Palette and Unit setups.

[DoctorShanks]

Hey everyone. I started up this thread because... I'm very curious how others play this game. When we play with eachother online, we're always either attacking or tech spamming, and stuff dies. We don't question why the enemies died, we're just glad they're out of our way (but not so glad when all they drop are Diopsides, Kleingolds and Roche Limits and to a higher extent, Divine/Powers). I wanted to ask how the players defeat their foes, and more importantly, how they do it.
Template (I'd prefer it if you chose to share through this chart. If anyone has any problems with it, they can make whatever minor changes they wish) EDIT: I've added Mustache's Mag and Armor sections. I suppose the Armor would be used for set bonuses if they apply.

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Class:
Area: (Universal or field/boss name)
Weapon: (Type or name)
Mag: (Stats, Photon Blast, Nature)
Materials:
Armor:
Units:
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-
Palette:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6. [/SPOILER-BOX]
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HUmar (3)

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(Page 4) ZackyStyles
[SPOILER-BOX]Name: PA Spamming sans Heavy attack

Class: HUmar
Area: Universal
Weapon: Claw, Double Saber, Daggers, Gunblade (sometimes)
Mag: 100/0/0/0, Flozir, Ruffian
Materials: 100 POW
Armor: Carabinier armor / Noble Cloak (unobtained)
Units:
-Divine/Power
-Divine/Power / Slow Protect / Ice Protect / Light Protect
-PP Recovery lv5 / HP Recovery lv5
-Compress PA
Palette:
1. Shifta / Deband / Star atomizer / Resta
2. Attack
3. Dodge Roll
4. Dimate / Monomate
5. Deband / Difluid / Monofluid
6. Anti

My set-up I think is a bit odd. My palette is cut and dry attack and heal. I am constantly using my PA's so the Compress PA is a great help. All of the protect units are situational such as dark while heading through the dark shrine because the poison the monsters use is annoying, Slow on Humilias, Chaos+Mobious, the Light protect helps on runs through almost anywhere especially the robots in Paru. I use PP recovery more than the HP because I use my PA more often than I lose health so I need to keep getting my PP back. As for my palette I use Star Atomizers on boss fights, Shifta I use all the time as the attack buff really helps. Deband is great for going up against Arkzeins and the like, and Resta is a fall back plan (when I play with friends as I am the strongest of my close group who play together) I use Monomates/Monofluids wwhile going through the levels and Dimates/Fluids when up against bosses and harder foes. Anti helps with reviving friends that I play with and gets rid of any of the unprotected status effects. As for weapons I main my Hadan Bite for most use as it is a solid weapon with a good PA and deals good damage. My Dioskuroi is good against the Dark Shrine and the Phobos/Zaphobos rooms in the ET. The Foie Haze while not immensely powerful is solid enough in power and has decent parameters and element so that I can deal a fair amount of damage to almost all monsters. I dont use my Emperor Axeon all that much anymore because my L button is broken, this also creates problems for my other weapons as well, but I cannot lock on and while it is a decent weapon, I have trouble with hitting on occasion. I can still get a PB to work if I jiggle the button but it wont work all the time.

My palette is still a work in progress as is my units and armor. any help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Doctors notes:

-With permission I can and will make changes to your palette.
-I've changed plenty of errors, and altered the formatting a little bit. I'll do it again in the future once I have more time.
-HP/PP recoveries were changed to Lv5. We need to use the best stuff available to us.
-Poison and Confusion give you plenty of time to use Anti, so Light and Dark protect are unneeded in my opinion. Light protect may be important if you are being shot down by the Parubots, so I kept it's slash.[/SPOILER-BOX]
(Page 4) Tamlin
[SPOILER-BOX]Name: Defensive HUmar

Class: HUmar
Area: Universal
Weapon: Shield, Double Saber, Gunblade
Mag: 0/100/0/0, Granir, Healing
Materials: 100 GUARD
Armor: Carabinier Armor
Units:
-Divine/Guard
-Divine/Guard
-Divine/Guard / Element Boost
-Compress PA
Palette:
1. Attack
2. Dodge Roll
3. Heavy Attack
4. Offensive Tech
5. Deband
6. Resta / Dimate

HUmar and HUmarl are THE most versatile classes there are! Also the most survivability because of their versatility. They have higher physical stats than the Newman classes, and the added benefit of being able to use Techniques is something that puts them over the top in my book.

Shields are just my preference for my DEF HUmar. They provide a boost to DEF and they can be used to block with, which prevents all damage from the front. The PAs are powerful and they high elements make for a really well rounded weapon. Otherwise... they don't do much for most people

I like Gunblades because they stress Versatility, which is key in my book. Emperor Axeon is the best at doing that, because it also provides a 50 point boost to the MST stat. With a Gun and a Blade to boot, this weapon is VERY well suited to almost any situation. However, it does lack in damage dealing potential when compared to specific classes.

Doctors notes:

-Minor changes to text (I'm not a professional editor)
-Removed Hunter Shell
-Altered Weapon and Mag. They can see what weapons you're using in your analysis =)
-Added Slash for Element boost assuming you need it. Even a Defensive character needs to kill things...
-Added Slash for Dimates. The HUmar Resta is one of the weakest in the game. Especially since you aren't running Shifta
-Techs are cool, but when you're not using the Emperor Axeon, swap out for Shifta
-I imagine this will be VERY hard to use in SH
-HUmarl is outclassed by the HUmar when using this setup[/SPOILER-BOX]
(Page 6) Tamlin (Arca Plant)
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Name: Defensive HUmar

Class: HUmar
Area: Arca Plant
Weapon: Shield, Gunblade, Claw
Mag: 0/100/0/0, Midgul, Healing
Materials: 100 GUARD
Armor: Carabinier Armor
Units:
-Light Resist Lv 5 / Element Boost
-Light Resist Lv 5 / Compress PA
-Light Resist Lv 5 / Slow Protect
-Light Resist Lv 5 / Ice Protect
Palette:
1. Attack
2. Dodge Roll
3. Heavy Attack
4. Zonde / Shifta
5. Deband
6. Resta / Dimate

Ok, this isn't meant to be a guide to play the HUmar. This is just my ideal setup for Arca. The Light Resists are for the Korse and Akorse.

This isn't about dealing absurd amounts of damage; This is for taking the least amount of damage possible.

When you hit Humilias though, it all changes. I like to stick close to Humilias and pound him with the strongest Melee PA I have, so the third set of units is meant specificaly for the big guy himself.

Hope you Enjoy!

Doctors notes:

-Added a slash for Shifta beside Zonde
-I would actually advise against using the Healing nature when the Hungry and Timid natures allow for invincibility (15 sec) at max charge.
-Out of curiosity, how much damage did you take from a Missle with all of that Heat Resist packed? Have you tested this yet?
-@ Point#3: I don't think the Arkz Missles are elemental. Test and see if you take any less damage. Assuming you have those Heat Resists.
-EDIT @ April 13th, 2012: The Arkz Missles are indeed Non-Elemental. Removed the paragraph regarding heat resistance.[/SPOILER-BOX]
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RAmar (1)

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(Page 5) DoctorShanks
[SPOILER-BOX]Name: Unique RAmar (?)

Class: RAmar
Area: Universal
Weapon: All Ranger weapons except Laser Cannon, and Handgun. Sabers.
Mag: ?/0/?/0, Midgul, Fickle
Materials: 100 POW
Armor: Kepler Suit
Units:
- Divine/Power / Ice Protect
- Divine/Power / Slow Protect / PP Recovery Lv5
- Element Boost / Divine/Power
- Compress PA
Palette:
1. Attack
2. Dodge Roll / Anti
3. Heavy Attack
4. Jellen / Anti / Star Atomizer
5. Zalure / Anti
6. Resta

I can’t imagine the RAmar playing all too differently from his brother, the HUmar. His superb ability to solo with Debuffs instead of Buffs is something that makes the HUmar/l very Jellen. I set up this guy to be as unique as possible without giving in to being a weaker Hunter. I listed every Ranger weapon as a useable option except for Hanguns and Laser Cannons. Lets face it, Laser Cannons just outright suck; they can’t chain and their Photon Arts have such low DPS that they almost aren’t worth mentioning. Handguns, while great, unfortunately deal much greater damage when used by hunters. It doesn’t help that the Rouge Pulse, which is arguably the strongest Handgun in the game (Unless you’re lucky enough to find a Celeb Lv5 H44 Missouri with Flame hit/Thriller Combo, in which case just use that) can be used by a Hunter. Fortunately for the RAmar, he, as other Rangers, can wield the good stuff, such as the Crimson Vis, the Nemesis, the Frigiand, and the Lavateinn. The latter of which can be used with a much greater effort with a HUcast, however, he cannot possibly dream to solo with it nearly as good as the RAmar can. When using the Crimson Vis, you may want to make sure it has Lv3 Celeb and Cool Style. When using Cool Style, you may want to equip a HIT mag, as Cool Style needs all the accuracy it can get. The Frigiand will want the same Lv3 Celeb, and have Earth Bullet or Impact Zero (go for Earth Bullet). The Lavateinn has it’s uses with any Photon Art, though Mine Sneak is generally the winner. Bazookas always have had a bad reputation for being slow, but the Compress PA almost solves that problem completely. Your Nemesis will want to have Lv5 Celeb to maximize its power, and have either Crush Bomb for clearing out small enemies, or have Wild Blow for dealing ridiculous amounts of Damage to a single enemy or bunched up enemies if you’re lucky. I recommend Crush Bomb because Wild Blow is seriously hard to aim, but if you can master Wild Blow, then good for you. Sabers are your Meele weapon for when your Gunblade doesn't have the stats to cut it (heh). All of the Saber Photon arts are exceptional.

The mag and materials are pretty straightforward. I've never played a RAmar, so you'll have to experiment with how much Power and Hit you'll want. Cool Style needs accuracy as does the Nemesis, but the other two Photon Arts are very accurate. 100 Power Materials maxes out the power of Shifta, but if you're playing online, you can mess around with these if you really desperately need more accuracy. 100 POW is usually the way to go; online or offline.

Now for the Palette... both types of attacks are for the accuracy reason, as even a Ranger can have a hard time hitting stuff at a low level. Dodge Roll is very nice, but if you aren't playing solo, then you can try using Anti to cover for your party members. Anti can be slashed pretty much anywhere on this set, and I recommend you use it over Zalure when playing with a Force. If your Force insists to use both debuffs, you can run any item of your choice over the debuffs, though I would recommend the Star Atomizer in case your Force gets into some serious trouble. Resta is there because you have it. Who wouldn't want free heals?
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FOmar (4)

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(Page 18 ) PSchiZ (Gurhacia Valley)
[SPOILER-BOX]Name: All-in-one Valley nuker

Class: FOmar
Area: Gurhacia Valley
Weapon: Any Force Weapon
Mag: 0/0/0/100, Flozir, Any Nature
Materials: 100 Mind
Armor: Ancient Robe / Noble Cloak / Shinobi Suit
Units:
-Divine/Mind / PP Recovery lv5 / Element Boost
-Divine/Mind / PP Recovery lv5 / Element Boost
-Tech Save Lv3
-Compress PA
Palette:
1. Barta
2. Zonde/Dodge Roll
3. Normal Attack/Jellen
4. Shifta
5. Difluid/Zalure
6. Resta

First thing's first-Trap Vision so you can see those burn traps. You can dodge them too...either one.

Zonde is key for sweeping monsters like Ghowl, Vulkure and Grimble/Tormatible. Use Barta for monsters like Garapython, Garahadan and Helion/Blaze Helion. If you come across a mixed monster group like two Garapython's and two Vulkure, just focus on killing the monster that's weakness is Barta first-in this case, Garapython. Then kill the other monsters with Razonde.

Helion, on the other hand, will charge at you once it gets close enough, so you would have to dodge roll to the side of it to avoid its annoying stomp move. DO NOT stand infront of it, or else you'll take an acrobatic-flying-charge-180-degree-flip to the face. And it hurts. Jellen will really help to decrease its massive ATK and Zalure will make it easier to do a lot more damage, so it will die faster. Stand close (not too close) to it and spam Barta. Blaze Helion is even worse, so lock and load. Or spam, in a FO's case.

If you have a Heaven Element weapon, well, I'd use it to take care of small mobs.

Reyburn is easy with Flozir (the more people that synchronize, the better, of course)- just use resta when you need to and spam Razonde.

This isn't the best strategy, since it uses PP really fast...but it's better than nothing I suppose.

Doctors notes:

-Added extra slashes beside the first Divine/Mind. Element Boost is very compatible with PP Recovery Lv5 in the case of Magical Sign and in the case where the Celeb level isn't level 5.
-It's very worth noting that the Alice Olivia has a wonderful 20% Barta Boost. I guess that's why there are no slashes beside Barta huh?
-I really don't have much else to say here. It looks really nice.
-I'm guessing the theme here is for both Magical Sign and/OR Tech Spamming. So long as anyone knows what units to use at what time ^^.
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(Page 4) DoctorShanks (Dark Shrine)
[SPOILER-BOX]Name: Dork Shrine

Class: FOmar
Area: Dark Shrine
Weapon: Kerykeion, White Disaste, Psycho Wand (whatever you can afford)
Mag: 0/0/0/100, Flozir, Fickle
Materials: 100 MIND
Armor: Noble Cloak
Units:
-Divine/Mind
-Divine/Mind
-Tech Save Lv3
-Compress PA
Palette:
1. Megid / Grants
2. Resta
3. Shifta
4. Zalure
5. Deband
6. Jellen

Get it right. Trap vision. This setup gets the girls guaranteed.

Doctors notes:

-FOmar is outclassed by the other forces with this setup in one way or another
-Despite the above, FOmar can still tear apart the Dark Shrine wtih flying colors.
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(Page 16) Doctor Shanks (Eternal Tower)
[SPOILER-BOX]Name: Not-so-Eternal Tower

Class: FOmar
Area: Eternal Tower
Weapon: Rod
Mag: 0/0/0/100, Flozir, Fickle
Materials: 100 MIND
Armor: Noble Cloak
Units:
-Divine/Mind
-Divine/Mind / PP Recovery Lv5
-Tech Save Lv3
-Compress PA
Palette:
1. Foie / Grants / Megid
2. Zonde / Grants / Megid
3. Barta / Grants / Megid
4. Resta
5. Shifta
6. Dodge Roll / Jellen / Zalure

Near-perfect mob coverage with a 20% bonus to each of the techs listed on the Palette. That's all that needs to be said offensively. Unfortunately, it's not perfect. The thing about the Eternal Tower when playing as any Force is all the pallete changing you'll probably have to do. This setup aims to minimize palette altering.

That armor is the best armor available to the FOmar, but use a Pizza Box or even an Ancient Robe or Shinobi Suit if you have one with 4 slots. The standard FO setup is in play again, only this time, PP Recovery Lv5 is a legitimate option. The reason for this is the fact that each room only has one wave of hostiles, giving that unit plenty of time to work its magic in the time you aren't killing things. Also, the 3 elements that the FOmar uses aren't as expensive as Grants or Megid, so he doesn't piss away his PP as quickly as the other forces would despite having mediocre PP with no natural regeneration.

As for the Palette, Foie, Barta, and Zonde are all boosted by 20% when used by the FOmar, so it is very unlikely you will ever have to dip into Grants or Megid unless you come across a Za/Phobos. Shifta provides it's amazing boost as usual, and Resta is a must for any flesh character. For the last slot, Dodge Roll's sole purpose is to avoid an oncoming Missle from those nasty Arkzeins. Jellen is another option, but as the floors increase, so do the accuracy of the enemies, which eventually makes Jellen a bit more of a useless technique. Dodge Roll is prefered, but Zalure can be used to lower the resistances of your enemies to potentially kill them in one less hit. It is still recommended you run Dodge Roll when you come across an Arkzein, as you'll quickly notice how dangerous they are becoming.

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(Page 6) Tamlin (Arca Plant)
[SPOILER-BOX]Name: U MAD ARKZEIN???

Class: FOmar
Area: Arca Plant
Weapon: Fuuma Shuriken/Kouga Shuriken, Psycho Wand/White Disaster
Mag: 0/0/0/100, Midgul, Fickle
Materials: 100 Mind
Armor: Shinobi Suit / Spirit Garb / Noble Cloak
Units:
-Divine/Mind
-Divine/Mind
-Tech Save lv 3
-Compress PA / PP Recovery Lv 5
Palette:
1. Zonde
2. Dodge Roll / Foie
3. Resta
4. Zalure
5. Jellen
6. Shifta/ Difluid

I know all the other Force classes have higher MST stats, but I like the FOmar because of his 20% boost to Zonde/Razonde, as well as Foie/Rafoie and Barta/Rabarta.

This is exactly what it looks like. Weaken enemies with Jellen and Zalure, then buff your own offense with Shifta. Spam Zonde as much as possible before you run out of PP, then refill. Repeat. Heal as needed. The Tech Save lv. 3 and PP Recovery Lv. 5 are simply for reducing the amount of times you need to refill your PP. It's not the most complex tactic, not by a long shot, but it most CERTAINLY works.

I know neither armor has much of any light resist, or heat resist for Arkzein's missles either, but if you close in quickly, the missles will never get a chance to fire off.

The choice between Spirit Garb+White Disaster or Shinobi Suit+Kouga/Fuuma Shuriken is simply up to the user.

Enjoy

Doctors Notes:

-Changed the name because derp
-Added slashes for Psycho wand and Noble Cloak. WD would be outclassed.
-Throwing Shurikens at Arkz from afar is just asking for them to launch their death cannons at you... but given the fact that you are running Jelly, they might not hit you.
-I don't think Spirit Garb has the Evade to take on Arkz and dodge their missles. You would have to close in as quick as possible and rely heavily on dodge roll.
-Removed the slash for Dimates. You're a Force.
-Added a slash for Foie over Dodge Roll. Not that I expect you to take it, especially in a party, but running purely Zonde leaves you defenseless against Akorse even with Zalure. You'll spend too much PP trying to kill it alone.
-Since the FOmar has a low PP count, Difluids might actually be handy. I still recommend the L+Start button combonation if your L button works.
-Added a slash for Compress PA over PP Recovery Lv5. I may have explained how it doesn't recover fast enough for the amount of PP you blow through in a run. Also, to my knowledge, you wrote this before you knew about Compress working on Forces Techs.
-I recommend Hungry nature for your mag. The rest of the natures have abilities that you could easily use yourself.[/SPOILER-BOX][/SPOILER-BOX]

HUmarl (1)

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(Page 15) Mustache
[SPOILER-BOX]Class: HUmarl
Area: Universal
Weapon: Double Sabers, Swords, Sabers, Handgun
Mag: 100/0/0/0, Ruffian, Granir
Materials: 100 POW
Armor: Carabinier Armor
Units:
-Divine Power / Element Boost
-Divine Power
-Divine Power
-Compress PA
Palette:
1. Normal Attack
2. Dodge Roll
3. Heavy Attack
4. Resta
5. Shifta
6. Difluid

I decided to post this because there isn't one up for HUmarl yet. As you can see I have Power power power. The primary reason that shes getting the shaft. She's my first character I liked her ascetically yellow and black with matching Radam mag really makes her stick out from a crowd and personally I think it looks better than Cast+Radam. Anyway we're not here to talk about looks. With a distinct lack of evasion I heavily favor Double Sabers over Daggers while using a HUmarl. I used my Clair Doubles all the time on her both because they're a big damage dealer and it looked really awesome with my character. I also used a series of Morgenlotes with a verity of different %s. What I don't understand about Double Sabers is why everyone likes Million Rave, which I feel not only makes you extremely vulnerable to enemy attacks it also has to be carefully deployed to get the full effect. Tornado Dance is easily my favorite PA for Double sabers letting you manipulate enemy positions effectively, and pairs better with Normal/Normal/Heavy/Charge PA. Just my two cents there... Sabers I like to deploy a heavy lvl5 Zalure which is better then even lvl 15 Zalure spell, if I'm not in a group I will often hit the Zalure then switch to double sabers for heavy damage against many of the large enemies. Easily an under valued strategy that can add hefty damage to problem boosted monsters or any arena. There's not much point to it in a group online but solo it probably makes HUmarls and HUmars some of the more effective classes in the game. Swords...yadda yadda, Over-End, yadda, yadda, Bosses. Handguns...Blah blah...Rouge Pulse...Blah blah...Flame Hit...Blah...Range. Ruffian on my mag is actually there by choice. There's Multiple different ways for the mag to employ a Lvl 15 Shifta on you personally that I loved while soloing. It has a higher revival chance than Cautious and move chances for a large offensive boost. As opposed to the better chance for a lvl 10 boost that I can just cast on myself. I use Granir I like it here over Flozir simply for the double Arkzein rooms in Arca or the Tower. I just blow it off and keep going on my day. I use Difluids over PP recovery lvl5, Without natural recovery I don't see much point in avoiding the use of fluids when you'll use them at least occasionally.

Anyway, with all that out of the way...I'm deleting my HUmarl in favor of a HUcast, I would rather be dealing the most melee damage out of anyone in my group rather than a weaker second in line with support that is outclassed easily by any Force.

Doctors notes:

-I included that last line only because it says something about your experiences with the HUmarl... even though it isn't very positive.
-Added a slash for Element boost over a Divine/Power as Swords and Double Sabers cap out at 3.
-Granir is a good solo PB? Nice to know. In this case it would enhance the HUmarl's already great soloing capabilities.[/SPOILER-BOX][/SPOILER-BOX]

RAmarl (1)

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(Page 16) DoctorShanks
[SPOILER-BOX]Name: Slicer RAmarl

Class: RAmarl
Area: Universal
Weapon: Trois Souther
Mag: 0/0/0/100, Flozir/Midgul, Fickle
Materials: 100 Mind
Armor: Noble Cloak
Units:
-Divine/Mind
-Divine/Mind
-Element Boost
-Compress PA
Palette:
1. Attack
2. Dodge Roll
3. Resta
4. Zonde / Anti / Heavy Attack / Foie
5. Jellen / Anti / Heavy Attack
6. Zalure / Anti / Heavy Attack

Ladies and Gentlemen, the RAmarl; Sega's biggest mistake in PSZ. Seriously, look at her base stats, she has lower HP than the FOmar (not to mention her ATP stat only being 18 higher than him too)! However, I looked a bit closer at her stats and noticed something that could be used to a slight effect with any luck. She has a very high MST stat, and the highest ATA stat of all the fleshies in the game. I put 2 and 2 together, and created a Slicer Build. I'll admit I've seen this idea somewhere else, but here it is on paper.

It sounds really good on paper, but I have yet to see a RAmarl try this in game. Her stats are beyond retarted, but look to be very workable. Basically, her awesome ATA stat is the sole advantage that she has over the Forces; she is basically trading loads of MST for loads of ATA (as well as the ability to equip the Eridanus or even the Loneos).

We have one workable weapon: The Trois Souther. Find one with Bright Sign, decent stats, then Celeb that baby up and we're good to go. Jam pack her with MST, and throw on your Noble Cloak (Pizza Box is fine too). Basic FO units are in play. You probably shouldn't be tech spamming except at the Meele resist areas since Slicers are Meele weapons after all.

I admit I pulled the Palette out of my ass just 5 minutes ago, but it seems reasonable. Her above average MST should grant her a powerful enough Resta for both her and her teammates. Attack because Heavy Attack is difficult to use with Slicers in my opinion (if you don't mind this, try running Heavy Attack over #4). Zonde is also there for stunning at places like Arca, but Anti is an option since this is mostly a wild card slot. Now, Jellen and Zalure are here to lower enemy Accuracy and Evasion respectively; The RAmarl should miss rarely if not at all when the enemies are under the effects of Zalure. Jellen can help you take another hit sometimes, and it is absolutely essential at Arca if you hate Arkzeins (and who doesn't?).[/SPOILER-BOX][/SPOILER-BOX]

FOmarl (5)

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(Page 4) DoctorShanks (Dark Shrine)
[SPOILER-BOX]Name: Dork Shrine

Class: FOmarl
Area: Dark Shrine
Weapon: Kerykeion, White Disaster, Psycho Wand (whatever you can afford)
Mag: 0/0/0/100, Flozir, Fickle
Materials: 100 MIND
Armor: Noble Cloak
Units:
-Divine/Mind
-Divine/Mind
-Tech Save Lv3
-Compress PA
Palette:
1. Megid / Grants
2. Resta
3. Shifta
4. Zalure
5. Deband
6. Jellen

Get it right. Trap vision. This setup gets the girls guaranteed.

Doctors notes:

-FOmarl has the most powerful Grants in the game.
-She is the master of the second half, but shares the FOmar's problem for the first half.

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(Page 3) DoctorShanks (Makara Ruins)
[SPOILER-BOX]Name: Supportive Ruins

Class: FOmarl
Area: Makara Ruins
Weapon: Starlight, Psycho Wand
Mag: 0/0/0/100, Flozir, Fickle
Materials: 100 MIND
Armor: Star Cloak / Noble Cloak
Units:
-Divine/Mind
-Divine/Mind
-Compress PA
-Tech Save Lv3
Palette
1. Grants
2. Resta
3. Megid / Deband
4. Shifta
5. Jellen
6. Zalure

My reasoning for such a setup is the fact that I can greatly abuse the FOmarl's 30% Grants Bonus. The additional 10% bonus from the Starlight and the 50+MST bonus from the Star Cloak add up to the strongest Grants in the game. When I did number crunching on the Starlight vs White Disaster issue, I realized that my maximum damage went down slightly, but my minimum damage Skyrocketed, ultimately leading to more stable damage and a for sure 5HKO on the Rumoles instead of a 5~6HKO. I have yet to test with the Psycho Wand as I do not have one.

My Units are pretty self-explanatory. Compress PA for instant Gigrants and a quicker charge for everything else such as Alresta. The two Divine/Mind's are both Wild Cards, and raise my damage. Tech Save Lv3 in my opinion is a must for all Forces. It is essentialy the wonderful "buy 4, get one free" deal. And since you're going to be "buying out" your PP anyway, you might as well take the offer.

Now my Palette... well Grants is always first, followed by Resta then the three (important) supporting techs. I usually run Deband ONLY when I am playing with two other players or another Force who can run Deband for me. The reason I am almost always running Megid is because Bullbatts have an immunity to Grants, and take pitiful damage from it when under the effects of Zalure. The Bullbatts have a low resistance to Dark, so I use Megid over Deband because Deband is (considered by many) the least useful support tech of the four. I may think about running Zonde to hit them with much less of a need to aim, but Razonde is more expensive in the long run.

Doctors notes:

-I've since found a Psycho Wand after writing this, and it is stronger than the Starlight/Starcloak combo.
-Starlights are more common.
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(Page 0) DoctorShanks
[SPOILER-BOX]Name: Standard Supportive

Class: FOmarl
Area: Universal
Weapon: Rod, Wand, Slicer
Mag: 0/0/0/100, Flozir, Fickle
Materials: 100 MIND
Armor: Noble Cloak
Units:
-Divine/Mind
-Divine/Mind / Slow Protect / Ice Protect
-Divine/Mind / Tech Save Lv3 / Element Boost
-Compress PA
Palette:
1. (Offensive Tech) / Heavy Attack / Attack
2. Resta
3. Shifta
4. Zalure
5. Deband / Anti / (Offensive Tech)
6. Jellen / Anti

My Units are pretty complicated I think. Divine/Mind is what I would call a Wild Card. The Ice Protect is used when I'm playing at Rioh Snowfield, and the Slow Protect is for Reyburn and Chaos+Mobius. Element Boost is for my Lv4 Alice Olivia, but when I'm not spamming Magical Sign, I'm using a Tech Save Lv3 to save on Tech spamming with the White Disaster. Finally, Compress PA is an absolute MUST for any Force.

I gave plenty of slashes as this is a universal palette setup. Obviously, at specific areas I have definite palette setups without slashes or having to decide what to run. When I'm at Paru or Gurhacia valley, I use a Wand with Magical sign along with Heavy Attack. My reasoning for running Heavy over Normal is the fact that the FOmarl has the highest accuracy of all the Forces. That and my Alice Olivia carries a 40% Accuracy adjustment, which is nice. When I'm at the other 5 areas, I run a White Disaster along with an Offensive tech depending on the field (Foie for Rioh Snowfield, etc). The only time I run with the regular attack is at Dark Falz, where I wield a Kouga Shuriken. The second offensive tech is only used if I'm at Ozette, Arca, and Makara. I run Foie/Zonde at Ozette when the Pelcatraz spawns or when there is a quintuple frog spawn. I run Zonde/Grants at Arca to hit the Finjers harder and easier along with the 30% boost that the FOmarl gets to Grants. At Makara, I run Grants/Megid for when the Bullbats decide to get in my way. And finally, the only time I will EVER run Anti is when another Force agrees to run Deband. I chose to slash the (second) offensive tech over Deband because in my opinion, why raise your pitiful defense when you can lower your opponents monstrous attack?

I'm not very experienced with mags and how they work or what is the best nature. I personally like the Fickle nature because of the invincibility time you get when fully charged. Special natures are the way to go for Forces. I think the Eccentric nature provides a small PP recovery when walking sometimes, but I'm not so sure if the benefits outweigh the losses. Flozir is absolutely amazing and should be the only PB considered for a Force... you may have to go hunting in Paru for this one.[/SPOILER-BOX]
(Page 2) AtBHR
[SPOILER-BOX]Name: Physical FOmarl

Class: FOmarl
Area: Universal
Weapon: Saber, Daggers, Gunblade, Shield, Handgun, Mechgun, Sword
Mag: 0/0/100/0, Midgul, ???
Mats: 100 POW
Armor: Noble Cloak
Units:
-Divine/Hit
-Divine/Hit
-Divine/Hit / Element Boost
-Compress PA
Palette:
1. Heavy Attack
2. Roll
3. Anti / Jellen
4. Resta
5. Shifta / Zalure
6. Jellen / Zalure

This is an unorthodox FOmarl build I've done a couple times before. She doesn't use any attack techniques at all and relies on hunter and ranger weapons instead. I feel she fights closest to a RAmarl only she has a slightly better selection of melee weapons in exchange for having less of a selection of ranger weapons and have level 15 support techs. The 30% Resta boost bumps her Resta to the 400-500 range by the time she reaches level 90-100 without having to add one point of MST. She has a full hit mag and hit units so she can hit the broad side of the barn. The Hocho, the only sword a force can use, is her boss slaying weapon that actually does a lot of damage for a celeb-less level 20 sword with Overend. Without celeb, she can hit over 100 damage using heavy attacks. With celeb, she can do 200-300 damage. When soloing, she uses Shifta and Jellen, but in parties, she uses Zalure in place of Shifta due to always being one or two people who are very zealous about using Shifta.

Doctors notes:

-A slash was given over Jellen for Zalure since you're going to want all the power you can get while offline.
-A slash was given over Anti for Jellen for the defensive reason. The importance of Anti is meh when everyone usually carries scapes and sols.
-Element boost was given a slash over one of the Divine/Hits in case you're using a Mechgun.
-Mag was changed to 100 HIT
-Good work[/SPOILER-BOX]
(Page 11) DoctorShanks (Dark Falz)
[SPOILER-BOX]Name: Slicer Toss ~ Dark Falz

Class: FOmarl
Area: Dark Falz
Weapon: Slicer
Mag: 0/0/0/100, Flozir, Fickle
Materials: 100 MIND
Armor: Noble Cloak / Shinobi Suit
Units:
-Divine/Mind
-Divine/Mind
-Element Boost / Divine/Mind / PP Recovery Lv5
-Compress PA
Palette:
1.Attack
2.Resta
3.Shifta
4.Deband / Dodge Roll / Anti / Fluid
5.Jellen
6.Zalure

Pretty simple yes? The FOmarl along with the FOnewearl are both the best users of Slicers in this game due to them having higher MST than the guys. The Noble Cloak gives great Defense and Evasion and is the best armor available to the FOmarl. The Shinobi suit is another option to those wielding the Kouga Shuriken, and the Shinobi suit grants a 24% Dark Resistance naturally. I'm not sure if that offsets any of the damage but whatever. The Units I chose were pretty standard as well. There is no slash for Tech Save Lv3 because you'll only be using supportive techs every once in a while. In fact, you could probably try out a PP Recovery Lv5 on this set since you'll be attacking most of the time, and Dark Falz doesn't really give you any breaks to recover in the rare case that you need to (I wont put that on the FOnewearl setup since she has a natural recovery and I can't imagine she would need more). Element Boost is only if you're running a Slicer with Celeb, and Compress PA is for quick helpful heals as well as to rebuff when Trinity dies. When Trinity dies, you'll have enough time to cast both Alshifta and Aldeband for your party with half a second to spare.

