Etrian II Rules

[Sei]

Finally got around to finishing one on the back of 1st turn survivalist and some lucky binds. I must say I am rather impressed with 2, the classes mesh a lot better together as a whole and there seems to be a lot more synergy between them. I am sad to see Relaxing gone, although I see why Immunize had to go.

I rather like the Hexer this time around, but everything in general seems a lot more useful.

Frowns on how the FOE's seem invincible now and give no exp though.

Anyway, any starter tips?

[jeffx]

it's a fantastic game indeed. not sure what kind of tips to give you, if you've already beat the first.

maybe "cheat" and make sure none of your items are required for future quests, before you do sell them. Incidentally ever since P4 improved so much on fetch quests by differencing quest drops and common materials... it's going to be hard going back to the regular systems. Such as the one in 7th Dragon...

[Foryth]

It's usualy a good idea to dodge FOEs when you first pass through an area and come back for their drops when you're stronger. Field abilities to lure or stop FOEs are pretty useful and sometimes essential if you want to get past some areas without grinding like mad.

Otherwise, well experimenting with class and party builds is half of the fun IMO, so have fun!

(edit : Also, the best way to get strong fast is probably to go for the bosses' special drops as soon as you feel you're strong enough to do it, then grinding and making money will become easy as pie.)

[poiuiu]

Despite EO2 not having the two best (ie broken) skills from the first game (Immunize and Relaxing), the game is easier in the sense that the main game can be beaten with just about any team combination. It's the post game where character requirements pop up.

[Hirokun]

Lol, so I literally created an account with the sole purpose to talk about this game after being directed to this site looking for Persona news.... *coughs* ANYWAYS.

Basic tips which you probably know already but whatever:
- Binds/Debuffs are really strong and important in EO2 (I never played EO1, so I can't compare)
- Save harvesting skills for a team of 5 survivalists.
- Money goes fast during the beginning, try not to use any consumables for the first stratum.

Less important tips:
- Some quest text is misleading, so try not to get too frustrated if you can't find where you need to go >.>
- My team was Landskencuitaasdkj/Protector/Gunner/Mage/Medic(Whatever the healer class is called), after completing the game I would have probably replaced the Protector with a Beast.
- Avoid all FOEs for at least the first 10 floors.
- Although you may think it's cheating, I suggest looking up a guide on GameFAQs to just learn the exact details of all skills (i.e. damage, speed, etc.). I'm not patient enough to do trial and error.
- Be my friend

I hope this helps =x

[stalepie]

Beast is supposedly a bad class. I tried it once before taking people's advice. I actually beat the main game (not the last stratrum) with three ronins, a gunner and a medic. I don't know why, but I found that fun. :)

So I've never really tried debuffs and binds. I avoided them in EO1, too.

[poiuiu]

Basic tips which you probably know already but whatever:
- Binds/Debuffs are really strong and important in EO2 (I never played EO1, so I can't compare)
Buffs and debuffs are also essential for survival in EO1; it's to the point where you are required to have a Medic in your party if you are to survive in the post game. You probably will need a Protector as well but if played right, you're not required to, but most do.

- Save harvesting skills for a team of 5 survivalists.
Beasts are better harvesters since they have higher def (they have the strongest armour of all classes in terms of pure Def) and HP than Survivalists and can learn a healing spell. Sure Survivalists have the field skills that let them see FOEs, trigger the first hit, prevent back attacks, etc that's more for pathfinding and less for harvesting. Yes I realise preventing back attacks is required for harvest induced surprise battles.

- Money goes fast during the beginning, try not to use any consumables for the first stratum.
That's what harvesting is for. :p

- My team was Landskencuitaasdkj/Protector/Gunner/Mage/Medic(Whatever the healer class is called), after completing the game I would have probably replaced the Protector with a Beast.
Beasts are slow, have lower attack accuracy than all the other characters and all their best skills require Loyalty which can make battles a frustrating test of anticipating when they will take damage for their allies; which btw, their damage intake is based on the character they're protecting, not their own so if they're protecting a Hexer or Alchemist, your Beast is in for a world of pain.

