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! Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together (PSP) !
! !
! SKILL IMPROVEMENT FAQ !
! !
! by coineineagh !
! version 2.6 !
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Table Of Contents:
1. INTRODUCTION
2. EARLY-GAME ADVICE
- Storing your Skill Points is a mistake
- Saving money early on is a mistake
- Switching weapon types frequently is a mistake
- Postponing your crafting upgrades is a mistake
- Not switching Denam's class is a mistake
- Using just one class is a mistake. Using one of every class is a
mistake.
- Not using any new classes is a mistake
- Not using any new unique units is a mistake
3. THE ORIGINAL GOLBORZA PLAINS SETUP
- The Setup
4. RANKED SKILLS
- What types of skills can you level up?
- And what types of skills CAN'T be leveled up in AI?
5. REQUIREMENTS CHECKLIST
A) Classmarks
B) Healing scrolls
C) Cursed weapons (reccommended)
D) Mid-level Warrior class (reccommended)
E) Healing class
F) Exit method
G) Skill setup
6. STEP-BY-STEP WALKTHROUGH
- Inventory preparation
- Readying the units
- Commencing battle
- A.I. stage
- Finishing up
7. XEOD MOORS METHOD
- General description
- Requirements
- Xeod Moors walkthrough
- Pros & Cons
8. SKILL IMPROVEMENT VARIATIONS
- 3 Augments (untested)
- Deflect
- Overpower (untested)
- Herpetology (untested)
- Drain Heart & Meditate (untested)
- No combat
- No enemy attacks
9. MY "PERFECT" ROSTER
10. USEFUL INFO & CREDITS
- Scavenging skills
- Rare item drops
- Missables
- Rare steals
- All about weapons
- About Fortify, Strengthen & Spellcraft
- Credits
11. VERSION INFORMATION
___________________________________________________________________________
LEGAL TERMS & DISCLAIMERS
This may be not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal,
private use. It may not be placed on any website or otherwise distributed
publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other
website or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a
violation of copyright. This document may not be bought or sold, or used in
any way for profitable gain.
This FAQ is authorized to be hosted on the following websites:
www.gamefaqs.com
www.gamespot.com
www.neoseeker.com
This guide is copyright 2012 by Thomas de Jong, e.g. coineineagh.
All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by
their respective trademark and copyright holders.
___________________________________________________________________________
<3 <3 <3
Dedicated to my wife Suby, my son Owen, and my bouncy baby boy Andy!
<3 <3 <3
{1} INTRODUCTION
----------------
It may be unclear to some readers as to what exactly constitutes "Skill
Improvement" in the context of the game. It can be broadly interpreted as
the skill of the player during gameplay, and in light of this very important
aspect, chapter 2 will first provide some general strategic gameplay advice:
Not a walkthrough, but rather some advice for the difficult first chapters,
to help create clarity amidst all the new and confusing aspects of the game.
I wrote this guide to convey the method I used for leveling up many ranked
skills. Be advised that some of the preferred equipment for my method is
hard to acquire, so it is harder to set up during early and mid-game. This
should be used for late game flexibility. In the early game, it's more
important to apply non-ranked skills (skills that don't level up). Ranked
skills can take a very long time to level up, and by the end of the game,
you will only have 2 or 3 well-ranked weapon skills, one strong elemental
augment, and anatomy at half strength. This is very limiting to your class
and equipment options. That's why I devised this method to allow for more
flexibility. Thanks should go to Meeghoi, who posted a topic with a lot of
useful starting information. It's his basic idea; I just expanded on it,
and did some polishing with regard to the details.
For mid-game skill improvement, apply methods from chapter Xeod Moors Method.
It is recomended for first training sessions, is easier to prepare, but has
a few drawbacks. Other methods have since been devised, but these also need
late-game equipment and skills. This FAQ was originally written to explain
the Golborza Plains method, and while this method is still very useful to
late game players such as myself, Xeod Moors offers very easy improvement due
to its low requirements, simple setup, and few variables. Since rewriting this
FAQ to first describe Xeod Moors is too complicated, all I can advise readers,
is to get aquainted with the preparations and thought-processes I describe in
Golborza, so you better understand what needs to be prepared for Xeod Moors.
{2} EARLY-GAME ADVICE
---------------------
As mentioned, making use of tiered skills is of more importance to you in the
challenging early game. It's easy to make a wrong choice, which will worsen
your predicament when you face challenges. Below are a number of easy-to-make
strategic faux-pas for you to avoid.
- Storing your Skill Points is a mistake
It's what I did the first time around. I could have had useful skills to help
me out, but the vast amount of skills confused me, and made me hesitate. Let
me alleviate the worries by listing your main *early-game* priorities:
Weapon skill corresponding to your weapon of course. Casters may skip this.
Counterattack and Strengthen for physical attackers. Fortify I should help
out for now, and is cheaper than Constitution, which is the second defensive
skill, and the one that will continue to be effective. Classes have TP-using
skills of varying usefulness. Depending on their importance, you should get
some of them sooner or later. Anatomy comes last, because at rank 1 it gives
a minor boost. Augments are only relevant for casters right now, but they
should be able to get it quickly due to the few other skills they need.
Oh, and I almost forgot about Field Alchemy. Consumables are patchworks for
your mistakes, but you may have need of them, and the more powerful ones
require this skill to be able to use them.
- Saving money early on is a mistake
You are given Goth to purchase equipment, so you should do so. There will be
moments when you want to buy more things than you have the Goth for, but at
no point in the game is it more vital to be well equipped than at the start.
Pay extra attention to weapons. Get Great Bows for your Archers, not Short
Bows. Also stock up on some consumables and scrolls. Get half a dozen Heal
and Exorcise scrolls for your Knights and Clerics. Don't buy scrolls your
classes can't use, but you can get scrolls that are higher level than the
class is, in anticipation. Don't be cheap: You should be able to buy the
best gear shops have to offer without depleting your purse for a long time,
provided you make wise purchases.
- Switching weapon types frequently is a mistake
The earlier you switch to another weapon type, the better. But if you have a
weapon skill that is (nearly) rank 2, you should honestly consider the wisdom
of starting over with a new weapon type, as it will be some time before you
gain access to a finisher. Canopus should really switch to Crossbows early on
because Bows skill is of limited use to a Vartan (1-handed only). And if you
are thinking of using Ninja class, definitely abandon Hammers for the new
1-handed Katanas, as Double Attack allows Ninja to gain skill quickly, while
the Caldia and Iron Fan (Hammers) will become weak very fast.
- Postponing your crafting upgrades is a mistake
"+1" gear is a lot more powerful than non-upgraded equipment, and you should
make a concerted effort to upgrade most things your regular units use, if
possible. I know the crafting screen is tedious, perhaps the worst aspect of
the game. But if you can navigate its agonizing interface with success, your
team will perform all the better for it. Some gear may be less important
than others to upgrade, so you should use your own judgement. The Mage Staff
requires rare drop components to upgrade, so avoid wasting rare components on
this and other mediocre upgrades. Leather Armour +1 does offer a useful DEX
boost, but unless you got very lucky with Beasthide drops, you won't be able
to make a lot of these yet. Linen Slops +1 is nearly as good, and much easier
to make. Bronze Helm +1 is considered a widely beneficial upgrade. Most
importantly, your physical attackers should equip +1 weaponry to excel.
- Not switching Denam's class is a mistake
It may surprise you how many people keep Denam in his Warrior class early on,
probably due to the same indecision that cause all the stockpiling of vital
early-game resources. But which classes to switch into? Archer works, but I
find it a waste not to utilize his sturdy stats on the frontline. It also
leads to difficulties during duels, if Denam is pitted against strong melee
opponent. I personally liked Knight, to train skills and protect the others
with healing and Rampart Aura. Ninja is also an excellent choice when it
becomes available. Rune Fencer is frequently chosen, though *early on* this
class is too fragile to tank the frontline, and can't do much more than cast
supporting magic until mid levels. Denam's stats are good enough to perform
well at most tasks, with the possible exception of spell casting, since he
usually starts with INT and MIND a bit on the low side.
- Using just one class is a mistake. Using one of every class is a mistake.
While we are reclassing Denam, you should consider others. It should be noted
that having 2 or more units of the same class participate in battle will
allocate more XP to that class after battle, causing it to level faster. So,
it's advantageous to limit the number of classes you bring into battle. With
units that are ALL different classes, leveling up may be slow. However, the
availability of equipment will depend more on battlefield drops than shop
purchases in the future, and you may find yourself wanting for gear that is
level-appropriate. A balance is reccommended, which I believe is around 4
classes per battle. The classes I chose were Archers (acknowledged as the
most powerful starting class), Knights (versatile and sturdy frontliner),
Clerics (exorcism & healing) and a Wizard (early on debuffs are effective).
Vartan would often trade places with Cleric as needed in my attack roster.
