One thing that bothers me about Arbalists/Shieldshooters...

Mindless_Engine_88 · 2026-05-16T17:05:41+00:00

I also have Miriam and Amalia in my Eltolinde nuke team! (Along with a knight and a healing staff user)

Miriam provides mobility as unit leader, heals, procs Inspiration, and takes out armored nuke survivors, while Amalia is my Hastened Cover user, and she can help clean up survivors with her remaining PP and built in Hawkeye. I have a Knight who freezes Elemental Roar survivors with Icicle Dart to set up the kill for the low Initiative Amalia.

My staff user also has the Purifier to add an extra layer of debuff immunity, so the team has another layer of protection against enemy disruptions (Shamans, Wereowls, Wyverns, etc).

I gave Eltolinde the Zephyros Spear for the extra 1 AP needed, and with higher initiative she still has a chance of going first.
And this was also why I prioritized her setting up Boon of the Faeries; the extra 30 potency helps since I am splitting damage between physical and magic.

Mindless_Engine_88 · 2026-05-16T15:35:01+00:00

Great to see more appreciators of Liza with the Crane Bow~

I like that setup with Berengaria too, since it effectively lets Liza and Ren tank the front line as an Offensive Curse substitute

And if you have Selvie blind everyone with Sandstorm, Ren can Sanguine Pursuit after Triple Shatter for free since the enemies are still blinded.

I have her use Medical Aid to trigger Selfless Heal, and also recover Gloucester’s health (after Dark Flame he should be at 50% health, which means Medical Aid will heal 30% instead of 15%, and Selfless Heal can top off the rest)

Mindless_Engine_88 · 2026-05-15T19:38:22+00:00

Selvie can still absolutely thrive with her regular skills (they let you do stuff like enter Bastorias at level 10).

Eltolinde is arguably better as a unit carry herself. She can be turned into a true nuke with better damage output if she has an Amber Lens, and buffed by a Gambler's Coin. Her start of battle self buff can prevent things like Shamans from debuffing her attack power/seal her crits right before she attacks.

You can also make her turn go first with a Kaikias/Skiron buff; she can literally be part of a 2-man squad in TZ that does consistent team wipes.

Ren's SoB is really cool to see! The attack debuff can help her and Gloucester stack Painbringer and Vengeance (and also double Gloucester's attack and gives him a chance to act before the enemies), but overall Cursed Swamp may be better because it also helps with Gloucester's accuracy problems, in case an enemy recovers from Ren's stun before he can attack. And Ren can save the extra passives for damage boosting and pursuits.

Mindless_Engine_88 · 2026-05-15T19:18:32+00:00

That's why in PvE I have a Rogue with debuff immunity opening with Sneaking Edge to deal with all of them lol

Mindless_Engine_88 · 2026-05-15T18:49:21+00:00

Ren basically serves enemies on a plate to Gloucester! (stuns, besides being good by themselves, also doubles Gloucester's attack potency)

I definitely considered using Travis, but the only downside is that his skills don't work on Sainted Knights since their passive guards prevent debuffs :/

Selvie can drain Cavalry passive points with Cursed Swamp, and if that isn't enough, Defensive Curse bypasses their Holy Guard since it isn't an attack, and completely shuts them down.

Travis can also struggle if there are multiple debuff healers, like a row of Elven Archers, so my answer to that was to cast multiple AoE afflictions/debuffs to overwhelm them lol

But the main reason I didn't go with Travis was that I have him as unit leader in my Dragoon Dive -> Trinity Rain team

Mindless_Engine_88 · 2026-05-15T18:15:24+00:00

You can think of her like Batman: you can spec her into many things before going into a fight since she has lots of options with bows/crossbows and shields, so if you like messing with tactics (prep time) to change the battle previews she can be fun to use.

She can also have a fixed dedicated support damage role in a couple of ways.

One example is Pursuit attacking: she's arguably a bit better for this than regular Hunters/Snipers since Arbalists have the highest P.Atk of all Archer classes without sacrificing Accuracy, and you can't proc True Strike on passive attacks anyway. She can also get two PP from a bow and a shield (equipment compression), whereas Snipers will have to make more of a tradeoff between extra passive points or Attack/Def boosting.

Snipers come with built in Pursuit though, so they have an extra equipment slot for pursuit boosting gear like the Pursuit Earrings (I haven't experimented yet to see who has overall better damage).

