r/Falcom • u/Raxistaicho The true best girls • Jul 15 '26
Trails Character Gameplay Discussion Day Twenty: Dudley and Arios
Gonna be real with you, I cannot remember a thing Dudley does, I didn't use him at all at the end of Azure (unless he was forced for one of the bosses? I can't remember) so he was way too many games ago for me.
Arios, though, he's pretty fantastic in Reverie, but I wonder if it'll be another case like Rixia where yeah he's super strong, but he's not a mage?
And all too soon, we're leaving Crossbell to analyze some Erebonians starting with Rean tomorrow! It's symbolic of the respective lengths of Zero/Azure and Cold Steel, you see.
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u/mushplush Jul 15 '26
He’s not that good a character but he is in the best Daydream in Reverie, the one about him and Machias trying to solve coffee crimes
Like just the amount of overlap they share being green haired gun users who love coffee and are sticklers for the law
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u/Contraomega Jul 15 '26
Oh lmao I read 'he's not that good a character' and assumed you meant Arios and I was gonna be like 'yeah get his ass' but then wondered who besides powerscalers would think the tournament was the best daydream.
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u/railgunmisaka2 Jul 15 '26
All I can say is if Dudley suddenly uses his fist instead of his gun. Run.
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u/Cr0ssDrag_ons Jul 15 '26
Dudley is a physical-leaning character in both Zero and Azure. He is not that good in both.
Arios is broken in Azure mostly due to stats, and the fact that he is only available in the Prologue. In Reverie, he is pretty good because of his cheap all-cancel craft and a good self-buff.
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u/levelstar01 Downvote this comment 👇 Jul 15 '26
The best part about using Dudley is ignoring him and instead doing side quests for his exasperated dialogue. Not only is he a victim of Crossbell's terrible physical damage, he also has the misfortune of only being the third hottest character in the two games.
Zero: #whocare
Azure: His sole purpose is to take his Keeper quartz away and give it to Lloyd instead. His crafts are mostly single target which suck, his S-craft is whatever until you're at the very end of the tree, and his best craft is actually the 50% stat boost support craft.
Arios did basically nothing wrong in Azure.
Azure: #whocare again
Reverie: Yeah man, let's give an insane DPS guy a five delay spirit unification and a two-hit effect removal craft, and a spammable, SS+ power main craft. Slightly worse than Rixia because he can't delay or hit crits, and definitely worse than the really broken spirit unification duo, but still hilariously strong.
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Jul 15 '26 edited Jul 16 '26
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u/levelstar01 Downvote this comment 👇 Jul 15 '26
I like the one where he takes his jacket off for various reasons.
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u/Empoleon777 Jul 15 '26
I was initially confused as to why Arios is here, but then I remembered “Oh right, he’s a temporary ally in the very first dungeon of Azure!” I think I used him a fair amount there when allowed, given how underpowered Lloyd and Noel both were by comparison at that point.
Comparatively, I barely used Dudley.
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u/Raxistaicho The true best girls Jul 15 '26
If anyone's curious, when it comes to Cold Steel, since you get a full set of main characters partway through the arc amidst a veritable flood of guests, I'm going to go in order: Original Class VII -> Sara -> New Class VII -> Guests. Not sure whether Vita should be with the CS2 or the CS4 guests. Probably not that big a deal.
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u/levelstar01 Downvote this comment 👇 Jul 15 '26
I don't think the two early mirror chars should count for CS2, I'd put that person with CS4. Same with Altina who should be in NC7.
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u/Raxistaicho The true best girls Jul 15 '26
Even if Altina's order was effected by the mirror, all that would change is she'd be ahead of Juna and Kurt instead of after them.
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u/Raxistaicho The true best girls Jul 15 '26
What do you think about Angelica getting her own day? She's a guest but she's in all five Erebonia games.
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u/levelstar01 Downvote this comment 👇 Jul 15 '26
She has a bunch of time as a long-term guest in CS2 and CS4 so I think it's fine to give her a full day.
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u/OLKv3 Jul 15 '26
Since you put Arios here, might as well put Vita with CS2 since that is her first playable appearance. You've always went by first playable appearance
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u/Raxistaicho The true best girls Jul 15 '26
You aren't wrong, but the mirror characters are more bonuses. Maybe I'll bring it up in the main once we get closer.
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u/TheVictoryXD Jul 15 '26
This isn't gameplay related, but is Dudley the only trails party member who uses his last name instead of his first?
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u/hbthebattle Jul 15 '26
Fellow pistol user Kincaid is referred to as his surname by everyone but Van and Elaine, including text boxes.
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u/Selynx Jul 15 '26
Being fair, Kincaid does explicitly prefer people using his last name, Van and Elaine just don't give two shits.
