DQ8 Build

Hero
(maybe 18 first) 52  Boomerangs > 59 spears > 90 courage > 9 swords
The main move this build has that the others don’t is lightning thrust, a critical hit move that can be used for metal slime hunting and high defense enemies. Spears also have a variety of solid moves that give it more flexibility than swords. Dragon slash is tacked on for the postgame. Once again, use boomerangs early on while you’re putting points in fisticuffs.

Yangus
16 humanity > 6 axes > 42 fisticuffs > 19 axes > 32 humanity > 82 axes > 82 humanity
This build (and all builds I give) gives Yangus heal right away, which is a big help in the early game. Yangus gets helm splitter early on for bosses and thin air will take out large encounters. Share magic is useful for a certain boss where mp is an issue sometimes. Executioner lets you slime hunt and kill that mean postgame boss while humanities lend support skills.

Jessica
23 Whips > 57 Staves > 78 Sex Appeal > 100 Staves >  100 Sex Appeal
This gets Caduceus (free healing) as early as possible. 78 in sex appeal gives her support for random battles. Kazing is snatched as early as possible for the postgame. The extra mp and especially the mp regeneration will also be useful then. Twin dragon lash at level 40 lets her do competitive damage versus the postgame bosses. You get hustle dance at level 43 which is late even for the postgame, especially since Jessica slightly lags in levels.

Angelo
40 Swords > 12 Staves > 66 Swords > 13 Charisma > 65 Staves > 21 Fisticuffs (> 68 Fisticuffs)

This build boosts Angelo’s offensive abilities quickly which is very handy considering his terrible skill growth. Once his offence is taken care of staves and charisma offer several support spells. By the end of the game Angelo will not be attacking nearly as often so the evasion in fisticuffs provides him some nice defense. If you feed him all the skill seeds he should reach this by level 39 or 40. If you keep on leveling in the postgame Angelo’s skill growth shoots up and you can get defending champion for more defense by level 44. This build has metal slash, Angelo’s best way to hunt metal slimes.