(Alright. I know. This one took a minute to get out. Sorry.)

So, Finishers, huh? Everyone’s favorite over-the-top somehow-not-magical sword lasers, arrow cannons, and spear tornadoes!

From the original, you may remember them as those skills that attached to every weapon, usually with 2 decent moves, one that one used aside from testing it that one time, and one that broke reality in half.

Also, fun little trivia here, but most of their names originally came from Vagrant Story, where they were Break Arts, and they didn’t even kind of function the same way.

What’s changed, you ask? Well, consistency, for one, and utility for another.

Every finisher now is guaranteed to hit it’s secondary effect, so there’s no worry on whether that Hail Mary charge to land a hit on the boss will just not proc, and on top of that, finishers make more sense balance-wise than before, so crossbows don’t turn into assault rifles anymore, for example.

Due to how many there are to cover, I will try to keep these as concise as possible.

Before moving forward, there’s a new feature OV added, and that’s to the layout of the ability text. You don’t need to wait for it to scroll anymore, each will start with two boxes showing their scaling and attack type, such as [DMG] [Doublehit]. Each individual move will scale differently, so exact numbers are a tad unclear on these. However, almost all damage scaling Finishers can potentially one-shot most units with TP boosting abilities being used.

Most finishers come with a specific element, if you’d like to invest in making it do more damage.

Daggers

Light and nimble, the dagger is used more as a trick weapon in this mod, and their finishers reflect this well.

Rank 2 – Heartbreaker [Acc] [MP Reset] Air, Range 2-3

Useful for taking out threatening mages or shutting down healers for a while at a short distance.

Especially handy against late-game clerics and their high end healing. Recommended against late game casters, however only ever 3 rounds (Tier 3 missiles).

Rank 4 – Mesmerize [Dmg] [Charm] Dark, Range 1

A very handy Charm option for classes that may not have it, especially nice for a unit that can land it where it’s needed, such as the Ninja. Additionally, it can be scaled to do a fair bit of extra damage with TP+, but bear in mind that a charmed unit on low health will usually try to recover first and foremost. This is great on a speed built Rogue, harassing the flank with a ranged weapon before getting in close, laying a defensive trap to cover themselves, and getting themselves a new friend with this move.

Rank 6 – Twin Fangs [Acc] [Doublehit] Lightning, Range 1

When first using it, the damage may seem a little underwhelming. However, if going for a lightning specialist, this move can work very well. A ninja with Augment Lightning, Thunder spells, and Xolotl’s Canine comes to mind. Handy for saving some WT for when you only occasionally attack twice.

Rank 8 – Overload [Acc] [AoE] Fire, Range 2-3

Kind of like a low key version of what used to be Brimstone Hail, this move can be really good for support damage, or heavily damaging an area with squishies.

Also very handy for taking out grouped flying units.

Swords

Unlike their vanilla counterpart, you will find that these moves are more than just a point blank power move now. While their themes and most of the animations are similar, each is made for use in a very specific situation.

Rank 2 – Rushing Gale [Acc] [Doublehit] Wind, Range 1

Not as devastatingly powerful as it’s vanilla counterpart, this move is a simple double-attack with the option to scale with wind. Generally speaking this going to be most useful for taking out evasive units, such as fairies.

Rank 4 – Bad Blood [Dmg] [Envenom] Water, Range 1

For all intents and purposes, this is a straight upgrade to the original in every way. Fantastic for when you can’t quite finish a unit, and can rely on Envenom’s upgraded damage and speed to finish the job. Also good for distracting the AI, since they will either heal or try to cure this effect with a certain bit of panic, as they should.

Rank 6 – Sakura Demon [Acc] [Sleep] [AoE] Ice, Range 1

Have you ever found your head swordsman/shanklady completely surrounded, and wished you could just KO the lot of them to let some recovery happen? Good news! This move knocks out everyone next to the user, with only Sleep Ward able to stop it. Oh, and it hits as much as a normal attack, too.

Rank 8 – Papillion Reel [Acc] [Stop] Holy, Range 2-3

This is basically a guaranteed hit single target version of Stasis Sword from FFT. Hits pretty hard, stops the target, there’s too many possibilities to even go down that rabit hole. It makes 1 problem go away.

