Fusillade/Blitz Command Team?

[FomeRubr555]

Does anyone still use this forum to talk about team/character builds and stuff? I mean, obviously it still has some activity, but not as much as when the game was new. I bring this up now because I just beat the game for the first time, and I'm preparing for my New Game+ file.

I don't suppose spoilers matter as much anymore but better safe than sorry, so I'll put everything in spoilers.

[spoiler]Since I chose the Yggdroid path the first time around, I figured I'd take advantage of it in my new file. The thing I like the most about Yggdroid is Sleep Mode; giving it up to 20 free TP per turn while allowing one part of the body to remain unbound and functional (this with Reflector and a Blue Bot made the last boss a cinch, allowing me to beat her on my first attempt). This would be perfect with a Zodiac if the lack of Tec didn't severely nerf the damage, so I had to look for alternatives.

Looking at the various skill sets, one caught my eye: the Shogun's Fusillade. Granted, I won't be able to use this until I get subclasses again, but theoretically I could spam it every turn and never run out of TP. Blitz Command allows use of all weapons, but requires more TP, thus I'd eventually run out. So I thought about multiclassing everyone as Arbalists or Buccaneers, so they could all join in on the attack every turn.

The only problem with this idea that I could see is that using a Zodiac and Monk like last time would hinder my damage potential, and I'd end up with only one good physical damage class (probably Shogun/Buccaneer) to make use of the skill. In light of that, I wanted to try mixing up my usual build. So, finally, I get to my questions, which are below the spoilers.[/spoiler]


tl;dr: Two questions:

1) [hide]Does a Shogun with Daifuhensha make a decent Hoplite replacement, even without Hoplite as a subclass?[/hide]

2) Is it at least somewhat tolerable to make a team without a Zodiac/Regal Radiance? Can I get through the game with only forging my weapons with certain elements without too much headache and/or grinding?

[Doktor_Q]

1) HAHAHA no. They have pretty terrible HP and defense, and I don't think the buffs are strong enough to compensate for that. I'd hazard a guess that Shoguns are pretty much never decent Hoplite replacements. Yggdroids with Hoplite subs, on the other hand, can sometimes make better Hoplites than actual Hoplites do, what with Sleep Mode/Rocket Jump, and their incredibly high natural HP/Def. I've run solo parties with a Yggdroid, and they are sturdy.

2) Up until the dragons and the 6th stratum, I made it through with pretty much no elements at all. There's a handful of enemies with mean physical resistance, but you can use forges, elemental damage items, or just get more raw damage (guess which one I picked~).

[FomeRubr555]

That's informative, then. Let's see...

Front:
Hoplite/Arbalist - Well, it'll pretty much just be a Hoplite with a crossbow.

Shogun/Buccaneer - Swashbuckling and 5-Ring Sword would be the highlights here, I think. If I got it right, putting a gun in the second slot and katana in the first should allow it to join in the Fusillade, right?

Yggdroid/Shogun - Mentioned in my first post, it's purpose will be to set up binds so it can spam Fusillades (or, when necessary, Reflectors). Though alternatively I could put a Front Mortar Arbalist here and put my Yggdroid in the back, but then it'll lack ability to do much in random fights.

Back:
Ninja/Buccaneer - Kubikiri + Swashbuckling. Also Pincushion. I think it's pretty self-explanatory.

Monk/Arbalist - Like the Hoplite, the only purpose of the subclass will be to allow access to crossbows (which, if I'm correct, do more damage than guns) and give a few extra skill points.


There's going to be a looooot of standard attacking (not that that's very different from normal).

If this fails, Plan B is to make a Dark Ether TP Battery Yggdroid/Zodiac.

[s]Edit: Oh right, I almost completely forgot. I got the Deep Sea Medallion (or whatever the hell it was called). Is there any further reason to keep going with my current file? Do I get anything carried over through New Game+ if I defeat the post game boss first? Does the level cap increase carry over if I defeat the dragons or something (not that that'd matter much at all)?[/s]

Edit 2: Nevermind, looked it up on Gamefaqs and answered my own question.

[scy]

[FomeRubr555]

Yeah, this plan got worse as I researched it further. I know Ad Nihilo can make or break certain fights, particularly where regen buffs are present, and lacking it seemed like a bad thing. On top of that, I thought about something. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems like binding the head lowers accuracy. If that's the case, it seems like I'd be making Fusillade miss a lot. I guess it could be offset by Infravision, but eh...

That being said, I'm still looking for a way to make use of Yggdroid's Sleep Mode. I didn't expect any build of such to be gamebreaking, else they'd be talked about all over the place, but it still seemed fun. Though all I can come up with so far is the aforementioned Dark Ether spam combined with very high TP-consuming attacks (Pincushion for one maybe?).

Though, I wasn't planning this build for any particular fight (though it seemed like it'd work fairly well on bosses, but then again so would many other strategies), so I'm confused as to what you mean by "only use it once". The idea was to take a team of level 1 characters through the game from the first floor again. I have since abandoned that plan in favor of using my original team to unlock Shogun first, and then decide what to do after that.

[scy]

[FomeRubr555]

[scy]

[Doktor_Q]

My experience on Ad Nihilo is mainly: 1) Golem, 2) Divine Judge, 3) I needed it vs [hide]Automaton King & Olympia, to bypass her defense.[/hide]

It's also a handy trick against any enemy that likes to use defense buffs on itself, since if you can cast it early, they've basically wasted a turn.

[scy]

The fight I had in mind for Ad Nihilo was [hide]Drake's nigh immunity and regen[/hide]. Golem, off-hand, doesn't do anything to stop elemental damage and Divine Judge only uses their regen once (and, alternatively, do nothing if you have Antivolt/Volt Prophecy/etc.).

[FomeRubr555]

[Doktor_Q]

Getting to level 99 requires you to have killed all three of the dragons. I'd wait on that for a bit. Also, retire from 70 or bust.

NG+ is a great way to re-level a complete party, by the way. It's not as slow as you'd think, given the bonus stats, bonus skill points, and that you should still have all the really cool, high-level armor and weapons.

[FomeRubr555]

Hmm...well I could do that. My team is currently 58/57/53/58/59, so how do I go about grinding to 70? More New Game runs? Or maybe I should try mapping the 6th stratum for the future...

Edit: Oh yeah, money is also a problem for those really expensive armors and whatnot. Any advice on that? 6th stratum harvesting maybe?

[Doktor_Q]

Get four farmers. Safe Stroll, Harestry, Keen Nose. That alone is enough to do runs on the Sixth stratum for multiple thousand a run, no encounters. Just... don't chance it with the "you sense danger!" part.

Also, how the heck did you beat either final boss without anyone above level 60? Just lots of items? Previous retirements?

[FomeRubr555]

Actually I've beaten both final bosses and the only one who ever retired was my Yggdroid (who came from a 30 something ninja). o_o Am I just that awesome?

[hide]The Deep Princess was practically a joke since I made my Yggdroid spam Reflector with a Blue Bot every turn. Since her only attack that hit everyone with direct damage was Thin Ice, all I had to really do was focus on healing my Hoplite (and curing status as necessary). Kujura was significantly harder, and I admit I think I got by him with a tad bit of luck. Olympia and the Automaton King weren't really hard either, I Reflector'd every 6 turns with a Yellow Bot to block the team attack. Both the Deep Princess and Automaton King were defeated on my first attempt at each, rendering me disappointed at the difficulty of the last bosses compared to EO1 and 2. I understand there's some true ending though, but I'm saving that for my new team's run, whenever I get to that.[/hide]