Contents |
Basic Information
Base Stats
Vigor | 24 | Battle Power | +12 | Bonus HP | +6 |
Speed | 36 | Def/M.Def | 24/30 | Bonus MP | +60 |
Magic | 42 | Block/M.Block | 12/18 | Run Chance | High |
Stamina | 30 |
Relm's not as bulky as her grandpa, and not quite as good at Magic, but she's a whole lot faster on her feet to make up for it. Still, she has great Magic power along with a large MP bonus, so it should be pretty clear what she's going to excel at.
Special Skill - Sketch
Relm's artistic and magical abilities meld together through her special ability, Sketch, which lets her draw an enemy's portrait and utilize their moves against them, but using Relm's stats instead of the monster's. Sketch will select one of two specific abilities for each monster; one is selected 75% of the time and the other 25% of the time. In this sense, Sketch chooses attacks in a way similar to Gau's Rage ability. Unlike Gau, though, Relm is limited to the attacks and abilities of the monsters in front of her, so she isn't quite as versatile. Some enemies will even have abilities they are strong against in their Sketch list! Sketch does have a small chance to fail, but if it succeeds it will always use one of the two abilities.
Although Sketch can be frustrating, it has some massive advantages. It doesn't remove control of Relm like Dance and Rage do of Mog and Gau, so she can always do something else if she wants. It's free, costing no resources whatsoever even if the Sketch produces a very expensive spell. And it allows Relm to cast some spells she otherwise couldn't, including powerful buffs and debuffs. In a few rare cases, she can even Sketch abilities that the party simply never has the ability to use any other way, like Quasar. Powerful bosses often have a strong attack as their more common Sketch, meaning Relm can just Sketch their attack as her own and save her MP for healing. The worst case scenario is Relm wastes her turn failing to Sketch or Sketching something useless, and Relm is fast enough that wasting her turn isn't a big deal.
NOTE: Sketch requires that Relm be equipped with a Brush weapon. She can't draw someone's portrait with a Rod or her bare hands.
Espers
Ifrit | Speed +2 | Starlet | Stamina +2 |
Zoneseek | Magic +1 / MP + 15 | Bahamut | MP +40 |
Relm has a rather unusual array of Esper options. She can increase her Magic and MP, as one might expect, but she also has access to +2 Speed and Stamina. She is the only character capable of raising her Magic who gets +2 Speed, though unlike some other characters she does not have access to +2 Magic.
Spells
Cure 3 | (Starlet) | Fire | (Ifrit) | Rasp | (Zoneseek) |
Rerise | (Equipment) | Fire 2 | (Ifrit) | Osmose | (Zoneseek) |
Remedy | (Equipment/Starlet) | Doom | (Ifrit) | ||
Regen | (Equipment) | Meteor | (Bahamut) | ||
RegenX | (Starlet) | Flare | (Bahamut) |
Relm has the sort of Magic list a lot of characters would drool over, featuring powerful healing and attack spells, plus the ability to restore her own MP with Osmose. She can learn several of her healing spells from equipment; most notably, any spell her Brush weapons can cast can also be learned as a spell by equipping the Brush and earning Magic Points in battle. Note that she only learns Rerise, but not Life; if you want Relm to restore someone from KO status, you'll need to deal with the problem before they actually die.
Relm's summon options are also pretty good. She can put Shell on the whole party with Zoneseek or heal them with Starlet, or she can do damage with Ifrit or Bahamut. Summons are expensive, but Relm can usually handle the cost.
Equipment
Relm has a quirky gear set, but one that works quite well for her. She can use most Hats (including the Cat Hood, which she shares with Gau), most Robes and Hides (including the Czarina Gown which she alone can equip), and most "light" shields (including the elemental ones). For weapons, she can either use magical Rods to enhance her Magic and cast spells, or her unique Brush weapons, which raise her Stamina and Speed.
Relm's Brushes merit special mention, because they behave very differently from most other weapons. Brushes in BNW are not meant to harm the enemy, but rather are a way for Relm to assist the party with her equipped weapon. Instead of damaging foes, Brushes default to targeting allies and will heal them. This heal is still a weapon attack and is based on Relm's Vigor (and is boosted by physical boosters), but it ignores row as well as allies' defenses and evasion and can even heal undead allies! Every Brush except the default Chocobo Brush can also cast a spell occasionally: Remedy, Regen, or Rerise (WARNING: Remedy and Regen, if cast by the Brush, do reverse into damage against undead allies). The spells cast by the Brush are magical, Stamina-based, and are enhanced by magical boosters. Relm can also learn the spells cast by the Brushes if she keeps them equipped long enough. As a result, Brushes are absolutely awful for fighting enemies but incredibly good at healing Relm's allies and giving them beneficial effects for free.
Relm doesn't have too many unusual Relic options, but she does share access to the Memento Ring with Shadow; its potent boosts to Magic and Stamina are particularly helpful to Relm, who can make use of both of those stats. She also has access to the female-exclusive Gale Hairpin, which offers Speed and Magic Evade while also enhancing the party's Preemptive Attack rate. Relm enjoys most defensive Relics, as she's a bit fragile, and a Crystal Orb can really crank up the power on her spells too.
