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Class Showcase: Wildling



Known as Beast Kings in Japan (for the record, they didn't have gender specific names like the Prince/ss), Wildlings are the class that specialize in inflicting status ailments and binds. They're comparable to Hexers in the first two games (although FAR less broken than EO2's Hexer), only less straightforward to use.

Unfortunately, due to how ailments got reworked in this game, their effectiveness at their job is actually kind of minimal. Unless you can time the usage of one of their abilities right, they're very TP intensive. That aspect doesn't matter as much as you go further into the game, but early on, Wildlings can run dry very fast. Another aspect to be aware of is that they are incapable of inflicting Petrification, Curse, and Blind on their own, so if you want to make use of those ailments, this is not the class to go to for that.

The way the Wildling works is that they can summon animals to fight with the party. When the Wildling summons an animal, they'll appear in an empty slot. This includes the 6th party member slot, which you can't have a class make use of. Unfortunately, that aspect makes it so that Wildlings don't play nice with Ninjas (Or for that matter, Yggdroids) since in a 5-man party, a clone and an animal cannot be summoned at the same time. And clones tend to be considered a lot more useful than any other summon, so combined with the issue of ailments not being as good in this game, Wildlings tend to be overlooked.

Wildlings are the main class to go to if you want to make use of ailments. They're not a bad class if used right, and they are vital for a few post-game fights, so you do want at least one on the bench with Combat Study maxed out so they can make your life easier when the time comes.

Equipment:
Weapons: Spears, Knives, and Books.
Armor: Clothes, Shields (Some, but not all)

Stats



Wildlings are one of the slowest classes in the game, what with having the 3rd worst AGI stat in the game. Spears giving a pretty big penalty to their action speed doesn't really help. They have pretty middling stats all around, with the exception of their LUC and TEC stats, which are what they mainly use to inflict ailments. They have the highest combination of LUC and TEC, so they're the best class for inflicting and resisting ailments. They have fairly decent sized HP and TP pools, and a decent VIT stat, so they're relatively tanky. Their high TP pool is nice, because their skills cost a lot of TP. Their STR is okay, though Wildlings themselves don't make for great physical attackers.

About Animals

Animals follow a couple of rules that you should be aware of. A Wildling can only have one animal out at a time. Period. Unfortunately, that means sending out an army of animals to destroy your enemies is impossible, no matter how many empty slots are in the party. However, using multiple Wildlings can enable you to use multiple animals. If a Wildling dies, the animal they summoned will disappear as well.

All animals use skills to attack and inflict ailments. Because of that, they cannot deal critical hits. If they get Confused, their attacks will only deal 100% damage and are incapable of inflicting ailments.

Animals are basically a copy of the Wildling in terms of stats. However, some animals apply a multiplier to the Wildling's stats, so some animals are stronger or weaker than the Wildling. And they do follow the same formulas as other player controlled units. STR determines how strong their attacks are. TEC is only used for elemental defense, accuracy, and determining how often they can inflict ailments, since none of the animals use TEC to deal damage. LUC is used for evasion, ailment defense, and determining how often they can inflict ailments. It's not used to determine how often they can crit, since animals can't crit unless they're using regular attacks. AGI is used for determining their speed, accuracy, and evasion. Most animal skills don't have an action speed modifier, so AGI is the only thing that determines their speed. And VIT is just used to determine physical defense. That's all.

Animals cannot wear equipment, so the Weapon Attack on the Wildling's weapon and the defense values on the Wildling's armor is irrelevant. But, any stat forges and resistance forges on the Wildling's equipment are applied to the animal. However, all other forges are ignored.

The HP of the summoned animal is determined through this formula:

Animal HP Formula posted:

HP = [{(Base HP * Beast Soul HP Boost + (10% of Wildling's Current HP)) + Wildling's Level} * Beast Soul HP Boost] + A random number from Summon Skill Level to 3 * Summon Skill Level

For some reason, the HP boost from Beast Soul is applied twice, so that ability is pretty important in making sure that your animals have a lot of survivability. The Wildling's current HP at the time of summoning an animal also determines how much HP they have, and the Wildling's level also has a minor effect on that. And then a random number, which depends on the level of the skill used to summon an animal, is added onto the end. So if the Wildling used a level 10 skill, the game adds 10 to 30 HP onto the animal.

