How to Hunter Basically

Sample Palette, according to Curtz. Don't use it.

Hi, this is AAAAAAAAAAAAA, and I'm here to talk about how to play Hunter, basically.

General Game flow

A balanced warrior adept at close combat with high ATK and DEF. Skilled in the use of melee weapons. Good for beginners.

A Hunter is a melee specialist. With a high ATK, hunters are best fit for melee weapons. With a high HP and DEF, they are also comfortable as a front-liner. Although, with their reliance on melee weapons, this means Hunter's gameflow generally boils down to running up to a thing, hit it with melee weapons, and then running up to the next thing. Speaking of melee weapons, melee weapons fall into a few different categories: a two-handed weapon with a big ATK and wide swing; a pair of twin weapons with a low ATK, but high hit count and fast attacking speed; and a one-handed weapon with decent ATK and decent attacking speed. Each weapon in the same category has similar functions, but has subtle differences which affects their overall performance.

Typically, a Hunter palette consists of a chainbreaker weapon, a chaining weapon, a gun for utilities, and a TECHNIC weapon with various support technics.

tl;dr

A sample palette for aspiring Hunters

• Weapons
  • BEEG DAMAGE GO BRRRRRR: Swords, Axes, Twin Claws
  • Press a lot: Twin Sabers, Twin Daggers, Twin Handguns, Machine Guns (featuring Meseta Fever).
  • The best thing to ever happen to hunters ever: Foverse ()
  • The second best thing to ever happen to hunters (tied): Sazonde (), Zalure ( or )
  • Utility: Anti, Resta, Jellen, Shifta, Deband, Rifles or Handguns, Shields
  • Sample Palette on the right:
    • Axe ( Anga Grudda)
    • Tech-Mag ( Foverse , Zalure) + Saber ( Infinite Storm)
    • Twin Sabers ( Assault Crush)
    • Rod ( Sazonde, Resta, R+ Shifta, R+ Deband)
    • Twin Handguns ( Long-Range Bullets)
    • Sword ( Gravity Break)
• Notable Abilities
  • Full Charge Shot (Ranger Lv2): Vital for any ranged weapon use.
  • Auto Heal Half/Critical (Default): Makes life easier.
  • Healing Item Boost (Hunter Lv2): Makes life even easier.
  • PP Defense Save (Hunter Lv3): Makes Guarding easier.
  • Partnership (Vanguard Lv6): Makes your friends stronger.
• Tips
  • Triggering Perfect Attacks (pressing either or while the the yellow circle from the last attack matches the button's circle) deals an extra 25% damage.
  • Foverse and Sazonde chains way faster than any melee can, thus they should be your primary chain accumulators.
  • Guarding can be performed from any two handed weapons (which is most of your weapons), and reduce a ton of damage. Helps your survivalibiity a ton as you get better at it.
  • Having Ranged Weapons on your palette gives you way more opportunities to attack enemies, since Melee Weapons can only attack at melee range (duh).

Perks and Drawbacks

Perks

• High DEF, high HP, thus more margins of error for players.
• Lots of weapon categories and associated Photon Arts, which allows a large freedom of customization.
• Incredible potential for massive amounts of damage, especially on enemies with multiple targets.
• PP regeneration is usually not a problem, as melee normal attacks recover PP, which is also complemented by multiple ways of reducing Photon Arts PP usage.

Drawbacks

• Due to reliance on Melee attacks, can often be found spending time running around or Tornado Dancing.
• Good at chain-building while up-close, but not at all while a distance away.
• Due to large number of two-handed weapons, may not be able to fit all elements onto the same palette.
• Low ACC can cause attacks to miss at higher level areas.

