The definitive collection of English tips for Dark Rose Valkyrie

A collection of tips for Dark Rose Valkyrie, largely spoiler-free (except the relatively minor spoilers behind the spoiler tags, anyways).

Introduction and Basic prep

Alright, so there isn't really a lot of good information on this game, so I decided to take notes, do some googling, etc. It doesn't help that only about 10% of those who own this game on steam have actually played through even a relatively small amount of the story (not without reason, I suppose). It turns out that despite the combat system not being that involved when actually in combat, there's a lot of things that need to be known in order to set up a combat that will go well, and that involves a lot of RPG progression stuff that is really quite obtuse.

Basic Prep

• Have a full back line (I left characters on standby for way too long in the early game).
  
  
• Equip your abilities when you get them.
  
  
• Periodically spam the key assigned to B (default 'L'/backspace) while on the
  world map to find treasure while walking around, because reasons. Some of it
  is rather good.
  
  
• Don't forget to level up your weapons via remodel. Keeping them up-to-date
  on remodel parts isn't as important until much later, but the basic remodel
  parts will be the best thing you have for quite a while, so go ahead and
  develop ones you think will help when you have the spare marks even if the
  effect will only be marginal.
  
  
• I'm not certain, but the level 2 uniform is relatively cheap and seems to
  really extend your uniform life so getting that relatively quick is a good
  idea. Each uniform level-up extends clothing life and increases damage
  resistance, but also is somewhat more expensive to repair per point of
  uniform damage taken (so repair before you upgrade). Level 3 seems
  to be quite a bit more expensive to repair so I don't recommend being
  quick to upgrade uniforms beyond level 2.
  
  
• Better shield items don't show up until substantially later in the game, so
  buy the starting shield item that gives 5% damage resistance and equip them
  on *all* characters even early on since you'll likely be switching out in battle.
  I never upgraded any of my characters from this due to the cost.
  
  
• Every time a character leaves the party they will be completely unequipped
  and then equipped with default items. Any remodel parts will also be removed.
  This is annoying, but don't forget to reequip and re-remodel people.
  
  
• In the medals shop in the reference room, unlock some basic recovery
  arts ASAP! You'll still need the stat points leveled up to make use of them.
  
  
• Also in the medals shop, get a couple formations other than Square. Have
  at least something that increases gained XP and something that boosts
  damage. Marks is kinda nice, but not as important as XP, so both
  documents 5 and 10 are useful. 5 could leave you short on marks, 10 could
  leave you missing out on some boss xp if you find yourself swapping to damage
  in a hard fight with two bosses. You might want to use 10 for trash and 5 for
  walking through events and known boss monsters. The status resistance
  formation (document 8) should likely be the go-to for a defensive formation
  because status effects are plentiful in this game, but that isn't needed right
  away. In fact, you shouldn't waste the medals on getting a defensive
  formation until you've unlocked at least a bunch of skills like the recovery
  arts mentioned above (I acquired all of the skill documents by the end of
  chapter 3, so you have plenty to go around).
  
  
• Don't waste medals on the "Upper" items. There are some expensive
  items that eventually become available in the medal shop that are
  rather powerful for 100+ medals each that also arrive early enough to
  help with the hardest fights in the game.
  
  
• I haven't studied this extensively, so take this bit with a grain of salt,
  but as far as attack formations go, the considerations appear to be mainly
  documents 3, 15, 16, and 18, with 3 and 15 being the standouts.
  Document 20 has interesting prospects as an additional formation since
  the increased evasion could help withstand the first set of attacks while
  empowering missile AoEs and other arts to clear adds. It also helps that
  (at a point when you should have lots of spare medals) the first Gamma-level
  elemental melee skill you acquire will be ice element. Finally, beyond that
  all of the elemental boosting formations are great if you can know the
  ideal element with sufficient time to do something about it.
  
  
• Each medal you collect (whether or not you spend them) gets tallied up
  for the purpose of helping with interviews later on.
  
  
• Go into the status screen and use the button assigned to Y (default 'i'
  key), then scroll through your party. This is a more convenient way than
  when leveling up to see what different characters are currently good at. Stats
  get more expensive by 1 every 10 points in the stat. So you can see that the
  MC has a base cost of 2 or less in everything but Skill, whereas Luna
  Ichinomiya has a base cost in Agility of 4 (ouch!).
  
  The following are the base stat costs and base speed for all the characters:
  MC: Speed: 13, Melee: 1, Stamina: 1, Wisdom: 2, Firearm: 2, Skill: 3, Agility: 2
  Ai: Speed: 12, Melee: 1, Stamina: 3, Wisdom: 2, Firearm: 2, Skill: 1, Agility: 3
  Luna: Speed: 11, Melee: 2, Stamina: 3, Wisdom: 2, Firearm: 1, Skill: 1, Agility: 4
  Yue: Speed: 14, Melee: 1, Stamina: 2, Wisdom: 3, Firearm: 1, Skill: 2, Agility: 2
  Amal: Speed: 15, Melee: 1, Stamina: 1, Wisdom: 4, Firearm: 4, Skill: 3, Agility: 1
  Coo: Speed: 10, Melee: 4, Stamina: 4, Wisdom: 1, Firearm: 1, Skill: 1, Agility: 3
  Kengo: Speed: 11, Melee: 3, Stamina: 3, Wisdom: 1, Firearm: 1, Skill: 2, Agility: 3
  Naoyuki: Speed: 12, Melee: 1, Stamina: 1, Wisdom: 3, Firearm: 2, Skill: 4, Agility: 2
  Kana: Speed: 11, Melee: 2, Stamina: 3, Wisdom: 2, Firearm: 3, Skill: 1, Agility: 1
  
  I appear to have stumbled across something that decreases the base cost by 1 for certain
  skills on certain characters, (Amal: Melee, Luna: Ranged, Coo+Kengo: Wisdom) but have
  no idea how I managed to do so or if is level dependant etc.
  
