User:Tanooki1432/Class Setups

This is a page dedicated to various class builds for your party. These builds are focused more or less on The Lost Age and Dark Dawn with all of the Djinn collected, but can easily be scaled down Golden Sun simply by reducing the numbers and lowering the Tier. No names are given as it's easy to interchange between adepts of the same element.

 Disclaimer:  This is NOT every single combination in the games. These are only the ones that I have experience with and these are mostly my personal opinions, hence the reason it's part of my personal page.

Note: Italicized class names are how they appear or can appear in Dark Dawn, depending on the Adept(s) in question.

Mono-Elemental
This section deals with everyone in Mono-element classes.

The Default Run

 * Venus Adept 1: 9[[File:Star_venus.gif]] (Slayer)
 * Mars Adept 1: 9[[File:Star_mars.gif]] (Hero)
 * Jupiter Adept 1: 9[[File:Star_jupiter.gif]] (Sorcerer)
 * Mercury Adept 1: 9[[File:Star_mercury.gif]] (Angel)
 * Venus Adept 2: 9[[File:Star_venus.gif]] (Slayer/Radiant Miko)
 * Mars Adept 2: 9[[File:Star_mars.gif]] (Justice/Hull Reaver)
 * Jupiter Adept 2: 9[[File:Star_jupiter.gif]] (Sorcerer/Prime Beast)
 * Mercury Adept 2: 9[[File:Star_mercury.gif]] (Admiral/Aqua Master)

Straightforward, simple and easy to use, the Default Run involves giving Djinn of a particular element to whatever Adept(s) are strong in that element. Very easy and very safe to use.

Boss Battles are usually going to involve summon rushing, followed by unleashing Djinn and more summoning as the Mono-Elemental classes don't really have the oomph in both the statistics and psynergy lineups to deal damage otherwise, or if they do have potent psynergies, they don't really have the Psynergy Pool to run with it for as long as it will be needed (See the Squire class series and Odyssey). In DD, this will also include shifting Sveta into Beastform and having her rail on the target(s) for a bit.

One major drawback to this setup is a lack of redundancy in healing. Only two classes possess group heals, and they require a number of Djinn to be set in order to access them (although this is mitigated somewhat in DD as Karis's group heal is available in the first tier Wind Seer class, while Rief, Mia and Jenna need to be in the third tier Cleric and Hex class respectively to use their group heal). Furthermore, since every adept only has one element of offensive psynergies, enemies with a high resistance are going to be a little annoying at times.

Dual-Elemental
This section deals with everyone in Dual-element classes.

The Right Pairings

 * Venus Adept 1: 7[[File:Star_mars.gif]] 2[[File:Star_venus.gif]] (Chaos Lord)
 * Mars Adept 1: 7[[File:Star_venus.gif]] 2[[File:Star_mars.gif]] (Chaos Lord)
 * Jupiter Adept 1: 7[[File:Star_mercury.gif]] 2[[File:Star_jupiter.gif]] (Wizard)
 * Mercury Adept 1: 7[[File:Star_jupiter.gif]] 2[[File:Star_mercury.gif]] (Wizard)
 * Venus Adept 2: 7[[File:Star_mars.gif]] 2[[File:Star_venus.gif]] (Chaos Lord/Diabolist)
 * Mars Adept 2: 7[[File:Star_venus.gif]] 2[[File:Star_mars.gif]] (Chaos Lord)
 * Jupiter Adept 2: 7[[File:Star_mercury.gif]] 2[[File:Star_jupiter.gif]] (Wizard)
 * Mercury Adept 2: 7[[File:Star_jupiter.gif]] 2[[File:Star_mercury.gif]] (Wizard)

Straightforward and almost as simple as The Default Run.

To be blunt, this is sort of a boring build, and has the consistency of taking a sledge hammer to the problem. There are only 2 classes in the party, the Brute class series and the Hermit class series. The Mars and Venus adepts pummel the targets while the Jupiter and Mercury ones keep everyone alive. This problem is somewhat alleviated in DD when Himi will be in the Curse Mage class series, but the idea is the same: Mars and Venus kill, Jupiter and Mercury heal.

Boss Battles are either going to be summon rushes, or letting the Mars and Venus adepts just pummel the target(s) into submission with their 1.7 attack multipliers (and casting revive if necessary) while the Jupiter and Mercury adepts keep everyone alive.

One noticeable plus this build has is an enormous redundancy in healing. Four characters able to cast Wish allows you to rotate healers in and out whenever you get hit with something ugly like Djinn Storm, and with 4 people, it's likely that by the time you've gone through 4 hits of Djinn Storm, the first healer will probably have enough djinn back on standby to keep healing.

One noticeable drawback is a weakness in AoE Venus attacks. Stone Spire only hits 3 targets for 160 power, though Himi can somewhat alleviate this with Undead Might which slaughters 1 target with 250 power. AoE Mars attacks aren't nearly as problematic as the Chaos Lords have Planetary and Himi has Inferno.

Adding Variety

 * Venus Adept 1: 7[[File:Star_mars.gif]] 2[[File:Star_venus.gif]] (Chaos Lord/Diabolist)
 * Mars Adept 1: 7[[File:Star_venus.gif]] 2[[File:Star_mars.gif]] (Chaos Lord)
 * Jupiter Adept 1: 7[[File:Star_mercury.gif]] 2[[File:Star_jupiter.gif]] (Wizard)
 * Mercury Adept 1: 7[[File:Star_jupiter.gif]] 2[[File:Star_mercury.gif]] (Wizard)
 * Venus Adept 2: 7[[File:Star_mercury.gif]] 2[[File:Star_venus.gif]] (Protector)
 * Mars Adept 2: 7[[File:Star_jupiter.gif]] 2[[File:Star_mars.gif]] (War Adept)
 * Jupiter Adept 2: 7[[File:Star_mars.gif]] 2[[File:Star_jupiter.gif]] (Guru)
 * Mercury Adept 2: 7[[File:Star_venus.gif]] 2[[File:Star_mercury.gif]] (Oracle)

This build shifts some of the djinn around in the second group, spices things up a bit and takes advantage of two of the most overlooked classes in the game: The Page and the Pilgrim. Granted, the Mercury version of the Pilgrim class fares better than the Jupiter version (Wish), but making a Mercury Pilgrim sometimes leads to putting someone in a substandard class, and the Jupiter version of the Pilgrim class is nothing to sneeze at. In this build, we take advantage of the lesser of two evils with the Venus version of the Swordsman class (Revive) and the Mercury version of the Seer class (Wish, Froth).

The build has three reliable Wish casters and four Adepts with Revive (however, if Himi is Venus Adept 1, you will lose a Revive), so survivability really isn't an issue here. However, like the The Right Pairing above, the build suffers from a weakness in AoE Venus attacks, which again, can be alleviated with Himi as a Diabolist. Any issues with AoE Mars attacks are cleaned up by the Guru and War Adept with Pyroclasm.

Adding More Variety

 * Venus Adept 1: 7[[File:Star_jupiter.gif]] 2[[File:Star_venus.gif]] (War Adept)
 * Mars Adept 1: 7[[File:Star_venus.gif]] 2[[File:Star_mars.gif]] (Chaos Lord)
 * Jupiter Adept 1: 7[[File:Star_mercury.gif]] 2[[File:Star_jupiter.gif]] (Wizard)
 * Mercury Adept 1: 7[[File:Star_venus.gif]] 2[[File:Star_mercury.gif]] (Oracle)
 * Venus Adept 2: 7[[File:Star_mercury.gif]] 2[[File:Star_venus.gif]] (Protector)
 * Mars Adept 2: 7[[File:Star_jupiter.gif]] 2[[File:Star_mars.gif]] (War Adept)
 * Jupiter Adept 2: 7[[File:Star_mars.gif]] 2[[File:Star_jupiter.gif]] (Guru)
 * Mercury Adept 2: 7[[File:Star_mars.gif]] 2[[File:Star_mercury.gif]] (Guru)

This build focuses around getting a Mercury Pilgrim, without having a Jupiter Seer. A Chaos Lord and a Wizard are sacrificed to make this build possible, in exchange for a Venus War Adept and a Mercury Oracle, two noteworthy classes. Whether or not it's better than the above build(s) is, like most things class related in the series, entirely in the eye of the beholder. However, it should be noted that the Venus War Adept does clean up any and all issues of AoE Venus attacks with Gaia.

Again, survivability shouldn't be an issue with three reliable wish casters and two revive casters.

Savage Fiend and Variety

 * Venus Adept 1: 7[[File:Star_jupiter.gif]] 2[[File:Star_venus.gif]] (War Adept)
 * Mars Adept 1: 7[[File:Star_venus.gif]] 2[[File:Star_mars.gif]] (Chaos Lord)
 * Jupiter Adept 1: 7[[File:Star_mercury.gif]] 2[[File:Star_jupiter.gif]] (Wizard)
 * Mercury Adept 1: 7[[File:Star_mars.gif]] 2[[File:Star_mercury.gif]] (Guru)
 * Venus Adept 2: 7[[File:Star_mercury.gif]] 2[[File:Star_venus.gif]] (Protector)
 * Mars Adept 2: 7[[File:Star_jupiter.gif]] 2[[File:Star_mars.gif]] (War Adept)
 * Jupiter Adept 2: 7[[File:Star_venus.gif]] 2[[File:Star_jupiter.gif]] (Oracle/Gladiator)
 * Mercury Adept 2: 7[[File:Star_mars.gif]] 2[[File:Star_mercury.gif]] (Guru)

This setup illustrates the problem with too many above average Dual Elemental classes: someone WILL get shafted. In this case, with two Mercury Pilgrims, one of your Jupiter Adepts is stuck with Venus djinn, putting him or her in the Jupiter Seer class, which is really only good in Golden Sun during the Colosso event so Ivan can cast Growth. However, this problem is practically non-existent in Dark Dawn as Sveta goes into the unique Scrapper class, which has the perk of being one of two classes that allows her to advance along the Wild Animal class.

In this instance, survivability is sacrificed for offense, as a Revive caster is lost, provided Sveta is Jupiter Adept 2.

Tri-Elemental
This section deals with everyone in Tri-element classes.

1.7x Sol Blade

 * Venus Adept 1: 5[[File:Star_jupiter.gif]] 4[[File:Star_mars.gif]] (Master)
 * Mars Adept 1: 5[[File:Star_mercury.gif]] 4[[File:Star_venus.gif]] (Paladin)
 * Jupiter Adept 1: 5[[File:Star_mars.gif]] 4[[File:Star_mercury.gif]] (Warlock)
 * Mercury Adept 1: 5[[File:Star_jupiter.gif]] 4[[File:Star_venus.gif]] (Pure Mage)
 * Venus Adept 2: 5[[File:Star_mercury.gif]] 4[[File:Star_mars.gif]] (Paladin)
 * Mars Adept 2: 5[[File:Star_venus.gif]] 4[[File:Star_jupiter.gif]] (Ronin)
 * Jupiter Adept 2: 5[[File:Star_venus.gif]] 4[[File:Star_mercury.gif]] (Dark Mage/Shaman)
 * Mercury Adept 2: 5[[File:Star_mars.gif]] 4[[File:Star_jupiter.gif]] (Warlock)

This build centers around getting a Venus adept into the Ninja class series to take advantage of the 1.7 attack multiplier in the third tier Master class and giving the Sol Blade to that character. In DD this is limited to Matthew, but in TLA you can switch it between Felix and Isaac depending on your personal preferences.

This build also has the accolade of being my personal favorite (it also took me forever and a day to figure out how to make it).

Boss Battles are going to be a combination of controlled summon rushes and whittling away at your opponents with psynergy and attacks. This build does not easily construed itself to massive unloads as the djinn are so spread out, but even without summoning, this setup is still capable of unloading significant damage, especially to Jupiter weak enemies with Death Plunge and Quick Strike.

Healing can be a bit of a problem. Although you have 3 Wish casting adepts, the only one who can really put out the numbers (and have the PP pool to run with it) is the Mercury Adept you have set as a Pure Mage. The best the Paladins can do is augment the healing whenever you've taken a nasty string of attacks. Himi in DD can alleviate part of this problem as her natural PP growth is fairly decent, and her pool will be pretty good, even with the average 1.5 multiplier, which combined with her ability to wear some of the better PP regeneration items, can make her pool acceptable.

