If you’ve been playing Langrisser sort of casually or aren’t at level 35 or above yet, you may not be aware of Faction Buffs or just haven’t given them real thought yet. The game doesn’t exactly make it clear that Faction Buffs are a huge part of late team building, but they are a big deal and a factor you have to take into consideration for any team.
Particular SSR characters are able to learn Faction Buff skills if they go a certain class route. For example, Bozel receives the Dark Waltz Faction Buff if the player builds him into a Dark Prince.
These skills go far beyond most buffs and make some stat buffs almost useless, which is why you must plan your characters’ classes out with the knowledge that these skills will be an option at Level 35.
This system also explains why so many characters are clumped within two factions rather than one, which grants you flexibility in building your teams.
What do Langrisser Faction Buffs do?
Every one of these buffs is phrased the same way in its first part: “ATK & DEF increase significantly for all allies with [faction] within range.”
That’s not really descriptive, though. Faction Buffs apply to every one of your characters of that faction in that battle, meaning it has no real range. It just doesn’t work on other faction characters. Furthermore, it increases more than just ATK and DEF. It actually applies:
- +20% ATK
- +20% INT
- +20% DEF
- +30% MDEF
Most Faction Buffs include another unique effect with them, which adds some distinct playstyle variance between leaders.
There’s one particular thing to note about these powerful buffs, though, and that is the fact they do not stack with other buffs using the phrasing “ATK/DEF/MDEF/INT … within range increases by X%.”
With this in mind, the game instead applies the largest percentage increase and ignores the lower one. However this does not mean skills that increase buffs based on other criteria do not apply; it simply means you have to pay attention.
You are also not able to stack Faction Buffs themselves, so you’ll want to plan your team(s) around using a particular hero with one of these skills. I recommend you use them as the leader for your teams since a Faction Buff takes up two of a hero’s skill slots.
Heroes with Faction Buffs
As a reminder, each of these skills also grants +20% ATK, +20% INT, +20% DEF, and +30% MDEF — the base stat increases are simply not listed because they are all the same between each Faction Buff.
Oddly enough, not all Faction Buff holders are SSRs even so early in the global release. This trend will probably continue as more heroes are released, but SSRs are obviously the gold standard.
Protagonists
| Hero | Rarity | Faction Buff |
|---|---|---|
| Matthew Hero Infantry | N | Heritage of Light: When an ally is within 2 blocks, ATK & INT increase by 15%. |
Legion of Glory
| Hero | Rarity | Faction Buff |
|---|---|---|
| Ledin King Infantry | SSR | Rule of Justice: Damage increases by 20% when being attacked. |
| Elwin Hero Infantry | SSR | Eternal Light: When HP is above 80%, damage increases by 15%. |
| Grenier Grand Marshall Lancer | N | Dream of Light: No additional effects. |
Origins of Light
| Hero | Rarity | Faction Buff |
|---|---|---|
| Dieharte High Master Assassin | SSR | Light of Hope: When the troop has 5 or more buffs, all stats increase by 15%. |
| Freya Royal Vanguard Lancer | SR | Power of Hope: No additional effects. |
Princess Alliance
| Hero | Rarity | Faction Buff |
|---|---|---|
| Luna Pegasus Master Flier | SR | Princess Advent: After dealing damage to an enemy, it’s possible to deal extra fixed damage (15% of an enemy’s) |
Empire’s Honor
| Hero | Rarity | Faction Buff |
|---|---|---|
| Lance Dragon Master Flier | SR | Imperial Blaze: No additional effects. |
| Bernhardt Emperor Infantry | SSR | Imperial Power: Damage increases by 20% when battling against disadvantaged troops. |
| Leon Royal Knight Cavalry | SSR | Imperial Charge: Before attacking, with every 1 block moved, DEF and MDEF increase by 5% (up to 15%). |
Strategic Masters
| Hero | Rarity | Faction Buff |
|---|---|---|
| Altemuller Grand Marshall Lancer | SSR | Battlefield Master: All passable terrains are treated as Plains when moving. If the terrain increases DEF, ATK increases by 15%. |
Dark Reincarnation
| Hero | Rarity | Faction Buff |
|---|---|---|
| Bozel Dark Prince Mage | SSR | Dark Waltz: The battling against enemies with more than 3 debuffs, all stats increase by 15%. |
The current pool of heroes with Faction Buffs is currently rather small, but some members of the Langrisser community have already data-mined some hints pointing at upcoming characters.
It shouldn’t be long before we see our first big update for Langrisser, but for now, you have to plan with what you’ve got and it seems single faction teams are the way to go.
Published: Feb 5, 2019 02:30 pm