Party Building Guide

Since I completely beat the game yesterday (100% achievement), I thought I should share some insight on building parties particularly in end-game where you get to do all these additional dungeons and content. Including, DLC characters, the game has 28 different characters! It might be a tough task for someone new in the Neptunia series to build a party that will be successful for every fight in the game, but this guide will help you learn each character's advantages and disadvantages and how they could function better when partnered with useful characters and set with ideal combo attacks.

Party Basics - Status Screen

As you build your party, you will tend to visit lots of screens, comparing stats, and testing new combinations of members and their partners to see which characters work well with certain ones.

Let's go over the Status Screen first



This screen displays all your characters' stats starting with their Level, HP, SP, and EXP. Note that these amounts may be different depending on how far you have progressed through the game and whether or not you have used skills or been damaged.

Just on the bottom of that are your equipments and if you press Y on your Xbox Controller or Triangle in Playstation, you can switch to a CPU's processor units equipped.

Down below are the stats. It is integral to know what each one does so I'll go over those now as well as the other stats I mentioned above:
Level = Your level. Once you meet the Next EXP amount, your character will level up and gain bonus stats. The max level is 99 normally but can be extended to level 999 with DLC bonuses.

Next = Required amount of EXP to level up.

EXP = Total EXP accumulated. Fun fact: Maximum EXP required to reach level 999 is 1,999,878,741!

HP = Hit Points. Your character's health. If this reaches 0, your character will be incapacitated and will stay that way until you use Life Fragment or other resurrection items or you exit the dungeon.

SP = Skill Points. Or was it special? Either way, this stat is what is consumed when you use skills or use EXE drives. There are 4 bars, each bar equivalent to 250 SP currently available and the maximum being 1,000.

STR = Influences physical attack power. (attacks with sword icon beside them)

VIT = Influences defense against physical attacks.

INT = Influences magical attack power. (attacks with wand icon beside them)

MEN = Influences defense against magical attacks.

AGI = Influences turn order, escape rate, and evasion.

TEC = Influences hit rates. This stat is shared by both physical and magic attacks.

LUK = Influences critical rates and somewhat raises evasion and accuracy although not as much as AGI or TEC. Also a stat used in determining escape rates.

MOV = Influences how far a character can move in battle.

On the right of the stats are elemental resistances against the 4 elements in the game: Fire, Ice, Wind, and Lightning. Each point is a percentage, so 50% meaning you take half damage from these attacks and 100% being total immunity.

The right side of the screen has more info regarding a character's leader skill, innate abilities, abilities earned from Discs produced from Disc Dev, and Coupling Effects which I will go over next.

Leader skills information:
Neptune - HDD SP Down - Reduces HDD Transformation costs by 100 SP (50% reduction). Does not work with Awakening!

Nepgear - HDD Shares+ - Raises all CPU party members' hidden stats even more based on the number of Share they have in their nations. Roughly every 4-5% share = 1% increase in offense and defense so with Planeptune at 100% shares, all Planeptune CPUs get around 20-25% boost!
Note: Peashy and Plutia are considered Planeptune CPUs.

Plutia - Lightning DEF+ - Raises lightning element resistance

Noire - Fire DEF+ - Raises fire element resistance

Uni - Break GP ATT+ - Raises damage on foes' guard break gauges especially with Break attacks

Blanc - Ice DEF+ - Raises ice element resistance

Rom - INT+ when HP at max - Self explanatory

Ram - MEN+ when HP at max - Self explanatory

Vert - Wind DEF+ - Raises wind elemental resistance

Peashy - Critical ATT+ - Raises damage when your attacks score a critical hit

Histoire - Power Up Extend+ - Duration of stat buffs increases

Kei Jinguji - Directional DEF+ - Raises defense when attacked from the sides/behind

Mina Nishizawa - Break Attack Cooldown- - Reduces turn delay when performing Break attacks

Chika Hakozaki - Power Attack Cooldown- - Reduces turn delay when performing Power attacks

IF (Teen) - Rush Attack SP+ - Restore more SP when performing Rush attacks

IF (Child) - Rush Attack Cooldown- - Reduces turn delay when performing Rush attacks

Compa (Teen) - Item HP Recovery+ - Restore more HP with items

Compa (Child) - Status Recovery Time+ - Recover from abnormal status much faster naturally

RED - Power Attack SP+ - Restore more SP when performing Power attacks

Broccoli - Break HP DMG+ - Break attacks do more damage

Cave - Rush HP DMG+ - Rush attacks do more damage

5pb. - Break Attack SP+ - Restore more SP when performing Break attacks

Tekken - Power Attack DMG+ - Power attacks do more damage

Falcom (Older) - Human Char STR+ - All non-CPU characters gain additional STR

Falcom (Younger) - Human Char VIT+ - All non-CPU characters gain additional VIT

CyberConnect2 - Human Char TEC+ - All non-CPU characters gain additional TEC

MarvelousAQL - Human Char INT+ - All non-CPU characters gain additional INT

MAGES. - Human Char MEN+ - All non-CPU characters gain additional MEN

Party Basics - Coupling Screen

The Coupling screen is pretty much the same as the previous Re;Birth games. This is where you can add/remove party members, set their partners, and also set the leader.



Between the two characters you might see a smiley face and then a heart with a number at the bottom of it. That's the Lily Rank and it is one of the most important stats in allowing you to access your partner's assist attacks as well as their coupling skills. If the number in the middle of the two characters is lower than the requirement for the skill/assist attack, then you can't use those assist attacks or get the coupling skill bonus. You can slowly raise your Lily Ranks through battling but this is terribly slow without any bonuses from Lily Rank Up discs particularly the Harem Lv. 5 Chip. Technically Lily Ranks past 4 are pointless as you can learn all the coupling skills and assist attacks from a character already and higher Lily ranks don't give you any extra damage or anything, but getting each CPU to Lily Rank 8 gets you Steam achievements.

Assist Attacks are basically EX Finishers that you can perform once you finish your attack strings and you have enough SP (The SP is not consumed). In the screenshot above, I highlighted Nepgear. If Nepgear has a Lily Rank of 2 with anyone, which should be default for all characters, those characters can use Bomb as an EX Finisher if they are partnered with her. If you raise her Lily Rank to 4 with other characters (each of them), they can use a more powerful Assist attack from her, Power Bomb.

Note that Lily Rank 4 Assist Attacks require 3 bars of SP or 750 SP to perform while the Lily Rank 2 Assist Attacks require only 1 bar or 250 SP. Assist Attacks are generally way better than a character's individual EXE Finisher power-wise and guard damage wise. The only reason you wouldn't equip them is if a character is leaning towards being more INT-based like MAGES. or Rom, so you probably would still prefer their INT based EXE Finishers vs Assist Attacks that are physical in nature.

Coupling Skills are definitely what you're really after when partnering up characters. They can make an obviously weak character into a real gamechanger with the right abilities. Like Assist Attacks, you must meet the Lily rank requirement for these. I'll list each coupling skill and what they do:

Break Damage Limit- Damage is no longer limited to 9999 damage. Same effect as the plan, so once you get that, this coupling skill is completely useless...

Physical DEF+ - Raises physical defense by 20%.

Magic DEF+ - Raises magic defense by 20%.

Null Stat Debuffs - Prevents your stats from going down in battle due to an enemy's attack/skill.

Null Poison - Complete immunity to Poison status.

Null Skill Seal - Complete immunity to Skill Seal status.

Null Paralysis - Complete immunity to Paralysis status.

Null Virus - Complete immunity to Virus status, allowing you to stay in HDD or Awakening indefinitely unless you Revert yourself.

Null Category - Ignores a foe's species/type. Some enemies like robot types are highly resistant to physical attacks and some ghost types are completely immune to it. With this coupling skill, this allows you to fully damage them. Note that elemental resistances still apply, so if you hit something that absorbs/immune to fire element with fire, Null Category doesn't do anything.

Cooldown Reduction - Allows you to act faster in turns by reducing delay of each move (attacks, EXE drives, item usage, switches, defend, any kind of action). Roughly has the same effect as Shooter Lv. 3 idea chip and it stacks with it or other Act Fast idea chips as well. The most useful coupling skill in the game.

Required SP- - Lowers SP cost of skills by 20%. Stacks with another Required SP- or HDD SP Use-.

HDD SP Use- - Lowers SP cost of skills while you are in HDD form by 20%. An inferior version of Required SP - that works with just CPUs as it is not compatible with Awakening.

Gained EXP+ - Increases EXP gained. I can't seem to determine the exact percentage/amount as it is never shown on result screen and only the person that the coupling skill is passed on gets the effect. It could just be 20% just like the other skills. It stacks with EXP Gain+ discs as well.

You can use these coupling skills to create a very resilient character or more skill oriented by reducing their SP costs and giving them more turns with Cooldown Reduction. Make sure to prioritize Cooldown Reduction as this is a skill that really turns the tables and makes your character act more often. Null Category is also a very handy skill as most Dangerous/Tough monsters are robot types and quite durable. Use coupling skills to cover weakness like giving someone naturally weak to physical damage like RED Physical DEF+ or further amplify someone like the speedy Vert with Cooldown Reduction.

Party Basics - Combo Skills

The Combo Skills menu. You'll be spending a lot of time here before you get to level 99 because you have to make due with the CP (Capacity Points) you have as you assign attacks and build combos. At level 99, you'll have the max CP at 400, and you won't get anymore even with DLC bonuses getting you to level 999.

Combos are a pain. There's quite a handful of them in each category for every character but you're limited by CP and it only maxes out at 400... Do note these 3 things when selecting combos and it will help you increase your overall damage!

1. Rush Attacks. Note the number of hits. Hits are important to Rush attacks as each hit refills SP way faster than Power or Break attacks. A 3 hit Power Attack refills way less SP than a 3 hit Rush Attack, so it matters a lot! Always pick the 6-8 hit ones and if you can, fill all slots with the same attack! If a character gets a 5th attack string for Rush, always assign all Rush Attack slots with the best one you have! Rush attacks have the least delay when used, so use it sparringly!

2. Power Attacks. If someone has a decent Rush or Break attack, it's pointless to equip Power Attacks on them. Unless it's a 60 Power/350 Guard Damage one like Noire's Near Canopus or Plutia's Fall!, the other attack types are just better just because power attacks have a ton of delay after using them (the most out of the 3 attack types). They are best used for wiping out monsters you know you can kill within 1-2 attacks.

3. Break Attacks. Break attack is a mixed bag since its usefulness become obsolete by the late/end game where most monsters have insane guard break gauges. Reducing the guard break gauges even if you don't reach the guard break point still increases your overall damage. Uni's leader skill make break attacks significant even in late game by increasing the guard damage done by all attacks particularly break attacks.



Note that total Guard damage is calculated by multiplying the noted Guard damage by the number of hits. Using Neptune's Nep Break for example. It says "Guard Damage: 110" and "Hit Count: 5". By multiplying 110 by 5, we can see that 1 string of this attack is capable of doing 550 Guard Damage total and if you perform 4 of them in a row, you can do 2,200 Guard damage which is quite significant. For the noted Power, it's already the total, so you don't need to multiply it with the number of hits.

Still Confused... Rush, Power, or Break?

I'll make it easy for you guys by weeding out the attack type that is not as good as the other 2 for all characters. Don't be obligated to follow this like a textbook. You are still free to do whatever combos you want but this will help you focus and prioritize your combos and play your characters' strengths well.

Neptune - Rush/Break. She has a decent Power Attack, Mega D-Drive that's only 40 CP.

Nepgear - Rush/Power/Break. Nepgear has amazing attacks on every category. Do whatever.

Plutia - Rush/Power/Break. Plutia is the same case as Nepgear.

