Description
Scholars who manipulate the worldly forces of nature.
Using a ceremonial gem and the appropriate incantation,
their specialty interrupts nature to produce supernatural disturbances.
Skills
Universal Skills
Name | Effect | MN Cost | SP Usage | Max Level | Prerequisites |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
POW Bonus | Raises physical attack and defense. | - | 2 | 10 | |
SPD Bonus | Raises agility and evasion. | - | 1 | 10 | |
INT Bonus | Raises magic attack and magic defense. | - | 1 | 10 |
Fire Magic
Name | Effect | MN Cost | SP Usage | Max Level | Prerequisites |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Flame Mastery | Increases the damage and activation speed of fire spells. Required for higher-level fire spells. | - | 1 (lv1~4), 2 (lv5) | 5 | |
Flame | Fire damage to a single enemy. | 3 (lv1), 4 (lv2), 5 (lv3), 6 (lv4), 7 (lv5) | 1 (lv1~4), 2 (lv5) | 5 | Flame Mastery 1 |
Volcano | Fire damage to all enemies. | 3 (lv1), 4 (lv2), 5 (lv3), 6 (lv4), 7 (lv5) | 1 (lv1~4), 2 (lv5) | 5 | Flame Mastery 3, Flame 3 |
Flame Veil | Places a Flame Veil on an ally, which automatically counterattacks enemies who attack that ally with Fire damage. | 3 (lv1), 4 (lv2), 5 (lv3), 6 (lv4), 7 (lv5) | 1 (lv1~4), 2 (lv5) | 5 | Flame Mastery 3 |
Purgatory (EX Skill) | Extreme Fire damage to all enemies. | 0 (EX) | 3 | 1 | Flame Mastery 5 Flame 5 Volcano 5 Unlocked through salvaging. The salvage point is to the southeast of the entrance to Yoba Sand Flats, in the same section of the overworld and beneath the Bloom. (It'll say you got Divine Roar, but that's incorrect.) |
Ice Magic
Name | Effect | MN Cost | SP Usage | Max Level | Prerequisites |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ice Mastery | Increases the damage and activation speed of ice spells. Required for higher-level ice spells. | - | 1 (lv1~4), 2 (lv5) | 5 | |
Freeze | Ice damage to a single enemy. | 3 (lv1), 4 (lv2), 5 (lv3), 6 (lv4), 7 (lv5) | 1 (lv1~4), 2 (lv5) | 5 | Ice Mastery 1 |
Blizzard | Ice damage to all enemies. | 3 (lv1), 4 (lv2), 5 (lv3), 6 (lv4), 7 (lv5) | 1 (lv1~4), 2 (lv5) | 5 | Ice Mastery 3, Freeze 3 |
Freeze Veil | Places a Freeze Veil on an ally, which automatically counterattacks enemies who attack that ally with Ice damage. | 3 (lv1), 4 (lv2), 5 (lv3), 6 (lv4), 7 (lv5) | 1 (lv1~4), 2 (lv5) | 5 | Ice Mastery 3 |
Zero Degrees (EX Skill) | Extreme Ice damage to all enemies. | 0 (EX) | 3 | 1 | Ice Mastery 5 Freeze 5 Blizzard 5 Unlocked through salvaging. Sail directly west from the Forbidden Gate or south from Portal Sum to find the salvage point (it's beneath the Bloom). |
Lightning Magic
Name | Effect | MN Cost | SP Usage | Max Level | Prerequisites |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Shock Mastery | Increases the damage and activation speed of lightning spells. Required for higher-level lightning spells. | - | 1 (lv1~4), 2 (lv5) | 5 | |
Shock | Lightning damage to a single enemy. | 3 (lv1), 4 (lv2), 5 (lv3), 6 (lv4), 7 (lv5) | 1 (lv1~4), 2 (lv5) | 5 | Shock Mastery 1 |
Boltstorm | Lightning damage to all enemies. | 3 (lv1), 4 (lv2), 5 (lv3), 6 (lv4), 7 (lv5) | 1 (lv1~4), 2 (lv5) | 5 | Shock Mastery 3, Shock 3 |
Shock Veil | Places a Shock Veil on an ally, which automatically counterattacks enemies who attack that ally with Lightning damage. | 3 (lv1), 4 (lv2), 5 (lv3), 6 (lv4), 7 (lv5) | 1 (lv1~4), 2 (lv5) | 5 | Shock Mastery 3 |
