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FANBOY'S GUIDE TO FORTETECHING
INTRODUCTION
"Eye of newt, toe of frog..."
-ancient Viagra recipe
Ah, the Fortetecher. No class has more controvery surrounding its proper playstyle than the most powerful Technic-user, and for good reason - everyone has a different idea of how to play one, and insists that theirs is the only right way to do so. Perhaps that's why no one's attempted to do a good guide for the fortetecher yet!
That does not mean, however, that there shouldn't be one.
Fortetechers are an interesting class overall: They get up to level 30 Technics, level 30 Bullet Arts, but only have level 1 Photon Arts. This means that a properly-leveled Fortetecher can do many of the same things that a good ranger can: use Status Effect (heretofore abbreviated as SE) 4 bow bullets on big monsters and spread SE2 around smaller mobs with a card, all the while doing things a ranger can't, like healing and attacking with the strongest spells in the game.
The first thing to remember is that this game is NOT PSO. While in PSO you had to be bloody foolish to try actually teching to deal damage, except in certain situations (gizonde on the Dragon, anyone?), ST did something right here and instead of enemies being automatically resistant to any tech but the one that damages them, enemies take MORE damage from the elements they're weak to. I know, I know, it's obvious, but I'm writing this guide not just for experts but for beginners as well.
I'll tell you this: This isn't going to be one of those namby-pamby guides that says, "Well, ya know, every Technic is good... you should have them all, just in case..." Nor is it going to say, "You should stick to support and let the hunters deal the damage" or "Fuck the hunters. Just spam Diga!" Both are flawed viewpoints.
Being able to balance them both, damage and support, is what makes the perfect fortetecher. The game itself says,
An expert TECHNIC user that can use all TECHNICS with unmatched power. Lacks a strong defensive power in combat.
Not,
An expert TECHNIC user who uses offensive TECHNICS with unmatched power but ignores defensive TECHNICS because they're useless since the game is so easy. Lacks a strong defensive power in combat.
Or,
An expert TECHNIC user who uses defensive TECHNICS with unmatched power but ignores offensive TECHNICS because they're pointless when you have hunters spamming PAs and knocking enemies all over. Lacks a strong defensive power in combat.
For most people who play the game, focusing on a small palatte of Technics that work everywhere and getting them to 21+ is a more effective way of playing than trying to get all what, 20-odd attack Technics to 21+.
A lot of fortetechers, if they go the second route, end up forgetting little things like how Deband helps prevent damage, or how it's really a good thing to have Resta close to hand. To help them down the first path, I'll specifically endorse some Technics, say others are just fine and dandy to add if you wanted to use them too, and also have a list of Technics to avoid because they're real dogs even at 21+ - and you might not know it.
Once you've got the basics out of the way, you can look and level and find your own style.
I'll be formatting this like my other guide(s):
Fanboy's Guide to Guntecher
This guide will be divided into five sections: Race, Attack Technics, Support Technics, Equipment, and Strategies. And I want to say, for the record, that I started writing this guide and divided up the Technics into Attack and Support BEFORE I READ WORD ONE OF ANYTHING ABOUT AMBITION OF ILLUMINATUS. So, Sonic Team and I are of like minds in this regard.
RACE
"Hey man, just 'cause it's a stereotype don't mean it can't be true."
-motto of Moatoob muggers
Unlike every other class in this game, the Fortetecher clearly favors two races: Human and Newman. Hey man, don't flame me, Beast FTs have their points too, just stating facts.
Also, female Fortetechers have slightly higher DEF, EVP, MST, and TP than male Fortetechers do, and only lose (on average) about 20-30 HP to gain in all those stats - that being the only stat advantage males have which a fortetecher might want.
Fortetecher plays to the Newman advantages. The highest TP and MST in the game combined with the class that has the best TP and MST multipliers means that a 60/10 Newman FT has twice the TP of a 60/10 Beast FT. Unfortunately, it also plays to the Newman disadvantages as well: Newman FTs have the lowest HP and DEF stats in the game.
Human Fortetechers are also a solid choice. While they do have lower TP and MST, they also have higher HP and DEF than Newmans do - and don't lose a lot of TP to get it. For honesty's sake, however, I must say the gains aren't very significant.
Beast Fortetechers are an interesting choice. While you do lose much of your ability to deal damage with Technics, (half the TP means you'll deal about 40% less damage, give or take) you also get to be TOUGH - a Beast will have nearly 200-300 more HP than a Newman. Also, you'll have the choice of Nanoblasting should you need to deal melee damage - unlike Beasts in other classes, you should let the Nanoblast build and save it for a tight spot where enemies are Technic-resistant. Remember, however, that you can't heal while Nanoblasting, so you might want to be careful... Either go for the invincibility or the power nanoblast, depending on how confident you are about being able to dodge enemies or how much you like to put the HURT on. This is the only race where a male Fortetecher would be a better idea than the Female - males Beasts have quite a bit more HP than females (about 80 more at 60/10), and the TP difference is reasonably insignificant.
CAST Fortetechers are... well... not good. 
That doesn't mean a guy can't have fun playing one; it just means that you won't deal much Technic damage if you pick this class, and your ATP is so low that you won't deal much bow or card damage while playing this class either. The CAST Fortetechers I've seen usually play them as an act of defiance, and stuck to mostly support-Technics while letting their buddies tear it up.
Out of the five S-ranks currently available to the Fortetecher, the Halarod (10* rod) is only usable by newmans. Just thought I should mention that.
ATTACK TECHNICS
"Earth... Air... Fire... Water... HEART!"
-incantation to summon the foulest of hellspawn
Ah, the shiny lights and whizbangs coming out from a Fortetecher's rod... where would they be without them?
One sad thing about attack Technics in general is that even if they can hit more than one enemy, they only hit a single area of multi-targetable enemies... something to keep in mind.
Another thing to keep in mind is that, even if you don't like attack Technics, enemies with the Robot type are best defeated with them. They're resistant to melee and ranged attacks, but have easily exploited elemental weaknesses and are ultra-vulnerable to SEs. There are (thus far) Earth, Lightning, and Fire robots, so it behooves a properly-balanced Fortetecher to have at least one high-leveled Ra or Gi Technic of the lighting, earth, and ice elements.
