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Class Showcase: Zodiac
Their names weren't changed in localization, so they're also known as Zodiacs in Japan. They're the class that specializes in Elemental attacks, so they mainly revolve around dishing out Fire, Ice, and Volt damage. If you've played the first two games, they're comparable to Alchemists.
They're a very powerful offensive class in the early and mid game. However, once late game starts coming around, they're still decent but the other classes will have caught up to them by that point. By the post-game though... Well they're not useless, but their damage does fall off. You can get around this with proper use of subclassing, so that they can keep up with the Physical attackers. Their attacks mainly run off of the TEC stat, which makes their skills deal a lot of damage in the early game, but their low damage modifiers makes them fall off. They're not exactly a greedy class when it comes to skill points, depending on how you want to distribute their skill points. Zodiacs can also transition into a support role once any other damage dealers on your team become capable of doing serious amounts of damage, so that's another thing you can do keep them relevant.
I wouldn't say they're a must have class, but they make the early game so much easier to get through. You just need to make sure that you have some classes that can contribute a lot once the post-game comes around. Unfortunately, that's a problem that the mage classes had in the DS Erian Odyssey titles had. It's not until EO4 that the magic casting class became a lot less broken during the early game, and actually kept up with the other offensive classes in the post-game.
Equipment:
Weapons: Daggers and Books.
Armor: Clothes, Gloves, Boots, and Accessories.
Stats
Level 1
HP: 32
TP: 36
STR: 4
VIT: 4
AGI: 6
LUC: 4
TEC: 12
Level 35
HP: 158
TP: 189
STR: 19
VIT: 22
AGI: 28
LUC: 26
TEC: 41
Level 70
HP: 287
TP: 347
STR: 34
VIT: 40
AGI: 52
LUC: 48
TEC: 71
Level 99
HP: 368
TP: 444
STR: 44
VIT: 51
AGI: 66
LUC: 62
TEC: 89
Zodiacs have the best TEC stat out of all the classes, and fairly decent AGI and LUC stats. However, their STR is garbage, so don't expect much out of them when it comes to physical skills. Their VIT is also pretty low, and the fact that they can only wear Clothes really puts them into squishy territory. So you have to be really careful with them. Their terrible HP pool does not help. They do have the biggest TP pool out of all the classes, so they can cast a lot of skills. Their AGI stat is pretty average, but their offensive skills have massive action speed penalties, so they're pretty slow attackers in practice.
Ether Mastery
Skill Type: Class Skill
Maximum Level: 10
Stats Used: N/A
Prerequisites: N/A
This Class Skill passively increases the amount of Fire, Ice, and Volt damage the Zodiac deals. Higher levels increase the damage boost this skill provides. This skill has no effect on physical damage.
1: 2% damage boost.
2: 4% damage boost.
3: 6% damage boost.
4: 8% damage boost.
5: 10% damage boost.
6: 13% damage boost.
7: 16% damage boost.
8: 19% damage boost.
9: 22% damage boost.
10: 25% damage boost.
It's a free damage boost to their skills, so you want to max this out. However, I don't recommend maxing this out first, because there's a lot of essential skills a Zodiac wants before they can spend their skill points freely. Unfortunately, this doesn't affect physical damage, so one of the Zodiac's skills is kind of hampered by that. Oh and this affects all attacks that have elemental attributes, even composite Physical/Elemental attacks. So that's handy.
Fire Mastery/Ice Master/Volt Mastery
Skill Type: Passive
Maximum Level: 10
Stats Used: N/A
Prerequisites: N/A
These passives increase the damage of the Zodiac's Fire, Ice, and Volt attacks depending on the skill. Higher levels increase the provided damage boost.
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.
Probably some of the few mastery skills in the game that actually has a noticeable effect. These skills actually increase the damage of all Fire, Ice, and Volt attacks. Not just the Zodiac's skills. Still, maxing them out isn't really worth it unless you have leftover skill points.
As for which element to specialize in, that's up to you if you wish to do so. In the early game, it's not necessary to specialize. In fact, it's better to generalize and dabble in all 3 elements so that your Zodiac can avoid being a one trick pony. However, if you decide to make them into your main elemental attackers, then it will be necessary to specialize since you won't have enough skill points to master all 3 elemental damage skills.
