Etrian Odyssey Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Etrian Odyssey Wiki
High

Highlanders assemble!

The Highlander is a dynamic and aggressive main battle class. A Highlander's stats, equipment, and role is similar to that of a Landsknecht, except for only wielding a spear and wearing medium armor. Highlander was originally introduced in Etrian Odyssey Untold as the Story Mode's main character, and could otherwise be accessed only by reclassing an existing character. They returned in Etrian Odyssey 2 Untold as a regularly recruitable class in Classic Mode after picking up a DLC, which was available for free until August 10, 2015. The DLC introduces two female and male palettes. The class was brought forward again into Nexus as a freely recruitable class.

Class Overview[]

The Highlander's prowess on the battlefield revolves around his passive skill Bloodlust, which grants a chance for a bonus normal attack against a random target every time he loses health. All monster attacks will work, even poison and curse damage, but so do many of his skills by consuming his HP. His attack skills are the main drain, taking off sizable percentages of his current HP, with modest TP costs. He can attack several enemies at once with his Thrust and Burst attacks, or coordinate immense single target burst damage through Delayed and Cross Charge. Most of his support skills also trigger Bloodlust by consuming his HP. Out of these, Bloody Offense is particularly strong and consumes only 10% current HP each turn it lasts, allowing him to attack while doing anything, even guarding. He can defend the party with Spirit Shield, assist in ailment infliction with Blood Fortune, or if he consumed his allies' HP, will restore their TP with Allied Bonds.

If these skills are performed excessively, the Highlander is prone to chewing through his HP and dying. He has other skills to use that also have downsides. He can heal everyone using Black Sabbath and Turning Tide, though Black Sabbath will pull ailments and binds the enemy is suffering onto the team. He can transfer his ailments back to the enemy with Stigmata. To show off the use of skills from other classes through Grimoire Stones, he has Limitless that functions as a charge skill, increasing potential burst damage while lifting weapon restrictions for the turn.

The Highlander's companions in Story Mode are well-suited for supporting him. Raquna can defend him with Front Guard while he takes on the enemy's attention, and takes the heat in his place when he runs low on health so Simon can heal him. Frederica also can heal him with Cover Fire, and the Highlander can follow up on her and Arthur's fire/ice/volt attacks with Spear Assist.

  • Strengths: Fast, durable, and relentless attacker with a wide variety of powerful stab attacks with modest TP costs.
  • Weaknesses: Constant HP consumption from skills and monster attacks demands healing, as well as other tradeoffs that altogether prove challenging to navigate.

Stat Progression[]

Main article: Highlander/Stats#EOU
Level HP TP STR TEC VIT AGI LUC
1 38 24 9 7 10 6 8
30 147 86 24 16 22 20 16
70 359 193 49 31 44 44 30
99 557 284 69 44 60 62 40

Skills[]

