Editing How to setup bots Basically

''Phantasy Star Portable 2 Infinity'' added the new feature to invite the player's other characters into the player's party. Which, of course, ends up being a horrifically broken feature, and here's a guide for how exactly to break it in! 

== Support Characters Overview ==
"Why are we bothering with this", you ask? Well, simple!

Support characters are greatly useful at just about any stage of the game. With customizable palettes and type abilities, they are much more effective than [[Partner Characters]], and can be built to fit multiple combat roles, the most effective being Chain-building and Damage dealing. Even at a low level without a lot of investment, Support characters can still provide a lot of chains and various utility. A well-invested support character adds chains much more effectively, is effectively untouchable by enemies, and deals great damage to boot. Since they keep their levels, they can help a new character or a freshly rebirthed character easily coast through difficult missions for free EXP. 

== Support Character Sample Builds (Simple) ==
''Somebody has carried me through [[Gurhal Heroes]] exactly twice, and I'm now at Type Level 6, Level 50-ish, no rebirths, and not a whole lot of gear. What to do?''<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Baseline (Abilities + Resta)</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
This should be considered for every character, regardless of build.
{| class="wikitable"
|+Palette
!Weapon
!Photon Arts
|-
|Rod
|[[Zalure]], [[Resta]] (Lv10+), [[Deband]], [[Shifta]]
|}
<u>Abilities:</u> HP Restore Rate, Damage Resist / Wild Blast, HP Boost

It only takes Vanguard Lv3 to get HP Restore Rate. You can also put on Damage Resist (Vanguard Lv2), or HP Boost (Initial). Reaching Vanguard Lv5 also unlocks a fifth slot, which allows fitting all three of these abilities.

You can also replace Damage Resist and HP boost with Wild Blast (any Type Lv5), dependent on how often you want the character to use [[Blast Types|Blast]].

Since we cannot avoid the party members bringing [[Resta]], we might as well get them the best [[Rods]] we can to maximize the heal amount ([[Wands]] and [[Tech-Mags]] have a much lower TEC score so they are worse). 

Easily accessible cheap Rods includes:

* [[Shijima Akatsuki]] (Lv1), DLC rod, has empower healing, a stupidly over-the-top amount of TEC.
* [[Clarita Visas I]] (Lv1), a password item, has empower healing, and accessible from Lv1. Is also very cheap to [[Weapon Upgrading|Upgrade]] using meseta for a huge TEC boost.
* [[Clarita Visas II]] (Lv15), received for free from [[Emilia Percival|Emilia]], with a good TEC score and empower healing.
* [[Clad Bastone]] (Lv20), a DLC rod, has empower healing, and a respectable TEC score.
* [[Clarita Visas III]] (Lv40), received for free from [[Emilia Percival|Emilia]], with a good TEC score and empower healing.

Also shout out to the [[Dengeki Master]]: its [[Resta]] heals for at least 650, regardless of TEC score and [[Resta]] Level, which is a very sizable heal early game, even for AIs with 4 times normal HP. However, its requirement of running [[Infinity Grand Prix]] multiple times through is a bit of a big ask for newer players.

While we are at it, we can bring some utility TECHNICs as well, such as [[Shifta]], [[Deband]], and [[Zalure]]. All of these TECHNICs are easily accessible from [[Secret Society]], and can be passed between characters via the Shared Storage. Although Vanguard cannot use them at tier 3, it's still convenient to let the AI use them for you.
</div></div>

<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Chain Build 1 (Twin Daggers)</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
{| class="wikitable"
|+Palette
!Weapon
!Photon Arts
|-
|[[Twin Daggers]]
|N/A
|-
|Rod
|[[Zalure]], [[Resta]] (Lv10+), [[Deband]], [[Shifta]]
|}
''If you don't have any [[Photon Arts]] linked, you can't break any chains!''

[[Twin Daggers]] are the fastest chaining striking weapon in the game as well, and even faster in the hands of an AI, since they don't have hitlag. However, the AI may hold guard on twin daggers. Picking Melee Shift from [[Partner Characters|Quick Orders]] can help reduce the amount of time they choose to Guard.

Easily accessible cheap Twin Daggers:

* [[Twin Kunai]] (Lv20), a DLC twin daggers with pretty good ATK and absurdly high ACC, allowing it to deal damage to enemies far above its level.
* [[Play Blu Edge]] (Lv20), a password twin daggers with pretty good ATK and ACC.
</div></div>
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Chain Build 2 (R-Mag + Dagger)</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
{| class="wikitable"
|+Palette
!Weapon
!Photon Arts
|-
|[[R-Mags|R-Mag]] + [[Daggers|Dagger]]
|N/A
|-
|Rod 
|[[Zalure]], [[Resta]] (Lv10+), [[Deband]], [[Shifta]]
|}

[[R-Mags]] attacks automatically without the input from the user. Which means that it bypasses the AI's various issues: lag to actually recognize enemies, time spent running up to things, and they can't Guard while equipped with one. Some good [[R-Mags]] can also provide a large number of chains.

Easily accessible decent [[R-Mags]]:

GRM lines, such as [[Yactdike]] and [[Galdike]]: Buyable from shop, provides 2~3 successive shots on fire, averages to 1 shot per second. Good for chain building, but they fall off fairly quickly due to low-rank [[R-Mags]] not having a lot of ACC.

