Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories/Battle basics

Below are listed the basics of Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories, and the essential information you'll need to fight effectively.

Base Map
The Base Map for all intents and purposes is your "headquarters". You can buy items here, arrange your troops, nearly anything outside of battle is done in the base map. The first and most-often seen base map in Disgaea 2 is Holt Village. Other base maps include Innocent Towns in the Item World, or the Coliseum in Episodes 6 and 7.

Base Map Menu
You can bring up this menu any time you're in the base map by pressing psx: T.


 * Items - View and re-arrange all of your items, and move them from the Item Bag to the Warehouse or vice versa.  Items in the Item Bag are brought into battle and can be used or equipped mid-fight, while items in the Warehouse are left behind and unavailable in battle.   Only a couple dozen items can be held in the Item Bag, but 512 items can be stored in the Warehouse.
 * Equip - Check your characters' current armor and weapons, and remove or equip items.
 * Status - Check your characters' stats, abilities, etc.
 * Arrange - Rearrange your unit listing.  This can be done manually or through several automatic options.
 * Help - View tutorials on the basics of combat.
 * Settings - Change sound levels, toggle on/off Special Move visuals, switch between English and Japanese audio, toggle Geo Effects between normal speed and fast, etc.
 * Quit - Reset the game and return to the main menu.  Unsaved progress will be lost.
 * Save - Save your progress up to this point.
 * HL - Abbreviation for "Hell", the currency found in Disgaea 2.  This displays your current amount, which can be earned in battle or by selling item to the local Rosenqueen shops.   It is used to buy items and weapons from the base map's shops or from stores in the Item World, and is also used for healing at the Hospital.

Shopping
There are three stores on every base map: Rosenqueen Weapon Shop, Rosenqueen Armor Shop, and Rosenqueen General Store, each uses HL as currency. As expected, the Weapon Shop sells weapons (characters can only hold one weapon). The Armor shop sells defensive items (characters can hold up to three armors) and other items that boost stats. Power Belts, Glasses, Shoes, and Weights can be added to the armor shop by passing certain Dark Assembly Bills. The General Store sells usable items that can restore HP or SP and remove status abnormalities in the midst of battle. When buying equip-able items, you have the option of trying them on and comparing their stats to your characters' current equipment.

Customer Rank
To raise customer rank, simply buy items from any shops. Relatively expensive purchases raise Customer Rank more than cheaper purchases. Customer Rank cannot exceed 12.

Product Rank
Higher product rank means more expensive and more valuable items available for purchase. Product Rank can be increased by passing the "More Expensive Stuff" bill in the Dark Assembly. Product Rank cannot exceed Customer Rank.

Netherworld Hospital
By paying HL, you can revive and completely restore characters injured in battle and remove any abnormal status. Revival has an additional cost when compared to simple HP/SP restoration. The healing costs for all characters and classes is uniform, save for Prinnies, who never cost more than a single HL to heal.

Other Services
The Dark Assembly and Item World can also be accessed through the Base Map. The Post Officer can be spoken with to accept Subpoenas needed to earn Felonies. Local characters can also be spoken with for advise or just random conversations. The Dimensional Gatekeeper can be spoken with to enter the main stages, and the Dark World Dimensional Gatekeeper can be talked to access Dark World stages.

Battle Stages
You can access basic stages by talking to the Dimensional Gatekeeper, but battles can also be found in the Item World, Dark Assembly, and other areas.

Sending out Allies
By moving the cursor to your Base Panel (glowing blue panel) and pressing psx: X, a selection of all available characters appears. Selecting one of these units will cause them to appear on the Base Panel and ready for commands. Characters who move back onto the Base Panel will disappear from the map and back into safety (this can also be done by highlighting a character standing on the base panel and pressing psx: C), and able to be replaced with other characters. Up to ten characters can be sent out from the Base Panel at once.

Battle Commands
By highlighting one of your characters and pressing psx: X, a selection of commands for that character will appear.


