Saga Frontier: Comprehensive PC stat topic

[Dark Holy Elf]

Yep. After a couple months of digging through the mechanics guide and debugger thread on GameFAQs, about half a dozen other Saga Frontier FAQs, building spreadsheets, and doing testing, it's finally done: A Saga Frontier stat topic that finally delivers both precise stats and damage. Status tests still need to come, and there's a very good chance I'm going to hold out for some more information on how they work rather than try to figure them out myself; due to Saga Frontier's delightful penchant for having similar-seeming attacks use completely different formulas, I'd rather not guess the wrong enemy to test on and have to redo everything once I know better. Then again, if I have a lot of free time and you all ask nicely (and/or if it's relevant for a DL match), then it might happen.

Incomplete though this is, this is probably the most difficult stat topic I've ever had to put together, in terms of the sheer scope of things I had to draw on. I won't even pretend that I deserve all the credit for this. Special thanks in particular go to...

-Zaraktheus, who wrote the BMG that made so much of my understanding (and enjoyment) of the game possible. Between that BMG and all his posts on how the game works on GameFAQs, it's no exaggeration to say that without him, this topic does not exist. Zaraktheus, if you ever read this: you are awesome.

-Meeple, who made the original stat topic. His own damage tests gave me a great starting point. Also wrote one of the many FAQs I referred directly to when making this stat topic (armour defences!).

-Djinn, who made the second stat topic. Although it had fewer numbers for me to draw on, he did give me two very important ideas: an effective way to interpret monsters fairly and uniquely in the DL, and the idea that human stats could be calculated using the stat growth formulas and increasing enemy strength.

-Super, who eagerly did all sorts of testing to help me out with this and generally offered a lot of encouragement and sounding out of ideas.

-Laggy, another major person I bounced ideas off while making this. Also for being another man crazy enough to make a Saga Frontier stat topic.

-Neph, who pointed me to the Japanese Sakura Saga Frontier website which has all sorts of highly valuable information, particularly on obscure yet important details such as monster defences, and helped me translate a couple things that Google wasn't up to the task of.

-Ciato, whose copy of the game I played, and without her infectious love of the game and her knowledge which often pointed me in the right direction if I got lost, I'd very likely never have stuck with the game long enough to get to that magic point where the game hooks you and doesn't let go.


Anyway, enough rambling! We're still some 20k from the actual characters, but hey: here's some pertinent stuff about how this topic was assembled, and how the game works.

Averages up top!

Since they're the trendy thing to have.

Damage: 2499, give or take ~200 (6248 kill point)
Speed: 77.8 (13.7 standard deviation)
HP: 720
VIT: 61.0
Defences: Slash 62, Pierce 67, Blunt/Fire/Ice 64, Electric 52, Force/Status 56


Assuptions and Explanations

Saga Frontier is certainly a messy game in the DL, as its seven-year history can attest to. There are many ways to build characters, regardless of their race. As such, some assumptions will need to be stated.


What the stats do

HP: Even Saga Frontier doesn't try to make THESE complicated! Or so I thought. One note: higher maximum HP makes the healing spells you cast more effective. Don't try to make sense of this, it's Saga.
STR: A factor in physical damage, particularly important for unarmed attacks.
QUI: Speed. Makes you act sooner in the round, also increases the chance that enemies will "miss" you with attacks (miss chance isn't very significant with most attacks, however).
INT: Mostly determines chance to learn gun abilities and magic, or in mecs' case, the number of abilities they can set at one time. It's also a minor factor in the effectiveness of magic damage, buffs, and healing.
WIL: A major factor in the damage dealt by magic and guns, and a minor factor in the effectiveness of buffs and healing. Also known to raise hit rate of some status attacks.
PSY: A major factor in the damage dealt by magic, and a minor factor in the effectiveness of buffs. Also known to be a defensive stat against some status attacks.
VIT: Saga Frontier's univeral defensive stat, reduces (almost) all damage received. Also determines the effectiveness of regeneration.
CHA: Affects the hit rate of some charm effects, and is a minor factor in the effectiveness of buffs and healing.
WP: Weapon Points. Non-magic abilities cost these. Costs will be listed in parentheses.
JP: Magic Points, effectively. As WP, but for magic abilities.
LP: Life Points. Every time a character's HP falls to 0, this drops by 1, and if it drops to 0, the character becomes unreviable until visiting an inn. Not DL-relevant, although one character can LP-drain herself to death in a theoretically stupidly long match with one of her abilities.

Defences: Although the game is only nice enough to show you one on the status screen, Saga Frontier has 8 different defensive stats, used against different elements. They're much more effective than VIT at reducing their appropriate type of damage. Unlike other stats, characters have no innate defences, and get defences entirely from their equipment. Monsters, however, have secret, hidden equipment which depends on their current form, so they appear to have base defences.


Primary Assumptions

All characters are taken on the quest that is most favourable to them. Characters notably affected are Fuse (joins much later on anyone's quest but Red's), Slime (has a much weaker claim to a "competent" form on any quest but Red's), T260G (gets a much more powerful body and associated abilities on her own quest), and Zozma (joins much earlier on Emelia's quest than Asellus').

Damage was tested on enemies who take damage in a roughly average manner compared to other Battle Rank 9 (endgame) monsters. Most damage was specifically tested on the Chimera (except fire and force attacks) and Kraken (except pierce and blunt attacks).


Abilities

The DL seeks to highlight what is unique about characters, and this stat topic will do the same.

To do so, an important disclaimer: nobody will get any ability just because they're a member of a certain race. All humans want DSC and MindHeal. All mystics want GriffithScratch and MagicHeal. All mecs want SelfRepair. All monsters want MightyCyclone (and LifeRain in a team match). Unfortunately, unless they have a unique claim to it, it's not happening. This is a bit of a departure from Meeple's stat topic which allowed all mystics all the mystic absorb skills, and all mecs all mec skills, for instance.

So, here's what people do get!

Humans:

Humans have 8 abilities they can set. Setting 6+ physical abilities and no magical abilities lowers the WP cost of all abilities by 1, but also lowers their damage slightly (except gun moves). Setting 6+ magical abilities and no physical abilities lowers the JP cost of all abilities by 1, and similarly lowers their damage slightly. I've assumed characters don't have this "mastery" in the DL (although for mages, since I can calculate their damage directly and more easily, I'll list damage with mastery in parentheses). Note that Asellus' mystic weapons count as neither magic nor physical, so they do not count towards the 6+ but nor do they block mastery.

Humans have the ability to learn sword moves, gun moves, fist moves, and various magic spells. In general, starting with one skill means you have a claim to learn the rest in that category. For magic, it means you have a claim to learn the remaining spells from the magic schools you start with. This is justified because in-game, using a gun move helps you learn gun moves, and so on.

Magic is a little hairier because of the "gift" system. Basically, you can't learn more spells unless you have the gift. However, in the vast majority of cases, characters who start with spells of a school have the gift for said school, and vice versa. There are a few grey area exceptions:

-Asellus starts with no mystic magic, but has the gift for it (and is the only human who can get this gift). I am currently undecided how I feel about this in the DL. (Fortunately it doesn't matter too much, mystic magic isn't great for a Heavy/Godlike.)

-Mei-ling starts with light magic spells, but no gift. However, since it is trivial to get the light magic gift for your entire party (while getting the spells costs money), I definitely do allow her to use endgame light magic.

-Doll has mystic magic and dark magic but no gift for either. Thus she has no claim whatsoever to the gift-only mystic magic. What she is interested in is the storebought GlassShield, which she also gets if you load system data, so you might have mercy on her. Or not! Her claim to gift-only dark magic is similar to Mei-ling's to Light, although the gift is a bit less trivial to get (still pretty trivial if you know what you're doing).

Three characters - Asellus on her own quest, Emelia on her own quest, and Lute - all start with no skills whatsoever. However, on their own quests, Asellus/Emelia get "training" with a sword and gun respectively, and on other quests, they join with sword skills and gun skills respectively, so the game is making pretty clear how they should be built. In Lute's case, loading system data (sort of like a mini-New Game+) gives him some sword skills, and he does start with a Knife in his inventory, so he has a weak claim there.

Red starts with fist skills, and also has his totally unique Alkaiser abilities. His unique RaySword (Alkaiser's weapon) can also let him learn sword abilities, so he has some claim to those, too. Some have talked about the sword skills not being legal, or only allowing those learned directly from RaySword itself - your milage may vary of course. I'll note specifics in Red's entry. One other important note on Red is Alkaiser itself. Red's final and most important DL skill is Re-Al-Phoenix, an ability he obtains (if certain requirements are met) in the second to last battle. By this point in the game (the final dungeon), Red is forced into Alkaiser for every single battle. As such, I take him as initially Alkaiser in the DL, meaning no AlkaiserChange (which can never co-exist in-game with Re-Al-Phoenix). He likely prefers this anyway.

Asellus also has a weird claim to mystic absorb skills, under the argument that they're unique to her among humans. However, she does share them with the eight mystic PCs, so this is certainly a shaky claim. Of course, she has a clear claim to her mystic weapons and MysticalChange itself.

Characters with sword and fist abilities face an additional complication: they are not "talented in all sword/fist abilities (nobody is). In general, without talent in an ability, the ability is harder to learn... often much harder. I generally don't allow abilities a character lacks talent in. However, since it is certainly possible to "brute force" learn these abilities, I do make an exception, and allow anyone who only trains in ONE weapon type (so swords only, or fists only) exactly one extra ability from their weapon type, the logic being that you can usually get that one with all the extra time you have spamming that one weapon type. It's also a bit of a bone to toss to characters who only have one weapon claim.

Mystics:

Mystics can set only 4 magic spells as abilities (so they can't get mastery) and also have their 3 mystic weapons locked. Additionally, Dr. Nusakan and Mesarthim have locked equipment which grants them unique abilities (itemcasts do not count towards the limit of set abilities, it's just that nobody else has any unique ones). Mesarthim further has access to Cockatrice, an itemcast off a storebought sword which requires the caster have the StasisRune spell set, a spell she has a unique claim to (along with Blue) in the DL.

Mystics work the same way humans do for magic (they can't learn gun, fist, or sword skills) and have similar claims. Again, there are a couple characters who start without gifts but do have starting spells:

-White Rose is in exactly the same boat as Mei-ling and the same comments apply: her gift spells are clearly legal in my opinion.

-Dr. Nusakan starts with both a dark and arcane magic spells, for which he lacks the gift. Dark gift is easy enough to get if you know what you're doing (and doesn't matter too much), but the arcane gift requires a major investment of doing four different dungeons (which granted, you might be doing anyway). I consider his claim to further arcane spells quite shaky and am undecided. And unlike most of the other magic interp-splits touched on so far, this one is a BIG DEAL - Shield and especially Tower are ridiculously important spells in the DL. Fortunately they don't affect the damage average!

Otherwise, mystics are pretty straightforward. As per the initial assumptions, I do not allow them the skills from mystic asborbs. I suppose I could be talked into allowing Ildon, Rei, Silence, and Zozma skills from their initial absorbs if they don't delete them for Suzakus, but I somehow doubt they'd want to do this anyway - all of those have mediocre stats and abilities of minimal use.

Mecs:

Mecs can set a certain number of abilities that is based on their INT, but ranges from 2 to 8.

Mecs can download a host of different abilities from defeating enemy mecs; these are not unique to the individual mec in any way and thus are not legal. However, all mecs have a list of abilities they will learn naturally, although they too can only be learned after defeating enemy mecs. These lists are unique to each mec and thus are DL-legal. T260G, on her own quest, can change bodies and thus gain access to the download lists of all other mecs. However, for the purpose of this stat topic, T260G only has access to the mec bodies unique to her: her initial body (TYPE1), the TYPE7 body (no other PC mec has access to this), and the OmegaBody. The latter is certainly the most useful and alone has almost every useful skill for T260G in the DL on its download list.

All mecs also of course have access to certain abilities granted by their locked equipment.

Monsters:

Monsters can set 8 abilities. Unlike other races they can not remember abilities that are not currently set, so if they want to learn a new ability when they already have 8, it replaces an existing one.

Somewhat like mecs, monsters can absorb abilities from other monsters (which fortunately for them are far more common). However, like mecs, these are not seen as legal, and unlike mecs, they have no other way to get new abilities. So... basically, they're stuck with what they start with.

A ripple enters the picture here: in order to get access to new forms, monsters need to learn (and keep learned) new abilities. In order to allow monsters to "level up" and gain access to forms more suitable to endgame, thus, SOME new abilities need to be learned. How the claims to these forms, and thus, these abilities, work, will be explained in the section on assumed DL stats, next. Discussing it in chat, there's some debate as to whether the prerequisite skills for the DL-legal forms are themselves legal in the DL, so they will be listed, but marked with a star. Surprisingly, none of these prerequisite skills are a monster's best damage, so averages will not be affected.


Assumed DL stats

In order to hammer down stats, a big decision must first be made: how long is a playthrough of Saga Frontier? After some discussion, I decided to go with the figure of 250. The reason this particular round figure is chosen is it is high enough to allow the player to reliably reach Battle Rank 9, and thus fight what are seen as "endgame" enemies, such as Chimeras, Dullahans, Suzakus, and Krakens. This is important because these monsters are assumed in order to give humans a decent chance to learn endgame abilities like Lifesprinkler, for mystics to have their endgame absorbs, for monsters to get some abilities they may need for their monster forms, and to have enough money to afford what I view as endgame equipment. It also feels like a decent estimate for a playthrough that features a good number of sidequests completed, though not necessarily all.

Note that some players play faster than this. However, a few common practices also work about as well as simply fighting more battles. One is loading a game with system data, which essentially cuts 32-48 battles off what is needed (since you don't fight earlygame scrubs and start on more competent enemies immediately, and also start with higher base stats). Another is spending more time fighting in areas such as BioLab and Yorkland Swamp, which have much more powerful enemies than other areas. A few final dungeons are like this, too. Fighting more battles here can make up for fighting fewer battles overall, in general.

Humans gain stats based on three things: their innate stat growths (though these barely matter), the strength of the enemies they are fighting relative to their current stats, and the type of action they choose in battle. Calculating these stats is something that needed a spreadsheet which accounts for the increasing strength of enemies as the game goes on, and so, of course, I made one. It has several tens of thousands of cells in it, but I'm pretty confident in it (if you're really interested, ask me and I'll send a copy your way). Note that choosing sword moves one battle, then magic the next, or choosing both swords and magic in two consecutive battles, will have the same effect: the growths will be the average of the growths allowed by each learning style. Saga Frontier growths are semi-random, and can be influenced by a few other slightly random factors (such as exactly what enemies you fight, and whether you use stat boosts/buffs in-battle) but for the most part these aren't too signifcant unless you do something silly like transform Red or Asellus in a majority of random battles.

Note also that stat-boosting equipment actually slows stat growth, so humans only equip stat-boosting equips in the DL (and presumably in-game, against bosses, since one or two fights makes little difference). Alkaiser also shuts off stat gains entirely, and Red does spend the last ~40 battles in that form, so his stat growth is cut off at that point (he doesn't care, since RaySword's stat boosts are stupid).

Mystics gain some stats similarly to humans (HP, WP, JP, CHA). Their other stats, however, are based on what monsters they have absorbed in their mystic weapons. All mystics are assumed to have absorbed Suzakus, an easily available endgame monster with balanced, high stats across the board.

Mec stats are based entirely on their equipment, so to understand what's allowed for them you should really just read the next section! Note that because of this, mecs can change their stats fairly drastically at a whim by changing their equipment (though only between battles) and if you give them free rein to do so they are extremely versatile in the DL.

Monsters are tricky. With the exception of Kylin and Suzaku, all start in earlygame to midgame forms. In order to let them "level up" and actually appear like an endgame monster, they had to be given endgame forms. But which? Credit goes to Djinn for this idea: he suggested that monsters be given forms which include, as a prerequisite, at least one skill the monster already possesses. In other words, monsters get endgame forms that their initial skillsets give them a unique advantage in unlocking, compared to other monsters. Monsters still need to absorb more skills to get these forms, usually.

However, some monster skills are too tricky to get. Rare skills are absorbed at a 3% or 6% rate, usually from just one or two monsters in the entire game. These skills are not considered. Only 23% and 68% absorb skills are considered, and for RedTurnip, who joins incredibly late, only 68% absorb skills are considered. One exception is Slime, who is given a skill which is a 100% absorb from a boss (Berva, on Red's quest).

In the case of Kylin and Suzaku, due to Saga Frontier being the lovable glitchy mess that it is, their starting stats are actually not the same as the stats of the forms they are in should be. The glitch is corrected when they transform into something else and back. Since they will inevitably do so in-game, they are considered to have their "fixed" stats.

