Trust Dungeons

[AnnaUK]

I haven't been playing long, but already love this game

What I wanted to ask is now I have unlocked trusts, I am a Bard, which other trust party members would be the best to run with?

Thanks in advance!

[SinSilverwing]

Honestly... They all perform their roles well... If you haven't run the switch yet take the exarch and thr bunny for sure

Otherwise it's all a personal preference for the characters

[AnnaUK]

That's the only one I have done - I took the twins and the exarch and it went well.

[Astrus]

NPC name spoilers in the box

They have a peculiar way of dealing with mechanics that require positioning of individual players (ie on the second boss of the 71 dungeon they will always stack in the middle of the arena even if you have the stack marker and wanted to stack elsewhere or on the tethers on the second boss of the 73 dungeon where they might take a tether you already had). In short, you'll have to react to the way they do some mechanics.
On the upside none of them get vulnerability stacks when they fail mechanics.

None of the DPS NPCs do AoE, so there's that.
Alisaie will in general use the LB on bosses as soon as it's available, that can be great if you're running as a tank or healer but is something to keep in mind if you'd prefer to use the LB yourself (because you're a melee and yours does more damage or because you want to hold on to it for trash packs after the boss as a caster/ranged DPS)
Y'shtola occasionally triple-casts Flare (or something along those lines, I don't play BLM) for heavy damage to a single target. It's still no AoE but it feels like it speeds up trash pulls by just melting one of the mobs.
Lyna is only available for the first dungeon, and only until you completely finish the MSQ, so you may wish to bring her along just because her banter is missable, I didn't and kind of regret it now.
The last DPS NPC and only melee, who will remain unnamed because of massive spoilers, generally opens fights with the equivalent to Trick Attack. On the downside I've never seen her use the LB even if it should in theory be superior to the caster LB on bosses.

For the healers it's good to know that both of them throw out a damage buff on a single ally.
Urianger does the AST thing with cards and heals in Diurnal Sect (so, HoTs).
Alphinaud is a variant of SCH so he shields and has a carbuncle to deal some damage and throw out a damage buff on one ally.
Of the two Alphinaud seemed to be better at keeping people alive due to the shields.

You have no real choice for tanks, there's only ever the one available.
You can force them to tank two groups, which they can generally survive, by pulling an additional group and running back to them.
They'll AoE a couple of times to establish aggro and then go back to single-targeting like the other NPCs so the merit of pulling more depends on how good your AoE is as you'll be the only one doing it.

If one of them dies they'll come back with full health and no rez sickness (they have no MP pool by default) after getting a raise if available.
If you finish a fight with one of them dead the other NPCs will raise them afterwards or use a phoenix down on them of which they seem to have an infinite supply.
If you die the pull will reset immediately.

The Exarch can fill any role for the first dungeon but, like Lyna, is only availble for that dungeon and becomes entirely unavailable after you finish the MSQ. Take him along at least once if you want to see his interactions.

Now, I keep saying that some NPCs become unavailable after you finish the MSQ. That's because after that you "unlock" the ability to level your Trust.
While the Trust has been keeping up with your level throughout the MSQ afterwards they'll reset to level 71 and all of the NPCs (minus the Exarch and his henchbunny who are gone for good) become available for all dungeons they meet the level requirement for.
From there on out the NPCs you bring along, and only those, gain exp for the completion of Trust dungeons. That's the only exp they get, they get nothing for kills in the dungeon and if you don't finish the run they get nothing.
It takes about 6 runs of the highest dungeon available to them to get them one level so on average you're looking at 12 runs per dungeon to level three of the six NPCs, you'll more than likely level faster than them so if you want to keep using the Trust after finishing the MSQ be prepared for some grinding and plan your secondary Jobs accordingly.

[SinSilverwing]

Then yeah, take whoever you want. They all perform their roles well. And i love their comments during the runs.

[AnnaUK]

Thanks so much guys <3

[Urthdigger]

I will say this: once you're in the later dungeons, as a non-tank you'll obviously be taking Thancred (The exarch is only usable in Holminster Switch). Take... Well, her name is spoilers, but the person who uses daggers. While he's a very effective tank there are a number of gunbreaker moves he literally can't use without her in the party (basically the cartridge combo.) Pick whichever healer you please.

[AnnaUK]

I have a soft spot for Alphy, but his sister can be a bit of a liability sometimes haha

I am so glad of the trust feature - I have made mistakes and I have learned.. and at no cost to a real group of frustrated players