Edit: It was pointed out that I should explain what the "1-hour race" is. The 1-hour race is an unofficial event that happens every week at server reset on the JP servers in which for the 1 hour after reset, anyone who wants to participate competes to try and get #1 in the rankings, or at least as high as they can. A lot of what I present here is presented with the mindset of someone who participates weekly, so while a unit designed to waste time might not seem useful, in the context of the race, it is very useful. The 1-hour race isn't for everyone either; you end up spending lapis on refills and the most you get out of it is an easy top 1000 at the end of the week and the enjoyment of competing with other users. People have different values, and if you feel it's a waste, that is perfectly okay, but I ask that you please keep those thoughts to yourself.

First, let me preface this by saying that it is not comprised entirely of my own ideas; it is a compilation of ideas and strategies that have been put forth and used extensively on the Japanese client. Special thanks goes out to 頓挫 (Tonza) as the information regarding how arena works that he has put out is quite extensive but only in Japanese. This is also presented from the perspective of someone who plays on the JP server; however, that doesn't mean it is completely unrelated to GL either. With that out of the way, let's get started.

Characters

This is not a list of the strongest, most powerful characters in arena; though, Amelia would be near the top of that list. These are just a handful of characters that I wanted to point out in which their strengths might not be so readily apparent, or they may have a unique strategy associated with them.

| Amelia

Oh Amelia, you are without a doubt one of the scariest units. For those unaware, this little maid has a nasty ability called Ricochet. It not only deals AoE damage, it has a 30% chance to cast Stop; it's treated as a physical ability and Amelia has natural Dual Wield with guns so this ability activates twice. What is worse, even if you happen to dodge the damage you can still receive the Stop status effect, which can currently only be cured by hitting yourself with 奥義・天下御免. Her standard attack motion is also fairly long and she learns Rapid Fire which can hit up to 14 times making her great at wasting the time of those who fight her AI. Oh, and did I mention she can heal?

Should you leave her at 5★ Lv79 she becomes a time-wasting beast. You lose out on her innate Dual Wield but you also don't gain Happy Trigger which the AI loves to cast. This will increase the chances that Rapid Fire or Ricochet are used by the AI, which is what you want the AI to do.

| Vanille

Scary girl candidate #2. Vanille is a perfect finishing unit for any team that likes to deal damage with multi-hitting chains. You rack up a bunch of LB stones, and then cast Death on any unit that didn't die from your initial burst; at max level, her LB has an 89% chance to cause instant death. Do note however, that Safety Bit and Genji Shield both prevent this. If you really want to insure that she can cast death, give her Dual Wield, Equip Knuckle, and the two fist-weapons that increase LB gauge generation by 100% each.

| Hope

Hope, specifically a 4★ Hope, is deceptively powerful in arena. You see, Hope has the longest basic attack animation in the game. What you do is equip him with Dual Wield, Barrage, and either Twin Lance or Aurora Scarf; after that make him as beefy as you can. What you end up with is a unit that has an attack animation over 30 seconds long that attacks 4 or 8 times the majority of the time. The reason for 4★ is simply to limit the amount of abilities he learns so that is more likely to use a basic attack or Barrage.

| Orochi

Much like Amelia, what makes Orochi scary is his ability to cast an AoE Stop. Not much else to say except that a fringe strategy with him is to go the Lv79 Amelia route and leave Orochi at 6★ Lv90 so that he doesn't learn Scorch. Unlike Amelia, the benefit is rather slim, as he learns a second AoE Stop skill at Lv100; I would only do it if you had two Orochi in your party.

| Shantotto

Since receiving her 5★ form Shantotto has become quite the beast in arena. Two of her can create quite a high chain with Tornado which does significant damage by itself but can be further boosted by chaining off of it. This is magic damage so it gets around pesky physical dodgers nicely. If you are going for speed, say for the 1-hour race each week at reset, then I recommend not using Dual Cast; two Shantotto and one other unit to finish the chain with is more than enough. When making use of Shantotto I recommend bringing a tank unit as well; both Cecil and Charlotte are great options.

Espers, Abilities, Materia, etc...

From here, I will be presenting some of the materia and TMs that I recommend for arena, as well as presenting some strategy related to Espers, and finally talking about how ability enhancements work within the context of arena.

