Always berserk in battle, these feral warriors sacrifice commands to gain attack strength and power.
Description
The Berserker is a job in Final Fantasy V obtained after the Water Crystal shatters. The job is in a constant Auto-Berserk state, meaning that they will attack enemies endlessly, with ~50% higher damage than normal, while the player has no control over them. Berserkers are innately immune to confuse.
Berserkers have strong stats and require little AP investment, meaning they can be mastered quickly for their stats. Berserkers may also be useful in normal fights when the player does not need to input commands to a certain party member beyond simple attacks, and does not need to give them support abilities or any other investment. Berserkers often attacking enemies with high HP and in the back row makes them a limited class even with the damage boost.
Mastering Berserker in all four characters in the now defunct 2013 versions earns the achievement "Skull Buster".
Characteristics[]
Berserkers wear animal pelts: wolves for the males and tigers for the females (leopard for Lenna in the now defunct iOS and mobile version). Bartz, Galuf, and Faris have similar clothes, Lenna's is more revealing, and Krile's covers her up similar to a Japanese "disguise pajama".
Gameplay[]
Stats[]
| Stat | Modifier |
|---|---|
| Strength | +21 |
| Agility | -9 |
| Stamina | +25 |
| Magic | -23 |
Berserkers have high Strength and Stamina, giving them good physical damage and HP, respectively. They have a fairly considerable Agility penalty, meaning they will be somewhat slower than other fighters, but the bonus damage granted by their Auto-Berserk can counteract this along with the axes and hammers only taking 25% of the target's Defense into calculations instead of normal Defense values. They have a large Magic penalty, but will be unable to cast spells anyway. They cannot be confused, as the Berserker is already under the berserk status.
Upon mastering the job, the Freelancer and Mime will gain the Berserker's base Strength and Stamina, assuming they do not have higher bonuses from other jobs already. Because Berserkers are so quick to master in comparison to other jobs with similar stat boosts, it can be worthwhile mastering them quickly as opposed to investing in Monk if the player is short on time or does not want to have the counter passive ability on their Freelancer and/or Mime.
The Equip Axes ability provides the +21 Strength bonus if the job using it does not already have a higher modifier.
Equipment[]
Berserkers can equip knives, axes, hammers, shields, helmets, light armor, heavy armor, and gauntlets.
Axes and hammers deal damage based on Strength. They will randomly deal anywhere between 50% to 150% of its listed damage, and only takes 25% of the target's Defense into calculations instead of normal Defense values. The ultimate axe is the Earthbreaker, stolen from Ironclad. The ultimate hammer is Thor's Hammer, found in the final dungeon or stolen from Death Claw.
The Berserker's best equipment in most versions is the Genji equipment (Genji Helm/Armor/Shield/Gloves) stolen from Gilgamesh. Some of this equipment is surpassed by equipment found in the post-game bonus dungeon in GBA and the discontinued 2013 Matrix Software versions.
- Knives
- Axes
- Hammers
- Helmets
- Heavy armor
- Generic accessories
- Command-specific
accessories
- Gauntlets
Abilities[]
| Ability | Job level | AP required | Type | Innate | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Berserk | 1 | 100 | Support | Yes | Continuously attack until all enemies have been defeated. |
| Equip Axes | 2 | 400 | Support | Yes | Gain the ability to wield axes. |
The Berserker has no actual job command, because of its innate support ability, Berserk. The Berserker will attack every turn without a prompt. As such, it is not practical in vital boss battles; instead, it is more of a novelty to be used in random battles (though some use exists early game if given a Barehanded or Two-Handed, producing high damage for that point). Berserk prevents confusion, and will increase physical damage by 50%. Giving them Haste helps them damage enemies faster in battles that draw on for longer than a few rounds.
In the discontinued 2013 versions and Final Fantasy V Pixel Remaster, Berserkers no longer suffer an ATB penalty at the start of battles, and instead also act independently rather than waiting for allies, and will focus on the default target, generally resulting in them hitting front row targets.
Berserkers do have MP, which they can put to use by equipping a Rune Axe or Rune Blade (or even both, if they have the Ninja Dual-Wield ability, though Berserker cannot innately equip swords). These weapons drain the wielder's MP to increase their Attack power.
Equipping an ability that boosts the Magic stat, such as Summon or Black Magic, might be a good idea if the Berserker is using either the Gaia Hammer or the Rune Axe. The Magic stat is used in the damage calculation for the random quake attack of the former, and the attack bonus for any attack of the latter that uses MP.
A Thief's Agility is a useful ability for a Berserker. Two-Handed is another excellent choice. The job is vulnerable to the Chicken Knife glitch where, if all party members are in the Berserker job, they are unable to run away from battles, and crashes the game if a Berserker is equipped with the Chicken Knife.
Since this job is constantly berserked, three sprites can never be seen, and they go unused. They are the Defend or ready stance (after confirming an action and target), and the two-frame animation sprites for casting magic spells. Berserked characters ignore the ready stance, and players cannot select and use magic during battle while using the Berserker job.
Though their equipment ability is Equip Axes, this also grants the ability to wield hammers.
Gallery[]
Etymology[]
Berserker was originally a term for Norse warriors who fought with uncontrollable rage and reckless disregard for their own lives. The term itself is typically translated as "bear's skin" in reference to the animal skins Vikings would wear into battle. Theories about what causes berserkergang, the fury Berserkers go into, include possession by an animal spirit, drunken rage, and ritualistic dancing. Berserkers are often depicted in art as men with crazed eyes biting their shields in anticipation of battle.