Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch – Familiar Spotlight – Lumberwood

Overview

On No Longer Mine Island you may spot a plump, tree-like creature called a Lumberwood. While they are a bit on the rare side and have a fairly low recruitment chance, they are arguably the best defensive familiar in the entire game! Alternatively, if you’ve completed Derwin’s research tasks (here), you will earn a ticket to claim one at the Solosseum.

Proper Care and Feeding

Magic Attack +25
Magic Defense +25

Since it already has an overwhelming defense, there is not much need to put any bonus points into it. Lumberwood has a slow attack and movement speed so we’ve chosen to put some of our bonus points into magic attack to strengthen its elemental tricks. The rest of the points went into magic defense so give it a little better edge in that category since Lumberwood’s natural magic defense is not quite as high as its physical defense.

Metamorphosis

Lumberwood is much like other rare familiars in that it has a low overall maximum level while at the same time taking longer to reach each level than other familiars. Each level will see very high stat growth so it is well worth it to put in the extra effort to reach the highest level possible before metamorphosing. Perhaps grind out a few Tokos to speed things up? Lumberwood’s two final forms are Umberwood and Wildwood.

Of the two, Umberwood has a higher Magic Defense but slightly lower Magic Attack. It learns a handful of support tricks and the oh-so-useful Healing Rain.

Wildwood is the more aggressive of the two forms, sporting a higher Magic Attack and the Yoo Hoo trick, which certainly helps when tanking.

Best Buddies

The affinity bonus Lumberwood receives with Esther as a flore family familiar makes it a bit of a no-brainer to put the two together. This gives you room to focus on filling Esther’s remaining familiar slots with aggressive familiars like Sleepeafowl and Danglerfish, while having strong backup when a defensive position is needed.

Tips and Tricks

Lumberwood’s greatest weakness is that all of its forms take bonus damage from fire (it is a tree after all), which tends to be a very common element you will encounter. Since its natural defense is so high, try focusing on equipment with resistance to fire and with high magic defense bonuses to balance things out.

Learn more: read all of our Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch artiles here.

Is there a particular trick you have for using Lumberwood that you would like to share? Or maybe a fantastic familiar pairing you’ve discovered? Please feel free to use the comments section below and let everyone know!