- Avoid all FOEs for at least the first 10 floors.
Most FOE drops are well worth harvesting for good En and weapons; they're at least worth killing once or twice to gather enough for the weapons their drops create.

- Be my friend
:)

[Sei]

Thanks for the replies :)

Yeah I got a harvesting team. a couple actually one with take and one with chop. Thought about trying the beast for that, but it requires too many points for it to learn its harvest skill.

My party is a hex/war magus/ ronin/ ?? (currently trobadour) and an alchemist. Cursecut is awesome.

Hmm, does the above mean that all of the beast DMG reduction skills are pointless? (that it takes damage as the targeted character would)

[poiuiu]

Yeah I got a harvesting team. a couple actually one with take and one with chop. Thought about trying the beast for that, but it requires too many points for it to learn its harvest skill.
While Fetch requires 10 points split between Luck and Tec before it can be unlocked to allot points into, it covers all three gathering points unlike human characters' Take/Chop/Mine skills which only covers their respective spots. This means putting 5 points to max out Fetch on 5 Beasts can get you up to 75 items per day; and also have some points to improve the healing ability of Saliva due to putting points in Tec as well as Luck unlike Survivalists more wasteful points into just gathering (imo).

Hmm, does the above mean that all of the beast DMG reduction skills are pointless? (that it takes damage as the targeted character would)
Not necessarily pointless per se, but certainly something you wouldn't completely depend on; imo of course.

[Sei]

Woa. I thought the beast thing gave you 5 gatherings of any of them per day. If it's 5 of every one of them then that certainly makes it a lot better than the survivalists. Now I just need a teleport spot that is close to multiple gather spots.

Are bosses immune to everything this time around? Poison/curse never seems to hit them. Haven't got my issen 1 hit kill thing through on any FOE type so fair either.

[poiuiu]

For the most part yes, but in very very rare instances most of them can be stricken by a status effect. After all, I beat Scylla for the first time when my Hexer Cursed her, then she wiped out my entire party only to kill herself when she did 1000 points of damage to herself via Curse effect from Gunner damage during RiskVolt, leaving only the Hexer standing.

Also, the only way to get two of the boss conditional drops is by status effect (death while poisoned for strat 1 and 4 bosses).

[Sei]

Hmm, I tried to poison strat one pretty hard but to no avail with maxed poison skill, is there a trick to it?

[poiuiu]

Hexer +max Poison/Luck/Tec +Luck boosting items and pray.

[Kakizaki]

^Tec influences it as well, eh? Shoot...

[poiuiu]

While I didn't dig through the code to find out for sure, but the fact that most of the Hexer's skills have Tec level requirements, common sense would tell you to max out Tech anyway just to be sure. However, from what I noticed, skill level and Luck have the most say in terms of an affect taking place or not, obviously.

[Kakizaki]

^I guess I didn't notice most of the skills (or many at least. I really don't believe most require it) required Tec to open - probably because I don't really use poison with my Hexer. Off the top of my head, I do know Corrupt and Torpor do not require Tec to open (just Curse). I just leveled Luck and never had a problem with them hitting - at least on common enemies.

For poison I have been using the DH skill Viper. I had luck with the first boss drop but not on the second one so far.

[poiuiu]

Oh crap, you're right, Tec is not a requirement for unlocking any Hexer skills (other than Scavange); I mistakened Tec for Curses there. :|

Well one thing I read, which is pretty reliable, is that Tec does have influence over the Hexer's Revenge skill which effects its speed and accuracy, since the Hexer's HP effects damage output.

And Hexers were given a major boost in usefulness due a significant increase in their chance of affecting their targets over the first game; and in the case of Poison, a major damage boost as well (it was pretty useless in the first game, even if it was an Alchemist skill). But from my experience with Poison in EO2, even a level 18 Hexer, fresh out of the guild with enough points to unlock Poison (Curses 3 I think), max it out and the rest in Luck (and equip some Luck raising items for good measure), hitting the status on the first strat boss takes around 3-6 turns for me. The fourth strat boss is not that easy but reliable enough.

