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Etrian Odyssey IV: Legends of the Titan |OT|: Fight & Heal Brings 3D To Europe!
- Thread starter Volcynika
- Start date
Seriously, fuck EO4's
. It's pretty easy compared to some of the other EO post game stuff just the high encounter rate mixed with the constant threat of getting wiped out due to petrify (even with accessories ugh) make it frustrating. Not even going to get started on B2F, was such a relief to finally find the shortcut.
sixth stratum
Well you already know the characters, but its probable that you wont undestand much about them without some spoilers from the other 2 endings.
Oh yeah I remember why I stoped now, I wanted a dancer to suport me in that dungeon. So I went for the newgame+ and stoped midway.
nah it's OK. I can tell not everything is what it seems. for a series known for not having really engaging stories, I think there's enough to spark curiosity on future events.
I'm trying to remember if FEA's release fucked up my EOIV playtime. I did get FEA a week before release so I only had about three weeks worth of EOIV instead of four.
I'm trying to remember if FEA's release fucked up my EOIV playtime. I did get FEA a week before release so I only had about three weeks worth of EOIV instead of four.
That's when the game really starts getting serious and it might be necessary to shuffle your party around a bit. I started investing in a lot of Arcanist binding circles and Nightseeker spread throw status effects in order to shut those encounters down as soon as possible, but Dancers should work too.
I never had a major problem with petrify once I knew it was "a thing" in there. I had F/D | N/B | D/N as front row and only used a petrify resist accessory on my Medic in the back. I'd just have someone in the front row (usually Fortress) use the status cure waltz at the start of a battle and that solved the problems. You don't even need a Dancer main--Dancer sub will carry you down there no problem. (I see you said you started over anyway...but the recommendation remains, if you don't take a Dancer main!) Those encounters are mainly just on the first two floors IIRC, once you get to the last floor you could change subclass again back to something besides Dancer if you wanted because petrify is less of a threat on that floor (plus you will be higher level by then and will be able to make shorter work of everything that isn't a damn Red Lion T_T....or a Gourd FOE... ;_; ...).
Trouble that NS has with them (with non-Imperial sub) is that Assassinate doesn't work too well on them and Swift Blade only gets damage boost on the first hit because they wake up. Still, since they're harmless on the first turn you can spend a turn safely setting up to kill them quickly on the next turn (depending on what other enemies are with them--gotta be careful when they're with a Hollow that can wake+buff them!). At least that's how I handled them with FDNRM party.
Thanks for the advice all.
I'm running a F/M (backup auto-revives plus the odd refresh saved my ass so many times,) I/B, B/NS, A/M, RM/I. It's working out okay so far, most groups die on the first or second turn if no attacks miss. I only have trouble when I run into a bad combo like double lightning elemental or the worst, get blindsided by hollows and blooms. Love the boost attack hit to petal/multi-petrify spam combo. I'm kinda getting the feeling my levels are a little too low (average 65 lol, red lion/angry lightning blobs get out attacks before my fortress can act) might go farm up to 70 and kill some dragons.
I'm running a F/M (backup auto-revives plus the odd refresh saved my ass so many times,) I/B, B/NS, A/M, RM/I. It's working out okay so far, most groups die on the first or second turn if no attacks miss. I only have trouble when I run into a bad combo like double lightning elemental or the worst, get blindsided by hollows and blooms. Love the boost attack hit to petal/multi-petrify spam combo. I'm kinda getting the feeling my levels are a little too low (average 65 lol, red lion/angry lightning blobs get out attacks before my fortress can act) might go farm up to 70 and kill some dragons.
Well yeah. getting blindsided is gonna be trouble in there for a while, like probably until you're at least level 80, and even then it could get ugly. Still no where near as bad as getting blindsided in postgame dungeon of EOU on Expert mode, holy crap, that's like instant game over almost every time even if you're level 99, haha... ._.
Honestly I'd say change the F/M to F/D... better survivability (Fan Dance) and the dances are very helpful (bind and status cure in particular, but regen can be nice especially since you don't have a Medic main) plus you can get extra AAs and stun if you want on turns that your fortress doesn't need to do something defensive.
The angry lightning elementals...ah yeah... I wish I had a tip for them besides "kill them first." I never had a problem with them because Nightseeker's max rank poison ticks for about 700 damage which way overkills those before they can grow big since they have no resistance to the damage. (Also IIRC mobs killed by poison damage don't even "enrage" them in case poison misses on them but hits other targets). Since you have a runemaster you can also blast them with Origin Rune though that is expensive. Does your B/NS has poison throw? It might not land as reliably but even at half max rank it might take them down. A's poison circle doesn't do as much as NS' poison throw but it's another option.
