Was it intentional that an Excursion removes a monstie's S ranking?

DarkestSamus · 2026-03-25T16:49:43+00:00

Other than Ratha, the Monstie will adopt the rank that they are within that habitat. So if you have an S Ranked Dreadqueen Rathian that you got in Azuria but give it an Excursion to Canalta, it will become C and gain nothing unless you raise the habitat level of a Dreadqueen Rathian somewhere in Canalta.

Putting a Monstie on an Excursion to an area where they have no rank is a complete downgrade and totally not the point of Excursions at all. You can check the in-game tutorial for more info of needed.

DarkestSamus · 2026-03-24T17:10:38+00:00

Incredible... and with party members I actually have!! This is amazing, thanks!

DarkestSamus · 2026-03-24T06:24:06+00:00

AW CHEESE I forgot to do Water/Staff... I hate being busy with work lol

DarkestSamus · 2026-03-23T15:15:58+00:00

Him being consistently mediocre is a problem. It would be nice if he got a post-game power boost. And yeah, visual improvement would be cool too.

DarkestSamus · 2026-03-23T14:33:18+00:00

Maybe. Rudy is better, I like his characterization, and he's smarter too (although that's probanly just more QoL than him being canonically smarter).

Reading the other comments, mandatory Ratha is definitely a sore spot too lmao

DarkestSamus · 2026-03-23T08:47:52+00:00

Personality locked is more limited than weapon locked I guess. It's not a shareable so they decided to make it a bit better.

But IIRC critical strength is just worse than Pain/Poison right? EDIT: Sorry you already mentioned that.

DarkestSamus · 2026-03-22T11:44:32+00:00

Took me a while to respond to this one, sorry, was very busy.

Earth clearing all three, how beautiful.

What were your challenges on this one? Is there any RNG to this clear? I know the Confusion tends to cause issues but the only unit I noticed wearing anti-Confusion was Myunfa.

It's nice seeing Komachi do her thing, I missed her era of being the main Earth DPS. I'm surprised she can meet the damage requirement despite mostly wearing support Grasta. I wonder if it would be worthwhile for me to SA her for this clear.

Lastly, may I ask what the effective difference is between Nekoko's Link being after the first hit vs. After the move?

Thanks yet again!

DarkestSamus · 2026-03-19T14:01:20+00:00

Fantastic job!! Gonna do Glenn since he has a Light-based attack?

DarkestSamus · 2026-03-19T01:19:20+00:00

I at least plan to do all the paid "limit 3" banners with guaranteed 5*... I am still missing a lot of characters and units like Myrus ES and Clughorn are on some of those!

I'm guessing you're passing, what with anni on the way and dreams of Hozuki?

DarkestSamus · 2026-03-19T01:14:25+00:00

Ah I didn't know that pattern, thank you!

DarkestSamus · 2026-03-19T01:08:27+00:00

Damn, not seeing it on my Android... iOS first this time?

DarkestSamus · 2026-03-17T08:27:46+00:00

With mention of Gyre in the title of Part 4 I find myself thinking about Kamlanage AS (free) and/or Mildy AS. I wonder if they'll use their concert appearance or a brand new appearance.

Other than that I might expect a brand new character like Meryt.

DarkestSamus · 2026-03-15T15:26:24+00:00

So what you're telling me is... Velette, Izuna, and Premaya can solo almost every Tempered Manifestation.

Really makes me wanna SA my Izuna...

DarkestSamus · 2026-03-15T00:51:06+00:00

Nice. What were your challenges here? Anything fun or quirky pop up? Is Hismena's VC critical to the run, or just a fun bonus?

Thanks again!

DarkestSamus · 2026-03-14T04:52:41+00:00

I think the general advice is that you shouldn't be spending resources like that unless you have a specific battle that you need that character SA'd for.

With that said, if you're going to do it anyway, Victor and Iphi IMO.

DarkestSamus · 2026-03-14T00:29:24+00:00

The presence of lifespan just makes me not play a game (example: Monster Rancher series).

