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Characters / Dissidia 012: Final Fantasy - Warriors of Cosmos

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This is a character sheet for the Warriors that debuted in Dissidia 012. All of them didn't make it to the 13th cycle.

See the Main Page here.

See also:

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    Kain Highwind 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Kain_Fit_3789.jpg
"I'm about to teach you pathetic mockeries the difference between you, and a real man!"
"I have my fair share of regrets... but I can get back on my feet as many times as it takes." — Price of Treachery

Voiced by: Kōichi Yamadera (Japanese), Liam O'Brien (English)

—Fighting Style: Tactical Striker

A knight clad in draconic armor, with lance in hand. Though not one to display emotion, he is compassionate and possesses a strong sense of justice.

The Breakout Character from Final Fantasy IV, originally meant to be Cecil's foe in the original game, finally makes it for Dissidia 012. He's on Cosmos' side officially, but seems to be striking out on his own with a less than pleasant plan, leading to rumors of him turning his coat against Cosmos.

Kain is a Tactical Striker. As a Dragoon he excels in aerial combat, utilizing various dives and jumps to strike from below and above. Kain can change the direction his basic aerial attacks sent the opponent when he lands the last hit, variably leading into a Chase or Wall Rush as needed, and he can then use a unique Dash command to jet after them and strike again before they can recover. However, he lacks for reliable long-range attacks and his HP attacks are a bit slow, if tactically diverse.

General Tropes

  • Animal Motifs: Dragons, naturally, from his armor to his attack calls.
  • The Atoner: After being called out by Lightning on his plan (see below), Kain's actions for the remainder of the story are pretty much a retread of his ordeals in IV. Also, it's hinted that Kain is fearful of Cecil regaining his memories of him from their world due to said ordeals.
  • Badass Arm-Fold: For his Victory Pose, after planting his spear into the ground.
  • Badass Boast: Though not as much as Jecht, Kain makes it clear you will not win when you face him.
    "All those who challenge me will fall."
    "Hmph, I'm the trump card."
    "I walk the path of trials."
    • And then there's his Pre Asskicking One Liners to Exdeath:
      Exdeath: So, you offer your life in exchange for theirs?
      Kain: Of course not. I offer yours.

      Exdeath: I am afraid that time runs short for you.
      Kain: Truly. Then let us make this quick.
  • Beyond the Impossible: During his EX Burst, Kain uses what is undoubtedly the biggest Jump attack any Dragoon in Final Fantasy has achieved — he jumps so high that he breaks the cloud barrier and the twin moons are visible behind him, which would put him as reaching the stratosphere, at least. He also jumps so fast when doing this that he forms a mach cone around himself as he rockets into the air.
  • Big Damn Heroes: During the opening sequence, he meddles in Cecil's fight with Golbez, helping Cecil break free from one of the mage's attempted attacks. He also saves Tifa from Ultimecia when the latter attempts to kill her.
  • Determinator: To nearly ridiculous extents. In addition to dealing with the conflict of the gods, he's been running around killing off his allies to prevent them from being permanently offed by the manikins. Then he faces Exdeath, who retreats while leaving a pack of manikins (in Kain's form) to fight in his stead. He then saves Tifa from Ultimecia. Then he has a You Shall Not Pass! moment against Golbez and Exdeath (mostly Exdeath, though; Golbez really wasn't helping out). After this, he's shown to be physically drained, battered, and bruised, and yet he drags his body to the source of the manikins, catching up to the main group just in time to aid them in a battle that he knows will — without a doubt — lead to his death. And he gives it his very all, from start to finish.
  • Dragon Knight: Being the poster boy of Final Fantasy dragoons after all.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: The new heroes sacrifice themselves to seal the manikins away in the void in a Bolivian Army Ending. Special points for invoking this due to What You Are in the Dark as described further down.
  • The Lancer: Mostly to Lightning, and is also the Sixth Ranger to the Five-Man Band in Dissidia 012.
    • He's also this (or The Dragon) to Golbez, working alongside him to ensure the heroes survive to the next cycle.
    • He also gets bonus points for literally being a lancer... as in fighting with a lance.
  • Large Ham: He shares Cecil's habit of over the top battle cries.
    "Cross the heavens! BOW DOWN!"
  • Late-Arrival Spoiler: What's that, you haven't played The After Years and so didn't know that Kain is the Hooded Man and he becomes a Holy Dragoon? ...oops.
  • Mythology Gag: Assumes his iconic trademark◊pose◊ at the end of his EX Burst — the same pose up there in his artwork.
  • Only a Flesh Wound: Takes more wounds and does more running around than the other five 012 heroes combined, bar maybe Lightning.
  • Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: "Your levity is reprehensible" really stands out from his other, simpler battle quotes.
  • Sixth Ranger Traitor: Seemingly.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: See below.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: Lightning calls him out for taking it upon himself to personally kill the other Warriors of Cosmos in order to save them from being Killed Off for Real by the manikins.
  • What You Are in the Dark: In the Epilogue chapter, the entirety of the storyline applied to Kain after he confronts Exdeath and Golbez functions as an extended one of these. Kain had, then, a myriad of opportunities to escape death at the hands of the manikins, and could have lived to fight in the next cycle. No one would have known, if he had chosen to take them, save for Golbez who pretty much asked him to. Yet, he didn't. Kain drags himself through apparent hell and high water to get to the Last Stand, despite it all. Considering both the morally dubious nature of his role in the storyline and his reputation in the fandom as a backstabbing traitor in his original game, it's a nice way to establish that no, Kain really is a good guy.
  • The Worf Effect: Subjects other characters to it — Kain is the one who beat Bartz, Zidane, Squall, and Firion, and he probably beat the Onion Knight and Cecil too. Of course, he typically beats them with liberal use of the age old strategy of In the Back.

Design and Costume Tropes

  • 24-Hour Armor: Except for his Hooded Man costume.
  • Badass Cape: In the Hooded Man costume.
  • Compressed Hair: Where the heck does all that lovely blond hair go when he's not in EX Mode?
  • Cool Helmet: Dragon-shaped with purple (or red in his Dark Kain costume) hair-like tassels.
  • Evil Costume Switch: His alternate costume is his dark side, giving him a forked spear and blue and red armor.
  • Femme Fatalons: Kain sports a set of painted fingernails filed to a point.
  • Good Costume Switch: His EX Mode is his Holy Dragoon class upgrade from Final Fantasy IV: The After Years.
  • Guyliner: Wears purple armor with lipstick and nail polish, and a tiara-like headdress as his alternate outfit EX Modes. Seems this trope is just the fashion for men in Baron or something.
  • Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: In his EX mode where he turns into a Holy Dragoon, it becomes more evident that he encompasses the noble, knightly values that come with this trope.
  • Hidden Eyes: Nomura was told that his EX Mode removes his helmet, so he drew Kain with his eyes in shadows normally.
    • Ditto for his character model. His helmet leaves a shadow that completely obscures his eyes.
  • In the Hood: His aptly named Hooded Man costume.
  • Knight in Shining Armor: Lampshaded by Ultimecia after he rescues Tifa.
  • Long-Haired Pretty Boy: We finally see a high-definition Kain without his helmet on. And he is gorgeous◊.
  • Shoulders of Doom: More sedate than his FFIV fellows Cecil and Golbez, but still present.

