The Black Rabbit of the Intelligence Division joins New Class VII in Trails of Cold Steel III and IV. Initially, she is equipped with the Deva time-elemental Master Quartz which promotes magic evasion, and has a Brave Order Ebon Crest which grants an impenetrable Absolute Reflect to all party members. Her generic attack has her combat shell swing through the area in front of her, with enough range to keep her out of many foes' counterattack radius if it misses.
Altina's ARCUS II has two mandatory mirage slots and one mandatory time slot, with all slots but one mirage slot placed on line 1, limiting the use of status and breaker quartz. Her status growth is decent on both offensive ends and the magic defense end, but lacks physical bulk.
While Altina has no craft that impedes casting, she does have an inexpensive skill that restores allies' Craft Points and can be included in that target to reduce the net cost.
Detector-Delta pulls a profile of the selected enemy, letting you view all potential item drops, elemental and status efficacy, and guarantees Balance Down to help you score more Brave Points.
Brionac fires an arts attack-based laser from Altina's position to the edge of the battlefield, potentially reducing the hit enemies' defenses. Carries decent odds of unbalancing vulnerable foes. In Cold Steel IV, the width affected is significantly increased upon upgrade.
Argem Heal lets you target an area of allies to restore health and Craft Points. In Cold Steel IV, this can be upgraded to Artium Heal, improving healing and granting a medium defense boost.
Fragarach is a high-power physical attack with very high break power. It may delay enemies' active turns.
Ebon Shade grants Altina stealth for two of her active turns, rendering her invincible. Additionally, she gains physical reflect to bounce one hit when she does lose stealth.
Build 1: Support
I am the sword that protects everyone
Canon and Sophia are two Master Quartzes that turn any caster as it is into an amazing healer, but what makes Altina the best fit for the role is the fact that in the event that she is the last remaining before an imminent team wipe, she can throw up Ebon Shade and safely use Seraphic Ring to bring the entire party back to full health from dead. Such a plan trivializes Spirit and Dragon Incense, as long as Altina has enough Craft Points and EP to execute it.
Master Quartz:
Main: Canon
Sub: Sophia
Line 1:
Ocean Bell/Water Bell
[Astral Bell/Silver Bell]
Holy Bell/Golden Bell
[Diabolos Gem/Cast 3]
Argem Gem, Deus Gem/EP Cut 3, or Nohval Gem/Action 3*
Fenrir Gem/Albion Wolf SR/Mind 3, Seraphic Ring SR, or Skanda Gem/Chrono Burst SR*
Line 2:
[Odin Gem/Crescent Mirror SR]
Having the Master Quartz provide most of the arts Altina will use allows her to focus on casting speed, delay reduction, and quartz that boost arts strength. Water arts do not provide AoE healing, and Canon's art area expansion does not affect single-target skills being single-target. Ocean Bell and Diabolos Gem together create a situation, however, where Tear can be spammable before Altina turns the spotlight over to someone else, and with Canon's boost to healing, Teara and Tearal shouldn't need consideration given the cost.
Crescent Mirror and Astral Bell are provided for the field-wide maximization of both defenses and arts reflect, allowing the team to fight longer between heals. Saintly Force is added to enhance attackers' damage output individually, though is not as necessary because many characters have other ways of enhancing their power.
Deep Ocher/Yellow Emblem/Yellow Pendulum is absolutely critical for Altina's support role, and if you can get the former equipped, she can comfortably squeeze into the frontline and include herself in Argem/Artium Heal usage on melee-range crews. Using her regular attacks from here when buffs and heals aren't needed and joining link attacks should keep her Craft Points up. Immunity to Vanish and Deathblow are very important where the higher elements are active, so it is ideal to equip Abyss Shadow, Dark Emblem, or Dark Pendulum.
* Suggestions for slots 5 and 6 can be swapped situationally for power and dispelling enemies' buffs, longer-lasting EP, or what can be obtained at that stage of the game. Linking with an ally that has Auto-Charge should keep Altina at or near full EP. Seraphic Ring SR becomes redundant when Seraphic Ring is unlocked on Sophia and is suggested for early game. The time-elemental quartz provide Altina with great speed and successive use of Argem/Artium Heal through the instant-cast Chrono Burst provided by the Skanda Gem, giving the team excellent access times for powerful crafts.