Choosing your first job in Octopath Traveler 0 can shape your entire adventure, setting the tone for every battle, strategy, and party synergy to come. Here’s which path gives you the strongest start-and why it matters from the very first fight.
Which job to choose in Octopath Traveler 0
Picking your first job in Octopath Traveler 0 should balance power, utility, and how you like to play. Merchant is a strong all-round choice thanks to JP generation, SP sustain, and extra money, helping your party grow quickly in the early chapters. Warrior offers a straightforward, durable frontline with high HP and strong physical attacks if you prefer a simple, aggressive style. Scholar suits players who want fast encounters and big elemental damage, clearing random battles quickly while revealing enemy weaknesses. If none of these options appeal, any job remains viable over a full playthrough, so you can safely prioritize the role fantasy you enjoy most.
Although you start every new game of Octopath Traveler 0 as your dad’s apprentice, you won’t remain a “novice watch member” forever. Once the game’s prologue has finished, you get to choose your first job, a.k.a. your character’s class. There are eight jobs to choose from, and although you won’t be tied to your initial pick forever, it’ll likely take a few hours of playtime to unlock a second job, so it’s important to choose something you like. Ultimately, you can unlock all eight jobs and change between them.
Here’s an overview of every job in Octopath Traveler 0, along with their strengths and weaknesses. They’re ranked in order of recommendation; although the Warrior isn’t necessarily a “bad” job, the Merchant is the number one pick.
Merchant
This job comes with fairly average attack and defense stats, but that’s okay, as the Merchant’s main strength lies in their self-sufficiency while carrying the whole team. Thanks to the “rest” skill, the Merchant can restore its own HP and SP while clearing any ailments – and it doesn’t even cost SP! Furthermore, the Merchant can hit all foes while restoring SP for every frontline companion based on the damage dealt – this is incredibly useful, as gathering enough SP-restoring items can be a serious problem in early-game. Also handy, the Merchant can steal money from enemiesandgenerate JP points, which are used to unlock new battle skills.
Thief
This job type comes with very high speed, evasion, and critical rate. Their multi-target attacks will help you clear the field of minor enemies, and on top of that, Thieves can steal items, HP, and SP from opponents. This is particularly handy for new players who may not have many items or HP/SP restoring skills yet. Although not as much as the Merchant, in early-game teams with fewer companions, the HP-stealing ability and relatively low SP requirements make the Thief fairly self-sufficient.
Scholar
Just want to blast every enemy away? This elemental powerhouse deals fire, wind, and light damage to all foes and starts with the ability to analyze enemies, which will reveal their HP and one weakness. Just the fact that you can easily clear the field of smaller enemies makes the Scholar a fantastic first choice, and the analyzing ability is extremely useful to new players who haven’t discovered every enemy weakness yet. Be sure to stock up on SP-restoring items if you pick the Scholar as your first job in Octopath Traveler 0.
Apothecary
They’re slow and they don’t deal amazing damage, but Apothecaries can do something no other Octopath Traveler 0 job can: revive fallen allies. True, you can use revival items, but they’re fairly scarce in early-game, so it certainly can’t hurt to have an Apothecary on the team. As expert healers, Apothecaries can heal individual allies as well as the entire front row or back row. As it happens, however, your first ultimate ability in Octopath Traveler 0 is always a front row healing ability, making the Apothecary’s mass-healing a little less essential.
Hunter
The Hunter deals high physical damage, but that’s not the reason why you might choose it as your first job. The Hunter’s main strength is the ability to hit many foes at once, especially using the “rain of arrows” skill, which lands five to eight hits and thus depletes more shield stacks than almost any other attack in the game. The ability to “ensnare” a foe (causing them to act last for two turns) works great against bosses. However, this isn’t quite enough to deem the Hunter the best job in Octopath Traveler 0.
Dancer
Like the Scholar, the Dancer deals high elemental damage, but it’s combined with various support abilities. Dancers can raise their allies’ elemental and physical attack power, their evasion chances, and their elemental defense. While this is quite useful, it doesn’t hold a candle to the Merchant’s SP-restoring, money-stealing, JP-generating overpowered-ness. Furthermore, since this would be your first job in Octopath Traveler 0, you may not have the perfect companions to match the support abilities on the team yet.
Cleric
As a sort of combo between a Scholar and an Apothecary, the Cleric has a bunch of amazing light damage attacks and healing abilities. While the Cleric may also heal an entire row at once, they don’t have the Apothecary’s revive ability. Furthermore, while they can bestow an effect on allies to help them recover SP points based on their damage taken, this isn’t quite as effective as the Merchant’s proactive variation of that skill.
Warrior
The Warrior job comes with the highest HP and physical attack power stats in Octopath Traveler 0, making it a strong DPS option. The Warrior’s greatest strengths are their ability to buff their own physical strength, debuff the enemy, and perform automatic counterattacks for two turns. Their SP consumption is quite heavy, but the damage potential against a weakened enemy is worth it. That said, besides “deals good damage,” this job doesn’t offer any useful benefits to new players.
Which starting job best supports solo playthroughs early game
Merchant remains the top starting job for solo playthro
Which starting jobs excel at self-healing early game
Merchant excels at self-healing in Octopath Traveler 0’s early game through its Rest skill, which restores both HP and SP without consuming items. This makes it highly sustainable for prolonged fights when resources are limited.
Healing Mechanics
Rest provides reliable recovery at low JP cost, while skills like Sidestep and Donate Funds offer defensive buffs to prevent damage needing heals. Multi-target attacks also indirectly support by generating SP for more casts.
Top Options
-
Merchant: Best overall self-sustain via