The animal's TP pool is exactly the same as their resulting HP pool, but their TP pool is merely cosmetic, as animals never use TP.

Since animals can't wield weapons, their Weapon Attack is determined through 2 * STR. However, animals do not have a defense stat at all. The only way for them to mitigate damage is through the defense boost from Beast Soul.

And while you can have an animal target a specific enemy (or all enemies depending on the skill) on the initial cast, afterward, the animal's AI will determine who they will target. And the AI attack is actually weaker than the initial attack in most cases, so be aware of that.

Fun little fact, most of the animals you can summon in this game are actually enemies from this game or a past EO game. The only exception to this is the Lion King, who went on to become an enemy in EO4.

Beast Soul
Skill Type: Class Skill
Maximum Level: 10
Stats Used: N/A
Prerequisites: N/A

This Class Skill passively increases the max HP, damage output, and defense of summoned animals. The higher the skill level, the more HP, attack, and defense they gain.



Notes:

If you don't want your animals to die easily, max this out. It's not a must have ability, but it's nice to have. And it does let your animals hit harder if you do want them to contribute to your party's offense.

Wild Mastery
Skill Type: Passive
Maximum Level: 10
Stats Used: N/A
Prerequisites: N/A

This passive increases the success rate at which the Wildling's animals can inflict ailments. Leveling up the skill increases the passive boost.



Notes:

An insanely powerful passive. If you want your ailments to be remotely reliable, max this out. A guaranteed 15% chance to inflict anything on enemies not immune to the chosen disable is really powerful considering the new ailment mechanics. Sadly, it's a bit limited by the fact that there's no way to reset Accumulative Resistance in this game.

Nature Pact
Skill Type: Passive
Maximum Level: 10
Stats Used: N/A
Prerequisites: N/A

Gives animals a chance to take a mortal blow in the Wildling's place. The Wildling is healed afterward. Higher skill levels increases the activation rate and amount healed.



Notes:

Learn it if you want, it is a prerequisite to unlocking some strong animals. However, ideally you don't want your Wildling dying, and that honestly shouldn't happen too often unless you like placing them on the front lines for some reason. This skill does unlock better ones, so do take this to unlock those if you want them. But I wouldn't bother maxing this out. You may never even see this skill activate if you play well enough.

Sacrifice 1/Sacrifice 2
Skill Type: Passive
Maximum Level: 10
Stats Used: N/A
Prerequisites: Nature Pact – Level 3

Animals may protect an ally in the same row as them, and take physical/elemental damage in their place. Higher levels increase the activation rate.



Notes:

Well these enables your animals to become meat shields for your allies. Some animals aren't that durable, so taking this may significantly shorten their lifespan. However if you plan on making use of the animal Sacrifice 2 unlocks, then maxing these out or getting them to a decently high level may be in your interest. However, these skills don't really work with the animal unlocked from getting Sacrifice 1 to a high enough level. How much you invest in these, if at all, is up to you.

Alertness
Skill Type: Passive
Maximum Level: 5
Stats Used: N/A
Prerequisites: N/A

If the party gets blindsided by an enemy, the Wildling has a chance of canceling it out, and forces the battle to start on equal footing. Increasing the skill level increases the activation rate.



Notes:

This is a field skill, but it could be a nice little investment since blindsides can cause party wipes. Take it if you want.

Dismiss Beast
Skill Type: Active
Maximum Level: 5
Equipment Needed: N/A
Body Part: Arm
Target Type: N/A
Action Speed: -3
Prerequisites: Wild Mastery – Level 1

Calls back any active animal, and returns any TP used to summon it in the first place. Leveling up the skill only reduces the TP cost.



