Imperial

An Imperial Knight. When raw force isn't sufficient, you aren't using enough.

Loyal knights who use a unique drive blade. Attacks with it can be devastating, but place a heavy burden on its inner workings.

—Imperial description, Etrian Odyssey IV

Imperials specialize in the ways of the Drive Blade. They can pinpoint, as well as abuse, an enemy's weakness, through either weakening the target or by unleashing a powerful elemental blow that deals intense damage. The class as a whole centers around damage spiking and dealing massive damage in one attack, rather than protracted damage over time.

• EO4
• EON

Overview

The main draw of the Imperials lie in the immense power of their Drive Blade skills, which can do immense amounts of damage, capable of reaching the thousands without needing any buffs. To offset this, the Drive skills come with incredibly long cooldown periods. To make up for this critical shortcoming, the Imperial backs this offense with lighter, faster attacks and abilities intended to cool down their weapon during rounds it's overheated.

Because of their heavy armor, they boast decent defense - third place behind the Fortress and Landsknecht, and they are capable of having higher defense than the latter if they take a subclass that enables shield use. Because Imperials have reduced defense on rounds they're preparing a Drive attack, however, this advantage isn't quite as pronounced as it otherwise could be. Imperials are resoundingly bad at crowd control without either subclassing or investing in Wide Effect, but their tremendous burst damage output makes them prime class selections for beating bosses.

• Strengths: Phenomenal strength of attack skills, capable of reaching thousands of damage without buffs.
• Weaknesses: Terrible Agility growth, long cooldown times between Drive skills, small TP pool.

To Unlock

Defeat Cradle Guardian and Guardian Head in B3F of the Echoing Library. After reporting to the Outland Count, you will obtain the "Drive Blade Key" which unlocks the Imperial Class. If you spared Logre after the boss fight with him, he also offers himself as a permanent party member as a Lv. 47 Imperial/Landsknecht.

Stat Progression

Main article: Imperial/Stats#EO4

Level	HP	TP	STR	TEC	VIT	AGI	LUC
1	47	24	9	8	7	4	5
35	231	85	37	30	33	22	20
70	420	148	64	53	59	40	36
99	576	177	81	72	76	51	50

Skill Tree

Skill	Description	Type	Prerequisites	Extra
NOVICE
Proficiency	Decreases the drive blade's cooldown time by 1 turn.	Class	None
Sharp Edge	Melee cut attack to 1 enemy. Reduces cooldown time by 1 turn.	Drive Blade	None
Impulse Edge	Melee cut attack to 1 enemy. Recovers your TP. Can only be used after Sharp Edge.	Drive Blade	Sharp Edge Lv2
Assault Drive	Slow but powerful melee cut attack to 1 enemy. Lowers DEF until use. 8-turn cooldown.	Drive Blade	None
Heat Sink	Reduces cooldown time by 3 turns.	Drive Blade	Assault Drive Lv2	Leveling reduces cost.
Rear Guard	Has 1 ally act last for 5 turns and increases their defenses.	Support	None
Power Boost	Increases your physical attack power.	Support	None
Mineralogy	Greater chance of finding extra ore when mining.	Passive	None
VETERAN
Expertise	Decreases the drive blade's cooldown time by an additional turn.	Class	Proficiency
Cool Edge	Melee cut attack to 1 enemy. Reduces cooldown by 2 turns. Can be used after Sharp Edge or Impulse Edge.	Drive Blade	Impulse Edge Lv2
Charge Edge	Melee cut attack to 1 enemy. Increases attack power next turn. Can be used after Sharp, Cool, or Impulse Edge.	Drive Blade	Cool Edge Lv2
Flame Drive	Slow but powerful melee fire cut attack to 1 enemy. Lowers DEF until use. 9-turn Cooldown.	Drive Blade	Heat Sink Lv2
Freeze Drive	Slow but powerful melee ice cut attack to 1 enemy. Lowers DEF until use. 9-turn Cooldown.
Shock Drive	Slow but powerful melee volt cut attack to 1 enemy. Lowers DEF until use. 9-turn Cooldown.
Hawkeye	Decreases 1 enemy's elemental defense for 3 turns.	Support	None	Does not increase untyped damage.
Absorber	Recover some TP after striking an enemy's weakness.	Passive	Hawkeye Lv2	Can be triggered by Burst skills, works on physical weaknesses, and stacks if a multi-hitting skill hits weaknesses.
Hunter Sense	Chance of gathering food without depleting the resource point.	Sky	None
MASTER
Enlightenment	Decreases the drive blade's cooldown time by an additional turn.	Class	Expertise
Ignition	Cools your drive blade and prevents it from overheating for 3 turns. Can only be used after overheating 4 times.	Drive Blade	None	Leveling reduces cost and number of overheats needed.
Overdrive	Null Ignition for ranged untyped attack to all enemies. Lowers DEF until use.	Drive Blade	Ignition Lv4	Not affected by Power Boost.
Finisher	Recover some TP when you defeat an enemy.	Passive	None	TP regain increases if multiple enemies are defeated at once.
Wide Effect	Skills that target 1 enemy may gain a splash effect.	Passive	Finisher Lv3
Accel Drive	Slow but powerful melee untyped cut attack to 1 enemy. Lowers DEF until use. 9-turn cooldown.	Drive Blade	None
Drive Mastery	The more your drive blade overheats in battle, the more damage you do.	Passive	Accel Drive Lv3	Damage boost stacks and caps at +100% damage.
Element Boost	Increases elemental and untyped attack power.	Passive	None

