Trials of Mana/Hawk's classes

Hawk is the quickest fighter in the game. His attacks may be weak compared to Duran's, but he can unleash them twice as fast. This also allows him to charge up his techs very quickly. Although his starting class learns no spells, he has a lot of interesting spells in each of his different classes.

Starting Class: Thief
Tech: Backstab

Spells
 * None

He has no spells, but he can attack quickly.

Light: Ranger
Tech: Flying Swallow Toss - Multi Target

Spells
 * Learns
 * Arrow - Single Target
 * Spike - Single Target
 * Body Change - Single Target
 * Sleep Flower - Single Target

The Ranger has a multi target tech, but unfortunately, neither of the classes he can change into afterwards have multi target techs. Body Change is a powerful spell that makes enemies tiny and extremely weak. Unfortunately it also makes them yield 0 experience points. It is still a good spell to use in emergencies. Sleep Flower can help make large groups of enemies more manageable.

Dark: Ninja
Tech: Silhouette Slice - Single Target

Spells
 * Learns
 * Shuriken - Single Target
 * Fire Jutsu - Single Target
 * Water Jutsu - Single Target
 * Earth Jutsu - Single Target
 * Thunder Jutsu - Single Target

The Ninja class gets many Jutsu spells that lower the opponent's stats. These can be extremely useful on bosses since they can allow you to kill it faster and/or make it so it kills you slower.

Light/Light: Wanderer
Requires Item: Good Luck Die

Tech: Dance of Roses - Single Target

Spells
 * Starts with
 * Arrow - Single Target
 * Spike - Single Target
 * Upgrades
 * Body Change - Single/Multi Target
 * Sleep Flower - Single/Multi Target
 * Learns
 * Energy Boost - Single Target
 * Aura Wave - Single Target
 * Poison Bubble - Single Target
 * Half Vanish - Single Target
 * Lunatic - Single Target
 * Life Booster - Single Target
 * TransShape - Single Target
 * Counter Magic - Single Target

The Wanderer learns almost all the Dryad and Luna spells in the game which means he can do many interesting things. For example, he can boost his allies' max HP (Life Booster) or lower the max HP of his opponents (Lunatic) which is great when used at the very start of a boss fight. He also can use Counter Magic to give his allies a barrier that completely protects them from almost all damaging spells. This is quite effective against some bosses, and makes your battle with Koren a joke. Poison Bubble deals damage to the enemy and gives some MP back to Hawk which allows Hawk to cast his spells forever if he is careful. His weaknesses are that some of his spells are fairly useless or very situational (especially Energy Boost), and he has the lowest attack power out of all of Hawk's final classes.

Light/Dark: Rogue
Requires Item: Bad Luck Die

Tech: Shadow Slash - Single Target

Spells
 * Starts with
 * Arrow - Single Target
 * Spike - Single Target
 * Upgrades
 * Body Change - Single/Multi Target
 * Sleep Flower - Single/Multi Target
 * Learns
 * Rock Fall - Single Target
 * Land Mine - Single Target
 * Silver Dart - Single Target
 * Cutter Missile - Single Target
 * Crescent - Single Target
 * Axe Bomber - Single Target
 * Rocket Launcher - Single Target
 * Grenade Bomb - Single Target

Most of the Rogue's spells are special throwing weapons he can use. One nice thing about them is that unlike most spells, they have a very short animation (so they stop the action for a much shorter time). For the most part they just deal damage (the only exception is Pumpkin Bomb which gives Hawk MP along with dealing damage) so the main difference between each attack is what element they are and their relative power. Silver Dart is one of the weaker spells, but since it is Holy elemental, it can be quite effective on many monsters near the end of the game. If you are careful, you can use Pumpkin Bomb to allow Hawk to continue casting his spells indefinitely. One downside to the Rogue is that none of his spells can damage multiple opponents.

Dark/Light: Ninja Master
Requires Item: Bullseye Die

Tech: Shadow Dive - Single Target

Spells
 * Upgrades
 * Shuriken - Single/Multi Target
 * Fire Jutsu - Single/Multi Target
 * Water Jutsu - Single/Multi Target
 * Earth Jutsu - Single/Multi Target
 * Thunder Jutsu - Single/Multi Target

The Ninja Master learns how to Multi target all of the Ninja's spells. These can be useful when fighting groups of powerful enemies. For example, if you fight a group of Dark Lords you can cast Water Jutsu on all of them to weaken the power of their Eruption Sword attack. Like the Nightblade, he has very high attack power.

Dark/Dark: Nightblade
Requires Item: Nighteye Die

Tech: Split-Image Slice - Multi Target

Spells
 * Starts with
 * Shuriken - Single Target
 * Fire Jutsu - Single Target
 * Water Jutsu - Single Target
 * Earth Jutsu - Single Target
 * Thunder Jutsu - Single Target
 * Learns
 * Blow Needle - Single Target
 * Fire Breath - Single Target
 * Poison Breath - Single Target
 * Deadly Weapon - Single Target
 * Black Rain - Multi Target

The Nightblade is a very strong class with a powerful multi target tech. Since Hawk swings twice when he attacks, he can charge this tech up very quickly which makes it even more useful. He learns many spells and while some of them don't have much of a use (like Fire Breath), some of them are extremely useful. For example, Blow Needle silences your enemies which can protect you from some enemies' powerful multi target techs (which can often cause Game Overs, even if you are close to full life). Deadly Weapon is a great spell when used properly. It lowers the target's maximum HP by 20%, so it essentially does over 999 damage when used at the start of a boss fight.