Barnacle_Ed

Character/Job Party Recommendations

518 posts in this topic

On 1/12/2020 at 4:55 PM, rpschamp said:

Does anyone know what determines the duration of Sleep Flower?

Sleep ends when taking damage or after a fixed amount of time - lag and the other usual culprits can extend that though.

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17 minutes ago, praetarius5018 said:
On 1/12/2020 at 10:55 AM, rpschamp said:

Does anyone know what determines the duration of Sleep Flower?

Sleep ends when taking damage or after a fixed amount of time - lag and the other usual culprits can extend that though.

So there are no other factors that affect Sleep Flower's duration? I noticed in the past that some enemies, e.g. werewolf types, tend to wake up earlier, but I did not extensively test.

Also, can you confirm whether casting Sleep Flower on your team equipped with reflect armor will then reflect sleep status onto enemy attackers? It should depend on whether the reflected damage hits before or after the sleep effect. (I should have kept my old teams around so I could test this myself....)

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26 minutes ago, Nesouk said:

Could also do Wanderer, Gran Divina, Necromancer lose the Protect Up but you still have Mind Up and don't need an Invert Armor on Necromancer, Necromancer has also better offensive spell especially with Black Rain.

Yes, I see the Necromancer as the better offensive choice and Evil Shaman as the better defensive choice for the Light Hawk Team, especially with Evil Shaman's MT Power and Mind Down spells, useful for quickly attenuating incoming damage from groups of enemies. A lot depends on how useful that Dark Saber/Demon Neckband combo would be to make up for lost defensive options. The advantage of the Dark Hawk team would be that Ninja Master would keep the MT Power and Mind Down spells as well as Necromancer's offensive spells and Dark Saber, but Carlie would be stuck with invert armor if I wanted access to Protect Up and Mind Up and I would lose a bunch of support spells. Also, Black Rain should not be much more powerful than Evil Shaman's Ghost Road or Demon Breath, but it would be cheaper, and having a Curse option on Carlie as well as Angela would be especially nice if this MT Sleep Flower/reflect thing works.

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1 hour ago, rpschamp said:

So there are no other factors that affect Sleep Flower's duration? I noticed in the past that some enemies, e.g. werewolf types, tend to wake up earlier, but I did not extensively test.

Also, can you confirm whether casting Sleep Flower on your team equipped with reflect armor will then reflect sleep status onto enemy attackers? It should depend on whether the reflected damage hits before or after the sleep effect. (I should have kept my old teams around so I could test this myself....)

In vanilla it was (25-target's luck) times some amount of frames, the same value is used for half vanish for some reason which obviously makes that buff really useless at high levels.
Since I couldn't really separate those two instances at the time I just changed it to a constant value.
The caster isn't known anymore at the point where the effect starts so that was no option either.

The reflect physical routine only cares about the last spell used on you, it doesn't matter how long ago, it just needs to have been the last one.

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55 minutes ago, praetarius5018 said:

The reflect physical routine only cares about the last spell used on you, it doesn't matter how long ago, it just needs to have been the last one.

I think there is some miscommunication. To make things clearer: If I cast Sleep Flower on Hawk, who is wearing reflect armor and a Wind God Bracelet for sleep immunity, and I send him out into a pack of physical attackers, what will happen after they hit me? I can imagine several possible results:

1) Physical damage is reflected at the usual multiplier and the attackers fall asleep, as long as no new spells are cast on Hawk.

2) The attackers fall asleep, but then are immediately woken by the physical damage reflected from their own hit.

3) The attackers fall asleep but no physical damage is reflected since the last spell overrides the physical attacks.

4) Same as 1), but only for the first attacker, since the first attack "replaces" the effect of the last spell.

5) Same as 2), but only for the first attacker, since the first attack "replaces" the effect of the last spell.

6) Same as 3), but only for the first attacker, since the first attack "replaces" the effect of the last spell.

