Monoco Skills Guide
Last Updated:April 24, 2025|Changelog
The Gestral Monoco is always up for a fight. He wields a staff topped with a bell. Monoco resides at his station on the continent, living with the Grandis. He is an avid collector of Nevron feet who is always willing to go on a journey with his friend Verso. It doesn't take much convincing to get Monoco to join Expedition 33 as there's plenty of fighting to be done. This guide details each of Monoco's skills, with notes on how to use them, then continues on to suggested synergies and team compositions.
Monoco's unique mechanic is the Bestial Wheel. Move between different masks, each of which empowers different Nevron abilities. Each skill you use advances the wheel a certain number of steps, so you need to plan ahead to empower your desired skills.
Unlike the other characters, Monoco does not gain skill points when leveling up. Instead, you need to defeat a Nevron with Monoco in the active party to gain its ability.
Skill Breakdown
Agile Mask
| Skill | Notes |
|---|---|
| Abbest Wind | Only use this if you want to advance 2 steps on the Bestial Wheel or skip Agile Mask and play a second turn. |
| Lancelier Impale | A cost-efficient slow but worse damage than Chevalière Ice. |
| Cultist Slashes | Until you uncap your damage with Painted Power this isn't worth the risk. |
| Luster Slices | A way to get rush, but you're better off using a Lumina for this. |
| Ramasseur Bonk | Nice for building the Break bar but otherwise Rocher Hammering is better as a single target Break skill. |
| Chevalière Piercing | This is an excellent skill, it's low cost, multi-hit and not only ignores enemy shields but scales off of them. Use it to kill shielded foes through their defenses. |
| Chapelier Slash | While high damage and an AoE mark is nice, the high cost means this has a lot of competition. |
| Aberration Light | This costs more AP than Braseleur Smash but is a great way to apply burn to all foes while dealing great damage. |
| Échassier Stabs | Not a great skill, as you have better marking options. |
Caster Mask
| Skill | Notes |
|---|---|
| Démineur Thunder | Stalact Punches is better for damage and Break bar buildup. |
| Sakapatate Explosion | If you have high crit, this skill does excellent damage and has a low AP cost. |
| Bruler Bash | A decent break skill, that significantly advances the Bestial Wheel. |
| Pèlerin Heal | AoE heal when cast with the Caster Mask, the regen provides sustain over time too. |
| Sapling Absorption | Not a great skill as the healing is minimal and there are more cost-efficient ways to deal Dark damage. |
| Bénisseur Mortar | The easiest way to get to Almighty Mask, just mark the enemy with another character first! |
| Troubadour Trumpet | Gamble with buffs, it's too inconsistent. |
| Ballet Charm | Low cost, but worse than the AoE version (Clair Enfeeble). |
| Orphelin Cheers | A powerful source that refunds its cost when cast during Caster Mask. |
| Potier Energy | Gives significant AP to all allies but takes Monoco's turn, so it's only useful in a pure support build. |
| Création Void | High damage against only one enemy, but otherwise this is just gambling. |
Heavy Mask
| Skill | Notes |
|---|---|
| Cultist Blood | Can be used to set up Cultist Slashes, but this is extremely risky. |
| Stalact Punches | Good damage, and great at building up the break bar but cannot break enemies. |
| Portier Crash | Always use this with Heavy Mask to ensure you maximize the damage, it's also a good AoE Break. |
| Cruler Barrier | One of the few ways to shield members of your party, protecting them from damage. |
| Sakapatate Slam | Not great as it requires the enemy to be marked to deal optimal damage. |
| Hexga Crush | Defenseless increases the damage an enemy takes from all sources, making this a great skill to use on bosses. |
| Évêque Spear | This is Monoco's best Earth skill and excels at lowering the damage from bosses. |
| Rocher Hammering | Monoco's best single-target Break skill. |
| Jar Lampstorm | A solid AoE skill, but not the best. |
| Chevalière Thrusts | If you have a high critical strike chance, this does massive AoE damage! |
| Boucheclier Fortify | Try to always use this with the Heavy Mask for the party-wide shields. |
| Glaise Earthquakes | Worse than Orphelin Cheers unless you use it during Heavy Mask to give the entire party Powerful. |
| Grosse Tête Whack | This is slightly more expensive than Hexga Crush, deals more damage. |
| Obscur Sword | Always apply Powerless to the enemy before using this for massive damage! |
Balanced Mask
| Skill | Notes |
|---|---|
| Chalier Combo | Solid damage, but you need to succeed at the QTE. |
| Sakapatate Estoc | Very niche, as it only shines when the target is stunned. |
| Braseleur Smash | This is a great skill to use as it applies up to 6 burn stacks, does solid damage and as a low AP cost. |
| Chevalière Ice | Good AoE and applies the Slow status delaying enemy turns. This is a good skill to use. |
| Contorsionniste Blast | Use this when you need healing, but have another Caster Mask skill or want to do some damage. |
| Gault Fury | A cheap way to mark that also deals solid damage due to being a multi-hit attack. |
| Moissonneuse Vendange | Decent damage, but there are more efficient ways to break. |
| Clair Enfeeble | This is a great AoE skill as it reduces enemy damage for 3 turns. |
| Danseuse Waltz | High damage if you're able to maintain Burning on the enemy. |
Almighty Mask
| Skill | Notes |
|---|---|
| Sakapatate Fire | This is well worth the 9 AP to deal huge AoE damage and stack 9 burns on every enemy! |
| Duallist Storm | One of Monoco's best skills for single target damage, being able to Break is a nice addition. |
| Lampmaster Light | Deals escalating damage with each cast making this excellent for long boss fights. |
Gradient Attacks
| Skill | Notes |
|---|---|
| Mighty Strike | Use this to set up for a powerful Almighty Mask skill. |
| Sanctuary | There aren't many ways to gain Shields, making this a great choice in a pinch vs strong foes. (unlocked at Monoco Relationship 4) |
| Break Point | Being able to break an enemy on demand makes this one of the best Gradient Attacks in the game. Use it to delay enemy turns or trigger special enemy mechanics that happen when an enemy is broken. (unlocked at Monoco Relationship 7) |
Build Synergies
It's difficult to nail down synergies for a character that has so many possible builds. So here is an example of a build on Monoco using Grandaro with an explanation of how the 6 skills work together. The following build was made when playing the game on Expert, where enemies get frequent attacks so if you're playing on Expeditioner or Story, you would want a lower AP cost break skill.
- Chevalière Piercing - This is to deal with shielded enemies, if you're not fighting many or have another shield breaker in the party, swap it for Lancelier Impale to slow enemies.
- Sakapatate Fire - Used during Almighty Mask to nuke the screen and leave a powerful burn.
- Portier Crash - Used to break enemies, or deal AoE when in Heavy mask instead of Almighty.
- Clair Enfeeble - Debuffs bosses for 3 turns, making it easier to survive their hits. Swap your weapon to Monocaro and use this as an opener on difficult encounters.
- Braseleur Smash - A good opener that advances the Bestial Wheel to Almighty Mask while afflicting the target with several burns.
- Sakapatate Explosion - With high crit, this skill does excellent damage while remaining affordable.
Note: When playing on lower difficulties, you need more AP recovery Luminas like Energising Turn to use Sakapatate Fire, alternatively, you can swap to Lampmaster Light, which costs 5 AP.
Summary
- Monoco uses Nevron skills by collecting their feet.
- Each skill advances the Bestial Wheel.
- Different masks empower each skill, enhancing them or adding new effects.
- There are tons of ways to build Monoco, experiment with different weapons and skills to find something that works for you.
Credits
Written by: Tenkiei