Finally, all monsters additionally level up by gaining 4 HP each time they absorb a skill they have never absorbed before (note that some monsters are considered to have "pre-absorbed" skills they don't start with some time in their past, however). They are assumed to do so in the DL, even if most individual skills are not legal. Monsters are assumed to absorb a new skill in 30% of battles. If this would get them above 75 absorbed skills, then the average of the resulting number and 75 is taken (since the more skills a monster has, the harder it is to find new ones). This results in numbers which fit my in-game experiences.

Finally, for humans, mystics, and monsters, the number of battles they fight is of course significant. Characters who don't join at the start of the game are thus at a disadvantage. For humans, this is basically entirely moot; no human joins particularly late, and joining slightly (e.g. up to 50 battles) late does not significantly impact a human's or mystic's stats due to how Saga Frontier stat growth works. To give you an idea, even TimeLord, who is assumed to join 125 battles in, is only about 20 HP down of where he would be if he joined at the start.

However, for monsters, every battle counts (missing earlygame battles actually tends to mean missing some skills forever) and some mystic PCs (I'm looking at you, Princess Rei) join late enough to really impact their stats. As such, treating the game as 250 battles long, I have assumed that each PC listed below joins after the following number of battles are already complete:

Zozma: 100
TimeLord: 125
Ildon: 150
Rei: 200

Cotton: 10
Slime: 50
Sei: 75
Suzaku: 100
Kylin: 125
RedTurnip: 200

Post-Dark Labyrinth PCs are not happy, and Zozma is overjoyed Emelia's quest exists.


Equipment

Some well-known glitches aside, money doesn't precisely grow on trees in Saga Frontier, and some endgame equipment is expensive. Fortunately, most quests supplement equipment somewhat with good stuff from the final dungeon, which eases the cash crunch somewhat. Otherwise, although I took a fairly generous line with storebought equipment, I felt I had to place a cap somewhere, namely:

-Each character has a 15000 credit budget for equipment, and
-No more than 7500 can be spent on any one piece (which mainly serves to make the obnoxiously spoilerific WonderBangle illegal).

The 15000 figure was arrived at as being a nice round number that allows one common equipment set that has been talked about on Saga Frontier characters in the DL: an endgame sword or gun (~4000 credits), second gun for TwoGun (~300), shield (500), PoweredSuit (5200), and BloodChalice (4000).

Otherwise, initial equipment is allowed, but initial accessories tend to end up worthless for a few reasons (mystics have better things to put in those slots, humans see their stat growth get slowed by keeping them equipped), so they aren't considered. Other initial equipment matters little, but a couple mystics do start with ShadowDaggers (which have a small PSY boost) and a few mecs start with circuitboards, which allow them to use Shoot-All (not that I've really tested Shoot-All much thus far).

Also, for general limitations: humans and mystics can each equip four "hand" equips (swords, guns, shields, and battle items, though the latter aren't legal). Weapons granted by spells (LightSword and RaySword) don't count towards this. They can also equip up to four defensive equips, though no more than one of each type (armour, clothes, gloves, boots, helmets) except accessories. Equipping a suit (PoweredSuit is the relevant one) counts simultaneously as an armour, glove, boot, and helmet, so it can not be equipped simultaneously to any of those. Mystic PCs all have one forced equip, and in all but two cases, this prevents mystics from using PoweredSuits, which is unfortunate for them).

Mecs are not bound by these rules and can equip almost anything, including multiple armours or suits, for instance. They have a number of free equipment slots determined by the mec, but usually 5. In addition to everything humans and mystics can wear, they can also equip circuit boards, but none of these are storebought and the initial ones are probably only useful for Shoot-All.

One type of equipment that deserves special note is the shield. Shields in Saga Frontier are very useful. There are two storebought ones:

-The Buckler, which grants a 32% evade rate against slash and blunt attacks, and
-The ShellShield, which grants a 25% evade rate against slash, blunt, and pierce attacks.

As far as I can tell these two options are basically balanced as defaults. Importantly, however, the evade granted by shields is only valid if the PC takes certain actions. Thrusting sword attacks, attacks which require two swords, and all "throw" attacks except DSC (for fist-users) all make the character unable to use a shield for that entire round, both before and after the attack itself takes place. Additionally and unfortunately, so does all magic, so shields are pretty much only useful for fighters, and fighter/mages can't use them while they spend time healing, for instance. Strangely, TwoGun does not disable shield use.


Saga Frontier elements and damage types

It wouldn't be Saga Frontier if it weren't confusing!

First of all, Saga Frontier does not have physical defence in magical defence in the traditional sense. Instead, it has one universal defensive stat (VIT) and then individual defences against different elements which have a much larger impact. The elements are:

Slash
Pierce
Blunt
Fire
Ice
Electric
Force (a catchall for "non-elemental" magic, typically)

There's also status, but that is, predictably, used only for status attacks. (And not all status attacks even check it.)

Attacks can have multiple elements (but always at least one), and if they do, they always count as the best element against any target.

PC armour will be listed with these 8 elements, in this order. Since a few different sources use different orders, note that I use the same one the game uses, and in particular, Pierce comes before Blunt (which IIRC is different from Meeple's FAQ).

In particular, this means that the line between physicals and magic in Saga Frontier are blurred, and it's unclear which attacks should hit magical or physical defence in the DL. I've assumed the following:

-Saga Frontier has a variety of attacks classed as "magic", vulnerable to PsychicPrison and costing JP instead of WP. All of these will be assumed to hit enemy MDef in the DL, regardless of their elements, even the ones with "physical" elements.
-Otherwise, if an attack contains any "physical" elements (Slash, Pierce, Blunt), it will be assumed to be physical and hit defence.
-If an attack contains ONLY "magical" elements (the other four), it is assumed to be pseudomagic (akin to Sabin's blitzes, DQ breath attacks, etc.) and hits magic defence despite not being truly magical.

Obviously your milage may vary, so I'll list all elements present on each attack and you can take them however you will.

Additionally, Saga Frontier has a few damage types which are not elements. These are tags that may be present on attacks in addition to any elements they already possess. All attacks possess at least one element, these damage types are optoinal and additional, and are either subject to an immunity or not affected at all. They are:

Water: Water attacks. Can reasonably be seen as water-elemental in the DL.
Ground: Attacks which miss flying enemies. Some of these can reasonably be seen as earth-elemental in the DL (e.g. Quake), but others can not (e.g. TailHit).
Sonic: Attacks involving sound. Can be seen as another rare DL element.
Gaze: Attacks involving STARING. Yeah.
Throw: Attacks involving throwing the enemy. Enemies rooted to the ground or just way too massive are immune.

Also, a few attacks have a property called "Anti-Air", which means they ignore defence against flying enemies. Note that ground immunity and anti-air vulnerability are one and the same, in-game.


Miscellaneous

---Reloading: Guns have a certain number of bullets. If an attack requires more bullets than the gun has remaining, the character will automatically reload the gun before the attack takes place. The act of reloading, however, causes the character to go last in the initiative order for that round, even if the character has QuickDraw. Heavy weapons (such as the HyperBlaster) also have bullets, but can not be reloaded.

---The passive reaction abilities Deflect, Kasumi, SwayBack, KO Throw, and DragonTurn all work roughly the same way: they have a chance to kick in (checked in AFTER shields, but the ones which do damage are checked before the ones that do not) to any applicable attack; however, like with shields, there are restrictions as to what attacks can be used in that round that allows them to be triggered. For Deflect and Kasumi, the character must be using a sword attack that turn. For SwayBack, KO Throw, and DragonTurn, the character must be using a fist attack. Alkaiser moves do not count as either sword or fist abilities for these purposes.

---One documented status formula in Saga Frontier is the "coup de grace", inflicted by a few different attacks. Functionally its instant death, but its hit rate is calcaulted roughly as follows:

[Target's lost HP / Target's remaining HP] * 90% + 9%

This means that below half HP, success rate becomes 100%. However, at HP scores above that, the instant death rate falls off fairly dramatically. At 60% HP, it's only 69% accurate. At 70% HP, the hit rate is only 48%, and against a max HP target it's 9%. All coup de grace checks are made using the HP of the target before it is damaged by the attack triggering it.

[Dark Holy Elf]

RANKED CHARACTERS



Asellus:

Notes: Asellus has a plot claim to the Golden Lion, a very powerful sword available only her quest. It's given to her explicitly and is a legit advantage she has as a swordsman on said quest. If you don't allow it, she loses around 500 points of damage or so. Also, Asellus has been built exclusively as a swordsman since her magic, if even allowed, doesn't care about her magic stats and won't need to be used often. She could probably snag quite a few more JP at little cost to her other stats if needed (up to 30 or so easily).

HP 789
STR 73+10 [+0]
QUI 68+10 [+5]
INT 15
WIL 41 [+19]
PSY 10
VIT 73
CHA 41
WP 108, JP 8, LP 8

GoldenLion (75 Atk)
ShellShield (25% evade vs. all physical)
PoweredSuit (50/50/50/50/50/30/30/30, STR/QUI+10, immunes Blind)
HyperWear (10/10/10/10/10/10/15/15)
-----
Total defences: 60/60/60/60/60/40/45/45

Effective speed: +0.01 (+1.54 after MysticalChange)
Durability: SLA 1.12, PRC 1.00, BLU 1.08, FIRE/ICE 1.07, ELEC 0.95, FRC 0.96
Post-MysticalChange: SLA 1.27, PRC 1.14, BLU 1.23, FIRE/ICE 1.21, ELEC 1.04, FRC 1.05


Abilities:

MysticSword (0): 750 (1070) slash/force, chance of coup de grace.
MysticGlove/Boots (0): Same as the above, but blunt/force instead. Asellus will only want to set one of these.

After using this the first time in a battle (hit or miss), Asellus undergoes MysticalChange: she is healed of all status and becomes a mystic, upping all her stats by 60 (capped at 99) and granting her the ability to make use of any abilities stored in her mystic weapons. Not dispellable. This notably caps her speed, ups her durability, and increases her damage and Deflect/Kasumi rates (and likely status odds).

(Sword)
*Lifesprinkler (10): 4400 (4600) slash, ignores evade
TripleThrust (7): 3300 (3500) slash/pierce, disables shield blocking, quarter target evade
RosarioImpale (8): 3100 (3300) slash/pierce, ignores defence against undead
RisingNova (7): 2600 (2800) slash/fire, half target evade
DeadEnd (6): 2500 (2700) slash/pierce, half target evade, 4% [23%] (62%) chance of instant death
Deflect (1): Reaction, consumes WP when triggered. 27% (31%) chance to block a singletarget physical attack directed at this character's self or nearby allies.
Kasumi (4): Reaction, consumes WP when triggered. 27% (31%) chance to evade and counter a melee singletarget physical attack. 2000 damage to the target's lowest defence.

(*Mystic Magic)
Fascination (1): Inflicts Charm. 33% (47%) hit rate.
PhantasmShot (3): Varying effects. Averages 263 (883) force magic, checks piercing evade, chances of Mess, Sleep, Venom+Null Regen, Petrify, and Death.
GlassShield (5): Caster is immune to the next attack as long as said attack only has one target (even if it can target more). If blocked attack is melee, the attacker takes ~1000 damage.
MirrorShade (7): Summons 3 images, up to a maximum of 5, who die if attacked. Only really useful against attacks with random targetting.

Notes: Asellus has an argument to the ShadeRobe (stats in square brackets), which is her initial armour on Emelia's quest. (This may invalidate her claim to the GoldenLion... your milage may vary on the whole situation.) Using the ShadeRobe lowers her physical/fire/ice durability significantly (defences become 33/33/33/44/44/39/49/49), and drops her to below average speed (-0.36 SD), and lowers her strength (-200 physical damage or so)... though the latter two problems go away once she uses MysticChange. Anyway, the relevant ability gained:

ShadeRobe (0 WP): 363 (461) healing


Comments: Untransformed stats could be a bit better but they're still on the right side of average. GoldenLion kicks ass, she's obnoxious to hit with physicals, DeadEnd is a decent status option (as is Fascination), and in a long fight, going mystic only makes her look even better. Really wants you to find it in your heart to give her access to healing, but even without it, she's solid; it might determine which of the upper divisions she belongs in, however.



Emelia:

Notes: Emelia has a plot claim to the AngelBroach, which is given directly to her while she's alone for personal reasons. As far as plot claims go it's very good, although it has little gameplay backing. I've assumed it here, but your milage may vary.

HP 784
STR 13+10
QUI 81+10
INT 66
WIL 80
PSY 37
VIT 72
CHA 50
WP 83, LP 9

LethalGun (60 atk, 5 bullets)
[any gun, won't be used]
ShellShield (25% evade vs. all physical)
PoweredSuit (50/50/50/50/50/30/30/30, STR/QUI+10, immunes Blind)
HyperWear (10/10/10/10/10/10/15/15)
AngelBroach (5/5/5/15/15/15/15/15, immunes Angry/Charm/Mess)
-----
Total defences: 65/65/65/75/75/55/60/60

Effective speed: +0.96 SD (... kinda)
Durability: SLA 1.23, PRC 1.11, BLU 1.19, FIRE/ICE 1.51, ELEC 1.20, FRC 1.24


Abilities:

(Gun)
TwoGun: Passive. Greatly increases gun damage if two guns are equipped.
QuickDraw: Passive. Gun attacks have initiative unless character reloads this turn.
TrickShot (2): 3500 pierce
BoundShot (5): 3000 pierce, 55% chance to ignore defence (=4600, average is 3900), ignores evade


Comments: Gunners lack skillset variety, but that doesn't make them bad. Great speed and great, hard-to-wall damage. Running out of bullets is a potential concern for the speed hit that round, but 5 handles most. No tricks, although the AngelBroach does up her magic durability pretty notably (if you don't consider it, see Asellus for her effective durability, more or less). Scary even though she's boring.



Fuse:

HP 829
STR 78+10
QUI 63+10
INT 47
WIL 65
PSY 49
VIT 71
CHA 23
WP 99, JP 76, LP 9

ShellShield (25% evade vs. all physical)
PoweredSuit (50/50/50/50/50/30/30/30, STR/QUI+10, immunes Blind)
HyperWear (10/10/10/10/10/10/15/15)
-----
Total defences: 60/60/60/60/60/40/45/45


Effective speed: -0.36 (+1.54 after Awakening)
Durability: SLA 1.15, PRC 1.03, BLU 1.11, FIRE/ICE 1.10, ELEC 0.99, FRC 0.99
Post-Awakening: SLA 1.33, PRC 1.20, BLU 1.29, FIRE/ICE 1.27, ELEC 1.09, FRC 1.11


Abilities:

(Mind Magic)
MindHeal (2): 759 (951) healing, heals all status except stun, self only
Spellbound (2): Inflicts Palsy. 103% hit rate.
Awakening (2): Raises all stats by 50% of base (capping at 99), and doubles WP/JP cost of all abilities. Lasts for five rounds, including the one on which it is cast. Boosted damage is in parentheses.

(Fist)
Lastshot (9): 2750 (3400) blunt, chance of coup de grace, ignores evade
LocomotionG (5): 2200 (2450) blunt, throw, 5% chance of stun, ignores evade
GiantSwing (6): 1900 (2100) blunt, throw, chance of coup de grace, ignores evade
Suplex (4): 1800 (2000) blunt, throw, 5% chance of stun, ignores evade
AirThrow (1): 750 (850) blunt, throw, 5% chance of stun, ignores evade

Comments: Full healing is good, but he's a little slow on the slow side with 3HKO damage. Awakening can remedy both of those and also buffs everything else, but it makes his attacks eat through his WP extremely quickly and doesn't last that long, so it's not nearly as cool as it could be. Having instant death against the beaten up really helps. A mediocre Heavy unlike the previous two, but can definitely hang there.



Gen:

HP 834
STR 82+10
QUI 70+10
INT 8
WIL 39
PSY 12
VIT 79
CHA 21
WP 115, LP 10

ZeroSword (60 atk)
ShellShield (25% evade vs. all physical)
PoweredSuit (50/50/50/50/50/30/30/30, STR/QUI+10, immunes Blind)
HyperWear (10/10/10/10/10/10/15/15)
-----
Total defences: 60/60/60/60/60/40/45/45

Effective speed: +0.16
Durability: SLA 1.20, PRC 1.08, BLU 1.16, FIRE/ICE 1.15, ELEC 1.02, FRC 1.03


Abilities:

(Sword)
Lifesprinkler (10): 3900 slash, ignores evade
Heaven/Hell (3): 1900 slash, half target evade, 0% chance of stun
Deflect (1): Reaction, consumes WP when triggered. 28% chance to block a singletarget physical attack directed at this character's self or nearby allies.
Kasumi (4): Reaction, consumes WP when triggered. 28% chance to evade and counter a melee singletarget physical attack. 1500 damage to the target's lowest defence.