Singularity
Skill Type: Passive
Maximum Level: 5
Stats Used: N/A
Prerequisites: Dark Ether – Level 5
This skill increases the Zodiac's damage output whenever they strike a weakness. An enemy is considered weak to a damage type if their resistance to it is 101% or above. This works with all damage types, not just Fire, Ice, and Volt. Increasing the skill level increases the damage boost.
1: 10% damage boost.
2: 20% damage boost.
3: 30% damage boost.
4: 40% damage boost.
5: 50% damage boost.
This is the main reason you want your Zodiac to generalize. Singularity makes it possible for a Zodiac to contribute to most fights, and it should be one of the skills you max out first, along with Etheric Charge. Singularity is a free damage boost in the early game, and keeps their Elemental attacks relevant for a long time.
Etheric Return
Skill Type: Passive
Maximum Level: 5
Stats Used: N/A
Prerequisites: Etheric Charge – Level 5, Singularity – Level 5
Whenever the Zodiac kills an enemy, they recover some TP. Higher levels increase the amount of TP restored.
1: Restores 1 TP per kill.
2: Restores 2 TP per kill.
3: Restores 3 TP per kill.
4: Restores 4 TP per kill.
5: Restores 5 TP per kill.
Not a great passive. This seems like it should synergize well with the Zodiac, but they rarely get the last hit in on an enemy. In practice, Zodiacs will whittle down an enemy instead of getting the kill most of the time. Not worth maxing out, but you do need some points in this to access their best damage skill.
Fire Star/Ice Star/Volt Star
Skill Type: Active
Maximum Level: 10
Equipment Needed: N/A
Body Part: Head
Stats Used: TEC
Target Type: Single
Action Speed: -9
Prerequisites: Fire Mastery – Level 1/Ice Mastery – Level 1/Volt Mastery – Level 1
The Zodiac attacks a single enemy with Fire/Ice/Volt damage. Higher levels of the skill improve the damage and accuracy.
1: Deals 40% damage. Has a Hit Rate of 98. Costs 8 TP.
2: Deals 44% damage. Has a Hit Rate of 98. Costs 9 TP.
3: Deals 48% damage. Has a Hit Rate of 98. Costs 10 TP.
4: Deals 52% damage. Has a Hit Rate of 98. Costs 11 TP.
5: Deals 56% damage. Has a Hit Rate of 98. Costs 12 TP.
6: Deals 60% damage. Has a Hit Rate of 99. Costs 14 TP.
7: Deals 64% damage. Has a Hit Rate of 99. Costs 16 TP.
8: Deals 68% damage. Has a Hit Rate of 99. Costs 18 TP.
9: Deals 72% damage. Has a Hit Rate of 99. Costs 20 TP.
10: Deals 80% damage. Has a Hit Rate of 99. Costs 22 TP.
In the early game, I recommend taking all of these skills, and putting only one point into them. The skills do a lot of damage at level 1, and maxing them out is kind of overkill at that point. While maxing them out doubles the damage, it also nearly triples the TP cost. That will run your Zodiac dry early on, so I really don't recommend doing it. However, in the late and post-game, their damage will start falling off if you leave the Stars at level 1. It's up to you if you want to max them out by that point, though you may need to start specializing since maxing out everything will eat up a lot of skill points.
Binary Fire/Binary Ice/Binary Thunder
Skill Type: Active
Maximum Level: 10
Equipment Needed: N/A
Body Part: Head
Stats Used: TEC
Target Type: AOE
Action Speed: -12
Prerequisites: Fire Mastery – Level 5/Ice Mastery – Level 5/Volt Mastery – Level 5
The Zodiac attacks all enemies on the field with Fire/Ice/Volt damage. Leveling up the skill increases the damage output and accuracy.
1: Deals 30% damage. Has a Hit Rate of 90. Costs 16 TP.
2: Deals 32% damage. Has a Hit Rate of 91. Costs 18 TP.
3: Deals 34% damage. Has a Hit Rate of 92. Costs 20 TP.
4: Deals 36% damage. Has a Hit Rate of 93. Costs 22 TP.
5: Deals 38% damage. Has a Hit Rate of 94. Costs 24 TP.
6: Deals 41% damage. Has a Hit Rate of 95. Costs 26 TP.
