A new players questions about character builds.

[Sinaria]

Hi everyone!

I'm new to the Etrian odyssey series (Just started the first game yesterday) and loving it so far, Such a fun and challenging experience to play. Before i started playing i looked up a guild for the classes and skills so i could better understand everything and not do anything horribly wrong. Now i'm at the start of floor 3 with level 11 characters and wondering it the classes/skill builds in this guild right. If anyone would be kind enough to take a look at it and let me know that would be amazing. Looking forward to chatting with you all and playing through this great series of games.

I'm useing these classes: [ Protector ] [ Landsknecht ]
[ Alchemist ] [ Survivalist ] [ Medic ]

This is the guild i'm using are the skill points being put into the right things or should i be restarting if they are not since i don't want to be weak later: http://www.gamefaqs.com/ds/934287-etria ... faqs/62339

Thanks
Sinaria

[Reynard-Miri]

There's not really any point is restarting. You can respec your characters, though you do lose 10 levels in the process. (If you restart the game it's back to level 1 and you lose your items/money as well.)

A good choice of classes, imo, though you're likely to drop the Alchemist later on. It's good for where you are, though.

[Sinaria]

I agree i really don't want to restart i just said that in case my skill point allocation that I've been doing that the guide tells me to is really really bad. So far i really like those classes its more a question of the skills points being good in the long run. Why do you think drop the Alchemist later on? she's doing amazing magic damage right now. Thanks

[Curry-Kohai]

Almost any party will suffice for the main game, I went with
Survivalist/Landsknecht
Medic/Bard/Alchemist
And did just fine, it's really after the main story they're talking about, which is no fair and requires using the most exploits you can conjure up as humanely possible. So I wouldn't worry too much, though with that alchemist, you should try and focus on one element later on, because she drops off later on if you focus on balancing the elements.
Also, the second level spell is stronger than the third level spell, the third level spell just costs more because it hits every enemy.

[Sinaria]

Good Idea. What about with medic spells because this build seems to be only taking the first level healing spells?

[Curry-Kohai]

Instead of leveling up the spells themselves, level up healer instead, it increases your heal rate on all spells, and makes them more cost effective, so that you can stay in the labyrinth longer. Also, Patch up sounds amazing, but it's actually pretty bad.

[Sinaria]

Thanks, that's exactly why I looked up builds then asked about them since what sounds amazing is not always useful at all in games.

[Wolkenritter]

Your party is fine, its probably the most standard team in the game actually. It can probably do post-game as well, you just would have to replace one member (The Alchemist is the best choice) with a Troubadour.

As for skills, just keep in mind that the maximum level is 70 which means you only have 72 points to spend. Also some suggestions:

Protector - Defender reduces all physical damage the party takes. Since its the most common damage type even among bosses, its a great skill to have. Smite is their damage skill and is quite strong. The Antielements are compulsory for post-game, until then though I wouldn't put anything in them since predicted elemental attacks are rare. Provoke is unfortunately bugged and doesn't work so don't waste any points into it.

Landsknect - Allslash is your bread and butter skill, it makes random encounters die in seconds. However it's prerequisites are pretty steep. I suggest using Tornado as a substitute and grab Allslash once you're able to Rest him. Since you have Axe mastery anyway, it might not be a bad idea to grab Crush as well since it'll do more damage than Allslash against FOE and bosses (Get used to swapping around weapons before battle though). Hellcry is an amazing skill and definitely worth grabbing for that extra oomph into your Lands' attacks.

Alchemist - Maxed Toxins and Poison will pretty much break the first two stratas. They deal a whopping 255 damage per turn which is enough to even kill those Stalkers fairly easily. Once you reach the 3rd strata its probably a good idea to rest your Alchemist and start grabbing the elemental skills. Everything Blaster Master just said pretty much sums the rest of the Alchemist.

As for dropping the Alchemist, they are IMO the worst class in the game. Early on you'll find their damage-to-TP ratio to be a bit ridiculous. Late game, the damage they pump out is nothing compared to a Ronin, Lands, Dark Hunter and especially the Surv. They're fine for the main game but are completely useless in post-game other than for farming rare drops with Scavenge.

