The Fighter is a durable front line unit. They can hit fairly hard and have some decent defenses to boot. They can make use of 2 different weapons, Swords and Axe, each with their own set of skills. They're a fairly easy class to fit in on a team, so if you have no idea where to start with building a team, why not pick a Fighter? You really can't go wrong with one.
Stats
Now the maximum level in this game is actually level 100, but characters will stop gaining stats past level 75. All leveling up will do at that point is just grant them 1 skill point per level, so you stop gaining 2 skill points at levels that are multiples of 5.
The Fighter is a fairly durable class. They have the 2nd highest life stat, and the highest POW stat in the game, so they can take and dish out physical attacks really well. Unfortunately, they have the lowest INT in the game, so they can't take hits from spells all that well. Not only that, their mana pool is very lacking, being the class with the 2nd lowest mana pool, so they can't cast their skills all that often. And they have the 3rd lowest SPD, so they have a couple of accuracy issues as well.
Double Strike
Skill Type: Passive
Maximum Level: 10
Prerequisites: Swordcraft – Level 5, Axecraft – Level 5
Regular attacks have a chance to strike twice.
Notes:
Certainly not a skill I would go for as soon as possible, but it can be nice to have once you have all of your important skills maxed out, since it can speed up random battles.- This passive will still be active if the Fighter gets Confused or Charmed.
Swordcraft/Axecraft
Skill Type: Passive
Maximum Level: 10
Prerequisites: None
Boosts the attack power of Swords/Axes.
Notes:
Weapon mastery skills are pretty much just prerequisites to other skills. While you do want these maxed out eventually, they really don't do that much early on. To give an example, the starting weapons for the classes, the Shortsword, has an attack power of 8. At level 1, it's attack power stays at 8. At level 10, it increases to 10. Once you start getting better weapons, they have much more of an effect, but until then, only invest in these skills just to unlock the skills you want.- The effects of this skill will not be seen in the status or equip screens, however they can be seen in the in-battle status screen.
As for which skill branch to go with, just pick whatever fits your team best. Both have their strengths and weaknesses. Sword skills are faster and can attack multiple enemies, while Axe skills are stronger, but slower and can only target one enemy at a time.
Keen Edge
Skill Type: Active
Maximum Level: 10
Equipment Needed: Sword
Speed Modifier: 120%
Prerequisites: Swordcraft – Level 1
Deals melee ATK-based Slash damage to one enemy.
A basic and straightforward damage skill. It's the fastest skill in the Sword skill branch, and it's also the strongest skill that doesn't require any special set up. Even if you don't plan on taking this skill, it certainly can't hurt to put 1 point in it for the burst damage in the early game.
Rush Edge
Skill Type: Active
Maximum Level: 10
Equipment Needed: Sword
Speed Modifier: 80%
Prerequisites: Swordcraft – Level 5
Deals melee ATK-based Slash damage to one enemy. Enemies adjacent to the target will take slightly less damage.
Well, the damage to the main target is the same as Keen Edge's. So this is only really good for random encounters. Though the next skill is better about doing dealing with those.
Grand Buster
Skill Type: Active
Maximum Level: 10
Equipment Needed: Sword
Speed Modifier: 70%
Prerequisites: Swordcraft – Level 8
Deals melee ATK-based Slash damage to all enemies.
If you want a way to clear out encounters quickly, invest in this skill. Though it's extremely expensive and slow to go off. And considering the Fighter's low mana pool, it's not a skill you can really spam. If you go for this skill, you better have some methods of restoring mana on you, or use it sparingly.
Bloodletter
Skill Type: Active
Maximum Level: 10
Equipment Needed: Sword
Speed Modifier: 90%
Prerequisites: Swordcraft – Level 3
Deals melee ATK-based Slash damage to one enemy and has a chance to inflict Bleed.
Bleed is actually kind of an awful ailment to make use of until later, so this really shouldn't be the first skill you go for. It's also fairly hard to inflict since dragons and bosses tend to be resistant to it. Just have your Fighter use a better damage skill.
Attack Down
Skill Type: Active
Maximum Level: 10
Equipment Needed: Sword
Speed Modifier: 90%
Prerequisites: Swordcraft – Level 3
Deals melee ATK-based Slash damage to one enemy and lowers their ATK stat for 10 turns.
The damage output isn't really good and doesn't scale all that well. The attack debuff is the main reason to take it. If your party lacks defense, this is a good skill to have. It'll cut down the target's offenses by a fair amount for a good while.
