#amphare

Intro:

If you’re a fan of having high speed and a decent amount of options in any given situation, Amphare may be the starter for you, with decent physical and special attack stats and average defenses, Amphare has no clear weaknesses, and has one amazing strength in it’s speed, which allows it not only to often go before opponents, but to threaten them with melee attacks where other monsters can only use ranged attacks and threaten range attacks where others couldn’t threaten attacks at all. In this strategy review, I’ll analyze the stats, moves, traits and upgrades to determine what would be best to take on an Amphare.

Stats:

Amphare has some of the most standard stats in the game, with only an above average speed going for it stat wise.

Offense: Amphare has 3 in strike, magic, brawn and talent. While this may at first seem like a hinderance, as it has no clear advantage over other monsters, the ability to attack decently with both physical and magical attacks allows Amphare to play the situation appropriately, using magic attacks against physical tanks and vice versa. Unfortunately, the lack of a 4 in either accuracy stat means that a battle against a dedicated tank will usually mean missing, as 2d6+3 only has a 27% hit rate against a 12 defense. Overall, it earns a solid B for it’s ability to be a mixed sweeper, but misses out on getting anything higher since it can be hard walled.

Defense: Amphare has completely standard defensive stats. Its speed can keep it away from strong physical attackers but in a realistic scenario it will be average. It earns a C+ in this regard, since it can in theory use its speed defensively, but not often.

Utility: Amphare is all about the speed. 7 speed means you have initiative advantage and can position yourself better than your opponent. Being the only utility stat, this puts Amphare as above average, and monsters with an 8 in speed are very rare in Majimonsters. It earns an A in speed.

Trait: Amphare has Clerity, the ability to move two extra spaces when running in a straight line.

Offense: From an offensive standpoint, this will very rarely allow give you the opportunity to reach a melee attack, but using it to get into ranged attack range in massive battles is a great use of it. Overall, it gains a C in offense, it can be useful offensively, but will very rarely come up.

Defense: Celerity being used to run away is a pretty good use of it if everything goes wrong, moving 9 squares without any speed investment is impossible for other monsters, this will keep amphare free from all melee focused monsters, but is too limited to really  play around ranged users. It gets a B, it can be used to stay safe, but it’s only recommended if all else has failed.

Note: Breeding a larger Amphare to be able to use as a mount or passing this ability to a mount monster  would allow for the fastest mount in Majimonsters.

Starting moves:

Offense: Electrocute works as Amphare’s early ranged option. Pounce is only really the best move in two scenarios. If you need the extra 5 feet of movement, and if you’re battling a monster that resists lightning damage. Sparking bite is the main melee move for an early Amphare and is the only move to have a trigger effect, while this isn’t a great effect, it is better than anything your other moves can do on amphare and in melee it should definitely be used over pounce when possible.

Defense: N/A

Utility: N/A

Grade 1 moves:

Offense: Charged strike acts as a damage boost in melee combat, allowing for a d8 damage dice over the d6 of all your starting moves. Lightning bolt has an effect that allows it to reach a range of 50 feet.

Charged Strike: B-, You have better options at this grade and a 1d8 damage with no other effects is not something that’s going to be remaining relevant.

Lightning Bolt: B, the range makes this remain a little more relevant in later levels, the low damage and lack of other useful effects keep it from being above this.

Defense:

Static Aura: A, Static aura forced monsters in melee range to move 10 feet or be disoriented. This pretty much hard counters physical attackers, and remains useful throughout.

Utility:

Sonic Speed: S, At the end of Amphare’s turn, Amphare can move 20 feet without provoking withdraw strikes, allowing it to reposition wherever it wants.

Grade 2 moves:

Offense: Bolt Beam is a massive boost over the ranged attacks of the previous grade, not only having more damage, but also can cause disoriented, just like Sparking bite, which you’re probably used to by now. Crackling Strikes serves a similar purpose to the previous grade’s Charged strike, a damage boost with nothing else to offer. Swooping Strike allows for Amphare to attack and move right after, and also may knock an opponent prone. Sudden Surge gives Amphare a utility attack, meaning it can attack twice in one turn

Bolt Beam: B, A strong attack that can cause an effect is always good, disoriented isn’t the best but this is still completely usable. This has a direct upgrade next grade so if you want something like this, I recommend waiting for it.

