Star Ocean 3

[Dhyerwolf]

1. Intro- This topic is a long time in coming, needless to say. Nearly a decade after SO 3 in some form first hit the market, here's finally some more balanced, tested DL notes.

2. Combo Methodology- I took combos against 12 enemies of various sizes in the battle arena. As such, these are effectively an average of how the combos work in 1 on 1 scenarios (which can be backed up in game. It often feels like the AI will be focusing on other enemies while you are handling 1 yourself).

I put in notes on how well skills combo. I sometimes listed alternate combos below the skills that looked like they mathematically had the potential to be better than one of the primary combos, but didn't work as well in practice. These are mostly listed so that if you are interested in a combo, you can know whether it was explicitly tested.

3. Tech Notations- 14 CP, L10/L3, L2 Crit, 1/1.83- This would mean a given combo costs 14 CP, the first tech use is at L10 and the second is at L10, the crit skill is at L2, and in an average combo, the first tech is successful  once and the second is successful 1.83 times (1, then 0.83).

4. Allowance of Skills- When CP allowed, I allow HP or MP damage increase (PCs only get one or the other) and No Guard. Given how I tested (trying to allow for very clean combo setups), if there wasn't enough CP for No Guard, I prorated the damage (between 10 or 30% depending on how good the combo is without No Guard in play). Nothing major, but it's definitely a potent effect. I probably should have tested with No Guard with less clean combo setups, but I figured that out later, didn't feel like re-testing everything, and this should still be pretty close.

5. Tech Level Increases – Note that there are generally 5%. The FAQ bases are a little wrong (always within +/- 7.5% minus scenarios where they are very wrong). For any skills where the FAQs are wrong, the change is noted in the tech description area. Generally early super spammable skills will end up at L10. Spells increase more quickly than techs naturally, which is why Sophia can tend to gain spell levels quickly.

6. Item Creation- Is allowed for weapon/armor (minus any that can only be made by Boyd, who takes an average of 135 Bunny Races to get. That's beyond level grinding to me). I'm allowing 1 Orihalcum and 1 Dark Crystal (good balance of doing some item creation, but not going all the way out to insane levels. Also serves to better smooth out attack curves to better match in game a bit). On items that have increasing innate effects, these have been increased to max.

7. Speed- Turn 1 speed is a combination of running speed+attacking speed+time gap until the first tech starts (often the initial basic physical can miss)+a few misc speed penalties in certain cases (namely for Cliff and Mirage, whose basic physicals have some serious problems).

LATER SPEED HAS NOT YET BEEN TESTED!

8. Evade- Evade is a combination of running speed (including take off time) squared (because Fayt being double the speed of Maria will lead to better than double base evasion rate) plus/minus bonuses from techs. Since this is a nebulous stat, relative evasion comes in even better use here than normal! Basically, Side Kick is awesome for evasion, most everything else won't be coming up.

Evade covers both magic and physicals since it's a literal barometer of the character running out of the way.

50% Bonus for knocking an enemy down and tieing them up when PC can move far quicker.
Bonus of 5%-25% for movement (tech naturally moves PC out of way partially so they don't get hit as much)
Bonus of 10% for clean knockdown
-25% Penalty for No Guard (Inability to get away from multi hit attacks, which are most of the attacks in game)

9. Status/Status Protection (PLEASE NOTE THAT STATUS CAN NOT RESTACK)
Confuse- 2.2% MHP and 1.1% MMP damage every 2 second, Character wanders around. Note that it's easy for additional hits to knock off the Confuse, so it's never a great strategy for any SO 3 PCs in the DL.
Poison- 4.167% MHP damage every 3 seconds (Doesn't seem to wear off)
Freeze- Enemy is frozen and is instant death shattered upon being attacked by most non-elemental physicals (Note that in battle arena it's not 100%, but it seems to be outside of it)
Paralysis- Enemy can't move or attack; Evasion drops to 0. Lasts about ~17 seconds.
Stone
Instant Death- You are dead
Silence- Can't use magic. Haven't tested duration or anythign

The PCs can block Poison, Silence, Freeze, Paralysis, Stone and ID with accessories.

10. Balancing of HP/MP Damages for Average and MP Kills:
In game, an SO 3 character can kill or be killed by MP damage. I don't factor this aspect in the DL and instead just see it as normal MP damage. In terms of averaging MP damage, I take the best MP damage, then prorate by how much HP damage a character is losing (since if they end up with 100% MP damage and 1% HP damage, they will generally lose even to the likes of Estella as they won't have the ability to outslug).

11. Averages up Top
HP: 13,395
MP: 2,287
Att: 1,690
Def: 334.7
HP Damage (3 Turn): 90,256.5
-->225,641.25 Kill Point for 2.5 Damage
MP Damage (3 Turn): 4,234 (4,970.5 without Proration noted above in item 10)
-->10,585 (12,426) MP Kill Point

[Dhyerwolf]

Fayt- L68

HP: 14,768 (110.3%)
MP: 2,130
Att: 1668 (268)
Def: 405 (205)
Agl: 408 (328)
Hit: 420 (385)
Int: 129
Evasion: 38% (23% with Shotgun Blast/17% with Dimension Door )

Veinslay- 900 Attack, 35 Hit
Astral Armor- 240 Def, 80 Agl, Immune Stone/Freeze, 30% chance of nulling magic/special attacks by mage type enemies (still trying to figure out exactly who is encompassed)

DL RELEVANT MOVES
Attack, Side Kick (L10 Skill, L7 Crit; 11 CP, 6.33 of 8): 167,215 Physical
-->TURN 1 Speed: 128.5%
Attack, Shotgun Blast (L7 Skill, L5 Crit;  15 CP, 4 of 5, 3 Truncated): 92,675 Fire Physical 
-->TURN 1 Speed: 119.3%
Attack, Dimension Door (L4 Skill, L6 Crit, 14 CP, 3 of 5, Extending 3rd by 4 hits)- 83,090 Physical, 2,875 MP
-->TURN 1 Speed: 111.3%
-->72.1% Chance of Paralysis (10 Chances at 12%)
-->92,320, 3,195 MP without No Guard Proration
-->Good No Guard combo as the move tends to teleport Fayt back and forth, moving him in between enemy attacks.
-->Note that Dimension Door actually averages 4, but occasionally has big hits miss. This is a decent in between damage reflection
-->When enemy is under Paralysis, Fayt does a whole 5 DD string for maximum of 189,940, 6,370 MP Damage and a 16 chances of Paralysis
Deep Freeze: Trivial Ice Damage, 41% Chance of Freeze (5 chances at 10%)

Long Strong+Short Strong+Short Weak x2: 600 Combo to go with if Fayt would like to use an elemental sword. With Lightning Blade this does 202 MP damage and Fayt can still get a Side Kick Combo with No Guard (but not damage). Even better, he can combo into it to a degree and get about 5 Side Kicks in.