Fang Blade
Skill Type: Active
Maximum Level: 10
Equipment Needed: Sword
Speed Modifier: 85%
Prerequisites: Swordcraft – Level 5, OFF Stance – Level 3
Deals melee ATK-based Slash damage to one enemy and has a chance to inflict Paralysis. Only usable while OFF Stance is active.
Ugh, that infliction chance is so low. And Paralysis isn't a fantastic ailment to make use of. But that's not the main reason to take the skill. It's the strongest skill in the Sword skill branch without needing much setup, so if you're just looking to deal a lot of damage, go for this skill. If you don't have any magic casters on your team, this is the skill to invest in. Otherwise, you can probably go for...
Element Link
Skill Type: Active
Maximum Level: 10
Equipment Needed: Sword
Speed Modifier: Priority, 100%
Prerequisites: Swordcraft – Level 5, DEF Stance – Level 3
At the beginning of the turn, the Fighter prepares to attack. While active, the Fighter will deal a follow-up attack to any enemies that get hit with a spell. A portion of the damage from the spell will be added onto the follow-up's damage. Melee ATK-based damage is dealt to the targets. The damage type depends on the spell used to activate the follow-up. Only usable while DEF Stance is active.
Notes:
If you don't have a Mage in the party, or plan on having party members throw out elemental attack items, ignore this skill.- Follow-ups cannot miss under any circumstances.
- Ignores counter skills.
- This skill will be active throughout the entire turn, so the Fighter will always follow-up on a spell.
- Only spells can activate follow-ups. Physical attacks with an element attached will not activate them.
- The Mage's mana spells can trigger follow-ups.
- The Mage's Veils will not trigger follow-ups.
If you do have a Mage in the party, go ahead and take this skill. It's by far the best skill in the Sword skill branch if that's the case. Mages are basically walking nukes, so the follow-up will deal a lot of damage as well since part of the spell's damage will be added onto the follow-up.
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Power Crash
Skill Type: Active
Maximum Level: 10
Equipment Needed: Axe
Speed Modifier: 85%
Prerequisites: Axecraft – Level 1
Deals melee ATK-based Blunt damage to one enemy.
A basic and straightforward damage skill. It's not the strongest skill in the Axe skill branch, but it's decently fast.. If you're using an Axe, putting a point into this can't hurt since that extra burst damage can help you through the early game.
Status Down
Skill Type: Active
Maximum Level: 10
Equipment Needed: Axe
Speed Modifier: 90%
Prerequisites: Axecraft – Level 3
Deals melee ATK-based Blunt damage to one enemy and increases their ailment susceptibility for 10 turns.
This skill is awful. In random encounters, it barely makes a difference since they're not really a threat, and all random encounters have 100% susceptibility to everything anyway. So it's not like it's hard to land ailments on them. Against dragons and bosses, it barely makes a difference since it doesn't help that much. To put things into perspective, a max level Status Down will only increase a susceptibility of 50% to 61%. Yeah. This is pretty much a trap skill considering that most people don't even know how resistant to ailments the important enemies really are, and how low the multiplier really is.
Defense Down
Skill Type: Active
Maximum Level: 10
Equipment Needed: Axe
Speed Modifier: 90%
Prerequisites: Axecraft – Level 3
Deals melee ATK-based Blunt damage to one enemy and lowers their DEF stat for 10 turns.
On the other hand, this skill is useful because it'll help you kill things faster. Since it lowers DEF, it also increases the damage that Mage spells will deal.
Purge
Skill Type: Active
Maximum Level: 10
Equipment Needed: Axe
Speed Modifier: 40%
Prerequisites: Axecraft – Level 8
Attempts to instantly kill an enemy if they are below a certain life threshold. If they are above that threshold, or are immune to instant death, they simply take melee ATK-based Blunt damage instead. Not as effective on dragons.
Notes:
It's the strongest skill in the Axe skill branch that doesn't require much setup. I suppose the instant kill is nice for random encounters, but you're very unlikely to see it go off when you're fighting dragons. The damage is the real reason to take this skill.- Attempts to inflict instant death before dealing damage.
- The life threshold shown above only applies to random encounters. On dragons, the life threshold is always 10%, no matter what level the skill is at.
- Unless the target has instant death immunity, the instant death component cannot be resisted. As long as the target is below the life threshold, the instant death will always go off.
Shield Axe
Skill Type: Active
Maximum Level: 10
Equipment Needed: Axe
Speed Modifier: Priority, 100%
Prerequisites: Axecraft – Level 5, DEF Stance – Level 3
The Fighter uses their Axe to defend themselves for the duration of the turn. Any attacks that are headed their way have a 35% chance to be nullified. If the attack is not nullified, the damage is reduced instead. Only usable while DEF Stance is active.
