Today: Dragons, Mages, Royalty and more monsters!
Troop Review
First, I'll re-iterate my opinion about large units vs small units. Large units, especially early in the game, are not worth it. They have not had enough level ups for their larger stat increases to make them much stronger than small units. And every large units takes the place of two small units, which almost always translates into a loss of attacks. Your party will always do more damage when the large units are replaced by small units. Level 10 or above, large units begin coming out of their own, and thus you may consider recruiting them. But even then... A Cerberus is never a replacement for two evil ones, or two paladins in terms of damage. The only thing large are all good at is taking damage. They have high hp, and often high defenses. Many large units have special attacks in the back row, but since that takes away from their tanking, it's often a bad move - put two mages there instead! My word of advise is avoid large units except for the followings:- Griffons, coz they make your unit High Sky despite being terrible in combat.
- Cockatrice: One of the few large units worth putting in the back row. Their petrify attacks is stupid good. And they are still High Sky!
- Wyrms and Wyverns. Same as the Griffon, but better in combat.
- Tier 3 and 4 dragons. Tiamats are even worth putting in the back row, of their Evil Dead attacks.
The rest is a matter of choice, but none of the other type perform better than two small units IMHO.
Dragons
- Type: Large Monster (Dragons)
Dragons are a complex bunch, see, from start to finish, a dragon can be promoted up to 3 times! Unlike other classes, these promotions are not just re-skins of each another (well, not all of them). Dragon promotions depend on alignment. First, I will cover the basic dragon from each all others come from, the simply named "Dragon". Note that to avoid the confusion, I'll call it "Green Dragon" instead.
- Green Dragon (Tier 1)
- The basic breed of dragons. These are neutral in alignment, and can be promoted at level 7 to whatever dragon line that matches their alignment. You can find these guys as neutral units as soon as in the second stage! On the downside... They aren't that good. They have above average stats compared to most large units in the early game, but they lack agility so much they miss with frightening regularity. This is common to all dragons really, but these guys get it the worst. My opinion; Don't bother. You will get plenty of chances to to find evolved dragons of the line you prefer later in the game. In the back row, these guys use the same fire attack as the hellhounds do. And actually, here's the problem - Everything they do, hellhounds do better. AND you get those guys when you recruit Warren! Of course, I'd point out everything a hellhound does, two knights do even better... So yeah.
- The Neutral Dragons: All the neutral dragons are fire-elementals. Your alignment must remain between 45 and 65 for them to be promoted, which is VERY tricky to do. This makes them the worse of the three lines of dragons. All of them have the "Mountain" Movement type.
- Red Dragon (Tier 2): The red dragon is a Palette Swap of the Green Dragon. Same attacks, slightly better stats, still terrible. Still, if you want to use them, you get two when you hire Lyon.
- Red Dragon II (Tier 3): Gaining a prize for "Worst unit name ever", these guys are tougher, meaner red dragon. Now worth using, as they gain HP at a ridiculous rate. Keeps it's previous races single target fire breath in the back row.
- Salamander (Tier 4): Mightiest of the line. Probably the best mountain unit in the game. Not much to say. Their back row fire attacks now hits all enemies, and they do it twice. And remember the fire attacks of Red Dragon II in the back row? Well these guys use it in the front row, allowing them to target enemies in the back row.
- The Good Dragons: Pretty much the same as the neutral dragon, but swap fire for cold, and mountain terrain for snow. High Alignment requirement makes them easier to maintain and obtain though. Probably my favorite line.
- Silver Dragons (Tier 2): Palette Swap of the green dragon. Better stats than it, but gains vulnerability to fire and resistance to cold. In the back row, twice per fight, they throw chunks of ice at the enemy. Still not really worth using.
- Gold Dragon (Tier 3): See the Red Dragon II. Pretty much the same thing, but ice. If you've seen my video of Debonair fighting Figaro, you've seen one of these babies at work. Good all around, and Fenril comes with one!
- Platinum Dragon (Tier 4) Easier to obtain counterpart of the Salamander. It uses a cold hit all attack in the back row twice. A tank capable of taking a huge amount of punishment, and deal out a similar amount. My favorite end game dragon. And remember the ice attacks of gold dragons in the back row? Well these guys use it in the front row, allowing them to target enemies in the back row.
- The Evil Dragons: Evil Dragons switch fire for acid (which is physical elemental). There are also a different beast, having a quirk in their evolutions. Their terrains is plains. Except for one species...
- Black Dragon (Tier 2): Palette Swap of the green dragon. See the info on Red Dragons and Silver Dragons.
- Tiamat (Tier 3): Okay, HUGE Change here! These guys behave like tier 4 dragons. They use Evil Dead twice when in the back row, and acid breath in the front. They don't get the stat growth of the tier 4 dragons, but otherwise you can get them 5 levels earlier.
- Zombie Dragon (Tier 4): Only available by wasting an undead ring on a tiamat, these guys are the worst tier 4 dragons. First of all, coz the ring is better spent making a Lich. Second of all, they have the Swamp movement type... And there is NO MAP where most of the terrain is swamp! Even water is better than this! Rather than evil dead, they use rot in the back row, which does the same thing. And they have the same stats growth as the Platinum Dragon... so there's no point in wasting the valuable undead rings on them!