- Not using any new classes is a mistake
The leveling system is the 2nd most problematic aspect of the game, receiving
almost as much criticism as the crafting system. Classes are universal to all
units, and start at level 1 when you first use them. Guests like Catiua and
Vyce also count towards leveling classes. Once your regular classes are into
double-digit levels, introducing a new class at level 1 is very unappealing:
It has much lower stats than your high-level allies, and enemies can kill it
off easily, forcing it to hide in the rear. But this situation lasts just a
few battles, after which the new class has gained enough XP to be almost on
par with the others. You don't have to use *every* new class; in fact you
shouldn't because that would be a mistake, as mentioned above. But choose the
ones that appeal to your needs. Don't avoid new classes purely because you
dread the 'hassle' of leveling them up from scratch.
- Not using any new unique units is a mistake
This 'mistake' is debatable; you can complete the game with just your starting
generics. But I added this to warn about some people's tendency to stick with
their starting units devotedly, even missing out on sidequests that depend on
dialogue from uniques in battle. You will also miss out on special classes
that only these unique recruits can use. There are too many uniques to make
room for in your main attack roster, but many of them are worth investing in.
You can look up unit speed in my Scavenging/Recruitment FAQ under Uniques' RT.
{3} THE ORIGINAL GOLBORZA PLAINS SETUP
--------------------------------------
There are a number of ways to speed up the leveling, but most of them require
a measure of hands-on management. Meeghoi first noticed that clerics on
Golborza Plain were ideally suited for creating an 'infinite battle'.
Clerics have weak attack, but are good healers. They can never defeat units
with decent defenses and a source of healing. You can manipulate the A.I. by
rigging your units. A.I. will try to win the battle for you, but you must
prevent that. So, you must use weak weapons, remove all skills that raise
damage, and have a healer on hand to counter the cleric's melee. Of course,
there is the issue of other enemies on the map, which means you'll need a
unit strong enough to defeat them alone. That powerful unit becomes unwelcome
after the non-clerics are defeated, so it must leave the battlefield before
the auto battle starts. If it is possible to have trainees be a much lower
level class than the powerful unit accompanying them, then this will also
help to make attacks against the clerics weaker, because the clerics will
have spawned around the level of the strong unit that exited. It seems simple
enough, but in practice it takes ages to setup. That's why I wrote this guide.
It's all about the damage picture, for making battle sustainable. Clerics have
only weak melee to attack, but can heal a lot of damage. So you must turn your
training team into something similar; weak attack with sufficient healing. By
activating melee AI, making your characters do low damage, and only battling
clerics, the battle is endless, and so is skill improvement. The only
limitations are your own skill in setting up the endless battle, and your own
ability to muster the patience to wait for skills to max out (some level
faster than others).
--- The Setup
The Golborza Plains are located between Almorica Castle and the Arkhaiopolis
of Rhime. It is one of the earliest maps available. As a result, the minimum
level of the opponents in a random encounter is set very low. The enemies also
have few skills equipped. The clerics who spawn at (1, 7)* and (5, 20)* only
have Divine Magic, Sidestep I and Anatomy equipped. The winged cleric who
spawns at (11, 2)* only has Divine Magic, Resistance I and Anatomy equipped.
It is important to note that the absence of Cudgels skill is a necessity,
since cudgel finishers become powerful in the end. The terrain is ideal for
mobility in A.I. The clerics can run, but your units will not be hampered by
obstacles or elevation.
* The (x, y) notation refers to the Cartesian coordinates system used to
locate units on maps in the game. (0, 0) is the leftmost corner on map. The
X-coordinate is counted downwards, and the Y-coordinate is counted upwards &
to the right.
{4} RANKED SKILLS
-----------------
Ranked skills start at level 1 when learned, and are maxed at level 8. The
type of skills that can be leveled using this method, are skills that are used
in A.I. mode. If the Artificial Intelligence doesn't apply the skill in battle,
it won't level. I'll list the viable skills that can benefit from auto battle
in A.I. mode.
--- What types of skills can you level up?
1) Augment Light: You can safely level this without using any light-based
action, because enemy clerics attack you. At sufficiently high level, the
clerics will have Staff of Restoration equipped, which is Light elemental.
The only reason not to equip this, is if Augment Darkness is more important,
since they can't be equipped together.
2) Other Augment [element] skills: This is the most important type, in my
opinion. The later game becomes all about elements, so it will compel you to
stick with a certain element. Leveling more augments will give you much more
equipment options, and all kinds of flexibility.
3) Anatomy: This is an important boost when fighting humans, the game's most
frequent opponents. Theoretically, you could level similar "-ology" skills
by equipping them on a generic recruit of that race. Aurology on a Fairy, or
Daemonology on an Orc, for example. But since this will only improve from
being damaged by the cleric, other '-ologies' will only improve slowly, and
if the clerics choose to target others in your group, it might be too slow.
4) Cudgels skill: You can safely level this without equipping a cudgel,
because the clerics attack you with a cudgel. Taking damage from a cudgel
will boost your own weapon skill in Cudgels.
5) Other weapon skills: Having skill in using a weapon makes all the
difference. Trying to level these is risky, though. Be warned that weapon
skills have powerful finishers, which may cause problems for the auto battle.
If you are equipping a cursed weapon that only does 1 damage per strike, you
can feel safe enough to equip weapon skills. If your base attack is higher,
your finisher damage is hard to estimate. They will also occur more often,
due to TP buildup.
Finally, beware of finisher elements. If you have equipped an element that
the finisher uses, you may want to reconsider. Finisher damage with elemental
augment can become quite high, and the same applies for multi-hit finishers.
Full info is found in the Skill FAQ chapter About Weapons. For easy reference:
Fist: Fire, Dark
Dagger: Air, x2
1hsword: x2, Ice, Divine
2hsword: Air, Lightning
Spear: Lightning, range2-3 area2
Axe: Ice, x2, Earth
Hammer: Ice, Lightning, Fire range2-3 area2
1hkatana: Thunder, x2, Divine
2hkatana: Fire, Dark
Cudgel: Divine, Divine x2, Divine x3
Spellbook: Earth, Dark
Whip: Water, Ice (Ozma only), x2
Instrument: x2, Wind range0 area3, Water range0 area3
Blowgun: Ice, Lightning, Divine
Crossbow: Fire range3-5 area2, x3
Bow: Lightning, Fire
Fusil: Air x2, Divine
6) Parry: This will slow things down considerably, as missed attacks don't
level the other skills. A dodged/sidestepped attack does improve weapon skill
XP even on the target, but Parry or Deflect will only allow for half the
improvement of Weapon skill, Augment [element], Anatomy, etc. Be aware that
this skill levels a lot slower than the rest, so if you are determined to max
it, it may take days! There is an easy scavenge point for this skill, when you
acquire Lanselot at the end of the game. That's also an option. The game
mechanics first checks for successful block attempts before allowing for a
Parry attempt. If your unit has high AVD stat, this may actually get in the
way of Parry skill improvement. The only thing you can do about this, is not
equip gear with high AVD. Enemies will consistently go for the unit with the
lowest defense score, so it will receive most of the attacks. When bringing in
a team of trainees, you will likely only see 1 or 2 level up their Parry
skill, while the rest are neglected. Although you may think this also forms a
problem for Augment Light and Cudgels skill, this is in fact less of a
problem. Parry only improves if an attack was parried, but successful cleric
attacks are another issue. Clerics will get opportunities to strike at the
back of a unit, which will succeed more often than not. Parry also levels much
much slower than Cudgels and Augment Light. Clerics successfully attack all of
your units, so all will see their skills improve. Some skills faster than
others, of course. Parry and Deflect will *only* be active if a melee weapon
is equipped.
7) Meditate: It should be possible to get the A.I. to use this, but I
haven't attempted it yet. You'd need slow MP regeneration, and a high usage
of MP. Try having the lowest damage spell available to the caster costing at
least 30MP. Making the unit faster by unequipping armour might also help in
this regard, because the unit will gain less MP before it gets its next turn.
8) Other Skills: There are a huge variety of class-specific skills which I
haven't even tried out. Try to use your common sense, and imagine if they
would be activated in A.I. or not. It may be possible to improve ranked
skills like Lament of the Dead, Rapier Glance and Check, but you may find that
Frightened, Bound or Shackled clerics die more easily as a result.
--- And what types of skills CAN'T be leveled up in AI?
9) Deflect: Enemy Clerics don't shoot or throw anything at you, so it's
impossible to improve this. Read chapter 9: Skill Improvement Variations for
suggestions on how to improve this skill.
10) Overpower: I haven't seen Overpower improve in Golborza, because Clerics
do not have access to Deflect or Parry skill, so there is nothing to
Overpower. From other A.I. setups it seems to improve too slowly to possibly
be viable. It might take weeks. The easiest route to quickly gain rank 4
Parry and Overpower skills, is from Lanselot in CODA 4. In the chapter Skill
Improvement Variations I wrote some suggestions for *possibly* improving
Overpower, but these would require a very involved set up. Finding a target
with access to a Deflect or Parry skill to defend against your attacks is key.
11) Resist Silence: It improves from enemy clerics' Silence attempts, but it
suffers from the same slowness issues as Overpower. Hardly worth the trouble.
12) Steal: A.I. doesn't use steal, so I can't let it be done automatically.
Steal must be leveled up manually. It can't be scavenged because no enemies
have it equipped. Here's the best way to do it, as well as the best item you
can get from stealing:
www.gamefaqs.com/boards/999440-tactics-ogre-let-us-cling-together/64869191
13) Recruitment skills: The A.I. will not attempt to recruit opponents under
any circumstances.
{5} REQUIREMENTS CHECKLIST
--------------------------
Besides essentials, this also lists non-essential things which speed up or
enhance the process somehow.
A) Classmarks: You will need to reclass units so they can equip the elemental
weapon you choose for them. Also try to choose a low level class that will
deal less damage.
B) Healing scrolls: Divine healing spells are suitable, and the Water Magic
Quench spell is a viable alternative too.
C) Cursed weapons: These drop in a variety of locations in Palace of the
dead. Each weapon type has 2 drop locations. PotD Cursed Weapon Locations:
See also: PotD Loot Spreadsheet
Floor 51: Bow -- Blood Hunter (Male, Chaotic, Elevation 5) (4, 6)
Floor 54: Blowgun -- Dark Stalker (Female, Chaotic, Elev 10) (16, 3)
Floor 56: Spear -- Blood Gavial (Chaotic, Elev 4) (5, 4) /
Instrument -- Boogie Man (Chaotic, Elev 4) (18, 4)
Floor 58: Sword (2H) -- Crimson Uhlan (Male, Chaotic, Elev 10) (5, 4)
Floor 59: Sword (1H) -- Rune Fencer (Winged, Chaotic, Elev 12) (11, 0)
Floor 60: Axe -- Executioner (Female, Chaotic, Elev 14) (25, 7)
Floor 61: Book -- Lore Master (Male, Chaotic, Elev 5) (7, 3)
Floor 63: Hammer -- Hoplite (Neutral, Elev 18) (4, 21)
Floor 64: Dagger -- Banshee (Chaotic, Elev 9) (14, 9)
Floor 70: Katana (2H) -- Kill Seeker (Female, Chaotic, Elev 2) (8, 0) /
Fists -- Warrior (Orc, Neutral, Elev 13) (14, 13)
Floor 72: Cudgel -- Lich King (Male, Chaotic, Elev 16) (3, 8)
Floor 73: Katana (1H) -- Dark Stalker (Male, Chaotic, Elev 13) (12, 18)
Floor 74 [non-story battle]: Fusil -- Sniper (Male, Elev 5) /
Whip -- Iron Fist (Female, Elev 5)
Floor 75: Crossbow -- Blood Hunter (Female, Chaotic, Elev 11) (9, 14)
Floor 77: Bow -- Blood Hunter (Male, Chaotic, Elev 22) (14, 17)
Floor 78: Blowgun -- Dark Stalker (Female, Chaotic, Elev 3) (14, 12)
Floor 79: Whip -- Iron Fist (Female, Chaotic, Elev 4) (15, 9)
Floor 81: Hammer -- Blood Gavial (Chaotic, Elev 12) (5, 18)
Floor 83: Fusil -- Sniper (Female, Chaotic, Elev 8) (8, 5)
Floor 85: Katana (1H) -- Dark Stalker (Male, Chaotic, Elev 6) (14, 14)
Floor 86: Dagger -- Grim Reaper (Female, Chaotic, Elev 11) (1, 12)
Floor 88: Katana (2H) -- Kill Seeker (Female, Chaotic, Elev 22) (7, 16)
Floor 89: Cudgel -- Witch Queen (Female, Chaotic, Elev 19) (3, 5)
Floor 90: Sword (1H) -- Shadow Knight (Male, Chaotic, Elev 9) (13, 11) /
Crossbow -- Blood Hunter (Female, Chaotic, Elev 4) (12, 2)
Floor 91: Axe -- Executioner (Male, Chaotic, Elev 15) (3, 1) /
Book -- Lore Master (Female, Chaotic, Elev 4) (11, 5)
Floor 92: Sword (2H) -- Warrior (Zombie, Male, Neutral, Elev 12) (4, 6)
Floor 93: Fists -- Night Crow (Chaotic, Elev 14) (7, 27)
Floor 94: Instrument -- Boogie Man (Chaotic, Elev 14) (7, 14)
Floor 95: Spear -- Cannibal (Chaotic, Elev 22) (5, 19)
You need to sacrifice a unit to make the cursed weapon gain an element, an
ability called Snapdragon. It only works with generic, non-unique human(oid)s.
Don't worry if your snapped weapons are a bit weak - that's actually a good
thing. These cursed weapons are equippable from level 1, so the right class
at any level can pick one up. I can't emphasize enough how important they are.
If snapped with a unit, it gains an element, and there are lots of stat boots
to beef up your defenses. A unit with 1 damage per strike is very safe.
Cursed weapons allow for large groups of trainees to fight the clerics
together. Without them, you'll be forced to have only 2-3 trainees per
session. Choose your elements carefully, and make sure there is variety, so
you can auto-level different elements with them. Cursed weapons are very
valuable for this method, but they also have great potential by themselves.
Using a powerful generic unit to create an equally powerful cursed weapon is
an end goal of many players. But a powerful weapon is definitely not suitable
for auto battle. That's why I'd suggest you first snap a series of weakish
weapons for this purpose, and only create powerful endgame cursed weapons
after you have finished training. You should be visiting Palace of the Dead
more than once, anyway. A recent (re)discovery is that the Crest of Fire from
the Blackmoor battle in PotD (see the Skill FAQ for info) will lower the RT of
the snapped weapon by 5 if the unit had it equipped at the time. The Crest of
Fire will also be returned to inventory afterwards.
D) Mid-level Warrior class: Warriors are awesome, because they can choose
from a large variety of weapons to equip. They can use 8 out of the 17 types
of cursed weapons; more than any other class has available to them. This
means you have many potential weapons available, and many elements too. If
still at low level, their added Strength is also low. This helps keep their
damage to the clerics to a minimum, because Clerics spawned at the level of a
higher-level ally. Combine with a cursed weapon, and auto-leveling will become
safe & easy.
E) Healing class: Anything that can cast healing (Quench also works) but not
damage spells is fine. This healer may be able to train in 2 augments
simultaneously: Light/Water when healing, and another when attacking.
Theoretically, 3 elements can be leveled up: Light passively, Water when
healing, and anything but Dark when attacking.
F) Exit method: you have a number of options to consider for this.
F*) Barricade (RF/Valkyrie, Fusilier) or Jack 'o Lantern (Familiar): A recent
suggestion by howard2805 caused us to devise an efficient method for removing
the powerful unit from battle. It requires walling in the strong unit behind
terrain and barricades, effectively removing it from combat. Even mages and
archers with ranged attacks seem to ignore opponents if they are unable to
reach them on foot, regardless of whether their ranged attack can reach the
enemy or not. It does require that one of the allies can produce an obstacle
of some kind. Rampart or Sanctuary Shadows may also work, but they have not
been tested, and may not cause 'A.I. blindness'. Water tiles do not count as
'blinding' obstacles, but map edge, elevation, vegetation and barricades do.
Be advised that some finishers and Spears may accidentally destroy obstacles
that removed a unit from combat, so doublecheck the finisher list before you
include 'risky' weapon skills for improvement.
F**) Shift Stone or Palace Guide: Allows you to escape battle. The items are
rare, but the payoff will be good in the end. You may consider getting more
Shift Stones with world instead of wasting valuable Palace Guides.
F***) Black Plume: This is the 'cheapest' way to exit with your strong unit.
Don't recklessly cast this from scroll, though: It's a rare Necromancy scroll
that only drops in story battles on floors 5 & 41 in Palace of the Dead. Use
it with care. A high level Necromancer or Lich can cast this easily. I used
my Lich for this. It costs a Shoulder Shard instead of a Shift Stone.
F****) Elixir: This is not the most ideal way to do things. If you KILL your
own unit, it can later drink an Elixir to restore a heart. Elixirs can be
found as drops from all the Octopi in Phorampa Wildwood. An incapacitation
and death will be recorded in the Warren Report.
G) Skill setup:
-UNEQUIP USELESS OR HARMFUL SKILLS: Especially Strengthen for weapon attacks,
and Spellcraft in case you plan to use magic. I strongly suggest melee over
ranged or magical attacks: Even if your magic is weak enough, it means your
units stay far away from the clerics. Clerics will only attack you if you're
in their faces; they're not going to chase down Archers just to whack at
them. You need those clerics to melee if you want to gain Cudgels, Augment
Light and Parry skill passively. Field Alchemy is another very harmful skill,
which would allow the A.I. to pillage your stocks of consumables.