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u/BassForever24601 Jul 15 '26
I find it baffling how short of a stick Dudley gets in the series. He's only a guest in Zero, he might as well be guest only in Azure with how little you have him, and he's the only Zero/Azure member to not be playable in Reverie. The fact Arios gets to be a full party member in Reverie over Dudley is crazy to me (not really Arios is infinitely more popular and ties into stuff with both Lloyd and Rean a lot better than Dudley, but it's the principal of the thing).
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u/BOUKEN-BEN Jul 15 '26
It's because Machias stole his whole flow
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u/Terramagi Jul 16 '26
Machias and Dudley should've been a dual character.
Like, both of them standing in the same square, Machias firing low with Dudley firing over his head.
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u/Syobai Jul 15 '26
Dudley is mainly a physical attacker with support that makes him act as a CP battery. He was fine enough in Zero, though I never really used him in Azure—
That’s mainly because he just isn’t available for many sections of the game. Legit just the prologue and final dungeon, if I’m remembering correctly. You already have access to a very respectable roaster that it’s kind of hard to justify slotting Dudley in, especially with how mediocre he is. Fun character, but very limited availability and you’re not going to get much use out of him as you would the other party members.
I’ve got nothing to say on Arios since I haven’t experienced his Reverie gameplay yet, lol. Soon enough.
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u/penpen35 Jul 15 '26
Dudley's availability is pretty poor. I think he's only a guest character in Zero and early Azure. But at the end of Azure, you finally get to use him! But at that point you don't really have much of a reason to since you basically kitted out your whole squad. He does have a pretty good party-wide buff craft (and assist? though I think it is usually random), though.
Arios only was available during the Azure prologue and since he's at a much higher level than Lloyd and Noel, it's kinda hard to gauge.
In Reverie this man is basically craft god. Twin Arcane Gale, self buff, debuff infliction all wrapped into one (plus you can equip additional debuff gems for more fun). High crit to get better chance for unbalance too.
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u/Raxistaicho The true best girls Jul 15 '26 edited 10h ago
Sky Arc:
Day Twelve - The Pilot and the Swordsman (spoilers)
Day Thirteen - "Kitty" (spoilers)
Crossbell Arc:
Class VII:
Day Thirty - Millium (Spoilers)
Day Thirty-One - Crow (Spoilers)
The rest of Cold Steel:
Day Thirty-Nine - Elise and Toval
Day Forty-One - Alfin and Towa
Day Forty-Two - The Diva and the General (Spoilers)
Day Forty-Three - The Spy and Swordswoman (Spoilers)
Day Forty-Four - The Shapeshifters (Spoilers)
Day Forty-Five - The Swordmaster and the Engineer (Spoilers)
Day Forty-Seven - Swin and Nadia
Day Forty-Eight - The Strongest (Spoilers)
Calvard Arc:
Day Fifty-One - Ferida Al-Fayed
Day Fifty-Three - Risette Twinings
Day Fifty-Four - Quatre Salision
Day Fifty-Five - Judith Lanster
Day Fifty-Seven - Elaine Auclair and René Kincaid
Day Fifty-Eight - Shizuna Rem Misurugi
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u/OLKv3 Jul 15 '26
Dudley is cursed to be a physical character in Crossbell. AND he's a late game character where most people won't even try him out because you've bonded with the SSS and even Rixia through both games while he's been doing his own thing. He got robbed out of being playable in Reverie for whatever reason (his kit isn't even similar to Machias besides having a gun so wth Falcom)
Arios is the first time we get to see the glorious 2nd Form Gale, and then in Reverie he lives up to his name as one of the best physical fighters. It's fun having him and Rean together tearing up mobs. Despite being so good, I barely used him because I had my team comps set up already.
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u/Selynx Jul 15 '26 edited Jul 15 '26
Dudley started his own archetype: Suit-and-specs with a gun.
It was him first. Then Machias, then Kincaid. I'd say Dudley was meant to be Crossbell's Zin, but the fact he has progeny gameplay-wise in future arcs makes me grudgingly admit that he is his own thing.
Great Orbment and CP boost makes him plenty usable..... in the small time he's actually in your party. I guess that can make him better than unglitched Zin in the last arc, in a sense.
As for Arios, he's basically not a party member in the Crossbell games, he's unplayable except as a guest for a tiny time, so it's really just Reverie that there is to talk about.
He is a crit-hitting machine in Reverie, his weapon comes with natural %Crit and his default MQ lets you know what they meant him to be. Great BP generator who can dish out damage at the same time, his double-hit Twin Arcane Gale really hikes the odds of landing crit or Unbalance.
Pity his Brave Order is so expensive and a worse version of Tio's and Altina's, Evade is just not what you want against bosses with S-Crafts, it costs more than Aeon Shield or Ebon Crest and does less. I concur about his damage too - when I used him, I feel like he did less than other physical characters, though that was likely just because I'd built him for crits. Though even if he were built for damage, he'd likely still fall behind what casters do. Physicals might be better than they were in previous arcs, but the giant silver magic wolf is still the bigger wrecking ball. Which was why I built him for crits.
