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Etrian Odyssey Community Thread: The Ongoing Adventures of Fight and Heal
- Thread starter omlet
- Start date
I'm always going to say Hexer because I love Hexers :3
Hexers are pretty amazing because ailments and binds are so useful for 100% of the game. They also get useful attack and defense down debuffs to put on enemies. Nothing says fun times like a Hexer using Evil Eye to fear a glowing FOE and then making it kill itself for a few turns while the rest of your party goes to town on it.
In all practicality, you also have a Dark Hunter which work very well with Hexers if you want to build them that way. Or you can let your DH+R handle binding and poison and leave the other fun ailments to your Hexer. Entire rows can be rendered harmless by a Hexer, and on Expert that's very valuable.
The only downside to Hexers is that once you toss out a couple debuffs they can't do much against bosses in terms of damage. However, they have a good TEC stat so you can give them magic attack grimoires.
Edit: Seconding the advice to avoid Survivalist in EOU1. However in EOU2 they are pretty good.
The biggest problem you can face is not having enough dps to make use of the ailments/binds. Both ailments and binds become less efective every time the land on a monster/boss, basically you have to win before your hexer becomes useless for too many turns.
Having a DH helps a lot as they can take advantage of status efects to increase their DPS, it should work fine.
Having a DH helps a lot as they can take advantage of status efects to increase their DPS, it should work fine.
Survivalists kinda suck in EOU. Not much damage potential, and their dungeon skills are not that necessary. If you want damage, Alchemist is the best back row DPS. Hexer is also good, and works well with DH.
I would try to get to 30 with your current party and then retire the troubadour. Review the OP of this thread for the basics if you're not sure what that means.
Quickly leveling new/retired party members becomes very fast once you get to the very last dungeon, but before then it's best to try to stick with one team, with levels 30 (first chance) and 70 (end of main story, start of postgame) and 99 (best time to do it) being your prime places to shuffle your party setup.
If you want to swap the T out ASAP I would acclimate yourself to the new dungeon strata first so you can resume grinding there as quickly as possible.
Also IMO there is no shame in lowering the difficulty temporarily if your goal is just dragging a new party member up a few levels quickly to get out of liability status.
If you haven't done so yet, you can also probably kill most of the FOEs in the first 5 floors now. Once you make it to a new area it's good to go back and try to get any items/enemies you missed to unlock stuff at the shop. Yes, it might seem like slowing down progress at first, but it can save you frustration in the long run. You won't be able to get all the conditional drops right now but check the list and get what you are able to as you can.
I've also found that for Expert mode, you will generally always be at appropriate level/gear if you
1) Do every sidequest as they become available.
2) Go back to town as soon as your bag is full.
3) Make a handful of trips specifically for hitting gathering spots.
4) Revisit cleared floors to clear out FOEs for their drops.
This ensure you don't get too far into deadly enemy territory without having the stats/gear to handle them.
Also keep in mind that generally the first floor of a new area is always the hardest as you adjust to the new enemies.
I've also found that for Expert mode, you will generally always be at appropriate level/gear if you
1) Do every sidequest as they become available.
2) Go back to town as soon as your bag is full.
3) Make a handful of trips specifically for hitting gathering spots.
4) Revisit cleared floors to clear out FOEs for their drops.
This ensure you don't get too far into deadly enemy territory without having the stats/gear to handle them.
Also keep in mind that generally the first floor of a new area is always the hardest as you adjust to the new enemies.
I've gone and killed all the FOEs that I am able to. I only have one sidequest left, and its to plant a flower. I couldn't do that one, the bees fucked my shit up.
Hehe, I remember that quest, I barely survived that one. Thank goodness for Hexer.
They straight up murdered me. :<
Lately I've been playing through Etrian Odyssey 2 since I ended up basically getting every EO game for Christmas last month, and it's kind of helped rekindle my interest in the series since the only time I really played it was when I first got the original game. I remember the first game having some weird stuff going on with skills that scaled awkwardly and stuff like that. Things like certain passives basically getting the most benefits at only certain levels or how taking the anti element skills above 5 was a bad thing to do. Although, I did love looking through information and seeing stuff like the description for Toxin saying it increases poison damage, and having a note that it does not actually increase poison damage. So far, EO2 seems to have its fair share of weird stuff going on, but that's half the fun sometimes! I'd imagine the later EO games won't be as full of issues and awkward balance, will they?
I'm hoping to really play through most, if not all, of the series in the upcoming months. It was quite sometime ago that I played EO1, and I enjoyed it quite a bit! I'm interested to see how things change in the remake, although from what I understand, they kind of spoil the biggest part of what story they had in EO1 straight out in the remake. If so, that's kind of unfortunate. Getting to the 5th stratum of EO1 for the first time was a really cool experience back in the day.
