ultimecia, the most powerful Sorceress/Witch who ever lived and one of the most famous people to bear the title in Final Fantasy, has absolutely no synergy with Witch abilities and will get are more utility with basic Black Magic spells.
- Secret Art: Her Hero Ability is Judgment Arrow. A Black Magic ability which does 5 magical Wind/Dark attacks.
- Shout-Out: A peculiar one — her Hero Ability Judgment Arrow is named for the ultimate attack of Minerva, the Superboss from Crisis Core.
Zidane Tribal
"A member of Tantalus, a traveling troupe of entertainers who moonlight as a band of thieves. Zidane is virtuous at heart, and he knows how to entertain a crowd, but he does have a weakness for the ladies."
- Blow You Away: His main element is Wind and he's one of the standout characters in his element, rivalled only by Cloud and Bartz.
- Double Weapon: Many of his unique weapons are his dual-bladed thief daggers from IX, classified as Swords.
- Glass Cannon: When his Trance activates at low HP, Zidane fully heals himself, gets a boost to all his stats, and while he's in Trance his Thief abilities cast instantly. Combined with his Awakening and one of his Ultras, Zidane can achieve some ridiculously high DPS. His downside is that for a frontline fighter he's a bit squisher than the norm, with just 6,800 HP at Level 99 before his Record and Legend Spheres are activated, and his Defense and Resistance are low too.
- Secret Art: His Hero Ability is Scoop Art. A Thief ability which deals 6 physical Wind attacks.
- Spam Attack: His first Ultra Grand Lethal gives him Master Thief EX Mode, where he follows up every Thief attack with another hit that has a chance to lower the enemy's Wind resistance. His second Ultra Gale Unbound has him use the chase attack Thievery after 15 seconds pass, dealing 8, 12, or 16 hits depending on his many Thievery abilities he used within the time limit — and under the effects of his Awakening, each of those hits can break the damage cap.
Garnet Til Alexandros
"The beautiful princess of Alexandria. Though Garnet is refined and elegant, she lacks worldly experience, and on occasion she can even be selfish. Her time spent with Zidane kindles the spark of change within her."
- Flanderization: In her home game, Garnet was a White Mage/Summoner hybrid with a leaning to the latter, and had a wide variety of Eidolons where Ramuh was just the first one she learned to use in-story. Here she's a pure dedicated Lightning Summoner. She has Leviathan and Alexander through her earlier Relics, but is mostly focused on Ramuh. Lessened in later years when she got her second Awakening and Sync; her Awakening gives her Twin Element Mode to run either Lightning or Holy, and her Sync focuses her in Holy. This is the same time she got her Hero Ability which is Lightning/Holy.
- Holy Hand Grenade: She has Holy her secondary element, reflecting Alexander.
- Secret Art: Her Hero Ability Divine Guardian is a Summoning abiility that deals 5 Lightning/Holy attacks and heals the party for around 1000 HP.
- Shock and Awe: A Lightning Summoner, mainly.
- Summon Magic: Her skillset centers on Ramuh as her partner to channel lightning through.
- Useless Useful Spell: She has Support 2, which gives her a handful of status skills that she has no real usage for.
Vivi Ornitier
"A young black mage who is timid and unsure of himself. As he travels with Zidane, Vivi learns that he was the prototype of a series of black mages created as weapons, and he struggles to come to terms with the truth of his identity."
- Black Mage: Black Magic is everything he can use, and everything he needs to use.
- Crippling Overspecialization: Like Palom, Vivi has access only to Black Magic, and equally, he has an Ultra Soul Break which gives him Ability Double. What makes Vivi more dangerous at this is that he can also enter Trance for a 50% chance at Dualcasting Black Magic, giving him a reliable triplecast source. However, also like Palom, Black Magic is Vivi's sole ability school — if you need him to do something other than hurt the enemy with a magic attack, he's not going to be very helpful.
- Fire, Ice, Lightning: Fire is his main element, but he also got some tri-elemental Soul Breaks in his early days. For a time most of his Relics focused him on Fire, but then he got some that separately gave him dual-focus on Ice and Lightning. He eventually got a new Ultra Soul Break and Glint+ that give him Tri-Element Mode, letting him swap between the three more easily.
- Secret Art: His Hero Abilities are Doublecast Fira and Blizzard & Thunder. The first is a Black Magic ability that does 6 magical Fire attacks, the second ability does 5 magical Ice/Lightning attacks.
- Spam Attack: His Trance gives him a 50% chance to dualcast when it's active, and his Ultra gives him a guaranteed dualcast at the cost of an extra ability charge.
- Squishy Wizard: As per specialized Black Mage rule, he has high magical damage output but pitiful HP and defenses.
Adelbert Steiner
"Captain of the Knights of Pluto, an order that serves Alexandria's Queen Brahne, Steiner has sworn to serve House Alexandros. Stubborn to a fault and set in his ways, Steiner's every act is in service to the royal family."
- Fire, Ice, Lightning: His focus is in these three elements, through with a moderate leaning to Fire over the others. His Arcane Overstrike, appropriately enough, is Frostfire Thunder Slash.
- Mythology Gag: His Enlightened Blade Ultra gives him an elemental infusion for Fire, Ice, or Lightning, but only when an ally uses such an attack on him, while his Double Climhazzard Awakening gives him "Combine Mode", which grants another such infusion every second attack he uses in those elements, but it also grants Vivi the same infusion if he's in the party. Both are an allusion to how the Spellblade command worked in Final Fantasy IX; the command was only usable if both Steiner and Vivi were in the party, and depicted Vivi actually casting the spell on Steiner's sword and then Steiner attacking with it.
- Secret Art: His Hero Ability is Spellblade. A well... Spellblade ability that deals 5 physical Fire/Ice/Lightning attacks
- Spell Blade: His specialty school. His Trance gives him a boost to all elemental damage he inflicts, letting him be decently effective even in off-elemental attacks.
- Useless Useful Spell: Enlightened Blade gives Steiner an elemental infusion in Fire, Ice, or Lightning, when an ally hits him with an attack in one of those elements. Odds are that whatever ability he gets hit with will be so powerful as to kill Steiner. Not to mention that the character is using a turn to do this that could have been used to attack the boss, and Steiner has many other ways to get elemental infusions without such odd tactics.
Freya Crescent
"One of the finest dragon knights of Burmecia, Freya left in search of her lost love, who set out on a journey around the world and was never heard from again. She was forbidden ever to return to her homeland."
- Blow You Away: Her element is Wind.
- Boring, but Practical: Her Trance triggers three additional hits on an enemy when she uses a Jump attack, and one of her Materia gives her a chance to trigger two extra hits and regain an ability charge when using a Dragoon ability. Nothing fancy, but with Dragoons being on the slow side for DPS, it can help a lot.
- Dragon Knight: Aside from the usual connotations of being a Dragoon, the word "Dragon" is used for Theme Naming in her kit.
- In a Single Bound: Dragoon specialist, of course.
- Mechanically Unusual Fighter: Unlike all other Dragoons in the game, she also functions as a Dancer and her Awakening also works with it. On top of that, she also gets an unique Legend Materia which allows Dancer abilities to remove air time from the user's next jump attack and unlike most other Legend Materias with similar effects, it has a 100% chance of working, allowing her to alternate both schools effectively.
- Secret Art: Her Hero Ability is Lancer(IX). a Dragoon ability which deals 5 Physical Wind Jump attacks with no landing time and heals the party for around 1000 HP.
Quina Quen
"A young member of the mysterious qu, a race who devote themselves to the pursuit of gastronomical ingredients and rare delicacies. Quina joins Zidane in high hopes of being led to succulent delights along the path to culinary enlightenment."
- Magic Knight: Downplayed: it has both Black Magic 3 and Combat 3, but neither affords it much utility.
- Mechanically Unusual Fighter: Its Hero Ability High Tide is a copy of Entrust that includes a High Quickcast effect, but it caps at transferring 500 Soul Break points; Entrust (and Gordon's Show of Resolve which functions similarly) transfer all the user's Soul Break points to the target.
- Secret Art: Its Hero Ability is High Tide. It transfers up to 500 Soul Break points to another character and gives Quina High Quickcast 2.
- Support Party Member: It is specialized in buffing allies and debuffing enemies.
Eiko Carol
"One of the last descendants of the legendary summoners. Eiko is wise beyond her six years, and she'll talk anyone's ear off given half the chance."
- Flanderization: Like Garnet, Eiko was a Summoner/White Mage hybrid in Final Fantasy IX. Here she's pure White Mage, though unlike Garnet, Eiko can use the full range of White Magic and Summoning abilities. She later got more offensive tools but is still focused more on healing, better reflecting her original skillset.