65 is a bit low for that dungeon, yeah, especially the 2nd two floors. I was 70 when I started that dungeon's first floor, but I did use Holy Gift burst skill verrrry frequently. I would advise you do some rare FOE hunting, farm the 3 dragons a few times even if it means you need to rest to pass days for things to respawn. You can also eat rare spawn rate up foods and zone in and out of the last 2 lands and pick off gold overworld FOEs for good exp or you can just do the "sheep trick" on the mantis also (...)
Also might consider some equipment upgrades if you have some available. Are you wielding forged weapons? If not, that's a good place to start. Just some ideas, based on my guess at what you probably have access to (or may have stocked at the shop already):
For Fortress, whatever you feel like you need I guess. Mine has max VIT without forging VIT on weapon so I just let her use a Yagrush for now (could do better but giving my forging resources to my damage dealers first). I'd put LUC on the A/M's weapon since it helps with landing binds/ailments, or more raw TEC if you want stronger healing.
Your I/B probably has access to Fomalhaut by now. Depending on the build, put a mixture of ELM+ATK enchants on it like 0/4, 4/0, 2/2.
Guessing your B/N is dual wielding--max enchant on their main hand with an elemental of your choice (Nenekirimaru for now probably, until you can farm Fallen One or postgame final boss) and then on the offhand put all ATK forges (Gennou is a good one for this but requires quite a few thunder dragon kills to max it out). Or you can switch the weapons and use club main hand (Bolt Warhammer is a good option) with an ATK forged Nenekirimaru offhand.
For your R go double daggers both with full ELM forges. For now, Khanjar is your best bet because it's easy to get the mats. Work towards Futsuno Mitama (farm mantis in the last land with Formaldehydes to get the necessary drops).
Also farm the Hollows (postgame dungeon ones, not 2nd land ones) for Frozen Hearts and the Lions for Red Lion Fangs for the best damage accessories in the game if you haven't done so yet.
hth!
RpgN
Junior Member
Huh, can't believe the thread is still active.
I'm still playing IV and am currently in the forgotten capital with the door unlocked.
Remember when I asked if you guys stick with 5 characters only or use others? I have been training all my characters and trying to keep their levels close to each other except for my alchemist. He acts as a medic too which makes him very valuable. My party is at level 51 with the alchemist at 58.
Would you say I'm underleveled for what lies past the door?
I'm still playing IV and am currently in the forgotten capital with the door unlocked.
Remember when I asked if you guys stick with 5 characters only or use others? I have been training all my characters and trying to keep their levels close to each other except for my alchemist. He acts as a medic too which makes him very valuable. My party is at level 51 with the alchemist at 58.
Would you say I'm underleveled for what lies past the door?
I'd say you're about right. There isn't any major difficulty spike past the door and you're bound to gain a few levels before the final showdown, so it should work out okay.
RpgN
Junior Member
That's good to hear. Thank you!
You know, I don't understand why EO games are not more talked about. IV is amazing. I'm not sure if Untold can top it but it doesn't matter as long as it's high quality as well. Based on the demo, it pretty much is. I received an email to pick Untold (pre-order EU) but I won't be able to play it straight away
Well, the first person dungeon crawler genre is pretty niche to begin with, add to that the anime art style which can turn people off (look how often the Dancer comes up in threads) and the fact that it's a portable game (cue all the console gamers crying about graphics), you're left with a small group of people who still enjoy the series. Don't get me wrong, it's an amazing franchise, but it's also niche as fuck.
Thank you again. I think I'll try re-subbing my Fort, and bringing in the NS/A I took out of the party after I completed the 4th Stratum. My B/NS is completely built for damage and longevity so very little points in the nightstalker skills outside the dual wield/double strike skills and the speed/hit/dodge boost. I think I'll probably take him out as my Imperial does have a fully forged drive blade from the B2/3F hollows. Haven't had much luck with the rare drops from either them or the Red Lions so I might have to get to Nightmare Ram farming and waste some Formaldehydes, half joking haha.
And yeah, compared to say the end game stratum of EOI or EOIII, it's much easier. Mostly in that I didn't give up after a floor or two and move on to another game, but something about the random encounters in EOIV just annoys the hell out of me me. Must be the clever combos all the enemy packs on B2 and B3 are capable of.
