Warning: You may use this file for your own personal use, but to claim that you wrote it...well just kind of sad that that's your life, and you want recognition so badly that you have to steal FAQs from other people and claim it as your own. Anyhoo.... This Faq is designed for players starting out in this game and want a good idea of what skills they should take for their characters. There is allready a great Faq on the website breaking down the skills they get and the points they need to get it, so I will not be wasting my time and putting it in my faq. What I will give you, is my opinion that I will state as fact. And being that I've played through this game with many skills, I believe I'm qualified to write this for you. Keep in mind this FAQ is not meant for the dragovian trials. There's a separate guide with some strategies for that particular part of the game. If you're looking for strategies and skills for that part of the game, it would be better to browse the boards, or look in that guide for specific ideas. Also there are minor equipment spoilers throughout the guide so.... don't say I didn't warn you! UPDATE: Ver 1.5 A few things have come to my attention that have revised my opinion on certain skills. and so I have done a complete revamp of this faq. Section 1: Myths and Legends Section 2: Skills Section 3: Builds Section 1: MYTHS AND LEGENDS! Myth 1: A hero with the Uber Falcon blade, falcon slashing the enemy is the most powerful fighter in the game brah.... Truth: Not exactly. If there are many enemies in a group and you want to strike a specific one, then yes, you'd be right. However, if you have an isolated enemy, Jessica using her Twin Dragon Lash and the stronger whips will actually do more damage than an uber falcon blade, falcon slashing the enemy. And if you're fighting just one enemy like a boss, Angelo's multishot with an odin's bow, or great bow can also do serious damage. Myth 2: Boomerangs Suck! Truth: Yes and no. In the early game boomerangs are AWESOME. It's about the time that you get to Argonia, that you may be kicking yourself for putting points into them. The problem is you don't get many very powerful boomerangs until the very end of the game where you have really very little need for them. They are a versatile weapon to have around however and for only investing 18 points, you get access to power throw. It's up to you, I like having them around for large groups of enemies... Myth 3: Fisticuffs are garbage. Truth: On Hero, Jessica, and Angelo I would agree. BUT! On Mr. Yangus they are FANTASTIC. Nothing like having a thin air attack early on. And it sucks when Yangus goes blind....unless he has boulder toss! Add on a little tension, and you have a devastating attack that does 200-300 damage on all enemies. Yangus' natural strength really helps strengthen these attacks. Other characters can do it too, but hero is usually too busy with other skills, Jessica has twin dragon lash, and staves to think about and angelo doesn't get as many skill points so all the ones he gets should go towards bows, and possibly staves or swords. Myth 4: The special chaarcter skills are garbage!! Truth: Yes except for Hero. Courage gives you access to some GREAT spells and lessens heros MP usage. In fact I go as far as to say Courage is a Mandatory skill to get to 100 in ANY game. Yangus' humanity has some useful stuff in it,(kerplunk) but that's 82 points away and imo not worth it. It's points you could be putting into Scythes/Axes/Fisticuffs. For 18 points Jess' sex appeal charming trait is ok, but don't go for hustle dance. You find an item that does the EXACT same thing and you can make AT LEAST one more of them if you choose. Angelo's tree has sarcastic snigger which can be useful and not too many points, but beyond that it's mostly status inflicts which are highly situational. Myth 5: Hero and Yangus are the best fighters while Jessica and Angelo are better casters! Truth: BWAHAHAHAHAHA, silly humans. Once Jessica starts getting the more powerful whips she'll do more damage with her twin dragon Lash than the other characters. Also you'd think that Yangus would hit the hardest, but he has very few skills besides Parallax and Typhoues maul(A strong reason to use axes with him) that amplify that strength. Jessica has Twin Dragon Lash, and the falcon knife earrings, Angelo has Multishot and Falcon Slash, hero has multithrust and falcon slash. In the later game however, Angelo should and will be regarded as primarily a healing character, due to the tremendous strength of the enemy, but tense him up and use that multishot, and they do not stand a chance. Myth 6: Seeds of skill should be given to Angelo because you get him last. Truth: Yes and no. It usually makes more sense to give them to someone who has skills you actually want (*cough* Hero *cough*). Angelos bows are great but that's really about it. Jessica has lots of cool skills that without seeds of skill would be hard to "collect em all." Same with hero. However, your mileage may vary and angelo DOES get the least amount of points for a long time, so you might want to give them to him instead. So now that I've debunked some popular myths and reinforced others, lets move on to a breakdown of each skill. SECTION 2: Skills It has come to my attention that the attack bonuses don't