Etrian Odyssey

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

A random encounter with some Popping Gels and Gobblers in the 2nd stratum took 38 turns to defeat.  38 turns! 

My solo Hoplite from EO3 could probably do better than 5 Dragoons in EO5.  Hoplites can heal while defending, and don't have a rag arm like other defensive classes in this series.  If Dragoons didn't have Bunkers, I'd hate them as much as EO4 Fortresses.

Fortunately, if you throw out 3 high level Bunkers, you can set the game on autobattle and drag yourself through the first two strata.  Dragoons have an offense-oriented promotion, and hopefully that makes them better.

Gunmount is worthless as an attack.  Think of it as a way to use a skill like Line Guard twice in a row for only 2 TP.


EDIT/UPDATE:

5 Dragoons may be slow, but they can kill pretty much anything that doesn't have all-target attacks, as long as you have enough Medicas.  For one 2nd stratum quest, they had to fight 4 Toxipedes at once.  They succeeded, which I doubt is possible for any other single class party at the recommended level. 

Unfortunately, some 2nd stratum FOEs such as the Bucking Giraffe do have all-target attacks, which pretty much renders them unbeatable for Dragoons until promotion.  The limited item carrying capacity in Etrian Odyssey games tends to favor offensive parties.  This isn't Final Fantasy or Bravely Second where you can hoard 99 Elixirs and 99 Phoenix Downs.

Impending Tengus are good for grinding if you've run out of quests.  They're fairly weak for an FOE, and respawn every day.  Their attacks can only hit a line, meaning the "throw 3 Bunkers out and autobattle" tactic is viable for most of the fight.  Be careful when they summon Prancing Parrots.  Parrots can counterattack if you hit them, but they'll only use that ability every other turn.  Impending Tengus also drop an item that unlocks a good heavy armor.

Be sure to save a bit of money for the 8th floor.  Syrik sells 3 Amritas for 1000 EN here, but he'll only stay on the floor for your first conversation with him if I remember correctly.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

I doubt I'll post much more here for a little while.  The 5 Dragoons have hit a rut, and need to grind if they ever hope to beat the Hippogriff.  Mostly by killing thousands of tengus. 

Playing with defensive Etrian Odyssey class makes me wish I had EO3 Hoplites instead.

The Hippogriff can get around your Bunkers with attacks like Sky Dive, and Wing Shield heals it for 500 HP per turn if you don't bind its head or inflict an ailment such as Sleep.  Syrik sells Head Binders in his Iorys shop, but they are less reliable than binding skills.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

The 5 Dragoons finally made it past the Hippogriff at Level 29.  The Black Mist Union Skill and Head Binder items helped whenever it tried to heal itself with Wing Shield.  It took all my Medicas, Medica 2s, Hamaos, and Nectars to beat this thing.  Lightning Storm and Sky Dive can hit around Bunkers, making the fight extremely difficult for defensive parties without status ailments.

It feels good to get the Cannon Bearer title!  The Dragoons will finally have non-autobattle offense!  

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

I was testing the promoted Dragoons today, and if anything they might be a bit overpowered at this point!    

Decoy Turrets work like Bunkers, except they counterattack when they take damage.  When I maxed out the ability, counterattacks have done somewhere in the range of 500-900 damage depending on the enemy.  The most cost-effective way of dealing with random encounters from here on out seems to be to summon the "Tochka" turrets, then Defend every turn until the enemies die.

Buster Cannon is for FOEs and bosses, but it needs the Prep Artillery buff to be truly effective.  Buster Cannon charges up for a turn, then deals Fire elemental damage to a single target.  The problem is that Prep Artillery + Buster Cannon have an extremely high TP cost for this point in the game, and Earthlains are a low-TP race.  For regular parties, you may want Cannon Bearer Dragoons to be reclassed Therians instead.

Yes, I have a Dragoon named Kain, because I named my current party after the final party in FF4.  

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Now that I've finished the solo Exorcist challenge in Bravely Second, it's time to focus on EO5 some more.

The Dragoons are at the end of the 3rd stratum.  Its boss, the Undead King, is basically an enemy version of the Necromancer class.  It starts with two skeleton FOE allies, and will either use them to block hits or make them explode to hit your whole party.  However, the boss itself is weak without them. 