I did the same thing, honestly. Rams are easy to farm and I didn't want to hunt any more lions than I had to...
For getting the Frozen Hearts from Hollows the best non-Formaldehyde way I've found with my party is M/A puts up leg bind circle on turn 1 while my R/B puts up Ice Rune to negate their resistance. Might take another turn to stick the bind on them but when you do they lose their evasion completely. My Runemaster's Rank 4 Blizzard usually OHKOs them, but that's level 99 with 99 TEC and and like 20 ELM boosts on gear. Rest of my party just twiddles thumbs so they don't kill with the wrong type of attack. Drop rate seems to be better than lion fangs since it actually has a condition (kill with ice) and not just a low chance to drop.
That's what makes it fun!
If it wasn't for the warp floors on B2F, I would totally agree with you.
Which is sort of ironic as I had no trouble with Strange Journey, didn't even check a map.
EOIII true end spoils
no I haven't beat it yet.
holy shit what is this. Progenitor is pushing my shit in. my gawddddd I'm gonna redo my attackers, srsly. I've been coasting the game with G/B and B/G using Charge Blade Rave and Pincushion respectively. I think my weapons are decent. Buccy isn't doing more than one hit for Pincushion and Gladdy is doing crap damage even with all hits in, maxed Endless Battle. When Proggy uses its physical moves my M/P and ZN are guaranteed dead. I clone my H/N so I can cover his Fire and Volt spells.
this is truly wtf. everyone's lvl 45-50. maybe I should level up more too
holy shit what is this. Progenitor is pushing my shit in. my gawddddd I'm gonna redo my attackers, srsly. I've been coasting the game with G/B and B/G using Charge Blade Rave and Pincushion respectively. I think my weapons are decent. Buccy isn't doing more than one hit for Pincushion and Gladdy is doing crap damage even with all hits in, maxed Endless Battle. When Proggy uses its physical moves my M/P and ZN are guaranteed dead. I clone my H/N so I can cover his Fire and Volt spells.
this is truly wtf. everyone's lvl 45-50. maybe I should level up more too
RpgN
Junior Member
IV talk.
I fought the prince in the forgotten capital. His health was low but he killed me with his triple imperial super attacks in the end :/ I'll give it another try tomorrow. Party is at level 53 except for one that is 60.
Truth be told, I wouldn't have given the game a chance if it wasn't for the demo *feels bad*
Not because of its art style though, just because I didn't know its quality was that high based on some screenshots. I thought it was another typical and barely average game in the genre.
It's a shame that EO games are doomed to be niche for many different reasons. Then again though, maybe it's for the better. I got Untold today btw.
I fought the prince in the forgotten capital. His health was low but he killed me with his triple imperial super attacks in the end :/ I'll give it another try tomorrow. Party is at level 53 except for one that is 60.
Truth be told, I wouldn't have given the game a chance if it wasn't for the demo *feels bad*
Not because of its art style though, just because I didn't know its quality was that high based on some screenshots. I thought it was another typical and barely average game in the genre.
It's a shame that EO games are doomed to be niche for many different reasons. Then again though, maybe it's for the better. I got Untold today btw.
All this talk has made me get IV back out now while taking a break from Untold...
I'm starting a new party so I can try some different shenanigans. Just retired 2 level 99 Imperials and Runemasters back into the same classes so once I level them back up I'll have 3 of each of those all at 99 so I can try 3R stacking. New party I started today is 4 Dancers and 1 Nightseeker so that I can try a 5D party and a 2N party (current main team has N+D already) and borrowing endgame gear from my main party they are leveling really quickly. Should be fun to mess with once they're high level
I'm starting a new party so I can try some different shenanigans. Just retired 2 level 99 Imperials and Runemasters back into the same classes so once I level them back up I'll have 3 of each of those all at 99 so I can try 3R stacking. New party I started today is 4 Dancers and 1 Nightseeker so that I can try a 5D party and a 2N party (current main team has N+D already) and borrowing endgame gear from my main party they are leveling really quickly. Should be fun to mess with once they're high level
But seriously...
Yeah the true ending.. the boss there is way stronger than the other 2 enging bosses. I'm pretty sure he is not balanced for a first playthrough. Keep trying though!
Also, do you get to explore the 5th stratum before this? I think progenitor was on the 4th stratum right?
