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Atlantica Online is a great game because of the many tactical choices involved in playing it. The very first strategic decision comes with the selection of your leader character. Use this guide to help you weigh the positives and the negatives of each leader option and to find the right pick to suit your play style.

Some Important Notes

Atlantica is a squad-based game where the player chooses his avatar to be the leader and hires mercenaries to fill out the squad to a maximum of nine units arranged on a three-by-three grid. Players get the leader plus two mercenaries at level one. They will have a third and fourth mercenary by level ten. Thereafter, the leader can place one new mercenary in the unit on every tenth level up to level 50 (20, 30, 40, 50), when the squad is full. All leaders can be male or female.

While some of the leader classes also are available to Rank D (or beginner) mercenaries you can hire from level one, a leader will always be stronger than a mercenary of the same type. In general, leaders are said to be about as strong as a Rank C mercenary. Additionally, leaders can go on a special quest at level 100 to obtain a leader-only spell for their class type. This helps distinguish leaders from a mercenary that uses the same weapon. Also, some leader classes are not available from level one to mercenaries, meaning a selection of one of these classes as your leader will give you access to the skills of that mercenary type sooner. Finally, other leader classes are not accessible to mercenaries at all, so picking that class for your leader is the only way to get access to those spells.

Leader types fit into three categories: melee, ranged, and caster. Each option has benefits and deficits. Choosing melee for your leader gives you the best growth in defense and hit points, which gives you a better chance at surviving. However, melee characters tend to work best on the front line of your formation, which exposes your character to the most attacks. This can be disastrous in PvP since your whole squad loses if your leader dies. Opting for a ranged leader allows you to protect your character behind strong frontline mercenaries, but it means your avatar has lower defense and hit points. Enemies adept at ranged attacks can pick on your leader and decimate your forces. Choosing the caster leader gives you access to heals from the beginning of the game but gives you the least durable leader.

Continue to the next page to learn about melee leader classes Axe and Maniac.