Min - maxing Min - maxing is a gameplay term used in reference to many video games , particularly RPGs . Min - maxing refers to maximizing the potential strength of a character through a specific and planned - out skill path as they level up and , at the same time , minimizing their weaknesses . In the " Final Fantasy " series , getting the most out of a character ' s stats usually means keeping the character at a low level to exploit level up stat bonuses acquired later , or giving the character specific skills to influence their stat growth . Appearances . " Final Fantasy II " . While most stats are raised by performing actions in battle , the chance to gain Agility is based solely on the user ' s Evasion percentage . Since Agility boosts Evasion - % point - for - point , a character with high Agility is even more likely to gain further Agility increases . A high Evasion - % can be attained by equipping shields , which boost Evasion - % based on the quality of the shield and the user ' s shield skill level , while avoiding heavy armor with high Evasion - % penalties . By min - maxing for Agility as soon as possible , party members can equip heavy armor , such as the extremely - heavy Genji Armor , while retaining a high or even maximum Evasion - % value . " Final Fantasy III " . The only stat which can be min - maxed is HP . All other stats are the same for someone with the same level , job , job level and equipment . HP growth is based on level and Vitality . Thus , leveling with high Vitality job , like Knight or Black Belt , makes it easier to reach the 9999 HP cap . " Final Fantasy IV " . In the 3D releases characters stop gaining stats innately at Level 71 . Further stat boosts depend on what augments the player has given them , each augment being tied to one or more specific stat , and thus giving a set boost to those stats on level up . The stat boosts are HP + 10 , MP + 5 , Strength + 1 , Speed + 1 , Stamina + 1 , Intelligence + 1 , and Spirit + 1 . By giving the proper augments to each party member , they will gain in all stats at each level up , allowing for an extra + 280 HP , + 140 MP , and + 28 in all other stats once they hit level 99 . When he defeats Dark Kain and becomes a Holy Dragoon , Kain will retain his level , but his stat growth is different from his time as the Hooded Man . Most of his stats simply change to their Holy Dragoon values , but his HP and MP remain as they were when he was the Hooded Man . Thus , keeping Kain at a low level up until the battle will result in significantly higher HP and MP as Kain levels up afterwards than if he leveled up as the Hooded Man . At Level 50 , the level cap in Kain ' s Tale , the Hooded Man has 3 , 150 HP and 105 MP , while if the player keeps the Hooded Man at his starting level of 15 and levels Kain to 50 after he becomes a Holy Dragoon , he will have 4 , 036 HP and 206 MP . " Final Fantasy VI " . Espers grant stat bonuses at level up , so the best way to maximize stats is to keep characters at a low level until earning stronger espers , so that they will get more stat boosts . The best espers for this are as follows : As Leviathan , Gilgamesh , Cactuar and Diabolos are espers exclusive to the " Finest Fantasy for Advance " , mobile and Steam releases , in the SNES and PlayStation versions Odin is the only esper to grant a Speed bonus . For purposes of min - maxing , it is best to not upgrade Odin into the Raiden magicite . Guaranteeing 9 , 999 HP and 999 MP at level 99 without equipment bonuses is fairly simple . At level 99 all permanent party members have over 9 , 700 HP at minimum , and at least 990 MP , with the exception of Umaro , who has 989 . All characters gain different HP and MP per each level , and between level 50 and level 77 , a character will gain at least 130 HP , while MP growth is maximized between level 10 and level 35 . To ensure 9 , 999 HP , a character must equip Diabolos for any two levels between the given range , or equip Bahamut from Level 68 to 71 — the most any character needs for 9 , 999 is an extra 216 HP , which Diabolos ' s 200 % bonus ensures regardless of specific level , while for Bahamut the three given levels offer 160 and 162 increases to HP , the highest of any natural gain , which multiplied by 150 % will give a net bonus of 240 HP . 999 MP is easier to track , as each character gets 11 MP from level 97 to 98 and 13 from 98 to 99 , so the player just needs to remember to equip Crusader for the last level or two . Otherwise the player can focus on leveling up Strength , Stamina , Speed and Magic Power . If playing the " Advance " release , the player may take advantage of the level reset glitch to maximize character stats . The maximum effective value for all stats is 128 . While Magic will still have an effect over 128 via equipment boosts , any Strength over 128 is wasted . Also , any Speed over 235 will cause an extremely slow ATB bar due to how the game is programmed . " Final Fantasy VII " . There is no trick of getting higher stats since characters are on a growth curve that cannot be modified in - game , and the only other way to permanently increase stats is through items . Whenever a character levels up they get a randomized bonus to their HP and / or MP within a certain range . It is possible to save the game before a character levels up and try again to get the best bonus every time a character levels up , but this is time consuming . It is not possible to " max out " both HP and MP on the same character , so the player would have to choose which stat to prioritize . The maximum possible HP and MP varies between characters . To maximize the other stats the player can obtain stat bonus Sources by morphing certain enemies . Notably , all enemies in Gelnika morph into Sources . Similar to the level reset glitch in " Final Fantasy VI " , the Emerald Weapon countdown glitch allows a player to retain the stats of a party on one save and transfer them to another save ( bar level , HP , and MP ) . When starting a new game battles will not work , however , the game can be saved and then loaded and it will still be a perfectly working save file . The effort required of this tactic is much higher compared to " Final Fantasy VI " , however , as it requires the player to not only reach Emerald Weapon , but also to be able to beat it within a small window of opportunity . " Final Fantasy VIII " . Some Guardian Force s have innate support skills that grant a permanent increase to base stats on level up , so to maximize stat growth the player should keep their characters at a low level . The five bonus abilities and the GFs that bear them are : The Cactuar GF has all five abilities , but due to a limit of four support skills at a time , it is impossible to equip all of these abilities at once . The player will have to leave one stat out , or can raise them all equally . The HP Bonus ability is probably the most useless of the bonus abilities , as it only gives + 30 HP per level up . HP maxes at 9 , 999 while the other four stats max out at 255 . Using junctions it is possible to max out a character ' s stats without any bonuses , but this requires high - powered magic , whereas the bonuses allow the player to reach the maximum value with lesser spells , freeing their stronger stock to junction to stats that cannot have bonus increases . Alternatively , particularly if levels are already maxed , the Devour command may be used on certain opponents to permanently increase stats . Uniquely , PuPu may be devoured to boost a single character ' s Spd stat . The final way to increase stats is through the use of items : These items are rare . HP Up can be won randomly , though only once , in D - District Prison ( 11th floor ) playing Triple Triad . One Luck Up can be won from the 5th floor D - District Prison card player . Str Up can be found on the second floor . In battle it can be dropped by or mugged from Raijin . More Str Up can be mugged from Right Probe . Vit Up can be mugged from Left Probe . Mag Up can be mugged from NORG ' s Left Orb and Spr Up can be mugged from his Right Orb . As these are all one time encounters ( except Raijin who is met twice ) , the only way to get a continuous supply is to refine them using Doomtrain ' s Forbid Med - RF as described below : The player can use a combination of the gil trick and card refining to max any stat other than Evade , but it is very time consuming . " Final Fantasy IX " . Characters gain greater stat boosts due to the stat values on their equipment . The equipment pieces with the greatest stat values are found at the latest portions of the game . Therefore , to maximize party members ' stats , one must remain at level 1 until all of the best equipment become available . With the use of the Add Status support ability and the Stop status to avoid gaining experience , it is possible to keep the party at Level 1 until Pandemonium . At this point there are three encounters that force Zidane or several characters to gain levels . After those encounters , there are none that require the party to gain experience until all the equipment in the game becomes available . Due to the Marcus / Eiko stat bug , Marcus ' s stat growth transfers to Eiko without affecting her level . To fully maximize Eiko ' s stats , Marcus must be leveled to 99 before he leaves the party when he and Steiner meet up with Zidane ' s party in Alexandria Castle , though this process can take several days . The only stats that can be manipulated via equipment are Speed , Strength , Magic and Spirit . Speed and Spirit max at 50 , while Strength and Magic max at 99 . The stats that increase by leveling are as follows : The StatBonus values start at 0 . When a character gains a level , StrBonus and MagBonus increase by 3 , SprBonus increases by 1 and MStBonus increases by 5 . In addition to these automatic increases , the Bonus values also increases based on the stat bonuses given by equipment . There is no equipment that gives MStBonus . " Final Fantasy X " . Once the player can purchase Clear Spheres at the Monster Arena , they can use them to blank spots on the Sphere Grid and fill them in with stat - boosting spheres of their choice . Stat boosting nodes created this way offer higher boosts than pre - existing nodes . It is impossible to clear ability nodes . The number of nodes that can be cleared and filled in with other spheres depends on the game version : 751 nodes on the Regular Sphere Grid ( NA / JP ) , 775 nodes on the Standard Sphere Grid ( INT / PAL / HD ) , and 707 nodes on the Expert Sphere Grid ( INT / PAL / HD ) . HP caps at 9 , 999 and MP at 999 or 99 , 999 HP and 9 , 999 MP with the Break HP Limit / Break MP Limit abilities . Most things that hit above 9 , 999 HP will one - shot regardless . All stats hard cap at 255 . Agility soft caps at 170 with any extra points only deciding first hits ( unnecessary with the First Strike ability ) . Luck soft caps at 133 ( 230 in INT / PAL / HD versions , belonging to Dark Mindy ) and renders Accuracy and Evasion useless at that point . However , the most accurate attack in the game ( belonging Dark Ixion ) requires a combined total of 290 to ensure dodge any evadable attack ; it does not matter whether this is 255 Evasion and 35 Luck , or 35 Evasion and 255 Luck , or anywhere in - between . To max all stats in the Regular Sphere Grid one will have to replace all HP Spheres , any stat sphere below + 4 , and any MP Sphere below + 40 . The player will need to place 40 Strength Spheres , 51 Defense Spheres , 46 Magic Spheres , 59 Accuracy Spheres , 21 Agility Spheres , 44 Evasion Spheres , 29 Luck Spheres . 461 nodes will be left , but 333 HP Spheres and 249 MP Spheres are needed to max both for all characters . Even cutting out all Accuracy and Evasion Spheres will not allow one to max both . With abilities that increase maximum HP , the player can still reach 99 , 999 HP with only 310 HP nodes . Only 18 MP nodes are required to reach 999 MP , and with abilities to reduce the MP cost of spells and skills more is not needed . Maxing in the PAL / Int / HD versions depends on the chosen grid . Standard Sphere Grid has 32 more nodes than Regular . The Expert Sphere Grid has 36 fewer nodes than Regular . The higher Luck cap won ' t change much on the requirements to max all stats , the player will just have to decide between maxing Luck or maxing Accuracy and Evasion . Dark Ixion , Cactuar King and Don Tonberry are the best options for AP farming . " Final Fantasy XII " . Every playable character has unique stat progression , making them slightly better suited for certain roles , but every character can wear any equipment piece and learn every ability , making them largely interchangeable . The main way of min - maxing would be to pay attention to the characters ' action time with each weapon type , as some faster than others . Counter - intuitively , Balthier and Fran are actually the slowest with the weapon types they start with : guns and bows respectively . In the " International Zodiac Job System " version , the player is asked to choose a job class for each party member , and once selected , the job cannot be changed . For endgame min - maxing purposes , it is actually better to make a character the class opposite of what their strengths are , than to play to their strengths , because armor will allow for anyone to cap their primary stat . Stats are capped at 99 , and thus even Ashe in high tier heavy armor will cap out at 99 Strength despite having the lowest natural Strength . This means that if the player makes Basch one of the physical classes , he will have " wasted " some of his base Strength . Given that Ashe has the highest base Magick and lowest base Strength , she makes for a good Samurai , Knight , or Monk that all have magick abilities which benefit from Ashe ' s higher base Magick stat since the License Board s themselves don ' t give any Magick boosts . Balthier and Basch make good mages , as they they ' ll cap their Magick stat regardless , but their innate higher Strength ( plus innate Steal for Balthier ) makes them more useful during the periods they aren ' t casting magick . The only classes where base stats matter for the primary role are Breaker and Hunter , which are best for Fran and Balthier respectively . Breakers calculate damage off Vitality and Strength ( Fran has the highest Vit ) and Hunters use Strength and Speed ( which Balthier has the most of ) . These are the only base stats that armor typically won ' t max out naturally . " Final Fantasy XIII - 2 " . Serah and Noel can increases their HP , Strength , and Magic using small and large nodes on the Crystarium . Typically , Noel will finish with higher HP and Strength than Serah , but with less Magic . Large nodes give certain bonuses depending on which role is leveled up : There are 197 large nodes that can be filled in each character ' s Crystarium . One recommended strategy is to use all the available large nodes to increase Serah ' s Magic and Noel ' s Strength . After maximizing those stats , the player can use the remaining large nodes to increase Serah ' s HP and Noel ' s Magic . Doing so will give the following stats : It is recommended to save the game before filling in nodes , particularly when obtaining the Saboteur and Synergist large node bonuses . " Final Fantasy Tactics " . Characters ' stats largely depend on the job they are in , but , to a lesser degree , also the jobs they have leveled up in . As such , players can use jobs with good all - around stats to make characters stronger overall , or use specialized jobs , like the Ninja , to make them excel at a particular set of jobs . Degenerator traps are useful in optimizing stats as they reduce character ' s level by 1 , and thus reduce the stats of that character by the amount they would have gained by leveling up once in that job . This can be exploited by entering a battle with Degenerator traps in a job with terrible growth stats , such as the Bard , and lower that character ' s level to 1 without lowering their stats to what they would normally be at level 1 . They can then use a job with better growth stats to increase that character ' s level back up to what it was , with better stats . The Orator ' s Praise , Intimidate , Preach , and Enlighten ( and , to a lesser degree , Ramza ' s exclusive Squire abilities Steel and Shout ) can also be exploited to alter Bravery and Faith ; a fifth of any change in Bravery or Faith during battle is permanent , and because the Orator can alter these stats by as much as 25 at once , they can be altered by 5 , or a twentieth of the maximum amount , in a single turn by a particularly strong Oracle . Both can be exploited for specific purposes ; Bravery boosts the damage of some of the game ' s strongest physical attacks , increases the odds of reaction abilities triggering , and reduces the chance of being inflicted with Chicken at the cost of finding rare items with Treasure Hunter ; while Faith increases the power of magick spells and the effectiveness of helpful magick spells cast on the character at the cost of taking more damage from enemy spells . One must be careful not to scare a party member away by reducing their Bravery too low , or raise their Faith too high and cause them to leave the party in favor of a pious life . Ramza will never leave the party , so his Faith can be maxed without penalty . " Final Fantasy Tactics Advance " . Each character ' s stat growth is determined by their job when they level up after gaining 100 exp . It is thus simple to predict when a character will level up during a battle and change their job to obtain desired stats . The character ' s secondary A - ability does not affect stat growth . The following table lists the best jobs per race to equip for each stat , along with that Job ' s stat growth . " Final Fantasy Type - 0 " . Party members ' stats can be boosted permanently via enhancers . " The Final Fantasy Legend " . Mutants level up via their actions , but cap out at 99 in each respective stat . Humans are supposed to do this ( as suggested by the Wonderswan remake ) but simply do not : by continuing to give them statistic - increasing potions , they will continue to gain Strength and Agility up to 255 , and HP well beyond 999 , though the values listed on the sub - screen will remain 99 and 999 . Once passing the true max values , these statistics will revert to 0 in a rollover glitch . Increasing HP beyond 600 is time - consuming , as HP potions only function to their listed maximum before increasing only a single point of Max HP , and there are no HP potions superior to HP600s . For this reason , a player attempting to min - max should purchase HP200s before proceeding past Ashura and the point of no return . Monster statistics are set and based on the actual monsters in - game . Once the player has reached the uppermost Monster tier by consuming the meat from one of the Four Fiend refights , they will only be able to progress by changing to the form of other top - tier monsters . " Final Fantasy Legend II " . In every battle , there are certain tactics that should be used to achieve maximum effectiveness in terms of item usage and stat gaining . Here are the basic steps to follow in battle . Humans and mutant s have the potential to gain stats when they have a turn in battle whether they actually act or not . Therefore , in order to maximize the potential for stats with humans and mutants is to at least have their turn come up in every battle . Humans and mutants also can gain an increase to maximum HP if they survive a battle . Therefore , a player should ensure that all humans and mutants survive the battle as often as possible . Items equipped on humans and mutants generally have a limited number of uses before they break or are exhausted . Therefore , the player should minimize the number of uses of consumable items to save GP . The turn order during battle is generally determined by the agility of the unit . Higher agile characters generally act before lower agile characters , although this is not 100 % true most of the time due to random factors . Therefore , to ensure than everybody has a chance to have an action during battle , the player should have a higher agile characters to kill the more dangerous enemies and let the lower agile characters mop up the rest of the enemies . Humans and mutants can gain stats even if they do nothing in battle , as long as their turn has come up even if the action they were to perform would now do nothing . For example , let ' s say there are two enemies against the player ' s party of a robot , monster , human , and mutant . The robot and monster have high agility , the human has moderate agility , and the mutant has low agility . The mutant has an ability that can kill the second enemy on its own . There are three potential scenarios here . First , if the robot targets one enemy and the monster targets the other , both easily killing their targets , the human and the mutant don ' t get a chance to act since the battle ends too quickly . They have an opportunity to gain HP , but no chance for any stat gains . In the second scenario , the robot and the monster both target the first monster and the human and mutant target the second monster . The robot and monster easily kill the first enemy and the human easily kills the second enemy before the mutant acts . Now the results are that the human has used a consumable item and has a chance to gain a stat bonus for the item used , while the mutant remains unable to gain a stat bonus . The third scenario . The robot , monster and human all attack the first enemy while the mutant targets the second enemy . The robot and the monster easily kill the first monster before the human gets its turn . Since its target is dead , when the human ' s turn comes up , the human simply does nothing and no consumable item is used . The mutant easily kills the second enemy with a rechargeable ability . Comparing the results to the previous two scenarios . After this scenario is over , both the human and the mutant may gain a stat bonus , and no consumable items were used . This is the ideal scenario . Obviously , this scenario is only generally applicable in random battles . Boss battles should be focused on quick kills . There aren ' t many bosses where only one or two attacks finishes the battle , so it is likely that everyone will get a chance to take an action in any case .