Welcome back to the world of Erion as we enter the final part of the Odin Sphere Leifthrasir character guides, featuring Velvet the Forest Witch.
Velvet's story marks the final part of the game before we're thrown into the endgame and its epic conclusion. Up to this point, she has shown up in three of the characters' stories, and even though we were quickly made aware of her motivations and objectives, it's been unclear what actions she took to carry them out. Now we can finally see what she was doing behind the scenes. From a gameplay perspective, there are no new surprises in store and relatively consistent from beginning to end.
As this is the final story, things begin tough and remain that way, but Velvet is fated to see things through to the end. Here are the essential things to know about Velvet the Forest Witch.
Starting Stats
HP:110 PP:18
STR: 16 DEX: 15 ATK: 12
CON: 15 LUC: 13 DEF: 0
Breakdown
Velvet continues to the trend of having the traditional melee attacks and skill system exhibited by Gwendolyn and Cornelius at the beginning of the game, and then resumed by Oswald. However, much like Mercedes and Oswald, Velvet also has something that greatly separates her from the rest of the cast: her mid-range attacks.
Velvet uses a chain as her weapon, and while it doesn't offer the same range as Mercedes' bow, it easily outranges the weapons the other characters use by a fair margin. As you may expect, this range grants her advantages both offensively and defensively.
On the offensive side of things, Velvet is able to attack from a farther distance than other characters, making it easier to combo enemies in certain situations, and, with a later passive skill, she can deal extra damage to an enemy based on how far away she is from it. Defensively, the ability to attack enemies from farther away means that Velvet can usually dispatch them before attacking her is even an option.
Unlike pretty much every other character who rely on their skills over the spells, or vice-versa, Velvet, like Gwendolyn, is perfectly at home using both. Velvet's spells are fire-based, but unlike ice or lightning spells, these spells have no real crowd control capabilities and are solely based on dealing damage. Fortunately, her spells are quite effective and can even set enemies on fire, causing enemies to take damage over time and prompts them to recieve extra damage thanks to Velvet's Burn Assailer skill.
Interestingly, whereas Velvet's spells are designed for dealing damage, many of her skills are designed for crowd control, letting her smack enemies around the screen. Of course, her skills are capable of dealing plenty of damage too - two in particular are deceptively strong considering how early she unlocks them.
Much like the other characters with traditional playstyles, Velvet can deal high levels of damage when performing extended combos. Ideally, she should remain at a specific range to take advantage of the damage bonus she receives when attacking from a certain distance, but she deals plenty of damage without it and it's unreasonable to expect her to maintain that distance throughout the entire combo.
Lastly, there's Gleipnir, her ultimate attack. The move hits the entire screen, damaging enemies multiple times during the animation. It might not hit as hard as other attacks, but it can cause enemies to bounce off the side of the screen, allowing Velvet to follow up with an extended combo if she's fast enough.
Recommended Skills/Spells
In the end, players will need to level up all of Velvet's abilities - both active and passive - in order to maximize his stats, but some of them are better than others and should be prioritized. Here's what they are:
Flare Shot (Active): This is Velvet's first spell, and, as such, it isn't particularly flashy or stylish, but it's cost-efficient. Upon activation, Velvet shoots a small flame that crawls along the ground and explodes upon contact with an enemy. The explosion doesn't deal much damage, but a small patch of fire is left in its wake that continuously damages - and can burn - any enemy who comes in contact with it. Do note that the spell loses effectiveness on aerial enemies, however, as the fire patch won't remain airborne and will slowly descend to the ground.
Fire Pillar (Active): Upon activation, Velvet causes a giant pillar of flame to erupt from the earth in front her that damages any enemy that comes in contact with it (think the Blaze alchemy potion but larger and more damaging, but doesn't last as long). As an added bonus, the force of the spell launches Velvet into the air, so it's good to use occasionally in the middle of combos.
Spiral Drive (Active): Cornelius has Spiral Claw, Oswald has Vile Rush and now Velvet has Spiral Drive. The skill causes Velvet to charge forward with her chains in front of her, causing damage to anyone who she comes in contact with. Spiral Drive doesn't last as long as the other two aforementioned skills, but it causes very high amounts of damage if each part of the attack hits. Just be aware that the skill comes out somewhat slowly, so it's hard to effectively use it in aerial combos at times.