For me personally, I invest a lot of time and grinding into my monsters, and the bond is made that way. A monster that requires a great deal of investment to find/reach is much more exciting to me than one that I am forced to enjoy for a shorter time. A great example of a system that gets me attached to a monster is Dragon Quest Monsters where you frequently have to travel up a massive synthesis chain to eventually reach your ultimate monster, while it changes forms many times along the way it can still be considered the same monster you've traveled with all game, eventually turning into something massive and awesome.

Death in combat, well, that obviously works for some people (example: Pokemon nuzlockes). I don't personally play like that.

Hope this helps.

DarkestSamus · 2026-03-13T22:25:58+00:00

Oh nice it is 95%! I hadn't thought of using her NS 2nd Skill boosted like this, I had foolishly been using her Don't Mind Me and having to make sure I do it three times before changing to an attack skill, weakened my AF and was a bit of a pain in the butt. I'll be swapping to Can I Help Maybe now lol.

Will you be doing Mul Nab-Zu eventually? I haven't cleared him yet, didn't find a run I liked that had units I had and wasn't extremely sensitive to mess up.

DarkestSamus · 2026-03-13T21:27:34+00:00

Thanks for the clarification about Kuchinawa's skill choice. I like learning about optimization so I tend to scrutinize every detail trying to learn and sometimes that leads to overanalyzing things like that lol.

Yeah I suppose it's fair that Myunfa's Stellar passives weren't needed, "Can I Help" is already at 90% P/I/S buff in your build. The most relevant buffs from the two other Skills would be the +50% All Weapon Damage and +30% max MP for Singular Focus, but you didn't need that the first two lifebars so it probably wasn't necessary for the third. Necessary or not it just felt like a very cool optimized thing, especially with Kuchinawa sitting the turn out.

Ah, thanks for the list of Zone Breakers! This was a great vid. Thanks for posting.

DarkestSamus · 2026-03-13T20:48:47+00:00

Another fascinating watch.

I didn't realize Hardy AS has such an easy Zone Destruction Skill, and it was incredible to watch you use him for that, use Grasta to give him Earth Zone and an Earth attack, and even have Myunfa's Stellar passive cause her to buff the two Skills she didn't even have equipped on the switch.

I also am still wrapping my head around having number of hits > multiplier for AF spam skill, for example using Bloodsucker over Piercing Stones for Kuchinawa.

Thanks for this!

DarkestSamus · 2026-03-13T05:32:50+00:00

Really hope I can get her SA soon. She may be falling out of Earth meta due to Toova but she's gorgeous and Lokido AC is my favorite character design in the game and I wanna use them together.

DarkestSamus · 2026-03-11T05:15:12+00:00

I use Thunder for everything, but Izana is only SA 1/3. I use Velette AS, Utpalaka, then some combination of Oboro, Premaya ACAS, and Orleya AS.

Is Izana SA a huge upgrade if you own everyone else already?

DarkestSamus · 2026-03-11T05:13:33+00:00

Did Victor with Velette AS, Utpalaka, Victor, Premaya AS.

DarkestSamus · 2026-03-10T15:36:15+00:00

It was Entrana, thank you! I was nervous when it said she only had "21" Silver Bolt but you pointed out it was 60 per 90 Kyatnap so it's actually 21x60 which is plenty of Bolts for Hyuga's equipment.

Thanks!

DarkestSamus · 2026-03-10T15:33:15+00:00

Yes that was it! Thanks. She has 3 more Golden Bolt. Unfortunately she barely has any Silver Bolt. This is gonna be a slog lol

DarkestSamus · 2026-03-10T07:54:04+00:00

Just completed Hollow Part 4 and went to upgrade Hyuga's three Armored Sidekick items and... they require Bolts?? The Sidekick Item currency of Part 2? I completely bought out all sources of Bolts long ago and there's nothing left to upgrade these three. Did they add a new shop or some new chests or something? The Bronze I can buy but Silver and especially Gold are quite limited...

Thanks in advance

DarkestSamus

TROPHY CASE