Also, second boss conditional drop is done by insta-kill, which you can get even if it happens when the boss has only a sliver of health; so have your Dark Hunter learn Climax at a respectable level.

[Kakizaki]

^I meant the second boss that requires poison kill for drop not the second boss overall.

Also, I have never had any problems with my Hexer's Revenge hitting and I had no points in Tec.

[Zachalmighty]

I'm planning on takin another shot as this game, would a nice team be Ronin, Protector in front and, Medic/Alchemist/hexer in back? Or should I just get rid of the Alchemist for a hexer or Hunter?

[Sei]

Also, second boss conditional drop is done by insta-kill, which you can get even if it happens when the boss has only a sliver of health; so have your Dark Hunter learn Climax at a respectable level.

I hope the Ronin's insta kill does the trick too. I've quite liked it this game so far.

Zach: I like my alchemist, seems quite strong so far. If taking hexer I'd just take the war magus instead of medic, it can actually hurt things, heal things, and with cursecut and transfer acts like a tp battery for everyone else. Work's a lot better than relaxing ever did.

Every cursecut with him at level 2 of the skill takes 50 + tp from most enemies and transfer at level 4 lets you send 28 of those to someone else.

I'm trying beast, even lvl 1 seems to have amazing attack and defense. Maybe I'll keep one around for gathering. Leveling it is a bit of a pain tho.

Do any of its skills actually use TEC?

Also from what I see, beast probably works better than protector at what protectors supposed to do (keeping others alive). Beast + medic + 1 hp revenge hexer might work well.

[poiuiu]

^I meant the second boss that requires poison kill for drop not the second boss overall.
That one's more annoying but as long as your team can survive a few turns, getting that drop isn't much of a problem either (I've lost count how many times I've gotten the conditional drop).

Also, I have never had any problems with my Hexer's Revenge hitting and I had no points in Tec.
Well, Revenge is pretty much one of the most accurate moves in the game and is no slouch in terms of speed, but Tec effects it nonetheless. :p


I'm planning on takin another shot as this game, would a nice team be Ronin, Protector in front and, Medic/Alchemist/hexer in back? Or should I just get rid of the Alchemist for a hexer or Hunter?
I beat the entire game without the use of a Protector and I dropped my Alchemist (both of them) at the second stratum. Just use whatever you want, it'll be more than enough to beat the game (so as long as you know what you're doing).

I hope the Ronin's insta kill does the trick too. I've quite liked it this game so far.
It's better than nothing, but Climax is more reliable, especially if you can get the boss' health down to the adequate level.


Do any of its skills actually use TEC?

The beast? Probably only Saliva.

[Foryth]

Also, second boss conditional drop is done by insta-kill, which you can get even if it happens when the boss has only a sliver of health; so have your Dark Hunter learn Climax at a respectable level.

I hope the Ronin's insta kill does the trick too. I've quite liked it this game so far.

From what I've read, the Ronin's insta-kill has a very low chance of working, whereas, when maxed out, the Dark Hunter's Climax works as soon as the enemy reaches about half its max HP. It shouldn't be that hard to raise a DH enough to max out his climax for that fight, and stick it in the back row if you have trouble keeping it alive.

Also, the problem I've had with a beast, was that it kept protecting my Hexer(that I wanted to get hit), which I found rather annoying.

[Sei]

^ What I've been doing just just letting the Hexer get beat up somewhere safe (like first stratum) and then just reviving with either Nectar or Medic (medic does so with a single hp).. I just carry Hex around like that, using transfer to refill hp instead of inns. It's a bit annoying when things that attack the back kill the Hex, but it has been blowing up trigourds quite consistently. I'm just at the second stratum so far.

I figure beast might make it less annoying by keeping hex alive with her single hp so I have to revive her less, and might be more usefull in my setup than the Medic (Who is there just to revive things anyway).

