Mercenary Analysis: Swordsman

A mercenary for people who like to give their team a strong defensive line, affording them variety in their back lines.

Rank: D

Basic: Swordsman
Stats: Str 340, Dex 240, Def 400, Int 130, Vit 250, M.Def 125

Upgrade 1: Sword Fighter
Stats: Str 380, Dex 260, Def 700, Int 150, Vit 280, M.Def 125

Upgrade 2: Sword Warrior
Stats: Str 420, Dex 260, Def 850, Int 170, Vit 320, M.Def 125

Upgrade 3: Gyebaek
Stats: Str 450, Dex 280, Def 1000, Int 210, Vit 340, M.Def 125

Upgrade 4: Hero Gyebaek
Stats: Str 481, Dex 299, Def 1000+, Int 224, Vit 363, M.Def 125

Historical / Legendary Source:
Gyebaek was a general in the ancient Korean kingdom of Baekje during the early to mid 7th century. Little else is known of his personal life—including the year and location of his birth.

In 655, Baekje and Goguryeo joined forces to attack Silla, although they were eventually driven back when Silla received aid from Tang Dynasty China. In 660, when a huge united army of Silla and the Chinese invaded Baekje, General Gyebaek organized 5,000 soldiers of the highest morale and courage to meet them in battle. He knew before he set out that his army was outnumbered and that his efforts would be futile, but he did not hesitate to try to defend his country, reportedly stating "I would rather die than be a slave of the enemy." He then killed his wife and family to prevent them from falling into the hands of opposing forces, and to prevent the thought of them to influence his actions or cause him to falter in battle.

His forces won four small initial battles, but then he was forced to move his forces to block the advance of General Kim Yu-shin on the Baekje capital, Buyeo. The two generals met on the plains of Hwangsan field, in present day Hanyang, near Chiri Mountain. Gyebaek's forces fought bravely but they were outnumbered ten to one and, in the end, he and his men were annihilated.

(Source: Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyebaek)

Pros:

• Reaches a high defense rating very early on, making it an excellent tank and suitable for the front line.
• One of the very few mercenaries that has access to using shields which boost already incredible defense even higher.
• Decent strength means that it deals good damage to a single target, making multiple, focused sword attacks on a single target very deadly.
• Melee mercenary, which plays very well with the Prophet and its Concentrate ability, adding to its Attack Power, Accuracy and healing it every turn.
• Deadly Strike allows a dying Swordsman to put out a large amount of damage to a single target before going out.
• Ridiculously high health when in PvP (~10-11K at level 75, up from 4.8k in PvE).
• Cheap to upgrade with Ashen Crystals and Jewels.

Cons:

• No way of reaching back rows except with Dark Seed, which is a low-powered skill.
• Dark Seed only useful when a Shaman is in the party, meaning that replacing one with an Oracle practically means wasted points.
• Rendered almost entirely obsolete by the Lady Knight and the Spartan, the former an essentially stronger Swordsman with an attack skill that hits two targets in a line, and the latter a shield-using spearman with comparable defense at the Hero levels.
• Somewhat low magical defense.

Abilities:

• Flame Sword: Single-target, sword skill-based damage to enemy. 120 AP cost. (8/10)
• Deadly Strike: High powered, single-target, generic skill-based damage to enemy. 600 AP cost. (7/10)
• Dark Seed: Two targets in a line, magic skill-based damage over time to enemy. Comboable with Hex of Darkness (Hell Flame). 125 AP Cost. (3/10)

Main-Only Abilities:

• Guard Dispel: Remove Holy Guard from an enemy row. 150 AP Cost. (9/10)
• Break Down: Area of Effect, generic skill-based damage to enemy. 150 AP Cost. (5/10)

Breakdown:

The Swordsman has the highest defense available early on in the game, making it a great choice for players who plan on making either a melee-oriented build or who would like to create a ranged build with a powerful front line, making access to the weaker ranged characters more difficult. It boasts fairly impressive attack power, although it technically has the weakest attack power of the melee mercenaries, being heavily overshadowed by its much more aggressive counterpart, the Spearman. Despite having the weakest straight attack power (and not being very prone to multi-attack combos over 2), its Flame Sword skill is excellent against Vikings, Beast Masters, Spearmen and Spartans, while being relatively weak against Lady Knights and other Swordsmen.

Many builds focus on starting with 3 Swordsmen, and in these builds, two of them will eventually be replaced by a Lady Knight and a Spartan; but their startlingly high defense and adequate attack power mean that they will last a very long time in your main build, should you choose to use them. Being high defense builds, these mercenaries favor players with a higher focus on defensive play. They are, however, countered almost explicitly by Spearmen, who do much larger amounts of damage and have higher combo rates than them; three focused spear attacks from well-outfitted Spearmen spell almost certain doom for any Swordsman.

Example Build:

Level 80
Front
Swordsman / Swordsman / Swordsman
Middle
Spearman / Spearman / Spearman
Back
Monk / Prophet / Oracle

The Prophet increases all melee characters' attack power, accuracy and heals them every turn. Your main can either be a Swordsman or a Spearman, having access to Guard Break. This formation relies on keeping almost all of the melee characters alive for a large amount of time with the Oracle and Prophet, while using the Monk to keep your mercenaries from being stunned and holy guarded. Scrolls of Awakening and Scrolls of Purification can help to deal with your Spearman line becoming silenced or your casters becoming Mana Sealed by an Exorcist. The line of Spearmen can also effectively deny one (or even two) entire columns of an enemy formation's AP, keeping them from acting and allowing you to pile up damage.

The most trouble this build will have is in dealing with a build that can make quick work of the Prophet, but with such a large amount of melee attack power, this build should be able to overpower any front line and break through into the back of an enemy's formation. It also has no realistic way of dealing with things in back rows early on, but by level 80 your Lightning Spear should reach all the way into the back, at least giving you a method to deal damage to the back row.

The Oracle can be replaced by another Monk with Shield of Protection if you're a firm believer of healing being useless in PvP and instead being more interested in additional Holy Guard and Awakening ability, as well as giving your main another source of constant, drip-feed healing to keep it alive much longer than the rest of your party.

Total Grade: Early Game: 9/10 Late Game: 7.5/10