Combos

The following assume that Enlightenment has been attained by the Imperial for a 6-turn cooldown on elemental and Accel Drives.

• Drive → Sharp Edge → Heat Sink: Fastest combo that enables a Drive every 3 turns. High TP consumption - recommended only to quickly attain Ignition.
• Drive → Sharp Edge → Impulse Edge → Cool Edge: Standard cost-efficient combo that enables a Drive every 4 turns.
• Drive → Sharp Edge → Cool Edge → Charge Edge: Turn-efficient combo that enables a Charged Drive every 4 turns. Used if TP conservation is of low priority.
• Drive → Sharp Edge → Impulse Edge → Sharp Edge → Impulse Edge: Slightly longer combo that also allows for rapid TP regeneration.
• Drive → (action) → Sharp Edge → Cool Edge: For Imperials with a buff-related subclass, the free turn allows them to set up or support the party.

Subclassing

Subclasses for Imperials

Due to how they work and their limited weapon choices, Imperials are difficult to subclass. They benefit heaviest from classes that bolster their already-existing fighting power, and in very different ways. Some subclass examples following this are:

• Landsknecht: Covers one of the Imperial's main flaws by being able to act first even with Drive skills and increase their damage by doing so in the process (mainly thanks to Vanguard and Initiative), it also offers more AoE options with their sword skills during turns when the Drive is cooling down. Access to another Power Boost further raises their offense, and shield use and Iron Wall can further reinforce their defenses.
• Nightseeker: Mainly good thanks Follow Trace, you can obtain ridiculous results in both cooldown management and damage thanks to double skill casts. Barring that, there's no good benefit to taking a Nightseeker subclass.
• Fortress: Offers more defensive passives to help the Imperial survive on the front lines. HP Boost and Iron Wall, when combined with access to shields, offsets the defense penalty of any Drive skill. Knight's Boon helps in recovery from ailments and binds, shortening the time the Imperial is disabled.
• Runemaster: Offers the most direct benefits and enables the most powerful overall elemental damage exploitation thanks to Runic Guidance and Runic Flare, which greatly benefit the elemental drives. Free Energy is always helpful to a class that has to manage its TP cautiously, and TP Boost lets the Imperial fight for longer periods of time before needing to switch to Impulse Edge to regain TP. Even the elemental Runes can create weaknesses to trigger Runic Flare and Absorber to boost the damage through the roof.
• Bushi: Most efficient choice in general for raw damage, Blood Surge and Charge add obvious benefits to any Imperial's offensive arsenal which pay off very well in exchange for intensive TP consumption. Good execution and backup is needed to fully enjoy the benefits.

Imperials as Subclass

Because of how the Drive skills are built to synergize with the Imperial class skills for maximum damage, in addition to the fact that a class cannot dual wield while holding a Drive Blade, Imperials generally are not very good as a subclass. Exceptions do exist, however:

• Sword-based Landsknechts can take up the Drive Blade for massive spikes in elemental damage. They lose on Weapon Parry, but can still support with Power and Mind Break. Spiral Slice and Double Strike are still very good sword skills to use while waiting for the Drive Blade to cool down. Element Boost, a stacking Power Boost, and Absorber are also very useful for Link-based Landsknechts.
• Nightseekers lose out on dual-wielding, but their higher Follow Trace activation rate can either sharply increase the damage from the Drive skills, or double the effects of skills like Sharp Edge or Cool Edge to dramatically decrease the cooldown. When combined with their ailments and Foul Mastery, their burst damage can turn into a sight to behold.
• Runemasters offer the best synergy with Imperials, but not through use of the Drive Blade. Instead, the stacking Element Boost will further amplify their elemental damage, and Absorber increases their TP sustainability, even when hitting a weakness created by their runes. Finisher can also provide extra TP to keep them fighting longer. Wide Effect can also cause their more powerful single-target Runes to splash to enemies.

