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The party in EBF4

As of the most recent game, there are five playable characters (often shortened to players) in the Epic Battle Fantasy series. The article lists the characters and their typical positives and negatives, which may vary from game to game.

Notes[]

  • Prior to Epic Battle Fantasy 3, players' stats didn't differentiate much, and the primary difference was in attacks and elements available to (ab)use.
  • In later games, lack of access to a certain element can often be patched up by weapon-elemental skills combined with elemental weapons, throwable items, shared skills, and summons.

Matt[]

CharIcon Matt

The Swordsman of the group and one the first playable characters introduced, having appeared in every Epic Battle Fantasy game to date. He is a "main character" of sorts for the series and, judging by his name, serves as an author self-insert, though Matt has clearly diverged into his own unique personality. Matt is a "Magic Knight" character archetype who uses melee weaponry (mostly swords) and focuses on powerful single-target melee attacks, but also has access to (mostly support) magic. He is also known for his kleptomaniac tendencies, insatiable appetite, and love of swords and battle.

Strengths[]

  • Highest base HP, Attack and Defence of any playable character.
  • High-powered physical attacks, including one of the game's strongest Limit Breaks.
  • Strong Earth, Fire, Holy, Ice and weapon-elemental skills, as well as Bomb prior to EBF3. (In EBF5, he also has a strong Poison and Water skill in his base skillset.)
    • In EBF5, the presence of several shared skills gives Matt access to a strong physical attack in more or less every element, making elemental issues almost non-existent.

Weaknesses[]

  • Lowest base MP, Magic Attack and Magic Defence of any playable characters, although the latter is mitigated by his high HP.
    • In EBF5, MP is a non-issue due to the removal of the mechanic.
  • Very few magical skills.
  • Most elemental attacks are mixed with non-elemental damage, reducing their effectiveness against enemy weaknesses (excluding EBF5, where effectively all of them will be 100% elemental.)
  • Little to no access to Thunder, Water (prior to EBF4) and, since EBF3, Bomb (due to losing the Airstrike skill) unless shared skills are taken into account. Most options for Dark and Wind damage are magical, which is typically suboptimal.
  • Few options for striking multiple enemies at once. (Ironically, his main method of doing so will probably be among the first skills obtained.)

Natalie[]

CharIcon Natalie

The second playable character, who has appeared since the beginning of the series. She is a powerful Mage and the primary source of fanservice in the game (to her increasing chagrin as the series goes on). She wields magic staves for both offense and support, and usually takes the role of the group's main healer and buffer, although other characters gain some buffing and healing abilities in later games.

Strengths[]

  • Highest base MP, Magic Attack and Magic Defence of any playable character.
  • Spells offer strong options for Dark, Fire, Holy, Ice and Thunder elements.
  • Possesses several multi-target attacks.
  • Strong healing and support skills. (Somewhat devalued since EBF4, due to many becoming shared, but high Magic stats makes healing more potent when used by her.)
  • Effective support Limit Breaks, including what's arguably the best buffing skill in the series.
  • In EBF5, has access to most of the shared debuff skills (aside from Bind).

Weaknesses[]

  • Lowest base HP, Attack and Defence of any playable characters.
    • Less so in EBF5 — NoLegs's HP and Defence are even worse, although he also has much higher base Evade than Natalie.
  • Little to no access to Bomb, Earth, Water and Wind elements without shared skills, and innate Bio options are very weak.
  • Mediocre single-target attacks, outside of the Holy element (improved in the v2 update of EBF5).
  • No efficient physical skills.
  • Lack of weapon-elemental attacks and status options, especially area-of-effect ones. (In EBF5, she finally gained an AoE weapon-elemental skill, although it halves status chance.)

Lance[]

CharIcon Lance

Lance is the first newcomer to the heroes' team, making his playable debut in Epic Battle Fantasy 3. Previously, he appeared as the second player in Brawl Royale, as well as the main antagonist of Adventure Story and Epic Battle Fantasy 2. As a Gunner, he is obsessed with guns and advanced technology, which make up for a lack of "true" magic.

