Final Fantasy X: All Characters RANKED!
Final Fantasy X has an amazing battle system and a great (albeit cringy) cast of characters. In this ranking, I will focus on the characters throughout the entire game, not just the endgame and/or the bonus content such as the Monster Arena and the Dark Aeons. This list will also go in depth about the abilities gained on the specific Sphere Grid for each character, as well as the different Overdrives unlocked on their journey through Spira. Now get ready for... Final Fantasy X: All Characters RANKED!
8. Seymour
Abilities: Cure, Cura, Scan, NulBlaze, NulShock, NulTide, Fire, Fira, Blizzard, Blizzara, Thunder, Thundara, Water, Watera
Overdrives: Requiem
This ranking is absolutely self-explanatory. You have him for one boss battle. He lets you win. But obviously, nobody else in this game is this useless. And don't even try to tell me that Kimahri is worse than Seymour, or I'll hunt you down! Overall, Seymour is nothing more or nothing less than a cool temporary character that joins you for one battle.
7. Kimahri
Abilities: Lancet, Extract Mana, Ultima
Overdrives: Ronso Rage (Jump, Seed Cannon, Self-Destruct, Fire Breath, Stone Breath, Aqua Breath, Thrust Kick, Bad Breath, Doom, White Wind, Mighty Guard, Nova)
Okay, I'm just going to say this right away: I don't think Kimahri is worthless like so many other people do. I mean, don't get me wrong, I still definitely think he is the worst character in the game by a landslide (I mean, he wasn't my worst character, but that's because I specifically grinded him out a lot to be better than the rest of them). He ends up like this because he has to traverse through a very barebones section of the Sphere Grid, only getting two abilities on his way. The first ability he gets is Lancet, which is really only useful for obtaining Ronso Rage commands, and the second is Extract Mana, a decent command that allows the player to easily stock up on Mana Spheres. After traversing through his grid and unlocking these two abilities, he is able to go into the grids of Tidus, Lulu, or Rikku pretty much right away, allowing him to be more customizable than the other characters—however, this comes at the cost of actually being good. To add insult to injury, Kimahri has the second worst Overdrive command in the game in my opinion, as Ronso Rage suffers from the usual shortcomings of Blue Magic in Final Fantasy games. Ronso Rage is okay, I guess, but since Mix can easily do everything that Ronso Rage does, and (with the exception of Lulu's Fury) since Ronso Rage is the weakest Overdrive set in terms of damage, it is easily outclassed by Overdrive sets like Tidus's Swordplay or even Auron's Bushido.
I simply don't have the incentive to put Kimahri anywhere except the bottom of this list, as he simply has nothing in terms of abilities until he reaches a different character's section of the Sphere Grid. And overall, in addition to getting such a late start, his Ronso Rage commands are not strong enough for him to stay a prominent figure in your party, placing him in dead last.
6. Lulu
Abilities: Fire, Thunder, Water, Blizzard, Focus, Fira, Thundara, Watera, Blizzara, Reflex, Bio, Demi, Death, Waterga, Thundaga, Firaga, Blizzaga, Flare, Doublecast, Nab Gil
Overdrives: Fury (Fire Fury, Thunder Fury, Water Fury, Blizzard Fury, Fira Fury, Thundara Fury, Watera Fury, Blizzara Fury, Firaga Fury, Thundaga Fury, Waterga Fury, Blizzaga Fury, Bio Fury, Demi Fury, Death Fury, Drain Fury, Osmose Fury, Flare Fury, Ultima Fury)
In my opinion, Lulu is the second best character early on in the game. Her spells devastate elemental enemies and armored enemies, which other allies can not do at this point in the game. With huge damage coming from the second-tier Black Magic spells like Fira, she can destroy enemies even before anybody else gets a turn. However, around the time that you go to Bikanel Island, Lulu just gets left in the dust in comparison to the physical attackers. Doublecasting Ultima or Flare can still deal tons of damage, sure, so Lulu isn't terrible or anything, but she is simply outclassed by the other characters in the second half of the game.