Palette is also simple and straightforward. Heavy attack is not mentioned because Slicers are much easier to use with the Normal attack, and they deal OK damage anyway. Another reason for the Normal attack is that Dark Falz likes to unleash surprise ground-spikey attacks and you might have a better chance of getting away. The third reason for normal attack is easier chaining. If you're dealing the most damage in the party, you'll want to steal chains with Bright Sign (let you party know) and this is another reason Compress PA is helpful. Only a fool would run anywhere without Resta. All four support techs will make your party love you forever, including Deband which some people might think isn't very worthwhile, in which case you can run Anti in case some moron didn't bring Scape Dolls, or fluids in case you're worried about running dry (don't run PP recovery Lv5 in this case). Jelly and Zally are wonderful.

STRATEGY

When the fight begins, immediately begin chargins Zalure and Jellen (in that order. Reason being that your party will get a few extra high hits while you're casting Jelly) then go straight for the Force pawn which spawns on the left. The Force is without a doubt the most dangerous piece. Once the Force is down, the choice is up to the party for who they want to go for next: The Ranger or the Hunter Pawns. Although most parties I have played with go for the Hunter Pawn, I would say to go for the Ranger because when Trinity is no longer invulnerable, the Hunter acn stil miss under the effects of Jellen whereas the Ranger hits everyone regardless. The problem with leaving the Hunter alive is that it is kind of a selfish move on your part. You have super high evasion allowing you to dodge like a champ, but your fellow Hunters and Rangers may have trouble avioding it. Work out with your party which pawn you want to kill.

When Trinity is no longer invulnerable, she will charge at you with a Body Slam... though you probably already knew this and know how to avoid it by now, if you don't you may want to rethink your life. When Trinity is preparing her Body Slam, you can still hit her with Jellen and Zalure even before she can be hit with attacks. Take advantage of that. Now just start throwing your Slicer at Trinity. Trinity has two attacks; we will call the first one Head desk and the second one Betch slap. Head desk requires you to keep your distance while Betch slap requires you to hug her to avoid being hit. When she stands up straight, she will begin firing a laser (which I am assuming is Light or Dark based) that cannot be avoided. I mean, it can't miss you, but you can still Dodge Roll (or even walk!) out of the way. It is not hard to avoid, and that is the reason I slashed Dodge Roll instead of recommending it. Not everyone likes Deband though, so Dodge would be the superior choice if you think hard enough about it. And finally, when her head hits the ground, you can throw the Slicer at her head a couple times to get some extra damage on her. Be wary of the Pawn that you left alive.

Dark Falz is the real deal. You'll want to start out by contributing or using your Photon Blast. Hopefully you have a friend in your party that has Flozir. If not, you'll have to be the user. Midgul is fine too, but unlimited PP and quick charge time will be amazing. The reason you'll want someone else to use the PB is because you need time to cast Jellen and Zalure. IF FALZ LEADS OFF WITH HIS GROUND-SPIKE ATTACK, SAY GOOD-BYE TO YOUR PB CHAIN. THIS IS UNAVOIDABLE AND IS NOBODYS FAULT.Now that the actual fight has begun and the PB is under its animation, cast Jelly and Zally in the meantime. Falz has two phases: the first being a phase where he just stands like a statue moving only baby steps forward and uses attacks on occasion, and the second being a phase where he swims in the floor. From memory, his attacks involve a giant laser that leaves your character with 1 HP (if you've ever played Final Fantasy, you would know why this is his least-dangerous attack), a Dark Criss-Cross laser that has the potential to strike your character for 400x2 damage if you're unlucky, and that one ground-spike attack I mentioned a couple times earlier. The ground attack targets beneath your character, then launches spikes outward with a wide-ish radius that also deals more damage than the first hit. The ground attack can be avoided by simply walking. However, avoiding his attacks isn't all so easy when decides to spawn his little ball-minions. You'll know when he's spawning them when he curls up and starts making funny noises. He'll fire three weak lasers from the sky, then you'll see four spheres either circling Falz, or making other messed up movements. Thankfully, Slicers can hit these things easily, and even greater news: hitting the spheres counts as damage directly to Dark Falz, so he basically increased his total amount of hitboxes in order to try and get extra damage to you. During Phase two, he will begin swimming in the floor. If you touch him while he is swimming, you will take heavy damage that is high enough to 2HKO a Force. When he enters Phase two, it might be a good idea to renew Jellen and Zalure. You can throw your Slicer at him to help inflict damage as the Hunters will have a tough time hitting him. Keep throwing until he drops dead.

I'm honestly not sure why I just retold all of his attacks when I should have just mentioned how to kill him and be safe. I have way too much time on my hands I guess...
[/SPOILER-BOX][/SPOILER-BOX]

HUcast (3)

[SPOILER-BOX]
(Page 1) Ken & Robo
[SPOILER-BOX]Name: PA-Spamming HUcast

Class: HUcast
Area: Universal
Weapon: All Hunter Weapons, Handguns
Mag: ?/0/?/0, Midgul, Ruffian
Materials: 80 POW
Armor: Mobius Plate
Units:
- Divine/Power / Ice Protect / Slow Protect / Light Protect
- Divine/Power / Element Boost
- PP Recovery LV5 / Slow Protect
- Compress PA
Palette:
1. Dodge Roll
2. Heavy Attack
3. Normal Attack
4. Heat Trap / Star Atomizer
5. Dimates
6. Difluids / Sol Atomizers

The bad@$$ ol' HUcast. Gotta love em'.

Like what Eclipse5632 said, playing as a HUcast is very simple. However, my play style is sort of standard, kind of bland, and flawed in some areas. My play style is somewhat inspired by my play style back in my PSO days, and much more unique. I am used to playing as casts, so I can live well without techniques, although I have played as organics before. Anyway, don't try this play style, unless you like putting your thumb under a lot of punishment.

For me, I am a PA spammer for the most part. I also use all of the hunter weapons, as I feel there is a good use for all of them, including a handgun. My goals are to do high damage, attack fast, or to try and kill more than one enemy.

Prepare for my huge-@$$ description of my play style. It is VERY long and analytical.

My view on the Weapons:

> Sabers are all purpose, but mostly for attacking fast and hitting multiple targets. All the PAs on sabers are excellent (especially Force Ride and Zeta Cutlass), as they charge quickly and hit multiple targets. I also like how they have unorthodox movements that can sometimes make you dodge some attacks.
- > Personal recommendation: High-level saber that is either customizable or has a good element. I really like the Stormer and Luzparias. Any PA is good.

> Swords are personally more for boss killing. I personally don't like using them to hit multiple targets, as I find them too slow. I also find Sonic Raid or Dynamo spin as sub-par PAs. Therefore, a powerful sword with Over End (which is why I strongly prefer the Millias Breaker or Ainsraiffe) is IMO perfect for dealing heavy damage to a boss, especially when combo'ed with Shifta/3+chain Midgul/Flozir.
- > Personal recommendation: Any powerful sword with Over End, like the Millias Breaker or high-level Ainsraiffe.

> Daggers are another one of my favorites when it comes to attacking fast. I also like how you can sometimes cancel during any attack of a combo to dodge roll, which I find is very useful. I also sometimes use Reverse Kill (my preferred PA) for tactical reasons, such as inflicting Jellen on multiple enemies.
- > Personal recommendation: Foie Haze and Rage Tonfa, preferably with Reverse Kill. Air Ride and Huge Cross aren't bad though.

> Spears are also very good weapons. Although it takes time to get used to them, they're fast and relatively powerful. They also hit multiple targets. I would say, use whichever PA that you like. I don't like Speed Rain, since you stay in place for a while. That is also why I prefer Hopping Run, which unfortunately is not the PA of either of the drill weapons.
- > Personal recommendation: Any spear is fine. As long as it's strong.

> Claws are quite useful too. They deal 4 hits, and pack plenty of punch if you use something like a customized Hadan Bite. It may be inconvenient that they are kind of slow though. I would recommend Bite Stamp, due to its high damage output on multiple targets. I also like Serpent Air, since it does 3-5 hits on enemies and can help you avoid certain things. I also like this PA for killing Humilias, since it can strike both legs (and his body if he's downed) five times. (I give credit to whichever person came up with this strategy for killing Humilias, as I have used this strategy ever since I read about it)
- > Personal recommendation: Hadan Bite, since it is customizable and just freaking good. Try for Bite Stamp as well.

> Shields are extremely useful for either doing quick damage to multiple targets and inflicting elements. They are the only weapon with the highest activation rate for elements (right after Sabers and Laser Cannons), which proves to be very useful. Of course, blocking attacks help a lot too. My personal favorite PAs are Bull Smash (for heavy damage) and Linear Shake (efficient for elements and moving to dodge attacks).
- > Personal recommendation: LV4 or 5 Iros with Bull Smash, or better yet, Linear Shake. I strongly don't recommend Barrier Shift, unless for specific situations.

> Double Sabers are my least used hunter weapon. I find them pretty slow, but at least they do good damage and are useful for increasing the hit chain. I only prefer Million Rave and sometimes Cyclone Run (I can't stand Tornado Dance. Don't ask why.)
- > Personal recommendation: Dioskoroi or Clair Doubles (I hate Morgenlotes). To me, you want either Celeb or Million Rave.

> Handguns are for quick and ranged damage, and are useful for areas like Ozette Wetlands, Rioh Snowfield, and Makara Ruins where enemies take more damage from guns. I abuse the Tachyon Gun and its ability to have LV5 when tagged with an element for the first time, and thus I use Celeb LV5. Strongly prefer Thriller Combo and Flame Hit, especially, over Quick Draw. I think Quick Draw sucks, which is why I don't use the N-Tathlam, even though it has LV5 Heat.
- > Personal recommendation: High-level Tachyon Gun, Rouge Pulse, H44 Missouri, or whatever with Flame Hit or Thriller Combo

One more thing: Celeb/Life/Risk is your best friend.

Combat and Palette Information:

As for my play style, I always hold an attack button whenever I enter a room while the game is loading. Thus, I release a PA once I position myself SAFELY towards the enemy. After, I use regular attacks, and sometimes hold the attack button after the third attack to quickly charge a PA (The Compress PA is important for this), as it will save time to charge as my HUcast recovers from the third attack. Either that, or hack away at the enemy. Also, I use the PP Recovery 5 to make sure that I don't fail to execute a PA as often when I lack enough PP. Quite frankly, this has screwed me over many times, considering I do not use my fluids while I am keeping my thumb on the attack buttons and I do not use a PA Save LV3.

Even though I get aggressive with enemies, I make sure to avoid getting hit as much as possible. Despite the HUcast possessing the potential to tank damage, I never like to get hit, because it is SERIOUSLY not safe being below half-HP IMO. My HUcast only has Power and Hit materials, and these two stats are also what my Radam mainly has. Therefore, my HUcast has minimal tanking capability.

As for the arrangement of the palette, it is calibrated for my thumb. I always attack either by Normal>Heavy>Heavy or Normal>Normal>Normal. The reason why I always start with a normal attack is because I don't like the delay of the heavy attack, increasing the chance of missing the enemy. I also only use the Heavy attack to charge my PAs, since the A button is closer to the X button to cancel it when necessary. For my mates/fluids, it is pretty simple about where they are. By instinct, I press the B button more often than the A button to heal my HP. I can also swipe my thumb across B and A to heal both my HP & PP at the same time. The least used actions (Dodge Roll and Traps) are on the Y button, as they take a little more effort to move my thumb to. I sometimes even sneak my index finger to the Y button, as trying to get away from a fatal blow is hard to do when you are ready to execute a PA. Sometimes I do not like hotkey-ing the heal traps, as I'm not good at expecting when I might die. At the same time, I find Heal Traps unreliable sometimes, as there is no way to make them explode right away and the explosion range is too small. This would make me have to stand in place in order to get healed, which is not safe with many enemies. Therefore, I use heat traps in case I cannot really switch to another weapon at certain times. I use Star Atomizers whenever there isn't a force around to heal everyone.

Slot Units:

As for the Slot Units, they're nothing too special. I like to have a Divine/Power or two for extra ATP of course. I swap one or my PP Recovery 5 for a (something) Protect. Ice Protects are for Rioh Snowfield and Humilias, Light Protects are for Paru, and Slow Protects are for Reyburn/Chaos & Mobius/Humilias. The Compress PA always stays there. On most occasions, I may use the Element Boost.

Mag and Photon Blast:

You will probably wonder why on earth I have no more than 50 Power and more than 10 Guard on my mags. That is because I am too lazy to make another one (keep in mind that Radam Souls aren't easy to come by), I try to go for more ATA to avoid issues with connecting attacks, and the guard is usually because I go for Midgul and have some sort of issue with not having the stats as multiples of 5 (PSO and their rare mags *cough*). Of course there is no Mind, cause well...take a guess why.

By default, I use my Radam, because I like Radams and Midgul is my favorite PB. I use my Rappy mag with Flozir on very rare occasions, but sometimes I forget I have it.

I always go by this "Photon Blast Hierachy" when I choose a Photon Blast for my mag:

- > When solo-ing/playing with NPCs: Midgul > Flozir or Granir > Pacifal
- > When on multiplayer: Midgul or Flozir > Granir > Pacifal

Midgul IMO is better for CASTs whenever they solo, because of high-powered Shifta & Deband and sometimes Jellen & Zalure. The reason why is because 1-chain Flozir isn't as great for a CAST as much as for a force, and Granir is not worth using alone. Not to mention, your NPC's can freely cancel their PBs when you are trying to sync with them, which is extremely frustrating. This is a major problem with chaining any of the PBs offline. If it goes wrong, I find 1-chain Midgul better than other PBs. That isn't to say that you shouldn't use Flozir or Granir when offline, as you can use them at certain situations where the NPC's minds can't be distracted from other things.

When it comes to multiplayer, Flozir beats all when you chain it above 3. However, I still like to use Midgul on certain occasions as well, because it's fun doing more than 1200 damage per hit of an Over End on multiple spots of a boss (4-chain Midgul + Over End on Chaos & Mobius = Up to 9 hits of 1200 damage and more than 6-9 hits of 600 on other parts = More than 10800 damage total ^_^). However, everyone always IMO desires 4-chain Flozir, which is perfectly understandable, cause infinite PP, quick charge time, infinite critical hits, and invincibility rules.

Oh, and I FREAKING hate Pacifal. In my opinion, it sucks.

As for natures, I sometimes use the Playful natures, since I do like occasionally having Shifta granted to me when I play alone. Otherwise, just use the Hungry natures, due to their variety of effects, as well as the short-time invincibility they provide when your PB maxes out, which is relatively convenient at times.

END

And there you have it. I would recommend a better play style for others, however... Eclipse's strategy seems way more optimal as well.

** Holler at me if you have any questions or suggestions **


Doctors notes:

-Defense on a mag? Nah.
-HIT materials? Get a new mag, it's cheaper to adjust.
-80 POW materials maximizes the potential of Shifta.
-I heard you did make a new mag. I'd like to know its stats.
-We ruled out Heal traps as unreliable earlier on.
-Sol Atomizers were given a shash over Difluids. Use L+Start to use fluids.[/SPOILER-BOX]
(Page 1) Eclipse5632
[SPOILER-BOX]Name: PA-less offense build
Class: HUcast
Area: Universal
Materials: 80 Power
Weapon: Double Saber, Blackhawk
Mag: 100/0/0/0, ???, ??? / 0/0/100/0, ???, ???
Armor: Mobius Plate
Units
- Element Boost
- Divine/Power / Ice Protect
- Divine/Power / Slow Protect
- Divine/Power / Divine/Hit
Palette
1. Normal Attack
2. Heavy Attack
3. Roll
4. Monomate
5. Dimate
6. Trimate / Star Atomizers / Sol Atomizers

HUcast is a pretty simple class, as you can see from my palette. I'll start by going over my slots first, though. Element Boost is probably the single most important slot item you can use as a hunter. The reason for this, as you may have guessed, is Celeb. The max element level you can get on a Double Saber is 3, but you can bump it up to 4 with Element Boost. This essentially means that this one slot item gives you 10% extra damage all by itself. That's much more than a Divine/Power, which by level 100 is probably giving you about 2% bonus ATP, which is definitely less than 2% extra damage. The worst thing about Element Boost is that you can't use more than one. I have a Divine/Hit in there because Double Sabers overall have the lowest accuracy of the melee weapons and I need a bit of a boost especially in later areas like Arca and the Shrine. When using Mech Guns (Rioh/Wetlands/Ruins), I switch out my Divine/Hit for a Master/Power (due to a lack of a third D/P) and switch to my Hagal (the 1 guard is only because I think Hagals look cool). Like Shanks, I run Ice Protect in Rioh but also against Humilias (don't have a slow protect).

I have both normal and heavy attacks on my palette, and I'll explain why. The second part of the Double Saber combo only has one hit, and I feel like it's not worth the time to do a heavy attack for one hit when you could do a normal and then get to your three-hit finisher faster. I haven't crunched any numbers on this; it's just a feeling. If I want more DPS I'll do heavy>normal>heavy, but often I'll do normal>normal>heavy to avoid accuracy loss on the first two hits. For instance, this is important when attacking Izhiraks, since if you miss one of your hits it can break out of hit stun and move out of your range before you finish your combo. Having all three mates on my palette is more or less a holdover from playing single player (notably the Eternal Tower where near the top there could be times when I'd run through all 30 before getting a chance to go back). I rarely use mates when playing online, usually because I'm playing with Shanks and he's a god-tier healer. =P If I were cool or something I'd run heat traps, but it never feels worth it to me. I dunno.

My materials are all power to maximize Shifta benefits, and my mag is all power because it's easier to switch in hit units than it is to experiment with varying degrees of hit on mags and find out how much I want.

I...don't like having to carry five weapons around, but I guess it's the price I pay for maximizing damage. They should be pretty self-explanatory, but I pretty much just have one of each weapon that has a good percent on each enemy type. Since I don't use mech guns in Paru, Arca, or Shrine, machine and dark percents are useless on them. There isn't anything deep about why there's two Roche Limits and one Morgenlote. I just haven't found any double sabers with better machine or dark than my current Roche Limits yet. Auto-sorting weapons makes it a pain to get to the weapon I want sometimes, but I have a Celeb addiction to feed. ;_;

Doctors notes:

-You now have a Slow Protect
-Mag natures and PB are unknown
-Slashes that I recommended earlier 2 months ago were given
-Don't rely too much on God-tier healers =P
[/SPOILER-BOX]
(Page 2) RLbitClassica (Overview only)
[SPOILER-BOX]Name: I'm a fother mucking ROBOT!

I like swords, and that's that. I know they aren't the most useful weapons(not counting over end), but they are bad-ass and can hit multiple enemies at once. For quickly killing enemies, I recommend DAGGERS. They can hit 6 times in a successful string, have 2 very useful PAs(air ride and reverse kill), they can be easily interrupted with a dodge roll and aren't difficult to come across(Makara ruins, anyone?).

Like most other Hucasts, my primary tactic is to go in and kill everything as quick as possible. My methods for doing so are usually PA spamming, just like Ken suggested. I always have "compress PA" and a PP recovery Lv5 equipped(boss battles aside).

Like a typical hucast, my materials are exclusively power mats and i abuse the hell out of the celeb element, but what i do differently is my mag buildup. I'm primarily ATA build as opposed to ATP and because of that, i'm noticeably weaker than my fellow Hucasts, but I rarely miss when attacking. This is super beneficial because instead of using a "normal-normal-strong" string, i can frequently string together "normal-strong-strong" or even "strong-strong-strong" attacks in a successful manner.

Palette? Mine rarely ever changes.

My last word is about elements. Celeb is arguably the best element in the game, but stun is also a very useful element as well. Stun is particularly effective when used in conjunction with a high element level saber(with a PA of course). I have a lv 4 anfinsen that had stun for a while(I changed it to celeb to try out, but i'll be switching back soon) and you were almost GUARANTEED to stun any enemies you attacked. This combined with a force ride PA killed many enemies(arkzein included) before they even touched me. Anfinsen drops very frequently in the dark shrine if anyone else wants to try it out as well.

Well, there you go, that's my setup, hope you like. I usually find this template more effective when lone-wolfing an area versus playing with others

Doctors notes:

-Everything was omitted because your setup is essentially the same as Ken's and Eclipses.
-PA Save Lv3 saves you such a miniscule amount of PP. PP Recovery Lv5 is more well suited to a HUcast.
-You now own the units you don't have. If you don't have em in real life, speak to me.
-Good work.
[/SPOILER-BOX][/SPOILER-BOX]

RAcast (3)

[SPOILER-BOX]
(Page 3) DoctorShanks
[SPOILER-BOX]Name: Standard Universal RAcast

Class: RAcast
Area: Universal
Weapon: Handgun, Rifle, Gunblade, Saber, Bazooka
Mag: 100/0/0/0, Flozir, Ruffian
Materials: 80 POW
Armor: Kepler Suit (4 slot)
Units:
- Divine/Power / Compress PA
- Divine/Power
- PP Recovery Lv 5 / Ice Protect / Slow Protect
- Element Boost / Divine/Power
Palette:
1. Attack
2. Heavy Attack
3. Dodge Roll
4. Sol Atomizers / Monomates
5. Dimates
6. Monomates / Star Atomizers

The five weapons that I listed are the only (in my opinion) good ranger weapons in the game. High level celeb handguns with Flame Hit are outstanding, and set them apart from the Tachyon gun which has the lesser Thriller Combo PA. Rifles have Mine Sneak, which is a mobile PA that hits 3 times and is(should you get your hands on one that has Lv 4-5 Celeb), more powerful than Flame hit. The mobility and power of Rifles and Mine Sneak is too great to ignore. Gunblades are terrific Paru/Gurhacia/Arca weapons as long as they have Earth Bullet or to a lesser extent, Impact Zero. Bazookas are good if you've got Wild Blow or Crush bomb on it AND you've got a Lv 4-5 Celeb on it. The huge numbers that Bazooka's dish out are amazing. It's a shame they can't be chained however. Bazookas and Gunblades differentiate you from a HUcast, giving you a uniqueness about yourself instead of accepting yourself as being a weaker HUcast.

My mag is pretty straightforward. The offensive nature is here because RAcasts don't get their own buffs while Soloing unless you party with Kai. My mag is a Paru mag, so I guess I just got lucky.

I never really used Compress PA on my RAcast because I was too lazy or forgetful to switch it over between characters. Divine/Powers are wild cards should I not need anything else in the run.PP Recovery Lv 5 is kind of a treat. You may never need to use a fluid ever again, but using fluids takes about 3 seconds anyway. Although in this game, 3 seconds can be a very long time. Ice Protect or Slow protect gets priority when I am at Rioh Snowfield or Slow inducing bosses. Element boost is only there because not all of my weapons have a Lv5 element yet. Gunblades cap out at Lv3, so they kind of need the Element Boost.

Just like my Force, my Pallete changes depending on what area I play at. Attacks and roll are on the first three as they are most important for combat. Sol Atomizers are wonderful status removers and are more reliable than a Forces Anti in the nick of time, but they are in limited supply. Dimates are primary healing, as well as Monomates. Sometimes I run Trimates when I'm not feeling too confident. Star Atomizers get a slash over Monomates because when you can't pour all of your faith into the healer, Star Atomizers act as instant healers. I be sure not to go to town with them because you only get 5. Stars are more for bossing than anything else.
[/SPOILER-BOX]
(Page 0) Ken-chan (Joke build)
[SPOILER-BOX]Name: Evil RAcast

Class: RAcast
Area: Universal
Weapon: Starfish Slicer
Mag: 0/70/0/30, Flozir, Anxious
Materials: 27 PP / 53 DEF
Armor: Asgard Frame
Units:
-Divine/Guard / Element Boost
-Tech Level Boost
-Dark Protect
Palette:
1. Trap Vision
2. Normal Attack
3. Moon Atomizer
4. Monomate / Monofluid / Difluid
5. Trifluid
6. Ice Trap / Light Trap

Overview:

THE BEST PLAYSTYLE AND CHARACTER BUILD EVAR!! YOU THROW YER SLICER AT EVERYTHING AND HOPE YOU WIN, BECAUSE THIS SETUP IS SO FREAKING AMAZING, IT PUTS ALL THINGS DOWN TO SHAME!! NO ADVANTAGES, NO NOTHIN'!! ARKZEINS CRAP THEMSELVES TO THE MIGHT OF THIS KICK-@$$ SETUP SO MUCH, IT MAKES THEIR MISSILES KILL IN ONE HIT!! CELEB-3 AINSRAIFFES CAN'T EVEN BEAT THIS SETUP, BECAUSE OVER END IS SO MUCH BETTER THAN THIS SETUP, THAT'S WHY THIS SETUP IS THE BEST SETUP IN ALL OF PSZ!!

Doctors Notes:

-Added a slash over Divine/Guard for Element Boost for further Chaos.
-Added slashes over Monomates for Monofluids or Difluids for further healing alongside Trifluids.
-Added a slash over Ice Traps for Light Traps. Light traps make your enemies face the other way so that way the mobs will start beating the crap out of your friends. At least they're doing something and not chilling (ha) in a block of ice.
-[/SPOILER-BOX]
(Page 16) WuBing (Makara Ruins)
[SPOILER-BOX]Name: Rohjade Slayer

Class: RAcast
Area: Makara Ruins
Weapon: Handgun, Rifle, Laser Cannon
Mag: 100/0/0/0, Pacifal, ???
Materials: 80 Power
Armor: Keplar Suit
Units:
-Divine/Power
-Divine/Power
-Divine/Power / Element Boost
-Compress PA
Palette:
1. Normal Attack
2. Roll
3. Heavy Attack
4. Monomate
5. Monofluid
6. Sol Atomizer

Playstyle:

The Reasons why I use Divine/Power and Power Material that much is because I tend to play aggressively, and I find that Divine/Power can make up for Racast's drawback not being able to use techniques such as Resta. Secondly, Racast is known for its high ATA, so there's no need to worry. However, the chance to miss an attack may occur frequently when ATA below 600.

With Flame Hit and Thriller Combo, people can beat against melee-resistant hostiles very easily. In my opinion, it is kind of boring if people tend to use the same guns. To make a run more entertaining, I strongly recommend the two PA : Wipeout and Bio Panic. Wipeout can deal more damage than Mine Sneak when you encounter Rohjades. However, you need at least 3 to 4 Level of Celeb to increase the damage output. Bio Panic, which is the Natural Enemy of Batts, has a crazy wide range and is able to attack multiple targets. Additionally, it can poison targets after being hit.

By the way, I suggest attacking Rohjades by using Flame Hit before they start curling. This is because when you flame hit them, you can hit up to 3 times.

Doctors Notes:

-Pacifal is cool Offline, but when online you might want to try either chaining with other PBs or grab yourself a new mag
-Changed a couple things but left the Overview untouched[/SPOILER-BOX][/SPOILER-BOX]

HUcaseal (2)

[SPOILER-BOX]
(Page 16) DoctorShanks
[SPOILER-BOX]Name: Kill Bot

Class: HUcaseal
Area: Universal
Weapon: Hadan Bite, Ainsraiffe, Rouge Pulse
Mag: (100/0/0/0, Flozir/Midgul, Fickle) / (50/0/50/0, Flozir/Midgul, Fickle)
Materials: 80 POW
Armor: Mobius Plate
Units:
- Divine/Power / Ice Protect
- Divine/Power / PP Recovery Lv 5
- Element Boost / Divine/Power
- Compress PA
Palette:
1. Attack
2. Dodge Roll
3. Heavy Attack
4. Monomate
5. Dimate
6. Sol Atomizer / Star Atomizer / Difluid

I played up until Lv 81, and I still plan to continue to Lv 100 eventually. When choosing a HUcaseal over a HUcast, at Lv 100, you are essentially giving up 29 HP, 15 DEF, and more importantly, 14 ATP in exchange for 32 PP, 9 EVP, and more importantly, 14 ATA. That 14 Accuracy there makes the HUcaseal exactly 14 points less reliant on Accuracy adjustment or mag ATA. In my opinion, a professional player would not consider the slight reduction or two defensive stats to be detrimental so long as s/he knows how to dodge very well, and would very much welcome the bonus in accuracy. The loss in ATP is not a gamebreaking loss. Under most circumstances, the HUcast and the HUcaseal should kill their enemies in the exact same amounts of hits. In short, the extra accuracy makes the HUcaseal much more flexible than the other Hunters in terms of weapon choices and mag setups, and she has the highest accuracy of the Hunter Class.

Equipment choices are pretty straightforward. The Hadan Bite is the most easily obtainable weapon that dishes out destructive power when correctly rolled, and when paired with the Element Boost to reach Celeb Lv5. The Ainsraiffe is a terrific weapon for defeating Reyburn and Octo Diablo, but in the field, Over End takes a really long time to charge when compared to Bite Stamp. The Rouge Pulse (if you can find a good one) makes running through Rioh Snowfield, Makara Ruins, and Ozette Wetlands a breeze. I also prefer to use the Rouge Pulse during the second half of Octo Diablo to land hits on the tentacles much easier (keep in mind this will require a quick change in weapons). My units are standard as well; Divine Power is a wild card, PP Recovery Lv5 used most of the time so that way I don't have to dip into the item menu during a battle very often. Element Boost is used when equipped with the Hadan Bite, or the Ainsraiffe, and until I find a good Lv5 Rouge Pulse, I use the element boost on my Lv4 Rouge Pulse for the time being. Ice protect is only used during the boss battle of Rioh Snowfield.

The choice between Flozir or Midgul for your mag really depends on the party. I use Midgul when I am playing in a Party of CASTs OR when playing with only one other person (because two-chain Flozir does not grant a damage boost). Both mags should have 100 Power at higher levels, but if you find yourself needing more accuracy, then experiment. You will definetly need a more accurate mag when using the Rouge Pulse unless you can find one with a decent accuracy adjustment and with good parameters... but good luck with that one.

Lastly, my palette is set in stone with the only exception being the final slot. Star Atomizers are treats, and should not be wasted in the field as you only get 5 per run. 10 Sol Atomizers is plenty for most areas, and is the prefered option. When at bosses, then I always run Star Atomizers in this slot to quickly support party members in Peril (Humilias' Slow and Ice lasers are an example which spell death, and it is rare that a Force will heal quickly enough even if s/he is equipped with a Compress PA (it can be pulled off, but Resta must be used before Anti. Ice and Slow protects are recommended for those not confident in their Humilias battle skills)). Finally, when running Ozette Wetlands or Rioh Snowfield, I choose to run Difluids in the last slot because CASTs are unaffected by Poison, and Ice is a status which cannot be healed in solo play (you may choose to run Sols in online play, but the existence of Trap Vision moots the need for Sols or Stars).
[/SPOILER-BOX]
(Page 16) AtBHR
[SPOILER-BOX]Name: Killbot Swordswoman

Class: HUcaseal
Weapon: Swords (Ainsraiffle, Yonohate In, Akatsuki In), Handguns (Rogue Pulse) , Mechgun (Blackhawk) , Rifle (Lavateinn)
Mag: 0/0/100/0
Mats: 80 Power
Armor: Noble Cloak
Armor Slots:
-Divine/Power
-Divine/Power
-Element Boost / Divine/Power
-Compress PA
Palette:
-Heavy Attack
-Dodge Roll
-Sol Atomzier
-Monomate
-Dimate
-Trimate / Difluid / Star Atomizer

This is the build I've been going for lately with my HUcassie. I have been running with a Mobius Plate for quite a while and was afraid the Noble Cloak would make her more fragile, however, she hasn't been fragile enough to go back to the Mobius Plate as the 5-10 more damage has been moot. The Noble Cloak is there for the set bonuses with the In swords. The hit mag is needed to hit stuff with minimal misses. I have settled on power units and Compress PA for armor slot units and I switch out the Element Boost for a power unit when not using a Celeb weapon. The HUcassie uses swords on levels with enemies are the most vulnerable to melee damage. The Ainsraiffle have the OP'ed Overend PA that I have to be careful to aim so it does hit something. The Akatsuki In provides a fun distraction to gather souls from the small fry. The sword is weak in power, I'll admit, and can only target one enemy so it's better to use it to play with the Heaven element. The Dynamo Spin can get in more hits when needed. Best enemy to instant death is the Akorse in Arca because that's a five in one death right now. The Yonohate In, one of the most coveted swords in PSZ, does function different from the Celeb-3 Ainsraiffle. It does damage as though they have no Celeb element but then when the Risk element kicks in, the damage goes up 150% while the HUcassie takes a small portion of damage. The Sonic Raid is a PA I hardly ever used with the swords but it's a decent PA when you hit correctly because then you can get all hits in when used correctly. I'm not sure if the damage output is anywhere near the damage output of a Celeb-3 Ainsraiffle. It seems to do do enough damage in any case and on occasion; I see Yonohate In hitting as high as 800. For levels involving guns, I have the Lavateinn with Mine Sneak, Rouge Pulse for boss portions of Rioh and Makara, and Mechguns for the second part of Octo Diablo (also gets used in the first part of the MT battle). And that's my current HUcassie build.

