Etrian Odyssey class tier list!

[Ein]

Etrian Odyssey 1

Broken Tier

Medic, the healing class - Immunize makes any battle incredibly trivial by lowering any type of damage by a certain percentage. Boosted Immunize reduces damage even more. Caduceus is one of the strongest attacks in the game should you choose to place your Medic on the front line. There's no reason to not use Caduceus unless you build a Medic meant for healing only.

Top Tier

Survivalist, the nimble archer class - They have the highest damage output thanks to Multishot and Apollon. 1st Turn let's anyone go first in battle useful for many things such as getting Immunize set up right away. Survivalists are also the best gatherers since they have access to all three gathering skills so making a gathering team is always a good idea but you really only need two Survivalist since when the gathering skills are at level 10 each Survivalist can gather 20 items for each resource.

Landskecht, the warrior class - They specialize in swords and axes. With swords they have access to to skills that can deal with random encounters much easier such as Allslash, Blazer, Freezer, and Shocker. Allslash in particular is probably their best attack skill with the ability to hit 3 enemies and at level 10 it gains a 50% chance to hit a fourth enemy. With axes they have access to much stronger attack skills that hit only one enemy which is prefect for FOEs and bosses. Crush is the Landskecht's strongest attack skill. Choosing to specialize in either is fine and you can even build a Hybridshark to utilize Allslash for random encounters and Crush for FOEs and bosses. Just bring a sword or axe along for when the need arises.

Troubadour, the support class - Troubadours lack any attack skill but make up for it with their songs. Bravery, Regen, and Relaxing are their best skills. Bravery increases the parties attack by 40%, Regen recovers HP over time, and Relaxing recovers TP over time. Troubadours also vital for some of the super bosses and the later strata, the 5th and 6th in particular. Erasure removes several buffs depending on its level but leaving it at level 1 or 3 is fine. Also, one thing to take note is that their songs wn' go away aafter 5 turns like every other buff unless it is removed by the enemy somehow.

Protector, the damage tanking class - As their name suggests Protector's keep your party alive by utilizing their defensive skills to reduce damage or negate all together. They only have one attack skill, Smite. A Protector must have a shield equipped to use it as well as any other skill and while the requirements to unlock the skill is steep it is absolutely worth it. Defender is what really makes the Protector class stand out as it reduces physical damage. But if you have a Medic, and you will, you should probably invest the skill points into something else. Protector's can also serve as a secondary healer as they access to Cure 1 and 2 but they aren't effective healers. Doesn't help that you'd rather have them Smite or use a defensive skill instead. Protector's are practically required to take on any of the super bosses after beating the game. Their Antifire/cold/volt skills negate any damage of the appropriate attack but keep in mind that if you raise any of them above level 5 they will become rather useless thanks to a bug.

Mid Tier

Alchemist, the spell casting class - Alchemists are the Black Mage of the game. They use Fire, Ice, Volt, and Poison spells. Using an Alchemist who uses all three elemental spells is good as you'll find many enemies weak to certain elements. They have three spell tiers. The first being the weakest and targets only one enemy, the second being stronger and targets one enemy, and the third being somewhere in the middle but hits all of the enemies. Their poison spells are good... for the first 2 strata. Unfortunately the damage caused by poison is fixed and while it will one shot most random enemies in the first two strata it will lose effectiveness once you reach the third stratum.

Dark Hunter, the bondage multipurpose status inflicting class - Ah yes my favorite bondage themed class. Dark Hunters specialize in whips and swords. With whips Dark Hunters gain access to to bind skills, appropriately named thanks to their theme. They also gain access to Viper which can double as a low TP cost attack with a chance to poison the target as well as Ectasy, wait for it, which is their strongest attack skill that can only be used when an enemy has its head, arms, and legs bound so good luck with that. Climax is probably their more useful whip skill as it instantly kills an enemy when their health is bellow 15%.

With swords Dark Hunters gain access to attack skills that can inflict a variety of status inflictions. Their most useful sword skill is Drain as it deal damage and heals the Dark Hunter. Dark Hunters also gain access to Bait, a powerful skill that deals damage to the enemy if their fellow party members on the same row are attacked.

Why couldn't you have been awesome? Tier

Ronin, the glass cannon class - Ronin wield katanas. And because of that they are obviously much stronger than any other sword wielder. Now Ronin are actually pretty good. They have the strongest weapon type and one the strongest attack skills, Midareba. The problem is that Ronin must assume a stance that takes up a turn and a buff slot. This slows down battles considerably and in a game in that each battle must end as quickly as possible they aren't exactly helping. In longer battles the constant need to refresh the stance and their low durability makes them more of hindrance than anything. Not only that but if their buffs are removed they must assume the proper stance once again to use any skill associated with that stance. Unfortunately Ronin just aren't as effective as Landskechts or Survivalists in battle.

Hexer, the pure status inflicting class - Oh Hexers... How you could have been amazing. Hexers specialize in status afflictions and have the highest chance to inflict them than any other class. While in random encounters they can prove to be useful it's with FOEs and bosses where their faults are most evident. FOEs and bosses have a much higher resistance to any status infliction in that it's just better to have other classes attack until they can no longer attack. Hexers do have an attack skill, Revenge. The damage by this attack is dependent on the Hexers current HP. The lower it is the stronger it becomes. Not only that but it ignores any damage resistance an enemy has. The problem is that some bosses have such high HP and so many attacks that hit the whole party you'll probably be reviving your Hexer just to use Revenge. This is an even bigger problem with the super bosses as they have high HP and attack the whole party most of the time. *sadness*

And with that out of the way. What set up is the considered the best party?

Well here it is:

Front row - Protector/Landskecht/(Combat Medic)

Back row - Survivalist/Alchemist or Troubadour/(Medic)

This party can you through the main and post game just fine. As for the post game bosses...

Front row - Protector with each Anti skill at level 5/ Landskecht with maxed out Allslash/Crush more maximum damage/ Combat Medic with maxed out Immunize, Caduceus, Salve 2

Back row - Survivalist with maxed out Multishot, Apollon and 1st Turn at level 5/ Troubadour with maxed out Bravery, Regen, Relaxing and Erasure.

Etrian Odyssey 2

Broken Tier

Hexer

Dark Hunter

Top Tier

Protector

Ronin

War Magus, the bulkier healing and support class

Gunner, the slow but powerful glass cannon

Mid Tier

Troubadour

Heal bot Tier

Medic

At least you can gather stuff Tier

Survivalist

Why are we here again? Tier

Alchemist

Beast, the "better" tanking class

Landskecht

Reasons to be posted later.

Edited August 29, 2010 by Ein Silver Rose

[General Spoon]

Here, let me help you with those reasons:

EO 1

Medic: Lol immunize.

Survivalist: Lol DPS+Utility

You can do the rest.

[Original Alear]

Survivalist to top tier. They have great damage output, but they're not absolutely broken like Medic's immunize is.

[Ein]

Hmm... Good point. I'll make the change later.

[Parrhesia]

Landsknechts went from the best to the worst? 'Kay.

Also, a class with a vague possibility of archery is good. That's good.