Best Visions to use in Final Fantasy Resonance

All Visions have their merits, but these are universally excellent

There's so many to choose from that deciding on the best Visions in Final Fantasy Resonance often feels more than a little overwhelming. While every Vision has something that makes them worth using in certain circumstances, there is a set of them that excels in practically every situation. And you can find most of them early in the game, too.

Below, we break down the best Visions to use in Final Fantasy Resonance, with a section for the early game and one for roughly Chapter 5 onward. If you've missed any of these, make sure to keep our list of all Visions in Final Fantasy Resonance handy so you know where to find them.

Update (Oct. 30): We've updated this guide with additional Visions to prioritize later in the game.

Best Visions to use early in Final Fantasy Resonance

We're deciding a Vision's usefulness primarily based on the skills they confer when equipped and their mastery skills — sometimes individually depending on the Vision, but usually together.

Resonance isn't shy about giving you upgrade materials for your Visions, so feel free to experiment with different combinations and find what you like best. This is a starter guide to give you an idea of what works, but part of the fun of Resonance is stumbling on a busted combination that you didn't expect to work.

Tronn

Hear me out. Level up Tronn on just about everyone. Tronn's skills will be greatly overshadowed later on in the game, but at max level, he gives the "Half MP Cost" mastery ability, which is a must-have on just about everyone. Fina's summons will have halved MP cost, all the devastating late-game skills will have halved MP cost, and as you fiddle around with builds that allow you to act twice in two turns or increase mana costs in exchange for higher damage, you'll be glad that you have this.

Warrior of Light

They might not have a proper name or be as fancy and recognizable as someone like Cloud, but the Warrior of Light is an essential Vision to have, albeit mainly for Rain. Protect and its higher forms make it easier to withstand powerful enemies, and the "Multi-Cover" mastery ability is very useful in situations where you can't stagger an enemy before they unleash a strong attack. WoL's spellblade skills are just as useful, though. Rain's magic attack isn't great, but since spellblade skills count as physical damage, Thunder Blade and Stone Blade (and their higher forms) let you exploit a wider variety of weaknesses while still dealing hefty amounts of damage.

Plus, it's nice having someone other than your main caster who can cast healing magic.

Cloud

You get Cloud early in the game, and he's one of the best Breaker-class Visions for a very long time. His "Restore MP on Critical Hit" mastery ability pairs wonderfully with Lasswell. The man's a critical hit machine, and this ability lets him keep using stagger skills without requiring you to top up his MP. Cloud's battle skills are equally as good, though. The "surge" spellblade skills deal high stagger damage, and Braver is just ridiculously strong, even more so if you manage to land a critical hit with it. He also grants the equipping character some very helpful buffs and debuffs that reduce enemy physical attack power and increase your own.

Terra

It takes a bit of setup to get the most out of Terra, but she's a must-have Vision for any party with spellcasters in it. Her primary mastery ability is "Tenebrous Rites," which increases magic damage against foes suffering from status ailments or debuffs. That's any debuff, even if it's just reduced attack power or speed, which means Tenebrous Rites also works against bosses who are resilient to status effects. Pair that with her magic attack passive buff and Lid's or Fina's Magic Boost skill, and your damage goes well into the thousands even early in the game.

Her spell selection is useful, too, with fire, water, and ice skills on offer plus Drain for restoring the caster's HP. Most of all, Terra grants the "Breaking the Limit" mastery bonus at max level, allowing characters to deal more than 9,999 damage per hit. It becomes a must-have later on, so consider leveling up Terra on everyone.

Zidane

Zidane is Final Fantasy Resonance's premier Saboteur-class Vision and also the only one you get until Chapter 6. Debuffs aren't the only benefit he provides, though they're certainly an important part of what makes him worthwhile. Zidane's skills let you reduce enemy speed and strength, among other things. He also has a powerful wind spell that affects every enemy and a water spell that powers up when foes are staggered. That one can do extensive damage during bonus phases, so don't neglect it.

Noctis

Noctis has an odd selection of skills at first glance, but they can work well together for the right character. Strength-focused characters like Rain and, eventually, Jake can deal a lot of damage with Warp Strike, while Noctis' selection of ice and thunder spells are strong complements for magic users like Nichol who otherwise have limited elemental access. Noctis also grants passive buffs for physical and magic attacks, but the best thing about him is Warp Strike's passive feature. It gives the user a chance to activate a bonus phase regardless of whether they staggered the enemy.

Firion

Firion is another Vision that has such a busted ability, you may want to just level him up on everyone to make the most of it. At max rank, he unlocks the skill "Arms Akimbo," which allows you to take two turns. Shantotto and Squall have similar abilities ("Dualcast" and "Double Action," respectively), but these have limits. With "Arms Akimbo," you can use your Limit Burst and then attack, use two healing items on one turn — the possibilities are endless. This is one skill that is near game-breaking, as it should allow to you take on difficult challenges with the safety net of being able to attack and heal every turn, if you wanted.

