Tokyo Xanadu - Placeholder soon to evolve

[Tide]

Yes, yes, EX+ is coming out sometime later in the year and will probably overtake this akin to how we have a CS2 topic but not a CS1 topic. I digress though, since an earlier version of the topic can still have value (and in CS1's case would have helped a certain character). So yeah, I'm starting up a topic for this game if nothing else as a placeholder. That way if someone else decides to create an EX+ topic, there is already some basics that this one would cover as well as any DL translation issues. Of course, this topic will have its own entries and data as well (since there doesn't seem to be one online).

Game Flow:
The flow of Xanadu is very similar to that of Cold Steel except having things maybe done a little out of order. Game is divided into overall 10 chapters (last one being a bonus) and each chapter goes through several phases: An introductory phase, a free phase, and then an operation phase. The introductory phase leads off the chapter and plays out what the episode will be about. The free phase occurs immediately after, which allows the player to explore the town, complete quests, talk to PCs and the like. When the player decides that they are done with the free phase, they can proceed to the chapter's event trigger and begin the operation phase. The operation phase brings the story forward and has several different objectives that the player is required to do, usually involving at least one dungeon and at least one boss. When that is completed, the game will play out the end of the episode and the next chapter starts.

The operation phase will require players to explore at least one new dungeon (in later chapters, often more than that). For about 85% of the game, you can select 3 characters to explore a dungeon with but you can only control one at a time. Switching between the 3 characters while exploring the dungeon is an integrated mechanic and one you are actively encouraged to do. Within the dungeon, the player is required to go through multiple obstacles and enemies. In some areas of a dungeon, the game will force an encounter and require the player to defeat the enemies. At the end of a dungeon, there will often be a boss creature that needs to be defeated before it is considered complete.

During combat, players will use their active character and various attacks to defeat the enemies. You have basic attacks, which can be performed at any time and special attacks, which requires the use of your special gauge. The special gauge will recharge with time, at a relatively quick pace. Between the two types, specials are more damaging so you will be using them quite often during any fighting. If your active character runs out of HP, your partner characters will sub in and become the active one. Dungeon progression continues until you either reach the end and defeat the boss or your entire party's HP is reduced to 0.

Attacks
All characters have the same command inputs for attacks (think Smash). Just that attacks between characters are all a little different in either animation or property. As such taking what a DL legal turn should be is both easy and hard at the same time. It's easy because whatever you choose will be homogenized between the cast and you just grab those numbers from everyone. It's hard because there is no active turn counter or timer to use between the characters as base.

For the record, I would imagine taking average damage to be something along the lines of basic combo until finisher, then charged attack. This seems to be largest attack chain you can get but even this is a little fuzzy because enemies in this game do not regularly flinch when hit. The attacks which everyone has available:

Base combo - These are your regular attacks on the ground and run off your physical attack power. Every base combo has a finishing hit after about 3-4 attacks. After the finisher, you are vulnerable for a very brief amount of time during recovery.

Base aerial - Your normal attack while in the air. Unlike the base combo, base aerials tend to be only 1-2 hits each. The only character who kind of breaks this mold I believe is Rion.

Ranged attack - A projectile attack that runs off your special gauge and is determined by your ranged attack power. These are basically spammable, with low recovery and relatively low special cost. Their disadvantage is that without locking on, they tend to be inaccurate (DL irrelevant for the most part) and they tend to be the weakest of the three specials.

Charged attack -  A big powerful attack that takes a second or two to charge up but deals a lot of damage and often has a special property or two. These tend to cost the most special meter and have a longer start up before execution. Some of them also have a notable lag period to make up for the power.

Aerial Dash attack - A rushing, charging attack that hits multiple times. Some characters need a slight wind up for this (Mitsuki), others do not (Rion). They tend to leave you vulnerable during the end, but less so during initiation.

X-Strike - A super attack that uses a special icon that is different from your special gauge. The gauge is broken into 6 segments and is shared by the party. You can stock up to 2 supers at a time.  It takes about 5 completed attacks to fill one segment (so 30 total attacks to complete a gauge). You get more super meter the longer you've built up your combo counter. For the most part they are all the same AFAIK. They do big damage (usually full screen) and you are invincible while it is executing. Of note is that in-game, you can get a supporting character in the party to co-op use their super attack as well. This does not consume extra gauge and has the added effect of essentially doubling your damage. For DL purposes, this is obviously irrelevant. Why would you ever not do this in-game? Well, mainly because the option to co-op is locked behind your Soul Level/Affection with that character. It is a non-issue late game but matters early on.

X-Drive - A third gauge that is charged whenever specials are performed. When this one is full, characters can enter Drive mode, which gives them unlimited special power, increased HP regen and every attack gets the weakness bonus (50% more damage). As a side note, characters that have reached Soul Level 2 also receive another secondary boost which is dependent on the element that a character has set. See below. Drive mode only lasts for a short time (about 10 seconds).

Element Bonus:
Fire - +25% Crit
Spirit (Ice) - Regens up to 50% Max HP
Steel (Earth) - Reduces incoming damage to 10% of their original value
Wind - Speeds up the rate of acquiring X-Strike meter by 4x
Shadow - Special Damage increases by 15%

If this all sounds complicated, you don't need to worry because Drive Mode's application in the DL is extremely niche and pretty much limited to only 2 characters. This is because the Drive gauge charges extremely slowly. The normal way to gain Drive gauge according to the in-game manual is to either break objects or to damage enemies. However, the drive gauge gain from damage is pitiable - you're more likely to defeat the enemy before building up 1%. To put things more into perspective, I was going through a late game dungeon and killed like 7 enemies and only got 35% of the Drive gauge charged. Note that you get a bigger bonus on kills so yeah, these two methods are pretty much non-existent for DL purposes. The last method is to equip a S.Rare element which will charge the gauge periodically. The catch to that is that the charge rate is very slow, so only stallers will really be able to access this. Still, it's documented if it ever comes up.

Element Grid
Every character has a separate grid which they can use to fit elements. These are the equivalent of like quartz in Trails game or Materia in FF7. Like Trails, characters often have an elemental restriction on some part of the grid. The exception to this rule is Kou who doesn't have any restriction. You can take this one of two ways, either Kou can get access to any combo of two elements OR he gets jack all. Both of these I can see as reasonable interps. The big takeaway though is that that not all characters can take advantage of the same build (whether due to restrictions or number of available slots), and as in the CS2 topic, this will be taken into consideration.

Element grids between characters have 2 parts that are the same. 3 three passive skills (Combo Boost, Auto Recovery and Brave Soul. Auto Recovery is useless for the DL while Brave Soul is basically P4 Endure BS. I will not be considering these since the skills are the same regardless of character) and a Master Core which determines that character's elemental affinity. Elemental affinity is a big part of the game which is meant to force you to swap between characters since each character can only be of one element at a time. Every PC has only two elements they can choose sans Kou, who can use any element. When set, the Master Core infuses the PC with that element on attack and on defense (which gives them some resistance to attacks of the same typing). These choices will be listed, along with their primary element. Note that you can equip the same master core on two different characters in game, so the only restriction should be limited to just what element they can set.

As for what elements are allowed, that gets interesting. Unlike CS2 where the limiting factor to rare and S.rare stuff was from U.Materials, in Xanadu, the limiting factor is actually money. Sure, some elements require the combination of other parts, but many of these parts can actually be purchased with cold, hard cash either at the Antique shop or other facilities. Equipping an entire party with a full set of S.Rare elements is actually really hard so that's one factor to consider. Another interesting element is that the number of nodes available for each character is different. For example, Sora has only 4 nodes but Yuuki has 6. This is a distinct advantage/disadvantage that should be reflected in someway for the DL. It doesn't have to come down to money but it is the most obvious solution. Another method similar to CS2 is to restrict the elements that can be equipped to just their typing and allow them something  like 2 S.Rare for the locked nodes, and just normal/rare for the other open slots.

For the record, here's the list of available elements that the PCs can equip. Note that you cannot equip 2 elements of similar types - meaning that you cannot equip 2 Shield elements, 2 Raid elements, 2 status attack elements and so on:

FIRE
- Force III - Atk +20
- Mayhem III -  Atk+ 16, MAtk+16
- Fire Raid III - Increases fire attribute, increasing damage to Wind type enemies  by 30%
- Fire Shield III - Increases fire defense, reducing damage from Wind elements by 60%
- Fire Blade III - 45% chance of adding 'Burn' Status per hit
- Double Axe - Crit Rate +12%. Weaker versions of this exist and boost crit by 8%
- Suzaku - Increases Crit Damage by 50%. Weaker version of this exist and boost Crit Damage by 25%
- Hyobi - Increases Damage dealt by 25% when at max HP
- Shishiou - Increases X-Drive duration by 50%
- Ryuuki - Charges X-Drive gauge without action. 1% is charged every 2 seconds (Full bar in 3 minutes 20 seconds)

SPIRIT (Ice)
- Life III - Max HP+400
- Ryujin III - Max HP+200, Def/MDef+24
- Spirit Raid III - Increases Spirit attribute, increasing damage to Fire type enemies by 30%
- Spirit Shield III - Increases Spirit defense, reducing damage from Fire Elements by 60%
- Spirit Blade III - Adds 'Frozen' status at a 30% chance per hit
- Arc Bolt - Increases Ranged attack damage by 30%. Weaker versions of this exist and increases ranged attack damage by 20%/10% instead.
- Holy Blessing - 25% more gem drops (money). YESZ
- Murasame - Max HP+800, reduces status conditions to 1/10th their duration. Weaker version of this exists and boost HP by 400 and cuts status ailment duration by 1/2.
- Seiryu's Scale - Constantly regens HP at a very rapid rate (11.11 HP/sec). A weaker version of this exists (8.33 HP/sec)
- Archer's Marksmanship - Increases Ranged attack damage by 100% but decreases other specials to 50% of their power.