  
• Someone with a cost of 1 in something has to spend 30 BP to push a stat up by 20 points.
  Someone with a cost of 3 in something has to spend 70 BP to push a stat up by 20 points,
  and that only gets worse the farther you push it, so base cost is more than a little
  important and very quickly becomes a sort of soft-cap on what a character can do with
  that stat. 1 is good, 2 is okay, but base 3 and above should probably be acquired in
  relatively small amounts only (at least until midgame) because that'll scale to
  6+ BP per stat in a hurry, whereas a 1 base cost stat will be at 50 before that starts to
  happen.
  
  
• Any item or ability that says it increases "turn speed" increases the Speed stat directly,
  despite how it sounds. Kengo's 'Speed Endurance Fall' Ability is actually kinda good.
  There is at minimum an armor (starting with "Speed") and a remodel part ("Havi") that does
  this. I wish I knew all of the ways to acquire speed-increasing armor. Attachments starting
  in "Speed" do not do this, they raise the Agility stat. The "Havi II" remodel part is +5 to
  Speed, making that particular part extremely powerful. A 22-speed Kengo spamming
  [Element] Missiles Gamma is far more capable than is normal for game balance at the
  point that becomes possible.

Leveling Tips

Premade Recipe

The TL:DR I-don't-want-to-know-why-I-just-want-something-that-works recipe. It might not be quite as good as doing it yourself if you're paying close attention to every skill that could be unlocked, but this should generally hit all the important breakpoints. For firearm options, the first mentioned is likely slightly better in my opinion, but I have not considered the interaction of the Gatling firearm type with the Havi Remodel Part which if you take the time to get on every character makes going Gatling always a bad idea:

MC (Asahi): 30 Stamina ASAP, though 21 Stamina is probably sufficient. Then ~12 (might be 13) Wisdom, 30 Melee, 15 Skill, 20 Agility in that order. Then ~60 Melee, 25 Wisdom in no particular order. Then 25 Skill. Max Melee. Firearm: Assault Rifle or Shotgun.

Ai: 11 Stamina ASAP. Then 20 Wisdom, perhaps 30 if you want to really push missiles. Then 20 Skill and 30 Melee. Then 21 Firearms for the special. Then choose to max either Melee or Wisdom. In either case get 30 Wisdom for [Element] Missiles Beta and the elemental slash before the 51st point in Melee at the latest. Also get 25 Skill if going Melee for the extra elements in elemental slashes, if going Wisdom skip the Skill and get 42 Melee. Firearm: Shotgun.

Luna: 10 Stamina (more if you're generous, but probably 10 is fine). Then 30 Melee, 21 Skill and 20 Agility in that order. Then one of the following: 50 Melee, 25 Wisdom, 25 Skill, Max Melee OR 42 Melee 60 Wisdom, Max Wisdom OR 60 Melee, ~40 Firearms, Max Melee (there's an A power art available to Luna that uses both Melee and Firearms, if you don't see it, then you need either more Firearms or some Skill as well). Consider getting some points in Firearms once increasing her primary stat becomes prohibitively expensive because Firearms is cheap for her and it can increase her combat power during the ranged parts of combos (or arts for that matter if you went the latter two routes). Firearm: Shotgun or Assault Rifle.

Yue: Choose: 20 Stamina ASAP, or 11 Stamina ASAP and 28-40 Agility (with Speed Jack that will be 40 Agility, you might be able to do with less Agility if you have a better stat item by that point) later (just before maxing firearms). Then 20 Firearms, 15 Skill, 30 Firearms, 21 Skill, 30 Melee. Then max Firearms balancing with Skill when useful combat skills will unlock if Skill is leveled up further. Firearm: Gatling or Assault Rifle (she'd be better off with the assault rifle if she actually used any skills from assault rifle or gatling, but mostly she'll use the sniper rifle).

Amal: 30 Stamina ASAP. Then 30 Melee, 21 Agility, 15 Firearms in that order. Then max Melee. Consider pumping Agility for evasion and speed to start locking down monsters quickly. Weapon: Gatling or Shotgun.

Coo: 30 Wisdom, 21 Skill, 21 Firearms in that order. She will definitely need a hitpoint item to so much as function, but that's fine. Then 50 Wisdom, 25 Firearms, 42 Skill. Then Max Wisdom. Weapon: Gatling or Assault Rifle.

Kengo: 10 Stamina (more if you're generous, but probably 10 is fine). Then 30 Wisdom, 20 Firearms, 20 Agility, 50 Wisdom, 25 Firearms in that order. Then max Wisdom. Weapon: Gatling or Assault Rifle.

Naoyuki: 30 Stamina ASAP. Then 50 Melee, 22 Agility. Then max Melee. Consider getting more points in Agility if you feel you need more survivability or speed. Weapon: Shotgun or Gatling.

Kana: 30 Wisdom, 20 Agility, 50 Wisdom, 42 Melee, 60 Wisdom, in that order. Max Wisdom or Melee. Consider pumping Agility for evasion and speed to act as soon as possible. Weapon: Shotgun or Any.

Tips

• Yes, Stamina and Wisdom give you a small boost each time you level up and
  the game makes a kinda big deal about it, but the bonus is small. Yes,
  ideally in the early game you push this up to at least 10, and for characters
  that can do so cheaply to 20 to get the most out of it, but don't
  overemphasise this. For reference: my level 17 MC who levelled up got 48hp
  with 30 stamina, 54 with 40 stamina, and 58hp with 48 stamina. So yeah, its
  slightly better than +1hp/level for every 1.5 points in stamina. Will that
  have an effect when I level stamina up before level 10? Yes. Will it be game
  changing? Ultimately, not really. It will help if you invest early on, but the effect
  is going to be no more than 20% of a character's hp in a normal game. The
  bonus is not retroactive, so do stamina early or not at all. Wisdom is an attack
  stat, and should never be gotten just for the AP level up. Stamina is also
  important because it increases a character's defense, but that will probably
  be around 30% of a character's defense even if stamina is well leveled, so it
  is hard to justify doing stamina later on for surviability purposes.
  
  
• Characters get +1 speed at Agility 20 and 40, (and I believe every 20 levels
  thereafter) but they have pretty vastly different base speeds.
  
  
• As a result of the large requirement to get more than a +1 to speed, think
  of Agility more as the Evasion Tanking stat to pair with/against Stamina
  rather than about speed. There are ways of increasing speed efficiently
  via items.
  