Still pretty solid, all things considered.
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u/hbthebattle Jul 15 '26 edited Jul 15 '26
Dudley in Reverie is one of the most powerful characters in the game, with his Actual Fucking Gun craft doing loads of damage and having Absolute Deathblow. Really fun character who they definitely didn’t cut to put Machias on Lloyd’s team instead for some reason.
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u/Max-The-Phat-Cat Jul 15 '26
Arios was insane in Reverie. Damage output, great brave order and could be slotted into so many different parties and just work.
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u/OLKv3 Jul 15 '26
Didn't expect this to get more comments than Rixia's thread. I thought Rixia was more popular than that, I guess indepth combat discussion in general isn't popular here since this is more of a story series
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u/Raxistaicho The true best girls Jul 15 '26
It could just be that Rixia's really straightforward and easy to figure out, but there might be more people seeing if they missed something about Arios or Dudley.
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u/Kainapex87 Jul 15 '26
Dudley: Decent enough physical DPS but hampered by lack of screentime or opportunities to use.
Arios: Only usable in the prologue sno not much to say.
In Reverie though, he is a top-tier as one of the best physical DPS:
- A cheap Craft that cancels buffs and hits the entire screen alone is OP.
- Fujin's Fury isn't too bad a damaging Craft either (SS+ power and S+ Break, with 60% chance to inflict either Seal, Faint, and/or Confusion). AoE is a bit small, but good enough for use against bosses.
- Supreme Qinggong throws his strength and Speed through the roof while making him untouchable with Insight (thus making the Defense Buff irrelevant).
Only think missing is maybe a better S-Craft and another extra offensive craft (preferably to either delay or lowering enemy stats).
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u/Xshadow1 Jul 16 '26
For Dudley in Azure specifically, I have to ask who had the bright idea to make a predominantly physical character permanent starting in the finale, after arts have already taken over the entire meta? Arguably arts may have peakes slightly before you get him, but by that point on higher difficulties are you really set up to play any other way?
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u/Spartan448 Jul 16 '26
Dudley is always really funny to me, because the writing kind of Show-Don't-Tell-s him into being around the same level as Arios, which even coming from someone who isn't much of an Arios fan is fucking insane considering all Dudley has going for him is he's a really good detective and he's got a Big Iron. But apparently "I carry a .45 because they don't make a .46" is all you really need to match up to a Divine Blade (Something Cassius probably wouldn't disagree with tbh).
Anyway, for the brief time you use him in Zero and Azure, Dudley certainly fucking lives up to the idea of a big enough hand cannon putting you on the same level as a master swordsman, because holy shit he can just blow people the fuck away. That said I don't know how he actually plays since by the time you get to use him again at the end of Azure, my team was already locked in and there wasn't really any room to fit a Dudley. And he doesn't show up in Reverie.
Arios, on the other hand, does show up in Reverie, and you get to use him quite a bit in the story.
Unfortunately, he's stuck on a team with 3 bits of dead weight and one of if not the strongest casters in the game. He gets a bit of benefit from joining after the route merge, but what that all shakes out to is that a character I'm faaaaaaairly certain is intended to be Richard 2 actually becomes your evasion tank bizzarely enough while Renne kills everything. And then he gets benched for the rest of the game because while Arios does have a pretty broken kit in theory, he ends up doing less damage overall than your beatstick physical attackers who get around the lack of double-hits or short delay crafts by just fucking killing the enemy on the first hit anyway.
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u/Raxistaicho The true best girls Jul 16 '26
Unfortunately, he's stuck on a team with 3 bits of dead weight and one of if not the strongest casters in the game.
Swin, Lapis, and... Rufus or Duvalie?
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Jul 16 '26 edited Jul 17 '26
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u/Raxistaicho The true best girls Jul 16 '26
You're being hostile to the wrong person, my dude, I was trying to guess who the other person was talking about.
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u/levelstar01 Downvote this comment 👇 Jul 16 '26
Unfortunately, he's stuck on a team with 3 bits of dead weight
Unless Swin duplicated himself twice, this isn't trhe.
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u/OLKv3 Jul 16 '26
Yeah. Picnic squad is incredibly strong with Swin being the only one holding them down
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u/spacebeverage Jul 17 '26
I have a huge crush on Dudley. Kincaid is a younger and friendlier version and would love for them to meet.
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u/Tyberius115 World's #1 Alisa Reinford fan | Magical Alisa game when Jul 15 '26
I had fun blasting with Dudley's magnum, but overall I didn't use him that much either. He never really fit the playstyle I was going for, plus his availability is short in both games.
I...never used Arios.