WIND
- Veil III - Mdef+45
- Thunder III - MAtk+32, Mdef+32
- Wind Raid III - Increases Wind affinity, increasing damage dealt to Steel type enemies by 30%
- Wind Shield III - Increases Wind defense, decreasing damage dealt by Steel elements by 60%
- Wind Blade III - Adds 'Paralysis' at a 30% rate per hit.
- Hawk Wing -  Increases damage dealt by Flying specials by 30%. Weaker version of this exists and increases Flying special damage by 20%/10%
- Kusanagi - Increases chances of getting enemies to flinch by 60%
- Byakko - Collects items with a bigger radius
- Full Gallop - Increases Movement speed. The slower the character, the more pronounced effect
- Joy of Flight - Increases flight specials by 100% but decreases power of other specials by 50%

STEEL (Earth)
- Shield III - Def+40
- Adamantine III - Atk/Def+24
- Steel Raid III - Increases Steel affinity, increasing damage dealt to Spirit type enemies by 30%
- Steel Shield III - Increases Steel defense, decreasing damage dealt by Spirit elements by 60%
- Steel Blade III - Adds 'Unburden' at a 45% rate per hit.
- Sledgehammer - Increases damage from Charged specials by 30%. Weaker versions of these exist and boost charge damage by 20%/10%
- Kotetsu - Gives the character 'Iron Stance' preventing them from being knocked down
- Genbu Shell - Nulls damage received 20% of the time. Weaker version of this exists and blocks damage 10% of the time.
- Fortitude - When HP is 80% or higher, damage taken reduced by 50%
- Position of Strength - Increases damage from Charged specials by 100%, but reduces damage from other specials by 50%

SHADOW
- Wand III - MAtk+40
- Shadow Raid - Increases Shadow affinity, increasing damage dealt to Shadow type enemies by 30%
- Shadow Shield III - Increases Shadow defense, decreasing damage dealt from Shadow elements by 60%
- Poison Blade III - Adds 'Poison' status at a 45% chance per hit
- Shadow Blade III - Adds 'Blind' status at a 45% chance per hit
- Chaos Mirage - Def/MDef+50, Greatly improves invincibility from dodging.
- Ikagura - Increases combo counter at 3x the normal rate
- Moonlight - Reduces damage by 50% when sprinting
- Onimaru - Absorbs 6% of damage dealt as HP recovered. Weaker version of this exists and absorbs 3% damage instead.
- Yatagarasu - Increases damage dealt by 50% if enemies is suffering from a status effect

This topic will be taking characters with combinations of the two elements within their grid. The locked nodes will be at S.Rare while other nodes will be regular/rare elements of the PC's typing.


Equips
All PCs will want a copy of the last storebought armor and footwear available - Variable Gear. These are a little expensive, but its affordable for the entire party even without grinding. The equip gives them good defensive scores, some boost to offense and a HP boost as well. If you are the type that likes to see random plot stuff as character specific, Kou has an argument for the strongest footwear and armor in the game as only he can initiate the process to get this (through his personal parameters).

As for status blockers, there is only one the PCs want: the Mythology Locket. It boosts a fair bit of defensive stats (HP notably) and blocks all status. End of story. It costs 10,000 Yen, which in game, is not super cheap but at the same time, not super expensive either. If you are willing to forgo some last minute element boosts for example, outfitting your entire party with these isn't unreasonable. With that in mind, PCs still have 1 free accessory slot which should be able to fit anything else they can legally set (for the record, I can't think of anything). If for some reason they have to remove the Mythology Locket, it costs them 800 HP, 40 Def/Mdef and some offensive stats. Needless to say, they will never want to do this.


Status Effects
Poison - Reduces HP in periodic intervals
Burn - Reduces HP at a constant rate. Functionally is the same as Poison, just different element and maybe more damage overtime.
Unburden - Reduces movement speed by ~70%
Frozen - Cannot move or attack
Paralysis - Cannot attack
Blind - Reduces screen visibility and character receives a hit penalty
Instant Death - This is more of a plot trick than an actual status, but the mechanics of it do exist. In the game, only the final boss has this attack and it's used to eliminate your entire party until you are down to 3 characters (which is used for the final phases of the fight) at which point it stops being used. Works the exact same way as ID in other games.

Stats
HP - The relative amount of damage a character can take before they are incapacitated.
SP - The special gauge which is shared universally between the party. SP does not grow but powering up abilities reduces their cost, allowing you to use your specials more often.
Atk - Base physical power. Used for base physicals and most charged specials
Def - Base physical defense. Reduces damage from physicals
M.Atk - Base magic power. Used for base specials and air dash attacks
M.Def - Base magic defense. Reduces damage from magic

Range - How strong your regular base special is. Higher is better.
Power - How strong your charged physical is. Higher is better.
Flight - How strong your air dash attacks are. Higher is better.

Invisible Stats - These are notable characteristics about each PC but not listed in the game

Movement - How fast the character is at moving around on the field. To test this, I basically ran that a straight corridor with all 8 characters without holding down the run button. I used a timer to get a reading on how quickly each character was able to complete the straight dash. I chose this because it is the simplest method without introducing obstacles which can mix up the pathing/approach that can cause slow downs. Results are as follows:

1. Sora (10.82 seconds)
2. Asuka (10.92 seconds)
3. Rion (11.20 secondss)
4. Shio (11.30 seconds)
5. Kou (11.43 seconds)
6. Gorou (11.57 seconds)
7. Yuuki (11.58 seconds)
8. Mitsuki (12.18 seconds)

Average: 11.375 seconds

Attack Speed - How fast a character is at executing their attacks. This one is actually a little harder to measure because of the different attacks each PC can do. I will break this down into 4 separate parts which corresponds to the 4 attack types available (minus air normals). Attacks were timed from start to finish, until character regains control. Results:

Normal Combo Speed

1. Kou (1.63 seconds)
2. Asuka (2.02 seconds)
3. Sora (2.16 seconds)
4. Yuuki (2.25 seconds)
5. Mitsuki (2.65 seconds)
5. Gorou (2.65 seconds)
7. Rion (2.89 seconds)
8. Shio (3.5 seconds)

Average: 2.47 seconds.
NOTE - Kou's Normal combo is faster primarily due to only having 3 attacks instead of 4. On the other hand, Sora actually has 5 attacks in her normal combo. If you consider that, then Sora probably ends up faster since she gets in more hits per second. Shio also has 3 hits instead of 4, but he's already dead last, so this doesn't change much.