If you're not sure or it's inconvenient to test this, don't worry about it; I will eventually try it myself since I'll be running Grand Divina with any of these groups. As you can see, the mechanism of how this plays out will determine whether or not this is a useful strategy.

Edited by rpschamp

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regular attacks don't count as spells so 3-6 are out.
it should be 1) but in typical SD3 fashion it might just be a coin flip every time between 1 and 2

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On 1/11/2020 at 2:10 PM, Nesouk said:

-Swordmaster, Warrior Monk, Arch Mage

Needless to say Arch Mage enjoy the Sabers from Swordmaster to boost her spells, while Swordmaster enjoy her Aura Wave, Warrior Monk act as the main healer and bring Power Up and Mind Up the only buff lacking is again Protect Up. Arch Mage has Power Down and Mind Down so that's taken care of as well as Aura Wave and Anti Magic and strong magical damage.

FWIW the last Duran-Angela-Kevin party I went with was Lord, Warrior Monk, Archmage since I found that leaf saber from Warrior Monk was great for keeping everyone's MP topped off; I'm not sure if an Angela-focused party really "needs" another saber at all tbh. Plus, having 2 healers was useful in emergencies. Worked decently well but I'm sure it could be improved on!

 

I feel like a Swordmaster party is going to want light Kevin (probably as God Hand) since he can heal while still taking great advantage of the sabers. Carlie as a Bishop can also do a ton of damage with her final weapon, but then you have an overlap on all the elemental sabers which kind of defeats the purpose of going Swordmaster in the first place...I'm personally not a fan of going into Bucca Island without Heal Light, but Lise as Vanadise could also be an option and she also has stat magic.

If you really want Anti Magic in the team, Dragon Master seems like a strong choice from there as Lise is also a heavy hitter who also brings MT debuffs to the table. Alternatively you could go for one of Hawk's dark forms for an all-male party with Kevin healing, as Hawk also make good use of the sabers while still providing debuffs and spell support from his jutsus.

TLDR I think Swordmaster, God Hand, Dragon Master would be a decent party. Doesn't have much spellcasting power outside of Lise's summon but honestly I don't think it needs more than that. Throw sabers then power up on the team, MT def down enemies, and go ham!

Edited by Barnacle_Ed

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Any suggestions on how I would allocate my stats for a team of the following?

Hawke/Ninja Master

-Focus on Agi/Vit/Pie

Lisa/Vanadise

-Focus on Pie/Lck/Vit

Duran/Duelist

-Focus on Str/Vit/Int

 

This is my first time playing SD3 and I installed the mod cause I'm always up for a challenge, but wasn't really sure if level ups in this game were like other ARPGs where you dump your level ups into like 3 stats and ignore the others. If anyone had any suggestions on this, it would be appreciated!

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VIT is going to be important for everyone in any class. I try and shoot for 25-ish by endgame on most characters, maybe a little more for anyone who's going to be using a shield and a target for monster hate.

 

Ninja Master: Your main debuffer so you want him to have fast cast time and to unlock his all jutsus asap. That means PIE (also improves magic defense) and AGI (also improves jutsu damage, chance to hit, and attack speed) respectively.

Vanadise: Your healer and buffer, so again you want her to have fast cast times and a big Heal Light. That means INT for the former, then LUCK and/or PIE for the latter. PIE is probably more important, however, since it also boosts magic defense and unlocks her spells.

Duelist: This is where things get interesting imo. Ideally you want him to cast Anti-Magic and a saber on himself then go attack which means high INT (or a Sage Stone but that'll deplete all his MP with one cast) for cast speed. As a strong attacker class he needs STR and AGI for damage and accuracy in melee. Then everyone needs some VIT and PIE to stay alive. I'd probably stop investing in INT at 18 once he gets Aura Wave, then focus AGI and defensive stats for a while. You only really "need" Anti-Magic in 2 or 3 boss battles so you can bring a few MP-restoring items for those fights.

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2 hours ago, Barnacle_Ed said:

FWIW the last Duran-Angela-Kevin party I went with was Lord, Warrior Monk, Archmage since I found that leaf saber from Warrior Monk was great for keeping everyone's MP topped off; I'm not sure if an Angela-focused party really "needs" another saber at all tbh. Plus, having 2 healers was useful in emergencies. Worked decently well but I'm sure it could be improved on!

 

I feel like a Swordmaster party is going to want light Kevin (probably as God Hand) since he can heal while still taking great advantage of the sabers. Carlie as a Bishop can also do a ton of damage with her final weapon, but then you have an overlap on all the elemental sabers which kind of defeats the purpose of going Swordmaster in the first place...I'm personally not a fan of going into Bucca Island without Heal Light, but Lise as Vanadise could also be an option and she also has stat magic.

If you really want Anti Magic in the team, Dragon Master seems like a strong choice from there as Lise is also a heavy hitter who also brings MT debuffs to the table. Alternatively you could go for one of Hawk's dark forms for an all-male party with Kevin healing, as Hawk also make good use of the sabers while still providing debuffs and spell support from his jutsus.

TLDR I think Swordmaster, God Hand, Dragon Master would be a decent party. Doesn't have much spellcasting power outside of Lise's summon but honestly I don't think it needs more than that. Throw sabers then power up on the team, MT def down enemies, and go ham!

Leaf Saber isn't really needed you can replace it with Tree Spirit Ring or just use Rune Earrings once you get enough AGI and the Helm that reduce cast time, casting from HP is good cause managing your HP is just so much easier than managing MP, meanwhile having Saber for each element for +20% IIRC damage bonus on Angela's spell is always valuable, even better once you get Arch Mage's Final Weapon.

As for Light Carlie I think Sage is a better pair with Swordmaster than Bishop, Swordmaster just completly negate the need for Sage to wear a Whitelight Ring for making Sabers MT that is taken care of by Swordmaster, and with Saint Beam and Dark Force she has 2 spells that can be boost by Swordmaster, also Life Booster, Heal Light, Mind Up, Tinkle Rain and her very good final weapon.

Dragon Master I feel actually negate the purpose of having all sabers in the first place, with her weapon her Anti Magic make ennemies that have a weakness weak to everything, so technically you really only need 1 Saber (either works) with her for your physical fighters.

For Kevin I think Warrior Monk is a better choice just for the convenience of having Power Up and Mind Up without the need of Invert Armor Warrior Monk + Sword Master could go well with Dark Hawk (either tough I think I would choose Nightblade just for screen cleaning ability with MT Shuriken and Black Rain as well as his ability to reduce max HP, set Curse upgrade and inflict Silence on the troublesome mob that can use tech like the Knight type) if you want a manpower team.

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23 minutes ago, Nesouk said:

Sword Master could go well with Dark Hawk (either tough I think I would choose Nightblade just for screen cleaning ability with MT Shuriken and Black Rain as well as his ability to reduce max HP, set Curse upgrade and inflict Silence on the troublesome mob that can use tech like the Knight type)

Don't forget that Ninja Master offers Swordmaster a unique crit buff with his Analyze spell. Swordmaster's final weapon runs on critical hits, so Ninja Master is the class best suited to help him reach his maximum damage potential. Of course it's not at all necessary to go this path if you are not interested in maxing out his final weapon, Swordmaster has plenty to offer otherwise. Apart from Swordmaster's final weapon, choosing Ninja Master or Nightblade depends mostly on whether you prefer MT stat debuffs or Curse/Silence. Since I can already get an enhanced Curse effect from reflect armor, I usually go for the MT stat debuffs. Ninja Master also gets a final weapon that can be used to very easily chip away at a target's defense with Fireblaze equipped, which would be especially useful for a team that depends mostly on physical damage.

