Sixth Stratum Difficulty! (Party Critiquing V2)

[Hobgoblin]

After heading through the Sixth Stratum, I've found that my party is a bit ill-equipped for a lot of the extremely cheap enemies there. The last time I went, I wiped to an enemy party of two Gasser Trees and two Red Corpuscles. I am currently trying to determine if there's a way I can better improve my party for dealing with these enemies in addition to the dragons and the various enemies and FOEs on the hidden part of Floor 15.

I've compiled all the information about my party from the stats they use, to their equipment, and even their grimoires.

I am looking for information on:
* Better armor that I can equip to ensure survivability.
* Better investments for my skill points.
* Grimoire skills that can help specific party members (and tricks to get them).

Any help that you can give is appreciated:

And yes, I am aware that Ricky has Action Boost on her Grimoire and has the skill currently learned. I am trying to decide whether it would be better to remove that from the Grimoire or her actual skillset.

[Myssdii]

Highlander :

I don't like Bloody Offense with the story team compo : the frontline isn't focused on damages, it only benefits the Highlander which have access to other boosting skills (see later). Bloodlust isn't good if you can't get attacked, I prefer it on a Grimoire on a Protector.
If you don't have a Charge Grimoire, you should put points in Limitless to get your Spear Assist charged up while Arthur and Ricky use Action Boost. That's the technique I used in story mode and it can get bosses down in two combos.
In term of Grimoires, the Highlander can benefits from Formula Mastery and Shield Mastery (with a shield equipped) to boost his offensive power with Spear Assist and his defense, along with Spear Mastery.
Just keep a few Grimoire Skills that can hit multiple ennemies for random encounters.


Raquna :

Remove her skill points from HP Up, I think they don't add to the Grimoire points. Then fill up Defender OR go to Bravery Gift and Aegis/Fortify/En Garde. If you think you're short on TP, go chase Sprouts and buy the Accessories : they give a lot of TP and other good bonuses. If you've finished the story, you can also give her the Town Medal (lot of HP and TP bonus).
Remove Seal Head from her Grimoires : her Luck is pretty poor, and not maxed it's useless. Get Shield Mastery to get an additionnal boost in defense (it combines with her own Shield Mastery).
If you have spare points, you can fill Shield Smite and Shield Rush : they're pretty good skills overall and will help doing damages when she doesn't use Elemental shields.


Simon :

If you keep Defender on Raquna (which is the simplest solution with a Protector), get rid of Warrior Song and Shock Fantasia and get debuffs (a lot of monsters drop debuff skills, or you can try to get the Hexer's debuff skills). Healing Lullaby at 4 points doesn't restore anything (it was largely nerfed since the original EO), if you want a global restoration skill, grab Echoing Rondo and use single target healing.
In terms of skills, you have too much everywhere and where it's not necessary. Immunize is useless with elemental shields on Raquna ; you don't need all 10 points in Revive, one is enough to Revive on the field (and for any other case, you should always have some Nectar/Nectar II on you) ; you can drop Salve and max Cure and Delayed Heal (if you choose Bravery's Gift on Raquna, max Regenerate for her).
Put the remaining skill points in Attack Up and Caduceus, then put him in the Front Line.
In term of Grimoires, get Echoing Rondo and defense passives : Shield Mastery and Def Up, then debuff skills.
If you've got a Wolf Grimoire, get the skill on Simon : he's the team member that can use it best. Or give it to Raquna if you're feeling to dependant on Simon's heals.


Arthur :

It's pretty good overall, just get maxed Grimoires for all 3 Torrents and Action Boost. With all Torrents, you can get rid of multi-targets formulas and fill Ice/Fire/Volt formulas (they will be your main damage skills against bosses and FOEs with Action Boost and Highlander's Spear Assist). Once you've got Analysis maxed, you can focus on utilitary skills with your remaining points : Return Formula, Flee, Alchemy, Scavenge.
Remove Salve, Yggdra Vaccine and Turning Tides from your Grimoire Skills and get Recharge from Ricky, and Formula Mastery. You can also get HP Up to help him tank a little.
There is not really much you can do with him : Alchemist don't really have skills points problems.
The Town Medal is better on Raquna, get him a Moss Brooch or other TEC/TP boosting items.


