How To Use Alisa?

[T8-TR]

Title.

I'm at the start of Chapter 2, and so far, Alisa seems kinda... "meh"? She's like a very bad version of Kevin from SC/3rd. So far, the only use I've gotten out of her is her Blessed Arrows, since that fuels CP to Rean/Laura. Outside of that, she's got ♥♥♥♥ all for damage. I mean, I can kit her up with some arts, but I can do that with anyone else.

Just wondering if I was playing her wrong, or if I should be leaning into the Flamberg spam or something. Asking because I couldn't find good, spoiler free answers with a google search outside of "this is my waifu" and I don't want to dump mira/septih into a character that might not be good. Alternatively, I want to dump mira/sepith into her if I'm just playing her wrong.

[Gin-chan]

Yep as you said I just used her as CP battery/support arts/arts damage. The pierce type on her bow also helps at times.

[Wilq]

At very beginning all of the characters have very limited abilities. Alisa is no exception in that regard.

In my party she takes role as CP battery + support + last stand. She is definitely not an offensive-oriented character.

And yeah she is a character that is the first to pick when possible.

[Koby]

Once you get her to level 52 where she learns Heavenly Gift she really becomes a staple member of the party.

Because the quick Insight to every party member which increases ACC and EVA by 50% and renders the imbued 10% more likely to unbalance a foe is awesome in itself, as it boosts evade high enough that most characters will evade and counter attack at nearly every attack, or characters like Gaius who have high evade to start with will hit over 100% evade.

But it also gives a nice CP regen so you can continuously spam S-Crafts every few turns.

Otherwise you'll have to use Insight and Impassion both one by one on each party member to get the same effect, which wastes like 8 turns compared to 1.

Gaius' Wild Rage works well with this too because that +50 CP benefit along with Alisa's Heavenly Gift pretty much puts him into S-Craft usage in the next turn.

Then you haveAlisa's Blessed Arrow to use in between Heavenly Gift renewals for the excellent +40 CP and healing.

[T8-TR]

Originally posted by Koby:

But it also gives a nice CP regen so you can continuously spam S-Crafts every few turns.

Just out of curiosity, since it wouldn't surprise me if I was doing this wrong for three (now four) games... should I be using S-Crafts at 100? Because I always hesitate (outside of snatching up a critical turn or "oh ♥♥♥♥!" moments) to use my S-Crafts until I have 200 CP, which leads to me sometimes abstaining from CP use for the sake of that extra DPS.

[Stabbey]

You're in the early game, so it's understandable why you're uncertain how to use her. You don't have a lot of good arts, so physicals are dominating now.

Later in the game, you'll realize that you can't just stick arts onto "anybody else", because arts scale with a character's damage, and only 4 characters get decent ATS (Emma, Elliot, Alisa, Jusis).

Most people like to use Alisa as a CP battery, restoring the CP of other characters, but I like to use her as a Support/Caster. She is flexible enough to do both things well. In fact, you NEED to do both things, because she needs to have CP to act as a CP battery for other. So if nothing else, you might as well have her also cast to get CP back. Her biggest strengths are that she is versatile, able to support the team, can cast arts very well, and is very fast.

In terms of power, she's the third most powerful caster in the game. Her role is to support the party with crafts and spells. She is also the third-fastest character in the game, much faster than the other casters, which is important because it means she gets to start casting much sooner than others, and in some cases the fight can be over before their turn comes up.

If you're doing well in terms of AP, you can get the Ingenuity quartz as a reward just before the start of Chapter 3's Field Study. That quartz is a Fire quartz and it regenerates EP on the field. That's a perfect fit for Alisa, because she has two Fire locks, and most Fire quartz are aimed at physical attackers. The regeneration is pretty great and lets her cast constantly.

I like to keep Alisa using the Angel MQ because it fits well in her support role, and when maxed out, it cuts the recovery time after casting Space-type arts in half. Create the "Golden Bell" quartz at Micht's pawn shop in Chapter 6, which also cuts recovery time for space arts in half and she can break the game. It's kinda hilarious.

You can do something similar with other MQ's and different elements, but one reason why it's especially potent for Space arts is Fortuna. Fortuna buffs ATS and ADF in a radius around the target. Alisa's S-Craft, when she gets it, is a Magic attack, it gets boosted by higher ATS, not STR, so Fortuna is really handy for casters.

With Space Arts recovery time reduced to -100%, an Angel user can cast Fortuna twice in a row, without anyone else getting a turn, boosting ATS to +50% immediately, and they can STILL get another turn immediately, which you can use to say, cast a Heavenly Gift. The fast recovery time is also good for spamming Dark Matter on enemies a couple times in a row.