fare so well in the normal scheme of things. However, even the minutest attack bonus, multiplies when combined with oomph or tensions, so depending how you make your character you might feel like putting the points in to get them. HERO: Skill: Sword Priority: Variable Danny Says: Decent Swords are a complicated matter. On the plus side, they are hero's strongest and most common weapon. On the minus side, and this is a big minus, swords have some of the WORST skills in the game. You really only need to put 52 points into the skill for just Falcon slash. Dragon slash comes along with that for some good post game damage. Miracle slash is unnecessary, and gigaslash can be obtained by getting a 100 in courage so there's no point really to putting more points into it. Metal slash is good, but lightning thrust (a spear skill) is better. Uber falcon blade is pretty nice though.... Skill: Spears Priority: Variable Danny Says: Good Spears are pretty cool. The really good thing about them is their vesatility of skills. you have multithrust, clean sweep, lightning thrust, and lightning storm. Since you'll be pumping courage (You best be pumping courage boy) the Mp that these skills require is cut in half! (Lightning Storm is AWESOME). The downside to using spears is that at the end game they fall behind swords in damage, especially against monsters like bosses. Also, you cannot use Boomerangs with them, for if you do, you're probably gonna be sacrificing the best boomerang or the best spear in the game. However the second best spear isn't too bad either, so something to think about. Lightning Thrust will help greatly when trying to kill metal slimes or Enemies with high defense....and there's at least one VERY problematic one of those. Skill: Boomerang Priority: Variable Danny Says: Decent Ah the boomerang. Subject of much speculation. While they seem very powerful in the beginning you will begin to realize that they become pretty weak compared to the spears and swords you can get. However, if you put in just 18 points, you'll get power throw. However, always keep in mind that they should NEVER be considered the main weapon of the hero. You'll be disappointed. Also, while they work well in conjunction with Swords, I wouldn't use them if you're going the spear route. Not only do spears work like swords and boomerangs together, in order to get the best boomerang, you will need to sacrifice the strongest spear. Skill: Fisticuffs Priority: Variable Danny says: Meh Hero and Yangus get similar skills while using fisticuffs, so why Yangus and not hero? Cause unlike Hero, Yangus has very few skills worth sticking points into. Besides the main reason you take fisticuffs is to damage multiple enemies at once. Hero already has boomerangs.In short, don't waste points here. Skill: Courage Priority: Mandatory Danny Says: Great Here's the bread and butter of the hero. Tingle, Holy protection, Zap and Kazap, Gigaslash, and that silly little skill that allows him to use half the mp to cast a spell or use a skill...oh....and I almost forgot... OMNIHEAL! In the late game this is the most useful skill you'll find. You don't need to put points here for a while though. Like I said Omniheal is great in the late game. If you don't want gigaslash, at least put 90 points here....you'll need it. YANGUS: Skill: Axe Priority: High Danny Says: Good Parallax, Axes of Evil and Helm Splitter. Three good skills that really enhance the power of Yangus' weapon. The truth is no other weapon that Yangus has, is as powerful. Executioner is another great skill if you're trying to kill metal slimes or get through an enemies tough defense. If you want his most powerful weapon skills with the best multipliers max this. Skill: Scythes Priority: Variable Danny says: Decent If you wanna be stubborn and refuse to use Axes these are a good alternative. The stealing skills are basically useless in my opinion but Grimmer reaper has it's moments. Big Banga is great except it takes a LOT of Mp from Yangus. Scythes also don't have any impressive single attack skills, so you'll find them a little lacking in the end game and against bosses. If you take it, max it Skill: Club Priority: Variable Danny says: Decent Anything clubs can do, axes do better. With that said, Devil crusher can be good against some of the more powerful demon enemies, and there are a lot of them. The best weapon yangus can have is a club, and it increases his critical rate, so even if this skillset doesn't have a critical attack, you can still pull them off faster than other charatcers. You will have to sacrifice the strongest axe to make it though, and despite this axes are undoubtably a better choice. But if you wanna mix it up, this can be good too. Skill: Fisticuffs Priority: High Danny Says: Yay In the early game, pumping fisticuffs is stronger than some weapons Yangus has. In the late game, skills like boulder toss and thin air will be extremely useful, in that they give Yangus some great multi- Damage attacks. Downside is that you still need to put points into a weapon skill, because by itself, fisticuffs is not powerful at all when it comes to single attacks. Skill: Humanity Priority: Low Danny Says: Take it or leave it Besides kerplunk there are no truly important or useful skills in this skill set. By the time you get midheal, both