#(if you go the impact brawler route‚ you'll probably want to pair it with any of a necromancer‚ shield bearer‚ or hunting hound

[definitelyimportantpost]

HERE WE ARE, FINALLY ON THE SECOND FLOOR

This floor is, unlike the first floor, pretty uneventful! That means that, also unlike the first floor, we'll be moving through it rather quickly! Yay!

One of the first things we encounter is a character whose story definitely has a deep connection to the game's wider plot, and isn't one of the ONLY, like, four bits of worldbuilding in the entire game!

Next we fine Conrad—er, sorry. Force of habit. I mean Spirie of some random guild whose name I forgot! It's not likely at all that the person that made this character is reading this right now, but if by some slim chance they are, then... hey! Hi! Hello!

I ought to make mention of just how much wreckage Aurora is putting out. This enemy has 187 HP (almost twice that of a Rabid Acorn's 104), and Aurora's Chain Flame just deleted 136 of it. That's 72% of its HP straight-up gone in one hit.

Add onto that the initial poke that set off that Chain, additional pokes from others, which can set off additional Chains, attacks from Beck, Hero, and even Berry if the party's safe enough, and... most enemies at this point are dropping dead like nobody's business.

This is a big part of why EO5's Fencer is my favourite class in Etrian Odyssey as a whole; as with any follow-up-style class in the series, it's a bit of a chore to build around (as the guy who took around a YEAR to come up with this team comp, believe me, I would know), but unlike a Chaser Landsknecht, it has the skills it wants from the very start—no hefty prerequisites required—and unlike a Link Landsknecht, from the word "go," it's pouring on the pain like gravy at a Thanksgiving dinner. Boy is it sarisfying to see, and if you'll believe it, the true feast is still yet to come...

(Chain Killer Chain Killer Chain Killer Chain Killer Chain K—)

Anyways, as I said before, not much of particular note note happens on 2F, so after getting through about the first half, I go back to town.

There was one quest that I could take on at the moment. This quest wants you to reel in one forest fish...

...in exchange for five (and a level up for the party). It's a pretty good deal, I say. I personally don't make much use of the HP recovery that this game's food items provide since Chloe has more TP than she knows what to do with and a healing skill that costs practically none of it.

Before I end this post off, there's one small quirk with Chain skills that I want to mention.

A Fencer's Rapier mastery makes their equipped sword deal stab damage instead of a sword's default cut damage. One might assume that this change would be reflected in their Chain skills as well; for example, that Chain Flame would deal Stab+Fire damage instead of Cut+Fire damage.

In actuality, Chain Skills will always deal stab damage, regardless of the user's investment in Rapier Mastery, meaning it only affects normal attacks, and can thus be largely ignored by most Fencers.

This means that I was able to obtain Disloged Fangs (a material dropped by Ice Bats when killed with stab damage) even though Aurora has no points in Rapier Mastery at all, and as a result technically no rapier with which to stab.