strong early teams

[eric-belair]

I grinded my way through but was hoping for some ideas for people just starting out!

[Cyborg009]

they could check out guide section

[eric-belair]

offers remarkably few early game specific team comps.

[Cyborg009]

If you can provide more definite requirement, maybe others could provide you better answers.
Such as what do you consider early and what do you consider strong?

[RustyRed]

Hell Knight crit builds can be done somewhat early, depending on what would you call 'early game'.

The issue is that monster appearance is tied to realm level and alot of the really useful ones are higher up.

[Cyborg009]

I have played for a few hundred hours and facing enemies level at 10k+
my idea of early and strong might be totally off for someone else.

[masteraarott]

In the early game, you don't have many items, you don't have many spell gems, don't have many perks, and you don't have much option for creature tribal. So, probably the most important things to focus on is having good type coverage, a strong attacker or two whose power comes from their stats and traits, and some defensive support.

I can only talk from personal experience, but here's what I went with:

Koloss and Ent from Realm 1 floor 1 carried me through half the story. Along with Vivifier, it's got a strong defence and offence core, as well as good type coverage in sorcery, life and nature.

A secondary resser is a good idea in case things go wrong, like the spirit from 2nd realm, although I didn't use him personally. A wight as a secondary bruiser with some death typing would also be good, though again it wasn't my preference since I had a spectre.

I went with a Manticore from realm 1 as my chaos creature, before switching him for an Aaxer Apocalypse from the third realm. He's a good straightforward chaos creature with good stats that get better over time.


So, my pick for early game team, with no particular specialisations in mind, is Ebony Ent, Koloss guy, Manticore/Aaxer, Unicorn, Wight and Spirit. No fancy tricks needed to function, and can work in most general situations.

Possibly swap out another monster with something key to your spec- for instance, being a defiler, I swapped to a Crazed Leper very early. I also had my starter there too, so my actual team comp was koloss and unicorn and aaxer and ent and spectre and leper for a lot of the story.

I reckon such a team could probably get you pretty far into the game, though maybe not the final legs of the story. I'd say fuse to preference- by the time I started fusing my whole team, I'd swapped out everyone but the Ent (which I fused with a HP reducing Raven) and the Aaxer (which I fused with a cave cockatrice).

[Meclodar]

Well, I kinda did something like a guide for beginners. Its not optimised or anything, but fun and easy to play imo.

[Troyosaurus Rex]

If we're talking first 5-10 hours, let me share my set up. Put this together around floor 11 I think, pretty much right after unlocking fusion. This is with a necro, but it should work with other character classes. Necromancers are just dope so why wouldn't you play one?

Anyways, Creature 1: Urh Harbinger. His trait lets all your stats buff 15% per turn for every turn in battle. So if a battle draws out, this just ensures you can eventually overcome as long as you stay alive. Not fused yet so this can only get better.

Creature 2: Terror Hound. 3 stacks of direwolves for all allied creatures at the start of battle for extra chip damage. Just going with the necromancer theme with this guy. He doesn't hit that hard directly but the direwolf damage can add up. It can also occasionally backfire once you get to a few Swamplands fights but if you're smart about targeting, nothing that can't be overcome.

Creature 3: Unicorn Vivifer. Gotta get those sweet rezzes in. I still need to fuse it with something for some extra utility but for now he casts spells when not reviving.

Creature 4: Ebony Ent. This is where it starts getting fun. Fused him with one of the spirit monsters. His traits provide mending to all allied creatures, and every time they heal they now get a random buff. So if a fight drags on, not only do they have the buffed up stats from Urh Harbinger, they stack random buffs as they're healing 30% every turn. As long as you survive you will overcome. He also gets some damage spells since he has weak attack.

Creature 5: Gimp Mummy combined with the bat. 75% extra damage and curse debuff, then attacks for 35% of damage anytime an allied creature lands a hit. Bombardment is super strong. I give him a straight damage artifact so he just puts out massive hits. You could replace Gimp Mummy with any other high damage character, but Bombardment is the most important trait for your highest damage attacker early in the game IMO.

Creature 6: Brownie Mauler. He also gets a straight attack artifact. Combined with the stat buffs every turn, he can wipe out the whole back row in one shot if the first row takes a while.

In sum, this build will easily take you through the next several bosses after unlocking fusion. You can hold E in every fight except for a few. There's a lot you could change out in this build and still make it work since I still have some unfused monsters.

[leqesai]

Until you've beaten the game most builds are likely going to be viable.
It would be best to look at your specialization and make a team that benefits from whatever perks you have available.
Ultimately the best team is going to be the one that synergizes the most with your specialization, fusions and added traits. If you're going non-spell then you will want lots of passives that compensate for not using spells. Early game it is probably easiest to focus on simple attack-centric builds which is why many people recommend Hell Knight

[Artorias]

Unicorn Vivifer merged into Terror Wight? is great.

After your creatures die, this creature gains 25% of their Attack, Intelligence, Defense, and Speed.

[KONDO DEATH SQUAD]

Originally posted by Artorias:

Unicorn Vivifer merged into Terror Wight? is great.

Vivifier/Wight is one of the strongest early game anchors. Even if they keep smoking your critters that keep reviving, your unicorn just keeps getting stronger.
Also, that mutant that kills a party member (provoke) for stats makes it even better.