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1 hour ago, Nesouk said:

Leaf Saber isn't really needed you can replace it with Tree Spirit Ring or just use Rune Earrings once you get enough AGI and the Helm that reduce cast time, casting from HP is good cause managing your HP is just so much easier than managing MP, meanwhile having Saber for each element for +20% IIRC damage bonus on Angela's spell is always valuable, even better once you get Arch Mage's Final Weapon.

As for Light Carlie I think Sage is a better pair with Swordmaster than Bishop, Swordmaster just completly negate the need for Sage to wear a Whitelight Ring for making Sabers MT that is taken care of by Swordmaster, and with Saint Beam and Dark Force she has 2 spells that can be boost by Swordmaster, also Life Booster, Heal Light, Mind Up, Tinkle Rain and her very good final weapon.

Dragon Master I feel actually negate the purpose of having all sabers in the first place, with her weapon her Anti Magic make ennemies that have a weakness weak to everything, so technically you really only need 1 Saber (either works) with her for your physical fighters.

For Kevin I think Warrior Monk is a better choice just for the convenience of having Power Up and Mind Up without the need of Invert Armor Warrior Monk + Sword Master could go well with Dark Hawk (either tough I think I would choose Nightblade just for screen cleaning ability with MT Shuriken and Black Rain as well as his ability to reduce max HP, set Curse upgrade and inflict Silence on the troublesome mob that can use tech like the Knight type) if you want a manpower team.

Regarding Leaf Saber: The whole motivation for going with Warrior Monk on that playthrough is because I got frustrated relying on items for MP leech effects with an Angela-Duran-Hawk party :D 2 healers and a spell spammer with infinite mana makes bosses a lot easier when you're bad at this game like me. Do sabers affect spell damage as well? I was under the (likely incorrect) impression they only affected melee attacks.

Sage would definitely be better than Bishop for a Swordmaster party. I still think it'd be worse off than either of Kevin's light classes, but I do like the HP regen from the Sage's final weapon. Plus it would mean some badly-needed spell support and Mind Up.

Fair point on Dragon Master being better in a 1-saber party. Now that I think about it Arch Mage would probably be better as an Anti-Magic caster instead for spell support, Mind Down, and Power Down. And the elemental weakness damage bonus from her final weapon, as you said. Certainly seems more compelling than Wanderer to me.

 

Swordmaster, Warrior Monk, Nightblade seems like it would be a solid all-male team. Strong boss-fighting potential for sure.

 

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Honnestly considering that my Ninja Master Crit build with Energy Ball, Detect, Crit Weapon and Crit helm wasn't landing that much Critical Hit, for me a weapon that deal no damage except with Crit is just a complete waste, Crit are not enough common for me to considere Sword Master Final Weapon worth it. As for Curse/Spike Armor it really all depend of if you want to profit from the effect of another Armor or not, the Curse upgrade also allow to completly reflect Jutsu and Hawk light spells for some reasons which I don't think Spike Armor does that so that's a plus, for me Nightblade is also a better screen clearer for mob fight through Black Rain or his LV3 tech than Ninja Master.

I admitadly don't use Fireblaze personnaly, I don't find any fight to last long enough to make this accessory truly worth it outside of the final bosses, the Counter are more interesting for the increase damage they deal for me, and admitadly I'm just bad at landing counter, good counter Duo with Duran and Hawk would be Lord and Ninja Master tough ^^.

5 minutes ago, Barnacle_Ed said:

Do sabers affect spell damage as well? I was under the (likely incorrect) impression they only affected melee attacks.

Yes Saber increase the damage of the spells of the corresponding element as well, Arch Mage can therefore deal some serious damage if you combine her final weapon, Saber, Mind Up, Mind Down and Corresponding Day she can no joke almost hit the damage cap on bosses that has a weakness with such set up (Rogue can also get a similar set up with his Final Weapon).

