You can counter anytime now, you stupid Monk...

[UltimaLimit]

Has anybody ever had any luck with the Monk's Reaction abilities (other than Counter of course)? Hamedo and HP Restore have never worked for me, no matter how high the Monk's level/Brave was. Is there some sort of setup you need for Hamedo/HP Restore to work? Like, does it only work on a certain Height, or do you need to be face to face, or something like that?

Mind you, Counter is the best in the game (unless trying to Invite/Steal), and Dragon Spirit beats HP Restore any day. But still, it's bugging me. I hate wasting over 1000JP and then not having it work. Any suggestions?

[Azure Chrysanthemum]

Hamendo only works with regular attacks. It usually just requires you to get attacked by regular attacks a few times and then it starts working. HP Restore works when terminal, and I've never had any problems with that. Not sure what's wrong.

[The Amazing Spiderman]

Just to clarify, Blade Grasp is the best physical counter.

In defense to hamedo, i'll only says this. Use when full of enemies only.
HP restore is good, it is just that there are better options.

[Ragnarok]

I agree that Blade Grasp is a very good counter attack, but I think my personal favorite is auto potion. It is easy to attain, and if all of your characters have high brave and you keep only the highest potency potions stocked, you can be nearly indestructable.

[The Amazing Spiderman]

Above post by ragnarok:

The only thing that I don't like about autopotion is that if they get you a 300+ blow (with jumps, monster attacks) and physical changing status attacks, you'll heal in a small quantity or get even petrified, and unless you heal with another method, you are just slowing their death. =/

But indeed, auto potion and blade grasp are the two of the five- best counters in the game.

*finish with out of topic*


For contuining to the topic, I only like counter tagged along with two blood swords, and a beef-up PA.

Or with the cheap but good excalibur-chaos blade with secret hunt.

[Jolts]

For Hamedo, the enemy must also be within your weapon's attack range. Meaning, if you're fighting a bunch of Archers, then you only use Hamedo if you have a bow or a gun equipped (goes for Counter, as well).
Also, Auto-Potion can be very powerful. If you have a lot of Elixers, then toss (or sell) all of your Potions, Hi-Potions, and X-Potions. That way, you'll heal 100% when attacked (unless it fails, but that doesn't happen often, even with low brave) . The problem with that is that you can't buy Elixers, so it'd be a pain to restock (usefull for those final battles ).

[Ragnarok]

Good point with the weapons attack range. And I agree, the best way to go is to have only ethers stocked, but that is a pain in the ass since you cant buy em. I usually just stick with x potions, it has served me very well.

[UltimaLimit]

Thanks, I guess I just had bad luck. And I hadn't thought about bow/gun countering.

I meant that Counter was best offensively (if you can't get Hamedo to work). Defensively, Blade Grasp is very good. If you want to be really hard to hit (with a male character), try a Samuri with Sunken State. Samuri are quite difficult to hit regardless of their abilities, and when you make them invisible...

And if anyone's curious, I prefer Dragon Spirit (or Angel Ring) to Auto-Potion--though Elixer/Auto-Potion would be quite nice, thanks Jolts. Only problem with Dragon Spirit is you typically only need it once (maybe twice if you die), and then you'd rather be countering enemy attacks for extra damage.

[Star of Penumbra]

Hamedo ONLY works when the enemy uses the Attack command. Since monsters don't have an attack command (they get other stuff instead, like Choco Attack or Tackle), then it never gets triggered.

Basic rule of thumb: If it's a storyline battle, then go with Hamedo. If it's a random encounter, then go with Counter or another reaction ability.

Also, HP Restore is triggered when the character gets knocked down to Critical status (something like 1/4th or less of thier max HP. I'm too lazy to look it up).

Finally, the chance for most reaction skills to kick in is based on the character's Brave. Usually the % is equal to your Brave score. Some, however, such as Weapon Guard and Abandon for example, are independant of it.

My personal favorite is Abandon. It automatically doubles your evade, and despite what the help menu says, it doesn't have to be triggered, meaning it's always active. Abandon + Feather Mantle + Aegis Shield = near immunity to almost everything. Of course you can get the same results with a Brave of 97 , Faith 03, and Blade Grasp, but meh. I don't like that combo.

[dodhungry]

Tee Hee everytime I used Hamedo it never worked unless I attacked my characters with it equiped. I prefer counter anyday

[guardbreak]

My favorite reaction ability is hands down the Mighty "Weapon :magus: Guard". It may seem inferior compared to a Hamedo or BladeGrasp and less useful than say Auto-Potion, but it is among the cool realistic looking moves in Tactics! My Ramza is built to fight like an actual person would. Unlike Counter, Weapon Guard helps ensure you don’t suffer a fatal blow even though you give up the ability to deal one back. Better to live and let live than to kill and be killed! The idea behind Hamedo is extremely risky in real combat! It basically means you try to strike BEFORE but still in RESPONSE to someone trying to strike you. Obviously, unless his attack is that much slower, both of you might get hurt, and don't think your opponent isn't fighting just as desperately!

[feioncastor]

I've noticed that Hamedo pretty much only works with humans. If you're fighting monsters, stick with Counter, but if you're fighting a bunch of up close guys, use Hamedo.

Feion

[Seph Lonehart]

Hamedo is great if your fighting a normal battle against (humans) at close distances... Since its my favorite double exiliburs or exilibur and save the queen with hamedo usually have your enemy kill themselves for you..

[RedCydranth]

Like stated before, hamedo ONLY works if the person attacks with a normal attack. After that if your brave is high enough, it will trigger. This is why if you place hamedo on a Summoner or Oracle, it won't be as effective as on a Monk or Samurai.

HP Restore works wonderful if you have a weak hitter on your squad. If you notice your character with HP restore is below 1/4 HP (He/she will be kneeling) have your weak guy hit him physically, with decent brave your guy will trigger HP Restore and be on his way. I have high success trigering HP restore with the squire ability Throw Stone. When powering up characters (non-major like Mustadio, Rafa etc.) I always keep squire abilities on them as secondary skill.

One unmentioned useful reaction ability is Dragon Spirit. Reraise is always nice to have on. Especially late in the game or in the deep dungeons.

I never found Auto-Potion to be useful. I feel its a waste for my character to use an X-Potion when he gets hit for a measly 50 HP. There are so many better ways to heal.

One cool trick to do later (Especially in the Dark Dungeons to get the Serpentarius Stone) is have a summoner with CRAZY MP have MP Switch on and make him/her wear the Genji Armor. While they sponge the hits (the AI is set to take on weak sommoners first if accessible) use ninjas, Orlandu and Worker 8 to polish off the rest easily. Mustadio comes in handy with his Snipe ability here as well.