General Tips

• Melee attacks and Ranged attacks can miss enemies (dealing 0). This is a common issue for Hunters, as they have a lower ACC multiplier compared to Rangers and Vanguards.
  • Damage from otherwise big damage weapons (such as Axes) would be significantly lowered, and their chaining ability will also be hampered (0s don't add to chain).Ranged weapons of relatively lower inherent ACC (such as Twin Handguns) or not up to level (for example, if you run out of Extend Points to allocate) will be significantly less useful.
  • This problem is solved primarily via Rebirth bonuses. It can also be remedied via the use of Zalure (which lowers enemy EVA), utilizing Handguns or Daggers (both of which provides boosts to ACC) and weapons types with inherently higher ACC, such as Twin Daggers. ACC boost Abilities and Modules can also help early on, but generally provides too little to be useful in the long run.
  • Attacking an enemy from behind will also always hit.
• Perfect Attacks provides an additional 25% damage, which is a massive damage bonus, and should definitely be shot for whenever possible. Perfect Attacks on also increases the PP recovered by 50%, so try to shoot for it after a Photon Arts for faster PP recovery. Note that different weapons and different Photon Arts have different Perfect Attack timings, and the timing is affected by hitlag from attacking connecting with enemies. Try to get some practice in at lower-ranked missions.
  • It's possible to trigger a Perfect Attack to a , so -> for chain breaks is the way to go.
• Don't forget to also match up Elemental Correction for even more damage!
• Each Melee weapon has 4 to 5 equippable Photon Arts. Photon Arts is linked to , and is the primary way for Hunters to deal damage. Therefore, the choice of Photon Arts is quite important to a weapon's, and by extension, a hunter's performance.
  • There are a number of important aspects to Photon Arts: attack, accuracy, number of hits, stages, and pp consumption.
    • Attack and Accuracy is fairly self-explantory. Beware that Photon Arts with low accuracy % is even more prone to missing than usual.
    • The more hits the better, of course. Unless the hits are really slow with narrow hitboxes. Make sure to try out any Photon Arts you intend to use.
    • Each melee Photon Arts can have 1 to 3 stages: Photon Arts with multiple stages allows the player to input more times for more hits. Later stages also have a lower pp consumption and higher damage than earlier stages. This means that they effectively have a manually prolong-able chain-break sequence.
      • This means that Photon Arts with more stages are better for longer chains, as they can potentially put out more hits more quickly.
        • Most chains below like 20 or something will expire before Stage 3, so a great stage 3 may not see much use. It's possible to use Foverse to sneak in a chain count of 2 or 3 before the stage 3 hitbox connects, but it will still lose power as the previously accumlated chain count does not apply to it.
      • This does not mean that Photon Arts with less stages is naturally worse: the quality of the Photon Arts is more dependent on the hit count, its damage, its attack speed and hitboxes rather than how many stages it has. As such, it comes down to which one the player is more comfortable with using.
    • Also to note is the PA Level: PA level affects whether or not Photon Arts are able to access their later stages, as well as how much PP they consume. This doesn't mean a PA with a high level is automatically better than one of a low level: it still comes down to which one you are more comfortable with using.
• Also note the PA% and PP% on the weapon you intend to use: definitely don't use a weapon that uses way more PP than you can handle, and try not to Photon Arts using a weapon with a low PA multiplier.
• Due to often being in proximity of enemies, Hunters are more prone to taking attacks compared to other Types. Therefore, Guarding is a vital asset in any Hunter's toolbox.
  • Guard reduces damage by 70% (90% for Shields), which is a hefty damage reduction, but it can come with a steep PP cost: guarding costs PP on damage reduction, the player's PP does not recover while guarding, and guard does not work once the player is out of PP. As such, it's a bad idea to be holding it all the time, and instead
  • A Perfect Guard, a guard performed by guarding at exactly when you get hit, reduces damage to 0 without consuming any PP, making it immensely useful. However, using it can be a bit difficult, as the player need to read the enemies' attacks in-between their own attacks, and Guard have a different valid input window dependent on the weapon used.
    • Triggering a Perfect Guard using Shields will trigger Shield Arts, which deals a lot of damage to enemies nearby and adds 1 chain count to all enemies hit. This can be very useful if the player can use it consistently.
    • Triggering a Perfect Guard also makes the next attack a Perfect Counter, which increases the damage dealt by 25%. You can Photon Arts right out of a Guard, so weaving Perfect Guards into your combos can improve your damage quite a lot.
    • To practice Perfect Guard, try soloing low-rank missions using Shields only, to learn timings for enemy attacks. Shield Arts is a great indicator for if Perfect Guard activated or not. Afterwards, try soloing low-rank missions using weak weapons to learn the timings for those weapons categories.
    • Guard can also be used to cancel some extra animations for weapons or Photon Arts.
• Since a melee-oriented playstyle will naturally involve a lot of running and moving, it is a good idea to bring weapons that can be used while moving, to minimize player downtime. Weapons usable while strafing, such as Handguns and Wands, are great candidates for this purpose.
  • There are also a few Photon Arts that allows the player to spend less time running: Tornado Dance, Shisoku Tenkai-zan and INSERT CLAW PA HERE. However, they have a base PP cost of 90, which can be a huge issue for Races less talented in PP regen.

Weapons Introduction

Two-handed weapon with a big ATK

Two-Handed weapons are generally notable for having a large ATK value, making their Photon Arts quite good for chain breaking. However, their combos can be a little weak, and their chain ability may not be up to par. Bring some for BIG DAMAGE NUMBERSSS.

Swords

Swords are the bread and butter of Hunters. Hell, you even start with one at the beginning of the game!

Sword's main draw is its inherent multi-target abilities. Swords inherently have 4 lock, and a fairly long range, which allows them to easily dispatch groups of mobs and melt through bosses. They also generally have good ATK values, second only to the Axe in ATK numbers, which provides them with great DPS capability. Swords also provides a category bonus of DEF and MND, which makes the player more resistant simply by holding one.

Also notable is how easily accessible Swords are: There are a whopping FIFTEEN swords in Downloadable content, another 4 Swords accessible using Visiphone Passwords, another 5 swords obtainable from Titles, and even more via Trade Missions. These Swords not only covers a massive range of levels, but also include some of the best Swords in the game: the unsealable Yonohate Fu, Famitsu Dendo Blade, and Kokuintou Hozuki. A sword main Hunter is set for life from the very start, basically.

However, while sword's speed has been vastly improved since Phantasy Star Portable 2, its 1 hit -> 1 hit -> 1 hit combo is still very poor chain building-wise. It's recommended to use other methods to build chains, and use Sword to maintain the chain before the chain break.

Axes

Axes have a similarly wide swing to Swords, but are much slower and has 2 lock instead of 4. So what does Axes have? Well, each is 2 hits (for 2hit -> 2 hit -> 2 hit), making it better at chaining. The 2nd hits on each swing also has a massive knockdown, which makes chaining quite safe against many enemies. Axes also has the highest inherent ATK, which makes it a prime choice for chain-breaking. However, Axes generally have low ACC, and may require a Rebirth or two to work well on some Races. The slow attack speed is compensated by the knockdown at close-range, but it's a detriment in situations where the player is unable to knock the enemies down, such as groups of long-range enemies, or boosted enemies that cannot be knocked down.

Despite the drawbacks, some players go as far as considering Axes the best weapon for Hunter choice for hunter, and Anga Grudda the best Photon Art for it. But of course, this depends on the situation, playstyle, current weapon availability and personal preference.

Double Sabers

Double Sabers has lower ATK compared to the other two-handed weapons, but it has a wide range, good chain count (2 hit -> 1 hit -> 3 hit), and can hit a large amount of enemies (4 lock). This makes Double Sabers very good at putting chains on large groups.

Spears

Spears have a fairly long range, attacks quite quickly, and has higher ACC than other two-handed weapons. However, its range is very narrow, making it difficult to hit groups of enemies. Its chain count (1 hit -> 1 hit -> 1 hit) is quite poor as well. It should also be noted that its Stage 3 recovers PP faster than its other hits, but has a long hitlag, meaning it should be used for PP recovery but not while chaining.

A pair of twin weapons

Twin Weapons are generally notable for high hit count, and high attack speed. Their ATK is usually lower than that of two-handed weapons. While their damage is generally as good or better due to having more hits than the two-handeds, their Photon Arts damage can often be a bit lacking in comparison. In general, it's a good idea to pack some twin weapons to quickly put chains on enemies, and use their Photon Arts dependent on the situation.