Rank 1, 3, 5 – Paragon Arts

As of the most recent patch, Ravness has a new unique class, which allowed her to use several minor finishers reminiscent of Agrias’ skills from FFT. I will update pictures of these when I have a moment, but they are a fun addition to play around with!

Katanas

One of the best defensive fighting weapons due to their TP reducing effect, or bonus to Parry, whichever you prefer.

Rank 2 – Nightblade [Acc] [Sleep], Dark, Range 1-3

This one is amazing on anyone, but special shoutouts have to go to Ninjas, defensive Warriors, or flying Swordmasters for this one. In short, it’s a 3 tile KO move with excellent accuracy. Side note, it’s been a year now, and I still can’t not first read that as Hard Blade from Legend of Dragoon every time.

Rank 4 – Ikazuchi [Acc] [TP Reset], Lightning, Range 2-3

Every now and then you will see some big beefy boi with a big beefy weapon, and unfortunately, a big, beefy, and quite engorged TP bar. Good news, no need to stare helpessly or send your fragile ninja to try and carve some TP off when you can just zap it away! Accurate, reliable, useful!

Rank 6 – Swallowtail [Acc] [Doublehit], Wind,

Range 1

Fairly standard accurate double attack, use it to make evasion builds forget how to dodge with your sweet bird references! If you love to use this, might as well keep that Wind Augment and a Matsukaze on hand, beef up those ninja spells while you’re at it.

Rank 8 – Advent Sign [Acc] [Shackle] [AoE], Light, Range 1

Yes. You read that right.

It’s an AoE Shackle. Yes, that does mean that with 140 TP and some good positioning you can run in, put one guy to sleep, and shackle 4 of them. Yes, that’s as situationally busted as it sounds. (If you’re wondering how one jumps into a crowd of 4 units, if they are all around an elevated tile, you can hop onto it.)

Fists

Favorite of Kung Fu Renegade Cops everywhere, Fists are already a very versatile weapon, and their finishers complement their normal roles nicely. Note that poison and MP reduction effects are not included with these moves.

Rank 2 – Blazing Grasp [Acc] [Wither] Fire, Range 2-3

This actually makes me think of the Ballistic Fist from New Vegas. In reality, it’s a long range fire punch that reduces the target’s Max HP by 25% for a significant amount of time. Sometimes, on tankier targets, this might mean that the health reduction does more damage than the actual attack. Useful for dealing with targets that keep healing.

Rank 4 – Omnistrike [Acc] [Doublehit] Lightning, Range 1

A fairly basic elemental-scaling double attack. Best used against squishies or evasive targets.

Note that Evade does block both attacks from a multi-hit finisher. I should probably mention that earlier, huh?

Rank 6 – Howling Rage [Dmg] [AoE] Earth, Range 1

Great for when you need to dump massive amounts of damage, but don’t want to settle for a Berserk. Oh, or if you want to turn your Monk into a berserk for a second.

Definitely fun to imagine this calm priest suddenly going hulk in the middle of a battlefield, throwing off their coat and screaming so hard several folks crumble.

Rank 8 – Vendetta [Dmg] [Frighten], Dark, Range 1

Want to turn your Sybil or Rogue into a Terror Knight? Dang straight you do. This scales with damage, is guaranteed to scare whoever it hits (provided they aren’t immune), and as expected, comes with a decent damage bonus off of Dark scaling.

Western 2H Swords

Good ol reliable and cool looking Greatswords. Now I know what you’re thinking “I want a bunch of cool as hell moves for a weapon this awesome, and there better be a bunch of disabling options in there!”, and naturally, they’re here!

Rank 2 – Sonic Blade [Dmg] [Stun] Wind, Range 1

This move will likely be your bread and butter favorite for a good while. Scaling with damage allows for absolutely devastaging single hit hurt output, while Stun disables the target half the time, prevents counters, and also shuts off many setup abilities, such as Preempt.

