This page contains advanced tips for managing your character’s Crystarium and the Crystogen Points (CP) that they earn. For a more basic tutorial, check out the Crystarium Overview/Explanation section.

There is very little customization that you can do when spending CP in the Crystogen other than deciding which role to prioritize and whether to branch off the main Crystarium path. So how do you decide and what should you keep in mind? There are four main priorities which are detailed further below:

1. The Importance of Role Levels
2. Prioritization of Crystals to Unlock
3. Saving Crystogen Points (CP)
4. Role Specialization

The Importance of Role Levels

This tip is mentioned throughout the Walkthrough section of the guide, but it cannot be overstated how important role Levels are to the growth and power of your characters. Unlocking them will immediately improve the utility of the character in that role and will also provide improvements to the party members they are with. So what do they do?

Check out the Role Bonuses section for more information:

Prioritization of Crystals to Unlock

Given the option between different role Crystariums or pathways within those Crystariums, what should you target? Aim for these four Crystals first and foremost:

1. ATB Crystals
   Each character can unlock one “ATB Crystal” in one of their Crystariums. Typically, it will be found in their strongest role (Commando for Fang and Lightning, Synergist for Hope, Medic for Vanille, etc.).
   
   Adding another ATB charge will greatly increase the effectiveness of your characters in all their roles, so you should prioritize unlocking ATB Crystals on the top tiers first and foremost.
2. Accessory Crystals
   Having the ability to equip another accessory can greatly increase the power and effectiveness of your party members and, again, this applies no matter what role they are in.
3. Ability Crystals
   Unlocking spells or abilities as you work your way around each Crystarium will greatly increase the utility and effectiveness of your characters in battle, especially when using “Auto” commands or when the computer/AI is playing your two non-leader characters.
   
   More spells and abilities will open up more possibilities so make sure to unlock these starting with each character’s primary role but then filling out secondary roles as well.
4. Role Levels
   Finally, as mentioned earlier in the guide, increasing a Role Level increases the effectiveness of that character when they are in that role and the entire party. Check out the Roles section for more information.

Saving Crystogen Points

There is a tendency, especially for new players, to go in and spend Crystogen Points (CP) almost as quickly as they are earned. In some cases, spending them after every battle. And why not? Each new node that you hit increases your character’s stats and effectiveness in battle.

This is definitely true; that is, spending CP will generally increase your party member’s power, but there’s a really effective strategy that you can use to greatly power up your characters at the start of a chapter by saving up CP towards the end of a chapter and spending those points on newly opened sections of the Crystarium that you can access at the start of a brand new chapter.

Role Specialization

Some characters are better and some characters are worse when it comes to certain roles. For more information on which characters should be focusing on which roles, check out the “Best Party” section using the link below: