Abbreviation: FRM

Farmers were first introduced in Etrian Odyssey III, and then were largely useless in battle. Their battle skills were sparse and not very good, and their only real battle niche was to subclass Ninja and get high Petrification and Instant Death rates. They WERE the best gathering bots... Until subclasses come along, at which point Ninja/Farmer does better.

In Nexus, Farmers are largely still the best gatherers. However, unlike then, they've beefed up their skillset significantly, gaining many useful skills and beefing up old ones. They can trivialize random encounters by quickly putting them to sleep or, if you get lucky, instantly killing them on turn 2. And in boss battles, they're no slouch--their skills in that case are less useful, but their Force skills can seriously screw enemies up or enable your party to access unbelievably long and potent burst windows. They're a bit of a two- or three-trick pony, but you should give Farmer some serious consideration.


Stats

(Full)

Best in the Game: LUC
Strong Points: VIT
Medium Points: HP, TP
Weak Points: STR, AGI
Very Weak Points: INT, WIS

Equippable Weapons: Gun, , Spear, Dagger, Scythe
Equippable Armor: , Light Armor, Cloth Armor

Common Passives: Harvestry (Novice)


Skills: Force

Boost: Item Echo
For 3 turns, any items the user uses will take effect twice, without consuming another item.
So how does Farmer make up from having about half of their skillset devoted to Labyrinth skills? Comically good Force skills is one part.

Item Echo has a lot of potential applications, all of them really good. Double the heal from Somas? Check. Double-duration Bravants, Stonards, or Mists? Check. Double the restore from Hamaos? Check. Double the restore from Amritas? Check.

And, perhaps most broken of all: Restoring 50% Force with Axcelas? Big godsdamn check.
Also, doubled infliction items, like gasses and binders. Remember, Farmer's LUC is the highest in the game. You can get deliciously absurd infliction rates with that and this.
Double gas in fact has a tendency to be more reliable than dedicated skills. Also, while double talisman is useless for damage, it's one of the few things in the game that trigger two Warrior Might chases. This might not be the most face murdering Force Boost out there, but it's easily the most versatile, and is pretty much the best one a supporter can ask for.
Break: Final Secret
Attempts to restore broken Force gauges, with a 33% chance. Fully restores all party members' Force gauges, including just-repaired gauges.
Final Secret. Final Secret. Don't pay attention to the broken gauge restore chance, it's too low to really be reliable. The other part is where it's at. Sacrificing one Force Break to give every other party member their Force Boosts back immediately is powerful as hell. Certain Force Boosts are more powerful than others, of course, but immediately regaining something like Unified Effort, which is a party-wide combined offensive and defensive state, can give you a decisive advantage in even the toughest fights.

Skills: Novice

Sympathy Pain


Attempts to inflict any ailments and binds inflicted on the user on all enemies. Does not remove the ailments and binds from the user.
Ugh. I hate Sympathy Pain, it's so useless. Why would you deliberately keep potentially-debilitating disables on your Farmer just to have a pretty low chance of inflicting them on enemies, with a shit speed modifier, no less? Only put one point into it for the tree it unlocks.
This skill makes me so upset. If it were very fast, could target any ally and had higher infliction chances, it could be a really good, context-dependant infliction chances that would make Farmer a top pick against certain bosses and FOEs. Instead, it's trash... Blech.
You could try taking a Pugilist subclass and combo it with Clinch, but then you'd have to wear an Arm Guard (and not inflict arm bind) because this skill uses the arms! If it only kept that 999% base chance it had back in EO3...

Strange Seeds


At the end of the turn, attempts to inflict one of the bind types on all enemies.
Nothing else for your Farmer to do? I can think of worse filler skills than Strange Seeds. Don't expect much from it, but again, better than doing nothing.
Most bosses or FOEs have at least two body parts in use for their skills, that or binding one part reduces a stat they use. Plus leg binds are always useful. That it's random makes it less reliable if you need something concrete, but if this skill lands you have a pretty high chance of gaining an advantage of some sort.
From some rudimentary tests I made, it seems that Random Seeds will actually randomly pick an unbound body part to try to bind, which actually makes it fairly good at binding something given the decent base chance it can reach. Even though you still don't have much control over which part is going to be bound, it can at least be fairly good at activating Harvest Festival and other classes' bind-reliant skills.

Play Possum


Reduces one party member's aggro for a set amount of turns.
Criminally underrated for keeping party members from getting unluckily tagged with, say, normal attacks, or stray hits from random-target multi-hit skills. The two main uses I can think of are keeping heat off Gunners or Imperials while they're preparing Charged skills or Drives, or keeping heat off your Farmer so Fearless stays active.

