Trails through Daybreak II finally got it’s English localised release on 14th February 2025 and since then I have been all consumed by the latest installment of the trails series. I’ll be honest and say this was far from my favourite game of the series but I enjoyed the experience nonetheless. There will be spoilers in this post, but I’ll try and stay relatively on topic. It took me 86 hours and 3 playthroughs to get the PS5 platinum trophy for Trails through Daybreak 2.
I play these games on easy mode, sometimes very easy, because I just want to enjoy the story but the combat was altered and quartz set ups were changed with both Daybreak games. The first one I paid absolutely no attention to what I was doing when it came to holo cores and quartz. I just didn’t change much and really had no idea how shard skills worked until I replayed Trails through Daybreak in anticipation for the 2nd game’s release. When I attempted to up the difficulty, I had a pretty difficult time with it until I read up on it. However, my ADHD brain really likes it when things are super easy and obvious. I did not find explanations in Trails through Daybreak easy and obvious especially when it came to trying to have a relatively optimized character builds.
When I played Trails into Reverie I found an amazingly helpful online resource full of character builds which helped me power through Nightmare difficulty in that game but with combat changes for Trails through Daybreak previous experience wasn’t that helpful. I like the way orbments are setup in both Daybreak games now I have somewhat of an understanding of how to get certain skills and found the things that worked best for me and tried to get those on as many characters as I could. I looked for Trails through Daybreak 2 character builds but struggled to find anything and so I thought perhaps I would write up a post about how I built my characters and how these got me through Nightmare difficulty.
There will be other players that no doubt have a better understanding than me and find Nightmare too easy I’m sure, but I am a self-proclaimed idiot and don’t usually find Nightmare mode in the Trails games easy. I find it pretty intimidating and honestly first play throughs of these games I’ve had trouble playing on ‘Normal’ difficulty. I like being completely overpowered and killing things very fast. I don’t mind grinding for levels if its possible to do, I like having the upper hand and I like feeling like I probably won’t die.
I completed Nightmare difficulty on my third playthrough of Trails through Daybreak 2 and this is what my characters looked like at the end of the game. My first playthrough I spent going through the story and experiencing everything as blind as I could and trying to take my time with things, the second playthrough I cleaned up achievements and finished the Marchen Garten additional floors and the 3rd playthrough I virtually skipped everything story related just for the final trophies for the platinum.
Characters I Used the Most
My ‘main’ team was Van as a sort of evasion tank and then Renne, Agnes and Shizuna for damage, Arts and healing. I used Risette a lot too when I could, or didn’t have the option of using the above four, but she was not really optimised. None of the characters were really and even my main four was only losely so because I get distracted and find setting up characters frustrating and tedious. So every other character was pretty much auto-equipped with quartz/gear. I did have everyone’s Onyx Steel weapons but not all of them were fully upgraded.
Van – Evasion Tank (kind of)
I didn’t really intend for Van to have such high evasion but he did so it worked well. For more challenging fights I just had Van stand sort of away from people and use coin bullets and then follow up after a high chain with Vandalise Raid S-Craft. I’d sometimes use a craft to impede an attack but he was there to draw emnity away from others mostly. His evasion was high enough that shielding him wasn’t really an issue because he dodged a lot of attacks. I mostly used Mare – Chaos for his holocore but ended the game with Lapis and didn’t notice much difference. If he had an AT Bonus for Zero Arts I tried to use the new Cetus Phantasma which is new for Trails through Daybreak II. Van’s quartz set up had him using Deadly Lance shard skill which was a follow up finisher for low HP enemies. His attacks would regularly cancel or delay enemies.
Renne – Because I Love Her
Renne was just my non-negotiable character. If I could have her in the party she was going to be there. She has great arts damage, I love her S-Craft ugrade, and used the ‘Hospitable Hostess’ craft for a stat boost as often as I could. She was mostly there for support but that doesn’t discount the damage she could do. I love her. I will always choose Renne. Renne would join in the Cetus Phantasma spam for high chain and high arts damage, had Guardian and Ark Feather/Judgement Feather to follow up with magic attacks.
Agnes – Arts Damage and Healing
Agnes S-Craft can get you out of a pinch, her shield/heal/regen regular crafts are excellent and she does great arts damage. I used Loray to increase arts power and reduce cast time. Her EP Regen craft helped keep her topped up. Basically, just use Cetus Phantasma on all your arts users for high chain and high damage then follow up with a big multihit S-Craft.
Shizuna – Strong, lots of delay, and because she was funny
Shizuna really was there because I am curious about her more than anything, her lines throughout both games were enjoyable and she’s pretty strong. She just kills things. She worked well as a balanced physical damage and arts user, I used her crafts a lot and just kept her doing damage. It was great having her as a playable character for longer in Trails through Daybreak 2.
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