Dragon Warrior III/Advanced Party Analysis


 * See the player classes page for information on each class.

You start out with only the Hero, but you will almost immediately gain three more members, who can be from among six different classes (seven in the remakes). This leaves you with a lot of options, most of which will leave your party horribly unbalanced. Unless your doing a challenge run, (no magic, magic users only, low level, etc), there are only a few combinations worth using. You need a proper balance of physical attacking, speed, offensive magic, buffs, debuffs, and healing. While the Hero does have very good physical prowess, he is fairly slow. In addition, he possesses very little lMP, levels up slowly in the early game, and takes a relatively long time to learn most of his most useful spells (aside from Sleep). He cannot cover everything on his own.

Further complicating things are the radical differences between the NES version, and all the Remakes after it. The difficulty is 'significantly' lower in the Remakes, for a variety of reasons...


 * 1) The bag allows you to carry x99 Herbs at a time (the NES version does not have a bag).
 * 2) The Remakes are littered with new items in almost every town and many dungeons; many of which sell for a lot of money.  Buying equipment is significantly easier, for that reason.
 * 3) Many of these new items, such as the Magic and Dragon Shields, have resistances that you could not easily get in the NES version.
 * 4) The personality system, as well as the new seed distribution option at Ruida's Tavern/Patty's Party Planning Place, allows one to exploit the stat formulas in a way you never could in the NES.  For example, giving the Tough personality (140% Vitality) to all of your created characters gives them obscenely high HP.
 * 5) The encounter rate has been radically decreased, especially in dungeons.
 * 6) The Thief's Padfoot ability can drive this down even further; to the point where one can get through caves like the "Cave of the Necrogond" with only two encounters.

For this reason, the recommended party composition for the Remakes is very different from the one recommended for the NES.

About the NES version
The NES does not have a lot of the conveniences that the Remakes have; and money is extremely hard to come by. In addition, all bosses regenerate HP; killing them is literally impossible if you cannot do enough damage. You will want the Bikill spell to put them down; and it can only be learned by the a Wizard and Sage classes. Finally, there's only one class that's fast enough to consistently outspeed enemies. This is the Fighter; and you will want at least one to help kill troublesome enemies before they can move.

For these reasons, your party should consist of:
 * 1) The Hero
 * 2) A Fighter (a fast physical attacker that requires almost no equipment)
 * 3) A Pilgrim (a healer who also provides valuable buffs, debuffs, and status ailments)
 * 4) At least one Bikill user (borderline mandatory for bosses in the NES version)

The last slot does not need to be filled until about 40-50% of the way into the game; so there are roughly three choices on how to acquire it. Firstly, one could always include a Wizard into the initial party, and gain Bikill naturally. However, the Wizard only shines in the mid-game. They start off with single digit HP and almost no spells; getting them into anything resembling fighting shape takes a good amount of time in the NES version. Then, after a while of being helpful in the midgame, they then decline once again in the endgame. Enemies will start spamming spells and breath attacks that hit every person in the party; meaning that the Wizard will have an extremely hard time surviving there as well. Finally, it's high damage spells start to become eclipsed by the healing spells, crowd control spells, and instant-death spells of the Pilgrim. Therefore, it is often preferable to class change the Wizard into a Sage later, once they learn Bikill.

However, Wizards are not one of the pre-requisites needed for class changing into a Sage. All one needs to do is get the item known as the "Book of Satori". Get that, and you can use it to change anyone but the Hero into a Sage. So one could also simply fill the 4th slot with someone more helpful in the early game (such as a Soldier, or another Fighter), change them into a Sage later, then grind them up to LVL 21 and learn Bikill that way. You could even just change your one Pilgrim into said Sage, though the Sage levels slowly enough that you'll be lacking some crucial Pilgrim spells if you don't grind later on.

So, there are multiple valid choices for the 4th slot, depending on your play style. If you want the best balance between safety and efficiency, choose a 2nd Fighter. If you want a harder early game in exchange for what is arguably the most efficient party (as-in, it can beat the game the quickest), choose a Wizard. Finally, a Warrior makes for an incredibly easy early game, in exchange for a slightly harder mid-game.

