Class Changing

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Class changing is not necessary to play the game since six party members is more than enough to fill all needed roles, and Divinity Skills easily supplement and cover any weaknesses. However, very basic, low-level class changing is recommended since it's very easy and will increase the flexibility of your characters.

Class Changing Basics

 * Every thirteenth level of a character, that character earns a Skill Token. A Skill Token earns you an additional skill slot for that character.
 * Skills that have been learned from one Class can be transferred over to another Class by using the Skill Slots under the Mastery Tab in a Character's Stats Page. For example, a Wizard could learn to wear Heavy Armor, or a Fighter could learn a Samurai's Slash skill.
 * Characters will earn a Skill Token for reaching level 13 even if they've previously reached level 13 in that class.
 * Warning: A character can only change Class five times, for a total of six classes a character can have per playthrough. Be sure you reserve a final class change for your ending class. Characters can change classes additional times and gain more skill slots upon starting a New Game Plus (you can only play through NG+ a total of 6 times).


 * It costs a certain amount of money to change class based on the character's level. (change_cost = character_level * 100 * number_of_classes_already_have)


 * The character's level will be reduced by half after the Class change, but half of the character's HP and MP will be added to your new Class, so characters will gradually grow stronger through repeated class changing. Other stats are not carried over; things like Spell Enhance are dependent on the current class and level.
 * Skill Points can only be earned once per level, and cant gain anymore until the character surpasses the highest level obtained. Example: If you changed Class at level 14, you will not earn another Skill Point until level 15.


 * Unless you're class changing all at once very early or late in the game, it's much less of a burden to gradually have one or two characters class change at a time. This way, the party can press on into harder content and carry the weaker members while they catch up, minimizing or eliminating excessive "grinding" time.


 * Before changing classes, it might be a good idea to make a separate save each time in case you mess up or want to change your choice.

Experience Required
Full experience table here.

Level 30 requires as much experience as reaching level 13 11.6 times. If that same amount of experience were invested into one class (no class changing), that character would only reach about level 34. The class-changed character would not only have more skills, but would probably also have higher HP and MP as well.

In practice, because class changing halves a character's level instead of resetting it to level 1, the total required experience is actually a bit less than shown above.

Low-Effort Class Changing
This method is mostly for players who want to get class changing out of the way early on in the game and never have to deal with it again. It's best to do this near the beginning of the game to minimize any wasted experience. If a character is close enough to level 13, it might be better to wait to grab the extra skill slot first.

This method forgoes some of the benefits of class changing like Skill Tokens and increased HP/MP, but is very quick and cheap to do; the benefits are fairly large for relatively low effort.

However, because characters only get past level 13 once in their final class, they will at most have three skill slots.

If you use this method, giving the Invincible talent to all your characters will make life much easier; normally, only Knights and Clerics get access to passive skills to protect against Criticals (instant deaths). The Divinity Skill Spirit Wall can also be used.

Recommendations
Front row: Knight 1, Ninja 1, Samurai 4, Dancer 6. Target class should be last. Back row magic-caster: Wizard 6 for Enhance Magic is recommended for Clerics, and Cleric 7 for Wizards for basic Cleric spells and Mana Heal 1. The Ranger's Hunter's Eye skill can be deceptively useful, so consider using it on a character.
 * This will give the character access to nearly all equipment, options for a passive Defense and Avoid boost, Dual Wielding, Slash 1, Tri-Step, and Weapon Trick.
 * With only three skill slots, a combination of Tri-Step, Slash, and Weapon Trick will cover all offensive situations. One or more can be swapped out for defensive options, if desired; a "tank" Knight might not need to attack much.
 * Knight 1 and Ninja 1 are solid choices for defensive boosts.
 * Knight 1 (polearms), Ranger 1/3 (bows), or Dancer 6 if you'd like physical attack options.
 * While Wizard 8 is listed above for basic Wizard magic, Clerics get a better attack spell later anyways, and their turns are probably better spent casting support magic.

The Dancer learns their Morale song at level 10, which is an option; give it to a Cleric or someone with high PIE. However, simply attacking and being hit generates Morale, so this can be passed up if you'd rather not use the skill slot.

Advanced Class Changing
This section will have general guidance in addition to specific builds since options are extremely varied. Remember that stat allocations are mostly based on the equipment you want to use, so refer to the equipment pages.

Feel free to add your own builds!

Class Change Break Points
Quick reference table in the interest of changing classes as close to level 13 as possible. If skills above the levels below look attractive, consider making it the final class. For example, the Fighter gets more advanced attack skills at levels 21 and 28, at which point it's more tiresome to switch to another class.

Refer to individual class pages for more details on skills.

Defenses
Characters will get hit a lot, whether in the front or back row, so defenses are important.

