Which Dissidia Opera Omnia characters can be the most helpful?

Dissidia Opera Omnia is a rather huge game. Consider this: there are 25 story characters. People are limited to a party of three, though they can have 10 preset parties. In addition to those characters guaranteed from the campaign, various events offer the opportunity to earn many more heroes from the Final Fantasy series for free. Only Vanille and Setzer have been added to the roster so far, but we can eventually look forward to people like Maria, Kain, Rydia, Faris, Celes, Aerith, Zack and Ramza. With such a huge cast, people may have trouble finding specific characters to use for certain needs. Well, Michibiku is here to help!

Building a proper party

The first thing to know about Dissidia Opera Omnia is that a balanced party makes for a happy player. You need to have the right arrangement of characters to really succeed. That means having one person who is a major damage deal is a must. (Maybe two, if you really like breaking enemies and whittling down their health.) It is also important to have someone in your party capable of buffing or debuffing. Finally, if you are not in favor of two major damage dealers, a third person who is good at hitting multiple enemies at once is a big plus. Balance is very important, as having one person who can support your allies while using two others who are exceptionally strong can help you prepare for any eventuality.

Major damage dealers

These are the characters that are great at dealing tons of damage to an opponent’s bravery and health. You could consider them your damage-per-second fighters. They need to maximize every possible assault. Fortunately, some of them are earned very early on.

Cloud is one of the best damage dealers in the game, and he is acquired in the very first chapter of the campaign. His Cross Slash ability awakens at level one and does HP and brave damage while also having a chance to paralyze the enemy. This can be used five times. If you get him to awakening level 0, you also unlock a Finishing Touch ranged attack that deals brave damage and starts the Chase Mode to initiate a combo.

Regardless of how you feel about Vaan in Final Fantasy XII, he is an amazing fighter in Dissidia Opera Omnia after joining in the second chapter. Remember how Cloud’s Cross Slash will damage an enemy’s bravery and health? Both of Vaan’s special attacks do that. Red Spiral damages both of an enemy’s stats and temporarily increases Vaan’s attack for a short time. After a certain number of uses, using Red Spiral will make Whiteout, an ice attack, trigger to damage brave and health. His White Whorl attack, which appears at awakening level 20, deals brave damage, health damage and might lower an enemy’s defense. If it is used multiple times in a row, it triggers a second Luminescence attack that deals brave damage, health damage and inflicts blind.

If you managed to catch Squall during an event, he is the other great attacker to grab. Here’s why. Solid Barrel, his level one attack, quickly builds up his bravery in a short time. Depending on your build, he might come close to maxing out his brave damage with a single Solid Barrel use. At level 20 awakening level, you get a brave and health attack called Blade Flurry that will deal more hits if Squall’s brave drops below 250% int brv.

Helpful supporters

The supporters are characters who have some sort of buffing or debuffing action as their special skills. Maybe they help make your party better! Perhaps they will make enemies more susceptible to attacks. In either case, they will be a welcome ally for these little boons they can provide the party.

Y’shtola joins in the first chapter of Dissidia Opera Omnia and is the sort of character referred to as a brave battery by the community. This means she has a skill that can increase the bravery of the other party members. She does not have this skill right away, though. Her first ability is Stone, which deals damage to an enemy’s bravery and also pushes them back in the turn order. At awakening level 20, she gets Medicara, which increases her allies’ bravery based on how much bravery she currently has.

Hope is a great character to have on your side! He is a brave battery, just like Y’shtola. However, his skills are designed to help protect the party. When he joins in chapter one, he will soon have Shell. When used, this boosts bravery and protects the party against magical damage for a certain number of turns. At awakening level 20, he also gets Protect, which functions like Shell, only for physical damage.

My final supporter recommendation may sound a bit odd, because he is not someone you would typically think of as a supporter in any game. It is Zidane, who pops in during the second chapter. Here’s why he fits into this category. Zidane is great at inflicting debuffs on enemies. Stellar Circle 5 is usable from pretty much the start and not only reduces bravery, but has a chance of both lowering the enemy’s speed while increasing Zidane’s. Once he reaches awakening level 20, he gets Free Energy. This once again takes away from an enemy’s brave reserves while also possibly lowering the enemy’s defense and increasing Zidane’s.

Area of effect allies

Sometimes, you want a character who can just wipe the floor with a group of people. This is someone you can count on to immediately lower the enemy party’s bravery and make it easier for your party to get a jump on things. There are not too many people with area of effect attacks, but it is possible to find a few rather early on in Dissidia Opera Omnia.

Setzer is one of the easiest ones to grab, when his event is happening. While his standard attacks hit only one character, his special is much more effective. Freeze Solid, his initial special attack, hits every enemy’s bravery and freezes the enemies’ ability to increase brave for a time. He also eventually gets Red Card at level 20 awakening, which lets him hit one enemy and deal a lot of brave damage.

In chapter four, Yang will join the party. He is not the strongest character, but has two strong skills that work rather well together. Kick is the area of effect attack. It takes away brave and health from all enemies, though the ones that are not the target do not take as much damage. At awakening level 20, he learns Focus, a buff that can increase his attack and maximum bravery. When this is in effect and he uses Kick, it becomes Kick+ and does more damage.

Finally, there is Laguna. He does not join until chapter five, so it may be a while before you get to use and appreciate him. But, he is great because both of his special skills hit every enemy. Grenade, which he comes with, takes away enemies’ bravery and ends up lowering their defense for a few turns. Shotgun, which arrives at level 20 awakening, also deals brave damage to all enemies and at the same time temporarily lowers their attack.

Yuna

Yuna is a special case. I am not a fan of her, due to her attack not being as great as others and her skills being rather specialized, but she is someone you will want when facing bosses like Marlboro. See, she comes with Esuna. This removes ever debuffs from a single ally. She also eventually gets Cheer, which makes her a brave battery that increases one person’s brave by 1.5x, after hitting awakening level 20. So while I would not say she is someone who should always be in your party, you should definitely train her and have her in reserves or pick someone who has her set as a friend unit. Especially if she has an Astral Rod equipped, as it turns Esuna into a skill that hits every ally.

Dissidia Opera Omnia is available for Android and iOS devices.