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Dragon Quest 3 Remakegives characters access to abilities, and oftentimes, these abilities are every bit as powerful as the spells that other characters are capable of casting. These abilities give characters that have access to them a lot of options, and change the combat dramatically.
However, not all abilities are built the same. Some of them are exceptionally powerful, but have such high MP costs that they’re almost not worth using except in extreme circumstances. Other abilities might have modest effects, but are easy to cast multiple times in a fight, making a considerable difference over the course of a fight, and a dungeon.
Ability Criteria
Abilities in this guide are included because of a combination of factors: the impact they have overall, and the amount of MP they cost to cast. Unlike spells,abilities are available on characters that don’t naturally have high MP poolsto draw from. Because of this, abilities arguably need to have more impact per use than a spell, and it puts agreater importance on how much they cost to use.
Offensive Abilities
Offensive abilities in Dragon Quest 3 Remake sometimes mirror spells that have similar effects, and sometimes deal damage in their own extremely unique way. While there are quite a fewabilities that can deal considerable damage, some of them have such ahigh MP costthat they’re going to restrict your options immediately after.
The Most Useful Offensive Abilities
While ability usage is going to vary somewhat based on how every player decides to build and upgrade their characters, here are some of themost useful offensive abilitiesin Dragon Quest Remake 3:
Monster Wrangler
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Exclusive to the newMonster Wranglerclass included in this Remake,Call of the WildandMonster Pile-Onare, essentially, two different levels of the same ability, with the latter being the more powerful version. This calls in a group of animals to attack enemies,dealing damage multiple timesandrandomly targeting an enemy with each hit. This is a good ability to use against a group for its multiple-enemy damage potential, but really shines when there’s one enemy left, with all the damage focusing on them.
Warrior
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Mercurial Thrustis nothing special in the damage department compared to theWarrior’susual attack, but it comes in extremely nice when you need to land a hit on an enemy before they can act. Certain times, if an enemy acts first, they’re going to do something that’s going to have an extremely negative effect on your party; but with Mercurial Thrust,you’re guaranteed the first action, and can often finish them off because they can act.
Thief
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Shocking Slashis another ability that doesn’t do anything extraordinary damage-wise, but it’s in its more or less support-effect that it becomes important. Shocking Slashcan paralyze an enemy, ensuring they cannot act on their next turn, if not more turns after that. Similar to the effect that the Snooze spell has, Shocking Slash cankeep an enemy’s turn from being as damagingas it otherwise would, while also doing some amount of damage in the process.
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Boulder Tossis an exception in the MP cost department; it’s an expensive ability. But, theMonster Wrangleris arguably the ability-focused class you should be focusing on increasing the MP bar on the most, due to the class’s support abilities. Because of this, the 14 MP cost of Boulder Toss isn’t quite as punishing as it would be, otherwise. Boulder Toss has achance to hit every enemy present, and ithits them with extreme force, oftentimes wiping half of the enemy forces with one move.
Call of the Wild is afantastic ability to use against Metal Slimes, which are often difficult to land hits on; this ability gives you multiple chances to land hits on the same turn, and sometimes more than one hit on a Metal Slime at a time.
Support Abilities
Support abilities can make the difference between winning a fight and having to reload from an autosave. They are oftentimesjust as valuable, if not more,than support spells. Support abilities have a wide range of effects, from debuffing enemies to ensuring allies have an easier time staying on their feet.
The Most Useful Support Abilities
Here are some of themost useful Support Abilitiesin Dragon Quest 3 Remake:
Soothing Songwalks right up to the line of an ability that costs too much for its value, but manages to stay just under it byhealing everybody in the party at the same time. While the healing spells of the Hero and the Priest might make for a great way to rescue one party member from certain death, Soothing Song is a fantastic way tokeep the entire party’s heads above water. Using this consistently throughout a fight is going to keep things from getting dire unless you’re facing off against a very hard-hitting enemy.
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Whipping Boyenables yourWarriorto tank all the damage intended forone ally, andForbearanceallows them to tank all the damage meant for yourentire party. One is a great way to ensure that one particularly damaged ally doesn’t fall, and the other is perfect for ensuring that all the damage ends up in one place, and can more easily be healed back with Fullheal. You’ll have to be careful not to be overconfident with Forbearance, because a bad turn can take your Warrior’s health from full to empty, but in the right situation, it’s going to make things much easier to manage.
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War Crywould not make the cut if it focused on one enemy group at a time. But, because War Crytargets every enemy present, it can be a wonderful way to keep an enemy turn from creating nearly the damage that it would, otherwise. When War Cry hits, itstops enemies from acting on their next turn. Like all abilities and spells like this, it has the chance of missing some or all enemies that it targets, and in that case, it’s a wasted turn. But, more often than not, War Cry is going to create some value for relatively little MP cost.
Sandstormfunctions very similar to a spell calledDazzle, whichreduces an enemy group’s ability to accurately hit their target. In general, this is less useful than abilities likeWar Cryor spells likeSnooze, because they still allow an enemy to act, and so the enemy still has a chance to land their hit. But, in the case of Sandstorm, it hits fairly regularly, and has a low enough MP cost that it isn’t going to hinder your options unless you’re using it constantly.
Hero
In general, many of the Hero’s abilities are overshadowed by their spells; usually, the spell counterpart is a little more effective, for a similar MP cost. However, that cannot be said forMeditation, which is capable ofhealing the Hero for 500 healthoverall. While this can only target the Hero, it’s a much more efficient healing ability as compared to Fullheal, which will essentially do the same thing, but for a considerably higher MP cost.