Divine Roar (EX Skill) | Extreme Lightning damage to all enemies. | 0 (EX) | 3 | 1 | Shock Mastery 5 Shock 5 Boltstorm 5 Unlocked through salvaging. It's beneath the patch of Bloom to the southwest of Simon Village. (It'll say you got Purgatory, but that's incorrect.) |
Mana Magic
Name | Effect | MN Cost | SP Usage | Max Level | Prerequisites |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mana Mastery | Increases the damage and activation speed of mana spells. Required for higher-level mana spells. | - | 1 (lv1~4), 2 (lv5) | 5 | |
Mana Bullet | Non-elemental damage to a single enemy. | 3 (lv1), 4 (lv2), 5 (lv3), 6 (lv4), 7 (lv5) | 1 (lv1~4), 2 (lv5) | 5 | Mana Mastery 1 |
Skyfall | Non-elemental damage to all enemies. | 3 (lv1), 4 (lv2), 5 (lv3), 6 (lv4), 7 (lv5) | 1 (lv1~4), 2 (lv5) | 5 | Mana Mastery 3, Mana Bullet 3 |
Healing Mana | Heals the Mage's own Mana by a small amount. | 0 | 3 | 1 | Mana Mastery 4 |
Concentrate | Increases the power of the spell you cast next turn. | 8 | 5 | 1 | Mana Mastery 5 |
Space Magic
Name | Effect | MN Cost | SP Usage | Max Level | Prerequisites |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Space Mastery | Increases the activation speed of space spells. Required for higher-level space spells. | - | 1 (lv1~5) | 5 | |
Portal Jump | Teleports party to the last portal used. | 8 (lv1), 7 (lv2), 6 (lv3), 5 (lv4), 2 (lv5) | 2 (lv1), 1 (lv2~5) | 5 | Space Mastery 1 |
Exit | Teleports party to the exit of the dungeon you're currently in. | 8 (lv1), 7 (lv2), 6 (lv3), 5 (lv4), 2 (lv5) | 2 (lv1), 1 (lv2~5) | 5 | Space Mastery 3 |
Shieldcraft | Nullifies up to a certain amount of damage the Mage takes. | 4 (lv1~2), 5 (lv3~4), 6 (lv5~6), 7 (7~8), 8 (lv9~10) | 1 (lv1-7), 2 (lv8~10) | 10 | Space Mastery 4 |
Apocalypse (EX Skill) | Extreme non-elemental damage to all enemies, with a chance to inflict Skill Seal. | 0 (EX) | 3 | 1 | Space Mastery 5 Mana Bullet 5 Skyfall 5 Unlocked by inspecting the bookcase at the end of the path indicated by the second set of runes in the Masukami Memorial. Translated, the directions are NWSNEESENWNSESWSNEEN. |
Other Skills
Name | Effect | MN Cost | SP Usage | Max Level | Prerequisites |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Medicine | Improves the effect of recovery items. | - | 1 (lv1~5) | 5 | INT Bonus 3 |
Scholar Lore | Increases drop acquisition rate. | - | 1 (lv1~5) | 5 | INT Bonus 5 |
Skills
SPD Bonus
While a Mage usually will fire off his full-party attack spell after all the enemies have attacked, raising his SPD may be a good way to have the spell go off before that happens.
However, you should be mindful of your Healer's SPD as well (if you have a Healer) - with Craft Mana, you can have the Mage gain back all the MN he's spent from previous castings, but only if the Healer uses Craft Mana before the Mage casts his spell. Keep the SPD difference between the two jobs in mind when raising this.
INT Bonus
Aside from actual attack spells, the Mage's lifeline is right here. If you're running a Mage and you've got all the spells you need already maxed, you'll want this maxed next. The Mastery skills only account for a rather disappointing part of your damage in comparison to this. They will speed up the time it takes for the spell to come out that turn, though, in case your Mage has some moderately good SPD.