Ricky :

With the story team, there is only one way to use her well : max Ice/Fire/Volt Rounds and Action Boost. Get also Recharge maxed and Ricochet. With remaining points, focus on Penetrator and basic attacks boosts (Double Strike and High Caliber, you can also get Vulcan Stance but I find it not really useful with an alchemist around). Penetrator works with Ice/Fire/Volt Rounds, so these skills can be used in random battles as well.
Charged Rounds are too expensive and low priority to work well with Action Boost and Highlander's Spear Assist. Basic rounds are enough since you can have three of them in one turn.
About her Grimoires, Action Boost and Recharge are better on other characters (you're not too short on Skill points with a Gunner so she can have these skills herself). Get her better debuff skills, or even Dilution and Analysis to boost Elemental Rounds. Get Formula Mastery, Gun Mastery, and TP Up.


Overall, get conditional drops to build class-specific armors and weapons. Redo dragons and other game bosses to get xp and loot. At best, grab Ultimates Grimoires from main-game bosses, especially the one from Fenrir which is simply a must have for post-game bosses.

[Hobgoblin]

I appreciate the insight, though I actually finished Story Mode and the Sixth Stratum a while back!

That being said, I am doing Classic Mode at the moment, and I would appreciate any insight you could give me on building a Dark Hunter, Hexer, Troubadour, and Ronin.

[sebberu]

You don't have a Medic this time, I guess? Then just one little thing: Let your Troubadour sing Echoing Rondo (Lvl 9 is fine imo) and get the Elderrevenge cordial from Rosa. As for the Hexer, level up Sapping and Frailty.

[Hobgoblin]

Well, I switch in members of my story party as needed. I've been told that Simon and Raquna will be very handy for some things.

And those suggestions are welcome, though they are only a few skills of many. Do you have any further advice?

[Endra]

I kept all of my songs at Lvl 9. I don't have access to my classic mode characters atm, but I think 10 just added an extra turn for a lot more TP. Use Taboo Rondo instead.
Other than that, yes, Echoing Rondo + Elderevenge is enough to keep your party alive.

For the Hexer, Evil Eye and Suicide Word were really useful. I hardly ever used anything else for random encounters, and it's great for bosses too.

Elemental Ronin worked well enough for the main story, but the stance turn may be a problem when you need to kill things as quickly as possible. In longer fights, with the TP from Elderevenge and Taboo Rondo to keep Peerless Stance up, you can basically keep using the elemental skills without ever losing TP.

And for Dark Hunter, I imagine a whip build would work better than a sword build. I didn't care (or rather, Retuuyo insisted on using swords) and I still made it through the game just fine though.

[Myssdii]

I use the same team in classic too :

Protector - Dark Hunter - Ronin
Troubadour - Hexer

Like other said : your main healing skill will be Echoing Rondo combined with the Elderevenge prep. Taboo Rondo will keep your buffs and debuffs up, so it's nice to max it out. Get also the Troubadour skill for healing on field between random encounters (it's not mandatory but nice to have since it's an really economic skill). Put some points in the skill that removes ennemy buffs, but don't max it out, or it will become too costy.

I prefer the whip build on the Dark Hunter and a bind focused Hexer, because ailments don't stack. Just keep Poison or Fear on enemies. Confusion and Sleep inducing skills are also useful for random encounters or to put on FOEs when Fear is out. Relapse Curse on the Hexer is also a nice to have skill and can be maxed out once you've grabbed your first status-inducing/bind skills. Don't forget Sapping and Frailty on Hexer too.

The Protector works best with Bravery Gift and Provoke/Parry combo instead of Defender. Grab elemental shields and then damaging shield skills to complete his build. Prayer seems nice, but its effect is too low to really matter. Put remaining points in HP/DEF Up.

And ultimately, the Ronin : grab at least 5 points in each elemental attack, and max his multi-hit skill. Max out Peerless Stance, and keep it up thanks to the Troubadour Taboo Rondo. Then put points in passive skills (HP/TP/ATK Up), and finally max out elemental skills.


About Grimoire skills, I put Wolf Pack and Forest Guardian on the Troubadour (for when he's not doing Taboo Rondo), status-elemental skills (like Flood, Thunderwing and Ice/Fire Breath) on the Hexer, status-inducing physical skills and maxed Charge on the Dark Hunter (with a Curse Mastery grimoire from the Hexer), big physical skills and Action Boost/Recharge on the Ronin. The Protector needs Shield Mastery and supportive skills, and Recharge to help him keep his TP high when using Bravery Gift.

In terms of stuff, get the ultimate Katana from Story Mode Primevil normal drop as soon as possible, and other good weapons/armor you unlocked in Story Mode.

[Dangerus]

I have been using this team for classic mode...

Highlander - Dark Huntress - Survivalist
Hexer - Troubadour

Debating on who should replace the Highlander...

A Protector or a Gunner that used to be a Hexer?

I tested both in the labyrinth and they were a bit bent out of shape. Decided to start a new game with those characters to see how it changed.