Build/Parties build recommendations.

[DaniTheHero]

I played for a few hours and passed through Tiltren, realizing that my party sucks hah. I over priortized DPS, and made almost everyone a 2Handed chad, with doesn't to work anymore once you're going against super armored and shielded enemies.
It seems that I don't have the right combination of classes, and I also leveled up the wrong things. I can call this a trial run, but I don't think I learned enough to really properly retry and make a better build.

Is there a sort of agreed upon recommended party composition? What classes to hire and what builds to provide them?

[Solstius]

Originally posted by mikejunt:

Originally posted by Solstius:

Yeah it's exactly that.

Also, with the game now out of Early Access, the Swordsman line got some really nifty 1 Handers to work with now. That Strongblade is a prime example amongst the best. Combined with a Paladin's Shield, you essentially hit twice with your normal attack. Make the target get poisoned and bleed on top of that, you hit em 4 times. Watching the Swordsman hack at the enemy constantly is sick

Unfortunately I've been playing in Region-locked so the idea of ever finding a non-crafted or legendary item that's high enough level to use is basically a pipe dream until my characters hit level 11 and I can pick stuff up in Drombach.

Even Grinmeer loot is worse than Rimesteel in region-locked. Almost all of the other faction items are wholly worthless, because you can never get them at equivalent level and quality.

Anyway I thing I really like is how a lot of these characters can be defined by an associated item, so you're really encouraged to diversify your roster. The warrior with Nefti's Axe is better than any Destroyer Brute. But the 2nd one is probably not better than the Destroyer Brute with Erkeshet's Wrath and its automatic crits, especially when it can, if you need it to, jump in there and toss in that Vulnerable debuff.

There's very few weapon types with more than one really strong legendary (1h axes might be closest, but I don't really think Victorious or the one from Bionn that give Rage stacks are really competitive).

You could just give a Destroyer a 2 Hander with solid utility and/or damage. Like Dagan's Hammer for instance. I still have my main Destroyer wield Dagan's Hammer while wearing Heavy Armour. He doesn't die easily and dishes out alot of dmg.

[mikejunt]

Originally posted by Solstius:

Originally posted by mikejunt:

Unfortunately I've been playing in Region-locked so the idea of ever finding a non-crafted or legendary item that's high enough level to use is basically a pipe dream until my characters hit level 11 and I can pick stuff up in Drombach.

Even Grinmeer loot is worse than Rimesteel in region-locked. Almost all of the other faction items are wholly worthless, because you can never get them at equivalent level and quality.

Anyway I thing I really like is how a lot of these characters can be defined by an associated item, so you're really encouraged to diversify your roster. The warrior with Nefti's Axe is better than any Destroyer Brute. But the 2nd one is probably not better than the Destroyer Brute with Erkeshet's Wrath and its automatic crits, especially when it can, if you need it to, jump in there and toss in that Vulnerable debuff.

There's very few weapon types with more than one really strong legendary (1h axes might be closest, but I don't really think Victorious or the one from Bionn that give Rage stacks are really competitive).

You could just give a Destroyer a 2 Hander with solid utility and/or damage. Like Dagan's Hammer for instance. I still have my main Destroyer wield Dagan's Hammer while wearing Heavy Armour. He doesn't die easily and dishes out alot of dmg.

I really hate that weapon because it's so, so bad if it isn't hitting two targets. I really like my 2h Destroyers in Smasher because they have the follow-up AOE attack to use after they get their Mobility buff from destroying their first target's armor. It lets them output similar AOE damage to a 2h warrior with Recklessness. and it is still good against boss targets, whereas Dagan's Hammer just can't be used effectively for eliminating a single hard target (like an enemy tank).

It's not as bad as Lucilla, but overall I was really unimpressed with most of the legendary 2handers. Alexa Grathan's axe is really frustrating because the specialty of 2h warriors is AOE damage with recklessness and it neuters it, but it does make them into an incredible single-target damage dealer (Prep the target for an automatic crit, let the Warrior Recklessness into it, see 200+ stacks of the debuff appear).