Easily accessible decent [[Daggers]]: 

[[Kunai]] (Lv20): a DLC dagger. Similar to its twin dagger counterpart, it has good ATK and absurdly high ACC, and good for use for a good long while. 
</div></div>
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Chain Build 2 Variation (R-Mag + Claw)</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
{| class="wikitable"
!Weapon
!Photon Arts
|-
|[[R-Mags]] + [[Ga-Misaki]] ([[Claws|Claw]])
|N/A
|-
|Rod 
|[[Zalure]], [[Resta]] (Lv10+), [[Deband]], [[Shifta]]
|-
! colspan="2" |'''Shield-weaves'''
|-
|[[Ga-senba]]
|
|}
[[Ga-Misaki]] and [[Ga-senba]] makes a set bonus, that provides 140 ATK and 60 ACC, on top of the 40ATK from [[Claws]]' category bonus, and the category bonus from [[R-Mags]]. This bonus is quite hefty and can help a lot with damage, and the ACC boost also works nicely with improving R-Mag damage and allows the character to hit enemies across a higher Level gap.

Since the damage provided can be quite good, feel free to equip [[Ga-Misaki]] with a Claw Photon Art of your choice for them to provide chain break damage.
</div></div>
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Chain Build 3 (R-Mag + Wand)</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
{| class="wikitable"
!Weapon
!Photon Arts
|-
|[[R-Mags]] + [[Wands]]
|[[Sazonde]] / [[Sabarta]] / [[Nagrants]] (Square), [[Jellen]] / [[Zalure]] / [[Resta]] (Triangle)
|}
''Turns out some TECHNICs are super OP for chaining. Thanks SEGA!''

Here's some differences between the TECHNICs of choice:

<u>Square:</u>

[[Sazonde]]: deals 5 hits per cast. Launches the enemies hit, and thus provides the player a lot of safety. However, an enemy being launched can cause hitbox to not connect with the enemies, ridding the player of chains and potentially significant damage. This issue applies for most Striking Weapons, some Ranged weapons, and not at all TECHNICs. Therefore, avoid [[Sazonde]] if playing on [[Hunter]], or to an extent, [[Ranger]] and [[Vanguard]]. Also, the AI isn't keen on triple-casting Sazonde, so its effectiveness isn't as significant as they are on the player. Furthermore, if the player brought three [[Sazonde]] casters, multiple [[Sazonde|Sazondes]] can cause [[Animation Cancel]], which would render many TECHNICs and attacks completely useless. Avoid capping out on [[Sazonde]] AIs as [[Force]].

[[Sabarta]]: deals 5 hits per cast. Only flinches the enemies hit, instead of launching them. More helpful for [[Hunter]], but less useful for [[Force]] and to an extent, [[Vanguard]]. The damage from Sabarta is lower than Sazonde, so it falls off earlier compared to Sazonde. Also, the AI isn't keen on triple-casting Sabarta, so its effectiveness isn't as significant as they are on the player.

[[Nagrants]]: deals 3 hits per cast. Also pierces, which makes it quite good against large mobs, and the AI is much more keen on triple-casting Nagrants than the other two. Has a much longer cast time, however. 

<u>Triangle:</u>

[[Jellen]]: Reduces attack of all enemies in range. The attack reduction is somewhere around 5% to 7% if Jellen is below Lv21, which is pretty pitiful, but can still be helpful if you are really concerned for your safety. You can also bring a character with [[Jellen]] in combination with a character with [[Zalure:|Zalure]] to easily hit both effects. (Besides, it's not like two [[Zalure:|Zalures]] stack with each other, so dodging diminishing returns is not a bad idea).

[[Zalure:|Zalure]]: Reduces defense and evasion of all enemies in range. The reduction starts from 21%, which is quite massive, and a great help towards player's damage. It's also quintessential when fighting enemies above player level, since it reduces evasion and allows attacks to connect easier.

[[Resta]]: Saves the character from bringing [[Rods]], and thus saves the character from spending time swapping weapons, providing more time for attacking and chaining. However, no access to [[Shifta]] / [[Deband]] / [[Zalure]] / [[Jellen]] means more work from other characters and the player. Also note that since [[Wands]] heals for less than [[Rods]], which can result in longer HP recovery period. Can be remedied via [[Abilities#HP Restore Rate |HP Restore Rate]] and other suggested defensive abilities, but may require more investment than otherwise. 


Cheap easy [[Wands]]:

[[Lapis Lazuli's Ordeal]] (Lv20): a DLC wand with a great TEC score, and empowers Light for more damage on [[Nagrants]].

[[School Bag]] (Lv20): a DLC wand with a pretty good TEC score. Has a lower TEC than [[Lapis Lazuli's Ordeal]], but empowers healing, if you want to equip it with [[Resta]].

[[Magic Focus]] (Lv50): Obtained via the title [[Titles|Super Hero]]. Empowers Lightning for [[Sazonde]], and comes with a good lightning %. Also looks quite nice.
</div></div>

<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Did someone say Stunlock (Laser Cannon CS2)</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
{| class="wikitable"
!Weapon
!Triangle
|-
|[[Laser Cannons]]
|Charge Shot II
|}
''HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA''

Cheap easy Laser Cannons:
[[Laser Pannon]] (Lv15): Drops from [[Pannon]] and [[Bel Pannon]] at any level.

[[Clad 6 Cannon|Clad Cannon]] (Lv20): DLC Laser Cannon.

[[Plasma Cannon Neo]] (Lv20): DLC Laser Cannon with longer than usual range.