A Warrior will allow you significantly better defense, and a far easier time during the early game; however, you will suffer later in the game for lack of access to the Bikill spell; a spell that doubles a person's attack. In the NES version, each boss in regenerates a range of HP every turn. Killing them will become literally impossible if you cannot do enough damage per round. Besides that, you will also find it hard to hit groups of enemies with AoE spells (such as Firebane, Iceblast, and Boom).

Some of the mid-tier offensive spells can be used via magic-casting equipment); but you'll never have access to the highest tier spells with a magic user. In addition, Bikill cannot be used unless you class change someone into a Sage (which is recommended, especially for beginners).  One Bikill user will be enough if this is the way you choose to go; just be aware that Sages level more slowly than any other party member.  They will not gain access to the higher level Cleric and Wizard spells without a lot of grinding.

One could, then, try to use a 2nd Fighter; but that will backfire if you stick to that party too long. It's amazing up until the very end of the game; but then the Fighter's poor equipment pool will catch up with it. Magic Armor, for example, reduces all magic damage by 2/3, and is an essential part of reliably surviving enemies who cast powerful spells. Fighters cannot wear that armor, and the enemies are too strong for him to easily kill at that point. You will have problems if you try to fill the party with two Fighters.

Finally, a Wizard will afford you significantly better offense at the cost of durability. Wizards have extremely low HP growth, and they don't gain access to a lot of their most useful spells until the mid-game. Additionally, most bosses have high resistances to most every kind of magic attack; so pure Wizards will also run into the same HP Regeneration issues as a party without Bikill would.

However, Wizards can also be class changed into a Warrior or Fighter later on. In effect, you will be getting a second physical attacker that can also cast Bikill, Increase, and whichever offensive spells you want to use. So if one decides to class change the Wizard at LVL 21, then change their Priest into a Sage, they will gain two Bikill and offensive magic users without sacrificing the durability of their party.

There are, therefore, many choices a person could make; and making this choice is exactly what this page is here to help with. View the potential options below, and choose wisely...

Hero, Soldier, Pilgrim, Wizard

 * 1) Hero
 * 2) Soldier
 * 3) Pilgrim
 * 4) Wizard >>> Sage


 * Pros - The Soldier's high durability, less grinding required, faster grinding where it is required, early access to Wizard spells, slightly easier final dungeon
 * Cons - The Soldier's low speed, moderate cost to equip, the Wizard's low HP and Defense may cause problems early on
 * Overall - 8/10

This is the classic party, and the one recommended by the game designers. In fact, it is actually one of the more efficient parties in the game, thanks to learning Bikill early. However, it does have it's weaknesses.

First of all, you'll have to grind a while to get the Wizard into something resembling fighting shape in the early game. Secondly, the Fighter is the only class fast enough to consistently outspeed enemies without the help of the Starry Ring/Meteorite Bracer. Thirdly, the Fighter is also incredibly powerful in the early game, meaning that he is immensely useful for killing troublesome enemies (such as Hunter Flies, Demon Toadstools, King Froggores, and etc). Fourthly, the Fighters have a higher chance of scoring critical hits than the other classes; meaning that Metal Slimes and Metal Babbles will be slightly easier to kill. Finally, money is extremely tight in the NES version. You will almost never have the money needed to buy everything you would want to buy. Fighters are extremely inexpensive to equip compared to the other classes; put one in your party, and you're basically paying for three party members rather than four.

Without a Fighter, this party will take more damage, and be more expensive to equip in the beginning. The Warrior does eventually overtake the Fighter in usefulness right before the final dungeon, as that's when the Fighter's poor equipment pool finally catches up to it...but until then, the Soldier will never be able to handle troublesome enemies the way the Fighter can. It can provide some added safety against physical attacks; but there's nothing it can do about the multitude of multi-target breath and spell attacks that various enemies can use.

That said, the end result still isn't too bad. The Wizard will at least allow you to learn Bikill early on. Class change said Wizard into a Sage, and you'll have two party members that can still pre-emptively disable enemies at least some of the time.

Besides that, the Soldier does have stratospherically high HP, and magic resistant armor that the Fighter cannot wear. You'll still take more damage overall for most parts of the game; but the Soldier himself won't be in any danger of dying. If nothing else, this is a great party for defeating the final boss.

