If you're truly a beginner to the game, please read up on existing guides in the Disgaea 5 community. I'm intentionally omitting details here as someone did a perfect job of making a guide for that aspect of the game already and I sure as hell won't copy and paste stuff they diligently worked on.

'Execute' and 'End Turn' have a critical difference. You can execute actions all you desire if you have the characters to do so, and you should program yourself to abuse it. The most classic example is ending your turn and failing to kill a dangerous enemy...where executing with the same result will allow you to bring an additional character or a Maid with the Afternoon Tea skill to reset the turn of someone on the field.

Lesson One: Lifting Obstructions
Enemies or objects block your character's path to a chest, Geo Sphere, Skip Gate...whatever. Have a second character lift the enemy/object, allowing the first character to walk through to their destination. The lifting character's lift action can be canceled and returned to the base panel, dropping the enemy/object back to it's original state. Try not to wrap your head around this, it just works.

A little later, you can copy Acceleration Mascot from Plenair and Angel Flight onto one unit, deploy that unit to give all other units 'Flying' status plus two movement, then cancel their deployment once everyone is in position. Heavy lifting is no longer required - Yay!

Lesson Two: Buff and Debuffs
Many evilities effect characters adjacent to those that wear them and this can be abused to your advantage. Buffing characters and debuffing characters can be both moved into position where they can effect the outcome of an action without ending the turn, then returned to the base panel before the turn's end. This works great with elemental spell casters like Magic Knights who specialize in sniping individual enemies at range. Once the enemy is surrounded with debuffing characters, fire away with a Knight's Tera spell. Withdraw the debuff characters to safety so they can be used again next turn. (Or relocate them to another enemy if you refresh your knight with some Maid's tea.)

These ladies prime the Item General for a Magic Knight's Tera spell...

Lesson Three: Monster Toss
Monsters have throw ranges too, only they bounce instead of catch, and it doesn't count as an action! It takes some practice but all monsters can be used to bounce characters you throw at them to further areas of the map, then you can cancel their move to withdraw them back inside the Base Panel. A prime candidate for this is Erynder Z with his rubbery spring board-like head. (Fyi, you can't bounce allies off of enemy monsters but I seem to remember doing this on a previous game. Disgaea 1 or 2? Hmm...)

Lesson Four: Magichange Setup
The area around your base panel can get crowded at times, especially when using adjacent evilities in conjuction with Twin Heads. Moving the magichange weapon holder away from the crowd (along with the monsters themselves) to do their magichange does not register as action for the magichange weapon holder. Cancel the movement of the magichange weapon holder to be returned on top of the base panel - Twin Heads will still be enabled.

Lesson Five: Ripple Impact Chains
If you use Dark Knight's Ripple Impact to clear enemies, you should know that they need to be adjacent to you as well as each other for the evility to work. You can also fill gaps with your own characters to complete the chain and withdraw them back into Base Panel after the attack. (Valkyrie's Pierce evility will negate the damage degeneration.) Amazingly, they do not take damage. Try not to wrap your head around this one either, it just works.

Umm...could you guys line up so I can hit you? Please? No? Alright, I'll use my own people.

Lesson Six: AOE Skills Lock Deployed Characters in Place
If an area of effect spell hits the character on the battle map, they are locked in place regardless if they completed an action or not. This is especially true for Land Decimator - be aware of who is deployed when casting.

Party wipes...they happen. Fortunately, this game is forgiving in providing back doors for those over their heads, even excluding Gency Exits. When over your head in Mystery rooms, Mil the Gatekeeper cat sits on top of the Skip Gate, ALWAYS. Even should that skip gate be INVISIBLE. You only need to nudge the poor kitty off of it with a well placed kick to enter.

You've picked a fight in a 20 star difficulty carnage item. Despite giving it your all, you've only managed to ruffle the bank guard's fur, and he looks MAD. Oh, look at the time - it's time to go!!

Mil? Umm...could you move just for a second? ...Hellooo? Aww %#X@ it!

Stupid cat...

Now, say you used up all of your character actions, you have no dispatches left, and you know a party wipe is only ONE END TURN AWAY. Provided you have a character alive in the Supply Depot squad, you can click on the Home Base square and enter your item inventory and select a Gency Exit to use.

HQ? Our intelligence was bad. Can we get an EVAC? ...please?

Phew... Whose idea was that? Let's mutually agree to never, ever do that again! (Lie)

In case you didn't know, the specialized innocent that lives in unique items stays in effect even if the item is in the off-hand. This is great because unique items aren't known for being powerful. Nothing game breaking here but learning to take advantage of these will make game play easier. Some great choices:

• Give a Balloon to your thief so they fly past enemies on their way to break chests.
  
• Give a Beetle to your wrestlers so they can throw allies even further.
  
• A Sage using Land Decimator will not trigger counter attacks from adjacent allies if she has a Pie in the off-hand.
  
• Use a Megaphone when farming for prisoners to withdraw Magic Extracts from.
  
• A Shovel can be used to make your your backstabbing boss killing character even more dangerous.
  
• Tennis Rackets and Leeks will make mastering weapons a breeze when you have Softening Aura equipped on your characters and have them attack each other. (Use in conjunction with Instructor innocents and the Cheat Shop.)
  
• If you find the need to leave weak support characters on the map, giving them a Coiling Stick will reduce the chances of being targeted by enemies.
  
• Supposively, some weapons have innocents that change the element attack type but I can't talk smart about these as I have no idea how to verify that they're working. But they're there. If you can verify they work, please let me know.

That little Freezer innocent seems important, but I can't tell if he's doing his job or this aspect of game is broke, I have no idea. It's something that does something, I guess. (I'll wager the dev whose job to program this was out canoodling with the English translator.)

If you find end game content bombastically difficult despite spending hours in the character world, hunting down Carnage gear, and obtaining max stats, my very first assumption is that you need to make better custom curry. In this game, curry is king.

There are detailed curry guides out there, but I've found tons of misleading information and the game itself is extremely lazy on specifics for something that is so complex and game altering. It ALSO suffers from an extreme bad translation. For example, people recommend adding a hundred thimbles (cheapest fist item) to increase critical rate. But a curry made of nothing but thimbles simply gives the effect 'ATK Up.' The CRIT Up effect is even omitted from detailed guides but I have seen the effect in videos that use another release version. Good news is that the effect is still there, so put them in.

With all Killia's gear and evilities removed, his crit chance is still maxed with the super yummy curry in his belly.

Here are some main effects that I personally verified. Choose a trait you like and pile on a hundred thimbles and every decent HP boosting item you can get your hands on. You can't go wrong...


A carnage elixir as a main ingredient gives the HP/SP effect AND a boost to your HP stat - if you're looking for a cheap way to get the effect, use a Fairy Dust from the Rosen Queen Co. Item shop.

Yo dawg! We heard you liked curry, so we put curry in some curry to flavor your curry with!

Items behave differently as sub ingredients than they did as main ingredients. Most give a boost to a basic stat, with the exception of fists that give a 1% percentage boost to crit change each. I HAVE NOT been able to reproduce multiple main effects as in other guides.

For basic stats, the quality of BOTH the sub ingredients and the extra 1000 ingredients effect how much gain you get, so buying 902 packs of mint gum with your thimbles won't get you very far. You know all those carnage elixirs that you've been hoarding? Yep, in they go. I wish there was a faster way to select items out your edible inventory aside from locking down what you don't want to use but you only have to do this procedure every hundred battles provided you let the curry brew that long.

To fill my item quota, I snatch up any elixir I find at stores in the item world and set up the Alchemy shop to crank out carnage chocolates, eclairs, and frog sweats...sounds delicious! Carnage muscles and emblems are great additions too.

