Character Spotlight: Boone
I am happy that Boone has scored high on the popularity poll, because he is a major character in The Lonely Mirror and leads the second part of the game. Congrats to Boone this time!
Background:
In Boone’s early years, he lived with his parents in the remote village of Albin in Celyste. Boone had a good life; however, that all changed during an insurgent. A new militia formed and set his family’s manor ablaze, because of rumors surrounding practice of dark magic. Boone survived the fire and was rescued by Lionel from the famed mercenaries, the White Lions, but his parents were lost.
Lionel took the orphan, Boone in as his own son, and Boone came to think of Lionel as a father and the other White Lion members as his family. Boone grew particularly close to another orphaned boy, Caspian and the two became best friends; both wanting to follow in the footsteps of Lionel. Boone also came to think of Lionel’s daughter, Ariel, as a sister and would often look up to her in his youth to become a respectable mercenary.
It wasn’t until during the Celyste-Ametona War, Lionel allowed Boone to lead a small team up to the remote village of Rinto. This was Boone’s first mission, which ultimately opened the door to getting involved in the war itself, tracking down a mysterious cult, and following a legend in the hopes of finding Lionel after his disappearance.
Boone ultimately rises to the occasion as a mercenary leader despite his inexperience. He exhibits a lot of determination and grows to keep calm under pressure, and while he does have an occasional outburst, he relies on those he respects like Ariel, Myles, and Joseph to guide him. Boone is a guy with a big heart and is also shown to value life; he would put an individual’s life above his mercenary work causing him to go above and beyond to save someone without pay.
Appearance:
During the Celyste-Ametona War, Boone is shown as a young man with sandy colored hair and blue eyes. When Boone is shown again after time has passed, he is shown wearing a full beard with some length as a coming of age. Boone’s armor is light blue and he also wears a red cape.
Growth Rates:
| HP | Pow | Skl | Spe | Lck | Def | Res |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 80% | 55% | 45% | 40% | 45% | 40% | 20% |
Unit Analysis:
Boone is the main protagonist in the second part of the game and is a forced unit the majority of maps he is available. Boone has very good growths in HP, Power, and Defense, and he will also have respectable Skill and Speed most of the time. With all around good offense and defenses, this makes Boone able to fill a role similar to an armored knight, except without the armor or movement penalties. While Luck can be one of Boone’s weaker stats due to having a bad base, he will accumulate enough to not be susceptible to critical hits with most weapons, unless they have a major critical hit bonus. This weakness can also be mitigated with a Goddess Icon, his natural Ice affinity support bonus, or being given the Amulet equipment.
Boone is the only character in the game with two personal weapons – Milarepa and Onouris, which further add to his flexibility. Milarepa and Onouris function as glorified axe reavers for Boone and allows him to score weapon advantage against axes consistently while using a lance. Additionally, he is able to counter mounted threats with relative ease thanks to the effective bonus.
One major downside to Boone is that he has a forced promotion at the end of Chapter 20 with only one promotion option. His promotion just happens regardless of level, so there is no strategy or choice of when to do this. Luckily, Boone’s promotion into a Champion comes with great stat bonuses and access to axes, which further helps him take advantage of the weapon triangle – especially alongside his personal weapons Milarepa and Onouris.
Overall, despite being a forced unit, Boone is an incredible unit and is among the best lance users in the entire game. Boone has near perfect availability, good growth rates, incredibly useful personal weapons, and access to early game support options that patch up his weaknesses. Boone’s growths in some areas can be middling, so he is prone to inconsistency across play throughs, but even a “bad” Boone can be patched up easily with one or two stat boosts. Even if Boone wasn’t forced, what he offers a team is too good to pass up.
Support Options:
Boone’s affinity is Ice, which will further boost Boone’s defensive capabilities. Luckily, Boone has perfect availability for supports and many options.
- Leah - Fire
- Caspian - Light
- Myles - Fire
- Ariel - Light
- Silvan - Anima
- Queenie - Dark
- Lionel - Fire
Boone will appreciate support from other front-line units available early that will improve his ability to absorb hits and dish out damage. Boone tends to be rather well rounded but attack, defense, avoid, and critical avoid are boosts that help improve his role on the team.
Silvan’s anima affinity provides exactly the kind of stat boosts that Boone will appreciate, and Silvan is another character that will see a lot of front-line use if he is used. Silvan also appreciates the critical avoid and added defense that Boone’s ice affinity provides. Silvan join a little later than Boone’s other support options but not late enough to not be a worthwhile.
Caspian and Ariel are immediately available, and the light affinity is really great for Boone, improving both his attack and defense. Caspian also appreciates the added defense that Boone provides and is a great front-line option to join Boone. Getting extra defense and avoid on Ariel early in the game can also go a long way if Ariel is supporting Boone from behind.
While fire affinity is a great offensive support option, it isn’t as helpful for Boone as support options that provide both power and defense (anima and light). Leah and Myles also would rather pair with affinities that further boost their offenses compared to what Boone’s ice affinity offers. Myles is a better support partner for Boone than Leah as Myles is immediately available. Lionel comes too late in the game for Boone to benefit; however, Lionel would appreciate support from Boone to improve his defenses.
The dark affinity that Queenie provides is probably the worst support option in terms of boosts. Boone would rather have more attack and defense instead of hit and critical hit; the avoid and critical avoid are both nice though, and a support is better than no support. Queenie additionally would prefer pairing with affinities that improve her offense.
Popularity Poll:
I intend to continue doing character spotlights each month. I know the current spotlights have been all males, and there are a lot of female characters that I want to highlight, so the girls will be coming next. While the poll is helpful, I’ll probably factor characters that are discussed in posts often. Vote for your favorite characters and tell me why you like them. Preparation for the spotlights is a lot of work, so I want to make sure they are properly focused.