Peashy - Power/Break. 62 CP for a 6 hit Rush Attack isn't worth it. Other attack types are better.

Noire- Power/Break. Crescent Kick has power and guard damage but lack of hits is a problem!

Blanc- Rush/Power/Break. Blanc can also do whatever but note her 8-hit Rush attack is a lot weaker. It's a cheap 37 CP attack so it's still good.

Vert- Rush/Power. Problem with Vert's best Break Attack is it's a physical one and she's INT-based...

Uni- Rush/Break. She has decent Power options too but they are limited to being fire elemental. She has INT-based power attacks of other elements but much weaker.

Rom/Ram/MAGES./Histoire/Mina Nishizawa- Rush/Power/Break. Do whatever. If they get a 5th attack string on a certain category, I suggest putting all the best attacks there. Wind Storm is the best Rush Attack power/guard damage-wise but has 1 less hit count than Blast Rush. For Power, Flame Storm is a fire elemental and Extension is non-elemental. Thunder/Ice Storm are the same but different element, use it for coverage/weakness exploit if you're fighting a particular enemy.

CyberConnect2- Rush/Power. Break attack is average just like her Rush Attack but CC2 is a speedy character so it's better to play her speed and get more attacks in.

5pb.- Rush/Break. She has the best Break Attack in the game due to its turn delay effect against foes and gets a 5th attack string for it too! At level 99, you should be able to equip all the best attacks on every category for her since they are all cheap CP-wise.

Cave- Rush/Power. Her Break Attack isn't too shabby as most makers/humans/oracles only get a 440 Guard Damage Break Attack at most with exception of Adult Falcom/Adult IF. She runs a hybrid character (both excel in physical/magic) well unlike the next character I'm about to mention...

MarvelousAQL- Rush/Power/Break. Seriously, Marvy's attacks will give you a headache. She ends up having a higher INT but her best attacks are physical... I usually just mix it up with alternating physical/magic attacks or you can run her like a pure mage character since her INT-based attacks end up doing more damage in the long run.

Kid Falcom- Rush/Power. Same reasoning as Cave but she's pure physical.

Adult Falcom- Rush/Break. Problem with Adult Falcom is her Power Attacks are INT-based. She's one of the two makers who gets a 550 Guard Damage Break Attack!

Tekken- Rush/Power. Same case as CC2. Her Power Attack is a no brainer but she's not a speed demon like CC2.

Broccoli- Power/Break. Just because she gets a 5th attack string for both! Only maker with 5th string on 2 categories!

RED- Power/Break. 62 CP for 5 hit Rush attack is absurdly expensive. Her Break Attack is 5 hit also, so you're not missing out much.

Adult Compa- Power/Break. Like 5pb., at around level 80, you would have enough CP to equip all her best attacks anyway.

Kid Compa- Rush/Break. Way better than her adult counterpart.

Adult IF- Rush/Break. Her Power Attacks are trash, don't even bother looking at them. The second maker with a 550 Guard Damage Break Attack!

Kid IF- Rush/Power. An 8-hit Rush Attack is an instant add on my book and also way better Power Attack than Adult version.

Kei Jinguji- Rush/Power. Break Attacks ends up at 438 Guard Damage total which is 2 Guard damage below average of other non-CPU characters.

Chika Hakozaki- Rush/Power. Same case as Kei Jinguji.

Final note: For EX Finishers, if you equipped an Assist Attack and you switched/removed a partner out, you will need to re-add it on Combo Skills menu again.

Character Advantages/Disadvantages (Part 1)

I'll be pointing out the advantages/disadvantages of each character in this section. I'll also post their level 999 stats with all challenge bonuses added in so you can compare and contrast. I'm a stat addict myself and there's no better way to show proof than numbers!

Neptune

Pros:
- A CPU, always a great thing and the "main character" of the series.
- Has naturally high AGI. Ends up with 2nd most AGI with best equips/processor units, 2nd to Vert. She also has nice STR/VIT stats for a physical attacker.
- Has a very powerful high-hit count EXE Drive Neptune Break that has a turn-delay effect!
- Has a powerful 1k SP cost EXE Drive that deals the 2nd strongest damage in the game out of all EXE attacks.
- Countless formation/coupling EXE Drives with other CPUs and her sister Nepgear.
- Has access to a 7 hit Rush Attack that's a bit stronger than others' 8-hit ones and 550 Guard Damage Break Attack.
- Has a lot of SP attack skills and a decent defensive buff.
- Amazing leader ability for CPUs that cut their transformation cost by 100 SP and reduce their SP usage with skills while in HDD form!

Cons:
- Lowest INT growth. Can be remedied with processor units though. Not like it's mandatory unless you are using INT-based partners for Assist Attacks.
- Below average MEN. It might sting if she gets hit by magic.
- Has Break Damage Limit innate ability which loses its effectiveness when you get the plan... It's great at the beginning though.

Nepgear

Pros:
- A CPU just like her sister!
- Her leader skill is freaking BROKEN! A 20-25% increase in offense/defense capabilities at 100% for a nation can make some CPUs unstoppable.
- Well rounded stats which seems to be leaning towards being a decent tank character.
- She can pretty much do everything like her sister, including healing!
- Also has a lot of Formation/Coupling EXE Drives like her sister. Her own EXE Drive can reduce foe's MOV stat!
- She has amazing attacks on every combo category and her EX Finishers are also amazing especially Starshine!
- Has access to Delphinus processor set, the best in the game.

Cons:
- Her stat growth is leaning towards being more a support/tanker/jack-of-all-trades, so she might not be as strong as Neptune, Peashy, or Noire offensively.
- Her coupling skills are kinda useless especially the Break Damage Limit as it is completely replaced by a plan later on! Not ideal to be in the back row if you can help it.

Plutia

Pros:
- Another CPU from Planeptune!
- Same as Nepgear, has very powerful options in every combo category.
- Very high INT. Like almost mage-like character high.
- Countless SP attacks kills, access to heals and buffing INT/MEN.
- Has Null Virus ability as her innate so she can't be kicked out of HDD/prevented from using it.
- Has HDD SP Use- to counteract her high SP costs on some skills.
- Her EXE Drive lowers MEN, AGI, TEC which is a huge deal as it makes Plutia's next attacks even deadlier and makes the enemy miss often!

Cons:
- She has very few physical based attacks so she might have issues dealing with magical resistant foes.
- Low AGI. Most INT-based characters are not very fast, so her AGI is naturally low.
- Low LUK. She may be strong but her attacks may not doing enough if she's not scoring critical hits as much.

Peashy

Pros:
- The 4th and final Planeptune CPU!
- Hits like a truck due to her high STR growth and very fast with her high AGI!
- Her SP attack skills are decent in power and guard damage.
- Has an overpowered Coupling EXE Drive with Neptune that drains Guard Break gauges like nothing. It has 8,000 Guard damage total!
- Has Cooldown Reduction and Physical DEF+ as coupling skills! Best when used as a back row character!
- Even though you get her late in the game, she has Gained EXP + ability which allows her to catch up to everyone eventually and possibly surpass them.

Cons:
- Only CPU that doesn't have her own end-game bangle accessory. If you want a decent one for her, you will need to beat the level 999 colosseum challenge... (Nep's Ring)
- Squishy due to low VIT/MEN growth. She has high AGI to counteract this but if an attack hits, the lack of end-game bangle accessory and low defensive stats will hurt her a lot.
- Nothing special with her EXE Drive unlike most CPUs where they all have some kind of secondary effect or AoE.
- Her buff skills are below average for their SP cost... Use a Booster Z instead.
- Low MOV stat. She needs some MOV gear since she's a melee attacker like CPU Aegis or Swimsuit Leg Processor Unit.

Noire

Pros:
- Lastation's CPU. Need to say more?
- A tankier version of Neptune. She has more HP and can stomach a few spell slingers.
- Her EXE Drive turns everything to mush if they managed to survive by lowering all their defensive stats! It also has a decent area of effect!
- Her Coupling EXE Drive with Plutia is also overpowered. It deals 7,596 total guard damage and debuffs STR, VIT, LUK, and MOV!
- Already comes with Null Category so Robot/Ghost types can't stop her onslaught!
- Her 1st Assist Attack inflicts Skill Seal which is amazing especially when fighting troublesome bosses/tough monsters that spam AoE skills when in low health.
- Her Power and Break Attacks are really awesome and she has quite a number of elemental options too!

Cons:
- Her Rush Attack options are non-existent. 3 or 5 hit options don't cut it for a CPU character.
- Her buffs are only 1-Stat Up buffs. The TEC buff has some decent range though...
- Her SP attack skills are expensive and you need an SP cost reduction partner to deal with it.

Blanc

Pros:
- Don't mess with Lowee's CPU!
- The BEST TANK character in the game with her insane HP/VIT/MEN growths!
- If that wasn't enough, to further solidify her BEST TANK status, she has Physical DEF+ AND Magic DEF+ innate skills as well.
- Has a gamebreaking EXE Drive attack that has a big area of effect and turn delay effect!
- Has an 8-hit Rush combo and decent Power/Break attacks. Also has a wide arsenal of EX Finishers. Fleissig Faust is a cheap 1 SP bar EX Finish for 52 power an 318 guard gamage!
- Her Coupling EXE Drives deal massive damage to guard break gauges.
- Has area of effect buffs for VIT and MEN with decent range to further enhance her and her allies' resilience.

Cons:
- Gained EXP+ is a nice coupling effect but once you reach the level cap, it's pretty useless.
- Her 8-hit Rush combo isn't strong.
- Her AGI and TEC are somewhat low, so she might have a hard time outspeeding foes and might miss a lot.
- Has low MOV stat like Peashy, so you need CPU Aegis and/or processor units for legs that add MOV since she's a melee attacker too.

Character Advantages/Disadvantages (Part 2)

Vert

Pros:
- Leanbox's one and only bombshell CPU.
- Like Plutia, she is also a strong INT-based attacker but unlike her, she can also be a decent STR-based one by the end-game.
- The absolute "speed demon" of the Neptunia Re;Birth series for all games so far due to her high AGI growth (best one in-game) and innate Cooldown Reduction skill which you can stack with another one and a Bullet Hell disc. She is the very definition of "LADIES FIRST!"
- She has an 8-hit Rush and Power combo. She can run hybrid very well later in the game when she has a stronger weapon and more STR.
- Most of her weapons have some decent vertical range which allows you hit multiple enemies including the ones behind them! This allows her to fill her SP like mad when fighting multiple foes.
- Her EXE drive is one of the best in-game with a very long vertical range (info screen shows 1x7 box range!) and does quite a number of hits! It also cripples enemies by debuffing their AGI/TEC/LUK/MOV! She also has Coupling EXE drives with Neptune and Nepgear.
- Has amazing buffs for party and debuffs for foes that have a very wide radius!
- Decent Assist Attacks and also a source of HDD SP Use- and Cooldown Reduction when partnered! She can be the perfect front liner as well as the perfect back row character!

Cons:
- She's not comfortable taking physical attacks due to her very low HP growth and VIT. At least she has decent AGI, so most attacks will be missing anyway, but make sure not to fight anything that overpowers her significantly.
- Her best Break Attack is STR-based which she is not good at until late in the game or when she gets her best weapons.
- Her Rush and Power Attack are wind elemental. This could pose a problem if a monster is resistant/immune to wind damage. Her other options for Rush/Power are STR-based...

