Final Fantasy V: All Spells RANKED!

Final Fantasy V is known for its fun and diverse job system, and a big part of this is the huge amount of spells available to the player in this game! With White Magic, Black Magic, Summon Magic, and the much less common Time Magic, there are tons of types of magic in this game! I will be covering Blue Magic and Dark Arts in their own articles, as they have their own identities (and still can be casted while Silenced... but not Dualcasted). Also, there are already 70 spells, and this doesn't need to be a 100+ long ranking or else it'll turn people off... but I digress. Now without further ado, RPG Ranked presents... Final Fantasy V: All Spells RANKED!

70. Eggman - F Tier

Quite literally, this summon is detrimental to the caster, as it does nothing. It literally just wastes the caster’s turn. Only able to be casted by the Magic Lamp if it is abused too much, the likelihood you’ll ever actually use this summon is highly unlikely, so that’s a relief. This summon speaks for itself—it’s trash. Eggman doesn't even deserve a picture, I'm not putting one, it is just that bad.

69. Libra - F Tier

If you want a stupidly little amount of information about your enemy? Use Libra. If you want an actually in-depth source of information? Google it. Yahoo it. Bing it. Google Scholar it. Duck Duck Go it. Heck, Internet Explorer it, whatever browser that trash used. Just don’t use this spell, it is a waste of a turn. And if you want to keep track of a boss’s HP? Use a calculator, for heaven’s sake. It’s not exactly rocket science or anesthesiology or firmware engineering or whatever is difficult these days. Just. Don’t. Use. This. Spell.

68. Speed - D Tier

This is just a much worse version of Haste. Heck, it is so much worse it should never be used, and this isn’t even worth using a turn on. It’d be a massive waste. So seriously, avoid this spell like the plague.

67. Poison - D Tier

I have two problems with this spell: 1) status ailments are very weak in this game and 2) damaging spells are a much, much better alternative. And if you desperately want to poison an enemy? Just use Bio instead, it’s so much better. Overall, just skip this spell unless you are a completionist.

66. Slow - D Tier

The effects of this spell are seriously very powerful, but unless you are fighting a boss without a Slow resistance, this spell is utterly useless. Besides, it is outclassed by the much better Slowga so… that exists.

65. Sleep - D Tier

This does not have an upgraded version of it like Poison or Slow, so it least has that going for it. Otherwise, this spell is just as useless, crappy, and unnecessary as the Poison and Slow spells. Again, buy it if you want, but there’s absolutely no need—it’s pretty terrible.

64. Remora - D Tier

Known by most to be the worst conventional summon in the game, I’m gonna have to agree. All this does? It has the chance to paralyze a single enemy. Literally any other Level 1 damaging spell will be more useful than this. It is an absolutely useless spell, except maybe for the first ten minutes you have this spell. At least it is more useful than Sleep? I guess? Not really that high of a bar to beat though so… Overall, I highly recommend skipping this summon altogether.

63. Gravity - D Tier

I don’t know, but I seriously can’t with these spells. I just don’t understand the appeal with these spells unless I was completely obsessed with statistics and memorizing the damage of all attacks and enemy health stats. I love stats as much as the next person (I even have a spreadsheet full of RPG character statistics), but because it is so brain-bending to determine whether this spell is better than just a normal attacking spell, it isn’t really worth using.

62. Confuse - D Tier

I can see the appeal of this spell, I guess? I just don't see why I would use this when I could use the Beastmaster's Control ability, which is leagues better than this? But either way, Control is also not the greatest use of your time, so unfortunately, D Tier for this one.

61. Silence - D Tier

Honestly, just use Toad instead of this spell. Toad disables magic, can both inflict and cure the status, and is a much cooler concept. This spell isn't completely trash, but I can't ever see myself ever using this.

60. Reflect - C Tier

If I want to cast Reflect on one person, I'll have them equipped with a Reflect Ring. If I want my entire party to have the Reflect status? I'll use Carbuncle. While not the worst spell, Reflect isn't particularly useful either, so it deserves C Tier.

59. Mini - C Tier

Finally, a status effect spell actually worth something! The main draw of this spell is reversing the mini status before Esuna in acquired. That is pretty nice! However, in Final Fantasy V, Toad completely outclasses Mini, as it is basically Mini and Silence combined. While not too bad, Mini isn't too great either.