One of my complaints is that for every cool and useful upgradable weapon (Nefti's Axe, Strongblade, etc) there's 2 or 3 that are just trash or require you to build your whole party around synergy with them, and then having that synergy not be with crafted items (so your party isn't likely to possess it). The "deals 25% extra for each poison stack" dagger is a good example of this; in theory, it's great, in practice, a Rimesteel dagger is better unless you have a lot of poison elsewhere in your party. Another element of this are the 'looks really cool, almost impossible to have it really be relevant' one, like Haroun/Narses - its almost impossible to proc the attack of opportunity from Mark of Haroun because few things besides elites and arena champions survive being hit by both attacks in order to need the 3rd attack, and Mark of Narses providing huge VP regen is great if you weren't usually needing to use your archers to engage targets that your other characters couldn't reach to melee in the first place, They're great weapons becasue their stats and base attack %s are way better than comparable items, but their abilities are virtually irrelevant. They're just big upgradable stat sticks who might as well not have other abilities in 9 out of 10 combats.

[Solstius]

Originally posted by mikejunt:

Originally posted by Solstius:

You could just give a Destroyer a 2 Hander with solid utility and/or damage. Like Dagan's Hammer for instance. I still have my main Destroyer wield Dagan's Hammer while wearing Heavy Armour. He doesn't die easily and dishes out alot of dmg.

I really hate that weapon because it's so, so bad if it isn't hitting two targets. I really like my 2h Destroyers in Smasher because they have the follow-up AOE attack to use after they get their Mobility buff from destroying their first target's armor. It lets them output similar AOE damage to a 2h warrior with Recklessness. and it is still good against boss targets, whereas Dagan's Hammer just can't be used effectively for eliminating a single hard target (like an enemy tank).

It's not as bad as Lucilla, but overall I was really unimpressed with most of the legendary 2handers. Alexa Grathan's axe is really frustrating because the specialty of 2h warriors is AOE damage with recklessness and it neuters it, but it does make them into an incredible single-target damage dealer (Prep the target for an automatic crit, let the Warrior Recklessness into it, see 200+ stacks of the debuff appear).

One of my complaints is that for every cool and useful upgradable weapon (Nefti's Axe, Strongblade, etc) there's 2 or 3 that are just trash or require you to build your whole party around synergy with them, and then having that synergy not be with crafted items (so your party isn't likely to possess it). The "deals 25% extra for each poison stack" dagger is a good example of this; in theory, it's great, in practice, a Rimesteel dagger is better unless you have a lot of poison elsewhere in your party. Another element of this are the 'looks really cool, almost impossible to have it really be relevant' one, like Haroun/Narses - its almost impossible to proc the attack of opportunity from Mark of Haroun because few things besides elites and arena champions survive being hit by both attacks in order to need the 3rd attack, and Mark of Narses providing huge VP regen is great if you weren't usually needing to use your archers to engage targets that your other characters couldn't reach to melee in the first place, They're great weapons becasue their stats and base attack %s are way better than comparable items, but their abilities are virtually irrelevant. They're just big upgradable stat sticks who might as well not have other abilities in 9 out of 10 combats.

Eh, fair enough. That reasoning applies to most 2 hander weapons though. They often have conditions or caveats of some sort that could make them unwieldy at times. Like, the only exception to this rule is the Berserker.

[mikejunt]

Originally posted by Solstius:

Originally posted by mikejunt:

I really hate that weapon because it's so, so bad if it isn't hitting two targets. I really like my 2h Destroyers in Smasher because they have the follow-up AOE attack to use after they get their Mobility buff from destroying their first target's armor. It lets them output similar AOE damage to a 2h warrior with Recklessness. and it is still good against boss targets, whereas Dagan's Hammer just can't be used effectively for eliminating a single hard target (like an enemy tank).

It's not as bad as Lucilla, but overall I was really unimpressed with most of the legendary 2handers. Alexa Grathan's axe is really frustrating because the specialty of 2h warriors is AOE damage with recklessness and it neuters it, but it does make them into an incredible single-target damage dealer (Prep the target for an automatic crit, let the Warrior Recklessness into it, see 200+ stacks of the debuff appear).

