XF. The update that includes that battle.
2-3 (meowsery)
Vin: Secutor; Fantastica OC, Sentinel OC
Felius: Secutor; Halberdier OC
Levin: Elementalist: Martial Mage OC, Sacred Slayer OC
Levin is forced, Felius is forced but doesn't immediately appear on the field, so I can only control two PCs at first.
Everyone gets miseried at the start of this battle. Two ways to get around it, have Felius reappear and Status Absorb people, or have people die and get revived. Levin being a squishy underlevelled elementalist has this happen quickly enough, so from there on it's Levin providing healing and some blasting support (some Blast but mostly elemental) while Vin tanks. There are quite a lot of enemies here and this proves quite a grind; the initial rush is tricky to deal with, as are the Gadgeteers below. The secutors below prove easier because the cliff abuses them and then there's a sweet chokepoint where only one can attack. Finally I head up to the top area, which is I think what causes Felius to appear. So I should have done that earlier, oh well. Felius uses Status Absorb so Vin can start Heavy Striking things. Ending is sliiightly tense because Levin is out of MP, Felius is silenced, and Vin is out of VP/HP, but not really a big deal, Forcefield keeps Vin safe well enough. A much harder battle than I remember, but still the easiest battle in part 2 so far.
Third set of classes!
2-4 (the gate) (4 resets)
Remember how I said 1-14 was the hardest battle before the third set of classes? That's because I knew this came after that little benchmark. Hardest map so far? Oh yes. Hardest map in the game? I'm inclined to say yes, in a normal playthrough. We'll see here. This map actually doesn't get... -that- much harder with 3 PCs. It still gets harder, though, and it can ill afford to do so.
Clarissa: Geomancer; Elementalist OC, Sacred Slayer OC, Elementalist EQ (book)
Vin: Berserker; Fantastica OC, Sentinel OC
Labyrinthia: Gadgeteer; Arcanist OC, Elementalist EQ (book)
The main problem with this battle is just how hard the enemies hit. Sentinels have Heavy Strike, which hurts a fair deal, but even worse are the elementalists, who 2-shot Labby almost regardless of what class she is in and do a serious number on everyone else. I end up turning Clarissa into a geomancer for two reasons: their armour combined with her innate resistance lets her only be 4HKOed by elementalists, and Translate lets her skip quickly to the back of the map.
Vin is a berserker beacause their mobility is valuable for getting through the sentinels quickly. Also, a Charging Thrust from range 7 or 8 immediately drops an elementalist into critical. And she has tons of HP. She also casts Rush (as always) which is invaluable.
I play around with different classes for Labby, eventually settling on Gadgeteer. Although it doesn't have the movement and speed of Excavator, its Mystic is actually useful unlike Excavator's OC, as is its ability to carry items. Arcanist OC is there for Warp (after Rush, 10 panels of mobility is awesome) and Replica (basically cancels the turn of one enemy and, if it's a sentinel, pulls them out of the way).
The main strategy is to get everyone to the gate before criticalling the third enemy, then quickly make the escape before being overwhelmed by the reinforcements (the reinforcements include Geos with Shut Out, this is pretty instantly fatal without Dispel on hand). The other main part of the strategy which I eventually key in on is to NEVER enter the range of the elementalist on the left (further from the treasure chest where Clarissa warps in). Besides that, it's a matter of surviving as best I can and dropping guys into critical.
The escape itself is very risky, but by starting near the gate, it gets far easier. I have Labby toss a gem to knock the last enemy into critical - I don't like using gems much because of their price, but here, the quick hit effect is worth it given what has to come next. Clarissa abuses Turn Shift to get everyone else quick turns here, even using it the turn she gets out. This is useful because Vin, who was tanking the sentinels, starts two turns from the gate, so I need to get her those two turns quickly. Fortunately one Turn Shift gets used on the turn Clarissa herself escapes, so... yeah. Over before the reinforcements can act, and previous experience states this was pretty much necessary.
Whew.
2-5 (sentinels in the streets)
Clarissa: Sacred Slayer; Dandelion Shot OC, Elementalist OC, Elementalist EQ
Elayne: Enigmancer; Elementalist OC, Sacred Slayer OC, Elementalist EQ
Vin: Secutor; Fantastica OC, Sentinel OC
Not too hard a battle (not trivial either), but I'm not very happy with how I play it, a bit lazy and I lose all the bonuses from a Potential Egg I mystic at the start because everyone dies at some point. There's really no excuse for that. Sure, most of the enemies are decently hard-hitting sentinels, but I still play rather poorly.
No reinforcements here, just a straight slugfest. I turn on that orb which I've ignored on previous playthroughs but I don't really notice it doing much. Devastate is pretty cool and MP-efficient at killing things, which makes it a nice addition to my toolbox. Don't have much to say otherwise.
2-6 (Asgard)
Clarissa: Elementalist; Dandelion Shot OC, Sacred Slayer OC, Dandelion Shot EQ
Elayne: Fantastica; Sacred Slayer OC, Enigmancer OC, Elementalist EQ
Vin: Gadgeteer; Fantastica OC, Sentinel OC, Weapon Block
Protip: Asgard sucks.
Well okay, he's decent if you don't know what you're doing. But since I do, ahahaha. Keep out of 1 range, use Feeble Mind (ignores his barrier) until he's out of MP. An Asgard with no MP can't do anything but launch physical attacks, so whatever, debuff him and hit him with a wrench and Sacrifice + heal and yeah not much to say here, his HP isn't even that impressive in this first fight.