[[Satellite V Cannon]] (Lv20): Password item Laser Cannon.
</div></div>
== Support Characters Concerns ==
There are a number of things that can massively impact the performance of an AI party member:

=== '''1. Chain Breaking''' ===
The most notorious parts of an AI partner, they are prone to using Photon Arts or Charge Shots at seemingly random intervals. AI chain-breaking is extremely bad for a variety of reasons: 

* AIs inherently have a damage reduction of 75%. 
* Chainbreaking is poor if the weapons utilized is poor, which is very common on [[Partner Characters]]. Special shoutout to [[Ursula Laurent|Ursula]] who uses [[Machine Guns]] to break while being a Newman ''Force'', and [[Nagisa]] who uses [[Sabarta]] to break while being a ''Deuman Hunter''.
* AI's timing for chainbreaking is terrible. They do not try to maintain a chain, or attempt to make a long chain. In fact, it's almost like they do not see chains at all. 
** This is terrible for bosses and more difficult enemies, who needs long chains to be defeated quickly.
** The issue is amplified for Rangers, as Charge Shots takes a bit of time to charge, and the chain may expire before the charge shot lands.
Using '''Follow Shift''' from [[Partner Characters|Quick Order]] can prevent the partners from breaking chains altogether, which can be used to prevent this problem. However, AIs also attacks significantly less while in Follow Shift, so it's not the ideal solution. 

=== '''2. Various Lags''' ===
The AI has brain freezes at various places:
* When the AIs encounter enemies, it takes them a few seconds to register the enemies exist, and actually run over.
* AIs will stand in place for a second or two when swapping weapons.
*When AIs are using a weapon that can Guard, they will hold Guard for multiple seconds at random intervals.
*If the player was a bit far away from the AI while running, the AI will run up to the player first before doing anything else. This can result in them running right past enemies, or run against a wall, or run against a fence despite having a Ranged weapon and there being an enemy on the other side.
* Even when AIs are using weapons with adequate range (such as a Ranged weapon or [[Slicers]]), sometimes they will still run up to enemies before firing.
* AIs does not fire off Ranged weapons as fast or as often as they could.
* While AIs are generally decent with triple-casting projectile-based TECHNICs, sometimes they have issues with other TECHNICs. This results in behaviours such as spamming [[Zalure]] (to no extra effect), or using [[Sazonde]] once and then standing still until it expires.
Of course, we need the AI to have as little downtime as possible.

=== '''3. Durability''' ===
Now, the problem with durability isn't that AI party members can't survive. AI party members, after dying, revive with full HP in around 10 seconds, so whether they are good at surviving isn't very important.

The problem is, when AI dips below a specific threshold of HP (usually 40%), they will stand still, swap to their healing weapon, and keep casting [[Resta]] until their HP goes above a specific threshold (usually around 60%).

Now, that sounds fairly reasonable, except that '''they stand still the moment they decide they want to heal, oftentimes''' '''right in front of the enemies.''' This usually results in the AI party members being locked into a loop of Resta -> getting hit -> Resta -> getting hit, until they eventually die, if the enemy's damage outpaces their healing. This happens especially often during boss fights, and especially one with massive hitboxes or one in a small room.

Even if the AI does not get damage looped by enemies, AI can need several casts to top themselves off, due to their inflated HP. Recall that it takes them several seconds of lag for weapon swaps, and several seconds per cast, resulting in them spending 20 to 30 seconds casting resta.

AIs also has the issue of not trying to cast Resta at all if there's no enemies present, even if they or you or both are in critical HP. And then they will scramble to heal themselves when they actually encounter enemies. I guess you really needed to see all those lags for yourself.

AIs are also prone to immediately swapping to [[Anti]] in order to remove any [[Status Effects]] inflicted to them or the player. This includes aliments that are completely inconsequential to them, such as Burn, Poison, and on occasion, Zalure and Jellen. Once again, this will cost several seconds for them to swap into the weapon, cast, swap back to their original weapon. Inefficiency go brrrrrr!
=== '''4. Targeting''' ===
Generally, an AI party member would focus on a single enemy at a time, and they won't attempt to line up enemies for either piercing or multi-targets. This makes their multi-lock weapons much less effective, especially ones that are sub-par against single targets, such as [[Whips]] or [[Grenade Launchers]]. The same issue applies to [[Photon Arts]] and Charge Shots as well.

=== '''5. Lack of ability to chain''' ===
To put simply, there aren't a whole lot of weapons in the game that can accumulate chains very quickly. Especially for AIs, to whom applying both [[Deband]] and [[Shifta]] at the same time is a foreign concept. We need to set one up especially for it to chain well, instead of having it flail around ineffectively.

== What's wrong with [[Partner characters]]? ==
Partner Characters features almost all of the aforementioned problems, and adds a couple new problems on top.

Let's take [[Yut Jun Yunkers]] for an example:

Yut's palette consists of Spears, Shields + Slicers, Longbows, and a Rod for healing. 

Recall that Yut is a Newman Hunter, so his stats are already quite poor: Newmans has low ATK, their high TEC are also diminished by the Hunter Type; their biggest asset, PP regen, does not apply to AIs at all, as they do not have or consume any PP. 

His weapons of choice are also quite poor: 

Slicers have low ATK, compensated by their ability to pierce enemies; as an AI, Yut does not make any attempt at piercing enemies, so it stays as a low damage low hit weapon. 

