Contents |
Basic Information
Base Stats
Vigor | 36 | Battle Power | +24 | Bonus HP | +60 |
Speed | 30 | Def/M.Def | 36/24 | Bonus MP | +0 |
Magic | 30 | Block/M.Block | 12/12 | Run Chance | Average |
Stamina | 12 |
Setzer's base stats are not too impressive, but they're not horrible either. Don't be deceived, however; while his Magic and Stamina start at a low-to-average level, they can be increased very quickly through Espers. Otherwise, there's nothing especially notable here.
Special Skills - Slots & GP Toss
Setzer's a gambler, so it might not be surprising to learn that his special ability is all about trying his luck. BNW has done a lot to put the odds in Setzer's favor, however, and his Slots command is much more useful than it was in vanilla FF6.
When activated, Slots starts a three-reel slot machine. The goal is to stop all of the reels on the same symbol. Three Diamonds, Chocobos, or Airships will cast powerful Magic-based attacks, 3 Bars will summon a random Esper, and 3 Sevens will do an immensely powerful attack on all enemies. Two Sevens and one Bar, on the other hand...
But what's great about Slots is that even when Setzer loses, he wins. A spin where the reels don't match casts Go Fish, a simple full-party healing spell. It's not strong (although raising Setzer's Magic can make it much stronger), but it costs Setzer absolutely nothing to cast the equivalent of a non-split Cure on every member of his party. It's so good you might find yourself losing Slots on purpose just to cast it! The only bad thing about Go Fish, ironically, is that you might accidentally win a Slots spin when you intended to lose and cast a damaging attack when you meant to have Setzer heal. In situations where it's absolutely critical he get a heal off, make sure he's casting a spell instead.
The Heiji's Coin Relic will change the Slots command into GP Toss, a very different ability. If Slots is random, GP Toss is predictable: It follows a simple formula to deal defense-ignoring damage. The formula calculates an amount of GP to be tossed based on Setzer's Stamina; the party needs to have that much GP on hand. If it does, then GP Toss will do damage based on the amount of GP spent. GP Toss can be free-targeted, meaning the player can use it on one foe to concentrate the damage or all of them to spread it around. Since GP Toss takes Stamina into account, it's a more useful attack for a Stamina-focused Setzer than the Magic-based attacks in Slots. However, losing Slots also means losing access to Go Fish, so Setzer will be reliant upon his other healing abilities while equipping Heiji's Coin.
Espers
Shoat | Magic +2 | Starlet | Stamina +2 |
Seraph | HP +30 / MP +15 |
Setzer has an interesting array of Esper bonuses, but he must make some critical decisions about what he's going to invest in. The good news is that Shoat and Starlet are both +2 Espers, meaning Setzer will always have levels available to invest in Seraph for HP and MP. It's a good thing that he can do this, as most of his builds rely on him having good HP/MP.
Spells
Cure 2 | (Seraph) | Poison | (Shoat) |
Cure 3 | (Starlet) | Bio | (Shoat) |
Life | (Equipment) | Stone | (Shoat) |
Rerise | (Seraph) | ||
Remedy | (Starlet) | ||
Regen | (Seraph) | ||
RegenX | (Starlet) |
Setzer's Magic spread makes abundantly clear what his biggest role is. He can heal like few others, possessing an array of both Magic and Stamina-based heals, some direct like the Cure line and others more subtle, like the ever-useful Regen and Regen X. He learns Rerise to keep party members standing (and can summon Seraph for a full-party Rerise), but through a special piece of equipment he can also learn Life to revive them directly.
That said, Setzer's Black Magic selection isn't bad either. Poison and Bio can be nice for setting the status against certain foes, and if there's a Poison weakness a Magic-based Setzer can certainly make good with Bio. Stone is an option as well for instant kills, although Setzer has some better ways to score those; still, be aware that Stone hits a different resistance. Speaking instant kills on different resistances, Setzer can summon Shoat for an all-enemies Zombie. This will instantly kill any enemy not immune to it, and the Shoat summon is guaranteed where other forms of instant death often have a chance to miss.
Equipment
Setzer's equipment might seem surprising, but it actually is mostly in keeping with his options in vanilla FF6. He can equip most Heavy Armor and Shields (except the Hero Shield), as well as most Helmets and Hats. His weapons include Daggers, which he can dual-wield, and his unique "Casino" weapons, which include various bizzare gaming accessories wielded as surprisingly good weapons.
