Blitzball can be a difficult game to play at times, but fortunately there's a simple trick you can do that will help you win every time. Before we get into that, we'll have to go over some of the mechanics of the game to get a full understanding.

If you already have a good understanding of the game, you can skip ahead to the section titled Preparations.

For this guide, I will be using the story match against the Luca Goers for demonstration. I'll be including screenshots from my video walkthrough throughout this guide. If you'd prefer to view the video walkthrough, you can view it below:

Blitzball is a sort of hybrid sport, with elements of soccer, football, and water polo. The goal of the game is to earn more points than the other team by the end of the two halves. You earn points by getting the ball past the other team's goalkeeper.

You'll be controlling the Besaid Aurochs, one of six teams. The other five are as follows:

1. Kilika Beasts
2. Al Bhed Psyches
3. Guado Glories
4. Luca Goers
5. Ronso Fangs

Some teams may appear more difficult than others. This is because the stats of the players will vary from team to team. I won't include them here, as it won't be important considering the trick we're going to use.

The Luca Goers will be your first match, and following this story encounter you will be able to access Blitzball matches at your leisure. You can do this by speaking to the front desk at the Luca Stadium - Main Gate, or at any Save Sphere.

You can only play Blitzball matches when you have access to Tidus in your party.

Each team is composed of six players. They each make up one of the positions below:

LF: (Left Forward)
RF: (Right Forward)
MF: (Midfielder)
LD: (Left Defender)
RD: (Right Defender)
GL: (Goalkeeper)

At the start of each half, they'll be positioned like this:














Here are their responsibilities:

Forwards: Forwards are responsible for making shots and scoring points
Midfielders: Midfielders are versatile. They will primarily be the ones passing since they receive the ball first
Defenders: Defenders will be doing most of the blocking and passing
Goalkeepers: Goalkeepers have one job - to catch and deflect shots made on the goal

You'll start with your own ragtag team of six players. Each player of your team will be tailored for one of these positions, but you can move them however you like. You cannot, however, move them during the first half of the story Blitzball match. In this guide, I keep them in their default positions. You can see their default stats below:

Tidus (Forward)










Datto (Forward)










Letty (Midfielder)










Jassu (Defender)










Botta (Defender)










Keepa (Goalkeeper)










You'll eventually be able to hire new players for your team. In this guide, however, we will use the default team setup.

Statistics

As can see from above, there are eight statistics had by each character. They will range from character to character depending on which positions they're best suited for. They are as follows:

SPD (SP): This is your Speed stat. This will determine how fast a character can swim.

END (EN): This is your Endurance stat. This will determine how much damage a character can take from the other team during a tackle.

PAS (PA): This is your Pass stat. This will determine how far a character can pass the ball. As the ball travels through the water, the number will decrease. If it reaches 0, the pass will be fumbled or intercepted.

SHT (SH): This is your Shoot stat. This will determine how likely a shot is to avoid getting caught or deflected by a goalkeeper. Just like the PA stat, it will decrease as the ball travels through the water. When it reaches 0, the ball will be intercepted, caught, or deflected.

HP: This is your Health Points stat. This will determine how many points your character has to use on abilities. This stat will also drain any time the player has possession of the ball. When this stat reaches zero, all other stats will be halved and no abilities can be used.

ATK (AT): This is your Attack stat. This will determine how much damage a character can inflict to another player's EN.

BLK (BL): This is your Block stat. This will determine how effective a player is at blocking or intercepting a pass or shot.

CAT (CA): This is your Catch stat. This will determine how effective a goalkeeper is at catching or deflecting a shot made at the goal.

Statistic Relationship

The stats have a direct opposing relationship. When one of these stats is higher than the other, there is a greater chance that whatever action is being performed will be successful. Here are the stats below:

BL or CA vs. PA or SH

AT vs. EN

It is not assured, however, that when a stat is higher than the opposing stat that the action will be successful. There is a bit of random chance involved.

These statistics will increase as a player's level increases. Player levels will increase as they accumulate experience, which can be earned by simply performing actions. A list of actions and their relative experience earned can be seen in the table below:


In this table, you'll notice some moves that offer larger amounts of EXP. These are Techs, which are usable once a player reaches Lv 3. This is important, as this will be the primary key to winning matches. We will discuss this in one of the future sections.

If you feel you've familiarized yourself enough with the basics of the game, in the next section Preparations we will begin laying the groundwork for the match against the Luca Goers.

Before you begin the match, it's pivotal that you have already obtained the Jecht Shot technique on the boat ride from Kilika Port to Luca. It will involve a small but fairly simple minigame of which you can find some pictures below:


Make sure you save your game before the minigame begins. It is not missable as you can retry at any time by taking the boat to Luca again, however it will save you some backtracking if you get it the first time.

The story match, unlike a standard match, will throw you into the game with no time to prepare your team setup beforehand.

