Pilgrim (Mercury) class series

The Pilgrim (Mercury) class series is a dual-elemental class series available to the Mercury Adepts, and to a lesser extent, the Mars Adepts. The Mercury Adepts become this class series if they have Mars Djinn set to them, and the Mars Adepts become this class series when they have a certain number of Mercury Djinn set to them.

This class series can be easily confused with the Pilgrim (Jupiter) class series, as the Pilgrim, Wanderer, and Ascetic classes appear in both series, and the statistical influence is the same between the classes.

The class series, when at its highest stage of Guru and compared to the other series at their highest respective stages, has very good Agility, stronger Defense, good PP, and average HP and Attack - the Guru of the Pilgrim (Jupiter) class series is the same in all of these areas. Both series' luck ratings are high. Noteworthy Psynergy from an endgame perspective includes Pure Wish, Cure Poison, and Break (contrast with the Jupiter variation's Ward/Resist), and the heaviest area-of-effect Psynergy it has is Freeze Prism (contrast with the Jupiter variation's Spark Plasma) and Pyroclasm. Average stats from an endgame perspective are 153% (160% if you don't factor in Luck).

In all games, an Adept in this class series is especially likely to be affected by Delusion-inflicting effects.

Notes on Class Names

 * Hover your cursor over class names for alt-text of series' Japanese names.
 * A shugenja is a follower of Shugendo, a mountain ascetic sect incorporating concepts from Shintoism and Buddhism.
 * A houshi (as in the (Water) Dragon Priest classes, equivalent to the Ascetic and Water Monk classes) is a type of Buddhist Priest that is a teacher of dharma. The meaning is one who is an exemplar of the ideal.

Analysis
Both versions of the Pilgrim class are one of the more solid Dual-Elemental classes available. The Mercury version is especially effective, as it possesses the potent Prism and Volcano families for offense, along with the Wish series for mass healing. The Douse series offers a good intermediate series while waiting for more potent versions of Volcano and Prism to come along, while the Hermit must endure long breaks of new Psynergy.

Statistically, the class is very sound, possessing good HP and Defense, along with good agility, HP, and PP. The Guru class is an excellent choice for Amiti, should the player have him wield the Sagittarius Bow. The Mars-increasing nature of the class allows him to take better advantage of the Bow's secondary unleashes, while increasing his natural agility, defense, and PP. The attack stat remains the same, however, Amiti's HP drops slightly from his base class.

Pilgrim lacks early game as most of its Psynergy only becomes usable at Ascetic. Prior to Ascetic the class only has Mercury offensive Psynergy and status recovery and is quite mediocre.

One not so obvious drawback is that you'll be trading water djinn to Jenna, Garet, Eoleo, or Tyrell to put Piers, Mia, Rief, or Amiti into this class, which will put your Mars adepts in the Swordsman class, one of the weaker dual-elemental classes, if you don't trade their new Mercury Djinn to someone else. This is alleviated in Dark Dawn after Himi joins you, as she can make excellent use of the Mercury Djinn as a healer.

Should you enjoy the Pilgrim classes, consider the ranger class. Although it lacks the powerful Plasma and Prism families, it is the only tri-elemental caster series with three offensive Psynergy abilities in three different elements. The ranger's primary drawback is its lack of Wish, making it less useful than a Mercury Pilgrim towards the endgame.