Crackling Strike: C+, This is the strongest attack you can have at grade 2. This will not remain strong later on, but it’s very usable at this level.

Swooping Strike: A (wo SS)/ C (w SS), Moving after attacking is amazing, especially if you didn’t pick up sonic speed last grade. If you did, this is… not nearly as good. Being able to use grit to make it more likely to cause knocked prone does make it the most reiable effect causing attack you have access to.

Sudden Surge: A, a utility attack is always amazing to have, and an extra attack per turn is never something bad. It’s got bad range, bad damage and no effect, but it’s something few monsters get access to and you definitely want to at least consider picking it up.

Defense: N/A

Utility: Fire Stride: D-, this can allow Amphare to create a massive wall, but the lack of a maintain ability makes this only last one turn, meaning at most this is an extra d6 if combod with ally’s moves. You have much better options that are much more self sufficient.

Grade 3 moves: Welcome to where Amphare goes from a speedster to a nightmare, you have some of the best move access in this grade that you’re gonna get.

Offense: If you’ve been wondering when that amazing speed of Amphare’s would have a chance to shine, take Furious charge. Now your sonic speed disengage, your celerity and anything else to allow for disengages has a use, move as far as you can and ram into something, this move makes you the killer rabbit, but it’s tough to use effectively. Stunning Shock is an upgrade to bolt beam from last grade, it’s stronger and the most reliable effect attack you have access to so far

Furious Charge: A+, anywhere from 5-13 (6-14 with brawny) damage all based on your ability to position and use your disengages, this rewards clever play more than any other move. Not having to roll damage is nice since it lets you plan ahead more.

Stunning Shock: A, a little overshadowed by furious charge, but this isn’t a melee attack and if you want a ranged attacker Amphare and picked up a magic boost and Talented, this is definitely gonna let you compete with most ranged fighters this grade, and will remain useful later.

Defense: Combat focus allows you to dodge an attack by any enemy. Unfortunately, that also means you don’t get to attack and at this grade, you have access to some amazing attacks.

Combat focus: D, might be great for other monsters, but you simply have way better options available

Utility: Static Field allows you to effectively force an opponent out of the field, but this is very much a worse wall and even worse than static aura. Haste makes you even FASTER. However, you don’t have a response attack so you’re not getting the most out of this yet. If you’ve tutored one on, or plan on picking one up later, this becomes much better.

Static Field: D, you had a better utility option 2 grades ago, don’t take this

Haste: C/A: If you don’t plan on using response attacks, the boost to speed doesn’t matter too much. If you do, this move is great.

Grade 4 moves:

Offense: Here you have two great options and two mediocre options. Lightning lance and thundering strike are great upgrades for magical attacks and physical strikes respectively. Lightning rush does less damage than thundering strike and deals recoil damage, which you don’t want, and uproar is usually less reliable than the other moves, without the boost from having the same affinity

Lightning Lance: S, take a damage increasing upgrade and this move will be slicing through enemy groups very effectively while allowing you to keep a distance.

Thundering Strike: A-, good damage for this trait, but nothing special really.

Lightning Rush: C, less damage, has recoil damage, low chance of effects. You have better options

Uproar: B, Can hit enemies around you, with a damage increasing upgrade, this can do good damage.

Defense: N/A

Utility: Here you have one of the best effect moves you’re gonna be getting. The ability to blind all your enemies is great, and the pressure is on them to roll to escape it, which is always better than it being on you to apply it.

Flash: A, amazing support move which can be the difference between victory or defeat. This is genuinely good enough to make Amphare a good support mon.

Grade 5 moves:

Offense: Here you get a great effect move in Knock-out strike which also provides some coverage move, though it does have less damage. A higher damage coverage move in monstrous bite, and your strongest move option in Lightning power

Knock-out strike: A, If you’re going for a support Amphare build or a physical attack build, this is worth considering for the effect. Odds are a physical attack build will want more damage than this though.