Materia & TMs

• 雷神の戦術書 (Orlandu): 刀魂放気・武術幻刀 is the ability we are looking for here. This is a 2-hit ability, each hit's damage being calculated separately. The first deal physical damage and the second magical. Even though this hits twice it isn't effected by the weekly ban which prohibits similar effects, such as Barrage; it is also a great chain finisher with Shantotto. The best characters I've found to make use of this are Firion, Cloud of Darkness, and the recently upgraded Hayate.

• 奥義・天下御免 (Gilgamesh Trial): This deals high, partially unmitigated damage and dispels. It also has a quick activation and multiple hits which make it great for chain finishing in arena. Pretty much strong physical attacker can use it but I recommend Randi the most. He has so few abilities that when you bring up his ability menu you won't need to scroll to select this, which is fantastic for speed. You could also put this on a healer in order to use it as a dispel effect that gets rid of Stop.

• Quick Assault (Shine): 30% ATK and 10% chance to dodge. Equip a few of these on a unit such as Lightning or Tidus and they will be very difficult to kill for non-magic users. This combines well with;

• Twenty-sided Die (Sazh): 20% chance to dodge. Not much else to say, it's great in arena and very annoying without a magic user.

• Rikku's Pouch (Rikku): Basically all of the abilities provided have use in arena. I would recommend equipping this on which ever unit you give your Ribbon or similar effect to.

• Man Eater: Self-explanatory for the materia but a number of items also provide it. Thorned Mace and オークピアッサー from the FF11 raid event both have it.

• Melody of Life (Garnet): 20% to all resistances may not seem like much, but if you stack 2 or more of these along with equipment that increases resistances then you can quickly make a unit take little to no damage from magic sources.

• Ribbon (Kefka): Seven and Tilith also provide the ability version of this but needless to say, the reason I recommend this is pretty obvious. Sadly, they don't prevent Stop.

• 起死回生 (Ulrika): This is a fantastic materia that provides a permanent (unless dispelled) 60% increase to ATK, MAG, DEF, and SPR whenever the equipped unit falls below 50% HP.

• 魔神の燃命 (Brave Frontier Event 2): This is a slightly weaker version of 起死回生. Instead of a 60% increase to the same stats, it's a 40% increase.

• ぼうえいほんのう (Orochi): This provides a similar effect to 起死回生 except only for DEF and SPR; however, it also provides the wearer a flat 40% increase to attack.

Status Effects

Status effects are annoying, especially Stop. Luckily, there are many accessories and equipment that prevent different status effects; however, without using Ribbon or the ability forms of it you are forced to choose which to prevent. In my opinion, the worst is by far Confusion. The main reason for this is that, even after you cure it, that unit will have already acted so you loose it for a full turn. Stone can also be annoying, but so long as you have a way to cure it (Rem, Ashe, Rikku's Pouch, to name a few) it's actually one of the best status effects to be hit with because once a unit is Stoned they stop taking damage.

Espers

Espers are very much a love/hate relationship. On the one hand, they provide valuable stat boosts but on the other hand they provide unwanted abilities. You see, when you're trying to minimize the time it takes to finish an arena round and move onto the next having more abilities can be an annoyance; it also doesn't help that if you have extra abilities from equipped Espers your AI controlled party may use those over the abilities you really want them to use.

Popular tactics for alleviating Esper related issues include not spending any points on your Espers, only getting the stat boosting Esper talents that you can without picking up any abilities, and opting to not equip an Esper at all.

Ability Enhancements

Ability enhancements function differently in arena than in the rest of the game. Whenever you are controlling your party, any ability enhancements you have will be in full effect; however, whenever the AI is controlling your party the enhanced abilities are treated as if they were never enhanced.

Example:

• You recently upgraded your Charlotte to 6★ and fully enhanced her Royal Guard ability to 2. When you are controlling your party in arena and she moves to guard another unit from a magic attack, she will properly reduce the damage she would take by 100% as per her enhancement; however, if she were to do the same thing while controlled by the AI then she would only reduce the damage by 50%.

This means that if you are enhancing a unit for arena purposes, it would be wise to make sure that you are doing it so that you can make use of it yourself, as the enhancements won't be reflected by your AI controlled party.

Closing comments: There is much more I could go into, such as with the 1-hour race, purposely using useless materia that provide skills in order to improve speed, etc... If enough people wish to know more, I can add to this post or make a new one going more in-depth on those topics as well.