(Fist)
GiantSwing (6): 1950 blunt, throw, chance of coup de grace, ignores evade
BabelCrumble (5): 2350 blunt, throw, 0% chance of stun, ignores evade
KO Throw (2): Reaction, consumes WP when triggered. Similar to Kasumi (28% rate), but only works for punches.
DragonTurn (3): Reaction, consumes WP when triggered. Similar to Kasumi (28% rate), but only works for kicks.

Comments: Good stats all-around and a 60% or better chance to evade any melee physicals that come his way. GiantSwing isn't a great instant death option for a few reasons (kills his evade, doesn't work well against a good healer) but he's still pretty mean, and likely belongs in Heavy as well despite his current DL ranking.



Red:

Notes: Red is assumed to start battles as Alkaiser, like he does in the final dungeon and when he, y'know, fights an arena match in-game. Alkaiser is thus fully considered in the averages. Red's claim to sword abilities is a little shaky, since it relies on him learning them through RaySword. Sword abilities he has talent in but are not learned directly from RaySword are starred.

HP 759+250 (999)
STR 71+35 (99)
QUI 59+35
INT 11+25
WIL 38+25
PSY 9+25
VIT 70+75 (99)
CHA 22+25
WP 99, LP 9

RaySword (45 atk, HP+250, VIT+75, other stats +25, immunes all status except Blind/Stun/Venom, locked/hidden while Alkaiser)
ZeroSword (60 atk)
ShellShield (25% evade vs. all physical)
PoweredSuit (50/50/50/50/50/30/30/30, STR/QUI+10, immunes Blind)
HyperWear (10/10/10/10/10/10/15/15)
-----
Total defences: 60/60/60/60/60/40/45/45

Effective speed: +1.18
Durability: SLA 1.60, PRC 1.44, BLU 1.55, FIRE/ICE 1.53, ELEC 1.32, FRC 1.33


Abilities:

(Alkaiser)
Re-Al-Phoenix (10): 5000 pierce/force, ignores evade
FinalCrusade (2): Spends 1 LP to fully heal entire party except self. Not DL-relevant (probably).

(Sword)
*TripleThrust (7): 2900 slash/pierce, disables shield blocking, quarter target evade
*RosarioImpale (8): 2700 slash/pierce, ignores defence against undead
RisingNova (7): 2200 slash/fire, half target evade
DeadEnd (6): 2100 slash/pierce, half target evade, 26% chance of instant death [36-41% with higher-WIL setups]
Heaven/Hell (3): 2000 slash, half target evade, 3% chance of stun
Deflect (1): Reaction, consumes WP when triggered. 30% chance to block a singletarget physical attack directed at this character's self or nearby allies.
*Kasumi (4): Reaction, consumes WP when triggered. 30% chance to evade and counter a melee singletarget physical attack. 1600 damage to the target's lowest defence.

(Fist)
BabelCrumble (5): 2400 blunt, throw, 3% chance of stun, ignores evade
SwayBack (1): Reaction, consumes WP when triggered. 30% chance to evade a physical attack.
DragonTurn (3): Reaction, consumes WP when triggered. Similar to Kasumi (30% rate), but only works for kicks.


Comments: See Emelia's entry? Red's pretty much a better version of the same thing. Durable, damaging, fast, and with a pretty good type of damage (long-range unevadable). The rest of his skillset lets him chip while having good evade or inflict instant death. Could be seen as a Heavy or a Godlike.



Roufas:

HP 804
STR 49+10
QUI 74+10
INT 69
WIL 72
PSY 50
VIT 66
CHA 47
WP 91, JP 97, LP 9

LethalGun (60 atk, 5 bullets)
[any gun, won't be used]
ZeroSword (60 atk)
ShellShield (25% evade vs. all physical)
PoweredSuit (50/50/50/50/50/30/30/30, STR/QUI+10, immunes Blind)
HyperWear (10/10/10/10/10/10/15/15)
-----
Total defences: 60/60/60/60/60/40/45/45

Effective speed: +0.45 (+1.54 after Awakening) (... kinda)
Durability: SLA 1.09, PRC 0.98, BLU 1.06, FIRE/ICE 1.04, ELEC 0.94, FRC 0.95
Post-Awakening: SLA 1.29, PRC 1.16, BLU 1.25, FIRE/ICE 1.23, ELEC 1.06, FRC 1.07

Notes: By the conventions I adopted for this stat topic, Roufas will have to drop either the LethalGun, ZeroSword, or PoweredSuit if he wants to afford a BloodChalice. Usually the ZeroSword.


Abilities:

(Mind Magic)
MindHeal (2): 909 (999) healing, heals all status except stun, self only
Spellbound (2): Inflicts Palsy. 117% hit rate.
Awakening (2): Raises all stats by 50% of base (capping at 99), and doubles WP/JP cost of all abilities. Lasts for five rounds, including the one on which it is cast. Boosted damage is in parentheses.

(Gun)
TwoGun: Passive. Greatly increases gun damage if two guns are equipped.
QuickDraw: Passive. Gun attacks have initiative unless character reloads this turn.
TrickShot (2): 3350 (3900) pierce
CrossShot (4) 4100 (4900) pierce, requires 5 bullets
BoundShot (5): 2750 pierce, 44% chance to ignore defence (=4100, average is 3500), ignores evade
After Awakening: 4000, 66% chance of 5700, average is 5150

(Sword)
Lifesprinkler (10): 3400 (3850) slash, ignores evade
Kasumi (4): Reaction, consumes WP when triggered. 25% (30%) chance to evade and counter a melee singletarget physical attack. 1000 (1500) damage to the target's lowest defence.

Comments: Definitely the better of the two mind mages. Roufas brings a slightly inferior version of Emelia's game by default, but has the option to gain more evade while very solidly 2HKOing with Lifesprinkler -> CrossShot, or tank out with Mind Magic and some very damaging BoundShots. Another borderliner. What's up with all the ranked Saga Frontier humans being good duellers? Well...



Rouge:

HP 746
STR 9+10
QUI 47+10
INT 82
WIL 81
PSY 80
VIT 8
CHA 42
JP 123, LP 7

PoweredSuit (50/50/50/50/50/30/30/30, STR/QUI+10, immunes Blind)
HyperWear (10/10/10/10/10/10/15/15)
-----
Total defences: 60/60/60/60/60/40/45/45

Effective speed: -1.53
Durability: SLA 0.80, PRC 0.72, BLU 0.77, FIRE/ICE 0.76, ELEC 0.73, FRC 0.73


Abilities:

(Realm Magic)
EnergyChain (1): 627 (541) fire, chance of palsy
Implosion (3): 999 (913) fire, 44% chance of instant death [54-59% with high-WIL setups]
VermilionSand (8): 2155 (2050) pierce MT, quarter target evade, chance of Blind
PsychicPrison (7): The next spell used by the target will automatically fail, and he or she will take damage equal to 100 * the WP/JP cost of the spell used
PsychoArmor (2): +32 to PSY/VIT. This can be recast and stacks with itself. At the end of each round, the total buff improvement to these stats is reduced by 20% of the current value. Not really worth the turn spent casting it.


Comments: Very slow and very frail, the only thing Rouge really does well is instant death, and that's a bit dicy since he'll often need two shots. Middle, but a bad one, and the worst ranked Saga Frontier dueller fairly easily. Unless you're OK.



T260G:

HP 200+500 [+450]
STR 20+20 [+60]
QUI 20+75 [+70]
INT 48+25 [+0]
WIL 20+50 [+0]
PSY 20
VIT 20+30
CHA 20
WP 50, LP 15

PoweredSuit (50/50/50/50/50/30/30/30, HP+100, STR/QUI+20)
ElectroArmor (25/33/25/35/35/35/35/25, HP+75, QUI/VIT+15)
ElectroArmor (25/33/25/35/35/35/35/25, HP+75, QUI/VIT+15)
MirrorGlass (8/8/8/4/4/4/4/4, HP+75, INT/WIL+25)
HyperBlaster (uses DestructionBeam, HP+175, QUI/WIL+25)
MegaBeamSword (uses BeamSword, 55 atk, locked)
V-System (uses V-Max, locked)
FortBody (20/30/20/20/20/5/5/5, immunes all status except Stun, allows Graviton, locked)
-----
Total defences: 99/99/99/99/99/99/99/89

Effective speed: +1.26 (+1.54 after V-MAX)
Durability: SLA 2.91, PRC 2.62, BLU 2.82, FIRE/ICE 2.78, ELEC 3.47, FRC 3.24
Post-V-MAX, ignoring the HP boost: SLA 3.53, PRC 3.18, BLU 3.42, FIRE/ICE 3.38, ELEC 4.22, FRC 3.94


Notes: T2 can roughly half her magic durability in exchange for ~15% more physical/fire/ice/durability, 3 more QUI, and about 8% more damage with DestructionBeam and Magnify. If she wants even more damage (around 15% total increase from the listed numbers), swapping the second ElectroArmor for a second MachineVulcan is an option. T2's defences are still pretty solid even then (78 phys, 88 pierce, 74 fire/ice, and 39 thunder/force). However, this definitely means giving up the ultratanky build and T2 is now quite easy to outslug, so it's mostly a "for turn 1 OHKO only" build.

Finally, T260G has a physical setup in which the two WIL-boosting equips are traded for:

CyberGlove (9/9/9/9/9/4/9/4, HP+100, STR+20)
ZeroSword (60 atk, HP+100, STR/QUI+20)

This results in much less turn 1 damage as well as lower QUI (90) and HP (650), but it serves her well in longer fights. Damage of this setup will be shown in square brackets. Physical attacks with the ZeroSword in this setup do about 150 less points of damage than BeamSword, for reference, and of course are purely slash-elemental.


Abilities:

V-MAX: Raises HP by 100 and all stats by 10, enables the melee attacks CosmicRave and StarlightShower. Lasts 5 turns including the one on which it is used, after which V-END is activated, draining 1 LP and reducing T260G's stats by an untested amount. OPB.
CosmicRave (7): 5500 [7000] blunt/fire/electric/force
StarlightShower (7): 3600 [4500] blunt/fire/electric/force MT
DestructionBeam (7 uses): 1500 (1600) electric/force
BeamSword (2): 850 (1000) [1150 (1200)] slash/fire/force
Graviton (8): 1270 (1516) [528 (746)] force, goes last in round

The following abilities take ability slots. T260G has 6 [5] by default:

CombatMastery: Passive. Increases damage dealt by melee attacks, factored in.
ShootingMastery: Passive. Increases damage dealt by ranged attacks, factored in.
SelfRepair: Passive. Regens 57 (67) HP at the end of each round.
MaxwellProgram: Passive. Regens 1 WP at the end of each round.
PluralSlash (5): 1700 (2450) [3850 (4300), -350 if activated through the MegaBeamSword] slash/fire/force. Requires a sword.
Magnify (15): 6650 (6900) electric/force. Requires and disables the HyperBlaster after use.
InterceptSystem (0): Reaction. 24% (25%) [26% (28%)] chance to evade and counter a melee singletarget physical attack. Damage untested.


Comments: Fast, insanely tanky (and status isn't a solution), and Magnify deals out pseudomagical death before many opponents can even get started. For a longer fight, she can always fall back on physicals with PluralSlash, V-MAX, and CosmicRave... which deals OHKO damage to the other defence up to four times. The regen thrown in there just makes outslugging her even harder. Yeah. Saga mecs are really good in the DL, and T260G makes all the rest look bad. Godlike for certain.



TimeLord:

HP 705
STR 75
QUI 88+5
INT 81
WIL 84+15
PSY 91
VIT 77
CHA 43
WP ~90, JP ~90, LP 10

MysticMail (23/23/23/13/13/13/23/23, immunes Angry/Charm/Mess/Sleep, locked)
MagicWear (4/4/4/14/14/14/4/4, WIL+5)
LaserScope (7/7/7/3/3/3/3/3, WIL+10, immunes Blind)
JetBoots (7/7/7/7/7/2/7/7, QUI+5, immunes Ground attacks)
-----
Total defences: 41/41/41/37/37/32/37/37

Effective speed: +1.10
Durability: SLA 0.73, PRC 0.66, BLU 0.71, FIRE/ICE 0.66, ELEC 0.77, FRC 0.77


Abilities:

MysticSword (0): 660 slash/force, chance of coup de grace
MysticGlove (0): 660 blunt/force, chance of coup de grace
MysticBoots (0): 660 blunt/force, chance of coup de grace

(Time Magic)
OverDrive (10): Initiative. The current round immediately ends, and the caster is placed in OverDrive status. Next round, only the caster can act, and gets 8 actions. All actions taken during that time cost 0 WP/JP and consume no bullets; this significantly lowers the damage done by attacks as a result. After that round, the caster has all his WP/JP and bullets reduced to 0. Damage in OverDrive is listed in brackets.
TimeEclipse (5): 1371 [904] force, high chance of Petrify and also has a chance to lower QUI, ignores evade
TimeLeap (3): The target gets no turns for the rest of the round. Works on everything. Questionable DL relevance.

(Mystic Magic)
Fascination (1): Inflicts Charm. 47% hit rate.
PhantasmShot (3): Varying effects. Averages 1049 [769] force magic, checks piercing evade, chances of Mess, Sleep, Venom+Null Regen, Petrify, and Death.
GlassShield (5): Caster is immune to the next attack as long as said attack only has one target (even if it can target more). If blocked attack is melee, the attacker takes ~1000 damage.
MirrorShade (7): Summons 3 images, up to a maximum of 5, who die if attacked. Only really useful against attacks with random targetting.


Comments: Well, his durability is bad! This doesn't matter very often. OverDrive leads to enough damage to kill average handilly enough (although by less than once thought), and even if you're tanky, you'd better be blocking stone and death. So he has free wins against almost all PCs and a few fragile bosses. His other tricks aren't nearly as relevant, but don't underestimate GlassShield's melee spoiling and possible tricks involving doubleturns using that and slowed opponents. Obvious Godlike.



White Rose:

HP 758
STR 76
QUI 78+5
INT 85
WIL 79+10
PSY 85
VIT 75
CHA 54
WP ~90, JP ~90, LP 8

ShellShield (25% evade vs. all physical) [only very rarely useful]
MysticMail (23/23/23/13/13/13/23/23, immunes Angry/Charm/Mess/Sleep, locked)
HyperWear (10/10/10/10/10/10/15/15)
LaserScope (7/7/7/3/3/3/3/3, WIL+10, immunes Blind)
JetBoots (7/7/7/7/7/2/7/7, QUI+5, immunes Ground attacks)
-----
Total defences: 47/47/47/33/33/28/48/48


Effective speed: +0.37 (+1.10 after LightSword)
Durability: SLA 0.85, PRC 0.77, BLU 0.82, FIRE/ICE 0.66, ELEC 0.78, FRC 0.96
Post-LightSword: SLA 0.89, PRC 0.80, BLU 0.86, FIRE/ICE 0.69, ELEC 0.81, FRC 1.01


Abilities:

MysticSword (0): 670 (800) slash/force, chance of coup de grace
MysticGlove (0): 670 (800) blunt/force, chance of coup de grace
MysticBoots (0): 670 (800) blunt/force, chance of coup de grace

(Light Magic)
*LightSword (7): Initiative. Creates a sword which raises all of the caster's stats by 10, and has 80 atk. The sword also grants the passive ability LightSword Deflect, which has a 40% chance of triggering and blocks singletarget physical attacks against the caster and nearby allies, regardless of the action type the caster is using (unlike normal Deflect). Physical attacks with this sword do 900 slash.
*MegaWindblast (9): 3153 (3508) Fire/Ice/Electric MT
StarlightHeal (2): 396 (420) healing, heals Venom

(Mystic Magic)
Fascination (1): Inflicts Charm. 45% hit rate.
PhantasmShot (3): Varying effects. Averages 970 (1122) force magic, checks piercing evade, chances of Mess, Sleep, Venom+Null Regen, Petrify, and Death.
GlassShield (5): Caster is immune to the next attack as long as said attack only has one target (even if it can target more). If blocked attack is melee, the attacker takes ~1000 damage.
MirrorShade (7): Summons 3 images, up to a maximum of 5, who die if attacked. Only really useful against attacks with random targetting.


Comments: Durability could be better, especially to a couple common elements, but the speed is nice, and she has the one thing most mystics would kill for: damage. Light spells are still quite a nasty set, giving her both the most damaging spell in the game by far, and LightSword, which is a healer's dream (permanent stat buff with 40% evade). If her healing was better she'd make Heavy, but as is she's still an excellent Middle.

