The Highlander is a dynamic and aggressive main battle class. A Highlander's stats, equipment, and role is similar to that of a Landsknecht, except for only wielding a spear and wearing medium armor. Highlander was originally introduced in Etrian Odyssey Untold as the Story Mode's main character, and could otherwise be accessed only by reclassing an existing character. They returned in Etrian Odyssey 2 Untold as a regularly recruitable class in Classic Mode after picking up a DLC, which was available for free until August 10, 2015. The DLC introduces two female and male palettes. The class was brought forward again into Nexus as a freely recruitable class.
Class Overview[]
The Highlander's prowess on the battlefield revolves around his passive skill Bloodlust, which grants a chance for a bonus normal attack against a random target every time he loses health. All monster attacks will work, even poison and curse damage, but so do many of his skills by consuming his HP. His attack skills are the main drain, taking off sizable percentages of his current HP, with modest TP costs. He can attack several enemies at once with his Thrust and Burst attacks, or coordinate immense single target burst damage through Delayed and Cross Charge. Most of his support skills also trigger Bloodlust by consuming his HP. Out of these, Bloody Offense is particularly strong and consumes only 10% current HP each turn it lasts, allowing him to attack while doing anything, even guarding. He can defend the party with Spirit Shield, assist in ailment infliction with Blood Fortune, or if he consumed his allies' HP, will restore their TP with Allied Bonds.
If these skills are performed excessively, the Highlander is prone to chewing through his HP and dying. He has other skills to use that also have downsides. He can heal everyone using Black Sabbath and Turning Tide, though Black Sabbath will pull ailments and binds the enemy is suffering onto the team. He can transfer his ailments back to the enemy with Stigmata. To show off the use of skills from other classes through Grimoire Stones, he has Limitless that functions as a charge skill, increasing potential burst damage while lifting weapon restrictions for the turn.
The Highlander's companions in Story Mode are well-suited for supporting him. Raquna can defend him with Front Guard while he takes on the enemy's attention, and takes the heat in his place when he runs low on health so Simon can heal him. Frederica also can heal him with Cover Fire, and the Highlander can follow up on her and Arthur's fire/ice/volt attacks with Spear Assist.
- Strengths: Fast, durable, and relentless attacker with a wide variety of powerful stab attacks with modest TP costs.
- Weaknesses: Constant HP consumption from skills and monster attacks demands healing, as well as other tradeoffs that altogether prove challenging to navigate.
Stat Progression[]
- Main article: Highlander/Stats#EOU
Level | HP | TP | STR | TEC | VIT | AGI | LUC |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 38 | 24 | 9 | 7 | 10 | 6 | 8 |
30 | 147 | 86 | 24 | 16 | 22 | 20 | 16 |
70 | 359 | 193 | 49 | 31 | 44 | 44 | 30 |
99 | 557 | 284 | 69 | 44 | 60 | 62 | 40 |
Skills[]
Skill | Description | Type | Requires | Extra |
---|---|---|---|---|
Spear Mastery | Enables spear skills and increases spear damage. | Mastery | None | Can be augmented with Grimoire Stones. |
Long Thrust | Ranged stab attack to 1 enemy. | Spear | Spear Mastery Lv1 | |
Draining Thrust | Melee stab attack to front enemy line. Consumes user's HP. | Spear | Spear Mastery Lv2 | |
Legion Thrust | Melee stab attack to front enemy line. Consumes party's HP. | |||
Draining Burst | Melee stab attack to all enemies. Consumes user's HP. | Spear | Draining Thrust Lv5 | |
Legion Burst | Melee stab attack to all enemies. Consumes party's HP. | Spear | Legion Thrust Lv5 | |
Head Pierce | Stab attack to 1 enemy. May cause head bind or instant death. | Spear | Spear Mastery Lv3 | Lv5 and 10 increase head bind and instant kill rate. |