- Secret Art: Her Hero Ability is Prayer of the Lost. A Summon Ability which deals 4 magical Wind/Holy attacks and heals the party for around 1500 HP.
- White Mage: The IX realm's dedicated healer.
Amarant Coral
"An accomplished—and thus highly feared—bounty hunter. Amarant is a skilled fighter, and his thick mane of red hair has led many to call him the Flaming Amarant."
- Bare-Fisted Monk: Monk abilities are his specialty, with Claws as his unique weapons.
- Combat Medic: His Trance gives his Monk abilities a high chance to heal allies when he attacks.
- Playing with Fire: His primary element.
- Secret Art: His Hero Ability is Countdown, a five-hit Monk attack that heals an ally for 1500 HP.
Marcus
"A member of the theater troupe Tantalus, Marcus's rough exterior belies the kind and resourceful young man he truly is."
- Ascended Glitch: In Final Fantasy IX, the members of Tantalus were Guest Star Party Members who acted as placeholders for later party members, and Marcus was the stand-in for Eiko. Due to a glitch, when Eiko joins the party later she inherits Marcus' stat growth but not his level, allowing players to keep leveling her normally and obtain higher stats than she could on her own. Record Keeper references this glitch by having Marcus' Record Spheres include unique "Eiko Motes", which can be used to unlock a unique Empowered Sphere on Eiko's Record Board that give her small boosts to her DEF, HP, and healing spells.
- Bash Brothers: Built as a supporter to Zidane, focusing on debuffing enemies and lowering their Wind resistance.
- Blow You Away: Wind is his main element.
- Poisonous Person: His secondary element is Poison.
- Secret Art: His Hero Ability is Tantalus Break, a Wind/Poison five-hit attack.
Beatrix
"Famed Alexandrian general, veteran of a hundred battles, and hailed as the greatest warrior of the continent. With her blade, Save the Queen, in hand, Beatrix defends crown and kingdom, a vision of beauty both on and off the battlefield."
- Breakout Character: She's one of the most prominent IX characters in this game, with several events focused around her, and she has more Relics to her name than some of the main playable cast.
- Holy Hand Grenade: Her element is Holy.
- Secret Art: His Hero Ability is Seiken Shock. It only deals one physical Holy attack, but it has a higher damage multiplier than other abilities and can break the damage cap.
- Something about a Rose: In reference to her musical theme "Rose of May", several of her tools include the word in their name and roses feature in some of her Soul Break animations.
- Theme Naming: Roses and "Seiken", her IX unique ability.
Kuja
"An Angel of Death sent from Terra to Gaia. It is said he harbors dreams of world domination."
- The Archmage: Black Magic 5, White Magic 5, and Darkness 5 make up his ability pool.
- Casting a Shadow: His element is Darkness.
- Flanderization: Most of his Soul Break attacks are based on Dissidia Final Fantasy, where Kuja's attacks were all variants of Flare, Holy, or were Pure Energy in reference to Ultima. Despite this design origin, the fact that he's a villain means that in Record Keeper he's a Dark-elemental character and all his Soul Breaks deal that type of damage, with the Fire and Holy elements featuring in none of them.
- Musical Assassin: True to form, many of his attacks evoke musical terminology in their naming.
- Secret Art: His Hero Ability is Darkflare Star. a Darkness ability that deals 5 magical Dark attacks with no cast time.
- Squishy Wizard: He can pack a good punch, but lacks for HP and defense.
- Your Days Are Numbered: In reference to his short life span in IX, his earlier Soul Breaks center on the Doom status. His Overstrike Final Requiem and the Burst commands on his first Burst Force Symphony increase in power if Kuja has Doom status, and his second Burst Corrupt Refrain gives him Doom status, and the first Burst command lowers the Doom timer and the second command deals more hits the lower the Doom timer is. His Chaotic Rhapsody Ultra grants Doom to the entire party, and his Inevitable Fate Record Materia inflicts Doom on the user at the start of battle.
Tidus
"Son of the legendary blitzball player Jecht, Tidus is a blitzball ace in his own right. While generally upbeat and gung-ho, he has a sentimental side as well."
- Making a Splash: Naturally, his primary element is Water.
- Lightning Bruiser: Many of his Soul Breaks grant him access to some form of Quickcast or Instantcast, he has a high Attack stat, he has a Water Chain Soul Break, his specialty Sharpshooter abilities deal multiple hits and he has a Legend Materia to dualcast them, and his first Ultra Day to Remember gives him a six-hit chase attack when he uses a Water attack. Tidus needs a lot of Soul Break gauge to put it all together, but once he can get momentum going he's one of the game's best Water fighters.
- Secret Art: His Hero Ability is Jecht Shot. A Sharpshooter ability that deals 6 physical ranged Water attacks with the last hit dealing additional damage when it's a critical hit.
- Useless Useful Spell: His Record Spheres give him access to Spellblade 3, but he has absolutely no usage for them because his Sharpshooter abilities are superior in every way.
Auron
"The legendary Guardian who once protected Yuna's father, High Summoner Braska, on his pilgrimage. Though he knows the truth behind Sin, he does not reveal it to Yuna and her party, instead leading them on a journey to discover it themselves."
- Gameplay and Story Integration: Enforced by a Balance Buff; on release Auron only had Support up to Rarity 4, which meant he couldn't use Full Break, the skill that he introduced to the series in X in his Sphere Grid. A later update buffed him to Support 5.
- Katanas Are Just Better: His katanas from X feature as his Relics.
- Playing with Fire: His main element.
- Samurai: His specialty ability school.
- Secret Art: His Hero Ability is Banishing Blade. A Samurai Ability which deals one physical Fire attack that can break the damage cap and debuffs the enemy's Attack, Defense, Magic, and Resistance with a long cast time.
Yuna
"The legendary Guardian who once protected Yuna's father, High Summoner Braska, on his pilgrimage. Though he knows the truth behind Sin, he does not reveal it to Yuna and her party, instead leading them on a journey to discover it themselves."
- Combat Medic: She's primarily a White Mage, but has offensive utility as a Summoner too. She has two Relic Materia, one to dualcast White Magic and one to dualcast Summon, and her Legend Sphere Materia boosts her Magic in relation to her Mind.
- Blow You Away: Via her connection to Valefor, her secondary offensive element is Wind.
- Holy Hand Grenade: Her main element is Holy.
- Secret Art: Her Hero Ability is The Sending, which deals 5 Holy and Wind summoning attacks and heals the party for around 1000 HP.
- This Looks Like a Job for Aquaman: Her Glint gives the party a barrier that absorbs Holy damage equal to 50% of their HP, and just happened to be added on the banner that came shortly after the Final Fantasy X Torment dungeon was released, where the boss prominently uses Holy attacks.
Wakka
"A young man who, together with his childhood friend Lulu, joins Yuna's traveling party as her guardian. A blitzball player and coach, Wakka has a ready smile and a caring disposition."
- Always Accurate Attack: His second Record Materia ensures the basic Attack command will never miss.
- Bash Brothers: He's designed to synergize with Tidus by debuffing enemies and lowering their Water resistance.
- Improbable Weapon User: His unique weapons are Blitzballs.
- Making a Splash: His element is Water.
- Secret Art: His Hero Abilities are Element Reels and Attack Reels. The first one is a Sharpshooter ability which deals 4 ranged physical Water attacks and increases water damage for the party every 3rd use. The second one does 6 ranged physical Water attacks.
- Support Party Member: He focuses on debuffing enemies.
Lulu
"A black mage, and one of Yuna's Guardians. With the help of her childhood friend, Wakka, Lulu protects Yuna on her pilgrimage."
- Black Mage: Naturally, this is her specialty.
- Ice Magic Is Water: Her main element is Ice with Water as an off-element. Her second Ultra is actually named Blizzard & Water Fury.
- Lady of Black Magic: Several of her options identify her as a cold but beautiful woman.
- Secret Art: Her Hero Ability is Fury. A Witch ability which deals 6 magical Ice/Water/Lightning attacks with a long cast time.
Kimahri
"Yuna's Guardian and most trusted ally, Kimahri is a young member of the Ronso tribe. The Ronso take great pride in the horns on their foreheads, which makes Kimahri's broken horn a source of shame and dishonor he struggles to overcome."
- In a Single Bound: He's a Dragoon, so he uses primarily Jump attacks.
- Making a Splash: His element is Water.