I'm hoping to really play through most, if not all, of the series in the upcoming months. It was quite sometime ago that I played EO1, and I enjoyed it quite a bit! I'm interested to see how things change in the remake, although from what I understand, they kind of spoil the biggest part of what story they had in EO1 straight out in the remake. If so, that's kind of unfortunate. Getting to the 5th stratum of EO1 for the first time was a really cool experience back in the day.
Those wonky/broken balance issues got better (as in pretty much go away) in 4 and the Untolds. The only significant things I can think of are that there is a skill bug with two of the evasion passives in EO4 no stacking (the weaker one overrides the better skill) and in EO1 a few grimoire skills are not consistent with the behavior of others (Sword Mastery stone does not stack with the skill, unlike other weapon mastery passives). I guess 3 on the surface is also a step ahead of 1 and 2 in that regard but then the subclassing really makes a mess out of that game in the postgame meta. The 3DS games definitely feel like they were better playtested.
EOIII's subclassing has it's issues, but is still nowhere close to being as broken as EOII's Hexor. EOIV's perfects subclassing.
But yeah, things get better as the series goes along. The quality of life changes are something else, the games have become so much faster, menus are cleaner(how did we ever live without EOIV's skill tree layout?), and map tools have expanded greatly, look forward to it.
But yeah, things get better as the series goes along. The quality of life changes are something else, the games have become so much faster, menus are cleaner(how did we ever live without EOIV's skill tree layout?), and map tools have expanded greatly, look forward to it.
I have been finding out lately how broken Hexer can be. My Hexer pretty much carried my group through the fight with Scylla, which was pretty rough. Revenge just does so much damage!
Yep, as crazy as EOIII's Warrior's Might teams might be, at least the postgame final boss in that one could actually attack you, haha.
Still, broken classes are not that big of a deal in EO imo, sure I'd like more with EOIV's balance, but if I want the game to be harder, I just use a less efficient party.
entremet
Member
Since the EOIV thread is dead, I wanted get advice here for my EOIV party.
I just unlocked sub classes
This is my team
They're around their late 30s in regards to levels
Front Row
Night Seeker
Landsknetch
Back Row
Fortress
Runemaster
Medic
My Medic is my weakest link. She deals no damage and I only use her for Reviving and Line Heals. But she keeps my team alive.
I just unlocked sub classes
This is my team
They're around their late 30s in regards to levels
Front Row
Night Seeker
Landsknetch
Back Row
Fortress
Runemaster
Medic
My Medic is my weakest link. She deals no damage and I only use her for Reviving and Line Heals. But she keeps my team alive.
If you're willing to retire, you can get an Arcanist/Medic. You can sub A on M too, but it's not as good.
For the other classes, Fortress/Dancer is pretty good, and Bushi is good on Rune when you get the class. NS can make use of Arcanist and I forgot what I did with my Lands, but Bushi works.
Since you just unlocked Subclasses, I'd suggest you retire your Medic into an Arcanist and subclass them as a Medic. You can use the scrolls to bring them up to par with the rest of the team.
As for the rest of your party, if you already have ideas as to what Subclass you want to attribute them, don't hesitate to try and experiment, since Resting is pretty cheap.
Otherwise, here are some tried and true combinations:
Nightseeker/Arcanist
Landsknecht/Bushi or Runemaster
Fortress/Dancer
Runemaster/Bushi or Medic
As for the rest of your party, if you already have ideas as to what Subclass you want to attribute them, don't hesitate to try and experiment, since Resting is pretty cheap.
Otherwise, here are some tried and true combinations:
Nightseeker/Arcanist
Landsknecht/Bushi or Runemaster
Fortress/Dancer
Runemaster/Bushi or Medic
I'll third the Arcanist/Medic suggestion. Bracing Walk will be enough to top your party's HP up between random encounters, Dismiss Heal is liable to restore more HP than you need in a fight (even late game) when paired with Circle Mastery, and Medic skills like Recovery/Treat/Revive can handle the rest. Poison Circle is also very potent in the mid game considering how early you get it.
You will honestly be just fine with M/A as opposed to A/M, but if you want to try retiring early and using a scroll just to mix things up, going from M/A to A/M is probably the best option for your party. I beat entire postgame including the postgame boss with M/A so if you don't want to bother with breaking your momentum just go M/A and keep pressing on since it won't be a problem.
TP is kind of always an issue in terms of limiting how long you can make one trip in the labyrinth last, but it does become less of an issue as you progress, and definitely in general becomes a non-issue for boss fights, with a few exceptions. One big part of managing TP is not ranking skills up to the half/max ranks too early. There is no exact science to it that I can share, it's just something you will learn as you play more than one game in the series.
I think a few classes in EOU get it the worst, like Protectors and Dark Hunters, whose TP pools aren't fabulous (DH especially) and pretty much have to use TP skills every single turn no matter what you're fighting.
