Best Combat Arts/Magic

[Archeleon]

28 minutes ago, ZanaLyrander said:

That's fair, at least about Agnea's Arrow, it's not terribly useful on its own, even if its potential as a combo finisher outstrips just about every other powerhouse spell.

As for Luna, I do still have to disagree with that one. Used by a powerful magic user, Luna can annihilate even multiple commanders in one cast, along with the 50+ mooks nearby. Sure, Excalibur is probably better, but without Essence of Wind, it's got a smaller AoE, and it costs more. Luna is one of the most powerful Medium might spell in the game due to the ignore resistance effect, it does startlingly high damage. Seeing you list it as 'not particularly strong' confuses me given how easily and rapidly I see it devour enemy commanders. With a strong dark magic user like Shez or Hubert, it can be cast into a crowd of commanders and mooks, and then you move on knowing they're all already dead. Even leaving aside Luna's potential as a combo starter, it's one of the best dark magic spells in the game.

Aura has never impressed me, its effect is too brief to be an effective combo starter the way Bolganone is, you won't have time to get off another spell, plus with Essence of Light, it has an AoE deadzone right in front of the user, similar to Fimbulvetr, leading to some occasional frustration with trying to land a hit with it. 

Our experiences with Luna have been very different then. Yeah, it melts fodder but about 50% of the time it just gets blocked.

[Sire]

While I haven't solidified my endgame builds for everyone yet, I do follow the synergy mentality a bit more, especially if Elemental Essence is used. As for combos (Excalibur -> Agnea's Arrow), they seem a bit overkill (although I'll admit Luna + Swift Strike on Shez looks cool).
-- Also, I tend to use CA/Magic that just feels good to use, even if they may not be "best-in-slot" or the most efficient.

For some example builds...
-- Axes: War Strike, Focused Strike (Focused Strike is War Strike's little bro, and War Strike feels great to use.)
-- Swords: Astra, Wrath Strike (Astra is the heavy hitter, Wrath Strike is easy invincibility and a quick guard-breaker.)
--- Fire Gremory: Bolagnone/Ragnorak, Fire (With Elemental Essence, Fire can work well as a crowd clearing spell while Bolagnone or Ragnorak handles tougher opponents.)
--- Electric Mortal Savant: Electric Grounder, Thoron (Crowd Clear + Stun Gauge)
== Shez: Swift Strike, Luna/Physic (Swift Strike handles everything with Luna being my magic option. I may swap out Luna for Physic if I'm not controlling Shez myself)
== Lysithea: Abraxas, Dark Spikes (Two heavy hitting spells that is consistent with Lysithea's Light/Dark theme. Being a Gremory with her unique Tome allows Lysithea to spam these spells more than usual. // I use Abraxas as it sends enemies flying, triggering Lysithea's personal.)

* * * * *

As for Luna, while it is indeed powerful, a part of me wonders if it still doesn't have a high modifier to offset the fact it ignores resistance. While it is a great consistent-damage skill with setup capability, for raw damage it may be better to use other skills instead.

Agnea's Arrow I haven't played with thoroughly as I tend to stick with elemental spells for Elemental Essence synergy (and I haven't gotten around to properly playing characters who have innate access). From what I messed around with it though, it looks nice and hits hard, although I'm not sure how effective it is when compared to other options.

Aura feels meh to me, although granted I haven't used it thoroughly. It is nice for gathering enemies in front of the caster for follow-ups and is a quick spell, but I just haven't been playing characters who would usually make use of Aura.

[Dark Holy Elf]

Agnea's Arrow does seem to do a lot of damage with a setup spell. Might be overkill for some things, though, and it's hard to use on its own. I think it's pretty good, but not top tier. I'd probably have leaned towards B.

Luna is fine but feels a bit slow for what it does. Still useful to be clear, but I prefer other spells. I agree with it in C.

Probably the spell whose highish rating I disagree with most is Cutting Gale, which I'd put squarely in the bottom tier if I made one of these. I had great trouble using that one reliably; it can tie up enemies in an area but it has a notable startup time and the area isn't huge, so way too often enemies just get out of its way and it's totally useless. Compared to Meteor, the inability to correct its AoE is a pretty big negative. Full disclosure that I have not used it with Essence of Wind yet, but as a large majority of characters do not have any one given Essence ability, I'd prefer to rate spells primarily not assuming them (though with notes if any benefit more than average from an Essence).

[Archeleon]

32 minutes ago, Dark Holy Elf said:

Agnea's Arrow does seem to do a lot of damage with a setup spell. Might be overkill for some things, though, and it's hard to use on its own. I think it's pretty good, but not top tier. I'd probably have leaned towards B.

Luna is fine but feels a bit slow for what it does. Still useful to be clear, but I prefer other spells. I agree with it in C.

Probably the spell whose highish rating I disagree with most is Cutting Gale, which I'd put squarely in the bottom tier if I made one of these. I had great trouble using that one reliably; it can tie up enemies in an area but it has a notable startup time and the area isn't huge, so way too often enemies just get out of its way and it's totally useless. Compared to Meteor, the inability to correct its AoE is a pretty big negative. Full disclosure that I have not used it with Essence of Wind yet, but as a large majority of characters do not have any one given Essence ability, I'd prefer to rate spells primarily not assuming them (though with notes if any benefit more than average from an Essence).

I felt the same way about Cutting Gale at first, but it actually has a good number of applications even for casters. It serves as a pseudo interruption against enemies as it is constantly hitting them and applying Windtorn. Very few enemies will attack you through it and it racks up hit count very quick. The damage is fairly good too. You are also free to do whatever you need to while it is active. This is not counting the augmented version.

[Dark Holy Elf]

15 hours ago, Archeleon said:

I felt the same way about Cutting Gale at first, but it actually has a good number of applications even for casters. It serves as a pseudo interruption against enemies as it is constantly hitting them and applying Windtorn. Very few enemies will attack you through it and it racks up hit count very quick. The damage is fairly good too. You are also free to do whatever you need to while it is active. This is not counting the augmented version.

Yeah, it's fine... if enemies are in it. If they decide to get out of it (and I've definitely even had that happen mid-spell) there's not much you can do. Compared to other "tie up the enemies" effects it feels much weaker. Maybe there are clever ways to bait the AI into staying in it that I didn't key into but ehhh, it's still a pretty notable negative that you have to do it.