Notes:

Animals cost a lot of TP to summon in the beginning of the game, so having a point in this skill is pretty vital at that point, unless you want your Wildling to run dry in explorations. However, the Wildling's TP pool gets a lot bigger as they level up, and you do get easy access to TP recovery methods as the game goes on. Whether you max this ability out is up to you, but I find that unnecessary, as tempting as it may be to save more TP early on.

Call Bird/Call Snake/Call Mole
Skill Type: Active
Maximum Level: 10
Equipment Needed: N/A
Body Part: Arm
Target Type: Summon
Action Speed: -3
Prerequisites: Wild Mastery – Level 1

Summons a Glowbird/Great Anaconda/Clawed Mole to deal damage to a single target and bind a specific body part. Increasing the skill level increases the animal's damage output and infliction rate.

Summon Info
Stat Multiplier: 100%
Skills Used: Bind Feather/Wind Wrap/Scratch (Bind Feather Animation, Wind Wrap Animation, Scratch Animation)
Notes:
AI Routine:


If you plan on doing the post-game, max these out! There are a few boss fights in the post-game that these skills can make so much easier. And binds tend to be more reliable in big fights, since FOEs and bosses don't resist those as much as ailments. They can also shut down a few random encounters

Call Insect
Skill Type: Active
Maximum Level: 10
Equipment Needed: N/A
Body Part: Arm
Target Type: Summon
Action Speed: -3
Prerequisites: Wild Mastery – Level 3

Summons a Venomfly to deal damage to a single target and Poison them. Increasing the skill level increases the animal's damage output and Poison damage. Infliction rate stays the same at all levels.

Summon Info
Stat Multiplier: 70%
Skills Used: Poison Dust (Poison Dust Animation)
Notes:
AI Routine:


It's strong in the 1st Stratum, but the Poison damage falls off very quickly after that. As neat as it is to have a Venomfly on your side for once, they kind of suck at fighting other monsters. Poison is a pretty bad status in this game, even though the Venomfly has the strongest version of it. Take it to unlock Call Elephant, but don't bother with more levels in this skill.

Call Owl
Skill Type: Active
Maximum Level: 10
Equipment Needed: N/A
Body Part: Arm
Target Type: Summon
Action Speed: -3
Prerequisites: Wild Mastery – Level 5

Summons a Hypnowl to put all enemies to Sleep. Increasing the skill level increases the infliction rate.

Summon Info
Stat Multiplier: 100%
Skills Used: Sleep Powder (Sleep Powder Animation)
Notes:
Notes:
AI Routine:


Sleep is kind of an iffy ailment to work with. It can lock down random encounters, but Call Elephant is far better for doing that, and it actually deals damage. And in boss fights, Sleep isn't really a reliable ailment, especially since it's dispelled once you attack the boss. You could try using it to get a free 50% damage boost for one attack, but the best physical attacks in this game are multi-hit skills, so only the first hit would benefit from the damage bonus.

Call Slime
Skill Type: Active
Maximum Level: 10
Equipment Needed: N/A
Body Part: Arm
Target Type: Summon
Action Speed: -3
Prerequisites: Wild Mastery – Level 5

Summons a Venom Ooze to deal damage to a single target and attempts to inflict Plague on them. Increasing the skill level increases the animal's damage output and Plague damage. Infliction rate stays the same at all levels.

Summon Info
Stat Multiplier: 90%
Skills Used: Plague Gunk (Plague Gunk Animation)
Notes:
AI Routine:


Plague is not a good ailment for the player to make use of. It deals less damage than the Venomfly's Poison, and the Venom Ooze isn't that reliable of an ally. However, it can serve as a physical meatshield, especially when Sacrifice 1 is taken into account. Just avoid summoning them in fights where elemental attacks are thrown around a lot, since they're fragile in that regard.

Call Cow
Skill Type: Active
Maximum Level: 10
Equipment Needed: N/A
Body Part: Arm
Target Type: Summon
Action Speed: -3
Prerequisites: Wild Mastery – Level 7, Call Owl – Level 4

Summons a War Bison to deal damage to random targets and Paralyze them. Increasing the skill level increases the animal's damage output and infliction rate.

