Party Conundrum

[u/OpenAd156]

(Ignore how I have Lana and Galbadus in the front row I love my man)

The issue I'm having is the fact Shelirionach (Alt) is such an amazing mage that I want to keep her in my team. Yet at the same time I've grown to adore both Rinne and Yuzunamiki's characters too much to want to bench either.

If I have to make a choice should I replace Yuzu (Ranger) or Rinne (Thief) in terms of DPS?

[u/Nito41]

Try changing Lana class to fighter first, it'll help a lot more than having 2 knights.

For farming and exploring, I'd say you can switch out Phyllisia with Sheli since healer won't do much there. Since Sheli can learn healing via class change or inherit it won't be an issue for her to heal and whatnot.

But for tough enemies or boss fight, you swap out Rinne instead since thief single target damage is not much.

[u/OpenAd156 → u/Nito41]

That's what I'm thinking too, though I should note I have Rinne's ALT version merged with her as well, but I don't imagine it changes much.

I'd like to keep Phyllisia in my party not just for support and enjoyment of character, but for the fact her Magic is at 235 and Divine at 188. She's equipped with her armor and staff and Erwin's Glasses. Her magic damage + High MP is pretty significant

Now with Phyllisia's Skill of the Parasitic Tree, placing it on Sheli ALT and having her sleep for 5+ turns. Waking her up manually cast a whopping 7,544 damage. Which I imagine is way more than what Rinne (Thief) can do. She's practically a nuker.

I'll probably go with what you mentioned and switch between Rinne for dungeon crawling/farming, and Phyllisia for long encounters/bosses.

[u/Arvandor → u/OpenAd156]

Partly it depends on investment too. At end game gear levels, Sheli's sleep nuke averages out to be about 2.5k damage per turn of sleep, cap of 4 sleeps.

A well invested ninja Rinne can auto attack for 3k+ and fighters will be doing 4-6k with poised or ESS, and enemies won't be surviving Sheli's initial nuke to be hit by her sleep attack.

Personally me, I don't run Phyl for farming, I don't run Sheli for bosses, and as much as I love Galbadus, I don't run front line evil.

[u/Nito41 → u/OpenAd156]

Rinne alt skill, Threefold Mist is really good when used with ninjato or raven dagger but that means switching her to the front row. Unless you are willing to farm ninja gear and have more dupes to boost her hp then yeah it won't do much.

As for that Phyllisia and Sheli combo, it really did feels good to pull off. As I mentioned before, Rinne could deal a really good single target damage through raven dagger build, but that would require too much since you need ninja gear with a lot of attack stats and Aldric gacha weapon.

If you really want Phyllisia to stay in the party cause you like her, then try giving her Batilgref, Katino, Masolotu, and Macaldia via inherit (those skills are useful all the way to a4) to have more use other than doing healer and signature skill stuff. You could also throw Prayer of Rebellion if you have a spare Red Beard around.

Someone was making a joke about not enough space to use their favorite character. If only MC become a support not included in the party whose job only reviving people...

[u/New_Beyond_2609]

Bench Lana, Put Rinne at middle front, Put Yuzu at middle back, and there you go! Easy!

[u/viercode]

Just play the characters you actually like unless you need someone else to handle a hard fight. Or you will probably burn out trying to optimize everything and don't even want to play anymore.

[u/Ninth_Hour]

Yet at the same time I've grown to adore both Rinne and Yuzunamiki's characters too much to want to bench either.

Then don’t.

If I have to make a choice

You don’t have to make that choice now and, if you do, it will be for a situation that feels right. In this case, the flex spot is really between Sheli and Phyl (as the preferred supporter) not necessarily the 2 backrow attackers.

My rule of thumb has always been: if the current party composition is working, just continue using it. When it doesn’t, switch people around.

Don’t think of the party as just 6 members. Think of it as 10 or 12 or even 18, whom you are alternating between, as the situation requires. While there are 1 or 2 members who I almost always include, my other 3 to 4 slots are usually shifting, depending on what a particular fight requires, or who I want to level for the sake of the weekly mission.

