Part 18: Class Discussions - War Magus

Class Discussion - War Magus



The rest of the portraits.

They're known as the Doctor Magus in Japan. They're a jack of all trades, master of none. Emphasis on master of none. They're basically a combination of a Landsknecht, Troubadour, and a Medic. A class like this has absolutely no business being on a team. Building a class to be a generalist is a bad thing to do in the EO series, so why would you take a class that's already like that in the first place? Why not go with the classes that already specialize in a certain field? Well if all those classes happened to get nerfed into the ground, the jack of all trades would be the best class to go with for those purposes. Landsknechts... are still better damage dealers than them, but Troubadours lost their ability to restore their party's TP, which the War Magus gained in the form of Transfer. The War Magus' buffs are all single target and only last for 5 turns, but they're a lot stronger than the Troubadour's songs. Medics are more powerful healers, but they're really slow thanks to them being staff wielders. War Magi can use swords, which means they're fast and can heal the party before the enemy moves. Weak healing is much better than getting no healing at all.

Stats

Level 1
HP - 42
TP - 24
STR - 5
TEC - 7
VIT - 4
AGI - 4
LUC - 7

Level 70
HP - 426
TP - 176
STR - 50
TEC - 53
VIT - 63
AGI - 36
LUC - 32

Level 99
HP - 617
TP - 404
STR - 67
TEC - 70
VIT - 81
AGI - 55
LUC - 50

Aside from their TP and vitality, of which they have the 3rd best stats, they're pretty average all around. HP and TP are always a good choice to level up. Level up their strength if you want them to be a damage dealer for some reason, or their technique if you want their healing spells to be more powerful. Because they can equip swords, they're very fast and are much faster than Medics.

War Edge/War Lore

Max lvl: 10

The War Magus' mastery skills. War Edge is for their offensive sword skills, while War Lore is for their healing and buff skills. Both provide an 11% increase in damage/healing when maxed. Yes, War Lore provides less of a bonus the Medic's Healer, which provides a 42% boost to healing. It's one of the main reasons why War Magi are less effective at healing than Medics. I don't recommend building one as a damage dealer, but maxing out War Edge unlocks a really good skill that provides a ton of utility. That said, they pretty much need a Hexer on the team so they can make good use of their sword skills. Now the thing to note about their support skills is that they can't dispel status ailments or binds like the Medic can. Nor can they revive the dead, so keep that in mind.

Regenall

Max lvl: 5

This passive heals all party members by a certain amount by the end of each turn. It heals everyone for 1 HP at level 1, and 5 HP at level 5.

This skill is great for the first Stratum since it's free healing and helps the War Magus save up on TP. You pretty much need all the help you can get in the earlygame. Past that point, it's a waste of skill points and you should Rest the War Magus so the 5 skill points can go elsewhere.

Blindcut/Venomcut/Stuncut

Needs lvl. 1/2/5 War Edge and lvl. 1/2/5 STR Up
Max lvl: 10

These skills bind the head/legs/arms of a blinded/poisoned/paralyzed enemy. They cost 4 TP at level 1 and have a 60% chance to inflict their respective bind. They cost 8 TP at level 5 and have a 70% to inflict their respective bind. At level 10, they cost 13 TP and have 105% chance to inflict their respective bind, and deal 220% damage to the enemy.

All of the War Magus' sword skills are why a Hexer needs to be in the party. The extra effects of the sword skills will not proc if the enemy doesn't have the right status effect. I don't really like these skills, because even though they have the highest chance to inflict binds, resistances still reduce their chances of landing heavily. A Dark Hunter's Dominate is far more reliable as a lockdown skill. It should be noted that all of the War Magus' sword skills are untyped damage, and that they'll still deal the full amount of damage even if the enemy isn't inflicted by a certain status effect.

