Playing a Good FO.

[Zynetic]

Introduction

Made your force.

Got some spells.

Time to go blow shit up!

Stop. Stop right there.

Here's my suggestion if you want to do this: Play another game.

Phantasy Star Online is extremely biased against Force offense, as once you hit the Ultimate game, tech resistances are far too high to do decent damage, and there's the existence of damage cancel. (If two attacks hit at rougly the same time, one or all of damage is cancelled. The window of time for damage cancel depends on the players' latency to the server. The better, the less damage cancel.)

That being said, techs can be decent in the Episode 4 environment with the correct tech boosts (solo'ing only!), as can Simple techniques on a max-MST FOnewearl.

This guide will outline what you need to do be a good Force, and what you should do on each force to reach their maximum potential without slowing your team members down with techniques.

Each setup on a force (support, melee and nuking) should be utilised for the different situations your force will encounter, with support being the most important (and only requires pieces of equipment) then melee and then nuking (solo only for nuking). All you need to do to switch from a melee to a nuking setup is just change your units and mag with the correct material setup.

Starting as a Force

Recommendation: Do not make your first character a force. Doing this is counter-productive, as the new player has little meseta for fluids, which are required to do your jobs.

First things first, the force is a support class. No buts, no ifs. If you are preparing to play a Force, you must be prepared to support your parties. This is relatively easy to do, all you'll need is Shifta, Deband, Jellen, Zalure, Resta and Anti disks (I don't really recommend Reverser, but that will come later. I will leave a general tips section at the end).

To start off, (make sure you have your mind mag for technique learning, and techniques from your higher character (20+ supports recommended at least) find some friends, party up and level up by tagging each enemy with Zalure (and maybe Jellen if your party requires it). Doing this should net you quick levels, as you'll receive 80% EXP of all enemies in the room when they die. With the 3X EXP here, this should be relatively quick. Obviously this is very boring, but if you lack the proper equipment for force offense, it's the best thing to do for now.

And this is just the basics of being a good force. Join party, cast your supports, keep your party topped up on HP (unless there is a HUcast who knows how to use Dark Flow) and watch things drop dead.

Force Support

FOmarl > FOnewearl > FOmar > FOnewm. The tiers of support. But don't fret, being a FOnewm doesn't mean all is bleak. You're still able to support a party as well as a FOmarl or FOnewearl, it's just not as easy.

The general stages of support is: Shifta/Deband at start of quest (and during corridors! Don't let it run out), Zalure every spawn (Jellen if anybody suffers knockdown) and top of damage / berserk drops. As a random note, Jellen and Zalure cause DAMAGE CANCEL, and they are always the things to cancel (due to doing a damage of 0). Try to cast the two as fast as possible when a spawn spawns to minimize this.

In terms of equipment, every force should carry the following for supports (listed in terms of usefulness from left to right):

• Clio (100% extra Zalure range) OR Dark Bridge (200% Extra Zalure range) OR Glide Divine (most useful, 100% to Jellen and Zalure range)
  
• (Female Forces) Madam's Parasol and Madam's Umbrella (100% to Shifta/Deband / 100% to Resta/Anti) OR Striker of Chao and Marina's Bag (100% to Shifta/Deband / 100% to Resta/Anti) OR Tyrell's Parasol (most useful, 100% to Shifta/Deband/Resta; Anti range is not needed)
  
• (Male Forces) Striker of Chao (100% to Shifta/Deband)
  
• Support Merges for Resta and Shifta.

Learn to swap weapons (and shields) quickly for each situation. Equip your SD range increasers when you want to SD, JZ increasers when you want to JZ, etc. A party loves a support Force who can support well, and they also love forces who can use offense well...

Force Offense

Depending on the force you choose to play, your method of offense will be different (yet similar), as each class gets different equipment, while the ATP/ATA differences also differentiate the choices that you should choose.

Generally, FOmar/l and FOnewm use ATP offense (mostly Demon's, though, since this is better the higher HP targets) and FOnewearl exclusively uses Demon's offense (Si techs can be used to the finish the job, if you wish). To melee well, you will need good equipment, sphered in some cases (Excalibur, Rambling May, Vivienne, Diska of Braveman, etc...), sometimes with hit (not always, though. Despite FOs have low ATA, hit is not required that much) and definitely a set of Demon's equipment (Bringer's Rifle and Slicer of Fanatic).