Knights and Ninjas give Defense and Avoid Training, respectively. While Armors can already be quite strong, especially with the random bonuses, these skills will add 15 Defense or Avoid at level 30, which is about the same as wearing an additional piece of Armor. Defense Training also has a chance to halve the damage taken, which is a nice bonus.

Ninjas also get Cicada Shell at level 15, which has a chance to completely dodge almost any attack -- even magic.

Critical (instant kill) hits, while uncommon, are very painful to deal with, especially without prior knowledge of an area's enemies. For this reason, having some kind of always-on protection can help eliminate these frustrating moments. As mentioned above, the Invincible trait can be chosen at character creation.

Otherwise, Knight 21 and Cleric 26 both get Critical protection skills, although class switching at Cleric 26 can be painful unless you're making a "Bishop" type of character. Characters ending their class change journey at Knights or Clerics obviously will get the skill eventually, although they'll need to be protected until then.

Fighters get Invincible Heart at level 10, which gives a chance to survive a killing blow, thus preventing loss of Life Points. This can be an iffy choice though, since making use of the skill requires potentially dying, which most players will want to avoid in the first place. But trouble can't always be predicted, so this might be a decent choice for a spare skill slot.

Note that the Cleric spell Divine Life serves a similar function, although it needs to be pre-casted on everyone and can possibly be dispelled (confirm?). Note that a character needs MP for this spell to work, so they will need to have class changed to Cleric or Wizard at least once.

Front Row Characters
Total Classes: Fighter 15, Knight 15 (or 21), Samurai 13, Ninja 15, Dancer 14, final class.

The final two skill slots can vary depending on preference, chosen Trait, and the character's ending class. In reality, a character will have one or more slots free than shown above since they'll likely end as one of those classes, although the above template could be even used for a front row fighting Cleric and still have a slot or two to spare.

A minimum of Slash 1, Rush or Tri-Step, and Weapon Trick are highly recommended for any weapon user; these skills will cover almost all fighting situations. Dancers get Tetra-Step at level 14, although with a small penalty to Hit. Slash 2 is also useful, but monsters in rear rows are usually less of a threat, and the lower attack power means enemies die less quickly. Slash 1 (or a more focused skill) with Weapon Trick is usually a better choice to take out back row archers and casters more quickly.

Defensive "tank" classes like an Iron Defense Knight or Illusion Ninja can choose to do without Rush/Tri-Step and Weapon Trick since they'll likely be defending during boss fights, but having at least Slash 1 will help speed up normal fights, which make up the majority of battles.

Special builds like High Concentration warriors or Carnage Front Samurai will need special considerations to avoid getting hit, but will otherwise look similar to the table above.

Back Row Sniper
This build focuses on the Ranger's potent ranged skills while using class changing and the safety of the back row to help prevent interruption of High Concentration.

The only real required class needed here is Ninja 15, and the ending class as Ranger, which provides a number of useful active and passive skills, like Hunter's Eye, Long Range Shot, Confine, Penetration, and High Concentration.

Avoid Training and Cicada Shell allow the Ranger to avoid getting hit. Most parties will have a tank and Holy Shielding Cleric as well, which add more layers of defense to prevent interrupting High Concentration.

Assassination not only gives the armor-piercing Assassination skill, but also gives the Hide skill as a bonus. Hide will sometimes trigger automatically at the beginning of battle, and additionally provides protection against one attack (before revealing the character).

While hidden, the Ranger can repeatedly use Snipe and Assassination without being unhidden. Getting to Fighter 28 for Genocides every turn could also be devastating, if you're willing to put in the time.

For situations you can't maintain High Concentration or stay Hidden, use Rush skills like normal or use Random Fire. For normal battles, Samurai Slashes are also an option.

Knight skills are optional, but can prevent unnecessary damage or deaths, and are a reasonably good use of the extra skill slots.

Bishop/Omni-Caster
Going from Cleric to Wizard may be a better choice than Wizard to Cleric since Wizards get double the innate spell power over Clerics, which can't be gained any other way. However, with passive skills and equipment, a Wizard -> Cleric is still very viable, especially if only a few Wizard spell levels are desired. Total Classes: Ninja 15, Knight 13, class 3, class 4, Cleric 30, Wizard 30+.

A fairly simple build, although it will around half the early game to make it past Cleric 30. This character will ideally have 21 or more INT and PIE to be effective in both magic types.

Mana Heal 2 is taken over Mana Heal 1 since it's active in battle and occurs more frequently. A defense skill can be dropped if both are desired, or if more Cleric spells are desired.

Master Saint boosts only Cleric spells so it can be dropped due to the Wizard's innate high Spell Enhance, but is still useful. Holy Soul grants immunity to all statuses, including Critical.

Remaining two classes are up to personal preference, although they'll likely play less of a role in the final build unless more defensive skills are dropped. Dancer could be a decent choice for extra Morale.