Ranged Attack Speed

1. Yuuki ( <0.5 seconds) - This was so fast that W-Split can't time it properly.
2. Asuka (0.71 seconds)
3. Sora (0.83 seconds)
4. Rion (1.05 seconds)
5. Mitsuki (1.13 seconds)
6. Kou (1.20 seconds)
7. Gorou (1.65 seconds)
8. Shio (2.21 seconds)

Average: 1.16 seconds

Charged Attack Speed

1. Asuka (1.15 seconds)
2. Gorou (1.23 seconds)
3. Kou (1.52 seconds)
4. Yuuki (1.74 seconds)
5. Rio (1.80 seconds)
6. Sora (1.81 seconds)
7. Mitsuki (1.83 seconds)
8. Shio (2.62 seconds)

Average: 1.71 seconds


Air Dash Attack Speed

1. Sora (1.47 seconds)
2. Yuuki (1.51 seconds)
3. Mitsuki (1.54 seconds)
4. Asuka (1.56 seconds)
5. Rion (1.62 seconds)
6. Kou (1.65 seconds)
7. Shioi (1.77 seconds)
8. Gorou (1.79 seconds)

Average: 1.61 seconds
NOTE - Includes for everyone about 1 second in the timer for jumping before dashing. If you take that 1 second out, then everyone's time drops by that second, which makes the differences more negligible.

Attack Range - Distance a character can cover with their attacks. Similar to above, this can be broken down into the 4 most frequently used attacks. Unlike the above, this was really tricky to quantify because enemies will move in this game so it's very tough to pin down specific distance units. Eventually, I came up with this idea:

In one of the dungeons, there is a circular area with a tile floor pattern and 8 boxes on the perimeter. This worked out great because the boxes are won't move, and the tiles gave me a unit of measure to determine how far away I can be before things were missing. It's not perfect (because there are obstacles in the center and the pattern doesn't extend to the center either), but it works pretty well in terms of gauging distances.

Results are as such:


Normal Attack Range

1. Gorou (14 Tiles)
2. Mitsuki (11 Tiles)
3. Kou (4 tiles)
3. Yuuki (4 tiles)
3. Sora (4 tiles)
3. Rion (4 tiles)
3. Shio (4 tiles)
8. Asuka (3.5 tiles)

NOTE - Kou's Normals actually arc, so at the very center, they gain a little distance (about 4.5), but not enough for a full tile. Gorou's Normals are weird. He has very long reach with his 1st and 4th attacks due to them being from his gun, but his 2nd and 3rd attacks (coming from his bayonet) have less range. Mitsuki has a more consistent long range pokes as she shoots energy spheres when she attacks. The actual staff of her attacks have the standard 4 reach. .


Charged Attack Range

1. Sora (6 Tiles)
2. Asuka (5 Tiles)
2. Shio (5 Tiles)
4. Rion (4 Tiles)
4. Kou (4 Tiles)
4. Yuuki (4 Tiles)
4. Mitsuki (4 Tiles)
4. Gorou (4 Tiles)

NOTE - Rion's Charged attack actually travels about 4 tiles. So it starts at 4 but moves to 8 tiles before stopping. Shio's Charged attack starts at 5 range, but the last hit has massive extension. It reaches up to about 11 tiles. He's listed as 5 though because he will want to get all the hits in if he's using a special, but just keep that in mind if you consider things like kiting.

Air Dash Range

1. Shio (13 Tiles)
2. Kou (11 Tiles)
2. Rion (11 Tiles)
2. Sora (11 Tiles)
5. Mitsuki (10 Tiles)
5. Gorou (10 Tiles)
7. Asuka (9 Tiles)
7. Yuuki (9 tiles)

NOTE - Length/range of dash doesn't correlate to attack speed. I suspect this has to do with the forward momentum gained from the air dash and how far each character rolls, or drops from recovery before returning to neutral.

Up next - Damage figures and set ups.

[Tide]

KOU TOKISAKA

Range: Average
Speed: Above Average (Good Combo and Charged Attack. Slower Movement + Air Dash speed)
Element Attribute: Any/Variable

Equipment:
* Shiranui's Clothing (+600 HP, +25 Atk, +45 Def, -15 M.Atk, -55 M.Def, +5% Crit)
* Tabi of a Hundred Nights (-5 Def, +40 M.Atk, +95 M.Def, +5% Crit)

* These can only be acquire by increasing Kou's personal parameters via Sidequests. They are gifted to him by his grandfather. This topic will assume Kou does not have these equipped. The stat change in brackets is what his stats will be at compared to the standard Variable Gear.

