Originating in Etrian Odyssey 4, the Nightseeker class quickly became a fan favourite in the series. It’s a class that is designed to debilitate your targets, inflicting them will all manner of ailments and generally reducing their relative risk versus your party. This doesn’t mean that they’re strictly a supportive team member however, because a fully developed Nightseeker can dole out tremendous amounts of damage, specifically to ailing targets. In this regard they’re actually quite self sufficient, relying upon their own ailment inflictions to boost their damage, but this does leave us in a bit of a quandary regarding Subclass options, after all what should you provide a class that provides itself with so much? One combination in particular might stand out, but we’ve attempted to put together some additional options that might just lure you away from doubling up on evasive knife users.
Ninja
It’s this combination, and indeed the same when considered the other way around, that poses the question: Is more dodging, redirecting and ailment inflicting too much? Given that it’s appearing here, and indeed is by far the most popular Subclass choice for the Nightseeker, the answer is a firm and definite no. It turns out that there can never be too much of this, and the Subclassing of a Ninja with your main will actually form one of the most complete units possible in the entirety of Nexus. The combination of ailments, offensive and defensive options available to both classes will amount to one incredible, swiss army knife of a unit that is capable of reducing your opponents to a gibbering wreck.
Spoilt for choice, is how we’d describe a player viewing the skill options available here, but to do so in a slightly less hyperbolic way we would consider it as patching up the holes in each class. Through judicious use of skill points you’ll be able to pick up a Petrify option through the Izuna skill, Panic via Ninpo: Panic and a leg bind with Shadow Bind. Having these added to the base kit will create a class that can do everything but bind an arm or inflict a stun, both of which are easily accessible elsewhere. Further still, Proficiency will increase your damage from the back line, Ninpo: Double can of course effectively give you an additional unit to play with and you even get Status ATK Up, increasing the likelihood of these fantastic binds & ailments landing by a large amount. Mystic Calm can also be used to reduce the TP costs of your base skills, making ailment inflicting Throw skills almost free to use.
In all honesty the kit of these two classes work amazingly well, and we could sit here and list more and more ways that they combine to great effect, but we’ll just summarise by saying that this combination synergises amazingly well. Almost the entirety of each kit can complement the other, and they combine to form one of the most powerful single units possible in Nexus.
Subclass Benefits
- Combined, this duo will have access to almost every Ailment & Bind in Nexus.
- Status ATK Up will ensure these Ailments and Binds land more than ever.
- Mystic Calm will reduce the TP cost of everything, lowering Throw skills to almost nothing.
- Almost every Ninpo skill will be useful.
- Reflexes and Concealment can be used very well by a front line Nightseeker.
- Seriously, almost everything works for both classes. It’s fantastic.
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Hero
Despite the immense and rather obvious power of our first choice, it’s the combination of Nightseeker and Hero that we would consider our absolute favourite. Were you to view this class from the outside with no prior knowledge, you may call it a jack of all trades and master of none, but to do so would be foolish. The class is so powerful that it almost becomes a master of all trades, oftentimes feeling down right broken with just how much of an impact it can have in one party slot. Not only is it capable of dealing significant chunks of damage, but it does so whilst being tremendously safe and even manages to sustain the party in a non-trivial way. Still, it’s best to temper your expectations a little here; we’re not saying that a Nightseeker/Hero will light up your life quite like our first choice, but rather it will expand upon the supportive elements of the main class, allowing it to operate as a secondary damage dealer with added sustain.
The main benefit of this duo, for us at least, is Encourage. This skill will see the unit heal the entire party whenever it uses a skill, with the amount healed based on Max HP rather than their WIS stat. Given that the Nightseeker is always using Throw or attack skills in almost every battle, what results is a unit that constantly puts out party healing, even with its most basic TP costing Throw skills. Heroic Bonds, an extension of Encourage that increases damage and act speed when the party is at high health, is also a beneficial skill that synergises with the heal. The Nightseeker can also wield a Sword, which means it also has free access to skills that require it in the Hero tree, such as the powerful Spark Blade and Regiment Rave, which provide elements the base class cannot otherwise access. It is worth noting that this isn’t the best combination to take advantage of Afterimage, since you’re likely to be using Throw skills frequently and their repetition is rather limited in its use.
Subclass Benefits
- The Nightseeker becomes a better supporting party member, especially given the non-trivial party healing provided by Encourage whenever an attacking skill is used, including Throws.
- Sword skills Spark Blade and Regiment Rave can patch up the elemental holes in the main classes kit.
- Clear Mind is a useful self cleanse.
- Act Breaker will allow access to a Stun, which the Nightseeker does not naturally have.
- Not a great combination for Afterimage use, but a great combination for a team that’s struggling to keep up with damage taken by their party in the late game.
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Pugilist
Etrian players familiar with the Pugilist will know that the Nexus version is one that is somewhat toned down by series standards. Their debut in 5 saw them become bombastic front line attackers, adept at disabling opponents and dealing tremendous amounts of damage through their Impact Brawler Legendary Name. Sadly the Nexus version is one that has suffered for the transition, with the overall package on offer unable really to compete with either of the versions found in Etrian Odyssey 5. Neutered, then, is how we would describe them here, but that doesn’t mean that aspects of it’s kit cannot be found useful by others, one of which is certainly the Nightseeker.
The main benefits here are the passives, which are up there with the Highlander for sheer power on their own. Adrenaline will restore TP whenever a Bind or Ailment is inflicted, which is something the Nightseeker will frequently do, rendering the resource almost pointless in the process. Breather will give the main class a self cleanse which buffs their ATK in the process, and the benefits of HP Up and Status ATK Up cannot be underestimated, especially the latter which can be further boosted by Meditation. Finally, the Raging Billows passive, which increases damage done to ailing & bound opponents, will stack with the Nightseeker’s own Proficiency, and Million Rush will even benefit those that have invested in Blade Flurry. Sure, it’s not quite up there with the catch-all that is our first Subclass choice, but this comes pretty damned close and you’ll almost certainly be dealing more damage.
Subclass Benefits
- Amazing passives benefit the Nightseeker kit immensely.
- Raging Billows will stack with Proficiency, causing the Nightseeker to do tremendous amounts of damage to a bound or ailing target.
- HP Up and Status ATK Up are excellent additions to the base kit.
- Million Rush will synergise with Blade Flurry.
- Adrenaline practically removes TP as a concern.
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Categories: Etrian Odyssey Nexus