- Mechanically Unusual Fighter: He's a Dragoon with Water as his element, when most other Dragoons in the game are Wind or Lightning. This eventually led to an Obvious Rule Patch where a Water-elemental Jump ability was added to the game; at the time only Kimahri had any usage for such a thing.
- Secret Art: His Hero Abilities are Ronso Jump and Azure Lance. The first one is Dragoon Ability that deals 7 Physical Water Jump attacks with no landing time but has a long cast time. The 2nd one deals 3 physical Water Jump attacks with no landing time and gives Kimahri Instant Cast for one turn.
Rikku
"A cheerful and outgoing Al Bhed who also happens to be Yuna's cousin. She becomes Yuna's Guardian, struggling to find a way to help Yuna fulfill her pilgrimage without having to sacrifice her life."
- Making a Splash: Her main element is Water.
- Master of All: Her skillset includes Support 3, Celerity 5, Thief 5, Bard 4, Dancer 5, Machinist 5, and Sharpshooter 6, giving her an absurdly large pool of skills in many areas of combat.
- Master of None: Unfortunately, she has too little focus in any of them to be efficient with them. Her element is Water, so she'd want to lean to using Sharpshooter abilities, but her Record Dive contains boosts for Thief and Machinist moves, and her Legend Materia support Celerity and Machinist abilities, and for much of the game's lifespan those schools had no Water abilities. Late in the game's 4th year, Water-elemental Thief abilities came and she got a dualcast Materia for Water, which helped patch up her weak offense, but Rikku is still more useful as a Support Party Member than a source of DPS.
- Secret Art: Her Hero Abilities are Al Bhed Steal and Tidal Wave. The first one is a Thief ability thar deals four hits of Water damage and debuffs the target's ATK/MAG while also buffing Rikku in the same, for a short time. The second one is Machinist ability that deals 7 physical ranged Water attacks.
- Support Party Member: While she does have offensive options, she more focuses on buffing the party and debuffing enemies; her Ultra Hyper Mighty G is considered a gold-standard buffing Soul Break, and she holds both a Water Chain and the X Realm Chain.
- Wolverine Claws: Her weapons are her clawed gauntlets from X.
Paine
"The most aloof member of the Gullwings, Paine keeps her more boisterous companions focused and on the task. As she travels Spira with her friends, she seeks to learn the truth about an incident from her past."
- Making a Splash: Another Water specialist from the X realm.
- Secret Art: Her Hero Ability is Hurt!. It's a Spellblade ability that deals only one Water attack, but it has a higher damage multiplier and can break the damage cap.
- Spell Blade: Her main ability school.
Braska
"The High Summoner who vanquished Sin ten years ago. Lord Braska believed in the importance of peace, and he passed on his cheerful approach to life and his strength of will to his daughter, Yuna."
- Lightning/Fire Juxtaposition: This was his intial elemental role via his associations with Ifrit and Ixion, but his Awakening and associated relics released with it made him into a dedicated Fire character.
- Secret Art: His Hero Ability is Wandering Flame. A Summon ability that deals 4 magical Fire attacks and boosts the party's fire damage every 3rd use.
- Summon Magic: His specialty ability school.
Jecht
"The defining blitzball player of his era, Jecht disappeared ten years ago. He has a hard time showing affection, which led to a rift between him and his son, Tidus."
- Arc Welding: Sin's Talon, his second-best unique weapon from Dissidia Final Fantasy, features here as his previously unnamed black sword. Accordingly, Sin's Fang, his ultimate weapon in Dissidia, is a variant of the same sword with white swirls on it, which is how it appears when Jecht is in his Final Aeon form.
- Bare-Fisted Monk: Monk is his second ability school to go with his Fire affinity.
- BFS: His giant black sword features as one of his relics.
- Casting a Shadow: His main element is Dark.
- Playing with Fire: His secondary element is Fire.
- Secret Art: His Hero Ability is Jecht Beam A Sharpshooter ability that deals 5 physical ranged Dark/Fire attacks with the last hit dealing additional damage under a critical hit.
- Shaped Like Itself: His "Blitz King" Relic contains the Soul Break of the same name.
- Theme Naming: True to form, most of his Soul Breaks are named "Jecht <Attack>", sometimes with the added prefix "Ultimate".
Seymour
"The leader of the Guado and a young maester of Yevon. Though Seymour enjoys the support of the people of Spira, he secretly intends to "release" them from suffering by bringing them death."
- Casting a Shadow: His element is Dark.
- Out of Focus: Despite widely being considered X's most forefront antagonist, Seymour gets very little attention in this title, especially compared to most other X chaacters which get new tools on a regular basis.
- Secret Art: His Hero Ability is Anima's Pain, dealing five hits of Dark-elemental summon damage to all enemies.
- Summon Magic: He can use Summon 5, and one of his Record Materia has a chance to turn the attack command into a random Summon ability.
Shantotto
"A noblewoman who commands the most powerful of black magics with ease. Known for her short temper, Shantotto wilts and withers mandragora sprouts beneath her fiery glare."
- Fire, Ice, Lightning: Her Soul Breaks mostly deal tri-elemental damage, with Lightning being her primary focus.
- Secret Art: Her Hero ability is Play Rough. A Witch ability that deals 7 magical Lightning attacks with a long cast time.
- Squishy Wizard: Great magical potential, not impressive on the HP and defense front.
- Spam Attack: Her Ultra lets her automatically dualcast Witch abilities and she has a Legend Materia to potentially triplecast them.
- Unstoppable Rage: Featured in some of her Soul Breaks, particulalry Play Rough. Additionally, she has a Trance-like Legend Materia, which improves her stats and speed when she reaches critical HP. For most characters, a Trance-like effect represents a powerful transformation, blessing, or forbidden technique. Shantotto's Trance only represents her getting truly pissed off, and is just as powerful.
- Useless Useful Spell: She has Monk 4 in her ability pool. Aside from the fact her Attack is awful, none of the Monk 4 commands are any good and provide no utility for her.
Ayame
"The only woman in the Mythril Musketeers, Ayame joined as its youngest member, and the only samurai in the Musketeers' ranks. Though young, she carries herself with confidence, and is often entrusted to carry out critical missions."
- An Ice Person: Ice is her specialty
- Critical Hit Class: Her Ultra grants her Retaliate status and buffs her critical hit damage, which works perfectly with Samurai abilities that have increased critical hit rate when the user has Retaliate.
- Samurai: Her main ability school, with which most of her Soul Breaks and Materia synergize.
- Secret Art: Her Hero Abilities are Tachi: Gekko and Yukikaze. The first one is a Samurai Ability that deals six physical Ice/Water attacks with a 100% critical rate under retaliate and removes it. The 2nd one deals one physical Ice attack that can break the damage cap.
- Spell Blade: She can also use the full roster of Spellblades.
Curilla
"Captain of the San d'Oria Temple Knights. Though she lost her left eye in a tournament bout against Prince Trion, she gained a reputation as a skilled swordswoman of San d'Oria."
- Holy Hand Grenade: Her element is Holy.
- Magic Knight: Has Knight 5 and can have White Magic 4 through Record Spheres.
- Secret Art: Her Hero Ability is Swift Blade. A Knight ability that deals 4 physical Holy attacks and gives the party a small damage reduction barrier.
- Support Party Member: She's more geared to supporting the party than attacking. She has two Ultras, and both center on granting the party buffs and don't do much for her offense. Her other tools rely on defending allies with buffs or redirecting attacks.
Prishe
"Prishe is the leader of a patrol at the Tavnazian Safehold. Her body underwent a strange transformation when she was baptized at the cathedral, and she has been referred to as "that detestable child" by the people of Tavnazia ever since."
- Bare-Fisted Monk: Monk specialist.
- Magic Knight: She has Monk 5, Combat 5, Celerity 5, and White Magic 4.
- Secret Art: Her Hero Ablity is Nullifying Dropkick. A Monk ability that deals 5 physical Lightning/Ice/Non-Elemental attacks.
- Shock and Awe: Her element is Lightning.
Lion
"Lion is daughter-in-law to Gilgamesh, the leader of Norg. While exploring the surrounding lands, she comes across a group of adventurers, and teams up with them to prevent the resurrection of the Shadow Lord."
- Glass Cannon: She has decent Attack and her Celerity, Ninja, and Thief schools all execute faster than normal abilities, but she has mediocre HP and defenses.
- Secret Art: Her Hero Ability is Powder Keg, which deals five hits of Water damage and lowers the target's Water resistance.
- Series Continuity Error: Lion's bio notes her as Gilgamesh's daughter-in-law, but this is incorrect. She's his adopted daughter in XI.
