what are the best moves to give characters?

[grim5000]

^ title

[shadowwolftjc]

During my playthrough of this game, I found that these are universally the most invaluable moves in the game:

- Gust/Dust Blast:

Not only are they THE most accurate moves in the game (with a base accuracy of 130), they're also among the moves with the lowest AP costs (-15 AP, which is tied with the likes of Single Slash). Even though they're also some of the least-damaging moves in the game, I've won many long and drawn-out battles against tough opponents by conserving my AP (which provides a dodge bonus in addition to being a resource to spend for moves), and by landing enough hits to reach the Flow condition (which refills my AP to max, and gives me a 25% hit and dodge bonus), since successfully landing hits with my moves, no matter how weak they may be, gives my characters additional CP to get me closer to that coveted Flow condition.

Heck, I've even been known to teach my Melee characters, including Ceri and the Warrior, and my ranged characters, including the Fox Archer and Forest Spirit, Gust, just in case they get Paralyzed, or just so they can successfully land hits. Likewise, I've been known to teach Dust Blast to my spellcasters, such as Sylvi or the Witch, so that they can still contribute to the fight, even when affected by Spell Disruption.

I find these moves especially useful against enemies with the Adaptive ability (which provides +1 CP when the character successfully avoids an attack), including the Fox Tamer (which I'd personally recommend for a late-game party, at least in the base un-modded game), since I don't want to take too many risks in giving my opponents free CP.

- Venom Shot/Poison Dust:

I don't know about you, but I love inflicting Paralysis to lower my opponents' chances of landing hits with melee or ranged attacks (by a whopping 50%). Sadly, it's not as helpful against magic attacks, but these two moves also have very low AP costs (-15 AP, the same as Gust and Dust Blast). Their accuracy is also pretty good (with a base accuracy of 120). In fact, I've used these moves, in tandem with Gust/Dust Blast, to get around enemies with the E-Skin ability.

I normally try to use Poison-attribute moves that are a different type than my accurate Air-attribute moves. For example, I don't want to put Venom Shot and Dust Blast on the same character, because they're both ranged-type moves, and are, thus, susceptible to Paralysis.

Also, while you might think that using Venom Claws over Venom Shot or Poison Dust would be a better idea, since Venom Claws is a melee-type move, and thus, gets critical benefits from the Grappler ability, I'd still stick with Venom Shot or Poison Dust (especially Venom Shot) for their higher accuracy. (Venom Claws' accuracy is 110.) Besides, Poison-attribute moves tend to have very low critical rates (of only 10, compared to Physical, Shock, and Astral-attribute moves' crit rates of 30, and Air, Fire, and Ice-attribute moves' crit rates of 20), so it'd be better to stick with better accuracy for support-oriented Poison-attribute moves.

- Holy Slash/Holy Arrows/Holy Bolt:

Sure, they have a CP cost of -1, but when you're in the Flow state, they can be used indefinitely (since CP costs are ignored during the Flow condition, unless you're using Astral Blade or Astral Flare)... as long as you can afford their AP costs (-40 AP for Holy Slash and Holy Bolt, -50 AP for Holy Arrows). However, they're some of the most powerful moves in the game (barring Astral Blade and Astral Flare), not only because they pack a serious punch, but also because nothing resists astral-attribute moves like them. Their accuracy may be quite poor (80 accuracy), but they're a great option to use against opponents when they're very low on AP, or when attempting to use Dust Blast or Gust on them would've otherwise resulted in accuracy readings of 130% or higher (since that would mean that you could've had at least an 80% chance of hitting with Holy Slash, Holy Bolt, or Holy Arrows instead).

Since you probably won't have these moves until at least halfway through the game, some other nice alternates would include Shock-attribute moves like Lightning Slices, Ball Lightning, or Thunder Chain (whom all have slightly lower power and AP costs, and about the same accuracy), or Ice-attribute moves like Ice Hammer, Ice Cutter, or Crystal Spike (which all have slightly higher accuracy and slightly less power than their Shock-attribute counterparts). They may not be able to ignore resistances like Astral-attribute moves can, but they have no CP costs.

