The reason why I made this guide is that there are barely any people talking about these abilities, though you don’t need them to win, they can help make your game end way quicker when used right.
Thunder
Basically what it does: You summon a thunderbolt onto a tile that does very low damage and stuns the enemies on it, but it cost 40
Why it’s good:
- AOE against enemies, tiny range of error though
- It stuns enemies, buying time for units is always great
Why it’s bad:
- Low damage, can’t even deal with most weak enemies, let alone strong enemies or bosses
- Bosses are immune to stunning
- It cost 40 mana, but stuns for barely a while
- There will be units that can also stun the enemy while doing higher damage, making this ability pretty useless
Overall: F
After using it at the tutorial level, I’ve never used it since 1-1, it’s impractical and mostly useless. It doesn’t work well with other units as it’s just way too expensive, instead a fireball could be used instead, or just use the mana to upgrade units. It’s hard to get a positive trade using this ability, due to its high cost and low effectiveness.
Transfusion
Basically what it does: It has around a range of 2×2 circles, when selected, the two enemies with the lowest health in the circle will take a low amount of damage, but if they are killed, heal every unit placed. Costs 30 mana to use.
Why it’s good:
- It heals every single unit on the screen as long as it’s alive
Why it’s bad:
- If both enemies don’t die, it means that you just wasted 30 mana, too inconsistent to be a viable option for healing units
- Similar to the other healing ability, outclassed by the healing unit
- It cost 30 mana, yet the heal isn’t very effective, as it only heals for a small amount
Overall: D-
It’s a bad ability, it tries to do two things at once,
- Doing damage
- Healing units
but in turn, fails to do both of them successfully and efficiently, leading to a poorly developed ability that is hard to use unless you have very particular situations.
Healing Soy Sauce
Basically what it does: It heals all units in around a 3.5 x 3.5 circle by 1030 health for just 30.
Why it’s good:
- It is guaranteed to heal when compared to abilities like a transfusion, it’s way more reliable for healing
- Healing 1030 health is insane, that is basically refilling the health of every unit you chose
Why it’s bad:
- When you get Menreiki, this ability is basically a joke already, and you unlock this around the end of normal mode, hence you get it at a pretty bad time, since you have a healing unit already(That is very good at its job)
- It cost 30 mana, although it’s cheap, if you always rely on it, you will run low on mana and can’t upgrade other stuff like units, it’s just not viable to pick this ability
- It’s barely usable, when you want consistent healing, picking Menreiki is better, and when you are facing stronger enemies and bosses, they can either one-shot your defending units, there is just not enough viable reasons to use this ability
Overall: C-
It’s not a substandard ability, in fact, it’s pretty overpowered, but the problem is when it becomes usable in this game, it never does. In most situations, Menreiki is a better choice since there is no reason to waste 30 mana on just some plain healing. This ability could heavily benefit if in the future, levels like the DLC could offer stronger enemies that can break shield quicker than Menreiki, but is slower than this ability, hence players will use this ability if they feel threatened.
Fireball
Basically what it does: You drop a fireball onto a bunch of enemies, setting them on fire while doing a bit of damage for 30
Why it’s good:
- AOE is good for finishing off a bunch of weakened enemies
- It can still damage high-health enemies, the fire effect isn’t strong, but can still chip a bit of health from the stronger enemies
- It’s a fire elemental power, good for enemies who are weak against fire-type powers
Why it’s bad:
- It does barely any damage compared to other abilities, it’s not useful to take out enemies with a high health pool
Overall: B+
It’s actually very good for a starting power, it offers strong enough firepower to deal with most early-game enemies, and could still chip down the health of tougher enemies when they are crowded with weaker enemies. I recommend you only use this when you have units that have high DPS(Damage per second), as this ability is mainly used for AOE.
Crimson Bats
Basically, what it does: You summon a swarm of bats around a 3×3 circle that slows enemies down and does moderate damage to all of them inside.
Why it’s good:
- AOE against many enemies, has quite a large range
- It slows enemies down, buying your units more time is always a great thing, especially when it only cost 30
- It does moderate damage, it can deal with many enemies with the support of units
Why it’s bad:
- It is not viable against bosses, as it would mostly not affect the bosses
Overall: A-
My other go-to ability, although I bring it with me, I still rarely use it, but when it is a situation for it, it becomes very powerful, it helps the slower-firing AOE units a lot, and when paired with units like Buddha’s Hand, it’s very good for stalling enemies. Doing both damage and slowing enemies for just 30 mana will most likely result in a positive trade either way, hence it’s very cost-efficient.
Sushi Feast
Basically what it does: It drops a bunch of sushi on enemies, doing around 100 physical damage per hit, may apply debuffs to the enemies, and only cost 30.
Why it’s good:
- It does high and consistent damage, while also applying debuffs sometimes
- Viable to take out the “shield of bosses”, as it does a lot of damage when the damage is summed up onto one enemy(The boss)
- It can target more than one enemy, and it’s very cheap for doing so
- It can target Usagi, it’s always nice to have something other than Sanbi no Kitsune being the only counter to this specific enemy that is used in the later games
Why it’s bad:
- You can’t aim with it, you are just hoping for the best if there are a bunch of enemies on the screen, but if that is the case, you should use other AOE units or abilities instead of this one
- If the enemy is quick, then the shot will miss, the simplest example are bosses going back to their “Starting position”
Overall: A
One of the go-to abilities I use, it’s highly effective early game and can help chip out the health and shield of the bosses in the late game.