Spear Assist | Slow melee stab attack to 1 enemy. If an ally has used an attack with an elemental component, it does increased damage and has that element. | Spear | Spear Mastery Lv5 | Only uses the last element used in the turn. |
Delayed Charge | Consumes user's HP for a ranged stab attack to 1 enemy 2 turns later. | Spear | Spear Mastery Lv10 | Damage increases with longer delay; Lv5 and 10 increase max delay. |
Cross Charge | Consumes user's HP for a fast melee stab attack to 1 enemy. Stronger with Delayed Charge. | Spear | Delayed Charge Lv3 | Immediately triggers Delayed Charge if both skills share a target. |
ATK Up | Raises physical attack. | Stat Up | None | |
Turning Tide | Recovers HP for all allies when user slays an enemy. | Passive | ATK Up Lv1 | |
Bloody Offense | For 3 turns, increases 1 line's offenses while causing them to lose HP when they act. | Buff | ATK Up Lv3 | Lv5 and 10 increase duration. |
Bloodlust | User may perform a normal attack whenever they lose HP. | Passive | Turning Tide Lv3 Bloody Offense Lv3 |
Retaliation cannot crit, but works with normal attack-augmenting skills. |
Stigmata | Binds user and an enemy, while also transferring user's ailments to target. | Battle | ATK Up Lv5 | |
DEF Up | Raises physical defense. | Stat Up | None | |
Battle Instinct | At the start of the battle, the party may be protected from the first ailment for 5 turns. | Passive | DEF Up Lv1 | |
Blood Fortune | Consumes party's HP to raise ailment success rate. | Buff | DEF Up Lv3 | |
Allied Bonds | When skills consume the user's HP, at the end of the turn, allies in their line recover TP. | Passive | Battle Instinct Lv3 Blood Fortune Lv3 |
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Spirit Shield | Consumes user's HP to raise one line's elemental defense for 3 turns. | Buff | DEF Up Lv5 | Lv5 and 10 increase duration. |
HP Up | Raises max HP. | Stat Up | None | |
Limitless | Charges for increased damage on next action, which can use other weapon skills. | Battle | HP Up Lv3 | |
Black Sabbath | Steals HP from enemy, restoring party HP but also transferring binds and ailments. | Battle | HP Up Lv10 | Cannot steal more HP than total ally HP. |
Mine | Allows the user to find more resources while mining. | Gather | None | Can be augmented with a Grimoire Stone. |
Grimoire Skills[]
Skills to generate and pass:
- Limitless: A charge skill that allows for a wider skill use. Unlike Charge (enemy skill), this applies for all attacks during the turn, with interesting applications with Bloodlust.
- Bloody Offense: Powerful attack boost, with a negligible HP cost.
Skills best used on the Highlander:
- Various non-stab attack skills: Increases the variety of damage types he can inflict besides Spear Assist.
- Formula Mastery (Alchemist): Raises elemental damage, and thus the power of Spear Assist.
- Aegis (Protector): The Highlander is a little fragile given how frequently he burns his own HP. Offset this by letting him resist death.
- Sagittarius Shot (Survivalist): Lv10 Delayed Charge → Limitless → Sagittarius Shot means that both attacks will connect at the same time with increased turn speed, doing a ridiculous amount of burst damage to a single enemy.
- Wrath Might (Dark Hunter): This passive can apply the moment your HP falls within the threshold, so the Highlander's HP-consuming skills will be incredibly powerful.
External Links[]
Profile[]
Other Highlanders are available for recruitment in The Fafnir Knight. Their stats and skills are almost unchanged from those of their tribesman in The Millennium Girl, only picking up the Force skills compensated by a scattering of nerfs. They are still most effective on the front line as the center of attention, where they deliver strong stab damage across many formations or focused against a single target. Remain mindful of their HP consumption, as improper timing can lead to disastrous results.
- Strengths: Fast, durable, and relentless attacker with a wide variety of powerful stab attacks with modest TP costs.
- Weaknesses: Constant HP consumption from skills and monster attacks demands healing, as well as other tradeoffs that altogether prove challenging to navigate.