Longbows are ranged weapons; Partner Character do not have any [[Abilities]], meaning they cannot access Full Charge Shot; Partner Characters also, as a hold over from ''Phantasy Star 2 Portable'', only use Charge Shot I, which is bad for Yut: Longbow CS1 deals much less damage than CS2, compensated by their ability to pierce enemies; similar to Slicers, Yut does not make any attempt at piercing enemies. AIs also cannot access FPS mode for weaknesses or a damage boost; the result of all these issues combined, is the lowest possible performance for a longbow: 1 hit per {{Square}} or {{Triangle}}, with no ability to snipe weaknesses, and no full charge shot. Never mind that Yut, as a Hunter, has lowered TEC and ACC.

Spears are alright, if only because it's difficult for him to screw up. 

However, according to his AI behaviours, he's much more likely to use the much weaker Longbows and Slicers instead, significantly lowering his damage output. As a bonus, he's able to Guard from all three weapons, which causes him to have a lot of extra downtime just holding Guard. 

For his [[Resta]], he uses a B rank Rod starting from Lv40. As a Hunter, his Resta is capped at lv15. The result of these two factors is that his Resta potential is very low: even at Lv200, he'd be healing around 300 hp per cast, with a max HP of around 5000 to 6000. If he falls below a HP threshold of 40%, it will take him 3 to 4 casts to reach 60% HP, assuming he takes no damage during these Resta casts. Even more if he has to go from, say, 10% HP back to 50%. At that point it's faster to recover that HP if he just died. 

Of course, since he does not have access to either Shifta, Deband, Zalure, or Jellen, he provides every little utility outside of his two digit damage.

From here, let's sum up the issue with Partner Characters:

* Poor setup and outdated weapons that plays into all of the AI's weaknesses.
* The lack of vital abilities resulting in severely hampered performance.
* Damage so low you'd prefer them guarding than chain-breaking.
* Support capability so bad that they can barely take care of themselves. 
Yut's issues are not isolated; most Partner Characters, even Forces, uses low TEC wands to Resta, and support techs is a highly sought-after rarity. The result is that almost everyone suffers from durability issues. On the damage side, even the most damage-oriented Partner Characters are held back by their lack of abilities and equipment that quickly goes out of date.

== How do we fix this with Support Characters? ==
Let's work with each issue one by one:

'''1. Chain Breaking'''

By not equipping Melee Weapons with Photon Arts, or not linking any Photon Arts to the {{Triangle}} slot on a Technic Weapon, you can remove the AI's ability of breaking chains. This is the easiest and most foolproof method.

If you don't mind the AI participating on breaks, you can equip them with the most hard hitting weapons you can find: Axes, Swords, Digas, and keep those as the only things on the palette they can {{Triangle}} with. 

Since we can't remove {{Triangle}} from Ranged weapons, try to avoid using those as much as possible.

'''2. Various Lags'''

We can avoid lags by utilizing [[R-Mags]], which fires regardless of the character's input. We will also avoid lags but not giving the AI any weapons it can Guard with.

'''3. Durability'''

First, we need to give them the best [[Rods]] we can get, especially with Empower Recover. This will allow us to significantly lower the amount of time the AI will need to recover. While we are at it, don't forget to fill the other slots with [[Zalure]], [[Shifta]], and [[Deband]].

Second, give them defensive abilities that reduces the amount of damage they take. The most vital ability to take is [[Abilities#HP Restore Rate |HP Restore Rate]] (Vanguard Lv3), which recovers 10% max HP every 10 seconds. On an AI, this is easily several hundred HP every 10 seconds, and is extremely effective in reducing the amount of healing the AI needs. With this on, it's not uncommon for the AI to be around max HP for entire missions.


Note that we can't avoid AI's Resta spam by not giving them access to [[Resta]]. In ''Phantasy Star Portable 2 Infinity'', all AI party members, if they do not have access to [[Resta]] on their palette, will bring out a [[Wand]] (not the weapon category, the 1* GRM wand) to cast [[Resta]]. They will bring one out even if their palette was empty, or if their palette was already full. In other words, giving them access to basically any TECHNIC weapon with [[Resta]] is better than not.

It is, however, possible to not give them access to [[Anti]]. While they will not spend time using [[Anti]] for inconsequential statuses anymore, they also can't restore the player or other members of the party out of other potentially problematic [[Status Effects]], such as Stun or Confuse. 

'''4. Targeting'''

Don't give them weapons that rely on piercing please.

'''5. Lack of ability to chain'''

Let's get them some better chaining weapons, then.

Some good choices are [[Twin Daggers]], [[R-Mags]], [[Daggers]], [[Sazonde]], [[Sabarta]], and [[Nagrants]].

== Other General Goodies ==
'''[[Abilities#Partnership |Partnership]] (Vanguard Lv6)'''

Slots onto the player character, and significantly increases the damage of AI party members. Really helpful for all the reasons you would think.

It's recommended to make some room for it most of the time (1 slot is fairly easy to spare). It's ultimately unnecessary for chain-only builds, though.

'''[[Abilities#Friendly Defense |Friendly Defense]] (All Types Lv8)'''

Slots onto the player character, significantly increases the defense of AI party members. The damage reduction is massive, and stacks with [[Abilities#Damage Resist |Damage Resist]] and [[Abilities#Photon Barrier |Photon Barrier]] for even more insanity. However, 2 slots can be a tight fit on some player builds, and defense is not really necessary in most areas. Run if you've got space, not a big loss if you don't.