Character allocation is somewhat critical in this build. While it's true that all three, third tier, tri-elemental casting classes (Warlock, Dark Mage/Shaman, Pure Mage) have attack multipliers of 1.4, some characters are better suited for capitalizing on that than others. For example, while you could easily switch Mia and Piers around between the two Mercury Adept positions, the Pure Mage is going to spend more time healing, which renders the attack stat moot and useless. Piers, with the ability to equip long swords (and by extension, Amiti with the ability to equip Light Blades and Bows), would be better suited for the Warlock, as they will probably spend a little more time Attacking than the Pure Mage would. This line blurs even more in DD with Sveta and Karis, who both have the ability to equip potent weapons. The question then is, which do you think you can afford to be without should you choose to put Sveta into Beastform.

One of the biggest drawbacks to this build comes in DD in the fact that Sveta can't advance along the Wild Animal class series. However, even as just a Wild Animal, she is still capable of dishing out a lot of damage over those 9 turns she has to work with.

For the record, I had this set up as follows:
 * Venus Adept 1: Isaac, Matthew (he had the Sol Blade)
 * Mars Adept 1: Garet, Tyrell
 * Jupiter Adept 1: Ivan, Sveta
 * Mercury Adept 1: Mia, Rief
 * Venus Adept 2: Felix, Himi
 * Mars Adept 2: Jenna, Eoleo
 * Jupiter Adept 2: Sheba, Karis
 * Mercury Adept 2: Piers, Amiti

Four Ronin
Note: Only works in TLA.
 * Venus Adept 1: 5[[File:Star_mars.gif]] 4[[File:Star_jupiter.gif]] (Ronin)
 * Mars Adept 1: 5[[File:Star_venus.gif]] 4[[File:Star_jupiter.gif]] (Ronin)
 * Jupiter Adept 1: 5[[File:Star_mercury.gif]] 4[[File:Star_venus.gif]] (Pure Mage)
 * Venus Adept 2: 5[[File:Star_mars.gif]] 4[[File:Star_jupiter.gif]] (Ronin)
 * Mars Adept 2: 5[[File:Star_venus.gif]] 4[[File:Star_jupiter.gif]] (Ronin)
 * Jupiter Adept 2: 5[[File:Star_mercury.gif]] 4[[File:Star_venus.gif]] (Pure Mage)

The purpose of the Four Ronin is, simply put, to put the Venus and Mars adepts in the Ronin class, while leaving the Jupiter and Mercury adepts to fend for themselves. The lineup I put above places the Jupiter adepts in the Pure Mage class, and leaves the mercury adepts with 8, 8 and 2 djinn, which really can't be made into anything.

Of course, the whole purpose of the Four Ronin build is to put the Four Ronins in the front line, and have them pummel your foes until they beg for mercy, leaving everyone else in the back row to watch the show, usually with you hoping that you don't get hit with Djinn Storm.

Mix and Match
This section deals with the Adepts in a variety of class trees.

Savage Fiend 'n Master #1

 * Venus Adept 1: 5[[File:Star_jupiter.gif]] 4[[File:Star_mars.gif]] (Master)
 * Mars Adept 1: 5[[File:Star_mercury.gif]] 4[[File:Star_venus.gif]] (Paladin)
 * Jupiter Adept 1: 5[[File:Star_venus.gif]] 4[[File:Star_mercury.gif]] (Dark Mage/Shaman)
 * Mercury Adept 1: 5[[File:Star_mars.gif]] 4[[File:Star_jupiter.gif]] (Warlock)
 * Venus Adept 2: 7[[File:Star_mars.gif]] 2[[File:Star_venus.gif]] (Chaos Lord/Diabolist)
 * Mars Adept 2: 7[[File:Star_venus.gif]] 2[[File:Star_mars.gif]] (Chaos Lord)
 * Jupiter Adept 2: 9[[File:Star_jupiter.gif]] (Sorcerer/Prime Beast)
 * Mercury Adept 2: 9[[File:Star_mercury.gif]] (Admiral/Angel/Aqua Master)

This build centers around two things: A Venus adept with a 1.7 attack multiplier, and a Jupiter adept (Sveta) in a position that works with the Wild Animal class series. As a result, this build is best used in DD only, but it's not unreasonable that you can make it work in TLA.