Mage / Sorcerer / Lich
- Type: Human Male
- Promoted from:
- Mage: Wizard
- Sorcerer: Mage (Via Undead Staff)
- Lich: Sorcerer (Via Undead Ring)
Like the wizard, these guys use a spell that fits the target's weaknesses. They can pick the cold, lightning, fire, physical and black elements. Mages do that once, Sorcerers twice, Liches three times! Of course, Liches requite two items to make, so they can be tricky to get. Great units all around, liches do require two items to make, but are second only to princesses in might.
Princess
- Type: Human Female
- Promoted from: Amazon (Via Royal Crown)
The princess is the single best unit in the game. Everythings Better With Princesses. Why? Well, first of all, Princesses attack with "Starlight" in the back row, a hit-all white magic attack! That, alone, would make them desirable. But they have a second ability not recorded on their stats: A Princess who is a squad leader. gives everyone in the squad (including herself!) an extra attack! Liches attack 4 times with a princess! Paladins too! Seraphim attack twice! Best unit in the game!
Evil One
- Type: Human Male
- Promoted from: Wild Man
An evil counterpart to the Paladin. Evil Ones trade the paladin's back row healing for two uses of the fireball spell, which is pretty much obsolete by the time you have them. In the front, they do two melee attacks rather than three. But still, they hit hard, are very durable, and very cool looking! I have a soft spot for these black knights.
Werewolf / Tigerman
- Type: Lycanthrope
- Promoted from: Fighter (special)
These are strange unit. During the day, they are mere fighters called "Beast Man" (No relation to actual beast man units). At night, they turn into their true form. Both species are very resistant to damage at night, and both hit like a truck. Werewolves attack three times, Tigermen do it twice but hit way harder. Beside neutral encounters, Tigerman can only be recruited if a unit has a free slot and you use a fullmoon stone on it. Werewolves can be recruited by Vampyres, or by having a fighter unit killed by a werewolf. Since the only werewolf you will ever meet while you have fighters in your army is Sirius the boss of Scene 5, thats your only chance of that. These guys become somewhat less interesting late game, where Vampyres become available, and tanks with huge damage resistances that aren't crippled during daytime become common occurrences.
Hawkman / Eagleman / Ravenman
- Type: Demi-human
The poor man's angel. Hawkman are pretty terrible. Fragile, poor damage, their only upside is their high agility which means they act soon and have good evasion. Eaglemen are their high Ali promotion, getting a one shot, one target lighning attack in the back row, while Ravenmen go for fire instead. Both are slightly better, though honestly, the only one you should ever need to use is Canopus, who has superior stats to both - get angels or demons instead of eaglemen and ravenmen. All of them have the low sky movement.
Mermaid / Nixie
- Type: Demi-human
Your basic small wate units. Mermaids pretty much behave like cold-themed Valkyries, while Nixies are cold-themed muses. Very similar stats. I dislike water units, so I avoid them, but you can always hire one of those without the whole unit's movement turning to water. No bad, but as I said, I dislike water units.
Octopus / Kraken
- Type: Large Monster
The other water unit. These WILL turn a squad's movement to water. On the upside, they have a ton of hp, and hit hard enough. But water units: Save yourself the trouble and get a wyrm / wyvern instead.
Seraph
- Type: Small Monster (Angel)
The best type of angels. In the back row, they trade banish for Jihad, a white, hit-all attacks they will do once. Pair em with a princess and they will do it twice, ensuring death to white magic-hating units like Gares and undeads! Love em! It's like a portable Judgement card!
Devil
- Type: Small Monster (Demon)
The best type of demons. In the back row they trade nightmare for Meteor, a black magic attack that even out does the Lich's phantom. Highly recommended.
Giant / Ice Giant / Fire Giant / Titan
- Type: Large Demi-Human
These guys are very popular with the computer. Giants are the base units, with Ice Giants being the high Ali option, fire giant being low Ali, and titans being mid to high ali but require more levels. I don't really like em, but they are not that bad. While they do hit very hard, and titans even get 3 attacks, they tend to miss very often. I prefer dragons myself, but still, if you are interested in using them, use Norn's two titans she gets you when you recruit her.
Also, Titans in the back row have a physical hit-all attacks they can do twice. This will devastate units vulnerable to physical damage like Wizards and Mages.
Golem / Rock Golem / Iron Golem
- Type: Large Monsters
A unit based on a gimmick that does not worth. See, Golems are built around having the worst HP of any unit in the entire game - even worst than a wizard's! You will almost never meet one with more than 100 hp. But, they are supposed to make up for it with high defenses. The idea being enemies would never do more than 10 dmg to it. Except their defenses are not nearly high enough. Magic from wizards devastates them. I've seen Paladins take half their health in one swipe. Golems are the worst large units in the game because of this! Avoid at all cost!
Dragoner / Dragon Master
- Type: Human Male
- Promoted from: Beast Master (Via Stone of Dragos)
Both perform similar to knights (though not like Paladins). The main reason for wanting these guys is because they can hire from the three branches of dragons. Dragonmasters, when in the back row, can use a Sorcerer's Icefield twice, which is quite nice. If only you didn't have to endure the terrible beast man and beastmaster classes to get them... I recommend only turning Gilbert and Lyon into those. If you find more stones, just sell them.
That should be all of the non unique classes in the game.