Doctors notes:

-I've changed the Hero/Power to Divine/Power to make the build look more attractive. I can loan you a couple for a while.
-Does the HUcaseal need that much hit on her mag? I'm curious because aside from the IN Swords PA's having pitiful accuracy, I think the Ainsraiffe or the Lavateinn would appreiate a boost in the form of a 100 Power mag.
-I've added a slash over Trimates for Fluids (field) or Star Atomizers (bosses). In my experiences, Trimates are usually overkill.
-I think you need to run more Paru :P lol.[/SPOILER-BOX][/SPOILER-BOX]

RAcaseal (1)

[SPOILER-BOX]
(Page 12) Chaosmaster00 (Paru)
[SPOILER-BOX]Name: Earth Bullet

Class: RAcaseal
Area: Paru
Weapon: Spears, Gunblade (with Earth Bullet)
Mag: 100/0/0/0, Flozir/Midgul, ???
Materials: 80 Power
Armor: Noble Cloak / Milias Frame
Units:
-Compress PA
-PP Recovery Lv5
-Element Boost / PA Save Lv3
-Slow Protect / Divine/Power
Palette:
1. Light Attack
2. Dodge Roll
3. Heavy Attack
4. Dimate / Trimate / Monomate / Star Atomizer
5. Sol Atomizer / Star Atomizer
6. Monomate / Heal Trap

Basically, this set-up involves using the RAcaseal in a place normally unsuitable for her kind, but actually managing to stand her ground a bit thanks to her naturally high ATA, she'll likely never miss a hit, which allows for simply focusing on highest damage out put possible from her weapons. Dodging with good timing is a must, and I recommend using the occasional Heat-based weapon or Heat Trap if you find yourself against a dual-Fruoutang combo, or a boosted one, either. It also doesn't hurt to carry around weapons that utilize Jellen to lower the damage you might receive from the foes and lower the chances of them hitting you, though chances are still pretty high either way, or lower foe DFP and resistances with a Zalure weapon, but don't underestimate the power of a well-placed Jell or Zalure.

When it comes to the mag I recommend Flozir for online in groups; offline, I recommend Midgul, for the huge Shifta/Deband / Fickle or Melancholy (for the Shifta placement and invincibility when you reach 100% PB gauge / high chance of status affliction removal / healing at low HP / high res chance on the occasion you die). I use 80 Power Materials because RAcaseals have the highest ATA, so they need no bonus ATA from mag or mats.

Pobomma and bolix pose little threat on their own. Just stay out of that not-too-close-but-far-enough-away-to-get-hit-by-Pobomma-trap-spit-attack range and you should be fine around Pobommas. Use spears to reap 'em good with their extremely low (lowest in Hard/Super difficulty) melee resistance, and Bolix's low HP makes them easy pickings. With Izhirak-S6's in the equation, make defeating them a priority, as their undodgeable lasers are annoying, and hurt a lot. With a few good quick hits of a powerful Gunblade using Earth Bullet or just solid strikes, they should die fairly soon, however, if a boost appears, don't hesitate to waste a Heat Trap to help rack up damage in the process... Fruoutangs are somewhat a pain with high HP and decent resistance to both melee and especially ranged combat, as well as powerful physical attacks, but only when close-up to them. Their ranged attack lasergun shots are fairly easy to avoid, but sometimes inflict Slow when you are hit by them. Just avoid them, and stay just out of range for their punches, like you would be if you used a Spear or Earth Bullet from a good gunblade, and they shouldn't be too hard to beat on their own. Feel free to Heat things up when the going gets rough. However, in the event of a Fruoutang / Izhirak-S6 combo, make the Izhirak-S6 a priortity, regardless of circumstances, but keep an eye on the Fuoutang to avoid getting caught by a surprise laser to the face; a good way to handle them both is to Heat the Fruoutang at the start, then head for the Izhirak-S6, so the Fruoutang has at least been hurt a bit by the time you get to him. All of these tactics apply to the rare variants of enemies as well. Special case being Booma Origins, who have immensely high physical resistances, in which you will NEED a weapon with Heat or Dark to get good damage on them, or a weapon with Heaven (like I usually carry), since they aren't immune to any status effect, even in Super; as someone who has and carries a Yasminkov M109, I can't deny it's seen its good use against these pests. <_<

As for boss, my recommendation goes for the utilization of a Gunblade with Earth Bullet specically, for its quick charge, AoE damage, low PP cost, and high output damage per hit. Make dodging lasers a priority, but don't hesitate to strike when you see the opportunity present itself (since that IS the game of being a Ranger ;P), especially when they both go to the middle for their laser-spam. low Protect is pretty much needed against C&M if you want to focus more on dodging just lasers than dodging both lasers and a pit of slow horrible death without constantly wasting Sol Atomizers. They shouldn't pose too diffilcut, but always keep an eye on Chaos. Make attempts to make him ram himself into the laser fences in the corners to put him out of commission as often as you can to lessen the amount of attacks they get out, since the only way they can hurt you is Chaos' laser attack or the combined attack in the center of the area, which you should EASILY be able to avoid by going between them and spamming an Earth Bullet to their mechanized faceholes.

Doctors notes:

-I merged most of the sentences you wrote and put them in the overview with a couple of edits.
-PA Save Lv3 reduces the cost of Earth Bullet by 4. I put a slash over Slow Protect for a Divine/Power in case you'd like to add 25 ATP per Strike with Earth Bullet.
-You don't really need Slow Protect in the field, but you're right. It can save your life if you're still very far away from a Froutang.
-Heal Traps are cool and all, but are easily outclassed by the other consumables.
-Poor RAcaseal has the most difficult time here in Paru when compared to everyone else. Thankfully this setup makes quick and easy work of Paru. Good work.[/SPOILER-BOX][/SPOILER-BOX]

HUnewm (1)

[SPOILER-BOX]
(Page 2) Norco
[SPOILER-BOX]Name: Jack of all trades, master of none.

Class: HUnewm
Area: Universal
Weapon: Gigas Romulus, Rouge Pulse, Kouga Shuriken
Mag: 100/0/0/0, Flozir, Hungry
Materials: 30 POW, 50 EVP
Armor: Noble Cloak
Units:
- Compress PA
- Divine/Swift / Divine/Power / Divine/Mind / Ice Protect
- Divine/Swift / Divine/Power / Divine/Mind / Slow Protect
- Element Boost / Divine/Mind / Divine/Power
Palette:
1. Normal Attack
2. Dodge Roll
3. Heavy Attack
4. Resta
5. Shifta / Anti
6. Deband / Zonde

Playstyle
I play HUnewm because I like going into meele and I like casting techniques. Sort of a battlemages style if you will, but a bit more towards the warrior part I suppose. My favorite weapon type is Double Sabers just because I think they're awesome. I don't use Double Sabers because they're good or bad, just because I think Double Sabers are awesome.

My main weapon is a Celeb-3 Gigas Romulus(GR) which gives a 10% bonus to thunder techs(aka Zonde). This have made me focus on Zonde and made use of its perk, stun. Zonde stuns quite a lot and if it does not stun it often flinch the enemy. I do not use the extra Zonde bonus for extra damage, just for the perk of flinching and stunning the hostiles (the damage is just a bonus). I used to use Zonde as a offensive spell almost everywhere before I got some decent weapons.

I mainly go up close melee and use pretty much the same pattern as Mustache. Normal, normal, heavy and charge, however for bosses I often change to Heavy, normal, heavy and charge since they are easier to hit. Sometimes depending on the hostiles I just charge because it sometimes is more effective. Especially vs all frogs, all enemies in the valley (except Helion and Blaze Helion) WHEN they group up. For the plant I tend to spam Zonde a lot to have them stay still. I will admit if I had a little HIT on my mag or some HIT attribute on my weapons I would use Heavy, normal, heavy and charge all the time. First hit always have more accuracy if it is a normal attack.

Speaking of the Arca Plant I have been working on a experimental setup using the high MST of the HUnewm combined with the extra MST from a Kouga Shuriken, Shinobi Suit, Divine/Mind x3, Compress and a pure Mind Mag. However I only just recently started making a pure Mind Mag so I cannot give any results at this time. The idea is since EVA does not do squat vs lasers(but wonders vs Arks missles) and since the hostiles move around so much I will instead use techniques since then I will not have to chase them, nor will I have to worry as much about dodging the lasers with the Dodge Roll since Zonde stuns them. Also the extra MST will let me do better Restas which will help heal party members since this the area where most people actually lose HP. Also basically all machines are weak vs Zonde. For the machines that are not weak vs Zonde I use Foi or just normal attack with my Shuriken, I use normal attack since it is so fast and have much better accuracy then heavy, Bright Sign PA is also nice. My machine GR is does not do much difference in damage from my other GR since it is only Celeb-1 and that is also one of the reasons I consider this tactic. Something to keep in mind is that you have to use A LOT of fluids when using this setup.

As for my palette the first three buttons are always the same and never change, except if I am using my force setup. Though the second change quite often, mainly depending on what party I am playing with. Resta is always there because healing is almost always needed. Then there is Shifta, Deband, Zonde, Anti, depending on what the palette other tech users have I change this. If I am the only one I just stick to Shifta and Deband so I can be a supportive. If I am just offensive then I use Zonde and Anti and sometimes I just go for Shifta or Deband and Anti. All depends on the party.

As for my material setup I go use 30 Power, 50 Swift. I do not believe more EVA is needed and therefore I put the rest in ATP, that and the extra bonus from Shifta is always nice. Now the extra EVA from the Swift Mats I consider VERY IMPORTANT. The best weapon a HUnewm can use imo is a Celeb-3 GR, in the right hands it can be truly amazing (I am a bit short on the amazing but I will get there!). Because of the HUnewms really low DEF when they get hit they are VERY likely to fall, they also have very low hp so when they do get hit their HP drop can be quite devastating. So I make use of their already high EVA and make it higher therefore dodging pretty much anything, making solo hunting like going through the Eternal Tower a breeze except for the boredom of ET, cannot help ya there.

At Gurhacia Valley on offline I go for my Power setup, else I most of the time go for my EVA setup on offline. I switch to all out Power when playing online, because online people can actually watch my back so the EVA is not as needed, however it still helps A LOT. For example in a battle vs Octo Diablo the chances of me getting hit very very low. I can stand there staring Octo right in the eye taking the attacks right in the face and they will miss. I switch back and forward a lot to optimize my usefulness. Another example is that the chances of a Arks missles hitting me are next to none except if it is boosted or really high up in the Eternal Tower.

As for the my other unite setups they can be found there and they pretty much explain themself. For the two Machine bosses I make use of Slow and Ice Protect, mainly slow protect. If I think we got enough Power I will just go for power. For the machine bosses I prefer to use my Celeb-3 Ainsraiffe with Over End since the machine bosses got so many spots which you can damage them on making Over End godly despite the long charge time. This is also one of the reason I have Flozir on my Mags so the charge time can be redused.

Bottom line I like to experiment a lot with unites, materials and other stuff but I will never stray from my double sabers (unless it is a silyl melee resist area... xD). I play a supportive character which can really really pack punch and got decent EVA so I will not have to worry about healing so much.

Doctors notes:

-That last Divine Power is assuming you're using a Lv5 weapon.
-Fixed materials and added a bunch of slashes that made sense to me.
-Omitted the first mag because wut?
-Did you make a mind mag? Does it work when going FO?
-Good work.

Updated notes as of 12/09/2011:

-The material change was a TYPO. You made me think I changed it on purpose, but I'd like to just say that it was a mistake to clear things up.

-Updated notes as of 2/08/2012:

-I copied and pasted your playstyle whether you changed it or not.
-I added the specific names of the items you're using
-Omitted Morgenlote. One of these days a new Beast GR will show up, and you'll be the one to buy it.[/SPOILER-BOX][/SPOILER-BOX]

FOnewm (1)

[SPOILER-BOX]
(Page 4) DoctorShanks (Dark Shrine)
[SPOILER-BOX]Name: Dork Shrine

Class: FOnewm
Area: Dark Shrine
Weapon: Kerykeion, White Disaster, Psycho Wand (whatever you can afford)
Mag: 0/0/0/100, Flozir, Fickle
Materials: 80 MIND
Armor: Noble Cloak
Units:
-Divine/Mind
-Divine/Mind
-Divine/Mind / Tech Save Lv3
-Compress PA
Palette:
1. Megid/Grants
2. Resta
3. Shifta
4. Zalure
5. Deband
6. Jellen

Get it right. Trap vision. This setup gets the girls guaranteed

Doctors Notes:

-The FOnewm is easily the best player of the Dark Shrine, being able to handle both sides with his 15% boost on both Grants and Megid.
-PP conservation shouldn't be an issue. I've never played a FOnewm/newearl so I wouldn't know[/SPOILER-BOX][/SPOILER-BOX]

HUnewearl (3)

[SPOILER-BOX]
(Page 1) Mustache
[SPOILER-BOX]Name: Can't touch this.

Class: HUnewearl
Area: Universal
Weapon: Saber, Sword, Dagger, Claw, Handgun
Mag: 80/0/20/0 / ??? / ???
Materials: 80 EVP (assuming)
Armor: Rika's Suit
Units:
-PP Recovery Lv 5
-Divine/Swift
-Divine/Swift
-Compress PA
Palette:
1. Normal Attack
2. Dodge Roll
3. Heavy Attack
4. Resta
5. Anti / Deband
6. Shifta

With this set up my evasion is lucky 777 with the set bump Rika's Stuff gives it bumps to 802. It's high enough to dodge 90% of attacks that don't auto hit, I keep the Dodge Roll on for those machine attack lasers that hit regardless of your evasion. I always Normal/Normal/Hard-> Charge PA while Hard attack is going. Rinse and repeat, this is especially easy with Sabers and Daggers. I use a Lvl 4 Luzparias with Celeb, If I get a Lvl 5 Luzparias it will have Jell over Celeb. I use two Lvl 4 Celeb Foie Hazes, one with reverse kill for range and the other with Air Ride for excellent DPS being able to stay right infront of the big monster I'm fighting and not have to worry about getting slapped or slammed. With a Sword I only Over End, PP Recovery Lvl 5 allows me to run through a full stage with a minimum amount of fluids. When I use a Sword I never do a normal attack, and I do this when I need to clear out everything fast, it'll get me through a stage super quick, I also use this on some boss fights, I switch off to Haden Bite if I need a radius hit rather than a linier hit, against Humilias for example. I use a Rika's Claw with Haden Bite to boost my evasion when I'm in a group of 4 since the monsters have higher ATA, against bosses I switch to a Celeb Hadan Bite for that extra damage since I don't need the extra evasion. And lastly I use my Handgun which is currently a N-Tathlam the damage and heat lvl 5 are both good and while quick draw isn't great I still use it often. I'm currently farming for a lvl 5 Rouge Pulse with Flame Hit to take it's place, it might be too good to be true. I make sure I'm always Shifta'd.

Doctors notes:

-You didn't list your materials, so I put 80 EVP assuming this is a full Evasion build.
-Deband does help against the couple of things that may hit you, but should still have a lower priority.
-No other complaints/questions/concerns. Good job.[/SPOILER-BOX]
(Page 2) AtBHR
[SPOILER-BOX]Name: *See Mustache

Class: HUnewearl
Area: Universal
Weapon: Daggers, Sword, Handgun, Mechgun
Mag: (75/0/25/0, Midgul, Healing) / (0/0/100/0 / Midgul / ???)
Mats: 80 EVP
Armor: Noble Cloak
Units:
-Divine/Swift
-Divine/Swift
-Divine/Swift
-Compress PA
Palette:
-Heavy Attack
-Dodge Roll
-Anti
-Resta
-Shifta
-Trimate / Attack / Deband

This is a swift build HUney I've done before, and my previous main in PSZ before I retired her for my current HUcassie. At level 100 with Noble Cloak and three Divine/Swifts, she reaches a grand total of 801 evade. A lot of enemies have a hard time hitting her, including the Arkzeins that can only hit her with their spewing mines and Mother Trinity's head desk attack. She mostly uses Foie Haze daggers and Rouge Pulse depending on the level. She uses heat element to help close the gap in offensive power. Although setting enemies on fire for DoT damage did help with this, this strategy becomes moot when a fellow party member uses any other element that interferes with heat like dark, light, and stun . She used Twin Violet mechguns in certain situations and uses a sword during boss fights. I also had Shifta on the palette with this character. First of all, I hate Deband and don't think it helps that much. Second of all, even if someone else does Shifta, there might be a chance that person will drop the ball and not re-Shifta like during a boss battle for example.

I decided to try this build because it seemed like a popular build for a HUney. The two flaws with this build is there are still things that can hit you regardless, a shadowed and/or rare variant of an enemy have no problems hitting you, the enemies on the top 20 floors of SH Eternal Tower can hit you just fine, and you lack some offensive power that you would otherwise have with a full power build. I consider this build a fun alternative to the usual power build but I find it boring after a while.

Doctors notes:

-Normal attack was given a slash over Trimate to make it a possible alternative to Mustache's build.
-Deband does help against the couple of things that may hit you, but should still have a lower priority.[/SPOILER-BOX]
(Page 4) Tamlin (Overview only)
[SPOILER-BOX]Name: Evasion Build

Really, this class is easily among the most versatile and effective classes! Honestly, the only thing I can't evade with her is lasers and tech-based moves! the only place this becomes an issue is the Arca plant, but with the ability to heal yourself, that balances out.

Daggers complement a HUnewearl's evasion perfectly! Nothing can hit her, which makes closing the distance a breeze! The fast, multihit PA's are unbelievablely powerful. Find a nice lvl 5 Foie Haze... and BAM! Everything goes down in a snap! Except Rohjades/Rohcrystas. I hate those.

Swords, like other people have said, are boss killers. Nothing more, nothing less.

Double Sabers are... well... they throw out even more damage than Swords or Daggers, not counting PA's. Honestly... I think Double Sabers are the perfect cross between Swords and Daggers. They're the perfect weapon for the HUnewm/newearl. The issue with them being slow and the user eating damage is resolved entirely by the high evasion of these two classes.

Doctors Notes:

-Your build was essentially the same as the other two Evasion builds, therefore the Palette and unite were Omitted.
-Has your mag been working out for you? Do you find yourself needing more hit? More power?
[/SPOILER-BOX][/SPOILER-BOX]

FOnewearl (3)

[SPOILER-BOX](Page 4) DoctorShanks (Dark Shrine)
[SPOILER-BOX]Name: Dork Shrine

Class: FOnewearl
Area: Dork Shrine
Weapon: Kerykeion, White Disaster, Psycho Wand (whatever you can afford)
Mag: 0/0/0/100, Flozir, Fickle
Materials: 80 MIND
Armor: Rika's Suit
Units:
-Divine/Mind
-Divine/Mind
-Divine/Mind / Tech Save Lv3
-Compress PA
Palette:
1. Megid/Grants
2. Resta
3. Shifta
4. Zalure
5. Deband
6. Jellen

Get it right. Trap vision. This setup gets the girls guaranteed.

Doctors Notes:

-FOnewearl is the Queen of the Dark Shrine, FOnewm being the King.
-She is the absolute master of half runs (Lavis Kanon hunt anyone?).
-The other half is probably much more time consuming for her to be playing alone.

[/SPOILER-BOX]
(Page 11) DoctorShanks (Dark Falz)
[SPOILER-BOX]Name: Slicer Toss ~ Dark Falz

Class: FOnewearl
Area: Dark Falz
Weapon: Slicer
Mag: 0/0/0/100, Flozir, Fickle
Materials: 80 MIND
Armor: Rika's Suit / Shinobi Suit
Units:
-Divine/Mind
-Divine/Mind
-Element Boost / Divine/Mind
-Compress PA
Palette:
1.Attack
2.Resta
3.Shifta
4.Deband / Dodge Roll / Anti / Fluid
5.Jellen
6.Zalure

Pretty simple yes? The FOnewearl along with the FOmarl are both the best users of Slicers in this game due to them having higher MST than the guys. The Rika's Suit gives great Defense and Evasion and is the best armor available to the FOnewearl. The Shinobi suit is another option to those wielding the Kouga Shuriken, and the Shinobi suit grants a 24% Dark Resistance naturally. I'm not sure if that offsets any of the damage but whatever. The Units I chose were pretty standard as well. There is no slash for Tech Save Lv3 because you'll only be using supportive techs every once in a while. Element Boost is only if you're running a Slicer with Celeb, and Compress PA is for quick helpful heals as well as to rebuff when Trinity dies. When Trinity dies, you'll have enough time to cast both Alshifta and Aldeband for your party with half a second to spare.

Palette is also simple and straightforward. Heavy attack is not mentioned because Slicers are much easier to use with the Normal attack, and they deal OK damage anyway. Another reason for the Normal attack is that Dark Falz likes to unleash surprise ground-spikey attacks and you might have a better chance of getting away. The third reason for normal attack is easier chaining. If you're dealing the most damage in the party, you'll want to steal chains with Bright Sign (let you party know) and this is another reason Compress PA is helpful. Only a fool would run anywhere without Resta. All four support techs will make your party love you forever, including Deband which some people might think isn't very worthwhile, in which case you can run Anti in case some moron didn't bring Scape Dolls, or fluids in case you're worried about running dry (don't run PP recovery Lv5 in this case). Jelly and Zally are wonderful.

STRATEGY

When the fight begins, immediately begin chargins Zalure and Jellen (in that order. Reason being that your party will get a few extra high hits while you're casting Jelly) then go straight for the Force pawn which spawns on the left. The Force is without a doubt the most dangerous piece. Once the Force is down, the choice is up to the party for who they want to go for next: The Ranger or the Hunter Pawns. Although most parties I have played with go for the Hunter Pawn, I would say to go for the Ranger because when Trinity is no longer invulnerable, the Hunter acn stil miss under the effects of Jellen whereas the Ranger hits everyone regardless. The problem with leaving the Hunter alive is that it is kind of a selfish move on your part. You have super high evasion allowing you to dodge like a champ, but your fellow Hunters and Rangers may have trouble avioding it. Work out with your party which pawn you want to kill.

When Trinity is no longer invulnerable, she will charge at you with a Body Slam... though you probably already knew this and know how to avoid it by now, if you don't you may want to rethink your life. When Trinity is preparing her Body Slam, you can still hit her with Jellen and Zalure even before she can be hit with attacks. Take advantage of that. Now just start throwing your Slicer at Trinity. Trinity has two attacks; we will call the first one Head desk and the second one Betch slap. Head desk requires you to keep your distance while Betch slap requires you to hug her to avoid being hit. When she stands up straight, she will begin firing a laser (which I am assuming is Light or Dark based) that cannot be avoided. I mean, it can't miss you, but you can still Dodge Roll (or even walk!) out of the way. It is not hard to avoid, and that is the reason I slashed Dodge Roll instead of recommending it. Not everyone likes Deband though, so Dodge would be the superior choice if you think hard enough about it. And finally, when her head hits the ground, you can throw the Slicer at her head a couple times to get some extra damage on her. Be wary of the Pawn that you left alive.

Dark Falz is the real deal. You'll want to start out by contributing or using your Photon Blast. Hopefully you have a friend in your party that has Flozir. If not, you'll have to be the user. Midgul is fine too, but unlimited PP and quick charge time will be amazing. The reason you'll want someone else to use the PB is because you need time to cast Jellen and Zalure. IF FALZ LEADS OFF WITH HIS GROUND-SPIKE ATTACK, SAY GOOD-BYE TO YOUR PB CHAIN. THIS IS UNAVOIDABLE AND IS NOBODYS FAULT.Now that the actual fight has begun and the PB is under its animation, cast Jelly and Zally in the meantime. Falz has two phases: the first being a phase where he just stands like a statue moving only baby steps forward and uses attacks on occasion. From memory, his attacks involve a giant laser that leaves your character with 1 HP (if you've ever played Final Fantasy, you would know why this is his least-dangerous attack), a Dark Criss-Cross laser that has the potential to strike your character for 400x2 damage if you're unlucky, and that one ground-spike attack I mentioned a couple times earlier. The ground attack targets beneath your character, then launches spikes outward with a wide-ish radius that also deals more damage than the first hit. The ground attack can be avoided by simply walking. However, avoiding his attacks isn't all so easy when decides to spawn his little ball-minions. You'll know when he's spawning them when he curls up and starts making funny noises.[/SPOILER-BOX]
(Page 17) DoctorShanks (Arca Plant)
[SPOILER-BOX]Name: Megid spam

Class: FOnewearl
Area: Arca plant
Weapon: Psycho Wand
Mag: 0/0/0/100, Flozir, Fickle
Materials: 80 Mind
Armor: Rika's Suit
Units:
- Divine/Mind
- Divine/Mind
- Tech Save Lv3
- Compress PA
Palette:
1. Megid
2. Anti / Grants / Zonde / Dodge Roll
3. Resta
4. Shifta
5. Jellen
6. Zalure

After taking a look at the Arca Plant resistances, it's pretty safe to say that all a FOnewearl really needs when running Arca is Megid. Trying to attain more coverage over the Finjers would require too many palette slots. Anti is there because people like to die A LOT in the plant, though if that problem ends up remedied by Jellen, you can run Grants for its lock-on effect on the Finjers, or Zonde if you really like the chain-lightning effect or for the odd Finjer B (though Megid hits everything else harder than Zonde will). The three support techs including Shifta at the bottom are key for making a pure Megid attacking style work better. With a 60 dark resistance, the Finjers will give you the most problems, so lower their resistance with Zalure (hunters will appreciate this), and Jellen to lower accuracy since Finjers like to dive into you shortly after they spawn (they will likely miss). Jellen also provides extra protection against Arkzeins; with such a high natural evasion stat coupled with the Rika's Suit, do you really need Dodge Roll? I'd suggest using Dodge Roll if you're a low level, but still give this a try first.[/SPOILER-BOX][/SPOILER-BOX]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thats all for me. Perhaps later I may offer setups for the other 13 character classes, but it would be nice to recieve setups from more experienced PSZ players on the site. I may repost them in the OP with permission, but I'm not sure if I have the time to manage three threads. I, personally, think this was a neat idea for a thread considering the lack of activity on the PSZ forum.

[Eclipse5632]

Great thread idea, Shanks. The only suggestion I have would be to add a section for mag builds.

Well, I guess I'll throw in my two cents on how to play a HUcast, since that's where I've spent the vast majority of my time in PSZ.

Class: HUcast
Area: Universal
Materials: 80 Power
Weapon: Double Saber/Mech Gun
- Roche Limit Celeb-3 0/0/0/65/0 Tornado Dance
- Roche Limit Celeb-3 0/21/54/0/0 Million Rave
- Morgenlote Celeb-3 57/0/0/0/0 Tornado Dance
- Blackhawk Celeb-3 63/0/0/0/0 Acro Step
- Blackhawk Celeb-3 0/58/0/45 Cool Style
Mag: 100 Power (Radam) / 99 Hit/1 Guard (Hagal)
Armor: Mobius Plate
Units
- Element Boost
- Divine/Power or Ice Protect
- Divine/Power
- Divine/Hit or Master/Power
Palette
1. Normal Attack
2. Heavy Attack
3. Roll
4. Monomate
5. Dimate
6. Trimate

HUcast is a pretty simple class, as you can see from my palette. I'll start by going over my slots first, though. Element Boost is probably the single most important slot item you can use as a hunter. The reason for this, as you may have guessed, is Celeb. The max element level you can get on a Double Saber is 3, but you can bump it up to 4 with Element Boost. This essentially means that this one slot item gives you 10% extra damage all by itself. That's much more than a Divine/Power, which by level 100 is probably giving you about 2% bonus ATP, which is definitely less than 2% extra damage. The worst thing about Element Boost is that you can't use more than one. I have a Divine/Hit in there because Double Sabers overall have the lowest accuracy of the melee weapons and I need a bit of a boost especially in later areas like Arca and the Shrine. When using Mech Guns (Rioh/Wetlands/Ruins), I switch out my Divine/Hit for a Master/Power (due to a lack of a third D/P) and switch to my Hagal (the 1 guard is only because I think Hagals look cool). Like Shanks, I run Ice Protect in Rioh but also against Humilias (don't have a slow protect).

I have both normal and heavy attacks on my palette, and I'll explain why. The second part of the Double Saber combo only has one hit, and I feel like it's not worth the time to do a heavy attack for one hit when you could do a normal and then get to your three-hit finisher faster. I haven't crunched any numbers on this; it's just a feeling. If I want more DPS I'll do heavy>normal>heavy, but often I'll do normal>normal>heavy to avoid accuracy loss on the first two hits. For instance, this is important when attacking Izhiraks, since if you miss one of your hits it can break out of hit stun and move out of your range before you finish your combo. Having all three mates on my palette is more or less a holdover from playing single player (notably the Eternal Tower where near the top there could be times when I'd run through all 30 before getting a chance to go back). I rarely use mates when playing online, usually because I'm playing with Shanks and he's a god-tier healer. =P If I were cool or something I'd run heat traps, but it never feels worth it to me. I dunno.

My materials are all power to maximize Shifta benefits, and my mag is all power because it's easier to switch in hit units than it is to experiment with varying degrees of hit on mags and find out how much I want.

I...don't like having to carry five weapons around, but I guess it's the price I pay for maximizing damage. They should be pretty self-explanatory, but I pretty much just have one of each weapon that has a good percent on each enemy type. Since I don't use mech guns in Paru, Arca, or Shrine, machine and dark percents are useless on them. There isn't anything deep about why there's two Roche Limits and one Morgenlote. I just haven't found any double sabers with better machine or dark than my current Roche Limits yet. Auto-sorting weapons makes it a pain to get to the weapon I want sometimes, but I have a Celeb addiction to feed. ;_;

[DoctorShanks]

Terrific HUcast analysis Eclipse! I'm really happy that you wrote so much and went into great detail. The only other suggestion I would make is giving a slash for Sol Atomizers over Trimates and possbly Star Atomizers for boss battles over Monomates.

"Light and Slow are very tough to deal with as any character, and by using both a Monomate and a Dimate at the same time, you end up healing 90%. Star Atomizers are emergency heals at boss battles when you can't put all of your faith/have lost your faith in the healer and another party member is on the verge of being wiped out (like when your healer hasn't done their job by the time Humilias whips out his weapons). Keep in mind that you've only got 5, so don't blow through them like candy."

Also, is Compress PA not as great on Hunters as they are on Forces?

Edit: I'm not that much of a genius when it comes to mags. I know some hunters like to have a HIT/ATP split, or pure power. But when it comes to natures, I like to believe that Fickle/Eccentric is better for online play. I'll add a template for Mag analyses tomorrow morning.

[Ken & Robo]

Hmm... Interesting idea. Wonder if my opinion on playing as a HUcast might be anything interesting... OK, here we go. (BEWARE!! Long-winded speech)

Class: HUcast (This will probably work as well for a HUcaseal)
Area: Universal

Materials:

- > 55 Power
- > 25 Hit

Weapons:

- > Every Hunter Weapon
- > Handgun

Note: I use Claws and Handguns nowadays, because I realized that a Hadan Bite with Bite Stamp and a LV5 Tachyon Gun is really all a HUcast needs. But that isn't as fun, since I need some variety, so I will still give my overview of the weapons shown below.

Armor and Units:

- > Mobius Plate
- - > Divine/Power / Ice Protect / Slow Protect / Light Protect
- - > Element Boost / Divine/Power
- - > PP Recovery LV5 / Slow Protect
- - > Compress PA

Mag:

- > Radam, 50 Power, 10 Guard, 40 Hit, 0 Mind, PB: Midgul, Nature: Ruffian
- > Rappy, 50 Power, 11 Guard, 39 Hit, 0 Mind, PB: Flozir, Nature: Ruffian

Palette: (I will write these out as buttons)

(Y) - Dodge Roll
(B) - Normal Attack
(A) - Heavy Attack
[R]+(Y) - Heat Trap / Star Atomizer / Heal Trap / Sol Atomizer
[R]+(B) - Dimate / Trimate
[R]+(A) - Difluid / Trifluid

Note: I have placed all the corresponding information in spoiler boxes, so that you won't have to scroll through such a hideous amount of information to see other players' setups below.