Uni

Pros:
- A CPU Candidate of Lastation!
- Uses rifles/guns which are ranged STR-based weapons! She can stay in the back field and still hit the enemy safely!
- Like Neptune and Blanc, has an EXE Drive that inflicts turn delay, pushing the enemy back on the turn order!
- Her Rush Attack and Break Attacks are above average. She also has decent Power options to exploit enemies weak to fire. Has amazing EX Finishers including Blind Firing a Rush-type EX Finisher that deals 10 hits!
- If you need to lower your SP cost significantly for a CPU, she is the best partner considering both her skills reduce SP costs, HDD SP Use- and Required SP-.
- Numerous SP attack skills that inflict status effects and have long vertical range allowing you to hit multiple foes. Her best one, Brave Cannon is also very powerful and has a wide radius.
- Also has a Null Virus ability like Plutia so she can't be kicked out/prevented from using HDD.
- Coupling EXE Drives with Nepgear as well as Noire and both have versatile uses, one inflicts Poison AND Skill Seal, and the other debuffs, AGI/TEC/LUK!
- Her Leader skill, Break GP ATT+ allows attacks to do more guard damage! This makes Break Attacks which lose their effectiveness by the end-game still a compelling choice.

Cons:
- Low HP. She has decent defensive stats but her HP is growth is one of the lowest, so you don't want her taking too much damage.
- She has other elemental options but only for Power and they are INT-based. She might have issues dealing with Robots/Ghost types so make sure to give her a partner with Null Category!

Rom

Pros:
- One of the CPU Candidate sisters of Lowee!
- A "mage" character, she has access to powerful INT-based elemental attacks!
- Her Leader skill, INT+ when HP At Max is a great skill for spell casters like herself and her sister!
- Comes with Cooldown Reduction and Required SP-, two wonderful abilities you can have on a mage character!
- Northern Cross, her EXE Drive inflicts INT and MEN debuffs and has a very wide area of effect! It also has a considerable 910 Power and close to 2,500 Guard Damage!!!
- Has amazing Coupling EXE Drives especially with her sister Ram because it inflicts Paralysis and Skill Seal, preventing the enemy from doing anything!
- Has awesome SP attack skills that inflict paralysis over a big radius!
- Possesses AoE heals and revives! She's basically a white mage of the Neptunia series with this kind of utility...
- Has an SP restoration SP skill. She uses up 400 of her own SP to heal every ally in range for 200 SP! This is the only way to restore SP with some sort of AoE radius.

Cons:
- Mage characters like Rom and her sister have the same kinds of elemental attacks. Their best Rush options are limited to Wind elemental, Power to Fire or non-elemental and Break to Thunder or Ice. This means they'll have a hard time filling up SP, a stat very important to them and you might need to do trial and error to check what elements monster are immune/resistant to.
- Low HP and VIT. Keep her away from physical attacking foes!
- Low AGI like most mages. Can be remedied by Delphinus processor set but that one is best saved for Nepgear.

Ram


Pros:
- The other CPU candidate sister of Lowee!
- Another mage CPU with powerful INT-based attacks like her sister!
- Her Ice Coffin/E-Force Blizzard have great radius and debuffs INT/MEN so she's amazing when paired with her mage characters like her sister!
- Not as good of a healer as her sister but she has amazing support buffs that cure status and grant Regen and an INT/MEN buff that also heals for 25% HP!
- Comes with HDD SP Use- and Required SP- skills, two amazing skills for mage characters as well! When combined with Uni, you can reduce the SP cost of all skills while in HDD by 75%, so E-Force Blizzard can be reduced from 180 to 36 SP! Or further reduced by 95% with the Lv.5 Pretty Girl Game yellow idea chip!!!
- Her EXE Drive debuffs STR/VIT which weakens foes and makes them vulnerable against your STR-based allies! Also has the same radius as her sister's Northern Cross.
- Access to great Coupling EXE Drives including the one with her sister that inflicts Paralysis and Skill Seal!
- Great EX Finishers that inflict various status ailments!

Cons:
- The fact that she is a mage character and has the same access to the same attacks... If you need just 1 mage in your party, you can pretty much replace her with Rom.
- Low HP/VIT. Like her sister, not used to taking physical punishment.
- Low AGI problem like most mage characters.

Character Advantages/Disadvantages (Part 3)

CyberConnect2

Pros:
- Great AGI growth. Her TEC and LUK are also high so she is very accurate and can score lots of critical hits
- Cooldown Reduction and Paralysis as her innate skills protects her from being debilitated and further adds to her perk as the fastest maker character.
- Her coupling skills are Cooldown Reduction and Null Category, two great skills on dedicated offensive characters like Neptune, Peashy, or Plutia.
- Never Despair is a cheap 40 SP heal that heals 30% of HP and has AoE!
- Black Fang Soul is a powerful EXE drive. It does 5 hits normally but when you use it on bosses and Dangerous/Risky/Tough enemies, it does 31 hits!!!
- Decent mobility. Her final weapon gives +1 MOV stat.
- Her head accessories provide some elemental resistance.
- Fantastic EX Finishers including an 8-hit Rush EX Finish that's wind elemental and a 58 power Power EX Finish for cheap 2 bars of SP.

Cons:
- Not as versatile as a CPU since she's just a maker/human character and only has access to Awakening. Awakening is only a small flat % increase in stats that vary for each character. Maker/human characters also don't get any hidden stat bonuses from shares. But having Awakening is still better than nothing like the past Re;Birth games.
- Somewhat fragile with low VIT/MEN but this shouldn't be too bad as she has quite a lot of AGI and she mostly relies on dodging attacks anyway.
- Lacks a reliable Rush Attack. Her best one is only a 5-hitter.
- Her SP attack skills only hit 1 target.

Broccoli

Pros:
- Her stat growths are great across the board. Can function well as a tank and an attacker!
- Only has 1 SP attack skill for 100 SP but it deals 500 power and 1,250 guard damage. Most attack skills can't even do that much for 100 SP!
- Comes with Required SP- and Null Paralysis so she can reliable use Gema as a attack source!
- Physical DEF+ and Null Category, great combination of coupling abilities.
- She has an Assist Attack for both STR and INT-based characters!
- The only maker/human with access to 5th string combos for 2 categories (Power and Break).
- Very cheap buffs that raises 2 stats at a time, has great radius, and buffs all allies affected! Better than Booster Zs!
- Has a powerful 80% HP heal!

Cons:
- Same reasoning I made with maker/human characters.
- 62 CP for 6 hit Rush combo is a little expensive, that's why she's more ideal for Power/Break.
- Unimpressive EX Finishers. Aquarian Age has strong power but it's INT-based which is her lower attacking stat of the two so Hit hard nyu ends up doing more damage until you get to the 3 digit levels.
- Lack of SP attack skills and EXE Drive that deal area of effect damage.

MarvelousAQL

Pros:
- A hybrid character. Meaning she works well with both STR and INT-based attacks.
- Her INT-based attacks are also elemental; good for exploiting elemental weaknesses.
- Carries a massive AGI stat growth, comparable to CyberConnect2. She's a ninja after all, so she has to be fast, right?
- Has a powerful multi-hit EXE Drive and it is based on her INT, her more superior offensive stat.
- Has a buff that raises STR/AGI; somewhat good for her, but better for characters like Neptune or Peashy.
- A cheap 50 SP cost healing skill that restores an ally's 50% HP. 1% for 1 SP is a fair trade right?
- Has an SP attack skill for each offensive stat. Ranbu for STR and Battou Ranbu for INT.

Cons:
- Same reasoning I made with maker/human characters.
- Being a hybrid character is also a downside for her especially when it comes to attacks. Her INT is higher so she's more ideal if you want to do as much damage but her best available combo attacks are STR-based. It seems nice to mix and match both her physical/magical but might end up lowering your damage output on some enemies. Basically, it's hard to prioritize her attacks without prior knowledge of what enemies you are dealing with.
- Her innate skills are just Null for ailments. Doesn't help her damage output. Her coupling skills are somewhat average, Required SP- and Null Stat Debuffs.

Cave

Pros:
- Cave is clearly the best maker/human character in this game because she exploits the new SP system to the fullest. She has low SP cost attack skills that deal massive amount of hits and have area of effect radius, meaning she can infinitely use them! She gets all her SP back and sometimes a lot more if it hits multiple enemies!
- To compliment her SP regaining capabilities, she has a 21 hit EXE Drive that also has a wide radius (SAY WHAT!?) and it does 41 hits if it's against a boss or Dangerous/Risky/Tough monster! FUN FACT: if she hits 4-5 foes with her EXE Drive, she will get enough SP to perform her EXE Drive again due to all the SP "rebates" you get.
- She also has the great makings of a hybrid attacker if you decide to attack with her combos, but really, it's pointless as her SP skills and EXE Drive are just way too efficient and powerful. Attacking with combos is only an option if an enemy keeps inflicting Skill Seal on Cave.
- Comes with Cooldown Reduction so it doesn't matter to her much if she spams skills or EXE Drive every turn.
- If you decide to make her leader, her Leader skill allows you to do more damage with Rush attacks!

Cons:
- If she was a CPU, she would never leave my party but alas, she's only a maker/human, so...
- As mentioned before, if an enemy inflicts Skill Seal on Cave, her damage output is GREATLY affected.
- Despite her character perk as someone being able to dodge bullets, people, and other things, her AGI and LUK are pretty average...
- Her buffs/debuff skills only affect 1 target for 1 stat. Not worth using.
- Her STR growth is higher but her weapon choices end up having more INT so it might be hard to prioritize if you want to focus on only 1 offense type. (STR vs INT)

Character Advantages/Disadvantages (Part 4)

5pb.

Pros:
- Like Cave, she seems to be SP skill oriented also as her SP attack skills are very cheap! This is all thanks to her Required SP- ability. She can't be stopped with using skills considering she has Null Skill Seal as well!
- Has a great combination of coupling skills: Magic DEF+ AND Cooldown Reduction!
- Back in Re;Birth2, she was one of the pieces in creating the best party setup: The Infinite Turn Delay party. This is because she possesses the best Break Attack Slow Beat which has a built-in turn delay effect. She is still versatile with its usage in this game and even better at it due to her having a 5th attack string in the Break Attack category!
- Not only are her SP attack skills cheap SP-wise, they have tremendous utility and damage. Heavenly Sound is only 16 SP and does 10 hits, allowing you to get more SP back, Sforzando inflicts Skill Seal and has AoE, Rinforzando has more power, guard damage and range than Sforzando in exchange for no Skill Seal effect, and Plasma Range is a very strong 520 power Thunder element INT-based attack for 68 SP!
- Angel's Con Brio has 50% AoE healing effect for a cheap 60 SP cost making her a very capable healer!
- Her EXE Drive 5pb. LIVE! has very wide AoE range, tremendous power and guard damage, and debuffs MEN/MOV! One of the best EXE Drives for maker/human characters!

Cons:
- Same reasoning I made with maker/human characters.
- Her stat growths are somewhat on the low end, but her utility makes up for all of this.
- With the point above, her LUK and TEC growths are particularly unremarkable so if you want to exploit her Slow Beat turn-delay support capabilities, make sure to equip her well in these stats so she can actually hit the enemy!

MAGES.

Pros:
- It's already in her name. She is a mage class character and the only one from the makers/humans (Histoire is not a human/maker but an Oracle). She specialized in pure elemental INT-based attacks.
- Eventually becomes better than Histoire when they both get their final weapons as her weapon has an Impulse attack range (decent AoE radius), unlike Histoire which has Shine's pathetic range.
- She has amazing EX Finishers including an 8-hit EX Finish non-elemental Dark Past Trauma, a 2 SP bar cost 58 power Power EX Finish ice elemental Corrupt Cocytus, and a cheap 1 SP bar Break EX Finish fire elemental Causality Flame that deals 495 guard damage!
- She has some wide range AoE SP spells including a 500 power one for 119 SP.
- Also has access to heal and revive giving her some support role.
- Her Required SP- and Magic DEF+ coupling skills can work well for some character.
- Extra: The best menu voice in the game. Get it by clearing the 1st tier of Tough Stuff challenge and you will not regret it!

