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Alright, coming off the Swordmaster from last time, today we’re diving into the advanced class from The Use of Life — the Swordmage.
Hopefully this helps if you’re still on the fence about your build.
Alright then, let’s get into it.
- This class absolutely nukes enemies with overwhelming burst damage coming off its enchant setup. Despite the name, it doesn’t feel like a jack-of-all-trades at all—it’s very straightforward and heavily focused on pumping out raw damage.
- It can feel a bit shaky defensively up through the midgame, but once you get past that point, you unlock plenty of ways to attack while stacking defense and evasion buffs, smoothing out those weaknesses nicely.
- That said, even though you burn through CP with chanting and skills, your CP recovery options are pretty limited—so if you get too carried away, you’ll run dry fast.
Strengths & Weaknesses of the Swordmage
Strengths
- Compared to other advanced classes, the Swordmage can dish out insanely high damage—and keep it going consistently.
- Its damage is tuned pretty aggressively, so you can just delete trash mobs on the way with almost no effort. It’s super comfy to play.
- Honestly, in terms of raw damage, it’s basically “complete” even at skill level 1, so right after unlocking it, you’ll feel straight-up overpowered.
- Then once you hit the midgame and your damage starts to plateau a bit, you instead gain access to strong defense and evasion buffs—so there’s basically no real “weak phase” in its progression.
Weaknesses
- Both casting and attack skills chew through a lot of CP, while your passive CP recovery is pretty underwhelming. So if you fail to finish things off on turn one—or during a burst window—you’re suddenly stuck in “waiting for CP to come back” mode.
Recommended Stat Distribution
First, dump as many points as you can evenly into STR and INT. After that, split the rest between SPD and VIT.
You probably won’t have the luxury to invest in TEC—it just doesn’t have enough synergy to justify it here.
One important note for the early leveling phase before you unlock Swordmage:
If you split between STR and INT too early, your damage ends up feeling pretty mediocre. It’s better to lean into one side first.
If you’re focusing on Fighter progression, stack STR. If you’re going Mage, stack INT.
Skill Impressions
Enchant Thunder/Ice – Your Insane Damage Engine
This is the very first skill you get as a Swordmage, and it’s the one that instantly sets you apart from the base classes. The damage jump is just ridiculous.
It adds extra elemental damage (fire or ice) to your physical attacks.
The exact numbers depend on your stats, gear, and enemy resistances, but as a rough benchmark, the bonus damage per hit is about the same as one Quadruple Edge. In other words, just learning this skill basically doubles your damage. Yeah, it’s that busted.
Right after unlocking the class, this gives you overwhelming power—you’ll be breezing through trash fights like nothing.
Also, the added damage from Enchant is applied per hit, regardless of whether the base skill is single-hit or multi-hit. So the play is simple: enchant up, then spam Double Edge or Quadruple Edge for maximum output.
One more thing worth highlighting: it synergizes insanely well with Counter Step.
If you counter a multi-hit enemy attack, every single counter hit gets the bonus damage. You’ll just watch their HP melt under a storm of effects.
Against groups or enraged bosses, Enchant + Counter Step can easily function as your main damage source.
Octopus Edge – Simple, Brutal Power
Unlocked at skill level 3, Octopus Edge is—surprisingly—an 8-hit attack. And yep, every hit gets the enchant bonus.
What really makes it shine is how well it lines up with your resource economy. Around the time you unlock it, your per-turn CP gain usually matches its cost (4 CP), meaning you can fire it off at full power starting turn one.
And of course, trash mobs just get deleted instantly.
Phosphorend & Impart and Focus – Kinda Meh
Phosphorend ignores defense, and Impart and Focus gives you a chance to boost MP/CP recovery while enchanted… but honestly? They’re pretty underwhelming.
Phosphorend just doesn’t hit as hard as Enchant + Quadruple Edge, and the recovery boost from Impart and Focus is so minor you’ll barely notice it.
Enchant Chaos – The All-in-One Power Buff
Unlocked at Swordmage level 4, this one’s stacked:
random elemental bonus damage plus an all-stats buff.
Sure, the random element makes it harder to target weaknesses—but the sheer value of the full stat boost more than makes up for it.
Your sword skills hit harder, your enchant damage scales up, and the VIT/SPD boosts make you noticeably tankier and harder to hit.
Even the TEC boost adds a nice bump to crit rate—you’ll actually feel it.
And honestly, around the time you get this, most bosses don’t even have strong elemental weaknesses or resistances anyway. So the “random element” downside barely matters.
Defensive Options – Enchant Earth, Aegis Blade, Izuna of Wind
These skills let you keep your damage high while also stabilizing your survivability
Enchant Earth (skill level 3) converts your bonus damage to physical and boosts VIT. It’s a great “just use this in boss fights” option for steady, reliable performance.
Aegis Blade (skill level 5) deals defense-ignoring damage while also putting up a barrier that can absorb up to twice your max MP in damage.
The damage is a bit lower than Enchant Chaos + Octopus Edge, but the clutch survivability it gives is huge.
Izuna of Wind (also skill level 5) hits 10 times and gives you an evasion buff.
With this, even endgame bosses with multi-hit attacks become much easier to deal with.
And yeah—Enchant still applies. So a buffed, enchanted 10-hit combo can chunk massive portions of a boss’s HP.
Alright, that’s it for the Swordmage.
Next up, we’re diving into the Cureblade route—see you there.
Enjoy your gaming life!!
And thanks for reading all the way to the end!