  
• Characters having unique difficulty or ease leveling up particular stats
  and can largely determine their build, so as noted above, pull up the status
  screen and a lot of leveling up will be made apparent. The MC seems to have a
  pretty solid push towards melee, but doesn't seem to have anything that
  cripples him going any build. Luna seems to at least have a melee option
  thanks to the low base-cost of Melee for her. Naoyuki doesn't have much need
  of Skill or Wisdom. This might sometimes be misleading, however. Ai might be
  able to put points fairly cheaply in Skill, but gets more out of points in
  Melee and even Stamina/Agility to make up for her poor base health and defense
  until much later. Since Coo can't get survivability via Stamina or Agility, she'll
  need a raw hitpoint item to cope.
  
  
• Characters weapons give different bonuses leveling up via remodel. You can
  check the Remodel screen in the development room and see how the different
  weapons the characters have cause their stats to diverge as the game
  progresses if you have some spare Lead. This is a hint that Yue is a ranged
  character (the abilities she gets dispel my doubts about this later, but AFAIK
  there's no way to know that ahead of time) and also hints that Ai will need
  the Firearms stat later as well (for her special attack). It also is also
  something that pushes Luna towards being a ranged character. Kengo has a bonus
  towards using missiles because of his weapon and it hints that he needs melee
  for his special attack.
  
  
• The MC, Naoyuki, Amal and Ai are melee characters, along with Luna (at
  least I think so). Kengo and Coo are ranged wisdom characters along with
  probably Yue as standard ranged. Luna is an odd case (see below). Coo has
  some neat unique melee skills, but probably synergizes more with ranged attacks
  than melee. Yue should be highly capable at either, but is ultimately not likely
  optimal played melee due to her abilities and remodel upgrade stats. Yue also
  has a great niche as a fast ranged character, which may make her faster than
  Amal in practice. could have a niche as a melee wisdom character, moreso than
  the MC, because she doesn't seem to excel as much at being a normal melee
  character but does have a low base cost for Skill and moderate for Wisdom.

Leveling Tips (continued)

• Luna is the hardest character to decide how to build in my opinion. She lacks
  utility, speed, and survivability, and has conflicting synergies with both Melee and
  Firearms. The description of Luna's weapon, the moderate base cost of her Melee
  stat, and some of her skills and abilities and most notably her special attack all
  imply she should be a melee character, and some of these things quite strongly so.
  However, both her remodel upgrade stats, base cost for the Firearm stat, and
  Firearm stat starting value suggest ranged. Unfortunately I was too far along in
  the firearms skill to really switch her up to what appears to be her optimal role
  in my playthrough, so I am not 100% certain about that. Unlike Yue who excels
  at either, Luna appears to excel at neither (a conclusion that itself pushes her
  towards her special attack and therefore melee).
  
  
• Kana is a Wisdom character who can do Melee or healing as a side gig.
  Or for that matter, healing as a main build, though that might take a while.
  Flare/Freeze/Spark Combat likely warps the build a bit because of this
  character's abilities, that is, she empowers debuffs, and that's the best
  debuffing art other than [Element] Missiles Gamma itself.
  
  
• Pay attention to what firearms characters are using. It not only
  affects combos, but certain firearms synergize with the abilities characters
  get later on. The MC probably shouldn't gatling, Yue probably shouldn't
  shotgun, Naoyuki has an affinity with shotguns, etc. If it truly doesn't matter,
  for instance if your character is going to be using missile or sniper skills,
  equipping the Gatling seems to be slightly better than equipping an
  Assault Rifle for some reason.
  
  
• Aside from considerations like what is the stat that needs maxed for attack
  power reasons, another important consideration is what skills are coming up
  for a character and how much of each stat is needed for particular skills. To
  figure this out, get a bunch of spare PP and go into the status screen and use
  the button assigned to Y (default 'i' key). Play around, you can store as much
  PP as you want (at least thousands). As expected some skills require multiple
  stats.
  
  
• Shotgun users need Stamina as a secondary stat to gain some skills, Assault
  rifle and sniper rifle users need Skill as a secondary stat. There are some
  skills that need agility as a secondary stat for all firearms and even some Melee
  arts. Missile users need Firearms as a secondary stat.
  
  
• Annoyingly, the stats needed to get the special attacks on each character
  is not called out anywhere in-game so it is very hard to prepare for getting
  those powerful skills without reading a guide. The stat requirements I found
  here[gamefaqs.gamespot.com]. Reproduced below:
  
  Asahi: 30 Melee, 21 Stamina, 15 Skill
  Ai: 30 Melee, 21 Firearms, 15 Skill
  Luna: 30 Melee, 21 Skill, 15 Agi(lol)
  Yue: 30 Melee, 21 Firearms, 15 Skill
  Amal: 30 Melee, 15 Firearms, 21 Agi
  Coo: 30 Wisdom, 21 Firearms, 21 Skill
  Naoyuki: 30 Melee, 21 Stamina
  Kengo: 31 Melee(Gurk), 21 Wisdom, 15 Skill
  
  The gist: Naoyuki and Coo gets theirs almost automatically (Coo will want the
  firearms for other skills, see below). MC is easy to unlock. Luna apparently
  needs to sink 100 BP into the 20 Agi anyways, unless you're taking her ranged
  like I did, in which case, oops, game punishes you for not reading the nonexistent
  guidebook. Yue/Ai/Amal special attacks require a relatively annoying investment
  into a dead skill (less so if you're playing Yue melee contrary to my
  recommendation). Kengo...oh Kengo, that's 100 BP down the drain with no upside
  but the special, if you even want to go that far (unlike Luna going melee, Kengo's
  3 base cost in Melee more or less sinks the idea of dragging him across the
  Firearm/Melee divide). I opt not to, and instead prefer to have him keep spamming
  missiles while being almost undamagable due to TP gain.
  
  
• Every character gets [Element] Missiles Beta at 30 Wisdom. [Element]
  Missiles Beta has a higher AP cost, higher damage, and larger radius than
  [Element] Missiles Alpha, and seems to makes a large difference in cleaning up
  adds and destroying limbs well after you get it. Coo and Kengo want this early
  for sure. Ai might consider going for this early as well, since she could use
  Wisdom to increase the power of her special attack and give her more AP.
  [Element] Missiles Gamma is available at 50 Wisdom and has a habit of
  rendering smaller monsters limbless and staggered, in addition to merely
  straight-up dead like other A-power arts.
  
