DQ9 EncyclopediaThe essentials
- Shield to 100 points for everyone: every vocation can then carry one.
- Courage, Guts, Virtue, Enlightenment for everyone: their bonuses (HP, resilience, MP) stay in every vocation.
- Sword for damage (Falcon Slash, Gigaslash); Spear or Axe against metal slimes; Wand for healers.
- These are players' opinions (Community), cross-checked with the rewards read from the game.
What players advise for spending skill points, from GameFAQs discussions (sources at the bottom), with what the game really gives at each reward. The rules themselves (200 points per vocation at level 99, points kept per line) are on the Vocations page.
For everyone
- Community: take Shield to 100 points early. Code: the 100 reward makes shields wearable in every vocation, gladiator and martial artist included (82: Back Atcha).
- Community: Courage (warrior), Guts (gladiator), Virtue (paladin) and Enlightenment (sage) for the whole party, and more generally every HP and resilience bonus from the vocation lines. Code: these bonuses count in every vocation (Virtue 100: max HP +80; Courage 90: max HP +60; Enlightenment 100: MP cost −25%); exact totals per stat: “Permanent skill line bonuses” table on the Vocations page.
- Community: Focus (martial artist) for everyone: agility, Psyche Up, Meditation. Code: Agility +30 (68), Meditation (82), Agility +60 (100). One player points out that a party with very different agilities breaks attack chains.
- Community: “getting all 12 vocations to level 39 gives enough points for all that”. Code: 108 points per vocation at level 39, so 1,296 points for the 12.
Weapons
- Community: Sword is the most recommended weapon for damage. Code: Falcon Slash (58 points), Gigaslash (88).
- Community: against metal slimes, Thunder Thrust (Spear, 58) and Hatchet Man (Axe, 58).
- Community: Wand for the healer or mage. Code: max MP +60 (70) and, wand in hand, 1 MP plus 0 to level ÷ 10 at the end of each turn (84).
- Community: Staff and Fisticuffs give evasion with the weapon in hand; Fans serve a niche strategy against legacy bosses.
Unlocking the advanced vocations
- Code (quest texts): each unlock quest asks for a specific ability: Dragon Slash (Sword, 3 points) for the gladiator (quest 103), Whipping Boy (Courage, 8) for the paladin (106), Wizard Ward (Spellcraft, 8) for the armamentalist (109), Toxic Dagger (Knife, 3) for the ranger (112), the Frizz spell for the sage (115).
Sources
- GameFAQs, “Best Skill Point Allocations for Post-Game?” (accepted answer by Thard_Verad).
- GameFAQs, “rule of thumb for allocating skill points?” (BMSirius, egervari3, Cyril, Phadin).