I did my best run so far earlier. Half health >_> I accidentally used both Antivolt and Volt Prophecy on the same turn and lo and behold, it used its fire spell, binding everyone. Everyone's almost dead, I couldn't put up any element nullify buffs, argh blargh
yeah that's right. Made it to the bottom of 5th stratum, cutscene stuff then it made me go back to the 4th stratum for Progenitor.
I killed Progenitor pretty easily with Shogun/Ninja spammage. Also got pretty lucky with Phalanx spell blocks. It was my third playthrough so my guys were pretty high level. Had more trouble with the
Prog is definitely not balanced for first playthroughs, I'd recommend grinding a bit if it is for you, Scylla bug like mentioned above.
Princess and Kuja to be honest.
yesssssssssssssss did it.
reclassed my G/B into G/A for charged double action Front Mortar <3
Blade Rave just wasn't cutting it. Everyone else I kept the same. Average lvl was 50.
ohlawd's lovely team of beauties:
Akari (Hoplite/Ninja)
Aika (Buccaneer/Gladiator)
Alice (Gladiator/Arbalist)
Alicia (Monk/Princess)
Akira (Zodiac/Ninja)
Gotta keep that naming theme going. I think I'm gonna lay off postgame (wait, don't boo me yet). Need to clear up other games. Demon Gaze should come next week and I'm still in the middle of Titanfall and Dead Rising 3. Oh and Mario Golf next Friday... welp.
reclassed my G/B into G/A for charged double action Front Mortar <3
Blade Rave just wasn't cutting it. Everyone else I kept the same. Average lvl was 50.
ohlawd's lovely team of beauties:
Akari (Hoplite/Ninja)
Aika (Buccaneer/Gladiator)
Alice (Gladiator/Arbalist)
Alicia (Monk/Princess)
Akira (Zodiac/Ninja)
Gotta keep that naming theme going. I think I'm gonna lay off postgame (wait, don't boo me yet). Need to clear up other games. Demon Gaze should come next week and I'm still in the middle of Titanfall and Dead Rising 3. Oh and Mario Golf next Friday... welp.
Mauricio_Magus
Banned
I know you already did it, but that true end boss is not meant for your first playthrough, but you can just grind a bit and win because EO3 is soooo easy to break.
I like this guy.
Finally defeated Narmer. That fish was annoying me. Killed my party twice; first time ran out of Amrita and the Zodiac was OOM, worse is that the little... was almost dead. Second time he managed to get the Arbalist and then... Earthquake.
Going now to the Second Stratum. End boss of said stratum, is it even worse than Narmer?
Going now to the Second Stratum. End boss of said stratum, is it even worse than Narmer?
I didn't find any boss harder than any other. It's just that Narmer has an annoying gimmick that's all. The rest of the bosses have their stuff, but it's easier to handle.
Bitmap Frogs
Mr. Community
Woah, thread's still alive!
Allright, I've been on a EO hyatus for a few months, was busy with stuff.
I've picked up the game again, finished the third labyrinth and killed the fire lizard. Started messing with the fourth land, got into the lab, etc etc. My party is now 40 and I am seriously considering retiring them all, because frankly, it feels like it doesn't exactly work. I mean, sure I'm killing stuff and progressing, but it feels kludgy, more about bruteforce than really understanding the game.
My front row is a F/D (I don't know how I feel about dancer, the evasion is nice sure, but feels wasted?), L/R (this one I like for the elemental damage, although I don't feel like I am getting all I could out of the links), D/N (on full time support mode, barely contributes to party damage), R/M (my main source of damage alongside the land and emergency revives) and a S/R (yeah I don't know...).
What I do is fortress it up, have the dance on full time support to keep the fortress alive while the land and the rune do the real damage, mostly elemental. The sniper... he's there just for the binds really, his damage output is meh.
My issue is that the linksnecht does good damage but I dont really get much from the team links, that the dancer is too busy healing to do anything but a few swings here and there and that the sniper is just binding, which i feel an arcanist would do a better job at.
My plan would be to switch to a F/?, N/?, D/?, R/? and either S/A if I can get it to work or go A/M to free up the dancer for a more offensive approach. I've also thought off replacing the F/? for a L/F, with a N and offensive D I guess I could get more out of the links.
Thoughts?
Allright, I've been on a EO hyatus for a few months, was busy with stuff.
I've picked up the game again, finished the third labyrinth and killed the fire lizard. Started messing with the fourth land, got into the lab, etc etc. My party is now 40 and I am seriously considering retiring them all, because frankly, it feels like it doesn't exactly work. I mean, sure I'm killing stuff and progressing, but it feels kludgy, more about bruteforce than really understanding the game.