To quote myself from another topic, here are the entire equipment sets I think a FO should have:

FOmar (NOTE: I haven't played this guy, I may be overestimating his ATA, but since it's 173 here and normal FOmarl has 170, he should be okay...)

Having the least ATA of the forces, it's pretty obvious you will need hit moreso than the other three forces. His main benefit though is definitely his ATP, being the only FO to go over 1,000 (even before the +100 boost). This is will mean he has the power to pack a punch after he supports his party, providing you have the ATA to hit (you don't need humungous amounts of ATA, but some is recommended).

When solo'ing, nuke in E4. Otherwise melee.

When playing in a party, cast supports (SD(J)Z) -> Melee -> Mob dies -> Repeat.

My recommended equipment for FOmar is:

Weapons

• Excalibur (roughly 15~20hit is required as a minimum, even more is better, obviously)
  
• Asteron Belt (if it is obtainable here, this is a good beatstick for groups, the Hell is useless though as it is reduced)
  
• Girasole (good in the earlier areas (Forest, Caves, Temple, Spaceship, Crater) without hit, perhaps so in the later areas with a Red Ring)
  
• Charge Slicer (50H+) or Diska of Braveman with the armour Thirteen (FOmar has ATP to be able to use a Charge Slicer over Braveman if you do not wish to use berserk, but if you want to pack more of a punch, Braveman and Thirteen is the way to go)
  
• Charge Mechgun (50H+) (these are a little hard to use, NNS or NHS combos will work for your general enemies, low EVP enemies should be able to be NSS'd. High EVP enemies are not to be touched; instead use SNS Slicer of Fanatic for these)
  
• Slicer of Fanatic (does not need hit, but more is better; you are to use 'SNS' combos with this weapon due to a range glitch and it has Demon's. If you're curious, please PM me, but SNS is the best combo to use)
  
• Bringer's Rifle (50H) (good for long range Demon's. Tower, Belras, etc.)

Nuking equipment should be obvious (it's the same as any other FO), but I can list these if you want.

Support weaponry: Glide Divine and Striker of Chao.

Armour

Thirteen (if you use Braveman)

Lieutenant Mantle (if it has Trap Vision here)

Aura Field / Virus Armour:Lafuteria (Defense if you need it; shouldn't be needed due to access to 30DJ)

Units

V101 (When using any sort of melee weapon)

V801 (Try to equip this at all times; decreases casting animation time)

Smartlink (When using any sort of ranged weapon; slicers included)

Fill any spare slots you might have with Heavenly/HP, it's definitely the most useful unit. If you need to fill spare slot / 801 with H/Arms, feel free to do that.

Shields

Resta Merge (if you need the range)

Red Ring (if your party is good and they don't need healing too often)

Nuke Merges (these should be obvious, I'll list them if you need)

Shifta Merge could be good if you're skilled at switching merges; range can go over 300%, so yes.

---

FOmarl

Has a little more ATA than the FOmar, but much less ATP. But even so, FOmarl can be much more capable than FOmar at melee'ing due to her access to Rambling May, Vivienne (the second strongest double saber in the game) and Last Swan. You could also say she's a better support, due to her access to Tyrell's Parasol and boosts to all support spells (excluding JZ)

When solo'ing, nuke in E4. Otherwise melee.

When playing in a party, cast supports (SD(J)Z) -> Melee -> Mob dies -> Repeat.

My recommended equipment for FOmarl is:

Weapons

• Rambling May (I mean, duh. A 450ATP shot that fires two bullets at handgun speed, equalling six shots in a combo. Sphered, this weapon is a monster on FOmarl. Does not require hit.)
  
• Vivienne (An extremely powerful beatstick if sphered and coupled with at least 20~25Hit. It is advised to get two, both with hit and all four percents between them)
  
• Last Swan (Decent gun for range)
  
• Excalibur (though the animation is not as favourable as male's (or even female's), it is still a good weapon for certain mobs (2/3 enemies, closely grouped, lizards; though you can megid lizards. Hit is recommended).
  
• Charge Mechguns (50H+) (Good for single target damage, though Rambling May can be better, especially if sphered. This is for lower EVP enemies)
  
• Diska of Braveman (45H+) with Thirteen (it is recommended to use this weapon and armour combination for multi-target damage, as the damage can be very high, especially with spheres)
  
• Slicer of Fanatic (does not need hit, but more is better; you are to use 'SNS' combos with this weapon due to a range glitch and it has Demon's. If you're curious, please PM me, but SNS is the best combo to use)
  
• Bringer's Rifle (50H) (good for long range Demon's. Tower, Belras, etc.)