Gameplay and Combat Tropes

  • Air Jousting: His specialty, being a Dragoon he's an aerial master and a wielder of spears.
  • Blown Across the Room: Gungnir, Rising Drive, and Sky Rave, granted there's enough room, will drive the opponent back, up, and down. Unless you happen to be on a particularly large arena like The Rift or Dream's End, they will hit a wall — they get knocked back that far.
  • Blow You Away: Cyclone.
    • Wind Is Green: He stands out in this regard, since aside from Vaan's Windburst, every other air-elemental attack in the game is gray.
  • Boring, but Practical: He has one of the smallest Bravery skillsets in the game, with two ground attacks, three aerial, and ground and midair versions of Cyclone. However, they cover most strategic options a melee fighter needs (attack from above, attack from below, short-range but quick, slow charging attack), so they're all he needs to be effective, especially once you learn how to chain them together.
  • Close-Range Combatant: Aside from Cyclone and Gungnir, Kain fights up-close and personal.
  • Death from Above: He's a Dragoon, so this is expected. Sky Rave and Jump are the most prominent examples. His EX Burst is the apotheosis of this.
  • Difficult, but Awesome: His gimmick is that you can press Triangle after landing a Bravery attack to dash forward and attack again while the opponent is still reeling from the first blow. The timing is very difficult to get right, but once you master it he can chain together multiple Bravery attacks for great combo potential.
  • EX Mode: Holy Strength!
    "Dragon's gift, to me!"
    • In reference to the class change he made in Final Fantasy IV: The After Years, Kain becomes a Holy Dragoon. His armor changes color to a blue-green and he ditches his helmet. In addition to Regen, Kain's EX mode gives him the following ability:
      • Lancet, the trademark ability of Dragoons that absorbs HP from enemies.
    • Holy Dragoon also gives him access to his EX Burst: Dragoon's Pride:
      "Let me ease your pain! Heavenward!" or "I've returned to my senses! Heavenward!"
    • Kain launches himself into the air at high-speed. In order to increase the altitude of his jump, the player must repeatedly tap a specific button which changes every few seconds. If successfully executed, Kain reaches the peak of his jump above the clouds, with the two moons filling the night sky behind him. He then performs a series of acrobatic flips and twists before rocketing back down to drive his lance through the foe, trailing behind a beam of light which continues to pierce his foe's body while he poses in the foreground.
      "Dragon's grasp... With all my strength!"
  • Goomba Stomp: Jump and the Wall Rush end of Crashing Dive.
  • Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: His EX Burst is most notable in this regard, but a lot of Kain's attacks are, with the frills stripped off, various ways to put his spear through his opponent's body as fast and as far as he can.
  • In a Single Bound/Jump Physics: His specialty, and part of a unique fighting gimmick he has — after he lands a Bravery attack, pressing Triangle has Kain quickly dash at the opponent in any direction, faster than your normal dash most likely, and has a trailing wind-type graphic so he almost seems to glide.
  • Javelin Thrower: Gungnir. Doubles as a dual Mythology Gag — Gungnir is both the final spear Kain comes equipped with when he rejoins the party for the final time, and an attack used by recurring summon Odin where he throws his spear at opponents immune to Zantetsuken.
  • Launcher Move: Cyclone, which knocks opponents up into the air and towards Kain, letting him hit them with a melee blow.
  • Life Drain: Lancet.
  • Lightning Bruiser: His Bravery attacks execute quickly, they do great damage, can variably lead to Chase or Wall Rush depending on your needs, and his HP attacks are versatile and also do a lot of Bravery damage along with Wall Rush. What holds him back is his predictable attack list and his lack of ranged options.
  • Magically Inept Fighter: Kain has exactly one magic attack, Cyclone. Though it does have its utilities in setting the opponent, it's mostly ineffective, and Kain has to rely on his spear skills to beat up opponents.
  • Mythology Gag: Two of his attacks, Spiral Blow and Sky Grinder, are his Band attacks from The After Years performed with Golbez and Cecil, respectively.
  • Power Glows: His lance does when performing some of his Brave attacks and all of his HP attacks.
  • Rolling Attack: Crashing Dive.

    Gilgamesh 

Gilgamesh

"After the endless wandering... he dreams of meeting his rival once again." — Enkidu Feather
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Gilgamesh_8664.png
"Well, well, Bartz! We Meet Again!"

Voiced By: Kazuya Nakai (Japanese), Keith Szarabajka (English)

—Fighting Style: Frenzied Swordsman

Yet another Breakout Character makes it into 012. This time, it's the legendary Gilgamesh from Final Fantasy V, armed with his wide assortment of weapons and the blazing flame of his winning spirit. Contrary to popular belief, Gilgamesh fights for neither Cosmos nor Chaos. Sometime after his banishment by Exdeath, he wanders into World B from the Rift.

Gilgamesh is a Frenzied Swordsman. He has many close-range and mid-range attacks that let him charge at opponents, and his HP attacks are best at close-range too. Where his uniqueness comes in is his weapon of choice; namely, the fact that he has eight of them. Each time he attacks, Gilgamesh summons a random sword from his Hyperspace Arsenal for the attack, and the sword he wields changes the attack's properties, variably boosting its damage, its range, generating more EX Force, damaging the opponent's EX Gauge, and so forth. This makes him truly unpredictable: when Gilgamesh attacks, no one can be really sure what's going to happen, not even him.

