What is the best team for Final Fantasy 13?

Answer 1

It depends on your battle preference, and how you've strengthened your characters by crystarium throughout the game.

Personally I don't think Sazh or Vanille should really be touched since Sazh is practically useless without a good equipped weapon like Vega 42s-based Total Eclipses. Vanille, I just generally think she sucks. She was never really useful whenever I used her in my team. Death fails badly, I don't like wasting time on that. Plus, it's no fun killing them instantly. The fun in FF13 is in the battles, IMO.

Generally, I think the strongest team if crystariums aren't maxed out yet (it is recommended to finish the game before leveling up the secondary roles; finishing the game would unlock the last level of the crystariums as well) would be Lightning, Fang, and Hope, especially after Hope learns Haste for his Synergist role. You have Lightning, who's naturally balanced in COM and RAV roles, plus the bonus of being MED. Then Fang, who is a strong COM, the best SAB, and a good SEN. Then Hope the strongest RAV, helpful SYN, and good MED. My suggested paradigms would be (assuming your party order is Light/Fang/Hope):

Combat Clinic (MED/SEN/MED)

Relentless Assault (RAV/COM/RAV)

Aggression (COM/COM/RAV)

Diversity (RAV/COM/MED)

Evened Odds (MED/SAB/SYN)

[xxx] <---I don't really use a sixth one for this team, but feel free to put one of your choice.

Once you have the characters' crystariums fully developed, however, you shouldn't have too much trouble choosing what fits best for your preferences. I prefer using Lightning, Fang, and Snow. For starters, Lightning has the highest combined base stats, Fang is still OP, and Snow has the highest health and the best SEN (Plus, with maxed out crystarium, he makes a surprisingly good MED with his Curasa skill). I use this team all the time now, after experimenting with the battle teams and which is best to beat Adamantoise/Adamantortoise (Because honestly, it's a waste of time to try and kill them with Vanille's death).

LIGHT - Typically I equipped Lightning with a maxed-out Lionheart-based Omega Weapon for decent high stats (STR: 1700+508, MAG: 1700+508). Mainly I chose Lionheart for its Quick Stagger ability.

FANG - I equipped Fang with Taming Pole. Working on maxing it out to Kain's Lance for STR 2005+921 and MAG 1300+921. (Also because I only need her to get the trophy lol)

SNOW - Maxed-out Paladin-based Save the Queen, because he's best at SEN. But I also have a maxed-out Sacrificial Circle-based Save the Queen, for STR 1500+1020 and MAG 1200+1020. Just to get five-stars on the Cie'th missions.

Equipping all these characters with the Genji Gloves eliminates the dmg limit of 99,999. But it's a feat to obtain Genji Gloves from Mission 51, 62, and 63.

Sacrificial Circle (50k Gil) and Taming Pole (27k Gil) can be bought from Gilgamesh, Inc. which is unlockable upon completing mission 46.

These are the paradigms I use for my team to beat the giant Oretoises (Battle team order Light/Fang/Snow):

Tortoise (SEN/SEN/SEN)

Salvation (MED/MED/MED)

Rapid Growth (SYN/SYN/SYN)

Infiltration (SAB/SAB/SAB) <- Just spam Imperil, it's all you need.

Relentless Assault (RAV/COM/RAV)

Aggression (RAV/COM/COM)

Whenever the Oretoise raises its leg to attack I immediately cut off whatever my team is doing and just switch to Tortoise, to nullify some damage. Then I switch back to whatever I was doing before, or I go to Salvation if health is too low for comfort.

With Lightning's Army of One, I am able to switch to another paradigm instantly just as Lightning commences the first slo-mo to the first attack, and she'd still continue attacking despite the Optima change. Comes useful for many situations. Also, I prefer using her skill when the enemy is near-ending stagger. This way, she could continue doing augmented damage because the stagger bar does not disappear when in the middle of being attacked by Ao1, only when the attack sequence is finished. This gap gives time for Snow and Fang to apply Deathblow if they haven't done so yet, too.

Anyway, I hope this helped choose what team is best for you! (I play a lot of FF13, even in post-game.)

~Mocha-Leopard