Yeah I'll prolly do the DH, I'm prolly change my Ronin to a Midareba one after retiring at 30.

I had DH in the first game and wanted to go for a bit of variety though, heh.

Finished first game with a L/DH/T/M/S party.

[poiuiu]

From what I've read, the Ronin's insta-kill has a very low chance of working, whereas, when maxed out, the Dark Hunter's Climax works as soon as the enemy reaches about half its max HP. It shouldn't be that hard to raise a DH enough to max out his climax for that fight, and stick it in the back row if you have trouble keeping it alive.

It's not hard, and in a party of similar or equal levels, the DHunter will usually attack first with a mastered Climax; the move is quite useful.

^ What I've been doing just just letting the Hexer get beat up somewhere safe (like first stratum) and then just reviving with either Nectar or Medic (medic does so with a single hp).. I just carry Hex around like that, using transfer to refill hp instead of inns. It's a bit annoying when things that attack the back kill the Hex, but it has been blowing up trigourds quite consistently. I'm just at the second stratum so far.

If you're going to stick with Revenging everything to death, bring a Troubadour with you; with mastered Stamina, this raises your Hexer's (and the rest of your party's) max HP which means Revenge will be even better; and the raised HP max is not healed either. And Troubadours will usually go before the Hexer anyway so even on the first turn, Revenge will be stronger.

Yeah I'll prolly do the DH, I'm prolly change my Ronin to a Midareba one after retiring at 30.

Why don't you just Rest instead; lose 5 levels and you can completely respec your Ronin.

[Sei]

Ah, because of :

Retirement bonuses:
L30-L39: +4 Stat, +4 Skill Points
L40-L49: +3 Stat, +5 Skill Points
L50-L59: +4 Stat, +6 Skill Points
L60-L69: +5 Stat, +7 Skill Points
L70-L98: +5 Stat, +8 Skill Points
L99: +10 Stat, +10 Skill Points

I figure I'm going to retire everything at 30 (going back from 15 to 30 doesn't seem that hard and the bonuses seem worth it) and then I'm just gonna rest as necessary. I might retire at 70 to increase cap but I don't see myself getting it all the way to 99. 4 stat and skill points seem very very worth it though.

[Kakizaki]

Also, the problem I've had with a beast, was that it kept protecting my Hexer(that I wanted to get hit), which I found rather annoying.

I just walked around on damage panels until my Hexer was down to 1 HP.

Interesting about the Ronin and the insta kill. I have used him to get one conditional drop with success, but I had to give him a very weak weapon so the damage dealt wouldn't kill the target before the insta kill would work.

I might just make a second DH. It is pretty easy to level up characters up doing boss runs anyway.

[Sei]

I think this may be useful to other people just starting this like me, its a directory of the topics made by this individual called Terence about Etrian II in Gamefaqs, for some reason he never made a FAQ and the topics aren't that obvious to come across, enjoy:

http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/genmessage.php?board=943642&topic=43764838

The topics tend to include all of the numbers associated with all the skills making planning ahead a bit easier and dispelling the mystery about exactly what some skills do and by how much they improve.

[Hitoshura]

Yay, Sei is playing EO2.

Word of advice, getting to lv99 is neat but I would honestly save it until after you do the 6th stratum. I am at like, 83 or 84 cap I think and I just kind of sporadically grind, yet I really want to mess around with the 6th stratum. ;_;

[Sei]

^ The sensible me heeds your warning, but the obsesive compulsive in me wonders about how much could be achieved with those 30 extra points, and wonders how long it could take with a max divinity bard!

In all seriousness I'm not usually a level grinder :P This game rules!

[Hitoshura]

Let's see, haha, actually the formula for getting lv99 is to retire your team at 70 to make 4 troubadours and 1 hexer, and I'd say it probably takes me roughtly 30-40 minutes of bossgrinding to go from 30 to whatever my current cap is, probably adding about 2-4 minutes every 3 or so cap increases.

Someday I will complete it... someday...

