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Beast



Welcome to the final class of the game, where all bets are off. Every game has some kind of meme class, whether it's Farmers or Bushi, or perhaps Hexer from the last game, there's a class where you look at it and it makes you go... okay? Beasts are meant to be more offensive Protectors but have a lot of weird skills, a passive that might be one of the worst designed skills in the series and pretty good offensive utility that requires said godawful skill. The main issue is that you don't take that skill and get an alright defensive class... which is worse than a Protector, or you take the skill and go all in, becoming the glassiest of cannons. Neither works that well, this class is so strange, it feels like it was added in last minute and since it's the only unlockable class in the game, it might well be. Let's get stuck in.

Here's the only unlockable class in this game. Fortunately you unlock this class super early, right after beating the first Stratum boss, so it doesn't have the exact same problems as Ronin or Hexer. Unfortunately what's behind the lock isn't great. Why? Oh just read on...



Here's the first weird thing, to see how well each class fares, I've been ranking them by how their stats compare to the other classes. Then I take all those ranks and create an average, just out of curiosity. Beast is number one, it has the best overall stats out of all the classes in the game, best HP, second in STR and VIT, third in LUC, the worst TEC oh no, and decidedly average everything else. That means this class is great, right? RIGHT??? Well we'll get to that, but on paper Beasts have everything they need for greatness.

Beasts can be built one of two ways. An offensive tank hybrid. Or taking Loyalty. Why these 2 builds? Oh you'll see in a moment. As for stats you want, HP and TP are good builds. TEC can be ignored entirely as +10 to that awful TEC stat won't fix it. STR is really good no matter which build you go with, so you'll want to max that out. VIT is an odd one. If you're going with the hybrid build, you'll want to max it out. If you're going with the Loyalty build, VIT is completely useless to invest in, and HP is the only defensive stat they can really use.

Common Passive Unlocks

HP Up: Lv3: Autocure
VIT Up: Lv10: En Garde
TEC Up: Lv5: Fetch
LUC Up: Lv5: Fetch

Ah, one useful skill out of three, sounds about right. Fetch invests in two stats Beasts really don't care about and you can just use Survivalists from base instead for gathering. It's kinda cool that it rolls the gathering skills into one, but it's not worth it. En Garde is pretty alright on defensive builds and Autocure would be pretty great if it was per turn instead of per battle, but both are basically useless if you pick up Loyalty which is, oh yeah, up next.

Loyalty
Unlocks: Lv1: Doze Off; Lv2: Preen; Lv3: Bristle; Lv10: Rampage
BUGGED: Uses the ally's defensive stats and buffs instead of the user's.
Gives the user a chance to take damage for an ally, can activate multiple times per turn. Takes priority over any damage mitigating or nullifying skills. Passive.


What the fucking fuck were they FUCKING THINKING with this skill??? On the face of it it seems fine, a passive 1 Guard that when combined with a bunch of defensive buffs, can be a great shield for the party. But of course there's two HUUUUUUUUGE problems, due to a bug it doesn't use its impressive VIT and various defensive buffs, instead it uses the allies. So that squishy Gunner trying to use a Charge shot? All you did was replace their HP and died in their place, it makes the Beast into an incredibly fragile unit due to the high activation rate at high levels. And when AOEs get thrown around more by the enemy, guess what the Beast can do? They throw themselves in front of every goddamn hit and ignore all the wonderful unique defensive skills they have, making them completely useless. Preen and Bristle are pretty alright skills if Loyalty didn't ignore their DEF reduction aspect, so instead you get their ATK reduction and Provoke rate, respectively.

Second issue, and this is an important one: IT GOES BEFORE FRONT GUARD OR ANTI ELEM SKILLS, so even on the all out offense build, you can't even get them somewhat protected by those skills. Up against the biggest and baddest enemies, when you'd want to Rampage all over the place, they instead die to the dragon breaths even if the rest of the party has that attacked nullified or to the various physicals AOEs that get thrown around lategame, that you love using Front Guard on.