Skill Description Type Requires Extra
Spear Mastery Enables spear skills and increases spear damage. Mastery None Can be augmented with Grimoire Stones.
Long Thrust Ranged stab attack to 1 enemy. Spear Spear Mastery Lv1
Draining Thrust Melee stab attack to front enemy line. Consumes user's HP. Spear Spear Mastery Lv2
Legion Thrust Melee stab attack to front enemy line. Consumes party's HP.
Draining Burst Melee stab attack to all enemies. Consumes user's HP. Spear Draining Thrust Lv5
Legion Burst Melee stab attack to all enemies. Consumes party's HP. Spear Legion Thrust Lv5
Head Pierce Stab attack to 1 enemy. May cause head bind or instant death. Spear Spear Mastery Lv3 Lv5 and 10 increase head bind and instant kill rate.
Spear Assist Slow melee stab attack to 1 enemy. If an ally has used an attack with an elemental component, it does increased damage and has that element. Spear Spear Mastery Lv5 Only uses the last element used in the turn.
Delayed Charge Consumes user's HP for a ranged stab attack to 1 enemy 2 turns later. Spear Spear Mastery Lv10 Damage increases with longer delay; Lv5 and 10 increase max delay.
Cross Charge Consumes user's HP for a fast melee stab attack to 1 enemy. Stronger with Delayed Charge. Spear Delayed Charge Lv3 Immediately triggers Delayed Charge if both skills share a target.
ATK Up Raises physical attack. Stat Up None
Turning Tide Recovers HP for all allies when user slays an enemy. Passive ATK Up Lv1
Bloody Offense For 3 turns, increases 1 line's offenses while causing them to lose HP when they act. Buff ATK Up Lv3 Lv5 and 10 increase duration.
Bloodlust User may perform a normal attack whenever they lose HP. Passive Turning Tide Lv3
Bloody Offense Lv3
Retaliation cannot crit, but works with normal attack-augmenting skills.
Stigmata Binds user and an enemy, while also transferring user's ailments to target. Battle ATK Up Lv5
DEF Up Raises physical defense. Stat Up None
Battle Instinct At the start of the battle, the party may be protected from the first ailment for 5 turns. Passive DEF Up Lv1
Blood Fortune Consumes party's HP to raise ailment success rate. Buff DEF Up Lv3
Allied Bonds When skills consume the user's HP, at the end of the turn, allies in their line recover TP. Passive Battle Instinct Lv3
Blood Fortune Lv3
Spirit Shield Consumes user's HP to raise one line's elemental defense for 3 turns. Buff DEF Up Lv5 Lv5 and 10 increase duration.
HP Up Raises max HP. Stat Up None
Limitless Charges for increased damage on next action, which can use other weapon skills. Battle HP Up Lv3
Black Sabbath Steals HP from enemy, restoring party HP but also transferring binds and ailments. Battle HP Up Lv10 Cannot steal more HP than total ally HP.
Mine Allows the user to find more resources while mining. Gather None Can be augmented with a Grimoire Stone.

Grimoire Skills[]

Skills to generate and pass:

  • Limitless: A charge skill that allows for a wider skill use. Unlike Charge (enemy skill), this applies for all attacks during the turn, with interesting applications with Bloodlust.
  • Bloody Offense: Powerful attack boost, with a negligible HP cost.

Skills best used on the Highlander:

  • Various non-stab attack skills: Increases the variety of damage types he can inflict besides Spear Assist.
  • Formula Mastery (Alchemist): Raises elemental damage, and thus the power of Spear Assist.
  • Aegis (Protector): The Highlander is a little fragile given how frequently he burns his own HP. Offset this by letting him resist death.
  • Sagittarius Shot (Survivalist): Lv10 Delayed Charge → Limitless → Sagittarius Shot means that both attacks will connect at the same time with increased turn speed, doing a ridiculous amount of burst damage to a single enemy.
  • Wrath Might (Dark Hunter): This passive can apply the moment your HP falls within the threshold, so the Highlander's HP-consuming skills will be incredibly powerful.

External Links[]

Profile[]

Other Highlanders are available for recruitment in The Fafnir Knight. Their stats and skills are almost unchanged from those of their tribesman in The Millennium Girl, only picking up the Force skills compensated by a scattering of nerfs. They are still most effective on the front line as the center of attention, where they deliver strong stab damage across many formations or focused against a single target. Remain mindful of their HP consumption, as improper timing can lead to disastrous results.

  • Strengths: Fast, durable, and relentless attacker with a wide variety of powerful stab attacks with modest TP costs.
  • Weaknesses: Constant HP consumption from skills and monster attacks demands healing, as well as other tradeoffs that altogether prove challenging to navigate.
  • Force Boost - Hero Battle: For 3 turns, provides a 50% damage bonus to spears, and whenever the Highlander deals spear damage to enemies, the entire party is healed for 25% of the total.
  • Force Break - Gae Bolg (uses arms, STR-based): Consumes entire party's HP for a powerful ranged stab attack to all enemies. Despite the description, this attack does not have an element at all, not even Almighty. As such, it is able to hurt Ur-Devil while he has his Ur-Eyes up.