Hero, Merchant, Pilgrim, Fighter

 * 1) Hero
 * 2) Merchant >>> Sage
 * 3) Pilgrim
 * 4) Fighter


 * Pros - Incredibly easy early game, Merchant gets to LVL 20 faster than anyone, will kill enemies very quickly, Fighter can quickly heal with Herbs, slightly more Gold in early game, can investigate weapon and armor properties without a walkthrough
 * Cons - Moderate equipments costs, slightly harder final dungeon, grinding takes slightly longer without Wizard, and more of it is required
 * Overall - 10/10

This party...is surprisingly great. The recommendation for Merchant over Soldier flies against years of conventional wisdom; but it actually works out extremely well, for the following reasons:


 * The Merchant is an excellent "jack-of-all-trades" character in the early game, and levels extremely fast. He has more HP, more Agility, will wear everything the Soldier can wear, and spends the vast majority of his time 2-3 levels higher than everyone else.
 * He generates a small amount of extra gol (roughly 3% per fight, on average).
 * By the time his stats start to deteriorate, you've already changed him into a Sage.

The Merchant IS extremely poor in the endgame, for a multitude of reasons. Firstly, he can't wear the Iron Mask, the Magic Armor, the Silver Shield, or any of the strongest pieces of endgame equipment. His weapon selection is slightly better, but he still can't wear anything stronger than the Zombie Killer (a midgame weapon).

Secondly, he's the only one who's statline is NOT set up to where his level ups improve over time. For example, the Hero's stats start off fairly bad; but then start getting better at around LVL 10. The Fighter's HP starts off fairly low, but then gets significantly higher starting at LVL 13. The Soldier's Strength starts off growing Strength at around the same rate as the Merchant; but then far surpasses him at LVL 7. Everyone, except the Merchant, is set up to where their level ups and statlines get better and better as the game progresses. This means that while everyone else improves, the Merchant stays stuck with the same single digit increases as he was in the early game.

However, his low level requirements, more than make up for those deficits in the early game. He'll surpass everyone but the Fighter in Agility, everyone but the Soldier in HP, and will hit almost as hard as the Hero. In that way, he's actually more useful than the Soldier as far as safely killing enemies. He'll have most of his durability without any of his Agility woes. His attack won't be quite as high, but it will still be enough to kill everything he needs to kill.

Finally, by the time his statistical advantages have gone away, you'll have already changed him into a Sage. He is an incredibly useless unit by the time you've gotten to the endgame; but you're never going to use him long enough to get to that point! You'll simply take advantage of his great early game, and switch him up once you're past that point!

Of course, there is also the Merchant's ability to gain some extra gold. However, that's irrelevant when all is said and done. The Merchant only gets extra gold 25% of the time; meaning that only 1 out of 4 battles will give an increased amount. Furthermore, even when you do get extra gold, you only get 12.5% more than you would have without the Merchant. 8 gold will become 9 gold, 160 gold will become 180 gold, 300 gold will become 337-338 gold, and etc. Furthermore, the Merchant is going to stay with you for about the first 40% of the game.

What this ultimately means is that you're only making an average of 3% extra gold per battle; and only for as long as your Merchant stays a Merchant. His stats only fall further behind as you progress, so he'll have to be the one who becomes a Sage. Once he does, your gold income will drop back right when you want it most.

In conlcusion, the Merchant's gold isn't what you want. What you really want are his great early game stats, and his fast level ups. This, combined with the Fighter and Pilgrim, gives you the perfect combination of reliability and efficiency, and is highly recommended for beginners!

Hero, Soldier, Fighter, Pilgrim

 * 1) Hero
 * 2) Soldier >>> Sage
 * 3) Fighter
 * 4) Pilgrim


 * Pros - Incredibly easy early game, will kill enemies very quickly, Fighter can quickly heal with Herbs
 * Cons - The Soldier's low Agility, more overall damage taken, moderate equipments costs, slightly harder final dungeon, grinding takes slightly longer without Wizard, and more of it is required
 * Overall - 9/10

This team is pretty much the best of the two previous ones; except, the Soldier trades half his Agility in exchange for more Strength and HP. Unfortunately, this means he will almost never go first in battle; meaning more overall damage taken from enemies.