Christo's Eye For Discovery can be copied onto every unit that can afford to give up three evility slots. Elixirs are commonly rewarded this way while driving into rank 40 items.

A Star RES UP increases your star resist which can be used in conjunction with Magic Knight's unique evility Elemental Force. Also, characters with high star resist are rare and there is no innocent that boosts star resist as with fire, ice, and wind. A curry to consider for those who run Comet Disaster builds. Personally, I would choose the Revenge Rate UP effect and use a Celestial Hostess for my star resist boosts.

A Star Element effect, in theory, changes the element (fire, ice, and wind) of all your elemental spells or special skills with element effects and changes it to star damage. I say 'in theory' as the game doesn't give any indication that your elemental spell has been altered. It's not black magic to me, as I understand the 'how' but more like an illusion as I can't be sure it's actually happening. -_-

What testing I did do in Martial Training with element curries on and off produced VERY similar results. My test was to use a Nether World effect like Water Providence to give an already Ice resistant enemy even more resistance, then cast a Tera Ice spell WITH a Fire Element curry in effect, which the enemy was weak too. Then another battle with the very same setup and same spell only with the curry expired. The damage was nearly the same. Bah....

Anyhoo, I personally like having the ability to bring out Magic Knights as needed, so I haven't found a use for it yet or have succeeded in getting it to work. If you figure it out, gimme a shout.
(Like most aspects of my life, maybe I've got it all wrong...)

The Gate Key given to you after you wet your feet near the game start counts as a unique item...DON'T SELL IT. Much later in the game, a quest requires it for completion so you might as well lock it down as soon as you get it. Actually there are plenty of items that you only get one of. When in doubt, lock it down.. (The exception are the items that come with DLC characters are pretty useless...as nothing is stopping you from deleting the character and fetching them again.)

If extra weapons filling your inventory bothers you, try fitting them in the offhand of utility characters like Maids or whoever is filling your Alchemy or Item Adventure squads.

Seraphina's and Asagi's unique guns become quest items....if you've kept them.

There are many ways stats can be tweaked, but there is a necessary disclaimer is that there is a hidden cap as how much can be stacked in your favor. When tinkering with evilities like Greedy Disposition, Violence, and Heavy Stance, you might notice that the math stops...adding up. (At 100%) I'm not an examiner of the game mechanics, nor would I care to be but it's something to be aware of. If an evility doesn't add a benefit to your character, try another aspect like increasing the stats of your equipment or a boost to your magic and attack skills.

In battle, there are more ways to temporarily tweak stats as well but there seems to be a 50% cap in place to prevent the game from going off the rails...and some bosses are immune to stat drops! But that 50% is still pretty nice and at times necessary to reach your goals. Just be aware that the sky isn't the limit...it's actually a lot closer. -_-

A carnage Item God before and after map wide debuffing evilities are in effect. Try stealing that Trap now!

With those critical disclaimers out of the way, know that there are squad wide evilities, map wide evilities, adjacent evilities, singular evilities that only effect the character using them, and in battle 'on strike' evilities that have a temporary effect. Understanding the difference is key to character builds and abusing the game mechanics. I will cover the most useful ones, as there are a lot.

These are great for characters you find yourself not using often or even don't like. You get a heaping handful of Overlords you can't remove from your party, they might as well do something useful... *Cough*GeeseIzunaDrumdawnMajoritaBrave*Cough*

• Bodyguards [ 3 slots - Girl Laharl ] Increase ATK of male units in an assigned squad by 5%.
  
  You may have already heard from the Disgaea 5 community how this can make the Foot Soldier Squad overpowered by placing Bodyguards on most of it's twenty squad members. (On my to-do list is experimenting with an axe wielding Sage who slings physical Land Decimators and has Gender Bender equipped. Would it be wrong? Maybe. But will it be epic? Definitely.)
  
  
• Angel Cheering [ 5 slots - Celestial Hostess ] Units in assigned squad recover 3% SP every turn.
  
  Sling Lvl 9 Skills and Tera spells around like crazy - your SP now recovers every turn if the non-participants in your squad all have this evility equipped. SP should no longer be a concern.
  
  
• Queen Orders [ 4 slots - Rozalin ] Increase magic range of units in assigned squad by 1. (Max 3)
  
  Three characters in a squad can boost the magic range by one each for everyone else in that squad? I'll take it! (Use in conjunction with Angel Cheering to make any decent sized squad of your choice extremely magic caster friendly.)
  
  
• Prinny Instructor [ 3 slots - Valvatorez ] Increase Exp, Mana, & Class Prof gained by Prinnies in assigned squad by 100%.
  
  Can be placed on multiple characters to accelerate character growth and class mastering greatly. Use in conjunction with Fu-ka's Prinny Hat evility so the 'prinny' status remains in effect even in squads outside of Prinny Squad. (Like Elite Four Squad or a much larger squad like Foot Soldier Squad, if you catch my drift.)

Evilities that effect the entire map are the reason I still use character towers. They're not for attacking but rather a safe way to stack all my squishy sorcerers with the buffing and debuffing evilities equipped. The tower base is always geared for defense and has Softening Aura equipped to survive Land Decimator attacks.

A tower base can hold 9 allies, so you might as well make nine of the same build. It will take time to setup but this will help greatly every time you fight a research nether world boss or an item god.
The vast majority of evilities will come from class mastering but Plenair has two you should strongly consider copying via the Chara World.

Yes - I name all my sorceresses after types of cookies.

I consider this part of the game to be the weakest, most boring part. But you want characters to become godly then they will have to pass through here...like a lot. But to make this as painless as possible I recommend observing the following...

I moved Mao's evility Improved Alchemy to a support character, then moved that character into a fully staffed Alchemy Squad with them as the leader. This is a must if you don't want the Chara World to drive you insane. Chara World items can now be mass produced and some of them are downright respectable!

• Taxi Tickets are great for bypassing the random roll and landing on the square you want. This lets you avoid the negative squares and trigger the events you want.
  
• Quick Draws add two additional dice to your battle roll, which SHOULD give you an superior roll to deal with Dark Hearts.
  
• Action Boosters can grant a high movement turn so you can plow through the Chara World at a decent clip.

Building all three at these at once will increase production further to the point that you should use an item at every turn (or else get your inventory clogged full!)

When Dark Hearts spawn, they spawn with the gear your character was wearing. So you if arrive naked, they will too. You, however, have an added advantage in that you can re-equip your gear immediately before you even take your first step. Now you're the guy who showed up at the nudist colony with a sword. :P

A very quick and easy way to gain the upper hand against Evil Hearts is to swap between your main weapon and weaker off-hand weapon before you enter Chara World, then immediately switch back to plow through Miss Evil and your first spawned Evil Heart. Once those two are dealt with, I recommend switching again just in case you trigger another Dark Heart spawn. Its super quick and easy, don't forget to take advantage of it.

True...a warp block, wrestler event, friendly pirate, or Rift Generator item can throw you to the opposite side of the map, sometimes even in your favor but it can also dump you into truly awful spots because the randomness is brutal in here. Ever been dumped between 3 Dark Hearts when you're at half health? Or deposited right back at the start square with only a dozen turns left? I've seen it often enough to know that risk isn't worth it.

Axel, in a rare example of usefulness, comes with the evility Withstand that prevents warp events. I HIGHLY recommend copying it to any character you are going to invest time in the Chara World with. I also use all evilities learned from the Support Group squad except High Risk as there are better ways to earn stats than in here.

Some Evilities won't show in your list of learned evilities to copy until completing a Super Overlord level. Even then, evilities gained from the Ability Squad won't make an appearance at all. I guess they're all measures put in place to prevent the player from quickly spamming the good stuff that took effort with a highly developed unit onto the rest of weaker units in the roster.

