Part 153: Beast

Beasts are the tank class. It's as simple as that. They have a tree for physical damage skills, but its overall effectiveness can best be summed up with a semi-old Dota meme:



There is no reason to use a Beast as a physical damage dealer when you have other classes with far better skills and far better stats for it. Beasts are far better off being used as full-time tanks, and I'd argue they're way better at keeping your party alive than Protectors in random encounters and in almost every boss fight, barring really bad ones like the dragons.

Level 99 Stats
HP: 714
TP: 353
STR: 60
TEC: 42
VIT: 68
AGI: 47
LUC: 48

Innate weapon choices: Claw

Innate armor choices: Collar (note that most defensive equipment cannot be put on a Beast)

Common passives: HP Up, TP Up, Phys ATK Up, Phys DEF Up, Natural Instinct

Beasts have stats you'd expect out of a tank: high HP, high VIT. Their STR's not too bad, but it's pretty mediocre as far as lategame damage dealer STR stats go. AGI doesn't matter a ton since the various protecting skills basically all have priority. TEC's on the medium-low end of the spectrum, which doesn't matter one bit if you put Bikini Armor on them. TP's pretty bad, just 13 more than the lowest of 340 (Ronin), but Beast skills are all fairly cheap, so it doesn't matter a ton.


Loyalty Mastery
Requirements: None



Required to learn protecting skills. Gives the user a chance to halve any incoming damage instance.

The only mastery skill in the game where I'd say it's unambiguously good and not just "it's there." Beasts having high HP already means they can take quite a lot of punishment, but having a chance to halve any incoming damage is even better. There's been quite a few times throughout this LP where Loyalty Mastery activating has saved Ursa from what would've been death otherwise.


Lick Wounds
Requirements: Loyalty Mastery level 1
Body parts used: Head



Restores one party member's HP. Also removes a set amount of binds. Has an 80% speed modifier at all levels.

Beasts having fairly low TEC means that Lick Wounds isn't as strong as it could be, given its healing power, and the way you'll be using Beasts most of the time (spamming Hit-Taker) means using it if you're not in an emergency (like your Beast's arms being bound) is a seriously risky proposition. However, in the late and postgame, it's worth putting points into because of...


Auto-Lick
Requirements: Lick Wounds level 5



If the user knows Lick Wounds, gives them a chance to use it whenever they take damage or have a body part bound, at the end of the damage/bind source's turn.

A 16%/24% chance to use Lick Wounds for free whenever your Beast takes damage is really goddamn amazing, and can really prolong your Beast's lifespan. Combine it with an Auto-Heal Legendary Grimoire effect (if you're lucky enough to snag it), and your Beast becomes nigh-unkillable.


Protect
Requirements: Loyalty Mastery level 3
Body parts used: Arms



Takes all damage for one party member for one turn. Lowers damage taken from blocked attacks. If the user's arms become bound while taking damage, Protect will stop working.

Protecting one person isn't really that important in EO2U due to how many multi-target skills get thrown around, so eh.


Hit-Taker
Requirements: Loyalty Mastery level 3
Body parts used: Arms



Protects all party members from a set number of damage instances for one turn. Lowers damage taken from blocked attacks. If the user's arms become bound while taking damage, Hit-Taker will stop working.

A Beast's absolute most basic, bread-and-butter skill. If you have a Beast, you are pretty much going to always be spamming this every single turn until either your Beast dies, needs to be cured of a disable, or runs out of TP.


Protection Vow
Requirements: Protect level 3, Hit-Taker level 3
Body parts used: Arms



Places a buff on the user that lowers all damage done to them, in addition to making them take damage in place of party members below 50% HP for a set amount of turns, and for a certain amount of times per turn. Every time the user takes damage for another party member, the chance of them taking damage again on that turn is reduced. Has no speed modifier at all levels.

Protection Vow's most general use is as a 45% defense buff that isn't subject to the diminishing returns system. For the actual "protect allies under 50%" thing, that is...situational at best. On the one hand, you can intentionally lower everyone but your Beast to <50% HP and then have your Beast spam the Defend command while Protection Vow's active and they'll effectively take 37% damage from all damage sources. On the other, why would you set up something that potentially risky given that basically no boss necessitates it?


Self-Defense
Requirements: Loyalty Mastery level 5
Body parts used: Head



Places a buff on the user that increases their physical/elemental defense, but also lowers their physical attack by 30%, for a set amount of turns. Has a 200% speed modifier at all levels.

Pretty standard defense buff, aside from the physical attack reduction, which basically does not matter if you're using a tank Beast. It's pretty cheap TP-wise and Beasts generally have quite a few leftover skill points, so you might as well invest in it once you've gotten everything else and cast it when your Beast has a turn to set up.


Beast Roar
Requirements: Loyalty Mastery level 7
Body parts used: Head



Reduces all enemies' physical attack for a set number of turns. Has a 150% speed modifier at all levels.

Decent for random encounters when combined with Preemptive Roar, pretty mediocre as far as boss fights go.


Preemptive Roar
Requirements: Beast Roar level 5



If the user knows Beast Roar, gives them a chance to use it immediately when starting a battle.

If you're using Beast Roar to make your Beast's job easier in random encounters, might as well toss some points into this.


NOTE: Because Beast attack skills are all such garbage, I will not be adding my own notes for them.


Claw Mastery
Requirements: None



Required to learn claw skills. Passively increases damage dealt with claws.


Tiger Blow
Requirements: Claw Mastery level 1
Required equipment: Claw
Body parts used: Arms



Deals melee STR-based Bash damage to one enemy. Heals the user for 50% of the damage dealt. Has no speed or accuracy modifier at all levels.


Wolf Fang
Requirements: Tiger Blow level 5
Required equipment: Claw
Body parts used: Arms



Deals 3 instances of melee STR-based Cut damage to one target. Damage scales based on the user's current HP relative to their max HP (damage goes down with lower % HP)--the specifics behind this cannot be deduced from skill data. Has no speed or accuracy modifier at all levels.


Comet Drop
Requirements: Claw Mastery level 3
Required equipment: Claw
Body parts used: Legs



Deals melee STR-based Bash damage to one row of enemies. Deals melee STR-based Bash damage to the user after use. Has no speed modifier and -10 accuracy at all levels.


Wildblow
Requirements: Comet Drop level 5
Required equipment: Claw
Body parts used: Legs



Deals melee STR-based Bash damage to one enemy. Damage scales based on the user's current HP relative to their max HP (damage goes up with lower % HP)--the specifics behind this cannot be deduced from skill data. Has no speed or accuracy modifier at all levels.


Beast Dance
Requirements: Claw Mastery level 5
Required equipment: Claw
Body parts used: Legs



Deals melee STR-based Cut damage to all enemies. Has a 50% speed modifier and no accuracy modifier at all levels.


Savage Rush
Requirements: Claw Mastery level 7
Required equipment: Claw
Body parts used: Arms



Deals 3-6 instances of melee STR-based Bash damage to random enemies. Can hit the same target multiple times. Has an 80% speed modifier and -40 accuracy at all levels.


Berserk
Requirements: Beast Dance level 3, Savage Rush level 3
Required equipment: Claw
Body parts used: Arms



Deals 5 instances of melee STR-based Cut damage to random enemies and allies. Can hit the same target multiple times. If the target is an ally, the damage is halved (rounded down if a fraction).

Has no speed and accuracy modifiers at all levels.


Endurance
Requirements: Loyalty Mastery level 10, Claw Mastery level 10
Body parts used: Arms



Lowers all damage to the user for this turn. At the end of the turn, deals melee Cut damage to all enemies. Every time the user is damaged between the cast time and the attack, the damage is multiplied by 1.25x. The damage is capped at 3x the base damage. Endurance uses the average of the user's STR and VIT as a substitute for STR in the normal damage formula. Has no accuracy modifier at all levels.

Endurance really only works with Protection Vow or someone else using Scapegoat on your Beast, and it's really goddamn bad solely because of those facts.


Deadly Resolve
Requirements: HP Up level 5



Passively gives the user a chance to survive mortal hits at 1 HP. Aegis and Deadly Resolve are technically the same skill, and cannot be stacked.

Arguably far, far more important on a Beast than a Protector, due to the nature of tanking. Again, there's been several times throughout this LP where Aegis/Deadly Resolve has saved Ursa from what would've been death otherwise.


Bull Charge
Requirements: Phys ATK Up level 5, Phys DEF Up level 5
Body parts used: Head



Raises the damage the user deals and lowers the damage they take until the end of the next turn. Has a 200% speed modifier at all levels.

Eh. You have to interrupt your Beast using Hit-Taker to use this. "Until the end of next turn" means you could maybe get a little use out of it with Fafnir and Accelerate, if you really don't want to use Force Charge for whatever reason.


Desperation
Force Boost

Triples the user's maximum HP. Sets their HP to their new maximum.

Desperation turns Beasts from effective tanks into complete walls. Short of skills designed to just straight-up cause a game over, it's really hard for a Beast under the effects of Desperation to die.


True Endurance
Force Break

For one turn, the user will take all damage directed at every party member. The user cannot die while True Endurance is active, aside from instant death. All ailments/binds directed at the user are nullified during True Endurance, aside from instant death. At the end of the turn, deals melee STR-based stab damage to all enemies if the user is not at full HP. The end-of-turn damage linearly scales from 300% to 900% based on the user's level.

Gives your party a free turn to do whatever. Perfect for bypassing skills that are designed to overkill your party with no recourse. The only downside to it over Perfect Defense, really, is that your Beast'll probably be left at pretty low HP by the end, since it doesn't reduce damage like Hit-Taker does.