 * Move - Move the character a number of panels equal to or less than their MV stat.  Characters cannot jump to ledges with a height difference from the current level greater than their JM stat.
 * Attack - Perform a standard attack on the selected target.  This action will not be executed immediately, by will activate after selecting "Execute" or "End Turn" from the main Battle Menu.
 * Special - Perform a selected Special Move on the targeted unit or area.  More about these moves can be found in the Weapon skills section of this guide.   Like regular attacks, Specials will not be performed until selecting the "Execute" or "End Turn" commands from the main Battle Menu.
 * Defend - Increase defensive capabilities until the next turn, but decreases chance of counterattacking.
 * Lift / Throw - One character can lift an adjacent character whether or not they're an ally, foe, or innocent character.  Once lifted, the character can be thrown within the thrower's throw range.   Characters can lift characters who are already lifting, and characters can throw characters into the hands of other characters.   If your turn ends while one of your units is lifting an enemy character, you will take damage proportional to that unit's ATK.   Monster characters cannot lift or throw, but they can still be lifted or thrown.   Enemy characters will never use the Lift or Throw commands.
 * Ascend - Only available in stages with a Dark Sun.  For more information on this, see the Dark World portion of this guide.
 * Item - Use or view items in the item bag.
 * Equipment - Switch equipped items with those in the Item Bag.
 * Status - View the selected character's status, equipped items, etc.  This can be used on either allies or enemies.

Move can only be performed once per turn. Attack, Special, Defend, Lift / Throw, Ascend, OR Item can only be used once per turn. Equipment and Status can be used any time in the same turn, but Equipment cannot be selected after throwing or attacking.

Certain actions can be canceled by pressing psx: C.  Move, Defend, and Lift can be canceled any time. Attack or Special can be canceled if you have not yet selected 'Execute' and performed the attack yet. Throw, Ascend, and Item cannot be canceled. Equipment cannot be canceled, but it can essentially be redone by re-equipping the same item.

Battle Menu

 * Execute - Executes Attacks and Specials in the order they were commanded.  By targeting several attacks on the same unit before selecting Execute, combos can be built.   Move, Lift, and other commands given before selecting Execute can still be canceled.
 * End Turn - Performs the same actions as Execute, if any unperformed commands have been given, and passes the turn onto the enemy.
 * Character - All characters on the stage map are listed by name, ally characters are listed as blue and enemies as red.  When the list's cursor highlights a character on the list, the map cursor moves highlights that character on the stage.
 * Bonus - Displays bonuses you will earn for clearing the stage, and directly corresponds to the "Bonus Gauge".  If the Bonus Gauge reaches level two, you will receive the item labeled two on the bonus list.   The Bonus Gauge can be filled slightly by attacking or stealing, but rises much more from long Geo Effect chains, lengthy combos, or queuing a long line of attacks/specials before selecting Execute.   By passing certain Dark Assembly bills or visiting specific Mystery Rooms in the Item World, the Bonus Gauge can get a boost for one battle.
 * Help - View tutorials on the basics of combat.
 * Settings - Change sound levels, toggle on/off Special Move visuals, switch between English and Japanese audio, toggle Geo Effects between normal speed and fast, etc.
 * Quit - Reset the game and return to the main menu.  Unsaved progress will be lost.

Stats
Lv - Level The character's current level. After gaining a certain amount of EXP, a character's level will rise. On each level up, all of their basic stats (Total HP, Total SP, ATK, DEF, INT, RES, HIT, and SPD) will increase slightly. Higher levels generally mean more powerful units.

Basic Stats
These stats can be increased by leveling up and many different types of equipment.

Character's current amount of health. When damage is taken, this will decrease. Characters will die if it reaches 0. HP is generally represented as "Current HP/Total HP". Current HP can be restored through Special Moves, the Hospital, and many other things. Works in the same fashion as HP, but only decreases when using Special Moves. When this reaches 0, Special Moves can no longer be used. SP can be restored through using Items, Visiting the Hospital, or a Ghost's innate ability. Affects the amount of damage certain attacks will cause, more ATK equals more damage given. Monster, Sword, Axe, Spear, and Staff normal attacks use this to determine damage. Bow normal attacks use half of ATK and half of HIT to determine damage, and Fist normal attacks use half of ATK and half of SPD to determine damage. Special Moves that use this stat to determine damage will have "ATK" at the beginning of the move's description. Any attacks fueled by this stat are considered "physical attacks". Affects the defensive capabilities against physical attacks (attacks based on ATK, HIT, and/or SPD). Higher DEF means less damage taken. Affects the amount of damage certain attacks will cause, more INT means more damage. Certain Special Moves are the only attacks that utilize this stat, and will declare so in the move's description. Any attacks fueled by this stat are considered "magical attacks". Affects the defensive capabilities against magical attacks (attacks based on INT, or Rozalin's Rose Liberation special move). Higher RES means less damage taken. RES fuels the strength of most healing Special Moves, such as Giga Heal. Determines if attacks hit or miss, higher HIT means attacks is more likely to meet its target. Gun attack damage is fueled by HIT, and Bow attack damage is determined by half of HIT and half of ATK. A few Special Moves use this stat to affect the damage. High SPD means the character is more likely to dodge attacks. In addition, it causes enemy attacks to be more likely to be a Nick, and less likely to be a Critical. Fist attack damage is determined by half of SPD and half of ATK. The chance of
 * HP - Health Points
 * SP - Skill Points
 * ATK - Attack
 * DEF - Defense
 * INT - Intelligence
 * RES - Resistance
 * HIT - Accuracy of Hits
 * SPD - Speed

