------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | | Azure Dreams Fusion FAQ | | v 1.0, 7-18-99 | | By JJ Ukil (Jjukil@aol.com) | | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Divisions I. INTRODUCTION What is Azure Dreams, and what is this document? II. TRAITS IN FUSION A. TRAITS IN FUSION 101 Guide to monster traits in fusion. B. TRAIT DESCRIPTIONS A list of all the monster traits. C. TRAIT THEORY A few notes about the best ways to use traits. D. SUCCESSFUL TRAIT COMBINATIONS Several fusions involving traits that will serve you well. III. MAGIC IN FUSION A. MAGIC IN FUSION 101 Guide to spells in fusion. B. MAGIC DESCRIPTIONS A list of all the spells and mixture magic spells. C. MAGIC THEORY Some notes about the best ways to handle magic. D. SUCCESSFUL MAGIC COMBINATIONS Several fusions involving magic that will serve you well. IV. SUPREME COMBINATIONS Some of the best overall fusions, and a note on making your own. V. MONSTERS IN FUSION Suggestions for fusing (and commentary on) every monster. VI. THE USUAL FAQ ENDNOTES Copyrights, credits, disclaimers, etc. ---- I. INTRODUCTION Hello and welcome to the Azure Dreams Fusion FAQ. This project has been my sole obsession as of late, and while it is not nearly as extensive or enduring as some of the multi-year FAQs out there it should still have plenty of helpful material. Azure Dreams is a very strange, very unorthodox, very good, and fairly old RPG for the Playstation by Konami. In it you are confronted with the Monster Tower, a monster-and-treasure-filled structure of who-knows how many floor that the hero, Koh, is determined to get rich from. He will have the help of Kewne, a faithful familiar with mysterious origins, as well as monsters he raises on his own from eggs he finds in the tower. You are also confronted with some real-life problems. The town the Monster Tower dwells in, Monsbaiya, is extremely underdeveloped, and the residents crave culture that goes beyond monster taming. The same goes for the hero's house. Also, the young lad finds several of the residents of Monsbaiya to be a bit more...entertaining than others, and he'll want to spend a lot of time with them. (In other words, he wants girls...and in this game, if you try hard enough you're sure to find plenty! =) I realized as I began this that this game is really quite old. I'm not sure exactly how old, but it's probably over a year. But the strange thing about me is, I like overworking myself =) If it's something I enjoy, anyway. So even if no one reads this I'll be happier for having made it. However, I hope people will read it, because of what it contains. This FAQ is a treat for anyone who ever thought Azure Dreams's monster fusion could be really cool, if only they could work it right. It explains all of the facets of fusion, from the commonly discussed to the lesser known to the as-of-yet unmentioned. It tells you how fusing monsters works, how to get the best combinations you can, and what to do with each one of those crazy familiars to make them better. Along the way, it gives you some tidbits about monsters that can be useful in things besides fusion. It also sometimes gets repetitive. This is either because A) I want to drive a point home or B) I wrote pieces of the FAQ at different times, and I didn't go through looking for repetitiveness much because I could pass it all off as A. ...uhm...I guess that won't work as well now. =P But it is a benefit for those of you that want quick help on fusion--the really cool points are outlined several times. Another "flaw", in my opinion, is that this requires a fixed-width font to read. It was formatted to fit in 640-480, because I don't like resolutions above that, because...well, I don't know why that one is. You will need to view this in a fixed width font yourself for one section (the magic table), but it's otherwise pretty flexible. Lastly...allow me to correct myself. This is probably NOT everything you can do with fusion. It's just everything I've found so far. While I was very thorough, and have hand-tested the vast majority of this document to check its effectiveness for myself, I'm not perfect, and I probably didn't think of everything that could be done. I will follow this by saying I am not opposed to making a new version of this FAQ in the slightest. So if you have some info you think I should see, send it over. (To Jjukil@aol.com.) You can also send any questions you have about the FAQ, fusion, or Azure Dreams in general to this address, as long as you do so without being rude or incoherent. =) Once I garner enough cool info, I'll ship out version 1.1, and all the new stuff will be revealed. Sound fair? Okay, let's dive right in, then, shall we? ---- II. TRAITS IN FUSION This document was designed based on my belief that fusion helps your monsters grow in two separate ways. You could probably tell what they are through the Divisions above, but here they are again: magic and inherent traits. I'll first cover inherent traits, which is the part I was more familiar with when I started this FAQ. Then I'll cover magic, which I was really finding out about along with you =) Finally, I get into the really great combos and how to make your monsters the best they can be. The first section is "traits" in fusion. This explains more about those mysterious powers some monsters seem to have. Ever notice how hard it is to kill a Block, or how easy it is for an Arachne to kill you? If so, I'm sure you've noticed the Kraken's little treat. Well, they're all due to inherent traits that are found in some kinds of monsters. Why are they so important to fusion? Because they're not just inherent--they're inheritable.... --- A. TRAITS IN FUSION 101 I will take only a short time on Traits in Fusion 101. Those of you new to fusing, listen up. I intend to make this quick, dirty and helpful. Many monsters you'll find in the tower (and later in your hatchery) have special inherent traits. These range from immunities to a status ailment to doing something special when attacking/being attacked to having one stat doubled. These traits can be passed on by fusing monsters together--the monster that comes out of the fusion will have the traits of both the monsters that went in. The key to making your monsters as powerful as they can be is successfully combining traits. A monster with one trait is usually pretty cool because of it, but a monster with two traits is really great. There are of course monsters that are great even without a trait, but giving them a trait makes them even better. Additionally, if you combine two bad traits or two traits that contradict each other, your monster won't benefit much. I'll now explain how trait passing works. Only one monster survives fusion, but it has the traits belonging to both of the monsters fused. But what you have to remember is, this is ALWAYS true. You can only bring together the ORIGINAL traits of whatever monsters you put in. You can't keep adding traits to a monster until it has them all. If that didn't get through to you like that, here's an example: -Fuse Dreamin with Noise. Result: Dreamin with Sleep-proof and Spell- proof. -Fuse this Dreamin with Zu. Result is NOT Dreamin with Sleep-proof, Spell- proof, and Paralysis-proof. Result is Dreamin with Sleep-proof and Paralysis-proof, because you just fused a Dreamin and a Zu, not all three of the monsters. Did that help? I hope it did. Next, I'll give you the simple rules for what survives. The general rule is, the monster coming out of the fusion is the one with the higher experience. However, giving monster a Leva fruit makes it come out of its next fusion no matter what you fuse to it (except Kewne). Fusing two monsters with Leva fruits (or Kewne to one with a Leva fruit) is impossible. Finally, if you fuse two monsters together of the same experience, the one that survives is random. This mainly comes up when you're fusing two level 1 monsters. The easy solution is to kill a Pulunpa while the one you want to survive is out of the bag and the one you want to forfeit is inside the bag. Finally, the genus the fused monster is the dominating genus of those that went in. Fire beats Wind beats Water beats Fire, as it is normally. --- B. TRAIT DESCRIPTIONS This is a list of every trait in the game, naturally. Some traits I don't know the function of. I listed them anyway, for documentation's sake. The list is alphabetical because I don't feel like thinking of a real theme, except for usefulness, which is really pretty subjective. Atrocious: Killer trait. One of those unknown traits. It was once thought that this raised AP by 2 every level; I tested that with a Picket quickly =) It wasn't the case. But then I thought it might be doubling that Picket's power. That didn't seem to be right either, though, as the Block I tested it on didn't seem to have anything done to it. Like Growth Promoted, this is a mystery. Blinder-Proof: Unicorn trait. Self-explanatory. Blind isn't much of