- Force Boost - Hero Battle: For 3 turns, provides a 50% damage bonus to spears, and whenever the Highlander deals spear damage to enemies, the entire party is healed for 25% of the total.
- Force Break - Gae Bolg (uses arms, STR-based): Consumes entire party's HP for a powerful ranged stab attack to all enemies. Despite the description, this attack does not have an element at all, not even Almighty. As such, it is able to hurt Ur-Devil while he has his Ur-Eyes up.
Stat Progression[]
- Main article: Highlander/Stats#EO2U
Level | HP | TP | STR | TEC | VIT | AGI | LUC |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 38 | 24 | 9 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 6 |
30 | 144 | 116 | 24 | 15 | 20 | 20 | 14 |
70 | 352 | 268 | 49 | 31 | 42 | 43 | 28 |
99 | 547 | 355 | 68 | 43 | 59 | 61 | 39 |
Skills[]
Grimoire Stones[]
Skills to stack:
- Bloodlust: Though it can only activate once per turn, stacking sharply raises Bloodlust's trigger chance.
Skills to generate and pass on:
- Limitless: Used in specialized strategies that try to synergize multiple skills requiring different weapons.
External Links[]
Profile[]
The Highlanders have answered the call to Maginia with a few changes, but a very similar combat pattern. Their skill tree has been rearranged to fit Nexus's tiers and categories. Their new skills Bloody Veil and Spear Reversal and an increase to the HP costs of skills and Bloodlust's trigger chance amplifies the risks and rewards for their audacious position in combat. The potency of Hero Battle was reduced, but they gain Legion Charge as a new single-target option and Black Sabbath no longer pulls binds and ailments from the enemy. They lost the unimportant Stigmata, and subclasses in Nexus leave no purpose for Limitless.
- Strengths: Relentless, durable, and decently fast attacker with a wide variety of powerful stab attacks with modest TP costs.
- Weaknesses: Constant HP consumption from skills and monster attacks demands careful attention and healing.
- Force Boost - Hero Battle: For 3 turns, provides a 40% damage bonus to spears, and whenever the Highlander deals spear damage to enemies, the entire party is healed for 15% of the total.
- Force Break - Gae Bolg (uses arms, STR-based): Powerful ranged stab attack to all enemies, and recovers TP based on damage dealt.
Stat Progression[]
- Main article: Highlander/Stats#EON
Level | HP | TP | STR | INT | VIT | WIS | AGI | LUC |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 57 | 41 | 17 | 10 | 18 | 11 | 16 | 13 |
30 | 113 | 83 | 37 | 21 | 39 | 24 | 34 | 29 |
70 | 231 | 173 | 80 | 45 | 82 | 50 | 73 | 62 |
99 | 344 | 259 | 122 | 68 | 124 | 76 | 111 | 95 |
130 | 499 | 376 | 178 | 100 | 181 | 111 | 162 | 139 |
Skills[]
Subclassing[]
Subclasses for Highlander[]
Since Highlanders can launch all sorts of attack skills with their spears and can get no others from other classes, they primarily want passive improvements for their melee attacks and survivability, but a few skills support Bloodlust and similarly risky behavior.
- Protector as a subclass allows the Highlander to put their natural sturdiness to use as an offensive oriented tank. Ally Shield and Line Shield allow them to keep allies safe while taking advantage of Bloody Veil and Bloodlust. Shield Smite, Shield Bash, and Shield Flare expand their damage type options beyond Stab and Spear Assist without equipping a second weapon. HP Up, Phys DEF Up, Elem DEF Up, and Aegis all work together to increase the Highlander's tankiness and mitigate chance of death at low HP.
- Ronin, as a DPS class, offers simple skills: Phys ATK Up, Duel, and Speed Up. Upper Stance requires an equipped Katana, which might be just what a risk-taking Highlander wants.
- A War Magus subclass is chosen for the passives. The Highlander's own Blood Fortune will improve ailment accuracy of their allies, which then triggers the effects of Vampire, Rouse and Mind Drain. Vampire in particular is great for extra passive healing to offset HP drain. Stacking Phys ATK Up and HP Up are also good picks.