Still, it doesn't make too much of a difference in the long run; the Soldier is still the one who is going to be a Sage in this party. He does not gain levels quite as quickly as the Merchant; but he still gains them faster than everyone except the Merchant and Jester. In essence, this is basically the same party as the last one; the early and midgame fights will just be slightly more irritating till class change.

Hero, Fighter, Fighter, Pilgrim

 * 1) Hero
 * 2) Fighter
 * 3) Fighter >>> Sage
 * 4) Pilgrim


 * Pros - Will very quickly kill enemies, Fighters can quickly heal with Herbs, very low cost to equip
 * Cons - Slightly harder final dungeon, Fighter takes longer to get to LVL 20 than most other classes
 * Overall - 10/10

The reason this also has a 10/10 is because it also has a great combination of efficiency and reliability. In fact, the game is even easier with this class than it is with the Hero, Merchant, Fighter, and Priest party!

Make no mistake; the early and midgame is where the Fighters shine the most. And even at the end, you will be fine if you class changed one of them into a Sage. In fact, the Fighter is one of the best candidates for the job. Neither the Sage nor the Pilgrim are too fast on their own; so the Fighter's leftover Agility stat will go a long way into compensating for that.

That said, Fighters level up slowly compared to classes like the Soldier and Merchants. That isn't a problem in regards to their ability to perform in battle, but it IS a problem when trying to get one to LVL 20. This is the reason it shares the 10/10 spot with the the Merchant party, despite it's superior offense and speed. Grinding already takes a while even with the Merchant or Wizard in your party, so the 2nd Fighter makes things even worse in that regard.

However, what it sacrifices in efficiency, it makes up for with reliability! Dangerous early and midgame enemies will fall before they can use their attacks; and the Fighters' natural Strength and Agility are more than enough to make up for their equipment shortcomings. Besides that, killing metal monsters is always troublesome. The higher chances you have at a critical, the better!

Hero, Fighter, Pilgrim, Wizard

 * 1) Hero
 * 2) Fighter
 * 3) Pilgrim
 * 4) Wizard >>> Sage


 * Pros - Less grinding required, faster grinding where it is required, early access to Wizard spells, low cost to equip, Fighter can quickly heal with Herbs, will very quickly kill enemies
 * Cons - The Wizard's low HP and Defense may cause problems early on, slightly harder final dungeon
 * Overall - 9/10

This is very similar to the first setup; but is arguably the most efficient party in the entire game. This is because the Fighter is advantageous for all the reasons previously discussed.

The Fighter is more frail than the Soldier, but that doesn't matter much. All of this game's most dangerous encounters involve enemies that target all members of your party, not just the two people in the front. The Soldier's high HP and Defense won't make a bit of difference against a Hologhost with Defeat, an Archmage with Explodet, or a Salamander "breath[ing] gales of fires". All of your weaker party members will be hit just as hard by those as they would have if a Wizard had been in the 1st slot instead.

Hence, a truly "defended" party is one that can take out said enemies before they can do their worst; and the Fighter helps do exactly that. Even as you draw near to the endgame, you can have him use the Staff of Thunder to cast Firebane for free. That won't be enough to offset it's equipment selection at the very end; but it is more than enough for the rest of the game. And when you DO reach that point at the end (i.e., right before the final dungeon), you will have plenty of other options.

Finally, this party can also change it's Wizard into a Sage like the other parties can. Unlike all of those other parties, this one will NOT need to grind for Bikill afterwards. This is why it's slightly more efficient.

Hero, Soldier, Soldier, Pilgrim

 * 1) Hero
 * 2) Soldier
 * 3) Soldier >>> Sage
 * 4) Pilgrim


 * Pros - The Soldier's high durability, incredibly easy early game, slightly easier final dungeon
 * Cons - Abysmal speed, high equipment costs, slow to kill enemies, more overal damage taken, grinding is slightly slower without Wizard, and more of it is required
 * Overall - 7/10

This is an incredibly powerful party in the very early game. However, it's weaknesses become more apparent after you get to Romaly.