As an example:
- INT Bonus Lv. 5, Flame Lv. 5, Flame Mastery Lv. 5 against an Enshentas - around 270 damage.
- INT Bonus Lv. 10, Flame Lv. 5, Flame Mastery Lv. 5 against an Enshentas - around 340 damage.
For more on damage, click the link. The translation of the formula is:
Base Damage = ((Caster's INT / 2) * Spell Attack Power + (2.5 + 2.5 * Mastery Lv.) - Target's DEF / 2 - Target's INT / 2) * Damage Multiplier
Spell Attack Power and the Damage Multiplier both depend on the level of the spell you're using. Check here.
Elemental Mastery
Single Target Elemental Spell (Flame, Freeze, Shock)
The Spell Attack Power of all single target elemental spells starts at 300 at Lv. 1 with a 150% damage multiplier, and increases to 400 with a 200% damage multiplier at Lv. 5.
Each of the three elements have the same effect (only dealing different elemental damage, of course). Bosses with resistances to elements will render some of these useless.
Since Single-Target Lv. 3 is required to learn the full party spells, you should start by concentrating on getting a single spell to Lv. 3 in one go from the beginning of the game.
Once you've got enough spare SP sitting around (by end game), you could pick up all three full party elemental spells, but you'll have to figure out your enemies' elemental weaknesses.
Full Party Elemental Spell (Volcano, Blizzard, Boltstorm)
The attack power of these spells is 240 with a 150% damage multiplier at Lv. 1. At Lv. 5, these spells' attack power is 320 with a 200% damage multiplier.
At Lv. 1, these things are powerful enough on their own at 3 MN.
Random enemies without any elemental resistances will fall in one shot of these things, which is the main selling point of the Mage.
At the beginning of the game, just pick one of these and start leveling it. You may eventually want all of these at least Lv. 1.
These are slightly more powerful than the Mana Mastery full party spell, Skyfall, but you'll start facing tough fights when you find an enemy resistant to your element. Keep this in mind as you make your Mage.
Fire:
Starting with King and Flame Eater, bosses with resistance to this element are actually more common.
There aren't many enemies weak against fire, so this element has a bit of disadvantage.
On the plus side, there aren't many random encounters that are strong against fire.
Ice:
Great against desert enemies, King, and Flame Eater.
You'll find more bosses weak against this than the other elements.
However, you'll find regular enemies resistant to this in Hiyoron Grotto, Melright Mining Cave (メルライト鉱山洞), and Hyuro Ice Cave (ヒューロ氷洞).
Lightning:
Effective against ocean enemies and mechanical enemies.
Most enemies won't have weaknesses or resistances to this, so it's a fairly safe pick. The majority of dragons with elemental weaknesses are weak to lightning.
Elemental Veil Spells (Flame Veil, Freeze Veil, Shock Veil)
Just as powerful as single target elemental spells, these have 300 attack power with a 150% damage multiplier at Lv. 1, rising to 400 attack power with a 200% damage multiplier at Lv. 5.
These spells have the same power as a single target elemental spell of the same level, and give that element's Veil status for 10 turns.
The veils activate when the affected takes a physical melee attack, and fire off a single target elemental spell against the enemy who attacked the affected when they do. They won't fire off on things like Breath or other magic, or projectile attacks like 30mm Cannon.
They'll activate as many times as you're attacked, so raising them up to max can result in some pretty heinous damage if your target's attacked a lot. Around mid-game, Lv. 1 should be enough for most purposes.
You can just cast them on your entire party, burning up four turns in the process, but if you've got a Provoke or Guardian Knight, then you could take advantage of the fact that they'll be taking your enemies' attacks and just cast it once on him.
You could just cast it on your front row, and have them Guard against bosses that do single-target physical attacks.
These spells are not affected by EX, so don't waste your gauge on these.
These spells are, however, affected by Angelica Cage, so using the two in tandem might let you look at some nice damage.
The Veil's counter attack has a really great hit rate, so they'll help against enemies that have a high evasion rate.
EX Elemental Spell (Purgatory, Zero Degrees, Divine Roar)
EX Elemental spells have 360 attack power with a 200% damage multiplier.