Sleepcut

Needs lvl. 3 War Edge and lvl. 3 STR Up
Max lvl: 10

This skill does a massive amount of damage to a sleeping enemy. The TP scaling for most of the War Magus' sword skills are exactly the same. At level 10, the skill deals 170% damage normally, but will deal 390% damage if the enemy is asleep.

This is the War Magus' big damage skill. The normal amount of damage is less than their sword bind skills, but the damage from attacking a sleeping enemy with it is much more than any of their other skills, and that's without the bonus damage from attacking a sleeping enemy. The problem with this skill is that the enemy has to be asleep first, and that some other classes could get more out of the bonus damage from attacking sleeping enemies. Feel free to take it if you want your War Magus to contribute though.

Fearcut

Needs lvl. 4 War Edge and lvl. 4 STR Up
Max lvl: 10

The War Magus will restore their own health when striking a terrified enemy with this skill. At level 1, the War Magus absorbs 60% of the damage dealt. At level 5, the War Magus absorbs 70% of the damage dealt. The skill deals 170% damage at level 10, and the War Magus will absorb 105% of the damage dealt.

All I can say is, why? The War Magus can already heal themselves with their healing skills, and they do a much better job of that than this skill. They don't require the enemy to be under the Terror status either to heal anything. Just ignore this skill, it's a waste. The only utility this skill provides is that the War Magus can heal themselves and attack an enemy at the same time.

Cursecut

Needs lvl. 10 War Edge and lvl. 6 STR Up
Max lvl: 5

The War Magus recovers TP when attacking a cursed enemy. At level 1 it costs 4 TP and the TP recovery is 50% of the damage dealt, and at level 5 it costs 8 TP, recovers 60% of the damage dealt, and deals 140% damage.

Damage wise, this skill is the weakest of their sword skills, but it makes up for that with the amount of utility it provides. The War Magus can restore other party members' TP with their Transfer skill, and then refill their own TP pool with this skill. Very handy to have in the mid and lategame, and the fact it deals untyped damage can help with dealing with certain enemies.

Cure

Needs lvl. 1 War Lore
Max lvl: 10

A very basic healing skill that heals a single ally. All of the War Magus' healing skills have the exact same scaling as the Medic's versions. At level 1 it costs 3 TP, heals 35 base HP, and has a speed modifier of 100%. At level 5 it costs 7 TP, heals 65 base HP, and has a 120% speed modifier. At level 10 it costs 12 TP, heals 170 base HP, and has a 190% speed modifier.

Take it for the earlygame, but past that point the healing is too weak so this skill becomes a waste of skill points. Rest the War Magus and put those skill points to use somewhere else once you reach the midgame.

Cure 2

Needs lvl. 3 War Lore
Max level: 10

A stronger version of Cure. At level 1 it costs 9 TP, heals 130 base HP, and has a speed modifier of 75%. At level 5 it costs 13 TP, heals 170 base HP, and has a 95% speed modifier. At level 10 it costs 18 TP, heals 310 base HP, and has a 165% speed modifier.

Only take enough points in this for Salve 2. Cure 3 is by far the better single target ally heal.

Cure 3

Needs lvl. 5 War Lore
Max lvl: 5

Fully restores an ally's health. Leveling up the skill decreases the TP cost and increases the speed modifier.

1 - 38 TP - 50% speed
2 - 34 TP - 54% speed
3 - 30 TP - 62% speed
4 - 26 TP - 74% speed
5 - 22 TP - 90% speed

You should definitely have this skill maxed out by the postgame. It's very handy as an emergency full heal.

Salve

Needs lvl. 7 War Lore and lvl. 3 Cure
Max lvl: 5

An AOE version of Cure.

1 - 18 TP - 50% Speed - Heals 35 Base HP
2 - 21 TP - 54% Speed - Heals 43 Base HP
3 - 24 TP - 62% Speed - Heals 59 Base HP
4 - 27 TP - 74% Speed - Heals 83 Base HP
5 - 30 TP - 90% Speed - Heals 115 Base HP

Useful in the earlygame, falls off fast. Get rid of this skill once you reach the midgame.

