Tales of the Abyss (applicable for both US and JPN versions) In-depth Character FAQ: Natalia L.K. Lanvaldear by Estellus - Email: maris-estellia@hotmail.com Feel free to contact me with questions regarding this FAQ or even the game, however, please avoid spamming. E-mails regarding personal questions will be ignored, so hopefully readers will respect this～ This may be not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other web site or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright. ----------------------- = Table of Contents = ----------------------- - Introduction - Creator's TotA Background - Aims of the Guide - Character Analysis - How to use Natalia - Piloting Natalia - Which artes to use - How to use Healing Artes - Recommendations for Move List - Natalia as the only healer: Problems - Battle Strategies: With Tear - Battle Strategies: Regular Battles - Battle Strategies: Boss Battles - List of Strike and Fonic Artes - Learning Corner - Equipment - Capacity Cores and AD Skills - A Challenge of My Own - Credits & Ending To facilitate your reading, simply use CTRL+F and type in the keywords of the above to jump to the section. Before beginning, please ensure your page encoding is under [Japanese (Shift_JIS)]in order to view this guide in its correct format. To do so in Firefox, go to Character Encoding under View and select the aforementioned format. There are some forms of spoilers so I hope you've been warned! If you do not wish to be spoiled, then do not start reading this! ----------------- = Introduction = ----------------- Tales of the Abyss was released for the Sony Playstation 2 as the 8th mothership title for the Tales of RPG series on the 15th of December 2005 as a commemeration of it's 10th anniversary. The US version was released on the 10th October the next year. ------------------------------ = Creator's TotA Background = ------------------------------ I've played this game five times, the first two times on the actual PS2, but ever since I've gotten a PS3 I've rarely touched my PS2. I played the other three times on another system. The first two playthroughs on the PS2, I played as Tear. At that time, I was fairly new to the Tales of series(only played Eternia when I was young, and replayed it recently as Farah) and wasn't comfortable with using a Strike arte user yet so I took on a more supportive role, since I do that in MMOs as well. On my other three playthroughs, I used Natalia and have fallen deep in love with how she works so I decided to share, since most of guides out there always have negative comments on Natalia, or hardly ever use her. On my final playthrough, only a few days ago, my record on using Natalia is at 76% while Tear is at 32%. And have beaten the game on Unknown whenever possible. Finished the Nebilim side quest and The Abyss. On all my playthroughs, I had AD Skills Rebirth, Angel's Tear, Resurrect, Auto Aid turned on for Natalia. Resurrect and Rebirth for Tear. Dash Guard and Step Away for Guy only. Glory is turned off on everyone. This is mainly just to increase the difficulty of the game as a challenge for myself. ----------------------- = Aims of the Guide = ----------------------- This guide is meant to elaborate on the intricacies of everything about Natalia, from her attack pattern, to her Strike Artes and to her Fonic Artes. This does not include on how to combo(insanely), since learning how to chain combos isn't neccessary to using her properly and there're guides out there which already teach so. Additionally, I will not be talking about things like the character's personality or development in this guide since well, the overall aim is to explain about her gameplay. There are plenty of guides or wiki on the Tales of series and she's in there as well for reading pleasure. ----------------------- = Character Analysis = ----------------------- Natalia has the farthest attack range of all the six characters and is the healing counterpart to Tear, who unlike Natalia, specializes in Healing Artes that cover an area of effect. Alongside her healing capabilities, Natalia also possesses the ability to increase the parameters of her allies temporarily in battle with access to skills like Barrier and Sharpness. Her style of fighting uses a bow, and thus meaning she is safe out of reach of melee enemies, allowing her to support as a follow-up for Luke, Guy or Anise. Her Strike Artes primarily consists of barrages of arrows that hit multiple enemies or enemy for multiple hits to stagger or break their guard. They however, do not do as much damage as the other characters' Strike Artes. Natalia's base stat growth boasts the second highest P. DEF and the third highest F. DEF of all the party members while having moderate P. ATK and high AGL, only second to Guy. Natalia joins the party as the last member and has very low TP as a result, therefore any TP increasing herb should be given to her until she reaches a same level as Tear in order to fulfill her role as a healer. In fact, she will need more TP as she uses Strike Artes very often as well. Short Summary on Natalia's Parameters P. ATK ★★★☆☆ P. DEF ★★★★★ F. ATK ★★☆☆☆ F. DEF ★★★★☆ AGL ★★★★☆ ----------------------- = How to use Natalia = ----------------------- Unlike any of the party members, Natalia is a mix of a Strike arte and Fonic arte user and unlike Anise, she cannot solely rely on her Strike artes in order to be used to her full potential. Using Natalia means having to strike a balance between attacking, supporting and healing. It should be clear that Natalia's purpose is not to deal damage despite being fully capable of doing so, and that she is more of a follow-up attacker for allies using close combat while serving as a vanguard for the supporting casters at the rear. Players should be used to toggling between Manual and Semi-Auto control modes as it's very difficult to control Natalia with Manual only, but in Manual mode she's able to shoot from extremely far behind. Attacking while holding the left and right buttons will cause her to shoot in a slightly elevated angle, and holding up will result in a 45 degree north west/east angle. Holding down will shoot arrows that fly close to the ground, allowing Natalia to hit enemy targets that're small or short. Her jump attack deals more damage than a regular attack, though she can only do that once until she learns the Landing and Jump Combo AD skill. It is very difficult to hit small targets such as the Chirpee family or the Filifolia family of monsters. For the former, it requires Natalia to land her first hit, followed up by attacking with the down button held. Artes other than Star Stroke will most likely whiff the bird which means breaking their guard is nowhere as easy. For the second, the same stays true but all of her Strike Artes but Star Stroke will probably miss the plant unless the player controls Natalia through Manual mode. * I've received e-mails asking for a section on how to deal with the Screechits in the Advanced Singles Coliseum battle. The battle is actually pretty simple with Natalia, especially if you have AD Skill Glory turned on. Once you're able to land a hit on the bird, things should become relatively easy. Aerial Laser is very good at dealing with them since being melee, the chances of missing is much lower. If AD Skill Glory is unavailable or switched off, simply use Cavalry and attack or heal whenever needed. When the opportunity for a Mystic Arte arises at any point, round up the flock and try to land an Astral Rain on multiple of them. The AI of the birds will move towards you once you target them, target each of them once and all of them will start moving to Natalia. With appropriate P. ATK, Astral Rain can easily wipe out a Screechit on its own. Power Charge and Sharpness can also be used to boost P. ATK. One should set a strategy that has everyone targeting different targets so that when a caster is targeted by an enemy, the player(Natalia) can switch to that strategy and get the enemy's attention while the frontline continues their assault. Her ability to tank due to her high P. DEF is good for taking enemy aggro off the casters as well, so there's no fear of dying too easily. Also, due to the limited slots on the move list, the player should be adept at manipulating the AI of characters to use Natalia easier. When you wish to cast Barrier or Sharpness, but they aren't on your move list, you don't have to switch them in, you can just cast them by accessing the Artes menu, then switching to Auto and selecting the arte from there. Though you should quickly toggle back to Manual/Semi-Auto so they don't use Magic Guard when they detect an enemy Fonic arte near them. This is useful if you want to grab an FOF quickly for the support artes. Make sure to finish the animation of attacking before switching to Auto, if not Natalia will pace back like all other AIs when they finish attacking. This pacing cannot be cancelled and can the cause of death for her or other members. One thing that Natalia really fails at is sustaining a combo by herself since her arrows take some time to reach her target, and her attacking animation has a short start up. So if enemies are right in front of her and she readies an attack, chances are she'll be staggered if she doesn't have the AD skill Glory. Moreover, Natalia's FOF changes in her Strike Artes result in a very conflicting manner of fighting. Usually staying in the rear and providing back-up support, most of her FOF changes require her to be right in front of the enemy, and the FOF Artes are often nothing like their original arte. Such as Storm Edge and Blast Edge, losing the concentrated far range barrage and changing it into a close ranged concentrated barrage. The player should hold back their full combo when attacking with allies