Or you could drop the ultimate spell from Angel, which lowers enemy ADF by 25%, thus spells do more damage.

Angel is also a top-tier MQ for boss battles thanks to it's auto-reviving. Certain late-game bosses can do a complete party wipe of full-health people with their S-Crafts. With Angel, Alisa can tank that, cast Seraphic Ring to bring everyone back, and then Blessed Arrow to give everyone back some CP to stay in the fight.

Originally posted by T8-TR:

Originally posted by Koby:

But it also gives a nice CP regen so you can continuously spam S-Crafts every few turns.

Just out of curiosity, since it wouldn't surprise me if I was doing this wrong for three (now four) games... should I be using S-Crafts at 100? Because I always hesitate (outside of snatching up a critical turn or "oh ♥♥♥♥!" moments) to use my S-Crafts until I have 200 CP, which leads to me sometimes abstaining from CP use for the sake of that extra DPS.

It's up to preference. I like using 200 CP S-Crafts as well, I only really use them below that in emergencies. There's a noticable damage boost for 200 CP.

[Oguzhan]

She is a cp batterie, already the most op character in the game. If you are into craft based strats then you don't leave the house without her. Her master quartz is fantastic too. Great s craft for dmg.

Also really fast field attack. I always use her , fie or Rean for those.

Oh also her second cp boost craft gives insight meaning you are not getting hit.

[Koby]

Originally posted by T8-TR:

Originally posted by Koby:

But it also gives a nice CP regen so you can continuously spam S-Crafts every few turns.

Just out of curiosity, since it wouldn't surprise me if I was doing this wrong for three (now four) games... should I be using S-Crafts at 100? Because I always hesitate (outside of snatching up a critical turn or "oh ♥♥♥♥!" moments) to use my S-Crafts until I have 200 CP, which leads to me sometimes abstaining from CP use for the sake of that extra DPS.

You certainly get more damage output with 200 CP, but it just depends on whether you wanna take a few extra turns doing normal attacks to do them or not. Usually I go ahead and wait a few turns anyhow just because normally it's best to utilize them to snatch certain turn-bonuses away from the enemy like crits, regens, etc.

[Oguzhan]

Originally posted by Koby:

Originally posted by T8-TR:

Just out of curiosity, since it wouldn't surprise me if I was doing this wrong for three (now four) games... should I be using S-Crafts at 100? Because I always hesitate (outside of snatching up a critical turn or "oh ♥♥♥♥!" moments) to use my S-Crafts until I have 200 CP, which leads to me sometimes abstaining from CP use for the sake of that extra DPS.

You certainly get more damage output with 200 CP, but it just depends on whether you wanna take a few extra turns doing normal attacks to do them or not. Usually I go ahead and wait a few turns anyhow just because normally it's best to utilize them to snatch certain turn-bonuses away from the enemy like crits, regens, etc.

I personally look at turn bonuses. Cause unless I am going for s-craft spam to kill strategy, I usually am not using them.

Crafts have side effs that are surprisingly good. But if I see that critical, or another bonus that might be good for me to steal, well I am using it then and there.

[OnlyOffensive]

Alisa sucks in first game. She has one good craft late game and somewhat usefull heal/cp art. As hybrid shes weak, she does make alright arts user, the problem is that arts in first game arent good. There is no scaling for magic crafts / s-crafts in first game, which makes hybrids irrelevant ( jusis is exception )

Other hybrids like Jusis much better for doing damage. Shes kinda full support in first game.
She also has cancel, which is solid, again, not many situations/bosses where cancel is valuable. There are some abuses on bosses where you can seal them and keep canceling, but i didnt use it or they can skip turn, but its possible they will keep trying to cast.

[Koby]

Originally posted by OnlyOffensive:

Alisa sucks in first game. She has one good craft late game and somewhat usefull heal/cp art. As hybrid shes weak, she does make alright arts user, the problem is that arts in first game arent good.

Other hybrids like Jusis much better for doing damage. Shes kinda full support in first game.

I'd disagree. In terms of CS1, Jusis is probably the worst of the characters in terms of battles, while Alisa is one of the staples of any party build once she gets her Crafts. She buffs the party in ways no other character does, making them nearly incapable of being hit, while allowing them to all spam S-Crafts with ease.

[OnlyOffensive]

Originally posted by Oguzhan:

She is a cp batterie, already the most op character in the game. If you are into craft based strats then you don't leave the house without her. Her master quartz is fantastic too. Great s craft for dmg.

