How to equip and level up a Maid?

[avadream]

My LvL1 Maid does 8 damage with a staff/pistol, i guess this can be improved.

Also, when or how do i get a Sage?

[Pickleton]

If you're only doing 8 damage, I'm guessing you're still like ... chapter 1, fight 1.

Plenty of ways to level up a maid. Using items gives exp, as does killing enemies. If you want to level her up quicker, do both (maids can use 1 item per turn without consuming that turn's action). If you want to up her damage with pistol, equip a pair of glasses, boots and/or an emblem (the items that up all stats by a bit). Guns do damage based on the average of that character's SPD/HIT stats, so boosting either or both will lead to an increase in damage.

Sages are essentially an end-game class unless you grind out subclasses like mad. You're not really "supposed" to get them until around like chapter 8-10. Just keep an eye towards the quests that involve unlocking classes, and you'll eventually get it. I would advise against grinding out classes early, though, considering that class growth is based primarily on exp gain, meaning that getting to tier 4 of Magic Knight (at least I think that was a requirement) will probably take you dozens of hours. If you want to pull out all the stops and steamroll your enemies, just use the DLC characters until that point.

[avadream]

^^Thanks, this complete and essential summary cannot be found elsewhere.

Currently, my Maid is level 6 and she uses the pistol doing 50 damage.
I equiped her with 3 bandanas but now i know each gear gives boosts.
When does my Maid gets special abilities, because atm she's lacking.

I'll take it slow on the Sage, thanks again.

[Pickleton]

Escrito originalmente por avadream:

^^Thanks, this complete and essential summary cannot be found elsewhere.

Currently, my Maid is level 6 and she uses the pistol doing 50 damage.
I equiped her with 3 bandanas but now i know each gear gives boosts.
When does my Maid gets special abilities, because atm she's lacking.

I'll take it slow on the Sage, thanks again.

Maid gets a few special abilities, but honestly they're not all that amazing outside of Afternoon Tea. Using it on a character who has already acted that turn lets them take another action. So like, Mage uses fire on a couple enemies, Maid uses Afternoon Tea on the Mage, Mage can attack again. This ability really takes off when using on a hard hitting multi-target character like a Sage, but I don't think it's a good idea to continue using a Maid until that point. Better to change her into another class eventually, and then back into a Maid maybe in the post game.

For the Maid you start with, I tend to go with:
Maid with gun.
Once you've hit 2 stars of mastery with Maid, subclass as something else (Gunner is a good one). Keep hopping subclasses to 2 stars until you unlock the Pirate.
Reincarnate into a Pirate.
Profit.

Pirates are an amazing class, but honestly not many other classes have a unique evility that synergizes well with guns. However, the pirate's unique is "does more damage the further you are from the enemy" and has a number of great learnable evilities as you go. Additionally, they naturally learn a number of spells that are specific to Item World, which gives them a bit more utility when you're going into the late/post game. If you feel like you need a Maid to go along with your Sage later on, you can change them back or just make a new Maid at that point.

All that said, don't underestimate how good items are in this Disgaea in particular. A lot of the specifically throwable weapons can do good damage, which effectively lets the Maid attack twice in a turn. You can also use the free item action to drop a heal, which paired with a long-distance gun makes them a fairly useful hybrid support that imho outshines the cleric in the early-to-mid game.

[Overeagerdragon]

A master maid has a couple of other benefits I hardly ever hear people talking about.... Near the end; items the maid uses start to become area effects, she can use 2 and eventually she doubles the effect of healing items... if you then put her into the Supply depot squad item use is boosted by a further 30%... Now here's the trick...

Go to an area with boosting Geo's for either exp and/or mana and start using all those leftover Exp/Mana potions; or don't even wait for those areas... Maids can speed level newly reincarnated characters without doing a single darn thing at the cost of 1 item...

Exp/mana potions count as healing items after all :P

Far along in the postgame this hardly matters anymore... but when you first start delving into the postgame being able to get 1000 levels without taking an action or the risk of losing characters CAN be quite handy as you can also just alchemise those things for free in huge amounts...