Summon Info
Stat Multiplier: 120%
Skills Used: Bull Run (Bull Run Animation)
Notes:
AI Routine:


Paralysis isn't that great of an ailment to use, and I consider this to be a worse version of Call Elephant. While the War Bison does deal more damage on its attacks, the Elephant is far better at locking down enemies, and that skill's initial attack is actually an AOE.

Call Elephant
Skill Type: Active
Maximum Level: 10
Equipment Needed: N/A
Body Part: Arm
Target Type: Summon
Action Speed: -3
Prerequisites: Wild Mastery – Level 7, Call Insect – Level 4

Summons an Elephant to deal damage to all enemies and Confuse them. Increasing the skill level increases the animal's damage output and infliction rate.

Summon Info
Stat Multiplier: 120%
Skills Used: Reckless Rush (Reckless Rush Animation)
Notes:
AI Routine:


Want to trivialize random encounters for the whole game? Then max this skill out. Confusion will pretty much neutralize any threats in a random battle, and the Elephant hits decently hard. It's also a good skill to have by the 1st boss fight, since the initial attack is an AOE. Though it's a little less effective on FOEs and bosses.

Call Tiger
Skill Type: Active
Maximum Level: 10
Equipment Needed: N/A
Body Part: Arm
Target Type: Summon
Action Speed: -3
Prerequisites: Wild Mastery – Level 10, Sacrifice 2 – Level 5

Summons a Sabretooth to inflict Instant Death on all enemies. Afterward, the Sabretooth will counter any attacks that target it. Increasing the skill level increases the animal's damage output and infliction rate.

Summon Info
Stat Multiplier: 150%
Skills Used: Death Fang, Fierce Counter, Tiger Counter (Death Fang Animation)
Notes:
AI Routine:


If you want your Wildling to contribute to dealing damage, take this skill. The Instant Death component is nice, and thanks to Wild Mastery, it can even take down bosses if you're extremely lucky. Though Lethal Resistance makes that extremely unlikely. In order for the Sabretooth to really do work, Sacrifice 1 and Sacrifice 2 should be maxed out, so it can take as many attacks as possible to activate Tiger Counter. Oh and don't worry about the Sabertooth dying, as its stat multiplier pretty much ensures it's very tanky.

Call Lion
Skill Type: Active
Maximum Level: 10
Equipment Needed: N/A
Body Part: Arm
Target Type: Summon
Action Speed: -3
Prerequisites: Wild Mastery – Level 10, Sacrifice 1 – Level 5

Summons a Lion King. On the initial cast, it will fall asleep. If woken up, it will attack all enemies, and has a chance to Paralyze or Stun them. Afterward, it will fall asleep. Increasing the skill level increases the animal's damage output and infliction rate.

Summon Info
Stat Multiplier: 150%
Skills Used: Sleeping Lion, Regal Authority (Regal Authority Animation)
Notes:
AI Routine:


This is the other animal that lets the Wildling contribute to dealing damage. The Lion King is a bit harder to work with than the Sabretooth. For one thing, the Sacrifice skills don't work with it when it's Sleeping. So you really need to plan around that. Prevent Order won't stop the Lion King from falling asleep, but you can make use of Refresh to keep the Lion King awake, or use the Regroup Tactic Limit can ensure that the Lion King attacks for 5 turns. However, while the Lion King can ignore enemy resistances thanks to Regal Authority being Almighty damage, that does means that the only damage buff that affects it is Charge Tactic. And it can't deal as much damage if the enemies don't have any ailments, so it's a bit unreliable as a damage dealer.

Beast Roar (Animation)
Skill Type: Active
Maximum Level: 5
Equipment Needed: N/A
Body Part: Head
Stats Used: N/A
Target Type: AOE
Action Speed: -6
Prerequisites: N/A

This skill lowers the physical attack power of all enemies for 4 turns. Leveling up the skill increases the damage reduction.

Notes:


Well this does let the Wildling have a bit more utility and it could be a nice defensive option. Take it if you want, though I don't consider it a vital skill. If your party is pretty squishy, you may want to take this.