and then prepare themselves to attack between the time the AI of allies take to decide to attack again. The important part here is to NOT use more than 2 normal attacks and then quickly chain a Storm Edge into a Storm Edge. This will stagger almost any enemy including bosses. Players can also attack the enemy until the enemy is just about to be staggered. Most bosses take 7 hits to stagger, so Natalia can prepare 4～5 hits which will lead to a very quick stagger once everyone pours on the assault. When taking on a healing role, Natalia should have all the AD skills that reduce casting time or deaths will be inevitable. She isn't that much different from Tear when it comes to healing despite their different styles, when enemies target an ally, you should be able to tell from the direction they're facing and prepare healing when an ally is at 75% HP and about to take another hit. Heal would be most appropriate at that time, although this depends on the P. DEF and P. ATK of your ally and enemy respectively. If the incoming damage is going to be high, then prepare Cure, if not Heal will suffice even when allies are in the reds(this is especially true since Heal is much faster). Note that it is possible to solo heal with Natalia on a first playthrough, without acquiring the AD skills that reduce her casting time or a Mystic Symbol through most bosses or battles. I've never used a single Apple, Lemon or Life Bottle in all five of my playthroughs unless by accident through ally requests. Although there are certain fights where using Tear or both Tear and Natalia is extremely useful such as the showdown with the three God Generals at Mt. Roneal. --------------------- = Piloting Natalia = --------------------- Arguably one of the most difficult character to control, Natalia's Manual mode is a nightmare for many players old and new alike. With the introduction of the Free Run feature, hitting a target with a line-based attack is even more difficult. Thankfully, there're a bunch of techniques which makes controlling Natalia much easier. The Select button Using this in battle toggles between Auto, Semi-Auto, Manual. Most players have this in Manual when using Luke, Guy or Anise and perhaps in your mind using anything other than Manual is unacceptable. And the fact that using Manual allows Natalia to attack from across the battlefield makes it ever so true, but that's a wrong mentality to adopt. Natalia should always be on Semi-Auto mode because the AI will use the most balanced attack range to keep the intervals between each hit regulated. If the player tries to provide back-up to melee characters with Manual from across the screen, most of the time the attacks will miss the window of time given to continue staggering the enemy. There are times where I use Manual like during battles with Largo, because with Semi-Auto's range, Beast will still hit Natalia and that'll ruin the formation for the rest of the battle. And Largo likes to start the battle with Beast most of the time. Manual is also very useful when you're too far after a backstep to attack and yet the stagger is about to end. Hit Select once after backstepping and continue the assault from where Natalia lands. Star Embrace is also almost impossible to use with Semi-Auto solely because of the difference in range, players will observe that the arrows land behind the enemy unless they have a large hitbox. Although players should avoid Star Embrace unless dealing with enemies that share that trait to begin with. AD Skill: Backstep One problem with using Natalia on Manual is having to turn after running away from the enemy which can be very difficult to get right and many times you'll find yourself attacking the wrong direction. The player should start getting used to not having to run too often in battle and using backstep to position themselves instead, this allows for instant retaliation with AD Skill Back Action without having to turn. Using this to help with aiming makes using Natalia on Manual mode tremendously easier. When dealing with enemies alone, simply run towards them to lure out their attack and backstep before being hit and attack after. This requires precise timing, but with practice is very simple. If AD Skill Step Away is switched on, this is made even easier. When a huge spell is about to land, usually Explode, a backstep simply will not cut it. When this happens, run back a short pace and then into a backstep. AD Skill: Landing and Jump Combo With this, players might not have to use Manual mode as often than they would like to. To attack from a far distance, simply jump and attack and continue after landing, though this will require both AD Skills for this to work. Not much time is wasted if players are used to jumping. To do so in Semi-Auto, push the Analog-Stick up or the up botton on the D-Pad while guarding. Players can also do a Critical Guard into a jump if an enemy is about to hit you before you can jump in time, this is very practical when bosses have minions. Basically the things to keep in mind are to: Keep running to a minimum and use backstep more, but not in consecutive successions. Use Manual only when enemies have a certain arte that you need to keep away from, or if their attacks are just too overwhelming(Largo; Fyr Bronc and Nebilim on Unknown). Jump Combos can be used to create a pseudo-Manual effect. ----------------------- = Which Artes to use = ----------------------- For Natalia, she has a very small arsenal of Strike Artes, but each have their own uses. Against large enemies such as the Fyr Bronc or Replicantis, Star Embrace and Blue Embrace are your best friends since it's possible to have all of the hits connect which deals insane amount of damage and stagger them, especially big enemies that fly, like the two aforementioned monsters. For smaller enemies, Storm Edge into Gallant Barrage is the best way to go, and another Storm Edge if Natalia has learned the AD skill Ability Plus. Storm Edge should be used often for breaking guard or causing instant stagger, even if it means skipping regular attacking. And although three hits might seem better than one, Piercing Line actually deals more damage than Storm Edge would, so if the enemy is already staggered and is being assaulted by fellow party members, you should use Piercing Line instead of Storm Edge, then Gallant Barrage into another Piercing Line, or Storm Edge to sustain the combo. Star Stroke is very useful for dodging attacks while maintaining the offensive, and it also dishes out good damage. Additionally, since Star Stroke's arrows pierce through targets, they can be used to deal area of effect damage in a small intersection, and if regular attacks can't get to the target, Star Stroke will since it shoots from above. When dispatching enemies by herself, Natalia should replace Gallant Barrage with Aerial Laser. Aerial Laser with a mastered Cobalt Chamber will lift them up to fit nicely into the trajectory of arrows from a following Star Stroke, allowing for a combo of Aerial Laser, Star Stroke then Storm Edge/Piercing Line or Storm Edge, Aerial Laser and Star Stroke. Aerial Laser should be used in the combo whenever the enemy gets too close to Natalia to keep a distance, the combo should start off with Aerial Laser without regular attacks(unless AD Skill Glory is switched on) to avoid being staggered from an attack. Players should avoid Aerial Laser when attacking a single target together with the team, as it usually breaks combo and requires Natalia to be in melee range, meaning she can be staggered and will be unable to provide ranged support. As for her Healing Artes, she should always have Heal equipped, and Cure if she's the only healer, Revive, and another support arte(usually Scare Bane for me). Always keep an eye out for Earth FOFs when it comes to healing. One should note that for certain artes to work its fullest, Natalia is required to have certain AD skills and the correct FSC applied to the corresponding artes. ----------------------------- = How to use Healing artes = ----------------------------- For those who have never noticed or tried, if you cast a Healing or Support arte, the 'Target' cursor appears below their status interface in battle. The interface 'Target' is under will be the target of the applicable arte. Simply change targets by moving the left or right directional pad or left Analog stick. I personally recommend the D-Pad so scrolling is more controlled. The crux in mastering this is to know the appropriate time to heal. To make things easier, the player should look to bolster the P. DEF of allies through Barrier and defensive accessories to reduce incoming damage. On Unknown mode, most monsters do 1000 damage with even the slightest touch and bosses have no trouble killing someone with a single combo so the player should be ready to heal once the HP of an ally nears 60%. This is entirely situational though, as mentioned, it depends on the P. DEF of allies as well as factors such as Calamitous Bane which reduce the P. ATK of enemies, Carmine Chambers which increase the potency of her Healing artes, elements that decrease casting times like a Mystic Symbol or Enhance Cast. However, in most circumstances, a Heal should be prepared when someone's HP reaches 60% and is about to take another hit. When do we use Cure which has a huge cast time of 7.5 seconds though? When an ally is at 80% HP and about to take a huge combo from a boss, a good example is Sync's Stone Dragon Ascent. On Unknown, it easily takes off 60% or more of an ally's HP so Cure would put them back at a healthy level. Revive takes 10 whole seconds to cast, and its animation has to finish for it to take effect, meaning at least 12 seconds for Revive to set in, most of the time, the target is already dead. I rarely cast Revive one