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Class Showcase: Hoplite
Hoplites were known as Phalanxes in Japan. They're the tank class in this game, which means their role is to protect the party and provide defensive support. For you EO1 and 2 players, they're essentially Protectors.
In the early game, when your party is weak and fragile and can drop dead in a few hits, these guys can take the heat off of them and let them live a little longer. As the game goes on, they should be getting more defensive skills and can do a much better job of protecting the party. Thankfully they stay relevant all game, and pretty much become incredibly hard to take down late game. By the post-game, not having one in the party is a bad idea since some of their defensive skills are practically required in a few specific fights. With that said, their skills aren't exactly too effective at low levels. They need to max out a lot of skills in order to truly be effective, so they're a really skill point hungry class as a result.
They are definitely a must have class since the amount of defensive support they provide is fantastic. You can get by without one, but they just make things so much more convenient. This is probably the game where the tank class was at their peak in effectiveness.
Equipment:
Weapons: Swords, Spears, Daggers, and Books.
Armor: Heavy Armor, Light Armor, Shields, Gloves, Boots, and Accessories.
Stats
Level 1
HP: 50
TP: 24
STR: 8
VIT: 11
AGI: 3
LUC: 6
TEC: 6
Level 35
HP: 254
TP: 95
STR: 24
VIT: 40
AGI: 23
LUC: 31
TEC: 26
Level 70
HP: 464
TP: 169
STR: 41
VIT: 70
AGI: 43
LUC: 56
TEC: 46
Level 99
HP: 595
TP: 215
STR: 52
VIT: 89
AGI: 56
LUC: 67
TEC: 59
Hoplites are very durable and beefy. They have the 3rd highest HP stat out of all the classes, and the highest VIT stat in the game. Their STR is really lacking, so they don't make for good physical attackers. Their AGI is sub-par, but that rarely matters in most cases since their defensive skills have high action speed bonuses. Of course if they have to do anything else, don't expect them to get it done quickly, what with their heavy armor and equipment weighing them down. Their TP pool is also lacking, which is bad since they want to use skills very often.
Guardian
Skill Type: Class Skill
Maximum Level: 10
Stats Used: N/A
Prerequisites: N/A
This Class Skill passively decreases the amount of physical damage the Hoplite takes. Higher levels increase the damage reduction. Has no effect on elemental or Almighty damage. Stacks with Shield Mastery.
1: 10% damage reduction.
2: 13% damage reduction.
3: 16% damage reduction.
4: 19% damage reduction.
5: 22% damage reduction.
6: 25% damage reduction.
7: 28% damage reduction.
8: 32% damage reduction.
9: 36% damage reduction.
10: 40% damage reduction.
Want your Hoplite to be even more durable? Then max out this skill! Erm, later on in the game. Not like early on, since it won't have too much of an effect at that point. Do take a single level in this early, since it does give you a large gain at that point. Hoplites are already plenty durable, so I wouldn't consider this a number 1 priority. But I wouldn't recommend skipping it.
Shield Mastery
Skill Type: Passive
Maximum Level: 10
Stats Used: N/A
Prerequisites: N/A
This passive decreases the amount of physical damage the user takes when equipped with a shield. Higher levels increase the damage reduction. Has no effect on elemental or Almighty damage. Stacks with Guardian.
If the user cannot equip Shields normally, this skill enables them to do so.
1: 1% damage reduction.
2: 2% damage reduction.
3: 3% damage reduction.
4: 4% damage reduction.
5: 5% damage reduction.
6: 6% damage reduction.
7: 7% damage reduction.
8: 8% damage reduction.
9: 9% damage reduction.
10: 10% damage reduction.
An equipment mastery skill that honestly doesn't do much. Don't invest in this more than you need to. While this affects more than regular attacks, the damage reduction each skill point provides is miniscule. If you want the physical damage reduction, invest in Guardian instead.
Spear Mastery
Skill Type: Passive
Maximum Level: 10
Stats Used: N/A
Prerequisites: N/A
This weapon mastery skill increases the damage output of regular attacks when using a Spear. Higher levels increase the damage output. Does not affect skills.
If the user cannot equip Spears normally, this skill enables them to do so.
1: 2% damage boost.
2: 3% damage boost.
3: 4% damage boost.
4: 5% damage boost.
5: 6% damage boost.
6: 7% damage boost.
7: 8% damage boost.
8: 9% damage boost.
9: 10% damage boost.
10: 11% damage boost.
