This doesn’t list every weapon in the game, but I mention a few significant ones.
Beam Chakram
This three-hit weapon is very similar to Zero’s Rapier; it does a lot of damage because the individual hits stack up. Marino slashes twice with two ring-shaped weapons, then kicks the enemy for good measure before flipping back to her place.
Gatling Buster
An 8-hit rapid-fire gun. Each hit does relatively low damage, but eight hits can really add up. However, the miss rate is pretty high with this; usually, between 2-4 of the hits will miss, so using this weapon is a bit of a gamble. Axl can get an almost identical weapon as well.
Interceptor
This weapon has a chance to knock an enemy out of his attack completely. Basically what this does is cancel that enemy’s turn, which in effect moves his icon further down in the rounds lineup.
Joker
This weapon combines all of the abilities of Spider’s other weapons, and pulls one out randomly each time he attacks. Note that unlike his other weapons, you do not need to be at 75% WE to get the special effects. He will always get a special effect with each hit (though if he doesn’t defeat the enemy with that blow, it might not be obvious). On the other hand, it’s tougher to be strategic when you can never predict what card he will pull out. (“Good card, eh?”)
Kitty Gloves
Despite their relatively ridiculous appearance (like most of Cinnamon’s weapons), these do five hits and have a chance to lower just about every stat of her target. Believe it or not, Cinnamon surprisingly does good damage with these.
Turbo Buster
This is a relatively high-powered weapon, but on top of that, the more WE X has, the more damage it does. This is ultimately one of his most powerful weapons, and you can buy it from very early in the game...as long as you have the funds, of course.
Z Rapier
This is a three-hit attack. Don’t be fooled by its relatively low power rating—these are some of the strongest swords in the game. The Z Rapier+ for example does around 1500 per hit...three times. Couple this with two Heat Hazes and you’ve got near 6000 damage—and that’s just a normal attack.
This doesn’t list every sub weapon in the game, but I mention a few significant ones.
Bait
At first glance this doesn’t seem very useful except as a way to focus attacks on your strongest character to make healing easier. However, with the right enemies, this can make your party near invincible. For example, couple a Reverse Water with Wolfoids—who only use Water-based attacks—then have that character use Bait...and you can start to see where this could be abused. You can also have Axl use Bait when in his Hyper Mode, if you don’t mind burning through a lot of Gain Hypers. Note that Bait will not prevent enemies from using attacks that hit your entire party—and the Bait doesn’t affect such attacks either.
Cryogenic
This weapon has a chance to freeze the target. Frozen characters can’t take any actions, so their icons drop entirely out of the lineup at the bottom of the screen. Any damage done to the frozen character will shatter the ice and free the character, but the damage of this first hit is usually elevated (critical hits are frequent). When the Cryogenic freezes an enemy, you may want to cancel the rest of your turn so that you won’t do any damage to him and free him. You can focus on the remaining enemies, then go back to toast the frozen one later.
Energy Capture
The damage done by this sub weapon is returned to your character as gained health. Since sub weapons tend to do only 100-200 damage, this might not sound like much, but it can really add up over time.
Hawkeye
The main use of this is to enable you to hit things which have very high dodge rates. However, Hawkeyes can also be useful for any melee-based character to enable him to hit air units more easily.
Heat Haze
Zero begins the game with one of these, and you can get others later on—for example, every time Zero leaves the party and then rejoins, he tends to come back with a few more. A Heat Haze makes a shadow of Zero which duplicates his attack for that round. This affects his main weapon only, not his sub weapons; also, the shadow will only do about 25% of the real Zero’s damage. Having said that, you can equip two Heat Hazes and get double this benefit. Also note that the Heat Haze duplicates all of Zero’s hits, if he has a multi-hit weapon equipped.
Item Capture
When you use Analyze on an enemy, you will see up to two items listed under the “Steal” box. These items can only be obtained from the enemy by using an Item Capture on it. The Item Capture itself does no damage to the enemy.
Power Charge
A Power Charge adds about 50% or more to your character’s main weapon attack for that round. You can use two of them for a double increase. Note, though, that a Power Charge affects only the first hit of a multi-hit attack, making it less than useful for most characters in the party aside from X and Massimo.