Rank 4 – THUNDERBEAST [Acc] [Shackle] Lightning, Range 2-3

A move so cool sounding, it can’t not be capitalized. I tried, it didn’t work. Autocorrect and God himself wouldn’t allow it. That aside, this is a rare instance of a guaranteed Shackle, in fact, the only guaranteed Shackles in the game come from Finishers. Plus it works from range, so that’s nifty. Lightning scaling is nice, but not worth the slot if it isn’t already in there.

Rank 6 – Kuiper Belt [Acc] [RT Reset] Dark, Range 1-2

Want your 2h to turn into a cannon that shoots meteors? Of course you do! Also, this is probably meant to be a reference to FFT and FF7. Tactically, this move will reset the turns of 2 units, and is especially devastating against heaver targets, like anything with Knight in the name.

Rank 8 – Grand Cross [Dmg] [AoE] Holy, Range 1

Don’t be surprised, you knew a Grand Cross had to be in here somewhere! So yeah, this is an AoE Holy-scaling Heavy Weapon Move, basically the recipe for creating a mop to wipe the map with. Although Light is harder to raise than some other elements for the classes that use them, even a basic rank is worth taken alongside TP3 for this one. Leave them in the front, have them charge in, and throw out a Grand Cross every time anyone bunches up. There’s few moves that can instantly break a line as well as this.

Rank 0 – Shoot [Range], No Element, Range 2-7

Technically more of a side feature, this is an option the two Gunblades come with, which allow them to be fired as a minor Finisher.

They are also the only 2h swords the Buccaneer can use.

Eastern 2h Swords

2h Katanas are built for crits and sudden bursts of damage. While not as strong as Greatswords in most cases, they can bring down some serious punishment with their Luck Bonus and finishers.

Rank 2 – Mist Finer [Acc] [Doublehit], Water, Range 1

Now after seeing the others, you may look at that Doublehit and figure “Oh, it’ll only be against squishies”. Nope. To my mind, this is the single best Double Hit Finisher in the game, easily equalling the original Rending Gale, and even surpassing it, as the 2hK can still perform reasonably well against armor. I love keeping this one around when dealing with large amounts of Templars who need mowing down. One Prempt is all you need for setup, since this scales with accuracy.

Rank 4 – Iainuki [Dmg] [AoE], Wind, Range 1

This is the best single shot damage you’re going to get out of a Katana, and oh, yeah, it kinda hits up to 4 targets at once, too. A self AoE spin move to turn your swordmaster into a tornado of raw damage sexiness.

Rank 6 – Phantom [Acc] [Frighen], Dark, Range 2-3

Very possibly meant as a MOTBQ reference, this is a handy move that allows for throwing out a guaranteed, decent damage Frighten to some poor sucker way over there.

Rank 8 – Sunblossom [Acc] [AoE], Fire, Range 2-3

Ever looked at a sword and thought “Man, I wish this was an artillery cannon though…”. Well now you have one! It’s a fire large small scale explosion that you throw out from a sword, neato!

Spears

Everyone’s favorite pointy sticks! While great as frontline weapons, and having the option for a heavy variant, most of their finishers are geared towards a more ranged utility role. Great for certain debuffs when you need them.

Rank 2 – Ruination [Dmg] [Silence], Fire, Range 1-2

Your go-to for mage murder any time you need it! For one, it keeps it’s same 2 tile range, for another, it hits with silence, and in most cases, if the mage isn’t finished outright, this will silence them, rendering them useless until 2 turns are used for them to recover. (The AI loves to heal HP over debuffs)

Rank 4 – Wind Scythe [Acc] [Wither], Wind, Range 2-4

Pretty great range for a Finisher, this one is actually best used as a way to throw wither on a high health target, like a Dragon or Terror Knight, reducing their max health by 25%.

Rank 6 – Giga Tempest [Acc] [AoE], Lightning, Range 2-4

Another long-range accuracy move, however this time its an AoE. Awesome for when you need to land some AoE damage on a crowd with a Valkyrie or Dragoon.

Also looks dang nifty!

Rank 8 – Charybdis [Acc] [Slow] [AoE], Water, Range 2

What’s this? An Odyssey reference? Well that’s like a dang unicorn right there. Anyhow, this move is fantastic for ruining a front line, or when there’s enemies bunched up that you’d like to not move for a while. This is one of the few Mass Slow moves available, and it’s awesome.