a problem if your monster's light--just pick it up until it wears off. If you have a supercharged heavy character, you might want to keep them from getting blinded, if they don't have a better trait already. Electric Shock: Kraken trait. This is one of few traits that's very obvious in battle--the Arachne might just have a high natural attack, the Noise might just be lucky all those times spells miss it, etc. But you'll know when you fight a Kraken that it's special. =) Every time you hit something with this trait it returns 1/4 of the damage you deal with an electric shock, without using a turn of course. The problem is it takes a lot of damage to make 1/4 of it count--damage you don't want your familiars taking. This is better for the enemy than you. If you like it, give it to monsters with high HP and low defense. Don't give it to a Block--it's very futile. Growth Promoted: Barong trait. Another unknown trait. It was long believed that this trait raised your monster's HP gain per level, springing it from 4 or less to up to 8. Even I thought this would merely double it upon a level gain. Both are unfortunately incorrect. I just tested the trait out on my Block, and it did nothing for it. Currently the true function of this trait is unknown. Hard: Block trait. This doubles a monster's current defense power (everything it has and everything it gets). Use this on monsters with high defense (Golems, Glaciers) or monsters with low defense (Killer, Zu) to maximize the effect. Note that only the MAXIMUM defense power is doubled at first. This applies to the initial fusion and every level--a familiar might gain 1 Def. point on a level-up, but the maximum value will gain two. You can counter this by leaving the tower or using the Shomoro herb, but that herb is remarkably hard to find, since it's ONLY useful for this situation. HP Increased: Naplass trait. HP is doubled in the manner of other doublers: all HP, old and new, is doubled, but only the maximum starts out doubled. The rest must be recovered, although it's much easier with this trait--HP is recovered by standing or walking around! Good for monsters with low (Golem, Troll) or high (Maximum, Barong) HP. Lowering ATK (may not work): Viper trait. The most annoying and, for YOU, useless trait in the game. Enemy Vipers are a pain on even the highest power levels because with every attack they might lower your attack power, making you weaker. However, when this trait is used against enemy monsters, it has much less impact. Why? Because you're trying to live, and you're trying to make the enemy die. If you're having success with these goals, each individual enemy is going to feel the effect of having its AP lowered FOR A COUPLE OF TURNS AT THE MOST, while you might be walking around with a weaker attack for up to ten tower floors! That's why I hate this trait, and I advise you never use it. (Except on, perhaps, the final boss. It still wouldn't help, but with a familiar that could survive long enough it might make things more entertaining. =) Magic Attack Increased: Clown trait. This doubles a monster's spell levels (all of them, not just attacking ones). You know what this talent does as soon as you get a Clown--his LoDown level is twice his monster level. Probably best used on things with DeHeal or DeForth, since this does not greatly affect most mixed magic but healing magic is used directly. MP Consumption Decreased: Cyclone trait. This halves the MP a monster uses--while walking, attacking, using mixture magic or even using direct magic. This is great used on anything =) But if you want a real answer, it's better used on things with high MP (Kewne) but really best on something that uses commands or magic that suck up a lot of MP (Golem, U-boat, Barong). Paralysis-Proof: Zu trait. The best status preventing trait, if you're willing to give up one of the dramatic power-increasing traits. Several things--traps, Blocks, Zus and probably more--try to paralyze you, but you can stop them all with this trait. Best used on your main familiar if you can afford replacing the secondary trait. (That's why I didn't use it on Kewne--I liked MP Consumption Decreased too much.) Poison-Proof: Nyuel trait. Poison will not work. Not good, since Poison only comes in traps. Quick: Picket trait. Agility is doubled; the familiar moves twice for every move most monsters make. I HATE this trait because it doubles agility, sure, but it also doubles MP consumption! Dragons and Cyclones, though, can counter this with eating metal and halved MP consumption, so you might consider sticking it on them. Rust-Proof: Stealth trait. Prevents weaponry from rusting. This would be phenomenal for Koh! I really wish he could fuse with monsters. As it is, it's the second most useless trait in the game--that we know the function of, anyway. Rust only comes in traps, you find replacement Troll weapons lying around in the tower, you can't train them, the best one (the Bow gun) probably doesn't rust anyway(I don't know, I haven't stepped on a Rust trap with a Troll at all), and Trolls aren't good monsters in the first place. Sleep-Proof: Dreamin trait. Self-explanatory and not really useful--the Dreamin itself is the only thing that actively puts you to sleep, and traps are a matter of luck. Don't worry about using this on a Naplass--contrary to popular belief, they do NOT fall asleep at the drop of a hat. Spell-Proof: Noise trait. Magic will not work on the monster that receives this. Note that this ONLY includes status ailment magic--something like Rise can still cripple monsters, and something like DeHeal can still heal them. Not very useful, as only LoDown works for more than 15 turns. Strength Increased: Arachne trait. This actually doubles a familiar's attack power. It's best used on something with strong attack power (Killer, Snowman) but can be used to bring up a semi-weakling's attack power (Nyuel, Troll). Like with the Hard trait, only the maximum attack power is doubled at first. The current attack power stays the same until you leave the tower or use a Hazak herb on the familiar; this applies to the initial fusion and every single level--you might only actually get 1 AP on a level, but when you come back you'll have 2 like you should. Unbrainwashable: Kewne's trait. Self-explanatory if you've fought a Blume. I WISH you could give this to Killers! =) But, it's Kewne's trait so you can't give it away. It's not too great for more than four floors anyway. --- C. TRAIT THEORY One thing you're going to have to accept right now--I know I had to--is the greatest of the traits are indeed anything that doubles. These don't seem like much sometimes, but they really are. Other traits cancel status ailments or spells, and while that's nice it's not constantly useful. The doublers are. Magic levels doubled is only great on occasion, mainly for healing spells. Quick is just pathetic--the monsters run out of MP TOO fast then. Everything else is unknown or unnecessary. So we've established the general supremacy of doublers. The question becomes when to double. Never double a mediocre stat. There's no point to it. There may be a point to doubling a low stat; if you find something with good defense but poor attack, double the attack and you have a balanced warrior. (Note that poor does not include hopeless; do not double a Picket's AP.) Finally, there is often a point to doubling high stats. You get the most out of a doubler when it's doubling something really high. Case in point: the Block. If you doubled a Pulunpa's defense at level 1, it would have 8 defense, which is pretty high. But the Block's defense is ALREADY 8. As a result of its doubler, its real defense is 16, something phenomenal for level 1. My general rule for trait-mixing is definitely to take opportunities to maximize your power. Barongs have high HP, so double it for much more. Golems have high defense, so double that. My secondary rule is if a familiar has a need, cancel it. Barongs have low MP. Golems have low HP. What you end up doing all depends on your style of play. You may even prefer status prevention to doublers. It's your decision. Hopefully my monster-to-monster suggestions will cover every style possible, but since there are so many I have to doubt it. Use this as a guide, but experiment yourself. It'll be more fun that way anyway. --- D. SUCCESSFUL TRAIT COMBINATIONS Now for some notable combinations. The first monster in each of these should be the one that survives. Most of the time these are maximum combinations(most HP, attack, etc.), but sometimes they're unique, just for a theme or even for show. The descriptions will reveal all. Killer/Arachne: The most offensive combo in the game. Do this for 50 attack power before you reach level 10. It's a lot of fun for you, although the enemies are sure to hate it. =) Golem/Block: The most purely defensive combo in the game. Golem defense is the best there is, but with Hard it's double the best. You still have the Golem's fairly low HP though. Barong/Naplass: The most durable combo in the game. Barongs have disgusting amounts of HP, for reasons now unknown to us. The Naplass has a disgusting amount of HP because its trait doubles it. Give that trait to the Barong and who knows how many HP you could garner.... Barong/Cyclone: Those happy little Barongs also spit out rare items, as you might know from floors 16/26/36 of the tower. So once you get your own, consider making them spit out more with this combo. Of course, you might also consider cheating, and getting a LOT more items...