There are 14 Followers to seek out and befriend in Metaphor: ReFantazio, and you’ll need the aid of all of them if you wish to beat Lord Louis to the Kingdom of Euchronia’s throne. While many of them are simple to unlock, like the majority of your party members, some require a bit more effort. Basilio is the final party member and joins late in the adventure, keep reading to learn how to rank him up and what abilities and Archetypes he unlocks.

Table of Contents¶

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Unlocking the Basilio Follower Bond¶

For the majority of the adventure, Basilio has been on the opposite side, working alongside his brother, Fidelio, for Lord Louis. This all changes though, following the events on 9/11, Basilio will switch sides and join the party, although you’ll have to wait a little before you get the chance to unlock his Bond. Once you reach 9/13, you’ll gain access to free days once more and it’s here where you can finally start Basilio’s Bond.

You’ll have many places you can travel to at this point, so pick one and have the Gauntlet Runner take you there, while you’re traveling, be sure to speak to Basilio as this is how you unlock his Bond. Basilio should unlock what should be the final Archetype Tree in Metaphor: ReFantazio, the Berserker, and as you may expect from the way he carries himself, it’s a physical powerhouse.

Basilio Rank up Events and Abilities¶

There is a total of eight Rank Up events for Basilio and as mentioned above, all of them are optional (including unlocking the Bond). The table below will detail how to get each Rank for Basilio and the ability it unlocks.

The biggest issue with Basilio’s Bond events is that he joins rather late in the adventure, so you’re going to need to spend a lot of your free days getting up to speed if you want to max it in time. Much like Eupha, the majority of his Bond events take place on a free day during the day, with two ranks requiring you to speak to him on the Gauntlet Runner while traveling.

More importantly, are the two Royal Virtues requirements at Bond Ranks 6 and 8, requiring both Imagination and Eloquence at Rank 5, their highest. As this is near the later parts of the adventure you should already have, or be close, to these requirements if you’ve been spending time to waste them. If you’re far behind, this could be a real problem if you’re having to waste a lot of your time on wasting it. Just remember that the Opera House opens up at night from 9/27 and will grant +7 to a Royal Virtue based on the play you watch.

Basilio’s final rank requires you to complete the A Brother’s Mercy Side Quest, there’s not much to this, other than a battle against Vinca who is Level 66 and is resistant against melee attacks (he’s pretty much a Berserker himself). If you have a tank that can provoke him (especially Hulkenberg as a Royal Knight), you should have little issue with dealing with him.

Rank 1 Ability - Berserker Archetype¶

As mentioned above, if you’ve been diligent in unlocking all of the Followers, then the Berserker Archetype should be the final Tree to unlock. Much like the Warrior Archetype, the Berserker focuses on pure melee damage, with his weapon and skills focusing on Strike damage. As an Archetype that comes late, it’s base Archetype does come with some very powerful skills, such as access to Charge and Frenzy, but also some useful Synthesis Abilities like Wanton Destruction that not only deals extreme Strike damage, but also inflicts a weakness to Strike following it.

Rank 2 Abilities - Berserker Enlightenment and Beast-Scent Adept¶

Just like the Enlightenment abilities for the other Bonds, this will decrease the cost of studying Berserker Archetypes. Even though there are only two Archetypes in this tree, they’re expensive to study so this is useful to make this more manageable.

Beast-Scent Adept is Basilio’s exclusive ability which will increase his evasion when he’s attacked by any Human or Beast, which is a vast majority of the enemies in the later stages of the adventure. This (and its upgrade), makes Basilio a good candidate to be in your party during these battles so you can limit the number of turns your enemies may take.

Rank 3 Abilities - Scion’s Skill and Battle Aura¶

Scion’s Skill is the first in the series of Scion abilities that grant you an extra Inheritance Slot. This may not be as useful to begin with as due to Basilio joining late, he won’t have too many other Archetypes leveled for the time being. Still, it never hurts to put some AEXP items into Archetypes such as from the Warrior Tree to give him more versatility as a physical powerhouse.

Basilio is the final party member to join that comes very late in the adventure, and as such, you’re ultimately going to have to leave at least three members in the reserves, where they will gain less EXP than the main battle party. The Battle Aura ability will ensure that you gain a bit more EXP when in those reserves so consider keeping Basilio in your main party until you at least unlock this ability.

Rank 4 Ability - Berserker Veneration¶

This is the upgrade to the Berserker Enlightenment ability that decreases the cost of MAG to study the Archetypes here. The Elite Archetype for Berserker is very expensive, so decreasing that cost a bit is massively helpful.

Rank 5 Ability - Scion’s Merit¶

The second in the Scion’s series of abilities, this one will give you three Skill Inheritance slots for any Berserker Archetype. This is useful for when you upgrade to the Elite Archetype at the next Bond Rank and carry over some useful Berserker skills.

Rank 6 Ability - Berserker Archetype: Elite¶

The upgrade to the Berserker, the Destroyer, takes his strike abilities to a whole new level, making Basilio, with his natural stat growths, one of the hardest-hitting melee characters in Metaphor: ReFantazio. Not only does it have some fantastic passives, such as Short-Range Boost, but its attack skills have now got an added element and effect to them, such as removing buffs from enemies, lowering their defense, or ignoring their resistances altogether!

Rank 7 Ability - Battle Hypnosis¶

Just like Battle Aura before it, this is another ability that will ensure that whenever Basilio isn’t in the main battle party, he’ll still earn EXP at the same rate as anyone in the main party. Seeing as there are a total of seven party members, this makes it so Basilio won’t be underleveled.

Rank 8 Abilities - Scion’s Essence, Beast’s Insight, and Grand Fantasy¶

Scion’s Essence is the final Scion ability, bringing you up to four skills you can inherit on Berserker Archetypes. Beast’s Insight is the upgrade to Beast-Scent Adept, further increasing Basilio’s evasion when being attacked by Human or Beast enemies, making him a go-to.

Grand Fantasy will remain a mystery to you until the events on 9/23, where you’ll then gain access to the Royal Archetypes, for which Basilio’s will be the Royal Berserker. This isn’t as great an investment to unlock as Heimsay and Hulkenberg’s, but it will require you to max out the Martial Artist (the Elite Archetype of the Brawler) alongside Destroyer to get access to it. The Royal Berserker turns Wanton Destruction into a skill usable without Synthesis, adds an upgraded War Cry (which decreases enemies Attack/Defense) but more importantly, Systematic Destruction is the start of the show. This is an extreme Strike attack that ignores resistances.

There you have it; all of Basilio’s Bonds and Abilities in Metaphor: ReFantazio. While you can have Basilio take on any Archetype, keeping him in the melee Archetypes is the ideal route, especially with how late he joins. Just remember to spend time in the Brawler Tree so you can unlock Royal Berserker as soon as possible.