by one unless I have Enhance Cast with a Mystic Symbol and wait for an Earth or Darkness FOF to show up to cast Angel's Breath to heal/resurrect instead. The only time I would consider casting Revive would be when only one ally doesn't have it on, usually the caster at the rear, or when Natalia is serving as a back-up healer for Tear. ---------------------------------- = Recommendations for Move List = ---------------------------------- These are the usual artes I have on my move list: Circle: Piercing Line Up + Circle: Gallant Barrage/Star Embrace/Aerial Laser Down + Circle: Star Stroke Left/Right + Circle: Storm Edge Up Analog-Stick: Heal Left Analog-Stick: Scare Bane/Barrier/Sharpness/Resist/Healing Force Down Analog-Stick: Cure Right Analog-Stick: Revive On battles that stretch over 10 minutes, specifically the Replicantis on Unknown mode, I have a slight modification in my shortcuts. Circle: Piercing Line/Storm Edge Up + Circle: Barrier Down + Circle: Resist Left/Right + Circle: Sharpness Up Analog-Stick: Heal Left Analog-Stick: Scare Bane Down Analog-Stick: Cure Right Analog-Stick: Revive All of the changes have the same FOF changes to the corresponding Strike Artes from the usual set-up which might help with remembering them. The player should aim to change the three Support artes into their FOF changes and have them on every ally. Piercing Line is replaced by Storm Edge on Circle for staggering purposes due to the lack of Strike Artes when using this composition of artes. Piercing Line should be reinstated when the player wishes to use Noble Roar. Once each Support arte is on every character, switch it back to the usual set-up. ----------------------------------------- = Natalia as the only healer: Problems = ----------------------------------------- The main problem players including myself face is the fact that Natalia cannot revive others unless she has access to an Earth FOF. And Natalia is unable to create one on her own, unless the player doesn't mind using Life Bottles, she will face many problems when she's the only one left alive with the enemy. I'll list some solutions to this problem. Luke can provide Earth FOFs through Slag Assault, this Arcane Arte is acquired through his Albert Style side quest after Lightning Blade at the man on the right side of the counter at the Keterburg Hotel. The only problem with this is that it provides a 25% charged FOF, meaning 4 uses are required to have a fully charged Earth FOF. And the FOF doesn't last more than 3 seconds and is extremely small, meaning its reliability isn't the best. If Revive has a mastered Sunlight Chamber equipped to it, things are made easier but if Slag Assault was used on a large target, the FOF will be inaccessible. In situations like this, the player should control Luke with Manual and use Slag Assault near or under Natalia. Tear has all four elemental invokes, and that naturally includes the Earth element. However, that is her only way of providing an Earth FOF and requires 2 uses for a 100% charged FOF. Though with Tear around, this isn't an issue to begin with. Guy has no way of providing an Earth or Darkness FOF as far as I know, so if he's the only one left alive, you'll have to read on. Jade has two Fonic artes which will leave behind Earth FOFs, them being Stalagmite and Ground Dasher, with a Sunlight Chamber, Natalia can easily use the FOF created by Stalagmite, or if Stalagmite is used twice since each makes a 50% charged FOF. Anise has two artes that creates an FOF that Natalia can use to cast Angel's Breath and they're Bloody Howling and Negative Gate. The latter can do the same thing but will need two casts to make a fully charged Darkness FOF while Bloody Howling only needs one. Though Bloody Howling is acquired much later, it is the fastest way Anise can provide Natalia with a Darkness FOF. Sunlight Chambers do not work for Light or Darkness FOFs that're not fully charged. Though all this isn't an issue if the player has stolen the Time Traveling Girl doll from Arietta during the Mt. Roneal showdown. It grants Anise the Fonic arte Resurrection. Making Anise quite a very valuable party member to have in important battles with Natalia, able to revive while dishing out good damage, unlike Tear. Asch has Stalagmite like Jade, but unless the player has equipped Revive with a Sunlight Chamber, it will require two casts in order to invoke a fully charged Earth FOF. Sunlight Chambers aren't available yet if you're on your first playthrough when Asch joins you for a boss battle where you'll need reviving. However, at that time you'll be the only healer for sure since Tear will be in Yulia City with Luke. FSCs can be inherited on a second playthrough or further by purchasing it in the GRADE shop. * Some sources have said that Asch cannot learn the Albert Style artes Luke can, this includes Slag Assault, and some sources state that if you've learned it on Luke on your first playthrough, Asch will have them naturally when he joins the party. I didn't check on my first, but he had them on my second playthrough onwards. So I'm uncertain if this is valid. If every ally is knocked out but Natalia, hopefully the boss is one of the following: Abaddon, Sync, Largo, Repair Fonbot, Van, Gigant Mohs or Nebilim. These enemies all use Fonic artes or Arcane Artes that leave behind FOFs that Natalia can use to cast Angel's Breath, most of them being Negative Gate and Ground Dasher. Some use Stalagmite and Bloody Howling. The Repair Fonbot will not use earth elemental Fonic artes if the player has deactivated it through the puzzles in Meggiora Highlands. There is no choice but to wait for them to cast these spells, Van and Sync will stop casting Ground Dasher and Stalagmite once their HP goes too low. For Largo, he only uses Stone Beast occasionally and that leaves behind a 25% charged Earth FOF. Be sure to make use of that small frame of time before the FOF dissipates. Also, pray hard that while casting Angel's Breath, you don't get interrupted through an Overlimit. And if you do when you're nearing the end of the incantation, chances are you'll miss the next cast due to AD Skill Spell Save. Another problem with Natalia is her dire lack of TP. With Strike Artes that cost high TP which requires multiple uses in a battle, along with TP intensive Healing and Support artes, she unlike Tear will use up TP much faster. When she first joins you, she can barely cast 5 instances of Heal before all her TP is expended, leaving no room for additional Strike Artes to support melee allies. This will be not much of a problem if AD Skill Mind Up was inherited from a previous playthrough, otherwise it will hinder her ability to heal alone especially with a boss battle coming up at the end of the Abandoned Factory. To solve this, players should give any Savory or Red Savories they get to Natalia until she reaches 50～100 more TP than Tear or Jade. One might think Tear uses much more TP since most artes that use huge amounts of TP are her Healing artes, but she has intervals between each cast unlike Natalia who has to devote some for Strike Artes as well. She also has a low beginning TP pool like Luke and Anise, but her artes cost much more to use. On Unknown playthroughs, there're even more incentives to level up at the area near Keterburg when you're allowed to go there since Natalia makes it easier with Barrier, though Tear might also be needed to ensure everyone stays alive. The Filifolia variation there, Microcalyx, drops a Red Savory at a 2% chance, with AD Skills that boost drop rates, getting it is a little easier. It may not drop often but it gives 30 TP with each use, and you really only need three to five of them. --------------------------------- = Battle Strategies: With Tear = --------------------------------- Certain battles make it impossible to just have Natalia as the only healer since a defining trait of her Healing artes are that they're all single targeted by default. Due to such, she's often unable to save one because she's healing another. Of course, if the consistent use of Life Bottles or resurrecting through Angel's Breath is not a problem to the player, Natalia is still able to handle the situation. To avoid multiple deaths in a boss fight such as the Mt. Roneal showdown with the God Generals or the cameo battle at the coliseum, unless the player has the characters overleveled, Tear and Natalia will be needed to do so. Before we begin, the player should set the battle strategy of Tear to 'Artes Only', TP Usage to 100% and Item Usage to 'Watch TP'. Overlimits to 'Do Not Use'. Her target should be the same enemy and her starting position should be way at the back on the top or bottom row because many enemy bosses like to start with a cheap attack that travels in the main row(Reid Hershel, Van) and on Unknown modes, this will most likely spell death for Tear. The reason for Item Usage to be set to 'Watch TP' is basically just to serve as a reminder for the player that she's low on TP. When she requests to use a TP recovery item(she'll only use Orange Gels since TotA AI isn't as well developed as in Vesperia), simply cancel it by pressing L1 and then use a more potent TP recovering item instead. Disable her Strike artes, along with Healing Circle, Charge, Enhance Cast, the four elemental invokes, Nightmare, Force Field, Holy Song and Grand Cross. Disable Judgment if there is only one enemy on the field. Justifications: By disabling her Strike artes and with Artes Only, she'll check the HP of all allies and if none are below 75%, she will attack with Eclair de Larmes, Holy Lance or Judgment. If any ally has HP lower than 75% nearing 50%, she will cast First Aid on them. The reason for disabling Healing Circle is because if she is at near half HP, she'll use it on herself which wastes a lot