Which Basic Abilities are best for Shantotto?

[superangelo128]

Of all the characters I use the most I'm good with everyone else's but Shantotto's.

I've been trying different combos but I don't seem fine with them like the rest of my characters.

Anyone have suggestions?

[¤Dark Elf¤]

I think that you need to ask a more specific question because the one you asked will bring up many varying opinions(limitless maybe), if anything it mostly deals with your personal playstyle.

[Gianni]

well what basic abilities do you have unlocked right now, omni air dash is very useful for shantotto, but im a free air dash user myself lol

[Dave880]

Get Snooze and Loose on Shattoto. Helps her bind opponents if they are attacking to get rid of the Snooze and Loose activation.

[superangelo128]

SOrry I haven't replied in a while

But I guess I'm looking for a build that would be best to getting their Brave to go down as much as possible.

I guess in particular I'm having trouble figuring out which "Extra" moves to use.

Also is an "Ex Build" good? If so what are some of the necessary abilities to put on her?

[Suppi]

SOrry I haven't replied in a while

But I guess I'm looking for a build that would be best to getting their Brave to go down as much as possible.

I guess in particular I'm having trouble figuring out which "Extra" moves to use.

Also is an "Ex Build" good? If so what are some of the necessary abilities to put on her?

Ex Builds are great to abuse if you catch EX counter hp, burst repeat.

[Durzo]

Im having the same problem. I don't like Shantotto, but that always happens when I just start on on a char. Im trying to level her up, but I find her to be almost useless.
Her HP attacks are slow and leave her vulnerable for a period of time. She has limited brave attacks and her binding move only works well on slow characters who try to use a still hp move (Eg. grand cross, Exdeath) I would really like someone to tell me how to use her properly. I've only got her at lvl 15 or so, she is hard and boring to level up.

[POS Industries]

Well, I've opted to focus on building her in a way that starts out with a large amount of bravery and further gains it through means other than hitting your opponent, i.e. dodging, blocking, quickmoving, and EX regen. To that end, her accessories are mostly centered around dicking around the whole fight and blowing EX-modes early and often. Bio is just there as insurance against HP attacks, while Retribution and A Couple Attacks serve to spawn EX force rather than deal significant brave damage.

It's nothing I'd necessarily recommend for serious competitive play and I've only employed it because I find the character amusing and this seemed to be the path of least resistance to playing her. That said, when everything comes together just right?

Shantotto vs. Jecht (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vT3uh0o77Mc)

Feels good, man.

[Durzo]

That's really awesome.
Almost makes me want to play as her. I stress 'almost'

[WolfLB]

a dangerous tactic (if you're not careful) I've learned to use is to bio take a shot and get the easy break... it works when they don't have a WHOLE lot of BRV points. but... as i said can be dangerous... but its very effective vs chaos cause he's always bound to land 1 or more HP attacks on you

[Reaperfan]

In term's of brave builds, something that I've been experimenting around with is an EX to Brave setup using accessories like Force Begets Courage. Just make a basic EX build and add that accessory into it. You can raise your brave quickly just by collecting EX, but it will cost you your EX mode. It makes it much easier to get into your Tier 2-3 spells, but it's up to you to determine if its worth not having EX mode.

[POS Industries]

I fiddled around with Force Begets Courage, but I found that the rate of bravery gain from it just wasn't cutting it for me, though my bravery build at the time was a bit all over the place, admittedly. You might be able to do something more focused around gaining bravery through it, but I found removing Force Begets Courage and shifting things around to gain bravery through EX-mode regen was more effective.

[Shigunetheseraph]

I used Jump Times Boost+++ and Jump Boost+++ because her jumping isn't all that good.

[Jugil]

For Action Abilities I like:
- OAD - It's fun for getting in and out of melee range (plus EX-Core speed)
- Speed Boost++, and Jump Times Boost+ (never was a fan of Jump Boost)
- Recovery Attack is fun and surprising

Extra Abilities:
- Snooze and Lose - to force attacks/openings
- Counterattack is good to punish openings (not my number one choice though)
- Sneak Attack synergizes well with Bio and Retribution
- Riposte for block and staff punishment
- EX Critical Boost is excellent for Manafont abuse

[Wella]

Well, for my pure EX Shantotto build, I'm using Snooze and Lose, and that's it for the Extra abilities. It works wonders.