Daggers obviously work best in the front row, but Setzer's Casino weapons are much more forgiving. Not only can they be used safely from the back row, but several can be dual-wielded and all of them are perfectly accurate. That means Setzer never worries too much about accuracy if he's using them. Their power isn't great, but it's decent, and many of his Casino weapons have unusual properties that let them either score instant kills or do random defense-ignoring damage like the Dice and Fixed Dice. They also grant +Stamina, so if Setzer is camping behind his Shield and healing the party they can be a great stat booster that won't interfere with anyone else's gear options.
For Relics, Setzer gets two unique ones (well, mostly; Gogo can use one of them too). The first is Heiji's Coin, which boosts stats and changes Slots to GP Toss as described above. The second is Daryl's Soul, a reworked version of the Offering Relic from vanilla FF6. It allows Setzer to attack twice with his weapons, meaning he could strike up to four times if he is dual-wielding. The penalties from the Relic and dual-wielding in general prevent his damage from reaching overpowering levels, but bear in mind many of his Casino weapons ignore those penalties (Dice) or don't care about them because they're relying on an instant kill effect (Tarot, Trump). Of course Setzer isn't required to use either of these; as a healer he can make good use of a Magic Cube, or a Death Ward, or a Ribbon for status protection, or some +Speed equipment to make up for his general lack of Speed boosts. Setzer tends to synergize extremely well with defensive Relics thanks to high HP and his defenses.
Availability
Setzer joins a bit late for a World of Balance character, showing up for the Cranes boss at the end of the IMRF sequence. He's a bit tough to keep alive there, but his free healing and occasional lucky Slots attacks can help turn a rough fight into a survivable one. He's available for the Sealed Gate sequence right after that, unavailable for Crescent Island, and then available for the Floating Continent. All told, he's one of the lower-availability characters in the WoB, but not the worst.
In the WoR, things are a little bit better for Setzer. He's the third required character you'll re-recruit and is available for the Daryl's Tomb dungeon. Once the Falcon's reacquired, Setzer isn't going anywhere afterward, so he's there for the entire rest of the WoR. That's better than most characters, obviously, so he makes up for his earlier availability in the later stages of the game.
Build & Role Options
Wheelin' & Healin'
Slots is a pretty neat ability. It's damage and healing all in one... although it's not always totally clear which one at any given time, of course. Still, it's a Magic-powered ability with some nice defense-ignoring attacks, so it's a good pick for a Magic-oriented Setzer. Shoat gives Magic, so go with Shoat for Setzer's build with some Seraph on the side.
One nice thing about this setup is how efficient it can be. Setzer can mostly focus on his defenses as they synergize well with +Magic boosts on equipment (the Force Armor and Shield are both quite good for him), and still heal and use Slots from the back row, where he's safest. His MP will go a long way with powerful Go Fishes supplementing it, so he's pretty safe to use as a primary healer without too much support. Plus, with Slots being utilized there's no real need for Heiji's Coin and less of a need for Daryl's Soul, although don't overlook using it with instant kill weapons or the Dice.
He has two weaknesses worth noting. The first is that he doesn't have much in the way of party support magic or debuffs, which is true of Setzer generally. Make sure someone else is bringing the Hastes and Images and Slows, because Setzer won't be able to do so. The second is that his damage is rather inconsistent. Fitting for someone relying on a slot machine, but sometimes a bit frustrating. Daryl's Soul with Fixed Dice can alleviate this somewhat, but Fixed Dice are still a bit random and they come extremely late in the game. Either get good at getting three Diamonds or bring somebody else to dish out consistent damage.
CRITICAL ESPERS - Shoat
Magic's what fuels most of Setzer's heals and all of Slots's attacks, so Magic it is. Cure runs off Magic too, so when reliability is needed he's got the group covered there. It also helps with Bio to some extent.
USEFUL ESPERS - Seraph
Even though Slots can go a long way toward keeping Setzer's MP up, he still likes having more MP. The HP from Seraph also keeps him alive, which is always very important for any healer. Don't skimp on Seraph; a little Shoat goes a long way, so there should be plenty of levels available to contribute to beefing up Setzer's HP/MP.
The Dealer Always Wins
If consistency is the enemy of a Magic-built Setzer, it's the rock on which a Stamina-focused Setzer rests his house... of cards... or whatever. Setzer's low Stamina can be offset nicely with +2 per level from Starlet, and he has an offensive ability to exploit it with in GP Toss.
The result is a Setzer who is remarkably tough against stuff Stamina checks and a pretty good healer while also having consistently high damage output. Setzer can just pop on a Casino weapon that gives good Stamina and a Genji Shield and use GP Toss as his primary attack... provided the party's not broke, that is. GP Toss isn't actually all that expensive per use, but remember you need GP on hand to be able to throw it. When he needs to heal, Regen and Remedy set positive statuses (or clear bad ones) while also healing for a ton, and Regen X can hit the whole party for great healing and Regen.