of time, and Healing Circle has the potency to miss a lot. First Aid with a Carmine Chamber can easily restore what Healing Circle can. This also prevents the constant chain where she repeatedly casts Healing Circle until she hits the ally with it. There are some occasions where she has casted Charge on allies with low TP, which was really pointless so disabling that is self-explanatory. Enhance Cast is a vital arte to have on your casters, but Natalia doesn't necessarily need it on all the time so players should manually cast it depending on the situation, Tear should always have it on. Also, her AI does not check if she has Enhance Cast on, it all depends on her liking if she wants to cast this or not, the inconsistency is what we're looking to delete here. If the party consists of Jade, then also have Enhance Cast established on him as second priority. Also, by removing the moderate healing arte she has, Healing Circle, she has no choice but to either cast First Aid, or Revitalize. She will do the latter when two or more allies have lower than 50% HP and are within the area of effect of Revitalize. If they were not in the area of effect, Tear will cast Holy Song over and over until everyone reaches above 75% HP, and Holy Song is the equivalent of a First Aid, but with two or more times the casting time. Therefore Holy Song is disabled, and like Enhance Cast, Tear does not see to it that the Defense and Attack buff is constantly on allies. Players should be casting Holy Song manually whenever its effects wear off. Nightmare should be self-explanatory since it deals pitiful damage and has almost no effect in large scale boss battles, not to mention it has a very long incantation for its worth. Force Field is great to have, but only if you're using Tear. And without a Cobalt Chamber, Force Field is really worthless and the AI of Tear will use this if she doesn't choose to attack. Force Field has a long incantation, animation and short effect without the correct FSC, and also has the possibility to miss. There will be times where she repeatedly casts this for no apparent reason as long as the HP of allies are healthy. Grand Cross is disabled simply because it breaks combos by lifting enemies, and then knocking them down with the final hit. Also, if it doesn't stagger them, it deals lesser damage than Eclair de Larmes would have done. With that done, Tear will never ever step forward to attack and will remain in one spot forever casting artes over and over. Players should look to begin the battle with her Overlimit at maximum and save Fortune's Arc(Second playthrough or further) when things get rough. Should enemies get knocked towards or target Tear, the player should look to get their attention by going near or switching strategies to attack them ASAP. Finally, Judgment is disabled in battles where there is only one boss simply due to its erratic pattern. If multiple bosses are in a battle, usually the ones against the God Generals or the cameo team, Judgment becomes a viable Fonic arte to cast. Now onto the actual strategy for Natalia, after Tear has Enhance Cast on herself, she should cast it on Natalia and once it has been established, the players should look towards casting Revive on the frontliners while having Resist/Anti-Magic whenever possible. Barrier and Sharpness isn't necessary with Holy Song cast everytime its effect ends. You only really need Heal and/or Healing Force when it comes to healing with Tear, keeping the latter on allies in front while casting Heal whenever Tear takes too long or is staggered somehow. If both frontliners(Luke, Guy or Anise) are K.O'd, have Tear cast Invoke Ground and use Revive in it to create Angel's Breath. This is much better than having Tear cast Resurrection twice, only to have them at 50% HP. This also helps Natalia recuperate all damage she received while casting this. While the incantation of Angel's Breath is going on, the player should have Tear already casting Holy Song. The party will be fully healed, with Revive on them and have the effects of Holy Song applied. It is important to avoid overlapping Healing artes on the same character and making the most of each cast, sometimes when one ally is at red HP, Tear will begin casting Revitalize, but it'll obviously be too long and he'll be dead by then. In situations such as this, it'll be best to begin casting Heal on him as Natalia, and commanding Tear to cast First Aid on the same target as well. What this does is having First Aid to buy some time before Heal is applied after. The player should make sure to keep Tear at a healthy level of HP or if she drops too low, she'll start casting Revitalize just for herself. When such an occasion ever occurs no matter the reason, just access Tear's artes menu and have her cast a spell you want her to, she'll drop her current action to do it. Note that this strategy only really applies to hectic boss battles, usually the ones that involve multiple bosses in a single battle or if players are having trouble dealing with bosses that're too strong for them, like Nebilim and maybe even Fyr Bronc or Van. Tear should be allowed all of her artes but the four elemental invokes, Charge and Force Field in regular battles. This is entirely up to the player's style of playing or party composition. -------------------------------------- = Battle Strategies: Regular Battles = -------------------------------------- There isn't much difference with using Natalia in this scenario, since regular enemies don't require much of a strategy, you're free to go on the offensive and heal when needed, and perhaps using Scare Bane now and then on enemies with high P. DEF and/or HP. ------------------------------------ = Battle Strategies: Boss Battles = ------------------------------------ Once the battle begins, the player should quickly help with staggering the enemy and then proceed to cast the required Support artes(usually Scare Bane first) while allies pour on the offense, and then if it is still continuing after she is finished casting, help maintain the combo until allies start attacking again. At one point the boss will eventually stop from being staggered or go into Overlimit, or get knocked down. During this, the player should quickly heal if needed or cast support buffs such as Barrier. If FOFs corresponding to them are available, don't be afraid to rush into the fray to get them since Natalia has very high P. DEF and F. DEF. It is crucial to get Revive on the frontlines after a minute of battle since by then, it's most likely when the Mystic Artes of the boss start coming out. Also Resist/Anti-Magic and Revive is good on the supporting casters since some bosses are programmed to target them with Fonic Artes(Van, Sync). * There are certain bosses or stages of a boss(Van) where they will begin the fight with an Overlimit, Mystic Arte(Nebilim on Unknown) or Divine Skill(Reid Hershel), or a debilitating move(Mint Adnade). Simply cancel their action with an Overlimit of your own and they will not do it again unless it is triggered by losing a certain percentage of HP or reaching a certain threshold of HP. To cancel Mint's Acid Rain, just begin the battle with a quick Mystic Arte. Noble Roar is a great choice since it has no maximum range meaning you can cast it from whatever position Natalia starts in. Mint will never use Acid Rain again after her first attempt. -------------------====------------------- List of Strike and Fonic Artes -------------------====------------------- Below is a list of all her Strike and Fonic Artes, they will include an in-depth analyses of each arte and their individual properties. Base Artes/特技 Name - TP Cost - # of Hits - Damage (%) - Prerequisite - FOF Change Piercing Line/ピアシスライン - 5 - 1 - 170 - Default - Voltaic Line Fires an arrow that, unlike her regular shots, travels across the battlefield in a perfect line; able to pierce through multiple targets. This does not knockdown the target. Players should use this as their main DPS when it comes to Base Artes. Unless looking to stagger targets, they should stick with Piercing Line especially if multiple enemies are between the aim of the main target. This arte has difficulty hitting short targets on the ground. Voltaic Line/ヴォルテックライン - 5 - 11 - 70/7 + 240/4 - Use Piercing Line in a Wind/Light FOF Takes 2 seconds to charge up a bolt which is then fired similarly to Piercing Line. Travels across the battlefield and pierces through all enemies in its wake. During the charge up, it does 7 hits using 10% of Natalia's P. ATK each to whoever is in front of Natalia in melee range. Its damage might be low, but the use of it is to hold the target in place since this arte has a slow start up or to be used for guard breaking or staggering the enemy. Does not knockdown the enemy. Wind elemental damage. Storm Edge/シュトルムエッジ - 9 - 3 - 150/3 - Acquired at level 11 - Blast Edge Simultaneously fires three arrows at her target; they disappear once they hit an enemy even if they are not the target. Useful in staggering the enemy or breaking their guard. This does not knock the enemy down. Carmine Chambers are recommended for this arte. Players should look toward this arte when trying to stagger or guard break quickly. Blast Edge/ブラストエッジ - 9 - 5 - 300/5 - Use Storm Edge in a Fire/Light FOF Charges up her bow for 2 seconds and then releases five arrows in a fan which travels for a short distance before they disappear. The charge up deals no damage and requires Natalia to be in melee range in order to hit all five shots. Does not break guard or stagger enemies as well as expected. Neither does it knock the enemy down. Fire elemental damage. Requires back up support or Natalia having the aggro of the enemy to ensure the full damage to be dealt. Aerial Laser/エリアルレイザー - 7 - 4 - 90/3 + 