General Tropes

  • Ascended Extra: Gilgamesh appeared in the first game as a summon stone.
  • Breaking the Fourth Wall: Literally: Upon entering his EX Burst, Gilgamesh crashes against the screen!!
  • Card-Carrying Villain: Parodied in an official quest where he runs across Prishe. When she asks if he's a Warrior of Chaos, Gilgamesh takes her question as meaning the force of chaos, not the god, so he heartily replies he is indeed a chaotic warrior who loves to battle!
  • Collector of the Strange: His summon profile in the original game says that "he fancies himself a seeker of rare blades." Additionally, many of his pre-battle quotes against characters that have unique weapons have him gush about how he wants them for himself.
    [to Firion] Oh...! You have a lot of weapons!
    [to Sephiroth, in a whining tone] I want it! Gimme that sword!
    [to Squall] Wow, a gunblade! You're a connoisseur!
  • Daydream Surprise: In Report 19, Gilgamesh thinks how his duel with Bartz should turn out.
  • Easy Come, Easy Go/Failure Is the Only Option: According to the Official Quests, he's entered World B a total of three times in his search for Bartz. Each time, he gets sucked back into the Rift after fighting someone, even if he won.
  • Epic Fail:
    • His EX Burst if he chooses Excalipoor. He performs an over-the-top series of sword attacks against the opponent, which all do a single point of damage, before he just tosses the sword away and falls over bemoaning his misfortune, the sword hitting the opponent to deal the final hit.
    • His Summonstone (which he uses in his fight against Bartz in 012) can either triple the user's Bravery, or set it to one. "I feel so betrayed", indeed.
  • Iaijutsu Practitioner: As part of his battle style, he draws his sword only after the attack has started - for better or for worse. This is averted during his EX Mode, where he picks eight swords and sticks to them, for even better or for even worse.
  • Impact Silhouette: Leaves a Gilgamesh-shaped hole when he crashes through the screen at the beginning of his EX Burst.
  • Kabuki Sounds: Complete with the poses.
  • Large Ham: He shouts "HERE I AM!" to call out an attack.
  • Laser-Guided Amnesia: Averted: He is in fact one of the few warriors to actually remember their pasts prior to joining the conflict of the gods, and he's not even one of the soldiers recruited as much as a third party who stumbled upon it, which causes hilarity to ensue when he tries to get Bartz (who holds only a handful of memories of his home world) to remember him.
    • However, he doesn't seem to remember Squall, Zidane, or Vaan, and at first doesn't recognize Exdeath either. Could perhaps be a case of But for Me, It Was Tuesday, given just how many worlds he's been to. That, or he hasn't canonically met them yet during the time of 012.
    • Also applies to the English version; for whatever reason, his VA for XII (John Dimaggio) didn't reprise the role, so Gilgamesh is instead voiced by Keith Szarabajka.
  • Shout-Out: Oddly enough, there seem to be more then a few to Fate/stay night. His EX Burst resembles Illya and Miyu's use of Kaleidoscope to recreate Excalibur.
  • Throw the Dog a Bone: He finally gets a chance to properly use Excalibur.
  • The Unintelligible: With the music and attack sounds playing over them, a lot of his attack calls can be hard to decipher.
  • Unknown Rival: He has dedicated himself to escaping the Rift so that he can challenge Bartz to a rematch. Bartz's reaction? "Who are you?". Justified in that, for the most part, few people in Dissidia retain memories of their world, so Bartz really CAN'T remember him.
  • Walking The Multiverse: Why he was expected to appear in a crossover with several other Final Fantasy characters.
    • So far, he's previously met up with Cecil, Terra, Squall, Zidane, Vaan, and the Warrior of Light note . And there's evidence that he's at least been to Cloud's and Tidus' worlds, too. In other words, Gilgamesh knows his way around the multiverse.
      • Lampshaded in a cutscene where Vaan, Zidane, and Squall (the ones who have met him outside remakes) encounter him, but because of purifications, do not remember who he is. Zidane almost does, but dismisses it because he only has two arms, a reference to Alleyway Jack, a six-armed minor character in his own game who is revealed, after several side-quests, to be (Surprise, surprise) Gilgamesh.
  • We Meet Again: Too bad no one seems to remember him.
  • Wink "Ding!": After every blow of his EX-burst, when he strikes a pose.

Design and Costume Tropes

Gameplay and Combat Tropes

  • Awesome, but Impractical:
    • His weapon effects range from a chance to instantly Break the opponent, doing double base damage, depleting their EX Gauge, and generating significantly higher EX Force. If only he didn't use those weapons completely at random — thanks, Excalipoor.
    • His Assist is also notable in this regard. He only ever uses Excalibur or Excalipoor when called, and if he uses Excalibur, he does the most damage of any Assist in the game. If he uses Excalipoor, well, as least he still Wall Rushes to set them up for another attack.
    • And then his EX Burst. The most powerful in the game by quite a bit, if he gets it right. If not, he uses Excalipoor again, and guess what happens to that damage output.
  • Blow You Away: Hurricane and Wind Slash.
  • Blue Magic: His HP attacks are nods to Blue Magic from his original game, many of which he himself could use.
  • Calling Your Attacks: "ROCKET PUNCH!" and "Tsubamegaeshi!"
  • Confusion Fu: As Gilgamesh fights, he uses a random weapon for each attack, with effects ranging from generating more EX Force when he hits, to possibly instantly breaking the opponent, to doing twice as much damage, to only dealing one damage per hit.
  • Death from Above: Jump, natch.
  • Death or Glory Attack: A perfect execution of his EX Burst makes it the most powerful EX Burst in the game. On a failure, it's the weakest in the game, barely does any damage, and you still lose your EX Gauge.
  • Desperation Attack: The Chicken Knife builds in power as Gilgamesh's HP decreases. Amusingly, this effect is rather like the Valiant Knife from Final Fantasy VI, which is rather ironicnote .
  • Dual Wielding: All of his attacks.
    • And in his EX-mode, he can octo-wield!
  • EX Mode: Gilgamesh Morphing Time!
    "Gilgamesh morphing time!"
    • Gilgamesh reveals his eight-armed true form from his debut game. In addition to Regen, Gilgamesh's EX Mode gives him the following ability:
      • Octo Break: As Gilgamesh enters his EX Mode, he takes up a weapon for each of his eight hands, until the end of the EX Mode. He will either wield eight of the same weapon, four different weapons each with one duplicate, two different weapons each with three duplicates, one of every weapon, or even some other combination; because of how random Gilgamesh's EX Mode actually is, there's roughly 16,777,216 different ways his EX Mode can turn out. In addition to extra hits for all physical attacks, this means that during his EX Mode, his abilities are far more reliable than usual, and can therefore be planned around. However, there's the very real chance that he'll end up wielding multiple Excalipoors, in which case you'll want to exit EX mode fast.
        While he is enjoying this benefit, HP attacks not reliant on swords are also improved. His Rocket Punch shoots eight fists instead of two and the Missile spell fires two missiles.
    • Gilgamesh Morphing Time also gives Gilgamesh access to his EX Burst: Strongest Sword.
  • Hammerspace: Whips out a rather large missile from nowhere for his Missile attack.
  • Hot-Blooded: Just like in Final Fantasy V.
  • Joke Character: His antics are much more comical than the rest of the cast, including firing giant boxing gloves at the opponent, pulling a huge missile out of Hyperspace to launch at them, and a diving headbutt "Jump" attack. He's also impractical for serious play, because his attacks have wildly varying range and power depending on which of his random eight weapons he wields when attacking, and one of those weapons is Excalipoor, which reduces all Bravery damage the attack deals to 1. Then there's his EX Burst, which has the highest power of any EX Burst in the game if you get it right, but deals by far the worst damage in the game if you get it wrong. But, the very reason Gilgamesh is in this game is because he's a Breakout Character of the franchise, and a major aspect of his charm is being a Large Ham who engages in Epic Fails when he attacks with a random weapon and accidentally uses the wrong one. He wouldn't be the Gilgamesh fans know and love if he didn't have wacky attacks with an element of unpredictability to them.
  • Multi-Armed and Dangerous: As always.
  • Multi-Melee Master: Wields eight weapons: Excalibur, Masamune, Zantetsuken, the Genji Blade, Excalipoor, the Chicken Knife, a Battle Axe, and a Naginata.
  • One-Hit Kill: Not quite, but the Zantetsuken has a small chance to insta-break an enemy.
  • Rocket Punch: One of his Blue Magic spells.
  • Shock and Awe: Electrocute.
  • Spin Attack: Whirlwind Slash and Hurricane.
  • Spirited Competitor: It's his trademark, and this time is no different, with a few of his victory/defeat quotes centering on the concept of looking for a Worthy Opponent. And of course, he's always trying to find Bartz.
  • Stout Strength: Pretty much the only character that subscribes to this trope — even the other giants (Exdeath, Golbez, Garland) have pretty waspy waists.

