IMCGAMES first launched Granado Espada in Korea in 2006 and brought this version to Steam on 15 October 2017, the same game that reached the West as Sword of the New World. Its defining feature is Multiple Character Control: you run a family of characters and field three of them at once, each locked into its own stance, instead of a single avatar. Barracks begin at four character slots and grow with Quarter Slot Permits bought for Vis, the player traded currency. The Baroque flavoured Age of Exploration setting spans over 300 areas, from the Reboldoeux stone pits at level 1 up to Lucifer Castle at 130 and above.
This guide covers everything you need: core mechanics, the best builds, equipment worth investing in, location progression, and the tips that actually make a difference.
Core Mechanics
Multiple Character Control
You control up to three characters at once and switch between them with a keypress, and all three fight at the same time. That means a single player fields a front line, a healer and a damage dealer without needing a party, which is why Granado Espada plays more like a squad tactics game than a standard MMO. The party you take into a field zone is picked from your barracks before you leave town.
Stances tied to the equipped weapon
A character's available stances depend entirely on what is in their hands. A Fighter holding a great sword only reaches great sword stances such as Plow Guard and Roof Guard, and the same Fighter with a rapier gets Epee Garde and Sabre Garde instead. Stances level with use, and the progression runs basic, then veteran, then Expert stances, also called Constellation stances.
Barracks and the family roster
Everything you own belongs to a family, not to a character, and the barracks screen is where you see and rotate that roster. Each barrack holds a set of slots, you start with four character slots, and further slots come from Quarter Slot Permits bought from the item shop or from other players for Vis. Recruitable NPCs, known as RNPCs, join the same roster and often start at their own levels rather than at level 1.
Auto hunting mode
The client ships with an active automatic hunting mode that keeps your three characters fighting a chosen area without input. It exists because the game's levelling curve and stance experience both expect very long grinding sessions, and it is a supported feature rather than a third party tool, so the intended way to level a new stance is to set the party up and let it run.
Colony Wars and Faction Wars
The endgame competition is territorial. Colony Wars pit clans against each other for map colonies on a schedule, and Faction Wars run the same idea at a larger scale. Players who take part in colony battles collect items from them and gain an experience buff that carries into ordinary field hunting on other channels, so the PvP layer feeds directly back into levelling.
For a deeper dive into how these systems interact, see our Granado Espada combat guide.
Builds Overview
| Build | Tier | Playstyle | Key Stats |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fighter | A | Versatile approach | Balanced stats |
| Wizard | A | Versatile approach | Balanced stats |
| Scout | A | Versatile approach | Balanced stats |
| Musketeer | A | Versatile approach | Balanced stats |
| Elementalist | A | Versatile approach | Balanced stats |
For full build breakdowns with gear and stat priorities, see our Granado Espada builds guide. For rankings, check the tier list.
Equipment Guide
| Equipment | Why It Matters | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Rapier | A medium weight Fighter weapon that opens the Epee Garde and Sabre Garde stances, plus Epee Garde of Grim on the darker line. | Fighters who want speed over reach, duelling stances, and players who prefer switching stance mid fight rather than committing to one guard. |
| Great Sword | A heavy Fighter weapon carrying Plow Guard and Roof Guard. | Holding aggro in dense field zones, mid level grinding from Tetra Hillside upward, and any family with only one melee character. |
| Pistol | A medium weapon that opens Freestyle Shot on its own and Double-Guns Shot when dual wielded. | Hybrid Fighters, players who want a ranged option without giving up melee, and dual wield builds. |
| Rifle | The Musketeer's main weapon, carrying Standing Shot, Kneeling Shot and Aiming Shot among others. | Musketeers, long unattended grinding sessions, and any family that would rather not fight in melee at all. |
| Polearm | A heavy Fighter weapon behind the Blandir Cruz and Penetrar Cruz stances. | Second line Fighters, families with a dedicated shield character in front, and single target pressure on field bosses. |
Rapier: A medium weight Fighter weapon that opens the Epee Garde and Sabre Garde stances, plus Epee Garde of Grim on the darker line. It attacks quickly and works well with a main gauche in the off hand, which unlocks Main-gauche Garde as a separate stance entirely.
Great Sword: A heavy Fighter weapon carrying Plow Guard and Roof Guard. The swings are slow and wide, hitting several enemies in an arc, which is what makes it the front line answer once packs get large enough that single target guards stop coping.
Pistol: A medium weapon that opens Freestyle Shot on its own and Double-Guns Shot when dual wielded. Pairing a pistol with a sword unlocks Heaven or Hell, one of the few stances that mixes melee and ranged attacks in the same rotation.
Rifle: The Musketeer's main weapon, carrying Standing Shot, Kneeling Shot and Aiming Shot among others. Range is the entire point: a rifle Musketeer can kill most field monsters before they reach the party, which is why rifle families dominate auto hunting.
Polearm: A heavy Fighter weapon behind the Blandir Cruz and Penetrar Cruz stances. It reaches further than a great sword and hits fewer targets per swing, trading crowd coverage for the ability to strike from the second rank behind a shield carrier.
Full breakdowns in our Granado Espada weapons guide.
