Post by FoxyAreku on Feb 10, 2011 2:10:42 GMT -5
Introduction
Yoko Belnades is the descendant of the powerful clan of magicians, the Belnades (duh!).
She was first introduced as NPC in Aria of Sorrow. Along with a style change in Dawn of Sorrow, she became playable in Julius Mode, a secret game mode that also was a bit of an homage to Castlevania 3.
As this might suggest, Yoko was Dawn of Sorrow's Sypha, commanding the powers of the elements with 3 spells that only slightly differed from Sypha's versions.
In Harmony of Despair, she pretty much stayed exactly the same as in Dawn of Sorrow. There have been a few minor changes, though - the health regeneration ability of her mace swing has been removed and the length of her backdash has been shortened. Yoko is a comparably straight-forward character, yet extremely powerful, so she has earned herself the nickname of "nuke in high heels".
She is available as character DLC for 240 Microsoft points.
Abilities
Mobility
This has an extra section because it actually is what makes Yoko such a highly debated character. Yoko is, like Charlotte, not able to use a jumpkick. She therefore is not able to take certain shortcuts, and also is not able to use triangle jumping to speed up her movement. Yoko thusly is shunned by many players, causing them to call her one of the worst characters in the game. While this might be true for speedrunners, normal players, especially in co-op, will definitely not suffer from the lack of the jumpkick, and in fact, Yoko is a great asset to a team regardless due to her immense power.
She is able to use a slide kick, though, if that is of any consolation.
Voice
Unlike any other character, Yoko's voice can be heard throughout the entire stage even when you don't have your focus on her and she's on the other side of the level. Since she yells every time using a spell, you will hear her a lot. This annoys some players greatly, but do not worry: As soon as you completely dominate the bosses, they will be thankful to have your Yoko on the team.
Belnades Staff
Yoko's physical attack is to swing her mace in front of her. It deals a little bit of strike damage, but it has puny range and neither is a really fast weapon. When kneeling, she doesn't swing her mace but, like in DoS, she kicks out, dealing the same damage. Her kick has lower range than her mace swing, but it is faster.
Obviously, only use these attacks when out of MP (which should barely happen!).
Spells
Yoko also comes with 3 spells. She starts out with 4 copies of each of them, and is not able to find any more copies or Hunter Skill abilities. So yes, you will have 2 slots filled with one spell. She is able to get a unique item in DLC chapter 9, though.
Holy Flames
Costs 8 MP. Fire and Holy damage.
Holy Flames is a spell that pretty much only exists for one reason: to replace Yoko's mace. It has very short range but is incredibly fast, very cheap and deals hefty damage. It is able to hit up to 3 times, but most of the time, you'll get in only 2 hits.
You will use this a lot when advancing through the stage up until the bosses, and in some cases even on the bosses.
Blue Splash
Costs 12 MP. Deals ice damage.
Blue Splash summons 3 to 7 (depending on your level) icicles in an upward half-circle. Yoko is able to move while the icicles are spawning (although only after finishing her summon stance), thus allowing you to aim. The icicles then will launch into the direction they point, dealing massive damage to pretty much everything. They have the longest range out of Yoko's spells, and as soon as they're shot, are also her fastest projectile.
Blue Splash is mainly used as a form of shield (such as in rooms filled with Medusa Heads), and, more prominently, against big bosses like Dracula's third form. Each icicle is able to deal 100+ damage, allowing you to nuke big targets in a matter of seconds. Even smaller targets can receive quite some damage there.
Holy Lightning
Costs 15 MP. Electric and Holy damage.
The one spell Yoko is most famous for; Holy Lightning. She will send out 2-5 balls of lightning (depending on your level) that either spread out if no target is close enough or slowly home into the closest target. The balls will move through the enemy and is able to deal multiple hits. It moves comparably slow, though, and has limited range. Its damage per hit is comparable with Holy Flames - it varies on the enemies here.
Holy Lightning is, to be honest, only really useful in certain occasions. Case 1, you have a flying enemy that moves around (Harpies, Gaibons, etc.), the spell will home into them and kill them. Case 2, big bosses, especially those with multiple parts (Legion, Beelzebub). Holy Lightning just destroys these guys. Otherwise, you're usually far better off with Blue Splash or Holy Flames.
Philosopher's Stone
Costs 50 MP.
This item was introduced in the DLC Chapter 9, where it drops from the boss chest on both difficulties. The P. Stone allows Yoko (and Maria) to use a slightly weaker version of Charlotte's Heal. The item will however use up the item slot. Unlike any other item, though, it's repeatedly usable.