  
• Some of the skills you unlock when leveling up stats are dependant on
  character. Missiles and Firearms skills seem mostly the same for each
  character (one exception being Deep Defeat Eta, available at least initially
  exclusively to Luna, but not noted as being unique to her), but each character
  has some sort of unique melee skills. Support/Healing skills seem highly
  character dependant and downright mysterious.
  
  
• Coo can get Recover Beta with a little Wisdom (about 12) and 20 skill. It is
  much, much more effective than Recover Alpha and is another skill that may be
  worth prioritizing, at least if you're putting Coo on the field. Recover Gamma
  is 36 Skill. Recover Wide Alpha at 30 Skill, and Recover Wide Beta at 32
  Wisdom 42 Skill (hello sustain!).
  
  
• What I know of support/healing skills is limited. Ai gets a stat buff at 20
  points in Skill (and 12 in wisdom), Coo gets Recover Beta, and Kengo gets
  the Cure suite. Resurrection Alpha and Recover Wide Alpha seem to be
  available to Yue at appropriate levels of the Skill and Wisdom stats similar
  to Coo, but she doesn't get Recover Beta. Similarly Kengo gets Boost
  Alpha at similar levels to Ai, but not Boost Beta.
  
  
• Later on it may help to have melee characters grab a bunch of wisdom to
  unlock more elemental attack related skills. Combined with the appropriate
  weapon remodel part and/or an elemental weakness and elemental formation
  those skills can do a lot of damage. The stat requirement on Freeze Slash
  Gamma is 25 Wisdom 50 Melee. Not all characters get access to the Gamma
  version of this skill. Flare and Spark drive Gamma also require 25 Skill in
  addition to this. The stat requirement on Flare/Spark/Freeze Combat
  requires 60 Wisdom and 42 Melee. All of those are power level A elemental
  piercing arts with a high chance of inflicting status effects. Moreover,
  Flare/Spark/Freeze Combat also inflict multiple status effects but the catch
  is that those are hybrid melee/ranged arts which is bad for damage.

Combo Tips

I haven't seen a lot on combos, and have no desire to really look at really optimizing them myself, but it seems the following are true to me:

• Hitstun is a big deal in this game. Enemies don't advance along the
  ATB bar when being attacked, even if the attacks miss. Same goes for
  your characters, though that is less important. So having a bunch of
  long animations on your combos is a big deal. Enemies going berserk
  at low health will cancel this effect. Ex attacks and arts do not seem to
  cause much if any hitstun.
  
  
• Once you have 4 skills in a combo (not including the Ex attack), you
  should be comfortably queuing a lvl 3 combo immediately after a lvl 1
  combo to maximize hitstun.
  
  
• Arts seem to overtake combos for dealing damage by a rather large
  margin once you have some reasonably powerful ones, so really combo
  optimization likely isn't all that important in the grand scheme of things.
  
  
• Having elements in your combos may also be useful for determining
  weaknesses, which really, really helps when you have multiple elements
  in a single combo. This may simply overtake any other concerns about
  riot combos or melee vs ranged or anything else.
  
  
• Gamma skills are better than beta skills, alpha skills should be avoided
  when better versions are available. Since riot attacks replace a skill
  entirely, alpha skills can be used for that purpose.
  
  
• This means that riot attacks are often rather bad, unless they are
  in combo lvl 3 in which case they are good, so most of the riot attack
  chains belong there. Warning, sometimes even the Gamma skills riot
  attacks give you still kinda suck (power level D, no abilities), in which case
  you're still better off forgoing riot attacks in combo lvl 3. And in that case, it
  may be more efficient to use combo lvl 2 instead for the extra speed.
  
  
• The best use of Riot attacks appears to be giving attack a debuff or
  element, which is usually worth it regardless. Debuffs are best served
  by lvl 3 combos by a large margin, but that doesn't mean there's no point
  in a debuffing riot attack in a lvl 1 combo.
  
  
• The same skill in a higher level combo will do more damage than that skill
  in a lvl 1 combo, but using those combos will incur an overall ATB penalty in
  addition to a short delay before activating. It would seem intuitive, but is by
  no means verified that lvl 3 combos have the highest DPS or especially
  stagger capability, you have been informed and I never take responsibility
  for the consequences of following advice from this guide ;).
  
  
• Lvl 1 combos are inefficient for DPS, but they execute instantly, which can
  be useful in a number of circumstances, but especially the following:
  
  
• Attacking an enemy mid-charge may cancel their attack entirely, I'm
  not sure what other conditions there are, but it is another useful quality of
  lvl 1 combos. This works against you too, so be warned. It is very much
  possible to get special attacks cancelled with the TP and 1500 AP already
  spent.
  
  
• Combos that start with a medium ranged attack don't seem to require
  the character dashing forward to begin their attack. This seems to result
  in faster hitstun and combo completion, but not by much. Attacks that
  don't satisfy this condition suffer a (very) short delay for having to dash
  into what is essentially shotgun-range with the target.
  
  
• While the ranged "initial strike" has the same name and type regardless,
  it's range is short if using a shotgun. This impacts what parts can be targeted
  successfully with that attack as well as always results in the dash delay.

Farming Materials for Weapon Levels 2-50

I have done lots of original research on this, but the source that got me
going comes from here[gamefaqs.gamespot.com], which contained lots of highly
useful information.

Note that while I say "farming", as far as weapon levels goes I didn't
need to farm very much except incidentally as the story progressed
and got all but 2 characters weapons to level 20. I probably would
have additionally gotten 3 characters to level 30, but chose instead
to level up my MC's weapon as much as possible.

Lead

The first material you need for weapon upgrades is Lead. Lead is good for
upgrading a weapon to level 10. It costs a flat 6 lead per level, meaning that
you'll need 54 lead (and 22,500 marks) per character if you want to upgrade
their weapon to level 10. It is best not do any substantial lead farming until
you are farming Purple Quartz. The following materials can be delivered for
lead:

Fluorite
Blue Stone
Lead Mineral (x3)
Bauxite (x3) (rare)
Purple Quartz (x3 lead, x3 iron, x2 Nickel-Chrome).