(See Billy Sauls's Azure Dreams FAQ for more about this.) Block/Naplass: A very protective combo. Blocks take 1 damage most of the time, but sometimes magic will slip past this. So why not have a backup plan? Sometimes the best defense is even more defense! Zu/Dreamin: Another protective combo, but in a different way. With this you get a good warrior that cannot be immobilized until it has 0 MP. It can still be confused, unfortunately, but you can't prevent that. Weadog/Picket: Here's another gem from Billy Sauls's FAQ. So far this is the only combination that will only attack twice if the first hit is not enough. Most monsters attack twice even if there's nothing left to attack. I think I know why this happens, but I'm not going into it here because I'm probably wrong and it would take too long and it's not even related to fusion. It's fairly impressive, but it still runs out of MP too fast. Block/Arachne: I ended with this because it's probably the best combo out there. With this, you get the ultimate warrior--double attack and double defense mean most anything it fights doesn't live. It's quite powerful. ---- III. MAGIC IN FUSION The next section explains how to handle magic when fusing monsters. Magic is a great feature in Azure Dreams, but it is very limited by the other things that use MP--namely, anything your familiar does. So the challenge is finding good magic that's also economical. All the information you'll need to do that--the basics of giving your monsters new spells, each spell's description and mixture magic equivalent, a few advanced tips and some successful magic combos--is in this section. --- A. MAGIC IN FUSION 101 Again, this is going to be quick, helpful and painful. Well, hopefully not too painful. Even though not all monsters have spells when you get them, they all have spells. Most monsters' spells are hidden away, though, and cannot be used immediately. To "unlock" these spells, all you have to do is fuse the monster with something else that doesn't have a spell. This brings up the surviving monster's spell, starting it at level 1. So any monster that has been fused will always have magic. Spells generally aren't very good in Azure Dreams. They'd be fine if they didn't use so much of your familiars' precious MP. The average cost for a spell is 8 or 10, and some can be more than that but still not really do much. The cool part of spells is mixture magic. Mixing spells with Koh's weapon increases the power of Koh's attack, so you still do more damage. But "mixed" spells don't, usually, use more than 1 MP. This is even better than attacking, much less using the actual spells. And, in rare cases, mixture magic can have special effects. Some of these effects are better than most any magic you can name. A note: spells increase in level every time your familiar gains a level IF they have a white background behind their icon. If they don't, it means the spell is not in its original genus and will not level up again until it is. In addition, the effects of the spells are different--usually weakened--when their genus is changed. This holds true for mixture magic, too, except that sometimes the effect is BETTER on a different genus.... The key to success here is combining two spells that aren't exactly the same. For example, combining Brid and Sled would be totally useless--they both "mix" to be Flame Sword and they're both similarly powerful fire attacks. So it's like having a duplicate spell, really. Make sure that doesn't happen to you; you definitely want two different, powerful spells with at least one powerful mixture magic. As for which particular spells you want, I favor the healing spells--they're the only really ones good for using directly, and they have a reliable mixture magic too. Several wind genus spells mix into screen-killing attacks, which are fun but cost some MP. When you get your hands on DeMirror or DeWall, keep it and change its monster to wind genus right away, through seed or fusion. In wind genus they become the most powerful mixture magic in the game. --- B. MAGIC DESCRIPTIONS This is a chart of each magic spell and its effects, followed by its mixture and ITS effects, for every genus. I did this to help both you and me in figuring out how to get the best mix of spell and genus. Explanations: T stands for Thunder so W can stand for Water. The "mix" column indicates which mixture magic the spell will yield by code. A list of what each code stands for follows. All spells cost the same MP in every genus, so it isn't listed 3 times. Most spells go outwards in a line, to varying distances. Some hit in special areas, though, and these are marked both here and below. Poison hits a point of impact like the wall and goes approximately 3 blocks outwards in a square, hitting everything in it. This is marked with "Scr-hit". DeRock makes an obstacle appear in front of the direction the target is facing. This is marked by "Sg-fnt". ===Fire Magic== Name Gen. MP Effect Monsters(Natural/Hidden) Mix Brid F 10 Fire bullet attack Kewne/Troll & Weadog FS NeaBrid W Ice shower BS NoaBrid T Thunderbolt WC Sled F 8 Fireball attack Flame/Volcano & Killer FS NeaSled W Chill runs over target BS NoaSled T Mud slide buries foe WC Breath F 12 Flame shower attack Dragon/Balloon & Maximum FS NeoBreath W Choking waterfall BS NoaBreath T Sand storm WC Rise F 16 Fire pillar attack Griffon/Naplass & Tyrant FS NeaRise W Ice pillar attack BS NoaRise T Thunder pillar attack WC Poison F 4 Causes poison; Scr-hit [none]/Barong HW NeaPoison W Causes poison; Scr-hit SW NoaPoison T Causes poison; Scr-hit TW ===Water Magic== Name Gen. MP Effect Monsters(Natural/Hidden) Mix DeHeal W 10 Bubbles heal HP Nyuel/Pulunpa BS DeoHeal T Whirlwind heals HP WC DeaHeal F Heat heals HP (slightly) FS DeForth W 16 Water heals HP-FULL [none]/Manoeva & Mandara BS DeoForth T Vortex heals 20+ HP WC DeaForth F Fire heals 20+ HP FS DeMirror W 8 Reflect all magic Arachne/Viper & Glacier AB DeoMirror T Reflect water magic TB DeaMirror F Reflect wind magic BB DeWall W 8 10 turn Fire shield Snowman/Blume & Kraken AB DeoWall T 1-2 turn Water shield TB DeaWall F 1-2 turn Wind shield BB DeRock W 6 Ice obstacle; Sg-fnt [none]/U-Boat SS DeoRock T Wind obstacle; Sg-fnt GS DeaRock F Fire obstacle; Sg-fnt FT ===Wind Magic== Name Gen. MP Effect/Area Monsters(Natural/Hidden) Mix LoBind T 12 Paralysis by thunder Block/Golem ES LaBind F Paralyze Wind foe MB LeBind W Paralyze Fire foe AW LoBlind T 8 Blind target Unicorn/Stealth ES LaBlind F Confuse (Water?) foe MB LeBlind W Confuse (Fire?) foe AW LoDown T 9 Lower target's level Clown/Picket & Garuda TW LaDown F Lower AP (recoverable) HW LeDown W Lower DEF (recoverable) SW LoGrave T 12 Tornado crash attack [none]/Cyclone & Zu TW LaGrave F Fire pentagram attack HW LeoGrave W Meteor strike attack SW LoSleep T 10 Wind puts to sleep [none]/Dreamin & Noise ES LaSleep F Heat puts to sleep MB LeSleep W Water puts to sleep AW ===Mixture Magic== This section isn't done as categorically as the other one. This just tells plainly what each one is. The first letters are the codes above for what each spell "mixes into". If a skill has two names, the graphic changes depending on if you have a weapon equipped. The power doesn't, except that fists tend to be weaker than weapons. The rest is hopefully self- explanatory. Remember that mixture magic is more powerful if you're using a wand! FS: Flay Finger/Flame Sword; Fire attack, single. 1/2 MP. BS: Ice Finger/Blizzard Sword; Water attack, single. 1/2 MP. WC: Thunder Finger/Wind Cutter; Wind attack, single. 1/2 MP. BB: Burning Blade; Fire attack + Blind 100%, single. 1/2 MP. AB: Aqua Blade; Ph. hit and waterfall, single. 1/2 MP. TB: Thunder Blade; Wind attack + Paralysis 100%, single. 1/2 MP. HW: Heat Wave; an up-close physical hit and a Fire bolt that travels outwards in a line. @3/4 MP. (MP only seems to go down 3 out of every 4 uses.) SW: Snow Wave; an up-close physical hit and an Ice bolt that travels outwards in a line. @3/4 MP. TW: Thunder Wave; Lightning bolt arcs in a line. @3/4 MP. FT: Fire Shoot; Summon Sazaku, attack all in a line. 2 MP. SS: Snow Shoot; Summon Seiriu, screen attack. 2 MP. GS: Gaia Shoot; Summon Biakko, attack all in a line. 2 MP. MB: Mt. Burn; Explode 7x7 square in faced direction. 4 MP. AW: Aqua Wheel; Tsunami, screen attack. 4 MP. ES: Earth Shaker; Earthquake, screen attack. 