'''[[Abilities#HP Restore Rate |HP Restore Rate]] (Vanguard Lv3)'''

Slots onto the support character, restores 10% of HP every 10 seconds. Since player's other characters have 4 times normal HP, which stacks with HP increment abilities and rebirth bonuses, and that level is kept, HP restore rate can get to some very ridiculous rates. How much HP they get back is just a portion of its usefulness, however. Where HP restore rate really shines for AIs, is that, since it passively recovers HP in-between waves, and heals by percentage, it massively reduces the amount of time that AIs spends on [[Resta]] spamming, making it one of the biggest factors that puts player-made characters over [[Partner Characters]], even one that is comparatively significantly less leveled.

Combined with the fact that this ability is very easy to get (Vanguard Lv3), this should be the first thing to shoot for when building a support character.

'''[[Abilities#Photon Barrier |Photon Barrier]] (Force Lv7)'''

Slots onto the support character, and negates all damage taken that is below 3% of max HP. You may recall that other characters have 4 times normal HP, which means it's 4 times more effective than when the player uses it. It allows ignoring damage from traps and obstacles, attack from small mobs, and specific enemy attacks (such as [[Orga Angelus]]'s poison pool attack). Reducing damage to 0 also negates the flinch that comes with getting hit, which allows them to spend more time attacking. 

Not really necessary when equipped with HP Restore Rate, since HP Restore Rate also helps ignoring chip damage, but HP Restore Rate doesn't prevent flinching, so having both is worthwhile. They compliment each other well, too.

'''[[Abilities#Damage Resist |Damage Resist]] (Vanguard Lv2)'''

Slots onto the support character, and reduces damage taken by 10%. The reduction isn't much, but it stacks with Photon Barrier and Friendly Defense, and indirectly improves the effectiveness of HP Restore Rate. 

Not really necessary, but it compliments Photon Barrier and Friendly Defense.

'''[[Abilities#Wild Blast |Wild Blast]] (All Types Lv5)'''

Slots onto the support character, and hastens the charge rate of Blast Gauge. Especially useful on a support character that wishes to use [[Blast Types|Blasts]] often, such as Beasts or Deumans with their transformation blasts that can deal massive damage. The AI is not half bad with Blasts, either.

While useful, 3 Slots can be tight fit for some setups, especially a Force outfitted with Technic Hi-Speeds and such.

[[Abilities#Status Protection |'''Various Resists''']]

Stun, Sleep, Shock, and Freeze are as much a pain for AIs as they are for players.

It may also be a good idea to protect against Poison, Burn, or Zalure. While these statuses don't really do anything against AIs, it stops the AI from obsessively scrambling to [[Anti]] at the thinniest paper cut, if you allowed them to bring [[Anti]].

== Sample Builds (Full Power) ==
''Wow, somebody actually decided to get their bot character to Level 200, fully rebirthed, and Type Level 50 everywhere? In that case, you've come to the right place!''

====Races & Types====
Before builds, let's talk about the benefits from different [[Races]].

[[Races#Newman |Newman]]: Highest TEC score, thus highest damage from TECHNICs and [[Blast Types#Mirage Blasts |Mirage Blasts]]. The Mirage Blast [[Blast Types#Canna |Canna]] adds 12 to 13 chains to all enemies in the room when used, is vastly useful for chaining purposes and for cleaning out rooms with Blast Rechargers.

[[Races#Human |Human]]: Highest DEF scores (which doesn't mean much). Has access to Mirage Blast [[Blast Types#Canna |Canna]] like newmans, but also has access to [[Blast Types#Kun'ne |Kun'ne]], which provides a general attack speed boost. It helps immensely with melee chaining, but doesn't help much with TECHNIC chaining.

[[Races#Cast |Cast]]: Has the lowest TEC score, thus lowest damage from TECHNICs. Has access to a few notable [[Blast Types#SUV Weapons |SUV Weapons]]: [[Exusia Fluge]]: heals full room, revives anybody dead (potentially includes the player), and is the only source of Tier 5 buffs in the game; [[Eternal Cataract]]: deals 6 hits to all enemies in the room, and almost always freezes all of them; [[Rafal Burst]]: deals 10 hits to all enemies in front of character for respectable damage. 

[[Races#Beast |Beast]]: Has the highest HP, thus gets the highest effects out of the type abilities previously mentioned. ACC issues are negated since TECHNICs does not check for accuracy. [[Blast Types#Nanoblast |Nanoblast]] doesn't chain well, but can do a shitton of damage (Nanoblast damage is lower while on Force, though). This allows for using [[Partner Characters#Quick Order |Blast Charge]] to hold nanoblast, and throw them at difficult enemies or bosses via [[Partner Characters#Quick Order |Blast Release]]. Nanoblast is invinicible too, so they just thrash and trash with reckless abandon. Note that specific Nanoblasts may enter Berserk, which will damage the player once used.

[[Races#Deumans |Deumans]]: Has the second highest TEC. Having the lowest defensive capabilities does make them a bit more painful compared to other races, but the combination of various defensive type abilities and 4 times normal HP is so strong that they aren't much worse in that aspect. [[Blast Types#Infinite Blast|Infinite Blast]] does a stupid amount of damage, especially on [[Types#Hunter|Hunter]] or [[Types#Force|Force]]. Unlike [[Blast Types#Nanoblast |Nanoblasts]], though, Deumans during Blast are prone to flinching, which may lower their damage output on particular bosses who likes doing a lot of attacks or step on things.