While easy-to-kill enemies are available immediately on the world map (Mucus
and Stinger) that drop Fluorite and Blue Stone, the first real farming locations
are all about Lead Mineral, and the first place to get that is as early as
Color Plaza. The Keen Horn enemy (of which there is no shortage) available
nighttime only has Lead Mineral as a drop. I reiterate however, there isn't
much point farming more than a very few lead until you can farm Purple
Quartz. You'll have more than plenty of lead to spare.

Iron and Nickel-Chrome

The next material you need is Iron. The most common material that can be
delivered for Iron is Iron Ore. Iron Ore does not commonly drop in locations from
chapter 1-3, but does seem to become a common nighttime drop in the new
zone of chapter 4. It is likely not worth farming, as the main story will supply
Purple Quartz almost as fast as you could farm lead mineral.

The ultimate material to farm for weapon upgrades is Purple Quartz which
supplies the first 3 materials necessary for upgrades in a single go. During
some missions for chapter 6, casting Nova Gracia (Coo's special) on the
Tarrasque, Sand Splash, and Aphophis emenies can get you a head start
via steal. In truth, the story will be tossing lots of it at you.

For regular farming, the first location I found was Death Bringers at night
outside Hinuma Power Plant, but they spawn with adds that don't drop it.
Even so, that's probably the fastest real-world-time-wise to farm Purple
Quartz because they are easy to symbol attack and you can go all out
with AP (again, Nova Gracia) due to easy access to base. However, this
costs in-game days more than going through dungeons.

In dungeons, Hinuma Power Plant is the earliest and arguably best. More
than one enemy drops it in Hinuma Power Plant. The S Stingers and
Red Caps near Voltage Control Area Material Entrance are amoung the
ones that do, and the S Stingers don't seem to spawn with other mobs. This
is also a neat farming location because Ring Dragons are the first opportunity
to farm Pyrite, which can be delivered for the next material you will need.
All in all, it's a great farming location.

At nighttime in Agaki Forest Ruins (access in Chapter 8) at the In the Mountains
waypoint there is the Garmr. Garmr are plentiful, easy to symbol attack, and
spawn in groups of 1 or 2 mainly, so it is easy to just autobattle them to death.
However, they in-combat they space themselves far enough that they are hard
to AoE down with Nova Gracia if you want to steal from your targets (if you have
that much AP to spare, anyways). Further up in Agaki Forest Ruins are
Evil Dragons which drop Bismuth Ore, and often spawn with Garmr on the side.

Bismuth Ore delivers for 2x Low-Temp Use Steel, 3x Nickel Chrome, and
2x "Stainless", so it is better than Purple Quartz for Nickel-Chrome. Moreover
Stainless and Low-Temp Use Steel are your next upgrade materials, and there
aren't too many useful monsters that drop it until much later. That being said,
Evil Dragons don't spawn right next to a waypoint, so it isn't worth farming just
Evil Dragons either.

Upgrading costs a flat 6 Iron/10 Nickel-Chrome per level, meaning that you'll
need 60/100 to upgrade the weapon to level 20/30 respectively. Additionally,
it also gets mark intensive, costing 150,000/1,500,000 respectively. The latter
was the first time I found myself short on Marks.

Actually making use of materials beyond Nickel-Chrome once you have
remodled to level 30 is a long ways down the road due to the marks required,
and isn't particularly necessary.

Stainless and Low-Temp Use Steel

Stainless, Electromagnetic Steel, and Heat-Resistant Steel are the materials that are
the reward, strangely, from delivering Pyrite (x2 each). Good job to whoever edited the
translation for letting "Stainless" through, by the way. Presumably it is Stainless Steel.
Stainless is the material for upgrading weapons 31-40. The first opportunity to farm
it is from Ring Dragons in Hinuma Power Plant at night near Voltage Control Area
Material Entrance. And that's actually an okayish spot to do the farm. It is surprisingly
early since while the material can be farmed, actually using it requires the sort of
Marks that isn't really readily available at that point.

Stainless can be farmed in Agaki Forest Ruins at night since Evil Dragons, Hurtle
Elk, and Shell Sparks drop Stainless-bearing materials (Bismuth Ore, Pyrite,
Pyrite respectively), but Garmr will also be present in these fights. The Shell Sparks
encounters may contain the least Garmr. The best strategy may be to go to the
In the Mountains waypoint and then immediately go down the hill. I'd probably prefer
going Power Plant though, because the Bismuth Ore-dropping Evil dragons don't
spawn near the Agaki Forest Ruins Pyrite farming location (rather, they spawn
further away from any waypoints) and Hinuma Power Plant is likely faster.

Outdoor farming is pretty sweet for Stainless. Head to Senyou Garrison Front at night
and check both just in the city and in the surrounding grassy area for Manticizers
(Bismuth Ore) which have Rigid Beetles (Pyrite) in their encounter. As per usual for
outdoor farming, abuse Nova Gracia, and be aware that you'll burn in-game time. This
is additionally advantageous because Bismuth Ore, unlike Pyrite, supplies Low-Temp
Use Steel for upgrades 41-50.

Upgrading costs a flat 12 Stainless and 300k Marks per level, meaning that you'll
need 120 Stainless and 3M Marks to upgrade to level 40. Farming the Marks and
Stainless probably needs to be done separately.

The material for Low-Temp Use Steel, at least before post-game is Bismuth Ore, and
there aren't a lot of options for that other than what is already being farmed for Stainless.
Hell Insectors, Ray Stings, and Balgarius are options within Kasumi Biological Research
Lab (day or night), but the best is probably stealing from Manticizers as above, and the
earliest option as far as I know is Evil Dragons in Agaki Forest Ruins.

Upgrading with Low-Temp Use Steel costs a flat 15 of the material and 750k Marks
per level, meaning you'll need 6.5M Marks and 150 Low-Temp Use Steel to upgrade
to level 50. Ouch. But level 50 is completely overkill for the main story anyways, at
least on Hard difficulty.

