The Let's Play Archive

Etrian Odyssey 2 Untold: The Fafnir Knight

by Ragnar Homsar, Dr. Fetus

Part 149: Ronin





Ronin are damage dealers that focus on physical damage, with some options for composite damage. In theory, they distinguish themselves from other damage dealers like Landsknechts by outputting higher damage in exchange for being more easily killed. In practice, in EO2U, they're a sub-par damage dealer class that has serious issues that vary based on what point you are at in the game--TP issues early on, and damage issues in the late and postgame. It's incredibly difficult for me to recommend a Ronin as anything other than a generic placeholder class in case you have an empty slot in a postgame party, since there's other ways you can use that party slot more efficiently, especially if you're doing an NG+ run from a Story save and have Fafnir access.


Stats:

Level 1
HP: 27
TP: 18
STR: 10
TEC: 6
VIT: 6
AGI: 9
LUC: 4

Level 50
HP: 193
TP: 179
STR: 37
TEC: 23
VIT: 24
AGI: 35
LUC: 19

Level 99
HP: 456
TP: 340
STR: 70
TEC: 45
VIT: 46
AGI: 66
LUC: 38

Innate weapon choices: Sword, Katana

Innate equipment choices: Light armor, Clothes

Ronin have the best STR in the game (albeit by a measly 1 point at 99 compared to Landsknechts), and the second highest AGI, and bad everything else. They have the third lowest HP of any class and the worst TP, meaning that they both can't take very many hits and will run out of TP really quickly at all points in the game, but especially the early game. Their TEC and VIT are both really low, meaning they take pretty considerably higher damage compared to other classes. They also have the second-lowest LUC in the game, meaning that not only are their skills that can inflict disables incredibly unreliable, they're also really easily disabled.


Katana Mastery
Requirements: None



Required to learn katana skills. Passively increases damage dealt with katanas.


Upper Stance
Requirements: Katana Mastery level 1



Needed to use Upper Stance skills. While the Upper Stance state is active, the user gains a passive bonus to their physical damage. From levels 10 to 20, Upper Stance has a chance to automatically activate at the start of a battle, which will increase its duration by one turn.

The stance that I prefer and pretty much always go for. If you're gonna use a Ronin, might as well go all-in on the offense to get the most out of them.


Clear Stance
Requirements: Katana Mastery level 1



Needed to use Clear Stance skills. While the Clear Stance state is active, the user gains a passive bonus to their physical defense. From levels 10 to 20, Clear Stance has a chance to automatically activate at the start of a battle, which will increase its duration by one turn.

Clear Stance really doesn't appeal to me, mostly because you lose out on quite a bit of damage compared to Upper Stance, and a 15/20% defense bonus isn't going to save your Ronin from anything. Note that it also only applies to physical damage, which is such an irrelevant thing in the postgame since most dangerous skills are either elemental or almighty.


Drawing Stance
Requirements: Katana Mastery level 1



Needed to use Drawing Stance skills. While the Drawing Stance state is active, the user gains a passive bonus to their evasion and accuracy. From levels 10 to 20, Drawing Stance has a chance to automatically activate at the start of a battle, which will increase its duration by one turn.

Evasion/accuracy might seem like bizarre bonuses, but they're actually fairly decent on Ronin, mostly because katanas have very slightly lower-than-average base accuracy, and evasion'll save a Ronin from killing blows more often than a physical defense bonus will. Whether you want to opt for this over Upper Stance's damage bonus is entirely on you.


Upward Slash/Charging Thrust/Sheath Strike
Requirements: Upper/Clear/Drawing Stance level 1
Body parts used: Arms
Required equipment: Katana



Deals melee STR-based cut/stab/bash damage to one enemy. Activates the Upper/Clear/Drawing Stance state after use. Has no speed modifier and no accuracy modifier at all levels.

While boring, these skills are absolutely crucial for Ronin, since they actually let them use stances and skills. Leveling them up past 1 is a bad idea early on, but once you hit the late and postgame, you want to squeeze out as much damage from your Ronin as possible, at which point it's probably time to start leveling them up.


Horse Slash
Requirements: Upper Stance level 3
Body parts used: Arms
Required equipment: Katana



Requires the Upper Stance state to use. Deals melee STR-based cut damage to one enemy. Has a 90% speed modifier and no accuracy modifier at all levels.

Horse Slash seems pretty boring on the surface, and that's because it is. However, ironically, it's also, in some ways, better than the "ultimate" Upper Stance skill, Swallow Strike. While it deals slightly less damage than Swallow Strike, it also isn't a multi-hit skill with an accuracy penalty, and therefore less prone to missing. It also costs considerably less TP than Swallow Strike--18 at level 20 compared to Swallow Strike's 28 at the same level.

