Common passives don't have a rich history. They did it really weird in EO1 and 2 with passives for every stat, nearly retired them for EO3, and then put them back in EO4, then started smoothing them out. Nexus has the most straightforward iteration of them. Not much to them.


Standard Common Passives

HP Up


Increases the user's maximum HP.
Protector really wants HP Up since they're probably going to be actively taking hits. Pugilist's high HP means they can draw attacks too, so it might be worth it on them too. The rest of them... Eh. Feel free, but it's not a priority.
Highlander can use this to provide a buffer for their HP-consuming skills. As a subclass, Hero wants this to power up Encourage, and Shogun can use it to provide a buffer for Warrior Might, to make it more likely that they'll survive while using it.

TP Up


Increases the user's maximum TP.
TP Up's worth grabbing on Gunner in the lategame. I wouldn't consider it that worth it for Zodiac, though, since they already have absolutely massive TP, and if you decided to make use of Free Energy, even moreso.
This skill is weird, because the classes that have low TP want it, but it's multiplicative so they get less of an effect, while the classes that have high TP probably don't need it but it's multiplicative so they get more of an effect. Imperial probably appreciates it, but Pugilist, another class that wants it, has other ways to soften TP costs and has no business subclassing either of those classes.

Phys ATK Up


Increases physical damage dealt by the user.
Extra damage for physical damage dealers once they've got their active skillsha at good levels. Worth grabbing.
Remember that this affects Cut, Stab or Bash attacks, not STR-based attacks. As such, a Zodiac using Ether Shot or Meteor benefits from this.

Element Boost


Increases elemental damage dealt by the user.
See above, but for elemental damage. Kind of a shame you have to sub Imperial to use it, though.
Remember that this affects Fire, Ice and Volt attacks, not INT-based attacks. As such, a Landsknecht using Links benefits from this.

Phys DEF Up


Reduces physical damage to the user.
Protector wants this in the lategame. Highlander and Landsknecht are debatable, but if you've got a surfeit of skill points, no reason not to, I guess.
Remember that this affects Cut, Stab and Bash damage, not STR-based damage, but almost all enemy CSB damage is STR anyway. Subclassing this onto a class with low VIT is a good idea, as such. Zodiac is one such example.

Elem DEF Up


Reduces elemental damage to the user.
Protector would probably want this in the lategame to offset heavy armor's low MDF, but Medic has absolutely no need for this.
Remember that this affects Fire, Ice and Volt damage, not INT-based damage, but almost all enemy FIV damage is INT anyway. Subclassing this onto a class with low WIS is an okay idea, as such, but elemental attacks are easier to protect from and rarer, plus it's a rare passive.

Speed Up


Increases the user's accuracy, evasion, and action speed.

Unlike most other action speed increases, Speed Up applies its speed boost by adding to the user's equipment speed total.
Survivalist doesn't need this. Nightseeker might want it to buff up Swift Edge's accuracy, and Ronin definitely wants this to make their big damage less likely to whiff.
Survivalist wants this to become more evasive. It'll also benefit inaccurate attacks like Ricochet or 5-Ring Sword a little bit, though Target Goggles mostly fix that inaccuracy anyways.

Status ATK Up


Increases the user's chance of inflicting ailments and binds.
A good investment on almost all of the classes that can grab it. Harbinger is only a "maybe," though, since it's entirely possible that you might not care about the Reap skills.
Any class that inflicts anything appreciates subclassing one of the four classes that have access to this.

Status DEF Up


Increases the user's resistance to all ailments and binds.
Landsknecht and especially Imperial really want Status DEF Up by lategame, since their LUC is low and that can result in them being constantly disabled. War Magus and Sovereign is more of a bit of peace of mind in making supports more resistant to disables, especially War Magus since they can purge disables with Displace.
Hero would appreciate this, except they have Clear Mind. Low-LUC classes like Shogun, Ronin and Survivalist would probably like to have it, too.

Take


Chop


Mine


Natural Instinct / Harvestry
Give the user the ability to find items at the skill's respective gathering points; Natural Instinct and Harvestry apply to all gathering point types. The amount of items the character finds is based on RNG and their current level. If attempting to gather in a Maze, a heavy bonus is applied to this.

Natural Instinct and Harvestry have a penalty applied to the amount of items they can find at any given gather point.
These only cost a whopping 1 SP, and will save you a lot of headaches compared to trying to gather items without them, so grab them ASAP.
Or be as stubborn as I am and make a gathering party anyway. Five Farmers past level 40 can gather a comical amount of rares... Also, these are not available to pick from your subclass.

Weapon Common Passives
I'm not gonna really comment on these, since they're just sort of...here. They're stat up passives, they're small bonuses for if you decide to forge weapons.

HP Up


Increases the user's maximum HP.

TP Up


Increases the user's maximum TP.

STR Up


Increases the user's STR.

INT Up


Increases the user's INT.

VIT Up


Increases the user's VIT.

WIS Up


Increases the user's WIS.

AGI Up


Increases the user's AGI.

LUC Up


Increases the user's LUC.

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