Final Fantasy VII The First Soldier began its fourth season recently, and with the Variant Mode event that had allowed players to play as Sephiroth wrapped up, an all-new Style Mastery was added: Trickster. With the game almost approaching 10 Mastery Styles, Trickster is definitely one of, if not the best, Mastery Style for players to use.
Trickster is a suave and dapper Style joining Final Fantasy VII The First Soldier. With its melee attacks using cards to slash, throw, and explode on impact, it really has made a name for itself with its powerful Mastery Style in comparison to the other newly added Mastery Styles such as Dragoon alongside Machinist already present in the game. We will break down how to effectively play Trickster, its best Materia choices, which of its two Skills to use, and more in this guide.
Melee Attacks
Trickster has a three-window melee combo. First, the user does a quick forward slash using its card that propels the player in the direction. The second part of its combo is two quick slashes in a row that move the user forward. If the full combo is used, then Trickster leaps back slightly and throws several cards that explode on impact.
It is one of the faster melee attack combos in the game and provides excellent capabilities on enemy players or even effectively against grouped-up monsters such as Security Guards or Hedgehog Pies. The full combo at the end will push away any enemies caught in the card explosion and gives you enough of a distance to switch to a gun or cast Materia, while the enemy is then displaced to recover.
Trait
The Trickster’s passive trait is Gold Trick. Gold Trick rewards you with Gil upon each level up. It’s very simple and encourages players to immediately spend Gil at Vending Machines to upgrade their weapons, cards, and purchase potions or ammo. More crucially, Gold Trick also increases the critical hit rate from your melee attacks alongside reducing your Ability’s cooldown in accordance with the total amount of Gil collected.
As they say, more money means more solutions. Being able to constantly generate Gil aids in surviving much longer throughout the match, and allows more advantages by having the means to receive stronger equipment or accessories.
Optimal Ability
There are two Abilities to choose from as Trickster.
The Abilities are:
- Decoy Card
- Marking Card
Decoy Card creates a copy of the user. This Decoy will start attacking nearby players or monsters in the vicinity. It can be used to soak up damage, distract enemy players, and helps defeat enemy players with ease by outnumbering an opponent.
Marking Card throws a card on the ground, which contains half of your HP. If your HP reaches zero, while the card is active, you return to the position of the card with that HP restored to you. Set the card, go in Materia blazing, and if you make a mistake or die, then at least you get a second chance from a safe location.
Decoy Card is the best of the two Abilities. Decoy Card is the starting Ability for Trickster, so you will have to unlock Marking Card by increasing your Mastery Style Level. Being able to throw out a doppelganger to bait enemy players, help you take down monsters to earn experience, and whittle down an enemy’s HP to zero to win the match are all manageable. With the passive of Gold Trick, as long as you gather Gil, the cooldown of the Decoy Card will be lowered. Being able to send out an incarnation, as the game puts it, creates alternatives to win a match. From distracting an opponent to using a Potion or even having the decoy take down an enemy all by itself. If you do not have any ammo, then you can cast area of effect Materia like Blizzard, Thunder, or Fire at the same time your decoy lays down fire with its gun, for example.
Best Skill
There are three Skills to choose from as Trickster.
The Skills are:
- Seize
- Drain Shot
- Soul Drain Deck
Seize rewards you with extra Gil after defeating a monster.
Drain Shot restores HP if you land headshots on enemy candidates.
Soul Drain Deck will recover MP after using an Ability.
Similar to Marking Card, you will need to level up your Mastery Style by playing matches to unlock both Drain Shot and Soul Drain Deck to equip as your Skill.
Seize has the largest benefits. Killing monsters will give you Gil, and when you level up, you will earn even more Gil. Drain Shot does heal from headshots, but headshots can be difficult to land due to the recoil on a gun, so it would be better to stock up with Potions or have Cure than Drain Shot. Soul Drain Deck will allow you to cast more Materia, but only when using an Ability. If you do not have much Gil, then the cooldown increase of Gold Trick may not be as efficient to work in tandem with Soul Drain Deck.
Seize will give you more of an impetus to kill monsters, and level up before fighting enemy candidates; which you can take down effortlessly with your Epic/Legendary weapons and accessories purchased from the extra Gil from monsters.
Ideal Materia
There is a plethora of Materia throughout Final Fantasy VII The First Soldier, Blizzard, Cure, Water, Bio, Aero, and even the newly added Tornado for this season to name a few.
The ideal Materia you want to use in tandem with Trickster’s Decoy Card Ability is Blizzard.
The other two slots can be Cure to provide quick healing, and the last slot can be of your choosing. Tornado, Fire, Thunder, and Bio are all superb in flushing out enemy candidates hiding behind cover or taking down monsters, while you early match grind.
Blizzard is the ideal Materia you want to definitely gather each match as soon as possible. It creates an ice crystal that hones into shooting icicle shards at enemies in the area with acute precision. Throwing out your Decoy Card, then casting Blizzard will overwhelm and confuse your opponent entirely. Should they destroy the decoy first, the ice crystal, or aim at you hiding behind both of these defenses? Blizzard alongside Decoy Card creates a win condition that very few enemy candidates will ever rival when facing you one on one.
Trickster is one of the best Styles to choose from in-game and provides gameplay mechanics other Styles can barely keep up with. It is certainly the best Style to choose at the moment if you want the highest chance of reaching first place in matches. Since Decoy Card, and Seize are given to you without leveling up the Mastery Style past Level 1, take a few matches to try different tactics with your decoy from baiting enemies, killing monsters, distracting enemy candidates to take them out with your own gun, and granting yourself a decisive moment to escape dire situations to heal up.
Best of luck out there with the new Trickster Style in Final Fantasy VII The First Soldier!
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