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1 hour ago, Nesouk said:

Honnestly considering that my Ninja Master Crit build with Energy Ball, Detect, Crit Weapon and Crit helm wasn't landing that much Critical Hit, for me a weapon that deal no damage except with Crit is just a complete waste, Crit are not enough common for me to considere Sword Master Final Weapon worth it. As for Curse/Spike Armor it really all depend of if you want to profit from the effect of another Armor or not, the Curse upgrade also allow to completly reflect Jutsu and Hawk light spells for some reasons which I don't think Spike Armor does that so that's a plus, for me Nightblade is also a better screen clearer for mob fight through Black Rain or his LV3 tech than Ninja Master.

It was reported elsewhere on this forum that Swordmaster's crit rate can reach 80% with his final weapon, which should do a lot of damage. Even with this though, the build has to be very specific, and Duelist's final weapon is still probably better in most situations.

Reflect armor does indeed reflect physical spells, and the reflect rate is 175%, more than Curse's 100%.

Edited by rpschamp

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59 minutes ago, Nesouk said:

Yes Saber increase the damage of the spells of the corresponding element as well, Arch Mage can therefore deal some serious damage if you combine her final weapon, Saber, Mind Up, Mind Down and Corresponding Day she can no joke almost hit the damage cap on bosses that has a weakness with such set up (Rogue can also get a similar set up with his Final Weapon).

It speaks volumes about the depth of the mechanics of this game and/or my own ignorance if I'm still learning things about it after all these years ^^

Given that sabers boost magic damage, Arch Mage with Swordsman seems like a great fit! Now what would make a good healer for this setup? Sage seems reasonable enough as discussed earlier. I still lean towards God Hand however. I also have to wonder if Vanadise would make sense; stat ups are always nice, even if not having Heal Light until second class change is kind of brutal.

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1 minute ago, Barnacle_Ed said:

It speaks volumes about the depth of the mechanics of this game and/or my own ignorance if I'm still learning things about it after all these years ^^

this only applies to this mod, so you are excused :D

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30 minutes ago, Barnacle_Ed said:

It speaks volumes about the depth of the mechanics of this game and/or my own ignorance if I'm still learning things about it after all these years ^^

Given that sabers boost magic damage, Arch Mage with Swordsman seems like a great fit! Now what would make a good healer for this setup? Sage seems reasonable enough as discussed earlier. I still lean towards God Hand however. I also have to wonder if Vanadise would make sense; stat ups are always nice, even if not having Heal Light until second class change is kind of brutal.

Vanadis is a good pick, but yeah you have to manage without Heal Light until LV43, so unless grinding up to Gildervine at least, that's indeed quite brutal but at least Arch Mage mean you get Sorceress has a middle class which IMO is the best middle class in the game access to Holy Ball makes the Ghost Ship very easy, Holy Ball also makes this goddamn Cockabird more manageable and then Evil Gate make Bucca Island Cave a lot more easy due to almost everything in this cave being weak to Darkness, this Cave is an Evil Gate spam with Sorceress, and after Bucca Island early access to the Curse upgrade which makes mob fight a lot more easy.

Alternativly tough you could replace Arch Mage by Dark Carlie's Evil Shaman you lose Spell damage and Aura Wave but Evil Shaman has Power Down, Mind Down (through Ghost Road and Demon Breath) and Anti Magic also has spell of each element that Swordmaster can boost except Dark but ST Only outside of Holy Ball, Ghost Road and Demon Breath but she has Transshape (for Transshape + Shield combo with Duran), Protect Up and Lunatic, then by picking up Light Kevin you can get Mind Up (either directly with Warrior Monk or through God Hand's Counter Magic to get the defensive part of it) as well as Power Up and have a healer.

Edited by Nesouk

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1 hour ago, Nesouk said:

Vanadis is a good pick, but yeah you have to manage without Heal Light until LV43, so unless grinding up to Gildervine at least, that's indeed quite brutal but at least Arch Mage mean you get Sorceress has a middle class which IMO is the best middle class in the game access to Holy Ball makes the Ghost Ship very easy, Holy Ball also makes this goddamn Cockabird more manageable and then Evil Gate make Bucca Island Cave a lot more easy due to almost everything in this cave being weak to Darkness, this Cave is an Evil Gate spam with Sorceress, and after Bucca Island early access to the Curse upgrade which makes mob fight a lot more easy.