There are 5 (or 6) different types of attack Technics, and I'll go over each one, but first, a word on elements.
ELEMENTS
The elements with Technics work just like elements on weapons: If you use an opposing-element Technic you do more damage, if you use a same-element Technic you do less damage. Pretty simple, eh?
As near as I can tell, using an opposing element Technic automatically confers a 30% boost in damage; that is to say, Dambarta used against a fire element monster will do 30% more damage than Dambarta used against a lightning element monster. This boost is independant of what other Technics are on the rod or wand. The inverse holds true of same-element Technics - you'll do 30% less damage using Foie against a fire-element creature for example.
You can also stack similar element Technics on the same rod or wand, earning a 4% boost with each new Technic, all the way up to 12% (for having 4 of 'em). While I personally reckon 12% to be fairly insignificant compared to having easy access to other Technics (particularly Resta/Reverser), it does mean you deal more damage.
The 12% rarely adds up to a killing blow, but if you stack it on top of the 30% bonus, and then cast Retier on yourself... well, it can add up. More on elemental versus non-elemental rods later, however.
LINE TECHNICS
The line Technic does just that: heads outward in a line in the same direction that the Fortetecher is facing.
Technically, there are two subclasses, penetrating and non-penetrating. A non-penetrating Technic stops at the first enemy it bumps into, regardless of whether it was the target; a penetrating goes straight through until it reaches the end of its range.
Penetrating sounds better than it really is, however. To get more than two or even three enemies under its line requires good positioning and a very narrow hallway; also, Barta and Zonde have depressingly low damage multipliers.
I'll go from what I consider the most practical to what I consider the least practical; your mileage and opinions may vary.
Here's a handy diagram, swiped and edited from the JP Wiki (full credit to them, I would have made my own but...):
FOIE
Foie is non-penetrating. Being both a fire and a non-penetrating Technic, one would expect Foie to be unpopular; however, Foie has several things going for it as well. At level 30 it has the second-highest damage multiplier, 270%, it's one of the fastest-moving attack Technics, has SE4 Burn at level 21+, and Newman characters start with Foie already learned - so why not level it up a bit?
DIGA
Diga is non-penetrating and is one of the most popular Technics. It has the highest damage multiplier in the game at 280% and is of the reasonably useful Earth element (Parum has many enemies weak to this, and this is one of the best ways to deal with Endrum robots). My only real gripes with Diga are the slowness of the actual spell, the useless Silence SE that it inflicts, and the fact that IMHO it looks like a giant flaming cat-turd.
MEGID
Megid is... well, interesting. While it does have a very good damage multiplier, especially for a penetrating line Technic, it's slow-moving, slow to level, and comes with the deceptively cool-sounding "Death" SE. The secret to understanding the Death SE is that... well... OK. Female characters have about STA 12, and can take about 6 or 7 shots of even 21+ megid without dying - the enemy can get lucky and nail you with five or six in a row, then just whiff you again and again. Most monsters have, on average, between 20 and 30 STA - meaning that it's at least twice as hard to down them with Megid than it is for them to down you. The only enemies that you can kill regularly with Death SE are robots - which, for the expense of Megid (99 PA frags + 64 PP a shot at 21+) just isn't good enough. Note, too, that Megid only has SE3 at level 21 - meaning that Killer Shot will do better than it, though admittedly not penetrating.
BARTA
Barta is penetrating. While the majority of the enemies in this game are ice-weak, Barta still comes off as second-best. One of the most telling experiences I had early on in this game was watching Forces use Foie instead of Barta against De Ragan because despite having the element disadvantage, Foie STILL did more damage! Also, Barta is one of the slowest leveling spells in the game - the only thing worse than Barta or Zonde is leveling rifle BAs. Barta comes off as a very weak spell, especially with a measly 130% multiplier at level 30. It also only has SE1 Freeze FOREVER. Give Barta a miss.
ZONDE
Zonde is even worse than Barta, for all the same reasons - plus, so few enemies are weak to lightning that it REALLY doesn't do any good. Avoid it.
RA TECHNICS
RA-Technics are similar to line Technics in that they head to where the nearest target in your character's direct path is. Once they get there, they explode and can catch up to 3 enemies in their radius.
HOWEVER, it must be said that Ra-Technics target oftentimes the area where an enemy WAS; if there's no enemies still standing there or nearby when the Technic goes off, then it does nothing. This is especially frustrating from levels 1-10; after that the radius widens enough that you'll get something, and at 21+ it's wide enough that you'll nail all 3 available targets.
Ra Technics are best used to exploit elemental weaknesses in medium-small enemies that spawn in groups of 3 or less, and are of highest usefulness when you have several hunters running interference and don't want to get too close to the enemies. If the groups are larger than 3, or if you want to keep close to the hunters for support purposes, you probably won't be using them as much.
They are versatile, kinda like the Twin Handguns of the guntecher/fortegunner, but they don't excel at anything; you can't go wrong using them, but other Technics might be more appropriate to the situation. Generally, you'll cast Ra Technics when enemies first spawn, then as the battlefield changes decide if another Technic might be better.
RABARTA
Rabarta would top my list of Ra-Technics. While it does have the lowest damage multiplier of the RAs (160% at lv 30), it's of the highly-useful ice element, which many of the small-medium enemies you'll use RAs on are weak to.
RADIGA
Next to Rabarta, Radiga is probably next most useful. It has the highest damage multiplier at 180% and is Earth. Since 2 of the more dangerous melee medium enemies are Lightning (Volfu and Vahra), it could come in handy to keep them at range. Also, it has (I think) a wider radius than the other RAs. Sadly, however, it lacks an SE.
RAZONDE
Razonde is quite good for a general-use Ra Technic, if you're in an area that has no elemental weaknesses to exploit. It does decent damage (165% at lv30), has the Shock SE, and... well, that's about all to say about that. Exploiting elemental weaknesses with this Technic is difficult, unless you're running Temple/Forest Infiltration - there are very few Earth enemies.
