Character/Party Build Ideas?

[Fluffernuff]

Ah, i see, I see, haha. my CURRENT group (the one i left myself with so many months ago) was/is:

and a blood surge (and/or charge if setup allows) squall volley just DUMPS one enemies. clearly, its not the best i can do, sure, but theyre VERY close second in damage in my group (hitting ~400-700 PER hit at 43 with 5th stratum lvl gear carried over) and a certian someone hitting for 3-5K depending on weakness/setup.
At this PARTICULAR point i'm considering;


So What im really lacking is a GOOD backrow attacker. that Really only leaves me with ;
R/X, S/X, D/X, X/D, or X/S as viable damagers
OR
a backrow fortress.

ive PERSONALLY had alot of Fun with D/B attackers because of their high TP for blood surge and overall synergy. they really do hit rather hard under Blood Surge/Attack tango
and I'd Imagine straight up R works too, but it wouldnt fit too well with the R/D setup.


bonus question:


on that note,


The problem is still healing though. still not sure how im gonna go about it quite yet

[isometric]

[Itaan]

Hi, I accidentally made a new topic when I asked this (Because noob), but, I'm trying to make a new four-person team. I wanted two snipers in the back, possibly a Runemaster in the middle or an Arcanist.. or a Night Seeker(Don't worry, I am keeping subclassing in mind).

I mean, I got past the 4th land, so I'm not unfamiliar with the characters' mechanics. But that was long ago, back when I was getting railed by schoolwork, then I had to put up the game for another time, and "another time" is now!
Except I want to start over for the story's sake. .

Thank you Myssdii for the Sniper sub recommendations. I liked the Arcanist choice only for the TP return and Releasal Spell, but would the TP passives balance the use of Releasal?

The Bushi sub for Sniper sounds killer, in the 3rd land I never really bothered with them, but I'm interested now that I looked over their skills.
I want to focus my Snipers on binds and chases, then follow up with Divine shot, that + Blood surge and Charge would be nice right?

But would a Bushi/Sniper be better for that? Max blood surge + Charge + Lvl4 Divine shot?(@660% vs 760%)

Can I have opinions on these possible sniper builds? ^^"

And for the party member inbetween my snipers, I wanted to try an Arcanist/Night Seeker, since I do recall a Night Seeker/Arcanist named Lilith on a guild card who was absolutely HAAM. And I want one, plus the Releasal Spell would go great with the Divine Shot-Duo.

I realize if I build this right, I could have an enemy fully bound in one turn between those three.

I'm not going to worry about my front row for now since my Fortress enjoys being beat.

But my questions in the end are:
B/S vs S/B?
N/A vs A/N?
And what is so great about Squall shot? That, and "Link" teams? Someone clue me in please. 0:

[Itaan]

I just tried S/B and B/S side by side in Misty Ravine
I geared them the same(Bows, Medium armor), and the stats are as follows:
B/S
ATK 292
DEF 181
HP 324
TP 59! + TP regain

S/B
ATK 287 + the crit passives
DEF 158
HP 214
TP 144

LUC only differs by two points between them.
And Bushi doesn't do a whole lot more damage than the Sniper, but I noticed something, the Bushi was more self sustaining even with the low TP. I ran out of TP with the normal Sniper more often. I know to use Deep Breathing when you get low, but if you get stuck with 0 TP as Sniper, you can't simply attack once to get enough TP for Deep Breathing.
One thing I loved was the chases they'd do, can't wait until I fix the kinks in this build.

I might try S/A vs A/S just for the TP return on successful binds and stuff.

[Wolkenritter]

[isometric]

[Wolkenritter]

[Fluffernuff]

... As for topic at hand, in this particular case...

i might suggest A/N, if ONLY for the fact of chase bind from 2 S/Bs. true, it'll offer less synergy with itself overall, but the higher lvl bind circles will serve the snipers more than the A/N would be losing, plus the higher TEC from the A/N would help a bit more if you absolutely needed to blow a dismiss heal.

and worse case scenario, you could go with Iso's set-up as well.

though if you want more pure damage, then N/A would be the superior choice.


as for B/S vs S/B.
any benefit you would gain from B/S over S/B is sort of lost because you'd have to rely on bow skills regardless of the set-up (or you'd be using bushi's katana/mace skills anyway... which defeats the purpose). so you'd have to consider if bushi's TP regain and passives would consistently do more than just having better bow skills. as wolken pointed out, they dont.
S/B would also benefit more from your A/n or N/A's binds, due in part of higher lvl chase bind, and the chance for it to crit (and crit for more damage)


overall though, sniper lags behind in damage, and if youre going to focus on snipers for your source of damage, especially 2, you should tailor your group for them. That is to say, your fights will be slower, but safer. youre main mitigation will be through proper binding, rather than turn 2 or turn 3 kills

important to note though: Eagle eye from Sniper, and Atrophic Eye from Arcanist stack for the defense debuff, though 2 eagle eye's wont stack with eachother.


as for runemaster.... ive never really used them so i cant really say how their damage would do, BUT... you're already competing for your back line (2 snipers with bows and your squishy arcanist or nightseeker) so it may not be the best choice.
Landy would work amazingly well for their links (because 2 squall volleys) or even a fortress... because fortress

[Sceadugenga]

Hi all . It's my first play through this game and this series, and I'm really enjoying it so far. I've made it to the 4th stratum, but now that I have access to six classes I really want to play I figured I'd solicit some opinions form the board on what to keep/drop. Until I unlocked , I was running:

L/R, N/A, F/D
S/N, A/M

which proved very effective. Now that I have access to , I'm struggling on what to drop to include one in my main party. I had a thought for a moment of making a B/L linker, because I really like the 's proficiency TP regen bonus, but I suspect that the half skill cap will really impair the class later on. I'd be totally comfortable dropping my linkland, but if I do then I totally lack reliable elemental damage until I unlock .

