Ershin

Ershin マスター Masuta (Master)
Portrait
Occupation												Purifier
Height												129.3cm (4'3")
Weight												129.3 kg (285.1 lbs)
Personal Action												Headbutt
Voice actor												Inuko Inuyama
I				II				III				IV				V				VI

"Was that an appropriate time to laugh?"

— Ershin

Ershin is a playable character that appears in Breath of Fire IV. It is an animated suit of armor that serves as a temporary physical host for Deis, a power extra-dimensional entity who become seperated from her body when she was forcibly summoned into another dimension.

Role in Breath of Fire IV

Ershin is the name of the mysterious armor that joins with Ryu and his party in Breath of Fire IV. The armor contains the entrapped spirit of the Endless Deis. Deis is later released from the armor by Ryu when he enters her mind and breaks the bonds holding her there. Through necessity however, she later returns to the armor to assist Ryu.

Ershin has a personality that could be described as quite strange. Prone to bursts of laughter at inappropriate moments, and speaking in 3rd person using lines like, "We should be ready when we reach the capitol, says Ershin," referring to the Endless spirit trapped inside the armor.

In the journey to find out what the empire is plotting for Fou-Lu and Ryu, a scene in-game reveals that "Ershin" means "Master" in the language of the empire.

In Battle

When you first recruit Ershin in your party, it is not obvious where her talents lie. At first, the player may have no choice but to develop Ershin's parameters in hit points, strength, and defense because her intelligence is too low, her agility is just slightly better than Cray's (the slowest character) and she is limited to physical skills, not learning anything else with further level ups, limiting her to rely mainly on her physical attacks and extra skills learned from Masters and monsters.

However, once the player reaches a certain event in the game, Ershin's defense, intelligence, and HP skyrocket, making her one of the most powerful characters in the game. Ershin is also the only character in your party who requires a blacksmith to create specialized armor just for her, so her equipment options are limited early on until you collect scrap items. She eventually learns level three spells for every element, including her own personal non-elemental "breath" technique, so it's possible for her to stand toe-to-toe with Nina damaging enemies with magic. Her Stand Out skill guarantees enemies will target Ershin as long as she remains in the front row, and with her high defense level this makes her an effective damage magnet for tanking. With the right skills, equipment and training, she can become a very effective ally for the party.

Ershin's unique skill in battle only occurs when she is in reserve. Occasionally, she will use Covering Fire to fire off a regular rocket punch attack, which may or may not be helpful. Effectively, this can help add just an extra bit of damage from time to time, but Ershin may accidentally kill off an enemy you may be trying to copy a skill or steal an item from.

Unlike the rest of the party, Ershin has no element background to speak of, so she takes no additional damage from any particular element, making her a solid character to withstand magical attacks. She shares this trait with Ursula, who also lacks any sort of elemental attribute.