[Dark Holy Elf]

UNRANKED HUMAN CHARACTERS


Annie:

HP 819
STR 78+10
QUI 70+10
INT 9
WIL 46
PSY 15
VIT 76
CHA 41
WP 113, LP 9

ZeroSword (60 atk)
ShellShield (25% evade vs. all physical)
PoweredSuit (50/50/50/50/50/30/30/30, STR/QUI+10, immunes Blind)
HyperWear (10/10/10/10/10/10/15/15)
-----
Total defences: 60/60/60/60/60/40/45/45

Effective speed: +0.16
Durability: SLA 1.18, PRC 1.06, BLU 1.14, FIRE/ICE 1.13, ELEC 1.00, FRC 1.01


Abilities:

(Sword)
*Lifesprinkler (10): 3900 slash, ignores evade
RosarioImpale (8): 2600 slash/pierce, ignores defence against undead
RisingNova (7): 2100 slash/fire, half target evade
DeadEnd (6): 2000 slash/pierce, half target evade, 9% chance of instant death [19-24% with higher-WIL setups]
Deflect (1): Reaction, consumes WP when triggered. 27% (31%) chance to block a singletarget physical attack directed at this character's self or nearby allies.


Comments: I swear, Annie's a bit of a joke on the part of the game developers; she has the shortest sword talent list in the game. Fortunately for her, among the few skills she does get are some key DL ones (including one of the Lifesprinkler prereqs). And the stats are quite solid. She's not as good as Gen, mainly due to lacking Kasumi, but she's not that much worse either. Could work in Middle or Heavy.


Blue:

HP 746
STR 9+10
QUI 47+10
INT 99
WIL 99
PSY 99
VIT 8
CHA 42
JP 219, LP 7

LethalGun (60 atk, 5 bullets)
PoweredSuit (50/50/50/50/50/30/30/30, STR/QUI+10, immunes Blind)
HyperWear (10/10/10/10/10/10/15/15)
-----
Total defences: 60/60/60/60/60/40/45/45

Effective speed: -1.53 (lulz whatever)
Durability: SLA 0.80, PRC 0.72, BLU 0.77, FIRE/ICE 0.76, ELEC 0.73, FRC 0.73


Abilities:

Notes: Due to a plot event (which also jacks his magic stats to the heavens), Blue has all Realm, Arcane, Rune, Light, Shadow, Space, Time, and Life Magic. I will not be attempting to list nearly all of them since most of the spells really don't matter.

Oh, and since there has been some confusion about this in the past, Blue's physical attack with a LethalGun does 650 pierce and thus he can kill magic-immunes very, very easily.

(Time Magic)
OverDrive (10): Initiative. The current round immediately ends, and the caster is placed in OverDrive status. Next round, only the caster can act, and gets 8 actions. All actions taken during that time cost 0 WP/JP and consume no bullets; this significantly lowers the damage done by attacks as a result. After that round, the caster has all his WP/JP and bullets reduced to 0. Damage in OverDrive is listed in brackets.
TimeEclipse (5): 1512 (1412) [1010] force, high chance of Petrify and also has a chance to lower QUI, ignores evade

(Light Magic)
LightSword (7): Initiative. Creates a sword which raises all of the caster's stats by 10, and has 80 atk. The sword also grants the passive ability LightSword Deflect, which has a 41% chance of triggering and blocks singletarget physical attacks against the caster and nearby allies, regardless of the action type the caster is using (unlike normal Deflect).
MegaWindblast (9): 3600 (3469) [2417] Fire/Ice/Electric MT

(Shadow Magic)
ShadowServant (9): Creates a shield which will absorb one hit for the caster and be destroyed. While this shield persists, all damage dealt by the character is doubled.

(Realm Magic)
Implosion (3): 1301 (1201) [999] fire, 62% chance of instant death
VermilionSand (8): 2155 (2579) [1723] pierce MT, quarter target evade

(Arcane Magic)
Tower (All JP): Damage is based on caster's JP. 28659 lightning at full JP, falls linearly to 2235 at 0 JP [or while in OverDrive], requires 8 JP to cast (7 in mastery).

(Rune Magic)
StasisRune (All JP): Freezes time for both caster and a target enemy; for a number of rounds, neither can act or be affected by others in any way, except for status healing, which removes the stasis condition. If stasis is removed on the caster, it is also removed on the enemy (the reverse is not true). Due to a hilarious bug, applying the stasis status causes OverDrive status to persist indefinitely (i.e. Blue continues to get 8 turns each round, although actions will once again cost JP) and averts the normal destruction of Blue's WP/JP/bullets. So basically, as soon as stasis wears off, Blue is free to cast OverDrive again, once more with initiative, leading to... stupidity.


Comments: He also has some awesome healing for team matches, but whatever. OverDrive, ShadowServant, Megawindblast x6, StasisRune, repeat. Even if you see magic-immunes blocking stasis, it doesn't matter, since all that matters is Blue applies stasis to himself (although a magic immune who survives Blue's initial assault could use this time to heal or buff, if he or she is somehow still alive). Anyway, 24 straight OverDrives of 12 Megawindblasts each is around 700000 damage, which is two zeroes more than is needed to kill average enemies and one zero more than is needed to kill almost anyone. He can be beaten by initiatives better than his own, but that's about it. Ranking? Well, the name "Bluelike" had its origins somewhere...


Capt. Hamilton:

HP 803
STR 61+10
QUI 74+10
INT 50
WIL 72
PSY 35
VIT 77
CHA 40
WP 106, JP 10, LP 8

LethalGun (60 atk, 5 bullets)
[any gun, won't be used]
ZeroSword (60 atk)
ShellShield (25% evade vs. all physical)
PoweredSuit (50/50/50/50/50/30/30/30, STR/QUI+10, immunes Blind)
HyperWear (10/10/10/10/10/10/15/15)
-----
Total defences: 60/60/60/60/60/40/45/45

Effective speed: +0.45
Durability: SLA 1.16, PRC 1.04, BLU 1.12, FIRE/ICE 1.11, ELEC 0.98, FRC 0.99

Notes: By the conventions I adopted for this stat topic, Hamilton will have to drop either the LethalGun, ZeroSword, or PoweredSuit if she wants to afford a BloodChalice. Usually the ZeroSword.


Abilities:

(Gun)
TwoGun: Passive. Greatly increases gun damage if two guns are equipped.
QuickDraw: Passive. Gun attacks have initiative unless character reloads this turn.
TrickShot (2): 3350 pierce
CrossShot (4) 4500 pierce, requires 5 bullets
BoundShot (5): 2750 pierce, 44% chance to ignore defence (=4100, average is 3500), ignores evade

(Sword)
Lifesprinkler (10): 3700 slash, ignores evade
RosarioImpale (8): 2400 slash/pierce, ignores defence against undead
RisingNova (7): 1900 slash/fire, half target evade
DeadEnd (6): 1800 slash/pierce, half target evade, 35% chance of instant death [45-50% with higher-WIL setups]


Comments: Hamilton is pretty much Roufas without Mind Magic. Sure, she gets an instant death option and a little more damage and durability to make up for it, but there's no way that's a winning trade. Which just means she's a respectable Heavy.


Doll:

HP 746
STR 16+10
QUI 48+10
INT 79
WIL 76
PSY 74
VIT 20
CHA 49
WP 12, JP 117, LP 9

PoweredSuit (50/50/50/50/50/30/30/30, STR/QUI+10, immunes Blind)
HyperWear (10/10/10/10/10/10/15/15)
-----
Total defences: 60/60/60/60/60/40/45/45

Effective speed: -1.45
Durability: SLA 0.84, PRC 0.75, BLU 0.81, FIRE/ICE 0.80, ELEC 0.76, FRC 0.75


Abilities:

(Mystic Magic)
Fascination (1): Inflicts Charm. 42% hit rate.
PhantasmShot (3): Varying effects. Averages 821 (738) force magic, checks piercing evade, chances of Mess, Sleep, Venom+Null Regen, Petrify, and Death.
*GlassShield (5): Caster is immune to the next attack as long as said attack only has one target (even if it can target more). If blocked attack is melee, the attacker takes ~1000 damage.

(Shadow Magic)
PowerGrab (1): 380 force, drains HP to caster, very low chance of STR down
*ShadowNet (3): Inflicts Palsy, MT. 59% hit rate.
*ShadowServant (9): Creates a shield which will absorb one hit for the caster and be destroyed. While this shield persists, all damage dealt by the character is doubled.
*DarkSphere: 1070 (987) force, dispels target

Comments: Every race has its big DL loser. For humans, it's Doll: a mage with one mediocre magic school and one terrible one. Very slow, rather fragile, and having only 6HKO damage with no fatal status, she does at least have a few tricks to stay out of the bottom of the barrel. Her best strategy seems to be pretending to be a mystic and hope that nobody notices that her speed is 30 points lower and thus most of their strategies don't work so well. Then again, in Light, they may work well enough. Draining will own the truly offensively inept, at least.


Fei-on:

HP 798
STR 80+10
QUI 76+10
INT 12
WIL 47
PSY 18
VIT 78
CHA 15
WP 116, LP 8

ShellShield (25% evade vs. all physical)
PoweredSuit (50/50/50/50/50/30/30/30, STR/QUI+10, immunes Blind)
HyperWear (10/10/10/10/10/10/15/15)
-----
Total defences: 60/60/60/60/60/40/45/45

Effective speed: +0.59
Durability: SLA 1.15, PRC 1.04, BLU 1.11, FIRE/ICE 1.10, ELEC 0.98, FRC 0.98


Abilities:

(Fist)
Lastshot (9): 2750 blunt, chance of coup de grace, ignores evade
*BabelCrumble (5): 2300 blunt, throw, 0% chance of stun, ignores evade
Suplex (4): 1800 blunt, throw, 0% chance of stun, ignores evade
AirThrow (1): 750 blunt, throw, 0% chance of stun, ignores evade
SwayBack (1): Reaction, consumes WP when triggered. 28% chance to evade a physical attack.
KO Throw (2): Reaction, consumes WP when triggered. Similar to Kasumi (28% rate), but only works for punches.
DragonTurn (3): Reaction, consumes WP when triggered. Similar to Kasumi (28% rate), but only works for kicks.


Comments: Somehow the design team thought it'd be funny to make a martial artist with talent to learn almost every ability EXCEPT SkyTwister and a pair of DSC moves. So in the DL, all Fei-on has is a decent array of abilities from the worst of the three human weapon classes. He has good evade, 3HKOs, and some instant death against the beaten up. Pretty speedy too. Middle.


Liza:

HP 779
STR 79+10
QUI 74+10
INT 20
WIL 41
PSY 18
VIT 75
CHA 20
WP 113, LP 8

ShellShield (25% evade vs. all physical)
PoweredSuit (50/50/50/50/50/30/30/30, STR/QUI+10, immunes Blind)
HyperWear (10/10/10/10/10/10/15/15)
-----
Total defences: 60/60/60/60/60/40/45/45

Effective speed: +0.45
Durability: SLA 1.10, PRC 0.99, BLU 1.07, FIRE/ICE 1.05, ELEC 0.94, FRC 0.94


Abilities:

(Fist)
*DSC (18): 10000 blunt, throw, does not disable shield use, ignores evade. Requires Sliding, Suplex, BabelCrumble, and GiantSwing set; is not set itself.
Lastshot (9): 2750 blunt, chance of coup de grace, ignores evade
BabelCrumble (5): 2300 blunt, throw, 0% chance of stun, ignores evade
GiantSwing (6): 1900 blunt, throw, chance of coup de grace, ignores evade
Suplex (4): 1800 blunt, throw, 0% chance of stun, ignores evade
*Sliding (2): 750 blunt, ground, 0% chance of stun
SwayBack (1): Reaction, consumes WP when triggered. 28% chance to evade a physical attack.
KO Throw (2): Reaction, consumes WP when triggered. Similar to Kasumi (28% rate), but only works for punches.
DragonTurn (3): Reaction, consumes WP when triggered. Similar to Kasumi (28% rate), but only works for kicks.


Comments: In contrast to Annie, the design team clearly liked Liza. Tied for second highest gun/magic learn rate in the game and with a good sword talent list, this in no way eclipses her cast-best fist talent list. The only character with a claim to learn DSC from the conventions I have adopted, it leaves her with 6 shots of overkill damage off decent speed and solid physical evade. Godlike. (If you don't allow her DSC... Middle. Yay interpsplits!)


Lute:

HP 819
STR 73+10
QUI 63+10
INT 10
WIL 33
PSY 13
VIT 76
CHA 48
WP 107, LP 10

ZeroSword (60 atk)
ShellShield (25% evade vs. all physical)
PoweredSuit (50/50/50/50/50/30/30/30, STR/QUI+10, immunes Blind)
HyperWear (10/10/10/10/10/10/15/15)
-----
Total defences: 60/60/60/60/60/40/45/45

Effective speed: -0.36
Durability: SLA 1.18, PRC 1.06, BLU 1.14, FIRE/ICE 1.13, ELEC 1.00, FRC 1.01


Abilities:

Notes: You could argue that Lute should get nothing because he technically starts with nothing, or look on his bonus skill (DeadEnd) with a harsher eye.

Lifesprinkler (10): 3800 slash, ignores evade
RisingNova (7): 2000 slash/fire, half target evade
*DeadEnd (6): 1900 slash/pierce, half target evade, 0% chance of instant death [6-11% with higher-WIL setups]
Heaven/Hell (3): 1800 slash, half target evade, 0% chance of stun
Deflect (1): Reaction, consumes WP when triggered. 28% chance to block a singletarget physical attack directed at this character's self or nearby allies.


Comments: Lute pretty much shows how much awful innate growths can impact a character in Saga Frontier. The verdict? Well... not that much, though he is unusually slow for a non-pure-mage human, clocking in at clearly below average. He plays an inferior version of the game sported by Asellus, Annie, and Gen, and as such finds himself in Middle.


Mei-ling:

HP 762
STR 3+10
QUI 75+10
INT 77
WIL 79
PSY 69
VIT 37
CHA 39
WP 51, JP 108, LP 10

LethalGun (60 atk, 5 bullets)
[any gun, won't be used]
ShellShield (25% evade vs. all physical)
PoweredSuit (50/50/50/50/50/30/30/30, STR/QUI+10, immunes Blind)
HyperWear (10/10/10/10/10/10/15/15)
-----
Total defences: 60/60/60/60/60/40/45/45

Effective speed: +0.52 (... kinda) (+1.25 after LightSword)
Durability: SLA 0.91, PRC 0.82, BLU 0.88, FIRE/ICE 0.87, ELEC 0.81, FRC 0.81
Post-LightSword: SLA 0.94, PRC 0.85, BLU 0.91, FIRE/ICE 0.90, ELEC 0.84, FRC 0.83


Abilities:

(Light Magic)
*LightSword (7): Initiative. Creates a sword which raises all of the caster's stats by 10, and has 80 atk. The sword also grants the passive ability LightSword Deflect, which has a 38% chance of triggering and blocks singletarget physical attacks against the caster and nearby allies, regardless of the action type the caster is using (unlike normal Deflect).
*MegaWindblast (9): 2768 (3082) Fire/Ice/Electric MT
StarlightHeal (2): 373 (394) healing, heals Venom

(Gun)
TwoGun: Passive. Greatly increases gun damage if two guns are equipped.
QuickDraw: Passive. Gun attacks have initiative unless character reloads this turn.
TrickShot (2): 3500 (3700) pierce
BoundShot (5): 3000 pierce, 44% chance to ignore defence (=4600, average is 3700), ignores evade
After LightSword: 3500, 55% chance of 5100, average is 4400


Comments: Mei-ling's supervillainy manifests itself in her ability to somehow simultaneously wield two guns, a shield, and a parrying lightsaber in her PC form. Go figure that one out. She's probably not even that much worse than her boss form here, with great blitzing like any other gunner (with the added bonus of being the only non-T260G PC who can hit both defences well), and the ability to dig in with an excellent evade-and-heal game. Does wish her durability was better though, and that's the main thing which has me thinking she falls short of Godlike.