Angelo and Hero have it, and you should not rely on Yangus for healing ever due to his lack of mp. Kerplunk also has limited use, so it's REALLY not worth sticking 82 points in there for it. On the other hand when you DO need kerplunk..... JESSICA: Skill: Knife Priority: low Danny Says: Eh... Knife has some ok skills, and a hearty +30 bonus, but if you consider Jessica an attacker whips are a much stronger weapon. However, swords allow jessica to attack single enemies, with 0 mp cost, so it's nice to be able to do that. Plus she can use the uber falcon blade which is nice too. Better off using it with someone who has falcon slash though...or higher strength. Skill: Whips Priority: High Danny Says: Wheeeeeeee Hands down this is the best weapon Jessica has, for one reason only: Twin Dragon Lash. For a mere 23 points invested you get this AWESOME skill. It does more damage to bosses and isolated enemies than any other weapon in the game. However beyond that there aren't too many important whips skills. Serpents bite, which you get when you max this, is good against groups, but you have to decide whether or not you want to invest that many points. If you don't, 68 is enough to get the +25 attack bonus which is very nice with tension involved... Skill: Staves Priority: Medium Danny Says: Put at least 31 points here For a mere 31 points invested you get some GREAT spells for jessica including Acceleratle, Kasap and Magic Barrier. But Max your weapon before you max this group. The problem with Staves is that while jessica gets a higher mp with it, she MUST be equipped with the staves otherwise she loses it. Also she gets Kazing when you max it, but since hero gets zing nd Angelo Kazing, it's not too important to rush to get it. Skill: Fisticuffs Priority: Low Danny Says: Don't bother Magic burst is cool......except you lose ALL your mp. It's a desperation attack for a desperate time. It's very situational and certainly not worth ivesting 100 points to get. Unlike angelo, Jessica is MUCH better throughout the entire game with a weapon in her hand, so the evasion bonus granted is pretty pointless imo. Damage spells don't really hold up as well as healing as the game goes on. Skill: Sex appeal Priority: Low Danny Says: Eh... Hustle Dance is great, except you can just give her a sages stone and save 100 points....hmmmm. The charm thing is ok to make your opponents lose turns just by jessica doing nothing. If you wanna invest 18 points to get it, it wouldn't kill you, I'd just rather invest the points into whips or staves instead. ANGELO: Skill: Sword Priority: Low Danny says: Thumbs down Besides suffering from the same problem as hero (poor skills) Angelo is not as strong as hero,he's better off with skills that do multiple attacks against all foes. He can use uber falcon blade w/falcon slash, but again, since his strength is low,it's not nearly as spectacular as when hero uses it. Better off with a different weapon *cough* bows *cough*. Skill: Bows Priority: High Danny Says: Thumbs up Multishot, Seraph's arrow and shining shot.....three amazing skills that you WILL use over and over again. I never found needle rain to be all that useful, so you only really need to invest 88 points into this skill. Also, bows are angelo's strongest weapon. While he doesn't have any powerful single attacks, against bosses, with a high tension, Multishot will do some SERIOUS damage. Skill: Staves Priority: Medium Danny Says: Take it or leave it. Meh...Kathwack and Oomph are cool, and since Angelo really doesn't have too many other good skills, you might decide to points in here. However, I wouldn't until you've maxed Either swords or bows first. Skill: Fisticuffs Priority: 21 points is nice... Danny Says: 21 points is all you need Miracle moon has it's limited uses. But angelo is not as strong as Yangus or Hero, and REALLY poor skills compared to their fisticuffs. However, if you put 21 points in here, it WILL help Angelo in the postgame , since he becomes more of a healer rather than a fighter. Otherwise...don't bother. Skill: Charisma Priority: Low Danny Says: Take it or leave it A lot of skills, that are very situation based. Sarcastic snigger CAN be useful and you only need to invest 13 points. Pearly gates can be fun but you gotta go all the way with Charisma to get it. And if you max either swords or Bows you get similar skills (Lightning Storm, Shining shot) Do yourself a favor and max Bows/swords first. SECTION III: BUILDS This section will go over the different builds I recommend. I have put a * next to my favorite build. Hero: * Strong Build: Swords/Boomerangs/Courage Advantages: TREMENDOUS Versatility Disadvatanges: Takes a little longer to see the full strength Begin by pouring points into Boomerangs, up until you reach 18 so you get power throw. This is allow boomerangs to hit all enemies relatively evenly. Then switch over to swords. Put points in here until you reach 52. This gets you Falcon slash. Then dump all remaining points into courage until it is maxed. From this point on, put points into boomerangs. Swords are just not worth putting more points into. This build is extremely versatile, and probably my favorite build for hero. Versatile Build: Spears/Courage Advantages: Spears are versatile Lightning thrust great for enemies with high defense Disadvantages: Spears have poorer single attacks than swords at the end game. This build is easy. Put 59 points into spears first. This gets you lightning thrust. Then dump all points into courage and max it. Then finish spears, get lightning storm, and watch as all your enemies cower in fear as you do 200 damage to all of them for a mere 11 mp! If you still have points left over, maybe put into boomerangs to get power throw at 18. Yangus: * Strong Build: Axes/Fisticuffs/Maybe Humanity Advantages: Both strong single and multidamage attacks. Executioner good for killing metal slimes Disadvantages: None Begin by putting 42 points into Fisticuffs. This will get you a Thin air attack, which is great against many enemies. From then on put points into axes until you've reached 100, which gets you all the useful skills, and +20 attack. Then put all remaining points into Fisticuffs until it is maxed. At this point you can just put points into humanity and see what it gets you. Support Build: Fisticuffs/Axes/Humanity Advantages: Will be a powerful multidamage character and healer. Disadvantages: Lack of powerful single damage attacks brings Yangus down the totem pole in terms of damage in the late game. Want to use all of your magic seeds on Yangus. The point of this build is to make Yangus into a good support character that has Boulder toss, kerplunk and helm splitter. You will realize that you'll need to spend a lot of seeds of magic on him, and that he'll never be as powerful an attacker as the other characters. What do you get in return?? A fast character than can do great group damage on the enemy while tense, doing a tremendous amount of damage, or can heal characters (w/ tension) and if necessary revive the whole party. He can be a reliable asset in this role. Basically put 42 points into fists, 6 points into axes then 82 points into humanity and finally max fists. Jessica: Boss basher Build: Whips/Staves/Sex appeal Advantages: Will get Kazing with ease. Powerful attacks pretty early on. Disadvantages: Unless the enemy is isolated, only magic single attacks (pretty good thoguh) This is a build for people who really want Kazing and Sepents bite. Start off by putting 23 points into whips. This will get you the Twin Dragon lash quickly. Then go ahead and put 31 points into staves, getting you some of the most useful support spells in the game. Then poitn 16 points into sex appeal (for fun) Then max staves and then at least 68 in whips. With twin dragon lashes 300% multiplier + oomph and tension Jessica will be your biggest boss killer Forced to create a second build build: Knives/Whips/Staves Advantages: Good versatility and attack ranges. Great support spells. Disadvantages: Difficult to get kazing unless you use a bunch of seeds of skill Doesn't do too much damage with Swords If you don't care about serpents bite too much or Kazing, this is a fun build for you. They key here is to remember that twin dragon lash doesn't become truly amazing until the later game when the more powerful whips become available. Start off by putting 52 points into knives. This gives you the ability to use swords, and attack +20. Then switch over to staves and put 31 points in there to get the great support spells. Then put 23 points into Whips, getting you twin dragon lash. At this point, you can go a couple of ways. You can max staves to get kazing (recommended), put 45 points into whips for the attack bonus, or you can put 30 more points into knives to get the +30 attack bonus. I recommend kazing cause while you can give her yggradsil leaves, or a staff of ressurection, the leaves are not unlimited and the staff is not always reliable. However, you will have to use a lot or all of your seeds of skill on Jessica. It is definitely easier to get the +30 attack for knives, or the +25 attack for whips. Angelo: * Jack of all trades Build: Bows/Fisticuffs/Staves Advantages: Having a second caster with oomph is fun. Good multidamage skills. Disadvantages: No powerful single strikes. Bows seriously are his best weapon. You should bring them up to 66 first, then 21 into fisticuffs then 88 to bows and finally begin working on staves. (Never found Needle rain useful) In this role Angelo is a great support character, but can be a HEAVY damage dealer. Against bosses, a tension filled Angelo using Multishot can dish out some serious damage. He has an effective 150%-200% multiplier on multishot AND oomph and tension are effective on EACH shot. Later, the evasion will help when angelo puts down his bows and becomes almost a pure healer. Attacker Build: Bows/Swords/Charisma Advantages: Both single and multimdamage strikes. Lightning Storm/Uber Falcon Blade with Falcon slash Disadvantages: Need to use seeds of skill with this build I know, I know I said swords suck on Angelo, blah blah blah. Here's the thing: If you're not gonna use swords with hero, Angelo should DEF be your man. Why pass up the oppurtunity to use some of the best weapons in the game? Odin's bow is more powerful than them, but with Swords angelo can target specific opponents and hit them hard. Put 40 Points into swords first (Falcon Slash and +20 attack) then put 88 into bows, and then max the swords. You can start on charisma after that. Hope you guys enjoyed this! Any questions, complaints, feel free to email me at DannyAIC@Aol.com