The Philosopher's Stone grows stronger with every copy you have and with more INT as well. The maximum is 46 with maximum INT, 9 copies and even food bonus, so obviously Charlotte's version is better.
Considering it takes up your item slot, this item might or might not be useful to you. I personally haven't found many uses, although it's nice to patch yourself or a teammate up after certain trap or enemy sections.
Recommended Setups
Considering Yoko's reliance on her spells, you either want to go for pure INT, thus power, or more aiming towards MP regeneration. Luckily, Yoko has a very good base MP regeneration, so you might as well just use a balanced setup.
MP Regeneration setup:
Head: Holy Veil
Chest: Robe Decollete (Death's Robe in case of no DLC)
Legs: Sonic Boots (Winged Boots in case of no DLC) or Artemis Shoes
Back: Bishamon Raiment
Accessory 1: Chaos Ring
Accessory 2: Chaos Ring
Item: Super Potion, Mana Prism, Philosopher's Stone, etc.
Pure INT setup:
Head: Holy Veil
Chest: Robe Decollete / Death's Robe
Back: Blue Cape
Accessory 1: Artemisian/Apollonian Ring (Sunstone/Moonstone in case of no DLC)
Accessory 2: Artemisian/Apollonian Ring (Sunstone/Moonstone in case of no DLC)
Item: Foie Gras or Caviar
Balanced build:
Head: Holy Veil
Chest: Robe Decollete / Death's Robe
Legs: Sonic Boots / Artemis Shoes
Back: Bishamon Raiment
Accessory 1: Chaos Ring / Apollonian/Artemisian Ring
Accessory 2: Apollonian/Artemisian Ring
Item: Super Potion, Mana Prism, P. Stone, etc.
Progressing Yoko
Yoko levels up her abilities through usage like most of the characters, however you do not have to worry about survival training her like you would for most of these character types. Once her spells are level 6, you're doing damage comparable to other maxed characters, so you will be able to hold yourself properly even with a halfway maxed Yoko. Yoko's spells will be easy to max out when farming certain bosses, anyway. Thusly, Legion and Beelzebub are great for leveling Holy Lightning, Astarte is great for leveling Holy Flames, and Dracula and Gergoth are great for leveling blue splash.
Yoko Belnades is the descendant of the powerful clan of magicians, the Belnades (duh!).
She was first introduced as NPC in Aria of Sorrow. Along with a style change in Dawn of Sorrow, she became playable in Julius Mode, a secret game mode that also was a bit of an homage to Castlevania 3.
As this might suggest, Yoko was Dawn of Sorrow's Sypha, commanding the powers of the elements with 3 spells that only slightly differed from Sypha's versions.
In Harmony of Despair, she pretty much stayed exactly the same as in Dawn of Sorrow. There have been a few minor changes, though - the health regeneration ability of her mace swing has been removed and the length of her backdash has been shortened. Yoko is a comparably straight-forward character, yet extremely powerful, so she has earned herself the nickname of "nuke in high heels".
She is available as character DLC for 240 Microsoft points.
Abilities
Mobility
This has an extra section because it actually is what makes Yoko such a highly debated character. Yoko is, like Charlotte, not able to use a jumpkick. She therefore is not able to take certain shortcuts, and also is not able to use triangle jumping to speed up her movement. Yoko thusly is shunned by many players, causing them to call her one of the worst characters in the game. While this might be true for speedrunners, normal players, especially in co-op, will definitely not suffer from the lack of the jumpkick, and in fact, Yoko is a great asset to a team regardless due to her immense power.
She is able to use a slide kick, though, if that is of any consolation.
Voice
Unlike any other character, Yoko's voice can be heard throughout the entire stage even when you don't have your focus on her and she's on the other side of the level. Since she yells every time using a spell, you will hear her a lot. This annoys some players greatly, but do not worry: As soon as you completely dominate the bosses, they will be thankful to have your Yoko on the team.
Belnades Staff
Yoko's physical attack is to swing her mace in front of her. It deals a little bit of strike damage, but it has puny range and neither is a really fast weapon. When kneeling, she doesn't swing her mace but, like in DoS, she kicks out, dealing the same damage. Her kick has lower range than her mace swing, but it is faster.
Obviously, only use these attacks when out of MP (which should barely happen!).
Spells
Yoko also comes with 3 spells. She starts out with 4 copies of each of them, and is not able to find any more copies or Hunter Skill abilities. So yes, you will have 2 slots filled with one spell. She is able to get a unique item in DLC chapter 9, though.