Knuckles

Knuckles have very fast attack speed and very short hitlag, which allows Knuckles to weave in Guarding almost seemlessly. With some practice, Guarding and Perfect Guarding with knuckles can allow the player to mitigate lots of damage. Knuckles' damage can also be improved via Perfect Counter after triggering a Perfect Guard. However, Knuckles' range is quite short, and its chaining ability is a bit poor for a fast weapon (2 hit -> 1 hit -> 1 hit). It's recommended to animation cancel using Guard after the 1st in order to use Stage 1 repeatedly, as that stage is better than the other two.

Twin Sabers

Twin Sabers is the simple one out of the twin weapons family. It has good ATK and ACC (about average, relative to the other twin-s), decent attacking speed, decent chain count (1 hit -> 2 hit -> 3 hit), average range (both length and width). However, Twin Sabers only has 1 lock inherently, which makes them worse for chaining groups. And since the chain count relies more on later stages, the player needs to finish all 3 stages for max chains, which can be a huge ask in some situations.

Twin Daggers

Twin Daggers have the highest chain count of any Melee weapon (2 hit -> 2 hit -> 3 hit), along with a high attack speed and small hit lag. These combined makes Twin Daggers the best chaining melee weapon in the game. It also has high ACC which helps attacks connect, which is especially helpful for Races with low base ACC. Twin Daggers does have low ATK, but it's compensated by the high hit count on both and its Photon Arts. However, it has short range both in length and width, and requires the player to be right up to an enemy, which means the player needs to spend more time repositioning, and can be an issue in many situations.

Twin Claws

Twin Claws shares many similarities with Twin Sabers: they have similar ranges and similar attack speeds, and the same weakness against chaining groups. Twin Claws have higher ATK than Twin Sabers, but it has a more difficult Perfect Attack timing, and a longer hitlag, which makes it slightly more difficult to use. Note that male characters have 1 less hit in its basic combo than female characters (Male: 1 hit -> 1 hit -> 3 hits; Female: 1 hit -> 2 hits -> 3 hits, same as Twin Sabers). While male character can still utilize Twin Claws just fine with one less hit, it does become a harder sale compared to Twin Sabers.

One-handed weapon with decent ATK

Single Hands don't really have the chain count of twin weapons, or the damage output of two-handed weapons. However, the freed up left hand slot allows for more versatility with Ranged Weapons and Tech-Mags, and single hands generally have a much better PP recovery rate than the other weapons. Use as you see fit.

Saber

Sabers are the basic vanilla of one-handed melees. It has decent ATK, decent ACC, a basic combo (1 hit -> 1 hit -> 1 hit), meaning it's decent, but also nothing special. It also does not have a category bonus, which compares unfavorably to other one-handed weapons. Similar to Swords, Sabers are notable for being easily accessible: there are ELEVEN sabers accessible via Downloadable content, 3 accessible via Visiphone Passwords, and even more via Trading Missions. These Sabers cover a wide range of levels, which is quite a huge headstart, even if it doesn't contain best in slot weapons like Swords do.

Dagger

Daggers is the fastest one out of the single-hands. Unlike all other single-handed melee weapons, it has a 2 hit -> 1 hit -> 1 hit combo, which, combined with its faster attack speed and smaller hit lag, makes it the best chaining weapon out of the bunch. Daggers also has inherently high ACC, as well as a category bonus to ACC, which is a big help to making your attack hits, and potentially boost the damage of your left hand ranged weapons. However, much like Twin Daggers, Daggers' range is small, which requires the player to up close to enemies. Combined with the fact that Daggers cannot Guard without using Shields, makes Daggers a potentially risky choice to use.

Claw

Claws is the high damage one out of the single-hands. Claws have inherently big ATK, and a category bonus to ATK, allowing it to push the largest damage values out of all single-handed weapons. Its range is similar to Sabers, but it's a little bit slower and has a different timing.

Notably, the best in slot Claw (post-extend) is buyable from the shop, making it a much lower investment option relative to other single hand options.

Whips

Whips is one of the few weapons with inherent 5 lock. Combined with its relatively long range, allows Whips to perform well against groups of enemies from a distance. Notably, their Photon arts tends to have great multipliers, they can dish out more damage than their ATK would suggest.

However, Whips's s don't have the same leverage: with a low attack speed, and low chain count (1 hit -> 1 hit -> 1 hit). This means they are very poor against single targets, and they are inferior to other group options at close range (Double Sabers or even Swords, for example), making their usefulness somewhat questionable. Many Whips also has a high Status Effects level and a relatively high Status Effects infliction rate. This aspect of whips is hindered due to its slow attack speed, each swing being only 1 hit, and that the rates are still not high enough to apply reliably.

Whips also have a category bonus to TEC...which affects Tech-Mags, Cards, R-Mags, and nothing else. Yeahhhhhhhhh. Recall that Cards and R-Mags' effective ATK is calculated by (TEC + ACC)/2, meaning that the boost is effectively halved. Meanwhile, the Tech-Mags' TEC score is so low you shouldn't be using it for damage anyway, so a TEC boost to it is moot.

Note that Whips consume more Total Extend Points than other single-hands, for some reason.

Slicers

Slicers is a long-range melee weapon with built-in piercing. Its attack speed is decent, and its chain count is about on par with other single-handed wepaons (1 hit -> 1 hit -> 1 hit), which is to say it's not great. However, since Slicers are long-range, it provides a valuable alternative to Ranged weapons for hunters. While Slicers does not necessarily chain as well as some Ranged weapons (Twin Handguns, for example), Slicers recover a fair bit of PP instead of consuming PP, and its Photon Arts is a better damage option than Charge Shots are.

Note that Slicers consume more Total Extend Points than other single-hands, for some reason.

Shields

Shields are equipped to the left-hand, and provides the ability to Guard. Guard using Shields are significantly stronger than Guarding using other weapons: Shields receive 20% less damage than other weapons (90% instead of 70%). Since this property applies to all shields, even the Lv1 C rank basic shield you can find in the shop, this makes shields an incredibly low investment yet powerful option.

