Penelo finds herself trying to take care of Vaan and cover the weaknesses of his reckless personality. And when it comes to gameplay, she does much of the same. Where Vaan excels in strength and defense, Penelo excels in magic and support. She and Ashe both have the best natural magic stat, though Penelo gets the edge by having the highest natural MP pool in the game. As a trade-off, her hit points never really get too high, and her vitality never goes higher than ‘subpar’. Of course, these weaknesses can be more than covered with jobs. In fact, her strengths can even be made better! Let’s take a look at what job combinations can make Penelo go from good to great.
3. Time Battlemage + Knight
A running theme with Penelo seems to be job pairings that use both magic and strength. The first of which is the Time Battlemage and Knight. Leading with the Time Battlemage means that you get unfettered access to all the time spells, as well as first dibs on their selection of crossbows (which all use strength, but that’s enhanced by the knight) and their various elemental and status effect ammunitions. Time Battlemage gets all three swiftness panels on its license board, meaning that the attached knight won’t have to worry about slowing anybody down. In return, the knight gives Penelo a lot of hit points, something she’s naturally lacking. Knight also has a few white magic spells, and those are always useful. Something not often mentioned when discussing magic in Final Fantasy XII is spell hit rates. Not all time spells have a 100% chance to hit. Things like Decoy, Disable, and Break all have low accuracy. However, this can be improved through a character’s magic stat. And lucky for us, Penelo has one of the best. You’ll see a marked improvement to how much your status magic lands when it’s being cast by our honey-eyed friend.
2. White Mage + Knight
I don’t know about you, but when I hear that somebody has a good magic stat, I immediately think “healer”. And Penelo is no exception! Her magical presence makes her a great choice for keeping other folks alive, as well as protecting them from damage. Of course… white mages, as well as Penelo herself, do lack the more survival stats like hit points and defense. But you know what? We can work on that! The Knight license board arrives with lots of HP nodes, as well as the ability to wear heavy armor. And they can use potions more effectively. Just like that, all the innate weaknesses of both white mage and Penelo vanish into the aether. Knights can also use swords and shields, which makes every White Mage infinitely cooler.
1. Red Battlemage + Monk
Let’s put all those magic points to use. Penelo’s large pool of MP, as well as her high magical prowess, is a perfect pairing with Red Battlemage. The classic jack-of-all-trades comes with a little bit of everything. It boosts Penelo’s already good magic, as well as lets her use shields, greatswords, and mystical armor – all of which is important for her survival. Red Battlemage also makes Penelo a great support character, and can only be matched by Ashe, should she choose the same role. Take a deep breath and smell that potpourri of damage, status effects, and healing! And with the number of ways your Red Battlemage can restore its own MP (as well as the large amount of MP Penelo has) you can go on forever. Oh, right, Monk is here too. Doesn’t that just make it better? Of course it does! Monk has the Holy spell, and I don’t need to tell you how cool that is. Monk also has a lot of HP panels on the board, as well as panels that make item usage better. This combo job can even wear light armor, should you prefer that over the mystical stuff that the Red Battlemage can don. Monk can also use the technics Achilles, Wither, and Expose to blow enemies weaknesses wide open and let the rest of the party (and Penelo herself) right in to bring them down. In terms of support, you’d be hard-pressed to find something better than a Red Battlemage/Monk Penelo. Only Ashe could match her, and even then… maybe.