-CUDGELS: Unless you actually equip a cudgel, this is a safe way to gain a
free rank 8 Cudgels skill. Don't equip a cudgel with this skill AND Augment
Light; it's a guaranteed kill, since there is a triple-strike Light finisher.
-WEAPON SKILL: This is only feasible if your weapon attack is very weak.
Which is why weak cursed weapons are invaluable for this operation.
-ANATOMY: This will enhance your unit's combat strength considerably. Very
important. If maxed from an earlier training session, remove it of course.
-AUGMENT LIGHT: This levels passively by being hit by Staff of Restoration,
which the clerics have equipped. Sometimes one may spawn with a Damasc Mace
instead, which has no element. If more than 1 spawn with Damasc Maces,
perhaps you should reload, because they have weak defense from their lack of
a shield. On a sidenote, units don't get any improvement from *being* healed,
so it serves no purpose to equip Augment Water on anyone other than your
Quench caster.
-AUGMENT [element]: To be enhanced in combat. If you equip Augment Dark,
you'll be forced to forego Augment Light. They are mutually exclusive.
-PARRY: Be aware this levels very very slowly, and not all in a large group
of trainees will be targeted equally by clerics. Units with lowest defense
will be more likely to see it improve. Due to slowness issues, don't rely on
this method for leveling Overpower. Read the details about Fortify skill
carefully, and act accordingly, if you want to see everyone improve this
skill.
-DIVINE/WATER MAGIC: Don't forget this, or your healer won't be able to heal.
A silly but easy mistake to make. And frustrating, trust me. If it can also
cast damage spells or debuffs that hamper the clerics, you have a problem.
Let another unit be healer instead.
-COUNTER ATTACK I: It gets your unit another attack while the cleric attacks
you, so it speeds things up. Counter Attack I is the safest rank. If you plan
to use ranged or magic with your trainees instead of melee, then this skill
is useless.
-TRUESTRIKE: After deliberately weakening the attack of your unit, it will
suffer from a high miss chance. This mitigates the problem. The higher the
rank, the better. If you can't spend skill points on it, your skill
improvement will take a while longer.
-SPELL WARD: Against Silence. Useful, but Catiua's Crimson Necklace, a
Wizard's Hat or Buckler +1 will also make you silenceproof. It's the only
option for Knight-type healers training with 2-handed weapons.
-CONSTITUTION: This is perhaps unnecessary, if your team has enough hit
points to survive, but should be considered if there are free slots.
-FORTIFY: Just in case your allies are very weak, and the clerics actually
hit hard. If you don't have the skill slots, you may not need it. If a unit
has high defense, clerics will strike at a weaker trainee instead. I used to
think Fortify might help even out the distribution of enemy Cleric's attacks,
but it quickly becomes useless to allies with more than 300 base defense, as
I've tested myself. Although Fortify increases the defense score in the unit
screen, it no longer reduces damage beyond approximately 300DEF at level 50;
the DEF cap is even lower at lower level. Barricades offer more possibilities
to redistribute enemy attacks, as I will explain.
{6} STEP-BY-STEP WALKTHROUGH
----------------------------
--- Inventory preparation
OK, so let's start at the beginning.
Choose the skills you want to rank up. Your dilemmas will mostly involve
which elements, and the mutual exclusivity of Light & Dark elements.
Look at your class roster. Which healing-capable class has the lowest level?
Remember, if it's too low, the clerics might actually be dangerous. Assuming
the enemy clerics spawn at level 40-50, a class that is still around level
15-30 would be ideal.
How does your Warrior class look? Too high level? Choose a class that can
equip the weapon/magic skill you plan to use.
Prepare by stocking up on a handful of Quench and/or Heal scrolls.
Do you have any Mend Leaves +0? Craft them all into +1, because A.I. loves to
use them, and ignores whether a healer has its turn next. You will also lose
all your stock of Illumina Nectar in A.I. mode, unless your magic users are
100% silenceproof. Magic Leaves +0 might also be at risk.
The A.I. doesn't seem to use Glass Pumpkins, Heavenly Forks, scrolls, tarot
cards or most other things accessible without Field Alchemy. But..!
Do any of your trainees have missing hearts? They will drink any Elixirs you
have to restore their hearts. If you plan to scavenge the trainee for skills
later, it's a waste. If you want to restore another's heart instead, you
should do that first.
--- Readying units
Choose a unit that will defeat the enemies in Golborza Plains on its own. It
should be high level, tough and powerful. A Valkyrie, Fusilier, Lich or
Necromancer would be best, so it can use Barricade or Black Plume afterwards.
Remember that this unit will leave early, and can't train its skills in that
session. The strong unit could be any class, as long as it can BE barricaded
by an ally with the skill.
Choose the trainees you will bring into combat. If you have (Snapdragoned)
cursed weapons, you can bring in more units than normal, because your damage
is so low. Perhaps two or three can train with normal elemental weapons, but
keep a good eye on their damage output.
Reclass the trainees. Make a separate SAVE before doing so, because there
are many class complications, and you don't want to waste classmarks.
Equipment should be tailored for their damage output/intake. If you fear
their defense is a bit low, use the best gear you can equip on them. If you
fear they will damage the clerics too much, avoid items that add a lot of
STR, DEX or ATT. Jewelry IV crafting book allows you to craft earrings with
a very high damage resistance. They are equippable from level 15. If you
deliberately equip the wrong weapon bonus earring, it won't raise your attack
much either. But if you expect your attack will be low, equipping the correct
weapon-bonus earring should improve accuracy.
Time for skills. Click the 'Remove all skills' button, because you want a
clean slate to concentrate on. This requires some time; use the list in (5G).
Your old skills were for a completely different purpose, and can only serve
to distract and confuse you. One wrong skill, and you need to restart. On a
sidenote: Don't bother equipping skills that the class can't use. Even when
equipped, skills like Cudgels and Overpower won't improve on a Valkyrie, for
example.
Which trainee will do the healing? Make sure it has the magic skill equipped,
and has learned the scroll. The magic skill shouldn't give the unit access to
damage spells or debuffs that would hamper the enemy clerics. Silence is a
common problem: If you must us this unit as healer, then auto-battle will
only work if an enemy cleric spawned with a Wizard's Hat (silenceproof). If
your healer is a new caster and hasn't learned any healing spell yet, don't
try to be clever by thinking: "I'll cast if from scroll in battle to get a
free healing." It's so easy to make a mistake, so just learn the spell now.
Equip the weapons, of course. Cursed weapons are best. Is something wrong?
Did you discover a combination isn't possible? Don't fret. Reload your SAVE
from earlier, and think of how to circumvent the problem. You'll get it right
in the end.
--- Commencing battle
Okay, now the training session should be prepared. Go on 'patrol' between
Almorica and Rhime until you stumble on a 'random' encounter.
Before you forget to do so, toggle Automate Battle Messages to ON. You will
find this in the battle Menu --> Options --> Automate Battle Messages. It is
set to OFF by default. If you don't do this, A.I. will wait after the first
message appears from a spell or finisher. It never dismisses story messages.
You'd be very lucky to get all 3 clerics on your first try. Only see two?
Wait, don't exit yet. See what kind of damage you do on them. Is a unit close
to 100 damage per strike? This won't work. You need to get a cursed weapon
for him/her. Check if it might have Strengthen equipped by mistake. Do the
clerics take at most around 40 damage each from your strongest trainee? Then
they spawned with good equipment, and the two of them might be OK. Since
they have good defense, it probably means Staff of Restoration + shield,
which is preferable over Damasc Mace. Reloading for 3 clerics takes time, so
2 strong ones is a spawn that is just as good. Remember that if your healer
can cast Silence, you need to find an enemy cleric with a Wizard's Hat.
Battle time! Let the weakened trainees cower at the back, while your solo
hero takes out the Archers first and foremost, then the other threats. Keep
the healer in range, just in case your hero gets in trouble.
Once that's done, let the hero make an exit. Wall it in if you can; Black
Plume is also good; Shift Stone or Palace Guide are other options, and
suicide is the worst option. He/she can't just hang around: A.I. doesn't have
a 'do nothing at all' mode.
--- A.I. stage
Now before you start auto battle, make a QUICKSAVE. Now you can set
everyone's A.I. to Melee, Ranged or Caster, depending on their primary attack.
Like I said before, Melee is by far the preferred option. A.I. gives priority
to damage, though, so if your trainee can do more damage with another attack,
you're out of luck.
Observe how things are going for the little bruisers for a short while.
Perhaps they seem to be continually losing hit points. Check if your healer
can actually heal. Are the clerics just outmatched? Maybe you should consider
removing your biggest damage dealer. A second Shift Stone is a small price to
pay, if up to five other trainees can still benefit.
