Maelle hard carries the team, how do I switch it up?

[toughnails]

I'm at Stone Wave Cliffs, level 26.

Maelle is just too good, she's constantly at 9AP, her counters deal absurd damage, she can self-setup her ultimate move with burning/marking shots, whereas Gustave and Lune barely deal any damage, and are only good for buffs and heals. It was fun at first, I cleared both arenas just with Maelle, but now it's getting a little boring. Like, just parry everything, then do Maelle's big move, move onto the next boss which is going to be the exact same thing lmao

Gustave is probably a lost cause, his arm is just too annoying to charge. But what about Lune? What are some of her best combos at this level? And how do I solve her AP economy? I feel like she needs way more turns to set up all her stains and her big moves are expensive and don't hit as hard as Maelle's.

And then there's also Sciel who I'm not using at all because her kit seems too complicated.

[Ratsplat]

Play a bit longer and a future character will get a very nice combo from a weapon alone.

How's your exploration? A lot of builds are going to need a huge variety of weapons and Pictos. The more you explore after each story segment, the better your party will be. Even if a location is 'Dangerous', be sure to go in and snag as many items as you can.

[Frangos Fighter]

i felt the exact same way when i was around that area of the game too, about 15/20 hours in now and i feel like all of my characters are roughly equal or better for certain scenarios

[DmonHiro]

You could always switch to using Lune. And then SHE'LL be hard carrying the team.

And yeah, Maelle is kind of busted with the right build. Give her that weapon that starts her off with 300% damage and watch the enemies melt.

And complaining about Gustave's arm... hehehehe......
For the record, Sciel can be just as busted as Maelle.

[Umbraburn]

She's by far the strongest characterand broken with the right build and that doesn't really change

[Phishfood]

Lune has an ability called Typhoon, deals ice damage and heals everyone for 3-5 turns. However it's reliant on a lot of pictos,

Energising Heal: On Healing an ally, also give 2 AP.
Protecting Heal: Healing an ally also applies Shell for 1 turn.

Energising Shell: Give 2 AP on applying Shell.
Longer Shell: On applying Shell, its duration is increased by 2.

Powerful on Shell: Apply Powerful on applying Shell.
Longer Powerful: On applying Powerful, its duration is increased by 2.
Energising Powerful: Give 2 AP on applying Powerful.

Rush on Powerful: Apply Rush on applying Powerful.
Longer Rush: On applying Rush, its duration is increased by 2.
Energising Rush: Give 2 AP on applying Rush.

You can also have greater shell, greater powerful andgreater rush. I'm not sure if only Lune needs these or if everyone needs them for the effect. Is the one applying the buff or for the one receiving the buff?

So every turn that Lune starts everyone should be at full AP with every buff.

At the point of the game you're at you won't have access to most of these pictos.

[Shin Happens]

Eventually all characters can easily destroy everything and everyone. But Maelle will always be the highest potential dealer of sheer DPS. But ANYONE can eventually obliterate everything. However, that only happens once you learn how to exceed the 9,999 damage cap. It's story related, you can't miss it!

And you will find several pictos that are game changers and very op.

[Tsi Aileron]

They can all do a lot of damage. It just depends on who you're pumping the majority of lumina into and whose weapons you're leveling up more consistently.

[Mr.Gold]

Interesting I am in the middle of act 2 and Maelle is not even on my main team. Line on the other hand just melts everything with a mix of low AP skills, one nuke and that skill that unleashes the stains you collected causing massive break damage and damage. I mean, she does 4 hits and hits for an average of 35k per strike of those (roughly 7k per hit. With crits it goes to 9999)

[Platapoop]

if you auto death lune so she starts every fight with 1 hp afterwards then she can guarantee hit at least 80k every 2 turns. or 80k every turn if you get good rng. You don't need her at low health for 100% crit, but it helps. If you want to play safe, you can spam mayhem instead, which still slaps, but not a lot. Probably only gonna get 20k.

I think maelle is also really amazing. Gustav is relegated to buffs and debuffs. Once in a blue moon he can have fun and use his break skill.

[RakataEpsilon]

This is funny as I hardly use maelle unless I need breaking rules

If you actually learn and master Sciel's rotation, shes constantly at the damage cap lol

[Songbird]

Lune is currently hitting 9999x12 for me (could do more if I set up Storm Caller) since about level 30 while Maelle has been damage capped at 9999 since mid act 1 (and Lune was already hitting for 20-40k by end of act 1). Maelle has been benched forever since she neither does good damage at this point or has any real support. I'm sure she'll recover once the damage cap is lifted, but she's been embarrasingly crippled by it for like 20 hours now. Her need to set up a stance to do damage is so laughable when the party member who joins after act 1 can just hit Berserk Slash every single from turn 1 and hit 9999x3 with no buffs or setup at all other than not healing them.

[A Old Man]

As a person who sucks at parrying/dodging I like using Maelle as a tank/AP battery character. Since you'll get a weapon that gives AP to everyone when you gain AP and also a picto that grants AP when you get hit.

Combine that with her active skill that tanks all single target and its smooth sailing for the most part.

[Songbird]

Originally posted by A Old Man:

As a person who sucks at parrying/dodging I like using Maelle as a tank/AP battery character. Since you'll get a weapon that gives AP to everyone when you gain AP and also a picto that grants AP when you get hit.

Combine that with her active skill that tanks all single target and its smooth sailing for the most part.

IDK how you fight any optional content like this when you can literally put 5000 HP worth of pictos, Defensive Mode, and Shell on someone and still be one- or two-shot by most of the optional bosses when you encounter them (many of whom do 4-7 hit combos). Powerless doesn't really work because they'll get around four turns before you can apply it again (or more if they enrage). I've just pulled everything out of vit at this point and am running In Medias Res on everyone all the time. Lets you run 1 HP builds too, which just straight up gives you +50% damage and +50% crit for basically free.

[A Old Man]

Originally posted by Songbird:

Originally posted by A Old Man:

As a person who sucks at parrying/dodging I like using Maelle as a tank/AP battery character. Since you'll get a weapon that gives AP to everyone when you gain AP and also a picto that grants AP when you get hit.

Combine that with her active skill that tanks all single target and its smooth sailing for the most part.

IDK how you fight any optional content like this when you can literally put 5000 HP worth of pictos, Defensive Mode, and Shell on someone and still be one- or two-shot by most of the optional bosses when you encounter them (many of whom do 4-7 hit combos). Powerless doesn't really work because they'll get around four turns before you can apply it again (or more if they enrage). I've just pulled everything out of vit at this point and am running In Medias Res on everyone all the time. Lets you run 1 HP builds too, which just straight up gives you +50% damage and +50% crit for basically free.

I was able to do most optionals aside from that one evil one that makes your hp 1 or has a parry specific gimmick. This is on story mode and not NG+.

[WjndWalk3r]

Maybe switch from your parry playstyle, i think. Start reading and combine skills, using elements.