Like all weapon mastery skills, you shouldn't invest in it more than necessary. Actually, you shouldn't invest in this at all. Hoplites are terrible at dealing damage, and most of the time you want them to be using a defensive skill, not an offensive one. And their spear skills aren't worth it at all. They don't do enough damage to be worthwhile. In fact, I recommend skipping out on the Spear skill branch entirely. Hoplites are greedy when it comes to skill points, and any points in Spear skills can be better spent elsewhere.
Recuperate
Skill Type: Passive
Maximum Level: 10
Stats Used: N/A
Prerequisites: Shrug Off – Level 3
When the Hoplite uses the Defend command, they recover HP. Higher levels increase the amount of HP restored.
1: Restores 10 HP.
2: Restores 15 HP.
3: Restores 20 HP.
4: Restores 25 HP.
5: Restores 30 HP.
6: Restores 35 HP.
7: Restores 40 HP.
8: Restores 45 HP.
9: Restores 50 HP.
10: Restores 60 HP.
Not really a great passive. The HP restoration falls off as the game goes on, and Hoplites aren't gonna be using the Defend command too much. Have an actual healer restore your HP, or use items. Just spend your skill points on something else.
Parry/Magic Parry
Skill Type: Passive
Maximum Level: 5
Stats Used: N/A
Prerequisites: Provoke – Level 5
Whenever the Hoplite gets targeted with a physical/elemental attack, they have a chance to nullify the attack completely. Higher levels increases the activation rate. Neither skill has an effect on Almighty attacks. If these skills activate, they will not cause Karuwaza to activate. Parry can nullify the effects of Kaishaku.
1: 4% activation rate.
2: 7% activation rate.
3: 10% activation rate.
4: 14% activation rate.
5: 18% activation rate.
Two fantastic passives that greatly increase your Hoplite's survivability. Magic Parry is especially great since there's not too many ways to increase their defenses against elemental attacks, and their TEC stat isn't too stellar. Unfortunately, they have no effect on Almighty attacks. These abilities can also kick in when the Hoplite is using Bodyguard, making that ability even more useful. They are definite must haves.
Line Guard
Skill Type: Active
Maximum Level: 10
Equipment Needed: Shield
Body Part: Arm
Stats Used: N/A
Target Type: Row
Action Speed: +30
Prerequisites: Shield Mastery – Level 1
Decreases the amount of physical damage dealt to a row for 1 turn. If the Hoplite casts this skill on their own row, the damage will be reduced even further. Higher levels increase the damage reduction. Has no effect on elemental or Almighty attacks.
1: 10% base damage reduction. Increases to 23% if cast on their own row. Costs 3 TP.
2: 11% base damage reduction. Increases to 26% if cast on their own row. Costs 3 TP.
3: 12% base damage reduction. Increases to 29% if cast on their own row. Costs 4 TP.
4: 13% base damage reduction. Increases to 31% if cast on their own row. Costs 4 TP.
5: 14% base damage reduction. Increases to 34% if cast on their own row. Costs 5 TP.
6: 16% base damage reduction. Increases to 37% if cast on their own row. Costs 5 TP.
7: 18% base damage reduction. Increases to 40% if cast on their own row. Costs 6 TP.
8: 20% base damage reduction. Increases to 43% if cast on their own row. Costs 6 TP.
9: 22% base damage reduction. Increases to 46% if cast on their own row. Costs 7 TP.
10: 25% base damage reduction. Increases to 50% if cast on their own row. Costs 9 TP.
A little note about skills that get a bonus under certain conditions, like damage or defense. How this is coded in the game is that there's a base value, and then a multiplier that applies the bonus when the condition applies. So if some numbers for certain skills look a little off to you, that's why.
A very handy skill, and one that I recommend maxing out first. There are a lot of physical attacks that get thrown around in the game, and this skill help a lot against those. It even stacks with any physical defense buffs, making your team even harder to kill.
Anifire/Anticold/Antivolt
Skill Type: Active
Maximum Level: 10
Equipment Needed: Shield
Body Part: Arm
Stats Used: N/A
Target Type: AOE
Action Speed: +30
Prerequisites: Shield Mastery – Level 5
Decreases the amount of Fire/Ice/Volt damage dealt to the party for 1 turn. Higher levels increase the damage reduction. At max level, these skills will nullify the effects of the attacks entirely, including any secondary effects that may be part of those attacks.
1: 10% damage reduction. Costs 4 TP.
2: 15% damage reduction. Costs 4 TP.
3: 20% damage reduction. Costs 5 TP.