MOVE DESCRIPTIONS:
Long Weak Basic Attack: 1x, 5 Fury, Fury Drain (Can add in a second hit, I find the timing hard. Stick with 1)
Techs
Charge (4 CP)- Would be great if FAQs had the right numbers here instead of multiplying MP damage by 10!
Blade of Fury (4 CP)- Pretty workable, decent tie up. Not too quick though (2.8 of 5)
Side Kick (2 CP,+5% Base)- Quick, immensely chainable, even has invincible frames. Sometimes hits randomly miss, but Side Kick probably remains the best DL move (6.33 of 8)
Shotgun Blast (4 CP, +5% Base)- Can be truncated (2 of 5 hits) in a way that makes for great combos, although of little practical DL use. The full version is laggy, so not good for combos. (4 of 5)
Air Raid (7 CP)- 100% knockdown=not good in combos
Dimension Door (6 CP, -5% on the Big Hit HP wise, 60% Base on the Small Hit, 2.25 MP base on Small and 12.3% on Big Hit)- Great area coverage. Good choice for an all around move (decent HP damage, decent MP damage, paralysis) (Note that there is a wide variance, which I think some FAQs mistook for the moves ability to naturally crit).
Deep Freeze: Trivial Ice Damage, 41% Chance of Freeze (5 chances at 10%)

Adray, L61

HP: 12,468 (93.1%)
MP: 2,525
Att: 1086 (236)
Def: 252 (92)
Agl: 404 (339)
Hit: 406 (396)
Int: 851 (251)
Evasion: -15%

The Immortal- 850 Attack, 100 Int, 10 Hit
Ablative Shield- 160 Def, 65 Agl
-->Elven Cloak- 39 Defense, 15 Agl, Absorbs Wind/Thunder

DL RELEVANT MOVES
Ice Needles (14 CP, L10 Skill, Lx Cit, 4x Short Range, 272 MP)- 19,945 Ice Magic
-->62.5% chance of Freeze (24 Chances at 4%)
-->92.8% Speed Turn 1
-->Gets No Guard and Quick Cast
Lightning Blast (14 CP, L10 Skill, 4x, 272 MP)- 32,385 Lightning Magic
→79.5% Speed Turn 1
Attack->Charge (15 CP, Lx Crit, 4 of 6): 24,315 Physical, 1,485 MP
-->87.9% Speed Turn 1
-->Doesn't have the CP to get Quick Cast here

MOVE DESCRIPTIONS:
Weak Short: 100%, 5 Fury
Charge (4 CP)- Has a little bit shorter range than Fayt's and the timing is worse (3 of 6. It would be 4, but Adray's opening attacks are horrible)
Chaos Tide- It's Charge! With...1/3 the base damage...and some knockdown. Not worth being considered.
Titan Fist- Definetely the slowest attack in game. Can't be used on weak as anything will recover their Fury. You can try it on strong in a combo and pray you don't get hit out of it. It doesn't really work though.
Sea Gate- This...has the base HP damage of charge, 8 CP, comes at Level 50...Adray's unique battle techs are unsalvagable for the most part.

Firebolt (2 CP)- Can combo, not great at tying up enemies, not especially quick. Does like 18HKO.
Lightning Blast (3 CP, Can only be set on Short Range)- Adray's comes out quick and has decent tie up. Given the tracking, if this was on long range it would be fantastic, but still his best source of damage (for what little that is worth)
Ice Needles (2 CP)- Decent casting time, decent tie up (60% hit rate SR; 30% LR) (In chaining 6 LR, 4 SR)
Earth Glaive (3 CP, Can only be set on Short Range)- It's a tad laggy and the tie up doesn't really seem great. Note that this is about an 18HKO that can be used 9 times(4 of 6)
Southern Cross (Can only be set on short range)- Only spell that does MP damage, I think. That said, the start up time is slow and it can only be used on short range, which is a hideous combination. Does 8,115 HP and 1,350 MP Damage (So horrible) (1.5 of 4)

Albel- L67

HP: 14,000 (104.5%)
MP: 2,204
Att: 343 (1243)
Def: 193 (373)
Agl: 398 (488)
Hit: 434 (479)
Int: 96
Evasion: 4% (23% under Aura Wall) (8% under Hand of Doom)
Claw of Judgement- 900 Attack, 45 Hit
Battle Chainmail- 180 Def, 90 Agl

DL RELEVANT MOVES
Air Slash (9 CP, L10, x7, Long Range)- 81,005 Wind Damage
Mid/Long Weak->Air Slash->Hand of Doom (Short and Long) (14 CP, L10/L3, L2 Crit, 1/1.83)- 72,510 Damage (7,825 Wind), 3,410 MP Damage
Mid/Long Weak->Air Slash->Aura Wall (15 CP, L7/L6 Skill, L6 Crit,  1/2)- 7,670 Damage, 8,010 MP Damage
-->End the first Aura Wall early and have then knock into the next for a better mult. The first Aura Wall gets on average 5 hits and the second one gets 21).
-->20% chance that the enemy will be Confused at the end of this.
-->10% Proration if he gives up No Guard. The big advantage of No Guard is that there's a big of time before the combo starts when it can be interrupted. Once it gets going it's pretty golden though.
–>Addendum Combo: Long Range Air Slash->Air Slash (7x)- 65,270 Wind Damage. This requires giving up No Guard though. This combo is prorated 10% for giving up No Guard (range makes it so No Guard doesn't matter as much, but against large enemies it still matters)
-->This addendum combo is useful as a follow up for when Albel has finally rid his opponent of his MP
Mid/Long Weak->Air Slash->Extended Vampire Flash (15 CP, L6/L3, L3 Crit, 5 hits on VS)- 27,077 HP Damage, 2,036 MP Damage, Heals Albel for 18,502 HP and 2,036 MP
-->There's actually a better combo in Air Slash->VS (1 hit)->Air Slash (VS Extended), but it's a little less reliable (and reliability is a better trait in a move like this), so I figure going on the above is decent balance.

MOVE DESCRIPTIONS:
Basic Attack: Mid/Long Weak- 100%, 5 Guts, Guts Damage (Does have a second follow up, but it doesn't combo)
Air Slash (2 CP, +5% HP)- Good combo, not great at tying up. Still decently effective chained alone, but sometimes foiled by Fury blocking. Needs to be on Long and Short (6 of 9)
Shockwave Swirl (2 CP, Lv 8)- Has bad knockdown (not guaranteed, but it's not comboable). Also only gets 1-2 hits (5x) (4,737.50)
Palm of Destruction (4 CP, Lv 6)- Knockdown. Really in DL terms it's a worse Hand of Doom (in terms of damage and MP damage). Doesn't really combo alone.
Double Slash (4 CP, Lv 7)- Quick. Basically guaranteed knockdown. Low damage means it's not to be considered alone.
Vampire Flash (6 CP, Lv 3, +5% HP, even on MP)- Great move for keeping Albel alive. Does need the right setup, and against good evasion he might not get the MP to run it a lot (it's rather MP intensive, and one of the few things in game where I would pay attention to this). While it's not great at keeping things locked down, it's not horrible either (sometimes when an enemy tries to act, it gets a little hit and gets interrupted).
Aura Wall (6 CP, Lv 5, -7.5% MP)- Fascinating move. A hybrid of a comboable move and a small area of effect. Large number of hits will tie up medium and even some very large enemies extremely well. If you try to combo it, it cancels early. However, after knocking an enemy down, you can use it again right next to them and they will generally rise up into the area of effect and be stuck in it. Rinse and repeat. Great way to kill MP overall.
Hand of Doom (5 CP, L3, +5% HP, Even on MP)- Knockdown, but good damage otherwise. Good paired with Air Slash. Doesn't work alone.
Dragon Roar (7 CP, L2)-Knockdown and Knockback. Doesn't get anywhere near it's maximum number of hits. Not any very effective way to use in a combo overall. Not close to being usable in any DL combos
*Air Slash of Fury (6 CP, Lv 1)- Same as Air Slash really, but way less damage (1/3 on strong before tech levels), more Fury cost and more CP. But but but...it does really really bad MP damage! Oh, and yes, it's still elemental.

Alternate Combos:
Air Slash->Palm of Destruction- Despite being on heavy, Palm of Destruction doesn't always break through the Guts shielding. This is a combo killer. Not thoroughly tested (but the not breaking through came across pretty clear).

Counter: Albel can counter by pressing Strong button during an enemy physical attack. He sidesteps and then starts with a weak Counter. The timing is relatively forgiving, especially against slow attacks. He can combo out of it for about typical damage overall. If an attack is much longer than normal and decent speed Albel's counter doesn't work well (say 2x normal hits, it should get through. So for example, in SO 2, the average hits is around 4. So Mirror Slice and Ripper Blast get through, but Illusion wouldn't (at least due to hits. It won't be 100% since it's not slow. On the other hand, Dekar's 2 swing physical should get through, except he's so slow, that a lot of the times it won't. As such, this is a large judgement call).

Percentage chance of Working versus Enemy Speed (My own gutcheck)
120%- 0%
115- 12.5%
110- 25%
105- 37.5
100%- 50%
95%- 62.5%
90%- 75%
85%- 87.5%
80%- 100%

Cliff- L68

HP: 16,128 (120.4%)
MP: 1875
Att: 1315 (315)
Def: 417 (167)
Agl: 467 (387)
Hit: 438 (400)
Int: 107
Evasion: -8% (1% with Aerial Assault) (5% w/ HoM)

Mythril Gauntlets- 1000 Attack, 38 Hit
Astral Armor- 240 Def, 80 Agl, Immune Stone/Freeze, 30% chance of nulling magic/special attacks by mage type enemies (still trying to figure out exactly who is encompassed)

DL RELEVANT MOVES
Midshort Weak->Electric Fists->Fists of Fury (14 CP, L7/L5 Skill, L10 Crit) (3->2.167)- 89,605 Physical
-->107.7% Turn 1 Speed
-->(112,005 Physical without No Guard reduction)
-->In terms of No Guard combos, this one isn't great if it doesn't lock the enemy down because there is no avoidance mechanisms built into the move. 20% Proration
-->Cliff could opt for Sphere of Might instead of Electric Fists to get No Guard...but then he loses that shiny L10 Crit (so a slight damage loss even after proration) and Sphere of Might is a lot worse of a connector than Electric Fists, so it won't get in as much damage that way either.
Midshort Weak+Aerial Assault (15 CP, L6 Skill, 3 of 5)- 73,575 Physical, 10,500 MP
-->81.5% Turn 1 Speed
Midshort Weak+Hammer of Might (14 CP, L7 Skill, L3 Crit, 3 of 5)- 83,580 Fire Physical, 800 MP
-->81.5% Turn 1 Speed
-->92,615 Fire, 890 MP without No Guard reduction
-->Only a 10% propration from No Guard. It's activated from a range, which really helps. Slightly tempered by the fact that despite the jumping Cliff doesn't really move a lot.
-->Needs HoM on short and long

MOVE DESCRIPTIONS:
Midshort Weak- 100%, 10 Fury, 10 Fury Drain
Sphere of Might (4 CP, L10, +5% HP)- Damage too Low, but a decent weak attack for combos (4.75 of 6; 2,340 Mult)
Hammer of Might (3 CP, L8, +5% HP)- Knock down, Jumping, Slow Start (3 of 5; 2,710 mult)
Electric Fists (6 CP, L9, +2.5% HP)- Damage too low; good alternate combo filler in place of Sphere of Might. Can cancel early (2 of 3 hits) to avoid knockdown. (6 of 7; 2,795 mult)
Fiery Tackle (6 CP, L7)- Knockdown, Low Damage
Aerial Assault (6 CP, -5% HP, -7.5% MP)- Jumping in air=easy way to miss hits and have enemy regain fury bar. However, it does have some MP damage. Effectiveness depends on when random knockdown occurs.
Fists of Fury (6 CP, L6, +2.5% HP)- Good damage, great at combos (since the last 2 hits can be cancelled to avoid knockdown), great at tying up enemies. Not great against some larger enemies, and the long weak attack does allow for a lot of time for fury to recoup, which hurts (3.33 of 5, 3,068 mult)
Uppercut (6 CP, L3)- Airs Enemy, low damage.
Acrobat Locus (6 CP, L2) – Knock Down. Can early cancel (10 of 15 hits) for better combos (but not into itself). If you do cancel early, the damage is worse than early Fists of Fury after factoring tech levels. Does have a weird synergy with Uppercut, but 1 Uppercut is horrible damage.
Infinity Kick (8 CP, L1)- Causes Knockdown and leaves Cliff in the air.

Alternate Combos:
Fists of Fury->Aerial Assault- Fists of Fury alone on weak is a good way to run into Guts shields (1.9/1)

MARIA- L68

HP: 11,414 (85.2%)
MP: 2,813
Att: 1593 (293)
Def: 296 (116)
Agl: 449 (359)
Hit: 473 (423)
Int: 697 (197)
Evasion: -17% with most combos

Gravity Laser- 800 Attack, 50 Hit
-->Paralyzer- 350 Attack, 32 Hit, Inflicts Paralysis at 40% chance a hit (for every hit!)
Battle Chainmail- 180 Def, 90 Agl

DL RELEVANT MOVES
Weak Short->Magnetic Field  (15 CP, L10, 5 Uses): 98,995 Physical (151,775 after Power Up)
-->92.8% Turn 1 Speed
Weak Short>Aiming Device->Magnetic Field (14 CP, L9/L7, L2 Crit) (3/2): 80,015 Physical, 3,390 MP (122,675/5,195 after Power Up)
-->98.2% Turn 1 Speed
-->50.6% Confuse (3 chances of 21%), 62% chance of Paralysis (2 chances of 30%, 2 of 12%)
Weak Short->Scatter Beam->Magnetic Field (15 CP, L8/L7, 2.3/1.83): 122,400 Physical (187,665 after Power Up)
-->92.8% Speed Turn 1
-->57% chance of Paralysis (2 chances of 30%, 1 of 12%)
-->If Paralysis is inflicted, it instead averages 3.5/3 with 209,560 Physical (321,290 after Power Up)
Weak Short->Magnetic Field->Scatter Beam (15 CP) (L7/L8, 2.83/1.9): 125,015 Physical (191,670 under Power Up)
-->92.8% Turn 1 Speed
-->76% chance of Paralysis (3 shots of 30%, 3 shots of 12%)
-->If Paralysis is inflicted, it instead averages
Weak Long->Aiming Device Combo (11 CP, L10, L3 Crit, 4 of 5)- 43,925 Physical, 5,245 MP
(67,345/8,040 under Power Up)
-->61% chance of Confuse (4 chances of 21%)
Power Up- 50% Attack Increase, 92.8% Speed

MOVE DESCRIPTIONS:
Weak Shot: 200%, 5 Guts, No Guts Damage
Long Weak: 100%, 5 Guts, Actually Long Range
Aiming Device (2 CP, L10, +5% HP, Normal on MP)- Semi Long Range Single Hit Physical; It can cause knockdown but can also actually hit enemies while down or in the air, so the knockdown effect isn't a large impact on overall efficacy. It's base MP damage is actually 10% of the HP (not 1.25% as listed in some FAQs)
Scatter Beams (3 CP, L10, +2.5% Damage)- Great, great growth potential. It's flaw is that you need to get really close to get all the hits, and it can be a bit hard to time with Guts blocking. (3.3 over 5, 4,110 Base)
Magnetic Field (5 CP, L10, +5% on First Hit, -2.5% on Second)- Short Range effect AoE Physical; Slight hop back limits effectively number that can be used in a combo as it will eventually take the move out of enemy range.
Pulse Blast (4 CP, L4)- Good at combo, bad at tie up. Each hit is a separate bullet firing meaning that enemies will recover their fury bar.
Crescent Locus (4 CP, L5)- Short range and highly comboable...but heavy chance of knockdown. (3 of 5; 1,940 Base)
Triple Kick (5 CP, L4)- Knockdown and knockback. Maria will knock enemy away on weak, fully miss on strong, and then have the next weak Guts blocked. (Maybe 2 of 5; not heavily tested)
Laser Blast (4 CP, L4)- Decent as combos, but little enemy tie up and slow hit allow for Fury regeneration.
Gravity Bullet (6 CP, L3)- Almost long rangish massive multi-hit gun attack. Causes a hop backwards with is highly limiting in combos, taking Maria out of short range into long in the middle of the move. You can try comboing it from long range, but comboing also cancels it early. Starting from long range also means that you are missing a lot of the hits.
Power Up- 50% Attack Increase

Alternate Combos:
Aiming Device->Scatter Beam- Good combo since Scatter Beams can hit in the air with Aiming Device's knockup. Gets 100% of the combo more than anything else on more enemies I think. Not great against large enemies. Outdamaged by Aiming Device->Magnetic Field (3/1.4)

MIRAGE- L59

HP: 13,085 (97.7%)
MP: 1,950
Att: 1768 (268)
Def: 355 (175)
Agl: 407 (317)
Hit: 405 (367)
Int: 612 (112)
Evasion: -1% (10% w/ Aerial Assault) (15% with Hammer of Might)

Mythril Gauntlets- 1000 Attack, 38 Hit
Battle Chainmail- 180 Def, 90 Agl

DL RELEVANT MOVES
Mid-Short Weak->Sphere of Might->Avenger Charge->Hammer of Might (L2, L1, L3, 15 CP) (1.5/1.55): 72,510 (8,310 NE, the rest Fire), 260 Fire MP Damage
-->115.2% Turn 1 Speed
-->87,890 (10,070 is NE, the rest is fire), 315 MP Damage before No Guard proration
-->In terms of No Guard combos, this one isn't great if it doesn't lock the enemy down because there is no avoidance mechanisms built into the move. It's a little bit better than say Cliff's FoF combos though. 17.5% Proration
Mid-Short Weak->Aerial Assault (L3, 15 CP) (3 of 5): 63,430 Physical, 8,985 MP
-->90.3% Turn 1 Speed
Mid-Short Weak->Hammer of Might (L3, Level 1 Skill, 13 CP) (3.5 of 5): 79,520 Fire Physical, 2,265 MP
-->90.3% Turn 1 Speed

MOVE DESCRIPTIONS:
Basic Attack of Choice: Mid-Short Weak: 100%, 10 Fury, Fury Drain
Sphere of Might (4 CP, +5% HP)- Low damage to consider or test alone, but combos well. Decent weak attack
Hammer of Might (3 CP, +5% HP)- Hers doesn't cause knockdown consistently like Cliff, but it does cause knockback and still has the intro lag. Needs to be set on both long and short to really work by itself. (3.5 of 5)
Electric fists (6 CP)- Can cancel after 2 hits to avoid knockdown. Good for combos, but very low damage to consider alone.
Aerial Assault (5 CP, -5% HP, -7.5% MP)- Decent move, seems a bit faster than Cliff's with less knockdown. Slight range/recovery different make them pretty similar in practice (3 of 5).
Crescent Locus (4 CP, )- Knockdowns but very quick. It's quickness makes it worse than Maria's to combo into itself though (2.5 of 5; Not thoroughly tested, but it's not getting much better than that if that at all)
Triple Kick (5 CP)- Knockdown and knockback. Mirage will knock enemy away on weak, fully miss on strong, and then have the next weak Guts blocked. (Maybe 2 of 5; not heavily tested)
Acrobat Locus (6 CP)- Knockdown. Can kind of combo into itself, but what parts will hit and what parts won't are extremely unpredictable (Even move to move is unpredictable against the same enemies) (1.4 of 5; 1,774 Base)
Avenger Charge (8 CP, +5% HP)- Knockdown, often places Mirage in long range afterwards (meaning that it can't really combo well since she needs to start at short range).

Alternate Combos:
Sphere of Might->Acrobat Locus- Acrobat Locus is too inconsistent and unlike the Avenger Charge combo, no chance to take advantage of the better damage Hammer of Might (1/1.33; 2,720 Base)

Nel- L68

HP: 12,925 (96.5%)
MP: 2,423
Att: 1689 (309)
Def: 335 (155)
Agl: 465 (375)
Hit: 440 (404)
Int: 690 (190)
Evasion: 10% (0% when Healing)

Ice Blades- 880 Attack, 45 Hit, Ice/Water Damage
Ice Falchion- 720 Attack, 95 Hit,
Battle Chainmail- 180 Def, 90 Agl

DL RELEVANT MOVES
Ice Daggers (15 CP, L6 Skill, L4 Crit, 2.67 of 3): 59,200 Ice Physical
-->139.2% Turn 1 Speed
-->57% Chance of Freeze (8 chances at 10%)
Poison Cloud->Mirror Slice (15 CP, L10/L2 Skill, 0.67/1.8): 99,010 Physical, 1,110 MP
-->119.3% Turn 1 Speed
-->84% Chance of Poison (2 chances at 60%)
Poison Cloud->Shadow Wave (12 CP, L7/L8 Skill, L5 Crit, 1.33/2.33): 75,935 Physical, 10,185 MP
-->119.3% Turn 1 Speed
-->97% chance of Poison (4 chances at 60%)
Healing (20 MP)- 71.4% MHP Healing, 79.5% Speed (Healing activates at 104.5% speed, but there's another period until she can move again)

MOVE DESCRIPTIONS:
Long Weak Basic- 100%, 5 Fury, Fury Drain
Shockwave (3 CP)- Combos Well, but low knockdown chance. This is only noticeable when chained into itself. Damage too low to consider. (2.5 of 5)
Shadowave (3 CP, +5% HP, Normal on MP)- Knocks Down and it is so quick you can get multiple moves while the enemy is down. Otherwise would be great, but that's limits it's potential a lot alone (2.67 of 5; 1,447.50 HP Damage, 192.50 MP Damage)
Ice Daggers (4 CP, +5% HP)- Extremely Quick and Damage is decent. Horrible Fury costs limit both what level it gets to and how damaging it gets (2.67 of 3; Base 1,905)
Poison Cloud (2 CP, +5% HP, Normal on MP)- Combos Well, but doesn't really tie up an enemy at all. Needs to be paired with something else to be at all effective. Damage too low to consider alone.
Whirlwind (3 CP, +5% HP)- Creates barrier around her so she can run into enemy and do damage. Might be cool as an anti short range move, except it cancels when you use another tech
Flying Guillotine (5 CP) – Gets 3 hits on stationery enemy and these are split up between  immediate and lagged if the enemy is close (as it moves in a boomerang fashion). Performs better in terms of number of hits when activated from afar without an attack intro. Works better in game throwing this from long range, but as is there isn't a great way to work this into a combo at all.
Lightning Chain (4 CP) - No knockdown, but kind of shit damage (30% a hit?). Can't see any DL practical use for this.
Mirror Slice (8 CP,+2.5% HP)- Knocks Down at the end. Doesn't work well when paired alone, but a quick weak attack to fill the void works well. (7150)
Divine Wrath (7 CP)- Middle kind of knocks down oddly, but it's comboable

Alternate Combos:
Shockwave-->Mirror Slice- Good combo. Mirror Slice knocks down, but Shockwave is a good intermediate so that a a rising enemy is facing another Mirror Slice (enough at the part where it starts tying the enemy up) (1.25/1.6, 3,900 Base)

Peppita- L65

HP: 12,076 (90.1%)
MP: 2,285
Att: 1540 (260)
Def: 262 (102)
Agl: 380 (315)
Hit: 465 (375)
Int: 650 (150)
Evasion: -13% (-8% with Kaboom)

Lunatic Shoes- 780 Attack, 90 Hit
Ablative Shield- 160 Def, 65 Agl
-->Elven Cloak- 39 Defense, 15 Agl, Absorbs Wind/Thunder

DL RELEVANT MOVES
Frozen Daggers (L6, 11 CP, No Intro; 2.75x)- 39,115 Ice Damage
-->68.6% Chance of Freeze (11 chances at 10%)
Weak Long->Kaboom (L5 Skill, 15 CP, 8 hits/3 hits/1 hit/1 hit)- 41,320 Physical
-->23% Instant Death (13 chances at 2%)
-->45,910 without No Guard
-->Kaboom is on both short and long strong
-->Prorated 10% with No Guard (Peppita's intro is generally pretty good at helping here as it tends to keep her away from attacks anyways)
Weak Long->Magic Hook->Faerie Friend (L6/L2, 15 CP, 0.5/0.7)- 55,555 HP Damage, 4,265 MP Damage
--->92.8% Turn 1 Speed
Weak Long->Power Dance->Faerie Friend (L7/L2, 12 CP, 1/0.4)- 48,710 HP Damage, 4,305 MP Damage
-->50.6% Turn 1 Speed (Another reason to use this in counter form)
-->69,585 HP, 6,145 MP Damage without No Guard Proration
-->Power Dance increases Peppita's Attack by 245%
-->Prorated by 30% for No Guard, which hurts it horribly. While her intro attack is good for avoiding attacks
-->Much more effective when used as a counter as it does 0.8 on the Faerie Friend and there's no No Guard penalty. This means that the damage on counter is 136,305 and 12,590 MP Damage

MOVE DESCRIPTIONS:
Weak Long- 140%, 5 Fury, Fury Drain
Magic Hook (2 CP, +5% HP, Normal on MP)- Good combo move. It's mults are good with 2 hits, but if you go for the 2 hits, it doesn't combo (And getting that second hit is unreliable). Doesn't also always combo well with itself because sometimes it misses when it's pushing/pulling enemies around.
Frozen Daggers (3 CP, +5% HP)- Good at hitting, but the slow start means that enemy needs to be pretty low on Fury. Not great at tying up enemies either. Doesn't combo well with the Counter (the weak move takes too long)
Instanto Blast (4 CP, +7.5% HP, -7.5% MP)- Good for a mid knockdown hit, but it has nothing approaching damage of any kind.
Fairie Friend (6 CP, +5% HP, -7.5% MP)- Amazing mults are balanced by a slow start up (it's somewhat impractical to chain after a basic physical as the enemy will so often recover Fury during that start up) and some knockdown (which actually also allows to enemy to recover Fury back). Might get 2 or so together in a combo, but that intro issue is notable. Probably better in a team setting...in a way. It's mults are obviously balanced with generalized hitting issues.
Kaboom (5 CP, +5% HP) – Knockdown and Knockback (but not 100% on the knockback). Need in long and short, and it's vary dependent on enemy recovery time. Not great against large enemies.Number of hits varies on enemy hit boxes (I've seen a max of 10). (8/3/1/1; You can put Kaboom on Weak Long and Short or Strong Long and Short, but either one has issues due to unreliability of how far enemy will be knocked back)

Dances- MT effects that take forever to resolve. Power Dance has it's full effect immediately, but the other dances need to play out to get their full effect. Would be amazing if you could cancel back to her basic stance, but you can only cancel into another special move (doesn't work out too well). There are a few invincible frames at the beginning, but they really don't help.

Power Dance- Amazing MT damage boost. This would be amazing for Peppita...if it didn't leave a large time gap for the enemy to either wander away or for the enemy to hit her out of it.
Panic Dance- Awesome chance of MT Confusion. However, it ties her up for a while and enemies often retain the last AI action they were going to take, so it's not really a DL move. Very cool in game with allies supporting you though.
Healing Dance- Cool MT Healing. Just like the other dances, which isn't really comboable.

Alternate Combos:
Instanto Blast->Fairie Friend- Sometimes it works well, sometimes enemies will wallop you in between the two moves (or in the middle of the first!). Inability to equip No Guard does make this just worse overall than Magic Hook->Fairie Friend
Instanto Blast->Frozen Daggers- Not great against large enemies as its not at all good at tie up. Not tested against all enemies, but it's not getting better Ice damage (or really much better damage overall) than just Frozen Daggers spam.
Instanto Blast->Kaboom- Too many range issues from Kaboom's unpredictable level of knockback. Would need the CP to have both in both long and short slots.
Magic Hook-Kaboom- Too much down time to work. Enemies will often be ready to attack before the second Kaboom rendering the chain fairly irrelevant.

Counter: Peppita can counter by pressing weak button during an enemy physical attack. She gets some invincible frames, then tries to knock the enemy into the air. The timing is relatively forgiving, especially against slow attacks. She can combo out of it for about generally increased damage (if going for FF combos) If an attack is much longer than normal and decent speed (say 2x normal hits, it should get through. So for example, in SO 2, the average hits is around 4. So Mirror Slice and Ripper Blast get through, but Illusion wouldn't (at least due to hits. It won't be 100% since it's not slow. On the other hand, Dekar's 2 swing physical should get through, except he's so slow, that a lot of the times it won't. As such, this is a large judgement call). Her counter does have 16% chance a hit (2 hits) of Confuse, but this wears off pretty quickly (so no real use)

Percentage chance of Working versus Enemy Speed (My own gutcheck)
120%- 0%
115- 12.5%
110- 25%
105- 37.5
100%- 50%
95%- 62.5%
90%- 75%
85%- 87.5%
80%- 100%

Roger- L68

HP: 15,975 (119.3%)
MP: 1,895
Att: 2032 (332)
Def: 388 (188)
Agl: 424 (344)
Hit: 432 (392)
Int: 609 (109)
Evasion: -8%

Paladin's Helm- 1200 Attack, 40 Hit
Astral Armor- 240 Def, 80 Agl, Immune Stone/Freeze, 30% chance of nulling magic/special attacks by mage type enemies (still trying to figure out exactly who is encompassed)

DL RELEVANT MOVES
Long Weak->Whirling Heat->Raging Helmet (15 CP, L7/L3, L3 Crit, 2/2): 129,920 Physical Damage
-->87.9% Turn 1 Speed
-->Maybe about 10% chance of Confuse being inflicted and lasting beyond the combo.
Long Weak->Whirling Heat->Piercing Claw (13 CP, L8/L6, L3 Crit, 1/2.67x): 75,870 Physical Damage, 5,175 MP Damage
-->87.9% Turn 1 Speed
-->21% chance of Confuse (1 chance at 21%)
Long Weak->Fiery Fury->Raging Helmet (14 CP, L5/L2, 1.608/1.16): 85,930 (44,255 Earth)
-->98.2% Turn 1 Speed
-->101,905 (52,605) before No Gurad Proration
--Prorated 15% for No Guard. Once the combo gets rolling, you do not see it interrupted a lot because it has a lot of range effects. However, with large enemies, you'll start to see some issues.
Long Weak->Piercing Claw->Raging Helmet (15 CP, L7/L2, L3 Crit, 2.33/1.33): 107,385 Physical Base, 3,230 MP
-->92.8% Speed Turn 1

