Leveling and Stats
Why is there a page about leveling for Last Mission? Don’t you just kill enemies, gain experience, and level up like normal? Well, unfortunately things are a bit more complicated.
Character Level vs. Dressphere Level
Yes, like in the normal game, you can defeat enemies and gain experience to level up your characters, but it’s important to know there are two different “Levels” in Last Mission. Your character can level up the normal way: by defeating enemies and gaining experience. But your Dresspheres can also level up, and they level so in a completely different way.
The Dressphere you start with, and most of the Dresspheres you pick up, start at Level 1. You can also obtain Dresspheres higher than Level 1, and they’re even more powerful. So you need to level both to navigate the tower’s floors. First, we’ll focus in on the differences between the two leveling systems, and then we’ll cover how to level up both your character and Dresspheres.
| Stat | Character Level | Dressphere Level |
|---|---|---|
| HP | Rises every level. | Rises every level. This is the Dressphere’s own HP; your primary Dressphere’s HP is your HP in battle. |
| MP | Rises every level. Character level is the only source of MP. | No effect. |
| Strength | One of these six rises by 1 to 3 points each level, chosen at random. | Rises by 0 to 2 points each level, depending on the Dressphere. |
| Magic | One of these six rises by 1 to 3 points each level, chosen at random. | Rises by 0 to 2 points each level, depending on the Dressphere. |
| Defense | One of these six rises by 1 to 3 points each level, chosen at random. | Rises by 0 to 2 points each level, depending on the Dressphere. |
| Magic Defense | One of these six rises by 1 to 3 points each level, chosen at random. | Rises by 0 to 2 points each level, depending on the Dressphere. |
| Accuracy | One of these six rises by 1 to 3 points each level, chosen at random. | Rises by 0 to 2 points each level, depending on the Dressphere. |
| Evasion | One of these six rises by 1 to 3 points each level, chosen at random. | Rises by 0 to 2 points each level, depending on the Dressphere. |
Leveling Your Character
As mentioned above, the standard way to level up your character is to defeat enemies and gain experience. In fact, it’s recommended that you spend extra time grinding and defeating enemies, especially on the early floors, to reduce the chances of falling behind later when enemies get tougher to kill.
There are three additional items you can pick up that’ll help you level your characters even faster. You can use an 
Enhancing Potion, Growth Tonic, or Evolutionary Water. If you find these items, you should drink them right away. Finding them is like winning the lottery! Let’s hope you encounter many during your playthrough!
Leveling Your Dresspheres
Dresspheres are leveled in a completely different way. Dresspheres don’t gain experience, and no amount of battles will increase their level. Instead, you’ll need to find a 
Dress Fusion Secrets Folio and fuse two of the same Dresspheres together. For example, a Level 1 
Gun Mage and another Level 1 Gun Mage will fuse together to form a Level 2 Gun Mage, and a Level 4 and Level 2 will fuse together to form a Level 6, etc.
In other words, for your most important Dresspheres, you’re hoping to find more copies of them as you navigate through the tower. There are quite a few ways to find more Dresspheres to fuse with the ones you’re already using: you may find them on the ground, sure, but you may also find The Dressmaker Folio, which allows you to pick any other Dressphere to make. Alternatively, you may be able to steal another Dressphere from the Founder.
There are lots of different methods, and for a successful Last Mission run, you’ll want to utilize all of them.
Primary vs. Secondary Dressphere Stats
You can equip up to five Dresspheres, and they affect your character in several ways, including your stats. Your character receives a stat boost every time they level up, and they receive the full stat boost from the Dressphere equipped as their primary Dressphere. They will only receive 50% of the stats from any of the Dresspheres equipped in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, or 5th equipment slots.
This may be obvious, but because you get the highest stat benefit from your primary Dressphere, focus on leveling it up as quickly as possible. Leveling up your other Dressphere also helps, especially to balance stats your primary Dressphere might be missing, but it should always be a secondary focus.
Extra Leveling with Folios
There is a Folio you might pick up called a Restart Guide. This Folio can be used to take your character back to the starting floor. Players debate whether this is worth it… If it is worth it, it’s only worth it in the first 20 or so floors; otherwise, you would have to repeat way too much of the tower. But there are clear benefits to repeating the earlier tower levels to pick up more loot and earn more levels.
This can be especially helpful if you haven’t had any luck picking up the proper Dresspheres or items that you need to collect on your way up the tower. Lots of players get unlucky and don’t see any 
Black Mage Dresspheres or any Find Secret Room Folios.
As a less drastic option, you can use a Shop Guide Folio to leave the floor and head to a shop at any time. Once you’re done at the shop, you’ll be returned to the floor and have to (or get to) traverse through it again. Just make sure you pick up all the loot on the floor and defeat some enemies before you use the Folio.
You SHOULD get everything you need by the time you need it, but there’s nothing worse than getting high up in the tower and having really unlucky RNG. Using a Restart Guide can help prevent this… but as mentioned, by the time you reach floor 20 or higher, you should throw them away.