Location Progression
| Location | Level Range | Key Rewards |
|---|---|---|
| Reboldoeux Stone Pit | Level 1 to 6 | Basic stance experience, starting crafting materials, the tutorial quest chain rewards |
| Al Quelt Moreza | Level 4 to 17 | Hell Hound Leader boss, crafting materials, cooking ingredients, summoning spinels |
| Garden of Kings | Level 19 to 29 | Veteran stance progress, mid tier crafting drops, access to the level 30 quest chain |
| Porto Bello | Level 36 to 64 | Sustained stance experience, the level 40 to 60 gear drops, RNPC recruitment quest steps |
| Dr. Torsche's Mansion | Level 54 to 85 | Expert stance groundwork, high tier crafting materials, the route toward Castilla at 100 and above |
Reboldoeux Stone Pit: The first field zone outside the starting city and the place every family learns Multiple Character Control. Monsters here are slow and sparse by design, which gives you room to practise switching between three characters without dying for it.
Al Quelt Moreza: A wide open zone that carries a family through its first ten levels and beyond, holding over twenty creature types including Dragonwasps, Hell Hound variants and Zebra-eaters, plus a Hell Hound Leader as its boss. It connects onward to Ferruccio Junction and the Cathari Falls.
Garden of Kings: The step up after Al Quelt Moreza, and the zone where a family that has been getting by on one damage dealer starts to struggle. Pack density here is the reason most players finally level a second offensive stance rather than pushing one further.
Porto Bello: A long lived hunting area whose monster levels span a wide band, which means a family can return to it repeatedly as it grows instead of outlevelling it in a week. It is the usual home of a family between the level 30 and level 60 walls.
Dr. Torsche's Mansion: An instanced mansion area and one of the better known mid game destinations, running well into the eighties. It is where families that have coasted on auto hunting find out whether their stance choices actually hold up under manual control.
See our maps & locations guide for detailed area breakdowns and our walkthrough for the optimal progression path.
Tips That Actually Matter
- Multiple Character Control is not optional. Fielding one character in a three slot party means a third of the damage and none of the healing, and the level curve assumes all three are working.
- Stances come from weapons, not from classes. If a guide tells you to run Blandir Cruz, that is a polearm instruction, and putting a rapier on the same Fighter removes the stance from the bar entirely.
- Your character promotion track runs Veteran at level 100, Expert between 110 and 120, and Master at 120 and above. Basic and veteran stances carry you from level 1 to 100 before Expert stances become the point.
- Vis is player traded, so its buying power moves with the server economy. Quarter Slot Permits and barracks expansions hold value far better than mid tier gear you will replace by level 40.
- RNPCs join at their own levels rather than at level 1, so recruiting one is often faster than levelling a fresh character into the same role.
- Auto hunting is built into the client and is the intended way to grind stance experience. Set the party in a zone slightly below your level so the fight never stalls while you are away.
- Al Quelt Moreza spans level 4 to 17, which is unusually wide. Fight near the fountain end for the lower level monsters and move toward the Hell Hound Leader as your family catches up.
- Colony Wars hand out an experience buff that follows you into ordinary field hunting on other channels, so joining a clan that participates is worth it even if you never enjoy PvP.
- Weapons are split into light, medium and heavy families. Bayonets, daggers, gaiters, javelins, knuckles, main gauches, sabers and shotguns are light, pistols, rifles, rapiers and swords are medium, and cannons, great swords, maces and polearms are heavy.
- The level bands between zones are the real progression gates. Reboldoeux Stone Pit at 1 to 6, Al Quelt Moreza at 4 to 17, Garden of Kings at 19 to 29 and Porto Bello at 36 to 64 form a clean ladder with no long gaps.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Building a family of three damage dealers with no healer, which works until Garden of Kings and then stops working entirely.
- Levelling stance experience across several weapon types at once, so no single stance reaches veteran tier and the whole family stays weak.
- Spending early Vis on gear rather than on Quarter Slot Permits, then hitting the four slot barracks limit with no room for RNPCs.
- Leaving auto hunting running in a zone far above the family's level, which produces a long stretch of deaths instead of experience.
- Treating the game like a standard MMO and playing one character, which throws away the one system the whole design is built around.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Multiple Character Control in Granado Espada?
It is the game's core system: you create a family of characters and take three of them into the field at once, controlling all three and switching between them freely. Each character holds its own weapon and stance, so one player fields a full party without needing other people.
What are the base classes?
There are five: Fighter, a melee all rounder with the widest weapon selection; Wizard, an area damage and debuff caster; Scout, the support and healing class that also uses tools and traps; Musketeer, the long range gun specialist; and Elementalist, who deals heavy damage through fire, ice and lightning.
How do stances work?
Stances are skill sets attached to the weapon a character is holding. Equip a great sword and you can only use great sword stances such as Plow Guard and Roof Guard; equip a rapier and you get Epee Garde and Sabre Garde instead. Stances level with use through basic, veteran and Expert tiers.
Is Granado Espada the same game as Sword of the New World?
Yes. Sword of the New World was the name IMCGAMES used for earlier Western releases of the same 2006 title. The Steam version launched on 15 October 2017 under the original Granado Espada name.
How many barracks slots do I start with?
Four character slots. Additional slots come in blocks and need Quarter Slot Permits, which you can buy from the item shop or from other players using Vis, the in game currency.
More Granado Espada Guides
- Granado Espada Best Builds
- Granado Espada Tier List
- Granado Espada Walkthrough
- Granado Espada Beginner's Guide
- Granado Espada Tips & Tricks
- Granado Espada Weapons Guide
- Granado Espada Combat Guide
- Granado Espada Boss Guide
- Granado Espada Maps & Locations
- Granado Espada Crafting Guide
- Granado Espada Classes & Characters
Similar Games
If you enjoy Granado Espada, check out these related guides:
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- Lost Ark Guide: mmo game with similar mechanics
- The Elder Scrolls Online Guide: mmo game with similar mechanics