Raging Gear's Element Grid:
- 5 Free Nodes

Set Ups:

1) Attacker - Guinnungagap Master Core - Shadow Element
HP: 3796
Atk: 447
Def: 462
M.Atk: 362
M.Def: 400
Crit: 14% (26% from Elements)

Elements set -
Luminescence - Absorbs 3% damage dealt as HP
Hinezumi - Increases Crit Damage by 25% (175% total)
Hammer II - Increases Charged Attack damage by 20%
Double Axe  - Crit Rate +12%
Position to Strength - Increases Charged Attack damage by 100%, but cuts the power on Ranged/Air Dash damage

Attacks:
Combo: 3 hits, doing 370 + 400 +450 damage, for a total of 1220. First hit is a wide arc, second is a vertical chop and last one is a stab forward.
Ranged (Stinger): 300 Damage, 15 S{
Charged (Round Edge): 2 hits of 1800 damage or 3600 total. Hits in a wide area around Kou. If in the air, Kou will angle his attack towards the enemy automatically. 15 SP
Air Normal: 350 damage. Huge vertical tolerance
Air Dash (Anchor Slide): 4 hits of about 135 damage, for a total of 540 damage. 15 SP.

Super - Extend Gear - 3500 damage (hits entire screen)

Comments:
Kou's flexibility means he gets a lot of options for different set ups, but his most bread and butter is just straight damage. Brings the pain to the table with his very punishing Round Edge that hits for more damage than his super. Even better, it's executing off of one of his better attack speeds although the range is fairly average. He has some options here for the last slot, but I went with 3% draining because even though it's not much, it can end up mattering since it's still a small amount of healing every attack. With a notable crit rate and boosted crit damage, he'll crush opponents if they take too long to put him down. 

2) Stall - Mercurius Master Core - Spirit (Ice) Element

HP: 4196
Atk: 397
Def: 415
M.Atk: 402
M.Def: 440
Crit: 10%

Elements set -
Luminescence - Absorbs 3% damage dealt as HP
Thread of Life - Regens HP (8.33/sec)
Suiun - +400 HP, Status ailment duration is halved (already factored)
Ryuuki  - Automatically charges Drive gauge (1% every 2 seconds)
Genbu Shell - Nulls damage received 20% of the time

Attacks:
Combo: 3 hits, doing 370 + 400 +450 damage, for a total of 1220. First hit is a wide arc, second is a vertical chop and last one is a stab forward.
Ranged (Stinger): 600 Damage, 15 SP
Charged (Round Edge): 2 hits of 750 damage or 1500 total. Hits in a wide area around Kou. If in the air, Kou will angle his attack towards the enemy automatically. 15 SP
Air Normal: 350 damage. Huge vertical tolerance
Air Dash (Anchor Slide): 4 hits of about 270 damage, for a total of 1080 damage. 15 SP.

Super - Extend Gear - 3500 damage (hits entire screen)

Comments:
A much more defensively oriented set up that's meant to stall out opponents. Damage goes down significantly, but in turn, he gains Regen, 20% evade while keeping the draining. The big thing in this set up is being able to access X-Drive. With Ryuuki equipped, Kou can try waiting for X-Drive to kick in, at which point, he'll recover 50% of his Max HP and can still press offensively since he'll gain weakness bonus along with a variety of other effects. It's not a very common thing to happen, so this is really only reserved for cases where he wants to tank out the damage, then still have some gas left in the tank to win. Also of note is that this set up makes him further status resilient since those that the  Mythology doesn't cover will wear off twice as quickly. So if you're going to try that route to win, make sure you're using something that is permanent or instantly incapacitates.

Overall -
Kou's probably a High Middle of some variety. The stall game is niche, but it gives him a chance against fights where straight up damage won't win. Flip side, the sheer damage he does is quite good but it will come down to the rest of the cast to see where he ends up. Could make it up to Heavy, but really lacks tricks up there so he likely won't Champ. He can certainly put up a show if his damage ends up as good as it does on initial inspection though. The cast (and not just Kou) likes that the Mythology locket is affordable so it makes them all immune to a plethora of status. As an added bonus though for Kou, he can also equip elements that further reduce status duration so sticking him with negative effects are going to be very select. Changing his element affinity won't matter as much but it will make him harder to wall, so he should constantly be able to hit neutral - which is one thing his cast mates don't have on him.

ASUKA HIRAGI

Range: Below Average (1/2 a tile shorter)
Speed: Very Fast (Great Movement, Combo, Ranged and Charged Attacks. Only Slower on Air Dash - and even then is still average)
Element Attribute: Spirit/Shadow

Ecthelion Hearts's Element Grid:
- 1 locked Spirit Node, 1 locked Shadow node
- 3 Free Nodes

Set Ups:

1) Ranged Shooter - Mercurius Master Core - Spirit (Ice) Element
HP: 4112
Atk: 373
Def: 403
M.Atk: 447
M.Def: 458
Crit: 12%

Elements set -
Onimaru - Absorbs 6% damage dealt as HP
Thread of Life - Regens HP (8.33/sec)
Suiun - +400 HP, Status ailment duration is halved (already factored)
Bolt 2- Increases Ranged Attack damage by 20%
Soul of Archery - Increases Ranged Attack damage by 100%, but cuts the power on Charged/Air Dash damage

Attacks:
Combo: 4 hits, doing 270 + 300 +330 +350 damage, for a total of 1250. Last hit has a good deal of vertical reach since Asuka slashes towards the sky
Ranged (Splash Arrow): 5 hits of 250, total 1250 Damage, 10 SP
Charged (Crystal Sword): 3 hits of 290 damage or 870 total. Hits mainly in a vertical line. 15 SP
Air Normal: 2 hits of 330 damage.
Air Dash (Raging Blizzard): 4 hits of about 200 damage, for a total of 800 damage. 12 SP.