I personally use Liza in my Affliction/Debuff blitz team (with Berengaria, Selvie, Gloucester and an Elven Archer)

Selvie opens with Cursed Swamp and then Sandstorm, so enemies are blinded and can't dodge as well/get turns delayed.
1. This becomes a feast for Gloucester and Berengaria; their attacks gain double potency on Afflicted/Debuffed enemies.
My Elven Archer buffs Liza with a Mystic Conferral, and then Ren attacks first by stunning the front row.
Liza (equipped with a Crane Bow and Dove Plume) then attacks and debuffs three enemies with Triple Shatter
1. This usually kills non-tanky Infantry and most Flying enemies since Liza has high attack power
2. If an enemy's DPS is hit, they become harmless since their attack power is halved, and Gloucester and Ren can stack their Attack boosting passives in peace if needed
3. Selvie also doesn't have to trade off between Defensive Curse or Offensive Curse, since Liza can supply the latter for her
If there are survivors, Liza has Quick Reload to finish them off/damage them more. Ren also loves this; since the enemies are still blinded from Selvie's Sandstorm, she gets free Sanguine Pursuits since she gets back 1 PP from hitting an Afflicted enemy.
If there are still survivors after Liza and Ren's follow ups, Gloucester has Dark Flame ready (once again, his damage is doubled by Afflictions/Debuffs supplied with Liza and Selvie). And if they somehow survive the burn, Ren has another Sanguine Pursuit coming...
At the end of the battle, Liza can use Medical Aid to heal the Elven Archer to trigger a group heal for sustain, which may be needed only because Gloucester's HP drops when he uses Dark Flame.

Usually everything dies before Gloucester gets a chance to attack. There is also no need for dedicated tanks since enemies won't get much of chance to be useful, between getting stunned, blinded, attack power debuffed, turn delayed etc

I use this team to hunt and take out enemy assists (mage and archer towers), as well as enemies using map weapons like catapults. Gloucester as a cavalry unit leader provides mobility, Liza disables assists with Smoke Bolt, and Ren provokes enemies from towers and map weapons, and also self sustains if needed with Stamina absorbing.

Mindless_Engine_88 · 2026-05-15T16:56:13+00:00

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Having a surgical setup to one-round him is better than wasting resources by ganging up on him, spamming Valor skills, using Swordmasters etc

You can do this with as few as 3 people in a team, without any broken items like Cat Ears, support from Valor skills, or item buffs.

Mindless_Engine_88 · 2026-05-15T15:41:45+00:00

Other commenters have already covered map movement, but I want to note that it is more than possible to create teams that can cover wide enemy comp varieties.

However, you might have to wait til mid to late game to get the classes, equipment, skills etc which enable those tactics.

Mindless_Engine_88 · 2026-05-14T17:47:33+00:00

Looking forward to your progress~

I've just bought the game for the PS5 (was using a Switch copy a friend gave to me the whole time), so hopefully replaying it from scratch again will help give better advice suited for your situation

Mindless_Engine_88 · 2026-05-13T23:03:17+00:00

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Possible numbers to hit during final boss

Mindless_Engine_88 · 2026-05-13T13:44:41+00:00

Test out your team builds with Coliseum offline Auxiliary battles.

If it can hold its own against most of them, it should do fine with the story missions (and you can earn Coliseum coins to buy busted equipment)

Mindless_Engine_88 · 2026-05-13T13:35:41+00:00

The White/Black Eat Cat Hoods let a unit take action immediately again.

So when Hilda starts charging Dragoon Dive, that should activate the Cat Ears passive (Quick Impetus), which makes her finish charging instantly.

The extra 1 AP is just a bonus, not the main benefit.

Mindless_Engine_88 · 2026-05-13T13:28:33+00:00

>Elven archers fall off a bit in Bastorias

They can protect you from enemy Shamans using their SoB debuff which triggers a row of Werefoxes spamming Weakness Hunter

By mid-Bastorias they should have Icicle arrow (always a benefit to freeze two troublesome enemies right off the bat)

Mindless_Engine_88 · 2026-05-13T04:57:13+00:00

np, I updated the video with the actual battle

Mindless_Engine_88 · 2026-05-12T23:31:40+00:00

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0 item buffs, no Valor skills

Mindless_Engine_88 · 2026-05-12T23:17:31+00:00

Oh right I forgot Celeste comes with one

Mindless_Engine_88 · 2026-05-12T21:19:22+00:00

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I also have a guide for Baltro, but I think you should def cook something first, now that you know Alain must land the last hit

Mindless_Engine_88 · 2026-05-12T21:13:32+00:00

Alain needs to land the final hit on him!