An EX single target spell will outdamage these. EX full party spells won't. Regardless, there aren't many chances to use these.
Elemental resistances will always be a factor with these, and the only times you generally need EX are against dragons and bosses. Single target spells are normally the way to go for those fights.
Mana Mastery
Mana Bullet
Mana Bullet has an attack power of 270 with a 150% damage multiplier at Lv. 1. At Lv. 5, its attack power is 360 with a 200% damage multiplier.
It completely ignores elemental resistances in exchange for a bit of damage output. They'll do roughly 90% of an elemental spell of the same level.
Even if they're a bit weaker comparatively, you can fire them out without regard for what enemy you're facing and without much loss in damage, so this spell is actually quite useful.
The coveted Concentrate is within the same Mana Mastery line of skills, so specializing in this while you're going for Concentrate is one strategy you can use.
The Mana spells do technically carry an element (non-elemental), but you generally won't encounter anything that is resistant to non-elemental damage.
Skyfall
220 attack power with a 150% damage multiplier at Lv. 1. At Lv. 5, Skyfall has 320 attack power with a 200% damage multiplier.
Good firepower for having it even at Lv. 1.
Until mid-game, you'll be able to wipe encounters clean with this just at Lv. 1. It won't even be affected by your enemies' resistances.
Taking it won't hurt your character's skills one way or another.
Again, this will do slightly less damage than elemental full party spell of the same level.
If you're just going for Mana Mastery skills, you should have some free SP at around Lv. 40 or so,
so you might want to grab another elemental full party spell at that time. Fire and Lightning will pose the least problems against random encounters.
Healing Mana
Recovers 3 MN on its own, 6 when you burn EX. This can't be used out of battle.
Leaving the Mana healing to a Healer's Craft Mana or a Princess' Song of the Moonlight might be the best way to go about this instead.
However, in random encounters, if your front liners can take care of the enemies on their own and you want to preserve your MN, you can use this to steadily gain back MN over time.
You're only gaining a small amount of Mana, but your skills never break double digits in MN consumption. After using this a few times, your MN recovery will see a not insignificant increase.
Concentrate
Whatever spell you use next turn, its damage will be multiplied by 2.5. This one's a must have - burning a turn for more than double damage will always make you want to burn that turn. Keep the MN cost in mind, though, it's pretty harsh.
A Concentrate with an EX Spell won't actually do much more damage with a Princess' Angelica Cage attached. This has been confirmed with actual testing, and a reading of the strategy guide.
You've got other uses for EX. If you want a powerful blast of magical hurtmore and don't want to use up a turn to do it, just EX your spell.
Space Mastery
Portal Jump and Exit
You can use items instead of these spells and be just fine. If you've got a few leftover SP, then you can get these to Lv. 1 and not worry about stocking up on Exporters and Shifters.
At Lv. 1, it uses 8 MN, and each level it'll take 1 MN less until Lv. 5, when it takes 2 MN. Lv. 1 is more than enough.
Shieldcraft
LF shielding starts at 30 (Lv. 1), and rises to 100 at Lv. 10. Damage in excess of what the shield can take will go through to your Mage.
Crafts a shield (unsurprisingly enough) that takes a set amount of damage in place of your Mage before crumbling to nothingness. Plain and simple, yet useful and great.
Casting it again while it's still up will reset the damage it can take. You can pick it up while going for The End of World.
If you've got a Knight that can take your damage for you, this might not be necessary. If you find your Mage taking too much damage, then you might want this skill.
The End of World
A non-elemental full party attack spell. 325 attack power with a 200% damage multiplier.
Outdamaged by the elemental EX spells and an EX Mana Bullet, but not by EX Skyfall, and comes with a 40% chance of Skill Seal.
Since it's an EX skill, it requires Skyfall Lv. 5. Skyfall uses 7 MN at that level, so if you're going for The End of World, make sure that you can stomach spending 7 MN per battle.
The Skill Seal works fairly regularly against bosses. Combined with a Princess' Angelica Cage, you can handily keep enemies from using their skills in the last dungeon.
Other Skills
Medicine
Only during battle, and only for items the Mage uses himself, the effectiveness of items used will be increased.