One quick tip on weapon levels 50+

Beyond Low-Temp Use Steel

I intend to get a weapon to level 50 in my playthrough, but that ends with Low-Temp
Use Steel. It is possible to get weapons levelled up farther, but I likely won't be doing
that. I will, however, leave this here. From my source link the user "dollsoridols"
gives this advice:

"To take your weapons from 50 to 60 and also 60 to 70, I did the following. Go to the Kudan Complex at night. In the 1st Reception Lobby area at the North end of the map and also in the 2F Office Floor area at the North end of the map is a Horse enemy. The horse enemy fights will contain both a creature called Kakutan and a creature called Death Kanaloa. One drops the item you need for lv 50 to 60 (the Kanaloa) and the other drops the item you need for lv 60 to 70 (the Kakutan). Killing two birds with one stone."

Once that is done, there are various guides on post-game farming on youtube that seem legit, but I don't intend to collect post-game information in this guide.

Farming Materials for the Havi remodel part

Weapon levels are great, but probably not quite as impactful as stacking speed with the Havi remodel part (especially with speed armor, see the medal shop). To put it another way, a character with 22 speed will have 2 turns for every one turn of an 11 speed character, so anything that gives multiple points of speed is insane. I farmed Havi IIs after I ran into a wake-up difficulty spike at the end of chapter 9.

The Havi gives a massive +3 to speed. The Havi II gives +5 to speed. There is a Havi III, but that comes online late-game as one would expect. I don't actually know how much speed it gives. The materials you need to create these parts are:

Havi

(2,750 Marks to develop)

Motor (x20): From the King Scorpions near the Upper Central Area waypoint in Move Mall at night or from Soul Lizards west of Kurehama Base Front at daytime.
Cylinder (x5): From the Fang Beasts in the Voltage Control Area of Hinuma Power Plant or
from the Runway of the Fujimino Air Force Base (available daytime) or from Enku in Ise Manufacturing Plant at night.
Oil Pump (x5): From the Leptocephalus that spawn by the Fang Beasts above amoung other places.
Grease (x5): From the Hendra Skinks in Akagi Forest Ruins at daytime or from Iron Stags in Ise
Manufacturing Plant.

Of these, you'll be mainly looking to farm the first two. There are other monsters that drop all of these, but I've mentioned the ones I've been able to determine the location of easily. Unfortunately, Thick Tails from the Soul Lizards only supplies 2 motors at a time. The King Scorpions are slightly better, supplying 3 each. Giant Fangs supply five Cylinders.each.

Havi II

(27,500 Marks to develop)

Havi: See above
Vacuum Tube (x5): From the Finblow in Fujimino Air Force Base at daytime. I had a whole bunch on me from killing Octoreapers near Agaki Forest Ruins as part of the main story quest.
Abrasive (x5): From Hendra Skinks in Agaki Forest Ruins at daytime, but everyone should have plenty from killing Vampyres
Frame (x5): From Fang Beasts, Ring Dragons, Red Caps...Hinuma Power Plant at night! Also Sand Splash on the field. Should have plenty.

I didn't actually need to farm anything for these, but since I'm writing this I may as well put it here.

Havi III

(275,000 Marks to develop)

Havi II: See above
Chemical Delivery Tuning Device (x30): From Venom Fly in Kudan Complex at daytime or from Death Bringers west of Hinuma Power Plant at nighttime.
Liquid Nitrogen (x15): From Hraesvelgr in Fujimino Air Force Base at daytime.
Light Frame (x5): From Ray Sting (^^) in Kasumi Biological Research Lab preferably at daytime. Each Tyrant Tail they drop only gives 1.

NG+

To a large extent PP seems to be designed to be saved for a second playthrough.
If you're going to have a second playthrough of this game, that is. There is some
information out there about a transferrable PP cap depending on difficulty. This
does not appear to be the case on the PC version. I played a game through on
hard and on my NG+ save I received:

892/1424 PP (~62%)
3,137,122/7,842,768 Marks (~40%)
84/212 Medals. (~40%)

Moral of the story, spend your medals on things in the medal shop, upgrade
weapons to dump (and make use of) marks, hoard PP and stat items. You
can save on Marks by developing an unnecessary amount of recovery items
to sell in the next game (because that'll be 50% when sold).

All of my levels and stats were reset (and therefore abilities and skill), but I kept
all of my items, weapon levels, uniform levels etc. The percentage of Medals,
PP, and Marks is supposed to change depending on your lowest difficulty
played, but I'm not going to bother testing that unless someone requests it.

Other Tips

Late Game Medal Shop

• The Permeate Porter item (75 medals in the medal shop) appears to restore
  5% of the equipped character's AP per action. Since this requires a truly long
  time to be bettter than an ACT Iron It is largely a bad item (at least before
  post-game). The Strea Protector (35 medals) and Eternal Lodis (100 medals)
  armors share the ability text, and both share a similarly poor effect (though the
  Strea Protector may be slightly weaker).
  
  
• The Photon Shiner on the other hand is expensive at 250 Medals in the medal
  shop, but is an accessory that provides +10 to Speed. It is possible to use this in
  combination with other items to become truly fast.
  
  
• The Blast Drive (100 medals) provides over 3000 defense, but (or rather "and",
  depending on how you look at it) permanently locks a character to limiter release
  state. It may be extremely powerful against a foe strong enough to warrant the limiter
  cost. The Sacrifice Stride (100 medals) is a 0 defense armor that nullifies elemental
  damage. The Infinite Lodis (100 medals) is a 825 defense armor that passively
  regenerates 10% HP at the start of your turn, like a reverse poison. The Energy
  Gear (75 medals) is a 1200 defense armor that increases maximum HP and AP
  by 50% (this also applies to the effect of the Vital Fiber attachment, etc.). The Riser
  Gear (75 medals) is a 1000 defense armor that absorbs Lighting element attacks,
  resists the Null element, and nullifies Shock. All of these are relatively unique
  armors that may be worth the medals.
  
  
• If I were to choose, I would say Energy Gear > Photon Shiner > Blast Drive >>
  Infinite Lodis >> Eternal Lodis > Riser Gear. Post-game might make the Infinite
  Lodis, Eternal Lodis, and Vital Porter worth substantially more than I consider
  them, however.

