Notes
Dantalion’s trait heals him and restores one NRG every time any character (ally, enemy, summoned, whatever) dies, which means he should frequently be getting NRG and should almost never have HP issues. In a lot of cases, this can almost turn him into a pseudo-tank, as long as you aren’t dealing with Watchers.
Dawnlight is his best offensive skill, and, if you’re using him correctly, you should be able to spam it just about every single turn in any normal battle. It’s able to fire through obstacles and around corners… it’s honestly a pretty broken skill, and you’ll find it’s able to do just about anything that doesn’t involve shooting straight up a tall cliff. And it does a LOT of damage and, because it counts as magic damage, it punches through most shields you’ll be seeing.
His leader aura should be coming along on almost every quest as well. While its condition is a bit cumbersome at times, Dantalion himself is capable of doing most of the work toward proccing its condition, if need be.
His third skill slot is more of a flex slot, and depends on the content. I find myself most frequently bringing his AoE skill, for the debuffs it inflicts in such a wide area, which helps with the leader aura activation, not to mention it’s a handy way to finish off low-HP enemies. If this isn’t your style, you’ve got two other options. First, you can bring his ult, Endless Dawn, which has some excellent knockback potential, as well as great damage output. But be aware it’s a melee attack, so it can be hard sometimes to get to the enemy to use it (and it’s a tad expensive, NRG-wise). The last skill you could bring is his Inspired Healing, should you require extra heals for his allies and you’re just going to be using Dawnlight every turn, anyway. Daybreak gets an honorable mention in the event you need to apply [⦸Healing Received] to multiple enemies easily.
His reaction skill is usually a point of confusion for people, so I’ll explain my choice. Yes, if he gets targeted by a ranged Watcher attack, it’s going to hurt a LOT, but even with his other reaction skill, in late-game content those attacks will often kill him anyway, so instead of building him to tank hits he won’t survive, give him the reaction that protects him against all melee attacks (which is a large portion of the attacks you face anyway). The only situation where this reaction is inferior is with ranged Watchers, and if those are present, get him within range of someone with [Assisting Cover].
For gear, Newborn Blade is his best overall option, due to the increase in survivability it provides him, as well as damage output. You can opt for Ever-Burning Blade, which will do more damage in certain situations, but overall, Newborn fits him better. Cooling Powder is great for both preventing the healing part of his trait from being negated, as well as increasing the healing provided by it. Evergreen Pendant provides buffs each time he’s healed by his trait, so it’s also a solid option! Just depends on your playstyle! His best tarot is definitely Devil, and anything else is going to see him lose a lot of “oomph” in battle. And for engravings, I personally go wand + sword, but as long as you’re confident in your ability to keep him [unharmed], you can just as easily go pentacle + sword. When rolling for stats, go for P.ATK and HP, if you can.
