Useful Battle Strategies

Monster Girl Quest: Paradox offers way more possibilities than its predecessor when it comes to fighting enemies, thanks to the large amount of skills and abilities available from Jobs and Races. Coupled with the possibility to have up to four party members simultaneously in a fight (in addition to many others in the backline), strategies to take down random encounters can be more diverse and open.

With so much variety available, it should come as no surprise that several sets of strategies can prove to be particularly useful, and sometimes even game-breaking. These strategies allow the player to complete most fights on Normal difficulty like a breeze, as well as have an easier time on higher difficulties without being completely overleveled or outright cheating.

Last Stand
First Availability: At the beginning of the game

Set up difficulty: Very Low

Farming required: Medium

Effectiveness: Medium

Range of application: Medium/High (limited by usable characters)

Basic Explanation
Several characters possess a "vengeance" trait that makes them inflict more damage (as a whole or with a select set of skills) in accordance to how low their HP is, up to dealing twice the damage when they're almost dead. Several others (like Luka) instead have a trait that triggers when their HP falls below a certain threshold.

Simultaneously, there is the Endure ability available with the rank 8 of the Power Fighter job (intermediate, available right from the bat after completing Warrior), and the Courage Headband accessory: both make it so that a character with this ability or accessory that would take fatal damage when they have more than a certain threshold (30% or less) of HP will instead end up with 1 HP. This allows a character to attack with the full strength of their "vengeance" trait.

Usage in battles
Using this setup in battles is extremely simple: you just have to keep attacking with your character, and enjoy those precious turns when they'll deal twice the usual damage.

This build becomes a necessity on higher difficulties where monsters can kill characters in one attack. You will need to take note of whether your character will attack before or after the opponent to time your SP consumption correctly and strike them with your strongest attack at the right moment.

Avoid using HP recovering skills/Abilities to make it fully effective.

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Once you roughly know if the opponent will attack before or after that character, you can use a one turn power-up buff (most jobs have a skill that buffs their relevant stat). The "vengeance" trait is a final damage multiplier, which further amplifies buffs placed on it. Other characters can easily be used to buff/weaken the enemies.

You can also get Goddess Protection from Apprentice Hero to get a free revive at 20%. However, it will be useless if you don't attack before the opponent.

Spirit Inheritance (an extremely rare accessory) and several races allow characters to get several actions in the same turn in given conditions. You can multiply attacks during that sweet spot.

Using barriers can allow your character to keep exploiting their "vengeance" trait for several turns with only minimal risks. Just remember that with only 1 HP, skills requiring HP use are impossible to activate unless you spend a turn using the smallest heal available (Herb).

In the Labyrinth of Chaos, Diamrem is a teacher who can give an ability that makes characters start battles at 20% HP for an additional buff, but prevents all form of healing except revival. The Stubborn headband can complement this ability nicely.

There are also accessories such as Burning Soul/Blazing Soul (50/100% increased stats when below 20% health) and Danger Rosary/Crisis Rosary (50/100% critical chance when below 20% health) which can further this strategy.

Strategic defense
First Availability: San Ilia's library (basic/patched game)/Four queens (advanced)

Set up difficulty: Medium

Farming required: Medium/Very High

Effectiveness: Medium/Very High

Range of application: Low/Medium

Basic Explanation
With a careful set up, it is possible to cancel most attacks from any enemies you encounter as soon as your team manages to survive two turns. It trivializes most superbosses fights, and is a requirement in the Labyrinth of Chaos.

Wing Harpy's Sky Dance (+50% Evade/Mag Evade; available at rank 4) is theoretically available as early as the beginning of the game, and will grant your team a very high dodge chance which, coupled with a team geared defensively (shields equipped thanks to the Guard's abilities), will allow your team to reliably dodge both physical and magical assaults.

Once you're further into the game, you have access to the White Snake Kagura race (only accessible to the lamia races), which possesses Waning Moon and Evening Moon dances that can respectively Nullify Physical and Magic damage altogether. Their only weakness is their high SP consumption, which can be mitigated with a mix of SP cost reduction (Magatama accessories/Pirate job line) and SP regen (Hero job line/Dark rings). If both conditions are fulfilled, your party member can cast each dance indefinitely without having them expire.

With that set-up, the only remaining dangers are auto-hit attacks, which meet their own weaknesses in the form of deflectors. Deflectors are shields that are consumed each time your party members take damage. They're not consumed if an attack is evaded, but are consumed if the attack's damage would otherwise be nullified.

There are several ways to use deflectors. The fastest one is Vicarious Clara, a summoning skill that is acquired with a level 8 Necromancer. Since Necromancer requires Spiritualist who has an ability to allow you to use summoning, the only issue with that skill is its HP cost.

Another universally accessible one is the Electromagnetic Armor available to level 8 Machinists. However, the ability to equip the skill is only available to a level 5 Makina Master, which requires quite a lot of farming if you don't want your character stuck in this job.

Kitsune Geisha's Anti Death Song can entirely prevent instant death effects from passing through your deflectors. The other ones can only be managed on a case by case basis by farming the required job and using the related ability.

With this setup, the only remaining issues are status effects and multi-hit auto-hit attacks.

Usage in battles
On the first turn, set up party wide buffs, and on the second, use deflectors. Keeping track of the number of deflectors still available and the number of turns on the buffs is the more delicate part.

Pushing further
Evening Moon Dance can be replaced by Carbuncle from the Summoner job line to move a part of the strain on SP toward mana and reflect damages.

One Shot Kill
First Availability: Mid-Game/Late-Game

Set up difficulty: Very Low/High

Farming required: Medium/Very High

Effectiveness: Very High

Range of application: Medium (Not good for trash mobs)

Basic Explanation
The most basic gist of this build is having one person in the party be the main damage dealer and charge up their super attack while the other three support and de-buff the enemy over four turns. For the most part, it's extremely simple to set up the damage dealer: they just need Warrior/Swordsman/Swordmaster (for the ability to charge a 100%/200%/300% Atk boost for one turn), Martial Artist/Magus Fist (Focused Mind/Inner Focused Mind, which give an 25/50% Atk/Agi and a 50/100% Critical Chance boost for 4 turns), Hero of Justice/Magical Girl (Transform/Magical Charge 50% boost to all stats for 4 turns) and Endure from Power Fighter (to avoid dying in one hit and to trigger critical boosts).

Now, the other three should have between them the White Magic, Dancing, Singing, Cooking, and Taoism skill lines. With White Magic/Dancing/Cooking/Singing, your focus is on the skills that give unique buffs to the damage dealer. Taoism is just for adding an elemental weakness to the enemy if your damage dealer's attacks have an elemental type.

Usage in battles
The damage dealer should use Transform and Inner Focused Mind for their first two actions, then use Full Power (The 300% Atk Booster), then unleash their strongest Atk-based skill to most likely vaporize the enemy.

The other three should attempt to boost the damage dealer's stats with buffs or attempt to inflict a status ailment that prevents the enemy from dispelling or killing the damage dealer.

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You can obtain abilities that raise or lower the chances of a character being targeted, which helps a lot in protecting the damage dealer from hard-hitting single target bosses.