4 MP. --- C. MAGIC THEORY I am not as versed on the methods of giving spells to monsters as I am in giving traits to them. This is still quality advice, but there are almost certainly other methods that I haven't covered. You should definitely do some experimenting with magic to find your own best combinations. In the meantime, here's what I've found to be the truth about magic. Unlike traits, which are annoyingly straight-forward if you want real power, magic can go in several ways. You can decide to have a power-healer or a power-mixer. There are several ways to combine spells successfully. The only thing you "have to accept" this time is actual spells, besides healing spells, should be used only in emergencies. In every other case, mixture magic is better, for one reason (MP) or several (damage too sometimes, or effects). Now the main problem with using direct magic is how much MP it takes. If you really like it for some reason, there are three ways to counter this problem. First, the Cyclone can easily halve your troubles right there if you can afford the trait. Secondly there are three monsters with which MP is not a problem: the Nyuel, the Dragon and the Picket. These monsters can always regain 50 MP from eating common items: the Nyuel, any fruit or herb; the Dragon, anything metal (coins, swords, etc.); and the Picket, just about anything (scrolls, glasses, etc.). Finally, if you have spare Pitas (and you probably will) your monster gains 1 maximum MP point if you use a Pita on it while its MP is full. With these fixes, using direct magic can be an option. Most direct magic still isn't good, though. A little known fact about hidden spells is they never have to be unlocked. If you fuse a high-level monster without a spell with a low-level monster that has a spell, you will have the high-level monster with the low-level monster's spell. The high-level monster's spell will never be unlocked. This is the key to combining some of the best spells with some of the best traits. You could give DeHeal and Sled to a Cyclone, and it would have some very cheap (if somewhat weak) spells, never having to deal with LoGrave at all. (This is just an example. It's not recommended, since LoGrave is cooler than Sled.) My final piece of advice involves spell levels and the Leva fruit. If you find a monster with a natural spell and another monster you want to give it to, you might not want to immediately fuse them--there's a better way if you have a Leva fruit. Get the monster with the spell and level it up really high, then give the other monster the Leva fruit and the weaker monster will absorb the high-level spell. One quick way to level up the monster with the spell is to climb to a high level with Koh, then hatch it in the tower. It would start out the same level as Koh, and so would its spell. Just make sure you fuse those monsters on the same tower trip you hatch the first one in, or it will go away and you won't be able to use it. Making monsters good for healing has a bit of a quirk. Note that magic can't be used on oneself (except for enemy Nyuels, annoyingly). So that healing monster will never be able to heal itself. There are two ways of countering this. The Mirror shield reflects magic; this includes healing magic. If you need to heal your healer, put on the Mirror shield, and take it off for a second when you need to heal yourself. If you don't have a Mirror shield, and you feel like spending MP, you could give your healer DeMirror. Then you could heal Koh, cast DeMirror, and heal your familiar. (Then you could give your familiar a Pita.) Making monsters good at attacking is easy when you know which spells to attack with. Again, you want mixture magic because it's cheaper and generally more effective; again, Wind magic has some of the more effective mixture magic. LoBind, LoBlind and LoSleep(which looks pretty cool), as well as DeRock in Water genus, yield the screen-killers. One of the best ways to make your monster an effective magical attacker is changing the genus of DeMirror. Again I'll mention how effective Thunder Blade and Burning Blade (the mixture magic of DeoMirror and DeaMirror) are in handicapping the enemies--they cause paralysis and blind 100%, after all. Mix DeMirror with a wind magic and keep the wind magic leveling up, and you've got yourself a real winner. --- D. SUCCESSFUL MAGIC COMBINATIONS These monsters have two good spells that either support each other or give the monster several options. Remember that the first monster listed should be the one that comes out of the fusion. Also remember that these are just my suggestions. Keep trying on your own, and maybe you'll find something even better. Nyuel/Arachne: Having DeMirror will let the Nyuel heal itself even if you don't have a Mirror shield. It'll take a lot of MP, but you can replenish the Nyuel's more easily than most. Mandara/Block: The Mandara's spell should be unlocked, and the monster should go back to Water genus after fusion--use a Sea seed for this. DeForth is pretty good in any genus, but it's incredible in Water genus-- it restores HP to full! So give it a handy screen killer and it will become an MP consumer, but very powerful. Nyuel/Cyclone: The Cyclone's spell should be unlocked. This is like a lesser version of the above--less power, but much less MP usage, and still a ranged mixture attack. With this one you might want to level up DeHeal first, but it doesn't weaken very much in Wind genus. Block/Cyclone(with LoGrave): This gives the Block both the distance mixture magics~. This is especially good because the Block can take the hits up close and live a long time while Koh pelts enemies from afar. Picket/Manoeva(with DeForth), then Picket/Griffon: This is the wackiest mage you'll ever see. Put it on AI level 3 and it will heal you when necessary and use common mixture magic otherwise. Put it on AI level 5 if you've got a lot of items. It will go totally insane, Nearising everything in sight until its MP is suddenly gone. This isn't useful so much as funny. Picket/Manoeva(with DeForth), then Picket/Arachne: This, on the other hand, is very useful--the best healing combination. Just make sure it's on Water genus. Your crazy mage will go crazy healing you in rough battles. A Mirror shield is not recommended with this monster, since spells meant for you will just go back to it--not a good thing to have happen in battle. Block/Arachne: This is the best attacking combination. LoBind becomes Earth Shaker, a screen killer, and it will level up because the monster's still on wind genus, which coincidentally makes DeMirror DeoMirror. And DeoMirror becomes Thunder Blade. And I've already discussed the virtues of Thunder Blade. ---- IV. SUPREME COMBINATIONS These combinations combine trait success with magic success. Needless to say these are some of the best monsters you're going to get. Some of them take up to four fusions, so you may want to take those on in multiple tower trips. Like before, make sure the first monster listed survives. I won't go into it with another section, but there are two things to remember about traits and magic I feel I should point out. First, remember when to fuse what. The secondary trait leaves a monster as soon as it's fused with something else. Magic stays forever. So you'll want to give familiars all the magic you want before finishing them off with a trait. Second, remember that monsters with hidden magic don't have to unlock them. You can overwrite a hidden spell with a better spell, and mix a good trait with good magic. The Battle Cleric: Nyuel/Arachne This is a simple combo with a pretty good result. You get DeHeal, DeMirror so it can use it on itself, and the ability to replenish MP painlessly. Not to mention the increased strength, which makes the Nyuel tougher in fights. Irony: Zu/Unicorn This monster isn't too useful but it's kind of cool because it's immune to the status ailments it causes. Ha ha. Okay, if you don't really give a @%!