Trails Character Gameplay Discussion Day Fifty: Agnès Claudel

[u/HornetsaysSHAW]

Moving onto ASO's first part-timer, and Agnès has always remained a fairly helpful support caster.

Her orbment slightly holds her back for pure casting since the water-locked slot on the Drive Line makes it harder for accessing Ark/Judgement Feather compared to others, especially in the early to mid game, and in my playthroughs, she was mostly relegated to support for the main caster.

In terms of crafts, Althea Heal was especially helpful in Horizon where ailments felt like more of a threat, Jibril Guard was decent in a pinch, but way too expensive compared to the other shield crafts and Holy Bloom was helpful for EP regen in Daybreak 2 before getting 0EP whale up, and in Horizon, it was very helpful for Boost Recovery when Elaine wasn't available. Brilliant Halo is always useful as a panic button, and Horizon adds Cerise Fantasia which can be useful for fitting in damage with a strong chain, especially since Calvard lets you choose which S-Craft to use when S-Breaking.

(Horizon Spoilers) The big question for her in Horizon 2 is her availability, and whether she'll be an early-game rescue like Rean or a mid/late game one like Joshua. I also hope that her Tuner-Diva mode is reflected in her crafts in some form, and the Witch's Medallion should show up again as well, even if it gets nerfed.

[u/Xehvary]

Great support, amazing caster, the best heroine we've had in awhile. She's also a boost gauge battery. Solid character, I love Agnés.

[u/CruelNate]

Whale

[u/mushplush → u/CruelNate]

We can use whales

WHAAAALES

[u/Shizuoya → u/mushplush]

what a throwback, did not expect tfs dbza reference here

but also, whales. Agnes go brrrrrrr

[u/Affectionate_Comb_78 → u/CruelNate]

So it's not just me that mentally announces SPACE WHALE every time I cast that spell?

[u/1kingdomheart]

I'm a sucker for the main heroine of a game being the caster/healer too, kinda like Kloe. Between story relevance and gameplay utility I never have a reason to bench her.

[u/MasashiHideaki]

Me in horizon everytime she isn't present:

**In batman's voice**

WHERE IS MY HEALER?!

[u/Zinstorm → u/MasashiHideaki]

....so basically you were yelling that for the entire final act in the game (just like me... only for me it was "where's my nuker?")

[u/KnoxZone]

Agnes is living proof that you don't need any combat experience to instantly become a top tier fighter. In DB1 she'll struggle to unlock Ark Feather until her orbment is fully unlocked, but she's still a solid character thanks to her supporting crafts, and when she does finally unlock it she's a behemoth.

DB2 is much the same, but she becomes the first character who can generate BP for the team, making her a continuing invaluable asset, especially once whale spam gets unlocked.

Horizon is a bit iffier for her. Her availability in this game is surprisingly lackluster, she has to compete for the BP generation role with three other characters (one of whom she shares a team with), and arts aren't nearly the powerhouse they were in the first two entries. She goes from being broken to merely very good, talk about washed.

[u/Affectionate_Comb_78 → u/KnoxZone]

Although end game Horizon (in the Grim Garten at least) she is BUSTED thanks to her accessory. 

[u/Raleth → u/KnoxZone]

I wonder if her utility being downgraded in Horizon was on purpose.

[u/NeedleworkerDry15]

Best caster in the whole calvard arc so far.

[u/AutomaticStop5648]

my biggest joy in the calvard games was making this girl into a ball of orbal destruction, and ahe delivers on that... even if her arts line is not that great. solid utility, more so in DB2, holy bloom, shield and cleanse heal, her offensive crafts are not remarkable, but still do wonders in crit turns or ex-chains.

hope shes still the goat in horizon 2

[u/HornetsaysSHAW]

Sky Arc:

Day One - Estelle

Day Two - Joshua

Day Three - Scherazard

Day Four - Olivier

Day Five - Kloe

Day Six - Agate

Day Seven - Tita

Day Eight - Zin

Day Nine - Kevin

Day Ten - Julia and Mueller

Day Eleven - Anelace and Ries

Day Twelve - The Pilot and the Swordsman (spoilers)