If developing a character from scratch, I recommend spending at least your first six Chara World's lowest difficult simply for minimal time investment and to hopefully learn a Chara World skill or two. With those done, you can pass them high tier gear and power level them to get three additional evility slots by killing Miss Evil in the highest difficulty.

Utility characters do NOT need heavy time investment in Chara World. Max their evility slots, their throw range and movement and get the heck out. Sure, you can spend ALL Chara World dives in Super Overload difficulty to get more aptitude gains and Dowsing Rods, but is the return worth the time? My answer is no....

This utility character took 9 dives into the Chara World to get movement, throwing range, and evility slots to max. Three of those were in the Super Overload difficulty to get three extra evility slots from Miss Evil. Another two dives with another character were used to copy Lucky! and Lich Deimos. Phew...maxing weapon and skill masteries is easy compared to this!

When intensively developing a character in Chara World - assuming you kill your initial Dark Heart and use the Dowsing Rod from Miss Evil, then you only need one additional Dark Heart spawn event or a Spring Event. (A hot spring event grants an increase of 2 for each aptitude and one slain Dark Heart grants a increase of 1 for each aptitude, however you can only get total aptitude increase of 5 per Chara World entry.) A possible Dark Heart spawn or a possible hot spring event can both be found on green squares - use a Construction Order to mix up the board when needed.

Note that characters who make appearances in Story Mode are not eligible to go on Nether Research ships, so teaching them evilities like Archeologist, Invader, and Geologist will be a waste. All three of these evilities are available from the quest jobs, they do not show often but they ARE repeatable. They can also be found in Chara World.

The effects of these evilities won't carry a level 9999 research team through Carnage rank 30 and above - your team needs to be TOUGH! I highly recommend your most developed, best equipped (non-story mode) character to be placed first in the ship roster so the entire party does not get wiped and need to rest up. This makes the best time to do research is when you are focused on spending time in Chara World with other characters. (I had huge trouble finding a strong enough party with Killia and Usalia being excluded, I finally made progress when I introduced my max stat sage that I leveled carnage items with.)

After researching a couple rank 39 nether worlds, a rank 40 golden nether world may become available. There are nine, one for each weapon type but the one you unlock is random UNLESS you hold off on defeating the bosses until all nine are unlocked. Then you can truly get one of each weapon type for your collection.

What? You want tips on defeating the rank 40 netherworld boss? For one, they aren't immune to stat debuffs, and two...how are your curry cooking skills coming along? :D

Unlocking the all rank 40 carnage nether worlds is quite a feat...killing the bosses within is another.

Last FYI note on Researching: You may be tempted to delete rank 39 nether worlds that do not have Bosses in them. Leave at LEAST a couple lying around to prevent accidentally reseting your research progress when killing Bosses. You'll be very, very sad if you have to start again at the bottom. T_T

Even though an invincibility geo can save you once in a while, they are mostly a hindrance that prevents you from quickly killing enemies and limiting unit placement. Also, the tedious task of lining up geo chains gets old quickly and loses it return when you learn to combo correctly to fill the bonus meter. Spreading skills around like Geo Change and Geo Blast between your units will be a huge time saver. All that said, here are some additional notes...

• Skills like Veteran Support and Efficient Work will have their extra actions disabled if your unit is standing on an 'Attack Times +1' geo. Example: A unit with Veteran Support that casts any support spell will be forced to cast it twice in a row on the same target, losing their second action.
  
  
• The 'Innocent' geo is a rare geo that enhances the level of innocents killed upon it, but its appearance is completely unrelated to innocents actually appearing on the map. When an innocent is present on the map, you can try a Geo Change and hope for the best - then throw that innocent onto the Innocent Geo to be killed, but the added effect is redundant if already at max level (25000), the item containing the innocent is set on the "Innocent" path, and being slain by someone in the Hunter Team squad. If you're still working on your innocent levels, it can be a nice effect to look for.

Every 100 floors, there is an Item God, but if you want to make an Item God 2 appear then you need to have gained at least 80 levels from the appearance of the last item god. The Item God 2 will have the next tier of the item you are currently leveling, unless that item is already at max tier - then it will be another un-leveled copy. Using green diver doors to zip past the leveling process will only result in another generic Item God. Defeating either Item Gods will grant an additional innocent onto the item (unless they are the nether research weapons with Booster innocents affixed). Edit: The first Item God CAN be an Item God 2 if you have your levels in. May require a restart or two if you Gency out on the previous floor to save.

There are three types of rank 40 weapons. The first can be gotten outside of item world using nether researching. These are the ones with the Booster innocents. If you choose to level these, note that the innocent cannot be switched and no additional innocents will be gained by killing Item Gods. (The booster innocent seems to work just fine in the off-hand, if you're interested.)

The second type of rank 40 can be stolen off of Item God 2's when leveling a rank 39 of weapon. These have the highest of their primary stats. If you need help stealing this, try using map debuffs. I eventually gave up on having a thief strong enough to steal something off of Item God 2 in 20 star difficulty and I give the role to Killia. (Use unique evility Thief Skills and copy Phantom Angel from Artina.)

The third type is a bit tricky to get, as it requires you to happen across a Legendary Weapon Room (Use the Mystery Room route). If you are seeking a 'Normal' non-carnage item, you need a weapon mastery of 40 for that type, though not necessarily on the character you are controlling. If seeking a Carnage rank 40 weapon, the specifics get a little hazy...

Some say you need a mastery of 100 of that weapon type to earn it, while some say the weapon mastery requirement goes away and you need to have an additional rank 40 weapon of that type aside from the one you're leveling. (I personally believe the later over the former.)

In any case, having multiple R40 weapons isn't difficult if you been encountering the duplication room on your way up to floor 200 and you shouldn't find mastering any weapon type difficult either. (Use WM Up Nether World effect in conjunction with the Cheat Shop and Instructor innocents. Also use unique weapons Leeks and Tennis Rackets in the off-hand if you have them.)

Nope, you can march on-wards by passing the item's level cap bill to enable the next set of 500 levels. Yep, the item world is endless and you can practically live in here after you complete the main story. [In case you don't know - raising the 500 level cap is a reward for beating the Carnage Story Campaign. Yep, the carnage version of Evil Leiza]

If you have the Mystery Room path enabled, there is a good chance you may encounter over 15 battles in one item world run. If the duration of your curry is winding down, be very wary of this. If the duration is 18 or less, consider doing Asagi fragment runs or kill some time in Chara World.

Rank 39 items that you are leveling to steal a rank 40 item are perfectly fine to set to the innocent path, but you may want to use a non-carnage item to toss your innocents into for capturing. Initially, I chose the 'Gate Key' as the enemies within leveled very slowly but I upgraded to a 'Barefoot X' as it would be more rewarding if I happened across a duplication room. Blast through with land decimators and ignore all other mystery rooms, should only take a few minutes...

...make an executive decision on whether to level Trapezohedrons OR Hercules’ Armor, not both. The equal stats of a Trap may appeal to your inner OCD demon but the stats of Hercule's Armor will eventually even out to be nice and consistently alike around level 2000 or so. (Use basic stat innocents and bill passes to help this along - when the bills stop being offered, you should be there.) PLUS it gives you a +1 movement (on top of the movement bills) that the Trap will never have. Is wearing three Hercule's Armor at once weird? Yes. Does the game care? No.

Proto Darkdeaths are random drops from Mr. Egg. They come in two flavors - big and REALLY BIG. Killing them grants another chance for an item assembly bill to be passed (and open up an innocent slot in your item if available). It's something you want to encourage at the beginning of an item leveling project. Once the growth bills stop becoming available, Proto's become an unwanted visitor that can potentially ruin your day if you let them.

