Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter Best Builds: Quartz Setups for All 8 Party Members (2026)

Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter gives every party member a seventh quartz slot, and that one change makes builds matter more than they did in the 1st Chapter remake. A good orbment turns a B-tier character into someone you're glad to bring. A lazy one makes an S-tier character feel like dead weight.

This guide covers how to build all eight party members: their role, the quartz they need, and the arts and crafts to put first. It also has the party comps that clear SC's bosses. To see who's best before you spend anything, start with our Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter tier list. That page ranks the cast; this one builds it.

How Builds Work in 2nd Chapter (The Four Rules)

Falcom's official site sums the system up in two sentences. Quartz in each character's Tactical Orbment raises stats and unlocks Arts. 2nd Chapter's orbment goes from six slots to seven, and enhancing individual slots lets a character equip stronger quartz, which unlocks stronger Arts. Four rules follow from that.

1. Speed comes first, for everyone. Action quartz raises SPD, and SPD decides how often you act. More turns means more heals, more interrupts and more damage. If you only have one good quartz, give it to whoever acts most.
2. Element is part of the build. Every quartz adds Elemental Value along with its stat, and those values decide which Arts a character can cast. A slightly weaker stat on the right element often beats a bigger stat that cuts off the Art you need. Check the Arts list before you lock a slot in.
3. Lines decide the ceiling. Characters with long orbment lines can stack enough value of one element to reach the top-tier Arts. Characters with lots of short lines can't, so build them for stats. Open each character's orbment screen and look at the line shape before copying anyone's setup, including ours.
4. Enhance slots on your core three first. Slot enhancement is the new lever in 2nd Chapter. Put it into the characters who never leave your party, not whoever happens to be with you this chapter.

Estelle Bright Build: The Hybrid Anchor

Role: she's in every fight, so build her to cover whatever the rest of the party can't.

Estelle is the one character you can count on all game, and her orbment is balanced enough to go either way. The remake also lets her hit back properly. In the original she spent most boss fights casting barrier arts, and players have noticed she can carry real damage this time.

• Core quartz: Action and Attack for her turns and damage. Add Cast and Mind so her arts are worth casting, and HP so she survives the boss turns that kill your squishier members.
• Arts: keep one healing art and one defensive art reachable on her lines. You won't cast them every fight, but when Kloe goes down Estelle is your backup healer.
• Crafts: Morale is her best craft. It buffs the party and helps their CP, so open boss fights with it, especially with Agate in the party.

When you can enhance slots, give Estelle's first. She never leaves the party, so nothing you invest in her goes to waste.

Kloe Rinz Build: Healer First, Nuker Second

Role: keep the party alive, and do damage when everyone's healthy.

Kloe's orbment is built for stacking element value, so she's usually the first character to reach the top healing and support arts. Build so her healing arts can't drop out of her list, then add damage on top.

• Core quartz: Heal first, so her recovery arts stay unlocked. Then Action and Cast so the heals land before the next enemy turn, EP Cut so she can keep casting through long fights, and Mind for strength.
• Fillers: HP or Evade. She's your healer, so a single unlucky crit on her can cost you the fight.
• S-Crafts: Kloe's S-Crafts are emergency buttons: shields, reflects and immunities. Save her CP for the boss's Rage Boost turns rather than spending it as soon as it's full.

Agate Crosner Build: The CP Engine

Role: generate CP faster than anyone else and turn it into repeated S-Crafts.

Agate's build revolves around one craft. Wild Rage gives him a large chunk of CP and drops his HP to 1. Used at 1 HP, it kills him, so heal him before you use it again. His support skill Heat Up also restores CP, and his first S-Craft hits the whole battlefield. Put that together and you can fire S-Crafts back to back in a long fight.

• Core quartz: Attack, Action, Hit. Pure offense. He has some of the worst arts lines in the game, so don't build him as a caster.
• Skip: defense quartz. He's sitting at 1 HP half the time anyway, so defense stats are mostly wasted on him.
• Late-game upgrade: early guides report a Lone Blade quartz (unlocked through a cooking milestone) that adds physical damage the lower your HP is. Agate deliberately drops to 1 HP, so it fits him better than anyone.

Agate also works best when someone else is healing. Pair him with Kloe and you get the safety net and the damage in the same party.

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Scherazard Harvey Build: Turn Control

Role: give your damage dealers more turns.

Schera's signature craft is Heaven's Kiss. It costs 100 CP and moves your other party members' turns up. That turns Agate, Joshua or a high-damage Estelle into more damage per round. Her green (wind) slots also open the wind support line, from Aero Storm up to Sylphen Wing and Sylpharion. Sylphen Wing buffs and adds evasion; Sylpharion blocks debuffs and reflects arts.