First of all, this party is incredibly slow. While you can absorb a lot more damage, you're going to need to; the enemies will always attack before your team can. Secondly, this is one of the most expensive parties in the game; your 2nd Soldier will often need to use second-tier equipment just to keep up on money management. While there are some free weapons and armor that you get in dungeons and the like, it's not enough to offset the costs. So, if you go with this party, you will want to turn one of the Soldiers into a Sage. This way, you will at least be able to get Bikill while disabling enemies with spells like Expel, Limbo, Sleep, and Defeat.

Besides; party members keep half of all their original stats upon class change. Whichever Warrior you turn into a Sage, they will enjoy an enormous advantage in HP compared to other sages!

Hero, Soldier, Pilgrim, Pilgrim

 * 1) Hero
 * 2) Soldier
 * 3) Pilgrim
 * 4) Pilgrim >>> Sage


 * Pros - The Soldier's high durability, lots of healing, easier to land debuffs, slightly easier final dungeon
 * Cons - Moderate equipment costs, slow to kill enemies, more overall damage taken, grinding is slightly slower without Wizard, and more of it is required
 * Overall - 6/10

Healing will certainly be a non-issue. But, you will NEED more healing too; the Pilgrims aren't fast enough to consistently disable all enemies without the Fighter's help. While that's not too big an issue for most of the early to midgame, it DOES make for an incredibly hard Kandar fight in the Kidnapper's Cave. You can't put him to sleep, he regenerates almost as much HP as you take off, and the Priests have a hard time keeping up with his attacks.

Besides that, the party is also slow in efficiency. More time taken to kill enemies equals more time taken to clear the game. Granted, it all evens out once you turn one of the Priests into a Sage; but why deal with the added tedium in the early game?

Hero, Fighter, Pilgrim, Pilgrim

 * 1) Hero
 * 2) Fighter
 * 3) Pilgrim
 * 4) Pilgrim >>> Sage


 * Pros - Lots of healing, easier to land debuffs, low equipment costs, Fighter can heal with Herbs in addition to your two Priests
 * Cons - Slow to kill enemies, more overall damage taken, slightly harder final dungeon, grinding is slightly slower without Wizard, and more of it is required
 * Overall - 7/10

Again, not much different than the previous party. Equipment costs are much less, you're a bit better at killing enemies quickly, and Kandar 2 is slightly easier since the Fighter can consistently outspeed him. However, most of the aforementioned problems are still there; they're just not quite as bad with this party.

Hero, Merchant, Thief, Pilgrim

 * Combat - 6/10
 * Offensive Magic - 4/10
 * Healing - 7/10
 * Speed - 9/10
 * Defense - 7/10
 * Overall - 7/10


 * Pros - High gold accumulation, great for item gathering.
 * Cons - No heavy hitters, Hero will take the brunt of the damage.

This is an alternate party configuration that is only available in the remakes. It features a Thief who will boost the speed of the party as well as make it easy to find all those stubbornly hidden treasures and stealing items from enemies. That along with the extra gold found by your Merchant, will ensure that you'll be flush with cash throughout the lifetime of this party. Although the Merchant can wear a good deal of armor, for those who find the defense in the party lacking, the Merchant can be replaced with (or change professions to) a Soldier. Alternatively, replacing the Merchant with a Fighter will make your party even faster, and allow you to deal more damage. Merchants level up faster than most classes, so their short comings should be made up for by their faster rate of growth.

Hero, Fighter, Merchant, Jester

 * Combat - 5/10
 * Offensive Magic - 2/10
 * Healing - 3/10
 * Speed - 7/10
 * Defense - 8/10
 * Overall - 5/10


 * Pros - High gold accumulation, extremely inexpensive, set up for fast Soldier and two Sages at Dhama.
 * Cons - Your Hero is the only healer, extremely little magic support, Jester may not cooperate.