Prior to entering the Item World, if you pass an Assembly bill to have a ProtoDeath appear, this will guarantee a spawn next time Mr. Egg shows. You can also encourage Mr. Egg to make an appearance by killing enemies with a Chicken weapon in your offhand on the previous floor. (Note that Invaders seem to get priority for appearance, so stay off the Invader path if you still have bills to pass or perhaps even remove Bring It On! from your Item Adventure squad leader.)

Baby Proto Darkdeath
Aww...isn't he cute, he's ONLY twice as big as you! Luckily he doesn't have the insane evilities that his bigger brother has. He can be debuffed, picked up and thrown to a small island to be picked off at long range. Not too much trouble.

Big Proto Darkdeath
Hoo, now this is a threat! I have no idea how this guy fits on a single square, yet he does. This larger variant has crazy evilities that eliminate any debuffs or other gimmicky tactics you've grown to rely on. One saving grace is that he tends to spawn towards the perimeter of the map where you can throw objects like Item Symbols to trap him where he stands. (This is the real reason I keep a total of four wrestlers with Beetles in my roster.) If there aren't enough item symbols then treasure chests with thief boxes stacked on them and geo spheres can be used as well. Make note of his jump height when using chests and boxes - also some geo spheres have a nasty habit of moving around. (I intentionally did not list thief boxes by themselves as the Proto Darkdeath WILL smash them if no other target is available, but stacking them on chests seems to be okay.)

With the Proto Darkdeath quarantined, he'll politely stay put - provided a Level Fish, a Lucky Board, or one of your characters doesn't walk into range of his attacks, which will break his cage in the process. Once you've established that he can't move, you can buff your long range attackers to pepper him dead. (If you examine his ranged attacks, you may also notice that two diagonal squares from him is a safe place to stand which is perfect for some melee attackers with extended reach weapons.)

What if you can't trap him? Try a Geo Change and if you're SUPER lucky, maybe you'll get a Invincibility geo or a Reverse Damage geo so you can survive his attacks, or at the very least more random geos to try to cage him again.

You could also try my elevation trick in the Stuff I Tried (That Kinda Works...) section. Or maybe use upgraded shoes to run to opposite ends of the map each turn? If you try to outrun him, the evility Dullness Dance will help reduce his movement speed from five to three.

Or you can, you know...skip the stage.

Here are my tried and failed attempts at finding an extra edge in the game. Maybe I can spare you time and trouble by sharing my mistakes. Enjoy.

If you haven't learned how to speed up stat gains with maids yet, here is how...
Use a maid with evilities Licensed Caregiver and Cannon for an Arm to increase stats for five allies at once - simple.

Since Licensed Caregiver is intended for healing items, I assumed that Know How to Use It (Increase healing item effect by 100%, and attack item damage by 50%) and Gourmet (Increase effects of recovery items used on unit by 100%.) would work as well.
They do not.

On a side note, placing characters in Elite Four squad has no influence on fragments and extracts, same goes for the Raised Flag with it's Secret Trainer innocent.

I covered how Dark Hearts spawn with duplicates of your characters gear, unless your character has nothing! Aside from giving them nothing, the only item I can recall that has a negative trait is a Fresh Sardine (unique sword). In theory, it would have switched the damage to have a healing effect. Unfortunately, this doesn't work. Actually, I don't think any innocent effects work in Chara World. Perhaps the developers universally shut off innocent effects so players couldn't duplicate gear with the Kitty Paw stick. I guess I can't blame them...

I was really hoping this one would work. The thought was that having the evilities Lucky! and Lucky Finger on my controlled character would increase the quality of treasure in the Treasure mystery room, and maybe even the treasure chests on the floor where the Item World guide hangs out. It doesn't.

Here's another one where I was disappointed when it didn't work, as I was looking for a cheap way to deal with bank guards and Proto Darkdeaths. My idea was that a Toy Hammer (Reduces a target's HP by 1/3rd after a normal attack from behind) would have 100% synergy with The Tyrant Prinny evility (Can attack consecutive times, but unit will be defeated after attacking.) A nice idea, but this doesn't work even if all three attacks connect and do damage from the rear.

It just doesn't. I survived the battle below by doing a Geo Change that had an Invincibility Geo in it. (Roll a saving throw for the win!)

*HIGH PITCHED GIRLISH SCREAM*

Fu-ka has a handy combo skill when Desco and Artina are adjacent. An attempt is made to steal a random item from each enemy on the map. The rarity of items cannot be raised with Artina's Phantom Angel evility which is disappointing.

Tri-Angels can still be used to farm mass amounts of carnage items either to sell for Hel or Item World points...say, using large maps like Double Fake but if you're out to steal something specific and boost it's rarity in the process - stick with individual units with Thief Skills and Phantom Angel equipped.

Notes: After Tri-Angels is executed, Desco and Artina can be pulled back inside the base panel, returning their dispatch count. Also, if you have one of the three in 'Giant' or 'Amnesia' status, the skill will not be enabled.

Edit: This IS a Combo attack that has 100% synergy with Asagi's Never Give Up evility, and unique evility Twin Heads, AND a cast of Multi-Attacker from a Sage. That's six executions that can be enabled again with your Maid for a total of 12. Sheesh... Using Double Illusion as an example with it's 100 clones, it netted me about 250,000 item points. It also completely FILLED the bonus meter. That's more than pretty okay if you take the time to do it.

Wheee! We went to the Shoppers Club and stole their entire shipment of bulk chainmail! Because reasons!!

Further in the guide, I discuss using curries that apply negative ailments. I thought I could twist this further my using Majorita's Curse Reversal: 'When inflicted with an ailment, inflict attacker with the same ailment.' I made a incorrect assumption that you can already have an ailment, then use the Knight's Switch Stance to make a counter build centered around the Weakness ailment. Unfortunately, Curse Reversal does not trigger if you have the ailment as a pre-existing condition, it has to be given by the attacker so you can give it back. (Which means a specific enemy would have to target you with that ailment inflicting skill to begin with). Not reliable at all.

Talking to certain story characters will net you a few weapons (and more important, their item skin). The ones I know of:

• Seraphina can get a unique gun talking to a certain maid servant.
  
• Asagi will give Seraphina a unique gun as a peace offering when talking to her.
  
• Talk to Void shortly after he joins and he will give you a unique spear as a token of good faith.

With this in mind, I went searching for other Base Map events to look for hidden items by altering controlled character appearances and passing some of the more suspicious Assembly bills. I've tried....

• After passing the Invite Lucky Boards! bill, went around talking to Lucky Boards while disguised as a Lucky Board. (Mascot Feelings! evility.)
  
• After passing the Invite Prinnies! bill, went around talking to Prinnies as a Prinny with Prinny Day bill passed.
  
• As above but while controlling Etna (who treats prinnies worse than anyone), Sicily (who loves prinnies more than anyone), or Valvatorez (Prinny Instructor).
  
• Talking to Liezerota, Killia, Zeroken or Void when controlling Goldion. (His position at the Carnage Gate is filled by a prinny when being controlled.)
  
• Talking to Liezerota while controlling Void.
  
• Talking to Usalia while controlling Majorita.

At this point, I gave up. -_-

Putting Resistance Innocents in Fragment Shards and Magic Extracts
If you read inside the parentheses in the Strategy Assembly for the fragments and extract bills, it mentions losing attach innocents - which totally is a Captain Obvious hint that you can attach innocents to fragments and extracts . This does NOT work for weapon, affliction, and element resist elements innocents but it DOES work for basic stat innocents. I typically don't do this unless I have a large surplus of innocents from successful item duplications, but all the small-fry innocents I scoop up doing Land Decimator item runs are disposed of this way.

