While you're doing a lot of heavy fighting with your sword skills and weapon of choice, Echoes of Aincrad allows you to choose a partner every time you step out of the main city, and each of them has unique abilities and improves your battle strategies.
But not all partners in Echoes of Aincrad are created equal, and depending on your playstyle and goals, you may need to switch out frequently between missions. Get everyone ready and ready to step up as a partner in Echoes of Aincrad when you need them!
Wyzeman
Best for: Positional disease and early crowd control
|
Type of weapon |
Maces |
|
Combo skills |
Tri Stampede: Deals heavy damage to a single enemy. This damage increases if the enemy is stunned. |
|
Support skills |
Dissonant Resonance: Damages enemies within range and deals stun stacks. |
It's early in Echoes of Aincrad that you learn to use items to inflict status ailments on enemies, and although you'll eventually get weapons that grant stacks of ailments when used in regular combat, the Wyzeman is a great way to experiment with status ailments.
He and the combination of his strong mace and his own shield mean serious business when you bring him onto the battlefield, easily able to confuse enemies and stun them for the all-important moment possible. He can follow up with his combo skill to spread the stunned status, which deals more damage to any enemy that suffers from it. He's a great partner for crowd control if you keep his SP high!
Zash
Best for: Building high vitality tanks
|
Type of weapon |
Two-handed swords |
|
Combo skills |
Twin Ignition: Deals heavy damage to nearby enemies. Zash causes your character to lose a set amount of HP each time. |
|
Support skills |
Enthusiasm: Temporarily hinders Zash and character and increases ATK. The lower the target's HP, the higher the increase in ATK. |
You're locked to choose between Iori, Wyzeman, and Argo for the first floor, but Zash is the first partner you unlock when you reach Urbano on the second floor, and he's worth exploring with, especially if you've built your character for Vitality, which is perfect for any tank player.
His combo skill costs you both a good chunk of your HP when you use it, but it deals effective damage to any enemies around him, so Zash is good to use for crowd control as well. He provides a fairly impressive boost with Exhilaration, giving you both a stunning boost to your attack stats that can easily end the most challenging boss fights.
asuna
Best for: SP replenishment
|
Type of weapon |
Rapiers |
|
Combo skills |
Spirit Shot: Deals moderate damage to a single enemy. Consumes 50% of your character's SP to deal additional damage based on your ATK. The more SP consumed, the more damage dealt, and if it goes above a certain value, the damage done by your other sword skills will also increase. |
|
Support skills |
Electricity: Asuna deals damage to all nearby enemies. He also recovers the SP of allied characters near him. |
Once you reach the second floor, Asuna can be Aincrad's first partner in Echoes that you unlock through an engaging series of side quests that help her join the party, and it's worth the effort to bring her along, as you'll see as you join the three side missions you'll need to unlock her.
Her combo skills can be a bit risky to use if you don't have a good way to replenish your SP, but her support skills will do just that for you, so bringing Asuna along is the best way to ensure your character gets the most out of their powerful sword skills. Thankfully, Spirit Shot does more damage the more SP it consumes, so it's best used when you're full-up anyway, as she'll be able to deal impressive damage to single enemies, like in boss fights.
Agile
Best for: Keeping enemies away from you in mob battles
|
Type of weapon |
Two-handed axes |
|
Combo skills |
Mass Strike: Deals moderate damage to nearby enemies, and increases as the number of enemies in range increases. |
|
Support skills |
Swear: Agil makes surrounding enemies target him. Afterwards, Agil's focus gauge remains fully charged for a duration. |
You'll meet Agil early in the story in the main quest on the second floor of Echoes of Aincrad, and once you unlock him as a partner by completing a series of side quests, he's one of the best partners in the game when it comes to overall crowd control on the battlefield.