Notes:
The only real problems with Shield Axe is that it does nothing against status effects (since guarding reduces the chances of them landing by 30%) and that you're basically investing skill points in what amounts to a better guard command that's only usable in DEF Stance. I mean it probably has its uses, but you might want to consider what exactly you want your Fighter to do in fights before taking this skill.- The damage reduction applies to both physical and magical attacks. So at level 1, it is superior to defending against magical attacks since guarding can only reduce magic damage by 30%.
- Has no effect on status ailments.
Stun Bash
Skill Type: Active
Maximum Level: 10
Equipment Needed: Axe
Speed Modifier: 95%
Prerequisites: Axecraft – Level 5
Deals melee ATK-based Blunt damage to one enemy and has a chance to inflict Stun.
Awful, just awful. The only saving grace about this skill is that other than Arrow Link, it's the fastest skill in the Axe skill branch. Stun is a terrible ailment to make use of, so this skill is really not worth it for that.
Arrow Link
Skill Type: Active
Maximum Level: 10
Equipment Needed: Axe
Speed Modifier: Priority, 100%
Prerequisites: Axecraft – Level 5, OFF Stance – Level 3
At the beginning of the turn, the Fighter prepares to attack. While active, the Fighter will deal a follow-up attack to any enemies that get hit with a Rogue's arrow. A portion of the damage from the Rogue's attack will be added onto the follow-up's damage. Melee ATK-based Blunt damage is dealt to the targets. Only usable while OFF Stance is active.
Notes:
If you don't have a Rogue in the party, ignore this skill.- There is an error when leveling up this skill in the custom screen, as the mana cost in the custom screen for this skill is incorrect. The true mana cost is displayed in the image above.
- Follow-ups cannot miss under any circumstances.
- Ignores counter skills.
- This skill will be active throughout the entire turn, so the Fighter will always follow-up on an arrow.
- Only arrows can activate follow-ups. Other ranged attacks will not activate them.
- Dual Shot will only activate one follow-up, and only the damage from the first arrow is added onto the follow-up's damage.
I'm not really sure what's with that jump from level 1 to 2. I think a typo was made in the skill data, because outside of that, the skill data is pretty much exactly the same as Element Link's. Moving on...
This skill is a little more questionable than Element Link since Rogues aren't as good damage dealers as Mages, and the follow-ups will always deal Blunt damage. The other thing is that Dual Shot is the Rogue's best damage skill, but it doesn't add as much damage to the follow up since Arrow Link only adds the damage from one arrow. However, using Dual Shot in conjunction with this skill is still the best way to deal damage, since the Rogue's other bow skills won't deal as much damage. Definitely handy to have if you have a Rogue in the party, but it's not quite as good as Element Link.
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Berserk
Skill Type: Active
Maximum Level: 5
Equipment Needed: None
Speed Modifier: 100%
Prerequisites: POW Bonus – Level 3
Inflicts Bleed on the Fighter, and increases the Fighter's ATK as long as they don't stop bleeding.
Notes:
This skill is very practical in a number of ways. It's a minor offensive boost, but it can essentially be used as a way to cure ailments. If your Fighter is taking a lot of damage from Poison, you can have them cast the skill to lower the end of turn damage heavily. Not only that, it'll prevent any lesser ailments from landing as long as the Fighter is still bleeding. If you're using Element Link, you should definitely take this since you can't be in OFF Stance to use that skill.- The ATK buff is tied to the Bleed status. If the Bleed status goes away for whatever reason, the ATK buff will disappear as well.
- The ATK Multiplier stacks additively with OFF Stance.
- This can be used to dispel specific ailments since Bleed can override other ailments.
- However, the Fighter must be able to act in order to do so. So the only ailments that can be cured through the use of this skill are Poison, Paralysis, and Blind.
- Fear and Curse cannot be overridden since they are placed higher than Bleed on the ailment hierarchy.
OFF Stance
Skill Type: Active
Maximum Level: 5
Equipment Needed: None
Speed Modifier: 80%
Prerequisites: None
Switches the Fighter to an offensive stance, increasing their ATK for the duration of the battle.
Notes:
Well, the boost might be a bit small, but you do need this active to unlock some skills. Take it if you want, it certainly can't hurt. Though I would argue that Defense Down is a better way to open a big fight in most cases.- Takes the Fighter out of DEF Stance if it's active.
