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Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age Definitive Edition

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Erik

By
Jarrod Garripoli

Erik will be the first party member to join your team, and he has the potential to be one of the better ones. He can equip three different weapons; Knives, Swords and Boomerangs. Since you have other characters that use a sword, it’s probably better to leave that alone, although there are some nice options in that tree. Boomerangs are amazing in random battles, especially those with a lot of enemies, since they will hit all of them. However, boomerangs aren’t great at all against bosses, so it might be a good idea to hold off on them until later in the game. Knives are probably the best bet for starting out with Erik, since there are some great skills in there.

Erik is the first party member you’ll get in the game.

Categories Total Skills Total SP Needed
Knives 13 156
Swords 12 143
Boomerangs 12 140
Guile 13 160

Spells

Erik doesn’t learn too many spells throughout the course of leveling up, with four of the seven spells he learns falling under the Earth trap one. These can be useful spells in tougher fights, since the damage from the trap goes off before the enemy acts, and there’s not many enemies in the game that can resist Earth damage. It’s a bit on the odd side that Erik learns Evac, since the Hero learns it sooner than he does and it doesn’t cost any MP, so it’s pretty much a wasted spell slot. Peep is not that useful either, outside of one or two instances. Cock-a-Doodle-Doo can be a nice spell for Erik, since it allows you to wake up the entire party, provided Erik doesn’t get put to sleep himself.

Name Effect MP Acquisition
Rubblerouser Places seal under enemy that will damage them when they act for three turns 6 Level 10
Evac Teleports party out of dungeon 0 Level 12
Cock-a-Doodle-Doo Cures party of sleep 2 Level 15
Peep Sees whether chest is real or not 1 Level 22
Boulderbringer Places seal under enemy that will damage them when they act for three turns 12 Level 23
Mountainmover Places seal under enemy that will damage them when they act for three turns 20 Level 42
Ridgeraiser Places seal under enemy that will damage them when they act for three turns 36 Level 61

The basic skill tree for Erik.

Knives

Knives are a great choice for Erik, especially in the early game. Sleeper Hit allows him to possibly put an enemy to sleep, which he can follow up with Persecutter, dealing huge damage. You can do a little better, too, with Cobra Strike and Victimiser, which is similar to the previous set, but with poison instead. In fact, the latter set will tend to be useful later, as more bosses and challenging enemies will be susceptible to poison over sleep. The Knives tree also gives Erik Dual-Wielding, meaning he can equip two of the same weapon. Of course, there’s a damage penalty for the offhand weapon, but once you have his trees expanded, you can get rid of that penalty with Dually Deadly from the Sword section. Once you expand the trees, Nastier Knives increases the chance of inflicting a status ailment with either Sleeper Hit or Cobra Strike, should you still use them at that point.

Name SP Notes
Attack When Wielding +5 3 -
Critical Hit Rate When Wielding +2% 4 -
Dodge Chance +3% 14 Secret Panel [?]
Sleeper Hit 6 Chance to put enemy to sleep
Persecutter 9 Deals 6x damage to sleeping enemies
Dual-Wielding 16 Can equip two of the same weapon type
Cobra Strike 7 Chance to poison an enemy
Victimiser 13 Deals 6x damage to poisoned enemies
Assassin’s Stab 18 Secret Panel [?]
Critical Hit Rate When Wielding +4% 14 -
HP Hoover 16 Secret Panel [?]
Attack When Wielding +30 16 -
Nastier Knives 20 -

Swords

At the beginning of the game, Swords for Erik is going to be pretty similar to the Hero, as they share a lot of the same skills. In fact, their skills are pretty much the same and because of that, it’s not a good idea to even bother with it, since Flame Slash is the only non-situational one there. However, once you get the expanded skill tree, Erik can gain access to two skills, Fatal Slash and Dually Deadly. The former is a great skill to use against single targets, since it deals 2.5 times the damage from normal attacks. With Dually Deadly, you can negate the damage penalty on the offhand weapon when dual wielding. Considering Erik’s biggest damage will come from dual-wielding at the end of the game, then this is a necessity. Also, it should be noted that Erik gains a whopping total of +90 Attack via the passives for when he’s equipped with a sword, which is more than any other character gets for their respective weapons in the game.

Name SP Notes
Flame Slash 3 -
Attack When Wielding +10 4 -
Critical Hit Rate When Wielding +2% 6 -
Sword Stance 7 -
Dragon Slash 10 -
Metal Slash 12 -
Attack When Wielding +20 10 -
Miracle Slash 16 Secret Panel [?]
Attack When Wielding +25 14 -
Attack When Wielding +35 16 -
Fatal Slash 20 -
Dually Deadly 25 Secret Panel [?]

Boomerangs

Boomerangs are a great weapon choice for random battles, since the weapon hits all enemies. However, there is damage degradation, as the weapon only does full damage on the first enemy and each subsequent one will be hit for lesser damage. So, you’re basically trading off damage for convenience of hitting multiple enemies. The biggest thing to take away from Boomerangs is that they are horrible against bosses, because of that above fact that they hit multiple enemies. There is a Metal Slime-hitting ability with boomerangs, called Metalicker, which is cheaper to get to than Metal Slash and swords. Starburst Throw isn’t bad, but it does cost a lot of MP to use and is also locked.

