Dark Stalker

The Dark Stalker is a dark-elemental sword available to Matt in Epic Battle Fantasy 5.

Description

The Dark Stalker has a distinctively crooked blade made of shiny brown metal, with spikes protruding from the corners to make it resemble a thorny vine. The guard is adorned with a miniature human skull with faint red lights in the eye sockets, with two horn-like bones protruding downwards and four curved metal spikes pointing upwards. The handle is made out of a black material, while the pointed pommel is made out of the same metal as the blade.

Normal

Despite boosting Dark skills, the Dark Stalker's offensive capabilities are hampered by its below-average boosts to Attack and Magic Attack. Additionally Matt won't have any meaningful Dark attacks until Demon Swords becomes available in the late game; the sword does unleash Bone Star, but it has low power and runs on Matt's weaker offensive stat. The sword's true worth lies in its ability to inflict Attack debuffs and Syphon with its weapon-elemental skills; since many Syphoned foes are limited to physical attacks, this combination allows it to significantly decrease enemy damage output. The status chance is on the low end, but the resulting Syphon lasts for quite a while; single-target skills also unleash Bone Star for an additional Syphon chance. On the other hand, the Dark Stalker boasts one of the most efficient Attack debuffs outside of summons; Weaken support can help maintain the debuff while also chipping away at the foe's Magic Attack and slightly increasing Matt's damage output.

While the Dark Stalker lacks the stats or secondary effects to be useful in a day-to-day build, its on-hit effects can be highly useful against certain foes, such as Ores, Wraiths, and Sprites. By equipping the Captain's Hat and either the Captain's Coat or the Flame Suit, Matt can give Slicing Cyclone a great chance of disabling an entire wave of these foes at once; Unleash is a good option to drastically hamper single targets.

The Dark Stalker provides resistances to Bio, Dark, Syphon, and Disable. It becomes immune to the latter two at Level 5.

Equip Remix

The Alt Dark Stalker is a balanced weapon that mixes solid offense with draining counters to improve Matt's chances of survival. It has a good amount of Attack and Magic Attack, as well as minor boosts to Defence, Magic Defence and Accuracy. It powers up Dark skills, and its Weapon-elemental skills can drain HP from foes while having a chance of inflicting Weaken; traits that synergize with its Normal Attack counter. On top of that, it has a high chance to give Matt the Brave status between turns, allowing him to maintain offensive buffs more easily while improving his critical hit chance and negating enemy attempts at the same.

Although the Alt Dark Stalker's elemental boost is difficult for Matt to exploit until Demon Swords becomes available in the late game, it remains a serviceable offensive support weapon that keeps him healthy while dealing decent damage and applying Weaken to set up allied Dark attacks (such as from the Alt Devil's Sunrise or the Alt Obsidian Staff) or slowly reduce enemy offenses (especially when paired with Attack and Magic Attack debuffs).

The Alt Dark Stalker resists Bio and Dark, with neither becoming an immunity at Level 5. It also has a weakness to Holy, which doesn't change as it is forged.

Epic Battle Fantasy 5

The Dark Stalker is found inside a chest in the Basement of Jamie's House in Greenwood Village. The chest is on a small rock outcropping to the left of the screen, requiring The Stepladder to bridge the small gap between it and the main path.

	Dark Stalker
	A blade which weakens those which it strikes. Boosts the damage of dark skills. Level 3: May unleash Bone Star while attacking.

Statistics
Stat Bonus												Resistance
	LV1	LV2	LV3	LV4	LV5		LV1	LV2	LV3	LV4	LV5		LV1	LV2	LV3	LV4	LV5
	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-		10%	20%	30%	40%	50%
	5%	15%	25%	35%	45%		-	-	-	-	-		10%	20%	30%	40%	50%
	5%	15%	25%	35%	45%		-	-	-	-	-		20%	40%	60%	80%	100%
	-	-	-	-	-		-	-	-	-	-	Element		50%
Spells & Statuses
			Power					Chance Modifier				Attack Status
Auto Skill			--					--					30%	35%	40%	45%	50%
Bonus Skill			50					(50%)					2x	2x	2x	2x	3x
Auto Status			--					--					60%	70%	80%	90%	100%
Defend Status			--					--					30%[20%]	35%[25%]	40%[30%]	45%[35%]	50%[40%]
Note: Stats in brackets (below/right from actual) are for its pre-v2 update version. Before the v2 update had 30/50/70/85/100% chance of inflicting Bad Luck instead of Syphon (with same status strength).

Forging Information
Lvl	Requirements			Lvl	Requirements
2	x 1	--	--	3	x 2	--	--
4	x 1	x 4	--	5	x 1	x 4	--

Statistics with Equip Remix enabled.

	Dark Stalker
	A blade which weakens those which it strikes. Boosts the damage of dark skills. Level 2: Drains HP from targets. Level 3: Counter-attacks with Normal Attack. Level 5: Gives the player brave status.

Statistics
Stat Bonus												Resistance
	LV1	LV2	LV3	LV4	LV5		LV1	LV2	LV3	LV4	LV5		LV1	LV2	LV3	LV4	LV5
	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-		10%	20%	30%	40%	50%
	15%	25%	40%	55%	70%		-	5%	5%	5%	10%		-30%	-30%	-30%	-30%	-30%
	15%	25%	40%	55%	70%		-	5%	5%	5%	10%		10%	20%	30%	40%	50%
	-	5%	5%	10%	10%		-	-	-	-	-	Element		50%
Spells & Statuses
			Power					Chance Modifier				Attack Status
Auto Skill			--					--					10%	20%	30%	40%	50%
Bonus Skill			--					--					2x	2x	2x	2x	2x
Auto Status			1x					(50%)				-	-	-	-	-	-
Defend Status			--					--					-	-	-	-	-

Forging Information
Lvl	Requirements			Lvl	Requirements
2	x 1	--	--	3	x 2	--	--
4	x 1	x 4	--	5	x 1	x 1	--

Trivia

• The Dark Stalker shares design cues with the Evil Axe wielded by some Hands, most notably the style of the skull decoration and the color of their metal blades.