Best secondary jobs for every character in Octopath Traveler 2

While characters in Octopath Traveler 2 have pre-destined jobs, you’ll have the opportunity to assign one down the line. In the areas between towns (usually between Chapter 2 and 3 destinations), you’ll come across guild members who will offer you a job license. There are eight primary jobs and four hidden ones (Inventor, Armsmaster, Conjurer, and Arcanist). In this guide, we’ll talk about the best secondary jobs for every character in Octopath Traveler 2.

Best subclasses for all characters in Octopath Traveler 2

Before we tell you anything, you have to know that while characters can only equip one job at a time, they retain all support skills they unlock. You can only equip five of them at a time, so you can stop unlocking skills for jobs you’ve gotten a wanted support skill for.

While there is a “best” secondary job for each character, we’ll also be listing down all other jobs whose passives can prove useful to their primary class and stats. A character’s equipped secondary job will also add value to certain stats, which can be the deal breaker for some.

Related: All Secondary Job License and Guild Locations in Octopath Traveler 2

Best secondary jobs for Hikari

• Best subclasses: Hunter or Thief (early game), Armsmaster
• Jobs whose support skills you’ll want on him: Hunter (up to Eagle Eye only), Thief (up to Ensnare), Merchant, Conjurer, Inventor, Arcanist

Hikari is one of the very few party members without flaws, making him the best character in Octopath Traveler 2—at least, in our opinion. Because of this, there’s truly no “best” secondary job for him. As long as it covers a weapon type the Warrior or his Learned Skills don’t have, he can use it. Late game, he can be your Armsmaster and deal devastating damage to the enemy.

As a Warrior whose main responsibility is to provoke enemies, one of the best support skills Hikari can have is Ensnare, which inflicts random status ailments when he takes weapon-based damage. Finally, the Inventor support skill, Fruits of Labor, boosts Phys. and Elem. Def. for every job skill learned. It'll make Hikari impossible to kill.

Best secondary jobs for Osvald

• Best subclasses: Dancer or Cleric (early game), Arcanist
• Jobs whose support skills you’ll want on him: Warrior, Merchant, Apothecary (only for Vigorous Victor), Conjurer, Arcanist (up to Price of Power only), Armsmater

Osvald is the Hikari of elemental attacks. Because of his Elem. Atk.-heavy stats, it’s hard to build him into anything but the mage of your team. You can give him any secondary job with a spell the Scholar doesn’t have access to, like Light and Wind. Max out JP spending for Warrior to unlock the 9999 damage cap. With buffs, Osvald’s attacks will later on be too powerful to contain.

Best secondary jobs for Throne

• Best subclasses: Cleric, Hunter, Merchant
• Jobs whose support skills you’ll want on her: Warrior (up to Latent Power Plus only), Conjurer

Throne’s attack is decent, which is why a lot of you might prefer Hunter or Warrior on her. However, her biggest asset is her speed and Latent Power. We much prefer Cleric because of this. For example, Cleric’s Revive will only resurrect the party with one HP. However, if you use Thone’s Latent Power and use Heal Wounds after that, they’ll be back on their feet and away from immediate danger.

Throne's Latent Power is also very useful as a Merchant. You can turn the first turn to throw an item that will fill up her BP gauge and use the second turn to Donate said BP to an ally.

However, we’re not going to deny the potential of a Thief/Hunter combo for the ultimate hero of debuffs. You can also make Throne your sub Warrior if you want to build her more offensively. Sometimes, people just prefer to see their favorite girl kick butt!

Best secondary jobs for Agnea

• Best subclasses: Merchant, Apothecary, Scholar, Hunter
• Jobs whose support skills you’ll want on her: Warrior (up to Latent Power Plus only), Thief (up to Fleetfoot only), Merchant, Scholar, Conjurer, Arcanist

Agnea’s speed is second only to Throne. We love Merchant on her, so she can conveniently pass BP around before the turn begins. But since Agnea is only one of three people who are competent mages (her base Elem. Atk. stat is only one point lower than Temenos), she can also be your team’s sub mage.

