Yakuza: Like a Dragon has gone the way of the RPG, adding in a new leveling system that works in tandem with jobs that can be assigned to individual characters. Naturally, some characters excel in areas where others do not. That is why I’ve broken down what are the best jobs in Yakuza: Like a Dragon for each character are. This will include the secret character that can only be obtained through the Ichiban Confectionary business management minigame and party members found at the end. Please keep in mind there will be some major spoilers going forward.
Also note that if you came here looking for the Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth best job guides for characters, you can find Yakuza 8 help in our other guide.
Best Jobs For Your Party Members in Yakuza: Like a Dragon
Best Jobs for Ichiban Kasuga
The protagonist and hero of the story, Ichiban is arguably at his best when using the Hero job. It is unlocked through basic story progression, and you’ll know once you’ve unlocked it since Ichiban will be carrying around his signature bat from them on. What makes the Hero job so great for Ichiban? Well, the best weapon for this class adds additional hits onto Ichiban’s normal attacks. Reserving MP can really make a difference in specific boss fights, so allowing Ichiban to get in those extra hits without any MP cost makes it invaluable.
The Hero Job also has the Hero’s Vigor skill, which can potentially revive a fallen ally and is unlocked at level 8. This, combined with other healing skills that are unlocked as you level up this job, make him a great supporter.
However, if you want to mix it up, Ichiban also makes a great Breaker. The Breaker provides a great lineup of buffs that will affect your entire team, which makes it quicker to deal out or mitigate damage. In addition, Essence of the Rolling Mixer has a chance to remove all debuffs applied to Ichiban and Essence of Breaknight Dance has the chance to restore all of a party member’s HP.
It is not advised that you assign any kind of “tanking” role, like the Enforcer, to Ichiban, since you never want him to be taking the brunt of enemy attacks. Why is that? Well, when Ichiban goes down, you immediately fail an encounter. This means that your total yen will be halved or you’ll need to start a dungeon over if you’re not willing to fork over enough cash to respawn.
Best Jobs for Nanba
Nanba will shine as a “black mage” or offensive caster. The Fortuneteller and Host Jobs work great with Nanba’s high magic stat. Both the Fortuneteller and Host can apply debuffs to enemies while dealing devastating area of effect damage with their respective Essence skills. So even when you take him into combat against enemies that resist debuffs like Cold, Charm, or Burned, you can still rely on him to dish out some decent damage.
An ideal support class for Nanba is the Musician, which is a hybrid offensive and healing Job. The Musician can heal over time and deal both physical and magical damage with specific skills. It is great for boss fights that deal loads of damage and, combined with Nanba’s Character Level skills like Healing Powder and Healing Bolus, it makes up for the raw healing power the Musician lacks.
Best Jobs for Koichi Adachi
Adachi’s best job, hands down, is the Enforcer. Combined with his Slick Tongue skills, Adachi can draw the attention of enemies away from more vulnerable party members. The Enforcer specializes in defense, with most of the passive stat boosts the Job gains from leveling up allotted to either defense or HP. Adachi can be assigned other jobs, but they don’t really stand out when compared to how effective the Enforcer is. Even if you can’t draw the attention away from enemies (as some bosses are immune to the Enrage status effect), skills like Paralysis Prongs can stun an enemy, giving you enough time to recover if the status ends up sticking.
Best Jobs for Saeko Mukoda
Unfortunately, the best job for Saeko in Yakuza: Like a Dragon is the Idol. While you can assign her other jobs like Night Queen or even the Matriarch if you’ve purchased the DLC, her natural healing stat is the best in the game. You can’t get very far in Yakuza: Like a Dragon without a proficient healer and, while you could argue that Nanba can make up for the difference with his Character Level skills, Saeko can really make or break fights. It can be devastating when she goes down, so make sure to protect her so she can keep your party topped off.