    Tifa Lockhart 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Tifa_Dissidia_012_8996.jpg
"We're not some faceless soldiers. We're friends, and we've been through a lot together."
"Stretch and forget the past. Walk down your chosen path to... the light." — Stretch Boxers

Voiced by: Ayumi Ito (Japanese), Rachael Leigh Cook (English)

—Fighting Style: Feint Brawler

An optimistic woman proficient in hand-to-hand combat. Contrary to her rough-and-tumble appearance, she often encourages her friends.

The third confirmed character for Dissidia 012. Cloud's childhood friend and love interest. She's suffering from amnesia in this game, and does not recognize either Cloud or Sephiroth, leaving her to fight alongside the Warriors of Cosmos in the hope of keeping her new friends safe in this unfamiliar world.

Tifa is a Feint Brawler. Her attacks let her incorporate a Flash Step into them with proper timing, so she can swiftly teleport around the opponent before striking, potentially catching them as they attack or block or dodge the initial strike. She uses martial arts combos for close-range attacks, but lacks for ranged options outside of a few support spells. Additionally, her stronger attacks have a bit of start-up to them, requiring usage of her feints to reliably connect with them.

General Tropes

  • Badass in Distress: She gets rescued by Cloud from Sephiroth and by Kain from Ultimecia. Every other time she's kicking ass next to them.
  • Bare-Fisted Monk: Natch.
  • Designated Girl Fight: The only straight in-story example in the game, as Ultimecia serves as her obstacle.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: The new heroes sacrifice themselves to seal the manikins away in the void in a Bolivian Army Ending.
  • Male Gaze: Very noticeable in the opening FMV.
  • Mythology Gag: After Cloud rescues Tifa from Sephiroth, Tifa comments that Cloud was "like a hero, charging in to save the girl," similar to his promise to her from their original game.
  • Shout-Out: Her Premium Heart gloves have the Kingdom Hearts logo on them.
    • One of her Brave attacks is named "Falcon Dive." A cross-company shout out? Why should they do that? Maybe because Kazushige Nojima, scenario writer for FFVII, also wrote the plot behind Brawl's Subspace Emissary.
  • Star-Crossed Lovers: With Cloud, although she doesn't realize it for obvious reasons.
  • Turn the Other Cheek: While Tifa is uncertain whether Kain's decision to kill their friends to save them from the manikins is right or not, she knows Kain believes what he's doing is right and decides to follow him and keep fighting anyway.

Gameplay and Combat Tropes

  • Action Girl
  • Air Jousting: Part of her gimmick allows her to do this.
  • An Ice Person: Exclusively uses different tiers of blizzard magic for her spell attacks, which contrasts Cloud's focus on fire spells and its upgrades.
  • Bare-Fisted Monk: Actually leather gloves, but they don't do much.
  • Betting Mini-Game: Tifa's EX Burst uses the Slot mechanic of her Limit Break. Fortunately, it's not completely up to chance, and once you get the rhythm of the button presses down, getting a Perfect isn't too difficult.
  • Difficult, but Awesome: In terms of gameplay, she's one of the single hardest characters to play due to her attacks having a unique system of chaining together not unlike Kain's, which can result in her being very difficult to play right. Once a player does though, she can drop her enemy in powerful combos that can be a nightmare for anyone to avoid.
  • Elemental Punch: She has several martial arts moves that use elemental properties, like Dolphin Blow, Water Kick, Burning Arrow, and Rolling Blaze.
  • EX Mode: Equipped Premium Heart!
    "Time to get serious!"
  • Flash Step: Her fighting style lets her cancel attacks and quickly slip around to attack the opponent from another angle.
  • Kick Chick: Her moveset is mostly split between kicks and punches, but she leans slightly towards kicks more.
  • Kung-Fu Wizard: Though she's primarily a melee fighter, she's got her spells too, and unlike Cloud, she can use them in the air as well as on the ground.
  • Playing with Fire: Features fire prominently in her HP attacks with Rolling Blaze, Burning Arrow, Meteodrive, and Meteor Strike.
  • Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs: Punch Rush most prominently, as well as Meteor Crusher.

    Laguna Loire 
"True kindness might be to sit back and just watch." — Toe Jam Tragedy
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Laguna_6474.jpg
"There'd come a time when life'd pull us apart. S'not a reason to avoid people."

Voiced by: Hiroaki Hirata (Japanese), A. V. Kennedy (English)

—Fighting Style: Tactical Gunner

A spirited man who uses various guns to fight. With his cheerful personality, he casually mediates the other warriors. Laguna tries to be a bumbling but good-natured Team Dad, leading the other warriors with his own quirky brand of wisdom and insight.

Laguna is a Tactical Gunner. He wields a wide arsenal of firearms in battle to fight with the opponent at arm's length. His Bravery attack change their properties depending on how the player presses or holds the attack button, changing how many projectiles he fires, where he fires them, and so forth. Laguna's Bravery attacks have fair damage output when they hit, but are mostly meant to distract enemies to set them up for his HP attacks, which are otherwise slow and unreliable.