[Dark Holy Elf]

UNRANKED MYSTIC CHARACTERS


Dr. Nusakan:

HP 786
STR 82+10
QUI 73+10
INT 84
WIL 76
PSY 86
VIT 75
CHA 51
WP ~90, JP ~90, LP 7

ShellShield (25% evade vs. all physical)
PoweredSuit (50/50/50/50/50/30/30/30, STR/QUI+10, immunes Blind)
MysticWear (8/8/8/21/21/21/21/21, immunes Angry/Charm/Mess/Sleep/Venom, allows MagicHeal, locked)
-----
Total defences: 58/58/58/71/71/51/51/51

Effective speed: +0.37
Durability: SLA 1.07, PRC 0.96, BLU 1.03, FIRE/ICE 1.36, ELEC 1.12, FRC 1.05
Post-Shield: SLA 1.59, PRC 1.43, BLU 1.54, FIRE/ICE 2.41, ELEC 1.58, FRC 1.47


Abilities:

MysticWear (0): 456 healing

MysticSword (0): 940 slash/force, chance of coup de grace
MysticGlove (0): 940 blunt/force, chance of coup de grace
MysticBoots (0): 940 blunt/force, chance of coup de grace

(Mystic Magic)
Fascination (1): Inflicts Charm. 42% hit rate.
PhantasmShot (3): Varying effects. Averages 918 force magic, checks piercing evade, chances of Mess, Sleep, Venom+Null Regen, Petrify, and Death.
GlassShield (5): Caster is immune to the next attack as long as said attack only has one target (even if it can target more). If blocked attack is melee, the attacker takes ~1000 damage.
MirrorShade (7): Summons 3 images, up to a maximum of 5, who die if attacked. Only really useful against attacks with random targetting.

(Shadow Magic)
PowerGrab (1): 400 force, drains HP to caster, very low chance of STR down
*ShadowNet (3): Inflicts Palsy, MT. 59% hit rate.
*ShadowServant (9): Creates a shield which will absorb one hit for the caster and be destroyed. While this shield persists, all damage dealt by the character is doubled.
*DarkSphere: 1182 force, dispels target

(Arcane Magic)
Grail (3): Cures status ailments and dispels target, can't target enemies.
Saber (1): 814 slash/pierce
Death (4): Inflicts Death, MT. 12% hit rate. Caster loses 1 LP if the spell fails.
*Shield (3). Initiative. Raises all non-status defences by 17, MT.
*Tower (All JP): Damage is based on caster's JP. 11341 lightning at full JP, falls linearly to 1787 at 0 JP, requires 8 JP to cast.


Comments: Really wants those Arcane gift spells, but the argument is shaky. With them, he has one shot of overkill (if easily wallable) damage, and the Shield buff is terrific, making his speedy healer game more difficult to maneuever around. Without them, he's basically got the usual mystic tricks (charm and melee spoiling) but supplements them with the aforementioned healing, and wouldn't you know it, he's one of two mystics who is actually decent at taking hits. His non-Tower damage fails regardless, but he does have PhantasmShot. Low Godlike or High Middle, depending.


Ildon:

HP 545
STR 88
QUI 76+5
INT 82
WIL 86+10
PSY 93
VIT 73
CHA 39
WP ~80, JP ~80, LP 8

ShellShield (25% evade vs. all physical)
MysticMail (23/23/23/13/13/13/23/23, immunes Angry/Charm/Mess/Sleep, locked)
HyperWear (10/10/10/10/10/10/15/15)
LaserScope (7/7/7/3/3/3/3/3, WIL+10, immunes Blind)
JetBoots (7/7/7/7/7/2/7/7, QUI+5, immunes Ground attacks)
-----
Total defences: 47/47/47/33/33/28/48/48


Effective speed: +0.23
Durability: SLA 0.61, PRC 0.55, BLU 0.59, FIRE/ICE 0.48, ELEC 0.56, FRC 0.69


Abilities:

MysticSword (0): 840 slash/force, chance of coup de grace
MysticGlove (0): 840 blunt/force, chance of coup de grace
MysticBoots (0): 840 blunt/force, chance of coup de grace

(Mystic Magic)
Fascination (1): Inflicts Charm. 47% hit rate.
PhantasmShot (3): Varying effects. Averages 1056 force magic, checks piercing evade, chances of Mess, Sleep, Venom+Null Regen, Petrify, and Death.
GlassShield (5): Caster is immune to the next attack as long as said attack only has one target (even if it can target more). If blocked attack is melee, the attacker takes ~1000 damage.
MirrorShade (7): Summons 3 images, up to a maximum of 5, who die if attacked. Only really useful against attacks with random targetting.


Comments: Poor Ildon. Joining late is bad enough, but did he really have to join late with only 220 HP? That's just not something he can recover from. As such his durability fails, and he has no skillset to supplement the stuff that all the mystics legally get. Can survive in Light by having above average speed and mystic shenanigans, but even there, two decent hits take him out well enough.


Mesarthim:

HP 778
STR 77+10
QUI 83+10
INT 76
WIL 72
PSY 84+3
VIT 71
CHA 52
WP ~90, JP ~90, LP 8

ShadowDagger (9 atk, PSY+3)
RuneSword (50 atk, allows Cockatrice if StasisRune is also set)
ShellShield (25% evade vs. all physical)
PoweredSuit (50/50/50/50/50/30/30/30, STR/QUI+10, immunes Blind)
HyperWear (10/10/10/10/10/10/15/15)
MellowRing (1/1/1/21/21/1/1/1, immunes Water attacks, allows LifeRain and Maelstrom, locked)
-----
Total defences: 61/61/61/81/81/41/46/46

Effective speed: +1.10 (+1.54 after SoulRune)
Durability: SLA 1.10, PRC 0.99, BLU 1.06, FIRE/ICE 1.75, ELEC 0.94, FRC 0.94
Post-SoulRune: SLA 1.28, PRC 1.15, BLU 1.24, FIRE/ICE 2.28, ELEC 1.04, FRC 1.06


Abilities:

MysticSword (0): 820 (1070) slash/force, chance of coup de grace
MysticGlove (0): 820 (1070) blunt/force, chance of coup de grace
MysticBoots (0): 820 (1070) blunt/force, chance of coup de grace

LifeRain (4 WP): Spends 1 LP to near-fully heal entire party except self. Not DL-relevant (probably).
Maelstrom (8 WP): 1452 (1878) force MT, water
Cockatrice (6 JP): 1221 (1582) force magic, chance of Petrify. Requires StasisRune be set.

(Rune Magic)
VictoryRune (1): Significantly raises the attack power of a character's weapons. Mimimally useful for Mesarthim.
VitalityRune (2): Adds Regen status (121 healing at the end of each round, including the one on which this is cast), permanent.
HideRune (2): The target becomes immune to singletarget attacks until his or her next non-Defend action takes place, otherwise permanent.
FreedomRune (4): Adds immunity to Palsy/Petrify/Sleep, permanent.
SoulRune (7): Raises all stats by 50% of base (capping at 99). Lasts for five rounds, including the one on which it is cast, at the end of which 1 LP is drained from the caster. Boosted damage is in parentheses.
StasisRune (All JP): Freezes time for both caster and a target enemy; for a number of rounds, neither can act or be affected by others in any way, except for status healing, which removes the stasis condition. If stasis is removed on the caster, it is also removed on the enemy (the reverse is not true).

(Mystic Magic)
Fascination (1): Inflicts Charm. 41% hit rate.
PhantasmShot (3): Varying effects. Averages 866 (1166) force magic, checks piercing evade, chances of Mess, Sleep, Venom+Null Regen, Petrify, and Death.
GlassShield (5): Caster is immune to the next attack as long as said attack only has one target (even if it can target more). If blocked attack is melee, the attacker takes ~1000 damage.
MirrorShade (7): Summons 3 images, up to a maximum of 5, who die if attacked. Only really useful against attacks with random targetting.


Comments: Probably one of Saga Frontier's most fun PC duellers. Mesarthim is the fastest and most durable mystic, and while she doesn't get a dominating skillset, it is a fun one. VitalityRune combines with GlassShield or HideRune for some cheesy healing, SoulRune's a decent buff for breaking battles open, and Cockatrice gets her some quick wins. Her best raw damage move even lets her use a shield. Wants some way to put fights away more quickly than she has, particularly against the stone-immune but her sheer number of tricks makes her a very dangerous Middle or perhaps even Heavy.


Rei:

HP 343
STR 69
QUI 78+5
INT 92
WIL 79+10
PSY 88+3
VIT 68
CHA 39
WP ~60, JP ~90, LP 6

ShadowDagger (9 atk, PSY+3)
MysticMail (23/23/23/13/13/13/23/23, immunes Angry/Charm/Mess/Sleep, locked)
HyperWear (10/10/10/10/10/10/15/15)
LaserScope (7/7/7/3/3/3/3/3, WIL+10, immunes Blind)
JetBoots (7/7/7/7/7/2/7/7, QUI+5, immunes Ground attacks)
-----
Total defences: 47/47/47/33/33/28/48/48

Effective speed: +0.37
Durability: SLA 0.38, PRC 0.34, BLU 0.37, FIRE/ICE 0.30, ELEC 0.35, FRC 0.43


Abilities:

MysticSword (0): 580 slash/force, chance of coup de grace
MysticGlove (0): 580 blunt/force, chance of coup de grace
MysticBoots (0): 580 blunt/force, chance of coup de grace

(Mystic Magic)
Fascination (1): Inflicts Charm. 45% hit rate.
GlassShield (5): Caster is immune to the next attack as long as said attack only has one target (even if it can target more). If blocked attack is melee, the attacker takes ~1000 damage.
MirrorShade (7): Summons 3 images, up to a maximum of 5, who die if attacked. Only really useful against attacks with random targetting.

(Mirage Magic)
BlackCat (1): 636 force, chance of Mess
Nightmare (2): 834 force, chance of Sleep
Jackal (4): 1134 force, chance of Venom and Null Regeneration
Cockatrice (6): 1482 force, chance of Petrify
Reaper (7): 1636 force, chance of Death


Comments: Hey look, quickdraw status! She'd better win with it, too, because she has game-worst durability. Still, I suspect the accuracy on Reaper will be decent, so this should give her some wins in Light, as will the usual GlassShield nonsense.


Silence:

HP 776
STR 81
QUI 79+5
INT 76
WIL 71+10
PSY 84
VIT 76
CHA 50
WP ~90, JP ~90, LP 8

MysticMail (23/23/23/13/13/13/23/23, immunes Angry/Charm/Mess/Sleep, locked)
HyperWear (10/10/10/10/10/10/15/15)
LaserScope (7/7/7/3/3/3/3/3, WIL+10, immunes Blind)
JetBoots (7/7/7/7/7/2/7/7, QUI+5, immunes Ground attacks)
-----
Total defences: 47/47/47/33/33/28/48/48

Effective speed: +0.45
Durability: SLA 0.88, PRC 0.80, BLU 0.86, FIRE/ICE 0.69, ELEC 0.81, FRC 1.00


Abilities:

MysticSword (0): 740 slash/force, chance of coup de grace
MysticGlove (0): 740 blunt/force, chance of coup de grace
MysticBoots (0): 740 blunt/force, chance of coup de grace

(Mystic Magic)
Fascination (1): Inflicts Charm. 43% hit rate.
PhantasmShot (3): Varying effects. Averages 910 force magic, checks piercing evade, chances of Mess, Sleep, Venom+Null Regen, Petrify, and Death.
GlassShield (5): Caster is immune to the next attack as long as said attack only has one target (even if it can target more). If blocked attack is melee, the attacker takes ~1000 damage.
MirrorShade (7): Summons 3 images, up to a maximum of 5, who die if attacked. Only really useful against attacks with random targetting.


Comments: Most boring mystic ever? Most boring mystic ever. He's the least damaging one, and uh... whatever. You know how these tricks work by now. At least his durability is fine. High Light?


Zozma:

HP 759
STR 79
QUI 84+5
INT 86
WIL 71+10
PSY 92
VIT 73
CHA 49
WP ~90, JP ~90, LP 9

MysticMail (23/23/23/13/13/13/23/23, immunes Angry/Charm/Mess/Sleep, locked)
HyperWear (10/10/10/10/10/10/15/15)
LaserScope (7/7/7/3/3/3/3/3, WIL+10, immunes Blind)
JetBoots (7/7/7/7/7/2/7/7, QUI+5, immunes Ground attacks)
-----
Total defences: 47/47/47/33/33/28/48/48

Effective speed: +0.81
Durability: SLA 0.85, PRC 0.77, BLU 0.82, FIRE/ICE 0.67, ELEC 0.78, FRC 0.96


Abilities:

MysticSword (0): 700 slash/force, chance of coup de grace
MysticGlove (0): 700 blunt/force, chance of coup de grace
MysticBoots (0): 700 blunt/force, chance of coup de grace

(Mystic Magic)
Fascination (1): Inflicts Charm. 43% hit rate.
PhantasmShot (3): Varying effects. Averages 992 force magic, checks piercing evade, chances of Mess, Sleep, Venom+Null Regen, Petrify, and Death.
GlassShield (5): Caster is immune to the next attack as long as said attack only has one target (even if it can target more). If blocked attack is melee, the attacker takes ~1000 damage.
MirrorShade (7): Summons 3 images, up to a maximum of 5, who die if attacked. Only really useful against attacks with random targetting.

(Evil Magic)
SharpPain (1): Initiative. Inflicts Stun, MT. 94% hit rate. Probably not DL-relevant.
RavaShot (1): 643 force, 21% chance of Stun
DeathCurse (4): Inflicts Death. 13% hit rate. Caster loses 1 LP if the spell fails.


Comments: For two characters who are on opposite sides of the in-game use spectrum, Silence and Zozma sure are similar in the DL. Evil Magic is sadly, nearly useless, although DeathCurse is probably respectable enough to get Zozma to Middle. Also, the speed is quite good even for the race.

[Dark Holy Elf]

UNRANKED MEC CHARACTERS


Notes: Mecs have a great ability to cusomise their stats via equipment. The setups I'll show are what I consider to be good defaults, but they can pretty much always fool around with their defences, QUI, and damage (either STR or WIL) as they wish. All mecs are of immune to non-Stun status effects due to their locked armour.


BJ&K:

HP 100+500
STR 5+20
QUI 5+75
INT 35+25
WIL 30+50
PSY 5
VIT 10+30
CHA 10
WP 55, LP 20

PoweredSuit (50/50/50/50/50/30/30/30, HP+100, STR/QUI+20)
ElectroArmor (25/33/25/35/35/35/35/25, HP+75, QUI/VIT+15)
ElectroArmor (25/33/25/35/35/35/35/25, HP+75, QUI/VIT+15)
MirrorGlass (8/8/8/4/4/4/4/4, HP+75, INT/WIL+25)
HyperBlaster (uses DestructionBeam, HP+175, QUI/WIL+25)
LaserCannon (uses Laser, locked)
MediPack (uses MediPack, locked)
MecBody (10/15/10/10/10/5/5/5, immunes all status except Stun, locked)
-----
Total defences: 99/99/99/99/99/99/99/89

Effective speed: +0.16
Durability: SLA 2.23, PRC 2.01, BLU 2.16, FIRE/ICE 2.13, ELEC 2.66, FRC 2.49

Notes: Like T260G, if he needs more turn 1 offence, along with +3 QUI, swapping an ElectroArmor or two for MachineVulcans is a decent option. Again, the first trade does lose a lot of magic/electric durability, and the second trade drops defences significantly across the board. Unlike T2 there's no gain on slash/pierce durability from the first trade because -6 defence offests +75 HP, and as usual, the second. The second trade is less useful to him because his WIL is 98 after the first, but it does still give the QUI boost.


Abilities:

DestructionBeam (7 uses): 1600 electric/force
Laser (7 WP): 1300 force
MediPack (6 uses): 250 healing, only works on non-mecs

The following abilities take ability slots. BJ&K has 5 by default:

ShootingMastery: Passive. Increases damage dealt by ranged attacks, factored in.
SelfRepair: Passive. Regens 47 HP at the end of each round.
MaxwellProgram: Passive. Regens 1 WP at the end of each round.
Magnify (15): 6900 electric/force. Requires and disables the HyperBlaster after use. (6700 force, if used with the LaserCannon instead.)


Comments: Magnify and hope to take things down in one hit. This works often enough, thanks to his sky-high WIL (his is, by default, the game's strongest Magnify). He doesn't do much else (besides tank, like all mecs), since his main in-game quirk (healing allies) doesn't translate to the DL. A mediocre Godlike but still a Godlike; get used to this from mecs.


