Any tips/builds for arena?

[Fokeens]

I found out that mage is very effective on arena (due to ailment cures/heals/huge mana pool). However he is lvl 39 while my main char is 51. I don't know the recommended mage lvl for the arena but right now he is useless (he dies in 1-2 hits in best equipment). So it's either arena is a huge grindfest (aka grind 99 resurrect vials or potions just to keep mage alive) or i am missing a good strat here.
Oh and the difficulty doesn't seem to matter on arena. For example corpse worm can poison and burn you in 2 turns. And there is not enough time to heal AND cure poison/fire. (unless your mage is super tanky and can handle 2 status effects and maybe even an attack to the face from the worm)

[Alley Viper]

I completed the arena last night.

Used Lethal (obviously), the mage, and the necromancer. All at level 52 or 53 with level 20 tier 2 equipment. The mage and the necromancer have essentially unlimited mana, which helps a great deal.

If you're lucky, you'll get some encounters with a boss with two henchmen. I concentrated on the boss while using the necromancer's zombie ability to keep everyone reasonably healthly. After killing the boss and one henchman, I used a few turns to heal up and regen mana, letting me go into a more difficult round in better condition.

This was my fourth attempt at the arena. I got very unlucky a few times facing a dragon and Cthulhu back-to-back.

[Fokeens]

Originally posted by RocketBillyRed:

I completed the arena last night.

Used Lethal (obviously), the mage, and the necromancer. All at level 52 or 53 with level 20 tier 2 equipment. The mage and the necromancer have essentially unlimited mana, which helps a great deal.

If you're lucky, you'll get some encounters with a boss with two henchmen. I concentrated on the boss while using the necromancer's zombie ability to keep everyone reasonably healthly. After killing the boss and one henchman, I used a few turns to heal up and regen mana, letting me go into a more difficult round in better condition.

This was my fourth attempt at the arena. I got very unlucky a few times facing a dragon and Cthulhu back-to-back.

Level 20 equipment? You mean you went into ng+ and grinded there too? Well i tried that and got destroyed by rats and mushrooms on NORMAL while at level 55-57. Even though it says recommended level 50 or something.
My setups are usually: Lethal-mage-soldier. But because mage is >10 levels behind main char - i usually swap mage with archer (she is 3-4 levels behind)
Oh and i'm almost 100% sure that going into NG+ raises arena difficulty also...

[Alley Viper]

I have to confess that I was playing on Casual difficulty on NG+.

In NG+, the the level 20 tier 1 gear is better than the level 10 tier 4 gear. If you upgrade your gear to level 20, you should be able to compensate for the increase in difficulty. The level 20 tier 2 gear has been pretty devastating so far.

I just double-checked my game and realized that my necromancer still had his level 10 tier 4 gear for my platinum arena run. The early level 20 gear has better stats but the tier 4 gear give an MP bonus and life steal, both of which are helpful.

You really should check out the necromancer. He's amazing against single targets. His Reaper ability hits for 700-800 against one target. And his zombie ability can damage and heal at the same time.

I see by your achievements that you've defeated Otrera. She's utterly destroying me. Any tips on that battle?

[Fokeens]

I found a good way to beat arena by the way! Since the arena only copies bosses and some hard mob encounters (it never copies easy ones like mushrooms and rats) - i just created a new game and traveled straight into arena (grinding on lizards/werewolves/etc) and after that i only had to fight skeletons (as they are story related).

[Alley Viper]

That's...um...a way better plan.

[Fokeens]

Originally posted by RocketBillyRed:

I have to confess that I was playing on Casual difficulty on NG+.

In NG+, the the level 20 tier 1 gear is better than the level 10 tier 4 gear. If you upgrade your gear to level 20, you should be able to compensate for the increase in difficulty. The level 20 tier 2 gear has been pretty devastating so far.

I just double-checked my game and realized that my necromancer still had his level 10 tier 4 gear for my platinum arena run. The early level 20 gear has better stats but the tier 4 gear give an MP bonus and life steal, both of which are helpful.

You really should check out the necromancer. He's amazing against single targets. His Reaper ability hits for 700-800 against one target. And his zombie ability can damage and heal at the same time.

I see by your achievements that you've defeated Otrera. She's utterly destroying me. Any tips on that battle?

Oh she is not very hard even on normal difficulty. Since she is a single enemy - use atk/def debuffs on her (because her charged attack can instakill some of your members). Not sure if shield bash can stun her, but you can try...Because if you succeed - you have a free turn...
But overall i wasted a lot of healing/vitality potions and healing spells on her (not sure if i had mage in my party)

[Alley Viper]

Ok, thanks. I might have to shuffle my team up a bit.

[Alley Viper]

I finally beat Otrera.

The use of Lethal's Dark Grasp skill is critical. It lowers her agility, allowing the mage to have the first action every round and making the timing of heals much simpler. Otrera seemd weak to Dark Grasp, it was effective nearly every time I used it.

When she uses her attack buff...defend, defend, defend. The mage, which is probably the only character she can one-hit kill, has 100% damage resistance when defending. The buff only lasts two rounds, so you're not sacrificing that much damage output.

[Fianski]

Originally posted by ^Fokeens^:

I found a good way to beat arena by the way! Since the arena only copies bosses and some hard mob encounters (it never copies easy ones like mushrooms and rats) - i just created a new game and traveled straight into arena (grinding on lizards/werewolves/etc) and after that i only had to fight skeletons (as they are story related).

is this gonna works to get platinum achievement? *_* i'm on NG+ and my lethal is lvl 69 right now, the others average level is 61. lethal's equipment is +20 and others equipment is 10+
i only survive 1 wave on arena. i cry

Originally posted by RocketBillyRed:

I finally beat Otrera.

The use of Lethal's Dark Grasp skill is critical. It lowers her agility, allowing the mage to have the first action every round and making the timing of heals much simpler. Otrera seemd weak to Dark Grasp, it was effective nearly every time I used it.

When she uses her attack buff...defend, defend, defend. The mage, which is probably the only character she can one-hit kill, has 100% damage resistance when defending. The buff only lasts two rounds, so you're not sacrificing that much damage output.

can you tell me what equipment that you use to beat her?

[Fokeens]

Originally posted by Fianski:

Originally posted by ^Fokeens^:

I found a good way to beat arena by the way! Since the arena only copies bosses and some hard mob encounters (it never copies easy ones like mushrooms and rats) - i just created a new game and traveled straight into arena (grinding on lizards/werewolves/etc) and after that i only had to fight skeletons (as they are story related).

is this gonna works to get platinum achievement? *_* i'm on NG+ and my lethal is lvl 69 right now, the others average level is 61. lethal's equipment is +20 and others equipment is 10+
i only survive 1 wave on arena. i cry

Originally posted by RocketBillyRed:

I finally beat Otrera.

The use of Lethal's Dark Grasp skill is critical. It lowers her agility, allowing the mage to have the first action every round and making the timing of heals much simpler. Otrera seemd weak to Dark Grasp, it was effective nearly every time I used it.

When she uses her attack buff...defend, defend, defend. The mage, which is probably the only character she can one-hit kill, has 100% damage resistance when defending. The buff only lasts two rounds, so you're not sacrificing that much damage output.

can you tell me what equipment that you use to beat her?

I doubt that this is gonna work on NG+. It may work but the amount of grind you will need to do is...Just start a new save and rush to the arena.

[vmaldia]

I noticed something. After getting killed in the arena, I cheated using Cheat engine and gave my party a very high level. I expected to pwn the arena but guess what, the arena opponents scale to your level