Quick Links
Monoco is the last party member you’ll recruit inClair Obscur: Expedition 33.Since he’s a Gestral, you’re able to expect that his powers will be a bit different from those of his human counterparts. Not only can he copy the powers of Nevrons he’s defeated, but he can also set them up to be used in sequence for devastating effect using his Bestial Wheel.
A little planning can go a long way with Monoco, especially once you’ve battled your way through the game’s bestiary and filled out his list of Skills. Here’s everything you need to know about this shapeshifting warrior.
How To Learn New Skills For Monoco
Monoco doesn’t earn Skill Points when he levels up like the other characters. Instead, he gains new Skills byharvesting the feet of defeated Nevrons(it’s never fully explained how this works, you’re just meant to go with it).
Most, but not all, of the Nevrons in the game have a Skill that Monoco can learnif he’s in the party when they’re defeated. Even if Monoco is knocked out at the time the battle ends, he’ll still learn the Skills of any Nevron types whose feet he hasn’t collected yet. He won’t learn any Skills if he stays in the Reserve Party for the entire fight, however.
Nevrons with a Skill that Monoco has yet to learn have afoot icon next to their health barin battle.
Monoco can equip newly-learned Skills from defeated Nevrons immediately after the battle ends; there’s no need to return to an Expedition Flag or spend any further resources. When you first recruit him, it’s a good idea totake some time to return to previous areasand bulk out his Skill list, since he only starts with two.
How To Use Monoco’s Bestial Wheel
When his turn comes up in combat, Monoco’sBestial Wheelwill appear on the right side of the screen. It’s a ring of icons, each associated with thedifferent Skill typesthat Monoco can acquire. Skills of the type that the arrow on the Wheel currently points toget a bonus when used.
Red
Balanced
None, but can usually be set up for combos from other Skills via Marks, buffs, etc.
Healing and status effects.
Yellow
Almighty
The Almighty Icon will trigger the bonus effect fromany of Monoco’s Skills, regardless of their type.
How To Move The Bestial Wheel’s Arrow
Each time Monoco uses a Skill, the arrow on the Bestial Wheel willmove a number of spaces clockwiseequal to the amount shown in thecircular arrow icon next to the AP costof the Skill used. Monoco’s equipped weapon may change how Skills interact with the Wheel, or give you new ways to change its position, such as randomly spinning it upon using a Free Aim shot.
Setting up Monoco’s equipped Skills in a way that you can reliably land on the Wheel spaces you need, or the Almighty space, makes him exceptionallyPowerfulin battle. For example, if you equip a weapon thatalways starts him on Agile, and equip an Agile Skill that will move him the exact amount of spaces you need to move him to Balanced, you can set up a combo for his second turn with a Balanced Skill likeGault Fury.
Tips For Monoco
Monoco is extremely flexible once he has a wide library of Skills available. As with Lune, the best approach for setting him up is topick a set of Skills that work well togetherand build around those.
Make sure that you haveat least one Skill from each of the four categories; Balanced, Caster, Heavy, and Agile, so that you’ll always be able to get a bonus from the Bestial Wheel, and try to include a mix of high and low AP costs. If Monoco’s weapon favors a particular aspect of the Bestial Wheel, have at least two Skills from that category; one with a low cost and one with a high cost.
You don’t have to use a Skill associated with the current Wheel bonus if a different Skill is a better choice for the current situation in battle. The bonus is just that; a bonus, not a requirement.
Recommended Skills
Pelerin HealandTroubadour Trumpetare great choices for Caster Skills, as they provide useful buffs and healing that will be welcome in any fight.
Gault Furyis a cheap, multi-hit option at Balanced that will serve Monoco well through most of the game. Later in the adventure, you can replace it withBraseleur Smashwhen fighting foes that are weak against Fire, or when fighting alongside Maelle and Lune’s Burn-heavy loadouts.
Sakapatate Slamhas a high cost, but hits hard and gets a bonus against Marked targets. For a cheaper option at Heavy,Rocher Hammeringonly costs 3AP and can Break, making it very useful against bosses.
Chapelier Slashis a good all-around Agile pick, as it applies Mark and strikes all enemies with multiple hits. Against Shielded targets,Chevaliere Piercingis a sneaky way to penetrate their defenses; it doesn’t remove Shields, but insteadignores them and deals extra damage for each one.
