Part 154: Sovereign

Sovereigns were introduced in EO3, under the name Prince/Princess (the class name changed based on the sex of the portrait you chose), as a replacement for Troubadours. Their unique class skill was pretty garbage, but the rest of their toolkit included several useful buffs and utility skills. Unfortunately, the nature of buffs and utility skills means that they were mostly stat-independent, and with EO3's subclassing system, that meant most people opted to just stick a Prince/Princess subclass on their Monk (EO3's Medic equivalent) and call it a day, instead of actually using a Prince/Princess main class.

And now they're back in EO2U, thanks to Arianna in Story mode. Sovereigns still retain their useful buffs from EO3, but are now also something of a god class, in that they can do quite a lot of things--HP restoration, Force restoration, TP restoration, damage-dealing (with support), although as far as buffs go, they're a little outclassed by Troubadours in the "enabling insane murder" department.


Stats:

Level 1:
HP: 32
TP: 33
STR: 7
TEC: 9
VIT: 6
AGI: 7
LUC: 6

Level 50:
HP: 201
TP: 278
STR: 30
TEC: 36
VIT: 25
AGI: 28
LUC: 24

Level 99:
HP: 477
TP: 522
STR: 56
TEC: 68
VIT: 48
AGI: 52
LUC: 46

Innate weapon choices: Sword, Whip, Staff

Innate armor choices: Heavy armor, Light armor

Compared to EO3, Sovereigns took an incredibly massive hit to their VIT stat--using them on the front line isn't really an option any more, since they'll die very quickly, even though they can equip heavy armor. This also affects the amount of HP restored by Protect Order, since VIT is used in the healing formula now. As for the rest of their stats, their HP's kind of on the low end, their AGI is middling, and their LUC's also on the low end. On the other hand, their TP pools are quite large, and their TEC stat's very high.


Order Mastery
Requirements: None



Required to learn Order skills. Adds an HP restoration effect to Order skills, based on a static number plus a percentage of the target's maximum HP.


Attack Order
Requirements: Order Mastery level 1
Body parts used: Head



Increases one row's physical/elemental attack for a set amount of turns. Has a 150% speed modifier at all levels.

One of the more basic, yet still important skills in the Sovereign toolkit. Like a lot of buffs, the scaling's kind of poor, but you'll still want it maxed out before long. It's worth holding off on the jump from levels 4 to 5 and 9 to 10, though, since all they do is double the TP cost and add an extra turn of duration.


Guard Order
Requirements: Order Mastery level 1
Body parts used: Head



Increases one row's physical/elemental defense for a set amount of turns. Has a 150% speed modifier at all levels.

Less important than Attack Order, but still reasonably useful. A Protector or Beast, of which you should have one, usually mitigate/tank damage enough that Guard Order doesn't do a ton, so I wouldn't prioritize it over other Orders.


Dauntless Order
Requirements: Attack Order level 3, Guard Order level 3
Body parts used: Head



Places a buff on one row that gives them a chance to survive mortal damage at 1 HP for a set amount of turns. If Dauntless Order activates, it heals the buff owner for a fixed amount, and then dispel itself. Has a 150% speed modifier at all levels.

One of the best Sovereign skills, in the postgame at least. During the main story, bosses and FOEs don't really hit hard enough that Dauntless Order will be terribly useful, but in the postgame, where you start staring down very high-damage nukes and kill moves, Dauntless Order can be the difference between success and a game over.


Holy Crown
Requirements: Order Mastery level 3
Body parts used: Head



Increases the amount of HP restored by non-fixed sources to one party member for a set amount of turns. Has a 150% speed modifier at all levels.

Holy Crown's pretty much only use is when you have a Beast and Sovereign in the same party, in which case you can cast both Holy Crown and Protect Order on the Beast, which'll make your Beast very self-reliant. Otherwise, it's kind of a pointless skill.


Protect Order
Requirements: Holy Crown level 3
Body parts used: Head



Restores one row's HP at the end of the turn for a set amount of turns. Has a 150% speed modifier at all levels.

Oh, how the mighty have fallen. From one of the best skills in EO3 to pretty terrible trash. Sovereigns in EO2U have decent TEC but bad VIT, and the low healing power just makes it worse. It does last for a hell of a long time compared to EO3, I guess.


Ad Nihilo
Requirements: Order Mastery level 5
Body parts used: Arms



Purges all buffs and debuffs from one enemy, and deals ranged TEC-based Almighty damage. Does nothing if the target has no buffs or debuffs. Has a 150% speed modifier, and does not check for accuracy.

A very useful utility skill. While purging debuffs might sound crappy, consider that the amount of instances where an enemy will have both buffs and debuffs on them is kind of unlikely. It's not worth leveling up beyond 1, though, unless you find yourself with a lot of leftover skill points.


Negotiation
Requirements: Order Mastery level 5
Body parts used: Head



Purges the oldest buff and debuff from one party member. Restores a static amount of HP, plus 20% of the target's maximum HP, and restores Force as well. The HP and Force restoration are doubled if both a buff and debuff are cancelled. Has an 80% speed modifier at all levels.

Much like Ad Nihilo, a pretty good utility skill. Purging buffs from your party is, obviously, going to happen a lot more than purging debuffs from an enemy, but you do get Force in exchange. That obviously benefits classes that rely on Force to deal good damage (Dark Hunters and Fafnir, mainly) a lot more than others, obviously, but still.


