Delthea: Difference between revisions

Delthea joins near the end of Act 3 on Alm's route, with low bases and high growth rates, making her a part of the "Est archetype". One of Delthea's main weaknesses is her combination of low [[defense]] and [[HP]], making it very easy for her to get OHKO'd by stronger enemies at base. Delthea's low HP combined with the HP-cost of her base spells, namely [[Aura]], which takes away a large amount of her already low HP, opens her up to getting easily OHKO'd on the following enemy phase. Delthea does join with a very high base resistance, especially for ''Shadows of Valentia'' standards, making her useful for baiting enemy magic users, especially [[Witch]]es, but her low HP prevents her from engaging a large number of enemies without healing support form [[Silque]] or Cleric [[Faye]]. While Delthea does have a spell list featuring many high [[might]], high [[hit rate]] spells, this boon comes at the expense of accessibility and a lack of 3-range offensive options. Delthea needs to wait until level 11 to get [[Seraphim]], that's 8 whole levels, which she is unlikely to get without grinding, and Ragnarok requires an additional 7 levels. Until she receives a rather large amount of investment, Delthea is restricted to the generic [[Fire (tome)|Fire]] and high HP-cost Aura, and due to low base stats, is unlikely to double with either. Moreover, Delthea is also hampered by the low movement of mages, a measly 4 movement, meaning that unless she is [[Warp (staff)|warped]] or given the [[Mage Ring]] she will struggle to see any combat.

The most condemning aspect of Delthea is that she is simply unnecessary, as the other [[Mage]]s recruited in Alm's route are sufficient and likely already better than Delthea when she joins. If you really want a Seraphim-user on Alm's route, a promoted Silque or promoted Cleric Faye will suffice as they gain it upon promotion into [[Saint]], and are likely far closer to promotion than Delthea is to level 11. Moreover, [[Tatiana]] has Seraphim and healing utility at base and joins in the next act. Additionally, [[Luthier]], [[Kliff]], and [[Tobin]] have been available longer and have spell lists which all feature 3-range offense options and [[Excalibur]]. Sure, Delthea can reliably deal with enemies with low [[resistance]] and [[speed]], particularly Knights and Barons, but every other magic user can also do so all while requiring far less investment. Delthea's one saving grace is her great growths. Typically, offensively-oriented units in ''Shadows of Valentia'' either have a great growth in attack or speed and most magic-users available up until this point have rather average growths; however, Delthea has great growths in both attack and speed; thus, assuming equal investment across the board, Delthea will end up as the most offensively potent Mage on Alm's route, though this strength will likely only be relevant if you plan on tackling the post-game Act 6 as the other mages will suffice in the main game. Overall, Delthea is an incredibly weak unit without investment, however if the player does train her up, she can become a great asset to the army, though it's hard to train her up on faster playthroughs and her contributions can be replicated by other units that require less time and resources to be useful.