Another thing that goes against Lulu is her horrendous Overdrive. It has the damage capability to technically deal a lot of damage with an -aga spell Fury (up to 285,195 damage; and yes, the -aga spells do more damage than Ultima or Flare), it is pretty much impossible to actually execute that fast of a Fury attack. And even if you hit the full 285,195 somehow, there is no reason to do this since Tidus, Wakka, and Yuna can do significantly more damage with their Overdrives. So overall, a pretty worthless Overdrive that is way too hard to use. Overall, Lulu is the second best character for a large portion of the game, but she falls behind due to being outclassed and due to her terrible Overdrive.
5. Auron
Abilities: Power Break, Extract Power, Guard, Magic Break, Threaten, Armor Break, Mental Break, Sentinel, Entrust, Zombie Attack
Overdrives: Bushido (Dragon Fang, Shooting Star, Banishing Blade, Tornado)
Auron is, in my opinion, the best physical-orientated character in the game for a typical, non-completionist run through of the game. Even though he falls behind on my list due to the fact that I am a completionist, that doesn't mean Auron isn't fantastic in battle! Auron's Sphere Grid not only sets him up to be the beefiest tank in the party, but also the strongest damage dealer in the game—even outclassing Lulu's magic in damage against most enemies due to the Piercing Auto-Ability on most of his weapons! Auron can hit really hard, lower enemies stats with fantastic skills like Armor Break and Mental Break, use Entrust to transfer a portion of the Overdrive gauge to a character with actually good Overdrives, and use abilities like Guard, Threaten, and Sentinel to defend his allies.
However, of course, Auron has his downsides. His speed and accuracy are abyssmal, and his Overdrives are simply subpar—they do alright damage early on in the game, sure, but they taper off so much later on that they simply are not worth it. Well, at least his Banishing Blade ability can inflict Full Break with a 100% success rate? That's always good... I guess? Overall, Auron is so powerful and tanky that he could possibly be the best party member in the game for the average Joe, but his terrible Speed-Sphere-related stats and weak Overdrives make any completionist ditch Auron as soon as possible.
4. Tidus
Abilities: Cheer, Flee, Extract Speed, Haste, Provoke, Delay Attack, Slow, Slowga, Delay Buster, Hastega, Quick Hit
Overdrives: Swordplay (Spiral Cut, Slice & Dice, Energy Rain, Blitz Ace)
Tidus is a well-rounded character throughout the game. He has the fourth best set of Overdrives in my opinion, functions as a pseudo-Time Mage, and speedily kicks the arses of his opponents with no time to spare. What really defines Tidus is his versatile skillset—he never declines in power throughout the game like many other characters do! His best abilities are Quick Hit, an extremely overpowered attack that allows Tidus to almost double his turn speed; Hastega, which allows the entire team to gain actions extremely quickly; Delay Attack and Delay Buster, which delay enemies (continuing the trend of time-related skills, it seems); Flee, which is way better than individually using Escape in most cases; and of course, his final Overdrive Blitz Ace, which can do up to 900,000 points of damage! Overall, Tidus is easily a top tier character, but since he is just a bit more replacable than the next three characters, I couldn't place him higher on this list.
3. Yuna
Abilities: Cure, Esuna, NulBlaze, NulShock, NulFrost, NulTide, Life, Pray, Shell, Protect, Reflect, Dispel, Curaga, Regen, Holy, Auto-Life, Quick Pockets
Overdrives: Grand Summon
Yuna is a sole healer for a majority of the game and her summons are extremely powerful and great for blocking damage from the main player party! Her White Magic is a boon to the party throughout most of the game, with her Cure series spells being the main source of healing for most of the game and her various protection spells providing much-needed defenses for the party. Other more interesting spells include Auto-Life, easily one of the best and most necessary spells in the game for the Dark Aeons and the fights in the Monster Arena, and Holy, the strongest single target magic spell in the entire game. She also is able to gain access to the fantastic Quick Pockets ability, which allows the player to use items so fast that they don't even cost a single turn to use. Each of her summons are extremely powerful and useful in their own situations, and they are also great for soaking up damage that would otherwise be dealt to the player party. Her summons are made even better by her Overdrive, Grand Summon, which is fantastic for piling on some insane damage with Anima or the Magus Sisters.