Static Stats
These stats do not increase through leveling up. Most items, besides Shoes (MV/JM) or Fists (COUNTER), that can increase these stats must be modified to do so in the item world.

When one unit executes a normal attack on another unit, the defending unit has a chance to execute a counterattack after taking damage if the defender has at least one COUNTER. Counterattacks can also be countered just like normal attacks. COUNTER refers to the maximum amount of counterattacks one can execute in a turn, including regular counters, counter-counters, counter-counter-counters, etc. More COUNTERS and higher SPD mean higher chances of successful counters. The only way to raise this stat is by passing the "Increase Counterattack" Dark Assembly bill, which increases it by one, by equipping a Fist-type weapon, or by passing the "Increase Counterattack" in the Item World Assembly and equipping the item. It does not increase through leveling up. MV refers to how many panels a character can move by using the "Move" command. MV can be increased by equipping Shoes, or items that have been modified in the item world, or by passing the "Increase Movement" Dark Assembly bill. Some characters have Innate Abilities that can increase their MV under certain circumstances. MV does not increase through leveling up. The amount of dm a character can leap in a single bound. This can be increased by equipping Shoes, or items that have been modified in the item world. Throw, noted on characters as "TW", is a stat exclusive to humanoid characters, and only reveals itself when a character selects the "Throw" command. The first number defines the maximum amount of panels a character can throw, and the second number determines how many dm high the character can throw. This stat cannot be increased in any way. If playing the PSP port, this stat will show how many tiles a monster can toss a thrown character when ever the thrown character touches them. (See "New Features" for more details.)
 * COUNTER
 * MV - Move / Movement
 * JM - Jump
 * Throw

Elements
Every character has affiliations for the three elements: Fire, Wind, and Ice. Fire is represented by Red, Wind by Green, and Ice by blue. The standard amount is 50% in one of these three elements, 0% in another, and -50% in another (Special Characters may have 0% in all three). When a character as 50% in Fire, they only take half damage from attacks utilizing fire, and have enhanced attack power when striking with any spell (not including weapon or character-specific moves) that utilizes Fire. If a character has -50% in Ice, they take x1.5 damage from attacks using Ice, and their Ice spells are weakened. When a character has 0% in an element, there is no change.

Affiliation in these elements can be increased by equipping items with certain specialists (Firefighter increases Fire, Aeronaut increases Wind, and Cryophile increases Ice). Special Moves exclusive to the Rune Knight class can increase or decrease elemental affinities. The elemental affinity for any given element cannot exceed 99%, and cannot fall below -99%.

If a Special Move has an elemental affinity, it will include (fire), (ice), or (wind) in its description.

"Star", the "fourth element", is normally treated as a non-elemental attack, and has no elemental affiliation associating it. However, Innate Abilities will treat Star-based moves as elemental attacks.