The Goal

The goal of the first half will be to keep possession of the ball at all times and run out the clock. We will want the ball to go to the Aurochs first after the Blitzoff!. Unfortunately, the ball will go to one of the teams at random. Fortunately, we can manipulate this. After one of the teams receives the ball, you'll notice the symbol below on the bottom right of the screen:










If Letty doesn't receive the ball first, you can reload the autosave as soon as the Chocobo appears on screen. The game doesn't save the result of the Blitzoff!, so you can reload the save until it goes more favorably.

First Moves











Now that Letty has received the ball, press Y or △ as soon as possible. You will then want to select Manual A or Manual B. This will allow you to control your players freely instead of having them follow predetermined paths. It will then prompt you to select a formation. You will want to select Normal.

Mark Mode is a formation that will allow your players to cover other players during each match. This allows them to learn Techs from the players they are covering. Left Side and Right Side will allow you to employ alternative strategies. For the purposes of this guide, none of this will be used.

Making Room

Now that you have full control over Letty, have him swim to the right side of the arena toward the Aurochs's goal immediately. Use the minimap to navigate. This will draw the other team toward him and away from the rest of your team, freeing them up for plays.











Do not attempt to navigate using the camera. It will constantly shift perspective and make it very hard to make accurate adjustments.

Keeping Your Distance

Once Letty is near your goal, have him pass to Tidus. Do this by pressing X or ⬜. Tidus should have enough room to swim to the wall of the arena without being followed. Once he reaches the wall, you will notice that as he swims into it, all of the players will begin to swim in circles. You will have Tidus continue to stick to the wall for the remainder of the first half.

Earning Experience

You will continue to do this until around 4:50. At this point, you'll need to earn Tidus some EXP. He only needs 1 EXP to move to Lv 3, so have Tidus pass to one of his teammates. His HP will be at 0, so like we discussed before, his stats will be halved. This means that the pass will most likely fail, and the player will fumble.

Fortunately, there is so little time left on the clock that if the other team gets possession of the ball, they will not have enough time to score. The first half will end tied 0-0.

If you were able to perform a pass with Tidus, most likely unsuccessful, then he will earn exactly 1 EXP. Luckily, he needed exactly 1 EXP to get to Lv 3. Now he will be able to use Techs!

Once the game asks you to configure your characters, leave them all in their default positions. When it asks you to Set Techs, this is the important part. You will notice something different, and that is that Tidus has something called Sphere Shot. You will want to change that to Jecht Shot, as this will be your primary device for winning.

After you change Tidus's Sphere Shot to Jecht shot, select Done twice as you won't be needing to set any marks, which we talked about earlier in the guide.

Select Yes under Proceed, and you are now ready for the second half.

This half will go a little different - for a few reasons. The first is you only have until 3:00 before you're interrupted. You'll also be scoring your first - and last - goal of the game.

Making a Move

You're going to perform this first part of half just as you did in the last half. You can reload the autosave until Letty gets possession of the ball first. After this, you'll move to the right again, and again you'll pass to Tidus. This time, however, you'll have Tidus move in for the shot.

It's important that you move Tidus in for a shot right away. It will take a fairly large amount of HP for him to be able to perform this shot, and at Lv 3 he will only have one chance. If he swims around with the ball too long before attempting the shot, he won't have enough HP to perform it even once.

Making a Shot

You'll want to get as close as possible to the goal before you attempt a shot. You'll also want to avoid having more than two players cover Tidus when he makes the shot. Tidus's Jecht Shot technique will be able to bypass up to two players completely.

Once you're in position, you can press X or ⬜. Select Shoot, then Jecht Shot. If Tidus was close enough, his SH should be high enough for a successful goal.

Making a Resistance

After the goal is successful, there will be another Blitzoff!. It will automatically go to the other team and you won't be able to load an autosave to change the outcome. This is arguably the hardest part of the match, as you will want to prevent the team from scoring until the 3:00 mark. If you manage to gain possession of the ball again, pass it between your players and stay on the other team's side of the field if possible.

If you manage to hold off the other team, you'll be interrupted at 3:00.

You will not be interrupted during a standard match, and the game will simply end at 5:00.

Running Out the Clock

At this point, Wakka will fill in for Tidus. Luckily, there are only 2 minutes you have to kill. What's even better is there will be another autosave after the ball is received, so if it doesn't go to you, you'll be able to reload until it does.











Just like before, Letty will receive the ball. You'll have him move to the right toward the Auroch's goal, but this time you can opt to have him swim against the wall of the arena again. You can pass it back and forth between players if you'd like to earn some extra EXP, however that is not done in this guide.

The clock will then end at 5:00, and you'll win the match with a score of 1-0!

Despite this unexpected turnout, the rewards for your feat are surprisingly dull.



You'll receive a Strength Sphere, and there will be a slightly different cutscene at the end. The announcer's reaction will be slightly different as well. But overall, a very underwhelming response to a great win.

Congratulations!