Farah Oersted: the knuckle fighter
Farah's knuckles hit fast and she brings her own recovery artes, which makes her the cheapest frontline partner for Reid through the whole Inferian half.
Farah Oersted is the daughter of the village elder, the reason the party exists at all, and the most cost-effective frontline fighter in the game. Her knuckles hit fast, her artes come out quickly, and she heals herself on the way.
What she is for
Farah's advantage is speed. Knuckles attack in fast bursts rather than heavy swings, which means more hits per combo window and a better chance of keeping an enemy staggered. She also brings her own recovery artes, which changes the economics of a long dungeon: a party with Farah in it needs fewer gels than one without her.
Put her next to Reid and the two of them do the majority of the physical work in any normal fight. If you are running a single-caster party, this is the pair that makes it work.
How to play her
- Stay in contact. Her range is short by design, so a Farah standing at a distance is a wasted slot.
- Use her between Reid's combos, not instead of them. Her fast hits extend a stagger window that Reid opened.
- Let her heal herself. Because her recovery artes are cheap, she can handle attrition without spending the party's items.
- Do not force elemental coverage on her. Her weapon class has fewer elemental options; the party's casting is where your element comes from.
Artes and progression
Like every physical character in the game, Farah learns base artes through combo commands and gets her arcane artes by using the base versions often enough. Her list skews toward short, high-hit-count attacks that are ideal for holding a target in place, with a handful of utility artes that exist to keep her standing.
The usage gate matters here more than anywhere else on the roster: Farah's best attacks appear automatically, and the only way to get them is to keep using the ones you already have. A party that swaps her in only for boss fights will have a noticeably shallower arte list at the end of the game.
Equipment priorities
- Knuckles, current and cheap. There is no alternative weapon class for her, so her weapon slot is a straight upgrade ladder.
- Mittens and armour that raise attack or speed ahead of raw defence.
- A ring that matters in the lair you are about to enter. She benefits from elemental resistance more than she does from an extra point of defence, because her job is to be in the enemy's face.
Her role in the story
Farah's childhood decision — stealing a key and sending two friends into a place they were forbidden to go — is the reason the game's opening tragedy happens, and she carries that for the entire story. She is also the party's most direct voice about the ethics of the Craymel system, and her background as a farmer's daughter in a world where farming depends on water and fire spirits is where a lot of the game's commentary about treating spirits as sacred comes from.
