Atlantica Online - Spearman - Class Overview

The Spearman is one of the three class D melee mercenaries in Atlantica Online. Class D mercenaries are available from the beginning of the game, while the more powerful class C mercenaries become available as your main reaches certain level thresholds in his or her progression.

The true power of the Spearman is his ability to hit two opponents in a single row, allowing for damage penetration into the second rank of your opponent's formation. Spearmen have reasonable hit points, though their defensive abilities are rather weak for a melee fighter. Their class-specific magical attack, Lightning Spear, has the magical ability to reduce the opposing units' action power, effectively disallowing them from acting on the opponent's next turn.

Spearmen are a useful class in the early levels for bringing high amounts of damage into the enemy's back ranks. I'd recommend if you're going to use a Spearman to combine them with Gunners or more Spearmen, to maximize the damage penetration abilities of your party. This can actually be a very powerful party arrangement in the early game of Atlantica Online. It is sometimes possible in early PvP battles with this formation to cut all the way back into the 3rd rank of an opponent's party as soon as the 2nd or 3rd round of a PvP battle with such a build.

In the long run, there are quite a few mercenaries which outclass Spearmen, even in the middle levels, so I would not recommend using them once these other mercenaries become available. And while the class is useful for formation builds which make use of a large number of Gunners and Spears, this may be the Spearman's only value, in the long run.

I find the utility of Spearmen in any party layout other than Spears/Guns to be lacking rather substantially; in any party which I've face which has one or two Spearmen in them and no gunners, it's generally a simple matter to dispatch the Spearmen, and while their damage output is definitely a hassle, it is not as serious a matter as the damage of a Gunner would be, and generally your front-rank mercenaries are able to take the brunt of their attacks without falling. Spearman make for a mushy front line if you are using them as front-rank tanks, and ultimately their lower survivability results in their generally quick death, mitigating any damage that they would have dealt in the later rounds of a fight.

Spearmen are good for Spear/Gunner builds in the early game, but I really don't see anything positive about the class beyond those builds. I really consider other classes to be better choices for the early game, such as the Swordsman, Viking, Monk, Shaman, Artilleryman, and Gunner. It's more likely that you'll keep a Swordsman, Monk, Shaman, Artilleryman, or Gunner into the middle levels and late game and be happy with their performance, as while Spearmen are decent, they do not shine as brightly as some of the other more useful classes.