Tractor Net
This weapon has a chance to inflict the Bind status on the enemy, which is the primary reason you would want to use it. Note that Bind won’t affect the enemy’s upcoming turn (his next turn stays where it is in the lineup), but it will slow him down for subsequent turns until it wears off.
Vitality Missile
Each missile does exactly 10% of your character’s current LE. Because most characters will only have 3000-4000 health by the end of the game, this is not really that much. However, unlike the Stamina Missile, the Vitality Missile fires two missiles, not just one, so you actually get twice that amount of damage. Having said that, sub weapons which do purely damage are not usually very useful late in the game; you’re better off going utility instead.
This doesn’t list every item in the game, but I mention a few significant ones.
Block All
Prevents all status ailments. Note that “DOA” (insta-kill) attacks are considered status ailments, so this will block those as well.
Infinite Resist
Prevents all stat loss attacks during battle. Not as useful as it might appear given its erosion, considering stat losses are temporary and rarely hinder you in battle.
Reverse Fire
The three “Reverse” items set your resistance to that element (Fire, Water, or Thunder) to “Absorb.” You’ve seen this on some enemies—this causes any attack of that type to restore health instead of damaging you. This can be (ab)used quite nicely against any enemy which uses mostly elemental attacks. Try coupling a Reverse item with a Bait sub weapon.
(As numbered on the screen shot, or from left to right on the map)
- (1) - Nothing
- (2) - Nothing
- (3) - Nothing (Cure One, Tank Energy 50)
- (4) - Joker (Backup, Tank Energy 100)
- (5) - Nothing (Cure One, Tank Energy 25)
- (6) - Nothing (Cure One, Tank Energy 50)
- (7) - Figure Token (Tank Energy 50)
- (8) - Figure Token (Cure All, Tank Energy 50)
- (9) - Figure Token (Backup, Tank Energy 50)
- (10) - Build Armor (1000z, Tank Energy 50)
- (11) - Build Shield (1000z, Tank Energy 50)
- (12) - Build Power (1000z, Tank Energy 50)
- (13) - Build Speed, Figure Token (1000z, Tank Energy 100)
- (14) - Build LE, Figure Token (1000z, Tank Energy 100)
- (15) - Figure Token, Build Armor, Item Capture (1500z, Tank Energy 100)
- (16) - Figure Token, Build Shield, Get Zenny + (1500z, Tank Energy 100)
- (17) - Figure Token, Build WE, Get EXP + (1500z, Tank Energy 100)
- (18) - Build Shield, Build Armor, Power Charge (1500z, Tank Energy 100)
- (19) - Build Speed, Build Power, Turbo Clock (1500z, Tank Energy 100)
- (20) - Cryogenic, Build WE, Bone Key (2000z, Tank Energy 100)
- (21) - Stamina Missile, Build Hyper, Tank Parts (2000z, Tank Energy 100)
Warning: The paths are not too difficult if you are relatively leveled up or know what you are doing, but the last two in particular will give you a good workout unless you are already high in level. In particular, the last path is a trio of Belladonnas, which is a whole lot of work to go through for a really crappy reward. On the other hand, they aren’t as bad as Rafflesian, so at least there’s that.
The enemies in this game are delightfully diverse, and most have some sort of “gimmick,” or special strategy that can be applied to them, which makes each one different in battle and more interesting to fight. All HP values are approximate.
B Blader
An enemy from the classic games which is fairly durable and summons Deerballs. You’ll want to take out the Blader first in most cases.
Bat Bone
These flying bats from the classic X series are relatively weak, but when they are angered by the defeat of an ally, they increase in power.
Batfighter
You can often tell a lot about an enemy’s attacks based on what it drops. In this case, Batfighters drop Berserk Protections so that means they use something which causes Berserk (“Cracking” in this case). They can also drain health (and you can win this too, in the form of an Energy Capture).
Weakness: Thunder
Strong Against: Water
Big Monkey
A large and, given its size, a relatively durable robot. However, you can use Thunder weapons on them to good effect. These guys sometimes use speed-boosting items.
Bigbit
Summoned by the Preon S Botos. About the most dangerous thing about this is it has Codebreaker.
Bladey
Cute little saw blades from the classic games. They have a pretty high dodge rate, but low LE. At least one of their attacks strikes the entire party.
