Gray: Difference between revisions

Gray is one of the four villagers recruitable in Act 1. He comes at level 5, so he does not need any levels to promote, with fairly decent bases for a villager, along with solid growths in most areas. As such Gray can work well in multiple classes.

The Cavalier class boosts his speed and significantly improves his movement, but the lack of strong lances in Act 1 limits his initial performance. Gray will perform better in [[War of Deliverance|Act 3]], as he can use the [[Ridersbane]] against the large number of enemy cavalry, but it can be used just as well or better by [[Clive]], and without significant training Gray will fall behind Clive and [[Mathilda]] in Act 3 and [[Zeke]] and [[Mycen]] later on.

As a Mage, Gray has the best potential damage at the start of Act 1 and above-average damage through the rest of Act 1 and most of Act 3, as enemies have low resistance, and strong weapons for physical attackers are rare prior. However, it takes Gray until level 9 to learn his first spell other than Fire—Saggitae—by which point Gray's speed will be too low for him to double most enemies, and enemy resistance will have increased to the point where his single-hit damage is greatly reduced. Additionally, every other potential Mage has a better spell list, and Tobin and Kliff have an easier time doubling enemies; Tobin in particular learns [[Excalibur]] early and has better speed and long-term damage as a Mage than Gray. He can effectively defeat Knights and Barons, but his low movement will hold him back.

Promoting to Soldier slightly improves Gray's attack and defense. Gray can double many enemies through Act 1 with his base speed of 4, and can use the Ridersbane in Act 3. However, Gray will have a 20% speed growth in the Soldier class line and will struggle to double enemies later in the game; every other Villager will have better speed and the same attack as a Soldier. Additionally, Clive—who requires no investment and has no opportunity cost—can also effectively use the Ridersbane, and at higher movement. Promoting to Knight and Baron greatly improvesGray's attack and defense late-game, but does not improve his low speed or resistance, leaving him vulnerable to magic, and his movement will stay low.

Gray eclipses all of the bases of an Archer, so he gets no stat bonuses, and he will deal little damage and have low accuracy in Act 1. Once [[Forge|forging]] becomes available, Gray will have access to the [[Killer Bow]], which grants the [[Hunter's Volley]] combat art, greatly increasing his power on player phase. However, any Archer can use the Killer Bow, and getting more than one is expensive; Gray has worse speed and resistance than Kliff and [[Python]] and is worse at fighting Mages; and Python requires less investment to reach Sniper.

Promoting to Mercenary boosts Gray's speed to 10, making him the best user of the [[Lightning Sword]] in Act 1, which deals excellent damage against the majority of enemies, completely dominating Act 1 alongside a Mage; however, any Mercenary will be just as effective, as they will all have the same speed and damage with the Lightning Sword. As the game goes along, the Lightning Sword becomes too weak to be a good weapon and Gray will need a forged sword in order to fight enemies well; his high attack enables him to deal high damage often, but his low speed growth limits his effectiveness against the faster enemies that become more common through the game. Additionally, Gray's low resistance outside of Dread Fighter limits his usefulness against enemy magic-users in Acts 1 and 3, and limits his usefulness when looping from Dread Fighter to Villager in the late-game; however, as a Dread Fighter, Gray's high attack, speed, and movement make him effective against a majority of enemies in the late-game.