Use Status Ailments to Boost Characters
The Prinny class and Imp class have a few evilities that reverse status ailments to make a stat perk as long as that ailment is in effect. And if you're wondering if you can target your own characters with ailment spells - you can!

Thanks to Through Adversity and Binding Dash, Killia can cover the entire map with a 30% boost to stats despite being paralyzed. It works just as advertised!

Technically this trick does indeed work, but even a sorcerer with a fully leveled Stun spell has trouble making the spell stick. (Don't forget to remove the Medicine Man from gear!) The success rate is awful as the target's SPD and RES is working against the caster. Once it sticks, its actually pretty good for while it's active. But is it worth the trouble for just 3 turns? Not really.

Use Really Bad Curry Recipes to Boost Characters
The prinny tutorial for curries hints that negative effects can be placed in curries. Let's try one!
The negative status effect is in place as soon the character exits Home Base, but again it only lasts for three turns, plus it universally effects all allies on the map for the duration. Yuck!!

*Sniff sniff* What's that smell?....*CHOKE*...oh God!...*BARF*

HOWEVER...if you're feeling saucy about bending game mechanics, this can be abused with a little effort. Both Through Adversity and Weaken Life are both class evilities that are super easy to get, cost three evility slots each and give a 30% boost to all stats each. Toxicologists can be distributed to units who doesn't have that evility setup, making them immune. Is a six evility slot cost worth a 60% stat boost for three turns? Hmm...maybe?

A Build...Based On Height?!
I tried using the elevation based evilities of the Rabbit class and applied them to something more useful, like an archer. But any height difference too great between target and attacker narrows the usefulness. Yes, you'll get a damage and stat boost at +40 height, but it's not enough for the trouble. And wouldn't you know it - even if you have a dozen thieves, the boxes they can jointly create is maxed out at FOUR. Still, if a chest is on the field, that's stack-able. (Totally doable with Netherworld effect Relief Support.) Four boxes and a chest will give a height that's outside of most - if not all enemy attacks, while still letting the caster on top target those below.

Maybe this could work with four thieves having Majorita's Lich Deimos on, casting their box before walking out into the enemy crowd to be slaughtered like the squishies they are (might as well give them some 'Upon Death' evilities while we're at it), then have another throw that box tower on a chest and have your sage climb it so she can cast Land Decimators each turn without being bothered by enemies. It's a lot of hassle, but noteworthy enough to keep in mind.

Maybe when battling Item Kings and Gods, a nuker can be elevated to attack them from the map's perimeter? Nah, it's easier to debuff them. Maybe another trick for dealing with Proto Darkdeaths? Yeah...that works!

HA-HAA! Too bad you're so roided up that you can't even LIFT YOUR ARMS!

Prinny Bombs! Huge Prinny Bombs Forever and Ever!!
HP gets a clear advantage over other stats, which in turn can be used to make really big prinny bombs. However the damage counts as 'neutral' damage and does not give mana, exp, HL, and item world kill bonuses. What's more, some bosses have evilities that prevent such damage.

This can still be fun to screw around with though...here is a sample build.

• Greedy Disposition [ Unique - Nether Noble Class ] Increase stats by digits of money owned x 3%.
  
• Lovely Song [ Unique - Sea Angel ] Increase stats of all ally units on the map by 3%.
  
• Focused Grenade [ 4 slots - N2 Prinny DLC ] Damage dealt from exploding will become 150% of unit's HP.
  
• Recycle Spirit [ 5 slots - Prinny Class ] If this unit dies from exploding, the number of dispatched units doesn't increase.
  
• Flex All Muscles [ 1 slots - H252 Prinny ] Increase Max HP by 10 x 10,000 but stats will all become 1.
  
• Wild Power [ 3 slots - Bear Class ] Increase Max HP by 50% but decrease INT & RES by 30%.
  
• Lich Deimos [ 6 slots - Majorita ] Once per stage, revive inside the Base Panel after being defeated.
  
• Unstable Power [ 1 slot - Chara World ] Increase stats by 50% but decrease stats by 20% every turn.

If this floats your boat, remember that curries can boost HP more than anything else. Also, the Prinny squad expands the explosion perimeter, and does passing Explode Ridiculously! in the Strategic Assembly. Etna's Lethal Thow evility, the Wrestler's Power Throw, and the Thief's Evade Danger should also be of interest to you. Have fun!

Using an adjacent Christo, we turn our backs on intelligence, accuracy, and speed and go ALL IN with ATK by giving our item world Sage an ... axe? Yep, that's how this build rolls - ATK based Land Decimators!

You can still use Hard Workers to boost ATK and INT so she can still cast Tera spells as needed - or at least I did. I also parked her in the Foot Soldier squad using the Gender Bender and Bodyguards to set her ATK to ... I dunno, whatever the max amount is.

But accuracy? We don't need no stinking accuracy! To further this theme, I put a Watermelon in the offhand which increases damage dealt by 50% but decreases accuracy by 50% when attacking. Roided up beyond reason, that's my sage! :D

Mass Blaster [ Unique - Affixed ] Increase damage dealt by number of targets of the attack x 10%.
Twin Heads [ Unique - Twin Dragon ] When attacking without moving, attack again.
Greedy Disposition [ Unique - Nether Noble ] Increase stats by digits of money owned x 3%.
Bullying [ Unique - Imp ] Increase damge dealt to lower level enemy units by 30%. ...if you've unlocked your final unique evility slot.
Gender Bender [ 1 slot - Chara World, Quest Shop ] Switch gender of unit.
Violence [ 6 slots - [spoiler]Void[/spoiler] ] Increase stats by 50%, but only earn 50% EXP.
Power Axe [ 2 slots - Warrior ] Increase damage dealt by 10% when axe is equipped.
Bounty Hunter [ 1 slot - Chara World ] Increase damage dealt to stray Lost Army or other Netherworld Army by 30%
Boar Charge [ 4 slots - Orc ] Increase ATK by 50%, but decrease HIT by 30%.
Hungry Warrior [ 2 slots - Plenair ] Increase ATK by 20% if curry effect is active.
Immovable Fist [ 4 slots - Goldion ] If unit hasn't moved since before the previous turn, increase damage dealt by 50%. Swap with Spirit Gun if you use Echoing Hymn for resist boosts.

Yes, this build does indeed work, very well sometimes - until you get into super tight spots where a support team cannot be fully deployed, then this build starts to fall apart. The worst spot by far is the Commuting Prinny Mystery Room...ugh.

Majorita will eventually join your party (as most antagonists in this game will) and though she deserves to be affixed to the Innocent squad to shovel innocent poop and mop up after their not-so-innocent orgies for all time - she does come with a super handy evility...let's abuse the heck out of it!

Boy, did I hate this Overlord. So annoying. But then I came up with a build to deal with Mil after she inevitably gets angered by AOE attacks. Now I love (to kill) him...

Spreading Miasma [ Unique - Affixed ] Enemy units on map have a 30% higher chance of getting ailments and stat drops.
Lich Deimos [ 6 slots - Majorita ] Once per stage, revive inside the Base Panel after being defeated.
Death Throes [ 4 slots - Sorcerer ] Decrease ATK of enemy units on the map by 30% when defeated.. (Lasts 3 turns)
Grief Shout [ 5 slots - Chimera ] When defeated, decrease DEF of enemy units by 30%. (Lasts 3 turns)
Tyrant Prinny [ 3 slots - Tyrant Prinio (Prinny DLC) ] Can attack 3 consecutive times, but unit will be defeated after attacking.
Paralysis Dust [ 2 slots - Winged Warrior ] 50% chance to inflict paralysis when attacking normally.