[Sei]

That's genius! What happens if the bosses kill you though :(

[Hitoshura]

They don't. :D Pretty much the trick is to use Revenge and 3 of the +100 HP belts on the hexer (along with Stamina with one troubador and the agi up song with another troub), and step on damage squares until the hexer's hp is at 1. Even around level 40, the stratum 5 boss only takes two turns. Also, you of course come from behind the boss, so you get a free turn.

[Sei]

Hmmm... sounds quite easy... I might actually give it a shot sometime, thanks Hito!

Or no thanks if I spent wasting hours of my life level capping everything :(

[Hitoshura]

Hehehehehe.

[poiuiu]

Word of advice, getting to lv99 is neat but I would honestly save it until after you do the 6th stratum. I am at like, 83 or 84 cap I think and I just kind of sporadically grind, yet I really want to mess around with the 6th stratum. ;_;
I managed to beat all but one boss (including the dragons) with just two of my characters (out of three teams of 4 units) retiring and with one of them only in the low to mid 60s (Hexer). Even at that level, my Hexer had high enough HP max that Stamina can boost it to 999 (the HP ceiling).

Also, I managed to get thru most of the 6th strat with a high level 50 secondary team, one that was built for enemy party damag .. slaughtering.


Sei: Those are the very guides I used when the game was first released; so helpful.

[Zachalmighty]

I have a hexer and it seems that poison with 4 points in it misses more than it hits. What helps it hit more? More points into the skill or is there a stat assosciated with the poison skill?

[poiuiu]

For part 2?

I only used Poison for actual battle when it's Mastered and with a lot of Luck via skill points and items; it's not worth using otherwise imo.

And besides, when mastered, you do a lot more damage per turn.

[Sei]

I have a hexer and it seems that poison with 4 points in it misses more than it hits. What helps it hit more? More points into the skill or is there a stat assosciated with the poison skill?

Poison's accuracy goes up dramatically with levels. It is 105% chance to hit at level 10, but this is modified by resistance, luck and whatnot. Damage also goes up dramatically with skill points. If you wanna use Poison you should max it and wear lots of luck + stuff.

Poison is actually pretty neat in Etrian 2 cept that you'll get beat up a bit cause its damage hits eot.

[Zachalmighty]

So with my Hexer in EOII should I just focus on debuffs then? I had a warmagus on my team with War Lore and blade skills because I expected the Hexer's status ailments to hit more. Apparently I may need to rethink his existence on my team and replace the war magus or change it to a buffer.

[poiuiu]

The War Magus is the best buffer in the game since Warmight boosts a single target more than the Troubadour's Bravery; while the latter effects the entire team, you'll be hard pressed to need to buff more than one or two in any given situation. Same goes for Def and Spd buffs. Yeah, they gimped Troubadours in that sense as well, not to mention War Magus buffs take fewer points to master (5 versus 10).

And most Hexers live and die by their Revenge skill, since that's the one single skill that will most likely do the most damage in terms of single target attacks.; but in order to do that, you'll need a Troubadour to beef up if not max out their max HP. Other useful Hexer skills include Torpor, Curse (these two you have to master and give a bunch of luck to maximise their accuracy), Dampen, and Scavenge (because this is a requirement for Dampen). Give the Hexer other random skills of your choice to use up those leftover skill points and you have your generic Hexer in the game.

[crazy wolf]

wow... I wish I had this game.
Anyway, I'm going to get one tomorrow!! :D I am so impatient, but my cousin (she's going to give me her extra) said she'll give it tomorrow. I'll try to remember ur tips, people.

[Fire Ninja]

Hey, I know it rules, but, how do I check for survivors? I'm stuck in the part where the old guy tells you to search for survivors, but I can't find any. But, it really rules.

[CanuckGamer]

Fire Ninja: Go to floor 3 in the area C3, this is where you meet Flausgul before you get the quest.
Enter the door, forget the foes and head up the east wall. Around B3, there will be a side path with a foe in it. Lure the foe out or kill it and head up the passage A4 is the spot you are trying to reach.

Happy trails..