I suppose with everything he’s been through, he kind of has to be. This war-hardened personality and gruff exterior does more for him than just letting him survive years hanging in a cage: it makes his stats good. All those years of human rights violations gave him a great set of starting stats that just keep getting better. Out of everybody, Basch gets the highest natural amount of maximum hit points. His strength stat is only rivaled by Vaan, and he’s just as good at making combo attacks. When you look at a dude like Basch, I’m sure you think of a few very specific purposes for him in battle: the tank or the DPS. And you’d be right! So let’s take a look at what the best job combos are for our favorite of Ondore’s lies.
3. Uhlan + Archer
Setting up Basch as a damage dealer isn’t especially hard. He always has the chops to do good numbers. The real trick is to take what he can do, and capitalize on it. Uhlan can help you do that. It may seem like an odd choice for somebody who canonically uses swords, but the Uhlan’s set of spears can rival any straight blade with ease – especially with Captain Basch on the offensive. Spears use strength as a large factor in their damage formula. They also add evasion and can knock enemies back. Connecting the dots between that and Basch is pretty simple. And don’t forget that the most powerful weapons in the game are, in fact, spears. The Zodiac Spear and the Vrsabha (yes, that is the actual name) both have high chances to disable on-hit, as well as great combo rates. Speaking of combos… let’s look at where Archer fits into this. The Archer gives Basch more speed (for more combos) as well as Bows, which are a strength weapon that can be fitted with elemental arrows. Together with spears, Basch can cover the entire elemental wheel, which makes up for his lackluster magic. Although… Archer does have a few magic boosts as well as a few white magic spells, so Basch isn’t completely helpless when it comes to magical self-sufficiency.
2. Bushi + Foebreaker
More often than not, it’s not really too interesting to look at a weapon’s damage formula in FF12. Most just rely on some base stat like strength or speed, and that’s about it. The katanas, though, are a little different. Their damage formula relies on not only the weapon’s attack, but also the wielder’s strength and magic. It also takes into consideration the enemy’s defenses, meaning the more buff your boy is who beats with it, the better it delivers that beating. Bushi use katanas, and quite well. They also have enough magic boosts to make it so that even somebody like Basch will benefit from that part of the formula. And his natural strength will further add to this. Bushi even gives him a few white magic spells to throw around! While Bushi covers the magic and katana side, Foebreaker takes care of the strength and defense. It bolsters Basch’s strength to the peaks, and gives him the choice to swap into heavy armor if he wants, as well as the fabled Genji Gear. In short, the Bushi-Foebreaker mix makes Basch a fearsome damage dealer. Using katanas can create large strings of hits (furthered by Genji Gloves) with each strike being super strong.
1. Knight + Shikari
So far, we’ve discussed the two best choices for Basch when it comes to his damage output. But that’s only half of what he’s best at. The other half is his power as a tank. He does have the highest natural HP pool, after all, and is a sturdy fella. When somebody considers a tank, the typical image conjured is a knight. So it all comes together. The Knight job gives Basch heavy armor, swords, and shields – everything required to take hits. It also pushes his strength stat to the limits, allowing him to use some of the most powerful weapons in the game. And don’t forget the little bit of white magic! The knight alone would make Basch an immovable object, but we can do better. Giving Basch the addition of Shikari means you give him not only more speed, but access to daggers. Basch with a good shield and the right dagger can have a stupidly high evasion, which means he can survive situations nobody else could. If you get a good caster to use Decoy and stick all the enemies onto the Knight/Shikari Basch, your party will be free to destroy them while Captain Rosenberg sits pretty and waits it out. Shikari can also cast Protectga, but I don’t think that would ever be useful. Am I wrong? Yeah.
