Anyone familiar with Atlus’ turn-based RPGs knows how seriously they take the power of buffs and debuffs, and Metaphor: ReFantazio is no exception.
Strengthening your allies or weakening your enemies—or a little bit of both—can decide the outcome of a battle, and this is where the Faker Archetype shines.
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In Metaphor: ReFantazio, the Faker Archetype is your main debuffer, but it also works as a wild card since one of its abilities can either add Turn Icons or remove them altogether.
In a turn-based RPG, luck is its own kind of skill, as the protagonist once said during a Follower one-to-one. Having a Faker in the party can be the difference between victory or shameful defeat.
Prerequisites For Unlocking the Faker Archetype
You can begin unlocking the Faker Archetype in Martira after learning the teleport technique from the Gauntlet Runner.
Next, head to Thoroughfare Square and approach the Pompous Man to the south of the minimap. A cutscene will automatically trigger, and a random NPC will steal Grius’s Memento.
The Pompous Man will help you, but only if you have at least 2 points in your Imagination Virtue. If you still need to evolve your virtue, there are several ways to increase your Imagination in Metaphor: ReFantazio.
The ideal way to increase imagination is to continue the main story while reading the book New World Travel Diary on your Gauntlet Runner or completing More’s requests.
If you go with the book, we recommend reading it while working on unlocking the Gunner Archetype so you can kill two birds with one stone.
Finally, when you talk to the Pompous Man, who introduces himself as Cuculus, you can head off on a new and exciting request. The game will also show you the location of the Abandoned Tomb on the map, that is, your next destination.
How to Prepare for the Abandoned Tomb
Before heading to the Abandoned Tomb, make sure to unlock the Merchant Archetype, as its skills will make your journey significantly easier.
As the informant says, enemies in the dungeon are attracted to money. Those enemies are treasure chest monsters called Pyrite Imitec, who you may know as mimics from other RPGs.
And believe us when we say the Abandoned Tomb is infested with these accursed monsters. Use the Merchant’s Gold Attack skill repeatedly to deal with them quickly. Although it costs 500 money instead of MP, the skill will remove one of the monster’s turns.
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Besides the Gold Attack, the Merchant’s basic attack is Strike-aspected, which is the weakness of the skeletal warrior fodder enemies found in the Abandoned Tomb.
So, having a Merchant Archetype in your party, or even more than one, is essential for the dungeon. We also recommend bringing an Archetype with inherited Hama magic because both the mimics and the liches are weak to light, but the Healer is vulnerable to the mimics’ blows.
Navigating the Abandoned Tomb can be a bit tricky, as there are many crawl spaces, but nothing that Gallica’s Fae Sight can’t solve. If a room seems disconnected from the map, it’s likely connected through a hidden passage.
We suggest visiting the Abandoned Tomb after Heismay joins your party. Using the Steal skill from the Thief Archetype on the treasure chest monsters guarantees you Blessed Water, an essential item for purifying equipment.
How To Prepare for the Trove Imitec Boss Fight
Unlike other dungeons in Metaphor: ReFantazio, the Abandoned Tomb introduces its boss in the middle rather than at the end. Upon finding Plateau, the save point cat, you’ll see a giant chest in the next room, and you know what’s coming.
The boss, Trove Imitec, is nothing more than a giant mimic, as it uses the same techniques and has the same weaknesses as its lesser counterparts.
The battle will be a breeze if you have a Merchant in the party and an Archetype with Hama. However, here are some bullet points to absorb the ideal party composition information more efficiently:
- A Merchant Archetype, if that wasn’t clear from the start.
- A Healer, but only defending or casting Hama to hit the boss’s weakness if the extra turn is critical.
- A Seeker to cast the Synthesis skill Rider of the Blade in combination with the Healer to deal heavy damage and secure more turns.
- The last Archetype can be whatever you like, but we recommend a Thief because you can steal a Crescent Medal, a valuable accessory that regenerates MP passively each turn.
With the Merchant’s Gold Attack, Trove Imitec will be a walk in the park. The boss has two Turn Icons; one will always be wasted collecting alms.
If you have a Healer, the boss will use Punishing Blow and hit that Archetype’s weakness, gaining an extra turn. We recommend using the defense command with the Healer throughout the fight.
It may seem trivial, but the Healer will primarily support the Seeker’s Synthesis, allowing Rider of the Blade to deal significant damage.
If you follow these strategies and get lucky with critical hits, the boss might last no more than two turns. If the Healer starts hindering you, remove them, inherit Hama, and then rely on Gold Attacks.
Rewards For Defeating Trove Imitec
After your victory, you’ll receive a good chunk of experience, Archetype experience, MAG, some money, and Graced Water. Also, you’ll get a key—though it won’t show in your inventory—allowing you to unlock sealed walls.
You can continue exploring, but the wall you want is near the entrance, marked with a glowing point on the map.
Interact with it to find another chest containing Malveno’s Ring, the quest item. Feel free to return to Martira.
In Martira, talk to Cuculus, and after the cutscene, you’ll complete the A Dagger, a Ring, and a Rake quest, earning the following rewards:
- x1 Grius’s Memento
- +4 Courage Virtue
- 15,000 Money
Cuculus will reveal that his real name is Alonzo, and you will form a New Bond, finally unlocking the Faker Archetype.
Just as Alonzo and his silver tongue wreak havoc in the lives of charlatans, you can now disrupt the battlefield with the Faker’s debuffs and random skills.
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