58. Dispel - C Tier

Removing the Protect, Shell, Haste, and non-innate Reflect statuses, this sounds pretty fantastic! However, there simply are not many enemies who make use of buffs and magic, making this perhaps the most situational spell in the game. Overall, this is an F Tier spell in most circumstances and an S Tier spell in some, so overall, I think C Tier was a valid place for this spell.

57. Stop - C Tier

This is like the Remora spell, but significantly better. However, that isn't saying much when Romeo's Ballad is just infinitely more useful than this spell. Overall, this is a pretty good status effect spell, but a status effect spell nonetheless.

56. Poisona - C Tier

Curing Poison is something that will very commonly need to be done, but this spell is nevertheless situational and outclassed by Esuna and Antidotes! Overall, this is by no means bad, but it isn't all that necessary.

55. Float - C Tier

Inherently, this spell is really good, but rahter situational. But the big problem with this spell? It becomes almost useless once Mighty Guard is obtained, as that casts Float on the entire party. Overall, this is a good spell, but very outclassed.

54. Regen - C Tier

Regen in this game is really not that good, especially compared to even the lowly Cure spell. If there was a Regenera spell that targeted all party members or something like there was in Lost Odyssey (or even adding multiple tiers of Regen spells like in Dragon Quest XI!), this could be great, but as-is, this is typically not worth casting.

53-51. Blizzard/Fire/Thunder - C Tier

The most basic of attacking spells, these three spells are all very good. Their damage is respectable for the beginning of the game, but they'll quickly taper off in use once you get the Level 1 and 2 summons, as well as Blizzara, Fira, and Thundara. And sorry, but I just don't have the brainpower to see which element most enemies are weak to, so they all tie on this ranking.

50. Chocobo - B Tier

Doing almost five times as much damage as the basic elemental spells, Chocobo is awesome! And if you get lucky? This can hit every enemy! And it is an 8% chance, which isn't even that terribly rare in the grand scheme of things! In my summon ranking, I put this summon in D Tier, but in the grand scheme of all the spells in the game? It is much better than the other C and D Tier spells, as it is the best source of single-target damage for a good amount of time.

49. Graviga - B Tier

As aforementioned, I'm not exactly calculating if my Firaga or Graviga or enchilada spells are going to give me more bang for my virtual, Bitcoin-esque MP buck. I'd rather avoid thinking about if this spell is worth using, if the enemy is resistant, et cetera. And I could just use Odin and do so much better, so...

48. Old - B Tier

This is actually a pretty insane status ailment. While it takes a while to take full effect, it can drop all the stats of an enemy to 1! And it can't be cured, only stopped, so even if an enemy somehow has Esuna, it can't do anything to cure the damage you've done with this spell! While I still don't love status effects, this is definitely one of my favorites.

47. Toad - B Tier

Toad is like Old, but it works instantly (but only effects the enemies' attack stats). While weaker than Old in the grand scheme of things, I'd rather not wait for Old to take effect, so I like Toad better. Also, on top of all of that, Toad prevents the enemy from spellcasting and it can cure party members of the Toad status! Definitely an above average spell overall!

46. Catoblepas - B Tier

With a higher hit chance than Break, you'd think I'd rank it higher than Break, yet I just couldn't. I didn't rank it higher for three reasons: 1) Catoblepas costs twice the MP, 2) Break is available earlier, and 3) Catoblepas can't be used with Spellblade. Like Chocobo, I ranked this low on my summon ranking—but again, that was only in comparison to other summons. Overall, this is a solid spell, but not one I love.

45. Break - B Tier

I already explained why this is better than Catoblepas, so I'm kind of out of words for this spell. While this spell could be higher on this list, I'd rather cast damaging magic any day of the week...

44. Death - B Tier

Yet another instant death spell that is pretty great, but I just don't enjoy casting. This one, however, works on heavy enemies as long as they don't have the Death immunity, making it the only reliable way to OHKO heavy enemies. This spell is awesome, but again, I'm not a big fan. This probably deserves to be higher, but I cannot justify it to myself.

43. Banish - B Tier

This one works on enemies immune to instant death, but not on Heavy enemies—the reverse of the Death spell. While Banish is equally useful to Death in my eyes, this has a lower MP cost, so I gave it the edge here.