$, give it DeoMirror first and it can cause paralysis a lot more easily and still be ironic. Death Mage: Dreamin/Noise; Clown/Dreamin; Clown/Cyclone This is one of the most powerful magic attackers. It has LoDown, which mixes into the distance attack Thunder Wave, and LoSleep, which mixes into the screen attack Earth Shaker. And it can do it all at double power and half normal cost. The Status King: Mandara/Unicorn; Mandara/Block; Mandara/Viper This monster can be an MP drainer, but very interesting. It can cause four separate status ailments--Bind, Blind, Chaos and weakened attack. The last isn't too useful, though, so you might want to replace it with Electric Shock Body, which gives fair results with the Mandara and is a KIND of status ailment =) Ultimate Boat: U-boat/Pulunpa; Manoeva/Pulunpa; U-boat/Manoeva; U-boat/Cyclone Finally, use a Sea seed to make this Water genus. This familiar requires a full five monsters and multiple trips into the tower, but it is quite impressive. The U-boat has several commands that are useful but consume a lot of MP. Adding DeRock (and its mixture magic summon spells) and DeForth give it more costly but helpful options. Finally, reducing its MP consumption makes the commands less costly. This monster is flexible and strong, but you might still have MP concerns--Scout and DeForth still cost 8 MP apiece, and only Pitas will restore them. Health Promoted: Manoeva/Pulunpa; Picket/Manoeva; Picket/Arachne; Picket/Cyclone Finally, use a seed to make it Water genus. This familiar also requires five monsters and two tower trips, but you will never get a better healer. It has DeForth, the full-cure healing spell; it has DeMirror, so it can heal itself; it has halved MP consumption, so it won't go to 0 MP without warning; it has double speed, in case both you and your familiar need help; and it can eat a freaking pair of glasses and restore 50 MP. If it weren't for status ailments, I wouldn't be surprised if this and this alone could get you through the tower. This represents my best creation so far. Friendly Fiend: Manoeva/Pulunpa; Dragon/Manoeva; Dragon/Picket Then go back and make it Water genus with a seed. This is almost as good as the last one. It's a great warrior and can still constantly refill its MP, but it can't heal itself unless you have a Mirror shield, and there's a slight chance this will fail you when it has to do too much. If you're worried enough about this, fuse it with a Cyclone instead. Captain Deathsatan: Block/Arachne Simplicity in itself, and yet probably the best monster in the game. You get the two great traits of double attack and double defense, making for a fine warrior. You also get a screen-killer and a mixture magic wonder if you keep it on Wind genus. With these powers combined, this is Captain Deathsatan. Just watch out for status ailments! ---- V. MONSTERS IN FUSION The last section covered in this FAQ is specific advice about every monster. It's hard to decide what to do with some of those more obscure monsters like the Glacier, the Stealth, and whatever. Hopefully these descriptions will help you decide how to bring out their real potential. This is done in a kind of crazy organization style, so let me explain it briefly. I go by Weedy's monster book, but have scrapped the unnecessary monsters like the Lazy Frog and the transformations some undergo at level 20. It ends up to being 36 different monsters. Interesting, huh? As for why I put in the statistics and spells for every monster, this was both to prove some of my claims about monster strengths and weaknesses and, for myself, to have a quick reference to the monsters' spells and starting statistics. I also realized something interesting as I was doing it: the only monsters with natural spells are those that evolve. Crazy, huh? =) 1. Kewne HP 12, MP 100; Brid, Natural AP 6, DEF 6 Kewne's greatest asset is his MP. It's really high. He can be at your side for a long time. One thing I like doing is giving him Reduced MP Consumption so he can be on your side even longer. It makes it pretty easy to go through the tower, actually, since Kewne is really powerful and you have that power for a lot longer. You might consider making him a mage, but his spell is pretty powerful in mixture magic, and fire magic and fire magic shouldn't go together. Other possibilities are giving him Picket's Quick, since he has the MP to take it and a lot of power with double attacks, and maybe MA Increased so his mixture is even more powerful. If you're looking at a doubler, he has a lot of AP. All in all, Kewne is pretty flexible, so you can do most anything with him and have it work out. 2. Dragon HP 12, MP 60; Breath, Natural AP 7, DEF 5 The Dragon's greatest asset is also its MP. It's not that it has much--60's pretty low. But it will level up oddly and sometimes actually raise that MP. Besides, it eats any metal item, not Pitas, to restore its MP. With this in mind, I tend to fuse him with MP-consuming options like Quick and DeForth. He could work well with Strength Increased too, since his AP to DEF ratio is remarkably similar to Kewne's. (Well, they are both kinds of Dragon.) One of the weird parts of this monster is even though it's big and bad as a Dragon, it can always be lifted, unlike the enemy Dragons. This is quite a blessing sometimes. 3. Flame HP 9, MP 80; Sled, Natural AP 5, DEF 5 Flames resemble initially weak versions of Griffons. (They get stronger as they go along.) They start out with Sled, a pretty effective mixture magic. This makes them better than some monsters, which run out of MP quickly attacking. They also have better attack than defense, like many a fire monster. You could easily fuse this with an Arachne to have a pretty good attacker, then give it a healing spell to give the command-lacking Flame many options. Besides, Water genus Flames look really cool =) Other options include Magic Increased, which gives it a cheap distance attack and more power with all its magic, and other generic fixes. Flames can be quite powerful, but seem pretty rare at first--which is of course when they would help most. 4. Griffon HP 9, MP 80; Rise, Natural AP 6, DEF 5 To me, the Griffon greatly resembles Kewne, except that it's weaker. It has a natural spell, good attack power and average defense. I got one and used it for a long time, even until it transformed into a Grineut. Since they're pretty supportive, you COULD fuse it with a Cyclone and let it help you out longer, but I think a Griffon would be cool with Double Attack. They need to have one of their attacking stats doubled--HP, AP or DEF--to keep being effective on the higher levels, because they end up increasing stats very slowly. However, Magic Increased would make it a lot more powerful in mixture magic for both the power and LaDown's cheap distance attack, so that might work too. I don't recommend making this a healer--it's pretty set in its offensive ways. 5. Troll HP 6, MP 60; Brid, Hidden AP 4, DEF 5 Ever notice how whenever you kill a Troll, you get a LOT of experience for it--always more than anything else on the floor you first see it on, and sometimes up to twice as much? That's because Trolls HAVE to be that leveled up to compete with their companions. The sad truth is, Trolls suck. They're very weak without high levels, they've got low MP--and Konami forgot to change friendly Troll AI when it has a Crossbow! This means that if you want to try to make it effective, you have to command them to make every single hit! (It's really too bad, since I had such high hopes for that 1 MP distance attack.) That said, don't fuse them. =) If you just like the things, they could be helped by having ANYTHING doubled. If you find a good weapon (+1 or +2), you might want to give them the Stealth's Rust Protection. Don't make these things mages--they have NO MP to work with. I don't recommend Trolls at all, in fact. 6. Balloon HP 8, MP 70; Breath, Hidden AP 6, DEF 5 Balloons have a fun command: Fly. It instantly raises you a floor in the tower. However, this will only work if the Balloon's level is higher than the tower floor it is on, so to make it really work you have to level them up quite a bit. Besides, it takes 32 MP, which is way too much. Other than that and their attack, which is a bit better than average, there's nothing special about them. Don't worry about Halving their MP consumption for Fly--even this can't help, since the cost is so high. Use Leolam fruits if you really want to play with Fly--they'll drop the cost to 0 for about 15 turns. Since their MP is lower than usual, I suggest giving them an Arachne, then turning them to Wind genus, so you'll have a low-cost paralysis attack and a high-payload physical attack. These are really best used as fluff monsters for unlocking spells. They're not too special. 