Other Stats
The total amount of experience gained since Lv1 is listed, not including EXP lost through reincarnation. Once a character has enough EXP, their level will advance. EXP is gained by killing foes, destroying Geo Symbols, or opening chests within a stage. EXP is not gained by damaging foes without killing them, defeating foes with Geo Effects, or defeating foes by throwing. If characters are finished off through Team Attacks or Tower Attacks, EXP is split equally between all participants. This is the amount of EXP needed to advance to the character's next level. Gained from killing characters, much in the same way as EXP. This is a currency used to pass bills and create characters in the Dark Assembly.
 * EXP - Experience
 * NEXT
 * Mana

Abnormal Status Effects
Abnormal status effects refer to ailments a character currently has. These can be received or given through Special Moves, certain Item Specialists, some Innate Abilities, or effects of the Dark Sun. All effects will wear off within a few turns, usually close to four or five. Each status effect is represented by a small icon hovering above the affected character. If the character has multiple abnormal status effects, the icons will cycle through all currently held status ailments.

Although all Status Effects wear off within 3-4 Turns (Takes less time with a higher RES), all abnormal status effects can be cured through several methods: Visiting a Hospital, casting Espoir on affected characters, or using a Fairy Dust item on the affected character.

Facing
When attacking a foe, greater damage can be inflicted if you're facing their sides, and greatest damage when facing their back, as opposed to their front. Accuracy is also increased alongside attack power. This only applies to normal attacks, not Special Moves or Spells.

Use this to defend against attacks as well, and never show your back to the enemy. During your turn, you can change any of your character's facing by highlighting them, holding down psx: S, and pushing psx: neutral dpad in the direction you wish for them to face.

Team Attacks
When a character executes a normal attack, there's a chance adjacent allies will join in the attack for extra damage. Fist-users have a higher chance to join in on team attacks, and any units that wield the same types of weapons are more likely to support one another in team attacks. A Pupil has a higher chance to join in on their Master's team attack and vice versa. The chances of Team Attack success can be seen in a window that appears when you select a target for your attack. When the attack leader isn't adjacent to their target (when they use ranged attacks), there is a 0% chance of a Team Attack.

When trying to execute a team attack, you can move characters adjacent to the attack leader, and then cancel their movement after the attack is executed. This will add the bonus of team attacks without any sacrifice.

Combos
Attacking the same enemy or group of enemies consecutively within the same Execute or End Turn command is called a "combo". For example, if you command four of your characters to attack the same enemy, and then select "Execute" a combo of 3 will result (the first attack doesn't count as part of the combo). The later an attack is in a combo, the greater its power and accuracy will become. Combos also increase the Bonus Gauge faster than unchained attacks or specials.

If the target is changed during 'Execute', the Combo will break. However, if you are using area-of-effect attacks, the combo will continue as long as one of the targets in the affected area was targeted in the last part of the combo. "Miss" attacks will not break the combo, but will in fact add onto it like a regular attack.

Since the combo bonus works as a percentage increase, it would be best to start with weaker attacks and end with stronger attacks.

Weapon Types and Weapon Mastery
Human-type characters can equip seven different types of weapons. Whenever a character uses one of these weapon types, their "Weapon Mastery" for that weapon type will increase slightly. To increase weapon mastery faster, it would be best to have characters stick with only one type of weapon, or occasionally two if there's a specific need for it. When a character has high weapon mastery, they can do more damage with that type of weapon. After advancing the weapon mastery of a weapon type to a certain point, the character also gains Special Moves that can only be used when these types of weapons are equipped.

Each type of character has different levels of weapon proficiency of each weapon type. The highest proficiency is S, the second-highest is A, third is B, fourth is C, fifth is D, and the worst is E.  The higher a character's proficiency is, the faster their weapon mastery will rise. While it's normally more beneficial for a character to use weapons they are proficient with, the bonus certain weapons offer may be more beneficial to that type of class (for example, giving a Samurai an Axe to maximize its ATK potential).

Fist
Fist-type weapons use half-ATK and half-SPD to determine damage instead of the standard full ATK, and are thus likely to increase both SPD and ATK. Equipping a fist weapon automatically increases COUNTER by 2, and fist-users have a higher chance of executing team attacks. Many fist-type special moves will shift the target's position from their original standing point. While this can be useful for moving characters off of Dimensional Gates in the Item World, it can also make it difficult to use Special Moves in combos. When a human character doesn't have a weapon equipped, they will be treated as though they are equipped with a fist, but will not gain the normal Fist bonuses, and cannot use Fist-based special moves.

Since fists increase both ATK and SPD, punch-users have naturally incredible evasion capability, and can make maximum use of SPD-increasing shoe-type equipment. Their COUNTER and Team-attacking boosts should speak for themselves, but if that's not enough, Fists are also the only type of equipment with a 3x3 Special Move that requires no support panels. The only real problem is that their power might not be as high, since equipment and base stats must be split between two stats instead of being able to focus on a single one.

