Martial Artist

From Dragon Quest Wiki
DQIX Martial Artist Male.png
DQIX Martial Artist Female.png
A fighter well versed in hand-to-hand techniques that turn hands and feet into lethal weapons. --Description from Dragon Quest VII

The Martial Artist (formerly Fighter) is a class in the Dragon Quest series. Practitioners of the way of the fist possess high Agility, Strength, and Resilience, but low magical capability.

Characteristics

Martial artists have a great amount of speed, agility, and strength. They can deal devastating amounts of damage from a single strike, and can be equipped with a variety of weapons. However, if equipped with any weapon other than a claw in DQIII, a M.A.'s abilities will actually decrease as his or her attack power will lower considerably.

Critical hits

A pugilist has a higher chance of scoring a critical hit on an enemy than other vocations, with their ratio being dependent on their level instead of staying at a fixed 164 chance throughout the game. In all versions of III the formula is LvL/256, capping at 64. For VI and VII the formula is dependent on the character's rank in the vocation, capping at 18 when the vocation is mastered. Critical hits utilize a character's Deftness in IX, with martial artists receiving no special treatment other than a high aptitude for the stat.

Dragon Quest III

NES version

Attribute Starting Stats Maximum Stats
Level 1 99
HP 12 432
MP 0 0
Strength 15 255
Agility 10 255
Resilience 5 216
Wisdom 4 73
Luck 1 218

Starting equipment

Dragon Quest VI

Martial Artist is one of the basic classes available. It is one of the prerequisites for the Gladiator vocation (along with Warrior), and for the Paladin vocation (along with Priest).

As mentioned above, M.A.'s get higher critical hit rates as their vocation rank rises:

Rank Critical Hit Rate
1 1/256
2 1/256
3 1/64
4 1/48
5 1/32
6 1/24
7 1/16
8 1/8

Stat Changes

Statistics Change
Battles to Master 200
Agility +15%
Defence -10%
Max MP -50%
Trait Increased critical hit rate

Abilities

Level Title Learns Battles Needed Target Info MP
1 White Belt Leg Sweep 1 One Enemy A martial arts technique that knocks foes to the ground. 0
2 Yellow Belt Roundhouse Kick 16 One group A circular kick that pummels a single group of enemies. 0
3 Green Belt Wind Sickles 32 One Enemy Sends a whirlwind of sickles pirouetting into the enemy. 0
4 Brown Belt Dodgy Dance 60 Self Fancy footwork that prepares the performer to take evasive maneuvers. 0
5 Black Belt Knuckle Sandwich 90 One Enemy A powerfully focused and damaging bare-fisted strike. 0
6 Instructor Pressure Pointer 125 One enemy Targets a vital spot to take down an enemy instantly. 0
7 Dojo Master Heave-Ho 158 One enemy Ejects enemy from battle 0
8 Fist of Fate Multifists 200 Variable A vicious four-hit strike on a random enemy. 0

Dragon Quest VII

DQVII Martial Artist male.png
DQVII Martial Artist female.png

Martial artist is one of the basic classes available at Alltrades Abbey. It is a prerequisite for the Gladiator and Paladin vocations, which in turn are necessary for the Champion advanced vocation.

The critical hit rate has been changed slightly from VI, but the cap is still 1/8th.

Rank Critical Hit Rate
1 1/64
2 1/64
3 1/64
4 1/32
5 1/16
6 1/16
7 25/256
8 1/8

Stat Changes

Statistics Change
Battles to Master 160
Strength Null
Agility +15%
Resilience -10%
Wisdom -20%
Style Null
Max HP Null
Max MP -50%