42. Titan - B Tier

Okay, so Titan does twice as much damage as Shiva, Ifrit, and Ramuh. So why did I place it so low on the list? A fantastic question. Well, it also costs twice as much MP, and is obtained much later in the game… so that is annoying. Also, Syldra does so much more damage for just a couple more MP. Last of all, so many enemies are weak to fire, ice, and thunder… so those will do the same damage as Titan, but for half the MP. So overall, Titan is nothing too special in my eyes.

41. Drain - B Tier

This is more powerful than Sylph, but obtained much later and only heals a single target, so I find this slightly less useful. However, this is still a pretty awesome spell that definitely has its uses—especially with Spellblade! But while Drain is one of the best Spellblade abilities, this isn't exactly a Spellblade ranking, so this spell can't be placed any higher than B Tier.

40. Sylph - B Tier

I really do like this summon when you first get it, but it really doesn’t hold up so well as you progress through the game, as much more powerful spells come along. While it does less damage than Chocobo, it heals HP back to the entire party, which makes this a more quirky (and better) Drain spell! Overall, this is an awesome must-use spell at first, but as the game progresses, the damage of other summons completely outclasses the utility of this summon.

39. Protect - B Tier

While eventually outclassed by Mighty Guard, this is still a very great spell to use up until you get it! This is a must-have for boss fights until Mighty Guard is accessible! Definitely pick this up and use it as much as you can until it becomes outclassed.

38. Blink - B Tier

I'd rather have a riskier evasion spell than a more consistent protective barrier, but that's probably just me—in my eyes, Protect and Blink are equally useful in practice (especially when stacked), but I just liked this one better. However, both are completely outclassed by Golem, so...

37. Shell - B Tier

While more situational than Blink and Protect, this doesn't have a magic evasion equivalent, so I gave it the slight edge over the last two spells. However, this also is eventually outclassed by Mighty Guard (and in specific cases, Carbuncle).

36. Mute - B Tier

This completely bypasses resistance to silence! That is super awesome. So why is this spell so low on the list? It mutes the whole battlefield, even the party, and it cannot be cured. While this could be highly beneficial if you encountered multiple enemies with magic, not being able to heal or dish out party-wide damage with your spellcasters? That is incredibly annoying. So why is this spell not in D Tier or F Tier? For some reason, Blue Magic does not become disabled when silenced, so building a strategy around Blue Magic could be quite useful. However, as a whole this cannot go any higher because 1) I love myself some summons and 2) because Blue Magic cannot be Dualcasted, which is a big downside.

35. Cure - B Tier

Look, this spell is the absolute spell in the game for a few hours... what can I say, this truly was more useful to me than half of this list (as depressing as that is)! This spell also has use later in the game, as it can be used for cheap out-of-battle healing.

34. Comet - B Tier

Giving Time Mage's a form of great (albeit random) damage is very useful. This really fleshes out the Time Mage's skillset and by using Return, this spell can reliably deal big damage at the beginning of the battle without any MP loss! However, this spell is a little bit too much of a hassle for me, so I am basic and I put the second tier elemental spells over Comet.

33-31. Fira, Blizzara, & Thundara - B Tier

Like their weaker counterpart, these spells are very effective ways of dealing damage at the point of the game they are obtained. What can I say? Reliable damage is incredibly important, no matter how basic that seems.

30. Ramuh - B Tier

A pretty solid summon, but definitely the worst of the big three elemental summons. This is because you get it pretty far after Shiva and Ifrit, and it is hard to find, as it is in a random forest in Istory Falls—a much harder location to find than both Shiva and Ifrit. Due to this, new players might not find Ramuh until it reappears in the Interdimensional Rift! Overall, this is a decent enough summon, but no better than a B Tier summon.

29. Shiva - B Tier

While not a stellar summon, Shiva is a very good summon to have in the early game. Her ice damage is so much better than Blizzard or Blizzara, as Shiva doesn’t have split damage. It is a great summon, and cool to find and fight in the Castle Walse Basement! Overall, a solid summon, but not a fantastic one.

28. Ifrit - B Tier

With fire weaknesses being the most common and obvious of the three main elemental weaknesses, this is definitely the best main elemental summon in the game. The only required summon in the game outside of the three Level 1 summons, this one is much easier to get for newer players or less adventurous players than both Shiva and Ramuh. Overall, this summon is really solid.