- Support Party Member: Her niche is debuffing enemies.
Aphmau
"A palace puppetmaster who serves Empress Nashmeira II. Known for the great skill with which she plies her trade, this innocent and pure-hearted girl has taken to naming her automatons, whom she treats as friends."
- Secret Art: Her Hero Ability is Repair. It heals the party a small amount and restores one of their ability charges every fourth use.
- Support Party Member: Her first Ultra and her Awakening remove the charge time from the party's next action and casts instantly, and her second Ultra lets her focus as a dedicated Imperiler while also reducing the charge time of allies in the same row as her when she uses a White Magic ability. This lets Aphmau speed up the party's DPS and support Holy teams on the offensive while continuing to keep them healthy.
- White Magician Girl: The XI realm's dedicated healer.
Zeid
"Second-in-command of the Mythril Musketeers, and master of the way of the Dark Knight. Once a soldier who helped defeat the Shadow Lord, Zeid now roams the land battling kindred forces."
- Casting a Shadow: His element is Dark.
- Secret Art: His Hero Ability is Abyssal Strike. A Darkness ability that deals 6 physical Dark attacks.
- The One Guy: He's the only male XI character in this game.
Lilisette
"A stunning dancer in Troupe Mayakov, a renowned dancing troupe of the Crystal War era. Though Lilisette is their newest member, she quickly distinguishes herself as one of its top draws."
- Combat Medic: Her Burst debuffs enemies and grants allies an auto-healing barrier, and it includes a party-healing Burst command. Her Legend Materia Renowned Grace gives her a chance to heal allies a bit when using Dance commands.
- Dance Battler: Her skillset and Soul Break animations convey this.
- Ms. Fanservice: Her bio and the names of her Soul Breaks and Materia emphasize her status as a beautiful dancer.
- Secret Art: Her Hero Ability is Sensual Dance. A Dancer ability that debuffs the enemy's Attack, Magic, and Defense and heals the party for around 1500 HP.
- Shock and Awe: Her element is Lightning.
- Support Party Member: She relies more on debuffing enemies than doing damage herself.
Naja
"President of the mercenary company Salaheem's Sentinels. Arrogant and brash, Naja will take on any job if the price is right."
- Dishing Out Dirt: Her main element
- Out of Focus: She hasn't received a new relic since her debut. She only goes up to AOSB.
Arciela
- An Ice Person: One of her main elements is Ice.
- Blow You Away: Also excels in wind.
- Hydro-Electro Combo: The 3rd and last element she focuses on are Water and Lightning.
- Lady of Black Magic: She's primarily a spellcaster with focus on Black and Witch abilities.
- Secret Art: Her Hero Ability is Harmonic Displacement. A Black Magic ability that deals 5 magical Ice/Lightning/Water/Wind attacks.
Vaan
"An orphan from the slums of Lowtown who dreams of becoming a sky pirate. Vaan remains upbeat in the face of adversity, and he often serves as the de facto leader of the other orphans who live on the streets."
- Blow You Away: His element is Wind.
- Katanas Are Just Better: Some of his unique relics are katanas.
- Non-Indicative Name: Since Red Spiral and Pyroclasm were two of his Quickenings in XII, Red Spiral is his Hero Ability and Pyroclasm Inferno is his Dyad. However, even though the two had distinctly fiery appearances in XII, here they're Wind-elemental since that's Vaan's elemental focus.
- Secret Art: His Hero Ability is Red Spiral, which inflicts five hits of Wind damage and lowers the target's Wind resistance for a few seconds.
- Support Party Member: Most of his Soul Breaks debuff the enemy's stats. That said, he got later shifted into a DPS role as a Wind Thief.
Balthier
"A sky pirate who boasts his airship, the Strahl, is the fastest in all Ivalice. Balthier prizes freedom above all else, swearing allegiance to neither king nor kingdom. A true and steady ally, he is the quintessential pirate with a heart of gold."
- The Gunslinger: His main relics are guns and he specializes in Machinist abilities.
- Playing with Fire: The Leading Man's primary element is Fire, being an efficient Imperiler with his Record Dive.
- Secret Art: His Hero Ability is Fires of War. A Machinist ability that deals 7 physical ranged Fire attacks.
Fran
"One of the viera, a mysterious race that dwells among the trees. Fran turned her back on the Wood and her people to see the wider world. Now she travels Ivalice with her sky pirate partner Balthier, with whom she shares a deep and powerful bond."
- An Ice Person: This has become her primary element with time, starting with her Soul Breaks primarily doing Ice damage or causing Imperil Ice, and culminating with Fran eventually getting the Ice Minichain.
- Balance Buff: When she got her Awakening, she got buffed to have Machinist 5, allowing her to use its multi-hitting and imperiling abilities to great effect.
- Secret Art: Her Hero Ability is Shatterheart. A Sharpshooter ability that deals 4 physical ranged Ice/Lightning attacks and imperils those elements for 5 seconds.
- Shock and Awe: Her secondary element.
- Support Party Member: The main one for XII. She can debuff the enemy's stats and lower their Lightning and Ice resistances.
Ashelia "Ashe" B'nargin Dalmasca
"Princess of the fallen Kingdom of Dalmasca, Ashe has an unwavering sense of justice and an iron will. She set out in search of a devastating power to help restore her kingdom and take vengeance upon the Empire, but during her travels with Balthier she begins to have second thoughts."
- Black Mage: Her main role is offensive magic.
- Magic Knight: She's a magic user that can equip swords and heavy armor.
- Secret Art: Her Hero Ability is Maelstrom's Bolt. a Black Magic ability that deals 6 magical Lightning attacks.
- Shock and Awe: Her primary element is Lightning.
Basch Von Ronsenburg
"A brave captain who never strays from the knight's true path. An Archadian plot in its war with Rabanastre two years prior saw Basch blamed for the assassination of King Raminas, but throughout it all he has remained devoted to Princess Ashe."
- Casting a Shadow: His Overstrike Soul Break, Rightous Steel has Dark as a secondary element.
- Holy Hand Grenade: His primary element is Holy.
- Playing with Fire: His first Ultra Soul Break, Clash of Light and Flame has Fire as a secondary element.
- Secret Art: His Hero Abilities are Ruin Impendent and Clash of Light and Flame. The first one is a knight ability that deals 4 physical Holy/Fire attacks and heals Basch for up to 2000 HP. The second one does 5 physical Holy/Fire attacks.
- Support Party Member: Several of his Soul Breaks focus on buffing the party to compensate for his low damage output.
Penelo
"A cheerful young girl who dreams of becoming a dancer. Penelo and Vaan have been friends since childhood, and she does her best to keep him out of trouble as they journey through Ivalice."
- Combat Medic: She originally started as this as her first few Soul Breaks did damage to enemies, but focused on being a dedicated healer later on instead.
- Dance Battler: Has 5* Dancer and her Legend Materia Dreams Of The Dance has a chance to heal the party when using dance abilities.
- Holy Hand Grenade: Her Primary Element with her offensive Soul Breaks.
- Secret Art: Her Hero Ability is War Dance. A Dancer ability that raises the party's ATK & MAG by 10/20/30% with 1/2/3 Dancer Lore and heals the party for around 1000 HP.
Larsa Ferrinas Solidor
"The fourth son of Emperor Gramis, and potential heir to the imperial throne. Though but twelve years of age, Larsa's grasp of politics and military strategy are uncanny. He has an earnest wish for peace, and he seeks to right the wrongs of the Empire, which sets him at odds with his beloved brother Vayne."
- Ascended Meme: In the original version of Final Fantasy XII, Larsa was famous and appreciated for automatically healing the party with Potions and Hi-Potions when he was with them as a Guest; since Guests didn't use items from the party's stock in the original release, this meant Larsa seemingly had an infinite supply of healing items stashed up his sleeves. Record Keeper takes the joke and runs with it — most of Larsa's Soul Breaks depict him using items to heal his comrades, and two of his Ultra Soul Breaks are even named Potions Aplenty and Potion Shower.
- Secret Art: His Hero Ability is Archadian Drought, which restores a bit of HP to the entire party.
- Status Effects: His niche is blocking them — Larsa's Soul Breaks have a recurring theme of casting Esuna on the party to cure their status ailments, granting the Astra status to block status ailments, or even doing both.
- Support Party Member: Has access to 6* Support, allowing him to debuff the enemy or just use Wrath for fueling his Soul Breaks.
- White Mage: The second one of XII.
Gabranth
"A magister in charge of the judges of the Archadian Empire, Gabranth proves a powerful adversary to Vaan and the other rebels."