Stat Progression[]

Main article: Highlander/Stats#EO2U
Level HP TP STR TEC VIT AGI LUC
1 38 24 9 6 7 7 6
30 144 116 24 15 20 20 14
70 352 268 49 31 42 43 28
99 547 355 68 43 59 61 39

Skills[]

Skill Description Type Requires Extra
Spear Mastery Enables spear skills and increases spear damage. Mastery None
Long Thrust
HD-ABindHD-STR
Ranged stab attack to 1 enemy. Spear Spear Mastery Lv1
Draining Thrust
HD-ABindHD-STR
Melee stab attack to front enemy line. Consumes 20% user's HP. Spear Spear Mastery Lv2
Legion Thrust
HD-ABindHD-STR
Melee stab attack to front enemy line. Consumes 20% party's HP.
Draining Burst
HD-ABindHD-STR
Melee stab attack to all enemies. Consumes 40% user's HP. Spear Draining Thrust Lv5
Legion Burst
HD-ABindHD-STR
Melee stab attack to all enemies. Consumes 40% party's HP. Legion Thrust Lv5
Head Pierce
HD-ABindHD-STRHD-LUC
Stab attack to 1 enemy. May cause head bind or instant death. Spear Spear Mastery Lv3 Lv5 and 10 increase head bind and instant kill rate.
Spear Assist
HD-ABindHD-STR
Slow melee stab attack to 1 enemy. If an ally has used an elemental attack, it hits with increased power and the element of that attack. Spear Spear Mastery Lv5 Only imbues the last element used that turn.
Delayed Charge
HD-ABindHD-STR
Consumes 15% user's HP for a ranged stab attack to 1 enemy 2 turns later. Spear Spear Mastery Lv10 Damage increases with longer delay; Lv5 and 10 increase max delay.
Cross Charge
HD-ABindHD-STR
Consumes 10% user's HP for a fast melee stab attack to 1 enemy. Stronger with Delayed Charge. Spear Delayed Charge Lv3 Lv5 and 10 increase HP cost.
Phys ATK Up Raises physical attack. Stat Up None
Turning Tide Recovers HP for all allies when user slays an enemy. Passive Phys ATK Up Lv1
Bloody Offense
HD-HBind
For 3 turns, 1 line's offenses are increased but they also consume 10% HP when they attack. Buff Phys ATK Up Lv3 Lv5 and 10 increase duration.
Bloodlust User may perform a normal attack whenever they lose HP. Passive Turning Tide Lv3
Bloody Offense Lv3
Lv10 increases damage. Cannot trigger more than once per turn.
Stigmata
HD-HBindHD-LUC
Binds user and an enemy, while also transferring user's ailments to target. Battle Phys ATK Up Lv5
Phys DEF Up Raises physical defense. Stat Up None
Battle Instinct At the start of the battle, the party may be protected from the first ailment for 4 turns. Passive Phys DEF Up Lv1
Blood Fortune
HD-HBind
Consumes party's HP to raise ailment success rate. Buff Phys DEF Up Lv3
Allied Bonds When skills consume the user's HP, at the end of the turn, allies in their line recover TP. Passive Battle Instinct Lv3
Blood Fortune Lv3
Does not stack for multiple instances in a line.
Spirit Shield
HD-HBind
Consumes user's HP to raise one line's elemental defense for 3 turns. Buff Phys DEF Up Lv5 Lv5 and 10 increase duration.
HP Up Raises max HP. Stat Up None
Limitless
HD-HBind
Charges for increased damage on next action, which can use other weapon skills. Charge HP Up Lv1
Black Sabbath
HD-HBind
Steals HP from enemy, restoring party HP but also transferring binds and ailments. Battle HP Up Lv10 Cannot steal more HP than total ally HP.
Mine Allows the user to find more resources while mining. Gather None

Grimoire Stones[]

Skills to stack:

  • Bloodlust: Though it can only activate once per turn, stacking sharply raises Bloodlust's trigger chance.

Skills to generate and pass on:

  • Limitless: Used in specialized strategies that try to synergize multiple skills requiring different weapons.

External Links[]

Profile[]

The Highlanders have answered the call to Maginia with a few changes, but a very similar combat pattern. Their skill tree has been rearranged to fit Nexus's tiers and categories. Their new skills Bloody Veil and Spear Reversal and an increase to the HP costs of skills and Bloodlust's trigger chance amplifies the risks and rewards for their audacious position in combat. The potency of Hero Battle was reduced, but they gain Legion Charge as a new single-target option and Black Sabbath no longer pulls binds and ailments from the enemy. They lost the unimportant Stigmata, and subclasses in Nexus leave no purpose for Limitless.