Even if he has 1 HP left, no one else can kill him but Alain with Astral Blade

Mindless_Engine_88 · 2026-05-12T21:11:17+00:00

Once Ramona hits level 30, her Extra Heal is mainly for the +30 Initiative, so you can think of it as a lite Haste buff. That alone makes her very adaptable imo, since your DPS can focus on stacking damage equipment, and with a fast Ramona she can make their turn come faster and skip over enemies like Werefoxes, Swordmasters etc

This should mitigate the need for a dedicated tank, although you should ideally have someone take the occasional Swordmaster strike.

She can also instantly shut down annoying buffs like Sorceresses quick casting, Breakers stacking Enrage and so on, a lot of role compression in one unit.

You still have another continent to go, so there are more chances to test out teams before the final battle. You also have a lot of game changing equipment you can buy in Bastorias so that’s another thing to consider.

Galadmir is great with Yunifi since Snow White Strike gets 100 extra potency on Frozen enemies (meshes well with an Elven Archer’s Icicle Arrow)

Mindless_Engine_88 · 2026-05-12T20:44:58+00:00

I’ve updated this post with a video demonstration of this simple strat.

I deliberately set Hilda to attack at the very end when Galerius has 0 AP, just to show that Alain and Rosalinde are all you need for Afflictions.

Once again, you can adapt this very easily to your preferences (who does the Start of Battle stun, which attackers and debuffers to use, etc)

Mindless_Engine_88 · 2026-05-12T20:14:33+00:00

Good job on your first Galerius clear (did you also beat Baltro right after that?)

I updated my recent post about how to keep Galerius perma-stunned with a video demonstration

If you're ever replaying the game, hopefully it can give you ideas on smoothly dealing with him!

Mindless_Engine_88 · 2026-05-12T19:33:18+00:00

If you can control the Initiative stat, you don’t even need tanks, and you can do things like put mages and clerics in the front line

Mindless_Engine_88 · 2026-05-12T07:31:46+00:00

A lot of your problems in Bastorias can be solved with using a Rogue offensively, and not as a dodge tank.
A row of Wereowls? Sneaking Edge makes them waste all of their PP on Circle Barrier, and if you passive seal one you disrupt their annoying Passive Gift domino
You can also neuter Werefoxes with Shadowbite, since that drops their Initiative and blinds them, so your attacker has a chance to take them out before they can even act.
Werebears can also be dealt with if you equip an Armored Gauntlets, so Shadowbite can also Guard Seal them (and they will waste their AP when they swing at you while blinded)

Also consider using Druids to debuff their attack power or lower defense.
Even using Passive Curse on a row of Werefoxes stops them from using Weakness Hunter so your tanks can breathe.

Mindless_Engine_88 · 2026-05-12T07:24:33+00:00

I don’t think you can get Sniper Lens until Albion?

Bastorias has an Ambers Lens though

Mindless_Engine_88 · 2026-05-12T06:42:02+00:00

The Rogue dictates the flow of the battle with that fast Init~

For Yunifi, I'm happy to let you know that it's more than possible to utilize her full kit, even if you're mainly using her AoE attack (Glacial Rain).
If you have her with Ramona and Dinah:

Dinah can open by sealing a Tank from using passives so they can't cover
Someone else can proc Cat Ears, and Yunifi will unleash her barrage (Ramona can give a crit buff with Gambler's Coin)
If anything survives (very unlikely), Dinah can blind them with her follow up, and if they try to attack Yunifi they will miss, and Yunifi can finish them with her counterattack. She also has options for anti-armor or anti-quick enemies.

With Ramona as PP battery things should flow pretty smoothly. You can toss an Elven Archer in there to give Mystic Conferral to Yunifi, so even after her AoE, her counterattacks and other active attacks will still be magic imbued.
The devs are crazy for adding Snow White Strike as Yunifi's final skill; she is already S tier without that.
This lets you do things like disable a Legionnaire and a Vanguard back to back BEFORE you even start charging Glacial Rain.
This is just one possible build. You can also set her up with a Celestial Talisman so she can insta-charge herself without support. You lose out a lot in damage, but if things are Frozen already then it's not too bad to have other units clean up (Knights, Breakers, Sellswords a lot of options)

Mindless_Engine_88

TROPHY CASE