EngineerCar:

HP 120+450
STR 15+60
QUI 5+70
INT 25
WIL 35
PSY 5
VIT 15+30
CHA 5
WP 75, LP 20

PoweredSuit (50/50/50/50/50/30/30/30, HP+100, STR/QUI+20)
ElectroArmor (25/33/25/35/35/35/35/25, HP+75, QUI/VIT+15)
ElectroArmor (25/33/25/35/35/35/35/25, HP+75, QUI/VIT+15)
CyberGlove (9/9/9/9/9/4/9/4, HP+100, STR+20)
ZeroSword (60 atk, HP+100, STR/QUI+20)
MachineVulcan (uses MachineVulcan, locked)
RepairPack (uses RepairPack, locked)
MiniPlant (10/15/10/10/10/5/5/5, immunes all status except Stun, locked)
-----
Total defences: 99/99/99/99/99/99/99/89

Effective speed: -0.21
Durability: SLA 2.24, PRC 2.01, BLU 2.17, FIRE/ICE 2.14, ELEC 2.67, FRC 2.50

Notes: EngineerCar can give up around 30% of his damage and 5% of his durability in order to get +20 speed if that stat is particularly pressing for a fight.


Abilities:

MachineVulcan (10 uses): 120 pierce. Didn't test with ShootingMastery, but yeah, this fails.
RepairPack (10 uses): 400 healing, only works on mecs

The following abilities take ability slots. EngineerCar has 3 by default:

CombatMastery: Passive. Increases damage dealt by melee attacks, factored in.
ShootingMastery: Passive. Increases damage dealt by ranged attacks, NOT factored in.
PluralSlash (5): 3600 slash/fire/force. Requires a sword.
Shock Soldier (8): 3450 slash/pierce/blunt MT, ground
Pop-Knight (10): 3450 slash/pierce/blunt MT, ignores defence against flying targets
EnergySupply (0): Heals 50 WP, only works on mecs, initiative
InterceptSystem (0): Reaction. 24% chance to evade and counter a melee singletarget physical attack. Damage untested.

Comments: Low Int, but PluralSlash, CombatMastery, and InterceptSystem is all he needs most of the time. Tank with good healing (mecs being def-over-HP really helps here) and decent damage. Rather slow for a mec (below average wtf), although he can remedy this at the cost of descending into 3HKO territory, at which point he looks a like an alternate version of Wren. And when copying Wren is your backup stat build, you know you can make it in Low Godlike.


Leonard:

HP 125+450
STR 15+60
QUI 10+70
INT 45
WIL 5
PSY 5
VIT 10+30
CHA 10
WP 80, LP 20

PoweredSuit (50/50/50/50/50/30/30/30, HP+100, STR/QUI+20)
ElectroArmor (25/33/25/35/35/35/35/25, HP+75, QUI/VIT+15)
ElectroArmor (25/33/25/35/35/35/35/25, HP+75, QUI/VIT+15)
CyberGlove (9/9/9/9/9/4/9/4, HP+100, STR+20)
ZeroSword (60 atk, HP+100, STR/QUI+20)
BeamSword (uses BeamSword, 30 atk, locked)
RepairPack (uses RepairPack, locked)
MiniPlant (10/15/10/10/10/5/5/5, immunes all status except Stun, locked)
-----
Total defences: 99/99/99/99/99/99/99/89

Effective speed: +0.16
Durability: SLA 2.14, PRC 1.92, BLU 2.07, FIRE/ICE 2.04, ELEC 2.55, FRC 2.38

Notes: Leonard has the same exact setup as EngineerCar and can make the same trade, with the only difference being that he's already above average speed.


Abilities:

BeamSword (2): 600 slash/fire/force
RepairPack (10 uses): 400 healing, only works on mecs

The following abilities take ability slots. Leonard has 4 by default:

CombatMastery: Passive. Increases damage dealt by melee attacks, factored in.
ShootingMastery: Passive. Increases damage dealt by ranged attacks. Only useful if Leonard equips a gun or heavy weapon.
PluralSlash (5): 3600 slash/fire/force. Requires a sword.
Shock Soldier (8): 3450 slash/pierce/blunt MT, ground
Pop-Knight (10): 3450 slash/pierce/blunt MT, ignores defence against flying targets
EnergySupply (0): Heals 50 WP, only works on mecs, initiative
InterceptSystem (0): Reaction. 24% chance to evade and counter a melee singletarget physical attack. Damage untested.


Comments: EngineerCar clone pretty much. He's faster and has an extra skill slot, but slightly less durable. Overall this is probably a winning trade, but otherwise, all the same comments for EngineerCar apply to him, too. Still Low Godlike.


PzkwV:

HP 250+425
STR 10+20
QUI 5+75
INT 5
WIL 35+25
PSY 1
VIT 30+30
CHA 10
WP 75, LP 25

PoweredSuit (50/50/50/50/50/30/30/30, HP+100, STR/QUI+20)
ElectroArmor (25/33/25/35/35/35/35/25, HP+75, QUI/VIT+15)
ElectroArmor (25/33/25/35/35/35/35/25, HP+75, QUI/VIT+15)
HyperBlaster (uses DestructionBeam, HP+175, QUI/WIL+25)
RailCannon (uses RailCannon, 35 atk, locked)
AT Missile (uses AT-Missile, locked)
MicroMissile (uses MicroMissile, locked)
FortBody (20/30/20/20/20/5/5/5, immunes all status except Stun, allows Graviton, locked)
-----
Total defences: 99/99/99/99/99/99/99/85

Effective speed: +0.16
Durability: SLA 3.41, PRC 3.07, BLU 3.30, FIRE/ICE 3.26, ELEC 4.07, FRC 3.80

Notes: The usual options exist here for Magnify mecs: more damage and speed are available at the cost of first force/electric durability, then all durability, depending on the ElectroArmor/MachineVulcan trades made.


Abilities:

DestructionBeam (7 uses): 1400 electric/force
RailCannon (16 uses, 1 WP): 570 pierce/blunt
AT-Missile (4 uses, 1 WP): 500 pierce/blunt/fire, ignores evade
MicroMissile (2 uses, 1 WP): 250 pierce/blunt/fire MT, ignores evade
Graviton (8): 687 force, goes last in round

The following abilities take ability slots. PzkwV has 2 by default:

ShootingMastery: Passive. Increases damage dealt by ranged attacks, factored in.
Magnify (15): 6300 electric/force. Requires and disables the HyperBlaster after use.
InterceptSystem (0): Reaction. 24% chance to evade and counter a melee
singletarget physical attack. Damage untested.


Comments: Too bad he can't really spare the slot for InterceptSystem (ShootingMastery and Magnify are essential, and getting more INT turns him into a slug since nothing boosts both INT and QUI). Anyway, very narrow in what he does, which is the Magnify game. The limitations of his equipment means that he has trouble both outspeeding and OHKOing (though he does both against average), but fortunately he's tanky even for a mec, so he should be able to get in some chipping shots first most of the time. Might just be High Heavy, but probably a borderliner.


Rabbit:

HP 75+575
STR 5+20
QUI 20+78
INT 25+25
WIL 15+50
PSY 10
VIT 10+33
CHA 20
WP 75, LP 20

PoweredSuit (50/50/50/50/50/30/30/30, HP+100, STR/QUI+20)
ElectroArmor (25/33/25/35/35/35/35/25, HP+75, QUI/VIT+15)
ElectroArmor (25/33/25/35/35/35/35/25, HP+75, QUI/VIT+15)
MirrorGlass (8/8/8/4/4/4/4/4, HP+75, INT/WIL+25)
HyperBlaster (uses DestructionBeam, HP+175, QUI/WIL+25)
LaserCannon (uses Laser, locked)
BitSystem (uses Bit, locked)
ECM System (10/15/10/10/10/5/5/5, immunes all status except Stun, allows ECM, locked)
-----
Total defences: 99/99/99/99/99/99/99/89

Effective speed: +1.26
Durability: SLA 2.14, PRC 1.92, BLU 2.07, FIRE/ICE 2.04, ELEC 2.55, FRC 2.38

Notes: See T260G and BJ&K for the usual choices available to Magnify mecs concerning trading first electric/force durability, then all durability, for more speed and damage.


Abilities:

DestructionBeam (7 uses): 1450 electric/force
Laser (7 WP): 1250 force
Bit (1 WP): Causes a random enemy to be attacked for 250 electric (ignores evade) at the end of each round. Lasts an average of 3 rounds, including the one on which it is used. OPB.
ECM (0): Causes all missiles used by anyone in the battle to miss, lasts for the rest of the battle. The definition of missile used here is very specific (only applies to missiles in the modern technological weapon sense).

The following abilities take ability slots. Rabbit has 5 by default:

ShootingMastery: Passive. Increases damage dealt by ranged attacks, factored in.
SelfRepair: Passive. Regens 48 HP at the end of each round.
MaxwellProgram: Passive. Regens 1 WP at the end of each round.
Magnify (15): 6450 electric/force. Requires and disables the HyperBlaster after use. (6250 force, if used with the LaserCannon instead.)
SatelliteBeam (8): 2100-2800 pierce/electric, high random variance. Requires Bit to have been used and not worn off, ends Bit immediately. Goes last in the round (though before Bit would resolve this round).


Comments: Very similar to BJ&K, trading the DL-useless MediPack for the virtually DL-useless BitSystem! More significantly, there's a stat reshuffle in there: Rabbit is faster but slightly less durable and damaging than his Red's-quest-unique partner. Low Godlike.


ZEKE:

HP 100+475
STR 15+80
QUI 50+55 (99)
INT 15
WIL 15
PSY 1
VIT 5+35
CHA 10
WP 25, LP 15

PoweredSuit (50/50/50/50/50/30/30/30, HP+100, STR/QUI+20)
ElectroArmor (25/33/25/35/35/35/35/25, HP+75, QUI/VIT+15)
WarLordArmor (32/42/32/32/32/32/32/32, HP+100, STR/VIT+20)
CyberGlove (9/9/9/9/9/4/9/4, HP+100, STR+20)
ZeroSword (60 atk, HP+100, STR/QUI+20)
RailCannon (uses RailCannon, 35 atk, locked)
AT Missile (uses AT-Missile, locked)
Accelerator (10/15/10/10/10/5/5/5, immunes all status except Stun, allows Accelerator, locked)
-----
Total defences: 99/99/99/99/99/99/99/96

Effective speed: +1.54
Durability: SLA 2.14, PRC 1.92, BLU 2.07, FIRE/ICE 2.04, ELEC 2.55, FRC 2.38

Notes: It's worth pointing out that ZEKE's normal attacks with the ZeroSword do roughly 1100 slash, since he runs out of WP easily.


Abilities:

RailCannon (16 uses, 1 WP): 250 pierce/blunt
AT-Missile (4 uses, 1 WP): 300 pierce/blunt/fire, ignores evade
Accelerator (0): Raises QUI, self. On a PC who easily hits the cap already.

The following abilities take ability slots. ZEKE has 3 by default:

CombatMastery: Passive. Increases damage dealt by melee attacks, factored in.
ShootingMastery: Passive. Increases damage dealt by ranged attacks, NOT factored in.
PluralSlash (5): 4500 slash/fire/force. Requires a sword.
KAMIKAZE-Crush (4): 2750 blunt/fire/electric, ignores evade, caster loses 1 LP
InterceptSystem (0): Reaction. 27% chance to evade and counter a melee singletarget physical attack. Damage untested.


Comments: ZEKE's criminally high base QUI not only means that he ends up with game-best speed, but also lets him devote his equips to damage. Thus he hits very hard and very fast with PluralSlash, and can even fall back on the only worthwhile ITE attack of any mec. However, his WP sucks, and if he wants to conserve it, he's stuck 6HKOing. Still a tough opponent to slug against, and yet another Low Godlike.

[Dark Holy Elf]

UNRANKED MONSTER CHARACTERS


Note that all monster abilities cost WP, rather than JP, except where otherwise noted. In fact, the JP stat is totally cosmetic for all monsters both in-game and in-DL, except Kylin.


Cotton:

Monster form: Shrieker (requires Supersonic, *Spore)

HP 666
STR 53
QUI 42
INT 52
WIL 75
PSY 68
VIT 56
CHA 68
WP 142, JP 102, LP 6

CelestialLeather (24/34/34/34/34/34/24/24)
ArmorVest (18/60/22/18/18/18/18/18)
-----
Total defences: 42/94/56/52/52/52/42/42


Effective speed: -2.62
Durability: SLA 0.65, PRC 2.12, BLU 0.79, FIRE/ICE 0.73, ELEC 0.91, FRC 0.73


Abilities:

Assist (2): +10 to STR/QUI/WIL/PSY. This can be recast and stacks with itself. At the end of each round, the total buff improvement to these stats is reduced by 20% of the current value. Thus, it has a pitful, if any, overall boost over time.
Heal (0): 532 healing, heals all status except stone and stun, initative
Needles (0): 200 pierce
Supersonic (2): 483 force, sonic, AoE (552 the first turn after one Assist, as an example)
*Spore (1): 345 force, AoE


Comments: Amusing. Sure, Cotton has game-worst speed and laughable 13HKO damage. And yes, most of his skillset is useless. But what isn't useless? Why, infinite healing which also negates his speed problem while he uses it! He's easy to status out and not horribly hard to outmuscle, but infinite healing goes a long way, and spoiling the spears and arrows of the lower ranks helps. He's still a Light, and not threatening to champ, but he doesn't totally embarrass himself.


Kylin:

Monster form: KylinJr. (requires Kylin'sSong)

HP 692
STR 52
QUI 71
INT 90
WIL 48
PSY 70
VIT 41
CHA 82
WP 164, JP 108, LP 5

CelestialLeather (24/34/34/34/34/34/24/24)
CelestialLeather (24/34/34/34/34/34/24/24)
FovosGrail (1/1/1/1/1/1/1/25, immnunes all status except Blind/Petrify/Stun/Venom, immunes Gaze/Ground/Sonic/Throw/Water attacks)
-----
Total defences: 49/69/69/69/69/69/49/73

Effective speed: -0.50
Durability: SLA 0.71, PRC 0.90, BLU 0.97, FIRE/ICE 0.95, ELEC 1.19, FRC 0.79


Abilities:

Kylin'sSong (3): +16 to QUI/INT, MT. This can be recast and stacks with itself. At the end of each round, the total buff improvement to these stats is reduced by 20% of the current value. Sonic attribute, so Kylin himself is immune to the effect. Changing into a different monster form can make this useful, but it's not worth it unless you allow forms I do not.
Photosynthesis: Passive. Regenerates HP if in sunlight.

(Space Magic)
VaporBlast (1): 571 pierce, ignores defence (839) against flying targets, ignores evade
Vanish (3): Inflicts Death. 57% hit rate.
ReverseGravity (6): 1274 blunt MT, 0% chance of stun, ignores evade
LightShift (1): Changes field to have a sunlight effect, activating Photosynthesis
DarkShift (1): Changes field to have a darkness effect, activating Deathsynthesis
Vortex (3): Removes all positive and negative status effects from everyone in the battle

Notes: Kylin needs to drop an ability in order to gain HP. DarkShift is the obvious choice.


Comments: Space Magic doesn't really amount to much in the DL. ReverseGravity is a pretty cool in-game move for the MT/unblockable/stun, but here it's just kinda crappy damage that can't really win him slugfests (though it's better against the slow) in Middle, which is where Vanish says he should be.


RedTurnip:

Monster form: Shrieker (requires Scream)

HP 518
STR 53
QUI 42
INT 52
WIL 75
PSY 68
VIT 56
CHA 68
WP 142, JP 102, LP 6

CelestialLeather (24/34/34/34/34/34/24/24)
ArmorVest (18/60/22/18/18/18/18/18)
-----
Total defences: 42/94/56/52/52/52/42/42

Effective speed: -2.62
Durability: SLA 0.51, PRC 1.65, BLU 0.61, FIRE/ICE 0.56, ELEC 0.71, FRC 0.57


Abilities:

Bloodsucker (1): 290 force, drains HP to caster
BrainCrush (3): 410 slash/blunt, chance of INT down (by ~30%?)
SleepGas (2): Inflicts Sleep. 70% hit rate.
Scream (4): 690 force, low chance of mess
Fang (0): 280 slash
SeedVulcan (1): 320 pierce
Ink (1): 230 force, chance of blind
ElfShot (1): Untested pierce/force (weaker than Scream for sure), chance of WIL down

Notes: RedTurnip has to drop one ability to gain HP. I chose ElfShot, although one of Fang or SeedVulcan is probably a better choice in general.


Comments: Same monster form as Cotton, so how do they compare? Well, certainly, RedTurnip has the larger skillset. Bloodsucker does damage, but it's far worse healing than Heal otherwise. lacking the initiative boost. The root vegetable's HP is also terrible because he joins so late. Possibly cast-worst dueller, and I'm sure many people would argue this is as it should be. The piercing resistance may help a little. Maybe. Puny.


