General PvE Damage Costume Recommendations

This list is intended for general PvE. This will give you a good foundation for completing story and character packs, Tower of Desire, and Tower of Salvation. Some will also be useful for Fiend Hunts and sometimes Guild Raids, but they might not be the best choice for any given fight. Supports are always more valuable than damage costumes, so invest there first.

Note that light and dark characters are the most versatile for a new player because they don't receive a damage penalty when attacking enemies with the element they're weak to. This matters a lot less as your roster grows and you have strong characters in every element.

Core	Auxiliary	Notes
Essentials
		Sacred Justia is versatile and easy to use. She does more damage the more enemies she hits and her range is exceptional. At +4, she can go every turn. The only content she's bad at is when there's very few enemies to hit, such as Last Night or the rare single boss fights. She's the best choice for Tower of Pride 4F and 6F.
		Eclipse has lower SP cost compared to most magic characters, which makes her easier to use than some of the other choices for a newer player. For single-turn clears, Beach Vacation is one of the best costumes, but the down side is that it has the longest cooldown in the game at 11 turns. For multi-turn combat, Eclipse is weaker than most of the other choices here and requires her limited Nightmare Bunny costume to be usable for Fiend Hunt or Guild Raid. Dimension Witch is pub recruitable, and Dream Bride is a free +5.
		Blade is a glass cannon: high damage, low HP. Young Lady is incredibly strong and one of the few physical 3x3s. Apostle's strongest when she has the opportunity to counter multiple hits, though she usually needs help from someone like Red Riding Hood Rou to survive. Apostle is capable of carrying Tower of Jealousy 51F-90F (possibly earlier floors, too) and is pub recruitable.
		For single-turn clears, Last Hope and the limited Celebrity Bunny can be used interchangeably, though the later has a higher SP cost. If you want to be able to use her in Fiend Hunt, Last Hope is mandatory due to Celebrity Bunny's long cooldown. Either costume is good for Tower of Pride 1F.
		Venaka is a lot stronger than she looks. Wind Dancer's wind damage vulnerability occasionally makes her an asset on physical teams for Fiend Hunt and Guild Raid. It's also the best costume for Tower of Pride 5F and is pub recruitable. DJ is good for cleaning up stragglers and is incredibly strong in Mirror Wars.
		Dalvi makes the cut mostly because her Summer Vacation costume is a free +5, making it a great choice for new players. She often teams up with Venaka for general content and Fiend Hunt, though you really need Bright Moon for the later.
Honorable Mentions
		Liatris shines brightest in multi-turn situations, but she's still pretty good for single-turn fights. Rodev's Star and Neon Stalker provide DoTs, and Maid Name R does extra damage to enemies with a DoT. Maid Name R is good for Tower of Pride 1F. She's the character of choice for Tower of Jealousy 91F and up. Rodev's Star is pub recruitable.
		Morpeah can fill many roles: tanking, pushing, and providing explosive damage. She can be a royal pain to crit fish with, but she's well worth having. For multi-turn fights, you summon every turn but wait until you use her Apostle costume before letting them all self-destruct together. She's considered the most annoying character to use for Fiend Hunt because you have to carefully manage any buffs your summons receive from different sources in order to do the most damage. She's also capable of carrying Tower of Wrath 51F-100F (possibly earlier floors, too). Apostle is pub recruitable.
		Luvencia is a dual-purpose character, but her range is less useful than Blade's for general content. She's strong as a damage dealer and a chainer. Both costumes are considered essential for Fiend Hunt and Last Night.
		Nebris is one of the highest damage characters in the game, but her range limits her for general content. Her gimmick involves loading up on buffs from her self-buffing costumes and then dealing explosive damage with New Hire. She's very high investment overall, requiring +3 for Laid-back Lifeguard and +3 for Labyrinth Gatekeeper, but well worth it for Fiend Hunt and Guild Raid. She's also tricky to use, since you have to pay attention to what buffs you're receiving from other sources to ensure you're getting the ones you want from her self-buffing costumes. New Hire is the highest damage costume in Last Night.
		Levia's primarily used as a damage amplifier for other magic characters, but she's capable of doing a respectable amount of damage on her own.
		Roxy is a collaboration character from Mushoku Tensei. The only thing that makes her remarkable is her element: there isn't another big AoE in water. She has amazing range but she's weaker than her competition in other elements. She's lackluster for multi-turn combat due to her weak second costume, but she's still good for clearing trash when she has elemental advantage. She's the best choice for Tower of Pride 3F.