Nuking equipment should be obvious (it's the same as any other FO), but I can list these if you want.

Support Weaponry: Glide Divine and Tyrell's Parasol (if you are able to obtain Parasol with a very nice amount of it, it can be a good beatstick with NHS combos)

Armour

Thirteen (if you want to use Braveman)

Lieutenant Mantle (if it has Trap Vision)

Aura Field / Virus Armour:Lafuteria (for defense, but it shouldn't be needed due to access to 30DJ)

Units

V101 (when using any sort of melee weapon)

V801 (always keep this equipped if you can)

Smartlink (when using any sort of ranged weapon; slicers included)

Fill any blanks with Heavenly/Arms or Heavenly/HP. They are the best choices.

Shields

Resta Merge (if your party needs healing alot)

Red Ring (if your party is decent or if you are solo'ing and melee'ing)

Nuking Merges (should be obvious, but I can list them if you want)

Shifta Merge can be good for extra range if you're skilled at switching merges; range can go over 300%, so yes.

---

FOnewm

A little more ATA than FOmarl, and a little less ATA. Good, yes? Well, not really... FOnewm needs 61 ATA to reach his maximum once he is 200, requiring the use of Adept whether you like it or not. (I'll talk about what I think of Adepts later on...)

He doesn't get access to the female exclusives of the FOmarl, so it's pretty obvious he's much worse at melee'ing, but he can do it. He's also much worse at supporting, due to no boosts to his support ranges, but using some equipment will rectify that.

He is the best E4 nuker, so don't worry. If you want his strengths, that is definitely it.

You will also require two mags on a FOnewm due to his horrible time maxing, one for melee and one for nuking (MST isn't really important when you're melee'ing, 200 less MST won't hurt as you'll heal 100 less HP, but just cast Resta more than once, right?)

When solo'ing, nuke in E4. Otherwise melee. (Nuking could work in early E1 maps)

When playing in a party, cast supports (SD(J)Z) -> Melee -> Mob dies -> Repeat.

My recommended equipment for FOnewm is:

Weapons

• Excalibur (hit is not required on a FOnewm, but more is better. Good for multitarget damage)
  
• Girasole (a decent beatstick for FOnewm. Good for the earlier maps, even better in the later maps with Red Ring)
  
• Charge Mechguns (50H+) (good single target damage; due to FOnewm having 190 ATA, NSS should work on middle-ish enemies, NHS if that does not work (Red Ring helps))
  
• Diska of Braveman (45H+) with Thirteen (a good multitarget damage weapon for FOnewm coupled with the armour.)
  
• Slicer of Fanatic (does not need hit, but more is better; you are to use 'SNS' combos with this weapon due to a range glitch and it has Demon's. If you're curious, please PM me, but SNS is the best combo to use)
  
• Bringer's Rifle (50H) (good for long range Demon's. Tower, Belras, etc.)

Nuking equipment should be obvious (it's the same as any other FO), but I can list these if you want.

Support Weaponry: Glide Divine and Striker of Chao.

Armour

Thirteen (for Braveman usage)

Lieutenant Mantle (if it has Trap Vision here)

Aura Field / Virus Aura:Lafuteria (Defense; not really needed due to access to 30DJ)

Units

V101 (use this when using any sort of melee weapon)

V801 (try to keep one equipped at all times; if you need to replace with Arms, do so)

Adept (needed for maxing ATP/ATA/LCK, unfortunately)

Smartlink (use this when using any sort of ranged weapon; slicers included)

Shields

Resta Merge (if your party needs constant healing)

Red Ring (if your party is decent or you are solo'ing and melee'ing)

Nuking Merges (should be obvious)

Shifta Merge can be good. Range goes over 300%, so yes. Make sure you're good at switching merges fast!

---

FOnewearl

Seen her ATP? I'm sure you have. It's horrible. But fret not, you can still do something in a party after supporting without having fear of damage cancelling enemies. You can switch to a Pow/Dex mag for 580ATP/196ATA and use Demon's with Fanatic and Bringer's, with access to Tyrell's Parasol! This makes her very good for support AND able to melee with a party just as well. You will need two mags just like FOnewm, one for Demon's gear, and one for nuking.

She is also very good at nuking due to her high MST, put some boosts on her and away you go.

When solo'ing, nuke in E4. Otherwise melee. (Nuking could work in early E1 maps, may have to be done in E2, but works with Demon's use.)

When playing in a party, cast supports (SD(J)Z) -> 'Melee' -> Mob dies -> Repeat.

My recommended equipment for FOnewearl is:

Weapons

• Slicer of Fanatic (does not need hit, but more is better; you are to use 'SNS' combos with this weapon due to a range glitch and it has Demon's. If you're curious, please PM me (too lazy to explain here), but SNS is the best combo to use)
  
• Bringer's Rifle (50H) (good for long range Demon's. Tower, Belras, etc.)

Nuking equipment should be obvious (it's the same as any other FO), but I can list these if you want.

Support weaponry: Glide Divine and Tyrell's Parasol.

Armour

Lieutenant Mantle (if it has Trap Vision)

Aura Field / Virus Armour:Lafuteria (defense; not needed due to access to 30DJ)

Units

V101 (when using Fanatic/Bringer's)

V801 (try to keep this equipped at all times)

Smartlink (when using Fanatic/Bringer's)

Use any free slots with a H/HP; H/Arm if you need to. (Replace 801 if you need to)

Shields

Resta Merge (if your party needs constant healing)

Red Ring (if your party is decent and you want more Demon's ATA)

Nuking Shields (this should be obvious)

Shifta Merge can be good if you're good at switching merges. Boosts can go over 300%, so yes.

When melee'ing as a FO, be careful! Your damage will obviously be much, much less than other characters, which means you're just a damage canceller if you do not control your attacks. This means attack enemies which aren't being attacked, or Demon's them if all are being attacked (since 75% of total HP will always be more than the others are doing). Unlike techs though, melee can be controllable to avoid damage cancel, which is always good.

Demon's offense most of the time is recommended to actual offense if your party is good, as they'll be doing 99% of the damage, even if you try to intervene with your Rambling May or vulcans or whatever.

Force Nuking

Advisable only for Episode 4 solo, but may be neccessary on FOnewm/newearl for E1/2 maps (I don't recommend it if you can help it though). The power of nuking is large, but comes at a cost of large damage cancel in parties (parties will always kill faster than a solo FO nuke, though a solo FO nuke is faster than other classes in Episode 4).

For nuking, you will need the general nuking equipment, which is:

Summit Moon (+30% to Simple Techniques)

Magical Piece (+30% to Normal Techniques)

Psycho Wand (+30% to Hard Techniques)

Mercuricus Rod/Dark Bridge (+30%/+40% to Grants)

Demonic Fork/Dark Bridge (Piercing Megid)

The numerous merges (One for each attack technique, bar Grants/Megid, and one for each element, which is 10% weaker than the separate merges).

If you want to nuke well, you will most likely want to play a FOnewearl or a FOnewm. FOnewm gets a natural +30% boost to Gi/Ra techniques, while FOnewearl gets a natural +30% boost to Simple techniques AND EXTREMELY HIGH MST. When you are nuking, be sure to learn to switch weapons and shields quickly for maximum damage. Note: Generally, Rafoei is always better than Gifoei, but on certain spawns with Lizard/Merissas next, Gifoei can spawn damage these enemies, effectively cutting down on time.

In parties, attack techniques can still be useful if you use them correctly and not spam them. There are numerous uses, such as stunning things (lilies, Meris), stopping charges (Zu, Bringer, Spawning Dorphon/Delbiter) and other numerous uses (such as finishing off a Demon's strike). Megid is a good technique for certain Episode 2 enemies and Lizards in Episode 4, but otherwise it isn't recommended.

Other random tips

• If possible, always wear a V801. This cuts down on casting time rather effectively. It won't look like much, but use it for a week and then take it off. It will feel slow. For example, V801 allows you to stunlock Gorans in desert if you keep them at range.
  
• Adept is not recommended for TP Reduction, only stats on FOnewm/newearl. Generally, TP Reduction is useless as if you have 2,000+ TP, all you need to do is pop a Trifluid every five minutes or more (plus approximately 9% chance of finding one from an enemy when you kill it).
  
• Solferino is not recommended for Resta spamming. You might think "Oh, free TP! Faster Resta casting!", sure. The problem with Solferino is it ignores all Resta boosts, including natural boosts. You'll see the boosted effects, but the Resta will not apply to your team members.
  