Stats
Lvl	HP	AP	CP	Pwr	Def	Agl	Int	Info
1	260	2	1	11	3	20	4
2	282	4	3	13	3	21	4	Learns Risky Shot
3	313	5	5	15	4	21	5	Starting level
4	339	6	6	16	6	23	5
5	382	6	6	19	9	24	6
6	407	7	7	21	11	26	8
7	435	7	7	23	14	27	9	Learns Wild Shot
8	467	8	8	26	18	28	9
9	507	8	8	28	21	30	9
10	563	10	10	33	26	34	12
11	604	10	11	36	30	35	13
12	638	10	11	38	33	37	13
13	674	11	12	42	38	38	14
14	717	11	12	45	45	40	14
15	782	12	13	47	51	43	16
16	828	12	13	51	56	44	16
17	880	12	13	56	60	47	16
18	922	12	13	60	66	49	18
19	968	12	13	64	70	51	19	Learns Blizzard
20	1034	14	15	71	76	55	21
21	1090	15	15	76	81	57	21
22	1136	16	16	79	87	61	22
23	1187	19	16	83	92	64	22	Learns Quake
24	1233	21	16	85	99	67	22
25	1299	23	17	90	103	69	26
26	1347	27	17	94	108	71	29
27	1401	29	17	97	115	75	35
28	1451	32	17	100	121	78	40	Learns Inferno
29	1499	34	18	104	129	81	44
30	1561	40	20	112	136	86	54
31	1615	43	20	116	145	89	61
32	1667	47	20	121	151	91	69
33	1713	52	21	125	158	95	75
34	1769	55	21	131	166	96	84
35	1832	57	22	136	175	99	93	Learns Typhoon
36	1888	67	22	140	183	101	99
37	1934	72	22	143	189	105	107
38	1989	76	22	149	196	107	113
39	2031	78	23	154	205	111	121
40	2095	83	23	162	211	118	134
41	2149	90	23	166	217	122	145
42	2215	94	24	169	224	127	157
43	2286	100	24	174	227	129	166
44	2349	103	24	180	233	133	176
45	2425	107	25	184	237	138	188	Learns Primus
46	2484	115	25	187	242	141	202
47	2542	119	27	193	245	143	214
48	2610	125	27	198	247	146	228
49	2671	128	27	205	250	150	239
50	2759	132	29	216	253	155	254
51	2832	134	29	222	256	159	267
52	2897	137	30	226	260	161	277
53	2945	140	30	233	262	164	289
54	3007	141	30	238	265	166	298
55	3053	143	32	241	267	167	308
56	3114	149	32	245	268	168	316
57	3170	151	32	250	270	170	323
58	3234	152	32	253	271	173	331
59	3287	155	32	257	273	174	338
60	3343	155	34	263	276	177	349
61	3385	157	34	266	279	177	356
62	3428	158	34	268	283	178	365
63	3466	160	34	269	285	180	373
64	3502	161	34	273	288	180	379
65	3532	163	34	275	290	181	386
66	3561	169	34	276	291	183	391
67	3585	171	34	277	293	183	394
68	3611	172	34	279	294	185	396
69	3633	174	34	280	296	186	399
70	3665	175	34	283	299	189	404
71	3686	176	34	284	300	191	407
72	3705	179	34	286	302	191	411
73	3728	181	34	286	303	192	414
74	3746	182	34	287	304	192	415
75	3768	183	35	289	305	192	417
76	3787	185	35	290	305	194	420
77	3804	186	35	290	307	195	421
78	3823	188	35	291	307	195	424
79	3844	190	35	291	308	196	426
80	3868	195	35	293	310	198	426
81	3884	196	35	293	311	198	427
82	3898	196	35	293	311	199	429
83	3911	198	35	294	311	200	429
84	3926	199	35	294	312	200	431
85	3938	199	35	295	312	200	432
86	3948	200	35	295	314	201	432
87	3959	200	35	296	315	201	432
88	3968	200	35	296	316	201	433
89	3976	201	35	296	316	202	434
90	3992	203	35	297	317	202	435
91	3998	203	35	298	317	203	435
92	4005	203	35	298	318	203	436
93	4013	204	35	299	318	204	436
94	4017	205	35	299	319	204	437
95	4022	205	36	300	319	204	437
96	4023	206	36	300	319	205	437
97	4024	206	36	300	320	205	438
98	4029	206	36	301	320	205	439
99	4031	207	36	302	321	205	439

Trivia

• In the Japanese version of the game, Ershin's original name was "Master" which was translated as "Master of the House" in the Empire's language.
• As stated above, Ershin and Ursula both lack an elemental attribute, meaning neither take more damage from any particular elemental magic attack. Coincidentally, both have connections to the Empire (Ershin was created by the Empire to contain Deis while Ursula is an imperial soldier).
• Ershin is an anagram for shrine. (possibly a shrine for the spirit of Deis. however this is simply an assumption.)

Gallery

Ershin and a group of purifiers.

Ershin approaching the party.

The medium Rhem on Ershin's name (see translations page).