RAFOIE
I personally don't rate this highly, but that doesn't mean it's entirely useless. At SE3, it'll account for 20% of an enemy's HP; if no rangers are smearing around SEs and you want to speed up the run it can make a good contender for Razonde's place as a general-use Ra Technic. As far as using it to exploit elemental weaknesses, it's the second-worst for now; Gohmon and Ageetas are Technic-resistant. If/when we get more medium-small ice enemies, however...
RAMMEGID
Ramegid is... well, just like Megid, interesting. While it has the lowest attack % of any of the RAs (matching Rabarta at 160%), it inflicts confuse, which is highly useful in taking care of annoying spellcasters... if you can manage to catch them in the radius.
DAM TECHNICS
Dam Technics send a cone-shaped spray in front of the caster, which you can move around to cover about a 160 degree angle in front of the caster. It lasts for as long as you hold the casting button, or until the duration runs out - autofire controller users beware, you'll keep starting and restarting unless you turn off the autofire.
For the PP spent, it's about the highest-damaging Technic that a Fortetecher can possess. It's also one of the more dangerous; it has a very short range, and even when using the 2 that flinch enemies backwards, sometimes the timing still lets them jump through and attack.
Also, it does take work to get it up to an adequate level - it's very pathetic at levels 1-10. Once you get past that, though, it's clear sailing and heavy damage all the way. A Dam can hit up to 6 enemies at a time, and if you flinch old ones out of the way and new ones jump into the range, well, then you can hit more! At level 21+, it hits up to 6 times in a row before you have to restart the Technic - all in all, a rather efficient way to kill things.
Unfortunately, not all Dam Technics are created equal. Sega really flubbed it on the game balance in this category.
DAMBARTA
Winna and still champeen, Dambarta! Dambarta is head and shoulders above the other contestants in the Dam category. It flinches enemies back, meaning they can't leap through the pain and tear off your face. It's ice, meaning that it deals more damage to fire enemies. It's got SE3 Freeze, meaning that it stops enemies cold. (pun added free of charge). While it doesn't have the highest modifier, it doesn't have the lowest either; Dambarta at lv 30 is 130%, which is the average. Honestly... I think it's the most worthwhile Dam spell.
DAMDIGA
Damdiga... it's... OK. It flinches, sure; it deals Earth damage, which as mentioned helps out a lot on Parum, it causes poison damage which helps out a bit when it comes to dealing damage, but... it just doesn't compare with Dambarta. The only places this sees much use is in Parum, where enemies are weak to Earth, and that's it.
DAMMEGID
Man, if there were a Technic more worthless than this one, I'd like to see it. It deals 10% more damage than most other Dams, which is... OK, but it DOESN'T FLINCH. Flinching is vital for a useful Dam; it helps you turn that corridor or doorway into an impregnable barrier of death for any enemy foolish enough to walk through it. If you think flinching isn't important, try using Dambarta on a mob of Sendillians and see how long you stay on your feet. Yeah, dammegid inflicts virus, but you can get a quicker spread of virus just from a level 21+ Virus card skill. In short, this Technic does nothing but look kinda cool.
DAMFOIE
I stand corrected. Damfoie is MUCH worse than Dammegid. All the things wrong with Dammegid, PLUS it's fire-element, which a majority of enemies that you'd want to use a Dam on are strong against, AND it inflicts SE3 burn, which is... well, generally useless on the things will stand still long enough for Damfoie to work on it when you could be pegging SE4 Virus bow shots instead. Gawd. How pathetic. I respect the people who've leveled this to 21+, but wonder why they even bothered.
GI TECHNICS
NOW we get to some good mojo. A Gi Technic hits all the enemies around the caster, in a ring that widens at level 11 and 21. Gis can hit up to 6 enemies at a time, making it one of the more widespread attack Technics. It also causes major flinching, equal to that of a bow or rifle.
That being said, there are several downsides.
The first downside is that you have to be pretty close to the enemies to use it, even at 21+. In fact, right in the middle of a mob is the optimal place, and you can imagine how well that goes over with fortetecher HP. The second downside is that they're expensive to cast; but that doesn't mean much with PP charges and multiple rods/wands. The third downside is that they're SLOW, with a long build-up time before the actual Technic is cast.
However, all of these can be overcome. Use of the proper armor can reduce damage to safe levels even for newman fortetechers (I regularly waded into the middle of S2 mobs even at FT1 with a 28% dark armor); multiple rods or photon charges render PP costs meaningless; and the essential Me/Quick gives that long casting time a jumpstart, as can using wands. More on all that later, however.
One small thing is that the area of effect actually extends out a bit beyond the apparent border; but that still doesn't make it very big.
GIZONDE
Gizonde FTW! Could there be any more useful SE to a Fortetecher standing in the middle of a horde of ravening monsters than Shock? No? Didn't think so, especially not an SE3 Shock. With a decent damage modifier and a kick-ass animation, Gizonde is top-notch in my book. You can cast it almost anywhere and not feel gimped; and taking it into Forest Infiltration or Temple makes you into a MONSTER.
GIBARTA
Gibarta kicks ass! The range is a bit smaller than the other Gi spells (I think), but it does hellacious damage to the fire enemies that swarm everywhere. Gizonde is better as a general-use SE, but freeze isn't to be sneered at either.
GIDIGA
Gidiga rocks the house! I think Gidiga has the largest area out of any of the Gi Technics (I was recently leveling it and even at 1-10 it had the apparent range of an 11+ Gizonde), and has the highest damage modifier. The only sad thing is that it's got no SE... but who needs one, when your screen shakes every time you cast this bad boy!
GIFOIE
The only reason Gifoie ranks last is because of the company it's keeping. As mentioned under Rafoie, SE3 accounts for 20% of an enemy's health, and Gifoie can smear burn damage fast, so it's another strong general-use Gi Technic along with Gizonde. It's basically your choice as to whether you'd prefer the DoT or the disabling Shock SE - but more on that later.
