Relentless Assault

Commando / Ravager / Ravager

This will be the most commonly used Paradigm for most players in most situations. Most of the run-of-the-mill battles you will face throughout the game will not call for any advanced tactics to be used—they won’t require any healing or to make use of status enhancements or status ailments.

The reason why Relentless Assault is so effective has to do with the balance of the offensive capabilities that the Ravagers can put out with ranged magic attacks while a single Commando can be used to keep an enemy Chain Gauge from depleting too quickly. In some situations, while an enemy is Staggered, you can do more damage by swapping your Ravagers over to a Commando (depending on the weaknesses of the enemy and the strengths of each character and whether they make for a strong Commando like lightning).

Tri-disaster

Ravager / Ravager / Ravager

Having three Ravagers active is the fastest way to charge up a Chain Gauge and Stagger an enemy quickly, but the problem with this Paradigm is that the Chain Gauge will deplete quickly. So how and when would you use this role? There are two situations:

• If the enemy is close to the top of its Chain Gauge and is close to being Staggered and you’re not at risk of losing the Chain Bonus.
• If you’re confident in switching between Tri-disaster and another Paradigm that includes a Commando or a Saboteur and not dropping your Chain Gauge.

This is the most aggressive Paradigm but is also the most situational and challenging to fit into an attack pattern so use it with caution.

Diversity

Commando / Ravager / Medic

Diversity is will be your most dialed-back offensive Paradigm. Yes, it has a healer, but this is still considered an offensive Paradigm because it’s designed to deal damage with the Commando and the Ravager with the assumption that your team will be taking a fair bit of damage as well. It’s your Medic’s job to deal with that damage.

This is generally considered a transitional Paradigm. You should be moving your party into something more defensive if the damage gets to be too much, such as one of the defensive Paradigms listed below, or into a more offensive Paradigm outlined above as soon as its safe to do so.

Cerberus

Commando / Commando / Commando

This is another highly situational Paradigm. Not only is it rarely used, but it’s only really effective against certain types of enemies or enemy groups. The idea behind this Paradigm is that if you’re not trying to pump up the Chain Gauge during a Stagger, such as when the Chain Gauge is already maxed out, then its actually your Commandos that will do the most damage overall.

Situations where you would use this Paradigm include Mission 63, Mission 64 and any battle against an Adamantoise.

Smart Bomb

Ravager / Ravager / Saboteur

This is another effective Paradigm to use while on offense due to the way that a Saboteur’s attacks can be used just like a Commando’s to prevent a Chain Gauge from depleting too quickly. Just make sure to swap the Saboteur out once all the debuffs that an enemy is susceptible to have been applied or they will be standing there doing nothing.

Ruthless

Commando / Ravager / Saboteur

Another very situational Paradigm that is primarily used for Sacrifice Farming in Chapter 13.

Combat Clinic

Sentinel / Medic / Medic

This Paradigm is one of your most defensive Paradigms though not the most defensive (as that’s reserved for Tortoise). This Paradigm is so defensive that it should only be used in rare circumstances, i.e. when your party has taken on a significant amount of damage and you need to get some healing in. The lone Sentinel allows one of your party members to draw attacks away from your two Medics while they pump out healing.

Protection

Sentinel / Synergist / Medic

Protection is a Paradigm that can replace Combat Clinic if you find that having two Medics is overkill and if you never find your party requiring that much healing. Instead, swap one of the Medics over to a Synergist so you can get some important buffs out for when you go back on offense.

The problem with this Paradigm is deciding which of your characters should be the Synergist and which should be the Medic. Unfortunately, Hope is generally considered to be the best in both of these roles, which means you’ll either have to deal with a mediocre healer or mediocre status enhancements. That’s why this Paradigm is considered a bit more advanced than Combat Clinic, so only use it if you feel comfortable with the battle mechanics of the game.

Solidarity

Commando / Sentinel / Medic

This Paradigm has a similar use case as Combat Clinic except its useful when:

1. You want to keep a Chain Gauge from falling to far or resetting, and
2. You don’t require as much immediate healing

This Paradigm is used when you want to prevent the interruption of damage as much as possible but needs to be used cautiously as it will take time for the Sentinel to set up and get active. This can get problematic quickly if damage is split between multiple party members who are all getting low.

Tortoise

Sentinel / Sentinel / Sentinel

This Paradigm is the polar opposite of Tri-disaster; where Tri-disaster is your most offensive Paradigm, Tortoise is your most defensive Paradigm, and it should only be used in a very limited number of circumstances.

In this Paradigm, none of your party members are capable of attacking or healing one another, and they will all be using Provoke and Challenge on enemies, directing attacks all over the place. So why would you use it?

Keep in mind that having one or more Sentinels in your party will reduce the damage that all of your party members take, so having three Sentinels in your party will multiply the damage reduction potential. Check out the Role Bonuses page for more information. Therefore, this Paradigm is very useful when the enemy is about to use an extremely powerful attack.

Decimation

Commando / Ravager / Synergist

This is an offensively focused Paradigm. The idea behind its use is to stack up status enhancements on your party while minimizing the downtime and keeping as high of a damage output as possible. Typically, once the most important buffs have been cast, you would swap over to Relentless Assault or, if healing is required, into Diversity.

Superiority

Saboteur / Synergist / Synergist

This is your most supportive of support Paradigms… if that makes sense. The idea behind this Paradigm, and why it proves so useful, is it allows the Saboteur to get a couple of important status ailments / debuffs active while your Synergists are powering up your party members with important status enhancements / buffs. By the time you come out of this Paradigm, you may need to do some healing, but otherwise, you should be ready to go on the all out offensive.

If you find that using this Paradigm leaves you in a vulnerable position because of how low your party member’s HP ends up getting, consider using the Evened Odds Paradigm instead.

Evened Odds

Saboteur / Synergist / Medic

This Paradigm serves the same function as Superiority, except that it includes a Medic instead of two Synergists. This means that it will take longer to get all the buffs active, but you can heal up from any incoming damage if it becomes overwhelming. It may be more efficient to use this Paradigm over Superiority, but it depends on the situation, the strength of your enemy or enemies, and how quick you can get through all the buffs and debuffs you need to get active.

Attrition

Sentinel / Saboteur / Medic

This Paradigm is your “setup” Paradigm. It is typically used when you need to get one or two status ailments or debuffs active on the enemy, such as Imperil or Slow, before you move into an all out offensive. The idea is here is that the Sentinel will draw in damage, your Medic will ensure no party members lose too much health, and your Saboteur can get to work applying the appropriate debuffs.

This Paradigm is most effective when you set up your Party Leader as the Saboteur. The Sentinel doesn’t have much to do (Provoke and Mediguard/Steelguard) and your Medic just has to throw out heals when they can, but by controlling the Saboteur you can ensure that all effort is put towards getting the right debuffs applied.

Assassination

Ravager / Saboteur / Saboteur

This Paradigm or an alternative paradigm with three Saboteurs ( Infiltration) can be used to quickly stack up status ailments / debuffs on an enemy. You would use this as an alternative for two reasons:

1. You also want to start building up the Chain Gauge on an enemy at the same time, and/or
2. One of your party members is not a very good Saboteur.

Point 2 above is very often the case. Fang and Vanille are great Saboteurs but not all the other characters have a large arsenal of important debuffs to apply.