Atlantica Viking - Class Abilities/Magic

The Viking has 3 skills which are common among each of the three class D melee mercenaries. These skills are as follows:



Guard Dispel - This spell can be cast on a single row of the opponent's formation. It essentially cancels out the spell Holy Guard which is on any of your opponent's units in that row. This allows your other mercs to use magical attacks on those mercs which previously had Holy Guard on them.



Deadly Strike - This spell can only be used when your mercenary is on the verge of death. It is a very highly damaging attack, targeted to a single enemy unit. Using this ability will tax your mercenary's action power both on the round in which it is used, and on the following round. It really is a last ditch sort of ability, but it deals out significant damage.



Break Down - This is an area-of-effect spell, targeting every unit in the enemy formation. It is one of the weaker AoE spells in the game. However, if it is used on a formation which has the ranged skill Chaos Wind in effect upon them, the spell Destructive Wind will activate. Destructive Wind is a high-damage area-of-effect, damage-over-time spell.



In addition to these 3 basic class D melee mercenary skills, the Viking has one skill which really defines the class' power:



Freezing Axe - This magical attack freezes all three of the units in a single rank of your opponent's formation, and applies a damage-over-time effect to them. It's a good idea to kill a unit in the front ranks of your opponent's formation, so that you can freeze the middle or back rank of your opponent, as any smart player will put their most vulnerable mercenaries further back, or the mercenaries with the most devastating abilities. This skill can very easily turn the tide of any battle, be it PvP or PvE.



Now that we have the basics on this unique class out of the way, lets move on to some in-depth analysis of the Viking class. When is the Viking worth keeping around for the length of your advancement in Atlantica Online? What is the best way to train your Viking's skills and stats? Which party formation builds is the Viking most suited for? And is the Viking (Axeman) really one of the best choices for your main character, and if so, why?