Lv. 1 starts at +50%, and rises at +10% per level until Lv. 5, where the total effectiveness jumps up to +100%.
Heal Aeros will heal 100 LF at Lv. 5, and a bottle of Mana Water will recover 30 MN.
Very useful even at Lv. 1, in case you don't have many points to spend.
If everyone's been hit with Skill Seal, then the Mage might become the primary healer since items can still be used.
With this skill, Mages can be the designated item user, but they'll have to be pulled off offense, which is their primary purpose. It's not a problem every once in a while, since it's much easier to switch from offense to defense. Usually, jobs already on defense are tied up with one thing and can't be spared to do a second if a battle goes bad.
Scholar Lore
Increases item drop rates. It's best to max this one if you choose to get it.
Honestly, the increase isn't extremely great (+5% at Lv. 1, +5% per level, maxing at +25%), so if you're looking to save SP, you can skip this one without any trouble at all.
Some meat drops require you to not use magic or to use a certain type of elemental damage, so it you're looking for those, having a Mage in your party may make it seem like you're losing drop rate.
Usage
Mages are pretty much offense-heavy attackers who specialize in blasting away everything that stands before them. At the beginning of the game, the weaker non-elemental spell Skyfall is still one of the best things you'll ever have damage-wise.
Mages make regular enemies cry with any spell they've got, single target or not. Bosses will also cry, even if they can take more Mage punishment.
Throwing out a spell is normally powerful enough, but the two-turn combination of Concentrate -> EX Spell will really pound down your foes.
You can combine their Veil spells with a Provoke or Guardian Knight for some easy damage.
They make up for their incredible firepower with defense that resembles Japanese calligraphy paper. Keep your Mages defended or they'll go down quick.
You might want to pick up Craft Shield if your entire party lacks defense and falls easily. The MN cost is a bit brutal, so you'll need to procure some way of regenerating MN. Mana Water is a consumable way to go about that, or you could have a Healer with Craft Mana, or a Princess with Song of the Moonlight.
They've got a skill which increases the effectiveness of items by quite a lot, so if you don't mind stocking up on items, they could take up the role of MN recoverer (Mana Water) or full party healer (Heal Aeros). Hyupno Crystals will also allow them to be your revivicator.
Element Link (a Fighter skill) really works well with these guys. It requires the Fighter to take DEF Stance, so you can bolster your front line's defense as you pound your enemies. Set up the combo by using Concentrate and DEF Stance on the same turn.
Character Making
Mana Mastery Type
Mana Mastery Lv. 3, Mana Bullet Lv. 3 -> Skyfall Lv. 1 -> Healing Mana (if necessary) -> Mana Mastery Lv. 5 -> Concentrate -> INT Bonus Lv. 10
Probably the safest way to raise a Mage, since he'll be effective against just about enemy you'll face.
At the beginning of the game, you'll want to concentrate just on getting your full party Skyfall, so you're pretty forced to focus on just Mana Mastery for that time. You won't have to worry about what enemy you face and if they have resistances.
Mid-game, your battle strategy is as simple as just casting Skyfall and watching enemies go up in a cloud of flower petals.
Healing Mana is good at the beginning of the game when 3 MN actually means something. You won't have to go out of your way to pick up additional prerequisites either.
In the latter half of the game, Skyfall might not one-shot your enemies, but only just barely. You could just let your other party handle the clean up and the MN recovery.
For a long while, leveling Skyfall will be your way of ending encounters in a single turn, but the MN cost will rise as you level it.
If you don't think you can take the MN cost, then level INT Bonus. Whenever you find Skyfall not one-shotting your enemies, pump a level into it.
During symbol encounters or boss fights, your mainstay is going to be Mana Bullet. At mid-game (against Dead Black), you'll want this at Lv. 5, which isn't hard to do.
If you've got Concentrate early, then symbol encounters will be over in a flash. If you can, get it as soon as you're able.
This works great in ending symbol encounters fast enough that more dragons don't pop into the fight.
Of course, since this is Concentrate we're talking about, the MN cost is pretty high. Stock up on Mana Water, and remember there's nothing more delicious than a Recovery Spring.