Weakness: Thunder
Absorbs: Water
Blowfish
Flying fish. Like most marine life, it is weak against Thunder.
Cannon Driver
This thing begins each battle with a barrier which defends against both ranged and melee attacks. However, you can break the S or C barriers by using a respective attack—the attack which breaks the barrier won’t do much damage, but subsequent attacks of the same type will. The Cannon Driver replaces its C/S barrier on its next turn.
Deerball
Deerballs regenerate about 950 health each round, so your best choice is to focus on the B Blader (which summons them). The Deerballs’ energy supply is cut off when the B Blader dies, so they stop regaining health.
Degraver
These guys hate the cold. In fact, they start the battle frozen. You get a free attack on them because of this, but the Degraver has a high chance of counterattacking, plus he gets angry afterward. So if you don’t want to wait for them to thaw out naturally, you might want to try to decide the battle with one blow. Another option is to thaw them yourself using a Warm-Up, then defend. They’ll leave the battle like the Preon Nurses. They don’t heal you for this, but they tend to drop Sub-Tank refills as a result. (Thanks to
GeneralShenX.)
Dober Man
Dober Men have SOS, where they call more of their own kind. If you want, you can use this as a way to gain extra Zenny or experience by beating each one down to low health, letting it call a backup, then finishing it off with Spider’s or Marino’s weapons that increase Zenny or experience. Rinse, repeat. You can keep this up with almost no damage to any of your characters as long as the Dober Men remain cooperative, since SOS uses up their turn.
D-Rex
A beefed up version of the D-Shark. Like its weaker cousin, this thing is very durable, particularly against ranged attacks.
Weakness: Thunder
Strong Against: Water
D-Shark
These guys are highly durable, though their most irritating thing is their Mini Shark attack. If you hit one of them with a melee strike, you will get a message saying that its jaw is broken, but that won’t stop it from using its Mini Shark attack (though it does seem to reduce the number of sharks that come out—and thus, the damage).
Einhammer
A relatively strong foe who uses Break Shield on the defeat of an ally. His two chain maces will pack quite a punch after this.
Weakness: Water
Absorbs: Fire
Strong Against: Thunder
Fire Glob
The fire elementals of this game. As might be expected, they are strong against Fire and weak against Water. If you hit a Fire Glob with a Fire-based weapon, its attack power increases, but so does the experience it rewards when you win the battle (assuming the Glob doesn’t run away, which is just as likely). As might be expected, Fire Globs do Fire-based damage. All Globs regenerate some lost health each turn.
Gift Box
These change what items they can drop each turn, but they tend to run away a lot. They have relatively low LE, but very high dodge rates. If you want to kill them on demand, you’d best equip a Hawkeye. But even then, the drop is not a guaranteed thing.
Gold Blader
You can win Item Captures from these which you need to FMG several items. You can also earn good money off them if you let them use Breed Gold first before you kill them. Just kill them quickly after that or they tend to run away.
Gold Mettaur
The gold Mettaur is very much like the silver one. It also flees a lot. Like most Mets, you can knock it over with a melee hit, making it vulnerable to shot attacks until its next turn. Gold Mettaurs drop quite a bit of Zenny.
Weakness: Water
Absorbs: Fire
Gulpfast
A large flying fish; incongruously, this is a Fire-based robot. (A fish that is weak against Water—now I’ve seen everything.)
Weakness: Thunder
Absorbs: Water
Gun bit
White and blue versions of the Rabbids. They are capable of freezing you with their cryogenic attack. Otherwise they behave very much like a Rabbid.
Killer Mantis
You can get one shot-based attack in on this thing before it starts guarding against such attacks. While it is guarding, not only will shot-based attacks do less than half their usual damage, but there is also a chance the mantis will counterattack. However, it stops guarding when its turn comes around.
Weakness: Thunder
Strong Against: Water
Liquid Glob
In liquid form, this elemental has high defense. The game will tell you it is because its body is “absorbing the shock.” So freeze it with any Ice-based weapon or sub weapon. Not only will the Glob be unable to move (until the ice shatters), but subsequent characters that attack the Glob will do better damage.
