In order to determine the best Subclass for the Shogun, we must first understand the changes that it has undergone in Nexus. Gone are the nimble-yet-fragile iterations of Etrians gone by, and in comes a well balanced, supportive damage class. Don’t be fooled by that description however, they can still throw down some significant physical numbers, but they do so with a better spread of statistics, whilst still retaining their identity as the dual wielding, purely physical type damage dealer. You would imagine then, that choosing a Subclass for such a thing would be easy, after all simply strapping more physical DPS to your already strong physical DPS class will just make everything better, right? Well, things aren’t quite that simple in the late and post game of Nexus, so we’ve put together three very different options that we think will compliment a variety of team builds.
Hero
It’s become quite alarming just how much we’ve written about this powerhouse of a class so far, and it’s showing no signs of stopping. With a skill set so diverse the Hero can lend itself to almost any main class and consider it a benefit, to the point where they’re equally adept at complimenting defensive and offensive classes. Interestingly enough however, we’d consider the Shogun to be one of those that can benefit from the largest selection of their skills. Despite those improved defensive statistics we spoke about, the main class will have trouble surviving in the front row, and whilst their damaging abilities are more than capable of doling out punishment, they lack the added effects of those offered by the Hero.
We should preface all of this by saying that the Afterimage tactics used by the Hero class aren’t fantastic here. It’s possible to get use out of it, after all the Shogun does possess some powerful skills, however they aren’t always spamming these – a skill like Echoing Slash is useful for sure, but would you want to waste an Afterimage repeating this rather than something more impactful for the team?
That said, the real benefits can be found everywhere else. Encourage is a fantastic supporting skill that heals the whole team whenever an attacking skill is used, something the Shogun will do constantly, and it scales with max HP rather than WIS. Physical Shield can be a useful skill for two reasons; not only will it’s usage improve the survivability of your Shogun, but it scales with Strength too, meaning you’re not going to be sacrificing too much damage to use it – Elemental Shield too works for the same reason. Clear Mind is a very useful self cleanse, something the Shogun sorely lacks, and Burst Blade will even synergise well with the Shogun’s own Peerless Demon. Finally, the elemental ‘Blade’ attacks can see some use in attacking weaknesses, and Heroic Steel can function as a great buff to the Shogun’s damage, especially early on in encounters.
Subclass Benefits
- Excellent defensive skills like Encourage, Physical and Elemental Shield can help to buff up the Shogun’s defence. Despite it’s statistical change between Etrian titles, the class is still very squishy.
- Clear Mind is a nice self cleanse, which the main class does not possess.
- Possible to increase the elemental attack repertoire through the Hero’s ‘Blade’ attacks.
- Heroic Steel will increase the Shogun’s damage passively, though this will require a team that enjoys staying at high HP rather than regularly spending it.
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Highlander
Speaking of spending HP to function, next up we have the Highlander, or what we’ve affectionately dubbed the ‘Passive Battery’ of the Subclass world. The class itself is a powerhouse of physical damage that features both single and group target damage skills, a light sprinkling of supportive abilities and of course, some of the best passives available in Nexus. To the new player, or indeed an outsider of any sort, it might seem a little strange that we’re choosing to pair a Spear wielding class with one that uses Katana, but it should be noted that a good portion of the Highlanders kit isn’t exclusive to certain equipment. In fact, almost all of them take into account the STR stat, something the Shogun has in spades. Besides which, the Shogun can and indeed is encouraged to equip a secondary.
We’ll start with the simple parts; HP Up, Phys DEF Up and Phys ATK Up are all very good passives for the Shogun which, despite it’s stat tweaks in Nexus, still struggles to stay alive in battle. Onto the actual skills now, and we’re going to highlight a rather dangerous one: Bloody Offense. This increases your ATK at the expense of using HP with every attack, so whilst it has the potential to increase the Shogun’s damage by a lot, it’s worth being cautious. As you might imagine Bloodlust will synergise with this, and whilst investing in Turning Tide is a good way to restore the lost health, it’s hard to consider this as reliable HP restoration, not without a great deal of planning at least. Lastly we’d recommend Black Sabbath; this is a tremendously powerful STR based attack that hits the entire enemy party whilst restoring health to yours. You may think that the Shogun doesn’t require this, but how many of it’s skills target the entire enemy team?
Subclass Benefits
- Amazing passives from the Highlander – HP Up, Phys DEF Up and Phys ATK Up.
- Bloody Offense and Bloodlust will work well with the Shogun, but beware of your health usage. Despite the buffs to it’s statistics in Nexus, it’s still a frail class on the front lines.
- Turning Tide is a great way to support the party. The Shogun is strong enough to get plenty of last hits, but don’t rely on this to keep it healthy if using the above Highlander skills.
- As ever, Black Sabbath is an excellent STR based, full party attack that heals your own. It’s a random battle deleter, just be careful with your resources.
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Nightseeker
We know what you’re thinking. Yes, the Nightseeker and it’s kit primarily revolves around the infliction of ailments and taking advantage of them, but bear with us here. Where our first combination offered the defensive benefits of the Hero, and our second could be considered a moderately risky way to increase their physical damage through liberal usage of Highlander passives, this third choice of ours manages to achieve both whilst feeling completely different. It’s also by far our favourite choice for the Shogun Subclass. In practice it actually ends up functioning very similarly to a front row Nightseeker, though we’d offer one particular piece of advice before you make this choice: Bring ailment application in other party slots to really make this come alive.
Firstly, Shadow Cloak offers a great front line defence option to any class, but is even more important for the squishy Shogun, to the point where we’d also consider taking some points in Auto-Cloak. Speed Up will also increase it’s woeful act speed, though don’t expect any miracles in this regard considering the base classes stats. The real benefits start flowing as you invest in a combination of Proficiency, Swift Edge and Follow Trace. Proficiency will increase your damage against targets with ailments, hence our advice to bring them elsewhere in the party, and Swift Edge is an attack that deals more hits to a target that is inflicted with one. This may seem fairly basic to anyone familiar with the Nightseeker, however the Shogun has the Peerless Demon skill, which makes it deal more damage the more times it hits during an attack. So now you have a skill that hits a lot of times, for more and more damage each time. Pair this with the Nightseeker’s Follow Trace, which has a chance to activate a skill twice when striking a target with an ailment active, and you have a recipe for incredible single target damage!
Subclass Benefits
- Massive damage potential thanks to a combination of the Nightseeker’s Proficiency and Swift Edge skills, which scale even further with the Shogun’s own Peerless Demon skill.
- Follow Trace will give you a chance to repeat the above skill combination, meaning even more damage!
- This combination does not focus on inflicting ailments, rather taking advantage of them, so ensure that you have options for inflicting them elsewhere in your party.
- Speed Up is a great passive for the slow moving Shogun.
- Great defensive options in Shadow Cloak and Auto-Cloak.
- Heavily focuses on single target damage.
- Probably our favourite class combination in the game.
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Categories: Etrian Odyssey Nexus