The developers working on Atlantica Online are back with a new dev journal focused on the D-class Viking.

The Atlantica Online developers continue their weekly dev journals with the ZAM readers, and they're presenting all of the information players need to get a handle on this powerful mercenary. Their developer journal talks about the basic strategies behind the use of the Viking in a battle between mercenaries, the offensive and defensive capabilities, and other statistics about this brute.

Keep reading to get all the information!

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In Atlantica Online, the mighty Viking is a powerful axe-wielding mercenary with great vitality. His innate toughness developed from years of enduring the wild seas allows him to brave the physical attacks of his dastardly foes, and his immense strength gives him the ability to strike fear with great sweeping attacks. One giant swing with his colossal axe will hit all enemies in a single row, rendering them battered and weakened. That being said, the Viking struggles against magic damage due to his poor magic defense. Furthermore, his action power replenishes slowly so the player must take his turn wisely.

Players will be able to first experience the utilities of the Viking at level 20. He can be summoned using the Viking Summon Marble, which can be obtained upon completion of the Forest of Spirits quest chain. The Forest of Spirits quest chain is the first quest line that introduces the player to the main story of Atlantica Online, and objectives revolve around slaying the corrupted spirits in the forest. After slaying the final boss of the Forest of Spirits dungeon, players will be rewarded with the Viking Summon Marble.

To recruit additional mercenaries, players may seek out the wandering Viking mercenaries that traverse the globe. Or, they may simply purchase more Viking Summon Marbles from the market.

The Viking is very popular due to his Freezing Axe ability, an ability that can root an entire row for two full turns. The Viking shoots a blast of ice out of his axe that freezes enemies in a block of ice. It is very effective in both PvE and PvP because it gives players control of the battle; therefore, it requires opponents to react to Freezing Axe with spells like the Monk’s Holy Guard. In PvE, the Viking makes for a great mercenary to grind with because of his ability to strike in a row, in addition to his Freezing Axe skill. Because the Viking is a D-class mercenary, it is possible to have two Vikings in a squad. So, one way to make the battles more manageable is to freeze the front line of the enemy, punch a hole, and freeze the second line. This is just one of the many ways to take advantage of the Viking’s Freezing Axe ability.

Once the Viking reaches level 100, he can be upgraded into a C-class Northern Viking after a series of quests initiated by the NPC Freydis near the Frozen Adlivun dungeon. The Northern Viking learns a new skill called Ice Ridge Axe, which is an ability that is similar to Freezing Axe. It has the same crowd-controlling abilities; however, it deals more damage to the enemy row, and it has a more powerful magic debuff. Therefore, players often follow up the Ice Ridge Axe spell with additional magic skills and AoEs to deal massive damage to enemy front lines. These small tricks can decide the outcome of a close battle.

Next week, we will round up our last D-class mercenary, the Artilleryman, so be sure to check out next week’s entry!