For my combo build focusing on getting BRV up quickly, along with fast EX gauge filling + Bravery Regen, I just use Back to the Wall, really, as a backup for tight situations. None of the other Extra abilities seem to do much for me. First Strike can be good, too, though, but it's a pretty 'general' ability, imho.

[Jugil]

With a pure EX-Build, you should check out EX Critical Boost, which gives you guaranteed crits while in EX-Mode. Criticals yield quite a bit more damage than normals.

With an ATK stat equal to your opponent's DEF stat, and no criticals, a Water > Thunder > EX-Burst chain does a little over 900 damage. Assuming a critical hit multiplier of 5, that same chain does a little over 4500 damage (much thanks to ujhbn for posting the damage equations (http://www.dissidiaforums.com/showthread.php?t=3923) :D). And you get to keep that 4500 (plus any stage BRV) after it's all said and done, thanks to Manafont.

[Wella]

Wow, I never knew it made that much difference.

[ujhbn]

With a pure EX-Build, you should check out EX Critical Boost, which gives you guaranteed crits while in EX-Mode. Criticals yield quite a bit more damage than normals.

With an ATK stat equal to your opponent's DEF stat, and no criticals, a Water > Thunder > EX-Burst chain does a little over 900 damage. Assuming a critical hit multiplier of 5, that same chain does a little over 4500 damage (much thanks to ujhbn for posting the damage equations (http://www.dissidiaforums.com/showthread.php?t=3923) :D). And you get to keep that 4500 (plus any stage BRV) after it's all said and done, thanks to Manafont.

Sorry that I didn't explain in my posts, should have put more info in instead dumping the multipliers XD

With an ATK=DEF, her EX Burst alone will do 2000+ damage, because EX Burst = all crits.
And it would do 4000+ damage only if the opponent does not do anything on the DEF gauge. ATK=DEF vs ATK=DEF-10 is actually twice the damage.

I have updated the battle mechanics thread, added info on EXBurst.



On builds, a ATK+ build on a offensive Shantotto is fun :D
A reposte Retribution + wall rush can do 3K+ damage, 2 of this and you can cast Ancient Magics. Works on Lv100 only though.

[Jugil]

Sorry that I didn't explain in my posts, should have put more info in instead dumping the multipliers XD

With an ATK=DEF, her EX Burst alone will do 2000+ damage, because EX Burst = all crits.
And it would do 4000+ damage only if the opponent does not do anything on the DEF gauge. ATK=DEF vs ATK=DEF-10 is actually twice the damage.

I have updated the battle mechanics thread, added info on EXBurst.



On builds, a ATK+ build on a offensive Shantotto is fun :D
A reposte Retribution + wall rush can do 3K+ damage, 2 of this and you can cast Ancient Magics. Works on Lv100 only though.

Good point; I forgot about the +10 on the DEF gauge ><. I've been on an EX + ATK build kick on most of my characters, and also forgot about the automatic EX Burst crit.

Nonetheless, EX Critical Boost still synergizes exceptionally well with a sustained EX + ATK build for the lead in HP attack damage (assuming your opponent doesn't disable it XD).

[Wella]

I tend to neglect most +ATK things, maybe I should look into it more.

In fact, my first Garland build was heavily focused on +ATK (with plenty of +Damage % too, of course), and I do remember it being pretty awesome. Though nowhere near as awesome as my current EX build. ;)

[Shigunetheseraph]

For Action Abilities I like:
- OAD - It's fun for getting in and out of melee range (plus EX-Core speed)
- Speed Boost++, and Jump Times Boost+ (never was a fan of Jump Boost)
- Recovery Attack is fun and surprising

Extra Abilities:
- Snooze and Lose - to force attacks/openings
- Counterattack is good to punish openings (not my number one choice though)
- Sneak Attack synergizes well with Bio and Retribution
- Riposte for block and staff punishment
- EX Critical Boost is excellent for Manafont abuse

I never got through to doing the Extra Abilities, but now that you describe them, I must try!

[BlueSionX]

I myself prefer the lai strike build to go along with those abilities, since lai strike can occur per tick when bio is landed on. I like to call it teh bio strike.