The fusion system is greatly expanded compared to the original game. Nearly every combination produces some kind of result, but some combinations are better than others. How do you know which combinations to try? That's what this guide is for.

Every shaman has a hidden "compatibility" value with every character and every other shaman. In the most basic sense, if the compatibility is high, you'll maximize the stat boosts received from that shaman. Each shaman also has an affinity for certain stats, so if you're unlucky, you might find yourself in a situation where you want to raise a specific stat on a certain character, but their compatibility with the corresponding shaman is low.

All is not lost, however. You can get around this restriction by fusing with two shamans at once! There are three different types of double fusions.

TYPE A: PIVOT FUSION
This is the standard type of double fusion. You can use a second shaman (called a "pivot") to intermediate between the character and the shaman that you desire (called the "target"). However, the pivot must have good compatibility with both the character and the target shaman. If you use a good pivot, your character will receive high-compatibility bonuses from both the pivot and the target shaman.

TYPE B: INVERTED FUSION
In this case, your chosen character has high compatibility with two different shamans, but the two shamans have low compatibility with each other. In this arrangement, the character uses immense spiritual strength to balance the opposing forces of the two shamans. As a result, the shamans negate each other, and their affinities are reversed. Using this method, a shaman that normally gives a tiny boost to a particular stat will give a large boost instead. You will receive inverted bonuses from both shamans.

TYPE C: WILD FUSION
Wild fusion is the opposite of inverted fusion. It requires two shamans that have high compatibility with each other, but low compatibility with the character. The character is unable to provide the spiritual foundation necessary to control the harmonic power of two compatible shamans, and thus, their power runs wild, resulting in totally random (but often good) stat boosts.

In all cases, you are more likely to see the desired effect if the compatibilities are in the extreme low or high values.

In addition to stat boosts, certain combinations will transform a character's body, too. There are two basic types of transformation. For both cases, transformation is much more likely in double fusions.

TYPE A: HARMONIC TRANSFORMATION
This transformation comes from fusions of at least one high-compatibility pairing. The individuals' spiritual energy resonates so strongly that it fundamentally alters the subject. It does not matter if there is a low-compatibility pairing involved as well.

TYPE B: CHAOTIC TRANSFORMATION
This transformation comes from fusions of at least one low-compatibility pairing. Chaotic transformations are less common than harmonic transformations, but due to the contamination of spiritual energy, they have much stranger results.

Ryu can fuse, but is immune to transformations.

EXAMPLES
Here is a sample compatibility list provided in the guide generated by a randomization.

FIRE SHAMAN COMPATIBILITY
Off Wis Def mAP Vig
fire : --   water:  7   wind : 26
earth: 28   holy : 78   dark : 51
Ryu : 69   Bow : 43   Rand: 32   Katt: 11
Nina: 88   Jean: 18   Sten:  2   Spar:100

WATER SHAMAN COMPATIBILITY
Wis Off Vig Def mAP
fire :  7   water: --   wind : 31
earth: 81   holy :  1   dark : 26
Ryu : 84   Bow : 10   Rand: 86   Katt: 89
Nina: 23   Jean: 55   Sten: 33   Spar:  2

WIND SHAMAN COMPATIBILITY
Wis mAP Off Def Vig
fire : 26   water: 31   wind : --
earth: 99   holy : 62   dark :  5
Ryu : 12   Bow : 59   Rand: 74   Katt: 78
Nina: 65   Jean: 87   Sten:  7   Spar: 16

EARTH SHAMAN COMPATIBILITY
mAP Def Off Vig Wis
fire : 28   water: 81   wind : 99
earth: --   holy : 55   dark :  5
Ryu : 77   Bow : 16   Rand: 81   Katt: 70
Nina: 69   Jean: 92   Sten: 42   Spar: 63

HOLY SHAMAN COMPATIBILITY
Vig mAP Off Wis Def
fire : 78   water:  1   wind : 62
earth: 55   holy : --   dark : 72
Ryu : 66   Bow :  7   Rand: 74   Katt: 34
Nina: 15   Jean: 91   Sten: 66   Spar:  8

DARK SHAMAN COMPATIBILITY
Def Vig Off mAP Wis
fire : 51   water: 26   wind :  5
earth:  5   holy : 72   dark : --
Ryu :  4   Bow : 72   Rand: 10   Katt: 70
Nina: 59   Jean: 21   Sten: 70   Spar: 86

Suppose you want to increase Spar's vigor. However, Spar has low compatibility with the Holy shaman, who raises vigor. But spar has perfect compatibility with the Fire shaman, who has decent compatibility with the Holy shaman. Using Fire as a pivot, Spar receives high vigor from Holy and high offense from Fire. (Actually, you would get higher vigor from an inverse Fire/Earth fusion, but abysmal offense.)

Now suppose that you want to increase Rand's defense, but Rand has low compatibility with the Dark shaman. You could use Holy as a pivot to reach Dark, but the compatibility of the links is only decent at best. You'd get better results by using an inverse fusion. Rand has high compatibility with both Holy and Water, and Holy is not compatible with Water. Holy and Water invert each other, so Rand receives a defense boost from Holy and a mAP boost from Water.

Finally, consider Bow, who has mediocre compatibility with all shamans. His best pivot is Dark, who also has mediocre compatibility with other shamans. In this case, it would be worthwhile to take a chance on a wild fusion. Bow has bad compatibility with Earth and Water, but they have good compatibility with each other. Thus, fusing with Earth and Water is likely to result in random stat boosts.

Note that for any given combination, the result is fixed, so re-attempting the same fusion combination multiple times will not change the result, even for wild fusions.
