After you’ve cleared Nameless Wilderness, which is the fourth stage in Episode 1, the Demon’s Dojo becomes available in Laharl’s Castle. You can visit it via the doorway next to the Rosen Queen Trading Company’s counter.
Simply put, the Dojo is a gym for demons. If Etna’s with you, the Dojo’s in the capable (?) hands of the Prinnies; otherwise, Etna runs the place. By speaking to her or to her Prinny stand-ins, you can sign up your characters for grueling, potentially dangerous training to improve their stats, leveling speed, Likability, and Aptitudes.
Unlocking Training
When you clear Nameless Wilderness, the fourth stage in Episode 1, the Dojo opens for business. At this point, you can train your characters in one of eight ways, each of which provides a bonus to one of a character’s stats whenever he or she levels up.
As you progress through the main story missions, more methods of training open up in the Dojo. When you clear the Final Episode, the last two training methods become available for your use, right in time for the festival of leveling and numbers that is a Disgaea-style endgame.
- Training Type: The name of the training in the menu.
- Effect: The passive effect of undergoing the training.
- Amount per Level of Training: The percentage amount of improvement in the stat or resource per level of training. At four stars, the training is worth four times this amount.
- Unlock Conditions: The point in the main story where this type of training becomes available.
| Training Type | Effect | Amount Per Level of Training | Unlock Conditions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tough Guy Training | HP Increase Rate Up | 5%/10%/15%/20% | Clear Nameless Wilderness in Episode 1 |
| Demon Psychology | SP Increase Rate Up | 5%/10%/15%/20% | Clear Nameless Wilderness in Episode 1 |
| Kata Practice | ATK Increase Rate Up | 5%/10%/15%/20% | Clear Nameless Wilderness in Episode 1 |
| Puncture Training | DEF Increase Rate Up | 5%/10%/15%/20% | Clear Nameless Wilderness in Episode 1 |
| Cram Session | INT Increase Rate Up | 5%/10%/15%/20% | Clear Nameless Wilderness in Episode 1 |
| Sealing Circles | RES Increase Rate Up | 5%/10%/15%/20% | Clear Nameless Wilderness in Episode 1 |
| Target Practice | HIT Increase Rate Up | 5%/10%/15%/20% | Clear Nameless Wilderness in Episode 1 |
| Super Treadmill | SPD Increase Rate Up | 5%/10%/15%/20% | Clear Nameless Wilderness in Episode 1 |
| Weapon Maintenance | Weapon Mastery Increase Rate Up | 5%/10%/15%/20% | Finish Episode 4 |
| Punching Bags | EXP Rate Up | 10%/20%/30%/40% | Finish Episode 3 |
| Book Stacks | Manna Rate Up | 10%/20%/30%/40% | Finish Episode 3 |
| Love Potion Practice | Likability Rate Up | 20%/40%/60%/80% | Clear the Final Episode and see the true ending |
| Weapon Assembly | Aptitude Rate Up | 1%/2%/5%/10% | Clear the Final Episode and see the true ending |
| Waterfall Training | Bonus Increase Rate Up | 5%/10%/15%/20% | Finish Episode 2 |
| Battle Royale | Skill EXP Rate Up | 10%/20%/30%/40% | Finish Episode 4 |
Leveling Up Training Types
The more you use your training, the better it becomes. When it’s first unlocked, a given type of training is set at one star, where it provides only a minimal benefit and is available only to a single character at a time. It costs you nothing, however, so there’s no reason not to sign up all of your characters for extracurricular activities. It keeps them out of trouble.
To level up a training type, characters must be signed up for it and those characters must be present and alive when you clear a stage.
Training Rank 2: 30 stages
Training Rank 3: 50 stages
Training Rank 4: 100 stages
Neither the Item World nor the Dark Assembly count for the purposes of leveling a training type.
Every level that a training type gets is measured in stars, and each star represents a 100% gain in both the training’s benefit for a single character and the number of characters who can simultaneously sign up for the training. At four stars, you can have four characters at once using a particular training method at the Dojo, although a single character can sign up only for one training method at a time. You can even visit your crew in the Dojo’s training rooms and see how they’re doing.
Benefits of Training
For most of the types of training at the Dojo, the benefits are obvious. Every time a character gains stat points, EXP, Mana, Likability, Weapon Mastery experience, or Skill experience, a multiplier is added due to the training. Extra points gained due to the training’s modifier are permanent and remain on the character even if he or she moves on to check out another style of training.
This provides an additional multiplier to other methods of boosting your characters’ advancement, such as the Cheat Shop. Unlike the Cheat Shop, however, training at the Dojo provides a relatively small and consistent bonus that levels as you do and can be used from Episode 1 onward. Whenever you’re planning a specific improvement to a character’s abilities, such as grinding Weapon Mastery or saving Mana for an impending Reincarnation, take a second to make sure he or she is doing the right kind of training at the Dojo.
Weapon Assembly might be the most interesting training of the lot, however. Unlike the rest of the methods, it’s a gamble. A character who’s undergoing Weapon Assembly training has a chance to, at the conclusion of a stage, gain up to 10 percentage points in a randomly chosen Aptitude. This gain is, like all other bonuses from the Demon’s Dojo, permanent; unlike the other bonuses, since it’s an Aptitude, it’s guaranteed to persist if the character gets Reincarnated. Weapon Assembly isn’t great for targeted and specific min-maxing, but it’s free, you don’t have to go out of your way to do it, and there really isn’t any such thing as a “useless” Aptitude.
By the time Weapon Assembly hits four stars, it’s a reasonably fast if unpredictable method of getting your characters moving toward the 300% Aptitude cap. Since you only get it by the Final Episode, however, you do have to go well out of your way to level the training type. Be sure to bring your characters who are training in Weapon Assembly with you as you revisit some of the better leveling stages, so that you can get their Aptitudes moving that much faster.