Sling Whip (Active): This is easily Velvet's most unique attack in her arsenal. Velvet throws her chain at an enemy and upon doing so, will proceed to throw the enemy (even certain bosses when they're downed) around the screen. Any enemy who gets hit by the one being thrown around will get damaged and will sometimes even be launched into the air (again, even certain bosses are susceptible to this).
The best part about this, however, is that Velvet is immune to all forms of damage while she's executing the attack. Just be aware that in order to execute this correctly, you need to hold the direction opposite of where the enemy will be thrown (so if Velvet is facing right then go right, left, right and so on, and if she's facing left then go left, right, left - you get the idea).
Round Flare (Active): This skill is as simple as it comes, with Velvet spinning around with her chains extended and dealing damage to any enemy she comes in contact with. However, it has a special place in Velvet's arsenal for three reasons.
First off, this skill can burn enemies, meaning Velvet can burn an enemy with a spell and then maintain it with this. Second, it has a fairly large range, so Velvet can use it to hit Frost Ben without needing to leave the ground (you get this after fighting it in the first play-through, but it will be helpful in boss rush and later difficulty levels). Lastly, it has a large AoE, so Velvet can use it to protect herself from projectiles, such as the many encountered during the Airship boss fight.
Drop Shell (Passive): If you hold down while evading, Velvet will leave behind a large flame in the air that explodes either when it comes in contact with an enemy or after a certain period of time passes. Honestly, the move isn't mandatory, but the flame is large enough to hit enemies if Velvet evades when she's right next to them, not to mention enemies will oftentimes just run into them. All in all, it's free damage attached to an action you'll do countless times throughout the game, so why not invest in it?
Burn Enhancement (Passive): Enhances all the burn effects caused by Velvet's skills and spells.
Burn Assailer (Passive): Allows Velvet to deal more damage to stunned enemies. Since Velvet should aim to burn enemies before comboing, getting this skill is a no-brainer.
Skill Link (Passive): Lets Velvet deal more damage to enemies based on how many skills she uses in a combo. Self-explanatory.
Assault High (Passive): Allows Velvet to deal more damage based on how many hits are in her combo. This works particularly well with Flare Shot and Spiral Drive.
Beatdown (Passive): Lets Velvet deal more damage to foes who are downed or slumped over on the ground. Self-explanatory.
Skill/Recipe Locations
Now that you have an idea of what skills you should be using, here's a set of maps (found on wikisp, edited thereafter) to help you find them. As an added bonus, the locations of alchemy and food recipes have also been listed.
Key: S = Starting Point, B = Battle Stage, R = Rest Area, H = Hidden Room, Boss = Boss Room
Chapter 1:
Dancing Chain – B1
Flare Shot – Behind the locked door in the room above B4
Fire Pillar – Clear Chapter 1
Chapter 2:
Xtra Phozons – B2
Sling Whip – B4
Spiral Drive – H, work your way to the upper left ledge in the room right of B3 and move left
Assault High – Clear Chapter 2
Chapter 3:
Mirage Mime – B4
Inventory Expansion – B9
Tilt Whip – H, move left on the upper platform in the room left of B4
Burn Enhancement – Clear Chapter 3
Chapter 4:
Flame Road – B2
Mulberry Mille-feuille – Chest in the room below B2
Zero Timer – Chest in the room below B2
Inventory Expansion – B3
Cold Cheese Soup – Chest in the room to the left of the one below B5
Yogurt Stew – B6
Burning Curse – B7
Burn Assailer – Clear Chapter 4
Chapter 5:
Salmon Carpaccio – B2
Inventory Expansion – B8
Skill Link – H, look up in front of the pomegranate tree in the room left of B8
Twin Tornado – B5
Blancmange – Chest in the room above B6
Round Flare – Clear Chapter 5
Chapter 6:
Drop Shell – B6
Inventory Expansion – Behind the cracked wall in the room between B4 and B5
Beatdown – B4
Explosion – Clear Chapter 6
Epilogue:
Gleipnir – B4
Lamb Steak – B8
Yogurt Gelato – Chest in the room above B6
Air Raid – Move to the upper right in the room to the right of B11
Cross Bind – Epilogue Clear
There it is — everything you need to say with 100 percent certainty that you've obtained all the skills and food/alchemy recipes with Velvet. In fact, if you've followed all five of the character guides then you should have every skill and food/alchemy recipe in the game. The character guides might be over, but your adventure isn't. Take everything you've learned to finish the final storybook and all the challenges that come afterward.