Primal Drums (Animation)
Skill Type: Active
Maximum Level: 5
Equipment Needed: N/A
Body Part: Head
Stats Used: N/A
Target Type: AOE
Action Speed: -6
Prerequisites: N/A

This skill lowers the physical defense of all enemies for 4 turns. Leveling up the skill increases the defense reduction.

Notes:


It's one of the few defense debuffs in the game, along with Eagle Eye and Wolf Howl, so it's very worth it. In fact, subclassing Wildling can be worth it for this skill alone, since it can amplify the damage output of your physical attackers. Sure it's not as strong as most physical buffs, but there's only 3 defense debuffs in the game, so this one is well worth it.

Subclasses:

Unfortunately, due to the nature of the Wildling being incredibly skill point hungry, people tend to ignore getting them abilities from a subclass and just pick a random one to get them 5 extra skill points. Some classes just don't do much as a subclass, and others offer some benefits, but not enough to be worth investing a lot of skill points in.

Prince/ss:

The Prince/ss' skillset is pretty stat independent, so Wildlings could function as buffing supports on top of inflicting ailments. Unfortunately, that will cost them a lot of skill points, which is unfortunately an issue the Wildling has with the subclassing system.

Gladiator:

Wolf Howl is a nice debuff to have access to, especially when you consider the rest of the Wildling's skillset. The Gladiator does have a few skills that inflict ailments, but the animals tend to be better at that job.

Hoplite:

Probably the most popular subclass for them, because it gives them the ability to equip all shields to further their defenses. And then the rest of the skill points from taking a subclass are spent in the Wildling's skills. While the Hoplite's skills are stat independent, they also need a lot of skill points for their skills to be effective, so combining two skill point hungry classes isn't really a good idea. Though the Parry skills can give some more survivability to the Wildling.

Buccaneer:

A Buccaneer subclass gives Wildlings access to Eagle Eye, which can debuff an enemy's defenses even further. Lights Out also gives them access to Blind, which is one of the few ailments they can't actually make use of on their own, so this can give the Wildling some more utility, but it falls under the problem of making the Wildling even more starved for skill points.

Ninja:

The only real use for this subclass is to give Wildlings access to Petrification with Izuna. That's about it. Don't go for Bunshin, as that horribly conflicts with the Wildling's skillset. And in the Wildling's case, having access to animals is better than having 2 Wildlings at once. On the other hand, if you're making use of Call Tiger or Call Lion, you could use Otori to make it so that those animals are targeted more often so that they can deal more damage.

Monk:

Wildings do have a high TEC stat, so they can make for good healers. But I really don't suggest using a Monk subclass just to get access to Darkness Fist, as Curse is a terrible ailment to make use of. If you're making use of Call Lion, you could take Refresh to ensure that the Lion King attacks the enemy every turn.

Zodiac:

Wildlings could make for decent elemental attackers since they have a high TEC stat. Dark Ether could be a nice support skill to make use of. But really this class doesn't offer much to a Wildling.

Arbalist:

Arbalist can be subbed to access Smoke Grenade, which gives them access to Blind. And while it doesn't deal damage like with Lights Out, it does have a higher infliction rate, is an AOE, and has a lower TP cost. There's also Snipe and Sharpshooter, which can work with the Wildling's ailments, but aside from that, this subclass has very little to offer a Wildling.

Farmer:

Well there's Rotten Egg, which works with the Wildling's ailments. That's about it. Lullaby is outclassed by Call Owl, since it doesn't put the user to sleep, and Strange Seeds is just unreliable, and the binding animals do that job a lot better.

Shogun:

You could try turning your Wildling into a bit of an offensive support with a Shogun subclass, but there's not really that much this subclass has to offer to a Wildling, though Endure is a nice passive.

Wildlings are a bit of an interesting idea for a class that kind of fell flat due to how ailments got reworked in this game, and due to how summoning was handled in this game, since Ninjas or classes with a Ninja subclass could contribute more to a fight than an animal. Still, don't underestimate them, as they can be useful in the right situations.