<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Baseline (Abilities + Resta)</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
{| class="wikitable"
|+Palette
!Weapon
!Photon Arts
!Abilities
|-
|Rod
|[[Zalure]], [[Resta]], [[Deband]], [[Shifta]]
|[[Abilities#HP Restore Rate |HP Restore Rate]], [[Abilities#HP Restore Rate |Photon Barrier]], [[Abilities#HP Restore Rate |Damage Resist]] (6 Slots)
|}
The [[Rods]] set up hasn't changed, but the [[Rods]] itself has:

[[Caduceus]] (Lv90): Traded for from [[Secret Society]] after clearing Episode 1 Hard Mode, the Caduceus is the highest level Rod with inherent Empower Healing, and the Rod with the highest Empower Healing multiplier.

[[Divine Amaterasu]] (Lv160): Can be extended for Empower Healing, and becomes the Best Healing Rod once done so.

Also, absolutely consider using [[Abilities#Wild Blast |Wild Blast]] for Blasts you may want to happen more frequently. (Especially things like [[Exusia Fluge]].)
</div></div>

<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" >
<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Chain Build (R-Mag + Wand)</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
{| class="wikitable"
!Weapon
!Photon Arts
!Abilities
|-
|R-Mag + Wand
|[[Sazonde]] / [[Sabarta]] / [[Nagrants]] (Square), [[Jellen]] / [[Zalure]] / [[Resta]] (Triangle)
|[[Abilities#Lightning Hi-speed |Lightning]]/[[Abilities#Ice Hi-speed |Ice]]/[[Abilities#Light Hi-speed |Light Hi-Speed]], [[Abilities#Technic Hi-speed + |Technic Hi-speed +]], [[Abilities#Lightning Advance |Lightning]]/[[Abilities#Ice Advance |Ice]]/[[Abilities#Light Advance |Light Advance]]
|}
Force Lv50 with Lv30 TECHNICs, of course.

<u>How to pick TECHNICs:</u>

Same as above (Chain Build 3 (R-Mag + Wand)).

<u>Notable [[R-Mags]]:</u>

[[Elenor]] (Lv150): 3 shots per 2.5 seconds and Piercing gives Elenor the best chain rates out of all R-mags, and especially useful on groups of mobs. Drain healing is negligible.

[[Clad 6 Shag]] (Lv160): 3 shots per 2.5 seconds just like Elenor, but trades Piercing for more damage. Significantly worse than groups, but better on single targets. Also has Stun.

[[Eye of Rykros]] (Lv150): 2 shots per 2 seconds is a worse rate than the other two, but it has Incap. The Incap rate is incredibly low, though.

[[Opa Opa]] (Lv80): 3 shots per 2.2 seconds is a faster rate than the others, but a low level means an Extend is required for the R-Mag to keep up with higher leveled enemies. Also the highest level R-Mag to have access to Zalure special effect (If Ice), and the Taunt special effect (If Ground), which can provide additional utility depending on build. For example, if the player decides to remove [[Zalure]] for [[Resta]] to avoid using [[Rods]]. Note that Zalure applied this way is worse than Zalure applied from [[Zalure|the TECHNIC]]. 

[[Dark Falz Dust]] (Lv160): 1 shot per 1 seconds is a worse rate than the others, but it deals the highest damage out of all R-Mags. Reflect damage is negligible.

<u>Notable [[Wands]]:</u>

[[Divine Uzume]] (Lv160): Highest damage-dealing Wand, between its 2nd highest TEC score (only 4 points behind the highest) and 120% Photon Arts damage. While it starts with Empower Fire, it can be extended to Empower Lightning or Light, which covers [[Sazonde]] and [[Nagrants]]. It also has a set bonus with [[Kamui-sena|Kamui-senba]], which provides +50 to all stats (+2 to STA).

[[Divine Tsukuyomi]] (Lv160): Wand with the highest TEC score. Also has inherent Empower Light for [[Nagrants]]. Can also be extended for Empower Ice to cover [[Sabarta]].

[[Motav Prophecy]] (Lv110): 2nd or 3rd highest damage-dealing Wand, with a high TEC score, 120% Photon Arts damage, and has inherent Empower Ice, for [[Sabarta]].

<u>How to pick abilities:</u>

Pick Hi-speeds and Advances according to the offensive TECHNIC of choice. 

[[Abilities#Technic Hi-speed + |Technic Hi-speed +]] is slower than regular hi-speed, in exchange for covering more TECHNICs. It's a consideration for Forces normally, but not worthwhile for bots as they usually do not bring more than three schools of TECHNICs. Feel free to bring [[Abilities#Assist Hi-Speed|Assist Hi-Speed]] or [[Abilities#Follow Hi-Speed|Follow Hi-Speed]] to hasten Buffs or [[Resta]] respectively.

[[Abilities#Wand Strike|Wand Strike]], [[Abilities#R-Mag Advance|R-Mag Advance]], [[Abilities#R-Mag Strike|R-Mag Strike]]: R-Mag damage is fairly poor as is anyway, so improving its damage is not really worthwhile. Improving damage on the Wand can be good, but Wand Strike does not provide significant enough benefits.