This is a party that only experts should attempt to start with. It makes some aspects of the early game easier, but many aspects of the later game much harder. For one thing, with no Pilgrim, your only healer is the Hero, and the Hero does not get a tremendous amount of magic points, so you'll need to stay at an Inn much more frequently, or stock up on Medical Herbs. Fortunately, this is a cheap party to buy equipment for (the Fighter needs very little, and the Jester can't use much). In addition, the Merchant will be finding extra gold after almost every battle. Naturally, this party has all the problems inherent with including a Jester. They aren't likely to do what you ask for in battle. The only purpose for the Jester is to level them up to 20 and turn them into a Sage. Furthermore, with the Book of Satori, you can turn the Merchant into a second Sage. The Fighter should become a Soldier when you create the two Sages (or after the Sages have leveled up a little).

Hero, Thief, Jester, Pilgrim

 * Combat - 6/10
 * Offensive Magic - 4/10
 * Healing - 7/10
 * Speed - 9/10
 * Defense - 7/10
 * Overall - 7/10

Class Changes
Ideally, you would end up with two Sages and a Fighter-turned-Pilgrim-turned-Wizard-turned-Soldier. This is, however, incredibly time consuming and often not worth the effort.

Sage
Regardless of which setup you use, you're probably going to be better off turning your weakest character into a Sage. Wizards will not only be able to heal but gain considerable strength in defense, attackers will lose a bit of offense but gain magic, and Pilgrims will basically remain the same but have offensive magic. The only thing is that you're going to need to level your Sage back up before you can continue on with your adventure. If you wait until you reach the Necrogond, it won't take very long to level up.

Two Sages
As the saying goes, why get one when you can have two for just twice the price? In order to have two Sages, you'll have to ditch one member and replace them with a Goof-Off. Get the Goof-Off up to level 20 and then have two characters become Sages at the same time. Chances are you'll end up converting your Pilgrim(s) to a Sage, so you'll be lacking in healing for a while. If you do this right when you reach Dhama, then you'll have to spend a lot of time level grinding. If you wait until you reach the Necrogond, it'll probably take under an hour to get your levels back up to what they need to be.

Overkill
This strategy involves moving your attacker back and forth between a Fighter and a Soldier a couple of times so you end up with a Solider that is as fast as a Hero. You'll also want to create two Sages, but that's just a matter of converting your other two allies into Sages whenever you feel like it and then just leaving them as Sages. For your attacker, have them swap classes when you reach Dhama (level 20), then again when you reach the Necrogond (level 25 or so). Once you finish most of the game and just have the final castle, have them swap again and then back again (you'll need to do a lot of leveling at this point anyway, so it doesn't take too much time). If you have the patience, have the attacker turn into a Pilgrim for a while (probably until you learn the Healus spell). So, if you started with a Soldier it would go Soldier->Fighter->Soldier->Pilgrim->Fighter->Soldier. In addition to the speed and power, this results in all four characters knowing all four of the healing spells.

A Different Approach
This is a party that allows to defeat Divinegon/God Dragon (Game Boy Color/SNES exclusive boss) with an average level lower than 40, and to use all the character classes in one game:

It starts out as a very traditional party. By the time Dharma Temple (where classes can be changed) is reached, most of the characters will be at level 20. Change the class of only one character at a time, and continue to quest. Come back to Dharma Temple whenever the last character who changed class catched up with the level of the others and change the class of a different character. You can absolutely continue traveling without stopping for leveling up.

Change the class of the Pilgrims only after they learn Vivify and Beat, and change the class of the Wizards only after they learn Bounce. This way, every character will have good healing and support abilities.

A Merchant is useful until the end of the game because he/she can tell you what an item is for and who can use it. If you don't have a merchant at end game, you'll have to guess how to and who can use the last items you find. He/she also tells whether an item is cursed. Moreover, at end game you'll have enough money to pay the services from the "YellHelp" spell, especially the expensive inn that heals everyone. The Thief before the Merchant makes the latter faster than normal. On the other hand, a Thief at end game will make almost impossible to collect all the Monster Medals necessary to clear the Ice Cave and meet GranDragon, therefore this class is best in the intermediate stages of the game.

It's great to have all the characters casting Bounce on the first turn, and then watch powerful spellcasting enemies defeating themselves! If that's not enough, every character is able to heal and protect him/herself, thus bypassing the drawback of the Bounce spell. Another effective tactic is a shower of Beat spells from all the characters, that can very likely decimate the enemies in few turns.