Overview:

[SPOILER-BOX]Like what Eclipse5632 said, playing as a HUcast is very simple. However, my play style is sort of standard, kind of bland, and flawed in some areas. My play style is somewhat inspired by my play style back in my PSO days, and much more unique (maybe not). I am used to playing as CASTs, so I can live well without techniques, although I have played as organics before. Anyway, don't try this play style, unless you like putting your thumb under a lot of punishment. I do fine my playstyle fun, at least, and since I find it isn't as fun abusing exploits and formulae in this game, I just aim for a fun playstyle while efficiently smiting my enemies (and I guess logical explanations that makes it work for me and most others). ^_^

For me, I am a PA spammer for the most part (you could say that means I have no skill). I also use all of the hunter weapons, as I feel there is a good use for all of them, including a handgun. My goals are to do high damage, attack fast, or to try and kill more than one enemy.

Prepare for my huge-@$$ description of my play style. It is VERY long, analytical, and definitely flawed. [/SPOILER-BOX]

My personal view on the Weapons:

[SPOILER-BOX]> Sabers are all purpose, but mostly for attacking fast and hitting multiple targets. All the PAs on sabers are excellent (especially Force Ride and Zeta Cutlass), as they charge quickly and hit multiple targets. I also like how they have unorthodox movements (excluding Cross Rave) that can sometimes make you dodge some attacks.
- > Personal recommendation: High-level saber that is either customizable or has a good element. Any PA is good (but try for Force Ride or Zeta Cutlass).

> Swords are personally more for boss killing. I personally don't like using them to hit multiple targets, as I find them too slow. I also find Sonic Raid or Dynamo spin as sub-par PAs. Therefore, a powerful sword with Over End (which is why I strongly prefer the Millias Breaker or LV3 Ainsraiffe) is perfect for dealing heavy damage to a boss, especially with Shifta/3+chain Midgul/Flozir.
- > Personal recommendation: Any powerful sword with Over End, like the Millias Breaker or high-level Ainsraiffe.

> Daggers are another one of my favorites when it comes to attacking fast. I also like how you can sometimes cancel during any attack of a combo to dodge roll, which I find is very useful. I also sometimes use Reverse Kill (my preferred PA) for tactical reasons, such as inflicting Jellen/Burn on multiple enemies.
- > Personal recommendation: Foie Haze (and Rage Tonfa), preferably with Reverse Kill. Air Ride and Huge Cross aren't bad though.

> Spears are also very good weapons. Although it takes time to get used to them, they're fast and relatively powerful. They also hit multiple targets. I would say, use whichever PA that you like. I don't like Speed Rain, since you stay in place for a while. That is also why I prefer Hopping Run, since even though it is weak, I really like its mobility and attack range. Unfortunately, it is not the PA of either of the drill weapons. Spear Rider is OK.
- > Personal recommendation: Any spear is fine, as long as it's strong. It's up to you, really.

> Claws are quite useful too. They deal 4 hits, and do plenty of damage if you use something like a customized Hadan Bite. It may be inconvenient that they are kind of slow though. I would recommend Bite Stamp, due to its high damage output on multiple targets. I also like Serpent Air, since it does 3-5 hits on enemies and can help you avoid certain things. I also like this PA for killing Humilias, since it can strike both legs (and his body if he's downed) five times. (Credit goes to Pokerealm who came up with this strategy for killing Humilias (http://www.pso-world.com/forums/showthread.php?t=172498), as I have always used this strategy when grinding Humilias.)
- > Personal recommendation: Hadan Bite, since it is fully customizable and just freaking good. Go for Bite Stamp or Serpent Air.

> Shields are extremely useful for either doing quick damage to multiple targets and inflicting elements. They are the only weapon with the highest activation rate for elements (right after Sabers and Laser Cannons), which proves to be very useful. Of course, blocking attacks help a lot too. My personal favorite PAs are Bull Smash (for heavy damage) and Linear Shake (efficient for inflicting element effects and for some mobility).
- > Personal recommendation: LV4 or 5 Iros with Bull Smash, or better yet, Linear Shake. I strongly don't recommend Barrier Shift, unless for specific situations.

> Double Sabers are my least used hunter weapon. I find them pretty slow, but at least they do good damage and are useful for increasing the hit chain. I only prefer Million Rave and sometimes Cyclone Run (I can't stand Tornado Dance. Don't ask why.)
- > Personal recommendation: Morgenlote (I hate them though) or Clair Doubles (Gigas Romulus is better than both, in fact, but is only for Newmans), preferably with Million Rave.

> Handguns are for quick and ranged damage, and are useful for areas like Ozette Wetlands, Rioh Snowfield, and Makara Ruins where enemies take more damage from guns. I abuse the Tachyon Gun and its ability to have LV5 when tagged with an element for the first time, and thus I use Celeb LV5. Strongly prefer Thriller Combo and Flame Hit, especially, over Quick Draw. I think Quick Draw sucks, which is why I don't use the N-Tathlam, even though it has LV5 Heat.
- > Personal recommendation: High-level Tachyon Gun, Rouge Pulse, H44 Missouri, or whatever with Flame Hit or Thriller Combo.

My personal weapon hierarchy: Claws > Handguns > Swords or Spears > Sabers or Daggers or Shields > Double Sabers

One more thing: Celeb/Life/Risk is your best friend...for damage dealing, of course.[/SPOILER-BOX]

Combat and Palette Information:

[SPOILER-BOX]As for my play style, I always hold an attack button whenever I enter a room while the game is loading, allowing me to charge my PA. Thus, I release a PA once I position myself SAFELY towards the enemy or two. After, I use regular attacks, and sometimes hold the attack button after the third attack to quickly charge a PA (The Compress PA is important for this), as it will save time to charge another PA as my HUcast recovers from the third attack. Either that, or hack away at the enemy. Also, I use the PP Recovery LV5 to make sure that I don't fail to execute a PA as often when I lack enough PP, thanks to regenerating 5 PP every 5 seconds. This can be a lot for even a PA-spamming HUcast, since you don't blow through your PP clip as fast as someone using Techniques (it can also help with regaining PP when you need to block attacks with a Shield). Quite frankly, failing to execute a PA has screwed me over many times, considering I cannot use my fluids while I am keeping my thumb on the attack buttons and I do not use a PA Save LV3, unless I cancel it with the X button or press the B button to do a normal attack to cancel it instead. This is also the reason why I hotkey Difluids instead of using them in the menu VIA [L]+[Start]. Doing so will allow me to QUICKLY restore my PP and allow me to resume PA spamming. I actually really hate having to stand still and heal myself sometimes, since for me, I just can't afford a couple of seconds to sit still sometimes so I can restore my PP.

Even though I get aggressive with enemies, I make sure to avoid getting hit as much as possible. Despite the HUcast possessing the potential to tank damage, I never like to get hit, because it is SERIOUSLY not safe being below half-HP IMO. My HUcast only has Power and Hit materials, and these two stats are also what my Radam mainly has (along with 10 Guard, but I find it that is a miniscule contribution). Therefore, my HUcast is not meant to tank damage, although I back this up with a 4-slot Mobius Plate (the best armor for a HUcast and HUcaseal).

As for the arrangement of the palette, it is calibrated for my thumb, since I often swipe my thumb across the B and A buttons. You could say it is artisitic thumb work or finger martial arts or something like that (I blame my hands for being artistic, lol). I always attack either by Normal>Heavy>Heavy or Normal>Normal>Normal. The reason why I always start with a normal attack is because I don't like the delay of the heavy attack, increasing the chance of either missing the enemy or the enemy moves out of the way. I also only use the Heavy attack to charge my PAs, since the A button is closer to the X button to cancel it when necessary. For my mates/fluids, it is pretty simple about where they are. By instinct, I press the B button more often than the A button to heal my HP. I can also swipe my thumb across B and A to heal both my HP & PP at the same time. I find the use of Difluids being hotkey'd on [R]+(A) very efficient for my playstyle, since I once again can't stand sitting still to heal my HP or PP VIA [L]+[Start], even for less than two seconds. This is especially the case when it comes not failing to execute a PA with an insufficient amount of PP, or if I need to restore my PP to block attacks with a shield. The least used actions (Dodge Roll and Traps) are on the Y button, as they take a little more effort to move my thumb to. I sometimes even sneak my index finger from behind my DS to the Y button, as trying to get away from a fatal blow is hard to do when you are ready to execute a PA. I do not like hotkey-ing the heal traps, as I'm not good at expecting when I might die. At the same time, I find Heal Traps unreliable sometimes, as there is no way to make them explode right away and the explosion range is too small. This would make me have to stand in place in order to get healed, which is not safe with many enemies. Besides, I'd rather have at least 2 Scape Dolls every time. Therefore, I use heat traps in case I cannot really switch to another weapon at certain times, since the Burn status degenerates plenty of HP off of enemies. I use Star Atomizers whenever there isn't a force around to heal everyone or in place of Sol Atomizers, because why not heal your HP and clear status ailments at the same time? I just find it more efficient, even though you can only have 5 Star Atomizers compared to 10 Sol Atomizers.

One more thing. My materials setup. Pretty standard. I add Hit Materials there, because I could really care less maximizing my ATP and the effects of Shifta. Also, I REALLY hate missing with attacks, and I'm not going to bother remaking my mag, because Radam Souls aren't cheap nor are they easy to find.[/SPOILER-BOX]

Slot Units:

[SPOILER-BOX]As for the Slot Units, they're nothing too special. I like to have a Divine/Power or two for extra ATP of course. I also use the Element Boost, because increasing an Element Level your weapons does help. It also makes life a bit easier when it comes to hunting high-element level customizable weapons (i.e. Element Boosts make LV4 weapons go to LV5, which makes LV4 weapons precious to me). The PP Recovery LV5, as mentioned above, is for regenerating PP while I spam PAs, so I won't have to use Fluids as often, although I still hotkey Difluids in case of emergency (and I sometimes don't like wasting even a little bit of time going to the shortcut menu, but I've discussed this pet peeve already). I swap my Divine/Power and/or PP Recovery LV5 for a Ice/Slow/Light Protect. Ice Protects are for Rioh Snowfield and Humilias, Light Protects are for Paru, and Slow Protects are for Reyburn/Chaos & Mobius/Humilias. The Compress PA always stays there for obvious reasons.[/SPOILER-BOX]

Mag and Photon Blast:

[SPOILER-BOX]You will probably wonder why on earth I have no more than 50 Power and more than 10 Guard on my mags. That is because I am too lazy to make another one (keep in mind that Radam Souls aren't easy to come by), I try to go for more ATA to avoid issues with connecting attacks, and the guard is usually because I go for Midgul and have some sort of issue with not having the stats as multiples of 5 (PSO and their rare mags *cough*). Of course there is no Mind, cause well...take a guess why.

By default, I use my Radam, because I like Radams and Midgul is my favorite PB. I use my Rappy mag with Flozir on very rare occasions or when I am going through SH Arca Plant with a party of three or more, but sometimes I forget I have it.

I always go by this "Photon Blast Hierarchy" when I choose a Photon Blast for my mag:

- > When solo-ing/playing with NPCs: Midgul > Flozir > Granir > Pacifal
- > When on multiplayer: Midgul OR Flozir > Granir > Pacifal

Midgul IMO is better for CASTs whenever they solo, because of high-powered Shifta & Deband and sometimes Jellen & Zalure on nearby enemies. The reason why is because 1-chain Flozir isn't as great for a CAST as much as for a Force, and Granir is really not worth using alone. Not to mention, your NPC's can freely cancel their PBs when you are trying to sync with them, which is extremely frustrating. This is a major problem with chaining any of the PBs offline. If it goes wrong, I find 1-chain Midgul better than other PBs for a CAST. That isn't to say that you shouldn't use Flozir or Granir when offline, as you can use them at certain situations where the NPC's minds can't be distracted from other things.

When it comes to multiplayer, Flozir beats all when you chain it above 3. However, I still like to use Midgul on certain occasions as well, because it's fun doing more than 1200 damage per hit of an Over End on multiple spots of a boss (4-chain Midgul + Over End on Chaos & Mobius = Up to 9 hits of 1200 damage and more than 6-9 hits of 600 on other parts = More than 10800 damage total). However, everyone always IMO desires 4-chain Flozir, which is perfectly understandable, because infinite PP, quick charge time, infinite critical hits, and invincibility rules. But let me make this clear: I don't like 4-chain Flozir. 4-chain Flozir = No skill (like anyone cares). The only time I would want to use 4-chain Flozir is when I'm against Humilias while I am in a 3-4 player party.

Oh, and I FREAKING hate Pacifal. In my opinion, it sucks.

As for natures, I sometimes use the Playful natures, since I do like occasionally having Shifta granted to me when I play alone. Otherwise, just use the Hungry natures, due to their variety of effects, as well as the short-time invincibility they provide when your PB maxes out, which is relatively convenient at times.[/SPOILER-BOX]

END

And there you have it. I would recommend a better play style for others, however... Eclipse's strategy seems way more optimal as well.

[Eclipse5632]

I think I'm going to like this thread. =)


The only other suggestion I would make is giving a slash for Sol Atomizers over Trimates and possbly Star Atomizers for boss battles over Monomates.
Yeah, those are pretty reasonable suggestions. I'll try to experiment with those in the near future.


Also, is Compress PA not as great on Hunters as they are on Forces?
In my experience, PA spamming just isn't very effective with Double Sabers. I agree with Ken that Million Rave is the best one, but I often have a hard time spacing it right to get all four hits in and it feels less efficient than just attacking normally unless the enemies are all really close together. This is the reason why I don't normally go into rooms charging my PA. If the enemies are spread out, then I'm better off not using it (yeah, I could just cancel the charge, but I'm lazy :<). The problem I had with using it on bosses is that I think against single targets just attacking normally gets you better DPS than spamming Million Rave. I have been spamming it against Chaos and Mobius and Humilias, but now that I think about it it might be worth doing on Dark Falz too. Usually I have a 2+ Flozir going into these fights, so the charge time is low enough from that and I don't need a Compress PA. Rayburn and Octo Diablo aren't good targets for it since you can pretty much only hit one of their hitboxes at a time. The exception is when Octo Diablo does his ink spit and exposes his head, but I get plenty of time to charge my PA when I'm running around to get to him. Tornado Dance and Cyclone Run are kind of underwhelming imo (they're also named backwards, which has annoyed me for the longest time). But, this is only my experience with Double Sabers. Ken uses a much greater variety of weapons than I do, and it's very possible that PA spamming is more legit with other weapon types. In fact, that's probably the key to using Sabers, which I've been disappointed with my entire time playing PSZ.

Oh, I guess I should mention mech guns. My experience with them is extremely limited since I only started using them recently. My main one has Acro Step, which, while it can do tons of damage, requires enemies to be bunched up very close to you or else it does practically nothing. Therefore I only use it when I think I can use it to its full effect. It does have a long charge time, though, so I might try running Compress PA with it sometime to see if it helps.


wall of text
holy sh-
And I thought I wrote a lot.


(I can't stand Tornado Dance. Don't ask why.)
Is it because it's dumb? :V


After, I use regular attacks, and sometimes hold the attack button after the third attack to quickly charge a PA (The Compress PA is important for this), as it will save time to charge as my HUcast recovers from the third attack.
Hm, I never thought of that. Sounds useful.


Sometimes I do not like hotkey-ing the heal traps, as I'm not good at expecting when I might die.
Yeah, I determined pretty early on that heal traps just aren't worth a slot, even as an anti-death countermeasure.


And there you have it. I would recommend a better play style for others, however... Eclipse's strategy seems way more optimal as well.
Haha, really? I thought you made yourself out to be the superior player. =)
You actually inspired me to experiment with different weapon types and see if PAs can make other weapon types more fun for me.

[Mustache]

Class: HUnewearl
Area: Universal
Weapon: Saber/Sword/Dagger/Claw/Handgun
Mag: Femini-80 Power, 20 Hit
Armor: Rika's Suit
Units
-PP Recovery Level 5
-Divine/Swift
-Divine/Swift
-Compress PA
Palette
1. Normal Attack
2. Dodge Roll
3. Heavy Attack
4. Resta
5. Anti
6. Shifta


With this set up my evasion is lucky 777 with the set bump Rika's Stuff gives it bumps to 802. It's high enough to dodge 90% of attacks that don't auto hit, I keep the Dodge Roll on for those machine attack lasers that hit regardless of your evasion. I always Normal/Normal/Hard-> Charge PA while Hard attack is going. Rinse and repeat, this is especially easy with Sabers and Daggers. I use a Lvl 4 Luzparias with Celeb, If I get a Lvl 5 Luzparias it will have Jell over Celeb. I use two Lvl 4 Celeb Foie Hazes, one with reverse kill for range and the other with Air Ride for excellent DPS being able to stay right infront of the big monster I'm fighting and not have to worry about getting slapped or slammed. With a Sword I only Over End, PP Recovery Lvl 5 allows me to run through a full stage with a minimum amount of fluids. When I use a Sword I never do a normal attack, and I do this when I need to clear out everything fast, it'll get me through a stage super quick, I also use this on some boss fights, I switch off to Haden Bite if I need a radius hit rather than a linier hit, against Humilias for example. I use a Rika's Claw with Haden Bite to boost my evasion when I'm in a group of 4 since the monsters have higher ATA, against bosses I switch to a Celeb Hadan Bite for that extra damage since I don't need the extra evasion. And lastly I use my Handgun which is currently a N-Tathlam the damage and heat lvl 5 are both good and while quick draw isn't great I still use it often. I'm currently farming for a lvl 5 Rouge Pulse with Flame Hit to take it's place, it might be too good to be true. I make sure I'm always Shifta'd.

[Atbar]

^ Don't you mean HUnewearl? The FOmarl is the human female caster in a dress that walks like a marionette.

[Ken & Robo]

@Eclipse5632 - I have had a lot of experience with each hunter weapon, tested a lot of things, and picked my favorites. Being very analytical with enemy attack patterns (except the frickin' Arkzeins) helps too, as it is easy to plan things ahead. Therefore, it is developed with a crapload of knowledge, since I played this game for like 2 years. Again, the play style has its flaws, but of course there are ways of being able to cope with them. It may be more suitable to cast hunters, since the flaws would be less punishing, thanks to higher HP.

Most of the time, these are my priorities in this game:
1. Kill things fast and efficiently
2. Use PAs or attack chains in the proper situations or against whichever enemies. Either kill multiple enemies, or hit them consecutively to prevent them from attacking you most of the time while preventing yourself from being vulnerable.
3. Keep your HP above half
4. Never forget to not leave yourself vulnerable or near death and actually care to avoid stuff
5. Don't screw around like a complete idiot, just because you are a HUcast or there's forces around



(I can't stand Tornado Dance. Don't ask why.)Is it because it's dumb? :V

Oh, and yes, I think Tornado Dance is dumb (which is why I hate Morgenlotes). There's something awkward about it that it just sucks. Spear Rider to me is somehow...better. I can't really explain to be honest.



After, I use regular attacks, and sometimes hold the attack button after the third attack to quickly charge a PA (The Compress PA is important for this), as it will save time to charge as my HUcast recovers from the third attack. Hm, I never thought of that. Sounds useful.


The trick with charging fast after ending an attack combo is simply not lifting your thumb off the attack button. For some weapons, especially sabers, you can let go right after recovery. This is also why I love Force Ride and the Compress PA.



Sometimes I do not like hotkey-ing the heal traps, as I'm not good at expecting when I might die. Yeah, I determined pretty early on that heal traps just aren't worth a slot, even as an anti-death countermeasure.Ever placed a heal trap when an Arkzein is about to kill you, then it runs you over and pushes you away from the heal trap after killing you? >_<



And there you have it. I would recommend a better play style for others, however... Eclipse's strategy seems way more optimal as well. Haha, really? I thought you made yourself out to be the superior player. =)
You actually inspired me to experiment with different weapon types and see if PAs can make other weapon types more fun for me.Anyway, I thought your strategy was quite simple, and I quite like it. You have some interesting points in your play style as well. I kind of thought my strategy was kind of silly, since I mostly spam PAs to try and do as much damage as possible. With that, I'm glad that you seem to like some of the parts of my play style there. Thanks.

[Eclipse5632]

Class: FOmarl
...
Armor: Rika's Suit
I thought only newmans could use Rika's Suit. And judging by the description of your playstyle, are you sure you don't mean HUnewearl?


Rika's Claw with Haden Bite
You mean Bite Stamp? lol, sorry for nitpicking >_>

So, why Jell on the Luzparias over Celeb if you're barely getting hit anyway?

[Mustache]

I copied and pasted the first post and went over it, I forgot to change the character type, yes, I mean HUnewearl. Also Yes, Bite Stamp is the PA I use.^.^ I get lost in my on posts and start merging thoughts together.

Jell Lvl 5 gives a higher Debuff then lvl 15 Jellen. When you proc with your Saber then quick switch to something with celeb you can amplify your DPS, this is super helpful with the boss rooms that have groups of monsters instead of an actual boss. I find it to be most helpful against Rohcrystas and Rohjades. Plus Jelling your lvl 5 weapon helps a group much better than just one more celeb element.

[Atbar]

Ever placed a heal trap when an Arkzein is about to kill you, then it runs you over and pushes you away from the heal trap after killing you? >_<


It's just as irritating trying to put up a heat trap and the Arkz decides to be funny by constantly driving away from it.

[Eclipse5632]

Jell Lvl 5 gives a higher Debuff then lvl 15 Jellen. When you proc with your Saber then quick switch to something with celeb you can amplify your DPS
Do you mean Zalure? :x

That's really interesting, though. I never even considered using more than one element for a combo like that. Why is this game so deep!?

[DoctorShanks]

I've added Armors and Mags to the template in case you guys would like to talk about them. I'll post an example of my non-universal build so I can talk about a specific armor later tonight.

I honestly never thought this thread would get 10 posts in a single day! I loved reading everything you guys wrote and it definetly helped kill some time while waiting in the morning. You all have very interesting set-ups.

@Mustache: I didn't know that about Jellen and Zalure. Thats actually really nice to know. However, if I'm running Jellen and Zalure on my Palette, I'll probably go ahead and use them anyway before they become overwritten (assuming Lv5 Jell on a weapon does overwrite Lv15 Jellen).

@Ken: I've always liked your balanced playstyle. Although I think you should try experimenting with higher power if you aren't having accuracy problems at level 100. Try remaking a Pure Power mag and if you still aren't having accuracy problems, then try resetting your materials. HUcasts have the highest ATP in the game, and I personally think they should go for the highest ATP in any setup. Though it's up to you.

If I may offer a price of advice, don't pick up weapons off the ground. Quick switching with R+Start is the only way to reliably change weapons in a flash, and by having to wade through 5* items half the time, you will usually come out of it dead. If you're having money/celeb problems, then ignore this.

[Atbar]

I think I'll wait a bit before I put mine for the HUcassie because I've been experimenting with other slot units. I'll post two unorthodox builds I've done before in the meantime.

Class: FOmarl
Area: Universal
Weapon: Saber/Daggers/Gunblade/Shield/Handgun/Mechgun/Sword
Mag: 99 Hit/ 1 Guard (Midgul)
Mats: 100 power
Units:
-Divine Hit x3
-Compress PA
Armor: Noble Cloak

Palette:
-Heavy Attack
-Roll
-Anti
-Resta
-Shifta/Zalure
-Jellen

This is an unorthodox FOmarl build I've done a couple times before. She doesn't use any attack techniques at all and relies on hunter and ranger weapons instead. I feel she fights closest to a RAmarl only she has a slightly better selection of melee weapons in exchange for having less of a selection of ranger weapons and have level 15 support techs. The 30% Resta boost bumps her Resta to the 400-500 range by the time she reaches level 90-100 without having to add one point of MST. She has a full hit mag and hit units so she can hit the broad side of the barn. The Hocho, the only sword a force can use, is her boss slaying weapon that actually does a lot of damage for a celeb-less level 20 sword with Overend. Without celeb, she can hit over 100 damage using heavy attacks. With celeb, she can do 200-300 damage. When soloing, she uses Shifta and Jellen, but in parties, she uses Zalure in place of Shifta due to always being one or two people who are very zealous about using Shifta.

-----

Class: HUney
Area: Universal
Weapon: Daggers/Sword/Handgun/Mechgun
Mag: 75 pow/ 25 hit (Paru-Midgul) and 99 hit/ 1 guard (Midgul)
Mats: 80 evade
Units:
-Divine Swiftx3
-Compress PA
Armor: Noble Cloak

Palette:
-Heavy Attack
-Roll
-Anti
-Resta
-Shifta
-Trimate

This is a swift build HUney I've done before, and my previous main in PSZ before I retired her for my current HUcassie. At level 100 with Noble Cloak and three Divine/Swifts, she reaches a grand total of 801 evade. A lot of enemies have a hard time hitting her, including the Arkzeins that can only hit her with their spewing mines and Mother Trinity's head desk attack. She mostly uses Foie Haze daggers and Rouge Pulse depending on the level. She uses heat element to help close the gap in offensive power. Although setting enemies on fire for DoT damage did help with this, this strategy becomes moot when a fellow party member uses any other element that interferes with heat like dark, light, and stun :argh: . She used Twin Violet mechguns in certain situations and uses a sword during boss fights. I also had Shifta on the palette with this character. First of all, I hate Deband and don't think it helps that much. Second of all, even if someone else does Shifta, there might be a chance that person will drop the ball and not re-Shifta like during a boss battle for example.

I decided to try this build because it seemed like a popular build for a HUney. The two flaws with this build is there are still things that can hit you regardless, a shadowed and/or rare variant of an enemy have no problems hitting you, the enemies on the top 20 floors of SH Eternal Tower can hit you just fine, and you lack some offensive power that you would otherwise have with a full power build. I consider this build a fun alternative to the usual power build but I find it boring after a while.

[Norco]

http://nostale.ucoz.ru/fignya/Norco/1.png

Class & Build
HUnewm 30 Power, 50 Swift

Weapons - Double Sabers / Swords / Handguns / Slicers
Celeb-3 Morgenlote +10 0/64/0/0/0 Tornado Dance
Celeb-3 Gigas Romulus +30 62/0/0/0/0 Milion Rave
Celeb-3 Gigas Romulus +30 29/0/0/43/0 Million Rave
Celeb-1 Gigas Romulus +30 0/0/58/0/0 Million Rave
Celeb-3 Gigas Romulus+30 0/0/0/15/42 Milion Rave
Celeb-3 Ainsraiffe+30 0/0/15/0/0 Over End

Celeb-5 Rouge Pulse +10 0/15/0/0/0
Dark-3 Kouga Shuriken +30 0/0/36/0/0 Bright Sign

Mag
Radam 100/0/0/0 Flozir Fickle (Red)
Arkharz 0/0/0/100 Flozir Fickle (Red)

Armor & Units
Noble Cloak +40
Shinobi Suit +35
-Divine/Power x2
-Divine/Mind x3
-Divine/Hit
-PP Recovery Level 5
-Element Boost
-Ice Protect
-Slow Protect
-Compress PA
I always carry all those with me and switch a lot, Compress PA is the only Unite I use at all times.

Unite setup - Change a lot depending on the area.
Swift & Tower: PP Recovery 5 / Divine Swift / Divine Swift / Compress PA
Power & Bosses: Element Boost / Divine Power / Divine Power / Compress PA
Gun & Melee resist areas: Divine Hit / Divine Power /Divine Power / Compress PA
Slicer & Arca: Divine Mind / Divine Mind / Divine Mind / Compress PA (Still Experimental)


Palette
1. Normal Attack
2. Dodge Roll
3. Heavy Attack/Foi
4. Resta
5. Shifta/Zone
6. Deband/Anti

Playstyle
I play HUnewm because I like going into meele and I like casting techniques. Sort of a battlemages style if you will, but a bit more towards the warrior part I suppose. My favorite weapon type is Double Sabers just because I think they're awesome. I don't use Double Sabers because they're good or bad, just because I think Double Sabers are awesome.

My main weapon is a Celeb-3 Gigas Romulus(GR) which gives a 10% bonus to thunder techs(aka Zonde). This have made me focus on Zonde and made use of its perk, stun. Zonde stuns quite a lot and if it does not stun it often flinch the enemy. I do not use the extra Zonde bonus for extra damage, just for the perk of flinching and stunning the hostiles (the damage is just a bonus). I used to use Zonde as a offensive spell almost everywhere before I got some decent weapons.

I mainly go up close melee and use pretty much the same pattern as Mustache. Normal, normal, heavy and charge, however for bosses I often change to Heavy, normal, heavy and charge since they are easier to hit. Sometimes depending on the hostiles I just charge because it sometimes is more effective. Especially vs all frogs, all enemies in the valley (except Helion and Blaze Helion) WHEN they group up. For the plant I tend to spam Zonde a lot to have them stay still. I will admit if I had a little HIT on my mag or some HIT attribute on my weapons I would use Heavy, normal, heavy and charge all the time. First hit always have more accuracy if it is a normal attack.

Speaking of the Arca Plant I have been working on a experimental setup using the high MST of the HUnewm combined with the extra MST from a Kouga Shuriken, Shinobi Suit, Divine/Mind x3, Compress and a pure Mind Mag. However I only just recently started making a pure Mind Mag so I cannot give any results at this time. The idea is since EVA does not do squat vs lasers(but wonders vs Arks missles) and since the hostiles move around so much I will instead use techniques since then I will not have to chase them, nor will I have to worry as much about dodging the lasers with the Dodge Roll since Zonde stuns them. Also the extra MST will let me do better Restas which will help heal party members since this the area where most people actually lose HP. Also basically all machines are weak vs Zonde. For the machines that are not weak vs Zonde I use Foi or just normal attack with my Shuriken, I use normal attack since it is so fast and have much better accuracy then heavy, Bright Sign PA is also nice. My machine GR is does not do much difference in damage from my other GR since it is only Celeb-1 and that is also one of the reasons I consider this tactic. Something to keep in mind is that you have to use A LOT of fluids when using this setup.

As for my palette the first three buttons are always the same and never change, except if I am using my force setup. Though the second change quite often, mainly depending on what party I am playing with. Resta is always there because healing is almost always needed. Then there is Shifta, Deband, Zonde, Anti, depending on what the palette other tech users have I change this. If I am the only one I just stick to Shifta and Deband so I can be a supportive. If I am just offensive then I use Zonde and Anti and sometimes I just go for Shifta or Deband and Anti. All depends on the party.

As for my material setup I go use 30 Power, 50 Swift. I do not believe more EVA is needed and therefore I put the rest in ATP, that and the extra bonus from Shifta is always nice. Now the extra EVA from the Swift Mats I consider VERY IMPORTANT. The best weapon a HUnewm can use imo is a Celeb-3 GR, in the right hands it can be truly amazing (I am a bit short on the amazing but I will get there!). Because of the HUnewms really low DEF when they get hit they are VERY likely to fall, they also have very low hp so when they do get hit their HP drop can be quite devastating. So I make use of their already high EVA and make it higher therefore dodging pretty much anything, making solo hunting like going through the Eternal Tower a breeze except for the boredom of ET, cannot help ya there.

At Gurhacia Valley on offline I go for my Power setup, else I most of the time go for my EVA setup on offline. I switch to all out Power when playing online, because online people can actually watch my back so the EVA is not as needed, however it still helps A LOT. For example in a battle vs Octo Diablo the chances of me getting hit very very low. I can stand there staring Octo right in the eye taking the attacks right in the face and they will miss. I switch back and forward a lot to optimize my usefulness. Another example is that the chances of a Arks missles hitting me are next to none except if it is boosted or really high up in the Eternal Tower.

As for the my other unite setups they can be found there and they pretty much explain themself. For the two Machine bosses I make use of Slow and Ice Protect, mainly slow protect. If I think we got enough Power I will just go for power. For the machine bosses I prefer to use my Celeb-3 Ainsraiffe with Over End since the machine bosses got so many spots which you can damage them on making Over End godly despite the long charge time. This is also one of the reason I have Flozir on my Mags so the charge time can be redused.

Bottom line I like to experiment a lot with unites, materials and other stuff but I will never stray from my double sabers (unless it is a silyl melee resist area... xD). I play a supportive character which can really really pack punch and got decent EVA so I will not have to worry about healing so much.

[Ken & Robo]

@Ken: I've always liked your balanced playstyle. Although I think you should try experimenting with higher power if you aren't having accuracy problems at level 100. Try remaking a Pure Power mag and if you still aren't having accuracy problems, then try resetting your materials. HUcasts have the highest ATP in the game, and I personally think they should go for the highest ATP in any setup. Though it's up to you.