MEGIVERSE
Megiverse slots into the Gi Technics because of the way it affects an area around the caster - though it must be said, the area of effect is MUCH larger than that of any of the other Gi Technics. Once again, it's... interesting, but this time interesting in a useful way; it does a fair amount of damage, and you can hold the button down just like a Dam-tech. Also, you drain HP into yourself while casting it, meaning that you can be taking damage from enemies hitting you AND healing that damage at the same time! If I was going to pick a Dark technic to deal damage in Agata Relics and to the little hoppy bastards on Parum, this'd be my choice over Dammegid or Ramegid. However, it does cost PA frags as well - but from what I've seen it does seem to be worth it. The only bad thing is that you have to hold down the button for about 2-3 seconds before it hits an enemy the first time... so be warned, if you're solo, you might not have the safety margin you'd need to cast this.
NOS TECHNICS
Nos Technics are theoretically the most powerful attack Technics Fortetechers can access. Not only do they have high damage multipliers, but they home in on enemies and each of them has a special effect unique to itself.
However, they are very expensive PP wise to cast, all of them cost PA Frags, and they'll only home in on an enemy that you've red-targeted in your front arc.
...Many people seem to feel that the Nos Technics are a white elephant; that is to say, that they look good on paper but because of their cost in PA Frags, cost in PP, and the annoying habit that they have of circling the enemy instead of zooming straight in for the kill, that other Technics are to be preferred. I can only testify as to what others have said, because the only Nos I have is Nosdiga, which works just fine for me.
NOSDIGA
Nosdiga has the potential of being the most damaging Technic we've got in a single shot. It's one of three things in the game (to this point) that inflicts the Stun SE: something like the Freeze SE, except that hitting the enemy doesn't break them out of it. What I most use this Technic for are enemies like Bel Pannons, the rifle Endrum casts, and other enemies that move in random ways and can evade both Ra and Gi Technics - they can't trick Nosdiga, though!
NOSZONDE
Noszonde has SE3 shock, can hit up to 2 enemies, seeks both groundbound and flying enemies, and can actually knockup enemies just like the first hit of Rising Strike. It has a higher damage multiplier than Razonde, but Razonde can cast faster, hit one more enemy, and is much cheaper; I neither endorse or decry this Technic since I have conflicting reports of its usefulness. I'm going to meet up with several of my friends who have this sometime during the weekend and watch them cast it in comparison to Razonde carefully.
NOSMEGID
Nosmegid is... interesting. It's dark and homes in, just like the other Nos spells; it goes into the air and seeks out flying enemies just like Noszonde; it hits up to 2 targets, just like Noszonde; also, it has a unique SE. Sometimes it deals extra damage equal to your max HP minus your current HP to the enemy. Sounds nifty? Well, it can be... for a Wartecher, because WTs can run around at 1000 less HP and still have plenty to save their own ass. For a Fortetecher, well...
OVERVIEW OF ATTACK TECHS
So, in my 'umble opinion, the Attack Technics every fortetecher will probably want the most, because they're the most useful in the widest amount of areas, are:
Foie
Diga
Rabarta
Dambarta
Gizonde
Gidiga
Technics that are worth adding are:
Radiga
Damdiga
Gibarta
Gifoie
Megiverse
Nosdiga
Rafoie
Razonde
Rammegid
Technics that I'm going to get some demonstrations of before endorsing or decrying are:
Noszonde
Technics that most people should avoid, because you just won't use them, are:
Megid
Barta
Zonde
Dammegid
Damfoie
Nosmegid
Megid is... well... it looks cool. But that's about all it has going for it. It's about the only controversial thing I'm tossing in this list of Technics to avoid; most Fortetechers would agree that the other spells here are the real dogs of our Technic arsenal.
Really, though, a Fortetecher can really get by with only having foie or diga, dambarta, and a gi-spell, usually gizonde, especially if they're mostly support-based or do FT as a second class. Which brings us to our next section:
SUPPORT TECHNICS
"Young lady, I am an expert on humans. Now pick a mouth, open it and say 'brglgrglgrrr'!"
-Dr. Zoidberg
Support Technics are important. Anyone can deal damage, even that brain-dead figunner spamming Tornado Dance on Polties, but Fortetechers are one of three classes that have access to healing, buff, and debuff Technics, and of those classes we have (at the moment) unequalled power at them.
All of the support Technics act just like the Gi-series of spells, in that they affect a ring around the caster. The range is much wider than that of the Gi-technics, though.
Honestly, I do not understand why, other than the thrill of being an asshole, that people would neglect these Technics, but some people do. Oh, I'm not saying you're a dickweed FT unless you have all the buffs, debuffs, resta, and reverser at 21+, but think for a moment. It costs you less than 10 meseta even on a 9* rod to cast Resta once - it costs your friends 250 for a Trimate. It costs you about 40 meseta to cast all 4 buffs - it costs your buddies 600 meseta for 4 'rides, and 'rides are only equivalent to SE3 buffs to boot.
You ARE playing with your friends, right? Why wouldn't you want to help them? I'm not saying you should follow them with resta and reverser always at the ready to heal every teeny booboo they get (though it does help you level up those Technics faster), or that your friends shouldn't have dimates and antimates ready at all times (because you CAN'T be there to heal them all the time, especially if it's something that takes you down too), but...
You're in a unique position to both heal and do damage. Why shouldn't you do both to the fullest capacity?
HEALING TECHNICS
RESTA
The most basic of Technics, Resta heals everyone around you. It scales up FAST, and even a Cast Fortetecher can heal easily 1200+ with an 8* rod. Newman Fortetechers... basically refill everyone around them, no matter how much HP they have.
At 21+, it can take a bit of time to cast, so you have to keep an eye out on your comrades. More experienced support FTs generally have an idea of how much HP their comrades have and tend to heal more often in dangerous areas. It's OK to skimp on this in area where you're overleveled, or the enemies can't deal any real damage because your team is wearing good % armor, but if enemies can deal more than 200+ in a single hit of any kind to the hunters of the group, keep Resta close to hand at all times.
If you're on PC or 360, you can stick it on a wand and switch fast to take advantage of the wand's halved casting time; however, PS2 users may not have that luxury. More on that later, however.