Keen Eye


For a set number of steps in the Labyrinth, shows all treasure chests, hidden passages, staircases, FOEs, and gather points on the minimap.
Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. I've never been hot on these types of skills, even if there's a little use in them for when you're going through a floor for the first time.
Lets you see invisible FOEs, keep track of FOEs your map isn't tracking yet, and if it feels like you missed a gathering point or shortcut you can double check with this. Whether that's worth putting SP into is up to you. Personally, I'd use Simple Scopes, but hey.
The effect is honestly really useful and saves you from having to look up maps on the Internet all the time, but Simple scope exists, does the same thing, is buyable from the start, and costs 50en. That this skill has a existant duration is only relevant in a single maze (hint: it makes invisible FOEs show up on your minimap), and then there's an accessory that does the same thing over a limited range. It can save you a tiny amount of money on scopes if you want the skills it lead to anyways, I guess.

Excavation


Every 20th step in the Labyrinth, the user has a chance to find gatherable items.
Excavation is a really good way to help compensate for Farmer's weakness in battle early on, because it lets them generate, effectively, free money.
Plus Farmer is overwrought with SP since they don't have that many effective combat skills, so might as well.

Flee


Attempts to escape from the current battle, and return to the last-used stairs, or Geomagnetic Pole. If successful, consumes a percentage of all party members' current HP.
Okay. I know I have never been the kindest to Flee, in any of its iterations. However, that changes now. Four skill points for the ability to have a guaranteed escape from a battle that's gone south is, in my opinion, a very good trade. Natural escape rates in EON really aren't great; they're better than EOU, but nowhere near as good as EO5. Never hurts to have a panic button.
Mmmmmmmeeeeeeeeh. You can just put things to sleep (which Farmer is great at) or inflict something like Panic or Leg Bind (guess what, Farmer's also great at that with items) to get guaranteed escapes. Plus IMO escape rates are already pretty good. Then again, Farmers have too much SP, so might as well.
Even though Nexus is relatively benign in general (compared to, say, the Untolds), things can go bad really really fast in randoms if you get unlucky. Some Force Breaks can usually get you out of those kind of trouble as well, but they can only be used once per exploration, so this skill is must have.
Earth's Bounty


Increases experience gain from battle while the user is alive.
Again, a way to compensate for Farmer's lack of combat utility, especially early on. Missing the utility a non-Farmer character would bring in their place? Make up for it by giving yourself more levels!
Afterimage can inherit this skill as well, and if any are present at the end of battle, you can get multiple helpings of this effect. Probably not something to blow a subclass slot over, but can be notable if you're trying to squeeze out as much experience as possible, I guess.

Slap Awake


Only usable while in the Labyrinth. Revives one dead party member.
A one-point wonder, in my opinion. But a really good one. Never turn down the ability to revive someone without having to use a Nectar.

Skills: Veteran

Rotten Egg


Reduces all enemies' attack for a set number of turns. Enemies who are afflicted with an ailment have the debuff increased.

The increased debuff check is performed whenever the enemy attacks.
I'm not hot on Rotten Egg, but, well... If your Farmer isn't doing much, and you're running a party that can inflict ailments semi-reliably, there's worse ways to spend turns.
25% attack debuff isn't going to save you from much, and then enemies which have ailment on them tend to not be in a position to hurt you much to begin with either. There are better ways to spend debuff slots.

Persistence


At the end of any turn where the user is dead, they have a chance to revive.
Persistence can help make up for Farmer's severe weakness to INT-based damage. It's not as good as Aegis-likes, which keep the user alive without purging them of their buffs and states, but what are you gonna do.
On the other hand, Aegis only works on the killing blow. If you don't have time to rez your Farmer because they're a lower priority target, Persistance might very well give you them back.

Godsend


Every 20th step in the Labyrinth, the user has a chance to find consumable items.
Gods, Godsend. Okay, Godsend's good. It saves you both money and materials. But, like, its math is so utterly fucked. Look at the utterly bizarre ways it changes with every even level. Levels 1, 3, and 5 are fine places to leave it--it comes down to how much you care about a potential second item. I don't think level 7 is worth it, though.
I keep spending a bunch of Medicas and Thericas and Nectars mid-dungeon while using my Farmer and then they just come up with extra ones after the fact. Godsend is good.
You can find pretty much any consumable with it if you've advanced far enough. This can really save you a lot of effort if you like to use hard-to-get things like Amritas or Axcelas.

Rain or Shine


Only usable in the Labyrinth. For a set amount of steps in the Labyrinth, nullifies damage tiles and muddy tiles. Reduces damage taken from certain FOE field attacks.
Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh? One point's alright, I guess. Any more is a serious waste.
Damage floors only exist in a very early labyrinth (when you probably don't have this skill yet), so this is only used for muddy tiles (which also exists only in a single labyrinth and its corresponding maze) and FOE field attacks, only one of which you will actually care about (due to being more nasty than just making you take damage). Guard Soles also exist. Put a point in it if you want, but you probably won't end up using it very much, and you can certainly get by without it.
Safe Stroll


Only usable in the Labyrinth. Reduces the encounter rate for a set number of steps.
A skill for gathering parties!
For your gathering team, get your Survivalist to do encounter control instead. Your Farmers need their SP elsewhere.
Share the Wealth


