Choosing the right Visions in Final Fantasy Resonance can be a daunting task given the sheer number available. However, a select group of Visions consistently prove their worth across various situations due to their potent skills and mastery abilities. Many of these can be acquired early in the game, providing a solid foundation for your party.
Best Visions for Early Game Success
The effectiveness of a Vision is determined by the skills they grant when equipped and their associated mastery abilities. Some Visions excel in specific roles, while others offer more general utility. For instance, Squall provides strong debuffs and powerful skills, though his mastery abilities may not be as impactful as Terra's, who also offers useful equipped skills.
Final Fantasy Resonance readily provides upgrade materials, encouraging experimentation with different Vision combinations. This guide offers a starting point, but discovering unexpected synergies is a key part of the game's appeal.
Tronn
Leveling up Tronn is beneficial for nearly every character. While Tronn's direct skills become less impressive later on, his max-level mastery ability, "Half MP Cost," is invaluable. This reduction applies to summons, late-game powerful skills, and can enable experimental builds that trade MP for damage.
Warrior of Light
While not as iconic as Cloud, the Warrior of Light is an essential Vision, particularly for Rain. Skills like Protect and its enhanced forms offer crucial defensive capabilities. The "Multi-Cover" mastery ability is especially useful for mitigating damage from powerful enemy attacks before they can be staggered. Furthermore, the Warrior of Light's spellblade skills, such as Thunder Blade and Stone Blade, allow characters like Rain, whose magic attack might be lacking, to exploit enemy elemental weaknesses while dealing significant physical damage.
Cloud
Acquired early in the game, Cloud serves as an excellent Breaker-class Vision for a considerable portion of your playthrough. His mastery ability, "Restore MP on Critical Hit," synergizes exceptionally well with Laswell, a character capable of frequent critical hits. This allows Laswell to consistently use stagger skills without depleting MP. Cloud's own battle skills are also potent; his "surge" spellblade skills inflict high stagger damage, and Braver is remarkably powerful, especially when landed as a critical hit. He also provides helpful buffs and debuffs that can increase your party's damage output while reducing enemy physical attack power.
Terra
Terra requires some setup to maximize her potential but is a vital Vision for any party featuring spellcasters. Her primary mastery ability, "Tenebrous Rites," enhances magic damage against enemies affected by status ailments or debuffs, including minor stat reductions. This ability remains effective even against bosses resistant to typical status effects. Combined with her magic attack passive buff and a Magic Boost skill from characters like Lid or Fina, magic damage can easily reach thousands early in the game.
Terra also grants the "Breaking the Limit" mastery bonus at max level, enabling characters to exceed 9,999 damage per hit. This becomes a crucial ability in the late game, making it worthwhile to level Terra on multiple characters.
Zidane
As Final Fantasy Resonance's premier Saboteur-class Vision, available until Chapter 6, Zidane offers more than just powerful debuffs. His skills can reduce enemy speed and strength, and he provides a potent wind spell affecting all enemies. Additionally, a water spell gains power when enemies are staggered, capable of inflicting extensive damage during bonus phases.
Noctis
Noctis's skill set may appear eclectic but can be effective when tailored to specific characters. Strength-focused characters like Rain can utilize Warp Strike for significant damage. Noctis's ice and thunder spells also complement magic users like Nichol, who might have limited elemental coverage. His passive buffs to physical and magic attacks are useful, but his most significant contribution is Warp Strike's passive ability, which offers a chance to trigger a bonus phase even without staggering the enemy.
Firion
Firion possesses a remarkably powerful mastery ability, "Arms Akimbo," which allows the user to take two turns in succession. Unlike similar abilities with restrictions, "Arms Akimbo" permits actions such as using a Limit Burst followed by an attack, or utilizing two healing items in a single turn. This ability offers immense flexibility and can significantly aid in overcoming difficult challenges by allowing for consistent offensive and defensive actions each turn.
Shantotto
Shantotto demands a more specific setup to wield effectively, particularly in situations where the limit gauge is frequently over 50% and the character's HP is not full. She offers potent magic across dark, thunder, and water elements, making her versatile against various enemy types. Her "Dark Rites" mastery ability increases magic power based on lost HP, and "Area Effect Adept" is highly beneficial in the mid-game. This ability doubles the MP cost for area-of-effect spells but maintains their potency as if targeting a single enemy.