Super - Criminal Stigma - 3800 damage (hits entire screen)

Comments:
For those of you that consider range in DL fights, this is Asuka's go-to. It hits from a far distance away (about 14 tiles - same as Gorou's first Normal) so she'll get in 2-3 hits before the enemy reaches her. Like Kou, as an added bonus, it comes off of one of her faster attack speeds and is even more conservative on SP than her other specials. The notable downside of course is the lack of damage, so this set up isn't very good if you're the type that doesn't really consider range as a thing. Thankfully, she has a back-up option, which is probably her DL primary.


2) Status - Mercurius Master Core - Spirit (Ice) Element
HP: 4512
Atk: 373
Def: 403
M.Atk: 447
M.Def: 458
Crit: 12%

Elements set -
Luminescence - Absorbs 6% damage dealt as HP
Thread of Life - Regens HP (8.33/sec)
Murasame - +800 HP, Status ailment duration is cut by 9/10 (already factored)
Ice Sword 3 - 30% chance to Freeze target per hit
Yatagarasu - Increases Damage dealt by 50% if target is suffering from a status effect

Attacks:
Combo: 4 hits, doing 270 + 300 +330 +350 damage, for a total of 1250. Last hit has a good deal of vertical reach since Asuka slashes towards the sky
Ranged (Splash Arrow): 5 hits of 104 damage, total 520 Damage, 10 SP
Charged (Crystal Sword): 3 hits of 580 damage or 1740 total. Hits mainly in a vertical line. 15 SP
Air Normal: 2 hits of 330 damage.
Air Dash (Raging Blizzard): 4 hits of about 400 damage, for a total of 1600 damage. 12 SP.

Super - Criminal Stigma - 3800 damage (hits entire screen)

Comments:
Has an option to equip Blind vs. Freeze, but Freeze is less likely to be blocked at the cost of reduced status proc rate. Kind of worthwhile here though because both are going to be turn 1 under most interps. 5 hits with a 30% chance to proc means that there is only a 26% chance for Asuka to not freeze the target (so 74% chance to hit). Anyway, this set up for Asuka focuses less on damage (but still somehow ends up with more...) and more on outlasting until a Freeze proc. Once that happens, her damage will jump up before it wears out and she can lay on the pain. Helps also that Freeze will completely stop enemies from acting in  general, so it is quite powerful. The mild draining and regen can help her if she runs up against Freeze resistance and needs more turns before it hits.

Overall -
First set up is probably a Low Middle unless you count range as being a thing.  Then it's harder to tell because Asuka will get a few hits in before the enemy approaches. And if you consider kiting, then she can do it forever due to her good movement and attack speeds too. Heavy in this case. More suited for standard DL fare is set up 2, which is a High Middle/Low Heavy. Asuka wins in this set up against the Freeze vulnerable. It's not instant death, but it will let her pump up a lot of damage and she has a good chance of doing it. In a straight up slugfest, will probably end up losing since the damage isn't great and the mild healing won't buy her too much more time. She'll feel more like a Low Middle again if that happens.


SORA IKUSHIMA

Range: Average (Longest range on Charged, average everything else)
Speed: Very Fast (Great Movement, Combo, Ranged and Air Dash Attack Speeds. Slower on Charged Attack)
Element Attribute: Steel/Wind

Valiant Arm's Element Grid:
- 1 locked Steel Node, 1 locked Wind node
- 2 Free Nodes

Set Ups:

1) Power Attacker - Gjallarhorn Master Core - Steel/(Earth) Element
HP: 3588
Atk: 427
Def: 454
M.Atk: 354
M.Def: 436
Crit: 12%

Elements set -
Absolute Defense - Nulls damage received 10% of the time
Kusanagi - +60% Chance to cause enemies to flinch on hit
Hammer 2- Increases Charged Attack damage by 20%
Position of Strength - Increases Charged Attack damage by 100%, but cuts the power on Ranged/Air Dash damage by 1/2

Attacks:
Combo: 5 hits, doing 270 + 290 + 350 +370 +460 damage, for a total of 1740. Sora can usually get only 3 attacks off before enemies retaliate...so the flinch chance is good if she has to rely on her normals.
Ranged (Gale Fist): 1 hits of 200 damage, 12 SP
Charged (Savage Fist): 1 hit at 3780 damage. Hits in a fan shape in front of Sora. 20 SP
Air Normal: 2 hits of 450 damage. Note that Sora's air normals are "floaty" as in they make her hover over the ground when compared to say Kou's or Gorou's (where they just sink).
Air Dash (Soaring Assault): 5 hits of about 95 damage, for a total of 470 damage. 12 SP.