DLC and Evaluation Saveloading

• There are free ACID- DLCs that can help, particularly if you get stuck, or if
  you are starting a game on the very hard difficulty. Be aware that you can
  only use those DLCs on a single playthrough, so if you make it your first, you
  can't use it on a second playthrough.
  
  
• There is also a missions set DLC. This is probably more like post-game
  stuff, but I don't know. It is probably worth grabbing either way.
  
  
• Oh, finally, if you're looking to get a high evaluation from a particular
  teammember, make sure you save before progressing the story. Every so
  often the way to progress the story will be 'complete your missions'. At this
  point the game will generate missions that you report to your teammembers.
  So if you save just before this point you can saveload to regenerate who
  receives what mission (although there isn't necessarily a mission for every
  member, and in that case that member is left out regardless). The harder
  ones generate a better evaluation. So if you make sure that teammember
  always is giving you A-grade missions you should be fine for evaluation.
  
  
• If you've read this far, give the guide a rating, it makes me feel special or
  something.

Appendix A: Character Abilities

I have no clue what the mechanics surrounding abilities are. I don't know what it means by "slightly" or "significantly". I don't even know how they are acquired or who can acquire them. However, I have a data point on that last one which I can share. This is probably a good section to skip over, you don't really need to know any of this stuff for any reason, but some people might find it interesting for optimization purposes and perhaps more importantly for figuring out what Luna is supposed to be doing with her TCS. For my first playthrough which ended up with all but two characters level 84-88 (not including Kana, who's starts with her best abilities anyways) and below is a list of what they got.

* Has "[Character]-only" in the description

MC (Asahi):
Recovery Concentration: Recovery effects significantly increase.
Rapid-Fire Strengthen: Activates 60+% hp, assault rifle power rises slightly
Shotgun Strengthen: Activates 60+% hp, shotgun power rises slightly
Target Awareness: Accuracy and rate of fire of ranged attacks rises slightly
Strike Harden: Melee power significantly rises, but ranged and special power slightly lowers.
Crisis Diversion*: Activates 30-% hp, TP increases every time turn order comes, and attack power against the guard gauge increases.
Intensity Solidify: Activates 60+% hp, gatling power rises significantly
Body Strengthen*: Activates 50-% hp, melee power significantly increases
Tech Breakthrough: TP reduction effects are nullified by recovery and recovery effects significantly lower.
Sure Blade Immobility: Activates TP 1+, melee attacks will always hit but evasion significantly lowers
Body Harden*: Activates 50-% hp, Auto-guard will occur.
Warrior Rebellion*: Activates 50+% hp, Melee power rises significantly against powerful enemies
Warrior Defense Halve*: Activates 50+% hp, significantly cuts damage of ranged and special attacks from powerful enemies.

Ai:
Shotgun Strengthen: Activates 60+% hp, shotgun power rises slightly
Target Identification: Accuracy and evasion of Melee Attacks rises slightly
Target Memory: Accuracy and rate of fire of Special Attacks rises slightly
Bullet Resistance*: Activates 50-% hp, defense against ranged attacks significantly increases
Strike Harden: Melee power significantly rises, but ranged and special power slightly lowers.
Explosion Harden: The power of special attacks significantly rises but the power of ranged attacks slightly lowers
Rapid-Fire Solidify: Activates 50+% hp, the power of assault rifle attacks rises significantly
One-Point Concentration: The rate of criticals occuring increases, but the power of all attack types lowers slightly
Special Collection*: TP gain rate increases.
Sure Shot Immobility: Activates TP 1+, ranged attacks will always hit, but evasion significantly lowers
Defense Reistance (^^)*: Significantly cuts damage from all attack types while guarding
Crisis Speedster*: Activates 70-% hp, Turn speed increases slightly, but all types of attack and defense power lowers
Warrior Counterattack*: Activates 50+% hp, The power of ranged and special attacks significantly increases against powerful enemies.

Luna:
Ballistics Concentration: Slightly increases splash damage
Target Memory: Accuracy and rate of fire of Special Attacks rises slightly
Combat Millionaire*: Marks and XP earned from enemies you deal the final strike to increases slightly.
Collection Enhance: The rate of item drops from enemies rises slightly, but all Steal success rates and recovery effects lowers slightly.
Target Identification: Accuracy and evasion of Melee Attacks rises slightly
Strike Strengthen: Activates 60+% hp, melee power rises slightly.
Speical Resistance (^^)*: Activates 50-% hp, defense against special attacks significantly increases
Sure Special Immobility: Activates TP 1+, special attacks will always hit, but evasion significantly lowers
Turnaround Precision*: Activates TP 1+, ranged attacks will always hit
Battle Acceleration*: TP slightly increases every time your turn comes around.
Explosion Solidify: Activates 60+% hp, The power of "speical"-type attacks rises significantly. Spelling does not.
Gun Boost*: Activates when 50+% hp, The power of ranged attacks significantly increases.
Full-Time Ability: AP consumption lowers by 20%, but TP gain rate will lower slightly.

Yue:
Multi-Experience: The amount of XP from enemies you deal the final strike to increases, but earned Marks decreases.
Intensity Strengthen: Activates 60+% hp, gatling power rises slightly
Target Awareness: Accuracy and rate of fire of ranged attacks rises slightly
Target Memory: Accuracy and rate of fire of Special Attacks rises slightly
Add Effect Occurance (^^)*: Activates TP 1+, the rate of "inflicing" Burn, Freeze, and Shock significantly increases.
Action Rising*: TP gain rate increases.
Shotgun Solidify: Activates 60+% hp, shotgun power rises significantly
Full-Time Ability: AP consumption lowers by 20%, but TP gain rate will lower slightly.
CQC Evasion*: Activates 30-% hp, All melee attacks will be completely evaded.
Snipe Solidify: Activates 60+% hp, sniper power rises significantly
Action Conformity*: Activates 50-% hp, TP reduction effects are nullified
Strike Solidify: Activates 60+% hp, melee power rises significantly
Stray Shot Defense*: Low probability of damage from ranged attacks being significantly cut

Amal:
Target Identification: Accuracy and evasion of Melee Attacks rises slightly
Facade Destruction: The attack power towards the guard gauge increases slightly but AP consumption increases by 30%
Recovery Concentration: Recovery effects significantly increase.
Shotgun Harden: Shotgun power significantly rises, melee power slightly lowers.
Intensity Harden: Gatling power significantly rises, melee power slightly lowers.
Melee Strengthen*: Activates 50-% hp, melee power significantly increases.
Melee Precision*: Activates TP 1+, melee attacks will ignore any enemy abilities and always hit. useful for the last Sol encounter
One-Point Breakthrough*: Activates TP 1+, critical rate increases slightly.
Tech Breakthrough: TP reduction effects are nullified by recovery and recovery effects significantly lower.
Explosion Strengthen: Activates 60+% hp, "speical" power rises slightly.
Swift Obtain: The power of all types of attacks lowers slightly, but TP will increase every time it becomes your turn.
Shot Evasion*: Activates 30-% hp, all ranged attacks will be completely evaded.
Warrior Defense Strike*: Activates 50+% hp, significantly cuts damage of melee attacks from powerful enemies.

