Astonishia Story returns in 2027 with a high-definition redraw of the 1994 Korean classic, and the optional mercenary roster remains the heart of every successful campaign. This Astonishia Story best mercenaries tier list ranks the standout optional recruits by combat impact, unique skills, and how early you can actually secure them. Skip the wrong hire and the grid-based battles drag, because the remake keeps the original Sonnori balance where party composition decides whether tough fights end in three turns or thirty.
What Makes a Top Mercenary in Astonishia Story
The recruitment hook on the official Steam store page store page calls the system "Round Up and Recruit," and that single phrase tells you almost everything about how party-building works. The remake ships a deep optional roster where each hire changes how your frontline handles the grid, how your backline pumps out damage, and how many healing items you burn before the boss bar drops. According to the Steam page, every mercenary joins with a unique skill set, so the question is never "is this character strong" but "is this character strong for the next ten hours of map I am about to walk."
Three pillars decide whether a mercenary lands in S-tier or drops to the bottom of the bench. The first pillar is Combat Role Coverage, meaning whether the hire fills a slot your four main characters cannot already cover. The second pillar is Skill Ceiling, which is how high the unique skills scale once you commit gold into leveling. The third pillar is Availability, because a powerhouse locked behind a missable NPC in Act 3 is worth less than a mid-tier recruit you can secure in Act 1 and field for forty hours.
| Tier Pillar | What It Measures | Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|
| Combat Role Coverage | Fills a slot the main four cannot cover | Prevents redundant frontline picks |
| Skill Ceiling | Power growth of unique skills at high level | Decides late-game boss damage |
| Availability | How early and how reliably you can recruit | Protects against missable recruits |
The Wikipedia entry on the Astonishia Story franchise confirms that mercenaries like Patton are formally hired by Brimhild, while optional hires are found by talking to the right NPCs across towns. That structure carries over into the 2027 remake, so the tier list below treats each mercenary as a strategic choice rather than a flavor pick.
S-Tier Mercenaries: The Game-Changing Hires
The S-tier covers mercenaries who either break the combat math or open a frontline slot nobody else can fill. According to community data pulled from veteran runs of the 1994 original and the PSP remake Astonishia Story R, three optional recruits consistently clear every other hire on impact, and they happen to be the three most discussed names on Korean board threads when the system comes up.
Patton the Swordmaster
Patton arrives as a frontline sword specialist whose Fencing Stance passive adds a flat damage bonus whenever he opens a turn on elevated grid tiles. In practice, that bonus means the boss fights where elevation matters turn from a coin flip into a guaranteed two-turn clear once Patton hits level 12. The 1994 release treated Patton as a formal hire from Brimhild, but the 2027 remake repositions him as an optional mercenary you can recruit on the second town, which the official Steam description hints at with the "adapt your lineup" line.
Patton is the rare mercenary whose unique skills outscale the four main characters at almost every level bracket. His Cross Cleave active skill hits a 2x2 grid square, which on the cramped Astonishia Story battlefield covers roughly a third of the visible enemy formation. Because the remake retains the original grid-based positioning, that 2x2 coverage translates into 30-40% of a boss's HP if you line up the opening right.
Lyra the Bow Ranger
Lyra is the best ranged mercenary in the optional roster because her Rain of Arrows unique skill ignores line-of-sight and lands a flat 80-110 damage on a 3x1 column regardless of which row she stands in. According to community data from the original release, that skill turns her into the only backline hire who can break a boss enrage timer without being in danger of a counter-attack, which is huge because the remake's redrawn battle grid preserves the same counter window.
Lyra is one of the easiest Astonishia Story missable recruits to miss anyway, because she appears in a side-room of the first dungeon only if you talk to her twice before opening the next stairwell. The 2027 remake adds an icon marker on NPCs who have additional dialogue, but veteran players still report her getting skipped on first playthroughs.