Lightning power: A, your highest damage move option, although damage is all you’re getting pre upgrade so keep that in mind.

Monstrous bite: B, High damage, and an effect that you’ll almost never get off. This is mostly an option if you’re looking for a coverage move or your team struggles with Mystic types.

Defense: This tosses attacks at everything in a 10 foot radius, which means not only can you rack up some good damage, but it keeps melee attackers from wanting to be near you

Lightning Aura: A, Does good damage without having to use your combat action, and lets you really punish any physical attacker that goes near you or your frail teammates.

Utility: This is basically a free three technique upgrades, and acts as a massive damage upgrade if you planned for taking it.

High Voltage: S, your lightning moves are all empowered damage now without using grit, have fun dealing damage!

Stats upgrades:

Accuracies: Amphare starts out with average accuracy, and you really want to increase that as soon as you can to really be able to reliably land hits on your opponents.

Speed: Amphare starts off fast, so it isn’t necessary to focus too much on this. Getting complacent or picking up furious charge make great use of a speed boost though, so definitely consider it.

Defenses: It’s very difficult to make a tank Amphare using only the moves it can get naturally. For a physical build, increasing it’s protection is good, but due to sonic speed, you can choose to instead focus points exclusively on your discipline and try to outposition enemies.

Health: If you’re playing a support Amphare build, you need this, but otherwise, you can afford to go for speed and accuracy instead.

Traits: The following are traits I especially recommend on Amphare, I will not include class specific traits.

Brawny/Talented: You have plenty of great attacks at your disposal, so doing a little more damage with them is a pretty good use of your trait.

Focus: Lighting: Nearly all of your moves are lightning affinity, so boosting this actually can boost more than simply getting Brawny/Talented does depending on your build.

Artillerist: One of the biggest things Amphare has going for it is threat range, it is a threat to enemies very far away due to it’s ranged attacks and speed. More range only makes this more true and keeps it safer.

Complacent: Complacent is an excellent trait on faster monsters, since it can allow you to gain the initiative then swap for a slower monster, after you’ve gotten into melee range.

Technique upgrades: Amphare benefits mostly from increasing it’s damage. Below are what I believe to be the strongest upgrades for Amphare

Attack on the run upgrade: If you don’t have sonic speed and have a physical attack that isn’t swooping strike on your Amphare, take this. It’ll be extremely handy and makes excellent use of your speed. With sonic speed, the utility of this drops heavily though.

Intense/Punishing upgrade: Punishing upgrade allows for the most possible damage on a move, intense upgrade is a more reliable damage boost however, and useful outside of empowered attacks.

Defiant Upgrade: High voltage gives this effect to all your moves, but with all the great moves you get in grade 5, it might be worth it to just take this on a move.

Swift upgrade: allows you to attack twice on a turn, but you’re usually using your utility action to sonic speed anyways.

Sample Builds: The following are strong builds I’ve created not using only what Amphare can naturally do. These can all be enhanced or expanded upon using merits, mentored moves, class skills and class traits.

Physical attacker Amphare:

5/5/12/3/10/8 4/3

Celerity, Brawny, Focus: (Lightning), Fierce anatomy (bite),Savage

Monstrous Bite (intense upgrade), Thundering Strike (punishing upgrade), Furious Charge (staggering upgrade), Sonic Speed

Strategy: Here you have three moves with different types and sonic speed to get you out of melee range and let you reposition wherever you want after you attack. The goal here is to exploit savage to hit different types for massive damage. Intense and punishing upgrades can be switched. Focus can also be switched to fury or basic. The strike bonus maximizes your accuracy, the protection keeps you relatively safe in tough spots and the point in speed allows for max damage on your furious charge. This build pairs well with other physical attackers/tanks since this allows you to use sonic speed to maneuver around the battlefield and pick your targets. If your party lacks these kind of monsters, consider swooping strike instead with a mastery or punishing upgrade

Mixed attack Amphare:

5/5/10/5/10/8 4/4

Celerity, Brawny, Talented, Focus: Lighting, Artillerist

Lightning power (Intense Upgrade), Lightning Lance(Defiant Upgrade), Lighting Bolt/Swooping Strike/Furious Charge (punishing upgrade), Sonic Speed/Static Aura