Weakness: Water
Absorbs: Fire
Mega Mantor
This durable robot wears down with multiple hits. Also, you can prevent it from using its Flame Ray attack if you hit it with an Ice/Water weapon.
Mega Tortoise
The Mega Tortoise opens every battle by poisoning and blinding the entire party (the only two status ailments that don’t wear off after battle, stupidly enough), so if you have a chance, it’s a good idea to defend for the first round of such battles.
Meltdown
These explode for 9999 damage on your entire party after three rounds. A Meltdown has an insane amount of LE, and if you can’t beat it down before it self-destructs, the only chance you have of surviving the explosion is to use Spider/Axl’s Hyper Mode. Otherwise, you’ll have to hope you can run away.
Mettaur
The classic Met enemy with a new look. If a Met is jumping up an down, it can be damaged pretty well with shot attacks, but if it is hiding under its helmet, you will definitely want to go close combat. Melee attacks work well in either case.
Mettaur Commander
These guys use Virus a lot which can be irritating, particularly when they get a good shot off on your entire party. Otherwise they behave much like other Mettaurs.
Mettaur Counter
These shift stances according to what you hit them with. For example, using a shot-based attack on one will cause it to duck down into an anti-S stance. When they are in such a stance, they have a high chance of counterattacking attacks of the type they are guarding against.
Mettaurcure
Yep, the healer for the Mets. This one isn’t as fun as the Preon Nurse, but it does its job. Aside from healing its allies, it can also attack.
Needles
Dr. Psyche summons these during his boss battle. I forget what they do because I always kill them off immediately. I’ll have to go back and check.
Pararoid
Pararoids have an insane dodge rate. Also, because they are air units, melee attackers will have an even more difficult time dealing with them. Your best bet is to use a Hawkeye. Or you can wait for the Pararoid to use Parasite which will destroy the Pararoid in the process. If all else fails, just hit the Pararoids with everything you’ve got—they have low enough LE that even a sub weapon or two is often enough to finish them.
Weakness: Fire
Absorbs: Thunder
Plasma Glob
These guys use a lot of Thunder-based attacks which of course means lots of Bind. If you hit them with Thunder weapons, you restore some of their health and increase their attack power, but you’ll gain more FME after the battle.
Preon Bitmaster
One of the first enemies you will encounter which summons helpers. You can either destroy the bits as it summons them (thus causing it to waste turns summoning more), or ignore them and take out the Bitmaster first.
Preon Chaser
The first of the Preon series of robots, which are like the Joes of this game. This particular Preon has a stun gun that can temporarily Bind you (lowers your speed).
Preon Doc
Sort of an upgraded version of the Preon Nurse. The docs don’t surrender though, sadly. This is because, unlike the nurses, the docs can actually attack.
Preon Elite
Elites order other Preons around, and block sometimes with their shields. It can also couple Riot with its “Order” to give your party members commands as well!
Preon Gunner
This Preon attacks with a machine gun which can inflict multiple hits, or strike your entire party. Although there is nothing terribly fancy about its normal attacks, it does have a special move which has a chance of inflicting Bind on your entire party.
Preon Gunner (2)
There seem to be two of these, though the game names them the same thing. This is a more durable variation that has Riot.
Preon Nurse
These Preons heal and boost the stats of their allies. While normally you would want to focus on the healers in a particular battle and take them out first, in this case, if you leave the Nurse alone and destroy all of the other enemies on the battle field instead, the Preon Nurse will surrender in its next turn and heal your entire party. After that, defend until the Preon Nurse’s next turn, and it will leave the battle with a “Thanks.” This is a convenient way to regain the health of your party for free.
Weakness: Thunder
Strong Against: Water
Preon Pod
Ice-based robots which use a freeze shot if you give them time to charge up to it. Each Preon Pod opens the battle preparing its freeze shot attack. Hit it with a blow that knocks it over before its next turn to interrupt the shot. (Or just destroy it outright.)
Weakness: Thunder
Strong Against: Water
Preon Pressure
Very similar to the Preon Pod except this one uses a hyper gravity weapon. This attack strikes your entire party, but almost always misses. When it does work, it seems to do about half of the target’s LE in damage. Either way, you can interrupt this shot in the same way as with the Preon Pods.
