Infusions - Passive Abilities

When infusing one monster into another the passives usually (but not always) change around. A hidden hierarchy dictates which passives are gained and which are lost. This can become rather frustrating when a desired ability is cut. Learning how to manipulate the infusing monsters will increase the customization of favored monsters. One of the most useful windows in the process is the screen that appears when you select a monster you wish to infuse into another. A list shows you with blue highlights the new abilities the monster will recieve from the meal. This helps for keeping tabs on what is coming, but you have to keep track of what you are losing as well. There are only 10 passive spots and once they are full the hierarchy kicks in and it can have different ideas than you.

Locking, Unlocking, and Locked

Passive abilities that have a red padlock in front of it are locked. These abilities are ones that will always remain on the monster they originate from. They will not transfer and can not be replaced by other abilities. They are permanent. As an Infuser-of-passives, you can not make a red padlock. And there is no way to get rid of them. It is possible to counteract their ability if desired, though. For example, Omega comes with the locked ability Leadenstrike. It causes the ATB recharge rate to slow by 70%. By infusing Omega with the SiphonBoost II ability you can negate the ability with a 100% boost to ATB recharge rate from siphon abilities. It's not perfect, but it's a work-around.

When infusing there will be times where a yellow padlock will be made. There are good reasons to make these locked abilities as well as unmaking them. If you have a passive, for example: HP +30, that you desire to put on your monster but its 10 passive slots are full and when you go to infuse the HP does not appear in the infused list then this is the right time to make a locked ability. Yellow locked abilities are higher on the hierarchy than non-locked abilities. They are not like red locks that do not transfer, yellow locked abilities transfer and enjoy their placement above the unlocked. Also if when infusing a desired trait you see that an important passive will disapear, you can hold off on the infusion and first lock the passive you wish to keep. Once it is locked, return to eating the monster and something else will be cut.

Now the important question, how to lock and unlock a passive ability. I find the best way to lock an ability is to infuse the same ability at an equal or greater value into the monster. The same step can be used to unlock the same ability. Feeding a monster with Improved Ward, Improved Ward II will not only upgrade to Imp Ward II, but lock it. This can prove rather tricky at the higher levels for locking. I will use the Tonberry's Str +35 stat as an example. At level 24, the strength stat boost is maxed. To lock it at this point would require a great deal of work. You'd have to feed the tonberry to a monster with no passives, for instance a lvl 1 munchkin. Now that the munchkin has the Str +35 you can capture a new Tonberry and raise it to lvl 24. Infuse the tonberry with the munchkin and now the Str +35 is locked. Using forethought from the beginning, you could have determined that you wanted the Str +35 stat for your Commando. Instead of capturing 2 tonberries to lock and move the ability, you could do the same thing with one. While the tonberry is lower in lvl and the passive is Str +15, you can have the tonberry eat a monster with a Str +15(or more) monster to lock the Str boost stat before you raise it to 35. With a lot of forethought and paying close attention to the passives, you can customize to your hearts content with little worry.

Recap Tips

• Pay Attention to Infuse Passive list while infusing. Blue is gained and if more than 10, there may be some abilities that get lost.
• A hidden hierarchy determines what comes and goes. Locked has higher priority than unlocked.
• Red locks are permanent to the monster they are on.
• To lock or unlock feed the equal or greater of the same passive to a monster that already has it.
• Yellow locked abilties do transfer from monster to monster, or protect an ability you desire to keep on a monster.

Recommended Passive Abilities For Infusion