I’ve often discussed why the Thief class is currently (and in the forseeable future) the dominant job class in the game.
What does dominance look like in Octopath Traveler COTC?
The short answer is raw, unstoppable DPS.
The long answer is a self-sustaining DPS that with some support, can frequently ram the damage cap and trivialize many bosses.
Our first real “taste” of Thief dominance came from the release of Therion many banners ago. That was proceeded by Nier Automata’s A2.
But let’s talk about our god Therion Traveler: Therion of the Continent™.
Tier List Overview of Therion #
In my tier list of all units by roles, Therion scores S+ in the PDPS category and very highly as a breaker.
His dagger nuke combined with his free repeat passive lets him ram the damage cap with the right setup.
He scores S in the Breaker category. Here’s why:
- 6-hit Dagger at max boost
- 4-hit AOE guaranteed shield break at max boost with chance to paralyze
Stats
Unit Kit #
Passives
- Raise recovery amount of absorption skills by 50% for Self.
- He can absorb 45% of damage dealt as HP instead of 30%, easily healing himself to full.
- He can absorb 3% of damage dealt as SP instead of 2%, easily healing his SP to full during break.
- When using Max Boost on a skill, use that skill again for free (Divine Feat).
- This is the single biggest reason why Therion is so coveted. See below for a lesson on multi-hit.
- Therion can repeat any of his skills for free including non-damaging ones.
- Normal attacks and Ultimate do not proc this passive.
A Lesson on the Power of Multi-Hit #
Best Skills
- 5* skill: 1-hit Dagger nuke with chance to paralyze.
- Therion’s strongest damaging skill during max boost.
- Paralysis can come in clutch; see section on paralysis.
- 5* skill: 2-hit Fire to all enemies, guaranteed to remove shield points, chance to paralyze.
- This turns into a 4-hit AOE guaranteed shield removal with a chance to paralyze multiple enemies.
- Actually deals tremendous amounts of Fire damage once we get eatk daggers.
- Is a major reason why he fits into any team comp, regardless of enemy weakness.
- 4* skill: 3-hit Dagger to single foe.
- His second strongest dagger skill and has the potential to do the most amount of damage; up to 6 hits at max boost (think 99,999 x 6) in the future.
- 3* skill: 2-hit Dagger to single enemy, recover 2% of damage dealt as SP.
- Becomes 3% due to his passive.
- Can fully recover his SP with one attack even at 0 boost during Break; just deal 11k damage.
- 2* skill: Inflict 15% PATK/PDEF down to single enemy for 2 – 5 turns based on boost.
- Both debuffs are capped to 9 turns in a single action if used at max boost, although you’ll rarely ever use your BP in this manner.
Generally you’ll want to pick:
- 1-hit dagger nuke with paralysis (unless you’re breaking damage cap too easily)
- 2-hit fire with paralysis and shield break
- 3-hit dagger
- 2-hit dagger with SP recovery in longer battles
- 15% PATK/PDEF debuff if planning to cap enemy PATK/PDEF down with Falco/A2/Viola
Ultimate Skill
- 1-hit single target dagger nuke and recover 1 – 2 BP.
- This ultimate is weaker than any of his other damaging skills at max boost.
- The simple tactic is to use his ultimate after running out of BP or at 1BP, so you’ll have 3 BP on the next turn.
- Prioritize Awakening 1, 2, 3, 4 over Lv 10.
- 40 PATK, 60 SPD, 400 HP
- Raise Dagger damage dealt by 15%
- When breaking an enemy, have a high chance to inflict paralysis (turns: 3)
This is an A rank accessory provides good amount of HP and the highest amount of speed from an accessory. You can give it to the likes of Falco or even Lynette to act before Therion. The paralysis effect cannot be depended on but it is a nice bonus.
How Strong is Paralysis? #
Daily Farming #
Best Accessories #
- Kota’s Glove for 30% PATK passive buff is the best DPS accessory – and Therion can recover his SP to full with one skill
- Any 15% Dagger, depending on the enemy weakness
- Accessories that provide flat HP for survival
Skill Damage Rankings #
I assume all units at A4, Lv 100, with Origin IV weapons.
Unit passives are generally active unless otherwise specified.
Click here to view the full skill firepower table and an explanation of how it’s made.
Top 25 damaging skills
At first glance, it may look like Therion’s best skill pails in comparison to others.
However, if you look again, you’ll notice how almost every skill above Therion’s requires set up. A2 requires 1 turn to use berserk mode, lasting for 6 – 9 turns.
W’ludai requires 1 turn to use AoE spear attack. And Jillmeila requires an enemy to be bleeding.
We can safely ignore all the ultimates in this comparison.
Only 2B has higher damage than Therion without set up, but her attacks are 1-hit nukes and we’ve already talked about the weakness of 1-hit.
One thing my Firepower table does not show, is skill damage after being equipped with powerful accessories.
Let’s see how the damage rankings change if everyone is equipped with 30% passive ATK (Kota’s Glove for example) and 30% passive DMG Up.
Now 4 of Therion’s skills are in the top 25. And they are still the easiest skills to use with multi-hit capabilities.
Once Bargello and Rinyuu come out, everyone can hit the cap of 30% damage up on dagger skills.
Team Comps #
- Falco for Dagger damage up
- Alfyn is the best BP battery bank for Therion; Tithi 2nd best for BP; Primrose’s Ultimate and Tressa can also provide BP but shouldn’t be chosen specifically for this role
- Lynette/Primrose/Glossom multiple other units that buff PATK
- A2/Falco not only have dagger damage, but can debuff enemy PATK/PDEF in combination with Therion; in one turn you can max debuff enemy’s PATK and PDEF down 30% for 6 turns at zero boost.
- Absolutely needs regen, Alfyn does this the best
- In the future, we’ll have Bargello to raise the damage cap by 20k, boost 10% Dagger DMG and 15% PATK
- Find other companions via the Buff/Debuff finder tool
- Another useful resource is the recruitable allies table for multi-hit shield shaving and attack buffs
End Game Content Usage #
- Tikilen/Glossom/Varkyn/Yan Long Cup: the two adds can be paralyzed
- Ri’tu Cup (Ri’tu weak to Fire)
- Gertrude Cup (Dagger and Fire)
- Yunnie Cup: all adds can be paralyzed
- Yan Long Cup (Sword)
- All Lv 100 NPCs aside from the Adventurer + Partner can be paralyzed
- Lv 100 NPC: Muttering Codger (Dagger), Sea-gazing Graybeard (Fire), Adventurer (Dagger)
- Largo cup (spoiler)
- Thief Job Tower (spoiler)
Should You Pull? #
At the time of writing, there is still a Thief rate up banner which includes Therion. It’s still a gamble.
At the time of release, Therion was pity-able for just 3k gems. This was very fair for the amount of value he brings to the team.
Therion is in the permanent pool and given enough time, you might be able to pull him randomly.
In JP, they did have new rate up banners for Therion + other units.
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