White Noble
Requirements: Negotiation level 3
Body parts used: Head



Purges the oldest buff and debuff from all party members. Restores a static amount of HP, plus 20% of the target's maximum HP, and restores Force as well. The HP and Force restoration are doubled if both a buff and debuff are cancelled. Has an 80% speed modifier at all levels.

An all-party version of Negotiation. Kinda hard to say no to that, honestly.


Clearance
Requirements: Ad Nihilo level 2, White Noble level 2
Body parts used: Head



Purges all buffs and debuffs from the party and enemies. Restores TP to the user. Multiplies TP restored by the number of buff and debuff types cancelled, with a maximum of a 4x multiplier. For example, if a level 1 Clearance removes a buff on a player and a buff on an enemy, it will restore 20 TP. Has an 80% speed modifier at all levels.

Clearance is a really weird and unnecessary skill. Sovereigns don't have TP issues, really, and the skill itself doesn't offer a ton of utility--basically just a Unihorn and Metopon rolled into one skill, and the situations where you'd need that are basically non-existent.


Prevent Order
Requirements: Order Mastery level 7
Body parts used: Head



Places a buff on one row that will nullify one status ailment on a character per cast. The buff is dispelled after it blocks an ailment. Has a 150% speed modifier at all levels.

One of the best Sovereign skills. Prevent Order lets you block both ailments you know are coming, and give yourself some insurance in case a boss throws around skills with ailment riders on them. It, unfortunately, does nothing against binds, but oh well.


Morale Boost
Requirements: Order Mastery level 10



Adds +3 and an additional percentage-based boost to all party members' non-fixed Force gain while the user is alive.

An incredibly good passive in parties that have classes that rely on Force in them, such as Dark Hunters and Fafnir, and still fairly good in parties that don't.


Link Order
Requirements: TP Up level 1
Body parts used: Arms



Targets one enemy. When that enemy fist takes Fire/Ice/Volt damage on that turn, the user will follow up with a ranged TEC-based attack of the same element on the target. Adds a percentage of the damage that activated Link Order onto its own damage. Does not check for accuracy.

Link Order enables Sovereigns to contribute extra damage when they don't need to be using regular Order skills. In Story mode, it's incredibly key to giving the party as much damage as possible throughout the entire game, while in Classic, you can generally leave it be until later. In both cases, it's a skill you'll want maxed out at some point.


Link Order II
Requirements: Link Order level 5
Body parts used: Arms



Targets one enemy. When that enemy fist takes Fire/Ice/Volt damage on that turn, the user will follow up with a ranged TEC-based attack of the same element on all enemies. Adds a percentage of the damage that activated Link Order onto its own damage. Does not check for accuracy.

A version of Link Order that targets every enemy, letting your Sovereign contribute to clearing out random encounters. In Classic mode, one of an Alchemist's all-target Formulas plus Link Order II is capable of either wiping out or taking care of most of any given random encounter.


Fire/Freeze/Shock Circle
Requirements: TP Up level 5
Body parts used: Arms



Reduces all Fire/Ice/Volt damage to the party, and increases all Fire/Ice/Volt damage to all enemies for one turn. Directly modifies resistances, so it stacks fully with buffs such as Warrior Song. The Circles are basically states, so they also stack fully with Fantasias.

The Circles' primary use is in burst strategies, where people just try to nuke down a boss in one turn using a lot of setup and a combination of various buffs and debuffs. In normal parties, you'll usually get more out of using Link Order for dealing damage.


Cheer
Requirements: TP Up level 10
Body parts used: Head



Only usable if the user cancelled a buff or debuff on a party member last turn. Restores TP to the user's row (excluding the user). Has a 200% speed modifier at all levels.

Cheer is incredibly situational and pretty bad, since party members in the back row usually won't have TP issues.


Royal Veil
Requirements: HP Up level 5



Restores a static amount of HP to each party member, plus a percentage of each member's maximum HP, if the user is at full HP.

I'm not the biggest fan of Royal Veil, mostly because it requires quite a lot of skill points to max out, and Sovereigns have quite a lot of other skills they'll want to max out over this.


Triumphant Cry
Requirements: HP Up level 10



Restores a static amount of HP to each party member, plus a percentage of each member's maximum HP, at the end of every battle.

Triumphant Cry was better in EO3, where you could get it much earlier in the game. Otherwise, it has the same skill point problem that Royal Veil does.


Monarch March
Requirements: Royal Veil level 3, Triumphant Cry level 3



Restores a static amount of HP to each party member after taking 3 steps in the Labyrinth.

Not only does Monarch March take a fuckload more skill points to max out in EO2U compared to EO3, it also restores less total HP per step (before level 17) than it did in EO3. Pass.


Victory Vow
Force Boost

Changes row-target skills in the Order Mastery tree to be all-party instead. Reduces the TP cost of Order Mastery skills by 50%.

Victory Vow mostly helps your Sovereign conserve TP--it effectively cuts the TP cost of having to apply an Order to the party by 75%. That's...about it, honestly.


Proof of Nobility
Force Break
Body parts used: Head

Restores 60% of each party member's maximum HP, and 30% of each party member's maximum TP. Has no speed modifier.

Proof of Nobility is pretty trash in Classic, where the name of the game is ending boss fights quickly, before you can consume a lot of TP. In Story, though, fights go on for so long that Proof of Nobility practically becomes a requirement, especially with regards to Fafnir due to his low TP pool.