Surv - Apollon and Multihit are the bread and butter of a Surv and is what makes them into the damage gods they are. 1st Turn and Trickery have a lot utility and good options to pick up with your Surv.

Medic - Immunize should be your highest priority as it increases the party resistance to ALL elements. This includes the physical based ones as well. After that you're free to grab whatever you want. Caduceus is one of the most damaging skills in the game and is worth considering but using it requires a fairly strict build due to it's heavy requirements.

[Reynard-Miri]

It does not help that they totally typo'd what Patch Up does. (It says 3%. It's only 1%.)

[Sinaria]

@Wolkenritter Thanks all that info is amazing and seems to confirm a lot of what i thought i was doing. I agree having the toxin and poisons helps a lot with the Stalkers and other FOE's I've killed all of them so far (On mid floor 3 at level 15 right now) Although the stalkers still take some luck mostly in getting the poison not to miss like 5 times in a row. btw love your avatar

@Reynard-Miri Really, that's a big mistake to make a typo on. 1% would be just about useless then.

So far with my set up i'm doing pretty good on the first half of floor 3 expect for the stalkers this floor seems much easier then the first 2. I've done a good amount of grinding though since i really don't want to die more times then i already have (which is a lot) My biggest problem at this point seems to be money since staying at the inn costs so much (just over 100en) i'm not getting as much as i would like for upgrades in gear.

Any other info anyone has would be appreciated but so far i love this game, Cant wait to play through all of them and see what's to come.

[Maxine MagicFox]

^_^ Another thing to keep in mind after everyone has typed out all of this wonderful advice:

There's not a whole lot of wrong you can do with your party. One of the fun things about the EO games, and the only time you should ever restart your game, is to replay through the whole game with a completely different party to see how things are even better. Hell, even focusing on different skills for just a single character can make a difference (my first playthrough with a Landsknecht, I concentrated only on Axes - which was fine - but my GOD the second play through with swords was SWEEEEET!).

Things do not have to be perfect for the main game. Sit back, relax, and have some fun. You explore your characters in this game just as much as you explore the labyrinth.

@Money: get use to it. This will ALWAYS be a source of frustration.
Here's a cheat-tip that will only work in the first stratum but helps a lot of newbies.
Find the Chop point at 3D on B1F. Find the warp point near it which exits right out near the entrance and can be used both ways now.

Get a party of five survivalist together - don't worry about training. And just dump all their beginning skills into Chop. Enter the labryinth and make for the chop point. You MIGHT get attacked ONCE but generally you can escape without risk of death. Any points you may get from potentially leveling up, dump them into chop. These characters are basically disposable.

Now just farm the hell out of that chop point. Go up to the town, sell your items, go to the inn, sleep until morning, and repeat.

[Sinaria]

Thanks I know I should not worry about the party as much as I do but I'm like that with all games. That money trick is great I'm doing it right now should help a lot to not have to worry about money at least for a little while.

[Sinaria]

I've gotten my party up to level 20 and just entered floor 6 (Second stratum) and wow did it just get a lot harder. The normal enemy's are hard enough to get though but the FOE's are almost impossible i just got 1 hit killed by a Moa. At least money is not a problem now after the grinding floor 1 but now there's nothing to buy to spend that money on. I'm still trying to move forward though and loving it.

[Maxine MagicFox]

Every time you start a new stratum it's like starting the game all over. x_x

And keep amassing that money - believe me, once things start unlocking, you're going to be in the same position that you were.

[Sinaria]

I'm hording all the money i can right now, have about 20,000en so hope that lasts me a little while. I agree its hard all over again but i manged to kill all the FOE's I've run into so far now on floor 6 and gotten to level 22. It takes time to get through these floors but with patience and lots of running back to town (At least i don't have to walk through all other floors now) i'm getting there just cant wait to unlock some new gear, I think that will help to give me a edge against these enemy's. The Moa's are still hard with there Rush skill but I've killed 2 already.