One of my complaints is that for every cool and useful upgradable weapon (Nefti's Axe, Strongblade, etc) there's 2 or 3 that are just trash or require you to build your whole party around synergy with them, and then having that synergy not be with crafted items (so your party isn't likely to possess it). The "deals 25% extra for each poison stack" dagger is a good example of this; in theory, it's great, in practice, a Rimesteel dagger is better unless you have a lot of poison elsewhere in your party. Another element of this are the 'looks really cool, almost impossible to have it really be relevant' one, like Haroun/Narses - its almost impossible to proc the attack of opportunity from Mark of Haroun because few things besides elites and arena champions survive being hit by both attacks in order to need the 3rd attack, and Mark of Narses providing huge VP regen is great if you weren't usually needing to use your archers to engage targets that your other characters couldn't reach to melee in the first place, They're great weapons becasue their stats and base attack %s are way better than comparable items, but their abilities are virtually irrelevant. They're just big upgradable stat sticks who might as well not have other abilities in 9 out of 10 combats.

Eh, fair enough. That reasoning applies to most 2 hander weapons though. They often have conditions or caveats of some sort that could make them unwieldy at times. Like, the only exception to this rule is the Berserker.

I wouldn't disagree, the best 2h axes and maces are crafted, more or less universally. The best everything is crafted most of the time, especially in armor, which is pretty disappointing because it makes character progression very spikey and flat

The 2h sword from the Arena in Grinmeer MIGHT be better than a crafted sword, because it's got a full 360 degree arc and if you can make them run into anything the damage bonus is enormous (the accessory that doubles your knockback is pretty nice with it)

Cleave, Maim and Ram are just kind of the best 2h skills in general (sizable arcs and good multipliers of strength, except for Ram which has 50% bonus as long as they still have armor, which is what Brutes are for)

[Kai]

lv7 mystic (purple) path lets you access a second oil for your weapon and that's massive.

One of those 1h axes that applies oil effect all the time with natural strike can use two of the explosive oils to do 10% direct damage to hp every hit...
put that on a berserker and you cut up 30% max hp in one valor point.

For pure crit characters, you can pretty much give them two crit boosting oils for +20% and give them many skills that has bonuses with crits.
crit damage will go off the charts even more if it is a brute that is anti-armor as well, since you have passives to ignore 50% guard, and increase armor damage by 35% and gain brutality and inspiration for power and movespeed buff once you destroy armor.

Also apparently you can spam resting to try to get the random event where you gain attribute points to spend.

[Solstius]

Originally posted by Kai:

lv7 mystic (purple) path lets you access a second oil for your weapon and that's massive.

One of those 1h axes that applies oil effect all the time with natural strike can use two of the explosive oils to do 10% direct damage to hp every hit...
put that on a berserker and you cut up 30% max hp in one valor point.

For pure crit characters, you can pretty much give them two crit boosting oils for +20% and give them many skills that has bonuses with crits.
crit damage will go off the charts even more if it is a brute that is anti-armor as well, since you have passives to ignore 50% guard, and increase armor damage by 35% and gain brutality and inspiration for power and movespeed buff once you destroy armor.

Also apparently you can spam resting to try to get the random event where you gain attribute points to spend.

Simple Rest spam isn't gunna net you a chance for more Attribute points. You have to meet certain conditions with certain units to be able to proc those. Like say... a unit regularly kills off a third or more of hostile mobs every battle before you rest. Then yeah, you have a chance at getting some Attribute points.

Also, just wanna confirm with everyone here, can you actually get more Attribute points on a unit even though said unit has hit the level cap? Just wanna make sure

[Hex]

Hey!
Here's a guide on the starting options if decided to restart.

https://youtu.be/6Kiy5QRU4wc

A guided walkthrough with very useful tips for new players

https://youtu.be/3h8vLgck4uA


And finally showcase of endgame composition

https://youtu.be/rGQ-PRcMRCQ

Hope that helps. Let me know if you have questions

[mikejunt]

Originally posted by Solstius:

Originally posted by Kai:

lv7 mystic (purple) path lets you access a second oil for your weapon and that's massive.

One of those 1h axes that applies oil effect all the time with natural strike can use two of the explosive oils to do 10% direct damage to hp every hit...
put that on a berserker and you cut up 30% max hp in one valor point.

For pure crit characters, you can pretty much give them two crit boosting oils for +20% and give them many skills that has bonuses with crits.
crit damage will go off the charts even more if it is a brute that is anti-armor as well, since you have passives to ignore 50% guard, and increase armor damage by 35% and gain brutality and inspiration for power and movespeed buff once you destroy armor.