PS1 Abilities

Level Title Learns Battles Needed Target Info MP
1 Beginner Nothing 0
2 Novice Leg Sweep 16 One Enemy Trips an enemy, preventing it from attacking the next turn 0
3 Grappler Flying Knee 32 One Enemy Performs a jump kick with low damage but higher accuracy 0
4 Black Belt Roundhouse Kick 50 One Group Attacks one group of enemies with decreasing damage 0
5 Assassin Heave-Ho 70 One Enemy Banishes a single enemy from battle. (Works like Poof) 0
6 Ninja War Cry 105 All enemies If successful, will prevent all enemies from attacking the next turn 0
7 Sensei Knuckle Sandwich 130 One Enemy Does 50 Percent more damage than a regular attack 0
8 Master Wind Sickles 160 One Enemy A wind based attack that becomes stronger the higher the level gained 0

3DS Abilities

Level Title Learns Battles Needed Target Info MP
1 White Belt Nothing 0
2 Yellow Belt Leg Sweep 8 One Enemy Trips an enemy, preventing it from attacking the next turn 0
3 Green Belt Flying Knee 16 One Enemy Performs a jump kick with low damage but higher accuracy 0
4 Brown Belt Roundhouse Kick 24 One Group Attacks one group of enemies with decreasing damage 0
5 Black Belt Heave-Ho 33 One Enemy Banishes a single enemy from battle. (Works like Poof) 0
6 Instructor Pressure Pointer 43 One enemy Has the chance of killing a single enemy; if it fails, it inflicts 50% melee damage instead 0
7 Dojo Master Knuckle Sandwich 53 One Enemy Does 50 Percent more damage than a regular attack 2
8 Fist of Fate Wind Sickles 65 One Enemy A wind based attack that becomes stronger the higher the level gained 0

Hybrid Abilities

Hybrid Learns Target Info MP
Dancer Jock Dance One Group Attacks one group of enemies with decreasing damage 0
Jester Retaliate Self Returns any attack against the caster back to the enemy 0
Mage Fire Air All Enemies Does ~10HP in fire damage 0
Mariner Big Trip One Enemy Damages the enemy and prevents them from acting the next turn 0
Shepherd Ram Attack Self/One Enemy Reduces self and one enemy to 20% HP 0
Thief K.O. Punch One Enemy Has the chance of killing a single enemy 0

Usefulness

The M.A.'s skill Wind Sickles is worth learning as it grows in strength the higher the level. In terms of development, the M.A. is required in order to become a Gladiator and Paladin. The great thing about Martial Artists is that these two classes combine to make a Godhand. The Godhand is worth investing some time and battles in getting if the player is looking to go to the bonus dungeons.

The M.A.'s hybrid skills are not very exciting except for Jock Dance. However, Roundhouse does the same thing and it doesn't require changing into a Dancer to do so.

Dragon Quest IX

The Martial Artist (Monk) vocation is available at the start of the game and has the unique skill set "Focus". Martial Artists can also use skill points to learn Fan, Staff, Claw, and Fisticuffs skills. Their Coup-de-Grace is "Roaring Tirade," which terrorizes all enemies and raises tension by one level. As mentioned above, a Martial Artist is no more likely to land a critical hit than a character with the same Deftness stat.

Stats

Attribute Starting Stats Maximum Stats
Level 1 99
HP 24 540
MP 2 38
Strength 18 399
Agility 23 500
Resilience 11 245
Magical Might 0 0
Magical Mending 0 0
Deftness 11 255
Charm 5 120

Focus

Accolades Required points Name Effects
Energiser 4 Warcry Intimidates a group of enemies.
Surpriser 10 Natural Agility +10 Increases agility by 10
Chastiser 16 Psyche Up Increases tension by one level
Galvaniser 22 Natural Strength +10 Increases strength by 10
Pressuriser 32 Mens Sana Removes negative status effects
Equaliser 42 Natural Max HP +30 Increases maximum HP by 30
Agoniser 55 Mind Over Matter Protects against breath attack
Terroriser 68 Natural Agility +30 Increases agility by 30
Pulveriser 90 Meditation Restores at least 80 HP
Atomiser 100 Natural Agility +60 Increases agility by 60

Revocation Award

Dragon Quest X

Trivia

  • The male martial artist from Dragon Quest III has made cameo appearances as an NPC in other games in the series, including VII and VIII.

Notable Martial Artists

Gallery