4: 25% damage reduction. Costs 5 TP.
5: 30% damage reduction. Costs 6 TP.
6: 36% damage reduction. Costs 6 TP.
7: 42% damage reduction. Costs 7 TP.
8: 48% damage reduction. Costs 7 TP.
9: 55% damage reduction. Costs 8 TP.
10: Attack is completely nullified. Costs 12 TP.
If you played the first two games, you'd know that these are absolutely vital for a few key fights in the post-game. However, they weren't too useful outside of those situations, because outside of those fights, enemies rarely used elemental attacks. This is no longer the case in this game. The devs gave more enemies, FOEs, and bosses access to elemental attacks, and as a result, these skills turned out to be completely broken. Turns out that being able to completely nullify attacks of a specific damage type, and making several battles trivial because the party took no damage whatsoever, was a bad idea. These skills were so broken that they ended up getting kicked out of the series when Etrian Odyssey 4 came out. They came back in Untold, but got nerfed big time. (The effect only activates once per character.)
So yeah, you want these maxed out. But they're pretty costly, and maxing them all out takes 30 skill points. So which ones do you work on first? That depends entirely on how you play the game. If you're doing Sea Quests as you go along, you want Antifire to be at a decent level by the time you get to the Ghost Ship Sea Quests. You definitely want it maxed out before the end of the 4th Stratum. Or depending on how you played the game, you want Anticold maxed out by that point instead. For Antivolt, you want it masted before you enter the 5th Stratum. At any rate, they're very strong skills that will make life easier for your party.
Bodyguard
Skill Type: Active
Maximum Level: 10
Equipment Needed: Shield
Body Part: Arm
Stats Used: VIT, TEC
Target Type: Single
Action Speed: +30
Prerequisites: Shield Mastery – Level 3
For one turn, the Hoplite protects an ally, taking damage in their place and takes a reduced amount of damage from physical attacks. It will also protect the targeted ally from ailments and binds, as long as they were part of a secondary effect for an attack. Higher levels increase the damage reduction. The damage reduction does not take place if the Hoplites get targeted. Cannot be used on themselves. Has no effect on elemental or Almighty attacks. If the Hoplite gets incapacitated through the use of an ailment or an Arm bind, then the Hoplite will stop protecting the ally in the middle of the turn. Cannot be used on dead allies.
1: 30% damage reduction. Costs 4 TP.
2: 33% damage reduction. Costs 4 TP.
3: 36% damage reduction. Costs 5 TP.
4: 39% damage reduction. Costs 5 TP.
5: 42% damage reduction. Costs 6 TP.
6: 45% damage reduction. Costs 6 TP.
7: 48% damage reduction. Costs 7 TP.
8: 52% damage reduction. Costs 7 TP.
9: 56% damage reduction. Costs 8 TP.
10: 60% damage reduction. Costs 8 TP.
Without question, this is one of the Hoplite's best skills. Being able to completely protect one of your characters from an attack has so many uses. It can be used to help someone set up Berserker's Vow safely for one. It can help keep Royal Veil in effect. It can even help an Arbalist use Front Mortar safely, and not have them worry about being taken down on the front lines. Really, there are a lot of ways to use this skill, and it's an absolute must have. However, it's probably a one point wonder in terms of levels, since increasing the level of this skill only increases the damage reduction. And Hoplites are already pretty durable, so it's not like maxing this out is necessary. But whether you take one point in it or max it out is up to you.
Overwatch
Skill Type: Active
Maximum Level: 5
Equipment Needed: Shield
Body Part: Arm
Stats Used: HP
Target Type: Single
Action Speed: +30
Prerequisites: Shield Mastery – Level 8, Selflessness – Level 3
For one turn, the Hoplite protects an ally, nullifying any damage they take if the damage dealt would have exceeded the Hoplite's current amount of HP. If the damage dealt is below the Hoplite's current HP total, then this skill has no effect and the chosen ally takes the full amount of damage. Higher levels only decrease the TP cost. Cannot be used on themselves. Cannot be used on dead allies.
1: Costs 18 TP.
2: Costs 15 TP.
3: Costs 12 TP.
4: Costs 9 TP.
5: Costs 6 TP.
This skill is way too situational to make good use of. It's essentially an all or nothing gamble, and honestly, you're better off using Bodyguard most of the time. You have no idea if your chosen ally will be attacked that turn, and this does nothing to protect the Hoplite from an attack. I wouldn't write off this skill completely though, since there's one fight in the game where this shines.