Also apparently you can spam resting to try to get the random event where you gain attribute points to spend.

Simple Rest spam isn't gunna net you a chance for more Attribute points. You have to meet certain conditions with certain units to be able to proc those. Like say... a unit regularly kills off a third or more of hostile mobs every battle before you rest. Then yeah, you have a chance at getting some Attribute points.

Also, just wanna confirm with everyone here, can you actually get more Attribute points on a unit even though said unit has hit the level cap? Just wanna make sure

You're right that just resting won't be enough, but I do think that multiple rests can help. I find that events routinely trigger 2-3 rests after the event in question, which can be really noticable for things like injury events or responses to cleaning a rat nest. So I would believe that you could probably maximize your chances by doing 2-3 battles that meet that criteria and then resting several times to see if it happens or not before repeating the process.

I don't know that it's that big a deal, though, as it'd be pretty tedious and one or two extra boosts really doesn't do much - it's less than the random statistical variation of new characters to begin with.

[Solstius]

Originally posted by mikejunt:

Originally posted by Solstius:

Simple Rest spam isn't gunna net you a chance for more Attribute points. You have to meet certain conditions with certain units to be able to proc those. Like say... a unit regularly kills off a third or more of hostile mobs every battle before you rest. Then yeah, you have a chance at getting some Attribute points.

Also, just wanna confirm with everyone here, can you actually get more Attribute points on a unit even though said unit has hit the level cap? Just wanna make sure

You're right that just resting won't be enough, but I do think that multiple rests can help. I find that events routinely trigger 2-3 rests after the event in question, which can be really noticable for things like injury events or responses to cleaning a rat nest. So I would believe that you could probably maximize your chances by doing 2-3 battles that meet that criteria and then resting several times to see if it happens or not before repeating the process.

I don't know that it's that big a deal, though, as it'd be pretty tedious and one or two extra boosts really doesn't do much - it's less than the random statistical variation of new characters to begin with.

Yeah well, one of the characters that I managed to recruit at Tiltren has garnered at least 5-6 attribute points.

[The Hat]

So far I am finding I like archers and tanks a lot. I can lock up difficult targets with a tank and then pick off priority targets with the archers from safety. I have two a protector and a fighter which generally lock down either the tougher opponents or push forward to the center to tie up whoever I can, like an enemy bomber.

Speaking of archers, I am at level 4-5. On the flanks or spotting a regular unit I want down fast, like the bomber. The single-handed destroyer, not only has heavy armor + shield but can obliterate many enemies using three attacks, with a net loss of 1 valor. Generating 1 valour and spending two ending with fury. - Annihilation - Weakening Blow - Wrath. Valorous Duel for the 1 Valour point. - Not the DPS of a swordsman, but with more durability.

I keep wanting to try spearmen as I can see against me they are dangerous, also apparently from what people are saying they make good captains, but i've not found one with good traits yet.

The two other benefits of having 2-3 with high constitution is you hardly ever die, and your carry weight is better. You do spend more on armor repairs though.

Got my first animal an alpha wolf which looks a nice DPS'er, especially when the camp is surprised on rest. *It self heals too which is helpful.

[WingT74]

Rule of thumb - 50% of your squad (including animals) need to be tanks with either heavy armor, or medium armor and shield.

[Olleus]

Originally posted by Reften:

Rule of thumb - 50% of your squad (including animals) need to be tanks with either heavy armor, or medium armor and shield.

I could hardly disagree more strongly.

Rule of thumb: 50% of your party needs to be spearmen with spear walls. What's better than absorbing damage with high block and lots of armour? Not letting the enemy deal any damage in the first place. That's 100% damage negation right there.

The best way of avoiding damage is to kill enemy units before it's their turn: not too hard to do for most soft units by looking at the turn order. The 2nd best way is not be in range of their movement + attack: not too hard to do against most slow units by deploying carefully, looking at the move order and how far they can move, and using terrain or their own units against them. Third best way is to interrupt their movement with spear wall: either by guessing where they'll run towards and stopping them there (Dutch system), or by aggressively closing in and putting the spear wall area of effect directly over them (Swiss system). And then wwaaaayyyy down the list in 17th place is putting someone with armour and a shield to take the damage. Because when you're outnumbered and out-levelled even your beefiest tank will suffer a lot - if nothing else it will cost tons in repairs.