- Casting a Shadow: His Primary element is Dark, opposite of his twin brother's Holy Element.
- Combat Medic: Can use White Magic up to 4*.
- Secret Art: His Hero Ability is Innocence. a Heavy Combat ability that deals 6 physical Dark Attacks and gives Gabranth +1 Heavy Charge with a long cast time that reduces with each use.
Vayne Carudas Solidor
"The third son of the Archadian emperor, and likely candidate to succeed the throne. Vayne plots to begin a war with the Rozarrian Empire, and thereby end the smaller conflicts raging throughout Ivalice. Though cold and calculating, he holds true affection for his younger brother, Larsa."
- Bare-Fisted Monk: Can equip fist weapons and a few of his relics are gloves.
- Casting a Shadow: His Primary element is Dark.
- Glass Cannon: He has the stats and ability pool to be a great Magic Knight, with high Attack and Magic, and an ability pool consisting of Darkness 5, Black Magic 5, Monk 5, and Combat 5, to give him a wide range of magical and physical blows. But Vayne's Defense, Resistance, and HP are very poor; his brother Larsa, a designated White Mage, is about equal to Vayne on all three fronts.
- Magic Knight: He's a Physical and Magical Hybrid with his Soul Breaks doing Physical or Magical damage based on whether his Attack or Magic stat is higher respectively, and boosts his Attack and Magic Stat by 5 when mastered.
- Secret Art: His Hero Ability is Force of Will. A Darkness ability that deals 6 Hybrid Dark attacks.
Reks
"Reks is Vaan's elder brother by two years. He harbors no love of bloodshed, but he willingly joins the Order of the Knights of Dalmasca to defend his homeland in time of war. Reks acquits himself bravely in battle, but he is soon caught up as an unwitting pawn in an imperial plot to assassinate the king."
- An Ice Person: His Burst Soul Break gave him Ice as a secondary element, but it was dropped from later Relics.
- Combat Medic: Can use White Magic up to 4* and his Soul Breaks and Legend Materia have a secondary effect of healing his party.
- Secret Art: His Hero Ability is Dual Swords, a six-hit Lightning Spellblade ability.
- Shock and Awe: His primary element is Lightning.
- Spell Blade: Can use these abilities up to 6*, providing him some DPS, and his Dive allows him to dualcast those abilities.
- Support Party Member: His relics focus on buffing the party. His Awakening and Sync both give the party some hefty stat buffs if all of them are XII characters and are alive.
Lightning
"A former member of the Guardian Corps, a peacekeeping force in Cocoon. Lightning cuts her ties with the Corps and rebels against the Sanctum to save her beloved sister who has been branded l'Cie."
- Boring Yet Practical: Her Record Materia Thunderstroke gives her basic Attack command no charge time, a simple but effective way for boosting DPS when auto-battling normal enemies.
- Gameplay and Story Segregation: Her Gunblades, with one exception, are all classified as Swords in this game, and don't count as long-ranged weapons.
- Glass Cannon: She has good Attack, access to Quickcast and Instantcast effects, and really hurts in her designated elements, but her defenses and HP are subpar.
- Holy Hand Grenade: A 4th year Dissidia event gives her Holy as a secondary element, along with buffing her to have Knight 5 access.
- Knight in Shining Armor: She has her XIII-2 valkyrie armor as a Relic, with a Palette Swap serving as a second Relic, and she can wear the armor as a Wardrobe Record.
- Shock and Awe: Of course her main element is Lightning.
- Secret Art: Her Hero Ability is Blaze Rush. It deals six Lightning/Holy attacks and has a long charge time, but gets faster with every usage.
- Super-Speed: Her first Ultra gives her Quickcast every time she uses a Lightning-elemental ability, she has access to the Celerity ability school that executes faster than other abilities, and her Legend Materia lets her begin the battle with Haste and three charges of Instantcast. Her Sync gives her the ability to instantly fill her ATB gauge via its commands, essentially allowing her to take double turns.
- Useless Useful Spell: She has access to the Sharpshooter ability school, which is normally pretty good, but she has no tools to capitalize on Sharpshooter abilities and the elements of the school (Fire, Ice, Water) are ones she doesn't specialize in.
Snow Villiers
"Serah's fiance. Though thoughtless at times, and a bit rough around the edges, he has a positive outlook that wins him many friends. He remains determined to help Serah no matter the odds."
- An Ice Person: His main element is Ice.
- Bare-Fisted Monk: His specialty is the Monk school.
- Battle Couple: He and Serah are both ice specialists, so they can fight on a team together with great synergy.
- Mythology Gag: In XIII, all of Snow's "weapons" were actually emblems he wore on the back of his coat to boost his strength. Here the same principal is used when designing his Relics, just with the change that the emblems are being applied to Snow's glove instead (likely for balance purposes, so that he can have actual weapons as his Relics).
- Secret Art: His Hero Ability is Froststrike, a Monk ability that deals 4 Physical Ice attacks and gives Snow a Damage Reduction Barrier. 6 hits under a Damage Reduction Barrier.
- Support Party Member: Keeping with his Sentinel role in XIII, many of Snow's Soul Breaks buff the party, usually in a defensive manner. He's also a holder of one of the game's Ice Chains.
Sazh Katzroy
"A skilled airship pilot with a talkative streak. Sazh is drawn into battle with the Pulse fal'Cie to save his son Dajh, who has been branded l'Cie."
- Animal Companion: Sazh's sprite includes a tiny three-pixel image of the Chocobo Chick popping up from his afro, and the bird gets to come out and interact with him in his Soul Break animations.
- The Gunslinger: His Relic weapons are all firearms, and he has Machinist 5 and Sharpshooter 5.
- Magic Knight: Downplayed, he has Black Magic 3 and White Magic 3, but unless you're desperate to bring Dispel and no one else has room to hold it, they don't afford Sazh any notable utility.
- Playing with Fire: In the game's fifth year, he picked up a Fire-infusion Ultra Soul Break.
- Secret Art: His Hero Ability is Chocolina Blues. A Support ability that raises the party's Attack and Magic by 10/20/30% with 1/2/3 Exertion and gives a small Damage Reduction Barrier.
- Support Party Member: Sazh's niche is granting the party an array of status buffs. His Awakening triggers on Machinist and Support skills to give the party a damage reduction barrier, letting him function as dedicated supporter or supportive attacker.
Hope Estheim
"An ordinary, if somewhat sensitive, young boy. Hope and his mother were caught up in the Purge while sightseeing; Hope survived, his mother did not. He began to harbor a hatred against Snow, whose actions had inadvertently led to his mother's death."
- Flanderization: In XIII, Hope was a Red Mage whose main roles were Ravager, Medic, and Synergist, specializing him in offensive, healing, and supportive magic. Here he's firmly established as an offensive summoner who can only use White Magic up to 4 and has no Support access at all.
- Holy Hand Grenade: His element is Holy.
- Mechanically Unusual Fighter: Holy spellcasters in Record Keeper tend to be White Mages, but Hope is a Summoner. This actually works to his detriment; his inability to access the top-tier White Magic commands and the Holy spells therein limits what he can do in his specialized element, since he's reliant on Summon commands that deal fewer hits and have fewer charges (and the 6* Summons are one-of-a-kind). This was alleviated when Ultima became omni-elemental and Hero Abilities were added, giving Hope reliable Black Magic options to deal Holy damage.
- Precision-Guided Boomerang: His boomerangs are his Relic weapons.
- Secret Art: His Hero Ability is Last Resort, his Full ATB Skill from XIII. It deals 6 hits of Holy damage and removes Haste every second use.
- Summon Magic: His Holy association is thanks to Alexander, who appears in most of Hope's Soul Break animations.
- Useless Useful Spell: He has Sharpshooter 5, giving his Fire, Water, and Ice physical attacks that are of no use whatsoever to a Holy-elemental mage.
Oerba Die Vanille
"A young woman who remains carefree and innocent, despite being a Pulse l'Cie. Her bright personality gives no hint of the dark resolve that lies within."
- Flanderization: Flipped from Hope, in XIII Vanille was a spellcaster who mostly leaned to debuffing enemies as a Saboteur, but she was also a passable Medic and Ravager. This game places her solely as a healer, with a handful of ways to debuff enemies that are more afterthoughts than something she can focus in.
- Secret Art: Her Hero Ability is Oerba's Boon. It charges a bit slower than other abilities but restores HP to all allies.
- White Magician Girl: She's a female and the XIII realm's healer. Presumably, this trope is why Vanille was Flanderized into a healing role instead of Hope.