Part of the setup here is that some ailment innocents are given to Hedler, specifically a Hypnotist, a Drainer, a Witch Doctor, and an Amnesiac. I believe his unique evility Speading Miasma helps the success rate. Regardless, there are many ways to apply afflictions here with just a standard attack. It's not important to do damage to Mil, only that Helder DIES. This triggers Death Throes and Grief Shout to all enemies on the map whether Hedler's attacks actually land or not.

The con with this build is that it uses up a character dispatch, which isn't a big deal. Hedler should also be brought out first and his turn executed before bringing out other characters, or the death trigger won't occur until at the end of a combo and things could get messy. The end goal is to leave Mil a harmless kitten for three turns and Hedler is really good at it - he actually seems to like this job!


"Mil, I'm sorry but there is no way you're going to like me bringing my Sage in this packed room. Oh Hedler!"

"Good boy!"

This male angel has a unique skill to revive defeated allies by taking their place, only we're abusing Majoritas evility again so he's deposited alive inside the Home Base panel. Can be used once per battle, so basically its one free revive per item world floor. Maybe have two or three of these guys in your roster just in case things go bad?

Lich Deimos [ 6 slots - Majorita ] Once per stage, revive inside the Base Panel after being defeated.
Death Throes [ 4 slots - Sorcerer ] Decrease ATK of enemy units on the map by 30% when defeated. (Lasts 3 turns)
Last Rites [ 6 slots - Artina DLC ] Upon defeat, fully heal ally HP, SP, and increase stats by 30%. (Lasts 3 turns) Use this or Grief Shout.
Self-Sacrifice [ 4 slots - Shroom class ] When defeated, increase Revenge Gauge of ally units on the map by 20%.

Similar to Hedlar, only this Prinny can be thrown to activate map wide buffs and debuffs but without taking a dispatch slot. Note that Prinny Squad increases the blast radius, be careful...

Lich Deimos [ 6 slots - Majorita ] Once per stage, revive inside the Base Panel after being defeated.
Death Throes [ 4 slots - Sorcerer ] Decrease ATK of enemy units on the map by 30% when defeated.. (Lasts 3 turns)
Recycle Spirit [ 5 slots - Prinny ] If this unit dies from exploding, the number of dispatched units doesn't increase.
Grief Shout [ 5 slots - Chimera ] When defeated, decrease DEF of enemy units by 30%. (Lasts 3 turns)
I chose Death Throes over Self-Sacrifice as 'Death by Explosion' doesn't seem to register on the rage meter. Why? Because when a prinny dies - NO ONE CARES.

Professors are nice to have, they're buffers supreme! But an Celestial Hostess has a buff that a professor will never have and that's Echoing Hymn - the only skill that boosts star resist! Now star builds can be used with the Magic Knight's Elemental Force. Yes!

Angel Protection [ Unique - Affixed ] Decrease damage taken by ally units within 3 panels by 5%. (Max 30%).
Medical Insertion [ Unique - Professor ] Multiply effect of support magic by 2.
Cursed Dance [ Unique - Sorcerer ] Increase damage enemy units on the map take by 3%.
Charismatic Novice [ 3 slots - Emizel DLC ] Increase stats of adjacent ally units by 10%.
All Range+ [ 4 slots - Celestial Host ] Increase attack and magic range of adjacent ally units by 1.
Softening Aura [ 3 slots - Slumber Cat ] Nullify damage taken from ally units.
Boorish Counter [ 2 slots - Chara World ] Will not counter attack, but increase stats by 20%.
Effective Delivery [ 4 slots - Professor ] The effects of support magic will last 3 more turn(s).
Tension Booster [ 4 slots - Professor ] When using support magic, increase target unit's Revenge gauge by 10%.
Swap this out for Explorer if needed.

Ask a dozen Disgaea 5 players about Sage builds and you'll get a dozen different answers - lot's of ways to assemble them. (Mine utilizes Hasty Rush, Fatal Slash, and hodgepodge of other typical stuff that can be used in every scenario - has been covered by many guides.)

This Sage build below is an adjacent support character to my main sage. A little different, as she's used to trigger every enemy on the map into their overloads using a non-lethal Land Decimator AND cast Multi-Attacker onto my main sage in ONE TURN. (Cast Multi-Attacker on the main sage FIRST along with the other boosts you use, execute that, then proceed with the non-lethal Land Decimator, then the beefy overpowered one.)

Mass Blaster [ Unique - Affixed ] Increase damage dealt by number of targets of the attack x 10%.
Cursed Dance [ Unique - Sorcerer ] Increase damage enemy units on the map take by 3%.Medical Insertion [ Unique - Professor ] Multiply effect of support magic by 2.
Charismatic Novice [ 3 slots - Emizel DLC ] Increase stats of adjacent ally units by 10%.
Softening Aura [ 3 slots - Slumber Cat ] Nullify damage taken from ally units.
Boorish Counter [ 2 slots - Chara World , Quest Shop ] Will not counter attack, but increase stats by 20%.
Handicap [ 2 slots - Chara World, Quest Shop ] When attacking lower level enemies, their remaining HP becomes 1.
Explorer [ 2 slots - Pirate Class ] If unit is on map when clearing a floor, increase chance of a mystery room.
Veteran Support [ 5 slots - Petta ] Once per turn, you can do a full action one more time after using support magic.
Taunt [ 3 slots - Etna DLC ] Increase Revenge Gauge of enemy units on the map by 5%.

Every Asagi coughs up a fragment as their sheer numbers involved ensure that all Revenge Gauges are filled, but you might have trouble doing the same trick in a 20 star difficulty carnage item unless you seriously develop the support sage or the map has plenty of enemies.

...To Make Your Life Easier.

You can select items by the entire item category now, which is fast and easy - but this also increases the chance of tossing away something you've been meaning to level or save for a specific purpose. An item lock prevents this. Giving a locked item to a character also prevents them from being accidentally deleted with a locked item when getting rid of surplus characters with the Recruiter.

With the evility list as sizable as it is, saving evility builds is truly a blessing. Have one for doing Item World runs, a separate one for Chara World runs, one for Asagi fragment runs, one for Boss Killing, etc etc. You can even preview before loading or saving over a slot. Nice!

You can alter your evilities and load evility builds after entering mystery rooms. Don't wait for the item world run to conclude to fix something you don't like.

All mystery rooms enable you to heal characters with items provided they're not outright dead. You can also exchange your evilities or equipment. If need be, you can access the character roster and move characters up and down - which can be helpful if you're rush mastering classes in item world.

Use a fully staffed Alchemy shop to generate bribery items on top of what you find in the Item World, and DOUBLE the effect of those items by having a character with Great Debater evility quipped do all your bill proposals. This allows them to do their slimy political work before the bill is voted on. When all the Senators love you unconditionally, staffing the Dark Assembly squad is optional.

Uh, guys? How about we save everyone time and just let me do whatever I want...?

Yes, it's mostly cosmetic but it changes once you find the evility Super Jump and place it on that controlled character. As long as the Life Support Unit squad is ranked and has a leader, jumps seemingly defy gravity.

With Super Jump and Life Support Unit squad combined, the parkour in the item duplication room becomes unnecessary. Just walk right up the yellow brick road and ... jump!

Back attacks get a damage adjust in your favor - so use them. You can also quickly set up easy back attacks in mystery rooms before initiating combat, which can be key if you use a build that uses Twin Heads that is only enabled as long as you don't move.

Hello gentlemen, could you face me for a moment? That's right, keep facing this way. I'll be right back...