General Tropes

  • Adaptational Badass: Laguna was questionably badass in Final Fantasy VIII. Here, there's no question at all.
  • The Anti-Nihilist: He's an easygoing guy who takes life as it comes, but admits to Squall upon meeting him that he appreciates the moment so much because inevitably life separates loved ones and friends, as he himself experienced, and because of that fact one should cherish new friends and loved ones for however long or short it lasts.
  • Badass Armfold: Shortly before finishing his EX Burst, when he lands atop the Ragnarok Cannon.
  • Badass Normal: While every other character in the game has at least some basic magical skills, Laguna uses no spells or equivalent supernatural powers at all, instead relying on his assorted firearms.
  • Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Though he's a weaponsmaster in battle, off the battlefield, Laguna is, well, Laguna.
  • Cool Airship/Cool Starship: He has a BFG based on the Ragnarok Airship.
  • Distracted by the Sexy: Implied when facing Cloud of Darkness.
    "Oh no... not good... focus, Laguna!"
  • Foil: To Squall, in their few interactions. It's encapsulated in their attitudes towards the other warriors; Squall doesn't see a point in making friends since he's focused on getting home, while Laguna embraces the chance to get to know people from so many different worlds, and advises Squall to "enjoy the now."
  • Heroic Sacrifice: The new heroes sacrifice themselves to seal the manikins away in the void in a Bolivian Army Ending.
  • Hidden Depths: His dialogue with Squall shows there's a pensive thinker with his share of tragedy beneath the chipper demeaner and he implies based on his own experiences that all loved ones sooner or later will part in unexpected or tragic ways, and as such he cherishes friendships for however long they last and despises the thought of solitude simply because of fear of separation.
  • Large Ham: Laguna sometimes speaks in an over-emotional tone to other characters to lighten up the mood.
  • Mental Time Travel: His EX Mode is a reference to this. In the original game, when Ellone's Mental Time Travel ability sends Squall and his friends into scenes from his past, Laguna and his friends are aware of the boost to their strength and combat abilities, but attribute it to "faeries".
  • No Sense of Direction: Laguna gets snarked at by the other warriors for this very often. It's bad enough that he gets lost on his own map.
    • "It's not that I have a bad sense of direction. I'm just interested in all directions."
  • Obfuscating Stupidity: At first, his encounter with the Cloud of Darkness makes him look like a complete idiot, but Laguna was able to get some pretty vital information about the manikins, without breaking character as the team goofball at that.
  • Popularity Power: In the original game, Laguna is essentially a Badass Normal whose strongest ability was to throw grenades at monsters. However, since he is something of an Ensemble Dark Horse, even by people who otherwise dislike Final Fantasy VIII, this means he gets to kill people with the Ragnarok airship in Dissidia.
  • Punny Name: The first part of "Ragnarok" is pronounced the same way as Laguna in Japanese (Raguna-roku).
  • The Smart Guy: Yes, while being an Idiot Hero. Despite being a klutz and a bit of a loon, Laguna is the most intellectual of the new heroes, bringing a map with him (even if he misreads it) and finding out the location of the Manikins and leading the group to them. He also far and away has the most strategic fighting style among them.
  • Team Dad: Of the Bumbling Dad variant. Laguna looks after the younger heroes in his own strange way, even calling himself Uncle Laguna in front of them.
  • Took a Level in Badass: Laguna only had his trademark machine gun in Final Fantasy VIII, only threw grenades in his Limit Break, and out of battle was pretty goofy. Now he's practically the personification of More Dakka with more firearms than any other Final Fantasy character could even dream of using. He's still pretty goofy, though.

Design and Costume Tropes

Gameplay and Combat Tropes

    Yuna 
"There's a world worth saving, even if you have to sacrifice yourself." — Braska's Sphere
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/yuna_duodecim_art_2208.jpg
"You fought to keep me safe. You told me all kinds of stories."

Voiced By: Mayuko Aoki (Japanese), Hedy Burress (English)

—Fighting Style: Grand Summoner

A female summoner who openly accepts her destiny and keeps on fighting bravely alongside her Aeons. A veteran of the cycles of war with Jecht, Yuna has regained many memories of her home world and her adventures there. This causes a lot of problems when they run into Tidus, a newly summoned warrior with no memories, and is fighting on the side of Chaos to best his father in a fight.

Yuna is a Grand Summoner who calls Aeons to fight for her with a wave of her staff. Contrary to most spellcasters, Yuna prefers to fight at closer quarters with melee and mid-ranged attacks. Her major shortfall is her small pool of attacks, and a lack of good ranged attacks. Her EX Mode, which dramatically boosts her damage output, can help give her that little extra edge.

General Tropes

  • Beware the Nice Ones: Just like FFX, it's not a good idea to get on Yuna's bad side. The Emperor really should have known better.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: The new heroes sacrifice themselves to seal the manikins away in the void in a Bolivian Army Ending.
  • Irony: As Tidus said in Final Fantasy X watching Yuna perform the Sending, "people die, and Yuna dances". Well, now the Sending is her EX Burst, so it's exactly the other way around.
    • There also is some parallelism to Tidus' journey and revelations in X. In X, Tidus sacrifices himself to save Yuna from giving up her life to summon the Final Aeon and finally vanquish Sin and Yu Yevon once and for all. Here, it is Yuna, by virtue of the group Heroic Sacrifice enacted to prevent the influx of manikins from overwhelming the other warriors in the next cycle, who essentially does the same for Tidus.
  • Just Whistle: Tries to whistle for Tidus to come back to her early in her story. It works... not that Tidus wants to admit it.
    • Adds on as a Mythology Gag (along with so many others, of course); early in X, Tidus tells Yuna that if she's ever in trouble, she should Just Whistle, and he'd come running (at the time he says this, Yuna can't whistle at all, and it takes some time for her to learn). It never happened in that game, but look what happened here.
  • The Smart Guy: Shares the role with Laguna.
  • Starcrossed Lovers: With Tidus, since he is brainwashed this time around.
  • This Is My Story: Shares Tidus' line for her Pre Ass Kicking One Liner.
    "This Is My Story. It has a Happy Ending!"
  • Walk on Water: How she is introduced in the opening.