Oerba Yun Fang
"A fierce woman with a feral beauty. Though quarrelsome and aggressive, Fang will do anything to protect the ones she loves, and would gladly lay down her own life to protect her childhood friend Vanille."
- Blow You Away: Her element is Wind.
- Boring Yet Practical: Her Sync Bahamut Assault has a Sync ability that gives her three turns of instant-casting Dragoon abilities and instant-landing Jumps. Given that her first Sync ability is very powerful in its own right, and Fang primarily uses Jump attacks, it is very effective at massively boosting her DPS.
- In a Single Bound: As a Dragoon specialist, she uses Jump attacks.
- Secret Art: Her Hero Ability is Whirlwind, a seven-hit Wind Jump attack.
Serah Farron
"Unlike Lightning, her older sister, something about Serah invites the protection of others, though she is perfectly capable of standing up for herself. Her curiosity proves to be her undoing, leading her to be branded a Pulse l'Cie."
- An Ice Person: She's an Ice spellcaster.
- Secret Art: Her Hero Abilities are Artemis Arrow and Artemis Volley. The first one is a Black Magic ability that deals 7 magical Ice attacks with a long cast time. The second one deals 5 magical Water attacks and imperils that element for 5 seconds.
- Sibling Yin-Yang: Lightning is a physical Lightning attacker, Serah is a magical Ice attacker. This is enforced by some of their Soul Breaks; Serah's Burst Eternity Unpromised and Ultra Etro Arrow are copies of Lightning's Focused Bolts and Army of One, and her Sync Transcendent Arrow is based on Lightning's Sync Gestalt Drive with very similar effects.
Noel Kreiss
"A young man from the distant future. Noel joins Serah on her quest, in hopes he can steer the world away from its impending doom."
- An Ice Person: Another Ice specialist.
- Foil: To Snow. They're both Ice attackers, which invites synergy with Serah, but Snow focuses on buffing and protecting the party, while Noel's niche is debuffing enemies.
- Multi-Melee Master: His Sharpshooter 5 access is the main way he uses Ice skills, but he also has Combat 5, Celerity 4, and Thief 4 (5 through Record Spheres), giving him a fair variety of options in supportive abilities.
- Secret Art: His Hero Ability is Meteor Javelin. A Sharpshooter ability that deals 6 ranged Physical Ice/Water attacks with a long cast time, that reduces the cast time to normal after two uses.
Cid Raines
"Commander of the Sanctum's elite Wide-area Response Brigade, also known as the Cavalry. A prominent member of the Sanctum, Cid comes to doubt his government's blind allegiance to the fal'Cie, and the fear of Pulse they foment. He enlists the help of Fang and other Pulse l'Cie to plot the overthrow of the Sanctum."
- Boring Yet Practical: Cid's Burst Metamorphose boosts the party's Magic, and its Burst commands lower Cid's Defense in exchange for a Magic boost, and deal four hits and cause his next magical attack to cast instantly, allowing Cid to chain the command into itself or recast his Burst immediately. Even though it's just a Burst Soul Break, it's considered one of the best in the game, and until Power Creep left it behind, it was enough to make Cid viable without the need for other tech options.
- Death or Glory Attack: His Shattered Dreams Soul Break can break the damage cap and can deal up to 4800% damage, but getting it to this point requires you to let him be affected by Doom and let the counter go down to the last couple of seconds. Basically, it either takes out the enemy, or takes out Cid himself.
- Mechanically Unusual Fighter: His Relic weapons are all Claws, but they boost Magic more than Attack. While Claw-wielders who can function as mages aren't unheard of in Record Keeper, Raines is the only mage to have Claws as his main weapon.
- One-Winged Angel: Most of his Soul Breaks depict him transforming into his boss form from XIII.
- Secret Art: His Hero Ability is Seraph's Wing. A Darkness Ability that deals 6 magical Dark/Holy attacks and gives Raines the Doom(45 seconds) status.
- Spam Attack: One of his Ultras gives him Ability Double for Dark-elemental attacks, another lets him follow up Dark and Holy with a combo. Coupled with his dualcasting Legend Materia, Cid can deal some respectable DPS.
- Yin-Yang Bomb: He specializes in dual-elemental Holy and Dark Soul Breaks. However, he has no Holy abilities outside of his Burst, and later Relics transitioned him into a dedicated Dark character who can use Holy as an off-element.
Jihl Nabaat
"An officer in the Sanctum's secretive PSICOM military force. Outwardly Nabaat appears warm and kind, but beneath the friendly exterior beats a cold and ruthless heart. She will not hesitate to use others to further her own goals."
- Casting a Shadow: Her element is Dark.
- Foil: To Cid Raines. Together the two represent XIII's villainous characters, and they're both Dark-elemental mages. But where Raines focuses on damage output, Jihl focuses on lowering the enemy's resistance to Dark.
- Secret Art: Her Hero Ability is Sacrifice Pawn. A Darkness Ability that deals 5 magical Dark attacks and heals her for around 3000 HP.
- Support Party Member: Jihl's damage output is mediocre on her own, but she's very good at lowering the enemy's Dark resistance and doing it quickly, which makes her very effective at supporting a team of Dark attackers. Her Brave Ultra Soul Break enforces this; it raises the party's Dark-elemental damage, and instead of doing Overstrike damage like most Brave commands do, her Brave deals multiple hits and (at Level 3) lower the target's Dark resistance by four levels.
Y'shtola Rhul
"A Miqo'te conjurer belonging to the Seekers of the Sun, Y'shtola is a powerful mage well versed in ancient languages and lore. An aura of mystery surrounds her, but there is no concealing the fact that she is a most uncommon adventurer."
- Balance Buff: When the mechanics to Brave Modes were given a tweak, Y'shtola benefited perhaps the most of any character. Secret of the Lily heals the party and reduces casting time of their spells for three turns, but as with most Brave Soul Breaks, its Brave command wasn't worth spending three turns charging up for. The balance adjustment to allow Brave mode to start at Level 2 meant it only takes Y'shtola one more turn to charge it fully, which she'll do quickly thanks to the reduced casting time, and at Level 3 her Brave command is an instant-cast party heal that grants Last Stand. Just like that, Y'shtola became a frontrunner healer for mage teams, and essentially the magical version of Aerith in that regard.
- Boring Yet Practical: In the game's early days, Y'shtola was a standout White Mage thanks to her Soul Break kit including a copy of Tyro's Sentinel's Grimoire, another that grants the party Shell, Protect, and Regen, and her Burst gave the party a damage-absorbing barrier and included an instant-cast healing ability. Power Creep has rendered most of these tools irrelevant in the metagame, but she remains an effective healer thanks to other tools she's gotten.
- Characterization Marches On: She began as a dedicated White Mage and support, but after the Shadowbringers expansion of XIV had her become a Sorceress and gain aptitude in Black Magic, Record Keeper buffed Y'shtola to have Black Magic and Witch access, and gave her tools to function as an offensive spellcaster.
- Casting a Shadow: Dark is one of the four elements she excels at with her offensive tools.
- Fire, Ice, Lightning: The other three elements she focuses on offensively.
- Lady of Black Magic: The "Vanquish The Primals" event brought Y'shtola in line to her current role in Shadowbringers as an offensive caster. As such she's gained access to 6* Black Magic and Witch. The event even gives her new outfit as a dress record.
- Secret Art: Her Hero Abilities are Ethereal Force and Medica II. The first one is a Witch ability that deals 6 magical Fire/Ice/Lightning/Dark attacks. The second one is a White Magic Ability that heals the party for a small amount and restores one use of one of their abilities.
- White Magician Girl: The XIV realm's dedicated healer.
Thancred Waters
"A Hyur rogue belonging to the Scions of the Seventh Dawn. Though Thancred may well prefer wooing women to waging war, he's blindingly fast with a dagger, and one look at him leaves no doubt: this is no ordinary cutpurse."
- The Artifact: Unlike Y'shtola and Alphinaud, who have had their skillsets in this game tweaked to reflect their evolving roles in XIV, Thancred has not — he remains firmly characterized as a Thief/Ninja-type character, even though in Shadowbringers he became a Gunbreaker, a totally different job with a totally different skillset and playstyle.
- Characterization Marches On: He began as a Wind/Poison fighter and expressed it via his Thief skills, but then got Fire and Earth tools to use as a Ninja.
- Blow You Away: Wind has become his secondary element replacing Fire.
- Dishing Out Dirt: His main element.
- Poisonous Person: Poison is his tertiary element.
