Final Fantasy 1 Job Upgrade: how to change class to Knight, Master, Ninja, and Wizard

by Alex Donaldson on 28 July, 2021

In the first Final Fantasy, each of the six classes features an evolved form, as noted above. These promotions are class upgrades that basically change the name and in-game appearance of each of the characters as part of a job classes upgrade - but it also has a direct effect on their abilities.

Your exact job upgrade options will of course depend on the initial party composition you decided on; each job upgrades in a linear fashion, which means your four ultimate upgraded classes will be directly descended from your choice when you were faced with choosing job classes at the very beginning of FF1.

If you’re viewing this page before starting the game, consider your starting job classes carefully, choosing the best team for you. With a team decided, it's then time to learn about the various advanced job upgrades in FF1 and how to unlock the class promotions.

Class Upgrades in FF1: the advanced Knight, Master, Ninja, and Wizard jobs

Getting the job promotion is a big deal, as each class upgrade significantly benefits each of the party members. Generally speaking, you can expect the change to unlock new skills, more equipment options, higher stats, and more. Some of the best weapons in FF1 are only available to the advanced, upgraded classes. Specifically:

Warriors class upgrade to the Knight, gaining the ability to carry more weapons and armor and the further ability to cast some basic level white magic spells.
- Knight Spells: Cure, Protect, Blink (Level 1) / Blindna, Silence, NulShock, Invis (Level 2) / Cura, NulBlaze (Level 3)
Monks class upgrade to the Master. This is one of the broadly least impressive upgrades in the game, as they don’t gain any new abilities - but the Master gets incredibly stat upgrades as they hit later, higher levels - which can make them the deadliest damage dealers in the game.
Thief gets its class upgrade to the Ninja. Thieves are weak, but their speed is their strength - but the upgrade to Ninja unlocks a vast variety of weapons and armor, and levels 1-4 of black magic, making them formidable attackers.
- Ninja Spells: Fire, Bolt, Focus, Sleep (Level 1) / Ice, Slow, Dark, Steel (Level 2) / Fire2, Boly2, Bind, Focus2 (Level 3) / Ice2, Haste, Sleep2, Muddle (Level 4)
Black Mage gets a class upgrade to the Black Wizard, which in turn unlocks all forms of Black Magic and a few more equipment options. Once a Black Wizard, this class can use all eight levels of Black Magic.
White Mage will upgrade to the White Wizard, which like its black counterpart unlocks every type of White Magic and some good weapons. The real boon is all eight levels of White Magic, which is great for healing but also battling the undead.
Red Mage takes a class upgrade to the Red Wizard. This upgrade doesn’t unlock all levels of spell, but gives you a smattering selection from the first seven levels, plus a wide range of weapons and armor. They remain a very viable all-rounder.

How to upgrade class & job in FF1

The character job upgrade can be obtained from later on in the FF1 story. Once you’re a way into FF1, after beating the Ice Cavern, you’ll have to gain access to the airship to continue the story. You’ll need to use the airship to fly to an area of the map where there’s a bunch of smaller islands that connect the two large northern landmasses.

Here there’s the Dragon Cave, which is home to Bahamut, King of Dragons. This is Bahamut’s first appearance in the FF series, of course, and while it’s a more basic one, he at least carries an awesome, memorable reward… if you can get him what he wants.

You need to bring Bahamut the Rat’s Tail key item, which can be grabbed from the nearby Citadel of Ordeal/Citadel of Trials (depending on your version of FF1), found just east of the caves and islands. This is a simple area, and the Rat’s Tail is waiting to be grabbed at any point once you can access the area - though you will have to beat one of FF1's few optional boss battles to get the item you require.

Get the Rat’s Tail and take it back to Bahamut to get your class upgrades. There’ll be a scene, and on the other side of it, each of your character classes will be upgraded and promoted to their ultimate class form - which will unlock new skills and abilities and prepare you for the later stages of FF1’s adventure.