Super - Roaring Tempest - 3950 damage (hits entire screen)

Overall:
A little underwhelming, but that's also because of the lack of nodes on her Gear. Sora's a standard slugger who has less damage and tricks than Kou. About the only thing she wins is being faster and I'm not sure that the speed advantage she has is really enough. Kou's higher crit chance + draining probably makes for a better mix. If the damage holds up, is a Middle with no real tricks. If not, probably ends up being on the Light/Middle border.


YUUKI SHINOMIYA

Range: Slightly Below Average (Average sans Air Dash attack, which is below)
Speed: Fast (Ranged Attack is ridiculous. Fast Air Dash Attack and Normals. Slow Movement, Combo, and Charged Speeds)
Element Attribute: Spirit (Ice)/Steel (Earth)

Calvary Mace's Element Grid:
- 1 locked Steel Node, 1 locked Spirit node
- 4 Free Nodes

Set Ups:

1) Tanky All-Arounder - Mercurius Master Core - Spirit/(Ice) Element
HP: 4675
Atk: 351
Def: 390
M.Atk: 464
M.Def: 525
Crit: 12%

Elements set -
Life 3 - +400 HP (Already factored)
Murasame - +800 HP (Already factored), Status ailment duration is cut by 90%
Thread of Life - Regens HP (8.33/sec)
Hammer 2- Increases Charged Attack damage by 20%
Position of Strength - Increases Charged Attack damage by 100%, but cuts the power on Ranged/Air Dash damage by 1/2

Attacks:
Combo: 4 hits, doing 220 + 240 + 340 +370 damage, for a total of 1170.
Ranged (Lambda Shot): 1 hits of 220 damage, 8 SP. Yuuki can strafe while doing this attack, and it comes out very fast.
Charged (Grand Impact): 1 hit at 1000 damage + 1 hit at 2400 damage for a total of 3400. Yuuki actually deals less damage when striking with his mace- the 2400 damage comes from the area of effect aftershocks. Because he's pounding the ground with it, this AoE hits low and doesn't have good air tolerance. 15 SP
Air Normal: 2 hits of 350 damage.
Air Dash (Ideal Attack): 4 hits of about 110 damage, for a total of 440 damage. 12 SP.

Super - Variable Meteor - 4000 damage (hits entire screen)

Overall:
Well, Yuuki pretty much has a little of everything due to his 6 node advantage and having the best two elements to play around with. As a result, his HP is good and he deals respectable enough damage. He's also got that kiting game better than pretty much anyone else because he can strafe while doing it. With the added Freeze chances, he can just spam the attack until it procs, then go in for a few strong whacks and regen some damage. More complimentary to that would be Unburden to greatly slow down the movement of his enemies, preventing them from catching up. Like Asuka, he probably manages to make Low Heavy


SHIO TAKAHATA

Range: Average (Standard attack range sans Air Dash, which is game best)
Speed: Slow (Average Movement Speed, Slow/Slowest Attack Speed on all attack types)
Element Attribute: Fire / Wind

Vorpal Weapon's Element Grid:
- 1 locked Fire Node, 1 locked Wind node
- 3 Free Nodes

Set Ups

1) Brawler - Beowulf Master Core - Fire Element
HP: 3921
Atk: 461
Def: 455
M.Atk: 311
M.Def: 354
Crit: 10% (22% with elements)

Elements set -
Hinezime - Crit damage +25%
Double Axe - Crit +12% (Already factored)
Mayhem 3 - ATk/Mag +16 (Already factored)
Kusanagi - 60% Chance to cause enemies to flinch on hit
Lightning Sword III - 30% chance to Paralysis on target per hit

Attacks:
Combo: 3 attacks doing +630 +700 and the last hit doing +550 x2, for a total of 2430.
Ranged (Flare Slash): 1 hits of 750 damage, 25 SP. Attack is Piercing
Charged (Ignis Break): 1 hit at 700 damage + 2 hit at 1100 damage for a total of 2900. To get the latter 2 hits, enemies must in front of Shio although the first hit is a wide AoE that will hit behind. 25 SP
Air Normal: 1 hit of 570 damage.
Air Dash (Blast Edge): 4 hits of about 275 damage, for a total of 1100 damage. 25 SP.

Super - Crimson Blade - 3900 damage (hits entire screen)

Overall:
Probably the cast scrub, but even then, Shio isn't *that* awful. His big weakness is speed, since attack speed is the slowest in the game by far. In-game, he makes that up by having very high mults on his attacks (notice he doesn't have any of the double damage elements and still hits 2.9k damage). DL-wise, this advantage is not very well reflected. Instead what he does have is Paralysis status and a very powerful standard combo. It deals more than some characters' charged attacks and doesn't cost him any resources. Paralysis is potentially match ending since it stops the enemy from attacking during that time (although they can still move) but is probably more commonly blocked than Freeze. Most likely is a High Light of some sort. If he's lucky, might hit Low Middle if the damage curve sucks.