Design and Costume Tropes

Gameplay and Combat Tropes

  • A.I. Breaker: Playing her against humans can go either way, depending on relative skill and opponents involved, but the computer opponents fall before her like dominoes. The most infamous example of this is her Megaflare move, but Energy Ray is almost as good, and her other three HP attacks are all apparently very difficult for the CPU to handle.
  • Combination Attack: Her EX Burst is to call all her Aeons in sequence to use their various attacks.
  • EX Mode: Grand Summon!
    "For the hope of the world!"
    • Yuna is surrounded by a blue glow of pyreflies. In addition to Regen, Yuna's EX Mode gives her the following ability:
      • Double Summon: Yuna can summon two Aeons at once.
    • Grand Summon also gives her access to her EX Burst: To the Farplane!
      "I will end the spiral of conflict."
    • Yuna dances on a column of water as she conjures all her Aeons to attack the opponent in sequence with all their special attacks and Overdrives. Rings of light close in on a displayed button command, and the player must press that button just before the ring vanishes to continue the attack. Yuna finishes the EX Burst completing her sending dance and dissolving the enemy into a swarm of pyreflies.
      "Sins of time eternal! I will cast them away." or "Sins of time eternal! I will do it without false hope."
  • Magic Dance: Uses her Sending Dance as her EX Burst.
  • Magic Missile Storm: Bahamut's charged Impulse.
  • Magic Staff: Yuna wields one as her main weapon, but its use is purely in her magical attacks.
  • Overshadowed by Awesome: Once the novelty of her summonings wear off, Yuna isn't really a stand-out character, with a highly limited pool of attacks that don't do all that impressive damage, and limited combo potential among them.
    • Boring, but Practical: However, she has some of the best anti-A.I. moves in the game (especially against the final boss), and her moves, though lacking in damage, are straightforward and versatile. Falls just short of being a Skill Gate Character, though.
  • Summon Magic: She's bringing her Aeons into battle with her, including:

    Prishe 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/184px-Prishe_770.png
"The struggles we go through — it's our experiences that teach us strength."
"Do not let good food go to waste." — Tarragoner

Voiced By: Aya Hirano (Japanese), Julie Nathanson (English)

—Fighting Style: Combo Blitzer

Originally planned as the XI representative in the original Dissidia, but ended up replaced by Shantotto. But now, the foulmouthed elvaan joins the Warriors of Cosmos. One of the early warriors in the cycle of war to serve Cosmos, Prishe fought alongside the Warrior of Light for Cosmos. Not that he remembers; Prishe vanished from the cycles long ago, her influence on them only known by a few who remain now.

Prishe is a Combo Blitzer. Unique for her, Prishe can chain her Bravery attacks together in her equip menu, letting her deal powerful Bravery combos with a variety of tactical uses. Her Bravery combos can also activate Skillchains depending on how she chains them, adding a bit more damage to them. Prishe's major weakness is her HP game, with slow and easy-evaded HP attacks that can leave her struggling to land a killing strike.

General Tropes

  • Big Eater: In FFXI, Prishe was known for consuming food items (with stat bonuses attached) in battle. When the player fights against her in the Heroine's Combat BCNM, she would often ask her teammates for food items whenever she performs a weaponskill. This is referenced by her accessory for crafting her exclusive weapon, the Tarragoner, a high-level cooking ingredient in FFXI. One must wonder how she still manages to keep such a slim figure.
    • In addition, Prishe has no less than eleven hidden battle quotes in the game that all revolve around food. They replace most of her HP attack quotes, her quote for entering EX Mode, and her line that begins her EX Burst.
  • Breakout Character: As with Shantotto, she's received much wider exposure due to her appearance in this game and her popularity has increased accordingly.
  • Cool Big Sis: Prishe is the ultimate Cool Big Sister. She practically raised the Warrior of Light by herself after she discovered him, frequently giving him advice on the nature of existence. As well as being generally an all-around awesome friend to him.
  • Cute Bruiser: Charged up, her bare-handed punch combos can crush guards and deflect attacks, which combined with their length and power, roughly makes her the female version of Jecht... with purple hair and frills.
  • Death Seeker: Her status as such in Final Fantasy XI is referenced by the intro quotes for both Chaos and her Mirror Match.
    Chaos: "Wish not for life, but seek death."
    Prishe: "Have I been looking for the end all along?"
  • Gratuitous German: Her exclusive weapons include the Koenig Knuckles and the Glantzfaust.
  • Madam Swearsalot: Has a very foul mouth in comparison to the rest of the cast, and uses mild language frequently. The two that will likely pop up most often are her Assist call ("It's about damn time!") and her defeat quote ("Aw heeeeeeell!")
  • Manic Pixie Dream Girl: She definitely tries to be this for the Warrior of Light, and it appears to have worked.
  • The Nicknamer: Just like in her original game, this time she appoints herself the one who has to come up with a name for the Warrior of Light. She quickly does, but the player never learns what it was. She even makes a note to tell it to Cosmos in case she forgets it herself.
  • Sealed Inside a Person-Shaped Can: She's supposedly the intended vessel for the rebirth of the Twilight God Promathia. Referenced by some of the other characters' intro quotes against her.
    Exdeath: "You house an immeasurable Void within you."
  • Secret Character: She has to be purchased with PP first, and the ability to purchase her has to be unlocked.
  • Small Role, Big Impact: Generally speaking, she isn't in the recent cycles and only appears in the reports (and even then they're only a few) nor was she ever spoken of in the present. However, she was the one who saved an amnesiac Warrior of Light from Garland and brought him to Cosmos, who later became one of her most loyal warriors.
  • Spirited Competitor: Has shades, she's certainly enjoying her battles.
    "Gonna have me some fun this time!"
    "You want a fight? You got one."
    "It's playtime with Prishe!"
  • Third-Person Person: It comes and goes.
    "The mighty Prishe is here!"
    "Prishe is here, where's the grub?"
  • Tomboy: She is very, very much this.
    • Tomboy and Girly Girl: When comparing the two female monks, Prishe is clearly very much a tomboy. By contrast, Tifa is a relative Girly Girl by comparison, at least in terms of personality; Tifa's physical appearance is slightly tomboyish, but she has a rather girly personality in comparison to Prishe.
  • What Happened to the Mouse?: What became of Prishe following her appearances in the reports is unknown.
    • Answered in the Official Quests released only in Japan. Prishe vanishes when Garland kills Cosmos in an earlier cycle.

Design and Costume Tropes

  • Ambiguously Brown: A racial trait of her people, the Elvaan. The "Ambiguously" comes in when you notice her FMV and artwork depict her with much lighter skin than she has in-game.
  • Older Than They Look: Estimated to be in her 30's, despite her appearance.
  • Power Crystal: Although the crystal that grants her immortality isn't actually visible on her costume.
  • Power Fist: She equips a pair of cesti when in her EX mode.
  • Walking Swimsuit Scene: Her 3P outfit is the FFXI Sunbreeze Bikini.

Gameplay and Combat Tropes

    Vaan 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/VaanDissidia_498.jpg
"Just believe in me and wait somewhere safe."

"One must make their soul like the wind to continue dreaming. Dreams will come true..." — Galbana Lilies

Voiced By: Kensho Ono (Japanese), Bobby Edner (English)

—Fighting Style: Adroit Attacker

A cheerful youth who skillfully uses a variety of weapons in battle. Confident in his skills, he fearlessly enters any fierce battle. Finding Terra under Kefka's control, Vaan appoints himself her knight to get her to safety and out of Kefka's clutches. Though his battle prowess is impressive, his allies don't think much of his slow mind.

