Prompto Argentum/Gameplay

Prompto is a party member in Final Fantasy XV. He is a ranged fighter who wields firearms. He is the weakest physical fighter of the party with the lowest stats, but can inflict enemies with status ailments, and enfeeble daemons and take photos during battle with his Techniques. When directly controllable via character swap or in his DLC episode, the player can use various fire arms with him for different effects.

Party member
Prompto equips firearms as his primary arm, including handguns and shotguns. Prompto's secondary arm is machinery, which allows him to equip tools like Auto Crossbow and Bioblaster. He can co-opt moves with Noctis, such as pushing him out of harm's way and shooting enemies from either range or close-up. Prompto has the lowest HP of the party. Although he does not wield swords, if Noctis parries with a link-strike with a greatsword, Prompto and Noctis will exchange weapons where Prompto strikes the enemy with the greatsword while Noctis shoots them.

From Chapter 12 Prompto will be unavailable for a while.

Whenever the player uses character swap to take control over Prompto during battle, he will have a sub-machine gun on his back like he does in Episode Prompto. The sub-machine gun disappears once the player switches control.

Stats
Prompto's statistics with his default Crownsguard Fatigues equipped.

Abilities
As Noctis's party member, Prompto learns First Aid abilities from the Recovery grid in the Ascension that let him recover his own health when low.

Teamwork
Prompto learns the following Teamwork skills in the Ascension Grid. He will use them independently during battle.

Techniques
Prompto has five Techniques. He starts with Piercer that has Prompto will shoot a shot at the targeted enemy, piercing through them, and will strike any enemies in the bullet's line of fire. After the shot, Noctis can follow with another shot if the player hits the button prompt. This attack will lower the enemy's defense. Piercer costs a single tech bar.

Prompto's Starshell will illuminate the area and weaken daemons. It costs a single tech bar. He will then learn Recoil, which overloads machinery at an enemy to deal heavy damage. It costs two tech bars.

Another technique Prompto will learn is Gravisphere where he will launch an orb of gravity that will suck in enemies into a single area and provide continuous damage. This technique costs two tech bars.

Prompto's last technique is Trigger-Happy that costs three tech bars. Prompto shoots the enemy multiple times with two firearms before launching a single, powerful shot. When Prompto wields the Calamity or Death Penalty each shot has a chance of inflicting Poison or Instant Death on the opponent. With Quicksilver it's almost guaranteed to break all of the enemies' appendages.

Prompto also has a non-damaging technique, Snapshot, that allows him to take photos during a battle, with a maximum of five savable shots per battle. This technique costs one tech bar. Regardless, Prompto will always take photos in battle randomly.

Limit Break lets Prompto break the damage limit of 9999 damage with his Techniques. However, this is fairly pointless as his Techniques don't usually deal 9,999 damage. The only time he deals at least 9,999 HP worth of damage is when he uses a greatsword in a link-strike with Noctis, but that damage limit is broken by another Ascension node.

Character swap
The player can unlock character swap for Prompto from the Ascension Grid for 20 AP. Prompto fires at enemies from afar and can deal heavy damage with Crackshots. The melee attack or the sniper rifle from his DLC episode are not available in the main game, but the player doesn't need to find the alternative weapons to his basic handgun to use them; they simply replenish after a time as the player plays as Prompto. He has his equipped handgun, a rocket launcher with three missiles, a submachinegun with a 100 bullets and one grenade.

Prompto can't use machines or magic when directly controlled. His special abilities are called Bullet Arts. Starshell reduces enemies' stats, Selfie Shot takes selfies with his opponents, and Trigger Happy is the same technique he can use in the main game (albeit with a different animation), shooting a powerful barrage of shots at enemies that is good at putting them into Vulnerable state.

Prompto doesn't have much Vitality and doesn't use MP. He has fast sprinting animations and has various dodge rolls, and the player can dodge and run while shooting with the handgun, which can be deadly with the Target Scope accessory equipped. His submachine gun can slow enemies down and do good damage and his missile launcher deals heavy damage, but the missiles move slowly enough that enemies further away my manage to evade them. His "Lumen Flare" grenade works like Elemancy with its area damage and it uses Prompto's Magic stat to calculate damage. Lumen Flare has a high chance to put enemies into Vulnerable status. Prompto can use "Crackshot" against Vulnerable foes and can be done 3–4 times in succession. Its first shot sometimes enfeebles the enemy, lowering their defense.