That means due to their below average AGI, they might not even get an attack off, they'll just take a full hit from a postgame enemy and immediately die. What is the fucking point of them then??? Well, you can ignore this skill completely and become a discount Protector because you can't get Preen, Bristle, or hell even Doze Off. It is staggering how this skill forces you into two different builds, completely at odds with what the class is supposed to do and make them mediocre in BOTH aspects. What an absolute shame. And this is the first fucking skill!!!

THIS SKILL, IS FUCKING SHIT! And it really brings the class down! It's very rare that's the case because most shitty skills can just be ignored, no need to waste SP on that garbage after all. Not Loyalty, ohohoho boy! It has several issues that makes it even more shit than a standard bad skill. For one it's a mastery skill. You want those particular skills, you gotta take this, there's no way around it. It's a passive that can't be toggled off either so you can't take it back outside of resting the SP out.

There's also the fact that Loyalty is this class's core mechanic, several things were designed to work with it. Except not! It's completely and utterly bugged. I have more specifics on this skill in a Jank Odyssey writeup, but the gist of it is that the damage redirection a) happens way too late and b) is coded as recoil damage, breaking several interactions with all these skills. This also means that by ignoring Loyalty, you are met with an incomplete and half baked class. And if you do take Loyalty, the class design is at complete odds with itself due to the sheer anti-synergy the bugs introduce!

This is why HP is the only defensive stat that matters for Loyalty builds. The Beast's VIT is completely useless on Loyalty procs. Not only that, you basically have to do 2 separate builds with this class. Taking Loyalty or ignoring it since those 2 builds are completely at odds with each other as Loyalty turns the Beast into a ridiculous glass cannon, while the other build gives you a tank with several missing tools for actually tanking. And no matter what you do, you are left with a very incomplete and mediocre class, if not really terrible in the Loyalty build's case.

Now there is a way you can make Loyalty work. It scales with your party's defenses, but most classes in the game aren't exactly on the beefy side, but there are a few that are. Just stuff all those slabs of beef into your party and suddenly Loyalty becomes very strong as with even more defensive buffs they won't die. What's the problem with this strategy? Doing this setup requires going with a party that focuses heavily on defense instead of offense and tanking their damage output greatly! It's way more efficient and far less effort to just go with an offensive party of some kind where with this strategy you have to put in a lot of effort just to make the skill functional. And that doesn't even fix all the anti-synergy issues this class has. It's just a bandage over a far bigger problem. As such we're not gonna be writing this overview with that specific strategy in mind, as it's very unlikely most players will even go for it. If you're doing a challenge run, be my guest but that's pretty out of scope for this LP and if you're doing one, you don't really need our help and already know what you're getting into.

Alternatively run a solo Beast and literally no other party member. Or 5 Beasts. Suddenly all of Loyalty's issues go out the window because there is no party to defend, or the party is full of Beasts that can actually use their stats while reaping the benefits of the defensive skills they can actually use. But uh again, that sort of thing is out of the scope of this LP.

Autocure
Prerequisites: HP Up Lv3
Unlocks: Lv5: Autoheal
Restores the user's HP by a certain amount after each battle. Passive.


Now for a defensive build this is a pretty great skill that gives you a nice chunk of scalable healing at the end of each tu- oh, it's at the end of every battle? WHAT IS THE POINT OF IT THEN??? You're gonna invest 10 points for a skill that gives you like 50HP at the end of each BATTLE? Just use Cure, it's super cheap and heals for way more, and chances are if you have Loyalty you'll be dead at the end of a two turn battle anyway. Still, it has one positive point, and it's the skill it unlocks.

A more selfish version of Patch Up for less return. It does stack with Patch Up so whether you want to take this is up to you, though I'd consider it super low priority. Especially if you took Loyalty to max level and are frequently left with a dead Beast.

Autoheal
Prerequisites: Autocure Lv5
Unlocks: Lv5: Tenacity
Gives the user a chance to recover from any ailment at the start of a turn. Separate chance to the standard Recover Chance. Passive.