This can be painful as some quests require absolutely ridiculous effort for very little gain...but completing a quest can unlock others. Start with the very easy ones and work your way up. A large number of quests can be completed by synthesizing the items asked for in the Alchemy shop!

Also consider duplicating unique items by leveling them in the Mystery Room path before turning them in, as you may never see them again. (The secondary perk of leveling unique items is that you unlock a different skin color scheme with each rarity tier, so there's that...)

...for Softening Aura which will null damage from Land Decimators, then move onto Valkyrie for Start Dash, then perhaps Wrestler for Power Throw.

Why? To reach and throw geo spheres! Any humanoid unit can throw a geo sphere onto an enemy (or an enemy onto a geosphere.) and take credit for the geosphere kill. With the difficulty at 20 stars, the class mastering becomes super easy in carnage items.

Two monsters can magichange onto the same hand. With Double Bladed evility equipped by the magichange weapon holder, the number of monsters that can magichange goes up to four. (Two per hand.) This makes mastering classes crazy fast, fast enough to consider all generic units hired by the recruiter to start off as monsters.

The Ability squad has a good deal of Magichange evilities available for those willing to put in the time to learn them, and I highly recommend doing so before making the transition between the normal item world and the carnage item world. I also recommend having your magichange weapon user be a female, as Desco has a very cool evility that boosts magichange stats if the monster is magichanging with a female unit.

Super Sis Legend [ 5 slots - Desco ] When Magichanging with a female unit, increase stats of weapon by 30%.

Even if you choose not to use Magichange evilities - using monsters as weapons can still result in a huge advantage. A monster's unique class evility appears at the bottom of the wielder's evility list for the Magichange turn duration. Abuse this!

Don't let her sit on the sidelines - she's way too useful. Her unique evilities lets her choose between two roles - she can be the very best tank / damage sponge in the game OR she can be a whirlwind of destruction with her Murmur of Rage overload.

I chose defense as even with a totally awesome curry in effect, things can still get turned sideways fast when trying to have a weak character get their 4th unique evility slot and Carnage Void zips right up to you.

Anti-Bully Aura [ Unique - Affixed ] Decrease damage taken by you or adjacent ally units by adjcent ally units x 10%.
Precious People [ Unique - Affixed ] Increase ATK by adjacent ally units x 20%.
Angel Protection [ Unique - Celestial Hostess ] Decrease damage taken by ally units within 3 panels by 5%. (Max 30%)
Sweet Aroma [ Unique - Floral Beast ] Ally units within 2 panels recover 20% HP at end of turn.
Softening Aura [ 3 slots - Slumber Cat ] Nullify damage taken from ally units.
Boorish Counter [ 2 slots - Chara World , Quest Shop ] Will not counter attack, but increase stats by 20%.
Blessing of Love [ 3 slots - Celestial Host ] Increase recovery for ally units within 2 panels by 70%.
Auto Recovery [ 2 slots - Quest shop, CharaWorld ] Recover 5% HP at end of turn.
Synch Guard [ 3 slots - Armor Knight ] When defending, decrease damage taken by adjacent ally unit by 10%.
Advance Guard [ 4 slots - Armor Knight ] When defending, decrease damage taken by 50%.
Prevention [ 3 slots - Floral Beast ] Protect ally units within 3 panels from ailments.

For this to work she always defends. Provided all team mates survive the onslaught (they should), they're nearly brought back to 100% at the start of the next turn. Neat. Regen curries and the Auto HP Recovery Netherworld effect also aid with this. I DO have a professor in the dispatched group alternating Shield spells with Magic Boost or Braveheart depending on who is attacking.

OR...you go offensive. I can list the build here but I was too big of a dummy to realize it on my own. Andrew Saudis has the original credit. Also see this vid on it.


It's super neat to watch in action. Technically, this IS better than a Sage - almost TOO good as enemies don't survive long enough to drop stat shards. Softening Aura isn't needed as in Sage builds so that's a plus...but I still can't wrap my head around using Killia as a support character. He's my ruthless boss killer and nasty Proto DarkDeath kidney puncher and I like him that way :P

...and Speaking of Magichange Weapons...

Yes, monsters can learn evilities with the Ability squad. This brings up more questions on unexplained specifics...does the magichange evility goes on the monster or the magichange weapon user?

I've confirmed MC Mastery, Demon Researcher, and Bond of Souls go on the magichange weapon holder, as does Magichange Reform (kinda pointless as it shifts stats slightly if a second monster magichanges onto the first and they're of different weapon classes.) I've confirmed Cross Formation goes on the monster, as does Super Sis Legend...but unfortunately other skills like Fusing Souls and Weapon Fusion are still enigmas to me, as I have yet to see a stat difference regardless of who equips them. Testing was confusing and inconclusive, and I have yet to see a guide or video diving into these dirty details.

This is where two monsters magichange onto the weapon holder's main hand, with the second monster adding 30% of their stats to the first. Combined with Double Bladed, four monsters can be utilized at once. (Class mastering warp nine...ENGAGE!) Used in conjunction with Double Bladed Plus, the evility slot cost is extreme but still a viable option for builds.

Prinny Hater Slayer...

Each monster has class specific magichange attacks, and they can be leveled. After the magichange occurs, the attack skills temporarily appear in weapon carrier's skill set. If you want to boost the leveling rate of these skills with Mentor innocents, know that they need to be the weapon carrier's gear, NOT the monster's. After the battles are over, the gained skill levels go with the monster and don't appear on the magichange user at all. Don't ask me why, that's just how it works...

Note that of all the innocents Izuna carries, only the Professional gets carried over into her role as a magichange weapon. Better than nothing, I guess...

All monster classes have two weapon skins that can be collected to be used to alter the appearance of regular weapons. The first being the initial magichange, and the second when another monster magichanges again onto the first, usually a larger variant. The monsters class Overlords in the story and DLC monster characters that join your party have their own unique skins - these can be collected at well. They are...

Hedler, Erynder Z, Geese, Izuna, Drumdawn, Usalia, Desco, Metallia, Raspberyl, and Overload Priere. (Brave doesn't seem to have a unique magichange skin apart from a basic bear.)

There is ALSO a secret set of weapon skins when combining a particular monster class with another. These are...

Prinny & Prinny, Imp & Orc, Horseman & Ifrit, Slime & Twin Dragon, Bear & Zombie, Ninetail Fox & Mothman, Slumber Cat & Rabbit, Nether Noble & Chimera, Alarune & Sea Angel, and Fairy & Shroom.

Evilities like Bodyguard, Sexy Aura, and Shroom Power, bring up an sensitive but important question...what sex is that monster? It's a male...I think??

Here's the short list that can be found by standing next to an enemy Shroom or Succubus and seeing which is effected. (We're skipping the humanoid characters here, but the effeminate Clergy character you can hire is a dude. Not judging, just saying...) Probably no surprises here but they are listed for those who wondered as I did.

The Boys...
Prinny, Orc, Sludge, Winged Warrior, Undead, Shroom, Nether Noble, Dragon King, Imp, Rabbit, Chimera, Bear, Twin Dragon, and Horseman.

The Girls...
Slumber Cat, Flora Beast, Felynn, Succubus, Sea Angel, Fairy, and Nine-Tails.

Ah, the running joke that carried over from the first Disgaea makes a return. This is easy to figure out, just place a female character in the Flatty Squad and see if their stats get a bump.

Valkyries, Witches, Thieves, Archers, Sorcerers, Fairies, Sea angels, Floral Beasts, as well as Usalia, Raspberyl, Desco, Fu-ka, Petta, Sicily, Nisa, Pleinair, and of course, Etna and Flonne :)
(Slumber Cats do not make the list despite not having any visual cues of being endowed.)

