Couple of quick questions...

[Miles Bluefalls]

1) Peer Fortresses. Is there ever any reason to not have them using katars? I'd think "if I would be using them offensively with some other weapon type for hitting a weakness", but at that point why not just rotate another role in their place?

2) Shields. Who are they good with? I'd assume "anyone who isn't dual-wielding with the Shinobushi skill except Peer Fortresses".

3) Dual Wielding. Best weapon/facet combo suggestions?

4) Nightmare mode. Is this a new game + kind of thing? Cos I switched to it, thinking that normal mode was too easy so far, and while the normal enemies aren't that bad, the bosses tend to one-shot everyone who isn't a guarding Peer Fortress. Is there some kind of trick to Nightmare mode on a first playthru, other than "make your number bigger"?


NEW QUESTION:
5) Soul Transfer. Quick and dirty, just outright, what are the class/skill combos I DEFINATELY WANT for late/endgame? What's considered "top tier"?

[bzcharkl]

Can't really say I'm an authority or anything but:

1) Not really, as far as I can see. Main reason to use them in the first place is to intercept, and katars boost their intercept chance.

2) Pretty much yes. If you don't have the skill (or S+ rank in a weapon) for dual wield then a shield is much more useful overall than holding a second weapon as a stat stick. Also it's worth mentioning, even if you have +guard rate on your gear, you can't actually guard without a shield or katar, so it can help to negate some oneshots on otherwise squishy units (see answer to #4).

3) To really optimise a dual wield build you need a lot of different skills which require lv99 soul transfers, so for a majority of the game dual wield is going to be the sole province of Shinobushi + swords. If you're looking for post-game builds, I was using this thread[gamefaqs.gamespot.com] as a reference myself.

4) Never tried Nightmare mode myself, so I can't say, but later bosses even on normal mode are going to have similar attacks, so it helps to buff evasion/guard rate on your units as much as possible and just pray to RNGesus.

[Z3n]

1) Peer Fortresses are decent with a hammer, which deals blunt damage. You might want to use one in Melm before you unlock the hammer specialist.

2) Pretty much, except Katar + Shield isn't bad.

3) For DW, Bells are awesome (good damage, blunt, multitarget, status), Lances are great (high crit, high single-target damage), Crossbows are decent too. Swords are kinda lackluster IMHO.

4) I did a playthrough in Nightmare mode, I feel like it's not that bad. I do try to min/max a lot though. Levels/transfers, classes/facets, keeping the good abilities and discarding the many bad ones, strong ability synergies, equipment/forge, pacts, formation, analysing boss patterns and weaknesses, using buffs and debuffs, etc. This is a game where prep is very important and often wins you battles before even fighting them.

[Miles Bluefalls]

Added a new question up top. Thanks for the insight so far.

[Wisefool]

5) You're basically asking for end-game party composition.

I don't want to spoil things, you don't really need to optimize that much because it gets easier and easier to level up to 99 at end game.

I did something like this:

1) caster.

[Mad Raptor] Tenacious Speed
[Mad Raptor] Swiftness

so you can cast first, useful to get a heal out.

2) protectors, 3 peer fortresses. maybe pickup the revive level 99 skill from AK

3) dual wielders basically the same

Shinobushi - dual wielder, bypass armor, tenacious fingers > Gothic - improved bloodflow, dismemberer, qreckless blows > Theatrical - anti donum heresy > Reaper - heroic stance > Aster knight - war spire, stubbornness, lance master, armor piercing.

4) I also tried the "God tier" build furia dual wield charms but the max result didn't impress me.

Note that the charm pact is bugged translation, it actually gives 50% of your CHARM to stats, not substract. so it's pretty good for the time you get it.