The 'Making Atlas Good' Thread

[Wayward Alchemist]

Ever since his new design was revealed, everybody has become increasingly hype to see Atlas's stats in the hopes that this awesomely designed badass would have the stats to back up his formidable appearance. Unfortunately, he seems to be very similar to Gaiden Atlas, which is... Not too good. His growths are all reeeeeaaally low except for Strength and HP, and those will only take you so far, unfortunately. So, I pose the question implied by the title of the topic: How do you plan to make Atlas great again usable in Echoes?

[Robert Stewart]

If promotion gains work the same as in Gaiden, you could always have him promote to mercenary.

Not like you have a shortage of those exactly, but it's something.

Alternatively, he seems to learn rescue as a Sage, so if you get him to that point at least he might make a decent staffbot?

[Wayward Alchemist]

Yeah, that's just the issue with Atlas, Mercenary is the best class for him as it helps with his Speed but there are already plenty of frankly better Mercenaries in Celica's route and they would all be fighting over the good Swords. Mage could be interesting, as he would be a total nuke, but again there are so many Mages in Celica's party... I think that perhaps the best class for him would be Cavalier or Soldier, as neither are plentiful and both have a Third Tier promotion. With his huge Str stat, he wouldn't need Weapons as much as others, and could maybe get away with running the Speed Ring to patch his atrocious Spd up?

[Tuvy]

time for bomb atlas!

(someone make a gif)

Cavalier Atlas first though.

 

Edited April 4, 2017 by Tuvy

[Ennui]

Haven't posted on here in a long time. But anyway, I read on the FF Wiki site that the best thing to do with him is make him an Archer. Its the least competitive class on the route and he can use his high ATK stat to do decent chip damage without risk of being countered or doubled.

Edited April 4, 2017 by Ennui

[Iridium]

21 minutes ago, Tuvy said:

time for bomb atlas!

(someone make a gif)

Cavalier Atlas first though.

Cavalier is probably his worst class, honestly. In the original Gaiden it was "good" because getting your only Cavalier was basically the only justification for actually using Atlas, but now that that no longer applies, there's no reason to make him one over something that either fixes his biggest issues (speed with mercenary, defense with soldier) or lets him be bad from further away (archer, mage).

[Wayward Alchemist]

Eh, we still don't know how late Conrad joins, Cav!Atlas could still be good as a backup unit, one that can travel really far and do that extra bit of damage in a pinch.

[Zapp Branniglenn]

I've seen some Toxic MAGA discussions in the past but this one takes the cake.

I haven't seen any info on new base stats or growths on this guy. Not due to aversion to spoilers, I just haven't gotten around to it. Second archer seems the most sensible for taking advantage of that strength stat. Frontliner mercenary might prove to be serviceable if only for the fact that there's a fatigue system in this game and you need front liners to protect your mages on Celica's route. Have the four mercs swap shifts.

Edited April 4, 2017 by Gustavos

[lysander]

As an archer he'd have 3 skill at level 10 and bows have an even lower hit-rate than in original. Using an Iron Bow and Aiming he'd maybe be able to hit something? Mage would work better if only because it better allows him to ignore his abysmal skill stat.

 

Mercenary is just going to be the best way to make him more usable, due to patching up his speed and skill. It's possible that the other Celica route mercenaries would be better served using a villager fork to go to cavalier or archer or mages themselves. Surprisingly, Saber's magic list seems decent for instance, with angel and physic access. Jesse gets Excalibur access and could also work well as an Archer.

 

edit: Right and they'd all make fine Cavaliers.

Edited April 4, 2017 by lysander

[Wayward Alchemist]

22 minutes ago, Gustavos said:

I've seen some Toxic MAGA discussions in the past but this one takes the cake.

Oh really? And how are they toxic? We like Atlas for various reasons, and we want to use him in game. I'm sorry that it's so "Toxic" to want to use a well-designed character and for wanting to maximize their usefulness in Echoes. If you don't want to see "Toxic MAGA discussions", then maybe you shouldn't open a thread specifically for the discussion of making Atlas usable, and you most certainly shouldn't comment in it if you find it so abhorrent. I'm certain you don't want to be associated with this "Toxic" topic in any way.

22 minutes ago, Gustavos said:

I haven't seen any info on new base stats or growths on this guy. Not due to aversion to spoilers, I just haven't gotten around to it.

So your contributions to this topic are unfounded and therefore worthless. Thank you for admitting it.

[Slumber]

His speed and skill growths actually aren't that terrible(Relative to SoV growth rates). Certainly much better than Gaiden Atlas. 

But it seems like his bases will be the same. Mercenary will be the best route for him. His skill would make him a worthless Archer, Soldier addresses probably his least glaring flaw, Cavalier really does nothing for him besides a big ol' move stat, and Mages are probably the only class that are less in demand on Celica's route than Mercenaries. 

[Lord Tullus]

Mage Atlas has always been my go to for him If I want to use him.  (I've only used him twice)  Since Magic has fixed hitrates, and his attack will be naturally high, All he needs is a strong shield like the dragon shield to make him a tank that deals obcene magic damage. Alternatively, the speed ring can be used to make him faster.  (Then there's the speed from the Milla shrines if you REALLY want to make him Sanic Material)  25% is bad, but It's not abysmal either.  As long as you know how to position people in battle, you should be able to make Mage Atlas work well.  I have.

[Njalmer]

I'm definitely making Saber and Atlas into Mages, since their spell selection is really interesting and opens up a lot of tactical options. There's plenty of damage-dealers around, but limited support units. Also, there's something to be said for promoting the burliest and most muscular characters into spellcasters. In Atlas' case, the decision is even easier on my part since Rescue has such a huge range and scales pretty well with strength. His spells will hit enemies hard, his healing spells will be powerful and Rescue is one of those spells which can trivialise difficult maps if sufficiently abused (which given how it has a HP cost as opposed to being a breakable staff, is made a lot easier due to how bulky Atlas is.)

[Azz]

Bench!Atllas is best Atlas. Merc if you want an Atlas for combat. Mage for support.

That is all I shall contribute.

[FoxyGrandpa]

He worked as an Archer for me pretty well. Sure, he wasn't able to hit anything half the time, but when he did, he hit really hard and the chip damage he was able to do was invaluable against bulkier enemies like dracozombies for me.

I personally think 1 range classes are a waste for him since his flaws of low bulk will stick out more. By becoming an archer, this won't be nearly as problematic since he will almost never have to go into close quarters combat. Other than archer, I think Mage would work well for him as well since he doesn't have to go into CQC and magic accuracy is set, but Celica's route gets a bunch of other stronger mages.