Constance: Difference between revisions

Constance is one of two primary spellcasters from the Ashen Wolves house—the other being [[Hapi]]—and is available to recruit once the player has completed [[What Lies Beneath|Chapter 2]] of the Cindered Shadows expansion. She more or less serves as the [[black magic]] counterpart of [[Lysithea]], sharing the same high growth in [[magic (stat)|magic]], albeit with a slightly higher cap. Unfortunately, magic is her only high growth; all of her other stats are at best average or outright poor, especially in [[HP]], [[strength]], [[luck]], and [[defense]]. Constance has a very outstanding spell list, being able to deal very high magic damage with spells such as the [[Fimbulvetr]], [[Sagittae]], or [[Agnea's Arrow]]. Additionally, she is one of the few units that can learn the rare and powerful spell [[Bolting]], and is arguably the only unit in the game that can effectively use it due to the handicaps of the other two Bolting users: [[Manuela]] has a weakness in Reason, while [[Hilda]] has low magic. Constance also has access to [[Soulblade]], a sword [[combat art]] that uses her higher magic stat and [[resistance]], resulting in a often mightier blow than most of her other spells. Her personal skill, [[Circadian Beat]], will—depending on the map—grant her a small boost in defense and resistance when fighting in maps that take place in the sun, while instead boosting strength and magic when in maps that feature either cloudy or rainy skies or that takes place indoors; the effect that is present is reflected in her portrait, with her eyes shaded and sporting a sad expression if the latter effect is activated. In Part I, a bit over half of the maps are indoors or overcast, granting her the offensive boost, but in part II, nearly all maps in all routes are outdoors and sunny, granting her the unideal defensive boost as she is already extremely frail to the point that two points in her defensive stats rarely spare her from being one-shot.

Constance has a Budding Talent in [[Brawling]], which will grant her [[Mystic Blow]] when realized, giving a total of three magical combat arts to use. However, pursuing brawling is suboptimal with Constance for many reasons. First, due to her low strength, Constance will deal almost no damage with physical weapons—especially gauntlets. Moreover, Mystic Blow cannot perform a follow-up attack, meaning that until she reaches A-rank in Brawling, enabling her to use the magical [[Aura Knuckles]], she will be unable to capitalize on the main strength of Gauntlets, that being their ability to [[follow-up attack|double attack]]. Constance's hidden talent is more or less a gimmick that will generally produce less results than her spells and Soulblade until very late in the game.  

Due to Constance's excellent array of spells, but conversely poor physical capabilities, she is better off following a magical promotion pathway. The best way to do this is by promoting her to a [[Monk]], then to a [[Mage]] while also mastering the class for [[Fiendish Blow]]. From here, you can promote her into a [[Warlock]] then to [[Gremory]] if you want to have [[Black Magic Uses x2|extra spell charges]] or into a [[Dark Flier]]. The Dark Flier class offers excellent mobility without opposition from terrain while having [[Black Tomefaire]] as an innate ability, and it goes hand in hand with mastering [[Bowbreaker]] from the Warlock class. Though, if you are averse to the possibility of her getting [[bonus damage|shot down by arrows]] but still want her to keep pace with the rest of her teammates, you can make her a [[Dark Knight]] instead. Obtaining a boon in brawling by would make it slightly more easier for her to certify for the [[War Cleric]] class; on one hand, passing the certification will boost her strength to at least 17 (19, after factoring in the War Cleric's class modifier), giving her a better [[AS]] overall when using other weapons. However, the promotion comes at the cost of hampering her otherwise excellent spell list, reducing them to half of their uses, making the option of a War Cleric suboptimal compared to most other magic-wielding classes. Generally, mounted classes are preferred for Constance so she has access to [[Canto]], allowing her to reposition herself out of enemy range after attacking or using [[Rescue (staff)|Rescue]].