Albel

His AI is really bad. He's at a defensive disadvantage because of his poor armor and use of health. He uses primarily juggling moves rather than stunlocking ones (bad for party-based strategies). His last two techniques are below par, and he packs a bunch of element-based attacks, including his mid-ranged, weak slash.

You really have to know how to use him correctly, because no one of his attacks fits all. I'm not a big fan, but he's definitely not bad.

Albel is in my main party on my current 4d run. I'm on floor 171 of sphere with Maria, Sophia and Albel, but he proved to be so fragile (AI controlled) that I didn't even refine any weapons for him, he's just my sacrificial AAA lamb

Like Viett already pointed out, it's the horrible AI that makes him useless, unless controlled by yourself... but unfortunately I can't afford to, because I need the girls' firepower. They are so strong together that I don't even care whether the 3rd member is alive or not, it's not even Albel's fault.

The AI messes up everything he is good at. Namely:

Short x spamming with stun or whatever you like.
Double Slash of Fury to juggle the enemy all over the battlefield.
Air Slash of Fury for some long range damage. Compared to Cliffs max shockwave, the damage is pityful on first sight, but you have to consider that it cancels very fast to 300 and can then be spammed for a long time, which really racks up the damage. Once cancelled to 300 it's all long o as well, so no problems here.

His only moves, the AI handles well, are his numerous 1-hit wonders:

Aura wall for mp dmg and excellent stunlocking or his knockdown attacks. Actually pretty much everything else he does, knocks the enemy down and thats probably why everyone hates him. A knocked down enemy can't get hit, therefore your cancel combos with him are very limited and your other party members will miss their moves a lot.
Good thing is, that those moves interrupt almost everything with a windup time, while being very fast themselves.

In a nutshell: Albel is very good at disrupting enemies, knocking them down or juggling them till infinity, while the other two take care of the rest. He also has a very fast heal, try it out, you'll be surprised.
He is very fast and his damage is ok, but keep in mind that he is not a tank, he really shouldn't get hit. This is usually no problem as long as you control him yourself, but if controlled by the AI, you'll soon give up on reviving him. Plus the AI doesn't use his multi hitting attacks properly.

But I'm a big fan of the charakter, I like his moves and he's fun to play. Hacking on a helpless enemy till the end of the fight, without running out of fury, is priceless.

I finally levelled him up a bit and gave him a dragon leather. He still doesn't have a decent weapon but with bunny shoes and 40k+ hp at least he stays alive, even AI controlled.

I have a vision of an Albel with 3-4 hp berries given and a weapon like this:

Dark Faerie Claw

BoP x5
no hp dmg 30%
-3 fury
30% move speed

Tri-Emblem
1/2 casting time


That would result in 99999 hp, 9999 atk and a good defence. Casting time can be replaced by whatever I need, but Albel is the best healer in the game and this adds to it.

Even without reduced casting time he can stand right in front of an enemy and heal in a second before he gets hit out of it, i never saw any other charakter do this.
With reduced casting time his heal is like using an item.

Yeah. Like Peppita, he also has a counter, which is excellent for evasion and quick canceling.

Agreed., his AI is really really bad..

i better use him myself...