7: Deals 44% damage. Has a Hit Rate of 96. Costs 28 TP.
8: Deals 47% damage. Has a Hit Rate of 97. Costs 30 TP.
9: Deals 50% damage. Has a Hit Rate of 98. Costs 32 TP.
10: Deals 55% damage. Has a Hit Rate of 99. Costs 35 TP.
These skills attack every enemy on the field, at the cost of dealing less damage. Like with the Elemental Stars, I recommend leaving these at level 1. If you need to clear out enemies, 1 point in these skills will be enough. Also the TP cost gets pretty high at level 10. However, the damage also falls off once late and post-game come around. You can max out the Binary Elementals if you want to keep the damage relevant, but that'll eat up a ton of skill points, so you might want to start specializing in that case.
Fire Prophecy/Ice Prophecy/Volt Prophecy
Skill Type: Active
Maximum Level: 5
Equipment Needed: N/A
Body Part: Head
Stats Used: TEC
Target Type: Single
Action Speed: +30
Prerequisites: Fire Star – Level 5, Binary Fire – Level 5/Ice Star – Level 5, Binary Ice – Level 5/Volt Star – Level 5, Binary Volt – Level 5
A counterattack skill where the Zodiac targets an enemy with a prophecy. If the selected enemy uses a Fire/Ice/Volt skill, then the attack is completely nullified and the enemy takes Fire/Ice/Volt damage. This skill will do nothing if it does not nullify an attack. Increasing the skill level only increases the damage output.
1: Deals 50% damage. Costs 15 TP.
2: Deals 60% damage. Costs 16 TP.
3: Deals 75% damage. Costs 17 TP.
4: Deals 90% damage. Costs 18 TP.
5: Deals 105% damage. Costs 19 TP.
These skills are alternatives to the Hoplite's Anti-elemental skills. But they're a bit more costly when it comes to skill points, and they only block one enemy's attack. If there's more than one enemy that decides to cast say, a Fire skill, Fire Prophecy won't protect you from that attack if you used it on a different enemy, where as Antifire would have protected you from all the Fire attacks used that turn. Granted in boss fights, you only fight one enemy most of the time, so these skills are mainly for those. Now these skills are pretty much a one point wonder. It's a waste to max out these skills because they won't do any damage if they don't nullify an attack. And even if they do nullify an attack, chances are that an enemy that tried to hit your party with an Ice skill is resistant or immune to Ice damage. Now there is one fight in the game where maxing these skills out could potentially be worth it, but it's pretty late in the game and after a certain point, the Prophecies aren't a reliable form of damage. If you aren't using a Hoplite, you'll want these skills by the post-game. If you are, feel free to ignore them.
Meteor
Skill Type: Active
Maximum Level: 10
Equipment Needed: N/A
Body Part: Head
Stats Used: TEC
Target Type: Random
Action Speed: -12
Prerequisites: Horoscope – Level 5, Etheric Return – Level 3
The Zodiac rains meteors down upon their enemies, hitting them a random number of times and deals Strike damage in the process. Despite being a Physical skill, this skill runs off of the Zodiac's TEC stat and follows the TEC damage formula. Higher levels increase the number of hits, damage output, and hit rate.
1: Hits 3 to 4 times. Deals 35% damage per hit. Has a Hit Rate of 95. Costs 30 TP.
2: Hits 3 to 4 times. Deals 38% damage per hit. Has a Hit Rate of 95. Costs 32 TP.
3: Hits 3 to 5 times. Deals 38% damage per hit. Has a Hit Rate of 96. Costs 34 TP.
4: Hits 3 to 5 times. Deals 41% damage per hit. Has a Hit Rate of 96. Costs 37 TP.
5: Hits 4 to 5 times. Deals 41% damage per hit. Has a Hit Rate of 97. Costs 40 TP.
6: Hits 4 to 5 times. Deals 44% damage per hit. Has a Hit Rate of 97. Costs 43 TP.
7: Hits 4 to 6 times. Deals 44% damage per hit. Has a Hit Rate of 98. Costs 47 TP.
8: Hits 4 to 6 times. Deals 47% damage per hit. Has a Hit Rate of 98. Costs 51 TP.
9: Hits 5 to 6 times. Deals 47% damage per hit. Has a Hit Rate of 99. Costs 55 TP.