[Pickleton]

Escrito originalmente por Overeagerdragon:

A master maid has a couple of other benefits I hardly ever hear people talking about.... Near the end; items the maid uses start to become area effects, she can use 2 and eventually she doubles the effect of healing items... if you then put her into the Supply depot squad item use is boosted by a further 30%... Now here's the trick...

Go to an area with boosting Geo's for either exp and/or mana and start using all those leftover Exp/Mana potions; or don't even wait for those areas... Maids can speed level newly reincarnated characters without doing a single darn thing at the cost of 1 item...

Exp/mana potions count as healing items after all :P

Far along in the postgame this hardly matters anymore... but when you first start delving into the postgame being able to get 1000 levels without taking an action or the risk of losing characters CAN be quite handy as you can also just alchemise those things for free in huge amounts...

Hmmm maybe. imho that tactic is only really effective in situations where you're trying to massively overgrind early in the game rather than proceed through the game somewhat normally. The amount of EXP from potions is just not substantial enough to replace good old fashioned powerleveling maps. Still a good evility for extracts, though.
If you're looking to grind out a new character, it's much more effective to just make them a monster and magichange them to the character you're powerleveling's subweapon to double their EXP gains. By the time you're hitting lvl1000, it's the big Martial Final grind for Carnage Dimension unlock anyway. Towers and team attacks split the EXP, but magichange is duplicated to each fused monster (up to 4: 2 each per main/sub weapons for 500% EXP efficiency). Have those monsters play musical chairs with subclasses and they'll be plenty powerful without having done anything. On Martial Trial, you can grind out 5 characters at once (give them all Prinny Instructor and Prinny Hat evilities for best results).

I'd highly recommend those characters to include Pram (as your humanoid) and Metallia (as one of the monsters). You'll need to work on them eventually for Asagi map extract farming, anyway.

[Overeagerdragon]

Escrito originalmente por Pickleton:

Escrito originalmente por Overeagerdragon:

A master maid has a couple of other benefits I hardly ever hear people talking about.... Near the end; items the maid uses start to become area effects, she can use 2 and eventually she doubles the effect of healing items... if you then put her into the Supply depot squad item use is boosted by a further 30%... Now here's the trick...

Go to an area with boosting Geo's for either exp and/or mana and start using all those leftover Exp/Mana potions; or don't even wait for those areas... Maids can speed level newly reincarnated characters without doing a single darn thing at the cost of 1 item...

Exp/mana potions count as healing items after all :P

Far along in the postgame this hardly matters anymore... but when you first start delving into the postgame being able to get 1000 levels without taking an action or the risk of losing characters CAN be quite handy as you can also just alchemise those things for free in huge amounts...

Hmmm maybe. imho that tactic is only really effective in situations where you're trying to massively overgrind early in the game rather than proceed through the game somewhat normally. The amount of EXP from potions is just not substantial enough to replace good old fashioned powerleveling maps. Still a good evility for extracts, though.
If you're looking to grind out a new character, it's much more effective to just make them a monster and magichange them to the character you're powerleveling's subweapon to double their EXP gains. By the time you're hitting lvl1000, it's the big Martial Final grind for Carnage Dimension unlock anyway. Towers and team attacks split the EXP, but magichange is duplicated to each fused monster (up to 4: 2 each per main/sub weapons for 500% EXP efficiency). Have those monsters play musical chairs with subclasses and they'll be plenty powerful without having done anything. On Martial Trial, you can grind out 5 characters at once (give them all Prinny Instructor and Prinny Hat evilities for best results).

I'd highly recommend those characters to include Pram (as your humanoid) and Metallia (as one of the monsters). You'll need to work on them eventually for Asagi map extract farming, anyway.

exp only pre-post game.... but mana is a whole different story...

And keep in mind you can STILL do the magichange trick on TOP of that....

And I DID say that once you get a bit further into the post game this trick usually isn't worth it as a lvl 1 char can usually kill a lvl 99 (thereby getting lvl 300 exp) and then move right along to carnage levels....