- Secret Art: His Secret Art is Dream Within a Dream. A Ninja ability that deals 4/5/6 Physical or Ninjutsu Earth/Wind/Poison attacks with 0/1/2 Physical Blinks.
Yda Hext
"A Hyur pugilist belonging to the Scions of the Seventh Dawn, Yda causes trouble wherever she and her partner, Papalymo, go. A master of the martial arts."
- Bare-Fisted Monk: Monk skills are her specialty.
- Playing with Fire: Her main element.
- Secret Art: Her Hero Ability is Unseen Tackle, dealing six hits of Fire damage.
- Support Party Member: She has numerous Soul Breaks to debuff enemies and buff the party.
Papalymo Totolymo
"A Lalafell thaumaturge belonging to the Scions of the Seventh Dawn, Papalymo may look cute, but he has a sharp tongue, which gets him into frequent disagreements with Yda. Possesses deep working knowledge of aetherology."
- Early-Installment Weirdness: One of his Super Soul Breaks, Enochian Blizzaja, is Ice-elemental, including an elemental infusion for Ice. Once his Burst came out he was solidifed as a dedicated Fire mage for future relics.
- Playing with Fire: Fire user.
- Secret Art: His Hero Ability is Scion's Fire. A Black Magic ability that deals 6 magical Fire attacks.
Alphinaud Leveilleur
"An Elezen youth, and grandson of the sage Louisoix, Alphinaud was instrumental in defending Eorzea during the Seventh Umbral Era. Brilliant enough to be accepted to the Studium in Sharlayan despite his youth, he became a central member of the Scions of the Seventh Dawn."
- The Archmage: He has Black Magic 4 and White Magic 4 and can boost both to 5 through Record Spheres, letting him wield a wide array of spells. This was later updated allowing him access to 6th level spells of both schools as well.
- Blow You Away: Wind specialist, and one of a handful of Wind mages in the game and the only Summoner that uses wind as his main element. He even got one of the magical Wind Chains.
- Combat Medic: His Hero Ability allows him to to attack and heal at the same time, and he has a handful of healing Soul Breaks reflecting his transition from using to a healer type character in Final Fantasy XIV proper.
- The Red Mage: In the same way Y'shtola gained offensive tools and Soul Breaks to bring her in line with her Shadowbringers characterisation, Alphinaud is getting more healing tools in line with his Scholar skillset, such as his Summon Moonstone (XIV) Sync Soul Break.
- Secret Art: His Hero Ability is Aerial Slice. A Summon ability that deals 5 magical Wind Attack and heals the party for around 1000 HP.
- Summon Magic: His main skillset, and one of the standout users of Summon magic in the game.
- Throw the Book at Them: His relic weapons are Books.
Minfilia Warde
"Once head of the Path of the Twelve, later becoming leader of the Scions of the Seventh Dawn. After her father died in an accident, she was gifted with the Echo, the power to see into a person's past. Driven to save Eorzea from the lingering chaos of the Seventh Umbral Era, she searches for heroes with the strength to lead her people."
- Adaptational Badass: Minfilia in Final Fantasy XIV was infamous for being a Non-Action Guy who demonstrated no combat skills leading a Badass Crew, and subject to being a Damsel in Distress. Despite this, Record Keeper gave her a toolkit based on XIV's paladin, a frontline tanking class.
- Combat Medic: Her Attack and Mind are both decent, and she can use White Magic 5 and Knight 5, letting her be a back-up healer or an offensive fighter.
- Holy Hand Grenade: Her element is Holy.
- Master of None: Despite her versatile and useful skillset, her lack of an elemental infusion, damaging Soul Breaks, and mediocre stats mean she isn't very good at being mage or fighter.
- Secret Art: Her Hero Ability is The Echo. A Knight Ability that restores around 1000 HP to allies, and charges her Soulbreak Gauge by a very large ammount.
- Support Party Member: She relies more on supporting the party than attacking herself.
Cid Garlond (XIV)
"A master of magitek engineering, Cid opposed the ruthless expansion of his native Garlean Empire and sought refuge in Eorzea. He founded the Garlond Ironworks, and arriving in Eorzea brought with him a wealth of magitek knowledge."
- Flanderization: In Final Fantasy XIV, whenever Cid actually fights he does so as a Gladiator with a unique gunblade, here he exclusively uses abilities from the Machinist job class.
- The Gunslinger: He specializes in Machinist skills and his relic weapons are guns.
- Playing with Fire: His element is Fire.
- Secret Art: His Hero Ability is Equalizer. A Machinist Ability that deals 3 ranged Physical Fire/Earth/Lightning/Poison attacks and imperils those elements for 5 seconds.
Ysayle
"Known as Lady Iceheart, Ysayle leads a group of heretics who oppose Ishgard. She possesses the Echo, and can summon Shiva to use her body as a vessel."
- An Ice Person: Her specialty is Ice.
- The Archmage: She has Black Magic 5, Summon 5, and Witch 5, which gives her no shortage of ways to express her ice affinity.
- Secret Art: Her Hero Ability is Diamond Dust. A Summon Ability that deals 5 AOE magical Ice attacks with a higher multiplier against fewer enemies.
Haurchefant Greystone
"A knight of the noble House Fortemps and commander presiding over Camp Dragonhead. Haurchefant actively welcomes mercenaries and adventurers into the camp, and he seeks to shepherd his homeland of Ishgard through the trying times it faces."
- Draw Aggro: His Ultra Soul Break Live to Serve lets him intercept attacks on allies.
- Holy Hand Grenade: His element is Holy.
- Secret Art: His Hero Ability is Circle of Scorn. A Knight ability that deals 4 physical Holy/Ice attacks and gives the party a small damage reduction barrier.
- Stone Wall: Attempted with his Ultra Soul Break that boosts his Defense, Resistance, and Mind, gives him 6000 HP in autohealing and blocks physical and magical attacks to his party while reducing their damage: key word here being "attempted", as most fights you might want to use him in ignore this mechanic entirely on top of having a large number of defense-piercing attacks, meaning the only part of this Soul Break that works as intended is the autohealing.
- Support Party Member: His niche is buffing, healing, and defending the party.
Estinien Wyrmblood
"The current Azure Dragoon of Ishgard. Driven by his desire for revenge against the great wyrm Nidhogg that robbed him of home and family, Estinien wields the Eye of the beast to fight with all the might of a dragon."
- Blow You Away: Wind is his main element.
- Casting a Shadow: Dark is his secondary element.
- In a Single Bound: Dragoon specialist, so expect lots of Jump attacks.
- Secret Art: His Hero Ability is Star Diver. A Dragoon ability that deals 6 Wind/Dark Jump attacks with a long cast time and no air time.
Alisaie Levilleur
"An Elezen, Alisaie is the granddaughter of the sage Louisoix Leveilleur, and twin sister of Alphinaud. A practical young woman, she values actions above words, and takes a different approach from her brother in her own struggle to right the wrongs of Eorzea."
- Blow You Away: One of her two main elements is Wind.
- The Red Mage: Since she's actually a Red Mage in XIV, here she has a mix of magical and physical skills, with Combat 4, Spellblade 5, White Magic 5, Black Magic 5, and Summon 4. Her stats and Soul Breaks firmly focus her as a spellcaster, however.
- Secret Art: Her Hero Ability is Jolt. A Black Magic ability that deals 3 magical Wind/Lightning attacks and gives her Instant Cast 1.
- Shock and Awe: Her other main element is Lightning.
- Spell Blade: She has access to 6* Spellblade, which is useless as she's primarily an offensive caster.
- White Magician Girl: Her Awakening not just gives infinite hones, damage boost, and Dualcast to black magic, but to White Magic as well despite not there being any Wind or Lightning white magic abilities.
Noctis Lucis Caellum
"Heir apparent to the Lucian throne, known to those close to him as Noct. His tale begins as he sets out from the crown city in order to wed Lunafreya of House Fleuret. He fights alongside his allies wielding spectral weapons that only those of his royal lineage can conjure."
- All Your Powers Combined: Noctis' elements are based on his friends' elements: Earth for Gladiolus, Fire for Ignis, and Lightning for Prompto.
- Balance Buff: While he was decent at his non-elemental role, the metagame is defined by elemental teams, so Noctis didn't make much of an impression. The 2019 June Festival gave him his Awakening, making him a potent DPS in three elements, and he was given Samurai and Heavy Combat access to make full usage of them.
- Critical Hit Class: This is how he pulls his weight without an Elemental Infusion. His Awakening gives him a 100% critical hit rate, and his second Glint Warp Factor temporarily increases his critical hit damage and reduces his cast time for 2 turns. His first Arcane Overstrike Critical Link also has a 100% critical hit rate to make up for being non-elemental and thus cannot benefit from as many boosting effects.