MOVE DESCRIPTIONS:
Weak Middle-Long- 100%, 12 Guts, Has chance of damaging Fury
Fiery Axe (2 CP)- Egregiously slow start up allows for massive Guts regeneration or Roger to be hit easily. Not worth being considered in any real way in a duel.
Whirling Heat (2 CP, +5% HP)- Slight lag time, but excellent weak combo move. Too weak to be considered using it just by itself. Not very usable on strong as enemies who are knocked down don't take any damage (so no Fury damage is done)
Land Mines (4 CP)- In the DL, enemies won't walk into this.
Flying Torpedo (4 CP)- Massive, massive recovery time+knockdown. This sounds like it should work, but the knockdown happens after the massive recovery time. Could perhaps work on strong with a weak Whirling Heat or something if he needs the MP damage, but it doesn't work comboed into itself at all.
Piercing Claw (4 CP,+5% HP, -7.5% MP)- Knockdown, would be fantastic otherwise. Not workable alone, but maybe with a weak intro.
Fiery Fury (4 CP, +5% HP)- Knockback, Knockdown if last hit lands, but Roger is wide open if it doesn't land. Combos well with Raging Helmet, but it's yet another base Roger attack that is absolutely meant to be comboed with something else.
Shield and Cannon (8 CP)- Bad damage, high Fury, high CP, surprisingly slow. Not even worth consideration with how bad it is. Maybe it's good at L8. Maybe.
Raging Helmet (6 CP, +5% HP)- Good damage, a bit slow. Allows for some Guts bar regain, but it's not bad. Certainly the only attack Roger has that can be chained into itself twice for some real damage.
It also slowly knocksback the enemy so they will eventually be out of range (At best, 2 of 5; 2,179 Base; Not too thoroughly tested)

Alternate Combos:
Whirling Heat->Fiery Fury- Good when the combo works, but bad when Fiery Fury doesn't sent the enemy airborne or when the knockdown timing is a little off and the follow up Whirling Heats don't connect. Not thoroughly tested, but isn't really the best Earth damage combo due to randomly struggling against a good number of enemies.
Whirling Heat->Flying Torpedo- This could be a combo....if the first Flying Torpedo didn't have a tendency to miss due to Whirling Heat pushing the enemy around. Easy testing at least!

Sophia- L65

HP: 11,115 (83%)
MP: 2,769
Att: 1,232 (232)
Def: 194 (64)
Agl: 391 (301)
Hit: 407 (367)
Int: 965 (315)
Evasion: 9% under Explosion (Didn't test anything else)

Adept's Staff- 500 Attack, 150 Int, 6 Hit
Wizard's Robe- 130 Def, 80 Agl
-->Elven Cloak- 39 Defense, 15 Agl, Absorbs Wind/Thunder

DL RELEVANT MOVES
Short Weak->Charge (x2)- 12,675 Physical, 1,125 MP
-->Gets No Guard
Deep Freeze (15 CP, L5 Skill, 3x, 436 MP)- 21,275 Ice Magic
-->128.5% Turn 1 Speed
-->79.4% Chance of Inflicting Freeze upon an enemy (15 Chances at 10%)
-->Gets Quick Cast
Attack->Efreet (15 CP, L6 Skill, 3 of 4, 291 MP)- 27,605 Fire Magic+1,759 Physical
-->92.8% Turn 1 Speed
-->Gets No Guard (Since it's short range only and using an intro physical, this is probably more necessary than Quick Cast under some scenario where this is DL useful, which I can't really figure out)
Laser Beams (14 CP; L4, 3x, 631 MP)- 36,315 Magic
Explosion (14 CP; L4 Skill, 2.5x, 1280 MP Cost)- 61,640 Fire Magic
-->92.8% Turn 1 Speed
-->Sophia can start acting again 7!!!!! seconds before the enemy can. This means that she can easily use another combo before the enemy moves. When she uses this combo consecutively, the damage of the 2nd one is better (she'll get in the full 3 of 3 of the combo instead of 2.5 and she can chain it into her weak short) and will do 91,625 Fire Magic and 1,200 Physical. This combines for a total combo of 154,465 (that just leaves her unable to do anything but basic physicals)
-->Sophia's Strong Short does 6,720 damage, which is the best follow up to blowing all of her MP (it's not fast though)
*Blood Scylla (14 CP; L1; 2x, 1,020 MP Cost)- 7,560 Draining Damage, 2,645 MP Draining Damage
-->75.9% Turn 1 Speed

MOVE DESCRIPTIONS:
Short Weak: 100, 5 Fury
Long Weak: 0.5 HP, 0.2 HP, 5 Fury, Silence
Long Strong: 1 HP, 0.3 MP, 12 Fury, Silence
Firebolt (2 CP)- Can combo, not great at tying up enemies, not especially quick
Lightning Blast (3 CP, Can only be set on Short Range)- Sophia's comes out slowly and it's short range only, so for her this isn't worth any consideration.
Ice Needles (2 CP)- Decent casting time, decent tie up (70% hit rate SR; 30% LR) (In chaining 6 LR, 4 SR)
Earth Glaive (3 CP, Can only be set on Short Range)- It's a tad laggy and the tie up doesn't really seem great (4 of 6)
Efreet (5 CP)- Least laggy! SR only skill (Can use attack); 3 of 4 (Assuming 4 hits; it can get more despite description in FAQs, which helps against larger enemies)
Thunder Flare (4 CP)- Decent. It's a long animation, and you can't chain until it ends. Large enemies aren't tied up though. 13 hits (3 big ones, 9 at 1/10 their power, 1 final at 1.5 their power) (13,620 Damage at 291 MP; about 18HKO). (3 of 4)
Stone Rain (5 CP)- Slow to start, but once it gets going, it's okay at tying at least some enemies up (18,865 damage for 436 MP). (2.33 of 3)
Deep Freeze (6 CP)- A tad slow, but decent at tying up enemies making for an okay combo (3 of 4)S
Laser Beams (7 CP, L4)- Laggy start (but this semi balances with casting at a distance), but once it hits it has great tie up with allows for good comboing. 3x
Explosion (7 CP)- Like fire based Stone Rain animation better, but much better at tying up when it gets going. Ties up enemies a lot. I'm assuming that on the first move only the first 5 hits connect, but after that it's generally pretty good. Note that there's a lot of enemy that nulled fire in my tests, so this isn't 100% perfect. (2.5 of 3)
Lightning Strike (8 CP, )- Not bad, although going out of it's a bit laggy. Has the same combo issues as Thunder Flare, so it's not going to get max in a combo whatever it is paired with
*Blood Scylla (7 CP)- Doesn't work with an intro attack (it rather keep the range) and little hop at the end can mess with combos sometimes. (2 of 3)