Sword
Swords are the most basic type of weapon, and use ATK to fuel their attacks. The advantages of Swords come almost exclusively in their Special Moves. They have the largest variety of area-of-effect attacks, and are one of the only two weapon types that have a 3x3 attack. The only true disadvantage is that there are no other advantages, and their weapon skills are rather costly early on in the game.

Spear
While spears normally increase and are fuelled ATK, they also regularly increase DEF, making them excellent for those DEF-mongering characters who equip three armors at once. However, this DEF increase is matched by a comparatively low ATK increase. Normal attacks utilizing spears have a range of two panels instead of the standard single panel. When a spear-user is attacked from the front, they typically receive less damage than normal. Most spear-based Special Moves will shift the user's position, and most have roughly half the SP cost of other weapon-based specials.

Bow
Bows use half-HIT and half-ATK to determine damage, and normally increase both HIT and ATK, thus giving them excellent accuracy. Bows boast a range of four panels (five or more with Archers). It may be hard to bend the system to increase the power of Bows when compared to Swords or Axes, since Bows rely on two stats instead of one. Enemies defeating with bow attacks have a chance of turning into a Treasure Chest after their defeat. Most Bow-based Specials may have a chance of inflicting abnormal status effects, and have some of the longest-ranged Weapon-based specials.

Gun
Guns base their attack power exclusively on HIT, and therefore have incredibly high accuracy. While Gun attacks have a range of five panels, they can only shoot in the four cardinal directions (thus making the range of selectable targets look like a large "X"). All Gun attacks have a chance of lowering the target's SPD. Secondary equipment that increase HIT (Glasses) are much more efficient than equipment that increases ATK (Belts), so it's comparatively easy to increase the power of Guns with secondary equipment.

Guns have been weakened from the original Disgaea, so now a sword with 1000 ATK will deal more damage than a gun with 1000 HIT. Still, since glasses are better than belts, and the accuracy is godly, this isn't much of a drawback.

Axe
Axes boast the highest ATK and most powerful Special Moves of all weapons, but it's standard for Axes to decrease HIT. Axe attacks the highest critical rate (20%, where most weapon types have 5%), and have a chance of lowering the target's DEF.

Perhaps the biggest disadvantage of Axes is that ALL of their specials can only have a single target, and most requires the attacker to be adjacent to their target. While Axes one-panel high-ATK would normally be best against strong foes, an Axe's low HIT would also make them likely to miss against those higher-leveled enemies.

Staff
Staffs always increase INT, and are more likely to increase RES and SP than other weapons. Staffs are by far the weakest of all weapons in terms of ATK, and no Special Moves can be learned by raising Staff Mastery. The main benefit of Staffs is the increased range and power they offer to Spells, and the higher Staff Mastery is, the more spell range and power will increase. Staff Mastery will not increase from standard attacks, but only from casting spells.

Guns, Fists, and Swords are arguably the overall best of the six main physical attack weapons. Axes and Bows are on a slightly lower tier, though both can be valuable in certain situations. Spears could be good or bad depending on what you need them for, but don't expect a spear-wielder to dish out the most damage.

Monsters only have two weapon choices, both exclusive to monsters: Red and Blue. Red increases ATK and HIT, while Blue will focuses on ATK and INT. There are no weapon-specific abilities for these weapons, there isn't any weapon mastery for them, and they don't offer unique bonuses like the human weapons do. They solely increase stats, like armors and accessories.

Humans' Weapon Mastery attack boost is matched by a hidden stat all monsters have. While humans rely on using their weapons to increase their boost, monsters simply need to level up to increase theirs. This makes monster classes much easier to manage, and removes a need for "Weapon Training". The "boost" referred to increases the efficiency of an equipped weapon; it starts at 100% at Lv1, and can rise up to 1500% at Lv9999. Coincidentally, both types of characters have the "monster-version" of this boost for Armors and Etc equipment, meaning it's only affected by level.

