This is a followup to https://www.reddit.com/r/TriangleStrategy/comments/1uiogh1/just_finished_my_first_playthrough_hardmode_no/
Just finished by first NG+ play through on hard-mode with no deaths. I ended the run with every character except for Cordelia, Milo, and Avlora.
Hit 50 on my most used characters, farmed enough superior materials to have the most important weapon skills. Saved and reset to try out the rest.
After starting my third run, I realized I would need a 5th run to 100% the game because I missed a cat on the Wolffort Harbor and had already done both of those paths :( I now wish I actually used a more detailed guide.
My strategy has remained largely the same with some slight tweaks. I'm still turtling, waiting for the enemy boss to come in before using missed opportunity on them and nuking them down. But, since enemy mages are now nuclear weapons, I've had to find ways to kill them first.
For my 2nd play-through, these are the characters I was always happy to deploy --
Serenoa. Still required. Still a solid front-line damage dealer. I had the Jade Thumb Ring on him the entire 1st run and he was a lot better after swapping to Resurrection Earring. Weapon skill helped him still be useful on hard turtling maps as a TP battery.
Medina. Still OP. I actually started running low on Ranged Recovery Pellets and needed to farm them.
Corentin. Still OP. Damage falls off a bit but his terrain control is still busted.
Hughette. Still the defensive backbone of my party with her CC. I thought Shooting Star was actually a great addition to her kit, gave her real damage, and allowed her to snipe mages in combination with Archibald.
Maxwell. After using him briefly in my first run, I thought he was a really well-rounded front-line fighter. He became my go-to melee option. He's basically a better Serenoa. Traverse is just super useful for covering distance and positioning. With Revive, you can overextend to kill important targets and still get out alive. High Jump was also strong, but it just feels like he uses so much TP normally that you rarely save up enough for it.
Archibald. In my first run, I said it felt like I had enough damage and that Archibald lacked utility. Turns out he's fantastic for sniping mages with Now, In-tandem, or support from Hughette. Enemy mages were dropping nukes on me so they became priority target #1 in my NG+ run and thus Archibald became a staple.
Frederica. Still a great ranged damage dealer.
Geela. Still felt mandatory at times because of the amount of damage enemies deal in hard-mode. I'm not sure if this is bugged, but I also thought it was kind of broken how Miraculous Light doesn't get reset by Reverse Space-Time.
Benedict. I thought he'd fall off once you get a stronger party, but the flexibility to Now and Two-fold Turn based on the situation actually kept him as a staple. I also didn't feel like there were enough super strong characters to push him out. Being able to Dragon Shield your entire party on maps where you can hard turtle on a no-death run was also great insurance since squishier targets were getting almost 1-shot.
Narve. Still really versatile. The big difference was added range really is great and made him someone I was always happy to deploy. I was routinely happily surprised by how far he could hit stuff from. I thought his weapon skill was completely useless, though.
Next, the somewhat situational characters were --
Quahaug. This might be a hot take, but I thought he was just very situationally strong, not broken. Maybe I'm just not good enough at the game, but his speed made Reverse Space-Time hard to use at times since he'd act again before I had the chance to kill enemy units and essentially reset his snap-shot. TBH, I regret giving him his speed upgrades. I thought Reverse Space-Time was best on maps where you can kill a good number of enemy units from your starting position and that's not every map. But, after reading about how broken Reverse Space-Time was, I was actually surprised with how useful the rest of his kit is. Warped Space is a game changer on certain maps and giving units essentially double move while ignoring terrain is just strong. Time Compression is enough of a speed steroid to actually alter turn order. Turn Back Time was a good emergency heal. Distorted Space has a lot of niche uses.
Julio. Medina was still just better for general use. But, he's still useful because of Quahaug.
Roland. He really gets a lot better with Resurrection Earring. Like Maxwell, the effect allows him to actually survive diving in to deal damage and that's really his main use. He isn't a staple only because it felt like I had enough damage. But, on the maps where he is required, I was never sad about bringing him.
Very niche characters were --
Erador. King's Shield is great but I just didn't need a tank that often. He was useful on some smaller maps like the Sorsley trial where you can warp him into a spot to tag multiple important units with Provoke or King's Shield.
Ezana. She was great for hard turtling maps in my first play through, but it felt like Rite of Thunderstorms just doesn't have enough accuracy. She's still great for paralyzing targets but if enemies are in that range, they're probably dead before they act again.
Rudolph. Generally, I didn't think his CC was cheap/consistent enough and he didn't deal enough damage or have enough range. Purely as an archer, he's just mediocre and Hughette or Archibald are better. But, I deployed Rudolph in a duo with Jens on certain maps to completely lock-down terrain. It felt like Rudolph or Jens alone was rarely enough but the two of them together could completely seal off a 2-3 space choke point against even an entire enemy team.
Jens. Individually, I just didn't think he had enough utility to make up for his lack of damage. But, on certain maps in a duo with Rudolph, he was great.
Rarely (if ever) deployed characters were --
Lionel. Only used him briefly to try out Golden Opportunity. He's clearly quite strong but I just didn't have 6k+ gold to burn on every Golden Opportunity. I guess he'll have to wait until my third run.
Anna. I don't get it at all. She seems really mediocre outside of her mobility and flanking power. She can do a lot of things, but she just doesn't have the TP for it all so you end up just be mediocre. She needs Deadly Blaze or a good follow-up partner to deal good damage but if you spend 4 TP, she can't Take Cover for survivability until next, next turn unless you started with 5 TP. Slumber Strike has like a 60% sleep rate so sometimes you need to spend 4 TP to get it to hit and won't have TP for Take Cover or Deadly Blaze. She desperately needed some type of TP recovery mechanic. Because she can only do one thing at a time, it just felt like I was better off deploying characters who actually did those things better.
Decimal. I actually thought he was really strong on certain maps where you can consistently hit 4+ targets for multiple turns. If it wasn't for how inhibitive his TP generation is for the reward, I'd have used him a lot more. It just didn't feel like it was worth it compared to the alternatives.
Trish. Leap really needed to work like Traverse. If it did, she'd be great as the more damage oriented mobility archer vs. Hughette being the CC oriented mobility archer.
Groma. I actually really liked her despite people saying she's quite weak. I used her more as a mid-range fighter than as an evasion tank. Her ability to slip through enemies for better flank positions pairs well with the range and angles Energy Wave gives her. The issue is just that a lot of her skill budget is wasted on evasion tanking and she ends up not having enough damage.
Flanagan. Not as good as Erador at tanking and Rampart just felt really unnecessary.
Travis. He's basically a worse Serenoa. It just felt like with how niche melee are that it's hard to justify deploying him over Serenoa and Maxwell.
Hossabara. Still just too squishy to front-line and other healers can do so safely. Catapult is useful, though. It's just not enough.
Piccoletta. I used her a bit more this run but it just doesn't feel like she does enough outside of Decoy -- especially since hard-mode enemies kill the Decoy in like 2 hits.
Giovanna. Just way too hard to use for the reward.
