Your allies are the key to your victory in Metaphor ReFantazio, and Hulkenberg teaches you so early on. She embodies the virtues of the Knight, but that doesn’t necessarily make it the best Archetype for her.
Unlike Persona, you can swap your party member’s Archetypes in Metaphor ReFantazio. Hulkenberg is quite a sturdy tank, and her Knight lineage helps her withstand deadly blows and draw aggro from enemies.
That said, our red-tressed royal guard can use a constellation of Archetypes to flex in different roles, opening different team compositions without even switching party members.
Hulkenberg’s stats favor Endurance with Strength and a little bit of Magic, which you can fine-tune with the right stat bonuses, gear, and Archetypes. Flexing also allows her to inherit multiple skills, which can come in handy to broaden her capacities. Ultimately, the best Archetype for Hulkenberg is about what you prefer and what works best for your playstyle—which, for us, was the Knight.
In our experience, the best early-game Archetype for Hulkenberg is the Knight. The Knight Archetype bumps her Endurance considerably, which makes it easier for her to soak up attacks. The Knight’s Proclamation skill can also be extremely handy early on since it makes enemies focus on her. We went with a Knight for our playthrough while our protagonist had the Mage Archetype on, which opened up good Synthesis skills between her and Strohl’s Warrior while the main character hit elemental weaknesses.
You can also flex Hulkenberg to the Mage Archetype, depending on your team composition. The Magic Knight Archetype in this lineage requires Mage rank 10 and Knight rank 20, so you can get your foot closer to that door with some planning. This works particularly well if your party doesn’t have a Mage, and you can inherit spells even if you flip back to the Knight. Healer isn’t bad, especially if you want to inherit Hama.
Your options will widen considerably after you’ve made it through the early game. Not only will you unlock more Archetypes in the Knight lineage, but you can also borrow a myriad of skills from other Archetypes. Here are some of our recommendations.
- Magic Knight (Knight): The Continuation of Hulkenberg’s lineage, the Magic Knight remains a defensive bulwark with a focus on Endurance, but it gets bonuses to St and Ma.
- Wizard (Mage): The Wizard unlocks after reaching rank three with Gallica, which opens up the potential for stronger elemental spells. This works if you want to make Hulkenberg a pure mage, or just give her a couple of elemental tricks to use with a different Archetype.
- General (Commander): The Commander Archetype unlocks from Bardon after clearing Martira, and this lineage provides a myriad of buffs such as Marakukaja and Matarukaja (defense/attack up to all allies). You can also learn how to use physical Fire damage, which you can inherit.
- Brawler (Brawler): The sturdy tank can learn a thing or two from this Archetype. Maxing out the Brawler will give you 20HP and let you inherit Health Font, which raises your max HP by 15 percent. The stat bonuses favor St and En, which are among Hulkenberg’s strengths.
As the late game draws nearer, you start getting access to some of the best Archetypes in each category. We recommend keeping Hulkenberg within the Knight lineage but branching out to get specific abilities from other Archetypes. We went with Dark Knight over Paladin, but we kept Holy Knight’s Proclamation. You’ll unlock a new Archetype after a certain story event, so use that one when you get it.
- Paladin (Knight): A good tank with a series of defensive abilities such as Holy Knight’s Proclamation (which draws aggro and guards at the same time) and Knight’s Defense (boosts Defense by three ranks). Requires Magic Knight rank 20.
- Dark Knight (Knight): More offensive than its other counterpart, it has access to physical skills, including Mad Rush (heavy Pierce damage) and Pierce Boost. It’s worth speccing into it to open up more tools for your arsenal. Requires Magic Knight rank 20, Wizard rank 10.
- Berserker (Berserker): You can borrow the Berserker’s Strike skills to diversify your physical damage, and this lineage brings you Charge at an early level. This works if you want to make your Hulkenberg more damage-focused.
- Destroyer (Berserker): This lineage’s second Archetype, the Destroyer, hits even harder and has access to the powerful Health Vessel passive. It boosts your HP by 30 percent, which comes in handy for a tank.
- Elemental Master (Wizard): A good option for magic-based damage since it gives you heavy-damage spells. Has good Synthesis potential with the Seeker.
- Warlord (Commander): Gets access to passive boosts to allies in the front or back rows, plus access to the expensive but effective Formation spells.
