Mercenaries Blaze: Character Guide

This is a supplementary character guide for Mercenaries Blaze! This guide is meant to help the reader get the big picture of what characters are available depending on future in-game decisions.

Spoiler Warning

Please turn back now if you would like to minimize spoilers!

Hard Decisions

After clearing chapter 7, General O'Brien will present you with a choice that will greatly affect how the story turns out. It will also shake up your team composition since the characters available for you will vary greatly based on your choice.

1. Mercenary Route - "I’m afraid I will have to decline."
   
2. Knight Route - "I would be honored to join you."

Aside from 3 characters that are usable and remain unchanged throughout the story, the rest of your team will change based on the route you take to progress the story.

This guide details who remains available throughout the story and after you decide which route to take.

Anchor Characters

These 3 characters remain unchanged no matter which path you take.

The only difference is the timing in which Kathryn joins your party.

For the purpose of this guide, all PASSIVE skills are good.

Lester

Leader of the Twin Dragons & Flagbearer Extraordinaire



Notable skills:
Mid-game

• Sweep - great 3 cell frontal AoE
  
• Guard Break - strong debuff all the way to the end
  
• Void Slash - your highest damaging skill before you unlock Special Classes
  
• Store - charge up your next attack for big damage

End-game

• Battle Flag - strongest offensive party buff with good area coverage
  
• Tranquility - great RES coverage especially if you were unable to get past 60 ALL-RES.
  
• Master Hit - completely replaces Feint for high AVD enemies
  
• Ignore - strongest attack combined with Holy Weapon (Dalton)
  + Sacred Light (Kathryn)/Calamity Rune (Melissa)

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Dalton

Supportive "Uncle"

(I lost the skill image somehow so please use the google doc in this link to search up his skills)[gamefaqs.gamespot.com]

Notable skills:

• Healing (all tiers)
  
• Anti-Ice/Air/Flame/Earth - strong situational elemental coverage
  
• Holy Weapon - elemental coverage & strong combined with HOLY-RES debuffs
  
• Absolute DEF - good skill to "bait" enemy AI into pushing

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Kathryn

Saintess & The HOLY GOAT



Notable skills:
Mid-game

• Sacred Light - best skill for some end-game punishment combined with HOLY-type attacks
  
• Sanctuary, Javelin Ray, Meow Riot - versatile attacks with OK damage
  
• EXP Aria - 100% EXP gain
  
• Marching Song - HUGE boon for getting those chests and other loot on the ground
  
• Valkyrie Song - CRIT+15% (good range) great with Marching Song at the start of each battle

Knight Route

Jake

Chonky Boi & Best Tank IMO



Notable skills:
Mid-game

• Sweep - great 3 cell frontal AoE
  
• Iron Wall - great skill but has diminishing returns as you get more PHYS/ELEM resistance
  
• Judgement - strong HOLY physical attack that will remain useful due to HOLY-RES debuffs
  
• Store - charge up your next attack for big damage
  
• Substitute - can save teammates from precarious situations

End-game

• Absolute DEF - good skill to "bait" enemy AI into pushing
  
• Defense Orders - strong shield buff but falls off after you get more PHYS resistance
  
• Rampage - proximity-based AoE that can hit diagonal targets AND great for building AGGRO
  
• Swagger - increases AGGRO/round (works well combined with Rampage to buff Sasara Strike)
  
• Helping Hand - great in the same way as above for buffing Sasara Strike
  
• Fighting Spirit - literally blocks enemies from passing through blocks (situational use)
  
• Sasara Strike - monstrous damaging skill that benefits from aggro and can be imbued with HOLY
  for additional damage combined with HOLY-RES debuffs
  
• [Leader Skill] VIP: Become unable to use items to increase all stats by 15%
  Stat boosts are huge in hard/maniac so you can land your hits and do more damage overall

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Pamela

Cool Beauty



I really liked Pamela at the start of the Knight route and she carried my team throughout most of the mid-game with good AoE damage and insane AVD passives. Unfortunately she dropped off for me near the end and turned into a support character (a good one).

Notable skills:

• Paint Shot - useful in harder stages and modes due to higher enemy stats (AVD)
  
• Arrow Rain - great AoE that can be imbued with HOLY for more damage
  
• Ultra Draw - charge up your next attack for big damage
  
• Quick Shoot - great finisher to allow for an extra action
  
• Snipe - similar to Master HIT for pesky high AVD enemies
  
• Long Shot - greater distance = more damage
  
• Holy Arrow - good coverage for mid-end game where HOLY weakness is more prominent

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Fay

I can't believe my little sister has Earthquake!



Fay, in my opinion, is objectively better than Melissa due to having access to Earth Soma and Liberation. Having access to Earth Soma means she requires less MPR% gear to utilize Earthquake throughout prolonged fights. This also means she frees up turns from Dalton and Kathryn due to Liberation. She also has access to Summon Spirits so she's just an all-around great character.

Notable skills:

• Offensive Magic - Earth/Fire/Ice but Meteor becomes available later
  
• Summon Spirit - useful to summon Master Thief which has good
  backstab damage (Assassin Arts) and high steal rate
  
• Earth Soma - superior to Trance in every way + keeps your MP up significantly
  
• Liberation - ever so slightly weaker than BLESS but it's a proximity-based AoE!
  
