Best Metaphor: ReFantazio Archetype Roles to Unlock

In Metaphor: ReFantazio, there are certain Archetypes that are very obviously the best. Seven of them are endgame ones, locked behind a certain plot point at the end of the game and Rank 8 Bonds with your six allies. But leading up to that, there are certain ones you should prioritize unlocking and pulling skills from to make the rest of the game a little easier.

Best Archetype roles with fantastic magic in Metaphor: ReFantazio

There are certain Archetypes I feel are the best ones to get to Rank 20 if you want well-rounded magic users. Which you should want, as I found you can absolutely use spells to break the game and even avoid some grinding. 

However, when it comes to equipping an Archetype to unleash the best magic attacks in Metaphor: ReFantazio, I would recommend having one ally set up as a Summoner/Devil Summoner and another as a Persona Master. (Junah is great in both roles, as is Eupha or your avatar if you build them that way.) Set a character as one of those two, pick your four inherited Skills wisely, and you’re set.

Mage/Wizard/Elemental Master or Warlock

The first one I recommend is the Mage/Wizard/Warlock line. You get the helpful Bot (fire), Blizz (ice), and Kande (lightning) spells from the mage and a Magic Circle passive that increases magic attack damage. Wizard nets you Botra (better fire), Blizza (better ice), and Kandera (better lightning) damage, as well as the invaluable Shield Blessing passive that restores your MP each turn if you have a buff active. The Elemental Master is the one of the three you could pass on if you’d like, since I found the medium strength spells were fine enough for inheriting, but it’s good as well if you want the higher tier abilities.

Healer/Cleric/Savior

This line is incredibly helpful for keeping people alive, but it is also beneficial for the light-based attacks you’ll learn in the Hama line. Healer is a great place to start, primarily for access to the Hama attack spell, Patra status ailment cure, and Medi healing skill that heals everyone in the party. I also highly suggest going through the Cleric path. Hamaon is again an essential, more powerful light spell. Medica is going to heal the whole party even further. Plus, you get the Recarm and Samarecarm that revive either wit 50% or 100% HP. Though it is costly and I don’t recommend leaving someone as a dedicated Saviour (though only having a weakness to dark attacks is nice), I do very much recommend picking up those skills. This is because Hamadyne is a fantastic endgame spell, Medicall heals everyone for everything, Pen Patra is going to eliminate any status effect issues for your crew, and Patrecarm is going to help with revivals for devastating attacks that hit a party.

Summoner/Devil Summoner

These two roles live and die by the equipped additional summons you get via conducting the experiments with Talismans with More. You can’t set them as Skill Inheritance abilities for other classes, however. So you’ll need to go through the Mage/Cleric/other Archetype lines to create your best Metaphor: ReFantazio Summoner character builds. It is absolutely worth it to do so, however, because the standard and Synthesis attacks that are typically AOE are so devastating.

Best Archetype roles with devastating physical attacks in Metaphor: ReFantazio

I’m not the biggest fan of physical Slash, Strike, and Pierce hits in Metaphor: ReFantazio, as I don’t feel they deal the best damage, so I highly recommend you don’t over-invest in those types of Archetype roles! They can be very useful, for sure. But I’d recommend maybe going with one person who can really take a hit as your dedicated physical attacker and tank for the rest of your spell-users who might be in the back row. 

So in this case, I’d suggest Strohl or Basilio as your physical attacker and front-row tank. Hulkenberg will have the endurance stat to also be in the front row, but she’s honestly a pretty amazing mage with her Dark Knight role!

Warrior/Swordmaster/Samurai

Shocking, I know, but the Archetype Strohl brings to the party in the very beginning of the game is one of the best ones you can build up for physical attacks. They’ll all be Slashing, so you may want to also have whoever takes this role up learn some Knight or Brawler first-tier Skills for Pierce or Strike attacks. Anyways. The Warrior is fantastic for the Slicer attack and Heat Up and Slash Boost passives that increase attack damage. The Swordmaster improves on that by adding AOE to the mix with Rising Slash and Raging Edge. The Martial Lore passive that increases the power of basic attacks by 50% is invaluable too. I love Samurai for the survivability it gets via the Sturdy Stance passive that halves all damage (by removing dodging) and Regenerate 3 that heals after every turn. Getting the Thunder Blade AOE elemental attack is good too, especially alongside the handy Giant Slice hit.

Gunner/Sniper/Dragoon

Gunner and Sniper are so much fun! Being in the back row and dealing massive damage to one or all opponents, as well as being able to poison with Poison Shot, sleep with Sleep Shot, or hex with Hex Shot is so satisfying. I also adored the Sniper’s AOE shots, as well as the Smashing Salvo that hit one enemy and debuffed their defense in the process. Not to mention Sniper’s Harvest lets you get HP for defeating foes. If you make the main character a Gunner or Sniper, you can even pick off enemies in the dungeon or field from a great distance, which is fun and efficient. But also, forget about the Dragoon. The skills are fine, but it is such a pain to collect all of Neuras’ relics and you won’t have unlocked that tier until the endgame.

Berserker/Destroyer

This is an endgame physical Archetype, but it’s worth it! The Slam Strike and Slam Shatter Strike attacks are wonderful, especially since the latter is AOE. War Cry is a super solid attack and defense debuff for every enemy on the field. And Chrge is good for buffing the user. Destroyer only amplifies the single-enemy and AOE enemy damage potential. Plus, since you needed to have the Warrior, Brawler, and Knight each at Rank 10 to unlock the class, you have access to the other physical damage types for Skill Inheritance. 

Metaphor: ReFantazio is available for the PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC. There is also a demo available.