I have a special attachment to my sniper, even though most agree that the class doesn't have the damage potential of other high damage dealers. I've really liked using a damage oriented sniper as basically an attachment to my Arcanist by maxing the damage tree and chase bind so that when the arcanist (bind oriented, leaving status ailments to the nightseeker) binds proc, I tack on damage. I also use squall line to maximize links from the land, so far.

But: I want to make room for my new friend from the third stratum. So what do I drop/change around? Thanks guys.

I'd also eventually like to be running all three additions to the party, so any suggestions for party structure once I finish the 4th stratum would also be greatly appreciated.

Currently, I traded out my linkland for a B/N (non mace, dual wielding, or I would have considered /F for elemental damage coverage, but between the two weapon choices, maces are lame in comparison).

[Fluffernuff]

your group, as it stands, is already VERY much set up for linking. the only thing i would change is N/A ro R/X but even then, you still have swift edge and follow trace. and i'm just gonna tell you now... if youre going to build specifically a link party, your linker needs to be landy main. not necessarily for the levels in the links themselves, but the link PASSIVES later down the line.

I've also personally STARTED a "special characters only" run... though im only at the second stratum, so... eh. if you want them in a group, it seems like you kind do have to build around them as they themselves dont have a whole lot of support with eachother....

the only character in your group i would reasonably replace is L/R. but you wanted a link setup. so cant do that. or i'd personally dump sniper. but that would hurt the link setup too... actually to be fair, bushi is pretty terrible for links in general. B/L is much worse for it... L/B however is a pretty good brawler

weve kinda discussed our thoughts on sniper and how its pretty weak.. the only thing i might consider changing for you if you really MUST keep it is swap subclass to arcanist so you can have TP regen on binds(i think it works on binds)... and making binds easier to inflict. so you can leg bind easier. so when it WORKS, your squall volley will hit. and will proc a metric load of links.

if youre dead set on the special characters though, i;d urge you to do it how i did... starting with them from the ground up in a NG+ mode. that way you can design your group with them in mind rather than trying to shuffle around what you ALREADY have and spend time grinding them up... which might still end up "worse" than what you have going on... its a thought

on a sidenote... we have a hide tag too in addition to spoilers, which is a bit better for single words or sentences. it'll black them out rather than plop them in a big ol' spoiler box

[Sceadugenga]

Lol thank you . After lots of playing around today, I've been experimenting with swapping out the N/A for a B/N, because even with 5 in ailment boost his throws don't proc very often, seem to proc significantly less often than binds on FOEs, and his damage is much lower without ailments. That way the B/N still can contribute to the Link setup with Follow Trace and Swift Edge while throwing more consistent damage overall (at least right now). This is the odd part of the game for me, because I already planned to transition away from a LinkLand party once I got into something else, but I'm not sure what yet.

Given what you've said about how the three extras don't really work together, I probably will wait until NG+ to build a totally new party with them. Though I have done a fair bit of resting and sheep grinding already in this game as I try out new builds. I think once I unlock and I swap one in for the LinkLand, I'll swap out the sniper for the N/A again and move the fortress to the back. Still a balanced party that can cover its bases on the bind/ailment and elemental fronts, but without a dedicated attack strategy like my LL party does.

[Wolkenritter]

Bushi is actually the weakest main class, likely to compensate being the strongest subclass. The TP regeneration from normal attacks isn't very useful, if anything its a handicap since Bushi themselves have low max TP anyway.

On that note, B/N is actually pretty terrible honestly. N/B will do far more damage with Follow Trace'd Swift Edges due to being able to invest more points in both. Follow Trace in particular, as its honestly a really weak ability when its on a subclass. On an added note, if the enemy has an ailment, that damage shoots to insane levels with Foul Mastery and their Proficiency skill. The Bushi main has nothing over it.

If you're dead set on Bushi main, Lands is probably the best choice for Vanguard and Initiative. It makes Multi Slash very deadly. Runemaster is another option to shore up on their TP and also make their elemental attacks hit very hard with Runic Gleam and Runic Guidance.

[Sceadugenga]

Hmm interesting. Ok then. Of my party, would you change any subs to Bushi? Swapping out the Bushi main, I run

L/R, N/A, F/D
S/B, A/M

I could see switching up the N/A to an N/B if I invest points in Releasal Spell (IIRC that's the name) in the A/M. Defiance is a great ability for the N, but I'm not sure if its better than Ailment Boost or the TP regeneration.

I'm also toying with what I'll change if I add an Imperial to the mix. The easiest move would be to drop the S/B, move the F/D to the back, and add in an I/R.

[Wolkenritter]

Don't get me wrong, even though Bushi is the weakest class, that doesn't actually mean that much. The game's balanced enough that every class is viable and can deal ridiculous amounts of damage anyway. Its just comparing their roles to a Nightseeker they seem underwhelming.

N/A has a more reliable ailment infliction rate, N/B hits harder. N/B generally works better in link parties since you'll probably want to Swift Edge to proc links anyway even without an ailment inflicted. N/A is usually better if your Nightseeker is working as a standalone.

Also you can always have your Arcanist inflict an ailment for your Nightseeker too. Though, I typically prefer binds since ailments triggered by your Arcanist won't proc Foul Mastery.

If you want an Imperial its probably best to drop the Landy. Imperials don't work very well in link parties since they're all about that alpha strike.

[Sceadugenga]

Awesome! Thanks for the thoughts. I'll play around with things and see what I settle on for the post game. I played up through dungeon 3 without a Defender, so I'm kind of riding the wave of easy since I added one to the mix.