When Shields trigger a Perfect Guard, it triggers Shield Arts: an attack which hits all enemies to the front of the player. Shield Arts adds 1 chain (which is quite good since you are weaving it in-between combos), and usually deals very high damage (as long as your shield is on level), as Shields generally have very high stats. It's also possible to enhance Shield Arts via abilities such as Perfect Block Plus. If you enjoy Guarding and parrying, Shields are a must have and totally great fun.

Although, generally, the consideration for Shields is less how good Shields are, but rather, "what are you going to use on the right hand"? Would that be better fitted with a different left-hand weapon, or a two-handed weapon instead?

Other Considerations

Since Hunters spend a lot of time running around, so it would be nice to have something to do before or while moving, or just poke something from a distance if your party members are already on it.

Ranged Weapons

Don't forget to get Full Charge Shot from Ranger Lv2 if you want to Charge Shot on any of these weapons!

Rifles

Rifles have very long range, and a high ACC score, which allows even a Hunter to connect Ranged attacks from a long distance away. It also has access to FPS mode, which allows the player to use Rifles for various utilities.

However, Rifles' chaining capabilities isn't great, which means it's a bit lacking as a conventional weapon, and more of just something to do while you are a distance away. Unfortunately, Rifles can't shoot while strafing either, which hampers its utility in that purpose a little bit. Also, Rifles costs double the normal amount of Extend Points, which can be a big issue at lower Type Levels.

Handguns

Handguns function similar to Rifles, but they are left-handed and a bit shorter. This allows combining them with single-handed melee weapons for various versatility. Handguns can be used while strafing, and also has access to FPS mode, providing a good amount of utility. Handguns have a category bonus to ACC as well, which helps your right hand weapon connect easier. Combine with Daggers to further the boost both the Handgun's damage as well as the Dagger's accuracy.

Handguns' Charge Shot II also provides healing to both the player and any allies the shot came into contact with, making it a good alternative to Charge Shot I, if you aren't planning to use the Handgun to chainbreak. Do note the recovery from CS2 compares generally unfavorably to Resta: it heals for far less, and is more difficult to hit allies with, meaning it's not quite able to entirely replace Resta.

Twin Handguns

Twin Handguns is a great option for chaining from a distance. It is also capable of shooting while strafing. However, Twin Handguns have relatively lower ACC, which makes connecting attacks more difficult if the Twin Handguns used isn't quite up to level. Since Twin Handguns costs more Extend Points than normal, this can be a common occurence for lower type level Hunters.

Machine Guns

Machine Guns have very low ACC, and consumes a ton of PP. Sure, it gets you chain decently quickly. If the hits actually connects. And if you have the pp to captialize on it afterwards. In other words, normally, it's pretty useless for Hunters.

The big game changer, though, is Meseta Fever. Meseta Fever allows the Machine Guns to fire without consuming PP, meaning the player can utilize its chain ability to the fullest, as well as use it during PP recharging downtime. It is also capable of shooting while strafing, which provides additional utility for the player.

Unfortunately, even Meseta Fever doesn't fix the Accuracy issue, so it's a better idea to try Machine Guns after getting ACC from Rebirth.

R-Mags

R-Mags fires automatically, which means it adds chains for free every few seconds. Free chains without player input is always welcome, and R-Mags also provides a category bonus to ATK, adding more damage to the paired right handed melee weapon. However, R-Mags generally have low stats, and their damage is calculated using TEC and ACC, both of which are Hunter's weaknesses. The damage from a R-Mag can be quite low, and it can't provide chains if it only deals 0. Using R-Mags also removes the ability to Guard, which can be an issue for some playstyles.

Quick shoutout to the line of R-Mags that doesn't fire but adds a lot of stats instead. Those can be decent at times (although I haven't quite figured out what I want to use them for).

TECHNICS

TECHNIC Weapon

Investing into all 3 TECHNIC weapons costs a bit too much, so we gotta pick one and stick to it till we get more type points to waste on inconsequential weapons.

Things to look for on a TECHNIC weapon:

• A Hunter isn't gonna be breaking on a TECHNIC anyway, so the TEC score is more-or-less iirelevant.
  • In the same vein, the PA multiplier on the weapon is also more-or-less iirelevant.
  • Chaining is the primary use of offensive TECHNICs for a Hunter, so make sure the TEC score allows at least 1 damage so it can actually provide chains.
  • A support TECHNIC doesn't care about either PA multiplier or TEC score at all.
• Since Hunters would prefer to conserve PP for melee Photon Arts, it would be best to find a weapon with low PP consumption to use.
• A Hunter doesn't necessarily need all that many TECHNICs, so only use as many TECHNIC slots as you actually need.

So quick rundown:

• Wands have 2 slots, and is on the right-hand. With Wands, the most important question is, "What are you going to use on the left-hand with it?". Note that the choices for a low pp consumption wand is limited, but thankfully two of them are Downloadable content and thus very easily accessible.

• Tech-Mags have 2 slots, and is on the left-hand, which allows it to share palettes with any striking weapons on right-hand. T-mags casts the fastest, and there are many choices for low pp consumption T-mags, some of them even going as low as 60% in particular situations. However, T-mags has the lowest Resta recovery out of the three weapons, and has a low enough TEC score that offensive TECHNICs may wind up dealing 0 damage.
• Rods has 4 slots, and takes up both-hands. It has the highest Resta recovery amount, and gives access to the Mr. ecoeco Stick, which is an easily accessible rod with 70% pp consumption. Use if you've got excess weapon slots.

Shifta/Deband/Anti/Resta

It doesn't really matter what game it is, stacking buffs is stacking buffs! Since Hunter only has access to Lv15 TECHNICs, they only have access to Tier 2 Shifta/Deband. Shiftarides and Debandrides provides the similar effects as the Shifta/Deband Hunters have access to, and can be used instead to save pp usage, casting time, and potentially a weapon slot. Although, a player can only carry 10 Shiftarides and Debandrides at a time, which lasts for a total of 15 minutes each. 15 minutes is enough for shorter missions, but not enough for longer Open Missions or Tactical Missions. While it's possible to get Shiftarides and Debandrides from item boxes, but is less common than mates and unreliable for resupplying.

