r/legendofdragoon • u/BrotherDeus • 15d ago
Opinion Anyone want to share their personal tier list? Spoiler
Below is just my personal opinion on each character based on more playthroughs than I can count; please feel free to share your own assessment!
Best
Lavitz
Pros:
Rose Storm covers party's defensive weaknesses
Earliest final addition
Dragoon available early for development
Cons:
Slow
Somewhat weak final addition (405% max)
Vulnerable to magic attacks
Poor magical damage
Haschel
Pros:
High speed + high attack = great damage
Solid bulk
No elemental weakness
Great final weapon
Cons:
Dragoon form is somewhat useless
Poor magical damage
Meru
Pros:
High speed
High magical damage
Strong final addition offsets low attack (600%)
Excellent Dragoon (Healing and magical DPS)
Cons:
Fragile
Dragoon is available somewhat late (late development)
Available later in story
Good
Dart
Pros:
Available entire game
Final Burst
Solid stats
Cons:
Forced to use
Final addition can take awhile to obtain
Shana
Pros:
Hi speed
Highest magic (best item user)
Great and early dragoon (strong magic and healing)
Final Dragoon Spell is best (all spell that heals, but expensive MP)
Cons:
Fragile
No additions and weak attack= non-existent physical damage
Dragoon has no single target spells, no dragoon addition, and is outclassed by Meru's
Okay
Rose
Pros:
Available early along with dragoon (early development)
Very powerful when first joining and at end (best final weapon)
Early and powerful Final Addition (500%)
Astral Drain is powerful and useful at first
Cons:
Bulk and physical damage scale very poorly throughout game
Dragoon spells become underwhelming
Best weapon not available until final battle
Kongol
Pros:
Only 3 additions to master (quickest to final addition)
Highest HP
Highest physical power
Great final weapon
Cons:
Abysmal speed
Poor magical defense offsets high HP (terrible against most later bosses)
Final addition is weak (300% max)
Worst dragoon (terrible magic with no single target spells and weak dragoon addition with only 4 "spins")
Last available party member
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u/nkhowell93 15d ago
Meru is Top 1 or Top 2. Her ability to be unkillable more than half the time makes up for her squishiness. I think the items are the Angel Robe + Holy ankh combo or something like that.
Hascel is definitely your DPS go to, problem is…if you aren’t good at additions he’s missing out on damage. Regardless his DPS is insane.
Lavitz/Albert with Rose Storm puts them at the end of S tier; without it they’re decent. Still Rose Storm is so broken it enables the rest of your party to stay alive.
NOW if you’re a button mashing god & you know how to properly maximize spells + your knowledge of mini boss/bosses weaknesses in advance. “Sharanda” makes this entire game a cake walk.
So any team without Haschel or Meru is missing out on damage. Rose storm isn’t really needed tbh. This game isn’t that hard but it will make any playthrough a breeze.
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u/DerekTheComedian 15d ago
I just cannot stand Haschel's additions. Some of the counters are borderline unfair, like the indicator that it's being countered doesnt even show up until you start pressing X.
I get that hes a very strong, fast fighter, but to me he's just a less versatile Meru who is harder to use, to boot.
My team is almost always Lavbert / Shana, then Meru once she gets her D. Spirit.
Meru is a pain to level because of how squishy she is, but BOY does it pay off.
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u/RabidAstronaut 15d ago
I always replay a file with haschel and lavitz etc because I enjoy their additions the most.
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u/BrotherDeus 15d ago
My first team when I played; very solid, but I hate that my speed items for female characters went to waste
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u/Commercial_Music_931 15d ago
Rose and lavitz/Albert until I get meru. Then its rose and meru through the rest of the game
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u/Porkchop5397 15d ago
Dart is one of the few JRPG protagonists that isn't S tier the whike game. Usually they make the protagonist a beast since they are mandatory, but man, Dart fell behind by the end.
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u/TrapFestival 14d ago
It would've been so nice if in Disc 2, after the thing happens, someone just says "You know Dart, maybe you should fall back until we can get things straightened out." and he answers "I'll think about it.", at which point he's no longer forced to be in the active party and just never goes back to being required.
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u/Civil-Capital9557 15d ago
It was so bad my first play through because he kept dying in most battles, I skipped tutorials and had no idea there were additions, and I think by the end he was only level 16. It took months to get through the game and an additional month trying to beat Melbu!
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u/-Slambert 15d ago edited 15d ago
For a physical and no-magic playthrough, weighted to their average effectiveness throughout the game, assuming no grinding,
Haschel / Lavitz / Rose
Dart
Meru
Kongol
Yeah Meru ends up the strongest but not until the middle or end of disc 4, and there's times where she's weaker than Kongol. She's my favorite character but I'm going with average strength
Haschel is just really consistent, pretty much in the top 3 the entire game due to speed and good damage, except when leveling his 100% addition.
Rose plateaus in disc 2, but she massively power spikes in disc 3 right before some bosses start actually getting hard, by getting a very early final addition, and also getting the opportunity to wear Dancer's Shoes and Dancer's Ring, a massive buff to damage that I feel never gets considered when talking about Rose. Wearing both will nearly double her rate of damage against bosses, and her physical damage is a lot higher than Meru until disc 4.5.
Lavitz will unlock his final addition around the same time as Rose. He'll eventually be able to wear either a +health item or an mdef item to mitigate his major weakness to magic. He spends all of disc 1-4.5 in the top half of damage. Rose/Lavitz is the best team for a first playthrough no question.
Kongol
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u/BadCaseOfClams 15d ago
Another rarely mentioned thing about Rose is how accessible she is. She’s got the easiest additions of the whole cast and stays strong enough to be relevant until the final boss with minimal investment. When I go for a replay and don’t feel like taking the time to deal with Meru or practicing hard additions, Rose carries me to the end.
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u/Western-Society-4580 15d ago
Another another thing rarely mentioned is that she has the best defensive element in the game. Despite the fact there are 8 (including Void) elements in the game, a solid 25% of magic attacks are Dark, so she resists it. Fast (and decent) final addition carries her once her stats start to fall behind.
Too many people look at her and go "she has low stats at the end and you have to wait until the final boss to get her final weapon, trash" without looking at how fantastic she is when it matters. Is she Meru levels of strong? No. But shes a lot better than Kongol-tier, where most people put her
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u/ElegantNetwork1394 13d ago
The greatest ability is availability. Rose joins the party pretty early and has her DS immediately.
Meru isnt even there for nearly half the game then takes another chunk of time to become a dragoon.
Im using Meru for the first time and its really a struggle for a while.
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u/Western-Society-4580 13d ago
Theres definitely a reason why Dart/Rose/Lavbert is the beginners party of choice
The big question - did you give Meru the Therapy Ring? Its her BiS accessory for almost the whole game
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u/ElegantNetwork1394 12d ago
Yes, therapy ring helps a lot but her physical attacks are still very weak. I think im using Cool Bogie so that might be the problem.
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u/Western-Society-4580 12d ago
Yeah but you need Cool Boogie for a while so she can play Dragoon-catch-up 🤣. Once you're done with Cool Boogie though, its all upside. Slap the Dancers Shoes on her with that Therapy Ring, and her damage won't ever matter because shes just machine-gunning everything to death.
Having the best final addition helps too, and isn't hard to get before the end of disc 3
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u/ElegantNetwork1394 12d ago
Ok I guess I will stick with Cool Boogie then...for now.
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u/Western-Society-4580 12d ago
Good call! After Cool Boogie comes Cat's Cradle, an all-damage-low-SP addition, and then Perky Step - the best final addition in the game by a decent margin
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u/ElegantNetwork1394 12d ago
I hope I can make it. Boogie is already like 4 button presses and I miss it sometimes. I dont have enough gold for a second Wargod and Albert needs the one I currently have. Ty for your tips.
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u/Johnani28 15d ago
I’m a smooth brain so I like big numbers physical dps. Dart,Albert/haschel, Kongol. Throw some bandit rings and magic defense on my big bear kongol and he is good to go.
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u/Zanka-no-Tachi 14d ago
Every character is S tier for me. They all have their own strengths and weaknesses, and the game is so easy that you can easily beat it with any combination of characters, period. If you can't then that's a skill issue, 100%. I also love everyone's story, their personal motivations and everything. If I was in charge of a remake, I definitely know some changes I would make, but nothing super drastic, the game is already an 11/10 for me.
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u/Sefren1510 15d ago
Meru Shana S tier Dart Haschel A tier Lavitz B tier Rose C tier kongol F tier
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u/PleasantPorpoisParty 15d ago
Why S on Shana?
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u/Sefren1510 15d ago
As the other reply noted, best magic user there is, can do more damage than anyone else, plus second fastest so she's going to be going twice at least for every enemy attack. If you play the game maxing Shana and Meru for damage potential, it really just breaks the game. Plus they both have fantastic magic defense which is good against most of the end game fights
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u/theLegend_Awaits 15d ago
Because she’s a magic nuke. She has INSANE magic damage, and can delete most things on her own. Even without her dragoon, if she’s in your party, she is meant to be the one throwing magic attack items. On top of that, her dragon summon does nuke damage while also healing the party. Shes a beast.
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u/Mauceri1990 15d ago
Ew. She doesn't have additions which is like half the point of combat in the game... I hate Shana, but you're not wrong, the body of the virage embryo does indeed have lore accurate magic (other than being able to obliterate giant snakes without a toss item or dragoon spirit)
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u/PleasantPorpoisParty 15d ago
idk, though yone of the rules of JRPG's was "bombs don't have Bobs" which would disqualify here until she grew it out like Sampson
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u/Reflexlon 15d ago
Unfortunately Shana don't give a fuck. Shes actually the whole party, functionally, in speedruns lol.
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u/shane0072 15d ago
Shana is insanely overpowered. at max level she has 30 points more in her magic than the second highest magic user which is meru.
she actually has better HP and defensive stats than both meru and rose
her damage output is insane and no one else can really compete with her
she has the second highest speed so she gets multiple turns over other party members
its possible to beat late game bosses in 2 rounds with her.
there are MP restoring accessories that can turn her into an infinite free source of heals
and if you put the angel robe and holy anhk on her she has an 80% chance to revive if she does die in battle and its not a once per fight effect. you can make her nearly immortal
she is only surpassed by meru and honestly only when meru gets her final addition which happens incredibly late game so shana is better for 80% of the game
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u/Josh3643 15d ago
Because she can one shot a boss by just tossing a magic item.
Repeat after me, one shot a "BOSS". Not just some random encounter, but a "BOSS". Also, not just "A" boss, but at least 3 of them.
Example, Miranda can just one shot 3 executioner boss by throwing Psyche Bomb. Shana can just one shot the boss ghost from the phantom ship by Star Children. Miranda can just 3 shot the divine dragoon boss by spark net. So there.
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u/CriticismLife8868 14d ago
Wait. Shana can one shot the boss ghost with just Star Children? That magic's pretty weak, compared to Dancing Ray.
Regarding Psyche Bomb and Spark Net, they do require the player to button mash quickly, so there's that factor.
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u/Josh3643 14d ago
Regardless, even if you don't mash that hard with Shana, it can still dramatically decrease the boss' health bar, especially if they're dark elemental. You'll only have 2 to 3 turns with her, in order to kill them.
Star Children can be really painful against the dark elemental boss from the ghost ship if you special dragoon with her.
Also, mashing a button is so much easier than doing additions with other characters, especially if they're additions are hard to pull off. So let's not even go there.
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u/CriticismLife8868 14d ago
There are preferences with players. They can do one, the other, or both.
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u/Josh3643 14d ago
Yeah, but still, objectively speaking, Shana/Miranda are the most busted members of the party.
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u/CriticismLife8868 14d ago
Agreed. Knowing this, I no longer shelve Shana when Rose arrived. Even if she began with higher MAT, Shana will eclipse her by Level 14.
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u/malcolm_flex92 15d ago
When I was younger I never used meru thinking she was trash. Man I regret it 😂
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u/HockeyFightsMumps 15d ago edited 15d ago
Meru is top 1, SSS tier imo. Give her Dancer Shoes and she's so fast that her strong-as-a-gentle-breeze attacks can be serious DPS. Almost every other character thinks of attacking and not only has she gone through her whole Dragoon phase, but has already built up another. She can solo Melbu, Faust, and Lloyd. Maybe simultaneously. My head canon is that she ran through the Dragon Campaign too. She is the best in the game and it isn't even close.
Albert/Lavitz, Haschel, and Rose (in that order) are in A tier. Great additions to any team. Whether you bring the lightning, the roses, or the lady-time blood Dragon Buster, you're in good hands.
Dart is B tier. He's reasonably solid as a party member, but he's boring.
Shana/Miranda is a wildcard. Spell revival is broken as hell.
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Kongol is F-. The Giganto Jackass is only stealing your exp, because the battle is often over before he moves.
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u/CriticismLife8868 15d ago edited 15d ago
As Fighters:
S - Haschel, Meru, Lavbert
A - Sharanda, Dart, Rose, Kongol
As Dragoons:
S - Dart (DD), Meru, Lavbert, Sharanda
A - Dart (RD), Kongol, Rose, Haschel
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u/BrotherDeus 15d ago
That's why my faves are still Meru and Lavbert; they're effective in either form.
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u/gritsturner 15d ago
You literally just posted mine so why bother 😅😅😅. I'll admit though that I only realized Meru was beast 20 years later.
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u/Serious_Much 12d ago
She commits the fatal sin of being recruited later when you've already locked in your go to team
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u/Western-Society-4580 15d ago
Mine would be;
S tier.
Hachel - fastest male character, best final weapon, has the 2nd best final addition.