10: Hits 5 to 6 times. Deals 50% damage per hit. Has a Hit Rate of 99. Costs 60 TP.
This is the Zodiac's best damage skill, and is the main skill that will keep them relevant in the late and post-game. At max level, it'll deal a total of 250% to 300% TEC damage if there's only one target in the fight. For a TEC attack, that's one of the biggest damage modifiers in the game. However, there are a few problems with the skill. Since it's a Strike attack, it doesn't get any benefit from Ether Mastery or Etheric Charge. Also while it does benefit from Singularity, not a lot of enemies are actually weak to Strike attacks. Still, since it's a Physical attack, it does benefit from attack buffs and defense debuffs. And you can have the Zodiac get around this skill's weaknesses by having them subclass Gladiator. With access to Berserker's Vow and Charge, the Zodiac will be able to deal massive amounts of damage with Meteor.
Etheric Charge
Skill Type: Active
Maximum Level: 5
Equipment Needed: N/A
Body Part: Head
Stats Used: N/A
Target Type: Self
Action Speed: -100
Prerequisites: Dark Ether – Level 5
This skill has the Zodiac spend the current turn charging up, which gives a damage boost to any Fire, Ice, or Volt attacks used on the next turn. Does not work with Physical attacks unless they are composite Physical/Elemental attacks. Does not work with Almighty attacks. The charge is wasted if skills or attacks that don't deal elemental damage are used. Higher levels increase the damage boost.
1: Increases damage by 220%. Costs 8 TP.
2: Increases damage by 240%. Costs 9 TP.
3: Increases damage by 260%. Costs 10 TP.
4: Increases damage by 280%. Costs 11 TP.
5: Increases damage by 300%. Costs 12 TP.
If you want to know why charge skills got a massive nerf in the following Etrian Odyssey games, blame this skill and the Gladiator's Charge. At max level, this skill increases the Zodiac's damage output by 50%, so there was no reason to not use this skill every other turn. It even worked with the Elemental Limits, increasing their damage even further. This is one of the skills you want maxed out first, along with Singularity to make your Zodiac useful as soon as possible.
Dark Ether
Skill Type: Active
Maximum Level: 5
Equipment Needed: N/A
Body Part: Head
Stats Used: N/A
Target Type: Row
Action Speed: +30
Prerequisites: N/A
When cast on a row, this skill reduces the TP costs of those character's skills to 0 for the turn. Increasing the level only decreases the TP cost of this skill.
1: Costs 18 TP.
2: Costs 16 TP.
3: Costs 14 TP.
4: Costs 12 TP.
5: Costs 10 TP.
A fantastic utility skill, since this can make your party last longer on Labyrinth trips. Even though leveling up this skill only decreases the TP cost, I would actually advocate maxing it out. Not only because it's a prerequisite for some good skills, but if you have a support Zodiac, chances are that they're kind of spamming this pretty often. And spamming this skill will burn through their TP pool.
Now this is a pretty infamous skill when it comes to cheese builds, as a Ninja/Zodiac sub can make use of 1 TP Dark Ethers thanks to their Class Skill. Which means that your party essentially has infinite TP for the duration of a Labyrinth trip of a battle.
However, this skill isn't really that broken, even if you're using a Ninja/Zodiac. The main reason being that it actually falls off in usefulness as the game goes on. It's useful in the mid and late games, but post-game is this skill's expiration date. By the post game, your party should have fairly decent sized TP pools, meaning that they can use their skills more often before they're forced to recover. You also get access to Amrita IIIs by then, which completely restores all of a character's TP. The nail in the coffin is that a character that's spamming Dark Ether is someone that's not really contributing to the fight. And the post-game bosses pretty much require every single one of your party members to do something meaningful. And a Dark Ether spammer essentially forces your party to fight with 4 man party (or 5 if you're using Bunshin) which really hinders their offensive capabilities. There are better skills to be using by then instead of giving your party members an infinite amount of TP.
Horoscope
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 enables you to see any FOEs on the map within a specified tile range for a certain number of steps. Leveling up the skill increases the sight range and duration.
1: 2 tile radius. Lasts for 30 steps. Costs 6 TP.
2: 4 tile radius. Lasts for 40 steps. Costs 6 TP.
3: 6 tile radius. Lasts for 50 steps. Costs 7 TP.