It's also a consideration to bring Force Partner Characters, such as Lumia, as they have access to Lv30 TECHNICs for a more powerful buff, but the AI does not apply more than one buff at a time, thus the player should still bring a way to buff themselves to account for the other buff.

Anti doesn't come up super often in single player, as it's only good for removing Burn, Poison, or Virus from the player. Zalure and Jellen statuses can be overwritten by casting Shifta and Deband. Anti is a bit more valuable during Multiplayer play as it can recover allies out of Stun and Sleep.

Resta can be replaced with Mates for Open Missions and some tactical missions, since there are a lot of item boxes that can replenish the player's mate supply. In longer or more difficult missions, bringing Resta would be more preferable.

Zalure/Jellen

Zalure lowers enemy defense, so effectively free damage boost. Works from medium range too. Not really any reason not to bring one. For Hunters that has accuracy problems, Zalure is quite vital in high level areas, as they lower enemy evasion as well. Note that since Zalure doesn't do any damage, it would work from any weapon regardless of TEC score.

Jellen lowers enemy attack, but lowers it by such a low percentage that it's probably not worthwhile.

Foverse

Foverse, after cast, passively deals damage to any enemy within melee-distance for a fixed period of time. Incredibly useful for Hunters, as it basically preps multiple chains beforehand to apply on enemies. It allows the Hunter to chain significantly faster, or apply Photon Arts right away to kill smaller mobs. It also enhances Photon Arts with multiple stages: it's fairly common for chains to expire before all hits of a stage land, or before a stage is used. Foverse is able to add chains right after the chain expiring and right before the next hits land, allowing the player to inflict much more damage than normal, and allows stage 3s to be more viable than before. It also flinches close enemies, which further enhances the Hunter's close-range capabilities.

Hunter only has Lv15 Foverse, though, which means that they don't last very long: usually lasts like half a wave or one wave. Applying Foverse before approaching anything can get reallllly repetitive.

Sazonde/Sabarta

Deals a total of 5 hits to up to 3 enemies from medium range, and can be stacked 3 times for a total of 15 hits. Sazonde and Sabarta are some of the most effective chaining tools in the game, and stacks with melee weapons for even faster chain building. Sazonde and Sabarta have their own quirks.

Sazonde repeatedly launches the enemies it hits, for a total of 5 hits, which can stun the enemies for quite a while. Chaining multiple sazondes can stunlock an enemy indefinitely, which allows many enemies to be dealt with rather safely. However, Sazonde has a fairly steep PP cost, and Hunters has trouble dealing a lot of damage with it due to having less TEC. Launching enemies can also be an issue sometimes, as enemies can be moved out of some Photon Arts' effective height. As such, timing is very important for maximizing Sazonde's effects.

Sabarta repeatedly deals damage to the enemies within a fan area from the casting location, for a total of 5 hits. Sabarta has a less PP cost than sazonde, but does not launch the enemies. This allows better compatibility with some weapons, but does not provide the safety of stunlocking from Sazonde. And compared to Sazonde, Sabarta's hitbox is more reliable, and is more effective than particular enemies (Dal Falz Final, for example).

Pick from either Sazonde or Sabarta based on the playstyle and the enemies encountered.

Race Differences

Humans

Humans have the highest DEF, MND, and STA, which makes them quite good front-liners. They also have high Max PP and good PP regen, which allows them to handle Photon Arts fairly well. However, both ATK and ACC is low on Human, meaning their output is poor damage-wise (second worst damage next to Newmans, in fact), and they still need some help Accuracy-wise.

In early-game, higher defensive stats can be quite helpful, while lower offensive stats doesn't mean much (the difference would translate to like 5 or so damage difference). Towards the late-game, however, defensive stats starts to mean little as enemies' damage scales much faster, while damage differences become more notable. Since their ACC is low, they will need help with attack accuracy as well. In other words, Humans are easy for beginners to use, as they take less damage, and performs the basic functions well without glaring weaknesses early-game, but falls off towards late-game.

It should also be noted that Mirage Blast calculates damage using TEC, meaning that Mirage Blasts are is naturally worse in Hunter than in other Types.

However, Humans is not without tricks up their sleeve:

Kun'ne: the Human exclusive Mirage Blast, increases attack speed for 1 minute 30 seconds. While under this boost, Humans are perhaps a much better Hunter than all other Races. Chain speed is increased, and since using on melee recovers PP, this also means they effectively have faster PP recovery. They would also be able to capitalize on chain breaks more, as they are able to squeeze in more Photon Arts attacks. Most notably, they will require a lower chaincount compared to normal to utilize the powerful Stage 3 Photon Arts.

It's possible to charge the Blast Gauge while Kun'ne effect is applied, meaning that it's possible to have Kun'ne's effect applied pseudo-permanently over the course of a mission. Using a CalorieMate Maple fully charges the Blast Gauge, which allows the player to start off a mission under Kun'ne's effect.

Note that Kun'ne boost barely applies to non-melee weapons: Ranged weapons already have a very fast attacking animation (with a few exceptions), resulting in the boost almost being invisible. Technic casting is barely affected by Kun'ne as well. Also, Kun'ne doesn't make your attacks more accurate, so you still need to fix your accuracy if you have issues with that.

Adverse Spirit: Humans has the easiest time with an Adverse Spirit Rage build, as they have the highest base DEF, thus reaps the most benefit out of Adverse Spirit, allowing them to have a much easier time coasting through missions compared to other races. This build can even be combined with Kun'ne for even more absurdity.

Newmans

Newmans have very low DEF, HP, and have the lowest ATK. This makes them the worst Hunters damage-wise, and the second worst Hunters defensively. It also stunts Newman's advantages, namely TEC and MND. So yeah, Newman Hunters are basically meme builds.

However, Newmans do have an advantage over other Hunters, which is their Max PP and huge PP regen. They can use Photon Arts significantly more times than other Hunters. In other words, it's possible for Newmans to outperform other Hunters on particularly long chains that requires multiple Photon Arts uses. It also allows Newmans to be less conservative with PP outside of chain breaks: the very few utility melee Photon Arts, and spamming various support TECHNICs.

