Ninja, Geo Templar and Sohei classes?

[acslacker]

I'm about halfway through based on the percentages in the Guild section of the menu. My party is doing all right. Stormseeker (Ancestral Vengeance) and Technocrat (Aeolopile) have been extremely valuable. However, I'm trying to go back and experiment with classes I'm not using. I feel like I might be missing something. And, if nothing else, it is helping build some levels.

Ninja. I have no idea what to do with this guy. At first I tried to build evasion, but it seems to take too many turns and a lot of focus to set him up. I can make it to a base evasion of 41%. Add 20% from Shadowform to make 61% but he's still getting smacked around in the front ranks. My next step is Mirage Scroll for 111%, but that's 1-2 turns of combat and 30 or 40 focus points, depending on whether or not Obsidian Dust triggers (and this isn't even taking into account magic damage). I've seen in a party comment thread that even the Dev uses Ninja primarily for Ninja Scroll/Blight Scroll, with mention to the Disease debuff. Both of those skills are a whopping 50 focus... so to spam those, he'd have to be dodging physical attacks like a madman in the front. ??? Is this really that effective? Are bosses resistant to Disease?

Geo Templar. I overlooked this one at character creation, but now I'm trying to build one. It seems to be an alternative to the Mendicant, sturdier and more effective in damage output but lacking the "greater" cures and heals. With that low MP total, I don't see how this character can be a very effective healer without a reliable way of getting back MP. Guessing she would need healing help from the next class:

Sohei. Doesn't seem to be all that effective at anything. Healing circles are kind of pathetic with her weak Int stat. Blasting creatures with a light weakness using Circle of Light results in mediocre damage output. Her physical attacks are largely ineffective... better off defending than attacking, honestly.

I'd like to hear from anyone having great success with these classes.

[Mouse Lover]

)> Sohei are really strong with their spears / shield + curses (I didn't use the circles).
Their power it's on their "Set Spear vs Charge" + the pierce. As for curses, silence and deguard are my most used on any situation, specially vs yokai. Mix deguard with they holy attack or shadow attack on their spear tree and it deals a lot of damage. At least that is how I am playing it.

Haven't used ninjas and geo templar. But I can confirm that most late bosses are immune to silence and poison. I have tried to use the robot poison spider of the Technomancer on late fights, hardly ever use it since I can't add the poison on those bosses.

The grenade and "the call shot (no heals on bosses is seriously good)" are the only good skills the technomancer has (maybe the alchemy could be good, I might change my build, just to get rid of that useless spider).

[acslacker]

Thanks, I appreciate the reply.

I'll try that with the Sohei. She would be replacing Ronin or Warlord, however, and on paper they seem to be better equipped to survive the front. Still worth a try.

My Technomancer probably will never leave my party. Aeolopile devastates random encounters. After getting that I just disregarded the bots and Arc Blaster. Called Shot and Arcane Disruptor help with bosses and Yokai, plus maxed out Charged Bangle. She's the one character that I actually feel great about how I built her.

[Mouse Lover]

I am back, currently playing with a Geo Templar. It sucks!

I don't know how people even dare to say it's better than medicant, when the medicant can dispell or cleanse everyone in the party at the same time. There is also the power of the medicant to deny mage enemies from casting spells and it also has shields + shells for the party.

While the Geo Templar can only cleanse or dispell one member of the party at a time. The lack of being able to reliably get back mana it's a huge disapointment. Also the power of his shots are not that impressive compared with a Ronin melee attack.
[ I maxed the pistol tree. ]


As for the Ninja... Is it me or that so call 20% chance instant kill on normal attacks it's a lie?
I have cut multiple enemies, even trash mobs and non of them have gotten instant death.
[ I will have to forget about the melee build and just go as a caster / ranger. ]

[acslacker]

I actually did replace Medicant with Geo Templar. Originally, it was not for tactical reasons but plot reasons. I like to run with story characters whenever possible, so I allowed Regulus to join. He wasn't half bad, surprisingly enough. Dimeria did replace him later, though.

You're 100% correct on the pistols. They're lackluster, seemingly only existing to quickly finish off a lowish-HP problem foe. Where Geo Templar shines brightest is Geo Storm + Divination, and they make Geo Templar a legitimate damage dealer. On top of that, when Geo Storm fires, it is 10% to trigger a free Kessen... and it might be 10% rolled three times since Geo Storm attacks three times.

