Every party member in Metaphor: ReFantazio starts out with their own niche, but with so many Archetypes to choose from in the game, you’re going to want to pick the most optimal ones for them. Without further ado, here are the best Archetypes for every character in Metaphor: ReFantazio.
Before we go any further, do note that there are some light spoilers in this article, specifically for some late-game Archetypes. If you want to go in completely fresh, I’d recommend bookmarking this page and coming back later once you’re further into the story.
As a quick overview, these are the best Archetypes for every character in Metaphor: ReFantazio:
The Royal Archetypes are easily the strongest in the game, and they also give you access to the Armageddon’s Final Sire Synthesis skill, so naturally they’re going to be the best-in-slot Archetypes for every character. Not to worry, though, as I’ll go over other early and mid-game Archetypes for every character before you unlock those. I’ll also go through the strengths of each Royal Archetype to give you an idea of what they excel at.
The Captain is the most versatile character in Metaphor: ReFantazio, so really, you could give him any Archetype and he’d probably kick ass at it. If I had to boil it down to his very best Archetypes, however, it’d easily be Soul Hacker and Prince.
The Seeker Lineage is all about versatility, making it the perfect choice for the Captain. You get access to Wind and self-healing spells right off the bat, and Soul Hacker later gives you more AoE capabilities. If you want to take the Captain down the path of raw power, then go with Prince for big damage output and powerful buffs.
By the endgame, I was absolutely torn between Soul Hacker and Prince, but ultimately went with Prince and just took some of the abilities from the former via skill inheritance.
For the early game, however, I’d actually recommend classing him into the Mage and Healer Archetypes. With Strohl and Hulkenberg being your first two party members — both of which are very physical damage-oriented — the Captain actually ends up being the most suited for the Mage/Healer role.
As you get into the mid-game and start to have a bit more flexibility in your party setups, I recommend moving the Captain into Magic Seeker so he can flex into any role you need.
Strohl has a very high base Strength stat, which makes sense, considering he starts off with the Swordsman Archetype. Naturally, his very best Archetype is going to be the Royal Swordsman, which just comes with a bevy of devastating Slash skills.
Before you get there, however, I’d recommend checking out the Gunner, Merchant, and Commander Lineages for him. Gunner, in particular, was a favorite of mine for Strohl. This puts him in the backlines, while allowing him to rain down arrows on enemies, which lets you clear out mobs very quickly. The Merchant Lineage gives him access to Strike skills and Almighty damage, while the Commander Lineage gives him some useful party buffs and elemental physical attacks that can come in handy in a pinch.
Brawler is another great early game Archetype to consider for Strohl, allowing him to learn even more physical skills to really turn him into a damage-dealing powerhouse. For the early game, I liked focusing on Gunner, Merchant, Brawler, and Warrior. As I moved into the mid-game, I mostly had him as a Sniper or Samurai while working up to Royal Swordsman.
Royal Knight may be one of the most broken Archetypes in Metaphor: ReFantazio, making Hulkenberg the best party member in the game, right behind the Captain. This Archetype comes with Omni-Counter, which is a passive ability that gives you a 15% chance of repelling non-Almighty damage. That may not sound like a lot, but it kicks in way more often than you might think.
You definitely want to explore the Commander, Berserker, and Pugilist Lineages for her as well. The Commander Lineage is the most crucial one for Hulkenberg, as it gives her way more utility and allows her to better protect the party, while Berserker and Pugilist gives her a bit more damage.
Between Paladin and Dark Knight, I lean way more towards the latter, though you do need them both to unlock Royal Knight. I’d grab Mad Rush and Thunderstrike Thrust from the Dark Knight Archetype, then put them into the final Royal Knight build.
Finally, the only reason why I have Elemental Master here is because it’s required for Royal Knight. Paladin and Elemental Master are my least favorite Archetypes for Hulkenberg, but she can still provide decent utility with those. Just get them to 20 and 15 respectively for the Royal Knight Archetype, then class her back into something else.
For the early game, I liked having Commander and Brawler/Pugilist on her. For the mid-game, she worked very well as a Dark Knight.
Heismay is all about Agility and acting quick and fast in battle. The Royal Thief’s final skill is Noble Thief’s Soul, which depletes all of an enemy’s Turn Icons if their attack is dodged, which is pretty insane.
Outside of that, the regular Thief and Faker Lineages are the ones you absolutely want to prioritize for Heismay. These Lineages help to beef up his Agility even further while giving him decent damage output. Honestly, the main drawback with Heismay is that unlocking Royal Thief requires you to explore the Merchant, Gunner, and Knight Lineages as well, and I never found those to be particularly useful for him.
If you don’t have time to explore all those paths for him and unlock Royal Thief, Heismay is still a very solid assassin-style character with the Ninja Archetype.
At first glance, Junah might seem like a very versatile character, similar to the Captain. However, once you unlock the Persona Master and Royal Masked Dancer Archetypes for her, it becomes clear that Metaphor: ReFantazio really wants you to use her as a mage/debuffer/healer hybrid character. Ruin’s Flameflower is a fantastic Royal Masked Dancer skill that inflicts AoE Fire damage, while also removing all buffs. This is useful for both mobs and boss battles. She also has the ability to inflict one-time weaknesses on enemies, allowing you to set up powerful attacks that wouldn’t otherwise be possible.
Before unlocking Royal Masked Dancer, you definitely want to explore the Mage and Healer Lineages for her to give her all the magic she needs. She should almost always have Medica and Patra on her, as well as access to all magic elements. Of course, the perk of using Royal Masked Dancer and Persona Master is that you can equip Mask accessories on her to give her those skills without needing to waste inheritance skill slots, so go with either one.
Eupha is the AoE god of Metaphor: ReFantazio. Upon unlocking Royal Summoner, you gain access to AoE spells for all elements, and they all either do severe damage or hit multiple times. If you ever needed to clear out mobs quickly, Eupha is your go-to character.
Even before reaching Royal Summoner, she can achieve pretty much the same effect with Devil Summoner, though you do need to equip Talismans on her to make that build work. I had a lot of success with classing Eupha as a Warlock or Elemental Master as well, since her Magic stat is so high.
That being said, you do need to explore the Seeker Lineage for her in order to unlock Royal Summoner. She can be very versatile as a Soul Hacker — assuming you have the Captain classed as something else — but you really just want it for Royal Summoner and any Wind skills you might need.
Basilio boasts a very high Strength stat, and the good news is that the requirements for unlocking Royal Berserker aren’t all that demanding. You just need to max out Destroyer and Martial Artist for that.
Royal Berserker is all about raw power and dealing massive Strike damage to your foes. He’s basically Strohl, but with an emphasis on Strike, so you’ll want one or the other in your party, depending on your own preferences. Personally, I favored having Strohl especially since I had already invested so much into him, and Basilio was unfortunate enough to have joined the party so late.
That being said, if you’re not a fan of Strohl and you just want a quick and easy character you can build up for Strength, go with Basilio.
And those are the best Archetypes for every character in Metaphor: ReFantazio.