110 - Acquired at level 23 - Astral Laser Creates a vortex around Natalia using her bow dealing three hits and propelling targets away, and then fires an arrow upward in the direction she is facing. Useful when surrounded but utility is limited. This has no knockdown properties. Deals three hits which do 30% of her P. ATK each, followed by another which deals 110% of her P. ATK. A Cobalt chamber should be equipped to this arte. Astral Laser/アストラルレイザー - 7 - 5 - 150/3 + 100 + 140 - Use Aerial Laser in a Wind/Light FOF Creates a powerful vortex which sweeps all enemies around Natalia into the air and then follows up with a powerful shot upward in the direction she is facing. Unlike Aerial Laser, this does not propel enemies away. Initial vortex consists of three hits which deal 50% of her P. ATK, then 100% from the follow up, and finally 140% damage when it explodes. This does not knockdown the enemy nor does it deal Wind/Light elemental damage. This is her most powerful arte in terms of offense but needs Natalia to be in melee range. * Note that both Aerial and Astral Laser needs the target to be staggered or near to deal the full damage since it lifts the target. Using them without meeting this condition will result in some hits being omitted. Mostly applies to enemies that require more effort to stagger such as bosses. Cavalry/キャバルリィ - 14 - N/A - N/A - Acquired at level 50 - Phalanx Essentially an active version of the AD Skill Glory which lasts for 10 seconds. Should a Grass Chamber be equipped to it, it gains a healing property which recovers 8% of Natalia's max HP each time this is used. This does not improve her P. DEF or F. DEF in any way. The duration of this arte is enough for Natalia to finish casting any spell of hers. Phalanx/ファランクス - 14 - N/A - N/A - Use Cavalry in a Fire/Light FOF A 30 second variation of Cavalry. This does not heal Natalia even if a Grass Chamber was equipped to Cavalry, neither does this improve her P. DEF or F. DEF. -------------------====------------------- Arcane Artes/奥義 Name - TP Cost - # of Hits - Damage (%) - Prerequisite - FOF Change Star Stroke/スターストローク - 14 - 3 - 255/3 - Acquired at level 35 - Quake Stroke Natalia does a single jump and fires three arrows downwards at a set distance. This does not break guard as well as Storm Edge despite consisting of three hits as well, though this is especially useful at dealing damage while evading melee onslaught. Its ability at staggering still stands firm. Arrows from Star Stroke pierces targets which means it has potential for a small area of effect and does not knockdown the enemy. Useful when many enemies are in the way of the target enemy as well since Natalia attacks from an elevated angle. Star Stroke is also the fastest and strongest Arcane arte Natalia has, unless Gallant Barrage is used in melee range, but will result in awkward pauses before the next Base arte should the player decide to link one after with AD Skill Ability Plus. This can be curbed with higher AGL. Quake Stroke/ストローククエイカ - 14 - 7 - 100 + 270/6 - Use Star Stroke in an Earth/Darkness FOF Natalia jumps and charges up her bow for a short moment to release an arrow into the ground at a set distance, inducing a tremor in a small area of effect. This arte has a slow start up and long intervals between each hit, however is one of Natalia's only way to deal consistent damage in an area. The first shot to trigger the tremor deals 100% of Natalia's P. ATK and then the subsequent hits deal 45% each. Charging the shot takes about a second, which means Natalia will hang in the air and be safe from ground attacks for the duration, however this can easily miss the enemy if there is no one staggering them or if Natalia is too close to the target. This does not knock the enemy down, deals Earth elemental damage. Quake Stroke has trouble hitting enemies too close to Natalia, meaning enemies usually need to be away from the FOF, but FOFs are usually under the enemy from an ally's spell. To overcome this problem, Aerial Laser can be employed to throw enemies away to chain into Quake Stroke. Star Embrace/エンブレススター - 18 - 5 - 225/5 - Acquired at level 42 - Blue Embrace Releases five arrows into the air which lands in front of Natalia at a set distance, the way the shots land is random each time. This arte has a high potential to miss the enemy most of the time, especially if they are small targets and this occurs even more if the player is not controlling Natalia through Manual. Extremely fast start up, but the shower of arrows take some time to reach the target location. And due to its nature, guard breaking, staggering and making combos with this arte is not as potent as it should be. Blue Embrace/エンブレスブルー - 18 - 17 - 1030/17 - Use Star Embrace in a Water/Darkness FOF Natalia fires an arrow into the heavens which calls down a barrage of icicles in an area around her after 2 seconds. Do not be fooled by the damage done by this arte since it requires all 17 hits to connect in order to do that damage, and this arte has trouble hitting even once most of the time. Much like Star Embrace, the way the icicles land are extremely random and the size of the enemy has a large influence on the effectivity, and each hit only deals a measly 60% of her P.ATK. Though should all 17 hits connect, one can expect damage amounting to a Mystic Arte. No knockdown capabilities and deals Water elemental damage. Gallant Barrage/ブレイブフィード - 20 - 8 - 200/5 + 90/3 - Event - N/A Fires a set of five arrows in a fan and then a concentrated shot of three arrows forward, this Strike Arte is one of Natalia's most versatile artes as it possesses two different patterns of shooting in one. Using it at a far distance will ensure it covers a wide area through the spread shot, staggering enemies surrounding her melee allies, while focusing the main enemy with the concentrated barrage. Using it at close range will deal a total of 8 hits which staggers or breaks guard very easily, and also deals a good amount of damage. This arte has no FOF change, and does not have knockdown properties. Pairing this with a Carmine Chamber is recommended. The player should be careful when using this arte, since it is acquired at a fairly early stage of the game, 20 TP is a lot on her small TP capacity. Overusage of this arte can result in lack of TP to cast Healing and Support artes. Even so, Grass Chambers are not recommended. -------------------====------------------- Fonic Artes/中級譜術 Name - TP Cost - Cast Time (s) - Prerequisite - FOF Change Heal/ヒール - 20 - 6 - Default - Healing Wind Recovers 50% of an ally's max HP instantly. Equipping a Carmine chamber improves this by 10%(60%). This is Natalia's most frequently used Healing arte, it is TP intensive and will prove to be a problem early on(unless you're on your second or more playthrough and have learned AD Skill Mind Up) so equipping a Grass Chamber is recommended until her TP pool is decently large. It takes a while to cast, but once Natalia learns the AD skills that speed up incantations, it is only slightly longer than First Aid. Healing Wind/ヒールウィンド - 20 - 6 - Default - Use Heal in a Wind/Light FOF Recovers 50% of an ally's max HP in a small area of effect, this heals 5 times for 10% each over a duration of 3 seconds. This is recommended only when allies' HP are above 60% as it can miss or not heal fully should allies run out of its area of effect, and also because it takes a short time to heal the full 50%. However, do note that this is Natalia's most effective and efficient way of healing multiple targets. Barrier/バリアー - 16 - 6 - Acquired at level 16 - Aqua Protection Temporarily increases an ally's P. DEF by 10% for 60 seconds, this stacks with a Carmine Chamber, boosting an ally's P. DEF by 20%. A Cobalt Chamber increases the duration by 25 seconds. This is very useful when your party is trying to level up at difficult areas(like the area near Keterburg when you first arrive) and bosses, not so much in short battles though, as expected. Leveling a Carmine Chamber and a Sunlight Chamber on this arte is recommended, Carmine for regular fights/bosses and Sunlight for certain bosses. Aqua Protection/アクアプロテクション - 16 - 6 - Use Barrier in a Water/Darkness FOF Creates a shield of vapor that consistently repairs itself around the target, this increases their P. DEF by 20% for the entire span of the battle unless they are K.O'd. This is basically Barrier with a Carmine Chamber, and a Cobalt Chamber on steroids. Though its effect is limited against enemies who possess Mystic Artes on Very Hard and above difficulty, it is best used in long fights against bosses who have consistent attack patterns with no Mystic Artes since they do over 9999 damage most of the time should someone take the full brunt of it. Recover/リカバー - 10 - 5 - Acquired at level 19 - Purify Heals both Physical and Magical status ailments of an ally, gains a healing property when equipped with a Grass Chamber, healing 8% of max HP as the ailment is removed. Though 8% may seem like it mayn't matter, it is good enough to offset the two ticks of damage accumulated through poison. And if it wasn't enough, well, why didn't you cure it faster? Purify/リキュペレート - 10 - 5 - Use Recover in a Wind/Light FOF Heals both Physical and Magical status ailments in an area of effect. This is probably the least used FOF in Natalia's arsenal as even battles plagued with status ailments only require a few casts of Recover. And FOFs are difficult to wait for when life depends on cleansing the ailments. Sharpness/シャープネス - 20 - 5 - Acquired at level 28 - Blaze Emitter Temporarily increases the P. ATK of an ally by 10% for 60 seconds. When paired with a Carmine Chamber, it increases P. ATK by 20%, a Cobalt Chamber will improve its duration by 25 seconds. Using this in situations where the