- Dishing Out Dirt: In the game's 6th year he picked up an Earth-focused Sync and Hero Ability to let him specialize in Earth.
- Glass Cannon: When using his Armigier gimmick. Noctis' initial Ultra Soul Break, his Royal Guardian Glint, and his Armiger Overstrike, grant him a damage-absorbing barrier and some kind of status buff while it's up, but the buff is lost if the barrier falls. Combined, they give Noctis a considerably power boost, but once he takes too many strong hits the barrier will fall and his power will be drained.
- Mechanically Unusual Fighter: Downplayed: he's the first character to get two Hero Abilities, but it's unlikely he'll be the last.
- Multi-Melee Master: Noctis' relics are all over the place. While his swords compose his Super, two Ultras and an Overstrike, he has a shuriken for his second Arcane, and a pair of daggers for his Awakening, among other relics he has access to. As for abilities, he has Combat 5, Celerity 5, Dragoon 5, Machinist 4, Samurai 5, and Heavy Combat 5.
- Non-Elemental: Before he got his Awakening, Noctis' niche was non-elemental damage, and in lieu of being able to pick on an enemy's elemental weaknesses, he relied on buffing himself to boost his damage output.
- Playing with Fire: The 5th Anniversary gave him a Sync, Glint+, and Legend Materia to focus in Fire.
- Secret Art: His Hero Abilities are Shifting Fire, Shift Earth, and Shifting Lightning. The first is a Celerity ability that deals 3 physical Fire attacks and gives him Instant Cast 1. The second one is a Combat Ability that deals 6 physical Earth Attacks. The last one is a Combat ability that deals 6 physical Lightning attacks.
Gladiolus Amicitia
"The eldest son of the Amicitia family, whose members have long served in the Crownsguard. They train in martial arts from a young age to fulfill their duties to the royal family. Gladiolus is more than an attendant to Prince Noctis—they are true friends. And as friends, Gladiolus isn't afraid to give Noctis an earful when he deserves it."
- BFS: Has some of these for his relics.
- Dishing Out Dirt: His main element, which he can utilize both as a Knight and through Heavy Combat.
- Secret Art: His Hero Ability is Royal Guard. It deals six hits of Earth damage and gives Gladiolus a 20% damage reduction barrier. It has a long charge time but gets faster as he uses it, until it takes about the same time as other Knight abilities.
Prompto Argentum
"A commoner without any ties to the royal family, Prompto becomes fast friends with Noctis at high school. A dabbler in photography, he goes to great lengths to capture important moments during their road trip."
- The Gunslinger: Par for the course for a Machinist.
- Secret Art: His Hero Ability is Trigger Happy(XV). A Machinist ability that deals 7 ranged Physical Lightning attacks.
- Shock and Awe: Lightning-elemental debuffer.
- Support Party Member: Compared to other Machinists, Prompto's utility is mainly debuffing his enemies by providing Imperil Lightning via Spark/Plasma Offering or his Ultra Trigger Happy, or being a Chainer with Custom Starshell to provide extra damage output to everyone with Lightning-elemental attacks.
Ignis Scientia
"Noctis's official advisor, and one of his best friends. A studious young man, he spares no effort to ensure that he can one day support Noctis as an expert tactician."
- Critical Hit Class: His Burst Stalwart Cook has its second Burst command change effects depending on how many stacks of "Ingredients" status Ignis has. At 2 stacks it grants a party member 100% critical hit rate, and at 1 stack it gives +50% critical hit damage.
- Fire, Ice, Lightning: His Super and his Burst commands deal tri-elemental damage, but his Ultra and his Legend Materia focus him on Fire mostly.
- Multi-Melee Master: Iggy has a truly impressive array of skills: Black Magic 4, Combat 4, Support 5, Dragoon 3, Thief 5, and Sharpshooter 5.
- Secret Art: His Hero Abilities are Sagefire and Enhancement The first one is a Thief ability that deals 4 physical Fire attacks that boosts Ignis' fire-elemental damage every second use with reduced cast time. The second one does 6 ranged physical fire attacks.
- Support Party Member: The main one for XV, and one of the most sought for thanks to his Burst Soul Break. He also has a huge movepool to bring in many supportive abilities the player may need.
Iris Amicitia
"A member of the Amicitia family, Iris is eight years younger than her older brother, Gladiolus. She, too, has been friends with Noctis since they were young, and over the years she has developed romantic feelings for him."
- Girls Love Stuffed Animals: Her relic weapons are plushies. Unlike Lulu's dolls though, Iris' weapons are considered Throwing.
- Secret Art: Her Hero Ability is Pocket Potion. It's another "heals all allies but charges slower"-type Hero Ability, but Iris' has the benefit of its charge time decreasing each time she uses it, until it's faster than normal White Magic skills.
- White Magician Girl: The realm's sole dedicated healer.
Aranea Highwind
"Captain of an airborne unit in the army of the Empire of Niflheim. Born and bred a soldier, Aranea honed her skills as a mercenary before joining the military. She is known for her mastery of the dragoon fighting style, using these techniques when she faces off against Noctis."
- Casting a Shadow: Her secondary element is Dark and she has access to Darkness abilities. However, she has no way to get a Dark Infusion and while all of her Soul Breaks include Dark, none of them really help her run Dark sets.
- Secret Art: Her Hero Ability is Air Superiority, a Lightning/Dark Jump attack that deals seven hits.
- Shock and Awe: Aranea's primary element is Lightning.
Cor Leonis
"A skilled warrior chosen to be King Regis's personal bodyguard. He is known as "Cor the Immortal" by friend and foe alike for his unfailing ability to return from the brink of death."
- Critical Hit Class: Cor's Awakening gives him +50% critical hit damage and Retaliate status, which synergizes perfectly with numerous Samurai abilities that have increased critical hit rate if the user has Retaliate status.
- Everything's Better with Samurai: His focus is on the Samurai ability school.
- Playing with Fire: His main element as a Samurai.
- Secret Art: His Hero Ability is Predecessor's Might. a Samurai Ability that deals 6 physical Fire attacks and gives him retaliate.
Lunafreya
"Oracle of Tenebrae blessed with the power to commune with the gods, Lunafreya is one of the sole remaining descendants of House Fleuret. She holds sacred her duty as Oracle to guide the king chosen by the Crystal, and she devotes herself fully to the aid of the future king, Noctis."
- Combat Medic: She has both White Magic 5 and Summon 5, and her Soul Breaks are a mix of offensive attacks and healing and buffing skills.
- Holy Hand Grenade: Her secondary element is Holy.
- Making a Splash: Her primary element is Water.
- Pimped-Out Dress: Except for her Trident, all her Relics are various dresses and her hair ornament.
- Prongs of Poseidon: She retains her Oracle's Trident as her main weapon, and with her story connection to Leviathan being used as the basis for her being a Water-elemental character, it's usage is very apt.
- Secret Art: Her Hero Ability is Hydrean Protection. A Summon ability that deals five magical Water/Holy attacks and heals the party for around 1000 HP.
Ardyn
"Chancellor of the Empire of Niflheim. Ardyn established himself by helping develop the Magitek infantry, and now wields considerable political power as Emperor Aldercapt's right-hand man. He is an elusive figure shrouded in mystery. "
- Casting a Shadow: One of his two elements is Darkness.
- Do Not Go Quietly: His Sync Mega Death gives him "Revival Mode". Revival Mode triggers when Ardyn falls to 20% HP, and gives him two turns of 100% critical hit rate, Instant Cast, and Instant ATB. That is to say, when Ardyn is on the brink of death, he suddenly gets a burst of speed and power to deal some massive DPS before he drops.
- Evil Counterpart: To Noctis, naturally. He wields his own versions of the Royal Arms, can summon his Dark Armiger, and has the exact same ability set as Noctis with the addition of Darkness.
- Paint It Black: His versions of the Royal Arms are deformed versions, and take on a black and red color scheme.
- Playing with Fire: His other element is Fire.
- Secret Art: His Hero Ability is Aura of Darkness. A Darkness ability that deals 5 ranged Physical Dark/Fire attacks.
Ravus
- Casting a Shadow: One of his two main elements is dark.
- Secret Art: His Hero Ability is Zantetsuken(XV). A Spellblade ability that deals one Physical Lightning/Dark attack that can break the damage cap.
- Shock and Awe: His other main element is lightning.
- Sibling Yin-Yang: His main elements are lightning and dark, mirroring his younger sister's water and holy element.