If you are spamming TECHNICs though, you should probably just go play Force instead.

Beasts

Beasts have the highest HP, highest ATK, and high DEF. They are naturally made to be Hunters: they produce the most damage, their already high defense is well complemented by Hunter's bonus to HP and DEF. Nanoblasts are also great for damage dealing, and Hunters produce the most damage out of Nanoblasts, since it scales off ATK. Beast Hunter = BIG NUMBERS GO BRRRRRRRRRRR.

However, Beasts have the lowest ACC out of all races, which means they need a lot of help with their accuracy. 0 isn't exactly a large number. While attacks will always connect if you attack from behind them, getting behind enemies is additional work for the player, and may be difficult to do for some enemies. Beasts also have middling Max PP and poor PP regen, which can inhibit their ability to use Photon Arts successively, especially with weapons of high PP%, and can potentially lower the player's overall damage output.

Casts

Casts has good ATK, DEF, HP, which makes them quite well as Hunters. They also have very good ACC, which means they are less prone to the accuracy issues that commonly plague other Hunters. Despite doing less damage than Beasts, Casts are much easier to utilize and a respectable alternative choice for a Hunter.

SUV Weapons scale off ATK, so they do more damage on Hunter than they do on Ranger. However, SUV Weapons don't have great damage potential compared to other Blast Techniques: they don't have any way of chain breaking, their multipliers are lower, and they don't deal as much hits. They are still functional, however, and they have access to various support abilities: SUV Weapons are able to apply Zalure Lv5, Jellen Lv5, Shifta Lv5, Deband Lv5, and able to fully heal or revive allies.

Casts also have a very low Max PP. While they have a good PP regen, which recovers PP quickly with in combination with attacks, they still have issues with using Photon Arts successively. This inhibits their usages of weapons with high PP%, as well as Photon Arts with high PP cost.

Deumans

Offensively, Deumans is mid-way between Casts and Beasts: Deumans have more ATK than Casts (but less than Beasts), and more ACC than Beasts (but less than Casts), thus, they are much easier to utilize compared to Beasts, but produces more damage than Casts.

The problem with Deumans, however, is basically everything else: Duemans have the worst defenses in the game, this includes HP, DEF, MND, EVA, and STA. Yep, Deuman Hunters is somehow more fragile than Newman Hunters. This is a massive issue to Hunters, a front-line types that is expected to constantly be taking attacks. Therefore, the player must rely on some way of reducing damage, such as via Rebirth bonuses, or be very skilled with the game's built-in ways of reducing damage: Evading, Guard, and Just Guard. It should also be noted that being Hunter reduces Deuman's already pathetic MND, and the player must be very mindful around any form of TECHNIC attacks.

Defense is still not where the issue ends, however. Deumans also have a low max PP and extremely low PP regen (worst regen out of all races), which heavily hinders their ability to use Photon Arts, their usage of weapons with high PP%, and consequently their damage potential. Unlike Casts who may just have some off time in between Photon Arts uses, Deumans needs abilities that actively recharges their PP to help out.

Fortunately for Deumans, they do have an impressive weapon in their arsenal: the Infinity Blast. Over End is incredibly powerful: it fires quickly, spans an incredible length and respectable width, and deals multiple multi-lock hits with a huge multiplier to all enemies it hits. It even causes launch to boot. With just a little bit of setup, it's able to easily and safely destroy multi-lock bosses, or dispatch groups of enemies. Infinity Blasts comes with a built-in Wild Blast, as well as a built-in stat boost, which makes it even easier to use compared to other Blasts.

Overall, Deumans have a lot of damage potential, but desperately needs help in basically every other area. Try to beeline Rebirth bonuses. In terms of abilities, PP Skill Save is absolutely vital, and also consider Half Defense, Wild Blast, and other defensive abilities.

Type Abilities

Super Armor

Obtained at Hunter Level 8, negates flinching from attacks from the front. It can be pretty useful to prevent stuff from cancelling your Photon Arts, or cancelling your Blast if you are deuman. 3 slots can be a huge ask though, and it doesn't reduce damage or prevent knockdowns from heavier attacks.

HP Restore Rate

Obtained from Vanguard Lv3, restores 10% HP every 10 seconds. Good on paper, but middling in practice. Enemies' damage in a 10 second period can easily outscale the 10% healing, even with the +500 HP boost from Rebirth. HP Restore Rate would then become a supporting ability that supplements Consumables and Evading or Guarding, which is not quite worth 2 slots (considering Healing Item Boost, Soaking Guard, or HP Absorb costs 1 slot each, and are potentially far better).

Its other primary function is to heal the player while they are not under any danger from enemies, such as moving between rooms and different waves. Of course, this function is entirely replacable by a couple Resta casts, sooooo....

Damage Resist

Obtained from Vanguard Lv2, reduces all damage taken by 10%. Good on paper, but the size of the reduction isn't enough to be relevant. For example, if you took 600 damage, the damage will be reduced by just 60 (or in another sense, you effectively healed 60 HP after taking 600 damage), which is....extremely low, to say the least. And on smaller damage amounts, the reduction will be too low to even be noticable. 2 Slots is a tough fit as well.

HP/PP Absorb

Obtained at Type level 4 and 6, restores 15% HP or 15% PP when you trigger a Perfect Guard. Not really necessary most of the time, but they can be pretty good if you are good with Perfect Guards, since it's possible to trigger them multiple times within a short timeframe.

Soaking Guard

Obtained at Type level 10, increases Guard damage reduction by 10%. Most notably applies to Shields, which now prevents 100% damage. A good ability if you like to Guard often or use Shields a lot. Not really good early game as damage numbers are low, and better late game where damage is so high that even reduced damage can still be significant.

Wild Blast

Obtained at Type level 5, makes your Blast happen faster. 3 Slots is a bit hard to spare, but its potential is great on Races that really wants more Blasts, such as Deumans or Beasts.