  • Strengths: Relentless, durable, and decently fast attacker with a wide variety of powerful stab attacks with modest TP costs.
  • Weaknesses: Constant HP consumption from skills and monster attacks demands careful attention and healing.
  • Force Boost - Hero Battle: For 3 turns, provides a 40% damage bonus to spears, and whenever the Highlander deals spear damage to enemies, the entire party is healed for 15% of the total.
  • Force Break - Gae Bolg (uses arms, STR-based): Powerful ranged stab attack to all enemies, and recovers TP based on damage dealt.

Stat Progression[]

Main article: Highlander/Stats#EON
Level HP TP STR INT VIT WIS AGI LUC
1 57 41 17 10 18 11 16 13
30 113 83 37 21 39 24 34 29
70 231 173 80 45 82 50 73 62
99 344 259 122 68 124 76 111 95
130 499 376 178 100 181 111 162 139

Skills[]

Skill Description Type Requires Extra
Hero Battle For 3 turns, raises spear skill damage. Party recovers HP for damage dealt. Force Boost -- If instakilling an enemy, healing is based on damage done by a normal hit.
Gae Bolg
V-armV-str
Powerful ranged stab to all enemies. User recovers TP for damage dealt. Force Break
NOVICE
Long Thrust
V-armV-str
Ranged stab attack to 1 enemy. Spear None
Spear Assist
V-armV-str
Melee stab to 1 enemy. Can be powered up by ally's previous elemental attack. Long Thrust Lv2 Imbues only the most recent element used.
Turning Tide Recovers HP to for party whenever user slays an enemy. Heal None
Draining Thrust
V-armV-str
Consumes user's HP for a melee stab attack to the enemy's front line. Spear Turning Tide Lv2 Lv6 increases HP cost.
Legion Thrust
V-armV-str
Consumes allies' HP for a melee stab attack to the enemy's front line.
Spirit Shield
V-head
Consumes user's HP to raise 1 line's elemental DEF for 3 turns. Buff None Lv4 increases HP cost.
Bloody Veil When the user takes damage, all DEF increases until end of turn. Passive None
Mine Increases material yield from mining in the labyrinth. Gather None
HP Up Increases maximum HP. Stat Up None
VETERAN
Head Pierce
V-armV-strV-luc
Melee stab attack to 1 enemy, with chance to bind the enemy's head or instakill. Spear Spear Assist Lv3
Draining Burst
V-armV-str
Consumes user's HP for a melee stab attack to all enemies. Spear Draining Thrust Lv2 Lv4 and 8 increase HP cost.
Legion Burst
V-armV-str
Consumes allies' HP for a melee stab attack to all enemies. Legion Thrust Lv2
Delayed Charge
V-armV-str
Consumes user's HP for a ranged stab attack to 1 enemy, 2 turns later. Spear None Attack is stronger with longer delay. Lv5 and 10 increase delay.
Blood Fortune
V-head
Consumes party's HP to raise their bind/ailment success rate for 3 turns. Buff Spirit Shield Lv1 Lv4 and 8 increase duration and HP cost.
Battle Instinct At start of battle, may make party immune to the first ailment they take for 3 turns. Support Blood Fortune Lv2 Will not activate if activated by another party member first.
Bloody Offense
V-head
For 3 turns, increases all ATK for 1 line. Consumes HP with each action. Buff Bloody Veil Lv2 Lv4 and 8 increase duration.
Bloodlust
V-str
May perform a normal attack each time you lose HP. Passive Bloody Offense Lv2
Phys DEF Up Increases physical DEF. Stat Up None
MASTER
Spear Reversal
V-armV-str
Melee stab to 1 enemy. Damage rises if target's HP bar is fuller than the user's. Spear Head Pierce Lv3
Cross Charge
V-armV-str
Consumes user's HP for a melee stab to 1 enemy. Stronger with Delayed Charge. Spear Delayed Charge Lv2
Legion Charge
V-armV-str
Consumes allies' HP for a stab attack to 1 enemy. Spear Legion Burst Lv3 Lv5 and 10 increase HP cost.
Allied Bonds If user's skills consume HP of allies in the same line, they recover TP at end of turn. Passive Legion Charge Lv2
Black Sabbath
V-headV-str
Ranged, untyped, STR-based attack to all enemies. Damage dealt heals the party. Attack Bloodlust Lv3
Phys ATK Up Raises physical ATK. Stat Up None

Subclassing[]

Subclasses for Highlander[]

Since Highlanders can launch all sorts of attack skills with their spears and can get no others from other classes, they primarily want passive improvements for their melee attacks and survivability, but a few skills support Bloodlust and similarly risky behavior.

