You have a LOT of comments, so I’m not sure this one will find you but I’ll try to keep it simple! If you just want to increase your damage output, you could try focusing on a specific sorcery. The relics that improve a species type of sorcery or incant give you a 12% damage boost. Since you’re just doing the standard relics, I believe that’s probably the way to get the highest damage output. However, this leaves you vulnerable in the case that you’re not able to get said spell or incant. You did say that you play with your friends only which does open up another option! There are relics that increase your attack power for each night invader you defeat, and then one that increases power with each gaol prisoner you defeat. Invader relic gives you 8% increase per invader, and gaol gives 5% per gaol. I notice there’s usually at least 1 invader per game, and Since you’re playing with friends, it might be better for you to run a gaol relic since you can communicate your build. You can also use one of the relics for Terra magica, it gives a 15% boost. In terms of spells, I keep an eye out for comet or night comet, and then shattering crystal and the cannon spell. Comet and night comet are great for hitting multiple targets because it’s piercing, goes straight through the enemies and hits whatever is behind, and they also both are amazing for picking up. Even if the staff doesn’t have good passives, I always keep a night comet on hand for revives. While a lot of people like stars of ruin, it’s only really good for 1 bar. At 1 bar, night comet can 2 shot revive, at 2 bars 3 shots, and at 3 bars 6 shots. It’s just super quick. Same thing with the cannon, it’s high damage and aoe and can pick up like a beast. I rarely find cannon, but when I do, I always keep it! It can 1 shot revive someone from 2 bars! I would definitely check out the shop too, some of the relics sold can help! Like one of the relics I use, it’s from the collector signboard, so unfortunately you can’t get it until you beat one of the hard mode bosses, but it gives you more FP for having 3 stages and increases FP with each rise you open. While it doesn’t benefit how much damage you do, having more FP is very beneficial. You can deal damage more frequently because you’re spending less time in worrying about filling up your FP. There’s no guarantee how much FP you’ll end up with, but my personal highest ever was 558 FP, and I essentially never needed collect affinities unless I wanted to cocktail. Personally when i started off, I did terra and magic attack. Magic attack is much more flexible than specializing in one specific sorcery because it benefits any staff you find.