Full-Charge Shot

Obtained at Ranger Level 2. If you use guns, and may use (which can often be better than running up to the guy and hitting him), you should bring Full-Charge Shot.

Notable Weapons

Famitsu Dendo Blade, Yonohate Fu, Kokuintou Hozuki

Lumping these together: these are the three unsealable swords in the game. By defeating 2000 enemies with them (2011 for Famitsu Dendo Blade), and then Extending them, they become some of the best Swords in the game, with ATK rivalling that of the 16*, Cursed Sword Dark Flow. Arguably they aren't as good as Dark Flow, since Dark Flow has 120% Photon Arts damage, but unlike Dark Flow, these swords are very easily obtainable (Famitsu Dendo Blade is obtainable from Visiphone passwords, Yonohate Fu is from Downloadable content, while Kokuintou Hozuki is from a Title.), and they are useable at more levels (Famitsu Dendo Blade and Yonohate Fu with an Extend is usable at Lv80, while Kokuintou Hozuki is usable at Lv90).

For the differences:

Kokuintou Hozuki is obtainable from a Title, and has access to a very notable effect: Drain Lv5, which heals the player for 10% of all damage dealt using the Sword. Since Swords have inherently high ATK and multi-lock, it makes the player significantly more durable, and allows the player to easily heal from low HP back to full. However, the Title Reward version of the Sword is neutral, which significantly lowers its potential damage. Thankfully, getting it dropped from Orga Dyran is fairly easy thanks to Infinity Missions.

Famitsu Dendo Blade, as a Visiphone password item, allows the player to save-scum for its element and its elemental %, meaning it's effectively 60% of any element you want. It also has the highest ATK of the three, and has 80% PP usage, which means it deals good damage and is easy to use Photon Arts from. Upon extending, it gains access to a large array of special effects at Lv5. Stun is usually seen as the best effect of the bunch, but other effects can also be quite good. Notably, it does not have access to Drain, meaning it can't quite replace the ability that Hozuki offers.

It should also be noted that, besides Visiphone passwords, the only other way to obtain a Famitsu Dendo Blade is IGP Exchange. However, it's only obtainable at 15% element, and requires multiple runs of Infinity Grand Prix. If the player wants to bump it to 50% via Weapon Synthesis, that will require 13 copies of Famitsu Dendo Blades from IGP Exchange, which will translate to several dozen runs of Infinity Grand Prix and at least two Fusion Codes.

Yonohate Fu is a Downloadable content, which means the player can obtain as many copies of it as they want, and can use it on as many characters as they'd like. Yonohate Fu also comes at 50% Dark, which is quite good to fill in that gap in the player's palette. However, unlike the other two Swords, the only special effect it can obtain is Sleep, which is decent, but not as good as the abilities the other two has. It should also be noted that it starts with Reflect, meaning it will require an Extend, maybe before unsealing, to change its special effect and make it easier to use.

Gran Orca, God Hand, Cho Hee, Esperanza, Ikotenyoku, Kotetsu

Obtained from MAX Event Trader and MAX ∞ Trader. These weapons are very easily obtainable, and all have 80% to 100% Elements, which translates to 110% to 130% Weapon ATK when used against the correct elements. This makes them incredibly useful at their level, and are still quite useful even past that. Since the elements of these weapons are selectable, they can also be used to fill in the gaps of the player's current palette.

Akatsuki Fu

Giving this one a shout-out not because it's good, but because it's a pain. The Akatsuki Fu, after defeating 2000 enemies, turns into the Akatsuki In. However, the Akatsuki In isn't anything special, and doesn't gain any special properties for being obtained using the unseal method. What's more, Akatsuki In is arguably easier to drop than Akatsuki Fu: Both of these weapons drop from Rappy Machinas (Fu drops between Lv1 and Lv124, while In drops between Lv100 and Lv249). Rappy Machinas are a rare enemy, meaning it's extremely rare to find in Open Missions, and rarely seen even in Infinity Missions with the correct table. Maximum Attack Infinity III's bonus room provides a large number of Rappy Machinas, which drops Akatsuki In, but are too high leveled (Lv175 to Lv249) to drop Akatsuki Fu. Basically...bother with this only if you care about the process of unsealing stuff and none of the results.

Sealed Nodachi

This Sword can't actually be unsealed. Next.

Sprite Twins

The Sprite Twins are unsealable, and gains a stat boost of 30% after defeating 2000 enemies. Unfortunately, even with that, the Sprite Twins aren't even close to the best Twin Sabers in slot, but it's very useful for a large number of reasons.

• The Sprite Twins, despite being B-rank, is usable from Lv1, meaning that unsealing it can be started from literally the beginning of the game, allowing it to be unsealed much faster than other weapons.
• Once unsealed, the Sprite Twins provides A-rank-ish attack power at Lv1, which is a good power boost for either early game, or early level Rebirths.
• When unsealed and extended, the Sprite Twins gains access to Drain Lv5, which heals the player for 10% of all damage dealt using it, significantly improving the player's durability.
• Sprite Twins is produced by GRM, making it compatible with GRM fan for a large damage boost.
• With 60% Ice, Sprite Twins is perhaps the best Ice weapon the player has access to for the first hundred or more levels.
• As a cherry on top, the Sprite Twins also has a good PP and PA ratio, 90% and 110% respectively.
• Sprite Twins is a Downloadable content weapon, thus the player can obtain as many Sprite Twins as they like, and use them on as many characters as they please.

Ken'ei

The Ken'ei are unsealable, and gains a massive stat boost after defeating 3000 enemies. Its damage is quite high, and it has access to 120% PA damage. After unseal and extending, it's just shy of 16*s in terms of damage, and usable at much lower levels and much more obtainable.

However, the Ken'ei uses a devastating 140% PP, which severely hinders its use of Photon Arts. It also comes with Reflect inherently, meaning an Extend Code might be required pre-unseal in order to make it more usable.

T. Magatatara Ryu

There are a whole bunch of Magatatara Sabers and Twin Sabers, so I'm going to only mention one here as their good parts are quite similar: They all have great stats for their level, and also have 70%pp consumption, some of the lowest in the entirety of melee weapons. Their 90% PA power is compensated a bit by their above average ATK.