More so than with any other build, it's necessary to make sure characters are in the right spot. While it's true that Matthew will get the 1.7 multiplier regardless of which Venus Adept he is, Himi as a Diabolist is a lot better than Himi as a Master. Furthermore, unless Rief is Mercury Adept 2, you will only have 1 group healer in your party, and as stated above, Paladins are not the most reliable to have as a constant group healer, especially Eoleo and Tyrell.

This build is great if you want to get the most out of your classes and characters without too much sacrificed. Rief can be an acceptable Angel if he has a Zol Ring (or some other agility booster) and if you give him the Ice Queen Stone.

Savage Fiend 'n Master #2

 * Venus Adept 1: 5[[File:Star_jupiter.gif]] 4[[File:Star_mars.gif]] (Master)
 * Mars Adept 1: 5[[File:Star_mercury.gif]] 4[[File:Star_venus.gif]] (Paladin)
 * Jupiter Adept 1: 5[[File:Star_venus.gif]] 4[[File:Star_mercury.gif]] (Dark Mage/Shaman)
 * Mercury Adept 1: 5[[File:Star_mars.gif]] 4[[File:Star_jupiter.gif]] (Warlock)
 * Venus Adept 2: 7[[File:Star_mars.gif]] 2[[File:Star_venus.gif]] (Chaos Lord/Diabolist)
 * Mars Adept 2: 7[[File:Star_jupiter.gif]] 2[[File:Star_mars.gif]] (War Adept)
 * Jupiter Adept 2: 7[[File:Star_venus.gif]] 2[[File:Star_jupiter.gif]] (Oracle/Gladiator)
 * Mercury Adept 2: 9[[File:Star_mercury.gif]] (Admiral/Angel/Aqua Master)

A slight variation on the above build, this one swaps the Venus djinn in Mars Adept 2 with seven of the Jupiter djinn in Jupiter Adept 3, to put Sveta in the Scrapper class series. Whether or not it's better is purely in the eye of the beholder. Scrapper Sveta is highly adept at picking apart one enemy at a time, whereas Beastling Sveta has better Area of Effect spells, but the Page class is a vastly overlooked class that has a number of useful abilities.

One not so obvious drawback to this class is you find yourself not using Sveta that often during regular fights since she's only good at single target attacks. If you want to utilize this build, I recommend you utilize Savage Fiend 'n Master #1 for regular fights, then switch to this one for boss fights.

Again, the purpose of this build is to put a 1.7 attack multiplier on a Venus adept, and allow Sveta to full capitalize on Beastform.

Savage Fiend 'n Master #3

 * Venus Adept 1: 5[[File:Star_jupiter.gif]] 4[[File:Star_mars.gif]] (Master)
 * Mars Adept 1: 5[[File:Star_mercury.gif]] 4[[File:Star_venus.gif]] (Paladin)
 * Jupiter Adept 1: 5[[File:Star_venus.gif]] 4[[File:Star_mercury.gif]] (Dark Mage/Shaman)
 * Mercury Adept 1: 5[[File:Star_mars.gif]] 4[[File:Star_jupiter.gif]] (Warlock)
 * Venus Adept 2: 7[[File:Star_mars.gif]] 2[[File:Star_venus.gif]] (Chaos Lord/Diabolist)
 * Mars Adept 2: 7[[File:Star_mercury.gif]] 2[[File:Star_mars.gif]] (Radiant)
 * Jupiter Adept 2: 7[[File:Star_venus.gif]] 2[[File:Star_jupiter.gif]] (Oracle/Gladiator)
 * Mercury Adept 2: 7[[File:Star_jupiter.gif]] 2[[File:Star_mercury.gif]] (Wizard)

Once again, another build along the lines of Savage Fiend Sveta with 1.7x attack multiplier Venus Adept, this one trades the 7 Jupiter djinn in the hands of Mars Adept 2 to Mercury Adept 2 for seven of Mercury Adept 2's Mercury Djinn, adding one or two more Wish users (depending on who was what).

While this boosts Mercury Adept 2 into a very good class, the Swordsman classes (either element) are good at picking apart Mars-weak enemies with Cutting Edge and maybe augmenting your group healing with their Wish, but not much else. My general policy with the Swordsman class is to get them to the Dragoon class ASAP.