7. Volcano HP 9, MP 80; Sled, Hidden AP 4, DEF 5 Volcanoes are deceptive little runts. They present themselves to you at the tower at a pretty high level, where they have a better attack than anything on the floor but the Griffon and, later, the Kraken. Then you take one home and find it's nothing special--it doesn't have the great attack it seemed to or a spell or anything. Their Rock command could help you escape a bad situation, but the Garuda is better for that; more on that later. What am I getting at? This is another fluff monster that you can fuse with anything you want for the same results--a just-above-average monster. Have fun! 8. Barong HP 6, MP 60; Poison, Hidden AP 5, DEF 4 The Barong is one of the most unique monsters in the game, and yet it's just begging to be fused with something. The main things I'm referring to here are in the combinations I mentioned before: the Naplass and the Cyclone. The Naplass will give you insane HP and good mixture magic if you want a fighter, while the Cyclone will give you twice the items if you want an ATM. I recommend both, if you can find two. If not, use the Cyclone if you want to play it straight, and the Naplass if you want to cheat with Billy Sauls's FAQ like I did.... 9. Weadog HP 9, MP 80; Brid, Hidden AP 6, DEF 5 Another ho-hum monster, the Weadog has a pretty good attack power; you could Double it to get yourself a great fighter. But there are other candidates for this with GOOD commands. Throwing meat takes 32 MP, and the item restores 10 MP. Unless you really hate your Weadog, never EVER throw meat. 10. Naplass HP 11(22), MP 80; Rise, Hidden AP 6, DEF 6 The Naplass is quite interesting. It's a great fighter on its own, but its HP Doubling trait really makes it valuable to fuse into other monsters with other great traits. However, I recommend you keep one for yourself; its stats are quite good. You could fuse it with a Block, but this will give you LaBind instead of Rise. This is both good and bad: LaBind's mixture magic is the extremely powerful Mt. Lava, but it won't level up again unless you make the Naplass wind genus, at which point it goes back to being LoBind and mixes into Earth Shaker, which isn't quite as powerful. Annoying, no? Another option is to gear the Naplass TOWARDS being hit. Give it DeForth and DeMirror, then fuse it with a Kraken. Naplasses can take hits that would be fatal to lesser monsters and turn them into large amounts of pain for the enemy with an Electric Shocked body. With DeForth and DeMirror it can heal itself if it hurts too much. Lots of choices here. 11. Killer HP 10, MP 60; Sled, Hidden AP 8, DEF 5 Killers, of course, are good for Killing. They have incredible attack power. This makes the obvious best choice for fusion the Arachne. This will help it conserve MP, too, since it usually won't have to attack more than once and gets a mixture magic. Be warned, though, that Killers have low MP and somewhat low defense. Use them higher up in the tower. You could try doubling other things on them instead, but I prefer other monsters when I'm looking for balance. A note: Killers suffer from the plight of many of the heavier monsters--once they get too powerful for even the enemies to handle, sometimes status ailments will do the job instead. Lighter monsters don't pose much of a threat when they are hit with a nasty status ailment, because they can be picked up. But if a Killer gets brainwashed, confused or even blinded, you're in big trouble. Consider immunizing a powerful Killer to Blindness, or Paralysis if you're depending on it to survive. I personally never bothered--again, I didn't go for balance with this monster, and accepted the risk. 12. Tyrant HP 10, MP 70; Rise, Hidden AP 6, DEF 6 Tyrants are nothing special. They've got pretty good stats, but no special commands, except for Berserk, which is great if you're into suicide. Still, that doesn't mean you should overlook it--the stats are good and they're fun little guys. Fusing one with a Naplass or an Arachne makes it exceptionally strong for its size, and you could use other things too. Just don't worry about a command that requires MP--Berserk is NOT worth it in the slightest. If you need cash and get one of these eggs, consider selling it. It's worth plenty, and it's not the BEST monster out there. 13. Maximum HP 16, MP 80; Breath, Hidden AP 8, DEF 9 Maximums are like better versions of Tyrants. They don't have ANY commands, but they have incredible stats! Their HP seems like it might be as good as Koh's, at first. It's not, but it's still great. I personally didn't like them because of how much MP they used--they have no mixture magic and take 2 MP to attack, unlike any other monster in the game. This is easily fixed with the Cyclone, or by giving it a cheap mixture magic that you can use well. My favorite is fusing it with a Naplass--this unlocks mixture magic and gives it double its already high HPs, making it a fine warrior. You could throw in the Barong's Poison if you wanted a distance attack instead, but this loses you another monster so be careful. Finally, they're too heavy to lift, so you might need to make sure they can't be Blinded or perhaps Paralyzed after they've gotten really powerful. 14. Snowman HP 10, MP 90; DeWall, Natural AP 5, DEF 5 The Snowman is really an incredible monster. In the tower it is formidable because of its great strength and Water genus, which opposes Fire monsters such as Kewne, who I usually used. When you take one home, you find it IS pretty strong but it stands out for other reasons--it has a natural spell and higher MP than anything but Kewne. Its special attack is what makes it incredible, though. This attack not only breaks obstacles, but breaks enemies--it attacks at around three times its normal strength! This can get you out of many deadly situations and advance you a floor or two in the tower you couldn't normally get to. Its stats are average for a while, though, so it needs some help to be really good. Among the things you could do are give it a healing spell (DeForth is, as always, recommended) for its 90 MP or fuse it with the Arachne, which would make it a GREAT attacker. One bad spot is this is a heavy monster, so you might want to immunize it to Blind or Paralysis at the higher levels. Finally, DeWall is a really cool looking spell in any genus, and it mixes to become Aqua Blade--or Thunder or Burning Blade. The last two cause Paralysis and Blind, respectively, so you might consider switching the genus. Lots of choices here too. 15. Arachne HP 9, MP 70; DeMirror, Natural AP 6(12), DEF 5 Ah, the Arachne. Quite a good candidate for fusion. Or a normal familiar- -you should consider this too, since their natural attack is good. But, for when you find familiars with better natural attack power, apply this one to them to really make them bad. If you are interested in using the Arachne for a familiar and fusing it with something, consider one of the other doublers--HP or Defense(this would be nice, since it would make for DeoMirror and Thunder Blade, a terrific mixture magic). If you're not up to those, the Cyclone is okay too, since the Arachne has lower MP than some others. This familiar is the weakest of the doubler-carrying monsters, since it has less HP and MP than the others. But this IS the only one that can be lifted up, which can come in handy at the right times. 16. Nyuel HP 10, MP 80; DeHeal, Natural AP 4, DEF 5 The Nyuel disappointed me and impressed me at once. Its DeHeal spell is pretty good, but not as good as it should be--mine was doing less than 30 HP at spell level 20. But, if you can spare the time to heal more than once, it has another asset that is very good and its best: it can eat any fruit or herb to restore 50 MP, not just the Pita. Obviously this means Nyuels can have a lot of MP. Now if only they were even remotely powerful....Good options include DeForth, Quick, Strength Increased and DeMirror, and typical mage paths that keep in mind the Nyuel has DeHeal locked. They aren't bad, but, since DeHeal and their stats are remarkably weak, they aren't the best, either. 17. Pulunpa HP 8, MP 40; DeHeal, Hidden AP 4, DEF 4 Uhm. Well, this one's pretty useless in my book. I recommend fusing it into other things; it's a good Water fluff monster. However, there is a "hidden" facet about him: he has a hidden DeHeal spell. Just fuse him with a "weaker" (lower level) monster to bring it out. THEN fuse THAT with something else! =) Seriously--I tried leveling up the one I got at the beginning. It never got any better. It had fair attack power eventually but it always ran out of HP or MP quickly. So don't try using this as a good warrior, because it's not and it never will be. 18. U-Boat HP 9, MP 80; DeRock, Hidden AP 6, DEF 5 From the weakest to not the strongest, but the second most useful. The U-Boat has two powerful commands. First, it can sink and hide from enemies, then pop up and attack them in the same turn; this makes it easier for them to get the drop on the enemy. Second, it can Scout out the level and give you a map equivalent to a Star Glass's. Finally, it has the insane spell DeRock hidden, just waiting to come out when you fuse it. The actual spell is useless about 95% of the time, but the mixture magic hits all enemies in the room for 2 MP. It gets cooler if you give it MP Consumption Reduced, so it can use all these cool options twice as often. Be sure to change it back to Water Genus when you give it this so DeRock can continue leveling up. Then there's always the doublers, but I advise against the attack/defense ones for two reasons: U-boat stats are good already and balanced, and you'll miss out on DeRock unless you fuse the U-Boat with something else first. Don't miss out on that. It's great. 19. Blume HP 9, MP 80; DeWall, Hidden AP 5, DEF 4 Another disappointing monster. This one has a command that is GREAT against you--who wants to lose their familiar!? But it's NOT so great when the entire floor is occupied by the same strength level enemy and the effect is for a limited time. This one is also not a good warrior. I fused mine with something and got DeWall, which makes a pretty good mixture magic and would be better in wind genus, but it was never one of my better familiars. You could probably make it be, but it might be better waiting for something better. 