Bravely Default 2 is full of systems that only start to make sense after dozens of hours, but if you’re armed with the right insights early on, you can save yourself a ton of time and unlock your characters’ full potential faster. This guide walks you through all the nuanced tricks—from passive exploration rewards to JP multipliers, advanced battle farming techniques, job skills, and hidden loot systems. Here’s everything you’ll wish you knew from the start.
Ship Exploration: Passive Progress for Massive Gains
Early in the game, you’re introduced to a ship that can explore while your Switch is in sleep mode. This is one of the most overlooked but powerful passive features in the game. Every 12 hours of real time yields massive rewards—XP orbs, JP orbs, and even stat-boosting items like permanent HP increases.
Before you put the game to rest, go to the ship and send it to explore. Then close your console or put it in sleep mode. When you return, you’ll often have valuable resources waiting. Do this regularly and your team will grow in power even while you’re doing something else.
Identifying and Handling Rare Monsters
While exploring, you may stumble upon strange-looking enemies—slightly different colors, off-textures, or subtle shape changes. These are rare monsters, and they’re significantly tougher than their regular counterparts.
They spawn randomly and often blend into the environment, such as a tree or boulder-looking creature. Approach with caution and always save your game before engaging—many of these monsters are far above your current level. They’re excellent for grinding, but only when you’re ready.
Auto-Heal Shortcuts
After a tough battle, you don’t need to go through every party member manually to heal them. Just press X and select auto-heal to restore all statuses and HP across the board. This saves time and makes post-combat recovery seamless.
Essential Job Skills: Divining Rod & Forage
Two Freelancer abilities are game-changers:
- Divining Rod shows how many treasure chests are left in a dungeon or area. Always keep this equipped on at least one character—main or sub. It ensures you won’t leave behind rare or unique loot.
- Forage becomes available at Freelancer level 4 and lets you collect random items during battle. This can include JP orbs, XP orbs, potions, ethers, or rare monster treats. Use it near the end of a battle after clearing most enemies, leaving one alive to safely spam Forage for items.
Avoid using Forage when you have guest characters, as they may prematurely end battles by killing enemies.
Night Farming & Monster Multipliers
Nighttime spawns stronger enemies and larger monster clusters. While more dangerous, it’s the best time to grind JP—especially when you group nearby monsters together.
Rather than swinging your weapon (which might scatter them), walk into two or more monsters that are close to each other. You’ll enter a multi-battle sequence, indicated by a blue icon, which grants bonus JP—sometimes up to 70% extra.
You can amplify this by using monster treats. Use the treat specific to the monster type in the area (insect treat for bugs, beast treat for animals, etc.), and it will draw more of that monster type toward you, increasing your chances of stacking battle chains.
Getting Monster Treats & Exploiting Them
Monster treats attract specific enemies and are a fantastic way to initiate extended battle chains. You can:
- Buy them later in the game, or
- Farm them as loot drops from battles
If you’re looking for specific treats, use Forage in the right zones and check battle rewards. Always make sure the treat matches the monster type around you. Generic treats also exist but are rarer. Once consumed, a treat’s effect lasts for a few minutes—enough to chain several high-yield battles.
Guest Characters: Maximize Before They Leave
Temporary party members or “guest characters” show up throughout the story. While you don’t control them, they’re immensely helpful and often overpowered for your current zone. Use their presence to your advantage: explore thoroughly, grind levels and JP, and tackle tough enemies. Once they leave, they don’t come back, so get the most out of them while you can.
Battle Automation & Speeding Up Fights
You can drastically speed up your grinding by using battle automation features:
- Press Y during battle to repeat your previous turn’s actions.
- Press the + button to increase battle speed.
This is ideal for grinding, but remember that repeating actions this way targets random enemies—you can’t specify. For precise control, you’ll still want to queue up your attacks manually.
Also, be cautious: enemies can Brave just like you. Going all-in recklessly can leave you exposed, especially during long chain fights.
Movement Speed Settings
You can toggle auto-run so you’re always sprinting instead of holding ZR. It’s handy when covering ground quickly but can make tasks like grass-cutting more finicky. Toggle depending on what you’re doing—exploring at full speed or navigating a tight area.
Using Enemy Behavior to Gauge Readiness
A great way to tell if you’re ready for a new zone or boss is to observe enemy behavior:
- If enemies charge you, you’re under-leveled.
- If they flee from you, you’re ready for the boss or can safely explore.
Even on lower difficulties, bosses remain challenging. Be sure to have multiple jobs leveled—not just Freelancers or White Mages. Mix it up so you’re not caught unprepared when a boss demands a different strategy.
Cutting Grass and Hidden Loot
Don’t underestimate grass. Chopping it down with your weapon can yield high-value items: weapons, armor, accessories, and more. Though tedious, it’s often worth taking a few minutes in each new area to clear grass between battles. These hidden finds can rival or even surpass store-bought gear.
Weight Management & Recommended Equipment
Just because you found an amazing weapon doesn’t mean you should equip it. Keep an eye on your equipment weight. Overloading a character severely hampers their effectiveness.
Press X to auto-equip the best gear based on your current job and stats. This helps you avoid equipping high-weight gear that offsets your speed or defense, especially in dungeons or boss areas where performance matters.
Wrapping It All Up
There’s no shortage of systems in Bravely Default 2, but the good news is that every one of them can be turned into an advantage if you know how to use them. From maximizing passive exploration and exploiting monster behaviors, to optimizing job abilities and battle efficiency—these tips can make your grind smoother and your party significantly stronger.
Stay sharp, be strategic, and keep your inventory loaded with options. Whether you’re tackling rare monsters at night or micromanaging your gear for boss fights, this knowledge will carry you far.
Now go slash some grass, forage some treats, and dominate Excillant like a pro.
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