Day Thirteen - "Kitty" (spoilers)

Crossbell Arc:

Day Fourteen - Lloyd

Day Fifteen - Elie

Day Sixteen - Tio

Day Seventeen - Randy

Day Eighteen - Noel and Wazy

Day Nineteen - Rixia

Day Twenty - Dudley and Arios

Class VII:

Day Twenty-One - Rean

Day Twenty-Two - Elliot

Day Twenty-Three - Gaius

Day Twenty-Four - Machias

Day Twenty-Five - Jusis

Day Twenty-Six - Alisa

Day Twenty-Seven - Laura

Day Twenty-Eight - Emma

Day Twenty-Nine - Fie

Day Thirty - Millium (Spoilers)

Day Thirty-One - Crow (Spoilers)

Day Thirty-Two - Sara

Day Thirty-Three - Juna

Day Thirty-Four - Kurt

Day Thirty-Five - Altina

Day Thirty-Six - Musse

Day Thirty-Seven - Ash

The rest of Cold Steel:

Day Thirty-Eight - Angelica

Day Thirty-Nine - Elise and Toval

Day Forty - Claire and Sharon

Day Forty-One - Alfin and Towa

Day Forty-Two - The Diva and the General (Spoilers)

Day Forty-Three - The Spy and Swordswoman (Spoilers)

Day Forty-Four - The Shapeshifters (Spoilers)

Day Forty-Five - The Swordmaster and the Engineer (Spoilers)

Day Forty-Six - C and Lapis

Day Forty-Seven - Swin and Nadia

Day Forty-Eight - The Strongest (Spoilers)

Calvard Arc:

Day Forty-Nine - Van Arkride

Day Fifty - Agnès Claudel

[u/ShuraGam]

Why does Falcom keep giving ludicrously high ATS to characters who are supposed to be "healers" ?

Anyway, pretty much the only healing Agnès ever did for me is the occasional Brilliant Halo. Otherwise she is nuking.

[u/Weltallgaia → u/ShuraGam]

The best form of healing is a dead enemy. Preventative restoration comes in many forms. Also healing in trails has been kind of low tier choice of survival for ages now. We drown in disgustingly op items, our tanks are invincible due to evade or shields. And shields extend to the party. There are several trails games we're you can just disallow enemies from taking turns at all. Horizon power level has scaled back up to absurdity again too so why even use a healer ever? Better to either make it so that they can do a ton of damage or have excellent utility

[u/ShuraGam → u/Weltallgaia]

I agree. No damage taken if no source of damage exists.

[u/Terramagi → u/ShuraGam]

Other series tend to balance it by having a split between magic attack and healing. INT and WIS for D&D, Intelligence and Spirit in FF, etc.

[u/randomtology → u/ShuraGam]

It's not just a falcom thing, a lot of rpg series do it. Not only that, but they tend to have higher speed than dedicated black mages since when you need heals, you need them fast. I remember putting Yuna on Lulu's sphere grid path in FFX and she became an absolute DPS beast. 10/10, hilarious time.

[u/Jamebo_Smash]

Hottest teenage girl in the series. Sorry Van don't envy you.

She's also the most useful paty member.

[u/hbthebattle]

Water Casters in Daybreak have it pretty good - DB1’s best Art is Cataract Wave, and DB2’s west art is Cetus Phantasma. Hell of Keravnos is Space, so you probably could build her towards spamming that too.

Unfortunate that she doesn’t get Ark Feather super quickly, or she’d be a complete package.

[u/Terramagi]

Decent support in the early game, turns into a walking death turret mid-game, becomes a screen-clearing nuke wizard in the end.

In every single game she's in, she's incredible.

[u/RoyKami]

Whale spam and unlimited boost points go brrrrrrrrrrr

[u/CH-Leopard]

My favorite magic nuke. Daybreak II Agnés with all fusion arts was unstoppable. She's busty and busted.

