The best party combos in Metaphor: ReFantazio

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All unlockable party members
- Characters can be replaced on future dates

There are almost limitless party combinations in Metaphor: Refantazio. Finding the best one can help make fights easier and avoid extra-level grinding. The maximum active party size is four, but you will have access to less for some portions of the plot. It is also possible that a character will be mandatory for a few hours. Regardless, plan around a core team and make small adjustments to compensate.

Besides the characters themselves, an important party aspect is archetypes. These are basically classes from other RPG games. A character’s raw stat block might make them better suited as a melee fighter, tank, or mage; Yet they still have the option to act as something. This changes a bit when you get ready to fight the final boss. Each character will receive an exclusive archetype, making them completely unique in the final hours of Metaphor: Refantazio.

All unlockable party members

Characters can be replaced on future dates

There are a total of eight party members Metaphor: Refantazio. However, the third character, Grius, leaves before fully developing his potential. Although you may gain access to a person in an early date, it is not until they “awaken” during the story that they gain the full power of their archetype lineage. Additionally, this does not always make them a follower automatically. In most cases, you will have to complete some side quests to turn characters into followers.

Character	archetype	Awakening day
Will	Seeker	6/5
Strohl	Warrior	6/6
Greetings	Nobody	Nobody
Hulkenberg	Night	6/11
Haysmay	thief	7/4
Jonah	Masked dancer	8/13
bird	Summoner	8/19
Basilio	Berserker	9/11

Best Party Member Combos

Adjust according to the current dungeon

Strohl is a staunch fighter in metaphor refantasio

Characters will come and go during different parts of the story Metaphor: Refantazio. While you can plan around the best party, be sure to have the other party members leveled up, just in case. It’s also a good idea to have multiple archetypes for your favorite characters. However, this may require grinding for extra MAG.

Best month six party

Month six mostly acts as a very long tutorial for Metaphor: Refantazio. You have no control over who is in the party, only what archetypes they can use. Grius serves as a temporary character as he never evokes a personal archetype; You also can’t use him and Hulkenberg at the same time.

Will often take on the role of party healer. It’s not that he’s particularly great at healing, it’s more that all other characters are more specialized; Strohl hits hard, Hulkenberg tanks well, Eupha is an excellent attack mage, etc. Alternatively, you can rely on healing items if you want to use more combat-focused moves.

Character	archetype	Important skills
Will	Magic or healer	Bot/Bizz/Kande: Deal weak fire/ice/electric damage to one enemy Media: Weak healing to all allies Patra: Removes status ailments
Strohl	Warrior or Brawler	slicer: Deals 2-4 times 2-4 times fake damage to one enemy Strike Dodge: Increases evasion against strike attacks Battle Cry: Increase attack and defense for three turns Scholar: Increases critical hit rate by 5%
Hulkenberg	Knight or Mage	Shield Arts: Deals Weak Strike damage to one target. Lowers hit and dodge for three turns Knight’s Proclamation: Annoy the enemy to attack you instead of an ally First aid: Weak healing when out of battle

Best month seven party

With the addition of Heismay, you finally get access to a whole party in Metaphor: Refantazio. His speed allows for more accuracy and evasion, though he isn’t the strongest at dealing damage. For everyone, take the time to unlock optional archetypes like Faker and Merchant. However, these require royal virtues such as increased wisdom.

YouTuber Beans Showed just how powerful merchant and tycoon can be in the early months. They fight using currency instead of MP, which can be useful when rich. However, they are outclassed once they reach the true end game archetypes during the last month of Metaphor: Refantazio.

Character	archetype	Important skills
Will	Cleric or faker	Tarunda: Lowers enemy attacks for three turns Dekaja: Removes all buffs from all enemies Medica: Means healing to all allies Retrieve: Revives one ally
Strohl	Swordmaster or Pugilist	Rising Slash: Deal medium slash damage to all enemies Martial Lore: Increases basic attacks by 50% Strike Boost: Increase strike damage by 20% Power Thrust: Deal with medium piercing damage. Lowers Defense for three turns
Hulkenberg	Magic Knight or Commander	Heavy Rush: Deal medium pierce damage to one enemy Medline: Weak healing to all allies in the same row Vitaly: Increases Attack and Defense for all allies for three turns Rebellion: Increase critical hit rate for three turns
Haysmay	merchant or gunner	Gold Attack: Deals weak almighty damage, but with a high critical hit rate Debt collection: Steals MAG from the target sleep shot: Attend Vic Pierce damage and may cause sleep

Best month eight party

Both Juna and Ufa will force their way into the party at certain points of Metaphor: Refantazio. This makes it easier to plan around using them at the same time. However, in the few cases where they split, you might consider bringing in Hulkenberg for extra protection.

Character	archetype	Important skills
Will	Cleric or Summoner	Undead King: Deal heavy dark damage to one enemy. May instant KO Dragon God: Deal heavy fire damage to all enemies. Removes their buffs
Strohl	Samurai or General	Attack Lore: Increases attack at the start of battle regenerate: Recover HP each turn article: Increases all allies’ attack for three turns
Jonah	Faker or wizard	Botra/Blizza/Kandera: Deal medium fire/ice/electric damage to one enemy shield blessing: When a stat is buffed, recover MP
bird	Summoner or Soul Hacker	search gal: Deals heavy wind damage to all enemies and recovers MP Deiaman: Heavy HP recovery for one ally

Best month nine party

Basilio is the final party member and is even stronger than Strohl as a physical fighter. Instead of benching Strohl, using them on the same team is more strategic and really increases the amount of melee damage. Basilio’s only downfall is that he’s terrible with magic, which makes archetype switching less useful than the other characters in Metaphor: Refantazio.

Character	archetype	Important skills
Will	Savior or Tycoon	Gold Rush: Deals mean almighty damage, but with a high critical hit rate Critical Trade: Doubles the chance of landing a critical hit sponsor: Removes status ailments for all allies Patrick: Allows an ally to sustain one fatal attack
Strohl	Samurai or Warlord	Manufacturing: Increases all allies’ hit and dodge for three turns
Basilio	Destroyer or martial artist	Radiant Crusher: Deal heavy light damage that ignores resistance Short Range Boost: On the frontlines, attack increased by 10% Hell Trust: Deals heavy pierce damage to one target and lowers Defense
bird	Devil Summoner or Soul Hacker	God: Deal extreme light damage to all enemies. Mai Zakah Khulka Tyrant: Deals extreme almighty damage to all enemies. May cause hex

Best month ten party

By the end of month nine, you’ll start getting access to maximum follower bonds. If you take the time to level their total archetype lineage to 20 – along with a second lineage, depending on character – you’ll get a special “Royal” archetype from their first awakening. These trump almost every option in terms of offensive power. The main character, Will, gains his archetype when you approach the final areas of the main story in Metaphor: Refantazio.

Character	archetype	Important skills
Will	Prince	Cooperative Chase: Support attacks from allies happen more often Hero’s Proving: Improves all stats for three turns Hero’s Cry: Win four turns
Strohl	Royal Warrior	Slash Surge: Increases slash damage by 30% Hassou Tobi: Eight times to deal weak slash damage to all enemies
Basilio	Royal Berserker	Fee: Greatly increases physical attack Noble Berserker Soul: Landing a physical critical hit prevents using a turn
bird	Royal Summoner	Harvest God: Revives all allies and restores them to full health

Source: Baines/YouTube

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Released: October 11, 2024
developer(s): Studio Zero
Publisher(s): Atlas
motor: GFD
ESRB: H For Teens // Blood, language, mild suggestive themes, use of alcohol, violence
OpenCritic rating: Terrific