enemies are in large quantities is more efficient, since there is another Support Arte which is better for increasing damage output on single targets. Naturally, a combination of both will yield the best results. Similar to Barrier, mastering this arte in a Carmine and Sunlight department will be very useful. Prioritizing allies who are in Overlimit or the nearest to will be most effective since they might use a Mystic Arte if their Arcane arte hits, this applies to Blaze Emitter as well. Blaze Emitter/ブレイズエミッター - 20 - 5 - Use Sharpness in a Fire/Light FOF Embeds an undying flame into the weapon of an ally, permanently increasing their P. ATK by 20% for the rest of the battle until they are knocked out. Essentially Sharpness with a Carmine Chamber equipped. This FOF change is rarely used on multiple allies in normal battles since the DPS(damage per second) would be so high the battle is already ended, thus is better suited for boss battles that takes a long time to finish. Resist/レジスト - 18 - N/A - 5.5 - Acquired at level 30 - Anti-Magic Temporarily raises the F. DEF of an ally by 10% for 60 seconds. Equipping a Carmine Chamber on Resist will increase it's effect by 10% which increases the total F. DEF of an ally by 20%. Cobalt Chambers will increase the duration by 25 seconds. Not many enemies have Fonic Artes but a few and bosses, therefore this Support Arte doesn't come into play often. Though when it's actually used, it will prove extremely useful when your characters stay alive with a bit of HP from that Fonic Arte which would've otherwise killed them. Using this with a Sunlight Chamber is most recommended since it's rarely used in regular battles. Anti-Magic/アンチマジック - 18 - 5.5 - Use Resist in an Earth/Darkness FOF Fortifies the F. DEF of an ally by surrounding them in a neutralizing crystal, which increases their F. DEF by 20% for the remainder of the battle. This is basically Resist with a Carmine Chamber that lasts forever, if you've mastered Resist with a Sunlight Chamber, you will be seeing this often in boss battles(though you'll only use it four times). It is very helpful on allies with poor F. DEF and even more so on allies who already possess high F. DEF, such as Natalia herself. Scare Bane/スケアベイン - 18 - 6 - Acquired at level 33 - Calamitous Bane Temporarily reduces the P. DEF of an enemy by 10% for a duration of 60 seconds. A Carmine Chamber will increase the potency of this arte further by another 10%, a Cobalt Chamber will increase the duration by 25 seconds. This arte should be commonly used on targets that take more than the casting time would take to kill it, only then will it be worth it to use this arte on them. Especially useful when used in conjunction with AD skill Power Charge, Sharpness/Blaze Emitter, then a Mystic Arte. A Carmine Chamber or a Sunlight Chamber should be applied to this Support Arte, preferably the first since the FOF change can never reach 20% reduction in P. DEF. Players should cast this whenever they can in boss battles once they feel the effect has worn off, best used when the enemy is in Overlimit since they can't be staggered. Calamitous Bane/カラミティベイン - 18 - 6 - Use Scare Bane in a Water/Darkness FOF Drains the vitality of enemies in an area of effect by reducing their P. ATK and P. DEF by 10%, this is the only arte in the game that reduces the P. ATK of an enemy, essentially making it a pseudo-barrier on all your allies and the effects can be observed easily when used with Barrier. Stacks with Scare Bane. High Fonic Artes/上級譜術 Name - TP Cost - Cast Time (s) - Prerequisite - FOF Change Cure/キュア - 48 - 7.5 - Acquired at level 46 - Restore Heals 75% of an ally's max HP instantly. A Carmine Chamber will raise the effects of this arte by 10%, healing a total of 85% of an ally's max HP. Cure will usually heal a target to their max HP as long as they're above the reds. Even at the level you get this arte, 48 TP a cast is still a lot and the whopping 7.5 second cast time can prove to be fatal. Early on, a Grass Chamber is definitely a must if Natalia is to be the main healer of the party and a Carmine Chamber can be used instead at later stages of the game when TP doesn't prove to be a hindrance. Restore/レストア - 48 - 7.5 - Use Cure in an Earth/Darkness FOF Completely replenishes the hit points of an ally and also removes all status ailments they have. This Fonic Arte is the strongest single target Healing arte there is, the only thing that hinders its function is the long cast time, which even with AD skills that shorten it can still be long, and that it doesn't resurrect the target since Cure already heals 75% HP. Therefore making this quite a redundant arte since there're very few occasions when an ally is in need of a full heal and status clearance at the same time. Though at later stages of the game when the max HP is at 9999, this can be useful as allies will be able to tank a little longer for the arte to be finished casting. Certainly has it uses, but a Sunlight Chamber for Cure just to get this arte is not recommended. Revive/リヴァイブ - 64 - 10 - Acquired at level 54 - Angel's Breath Places a positive status effect on an ally which heals them for 25% of their max HP when they're knocked out(this means they didn't die at all), and then creates a Light FOF when the animation is finished below the target at where they are currently. This arte is the only way Natalia can produce a FOF, and her only way to "resurrect". Although you should have already noticed the 10 second cast time, even with AD skills it'll be around 5～7 seconds, and not to mention the animation has to end before the status effect is applied, which means another 2～3 seconds. When used as an off-healer, this will be the only Healing arte Natalia needs to help Tear with healing since they'll never die with Revive constantly used on them whenever they are removed while Tear heals. Definitely, definitely, definitely equip a Sunlight chamber on this Healing arte. Note that should a character die during a Mystic Arte, Revive will activate and they will not die from it. After a character is revived, they have a short moment of invincibility. Angel's Breath/エンジェルブレス - 64 - 10 - Use Revive in an Earth/Darkness FOF Possibly the most broken Healing arte in the game, Angel's Breath resurrects fallen allies in an area of effect to their maximum HP while placing the effect of Revive on them, this also fully restores allies that're alive and heals their status ailments in its area of effect. And due to its animation, Natalia can even afford to lose her life in order to cast this as long as one member of the party stays alive(usually the Fonic arte user at the back), and easily turn the tides of the battle with two lives on multiple allies. And the TP cost doesn't even change. When using this to resurrect someone, move the 'Target' cursor to them and then move a little with the right Analog stick to select where the area of effect will be at, if you do not move to select an area, it will cast on Natalia since the target is considered to be dead. Healing Force/ヒーリングフォース - 36 - 8 - Event An odd Healing arte that has never surfaced in the Tales of series before, Natalia gains this arte through her special arte event as the final arte, and at the time she gets this, Healing Force seems to just lack something to hold a slot in her move list. Though this does have its usefulness since it's never bad to have regeneration, the only problem is having to cast it. If it hits at least three members of the party, then it would've been worth it, but if didn't then it was a complete waste of time as you could've prevented damage being done through staggering an enemy or doing an actual heal. Situations where this comes useful is when allies regenerate through attacks from bosses such as their Arcane Artes, Mystic Artes or even regular attacks. I've seen this heal a small 300 HP to save lives on multiple occasions but still, casting this never really seem to be worth it to me. Works best when used in conjunction with Barrier and Calamitous Bane, though casting all of it would take over a minute. Equip a Carmine or Cobalt chamber to this, it really doesn't make much of a difference until AD skill Stat Boost is learned. * This is a very potent arte when used while Tear is in the battle as the primary healer, this allows Natalia to provide assistance in healing without having to sacrifice time to cast an arte. -------------------====------------------- Mystic Artes/秘奥義 Name - TP Cost - # of Hits - Damage (%) - Prerequisite Astral Rain/アストラル・レイン - None - 14 - 50 + 600/12 + 300 - AD Skills: Special & Overlimit In order to activate Astral Rain, Natalia must be in Overlimit mode and hold onto the 'Attack' button after using an Arcane Arte or FOF change. Note that the final hit of each do NOT have to connect to activate her Mystic Arte. She can simply use Star Stroke on the ground, or Star Embrace and activate Astral Rain before the arrows even land. Astral Rain never misses and should the target die before the rain is summoned, Natalia will change to a new target. Astral Rain also has the capability of hitting multiple enemies in an area of effect. The area of effect is the glyph below the primary target, so for players on their second playthrough or further, they should discern between which is better, an Astral Rain on multiple enemies or Noble Roar on a single target. * Only the first individual hit of Astral Rain is Fire elemental. This makes absolutely no difference to the damage even if the target is weak to it. Noble Roar/ノーブル・ロアー - 100 - 18 - 400/8 + 1200/8 + 200 + 600 - AD Skill: Overlimit, Piercing Line used over 150 times. Elven Bow must be equipped. Second playthrough and onwards. Natalia's second Mystic Arte, Noble Roar, is activated by using Piercing Line while in Overlimit mode