- ATK debuffs cannot dispel OFF Stance.
- The ATK Multiplier stacks additively with Berserk.
DEF Stance
Skill Type: Active
Maximum Level: 5
Equipment Needed: None
Speed Modifier: 80%
Prerequisites: None
Switches the Fighter to a defensive stance, increasing their DEF for the duration of the battle.
Notes:
I'm not a huge fan of defensive buffs, especially when the Fighter is already so durable. But you do need to invest some points in this to unlock some skills, and it does have to be active in order to use Element Link. Outside of those, feel free to ignore this.- Takes the Fighter out of OFF Stance if it's active.
- DEF debuffs cannot dispel DEF Stance.
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Endorphin
Skill Type: Active
Maximum Level: 5
Equipment Needed: None
Speed Modifier: 85%
Prerequisites: INT Bonus – Level 3
Cures any status ailment on the Fighter when used.
Notes:
I would say that it can't hurt to take this skill if Berserk didn't exist. As it stands, Berserk can pretty much dispel some ailments and prevent them from ever landing again, which Endorphin can't do. It can dispel Fear and Curse, which Berserk can't do, so if those are genuinely problems, feel free to take this skill. Though at any rate, you definitely don't need more than 1 point in this skill. Situations where you're spamming this skill shouldn't be coming up at all.- Since the Fighter must be able to act in order to use this skill, the only ailments that can be cured are Fear, Curse, Bleed Poison, Paralysis, and Blind.
To The Death
Skill Type: Active
Maximum Level: 5
Equipment Needed: None
Speed Modifier: 100%
Prerequisites: POW Bonus – Level 3, SPD Bonus – Level 3
Drives the entire party in a frenzy, permanently increasing their ATK at the cost of forcing everyone to automatically use regular attacks until either the party or the enemies go down.
Notes:
Sure, throw away your skill points just to unlock an auto-battle option that can't be turned off! It's only useful for random encounters, which are barely a threat in the first place, and you can just hold A to blaze through those as fast as possible. Activating this against a dragon or a boss is just plain suicide.- The ATK boost can be dispelled by ATK debuffs. However, that will not lift the effects of this skill.
- The only way to lift the effects of this skill is for one side to be completely annihilated.
Killer React
Skill Type: Active
Maximum Level: 1
Equipment Needed: None
Speed Modifier: 80%
Prerequisites: SPD Bonus – Level 1
Places a react buff on the Fighter for 5 turns. While the buff is active, the Fighter is granted an extra turn if they get a kill.
Notes:
This... is an awful react skill. Probably the worst one in the game. Sure you can kill streak during the react and having your Fighter go on a rampage may sound appealing, but the only time this skill is really usable is in random encounters. Which aren't threatening in the slightest. Bosses and dragons tend to fight alone, so this skill sees very limited use there. If the Fighter is the only damage dealer on your team, it might be worth it just so you have some form of offense to clear out random encounters. Otherwise, just ignore it.- Multiple kills in a given turn will not give out more than 1 extra turn.
Meat Eater
Skill Type: Passive Field Skill
Maximum Level: 1
Equipment Needed: None
Prerequisites: INT Bonus – Level 1
Enables the Fighter to eat meat. The effects of the meat only last until the Fighter stays at an inn.
Meat effects are as follows:
Ehhh, I guess this is an okay field skill? Meat honestly isn't that much of a game changer, and the 3 point skill cost is pretty hefty. I mean take it if you want, more stats aren't bad and some of the meat does have very good effects.- Light Meat: +5 SPD.
- Bird Meat: +8 Mana, +3 SPD.
- Predator Meat: +3 POW.
- Fish Meat: Decreases Fire, Ice, and Lightning damage multipliers by 20%.
- Crab Meat: +3 DEF.
- Pasture Meat: Decreases ailment susceptibility by 25%.
- Hawk Meat: +5 INT.
- Piggy Meat: +6 ATK.
- Horse Meat: +16 Mana.
- Buffalo Meat: +20 Life, +3 ATK.
- Dragon Kabob: +10 SPD.
- Dragon Filet: +10 INT.
- Dragon Steak: +50 Life, +7 POW.
- Only the Fighter can benefit from meat.
- Only one meat effect can be active at a time.
- The effects will not go away if the Fighter is taken out of the party at Kazan's guild.
- If the Fighter is not in the main party while they stay at an inn, the Fighter will keep the meat's effects.
The Fighter is a pretty straightforward class that is easy to fit on a team. It's hard to go wrong with having one on the team or with their skill builds.