Items need not be equipped to cast spells, in fact I prefer not to equip them.

My current flawless strategy is a knight, thief, white mage, and black mage. The thief, white mage, and black mage are all low health, which means the knight will cover them. My knight has two hero shield equipped and defends every round. Critical hits do 1 damage to him. Every character is in the back row. Thief has two boomerangs and the white and black mage use fire/ice/light rod every round. This will not work against magic casting enemies, but for now where there has only been physical attacks, it works wonders... my party is virtually invincible.

Knights are more defense oriented, warriors more offensive. Personally I prefer knight because later he can equip ragnarok/excalibur, two of the strongest weapons, and starting to level up the class earlier, is better. Plus my strategy as posted.

THE JACKEL