Hunter is also a good secondary job on Agnea, primarily because of her Latent Power. All Together Now turns single-target skills into an area one. Meaning, a skill like Leghold Trap can be used to send all enemies to the back of the line. Other Hunter skills like Take Aim are best used at the start of the turn anyway and, as mentioned, Agnea is pretty fast! Agnea's Latent Power is also the reason why Apothecary works well on her. If you're up against a boss that inflicts a ton of status ailments, she can use Rehabilitate on the entire party and protect them from harm.

Best secondary jobs for Ochette

• Best subclasses: Warrior, Inventor, Armsmater
• Jobs whose support skills you’ll want on her: Warrior, Dancer (until Ever Evasive only), Merchant, Thief (up to Fleetfoot), Conjurer, Armsmaster

The best way to play Ochette is by taking full advantage of the fact that she has the highest base Phys. Atk. and Critical stat in the party. If Hikari couldn’t learn skills, Ochette would have been everyone’s main physical DPS. Naturally, Warrior or Inventor are the only secondary jobs that can support this aggressive playstyle. Later on, Ochette can be your Armsmaster as well. Don't forget to max JP allocation for Warrior to unlock the 9999 damage cap.

Related: Best job combinations in Octopath Traveler 2

Best secondary jobs for Temenos

• Best subclasses: Scholar, Warrior, Conjurer
• Jobs whose support skills you’ll want on him: Warrior (up to Latent Power Plus only), Merchant, Apothecary (only for Vigorous Victor), Thief (up to Fleetfoot), Conjurer

We know people like building Temenos as their secondary mage—and you can. But have you seen this man’s Latent Power? It lets him break the enemy’s shield with any attack, regardless of what offensive skill he uses. Elemental Barrage from Scholar (which deals three to five hits depending on RNG) is good for this.

Personally, stacking his defense stats and throwing a Warrior secondary class at him is equally fun. Aggressive Blade can fill in the role of shield breaking, but you also have Incite, Vengeful Blade, and Stout Wall to help him raise his Latent Gauge faster. As Warrior, Temenos can break boss shields very quickly (and provide heals for support). It’s quite a scary sight.

Best secondary jobs for Partitio

• Best subclasses: Cleric, Warrior
• Jobs whose support skills you’ll want on him: Warrior (up to Latent Power Plus only), Inventor, Conjurer, Armsmaster

As a permanent Merchant, Partitio will always have Rest with him. Meaning, if he runs out of SP, he can gain it back with a Boosted Rest. Partitio—whether it’s because of his base stats or the stat boosts provided by the Merchant class—has one of the highest defensive builds in the group. If he’s your Cleric, he’ll be your undying Guardian Angel for life.

The merchant’s main role is to generate and pass BP around, so we don’t really like building Partitio too offensively. Hikari, Ochette, or even Throne are better for those roles. A Warrior secondary class can help raise Partitio's Latent Gauge faster with skills like Incite and Vengeful Blade.

Best secondary jobs for Castti

• Best subclasses: Warrior, Dancer, Conjurer
• Jobs whose support skills you’ll want on her: Merchant, Conjurer

Castti’s biggest asset is her concoctions. You’ll rarely lean on her main or secondary job skills to do anything until you need to heal or cure in a pinch. However, on turns where she doesn’t need to do anything, you can use a couple of Dancer skills to support the party. Merchant's Full Power support skill will ensure that Castti's Latent Power gauge is ready to use before every random encounter. She's absolutely broken with it.

As an Apothecary, Castti also has high HP, and a Warrior secondary job will bump said stat by a large percentage. Warrior also has the Provoke skill, which Castti can use to tank hits. This setup will also fill her Latent Power gauge quickly, allowing her to keep concocting solutions without using a single item.

As a final note: remember that these “best” secondary classes do not apply in every fight, especially the ones in late-game. You’ll have to self-strategize for those. There are also a ton of ways you can build these eight characters. But our suggested builds should carry you through most of Octopath Traveler 2’s content if you’re just in it for the story.

For more help with Octopath Traveler 2, take a look at How to increase steal chance in Octopath Traveler 2 and How to defeat Octopuffs in Octopath Traveler 2 here at Pro Game Guides.