So as of right now, I'm at level 17 with my one pet and am unsure how to unlock new party slots... so the bandits are wiping the floor with me. Any thoughts or suggestions on how to improve? I wanted to train more in the caverns, but I wasn't getting experience very quickly.

(early in morning please forgive me not fixing every typo I make)
you unlock party slot 2 at Esior's have ntown hall, and can get slot 3 once you get access to sanctuary of saerielle's town hall

looking at Nightplume, first thing to note is that you should learn how elements and equips work (interact?)- Shadow is a Magical elemetn that is primarily used as a Tank (on a full team, the tank goes in slot 1 to absorb most of the incoming damage)
Shadow is a Magical element (so uses the Int and Magical Damage stats) and as a Tank needs Agility (raises evasion and defence)

his relic is a physical damage type relic, so it is giving a boost to his, well. physical damage stat. which de doesn't use at allm, as a magical element. He needs a relic that boosts his magic damage

the typical equipment type for sub-60 shadow tanks is Illusionist, which boosts int+dex

additionally, you want to pay mind to the level and rarity of an equip, which both affect the stats it gives


I can go into more depth on all this if you'd like?

I'm also stuck on this one. It#s a pity there is no way you can train your pet, or at least explore another area of the cave (as trollsblight is no help leveling up unless you have a lot of time to grind)

> You only have one pet- Get your second slot from Esior Haven's Town Hall. Having two pets will make battles a lot easier (same with once you get to region two and getting your third slot from the town hall there)

> Sittseta's Equips are Bad, with only one equip boosting the stats a light tank would need (Lady Elora's Bracelet is int/agi (Int for higher attack power, agi for evasion and defence))- the other three equips are Str-type equips, which is especially a problem because her relic is one, meaning it's giving its Damage Boost to her Physical Damage stat- which, as a light pet, she doesn't use (light pets, along with shadow and fire, use the Magical Damage stat to calculate their damage output)
(her current Mag. damage stat is 26 while the stat she doesn't use is 73, so no wonder battles are a struggle)

> uncommon equips are Bad and as a rule of thumb should be replaced asap

> you can use Missions in town to get exp (along with town Reputation, gold, equips, healing items, ap)
(you can also unlock more mission slots at the Town Hall) (see guide to mission pets and missions and the info in Mission Science (a study) for more info and data)

> if you're in the Nightfall Bandit Camp, you can train in the Fungus Grove instead of Trollsblight?
Trollsblight Cavern has enemy lvs 5-9, Fungus Grove, 10-14, Nightfall Bandit Camp, 15-19

I have a second slot, just didn't get a decent pet yet

"Sittseta's Equips are Bad, with only one equip boosting the stats a light tank would need (Lady Elora's Bracelet is int/agi (Int for higher attack power, agi for evasion and defence))- the other three equips are Str-type equips, which is especially a problem because her relic is one, meaning it's giving its Damage Boost to her Physical Damage stat- which, as a light pet, she doesn't use (light pets, along with shadow and fire, use the Magical Damage stat to calculate their damage output)
(her current Mag. damage stat is 26 while the stat she doesn't use is 73, so no wonder battles are a struggle)

> uncommon equips are Bad and as a rule of thumb should be replaced asap
"


I don't understand a single word.

Each elements have stats they use and stats that are useless to them and each types of equipement (assassin, ravager, ...) are made to adventage some stats more then others, Scathreoite is telling you that the equipement you are using boosting stats that are of no use for your pet's element. This guide should help you with figuring out the best equipement for each of your party pets.
https://www.sylestia.com/forums/?thread=45988

Equipement in a white or green square are totaly useless as they do not boost your stats enough to be worth sacrificing an equipement slot for them, they have to be replaced as soon as you can.

> "Uncommon equips are bad" = the equips with the green outline are uncommon rarity. Both the level and the rarity (green = uncommon, blue = rare, purple = epic, yellow = legendary, red = mythical; there are no common/white equips) of an equip plays into how high the stats on the equip are.

To put into perspective how bad uncommons are, if you had a lv55 pet, and a choice between a legendary lv25 and an uncommon lv55 equip, you'd be better off with the lv25 than the much higher leveled uncommon equip because the stats of the uncommon equip are so low


> Damage
Three of the six elements are Strength-based, and calculate their move effectiveness using the Physical Damage stat, while the other three are Intelligence-based and calculate using the Magical Damage stat

Earth, Water, and Air use the Strength and Physical Damage stat, while Shadow, Light, and Fire use Intelligence and the Magical Damage stat.

Let's take one of my pets, Munir. He's a water pet, and has a Physical Damage stat of 1,092.

> Water's base move, Bolt, tells you that at rank 1 it does "150% Physical Damage"- this means it takes his PD stat and multiplies it by 1.5 to get its average damage output: 1638 damage.

> The second move, Ice Barrier, at rank 1 "Absorbs 200% Physical Damage"- that means the shield it creates on a pet will absorb 2x1,092 damage- 2184 total- from enemies before being 'broken'


So when you have a pet that's equipped for the wrong stat, it ends up with the damage stat they use being much lower than it should be for their level.
You always want to make sure you're equipping correctly so that pets are performing to the best of their abilities.

(as to Dex and Agility: if it's the pet in slot 1, Tanking for the party, then you go with Agility, and other battle positions get Dex, as a general rule of thumb.
Agility controls Defence and Evasion, while Dexterity controls Accuracy and Critical Hit Chance.
(While it might seem intuitive to think Agi controls a pet's speed, both of the stats actually raise it equally)

sorry, this is all way too complicated

maby an exemple could help you understand ? to get a base stat that is the same everywhere and remove that variation for now let's take Fractus here as a subject. ^-^

Let's ignore the fact that he dont have his proefiency set just and focus on his element battle speciality : single target damage. The stat recomended are (in that order) : Strengh, Dexterity, Health

Witch one of those two would work the best on that boy ?


Tough Armor of the Myrmidon
Rarity: Uncommon
Armor: Req Level: 60

Health: 315
Mana: 4
Strength: 22
Intelligence: 14
Dexterity: 27
Agility: 14

OR


Rough Armor of the Myrmidon
Rarity: Epic
Armor: Req Level: 50

Health: 525
Mana: 12
Strength: 36
Intelligence: 22
Dexterity: 44
Agility: 22

TL;DR