Instruments

Do you love instruments because of that Charm effect and decent damage? Get ready to love them even more!

Rank 2 – Sultry Performance [Acc] [Doublehit], Fire, Range 1

Just like the 2h Katana, this double hit is an absolute beast at breaking down even heavier targets. Plus, with fire scaling, you can get even more out of this. Go all rockstar on some knights.

Rank 4 – Desperate Aria [Acc] [Stun] [AoE], Wind, Range 2-3

So it’s basically Paralytic Wave, but it doesn’t miss and hurts a bunch. Good times!

Rank 6 – Love Chemistry [Dmg] [Bewitch], Water, Range 2-3

Have you ever broken someone’s face so hard with a cello that they wanted to marry you? That’s basically this move. Science can’t explain it. Also, absolutely devastating with Water Augmentation.

Rank 8 – Final Fortissimo [Acc] [Silence], Holy, Range 1

This is potentially one of Iuria’s best moves against mages. She can land right in the middle of a crowd, silence them, and then proceed to take counter charm whacks at everyone else that comes by. Also, hurts ghosts and other undead extra. Also, interestingly the only move which didn’t have space in it’s text box to add [bracket boxes] at the start.

Hammers

If you guessed that the Finisher set for hammers involves tenderizing the hell out of stuff, congratulations, here’s a cookie!

*cookies are purely imaginary, and will not actually be provided*

Rank 2 – Tyrant’s Fist [Dmg] [TP Reset], Ice, Range 1

Just like it’s namesake, this move is quite oppressive. In short, never let a hammer user get next to your heavy TP users, because evasion is all that’s going to save them from low to no HP, and zero TP all of a sudden. A fantastic power move and shutdown combo. Always be the first to launch this one.

Rank 4 – Gaia Sunder [Acc] [Hobble, RT Delay], Earth, Range 1-2

Not only does this awesome move have double attack range, Hobble and RT delay makes for a perfect defense move. You won’t always have the upper hand, but this can keep a couple of units off your back for a bit.

Rank 6 – Dying Sun [Acc] [AoE], Fire, Range 2-3

While not one of my personal favorites, this is a very useful move for finishing off faraway groups of damaged enemies. Accuracy scaling allows this to function similarly to a melee based Firestorm.

Rank 8 – Mjollnir [Dmg] [AoE], Lightning, Range Self

You know you want to be Thor. Be Thor. I won’t say more than than, just go be Thor. Also, I lied, it’s a big ol Lightning explosion that scales Damage and Element. Now go be Thor like you’ve always wanted.

Axes

The middle child of Greatswords and Hammers, these are normally a general-purpose heavy weapon with some oppressive delaying effects, their Finishers, however, really help them stand out from the rest.

Rank 2 – Driving Cut [Dmg] [Slow], Lightning, Range 1

Oh man. If you ever try to solo this mod, be prepared to fear this move. Accuracy is it’s only downfall, even if something survives being hit by this, odds are they will be too slow to get away from a follow up. Brutal.

Rank 4 – Ice Prison [Acc] [Bind], Ice, Range 2-3

This makes me think of the Zamorak Godsword move from Runescape. It may be taking a super heavy weapon and asking it not to kill, but it’s also locking that annoying running enemy in place to deal with as you please.

Rank 6 – Bear Claw [Acc] [Doublehit], Wind, Range 1

Interestingly a move that can either be really useful against dodge builds for 1h axe users, or a universal beatdown for heavy axe users.

Rank 8 – Infinity [Acc] [Line], Earth, Range 1-6

“Oh man, I want to use Earth Slash, but I also dream of being a lumberjack” said little manbeast Johnny. ….and so it was, this move was born. Also seriously reminds me of Infinity War from both the name and bubble theme, but after double checking for good measure, it turns out this is purely coincidence.

Whips

One of only 2 melee weapons capable of attacking diagonally, and surprisingly strong, actually. Oh, and they also have the potentially highest damage Finisher in the game, because who doesn’t want to bring down Cthullu on their enemies?

Rank 2 – Tidal Bore [Acc] [Poison], Water, Range 1-4

I’ll be blunt, this is a Blastoise simulator. It’s Hydro Pump, but it poisons. Decent damage, poison, and it hits for a 3 tile line, so if that ever bothered you before, yes, it’s a beam, just as it looks.