Maybe I should buy a few Head Binders?  The Earthlains' Black Mist Union Skill can give it a greater chance of success.  Buster Cannon alone won't do the trick due to its high TP cost and single-target nature.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

The 5 Dragoons named after FF4 characters have finally beaten the Undead King at level 39!

Any boss fight with multiple enemies is tough for Dragoons, even after promotion.  None of their attacks have area of effect damage except for the pitiful Barrage Wall. 

Buster Cannon has a hidden mechanic that isn't even mentioned in the "Waifusims" EO5 skill simulator, if I'm correct.  Buster Cannon WON'T aim for another enemy if its initial target is killed, and will miss like a Final Fantasy 1 NES attack.  It took me a while to figure out why I was missing all the time with the Prep Artillery accuracy buff!     
 

I love Etrian Odyssey games, but their mechanics are cryptic without online guides.  Here's the Buster Cannon description in-game:

"Careless movement could lead to misfire".

Did Atlus outsource some of the English version to Google Translate? 


Anyway, the trick to beating the Undead King is the guest character Lili.  Use her Chain Blast Union skill on turn 1 and hope you get head and arm binds.  If that doesn't work, throw a few Head Binder items.  You need to do this because the Undead King can make one of his FOE companions explode and deal enough Fire damage to one-shot your party.

One front-row Buster Cannon at level 39 should take out each FOE.  Make sure the rest target the boss.  After that, spare no expense.  Use Amritas if needed to restore your TP.  The fight ends right after the Undead King is defeated, even if minions are still alive.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

The 4th stratum of EO5 will teach you that the best defense in this series is "blind and bind" rather than having a durable class.  My Dragoons have to go through this part without ailments for the most part, and they have to chug many Medicas to get through each floor.  Too many enemies have attacks that hit around the "Tochka" decoy turrets.

If you're using a party without decent area of effect offense, run away from any encounter that has Klaxon Cicadas.  They will summon FOEs once their alarm level reaches the maximum after a few turns. 

(I always forget about cooking, but I usually hoard food until right before a boss fight for some silly reason.  Habits from the older games are hard to break.)

Defensive classes were never my favorite in Etrian Odyssey games, and Dragoons don't change my mind too much about them.  They are probably the class that benefits the most from promotion, other than maybe Harbinger.

(I've never played with Harbingers, but everyone says they're bad before the 3rd stratum.)

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

No, I haven't completely neglected my 5 Dragoons playthrough.  I leveled them up a bit today in the 4th stratum.  Unfortunately, the Crystal Dragon resists Sleep from Hypno Cannon, so one of my main tactics in FOE fights will be unreliable.  The boss switches from being weak to physical or elemental attacks throughout the fight, and I wonder how Buster Cannon would fare because it deals both "blunt" and Fire damage.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Let's Attempt Etrian Odyssey Nexus


Hopefully this won't turn out to be a failure like the Etrian Odyssey 5 Dragoon challenge.


Etrian Odyssey Nexus is the newest entry in the series, and the final one on the 3DS.  It's a sort of remix featuring 18 classes from the first 5 games, as well as many dungeons.  (There's also a Hero class unique to Nexus).


The leveling system is based on EO4.  Skills are divided into those usable at level 1, level 20 skills, and level 40 skills.  Subclassing is possible later in the game, though you can only put half the points into a subclass skill that you can into a main class.  (Unlike EO3 where only the unique class skill is off limits to subclassing.)  The "limit break" system is derived from Untold 2.  Every class gets a Force Boost buff that lasts for 3 turns.  If you use your powerful Force Break skill, your Force Boost meter doesn't replenish until you go back to town. 


Nexus seems to be less variant-friendly than 3 and 4 at least.  This is because the tutorial dungeon has the Blossombeast boss when your characters are maybe level 6 at most.  Blossombeast can hit a row with a physical binding skill, debuff the whole party's offense, and poison multiple party members at once.


My first real attempt at a variant was with 5 Survivalists.  Survivalist is an archer class from EO1 and EO2 that specializes in ranged damage, evasion, and a few status ailments.  For a while, things were going okay with a setup reliant on Blind Arrow and the evasion-boosting Force Boost.  But every time I tried to fight Blossombeast, they would take it down to half health at best.  (Untold 2's excessive boss HP has returned, I guess.)  