Holy Flames
Costs 8 MP. Fire and Holy damage.
Holy Flames is a spell that pretty much only exists for one reason: to replace Yoko's mace. It has very short range but is incredibly fast, very cheap and deals hefty damage. It is able to hit up to 3 times, but most of the time, you'll get in only 2 hits.
You will use this a lot when advancing through the stage up until the bosses, and in some cases even on the bosses.
Blue Splash
Costs 12 MP. Deals ice damage.
Blue Splash summons 3 to 7 (depending on your level) icicles in an upward half-circle. Yoko is able to move while the icicles are spawning (although only after finishing her summon stance), thus allowing you to aim. The icicles then will launch into the direction they point, dealing massive damage to pretty much everything. They have the longest range out of Yoko's spells, and as soon as they're shot, are also her fastest projectile.
Blue Splash is mainly used as a form of shield (such as in rooms filled with Medusa Heads), and, more prominently, against big bosses like Dracula's third form. Each icicle is able to deal 100+ damage, allowing you to nuke big targets in a matter of seconds. Even smaller targets can receive quite some damage there.
Holy Lightning
Costs 15 MP. Electric and Holy damage.
The one spell Yoko is most famous for; Holy Lightning. She will send out 2-5 balls of lightning (depending on your level) that either spread out if no target is close enough or slowly home into the closest target. The balls will move through the enemy and is able to deal multiple hits. It moves comparably slow, though, and has limited range. Its damage per hit is comparable with Holy Flames - it varies on the enemies here.
Holy Lightning is, to be honest, only really useful in certain occasions. Case 1, you have a flying enemy that moves around (Harpies, Gaibons, etc.), the spell will home into them and kill them. Case 2, big bosses, especially those with multiple parts (Legion, Beelzebub). Holy Lightning just destroys these guys. Otherwise, you're usually far better off with Blue Splash or Holy Flames.
Philosopher's Stone
Costs 50 MP.
This item was introduced in the DLC Chapter 9, where it drops from the boss chest on both difficulties. The P. Stone allows Yoko (and Maria) to use a slightly weaker version of Charlotte's Heal. The item will however use up the item slot. Unlike any other item, though, it's repeatedly usable.
The Philosopher's Stone grows stronger with every copy you have and with more INT as well. The maximum is 46 with maximum INT, 9 copies and even food bonus, so obviously Charlotte's version is better.
Considering it takes up your item slot, this item might or might not be useful to you. I personally haven't found many uses, although it's nice to patch yourself or a teammate up after certain trap or enemy sections.
Recommended Setups
Considering Yoko's reliance on her spells, you either want to go for pure INT, thus power, or more aiming towards MP regeneration. Luckily, Yoko has a very good base MP regeneration, so you might as well just use a balanced setup.
MP Regeneration setup:
Head: Holy Veil
Chest: Robe Decollete (Death's Robe in case of no DLC)
Legs: Sonic Boots (Winged Boots in case of no DLC) or Artemis Shoes
Back: Bishamon Raiment
Accessory 1: Chaos Ring
Accessory 2: Chaos Ring
Item: Super Potion, Mana Prism, Philosopher's Stone, etc.
Pure INT setup:
Head: Holy Veil
Chest: Robe Decollete / Death's Robe
Back: Blue Cape
Accessory 1: Artemisian/Apollonian Ring (Sunstone/Moonstone in case of no DLC)
Accessory 2: Artemisian/Apollonian Ring (Sunstone/Moonstone in case of no DLC)
Item: Foie Gras or Caviar
Balanced build:
Head: Holy Veil
Chest: Robe Decollete / Death's Robe
Legs: Sonic Boots / Artemis Shoes
Back: Bishamon Raiment
Accessory 1: Chaos Ring / Apollonian/Artemisian Ring
Accessory 2: Apollonian/Artemisian Ring
Item: Super Potion, Mana Prism, P. Stone, etc.
Progressing Yoko
Yoko levels up her abilities through usage like most of the characters, however you do not have to worry about survival training her like you would for most of these character types. Once her spells are level 6, you're doing damage comparable to other maxed characters, so you will be able to hold yourself properly even with a halfway maxed Yoko. Yoko's spells will be easy to max out when farming certain bosses, anyway. Thusly, Legion and Beelzebub are great for leveling Holy Lightning, Astarte is great for leveling Holy Flames, and Dracula and Gergoth are great for leveling blue splash.