Salve 2

Needs lvl. 10 War Lore and lvl. 4 Cure 2
Max lvl: 5

The second tier Salve skill.

1 - 36 TP - 50% Speed - Heals 130 Base HP
2 - 39 TP - 54% Speed - Heals 140 Base HP
3 - 42 TP - 62% Speed - Heals 160 Base HP
4 - 45 TP - 74% Speed - Heals 190 Base HP
5 - 48 TP - 90% Speed - Heals 230 Base HP

Unfortunately, this is the best version of Salve the War Magus gets. They don't get access to Salve 3, so this has to be maxed out. This is another reason why Medics are better at healing, since they can cure all of their party's health with Salve 3.

Warmight

Needs lvl. 2 War Lore
Max lvl: 10

This skill increases an ally's damage. This affects both physical and elemental damage.

1 - 2 TP - 10% damage increase
2 - 3 TP - 15% damage increase
3 - 4 TP - 25% damage increase
4 - 5 TP - 40% damage increase
5 - 6 TP - 60% damage increase

A very strong buff, and provides a bigger damage increase than the Troubadour's Bravery. Definitely take this, because this buff gets stronger the farther you get into the game, since your offensive party members will be dishing out a ton of damage by then.

Rockskin

Needs lvl. 2 War Lore
Max lvl: 5

1 - 2 TP - 5% damage reduction
2 - 3 TP - 8% damage reduction
3 - 4 TP - 13% damage reduction
4 - 5 TP - 20% damage reduction
5 - 6 TP - 30% damage reduction

I'm not really a big fan of defense buffs since the best strategy in this game is to kill everything before it kills you. Besides, a 30% increase in defense really won't make that much of a difference.

Elkspeed

Needs lvl. 2 War Lore
Max lvl: 5

This skill increases an ally's speed by a certain amount.

1 - 2 TP - 10% AGI increase
2 - 3 TP - 15% AGI increase
3 - 4 TP - 25% AGI increase
4 - 5 TP - 40% AGI increase
5 - 6 TP - 60% AGI increase

I would skip this. Speed is one of the least important buffs a party member can have.

Erase

Needs lvl. 3 War Lore
Max lvl: 5

This skill erases buffs from a single enemy. At level 1, it erases 1 buff at the cost of 1 TP, it erases all 3 buffs at the cost of 3 TP at level 3, and at level 5 the TP cost decreases to one.

A fairly useful skill, but I would only take one or two points of it. Enemies don't really stack buffs that often, and getting rid of 2 buffs is pretty much guaranteed to stop that problem.

Transfer

Needs lvl. 1 TP Up
Max lvl: 5

The War Magus transfers their own TP to an ally. This skill can only be used in battle.

1 - 10 TP - 10 TP restored
2 - 12 TP - 13 TP restored
3 - 17 TP - 19 TP restored
4 - 25 TP - 28 TP restored
5 - 36 TP - 40 TP restored

A very useful skill, and combined with Cursecut, The War Magus can provide an infinite amount of TP to the party. Unfortunately, unlike the Troubadour's Bravery from the 1st game, this skill falls off. Recovering 40 TP is handy in the mid and lategame, but postgame you're just better off using Amrita IIs and IIIs for TP recovery.

Gathering Skill: Chop

Force Skill: Invoke

The War Magus fully heals everyone and places a buff on the affected targets that gives them a high resistance to all elements. Unlike the Medic's and Beast's Force Skills, this cannot cure status effects or revive the dead. It's a nice Force Skill, but it's not too useful. It doesn't provide the utility that Painless, Riot Gun, and Dominate do.

War Magi are decent all rounders that can fill several roles. I wouldn't use one as a damage dealer, but they make excellent supports since they're a class that can both heal people and buff them. They're also very fast, which makes them much more appealing than Medics. Their healing is weaker, sure. But they don't have to guess if the party is going to get attacked and waste a ton of TP overhealing their party.