Dragon Quest Heroes II’s New Characters Add Diversity

Dragon Quest Heroes II opens up its cast list. Dragon Quest Heroes was great. It was fun adventuring with Yangus, Jessica, Terry, Bianca, Nera, Maya, Alena, and Kiryl. There were a lot of beloved characters along for the ride. While Jessica, Terry, Maya, Alena, and Kiryl all return for the sequel, it feels like the other inclusions do a better job of offering a more well-rounded cast. With Torneko, Meena, Carver, Maribel, Ruff, and Angelo around, we have people who fill more niches and needs.

Torneko is an amazing healer. Really, that is the main reason anyone should ever have him in a Dragon Quest Heroes II party. His best skills are Sage’s Stone, which is basically a unique form of Multiheal that heals all allies’ health, Wonderwand, which heals all status effects from all allies, and Holy Water, which keeps enemies away from an area for a brief time. If there is a mission where you need to keep someone safe and fight off hordes of enemies (Conquer and Divide), Torneko is your man.

Meena is also wonderful for crowd control. All of her skills are designed to impact as many enemies as possible, perhaps even inflicting status effects on them. The Tower hits marked enemies with lightning, The Moon dazzles and damages marked foes, and The Fool damages and poisons marked enemies. She also has Multiheal, which means you can have her in place of Torneko on most missions. She also gets the Woosh-based spells, in case you want to send out tornados. She’s all about eliminating multiple threats. I consider her a character who should almost always be in your party. Only consider leaving her behind during boss fights, since she is not good with close encounters.

Ruff can be considered a rogue. He’s good for hit-and-run attacks. Ruff Rider lets you quickly attack and dash away, while Cry Wolf and Call of the Wild can call in others for speedy attacks and opportunities to distract foes while dealing damage. The Flame Breath line also lets you deal some fast damage to a larger group. Using Whistle to distract enemies, using Meaty Treat to heal him and temporarily increase his attack for when the enemies chase him, then use Ruff Rider to attack and stay one step ahead of them. I like to use him in areas where you’re facing a smaller number of foes, as it lets him call attention to himself so the other team members can get hits in.

Maribel is more of a mage than Meena, which can come in quite handy. She has the Frizz family of skills, offering some wonderful area of effect fire attacks. Kasap lowers enemies’ defenses for the group, while Hissy Fit staggers enemies so you can get some good hits in. There’s even Smackback to control crowds and deal damage. With her boomerang skills, you can also hit multiple enemies at once. She’s good for areas where you’ll have lots of enemies pouring in, as you can get some relief from the constant attacks with her support spells.

Angelo is there to deal damage from a distance and aid the party. He joins your party with multiple attack skills, like Shining Shot, Rain of Pain, Needle Shot, and Hyper Sniper. His learned skills are designed to help make fighting easier. Chilling Chuckle can temporarily freeze the enemies around you. Timbrel of Tension increases everyone’s tension gauges, which works in any situation. Oomph increases everyone’s attack for a short time. He’s a great character to have at the edge of a party and only occasionally control, perhaps swapping in to make sure he’s casting Omph and Timbrel of Tension regularly.

Carver is your Dragon Quest Heroes II tank. He’s an up-close, heavy hitter. Forbearance increases his defense and makes him more of a target. Using Muster Strength will temporarily boost his attack power. Then, if he ends up in trouble while protecting everyone else, Mediation will let him heal himself. These work well with the Knuckle Sandwich line of abilities and Flying Knee attack. He’s a great character to directly control in a boss fight to draw an enemy’s ire.

All of Dragon Quest Heroes II’s characters are great. They’re rather well balanced too, so you can have a party with your favorite folks in it. It’s important to keep in mind everyone’s skill sets. Some people absolutely work better in some situations. You would definitely want someone like Carver by your side for a boss fight, while Meena would be wonderful when wandering through field spaces. It’s all about keeping up with your characters and not being afraid to switch them in and out. Which is easy to do, since they’ll all level up even when they aren’t in your party.

Dragon Quest Heroes II is available for the PlayStation 4 and PC.