Now this is much better, gives the Beast a great chance of recovering from any ailment since it's in essence a second recovery roll. Since they have great LUC, it's very likely they'll shrug off ailments after one turn, which is very nice for a tank. Of course, if you have Loyalty, dying also cures ailments, but what this skill unlocks would actually help with that build, so it can be worth picking up in both. Just a shame about Autocure.

Keep in mind it doesn't work on binds, but it does work on Petrification! Which isn't a huge upside as only 5 enemies have access to Petrification in the entire game. Still, being able to get right back into the action is a really good passive to have. Though non-Loyalty Beasts will see significantly more value from this since they won't be dying all the time.

En Garde
Prerequisites: VIT Up Lv10
Gives the user a chance to reduce incoming damage by 50%. Does not stack with Loyalty. Passive.


So if you were wondering why I didn't mention this skill when talking about Loyalty... well there it is, god could you imagine how good this class could be if all the multipliers and defensive buffs actually WORKED with Loyalty? But for defensive builds this is pretty darn nice. Would've been nice to combo with Bristle but oh well, stuff to dream about. Of course, this skill works well when it actually activates and outside of Loyalty there's no real way for the Beast to attract hits so it won't work as well as a 1 Guard Protector, but you've invested ten points of VIT Up, might as well use this!

This skill would be fucking amazing with Loyalty IF IT ACTUALLY WORKED WITH IT! As a result, ignore this entirely if you're using Loyalty, it won't help one single bit. For a tank build, it's really good though. It effectively increases the Beast's HP by 38%. This is also a big reason why this class is so weird. Just look at how at odds the skillset is with each other! All this anti-synergy is just disgusting!

Tenacity
Prerequisites: Autoheal Lv5
Gives the user a chance to be automatically revived at 1HP. Can activate multiple times per battle, stacks with Loyalty and cannot activate if the user was killed by Instant Death. Passive.


Finally, something that actually works with Loyalty. This skill is pretty great if your Beast is dying a lot and pretty useless otherwise. Still, the fact that it can proc after every death if you're lucky enough is pretty damn good, but it's also pretty bad when it doesn't activate, since reviving a Beast for it to then die immediately isn't a great feeling. The best way to keep on Rampaging and that's not saying a lot.

This is pretty much the only defensive skill you can even get with Loyalty builds, and it's probably the only worthwhile one since your Beast will be dying all the damn time. Might as well mitigate that the best you can! Outside of Loyalty builds, probably take it or leave it. Your Beast will be pretty tanky but this could be handy to have on the off chance they die from a stray Loyalty proc if you have that at a low level.

Maul
Unlocks: Lv5: Devour
A single target Claw attack that increases in damage the lower the user's HP. Claw skill with Bash damage, uses the Arms.


Wow look at all those numbers. Unfortunately this type of skill is back and it's still hard to justify, especially on Loyalty builds where it'll rarely get the chance to be this low in health, and Rampage is better. This can work on more defensive builds, but there's better skills to use, like the one this skill unlocks! Can be worth throwing out if you find yourself at low health, but due to the free flowing of Salve II and it not being worth maxing means you're better off doing something else.

This skill isn't quite hard outclassed by others like some other skills of these types are but it's still outclassed in practice. Loyalty builds should be using Rampage instead, while tank builds can be using Devour or Bodyslam. 25% HP is a very dangerous threshold on tank builds, and on Loyalty builds, you're either dead or you're not dead. There is barely any inbetween. And again, Rampage exists, so please use that instead of making your Beast's existence even more miserable than it already is.

Devour
Prerequisites: Maul Lv5
A single target Claw attack that heals the user's HP by a percentage of damage dealt. Claw skill with Bash damage, uses the Head.


Now for a tanky build, this is a pretty great skill. Due to the Beast's high STR it'll do a nice chunk of damage and, indeed, heal a fair bit. For Loyalty builds, this will absolutely not offset the amount of damage you'll take, so don't even bother. Otherwise this move is kinda whatever, since it doesn't really heal that much, but for keeping topped off and for a slight investment that can ease your healer's load, it's pretty nice.

