Octopath Traveler may have a few narrative flaws, but it more than makes up for these hiccups with its innovative and experimentation-focused combat system. With eight distinct characters that become more powerful with 12 interchangeable subclasses, there are tons of unique combinations players can choose when selecting an active party.
Since some characters are necessary for specific areas and fights in the game, it’s important to level up each of the protagonists and regularly try out different team compositions. While you can’t go wrong as long as you’re having fun and progressing through the game, certain character combinations can be devastating in the right circumstances and against the right enemies. These six character combos are definitely worth checking out as you travel across Octopath’s fantastic world.
Cyrus, Ophilia, and Primrose
Between the Scholar Cyrus, the Cleric Ophilia, and the Dancer Primrose, a player can use every kind of elemental magic in the game. This is an incredibly versatile set as just about every enemy is weak to some sort of elemental damage. You can even further the effectiveness of this combination by giving each of them the sub-class of one of the others, as they all boost either elemental damage or SP terrifically.
Almost any character can fit into the fourth slot in this strategy as Cyrus covers damage, Ophilia is a great healer, and Primrose can debuff foes. A solid physical attacker like Olberic or Alfyn should make for excellent additions to this team, however.
H’aanit and Olberic
H’aanit and Olberic are the two best characters in the game when it comes to dealing physical damage. H’aanit excels in striking multiple foes at once and Olberic is fantastic at destroying enemies in one-on-one fights. Together, though, the two can unleash massive amounts of damage and break nearly any enemy they come across.
In this pair, H’aanit should definitely have the Warrior sub-class as it allows her to deal more than 9,999 damage with her most potent attacks. This team should also have at least one healing and stat boosting character in the remaining slots to offer support for these two attackers.
Alfyn, Therion, Tressa, and Ophilia
Money and resources are pretty scarce in the beginning hours of Octopath Traveler. Thankfully, this combination of heroes offers a useful means of acquiring wealth and items while also using them efficiently. Therion and Tressa can steal items and wealth from enemies in battle and procure them in the overworld. Alfyn’s Apothecary abilities let him generate extra effects when using items, and Ophilia is a great healer who has one of the largest SP meters in the game.
For this set, it’s beneficial to sub-class Therion as a Merchant and Tressa as a Thief so they can more efficiently gather resources from enemies. It’s also wise to give Alfyn the Cleric sub-class so he can offer further support to his teammates and have Ophilia sub-classed as a Scholar or Sorcerer for greater elemental coverage.
Alfyn, Tressa, Olberic, and Ophilia
This combination of characters is easily one of the tankiest sets of characters in the game. Each of these protagonists can either reliably heal or endure massive amounts of damage. This makes this strategy particularly effective at taking on boss enemies that don’t require specific strategies or large amounts of elemental damage.
For this strategy, it’s wise to give Alfyn the Warrior sub-class as it boosts his HP and allows him to deal tremendous damage if leveled up enough. Likewise, Olberic should receive the Apothecary sub-class as the Last Stand skill lets him inflict damage proportional to the damage inflicted on him. While there are plenty of sub-classes you can run on Tressa and Ophilia, you may want to give Tressa the Scholar sub-class for elemental coverage and Ophilia the Dancer sub-class for speedy healing.
H’aanit, Ophilia, Primrose, and Tressa
This set is admittedly a bit gimmicky, but it’s fun and powerful nonetheless. Each female protagonist in Octopath can summon either captured enemies or NPCs in battle. H’aanit is basically a Pokémon trainer and can summon captured monsters in battle, Ophilia and Primrose summon NPCs to fight alongside them for a set amount of summons, and Tressa can pay powerful allies to the field to perform a single technique.
This party has an astronomical amount of utility and can devastate nearly any foe if set up properly. With proper research and preparation, a player can uncover the weaknesses of enemies and bosses in an area and recruit the best combination of enemies and NPCs to combat them while also raising enough money to bring in the most useful hired help.
Alfyn, Olberic, Primrose, and Therion
This combination of characters is incredibly risky, but super satisfying when executed perfectly. If Olberic uses the Apothecary sub-class and Alfyn has the Warrior sub-class, both will possess a massive amount of HP and the ability to inflict damage inversely proportional to the damage they’ve sustained. While both Olberic and Alfyn need to be near death for this strategy to pull this strategy off, the damage dealt is totally worth the risk.
To make the most of this strategy, Therion and Primrose should mainly focus on debuffing enemies and supporting Alfyn and Olberic. Primrose should probably have the Cleric sub-class equipped or at least have an NPC that can heal as her possible summon. Therion, meanwhile, can utilize the Hunter sub-class for better weapon and elemental damage options or the Rune Lord sub-class for reliable elemental damage.