My front row is a F/D (I don't know how I feel about dancer, the evasion is nice sure, but feels wasted?), L/R (this one I like for the elemental damage, although I don't feel like I am getting all I could out of the links), D/N (on full time support mode, barely contributes to party damage), R/M (my main source of damage alongside the land and emergency revives) and a S/R (yeah I don't know...).
What I do is fortress it up, have the dance on full time support to keep the fortress alive while the land and the rune do the real damage, mostly elemental. The sniper... he's there just for the binds really, his damage output is meh.
My issue is that the linksnecht does good damage but I dont really get much from the team links, that the dancer is too busy healing to do anything but a few swings here and there and that the sniper is just binding, which i feel an arcanist would do a better job at.
My plan would be to switch to a F/?, N/?, D/?, R/? and either S/A if I can get it to work or go A/M to free up the dancer for a more offensive approach. I've also thought off replacing the F/? for a L/F, with a N and offensive D I guess I could get more out of the links.
Thoughts?
Mauricio_Magus
Banned
Most of the advice I'll give is considering the point you are in the game, the end game changes a lot and honestly Bushi and the final class are OP as hell.
Getting an A/M is a game changer, the passive heal you get from just dropping circles and being able to bind everything or whatever status aliment you want is a blessing.
That leaves your D/N free to just attack every turn and paralyze everything, I just keep her because she does great with my L/R and if I ever need some exta healing I just dance every now and then, it's great to have her because she evades nearly everything and it's a wasted turn for the boss.
GET a N/A, you have no idea how good they are when you get Venom throw, random battles become a joke because if Auto-Spread procs then you just do a Venom Throw and see EVERYTHING die in a turn. It helps so much on the final dungeons and you can also poisonand do other really useful status aliments to bosses and laugh.
Just subclass your Runemaster as anything and use those extra points on whatever you want until you get the final class, then subclass your Runemaster as that for the added elemental damage. If you're playing a Linking party then get a spell that hits multiple times.
If I had to recommend a final class for your team, it would to add a L/(R or B) as well, it just fucking works really well with that team composition, but you can do anything you want. I'm not a big fan of the Sniper or Fortress after the 3rd Stratum.
Bitmap Frogs
Mr. Community
Nice advice, thanks.
I am a little worried about losing the fortress, will a L/F be much of a waste?
I'm a big fan of Fortress (and Dancer is a good sub) but the thing is the rest of your party doesn't *really* need it. Landsharks are pretty durable, as are dancers (with Fan Dance, if you also use defensive/healing dances). Back row is safer in general and Snipers aren't in paper armor like magic classes.
Before I go into more detail, I would say now that I think L/F would be a bit of a waste in the long run but it might work for now. If you are used to needing the F's protection skills, then you don't really gain anything by going L/F because your L will be too busy doing F skills to get any good setups for strong links. If it's a matter of wanting to use the L later, you can use them to fill the role of defence for the party, but IMO a F/D using taunt and then bonking things is gonna be a better defender who can still plink out some damage (because auto-taunt frees up turns).
The other thing about Landsharks is that if you're doing a linker party they're great for wrecking FOE/Boss enemies but they require too much setup and SP to "feel" effective against waves of normal encounters (at least from my experience--I cleared whole game with FNDRM party and then made another party that included a L to try them out). One nice thing about this game is you can beat the story with almost any party, with the right amount of patience, but a lot of what gets thrown around as "optimal" party or class builds doesn't really apply until like level 70+ builds with enough skill points to really shine.
Dancer in your party there is honestly not a good pick as anything outside of a stungun or healer. Since your party doesn't leverage high physical attack power, your dancer can't contribute with one of their best skills, Attack Tango (I mean, you could do front row of L D S and have F R in back but ehhh...). I mean, it's testament to how awesome and versatile Dancers are that they can keep your party going as a healer, but you're right that they're going to be very busy doing that.
I'm not a fan of Snipers in EOIV but they do work really well with Landsharks with skills like Squall Volley. R is a bad sub for S; at least consider sub Arcanist (for Ailment Boost + TP Return) or sub B for better damage support skills.
Retiring now is not a terrible idea BUT it's worth pointing out that 40 is where you get to the last tier of skills and classes start really getting closer to their full strength (well, by level 50 anyway, when you have some points invested into the Master skills).
If you DON'T want to retire you can improve your party with redoing subclasses by Resting.
Keep F/D. Make sure to get Refresh Waltz and Freedom Waltz to help your D out, max Fan Dance ASAP and consider Sword and Mist dance for down the road.