Honestly, if I were to redo the LP from scratch, I'd just focus solely on Horse Slash on Asriel for most of the game. Swallow Strike's only worth it, in my opinion, for Peerless Combo, which we'll see later.


Flame Grater
Requirements: Horse Slash level 3
Body parts used: Arms
Required equipment: Katana



Requires the Upper Stance state to use. Deals melee STR-based cut+fire damage to one row of enemies. Has a 90% speed modifier and no accuracy modifier at all levels.

If you're going max damage Ronin, this is your best option for having them help out with clearing mobs. You still need the Upper Stance state to use it, which can be annoying in random en counters, but it's decent enough damage and cut+fire means it'll usually avoid running into less-than-ideal resistances.


Swallow Strike
Requirements: Upper Stance level 5
Body parts used: Arms
Required equipment: Katana



Requires the Upper Stance state to use. Deals multiple instances of melee STR-based cut damage to one enemy. Has an 80% speed modifier at all levels.

In theory, the best standard damage skill for Ronin. In practice...bleh. The accuracy penalty is a pretty big strike against it, especially since katanas are more inaccurate on average. The damage isn't even that spectacular once you realize that the accuracy penalty means one or more hits can whiff. Compare Horse Slash's 410% at level 20 to Swallow Strike's 450% with a level 20 Upper Stance--492% vs. 540%. Whether potentially whiffing on attacks and costing considerably more TP is worth it is your decision.

If you're going for the Peerless build, though, you'll have to level up Swallow Strike anyway, so...


Arm Strike
Requirements: Clear Stance level 3
Body parts used: Arms
Required equipment: Katana



Requires the Clear Stance state to use. Deals melee STR-based stab damage to one enemy. Attempts to bind the target's arms. Has a 90% speed modifier and no accuracy modifier at all levels.

A really mediocre stab attack. The only notable part is that its base arm bind chance is actually decently high, but good luck making use of it with Ronins having god-awful LUC.


Lighting Stab
Requirements: Arm Strike level 3
Body parts used: Arms
Required equipment: Katana



Requires the Clear Stance state to use. Deals melee STR-based stab+volt damage to one enemy, with line-piercing effect. Has a 90% speed modifier and no accuracy modifier at all levels.

Considerably less useful than Flame Grater. Line-piercing isn't that fantastic of an effect compared to row-target, and it deals less damage because of the lack of Upper Stance.


Moon Shadow
Requirements: Clear Stance level 5
Body parts used: Arms
Required equipment: Katana



Requires the Clear Stance state to use. Deals melee STR-based stab damage to one enemy. Has a 300% speed modifier and +30 base accuracy at all levels.

Fairly strange as far as gimmick skills go. High speed and very accurate? I guess the accuracy increase helps Ronin on average, but the speed seems strange. I suppose it's better than using Swallow Strike if you're in the Peerless Stance state.


Beheading Cut
Requirements: Drawing Stance level 3
Body parts used: Arms
Required equipment: Katana



Requires the Drawing Stance state to use. Deals melee STR-based cut damage to one enemy. Attempts to instantly kill the target. Has no speed modifier and no accuracy modifier at all levels.

An even stranger skill than Moon Shadow. It's one of the few non-Grimoire player sources of instant death, I guess?


Frigid Slash
Requirements: Beheading Cut level 3
Body parts used: Arms
Required equipment: Katana



Requires the Drawing Stance state to use. Deals ranged STR-based cut+ice damage to all enemies. Has no speed modifier and no accuracy modifier at all levels.

Ranged damage on a katana skill? Again, really REALLY strange, but it lets you put your Ronin in the back, I guess.


Ground Strike
Requirements: Drawing Stance level 5
Body parts used: Arms
Required equipment: Katana



Requires the Drawing Stance state to use. Deals ranged STR-based bash damage to one enemy. Has a 30% speed modifier and no accuracy modifier at all levels.

Surprisingly, the highest base damage of any of the Ronin skills. It's also ranged like Frigid Slash, letting you put your Ronin in the back row. The only real downside to it is the speed modifier, but Ronin can be fairly slow anyway.


Peerless Stance
Requirements: Swallow Strike level 1, Moon Shadow level 1, Ground Strike level 1



Requires the Upper Stance, Clear Stance, or Drawing Stance state to use. Activates the Peerless State stance, which lasts for 4 turns. Enables the use of all katana skills. Provides a bonus to physical attack, physical defense, speed, accuracy, and evasion. The game says that Peerless Stance is "powered up" according to the levels of the other Stances, but nothing in the skill data provides info on how this works. It's possible the game might apply each Stance's bonuses alongside Peerless Stance's, but this is merely a guess. Has a 200% speed modifier at all levels.