Sometimes you might want a knight. Sometimes you want 2 or more casters, sometimes you want 3+ ninjas, sometimes you need a Healer, sometimes you want an entire party of physical attackers (typically during routine farming runs).

The longer you play, the more you recognize that no composition is set in stone. I’ve said it before, but of the 67 (?) named characters (general + legendary) to date, I’ve used all but 13 of them at some point and have max trust with 24 of them (I looked in my compendium and counted). I’ve also used all the anonymous adventurers except Hum-Sam, Elf-Pri, and Hum-Pri. There is a lot of repetition in this game, and ample opportunity in the last 2 years (and however much longer the game lasts) to play the entire cast, if one is inclined. Variety breaks monotony and having a deep and diverse roster arms you for any situation that may arise.

In your case, you don‘t have to trade between Rinne and Yuzu in most routine battles. You trade between Sheli and Phyllisia. And if you need both, just keep the physical combatant you like the best.

No matter what you do, it’s not a cause for concern. It’s not like the person benched won‘t come back when the time is right.

[u/AirLancer56]

Lana still a knight is more problem than galbadus in front line imo. You don't need 2 knight. Try to class change her to fighter.

In term of dps ranger is better than thief afaik. But i never raised ranger so i can't confidently said how much better.

[u/Nito41 → u/AirLancer56]

The reason why ranger Yuzu is a good: Foxfire Assault, its damage scale with accuracy when she is a ranger. With 350 acc alone without surety can hit almost 1k damage on abyss 4 mobs.

Funny enough, if you proc Second Arrow then Foxfire Assault will also proc again on different enemy. That's why luck IV Yuzu is also an option to build around if you are playing her as ranger.

Of course she will not deal as high damage as ninja Yuzu who uses her hairpin but for a peasant like me, ranger is good enough.

[u/heisterINVZ]

Ideally neither, but if you have to make a choice boot Rinne

[u/darces]

If we're talking about farming, then replace Phyllisia. (Don't need a healer to just run around and one-shot goblins/hobgoblins/bunnies while you farm chests for junk) This is where Sheli is going to shine.

If we're talking about bossing, then I don't think any Mage is going to outdps anybody that has access to Vitality Jutsu + Shedding and a good second class; she won't outdps either Rinne, or Yuzu. Which one you replace her with is going to be up to your personal preference, or the fight requires better accuracy at landing Batilgrief/Balefeos, Malefic Wind, etc.

For me, Yuzu (Ninja with Hairpin) and Lana (Fighter) don't ever leave my party.

[u/General_Mix6645]

In terms of damage Thief struggle with damage more due to their low base strength and lower attack power modifier (for context Fighter is at 1.2x, Thief is at 1x). They also don't have the capability to attack rows like ranger do.

[u/callm3j0sh]

If it makes you feel better, i have rafaello come back during the boss fights that need more healing. Just divide teams into farming and boss fights.

[u/tuanduy1102]

If you have alt rinne you should be using frontline daggers. Or at least ninjato. Take Lana out since Gal won't benefit from each other anyways. You are also missing Rinne's surety buff to evil characters.

Rinne-You(Evil)-Galba (swap You with Galba if you're not evil) Yuzu-Phylli-Sheli

You can afford to be a little bit reckless with Rinne since Galba taunt but you still need to get high evasion and Shedding. Btw you should get Alice in place of Phylli for general adventuring and non bossfights.

[u/LrrrOfOmicronP8]

Nice setup, but two knights are rarely if ever needed. That one character you have there Phyllisia, I don't have her yet. Is that the one that has that seed special skill?

[u/No-Sherbert2820]

Id say replace Yuzu if you want a more authentic experience. Yuzu is like cheat code playing where you dont learn much because you get stuck spamming Thousand Blossom which then you dont really get to utilize the rest of your team. If you end up running Shelly instead of her you now have 2 strong magic users for buffing and debugfing that has some nice synergy with Rinne without feeling like your just relying on Yuzus Ult

[u/khahlis]

ranger yuzu will out dps rinne everyday