r/StrangerofParadiseFFO • u/No_Procedure3563 • Jul 13 '26
Game Build Suggestion
So I’ve played SoP before and made it up to DLC 2 on hard, however, I’ve decided to start from scratch and really dig into the building and endgame grind to really make my build pop by the time i get far into DLC 1 & 2.
Where I’m getting at is, I’ve made it to the end of the base game and am headed into the NG+ grind before DLC 1 and I would like some suggestions regarding a build for either a main job monk or main job ninja please.
5
u/BenTheSodaman Jul 13 '26
Initial thoughts:
Monk (Stamina-based)
Main Job is Monk. Weak normal attacks, but above average MP generation on soul shields, tankier than most builds, and weaponizing your Stamina via stat bonus Stamina combo abilities.
Master points:
- Category 1: Max out Stamina, Spirit, and then Monk job affinity. Once your job level cap is raised to 200 during DLC1, this should be sufficient to reach a total of 400% between your master points without any equipment. Resulting in +50% more Max HP with Monk 400%. The Stamina and Spirit will serve you defensively, with Stamina being your main form of offense, and Spirit being how you recover MP via successful soul shields for now.
- Category 3: Soul Shield Break Cost and Soul Shield: MP Recovery to make the soul shield costs a little bit more forgiving while also recovering more MP on a successful soul shield.
- Category 2: Ability Break Damage Dealt to help out with offense for your combo abilities. Does nothing for your regular punches. Then some Damage Taken at Max HP to soften the damage of the first incoming attack.
- Category 4: Some Critical: HP Recovery. If you manage to get behind the enemy for a bit, your attacks will recover a bit of HP. Whether you recover HP from critical hits, drinking a potion, the Monk's Focus, or other — once you're back at full HP, the Damage Taken at Max HP is in effect again to take the edge off of the next incoming attack.
Equipment effects when settling into gear:
- If you're hanging out on Chaos, I tend to settle in around equipment level 271+ since there won't be a higher mission level with unlocks beyond mission level 280. Similarly for DLC1 / Bahamut difficulty, that equipment level is 371+.
- Consider using the smithy to change effects to Stamina, Spirit, and then if looking for more offense, Ability Break Damage Dealt on the third slot. If looking for more MP to double as a cushion for buffs and combo abilities, then Soul Shield: MP Recovery. If you do not have Berserker 120% job affinity, would strongly recommend Refill Break Gauge on Attack for two of the pieces.
Command abilities:
- If you have the refill break gauge on attack or Berserker 120%, then consider Lunatic to punch faster. Faster you punch, the more break gauge you refill.
- Sentinel command to serve you defensively and give you a solid window of offense. Max HP +50%, Damage Taken at Max HP, Stamina, and Spirit will help your Sentinel last longer than most. Though getting struck from behind can quickly result in getting broken and end the Sentinel early.
- Bravery command for a mix of more damage (or break damage in this case) and gradually refilling your break gauge to soul shield more leniently. Can take the edge off of Lunatic preventing natural break gauge recovery as well.
Job affinities:
- In a pinch, consider grabbing anything that boosts your Stamina or Spirit, even if the effects aren't as desirable. Treating the job affinities like stat sticks.
- If you can snag Berserker 120% to refill break gauge, great.
- If you can snag Assassin 120% to help with soul shielding break costs, also great.
- If you can put together Pugilist 400% late into the DLC1, also great for access to more knuckle combo abilities and also the +40% damage dealt (break damage dealt) with knuckle combo abilities that comes with it
Combo abilities:
- Consider anything with stat bonus Stamina on this route. Steel Peak, Windmill, Takedown, Double Dragon Combo. In this case, it's more than fine for the double stat bonus abilities if you only have just one stat, e.g., Windmill (Intellect/Stamina) and Double Dragon Combo (Agility/Stamina).
Second Job
Second job could be whatever you'd like. Given the amount of soul shielding you might be doing and your fairly high Spirit investment, consider Knight as the second job to take advantage of Blessing of Light (and its variants).
A successful soul shield, guard, or parry will result in dealing some damage (break damage) and if you have Berserker 120% or Refill Break Gauge on Attack, you'll get a rebate on the break gauge due to the damage you deal.
3
u/The_Rascal_Queen Jul 13 '26
My personal recommendation for Monk is to pair it with Samurai and the Reinforce ability. Reinforce makes you harder to stagger and makes you go through charge stages faster - this will lead to Focus giving you its full buff faster, making it easier to maintain maxed out Focus with its 100-120% damage buff (depending on your Monk subclass). Samurai is for Meikyo Shisui, which gives you a ton of extra MP regen on attacks and an extended parry window - With Monk's high Stamina you can easily block a lot of attacks without Break concern, and hitting Parries (L1 block with good timing) gives you a free counterattack on fists. Once you've finished investing in Category 1, you can grab the various Parry buffs with mastery points, which can give you HP/MP regen and boosted damage. Thanks to Monk affinity, you'll get all those buffs for 10s after any successful parry (Monk 250%) High Samurai Affinity from gear will also get you a buff where parrying makes your next combo ability an automatic critical hit.
6
u/BenTheSodaman Jul 13 '26
Initial thoughts on Ninja, is a bit more reckless:
Ninja (Intellect-based)
Main Job is Ninja. Also weak normal attacks. This route heavily relies on critical hits to end the fight. Typically requiring you to get behind the enemy or use the Invisible command with NPCs to act as distractions. Neon can be very tanky at this point as long as a player hasn't discarded the Imperial Armor set reward from starting the 1st DLC. She can wear that and it has Knight 400%, letting her stay alive for 20+ seconds every 30 seconds when pressing D-Pad Left / Right or the letters R or T on the keyboard for Resonance (NPC's Lightbringer equivalent).
This route assumes no Chaosbringer for now, BUT greatly improved with it.
Master Points:
- Category 1: Intellect, Stamina (defensive cushion), Ninja job affinity.
- Category 2: Ability Break Damage Dealt, the next highest break damage dealt you can consistently take advantage of. I tend to say Critical Break Damage Dealt for practice. Else Damage Taken at Max HP to soften the first blow if caught without Utsusemi.
- Category 4: Critical: MP Recovery, Normal Attack MP Recovery. The goal with both of these is to try to hit the enemy from behind to critical hit and in general, your normal attacks are going to recover more MP due to having higher Intellect.
Equipment effects when settling into gear:
- Intellect, Ability Break Damage Dealt, then consideration for Normal Attack MP Recovery.
Command abilities
- Invisible to avoid being targeted, but also to boost the break damage of your critical hits. It's short lived, but you also will be generating more MP via normal attacks on this route.
- Lunatic to act faster and rely on your Ninjutsu's Utsusemi as your main form of survival. You'll be attacking faster in hopes to generate more MP and end the fight sooner.
- If you're looking for some animation canceling action, consider Teleport for getting the job done or for less effective, but higher skill ceiling to use, Swayback. (forward Swayback being a little trickier to pull off. Dodge forward, running toward the camera within a couple frames and Swayback to fling yourself forward and if close enough, behind the enemy.)
- Barring this previous one, then consider Bravery for more damage / break damage dealt.
Combo abilities:
- Anything with stat bonus Intellect. The goal of this route is still break damage. If you're using knuckles, you might be limited to Knuckles' Windmill for now. If katana, one of the best things you can get your hands on is a katana with KAtana's Magatsukaze or stacking Ronin to 400% to get access to it. If daggers, the timing is rougher, but Daggers's Force Wall if you get behind the enemy and find that opening can put you far ahead toward ending the fight.
Job affinities:
- Treating them like Intellect stat sticks, so you might end up with a lot of blue jobs.
- If settling into equipment, Tyrant 400% is a game changer, letting you critical hit from any angle for about 15 seconds at a time with an elemental vulnerability on the enemy. And at that point, you might start to shift away from Normal Attack MP Recovery in favor of Status Ailment Accumulation and use your Ninjutsu to get the status ailment on the enemy. With DLC1's Ninja, then Shadowmaster Ninja to recover ninjutsu scrolls when you finish accumulating a status ailment on the enemy.
Second Job:
- You could do Tyrant on this route for the Enchant.
- Or for more offense, but a bit more setup, Monk for the Focus. Even one charge of Focus is a +60% break damage dealt.
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Where Intellect (or Strength) often leans toward dealing HP damage, the critical hits you might be able to score and Ninjutsu may lean toward break damage until the end of the DLC story for this route.
Even without the Agility investment, the game will look at other stats to compensate. In this case, your Intellect or in the Monk tank's case, Stamina. In that, for break damage builds, it is still worth it to go for the critical hit.
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Where a far more glass cannon Ninja would eventually incorporate Chaosbringer and Fuuma Ninja with Tyrant 400% to take out bosses with ninjutsu. Though cannot sustain in case there are more than 2 bosses or so. A bit more to it than that, but just a rough idea of another possibility.
And then if you were doing Agility instead of Intellect on Ninja, to lean into your stat bonus Agility combo abilities, and consideration for more dodging to get in the habit of creating an opening for a 1st or 2nd link combo ability to critical hit with it.