The ultimate stance, and what you're definitely going to be building towards if you're taking a Ronin to the late/postgame. It's an absolute necessity if you want the ultimate Ronin skill, and even if you're not, it still buffs your Ronin a ton.


Peerless Combo
Requirements: Peerless Stance level 3
Body parts used: Arms
Required equipment: Katana



Requires the Peerless Stance state to use. Activates Swallow Strike, Moon Shadow, and Ground Strike all at once. Applies a multiplier-based reduction to each skill's damage. If Immovable is not active, Peerless Stance is ended after Peerless Combo's use. Has a 20% speed modifier at all levels.

The ultimate Ronin skill...and if you don't have Immovable, it'll end your stance immediately. That's a really bad way to start. It doesn't even stack up all that well to other skills that can deal high damage but potentially have low uptime, such as Ecstasy or Compressed Formulas--with level 20 for everything involved, and assuming a level 20 Peerless Stance plus a level 20 Upper Stance (and assuming that nothing misses), you get:

461% + 450% + 471% = 1382%

(Note that that doesn't account for buffs or debuffs.)

While that may seem decent, remember that unless you want to constantly re-apply stances, Peerless Combo effectively has a 5 turn cooldown.

Remember, too, that this skill costs a LOT to max out. In terms of skill points, you'll need:


Even if I be generous and assume 5 points for the non-Upper Stance stances, you still need 50 skill points to make Peerless Combo even usable. And this is just for level 10! If you want it to actually approach something reasonable, you'll need Grimoires too. And again, at the minimum, you will need level 10 Grimoires for:


That's four Grimoire slots, and remember that you can have a maximum of six on a character. You have two slots left over, and you're almost certainly going to want to use one for Peerless Stance. If you use the last one for Upper Stance, you've effectively used up all of your Grimoire slots on just making one skill even vaguely competitive.


Post-Initiative
Requirements: Katana Mastery level 5
Body parts used: Legs



Raises damage dealt and non-base evasion until the end of the next turn. Has a 200% speed modifier at all levels.

Shitty charge skill. The only notable thing about it is that its high speed modifier and "until end of next turn" bit mean you get the evasion on the turn you cast it, too. Note how I said "notable," not "good" or "worth using."


Perfect Chaser
Requirements: Katana Mastery level 5
Body parts used: Legs
Required equipment: Katana



Preps Perfect Chaser at the start of the turn. When an enemy is hit with a normal attack, the user will follow up with another attack. The chance of each chase happening goes down with each successive chase. Does not check for accuracy--will always hit.

Terrible Chaser skill. Theoretically has some use if you spec a party around stacking Double Attack Landsknechts around it, but why would you do that that makes no sense aaaaaaaaaa


Pre-Initiative
Requirements: Phys ATK Up level 8



Increases damage and non-base accuracy when attacking an enemy that hasn't taken their turn yet.

In theory, a decent passive that has an advantage over Phys ATK Up. In practice, potentially worthless since katanas impose speed penalties and multiple "good" Ronin skills have negative speed mods (80% for Swallow Strike, 30% for Ground Strike, 20% for Peerless Combo). Could be useful for Moon Shadow, but at that point, you already have +30 base accuracy.


Immovable
Force Boost

Pauses the duration of any active Stance. Reduces the TP cost of katana skills by 50%. Peerless Combo will not end Peerless Stance while Immovable is active.

Hoooooo boy, do I have words about Immovable. Immovable is the WORST Force Boost in the game, and is an incredibly big part of why Ronin are really unattractive compared to other damage classes.

The big strike against it is the fact that it DOESN'T GIVE A DAMAGE BONUS. Literally every other damage class gets a damage boost from their Force Boost, which let you turn up the heat for a bit and usually help immensely with burst strats, which are very much preferable in EO2U due to how bad quite a few of the bosses are.

Pausing the duration of an active Stance is nice, since it actually lets the Ronin function like a normal class for a few turns longer before they have to go back to wasting a turn setting up a stance again.

TP cost reduction is nice early on but worthless in the late and postgame since you have actual replenishable stocks of Amritas by that point.


Issen
Force Break

Deals ranged STR-based cut damage to all enemies. Damage scales linearly from 400% to 1200% based on user level. Attempts to instantly kill all enemies, with a 100% base success rate. The success rate is increased to 999% against enemies under 20% HP.

Issen is garbage damage compared to other Force Breaks. The only thing that makes it notable is the instant death.