I think a few classes in EOU get it the worst, like Protectors and Dark Hunters, whose TP pools aren't fabulous (DH especially) and pretty much have to use TP skills every single turn no matter what you're fighting.
That's like, two out of three of my front line. -_-;
I know
I played EOU Classic Expert with Protector / Dark Hunter / Ronin | Hexer / Medic for everything except the postgame boss, so I know your pain!
Well, sorta. Because I used a Hexer.
What I did was finish classic expert mode sans Y.Core, then NG+ to story mode on picnic just to see the new stuff, then NG+ back to classic expert and beat Y.Core (after much grimoire farming). Took a while but I wasn't in a hurry, except for the getting through story mode part, thus picnic mode.
Yes, NG+ lets you switch between classic and story while retaining all your characters (can use story characters in classic but not classic characters in story). You may be aware of that but throwing it out just in case because it's a point of common questions/misunderstanding.
Yes, NG+ lets you switch between classic and story while retaining all your characters (can use story characters in classic but not classic characters in story). You may be aware of that but throwing it out just in case because it's a point of common questions/misunderstanding.
Gratz. It's perhaps the best of the series (Untold 2 is pretty great...).
Get Untold 2 also, if/when you can. It's a blast. And do play the story mode in EOU2; it's a lot better than EOU1 (also EO2's plot has no big twists like EO1's so story mode doesn't really "spoil" anything in EOU2 like it does in EOU1).
IV may be my favorite in some ways but it doesn't have Hexers
EOU2 is also the first game that feels like they got Ronin stances right. They're great in EOU2.
tfw you first Force Boost in story mode in EOU2
IV may be my favorite in some ways but it doesn't have Hexers
EOU2 is also the first game that feels like they got Ronin stances right. They're great in EOU2.
tfw you first Force Boost in story mode in EOU2
Get Untold 2 also, if/when you can. It's a blast. And do play the story mode in EOU2; it's a lot better than EOU1 (also EO2's plot has no big twists like EO1's so story mode doesn't really "spoil" anything in EOU2 like it does in EOU1).
IV may be my favorite in some ways but it doesn't have Hexers
EOU2 is also the first game that feels like they got Ronin stances right. They're great in EOU2.
tfw you first Force Boost in story mode in EOU2
Oh man, I miss EO2U's stances already. Such a pain playing Ronin in EOU.
Well, for most of the dungeon crawling I just used that attack that opened up any skill from any stance. I set up the stances only vs FOE or bosses
Also, I prefer the Fortress redirect skills vs the Protector reduce damage skills
There is no Ronin but there are other damage oriented classes.
Also, this is not a thing in the untold games, but classic EO games had classes you unlock as you progresed the story. iirc, in EOII the beast class unlocks after you avenge the Beowulf guild on the first stratum
Fortress is the tank class in IV, yes, but there is one maaaajor difference between a Fortress and the classic Protector/Paladin: Fortress does not get elemental Wall skills to nullify/absorb elemental damage to the whole party.
There is a Ronin-like class and a Hexer-ish class in EOIV that you unlock later in the game.
Edit: Yes, proficiency skills are great (they were actually introduced in EO3).
Protip: Use a Nightseeker they're amazing <3
Also Dancers are IMO much more interesting than Troubadours.
Edit 2: But finish Untold first, one thing at a time! lol
Yeah, I'm just having a quick look at EOIV before I go back to Untold.
One of the nightseeker character portraits looks slightly crazed.
Oh I forgot, I ran into this video the other day:
EOIV Speedrun (3:53:31)
It took me like 40-50 hour to get the main story finished...
Yeah, their skills are all about redirecting damage to themselves, so they either get TP in the front line, or get reduced damage on the back line. Also this is the first game were you can switch a character to another line without wasting their action, so if you have too much TP you can just send them to the back line to get reduced damage in that turn.
There is another reason for the proficency skills (If you read this thread you probably got spoiled)
EOIV Speedrun (3:53:31)
It took me like 40-50 hour to get the main story finished...
Yeah, their skills are all about redirecting damage to themselves, so they either get TP in the front line, or get reduced damage on the back line. Also this is the first game were you can switch a character to another line without wasting their action, so if you have too much TP you can just send them to the back line to get reduced damage in that turn.
There is another reason for the proficency skills (If you read this thread you probably got spoiled)
Since you can get a subclass for your character, a character that subclasses as a Fortress wont get the proficency, so they will be less efective. This was introduced in EOIII , for EOIV they also halved the max level you can get on skills from a subclass
A lot of EO IV classes have at least one skill to mitigate TP use in some way. Runemaster has Free Energy which sometimes makes skills free. Nightseeker has Follow Trace which sometimes triggers a skill twice. Medic has Auto Heal, Auto Revive and TP Boost. And all the unlocked classes have something to restore TP under certain conditions.