REVERSER
Reverser removes negative status effects; also, it's a shockingly cheap Technic to cast as well. The key to Reverser is knowing the area that you're going in to. On most Parum and Colony missions, the worst SE you'll see is poison or burn, maybe freeze; Reverser isn't too vital against any of those. Neudaiz, however, has worms that inflict Jellen, which slows down the killing ability of your fighter friends and therefore slows down the mission, as well as a heckuva lot more freeze floating around. Moatoob is especially dangerous - not only do worms inflict Jellen, but Bil De Vears inflict stun AND Zalure, both of which can be fatal to a front-line fighter because they either can't reach for a mate or they'll get killed faster than they're used to.
An advanced tactic with this Technic is the "Reverser Defense"; basically you cast reverser if you're going to be hit with something that would leave you incapacitated like Freeze or Stun, and even even if you're affected you'll still go through the casting animation and fling out the spell. Reverser is generally cheap enough that doing this, if you have fast fingers, isn't going to impact your rod or wand any. Stun and Freeze can be sometimes fatal to other classes; but for a fortetecher, if there's no other techer around and your friends don't have sols or stars to hand, it spells almost certain death.
GIRESTA
Giresta is... um. I hate to say it, but Giresta is less than useful (not useless, there's a difference!) most of the time. It acts like a Moon Atomizer on any nearby allies, healing them for a bit more than a Moon would, and also gives them HP Regen - how high of HP Regen depends on the level of the Technic. HP Regen IS useful in areas where there are common enemies who inflict DoT damage, which is at this point in LL and HIVE with poison and virus coming from Bel Pannons/Deljabans, and burn coming from Gazorans and SEED Vances. Giresta is also disgustingly expensive to cast; the highest PP of any single Technic. Once the expansion comes out and rank is only affected by deaths that have to exit the mission, Giresta will climb in usefulness.
BUFF TECHNICS
I won't be covering these seperately because there's no real need to. Each buff gives a % bonus to a given stat; Shifta for ATP, Deband for DFP, Zodial for ATA and EVP, and Retier for TP and MST.
Actually, that's a bit of a misnomer; what buffs REALLY do is act as a multiplier just like any Technic or elemental %, so it works on your basic stat combined with whatever weapon or armor you're wearing, and whatever element % those might have as well.
Without boring you with a bunch of math and cutting straight to the practical terms (mostly because people are divided about how the whole system works anyway), Retier adds something like 50-100 damage to each of your Technics, Deband means you take something like 15%-25% less damage (even less if you've got a good armor), Shifta helps your buddies kill faster, and Zodial...
Fortetechers are the one class that actually LIKE blocking enemy attacks. It means you take no damage, for one thing; for another, Technics often go off even if you do block the enemy attacks. Adding to your chances of this seems like a good idea to me.
SE1 buffs last for only 2 minutes and give a 10% bonus, SE2 buffs for 3 and give 15%, and SE4 lasts for 4 minutes and gives 20%. Needless to say, you might as well have these as high as possible, and they aren't hard to level either.
Each new casting of a buff overwrites an older one and therefore counts as more exp. The upshot of this is that you can stand near a refill cube in the field and cast the buff over and over, refilling any time you run out. Parties of like-minded techers often gather in Valley of Carnage, HIVE, or Mad Creatures in buff parties to raise each other up as quickly as possible. I recommend buying some 1* rods for this, because the fewer stars a weapon has, the cheaper it is to refill... and you don't exactly need a lot of PP or a lot of TAP to do buff parties.
DEBUFF TECHNICS
Debuffs are not, in all honesty, all that necessary at this point in the game, with the current level of mission we have available.
Oh, I like them, and I use them all the time because it's easy to tag with them; but if you're in a full party they'll generally be killing things fast enough that debuffs will be unimportant at best.
This does not mean you should go out and overwrite all those buffs immediately, though.
1) We do not by any means have the full spread of missions or even the highest-level monsters available. Monster stats scale sharply upwards once you get past level 50; spirits only know how much DFP and ATP a Level 150 Go Vahra or Jarba will have.
2) In less than full parties (of 4 or less) debuffs can speed up a team to match that of a full party's time.
3) When soloing, Jellen is your best friend. What? You mean you ENJOY taking damage? Jellen drops many enemies to solo-safe damage levels - in other words, Go Vahras and Deljabans don't one-hit you.
4) Some monsters become EXTREMELY dangerous when buffed - it's difficult at best to kill a Debanded Jarba (and several enemies can cast Deband on them), and Carriguines are lethal when they have both Shifta and Deband on them. The only way to counter that is to debuff them.
5) Even if your party is tearing up monsters like Kleenex at a snot party, casting even one debuff lets you tag more monsters than you would reach with your Technics, meaning you get more exp, meaning you level up faster. What's not to like?
Debuffs are situational. Jellen is, as I said, a defensive measure - best used against enemies that like to beat you down hard and fast, like Deljabans, Vahras, Volfus, etcetera. Zalure is most useful against enemies with high HP like Jarbas, any large HIVE monster, because every little bit more damage the hunters and rangers deal is a speedup of the run. Don't underestimate Zodeel either - especially in HIVE. Many Fortefighters, Wartechers, and even Figunners have trouble hitting Deljabans from the front and side because their EVP stat is so high - but one casting of Zodeel and that problem fades away real quick.
Very rarely does a mob require all 3 debuffs cast on it - in fact, it can slow you down to do so.
Debuffs count as SEs, meaning the higher an enemy's STA, the less likely it is to work. Enemies with high STA are anything large, and also enemies with a Shield or Crown symbol. It isn't like most of the SEs, however, where you literally canNOT inflict them on Shield/Crown enemies; debuffs can take 2-4 castings to stick to them but you can do it.
Debuffs are also fairly easy to level. Go to C-rank Unsafe Passage and look for the stomach-shaped room map. Check the third room and if it has 6 pannons, you've got the maximum that can be affected by a single casting - so just keep slinging out that debuff over and over until it levels! It's a quick walk to the PP cube outside the mission, but you might bring a lot of 1* rods if you want to keep it going for as long as possible between fillings.