Well, ATA can still be a problem. I am aware that for some reason, the HUcast has the second-highest ATA for hunters (which I find kind of weird but cool), but I really don't like missing. It sucks when missing the enemy while trying to flinch them occurs at the worst possible times, such as when they get to kill you this way. That said, I think I feel more safe having some extra ATA from my mag and materials.

Also, I'm going to edit my post, adding information on mags and whatnot.

[RLbitClassica]

I know that 2 useful Hucast templates are already posted, but i figured i'd give my 2 cents worth as well.

Class/ material bulid
Hucast, 80 power materials
AREA- universal, boss battle are exceptions, of course

Weapons
-daggers(currently using lv 3 celebjasper roar)
-sword(currently using both lv 3 celebainsraiffe and a gale bringer)
-saber(currently using lv 4 celebanfinsen)
-double saber(currently using lv 3 celebroche limit and a diskuroi)
-handgun(currently using H10 missouri)

Mag
I have a plethora of various mags with different builds and photon blasts(all of them are red btw) My most used one is a Radam turned hagal. HIT 74, GUARD 14, POWER 12 with midgul as a PB.

Armor/Units
-Carabinier Armor(4 slots DUH)
-Compress PA(always equipped)
-PA save lv 3(always equipped)
-PP recovery lv 4(Always equipped in the field, but is usually the first to go for boss fights)
-Divine/power(equipped when not using element boost)
-Element boost(equipped mostly for use with celeb element weapons)
-HP recovery lv 3(haven't use it in forever lol)
-Slow protect(for Humilias, Reyburn and Chaos N' Mobius fights)
-Light protect(for Paru)

Palette
1- Normal attack
2- Dodge roll
3- Heavy attack
4- Monomate
5- Monofluid
6- Dimate

Play style
I like swords, and that's that. I know they aren't the most useful weapons(not counting over end), but they are bad-ass and can hit multiple enemies at once. For quickly killing enemies, i recommend DAGGERS. They can hit 6 times in a successful string, have 2 very useful PAs(air ride and reverse kill), they can be easily interrupted with a dodge roll and aren't difficult to come across(Makara ruins, anyone?).

Like most other Hucasts, my primary tactic is to go in and kill everything as quick as possible. My methods for doing so are usually PA spamming, just like Ken suggested. I always have "PA save lv 3", "compress PA" and a PP recovery of some kind equipped(boss battles aside).

Like a typical hucast, my materials are exclusively power mats and i abuse the hell out of the celeb element, but what i do differently is my mag buildup. I'm primarily ATA build as opposed to ATP and because of that, i'm noticeably weaker than my fellow Hucasts, but I rarely miss when attacking. This is super beneficial because instead of using a "normal-normal-strong" string, i can frequently string together "normal-strong-strong" or even "strong-strong-strong" attacks in a successful manner.

Palette? Mine rarely ever changes.

My last word is about elements. Celeb is arguably the best element in the game, but stun is also a very useful element as well. Stun is particularly effective when used in conjunction with a high element level saber(with a PA of course). I have a lv 4 anfinsen that had stun for a while(I changed it to celeb to try out, but i'll be switching back soon) and you were almost GUARANTEED to stun any enemies you attacked. This combined with a force ride PA killed many enemies(arkzein included) before they even touched me. Anfinsen drops very frequently in the dark shrine if anyone else wants to try it out as well.

Well, there you go, that's my setup, hope you like. I usually find this template more effective when lone-wolfing an area versus playing with others.

[Ken & Robo]

*Looks at everyone's play style. Compares my own.*

...Wow. I'm so overly complicated. Bleck.

Maybe this is why some of my friends in high school go as far as complaining that I write my English essays at least one page more than that is required... =3

Fun fact, I edit everyone of my posts (including this one) at least 3-5 times, just to get rid of grammatical errors...

[Eclipse5632]

Fun fact, I edit everyone of my posts (including this one) at least 3-5 times, just to get rid of grammatical errors...
I appreciate it, at least. =D


My most used one is a Radam turned hagal. HIT 74, GUARD 14, POWER 12 with midgul as a PB.
Is there a reason for the 14 Guard or did you just want a Hagal over an Ansul?

I'm gonna go back and edit my post to talk about my materials/mag and specific weapons I use...

[Ken & Robo]

I appreciate it, at least. =D

Hehe, it's a full-time job for myself. I'm...TOO meticulous. I have a habit of making things neat and...formal for readers.

EDIT: One of the reasons why I became even more harsh on myself when it comes to grammar is because I showed my big brother some fan-fiction I made, and he caught this one grammatical error. It was one of the most terrible grammatical errors ever, because it sounded so...wrong. If you want to know what it was on, I'll...debate on if I should show it.


HUcasts have the highest ATP in the game, and I personally think they should go for the highest ATP in any setup. Though it's up to you.

@DoctorShanks - I might try an 80 Power Material build someday, and I'll determine if I like it or not.

EDIT: No, I don't like 80 Power Materials. >_> I noticed quickly that I started missing my enemies more, and got killed twice for it. I'll go back to my original setup.

[DoctorShanks]

@Classica: If I may offer a suggestion: PA Save Lv3 is useless. The PP you will be saving is so small that it's almost not even worth running over even a wild card such as a Divine/Power.

@Norco: You should consider running an Element Boost. It will add a total 10% to your damage as said by many others in this thread. Good setup though. It's very unique and abuses the HUnewm's above average MST. The HUnewearl can pull off a Battlemage set just a bit better though. But I've sais before that the HUnewm is a "Jack of all trades, but a master of none." The Celeb Lv3 Gigas Romulus (Lv4 with ele boost) negates the need for a Clair Doubles, and is one of the reasons people make HUnewms. So don't hurt yourself hunting for the Clear Bubbles.

Here is an example for a specific area setup:

Class: FOmarl
Area: Makara Ruins
Weapon: Starlight
Mag: 100 MIND / Flozir / Fickle
Materials: 100 MIND
Armor: Star Cloak (4 slots)
Units:
-Divine/Mind
-Divine/Mind
-Compress PA
-Tech Save Lv3
Palette
1. Grants
2. Resta
3. Megid / Deband
4. Shifta
5. Jellen
6. Zalure

My reasoning for such a setup is the fact that I can greatly abuse the FOmarl's 30% Grants Bonus. The additional 10% bonus from the Starlight and the 50+MST bonus from the Star Cloak add up to the strongest Grants in the game. When I did number crunching on the Starlight vs White Disaster issue, I realized that my maximum damage went down slightly, but my minimum damage Skyrocketed, ultimately leading to more stable damage and a for sure 5HKO on the Rumoles instead of a 5~6HKO. I have yet to test with the Psycho Wand as I do not have one.

My Units are pretty self-explanatory. Compress PA for instant Gigrants and a quicker charge for everything else such as Alresta. The two Divine/Mind's are both Wild Cards, and raise my damage. Tech Save Lv3 in my opinion is a necessity for all Forces. It is essentialy the wonderful "buy 4, get one free" deal. And since you're going to be "buying out" your PP anyway, you might as well take the offer.

Now my Palette... well Grants is always first, followed by Resta then the three (important) supporting techs. I usually run Deband ONLY when I am playing with two other players or another Force who can run Deband for me. The reason I am almost always running Megid is because Bullbatts have an immunity to Grants, and take pitiful damage from it when under the effects of Zalure. The Bullbatts have a low resistance to Dark, so I use Megid over Deband because Deband is (considered by many) the least useful support tech of the four. I may think about running Zonde to hit them with much less of a need to aim, but Razonde is more expensive in the long run.

[Norco]

Don't have an Element Boost atm, gave it away I think ^_^ Will have to hunt for one. I always thought it capped at the same as the weapon type normally capped at, guess I was wrong xD

Thanks for the advice ^_^

[Eclipse5632]

Do note that you can't exceed the game's hard cap of a level 5 element, meaning you can't give a Saber level 6 Celeb, for example. But yes, as long as an element is below level 5 you can increase it with Element Boost regardless of the weapon type.

[RLbitClassica]

Is there a reason for the 14 Guard or did you just want a Hagal over an Ansul?

I Just think hagal looks more badass. Which, as some of you know by now, can prioritize over an items usefulness in my book :)

[Eclipse5632]

I Just think hagal looks more badass. Which, as some of you know by now, can prioritize over an items usefulness in my book :)
That's fine, I figured that was it. And I agree, Hagal does look pretty awesome. =D

[Norco]

Class & Build
HUnewm 25 Power, 15 Guard, 40 Swift *NEW BUILD*


TADA! My latest build and also my favorite build so far xD

[Atbar]

With the Hagal, if you give a HUcast the head piece with the horns, he looks like a demon.

[RLbitClassica]

With the Hagal, if you give a HUcast the head piece with the horns, he looks like a demon.

Mix all that together with a red body color and a Diablic Gauntlet and you'll REALLY look like a demon.

Also, @Norco I have a spare element boost if you'd like it.

[Norco]

That would be awesome. But right now I want SLEEP! xD Night ^_^

[DoctorShanks]

Class: RAcast
Area: Universal
Weapon: Handgun / Rifle / Gunblade
Mag: 100/0/0/0 / Flozir / Cautious
Materials: 80 POW
Armor: Kepler Suit (4 slot)
Units:
- Divine/Power / Compress PA
- Divine/Power
- PP Recovery Lv 5 / Ice Protect / Slow Protect
- Element Boost / Divine/Power
Palette:
1. Attack
2. Heavy Attack
3. Dodge Roll
4. Sol Atomizers / Monomates
5. Dimates
6. Monomates / Star Atomizers

The three weapons that I listed are the only (in my opinion) good ranger weapons in the game. High level celeb handguns with Flame Hit are outstanding, and set them apart from the Tachyon gun which has the lesser Thriller Combo PA. Rifles have Mine Sneak, which is a mobile PA that hits 3 times and is(should you get your hands on one that has Lv 4-5 Celeb), more powerful than Flame hit. The mobility and power of Rifles and Mine Sneak is too great to ignore. Gunblades are terrific Paru/Gurhacia/Arca weapons as long as they have Earth Bullet or to a lesser extent, Impact Zero.

My mag is pretty straightforward. The offensive nature is here because RAcasts don't get their own buffs while Soloing unless you party with Kai. My mag is a Paru mag, so I guess I just got lucky.

I never really used Compress PA on my RAcast because I was too lazy or forgetful to switch it over between characters. Divine/Powers are wild cards should I not need anything else in the run.PP Recovery Lv 5 is kind of a treat. You may never need to use a fluid ever again, but using fluids takes about 3 seconds anyway. Although in this game, 3 seconds can be a very long time. Ice Protect or Slow protect gets priority when I am at Rioh Snowfield or Slow inducing bosses. Element boost is only there because not all of my weapons have a Lv5 element yet. Gunblades cap out at Lv3, so they kind of need the Element Boost.

Just like my Force, my Pallete changes depending on what area I play at. Attacks and roll are on the first three as they are most important for combat. Sol Atomizers are wonderful status removers and are more reliable than a Forces Anti in the nick of time, but they are in limited supply. Dimates are primary healing, as well as Monomates. Sometimes I run Trimates when I'm not feeling too confident. Star Atomizers get a slash over Monomates because when you can't pour all of your faith into the healer, Star Atomizers act as instant healers. I be sure not to go to town with them because you only get 5. Stars are more for bossing than anything else.

[ZackyStyles]

Class: HUmar
Area: Everywhere
Weapon: Hadon bite+20/celeb lv4/bite stamp/(13/53/13/0/0) *fortified*
Dioskuroi+40/jell lv3/million rave/(0/43/5/43/0) *fortified*
Foie haze+10/Celeb lv2/reverse kill/(0/17/19/5/14) *fortified*
Emperor Axeon/heat lv3/Earth bullet/(0/0/37/0/26) *fortified* -on occasion-
Mag: 100power (Femini) flozir/Ruffian
Materials: 100 power mats
Armor: Carabinier armor/ (need 4 slot noble cloak)
Units:
-Divine/Power
-PP Recovery lv4/ HP Recovery lv4
-Light Protect/Dark Protect/Slow Protect/(needs Ice Protect)
-Compress PA
Palette:
Y-Resta/Shifta/Deband/Star atomizer
B-Norm attack
A-dodge roll
R+Y-Dimate/Monomate
R+B-Difluid/Monofluid
R+A-Anti

my set-up i think is a bit odd. my palette is cut and dry attack and heal. i am constantly using my Pa's so the compress PA is a great help. all of the protect units are situational such as dark while heading through the dark shrine because the poison the monsters use is annoying, Slow on humilias, Chaos+Mobious, the light protect helps on runs through almost anywhere especially the robots in paru. i use pp recovery more than the hp because i use my PA more often then i lose helth so i need to keep gettin my PP back. as for my palette i use star atomizers on boss fights, shifta i use all the time as the attack buff really helps. deband is great for going up against arkzeins and thr like, and resta is a fall back plan (when i play with friends as i am the strongest of my close group who play together) i use monomates/monofluids wwhile goin through the levels and dimates and fluids when up against bosses and harder foes. anti helps with reviving friends that i play with and gets rid of any of the unprotected status effects. as for weapons i main my hadan bite for most use as it is a solid weapon with a good PA and deals good damage. my dioskuroi is good against the dark shrine and the phobos/zaphobos rooms in the ET. the foie haze while not hugely powerful is solid enough in power and has decent %s and element so that i can deal a fair amount of damage to almost all monsters. i dont use my emoeror axeon all that much anymore because my L button is broken, this also creates problems for my other weapons as well, but i cannot lock on and whle it is a decent weapon i have trouble with hitting on occasion. i can still get a PB to work if i jiggle the button but it wont work all the time.

my palette is still a work in progress as is my units and armor. any help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[Tolly7249]

I'm gonna straight out say this - Lacey is NOT a typical RAmarl. I find her fun, though, so it's all good.

Class: RAmarl
Area: Universal
Weapon: Rifles/Mechguns/Sabers
Mag: Chato (Red Ears), 70/1/0/29, Fickle, Flozir
Materials: 50 Guard, 30 Evasion, 10 HP, 10 PP
Armor: Dragon Wing (I need better armour, I know), 3 Slots
Units:
* Element Boost
* PP Recovery 4
* Ice Protect/PA Save 2
Palette:
1. Normal Attack
2. Roll
3. Heavy Attack
4. Jellen
5. Zalure
6. Resta/Trimate/Star Atomiser

Sabers are basically for the places in Super Hard where the enemies have smegging resistance to my bullets. I do not like bullet resistance at all. It makes me annoyed. I prefer Cross Rave when I can get it on a decent Saber. Most of my gear is still kinda shite though, and my Sabers are the worst. Rifles I usually use in Gerhacia Valley and the Arca Plant, preferring Wipeout, with Mechguns in anywhere not covered by Rifles and Sabers, and I adore Spinning Death for clearing out crowds.

My MAG is mostly for boosting my power, but the magic boost is pretty nice for Resta and the very rare occasions I go into Normal with my newb friend and play Force for his RAcast. Flozir is epic and my personal favourite Blast. A full party Flozir is basically a win button. The Guard materials are nice for when I'm meleeing, as are the Evades, and the HP and PP boosts are a nice way to use my extra 20 mats.

Element Boost is pretty much a necessity for all Hunters and Rangers, PP Recovery lets me blast off my PAs more often, ditto to PA Save, and Ice Resist is for Humilias. Hate. HATE. I really need to go hunt some better armour, too.

Normal attack and Heavy attack are for combo flexibility, and roll is to keep my ass intact when something spawns in a bad place or I get mobbed. Evasion buttons win. Jellen and Zalure ruin my enemies days and the various styles of healing are for when something actually manages to hit me.

I also have a 100 Guard Lassi MAG for when I feel like just running up and beating the stuffing out of enemies with melee weapons. Sometimes you just want to belt dudes in the face with a big big spear.

[Norco]

I am going to make a update to my post in the near future seeing as I have altered my setup and playstyle a little bit.

[DoctorShanks]

Bump.

Class: FOfleshie
Area: Dork Shrine
Weapon: Kerykeion / White Disaster / Psycho Wand (whatever you can afford)
Mag: 100 MIND / Flozir / Fickle
Materials: 100 MIND
Armor: Noble Cloak / Rika's Suit
Units:
-Divine/Mind
-Divine/Mind
-Tech Save Lv3 / Divine/Mind
-Compress PA
Palette:
1. Megid/Grants
2. Resta
3. Shifta
4. Zalure
5. Deband
6. Jellen

Get it right. Trap vision. This setup gets the girls guaranteed.

[ZackyStyles]

@doctorshanks- is this setup only for FOmars? or could it work with FOnewms? seems solid and i may wish to put that setup on my FOnewm, when he's finally a high level.

[DoctorShanks]

FOfleshie implies all forces. In fact, the FOmar sucks the most at the Dark Shrine (don't get me wrong, all the forces are masters of the Shrine and FOmar can tear shit up no problem). FOnewm gets a 15% boost to all techs including Grants and Megid, so he's kind of like a FOmarl/FOnewearl hybrid with a weak resta.

[ZackyStyles]

ahh ok. thanks for the clarification. i thought "fleshies" was an indication to humans i probably should have just put 2 and 2 together and realized that newmans are fleshies as well.

[Sp-24]

Is Tech Save necessary, though? Between that and 5 more damage, I'm leaning towards another Divine/Mind...

[Tamlin]

Class: HUnewearl
Area: Universal
Weapon: Daggers, Swords, Double Sabers. Neidaryl.
Mag: Wyn 65/0/35/0 Midgul, Obstinate
Materials: 80 EVA
Armor: Rika's Suit
Units:
-Divine/Swift
-Divine/Swift
-Divine/Swift
-PA Compress
Palette:
A: Attack
B: Dodge/Roll
Y: Heavy Attack
[R]A: Shifta/Foie/Zonde/Barta
[R]B: Deband
[R]Y: Resta

Really, this class is easily among the most versatile and effective classes! Honestly, the only thing I can't evade with her is lasers and tech-based moves! the only place this becomes an issue is the Arca plant, but with the ability to heal yourself, that balances out.

Daggers complement a HUnewearl's evasion perfectly! Nothing can hit her, which makes closing the distance a breeze! The fast, multihit PA's are unbelievablely powerful. Find a nice lvl 5 Foie Haze... and BAM! Everything goes down in a snap! Except Rohjades/Rohcrystas. I hate those.

Swords, like other people have said, are boss killers. Nothing more, nothing less.

Double Sabers are... well... they throw out even more damage than Swords or Daggers, not counting PA's. Honestly... I think Double Sabers are the perfect cross between Swords and Daggers. They're the perfect weapon for the HUnewm/newearl. The issue with them being slow and the user eating damage is resolved entirely by the high evasion of these two classes.

Class: HUmar
Area: Universal
Weapon: Shields, Double Sabers, Emperor Axeon.
Mag: Tyrna 25/50/25/0 Granir, Healing (Hope to trade up for a 100 guard GREEN mag with Midgul, on which I will use a trusty Arkharz soul!)
Materials: 100 GUARD
Armor: Hunter Shell/ Carabinier Armor
Units:
-Divine/Guard
-Divine/Guard
-Divine/Guard
-PA Compress
Palette:
A: Attack
B: Dodge/Roll
Y: Heavy Attack
[R]A: Foie/Barta/Zonde
[R]B: Deband
[R]Y: Resta

HUmar and HUmarl are THE most versatile classes there are! Also the most survivable because of their versatility. They have higher physical stats than the Newman classes, and the added benefit of being able to use Techniques is something that puts them over the top in my book.

Shields are just my preference for my DEF HUmar. They provide a boost to DEF and they can be used to block with, which prevents all damage from the front. The PAs are powerful and they high elements make for a really well rounded weapon. Otherwise... they don't do much for most people ^^;

I like Gunblades because they stress Versatility, which is key in my book. Emperor Axeon is the best at doing that, because it also provides a 50 point boost to the MST stat. With a Gun and a Blade to boot, this weapon is VERY well suited to almost any situation. However, it does lack in damage dealing potential when compared to specific classes.

[Tamlin]

And Tommorow I'll put up my Arca specific HUnewearl build ^^

[DoctorShanks]

Is Tech Save necessary, though? Between that and 5 more damage, I'm leaning towards another Divine/Mind...

Buy 4, get one free! You're going to be buying hundreds anyway, so why not get the nice 20% off and NOT have to resort to Trifluids? Ultimately, this leads to holding up a run to restock fluids, and using more Trifluids than you can find in order to not hold up the run. Also, I don't remember 5 more damage making the difference between a 3HKO or a 4HKO... not like I would know. I'll have to test this out myself. I've put up a slash for another Divine/Mind beside Tech Save Lv3 for the FOnewms and FOnewearls or the FOfleshies who don't need to worry about holding up a run to restock fluids (playing offline?). Let me know if this works out for you guys =)

In answer to your question though, Tech Save Lv3 is not necessary, but strongly recommended if you are playing a FOmar or FOmarl. FOnewms or FOnewearls might be able to get away with another Divine/Mind much easier.

Also, because this thread is getting a bit bigger than I expected, I may decide to put up the good analyses in the OP of the thread (you will be credited of course) and they will be spoiler box'd.

[Sp-24]

Well, it's true that 1 Divine/Mind won't make any solid difference, since equipped weapons randomize your damage too much. Besides, Divine/Mind changes damage by 1-3%, while Tech Save Lv.3 cuts PP consumption by 20%, always. With that in mind, wouldn't the "opposite" work rather well? Replacing one of Divine/Minds with PP/Recovery Lv.5, I mean? That's the setup I was going for until realising that Phobos Dyna won't share it with me anytime soon, unlike Batts with their Divine/Minds, which I have 5 already.

Sorry for flooding the thread, do what you must with my posts.

[DoctorShanks]

Don't worry about it. On the subject of PP Recovery Lv5, you're recovering 5 PP every 5 seconds. Even with Tech Save Lv3, you're blowing right through your PP supply by using something like 100 PP every 5 seconds. The recovery is too small to be considered a worthwhile choice. HOWEVER, should one of your party members hold up the party or anounce they're going afk for a few minutes, you can temporarily put on the PP recovery Lv 5 and you'll have enough PP for like... an extra couple of techs. I personally think that PP Recovery Lv5 is more of a Hunter/Ranger unit for infinite PA spamming since they only use a bit per PA.

Since I'm not double posting anymore, I'd just like to say that I am in the process of transfering the Analyses that were posted to the OP. I get the feeling this will take a while, but it's just a matter of copy+pasting and a little bit of editing.

[DoctorShanks]

Class: RAmar
Area: Universal
Weapon: All Ranger weapons except Laser Cannon, and Handgun. Sabers.
Mag: ?/0/?/0 / Midgul / Hungry
Materials: 100 POW
Armor: Kepler Suit
Units:
- Divine/Power / Ice Protect
- Divine/Power / Slow Protect / PP Recovery Lv5
- Element Boost / Divine/Power
- Compress PA
Palette:
1. Attack
2. Dodge Roll / Anti
3. Heavy Attack
4. Jellen / Anti / Star Atomizer
5. Zalure / Anti
6. Resta

I can’t imagine the RAmar playing all too differently from his brother, the HUmar. His superb ability to solo with Debuffs instead of Buffs is something that makes the HUmar/l very Jellen. I set up this guy to be as unique as possible without giving in to being a weaker Hunter. I listed every Ranger weapon as a useable option except for Hanguns and Laser Cannons. Lets face it, Laser Cannons just outright suck; they can’t chain and their Photon Arts have such low DPS that they almost aren’t worth mentioning. Handguns, while great, unfortunately deal much greater damage when used by hunters. It doesn’t help that the Rouge Pulse, which is arguably the strongest Handgun in the game (Unless you’re lucky enough to find a Celeb Lv5 H44 Missouri with Flame hit/Thriller Combo, in which case just use that) can be used by a Hunter. Fortunately for the RAmar, he, as other Rangers, can wield the good stuff, such as the Crimson Vis, the Nemesis, the Frigiand, and the Lavateinn. The latter of which can be used with a much greater effort with a HUcast, however, he cannot possibly dream to solo with it nearly as good as the RAmar can. When using the Crimson Vis, you may want to make sure it has Lv3 Celeb and Cool Style. When using Cool Style, you may want to equip a HIT mag, as Cool Style needs all the accuracy it can get. The Frigiand will want the same Lv3 Celeb, and have Earth Bullet or Impact Zero (go for Earth Bullet). The Lavateinn has it’s uses with any Photon Art, though Mine Sneak is generally the winner. Bazookas always have had a bad reputation for being slow, but the Compress PA almost solves that problem completely. Your Nemesis will want to have Lv5 Celeb to maximize its power, and have either Crush Bomb for clearing out small enemies, or have Wild Blow for dealing ridiculous amounts of Damage to a single enemy or bunched up enemies if you’re lucky. I recommend Crush Bomb because Wild Blow is seriously hard to aim, but if you can master Wild Blow, then good for you. Sabers are your Meele weapon for when your Gunblade doesn't have the stats to cut it (heh). All of the Saber Photon arts are exceptional.

The mag and materials are pretty straightforward. I've never played a RAmar, so you'll have to experiment with how much Power and Hit you'll want. Cool Style needs accuracy as does the Nemesis, but the other two Photon Arts are very accurate. 100 Power Materials maxes out the power of Shifta, but if you're playing online, you can mess around with these if you really desperately need more accuracy. 100 POW is usually the way to go; online or offline.

Now for the Palette... both types of attacks are for the accuracy reason, as even a Ranger can have a hard time hitting stuff at a low level. Dodge Roll is very nice, but if you aren't playing solo, then you can try using Anti to cover for your party members. Anti can be slashed pretty much anywhere on this set, and I recommend you use it over Zalure when playing with a Force. If your Force insists to use both debuffs, you can run any item of your choice over the debuffs, though I would recommend the Star Atomizer in case your Force gets into some serious trouble. Resta is there because you have it. Who wouldn't want free heals?

[Atbar]

@Shanks: Hmmm....about the only time I really see a HUmar "Jellen" over RAmar is when a RAmar gets to a point in his career when he dodge like a swift HUney with a Noble Cloak and Jellen 10 (and maybe a D/Swift or two). Otherwise, you're in a rough ride. The human rangers are the toughest class in the game and it's fairly common for PSZ players to get frustrated with their human rangers and delete them. I recall Windancer, who was persistent on getting his RAmar to level 100 because he enjoyed the challenge, dying a lot and I played with his RAmar from around level 30 to 100. His death rate dropped though when he got his RAmar to the level 90 range. Despite all that, I've seen a few RAmar/RAmarl players that play so well that you don't even know they are there because they aren't taking a dirt nap every five seconds, especially when going through Paru and Arca.
---
Some thoughts on your analysis:

1 I like the idea of giving the FOmarl an Element Boost. I never considered of the value of Element Boost until recently.

2. I hate Deband. I consider it the most useless of the four support techs in the game. This is the one tech in the game I refuse to use anymore. If it actually boosted evade with defense like it does in PSP2, then I'd love it more (especially for that evade build I've done before). This is another of one of my opinions with PSZ that I'm sticking with through and through just to warn you.

3. I disagree with your thoughts on Anti with Forces. In my experiences, there are quite a few PSZ players that aren't annoyed by status aliments that won't bother with Sols or Anti on their palette (for example, I have noticed Windancer shrugs off every status aliment thrown at him whereas I find them annoying to want to have the means to remove them right away). Also, I have encountered other forces that refuse to remove Anti from their palettes, and I am fine with that.

3. My swift Huney having that Trimate on the palette saved her butt numerous times. I react quicker to using one from the palette vs. pulling up L+start and then using it when I need more than 250 hp that my HUney's Resta gave at lv100 (due to bear in mind, I play with the mentality that I should be self-sufficient regardless of there being a force in the party that will heal and heal often) . In addition, I always have either light attack or heavy attack on my palette but never both because with only six palette spaces, it seems pointless to me to have both attacks on the palette. One of the issues I have with this game is having a limited palette. If you actually got three more palette spaces, then I'd be more onboard on only forces should use support techs because then they can carry them all and still attack.

[DoctorShanks]

If we had more than a measly 3 character slots then I definelty would have created a RAmar or a FOnewm. I wrote that analysis not knowing a thing about them, but just playing by experience with a Forces Debuffs, and the Playstyle of a RAcast. If it weren't for the Kepler Suit, I would definetly say that the RAcaseal is the best Ranger in the game.

-Deband is an option only when you have an extra Palette slot that you aren't using. Unless you suffer from OCD, it should be the last thing to consider.

-Anti is really only worthwhile at the following areas: Gurhacia (heat), Paru (heat, light), Makara (light), and Arca (everything). In Rioh, Ice, while certainly the most dangerous of status, can be easily defended against by using an Ice Protect. Poison does such low amounts of damage that you can clear the mobs out then use a Sol/Star from the menu when you're safe. However, some people just hate the feeling or the sound of Poison... or just hate the colour Purple.

-I don't really know what to say about light or heave attacks. I suppose we were brainwashed at a young age to always use both in a string of combos for the accuracy or time consuming purpose.

Remember, we all have different playstyles, and changing ones playstyle is like changing ones... I don't know... fashion sense? There are some very easily adjustable and can really work better, but it's up to them if they want to try different things.

[Atbar]

If we had more than a measly 3 character slots then I definelty would have created a RAmar or a FOnewm. I wrote that analysis not knowing a thing about them, but just playing by experience with a Forces Debuffs, and the Playstyle of a RAcast. If it weren't for the Kepler Suit, I would definetly say that the RAcaseal is the best Ranger in the game.

-Deband is an option only when you have an extra Palette slot that you aren't using. Unless you suffer from OCD, it should be the last thing to consider.

-Anti is really only worthwhile at the following areas: Gurhacia (heat), Paru (heat, light), Makara (light), and Arca (everything). In Rioh, Ice, while certainly the most dangerous of status, can be easily defended against by using an Ice Protect. Poison does such low amounts of damage that you can clear the mobs out then use a Sol/Star from the menu when you're safe. However, some people just hate the feeling or the sound of Poison... or just hate the colour Purple.

-I don't really know what to say about light or heave attacks. I suppose we were brainwashed at a young age to always use both in a string of combos for the accuracy or time consuming purpose.

Remember, we all have different playstyles, and changing ones playstyle is like changing ones... I don't know... fashion sense? There are some very easily adjustable and can really work better, but it's up to them if they want to try different things.

I see this as a friendly discussion and nothing to make enemies over. Yep, there are different playstyles and some people are willing to experiment and others are willing to stick with a setup they like. I do believe there are some limits considering I get annoyed when I go on freeplay and run into what seems like it's always a HUmar or HUnewm player that hit for peanuts (ie below 100) for damage on SH when I know both classes are capable of doing a lot damage. I did get something useful out of your analysis and that's trying an Element Boost if I ever do the HU-FOmarl again and I thank you for that. :)

I know you mentioned you haven't played a RAmar so I figured you should be warned if you ever play a RAmar or RAmarl, then PSZ will be a whole different ballgame. I know some people would enjoy the challenge of a RAmar/RAmarl because to be honest; PSZ is not all that difficult of a game once you roam around on SH enough with either a force or a hunter. I enjoy the social aspects of it, hence why I still play PSZ to this day after two years of owning the game.

Add-on: My hatred for Deband is mostly I don't see it helping much to reduce damage, though you have noticed too and have mentioned that it's not a top priority.

[Norco]

I think I am going to sit down and update my info.

Edit: I just updated mine quite a bit. I am almost done with my awful(still need to find a Paru Mag) pure Mind Mag, so once I test that one I will let you all know the result of my FO setup vs the Arca Plant.

@Dr. Shanks: If you are going to use my name for the HUnewm setup PLEASE use my orginal material setup when qouting. Else I do not wish to take credit for it and you should write your own HUnewm setup please.

[DoctorShanks]

Next time I gain computer access I will change all the posts that I accidentally did that to. I had meant to offer the alternate build in the notes, but I got carried away. I may do the same fix for Ken's material setup as well. I'll try for tomorrow morning if I have the time.

[Norco]

Yay! You think you could add my updated post instead of the old one? Also I recently tested the FO setup at Plant with a Mind Mag. Going to do a few tweaks then update my final thoughts on that idea ^_^

[Ken & Robo]

Made some minor changes and additions to my post on my HUcast playstyle, if that interests anyone (you can find that giant thing on the first page of this thread). Changes include some things regarding my personal view of weapon types and additions are just tidbits of information regarding Mags and Combat information. Also, I put things into spoiler boxes to save space and for convenience, because who likes scrolling through an essay of information over playing as a HUcast, whether or not you are reading it?