Weakness: Water
Strong Against: Fire
Preon S Botos
These guys use Bit Shift, gaining helpers in the form of Bigbits. Other than this, they use Mega Fire occasionally. They also defend a lot, for some reason.
Preon S Epsilon
A sword-wielding Preon who has Codebreaker, which is probably its most threatening attack.
Preon S Face
These guys “charge” for one round (when they are “taunting you”). The more damage you do to them, the more damage they will inflict in the next round when they attack. Of course, destroying them flat out is preferable. What you don’t want to do is get two or more of them low in health without finishing them off before their next turn. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Weakness: Thunder
Strong Against: Water
Preon S Ferham
They can inflict multiple hits with their sabers, and sometimes block hits.
Preon Shielder
This robot uses a glowing blue shield a lot. While it has its shield up, it is weak against melee attacks and strong against shot attacks. Also, shot-based attacks will net you a counterattack. You can negate the shield by hitting it with a melee attack. If the Preon still has its shield when its next turn comes around, it will shoot it at one of your party members.
Preon Soldier
These guys don’t look it, but they have pretty good defense and seem to parry a lot of blows. They can also heal themselves, though they don’t do it very often.
Weakness: Fire
Strong Against: Thunder
Preon Spark
Thunder-based Preons, as their name might make you guess. Their attacks are Thunder-based and have a chance of inflicting Bind on you.
Preon Tank
This guy has an interesting attack which temporarily lowers your resistance against Fire. The Preon also happens to be weak against Fire itself. You can win its Oil Can for your own use; amusingly, this will even reverse someone who normally absorbs Fire and make them vulnerable to it again.
Q-Bit
Botos summons these. They use Mega Fire a lot, Death Gravity, and can heal their allies. Really, it’s the healing part that’s the most annoying.
Rabbid
They’re small and cute, and they have SOS. Because of this, and because the battle field can fit up to four of them at a time (unlike with some other enemies), these guys are mostly good for Final Strike fodder.
Radar Killer
A durable robot which can use a three-laser attack to strike your entire party at once. Sometimes he uses a targeting mechanism, which really just tells you who he is going to attack next and wastes his turn.
Red Stinger
Flying humanoid insects which can hit your entire party with one big slash.
Redips Guard
Relatively small humanoid guards with funny sound effects. They sound more like insects than humans. They can dish out a fair amount of damage.
Rush Loader
Very much like the Roaders from the classic series. These attack by charging you. They get bigger and more powerful each time one of their allies is killed.
Silver Mettaur
This Met begins the battle hiding under its helmet, so you will need to use melee-based attacks on it. As you attack it, its body “wears down.” I think this means it drops less Zenny after the battle, but I’m not sure. Silver Mettaurs run away a lot.
Sinedropper
Like the other enemies of this design, this guy has a fairly good dodge rate. Sometimes he will fly over and drop his bomb on one of your characters. This has the potential to Virus you.
Weakness: Water
Absorbs: Fire
Super Tripuffer
These guys absorb Fire, and will even sometimes use Mega Fire on themselves to recover their health.
Triclaw Killer
A stronger version of the Radar Killer.
Weakness: Thunder
Absorbs: Water
Tripuffer
Little flying fish. Tripuffers can lower your shields, but aren’t overly dangerous.
Wild Patrol Dog
Cute little robot dogs. Not terribly dangerous.
Wild Rescue Dog
Well, they aren’t there to rescue you, that’s for sure. These are tougher versions of the patrol dogs.
WildDog
These things are durable and can dish out some decent damage, but their most dangerous aspect is their multiple methods of causing your characters to go berserk. If you are fighting a lot of them, you may want to consider some berserk protection.
Weakness: Thunder
Strong Against: Water
Wolfloid
You’ll recognize these guys as the ice cousins of the ones in the desert. They’re strong against Water and do Water-based damage. They sometimes get angry when one of their allies is defeated.
Zennydropper
A flying enemy with a high dodge rate. The amount of Zenny it will drop after battle increases with every turn it takes, but it also has a high chance of simply running away, leaving you with nothing.
Zwei Hammer
Similar to the Einhammer but uses Break Shield only when it is alone. It too uses a variation of a Power Charge which appears to last more than just the turn in which it uses it (since it can’t take any other action that round).