when she has the 'Elven Bow' equipped. Noble Roar has incredibly high accuracy, though if the target is knocked out of the trajectory, a few hits of Noble Roar will miss, particularly the piercing shot and the initial fonstone barrage. Contrary to popular belief, this can be used multiple times in a battle and has no insane condition to activate. However, you DO have to be on your second playthrough and onwards to use this. Note that Piercing Line has to be used over 150 times and 100 TP is needed in order to use this. Using this in the same fashion as when using Piercing Line to hit multiple targets would be a smart thing to do, and although the piercing shot only seems to reach the target, it actually travels beyond and hits all in the line behind the target. This Mystic Arte, like most of Natalia's Strike Artes suffer from the same fate where it can miss small or short monsters like Chirpees. Both of Natalia's Mystic Artes have knockdown properties, and are the only two artes she has that possess such properties. One thing to note about her Mystic Artes is that they hardly ever miss, even if the first hit of Astral Rain misses, the follow up will still hit even if the animation does not show so. Same goes for Noble Roar, however, in this case, majority of the hits will miss. -------------------====------------------- -------------------- = Learning Corner = -------------------- Small Explanation on Fonic Artes and Fon Slot Chambers (FSC) This applies to all Fonic Artes of each party member, not just Natalia. Carmine Chambers increase 10% of the effectiveness of the arte is it equipped to. This means what it does, so for example, Enhance Cast would reduce casting time by another 10% for a total of 30% when equipped with a Carmine Chamber. Grass Chambers reduce TP cost by 25% and Cobalt Chambers produce a similar effect to AD skill Magic End, where recovery time after casting is close to none or enlengthens the duration of a Support Arte's effect. Sunlight Chambers are the same as of Strike Artes. These do NOT apply to FOF changes, a Carmine Chamber will not increase Aqua Protection's 20% P. DEF boost to 30%. Small Explanation on maximizing area of effects. Also, the AOE(area of effect) can be targeted by moving the right Analog stick, and as a healer, especially Tear, this is extremely important to master. For Healing Wind, Angel's Breath, Healing Force, Healing Circle or Fairy Circle, it is best to center the AOE in front of where the enemy target is, where your allies will go to to attack them, this way you can make sure it heals the allies you want it to. Though this is completely situational and the player has to be able to perceive where is best to place the AOE at that point of time. -------------- = Equipment = -------------- This part will mostly talk about the accessories which are useful for Natalia. However, there will be a short portion talking about certain weapons she can have. For her weapons, I particularly like two of them a lot. They are the Ether Slash and Full Metal Fang(made at Din's Shop or the blacksmith at Sheridan), they both add P. DEF when equipped, 30 and 50 respectively. She is the only person in the game which has weapons that add P. DEF, and the amount it gives isn't low either, equivalent to wearing another piece of armor/accessory. On lower difficulties, you can even have Ether Slash equipped until the end of the game or until you get Full Metal Fang, which has 600 P. ATK, her best weapon only has 720 P. ATK, the Celestial Star from winning the Advanced Singles coliseum match. However, on Unknown or Very Hard, doing that will be very difficult. I had Elven Bow equipped ever since Mt. Roneal's God General Showdown(though I equipped it to use Noble Roar only, if not I had Killer Bow equipped) until the end of the game, and that still did very low damage to Nebilim on Unknown mode. Nevertheless, should the player ever have problems dealing damage with Natalia, she has a few hidden weapons stashed away that can only be accessed when you've unlocked Mieu Fire 2 and/or Mieu Wing. They can be gotten at times when weapons only give 300～400 P. ATK, when they provide over 500 P. ATK at that time. The Merciless Bow at Shurrey Hill and Cator's Bow at Theor Forest. And if the player is having trouble dealing damage when you first get Natalia at the Oasis on an Unknown playthrough, you can visit Search Point 6 and collect Scorpion Stingers to make a Killer Bow. It gives 500 P. ATK which is almost triple the amount her regular Bow or Steel Bow would give. Also, at Daath before the second visit to Mt. Zaleho you can purchase the Clay Arrow over at the weapon shop. I'm not sure if this is available during your first playthrough but I only noticed this on my third playthrough with the mentality that Daath doesn't upgrade weapons much. As for the accessories to equip on Natalia, I had her using the Cape family accessories. Cape, to Leather Cape, Elven Cape, then the progessive elemental capes: Flare Cape, Aqua Cape, Wind Cape and Earth Cape. Elven Capes resist Fire, Water and Wind elements and raise AGL slightly, so it is one of the better accessories out there for all characters until later on in the game. Earth Capes can be bought at the end of the game before entering Eldrant at Chesedonia from the merchant that likes to rub his jar and is the strongest cape available providing 45 P. DEF and 20 F. DEF while resisting Earth. Flare Capes are also very useful in the cameo battle since Phillia enjoys using Flare Tornado and Eruption as her main offensive spells. This applies for all characters as well for Flare Capes. In battles such as with the Replicantis or God General battles, Mystic Symbols are best to use and if they aren't available, expect to have to use Angel's Breath quite often. Spirit Symbol can also be very useful in battles where she's dedicated to healing but deaths are not imminent. If you prefer using Natalia as a Strike Arte user with Tear as the primary healer, you can even give her the Boots family accessory, Persian Boots being the best, granting 300 AGL. This helps her chain her Strike Artes better and provide decent P. DEF. Towards the end of the game, if the player isn't afraid of trouble, they can create an Effecti Ring at Din's Shop. What it does is that it reduces incoming damage by 15%. It is the best Defensive Ring type accessory and can only be made at Din's Shop. There is a guide on GameFAQs as well with detailed explanations on using Din's Shop so go check it out if you're interested. With high P. DEF and F. DEF, the Effecti Ring is very strong on Natalia. There are circumstances where switching in a Rebirth Doll is very useful. There are many times while I was in the middle of casting Angel's Breath and was about to die as the last member of the party standing. I just switched in a Rebirth Doll and let it work its magic. --------------------------------- = Capacity Cores and AD Skills = --------------------------------- On my first playthrough, the Capacity Cores (C.C) I assigned to her was her default C.C, Scild. Then I gave her Scild Forte once we reached Yulia City, then Balla Forte. Although none of Natalia's Fonic Artes damages the enemies directly, she still needs a decent amount of F. ATK. This isn't absolutely necessary but will help a lot to facilitate healing alone. Balla Forte, Nocer Maggiore(gotten from Din's Shop), Nocercido can be used to get there. They also provide a substantial amount of points into F. DEF and everything else. You should work towards getting her P. DEF and F. DEF high while getting any points in AGL and ENH whenever possible. In a Normal or Hard playthrough, there is no urgent need to boost her P. ATK abnormally high. The weapons she equip is more than sufficient to deal decent damage on the bosses. Scild Maggiore is one of the better C.C for Natalia and is gotten rather early in the game, it gives 3 P. DEF, 1 F. DEF and 1 AGL, although you should avoid giving her this for too long as it creates an imbalanced P. DEF and F. DEF. Once you've gotten the important AD Skills from the AGL and ENH departments, you should work on her P. ATK while maintaining P. DEF and F. DEF boosts. Lebhaft is a very good C.C once you acquire it from the Isle of Feres. If at any time her F. DEF is too low, Marcato or Lunatito is excellent at making up that difference, and the latter also adds a lot to other stats but is gotten very late in the game. For playthroughs on Very Hard or Unknown, she will need P. ATK in order to deal decent damage. At the time she joins the party, you'll find she deals 1 damage to even the weakest enemies in the Abandoned Factory. She didn't start doing more than 10 damage until she was in the level 20 range with Tutti on the whole time, and her weapon upgrades in the beginning is one of the lowest among the characters. I also had to level up for quite a bit up to level 35-ish to have a fair fight with the God Generals in the Zao Ruins using only Natalia as a healer. Due to the C.C I assigned to her, she will always most likely be the first character to get Angel's Tear, Rebirth, Auto Aid, Resilience, Magic End and Glory, which in all fairness is more important for her than Tear since she is always in the front. I suggest learning most of her AD Skills in the first playthrough, and then maximizing her stats in the most optimal way without fear of missing AD Skills for players intending to do a second playthrough. AD Skills and C.C can be purchased to be inherited onto the next playthrough in the GRADE shop. On Unknown, I had Tutti on her for a long time, in fact, I had it on her throughout the entire playthrough and she still did low damage to Nebilim so if you're planning to play on Unknown, you should be adept at switching Tutti between each member. If I couldn't have Tutti