Riki:

Monster form: BlackDragon (requires Tail/TailHit, *Fang, *StoneGas)

HP 634
STR 89
QUI 63
INT 49
WIL 64
PSY 71+8
VIT 92
CHA 61+8
WP 182, JP 96, LP 8

MoonlightRobe (17/27/17/17/62/27/27/27, PSY/CHA+8, immunes Palsy/Sleep)
SH-Anklet (10/10/10/10/10/-10/10/10)
SH-Anklet (10/10/10/10/10/-10/10/10)
GoldenFleece (28/28/28/38/38/38/38/43, immunes Palsy/Sleep)
-----
Total defences: 65/75/65/75/99/45/85/90

Effective speed: -1.09
Durability: SLA 1.12, PRC 1.34, BLU 1.08, FIRE 1.43, ICE 7.14(!) ELEC 0.89, FRC 2.50
Post-RING/Guardian: SLA 1.87, PRC 2.88, BLU 1.81, FIRE 3.06, ICE 7.14(!), ELEC 1.22, FRC 8.33(!)


Abilities:

Tail (1): 630 blunt, ground, 8% chance of stun
TailHit (3): 780 blunt, ground, 8% chance of stun
Heal (0): 506 healing, heals all status except stone and stun, initiative
*Fang (0): 580 slash
*StoneGas (6): 260 force, low chance of petrify


Riki also has a claim to the rings, which he collects on his quest (and monsters make better use of them than other races due to not having to give up real equipment + benefiting from the skillset expansion more). Most of the rings boost a stat by 10 (the stat is listed in parentheses), all boost defences by 1 and status def by 11 (Riki caps status def with even one equipped). All have a OPB itemcast, if equipped. All these itemcasts have initiative. Here they are:

RING/Guardian: +16 DEF to party.
(CHA+10) RING/Merchant: Inflicts Charm, MT. 77% hit rate.
(QUI+10) RING/Thief: Invincibility to singletarget attacks, MT. Invincibility wears off when the character takes his or her next non-Defend action.
(INT+10) RING/Schemer: Inflicts Mess, MT. 102% hit rate.
(WIL+10) RING/Hero: Makes party immune to all status except death/stun.
RING/Hermit: Cancels all status on all targets in battle.
(VIT+10) RING/Healer: 854 healing, heals all status except stun, MT.
(STR+10) RING/Fighter: Increases weapon power, MT. No effect on monsters.
(PSY+10) RING/Lord: Restores all WP and JP, MT.

As far as stat boosts go, the following notes apply:

-The Fighter Ring adds about 12% to Riki's physical damage (so TailHit does 870).
-The Thief Ring's effect on speed is obvious and desirable, although Riki is still below average even with it.
-The Healer Ring makes Riki's durability about 3% better.
-Other stat boosts (except PSY) make Riki's healing very slightly better (2%ish). The Hero Ring likely boosts StoneGas' success rate slightly, and certainly raises Tail/TailHit's chances by 10%.


Comments: Well, without the rings, Riki is just a notably improved Cotton. StoneGas is nice for actually ending fights, if allowed (even though it's likely 25%ish), and infinite healing off decent durability (great against ice, magic, and status) goes a long way. With the rings in the picture, Riki gains some even better tricks. Hero to block status out entirely, Guardian to up his durability significantly (lol magic, thereafter), Thief to up his speed... the game gets quite mean for someone who fails utterly at offence. Ranges from a decent Light to a decent Middle, I'd think.


Sei:

Monster form: Dullahan (requires DeathSynthesis, *CharmGaze, *Blade)

Notes: StoneGaze also works in place of CharmGaze. It's a harder skill to get, but obviously more useful. I'm only allowing the easiest version of the form, though. See Thunder for StoneGaze.

HP 756
STR 94+5
QUI 72
INT 61
WIL 72
PSY 54
VIT 75+5
CHA 79
WP 198, JP 98, LP 4

SkeleMail (16/32/4/4/16/16/4/4, immunes all status except Petrify/Stun, immunes Gaze attacks)
PlutoArmor (35/35/35/35/35/35/35/35, immunes Death)
KrisKnife (3/3/3/13/13/13/13/43)
DurahanShield (STR/VIT+5, 35% evade vs. all attacks except pure status)
-----
Total defences: 54/70/42/52/64/64/52/82

Effective speed: -0.43
Durability: SLA 0.99, PRC 1.26, BLU 0.78, FIRE 0.91, ICE 1.16, ELEC 1.45, FRC 1.06

Notes: Due to the DeathSynthesis skill, Sei is classed as undead, meaning he quarters most non-regen healing effects and is weak to certain undead-targetting attacks).


Abilities:

Kusanagi (3): 1530 slash/electric
HPDrain (4): 390 force, drains HP to caster
MinionStrike (6): 740 blunt MT
SacredSong (6): 920 force MT
DeathSynthesis: Passive. Regenerates HP if in low light.
*CharmGaze (3): Inflicts Charm. 69% hit rate.
*Blade (1): 790 slash


Comments: King Sei is the most damaging monster in the DL (which means he uh borderline 4HKOs), has okay durability (the shield helps), and can drain opponents to death somewhat effectively. Of course, since his fights are long, that's more time for him to get an unlucky streak with his own evasion. CharmGaze makes people unhappy if they're slower than him. Lots of status immunities too, which has me thinking he makes Low Middle.


Slime:

Monster form: Butch (requires Spoil, *MadAttack)

HP 704
STR 51
QUI 63
INT 44
WIL 62
PSY 37
VIT 48
CHA 44
WP 124, JP 76, LP 6

CelestialLeather (24/34/34/34/34/34/24/24)
BeastLeather (6/12/12/2/12/2/2/2)
-----
Total defences: 30/46/46/36/46/36/26/26

Effective speed: -1.09
Durability: SLA 0.58, PRC 0.64, BLU 0.69, FIRE 0.59, ICE 0.68, ELEC 0.74, FRC 0.62


Abilities:

Solvent (0): 121 force, low chance of WIL Down
HPDrain (4): 270 force, drains HP to caster
Spoil (2): Low chance of STR Down (seems to lower damage by 20%)
*MadAttack (3): 50 blunt


Comments: If RedTurnip isn't cast-worst dueller, Slime is. And the two are weirdly similar, with 22HKO draining damage and awful everything else. Where RedTurnip has better non-draining damage, a lot more effective WP, and high piercing defence, Slime has better speed and HP. Still, if you can deal out 4HKO damage, status of any sort, or heal even ONCE you can probably beat Slime. Puny.


Suzaku:

Monster form: SuzakuJr. (requires FireBarrier)

HP 763
STR 56
QUI 78
INT 45
WIL 51
PSY 57
VIT 66
CHA 82
WP 182, JP 80, LP 5

CelestialLeather (24/34/34/34/34/34/24/24)
SolGrail (1/1/1/100/1/1/1/1/11)
FireLeather (16/16/16/48/16/16/16/16)
-----
Total defences: 41/51/51/99/51/51/41/51

Effective speed: +0.01
Durability: SLA 0.78, PRC 0.81, BLU 0.87, ICE 0.86, ELEC 1.08, FRC 0.86
Immune to Fire


Abilities:

FireBarrier (0): Passive. Suzaku is immune to fire, and will counter any melee attacks by dealing 290 evade-ignoring fire damage.
FireBreath (3): 430 fire, chance of FireBarrier (making target immune to further fire attacks)
Wing (1): 600 slash/pierce
GliderSpike (5): 750 pierce


Comments: The only monster with above average speed! Too bad his skillset and damage are, as is a recurring theme in this section, pretty bad. He spoils fire and FireBarrier counters make his damage less bad against melee opponents, but even then, slugfests are hard for him to win. Low Light.


Thunder:

Monster form: RockScout (requires GroundHit, *StoneGaze)

HP 824
STR 77
QUI 70
INT 30
WIL 35
PSY 74
VIT 60
CHA 55
WP 158, JP 74, LP 5

Accelerator (10/15/10/10/10/5/5/5, immunes all status except Stun)
Protector (10/15/10/5/5/5/5/5)
ElectroArmor (25/33/25/35/35/35/35/25)
-----
Total defences: 45/63/45/50/50/45/45/35

Effective speed: -0.58
Durability: SLA 0.86, PRC 1.05, BLU 0.83, FIRE/ICE 0.88, ELEC 1.02, FRC 0.95


Abilites:

BoltBreath (2): 290, chance of BoltBarrier (making target immune to further electric attacks)
GroundHit (5): 1400 slash/blunt, 0% chance of Stun (surprisingly, not a ground attack)
Dash (2): Goes last. Untested blunt (much weaker than GroundHit)
Feint (1): Inflicts Stun. 71% hit rate. Not really DL-relevant.
*StoneGaze (5): Inflicts Petrify. 41% hit rate.


Comments: Just like in-game, Thunder is so happy he has GroundHit, a truly worthwhile damage attack. He could be in a form with better stats to make it really sting, but seeing as the RockScout form he does get has both a fatal turn 2 status and is immune to almost all status itself, he's not going to complain much. Middle.

[Dark Holy Elf]

FULL EQUIPMENT LIST

Well, not full, but here's every equip that the PCs could reasonably want. Equips marked with a star are only available to certain PCs. In all cases, stat boosts that mecs get are in square brackets. These replace any stat boosts that other races get. Attack, Defences, and any other special properties are the same regardless of the race that equips it.

I don't generally allow itemcasts from universal equipment, though some might. Do note that in the case of the VictoryRune itemcast (the only universal one), not everyone even has JP to cast it.

Weapons

Swords:

ZeroSword (60 atk) [HP+100, STR/QUI+20] (costs 4000)
RuneSword (50 atk, allows VictoryRune, allows Cockatrice if StasisRune is set) [HP+100, STR/PSY+20] (costs 2850)
Katana (34 atk, katana) [HP+65, STR/QUI+13]
*GoldenLion (75 atk) - Asellus has a plot claim to this
*CometBlade (55 atk, katana, allows MillionDollers) - Plot item, Gen has a strong claim to it but it's not actually useful
*ShadowDagger (9 atk, PSY+3, allows ShadowHold) - Initial equip on Mesarthim and Rei

Guns:

LethalGun (60 atk, 5 bullets) [HP+150, QUI/WIL/PSY+20] (costs 4020)
AGUNI-MBX (36 atk, 20 bullets) [HP+100, QUI/WIL/VIT+16]

Lasers (can be used with Magnify):

HyperBlaster (uses DestructionBeam, 7 uses) [HP+175, QUI/WIL+25] (costs 4020)
GrainCannon (uses PlasmaBullet, 8 uses) [HP+150, QUI/VIT+10, WIL+30] (costs 3300)
IonCannon (uses PlasmaBullet, 8 uses) [HP+100, QUI/WIL+15]

Artillery (can be used with Shoot-All):

HEAT Bazooka (uses HE-Rocket, 2 uses) [HP+200, WIL+30] (costs 4020)
BigMissile (uses Missile, 4 uses) [HP+150, STR/WIL+20] (costs 3200)
MachineVulcan (uses Vulcan, 30 uses) [HP+150, QUI/WIL/VIT+18]

Shields

Remember, any turn used on magic is a turn in which shield evade is not effective. This is why I haven't even listed shields for pure mages.

ShellShield (25% evade vs. all physical) [HP+40, STR/VIT+8]
Buckler (32% evade vs. slash/blunt) [HP+20, STR/VIT+4]
WonderBangle (98% evade vs. pierce) [HP+100, QUI+20] (costs 10000) - I don't personally view this one as DL-legal.

Suits

Suits make a character unable to equip ANY of armour, hats, boots, and gloves. They can still equip clothes, however.

PoweredSuit (50/50/50/50/50/30/30/30, STR/QUI+10, immunes Blind) [HP+100, STR/QUI+20] (costs 5200)
CombatSuit (15/15/10/20/20/10/10/10, immunes Blind) [HP+50, STR/QUI+10]

Armour

It's worth noting that armor grants more electric/force/status defences than PoweredSuits even BEFORE you account for the fact that opting for them lets you equip more stuff, so PoweredSuit-users should look here if they're willing to give up STR and QUI for those defences.

WarLordArmor (32/42/32/32/32/32/32/32) [HP+100, STR/VIT+20]
ElectroArmor (25/33/25/35/35/35/35/25) [HP+75, QUI/VIT+15]
ArmorVest (18/60/22/18/18/18/18/18)  [HP+65, VIT+5]
*MysticMail (23/23/23/13/13/13/23/23, immunes Angry/Charm/Mess/Sleep) - Forced on and only available to mystics (except Dr. Nusakan and Mesarthim)

Clothes

Note the DefendWear, which has +8 defences against fire/ice/lightning compared to the default (at the cost of -2 physical and -7 force/status), and MagicWear, which provides a WIL boost at a defensive hit (potentially useful for gunners and mages). Mecs don't want clothes ever.

HyperWear (10/10/10/10/10/10/15/15) [HP+5]
DefendWear (8/8/8/18/18/18/8/8) [HP+5]
MagicWear (4/4/4/14/14/14/4/4, WIL+5) [HP+5]
*MysticWear (8/8/8/21/21/21/21/21, immunes Angry/Charm/Mess/Sleep/Venom, allows MagicHeal) - Forced on and only available to Dr. Nusakan

Helmets

Notes: The LaserScope makes a case for mages and gunners to drop the PoweredSuit, exchanging STR and QUI for WIL as well as reshuffling some defences. See below for more details. Mystics already do this, though it's worth noting they can optimise defences by giving it up. This is rarely useful. Mecs use these as inexpensive INT/WIL boosters that also bolster defence a little.

MirrorGlass (8/8/8/4/4/4/4/4, immunes Blind) [HP+75, INT/WIL+25]
LaserScope (7/7/7/3/3/3/3/3, WIL+10, immunes Blind) [HP+100, INT/WIL+20]

Gloves

No non-mec PC has gloves equipped by default, since there are five defensive gear types competing for four slots. In theory if a human or mystic wants defences as high as possible, however, gloves may be worth the loss of STR, QUI, and/or WIL from other options. Mecs, of course, use them as STR boosters.

CyberGlove (9/9/9/9/9/4/9/4) [HP+100, STR+20]
ArmorGlove (8/12/12/5/5/5/5/5) [HP+75, STR/VIT+15]

Boots

JetBoots are the default here due to the QUI boost (although it's not as good as that of the PoweredSuit). If that's not needed, though, FeatherBoots offer +5 force/status defence for -5 fire/ice defence, and RubberShoes offer +23(!) electric defence at the cost of -5 force/status and -2 everything else.

FeatherBoots (7/7/7/2/2/2/12/12) [HP+75, QUI/PSY+15]
JetBoots (7/7/7/7/7/2/7/7, QUI+5, immunes Ground attacks) [HP+75, QUI+15]
RubberShoes (5/5/5/5/5/25/2/2) [HP+50, QUI+10]

Accessories

Most of us don't allow these (beyond the first three), but here's some that might be interesting! Remember that while -everyone- can equip these, most PCs have to start dropping other defensive gear (or equips in general in the case of mecs). By default, mecs and MysticMail-users have no free slots, Mesarthim has one, humans and Dr. Nusakan have 2, and monsters have 4. Note that the BloodChalice lowers fire/force/status defences substantially, so ID immunity isn't a free lunch for this cast.

BloodChalice (1/1/1/-15/1/1/-15/-15, PSY+5 immunes Death) [HP+5] (costs 4000)
*MellowRing (1/1/1/21/21/1/1/1, immunes Water attacks, allows LifeRain and Maelstrom) - Forced on and only available to Mesarthim
*AngelBroach (5/5/5/15/15/15/15/15, immunes Angry/Charm/Mess) - Emelia has a plot claim to this

FireCrystal (1/1/1/25/1/1/1/1, break for FireBarrier status) [HP+5]
IceCrystal (1/1/1/1/25/1/1/1, break for IceBarrier status) [HP+5]
BoltCrystal (1/1/1/1/1/25/1/1, break for BoltBarrier status) [HP+5]
PearlHeart (2/2/2/2/7/-3/2/2, immunes Water attacks) [HP+5]
HarmoniumEarring (1/1/1/11/11/11/11/21, immunes Sonic attacks) [HP+50, INT+10]
SteelAmulet (1/1/1/1/1/1/1/6, VIT+5) [HP+25, STR/QUI/VIT+5]
FangAmulet (1/1/1/6/6/6/1/6, STR+5) [HP+5]
WingAmulet (1/1/1/6/6/6/1/6, QUI+5) [HP+5]
FlowerAmulet (1/1/1/6/6/6/1/6, PSY/CHA+5) [HP+5]
PurpleEye (4/4/4/4/4/4/4/14, PSY+7, immunes to Gaze attacks) [HP+50, PSY+10] (costs 8000)

Notable alternate setups

These are mostly for humans. Mesarthim is pretty much a human with a locked MellowRing (which makes her give up equips from non-suit setups, but she gains 21 fire/ice defs as compensation), Nusakan is a human with a different type of clothing (-2 physical, +11 fire/ice/elec, +6 force/status), and other mystics are locked into MysticMail, and thus can copy WarlordArmor setups at -9 slash/blunt/force/status, -19 pierce/fire/ice/elec).

