Ashton Anchors Age: 20 Birthday: September 28 Height: 5'11" Weight: 175 lbs. Weapons: Twin Swords Armor: Heavy Armor Favorite Food: Hamburger Favorite Instrument: Piano Starting Skills: 100 SP Voice Actor: David Babich The unlucky swordsman with two dragons stuck to his back. Despite his rather silly appearance, he is the second-best fighter in the game. Yes, better than Dias, in my opinion. (Does Dias have anything like Sword Dance? Didn't think so. ;)) His worst stat is his Luck (always 18 w/o modification), which I guess affects hit and dodge rates. So pump that one up with accessories. His higher weapons also boost Luck. His attack is pretty good. Range and recovery time are better than average, but doesn't match Claude's. Like Claude, pump up Ashton's combat skills. I didn't find him to be too useful in any Specialties, but maybe that's because everytime I recruit him he only had one Talent. (And I was too lazy to reload). My nitpicky commentary on voice: Sometimes he sounds good, other times not. He sounds rather strained sometimes (I diiid iiit!). On the other hand it's just cool hearing him say "Piercing Swords" or "Sword Dance". He's a tossup... Battle Strategy: Ashton in the end is a tossup. He may be the second-best fighter in the game, but... getting him means you can't recruit Opera, or less importantly, Ernest. With the exception of Sword Dance, I found Opera's Killer Moves to be more effective than Ashton's. Still, it's a matter of personal preference.

Cross Slash
MP: 8 Proficiency: 100
Another two-hit move. This time he uses a downward slash and then sails forward in a weird flying-type move. Like Twin Stab, the second part takes way too long to execute, and the recovery from the sailing part is horrid. Even if he hits, he'll continue pushing up against the enemy where they can easily whack him back. [And if he misses, he'll usually keep going right till the end of the battle area!]

Leaf Slash
MP: 19 Proficiency: N/A
At long range, Ashton creates a whirlwind of leaves around an enemy and then pops up in the center, hitting them. Excellent if you want to get to an enemy (say a spellcaster) as quickly as possible. The execution is a bit long but this time it didn't bother me as much.

Northern Cross
MP: 9 Level: 18 Proficiency: 200
Ashton creates flying shards of ice. Again, way too slow to be really effective. I ended up using this Killer Move once. And only once. Water-elemental.

Piercing Swords
MP: 12 Level: 22 Proficiency: 130
Ashton's first really good Killer Move. He throws swords in a straight line ahead of him. Long range, and plus the move is fairly quick, for once. This is a good move to invest in (higher proficiency means more swords!)

Hurricane Slash
MP: 16 Level: 45 Proficiency: 200
Ashton hits the enemy with his swords and then creates a hurricane that can lift the enemy into the air. Another good move for its multi-hit capability. Note the huge gap in levels between this and Piercing Swords, though...

Dead Triangle
MP: 19 Level: 53 Proficiency: 200
Ashton surrounds the enemy by splitting into three. I could never get this Killer Move to work, the enemies always moved out of the way! Ashton's biggest weakness has to be the fact that some of his Killer Moves are sooooo slow. [It's definitely slow, but if you manage to get the enemy, it'll be stuck for several seconds while Ashton completes the move.]

Dragon Breath
MP: 28 Level: 64 Proficiency: 140
Gyoro and Ururun grow huge but only one of them breathes fire/ice on an enemy. Kind of risky if the enemy happens to have fire or ice protection, since you don't know in advance which one is going to be used. Once you reach top proficiency both dragons will attack at once. Fire or Water-elemental. [This is excellent against flying enemies or those annoying bunnies, especially once you level it up. A bit slow, though.]

Sword Dance
MP: 32 Level: 70 Proficiency: 400
Ashton's complement to Claude's Mirror Slice, he moves his swords around quickly. Unlike Claude's Mirror Slice, he doesn't move forward during the execution, so turning off Strong Blow is a must if you want this move to be truly effective. Still, try sandwiching an enemy between Claude and Ashton and pulling off all the Mirror Slices and Sword Dances you can. Even the bosses don't last long after that... [The final blow of this can even hit enemies behind Ashton.]

Tri-Ace
MP: 45 Proficiency: 140 Found in Cave of Trials
Creates a huge blade that sweeps over the battlefield. Actually hits every enemy. Kind of useless, because if you're strong enough to get this Killer Move from the Cave of Trials, you don't need this anyway. Still, interesting for the novelty.