20. Manoeva HP 10, MP 70; DeForth, Hidden AP 5, DEF 6 From disappointing to the most useful monster in the game. Once you get one of these, never EVER sell or fuse or do anything to lose it. If you find out you have it in the Tower, get out now and take it home! This monster is extremely unique, as its Transform command lets it change into any item or monster in the game and inherit its commands for a limited time. It's also the glitchiest monster in the game, because this command was poorly error- checked. But you can take advantage of that glitchiness! THIS is why you always want to have one--it lets you cheat! Find out more about that in Billy Sauls's FAQ; there's too much to cover here. As for fusing the thing, it's a pretty average warrior, but you'll definitely want to give it its spell, DeForth, because it's a full-HP restoring spell. After you do that, you can fuse it with an Arachne for a more MP-costing but more effective Nyuel healer. Ultimately the best monster in the game. That's why it appears three separate times in the tower. (Never mind that Trolls do that too....) 21. Kraken HP 8, MP 70; DeWall, Hidden AP 6, DEF 6 I HATE THIS TRAIT! I HATE it! Grr!!! Anyway....The Kraken itself is unforgivable, too, being slightly above average on attack and defense but slightly below in HP and MP and having no command at all. It has a single saving grace: DeWall pops up when it's fused with a magicless monster, and DeWall is a reliable mixture magic. One thing you COULD do is fuse this with a Naplass, which would get you DeWall and doubled HP so it could take enough damage to give back some damage with its stupid, annoying trait. With that this thing would, probably, be pretty GOOD. I don't know, though. I wouldn't trust it. 22. Viper HP 9, MP 80; DeMirror, Hidden AP 6, DEF 5 AAARRRGGGHHH!!! Anyway....The Viper itself is unforgivable, too, being a fairly average warrior (except for good attack power) and having an ability that's hardly ever useful: You can let it eat monster eggs to refill its MP. This would actually be cool if it were an item you ran across more than once every five levels. Like its stupid, annoying trait, this is more neat than practical. If you really wanted to fuse this with something, the best choice is the Arachne, since it gets DeMirror upon fusion anyway and has more attack to double than defense or HP. But don't worry about MP conservation with this one--it can EAT EGGS for that!! *sighs* 23. Mandara HP 11, MP 85; DeForth, Hidden AP 6, DEF 6 Mandaras are actually pretty good. They have above average stats, though none are phenomenal, and the Spin command, which confuses an enemy. If you run across something you KNOW you can't handle but you know you would live through a hit, use Spin on it--if it works, you've won, and if it doesn't, you're no worse off than if you'd escaped as soon as you found it. They get DeForth after fusion, which is good. Make sure you fuse it with something, though, or it won't really shine and it won't have DeForth. If you were going to use a doubler, I'd suggest the Naplass again, so you won't miss DeForth or mess with its genus. MP Consumption Reduced also helps this one--Spin and DeForth are both a little draining. 24. Glacier HP 10, MP 80; DeMirror, Hidden AP 5, DEF 6 I tend to not like Glaciers. But it's probably just because they annoy me in the tower. They do have great defense, it seems, and their other stats are okay. Their command is good for shoving dangerous enemies away from you, although it takes 8 MP. (It has to. If it didn't, you could WAY overuse it and cheat the game bad--enemies would never get to attack because their own AI would unseat them.) And they get DeMirror from fusion, which is powerful in mixture magic. I'd suggest fusing it with a Block, to capitalize on the defense, or a Naplass, to further the defense in another way. This is a heavy monster, so if you get it up to a really high level, you might consider immunizing it to Paralysis or Blindness. If you get unlucky and get one of these eggs instead of a Dragon, Golem or Maximum egg, like I did, don't pass it up immediately, like I did. They're not THAT bad. 25. Clown HP 8, MP 80; LoDown, Natural AP 6, DEF 5 Clowns are strange little creatures. They have great attack power, and decent defense. Yet they have Magic Attack Increased, of all things, as a trait. It's very useful, of course, just odd. What I hate about these guys is their spell, probably. They have LoDown, which is utterly useless alone, although it's not too bad mixed and its genus variants are even better mixed. My suggestion is to level them up fairly high, then fuse them with a monster that already has a cool spell, then make sure whatever's left is the non-LoDown spell's genus. This works particularly well when fusing a Clown into a Nyuel or Dragon, who regain a lot of MP with more common items than Pitas and can use their spells more often. There's no important reason to keep the actual familiar--not unless you fuse it with something that has a better spell, anyway. 26. Unicorn HP 9, MP 80; LoBlind, Natural AP 5, DEF 5 Unicorns start out as average monsters, and eventually graduate to become below-average monsters. The average stats don't level up very high, their normal magic is useful only in certain situations, and their mixture magic costs actual MP, which means it doesn't cut down on how fast their strength ebbs away. One has to wonder why the great monster tamer Guy chose this THING as his familiar. Maybe because it was a challenge. If you want to follow in his footsteps, Unicorns can be made unpathetic with either Magic Attack Increased or Strength Increased. Both give them two good mixture magic options, and the latter gives the Unicorn some desperately needed strength. They aren't too flexible spell-wise, though, so this might be as complex as you need to make their improvements. 27. Block HP 10, MP 80; LoBind, Natural AP 6, DEF 8(16) Here's the best monster in the game for fusion. Alone, the Block is really tough, sporting an average attack but the best defense in the game due to his trait and natural defense together. But if you fuse him with another Doubling trait, like an Arachne or Naplass, it really starts becoming a master. I wouldn't go for a healer with this one--it has too much potential as a killer. But you MIGHT want to give it another mixture magic first, if your fusion doesn't give it one. LoBind and its offshoots mix for screen-nuking magic--that cost 4 MP. You might also consider protecting it (and yourself) from Blindness and Paralysis, since you can't lift it out of dangerous status ailments, but you probably shouldn't waste its second trait slot on something that doesn't add to its killing power. I have only gotten one without cheating so far. If you get one, consider yourself lucky. 28. Noise HP 9, MP 70; LoSleep, Hidden AP 6, DEF 5 Another average monster, except that this one has lower than average MP. Don't even bother with the command. I might recommend it if it had a 100% success rate, but even then I'm not sure. The trait's not bad sometimes, though. One thing you could do would be to give it protection from Poison or Sleep, so it wouldn't have to worry about many status ailments at all, but this wouldn't really work well because the other traps might still get it. It could be better to stick Spellproof on a Block, except that he has MUCH more potential than a Noise. 29. Dreamin HP 8, MP 70; LoSleep, Hidden AP 3, DEF 5 I never really use these. They could be good mages, but so could things with more MP, and Dreamins are pathetic up close. They attack about as well as a Picket, but only once, and their command is like the Mandara's Spin--great if it works, but what if it doesn't? Besides, it costs 12 MP per use, something you'd never know from how often they'll use it on you in the tower. If you have an inexplicable need to use this, I'd suggest standard mage advancements--perhaps give it a healing spell, a wind spell that turns into a screen attack, and MP Consumption Decreased. That's about as good as a Dreamin is going to get. 30. Cyclone HP 9, MP 80; LoGrave, Hidden AP 5, DEF 5 Cyclones themselves aren't that great. They are only mediocre attackers and defenders, and their command is useless--even IF your familiars get Anorexia from a Cyclone, it wears off quickly. Once in a hundred games, you may need to give a Pita to a monster just as it's anorexic, but I never have. Fused with something, though, Cyclones get a pretty cool spell, LoGrave. That's not much for mixture magic, but it'll do. You could make this a good mage, giving it two new spells or keeping LoGrave. These are better fused into other things with more power, though, since MP isn't just for spells in this one. 31. Picket HP 8, HP 65; LoDown, Hidden AP 