Definitely try to match the move's type with the ability that supports them. (Grappler for melee, Conjurer for magic, and Hunter for ranged.) Their crit rates are exactly the same as moves as weak as Single Slash, so improving their crit rates would give you even more chances to make their already-potent damage even deadlier.

- Meditation:

As you progress through the game, you may find that CP and the Flow condition start to play a bigger and bigger role in your battles. Since Meditation boosts your CP by 2 points, since it has a very low AP cost (of only -15 AP), since it helps cure status ailments (though not as much as entering the Flow condition does), and since it doesn't require you to score any hits on the enemy, I'd say that this could be a must-have ability. In fact, by the end of the game, my characters were entering the Flow condition 1st turn, because their starting CP was high enough that they only needed a single CP boost from Meditation to just go Super Saiyan on the opponent.

Meditation may be useful in conjunction with the Grappler, Conjurer, or Hunter abilities, since each CP gained boosts your chances to land critical hits, but I find it especially useful in conjunction with the Acrobat ability, since each CP gained boosts your dodge chances. Characters with the Acrobat ability, like the Fox Tamer, Tiger Girl, Abyss Demon, Abyssal Watcher, Yori, and Ella, can become nearly-untouchable with the help of this move.

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These 4 moves are just my recommended moves for just about anyone in the game. You may also wish to add a move with intermediary accuracy (between 100 and 110) and AP cost (between -20 and -30) to better round out your character's moveset, with moves like Fire Slash, Tornado Slashes, Ice Flash, Fire Twist, and Triple Slashes to name a few. Alternatively, if your character is using the Capture ability, then you can opt to replace Meditation with said intermediate move... until you reach the Abyss, in which case, you most likely won't need the Capture skill anymore.

Here's a sample moveset that I like to use for most spellcasters:

- Dust Blast
- Poison Dust
- Ice Flash/Combust
- Meditation
- Thunder Chain/Crystal Spike/Holy Bolt

Here's one for most rangers:

- Gust
- Venom Shot
- Arrows
- Meditation
- Ball Lightning/Ice Cutter/Holy Arrows

And finally, here's one for most brawlers:

- Gust
- Venom Shot
- Fire Slash/Triple Slashes
- Meditation
- Lightning Slices/Ice Hammer/Holy Slash

However, most characters aren't strictly confined to the roles of brawler, ranger, or spellcaster, since they lack abilities that cater to these roles (such as Grappler, Conjurer, and Hunter). In this case, I tend to go for a moveset full of a mix of melee, ranged, and magic type skills, like this:

- Gust
- Venom Shot
- Tornado Slashes
- Meditation
- Thunder Chain/Crystal Spike/Holy Bolt

...or this:

- Dust Blast
- Poison Dust
- Tornado Slashes
- Meditation
- Ball Lightning/Ice Cutter/Holy Arrows

This kind of diversity allows me to better bypass defensive abilities like Parry, Floating, D-Shield, and S-Field.

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Moreover, there are some specific moves that I might recommend if your characters have certain abilities:

- Recovery alongside moves with high AP costs:

Although I know of a certain other player who, in their strategy guide, claims that Recovery is the most OP ability in the game, and although I contest that Acrobat is instead the most OP ability in the game, I think we can both agree that Recovery allows you to use moves with higher AP costs more often. In the late-game, with an Agility stat of at least 8, moves like Tornado Slashes and Fire Slash can be used near-consistently while keeping AP high. (Otherwise, in the late-game, low-AP moves like Gust, Poison Dust, and even Meditation can be used near-consistently with an Agility stat of at least 7, and even moves like Fire Twist and Ice Flash can be used near-consistently with an Agility stat of at least 10, but moves with higher AP costs, not so much...)

- Spiritual alongside moves with CP costs, including Tornado, Toxic Bomb, Terrorize, and Spell Disruption:

Spiritual lowers the CP cost of these moves (and many others) by 1 IF they successfully hit. Notice how I said IF? While I might want to replace Venom Shot/Poison Dust with Toxic Bomb, I'd still want to keep Gust/Dust Blast around, since they're still the most accurate moves in the game.

