Quick Links
Val is the main character inVisions of Mana, so you’re going to be spending a lot of time with him. While he’s not a mandatory active party member despite his protagonist status, he’s still just as viable as anybody else in a game that’s fairly well balanced for each of its five playable heroes and heroines.
Any of Val’s classes can be made to work. Even so, after spending over 60 hours with Visions of Mana, we developed a few favorites. If you’re looking for some insight into Val’s prowess and which classes accentuate his strengths, we hope you’ll find our guide an informative one.
What Does Val Specialise In?
Val isthe protagonist of Visions of Mana, so, you’ll acquire him as a party memberat the beginning of the game. He technically joins alongside Hinna, thoughbetween Hinna and Val, Val is the only character whom the player directly controls.
Val is a tank, through and through, though that’s not to say he doesn’t have utility as a moredamage-focused melee characterif you should so desire. We think there’s a good middleground in there - which is to say,a damage-soaking, defensive, fighter who can dish out some hits.
To some extent or another,each of Val’s classes focuses on survivability. Even Duelist, his class with the highest attack power, is still going to be slower on the DPS side than someone like Morley;Val’s weapon types are simply too slow to competein that regard.
As a result,HP and Defenseare Val’s biggest stats, with Attack not far behind.
The Best Builds For Val
Val is centered on tanking, but as we’ve stated above, you can still hit hard while you’re at it.The classes we love most for Valcombine his combat prowess with a strong focus on beingthefrontline fighter whosoaks as many hits as possible to keep his more fragile allies safe.
In Visions of Mana, there arelimited-availability stat-boosting items called serums. When you acquireVitality Serumswhichraise HP, be sure to pop them on Val. Raise his Defense withStamina Serums, too.
Val’s classes include the full array ofElemental Saber and Elemental Shieldabilities. Each of these will either imbue one’s weapon with a particular element, or elevate one’s defense against it.
This carries forward in a more appreciable way -if the ability includes a “+” symbol, casting it will apply the offensive or defensive elemental buff to the entire party.
Last but by no means least, Val hasHowl Mark, which is the most straightforward example Visions of Mana has to an MMO-like tanking action.Howl Mark draws aggro toward Val, making him likelier to be targeted, so you should always have it in your arsenal once it’s been learned.
Rune Knight - Saber Magic Savant
For a large chunk of the game, wekept going back to Rune Knight,which isthe earliest class you’ll unlock since it’s linked to the Wind Vessel.
That’s not to say it’sinarguablyVal’s best class, nor do we think it necessarily stays on top in the late game. But it has an impressive run. Here’sa rundown on how Rune Knight works:
Don’t underestimate the build-up in physical damage that Val can unleash once he’s on the higher end of his Rune Knight Elemental Plot. Despitehaving a somewhat middling ATK stat,the Rune Knight is nonetheless capable ofpumping out pretty decent numbersrelative to most of Val’s other classes.
Berserker - Hurt Me More
We’ll be honest. When we first unlockedBerserker, theDark Vesselclass, we really didn’t know what to make of it. Its whole shtick revolves aroundallowing Val to take a serious beating,asthe lower his HP gets, the more powerful he becomes.
Visions of Mana is, at least not on the surface, the sort of game whererunning around with low health for an increase in offensive firepowerappears to be worth it. But we gave Berserker a chance, and we were quite satisfied.
The trick to making this all work in your favor is a little twisty, but well worth the effort. For starters,use Howl Mark to constantly get the enemies' attention on Val.
Make sureyou have a reliable healer in the partyfor when things get too dicey, butdon’t set their strategy to let them heal Val automatically, or else Val’s incredible passives will never get the chance to shine.
When you get theLionheart ability seed later in the game,give it to Val,as it makes him immune to being knocked back from hits -which is good not only because you can keep swinging, but also, becauseit keeps Val in the line of fire on a permanent basis.
Paladin - True Soul Guard
On the other end of the spectrum, there’sPaladin, which is acquired from (naturally) theLight Vessel. UnlikeBerserker’s GreatswordsandRune Knight’s Small Swords, the Paladin is equipped withLances, which come packed with a neat-looking shield to further accentuate theirextreme defensive prowess.
The Paladin is the culmination of what you’ll see with theLiege and Aegis classes. That doesn’t mean those classes don’t continue to maintain their own merits, and they’re well worth wielding if you’d prefer; butPaladin is our pick for the best defensively-fixated class in the game.
The most important thing to remember when playing as a Paladin is thatVal’s shield should always be fortified. This is done throughcasting a Shield spell,which is convenient, as it’s something you may very well find yourself doing when playing Val’s other classes, anyway.
Fortifying Val’s shield imbues some vast party-wide benefits, which come into play while you dothe same thing you’ll always do with Val, which is to say, get him up close and personal on a routine basis,drawing aggro as best you may.
Could the argument be made that, if you’re playing Visions of Mana optimally, you shouldn’t need to worry about a party member ever falling that low? Maybe. Buton Hard and especially the unlockable Expert difficulty, it’s absolutely going to happen, and Sanctum is a godsend.
Best Party Compositions For Val
Making the most of any party member in Visions of Mana is about more than setting them up properly. It’s aboutfactoring in who they’re tagging along within battles.
Since the Elemental Vessels are interchangeable, certain options will be blocked off at any given time - Val and Careena can’t both be using the Dark Vessel, for instance - but by and large, there are ample options at your disposal to make the most of Val’s capabilities.
Rune Knight
Of our three favorite Val classes, this one’s probably the most adaptive to a broad range of compositions.
As Val isn’t especially sturdy (by Val class standards),it’s not a bad idea to bringJulei, the game’s best healer - or simplyanyone else whose class serves a healing role.Palamenacan make it work especially well.
Other than that, well, go with your gut. Taking eitherMorley or Careena in a highly physical offensive rolecan help them to make the most of theeffects of Saber magic.
Berserker
With the Berserker, you definitely want a healer. But remember:disable any strategy option that will compel them to heal Val without your direct input, lest they continuously prevent Val’s low-HP passives from triggering as intended.
Once again, then,Julei is a good choice for backup, while astatus-effect-slinging class from Careenacan further dampen the enemy’s odds of fighting back.
Paladin
By contrast,Paladin has less need of a healer, since it’s going to bereducing the damage received by the entire partywhen its own passives trigger.
You’ll want to focus onupping your overall damage output, as Paladin itself is not going to clear the crowds. BringMorley as a Nightbladeor other high-attack class, and then consider one of eitherPalamena as Magus or similarly high magic-attack class, or alternatively,Careena for further melee firepower.
