Monster Riding

As noted before, your monster units cannot Lift or Throw, but they have their own advantages. When a monster is in an adjacent panel to a friendly humanoid unit, the monster can use the Mount command to pick up that humanoid and put him or her on its back, which effectively combines the monster and humanoid into a single unit. The Mount command is disabled by No Lifting Geo Effects, much in the same way as Lift is.

You can throw a rider off a monster’s back with the Dismount command. In practice, Mount and Dismount can be made to work a bit like Lift and Throw does, but it isn’t quite as useful. Regardless of the monster’s Throw stat, Dismount only has a range of two panels, and monsters still can’t participate in a tower throw.

During a monster ride, the monster does most of the work. The rider can cast spells, but the monster cannot use anything other than its Mounted Skill and the rider cannot use Weapon Skills. Any Skills used or spells cast while the monster has a rider are deducted from the rider’s SP pool, and if you use the basic Attack command, you’ll use the rider’s weapon and stats. A monster with a rider cannot join in on Team-Up Attacks, but can still use Counterattacks.

If the monster and rider are attacked, damage is calculated against the monster’s DEF, RES, SPD and HP. The rider takes no damage until such time as the monster is killed, at which point the rider is dismounted and lands on the panel where the monster was standing. If a mounted unit defeats an enemy, both the monster and the rider receive an equal amount of EXP and Mana, just as if they’d individually struck the killing blow.

Finally, a monster with a rider has access to the monster’s Mounted Skill. This is an attack unique to the monster’s species that typically has greater power, longer range, and/or a wider area of effect than standard Skills.

As with other Skills, the Mounted Skill works off the monster’s base stats, such as ATK or INT, to determine its damage. It then receives a multiplier based upon the Likability rating the monster has with the character riding it.

• 0 Hearts: 5%
• 1 Heart: 10%
• 2 Hearts: 20%
• 3 Hearts: 40%
• 4 Hearts: 70%
• 5 Hearts: 100%

With a bit of forethought, you can use a monstrous mount to compensate for many humanoid characters’ shortcomings and create a single unit that’s worth much more than the sum of its parts. For example, a Magician has lousy Move and Jump stats, which can often limit his effectiveness on stages that require a lot of movement, as he’s always a few steps behind the front line. If you pair him with a Mothman, which has very high innate Move and Jump, you end up with a combined unit that combines all the mobility of the Mothman with full access to the Magician’s spells.

The first time you have a character use the Mount command, you’ll receive the Baby’s First Ride Trophy. Using a Mounted Skill unlocks the 2 Become 1 Trophy. Finally, if the rider and the monster have a five-heart Likability rating with each other, use a Mounted Skill to get the Public Display of Affection Trophy.