MITSUKI HOKUTO

Range: Long (Normal attack range has good reach due to projectiles. Other attack types are more average)
Speed: Slow (Below Average in every attack type sans Air Dash attack)
Element Attribute: Fire/Shadow

Mystic Node's Element Grid:
- 1 locked Shadow Node, 1 locked Fire node
- 4 Free Nodes

Set Ups:

1) Defensive - Ginnungagap Master Core - Shadow Element
HP: 3723
Atk: 397
Def: 446
M.Atk: 457
M.Def: 460
Crit: 14% (22% with elements)

Elements set -
Axe II - Crit +8% (Already factored)
Hinezumi - Crit damage +25%
Ryuuki - Charges X-Drive gauge without action. 1% is charged every 2 seconds (Full bar in 3 minutes 20 seconds)
Luminescence - Absorbs 3% damage dealt as HP
Yatagarsu - Deals 50% more damage if target is suffering from status
Shadow Sword III - 45% chance to Blind on target per hit

Ryuuki's worth is questionable since it charges up so slowly. However, it gives Mitsuki a trump card in longer stall type matches which she specializes in, so it's set up as her default. In other cases, she may prefer an additional 25% Crit Damage from Suzaku or +4% Crit from Double Axe

Attacks:
Combo: 4 attacks, doing 260 + 260 + 260 +390 damage, for a total of 1170. Mitsuki can hit with either her actual staff or from the balls of energy being shot but not both (so there's no sweet spot - just one attack).
Ranged (Innocence Edge): 6 hits of 150 damage, totaling 900. 15 SP.
Charged (Hermit Shell): 4 hit at 480 damage, total of 1920. After activation, creates a static shield around  Mistuki that will null the damage of one hit. In addition, it deals 200 contact damage every 3 seconds until it expires. 20 SP
Air Normal: 1 attack with 3 hits, doing 130 x3, total 390 damage.
Air Dash (Wonder Staff): 3 hits of about 380 damage, for a total of 1140 damage. 20 SP.

Super - Chaos El Dorado - 4200 damage (hits entire screen)

Overall:
She's a real oddball. Mitsuki isn't really about damage, even in game. Instead she's more about tiring and wearing you out. This is reflected in her set up here, Hermit Shell's unique property and her attack range. Boasting the second best attack range (which doesn't vary like Gorou's), Mistuki should be able to strike first despite low attack speed. Then, because her normal attack has so many hits, she's very likely to proc. one of the two status that's available to her, at which point, her damage takes a notable jump. With Hermit Shell, it let's her dodge big limit moves but also allows for some mean "hide behind invincible shield" type strategies against those without multi-hitting moves. Her problems other than speed are low damage and two elements that are somewhat more common. Should be interesting to see how she actually performs. Likely a Heavy of some variety due to Hermit Shell cheesing.


SAEKI GOROU

Range: Massive (Very long. Only average on Charged Attack)
Speed: Slow (Fast only on Charged attack. Everything else is near bottom on ranks)
Element Attribute: Fire/Steel (Earth)

Arc Trinity's Element Grid:
- 1 locked Steel Node, 1 locked Fire node
- 2 Free Nodes

Set Ups:

1) Smasher - Gjallarhorn Master Core - Steel/(Earth) Element
HP: 3940
Atk: 429
Def: 477
M.Atk: 393
M.Def: 462
Crit: 12% (24% with elements)

Elements set -
Double Axe - Crit +12% (Already factored)
Hinezumi - Crit damage +25%
Hammer 2- Increases Charged Attack damage by 20%
Position of Strength - Increases Charged Attack damage by 100%, but cuts the power on Ranged/Air Dash damage by 1/2

Gorou might consider Steel Sword 3 if you allow kiting. He's probably got the second best kiting game due to his enormous range and normal attack's properties.

Attacks:
Combo: 4 attacks, doing 300 + 200 + 250 +500 damage, for a total of 1250. Note a couple of things - first Gorou can wait out the first attack and instead of comboing, go straight back into it. This has the advantage of preserving his immense attack range. Second, many of Gorou's normals are actually made up of multiple small hits. In this case, his  first attack has 3 hits and his second and third have 2. This is important for status procing  (and why Steel Sword 3 words) as well as keeping mind of damage mitigation effects from other duellers (Melody and Jude spring to mind). Actually, his second and third attacks have better range then they appear - looks to be about 8 tiles worth of range.
Ranged (Force Barrage): 3 hits of 150 damage, totaling 450. 20 SP. This attack has piercing
Charged (Riot Buster): 1 hit at 4800 damage. 20 SP
Air Normal: 1 attack at 330 damage. Like his ground normal, is comprised of  3 hits
Air Dash (Burst Lance): 3 hits of about 130 damage, for a total of 390 damage. 20 SP.

Super - Chaos Disaster - 3800 damage (hits entire screen)

Overall:
Pretty much a better Sora. Like her, he only has 4 nodes - but they are in better elements, so Gorou ends up packing a nasty punch. His game is complementary. He can use his huge range to poke you and unless you have ranged attacks of your own, he can kite pretty effectively too once the slow effect procs. With that many hits on his normals, this happens pretty often. Assuming you get in (or don't allow kiting), then Gorou just pounds away with his halbard. It deals what appears to be game best damage and unlike everything else on his speeds, it comes out really *fast*. With the crit rate on it and added crit damage, I suspect he'll end up with a solid 2HKO on average and probably ends up as a High Middle/Low Heavy of some sort.