  • Protector as a subclass allows the Highlander to put their natural sturdiness to use as an offensive oriented tank. Ally Shield and Line Shield allow them to keep allies safe while taking advantage of Bloody Veil and Bloodlust. Shield Smite, Shield Bash, and Shield Flare expand their damage type options beyond Stab and Spear Assist without equipping a second weapon. HP Up, Phys DEF Up, Elem DEF Up, and Aegis all work together to increase the Highlander's tankiness and mitigate chance of death at low HP.
  • Ronin, as a DPS class, offers simple skills: Phys ATK Up, Duel, and Speed Up. Upper Stance requires an equipped Katana, which might be just what a risk-taking Highlander wants.
  • A War Magus subclass is chosen for the passives. The Highlander's own Blood Fortune will improve ailment accuracy of their allies, which then triggers the effects of Vampire, Rouse and Mind Drain. Vampire in particular is great for extra passive healing to offset HP drain. Stacking Phys ATK Up and HP Up are also good picks.
  • Shogun offers several skills that encourage daredevil aggression, such as Peerless Demon that amplifies the multiple strikes Bloodlust can inflict throughout the turn. Both of those skills have outstanding synergy with the best one, Warrior Might, since each follow-up costs HP, and Hero Battle recovers the cost. Along the way, they get Command skills, which grant tactical utility.
  • Landsknechts give very good passives in the form of Single Devotion, Initiative, and Proficiency if the Highlander is fast enough to get the jump on enemies. The Break debuffs off the Shield skills lets the Highlander use their shields for damage, adding another attack element to their repertoire and providing a debuff support dimension to their role.
  • Pugilists offer Fighting Spirit which serves as a delayed damage boon after the Highlander performs an HP-consuming move. Stack HP Up for more bulk.
  • Hero's Encourage line of passives is a tremendous asset for a Highlander along with Shield skills. Like Turning Tide, Encourage ensures an HP buffer when the Highlander consumes current HP % by restoring max HP % afterwards, also providing good sustain for the party along with Hero Battle. Heroic Bonds drives the Highlander forward while Heroic Steel and Great Bravery focus attention on the Highlander in dire situations.

Highlander as Subclass[]

The inverse from above, spear skills are generally a poor choice for other classes, but melee DPS classes can enjoy passives like Phys ATK Up, Phys DEF Up, Bloody Veil, HP Up, and access to Shields if they don't mind the speed penalty. You can also use Bloody Offense and Blood Fortune to buff the party. At half level, Bloodlust has just over 1/4 trigger chance.

  • Protectors' attack skills are all focused on their shield, so Highlander's Spear skills don't interfere when they want more offense, vaguely coming to resemble Hoplites. Bloodlust also combines fantastically with Shield Flare and Line Shield for counterattacks.
  • Shogun have the aforementioned synergy between Bloodlust, Peerless Demon, and Warrior Might. Additionally, Shogun are free to indulge in Spear skills, since they already handle two weapons proficiently. Whenever Shogun get the last hit with Execution (including allies), they trigger Turning Tide. A shield combined with their Cloth armor give them well-balanced defenses, and also enjoy passives raising their base stats.
  • Imperials also benefit greatly from these passives and shield use to further raise their bulk. In between Drives, the Imperial can support their party with buffs.
  • Pugilists looking to reclaim their Impact Brawler role find use in the Highlander's Bloodlust, Bloody Offense, and Bloody Veil. Blood Fortune is also good for amplifying their binding punches.
  • Hero as the main class enjoys much more forgiving thresholds on their Encourage passives, drawing enemy attacks more reliably to their Afterimage, but Bloody Veil and Bloodlust will be weaker.

External Links[]


Advertisement