3, DEF 4 Pickets sport just about the worst stats monsters have. They're about as weak as the Pulunpa, sometimes even outdoing them in weakness. But that's no reason to overlook them! Their strength is not in their stats but it's definitely there. One: their command is great for keeping items safe in case you die, because it won't go away, unlike your other items. If you get lucky, you could also use it to steal items back from enemy Pickets....Two: Pickets can eat just about anything--including copper coins--and restore their MP almost fully. They have a basically unlimited supply of MP, which fits their speed boost. With that in mind, make them a mage, since magic is independent of their lousy stats. They will serve you well. 32. Stealth HP 8, MP 80; LoBlind, Hidden AP 4, DEF 5 Yuck. These guys have low attack power and average everything else, no natural spell, and another highly useless command. It's not hard at all for the computer to spot invisible monsters. If you catch an enemy Stealth disappearing, put a familiar on Standby and see for yourself. This one seems useless to me. If you plan on using Trolls, you might want to keep it around, but it's worth a lot if you sell it, so consider that. If you want to use it, for whatever reason, I really don't know what you could improve to make it worth something. The doublers wouldn't even be too effective. Maybe you could give it some mixture magic, but you could give familiars with actual STRENGTHS mixture magic instead. This one is worth more to you sold or fused. 33. Zu HP 10, MP 80; LoGrave, Hidden AP 6, DEF 5 Zus have some pretty good stats and a up-close paralyzing command, good for use in a last ditch effort. Unlike some other wind-genus monsters, Zus make fine warriors. I suggest doubling its attack, as it seems pretty high already when you find it and could Double to catastrophic proportions. Besides, you'd get DeoMirror, which would ALWAYS paralyze on mixture magic for less MP. Your Zu would thank you for that. =) Other possibilities include the Block and a Fire genus and spell, so it would be stronger against the big guys at the end of the tower. I see no reason to make it a healer, or a high mage for that matter, so go for the offensive route here. 34. Garuda HP 10, MP 80; LoDown, Hidden AP 5, DEF 5 This is one of my favorite familiars. Garudas have Abduct, which they might pull on one of your familiars sometime. It takes them away to a random spot on the map. But friendly Garudas can take Koh away, too. So if you just have a Garuda out, you can keep "Abducting" yourself to warp around the map! It's great for a quick escape from a deadly situation. They have no traits and no natural spells, so they're good to fuse into things you want to unlock hidden spells in. I can't stop getting these monsters in the tower, so you probably won't have too much trouble recovering from the loss of the familiar. But the Garuda itself is good for several things, too--it makes a just-better-than-average fighter OR a good backup monster, since it can have two spells of your choice and that happy instant escape. You'll want to fuse this with a Cyclone eventually if you really like Abduct, but they aren't fantastic warriors without some kind of doubler. Your choice. I chose the Cyclone.... 35. Golem HP 15, MP 70; LoBind, Hidden AP 7, DEF 10 The Golem is really, REALLY begging to be fused with something. It's got fine stats as it is, but some technical flaws that can be readily eliminated with fusing. First, it has no mixture magic. This can be changed with just about anything, and you can get a cheap Fire one and change its genus for the better (for the higher levels, which this monster WILL be seeing) at the same time. Second, its Charged Punch takes 8 MP, as well as 2 turns. The first part can be changed quickly with Half MP Consumption. Third, its HP starts out high, but doesn't get very high. This can be changed with HP Increased. Finally, though this isn't exactly a flaw, the Golem has extremely high defense, and doubling it is very profitable. My suggestions: fuse it with a Cyclone and you get a very powerful attacker, physically and magically; fuse it with a Golem or Naplass and you get a very powerful defender, physically and, as a last ditch effort, magically. 36. Hikewne HP 15, MP 120; Dark Wave, Natural AP 7, DEF 7 Experienced players will wonder why the heck this monster's here. Inexperienced players will wonder what the heck this is. Well, you might want to -SKIP THIS PART IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT THIS IS-, because this guy shows up late and is very important. Once you find this, you might at first love it, but I'm covering this just to burst your bubble: it can't fuse. Well, it CAN fuse, but it simply goes away, completely, as if it had never been there and the receiver had never fused with anything. It doesn't even unlock spells! As a monster, it seems to level up quickly and has the same wacky stats as the Dragon--sometimes its MP will level up. Its spells rock, too. But you can't double anything, you can't prevent any status ailments, and you can't add spells. For that matter, you can't give its spells to anything else. For these reasons, I don't use this thing anymore. It got old real fast. Why did I cover it, then? Originally it was to say, "Never ever fuse this, ever." =) But now it's to say that, if you feel like being roundabout, there IS a way to fuse this! However, it's not really profitable. If you take this monster's egg into the tower and duplicate it (one of those cheats on Billy Sauls's FAQ...go check it out now!), then fuse two of them together, the result makes weird things happen. First, the resulting monster has absolutely no spells, which is insane. Second, if you fuse this monster with another monster...it will unlock the second monster's spell. However, under no circumstances will a Hikewne survive a fusion with this second monster--it will always be absorbed. Quite an odd tidbit, isn't it? I'll research it more, and, if I come up with something better, put it in the next version of this FAQ. ---- VI. THE USUAL FAQ ENDNOTES Credits I am going to start these notes with a very large credit. Many MANY thanks go to Billy Sauls. These thanks come for many many reasons. First, his FAQ made my Azure Dreams replays much easier and fun. I didn't even know what a Barong could do back then =) How ignorant I was! I'd also like to thank him for letting me use his monster stats, so I didn't have to drudge through getting them myself, and some various stuffs scattered about the FAQ. Finally, I'd like to thank him for inspiring me to write an FAQ of my own about Azure Dreams. I figured, if he can cover so much about the game, I can cover that one part that I know about. Visit his website at http://www.citynet.net/personal/billy/faqs.html for his FAQs on Azure and Legend of Legaia and some other stuff. I'd also like to thank Brian Ross. His Fusion section reminded me of a couple of things to add at the last minute. Visit HIS website at http://www4.ncsu.edu/~bwross/azure/. And Brian--please update soon! =) Finally, I'd like to give a big thanks to Scott Spencer and Adam Smith for figuring out how to beat the system. These are the guys that unlocked the game-busting cheats, which are how I managed to get all these monsters for testing....See Billy Sauls's FAQ for info on these; search for their names. Their email addresses are leusugi@hotmail.com and alsmith@umich.edu, respectively. Copyright This FAQ is Copyright 1999, JJ Ukil(Jjukil@aol.com). I do not want bad things happening to it without my knowledge. You may not publish it, reprint it for commercial use, modify and redistribute or reprint it, or use information from it in another document without my written consent. I welcome and highly encourage its distribution, but only unmodified and in its current form. I would also greatly prefer you mention to me that you are distributing it. I have found my work in odd places before, and it has made me unhappy. I've found my modified work in odd places before, too, and that has made me very unhappy. (Especially because the modification was horrible.) Disclaimer Finally, I'd like to say again that this FAQ has no chance of being totally perfect. Doubtless there are one or two errors, and doubtless I have not covered every single aspect of this part of the game. Should you find an error or another strategy, please mail me at Jjukil@aol.com, and I will add it to the list of improvements for the next version of the FAQ. If the list gets long or meaningful enough, I will make that version. However, I want any emails you send me to be polite, coherent, and, in the case of new info, informative. Flaming me for no reason will get you nothing, and I will tend to respect your opinion less (read: not at all) if your strategy is phrased rudely. Remember: polite, coherent, and informative. Thank you! =) ---- Well, that's about it! Hope you enjoyed it! Thanks, Jjukil