EQUIPMENT
"Aaaaaa.... fortetecher's staff has a knob on the end, a knob on the end, a knob on the end!"
-perverted Neudaiz folksong
In many ways, the weapons and armor you use as a fortetecher are far more important than what Technics you use. An FT can get by with choosing to tech for SE, or for raw damage, or just debuffing and healing (as is some people's choice), but the armor you wear and the weapons you choose mean the difference between life and scape use for your party members.
But enough of that, let's get started.
TECHNIC WEAPONS
RODS
Rods are quite nice for fortetechers - in fact, we're the only class with up to S-rank in them, and the only advanced class that can use them at all.
Rods have several advantages over wands. They're more powerful, have more PP, hold 4 spells instead of 2, and the female casting animation is dead sexy. 
However, that is balanced out by the slowness of the casting animation as compared to wands. It's a tough balance to walk, but hopefully I can give some good advice.
Rod usage tends to split up into 3 areas:
1) Buffs and debuffs.
Because there are 3 debuffs and 4 buffs, it's a bit inconvenient to cast them with wands; it's nice to have all of those on one stick. Also, with a debuff rod, you've got one slot empty that I usually fill with Resta just in case my other healing rods/wands empty or I get hit while slinging a strategic debuff. If your party's well-acquainted with you, they'll learn to watch for that buffing rod and gether around as soon as you swap to it, without even doing a "Gather for buffs!" call.
2) 12% Elemental.
If you stack 4 Technics of the same element on one Rod, you can get up to a 12% elemental boost. This has several advantages; you'll know exactly where the relevant spells are without having to scroll around rods or try to memorize placement or anything more complicated, and you WILL do a... bit more damage. Remember, however, that elemental rods work just like your hunter friend's elemental weapons, and they'll only deal bonus damage to opposing-element enemies.
Also, resta does NOT get a boost from any amount of light element %... sadly.
3) Versatility.
Because of the 4 slots, you can set them up almost any way you want if you don't worry about elemental %s. Common combinations are:
Resta, Reverser, debuff (usually Jellen for defense), attack Technic
Resta, Reverser, 2 Attack Technics
Resta, 3 attack Technics
Resta, 2 debuffs (Zalure and Zodeel for small teams), attack Technic
As you can see, there's quite a lot of room here. Generally, Fortetechers who go this way for rods swap out their Attack Technics based on the area they're going into and the team's composition.
WANDS
Wands are the basic techer equipment. Every techer class can make use of them, and most do.
Wands are, on the face of it, inferior to rods in every way for the fortetecher's purposes. Less PP, less TP, only 2 slots instead of 4...
However, they also have a huge advantage: half the casting speed.
Many of the Technics have long, long casting times, particularly at the higher levels. Gi Technics in particular, as well as the Nos Technics (if you choose to use those) are insanely long to cast with rods. Resta, if you don't have a quick unit, is also a longer casting Technic at 21+. Wands, however, blaze right through those Technics.
Also, having a wand allows you to use a card - more on that later.
Many fortetechers, even those with /quick units, stick to wands for their attack Technics just for the sheer speed involved. They use rods for buffing and (maybe) debuffing, and just have wands in the rest of their slots.
If you're without a quick unit and actually missing the days when your Gi Technic was only at level 1 because it was at least USEABLE then, you might think of switching out your rods for wands.
RANGED WEAPONS
CARDS
Cards are very handy for a fortetecher to have.
While even a beast or cast FT will have low ATP, cards have several advantages that get around that restriction: high elemental %, high ATP %, 3 bullets at a time, and homing ability. Not to mention great ATA - I was wearing a Solid/Power S and I was STILL able to hit with all 3 bullets with nearly every shot. They also level up very fast when compared with other ranged weapons - probably to encourage the fortetecher to use them more often, since it won't be a massive time investment away from technic building.
While you probably shouldn't use them EVERYWHERE, there are enemies upon which using cards is a wise choice.
Gohmon and Ageeta are Technic-resistant, meaning that you'll slow down on your DPS when you hit a spawn of them. Switching to a card/wand combo with fire on the card means that you can deal them damage easily (especially at a 21+ level), burn them for additional damage, and if one of your companions gets frozen, or if you see a bunch of bartas heading your way, you can fling out a reverser quickly - either to heal him, or to preemtively heal yourself. Remember, any bad SE that takes effect DURING a reverser casting will be countered when the Technic actually casts.
Jarbas are melee AND Technic resistant, and have large amounts of HP as well. Problem? Not for the fortetecher who has a high level ice card! While you do have a choice between using a fire bow to set the Jarbas on fire or using an ice card for DPS, that choice is dictated by your party setup - if there's someone else there who's already doing Burn or Virus SE then using your card is probably best. Bonus: You can actually help your party out by splitting 2-3 Jarbas away from larger packs of them, drawing their megid fire and their attention away from your teammates as they focus on one Jarba at a time, and bringing them into closer packs for trap useage. The card will allow you to dodge their megid quite easily while still hitting them consistently.
Gazorans (or Sorcerers) are a nightmare for Technic-heavy fortetechers. Very often, by the time you finish casting something, the Gazoran will already have teleported away. Light cards will deal them damage, home in on them, and have a shot at confusing them so their Foie and Gibarta does nothing to your MST-lite fighter friends.
Worms are bad news, especially if there's no one using a grenade launcher/tornado dance/mayalee prism in the party to keep them above ground. While you can spam Gi Technics to catch them as they pop up, their little habit of ducking underground can slow you down if you're not uber-fast with the casting speed. While cards aren't a perfect answer either (sometimes the cards will get THIS CLOSE to a worm and then he'll duck back underground), my experimenting shows that on a one-for-one basis, cards are generally better than trying to take the worms with Technics.
Cards also beat nine kinds of hell into De Ragan, Zoalgoug, and (a bit) De Ragnus when they're on the ground, because they'll home in on the head and neck where the armor is thinnest.
There are probably more examples, but I can't bring any to mind right now.