Alternativly tough you could replace Arch Mage by Dark Carlie's Evil Shaman you lose Spell damage and Aura Wave but Evil Shaman has Power Down, Mind Down (through Ghost Road and Demon Breath) and Anti Magic also has spell of each element that Swordmaster can boost except Dark but ST Only outside of Holy Ball, Ghost Road and Demon Breath but she has Transshape (for Transshape + Shield combo with Duran), Protect Up and Lunatic, then by picking up Light Kevin you can get Mind Up (either directly with Warrior Monk or through God Hand's Counter Magic to get the defensive part of it) as well as Power Up and have a healer.

I fully agree that Sorceress is the best middle class, and farming Bucca Island for ??? Seeds (which Sorceress makes super easy thanks to Evil Gate) really helps with the second class change. Replacing Arch Mage with Dark Carlie's Evil Shaman kind of defeats the purpose of Swordsman here right? Since the main idea of "Arch Mage's elemental spells with Swordsman's elemental sabers" sounds most intriguing of the ideas here so far. So that effectively means one of Vanadise, Sage, or a Light Kevin for healing.

All of these can get pretty easy access to Mind Up, though of course Sage and Vanadise don't need to use items to MT it. And everything but Vanadise means some slight overlap in sabers, but Vanadise means not getting Heal Light until really late as discussed...

 

1 hour ago, praetarius5018 said:

this only applies to this mod, so you are excused :D

Hooray for me being exused!

Edited by Barnacle_Ed

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2 minutes ago, Barnacle_Ed said:

I fully agree that Sorceress is the best middle class, and farming Bucca Island for ??? Seeds (which Sorceress makes super easy thanks to Evil Gate) really helps with the second class change. Replacing Lise with Carlie kind of defeats the purpose of Swordsman here right? Since the main idea of "Arch Mage's elemental spells with Swordsman's elemental sabers" sounds most intriguing of the ideas here so far. So that effectively means one of Vanadise, Sage, or a Light Kevin for healing.

All of these can get pretty easy access to Mind Up, though of course Sage and Vanadise don't need to use items to MT it. And everything but Vanadise means some slight overlap in sabers, but Vanadise means not getting Heal Light until really late as discussed...

Actually since last update Vanadis's buffs have become ST Only so you need Whitelight Ring to make her buff and Heal Light MT. As for Light Carlie defeating the purpose of Sword Master it depend which Light Carlie, Bishop defeat the purpose of Sword Master cause like him she get the 4 main saber MT by default and Saint Saber, so the only element left is Dark so no real reason to pick Sword Master if you have Bishop, Sage however get her Saber ST Only unlike Sword Master and since this the only reason you want Sage to have a Whitelight Ring, having Sword Master means Sage has no reason for Whitelight Ring and have an accessory slot free, since Sword Master take care of Sabers support she can do other thing cause unlike Sword Master her selection of spells allow her to do other task than Sabers, furthermore Sage has Saint Beam and Dark Force but not the corresponding Saber which Sword Master has so he boost her spells to ^^

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Definitely made a bad typo and that "Lise defeats the purpose of Light Carlie" should have read "Replacing Arch Mage with Dark Carlie's Evil Shaman" - I've edited my post. My bad. I fully agree that Bishop and Swordmaster don't belong in the same party though.

I'd also forgotten that Vanadise is now ST buffs only since I never use the class tbh; Star Lancer just feels so much better most of the time I'm considering a Light Lise in a party.

With all that said and taken into consideration: Sage does seem appealing for a caster party since, as you said, she brings much more to the table than her sabers. Mind Up is always helpful and Life Booster is quite good too. No Def Up in the party might be problematic however, but I guess the same would be true with any party featuring a light Kevin instead!