Cons:
- Same reasoning I made with maker/human characters.
- Same reasoning I made with mage characters' available attacks.
- Not so useful Leader skill. Having high MEN is not as useful as having high HP or VIT since almost every monster use physical attacks.
- Her EXE Drive is decent 20 hitter so she can get some SP back but since it doesn't have AoE or any special effects, it's quite unremarkable compared to Rom or Ram's.
- Her innate abilities aren't that useful. Magic DEF+ doesn't help her much as her MEN is already high and Stat Debuff doesn't hurt mage characters as much as Skill Seal or Paralysis.
- Low HP and VIT, so keep her away from aggressive physical foes.

Tekken

Pros:
- The so called "tank" of the humans/makers, at least on the physical side.
- Impressive STR and AGI growth makes her a capable fighter.
- She already comes with Null Category to beat some robots and Jack 999s up, and has Physical DEF+ to compliment her tanking abilities.
- Her Leader skill makes Power Attacks even more powerful.
- Her Power combo is a 2 hit, 350 guard damage, 60 power one. Definitely compliments her leader skill.
- Her weapons have some decent range, not just your basic 1 square range, so she can hit multiple foes at once.
- Her 2 SP attack skills have some considerable power and elemental coverage for Wind and Thunder.
- She has 2 buff skills that raise 2 stats at once!
- Wonderful EX Finishers with an 8-hit Rush EX Finisher, a 5-hit 56 power Power EX Finisher, and a 495 guard damage Break EX Finisher.

Cons:
- Same reasoning I made with maker/human characters.
- Not as good of a tank like Blanc since she can't handle magic damage well with her low MEN.
- Her best Rush combo is just a 5-hitter. You would think she has at least an 8 or even a 10-hit combo one being "Tekken" and all that.
- Her coupling skills are not that good. Gained EXP+ loses its effectiveness once you reach the level cap and Null Stat Debuffs is not such a big deal.

Adult Falcom

- Great stats all around particularly in HP and defenses. Also has a 7k+ STR at level 999 which only her, RED, Neptune, Peashy and Noire can achieve.
- Comes with Physical DEF+ and Null Category. They are great for a tanky damage dealer character like her.
- Access to 8-hit Rush combo, 550 guard damage Break combo, and INT-based 60 power Power Attacks! She has some INT to make those attacks hurt a bit.
- Her Assist Attacks are INT-based and she has Required SP- and Physical DEF+ as coupling skills. She is a decent partner for a mage type character.
- Most of her weapons have Slash or L-Slash range, allowing her to hit multiple foes at once with basic combos!
- Her Leader skill gives bonus STR to non-CPU characters!

Cons:
- Same reasoning I made with maker/human characters.
- She is sluggish with that very low AGI growth.
- Her SP attack skills are bad. Her best one barely reaches 300 power.
- Her STR buff is just lame and she has somewhat average heal skill.
- Her EX Finishers seem weak when compared to her basic combos.

Kid Falcom

Pros:
- Somewhat faster (more AGI) version of her Adult version. Also has great defensive stats.
- Comes with Gained EXP+ and Null Category. Like Adult Falcom, her Assist Attacks are INT-based which are great for mage type characters.
- Better SP attack skills than Adult Falcom including a 12 hit, 491 power 125 SP cost Quick Break.
- Has access to dual stat buffs with good range.
- She has a 5 hit wind elemental Rush combo and 60 power Power Attack. The wind elemental could be use for weakness exploiting.
- Has Leader skill that gives bonus VIT to non-CPU characters. It's actually not too bad as most human/maker characters don't reach high VIT amounts like most CPUs do.

Con:
- Same reasoning I made with maker/human characters.
- Her innate abilities are both Nulls, both of which aren't troublesome status effects to begin with. Poison is manageable and Stat Debuff can easily be dealt with by buffing yourself again.
- Like Adult Falcom, her EX Drive just doesn't do anything special or hit multiple foes.

Character Advantages/Disadvantages (Part 5)

Adult Compa:

Pros:
- The game's medic character. Her SP skills focus on cure and status removal. Unlike her kid version, she focuses on group heals more and her best heal skill is only 40 SP and can heal everyone in a big radius for 50% of their HP!
- Magic damage is the least of her worries with a MEN stat growth that high.
- She has STR and INT-based combos for flexibility.
- She has an Assist Attack that inflicts Poison, Paralysis, and Skill Seal all at the same time!
- Her coupling skills are A'OK. Required SP- and Magic DEF+
- Her Leader skill improves healing from items!

Cons:
- Same reasoning I made with maker/human characters.
- She doesn't have an SP skill that can cure Skill Seal or Virus.
- Very frail. Low HP, VIT, and AGI are bad combinations for staying alive.
- She ends up with so many leftover CP just because her combo attacks are cheap but deal terrible damage...

Kid Compa

Pros:
- Her stat growths are identical to Adult Compa except INT in which she has 28 more points at level 999 and all challenge stats/plans unlocked.
- Has an SP skill that is full remedy for all status effects. Her healing skills are more concentrated and heal for greater amounts but only works on 1 ally at a time.
- Has an 8-hit INT-based Rush combo and 42 power, 550 guard damage Break Attack!
- She also possesses amazing EX Finishers including the strongest one in the game, Brrr... is INT-based, has 72 power (What!?), 400 Guard Damage and only costs 2 bars of SP!
- Her Bread Crumbs EXE Drive is a better version than Adult Compa's with more hits, and INT/VIT/LUK debuffs.
- Same coupling skills as Adult Compa: Required SP- and Magic DEF+
- Has the same high MEN growth as Adult Compa so she can take some serious magic damage and be fine.
- Her Leader skill allows you to recover from status ailments faster naturally (about 1-2 turns faster).

Cons:
- Same reasoning I made with maker/human characters.
- Her Compa Love Heart may look like a more superior version because it inflicts poison but notice that it's STR-based and therefore much weaker since her STR growth is pretty bad...
- Like Adult Compa, her innate skills are also just 2 Null skills.
- Her frailty is inherited from her Adult version. She's not good at taking damage.

Adult IF

Pros:
- Her STR is used for her combos while her INT is more for her SP skills. She is very flexible and adaptable.
- She also has some good AGI and MOV so she can cruise around the field easily.
- La Delphinus is a great source of Skill Sealing a bunch of enemies at once!
- Her Leader skill allows you to get more SP from Rush Attacks. It's a considerable 30% increase.
- Comes with 2 amazing innate skills: Cooldown Reduction and Null Category!!!
- Also gives her partners via coupling skills with Cooldown Reduction and Gained EXP+.
- Apocalypse Nova is powerful EXE Drive. It deals a lot of damage, a dozen hits, and has AoE radius!
- Her EX Finishers are powerful and she has access to the other 550 guard damage Break Attack.

Cons:
- Same reasoning I made with maker/human characters.
- Terrible Rush and Power combos. Her best Rush is just a 3 hitter and her best Power only has 40 power...
- Horrible buff skill and somewhat average healing skill.
- Like Compa, she is very frail and doesn't like to get hit. Luckily she has some AGI to avoid some things unlike Compa...
- Her STR/INT are somewhat below average so she doesn't excel at one or the other when it comes to attacking with a certain offense.

Kid IF

Pros:
- Better HP and offensive stats than Adult IF in exchange for a bit lower AGI. Good exchange? Heck yes!
- Now why didn't Adult IF get this version of IF's Rush and Power Attacks? 8-hitter Rush and 59 power Power combos are pretty sick!
- Her buffs and debuffs are way more effective than Adult IF and she has a better version of Green Nova that heals multiple allies due to the AoE range!
- She still has La Delphinus that inflicts Skill Seal AoE.
- Her Leader skill is perhaps one of the best (Rush Attack Cooldown-) as it helps the Rush Attack>EXE strategy by allowing you to attack more often with Rush Attacks.
- Retains Adult IF's great innate skill combination: Cooldown Reduction and Null Category!
- Same coupling skills as well: Gained EXP+ and Cooldown Reduction.

Cons:
- Same reasoning I made with maker/human characters.
- Art of War EXE Drive doesn't have AoE range like Apocalypse Nova. It has 1,052 power though which is still something!
- Also suffers from being frail like Compa and her adult version.
- Her INT is still considerably low so you wouldn't be seeing high damages with La Delphinus.

RED

Pros:
- Very fast little girl. 2nd to CyberConnect2 in AGI.
- Gained EXP+ allows her to outlevel everyone significantly. With her being quite high leveled, you can use her as leader and allow Destroy Symbols/Symbol Gains to actually succeed even if the rest of the party is low level.
- She also has Physical DEF+ to make up for her low VIT.
- Grants Null Category and Required SP- as coupling skills!
- Her Break Attack has 5 hits and almost replaces her rather expensive Rush options.
- Has an STR AoE buff and a 30% AoE heal which are both cheap SP cost-wise.

Cons:
- Same reasoning I made with maker/human characters.
- She has INT-based EX Finishers but doesn't have enough INT to make them pack a punch.
- Her high STR growth is just wasted since her SP attack skills are terrible damage-wise.
- Even with Physical DEF+, her VIT/MEN are just way too low and her TEC is low as well so she has some problems actually hits.
- A 20-hit EXE Drive that has low power, no special effects or AoE.

Histoire

Pros:
- An Oracle. Not like it means anything, considering they just have Awakening like the Makers. They are considered "Human" types in this game so any Leader skill that says "Human Char" affects them.
- A mage type, so she has access to elemental INT-based attacks. Has amazing INT growth to compliment that.
- Comes equipped with a powerful weapon and ornament when you get her, allowing you to annihilate most early/mid-game monsters easily.
- Has one of the best group buffs in the game, Book Swap buffs everyone in a nice radius with STR and INT up to give them a serious damage boost without caring if they are STR or INT-based.
- Has an AoE heal that heals everyone affected for 50% of their HP for only 73 SP.
- Has the two best combination of skills you could want on a character: Cooldown Reduction and Null Category.
- Her Assist Attacks are very powerful and debuffs TEC and AGI!

Cons:
- An Oracle is the same as a maker/human when it comes down to Awakening. They are still inferior to CPUs.
- Same reasoning I made with mage characters' available attacks.
- Fragile against physical attackers due to her low HP/AGI/VIT. Her TEC seems to be on the low end too so she can miss quite often...
- Her SP attack skills are very flashy but they don't do a lot of damage.
- All her EX Finishers are on the Rush category only!

Character Advantages/Disadvantages (Part 6)

Kei Jinguji

Pros:
- An Oracle just like Histoire.
- Like Histoire, she comes with very powerful equipment.
- Very sturdy with her decent HP, VIT and MEN stats. Also has decent TEC stat so she doesn't miss a lot. Also has beefy STR to pack a punch.
- Comes with Cooldown Reduction and Null Stat Debuffs.
- Null Virus and Gained EXP+ as coupling skills. Might be useful to CPUs as Virus status can be annoying to deal with.
- Great AoE buffs that raise 2 stats at once! VIT+MEN and STR+TEC buffs.

Cons:
- An Oracle is the same as a maker/human when it comes down to Awakening. They are still inferior to CPUs.
- An inferior version of Noire as she only has 2 of her SP attack skills and her Tornado Sword doesn't have AoE like Noire's...
- Weak and unremarkable combo attacks
- Her Leader skill Directional DEF+ is useless unless you intentionally make your character turn their backs at the enemy. The enemy AI isn't smart to go around you to hit your back or sides for extra damage.