A pretty strong utility skill for tank builds, as dealing damage and healing yourself at the same time is a really strong effect. And on a supportive class this can really extend their survivability. But on Loyalty builds? Trust us when we say that the lifesteal does not make up for the sheer amount of HP they will lose from Loyalty procs. Or deaths they will run into.

Bodyslam
Unlocks: Lv5: Rampage
A single target Claw attack that attempts to inflict Stun. Claw skill with Bash, uses the Arms.


...what is this scaling?! Truly this is the meme class, but that does mean when fully invested Bodyslam is a damn good skill, hitting hard and striking fast. Of course, this is outshone by Rampage, but for defensive builds this is a great move to spam if you don't fancy doing anything else. Of course you'll need to wait to use this, it is absolutely godawful early on, but quickly becomes an excellent skill. Since it doesn't require HP tuning like Maul or the suicidal Loyalty like Rampage, this is the best overall skill this class has, which says a lot, but the Stun chance coupled with high LUC is actually pretty dependable. Definitely something to work towards, you'll want this skill nice and early.

From levels 1 through 5 it's straight up worse than a regular attack, and it's barely better at level 6. But past that point is where the skill starts getting good. What the fuck is this scaling!? Keep in mind Etrian Odyssey does not tell you the specifics of the skill data, we're pulling this out for you, so chances are a player who invests in this will likely see that this skill is crap and not invest in it further. What the fuck is this class!?

Anyways if you're using a tank Beast build, this is your best damage skill in its toolkit. Deals decent damage and could possibly lock enemies out of a turn. Assuming their Claws don't weigh them down anyways.

Rampage
Prerequisites: Bodyslam Lv5, Loyalty Lv10
A multi target Claw attack to 3-6 enemies, does not redirect if original target dies. Claw attack with Bash damage, uses the Arms.


Alright fine, you want the suicidal Loyalty build, what does it get you? Well, okay, it's the best attacking skill in the game. Yes, it outpaces Midareba and Richochet, but is MUCH harder to use than those since you usually don't get off more than two of these in a battle before you're paste on the wall. Theoretically you do incredible damage with this skill, but accuracy and the chance of only doing 3 hits at max level really hamper this skill's effectiveness. It can outdamage all other skills, but will it? Will it really? Loyalty is just such a fundamentally terrible skill that warps everything associated with it that even at this class's best, it's still hard to use and can explode in your face at any moment. I just can't recommend this, good as it may be, and that's the biggest shame of this class.

If you maxed out Loyalty, you might as well snag this. It's the best attacking skill in the game, and you might as well embrace the glass cannon nature of your pet since they're going to be dying a whole lot due to Loyalty. At max level, taking into account the lowered accuracy, it deals a whopping average damage of 546%! (Without the accuracy penalty, the average damage increases to 728%.) Extremely high for a non-conditional damage skill! Then again Loyalty gives it a condition of "hope your Beast doesn't fucking die." It would be an amazing skill if it wasn't attached to Loyalty, but it is and rarely does being associated with a terrible skill bring down another skill! God, what the shit is this class design!?

Claw
Unlocks: Lv5: Wildcut
A single target Claw attack. Claw skill with Cut damage, uses the Arms.


Uh, yep, you are reading this right, this skill gets stronger, but also gets slower and less accurate the more you level it up. What the fuck is the point? I feel like I'm asking that a lot with this class, just use Bodyslam instead, hell use the skill this one unlocks, I dunno why they would make a bland skill worse the more you want to use it, they were just throwing everything at the wall and yes, haha, very funny, but stop making this class bad!!!

Well this isn't something you see too often in an EO game. A skill actively giving reasons not to max it out beyond raising the TP costs. You'll have to decide where to stop, but if you want Wildcut, you'll need to level it up to 5. This feels like an experiment that didn't work because SP is already a precious resource, so knowing how to carefully distribute it is already an important skill for players to learn. And skills are already competing to gain SP, so there really didn't need to be more reasons to drag a skill down. Or they thought a Beast having access to Cut damage was really really scary.

