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Masters of time and space, these mages easily bend all dimension to their will.

Description

The Time Mage is a job in Final Fantasy V obtained after the Water Crystal shatters. It wields Time Magic, which mainly focuses on buffing allies with positive status effects and debuffing enemies with status ailments through time-based spells, while having a few offensive spells.

Time Mages have a few attacking spells, but less offensive potential than a Black Mage and less defensive potential than a White Mage. As such, it is often best to equip another magic skillset as a Time Mage, as it will not be able to do much on its own. As with other mage jobs, Time Mages innately have access to all Time Magic spells (once they have been purchased at shops), but one must gain levels in the job to achieve different tiers of the Time Magic skillset so other jobs can use the spells.

Mastering Time Mage for all four characters in the mobile and Steam versions earns the achievement "Master of Time and Space".

Characteristics[]

Time Mages wear orange robes, blue capes, big collars, and pointy hats. There is little variance between characters, though Faris's cape and hat are teal instead of blue and orange, and Galuf's and Krile's robes come down past their feet. In the versions that use the original character sprites, Krile's hat is blue instead of orange. In the now defunct iOS and Steam versions, Galuf and Krile have tassels at the ends of their pointy hats.

Gameplay[]

Stats[]

Stat Modifier
Strength -5
Agility +2
Stamina -3
Magic +24

Time Mages have a strong Magic stat, though it is lower than those of Black Mages and Summoners. It has the best Agility (determining turn rate) of the pure mage jobs, though the modifier is still unremarkable. Beside this, it has a small penalty to Stamina (determining HP) and Strength (determining physical damage), though less than the other jobs.

Equipping the Time Magic ability on other jobs also grants the Magic modifier, depending on the level:

  • Time Magic Level 1 = Magic +14
  • Time Magic Level 2 = Magic +16
  • Time Magic Level 3 = Magic +18
  • Time Magic Level 4 = Magic +20
  • Time Magic Level 5 = Magic +22
  • Time Magic Level 6 = Magic +24

This will apply assuming the character does not already have a higher Magic modifier.

Upon mastery, Freelancers and Mimes gain the Time Mage's base Magic and Agility unless they already have a higher base from another mastered job.

Equipment[]

Time Mages equip knives, rods, staves, magic hats, robes, and armlets. This gives Time Mages a decent access to equipment in comparison to other mages, allowing them to equip knives for physical attacks in-between spellcasting, and either rods or staves depending on their need.

Rod sprite.

Rods will randomly deal anywhere between 0% to 200% of its listed damage based on the attacker's Magic stat and the defender's Magic Defense stat and deal full damage from the back row. Many rods can be consumed to cast item magic, as well. Wonder Wand will cast spells in a specified order, starting from Cure up to Osmose, and then loops back to Cure. It can be used when the Mute spell has been cast. The ultimate rod in most versions is Magus Rod sealed weapon, which is Fire/Ice/Lightning-elemental and raises power of all elemental magic except Water and Holy by 50%. Demon's Rod is a new even superior rod added in the Game Boy Advance version, found in the bonus dungeon Sealed Temple.

Staff sprite.

Different staves use different damage formulas: Light Staff, Staff of Judgment, and Sage's Staff deal damage based on the attacker's Magic stat and the target's Magic Defense, while Staff, Flail, Morning Star, and Mace of Zeus use the axe damage formula, and benefit from Two-Handed. The best staves in most versions are Sage's Staff (sealed weapon) and Judgment Staff (stolen from certain enemies). The even superior Mace of Zeus is found in the new post game dungeon added to the Game Boy Advance version. Many staves can be used as items to cast item magic.

The ultimate magical headgear the Time Mage can wear in most versions is Circlet, bought from the Phantom Village. The superior Royal Crown is available from the Sealed Temple in the Game Boy Advance version. However, another good hat to wear is the Golden Hairpin, which halves MP use. The best robes in most versions are the White and Black Robes, bought from the Phantom Village, though the Game Boy Advance version added the superior Robe of Lords.

Abilities[]

Ability Job level AP required Type Innate Description Spells
Time Magic (1) 1 10 Command Yes Perform Time magic. Agility, Slow, and Regen
Time Magic (2) 2 20 Command Yes Perform Time magic. Silence, Haste, and Float
Time Magic (3) 3 30 Command Yes Perform Time magic. Gravity, Stop, and Teleport
Time Magic (4) 4 50 Command Yes Perform Time magic. Comet, Slowga, and Return
Time Magic (5) 5 70 Command Yes Perform Time magic. Graviga, Hastega, and Old
Time Magic (6) 6 100 Command Yes Perform Time magic. Meteor, Quick, and Banish
Equip Rods 7 250 Support Yes Gain the ability to wield Rods. N/A
Ff5Time

Time Magic specializes in buffing the party and debuffing enemies. For example, Haste speeds up a party member's turn rate, while Slow does the opposite to an enemy's turn rate. Though Time Magic includes a few offensive spells, they are less consistent than other jobs; Comet and Meteor both deal random damage, and Gravity and Graviga deal fractional damage depending on the enemies' HP and if the enemy has a resistance to gravity-based attacks. Though offensive Time Mage spells can be used in-between their status-related spells, the latter are the main benefit to Time Mages.

The Time Mage job innately has access to all Time Magic spells that have been purchased at shops (or in some cases, such as with Meteor, acquired through other means). To be able to use all Time Magic spells as a non-Time Mage, a character must level their Time Mage job up to level 6 and equip the Time Magic level 6 ability.

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