Shantotto

Shantotto is more challenging to use than the other Visions on this list, but with the right setup — namely, one where your limit gauge is frequently over 50%, and you aren't at full health — you can work wonders with her. She gets access to very strong magic even at just Awakening Level 2, and since her selection of elements includes dark, thunder, and water, she's adept at dealing with multiple enemy types. Her "Dark Rites" mastery ability increases magic power based on how much HP the equipping character has lost, and the "Area Effect Adept" ability is easily one of the best in the mid-game. It doubles MP cost when selecting multiple targets, but keeps the spell's potency the same as if you selected a single target. Or you can just spam Scythe of Salvation and use her Limit Break to crush everything that isn't resistant to dark. That works too.

Best late-game Visions in Final Fantasy Resonance

From about the middle of Chapter 4 onward, you'll get access to a few new Visions and materials to upgrade existing Visions further, and there's a handful of choices that should definitely make it onto your roster. Two of them, Vaan and Squall, are a bit more situational than others, but still have some of the most important skills and passives in the game. Like with the early-game Visions, it's not that the rest of them have nothing to offer. Lightning has some useful buffs and spellblades, for example, and Wilhelm is essential if you're running a Cover build. If you're not running a Cover build or don't need Lightning's elements, there's just much less reason to use them in challenging late-game battles.

Bartz

Bartz has a lot going for him and is pretty much essential if you're running any team with someone who uses spellblade skills. His own skills are universally powerful, but top of the list are Crushing Blade and Wind Cutter Blade. Both deal wind damage and debuff targets, making them take more stagger damage — the former for one enemy and the latter for all. He also has a passive that increases stagger damage when the equipping character is at full HP and another that halves spellblade MP cost, and he gets a "Flare Blade" skill, which is exceptionally powerful. It's his mastery abilities that make him so essential. At rank 7, you get "Dual Spellblade," which lets you use a spellblade ability twice in the same turn. You still have to pay the full MP cost for it. It's best for Lasswell, who has a sizeable amount of MP, and then that frees you up to stick Bartz on another character who can benefit from his passive, like Jake.

Cecil

The nice thing about Cecil is that he's basically a free equipment upgrade. His passives that unlock as you awaken him further provide extra HP, physical defense, and magical defense, which goes a long way toward keeping his equipping character alive. It's extra helpful if that character is Rain, and you're using him as a tank, but it's handy for more fragile fighters like Lasswell, too. Cecil gets light and dark spellblade skills that target all enemies, so if you're up against foes weak to either element, but with strong magic defense, here's your workaround.

Vaan

Vaan's combat skills are powerful — stone- and fire-aligned physical attacks — but the real reason you need to level him up is "Gil Farmer." Gil Farmer lets you steal Gil, and the passive mastery ability "Gil Farmer on Stagger" lets you steal Gil automatically, without taking a turn, whenever you stagger a foe. It's a fantastic way to line your pockets using your party's breaker character without taking up an extra turn, and given the cost of weapons and armor in the mid-to-late game, this setup is definitely useful.

Sephiroth

Using Sephiroth almost feels like cheating, but after the gauntlet of misery you run just to get his Vision, you deserve it. Anyway, Sephiroth comes with several excellent self-buffs, including ones that increase physical and magic damage by 30%, an auto-Bravery skill that keeps the buff constantly applied. Then there's "Legendary Soldier," which makes him feasible for any character. When you attack, it applies the higher of your two attack stats — physical or magic — to calculate damage, and when you take damage, it uses whichever is higher between your physical and magical defense to determine how much damage you take. His mastery abilities are just as useful. His first one, "Perfect Serenity," increases battle skill damage by 50%; his third, "Critical Hit Rate +20%," does exactly that; and his fifth, "Ultimate Aggression," guarantees critical hits for limit bursts and resonance skills.

Squall

Squall is hyper-focused on two things: attacking a lot and using strong fire skills. His unique skills "Rough Divide" and "Fated Circle" grow stronger with repeated use, and his mastery ability "Improvement" makes attacks and stagger damage up to 50% stronger the more often you use them. Those are very helpful in tough boss fights, where you're using a specific set of skills repeatedly for a long time. "Trigger," another mastery ability, increases stagger and regular damage from physical attacks and skills by 30% outright. Combined, that's a lot of damage. Then the mastery skill "Double Action" does what it says on the label and lets you act twice in one turn, as long as you aren't using magic. Pair that with, for example, Bartz's double spellblade skills, and you're attacking four times in one turn and dealing extensive amounts of stagger damage. The only downside is that Squall's own skills aren't that useful if you're facing a foe with fire resistance, but it's worth putting up with for the excellent mastery abilities.