27. Carbuncle - B Tier

While situational, Carbuncle is a rather solid summon, as it casts Reflect on the entire party. Against spellcasters, using Reflect can block a lot of damage—and because of White Wind, you can still bypass Reflect and heal! However, a lot of enemies cast magic that they themselves absorb, therefore, there is still a degree of risk in using this summon. However, when used correctly, this summon can be truly fantastic.

26. Teleport - B Tier

Teleport is a reliable way to escape battles and, more important, dungeons. This is pretty useful and a huge time saver. I couldn't seem to accurately place this spell anywhere on this list, so the top of B Tier seemed to be a pretty solid and inoffensive placing.

25. Return - A Tier

This is basically a free "rethink your strategy without a Game Over" button. That wouldn't fit on a button, but that's beside my convoluted point. This spell has some neat uses! This spell allows the player to attempt stealing from an enemy as many times as they would like, and it allows the player to regain MP if they cast a costly status effect spell and it doesn't work! It also can be spammed to manipulate the randomness of the Gaia and Dance abilities! However, as much as these uses are all nice, they are too niche in my eyes, so I couldn't put this spell any higher than the bottom of A Tier.

24. Slowga - A Tier

One of the only multi-target status effects in Final Fantasy V, this spell has an insanely high hit rate and is by far the most reliable status spell in the game! Also, while many enemies and bosses resist it, it is one of the only status spells that works on some bosses! Slowga impairs every enemy on screen in a more meaningful way than most status spells, so it lands in the A Tier.

23. Bio - A Tier

Almost smack dab between the damage of Fira/Blizzara/Thundara and Firaga/Blizzaga/Thundaga, this does a lot of damage and inflicts poison. This is a very solid spell, and easily one of the best Black Magic spells in the game.

22. Cura - A Tier

A very good healing spell—the best for about a third of the game! Just like Cure, it gets outclassed, but it is an essential spell for a very long time! Overall, this is a fantastic spell. This is pretty self-explanatory, so I am going to move on.

21. Haste - A Tier

This is an amazing and essential spell all the way up until you get Hastega. Though it instantly becomes useless at that point, if that spell did not exist, this spell would likely be in the top five. Haste is just an amazing spell!

20. Raise - A Tier

Although outclassed once Arise and Phoenix come around, this is a very important and fantastic spell until then. Being able to bring the dead back to life is crucial, and this spell definitely does it better than a Phoenix Down ever will. While very MP-draining at first, it eventually becomes a great and affordable spell.

19. Esuna - A Tier

In one casting, this cures every ailment except for zombie, death, and doom. Unless you are using Mix, remedies are not available in this game, so this is your only option otherwise. This is a very useful spell, especially when dealing with Bad Breath or other enemy attacks that inflict multiple status effects.

18. Berserk - A Tier

Berserk has a lot of great uses, and is definitely an underrated spell! This spell heavily boosts the target's damage, speed, and accuracy, which makes the spell very beneficial to use on your party before learning overpowered abilities like Rapid Fire or Finisher! Use Spellblade and/or Dual-Wield, cast Berserk, and your damage will go through the roof! However, the lack of emergency support can be very detrimental, so I unfortunately put this spell lower than I would like to... but in regular encounters? Emergency support is not something that will likely be necessary, so this is incredibly overpowered against trash mobs! Another good use of this spell is casting it on enemies and putting up Golem, effectively making yourself invincible! This spell also cripples any enemies with counterattacks—à la Behemoths—so that is incredibly useful (albeit situational) use for this spell. Overall, this spell can do so many helpful things that it would be a crime to place it any lower on this list.

17. Osmose - A Tier

The most reliable and cheap way of restoring MP, this spell is fantastic to use as often as possible with your casters! If you have a caster with Black Magic learned but with a better magic skillset like Summon or Time Magic, they can always switch back to Black Magic for a couple minutes during a long dungeon and recoup tons of MP! Overall, this is just a fantastic spell.

16-14. Thundaga, Blizzaga, & Firaga - A Tier

These three spells are the best spells in the game for single-target damage if you know the enemy's weakness! A quick Google search can go a long way in making these the best single-target spells in the game—and of course, the Spellblade versions of these spells are awesome too! Overall, while not as reliably powerful as some other spells in Final Fantasy V, these three spells can potentially do the most damage of any spell in the game to a single target, and that is pretty insane in my eyes.

