Job Overview

Corsair: Strengths & Weaknesses


Strengths

• A variety of powerful and some unique party-wide enhancements available from Phantom Roll, including Refresh, Double Attack+, Magic Attack Bonus, Critical+ and many more.
  
• Near equal Weapon Skill levels in Gun, Sword and Dagger, allowing for attacks utilizing three main weapons.
  
• The Corsair 2-hour ability Wild Card is one of the most powerful abilities in the game. While being luck based, it has a chance to restore large amounts of HP and MP, give TP ranging from 100%-300%, and restoration of all job abilities including the 2-hour ability of other party members within range, all depending on the card number you roll.
  
• Able to access Marksmanship weaponskills without use of a Ranger subjob. Also grants Marksmanship weaponskills to other jobs that set Corsair as a subjob, as would using Ranger as a subjob.
  
• A host of other unique abilities such as Random Deal and Quick Draw, both of which are extremely useful in their own right.
  
• Corsair Phantom Roll abilities nearly double in power over Bard songs when reaching the number 'XI', providing larger boosts to buffs. (Update: Aug 27/07)
  

Weaknesses

• Will often compete in the same support slot as Red Mage and Bard, who are often picked up over a Corsair for their ability to enfeeble and heal (RDM), and the ability to implement a wider variety of enhancements and debuffs (BRD). Many parties believe that Corsair is a pure support class, so will not invite it for it's damage.
  
• While not as expensive as a Ninja or Ranger to maintain, Corsair requires an investment of gil for bullets and elemental cards used in Quick Draw in order to fully utilize the abilities of the job.
  
• At levels 22+, the main damage from a Corsair will be through the use of a Gun. A 'B' skill ranking in this weapon will show it's flaws in later levels, requiring the use of more Ranged Accuracy+ equipment to maintain a decent hit rate without enhancement assistance.
  

Additional Notes

• A Corsair is unable to access the Ranger-only weaponskill Heavy Shot, even with Ranger set as a support job. Corsair will be unable to execute a Light Skillchain until obtaining the trial weaponskill Detonator.
  
• Using Corsair as a support job will reduce the number of Phantom Roll enhancements allowed to be cast on you and your party to one. Please also note that the power of these enhancements will be limited by the level of your current Corsair support job.
  

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Job-Race Combinations


Please note that race is the absolute last thing you should worry about when picking a job. Anything said here is seriously exaggerated. A single piece of gear can often make up for a race's negligible lack in a stat. Every race also gets "Race Specific Equipment", or "RSE", that will boost a race's stats to equal, or possibly even surpassing other races.
Hume

• Hume can play both roles of Corsair impeccably. Providing decent strength and agility for ranged attacks, or MP and mind for White Mage support job possibilities. On top of this, Hume also provides a hefty load of HP and vitality, increasing survivability by a marginal amount. You can equip a wide variety of your RSE to enhance a large number of things, filling in any gaps you find yourself missing.
  

Elvaan

• Elvaan Corsairs are really cool looking. These guys possess the highest strength and mind in the game, allowing for some of the greatest damage of all races, while allowing a White Mage support job to bring home the more potent Cures if necessary. Though it can be made up by gear, low agility and MP hinders both categories ever so slightly. Your RSE can put both up past a number of other races, though.
  

Tarutaru

• Providing both good ranged accuracy through agility, and large cure-bombs with high MP, Tarutaru also find a place to shine in the category of Corsairs. Since Corsairs don’t pull horrible amounts of hate, their low vitality and HP don’t play much of a problem here. These little guys might want to sub Ninja more than other races, though, just in case.
  

Mithra

• Being the dexterous and agile women they are, Mithra don’t like to miss, and they don’t like to get hit. With guns being as powerful per hit as they are, on top of already average strength, and with all of that agility, Mithra get great ranged attacks, and even better weapon skills. Mithra also have relatively decent MP, allowing for versatility in their support jobs. Low vitality means every hit hurts a lot, so make sure you’re properly defended.
  

Galka

• Galka bring the hammer down for the pirates. Providing high vitality and HP for when things go wrong, as well as high strength and decent agility, helping their ranged attacks hit harder and more often. A Galka’s low MP can be brought higher than any other race’s with his RSE, proving to make even a White Mage support job very possible.
  

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Support Jobs


Ranger

• Your number-one support job, despite what a number of other people may say. Throughout your gameplay, Ranger will always be one of the best choices for a support job, but this is especially so after Lv.30. Not only does Ranger provide Accuracy Bonus (which also increases Ranged Accuracy by +10 or more), it also allows access of a number of super-useful job abilities like Sharpshot and Barrage. These two alone can actually allow you to deal a fair amount of damage. The best part about Ranger, though, is the equipment you can use when subbing it. The Beater’s Aspis gives +2 evasion. The Beater’s Earring, providing +3 ranged accuracy. The Beater’s Mantle, making Rapid Shot activate slightly more frequently, which is super useful for how slow guns are. And finally, the Gun Belt, giving you a ridiculous +5 to Marksmanship skill. All of these bonuses are active only if you’re subbing Ranger.
  

Ninja

• A lesser alternative to a Ranger support job. All it really provides is Dual Wield and Utsusemi. And since Dual Wield is shadowed by the Accuracy Bonus from Ranger, all it really provides is Utsusemi. With that said, Ninja is a good support job when the party setup doesn’t look too promising, and as a result, have things go out of hand. It also provides Tonko, which lets you use invisible with less spending than having to use Prism Powders. But if this is the only reason you’re subbing Ninja, White Mage’s invisible is even less expensive than that (free), and you also get sneak.
  

White Mage

• As I just finished saying, sneak and invisible are free for White Mage. This is the support job used for those who want to add a little bit more “support” into their support-role Corsair job. It allows the Corsair to fire off a few Cures and other spells like Poisona to help the main healer out a smidge. It can also help for survivability, adding spells like Blink, Stoneskin, and even Reraise. However, you shouldn’t sub this too far into the game in party scenarios. Ranger is probably your best bet in almost any situation post-30.
  

Bard

• A support job you don’t see very often. Corsair/Bard has a little bit of everything. This is more of an alternative to White Mage, in that it adds more of a support-role to yourself. You won’t be allowed to use two songs at a time, but you can still give your party members another +1 to Refresh or a little bit of attack power or something. If you’re increasing their attack by a percentage, why not increase the base attack that the percentage affects?