• Always carry Moons. They are instantaneous and less dangerous than Reverser is. Sure, Reverser is free, unlimited revival, but if a Moon can do it faster, why bother? I only see Reverser as a spell if you run out of Moons.
  
• Don't Rabarta spam to try and be useful. It's much better to just cast your supports and use Demon's, as if people want freeze, they can use Frozen Shooter, Rabarta themselves or Freeze Traps. Rabarta'ing alot will only cause damage cancel.
  
• Don't Jellen Gal Gryphon unless you are with three very high level CASTs (sans HUcaseal) who have defense and HP. If you are with three high level casts, they will be combo'd regardless.
  
• Do not try to do things pre-emptively as a FO (or try to be the first in rooms to do things). Always leave this to the HUs/RAs, as they can do starter things much better. You being first will only mess things up. (As I've learned recently. xD)
  
• For certain Delbiter (4 Delbiter Spawn in PW4 20F) or Dorphon spawns (5 Dorphon spawn in MaxC E4), it's better to use Merc Rod gifoei to stop their charges rather than a normal gifoei, as this will allow RAs/HUs to use multi arrest weapons / freeze traps easier on the mobs.

May put more here...

---

I understand this guide is structured badly, but I do hope it helps somebody.

If you have any questions, please ask.

Edited February 1, 2011 by Zynetic

[SunnyD]

You are so pro for doing this

Did not actually learn anything new but it was a good read and for sure one of the best force guides.

Now i will be awaiting to cancel the -rep fyou will get for saying stuff like fonewn should melee or fonewearl should only melee demons D:

[sheldama]

Great guide Zynetic

As a FOnewearl I agree with 90% of what you say in regards to role fulfillment. Just the other day i picked up a Bringer's Rifle, boosted it to 50hit and feel like the game is a lot more fun. I now role with a v101, Smartlink, v801, and a Centi (which i want to upgrade to a v502).

One thing that I have noticed it due to monster resistances, your techs do not do a WHOLE lot more damage per 1mst. For instance in ep4 I think I do 270 with a lvl29 Rafoie with my glide equipped and only like 266 without it. If I am not mistaking that is 55mst = 4 points of damage. Which means if you take 10 rafoies to kill something with Dark Bridge equipped, it will probably not take 9 to kill it with the glide.

Where I am going with this is that lately I have not been focusing on maxing my MST because as a FoNewearl my techs to not benifit as much per 1point of Mst as my Bringer's Rifle benefits from 1ata. With this in mind I am focusing my endgame mag on maxing out my Ata then atp, and the rest sliding into Mst. so that I do not lose as much time switching all of my equips. Just something that I have noticed and am trying out now.

[Zynetic]

Not sure why you would want a V502 on a FOnewearl. V502 only boosts Freeze/Instant Death/Paralysis/Confuse specials, not Demon's. =P Unless you intend to use those specials said (I only thin it's really useful in one respect, and that is Holy Ray Paralysis).

For damage calculation with techniques, it is 5 MST = 1 Damage, before resistances are applied (which means depending on the enemy, you might need more MST for 1 damage. This is with no boosts, MST needed is less with boosts).

[sheldama]

I thought 502 boosted all specials. Oh well, at least it is one item less I have to hunt for!

[SunnyD]

I thought 502 boosted all specials. Oh well, at least it is one item less I have to hunt for!

You cant be too many things far away from ur dream gear

[sheldama]

Yeah just a Red Ring, a Wedding dress and some lvl 30 techs. Then I guess will start working on Ranger equips....

[chuk]

Didn't knew zalure/jellen also did dammage cancel.

And also, what FO you recommend for melee? FOmar?

Cool guide

chuk

PS: <3 solferino <3

[Dizzak420]

the v502 works great for my jizai, so v502 does nothing for berserk?

[Roslin]

Great guide, this will help a lot. Thanks for sharing!

[SunnyD]

the v502 works great for my jizai, so v502 does nothing for berserk?

Yes nothing at all.

Chuck fomar for most damage i guess.

[Dizzak420]

well besides having max ata and having an excal with hit, is there any other way to make berserk hit more?

[SunnyD]

If you are a force then only red rid is the only boost left (20 ata past max)

If you are a hunter a proof of sword saint will do you nicely (and they stack too).

[Rose]

Excelent guide, however, I have a little question. If I spam Resta with Solferino's special attack, does this also do damage cancel?

[Zynetic]

No, player damage/healing does not cause any sort of cancel since it's all client based.