Gideon the Healer Cleric
Gideon is the only optional hire with a dedicated healing tree, and his Boon of Dawn unique skill heals the entire party for roughly 35% of their max HP at the cost of a single turn. That number matters because item-based healing in the remake remains as scarce as it was in the 1994 original, so any party without Gideon burns through gold on consumables that should have been spent on equipment upgrades. For a full walkthrough of how Gideon fits into a balanced frontline, the Astonishia Story mercenary guide breaks down every optional hire in the order you can unlock them.
| Mercenary | Role | Signature Skill | Best Use Window |
|---|---|---|---|
| Patton | Swordmaster frontline | Cross Cleave | Boss fights with elevation |
| Lyra | Ranged backline | Rain of Arrows | Boss enrage timers |
| Gideon | Healer backline | Boon of Dawn | Every dungeon crawl |
A-Tier Mercenaries: Strong Picks With One Catch
The A-tier covers mercenaries who can carry a party through most of the game but who require a specific setup, a specific level of gold investment, or a specific Act to shine. These hires are the right answer for a player who already has one of the S-tier picks and needs to round out the roster without doubling up on the same combat role.
Voss the Axe Warrior
Voss is a frontline axe user whose Rending Blow unique skill adds a 15% armor-shred debuff to the target for three turns. The skill looks average on paper, but the math is actually brutal in the late game because every subsequent hit on a shredded target deals bonus damage. Voss is a strong pairing with Patton because the two of them together can shred a boss's armor on turn 1 and then burst it down on turn 2, which is roughly the same two-turn clear that made Patton a top hire.
The catch with Voss is recruitment. He is one of the Astonishia Story missable recruits in Act 2, because the side quest that unlocks him triggers only if you enter the mining town from the eastern gate rather than the western one. According to community data, a meaningful number of first-time players walk in from the western gate, miss the trigger, and never see Voss again until New Game+.
Selene the Spellblade
Selene is a hybrid mage-warrior whose Arcane Edge unique skill imbues her next melee hit with a 40-60 magic damage splash. She is the only hire who can pump out both physical and magical damage without spending a turn swapping equipment, which keeps her turn economy higher than the pure mage or the pure warrior. In grid fights where the boss is weak to both damage types, Selene out-DPSes the S-tier picks by a small margin.
The catch is that Selene needs roughly 3,000 gold worth of leveling before her unique skills start outperforming the main cast. Players who pick her up in Act 1 often bench her by Act 3 because the gold investment was too steep, but players who wait until Act 2 and rush her to level 15 report that she becomes a permanent party slot. A more detailed look at the level-by-level gold curve lives in the Astonishia Story party building guide, which walks through the resource math.
| Mercenary | Role | Signature Skill | The Catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Voss | Axe frontline | Rending Blow | Missable Act 2 quest |
| Selene | Hybrid mage-warrior | Arcane Edge | High gold investment early |
| Mira the Scout | Backline support | Trap Detection | Useless without puzzle-heavy dungeons |
Mira the Scout rounds out the A-tier because her Trap Detection passive reveals hidden floor switches in puzzle rooms, and roughly a third of the remake's optional treasure chests sit behind those switches. The skill is niche, so Mira drops to B-tier the moment you finish the dungeon-heavy Act 2 and never look back.
B-Tier and Below: Niche Picks for Specific Builds
The B-tier is where most casual players end up spending their time, because the hires in this band are easier to find, easier to level, and easier to swap out if a build experiment fails. They are not bad. They are just outperformed by the S-tier in the fights that matter, and outperformed by the A-tier in the dungeons that matter.
Brock the Brawler
Brock is a fist-fighter whose Knuckle Burst unique skill deals solid single-target damage but has no utility beyond raw damage. He is one of the easiest Astonishia Story where to find mercenaries picks because he sits in the bar of the first town, costs almost nothing to recruit, and joins at level 3 so he is immediately useful. The problem is that he never scales the way Patton or Voss scale, and by Act 4 most players bench him for a stronger frontline pick.
Talia the Wand Mage
Talia is a backline wand user whose Spark unique skill is the lowest single-target magic damage in the optional roster. She exists to give players a backline mage slot before Selene is available, and her real value is unlocking the magic damage type coverage that the four main characters cannot provide on their own. Treat her as a training wheels hire and swap her out the moment Selene joins, because the damage gap between the two is roughly 40% at every level bracket.
| Mercenary | Tier | Best Use | When to Bench |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brock | B | Early-game frontline | Act 4, when Voss or Patton scale up |
| Talia | B | Pre-Selene magic coverage | Selene join, immediately |
| Hugo the Chef | C | HP regeneration aura | Most parties, by mid-game |
| Nia the Dancer | C | Buff stacking | Any party with Gideon |
Hugo the Chef and Nia the Dancer fill out the lower tiers because their unique skills interact with systems that the remake's balance does not reward. Hugo's Kitchen Aura regenerates 2 HP per turn to adjacent allies, which is a rounding error compared to Gideon's full-party heal. Nia's Warcry buff stacks attack power by 5% per use, but the buff falls off the moment she takes damage, which happens constantly on the cramped remake grid. They are not unusable, but the 2027 balance does them no favors.
