Best/Favourite Traits?

[Gaz O'D]

The best 2 traits i think are Quick and Bloodthirsty. I also like Solidarity on my archers, it's nice for when you pick the Lone Wolf skill at level 10 for them.

What's everybody else's thoughts about the different traits?

[Robin of Spiritwood]

I like Hard Working on at least one Merc, so they can learn multiple professions easily.
Starting the game with an all Stupid team ( hear this out before you laugh! ) will slow their levelling, so that new recruits catch up easier.

[mikejunt]

Quick, Solitary, Bloodthirsty, and the relevant +5% (Strong or Nimble) are the most useful IMO

In my experience it's relatively uncommon for characters to have the luxury or being close to an ally while actually attacking, so Solitary is really strong, even characters who use support abilities will often have to attack and then move again to finish their turn next to an ally, and rarely get the luxury of attacking in a situation where cooperative would benefit them

However since you can't choose Solitary at game start, I choose quick and either strong or nimble.

[RainbowPig]

The 5% dex/str depending on class
Quick is good for more movement
Bloodthirsty
Volunteer i stick on my brute sometimes
Pickpocket is nice negative. Measly 3 gold extra is easy to pay.
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For the love of god avoid glutton, it's not a bad pick, but food i find much more annoying to manage. I mean i usually run with 12-16 days worth anyway but only because I don't want to slave over the logistics of it.

[Khalunka]

You mean when creating starters or in general?
Because in creating nothing beats Quick for me.
Hard-Working is also pretty good if you want to unlock buffs from professions asap in your save.

[Barara]

brawny 5% con for pony, strong 5% str and nimble 5% dex it will also accumulate value if you are using a better gear with that high stat value example legendary weapon have 100 str you can get +5 str in it
solitary 10% damage when alone, mostly in battle you going alone.

[buchecker]

I also like Thick-skinned on the tanks, 3% guard makes makes a much bigger difference the more you have already (below cap)

Originally posted by RainbowPig:

The 5% dex/str depending on class
Quick is good for more movement
Bloodthirsty
Volunteer i stick on my brute sometimes
Pickpocket is nice negative. Measly 3 gold extra is easy to pay.
-
For the love of god avoid glutton, it's not a bad pick, but food i find much more annoying to manage. I mean i usually run with 12-16 days worth anyway but only because I don't want to slave over the logistics of it.

Glutton is one extra bread you have to carry per rest, considering that at some point they eat mostly fasts for the buffs anyway, im always over food required every rest.

[Valkynaz]

I personally like the 10% increase in damage for being close or alone, outside of that Thick Skinned for Tanks.

I tend to start off with the Merchant start so I can have my 3 tanks with Thick Skinned + Strong/Brawny (I personally prefer Strong over Brawny), and a downside like Pickpocket, Glutton, or Drunkard, and the Spearman with Strong + Blood Thirsty or maybe Brawny (Not honestly sure if Bloody Thirsty is that great of a trait, it's only 2.5% CHC, but offers no CHD upgrade, so it's kind of only 0.5 of a level), obviously your Pony would want Brawny + Stocky.

But like everyone's pretty much already said, none of the traits are super powerful due to basically being surplus to requirements, for tanks I'd definitely want Thick Skinned due to it being a stat that you can't brute force, but it's not mandatory.

But also, imo, Quick is an overrated trait, always being essentially half a level, where other stat traits are 0.5 to 2.5 of a level depending on total stats and honestly having too much movement makes the game kind of boring, I personally like 12-14 base movement (Essentially 2 ++ level ups), enough to generally be able to chase down those damn Bombers who are ALWAYS out of reach of default movement, but not so much that positioning becomes pointless.

But those are my two-cents worth, worrying over traits isn't that huge of an issue, I'd only really worry about it on the 4 starter characters, for new followers the only real important thing is their starting willpower, closer to 15 is better, would ignore any recruit with less then 8 regardless of their traits, the loss in having to level up their willpower is too large, since for the most part the traits are just a save of having to spend one or two levels on a specific stat.

[Gaz O'D]

Originally posted by Valkynaz:

I personally like the 10% increase in damage for being close or alone, outside of that Thick Skinned for Tanks.

I tend to start off with the Merchant start so I can have my 3 tanks with Thick Skinned + Strong/Brawny (I personally prefer Strong over Brawny), and a downside like Pickpocket, Glutton, or Drunkard, and the Spearman with Strong + Blood Thirsty or maybe Brawny (Not honestly sure if Bloody Thirsty is that great of a trait, it's only 2.5% CHC, but offers no CHD upgrade, so it's kind of only 0.5 of a level), obviously your Pony would want Brawny + Stocky.

But like everyone's pretty much already said, none of the traits are super powerful due to basically being surplus to requirements, for tanks I'd definitely want Thick Skinned due to it being a stat that you can't brute force, but it's not mandatory.

But also, imo, Quick is an overrated trait, always being essentially half a level, where other stat traits are 0.5 to 2.5 of a level depending on total stats and honestly having too much movement makes the game kind of boring, I personally like 12-14 base movement (Essentially 2 ++ level ups), enough to generally be able to chase down those damn Bombers who are ALWAYS out of reach of default movement, but not so much that positioning becomes pointless.

But those are my two-cents worth, worrying over traits isn't that huge of an issue, I'd only really worry about it on the 4 starter characters, for new followers the only real important thing is their starting willpower, closer to 15 is better, would ignore any recruit with less then 8 regardless of their traits, the loss in having to level up their willpower is too large, since for the most part the traits are just a save of having to spend one or two levels on a specific stat.

I was wondering about thick skinned. What about non tanks like spearman? Would thick skinned be good for them also, to give them a bump in guard and make them more durable?

So like a Bloodthirsty + Thick Skinned Harpooner? Or would you go Thick Skinned + Strong?

[Valkynaz]

Originally posted by Gaz O'D:

Originally posted by Valkynaz:

I was wondering about thick skinned. What about non tanks like spearman? Would thick skinned be good for them also, to give them a bump in guard and make them more durable?

So like a Bloodthirsty + Thick Skinned Harpooner? Or would you go Thick Skinned + Strong?

Personally I'd go BT + Strong, Medium armour at level 12 has 25 Guard I believe, so that'd take you to 28%, The generally accepted breakpoint is 40%+ to be really worth it, but thinking about it Blood Thirsty doesn't save you any level ups either due to it lacking CHD bonuses... though certainly stronger on Heavy Armour and Heavy Armour + Shields (25 vs 28 against 36 vs 39, or 61 vs 64, for shields it gets even better with the shield trait for 69% total)

So you know what? Maybe I'd go Thick-Skinned + Strong, could potentially save their asses early game, and late game it's a stat you can't otherwise manipulate, thought Brawny could potentially end up being more substantial for their survival...

Checking using CE to level a character to level 12, Brawny on a Spearman (Using CE, the other Medium armour classes seem to have the same CON growth, capping at 66 with I think maybe 1 ++ level up, or none I don't remember this save is old LOL), their CON will go from 66 to I think 70, so a 10% increase in health (132 vs 146) vs a 12% increase in Armour (25% vs 28%).

So you know what? If you can live without the 2.5% CHC because you're going to up the stat anyway for more CHD? Thick Skinned might not be that horrible of a choice for your Mercs.