Canopus will join your party very early on in Tactics Ogre: Reborn, and he will remain one of your best performers throughout the entire game. He has the ability to fly and great offensive stats, both physical and magical, in his base class, Vartan.

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As you get further into the game, your build diversity and options open up considerably. While Vartan doesn't acquire a huge range of skill options, it's still important to choose the right ones for Canopus to get the best use out of him.

Crossbow Vartan Build

This build is all about using Canopus' flight to get to a good vantage point and sniping enemies from afar. The crossbow is used instead of the bow as it has great range and tends to deal more damage than bows at each stage of the game. The advantage that bows have over crossbows is decreased thanks to the ability to reach high spots and thread the trajectory from more spaces.

The strategy for this build is quite simple: get to a safe place with a good vantage point and snipe away at enemies with impunity.

• We make Canopus fire-elemental to boost the power of Brimstone Hail, which is an area attack that deals a ton of fire damage.
• As a result, we also take the Sparksphere spells instead of Deadshot, though it's handy to keep one Deadshot spell to hand in case you get a handy Huapango Winds off on an adjacent enemy, giving them Air-Averse.
• If you're looking to use Fey Pact, swap out Huapango Winds - it's the least useful skill here.

Axebow Vartan Build

This build might pack a little less 'oomph' than the pure crossbow build, but it trades that oomph for flexibility.

• Having two weapons means Canopus is able to strike from any range, and having two sets of Finishing Moves means he's able to hit any weakness, whether it's Piercing, Bludgeoning, or Slashing.
• We take bows over crossbows for our ranged weapon to take advantage of the bow's ability to shoot outside its stated range. As we're more likely to use Canopus in the thick of battle, a bow becomes more useable than a crossbow.
• Consider giving Canopus a Ring of Intellect to boost his magic damage, as that'll come in handy in many situations.
• We bring along one Lightning Bow spell as it can be very useful to hit elemental weaknesses - bulky Octopuses come to mind.

It's important to remember that Canopus isn't the only character in the game capable of using the Vartan class! Any Winged units that you recruit from battles can use a Peregrine's Mark (a Classmark that drops from enemy Winged) to become a Vartan and use these builds and strategies. While they won't have the inflated base stats that Canopus has, they'll be able to make good use of them.

Buccaneer Build

Once you recruit Azelstan, you'll have a handful of Pirate's Classmarks that allow a select few other characters to access the Buccaneer class - Canopus is one of these characters. It's a fantastically versatile class.

This build is for getting Canopus behind enemy lines to smash up any undefended opponents.

• As Canopus is likely to be a loner in many battles, we take Apostate and Evade to improve his survivability. Picking up auto-skill buff cards will be a huge boon for this.
• Giving Canopus axes keeps him thematic with his strengths as a Vartan, but there are some incredibly strong and accessible swords (such as Lombardia and Brynhildr) that would turn Canopus into an utterly fantastic damage dealer.
• This build doesn't have any ranged options (unless you go for the one-handed gun route), so it's best to pick this build only if you already have good ranged alternatives on your team.

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