[Dhyerwolf]

Averages
HP Damage
Fayt- 167,215
Roger 129,920
Maria- 125,015
Nel- 99,010
Cliff- 89,605
Albel- 81,005
Mirage- 79,520
Peppita- 55,555
Sophia- 43,335 (Over 3 attacks due to not enough MP to use Explosion combos 3 times)
Adray- 32,385
Average: 90,256.5 (225,641.25 Kill Point)

MP Damage
Cliff- 8,620 (10,500 prorated 17.9%)
Nel- 8,070 ((10,105-1,110) prorated 23.3%+1,110)
Mirage- 7,625 ((8,985-2,265) prorated 20.2%+2,265)
Albel- 5,810 (8,010 prorated 10%, then prorated 19.4%)
Peppita- 4,265
Roger- 3,020 (5,175 prorated by 41.6%)
Maria- 2,170 (3,390 prorated 36%)
Fayt- 1,430 (2,875 prorated 50.3%)
Adray- 1115 (2,485 prorated 24.9%)
Sophia- 215 (1,125 prorated 80.8%)
Average: 4,234 (10,585) (4,970.5 with 12,426 without Proration)

HP
Cliff- 16,128
Roger- 15,975
Fayt- 14,768
Albel- 14,000
Mirage- 13,085
Nel- 12,925
Adray- 12,468
Peppita- 12,076
Maria- 11,414
Sophia- 11,115
Average: 13,395

MP
Maria- 2,813
Sophia- 2,769
Adray- 2,525
Nel- 2,423
Peppita- 2,285
Albel- 2,204
Fayt- 2,130
Mirage- 1,950
Roger- 1,895
Cliff- 1,875
Average: 2,287

Attack
Roger- 2,032
Cliff- 1,815
Albel- 1,743
Mirage- 1,728
Nel- 1,689
Fayt- 1,668
Maria- 1,593
Peppita- 1,580
Adray- 1,586
Sophia- 1,382
Average: 1,690

Def (4x Mult)
Fayt- 445 (-309 Damage or -5.8% off average attacks)
Roger- 428 (-261 Damage or -4.9% off average attacks)
Cliff- 407 (-202 Damage or -3.8% off average attacks)
Albel- 373 (-107 Damage or -2% off average attacks)
Mirage- 355 (-43 Damage or -0.85 off average attacks))
Nel- 335 (-1 Damage or average)
Maria- 296 (+108 Damage or +2% to average attacks)
Peppita- 262 (+204 Damage or +3.8% to average attacks)
Adray- 252 (+232 Damage or +4.3% to average attacks)
Sophia- 194 (+394 Damage or +7.4% to average attacks))
Average: 334.7

Agl
Albel- 488
Cliff- 467
Nel- 465
Maria- 449
Roger- 424
Mirage- 407
Fayt- 405
Adray- 404
Sophia- 391
Peppita- 380
Average: 428

Hit
Albel- 479
Maria- 473
Peppita- 465
Nel- 440
Cliff- 438
Roger- 432
Fayt- 420
Sophia- 407
Adray- 406
Mirage- 405
Average: 436

Int
Sophia- 945
Adray- 851
Maria- 697
Nel- 690
Peppita- 650
Fayt- 629
Mirage- 612
Roger- 609
Cliff- 607
Albel- 596
Average: 688.6

[Dhyerwolf]

Saving just in case

[Dhyerwolf]

Ditto

[Dhyerwolf]

So what's not currently in the topic:
Silence (Testing and Duration)
HP Loss from Tech Notes (I don't actually consider this because it's not very relevant in game. If you did, it would have two major effects. 1: Damage averages would fall because you would need to prorate for HP loss. 2. Healing would greatly improve).
MP Loss from Spell Usage (This I do consider, because unlike the more trivial HP loss, MP loss can be much more substantial and can't be healed by AI)
Speeds beyond turn 1
Some Adray/Sophia spell stuff (especially regarding Sophia's Explosion)

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

That's some great work. Weird to see Nel dealing only slightly above average damage and Fayt having game-best offense, though Maria being near the top of the damage curve feels a lot more like what she does in-game.

[Dhyerwolf]

Side Kick has the great advantage of running up the combo meter insanely fast (and due to the invincible frames, can sometimes run into 100% Guts guard on some enemies and keep the combo going. It also fares extremely well against any enemy bigger than medium-large, which is also a great boon).

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

Yeah, Side Kick being obscene does make sense! I did have -some- trouble with its frames sometimes, but when I got a spam chain going, it was beautiful.

(EDIT: Also, Adray having near game-worst MP damage makes me gleeful.)

(EDIT #Greftar: I also may start nomming Maria every chance I get just for the endless Stephin Merritt references, considering how much of a money move Magnetic Field turned out to be.)

[Clear Tranquil]

Oh wow this is finally up!~ Massive props for all the work and everything that went into this Dhyer 

Did you take notes for Peppita's strong/O counter? It isn't comboable (except as a chain counter/into itself, counter O, counter O, etc gets her through Insanity Prelude, etc) but it's more hits/longer invincibility frames/better base damage with Increase HP/Increase MP damage (and can be buffed through ranged Power Dance > Magic Hook for further damage on the counters since Power Dance buff remains for a time after Peppita stops dancing/it stacks). Though I don't know/not sure if counter X/weak > Healing/Panic/Magical Dance would be better for the invincibility (and uhh either way she kind of -needs- all the survivability she can get to hit that freeze, for all that about 50% is T1 status for me personally >_>)

Also since SO3 confuse/chaos is fatal (death when HP/MP drain hits 0 HP/MP) not sure why relevant characters can't just continuously apply it for a chaos lock barring move cost limitations or something.

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

If a counter isn't comboable, it's downright DL-worthless. Middle-end four-digit damage when the averages approach -six- digits? That doesn't even 2HKO VP1 Hrist. Of the 0.1x PC HP.