Can be used rapidly due to tiny wait time and SP Cost
Phoenix Spread Wings
24
Enemy (Row)
---
(ATK x 3.3) - (T.DEF / 2)
---
Better versus high-DEF targets, but longer wait
Soaring Guardian God
24
Self
---
---
+100% EVA
Because EVA doesn't work, never use this
Kimontonkou
48
Self
---
---
+100% ATK, -50% DEF, -50% MND, no wait time after use
Incredible buff, and Chen shouldn't be getting hit anyway
Character Overview and Comments
Recruitment
1F: Locate three events with Chen, one at a time. On the third meeting, fight and defeat her
Chen is a required party member to complete the game
Play Notes
Chen is one of - if not the - most fragile characters in the game, due to a combination of terrible HP, DEF, MND, and the worst affinities and ailment resistances in the game; her only good defensive quality, her EVA, doesn't work. With that said, if Chen's in your party when you get attacked, you're using her wrong. This fast-levelling and faster-moving speedster is there to take down an enem, before it can hit you, that would otherwise act first. Her awesome self-buff and Flight of Idaten offer tiny delays, meaning for bosses: switch in,buff and then spam Idaten, until just before the boss' move, then switch her back out.
1F: Find at least one event in which you hear someone crying. Then, find and defeat Meiling
Play Notes
Much like Remilia, Meiling plays the role of tank. Both have great HP, and defenses against both physical and magical moves, although both somewhat weak overall against ailments. But that's where the similarities stop. Remilia can power herself up and deal out damage, but Meiling is almost purely defense due to her rather low ATK. Instead, Meiling boasts two healing moves - one to keep damage that does get through her defenses to a minimum... and one to clear ailments off of allies, which works great to support Remilia's Curse of Vlad Tepes. Her offensive capability against enemies is very limited, but she is an excellent tank to protect your party and soak up damage versus bosses that would tear through others.
1.3 x (((ATK + MAG) x 1.95) - ((T.DEF + T.MND) / 2))
Agility -50%
Low power but notable agility debuff
Diamond Blizzard
40
Enemy (All)
CLD
1.65 x ((ATK x 2) - (T.DEF / 2))
PAR
Best for low-DEF, high-MND targets
Perfect Freeze
60
Enemy (All)
CLD
1.35 x (((ATK + MAG) x 2) - ((T.DEF + T.MND) / 2))
Agility -30%
Basically multi-target Icicle Fall
White Album
36
Self
---
---
DEF, MND +50%
Doesn't make her a wall, but helps
Character Overview and Comments
Recruitment
2F: Find Cirno four times. On the fourth, defeat Cirno
Cirno is a required party member to complete the game
Play Notes
In some ways, Cirno and Reimu are similar. They both have the useful composite attack formula, and can do decent damage to enemy groups, but are better against bosses for their support capabilities rather than their damage output. In Cirno's case, her more fragile defenses and lack of party-aiding support are made up for by being your first ally with debuff attacks - specifically agility loss and paralysis, and these should not be underestimated; a boss who doesn't get to attack you as often is a far smaller threat. And that's important, because a boss who does get around to attacking can probably kick Cirno around.
2F: Recruit Cirno and Meiling, then return to the frozen Minoriko
1F: Take frozen Minoriko to the sunny area to be defrosted
Play Notes
One of the few characters built almost entirely for support, Minoriko is a cleric of sorts. Her actual attacks are weak, making her generally bad for random battles, but her ability to protect and especially heal party members will help immensely, and her cheap spells and high SP growth can keep her going for a while. However, she may be outmatched in healing output-to-need ratio against fast, multi-targeting bosses, and can be taken out by physical, FIR, or CLD moves fairly easy. Really shines against single-targetting bosses for support though.
2F: Recruit Cirno. You will be able to cross a gap to a new area, meet and defeat Youmu
Youmu is a mandatory party member as she guards the stairs to 3F
Play Notes
Youmu at first seems hard to use - her moves are very expensive for anyone's standards, and she has the game's worst SP growth. However, this problem has a Youmu-unique solution: her Focus command recovers double SP. She can therefore recover a huge amount of SP with the right equipment, allowing her to take a role as (limited) tank and stay out, focusing between her powerful attacks against bosses. For regular enemies though, you'll want to switch her to the back row to recover SP for two or three battles between each of her own, which can be irritating. Just be ready for her to take a serious beating from spells.
4F (West & East): Search for and defeat three of Alice's dolls, and the Ifrit
3F: Use the newly opened teleporter to reach a new area, and defeat the fourth doll
4F (Via staircase at start of 3F): Use the new teleporter, and defeat Alice
Alice and her quest are mandatory as she guards the stairs to 5F
Play Notes
A pure offensive powerhouse with actually decent survivability, Alice is an excellent damage source. While she doesn't specifically deal singular, huge damage to a target, she is capable of using one stat (MAG) to attack either defensive stat, with non-elemental spells - meaning very little can really stop that damage output. Her attacks may be a bit SP intensive, but her SP also grows fast. The debuffs that she can cause aren't too strong or frequent, but can further add on to aid a party.
Rumia is an interesting character to be sure. She doesn't really excel much in any one area when compared to other characters and she tends to be pretty frail. She does have power that shouldn't be taken for granted however. Moonlight Ray does respectable MYS damage to one target and Dark Side of the Moon is a party wide MYS spell with magic defense piercing qualities. These are good in themselves, but what really makes Rumia shine is Demarcation. It is a party wide healing spell and while the healing itself is pretty insignificant, the other quality of Demarcation is what's good. It also removes all debuffs from everyone. This will come quite in handy when bosses start to get debuff happy. It's always a good idea to keep Rumia in the back row just in case debuffs start getting overwhelming.
Due to how hard it is to see and measure poison's actual effect, whether or not to trust in its lingering additional damage to make up for Wriggle's subpar attack power is up to you. Though Firefly Phenomenon is decent in random battles for a bit, it quickly loses its punch overall compared to dedicated attackers. Instead, Wriggle is made to fight, poison, and survive fairly well against bosses, especially due to incredible ailment resistance.
That's the normal attack damage formula, by the way
Storm on Mt. Ooe
48
Enemy (All)
WND
2.5 x (ATK - (T.DEF / 2))
---
Weak vs high-DEF targets
Knockout in Three Steps
58
Enemy (Single)
FIR
2 x ((ATK x 2.5) - (T.DEF * .4))
---
Very powerful, but extreme delay
Character Overview and Comments
Recruitment
5F: Once you've participated in over 400 Battles, examine the spring in the northwest corner to fight Yuugi
Play Notes
A physical powerhouse, Yuugi is very capable of bowling over anything without a good physical defense, and even then can still mucle her way through. Although her single-target focus limits her power against enemy groups, she still makes a good anti-physical tank, and can oftentimes match the damage of Patchouli or Marisa in the right conditionss with Knockout in Three Steps' obscene damage output, even on bosses. With the PAR/PSN effect of Shackles, you can even use her against high-DEF foes, too! Just be careful of CLD/NTR/MYS magic.