The first thing that you'll notice about the Soldier is his feat tree and highly useful feats he is capable of. The Soldier is not as heavy of a damage dealer as the Gladiator, but he is the only class that can wield large shields for defense and large 2-handed swords and axes for putting the hurt on the various enemies.

"But wait," I hear you say. The Romans didn't HAVE 2-handed swords and axes back then! That's not historically correct!

This is true. However, Stieg explains it like this:

"There are a lot of things in this game that never actually happened, but because we're altering history here with the inclusion of the gods and such, we're taking the small step to say that these soldiers have learned to use these weapons based on their interactions with the surrounding cultures."

The short of it is that the Soldier is Rome's most-traveled citizen, and, through battling with the surrounding civilizations, they adapted and picked up new styles and weaponry--hence the Soldier is able to use a giant 2-handed sword and the Gladiator is not. This further separates the Soldier from the Gladiator and also opens up a lot more possibilities with feats and maneuvers.

So the Soldier's main feats revolve around the use of 2-handed weapons and large shields (remember, the Soldier is a frontline meat shield). But what about his other specialties? Well, the Soldier is the picture of Roman discipline, so it is only natural that as he grows in power and becomes more seasoned he would show something of a talent for command. This pays off in spades for his squad as his experience and leadership abilities begin to affect his minions. As the Soldier starts out, he is only able to wield nominal control over his minions; as time goes on, his leadership is able to strengthen his fighters by increasing their resistances to fear, mind control, mezing, stuns, and knockdowns. Further down the road, the Soldier is able to utilize his units for more strategic attacks, strikes, and out-and-out blitzkriegs against various enemies. There is nothing more fearsome than seeing a Soldier standing amongst his finely-honed fighters as they hurl spears at an enemy and then breaking into a stunningly devastating blitz attack.

The Soldier also has the uncanny ability to generate and maintain the hate of surrounding enemies. The Soldier is able to taunt a single enemy or a group of enemies from a distance, thus provoking the enemy into attacking and avoiding the dangers of going in and pulling an enemy himself. During combat, the Soldier's attacks not only do damage (as is to be expected from an attack with a sword), but different attacks generate different levels of hate--more so than other classes' standard attacks. The Soldier, then, has the ability to regulate how much hate is, or is not, being generated at any given time. This is especially helpful as it allows tactical players to keep enemies from suddenly switching targets and going after high-damage casters. Of course, don't expect this to just happen: It's up to the player to manage their hate and ensure that the fight stays under control.

Now, after talking to Stieg and seeing what's up, hands down one of the coolest abilities a Soldier gets is called "Plumbatae." When a Soldier is using a shield, he can store daggers on the inside of the shield for emergency use! When he executes Plumbatae, the Soldier grabs those daggers and begins throwing them at the target enemy for some serious damage. It's great for pulling!

My second favorite skill that the Soldier gets is an insanely devastating finishing move called "Execute," which does exactly what its name denotes. When an enemy has reached a certain level of health, the Soldier performs a devastating move with a 2-handed weapon that leaves his opponent absolutely dead.

Oh yes, the Soldier is Rome's official devastation machine. With his uncanny ability to just soak up untold amounts of damage, his brutal use of 2-handed weaponry, and unyielding command of highly-trained minions, the Soldier will be the choice of tactically-minded players the world over.

The concept sketches for the Female and Male Soldier
(Click for a larger view)

I look forward to our final week of class revelations when we unveil the Gladiator. I hope you enjoyed this week's blog and I'm thrilled you guys have been so receptive thus far!

Until next week,

Deodatus over and out!