Definitions
Neutralization DMG - the term and internal statistic used to indicate damage to Stagger Gauges, it can alternatively be called as just Stagger DMG.
Main DPS - A character whose job is to act as the primary damage dealer of the team, using a higher time on field than most other team members.
Sub-DPS - A character whose job is to act as a supplementary damage dealer for the team, with the ability to trigger valuable effects and damage while off-field, allowing you to use other team members.
Elemental Affliction - An element specific status effect that currently drives core interactions with high tier Equipment Sets and DMG output. Elemental Affliction reduces the enemies Elemental Resistance stat for its specific element, giving a higher theoretical DMG output.
Elemental Weakness - A property of enemies that indicates the strongest element to use against them. This stat increases the Total DMG the enemy takes, and is often an indicator for possible telegraphed attacks that can only be stopped by using characters or Link Chains with elements they are weak to.
The Classes of Mongil: Star Dive
- Fighters excel in the chaos of melee battles where allies and enemies clash. Fighters become more powerful proportional to the amount of enemies they are surrounded by, making them the best multi-target attackers.
- Assassins excel in dealing massive damage by exploiting an enemy's opening. Assassins deal more damage while a boss is Staggered or during a Burst, allowing them to have unparalleled burst damage.
- Destroyers excel in boss battles. Landing attacks on the boss enemy fills the Stagger Gauge. Destroyers fill the Stagger Gauge faster, shattering boss shields at the fastest rate among the four classes.
- Supports excel in supporting the team. Supports increase their own and the Team's DMG after a burst and switching out, making them the optimal Sub-DPS class and amplifiers for large damage chains.
Standard Compositions Formats
Mono-Element Team
Teams that have Three characters using the same element. This team has the highest theoretical damage output due to Elemental Affliction uptime and element-specific buffs between units. This team however loses the ability to react to specific elemental situations and is best used for when you know what type of enemies you are fighting.
Additionally, Mono-Element teams need to prioritize a range of Elemental-Affliction sources and maximize the status’s uptime to remain valuable.
2-Element Team
Teams that have Two characters using the same element. Preferably the main DPS and the Sub DPS. The team has the best balance between elemental coverage for exploiting weakness while still giving a high damage focus.
3-Element Team
Teams that make use of Three characters with different elements. This type of team gives maximum elemental coverage at the cost of inconsistent Elemental Affliction synergy and the inability to use strong element-specific supports. These types of teams are best for unique content like Dimensional Rift, Story, and for when you don't know what enemies you will fight.
Fighter + Assassin + Support
A Fighter-centered team composition that focuses more on a balance between wave and boss damage. The team lacks high amounts of Stagger Damage, but often has higher direct damage compared to a Destroyer team, with the ability to still use fair stagger damage.
Assassin + Destroyer + Support
A Boss Killing-centered team composition that focuses on exploiting boss mechanisms and killing them in the fastest time. The team lacks high amounts of wave damage, but has the fastest clear times by utilizing the two extremes found in the Assassin and Destroyer class.
Fighter + Destroyer + Assassin [Sub-DPS]
A Aggressive team composition using the whole range of damage classes, with a Sub-DPS Assassin character to help increase consistent damage output and giving heavy boss damage. The team lacks high sustain and can be seen as risky, but has the most consistent balance between all modes of content.
1.0 Compositions: Standard Teams
Esther + Flare/Ellie + Jiwon
Possibly the strongest Launch team available. It follows the standard Assassin focused team composition with two elements to deliver a strong Boss-Focus while using Jiwon's grouping capabilities to compensate for Esther's zone based damage. Additionally it includes Flare and Ellie for powerful burst Neutralization DMG, allowing the team to shred boss stagger gauges.
Mina + Flare + Narae [Unreleased Team]
A team that uses a slightly odd team composition without an Assassin to utilize Narae's damage buffs among Flare and Mina, compensating for the loss of damage. The synergy between the Fire Element and Narae's Water Bubbles make this team have high effective damage and AoE, however at the cost of relatively low Elemental Affliction application for Fire.
Sangun + Flare/Ellie + Jiwon
A slight modification to the Esther team, utilizing the Standard Five Star – Sangun. It follows the Standard Fighter focused team with two elements to deliver a balanced focus while using Jiwon's Divine Melody to help Sangun reposition for his basic attacks. Additionally it includes Flare and Ellie for powerful burst Neutralization DMG, allowing the team to shred boss stagger gauges.