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Not sure if it has been mentioned, but Vanadis pairs nicely with Swordmaster since her final weapon gives her summon and any non-elemental items (darts, axes, shurikens) the element of any saber cast on her. This can help if she is the only caster on the team since you can get magical damage in any element out of one spell, and is especially useful against enemies with maxed out physical defense or immunity or bosses who can't be reached by melee (Xan Bie's furnace, Fiegmund).

Edited by rpschamp

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7 hours ago, Barnacle_Ed said:

Definitely made a bad typo and that "Lise defeats the purpose of Light Carlie" should have read "Replacing Arch Mage with Dark Carlie's Evil Shaman" - I've edited my post. My bad. I fully agree that Bishop and Swordmaster don't belong in the same party though.

I'd also forgotten that Vanadise is now ST buffs only since I never use the class tbh; Star Lancer just feels so much better most of the time I'm considering a Light Lise in a party.

With all that said and taken into consideration: Sage does seem appealing for a caster party since, as you said, she brings much more to the table than her sabers. Mind Up is always helpful and Life Booster is quite good too. No Def Up in the party might be problematic however, but I guess the same would be true with any party featuring a light Kevin instead!

Evil Shaman spells are also elemental so she also benefit from the Sword Master's Sabers, the difference being that she hit less harder than Arch Mage and her spell are ST only for the most part, however she get Protect Up, Transshape and Lunatic so between Arch Mage and Evil Shaman it's really a matter of losing some Raw Power for a little more utility, Evil Shaman also has a good Final Weapon that reduce ennemies stat even on boss independantly of buff (best benefit for bosses being reduce HP max by 12.5% which stack with Lunatic for a total of 30% HP Max reduction so a boss that has let say 10000HP Max will be reduce to 7000 just like that, to put even more on perspective with final boss Arch Demon has 31760 max HP so that would put him at 22232 almost 10000HP less so that's quite significant).

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On 1/15/2020 at 11:54 PM, Nesouk said:

Evil Shaman spells are also elemental so she also benefit from the Sword Master's Sabers, the difference being that she hit less harder than Arch Mage and her spell are ST only for the most part, however she get Protect Up, Transshape and Lunatic so between Arch Mage and Evil Shaman it's really a matter of losing some Raw Power for a little more utility, Evil Shaman also has a good Final Weapon that reduce ennemies stat even on boss independantly of buff (best benefit for bosses being reduce HP max by 12.5% which stack with Lunatic for a total of 30% HP Max reduction so a boss that has let say 10000HP Max will be reduce to 7000 just like that, to put even more on perspective with final boss Arch Demon has 31760 max HP so that would put him at 22232 almost 10000HP less so that's quite significant).

Now, I do like Evil Shaman especially for that final weapon of hers - even if I didn't realize how significant the stat and health reduction can be on bosses. I honestly don't see the class as being a high-damage spell caster though. Even with the effect of Sabers she seems more of like a supportive caster to me but she's a great supporter; Demon Breath, Ghost Road, Protect Up, and Transshape give her a lot of utility as you said.

I honestly feel like Angela as a Rune Master might be a better way to do sabers with Evil Shaman - then you have 2 really strong spell casters who can both take advantage of elemental sabers for spellcasting purposes. Add on a healer with Mind Up (eg: either Light Kevin, though God Hand has to use buff invert armor and both need whitelight ring) and you should basically be good right? That does mean having to use the honestly-inferior Delvar instead of Sorceress for Angela's first class change, but Enchantress still brings Holy Ball and Monk is just good period so that seems like a fine party. Even if it completely misses the initial point of "a swordsman party" 9_9

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Evil Shaman is less focus on damage than Angela's classes but really her damage on Single Target by exploiting weakness is pretty good actually, add Mind Up and Saber she can bring good damage (but she indeed lack good nuking option), on top of doing the debuff and support I can definitly see her working with Swordmaster (Swordmaster, Evil Shaman and either Light Kevin or Vanadis could be a good team IMO), as an all she is more of a versatile caster, on the Dark Carlie side Necromancer is more suited for offense tough thanks to Black Rain and Half Vanish mainly and her Final Weapon which is quite good.