Overview

Imperials are largely unchanged from their debut incarnation. They still specialize in dealing massive amounts of damage with their Drive Blades, capable of hitting for tens of thousands of points. This comes with several downsides, as usual - despite access to heavy armor, the Imperials are vulnerable when preparing their slow Drive skills, and their very low Agility makes it likely their attacks miss entirely. Their low TP leads to problems in protracted fights, but that is easily remedied with their new Force Break.

• Strengths: Incredible damage spikes which are fantastic for burst parties
• Weaknesses: Terrible TP and Agility. Low Luck leads to vulnerability to ailments.
• Force Boost - Ignition: For 3 turns, the Drive Blade will not overheat.
• Force Break - Conversion: Greatly restores the Imperial's TP, and can push it past their maximum.

Stat Progression

Main article: Imperial/Stats#EON

Level	HP	TP	STR	INT	VIT	WIS	AGI	LUC
1	58	30	18	12	18	12	7	9
30	115	61	40	26	40	27	15	20
70	234	126	86	55	85	58	33	42
99	348	189	130	83	128	87	51	64
130	505	274	191	121	188	128	74	93

Skill Tree

"Edge" skills marked with Combo: require that the user has used a skill marked by Starter: in the previous turn. "Edge" skills marked with Final: require either a Combo: or Starter: skill used in the previous turn. You cannot use Combo: skills twice in a row.

Skill	Description	Type	Requires	Extra
Ignition	Cools user's drive blade, preventing it from overheating for 3 turns.	Force Boost	--	No effect if currently Overheated.
Conversion	Greatly restores user's TP, beyond MAX.	Force Break
NOVICE
Sharp Edge	Starter: Melee cut attack to 1 enemy. Reduces Overheat time by 1 turn.	Drive Blade	None
Natural Edge	Starter: Melee attack to 1 enemy with equipped weapon.
Blood Edge	Combo: Melee cut attack to 1 enemy. Restores user's HP for damage dealt.	Drive Blade	Sharp Edge Lv2 Natural Edge Lv2
Heavy Guard	For 3 turns, chosen ally gains boosted DEF, but will always act last.	Buff	None
Assault Drive	Slow but powerful melee cut to 1 enemy. DEF decreases until activation. Drive blade will Overheat for 7 turns.	Drive Blade	None
Heat Sink	Reduces Overheat time by 2 turns.	Drive Blade	Assault Drive Lv3	Lv4 and 7 increase overheat reduction.
Heat Shield	While user's blade is overheated, physical and elemental DEF increase.	Passive
Avenger	Restores user's HP when an ally is defeated.	Passive	None
Mine	Increases material yield from mining in the labyrinth.	Gather	None
VETERAN
Massive Edge	Starter: Melee cut attack to an enemy. Deals splash damage to adjacent targets.	Drive Blade	Blood Edge Lv3
Trip Edge	Starter: Melee cut to 1 enemy. May bind legs.			Lv4 and 8 increase leg bind rate.
Cool Edge	Combo: Melee cut attack to 1 enemy. Reduces Overheat time by 2 turns.	Drive Blade	Massive Edge Lv2
Impulse Edge	Combo: Melee cut attack to 1 enemy. Restores user's TP.	Drive Blade	Trip Edge Lv2
Intercooler	Boosts the effect of Drive skills. After levelling, also reduces Overheat duration.	Passive	Heat Sink Lv1 Heat Shield Lv1
Flame Drive	Slow but powerful melee cut/fire attack to 1 enemy. DEF decreases until activation. Drive blade will Overheat for 8 turns.	Drive Blade	Intercooler Lv3
Freeze Drive	Slow but powerful melee cut/ice attack to one target. DEF decreases until activation. Drive blade will Overheat for 8 turns.
Shock Drive	Slow but powerful melee cut/volt attack to one target. DEF decreases until activation. Drive blade will Overheat for 8 turns.
Status DEF Up	Increases bind/ailment resistance.	Stat Up	None
MASTER
Charge Edge	Final: Melee cut attack to 1 enemy. Raises user's ATK until end of next turn.	Drive Blade	Cool Edge Lv2	Lv6 increases attack boost.
Force Edge	Final: Melee cut to 1 enemy. Raises user's Force Gauge.	Drive Blade	Impulse Edge Lv2	Lv6 increases Force restoration.
HP Up	Increases maximum HP.	Stat Up	None
Accel Drive	Slow but incredibly powerful melee untyped cut attack to one target. DEF decreases until activation. Drive blade will Overheat for 9 turns.	Drive Blade	Flame Drive Lv1 Freeze Drive Lv1 Shock Drive Lv1
Absorber	Recover some TP after striking an enemy weakness.	Passive	None
Elem ATK Up	Raises elemental ATK.	Stat Up	None	Does not work with Accel Drive.

