Part 69: Starting Physical Jobs

Also, this update seems as good a time as any to start working our way through the different jobs. So, without further ado here is the first group:

Job Overview: Starting Physical Jobs

Mercenary



Requirements: None

Unlocks:

2 abilities (Scoundrel, Druid*)

3 abilities (Knight)

4 abilities (Gunner*, SECRET*)

* = Other jobs required

Equipment: Maul, Sword, Axe, Light Armor, Heavy Armor, Shield

Mastery Bonus: HP+5, Def+5

To start, we have the basic mercenary. They’re a general physical workhorse with some decently balanced growths, though they’re nothing special in any category. They serve as the base for a large chunk of the classes in the game, so you’ll have to at least spend some time as one.



Notable Abilities:

Forceful Strike: One of the AI’s favorite abilities. Deals damage with a 0.85x modifier and pushes the target one space. If the target collides with something, it will damage the target and whatever they hit. Can make it very difficult to protect weak units.

Counterattack: The basic counter reaction ability. If an adjacent unit targets the user with an offensive ability, they counter with a regular attack. Nothing special, but it can make hard hitting units decently dangerous.

Stunning Strike: Deals damage with a 0.75x modifier and delays the target’s progress to their next turn by 60% of its current value. Not an ability I use very often, but it can be incredibly useful to help lock down a particularly dangerous enemy.

Scoundrel



Requirements: 2 abilities (Mercenary)

Unlocks :

3 abilities (Gambler*, Gadgeteer*)

4 abilities (Ranger, Reaver*)

6 abilities (SECRET!*)

Equipment: Dagger, Crossbow, Light Armor

Mastery Bonus: Spd+3, EVA+1, Crit+2

This game’s thief class, the scoundrel unsurprisingly sacrifices a good chunk of offensive growths for a higher speed growth. As they’re another early job, they serve as a launching point for the majority of this game’s ranged attackers. Again, not necessarily a job you want to spend a ton of time in, but dipping in for a bit of speed is never a bad idea.



Notable Abilities:

Steal/Steal Component: Attempt to steal an item/component from the target. The expected steal abilities, I rarely actually use them, but they do define the class.

Attack Expert: Increases the characters ATK value by 24*Level. Considering that Kyrie’s attack at level 4 is only about 100, this can be an absolutely massive damage increase that remains significant for a long time.

Sneak Attack: Deals 0.6x damage from the front, but 1.2x from the sides and 1.4x from the back, before applying any of the regular bonuses for attack from the back or side. This is one of my favorite abilities for one simple reason: it works with ranged attacks. Because of that, it can be absolutely trivial for a bowman to run around the sides of the battlefield and throw out massive hits.

Knight



Requirements: 3 abilities (Mercenary)

Unlocks:

3 abilities (Fellblade*)

4 abilities (Templar)

Equipment: Sword, Spear, Robe, Heavy Amor, Shield

Matery Bonus: HP+5, Def+5, Res+3

The knight is a tank, plain and simple. They have a massive defense growth and a solid res growth, at the cost of being slow and having low magic attack. They’re all about protecting allies and taking damage, and are honestly one of the enemies I have the most trouble with due to their bulk.



Notable Abilities:

Protect: Choose a friendly unit to protect, then jump in the way of any hit that might target them. It doesn’t work on AOE abilities that would hit both the protector and protectee, but otherwise is a great way to keep a weak unit safe.

No Flank: A passive ability that just makes you treat every attack as if its from your front. Pretty simple, but it just adds to Knight’s tankiness and is a very annoying ability to see on any other unit as well.

Heavy Hit: Deal damage equal to 1/3 of the target’s HP. An incredibly useful ability, it lets you start weakening bulky enemies with a huge hit. While it gets less useful as fights progress, it’s super useful to start things off.

One for All: End your turn. Until your next turn, whenever an ally targets an enemy within your weapon range, follow up with a regular attack (1x for melee weapons, 0.75x for ranged). Useful for players on a ranged attacker, but really dangerous in the hands of the AI. Because they outnumber you, the AI can use this to easily get 6-7 attacks per round from a knight, turning them into strong damage dealers as well as big walls. (Also, spears have a 2 square attack range, which the AI loves abusing with this).