I do think Geo Templar is best in the back (definitely cannot replace a Ronin), and cases can be made to replace Medicant. Geo Templar's offensive output thoroughly beats Medicant (I could never get holy magics to inflict much damage with my Medicant, even when targeting a weakness). Geo Templar also has might and magic buffs that Medicant lacks (A good offense is always the best defense? ). Once late game accessories are unlocked, status effects become much less problematic. I almost never used the dispel all and cleanse all spells, honestly. I also found that with a healer's enchantment placed on a pistol, the Geo Templar heals about 90% of what my Medicant healed, which was acceptable to me.

As you pointed out, though, Geo Templar runs out of gas incredibly fast, especially if he or she is firing off Geo Storms for 50 mana. It's much less of a problem late game with a larger mana pool. Right now I like the strategy of running with a Medicant early and mid-game, possibly replacing her later with a Geo Templar.

Ninja is still a mystery to me. I don't want a low-HP front-liner that's nearly immune to physical attacks but is devastated by magical attacks, and no way would I ever replace Soul Caller slinging elemental magic or the broken Technocrat grenades with shuriken attacks that *might* get an auto-kill. As to the 20% instant kill chance, it could be compared with the enemy's "death resistance" stat?

Technocrat - I ended up ditching the long gun and replacing it with pistols, which were essentially stat-sticks, enchanted to stack her Magic attack stat. It worked. Arc Blaster dealt over 270,000 to the final boss in one hit to end him in round 3. The game even added an exclamation point after the 270,000 number; I don't know if this was due to the amount of damage dealt or the fact that it ended the final boss. MVP.

[Mouse Lover]

Originally posted by acslacker:

Technocrat - I ended up ditching the long gun and replacing it with pistols, which were essentially stat-sticks, enchanted to stack her Magic attack stat. It worked. Arc Blaster dealt over 270,000 to the final boss in one hit to end him in round 3. The game even added an exclamation point after the 270,000 number; I don't know if this was due to the amount of damage dealt or the fact that it ended the final boss. MVP.

Mmm... I have only run my Technocrats with long guns, will have to try the pistols.
What (library) enchantment did you add to the pistols?

Edit.
As for my Geomancer, I used it as a front fighter, maybe that was my mistake.

[acslacker]

At endgame my Technocrat had an Arcane Constance +5 and a Beldarian Constance +4.

Geo Templar seems like a class that can survive in the front with decent HP and medium armor, but other classes (Stormseeker, Warlord and Ronin) survive better and hit harder.

[Psylisa]

As someone above mentioned, Geo Templar is ALL about the Free Kessen. Stick one in the back and spam out Geo Storm and Geo Strike. Hit those free elemental weaknesses. For Kessens on trash, use Pride/Agamon. For bosses, use a simple Vanguard or Blitz. These count as attacks, so it powers your abilities for Warlord, Ninja, and Ronin plus deals some hefty damage.

Ninja were just weaker Ronin to me. No real point to them. They have more evasion, but it comes at a cost of offensive power and set up time. I'd rather just run a Ronin with evasion accessories, to be honest. Ironically enough, you can get 2 of the Rabbit Rings almost immediately at the start of the game, which IMO obsoletes Ninja straight away.

As for Sohei, they are quite strong. Healing Circle is good against bosses or fights where you must take a lot of turns to kill, but nearly useless against trash unless you're fighting over your level. I've found the best set up with them is to nab the Fountain of Life Gambit (max), a few levels of the Meditation Gambit, then a level of Light/Dark Circle. That puts you at about lv 15-20 or so, still quite early. After that, sink into Spears - Spear Master, Set Charge, Piercing Attack. For trash, you hope for a free Healing Circle via the gambit, then hit with a Light or Dark Circle on Turn 1. For bosses, just leave Healing Circle up. Make sure Sohei is in Middle/Front positioning. This gives a free heal every turn to your entire front line + middle of back line (where you put your healer). Curses can work really well too, but you run out of MP quickly on them until you get in the 40-50 level range if you expect to be using them on trash. DeGuard is extremely cheap (level wise) to get and vastly increases your damage output for melee parties. DeGuard with a strong melee front line and Vanguard or Blitz Kessen will kill story bosses in a single turn on lower difficulties, and on Old School, 2-3. Turn 1 - DeGuard, Turn 2 (First Strike Kessen) and it's over.