on her, I always had Grandioz to compensate. She was always my third priority in getting the better C.C since Anise has naturally high P. ATK and dolls to boost her attack power, Jade and Tear rarely attacking physically. If Luke and Guy had Tutti and Grandioz, I would have Lebhaft equipped on Natalia, which is also the default C.C I have her on whenever she doesn't have Tutti or Grandioz on. The important stats for Natalia (First playthrough, this is for players who are planning to play this game once) P. ATK ★★☆☆☆ P. DEF ★★★★★ F. ATK ★★★☆☆ F. DEF ★★★★★ AGL ★★★☆☆ ENH ★★★☆☆ The important stats for Natalia (On second playthrough, for players planning to take on Very Hard or Unknown) P. ATK ★★★★☆ P. DEF ★★★★★ F. ATK ★★★☆☆ F. DEF ★★★★★ AGL ★★★★★ ENH ★★★★☆ The crucial AD Skills Natalia need in order to fulfill her role. Mind Up/メンタルアップ - ENH 60 Natalia is possibly the most TP intensive character among the six members since she has to cast spells often, and despite small costs on each Support Arte, they have to be used multiple times in a battle. Her Arcane Artes also cost a lot of TP compared to the other Strike Artes of other characters. Magic End/スペルエンド - F. ATK 20 + AGL 30 Having no recovery time after casting a spell allows her to save a lot of time when casting Support Artes like Barrier and Sharpness. Imagine having to wait for it to end after each time you cast Sharpness on someone, the total time taken to cast the next three would've resulted in the first instance of Sharpness ending. Rhythm/リズム - F. ATK 20 + F. DEF 20 + AGL 20 Rhythm isn't necessarily required but it's good to have, it no matter what, as long as you push the X button over and over during the incantation, it will reduce the time taken to cast by at least a second or two and when it comes to Healing Artes, they matter. Speed Cast/スピードスペル - F. ATK 60 This one should be self-explanatory. A faster cast is always better, more time to cast other artes or help attack. Resilience/グレイス - P. DEF 60 + F. DEF 60 + AGL 40 Since she already has Cavalry, she doesn't really need Resilience but it's nice to have nonetheless, having to cast Cavalry each time can result in the FOF disappearing or lives lost, and sometimes she can be disturbed while doing Cavalry's animation. Not to mention Cavalry also takes quite a bit of TP to cast for something that has to be used often. * On Unknown Mode EXP Plus/ＥＸＰプラス - ENH 90 To deal at least decent damage to the Liger Queen, Arietta and Kaiser Dist R, at least level 20 is required and by the time you reach the Abandoned Factory where Natalia joins the party, the party is likely to be in the level 30 range whereas Natalia will only be level 10. Also, because she joins at that level, those 10 levels would have been levels without attack boosts from her C.C since Scild gives P. DEF and F. DEF. EXP Plus is very useful in catching up with the other party members, Anise and Natalia will be the ones using this often since they joined the party late, and will have occasions where they are not in the party for bosses. The player should switch this off on overleveled characters, and have it on for characters rarely used as well to close the gap between levels. AD Skills that help facilitate the use of Natalia, but are not mandatory. Rebound/リカバリーアタック - P. ATK 20 + AGL 20 When knocked back by Overlimit or any attack, Tear and Natalia are the only two who really need AD skill Rebound, or rather, can use it effectively by attacking while recovering from the fall. Other melee characters are unable to do so since they would be out of range by then. Basically it allows Natalia to resume the attack. * Players should be able to judge when it is better to fall to the ground or to recover from the fall. This is with regards to AD Skill Recovery. Sometimes falling is better since players can manipulate the invincibility frame while the character gets up from the ground, allowing them to survive an otherwise lethal attack. This is also very useful when AD Skill Lucky Soul is acquired where sometimes simply falling is better. Jump Combo/ハイコンボ - P. ATK 30 + AGL 30 Most of the time I like to jump and attack as Natalia because sometimes enemies are in the way of her aim so jumping allows her to hit certain enemies, jump attacks also do a little more damage than a regular attack, but without AD skill Jump Combo, she's unable to continue the assault after landing resulting in overall loss in DPS. Also, when in Semi-Auto mode, this allows the player to attack from wherever she lands in cases where the usual Semi-Auto AI would move her forward to get in range. Aerial Jump/エリアルジャンプ - AGL 90 Allows Natalia to take a better aim and attack from extremely far without fear her arrows will land on the ground too early. Jumping twice and then attacking will result in her landing in her original position and this means she can resume attacking while casting Healing or Support Artes from behind. Long Step/ステップロング - P. DEF 20 + AGL 20 Maintaining distance between her enemies is important when using Natalia, so Long Step is especially important for her. Though one can argue every character can use this as well, it is more effective on Natalia overall. Back Action/バックアクション - P. ATK 25 + P. DEF 25 + AGL 10 Players should be able to see why this is useful, because unlike other characters, Natalia's attacks can reach far and therefore she can resume attacking from her position after a backstep, so this AD Skill is very useful in her case, and unlike Tear she need not worry about being out of range. Counter/カウンター - P. ATK 30 + P. DEF 30 C. Combo/カウンターコンボ - P. ATK 40 + P. DEF 40 + AGL 20 Natalia uses guard and Critical Guard a lot, so Counter and C. Combo can be very useful in immediate retaliation, since her attacking animation has a short start up where she winds her bow, it's better to just guard through the attack and retaliate afterwards. Reducer/リダクション - F. ATK 30 + F. DEF 30 While not being necessary, it's always a good thing to have. Helps save TP per cast which results in an overall increase in effective TP capacity. TP Recovery/ＴＰリカバー - ENH 80 Basically grants an allowance for her to use her TP in each battle, at 999 TP, characters heal 114 with the two AD skills that heal TP after a battle. This means each battle, Natalia can afford to use about 150～200 TP without worrying about the next battle. Ability Plus/キャンセラー - P. ATK 80 + AGL 80 This should be simple to understand, allowing two chains of Base Artes results in more hits, allowing her to break guard or help stagger much easier. Storm Edge into Gallant Barrage into Storm Edge results in 9 hits quickly and with decent AGL, she can chain them easily without awkward interruptions between, or two Piercing Lines with any Arcane Arte between can raise DPS a lot. Super Chain/ターンレス - P. ATK 60 + AGL 60 Sometimes Natalia needs to use certain artes immediately but it conflicts with the players mind since we always want to do a maximum combo, so this allows Natalia to use the Arcane Arte first, then resume a normal Base Arte combo. For example, if enemies are about to hit the frontline attackers, a Gallant Barrage is needed to stagger multiple of them, so there's no fear of losing an opportunity to combo in doing so. -------------------------- = A Challenge of My Own = -------------------------- To make things more fun and challenging for myself, I had Auto Aid, Rebirth, Angel's Tear, Resurrect, Step Away, Dash Guard, Rear Guard 2, Neutralizer, Nullify, Endure, Immunity, Resist, Void Attack, Life Healer, TP Recovery and Glory turned off for each character. I gave Natalia Auto Aid, Rebirth, Angel's Tear, Resurrect, Rear Guard 2, Neutralizer and Nullify, Endure, Immunity, Resist and Void Attack. Tear Rebirth, Resurrect, Neutralizer, Nullify, Immunity and Resist. Guy Dash Guard, Step Away, Flash, Void Magic, Void Attack and both Neutralizer and Nullify. Luke had Rear Guard 2, Neutralizer, Nullify, Void Attack, Endure and Life Healer. Anise had the same but not Life Healer or Landing. Jade had Nullify, Dash Guard, Anti-Element, Void Magic, Resist. And for my first playthrough, I didn't have Item Thrower either on most of my characters like Tear, Jade and Natalia(until the end where her P. ATK was higher). It was a good thing because sometimes I wanted to give in and throw Life Bottles, but this stopped me from doing it. TP Recovery was given to all characters capable of using Fonic artes, and Life Healer was given to all characters capable of using the Seventh Fonon: Luke, Tear and Natalia. None of the characters had Glory. For more difficulty, you can try turning off Resilience on Natalia on the entire playthrough and use Cavalry. I had this in my mind but I felt it was annoying to dedicate a slot in the shortcut list just for Cavalry. Maybe someday I'll give it a try myself. --------------------- = Credits & Ending = --------------------- Well, this is my first FAQ and I kind of wrote it on a whim yesterday. I didn't spend too much time on it and wrote by what came to mind and things I've observed while playing this game so much. Hopefully players will find this useful when they read it. Certain things in this guide might not be accurate and if anyone finds a mistake, please point it out to me on [maris-estellia@hotmail.com]. I don't think I'll ever create another FAQ unless I decide to import Tales of Vesperia, or if the patch team out there miraculously finishes it. I hope you've learned something while reading and will give Natalia a try in a playthrough. She definitely deserves the attention she failed to receive from many players. Thank you for taking time to read this! Websites used in the making this FAQ: http://aselia.wikia.com http://toawiki.com/ Websites authorized to host this guide: www.gamefaqs.com www.neoseeker.com www.supercheats.com 4/12/2012