Talent Art¶

Riki’s Talent Art, Yoink! is a rather unique one in that it’s not integral to the way in which you play the character. Instead, Yoink! will allow Riki to steal several different effects or items from an enemy based on the Skills you teach him in his Skill Tree. This can range from stealing HP, AP, EXP to stats and then more importantly, Items. Although less important in Definitive Edition, some enemies have items that can only be obtained via the usage of Yoink! and you’ll have an easier time of obtaining rare equipment by stealing from certain optional enemies. All in all, Yoink! is a useful Talent Art and it’s effectiveness relies soley on what Skills he’s learnt.

Normal Arts¶

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

Happy Happy¶

Happy Happy is one of the few Arts in the game that requires the user to be in High Tension. Once Riki is, this Art will restore the Party Gauge based on it’s Rank which, at Rank X, can be all the way up to a full gauge. The cooldown let’s it down a little but the ability to acquire a full Party Gauge is not something to be scoffed at.

Bitey Bitey¶

Bitey Bitey is the first of Riki’s Arts that cause a Debuff, in this case the Bleed effect. You can increase the duration of this by using it behind the enemy so although it doesn’t deal the greatest of damage, paired with its low cooldown and Bleed Debuff, this is a very useful Art to have slotted.

Sneaky¶

Sneaky is a Physical Art very similar to Shulk’s Back Slash with the difference being that it will deal 3x the damage from behind rather than 2x of Back Slash. What’s more, if you don’t use it from behind, than the damage is very low so be sure to always hit the enemy from behind with this Art.

Play Dead¶

Play Dead is the first of Riki’s Auras and arguably the worse. While active, Riki will lay on the ground and be unable to make any actions for 5 seconds at which point he’ll recover HP similar to being revived with a small Physical Damage boost. This is extremely situational and for the most part, Riki wants to keep Aggro on him making this Art useless.

Lurgy¶

Lurgy is the next Riki Art to inflict a Debuff, this one being the Poison Debuff. Although the damage of the Art is low, Poison is the best DoT in the game and with a low enough cooldown to use this often, this should always be one of the first Arts Riki uses in battle.

Hero Time¶

Riki’s next Aura, Hero Time, is a contender for his best one. While active, it will grant him a huge boost to a random stat (such as Strength and Ether) while also preventing Tension loss to characters around him, meaning this pairs nicely with Happy Happy.

Roly-Poly¶

Despite Roly-Poly being a rather unique Art, you’ll almost never want to waste a slot on it. When used, it has a 30% chance to inflict Topple (without the need for Break) on an enemy which although is useful, there are better alternatives on other characters and more useful Arts on Riki.

Behave¶

Behave is another similar Art to Roly-Poly in that it’s entire focus is to inflict a Debuff on the enemy at the expense of damage, in this case, Paralysis. Paralysis is a useful Debuff and the fact this will hit the enemy always makes this a useful Art to have. What’s more, it has a 75% chance to remove the Crazed Aura with a greater chance should Riki be at Low Tension.

You Can Do It¶

You Can Do It is Riki’s main healing Art and one of his best Arts in general. This will heal for moderate HP for both Riki and his target, along with any other ally in a line between the two targets. What’s more, it heals for more based on each Debuff an enemy is suffering (which you should be doing with Riki) and has a low cooldown, this effectively kills any need for Sharla if Riki is in your party.

Freezinate¶

Another one of Riki’s useful DoT Arts, Freezinate will inflict the Chill Debuff on an enemy. Chill is the second most potent DoT in the game (next to Poison) and the fact that the low cooldown means you can keep this up throughout the entire battle, there’s no reason not to use this Art.

Bedtime¶

Bedtime is yet another Riki Debuff Art, this time being the Sleep Debuff. The difference with this compared to Tranquilliser and Hypnosis is that this will hit all enemies around Riki at the expense of putting himself to Sleep. Although you can wake yourself up immediately, this will still lower Riki’s Tension making this less than ideal.

Tantrum¶

Tantrum is another Physical Art for Riki and will deal the most damage out of all of them while also inflicting Break on enemies in an arc in front of him. This is especially useful if you have Riki in a party with someone like Dunban who can then Topple the enemies but less useful if you’re using both Sharla and Melia in the rest of your party.

Burninate¶

Burninate is Riki’s final DoT Art, this time inflicting Blaze on enemies in a circle around him. This Art will hit harder than both Lurgy and Freezinate although Blaze is less powerful than both Poison and Chill. It’s also on a longer cooldown however you should still take this Art to complete the trifecta of DoTs.

Riki is Angry¶

Riki’s final Aura is a bit of a wildcard when it comes to the damage it outputs. While active, it will deploy a Counter Spike effect to Riki, dealing damage back to the enemy based on a random multiplier. This can, at times, be massive damage but more times than not it will be minor damage which makes this an Aura that should only be used if you feel like changing it up a little.

Peekaboo¶

Peekaboo is another Physical Art with a highly situational use. When used to the side of a Mechon enemy, it has a chance to inflict Confuse along with the moderate damage it already outputs. If you’re up against Mechon, then this is a really useful Art to slot but otherwise, it’s not useful enough for it’s damage output alone.

Say Sorry¶

Riki’s final Art, Say Sorry, is another one thats up for debate. Much like You Can Do It, the damage of this Art will increase by 100% per each Debuff on the enemy totalling up for massive damage at times. What’s different here however is that this will also strip the Debuffs off the enemy which may in turn lower the total damage over the course of the battle. It’s a trade off that may be worth using once the battle is near the end but you should avoid using it at the start.