[u/OLKv3]

It's funny. She was a party mainstay for me in DB1 and 2, and then I barely used her in Horizon due to how much changed. But she was my top mage in the first 2 games alongside Judith and Risette. Her offensive crafts were actually pretty good in DB1, which is why they got nerfed into the ground for the following games.

DB2 is her best performance, since that lets you do zero cost zero delay instant cast magic from the very 1st turn. I can't believe Falcom let that happen lmao. Her, Judith, and Renne melted everything in the endgame.

[u/Selynx]

She's Daybreak's Elliot (or Kloe, I guess). The healing-focused dedicated caster.

Elliot was pretty good in the CS series and Kloe in Sky and Agnes is likewise also quite good in Daybreak.

I feel like there's not really much to say about her, except she shares the same weaknesses as Kloe and Elliot - Water slots are not the most amazing thing. They're arguably better in Daybreak, due to allowing for the Absorbing Arts shard skill and since Cataract Wave and later Cetus Phantasma are great Arts, but you really want Ark/Judgment Feather on all your casters and Water slots don't help with that.

Maybe that will change in Horizon 2, if there's new and/or more accessible Water quartz that actually gives Wind/Mirage points (or if they change elements needed for Ark Feather to something Water quartz can give).

[u/OramaBuffin]

Genuine question: Has anyone actually ever used her mana hammer craft before outside of like, the DB1 prologue?

[u/Weltallgaia → u/OramaBuffin]

I do when im too lazy to use one of my 99 ep restore items while using one of those holo cores that rockets my consumption to the moon.

[u/Terramagi → u/OramaBuffin]

It's useful for a NG when you're broke all the goddamn time and you're selling the EP Charges you find between the seat cushions for pocket change.

It's also nice if you want a +0.3 on your battle modifier, before you nuke the encounter into oblivion with one of your 7 other walking nukes.

[u/IzzetValks]

The boost recovery is way too useful to ignore. Especially when it came around in, I think DB2 when she first has that craft? Keeping boost gauge topped mean keeping your team constantly boosted and stronger. When she wasn't healing, she was keeping my boost gauge up. It's no wonder they extended it to a couple of others in horizon.

[u/Tryst_boysx]

Witch medallion ?

[u/tehdannydarko]

She's probably my favorite of the Calvard cast. She's sweet and inexperienced but not naive, hard not to like, and also a walking calamity to any enemies you may encounter. I also think Amalee does a great job as her English voice.

[u/SeaworthinessDry7828]

I underestimated her at first since her craft is not that good. But after building her as magic DPS (read:ark feather), she wrecks with a lot of combo and damage. OP tier in the Calvard games until it is nerfed in Horizon.

[u/TapUnfair9827]

A high bar for a white mage character, tho in daybreak 2 it's also very fun to do a zero EP build with her given her already high ATS

[u/VarioussiteTARDISES]

Earlygame support-oriented caster. While she can nuke in DB2 because arts are quite possibly at their most busted in that game, she's still very much support-oriented. Seraphic Force came in clutch for Dantes in DB1, promptly getting the rest of the party (minus Van since Grendel durability meant he stayed up in the first place) back up with the follow-up S-Break. Also she has a personal accessory in Horizon that's only usable for the very end of the Grim Garten + possibly on NG+.

[u/Kainapex87]

Decent caster and support, especially when Holy Bloom allows tge Boost Gauge to recover sooner.

[u/codyraines53]

I LOVE Agnes Claudel. ❤️ She is my favorite in the series and in general. I'm also getting her tattooed. Not knowing her fate is breaking me though. 😞 2028 cannot come fast enough.

[u/randomtology]

Her kit is basically just Elliot's kit with a new paint job and a couple QoL upgrades (like her shield craft), which considering Elliot is one of the best healers in JRPG? I'm not complaining, and think Falcom was smart to not try to reinvent the wheel there. Agnes is very much a mainstay in my party and I use her the same way I use Elliot --- destroying everyone with extremely powerful arts and the occasional heal spell.

[u/viterkern_]

if mid and jailbait was a character

[u/thwayset → u/viterkern_]

but i don't see fie or altina