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Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age Definitive Edition

The Hero

By
Ben Chard
&
Jarrod Garripoli

As the protagonist of the adventure, you’ll be witnessing all events through the eyes of the Luminary. Raised in the quaint village of Cobblestone, the Hero awakens his ability as the Luminary during his coming of age ceremony. The Hero uses two weapons in the game, a sword and greatsword. Both of them have their uses, although the greatsword tends to outshine the other in the earlier parts of the game. Once you get into the later portions, though, the sword quickly catches up and becomes worthwhile to use, especially since he can pair it with a shield to become more defense, although Dual Wielding is the better option for damage.

The Hero of Dragon Quest XI.

Categories Total Skills Total SP Needed
Swords 10 92
Greatswords 10 92
Swordmastery 10 234
Luminary 25 317

Spells

The Hero learns a number of spells as he levels up in the game, although he tends to not really be good at much of anything. His offensive spells are good in the earlier portions of the game, though, as they can help in dealing with large groups of enemies. The only problem with this is the fact you will probably not be focusing on increasing his Magical Might stat, so his spells won’t be as powerful as someone like Veronica or Rab.

Name Effect MP Acquisition
Frizz Light Fire damage to a single target 2 Level 2
Heal Heals small amount of HP to one ally 3 Level 5
Sizz Light Fire damage to group of enemies 3 Level 8
Evac Teleports party out of dungeon 0 Level 9
Bang Small magical damage to all enemies 6 Level 15
Snooze May put single target to sleep 3 Level 16
Midheal Heals medium amount of HP to one ally 6 Level 19
Sizzle Medium fire damage to group of enemies 7 Level 23
Frizzle Heavy fire damage to single target 8 Level 25
Zing 50% chance to revive fallen ally 12 Level 28
Moreheal Heals large amount of HP to one ally 12 Level 30
Boom Medium magical damage to all enemies 12 Level 31
Kasnooze May put group of enemies to sleep 8 Level 35
Kasizz Heavy fire damage to group of enemies 16 Level 40
Kafrizz Very heavy fire damage to single target 21 Level 56
Kazing 100% chance to revive fallen ally 24 Level 62

The Hero’s skill tree at the beginning of the game.

Swords

One of the two weapons the Hero can wield, the sword is one-handed and can be used with a shield. Once you learn Dual Wielding, you can use two swords at the same time. This one is not very useful in the beginning of the game, as Flame Slash is about the only skill worth using. This is because the other two early skills are situational in their uses. Metal Slash is only going to be really useful against Metal Slimes, while Dragon Slash should only really be used against dragon-type enemies. Being able to use a shield, though, does make the Hero a little more defensive, which can be a blessing in the earlier portions of the game. You should always have Flame Slash, though, to use the Itemized Kill Pep Power with Erik.

Name SP Notes
Flame Slash 3 -
Attack Power When Wielding +3 4 -
Critical Hit Chance When Wielding +2% 6 -
Sword Stance 7 -
Dragon Slash 10 -
Metal Slash 12 -
Miracle Slash 16 Secret Panel [?]
Attack Power When Wielding +6 10 -
Attack Power When Wielding +10 12 -
Dual-Wielding 12 Secret Panel [?], must unlock two panels from Swordmastery category to access

Greatswords

Greatswords are one of the two weapons that the Hero can use in battle, and they’re two-handed weapons. That means he won’t be able to use a shield with them, but to counter that, greatswords do more damage than normal swords. The good thing about greatswords is that the earlier skills are pretty good, as they focus on damage more than anything. Helichopter hits an entire group of enemies, while Cutting Edge is a strong attack against a single foe. This makes the greatsword great for cutting down random battles, as well as effective for boss battles. Once you gain access to Unbridled Blade later in the game, you can substitute it for Cutting Edge. Towards the end of the game, you might be able to switch back to normal swords.

Name SP Notes
Greatsword Guard 3 -
Attack Power When Wielding +5 4 -
Critical Hit Chance When Wielding +2% 6 -
Helichopter 7 -
Cutting Edge 10 -
Attack Power When Wielding +10 10 -
Freeze Fangs 12 Secret Panel [?]
Critical Hit Chance When Wielding +3% 12 -
Attack Power When Wielding +15 12 -
Unbridled Blade 16 Secret Panel [?], must unlock one panel from Swordmastery to access

Swordmastery

Swordmastery is located at the top of the Hero’s Character Builder, so you would need to either go through Swords or Greatswords in order to reach it. If you go up the right side, from the Greatswords area, you will gain access to the Strength +25 node, which is always a nice boost for damage. Most of the skills in this area are quite expensive, meaning that they put a big burden on your MP. They are great skills, no doubt, but you can’t really be using them too much, or you’ll be left with no MP at all. Sword Dance is one of the more useful abilities, though, especially when going up against bosses.