Wildcut
Prerequisites: Claw Lv5
A multi target Claw attack. Claw skill with Cut damage, uses the Arms.


Oh hey Wildshot but better, how you doing. This is clearly supposed to be a finishing off skill with that godawful speed modifier, and it does work well in that regard due to pretty high power and good Beast stats. Otherwise kinda whatever, line wide Cut damage is definitely interesting and useful against 5 enemies at once, but if you can't finish the enemies off your party will have to awkwardly kill them off at the start of the next turn and you'll probably want to use Bodyslam instead to secure the kill. Or Rampage if you're suicidal, yadda yadda. Still one of the more useful and unique skills of this class.

A 1% speed modifier. Did somebody think giving the Beast access to Cut damage was really scary or something? What's with this skill and Claw? Anyways it's the only true AOE skill they have so pick it up if that's something you want your Beast to be dishing out. It's one of the few physical AOEs in the game but it won't be able to take out random encounters before they act.

Bristle
Prerequisites: Loyalty Lv3
Increases the user's physical and elemental defense, and reduces their damage output for 5 turns. Buff skill, uses the Head.


So for the other Loyalty skills, you were probably wondering if you could only invest in the mastery skill, just a little bit, and just ignore the higher activation and Rampage. And yes, you can do that, but there's a few problems with this, firstly the activation chance, even at the lowest level you'd like, 3, is still annoyingly high. Secondly using these skills in conjunction with Loyalty activating is pointless because it ignores the best part of them, the damage reduction for Bristle is FANTASTIC, and for a more defensive approach the lower damage is kinda whatever.

But if Loyalty activates that huge damage reduction doesn't matter at all and the 1% less damage you'll take from a level 3 Loyalty is all that'll matter. You're using these skills praying that Loyalty never activates at all, and that's a huge problem with the 3 skills early in this tree, so it's less of a headache to just not bother with them. When Loyalty doesn't activate, hot damn these skills are pretty darn good, but 1/3 times that's not gonna be the case. And that just sucks. Are you sick of me talking about how bad Loyalty is yet?

More amazing skills that are just utterly tanked by how fucking shit Loyalty is! Once again, the anti-synergy on display here is just utterly horrifying! Which is a shame because this is the strongest defense buff in the game! But Loyalty ignores all of it! And even on tank builds that took a bit of Loyalty to unlock this, 33% of the time it won't matter! And this is completely useless for Rampage builds since the last thing you want to do is reduce Rampage's damage, which is the only redeeming thing about max level Loyalty, and the defense buff will be ignored 75% of the time!

Preen
Prerequisites: Loyalty Lv2
Increases the user's physical defense and provoke rate for 5 turns. Buff skill, uses the Head.


Now for the next Loyalty shackled skill, Preen is pretty great for when you want your tank to be a tank, but if you've only got Loyalty at level 2, there's a 31% chance that you'll technically use this skill but take 2% more damage, making this skill completely useless in those cases! If you're able to combine Preen, Bristle, En Garde and even Wildwall, you can see how this class could've been an amazing tank. But there's always that hanging spectre of death that will completely screw everything up and act as if you didn't invest in those skills at all. This is the only way outside of Loyalty for the Beast to properly draw aggro and help protect the team and it's not a great defense increase, admittedly, and has the godawful passive associated with it. So again, it's just easier to ignore it entirely and go full Rampage or not pick Loyalty at all.

Like Cross said, combining all of these defensive skills could have made for an amazing tanking class. But once again, Loyalty induces anti-synergy, so these skills have extremely questionable usefulness. With max level Loyalty, Preen's basically in effect all the time anyways, and on tank builds you have to hope Loyalty doesn't activate to get the most out of this since the defense buff doesn't activate in those cases. The defense buff is also pretty bad, so it's not even a must have even if you're trying to ignore Loyalty. It does have one specific use in the post-game at the very least, but that's about it.