- Shogun offers several skills that encourage daredevil aggression, such as Peerless Demon that amplifies the multiple strikes Bloodlust can inflict throughout the turn. Both of those skills have outstanding synergy with the best one, Warrior Might, since each follow-up costs HP, and Hero Battle recovers the cost. Along the way, they get Command skills, which grant tactical utility.
- Landsknechts give very good passives in the form of Single Devotion, Initiative, and Proficiency if the Highlander is fast enough to get the jump on enemies. The Break debuffs off the Shield skills lets the Highlander use their shields for damage, adding another attack element to their repertoire and providing a debuff support dimension to their role.
- Pugilists offer Fighting Spirit which serves as a delayed damage boon after the Highlander performs an HP-consuming move. Stack HP Up for more bulk.
- Hero's Encourage line of passives is a tremendous asset for a Highlander along with Shield skills. Like Turning Tide, Encourage ensures an HP buffer when the Highlander consumes current HP % by restoring max HP % afterwards, also providing good sustain for the party along with Hero Battle. Heroic Bonds drives the Highlander forward while Heroic Steel and Great Bravery focus attention on the Highlander in dire situations.
Highlander as Subclass[]
The inverse from above, spear skills are generally a poor choice for other classes, but melee DPS classes can enjoy passives like Phys ATK Up, Phys DEF Up, Bloody Veil, HP Up, and access to Shields if they don't mind the speed penalty. You can also use Bloody Offense and Blood Fortune to buff the party. At half level, Bloodlust has just over 1/4 trigger chance.
- Protectors' attack skills are all focused on their shield, so Highlander's Spear skills don't interfere when they want more offense, vaguely coming to resemble Hoplites. Bloodlust also combines fantastically with Shield Flare and Line Shield for counterattacks.
- Shogun have the aforementioned synergy between Bloodlust, Peerless Demon, and Warrior Might. Additionally, Shogun are free to indulge in Spear skills, since they already handle two weapons proficiently. Whenever Shogun get the last hit with Execution (including allies), they trigger Turning Tide. A shield combined with their Cloth armor give them well-balanced defenses, and also enjoy passives raising their base stats.
- Imperials also benefit greatly from these passives and shield use to further raise their bulk. In between Drives, the Imperial can support their party with buffs.
- Pugilists looking to reclaim their Impact Brawler role find use in the Highlander's Bloodlust, Bloody Offense, and Bloody Veil. Blood Fortune is also good for amplifying their binding punches.
- Hero as the main class enjoys much more forgiving thresholds on their Encourage passives, drawing enemy attacks more reliably to their Afterimage, but Bloody Veil and Bloodlust will be weaker.
External Links[]
v · t · eEtrian Odyssey 2 Untold: The Fafnir Knight |
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Info Monsters • Weapons • Armor • Items • Accessories • Quests • Maps • Force • Floor Jump • Grimoire Stone
Ancient Forest • Auburn Thicket • Frozen Grounds • Petal Bridge • Heavenly Keep • Forbidden Wood • Ginnungagap • Dark Paradise
Characters Fafnir Knight • Flavio • Arianna Caledonia • Bertrand de Gervaise • Chloe • Regina Dubois • Artelinde • Der Freischutz
Landsknecht • Survivalist • Protector • Dark Hunter • Medic • Alchemist • Troubadour • Ronin • Hexer • Gunner • War Magus • Beast • Sovereign • Fafnir • Highlander
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v · t · eEtrian Odyssey Nexus |
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Info Missions • Quests • Weapons • Armor • Accessories • Items • Materials • Monsters • Locations • Force • Subclass
Protector • Medic • Survivalist • Ronin • Gunner • War Magus • Highlander • Sovereign • Ninja • ZodiacFarmer • Shogun • Landsknecht • Nightseeker • Arcanist • Imperial • Harbinger • Pugilist • Hero |