Gigacrash and Gigasmash will only hit a single group of enemies, while Gigaslash and Gigagash will hit all enemies. All of them will deal magical damage, specifically lightning, so you will need to be a little careful around foes that resist that. Blade of Ultimate Power is a very powerful attack, even moreso because it’s non-elemental, but it costs a whopping 48 MP to use, so it’s going to drain your mana very quickly. Your best options here are Gigaslash/Gigagash, as well as Sword Dance and the passives.

Name SP Notes
Falcon Slash 16 -
Critical Hit Chance +3% 16 Affects all weapons
Gigaslash 25 Swords only
Gigacrash 36 Greatswords only
Strength +25 16 -
Counter When Blocking or Parrying 12 -
Gigasmash 25 Greatswords only
Gigagash 36 Swords only
Sword Dance 16 Secret Panel [?]
Blade of Ultimate Power 36 Secret Panel [?]

Luminary

The Luminary skill tree looks a bit barren at first, but it will get filled out more later on in the game. At the start, though, Zap is a great spell to help with clearing out monster encounters, plus you will want the Pep nodes to help with achieving Pep Mode. In fact, Pep Up is a skill that triggers it on command, for an even 25 MP. This can be important, since the Hero is a part of so many Pep Powers. Once the Luminary tree gets fleshed out, you will want to go to the right and get Charm +40, which is a special node, as that nets you an extra 10 Skill Points. You can reset this section after to get your points back to spend elsewhere.

The Pep-Up Power-Up and Pep Chance +10% are great to have, too, if you don’t feel like wasting MP on the skill itself (the former should be grabbed, no matter what). The Zap line of spells are nice, since they hit a group of enemies, but the later ones tend to cost quite a bit of MP, especially Kazap. You will definitely want to pick up Fullheal and Omniheal, as they can be great to have in a pinch, although the latter uses a high amount of MP. Unfortunately, the Hero doesn’t have access to something like Multiheal, so there is really no reason to chase after the Magical Mending stat here, although you might want to grab the Magical Might one, depending on if you use the Hero’s offensive spells.

Name SP Notes
Pep Chance +5% 8 -
Zap 8 -
Poof 8 -
Deftness +10 8 -
Agility +10 8 -
Holy Protection 8 -
Pep Up 25 Secret Panel [?]
Strength +10 8 -
Resilience +10 8 -

The following skills will unlock after reaching a major plot point in the game.

Name SP Notes
Zapple 12 Secret Panel [?]
Fullheal 12 Secret Panel [?]
Kaclang 12 -
Charm +40 12 Grants 10 free Skill Points
Magical Might +50 14 -
Magical Mending +50 14 -
Kazap 16 Secret Panel [?]
Omniheal 16 Secret Panel [?]
Pep-Up Power-Up 20 -
Pep Chance +10% 20 -
Maximum MP +20 14 -
Maximum HP +20 14 -
Magical Might +5 12 -
Strength +15 12 -
Strength +25 12 Secret Panel [?]
Big Banga 16 Secret Panel [?]

Character Build

The Hero’s choice in the beginning portions of the game is pretty easy to figure out, since the Swords section is a bit underwhelming in terms of abilities, as only Flame Slash is really useful. Greatswords offer some great abilities for both normal enemies and bosses, so you should focus on that and go straight for Unbridled Blade, while picking up Helichopter and possibly Cutting Edge. This should last you until you can start making your way towards Sword Dance in the Swordmastery section. In fact, this ability will be able to replace Unbridled Blade as a boss killer, but you will unfortunately need to leave the skill alone, as it’s needed to unlock Sword Dance.

Don’t forget to also grab Pep Up in the Luminary section, as this makes it a little easier to trigger some of the Pep Powers. Once you reach the late portions of the game, you could go for Gigaslash and Gigagash, as well as Zap and Zapple. Although, it might be better to forgo the latter two and go for the Charm +40 to get the free Skill Points, then reset that section to gain all those spent SP back. The Strength passives are probably what you want to get with the Hero, as the others are either a pretty small increase, or not needed due to the Hero’s build.

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Guide Information
  • Publisher
    Square Enix
  • Platforms,
    3DS, PC, PS4, Switch
  • Genre
    RPG
  • Guide Release
    4 September 2018
  • Last Updated
    7 October 2021
    Version History
  • Guide Author
    Ben Chard

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An epic battle between Light and Darkness is about to begin as the Luminary awakens on his 16th birthday. Join a diverse cast of characters as you traverse the world of Erdrea on a quest to discover why you’ve been branded the Darkspawn and the many mysteries of the Luminary.

The most complete guide for Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age features all there is to do and see in the world of Erdrea. A step-by-step walkthrough featuring every item, quest and side activity illustrated with gorgeous screenshots.

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