Effective character pairings

[Vulpes]

Hello all. I am almost through the game, and wanted to strike up a conversation on effective pairings. Regrettably I haven't used several characters very much, as I have a set up that's been able to beat any stage with relative ease at the moment. I would be really interested if I am missing out on any unique pairings.

For example - Diego + Aliss. With an upgrade, Diego's Tar shot is now fire affinity (and generally extremely useful to boot.) You can use this as a means to extend Aliss's summons one more turn, and also if she had hit any targets with Firefly, theyll be more succeptable to fire damage. His target dummy is sneakily probably the best skill in the game, and can help line some fools up for an Inferno (no line of sight with upgrade.)

I suspect Valen's pull through a stack of Aliss's Blaze Wall would be cool.

Levant and Griffith are damn near unbeatable to conventional melee, between Griffith being able to generate his own shields with Crescent Strike, and Levant being able to buff him with shields (Holy Nova) while stunning (Holy Diver) every 3 times (with no line of sight issues.)

Grenn and Esther are great for crowd control and burst damage. Grenn can stealth to effectively dictate what path an enemy is going to take. Esther can be the bait, and drop a mine right in front of him. Next turn, Grenn can Incapacitate from stealth for another stun, and she can pile on with Penetrating Shot.

Anyone else come up with a cool 1-2 punch? Can anyone convince me to try to use Theo?

[TrashCanGammy]

Some nice tips, I never considered the Diego + Aliss combo. That could be pretty good damage if the enemy stacks up nicely.

If you don't mind using a couple authority points then Firefly, Esther Tinker on Aliss, then Inferno, Inferno is pretty disgusting AE damage, especially if Aliss is empowered.

For me Theo is a strong all-rounder. His movement makes it easy for him to escape from sticky situations and his best weapon IMO has shield per turn, so he's pretty survivable. His best ability is Dark Harvest. It does 50% damage as pure + 60% per debuff. Grenn can inflict stunned plus blinded plus slowed in one turn when stealthed, so Theo does 230% pure damage through shields, which is enough to one shot most non-boss enemies. Griffith, Mifune and Esther can also apply two debuffs in one turn each if you don't use Grenn.

Levant's Shield Bash would work through blazing barrier too. And Diego's target dummy, Kay's inspire, Levant's last in line can force enemy pathing through Esther's mine too. Besides, the enemy AI is really dumb and normally takes the most direct route to your characters.

By the end I was using Kay, Aliss, Levant, Theo, Esther, Mifune and switching it up depending on whether bonus objectives wanted me to win fast or at my own pace. If you think Griffith is tanky with Levant wait till you try Mifune, he is probably the best character in the game in my opinion, provided you're not in a hurry to win in a few turns.

There must be all kinds of combos that didn't occur to me in this game, makes me wish it was longer with bigger parties.

[Vulpes]

Originally posted by TrashCanGammy:

Grenn can inflict stunned plus blinded plus slowed in one turn when stealthed, so Theo does 230% pure damage through shields,

This is exactly what I was looking for! That sounds lethal. I actually don't have Mifune yet, and am at 30 hours. I won't use a guide or read up on a game for the first time around so if I miss him so be it (plz dont spoil any story elements.) But yes, I agree about bigger parties. I think it would have been cool if the story also forced certain parties for story-related fights, kind of as a way to force you to use different chatacters and combinations. I know some of the bonding quests like Grenn and Aliss forced them individually which is the only example I can think of. Why not make a final bonding quest involve having 10 kills with said person as a prerequisite or some kind of mechanic like that?