• Earthquake - does not miss and guarantees Fay will be pumping out levels at an insane rate
  
• Prophecy - HUGE (+85) AVD buff that's great when enemies get too close for comfort

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Theo

Good Guy who does Bad Things (Steal)



Notable skills:

• Steal - more puzzle pieces and magical gear
  
• Haggle/Finagle - buy/sell more efficiently to afford offensive items and magical gear for synthesis
  
• [Leader Skill] Lucky Find: Increases the chance of getting a magic item after beating a foe.
  Farm magic items easily when combined with Earthquake. Easy money and easy synth mats.
  
• Assassin Arts - best damage move on Theo (backstab)
  
• Chakra/Fasten + Hide - extra mobility and safety (just utilize Mana boxes)

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Alvah

Big Brother with a Rebellious Phase



This Alvah is different from the Mercenary Route Alvah in that this one will have great elemental coverage due to access to Evil Edge. Unfortunately, the other Alvah is superior due to an insanely good Leader Skill that buffs stats more than Jake's VIP Leader Skill.

Notable skills:

• Evil Edge - dark is a great element that works on a good chunk of enemies in the end-game
  
• Rampage - great pbAoE
  
• Enhance - provides important sustain for Alvah which relieves a need for more MPR% gear
  
• Store - charge up your next attack for big damage
  
• Master Hit - replaces Feint
  
• Blazing Slash/Quake Hit - linear elemental attacks with great range
  
• Full Strike - strongest single target attack that can be imbued with HOLY

Mercenary Route

Connie

Best Utility Airhead



Item Increase is Connie's bread and butter skill. Provided you have the right amount of ALL-RES, you can steamroll Hard & Maniac because items a) do not miss, and b) she buffs item damage up to 3-4 times its regular amount.



Notable skills:

• Item Increase - see images above
  
• Booster/Solidifier/Repair Shot - great OFF/DEF support skills (repair shot = 100% heal)
  
• Judgement - strong HOLY physical attack that will remain useful due to HOLY-RES debuffs
  
• Scatter Shot - good range but limited targetting flexibility
  
• Freeze Shot - extra ICE element coverage
  
• Spark Bomb & Molotov - mid-range FIRE and WIND AoE
  
• Dash + Hide - good for traversing the map for treasure safely
  
• Oil Pod & Powder Ball - extremely strong debuffs that have unlock big damage... when they land

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Melissa

Bifrost Mommy



Melissa is a good character, but I definitely felt slightly nerfed after using Fay for a previous run. It's too bad that she doesn't have Earth Soma, but she does have a few things going for her that Fay does not have (mobility & holy magic coverage).

Notable skills:

• Ex Burst - strong Holy magic AoE that also inflicts SEAL at a high success rate
  (even works on the final boss at chapter 22)
  
• Gate Travel - useful for grabbing chests in hard to access areas unique to the mercenary route
  
• Earthquake - does not miss and guarantees experience at an insane rate
  
• Summon Spirit - can summon Sylph (great mobility + steal)

---

Elbert

Brown Nosed Bowman



Notable skills:

• Haggle/Finagle - buy/sell more efficiently to afford offensive items and magical gear for synthesis
  
• [Leader Skill] Lucky Find: Increases the chance of getting a magic item after beating a foe.
  Farm magic items easily when combined with Earthquake. Easy money and easy synth mats.
  
• Artillery Support - large AoE that's stronger than Arrow Rain but limited to FIRE
  
• Tailwind/Follow Me - great pbAoE support skills with significant boosts (especially HIT+)
  
• Ultra Draw - charge up your next attack for big damage

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Xan

Leader of the Earth Fangs & Overall Badass



Xan does not have Earthquake, but he does have access to some of the strongest offensive magic spells out there which take advantage of elemental weaknesses (Ignition). He's also the only magic-based character with access to Dark magic. Combined with Earth Soma, he 100% hits like a truck!



Notable skills:

• Earth Soma - superior to Trance in every way + keeps your MP up significantly
  
• Korapus - insanely strong single target Dark magic (Life Drain is ok too)
  
• Meteor - neutral magic coverage with good AoE range
  
• Blizzard - same as above but ICE element
  
• Ignition - extreme damage if enemy has negative resistance to FIRE
  
• Freeze Dry - petrifies if enemy has negative resistance to ICE

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Alvah

Big Brother without the Tantrum



Mercenary route Alvah has the strongest Leader Skill out of anyone in the game if you have his default class set to Champion (increase all stats by 25%). Unfortunately, this class does not do very well against elevation. His fist attacks cannot hit an enemy that's elevated by 1 cell. He can still hit enemies on an incline though. The stat trade off is worth it because it almost evens out the stat disparity when fighting monsters in Hard & Maniac mode. This allows you to land your hits and land those hits harder.

Notable skills:

• Rampage - great pbAoE
  
• Enhance - provides important sustain for Alvah which relieves a need for more MPR% gear
  
• Store - charge up your next attack for big damage
  
• Master Hit - replaces Feint
  
• Hurl Stone - due to fist weapons' vertical limitations, you'll want to rely on this skill (OK damage)
  
• Full Strike - strongest single target attack that can be imbued with HOLY IF backstab unavailable
  
• Lore Impact - strongest single target back attack that can be imbued with HOLY

Outro

This is a supplementary guide for the 100% achievement guide I wrote for the game.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2803369988
If you liked it, please consider checking out my other guides!

[Gedge102]

Melissa and Pamela have leader skills with buffs lasting longer which is great.

[Elarion]

Thank you for guide! I'm currently somewhat in the mid-game and started to get confused with a lot of skills. Most my confusion comes from cases when I can use ANY skill from ANY learned class on character, and thus have a lot of skills.