Bravely Default 2 features around 24 different job classes, each with their own unique set of stats and abilities worth leveling them up for. This system is much of what makes the Bravely Default series so strong, letting you mix up your team constantly throughout the game to get whatever you need.
Fans of the series will surely enjoy the game’s many new classes, but there are also tons of classic jobs that got cut in this newest entry to the series. Some of them have been entirely replaced by other jobs, while others have no equivalent class, and many new players might never get to experience these great costumes and abilities from the original game.
10 Dark Knight
One of the more significant jobs to remain on the Nintendo 3DS is the Dark Knight class, an asterisk that belonged to important series character Alternis Dim that was available quite late in Bravely Default and Bravely Second. Without this character, it makes sense for the job to not return, but it’s absolutely sorely missed.
This job was slightly replaced by Hellblade, as another class that would sacrifice large percentages of health to deal serious physical and dark elemental damage. Nonetheless, it lacks the distinguished aesthetic and simplicity that the Black Knight class carried perfectly.
9 Ninja
Bravely Default 2 is full of melee DPS options, so losing the powerful Ninja class is hardly unexpected. This was a famously overpowered job from the original game, being able to inflict critical hits and rapid strikes way more effectively than nearly any other job.
This is perhaps why the most similar replacement job, Phantom, is only unlocked in the last section of the game’s main story. Being able to hit the maximum damage limits is something that shouldn’t be possible early in the game, and Ninja led to very uncreative teams for those wanting to maximize their party’s potential.
8 Time Mage And Knight
Unlike most of the entries on this list, there are a few jobs that should be paired together over their disappearances, as they have pretty direct replacements in Bravely Default 2 that simply go under different names. This includes the Time Mage and Knight, two early jobs that still essentially appear near the start of Bravely Default 2.
Knight goes by Vanguard this time around, still having very similar abilities to draw in attacks and deal immense physical damage. Time Mage, meanwhile, has gotten a huge facelift in the form of the Oracle class, which has similar magical support powers while replacing the Earth magic with randomized elemental attacks.
7 Templar And Valkyrie
The Templar and Valkyrie jobs are even more directly copied in Bravely Default 2, and hardly differ compared to the original game in terms of mechanics. Templar has been replaced by Bastion, another late-game tank class that acts as a slightly advanced version of the simpler Vanguard or Knight classes.
Valkyrie, meanwhile, has been given the more typical Dragoon title, with a more draconic aesthetic despite similar mechanics of jumping and using BP to stab foes with spears. They might as well be in the game, but with these different names and some slight ability shifts they aren’t entirely identical.
6 Performer And Merchant
The last directly-replaced jobs have significant aesthetic changes in Bravely Default 2’s equivalents, but their powers remain mostly similar. First is Performer, which was the idol and rock star version of a Bard that doesn’t fit nearly as well in Bravely Default 2’s more serious aesthetic, but still provides the same stat-increasing support.
Merchant got just as large a facelift thanks to the new Gambler class, which uses similar monetary costs to use powers with a bigger emphasis on luck. At its core, though, Gambler and Merchant still function primarily as classes to aid in grinding resources, so they’re not entirely missed in the newest installment of the series.
5 Vampire
One of the most stylish and menacing classes of the series, the Vampire, is another sorely missed job from the original game. This job is somewhat similar to the Dark Knight in that it uses health as a primary resource, but it also has tons of other unique powers to copy attacks from monsters you encounter in the wild.
As a result, this ends up having an unexpected replacement in Bravely Default 2 in the form of the Beastmaster, which goes all in on using monsters to enhance your abilities. Nonetheless, the tribal style of this class is a huge shift from the elegant class of the Vampire.
4 Conjurer
Conjurer was a late-game optional class in Bravely Default, and as a result it’s fairly reasonable to not appear in later games. This magical class focused on a mix of support, healing spells, and damage, being full of atypical spells with unique effects for those wanting something a little less traditional than the game’s other classes.
This is one of the only classes without a proper replacement, and instead is utterly unique to the franchise overall. This means it’s one of the rarer classes of the series already, and one we’d love to see in a further sequel if Bravely Default 2 proves to be as popular as the original.
3 Pirate
Perhaps one of the greatest humorous classes of the game, Pirate, was another incredibly powerful melee DPS option for the original game. This not only had excellent aptitude with Axes, but also could deal some unique forms of damage like a physically-infused Water attack.
The unexpected replacement for this job is the Berserker, which has similar rage mechanics and Water attacks to go with an excellent proficiency for Axe weapons. Nonetheless, it’s hardly as stylish as the colorful seafarers of Luxendarc’s oceans.
2 Spell Fencer
Spell Fencer was a somewhat confusing class compared to the others in Bravely Default, being a very unusual mix of physical and magic attacks. This class would infuse weapons with various elements, providing extra damage and making physical attacks capable of exploiting weaknesses.
There isn’t anything similar to this job in Bravely Default 2, as the line between physical and magical attacks has been made much clearer outside of a few class-specific abilities. This ended up being an easy subclass for any melee DPS character, though, so it was likely deemed overpowered and overly dominant.
1 Summoner
The last and most dramatic loss in the game’s job classes has to be Summoner, a staple of Final Fantasy games and an extremely colorful outfit in its own right. This class would do exactly as you’d expect, unleashing titanic monsters with glorious cutscenes to inflict damage on your opponents and support your allies.
The ironic part, though, is that this job class was fundamentally useless compared to the game’s other options. Summons costed absurd amounts of mana, and their effects weren’t often more powerful than a traditional Black Mage, and their failure to return in Bravely Default 2 was likely made to prevent players from investing time into an underwhelming gimmick.