BOWS
Bows are a good thing... in moderation.
Every boss has a weak point that can be reached to deal extra damage, and several of them fly out of range of melee and most Technics. While you can buy Noszonde and Nosmegid to fly up after them, those technics are expensive in terms of PA frags and PP spent. Bows are cheap, have large PP pools, and you have access to them right to the start - a much easier deal to use than Nos Technics.
To help Fortechers out, they have high ATP, ignore enemy armor (but not the bullet-resistance attribute), and excellent ATA. The PAs have the highest elemental % in the game, a good ATP multiplier, and level up quickly; it took my PT less than 4 hours of exclusive use to get her virus bullet from 1 to 21.
To help out the rangers (or do a ranger's job), a fortetecher should probably have at least a burning or virus bow at 21+ to deal SE4 when it becomes necessary.
Other than that, pick which ones you want to - if there's a boss that you fight often who flies away, you should choose a bow bullet that will deal damage to him. Ice (for Onmagoug) and light (for Dulk Fakis) are popular and effective.
RANGED ULTIMATE PAS
Don't.
The card has an HP drain ability... uh, why would a fortetecher need that?
Everyone I've known who got the ult bow PA regrets it deeply. It has a higher ATA % and a non-elemental high ATP % mod, but you lose out on SEs and it's not like it's all THAT hard to swap from one bow bullet to another. Plus, it's slower than an ordinary bow and sucks up PP like no one's business.
MELEE WEAPONS
What's weird is that we have better melee options than, say, a Guntecher or even Fortegunner, but we get lower level pas of to use with them. Oh well, no use trying to understand the three great msteries of the universe: Sega Programming, Sega Marketing, or Sega Technical Support.
However, the only melee weapon and PA I could honestly recommend would be the spear and Dus Daggas. Spears are the third-highest in ATP and have great accuracy, and Dus Daggas has a good enough multiplier and a quick-hit that will make some enemies which are resistant to Technics cry uncle. Adhana Deghana turns from "Nightmare on Cockblock Street" to "Barney Meets His Gruesome End Pt VIII." Kog Nadds, if you have a Te-Senba, will also be mauled easily by Daggas as long as you have a decent % dark spear. The better spears have a high ATP requirement, however, so you might take this with a grain of salt, particularly if you're a newman.
While we have access to Renkai (the spinny twin dagger move) you'll hit more enemies with Gi Technics, and Buyou (the somersaulty single dagger move), Dus Daggas is just a bit better for situations that call for neither Technics or Bullets.
ARMOR
You're pretty much going to be using Yohmei armor for much of your career. It covers a Fortetecher's weak points, always has a head slot, and has a low DFP requirement. Later on, you can add some lower-level Tenora armor, but that's hard to equip until you get to 60+ even for B-rank armors.
Now, for fortetechers who keep their distance, it's OK to not worry too much about elemental %. You still have to worry SOME, because many enemies have ranged attacks and some are faster than the hunters can deal with.
However, that isn't always an option. Some of the more powerful Technics a fortetecher has access to, the Gi and Dam Technics particularly, are most effective at close ranges. Of course, a fortetecher is fairly vulnerable to being mauled if he gets too close to an enemy, which is why having a good elemental % armor is very good.
As most people know, the higher an elemental % the armor has, the more damage it blocks. The Te-Senba comes with 27% light naturally, and the Gi-Senba has 28% ice; both pretty valuable elements on Neudaiz. Unfortunately, off of Neudaiz, both of those are a liability rather than an aid.
The Tenora Works 6* armor has a good element, Dark, but it's quite, ah, difficult for fortetechers to equip. While Beast FTs might be able to equip it in the mid-50s, Newmans would probably have to wait until the late 60's, if not the early 70's, to equip it.
But what's a fortetecher to do about fire enemies, which are the widest-spread across the various planets? Or any other enemies that you want elemental % protection from NOW, instead of waiting until you can equip Tenora armor?
Well if you want to keep a head slot, you'll have to synth your own. Ageha-senbas are only 4*, making them fairly easy and cheap to synth even on a no armor PM, and have a head and a body slot. If you're not fussed about a headslot, however, you can always pick up a gigaline for fire elemental %.
Really and honestly, the only reason to pick an A-rank armor over a good % B-rank is to use A-rank units; if you don't have any of those (though they are quite good), you might stick to your B-ranks.
Once you do get A-rank units (if that's your thang), you can synth pretty much any A-rank Yohmei armor and have the head slot you need. Yamata-Senbas are mostly for elitists and people with too much money - there isn't all that much of a stat difference between 7* and 9*, and 7* is so much cheaper to mass synth looking for a good %. It's still not CHEAP cheap, but... You can also just look for the A-rank armors that have head slots, but the only one with an elemental % you'll ever be able to equip is the Sori-Senba, and that comes with a rather low 11% ice.
UNITS
There are two kinds of head units that a fortetecher can make good use of: TP-enhancing units, and quick-casting units. MST just isn't necessary to enhance, unless you're only this far away from being immune to LL Megid and want to solo there.
Of the two, particularly at lower levels, the TP-enhancing units are much easier to lay hands on. However, the quick-casting units are more valuable because they're drop-only and because they make your casting crazy-fast.
The Me/Quick is a B-rank unit available from an Onmagoug on A-rank Demons Above, and both A and S rank Eastern Peril. There are people who prefer the Me/Quick over the A-rank Har/Quick because the Me/Quick only gives a -30 to TP and (on many Technics) the difference is barely perceptible. As soon as you can, you should try to hunt for one: A /Quick unit of SOME sort is practically necessary to get the most out of the game, and a Me/Quick is a bit easier to find...
At the highest levels, there are three units in particular that fortetechers drive themselves to MADNESS hunting: the Har/Quick, Sori/Tech Charge, and Te/PP Save.
The Har/Quick is by far the most popular. Even though it hits your TP with a whopping -100 penalty, it brings even the longest-casting Technics on Rods to speed levels that are just plain bloody fast. Only available from Demons Above S and Eastern Peril S2, which is why you see so many people haunting Eastern Peril S2 these days.