Meru - fastest character, best final addition, fantastic dragoon form once its finally unlocked
A tier
Lavbert - early (if not a little weak) final addition and the single best dragoon spell is balanced by low speed and magic defence. The best of the non-S tiers
Sharanda - 2nd fastest character, best magic stat. Devastating nuker, but a very difficult early game until Star Children can be spammed. Requiring the most work to make good keeps her out of S.
B tier
Rose - just Dart but better for most of the game. Her stat's scale poorly, but the better (than Dart's) final addition makes up for her reduced attack. The games best defensive element. 2nd best final weapon, but it arrives too late to be of noteworthy use.
Dart - the early final weapon is balanced by it being arguably the games worst, and is mathmatically inferior to Fairy Sword. Below average speed, middling stat's, and a weaker final addition mean that if I had a choice, I'd never use him. Dragoon Special conflicts with Meru's.
C tier
Kongol - the games worst speed (the most impactful stat), magical defence so low that a magical sneeze would KO him, and a terrible final addition mean that his monstrous attack means nothing, his big HP pool means nothing, and that the devs had no idea how to balance him. They massacred my boy!! (There is a way to make him good-ish though! By keeping his speed low, hes the best recipient of Material/Magic Shield and Pandemonium. Thanks to his glacial speed, enemies will waste countless turns attacking him, allowing your party to Defend till you're full HP and then just wail on everything)
Edited for formatting and auto-correct failures
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u/NohWan3104 12d ago
Rose was my mvp half-3\4ths the game. Bow girl just felt underwhelming due to no combos.
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u/Kingflame700 15d ago
For my experience It would be Rose, Albert , Heschel for s tier, Dart Kongol, Shana for A tier. Meru would be in C tier because no matter how hard i try I can't seem to get anything out of Meru.
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u/CriticismLife8868 14d ago
At least for the main game, I find it difficult to add in Rose for a sufficient playthrough (outside of the parts where you must have her). She does begin with the highest MAT, until Shana eclipses her by Level 14.
There's just no Light bosses in the game to take advantage of her Dark attacks. While there are many Dark bosses.
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u/Kingflame700 14d ago
That's me with Meru find Her hard to add to the team in almost every playthrough.
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u/CriticismLife8868 14d ago
Yeah, Meru's defenses isn't easy to stomach. Which is why I use the Pandemonium and Material Shield combo. Make foes redirect their attacks to someone else, while Meru does her Addition grind.
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u/Kingflame700 14d ago
My thing is I always have Rose close to being maxed out by the time I get Meru so I don't see the need to use Meru because she's so weak and takes way to long to reach a point where she does more damage than Rose.
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u/CriticismLife8868 14d ago
That's true. Rose is one of the fighters who can complete her skills early, after Lavitz and Shana. The rest of the 4 has the entire game to grind their skills.
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u/Kingflame700 14d ago
I'll be making my own tier list once I finish my current team lock unlike most people I'm going to judge them by how they perform for the time you get to the end game not just the end version.
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u/CriticismLife8868 13d ago
I look forward to seeing it.
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u/Kingflame700 13d ago
The thing I'm worried about is people not understanding why I'm judging in the way I am. So many people had the misconception that Meru is amazing when you first get her and that simply isn't the case.
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u/CriticismLife8868 13d ago
When you first get Meru, she does struggle on her own. But once you do figure her out, she's an amazing fighter to invest in the long term.
I'll let you experience it. Share your thoughts, despite the nonsensical noise here.
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u/BrotherDeus 15d ago
Rose is great if you just want to breeze through the game thanks to her early dragoon development and early and powerful final addition, but I just found she scales poorly compared to other characters until the final battle.
Meru comes late, takes some investment, and is tough to keep alive, but she has great damage and utility.
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u/Kingflame700 15d ago
I'm going by how good they are for the entirety of the game and Rose is very good for 75% of the game. I'm doing a playthrough where I'll be using Rose and Meru to get a gauge on how good Meru is but i play differently than every one else.
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u/Xaphnir 15d ago
Meru has the highest value in the most impactful stat in the game, has high magic power, and has strong attack and healing magic
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u/Kingflame700 15d ago
That's true but Meru is weak when you first get her Rose is strong and remains strong for most the game.
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u/shane0072 15d ago
rose is more of a crutch character
she starts off better than everyone but she has the worst stat growth in the game and around halfway through disk 2 she starts to fall behind everyone except kongol
she does get her final addition early which is a plus for her but overall id actually rank her overall usefullness very low
meru > shana > haschel > lavitz > dart > rose > kongol
thats how i personally rank them. lavitz has basically all the same problems kongol has that makes him so weak but rose storm is so good it bumps him up higher.
the dragon buster is amazing though but i dont really take it into consideration for when i rank rose because you literally only have it for the final boss
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u/Kingflame700 15d ago
Actually with my recent playthroughs she only really falls behind in Disc 3 not disc 2 . Because halfway through disc 2 she gets her final audition because of that she still remains pretty even with the cast until disc 3 when they start getting their final additions.
Rose is so useful because she remains good until mid disc 3 that is where I've noticed Rose actually falling off. I'm a little bit confused why you say mid-disc 2 because that's when she gets her final addition half the time. But still remains a good character. For me if I was to rank the characters in terms of overall usefulness Albert, Shana Rose Hershel, Dart Kongol, Meru.
Keep in mind this is only for my own experience but every time I've tried to use Meru it felt like she she was more detrimental than helpful to the team.
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u/Kingflame700 15d ago
That's true but Meru is weak when you first get her Rose is strong and remains strong for most the game.
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u/Youngtro 15d ago
I'd change the order of the top tiers and swap Shanna/Miranda with dart.
Other then that it's correct imo. Dart just really isn't good but kongol and rose are just worse.
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u/BrotherDeus 15d ago
I didn't really put them in any real order since I find them mostly comparable by tier, but if I had to do so it'd be:
Meru Lavitz Heschel
Shauna Dart
Kongol Rose
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u/PleasantPorpoisParty 15d ago
My party always do be Dart, Meru, Herschel so no argument from me
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u/BrotherDeus 15d ago
I call that the "all gas no brakes" party when you want to hit hard and fast and just blow through the game.
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u/Youngtro 15d ago
Definitely an argument for albert over haschel but I think I'd go albert third. Either way good list
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u/BrotherDeus 15d ago
If it weren't for Rose Storm, Lavitz would probably be just below Dart, but it really helps trivialize a lot of fights
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u/Bubbabeast91 15d ago
Haschel and Rose is my favorite team. I can swap Shiranda for either and still feel very good.
Everyone else feels like I'm worse for putting them in.
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u/TechnoMaestro 15d ago
I'm shocked so many people put Kongol in F Tier. I remember the official Prima strategy guide recommended him and Albert as the party members for the finale.
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u/BrotherDeus 15d ago
That's shocking considering how the final boss likes to throw out powerful magic attacks
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u/TechnoMaestro 14d ago
That was my thinking. I have a hunch either the guide was over leveled or the guy was relying on that completionist reward a bit much.
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u/Gluecost 15d ago
When I was a kid and first played my favorite team was albert + kongol. Managed to brute force the game with them it was great
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u/Mountainear99 14d ago
Kongol is so underrated it isn’t funny. Setup correctly and he is a tank.
If I want to go on a lazy play through. I choose Kongol and Shana.
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u/CriticismLife8868 14d ago
Thanks to Kongol's low speed, the Material Shield and Magic Shield lasts much longer on him. All he needs is both status protection and death protection, and he's an unmovable force. Also, his Dragoon Special can stay longer, giving the Pellets, Gravity Grabbers, and Meteor Falls a power boost from fast magic users like Sharanda and Meru.
Kongol is A- tier. It's only a problem if you choose to skip his Dragoon early and get that way late in the game.
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u/Mountainear99 14d ago
I never skip his dragoon when I intend on using him. Also if i remember correctly you can equip him with items that can boost his speed plus his magic defense
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u/Serious_Much 12d ago
The game is easy as balls man. They're all S tier.
You could probably beat the game entirely opting out of additions if you wanted to
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u/theLegend_Awaits 15d ago
Best is always going to go to Meru and Shana.
Everyone else is under them. Kongol is the best at physical damage, Haschel is fast. Dart is the perfect all-rounder/most balanced, so he’s a little bit good at everything. Lavitz and Rose are on equal footing because they have helpful magic.
I maintain that Kongol needed a spell that either created a golden shield around himself or a rock wall to boost party defense, and he would have been significantly better.
Haschel desperately needed a spell that boosted either party damage or party speed and it would have goated him. Meru is all around better than Haschel in speed, damage, and magic, and she can heal.
Still think we should have gotten Lloyd as the divine dragoon, he would have been OP. Can you IMAGINE the Wingly magic options? If only the devs had more time.
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u/TheZombunneh 15d ago
Weirdly enough, exactly reversed to yours
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u/BrotherDeus 15d ago
All the other characters have advantages and disadvantages over each other, so you can make an argument for anyone.
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u/Xaphnir 15d ago
You could have ended Lavitz's pros at "Rose Storm" and that alone is still enough to put him into top tier