There are some noteworthy downsides, however. One is that Setzer's Stamina starts pretty low and he needs a lot of it invested through levels and gear to do great damage with GP Toss and heal well with his Stamina-based spells. It's a much bigger investment than other Setzer builds, so it squeezes out proportionately more Seraph levels in favor of Starlet. That's bad because it means less HP and MP for Setzer, and his bigger full-party healing spells are pretty expensive. Although Remedy and Regen are cheap, and Stamina-based, they're single-target, so Setzer has to lean on them more than he otherwise might. GP Toss also removes Go Fish as an option as long as Heiji's Coin is equipped, and Heiji's Coin eats up a Relic slot.
Starlet also comes quite late, requiring not only that Setzer wait until the WoR to level extensively but also requiring that the Chadarnook boss be defeated to acquire the Starlet Esper. It's a build that can be very impressive at high levels and the end of the game, but the price is that Setzer is a lot less useful earlier in the game and might need to sit out for a while. That's not really a problem in the WoB (Setzer is by no means needed for the Sealed Gate or Floating Continent and can easily be replaced), but having Setzer off his game at Daryl's Tomb can make the WoR experience a bit more painful at one of its more difficult points.
CRITICAL ESPERS - Starlet
Setzer's damage from GP Toss and the healing of the Remedy and Regen spells goes up considerably the more of it he has, and he gets better Regen ticks and status resistance out of the deal as well. Since he starts at a meager 12 Stamina, every level of Starlet you can spare will be a big performance enhancement.
USEFUL ESPERS - Seraph
Every Setzer needs more HP and MP to thrive, even a Stamina Setzer. The problem is that he wants a fair bit of Stamina, so that means you'll have to make a call on when to stop giving him Seraph, and unfortunately there's rarely a comfortable answer for that. If you're okay with GP Toss just being an okay attack, you can invest in a more reasonable amount of Seraph for durability.
Can't Break The Bank
Seraph is a great Esper for Setzer. He loves HP and MP, and often when building him the question becomes how much Seraph is enough. But suppose the answer is that there's never enough Seraph? It's not like anybody ever lost a battle because their healer had too much HP and MP. There's two reasons this is more viable than it may initially seem.
First, Setzer's physical offense isn't really tied to his Esper build. He can't raise his Vigor anyway, and some of his weapons aren't really tied to it anyway. He has access to a double attack Relic and can dual-wield. If he uses those, why bother with much of anything but HP and MP? It even helps him in the front row, should he choose to use Daggers at any point.
Second, Setzer is always mainly going to serve as a healer. He's just so good at it and his healing options generally eclipse his offensive options. Healers need to stay alive and they need to avoid running out of gas. With nothing but Seraph (and some supplemental Relics like a Magic Cube), Setzer will have no problem with either; after 20 levels of pure Seraph he'd be up 600 HP and 300 MP over a Setzer with none, and that's before stuff like a Red Cap or Magic Cube! He can easily pace Cure 2s all day, and pop out a Cure 3 when needed. Regen X's high MP cost is far less of a concern for a Setzer with this much MP too, so it can be cast to set the status on everyone whenever it's needed. His Regen ticks won't be as good as with Stamina builds, but he'll be so hard to kill and have so much HP as a buffer that it'll always be trickling back in.
Of course, doing this does pigeonhole Setzer's offense to his weaponry, as his Slots attacks and GP Toss will be fairly mediocre. With his average Speed and fixed Vigor he will not be the king of physical damage like a well-raised Locke or Cyan. Think of his attacking as a bonus to an unimaginably tough healer rather than the primary role you expect him to fill... although bear in mind that in the endgame Daryl's Soul with Fixed Dice can be pretty darn strong, if you get lucky.
CRITICAL ESPERS - Seraph
The whole point of the build is to put Setzer's HP and MP into the stratosphere, so Seraph is the key to it.
USEFUL ESPERS - Shoat / Starlet
That being said, a little Magic or Stamina doesn't hurt. Just a little bit. A handful of Starlet levels at the very least will bring Setzer's Stamina up from "kinda bad" to "pretty reasonable." That will keep him from getting decimated by Demi or smacked down by Doom too much. He can handle most other threats with his HP buffer and armor, but things like fractional damage and instant death will hurt if he stays at base Stamina. Magic and Stamina will of course also strengthen Setzer's heals; sure, he'll have tons of MP to cast them, but they won't be very strong without a little investment into them.