Coo:
Target Awareness: Accuracy and rate of fire of ranged attacks rises slightly
Snipe Strengthen: Activates 60+% hp, sniper power rises slightly
Multi Marks: The amount of Marks from enemies you deal the final strike to increases, but earned XP decreases.
Intensity Strengthen: Activates 60+% hp, gatling power rises slightly
Snipe Harden: Sniper power significantly rises, melee power slightly lowers.
Facade Destruction: The attack power towards the guard gauge increases slightly but AP consumption increases by 30%
Absolute Seizure*: Nullifies all enemy steal defense, and all Steal success rates increase.
Special Strengthen: Activates 50-% hp, special power significantly increases
Skilled Random-Fire*: Activates TP 1+, AP consumption is lowered by 25% (yes, you can get this to work out of combat)
Ability Enhance: The rate of TP gain increases, but the power of all attack types lowers slightly
One-Point Concentration: Critical rate increases, power of all attack types lowers slightly.
Special Defense*: Low probability of damage from Special attacks being significantly cut
Special Precision*: Activates TP 1+, Special attacks will always hit.

Appendix A: Character Abilities (continued)

Kengo:
Ballistics Concentration: Slightly increases splash damage
Target Memory: Accuracy and rate of fire of Special Attacks rises slightly
Full-Time Defense*: Damage from all attack types are significantly cut when guarding.
Speed Endurance Fall: Turn speed slightly increases, but all type attack and defense lowers.
Target Identification: Accuracy and evasion of Melee Attacks rises slightly
Sure Shot Immobility: Activates TP 1+, Ranged attacks will always hit, but evasion significantly lowers.
Strike Harden: Melee power significantly rises, but ranged and special power slightly lowers.
Firing Efficacy*: Activates 50-% hp, ranged power significantly increases.
Ability Enhance: The rate of TP gain increases, but the power of all attack types lowers slightly
Facade Destruction: Attack power towards the guard gauge increases slightly but AP consumption increases by 30%.
Crisis Evasion*: Activates 30-% hp, all melee attacks will be completely evaded.
Add Effect Outbreak*: Activates TP 1+, the rate of inflicting Burn Freeze, and Shock significantly increases.

In any case, my suspicion is that some of the harden/strengthen stuff gets randomized a bit, but mostly these lists will look similar, so that may prove of some use to planning characters.

[F50]

Ah, granted. I don't have the DLC so I couldn't do any experimentation in that respect.

[jff0123]

There is one minor nitpick in this guide. Of course, it involves not including information regarding a certain character ( Miyako Osatani ) who becomes a permanent party member in Chapter 5 onwards. That is assuming you bought the DLC. To be fair, it is optional.

[Green Cat]

Will do mixed....as I really realised now that sadly this game would have been brilliant if only was a typical Visual Novel (aka, skip function, so you can see ALL choice combinations and such)...It will bother me for years if I leave the game without achievements, meaning I will replay from beginning + use the YouTube guide with the answers....seriously...the story seems nice...if only wasn't so messed up game play....Anyways. Thanks, posting here really made it clear for me I will regret if I continue my current save. I will start from the beginning on very hard and speed run game play focusing only on story (+ guide for interviews)

[F50]

If you're not too keen on the gameplay, and given the choice between youtubing the endings or replaying 14 odd hours...might want to youtube the endings, haha.

[Green Cat]

Thank you.

It is however for me... And i already mess up getting the true ending on very hard as I started on hard + no guide used....

Is it worth starting from the beginning if I have 14 hours (chapter 3)?

As i got the DLC for points after realizing the gameplay is definitely not for me so my characters are overpowered

[F50]

Achievement hunting isn't my thing, so I don't mention it in this guide. However, here's a relevant forum discussion (apparently it is a translation error): https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/186219-dark-rose-valkyrie/75562056

[Green Cat]

Can you tell me about how one obtains the: kill all chimera during mission x & the Defeat enemy Z during missions Y? As it's clearly i missed that.... Well, not that it matters for now as i started on normal difficulty so I will be doing a new game plus anyways.... But definitely will need to know for NG+

Thanks the Goddesses that unplugging keyboard & mouse fixed any gameplay issues (I'm using Nintendo Pro controller to play games via bluetooth if anyone needs to know).

[Cece09]

oh that is pretty good. I was using this one https://wiki.etherealgames.com/dark-rose-valkyrie/evaluation-affection/ which worked fine but your one is more efficient since its just right there for everyone telling you when. Definitely use that one instead when I give this game another go

Oh man reading the points you get just makes me want to not bother getting endings with those characters! I shouldn't have to work so hard to get the most out of this game

[F50]

"Answers to each person"? Try https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/pc/208318-dark-rose-valkyrie/faqs/76090/evaluation-tips (then go to the next page of that guide). The most important thing from that guide is in the "Other Tips" section of this one. That guy's conversation guide is hardly perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but it *is* pretty good.

And yeah, not having your team helping at your back cuts your power by about 1/3 I feel.

[Cece09]

Since I'm not about to try and finish this off soon I didn't read past the 1st section for basic prep. I could barely find anything to help with the answers to each person so it's surprising to see this but great work. While as I said I didn't read past basic prep what you put there sounds good and sounds helpful. I know when I was playing it took me ages to realise if I put people into standby I could protect myself and attack more instead of the gruesome grinding I put myself through before