[Norco]

Good stuff Ken, I found it quite an interesting read. Also I know it says that you do not like Tornado Dance and we should not ask why but I cannot help to be curious xD

[Ken & Robo]

@Norco - I don't know... I just...don't like Tornado Dance. Really, I'm not sure how to explain why, other than I think it sucks. =/

And yet, I am fine with Spear Rider.

[Eclipse5632]

I just found out recently that Cyclone Run is actually pretty good for bosses with multiple hitboxes like C&M and Dark Falz.

[Norco]

Tornado Dance is the best PA for Octo Diablo stage 2 imo, just have to time it right which can be quite hard I will say that. But if timed right, man that squid will go down.

[DoctorShanks]

I updated your setup Norco. If you want to make changes to it, could you possibly make a new post to make it easier so that way I wont have to dig through the thread? I could probably put an experimental note beside your analysis seeing as I remember you saying you weren't 100% about it.

Octo goes down fast from any multi hit attack. Cyclone is nice for the reason Eclipse mentioned. I've never used Tornado dance, so I don't know if it sucks or not. I've only used the other two; I don't like how Million Rave pushes you forward a little too much on the last hit.

Also, Norco, the material issue was just a typo. I accidentally put hit instead of EVP. I must have misread it.

[Tamlin]

Name: Def Arca HUmar

Class: HUmar
Area: Arca
Weapon: Shield/ Gunblade/ Claw
Mag: 0/100/0/0 / Midgul / Healing
Materials: 100 GUARD
Armor: Carabinier Armor/ Dragon Wing
Units:
-Light/Heat Resist Lv. 5/Element Boost
-Light/Heat Resist Lv. 5/Compress PA
-Light/Heat Resist Lv. 5/Slow Protect
-Light/Heat Resist Lv. 5/Ice Protect
Palette:
1. Attack
2. Dodge Roll
3. Heavy Attack
4. Zonde
5. Deband
6. Resta / Dimate

Ok, this isn't meant to be a guide to play the HUmar. This is just my ideal setup for Arca. The Light Resists are for the Korse and Akorse.

Dragon Wing, Dragon Horn, and Heat Resist are for running right through Arkzein's missles. With Dragon Wing Equipped, without the Divine/Guards, the difference in defense between Carabinier Armor and Dragon Wing isn't all that vast, and the extra 15 percent heat resistance to those damn missiles makes all the difference.

This isn't about dealing absurd amounts of damage; This is for taking the least amount of damage possible.

When you hit Humilias though, it all changes. I like to stick close to Humilias and pound him with the strongest Melee PA I have, so the third set of units is meant specificaly for the big guy himself.

Hope you Enjoy!

----------------

Also, I noticed my two builds so far were mentioned! Awesome! Umm as far as the Mag question is concerned... I find my mag quite adequate, and have no problems hitting anything. ^^

[Tamlin]

Please excuse the double post ^^;

Name: DIE ARKZEIN!!!

Class: FOmar
Area: Arca Plant
Weapon: White Disaster/ Fuuma Shuriken/ Kouga Shuriken
Mag: 0/0/0/100 Midgul Whatever Nature Suits you
Materials: 100 Mind
Armor: Shinobi Suit/ Spirit Garb
Units:
-Divine/Mind
-Divine/Mind
-Tech Save lv. 3
-PP Recovery Lv. 5
Palette:
1. Zonde
2. Dodge Roll
3. Resta/ Dimate
4. Zalure
5. Jellen
6. Shifta/ Difluid

I know all the other Force classes have higher MST stats, but I like the FOmar because of his 20% boost to Zonde/Razonde, as well as Foie/Rafoie and Barta/Rabarta.

This is exactly what it looks like. Weaken enemies with Jellen and Zalure, then buff your own offense with Shifta. Spam Zonde as much as possible before you run out of PP, then refill. Repeat. Heal as needed. The Tech Save lv. 3 and PP Recovery Lv. 5 are simply for reducing the amount of times you need to refill your PP. It's not the most complex tactic, not by a long shot, but it most CERTAINLY works.

I know neither armor has much of any light resist, or heat resist for Arkzein's missles either, but if you close in quickly, the missles will never get a chance to fire off.

The choice between Spirit Garb+White Disaster or Shinobi Suit+Kouga/Fuuma Shuriken is simply up to the user.

Enjoy ^^

[Tamlin]

Also... a quick question.

I've noticed compress PA on many Force setups. Does this unit reduce the charge up time for spells as well as PAs? If so... I think i'll be making a FOnewm!

[Ken & Robo]

@Tamlin - Yes it does, in fact. A Compress PA can make a Force sling Rafoies very fast.

[Tamlin]

*tests it on my HUnewearl*

...oh my god. I will destroy everything!!! MWAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAH !!! *runs off to make a FOnewm and destroy everything*

[Ken & Robo]

I would say I can't believe you didn't know that the Compress PA quickens technique charging by now, but hey. Well, have fun, lol. ^_^

[Tamlin]

Well... I took it at name value... and it only said PA Compress... well, lesson learned! Always read the fine print on anything! XD

[Ken & Robo]

@Tamlin - Yeah. The fact that it says Compress PA is a little deceiving. =/ Maybe Sega wanted to try and hide the fact that it shortens technique charging, so you wouldn't realize right away how broken Forces are.

[DoctorShanks]

I like those setups Tamlin. I may add a few slashes to the FOmar setup, but the Defensive HUmar looks good. I'll post them in a few minutes

[Tamlin]

Awesome ^^
I've never used a FOmar myself before... so the FOmar setup is only in theory ^^;

Also... the HUmar setup is based on the idea that those missles are fire based damage. I have to test and make sure later, but I think they are. I mean, they light you on fire sometimes... so they should be fire based damage ^^;

[DoctorShanks]

I think because the missles have a chance to miss you (lol), they may not be elemental, and therefore the Heat Resists would have no effect. The Light Resistance would definetly apply for the A/korses though. I'll update the notes until it's tested.

[Tamlin]

Ok... i've just done a room in Arca and fought an Arkzein. The heat resists do nothing!!! Well... that's a bummer XD

Take 'em off the setup Docta man! Same with the Dragon Wing! It was worth a shot anyway ^^

[Tamlin]

-Throwing Shurikens at Arkz from afar is just asking for them to launch their death cannons at yo... but given the fact that you are running Jelly, they might not hit you.

Hmmm... I agree with the rest of it... and this part too, but one thing. There's no "Attack" button in my setup. The Shurikens are mentioned because of their absurd MST boost, and the set bonus with Shinobi Suit is nice as well.

[DoctorShanks]

Ah, I didn't see. I suppose I'll leave it there as a warning to anyone thinking of throwing shurikens.

[PlinderD]

This is more a general comment, mainly because I see Gunblades and Sabers paired up and usually because Sabers are supposed to "replace" Gunblades.

Regarding the Gunblade, Gunblades outdamage Sabers on just about every enemy in this game. Utilizing triple shot, a Gunblade outputs damage faster than most weapons as far as normal attack is concerned. Matching Daggers and Doubleswords on most enemies.

The only problemetic enemies are the Froutangs and Frounakeds, which have just incredibly high Shooting Resistance that 3 shots from the Gunblade deal less damage than 1 Slash from it. Past that, most shooting resistant enemies only receive half the damage from a Gunblade shot compared to a slash (meaning 3x50% or 150% vs 100%)

For "faster" firing, hold any direction as well as a L button and spam attack, albeit I suppose this only really helps for people who can't get the perfect timing inbetween shots. Personally though, I use this method so I don't have to be bothered with timing myself.

Three shots means 300% damage. Even with increased Shooting damage resistances, there are few enemies where the Gunblade's triple shot is the less effiicent option.

The speed Gunblades fire is comparable to regular combo speed.

Of course as far as multi target attacks go (namely PA's. Since Swords, Slicers and Spears simply have poor DPS and a lot of other factors that make Normal/Heavy Attacks with them simply inefficient) Gunblades have Earth Bullet which outdamage Saber PA's thanks to how quick it comes out, the uniform area, and the number of targets, and ease of targetting. And as far as PA's go, Earth Bullet ranks up among the best PA's of the game along with Over End and Bite Stamp.

[Sp-24]

True about Gunblades, but don't discard Slicers and Sabers so easily. Zeta Cutlass can be pretty powerful on a level 5 saber (Gunblades never get past 4, and their ATP is inherently lower, too), and Slicer with Bright Sign also manages to deal some damage to a big number of enemies (especially if you use a glitch to deal 4 hits). Slicer doesn't outdamage a Gunblade usually (I assume), but doesn't fall too short, either, with an added bonus of a more powerful Resta, as well as of being a ranged weapon if necessary.

[PlinderD]

Ah well the builds I were commenting on were HU and RA builds. So obviously Slicers are out of the question seeing as they were focused (as far as I can guess) on efficiency.

While Sabers can get Celeb 5, the extra 10% damage and 25 ATP (from not having to equip Element Boost) can't really come close to the extra damage of the triple shot. Except for those two mobs that I mentioned.

And I did bring up how quickly Earth Bullet comes out. Zeta Cutlass has a really long animation. As opposed to Earth Bullet which is just 1 upward slash. Which is why I don't really consider Saber PA's to be all that excellent. Force Ride and Zeta Cutlass have long animations and Cross Rave just lacks the damage and area.

[Sp-24]

You don't kill your enemies in one Earth Bullet and you can't start charging another one until the first one is completely over, so Earth Bullet doesn't walk over other PAs so easily. You have a significant delay between both PAs.

[PlinderD]

Which is where the triple shot comes in. It deals 300% damage, 150% on the next to worst case.

And the same case can be made against Sabers. Except their DPS outside of PA's can't compare to Gunblade DPS. Sabers don't have the luxury of 150%-300% damage that can be dealt instantly right after the PA ends. And thanks to how quickly Earth Bullet animates, Gunblades have even much more DPS. While a Saber user has to wait out the entire Zeta Cutlass animation before they can proceed to whittle down whatever HP is remaining.

[Sp-24]

Earth Bullet is not a good PA for a single target. Triple shot is not a good attack for a number of targets. And if your enemies are close enough for Earth Bullet to hit them all, they all are also close enough to hit you if you decide to follow up with a shot instead of another Earth Bullet - and shot has a cooldown animation, too. Earth Bullet and triple shot just don't mix, I'm afraid.

Besides, just like with Zeta Cutlass, you have to wait for the whole PA's animation to end before you can do something. That includes triple shot - you can't do it until Earth Bullet is over.

[DoctorShanks]

I personally dislike the Tri shot. Unless you're a HUnewm/newearl, then I would recommend just spamming Earth Bullet. I don't like the idea of having to dangerously close in to do damage.

But you're right. Compared to Gunblades, Sabers are nothing. Most of the builds mentioned here with Sabers and Gunblades were using the Emperor Axeon, if that helps.

@Sp-24: I use Earth Bullet on everything; single target or not in every gun resistant area. In my opinion, this is the best option for Rangers to deal damage in Gun-resist areas.

[Sp-24]

No love for Zeta Cutlass? Level 5 saber is hard to get, sure, and it will be inferior to a level 3 gunblade, but "nothing" is taking it too far, it can still hold its own rather well, imo.

[DoctorShanks]

@Sp-24: I LOVE Zeta Cutlass. It's an amazing and simple PA for Hunters, but with Over End winking you in the face...

[PlinderD]

Then don't use Earth Bullet on a single enemy (if you're already upclose to them) or Triple Shot on multiple enemies. I honestly don't know where you picked up the suggestion that those attacks should be used that way.

And as for PA animation, I have stated twice already that Earth Bullet executes faster than Zeta Cutlass. So the followup damage is faster.

I quote


Gunblades have Earth Bullet which outdamage Saber PA's thanks to how quick it comes out, the uniform area, and the number of targets, and ease of targetting. And as far as PA's go, Earth Bullet ranks up among the best PA's of the game along with Over End and Bite Stamp.

Also I was giving a direct comparison of Sabers and Gunblades. To use both effectively the player has to be at close range. So the "drawback" of the Triple Shot is obviously not a factor when what I'm comparing it to all have the same drawbacks. I can get all three shots to land at any range on any enemy where the Gunblade melee attack would have hit that enemy.

[Sp-24]

I am not suggesting to use Earth Bullet and shot that way, believe me. As to where I get my ideas, read the bolded text:


And the same case can be made against Sabers. Except their DPS outside of PA's can't compare to Gunblade DPS. Sabers don't have the luxury of 150%-300% damage that can be dealt instantly right after the PA ends. And thanks to how quickly Earth Bullet animates, Gunblades have even much more DPS. While a Saber user has to wait out the entire Zeta Cutlass animation before they can proceed to whittle down whatever HP is remaining.

As for the difference between Gunblade and Saber PAs:
Zeta Cutlass: 520% damage in 4 hits, 3.5 seconds execution time.
Earth Bullet: 510% damage in 3 hits, 3 seconds execution time.

The difference is there, but it's insignificant. Only shot attack sets the Gunblade apart.

[PlinderD]

You're the one who mentioned that Earth Bullet will not be able to OHKO enemies in a single use of it compared to Over End.

Also .5 seconds is long enough to execute a Triple Shot. That can deal a huge chunk of damage on anything that has similar resistances to Strike and Shooting.

Enemies in Shrine and Arca, the two most difficult areas of the game will take nearly 300% damage as a followup to Earth Bullet.

Most Paru mobs will take 150%. With the exception being the Froutang and Frounakeds. Valley mobs will take around 150%-200%, even Helions and Blaze Helions. And as for the Striking resistant areas, Sabers can't even begin to compare to Gunblades.

So my point still stands, Gunblades are superior to Sabers. That "lone" difference which you mentioned being the main reason to it. Earth Bullet being a faster PA is just icing on the cake.

[Tamlin]

Hmmm... risking stepping on any toes here... I'm going to say that Sabers and Gunblades are about even, all factors considered.

And this is counting out swords here. Swords are going to do more damage per hit than any other melee weapon. That's indesputable and not the point here. Sabers and Gunblades are both faster than the sword, so it's a matter of PERSONAL PREFERENCE as to what you use.

In my opinion, all Saber PAs are very usefull. Zeta Cutlass can move you out of harm's way, Cross Rave simply devastates mobs, and I forget the other one XD

Gunblades, as powerful as their tri shot is, have to be used at extremely close range, making them a dangerous tool. They're powerful, yes, but sabers are faster with their 3 hit combo.

And as far as overall damage output is concerned, it's all in shades of grey. Will stronger hits do more damage in a given amount of time? Or will more, slightly weaker hits do more in that same time? It evens out to be just about the same, in my experience.

All weapons, in the right hand, will ALWAYS be effective. Each player is suited to a certain weapon over others. Personaly, my favorites are Daggers and Double Sabers. Point being, this is a mute point, but thought provoking and usefull. I mean, it makes us take a nice long look at how we play. I kinda like these kinds of arguements, to be honest XD

[Sp-24]

I've never said that Gunblades aren't superior to Sabers, and I've said twice that they are, I've agreed with that in my first sentence, as you may notice. I was saying, from the first post, that Earth Bullet doesn't necessarily outdamage Zeta Cutlass.

That 0.5 second doesn't make any difference unless you make a luck shot right between performing one PA and charging another, effectively wasting that 0.5 seconds and leaving yourself standing still in the process. And unless there is an enemy right in front of you, it will never deal 300% damage, either. To land all 3 bullets, you have to move, wasting another precious second or so, and delay another Earth Bullet. Enemies tend to move most of the time, too, so you have to change your position to land both Bullet and Cutlass on more than one target, as well as to avoid damage if necessary. There are also charge times - 1 second for Earth Bullet and instantaneous for Zeta Cutlass.

There is a lot more factors to DPS than just execution time and damage per hit unless you have a constant Barrier Shift on you. Sabers don't top Gunblades at that, but they aren't left in the dust, either.

[PlinderD]

Nope, Sabers and Gunblades have similar combo times.

Gunblades don't need to be at extremely close range. I've had all three shots land on an Usanny at a range where I stilll had enough room to take a step nearer to them.

The Triple Shot also has a similar "cooldown" time.

And yes I have tested this. I've used the Emperor Axeon and eventually the other 7* Gunblades once I found one with a Level 3 Element for an entire Tower Run. And I've tested at least 1 area and 20 ET floors with the White Saber just to see if the extra hit was worth it.

Plus luck has nothing to do with it. Positioning Earth Bullet for maximum coverage on multiple targets will almost always lead to being in range to hit 1 enemy with the Triple Shot.

[Tamlin]

Gotta love being ignored...

Ok, i'm going to be the Doctor's assistant here and simply state:

This forum is for discussing PALETTE and EQUIPMENT setups, not arguing shades of grey as far as damage is concerned. Please take this convo to a new thread, and do not overload this thread with arguement. Especialy when one side has conceded that the other has valid points, but is simply stating EQUALLY valid points of their own.

Good Docta, I hope I don't overstep my bounds in trying to help here ^^;

[PlinderD]

I addressed your point about Sabers having this blindlingly fast combo. Which was really the only point you raised regarding how Sabers compare to Gunblades.

Test it in-game, use a Gunblade then a Saber. The combo speed isn't that different.

Well that and, what seems to be common, misconception that Gunblade wielders need to be standing extremely close to the target for all three shots to connect. If you can hit with the Gunblade melee attack then you can hit with all three shots.

[Tamlin]

I didn't say blindingly fast. I never even mentioned sabers OR gunblades in that part of my post. I was posting about weapons in general.

I was more joking with that first bit anywho... it's an odd little sense of humor of mine XD

Now. Enough of this here. I'll be glad to wax intellectual with you about weapons and which is better, but not here in a thread not meant for it.

[PlinderD]

Gunblades, as powerful as their tri shot is, have to be used at extremely close range, making them a dangerous tool. They're powerful, yes, but sabers are faster with their 3 hit combo.

Comparing the Gunblade melee and Saber combo yields no discernable time difference. I'll just assume that's what you meant because there is simply no way anyone can mean Sabers can outdamage the Gunblade's Triple Shot.

[Norco]

Take this to another topic please, the thread have turned into a Saber vs Gunblade thread instead of thread describing characters.

[Tamlin]

Thank you Norco ^^;

[PlinderD]

I'm just going to give a guideline, since I'm not going to list down every build I have for all my characters. Obviously some of these don't apply to joke/trick builds.

First, Materials.

This is easy. ATP or MST, whichever is the character's source of damage. Stats from Materials are affected by Shifta, so ATA should be delegated to Units or MAGs. Plus the extra ATA needed for SH differs from weapon to weapon and class to class, Materials need to be Reset while Units and MAGs can be easily swapped out.

MAG

ATP or MST, with whatever ATA necessary to reach 550 ATA. Although less is fine with Zalure, or none if the primary source of damage is Techs and PA's with huge ATA modifiers. It really depends on how the player kills enemies. For example a Sword user that mainly kills stuff with Over End might be satisfied with a pure ATP MAG, on the other hand a Claw user that relies on Bite Stamp might want 550 ATA since Bite Stamp affects the weapon ATA stat.

In any case the second consideration for Stats would be Photon Blast.

The PB of choice is Flozir in most groups, and Granir solo. Although I rarely unleash Granir since the damage is rather lackluster. Even Flozir-2 is better for most builds. Flozir-3 certainly is top notch with auto crit.

Of course getting the right PB with the best stats can be difficult but thankfully MAG Souls will prevent the PB from changing.

In the end I'll pass up on getting Granir for stats if it's a MAG I'm planning to use on a character that won't be initiating Photon Blasts. But I definitely am willing to sacrifice stats for Flozir.

Units

First Element Boost, unless it's a weapon that does not have Celeb, or if I'm crazy enough to use Life (which I do from time to time, particularly on Forces) or if the weapon already has Celeb 5.

Next Compress PA. I rarely not bring this, but for example if I were to focus on Daggers and Doubleswords or Mech Guns, even Gunblades. I might skip this. I find that often times the time between running to enemies is enough to charge the PA to full, and when I'm close to enemies I'm mostly hitting enemies anyway.

Also Mech Guns simply have horrible PA's. Cool Style works against bosses, but that's really as far as it can go.

Next Protects. These are mostly situational

Ice/Protect - Rioh Snowfields, Humilias. I don't really find them all that useful in Eternal Tower.
Slow/Protect - Humilias. Blade Mothers in ET. Heavens Mother in ET
Light/Protect - Arca Plant

Although these are somewhat... conditional. Ice/Protect in Rioh Snowfields is certainly a must seeing as Staggs shoot Barta. Same goes for Ice/Protect on Humilias. Since the SH version has a Blue Floor panel attack.

On the other hand I don't have a problem dodging Humilias's Slow Lasers.

Light/Protect in Arca Plant can be passed over by having status restore items in Panel slots.

Everything else I just rely on Atomizers (occasional Slow from Frounakeds) or not bother with (most of the time I get hit with Heat and Dark) Stun from Batts don't particularly concern me since their range isn't impressive and they bunch up together a lot so I just do hit and run PA attacks on them.

Next, either PP Restore 5 or Tech Save 3 - Mainly for ET. HUnewms don't need either of this.

Finally fill up the remaning slots with Divine/Powers and Divine/Minds.

Next Pallete.

A is Roll. For all builds. Roll is useful. It also is useful for when I suddenly decide to use a PA and I don't have an enemy near enough to hit. I can just roll towards one while holding down the Attack button. That way I don't lose time by standing still and swinging a weapon just to start charging.

B is Normal Attack or Heavy Attack for HU's and RA's. Mostly I use Normal Attack but for Daggers and Double Swords I use Heavy Attack. I don't use both because I never realy find a situation where having both is optimal.

For FO's this will either be my main damage Tech (Foie or Zonde) or Normal Attack (for Magical Sign)

Y is Monomate or Dimate or Trimate. Yes all builds. The reason for this is simple. Mates are used instantly, they cannot be interrupted (by damage that can kill the character), and they don't interrupt PA or Tech Charging.

R-A is a Difluid for everyone except Forces, Resta for Forces
R-B and R-Y depends on the build

HU/RAcast
Mates and Sol Atomizer or Difluid

HU/RAmar and HUnewm
Resta and Shifta or Zalure

FOs
Shifta and Megid

The damage of GiMegid is nothing to scoff at against most enemies. But GiMegid's real utility is simply amazing, it draws enemies nearer for RaFoie or Magical Sign. Perfect setup spell.

Shifta is obvious, Zalure is the RAmar's version of Shifta which I use if I think I need it.

Resta is a secondary healing skill for the reasons I listed up there. And Atomizer and Difluid is just there because CASTs don't really need all their panel slots.

Finally weapons.

First Element. Max Celeb, this is a given. Celeb gives the best boost to damage and performance. Life is an alternative but the life loss certainly is something to think about. But I do have a Life 1/3/4 Alice Olivia (with varying percentages, I'll talk about that next) since I usually can pull off a Resta with my FO's before enemies hit me. And a FO Resta is more than enough to heal the loss of life.

Next percentages, this is given by area

Valley, Wetlands, Snowfields, Ruins -> High Native and Beast. Beast is priority for Fortification. Not really a lot of dangerous Native enemies, except for Reyburn, but that he has a lot of targettable areas that are within short distance of each other. Compared to Octodiablo who at best has 3 targettable areas (I think I saw someone hit 4 of his tentacles but that'll mean I'll have to pass up on a good PA)

Plant, Paru -> High Machine. Optionally Beast or Native for Paru

I say optionally because I normally just use Native/Beast weapons for Paru and just switch to high Machine for Chaos and Mobius.

Shrine -> High Dark

No explanations necessary.

Weapons & PA's of choice

Swords -> Ainsraiffe with Overend, fairly obvious why this was chosen

Daggers -> Foie Haze, Air Ride is preferrable, but Huge Cross is fine. I mostly use Daggers for their Combo damage. PA's are just something I use when there's nothing in range. Or there are simply way too many enemies grouped together that's just asking to get hit by a multi target PA.

Doubleswords -> Morgenlotte and Gigas Romulus, PA's are forced so no choice in that matter. Same as Daggers.

Claws -> Hadan Bite, Bite Stamp, While Bite Stamp has less damage than Serpent Air. It has a tighter area (so getting all hits are easier to land) Same as Swords.

Handgun -> Rogue Pulse. Flame Hit, good area, chance of Heat is great against Mothers. Well Flame Hit is really the main reason I would use a Handgun. But strafe shot isn't that bad. At least it allows me to do damage while maneuvering myself away from an enemy. But mainly Handguns are my anti-Mother weapon.

Rifle -> Lavantein. Hollow Snipe. Yes I know Mine Sneak does more damage, but if I'm going to go up close to the enemy, I'll use Earth Bullet. Rifles are for long range attacks. That's pretty much why I have them here. Hollow Snipe is merely the extension of that.

Gunblades -> Frigiand or Neidaryl or Emperor Axeon. Earth Bullet. While Earth Bullet does less damage than Mine Sneak, Triple Shot makes up for it. Gunblades are here for Triple Shot. I've done a few posts in this topic about how amazing that attack is. But I'll stress it again. Triple Shot has amazing damage. Even against most enemies that are more resistant to Shooting than Striking. The delay between Triple Shots is pretty short. It's almost as fast as combo and has better recovery.

Mech Guns -> Crimson Vis or Blackhawkes. Cool Style. Only against bosses. I'll just call these the Daggers and Doubleswords of guns. Except with crappy PA's.

Rods -> Psychowand. I use these for the MST not PA's. Mainly for Forces that focus on Techs.

Wand -> Alice Olivia with Magical Sign, quick charge, good damage, great ATA modifier, perfect as a followup to GiMegid.

For most weapons I prefer the "common" weapons, seeing as those can have their Elements changed over the rare ones (those that sell for 10 Meseta) I understand that some rare weapons can come with any Element, like for example the fabled Millias Breaker w/ Celeb 3, or Zero Weapons with Max Celeb. If someone does find one, then lucky them.

Rods are of course the exception. Seeing as the main draw would be the MST stat.

Although I would like to give a special shout out to the Bloody and Hollow Gimlet. Their innate ability to target 2 enemies (although in a somewhat small area) in conjunction to the innate 6 hit combo for Daggers is just simply amazing as far as damage is concerned.

As far as Rares go, these two weapons and the Blade Cannon and Caudecus (given that they can be aquired almost instantly) as well as the Grow Shower (Level 1 weapon with an extremely high ATP and innate Level 1 X) are extremely useful. And of course the Axeons for innate Level 3 Heat. Very useful for the first Hard and Super Hard ET runs.

But aside from these, common weapons beat out rare weapons just about every time.

Now for the weapons I didn't list,

I already discussed why I think Sabers are inferior to Gunblades. But I'll go a bit more indepth on why I don't think Sabers are that useful for me.

Sabers have an average combo. Certainly not on the level of Daggers, Doubleswords, and Mech Guns or the Gunblade's Triple Shot. Their PA's aren't gamebreakers like Overend and Bite Stamp, no secondary utility like Flame Hit.

In short Sabers are just too well balanced. I've never really found a situation where having a balanced weapon is a better choice compared to one that specializes in huge PA damage or amazing combo damage.

Shield and Spears are... well Shields just don't work well on account of damage. Spears have extremely random PA's or just simply don't match up to Over End. And both don't match Daggers and Double Swords.

Bazookas and Laser Cannons are outdone with combos by Handguns, Mech Guns, Rifles. While their PAs are outdone by Earth Bullet w/ Triple Shot followup spam.

Slicers while having some utility against bosses, is just outdone by Magical Sign or GiMegid. Their normal combo is slow, the ability to hit multiple enemies is dampened by how Forces can hit multiple enemies with their Techs.

And that's it, I think I covered everything except playstyle.

These build guidelines are focused on getting the most out of each class, which is by upping their killing speed and not dying. I compensate the lack of "defensive options" by just playing better. Observing enemy patterns, knowing when to attack, which enemy to target first, etc. PS0 is after all an Action RPG how the player physically handles a character is also part of their defense (and offense of course) as opposed to most turn based RPGs where players can't manually evade to make up for focusing too much on offense.

[hobowitha50cal]

So, I'm playing a HUcast right now. Out of curiosity, for boss battles, should I switch my traps to moon and sol atomizers? I typically wouldn't do this but unlike PSO, you can't move when in the item menu nor is there an R+Y (I guess in the DS's case, X)/Weapon-Spell-Item shortcut menu that you can switch to quickly. It's driving me up the wall when I need to res but at the same time I don't want to entirely put my traps to the side. lol

[Ken & Robo]

@hobowitha50cal - It depends on which traps you are using. When it comes to boss battles, the Heal Trap is all that has a use, and I personally find them unreliable, since I can't stand standing still while waiting for them to explode and heal me. The other three traps are meaningless, since by experience, you can't inflict status ailments on bosses except Jellen and Zalure.

In my opinion, I would go with Sol Atomizers, because status ailments are annoying. If you really need to rely on your NPC's to back you up, such as Sarisa being there to heal you, then I guess Moon Atomizers can be hotkey'd. However, I personally wouldn't recommend that, because I find it that your NPC's die too easily. Therefore, I would hotkey Star Atomizers, since they heal 50% of everyone's HP AND cure status ailments.

Well, it's totally up to you, but I wouldn't mind sharing my opinion with you. I know it's annoying to have to change up your palette periodically, but it is unfortunately what you need to do sometimes. I hope this helps. =)

EDIT: Unless you don't feel like it, you can always swap a slot unit or two with a Heat/Ice/Slow Protect. This will help, since it will pretty much mean you won't need to hotkey Sol Atomizers during any boss fights. The Heat Protect is for Reyburn, the Slow Protect is for Octo Diablo, Chaos & Mobius, and Humilias, and the Ice Protect is for Humilias.

[hobowitha50cal]

Thanks for the pro-tips there, that really helps. I really wish they made it so you could move and scroll through the item menu at the same time because I agree with you, the dumbest thing to do is just stand there during a boss fight unless you absolutely have to; and frankly, I can't think of a PSO boss that required you to do such a thing.

And also thank you for the recommendations on the slots, I didn't think of those.

[Ken & Robo]

No problem. Glad I could help. =)

And yeah, I hate having to stand still to access the Item menu to heal my HP or PP, even for like less than 2 seconds using [L]+[Start] to access your item menu (I've stated this in my playstyle, which is found IN MY POST on the first page). I can't count how many times I tried to heal my HP or PP in the heat of battle, only to get killed by something or to panic in the item menu while my HP is dropping like a rock, even in the period of less than 2 seconds. Unfortunately, this issue is nearly unavoidable when it comes to Forces in my opinion, since there is not way to cast Techniques other than from your palette, unlike in PSO.

[hobowitha50cal]

Yeah, because of that I'm afraid to play any sort of Force character (I'm typically FOnewearl).

[Ken & Robo]

When it comes to being a Force, you may have no choice but to use [L]+[Start] when it comes to trying to fit in as many Techniques into your palette. But hey, I think once you get used to it, it's not way too bad if you really know when are good times to stall for 2 seconds to restore your PP. It takes some experience and knowledge in my opinion. I kind of find it that it makes playing as Forces somewhat more challenging in a unique way. It somehow keeps it interesting and fun at the same time for me. I'm not sure how to explain why I don't like this when playing as my HUcast or RAcast to be honest. =P

[PlinderD]

High level Forces can destroy a room without using up their entire PP bar.

So a Force can use Fluids inbetween rooms without having to rely on opening the menu during a battle to restore PP.

As for Bosses, Magical Sign and Slicers are better options than Tech Spam. Or in the case of the Force that just insists on Tech spamming everything, Flozir 1+ certainly helps.

[DoctorShanks]

Reyburn > Razonde spam. I may try Magical sign someday
Octo Diablo > Razonde spam. I may try Slicers someday
Humilias > Razonde spam.
Dark Falz > Slicer all day.

Compres PA sure helps that Razonde spam. I just prefer using it because all bosse have multiple hitboxes. But since I'm a FOmarl, I might as well learn to play like one (Magical sign/Slicers). Razonde spamming is for FOmars and FOnewms.

I have some free time... I might write some boss setups. I added a note for bosses in the template in case anyone is interested.

[Eclipse5632]

The Heat Protect is for Reyburn, the Slow Protect is for Octo Diablo
Octo Diablo can slow? I think all it can do as far as statuses go is poison. Slow protect is useful against Reyburn and Humilias, though.

[DoctorShanks]

Octo can slow, but only if you're dumb enough to stand in front of him when he spews his ink after trying to swallow you in on part one. We usually don't see this phase because we kill Octo really fast and he goes right to part 2 before he does this. Of the 100+ times I've fought him, I've been slowed twice. Both times I was trying to just net extra damage by shooting him in the mouth.