Switch Stab
Skill Type: Active
Maximum Level: 10
Equipment Needed: Spear
Body Part: Leg
Stats Used: STR
Target Type: Single
Action Speed: 0
Prerequisites: Spear Mastery – Level 1
A ranged Pierce attack that hits a single enemy, and moves the Hoplite to the other row at the same time. If there is no empty slot in the other row, then the Hoplite will not switch rows. Increasing the level of the skill increases the damage and accuracy.
1: Deals 110% damage. Has a Hit Rate of 98. Costs 5 TP.
2: Deals 113% damage. Has a Hit Rate of 98. Costs 5 TP.
3: Deals 116% damage. Has a Hit Rate of 99. Costs 6 TP.
4: Deals 122% damage. Has a Hit Rate of 99. Costs 6 TP.
5: Deals 128% damage. Has a Hit Rate of 100. Costs 7 TP.
6: Deals 136% damage. Has a Hit Rate of 100. Costs 7 TP.
7: Deals 142% damage. Has a Hit Rate of 101. Costs 8 TP.
8: Deals 148% damage. Has a Hit Rate of 101. Costs 8 TP.
9: Deals 154% damage. Has a Hit Rate of 102. Costs 9 TP.
10: Deals 160% damage. Has a Hit Rate of 102. Costs 9 TP.
Ugh, Spear skills. This one at least has some utility in that it lets the Hoplite switch rows while attacking. Still, I'd skip out on this one.
Blitzritter
Skill Type: Active
Maximum Level: 10
Equipment Needed: Spear
Body Part: Leg
Stats Used: STR
Target Type: Single
Action Speed: 0
Prerequisites: Spear Mastery – Level 5
A ranged Volt/Pierce attack that deals damage to a single enemy. Higher levels increase the damage output and accuracy.
1: Deals 120% damage. Has a Hit Rate of 95. Costs 7 TP.
2: Deals 127% damage. Has a Hit Rate of 95. Costs 7 TP.
3: Deals 134% damage. Has a Hit Rate of 96. Costs 8 TP.
4: Deals 141% damage. Has a Hit Rate of 96. Costs 8 TP.
5: Deals 148% damage. Has a Hit Rate of 97. Costs 9 TP.
6: Deals 155% damage. Has a Hit Rate of 97. Costs 9 TP.
7: Deals 162% damage. Has a Hit Rate of 98. Costs 10 TP.
8: Deals 169% damage. Has a Hit Rate of 98. Costs 10 TP.
9: Deals 177% damage. Has a Hit Rate of 99. Costs 11 TP.
10: Deals 185% damage. Has a Hit Rate of 99. Costs 11 TP.
Meh. You really shouldn't be using your Hoplites to fight stuff. 185% isn't a whole lot of damage.
Long Stride
Skill Type: Active
Maximum Level: 10
Equipment Needed: Spear
Body Part: Leg
Stats Used: STR
Target Type: AOE
Action Speed: -3
Prerequisites: Spear Mastery – Level 7, Switch Stab – Level 3
A ranged Pierce attack that deals damage to every enemy in the battle. If the Hoplite uses this skill from the back row, then they deal more damage. Increasing the level of the skill increases the damage and accuracy.
1: Deals 70% damage. Damage increases to 105% if used from the back row. Has a Hit Rate of 90. Costs 12 TP.
2: Deals 74% damage. Damage increases to 113% if used from the back row. Has a Hit Rate of 91. Costs 12 TP.
3: Deals 78% damage. Damage increases to 121% if used from the back row. Has a Hit Rate of 92. Costs 13 TP.
4: Deals 82% damage. Damage increases to 130% if used from the back row. Has a Hit Rate of 93. Costs 13 TP.
5: Deals 86% damage. Damage increases to 139% if used from the back row. Has a Hit Rate of 94. Costs 14 TP.
6: Deals 90% damage. Damage increases to 148% if used from the back row. Has a Hit Rate of 95. Costs 14 TP.
7: Deals 95% damage. Damage increases to 159% if used from the back row. Has a Hit Rate of 96. Costs 15 TP.
8: Deals 100% damage. Damage increases to 172% if used from the back row. Has a Hit Rate of 97. Costs 15 TP.
9: Deals 105% damage. Damage increases to 184% if used from the back row. Has a Hit Rate of 98. Costs 16 TP.
10: Deals 110% damage. Damage increases to 198% if used from the back row. Has a Hit Rate of 99. Costs 16 TP.
This is the Hoplite's strongest damage skill. And it only deals a measly 198% damage at level 10. When other classes can deal far more damage than that. Skip this skill.
