Best characters to unlock first?

[Poltergeist]

Totally hooked on this game. I've been playing the starting comp for a while. What are some good characters to unlock in your opinion? What builds would you suggest?

[Jeger]

I like Thuls, Cornelius, and Heiner first. (Not in any particular order.)

[Platypus]

Of course you should just unlock the characters you are interested in first but here's my recommendation for each role.
Warrior - Heiner. He is the best defensive warrior. Powerful fortify tanking builds, high damage blunt type builds, thorn builds, he can pull it all off. (The other characters are all really good in their own way as well, Heiner just does defense the best out of the four.)
Scout - Gustav. A great bard/rogue that can do a variety of interesting builds. High powered mind type, support buffer, full on healer build.. Lots of potential here.
Mage - Wilbur. The energy battery you can slot into any team. His energize build is probably one of the most notable builds in the entire game. He can also pull of excellent water and lightning builds.
Healer - Malukah. While it does take a lot of shards to "fix" her starting deck each time, her powerful regens and dispels make her the best healer specifically for healing. Reginald can do the highest damage in the game (to my knowledge) but you start with him unlocked already. The other healers are amazing for their own unique builds but Malukah definitely has the best actual healing. Ottis also has great synergy with Heiner if you feel like making them a pair.

Every character is good in their own way and the devs have made sure of that so feel free to play anyone you want to.

[Yorien]

Will depend on your playstyle preferences.

Ottis is the fastest to unlock, as can both be found and hired straight on Act 1. Shield-based healer. Considered the most "consistent" healer once you get the hang of his mechanics.

Thuls is great early for DoT (poison) builds. Needs to unlock a couple cards to start shining, but if can push really hard

Cornelius is the Pyromancer version of Thuls, and possibly best option for a first unlock, as some of his most useful cards are already unlocked or are easy to unlock

Sylvie is possibly one of the best DPS to unlock. Straight sharp/stealth that can actually delete early encounters in a single turn, and remove nasty targets later. Is very combo heavy and you'll need to unlock some cards... but once done one of the most fun characters to play.

Heiner is a unit of a tank, you build massive defenses then shield bash something to oblivion. Main problem is he's awfully slow (while not a problem early one, you'll start noticing you need faster characters)

I'd probably go Ottis/Cornelius/Thuls, than slowly start unlocking the rest.

Also... ensure you get their respective pets. While they can work with any pets, some opf them are best suited if running the proper buils. Asmody for Cornelius, Slimy for Thuls, and possibly Orby for Ottis (although he can work with others)

[UndeadUnbug]

Deer mommy Bree

[Thundergod]

Thuls or Sylvie probably. Little investment needed for each and having a good dps makes things a lot easier early on.

[Klaus]

sylvie for blat blat pierce damage and easy/fun/satisfying turns IMO

Heiner because he is like others have said a "unit", love heiner, block block block all day tank all day then maybe shield charge or a wopper of a bouncing shield

Gustav, who I didn't think I would even like due to the song mechanic, it's actually not intimidating at all on him, he basically just always has the song buff, eventually you can make it so he just keeps stanza 3, but if not he is always cycling through the stanzas. VERY potent group heals with regen and dispel, GROUP vitality/regen buff that is low cost after you get the refund trait on songs, all make him an incredible support healer IMO.

Wilbur if you want potent energize, he eventually gets a trait that can increase the energy he gives +1 which is incredible as a support mage.

[Redux]

Originally posted by UndeadUnbug:

Deer mommy Bree

Total dilf.

[Chan]

My go to is usually Ottis, Cornelius, Sylvie and Bree. Great team composition and they'll get you through most if not all tiers of madness.

[TowerWizard]

Granted, it was months since I used Heiner, but I don't understand how it is useful to have a tank load up on Block after the enemies hav done damage (since the Block will go away). Or are you supposed to just take the damage on round 1, load up on Block AND Fortify from round to round? Only for himself, or do you have to regularly play yellow Entrech (for 5) to protect the others?

If someone has a strategy for him, enlighten me, because with Magnus, I always want to go first, meaning +speed items if possible.

[Chan]

Originally posted by TowerWizard:

Granted, it was months since I used Heiner, but I don't understand how it is useful to have a tank load up on Block after the enemies hav done damage (since the Block will go away). Or are you supposed to just take the damage on round 1, load up on Block AND Fortify from round to round? Only for himself, or do you have to regularly play yellow Entrech (for 5) to protect the others?

If someone has a strategy for him, enlighten me, because with Magnus, I always want to go first, meaning +speed items if possible.

Fortify makes it so shield doesn't go away at the end of the turn and then you use any of the X = shield damage abilities or just keep shields up so no one will die. Idk a lot of different reasons really.

[TowerWizard]

Originally posted by Chan The Man:

Originally posted by TowerWizard:

Granted, it was months since I used Heiner, but I don't understand how it is useful to have a tank load up on Block after the enemies hav done damage (since the Block will go away). Or are you supposed to just take the damage on round 1, load up on Block AND Fortify from round to round? Only for himself, or do you have to regularly play yellow Entrech (for 5) to protect the others?

If someone has a strategy for him, enlighten me, because with Magnus, I always want to go first, meaning +speed items if possible.

Fortify makes it so shield doesn't go away at the end of the turn and then you use any of the X = shield damage abilities or just keep shields up so no one will die. Idk a lot of different reasons really.

JUST keep shields up? How? Barricade is useless after the enemies has attacked, same with almost every other card, unless you can give Fortify to everyone, and the only way I know of to do that is via Entrench with the yellow upgrade, which costs alot of crystals, and which is unavailable early on. So, is there another way?

[Leia Lesanthosxia]

Originally posted by TowerWizard:

Originally posted by Chan The Man:

Fortify makes it so shield doesn't go away at the end of the turn and then you use any of the X = shield damage abilities or just keep shields up so no one will die. Idk a lot of different reasons really.

JUST keep shields up? How? Barricade is useless after the enemies has attacked, same with almost every other card, unless you can give Fortify to everyone, and the only way I know of to do that is via Entrench with the yellow upgrade, which costs alot of crystals, and which is unavailable early on. So, is there another way?

Fortify stacking is literally for him. Steel Forge (Lv2 trait, right side) grant Fortify to all allies when he blocks. If you use the left Fortify perk, you can stack those Fortify and consistently apply Blocks on allies, as well as gain block and then split them up if you see fit.

But as compared to more conventional "applying block before a hit lands speedy tank" build, Heiner does pale in that since his base speed is really low. Still, he does has his own potential, especially after the perk changes, that is.

[TowerWizard]

Oh, ok, then I can understand. I forgot about level up traits. I will try him out next run!