Restores TP to other party members in the user's row.
Gods I love Share the Wealth. Sure, Farmer doesn't have the best TP, but Share the Wealth means, if your Farmer is in a three-person row, you only have to funnel Amritas/Hamaos to one party member, instead of two, which just...is a massive increase in the efficacy of how you spend your turns. I love it.
Survival Wisdom


Restores all party members' HP and TP when gathering.
Gathering points are worth visiting with normal parties, so Survival Wisdom is very worth dropping some points in.
This essentially turns gathering points into those kind of once-per-day HP/TP restoration nodes. I'm not a big fan of this skill since there's another one down the line that takes care of TP sustain during exploration a lot better, but having this skill in addition can let your characters have a lot more leeway with using maxed out skills with reckless abandon. At the very least, it's polite enough to activate and heal your party before an ambush check.

Waste Not


Increases monster drop drop rates.
Pass.
Actually literally useless if you have the money DLC, since it gives you an accessory that maxes out drop rates anyway, and apart from three specific postgame boss drops, drop rates aren't bad at all. And even those are way too small a chance for Waste Not to have any effect.
If you have a Drop Brooch, this skill is useless to you. If not... there are a lot of fetch quests late game, and this can save you some pain... very slightly. It's a very low priority skill, but then again, Farmers will probably have enough free SP to throw in here later on.


Fearless


When the user is in the front row, and is at full HP, restores their TP at the end of the turn.
Combine your Farmer with Play Possum or a Protector that can use Ally Shield, and you've got a decent method of keeping your Farmer supplied for Share the Wealth. And other skills, I guess.

Skills: Master

Lullaby


Attempts to inflict sleep on the user and on all enemies.
Lullaby utterly decimates random encounters. That base chance combined with Farmer's literal-best-in-the-game LUC means you're gonna be putting potentially the entire enemy party to sleep with it. A must-have.
naptime
Skills like Prevent Order and Warding Mist (have a chance) of preventing the self-sleep, though sleep immunity does not. The easiest workaround is to use Vampire's sunlight damage to wake yourself up at the end of turn, which makes this skill very spammable even in big battles.

Fruitful Song


Restores all party members' TP every time they take a set number of steps.
Gimme that free TP restore. Gimme gimme GIMME.
Between this, Item Echo Amritas and Share the Wealth, Farmer is amazing at TP management.
Unless you use like 50 TP every fight, you will basically never run out of TP during exploration with this. Sadly does nothing in boss battles.

Blessed Remains


When the user kills an enemy, all party members have their Force restored.
In boss fights with adds, of which there's a decent amount, Blessed Remains gives your party a big reduction to Force Boost cooldowns. Not necessarily a must-have, as it comes down to how easily your Farmer can kill enemies, but it's a nice-to-have.
Between this, Item Echo Axcelas and Final Secret, Farmer is amazing at Force management.
This is one of the three things that make Farmer actually viable as a subclass for attackers, as they have a much easier time killing adds. Even at half level, 15% force regeneration is nothing to scoff at - at least, if your party uses a lot of force boost and not force break. Also in case you're wondering, this will not activate if you end up executing (or killing via panick) a party member.

As for it as a main class skill, it may not actually be as hard to activate as you think, as many adds are vulnerable to instant death (although inflicting binds can be harder), while the ones that aren't tend to have little HP and die easily from damage.

Harvest Festival


Deals melee STR-based cut damage to all enemies. Increases damage dealt and attempts to inflict instant death when attacking enemies with binds.
Harvest Festival is Farmer's only offensive tool, and it's not too bad. Sure, their STR isn't the best, but the high damage on enemies with binds helps compensate for that.
Between this, Strange Seeds and Lullaby, Farmer is amazing at crowd control.

Are you noticing a pattern yet?
This is another one of the three things that make Farmer actually viable as a subclass for attackers. A lot of them have trouble dealing with crowds, so having a weapon-independent AoE skill can be a godsend, especially if you can activate that 3.5x bonus - the damage multiplier can be competitive with some maxed out single-target main class skills!

(If you're wondering what the third thing is, it's Farmer's access to four different types of weapons, and the large selection of weapon skills made available through it.)

Nature's Blessing


Gives the user a chance to find additional rare gather materials when gathering.
Definitely take on gathering parties. On your normal Farmer? Eh, can't hurt to take when you have SP to spare.
This skill will make your gathering party get like two or three times as many rare materials as they do common ones, which is sort of hilarious.
Once your farming team reaches level 40 and gets to take this skill (and the next one), you will basically never need the money DLC again. (Though getting a brooch can still be a good idea.)

Double Crop


When gathering, the user has a chance to start another gathering session on the same point. Can only activate once per gather point.
Again, a definite take for gathering parties. For normal Farmers, however, Double Crop is easier to argue for than Nature's Blessing, since it can cause Survival Wisdom to activate twice. Also, y'know, the extra gather materials. Those are nice too.
Beware that having two chances at gathering also means two chances of Look Out! If you don't have Risk Perception, this can be very painful if your party isn't currently up to dealing with a blindside.

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