Shrug Off
Skill Type: Active
Maximum Level: 10
Equipment Needed: N/A
Body Part: N/A
Stats Used: N/A
Target Type: Self
Action Speed: 0
Prerequisites: N/A
Dispels all ailments and binds the Hoplite has. Increasing the skill level only decreases the TP cost.
1: Costs 12 TP.
2: Costs 10 TP.
3: Costs 8 TP.
4: Costs 6 TP.
5: Costs 4 TP.
A handy skill which lets your Hoplite recover from a lot of ailments and helps them get back to work. Since this is an active skill, this can't dispel Petrification, Sleep, Panic, and Paralysis if the effect on that ailment activates. It doesn't even use a body part, so binds can't stop them from using this. I wouldn't max this out, but it's probably worth having a point in.
Selflessness
Skill Type: Active
Maximum Level: 10
Equipment Needed: N/A
Body Part: Head
Stats Used: HP
Target Type: Self
Action Speed: +6
Prerequisites: N/A
The Hoplite sacrifices half of their maximum HP to increase their physical defense for 4 turns. The HP loss cannot kill the Hoplite. Higher levels increases the damage reduction. Has no effect on elemental or Almighty damage.
1: 40% damage reduction. Costs 5 TP.
2: 43% damage reduction. Costs 5 TP.
3: 46% damage reduction. Costs 6 TP.
4: 49% damage reduction. Costs 6 TP.
5: 52% damage reduction. Costs 7 TP.
6: 55% damage reduction. Costs 7 TP.
7: 58% damage reduction. Costs 8 TP.
8: 62% damage reduction. Costs 8 TP.
9: 66% damage reduction. Costs 9 TP.
10: 70% damage reduction. Costs 10 TP.
I don't think this skill is really that necessary. It's a little tricky to set up, and Hoplites are already a durable class. It's mainly meant for setup with Overwatch, but Overwatch isn't a must have skill, and if you need a defense buff, there are safer ways to set one up.
Provoke
Skill Type: Active
Maximum Level: 10
Equipment Needed: N/A
Body Part: Head
Stats Used: N/A
Target Type: Self
Action Speed: +6
Prerequisites: N/A
The Hoplite grabs the enemy's attention and makes them more likely to be targeted for 4 turns. Increasing the level increases the maximum aggro value. The minimum aggro value for all skill levels is 3 and cannot be raised. Only works on single (also includes attacks that deal splash damage) and random target skills. Does not work on row target, multi-target, or AOE attacks. Does not stack with other provoke skills.
1: Maximum aggro value of 5. Costs 3 TP.
2: Maximum aggro value of 6. Costs 3 TP.
3: Maximum aggro value of 7. Costs 4 TP.
4: Maximum aggro value of 8. Costs 4 TP.
5: Maximum aggro value of 9. Costs 5 TP.
6: Maximum aggro value of 10. Costs 5 TP.
7: Maximum aggro value of 11. Costs 6 TP.
8: Maximum aggro value of 12. Costs 6 TP.
9: Maximum aggro value of 13. Costs 7 TP.
10: Maximum aggro value of 15. Costs 7 TP.
Okay, time to talk about how the enemy targeting AI works in this game. Basically, when an enemy starts their attack, each party member is assigned a random number from 0 to 4. This is known as their aggro value. Then the enemy decides to target the front or back row. The party member with the highest amount of HP in that row gets a random number from 0 to 6 added to their aggro value. The party member with the highest aggro value will then be attacked. Provoke adds a random number from 3 to the maximum aggro value on the skill, so a level 10 Provoke can add a number ranging from 3 to 15 to the user's aggro value, making them much more likely to be targeted.
So Provoke is pretty handy in taking the heat off of your more fragile party members, and will make life easier in the early game. Past that, it falls off in usefulness slightly, but it remains relevant throughout the entire game. Especially since it works on random target attacks, which the later enemies and bosses will start making use of. Whether you max this out or not is up to you.
Vigilance
Skill Type: Active, Field Skill
Maximum Level: 5
Equipment Needed: N/A
Body Part: N/A
Stats Used: N/A
Target Type: N/A
Action Speed: N/A
Prerequisites: N/A
This skill lowers the encounter rate for a short period of time. Higher levels decrease the encounter rate and increases the duration of the skill.
1: Decreases the encounter rate by 30%. Lasts for 30 steps. Costs 6 TP.
2: Decreases the encounter rate by 40%. Lasts for 40 steps. Costs 7 TP.