That being said currently I want to try a team with the Lord, I always end up picking Paladin when I go Light with Duran and always end up using as a pure support (until late game where Paladin get a solid nuking option with his Final Weapon and Turn Undead), so I see Lord as a more offensive option for Light Duran. I'm dead set on pairing Lord with Ninja Master, Ninja Master is a solid teammate for Lord, Lord get Energy Ball which combine with Ninja Master's Detect allow Crit build to be complete, Lord also get Life Booster which may come Handy but most importantly is Ninja Master and Lord ability to proc Counter endgame, as already mention Ninja Master can proc the counter with his Jutsu for any ennemy weak to it, meanwhile Lord can proc Counter with his LV2/3 Tech (on top of getting a bonus damage) with his Final Weapon, so for the ennemies that Ninja Master can't proc counter Lord allow to do it, so you can take full advantage of the Fireblaze in virtually any fight. So this 2 are a solid team together now the question is which would be the third member here are my guest for now :

-God Hand : This could be the best pick for a full counter party, there is no need for invert armor cause this team is fully about physical damage so Mind Up isn't needed and God Hand get the defensive part of it (as well as boosting Heal Light) with Counter Magic, he also has Life Booster so with Lord you get 2 Life Booster caster, Moon Saber could be really good in long fight, and most importantly his final weapon allow to extend the Counter window so with Ninja Master and Lord procing the counter this can be deadly also like Hawk he hit twice with his LV1 so these 2 with Fireblazes could be a deadly duo. Tough this team issue is it has 0 magical option, having only Ninja Master and God Hand's LV3 tech for AoE and no Anti Magic for monster resistant of immune to physical. (PS : Warrior Monk might be a good pick as well for a more support third member)

-Sage : Sage get Mind Up to complete the defense with Lord's Protect Up and Speed Up, no Power Up but she provide 4/6 Sabers to boost the physical damage and provide some much needed Magic Damage with Saint Beam and Dark Force, also get Life Booster so 2 Life Booster use with Lord (so much easier to set up during boss fights), Sage being one of the best healer in the game (with Heal Light and Passive healing) she completly free Lord to be build as a physical fighter (tech user build to Tech advantage of his final weapon). 

-Grand Divina : Might seems odd since that mean no Mind Up, but the lack of Mind Up is actually fairly easy to solve by farming Matango Oil which is a consumable available very early and can easily be farm in the Rabite Forest near Jad (there is even an area where the ennemies are stuck at LV2 (even after the other areas of the forest have been upscale to LV18), so you can easily farm them at that spot for easy Matango Oils). And so with Gran Divina you get the 6 Sabers at around the half of the game, the best middle class in the game for Ghost Ship and Bucca Island (and early access to Curse), a good nuker who can exploit all 6 elements, good old Transshape + Shield combo and a solid healer as well... this might actually be very interesting to play.

-Vanadis : Might be a decent pick as well for all buffs and Heal Light, would lack magic damage as only Freya would be able to provide it, but Freya has the annoying effect of halving EXP, and since Lord and Ninja Master doesn't have Saber Vanadis couldn't ehance it.

-Star Lancer : Seems more interesting than Vanadis, while she doesn't get Heal Light which mean Lord will have to be a healer, Star Lancer is the fastest caster in the game, she also bring Aura Wave which would be usefull with Lord's tech using, bring all the buff MT and Marduke's silence effect is always nice to have.

-Fenrir Knight : Need invert armor to get all buffs, otherwise Fenrir Knight might be an interesting Ninja Master and Lord grant her an easy access to Counter, which would allow to take full advantage of her Final Weapon for recovering HP and MP, Moon Saber and Transshape are also good support ability and Lamia Naga setting Sleep might have it's use.

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