Wildwall
Nullifies all STR-based attacks for the entire turn or if the user dies. Buff skill, uses the Arms.


Ah, a Parry that can nullify STR-based elemental attacks for some reason, rare that they are. Combined with Preen, this is a great way to really shut down any physical attacker for a turn considering Loyalty doesn't fuck everything up, but it's also something you don't need to level up all the way. It's rare you'll take 10 hits at once, let alone fucking 20. Of course, without Preen, and indeed Loyalty, this skill isn't very dependable since there's no way to guarantee the enemy will attack you, so it's best to use a Protector for this strategy. See how with most skills with this damn class there's always a freaking asterisk? Ah, what could've been.

Suffers from the same issues Parry does, in that it'll fall off as the game goes on since it's pretty tied closely to Preen. And it doesn't even work with Loyalty, so that bit of usage is completely thrown out the window. At best it's a one point wonder. Just imagine just how powerful this class would have been if Loyalty wasn't horrifically and utterly bugged!

Roar
Attempts to inflict Fear on all enemies. Curse skill, uses the Head.


Yep. They were having a fucking laugh with this class lemme tell ya. Still, wonky infliction rate aside, this is a damn good skill at max level when combined with high LUC. Pairs very nicely with a FEAR TREE Hexer and can also just shutdown enemies pretty effectively, especially when combined with Bodyslam. Holy shit a good skill where I don't have to UM, ACTUALLY and mention Loyalty in any way. ...SHIT

What the fucking shit is this scaling. Did they forget to design levels 1 through 4? Just max it out as soon as possible if you're grabbing it. AOE Fear is pretty okay crowd control, but it can be paired up nicely with a Hexer if you're using their Fear skills. A high priority if you're using a Fear Hexer. Can be taken or left in the dust if you're not.

Saliva
Restores HP to a single target. Healing skill, uses the Head.


Uh, right? Due to a lack of a healing boosting passive and any TEC to really speak of, this is a pretty pathetic heal, but can be a way for a defensive build Beast to heal other party members...? Just use Devour, it has much better utility, and leave the healing to the actual dedicated classes toots. Still, if you don't have a healer for some reason...

No Healer, the worst TEC stat in the entire game out of all the classes, yeah pass. Just have them throw out a Medica or something if you need your Beast to be healing someone else. And if they need to heal themselves, Devour can do that while also chipping away at their enemies at the same time. Or they can gobble down a Medica if they really need a lot of emergency healing.

Doze Off
Prerequisites: Loyalty Lv1
Restores the user's HP and puts them to Sleep. Heal skill, uses the Head.


Again, what? Stop being such a fucking weird class! Still, this does combo with Autoheal and is a very cheap heal, but Devour is again way more useful, you should have a dedicated healer, and also this requires Loyalty and being asleep when that activates is a BAD FUCKING IDEA, so maybe don't.

...Why? It's a fast healing skill and Autoheal can Purge off the Sleep next turn but uh. Use an actual healer. Or an item. Devour is also there too to deal damage and heal at the same time. Oh and in case you had any ideas, no, Sleep resistance or any form of ailment resistance will not prevent the Sleep from happening, as it's guaranteed and pierces immunities. Recovery buffs do work so there's that. It has one possible use in the post-game, but Preen can also do that and is just a better skill all around.

Howl
Lures non-red FOEs in a certain radius to tile used and stuns them for a set duration. Field skill.


God this class has so many skills... can be useful but I prefer saving SP for other skills, even if that's a hard sell with this class, and using items instead. Fighting FOEs is a bad idea, so can definitely be useful to avoid them!

Oh hey more FOE field skills. Take em or leave them. Though most players opt to leave them.

Growl
Stuns non-red FOEs in a certain radius for a set duration. Field skill.


Gets both FOE skills like the Troubadour, so can offer some nice utility like that class, but this class is pretty confused enough, maybe don't add more chaff to it? Ah who cares, I don't care, let's end this already.

