Mercenary Analysis: Spearman

An aggressive mercenary wielding a spear, specialized in dealing high focus damage in a formation.

Rank: D

Basic: Spearman
Stats: Str 310, Dex 210, Def 330, Int 120, Vit 240, M.Def 110

Upgrade 1: Spear Fighter
Stats: Str 350, Dex 230, Def 450, Int 160, Vit 270, M.Def 110

Upgrade 2: Spear Warrior
Stats: Str 380, Dex 250, Def 550, Int 190, Vit 300, M.Def 110

Upgrade 3: Zhao Yun
Stats: Str 440, Dex 250, Def 750, Int 220, Vit 330, M.Def 110

Upgrade 4: Hero Zhao Yun
Stats: Str 470, Dex 267, Def 990, Int 235, Vit 353, M.Def 110

Historical / Legendary Source:
Zhao Yun was a major military general during the civil wars of the late Han Dynasty and during the Three Kingdoms era of China. For most of his career, Zhao Yun served the warlord Liu Bei, playing a part in the establishment of Shu Han. In literature and folklore he is lauded as the third member of the Five Tiger Generals.

In 208, Zhao Yun distinguished himself at the Battle of Changban. When Liu Bei was fleeing in the chaos, he left his family behind. Then Zhao Yun disappeared to the north, prompting suspicion that Zhao Yun had surrendered to Cao Cao. When someone reported that to Liu Bei, Liu Bei angrily threw a handaxe and said "Zilong would never desert me". Sure enough, Zhao Yun came back with Liu Bei's infant son Liu Shan in his arms, also bringing back his wife Lady Gan. With this, Zhao Yun was promoted to General of the Standard.

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


Pros:

• Spears have ridiculously high attack power. There's just not much more you can say about that.
• High strength, higher even than axe-wielding mercenaries, which contributes to the former point.
• Spears also hit the mercenary immediately behind the target for half the damage dealt to the main target.
• Spearmen combo and evasion rate tends to be higher than that of other mercenaries'.
• Lightning Spear deals AP damage, as well as having the spear's normal reach instead of simply doing its effect to the main target.
• Lightning Spear reaches the back row when the spearman hits its third upgrade at level 80.
• Melee mercenary, which means it plays very well with prophets.
• Solid AP regeneration with low variability (70~80 per turn).
• Generally absurd combo rates when paired with Seth's Will means the physical damage output of a Spearman is among the highest -- if not the highest -- of any mercenary in the game, and definitely the highest potential damage per round of the B-class mercenaries.

Cons:

• Despite being melee, it takes rather high damage, even with a surprisingly decent amount of defense.
• Defense does not ever reach the 1000 barrier, even though it comes surprisingly close at the level 100 upgrade (990).
• Flame Sword fodder once it can be hit by Swordsmen; these mercenaries are not particularly difficult to bring down.
• Somewhat low magic defense compared to other equivalent mercenaries, which seems to be the uniting theme for spear mercenaries.
• The Broken Spear debuff obliterates the damage spears do at higher levels, and the current metagame practically demands that Prophets make this their debuff of choice over any other due to the prevalence of Spearmen, which means smart opponents will keep this on your Spearmen unless you scroll or Holy Guard it off.

Abilities:

• Lightning Spear: Two targets in a line, skill-based damage to enemy that damages AP; at the mercenary's third upgrade and above, attack range increases to entire column. 150 AP cost. (8/10)
• Deadly Strike: High powered, single-target, generic skill-based damage to enemy. 600 AP cost. (7/10)

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:

It's kind of difficult to not rant and rave about just how good the Spearman is as a mercenary.

It is, for starters, the best possible unit to cast Brutal Will or Seth's Will on. The reasons why are immediately clear: not only do they hit two mercenaries deep in a formation, but they already have high combo rates to start. Prophets also increase the damage output and accuracy of these mercenaries even further and keep them relatively healthy every turn, which just adds to the attractiveness of these mercenaries.

In reality, its simple to see the Spearman's place in a formation. It is a mercenary that definitely should never be selected by itself: there should always be at least two spearmen in a formation that plans on running a spearman at all. The main reason for this is because of Lightning Spear: the effectiveness of this attack almost entirely relies on either how much you can stack it on a single columns, or how many columns you can effectively incapacitate with clever turn shifting and proper focusing of the skill itself. Not only that, but with the high amount of damage output these mercenaries have, not putting them in a row with more of the same to simply drop a Seth's Will onto is almost criminal.

Any melee build benefits from the presence of at least two spearmen. I'll go as far to suggest that if you are planning to focus on melee damage as your strategy, you should simply have three spearmen as your middle line and go with that. It is simply the most effective, high damage output you can get along with either of the two Will spells and a Prophet boosting your melee's damage and accuracy. It does not make a particularly good front liner, although it can definitely survive a couple of hits for a couple of turns, making it a decent choice if you plan to rotate your mercenaries in battle to distribute damage around them to make healing more efficient. Pretty much a staple of every credible melee-oriented build in the game.


Example Build:

Level 85

F: WIT / X-M / EXO
M: SPM / SPM / SPM
B: MON / PRO / ORA

The build is pretty much the top build in Korea at the moment from what seems to be the majority of reports of the game's balance. The build is relatively straightforward: use your front line to defend and pressure your opponents while you use your middle line to actually put damage out. The Witch occasionally makes it rain meteors on your opponents to tack on additional damage, your Axe main is focused entirely on doing the Freezing Axe + Mana Seal combination on your opponents, and your Seth's Willed spearmen actually are what makes mincemeat out of your opponent. Simple, effective, deadly, and overpowered. Run this if you want to be both deadly and completely and absolutely unoriginal (because you will be rocking the same build as just about everyone else who is very happy to jump on the bandwagon the Koreans have started), and remember to replace one of your Spearmen with a Lady Knight and another with a Spartan down the line.

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