Metaphor ReFantazio: How to unlock the Gunner Archetype

How to unlock the Gunner in Metaphor ReFantazio is something you’ll want to do as soon as you can, both to expand your combat abilities and to keep pressing forward with More’s quests and Follower rank. The Gunner is tucked away behind a side quest that might be tempting to complete later to save time, though the status ailments its abilities cause make getting through Martira’s dungeons much easier.

We explain how to unlock the Gunner in Metaphor ReFantazio below, along with some tips for using the Archetype effectively.

Metaphor ReFantazio: How to unlock the Gunner

The Gunner is Neuras’ Archetype, but like with the Merchant and Brigitta, you can only unlock it after completing a side quest for Neuras. The quest is called Providing a Spark, but it’s easy to overlook it, since there’s a lot going on when Neuras first mentions it. The quest will take up an in-game day, so make sure to plan accordingly.

Head back to the Gauntlet Runner when you’re ready to leave, and choose to visit the village of Komero. Speak with the merchant there to get Neuras’ Glass Ornament and Inventor’s Journal, then head back to the Gauntlet Runner when you’re finished. Speaking with Neuras will officially begin his Follower relationship with the protagonist, and the Gunner unlocks once that scene finishes. Unlocking the Gunner completes More’s request for his rank 2 event, so head back to Akademia when you have a spare moment to sort that out.

The Gunner wields a crossbow and deals pierce damage with their normal attacks and skills. Their attacks in the field outside of battle depend on your proximity to your target. If you’re close, then you club the enemy, though it still counts as pierce damage. It’s slow and unwieldy, definitely not the ideal attack method. If you’re outside melee range, you’ll fire a crossbow bolt and can follow it up quickly with another.

In battle, Gunners have to stay in the back row to use their skills, though you can use a normal attack in the front or back row. The two earliest skills Gunners get are Sleep Shot and Poison Shot. Sleep affects most enemies, though the ailment rate seems a bit hit and miss. They’ll remain asleep for up to two turns, possibly longer, and recover a very small amount of HP and MP each turn they remain asleep. It’s an excellent way to manage large crowds and avoid getting overwhelmed, so don’t hesitate to use it.

Poison Shot is often even better. Despite the skill description saying it deals light piercing damage, the same as Sleep Shot, you typically end up dishing out quite a bit more than you do with Sleep Shot. If you manage to poison an enemy as well, they’ll take extra damage once per turn. Even some bosses are vulnerable to poison, so this skill is worth its high MP cost.

More than one enemy in Martira’s well dungeon is vulnerable to pierce damage, and the Human at the end has a gimmick where you need to use pierce attacks on two of its parts to avoid taking serious damage when it uses its special moves. Knights also have a pierce-aligned normal attack, but it doesn’t hit as hard as poison shot.

If you're wondering what other classes Metaphor has in store, check out our Metaphor ReFantazio Archetypes list, complete with advanced classes and how to unlock them.