Right so instead of repeating my commentary on these skills yet again, let me drop a bit of trivia on you. These skills were an attempt to make Labyrinth explorations more interactive. Players could use these to interact with FOEs to make their trips more easy. However, these skills were frequently ignored outside of certain sections of the game that forced you to use them. Not only do FOE items exist, but learning FOE behaviours isn't particularly hard, and avoiding them is pretty easy once you've got their patterns down. Not only that, Red FOEs are probably the ones you'd want to avoid the most but these skills don't work on them, limiting their usefulness further. And yet another downside is that depending on the FOE navigation puzzle, you might fuck up the patrol routes if there are groups of FOEs by using these skills and make it completely impossible to get through that part without killing them.

In short, these mechanics were basically failed experiments. These were dropped entirely starting from EO3, and instead they opted to make puzzles involving FOEs more involved once the 3DS era of Etrian Odyssey came around to add more interactivity to the Labyrinths.

Fetch
Prerequisites: TEC Up Lv5, LUC Up Lv5
Allows the party to gather from Chop, Mine and Take points a limited amount each day.


This is unique, but since you're putting investment into two pretty mediocre passives for this, it's just easier, and takes around the same amount of SP, to use the Survivalist's skillset instead. Going with a team of 5 Beasts is not as useful and you don't want these skills on your actual Beast, so heavy skip, even if it's a fun novelty.

This is an interesting idea in theory but in practice it plays out the exact same way as investing in all of the gathering skills on a Survivalist. TEC and LUC aren't particularly stats the Beast cares about. And in a gathering party? Beasts are locked off at the start of the game so you can't really make a party of Beasts from the get-go, and Survivalists have actual field skills they can use to reach gathering points easier that Beasts don't have access to. And due to the skill tree design, you don't get the payoff from this skill until later in comparison. A Survivalist can gather from 3 different gathering points with 3 SP, but it'll take the Beast 11 SP for them to do so. Just stick with a Survivalist gathering party.

Salivall
Heals and revives the entire party and dispels all status ailments. Does not remove binds or Stun. Force skill, uses the Head.


Oh thank god it's nearly over. Salivall is a worse H. Touch since it has a limit to its healing, but it's still a really nice OH SHIT button that falls off in the lategame. It's basically the same skill otherwise so you'll use it if you have it, but it's otherwise a mediocre and confusing cap to a mediocre and confusing class.

It's basically a worse H. Touch, what else is there to say? The base healing is pretty big though so it's not all bad and should cover your party for most of the game, even if by late or post-game it stops being a full heal. Throw it out whenever you need it and it's up.

Folks. What the fuck did we just read??? If everything worked out like it did in my dreams then the Beast would be a wonderful defensive class with some fun utility that makes it different enough from the Protector, better healing and defensive measures with a lack of elemental mitigation. And honestly that's fine, because the various offbrand and offensive skills this class has is actually pretty nice.

But then Loyalty comes and fucks it all up. So either you ignore it entirely, which ignores the great skills of Rampage, Bristle and Preen, becoming a worse Protector in the process, or you go all in and die to anything that deals any modicum of good damage. It's such an awful rock or hard place to be in and I hate it, I really do, this isn't a bad class, per se, it's a very interesting experiment that can go horribly wrong at a moment's notice, and you don't need that kinda stress in your life. At least the remake fixed them, but anyway, that's enough of us rambling, it's on with the main event! Fucking finally, what a journey these classes have put us through...

Beast could have been an amazing class, but due to programming shortcuts being taken, it's among the bottom of the barrel instead. Trying to make Loyalty work takes a ridiculous amount of effort to pull off, and at that point you could have completed the game more easily and faster with a better party. And if you don't take Loyalty you just have a pretty middling generalist class. What a shame, it has a pretty decent toolkit that's heavily undermined by one terrible skill causing a weird split in skill builds. So instead you have a unit that's pretty mediocre all around. It's astounding how one skill, one skill, completely undermined a class's design.