Strengths[]

  • Highest base Accuracy of any playable characters. Generally versatile stats, slightly shifted towards the magical side. Becomes far more viable physically in EBF5 due to improved skill power.
  • Proficient in Bomb, Dark, Fire, and Thunder elements (and the Poison status, if not Poison damage), as well as otherwise-rare Water (via the Deep Blue gun) and Wind in EBF3.
  • Several area-of-effect attacks, which are also effective against single targets (less so in EBF3).
  • Potent status-spreading skills (less so in EBF3). Also has an impressive amount of debuffing skills in later games.
  • In EBF4 and 5, some multi-hit physical skills can retarget if the initial foe is killed.

Weaknesses[]

  • Little to no access to Earth, Holy and Ice elements without shared skills.
  • Most elemental attacks are mixed with non-elemental damage, reducing their effectiveness against enemy weaknesses (Excluding EBF5, where most of them will be 100% elemental).
  • Most physical skills have mediocre power compared to his magical skills. (Less so in EBF5, where they are on par with his other skills).
  • Most skills have a cooldown in EBF5, though this is generally manageable.

Anna[]

CharIcon Anna

The fourth member of the party debuts in Epic Battle Fantasy 4; she is the first playable character in that game and drives the plot, replacing Matt as the main character in a way. Anna is a bow-wielding Ranger who uses nature-based magic and a seemingly-unlimited supply of arrows.

Strengths[]

  • High base Accuracy and Evade. Generally versatile stats, slightly shifted towards the physical side.
  • Proficient in Earth, Ice, Thunder, Poison, and Water elements.
  • Several status-oriented skills with high infliction chances. (Unfortunately, all are single-target in EBF4.)
  • Weapon-elemental skills, including area-of-effect ones, work well for both damage and status effects.
  • Possesses several multi-target attacks in EBF5.
  • Has the only healing skill with no cooldown in EBF5.

Weaknesses[]

  • Little to no access to Dark and Fire (as well as Bomb and Holy in EBF4), without shared skills. Most options for Wind are magical, which is typically suboptimal.
  • Most elemental attacks are mixed with non-elemental damage, reducing their effectiveness against enemy weaknesses. (Excluding EBF5, where most of them will be 100% elemental.)
  • Multi-target elemental arrow attacks are unpredictable, hitting foes randomly.
  • Few magical abilities.

NoLegs[]

CharIcon NoLegs

NoLegs debuts as the newest playable character in Epic Battle Fantasy 5. He wields "cat toys" (a sword and a shield wielded simultaneously) as his main weapon. Like Matt, NoLegs uses primarily single-target physical attacks; unlike Matt, he also has strong supporting magic with high cooldowns.

Strengths[]

  • Highest Evade among all playable characters, high Magic Defence and decent Accuracy. Generally versatile offensive stats, though works better on the physical side.
  • Packs an unusual variety of elemental attacks (including Wind, Water, Holy, Dark and Thunder), each inflicting a different status.
  • Powerful physical attacks.
  • Most sword attacks change targets when the original target is killed and gain extra hits when killing enemies, which can be used to kill several weak enemies in one turn.
  • Potent healing and support magic, including a multi-target revival spell.
  • Able to learn all shared buffing skills.

Weaknesses[]

  • Little to no access to Earth, Fire, Ice, Poison and Bomb without shared skills.
  • Lowest HP and Defence of any playable character; extremely vulnerable to high-Accuracy attacks and Evade debuffs.
  • Few options for striking multiple strong enemies at once.
  • Magic has lengthy cooldowns.
  • Unable to learn any of the shared major debuffing spells.

Additional Playable Characters[]

Some spinoffs of the Epic Battle Fantasy series (mainly the Bullet Heaven series) feature additional player options. See their pages for more information.

Bullet Heaven (Epic Battle Fantasy Collection version)[]

Bullet Heaven 2[]

Unused Playable Characters[]

Aside from Anna, Matt Roszak had considered putting another playable character into Epic Battle Fantasy 4: a spear-wielding girl, partly to utilize the various spear weapons he had designed at the time. However, he scrapped the concept at an early stage, to the point where no preliminary sketches exist; the only details he had settled on at the time were that her name was Ami and she would have had black hair. The presence of the Unobtainable Weapons (both of which appear to be spears) may be a sort of in-joke to this concept.

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