*remember The final level of spirit internment on 6 or 8 (IIRC) stars makes all the monsters on subsequent runs lvl 99... it's a VERY easy early grind map :)

[avadream]

A Maid gunner using items for an extra attack/heal turn, hopping subclasses until pirate, staying pirate and then get a second Maid to boost the Sage, sounds like a plan.

A Maid getting AOE effects from items, great.
Powerleveling maps, magichange for 2x subweapon EXP, Metallia and Pram.

Woot, all noted, thanks for these tips everyone, this helps alot to understand the game.

[Overeagerdragon]

Escrito originalmente por avadream:

A Maid gunner using items for an extra attack/heal turn, hopping subclasses until pirate, staying pirate and then get a second Maid to boost the Sage, sounds like a plan.

A Maid getting AOE effects from items, great.
Powerleveling maps, magichange for 2x subweapon EXP, Metallia and Pram.

Woot, all noted, thanks for these tips everyone, this helps alot to understand the game.

Whilst you're busy leveling; keep your eyes out for statisticians on items... each one of them raises exp-gain by it's listed value and once you get further into the game you can liberate and fuse them for up to a max of 300% extra exp...

Also; don't be afraid of the cheatshop... it's not so much cheating as it's tweaking the game's difficulty and benefits; it's pretty much crucial once you finish your first playthrough...

After all; what's the point of playing demon lords if you can't twist the game to your own likings ;)

[avadream]

I want that extra XP and i'll use the cheatshop, thanks again U2

[Red Bat]

Maid's are one of those really weird characters who shift in and out of being useful depending on what level your characters are at. Early on when item damage is good, they are OK, but they start lagging behind real fast and don't really compete with your other classes again until level 30 when they get a move that refreshes a unit's actions and an evility that increases item use range.

The first maid you get I usually give either a spear or a gun/bow. Maids are usually going to do less damage than other classes with weapons and weapon skills, however early on you can sometimes make up the difference by having her use an item the same turn. She eventually gets evilities that can make her competitive with healers as long as you got consumables to use.

[avadream]

A Maid as a healer and double Sage turn, i sign up for that.

[lukanerz]

try tower atacks

[Pickleton]

Escrito originalmente por Overeagerdragon:

exp only pre-post game.... but mana is a whole different story...

And keep in mind you can STILL do the magichange trick on TOP of that....

And I DID say that once you get a bit further into the post game this trick usually isn't worth it as a lvl 1 char can usually kill a lvl 99 (thereby getting lvl 300 exp) and then move right along to carnage levels....

*remember The final level of spirit internment on 6 or 8 (IIRC) stars makes all the monsters on subsequent runs lvl 99... it's a VERY easy early grind map :)

3 things:
1) Magichange duplicates mana as well. Just didn't mention it since my focus was on leveling.
2) Powerleveling is still LOADS more exp/mana than spamming items, unless you're somehow only getting like 1/2 a level per clear.
3) Game doesn't chuck a ton of EXP/MANA potions at you. Or at least I've never had it happen in my playthroughs. Just a few from quest rewards, which I just turn in for HL from another quest (no repeat maps means money's tight early game). Alchemy Squad would be a good solution, but unfortunately isn't available until post-game. Kinda feel like Alch Squad should've unlocked in like chapter 4, but with a bunch of gates based on squad level.

Additionally ...... using items like that doesn't even require a maid to do. You can just subclass someone as maid to get those evilities. The only thing that wouldn't carry over is their unique evility/skills. Afternoon Tea is pretty good, but not super amazing unless you have a lopsided team that's built around sacrificing your maid's turn. I'd rather the maid (pirate) just do good damage themselves, and swap to maid evilities if I want to dump my exp/mana potions and shards/extracts.

Escrito originalmente por avadream:

A Maid as a healer and double Sage turn, i sign up for that.

Yeah that's the general strat for post-game until you can get a Comet Disaster rotation.
https://youtu.be/se6DCLRtpGY