L/R is probably OK to keep as is; R is not a bad sub for the extra link damage and TP skills. If you feel that links are not good for normal encounters and are plenty good for tougher stuff, consider changing to a sub like N or B for better non-link damage options (mainly N's dual wield and Follow Trace for double skill activation, B's Charge and Defiance) to kill normals with less setup without giving up links completely.
Your D is going to remain your primary healer with this kind of group so drop the N sub in favor of M (emergency skills, healing mastery) or A (primarily bracing walk). Pure stungun D is what gets the most out of N sub, or a support/melee/stun D, not a healer D.
If your R has points in M skills that are anything besides Patch Up and TP boost, take them out and invest them in R skills to do more damage. Bushi makes a good sub for R (Blood Surge) if you're comfortable with the additional healing burden.
Lastly, for the S, going A sub can get you Ailment Boost for binding shots to land better but B sub gets Charge, Power Boost, Defiance, and, if you want, Blood Surge which can give you massive damage with a couple turns of setup. N gets dual wield and Follow Trace which will help kill normal enemies quicker. If no one else in your party takes A sub, I'd consider going S/A mainly so at least someone has Bracing Walk.
If you DO want to retire, well...
Keep F/D, as above; retire if you want for the minor retire bonus, otherwise consider a Rest for skillpoint reallocation.
Replace S with M/A or A/M to be your primary healer (many swear by A/M but I had no problems with M/A--binds are less reliable but heals are better--but A/M should be fine especially with a F/D to help mitigate party damage).
Replace D with N/A. You will be amazed at how easy normal encounters become with max rank Auto-Spread and Venom Throw. Sub A recommended for N for this stage of the game for Ailment Boost and TP Return. You will be able to kill normal encounters for hours before going back to town. Later, you can consider B sub (my main party's N was A sub until level 99, then went B sub... her damage record so far is about 4500 damage per hit Swift Edge with a Follow Trace proc while Blood Surge was active, so about 40,000 damage in one hit, except nothing in the game can even survive that much damage except un-chem-nerfed postgame final boss).
You can keep the L because you can still do good linking with R's Galvanic Rune and N's Swift Edge but N has like the best AGI in the game so if you're not already used to doing it your L will probably need to be using Vanguard to act before N.
Keep R, they are good, but consider changing sub.
OR
You could keep D and change it to a damage/stun/buff D instead of a healing D. In this case, the N takes the L's place instead of the D's place. Then your D can use Attack Tango and Trick Samba to buff your N's damage up a whole lot. You can stay D/N and make sure Fan Dance and Sword Dance are maxed for good stunlock action. Forge extra Stun proc chance on your D's weapons (double daggers is good). If you want your D to "do" damage not just enhance the N's damage, well, you could sub B, I guess. My main party's D is D/N as a stunner/buffer but I did damage forges for her...she doesn't hit that hard but all those buffed Sword Dance proc crits can add up to a couple thousand per turn with endgame gear.
Whatever you do, some general tips:
Make sure someone has /A if no one is A main. Bracing Walk is too good to pass up unless you're really OK with healing between every battle and going back to town often.
A durable front line, or a 2-man front line, probably doesn't need a F at all. F is all about basically doing no damage so that you can have everyone else shed defence for more offence. Like, Ns are a great example of this...my N can only do the kind of damage she does because the F is there to keep her from dying in one or two hits.
Grab skill calc and try out some different builds to see if you come across other combos you like. Hope that helps.
Edit: One other thing... Fan Dance and Speed Boost do not stack for evasion; in fact Speed Boost *replaces* Fan Dance's evasion bonus with an inferior bonus. If you take Fan Dance, do not put points in Speed Boost (for D/N or N/D). For F/D, max Fan Dance. For N/anything, you'll want the hit rate boost from N's own Speed Boost for Swift Edge.
Bitmap Frogs
Mr. Community
Allright, based on feedback I've decided not to retire yet.
I ended up resting all my characters. Had to polish those builds, some were a bit messy. Additionally I switched my R/M to R/B and my S/R to S/A.
Hope this is gonna give me a little edge ;D
Once I get the last class and hit 50, I will consider a mass retire. For a more dynamic party
edit: success! killed the blue chameleon king that was giving me some trouble. Epic battle!
I ended up resting all my characters. Had to polish those builds, some were a bit messy. Additionally I switched my R/M to R/B and my S/R to S/A.
