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As players rank up within a life inFantasy Life I: The Girl Who Steals Time, they receive buffs in different ways. First, each new level gives players some skill points to spend in the skill tree and increases their effectiveness in battle or unlocks new special moves. Some of the skill nodes also serve as defensive buffs, improving players' HP or survivability against different status effects.
On the other hand, every rank up also increases the player’s overall damage with the weapon they use. So, even without buying new skills, leveling up will still make your attacks deal slightly more damage. However, it’s important to spend the skill points correctly, as later in the game, leveling up will require a lot of grinding.
Best Early Game Skills for Hunter
Earlier in the game, players need to focus on leveling up fromFledglingtoAdeptas soon as possible, which is why the skill purchases should be according to the requirements of the life missions. Most lives have at least one or two missions that require players to use a certain charged attack or skill, which must be unlocked first through the skill board. So, it’s best to prioritize these skills and unlock them as soon as possible to get the corresponding rank points.
Speaking of Hunter, these skills includeSwitch Arrows: Sleep(bottom branch),Lightning Shot(top branch), andUltra-Piercing Arrow 1(left branch). So, it’s best to put your focus on the three aforementioned branches of the skill tree first to unlock these abilities.
UnlockingSwitch Arrows: Poisonis also recommended afterward.
Once these special attacks are unlocked, players can start investing in the right branch of the skill tree, which is mostly focused onpassive buffs, improving the overall damage output. Progressing through this branch is actually essential to get the rest of the nodes unlocked on the other branches.
Best Mid-Game Skills for Hunter
Once you have unlocked the initial nodes in each branch, you will get to choose different paths. The top branch offers three paths, and it’s highly recommended that youput your emphasis on the right pathof this branch, which leads to theHurricane Shotability. This is the upgraded version of Lightning Shot, which adds a massive hurricane instead of a bolt of lightning to the final part of the combo, and that increases the attack’s range, making it a lot better than a single strike of lightning.
The left path of the top branch is about expanding the range of the Arrow Rain ability and reducing its SP consumption, but it’s not really worth it. The Arrow Rain is good in its original form, and these improvement nodes don’t really add anything useful to it. So, it’s recommended youskip the left path until you are done with other priorities.
The middle path of the top branch is a late-game/endgame section, and the final node in this part grants +10% Critical Rate and +20% Critical Damage to all lives. This is indeed an amazing node to unlock as it improves all lives significantly, but themiddle path requires a Hero-level Hunter, which is an endgame thing.
After Hurricane Shot, the next thing players must focus on is theUltra-Piercing Arrow 3. The base version of this ability is quite powerful, and the third upgrade allows it to shoot two consecutive shots instead of one, dealing devastating damage to enemies, especially when they are paralyzed or put to sleep.
The second upgrade for Ultra-Piercing Arrow will reduce the SP consumption, and that’s an easy unlock, but the third upgrade requires the player to have already unlocked 30 skill nodes. This is where you should double down on all the cheap nodes available in the right and bottom branches of the skills tree. This path also comes with some skills that reduce the charge time required for special shots, which makes it quicker to use both Rain of Arrows and Ultra-Piercing Arrow.
As long as you don’t have to, don’t spend skill points on defensive buffs, like Magic Defense or Paralysis Resistance. Hunter is a ranged damage dealer, and most enemies inFantasy Life ideal melee damage. So, it’s usually quite easy for a Hunter to stay away from the heat and dodge the enemy’s attacks to avoid taking damage. That’s why purchasing defensive skills is not justified for a Hunter.
However, somewhere near the late game, you will have to spend points on these skills to unlock the final nodes. So, justdelay spending points on defense-based improvementsas they are not a priority.
Last but not least, it is strongly recommended to make some progress in the bottom branch, especially the middle path, to increase the SP regeneration rate and the overall SP tank.SP Recovery+node is the only skill that improves SP regeneration. Unfortunately, there is no other way in the game to boost the regeneration, which just adds to the importance of unlocking this node as soon as possible.
Best Endgame Skills for Hunter
As mentioned earlier, the best skill that Hunter offers is thefinal node of the top branch in the middle path, Hawk Eye. Unlocking this node has three requirements: The node itself costs 20 Skill Points; reaching it requires the player to have already unlocked 50 other nodes in the entire skill tree; and lastly, the player must be a Hero Hunter.
These three requirements are costly enough that you will likely beat the campaign before meeting all those conditions, which is why it is an endgame skill. However, the offerings of the skill support all lives, which is the reason why it is worth all the hard work to earn it. This node will prove its value when using the special abilities of other lives at a lower level, especially the Gatherer lives likeMiner, Woodcutter, Farmer, or Fishing.
Aside from the top node, the bottom node on the skill board,Hunter’s Fury, is also a superb endgame buff. The node at the end of the middle path in the bottom branch adds 20% Critical Hit Damage as well as 5% Critical Hit Rate. Unlike Hawk Eye, the improvements gained from Hunter’s Fury will only apply to Hunter’s life. However, combining it with Hawk Eye’s buff results in a40% boost in Hunter’s damage output for the special move, which makes it extremely powerful.
Thankfully, unlocking Hunter’s Fury isn’t as difficult as Hawk Eye, and players can reach it before beating the story as well.
How to Respec Skills in Fantasy Life i
Spending the skill points on the wrong side of the skill tree is a painful mistake, as it becomes more difficult to earn skill points as you make progress in the game and reach higher levels. However, the game does offer a way to recover from such a mistake, though it will be costly too.
Players canrespec their skillsat any time in the game. To do so, either head to theGuild Office in the Base Campor visitAunt Anne’s house in the Eternal Village. Inside both buildings, you will find a lip-shaped flower on the counter. Interacting with this NPC will allow you to completely restore your skill tree and retain all the skill points.
However, you must pay10,000 Dosh to respec, and it will only apply to one life, not all of them.