EDIT: I think I need a new name for this thread. I can't think of anything. What do you guys would think is appropriate?

[DoctorShanks]

Name: Slicer Toss ~ Dark Falz

Class: FOmarl
Area: Dark Falz
Weapon: Slicer
Mag: 0/0/0/100 / Flozir / Fickle
Materials: 100 MIND
Armor: Noble Cloak / Shinobi Suit
Units:
-Divine/Mind
-Divine/Mind
-Element Boost / Divine/Mind / PP Recovery Lv5
-Compress PA
Palette:
1.Attack
2.Resta
3.Shifta
4.Deband / Dodge Roll / Anti / Fluid
5.Jellen
6.Zalure

Pretty simple yes? The FOmarl along with the FOnewearl are both the best users of Slicers in this game due to them having higher MST than the guys. The Noble Cloak gives great Defense and Evasion and is the best armor available to the FOmarl. The Shinobi suit is another option to those wielding the Kouga Shuriken, and the Shinobi suit grants a 24% Dark Resistance naturally. I'm not sure if that offsets any of the damage but whatever. The Units I chose were pretty standard as well. There is no slash for Tech Save Lv3 because you'll only be using supportive techs every once in a while. In fact, you could probably try out a PP Recovery Lv5 on this set since you'll be attacking most of the time, and Dark Falz doesn't really give you any breaks to recover in the rare case that you need to (I wont put that on the FOnewearl setup since she has a natural recovery and I can't imagine she would need more). Element Boost is only if you're running a Slicer with Celeb, and Compress PA is for quick helpful heals as well as to rebuff when Trinity dies. When Trinity dies, you'll have enough time to cast both Alshifta and Aldeband for your party with half a second to spare.

Palette is also simple and straightforward. Heavy attack is not mentioned because Slicers are much easier to use with the Normal attack, and they deal OK damage anyway. Another reason for the Normal attack is that Dark Falz likes to unleash surprise ground-spikey attacks and you might have a better chance of getting away. The third reason for normal attack is easier chaining. If you're dealing the most damage in the party, you'll want to steal chains with Bright Sign (let you party know) and this is another reason Compress PA is helpful. Only a fool would run anywhere without Resta. All four support techs will make your party love you forever, including Deband which some people might think isn't very worthwhile, in which case you can run Anti in case some moron didn't bring Scape Dolls, or fluids in case you're worried about running dry (don't run PP recovery Lv5 in this case). Jelly and Zally are wonderful.

STRATEGY

When the fight begins, immediately begin chargins Zalure and Jellen (in that order. Reason being that your party will get a few extra high hits while you're casting Jelly) then go straight for the Force pawn which spawns on the left. The Force is without a doubt the most dangerous piece. Once the Force is down, the choice is up to the party for who they want to go for next: The Ranger or the Hunter Pawns. Although most parties I have played with go for the Hunter Pawn, I would say to go for the Ranger because when Trinity is no longer invulnerable, the Hunter acn stil miss under the effects of Jellen whereas the Ranger hits everyone regardless. The problem with leaving the Hunter alive is that it is kind of a selfish move on your part. You have super high evasion allowing you to dodge like a champ, but your fellow Hunters and Rangers may have trouble avioding it. Work out with your party which pawn you want to kill.

When Trinity is no longer invulnerable, she will charge at you with a Body Slam... though you probably already knew this and know how to avoid it by now, if you don't you may want to rethink your life. When Trinity is preparing her Body Slam, you can still hit her with Jellen and Zalure even before she can be hit with attacks. Take advantage of that. Now just start throwing your Slicer at Trinity. Trinity has two attacks; we will call the first one Head desk and the second one Betch slap. Head desk requires you to keep your distance while Betch slap requires you to hug her to avoid being hit. When she stands up straight, she will begin firing a laser (which I am assuming is Light or Dark based) that cannot be avoided. I mean, it can't miss you, but you can still Dodge Roll (or even walk!) out of the way. It is not hard to avoid, and that is the reason I slashed Dodge Roll instead of recommending it. Not everyone likes Deband though, so Dodge would be the superior choice if you think hard enough about it. And finally, when her head hits the ground, you can throw the Slicer at her head a couple times to get some extra damage on her. Be wary of the Pawn that you left alive.

Dark Falz is the real deal. You'll want to start out by contributing or using your Photon Blast. Hopefully you have a friend in your party that has Flozir. If not, you'll have to be the user. Midgul is fine too, but unlimited PP and quick charge time will be amazing. The reason you'll want someone else to use the PB is because you need time to cast Jellen and Zalure. IF FALZ LEADS OFF WITH HIS GROUND-SPIKE ATTACK, SAY GOOD-BYE TO YOUR PB CHAIN. THIS IS UNAVOIDABLE AND IS NOBODYS FAULT.Now that the actual fight has begun and the PB is under its animation, cast Jelly and Zally in the meantime. Falz has two phases: the first being a phase where he just stands like a statue moving only baby steps forward and uses attacks on occasion, and the second being a phase where he swims in the floor. From memory, his attacks involve a giant laser that leaves your character with 1 HP (if you've ever played Final Fantasy, you would know why this is his least-dangerous attack), a Dark Criss-Cross laser that has the potential to strike your character for 400x2 damage if you're unlucky, and that one ground-spike attack I mentioned a couple times earlier. The ground attack targets beneath your character, then launches spikes outward with a wide-ish radius that also deals more damage than the first hit. The ground attack can be avoided by simply walking. However, avoiding his attacks isn't all so easy when decides to spawn his little ball-minions. You'll know when he's spawning them when he curls up and starts making funny noises. He'll fire three weak lasers from the sky, then you'll see four spheres either circling Falz, or making other messed up movements. Thankfully, Slicers can hit these things easily, and even greater news: hitting the spheres counts as damage directly to Dark Falz, so he basically increased his total amount of hitboxes in order to try and get extra damage to you. During Phase two, he will begin swimming in the floor. If you touch him while he is swimming, you will take heavy damage that is high enough to 2HKO a Force. When he enters Phase two, it might be a good idea to renew Jellen and Zalure. You can throw your Slicer at him to help inflict damage as the Hunters will have a tough time hitting him. Keep throwing until he drops dead.

I'm honestly not sure why I just retold all of his attacks when I should have just mentioned how to kill him and be safe. I have way too much time on my hands I guess...

[PlinderD]

I don't really see the point of pigeonholing Forces based on their Tech bonuses.

In most cases, whichever method deals the most damage for whichever situation is the same for all Forces. All that means is that for when Lightning Techs are the best, FOmars and FOnewms would kill things faster than FOmarls and FOnwearls. When GiMegid + Magical Sign is called on, FOnewearls would outperform the rest.

FOmarls and FOnewearls both have Resta bonuses, does that mean that a FOmarl should spend time keeping party healed compared to a FOmar who should focus more on dealing damage?

While its more advisable if a FOmar were to deal more damage with Razonde on an enemy that other forces would, say, have better damage on with Magical Sign then he should go ahead and use Razonde It does not mean that a FOmarl would have to be stuck on Magical Sign and Slicers all day because they don't get bonuses to anything except Resta and Grants.

Oh and the reason the "Ranger" pawn is left is because the damage dealt by it is nowhere near the "Force" and "Hunter" pawn... Screw it I'll use chess piece names.

The Knight also has a tendency to hang around Mother Trinity, and can inflict knockdown (PA cancel) better than the Rook. Lots of players can tank the damage of the Rook, it also has a far smaller AoE (3 shots going in straight lines compared to a double slash around the area where Hunters and Rangers output their best damage, or close range)

Also as far as the safety corners are concerned, the Rook doesn't really cover those areas well. Players can dodge the shots by simply walking away, even Mech Gun/Pistol users can just keep strafe shotting and dodge the Rook's lasers.

Compared to the Knight which, once he nears the corner can catch the player in a moment where dodge rolling is the only way out.

[DoctorShanks]

No. You're right. Use whatever is the best method for killing while keeping in mind that whatever task you are trying to do, depending on the character, you may be outperformed or could have outperformed yourself if you had made said character with said bonus. If I could go back in time, I would have probably made a FOnewm. Just saying because their Resta isn't terrible. Who ever takes more than 500 damage in an attack anyway (unless you're fighitng a boosted Frunaked and get caught up in a critical hand slap which overkilled me for 812 damage once on my FOmarl). Don't get me wrong, I love the Grants bonus and I love seeing the 530's that I hit in the Dark Shrine with it. The Resta bonus just makes me look cool. No one has ever needed 1100hp heals (unless you happen to be a Full HP HUcast that just got hit by the 1hp falz laser). The high MST is absolutely lovely and allows me to run Magical Sign while knowing that I as a FOmarl am the best user of it. But thats not to say other forces can't do it; FOnewearl has higher MST, but a much more dangerous ACC problem.

I'm not proofreading this. Sorry if it's hard to understand.

EDIT: That reminds me, I still haven't written my Magical Sign setup yet.


Compared to the Knight which, once he nears the corner can catch the player in a moment where dodge rolling is the only way out.
Good point.

[PlinderD]

Zalure lowers enemy EVP if necessary (although I don't use that in conjunction with MS since GM+MS+MS, if necessary already kills stuff. I use it mostly when I ever want to use Slicers) and Magical Sign has a 160% (applied only on weapon ATA anyway, as far as my best guess based on my tests)

And if all else fails, That's what a MST+ATA MAG is for. The real strength of the FOnewearl when it comes to Magical Sign is when its utilized with GiMegid, the vortex sucks enemies in to make them easier to hit with MS's area, and the class bonus improves the already decent damage dealt by it.

[DoctorShanks]

Does it only take one Gimegid to take everything into Magical Sign's range? I only really use Magical sign at Paru and Gurhacia as those areas have the highest weaknesses to Meele. Everywhere else I would rather just spam Grants and Zonde.

[PlinderD]

If a FOnewearl tries to match a FOmarl's ATA, MS from both characters would mean the FOmarl does more damage. Speaking of which this is the reason why FOmarls are the best Slicer users. As far as players who just use Slicers and nothing but Slicers anyway.

However the FOnewearl's damage boost to GiMegid would surpass the FOmarl's... "damage boost" to MS. So if both moves were combined, FOnewearls deal better damage than FOmarls.

[Norco]

Mag
Radam 100/0/0/0 Flozir Fickle (Red)
Arkharz 0/0/0/100 Flozir Fickle (Red)

Just added my new mind mag and fixed the typo on my previous mag, it said Hungry instead of Fickle xD

[DoctorShanks]

Hungry is a bit more universal seeing as how you can change from Fickle to Eccentric. I almost changed my Mind mag to Eccentric for the occasional PP restore, but I decided against it for its other benefits. I'll give it a try someday.

[Norco]

True, well whatever you think works, if it should say Hungry or Fickle you choose. Either way my mind mag is complete ^_^

[Atbar]

Despite my criticisms of my swift HUney, I find myself missing it every now and then. I have the means to redo it so I might raise another one in the future.

[Chaos Rappy]

Hunewearls rock the game as being the class with the highest combined stats in the game. ^_^

[Atbar]

Yeah, it's no wonder a lot of PSZ players have one. :)

[Chaos Rappy]

*this comment has been removed by the user due to lack of intelligence*

[PlinderD]

My RAcaseal has no problem running Paru with a Celeb 3 Frigiand. And that's on Play Alone.

Earth Bullet deals Striking Damage.

Also RAcaseals have a horrible selection of Daggers. The Rage Tonfa can't be synthesized, Heat is practically useless. RAcaseals can carry 10 Heat Traps. That's more than enough for the entire run of Paru.

And the only real threat in Paru are the Ishiraks and the Froutangs/naked. And the Ishirak's triple shot won't be really be affected by Jellen much since their lasers always hit. And their flashbangs can be negated by just hitting them. Also one fun fact, the range of Earth Bullet is longer than that of the Froutang/naked's swipe & punches.

By the way, I don't understand this HUmars are the best statement. It's made by a guy who clearly values evasion over damage output (RAmars are "better" than RAcasts)

HUnewearls (as far as defensive stats are concerned)...

...have 47 less HP, given that this is a comparison between 700 HP and 653 HP, the chances that this 47 HP comes into play is incredibly rare.
...have 41 less raw DFP. 53 if the HUmar wears Carabiner and the HUnewearl wears Rika's Suit. With Deband 10, the lead is increased by 10 points. Giving a total of 12 extra damage per hit.
...on the other hand have 87 more EVP naturally.

For someone who goes around saying RAmars are "better" than RAcasts because of Jellen despite the RAcasts superior HP (nearly 200), I have no idea why 87 EVP doesn't make the HUnewearl the "better" Hunter given the same considerations.

The ATP difference amounts to 22 extra damage per hit (Shifta 10). That's without resistances.

On the other hand HUnewearls can easily go into an Evade Build with just Divine/Swifts. HUmars on the other hand require materials to reach the level of evasion HUnewearls have with pure Power Mats. Meaning a HUnewearl can easily shift into Evade while a HUmar needs a Reset Material and a bunch of Power and Swift Materials to switch between pure power and a super evasion build.

I tried outfitting my HUmarl with a Noble Cloak and 4 Divine/Swifts and she still doesn't naturally dodge as well as a HUnewearl. The only time she was able to achieve that was when I reset her materials.

If a RAmar is "better" at offline than a RAcast because of Jellen, then HUnewearls are clearly far superior at offline over all the Hunters. Wouldn't hurt to show a little consistency instead of bias.

Speaking of the "best" at offline, given the same considerations. FOnewearls only have 49 less EVP than HUnewearls. But on the other hand they have Jellen 15. And with 2 Divine/HPs their HP raises to that of the RAmar, while still having better MST than the RAmar's ATP. Their Resta is basically a Trimate with slower animation. Their PP total is just immense, with PP regen at 7 PP per 5 seconds. Or 4 times that when not moving.

Magical Sign has huge range, has a good chance of inflicting Slow (like a FOnewearl with Jellen 15 needs to slow enemies down), can come with Celeb 5, GiMegid adds extra utility. Shifta 15 boosts the damage significantly.

FOnewearls can still equip a Handgun with Flame Hit and clear Makara extremely quickly on Play Alone, especially with GiMegid putting everything in range of the PA.

Zalure 15 solves the problem of ATA, which isn't really a problem at all.

RAzonde literally obliterates Reyburn, Octo, C&M, Humilias, and Dark Falz.

I mean really HUmars are the "best" at solo? Given this "defense over offense" preference I have no idea how FOnewearls or Forces in general aren't the ideal offline character class.

[Chaos Rappy]

My RAcaseal has no problem running Paru with a Celeb 3 Frigiand. And that's on Play Alone.

Earth Bullet deals Striking Damage.

Also RAcaseals have a horrible selection of Daggers. The Rage Tonfa can't be synthesized, Heat is practically useless. RAcaseals can carry 10 Heat Traps. That's more than enough for the entire run of Paru.

Eh, my dislike for using Gunblades in bullet-resistant areas is fairly persisitant, and I hate that you can't lock on a foe if you want to use the melee portion of the gunblade. However, I can't deny a small portion of my own stupidity after I left the day I made that when I mentioned the daggers part because I forgot that RAcaseals could only use four of them in the first place, all rare. As for the Heat Traps part, I hate carrying around traps, particularly anything that isn't Heal Traps, because I have no need to stick them on my palette and I hate accessing my menu in the heat of combat to do something other than heal myself. Also, Heat Traps are only Heat Lv1, IIRC. Heat Lv4/5 from a Rage Tonfa can deal a noticeably larger damage over time, but I guess that can be beside the point noting the fact of my unintelligent remark about even mentioning Daggers on a RAcaseal.

Okay, new idea, since I couldn't finish or fix the old one in time to get a constructive criticism:

~~~
Class: RAcaseal
Area: Paru
Weapon: Spears / Gunblade (with Earth Bullet)
Mag: 100 Power / Flozir (for online in groups; offline, I recommend Midgul, for the huge Shifta/Deband) / Fickle or Melancholy (for the Shifta placement and invincibility when you reach 100% PB gauge / high chance of status affliction removal / healing at low HP / high res chance on the occasion you die)
Materials: 80 Power <because they have the highest ATA, they need no bonus ATA from mag or mats>
Armor: Noble Cloak (for good stats and hightened Fire% and Light%) / Milias Frame (can be gotten on Hard; also good DFP and decent Light%)
Units: <ALL OPTIMIZED>
-Compress PA
-PP Recovery Lv5
-PA Save Lv3 / Element Boost
-Slow Protect (pretty much needed against C&M if you want to focus more on dodging just lasers than dodging both lasers and a pit of slow horrible death without constantly wasting Sol Atomizers)
Palette:
1. Light Attack
2. Dodgeroll
3. Heavy Attack
4. Dimate / Trimate / Monomate / Star Atomizer
5. Sol Atomizer
6. Heal Trap (All other traps are much easier used with L + Start; this one you'll likely WANT quick-use of)

Basically, this set-up involves using the RAcaseal in a place normally unsuitable for her kind, but actually managing to stand her ground a bit thanks to her naturally high ATA, she'll likely never miss a hit, which allows for simply focusing on highest damage out put possible from her weapons. Dodging with good timing is a must, and I recommend using the occasional Heat-based weapon or Heat Trap if you find yourself against a dual-Fruoutang combo, or a boosted one, either. It also doesn't hurt to carry around weapons that utilize Jellen to lower the damage you might receive from the foes and lower the chances of them hitting you, though chances are still pretty high either way, or lower foe DFP and resistances with a Zalure weapon, but don't underestimate the power of a well-placed Jell or Zalure.

Pobomma and bolix pose little threat on their own. Just stay out of that not-too-close-but-far-enough-away-to-get-hit-by-Pobomma-trap-spit-attack range and you should be fine around Pobommas. Use spears to reap 'em good with their extremely low (lowest in Hard/Super difficulty) melee resistance, and Bolix's low HP makes them easy pickings. With Izhirak-S6's in the equation, make defeating them a priority, as their undodgeable lasers are annoying, and hurt a lot. With a few good quick hits of a powerful Gunblade using Earth Bullet or just solid strikes, they should die fairly soon, however, if a boost appears, don't hesitate to waste a Heat Trap to help rack up damage in the process... Fruoutangs are somewhat a pain with high HP and decent resistance to both melee and especially ranged combat, as well as powerful physical attacks, but only when close-up to them. Their ranged attack lasergun shots are fairly easy to avoid, but sometimes inflict Slow when you are hit by them. Just avoid them, and stay just out of range for their punches, like you would be if you used a Spear or Earth Bullet from a good gunblade, and they shouldn't be too hard to beat on their own. Feel free to Heat things up when the going gets rough. However, in the event of a Fruoutang / Izhirak-S6 combo, make the Izhirak-S6 a priortity, regardless of circumstances, but keep an eye on the Fuoutang to avoid getting caught by a surprise laser to the face; a good way to handle them both is to Heat the Fruoutang at the start, then head for the Izhirak-S6, so the Fruoutang has at least been hurt a bit by the time you get to him.

All of these tactics apply to the rare variants of enemies as well. Special case being Booma Origins, who have immensely high physical resistances, in which you will NEED a weapon with Heat or Dark to get good damage on them, or a weapon with Heaven (like I usually carry), since they aren't immune to any status effect, even in Super; as someone who has and carries a Yasminkov M109, I can't deny it's seen its good use against these pests. <_<

As for boss, my recommendation goes for the utilization of a Gunblade with Earth Bullet specically, for its quick charge, AoE damage, low PP cost, and high output damage per hit. Make dodging lasers a priority, but don't hesitate to strike when you see the opportunity present itself (since that IS the game of being a Ranger ;P), especially when they both go to the middle for their laser-spam. They shouldn't pose too diffilcut, but always keep an eye on Chaos. Make attempts to make him ram himself into the laser fences in the corners to put him out of commission as often as you can to lessen the amount of attacks they get out, since the only way they can hurt you is Chaos' laser attack or the combined attack in the center of the area, which you should EASILY be able to avoid by going between them and spamming an Earth Bullet to their mechanized faceholes.

~~~

And THAT concludes my Paru RAcaseal set-up, new and improved thanks to removed unintelligence.

[PlinderD]

Melee has autolockon given a certain arc. Also Triple Shot deals roughly equivalent damage if not more than melee attacks on everything on SH Paru except Froutangs/nakeds. And I seriously doubt that locking on those things will be an issue.

Also I really don't see the point of a Heal Trap on the Pallete.

It only heals 50% HP, worse than a Dimate and Trimate. And Monomates are instantaneous despite healing slightly more than half that of a Heal Trap. If you need to revive party members that's what Moon Atomizers are for. Affects the entire room, and works immediately.

[Chaos Rappy]

Also I really don't see the point of a Heal Trap on the Pallete.

It only heals 50% HP, worse than a Dimate and Trimate. And Monomates are instantaneous despite healing slightly more than half that of a Heal Trap. If you need to revive party members that's what Moon Atomizers are for. Affects the entire room, and works immediately.

Heal Traps ressurrect you as well, and I don't particularly like dying when I don't keep Scapes on me ALL the time, so I usually keep them on me at all times for those just-in-case moments when I NEED to activate it instantly instead of groping through my menu for even a second to pull one out. Also, I don't keep Moon Atomizers anymore. Need the inventory space THAT badly, so I needed a way around it... besides, not like any non-Cast can't just cast Alanti for an almost-instant res too if they actually cared like I do, but that's kinda beside the point here when we consider the RAcaseal, isn't it. <_<

[PlinderD]

You'd need to predict death for a Heal Trap self res.

Knowing when you'll die in the span of time you can activate a Heal Trap means you could have most likely prevented it.

I really don't know how exactly you can fill up 80 Inventory Slots. I've ran areas with 7 different weapons, 10 different Units in my Inventory, 4 MAGs, every single consumable, every Material, every Grinder, Photon Drops. And I haven't needed to pipe back because of a full pack except for 10 floor respites in the Tower.

And I've run areas where there were around 10+ rooms per half (not counting the entry and exit rooms)

[Chaos Rappy]

I usually use it when I have a feeling I MIGHT die, not when I do. I usually predict it when I see a dual-Izhirak laser spam fest or when I see Chaos not make me flinch when he shoots me sometimes, in which I use it after I take the first hit because I'm able to, out of natural reaction, since it's set to the same button my other two characters have Resta on.

Three characters with full trunks, nearly full joint trunk, and I carry about every consumable item there is, about 20-40 weapons, depending on character (because my trunks are full, mind you), about 3-4 different armors each, 6-7 units, not including Protects, and 1-3 mags each, there's little room for much else for me to be able to pick up, given I also pick up every Photon Drop and grinder I find, as well as enemy parts, even the Garapython Fang I have hundreds of (though, if need be, I always toss them i I find something to replace them)... play the game as long as me, and collect as much as I do, and you'll have the same problem. My biggest concern isn't that I'll be able to beat any given area with what I have on me at any given time, but instead what I'll use to do it... that's just how much crap I have on me. Right now, I have pretty much everything I don't use regularly on my FO and RA, and my HUnewearl STILL only had about 65 open inventory slots, not including the two open spots in my Joint Trunk. :/

[PlinderD]

I just keep one type of each rare weapon. Never seen the point of having multiple copies, I just sell old ones when I think I found a better one. And so far I only lack the Ins and my Hunter weapon Trunk certainly has space for those.

But even with 3 copies of each the best Synthesizable weapons (as well as an extra 2 sets Gunblades, extra 2 sets of Slicers, and an extra set of Mechguns, plus 2 Celeb 3 Gigas Romulus) Although admittedly I just have 1 Grand Chariot, 1 Nemesis, and 1 Gallatin. All of them fit perfectly in my Joint Trunk. While Rares sit in my individual character trunks. And I can just load up a "copy" of my game to mule trunk storage when I make a new character.

And my characters can handle all areas. That's what those 7 weapons, 4 MAGs, and 10 units are for.

[Chaos Rappy]

I just keep one type of each rare weapon. Never seen the point of having multiple copies, I just sell old ones when I think I found a better one. And so far I only lack the Ins and my Hunter weapon Trunk certainly has space for those.
And thus only one such as myself who became a merchant since the start of this game's US release and never changed my ways will truly understand why I do what I do, collecting I guess what could be considered "trash" by the majority of users, most of which I guess most people don't consider worth trading for or even asking about, but, I have hopes, I guess...


But even with 3 copies of each the best Synthesizable weapons (as well as an extra 2 sets Gunblades, extra 2 sets of Slicers, and an extra set of Mechguns, plus 2 Celeb 3 Gigas Romulus) Although admittedly I just have 1 Grand Chariot, 1 Nemesis, and 1 Gallatin. All of them fit perfectly in my Joint Trunk. While Rares sit in my individual character trunks. And I can just load up a "copy" of my game to mule trunk storage when I make a new character.

And my characters can handle all areas. That's what those 7 weapons, 4 MAGs, and 10 units are for.

I have another copy of PSZ, but for the sole purposes of being efficient, I keep most of my stuff to one cart to save me the trouble of having to carry both carts around to my wifi zone to trade / play if I want to do both.

Besides, I never said you couldn't handle all the areas, or questioned the purpose of the few items you carry around. To be honest, I usually carry the loads of items around because I enjoy being able to pull out a joke rare and using it for the enjoyment of the battle I'll have with it on rather than just blasting through everything with highest-level Celeb weapons with insane %'s all the time... If I just did that, I'd probably only need, like, 5 weapons on all my people, given the options I've got available to pick from, but I actually enjoy taking a hit or two amidst fierce combat. Prevents me from thinking I'm some ten-story tall behemot with a hunger for blood that can't be stopped. :P

[PlinderD]

If that's the case then I don't see how you can recommend people to ignore Moon Atomizers and Scape Dolls for Heal Traps. Even just Moon Atomizers. Especially since they're far more effective in group situations where Heal Traps are actually reasonably useful in.

Actually even Scape Dolls, since they're far more reliable than second guessing with a Heal Trap.

[Chaos Rappy]

I'm not recommending they don't carry them. Not by a long shot. I'm just more of recommending everything else that isn't a natural "ALWAYS CARRY THIS" item, like Scapes in particular, so they don't forget the details, but I put emphasis on the Heal Traps because sometimes, we don't have Scapes on us, since I like being able to pick up Scapes in the field and save them in my Joint Trunk as often as possible, and there's been many an occasion in which I found three in a single run, so sometimes I feel "lucky" and don't carry any, which may or may not have bit me in the rear very infrequently, but it's not something I'm feeling quite up to saying I've learned my lesson about. ;P

The Moon Atomizer thing is actually only on my FO and HUnewearl, since they have Alanti to be able to res people, and always have Anti on their palette, nulling Moon Atomizer's use. My Racaseal still carries Moon Atomizers, but sometimes I'm stupid and do sell them on accident because I forget I'm using my Cast and actually do sometimes need them, but it's safest to always have a back-up plan. My set-up generally goes with the idea in my standards that I end up resorting to all the back-ups, but it's not like I forgot to add in the big things because I don't do them. It's just because that so many set-ups already list a lot of similar things between them, and they've pretty much been emphasised to the point of almost being common sense here. :P

[DoctorShanks]

Added Chaosmaster00's RAcaseal build. Paru is very mean to rangers, but if you absoultely have to go there and can't switch to a Hunter, then Earth Bullet is one of your only ways out 3=

[Chaos Rappy]

Awesome! I think I should do something similar for all the characters I played, but I think I'll keep them as simple as I can, unlike before, and try to also include the things that while should be obvious may as well be included. Good thing I used to have a HUmar, RAmar, and HUcaseal, so along with my HUnewearl, RAcaseal, and FOnewm (who needs a human Force when you've got Newman anyways? :P), I've pretty much played every character type anyways, which is what lead me to keep the ones I did on my cartridge right now [the last three I mentioned]. :P

[Atbar]

Hmmm...I never got around to posting my setup for my HUcassie. I haven't had the ambition to do so.

[DoctorShanks]

I'm thinking of posting my future planned HUcaseal setup as well. I'd like to see what you have to say as well. I'm mostly curious about your ATA placement and whether you have Accuracy problems or not.

[PlinderD]

and they've pretty much been emphasised to the point of almost being common sense here. :P

If players had common sense, Forces wouldn't need to play baby sitter. It's just stupid how there are a number of players I've seen lingering around low HP because they think the Force is going to heal them.

As well as anyone who wastes time casting Deband. When they could have started attacking.

[DoctorShanks]

Deband takes a whole 2 seconds to charge and cast. Resta takes even less. My friends know I'm going to heal them if they somehow end up at low HP (50%-). My friends love it when I play babysitter. If you've seen Eclipse's HUcast overview, I've even been complimented for it... no one likes having less than 99% HP, which I usually patch up when everything dies. Huge waste of fluids, I know, but I can afford it.

[PlinderD]

It doesn't matter how you play.

It's how the playerbase in general expects Forces to babysit them. Frankly it's stupid.

[DoctorShanks]

Right... well, speaking from my experiences as a RAcast: When I hit low HP, I just finish the room then heal. I don't expect the Force to heal me, but it's a very nice thing to do, which is why I do it.

If I ever met a player who outright demanded that I heal him/her, I would probably let them die. Thankfully, I have not met a single unkind or selfish player yet. On Freeplay, I give good ratings to those who say "Thank You!" whenever I 'babysit' them.

I think the word babysit ITT should be replaced with the word 'Support.' Supporting also benefits the supporter as it allows the Hunters and Rangers to perform much better. Hell, I expect the playerbase to accept my support ;)

[PlinderD]

Properly supporting is different from babysitting.

Proper supporting means doing something that will increase the efficiency of the run. Alshifta 15 is one example. Healing someone who can heal themselves is not. Everytime a Force is charging Alresta is a time they're not killing hostiles.

Keeping up Deband and Zalure is babysitting. Keeping up Jellen is babysitting for most enemies. Every second spent charging Deband and the 2 debuffs is time taken away from a Force charging a PA, spamming Techs.

The same goes for inbattle Healing.

The reason is that Forces in this game can easily output a huge amount of damage, while the sources of damage in this game are easily taken care off using Items.

I've partied with Forces who spend all day buffing, debuffing, keeping the party healed, etc compared to a Force who just casts Alshifta and rarely used Jellen, Zalure and Deband were never even seen, provided healing inbetween battles, never inbattle, runs went a lot faster with the second Force because he was killing stuff instead of wasting time keeping people, who could do it themselves, alive

That's the difference between babysitting and supporting.

[DoctorShanks]

Back to business. I've added Ken's ultimate RAcast build just to put this thread back on the rail.

[Norco]

@Ken: That is the most glorious character I have ever seen! :o

[Atbar]

...Why do I feel like that character is inspired by some annoying Freeplayer? I can actually imagine someone going on Freeplay with that setup and being serious about it too.

[Nick O'Demus]

That setup gives me an idea for a Revival! A Joke-Build Revival! Bring your characters and have them play against type!

Have a Hunter using Force weapons and trying to tech-spam!

Have a Force using Hunter weapons and trying to be a tank!

Have a Ranger...

...well, just have a Ranger.

[DoctorShanks]

That wouldn't surprise me. I think it would be a fun experience to play a round of PSZ where the guy you're playing with is against you instead of cooperating with you. He'd probably have to be a master of dodging though, and a Force can shut down S/D from Chaos.

@Nick: That would get really annoying really fast, no offense. Maybe we could have a troll revival?

[Ken & Robo]

Why do I feel like I have indirectly started an interesting and yet hilarious discussion over a FLAWLESS character build?

I call it the evil CAST. MWEEHEEHEEHEEHEE!!!

[Nick O'Demus]

That would get really annoying really fast, no offense.

I was just kidding.

[DoctorShanks]

Renamed the build as Evil RAcast. On a more serious note, I think I'll start writing my HUcaseal plan now while I'm sitting around doing nothing. Glad to see this thread so alive again.

I think I'm going to make another little addition as well. Since we're already on page 15, I think I'll put the page number that each overview was originally posted on beside the PSOW name of each creator. So that way if anyone wants to locate the original untampered version, they can do that with ease.

EDIT: Done with the page numbers. If anyone locates any errors, please let me know.