Should you invest in Boomerangs at the start of the game, then you will want to shoot for Power Throw. Using this ability is the same as tossing your boomerang normally, except you don’t get the damage reduction on subsequent foes after the first hit. The major investment in Boomerangs will come with the expanded skill trees, as you can get something called Double Down. You get two hits with this skill, with each one dealing almost twice the normal damage, although it does cost a decent chunk of MP to use it (Erik doesn’t have abundant MP). To make it even better, there’s a chance that Double Down will reduce the enemy’s resistance to ailments and debuffs.

Name SP Notes
Ooze Bruiser 3 -
Accuracy When Wielding +5% 4 -
Accuracy When Wielding +5% 9 -
Attack When Wielding +5 6 -
Metalicker 7 -
Twomerang 16 -
Power Throw 13 -
Starburst Throw 18 Secret Panel [?]
Attack When Wielding +10 14 -
Accuracy When Wielding +10% 16 -
Double Down 20 -
Pep-Up Power-Up 25 Secret Panel [?]

Guile

To start off with, you should grab Half-Inch as your first skill with Erik, as it grants him the ability to steal from enemies (and also the Itemized Kill Pep Power with the Hero’s Flame Slash). While it may not be an amazing steal rate, you will be able to increase it via equipment and other skills as you progress through the game. Falcon Slash can be invaluable towards the end of the first portion of the game, especially if you pair it with a Falcon Blade, although it does require you to invest a little bit in the Swords tree. Note that the Agility +30 spot at the top of the initial tree grants a hidden +10 SP, so make sure to grab that early and reset the tree to get the points back.

The locked skill in the middle of the Guile tree is Divide and is one of Erik’s greatest skills. While it only lasts a single turn, you are effectively tripling the damage done by Erik on that turn. You can also pair it with Half-Inch to triple his stealing rate. There are many uses for Divide, so make sure you absolutely get it down the line. Once the skill trees are expanded, Erik can nab Sticky fingers to increase his steal rate by quite a bit. The last skill to be talked about is Critical Claim. While it costs an astounding 64 MP to use, it is a guaranteed critical hit, no matter what, as it cannot be blocked or evaded. This will make hunting down those pesky Metal Slime variants a lot easier.

Name SP Notes
Half-Inch 8 -
Deftness +10 8 -
Falcon Slash 18 Secret Panel [?]
Dodge Chance +2% 8 -
Deftness +30 10 -
Agility +10 8 -
Agility +30 10 Grants +10 SP when purchased
Dodgy Character 12 -
Divide 14 Secret Panel [?]
Sticky Fingers 14 -
Pep Chance +5% 16 Secret Panel [?]
Dodge Chance +5% 16 -
Critical Claim 20 -

Character Build

When starting out with Erik, you should probably get Half-Inch as the first skill. This not only grants you the ability to possibly steal items from enemies, but it also gives you access to the Itemized Kill Pep Power, once the Hero has learned Flame Slash. From there, you probably want to go down the Knives route with Erik. Get Sleeper Hit and Persecutter, since those are the first skills and play off of each other, then look at Cobra Strike and Victimiser. You might think Boomerangs are the better investment at the beginning of the game, but their lack of boss-fighting skills would make Erik a little lackluster in that department.

At the beginning, you might also want to head toward that Agility +30 spot for the free Skill Points, then reset and take the above advice. Unfortunately, during a stretch of the game, Erik is going to fall behind the other in terms of damage potential, but that picks up once the skill trees are fully unlocked. Dual-Wielding is probably your short-term goal in the earlier portions of the game, with Divide being the next thing you want to head towards after that. From there, once the skill trees do open, Erik can become a bit of a monster. While Critical Claim uses a lot of MP, it’s going to be a staple move in the long run.

Double Down is another great skill to have, as is Dually Deadly, especially since you will probably be dual wielding with Erik at all times. For single targets, Fatal Slash is nice and means he will be even better at fighting bosses. The damage potential for Erik goes through the roof towards the end of the game, as Dually Deadly, Divide and two powerful Boomerangs means Erik is going to make short work of normal encounters. The only problem, though, is that the necessary skills are kind of far apart, meaning you will need to concentrate on an overall package until you can start farming Seeds of Skill.

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Guide Information
  • Publisher
    Square Enix
  • Platforms,
    3DS, PC, PS4, Switch
  • Genre
    RPG
  • Guide Release
    4 September 2018
  • Last Updated
    7 October 2021
    Version History
  • Guide Author
    Ben Chard

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An epic battle between Light and Darkness is about to begin as the Luminary awakens on his 16th birthday. Join a diverse cast of characters as you traverse the world of Erdrea on a quest to discover why you’ve been branded the Darkspawn and the many mysteries of the Luminary.

The most complete guide for Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age features all there is to do and see in the world of Erdrea. A step-by-step walkthrough featuring every item, quest and side activity illustrated with gorgeous screenshots.

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