Gabi + Yeonhwa/Benjamin/Angel/Esther + Francis
A team focused on using Gabi's greedy uptime requirements to squeeze out the most value out of her club. Francis offers Earth Affliction, Healing, Earth DMG and Crit DMG Buffs utilizing her free weapon, while the Four Assassins listed have neutral activation requirements for their Support Skills, increasing the team's damage output without switching characters all that much.
For Fighters with extended ultimates, using a Support->Assassin->Fighter Ultimate rotation helps to squeeze the most theoretical damage out.
Verna/Sera/Ophelia + Cloud + Francis
An inexpensive team that is given to every player at the start of the game. Cloud and Francis are quite exceptional at their jobs even with relatively low investment, and while they do require modifications in Rotation to keep their specific kit niches controlled, they are more than capable to handle most content in the game. Where this team lacks however is a main DMG dealer. Verna, while not terrible, requires high Up-Time for a relatively low value, her Special Skill does help group enemies, but her super short range makes her AoE risky and relatively slow. A proper replacement is Sera or Ophelia, giving a stronger main DPS while allowing inter-element synergy with Cloud.
With Awakenings Verna does become better as a Main DPS due to Passive Uptime Increases and the Crit Buffs found up to A2.
1.0 Compositions: Mono-Element
Earth Mono: Gabi + Ellie + Francis
This team is a modification of the Gabi team showcased above, giving more Neutralization potential by using Ellie's high burst Neutralization DMG. It offers the same synergy between Francis & Gabi while having the added Boss Clear.
Depending on testing the rotation of this team has to be carefully tested to make sure that Francis's weapon properly passes on the Crit DMG buff to Gabi instead of Ellie.
Ice Mono: Ophelia + Cloud + Narae/Sera
For the current time the Ice-Mono team struggles without the existence of a proper Ice Support for the launch patch, and having zero Ice Assassins to act as a Sub-DPS or Affliction source applier. The team uses Ophelia's sustained damage and Cloud's burst Neutralization DMG to try to maximize the Ice DMG output.
This is a risky and incomplete team comp that I can not recommend until the release of Narae. Additionally, Cloud's rotation has to be completed in advance to build up Ice Crystals before you wish to Stagger the boss, making him have very low reactionary Neutralization DMG.
Fire Mono: Mina + Flare + Angel/Leeho
This team is a slight aggressive modification of the Mina focused team above, with a standard format of using Sub-DPS Assassins to help Increase DMG output, Affliction sources & giving additional Burst DMG. Angel and Leeho offer consistent Affliction, increasing the sustained damage of Mina.
Lightning Mono: Penny + Reina + Yeonhwa/Benjamin
This team is a Aggressive focused team around both Penny and Reina as the main dps while Yeonhwa and Benjamin offer sustained application of Lightning Affliction. Penny's main DPS potential is often seen as lesser than most other 5 stars, and so the team utilizes a balance between two high up-time characters to maximize total theoretical DPS output.
The choice between Yeonhwa or Benjamin is purely up to the choice of the user. Benjamin requires up to A4 to maximize his Support Skill use, giving a high range AOE Sub-DPS. Whereas Yeonhwa at A1 gives a high-value DEF shred, but demands a high Crit-Focus in the team for consistent Support Skill triggers.
Wind Mono: Sangun + Esther + Jiwon
This team strictly utilizes Jiwon to maximize the potential of both of these characters, allowing for both of their weaknesses to be mostly filled while maximizing their theoretical DMG output. In the case where this team requires more Neutralization DMG, it is possible to increase Sangun's Basic Attack Neutralization DMG with monsterlings, which is highly effective due to the Attack Rate Increases built into his kit, allowing him to act as a very strong Main DPS + hybrid Stagger Breaker if desired. Esther's exceptional burst DMG and Support Skill help increase the team's DMG output while also having strong AoE DMG to enemies that are grouped up through Jiwon's Skills.
This team seems to be a very viable team among the Mono-Elements and completely fills most team niches. It however is expensive and demands Jiwon to be in the team as the Support that Bonnie provides is inadequate for the aggressiveness the team strives for.