Atticus is a recently requested character spotlight, so I figured “why not” for old time’s sake. I cannot say whether these spotlights will continue in any capacity though as mentioned in my previous post. Hope you enjoy the spotlight on main The Lonely Mirror thief, Atticus.
Background:
Atticus is a reformed thief employed as an intelligence gatherer for Ametona and working under Count Brett. In his early years, Atticus was home to the streets of Ametona and made a name for himself by petty thievery and conning nobles. . . until he was caught. Brett ultimately saw something in Atticus and offered a full pardon in exchange for his services. While Atticus is forever grateful to Brett for introducing a life outside of thievery, it is in Atticus’s nature to live by his own rules. He does what he wants; though, it is for good. Usually.
Atticus was stationed to gather intelligence on King Corwin’s confrontation with Celyste at Granrei, and there he witnessed the chaos caused by Vetti’s Harp as Ametonan and Celyste soldiers were driven mad and made to attack friends and foes alike. After Corwin’s death, Atticus recovered Majestra – the king’s sword – and continued to survey the state of Granrei. After Princess Leah and Brett arrived, Atticus was able to provide the sad news of Corwin’s death and information on the current state of the war with Celyste. This ultimately drove Leah to want to meet with Prince Joseph regarding the war.
Atticus was part of the group responsible for ending the Ametona-Celyste War and helped in driving away the Proclaimers from Celyste.
The fear the Atticus experienced while in Granrei, drove Atticus to continue tracking the Proclaimers while hoping to get strong enough to take them down. This brought Atticus to Burga where he secretly may encounter the White Lions during their confrontation with Shane in the noble district where he gifts them a Dragonspear during a house visit event. Regardless, Atticus is made aware that the White Lions surrendered to Burga and were detained, and he decides to take matters into his own hands by breaking them out of prison and joining their cause.
Appearance:
Atticus is a young man with short, purple, tousled hair. During the Ametona-Celyste War arc, his hair is longer and more freeform, while after the time skip Atticus’s hair is shorter and more controlled. Atticus wears earthy tones. His cloak is a faded green and his tunic is brown. He also has a scar on his cheek after the time skip.
Growth Rates:
| HP | Pow | Skl | Spe | Lck | Def | Res |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 75% | 45% | 50% | 70% | 40% | 20% | 20% |
Unit Analysis:
Atticus growth rates are aligned to what one would expect of the thief class. Atticus has an incredible Speed growth (the highest in the game), and also has respectable growths in HP, Power, and Skill. Atticus’s Luck is also decent enough where he won’t suffer from critical hit chance against non-killer weapon enemies. Atticus does have weak growths in Defense and Resistance and on average will likely not see too much high than 10 in either stat at max level.
Atticus is the player’s ONLY guaranteed thief in Lonely Mirror with Liang possibly being missed and with inconsistent availability and Eliza being available late in the game only if the player allies with Judge Amanda. Thus, Atticus is the most consistent option for thief utility – able to provide increased vision in fog of war, steal items, and open chests through much of the game.
Assassin and Whisper are the two promotion options available to Atticus, and both options are great choices. Assassin provides the Lethality ability and access to Bows to allow Atticus to have more flexible offensive options. Atticus is the only character in the game with access to Whisper, and it provides increased movement and unlimited lockpicking ability.
Thief utility is not the only thing that Atticus offers. His solid Power and Speed growths and the ranged flexibility of knives make Atticus a very strong combat unit if trained. Nevermore, the S-ranked knife, while difficult to procure, is the best endgame weapon thanks to the 1-3 range, high crit rate, and monster slaying capability, and Atticus will double everything – easily one rounding the most difficult enemies in the game without fear of retaliation.
Atticus’s main weakness is his support options and affinity. While Atticus does appreciate the avoid from the Ice affinity, it does not improve his offense. This means if Atticus gets subpar Power growth, there is no easy way to improve his damage, resulting in him being difficult to train. Secondly, Atticus could find deployment competition from Liang or even Myles; however, there is no clear winner between the three guys as each offer their own pros and cons.
Overall, Atticus is practically too good not to use in some capacity. His thief utility will make a lot of chapters much, much easier such as Chapter 17B or Chapter 18x. Outside of his utility in the early game, Atticus can be one of the strongest combat units at the end of the game if wielding Nevermore, which is arguably the best weapon in the game and with limited users – Atticus being one of them. Furthermore, Atticus could be considered the best wielder of Nevermore due to having sole access to the Whisper class as he will always have better movement and attack option compared to any other user (assuming no Boots). Make it a priority to give Atticus some levels in the early game before meeting the White Lions, and he will not disappoint.
Support Options:
Atticus’s affinity is Ice, which provides boosts to Defense, Hit, Avoid, and Crit Avoid. The avoid and crit avoid are very nice for Atticus; however, the other bonuses are less important to Atticus. Atticus would prefer bonuses to Attack or Critical Hit. Atticus’s support options may be a little awkward in terms of the bonuses they provide; however, a bonus is better than no bonus at all:
- Brett - Fire
- Liang - Anima
- Roxie - Thunder
- Parvati - Ice
- Sterling - Light
- Mercer - Thunder
Brett is arguably Atticus’s best support partner as the Fire affinity adds offense bonuses that Atticus desires most while also providing a max avoid bonus. Atticus also happens to be one of Brett’s best options as Brett is locked to Dark and Ice support options.
Roxie may be one of the few characters looking at Atticus’s Ice affinity as her preferred choice. The added Hit, max Defense, and max avoid bonuses that Thunder-Ice provides really helps her tanking ability as well as giving Roxie a little more hit rate to dish out strong magic attacks. Atticus also does not mind the max avoid bonus that Thunder provides him. Mercer, who is also Thunder, has better support options to boost his critical hit and would rather look elsewhere. Mercer is probably Atticus’s worst support option.
Supporting Parvati and getting double Ice affinity bonus is probably Atticus’s most convenient option due to Parvati rejoining around the same time as him. The bonus does provide both units with max defense, avoid, crit avoid, and hit rate, which are great for an Atticus that does not have power issues.
The Light affinity bonus that Sterling provides is honestly among Atticus’s better options, because Light boosts his offensives with attack and critical hit bonuses; however, Sterling has a more convenient support option in Lael available and would likely look to Atticus as a B rank support option in most cases.
Liang’s Anima affinity is probably the most awkward for Atticus. Liang is often a unit competing with Atticus for a deployment slot early in the game as both provide the thief utility. While both units can be used together, Liang has stronger early game options that are better for him, and Atticus may be the same. All that mentioned, Anima-Ice bonuses work quite nicely together and provide max defense and avoid bonuses. Consider this pairing if wanting to use all the “thief” characters in a run.
New 2023 Polls:
I created a new character poll that has been entirely refreshed. There are character that were not previously in the old poll or late joiners to the poll, so I am curious to see how different this one ends up. I also started a chapter poll for those that want to partake. I am curious which chapters are the most enjoyed. There are a ton of them in this game.
Favorite Character Poll (New 2023 Poll):
Favorite Chapter Poll: