Astria Ascending build guide: The best jobs and skills for each character

Astria Ascending has eight characters with their own base/default jobs. As you progress further in the campaign, you’ll unlock more options to fine-tune them to your liking. Some choices tend to be decent, but there are a select few that are truly game-changing. Here’s our Astria Ascending guide to help you with the best jobs and skills for your character builds.

Note: For more information, check out our Astria Ascending guides and features hub. Likewise, you can take a look at our guides regarding how you can unlock main/sub/support crests and how to farm stat orbs and SP.

Astria Ascending character build guide: The best jobs and skills that you need to acquire

To clarify, my suggestions here are based on a full campaign playthrough after having reviewed the game. Although you can customize any character to suit your playstyle, I preferred the most efficient means of eliminating opponents and surviving. As such, some characters in Astria Ascending fell by the wayside since they didn’t have the best jobs or skills to select from. Likewise, you don’t really need to scour the remaining temples to get the support job crests. I managed to clear the game without unlocking them, and I’m only taking a look at them now via the post-game continuation option.

Note: For the recommendations below, I’m assuming that you’re also unlocking support star nodes. You’ll need these if you want to equip passives via the Abilities panel in the menu.

Ulan

• Base job/skills: Captain – Wave, Taunt, MP Saver, Duty (optional – don’t get this if you can obtain Provoke faster).
• Main job/skills: Guardian – Provoke, Guard, Retaliate, Repay (optional), Omni Provoke (optional).
• Sub job/skills: Harnesser – Omni Shell, Omni Wall.
• Stat priority – Stack HP but try to have around 300 MP; stack DEF or MDEF; increase your AGI and EVA.

Ulan is the main character in Astria Ascending. In battles, you’ll want to Taunt/Provoke enemies so they just attack her, and Wave is there to deal AoE physical damage. The most use you’ll have comes from automatic blocking via the Guard passive. Ulan will protect her teammates, which is why you need to stack defense stats and HP. She will save your party from certain doom, that’s for sure. But, if you’re only playing on easy or very easy difficulties, her defensive capabilities won’t be that integral anymore.

Eko

• Base job/skills: Scholar – Cure, Erio, Omni Erio, Raise, MP Saver, Blossom.
• Main job/skills: White Mage – Try to get higher-level spells for single-target healing/damage (i.e., Omni Eriorus, Omni Curus), Half MP, Auto-Raise, Rescuer.
• Sub job/skills: Harnesser – Omni Shell, Omni Wall.
• Stat priority: Get around 600-800 MP then start stacking HP all the way; stack MAG; stack AGI so you can act early each turn.

Eko is your primary healer in Astria Ascending. Outside of a fairly short sequence when he’s not in your party (i.e., Aries Temple), he’ll be a mainstay. The combination of Half MP and Blossom (assuming you have more than 600 MP) ensures that Eko is always near or at full mana whenever he gets his turn. Then, once you include Auto-Raise/Rescuer, you can prevent unnecessary wipes due to timely revival. Oh, and don’t forget your Erio spells since you’ll be the primary damage dealer if enemies are weak against light.

Dagmar

• Base job/skills: Sorcerer – MP Saver, Blossom, and Fierceness. You can stick to the default offensive spells and save your SP for the Black Mage job.
• Main job/skills: Black Mage – Double Cast and Half MP. For offensive spells, you’ll want everything. Okay, maybe that’s too costly. The point is, you’ll want to take note of the enemies that you’re fighting in a particular dungeon or temple. For example, if the boss you’ll face is weak against earth, then make sure you can get Talamus. Once you’ve amassed enough SP, go for the strongest single-target and multi-target abilities.
• Sub job/skills: Shaman or Chronomancer – It doesn’t really matter since most of our DPS will come from Black Mage spells.
• Stat priority: Get around 600-800 MP then start stacking HP all the way; stack MAG; stack AGI so you can act early each turn.

Dagmar is, simply put, the strongest character you can have in Astria Ascending. A combination of Fierceness and Double Cast can result in two or three spells cast in the same turn, enough to annihilate most hostiles.  The initial cast can be greatly boosted by Focus Points, although the auto-procs won’t have the same boost. Also, Blossom will regenerate your MP even when Fierceness or Double Cast procs, ensuring that you’ll always have more than enough mana.

Kaydin

• Base job/skills: Explorer – Omni Force, MP Saver, Umbror/Omni Umbre (optional).
• Main job/skills: Assassin – Umbrus/Omni Umbrus, Umbrorima/Omni Umbror, Precaution.
• Sub job/skills: Hunter – Mark and Gunner.
• Stat priority: Stack HP but have at least 600 MP; distribute STR and MAG evenly; stack AGI so you can act early each turn, but try to have some ACC as well.

Kaydin is an important member of your party in Astria Ascending because of Omni Force and her access to dark elemental spells. In terms of magic, she won’t be as powerful as Dagmar or Eko, but she’s invaluable if enemies are weak against dark. Also, she’s got additional options for multi-hit physical damage like Omni Force and Gunner.

Arpajo

• Base job/skills: Thief – Thief King, Thief Legend, MP Saver.
• Main job/skills: Hunter – Mark and Gunner.
• Sub job/skills: It doesn’t really matter.
• Stat priority: Stack HP but have at least 600 MP; stack STR; stack AGI so you can act early each turn, but try to have some ACC as well.

Arpajo is basically someone you’ll bring out if you’re fighting a boss in the hopes of stealing a decent item. Heck, you could farm some Stun Guard Rings early in the game, too. Likewise, he excels if enemies aren’t resistant to physical damage. Unlike Kaydin, he doesn’t get Assassin (or dark elemental spells), so he can have the Hunter as his main job. You could use Gunner in single-target boss fights to watch him take a chunk out of their HP (if you manage to land all shots).

Alek

• Base job/skills: Soldier – Multiple Hit, Sharp, Backup, MP Saver.
• Main job/skills: Warrior – Omni Slash, Omni Courage, Counter, Last Strike (optional). Alternatively, you can go with Assassin and follow the tips for Kaydin.
• Sub job/skills: It doesn’t really matter.
• Stat priority: Stack HP but have at least 600 MP; stack STR (but have some MAG if you went with Assassin for your main job); stack AGI so you can act early each turn, but try to have some ACC as well.

I feel that Kaydin’s Omni Force is significantly better compared to Alek’s Multiple Hit. In a way, Alek will get pigeonholed as a pure physical damage dealer. If this is the case, then Kaydin and Arpajo will do better. After all, they get access to Gunner which is practically a burst ability (as long as all shots can hit).

Alassia

• Base job/skills: Summoner – Cure, Raise, MP Saver, MP Synthesis, Summon Legend (optional – only if you really want to focus on your summoning capabilities).
• Main job/skills: You can pick the White Mage and follow Eko’s build. Alternatively, you can get the Chronomancer now for Omni Haste and Auto Haste. The latter is a passive which means you can’t get it if you pick the Chronomancer as a sub job.
• Sub job/skills: Either the White Mage or Chronomancer.
• Stat priority: Get around 600-800 MP then start stacking HP all the way; stack MAG; stack AGI so you can act early each turn or EVA if you have Auto Haste.

To be frank, Alassia is someone I’ve barely used during Astria Ascending‘s campaign. Although she’s the only one who can gain access to all Astrae Summons, these entities are weaker than a Dagmar who’s only halfway built. Because the Astrae Summons only have a particular elemental specialization, it’s not guaranteed that every enemy you face will be weaker against that element. Worse, you have to deal with Focus Point management, so it really is better to just rely on your party members than these beings.

If you don’t want to rely too much on your summons, then you can just think of Alassia as another Eko, except Eko gets Blossom as a Scholar. This automatic MP restoration whenever he acts is better than MP Synthesis (which can only occur when you deal damage, not when healing).

Kress

• Base job/skills: Fencer – MP Saver, Fencer Legend, Double Chance. For active abilities, i.e., Blade skills, unlock the ones that are the weaknesses of the bosses that you’ll face.
• Main job/skills: Guardian – Just follow the tips from Ulan’s build. Alternatively, pick the Warrior and follow the tips from Alek’s build.
• Sub job/skills: Guardian or Warrior (whichever didn’t get picked).
• Stat priority: Stat priority: Get around 600-800 MP then start stacking HP all the way; stack DEF then MAG (Guardian) or STR (Warrior); stack AGI so you can act early each turn.

The biggest problem with Kress is that the vast majority of her abilities as a Fencer are single-target. Worse, these entail a physical attack followed by elemental magic. Because of how enemy resistances work, Kress’ physical attack could get nullified or resisted (and you’ll lose your Focus Points). Even if she does an elemental attack afterward, it isn’t as strong as Dagmar’s, Eko’s or Kaydin’s. Because she tries to specialize in too many things (i.e., physical and magic, including defenses if you go with the Guardian main job), her stat prioritization can feel very messy compared to other characters that are more straightforward.

Additional notes about the other jobs/classes in Astria Ascending

You’ve probably noticed that I didn’t talk about certain jobs/classes or skills in Astria Ascending. Well, let’s discuss some tidbits here:

• Hunter – Again, the Gunner and Mark abilities are okay. Unfortunately, the Weakness-type skills tend to miss and bosses are immune to them.
• Alchemist – I never found this useful at all. You need to unlock the single-target and multi-target uses of specific elements. This is a given if you tried the Black Mage, but the Alchemist requires you to purchase crystals and consumables in item shops, too. You can’t get passives like Double Cast or Fierceness either.
• Wushu – This provides some additional boosts to attacks by giving them Erio (light) damage. Unfortunately, its other abilities are RNG-based.
• Dark Knight – This class has some debuffs and shenanigans (i.e., draining/sacrificing HP or MP), but you’re better off with more straightforward options. The spells tend to miss often as well. At least it has Force (non-elemental) magic.
• Shaman – Probably the worst job in Astria Ascending. Most of the skills here will just infuse a teammate’s attack with a specific element for a single turn.

Astria Ascending is available via Steam. For more information, check out our guides and features hub.