4: 8 tile radius. Lasts for 70 steps. Costs 7 TP.
5: 11 tile radius. Lasts for 100 steps. Costs 8 TP.
Horoscope might seem like a skill that you invest in to get Meteor and nothing more, especially since these kinds of field skills can be made useless and redundant by looking up maps of this game. However, it does have a specific use. Namely, it makes Pasaran hunting a bit easier. Even with a fully drawn map, Pasarans will disappear from it if they phase into a wall. With Horoscope, you can keep track of their location, and try to bait them into going into a location where you can ambush them more easily.
Subclasses:
Prince/ss:
If you want to turn your Zodiac into a support, this isn't a bad choice. Although I guess if you really want a source of Almighty damage, you could make use of Ad Nihilo? Though I wouldn't recommend that since Etheric Charge does not work on it, and it can't be used all the time.
Gladiator:
If your Zodiac is primarily a Meteor user, this is the best subclass for them. Since Meteor is a physical skill, it gets the full benefits from Berserker's Vow and Charge, which amplify its damage greatly. I suppose if you really wanted to, you could get Freezing Blow for them. It benefits from both Etheric Charge and Singularity. But that's a one trick pony, and Gladiator/Zodiac does that gimmick far better since they have a higher STR stat.
Hoplite:
For a support Zodiac, as long as you don't plan on having them use Bodyguard, they could spam their shield skills fairly often, and the Anti-elemental skills are better utility skills than the Prophecies. Parry and Magic Parry can also add to their survivability, as well as giving them the ability to equip shields. But this isn't a good subclass for an offensive Zodiac. Blizritter has a low damage modifier, and it's hampered by the Zodiac's low STR stat.
Buccaneer:
This is a good choice for a subclass if you want your Zodiac to be a damage dealer or a support. Limit Boost will enable offensive Zodiacs to fire off their elemental Limit skill every 7 turns (less if they have Swashbuckling, but that's a massive skill point investment.) Support Zodiacs can still make use of Limit Boost since being able to fire off a Limit skill every 7 turns is a useful ability to have. Eagle Eye is a very good skill for a support Zodiac to have, especially since physical skills outclass elemental skills later on.
Ninja:
If you plan on primarily using an elemental Zodiac, this is the best subclass for them. The main reason for that, is because Bunshin is the only way to actively boost elemental damage. The only other ways to do so are Charge Tactic and Wolf Howl, which aren’t super reliable ways to do so. Even for a support Zodiac, this could be a good choice for a sub since Bunshin enables one clone to use Dark Ether, while the other clone can do whatever they wish. If you're using a Meteor Zodiac, Gladiator is a much better subclass to boost its damage.
Monk:
If you're using an offensive Zodiac, you could make use of Breakfire Fist since Etheric Charge and Singularity both work with it. But the Zodiac's low STR stat will make that strategy ineffective. For a support Zodiac, their healing skills scale off the user's TEC stat, so Zodiacs could make for some decent healers.
Wildling:
If you have no idea what you want your Zodiac to do, Primal Drums would make Wildling a worthwhile choice. Unfortunately, Wildlings are still better at inflicting ailments than Zodiacs, so I don't recommend investing in the animal skills.
Arbalist:
If you want to give your Zodiac something to do while they're not casting spells, giving them a crossbow so that they can use regular attacks against enemies can be a good idea. The barrages aren't exactly good skills to invest in for them because of their low STR stat. If you want to do that, it's better to use an Arbalist/Zodiac instead. However, Zodiacs do benefit from Proper Form and Double Action.
Farmer:
If you really want your Zodiac to dabble in field support, go for this class. That's the only reason to have a Farmer sub, other than getting them 5 free skill points.
Shogun:
Endure is a nice passive for them to have. While Singularity does work with Warrior Might, it's not really worth it as the Zodiac has a pretty low STR stat. Bloody Lance and Fore Honor will increase their elemental attack power, so those are things to keep in mind. Fore Honor and Blitz Command could be nice skills for a support Zodiac to have.
Zodiacs are a decent damage dealer who make the early game much more bearable, at the cost of falling off in usefulness later on. They can still be relevant in the late and post-game, but you'll have to make good use of subclassing to make sure that's the case. Whether they keep their role as a damage dealer or transition into a support is up to you.