From the furthest and most mysterious reaches of Erebonia, Emma joins the original Class VII with true magical prowess. She comes paired with the Master Quartz Titania which restores EP as damaging arts land, buffs arts strength and arts defense, and reduces mirage arts delay. Her Brave Order Zodiac Force absorbs even the most powerful magic attack on the party, converting it into healing without failure. Emma's orbal staff has a decent range and impacts a small area around the selected enemy.
Emma's ARCUS II has a single line with two mandatory mirage slots and one designated for fire. She has bar-none the highest arts strength growth in all of Class VII and respectable arts defense. Her physical stats pale in comparison and she has very low base speed, so she should be staged away from enemies and away from clusters of allies that are tempting for enemies to use area attacks on. She is one of few with unbalance efficacy in all four attack types, and has a craft that takes advantage of this.
Support and devastating magic attacks round out Emma's craft set.
Detector-Beta displays and logs a full analysis of a target, while guaranteeing Balance Down and possibly lowering either or both defenses.
Serene Blessing restores health and removes ailments, including K.O. and stat down, and grants Craft Points.
Eclipse Edge hits enemies in a straight line with a powerful magical attack and an exceptional chance to unbalance.
Vorpal Flare has impressive power and break damage, and a good chance to cause burn or confusion.
Palace of Eregion grants all allies a chance to reflect any attack once. At 200 Craft Points, the shield works twice. When upgraded, it also restores 10% of allies' max health.
Build 1: Tactical Nuke
Where's the fire?
Emma's arts strength and capacity to land critical arts hits in this build is pushed almost as high as it can go with little regard to in-battle EP self-sustainability, because she can end almost any generic fight on her own well before she needs to replenish her mana pool. After the first move, if anything is even left, using the least-costly spell for the job is the way to go.
Master Quartz:
Main: Pandora
Sub: Virgo
Line 1:
[Astral Bell/Silver Bell]
Ocean Bell/Water Bell
[Ingenuity or Vulcan Gem]
Hades Gem/Nightgleam
Nohval Gem/Action 3
Diabolos Gem/Cast 3
[Argem Gem/Mind 3]
At high levels, every hit with this Master Quartz combination is going to be a critical hit further fueled by Pandora's EP-hungry damaging arts augmentation. Argem Gem pushes her high arts strength through the roof, while equipment like dual Still Blues take it to the moon. Rosen Crown is even better if you have one, but if you have none yet, use any accessory that boosts arts strength.
Astral and Ocean Bells halve the delay of the arts provided by the master quartz so Emma has more viability in longer fights. Diabolos Gem helps her cast quicker, while Nohval Gem brings her speed up to average. Hades Gem doubles the power of the first art, which should, depending on how enemies take each element, always be Diamond Nova, Albion Wolf, or Lost Genesis from a full EP pool.
Ingenuity is preferred to the upgraded Vulcan Gem only because the latter sacrifices 160 EP for 60 ATS. This mana pool is very limited for the demands of Pandora, and Emma's first AoE art is already dispatching mobs of her same level without that 60 ATS. Either choice provides the significant field benefit of rejuvenating EP between fights so Emma can get a fresh start with near-to-full EP from battle to battle, keeping mira in your pocket while running this build.
Having Musse for Arts Celebration greatly improves Emma's casting sustainability, while Rean's Divine Song enables Emma to rapid-cast. Pairing Emma with an Auto-Charge ally saves her from a turn of having to use EP-restoring items in longer battles.