Asagi is minor but reoccurring character in many Nippon Ichi games. In this game, she gets her own Asagi Fan Club squad! It has the effect of boosting her stats with each additional characters added to the squad, but it goes beyond that. If the additional character is also of the Asagi class, they receive the boost as well. (Having any character's sub class set as Asagi doesn't trigger the stat boost, their main class has to be Asagi.)

The Asagi' unique evility is Unstable Settings, which randomly chooses from a short list of other unique evilities each turn. Most are not bad!

• ( Depression ) Increase movement by 5.
  
• ( Desperate ) Critical rate becomes 100% when attacking or being attacked.
  
• ( Mini ) Evade attacks at the rate of 50%.
  
• ( Idol ) Increase stats of ally units on the map by 10%,
  
• [ Next Game's Main ] Increase stats by 100%.
  
• [ Prinny ] Explode when thrown.

Some players have noticed that all Asagi have 50% Star resist, and use them in Comet Disaster builds in conjunction with Star Resist Up curries. One drawback is it does require a good chunk of extra characters in the roster that need some Chara World time investment to be effective.

*Insert "Episode II - Attack of the Clones" Quote Here*

True, axes are the only item that has a degenerative stat attribute when leveling them in the Item World. And Carnage axes degenerate their speed and hit attribute A LOT. But first some questions...do you have a gunner in your party? Or perhaps an archer with the gunner's unique evility equiped? Or do you have Christo with his unique evility Tactician? Try them, I'll wait...
Back? Do axes still suck? No? Alright then, moving on...


Hmm....'Doom Mode' or 'Sexy Cute'... I'm kinda torn here...

This squad is very much like Red Magus' Super Universe overload. Characters immediately start with the 'giant' status, they get a 50% stat boost but are unable to do spells, special attacks, combo attacks, team attacks, pretty much anything other than a straight up attack and 'Giant Press.'

But Ripple Impact builds work just fine as you're doing basic attacks anyway, as do counter-attack builds. Some creative players out there have noticed that overloads work as well and use this squad as a building block for Usalia overloads and Comet Disaster builds, as the damage boost stacks on top of everything else AFTER damages are already maxed. (I've heard it takes A LOT of setup but if rocketing through the Item World in the fastest way possible is your goal, perhaps this will work.)

Edit: B Is for Burning pointed out that you can use items despite having your abilities locked -
which means a thief in Giant status can still steal using Thief Hands. Verified. :D

Seal of Betrayal [ 1 slot - Chara World, Quest Shop ] Deathblow ally units.

This may be to trigger 'On Death' evilities before letting the enemy start their turn. More importantly, this CAN be used in conjunction with Handicap. Yes, that evility is technically for sparing enemies but your allies will also have 1 HP left after the attack is made. This can be used to enable 'Less HP = More Atk' evilities like Sapphire's Robust, Bear's class Power of Adversity, Almaz' I Won't Lose Or even Sapphire with all three! Remove Twin Heads from the Seal Of Betrayal user and equip a Pie to disable counter attacks or things might get messy - and unequip Softening Aura so you actually do damage.

Alternately, you can use evilities like Nisa's Absolute Justice and Dangerous Revival, or even clone Asagi's 8-Bit Giant to bring a Giant build out of the Giant Killer Squad to wherever you want it. (Foot Soldier Squad?) It's all gimmicky, but it works for those who are interested.

Braggart [ 1 slot - Chara World ] Increase ATK by 50%, except during battle, Chara World, and research expeditons.

I have NO idea what this evility does. It clearly suffers from an extremely poor translation, or maybe they couldn't fit the full text onto one line. Some say it's the best Chara World evility but it doesn't even show in Chara World evility category. I read somewhere it is sort of a 'one battle and done' type of evility that is in effect the first battle, then becomes inert on all following battles. Unfortunately, I have yet to see evidence of this being triggered. There are other one slot evilities to plug a hole with so I don't worry about it.

Yes, you can! You can treat most items like the expendable attack items in the Rosen Queen Item Shop. Note that I said MOST, as the items with the highest attack stat of them all are fragments and exacts - which will only add to the enemies stats if you try to throw it at them. -_- Anyhoo, the Maid and Kunoichi classes have the evilities needed to make it work correctly. The damage is based on ATK and you should plan your character build around it.

It's end game content of course, as you'll be unlikely to even consider this unless your Hel and Item World points are maxed to the point where you have scads of weapons laying around. Also, the needed evilities add up to be a sizable chunk of your evility slots. But wouldn't you prefer a special attack your character is specialized in already?


If one of your unique evilities is Efficient Work, you can throw two items per turn.

Have a spear...no, take TWO!

I re-visit this game often and will continue to do so until someone gets smart and re-releases Final Fantasy Tactics to Steam. Sometimes, I discover I'm outright incorrect about something or find an easier way than my previous method.

9/1/2025
• Added note in Details on the Item World about Hercule's Armor being able to get numerically equal stats like a Trap but with 1 extra moment. Added note characters in Giant status being able to use items. Thanks B is for Burning.
  
  (Is everyone stoked for Final Fantasy Tactics re-port as I am? Not too far away now....)
  
  2/2/2025
  
• Added my clever idea of an ailment counter build to the 'Stuff That Doesn't Work' section, as it didn't work.
  
  12/16/2024
  
• Confirmed that Dullness Dance will work on big Proto Darkdeath. But reduced movement range is not two but three! (Evility description of 2% reduction is still out of my control...meh.)
  
  8/1/2023
  
• Noted Sorcerers do get a stat bump in the Flat As A Board Squad. Not sure how I thought otherwise the first time. (Did my sorcerer have max stats when I tested before? ....Nah.)
  
  6/27/2021
  
• Noted Tri-Angels does not have synergy with Phantom Angel in 'Stuff That Doesn't Work' section.
  
  6/9/2021
  
• Added weapon throwing in 'Extra Details' section.
  
  3/27/2021
  
• Edited details of unique weapon Chicken in 'Dealing With Proto Darkdeaths' - as killing enemies with it equipped boosts chance Mr. Egg appearance rather than just attacking them.
  
• Noted Christo's Eye For Discovery as a source of extra items for curry recipes .
  
  3/20/2021
  
• Tweaked Curry main ingredient chart again, as a carnage elixir provides a HP boost on top of the HP/SP heal effect. Why choose anything else?
  
• Tweaked Seal of Betrayal in 'Extra Details' to include Almaz' I Won't Lose!
  
  3/19/2021
  
• Moved 'Axe Sage Attack' build to Things I Tried That Actually Works! to Things I Tried (That Kind of Works) as it suffers greatly when no adjacent support characters can be deployed.
  
• Added 'Taunting / Support Sage' build to Things I Tried That Actually Work!
  
• Changed main ingredient for HP/SP Heal curry from Curry Soup to Angel Dust, as it's easier to purchase in the Item shop. (Confirmed the HP/SP gain was based on percentage of character stats)

On The List of Things to Do...

• Looks like the brackets I was using to list evilities broke - will switch to parenthesis soon...
  
• Flesh out Adjacent Evilities, along with debuff build for using Magic Knights Tera spells.
  
• List all three sources of extra Unique Evility slots. Others have covered this but I feel it should be here for completeness.

I hoped I helped someone out there like the game a little more as I do. Cheers!

I welcome help filling my missing details about Element Curry effects or Element Innocents. When finding conflicting info, be aware that I DO see conflicting info between other guides, especially when curry recipes and evility synergies are involved...pretty typical for this game - clear as mud.

This is how I walk into brawls with people who disrespect my guide...