[Norco]

I have not really updated my FO-HUnewm part of my character. I think I will update it within the next few days ^_^

[Mustache]

Class: HUmarl
Area: Universal
Weapon: Double Sabers/Swords/Sabers/Handgun
Mag: 100/0/0/0, Ruffian, Granir, Radam
Materials:100 Power
Armor: Carabinier Armor
Units:
-Divine Power
-Divine Power
-Divine Power
-Compress PA
Palette:
1.Normal Attack
2.Dodge Roll
3.Heavy Attack
4.Resta
5.Shifta
6.Difluid

I decided to post this because there isn't one up for HUmarl yet. As you can see I have Power power power. The primary reason that shes getting the shaft. She's my first character I liked her ascetically yellow and black with matching Radam mag really makes her stick out from a crowd and personally I think it looks better than Cast+Radam. Anyway we're not here to talk about looks. With a distinct lack of evasion I heavily favor Double Sabers over Daggers while using a HUmarl. I used my Clair Doubles all the time on her both because they're a big damage dealer and it looked really awesome with my character. I also used a series of Morgenlotes with a verity of different %s. What I don't understand about Double Sabers is why everyone likes Million Rave, which I feel not only makes you extremely vulnerable to enemy attacks it also has to be carefully deployed to get the full effect. Tornado Dance is easily my favorite PA for Double sabers letting you manipulate enemy positions effectively, and pairs better with Normal/Normal/Heavy/Charge PA. Just my two cents there... Sabers I like to deploy a heavy lvl5 Zalure which is better then even lvl 15 Zalure spell, if I'm not in a group I will often hit the Zalure then switch to double sabers for heavy damage against many of the large enemies. Easily an under valued strategy that can add hefty damage to problem boosted monsters or any arena. There's not much point to it in a group online but solo it probably makes HUmarls and HUmars some of the more effective classes in the game. Swords...yadda yadda, Over-End, yadda, yadda, Bosses. Handguns...Blah blah...Rouge Pulse...Blah blah...Flame Hit...Blah...Range. Ruffian on my mag is actually there by choice. There's Multiple different ways for the mag to employ a Lvl 15 Shifta on you personally that I loved while soloing. It has a higher revival chance than Cautious and move chances for a large offensive boost. As opposed to the better chance for a lvl 10 boost that I can just cast on myself. I use Granir I like it here over Flozir simply for the double Arkzein rooms in Arca or the Tower. I just blow it off and keep going on my day. I use Difluids over PP recovery lvl5, Without natural recovery I don't see much point in avoiding the use of fluids when you'll use them at least occasionally.

Anyway, with all that out of the way...I'm deleting my HUmarl in favor of a HUcast, I would rather be dealing the most melee damage out of anyone in my group rather than a weaker second in line with support that is outclassed easily by any Force.

[PlinderD]

Element Boost delivers a far better boost to damage than Divine/Power on anything that isn't Celeb 5 or Life.

While Million Rave isn't the best of PA's it is the best Double Saber PA. It has decent area with most hits hitting the same area. Tornado Dance has a crappy area seeing as its AoE moves, and can leave enemies behind meaning hitting multiple enemies for maximum damage requires even more ridiculous positioning.

Also I have no idea how anything survives long enough for even E.Level 5 Zalure to even matter. The damage from Celeb 5 would by far outstrip whatever extra damage that can give. Or even just using Celeb 3 + 1 Double Sabers from the start instead of this whole weapon switching stuff.

[Hero-Break]

I recently re-bought PSZ to go along with my new 3DS so I thought I would share the FOmar I ran with till I sold the game back in 09. If I remember correctly I got him to level 96. I plan on using this build again, the only difference is that I want to trade out the Dragon Horn and Dragon Wing for a Iros and Spirit Garment. I also plan using a Mind Mag + Tech centric units for some bosses. Bold gear are wish list only.

Name: Swiss Army FO

Class: FOmar

Area: All

Weapons: Cleb 4 Fenir (Air Ride) / Claire Doubles (Millon Rave) + Cleb 4 Iros (Linear Shave)
Equips for Valley, Paru, Plant and Dark Shrine

Cleb 4 Rouge Pulse (Flame hit) + Cleb 3 Black Hawks / Crimson Vis (Cool Style)
Equips for Snowfield, Swamp and Caves

White Disaster / Psycho Wand (Any)


Mags: 50/0/50/0, Eccentric , Granir, Ansul

1/0/0/99 Eccentric, Granir, Black bodied Chato

Materials:100 Power

Armor: Spirit Garment (with White Disaster) / Noble Cloak (with Psycho Wand)

Units:

Power or Mind Unit

Power Unit or Tech Save Lv 3

Element Boost or PP Recovery Lv 5

Compress PA

Palette: Varies depending on area.

Like the build title suggest, this build makes for arguably the most versatile character build in the game. As some people might guess this build is some what hard to play, because knowing when to weapon switch is the key to providing the best performance. Though the build is pretty much a straight power build, the FOmars, Lv 15 Tech cap, Tech boost, and tech weapon selection still allowed him to deal significant tech damage at base MST.

I carried two sets of ATP based weapons, one melee and one ranged, and would switch it up depending on what area I would run. In online play Zalure and Shifta was a must to have a good hit rate and deal the most damage. I would mainly use the ATP based weapons but for the main boss fights I would pretty much go full on Support/Tech Spam which is why I added the tech mag and units.

Also, I really like the PB Granir due to its high damage and chance for instant kill.

And yes, I realize that this build is far from optimal, but I remember having a lot having a PSO styled FOmar.

[Nymeria]

well... I'm only a level 24 HUnewearl since I only started playing (I'm at the Dark Shrine), but at the moment my palette setup looks like this:

1. Resta
2. Dodge Roll
3. Normal Attack, thinking of switching to Heavy Attack. I spam PA often..
4. Shifta (or sometimes a healing potion instead during a boss battle, to be extra cautious)
5. Difluid
6. Anti (just in case someone dies on me, to get them back into battle quickly every time)

(I'm not awesome enough at this game yet to do the L+Start, Down, Down, Down, A, A, Down, A, A, Start shortcut to get to my fluids. Eventually I'll free up that Pallette slot... for Deband maybe, but not sure yet)

[Slidikins]

Only Lv21, but there are no HUcaseal palettes. Note that this is a work in progress:

Class: HUcaseal
Area: Universal
Weapon: Sword (haven't found anything else with good photons yet, really)
Mag: 33/0/0/0 / Granir / Playful (aiming for Power/Dex, Flozir, Fickle build)
Materials: 80 Power most likely
Armor: No Idea
Units: No Idea
-
-
-
-
Palette:
1. Normal Attack
2. Heavy Attack
3. Roll
4. Monomate/Dimate
5. Heal Trap
6. Heat Trap (may switch to Freeze Trap if swaming becomes an issue)

Playing through Story Mode basically. CASTs are fairly simple. Sword's accuracy leaves something to be desired but HUcaseal's latent ATA makes up for it. The wide arc makes it easy to clear some rooms though I'm looking to branch into other types/PAs once I find some good weapons. The shop and drops aren't really supporting my playstyle yet.

[Clavat99]

-Name: Mikearoe
-Level: 92
-Class: HUcast
-Specialization: DPS
-Secondary Spec: Tank
-Weapon-of-Choice: Stag Cutlery (Fortified Native =15%, Max Grind)
-Armor: Carabinier Armor (Max Grind)
--Slot 1: Master/Guard
--Slot 2: Master/HP
--Slot 3: Heat Protect
--Slot 4: HP Recovery Lv 2
-Mag: Radam (LV 100 pure ATP, Fickle, Granir)

-Secondary Arsenal:
--DrawAinsraiffe (Max Grind, Fortified Native +15%)===For Extra ATP
--Bloody Gimlet (Max Grind, Fortified Native +15%)===For Extra ATA/against many enemies
--ZalureLavateinn (Max Grind, Fortified Native +10%)===For When Melee is Useless

-Secondary Armor:
--Tank Suit:
---Slot 1: Master/Guard
---Slot 2: Master/Guard
---Slot 3: Master/Guard
---Slot 4: Resist All Lv 4
--DPS Suit:
---Slot 1: Master/Power
---Slot 2: Master/Power
---Slot 3: Master/Hit
---Slot 4: Master/PP

In Addition to the stuff i listed above, I have Weapons and Armor/Slots stored away in my trunk for just about any situation. The items i listed above are ones i keep on me at all times, and i have gotten really good at blasting through the menus to switch suits in the middle of combat to fit the scenario. I always keep the default palette for page 1, but i have Dimate, Difluid, and Telepipe hotkeyed on page 2. The telepipe is there for quick escapes if im getting overwhelmed. I cant tell you how many of the deaths of my "Indomitable Spirit" title have been because of inability to restock on mates really quickly. Because im using D-sabers or daggers most of the time, i almost always chain 2 normal hits, then using heavy attack on the third, i have a better chance of hitting with it that way and deals a lot more damage since chain 3 of those weapons deals 3 hits. When i play in a group, i am usually the tank and have excelled at keeping enemies on me while my allies pound on them. Ive also got my main gear set up so i can balance dps and tanking into one.

[Eclipse5632]

-Specialization: DPS
[...]
-Weapon-of-Choice: Stag Cutlery
Why Stag Cutlery, if I may ask? Have you not found any better 6 or 7* double sabers yet?

[Clavat99]

Because it matches my theme. (All red armor plating on avatar, Red Radam, Stag Cutlery.)

And it serves me well, and i can switch to morgenlote or something else whenever i need to, which is rarely.

[Norco]

-Name: Mikearoe
-Secondary Armor:
--Tank Suit:
---Slot 1: Master/Guard
---Slot 2: Master/Guard
---Slot 3: Master/Guard
---Slot 4: Resist All Lv 4

If you want I happen to have a few Divine/Guard and I also think I have a spare All Resist Lv 5 ^_^

[WuBing]

Class: Racast
Area: Makara Ruins
Weapon: Handgun/Rifle/Laser Cannon

Zero Rifle 43/0/0/0/0/LV1 Celeb/Thriller Combo
Zero Rifle 0/41/0/0/28/LV2 Celeb/Flame Hit
M4A1 15/0/0/0/0/LV4 Celeb/Wipeout
Gallatin 47/34/0/0/12/LV3 Celeb/Bio Panic

Mag: 100 Power (Pacifal)
Mats: 80 Power
Units:
-Divine/Power
-Divine/Power
-Divine/Power or Element boost when using a weapon that has Celeb Element.
-Compress PA

Armor: Keplar Suit

Palette:
-Normal Attack
-Roll
-Heavy Attack
-Monomate
-Monofluid
-Sol Atomizer

Playstyle:

The Reasons why I use Divine/Power and Power Material that much is because I tend to play aggressively, and I find that Divine/Power can make up for Racast's drawback not being able to use techniques such as Resta. Secondly, Racast is known for its high ATA, so there's no need to worry. However, the chance to miss an attack may occur frequently when ATA below 600.

With Flame Hit and Thriller Combo, people can beat against melee-resistant hostiles very easily. In my opinion, it is kind of boring if people tend to use the same guns. To make a run more entertaining, I strongly recommend the two PA : Wipeout and Bio Panic. Wipeout can deal more damage than Mine Sneak when you encounter Rohjades. However, you need at least 3 to 4 Level of Celeb to increase the damage output. Bio Panic, which is the Natural Enemy of Batts, has a crazy wide range and is able to attack multiple targets. Additionally, it can poison targets after being hit.

By the way, I suggest attacking Rohjades by using Flame Hit before they start curling. This is because when you flame hit them, you can hit up to 3 times.

[DoctorShanks]

@WuBing: Really nice. Builds like that make me wish it were possible to have some kind of Touch Screen Feature to change weapons.

[Norco]

I am going to update mine a bit in a near future, already changed my weaponry list a bit xD

Add-on: Ok, I have updated several parts, fixed some typos and added a picture, enjoy ^_^

[DoctorShanks]

Occasional thread revival bump. I changed up Norco's build a bit to complement the one he wrote on Page 2.

I finally have my HUcaseal in SH mode, so I can write up my experiences with her when I'm not swamped with stress this weekend. The playstyle seems very similar to that of a HUcast only you need a bit less accuracy to hit things, and your dodging skills have to be a bit better.

[DoctorShanks]

Class: HUcaseal
Area: Universal
Weapon: Hadan Bite / Ainsraiffe / Rouge Pulse
Mag: (100/0/0/0 / Flozir/Midgul / Fickle) / (50/0/50/0 / Flozir/Midgul / Fickle)
Materials: 80 POW
Armor: Mobius Plate
Units:
- Divine/Power / Ice Protect
- Divine/Power / PP Recovery Lv 5
- Element Boost / Divine/Power
- Compress PA
Palette:
1. Attack
2. Dodge Roll
3. Heavy Attack
4. Monomate
5. Dimate
6. Sol Atomizer / Star Atomizer / Difluid

I played up until Lv 81, and I still plan to continue to Lv 100 eventually. When choosing a HUcaseal over a HUcast, at Lv 100, you are essentially giving up 29 HP, 15 DEF, and more importantly, 14 ATP in exchange for 32 PP, 9 EVP, and more importantly, 14 ATA. That 14 Accuracy there makes the HUcaseal exactly 14 points less reliant on Accuracy adjustment or mag ATA. In my opinion, a professional player would not consider the slight reduction or two defensive stats to be detrimental so long as s/he knows how to dodge very well, and would very much welcome the bonus in accuracy. The loss in ATP is not a gamebreaking loss. Under most circumstances, the HUcast and the HUcaseal should kill their enemies in the exact same amounts of hits. In short, the extra accuracy makes the HUcaseal much more flexible than the other Hunters in terms of weapon choices and mag setups, and she has the highest accuracy of the Hunter Class.

Equipment choices are pretty straightforward. The Hadan Bite is the most easily obtainable weapon that dishes out destructive power when correctly rolled, and when paired with the Element Boost to reach Celeb Lv5. The Ainsraiffe is a terrific weapon for defeating Reyburn and Octo Diablo, but in the field, Over End takes a really long time to charge when compared to Bite Stamp. The Rouge Pulse (if you can find a good one) makes running through Rioh Snowfield, Makara Ruins, and Ozette Wetlands a breeze. I also prefer to use the Rouge Pulse during the second half of Octo Diablo to land hits on the tentacles much easier (keep in mind this will require a quick change in weapons). My units are standard as well; Divine Power is a wild card, PP Recovery Lv5 used most of the time so that way I don't have to dip into the item menu during a battle very often. Element Boost is used when equipped with the Hadan Bite, or the Ainsraiffe, and until I find a good Lv5 Rouge Pulse, I use the element boost on my Lv4 Rouge Pulse for the time being. Ice protect is only used during the boss battle of Rioh Snowfield.

The choice between Flozir or Midgul for your mag really depends on the party. I use Midgul when I am playing in a Party of CASTs OR when playing with only one other person (because two-chain Flozir does not grant a damage boost). Both mags should have 100 Power at higher levels, but if you find yourself needing more accuracy, then experiment. You will definetly need a more accurate mag when using the Rouge Pulse unless you can find one with a decent accuracy adjustment and with good parameters... but good luck with that one.

Lastly, my palette is set in stone with the only exception being the final slot. Star Atomizers are treats, and should not be wasted in the field as you only get 5 per run. 10 Sol Atomizers is plenty for most areas, and is the prefered option. When at bosses, then I always run Star Atomizers in this slot to quickly support party members in Peril (Humilias' Slow and Ice lasers are an example which spell death, and it is rare that a Force will heal quickly enough even if s/he is equipped with a Compress PA (it can be pulled off, but Resta must be used before Anti. Ice and Slow protects are recommended for those not confident in their Humilias battle skills)). Finally, when running Ozette Wetlands or Rioh Snowfield, I choose to run Difluids in the last slot because CASTs are unaffected by Poison, and Ice is a status which cannot be healed in solo play (you may choose to run Sols in online play, but the existence of Trap Vision moots the need for Sols or Stars).

[Atbar]

Killbot Swordswoman
Class: HUcassie
Weapon: Swords (Ainsraiffle, Yonohate In, Akatsuki In), Handguns (Rogue Pulse) , Mechgun (Blackhawk) , Rifle (Lavateinn)
Mag: 99 hit / 1 guard
Mats: 80 pow
Armor: Noble Cloak
Armor Slots:
--Divine/Power
--Hero/Power (hope to find another Divine Power eventually)
--Element Boost or Hero/Power (also hope to find another Divine/Power eventually)
--Compress PA
Palette:
-Heavy Attack
-Roll
-Sol Atomzier
-Monomate
-Dimate
-Trimate

This is the build I've been going for lately with my HUcassie. I have been running with a Mobius Plate for quite a while and was afraid the Noble Cloak would make her more fragile, however, she hasn't been fragile enough to go back to the Mobius Plate as the 5-10 more damage has been moot. The Noble Cloak is there for the set bonuses with the In swords. The hit mag is needed to hit stuff with minimal misses. I have settled on power units and Compress PA for armor slot units and I switch out the Element Boost for a power unit when not using a Celeb weapon. The HUcassie uses swords on levels with enemies are the most vulnerable to melee damage. The Ainsraiffle have the OP'ed Overend PA that I have to be careful to aim so it does hit something. The Akatsuki In provides a fun distraction to gather souls from the small fry. The sword is weak in power, I'll admit, and can only target one enemy so it's better to use it to play with the Heaven element. The Dynamo Spin can get in more hits when needed. Best enemy to instant death is the Akorse in Arca because that's a five in one death right there. The Yonohate In, one of the most coveted swords in PSZ, does function different from the Celeb-3 Ainsraiffle. It does damage as though they have no Celeb element but then when the Risk element kicks in, the damage goes up 150% while the HUcassie takes a small portion of damage. The Sonic Raid is a PA I hardly ever used with the swords but it's a decent PA when you hit correctly because then you can get all hits in when used correctly. I'm not sure if the damage output is anywhere near the damage output of a Celeb-3 Ainsraiffle. It seems to do do enough damage in any case and on occasion; I see Yonohate In hitting as high as 800. For levels involving guns, I have the Lavateinn with Mine Sneak, Rouge Pulse for boss portions of Rioh and Makara, and Mechguns for the second part of Octo Diablo (also gets used in the first part of the MT battle). And that's my current HUcassie build.

[DoctorShanks]

Let's get this party (re)started! I want to write a few more of these in my spare time which I have too much of.

Name: Slicer RAmarl

Class: RAmarl
Area: Universal
Weapon: Trois Souther
Mag: 100 Mind, Flozir/Midgul, Fickle
Materials: 100 Mind
Armor: Noble Cloak
Units:
-Divine/Mind
-Divine/Mind
-Element Boost
-Compress PA
Palette:
1. Attack
2. Dodge Roll
3. Resta
4. Zonde / Anti / Heavy Attack / Foie
5. Jellen / Anti / Heavy Attack
6. Zalure / Anti / Heavy Attack

Ladies and Gentlemen, the RAmarl; Sega's biggest mistake in PSZ. Seriously, look at her base stats, she has lower HP than the FOmar (not to mention her ATP stat only being 18 higher than him too)! However, I looked a bit closer at her stats and noticed something that could be used to a slight effect with any luck. She has a very high MST stat, and the highest ATA stat of all the fleshies in the game. I put 2 and 2 together, and created a Slicer Build. I'll admit I've seen this idea somewhere else, but here it is on paper.

It sounds really good on paper, but I have yet to see a RAmarl try this in game. Her stats are beyond retarted, but look to be very workable. Basically, her awesome ATA stat is the sole advantage that she has over the Forces; she is basically trading loads of MST for loads of ATA (as well as the ability to equip the Eridanus or even the Loneos).

We have one workable weapon: The Trois Souther. Find one with Bright Sign, decent stats, then Celeb that baby up and we're good to go. Jam pack her with MST, and throw on your Noble Cloak (Pizza Box is fine too). Basic FO units are in play. You probably shouldn't be tech spamming except at the Meele resist areas since Slicers are Meele weapons after all.

I admit I pulled the Palette out of my ass just 5 minutes ago, but it seems reasonable. Her above average MST should grant her a powerful enough Resta for both her and her teammates. Attack because Heavy Attack is difficult to use with Slicers in my opinion (if you don't mind this, try running Heavy Attack over #4). Zonde is also there for stunning at places like Arca, but Anti is an option since this is mostly a wild card slot. Now, Jellen and Zalure are here to lower enemy Accuracy and Evasion respectively; The RAmarl should miss rarely if not at all when the enemies are under the effects of Zalure. Jellen can help you take another hit sometimes, and it is absolutely essential at Arca if you hate Arkzeins (and who doesn't?).

[Crazyleo]

Here's my build currently for my Hunewerl.

Mats: 50 Pow, 30 Swift
Mag: 80 Pow, 20 Hit

Armor: Hero Swift x3, Compress PA

Luzparias+10 Zeta Cutlass 45/42/0/0/29


Just looking for critiques on how to improve it; especially when it comes to dishing out the damage while maintaining a high enough acc to hit everything with normal attacks and a high enough eva to avoid most of the attacks against me.

[FOODFOOD]

I would like to note that this is INCREDIBLY helpful to new(ish) players trying to plan out their character development.

I remember in PSO, the EVP stat was by far the worst. I'm loving how useful (and widely used) it is in PSZ.

[DoctorShanks]

@Crazyleo: Not bad, you've got the right idea. Since you're already level 8x, the next few levels won't help too too much in the accuracy department. Regarding EVP, the HUnewearl usually gets enough naturally with the right armor (can someone confirm this?). If you want/need more, try grinding SH Valley in hopes that you'll come across some friendly Tormitables who will hopefully drop you some Divine/Swifts. Also keep Power units in the back in case you're playing with a FO/Ranger using Jellen, since Jellen lowers accuracy.

Power problems are usually solved through that one Element which requires you to spare a bit of cash. Element Boost is a really nice Element to have, and it can easily go over a Stat Boost unit. Totally worth it when Element Boost gives you a 10% boost in damage with Celeb.

@FOODFOOD: EVP is amazing. I love how when I use Jellen on my FOmarl, almost every physical attack misses, and I have only 592 EVP :)

[Crazyleo]

@Crazyleo: Not bad, you've got the right idea. Since you're already level 8x, the next few levels won't help too too much in the accuracy department. Regarding EVP, the HUnewearl usually gets enough naturally with the right armor (can someone confirm this?). If you want/need more, try grinding SH Valley in hopes that you'll come across some friendly Tormitables who will hopefully drop you some Divine/Swifts. Also keep Power units in the back in case you're playing with a FO/Ranger using Jellen, since Jellen lowers accuracy.

Power problems are usually solved through that one Element which requires you to spare a bit of cash. Element Boost is a really nice Element to have, and it can easily go over a Stat Boost unit. Totally worth it when Element Boost gives you a 10% boost in damage with Celeb.

So no major rebuild is necessary for her than.

[Atbar]

So no major rebuild is necessary for her than.

Yes, your build is fine so you don't have to redo it at all. *thumbs up* Shanks did give some sound advice too.

[DoctorShanks]

Name: Not-so-Eternal Tower

Class: FOmar
Area: Eternal Tower
Weapon: Rod
Mag: 0/0/0/100, Flozir, Fickle
Materials: 100 MIND
Armor: Noble Cloak
Units:
-Divine/Mind
-Divine/Mind / PP Recovery Lv5
-Tech Save Lv3
-Compress PA
Palette:
1. Foie / Grants / Megid
2. Zonde / Grants / Megid
3. Barta / Grants / Megid
4. Resta
5. Shifta
6. Dodge Roll / Jellen / Zalure

Near-perfect mob coverage with a 20% bonus to each of the techs listed on the Palette. That's all that needs to be said offensively. Unfortunately, it's not perfect. The thing about the Eternal Tower when playing as any Force is all the pallete changing you'll probably have to do. This setup aims to minimize palette altering.

That armor is the best armor available to the FOmar, but use a Pizza Box or even an Ancient Robe or Shinobi Suit if you have one with 4 slots. The standard FO setup is in play again, only this time, PP Recovery Lv5 is a legitimate option. The reason for this is the fact that each room only has one wave of hostiles, giving that unit plenty of time to work its magic in the time you aren't killing things. Also, the 3 elements that the FOmar uses aren't as expensive as Grants or Megid, so he doesn't piss away his PP as quickly as the other forces would despite having mediocre PP with no natural regeneration.

As for the Palette, Foie, Barta, and Zonde are all boosted by 20% when used by the FOmar, so it is very unlikely you will ever have to dip into Grants or Megid unless you come across a Za/Phobos. Shifta provides it's amazing boost as usual, and Resta is a must for any flesh character. For the last slot, Dodge Roll's sole purpose is to avoid an oncoming Missle from those nasty Arkzeins. Jellen is another option, but as the floors increase, so do the accuracy of the enemies, which eventually makes Jellen a bit more of a useless technique. Dodge Roll is prefered, but Zalure can be used to lower the resistances of your enemies to potentially kill them in one less hit. It is still recommended you run Dodge Roll when you come across an Arkzein, as you'll quickly notice how dangerous they are becoming.

[zain160]

i usually alway have dodge roll, attack, power attack, resta, attack spell, and anti

[DoctorShanks]

@Zain: As a reccomendation, you should try using Shifta in place of your attack spell for a higher overall damage output. It's one of the greatest techs available to a Hunter.

[DoctorShanks]

Class: FOnewearl
Area: Arca plant
Weapon: Psycho Wand
Mag: 0/0/0/100, Flozir, Fickle
Materials: 80 Mind
Armor: Rika's Suit
Units:
- Divine/Mind
- Divine/Mind
- Tech Save Lv3
- Compress PA
Palette:
1. Megid
2. Anti / Grants / Zonde / Dodge Roll
3. Resta
4. Shifta
5. Jellen
6. Zalure

After taking a look at the Arca Plant resistances, it's pretty safe to say that all a FOnewearl really needs when running Arca is Megid. Trying to attain more coverage over the Finjers would require too many palette slots. Anti is there because people like to die A LOT in the plant, though if that problem ends up remedied by Jellen, you can run Grants for its lock-on effect on the Finjers, or Zonde if you really like the chain-lightning effect or for the odd Finjer B (though Megid hits everything else harder than Zonde will). The three support techs including Shifta at the bottom are key for making a pure Megid attacking style work better. With a 60 dark resistance, the Finjers will give you the most problems, so lower their resistance with Zalure (hunters will appreciate this), and Jellen to lower accuracy since Finjers like to dive into you shortly after they spawn (they will likely miss). Jellen also provides extra protection against Arkzeins; with such a high natural evasion stat coupled with the Rika's Suit, do you really need Dodge Roll? I'd suggest using Dodge Roll if you're a low level, but still give this a try first.

[PSchiZ]

Class: Fomar
Area: Gurhacia Valley
Weapon: Anything with a high MST (Prefferably your total MST should be over 1000)
Mag: 0/0/0/100, FLozir, (Any nature would work)
Materials: 80-100 Mind (recommended)
Armor: Ancient Robe/Noble Cloak/Shinobi Suit
Units:
-Divine/Mind
-Divine/Mind/PP Recovery lv5/Element Boost
-Tech Save Lv3
-Compress PA
Palette:
1. Barta
2. Zonde/Dodge Roll
3. Normal Attack/Jellen
4. Shifta
5. Difluid/Zalure
6. Resta

First thing's first-Trap Vision so you can see those burn traps. You can dodge them too...either one.

Zonde is key for sweeping monsters like Ghowl, Vulkure and Grimble/Tormatible. Use Barta for monsters like Garapython, Garahadan and Helion/Blaze Helion. If you come across a mixed monster group like two Garapython's and two Vulkure, just focus on killing the monster that's weakness is Barta first-in this case, Garapython. Then kill the other monsters with Razonde.

Helion, on the other hand, will charge at you once it gets close enough, so you would have to dodge roll to the side of it to avoid its annoying stomp move. DO NOT stand infront of it, or else you'll take an acrobatic-flying-charge-180-degree-flip to the face. And it hurts. Jellen will really help to decrease its massive ATK and Zalure will make it easier to do a lot more damage, so it will die faster. Stand close (not too close) to it and spam Barta. Blaze Helion is even worse, so lock and load. Or spam, in a FO's case.

If you have a Heaven Element weapon, well, i'd use it to take care of small mobs.

Reyburn is easy with Flozir (the more people that synchronize, the better, of course)- just use resta when you need to and spam Razonde.

This isn't the best strategy, since it uses PP really fast...but it's better than nothing I suppose.

[Atbar]

I never looked at your notes for my last build I posted, the Killbot Swordswoman until today, DoctorShanks. I'll be a lot more friendly this time about my reaction this time.

With that said, I don't have the In swords anymore (gave them to someone close I played PSZ with that I could trust would use them and not throw up on a trade list asking for a ton of rares for it) so if I play the HUcassie again, I would use Mobius Plate again if I ever decide to pick up the game again (I still don't feel like playing it and I'm saying that because I don't want to I'm lead anyone into thinking that I'm going to play again anytime soon).

First, I didn't have very many Divine/Powers on me and the rare apes didn't drop those as much as it did Ken-chan who I recalled had like 8-10 of those drop for them during his PSZ career. I do recall running through Paru often hoping for one to drop. I also recall Paru alongside Valley and Shrine were the most popular destinations online and seemed like whenever I played online, those are the places that are first picked. Though, you and I also understand how the droprates are so I can also laugh at your suggestion to do more Paru runs, haha.

Second, I prefer to have 600 accuracy at all times with a cast hunter as I feel it's the highest you can get accuracy and still see a noticeable difference in accuracy. I recall 550 being the magic number for having the most accuracy on these forums parroted by everyone in the past except I recall seeing more misses than I cared to in Paru, Makara, Arca, and Shrine online with accuracy around that range. I feel 600 is more the cutoff point than 550 and can hit most of the time without support techs to lower accuracy requirements on hostiles. I hate missing and I found myself opting to use a Noble Cloak when using the In blades because they can missed more times than I cared to without the Cloak granting the extra 25 accuracy when using the In swords (doesn't help the PA's have accuracy mods that go in the negative direction as well). I'm convinced though Shifta 15 and Zalure 15 can lead to a hunter not worrying about having an ounce of accuracy on mags or hit units (a previous PSZ player swears 480 accuracy is enough with those two support techs and she played a FOnewearl with Foie Haze that used Shifta 15 and Zalure 15 all the time so I'm willing to believe that) at all but I'm not always playing with that kind of support (your force was one of the rare ones that used debuffs) and I prefer to be self-reliant as well. I've also gotten lazy with setups towards the end of my PSZ career and prefer to have one setup and run with it at all times and I'm more interested in playing comfortably, not min/maxing like crazy and worrying about constantly swapping out armor slot units. If your observations on accuracy differ from mine on accuracy, that's fine. We all got our own play style choices. I know you know that though so I'll move on to my last point.

The Star Atomizers seems like a good idea except I didn't worry too much about people dying towards the end of my PSZ career when I was using the cast hunter. The only support I would do is revive those who died and out of scrape dolls. Oh, the Hucassie did use Sols except towards the end, I would moreso use them when I needed it because I stopped switching out resists and it's easy to eat those up quickly in some areas more than others when watching others catch status effects. Like with the Swift Huney I've done before, I find Trimates great to have when I occasionally have my HP in the red from a powerful blow and going to die in the next hit. I can see why you say having all three types of mates are overkill though my preference is all three mates on the palette. I think you slashed Trimates on one of my other builds too so I can see your preference is to not have those on the palette at all. That's fine.

[DoctorShanks]

Oh my. Somehow I completely forgot about this.

@AtBHR: It's probably just me. I dislike Trimates mostly because they're expensive (not likemoney matters much in this game anyway, and I like the ability to fine-tune my HP with Monomates and Dimates. What I mean by that is using a Monomate when I realize I've suffered more than 30% of my damage, and Dimates for 60% if I take a large blow. Even after a near fatal blow, bar the Dark Falz lazer of 1 hp, Dimate recovery is more than enough to bring you back into the safe zone in most cases.

I dunno, some people play their favorite characters, some people play for min/maxing, and some people just play for the enjoyment. Sometimes I forget that people have their own playstyles, and what I think I've been doing is merely offering suggestions rather than telling people what I think they should do (if the two can be considered different things ^^;).

Sorry for answering your points in reverse order by the way. Regarding Accuracy, I too feel as if the magic number of 520 is a little too low in most cases, but 550 is also a very difficult number to achieve. For negative Accuracy PA's 600 is indeed a good number to hit. I had no idea that with Zalure you only needed 480 . . . I believe it.

I'm going to say this honestly . . . I do not have a whole lot of experience as a Hunter and Ranger since I've been a Force for more than half of my PSZ career. Anything I say about Accuracy and Photon Arts are educated guesses based on my little time (a lot of time in many people's eyes) playing with those classes.

@PSchiZ: I'll add that to the OP now. I've never known how to play a Force in Gurhacia Valley without spamming Magical Sign left and right, so this really helps even me.

[Street482]

O.o i feel like such a noob, none of this is making much sence to me and i have played phantasy star since dreamcast!