If everything's going fine, you can leave it. Check up in an hour or so. By
this time you will know if the battle is sustainable or not. The
'congratulations' victory screen will be an ironic message in this case.
Remember to leave your PSP in the charger at this point.
Check up on progress every few hours, and make an occasional QUICKSAVE just
in case your progress is somehow lost.
You will probably see that weapon skills have maxed out in no time, elemental
augments take a while longer, and Anatomy a bit longer still. Passive skill
improvement will probably take longer, especially in large groups. You need
to hope and see if the clerics choose to attack you or not. One way to speed
up progress for the slackers, is to set A.I. for the finished trainees to
something else. Caster, Healer or Rear Guard. But, even if they did max all
their skills except Parry, I'd still let them melee for a bit more improvement.
--- Finishing up
howard2805 made the suggestion of using cleverly placed barricades to pin the
Clerics down and speed up skill improvement. Although he didn't mean it for
the Golborza Plains method, it gave me the idea that barricades can be used to
force enemy Clerics to attack the allies they've been neglecting up until now.
This may allow you to get better distribution of Parry and other improvement
to skills that depend on enemy Cleric's attacks. Keep in mind that you can't
place more than 10 barricades on a map, and you should prevent your attacking
ally from being knocked back, too: That might allow the Cleric to free itself.
You have the option of taking an ally Valkyrie out of a self-imposed barricade
to set up the new barricade for the clerics: It can wall itself in again after
the new obstacles have been set up, before reactivating the A.I.
You might go straight for another session with other trainees. If for whatever
reason you want to bring a previous trainee in again, you could unequip skills
you already maxed, like Anatomy.
Enjoy the end result. You don't have to feel bad about using non-elemental
weapons anymore, or unequipping ranked skills to make room for others.
The long 'augmentation race' is over.
You are also welcome to re-read my step-by-step learning experience on the
thread I originally posted:
www.gamefaqs.com/boards/999440-tactics-ogre-let-us-cling-together/62813804
As well as the summary I wrote in the General info topic:
www.gamefaqs.com/boards/999440-tactics-ogre-let-us-cling-together/58370371
?page=13
{7} XEOD MOORS METHOD
---------------------
--- General description
Dorami made a detailed thread of this method, so I will attempt to relay the
method, and add a few missed points. Dorami is not the first or only person
to have applied this method, as players have been using this map for a long
time, as well as the setup.
www.gamefaqs.com/boards/999440-tactics-ogre-let-us-cling-together/63627457
This exact method can NOT level the Meditate* skill or any weapon skills
besides 1-handed Sword and Hammers. Adaptations of this method can, though.
They will be mentioned in the following chapter.
You can only train 1 person at a time. It relies on the Valkyrie / Rune
Fencer's Hit Point Infusion skill (HP Infusion), a light element weapon
(Brynhildr, Oracion or Ambicion) to incapacitate Skeletons/Zombies in one
strike, and exploiting the vegetation on the map to wall yourself in. No
other weapons are possible; the Valkyrie's weapon selection is limited.
Fortunately, Valkyries can equip the Caldia fan, which is considered a Hammer.
This allows Valkyries and Rune fencers to equip the Hammers skill regardless
of gender, and gain passive skill improvement IF attacked by a Hammer.
--- Requirements
You will need to have your Valkyrie class be at least level 30, to be able to
use Brynhildr, or alternatively, Ambicion is equippable at level 20. Ambicion
drops in CODA 4, so for mid-game players Brynhildr and level 30 Valkyrie class
should be the basic requirement. If you really can't wait, though, you might
be able to pull it off with an undead-slaying Baldur Sword +1 at level 12.
But beware of the high risk of dying when you have poor skills and stats.
The equipment should include:
- Brynhildr
- Rozenzi Shield (gives +2 to Parry, which will speed up improvement)
- Armour (the best choice depends on your level)
- Winged Boots, Sidhe Boots or Cloud Shoes (mobility is highly recommended)
- Crest of Fire gives stat bonuses and Deathproof. Alternatively Saint King's
Choker, Guardsman's Earring or Ring of the Horde (+1) will suffice.
Your unit's skill setup should be:
- 1-handed Sword skill
- Augment Light
- Augment [other element you want to improve]
- [element] magic (make sure you have a MISSILE-type spell learned too)
- HP Infusion
The following skills are not essential, but desirable if there is room:
- Parry
- Anatomy (optional & only if the *trainee* is human. read below)
- Daemonology (Zombie humans are considered Umbra in the game, not Undead)
- Thanatology
- Hammers (Sometimes Zombie Knights spawn with a Hammer equipped. If you make
sure that unit is attacking you, you could improve Hammers passively)
- Barricade (to create obstacles, optional)
Skills which aid melee, if that is necessary for your unit:
- Fortify (less damage taken)
- Constitution (more Hit Points)
- Strengthen (more damage dealt)
- Truestrike (better hit chance)
DON'T equip:
- Field Alchemy (A.I. might plunder your consumables)
- Spellcraft (you don't want to easily kill opponents at range)
- Counterattack* (you risk not-killing opponent and giving it TP for finisher)
Unlike Golborza, there are no human opponents in Xeod. This means that you
only gain Anatomy skill if you get hit by them. Anatomy will advance far
slower than in the Golborza method, because you will often be blocking and
parrying attacks. You may find that Anatomy is too slow to improve because of
this, so I'd advise to try Golborza for fast Anatomy instead.
The main reason that you must use a light-element sword, is because you want
to one-hit-knock-out (OHKO) you opponent. If your attack does less damage, the
opponent will be alive with TP for a finisher, and this is especially dangerous
when facing a Hammer opponent, because there is a ranged area-effect hammer
finisher, which could cause the opponent to move away from you, and/or destroy
vegetation that surrounds you.
* Sometimes A.I. chooses to use TP for a finisher instead of HP Infusion. In my
experience, A.I. uses HP Infusion often enough to keep the trainee alive, but
in some situations you may get unlucky. Dorami recommended Counterattack III to
ensure the opponent gets stilled the moment it revives and attacks you. This
only works if your damage at 75% is still enough to OHKO. If you are unsure,
then it's better to unequip the skill, or check the damage at the start of
battle by selecting your sword attack, and scrolling over the enemies.
** The only Dark spells that can affect Undead and Zombies, are the Drain-type
spells and Hellhound. Hellhound can be used by Valkyries, and this is the only
way a Valkyrie can possibly improve Augment Darkness.
--- Xeod Moors walkthrough
You will need 3 to 5 Banish or Exorcism scrolls. Banish is only available in
Palace of the Dead, but costs 300Goth less than Exorcism scrolls.
Just like the Golborza method, make sure you have crafted all your Mend Leaf
+0 into +1, so the A.I. can't use them without Field Alchemy.
Once you have your trainee equipped and ready, go on patrol between Balmamusa
and Coritanae until you enter battle.
Before you forget to do so, toggle Automate Battle Messages to ON. You will
find this in the battle Menu --> Options --> Automate Battle Messages. It is
set to OFF by default. If you don't do this, A.I. will wait after the first
message appears from a spell or finisher.
It's better to only deploy your trainee. Other units will need to exit using
a Shift Stone, Palace Guide or Black Plume spell. If you have a Lich or
Necromancer with that last spell, it could help out. Don't forget that it
might make enemies spawn at higher level, if it is higher level than the
Valkyrie / Rune Fencer trainee.
Beware of the enemies' clan and your trainees: Enemies from nearly all clans
can spawn at Xeod Moors: I didn't take careful notes, but I've seen Walister,
Galgastani, Bakram and even Lodis units. Avoid facing units of the same clan
in battle!
You want to do a headcount now. you need to see at least 3 melee units that
are not of your clan. If there aren't at least 3, you'll have to reload for
better spawns. Spear users don't count. This might take a while if your
trainee is Galgastani. Jeunan and Azelstan will be hard to train here. Are you
planning to improve Hammer skill passively? Look to see if a Zombie knight is
there, and what its clan is.
If you decided to equip Counterattack III, check to see if your projected
damage at 75% is still enough to OHKO your chosen melee opponent.
Assuming you entered battle alone, you must first eliminate the Archers, as
they are the biggest threat. Use your boots or a Wheel of Fortune or The
World tarot card to gain a mobility advantage, and ignore the melee units for
now. Your boots only have 5 castings of your mobility spell, so move wisely.
If you run out of castings, there are always tarot cards for emergencies.
Archers, mages and Spear users are a threat to the auto battle. They destroy
vegetation and/or deal too much damage. They must be removed permanently.
Remove the stilled Undead and Zombies with Banish/Exorcise scrolls before
their timer runs out.
There should be 3 or 4 melee units left behind. 4 is preferable. Look at
their Magic Resist score in the unit screen. The unit with the lowest score
will likely be targeted in A.I., though it may step out of range of your magic
later, so it's no guarantee. If you want the Zombie Knight to hit you with a
Hammer, you already know who your attacker must be, so you can skip this part.