Best Jobs for Joon-gi Han
Joon-gi starts with arguably one of the best jobs in Yakuza: Like a Dragon. Hitman does an amazing job of dealing damage, and I suggest just keeping him in that role once he joins your party. You can absolutely cheese some fights with this job, since his skills can hit more than one enemy at a time and deal loads of damage. This is great for boss fights in the late game and in the Underground Arena. In addition, his skills can exploit enemies’ weaknesses, so all in all he’s probably one of the best damage dealers in the game. You’ll want to swap out Nanba for him if you’re struggling in a fight.
You can also assign him the Enforcer job, if you’d rather have him taking hits for your party instead of Adachi, but again, he really works best as a damage dealer. However, he can shoulder this role too if you just want him around and aren’t really interested in swapping to Adachi in battles.
Best Jobs for Tianyou Zhao
Another incredible damage dealer, Tianyou Zhao shines as a Gangster. Tianyou starts with this job and excels at it. He has one of the highest attack stats in the game, so keeping him on the offensive is the best course of action. His Essence skills will also hit all enemies on the field, dealing an absurdly large amount of damage. It can make some group encounters quick work.
However, similar to Joon-gi, you will get him extremely late in the game. Which is a shame, since he quickly becomes an invaluable member of your party. So much so that I had difficulties deciding on who I wanted to take with me into combat immediately. Thankfully, you don’t really have to choose, since you can swap party members freely during combat.
Like Ichiban, you can assign Tianyou the Breaker job if you’re not interested in keeping him as a Gangster. Due to his high attack stat he can dish out damage quickly and efficiently as a Breaker and provide a bit of support to your team. Paired with his high attack stat and the agility of the Breaker, Tianyou can usually attack faster than the enemy. This makes random encounters quicker even with auto-battle on.
Best Jobs for Eri Kamataki
The secret party member, Eri Kamataki, unlike Saeko in that she excels in dealing damage. You can assign her the Idol job too, but her natural healing stat isn’t as high as Saeko’s. Similar to Tianyou and Joon-gi, one of her best jobs in Yakuza: Like a Dragon is the one she starts with: the Clerk. The Clerk deals great slashing damage and the best weapon for it allows her to ignore the opponent’s defense. If you’re looking for an offense-based female party member, Eri will fill that role nicely.
She also deals some great damage with the Night Queen job. The Night Queen specializes in single-target attacks, but she can provide some support with the Essence of Titillating Claws that can restore an ally’s HP. Similar to the Musician, the Night Queen is more of a hybrid class that can deal physical and magic damage. Assigning this Job to Eri will put her in more of a supportive role.
Best Job Combinations in Yakuza: Like a Dragon
Certain jobs are most certainly better than others in Yakuza: Like a Dragon, with some party members able to carry you well into the late hours of the game. Below we’ve listed some of the best job combinations. Keep in mind there will be some mainstays here just because of how strong they are.
- Hero (Ichiban), Enforcer (Adachi), Gangster (Zhao), Hitman (Joon-gi)
- This is arguably one of the best job combinations in the game once you get Zhao and Joon-gi as party members. Ichiban has a heal skill as Hero which means he can get Zhao and Joon-gi through the worst of it while Adachi tanks.
- Enforcer (Ichiban), Gangster (Zhao), Hitman (Joon-gi), Night Queen (Saeko) or Matriarch (Saeko, DLC)
- Another great job combination that relies on Joon-gi and Zhao, and with Saeko added to the mix this combination is pure DPS. It’s risky, but worth it for sweeping through enemies with ease.
- Hero (Ichiban), Enforcer (Adachi), Chef (Nanba), Idol (Saeko)
- This is arguably the best job combination for the early game, since you will have all of these characters within the first few hours, along with their jobs. Saeko can provide some great support while Nanba acts as the party mage.
- Enforcer (Ichiban), Fortuneteller (Nanba) Hitman (Joon-gi), Idol (Saeko/Eri)
- An all-rounder combination. With Saeko or Eri healing, Ichiban tanking and Nanba and Joon-gi dealing damage, your party will be durable enough to withstand the most challenging fights. Even if it isn’t the most DPS heavy.
Yakuza: Like a Dragon is immediately available on Xbox One, Xbox Series X, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 and PC. You can check out our review of Yakuza: Like a Dragon here.
Related: How to Summon in Battle on AOTF