If you're on roughly numerical parity and rough level parity, it is entirely possible to simply not let the enemy ever land a single hit. Even when their 3 levels higher and outnumbering you by 50%, it's possible to limit it to the occasional archer's punch or tank's weak attack. You'll never face tougher than that in Adaptive, but if you are Region-Locked and aren't grinding like hell (or recruiting ad nauseam) then you might face enemies 5 levels higher than you with a 2:1 numerical advantage. Preventing them hitting you still works very well there, but trying to tank it will end you in a round or two.

Or, to put it another way, don't try to out tank a group of 4 Polar Bears at level 14, each of whom have more HP than an entire parties worth of armour and health.

[My Killer Shack]

Originally posted by MaruWeave:

I really like going with 3 tanks.
1 Brute - Destroyer / Valourous Duel / Opportunism / Temperance / Intervention / Defensive Riposte
2 Swordsmen - 1 Fighter ~ 1 Protector / Valorous Duel / 1 Bulwark ~ 1 Daring / Hardcore Training / Intervention / Defensive Riposte
-
2 Rangers - Poisoner / Deadly Contract / Low Blow / Unstoppable / Decisive Manoeuvere
-
2 Archers - Hunter / Precision / Thrill of the Hunt / Lone Wolf / Second-Weapon
-
1 Two Handed Axe - Executioner / Valourous Chain / Recklessness / Battle Cry / Alacrity / Daredevil
-
1 Two Handed Swordsman - Swordmaster / Valorous Chain / Bulwark / Hardcore Training / Second-Weapon / Zeal
-
1 Spearman (My Captain, Oh Captain - Captain's Skill plus Rallying Cry Is so satisfying). / Valorous Support / Rallying Cry / Sweet Spot / Preparedness / Alacrity / Unstoppable

And can have all professions.

The fun thing about Wartales is that, many things work. I would advise you keep going for different compositions yourself and find what most suits you. I have seen people running spearmen and archers only. Others running Swordsmen and archers only. Others Brute and Rangers with a mix of spearmen. Many, many options there. For me that's the fun in wartales.

I remember running 6 swordsmen myself and they were op.

2 handed axe has felt so underwhelming for me compared to 2h mace

[Solstius]

Originally posted by Olleus:

Originally posted by Reften:

Rule of thumb - 50% of your squad (including animals) need to be tanks with either heavy armor, or medium armor and shield.

I could hardly disagree more strongly.

Rule of thumb: 50% of your party needs to be spearmen with spear walls. What's better than absorbing damage with high block and lots of armour? Not letting the enemy deal any damage in the first place. That's 100% damage negation right there.

The best way of avoiding damage is to kill enemy units before it's their turn: not too hard to do for most soft units by looking at the turn order. The 2nd best way is not be in range of their movement + attack: not too hard to do against most slow units by deploying carefully, looking at the move order and how far they can move, and using terrain or their own units against them. Third best way is to interrupt their movement with spear wall: either by guessing where they'll run towards and stopping them there (Dutch system), or by aggressively closing in and putting the spear wall area of effect directly over them (Swiss system). And then wwaaaayyyy down the list in 17th place is putting someone with armour and a shield to take the damage. Because when you're outnumbered and out-levelled even your beefiest tank will suffer a lot - if nothing else it will cost tons in repairs.

If you're on roughly numerical parity and rough level parity, it is entirely possible to simply not let the enemy ever land a single hit. Even when their 3 levels higher and outnumbering you by 50%, it's possible to limit it to the occasional archer's punch or tank's weak attack. You'll never face tougher than that in Adaptive, but if you are Region-Locked and aren't grinding like hell (or recruiting ad nauseam) then you might face enemies 5 levels higher than you with a 2:1 numerical advantage. Preventing them hitting you still works very well there, but trying to tank it will end you in a round or two.

Or, to put it another way, don't try to out tank a group of 4 Polar Bears at level 14, each of whom have more HP than an entire parties worth of armour and health.

Provided everything turns out to be ideal. Look everyone can rate which method is the best and all but lets not forget that no battle we get into is going to be 100% ideal. People need to understand this point.

See things from a realistic point of view and according to that.

[ambi]

all u need are berserkers. fighters are also a good 2nd choice.