Prompto has Impervious by default when he is playable (Noctis needs to unlock it in Ascension for 333 AP). Impervious negates the damage the player just took (except dark damage) by hitting the dodge button right as the attack hits.

Firearms
Prompto can equip every firearm besides the Cerberus, which is reserved for Noctis. Lion Heart is obtained from Episode Prompto.

Accessories
Some accessories are exclusive to Prompto.

Training
Prompto can be fought during training sessions at campsites. He doesn't have a bestiary entry, but the player can scan his HP and weaknesses/resistances in the Wait Mode. New training levels are unlocked as the player levels up, and the Final Trial is open in Chapter 15. Completing a training session earns 5 AP.

Photos


Whenever Prompto is in the party, he can take pictures with his camera. Photography is Prompto's leisure skill that levels up when he takes more photos are rests at havens and lodgings. When the party rests, the player gets a slideshow of the photos Prompto took that day, which can be saved to the player's menu and/or shared via social media. If the player shares the photos Prompto takes with the share option from the slideshow, the pictures will have a watermark. The other party members can comment on the photos as the player looks at them.

He can learn new filters from quests and from leveling up his skill. The player can set in the menu what filters and camera he can use. When driving around in the Regalia, Prompto sometimes asks to take a photo, and appeasing his request is a small quest. Sometimes during car rides, Prompto will ask Noctis of whom he wants him to take pictures of, and Noctis can answer himself, Gladiolus, Ignis, or "nothing". For the rest of the day, Prompto will photograph the person Noctis said he wanted more pictures of. Once Prompto masters his skill, the "nothing" option becomes the option to take photos of Prompto.

Vyv Dorden in Lestallum asks the player for photos, which Prompto will take. Some places, such as Galdin Quay, have a spot where the player can ask Prompto for a photo there. Gentiana and Carbuncle can appear randomly on the photos' background.

At the end of the game Noctis asks Prompto for a picture, which the player can choose from the photos they saved during their game. This image becomes the player's Certificate of Completion.

Food
Prompto's favorites are rooted in comfort and indulgence, enjoying easy-to-eat and savory, saucy, and spicy foods, ranging from roasted drumsticks, filled meat pies, meaty stews and soups, to rice and curry dishes; he also enjoys salad as he had when he was a child. Though not entirely reflected in his favorites, he has an affinity for fast food, from potato chips and Crow's Nest. From time to time he suggests the party to stop and take a break for food, and the party likes to tease him about it. Out of the group Prompto's favorites are some of the easiest to obtain, and is reflective of him having the most appreciation for Ignis's cooking skills.

Eating Prompto's favorite foods lets him perform a more powerful version of his Techniques. Eating Plump 'n' Pungent Tofu has Prompto gag in disgust in the camping scene, but it has no detrimental effect on his performance in battle.

Episode Prompto DLC
Prompto's downloadable episode allows him to be directly controllable, unlike in the main game where he is Noctis's party member. It takes place at the same time as chapter 11 of the main game and follows Prompto as he tries to escape imperial capture and reunite with his friends.

The episode features third-person shooter gameplay wherein players take control of Prompto and attack enemies using various firearms, including pistols, sniper rifles and submachine guns. It also has stealth elements, allowing Prompto to sneak through areas to position himself in advantageous locations before engaging his foes.

Final Fantasy XV: Comrades
The player can fight Prompto in the Final Fantasy XV multiplayer expansion.

VR
At E3 2016, it was shown Prompto would be directly playable in first person by using PlayStation VR. It was to feature first-person shooter gameplay and a scene where the player could sit in the passenger's seat while Cindy drives the Regalia around Lucis. This project eventually evolved into Monster of the Deep: Final Fantasy XV, a standalone PlayStation VR exclusive fishing game announced at E3 2017.