Vaan is an Adroit Attacker. Vaan has a large arsenal of weapons and can use them at a variety of ranges. The trick to him is what those attacks will do. Every time Vaan attacks, he switches his currently active weapon to one matching the attack, but if he uses the same attack while that same weapon is still equipped, the attack will do something different. Using Vaan well requires knowing when to switch attacks and weapons and when to keep them up to use their secondary versions.

General Tropes

  • Big Brother Instinct: Vaan gets very protective of the Onion Knight when they meet, thinking it's wrong for a kid to be involved in the war, and tries to act as a Big Brother Mentor to him. The Onion Knight is clearly annoyed by it, but accepts that Vaan is now his official big brother, whether he likes it or not.
  • The Big Guy: Vaan fills this roles in the band.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Mostly at Laguna's expense.
  • The Dulcinea Effect: He saves Terra from Kefka's torture even after having once fought her before.
    • Then again, if she's being tortured by him, chances are they aren't allies any more.
  • Fearless Fool: Vaan barely bats an eyelash when told marching on manikin headquarters would spell almost certain doom, confident that it would be no problem for him. This earns him some ire from Lightning, who is annoyed by his optimism. In a later scene, Vaan shows he isn't quite as confident as he lets on, mentioning to himself that he would have liked to keep his promise to see Terra again.
  • Headbutting Heroes: Occasionally with Lightning.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: The new heroes sacrifice themselves to seal the manikins away in the void in a Bolivian Army Ending.
  • Holding Hands: He appears to do a lot of this with Terra.
  • Hypocritical Humor: Really, Vaan? You of all people shouldn't be telling the Cloud Of Darkness to put on a shirt.
  • Idiot Hero: Is Flanderized into this from XII. He has trouble remembering simple names, and mistakes Terra for Tidus and Tifa before he gets it right — keep in mind as he ponders this, Tifa is traveling in the party with him.
  • Lovable Rogue: He is a wily young thief, but one with a good head on his shoulders.
  • Mythology Gag: Lovable Rogue taking a knightly vow to protect the mysterious Terra. Sounds a bit similar to Locke, huh?
    • He also has a small Shout-Out to Balthier; when fighting himself, he will declare he is the leading man, and has a secret voice data reciting his (in)famous line "I'm Basch!".
  • Only One Name: Because his peasant roots, Vaan lacks a family name.
  • Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: Got a pretty good one in his first fight against Kefka.
    Kefka: "You're about to learn why 'oppose' rhymes with 'dispose'!"
    Vaan: "Always happy to take out the trash!"
  • The Promise: Vaan promises Terra that he'll find her before the fight against Chaos.
  • Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Vaan becomes reluctant to harm Terra after seeing her hypnotized state.
  • Sky Pirate: An aspiring one, or perhaps a famous one depending on how far through the timeline he is plucked from.
  • Stepping-Stone Sword: Sits on his greatsword for his Victory Pose.
  • Sword Plant: As part of his victory pose.

Design and Costume Tropes

Gameplay and Combat Tropes

  • Barrier Warrior: With his Ground Zero skill, Vaan creates a barrier made of stone and counters enemy attacks with an earth element sword strike.
  • Difficult, but Awesome: It's tricky to get the hang of his Switch attacks, but once you do, he's very powerful.
  • Elemental Powers: Vaan wields several powerful magicks as he casts Concurrences for his HP Attacks, using Inferno, Torrent, Cataclysm, Windburst and Luminescence for his EX Burst.
  • Exactly What It Says on the Tin: Most characters have attack names that are decidedly... flowery. Stuff like "Radiant Wings," "Dayflash", and "Flourish Of Steel." Vaan, though, has very simply-named Bravery attacks. The attack where he uses his spear? "Spear." The attack where he uses his crossbow? "Crossbow." At least we won't be forgetting the names any time soon.
  • EX Mode: Obtained all Licenses!
    "Gotcha in my sights!"
    • Vaan gains a golden aura of Mist energy and exchanges all of his weapons for their ultimate counterparts, symbolizing that he's completed the License Grid and has earned the ability to equip them. In addition to Regen, Vaan's EX Mode gives him the following abilities:
      • Zodiak: This increases the power of all of Vaan's weapon attacks and gives his Switch Attacks more follow up hits.
      • Free Switch: By pressing R+Square, Vaan is able to change his weapon instantly into bare hands, allowing him to pull off better switch attack combos.
    • Obtained All Licenses also gives him access to his EX Burst: Quickening.
      "No holding back!" or "I'm Basch!"
    • Vaan launches into his series of Quickenings. First is Red Spiral, an upward spiral of blue flames that turns into a pillar of fire dropping down on the enemy. Second is White Whorl, a giant tornado generated by a spiraling uppercut. Third is Pyroclasm, two fireballs thrown at the enemy which explode into a massive sea of flames. A perfect string will result in Luminescence: the enemy is trapped between two circles of runes and blasted with light energy.
      "Here! Rupture! Burst! How's this? Stings, huh?"
  • Flying Weapon: When using his staff switch attack, Vaan will use magic to have the staff float and attack on its own.
  • Full-Contact Magic: Vaan activates his HP attacks by conjuring runes and then punching or kicking them to create elemental effects.
  • Hyperspace Arsenal: Played straight, unlike fellow weapon master Firion.
  • Instant Runes: Vaan's HP Attacks are the Concurrences that are cast after Quickenings, complete with giant magick circles.
  • More Dakka: Courtesy of his Automatic Crossbow.
  • Multi-Melee Master/Multi-Ranged Master: Vaan is able to switch between weapon types for each of his attacks, and each weapon does bonus damage or has an additional effect if he's swapping out one weapon for another, encouraging player variation. Among the weapons he uses are: an Axe, barehanded, crossbows, a greatsword, Guns, Katanas, a shield, short swords, spears and staves.
  • Orgasmic Combat: When getting damaged in the English version.
  • Primal Stance: He uses his short sword stance for all his weapons despite the awkward lengths of many of them.
  • Rolling Attack: His Axe Switch Attack.
  • Spin Attack: His Spear and Staff Switch Attack.

    Lightning 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/DDFFLightning_2987.jpg
"You can sprout threats all day - we're not turning back now!":
"There is nothing to detest. Everything is precious." — Survival Knife

Voiced by: Maaya Sakamoto (Japanese), Ali Hillis (English)

—Fighting Style: Paradigm Commando

From Final Fantasy XIII comes Lightning, a former soldier with a gentle heart, though her harsh mannerism and speech can leave a cool impression. Though quiet and cynical among Cosmos' ranks, Lightning still holds onto hope to win the war and go home, but becomes suspicious of Kain when he attempts to strike her down. She effectively acts as the leader of the other newcomers added to Dissidia 012, and is the central character of the "012" storyline.

