Continuing the weekly feature on Atlantica's mercenaries, the developers behind the turn-based game present the Spearman!

The developers behind Atlantica Online are at it again and have sent their latest developer journal to our inboxes. This week we're featuring the Spearman, a powerful mercenary that is also defensive enough to stand on the front lines. Are you willing to learn more about this awe-inspiring warrior? Do you think you could stand toe-to-toe with this fierce gladiator?

If you're up to the challenge, keep on reading!

This week’s entry will feature the spirited Spearman, a D-class mercenary with high attack power and enough defense to hold his ground on the front lines. The Spearman does not have the same tanking ability of a Swordsman, but his ability to deal greater damage and hit multiple targets will turn the tides of many battles encountered on your journey. However, with the ability to equip high-defense melee armor, the Spearman is still capable of adequately mitigating physical damage. Like the Swordsman, the Spearman does not have any level restrictions and can be recruited at the outset of your adventure.

With his great spear and incredible reach, the Spearman can pierce two enemies at once, inflicting substantial damage to his targets. In addition to his basic attack, the Spearman has two spells: Lightning Spear and Deadly Strike. Lightning Spear will transfix and damage two enemies, similar to a regular attack; but after a few upgrades, it will hit all enemies in a column. The main appeal of Lightning Spear, however, is not its damage potential, but its ability to reduce the opponent’s action power. The Spearman’s Deadly Strike spell is identical to the Swordsman’s Deadly Strike in that it can only be used when the Spearman is in a near-death situation. And in that cornered state, the Spearman can deal massive damage with Deadly Strike.

Like other D-class mercenaries, the Spearman can be upgraded using Ashen Crystals and Ashen Jewels. Each upgrade will give the Spearman significant stat boosts, as well as some aesthetic changes.

The Spearman is a more popular mercenary because he synergizes with a variety of builds and strategies. For example, because the Spearman has high attack power, he combos well off of the Oracle’s spell, Seth’s Will, which is a spell that further boosts attack and action power of a row in your squad. In addition, Seth’s Will also increases the chance to attack multiple times, resulting in one deadly Spearman.

In PvP, especially in higher divisions, you will find AP (action power) drain builds to be pretty common because of the effectiveness in controlling and managing the battle. What players will normally do is have two Spearmen in their squad to effectively utilize Lightning Spear and render opponent’s mercenaries useless. Two Lightning Spears can potentially shut down an entire column so you have to calculate which column of mercenaries might be the most threatening. It could be that pesky Monk ready to use Awakening on his stunned companions; or maybe it’s the Exorcist getting ready to Mana Seal your spell casters. Whatever the case may be, having two Spearmen can essentially throw a wrench into the opponent’s plans, turning the fight in your favor.

AP draining is also an effective strategy in PvE. For example, the Thousand-Year-Old Python, a boss in the Bulguksa dungeon, has an attack that hits all members of your squad. So to prevent the Python from using that particular attack, one strategy is to utilize the Spearman’s Lightning Spear to keep pressure on the Python’s AP.

Get a sneak peek at the Archer, the next D-class mercenary we’ll be writing about, by visiting www.playatlantica.com!