Just a reminder, default human has PoweredSuit/HyperWear with defences as follows:
60/60/60/60/60/40/45/45, STR/QUI+10

And the default mystic has MysticMail/HyperWear/LaserScope/JetBoots, totalling:
47/47/47/33/33/28/48/48, QUI+5, WIL+10

High-WIL and anti-force/status setup:

WarLordArmor, HyperWear, LaserScope, JetBoots:
56/66/56/52/52/47/57/57, QUI+5, WIL+10, immunes Ground
(Loses STR/QUI, gains WIL and ~12% more force/status durability, other defences shift slightly)

Higher-WIL setup:

WarLordArmor, MagicWear, LaserScope, JetBoots:
50/60/50/56/56/51/46/46, QUI+5, WIL+15, immunes Ground
(Trades off a notable amount of durability from the previous for 5 more WIL, though gains fire/ice/lightning defences too at least)

Anti-piercing setup:

ArmorVest, HyperWear, LaserScope, JetBoots:
42/84/46/38/38/33/43/43, QUI+5, WIL+10, immunes Ground
(Cuts piercing damage, such as projectiles and spears, by a significant amount, though all other defences suffer, and of course, there's the same STR/QUI loss as many other alternate setups.)

Anti-piercing setup, for those who don't care about WIL:

ArmorVest, HyperWear, ArmorGlove, JetBoots:
43/89/51/40/40/35/45/45, QUI+5, immunes Ground
(Go big or go home. Better defences than the previous, especially piercing.)

Anti-lightning setup:

ElectroArmor, DefendWear, LaserScope, RubberShoes:
45/53/45/61/61/81/48/38, WIL+10
(This better than halves electric damage, but there's definitely a speed hit involved, as well as a loss to physical and status defences)

Anti-lightning setup, for those who don't care about WIL:

ElectroArmor, DefendWear, ArmorGlove, RubberShoes:
46/58/50/63/63/83/50/40
(As above, but less WIL, more durability everywhere)

Mystic anti-lightning setup:

MysticMail, DefendWear, LaserScope, RubberShoes:
43/43/43/39/39/59/36/36, WIL+10
(Mystics can cover their awful electric durability too, getting to above average, but they lose speed and physical/force/status defences)

Anti-fire/ice setup:

PoweredSuit, DefendWear:
58/58/58/68/68/48/38/38, STR/QUI+10
(Straightforward, and makes Mesarthim in particular a supertank against the thermal elements; force/status defences suck though)


AVERAGES

Damage
Liza: 10000
Red: 5000
ZEKE: 4500
Asellus: 4400
Annie, Emelia, Gen: 3900
Lute: 3800
Capt. Hamilton, Mei-ling: 3700
(T260G's 3-turn average: 3666)
(BJ&K's 3-turn average: 3600)
Blue, EngineerCar, Leonard: 3600
Roufas: 3500
(Rabbit's 3-turn average: 3400)
(PzkwV's 3-turn average: 3283)
White Rose: 3150
Fei-on, Fuse: 2750
(Liza without DSC: 2750)
Rouge: 2150
T260G: 1700
Rei: 1650
BJ&K: 1600
Sei: 1550
Mesarthim, Rabbit: 1450
PzkwV, Thunder: 1400
TimeLord: 1350
Kylin: 1300
Dr. Nusakan: 1200
Doll, Ildon: 1050
Zozma: 1000
Silence: 900
Riki: 800
Suzaku: 750
RedTurnip: 700
Cotton: 500
Slime: 270
Cast-wide average: 2499
Kill point: 6248

If you don't allow DSC to Liza, the average drops by just under 200. On the other hand, if you factor in the 3-turn average for the mecs with Magnify, then the damage average rises by just under 200. Also: not allowing gift spells to White Rose, Doll, and Dr. Nusakan should drop the damage average by about 70. Allowing guns to Doll would raise the damage average by about 70. The listed average thus should work pretty well for a balance of interps, here.

Speed
ZEKE: 99
Rabbit, T260G: 95
Red: 94
Mesarthim, TimeLord: 93
Emelia: 91
Zozma: 89
Fei-on: 86
Mei-ling: 85
Capt. Hamilton, Liza, Roufas, Silence: 84
Dr. Nusakan, Rei, White Rose: 83
Ildon: 81
Annie, BJ&K, Gen, Leonard, PzkwV: 80
Asellus, Suzaku: 78
EngineerCar: 75
Fuse, Lute: 73
Sei: 72
Kylin: 71
Thunder: 70
Riki, Slime: 63
Doll: 58
Blue, Rouge: 57
Cotton, RedTurnip: 42
Cast-wide average: 77.8
Standard deviation: 13.7

HP
Red: 999
Gen: 834
Fuse: 829
Thunder: 824
Annie, Lute: 819
Roufas: 804
Capt. Hamilton: 803
Fei-on: 798
Asellus: 789
Dr. Nusakan: 786
Emelia: 784
Liza: 779
Mesarthim: 778
Silence: 776
Suzaku: 763
Mei-ling: 762
Zozma: 759
White Rose: 758
Sei: 756
Blue, Doll, Rouge: 746
TimeLord: 705
Slime: 704
T260G: 700
Kylin: 692
PzkwV: 675
Cotton: 666
Riki: 634
BJ&K: 600
Leonard, Rabbit, ZEKE: 575
EngineerCar: 570
Ildon: 545
RedTurnip: 518
Rei: 343
Cast-wide average: 720

VIT
Cast-wide average: 61.0

Physical defences
All mecs: 99
Riki: 65/75/65
Emelia: 65
Mesarthim: 61
All other humans: 60
Dr. Nusakan: 58
Kylin: 49/69/69
Cotton, RedTurnip: 42/94/56
Sei: 54/70/42
Thunder: 45/63/45
All other mystics: 47
Suzaku: 41/51/51
TimeLord: 41
Slime: 30/46/46
Cast-wide averages: 62 Slash, 67 Pierce, 64 Blunt

Fire/Ice defences
All mecs: 99
Riki: 75/99
Suzaku: 99/51
Mesarthim: 81
Emelia: 75
Dr. Nusakan: 71
Kylin: 69
All other humans: 60
Sei: 52/64
Cotton, RedTurnip: 52
Thunder: 50
Slime: 36/46
TimeLord: 37
All other mystics: 33
Cast-wide average: 64

Electric defence
All mecs: 99
Kylin: 69
Sei: 64
Emelia: 55
Cotton, RedTurnip: 52
Dr. Nusakan, Suzaku: 51
Riki, Thunder: 45
Mesarthim: 41
All other humans: 40
Slime: 36
TimeLord: 32
All other mystics: 28
Cast-wide average: 52

Force/Status defences
ZEKE: 99/96
Riki: 85/90
All mecs except Pzkw and ZEKE: 99/89
PzkwV: 99/85
Sei: 52/82
Kylin: 49/73
Emelia: 60
Dr. Nusakan: 51
Suzaku: 41/51
All other mystics: 48
Mesarthim: 46
All other humans: 45
Cotton, RedTurnip: 42
TimeLord: 37
Thunder: 45/35
Slime: 26
Cast-wide average: 56

Although honestly, for vitality and defences (besides status), it's easier just to consult the PC's individual durabilities to see how it all shakes out in practice.


TO DO:

(in rough order of priority)

-Status tests: DeadEnd, Heaven/Hell, LocomotionG, BabelCrumble, Fascination, TimeEclipse, Spellbound...
-(mostly) Unranked status tests: ShadowNet, Cockatrice, Reaper, DeathCurse, Vanish...
-List VictoryRune itemcast effect on damage, for those who allow that
-Actually test some of those interpolated damage figures, like the MysticWeapons (doubt I'll get this far, but you never know!)

[OblivionKnight]

Rouge

HP 746
STR 9+10
QUI 47+10
INT 82
WIL 81
PSY 80
VIT 8
CHA 42
JP 123, LP 7

PoweredSuit (50/50/50/50/50/30/30/30, STR/QUI+10)
HyperWear (10/10/10/10/10/10/15/15)

Effective speed: -1.53
Durability: SLA 0.80, PRC 0.72, BLU 0.78, FIRE/ICE 0.76, ELEC 0.76, FRC 0.76


Abilities:

(Realm Magic)
EnergyChain (1): 627 (541) fire, chance of palsy
Implosion (3): 999 (913) fire, chance of instant death
VermilionSand (8): 2155 (2050) pierce MT, quarter target evade
PsychicPrison (7): The next spell used by the target will automatically fail, and he or she will take damage equal to 100 * the WP/JP cost of the spell used
PsychoArmor (2): +32 to PSY/VIT. This can be recast and stacks with itself. At the end of each round, the total buff improvement to these stats is reduced by 20% of the current value. Not really worth the turn spent casting it.


Comments: Very slow and very frail, the only thing Rouge really does well is instant death, and testing is still needed to determine just how good it is (it should be decent, however). Middle, but a bad one, and the worst ranked Saga Frontier dueller fairly easily. Unless you're OK.

^_^

Speeeeeaaking of which, we need to rank the other mains this coming ranking season!

Nice work on everything thus far.  Where does MY version of Rogue stand?!  We need the Overdrive loop notes!!!!!!

[Dark Holy Elf]

Blue (who is identical to the version of Rouge you vote on, of course) is coming soon, OK, don't worry!

[alanna82]

Does Gen's Comet Blade make a difference? I thought it was stronger than the Zero Sword, and it should be legal to him since you need him with certain stats to even get it! Or are Katanas somehow weaker than swords?

[superaielman]

It's weaker than the Zero Sword.

[Magic Fanatic]

Are you using White Rose out of Asellus's or Emilia's quest?

I mostly ask due to the fact that in Asellus's quest, she eventually leaves the same time Turnip joins (missing out on ~50 end-of-game battles), and she joins...  At the same time or a little before Zozma in Emilia's quest?

[OblivionKnight]

From what I read, assuming it was read correctly, he assumed White Rose was present the whole game (i.e., joins immediately in Assless' quest, stays on until the end like in Emelia's quest).  I.e., she's not considered a temporary character, and instead a full-game party member.

[DjinnAndTonic]

Clearly we need to have temp stats for White Rose and Mei-Ling.

Quickly NEB, calculate how all characters are at 85% game completion so that we can compare! Since WR is a Mystic depending on good absorbs rather than continual growth, this actually makes her comparatively better, I'd wager.

Of course, it matters if one can get to BR 9 at 85% game completion... Otherwise she won't get those awesome Suzakus~

[Dark Holy Elf]

It makes virtually no difference whether White Rose is taken as Asellus' quest and assumed to carry on to endgame or Emelia's quest. Taking her as a temp makes her very slightly different depending on what absorbs she's given, but for the most part, she should basically be the same.

Mei-ling on Riki's quest leaves with literally 1 battle left so she's for all intents and purposes endgame there, too.

CometBlade seems basically worthless; at 55 power is is indeed inferior to the ZeroSword, so all it's good for is casting MillionDollers. I don't think there's anything special about MillionDollers besides having a fire element, so Gen can kill Serph even harder or something. If I thought it was relevant I'd test it, but as is I have many higher priorities.

Thanks for the interest, everyone!


EDIT: Annnd unranked humans are posted! Go check 'em out.

[Meeplelard]

Good topic, though didn't Omega Body (Type-7?) T260G have a unique Sword (Laser Sword?  I'll be calling it that from now on just for simplicity)  I assume its cause Zero Sword > it, but I'd like to know by how much.  Unless Plural Slash was listed using said weapon, but I can't seem to find any mention of said weapon, thus unsure what's going on there.

It actually kind of matters cause of how Mecs work.  T260G likes whatever Flexibility she can get (cause she's totally not good enough and debatable game best dueler as is), and if the Plasma Sword is only marginally worse than Zero Sword, it means she can sacrifice Zero Sword with little losses for something else potentially, while focusing on some other stat.  I get the feeling Zero Sword is likely ideal for PLuralslash related set ups anyway (yay +20 Quick/Strength?) but couldn't hurt to note.

If the damage with Pluralslash listed is in fact that of the Laser Sword, then this post is completely useless!  Still wouldn't hurt to list what weapon is being used with Pluralslash in its entry.

(its also possible I'm blind and I just can't find the mention of it when you DID note it)

Oh, I noticed you did not have Heaven/Hell listed on Asellus' skillset, for a potentially useful sword move in game.  Even if she lacks the talent, I find it hard to justify Lifesprinkler for her but not Heaven/Hell.  It also may not hurt to note best damage using Talent Skills, for people who don't allow that.

EDIT: Oh, misread your convention of "EXACTLY ONE" so nevermind.

[OblivionKnight]

A few things I'd be interested in seeing:

- No money limits.  How do things change?  I would assume mechs get a lot better
- Full list of status defending equipment
- Full list of all potentially useful equipment
- What does the "(... kinda)" mean in the effective speed sections for each character?

[superaielman]

The only really different build is the Jetboots one- it gives you immunity to ground/earth damage, but costs 10 STR and 5 speed. He's working on that.

Kinda is in reference to gunners, who have first strike with gun actions that don't require a reload.

[Dark Holy Elf]

T260G has the MegaBeamSword, which is 55 power and uses a special basic physical which costs 5 WP. You're right, that probably should get a mention. I did actually test PluralSlash using it and the 20 STR setup (unsurprisingly it comes out below DestructionBeam), so I'll get that up at some point.

Details on equipment is still to come. For now, the full list of statusblocking equipment not already mentioned is the BloodChalice, which blocks instant death. Super also touched on the other main equipment setup, which is to drop the PoweredSuit for WarlordArmor and the other non-armour equips used by the mystics. This basically trades 10 STR and 5 QUI for 10 WIL, although PCs with an accessory (Emelia, Mesarthim, anyone with a Blood Chalice) is going to suffer more. Still an excellent option for anyone with a gun. Pretty terrible one for anyone who uses mainly swords or fists.

No money limits means... not actually all that much. That AGUNI-MBX in T2's setup is replaced with a LethalGun, for instance, which is worth +4 to the key stats and +25 HP, for instance. Basically they get a bit better. I think there's a list of most of the interesting mec equips in Meeple's stat topic, but I'll try to get one here too. Otherwise the mecs are largely using top-end storebought equips as is; it just happens that a few top-end equips (MirrorGlass, CyberGlove, and weirdly, ElectroArmor) are quite cheap, which helps.

Best damage with non-Lifesprinkler moves for swordsmen involves me getting off my ass and testing RosarioImpale, TripleThrust, and RisingNova with various STR scores and weapons. RosarioImpale (undead) and RisingNova (fire) even have niche uses for those are allowed Lifespinkler, so this is definitely worthwhile. This will happen sooner or later! Another thing on the long list.

debatable game best dueler as is

While I agree that in most games, T260G (as well as TimeLord) would be debatably game-best dueller, in practice they are not because Blue is on crack.

[DjinnAndTonic]

I'm curious where Blue gets any claim to a Lethal Gun while Doll, who actually starts with a gun equipped, is stuck using magic?

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

Honestly, that just looks like a typo. Although you could allow people to use basic weapon physicals from any weapon, which would lead mages to default to Lethal Gun physicals.

[hinode]

Note that no gun skills are listed for Blue. I'm pretty sure that Lethal Gun is just there to slaughter the Worker 8s of the world under Overdrive/Status Rune.

[DjinnAndTonic]

I don't see why he should be allowed an equipment type outside of his skillset? The other mages and fist-users don't get a Lethal Gun option... and he has no claim to guns at all. Of course, LightSword works if Blue needs physical damage.

[Dark Holy Elf]

Why wouldn't Blue be allowed to use a gun? Guns are storebought equips. Everyone can use them (except monsters of course). I didn't list them for anyone else because I don't think anyone else really wants them, and I'm trying to keep the stat topic as light on clutter as I can get away with (you'll notice there are many options I don't list). Gun damage is based off WIL (Blue's is 99), so everyone else does less damage than him, and Blue's gun damage is already pretty bad, and only worth listing for the reason hinode said: it lets him beat magic immunes. Granted, yes, LightSword does too, but since that damage is based off his (awful) STR, I assumed it would be worse.

Claims are needed for skillsets, but certainly not equipment. There's a very solid DL precedent for this. Relm starts with a brush but she'll probably want either a rod or a knife in the DL, and she is allowed to use storebought ones. etc.

[Dark Holy Elf]

Monsters are up, plus more sword moves and rune magic.