However, Yuna's main problem is not that she isn't a top tier character—far from it, actually. It is simply because Yuna is better off being swapped in and out of the party. For example, what if you need some healing from Yuna? Or a summon from Yuna to block a powerful attack? You want to be able to do so on anybody's turn, so you want to have the chance to swap her in at any given time. Overall, Yuna gets put into an awkward situation where she is one of the best characters in the game, but not a good choice for a mainstay in the party.
2. Rikku
Abilities: Use, Steal, Luck, Spare Change, Mug, Bribe, Pilfer Gil, Copycat, Full-Life
Overdrives: Mix
Rikku is by far the weirdest character in the game to rank on this list. She has really weird stats and subpar abilities for the majority of the early game. She is extremely outclassed by other characters in terms of damage... so why do I think she is amazing? Because of her utility—most notably, Mix. Mix can literally supercharge the party to the point there's no challenge. Want two Hi-Potions to turn into a free Mega-Potion? Rikku will give you what you want with a joyful "Coming right up!" Want a Megalixir that can be created for just 2 Mega-Potions? Yet again, Rikku's got your back. Want to do 9,999 damage early in the game with Quartet of 9 or Trio of 9,999? Rikku's got you covered. Want to use Kimahri's Mighty Guard, but a version of Mighty Guard so overpowered to the point that none of the four elements do any damage, all magical and physical attacks do half damage, and you gain a bonus life? Yup, that's Rikku for you! Honestly, no other Overdrive in the game provides as powerful of versatility as Rikku's does.
Rikku also has a couple of other super useful abilities in her arsenal! She has Bribe, which gives the player fantastic items and complements Mix and the next ability, Use, very well; Use, a great ability that lets you use fantastic items like the Al Bhed Potion; Steal and Mug, which also allow you to stockpile more items for Use, Mix, and weapon/armor customization; Copycat, which allows you to mimic other actions for a cheaper cost; and Full-Life, a fantastic White Magic spell. Overall, Rikku can contribute a ton to weapon and armor customization if she is utilized correctly and she simply has so much power in her Mix command that she can carry the party for the entire game with complete ease.
1. Wakka
Abilities: Dark Attack, Silence Attack, Extract Ability, Aim, Sleep Attack, Dark Buster, Drain, Silence Buster, Sleep Buster, Osmose, Triple Foul
Overdrives: Slots (Element Reels, Attack Reels, Status Reels, Aurochs Reels)
Wakka. The redhead. The racist. The recoveree of his brother Chappu's untimely demise. The royalty player of the Besaid Aurochs. The rambler that endlessly walks around Spira for the sole purpose to kill flying enemies for Yuna. The rummager of Spira's blitzballs who surely was the man who inspired that kid on Mi'ihen Highroad to say "I wanna be a blitzball when I grow up!" And last but not least, the recipient of the award for the best playable character in Final Fantasy X. Not only is Wakka the only character who can hit the majority of enemies in the game with his powerful ranged attacks, but he also has the perfect balance of stats for an attacker (opposed to Tidus, who is too speed-based, and Auron, who is too strength-based). He also has some great abilities that can inflict powerful status ailments and he can also use Osmose, which allows him to move very well into magic if necessary.
Although his normal Sphere Grid abilities are nowhere near as good as some of the other characters, there is one draw that makes him so much better than the other characters... and that one draw is what you have all been waiting for: Attack Reels. This attack, which can deal up to 1,200,000 damage points in one turn, is simply the most overpowered attack in the game—and you can get it as early as Luca! Okay, sure it doesn't start out doing millions of damage points, but once you get the hang of the attack, you can consistently deal twelve times the amount of damage of a basic attack. The only attacks that can even come close to Attack Reels in terms of damage are Oblivion and Blitz Ace, but those still aren't even comparable to how good Attack Reels is. Overall, due to his decent abilities, his great stats, his long-range capabilities, and his completely broken Attack Reels, Wakka is hands down the best character in Final Fantasy X.
Leave any feedback and suggestions for future articles below in the comments section!