I would at least consider adding Tornado to the mix, especially if the character with the Spiritual ability also has the Recovery ability, such as Sylvi (whom gets the Spiritual ability about halfway through the game). Tornado is the most accurate wide skill in the game (110 accuracy). However, Toxic Bomb is only slightly less accurate, and has the same power and AP cost as Tornado, but can Paralyze multiple opponents.

Terrorize is recommended because not only can it lower the CP of affected enemies, causing them to be more likely to enter the Panicked state (where they suffer a -25% hit and dodge chance, and have their AP bar completely depleted upon entering the state), but it can be used to cause opponents to leave the Flow state prematurely, or even extend the duration of the Panicked state.

As for Spell Disruption, I'm kind of mixed about this. Sure, you can prevent the opponent from using magic, but if the AI doesn't have any other skills to use, they'll just keep guarding, whereas Paralyzed AI opponents tend to keep attacking, even though their hit chances are significantly reduced. At the very least, you could temporarily take a spellcaster or 2 out of the fight while you focus down any melee or ranged enemies, but I'd much rather inflict Paralysis on the melee or ranged enemies, and focus down the spellcasters, and replace Spell Disruption with Terrorize, Ice Flash, Fire Twist, Thunder, Holy Bolt, or even Ether Burst.

As mentioned before, Sylvi personally seems to be one of the most ideal support characters in the game thanks to her combination of the Recovery and Spiritual abilities. (The Forest Spirit and Abyss Mimic also have both the Recovery and Spiritual abilities, but you'll most likely want Sylvi as your main support character due to how she's present throughout the vast majority of the game, almost as your tritagonist alongside Ceri and Yomi.) I'd probably try to give her a moveset similar to this:

- Dust Blast (highest accuracy, and backup move in case Sylvi's spells are Disrupted)
- Toxic Bomb (Paralysis support that can hit multiple enemies, and Sylvi's intermediate-power move)
- Terrorize (Helps keep enemy CP low, Sylvi can afford to use this move frequently thanks to her Recovery ability)
- Capture/Meditation (Meditation helps Sylvi reach the Flow condition sooner)
- Capture/Holy Bolt (Sylvi's hardest-hitting move)

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Finally, I have a little bone to pick with Astral Blade and Astral Flare:

Despite being the signature moves of Ceri and Yomi respectively, I find Astral Blade and Astral Flare to be far too situational for my liking. For starters, they can only be used during the Flow state. Even then, using either move requires alot of AP, and on top of that, using them automatically causes your character to leave the Flow state. Finally, to add insult to injury, their base accuracy is 80, which is just as bad as moves like Holy Slash and Thunder Chain. Basically, when using either move, you have to really make them count, since you'll be left wide open to a counterattack, regardless of whether or not you successfully land the hit.

To be honest, I'd much rather stick with Holy Slash, Holy Bolt, and Holy Arrows. Besides, a base power move of 60 (which is what Astral Blade's and Astral Flare's base power is) seems like overkill to me, since most opponents have less than 90 VP.

[grim5000]

damn man. thanks. you should put that all in a guide, it feels like a waste to have it get lost in this one discussion

[Shades]

I'll second that. My hat is off to you, and I can only wonder how long you've been playing this for (I just started myself). Lots of useful points to consider, thanks for taking the time to share it.

[shadowwolftjc]

Originally posted by grim5000:

damn man. thanks. you should put that all in a guide, it feels like a waste to have it get lost in this one discussion

Not a bad idea.

Originally posted by Shades:

I'll second that. My hat is off to you, and I can only wonder how long you've been playing this for (I just started myself). Lots of useful points to consider, thanks for taking the time to share it.

I've mostly been modding the game, but I'm quite knowledgeable about how the game mechanics work because of this. Also, I've recently completed a full playthrough of the game, so the guide that I just published has some advice that I've discovered through experience.