Availability
Regrettably, Relm has perhaps the worst availability in the World of Balance. She shows up at the end of the Crescent Island fight against Ultros, and effectively ends the battle immediately with Sketch, so she's not contributing much there. She can be quite useful in the Floating Continent sequence, but she's missing a lot of the healing utility she will pick up later and can struggle a bit against Atma Weapon.
Her situation is a bit better in the World of Ruin. Chadarnook must be defeated to re-recruit her, but once he is she'll come along with Starlet in tow, which will teach her a ton of great healing spells. Doomgaze guards Bahamut, but Relm can be pretty helpful against him. Relm is also needed to re-recruit Strago, so it can be a good idea to pick her up early.
Build & Role Options
Pint-Sized Powerhouse
Relm is a character who needs some time to grow. When she first joins she'll have access to a few Fire spells and Sketch, neither of which are especially impressive. She's a character who becomes noticeably stronger once she has access to her WoR Espers. Flare, Meteor, and Cure 3 are all Magic-powered spells, so one great way to build her is to take advantage of that.
The best, and really only way to enhance Relm's Magic is through the Zoneseek Esper. Each level, Relm will get +1 Magic and +15 MP. This is pretty nice, and Relm could probably just stick with Zoneseek all the way. Her Flare is one of the most powerful defense-ignoring spells in the game, and its 50 MP cost is actually not that unreasonable for Relm, especially with this build. Even if she runs a bit low on MP, a powerful Osmose will recharge her, and unlike Strago Relm's Speed is such that she usually has a turn to spare on throwing out an Osmose.
There are a few weaknesses with Relm when looking at this build, however. First, Zoneseek is only giving her +1 Magic per level, so she's not pumping her stat as hard as other characters in spite of the powerful spells she has access to. She also has abysmal base Stamina, and Stamina isn't useless for Relm thanks to Remedy and the Regen line. Plus, Stamina has many defensive benefits, and a dead or debilitated healer is a very bad thing. Using a Brush helps, but then she isn't getting a bonus to her Magic from a Rod. To get massive returns from Flare and Meteor requires quite a lot of Zoneseek, so she's compromising her defenses to do it.
CRITICAL ESPERS - Zoneseek
It's the only way to raise Relm's Magic, and it gives MP on the side. There isn't really much choice here. Bear in mind if Relm is stacking Zoneseek, she'll probably have no need for Bahamut.
USEFUL ESPERS - Ifrit / Starlet
Relm appreciates extra Speed, and a few Ifrit levels go a long way thanks to the +2 bonus. Relm also appreciates not having terrible Stamina, so a few Starlet levels aren't an awful idea either. Just bear in mind that Zoneseek's low bonus means diverting levels from it hurts Relm's Magic growth by quite a bit. Only do this if she has levels to spare.
The Budding Artiste
Relm's "project character" nature can actually work in her favor in one respect. While most characters have to make hard decisions between WoB effectiveness and waiting on WoR Espers that might better fit the build the player wants for them, Relm shows up so late in the WoB that she really isn't missing a whole lot if she goes straight to the bench and sits there patiently until her re-recruitment in the WoR. It's not all that hard to give her any level mixture you want, even if that includes a lot of levels in Starlet or Bahamut.
What's the point of doing this instead of just giving her +Magic and calling it a day? Basically it's about making Relm more well-rounded and using her levels more efficiently rather than trying to make her incrementally better at something she's already pretty good at. Her Flare will be really strong with 20 levels of Zoneseek, but she'll often overkill her MP and suffer in her Speed and Stamina if you do that, and her Flare is still really strong even at base Magic if she uses gear like the Cat Hood and Dragon Hide/Czarina Gown. You'll have to lean more on Relm's other tools, like Sketch for MP-efficient spellcasts and her Brush attacks for single-target healing.
In exchange, however, you get a Relm who really doesn't have any weaknesses that aren't inherent to her as a character. She can have decent Magic, Speed, and Stamina, and her MP is more than sufficient too. She supports and attacks about as well as one focused on Magic, but is a fair bit more resilient and benefits more from her own Regen spells. She can use a Brush or a Rod without much worry. The biggest issue will be that her Flare/Meteor could definitely hit harder; Flare gets more out of each point of +Magic than most spells due to its high power and defense-ignoring properties. But this is fairly minor, since Relm's Speed can somewhat make up for it.
CRITICAL ESPERS - Ifrit / Starlet
+2 in a stat produces larger returns than mixed espers, and a balance of Starlet and Ifrit can bring Relm's Speed and Stamina up close to the same level as her Magic, making her very well-rounded. Just err on the side of Stamina; it's possible to get a little too fast, and Stamina boosts both the power of Relm's non-Cure healing spells and the spells cast by two of her Brushes.
USEFUL ESPERS - Zoneseek / Bahamut
Relm will still need MP, although judicious use of Sketch and her Brushes can alleviate the need considerably. Bahamut's +40 MP per level is a lot more efficient than Zoneseek's +15 per level; three levels of Bahamut gives as much MP as eight of Zoneseek! Of course, Zoneseek does give extra +Magic, so only a little Bahamut can go a long way. At that point decide between using those extra Esper levels for more Starlet/Ifrit, or if it might not be a bad idea to swap over to Zoneseek to get a little more Magic in.