Now you must make your way to the rightmost corner of the map. If you have the
Barricade skill available, you can first create obstacles at locations that
will be out of range of your missile magic spells. This will reduce the number
of missed chances to attack opponents at range, because they all happen to
stand on nearby squares. When you wall yourself in at (13, 21), try to make the
enemy that stands in front of you be of the other creature type than the one
with lowest Magic Resist. This way, your chances of attacking both Skeleton and
Zombie are highest, and you will see both Thanatology and Daemonology improve.
Perhaps you will be doing a lot of magic damage at range. This is why you need
at least 3, preferably 4 enemies remaining. Combat will end if all are stilled.
You will see that Parry is leveling slowly but surely. In fact, this method
improves Parry more reliably than the Golborza method.
Put your PSP in the charger. Remember to make quicksaves periodically, as it
will still take some time. If you see one of the skills Thanatology or
Daemonology improve much faster than the other, you could consider exorcising
1 of the 4 units, or flying out and back into the defensive location so that
a different kind of unit will stand next to you. If you were tackling the
Zombie Knight with a Hammer before, it will now have maxed Hammer skill, which
means it has access to a ranged area-effect finisher. You must exorcise it, or
it will destroy the obstacles at range.
--- Pros & Cons
A lot simpler than the Golborza Plains method, as you can see.
ADVANTAGES of XEOD MOORS training method, compared with Golborza method:
1) Lower requirements, which are a lot easier to meet.
2) Setting up the training is simpler, as only 1 unit needs to be reclassed
and adapted for the session.
3) Once the training session is successfully underway, the risk of an unwanted
victory is very low.
4) Leveling will occur faster, and passive skill acquirement (Parry) is more
reliable. Read the next chapter for tips about ranking Deflect skill. Parry
and Deflect will *only* be active if a melee weapon is equipped.
5) Easy rank 8 weapon skill for 1-handed Swords, and possibly Hammers.
6) No Shift Stone needed, or any equivalent escape method.
7) Less reloads due to mistakes, because there are less details to consider.
8) After winning combat, you can gain thousands of extra SP for all the incaps
performed.
DISADVANTAGES of XEOD MOORS training method, compared with Golborza method:
1) No Meditate improvement.*
2) No passive Cudgels skill improvement.
3) No weapon skill improvement besides 1-handed Swords & maybe Hammers.
The requirement of non-Winged RF/Valkyrie class places significant limitations
upon the types of skills and races that can be upgraded through this method.
4) Winged units will fly over the vegetation, so they cannot use this method.
5) HP Infusion, and possibly other combat skills needed against the melee
enemies, will probably cost more skill points than you need to spend when
facing clerics at Golborza Plains.
6) The preparation & battle only benefits one unit at a time.
7) If your trainee's attack and defense are insufficient, there is a risk of
defeat.
8) Can cost up to 4000Goth in Exorcism scrolls per session.
9) If you accidentally kill a member of the same clan as your trainee, it will
decrease the trainee's loyalty to you, as well as affect your Chaos Frame
value for that clan. If this happens before world, it might be better to reload
and try again. In postgame, you can simply travel to another Anchor Point, and
get your old CF back.
* Another method was devised by edant79, and is described on the same thread.
It makes use of a MAGE with the DRAIN HEART spell to 'heal' damage and hurt
the enemy. It is reportedly an efficient way to improve the MEDITATE skill at
the same time. The setup should be similar to the Valkyrie setup described.
Remember that this can only be achieved with Drain Heart, due to the healing,
and undead are immune to all other Dark damage spells besides Hellhound. Have
a 'fresh' Dark Magic caster whose cheapest spell is the 30MP Drain Heart; you
don't want a cheaper spell like Paralytic Wave in the list, because then
Meditate will not be used.
{8} SKILL IMPROVEMENT VARIATIONS
--------------------------------
The greatest difference between the original Golborza Plains method and the
Xeod Moors method, is that Golborza battles human clerics, who must be kept
alive to sustain the battle. Xeod Moors works better if you one-hit-knock-out
(OHKO) the undead enemies instead. Of course you are able to explore
possibilities on other maps, using different combinations of weak attack or
OHKO tactics. The Barricade skill of Valkyries will literally allow you to
recreate the Xeod Moors corner on any map. These two maps and methods are not
the only possibilities out there. Use your imagination, but always look at
your and the enemy's skills carefully.
--- 3 Augments (untested)
The Cursed Blowgun is the only 1-handed cursed ranged weapon. A non-healer is
able to learn a 3rd element with it. If the Blowgun has highest attack value,
it will improve. Any weak melee weapon can be used in counterattacks when the
clerics attack the unit. The 2nd element, if you're wondering, is passive
Augment Light from cleric attacks, which levels more slowly than your melee
augment. Since the A.I. gives priority to damage, it's best if both melee and
blowgun attack do 1 damage. Then the A.I. will actually do what you say.
--- Deflect
Recently shinera/ACrossCountry explained to me the method he thought of and
used for improving Deflect skill in Xeod Moors:
www.gamefaqs.com/boards/999440-tactics-ogre-let-us-cling-together/64818659
Together we devised an efficient strategy for this, and it is summarized as:
Rune Fencer/Valkyrie equipped with:
-Strong 1-H sword (needs a weapon to defeat the unwanted opponents first)
-Shield of the Winds/Storm/Tundra (for the extra defense against bow attacks)
-Ogre Armor (or whatever is your strongest armour against bows)
-Ogre Helm (or whatever is your 2nd strongest armour against bows)
-Crest of Fire (Deathproof gives immunity to any status effects from finishers,
and it boosts defense and damage greatly)
Skills:
-1-H Swords (NOT recommended; equip Tactician II if you equip this)
-Bows (gain passive skill improvement)
-Deflect (gain passive skill improvement)
-Augment [enemy bow's element] (passive skill improvement)
-[ANY] Magic (optional)
-Augment [ANY] (optional)
-Augment [ANY] (melee with sword can improve any augment,also Dark)
-Anatomy (optional & only if the trainee is human. details in previous chapter)
-Thanatology and/or Daemonology (depending on melee & archer opponent's race)
-HP Infusion
-Barricade (optional; only if you intend to create your own obstacles)
That's more skills than slots, so it should be clear that you should pick &
choose your preferred options. If you forgo a magic attack & augment, you
spared 2 slots. I recommend not using 1-H Swords skill, due to finisher TP.
Previously I wrote that it might be good to wall yourself in with a Barricade,
however after testing I found that even the Archer wanders off and loses
interest if you are unreachable by foot, despite the fact that it has a clear
path of ranged attack.
Melee is unavoidable, so you can make use of this by melee attacks with an
elemental sword, best to be used without the 1-H Swords skill. It can cast weak
magic attacks if able to. Just an Archer and 1 or 2 melee units are enough to
keep battle going. Beware of equipping 1H sword skill with your sword; the
A.I. loves to use the TP on finishers, which depletes the TP bar, and takes
away a lot of healing potential. I did succeed in maxing the weapon skill, but
I needed all the equipment listed above to reduce the Archer's damage, and I
had to babysit the A.I. for the first hours, because there were Game Over
screens. The enemy Archer gets rank 8 bows very quickly, increasing damage and
risk until you rank up your defense skills. If your sword doesn't OHKO the
opponent, you should be prepared to do some babysitting.
--- Overpower (untested)
As a question that was raised more than once, I should make some comments about
Overpower advancement. I have seen rank 8 Overpower on an enemy Archer after I
finished ranking up Deflect on my unit, so it is clear that Overpower can
neutralize both successful Parries and Deflects. The easiest way I can think of
to rank Overpower, is by getting lucky and finding an opponent that spawns with
Deflect/Parry equipped, or carries a Rozenzi Shield (+2 Parry). I have observed
Knights at Xeod Moors with the shield. You don't need to have Parry or Deflect
skill equipped yourself; the opponent must have some form of defense that you
can constantly attack with melee or ranged, allowing for a chance at Overpower.
Parry and Deflect will *only* be active if a melee weapon is equipped, but from
this evidence it is clear that Overpower is active and will improve on a 2H Bow
Archer.
--- Herpetology (untested)
An untested idea of mine should be fairly easy to set up in Tyenmouth Hill:
I'm very interested in ranking up Herpetology skill, because Lizardmen remain
very sturdy due to their high STR and VIT, which beefs up their defenses. If
I set up a mix of non-OHKO melee vs. Lizardman while it gets healed by a
cleric, I should be able to survive enemy 2H sword or Axe finishers (they are
all lame single hitters).
--- Drain Heart & Meditate (untested)
As stated before, it should be feasible to use the Drain Heart spell to heal,
while also ranking up Meditate skill. With some imagination, it may be
possible to do this on other maps, and even with living units, where clerics
heal the drained damage.