If you've just concentrated on Mana Mastery skills, then by Lv. 30 or so, you'll be done.
Strengthening Skyfall will about guarantee clean sweeps, and raising SPD will help you go before your enemies.
You could use your SP for Medicine and be good at healing as long as you've got items, and you can provide some utility in Scholar Lore to increase your party's drop rates. Just look for things that will help out your fellow teammates the most.
After you've got your base skills, go for Space Mastery and The End of World.
Single Element and Mana Mastery Type
Select one element to concentrate on, and against enemies that are strong to that element, rely on Mana Bullet or Skyfall.
Elemental Mastery Lv. 1 -> Single Target Elemental Spell Lv. 3 -> Full Party Elemental Spell Lv. 1 -> Elemental Veil Lv. 1 -> Skyfall Lv. 1 (with all prerequisites) -> EX Elemental Spell -> The End of World (if necessary)
The advantage to Mana Mastery above is that you'll have a Veil spell for counters (just Lv. 1 is good). You can also pick up your EX spell faster than you can pick up The End of World, so you'll have your basic skills ready by early to mid-game.
If you don't want to pick up any other skills before getting The End of World, then you can save up your SP for it so you can learn it immediately when you get it.
If you don't mind a skill reset, you can spend all your SP on raising your skills normally, then skill reset for the immediate gratification of learning it as soon as you can.
If you don't mind doing quests to raise levels, then you can slowly raise your levels and make mid-game pretty easy. You'll likely have enough SP to learn it if you do that.
Or… you could always spend SP as you want and raise a few levels after you unlock the EX skill. It won't be until the end of the game that you can unlock the skill, though, so leveling will be slow.
Tri-Elemental-Type
Only for players who like doing their research. This Mage has the advantage of always being able to deal the most raw damage, if the enemies weakness can be figured out.
Of course, they won't be able to pick up Concentrate, so overall it probably ends fairly equal (2x turns of correct weakness hit == Concentrated Mana Bullet?).
The main advantage is also being able to apply the correct Veil to the Knight, I suppose. Because then it could theoretically be 3x or more hits in 2 turns at correct weakness. Which is brutal, especially if its a dragon that uses multiple basic attacks.
My best guess for optimization of this type would be:
- All the Lightning stuff at Lvl 5 and Creation of a Divine Roar EX.
- Having only Freeze and Freeze Veil from the Ice Tree. Its to have a cheap single target spell?
- Volcano as your cheap mob killer (leaving it Lvl 1 for the 3MN cost until its no longer effective).
- Obviously all of the Veils.
- Medicine or Space Spells if/when you can afford them.
Abjuration-Type
This is for an insane Mage who thinks he's a Knight. He picks up 1 element and then Space skills. Specifically, Shieldcraft and a Veil of choice (again, Lightning is a safe pick). He then does the crazy thing of sitting in the front row with his Shield up. Once its up, he casts a Veil on himself, and then re-inforces the Spacial Shield each and every turn.
Since Shield basically gives the Mage a barrier of Temporary LF points, as far as I can see, as long as you keep restoring this amount to the maximum, you gain a kind of temporary invulnerability of sorts. Of course, you're screwed if you find enemies that can outdamage your shield in a single attack or barrage. (i.e. More than 100 DMG in 1 turn, assuming Spacial Shield is maxxed). In the meantime, the Veil will continually counterattack anyone foolish enough to try to hit you.
Since the Mage has a naturally low DEF, you might want an ally who can increase that for you, like a Lovely Voice Princess. Recasting your shield all the time will also be MN intensive, so its even better if that Princess knows Aria of Moonlight.
I imagine it'll be awhile before you can get your Shield up the usable level enough to actually step into the Front Row, so until then behave yourself and act like a normal mage with your element.
I would also think that having this mage in the front row by themselves is possibly a bad idea, even with Shield. He probably also wants some SPD Bonuses if possible.
Job Combinations
The Mage doesn't have many skills which can be used together with other skills from other jobs.
He just casts spells and rains down destruction on your enemies and makes them cry.
That said, there are a few combos you can do with a Mage.
Mage and Fighter
Character Making
The End of World and Tidal Wave will both inflict Skill Seal. If you think you don't need both, you can save a few SP for one of your characters.
