Talent Art¶

Dunban being the powerhouse that he is, it should come to no surprise that his Talent Art is all about dealing damage. For the most part, you can think of Blossom Dance as a regular Art however note that you can strike the enemy a further 3 times by pressing the [B] button on time with the final strike hitting enemies around him and knocking them back. It’s one of the most powerful Arts in the game and if you save it for a Chain Attack, it’ll put out some serious numbers.

Normal Arts¶

These are all of the normal Arts for Dunban, which are learned as he levels up.

Gale Slash¶

Despite being one of his starting Arts, Gale Slash is one of his better ones and one you’ll want to keep slotted. On it’s own, it deals light damage along with a Bleed Debuff on the enemy but as he gains levels, he’ll learn three Arts that combo off this one making it a strong Art.

Electric Gutbuster¶

Electric Gutbuster is the first of three Arts that combos off Gale Slash and with it low cooldown, makes it ideal to Break the enemy. On it’s own, it will only deal light damage but on a short cooldown but use this after Gale Slash and you’ll Break the enemy and with a later Art, Topple them.

Peerless¶

Peerless is the first of Dunban’s many Auras and it’s arguably the best. It’ll not only help him keep Aggro as a tank but also remove Confusion from nearby party members and more importantly, grant the everyone near him the Strength Up Buff. This is only increased as you rank up the Art and if you’re going for a Physical party, this should be your Aura of choice on him.

Worldly Slash¶

Worldly Slash is another contender for one of Dunban’s best Arts and is the second one to combo off Gale Slash. When used on it’s own, it’ll hit the enemy twice will inflicting Physical Defence Down but pair this up with Electric Gutbuster and it’ll inflict Strength Down on top of this. This is an Art that should never leave Dunban’s palette, even if you do decide to not take Electric Gutbuster.

Battle Eye¶

Battle Eye is the next Aura for Dunban and one that is inferior to Peerless in every way. When active, it will cast Lock-On on the enemy (which can be resisted), increase his Double Attack rate and fill his Talent Gauge with every attack dodged. This sounds useful on paper but you won’t be able to keep it active at all time and the Strength and Aggro boost from Peerless is just more useful.

Steel Strike¶

Steel Strike is almost identical to Reyn’s Wild Down in the fact that it will Topple an enemy suffering Break on a short cooldown. What makes this even more useful to Dunban however is that he can inflict Break himself with the Gale Slash - Electric Gutbuster combo making him excellent for Toppling enemies.

Spirit Breath¶

Spirit Breath is the next Aura for Dunban and it’s one that is fantastic in the hands of the player but terrible if the AI is controlling Dunban. While active, Dunban gains a Haste Buff (up to 100% at Rank X) and removes all of his Debuffs, great Buffs all around. The issue with the AI is that they will only use this Art if Dunban has a Debuff on him, losing the impact of the Haste Buff.

Blinding Blossom¶

Blinding Blossom is an Art that is more useful earlier in the game as it becomes easier to maintain Aggro as the game goes on. When used on a party member, this will transfer their Aggro to Dunban, making it useful for characters like Shulk who can spike Aggro really easily. As Dunban levels up though, he’ll have skills and Gems that allow him to not worry about losing Aggro making this Art less desirable.

Serene Heart¶

Dunban’s next Aura is all about increasing his Evasion and Hit Rate (further increases when he’s reduced to 25% HP) and it can be especially useful against enemies that are much higher level than you such as the endgame Unique Monsters. It becomes less useful however when you raise his Agility through the many other methods in the game, at which point you’ll want to be using Peerless.

Tempest Kick¶

Tempest Kick is the first of Dunban’s Ether Arts and the last one to Combo off Gale Slash. On it’s own, this is a rather unremarkable Art that deals minimal damage thanks to Ether not being one of Dunban’s better stats however when used after Gale Slash, will remove one Buff from the enemy along with raising the Party Gauge. It’s a situational Art and usually there’s better ways at removing Buffs (such as Monado Eater or Mind Blast).

Heat Haze¶

Heat Haze is yet another of Dunban’s many Auras and is also made fairly useless thanks to the excellent Peerless. When active, it will remove his Aggro and prevent any more while making all of his attacks Critical. This can have some uses when paired with the Critical Drain Skill but the damage output will never match the bonuses from Peerless.

Thunder¶

Thunder is the second of Dunban’s Ether Arts and one with a rather unique effect, when used with an Aura active, will inflict Daze on your enemies. The problem here however is that this will only target enemies in an arc behind Dunban meaning that he’ll never hit the one he’s tanking. You can offset this a little by using Tempest Kick first to place him behind your target but this is a move the AI will never use and it’s hard to waste two slots for this.

Soaring Tempest¶

As with all of Dunban’s Red Arts, Soaring Tempest is a fantastic Art that should never leave your palette. When used, it will hit enemies in a large area of effect around Dunban up to three times with each of the hits refilling his Talent Gauge by 10% (per enemy hit). There’s a long cooldown involved so you’ll almost certainly want to prioritize leveling this Art to bring it down.

Jaws of Death¶

Jaws of Death is Dunban’s final Aura and it acts very similar to Reyn’s Last Stand Aura. When active, it will revive Dunban should he fall in battle while also filling his Talent Gauge by up to 50% and increasing the damage of his Physical Arts for the next 5 seconds. Like Last Stand, it’s very situational and should only ever be used if you’re controlling Dunban yourself.

Final Flicker¶

Final Flicker is a similar Art to Shulk’s Battle Soul Art without requiring as much HP (only 20%) to use. When used, it will increase Dunban’s Talent Gauge by 50%, allowing him to use Blossom Dance more frequently. As good as Blossom Dance is however, Dunban has plenty of Arts more useful than this and as such, it can be difficult to find a space for it on his palette.

Demon Slayer¶

Demon Slayer is yet another highly situational Art and hard to find a space for on his Palette. When you defeat an enemy with this Art, it will force all other enemies nearby into Topple unless they’re immune. This makes it useful against groups of enemies but entirely useless against single enemies and it has a long cooldown to go along with it.