Combos

The following assume maximum investment in Intercooler for 6-turn overheats on elemental Drives and 7-turn overheats for Accel.

• Assault Drive → Heat Sink: Early-game combo for fast spamming of a Drive skill.
• Drive → Sharp Edge → Heat Sink: Fastest combo that enables a Drive every 3 turns. Compatible with either Elemental or Accel Drives.
• Elemental Drive → Sharp → Cool → Charge: Turn-efficient combo that enables a Charged Elemental Drive every 4 turns. High TP consumption.
• Accel Drive → (action) → Sharp → Cool → Charge: The extra turn for Accel Drive's cooldown frees up the Imperial to do anything, like establish a buff or restore TP, before the Edge combo.
• Elemental Drive → Sharp → Impulse → Sharp → Impulse: Slightly longer combo that also allows for rapid TP regeneration.
• Accel Drive → Sharp → Impulse → Sharp → Impulse → Charge: The longer cooldown for Accel Drive lets one fit in a Charge Edge for a giant burst after the combo.

Subclassing

Subclasses for Imperials

Their heavy Drive Blades makes them incompatible with a sub-weapon, thus limiting the subclasses they can pick. However, Drive Blades still count as swords for other skills, so not all hope is lost.

• Protectors supplant the Imperial's resilience with access to shields and various defense-increasing passives, offsetting the defense penalty of the Drive skills. Elemental Walls and Front Guard assist in tanking on odd turns between Drives.
• Ronin offer simple passives in the form of Phys ATK Up, Duel and Speed Up, letting an Imperial focus exclusively on their Drive skills. Speed Up is less important but makes the Imperial a little more accurate. A great subclass for the midgame.
• Gunners have a very helpful Phys ATK Up to improve all Drive skills and TP Up to improve the Imperial's stamina in battle. Act Quick in particular is excellent for preparing a Drive skill - cutting up to 40% off a costly 20-60 TP skill is a very big bargain, on top of letting the Imperial fire their Drive sooner. Rolling a Multi-Shot proc on a Drive skill will deliver a colossal amount of damage at once.
• Zodiacs are picked for elemental boost synergy. Singularity multiplies damage when striking elemental weaknesses, and TP Up raises the Imperial's battle stamina. It may be tempting to go for Free Energy, but its low proc rates and high skill point requirements deter many from investing towards it. Etheric Boon offers a stacking damage boost which greatly complements the Imperial's TP-hungry skills, and works with a max-level Charge Edge to deliver powerful blows.
• Landsknechts have the ever-important Vanguard which can be used to skip the Imperials' waiting time and vulnerability while preparing a Drive skill. Single Devotion can also support the strength of the otherwise overlooked Assault Drive. Access to shields and associated skills offer added defenses and other things to do while overheated.
• Heroes have a good spread of Shield and Sword skills, but the biggest attraction would possibly be using their Afterimage to replicate Drive skills. The afterimage rate is not as high as compared to a Hero main, which makes it difficult to manage a combo, but when it all connects it hits for tremendous damage. While waiting for the Drive to cool down, Shield skills can be used to defend a party that lacks a tank - the Imperial is less deterred by the low action speed.

Imperials as Subclass

Their Drive Blade focused skills tend to be very skill point intensive, so they're often picked for their passive skills, being one of the few sources of Elem ATK Up.

• Zodiacs take an Imperial subclass for the elemental passive boosting, and Absorber supports their stamina by refilling TP when striking weaknesses. HP Up also improves their resilience in battle.
• Link-focused Landsknechts will want the boost of Elem ATK Up to improve the strength of their links. Absorber will also give some TP sustain whenever they strike weaknesses, offsetting their small TP pool.
• Heroes take the Imperial subclass to combo Drive skills with a better Afterimage generation rate. The use of Drive Blades also grants them enormous ATK bonuses to further increase their damage.

Trivia

• The female Imperial designs bear resemblance to that of the female Protectors while the male Imperials resemble the War Magus and the Medic from EO and EOII.
• Princess Gradriel from Etrian Odyssey II is chronologically the first Imperial encountered in the series. In the Etrian Untold II artbook, it's explained that a quest wherein she joined the party as a guest was planned, but later scrapped; the document explaining that she was intended to be an Imperial.