Sori/Tech Charge is less popular, but quite nice. While it ups the amount of PP that all your Technics cost, it also gives you +280 TP - that is not a small amount of damage there. Fortetechers can easily absorb the extra PP cost by using multiple rods or wands anyway. Only available from Moonlight Beast S.
Te/PP Save is... well, hardly necessary for fortetechers, seeing as how it lowers PP costs but most rods and wands have high PP reserves regardless. There are some people who hunt it for street cred or something. (it seems to me that this would be of some use to a wartecher or a guntecher, but a fortetecher?) It's only available from S-rank Darbelans; a rare monster that appears in HIVE and Tunnel Recapture.
I can't overstate this: having a Quick unit is nearly essential for a fortetecher. While you can live without one by using wands as your attack Technic weapons, having one is a goal that you should pursue mightily. Please, though, no Item Drama if someone else gets it when it drops... I hate that.
Insofar as other units go, if you have an arm slot you might want to use a Mega/Knight to up your ATA with cards, or a Mega/Power to get every drop of strength you can. Mega/Rainbow is your best bet for defense if you're wearing a good elemental % armor, but if not go with Leg units; many Technics will finish casting even if you do a blocking animation in the middle of the cast time, and taking 0 damage is preferable to taking a ton of damage.
ME/QUICK VS. HAR/QUICK
Because Tra was nice enough to put up the casting times and then get kicked off the board, I'll put up the compared casting times with each of the units, and no unit.
Level 1+ Techs
Wand (Casts per minute)
. . . . . . . . . . No Quick . . . . . Me / Quick . . . . Har / Quick
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Basic Techs . .40 . . . . . . . . . 42 . . . . . . . . . . 42
Ra Techs . ... .34 . . . . . . . . . 38 . . . . . . . . . . 42
Gi Techs . .. . 32 . . . . . . . . . 37 . . . . . . . . . . 40
Dam Techs . . 12 . . . . . . . . . 12 . . . . . . . . . . 12
Megiverse . .. 6.5 . . . . .. . . . 6.5 . . . . . . . . . . 6.5
Nos Techs . . .28 . . . . . . . . . 28 . . . . . . . . . . 28
Buffs/Debuffs .34 . . . . . . . . . 38 . . . . . . . . . . 42
Giresta . .. . . 18 . . . . . . . . . 24 . . . . . . . . . . 30
Resta . . .. . . 36 . . . . . . . . . 40 . . . . . . . . . . 42
Reverser . .. . 40 . . . . . . . . . 42 . . . . . . . . . . 42
----------------------------
Level 11+ Techs
Wand (Casts per minute)
. . . . . . . . . . No Quick . . . . . Me / Quick . . . . Har / Quick
-----------------------------------------------------------
Basic Techs . .38 . . . . . . . . . 40 . . . . . . . . . . 40
Ra Techs . ... .32 . . . . . . . . . 37 . . . . . . . . . . 40
Gi Techs . .. . 30 . . . . . . . . . 36 . . . . . . . . . . 38
Dam Techs . . 7.75 . . . . . . . . 8 . . . . . . . . . . 8.25
Megiverse . .. 6.5 . . . . . .. . . 6.5 . . . . . . . . . . 6.5
Nos Techs . . .28 . . . . . . . . . 28 . . . . . . . . . . 28
Buffs/Debuffs .32 . . . . . . . . . 37 . . . . . . . . . . 40
Giresta . .. . . 18 . . . . . . . . . 24 . . . . . . . . . . 30
Resta . . .. . . 34 . . . . . . . . . 38 . . . . . . . . . . 42
Reverser . .. . 36 . . . . . . . . . 40 . . . . . . . . . . 42
----------------------------
Level 21+ Techs
Rod (Casts per minute)
. . . . . . . . . . No Quick . . . . . Me / Quick . . . . Har / Quick
-----------------------------------------------------------
Basic Techs . .28 . . . . . . . . . 30 . . . . . . . . . . 32
Ra Techs . ... .24 . . . . . . . . . 28 . . . . . . . . . . 29
Gi Techs . .. . 22 . . . . . . . . . 26 . . . . . . . . . . 28
Dam Techs . ..5.75(46). . . . . .6(4
. . . . . . . . 6.25(50)
Megiverse . .. 5.75(2. . . . . .6(30). . . . . . . . 6.25(31)
Nos Techs . . .28 . . . . . . . . . 28 . . . . . . . . . . 28
Buffs/Debuffs .24 . . . . . . . . . 28 . . . . . . . . . . 29
Giresta . .. . . 15 . . . . . . . . . 20 . . . . . . . . . . 24
Resta . . .. . . 26 . . . . . . . . . 29 . . . . . . . . . . 30
Reverser . .. . 28 . . . . . . . . . 30 . . . . . . . . . . 32
Wand (Casts per minute)
. . . . . . . . . . No Quick . . . . . Me / Quick . . . . Har / Quick
-----------------------------------------------------------
Basic Techs . .36 . . . . . . . . . 39 . . . . . . . . . . 40
Ra Techs . ... .30 . . . . . . . . . 35 . . . . . . . . . . 36
Gi Techs . .. . 26 . . . . . . . . . 32 . . . . . . . . . . 36
Dam Techs . ..6(4. . . . . . . . 6.25(50). . . . . . 6.75(54)
Megiverse . .. 6(30). . . . . . . . 6.25(31). . . . . . 6.75(33)
Nos Techs . . .28 . . . . . . . . . 28 . . . . . . . . . . 28
Buffs/Debuffs .30 . . . . . . . . . 35 . . . . . . . . . . 36
Giresta . .. . . 18 . . . . . . . . . 24 . . . . . . . . . . 30
Resta . . .. . . 32 . . . . . . . . . 36 . . . . . . . . . . 40
Reverser . .. . 34 . . . . . . . . . 38 . . . . . . . . . . 42
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: imfanboy on 2007-09-21 16:49 ]</font>
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: imfanboy on 2007-09-23 13:03 ]</font>
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: imfanboy on 2008-03-11 01:18 ]</font>
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