[[Abilities#Elemental Hit|Elemental Hit]]: Improves the proc rate of special effects. Always a consideration when it comes to builds. However, neither [[Nagrants]] nor [[Sabarta]] applies any special effects, and [[Sazonde]]'s Shock applies shockingly little (and is pretty redundant anyway, given what the TECHNIC itself does). Generally useless for these builds.

Various HP Boosts: Recall that these are 4 times as effective, and they stack with each other! Not necessarily better than Resists dependent on Area.

</div></div>


====Janky [[Status effects]] Builds====

<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" >
<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Frost Shot</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
{| class="wikitable"
!Weapon
!Photon Arts
!Abilities
|-
|[[Frost Shot]]
|[[Long-Range Shoot]]
|[[Abilities#Elemental Hit |Elemental Hit]], [[Abilities#Freeze Resist |Freeze Resist]], [[Abilities#Rifle Advance |Rifle Advance]], [[Abilities#Full Charge Shot|Full Charge Shot]]
|}
'''<u>[[Frost Shot]] provides a 50% chance to inflict Freeze,</u>''' which is improved to 70% by the power of [[Abilities#Elemental Hit|Elemental Hit]]. Freeze not only stops the enemy from moving, but also cancels their current action, which can quite helpful if the player is a [[Hunter]] or [[Vanguard]] in close-range situations. Note the [[Abilities#Freeze Resist |Freeze Resist]]: this is used to bypass the [[Frost Shot]]'s side effect. The [[Freeze Resist]] module does not work, as Partner Characters do not retain non-blast module effects. 

The actual effectiveness of this setup is middling. Even at 70%, it has troubles freezing bigger or boosted enemies, and the fact that AI does not have the highest fire rate does not help either. Freeze Lv1 only last for a few seconds, and breaks upon 3 hits, so its value is not so much stunning the enemy for openings, but in providing small windows for the player to use [[Consumables]] or heal up. It's pretty funny to see huge ice blocks, though. And it can be really funny with a full team of [[Frost Shot]] users. [[Abilities#Freeze Strike|Freeze Strike]] is also difficult to utilize, since it only applies to a maximum of 3 hits before the Freeze expires.

Don't forget to use [[Partner Characters#Quick Orders|Follow Shift]] to prevent Charge Shots during mobs, since Charge Shots do not inflict status effects. 
</div></div>

<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Charm Strike</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
{| class="wikitable"
!Weapon
!Photon Arts
!Abilities
|-
|[[Poron Poron]]
|[[Long-Range Shoot]]
|[[Abilities#Elemental Hit |Elemental Hit]], [[Abilities#Longbow Advance |Longbow Advance]], [[Abilities#Charm Strike |Charm Strike]], [[Abilities#Full Charge Shot|Full Charge Shot]]
|}
'''<u>[[Poron Poron]] provides a 60% chance to inflict Charm</u>''', which is improved to 84% by the power of [[Abilities#Elemental Hit|Elemental Hit]]. Charm forces the inflicted mobs to attack the AI, which can be helpful at times, especially if the player is weak defensively. [[Abilities#Charm Strike |Charm Strike]] increases damage dealt to Charmed enemies by 30%, which is a MASSIVE boost. The player can equip [[Abilities#Charm Strike |Charm Strike]] to reap the benefits as well.

Similar to the above build, the effectiveness is middling, since even at 84%, it has troubles charming bigger or boosted enemies. The AI not having a high fire rate does not help either. Once inflicted, however, Charm Lv4 lasts for a fair amount of time (16 seconds), and can provide a big damage boost with [[Abilities#Charm Strike |Charm Strike]]. 

Don't forget to use [[Partner Characters#Quick Orders|Follow Shift]] to prevent Charge Shots during mobs, since Charge Shots do not inflict status effects. 

It may also be worthwhile to extend the [[Poron Poron]], and change its special effect from Charm to Sleep. Applying Sleep at 60% or 84% rate can potentially be very useful, and argubly even better than Charm. 
</div></div>

<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Charm Strike 2</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
{| class="wikitable"
!Weapon
!Photon Arts
!Abilities
|-
|[[Zooming Scissor]]
|N/A
|[[Abilities#Elemental Hit |Elemental Hit]], [[Abilities#Longbow Advance |Spear Advance]], [[Abilities#Charm Strike |Charm Strike]]
|}
'''<u>Alternative Charm Build #1.</u>''' [[Zooming Scissor]] has Charm Lv3 and a very high charm rate (50%, 70% with Elemental Hit). While it has a lower rate and effect level than the [[Poron Poron]], it's still a very respectable rate, and [[Spears]] are a far better weapon in the hands of an AI compared to [[Longbows]]. If you are more dedicated to inflicting Charm, it may be worth equipping a [[Photon Arts]] to maximize your chances, since [[Photon Arts]] apply [[Status effects]] and deals multiple hits.

Ultimately [[Spears]] are not amazing for chaining, though.

It may also be worthwhile to extend the [[Zooming Scissor]], and change its special effect from Charm to Sleep. Applying Sleep at 50% or 70% rate can potentially be very useful, and argubly even better than Charm.
</div></div>

<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Charm Strike 3</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
{| class="wikitable"
!Weapon
!Photon Arts
!Abilities
|-
|[[Opa Opa|Opa Opa (Ground)]] + [[Innocent Mari]] / [[Amore Rose]] 
|N/A
|[[Abilities#Elemental Hit |Elemental Hit]], [[Abilities#Saber Advance|Saber]]/[[Abilities#Whip Advance|Whip Advance]], [[Abilities#Charm Strike |Charm Strike]]
|}
'''<u>Alternative Charm build #2.</u>''' Performs a bit better compared to the other three builds, as [[Opa Opa]] + right-hand is a decent chaining tool as is. However, the rates are lower, so it's less likely for Charm to occur.