Mina Nishizawa

Pros:
- Lowee's Oracle and Rom and Ram's magic tutor.
- Like the other Oracles, she comes with very powerful equipment.
- The last mage on this list. Like everyone else, she has access to elemental INT-based attacks.
- Her Lightning Bolt has a massive radius and costs only 90 SP.
- She has a powerful 70% HP single heal, AoE heal for 50% HP, and even a resurrection skill! Great healing character.
- Comes with Null Skill Seal which is awesome to have on a mage and SP skill user like Mina.

Cons:
- An Oracle is the same as a maker/human when it comes down to Awakening. They are still inferior to CPUs.
- Same reasoning I made with mage characters' available attacks.
- An inferior version of Rom and Ram. Other than her heals which Rom tends to do better, she really has nothing going for her.
- Her EXE Drive when compared to Rom/Ram is also inferior since it has no AoE or special effects.
- Fragile like Histoire and her low TEC is also a major issue.

Chika Hakozaki

Pros:
- Leanbox's Oracle and Vert's "sister"?
- Already comes loaded with powerful equipment so she can kick some butt in the name of her darling sister Vert.
- A STR-based version of Vert. She packs quite a punch with her high STR, almost rivals her sister with her high AGI, and scores criticals and lands hits like no tomorrow with her high TEC and LUK.
- Her SP attack skills have decent hit count and very affordable SP-wise.
- Her Leader skill is great. Power Attacks have the most delay and her skill reduces that delay so you can use it much more often without high turn delay.
- Comes with Physical DEF+ and Null Category!
- Has the same Assist Attacks as Vert and they are great because of the hit counts.
- Has some healing skills. Better than nothing I guess?

Cons:
- An Oracle is the same as a maker/human when it comes down to Awakening. They are still inferior to CPUs.
- Has no Break EX Finish. Not like it matters much...
- Like all Oracles, her EXE Drive is just unimpressive when compared to CPUs.
- Also suffers from being fragile due to her low HP/VIT/MEN stat growths.
- Her attacks are nothing out of the ordinary. Basically all of the INT-based attacks available to Vert have been removed for Chika so she only has the STR-based ones...

That concludes the character analysis for each character!

Party Construction Basics (Part 1)

Cool. You have now been educated on each character's strengths and weaknesses. I got that out of the way first because you can't construct a party if you don't even know what each character is capable of! Anyway, I will share this 6 point guide to help you make your final adjustments on your characters and also make sure if they are compatible with every other party member and their partners (back row).

1st Point:

SHARES ARE POWER!
Shares have always been mentioned in the story line as the source of CPUs' power. This is also true for the battle system and how well your party would function. For example, if you don't even have Noire and Uni in your party, your Lastation shares are useless as they aren't doing anything to help your party and you are missing out on other CPUs utilizing those shares.

Every point of share can boost your offense as well as your defense by a little bit. With Nepgear's Leader ability, every point of share is an increase of 0.20%-0.25% in offense and defense (I can't get the exact % amount as there's a min-max thing going on with damages all the time). So roughly, at 100% shares for a nation, it's a dramatic 20-25% increase in offense! This is not capped at 9999 stats or anything, here are some tests I did:

9999 STR Peashy unbuffed/no debuffs on enemy vs Level 95 Iris Heart in Colosseum:
Test 10 Secret Move EXE Attacks:
With 0% Planeptune Shares = Average: 741,221.24 damage, Highest: 786,114 damage, Lowest: 723,556
With 100% Planeptune Shares (Nepgear is the Leader) = Average: 1,008,224.62 damage, Highest: 1,029,226 damage, Lowest: 953,004
With 100% Planeptune Shares (Nepgear is no longer the Leader) = Average: 842,912 damage, Highest: 844,339, Lowest: 815,750

That right there is more than enough data to show you that Share is indeed a very important mechanic in the game and not just some number you need for the endings like the previous Re;Birth games.

2nd Point:

Discs can transform your character into a killing machine!
Whenever you get Large Medals, make sure to go back to Planeptune and redeem your discs. Discs allow you to get even more abilities that you usually don't get with coupling skills or innate abilities. Some idea chips worth grinding for (Best 3 for each color):
Yellow:
1- Act Fast idea - Lv.3 Shooter, Lv.4 Light Gun, Lv.5 Bullet Hell
2- Consumed SP Down - Lv.1 Adventure, Lv.2 Novel, Lv.3 Girl Game, Lv.4 Maiden Game, Lv.5 Pretty Girl Game
3- Null All Ailments - Lv.5 TPS

Blue:
1- Ignore Category - Lv.4 Auto Save
2- Physical Defense + - Lv. 1 Auto-map Dungeon, Lv.2 Random Encounter, Lv.3 Symbol Encounter, Lv.4 Surprise Encounter, Lv.5 Seamless
3- Magic Defense + - Lv.1 Parameter Tweak, Lv.2 Slot, Lv.3 Special Gauges, Lv.4 Rumble, Lv.5 DLC

Red:
1- HDD Activation Full Heal - Lv.3 Drill
2- Gradual HP Recovery - Lv.1 Famous Voice, Lv.2 The Hell Allthis, Lv.3 Industry First, Lv.4 Famous Creator, Lv.5 Famous Artist
3- Gradual SP Recovery - Lv.1 Niche, Lv.2 Wide Market, Lv.3 Killer Aim, Lv.4 Million Aim, Lv.5 Worldwide

For yellow, I didn't include critical rate chips as they are just unreliable and they don't really increase your damage output as much as Act Fast. Act Fast really gives your character a major upgrade by allowing them to act sooner, thus more attacks in. The Paralysis/Skill Seal look great but you have to consider that some enemies are immune to them, particularly bosses/Tough class monsters. TPS is there but only for a couple of battles like with True Arfoire who is the "Malboro from Final Fantasy series" in this game. Consumed SP Down is also a decent option especially for skill oriented users or mage types like Rom/Ram combined with Uni. Look how much I reduced the SP cost with Lv.5 Pretty Girl Game and all the SP cost reductions I could get for Ram.

Pretty OVERPOWERED huh?

For blue, type/category specific defenses are also unreliable. Encounters and Colosseum battles usually put various types of monsters in the same battle. The only type specific defense worth having is "CPU Defense" and there's no way to get this other than the Call of Duty Godly Game which requires you to sacrifice an Infinidisc (5/5/5 disc). Ignore Category is the same as Null Category and it works wonders if you can't get Null Category from your character or their partners. Physical/Magic Defense have more general uses even though the damage reduction is lower than type-specific chips.

For red, Drill is a no brainer. It's a very overpowered effect for CPUs especially with the new SP system that combines SP skills and EXE Drives in the same gauge, so if you're running an all CPU team, EACH AND EVERYONE OF THEM should have this chip. To use the Drill's HDD Activation Full Heal effectively, it requires you to Revert back to your regular form after the turn you just performed your EXE Drive. Then when you get your turn again, just HDD again to restore yourself to full health and SP and then EXE Drive, next turn Revert/attack/use leftover SP, next turn EXE Drive, Repeat. Simple yeah?

Gradual HP Recovery isn't bad as it's a 10% HP regen PER TURN with Lv.5 Famous Artist! This is amazing for tanky characters like Tekken or Falcom. They are could achieve immortality with this thing. Gradual SP Recovery is A'OK. 49 SP per turn with the Worldwide chip is low but it does add up as the battle progresses. There's not a lot of good red chips, so this immediately takes the 3rd spot for best red chips.

3rd Point:

Your character is not alone, find a partner that "completes" you.
The screenshot above is Nep Nep! Look at all her marvelous D-pad hair clips, her clean lilac hair, and those big beautiful round eyes. What is she missing? Hmmm looking at the blank spots on the stats screen, she's missing some disc effects, so we need to go to Disc Dev and craft a good disc for her. The disc is great and all, but the other thing she is missing is just as important: HER COUPLING PARTNER!

Characters can be strong by themselves but with the power of friendship.... err I mean Coupling (dammit My Little Pony and JRPGs), you can make a character even stronger! Now let's analyze Neptune. Her innate abiliies are HDD SP Use- and Break Damage Limit. Those are two great skills and all, but one doesn't help her much with damage or reducing her SP costs on EXE Drive and the 2nd one becomes completely useless once you get the Break Damage Limit plan. So Nep Nep needs something to make her a capable fighter.

Cooldown Reduction is needed. No doubt about it. In fact, it's a must-have skill for every person in your party. It's not fun watching your girls get pummeled and unable to fight back because you're waiting for the monster to finish 2-3 attacks they still have left to kick your butt. In the case of Nep Nep, we will find a partner with Cooldown Reduction. There's quite a lot of them:
Vert
Peashy
CyberConnect2
Rom
5pb.
Kid IF
Adult IF

Party Construction Basics (Part 2)

I chose Vert in this case because she also has HDD SP Use- and it stacks with Nep Nep's HDD SP Use- to further lower my SP costs. Most of Nep Nep's SP costs are quite high so it's justified. The other reason is this:

Coupling EXE Drives are usable if Vert happens to be Neptune's partner! Neptune doesn't have a skill or EXE Drive that has that kind of range, so this allows her to use this attack if she finds herself fighting enemies somewhat lined up in a single file!

With the Disc I made on the previous section and combining the power of Vert's friendship, I mean coupling skills, we now have a fully optimized Nep Nep!!!

Turn Speed Level 5 further enhances the Cooldown Reduction she's getting from Vert and her amazing AGI stat, Null Category makes sure she does full damage against those big, bad, and dangerous bosses and Tough class monsters, and HDD Activation Full Heal allows her to use Neptune Break to delay the enemy's turn or HDD Neptune "missile nuke" for massive damage every other turn with the Revert>HDD>Repeat cycle!

When determining what skills you need, ask yourself these:
1. Does my character have Cooldown Reduction? If no, FIND A PARTNER THAT HAS IT.

2. Does my character have Null Category? If no, is your character going to be attacking a lot? If yes, FIND A PARTNER FOR IT OR MAKE A DISC WITH IT.

3. Does my character have SP reduction skills (Required SP- and HDD Sp Use-)? If no, is your character skill oriented (uses a lot of SP skills) or have very expensive SP skills (over 200+ SP cost)? If yes, FIND A PARTNER THAT HAS IT. In case of Ram or Uni, these skills are quite amazing for them because you can reduce their SP cost up to 95%! This means you can forget about attacking and just bombard enemies with AoE SP attack skills! Cave is an exception to this as she easily regains back all the SP she spent without any SP cost reductions.

4. Does my character have defense skills (Physical/Magic DEF+)? If no, is your character fragile (low VIT/MEN)? If yes, FIND A PARTNER THAT HAS THESE SKILLS.

If you can follow these 4 easy steps in coupling and skill assigning when developing discs, your character should be OK.

4th Point:

"Your character may have great attacks, but it doesn't hurt to call you friends for help!"
Assist Attacks are EX Finishers that deal a lot of damage. They are generally better than a character's personal EX Finishers. After pairing up Neptune with Vert, we gained Dimbula Storm and Nuwara Squall. Comparing Nuwara Squall with Neptune's personal 3 SP bar EX Finisher, Variable Arts:

it's quite an obvious choice which one is superior. Even if INT is not Neptune's strongest stat, the fact that Nuwara Squall is a Rush EX Finisher means you're really just after the SP gain with the 8 hits (vs Variable Arts' 5 hits) and 808 guard damage (vs Variable Arts' 360 guard damage). Also, you probably want to have some kind of INT-based attack on Neptune in case you do encounter some enemies resistant to physical attacks.

Make sure to check and change your EX Finishers to whatever you get from your partner whenever you switch party members. They can give your characters an extra kick in damage and also new options that otherwise they normally wouldn't have.

