What is the point of the skill "accost"?

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

Thracia 776 has a skill called accost (charge in the older translations) which doubles basically the combat.

So if an ally doubles an enemy, it attacks four times and the enemy attacks twice.

This sounds good at first, but it is terrible if the accost unit cannot counterattack. The enemy can basically attack twice for free. In case of Dagdar who has this skill, chapter 8x is an absolute pain in the ass because he always gets hit twice. This is the result:

Spoiler

I see accost just as suicide skill.

Since enemies can always hit, it cannot even be given to a dodgetank unit.

I remember given this skill to Asbel in a former run who was doubled by ballistas all the time and died multiple times.

This brings me up with that question what the point of this skill is (= best usage) and who could use it best?

[X-Naut]

Accost is great for guaranteeing the target gets killed, and is particularly useful for capturing when your stats are cut in half. The drawback of it always activating is unfortunate, but it can be worked around. Dagdar has enough bulk that he can survive getting doubled by most enemies, and it makes him a good ballista drainer. You do need to take care of him around siege tomes, although those typically don't move.

[Pengaius]

Accost can be nice on your slow-midspeed units, as it will allow them to actually one-round enemies, but it's bad for non ballista tanking. It's a decently good attack skill if an opponent can't counter but it is dangerous on enemy phase. It's a high risk moderate reward type of skill

[Eltosian Kadath]

Its a solid player phase skill, that lets you get the most out of that one player phase action, and if you can hit the enemy at a range they don't have, you can get those extra attacks for free. It can also be used to run down Ballista/siege weapon faster, but you want high defense/magic to do that well. Its a dangerous skill on a frontliner, and unfortunately Dagdar tends to fall into that role, and while he can kinda make the ballista baiting work with his HP, someone with higher defense would work far better.

[Fates-Blade]

Accost is nice to have, but I think it's impractical, since you can use other tanks or high avoid characters (with the OP Charm skill) to survive Ballistas and siege tomes, heck you can even use siege tomes (specifically Blizzard since it puts them to sleep) to hit Ballistas , if you do use it you'll probably need a character with super high HP, Defense and Avoid to really make it work well, like I have:

Edited December 31, 2019 by Fates-Blade

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

Ah, I get it. 

Originally I thought it would be better on mages because of always being able to counterattack aside of ballistas and siege tomes, but I see the point it is meant for capturing. 

 

It is funny that I also was thinking to pump Marty with scrolls to give him the accost scroll once I got it (do not remember which chapter it was). Orsin and Halvan usually have the speed still to double in capture mode. 

Edited December 30, 2019 by Zemuria

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

I am considering who to give the accost scroll from chapter 12x to?

I have these contenders:

• Tanya for doing four times damage without taking a counter attack
• Halvan for having an easier time to capture
• Salem for being able to attack always four times

Edited January 5, 2020 by Zemuria

[DarthR0xas]

I've never tried accost on a primarily ranged unit, so I can't tell you how that will play out, although Tanya isn't exactly known for bulk or dodging ability in my experience, so keep that in mind. Against Ballista and Seige tomes, she'll probably get shredded. Then again, 4 attacks might be useful

Giving it to Halvan will basically just create a better Dagdar. If you like Dagdar and his utility, then giving it to Halvan is a good idea. If you find Dagdar's utility to be not that good, or if your Halvan isn't growing that well, then it's probably not a good idea.

Salem is a tome/staff unit. Generally it's a very bad idea to give accost to these units due to how squishy they are and the weapons they use. Salem will eventually just become another Staff bot if you keep using him, which he is very good at, but giving him accost is a bit of a waste.