Huge but humble and hailing from Nord, this member of the original Class VII is an extreme joy to have on a team. His Brave Order Sacred Roar restores a tremendous amount of health instantaneously to the party and multiplies break damage dealt. Armed with a spear and a range of 3, he also has respectable reach with which to counterattack and avoid being counterattacked if he misses.
Gaius's ARCUS II has two wind spaces and one earth. He is given three lines, so there is potential to plug in debuff variety if desired. Most of his stats have very decent growth, though the speed is lackluster. This balanced spread presents a lot of adaptability.
The crafts have impressive reach and span and cover a multitude of essential purposes.
Gale Storm attacks foes in a straight line and lowers balance for a turn. When upgraded, the width of the attack's range improves.
Turbulence impedes casters over a large round area and may cause blindness. Power improves when upgraded.
Thunder Fang hits a medium area with great physical strength and break damage. It may cause delay, seal the opponent's attacks and crafts, and carries a high added chance of unbalancing.
Golden Howl sacrifices 30% of max HP to immediately restore 60 Craft Points and buff strength and defense.
Hunter Wing, available in Cold Steel IV, hits foes in a line with a significant chance of unbalancing as well as reducing both defenses a medium amount.
Howling Heavens, available in late in Cold Steel III onward, has a 100% chance of delaying enemies.
Build 1: Breaker
Severe weather incoming - anticipate delays
Golden Howl has a significant drawback with the health loss that can end up causing Gaius to self-K.O. or put him in a position where he will easily be defeated before he can be healed. This build not only does away with that drawback so his S-craft Howling Heavens can be spammed, but as its name implies, maximizes break damage potential to still the battlefield.
Master Quartz:
Main: Skuld
Sub: Dunamis
Line 1:
[Leg Breaker III/Revolution]
Amberl Gem/Waterfall*
Break 3
Domination/Lone Blade or Carnelia Gem/Attack 3*
[Rakan Gem]
Line 2:
Sevenfold Gem/Impede 3
Line 3:
[Byakko/Blind III/Sleep III]
Skuld, given at the beginning of the CS3/CS4 by Juna, provides Gaius with HP regeneration and a large boost to break damage, while the sub Dunamis restores health as damage is dealt. Both mitigate the downside of Golden Howl. Each use of Golden Howl can elevate strength and defense a level, and the more enemies are on the field, the more Dunamis will be responsible for AoE attack healing that back.
Amberl Gem provides fantastic defense so Gaius doesn't mind the long delay of the S-craft. Waterfall crushes lower-level enemies with the S-craft. Domination ensures the first strike's strength is doubled while providing decent HP for Gaius and a chance to debuff with Balance Down, while Carnelia Gem provides consistent strength for longer fights. Waterfall and Revolution provide benefits for opposite situations and are not ideal to field together. Leg Breaker works in the green slot when Gaius's level is higher than enemies and he needs more strength, and Byakko in line 3 provides strength and debuffs that will provide protection to your fighters.
This build requires Rider Gloves for an additional 50% break damage. Giving Gaius Gladiator Belt to restore 2 Craft Points per turn and linking him to a resilient party member that frequently takes hits to proc Anger/Fury will keep him fairly independent. While the Gladiator Headbands sound good on paper, in practice, I did not find the Craft Point yield to be as consistent for S-craft uptime.
Bringing Altina or an Impassion user are options too. Juna or Machias, through their respective AoE accelerate crafts, can move Gaius up to Golden Howl and launch his S-craft immediately after as well. Gaius pairs particularly well with Juna not only because of her Cheer link ability and her durability, but because Sledgehammer has a lower Brave Point cost and higher break damage bonus.
While the arts provided by the Master Quartz are great support skills, Gaius's role with this build is not to deliver them and so no bells are included. It is more of an opportunist thing, on a Zero-Arts bonus turn.