Yggdroid

An anti-evil weapon made by Yggdrasil and the Abyssal King. Its power is unmatched by any human.

—In-Game Description, Etrian Odyssey III

The Yggdroid (known as Andro in Japan) - is a versatile unlockable class in Etrian Odyssey III. It is unlocked by siding with the Deep City. With many useful options and a number of interesting abilities in their pool of skills, they are unique in that the bulk of their power comes from the subclass they hold. Yggdroids cannot be used as a subclass, though.

Olympia is the representative of the Yggdroid class. There's also the possibility that Seyfried's robotic body is a model of Yggdroid; it's also possible that Angie and the generic Deep City guards are Yggdroids (or humans using robots or even Yggdroids as bodies).

In the official fanbook of the spinoff title "Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth", it was known that there was 12 superior Yggdroids are created along with standard ones. One of them, later proclaimed himself as Zeus, was being summoned by Elizabeth into the Persona Universe (and immediately overwhelms her and take over her body), only being defeated by the party and (seemed) returned to the Etrian Odyssey Universe. There is no information regarding the other 11 superior Yggdroids (yet).

Profile

The Yggdroids are a curious bunch. They have high HP, Strength, and Vitality to make them tanky beaters on par with Gladiators, but they're held back by their small TP pool that stays at 60 regardless of their level. They cannot be bound except by their own skills, but self-binds cannot be cured except by their own skills. With no innate weapon proficiency they have to rely on a subclass's weapon mastery passive to use anything that aren't tomes or knives, and they have a set of skills that revolve around summoning bots into empty spots or binding themselves for an attack that deals almighty damage. They are hard to use, but can shine when done well.

• Strengths: High STR and VIT. Immunity to binds that aren't their own, and you can improve their own ailment resistance.
• Weaknesses: Gimmicky innate skill set. No innate weapon proficiency. Small, static TP pool that can only be improved with investment in TP Up or with equipment bonuses.

Stat Progression

Does not include any stat bonuses from skills, equipment, Books, or Retirement.

Main article: Yggdroid/Stats

Level	HP	TP	STR	TEC	VIT	AGI	LUC
1	55	60	10	6	9	3	2
35	276	60	40	25	38	19	14
70	504	60	70	45	68	35	26
99	645	60	89	58	87	45	34

Skill Tree

Skill	Description	Type	Requires	Extra
Virus Scanner	Increases status ailment resistance.	Passive	None
Infravision	Accuracy and evasion is increased during the night.	Passive	None
Data Mining	Critical damage and critical rate is increased for normal attacks.	Passive	None	Lv1 to 3 actually decrease critical damage.
Red Bot	Deploys a fire bot in an empty space that chases the fire attacks of all allies.	Bot	Data Mining Lv1
Blue Bot	Deploys an ice bot in an empty space that chases the ice attacks of all allies.
Yellow Bot	Deploys a volt bot in an empty space that chases the volt attacks of all allies.
Resupply	Supplies energy to bots and recovers their HP.	Healing	Data Mining Lv3	The only skill that can heal damaged bots.
All Out	Attacks one enemy with all deployed bots.	Attack		Also affected by weapon forges.
Reflector	Prevent attacks of the same element as a deployed bot and counter with that element.	Support	Resupply Lv3 All Out Lv3	Max Lv5. Does not affect bots summoned by other Yggdroids.
Shoot	Destroys all bots for an strong attack to one enemy. Damage increases with number and variety of bots deployed.	Attack	Resupply Lv5 All Out Lv5	Acquires elements of the bots it uses. Becomes almighty with all three colors. Does not use bots summoned by other Yggdroids.
Overheat	Increases ATK but causes HP loss each turn.	Passive	None
EM Barrier	When attacked, may counter with a volt attack that may paralyze.	Passive	Overheat Lv3
Defrag	Removes all binds on self.	Healing	None	Max Lv5. The only way to remove Yggdroid self-binds.
Rocket Punch	2 bash attacks on 1 enemy, binds arms.	Attack	Defrag Lv1
Rocket Head	Stab attack to all enemies, binds head.
Rocket Jump	Avoids all attacks this turn, binds legs.	Support		Max Lv5. Also avoids buffs and healing.
Core Dump	Completely binds self.	Support	Defrag Lv3	Max Lv5
HP Cannon	Strong untyped attack to one enemy if completely bound. Damage increases with lower HP.	Attack	Core Dump Lv5 Overheat Lv10
Sleep Mode	Restores TP if bound.	Passive	None

Skill Breakdown

Yggdroid Skills have two different trees to work off: Self-Binding and Bot skills. Each comes with their own strengths and drawbacks and will take a lot of skill points to master, not accounting for the subclass you give them, so you'll have to think about which to focus on.

The self-binding skills start with their class skill, Sleep Mode. This passive is what gives the Yggdroid extended stamina despite their small TP pool, restoring TP for each bind the Yggdroid has. At maximum investment, it restores 10 TP per bind, and a fully bound Yggdroid can restore up to half their TP per turn. Yggdroids cannot be bound except by their own skills, and cannot innately cure their own binds except by Defrag, so a player has a lot of control over which self-bind they need for the battle without sacrificing access to crucial skills.

Self-binds are inflicted by the three skills unlocked after Defrag: Rocket Headbutt is a multi-target stab attack that binds their head, Rocket Punch deals two bash attacks and binds their arms, and Rocket Jump gives them guaranteed dodge from everything that would affect them while binding their legs. Rocket Headbutt and Punch have mediocre damage modifiers, and thus are usually only used for the self-bind. Rocket Jump, on the other hand, is a handy defensive skill that buys them a moment's immunity; further investment increases the action speed that lets them evade faster attacks. Further investment in Defrag unlocks Core Dump which allows them to self-bind all body parts at once, if you need to quickly recharge their TP.