5th Point:

"CPUs are just generally better in every way, no matter how much you cheese up everyone else."
Hey look! It's Nepgear! Look at that adorable sailor school uniform she's wearing. Look at those impressive stats! She looks rather cute and timid right now but when she unleashes her true CPU form..... WHAM! you get this:

She ain't messing around now. These stat growths seem pretty minor but those are not only what the CPUs are getting. They are also getting the power of shares in addition to the stats they are getting from their processor units. They also have access to better and personalized bangles and weapons that raise their stats better than what the makers/humans/oracles have access to and of course, access to several Coupling and Formation EXE Drives. Look at how many EXE Drives Neptune has including this insanely powerful one:

Although that one does quite a lot of damage, it's way too inefficient to use in most battles as it drains all that SP from EVERYONE, but it's fun to use every once in a while or if you find yourself with lots of hit counts to give that Formation EXE Drive a bigger damage output.

The other reason, the most important one is: CPUs have access to Drill red idea chip and it only works exclusively for them (doesn't work for Awakening). This allows them to fully heal HP AND SP when they HDD and it has a lot of applicable uses. It makes them somewhat immortal and they can constantly throw EXE Drives every other turn!

I'm not saying not to use the human/maker/oracles, but most, if not all the time, if you just want to fight battles efficiently, get more stuff done or take on challenging enemies, you would have more success with an all CPU team, guaranteed.

6th Point:
"Determine the purpose and role of each of your party members."
OK, I'm just going to throw some random party set-up: Chika Hakozaki, MarvelousAQL, RED, and Uni. Alright game, make sure I win, GO! *dies to a dogoo* Damn it! This game sucks! *throws controller and rage quits*

Unfortunately, this is not the way you play Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth3 V Generation. Sure you can probably just throw all your favorite waifus in the same party and win but be sure you know what they are suppose to do! The above party example is just a mess. First off, the party doesn't have a strong tank. Chika and RED have Physical DEF+ but their VIT/MEN stats are just horrid. This party is also lacking some serious offense. Uni is the only dedicated attacker in this party while the rest don't have strong combos or SP skills. If this party needs some buffs or heals, who's going to do it? MarvelousAQL? Chika? lol...

There is no gameplan either. Like what is this party suppose to do? Outlast the enemy? Overpower them with lots of high STR/INT-based attackers? Control the field as one character tanks while the rest support and stay away from the enemy? Utilize sinister strategies such as mass debuffs or turn delay?

Party Construction Basics (Part 3)

Now the screenshot above is the famous "4 Goddesses" party. It's canon in the game, but there's actually quite a perfect balance of roles in this party. You got Blanc as the beefy tank who is ready to take on any monster no matter how many of them there are. She also has a turn-delay EXE Drive to contain foes so they don't cause too much havoc. You got Vert who is your speedy INT-based attacker and buff/debuff user. Neptune is another speedy attacker who's STR based in case the enemy is resistant to Vert's INT-based attacks and has a turn delay EXE Drive. Lastly, Noire, the offensive powerhouse who can take out multiple enemies at once with her powerful EXE Drive and SP attacks. Her EXE Drive also debuffs so Vert and Neptune can put even more hurt on the enemies. Let's review some party roles:

Tank - This role is given to a character who has amazing VIT/MEN growths and has at least 1 type of defensive skill (Physical DEF+ or Magic DEF+). They also have some Physical/Magic Defense+ on their discs to make sure their role as tank remains sturdy. A tank always keep themselves near the enemy and never fears taking damage no matter how many enemies gang up on her. Characters that work well as Tanks: Blanc, Tekken, Adult Falcom

STR-based - There are 3 types of DPS roles in this game, STR, INT, Hybrid. STR-based attackers use their STR to overpower the enemy. They also have a secondary high stat in AGI, TEC, or LUK that compliments their high STR so they can deal as much damage as possible. Characters that work well as STR-based Attackers: Noire, Peashy, Neptune

INT-based - Someone who utilizes their INT as their primary offense without relying too much on using SP skills. They have powerful combos and their EXE Drives have some sort of AoE. Like STR-based Attacker, they also have high AGI, TEC or LUK to assist their raw damage output. Characters that work well as INT-based Attackers: Plutia, Vert, Ram

Hybrid - Someone who can mix up/alternate STR/INT-based attacks so they aren't completely shut down by a foe that is resistant to one particular type of attack. They may not be primarily focus on one stat, so they may not be as good in dealing damages as STR-based Attacker when attacking something weak/vulnerable to physical damage. Characters that work well as Hybrid Attackers: MarvelousAQL, IF, Adult Falcom

Caster - Skill oriented users who prefer using their SP skills rather than attack with combos or EXE Drives because they have a way to restore their SP easily, cast spells infinitely or often because their SP costs are low, or their combo attacks just aren't good. Characters that work well as Casters: Cave, Ram, 5pb.

Supporter - Users of various buffs or healers fit this role. They can easily change the tide of battle by giving other allies at once some buffs or keep up with whatever damage being thrown at the party with efficient heals. Characters that work well as Supporters: Vert, Histoire, Adult Compa

Saboteur - Lowering enemies' stats helps the team but anyone who has some sort of utility that hinders the enemy in some way fit this role. This includes turn delay or inflicting status effects on the enemy! Characters that work well as Saboteurs: Uni, 5pb., Kid Compa

Jack-of-all-trades - Someone who can fulfill 3 or more roles above. Since they are multi-tasking, they might not be able to do particular tasks effectively. They are doing just enough that they don't hinder the party or hurt their overall performance. They are able to stand up on their own because their stats are nicely spread across the board or they have useful skills that work well in various situations. Characters that work well as Jacks-of-all-trade: Nepgear (Tank, STR-based, Hybrid, Supporter), Broccoli (Tank, STR-based, Supporter), Rom (INT-based, Supporter, Caster, Saboteur)

Now using the example above, let's dissect the 4 Goddesses Party:
What are the roles of each party member?
Neptune: STR-based, Saboteur (with her EXE Drive's turn delay effect)
Vert: Jack-of-all-trades (INT-based, Supporter, Saboteur)
Noire: STR-based, Saboteur (with her EXE Drive's defense debuffs)
Blanc: You can say Tank but she's actually a Jack-of-all-trades (Tank, Saboteur through her EXE Drive, STR-based)

What is this party trying to do?
Contain the enemy with Blanc's tanking abilities while the others support her though buffs, debuffs, turn delay, and a mix of STR/INT-based attacks with most of them having area of effect radius.

To create a functional party, you should have at least:
1 character that's primarily Tank
1 character that's primarily STR-based
1 character that's primarily INT-based or Hybrid or Caster
1 character that's primarily Supporter or Saboteur

Having 2 or more Saboteurs can be really useful especially if it involves turn delaying the enemy. With 2 Supporters, you will have an easier time keeping up with the healing or ending battles quicker because of multiple buffs. Last but not the least, don't have too many Jacks-of-all-trades. Multi-tasking is great but you want someone who does their job well, and not inadequate. 1 is enough, and 2 should be the max.

Some Optimized/Finished Party Setups (Part 1)

This is where I will share some of the party setups I've played that are fully optimized and ready to take on any dogoos, pixelvaders, Warechus, fake CPUs, eggplants, or any other baddie that the game throws at you. These parties have been tested for general battles, tough monster encounters and Colosseum battles and they work effectively as long as you follow the ways these parties are supposed to be played and know their strengths and weaknesses. Oh wait before I forget, make sure your party formation looks like this:

Make sure the Tank is on that first row dead center so they don't have to make a detour or move too much. Make sure your allies are adjacent to each other so you can start buffing up and have every single ally affected by the buffs! Now, let's cut to the cheese (or was it chase?) and introduce the first party setup:

The Four Goddesses Party

I already mentioned this party in the previous section but we didn't really go over how to optimize them for best partners/disc mods. Anyways, let's start off what this party consists of:

Members:
Neptune partnered with Peashy
Noire partnered with 5pb.
Blanc partnred with Rom
Vert partnered with CyberConnect2

Set Neptune as Leader. Even though you have HDD Activation Full Heal from Drill, you might find yourself less than 200 SP sometimes when you're buffing, so you want to cut the HDD transformation cost to just 100 SP so you can HDD back and heal yourself fully.

Share Distribution: 40/20/20/20 Planeptune/Lastation/Lowee/Leanbox. Reason for this is Neptune will be attacking a lot due to her AGI (Vert is faster, but she will be debuffing/buffing sometimes) and you want her 2nd EXE Drive HDD Neptune to do a lot more damage.

Discs and Idea Chips: (These are the best 4 discs because they are the only ones that can hold Level 5 Yellow Chip for Bullet Hell and has at least Level 3 in Red for Drill. I will be using these same ones for the rest of the party setups I make)
Neptune: Red Disc with Bullet Hell, Auto Save, Drill
Noire: Ext HDD with Bullet Hell, Drill
Blanc: Infinidisc with Bullet Hell, Seamless, Drill
Vert: Ext SDD with Bullet Hell, Symbol Encounter, Drill

How This Party is Played:
1. Vert moves first. Always buff with Assam Link. I usually don't HDD yet considering I can get the SP I just spent back on the next turn when I do transform.
2. Neptune moves next. You are free to buff Blanc a Stat Multiplier or get the offense going already by using up a STR Booster Z.
3. Noire should move next. Give these monsters some pain with Infinite Slash EXE Drive after you HDD to debuff their defenses greatly.
4. On Blanc's turn, get closer to the enemy as much as possible. Pound the enemy up with Hard Break to push them further in turns. If you're lucky or the enemy is slow enough, Vert should actually cut in line and have her turn again before the enemy could act. I usually use this turn for her to buff herself and other nearby allies up with INT Booster Z or debuff with Terai Division or her EXE Drive Spiral Break.
5. Most enemies are already dead after Blanc or Vert's 2nd turn, but if they are still alive, just Revert and use the remaining SP you have without falling below 100 SP or attack with combos to build hit counts.
6. Make sure to have Blanc near the enemy at all times while the others are kept at a distance and spread out. Start HDD on everyone again so you can EXE Drive again, Revert on the next turn after performing it and attack/buff up/use some skills without falling below 100 SP, HDD next turn and perform your EXE Drive, rinse and repeat.

Strengths:
- All CPU team. You can exploit the benefits of the wonderful HDD Activation Full Heal from Drill idea chip.
- Team is always on AGI/TEC/MOV buff allowing you to outspeed/outmaneuver the enemy easily. You can use Booster Zs if you want some STR/INT buffs.
- You have the best tank in the game. It will take a long time for her to die with Magic DEF+ from Rom, Physical Def+ from her Infinidisc, and her innate Physical DEF+/Magic DEF+ abilities.
- Vert and Neptune are speed demons and usually don't wait too long until it's their turn again.
- Noire's Infinite Slash has AoE and mass defensive debuffs which in the next turn makes them very vulnerable to Blanc's Hard Break. Turn order for this team is just amazing because it compliments each other's actions.
- Amazing overall damage due to constant EXE Drive assaults from all CPUs and 3 of them have area of effect radius and with 2 having turn delay effect.
- If needed, Neptune has access to several elemental formation EXEs to exploit elemental weaknesses!

Weaknesses:
- While you are on your normal/reverted state, your defensive stats are low and you might find yourself taking more damage than usual.
- The share distribution is too spread out with 3 nations only getting 20% shares... Nobody can really utilize their abilities to the fullest. It's missing Nepgear and that alone is already a huge downside.

Infinite Turn Delay Party

The best party of Re;Birth2 makes a dramatic or should I say melodramatic return? With the new SP system, this party has been somewhat nerfed due to the fact you can no longer save up your EXE Drives whenever you want but instead forced to use it every other turn for your CPUs causing you to have some huge delay yourself... What this means is you need to pay more attention with the turn order, your SP, and keeping your hit counts alive.