• Core quartz: Action and Cast so the buffs land early, Mind so they hit hard, and EP Cut so she can keep casting.
• Use her when: you already have someone doing heavy damage. Buffs don't help a party that can't kill.

Joshua Bright Build: Speed Kills

Role: act more often than anyone else, and hit hard each time.

Joshua's build is simple: Attack plus Action, with Hit so his attacks don't miss. Add Evade if you're up against groups. The tricky part is the story, not the build. He's out of the party for a lot of SC, so don't sink your scarce slot enhancements into him until he's back for good. When he does return, move your best Action quartz to him first.

Tita Russell Build: Safe Damage From the Back

Role: deal ranged damage without getting hit back.

Tita attacks from range, which keeps her away from enemies that punish melee. Build her for speed and damage first (Action, Attack), then Cast so she can fill gaps with support or utility arts, and HP because she's usually the one an area attack catches. She's never the reason you win, but she's almost never the reason you lose.

Olivier Lenheim Build: All-In on Casting

Role: cast the biggest Art his lines can reach, as fast as possible.

Olivier's long lines can stack elemental value for big Arts, but he's fragile and his casts are slow. So prioritize Cast and EP Cut over raw Mind. A strong Art that goes off a turn late doesn't help much. Then aim his main line at the strongest damage art you can unlock. On a Fire line that's Arc Prominence, one of the hardest-hitting damage arts in the game.

Keep him out of melee range. Most of his deaths come from standing where an enemy can reach him before his cast goes off.

Zin Vathek Build: Make the Tank Matter

Role: absorb hits and still deal damage.

A pure-defense Zin falls off because SC rewards killing enemies before they act. The fix is to treat him as a bruiser, not a wall: Action so he gets turns, Attack so they count, and HP because his bulk is the reason you brought him. Leave the extra defense quartz off. He's tanky enough without it.

Schera or Agate? The Early Choice

Early in SC, you pick either Scherazard or Agate to travel with Estelle for a stretch. Neither choice is wrong:

• Pick Agate if you want damage. Early players report physical damage hits harder in the remake than in the 2006 original, and his Wild Rage loop clears groups quickly.
• Pick Schera if you want an arts-heavy team with turn control and a wider list of support Arts.

Both end up rejoining the full roster, so the pick only shapes that stretch of the game.

Best Party Builds for Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter

Before Every Boss: Build for Rage Boost and Endure

Your build has to survive two boss mechanics:

• Rage Boost. Once a boss drops below half HP, it powers up and can take several turns in a row. This is where Kloe's S-Crafts and shield or immunity arts like Earth Wall and Gaia Shield earn their slots. On higher difficulties, watch for All Cancel, which strips shields and makes spamming Earth Wall far less reliable than in the original.
• Endure. Story bosses can survive a killing blow with a sliver of HP and come back angrier. Hold one character's S-Craft in reserve so you can finish the fight on your terms.

Brave Rush is new in 2nd Chapter. It spends two Brave Gauge points in Quick Battle to pair your active character with a party member for a wide, heavy hit. Build up the gauge on trash fights and you can open boss encounters with a burst. Brave Burst costs five points and also clears negative status effects off the whole party.

Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter Builds: FAQ

What is the best party in Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter?

Estelle, Kloe and Agate, plus Tita or Scherazard. That covers healing, CP generation and burst damage. See the full tier list for why.

What quartz should every character run?

Action. Speed means more turns for every role. After that, Attack and Hit for physical characters, and Cast, EP Cut and Mind for casters.

How many quartz slots are there in 2nd Chapter?

Seven per character, up from six in 1st Chapter. Enhancing a slot lets it hold stronger quartz.

Who are the playable characters?

The eight core party members are Estelle, Joshua, Scherazard, Olivier, Kloe, Agate, Tita and Zin. A few story characters fight alongside you later, Kevin and Josette among them. We'll add their builds once we've tested them across a full run.

What is the best Estelle build?

A hybrid: Action and Attack for damage, Cast and Mind so her arts are useful, HP for safety, and one healing art kept on her lines as a backup.

Haven't Played 1st Chapter Yet?

Play it first. SC picks up right where 1st Chapter ends, and the builds above assume you already know how orbments work. The Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter PC key on Loaded is usually cheaper than the Steam price.

Finished both and want more Trails? Trails through Daybreak is the best newer starting point, and Trails of Cold Steel is cheap enough to try on a whim.

The Bottom Line

Give everyone Action quartz, pick each character's elements by the Arts they need, and spend slot enhancements on Estelle, Kloe and Agate before anyone else. Get those right and a B-tier party clears content an S-tier party with lazy quartz struggles with.

We're testing these builds through a full playthrough and will update this page if a patch or late-game quartz changes the picture. More JRPG guides: Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter Tier List · Sea of Stars Best Builds · Best JRPGs of All Time

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Image credits: character art © Nihon Falcom Corporation, used editorially.