Also related to the self-binding skills is Overheat, a passive that increases their offenses, but at the cost of a static HP deduction with every action they take. While the HP deduction increases with further investment, it will never kill the Yggdroid, leaving them at 1 HP at worst. All of this, with the self-triple-bind from Core Dump, ties into HP Cannon, which inflicts almighty damage and scales with the difference between the Yggdroid's current and max HP, but can only be used if the Yggdroid is fully bound. Like a Hexer's Revenge skill, it's best used while the Yggdroid is at 1 out of 999 max HP, but the fully bound requirement will require extra defensive effort to continually use this skill.

The Bot skill tree is first unlocked with Data Mining, a passive that increases their critical rate and critical damage. That said, this passive is a little deceptive as it actually decreases the critical damage until it's invested past level 3. The meat of the skill tree comes from Red/Blue/Yellow Bot, which summons a bot into an empty party slot (if available) which chases a fire/ice/volt attack (respectively) made by the party with their own TEC-based elemental attack. The Bots cannot chase any follow-ups from other Chaser skills, and copy the stats of the Yggdroid that summoned them. Bots cannot receive any buffs, debuffs, ailments or binds, and they cannot be healed except by the Yggdroid's Resupply skill.

Once a Bot is active, the other Bot-dependent skills become usable. Reflector functions like a Hoplite's Anti-skill by causing a Bot to negate all elemental attacks corresponding to their color, retaliating for each attack they negated. All Out lets the Yggdroid perform an augmented normal attack that also causes their Bots to unleash a follow-up on the enemy they targeted. Shoot is the Yggdroid's equivalent to a Ninja's Tagen Battou — sacrificing all of their Bots for a powerful attack that strengthens with more bots of more variety in play. If two colors of bots were sacrificed, it's a composite elemental attack; if all three were used up, it's almighty damage. With five bots and all three colors, it hits 48 times harder compared to a single bot, but this takes a lot of time to set up.

A major drawback to the Bot skills is that they cannot use bots summoned by other Yggdroids. This means that if you want to make the most of their skills, not only do you need the party space to accommodate each bot, you will need a lot of free turns to deploy them.

Of the miscellaneous passives, Infravision gives them increased accuracy and evasion at night, offsetting their low Agility at the cost of their efficacy restricted to certain times of the day. Virus Scanner increases their ailment resistance, making the Yggdroid very hardy on top of their immunity to external binds. EM Barrier is a passive counterattack that strikes an enemy with paralyzing volt damage if the Yggdroid gets attacked, but it requires some Overheat investment which is a passive that is highly undesirable for players building a tank Yggdroid.

Overall, the Yggdroid's skill set is easy to see as gimmicky, though their passives and their stat spread can make them shine in other roles, dictated by the subclass you give them.

Subclasses for Yggdroid

Yggdroids are really dependent on their subclass to become a really capable combatant, so there's several variations to try and make the most of them:

• Hoplite: One of the most popular subclass choices. With the Yggdroid's innate bind immunity and the ability to improve their ailment resistance, you can have a tank that's very hard to disable. The low TP can be difficult to work with, but a maxed out Sleep Mode with head and leg binds will easily refund the cost of using a max-level Anti-element skill and then some. Provoke also offers more opportunities for EM barrier to proc. Take a point in Spear Mastery to get a serviceable weapon, too.
• Monk: No weapons? No problem! A Yggdroid makes for a good punch Monk due to their higher innate Strength, and Fist Mastery lets them fight well without any weapon proficiency. Ascetic Deeds at level 10 balances out with a level 9 Overheat for risk-free damage, and you'll dole out very strong Breakfire Fists that Monks wish they could pull off. Summon a Red Bot to also chase the elemental damage from Breakfire Fist. If you need utility, you can always throw out an Unbind or Refresh to aid the rest of the party, provided you didn't head-bind the Yggdroid yourself.
• Buccaneer: For a normal-attack build: Data Mining works well with Lady Luck optimize the Yggdroid's crits, and Swashbuckling gives you extra normal attack rolls to squeeze as many crit opportunities as possible. It can work safely on either line as you'll be putting points into Gun Mastery and Rapier Mastery so you can work off either weapon, and you won't be using a lot of TP either. If you've got a bot that matches your weapon's elemental forge, you can cause it to chase your attacks plenty of times! Limit Boost and Eagle Eye are also useful utility skills for boss fights. Bear in mind that Bot chases do not work with any of the Chaser skills, and Overheat deducts HP for every Swashbuckling proc.
• Zodiac: For the Bot-based Yggdroid. Proc their chases with the appropriate elemental Star, and have Etheric Charge and Singularity also augment your Shoot. Be advised that Shoot with all three different Bot types turns into an almighty attack that can't benefit off those two skills.
• Arbalist: Combine Night Vision with Infravision and Data Mining to make the Yggdroid a capable nighttime fighter, as you will get a significant critical boost while the sun's down. If accuracy still poses a problem, Proper Form can remedy it. Bolt Mastery unlocks Crossbows which are a powerful weapon for a Yggdroid to use, and their better Vitality and HP lets them unleash Front Mortar at lower risk (though the damage output is a lot less potent). If you have any investment in Bots, then the elemental Barrages gets you a lot of easy chases for cheap.

Gallery

New Yggdroid portrait from the Etrian Odyssey Origins Collection.