--- No combat
A method by ladapop6, which I haven't tested myself, can apparrently improve
skills quite fast, by trapping units on a poison mold tile, and letting them
heal. It keeps enemy units out of range, so it cannot improve weapon skills or
any kind of passive skills from enemy combat. It's useful if you really want to
improve 1 or 2 skills soon, but otherwise I'd prefer to improve a whole bunch of
skills at the same time.
www.gamefaqs.com/boards/999440-tactics-ogre-let-us-cling-together/65742233
--- No enemy attacks
howard2805 got mentioned before in the Step-by-step Checklist chapter as the
inspiration to some clever usage of Barricade. His own method actually uses the
Adventurer's Gap map of Phorampa Wildwoods. He devised a method that surrounds
enemy Clerics (no Cudgels equipped), reducing delays from unit movements. It
also speeds up improvement because allies go in without armour. To quote him:
"
http://postimg.org/image/ouefxg757/
http://postimg.org/image/h2xpyw2zv/
Since it takes a bit of time to setup, i used my own units instead.
Gryphon=enemy clerics,,white knights=weak/armor-less units,
red dude=unit that uses cudgels(for getting hit),
Denam=a place for training magic users,
Pointer=good place for a boon of swiftness user
Barricades next to gryphons can be moved for more units, but they may get hit.
If I just wanted immobilize them, then any map will do. The main reason I chose
Adventure's Gap is because of the terrain. The place the white knights were
standing can hit the enemies below while not being attacked. This means you can
take off armor."
{10} MY "PERFECT" ROSTER
------------------------
This is just a list of the 17 units I ended up playing with, to form a team I
considered the ideal endgame group. It requires a lot of explanation, but let
me just say that I placed I high priority on access to special classes, fast
characters, variety, versatility, and ability to all equip a different cursed
weapon. Some of the class, weapon and skill aspects may require explanations
that can be found in my Skill FAQ, linked in the Useful Info & Credits chapter.
Special character speed (RT) is listed in my Scavenging/Recruitment FAQ.
DENAM - Lord. Cursed 1H Katana (lightning). Katana is really overkill for a
class that's already so powerful, but this is what came out of my mix-'n-match.
Previously I favoured 2H katana, because I was adamant that Swordmaster
wouldn't make it in my endgame party. But speed and gameplay variety comes
first; Terror Knight is out, Swordmaster is in.
CATIUA - Princess. Cursed Dagger (dark) & Baldur Shield +1. An unlucky element
combo, since Princess will be using Divine Magic of course. But it's of little
relevance to her as a caster; she still gets the stat bonuses, and since cursed
weapons don't have an augment, only physical attacks are influenced in any way.
OZMA - Knight Commander. Cursed 2H Sword (lightning). KC Ozma equips Divine
Magic, Lightning Magic and Augment Lightning, for strong magical attacks and
healing options.
HOBYRIM - Ninja. Cursed Bow (lightning) & Thunderfire Katana. Ninjustu seems
unnecessary for a unit with great climbing skills and a bow. But everything
about the Ninja class is overkill.
RAVNESS - White Knight. Cursed Spear (lightning). Yes, Valkyrie would be more
powerful and even a bit faster. But White Knight's Velocity Shift is more fun.
OLIVYA - Swordmaster. Cursed 2H Katana (earth). I kept Olivya around as an
extra unit with access to Shaman, though in retrospect Gildas would have been
the better choice. Swordmaster is the worst class in the game, but it's the
only class with access to 2H Katana (except Lord) and Wardances.
SHERRI - Shaman. Cursed Spellbook (earth). Earth turned out to be the best
element for a Spellbook, with Sherri already trained in the correct element.
Shaman is way overpowered, but also fun to play.
DENEB - Wicce. Cursed Whip (water). Perhaps people will scoff at me changing
Deneb into a Water Wicce, just for a Whip finisher. Sure, Water has lousy
utility spells, but she mostly kills stuff with Magic and Physical. And now she
can even heal a little, too.
IURIA - Songstress. Cursed Instrument (air). There are 2 things that make my
Songstress worth keeping around: the rank 4 Instrument finisher (also air) and
Ardent Conga for Spellcraft and MP boosts.
CANOPUS - Buccaneer. Cursed Fist (fire). I'd have preferred to switch to
crossbow and let Rogue have the Fist, but alas, Buccaneer can't use all
crossbows. Speedstar lets Canopus fly all around the map swiftly, to deliver
OHKO punches.
VYCE - Ranger. Cursed Fusil (light). No Ji'ygla's; this is a cursed team after
all. Arycelle has the jiggy set, but she's not a regular anymore. Vyce is my
cold, calculating sniper. When it's his turn, something's gonna die.
AZELSTAN - Rogue. Cursed Crossbow (fire). Without a melee weapon, Sneak Attack
is out. Sparagmos is also pretty redundant when you have Brimstone Hail. But
all the better: Azelstan can make use of Steal, Speedstar, and some Familiar
kisses that he inherited through scavenging.
WARREN - Astromancer. Cursed Cudgel (light). Warren ends up being the best
candidate for the light cursed cudgel, which also solves the "light or dark?"
dilemma for me. No utiliy whatsoever, just a strong mage that can exorcise with
ease.
LANSELOT - Paladin. Cursed Hammer (fire). Divine Magic and Augment Fire for
him. Healing is barely affected by the lack of an augment, though he has enough
skill slots to easily accommodate Augment Light. It lets your Consecrate Edge
be more effective - if he ever needed it to.
GENERIC - Divine Knight. Cursed 1H Sword (light) & Medusa Shield OR Damasc Bow
+1. Folcurt became this through cheats, and the -10RT makes a big difference.
He doesn't have a flying animation, so it often looks like he's blinkwalking.
LAMIA - Juggernaut. Cursed Axe (earth). I opted for this instead of Matriarch;
it's fast and fun.
PUMPKINHEAD - Familiar. Cursed Blowgun (lightning) & Malitza's Staff (to give
MP to Lord). A trusty sidekick for Denam.
Be advised that I applied cheats with the CWCheats program, to easily create
cursed weapons with maxed stats. Creating 17 cursed weapons without cheats is
beyond what people can achieve during normal gameplay - it takes too long.
PS: remember when equipping 2 weapons, that the Off Hand weapon's bonus stats
won't be applied to attack or defense, though a shield's stat bonuses do apply.
This is especially relevant when equipping cursed weapons, because they have so
many stat bonuses. Always equip cursed weapons in the Main Hand slot.
The Off Hand weapon's stats don't apply, though it will still attack with it's
base ATT, and any stat bonuses from the Main Hand weapon.
{10} USEFUL INFO & CREDITS
--------------------------
--- Scavenging Skills
Some skills cannot be leveled with my method. Weapon skills are also risky
to level with trainees, as the finishers might cause a premature victory.
Sometimes it's just better to scavenge. My Scavenging & Recruitment FAQ is
linked below.
-Of particular interest may be: Meditate - Human Enchantress (Rank 4 - The
Reisan Way)
-From my own experience: The shrines are full of Fusiliers with rank 3
Fusils. This is a hard skill to acquire normally. Fusils skill is only
selectable from Fusiliers at level 15! I scavenged many of them. Chapter 4
may have some rank 4 Fusils, as the story battles in this chapter have many
rank 4 skills, making them the best place to find skills.
-Bortegun Fens, the area before Palace of the Dead, is brimming with units
that have multiple rank 4 skills each. You can recruit human Warriors (Fist,
2H sword & Whip), Archers (Bow & Crossbow) and Rogues (Fist & Dagger).
Opponents in chapter 4 story battles also have many rank 4 weapon skills.
-Many Heavenly General battles have Winged, Lamia and Orc Archers with rank
6 Bow & Crossbow skills. The Winged are in San Bronsa Floating Ruins floor 4.
The Orc and Lamia Archers can be recruited in Palace of the Dead floor 89.
--- Rare item drops
Loot spreadsheets for Palace of the Dead, San Bronsa and Pirate's Graveyard:
www.gamefaqs.com/boards/999440-tactics-ogre-let-us-cling-together/59010574
Those loot spreadsheets handle over 90% of what you need to know, but let me
add what I learned. Some items are hard to come by, and you may not know of
their existence yet.
Elixirs: All Octopi in Phorampa Wildwood. Thanks go to Maltherion for
confirming that they all drop it.
Snipe Gators: Unique boots. Chaotic Rogue Gremlin, Neimrahava Wood non-story
battle. Thanks go to beatumdown for this (re)find.
Fusilier Classmarks: Fair weather, The Leupha Coast, Fusiliers at (5, 24) &
(7, 24). Thanks go to grift3r74 for this find. Recruiting Lindl also gives 3.
Dark Priest classmark: 8th, 12th & 18th floors of Hanging Gardens, all drop
from Cleric Templars. World mode has a shortcut from 1st to 18th floor.
Necromancer classmarks: Drop from 2 Necromancers in floor 18 of Palace of the
Dead, but only if you have recruited Cressida (who also brings 3 classmarks
upon recruitment) in Warren Report. If you go to another route (law/neutral)
the Necromancers in PotD floor 18 will no longer drop classmarks.