Strategy: So Amphare doesn’t really gain access to many physical coverage moves and a lot of the ranged moves are simply better than their physical counterparts. Lightning power is here as your strongest move and should be your go to for taking out single enemies. Lightning lance on the other hand is your strongest option against groups. Your third move can either be lightning bolt for better range if you feel you need it, swooping strike for a move to battle against stone affinity monsters, or furious charge to use that maginificent speed stat. Sonic speed can keep you mobile and safe, while Static aura is better if there are other long range fighters in your party and not enough tanks to keep you all safe.

Support Amphare:

7/4/10/3/10/9 3/3

Celerity, Resistance: Stone, Exemplary, Heroic, Healthy/Complacent

Knock Out Strike (sinister upgrade), Flash (swift upgrade), Sonic Speed, Static Aura

Strategy: Flash will be your main move with this build, allowing you to consistently blind your opponents, if an opponent is immune or blinding them is simply not helpful enough, getting in close and landing a knock out strike will lower their health and has a good chance of putting them to sleep, don’t be afraid to use it to catch monsters as well. Sonic speed will allow you to reposition to apply your heroic and exemplary bonuses to your allies and static aura will allow you to disorient enemies you’re near. Healthy and the lack of resistances should keep Amphare relatively safe, meaning this build doesn’t mind being up close as much as others tend to. You can replace the Healthy with Complacent to be able to swap out whenever you want for no drawback. This allows Amphare to be used for just initiative rolls then go into a better monster for the matchup or get close to a target then swap to a physical attacker for massive damage.

Notes: Here I will give advice on how Amphare can be improved upon using merits, class skills/traits, and mentors.

The apothecary can boost the damage of Amphare with Power, Might and Mind concoctions to allow it to deal even more damage.

The Transmuter can use Transmute affinity to fix Amphare’s problem with learning almost entirely lightning affinity moves, and Transmute Condition to make it’s effect moves far better, allowing Amphare to apply bleed/burn for more damage or freeze for more crowd control. (using this with Flash is a great combo)

The concordant’s power surge and power sink are both very powerful bonuses to Amphare. The evoker can use Evoke Cover & Exposure to boost the effectiveness of a ranged Amphare while a physical Amphare benefits greatly from Evoke Power & Feebleness to boost it’s damage and survivability

The knight’s Hastened allows for Amphare to get in a powerful furious charge at the beginning of any battle, and Thorough is a great way to add to amphare’s mobility in combat. The champion’s battle bond and deadly bond will boost it’s damage while the Commander’s Assault, Overwhelm and Reposition provide more accuracy, damage and mobility respectively.

The ranger’s Pathfinder makes sure that your speed is never diminished.

The Drajulecrafter’s glyph of affinity acts as a great boost to Amphares with lots of lightning attacks.

The scoundrel’s quick witted basically allows for sonic speed as a trait, which you can use to move further or get another move.The opportunist’s prime target, debilitating blow and sealing blow all help with its effect moves. All of the trickster’s abilities do the same, but hamstring especially will boost the damage substantially.

As for breeders, you have a large variety of options, I’ll list some options here, but there’s simply too many to list all that you could make. Adding basic, wind or fury to Amphare will boost the coverage moves Amphare has available. Boosting speed and accuracy or damage will make it a more threatening force to deal with. Increasing the size of an Amphare or using breeding to pass the celerity trait to a large majimonster would allow for an excellent mount in case this is something your team is looking for.

Finally for mentor moves, picking up multiple grade 5 attacks is always a good option. Amphare has other pretty good options. Any response attack will make Haste a far better move and allow for a response build, using Haste, your response attack and two regular attacks, which will allow you to actually stay in melee range of enemy monsters since you can deal damage even on their turns. Boosting protection and strike is ideal for these builds. Finally, Amphare does have the stats to be an effective tank, and picking up tank moves like deflect or mountain’s fury allows for a tank/support amphare with the ability to safely and effectively maneuver around the battlefield applying buffs to allies.