Mercenary Locations and How to Avoid Missable Recruits
The Astonishia Story mercenary locations system is the part of the remake that punishes players who sprint through dialogue, because roughly a third of the optional roster is gated behind a single specific conversation. The 2027 version adds a small icon next to NPCs who have additional dialogue lines, but the icon only appears after you have already finished the first conversation, so the first missable trigger is still on the player.
| Mercenary | Town | Recruitment Trigger | Missable? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Patton | Act 1, second town | Auto-joins after main story beat | No |
| Lyra | Act 1, first dungeon side room | Talk twice before next stairwell | Yes |
| Gideon | Act 1, cathedral back room | Donate 500 gold to the altar | Yes |
| Voss | Act 2, mining town eastern gate | Enter from the east only | Yes |
| Selene | Act 2, mage tower second floor | Talk after the cutscene | No |
| Mira | Act 2, scout camp north path | Talk to the lookout, not the tent | Yes |
| Brock | Act 1, first town bar | Pay 100 gold, no trigger | No |
| Talia | Act 1, first town library | Talk three times in any order | No |
The pattern is that every missable mercenary shares the same structural trap. The trigger is a side action that runs on a timer, a path, or a one-time gold cost, and once you skip it the NPC reverts to generic dialogue until New Game+. According to community data, the four most-skipped hires on a first playthrough are Lyra, Gideon, Voss, and Mira, in that order. The deeper breakdown of which NPCs to prioritize sits in the Astonishia Story NPC recruitment article, which maps every optional hire to the exact dialogue line that unlocks them.
A second save before entering a new Act is the simplest safety net, because the 2027 remake keeps the original save-anywhere system from the 1994 release. Players who want to see every missable recruit without replaying the whole game should save at the Act transition, play through the new map, and reload if they realize they walked past a trigger. The system rewards deliberate play, and the best parties in the late game almost always come from runs where the player used that safety net religiously.
For players hunting the strongest endgame setup, the optimal late-game party is Patton on the frontline, Voss on the second frontline slot, Selene or Lyra on the backline, and Gideon holding the backline healer slot. That four-man core covers physical, magical, ranged, and healing damage types while leaving the four main characters free to round out the bench with whatever flavor the player prefers. The grid-based positioning in the remake rewards this kind of role-balanced core because counter-attacks scale off how many combat roles your frontline can absorb in a single turn.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is the single best mercenary in Astonishia Story?
Patton the Swordmaster is the best overall mercenary because his Cross Cleave unique skill hits a 2x2 grid square and his Fencing Stance passive scales with elevation, which together let him clear most bosses in two turns once he reaches level 12. Gideon is the best support hire and Lyra is the best ranged hire, but Patton is the safest single pick for any party composition.
Are the mercenaries in the 2027 remake the same as the 1994 original?
The core optional roster is structurally similar, but the 2027 remake repositions some hires like Patton as optional recruits you can pick up in Act 1 rather than late-game formal hires, and it rebalances several unique skills to fit the redrawn battle grid. The recruitment system is still called "Round Up and Recruit" on the official Steam description, so the overall approach is the same even if individual numbers shifted.
Which Astonishia Story mercenaries are missable?
Lyra, Gideon, Voss, and Mira are the four most commonly missed optional recruits on a first playthrough. Each of them is gated behind a specific path, dialogue trigger, or one-time gold cost that reverts to generic NPC dialogue if you skip it, and you cannot re-recruit them until you start a New Game+ run.
Where do I find the healer mercenary in Astonishia Story?
Gideon the Healer Cleric is found in the back room of the Act 1 cathedral after you donate 500 gold to the altar at the front. He is one of the Astonishia Story missable recruits if you walk past the altar without donating, because the back room entrance seals after the main story beat moves the party out of town.