This party had no problems turn delaying 2-3 monsters at a time without getting overwhelmed in Re;Birth2. The party can still function well but not as good as it used to be. It still retains its turn delaying effectiveness against single targets though (so it's amazing vs most Tough monsters); maybe even better in this installment considering 5pb. gets a 5th string for Slow Beat and the party can deplete more of the enemy's guard point gauge with Uni as the leader causing the enemy to take a lot more damage over time!

I was the one who started this turn delay party hype here on Steam and I think it's rightfully justified that I make some adjustments to make it a solid party for Re;Birth3, so here it goes!

Formation Changes:
Instead of Blanc being at the front, put 5pb. instead. The reason for this is 5pb. doesn't have a lot of movement so you want her to get within range and be able to attack the enemy immediately without the need to defend/waste a turn.

Members:
Uni partnered with CyberConnect2
Blanc partnered with Rom
Neptune partnered with Vert
5pb. partnered with Peashy

Set Uni as Leader. Reason for this is her Leader skill is Break GP ATT+ which allows you to deal more damage to the enemy's guard point gauge with all attacks but more with Break Attacks thus making 5pb. a turn delaying and guard point gauge destroying machine!

Share Distribution: I'd say go 30/30/40 Planeptune/Lastation/Lowee. Unlike the Four Goddesses Party, this party is solely on spamming as many turn delay EXE drives as possible meaning you have no time to buff or do anything else at all. So with Blanc having a stronger EXE Drive with AoE, it's better put more shares on her. You can probably do 25/25/50 if you wanted.

Some Optimized/Finished Party Setups (Part 2)

Discs and Idea Chips:
Uni: Ext SDD with Bullet Hell, Symbol Encounter, Drill
Blanc: Infinidisc with Bullet Hell, Seamless, Drill
Neptune: Red Disc with Bullet Hell, Auto Save, Drill
5pb. Ext HDD with Bullet Hell, Famous Artist

Drill doesn't work with Awakening and with 5pb. being rather fragile, it's better to have 10% Auto HP recovery per turn for her than wasting your turn trying to heal her.

How This Party is Played:
1. Neptune moves first. Buff everyone with AGI Booster Z item. Speed is mandatory here as well as TEC for 5pb.
2. Have Uni and Blanc transform and use NGP and Hard Break respectively. 5pb. should close in and start plucking those Slow Beat attacks on the enemy. If there are multiple enemies, try your best and attack 2 of them at once if you can.
3. As the battle progresses, make sure 5pb. circles around the enemy and hits them from behind. The reason for this is she can easily hit the enemy without missing even when the AGI Booster Z wears off.
4. Focus on enemies that are about to get their turn, not the ones that are already been pushed behind in turns. The reason for this is the turn delay effect is greater when hitting an enemy getting their turns sooner.
5. If the closest enemy is about 8-10 turns away from getting their next turn, feel free to attack with Rush combos to build hit counts and further increase the damage of your future EXE Drive attacks.
6. Keep the enemy at bay with EXE Drives from your CPUs and Slow Beat orchestra with 5pb. and you should be OK. Your turn order action screen should look similar to this:

See what's on the left side? All the cute faces of your Neptunia girls (waifus?) and not a trace of the monster's ugly icon.

Strengths:
- 3 CPUs and 1 character who's really good at what she does. Exploits the turn delay mechanic to the fullest to give the enemy as few turns as possible and overwhelm them with EXE Drives constantly.
- In addition to turn delay, high hit counts are being produced and guard point gauge of the enemy is being drained at a rather alarming rate causing them to take even more damage.
- 5pb. in this Re;Birth installment has a 5th attack string for her Slow Beat, is much better stat-wise due to challenge bonuses, and can stay alive longer due to having Lv. 5 Famous Artist Auto HP recovery disc.
- Enemies that come alone are still no match to the power of Infinite Turn Delay. Overwhelm them with ease!!!
- Not too buff/healing reliant as most parties. AGI buffs for everyone and TEC buff for 5pb. can make it easier for you though.

Weaknesses:
- This party was manageable at dealing with multiple enemies at once in Re;Birth2 but struggles a bit in this installment due to the fact you can't be too conservative with your EXE Drives anymore.
- From what I remember, 5pb. had some guitars with decent range before (1x2 and 1x3 ranges). Now she's stuck with 1x1 attack box weapons so it's quite hard to hit multiple enemies at once with them...
- It can get out of control if the enemy manages to get their turn with low health and they have a powerful special attack that hits everyone like Arfoire or Anonydeath in Colosseum. It's tough to recover if someone gets incapacitated!

All Planeptune Power Party

Power was not added there just for the naming sake. It's there because this what the party is all about: POWER. The reason for this are 100% Planeptune Shares and Nepgear's Leader ability HDD Shares+ which powers up your CPUs depending on the number of shares they have for their nation. At 100% shares, you gain an incredible 20-25% offense/defense boost as long as Nepgear is the Leader.

This party has the biggest burst damage you can have on a team when everyone has full SP gauge. Monsters that normally that can't be defeated by 4 EXE Drives in a row can be completely destroyed by this team in 4 or less. In the Colosseum, I can kill Level 999 True Arfoire in a single HDD Neptune EXE Drive and 2-3 Power Attacks from Peashy while my other parties setups struggle to even kill it in 3-4 EXE Drives. The party also has tremendous defensive power. The level 999 Colosseum enemies are doing 0 damage with regular attacks to my characters including Plutia who has very low VIT and True Arfoire's Finale Guide can't even do more than 32k damage which is quite surprising considering it usually does 40-50k damage normally when it hits! I bet you're excited what this team is all about since this is a Re;Birth3 exclusive, so let's get down to business shall we?

Members:
Nepgear partnered with Rom
Neptune partnered with Vert
Plutia partnered with CyberConnect2
Peashy partnered with 5pb.

Set Nepgear as Leader. Make sure you have 100% Planeptune shares before trying out this party. The true power of this party is unleashed once you have that as every single member in this party including Nepgear herself (despite being classified as CPU "Candidate") are Planeptune CPUs, so they will all benefit from the 20-25% offense/defense boost!

Share Distribution:
100% Planeptune. No ifs or buts about it. Don't bother with this party if you don't even have this much.

Discs and Idea Chips:
Nepgear: Ext SDD with Bullet Hell, Symbol Encounter, Drill
Neptune: Red Disc with Bullet Hell, Auto Save, Drill
Plutia: Ext HDD with Bullet Hell, Drill
Peashy: Infinidisc with Bullet Hell, Null Category, Drill

Everyone has Null/Ignore Category so they can put as much hurt as possible with their EXE Drives no matter what enemy it is!

How This Party is Played:
1. Depending on how well you geared/leveled Neptune or Peashy, any one of them could go first. Whatever the case is, I usually take this time to buff up with a Booster Z, preferably AGI.
2. Next 2 people should buff the other 2 types of Booster Zs on everyone without moving from their starting position.
3. Plutia should move last. Go ahead and use her T. Blade Kick EXE Drive. That MEN/AGI/TEC debuff should render your opponent useless for a while if it survived.
4. Nepgear should move into the front lines more and grab the enemies' attention. She can take some beating physical or magical and will serve as this party's Tank. Neptune and Peashy can too if you leveled them and raised their AGI enough.
5. Assuming you have leveled just fine and on equal level with your enemy if it's the Colosseum, nothing should 1-shot you or even 2-shot you as the Planeptune shares' power should reduce any damage you take significantly.
6. Continue with the EXE Drive assault with the Revert>HDD Full Heal trick and you should be fine. There's nothing much to explain as this party is just strong offensively and defensively and you should be fine. Keep the buffs up at all times to further multiply your party's damage output along with the shares' power to end battles quicker.

Strengths:
- 4 CPUs... All from Planeptune. What more could you ask for?
- This party is powerful in both offense and defense thanks to 100% Planeptune Shares.
- It has some debuffs and turn delay thanks to Plutia's and Neptune's EXE Drive respectively.
- Neptune and Peashy are both speed demons with their absurdly high AGI and they both hit hard thanks to their amazing STR stat growths and 100% shares.
- Nepgear works as an amazing Tank with amazing VIT/MEN/AGI stat growth! She might even be better than Blanc in some cases because she can easily dodge the attack instead of taking it.
- If needed, the party has 2 amazing healers.
- Nepgear and Neptune also have access to Coupling EXE Drives!

Weaknesses:
- Low defense stats when Reverting to normal.
- Lacks enough turn delay/debuffs.
- Needs 100% Planeptune to work well!

Some Optimized/Finished Party Setups (Part 3)

Lowee Lowdown Party

This is Lowee's version of the All Planeptune Power party. Nepgear is still present to make sure the Lowee Shares are at their full power. She's also a great compliment for Blanc as a secondary Tank if needed. The reason why it's called "Lowdown" is because of all the debuff shenanigans this team has. I was going to name it "Low Blow" but I don't think these girls are capable of kicking someone in the nuts, or are they?

This team has 2 INT-based characters, Rom and Ram. They are quite amazing because their EXE Drives have AoE and debuffs lowering STR/INT/VIT/MEN which renders enemies completely fragile and debilitated! There is also an option for Blanc, Rom, and Ram to use Dry Ravine, a Formation EXE that deals 1,054. It's not that good damage-wise but... it debuffs INT/MEN/AGI/TEC/LUK and deals 16,446 guard damage!!!

Members:
Blanc partnered with 5pb.
Rom partnered with Peashy
Ram partnered with CyberConnect2
Nepgear partnered with Vert

Set Nepgear as Leader for her HDD Shares+ ability. This time you need 100% Lowee shares to make this party work. This is needed to make sure Rom and Ram have the best destructive power as well as Blanc being sturdier. Blanc should be so sturdy nothing should even 4-hit KO her. Nepgear should still be durable even with 0% Planeptune shares.

Share Distribution:
100% Lowee or bust. Non-negotiable.

Discs and Idea Chips:
Blanc: Infinidisc with Bullet Hell, Auto Save, Drill
Rom: Red Disc with Bullet Hell, Auto Save, Drill
Ram: Ext HDD with Bullet Hell, Drill
Nepgear: Ext SDD with Bullet Hell, Symbol Encounter, Drill

Blanc already has massive defense with 100% Lowee shares and Nepgear's ability so I replaced Lv.5 Seamless with Lv.4 Auto Save. This allows her to gain Null Category so she can do full damage with her Hard Break against robots/ghosts types. She's somewhat more damage oriented in this party and her tanking role is also shared with Nepgear so she can have a room for breather.

How This Party is Played:
1. Nepgear moves first. If you already want to start off with your assault, stay on your spot and use an INT Booster Z to buff up everyone especially the Lowee twins for increased EXE Drive damage. If the enemy can survive their back to back EXE Drives, use AGI Booster Z for more turns.
2. Rom and Ram should move next. If you didn't use an INT Booster Z, do so now. If you did, use your EXE Drive.
3. Blanc as always should go ahead, get closer to the enemies and Hard Break. Nepgear should follow suit next turn and use her EXE Drive as well to reduce the enemy's MOV stat. With 2 capable tanks, you can use them to "body block" the enemy, force them to go around Blanc and Nepgear and possibly make them waste a turn if they are aiming for Rom and Ram.
4. While it's your turn on Reverted status, have Ram and Rom use E-Force Blizzard and Ice Coffin to inflict other debuffs and Paralyze. They are better use of turns than attacking with combos considering you will just use the next turn to HDD again to restore all your SP back. You can also have Rom buff "I'll Protect You!" to increase your Tanks' VIT and MEN!
5. With so many debuffs on your enemies, it is difficult for them to fight back being in such a very weakened state. Sometimes with Rom's SP attack spells, they'll be Paralyzed and not even get a chance to move!

