Act 3: Agency is a Deadly Mistress
Compression Tactics
Hello, welcome to Part 3 of Who Knows How Many, this is Lesk Lyfeld back at it in Server 72! Hit the bell, bookmark this thread, and leave a like and subscribe!
We have now just reached Floor 21, and with i-
OH LORD. Are these actually a frequent event, do these actually happen in Kaga games.
I’ve never been more glad of having hit 30 Defense already.
I kid not, this was the aftermath after my pretty much unsure handling of this chapter (which I’ve gone through twice so far) had me get multiple units killed on the first three turns.
Now you might be wondering about the new units that have joined - of which I will make a quick breakdown here and then further elaborate later.
- Dazzle, a non-conventional healer who can generate healing auras with various buffs in exchange of breaking lances/entering combat (Canto+ Aura is crazy work)
- DD/Double Down, a one-hit striker with huge DPS capabilities that will very likely be dead on the next enemy phase when at full potential
- Hero, a mounted tank with the ability to taunt while healing and using main light magic, and the ability to heal when killing through a combat art.
- Lady Orchid, a DPS mage capable of throwing multiple attacks per turn at the cost of constant decay damage taken every time she makes an attack.
Out of these, I have learnt to effectively use none of them.
I’m so done for.
And speaking truthfully, cooked I was, as I failed Floor 22, and was sent back down.
But that was the past.
After making it through Floor 22, Floor 23 had us need to kill all purple enemies while running from the giant red cyclops - to what I instead let everyone get killed by it but one unit that booked it and ran away as far as possible.
Truly the Loonie 2ns mindset.
Floor 24, Capture the Flag, is a chapter where you have to kill a Sage holding a flag and bring it back to your side - where some specific spells come in incredibly handy.
Until the place where you must plant the flag spawns right on you with six or so enemies, throwing you a jumpscare and making you panic slightly.
And then, Floor 25. The boss fight featuring two mini-bosses which must be killed in order to further progress into the fight.
He looks fine, honestly, it shouldn’t be that much of a pro-
Oh that’s another Kaga Block it should be fi-
Oh.
OH
HELP, THEY ALL HAVE SILVER LANCES HELP AUGH OUCH UGH GUH
Do note that, thanks to Zelg’s valiant sacrifice here I managed to buy around four or five turns of time.
But quick fun fact - this map, which features two paths and enemies you can ignore makes them all run towards you the moment you enter the throne room. So, unless you kill the boss fa-
Oh. Okay, I’ve got to say, Hardman is crazy good. The more time that passes, the more value I keep getting out of Hunter’s Mark+Brave Bow.
And thus, with this…
I have woken up from the Nightmare of Agency.
Additionally, thanks to hitting Lv10 further ahead, we have unlocked the fabled:
So hello, FEU, here we have an intermission by none other than Lesk for rating skills (once more) and characters now that not only we have gained 4 additional party members, but we acquired the Lv10 threshold unlocking the third class skill for all of our characters.
That’s why I’ll take a bit of time here speaking about each character in specific alongside their new mechanics. This time, I’ll talk about the new 3rd skill on each of our starter 4, as I will talk at a later post about the new team of four, as I must climb the tower back for…
Reasons.
Disclaimer: Due to having indeed crashes right before Floor 28, right after acquiring lv10 any guessing of skills or unit utility is likely to be wrong.
Zelg Lv10
Zelg’s Lv10 skill, Fortify Armor, grants a +5 Def bonus, debuff immunity (which is going to start being laid down thick with the sheer amount of penalties coming, not only limited to stat decreases, but also connected to Stuns. Of course, some debuffs have already shown to be troublesome (Pinned/specific Recoils), so the ability to grant status immunity is a good tool - even more when combined with certain characters.
Considering my late Zelg was now featuring capped Defense and nearly capped HP makes an additional +5 Defense a question for the future, it’s very true that for later scenarios this could prove to be rather interesting.
Granted, he’ll need sturdier weapons in order to channel his inner Doga in a more effective manner, but this skill can at least ensure an incredible amount of walling when in need.
Honestly a great piece to his kit, as he now has an even more reliable source of both Mana refills and Provoke.
Philophrosine Lv10
A fairly standard buff to damage with the ability to cancel debuffs when received whilst in the aura - while an okay option to end a turn with, this is most probably going to be potentially used for dodging debuffs rather than increasing allied damage by 4 over attacking (with which Flux, unless the enemy is also immune to debuffs, will also increase damage by 4).
Loonie 2ns Lv10
With this working in favor towards Osmose stacks, this skill can pretty much turn Loonie into the designated Mana Battery of the team, considering the possibility of specific characters (Hero, for example) to run out of Mana at an awkward spot and be unable to keep healing/provoking if not used correctly.
The small bonus to Mag/Res is a nice touch overall, and is a good option for Loonie to gain Osmose stacks without decreasing the overall SP pool.
Hardman Lv10
Kinda mid. +50 Hit isn’t bad, but Hardman will have high hitrates thanks to being Skl-focused (as well as his OoS skill benefiting that), so this will be a hard use unless a future bow really offers low Hit in exchange for ludicrous Mt.
And with this, I will close the tales of the Fifth Stratum. Maybe one day, I will clear the Sixth Stratum too.
So, until I make it back, this has been Lesk. Remember not to do anything finnicky while playing unless you want to hit a crash and be sent back to Floor 1, chat.
On the Next Chapter…
LOONIE LIKE SMASH