3: Decreases the encounter rate by 50%. Lasts for 50 steps. Costs 8 TP.
4: Decreases the encounter rate by 60%. Lasts for 60 steps. Costs 9 TP.
5: Decreases the encounter rate by 70%. Lasts for 80 steps. Costs 10 TP.
Oh boy, a field skill that decreases the amount of exp my party can get. Not that useful unless you really hate random encounters, and just want to grind on other stuff later on. Vigilance isn't that great at what it does either. Also if you hate random encounters, you can just run from them since the escape rates are heavily skewed in the player's favor. Just don't waste your skill points on this.
As for how the encounter rate works in the Etrian Odyssey games, basically stepping on a tile in the Labyrinth will increase a counter by a certain amount. This amount ranges from 0 to 5 depending on what tile you stepped on. Once the counter surpasses a certain threshold, you'll get into a battle. How Vigilance factors into this is that the number that gets added to the counter is multiplied by the skill power of Vigilance. So if a level 5 Vigilance was in effect, and I stepped on a tile that added 4 to the counter, it would get lowered to a value of 1 after rounding (Etrian Odyssey rounds down in its formulas.) This repeats until the effect wears off.
Subclasses:
Prince/ss:
Honestly, this combination is better the other way around. Prince/ss is already a greedy class when it comes to skill points, and combining two very skill point hungry classes will not have good results. And the Hoplite doesn't really have the TP to make use of those skills often. In fact, you might end up giving your Hoplite too much to do with this combo, since they want to use their own skills a lot as well. Still, there are a nice set of support skills a Hoplite can make use of if you wish to sub them as a Prince/ss.
Gladiator:
White Flame and Wolf Howl could be useful, but that's about it. White Flame won't do anything about binds, and Wolf Howl doesn't do that much unless you inflict an ailment. Really this subclass doesn't have much to offer. You could use Berserker's Vow to make sure Overwatch activates often, but if anything decides to target your Hoplite in that case, they're goners.
Buccaneer:
Eagle Eye is a very nice support skill that lets your party do more damage, and Limit Boost and adds to a Hoplite's support capabilities, since it lets them fire off a Limit every 7 turns.
Ninja:
Probably the best subclass for a Hoplite. Ninjas have a passive that increases the user's evasion, which will turn the Hoplite into a dodge tank on top of being a tank, making them even harder to kill. Not only that, they also have a passive that restores their TP every time they dodge an attack, which helps the Hoplite a lot with their TP problems. I haven't even gotten to the best part. Bunshin lets the Hoplites do their jobs even better, since you'll have 2 tanks to work with! That skill opens up a lot of possibilities for a Hoplite, since one of the clones could use an Anti skill, and the other can do whatever's appropriate to make your party even harder to kill. You can Bodyguard 2 party members at once with this as well. Mind you the problem with Bunshin is finding a good time to use it, since Hoplites will be very busy a lot of the time.
Monk:
Waking Chakra could be handy for them, and Ascetic Deeds combos very nicely with the nature of the class. But don't expect them to be great healers with their mediocre TEC stat.
Zodiac:
I guess if you intend on turning your Hoplite into a damage dealer and have them make heavy use of Blitzritter, then this would be a good sub for them. What with Singularity, and Etheric Charge and all. Utility wise, Zodiacs have little to offer. The Prophecies are inferior to the Anti-elemental skills, and they take more skill points to acquire. Dark Ether shenanigans are best done by a different class.
Wildling:
Can't think of what to sub your Hoplite as? Then get Wildling so they can have access to Primal Drums! Oh, and Beast Roar is also a nice debuff to make use of. The animals could be nice meat shields, what with the Hoplite's super high VIT stat, but that's a little heavy on the skill points.
Arbalist:
Honestly, this subclass doesn't do much for the Hoplite. Spears are already ranged weapons, so there's little point in giving them a Crossbow. Aside from Ambush and Pop Flares, there's really nothing of note here.
Farmer:
I guess Persistence could be useful, but you should really pick something else unless you desperately want your Hoplite to be a field support.
Shogun:
Endure can increase the Hoplite's Survivabilty. And Daifuhensha is a Provoke skill that comes with a defense boost. But Rear Dignity won't do them much good, since the action speed penalty will prevent them from using their defensive skills effectively.
Hoplites are a very strong tank class that stays relevant all game since they provide a lot of defensive support to the party, and can stop them from getting killed. Proper usage of one can ensure that your party takes little to no damage in a lot of fights.