13. Syldra - A Tier

Very powerful for its MP cost (so much more efficient than Titan!), Syldra is awesome! By no way will Syldra do less damage than Shiva, Ifrit, and Ramuh, so it is not ever outclassed in that way (unless the enemy absorbs wind damage… it still does more damage if the enemy is just resistant). With a good enough magic stat, you should be able to hit around 5,000 damage with this—you can hit max damage if the enemy is weak to wind! This is a very efficient way of dishing out damage, so overall, it is a fantastic summon.

12. Leviathan - A Tier

Slightly more powerful than Syldra, it is just a little better in every circumstance (unless the enemy is weak to wind). However, Leviathan is only a marginal upgrade, so Syldra is by no means outclassed—especially since Leviathan is one of the most difficult bosses in the game, so it is more difficult to obtain this summon. Overall, this is a fantastic summon.

11. Odin - A Tier

Either killing all the enemies on the screen or doing massive damage to one enemy? Love it! While this is not exactly super reliable in killing multiple enemies, here’s the best part about Odin—against single-targets, Odin does more damage than Bahamut, and for so much less MP! Overall, with instant-killing abilities and the best single-target magic damage in the game, it is incredibly powerful—but it’s a little unreliable, so it is not an S Tier spell.

10. Holy - S Tier

Holy is easily the best and most cost effective single-target spell in the game, especially if the enemy is weak to light. It does amazing damage, equal to (if not more than) Flare's damage for much less MP... and it gives the White Mage a damaging spell! Overall, this definitely deserves its spot in the S Tier.

9. Meteor - S Tier

While this is a very hit-or-miss spell, it can potentially deal more damage than 9,999... something that no other spell can do! This is an especially awesome spell against single-targets! However, while this can be the best damaging spell in the game sometimes, it can also kind of suck... But overall, this spell is awesome more often than not.

8. Flare - S Tier

Flare could be quite a bit lower, as it can only hit one enemy and it costs way too much MP... but I just had to kind of cheat here, because Flare Spellblade is quite simply one of the best things in the entire Final Fantasy V. This Spellblade ability is a must for dishing out insanely powerful physical attacks, especially when using Rapid Fire and Dual-Wield! I just had to talk about this or else I'd be haunted for the rest of my life.

7. Bahamut - S Tier

The best multi-target magic damage in the game, Bahamut more than makes up for its high MP cost. Unless an enemy is weak to wind or water, this should always be your go-to summon! This summon speaks for itself, so, I shall move onto the next spell on this list.

6. Curaga - S Tier

While White Wind is typically the best healing spell in Final Fantasy V, without Curaga, White Wind can't always be at its full power. As the second best healing spell in the game, Curaga just has to be high on this list.

5. Arise - S Tier

This spell speaks for itself—reviving a character with full HP? That's absolutely busted. This spell is an absolute necessity to use in superbosses and is an absolutely fantastic spell! Yet again, I don't have much else to say, so I shall move on.

4. Phoenix - S Tier

With its ability to revive the entire team and dish out Titan-damage-equivalent fire damage, this is not only one of the best fire spells in the game, but also one of the best support spells as well. While there is a 99 MP cost for this spell, it is more than worth it. Easily one of the best spells in Final Fantasy V.

3. Golem - S+ Tier

With smart use of this spell, you can completely defend from every physical attack in the game! I ended up using this all the time—almost every boss fight, even! I don’t know how this passed playtesting, but I am sure glad it did. I’m just baffled by how fantastic this summon is. Easily the best summon in the game, and the third best spell in the game.

2. Hastega - S+ Tier

What can be more broken than doubling the speed of the entire team? Well, one spell is, but I'll get there. Seriously though, this spell basically just makes the entire team twice as powerful in an instant for a pretty low amount of MP! Overall, it'd be stupid to say this wasn't the second best spell in Final Fantasy V.

1. Quick - S+ Tier

By using Quick, you can get two turns in a row! With Dualcast? This means you can cast four spells in a row... how could that not be the best spell in the entire game?! There's a reason this spell didn't keep returning in the Final Fantasy series outside of the newer releases of Final Fantasy VI and the Tactics games... it is just way too overpowered.

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