Not only does Agil's combo skill deal an extra percentage of damage to each additional enemy he hits, but his support skill is one of the best ways to breathe life into a battle of your own. Do you need to heal, or will it be a moment before your best abilities reduce their cooldown timers? Let Agil use the taunt and watch the enemies flock to him, taking yourself to the kill of his warlock.
Klein
Best for: Late-game buffs and bosses
|
Type of weapon |
Swords |
|
Combo skills |
Riot fans: Deals massive damage to a single enemy, but temporarily reduces DEF for both the clan and your character. |
|
Support skills |
Balustering Bellows: Grants temporary invincibility, and increases ATK and DEF for you and Klein. (This support skill only triggers automatically when your HP drops below a certain amount.) |
Another partner that arrives late in the game, Klein makes for a great partner in Echoes of Aincrad, especially if you're playing the game on one of the higher difficulty settings. Another character who needs to complete some side quests before joining you, Klein is a good choice to bring with you to boss fights.
Being able to be invulnerable for a few key moments of a boss fight when your HP hits a critical level can easily give you the upper hand you need to force a fight, making Bolstering Bellows one of the better partner support skills in Echoes of Aincrad. This not only buys you time to attack, but more critically, to heal. Riot Fangs are a nice bonus and can deal a powerful finishing blow at this time, so give Klein a great sword and bring it into late-game fights.
Kirito
Best for: Overall DPS
|
Type of weapon |
Swords |
|
Combo skills |
Stream Edge: Deals heavy damage to a single enemy with a series of attacks, and recovers a set amount of SP. |
|
Support skills |
Striker: Hits all enemies within a certain range in quick succession, and kills mob enemies if their HP is below a certain amount. |
If you're looking for a buddy with no bells and whistles that delivers stellar total damage output when brought into battle with you, series hero Kirito is your guy. He unlocks the second floor and easily clears many of the tougher fights you'll face there.
Stream Edge, his combo skill replenishes some SP, but we doubt you'll be using it primarily for that purpose, as Kirito is a powerful DPS partner, especially in boss fights once you get him a good sword. Striker also makes him invaluable for mob battles, as he can easily one-shot a group for you if you chip away at their HP. It's good for exploration, but it's even better for bosses who just won't stop calling for reinforcements.
Argo
For the best: exploration and analysis
|
Type of weapon |
Daggers |
|
Combo skills |
Twin Moon: Deals moderate damage to a single enemy, and knocks them back to damage enemies they collide with. |
|
Support skills |
Analyze: Reveals enemies through walls in the surrounding area and allows the player to briefly locate trapped chests. Attacking an enemy target by analysis deals bonus damage based on your attack. |
While we definitely recommend bailing it out for a safe area in each map section of Echoes of Aincrad to reveal the entire map, Argo does a great job of doing this, being able to scan the area as you go to provide critical information before you go.
He can find and outline many things, such as enemies to target and fight for you to gain experience or carefully tip-toe around if you're low on HP, treasure chests waiting to be opened and looted for loot, and much more. You'll still want a map for wayfinding and any other rewards or battles it doesn't cover (like arcs and their rewards, for example), but the Argo is perfect for exploring new areas.
Iori
Best for: Constant HP replenishment
|
Type of weapon |
Swords |
|
Combo skills |
Twin Hugs: Deals moderate damage to nearby enemies with Iori's support. The more HP you have, the higher the compensation will be. |
|
Support skills |
Treatment Circle: Creates an area in which HP is gradually restored to any associated character for a set period of time. |
He's the first partner you get in the long prologue in Echoes of Aincrad, but Iori is the best partner in the entire game, and we've seen him used a lot for both regular gameplay and death game mode, where he's able to keep you healthy in the long run.
Her Healing Circle ability is one of the most valuable partner skills in the game, and it's available to you as soon as you start playing, giving you constant access to a powerful green circle that heals you for every second you stand within its glow. It's a great way to conserve potions and healing crystals between fights, but she's also able to cast it in time Fight, so you can lure enemies your way and heal while fighting!