Rank 4 – Constrictor [Dmg] [Shackle], Lightning, Range 1-2

High damage, plus a personal favorite on lightning Warlocks. Yes, they have whips now, and yes, they fight pretty darn well with them. Brings the hurt, and leaves them unable to act.

Rank 6 – Flagellation [Acc] [Doublehit], Holy, Range 1-2

Great for accurate smackdowns of evasion units, comes with full whip attack range, though holy scaling likely won’t be present unless using this on a Lord.

Rank 8 – Armageddon [Dmg] [BOOM], Dark, Range Self

This is hands down my favorite finisher. It’s bombastic, it’s ridiculous, and under the right circumstances, it’s the single highest hitting move in the game. In short, it scales with dark, it scales with TP, and it has a massive AoE explosion for it’s range. Bear in mind this hits friendlies too, and it’s hard to find a good spot for it sometimes, but if you want an All-Out finisher to end a fight with some technically victorious mutually assured destruction, this is for YOU!

Cudgels

These used to be an adorable Int booster with one good finisher that could otherwise do next to no damage. Now, they are a force to be reckoned with when used right, or just a very useful self defense weapon with their basic finishers.

Rank 2 – Crystallize [Dmg] [Shackle], Ice, Range 1-2

The self defense wall of squishes Valeria over, this is essentially the big punish for rushing squishies, but failing to finish them off. Big damage, enough to even threaten medium armor enemies, as well as a Shackle, essentially removing the threat of a long unit that snuck past the lines.

Rank 4 – Arhythmia [Acc] [Doublehit, Stun], Wind, Range 1

This is the one you use when what snuck up to your casters happens to be able to dodge reliably. You get your double hit, and keep them reasonably pacified with a stun.

Rank 6 – Gate of Truth [Acc] [AoE], Dark, Range 2-5

A handy long range boom, more useful for units that don’t normally have one, such as Terror Knights and Spellblades running Quarterstaff builds.

Rank 8 – Jihad [Acc] [AoE], Holy, Range 2

*Alrighty. Hopefully writing that doesn’t get me on a list. Actually, funny trivia note, this one’s actually a tribute to the Ogre Battle games, where this was the ultimate move of the Angel units. Let’s just say time wasn’t kind to the word since then.*

A handy AoE explosion move, this time holy orientated. Great for healers, who likely have been Augmenting the skill all game, especially if you have been using them with a frontline tank setup. In fact, my favorite use for this ability is to keep a healer with a Cudgel, Helmet, and Leggings, with a Band of Vitality. This leaves the option to run in and use them as a burst attack to push the fight.

Spellbooks

The only weapon that can use Double Attack for a double ranged attack, they come packed with ton of area damage Finishers. Bear in mind that they don’t use their massive racial bonus outside of basic attacks. I like the naming convention of these as well, makes me think of Worker 8 or Chef from Risk of Rain. It should be noted that the RT cost of these moves is a bit lower than most others.

Rank 2 – Annihilate [Acc] [Doublehit, Curse], Dark, Range 1-3

An unusual case of a universally applicable doublehit finisher, with use against tanky enemies and mages with Curse, while still being great against evasive units like usual. (Note that Curse lowers HP and MP now, reducing effectiveness of healing and MP regen)

Rank 4 – Obliterate [Dmg] [Line], Earth, Range 1-5

Lots of mages use earth, and this move can hit like a truck even before Augment. This complements a mid line book and shield Warlock build excellently.

Rank 6 – Liquidate [Acc] [RT Reset], Water, Range 2-5

A long range AoE delay and damage move, really handy for buying some time for your allies.

Rank 8 – Devastate [Acc] [AoE], Lightning, Range Self

A fun, huge lightning explosion move, with a massive hit area. It’s good for when there’s bunched up rogues or other evasive units, since they will take drastically more than any of your own tanks that may be within range. Worth using for supporting the heavies, despite a little friendly fire. Like an EMP for Fairies.

That’s all for the melee weapon side of things!

Check out the ranged weapon section coming soon!!