Also really fast field attack. I always use her , fie or Rean for those.

Oh also her second cp boost craft gives insight meaning you are not getting hit.

Really? Fantastic master quartz? The chance that you die is so minimal, i guess you can be more aggressive with it. I still like katze on her more.

[OnlyOffensive]

Originally posted by Koby:

Originally posted by OnlyOffensive:

Alisa sucks in first game. She has one good craft late game and somewhat usefull heal/cp art. As hybrid shes weak, she does make alright arts user, the problem is that arts in first game arent good.

Other hybrids like Jusis much better for doing damage. Shes kinda full support in first game.

I'd disagree. In terms of CS1, Jusis is probably the worst of the characters in terms of battles, while Alisa is one of the staples of any party build once she gets her Crafts. She buffs the party in ways no other character does, making them nearly incapable of being hit, while allowing them to all spam S-Crafts with ease.

What? Jusis has attack slightly lower than pure fighters and ATS slighlty lower than Emma. Just spammin his basic craft you will do good damage. He really does good hybrid if you know how to use them properly. He does good damage both with arts and crafts, has cancel, good buff, PHYSICAL s-craft and couple other things. Treasure sword is pretty good on trash too, since class VII doesnt really have access to alot of freezing.

Rune blade sucks in first game, but so is every magic craft. Its actually VERY strong in second game though, especially with calamity.

I actually never used her buff. Insight on all is too braindead. I wanted at least some action out of combat. And we talked about damage, i alredy said shes good support.

[Stabbey]

Originally posted by OnlyOffensive:

Alisa sucks in first game. She has one good craft late game and somewhat usefull heal/cp art. As hybrid shes weak, she does make alright arts user, the problem is that arts in first game arent good. There is no scaling for magic crafts / s-crafts in first game, which makes hybrids irrelevant ( jusis is exception )

Magic Crafts and Magic S-Crafts scale off of ATS. That's what makes them Magic. That's why Alisa's new attack craft in the second game is so much better than the ones she gets in the first game, because it's Magic and scales off her her high ATS.

Anyway, once you start picking up some AoE spells, there's nothing wrong with Arts in Cold Steel. They're perfectly viable, you get plenty of ways to restore EP. When used well, they are more than capable of matching and even exceeding Crafts for damage (which they should, because the cost of using them is proportionally higher compared to the ease of recovering CP, and there is casting time.) Plus, in the late game of CS 1, exploiting X Bell Quartz and the appropriate high level Master Quartz can let you cast multiple arts in succession.

[Wyrtt]

Alisa is a disposobale buffer. You want to give he CP from morale boost or items and just spamm 2 crafts: Blessed arrow and insight.
That way the rest of the team can use endless amount of crafts and have huge evasion bonus at same time.

Do not bother to heal Alisa, She can self revive once. After she is close to death you can replace her with another character.

[OnlyOffensive]

Originally posted by Stabbey:

Originally posted by OnlyOffensive:

Alisa sucks in first game. She has one good craft late game and somewhat usefull heal/cp art. As hybrid shes weak, she does make alright arts user, the problem is that arts in first game arent good. There is no scaling for magic crafts / s-crafts in first game, which makes hybrids irrelevant ( jusis is exception )

Magic Crafts and Magic S-Crafts scale off of ATS. That's what makes them Magic. That's why Alisa's new attack craft in the second game is so much better than the ones she gets in the first game, because it's Magic and scales off her her high ATS.

Anyway, once you start picking up some AoE spells, there's nothing wrong with Arts in Cold Steel. They're perfectly viable, you get plenty of ways to restore EP. When used well, they are more than capable of matching and even exceeding Crafts for damage (which they should, because the cost of using them is proportionally higher compared to the ease of recovering CP, and there is casting time.) Plus, in the late game of CS 1, exploiting X Bell Quartz and the appropriate high level Master Quartz can let you cast multiple arts in succession.

Yes they scale off ATS in SECOND game. In first game they are not. Easiest example of it is emma, both her s-craft and ethereal blade do misarable damage all game, even if you capped at ATS. Maybe they scale, but definetely not normal. Her ( Alisa ) improved s-craft is magic by the way.

I like experimenting with hybrids and push them towards damage. I played Estelle as full phys dps in SC and she was solid, but its pretty much impossible to deal damage with alisa without arts. She has way too low attack power to break treshhold on relevant enemies without massive investment of best items/quartz, but even with them no good results.