If you like spamming Photon Arts over and over again, get yourself a couple of these.

Zaks Breba

This generic Tenora Claw, that can be bought from Weapon Shop, when fully extended, has the highest ATK of all Claws in the game. Yep, even higher than the two 16* ones.

Since you can buy them from shop, this means they are very easy to obtain all the elements of, and very easy to hit 50% via Weapon Synthesis. It's also very cheap to upgrade since it starts at A-rank. Also, it even works with Tenora Fan for 10% extra damage. Definitely get a couple if you are using Claws.

Endoif

The most powerful Axe in the game, with very good ATK, 120% PA rate, as well as a longer reach than other Axes. Possibly the best chain breaker in the game for Hunters.

Where to go from here

Of course, the basic things like leveling up and getting higher type levels.

Unlike other Types, filling out palettes is quite simple for Hunters: there's a lot of easily accessible S-rank melee weapons, and they can found at Easy to get S-rank Locations. Since a lot of Melee weapons functions simliarly, they can be used interchangably, and gives the player more flexible with Level Requirements and Elemental Bonuses. Oh yeah, try to play with more types of Melee weapons and be a bit more comfortable with them, since you can use them interchangably.

Don't forget to also shoot for Photon Arts at Lv21 or more: most of them doesn't add Stages, but they provide a respectable damage improvement and a very notable PP usage reduction (usually by 10pp or more), which is a significant help. TECHNICs aren't as important since Hunters can only use up to Lv15 anyway.

In terms of Abilities, PP Skill Save is an incredibly helpful ability, and makes your Photon Arts super cheap, especially if you are stacking it with a Low PP% weapon. Various Strike abilities are good too (1 slot for 5% is pretty good), but don't get obsessive with fitting enough abilities to cover your entire palette: the damage boost is only significant for weapons you intend to break chains with.

For Rebirth, absolutely prioritize ACC if you are having issues with Accuracy. If you don't, get HP and then DEF if you want more durability, and get ATK if you want more damage. Ultimately you want HP, ATK, ACC, and DEF all stacked up. EVA is useless, TEC is useless, and STA may or may not be worthwhile. MND is dependent on how much you see Technic Attacks, which shows up less often than physical ones and are generally much more telegraphed, thus more avoidable.

Rage Build

Let's talk about a Hunter only build, the Adverse Spirit Rage build.

In this build, we aim to take advantage of the two following effects:

Daredevil (Hu Lv45): Increases your damage by 7% if your HP is below 35%.

HP affect Power (Rage): A weapon effect that increases your damage dealt the lower your HP is. The higher level the weapon effect is, the higher your damage ceiling and damage scaling.

Porting the Rage Level table:

Rage	Lv1	Lv2	Lv3	Lv4	Lv5
Rage Multiplier	15	20	32	45	50

Using these two effects, even if you stay at the 35% HP threshold, and using a Rage Lv3 weapon, your damage dealt would be increased by 1+ (1-0.35) * 0.32 * 1.07 = 1.22x, or 22%. Using a Rage lv4 weapon, your damage dealt would be increased by 1+ (1-0.35) * 0.45 * 1.07 = 1.31x, or 31%.

Important tidbit: AI behaviour means that they are always prioritized to heal the player if they drop below 35% HP. It's also impossible to bring an NPC without access to Resta. As a result, to run this build, the player is not allowed to bring any NPC partners.

Of course, staying at such a low amount of HP is very dangerous. Thankfully, there are several abilities that can help us out.

Adverse Spirit (Hu Lv7): Increases your DEF and MND by 75% if your HP is below 35%.

Damage Resist (Va Lv2): Reduces all damage taken by 10%.

Photon Barrier (Fo Lv7): Negate damage below 3% of the player's max HP.

If the player is adequately rebirthed (for HP, DEF, MND, and ATK), and utilizing the 20% damage reduction from matching shield-weave attributes, it's possible for the player to coast through even Infinity Rank Missions with little to no damage taken.

Since our defenses are so stacked, it can be surprisingly difficult to let the enemies hit you until you are below 35% HP. Therefore, instead of standing around for a minute, we are going to utilize Reflect weapons.

Weapons with reflect deals damage to the player based on the amount of damage dealt. Porting the table again:

Reflect	Lv1	Lv2	Lv3	Lv4	Lv5
Percentage	15%	12%	10%	8%	5%

In other words, Reflect Lv1 Weapons are the fastest, while Reflect Lv5 Weapons are the most controlled.

Note that weapon stats still affect your damage, it's entirely possible for you to take less damage from Reflect even if you are using a weapon with higher level Reflect, if the weapon has low stats.

Notable Weapons:

Note that you cannot use Ranged Weapons for either Rage or Reflect purposes, as Ranged Weapon effects do not apply to their Charge Shots. As a result, both their Rage damage boost and Reflect damage dealing are both quite ineffective for this build.

As for Technics, the only Technic with Rage is Nosmegid, which is far from an effective technic to run.

Sangeyasha

Comes with Reflect Lv1, making it the most efficient weapon to self-damage.

Yonohate Fu

Comes with Reflect Lv3, and upgrades to Reflect Lv5 after unsealing, which allows the player a varying degree of control over their HP.

Nanoblast Scythes

Rage Lv4, hell yeah!

Daylight Scar

Twin Claws with Rage Lv3 and 120% PA Rate, enough said.

It's one of the weapons with the highest Rage special level, which means it benefits a ton from the Adverse Spirit build.

Double Cannon, Twin Cannon, Lavis Blades, Lavis Cannon, Lavis Dagger

Has Rage Lv3 and 130% PA Rate, making it benefit a ton from the Adverse Spirit build.

They are all dark-locked though, so they are less versatile than Daylight Scar.

Handgun

Using a basic handgun's Charge Shot II without Full Charge Shot provides the lowest recovery in the game, and doesn't need you to give up your Lv30 Resta disc. This allows us to restore some HP without going out of the 35% HP threshold to trigger Daredevil and Adverse Spirit.