Hope this is gonna give me a little edge ;D
Once I get the last class and hit 50, I will consider a mass retire. For a more dynamic party
edit: success! killed the blue chameleon king that was giving me some trouble. Epic battle!
Thing with R is that its good subs aren't until later in the game--either I for the passives (TP restore + Free Energy = never run out of TP fighting normals) or B for the Blood Surge (run out of TP much more quickly but do way higher damage) so until you can chose between them, whatever utility you want works, but a BS Runemaster is scary, you should enjoy, and I think S/A will work a lot better for you.
What did you do with your Dancer?
In other news, I finally got 9 Warped Cores, it's upgrade time!
Bitmap Frogs
Mr. Community
Polished the build, kept the heal focus and with the spare points i threw in some of that chance to proc stun.
I absolutely cannot do anything else until I retire at 50 and get an A/M on the team.
Right now I'm hunting shiny icy pincers for experience. It's high risk, high reward haha. Only managed to kill one so far, with just one surviving team member - he got 5 levels tho lol. Dat R/B was hitting for over 1k per cast.
UPDATE: great advice, big success. I went once with my old party against the 4th stratum boss and got annihilated... with the new team? One and done.
PepsimanVsJoe
Member
Just reached the third..um..overworld. (The ice lands)
When do you receive sub-classes?
Current party (lvl 33sh)
L - Went with a link build. I dunno. Seems like most battles are decided in the first couple turns, and it takes a link L at least three to get things going.
F - Has vengeance bash and volt strike right now. I could probably get more mileage out of another L but survival is rather important at this stage.
N - Naturally the goal is either assassination or high-damage on ailments. Kinda annoying that she's made of paper.
S - binds and more binds. He's not much of a damage-dealer, I just like binding to limit boss/FOE abilities. Currently he's subbed out for an A. I haven't done much with her aside from spam max-level poison circle(will definitely get her another ailment to spam).
M - Heals and little else.
Read a guide but I'm not quite sure what sub-classes to go with.
When do you receive sub-classes?
Current party (lvl 33sh)
L - Went with a link build. I dunno. Seems like most battles are decided in the first couple turns, and it takes a link L at least three to get things going.
F - Has vengeance bash and volt strike right now. I could probably get more mileage out of another L but survival is rather important at this stage.
N - Naturally the goal is either assassination or high-damage on ailments. Kinda annoying that she's made of paper.
S - binds and more binds. He's not much of a damage-dealer, I just like binding to limit boss/FOE abilities. Currently he's subbed out for an A. I haven't done much with her aside from spam max-level poison circle(will definitely get her another ailment to spam).
M - Heals and little else.
Read a guide but I'm not quite sure what sub-classes to go with.
Subclasses can make all the difference!
I can't exactly remember when you get subclasses...I thought it was after you finish second land and unlock Arcanist but maybe you have to finish Golden Labyrinth first?
Good subs change depending on where you are in the game. Some classes don't get their good sub options until later. With that in mind, I'll ignore the last class as a sub option for you. Remember you can change subclass by Resting to lose 2 levels.
L - As discussed on this page, link build is good for tough stuff but takes (IMO) too much wind-up to feel like a good normal battle build. Read my advice to Bitmap Frogs on this page about Landshark.
For subclass, Runemaster is a good pick for better link/elemental damage and Bushi is a good pick for non-link skill/passive damage boosts.
F - Use your Fortress to line guard to keep your Nightseeker safe. Make sure you get Taunt and Auto-Taunt maxed. When you have someone like a Nightseeker in front row in your party, your fortress should be protecting them, not trying to deal damage and letting the Nightseeker get wrecked. Yeah, Vengeance Bash can do some gimmicky high damage but it's not a good investment unless you're trying to do a gimmicky party. Early game, Holy Smite is much better skill to get rather than Vengeance Bash. You will get a lot more mileage out of playing to F's strengths, which are defense, specifically taking hits for the party and laughing them off (relatively), not offense.
For subclasses, I'm a big fan of Dancer sub for Fortress. Evasion boost from Fan Dance is not shabby and having ailment/bind removing dance will be a lifesaver later in the game.
N - Your goal should not be Assassination but rather max rank Venom Throw with max rank Auto-Spread and next max Swift Edge. She's made of paper because she wrecks things with proper spec. Assassination is not a bad skill but don't make it a priority. Don't waste points on Shadow Cloak, your F is there to protect the N.
For subclass, definitely take Arcanist for now. Get Ailment Boost and TP Return. Consider Bushi sub for endgame.