Strengths:
- CPU dominant team. The full use of Drill chips is still the name of the game here.
- Like the All Planeptune Power Party, this party utilizes 100% shares but for Lowee. This gives all your Lowee CPUs massive increase in offense and defense.
- This team has 3 characters capable of doing area of effect EXE Drives. They annihilate groups of enemies with ease.
- In case you are fighting a lone tough enemy, the party constantly throws debuffs, Paralysis and sometimes turn delay to horribly hinder the enemy. The enemy won't be doing much when their offense and defense are reduced across the board.
- This team also has a wonderful healer and buffer, Rom and a nasty debuffer with her SP attack skills, Ram.
- Blanc performs exceptionally better in this party thanks to Lowee shares with her offense. Her Hard Break hits much harder now thanks to Ignore Category from the disc.
- Nepgear despite not getting any share bonus is still a solid character thanks to her very balanced and exceptional stat growths.

Weakness:
- Rom and Ram are a bit fragile, so keep them protected and away from aggressive enemies at all times.
- The party may have some issues when fighting foes that are highly resistant to INT-based attacks.
- Need 100% Lowee to work well!

3 Neps and a Noire!? Party by MLG360N0Sc0peXXXPICNICXXX

This is a hybrid version of Planeptune party replacing Peashy for Noire. Now why the heck would you replace a speedy monster truck like Peashy? Because Noire has one thing that Peashy can't do, debuff enemies' defenses and make it so that the rest of the party also deal a crapload of damage. Additionally, Noire has one of the best stat distributions/growths in the game. Just look at this evolution when she HDDs:

Then....

Her AGI may be somewhat average compared to Nepgear or Neptune but all her other stats are very impressive (she can get the 4 main stats at 9.9k+ at level 999 which only she can do) She also has great TEC (unlike Peashy) and LUK so she never misses. Also has mobility with higher MOV stat than Peashy.

Members:
Nepgear partnered with Rom
Neptune partnered with Vert
Plutia partnered with CyberConnect2
Noire partnered with 5pb.

Set Nepgear as leader, because you still want to utilize the power of Planeptune shares.

Share Distribution:
100% Planeptune. Even though the party has Noire and she's powerful, all we want her to do is keep debuffing the enemy with her Infinite Slash, so we don't want to hurt everyone else's damage output by lowering Planeptune's Shares. Benefiting 3 people is better than 1.

Discs and Idea Chips:
Nepgear: Ext SDD with Bullet Hell, Symbol Encounter, Drill
Neptune: Red Disc with Bullet Hell, Auto Save, Drill
Plutia: Infinidisc with Bullet Hell, Seamless, Drill
Noire: Ext HDD with Bullet Hell, Drill

Everyone has Null/Ignore Category to take advantage of max damage output when debuffing the enemy.

How This Party is Played:
Everything should be the same as the All Planeptune Power party except for the first few moves:
1. Neptune moves first, HDDs, and uses AGI Booster Z on everyone.
2. Nepgear moves second, HDDs and buffs INT Booster Z on everyone.
3. Noire HDDs and uses Infinite Slash.
4. Plutia HDDs and uses Thunder Blade Kick.
5. Neptune Reverts, and use STR Booster Z to fully buff everyone now.
6. Nepgear moves to the front and tanks.
7. Do the Revert>HDD>EXE Drive cycle and continue your onslaught.

Strengths:
- 4 CPUs, 3 from Planeptune and one lonely Noire. She's still awesome though!
- Retains the versatility of the All Planeptune Power party with 100% Planeptune.
- Somewhat improved version of the original as you have a dedicated member that constantly debuffs and deals high damage/hit counts on multiple enemies, helping everyone's damage output!

Weaknesses:
- Noire doesn't receive power from shares.
- Lower stats while on Reverted status.

Some Optimized/Finished Party Setups (Part 4)

Swiss Army Party by CordedUberator

This is quite a balanced party that works decent in every levels. It's similar to the Four Goddesses party except for Noire being replaced by Plutia. It's not gear dependent and it brings out a nice balance of STR/INT-based attackers as you have a 50/50 party composition with this, thus preventing you from being walled by an enemy with certain resistances.

Members:
Neptune partnered with Peashy
Blanc partnered with Rom
Vert partnered with 5pb.
Plutia partnered with CyberConnect2

Set Neptune as leader. Everyone's a CPU here so they would benefit nicely from being able to do things with their SP even after an EXE Drive and still have enough SP to transform! Elemental resistance from making the other characters as Leader is not really as helpful.

Share Distribution:
50% Planeptune, 25% Lowee, 25% Leanbox. You have 2 Planeptune CPUs, so it would benefit you more to put more shares on Planeptune.

Discs and Idea Chips:
Neptune: Red Disc with Bullet Hell, Auto Save, Drill
Blanc: Ext SDD with Bullet Hell, Symbol Encounter, Drill
Vert: Infinidisc with Bullet Hell, Auto Save, Drill
Plutia: Ext HDD with Bullet Hell, Drill

I was debating whether to give the Infinidisc with Auto Save to Vert or Blanc. Blanc is powerful, has an AoE EXE Drive and could use it too but Vert is able to move a lot more often due to double Cooldown Reduction. I chose Vert because there are more enemies that are physically resistant, so it would make more sense to make your INT-based attacker more powerful.

How The Party is Played:
1. Similar to Four Goddesses party, Vert should Assam Link everyone to get them all going in turns. Using HDD or not is up to you.
2. Neptune moves next. HDD and Stat Multiplier Blanc or buff everyone with an STR or INT Booster Z, leaning more on the latter to make Plutia hurt a lot more when it's her turn.
3. Blanc HDD, uses Hard Break and turn delays every enemy.
4. Plutia should HDD and debuff the enemy with her Thunder Blade Kick.
5. Vert sometimes should cut in before any enemy could act. Use STR Booster Z to buff your STR-based attackers.
6. As the battle progresses, have Vert debuff the enemy with Terai Division and have Neptune compliment Blanc in Tanking by staying close to the enemy. Plutia and Vert should keep their distance from the enemy at all times. Repeat the Revert>HDD>EXE Drive onslaught otherwise.

Strengths:
- All CPU team. Duh.
- Like the Four Goddesses Party, this team is always on high AGI, TEC, MOV buff to outmaneuver the enemy.
- Blanc is still a solid tank in this team even without the Infinidisc.
- You have 50/50 split of STR/INT-based attackers to prevent yourself from getting walled by the enemy when it has a specific resistance to an attack type.
- Plutia also has a MEN debuff through her EXE Drive, so she and Vert can easily deal massive damage.
- Thanks to higher shares on Planeptune, Neptune can compliment Blanc in the Tank role if needed.
- The party has a decent healer this time thanks to Plutia.
- Neptune has Formation EXE Drives with everyone!

Weaknesses:
- While on Reverted state, your party is weaker.
- Lacks specialization due to sacrificing hyper offense from shares for balance and "jack of all trading". Meaning this party isn't as strong as the other party set ups in this guide mainly because it doesn't utilize the power of shares. This party doesn't have Nepgear. It does have more utility and adaptability when it comes to lengthy battles that you can't just blitz through by spamming EXE Drives (e.g. battles with Anonydeath and his annoying Jammers).

That should wrap up the guide at this point. I am thankful for the people who gave me some ideas on some of these parties and to everyone who have read/liked my guide. Good luck and happy Nep Nepping everyone!

[RegaliaRemix]

hahaha roflmao! Indeed. Drill is indeed awesome and even more useful in this game thanks to the new SP system.

[Epicwindow+-]

screw backrow switching we have drill strat masterace LOLOLOL

[RegaliaRemix]

The party sounds neat utilizing Nepgear vs Neptune. Problem with it is, Nepgear isn't as good when your shares are too spread out like that. She performs better when you are working with 75-100% share distribution. Neptune is much more beneficial as 100 SP off transformations could be used for buffs/SP attack skills while you are on a reverted state instead of combo attacks (much weaker damage).

Also, switching should be a last ditch effort when 2 or more of your front liners are incapacitated at once. The back row characters are better when they are being used for coupling abilities or assist attacks thus my reasoning with having Cooldown Reduction for everyone. Switching to back row characters mean you have to buff them also to get them going as well.

[Starlit]

I personally split the shares 40 planeptune,30 leanbox,15 lastation,15 lowee but this is a bit questionable. Reasoning here is that I dont go for an optimising back line but instead am ready to switch in plutia and neptune along side nepgear if needed, PLutia goes behind blanc and neptune behind vert so that if I switch I hit my old party. Noire and Blanc already have massive stats where they need them so leanbox gets higher to help buff up verts survivability tho her agi might do this on its own.

1000 characters strikes again

[Starlit]

@Regalia MLGs was my party for a while but then I switched to the 4 goddesses party but with nepgear instead of neptune. I form my party back as far as possible in the battle formation screen and use the first turn for mass buffs, i.e. Vert assam link, Nepgear offensive cheer, blanc defense support while noire uses an int booster +

You can get this affect with other teams of course so thats not the attraction but when it comes to fighting you have massive aoe and nepgears leader ability which to me is just hands down the best in the game. On the 2nd turn vert and noire can decimate the other teams stats giving you most buffs and them most debuffs.

[RegaliaRemix]

Added two more party setups in the guide. Special thanks to MLG360N0Sc0peXXXPICNICXXX and CordedUberator!

[RegaliaRemix]

If you want a hybrid Planeptune party with 1 non-Planeptune CPU, Peashy is the one that needs to go. She has the speed and power but her lacking any type of real party support, heals, or debuffs is the killer, so the party would be OK without her in exchange for more debuff/utility like Noire.

In my opinion we should go with Nep Nep, Nepgear, Plutia, and Noire since it is a decent balance of attackers and utility.

P.S. 1000 character limit on comments section is retarded.

[RegaliaRemix]

Ram's regen skill was surprisingly nerfed in this Re;Birth for some odd reason. It used to heal 7-10% HP per turn from what I remember but it only heals 4% in this installment and also doesn't last long.

Even though her EXE debuffs only VIT, she can debuff MEN with her E-Force Blizzard, but we need both debuffs considering Noire is most likely to move before Plutia and you want the MEN debuff as well to make Plutia's Thunder Blade Kick deal a crapload of damage also.

And Infinite Slash does debuff MEN as well as AGI. It is the ultimate defense debuffing skill in the game because it applies the debuffs on the first hit, thus allowing Noire to deal massive damage with her EXE Drive already.

[Epicwindow+-]

so yeah since i never use those characters much and you know them well is better for you to make the choice here.

Anyway srsly 1000 character limit? go to hell steam.

[Epicwindow+-]

oh right sorry about that getting used to free cpu transform from story events.So maybe throw plutia away from front line until both cpu are transformed?(2 turn shouldnt hurt much when compared to a nice debuff).

Well as for the new party member for peashy we have 3 choices here:

1.Keep Peashy
+awesome 20~25% stat increase
+hits like a truck
-spend 2 turn wasting time for the STR, VIT, LUK+MOV(not so helpful) debuff.
-Still pretty squishy even with share buff

2.Switch To N0ire
+another str-based character
+has a nice AOE exe drive with only VIT debuff (i totally forgot it is only VIT debuff)
- lose out that sweet 20~25% stat increase
*Insert Character Good/Bad Here*

3.Switch To Ram
+int-base char
+has a nice AOE exe drive with STR and VIT debuff
+getting a stat cure skill that also give regen
- lose out that sweet 20~25% stat increase
*Insert Other Character Good/Bad Here*