Arena Rankings by Maximum Joe

B-Class
Units of reasonable utility, not easily replaced.

C-Class
Units of some use but likely replaceable by a higher class counterpart.

D-Class
Units of fairly limited use. Should be replaced whenever possible.

Gimmick Class
Units with very little usefulness outside of their limit burst or AoE ailment/stop/charm abilities.

Speculative
Unreleased units (GL).

Schema

 * "Trust" refers to trust abilities. "LB" refers to limit bursts. "CD" refers to cooldown abilities. "LS" refers to limit stones. "Brave" refers to brave shift.
 * Ailment abilities have their odds and number of occurrences noted.
 * Element icons in square brackets indicate that an ability is locked to that element and thus may be unusable due to the weekly ban.
 * The defense down icon in square brackets indicates that an ability is locked to a parameter reduction and thus may be unusable due to the weekly ban.
 * Abilities connected with "+" occur simultaneously while those with "and" are separate. The term "or" is used mostly for RNG.

Logic

 * Only takes the player controlling their team into account. Units are assumed to be fully awakened, leveled, LB leveled, enhanced, have obtained all unlockable abilities, have any relevant exclusive equipment, materia, and trust ability activated. Units are otherwise treated "as is" without any particular equipment or materia. Units without a 7★ form inherently lose up to a full letter grade due to weaker overall stats.


 * Having a wider array of abilities is desirable due to rotating weekly bans.


 * The sooner a unit can access an ability the more strongly it is considered. Cooldowns (cd) that are not available until turn 4 are considered "late" and any longer than turn 6 are not considered at all. Abilities with cooldowns longer than 5 turns (or applicable Magnus abilities) are marked as "once". Non-CD abilities that are available on turn 2 at the earliest are marked as "delay". LBs are considered "cheap" if they can be reasonably reached within 1-2 turns, normal if 3, and "expensive" if 4+.


 * Debuffs: Charm ≥ Stop > Petrify > Paralyze > Damage over time > Confuse, Poison, Sleep > Blind ≥ Silence > Disease


 * Elements: Wind > Water > Earth > Fire > Dark > Ice > Light > Lightning


 * Non-factors:
 * ST: Anything besides death, charm, stop, ~100% ailment(s), MP drain, full revive, full heal/refresh
 * Defensive AoE: Weak heals, debuff protection, stat buffs
 * Offensive AoE: Weak ailment chances, stat debuffs, weak imperils, chains with large frames (e.g. Quake, Ultima)
 * Passives: Aggro-related, requiring another unit to be present, cover-related, weak elemental resists (<40% for 1-2 elements), weak ailment resists, weak regens/refreshes (<10%), weak accuracy (<50%), non-Human killer effects (or <50%), guts
 * Self-destructs
 * Counters and LBs that do most of the above (or worse)

Equipment

 * Assassin Dagger - Attack-based all ailments (5%), Counter physical (30%) (max 3/turn)
 * Break Blade (FFIII) - Attack-based petrify (30%)
 * Cursed Shield (FFVI) - Dodge physical + magic (20%), self-inflicts poison + silence
 * Cursed Yari - Attack-based petrify (30%), ST MP drain
 * Demon Spear - Counter physical (30%) with ST death (80%) (max 1/turn)
 * Goho Katana - Attack-based confuse + petrify (30%)
 * Golem's Staff - Attack-based petrify (30%)
 * Needle Fork - Attack-based petrify (30%)
 * Pink Ribbon (FFVII: AC) - Counter (20%) with AoE heal (max 1/turn)
 * Pod 153 -
 * Protective Pendant - Dodge physical + magic (15%)
 * Ragnarok (FFBE) - Dodge magic (20%), +50% resist
 * Razzmatazz - Attack-based sleep + petrify (30%)
 * Red Sword (FFII) - Heals 25% of physical damage dealt
 * Rikku's Pouch - AoE petrify (100%) + all other ailments (30%), AoE cure all ailments
 * Ring of the Lucii - Dodge physical (25%), Counter physical (25%) with magic damage
 * Star Guard - Dodge physical (10%), Counter physical (40%) (max 1/turn)
 * Sturdy Headband - Counter magic (30%)
 * Thorned Mace+ - +75% damage to humans, Attack-based poison (100%) + petrify (30%)
 * Venomous Edge - Attack-based paralyze + poison (30%)

Materia

 * Allure Skills - Counter physical (20%) with ST charm (30%) (max 1/turn)
 * Bushido - Freedom - AoE dispel
 * Chamberlain's Expertise - Counter with weak AoE heal (20%) (max 1-2/turn)
 * Dodge Roll - Dodge physical (20%)
 * Doll's Eye - AoE blind + paralyze + confuse + petrify (30%)
 * First-Rate Treasure Hunter - Charm immunity
 * Frozen Hurricane - AoE stop (50%), [  ]
 * Man-Eater+ - +75% damage to humans
 * Manufacted Nethicite - Block 1 magic casting
 * Metamalboro - Counter physical (20%) with ST all ailments (20%) (max 3/turn)
 * Mechanical Heart - Counter (30%) with weak self-heal
 * Puff-Puff - ST charm (20%)
 * Soul of Darkness - Dodge magic (20%)
 * The Beginning of the End - Double-edged AoE dispel
 * Toxic Rain - AoE all ailments (3x 100%), [   ]

STMRs

 * Dark Aspirations - +50% physical damage to humans
 * Executioner - +50% damage to humans
 * Gran Reverie - Stop immunity
 * Kagenui (FFVI) - AoE stop (30%)
 * Locke's Dagger - Dodge physical (30%) + magic (20%)
 * Mordegon's Staff - Dodge magic (30%)
 * Pure Lotus - Auto-regen/refresh++
 * Sea Dragon - Dodge physical (30%)
 * Winged Heart - All ailment immunity + 50% charm resist

Espers

 * Asura
 * Man-Eater/M Man-Eater - Bonus damage to humans


 * Carbuncle
 * Ruby Light - AoE reflect


 * Diabolos
 * Man-Eater/Man-Eater+ - Bonus damage to humans
 * Mug - Cannot be dodged


 * Kokuryu
 * Cursed Current -


 * Lakshmi
 * Charming Protection - AoE charm immunity
 * Unstoppable Protection - AoE stop immunity
 * Alluring Embrace - AoE full heal


 * Leviathan
 * Osmose - ST MP drain
 * Violent Current -


 * Odin
 * Lance - ST MP drain
 * Zantetsuken - AoE death (60%)


 * Phoenix
 * Flames of Rebirth - AoE revive (90%)


 * Shiva
 * Stop Through - 50% stop resist


 * Tetra Sylphid
 * Air Step - Dodge physical (5%)
 * Air Wall - Dodge magic (5%)


 * Anima, Diabolos, Ramuh
 * Osmose - ST MP drain