Lightning is a Paradigm Commando. As in her home game, Lightning can switch between Paradigm roles to change her moveset; as a Commando she uses a variety of sword and gun attacks, as a Ravager she casts offensive spells, and as a Medic she uses curative spells to restore her Bravery without attacking. This makes Lightning a well-rounded character with a lot of attacks, but her Bravery game is a bit lacking.

General tropes

  • Badass Boast:
    • Against Kuja in her story.
      Kuja: So ephemeral, lightning.
      Lightning: Oh, I'll show you how lightning strikes.
    • When facing Warrior of Light.
      Warrior of Light: Toss aside your blade, and say good night.
      Lightning: No thanks. It's not my bedtime.
  • Damn You, Muscle Memory!: Her EX Burst is the only one in the game that requires using the Analog Stick, which can lead to a few problems for those who set the movement controls to "D-Pad". Made worse for those whose PSP system's region is different to the game. Her EX Burst button commands are reversed. So if it says press X, you should actually press circle, and vice versa.
  • Deadpan Snarker: "Who died and made you Primarch?"
  • Heroic Sacrifice: The new heroes sacrifice themselves to seal the manikins away in the void in a Bolivian Army Ending.
  • I Did What I Had to Do: One of her win quotes.
  • Knight in Sour Armor: She'll do what's right, but she is by far the bitterest character in the entire game and is very cynical. This puts her at odds with Vaan and Laguna, who by contrast are cheerful and optimistic.
  • Lady of War: Graceful as ever.
  • The Leader: Of the Five-Man Band of new heroes in Dissidia 012.
  • Petal Power: The rose petals that accompanied her and Odin are back. Lampshaded.
    Vaan: Light's special attack is so cool. Where do those petals come from anyway?
    Lightning: Enough small talk... Just keep your eyes front.
  • Shout-Out: Her special DLC costume is that of Aya Brea from The 3rd Birthday.
  • Victory Pose: At the end of her EX Burst.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: When she learns that Kain and the Warrior of Light are killing off their comrades in order to allow them to be revived by the next cycle (the Manikins would permanently kill any warriors), Lightning ends up calling the Warrior of Light, Kain, AND Cosmos out on that plan.
  • When She Smiles: Very briefly during the ending sequence of Dissidia 012.
  • Worthy Opponent: Considers Garland to be hers.

Design and Costume Tropes

  • Art Evolution: Inverted. Lightning was obviously designed to appear using Playstation 3 graphics, so while she looks fine in artwork and CG scenes, the PSP can't show the finer details of her design in the level of detail demanded for her to look right. As a result, it's especially obvious when looking at her renders that it's a series of textures applied to a character model.
  • Bling of War: Her 3P costume is a more formal Guardian Corps Uniform.
  • Flower Motifs: Roses.
  • Mini Dress Of Power: The standard wear for a female soldier serving in the Guardian Corps.
  • Modesty Shorts: She wears a pair under her military issue miniskirt.

Gameplay and Combat Tropes

  • Awesome, but Impractical: Army of One may be her personal Limit Break and looks cool, but it's actually weaker than her basic three-hit Launch and Smite attacks and has a much longer start-up. The only advantage it has on them is that is produces more EX Force, which isn't a great boon when that only takes effect if you can hit with it.
  • Cool Sword: She has three, the Blazefire Saber and Omega Weapon. Both gunblades which can switch between the form a sword and a submachine gun and Gagnrad the massive dual bladed sword of Odin which can divide into two for Dual Wielding.
  • Elemental Powers: She runs the gamut, though as in her original game, with the primary focus on lightning and wind, but she can also use Blizzara, Fire, Watera and Ruin.
  • EX Mode: Omega Weapon Equipped!
    "Not your lucky day!"
    • Lightning switches out her Blazefire Saber for her third tier gunblade Omega Weapon. In addition to Regen, Lightning's EX Mode gives her the following abilities:
      • Omega Weapon: Hitting an opponent with Brave attacks while they are in critical BRV is guaranteed to Brave Break them.
      • Grav-Con Unit: Wall Rush damage dealt to Lightning is nullified.
    • Omega Weapon also gives her access to her EX Burst: Gestalt Drive:
      "I control my fate!"
    • The Gestalt Mode dial will appear and Lightning must input the button and analog combination to unleash Storm Blade, Lightning Strike, Razor Gale, and Thunderfall on the enemy before the time runs out. If you miss an input, Lightning will skip directly to the final blow, Zantetsuken, in which she holds her blades out and spins rapidly, hammering the foe with a storm of blows. She then kneels with her back to the enemy as the effects of the attack catch up with them.
      "Let's finish this! Bullseye."
  • Full-Contact Magic: Most of Lightning's HP Attacks have her casting thunder or wind magic with her Zantetsuken swords.
  • Jack of All Stats: Her HP attacks are versatile across close and long-range, her gunblade blows are simple but effective, and her spells can stun or distract opponents. Her downside, similar to the other Jack of All Stats, the Warrior of Light, is a limited pool of reliable attacks, combined with her Paradigm Shift only letting her use certain attacks at a time and telegraphing which she's preparing for.
  • Magic Knight: She is divided fairly evenly between magical and physical attacks.
  • The Musketeer: Lightning is both effective with a sword and gun.
  • Paradigm System: She can switch between her three characteristic styles for different Brave Attacks.
  • Razor Wind: The aptly named Razor Gale HP attack.
  • Rolling Attack: Smite.
  • Spectacular Spinning: Her EX Burst is just like her final move with Odin in her original game. Also, some of her attacks seem to involve spinning as well.
  • Spell Blade: Most of her HP Attacks are using thunder magic with the Zantetsuken.
  • Spin Attack: Blitz and Zantetsuken.
  • Useless Useful Spell: Her Medic Paradigm and its Cure abilities. The ability to rapidly recovery Bravery without attacking is only useful in very circumstantial situations, as they don't heal that much, require several seconds to execute fully, in the case of Cura need proper timing to heal the maximum amount, and she has no offensive Bravery attacks as a Medic. In practice Medic is more a nuisance than an aid, since you also need to shift to it when going from Commando to Ravager, and its only practical use is being a passive baiting tool (like The Emperor's Starfall but without any significant consequence) with varied results. For this reason many players de-equip her Medic abilities (also de-equipping Medic itself) and focus on Commando and Ravager, and the 2015 Dissidia removes Medic from her playstyle entirely to do the same.

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