Build Analysis: AoE Damage Spread / Stun Hybrid

A build with which to deal large amounts of constant damage to your entire enemy's formation, with enough of a twist to push through.

Build Formation

Level 95
B: AR-M / MON / ORA
M: CAN / ART / EXO
F: BMA / VIK / WIT

Skills

Witch: Meteor Strike Lv60
Beast Master: Beast Summon Lv60
Exorcist: Mana Seal Lv40
Cannoneer: Smoke Bomb Lv60
Artilleryman: Deep Insight Lv60
Archer Main: Chaos Wind Lv40, Silence Lv40
Viking: Freezing Axe Lv60
Oracle: Healing Lv60
Monk: To taste (Awakening / Holy Guard / Protect)

Analysis

This build has a main major goal, and that's to deal a large amount of damage over time to every single mercenary on an enemy's formation. It accomplishes this through the use of Meteor Strike, Beast Summon, Deep Insight, Smoke Bomb and Chaos Wind, all of which deal a really good amount of damage either on impact, or over time. It also uses Mana Seal and its 3 ranged units to focus-fire away on the initial counter presented by monks, and even uses the Viking's Freezing Axe to put a good amount of pressure and keeping an enemy formation from attacking.

The secondary goal of this build is control. With an Archer, Exorcist and two cannon-toting mercenaries, there's the potential for opening up the front or middle line early in the fight and then keeping any enemy Monks and healer mercenaries from acting -- ever again. Silence / Mana Seal loops allow for Combo counts to go unchecked, which adds up in the favor of the two cannon users in this formation. Add to that a large amount of spread out damage over time, as well as Freezing Axe, and you have a team that can switch to complete enemy formation control when the time is right. And to top that all off, cannons spread out damage in a cross shape quite nicely as well. The real goal of this build, in the end, is to successfully balance these two play styles; to control the battlefield as well as rain heavy amounts of damage constantly throughout the fight.

Pros

• Large amount of damage to a large amount of mercenaries gives a good, quantifiable numerical advantage.
• The presence of Freezing Axe along with Mana Seal can deny an enemy a good chance at an offensive.
• A large amount of AoE damage puts enemies at a psychological disadvantage, mainly creating a situation where the enemy may feel that his main character has "nowhere safe to stand" in their formation due to the damage affecting the entire enemy's formation.
• Two cannon users can put enough pressure to possibly stun a large amount of the enemy's formation, as well as spreading out good damage among many enemies -- particularly once you've reached in and silenced the back rows down.
• Beastmaster, Viking, Cannoneer and Artilleryman all hit more than one target when using their physical attacks, which spreads the damage around even more.
• Difficult to use scrolls against this team, since three ranged units tend to be more than enough to keep scrolls from going off -- which means Holy Guard is the only alternative to Purification, which in and of itself won't ever have an easy time firing in battle against ranged onslaught.
• Melee builds may have a relatively easy time dealing with your front line, but the lack of magic defense means that the amount of damage tacked on will very, very quickly add up to become rather devastating.
• Meteor Shower is one of the few abilities in the game that can simply wipe the floor with an enemy formation when used at the right time.
• A random Mana Piercing scroll works extraordinarily well in your favor. Regardless of who casts it.

Cons

• Very, very sketchy front line that will only fully come into its own at very high levels. Winning at low levels will be difficult because of the speed at which Vikings and Beast Masters tend to drop.
• Very weak and hard to play in your early levels due to not having your Cannoneer yet. You will also run into the problem of needing to replace an Artilleryman that you've probably leveled up very highly with your new Cannoneer.
• Expensive build to maintain. You pretty much need top of the line equipment at all times to keep your mercenaries simply from dying prematurely.
• This build has no realistic way of preventing damage. It has to deal almost entirely with an Oracle 'fixing' the damage for it, meaning that a strong initial offensive can push this build around.
• Viking! Pathetic magic defense means you might have to sacrifice straightforward damage for more enemy mercenary control in the form of trying to land stuns, Freezing Axes and Mana Seals, nevermind that a Swordsman front line hard-counters any front line Viking... ever. An alternative might be to run with a forward Exorcist and putting the Viking behind the Witch (since the Witch has higher magic defense and the Viking isn't too bad in the HP and defense department, it can deal with melee while the Witch deals with magic).
• Many of the heavy AoE damage skills and spells use a lot of AP, and some of these mercenaries aren't very good at regenerating it.
• Difficult matchups may exist against Spearmen stack (AP denial), 2 monk teams (uncommon but not unheard of) and smart-played Archer stacks (kiss your artillery goodbye).

Ideas and Variants

Cannon Main Variant: Using a Cannon instead of an Archer main allows you to use Chaos Wind and ramp it up to 60. It is less versatile, because you no longer have access to Silence, which means you cannot keep a Monk quiet forever, and you no longer have the bonus Bow damage that you normally deal to ranged mercenaries. However, having access to a third cannon is a lot more spread out damage that you can put forward.

No Oracle Variant: In this Variant you are essentially gambling that your offense will be better than your opponent's ability to take you out. This is very risky because you do not have a large amount of what could be considered sturdy mercenaries, so you're going to have to try and overcome this deficiency with your additional damage boost. I would recommend a third Cannon or a Prophet in this position (the Prophet mainly for its weapon debuffs that might keep your mercenaries alive for just a little longer -- which might be more than enough -- and its ranged attack).

Questions? Comments? Suggestions and ideas? Please leave your comments on this post as to what you think about this build, and your suggested variations!