S - Binding can be good, definitely. Not a big fan of Snipers though, they can do big damage with Squall Volley but requires as much setup as a linker team (which is why S works well with L) and also a lot of SP. Going forward from level 40ish, N or A (and especially N/A) will be a better "lock down" class for normal enemy encounters.
For subclass, if you want to keep the S, I'd say sub Bushi for Defiance and Charge. However you could also consider another sub for certain utility, such as D for some dance support (and stun/extra attacks, probably not a great idea) or N for dual wielding and Follow Trace.
M - Medic excels at healing and little else...what that means is your M should have no trouble keeping your F alive while F Party/Line Guards constantly while the rest of your party safely goes all out offense.
For subclasses, sub A so you can get Bracing Walk, Releasal Spell, (because M has the TP to throw it around while N does not), and both Eye debuffing skills. Ailment/bind circles won't be very successful with M/A using them but they can be better than nothing and are also good for the passive healing.
A - If you bring your A back to the party, sub medic and replace the medic because you really don't need an M and an A in the same party (I mean, you could, and let the A go full offense, but a full offense A still won't do that much damage). You will lose healing output but with a F in the group you should be fine. A's circles will help both S (for bind chases and extra bind damage) and N (for getting ailments on things), but I should point out that N's poison is waaay stronger than A's poison circle. N's max rank Venom Throw is 700 and it's important to note that even many normal enemies in the challenging postgame dungeon cannot even survive 1 hit of max rank Venom Throw. By comparison I think A's poison circle is like... half that much damage, or less? A/M is probably the busiest and skill-point-hungry class combinations in the game, and as a result a very powerful support class if you spec them to compliment your team.
It's midway through the Golden Labyrinth. You'll get the subclassing scroll from defeating the "mid boss" of sorts.
Bitmap Frogs
Mr. Community
It takes a bit of a setup, but my R/B is hitting for massive damage.
I found out that you can use the boshi surge/deep breath combo to heal up and recover TP's. It takes two turns, but it's a good way to recover TP's during long dungeon crawls.
I'm right now crawling around to open the door in the 5th dungeon. That was quite the surprise haha.
I found out that you can use the boshi surge/deep breath combo to heal up and recover TP's. It takes two turns, but it's a good way to recover TP's during long dungeon crawls.
I'm right now crawling around to open the door in the 5th dungeon. That was quite the surprise haha.
Blood Surge -> Gleam or ____ Rune -> nuke nuke nuke
And yeah, DB is great! You net 29TP from doing that... as long as you can afford the extra turn (or turns) it's a great way to let your DDs recover during those longer excursions. After I changed my N and R to B sub I always found they would run out of TP before my F or M would ever get anywhere near low (they'd kill things so fast my M would get bored), so doing BS->DB a few times while I just soaked damage for a turn or two (to spend some of that excess TP from my M, she has like 650) would be a great way to recover some TP to keep farming before needing a trip to town.
One warning about BS though, if you haven't had this happen yet... if you run out of TP while in Blood Surge you are stuck in Blood Surge. You'll still get the damage bonus (and HP continues to drain) but you won't be able to get out of BS during battle without using a TP item to get the 1 TP required for DB. This is rarely an issue but it can be dangerous on boss fights that last a while, so keep an eye out for that and always count that TP drain from BS every turn into your calculations when you start getting low. Fallen One is an endgame fight where Blood Surge (well, Auto-Surge specifically) is actually a kind of dangerous skill to have.
PepsimanVsJoe
Member
Awesome stuff.
Thanks for the advice omlet.
Thanks for the advice omlet.
Bitmap Frogs
Mr. Community
I'm playing spoiler free, you know.
Has its problems.
You know that devious puzzle in the 5th stratum?
Failed at the last door.
Holy hell, they did make sure you'd die there.
Has its problems.
You know that devious puzzle in the 5th stratum?
Failed at the last door.
Holy hell, they did make sure you'd die there.
Bitmap Frogs
Mr. Community
I did explore every nook and cranny, I just did not bother to write them down.
That's a nasty trap packing a triple-punch KO.
Fortunately I had made map notes of all those hints when I came across them initially because they seemed too cryptic to be meaningless. I went in the wrong side on the first set of doors and had a real bad time but then I realized what the little questions were referring to, checked my notes, clear sailing.
Map notes ftw.
So, what attacks you at the last doors if you go in the wrong one?
Map notes ftw.
So, what attacks you at the last doors if you go in the wrong one?