Fortress

The Fortress excels at physical defence and longevity. Alongside Imperials, Fortresses succeed the Protectors and Hoplites from previous games. They are single-handedly capable of taking heavy blows, as well as dealing heavy damage in return.

Overview[]

While Protectors and Hoplites are designed for damage prevention with temporary barriers that can halt attacks, the Fortress takes on a different approach to the tanking style by taking hits in the other characters' places. Their signature Taunt ability has a far better draw rate than those on the Protector or Hoplite, and their Shield series of skills allows them to forcibly take hits for some or the rest of the party to save them from area attacks. In fact, due to how multi-hitting random attacks are calculated, Taunt alone will result in the Fortress taking the brunt of these attacks until the Fortress is dead.

To make up for the risks of taking hits for everyone else, the Fortress receives two abilities that synergize with this strategy. Their class skill lets them regenerate TP each time they get attacked - whether it hits or misses - allowing them to nearly immediately regain the cost of their Shield skills. Guard Mastery also becomes a staple as it permits the Fortress to randomly block attacks they would take, dramatically reducing the overall damage the party takes as a whole and prolonging their lifespan.

Their Mace skills are also reasonable damage sources - particularly Bolt Strike and Holy Smite which are straightforward and safe attacks to fall back on when the Fortress doesn't need to defend the party. Overall, as the sole "tank" class in the game, Fortresses can quickly become staple members that are desired in any party.

Strengths: Great durability that synergizes well with their party-covering abilities.
Weaknesses: Middling speed and offenses, prone to dying while guarding others.

Stat Progression[]

Main article: Fortress/Stats

Level	HP	TP	STR	TEC	VIT	AGI	LUC
1	52	21	5	6	11	3	6
35	246	73	23	26	38	23	25
70	446	125	42	46	65	43	45
99	605	169	57	59	85	56	60

Skill Tree[]

Skill	Description	Type	Prerequisites	Extra
NOVICE
Proficiency	Recover some TP each time you're attacked while on the front line.	Class	None
Bolt Strike	Melee volt bash attack to 1 enemy.	Mace	None
Holy Smite	Melee bash to 1 enemy. Recovers some HP.	Mace	Bolt Strike Lv3	Level to also increase heal rate and turn speed.
Ally Shield	Protects 1 ally for this turn and takes any damage they would sustain.	Shield	None
Strike Guard	Increases all allies' physical defense for 3 turns.	Support	None
Element Guard	Increases all allies' elemental defense for 3 turns.	Support	Strike Guard Lv2
Taunt	Increases chance of enemies attacking you for 4 turns.	Support	None
Auto-Taunt	Taunt may activate at start of battle.	Auto	Taunt Lv2
Iron Wall	Increases your defense against physical attack.	Passive	None
Minerology	Greater chance of finding extra ore when mining.	Passive	None
VETERAN
Expertise	Recover more TP each time you're attacked while on the front line.	Class	Proficiency
Vengeance Bash	Strong melee bash attack to 1 enemy after 3 turns. The attack increases in strength with each turn you are attacked before it activates.	Mace	Holy Smite Lv2	Lower damage bonus if attacks are dodged or blocked. Level to also increase accuracy.
Line Shield	Protects 1 line for this turn and takes any damage they would sustain.	Shield	Ally Shield Lv3
Party Shield	Protects the party for this turn and takes any damage they would sustain.	Shield	Line Shield Lv3
Knight's Boon	Increases your natural recovery rate from ailments and binds.	Passive	None
Holy Blessing	Protects a line of allies from 1 status ailment over 3 turns.	Support	Knight's Boon Lv3	Level to reduce cost.
Rampart	Increases your physical and elemental defense for 3 turns.	Support	None
Healing Wall	When allies in your line defend, they recover some HP.	Passive	None
Sentry	See the location of FOEs on the map for a certain number of steps.	Dungeon	None	Level to increase duration and range.
Hardy Chef	Increases VIT gains from cooked food.	Sky	None
MASTER
Enlightenment	Recover more TP each time you're attacked while on the front line.	Class	Expertise
Earth Break	Strong melee bash attack with a splash effect. Also damages yourself.	Mace	Vengeance Bash Lv2	Self-damage can be reduced with buffs and bash resistance.
Weak Shield	Takes damage in place of allies with under 50% HP for 3 turns.	Shield	Party Shield Lv3
Guard Mastery	May block physical/elemental attacks against you while in the front line.	Passive	Weak Shield Lv2
HP Boost	Increases your maximum HP.	Passive	None

Subclassing[]

Subclasses for Fortress[]

Fortresses have a fairly difficult time subclassing, considering their roles are specific and should focus on it, but there are some subclassing options that can improve their primary roles very well, as well as give them decent offensive potential:

Landsknecht: For offensive Fortresses. Power Boost lets them hit even harder than usual, and Swordbreaker adds another layer to the Fortress' defensive roles. Power Break and Mind Break also allow the Fortress to put their shields to good offensive use, and Vanguard circumvents their low speed while the defense penalty is offset by the Fortress' innate durability.
Medic: Combine the Fortress' defensive prowess with the Medic's supporting capabilities and you will obtain interesting results, your heals won't be as good as a Medic itself but you will extend your supporting abilities and you will always be able to offer something to the party. It also increases your own durability thanks to Full Heal, as well as being an emergency "reviver" thanks to your own durability+Revive itself, just be cautious of your TP.
Runemaster: Further improve your defensive/elemental potential with the standard Runes, which will also help your party if they're focused on elemental damage. TP Boost can increase the Fortress' TP capacity, and Runic Shield is a fantastic attack negation skill. Otherwise, the Fortress' middling Technique stat reduces the effectiveness of the Rune attacks as offensive options.
Dancer: Another good viable subclass, being a tanky dancer is hilarious yet effective. Fan Dance raise the Fortress' evasion rate, allowing them to dodge whatever attacks coming their way that they haven't blocked already, which is great for Taunt/Party Shield builds. The various Waltz and Samba skills also allow the Fortress additional healing and support options for the party, and Quick Step ignores the Fortress' low speed to give a party member priority.
Bushi: Fortresses have fairly decent offensive capabilities, subclassing a Bushi to them will pump their offensive potential by a good margin. Skills like Endure and Blood Surge prove to be very good while they already wear maces by default, allowing them to synergize with one of the Bushi's main weapon options.

Fortress as Subclass[]

Due to Fortress skills focusing on defense, it has trouble synergizing with more offensive classes, especially since they will not be as tanky as a Fortress main and cannot exploit Taunt or Shield skills as well. The general reasons for taking a Fortress subclass is to gain access to their defensive passives - namely HP Boost, Iron Wall, Knight's Boon and Guard Mastery.

Because it is nearly imperative that the Medic survives, the defensive skills of a Fortress will greatly improve the Medic's survivability. For times where the Medic doesn't need to heal, Strike Guard and Element Guard reduce incoming damage and Holy Blessing pre-emptively stops ailments. Frontline Medics also gain Bolt Strike to hit enemies that are physically resistant.
Bushi not only gain defensive passives to let them last longer in the midst of their Blood Surge, but also get Bolt Strike which utilizes their mace for a third elemental attack and Holy Smite for a burst of healing.
Imperials will enjoy the defensive passives and access to shields that let them endure harder hits, especially to offset the defense penalty when preparing to unleash a Drive skill.

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

The female fortresses resemble the female Hoplites in Etrian Odyssey 3, specially the alt-color for the one with bowl hair. Also the Hoplite with the bowl hair at it's alt-colors and she looks like the female Fortress with the bowl hair