One of the best ways to increase Weapon Mastery is finding a map with Invincibility or Reverse Damage Geo Panels, such as stage 11-3, and positioning your own characters on the panels. Then, have them repeatedly attack and counterattack each other. Team Attacks could be utilized to increase several characters' masteries at once, but the process is generally slower. To maximize the training effect, both characters should have high counter stats and as many Armsmaster specialists their equipment can hold. The counter of weapons can be increased in the Item World's Dark Assembly, and the character's counter can be increase through the normal Dark Assembly.

Stand-Still Bonus
When a character goes several turns without moving, a message like "Combo 2 times +10%" will above their character information. For every turn a character attacks or uses a special, but doesn't move a panel, the percentage amount will increase (usually by 10%). This is a temporary percentage bonus to all of that character's stats, and is often referred to as the "stand-still bonus". Once the affected character uses a Move command, their stand-still bonus will be reset to 0%. If the character is thrown, or they are moved by the effects of a Special Move, the stand-still bonus will not break.

Capturing Monsters
By tossing an enemy monster-type character into your base panel, a brawl will ensue between the character and your allies still inside the base. If your friends win, the monster joins your team (and will need to be revived). If the monster wins, all your in-base allies die and the base panel is destroyed. Weaker monsters are easier to capture.

Throwing a humanoid or boss character into your base panel will always kill all your allies, even if they're Lv1.

Master-Pupil Relationships
Whenever a character Creates a New Character via the Dark Assembly, the newly created character automatically becomes a pupil of the creator, and the creator becomes a master of the created. The relationships of Master/Pupils can be seen in the characters' status screens. Special characters, and the three generic characters handed to you at the beginning of Episode 1 (Male Fighter, Healer, and Red Skull), are the only units who cannot have masters.

The most obvious advantage to Master-Pupil Relationships is passing on learned spells to the Master (aka "leeching"). To do this, position a pupil who has learned a spell adjacent to their Master on a battlefield. The Master will then be able to use the Pupil's spells, but the Master will only have their Lv0 incarnations, which cannot be used unless the Master is adjacent to their pupil. If you have a Master cast the spell enough times when they're adjacent to their pupil, the Master will learn the Pupil's spell when it reaches Lv1. After that, they can basically use it as if it was their own spell.

Secondly, whenever a Pupil levels up, their Master will earn approximately 10% of the pupil's stat growth (raw stats, not including equipment). However, only one pupil can give a bonus to any one stat. For example, say Adell has a ninja and a healer pupil, and gets a bonus to SPD and ATK from the ninja and INT from the healer. If the ninja levels up and gains 100 SPD and 100 ATK, Adell will gain roughly 10 SPD and ATK automatically, but the INT bonus won't change unless the healer gains a level or the ninja passes the healer in INT. The bonus will be reset if the Master reincarnates, but regained fully as soon as the pupil gains a level. So it's better to get all the reincarnating you're going to do with the Master before you finish leveling the pupil, or you will have to reincarnate the pupil again to regain the bonus.

The third and least-important bonus of this system: Pupils and Masters are normally 10% more likely to execute Team Attacks than normal. That's all there is to it.

Enemy Mentality
There are basically three ways enemies attack in Disgaea 2. If one is like this, generally all the enemies on that map will be.
 * "Patient": They'll only move in and attack when one of your character's enters range.
 * "Aggressive": They'll approach and attack you anytime.
 * "Steadfast": They'll never move from their starting positions, but will still attack.

Patient enemies are most common in story stages. These are generally easy to defeat because you can just bait one or two at a time, then slaughter them with a full-team combo. With long range, high level spells, you can even defeat them with a spell or two every turn, without drawing them away from their position--this can even be used to defeat Lv1000 bosses with Lv200 Rune Knights!

Item World enemies are always aggressive, and some story enemies are as well. They're the toughest mentally, but are usually the weakest by stats and equipment. If you can match levels, you should beat them easily.

Steadfast enemies are usually reserved for story and Dark World geo effect arrangements, usually standing on super-powered panels. If you can destroy the accommodating Geo Symbol(s), you can beat them easily. Enemies usually won't use stat-boosting abilities unless they're steadfast.

Regardless of mentality, enemies will usually heal their own if you damage them... unless they don't have any healing specials, obviously.

A.I. in this game is made to be pathetic, and it isn't uncommon to find enemies hitting their own kin with area-of-effect attacks. The same goes for any of your computer-controlled allies, so be careful.