Concentrate (Mage) + DEF Stance (Fighter) -> any Elemental or Mana Spell (Mage) + Element Link (Fighter)
Element Link is pretty obvious when you look at the Fighter's skills, but you can fill in the time your Fighter needs for DEF Stance to use Concentrate.
EX either the spell, the follow, or both if you want some really meaty damage.
Mage and Knight
The Knight can do a number of things to protect the Mage, who takes damage like a kitten.
Shield Rear will reduce the physical damage the Mage takes, Provoke and Guardian will prevent attacks from targeting the Mage.
Provoke will not protect anyone against a full party attack, which Guardian will. Guardian only works after the Mage has been whumped on once or twice, though.
The Mage might be able to make do without the extra protection, but that can be said of any jobs other than Fighter (who definitely can). Knights also offer Safe Walk.
Elemental Veil (Mage), targeting the Knight + Provoke or Guardian (Knight)
Provoke and Guardian will make attacks go to the Knight instead of other party members.
Your Mage will only need to cast Veil on one person (the Knight). Most enemies that attack will attack the Knight, and for each that attack that's not ranged or magic, the Veil will fire.
Mage and Samurai
The Samurai throws out damage and the Mage throws out damage at the same time. They don't help each other much beyond this.
Zeppa Uchi might prevent full party attacks, but that's about the extent that a Samurai's skills benefit his party members.
If you're really gunning for enemy weaknesses, you can have your Mage concentrate on the same elemental attack the Samurai takes.
If your Samurai is a Zanbato Samurai, then go for Shock Mastery. If he's an Iai Samurai, then pick up Freeze spells. Unarmed Samurai have Myouou, which does Fire damage.
Angelica Cage (Princess) -> any Elemental spell (Mage) + any Elemental attack (Samurai)
This is a three person combo, but here it is if you really want to let your enemies have it: the two jobs that can do the most damage by themselves, and every enemy is weak against their attacks.
You can break four digits with each attack for as long as Angelica Cage is up. It's just awesome.
Mage and Rogue
Full party Elemental or Mana spell (Mage) + Hustle (Rogue)
Hustle will allow the Mage to act first no matter how low his SPD is, which means you'll be able to blow away your enemies before they can attack.
Elemental Veil (Mage) + Trick Blade (Rogue)
For those of you who like double counters. Your Rogue has to be taking hits almost every turn for this to be effective, though.
Mage and Healer
Other than the obvious recovery that the Healer gives everyone, Craft Mana will help the Mage continue to blast away random encounters.
The recovery from Craft Mana will only be useful if the Mage goes after the Healer, though. If you're raising your Mage's SPD, keep in mind the difference between your Mage's and your Healer's SPD so that the Healer goes first.
A Mage with Medicine can recover a lot of MN at once for the Healer if it starts to get low, and might be the best bet to reviving the Healer if he goes down.
Mage and Princess
Hard Words will help the Mage take damage.
Moonlit Song will cut down on the Mage's reliance on Mana Water for MN recovery, but battles will have to continue past the first round for the MN recovery to affect the Mage.
Healing Mana (Mage) + Moonlit Song (Princess)
Recover 7 or 8 MN per turn, depending on Moonlit Song's level. If your Mage has Concentrate, you can get this for an extra 3 SP.
It's pretty plain, but if your Mage needs to recover MN, this will do it pretty fast.
If you need to spend SP on other things, though, don't feel you have to take Healing Mana. You can get by with just Moonlit Song.
Concentrate (Mage) -> Angelica Cage (Princess) + any Elemental spell (Mage)
Angelica Cage will increase the damage all your elemental spells do.
Use the turn before you Angelica Cage to set up Concentrate. On the next turn, your Mage will go after your Princess has activated Angelica Cage for an immediate blast of magical hurtmore.
Of course, until Angelica Cage wears off, your Mage can just go to town.
Angelica Cage (Princess) -> any Elemental spell (Mage) + any Elemental attack (Samurai)
The same thing in the Samurai section earlier. The Mage and the Samurai can pour out damage like nothing else, and when your enemies are made weak against their attacks, the damage is just amazing.