Obviously a defensive tactic wasn't going to work.  There are several possibilities that I may try next.  EO4's endgame Imperial class is now available from the start.  Perhaps 5 of them could bum-rush bosses with their Drive Blade skills.  Normally, they require several cooldown turns after being used, but the Imperial Force Boost prevents overheating.


Another method that could work is 5 Nightseekers.  This was a fun party to use in EO4 because the bosses couldn't handle a combination of hyper offense and status ailments.  Shadow Cloak is guaranteed to block any physical attack.


5 Shoguns is another party that might work.  Taunt Assassins is a field skill that increases both the random encounter rate and experience gain.  One back row Shogun could take this and make the party level grind their way out of trouble.  Second Sword allows dual wielding, and grants a physical defense bonus to the second weapon.  Morale Boost heals the party if one Shogun is revived in battle.


Solo Hero has Afterimages that take up empty party slots, sort of like the Ninja's Bunshin clones in EO3.  They disappear after the next turn, but more can easily be created with the right skills, and they don't require a 1/2 HP and TP sacrifice like Bunshin clones do.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Etrian Odyssey Nexus:  5 Nightseekers Attempt Part 1


After various failures with other monoclass parties, I decided to try out my favorite EO4 team of 5 Nightseekers.  Nightseekers have several advantages going for them.  Their various "throw" moves can inflict status ailments like Blind or Poison and also deal ranged damage.  Unlike Survivalists, Nightseekers can capitalize on ailments to do additional damage with their Force Boost and Proficiency passive.  Shadow Cloak can negate any physical attack once before disappearing.  Ice Knife can be a situational skill if you really need elemental damage.  ''


The Nightseeker Force Break deals massive damage to a single enemy and extends status ailment duration, making it a useful boss killer and a panic button for random encounters.  Another Nightseeker passive enables dual wielding, and gives them an attack bonus instead of the Shogun's physical defense bonus.


Nexus is a cruel game from the start compared to EO3 and EO4.  In those games, the first dungeons are easy aside from a few nasty random encounters.  The first bosses of EO3 and EO4, Narmer and the Berserker King, have some exploits to make them easier to defeat.  You can get a preemptive attack on Narmer, and you can heal your party once it runs away at half health.  As for the Berserker King, a preemptive attack is possible with that fight too, and it has a predictable charge up attack.


In Nexus, you don't get anything like that.  Blossombeast is on the first floor, and you most likely fight it at level 5-6.  Keep in mind this is before you even get Ariadne Threads to teleport out of the dungeon or a gathering spot to grind for money.  You don't get a preemptive attack, trap damage, or anything like that when fighting Blossombeast either.


Since Nightseekers look like brooding vampires, I named them after Twilight characters.  Edward, Bella, Jacob, Carlisle, and Esme could usually win early battles with the Blind-inducing Sand Throw, or a Force Break if things went badly.  Rabid Koalas loved to try to inflict Leg Bind to reduce my team's evasion when they weren't knocking out party members in one hit.  Spraying Skunks inflicted Poison, which was annoying because Poison deals fixed damage in Etrian Odyssey games instead of a percentage of max HP like in other RPGs.  Air Wolves were sturdier than the other foes, but mainly hit with physical attacks that could be dodged by Blinding them.  Muscle Flies were another physical enemy that could hit hard.


Team Edward fought Blossombeast at level 5 with the following skills:


Sand Throw:  2/6
Shadow Cloak:  2/4
Proficiency:  3/10


This probably wasn't optimal, but it worked.  Shadow Cloak dodged some of the row damage physical attacks like the various binding Vine Grabs.  I stopped using it when my party was low on TP.  Sand Throw made the plant Blind, causing it to miss most attacks.  Those that hit were at least weak enough that the Nightseekers could heal with Medicas.  Everyone used Force Boost twice during the fight to increase damage output and the success rate of Sand Throw.  The Nightseekers saved their Force Breaks until later in the fight.  Despite Blossombeast's high HP, 5 Nightseekers gradually killed it.  No need for a dedicated healer or tank.