The [[Amore Rose]] has a 30% Charm rate, and has multi-lock to hit more enemies with. However, since it starts at A-rank, it requires an Extend to be viable at higher levels. As a [[Whips|Whip]], it provides category bonus of TEC, which somewhat improves the damage from the [[Opa Opa]]. Both damage and chaining speed from the whip itself is quite poor, though.

The [[Innocent Mari]] is the better weapon, with higher stats, and provides +100 ATK if the user is a different gender from another member in the party. As a Saber, it also swings faster than a Whip does. However, both its Charm Level (Lv2) and Charm rate (20%) are lower, which makes it worse for Charm Dedication. Note that the [[Innocent Mari]] does not make a set with the [[Loveheart Line]], even though the [[Bloody Mari]] does.
</div></div>

<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Burn Strike</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
{| class="wikitable"
!Weapon
!Photon Arts
!Abilities
|-
|[[R-Mags]] + [[Gigadrill]] 
|N/A
|[[Abilities#Elemental Hit |Elemental Hit]], [[Abilities#Claw Strike|Claw Strike]], [[Abilities#Burn Strike|Burn Strike]]
|}
'''<u>[[Gigadrill]] has a 50% chance to inflict Burn!</u>''' Burn adds additionally passive damage, which can be quite good for large enemies with a big HP pool.

The reason I didn't specify any [[R-Mags]] is because there isn't great [[R-Mags]] that have access to Burn. [[Landale Shag]] is actually quite decent, but its value lies in free launching for free hits rather than its Burn aliment or its chain speed. Or you can extend one of the A-rank GRM [[R-Mags]] with Fire element, which is not really great, soooooooo yeah.

Just equip whatever is generally more effective instead.
</div></div>

<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Incap</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
{| class="wikitable"
!Weapon
!Photon Arts
!Abilities
|-
|[[Magana Slayer]] 
|N/A
|[[Abilities#Elemental Hit |Elemental Hit]], [[Abilities#Sword Strike|Sword Strike]]
|}
'''<u>[[Magana Slayer]]'s got 20% Incap rate</u>''', the highest Incap rate in the game! Isn't that awesome!

Since Incap doesn't have provide any indicator for when it procs or not, I have no idea whether it's actually affected by Elemental Hit or how often it procs.

But since [[Magana Slayer]] is A-rank, an Extend is required to make it catch up to later ranks.
</div></div>

====Damage Build====
''Axe (with [[Anga Grudda]]) go BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.''

== Friend Characters ==
Ideally, the bots we use should come from the Friend Characters, as they use the far bigger Friend Character slots instead of the player's own saveslots, and it allows the player to not put in any effort.

Friend Characters have various differences compared to player's Other Characters:

* Friend Characters does not consume the player's savefile slots.
* Friend Characters also does not require any work from the player themselves.
* Friend Characters auto-levels to the player's level, which provides a lot of effects dependent on the level of that Friend Character:
** If the Friend Character has a lower level, they would be caught up in levels, and would perform a lot better than the player's Other Characters of similarly low levels.
*** However, since equipment does not auto-upgrade, a Friend Character without good gear will eventually fall off as their equipment cannot keep up with the enemies, despite their increased level.
*** On the flip side, a Friend Character that does have sufficiently good gear will be able to keep up with even a higher level player character. For example, if a Lv150 Friend Character (who can equip the vast majority of weapons in the game) parties with a Lv200 Player Character. This also means that, unlike player's Other Character, a Friend Character does not have to level as high to perform well in top-end level parties.
** If the Friend Character has a higher level than the player character, their level will be scaled down, meaning they cannot carry the player nearly as easily as an Other Character that can. This is especially significant in situations with a high level gap, such as utilizing a freshly [[Rebirth]]ed character.
*** Their equipment will scale down as well. This heavily affects builds that requires specific weapons, such as any build involving high-level [[R-Mags]] (their lower-level versions are significantly less useful), and any weapons that relies on its inherent properties, special effects, or set bonuses. TECHNIC weapons are less affected, however, since their usefulness is more from the TECHNICs equipped rather than the properties of the weapon. 
***For Humans, Newmans, and Casts, it's possible for their [[Shield-weaves]] to scale down, which will lose them their access to [[Blast|Blasts]]. In other words, for these three races, if their [[Shield-weaves]] levels is high, their [[Blast]] cannot be accessed until the player hits that level. In some extreme cases, this level can be absurdly high (a Lv175 [[Infinite Armor]], for example), which severly hampens that character's usability. This also affects Beasts to a small extent: Blast Badges whose level requirement is higher than the player's cannot be accessed. Although, Blast Badges cap at Lv50, so they are guaranteed to have it once the player hits Lv50. Deumans are not affected at all as their [[Blast]] can be used past Lv10 with no other requirements. 
* Since a Friend Character has 5 times normal HP instead of 4 like an Other Character, they will be better than an Other Character of the equivalent level and set-up. This means that Friend Characters are significantly more powerful in late-game where the player character is at a high level, and Other Characters do not have the advantages of Level and equipments. Although, well-setup characters are so powerful that, while the difference is noticable, Other Characters are not much worse and are perfectly viable in their own right.
{{Getting Started}}