Buccaneer classmarks: Only drop if you have Azelstan in Warren Report, alive,
AND present during the battle. 1 mark can be gained in the Pirate's Graveyard
treasure, an Imp rogue in Neimrahava woods can drop it (drops rogue marks
without Azelstan), and 3 Skeleton Archers in the *Non-story* battle of On
Holy Ground will drop 3 each.
Tier II ninjutsu scrolls: All but 1 are found deep in Palace of the Dead.
Many also drop in pre-shrine fortress battles. Waveshear II ONLY drops in
the Quadriga pre-shrine fortress battle. It drops from a Kunoichi.
Tier II Apocrypha: If you faced all the guardians in story battles before
hitting level 35, only tier I dropped. After level 35, recipe drops are not
guaranteed, but tier II Apocrypha also become a possibility. I recommend
saving, reloading and charioting the killing blow until you get it all. Only
the LAST story guardian you defeat will drop 3 (sometimes 6) Shaman classmarks.
Non-story guardians are very different, and won't drop Apocrypha OR recipes at
all. Guardians in non-story revisits are not designated targets, and are not
guaranteed to spawn anymore. They have a chance to drop a Shaman classmark.
Non-story item drops :
Water- Tlaloc's Bolt (unique spear)
Fire - Fire Gauntlets and Fire Shield
Lightning - Xolotl's Canine (dagger), Wyrm Whisker
Ice - Hoarfrost Greaves (boots), Enchanted Feather
Air - Vainateya's Talons (unique fist), Enchanted Feather
Earth - Nathalork's Mail, Orichalcum
Despite numerous tries, I was never able to get both a crafting component and
an item in the same drop, but classmarks dropped frequently with the rest.
Dark Knight Commanders' Loot: The best place to get these is during CODA 4.
Read Elyon's CODA guide for details. Ozma can in fact drop 2 unique whips.
The Alluring items are special drops, only accessible in world. They are not
equipped, but the female only Dress and Highboots will drop from Gousin
during the story battle at the Golborza Plains, but only when you replay
this battle in world, not during the first run of the game. Catiua must be
present, and answer Gousin's question with the 2nd dialogue option. Similarly,
the male-only Corset and Boots drop when Oz dies in Phidoch Great Hall chapter
3, but only when you replay in world. They won't drop in the CODA 4 battle.
The Abyss I & II scrolls can be found in Palace of the Dead, but are easily
missed. Abyss I drops in the pre-Fortress battle with the Lich, Water Shrine.
One of the Ghost Witches has it, but only when replaying in world. Abyss II
can be found in world in a special battle against Xapan in Golyat: You need to
have rescued him before, and refused to recruit him. The battle is only
available in lawful path. The Witch present in the battle drops it.
--- Missables
Only titles are considered missable in this game, but there are also 3 items
that will no longer drop once your party is beyond a certain level. Since
Denam must be present in STORY battles, you can't just recruit a bunch of
low level monster classes you neglected, to pick these up later. If Denam
has no more low level classes available to him, then you missed your chance.
-Crescente bow: Numerous random & story Archers between levels 24 and 26.
Sharp and Cold the Stars, Hanging Gardens. Disappears after level 34.
After getting one, I saw some in Wonder at the Gods Above, Phorampa Wildwood.
-Treatise on Seduction: Demonpetal Dance for Swordmaster. Chapter 4 Barnicia
Grand Staircase, from Neutral Swordmaster Templar. Disappears at level 26.
Enraptured Dreams, Hanging Gardens. Disappears after level 34.
-Scroll of the Cicada: Decoy for Ninja. Hagia Banhamuba (vs. Sherri). Drops
from one of the male Ninjas - the one with lower loyalty up to level 26.
Chapter 4 Heim Courtyard. Drops from male Ninja next to wizard <lvl27.
Ebon Stair, Hanging Gardens. Drops from Kunoichi Templar. Disappears @lvl35.
Thanks go to BM Sirius for quoting the strategy guide, and ronin7997 for
dispelling rumours that the Hanging Gardens drops stop appearing after lvl26.
- Wicce class: This seems to have been overlooked. Many people think it's OK
to just recruit Deneb as a Witch, because getting 30 Glass Pumpkins is a lot
of work after having recruited 27 dragons already. But this is one thing that
cannot be remedied by traveling back in world, because Deneb will no longer
appear in her shop after she is recruited in your roster. Even when traveling
back in world mode, Punkin will be running her store. You'd need to remove
Deneb from your roster to reactivate her quest. An unappealing prospect if you
invested a lot of time into your Deneb unit.
--- Rare steals
-Classmarks for Knight Commamder: can be stolen from Zombie Templars during
rain at the Reisan Way. You need to have Ozma already.
-Priest classmarks: Stolen from clerics on the 1st map of Phorampa Wldwood,
Adventurer's Gap.
-Reaver: Stolen from Grim Reaper in Scenic Knoll (Phorampa Wildwood). Requires
rank 3 Steal, and item gives +2 Steal. The ring is not unique, so you can get
more than 1 of them. Since it can cast Boon of Swiftness three times in battle,
and has Stopproof effect, it is very useful on any class. Getting rank 3 Steal
is a very tedious & difficult task. Here are some tips on how I did it:
www.gamefaqs.com/boards/999440-tactics-ogre-let-us-cling-together/64869191
--- All about weapons
www.gamefaqs.com/boards/999440-tactics-ogre-let-us-cling-together/66109724/
743212391
Damage comparison with maxed cursed weapons, weapon inventory summary, list
of finishers, skill comparisons, and much, much more.
--- About Fortify, Strengthen & Spellcraft
Rumours that Fortify is useless were based on the fact that it only helps if
you have a *very* low defense, which is only true in the early chapters.
There are also cases where Strengthen and Spellcraft become useless, but
this happens much less quickly.
www.gamefaqs.com/boards/999440-tactics-ogre-let-us-cling-together/66623108
--- Credits
GAMEFAQS for hosting this and many other useful guides, as well as the forum.
All the frequent visitors to the forum on GAMEFAQS, who offer unique
insights, inspiration for ideas, as well as new discoveries. I'd name names,
but there are lots and I'm too afraid of forgetting a name and offending
someone...
Woofrikinhaw for cursed weapon info
www.gamefaqs.com/boards/999440-tactics-ogre-let-us-cling-together/59045605
You'll need this to find out which class you need for a certain element.
Humble_Novice & BlueMage279 for scavenging info
www.gamefaqs.com/boards/999440-tactics-ogre-let-us-cling-together/58370371
/688396854
Col_mobius for loot spreadsheets, helpful for charioting rare item drops:
www.gamefaqs.com/boards/999440-tactics-ogre-let-us-cling-together/59010574
Google spreadsheets can't be accessed from certain countries. Like China,
where I live now. If you have this problem, consider using a proxy program.
Cyril(=Elyon) for the helpful CODA guide:
www.gamefaqs.com/psp/999440-tactics-ogre-let-us-cling-together/faqs/63915
Read this to learn more about Heavenly Generals and their special weapons.
Maltherion for the Crafting Guide:
www.gamefaqs.com/psp/999440-tactics-ogre-let-us-cling-together/faqs/62110
Check out my Skill FAQ, to shed light on all the class & level requirements:
www.gamefaqs.com/psp/999440-tactics-ogre-let-us-cling-together/faqs/66864
Basic to advanced instruction on the intricacies of Scavenging & Recruitment:
www.gamefaqs.com/psp/999440-tactics-ogre-let-us-cling-together/faqs/67152
Special thanks to sEmesextrEm for posting helpful links, as well as providing
support during hostile discussions.
And a big shout out to all you trolls out there! I have mixed feelings when
I need to defend myself on the boards. Any news is good news, as the saying
goes. By attacking my credibility, you add to my exposure. There's no better
way to get to know an author than when he's responding to personal attacks.
Thanks for reading, everyone. I hope it helps you all to get stronger skills.
{11} VERSION INFORMATION
------------------------
Version 2.0 describes a simple but limited skill improvement method in chapter
8. Mid-game players will find this method more useful and easier to set
up, especially because of the lower requirements.
Version 2.1 adds disclaimers, references and some minor corrections.
Version 2.2 adds the chapter Skill Improvement Variations.
Version 2.3 mentions the advantage of snapping with the Crest of Fire, and adds
comments about Deflect and Parry limitations.
Version 2.4 adapts the FAQ to incorporate new knowledge about Fortify and other
skills, with links added.
Version 2.5 adds a better method for removing the strong unit from combat in
Golborza Plains. Minor updates to knowledge of skills and improvement.
The chapter Example Results was unnecessary and removed. Numerous
(sub)chapters were formed or renamed for a better overview of info.
Version 2.6 broadens the definition of Skill Improvement with an Early-Game
Advice chapter.
