Final Thoughts

[Leninade]

Finished a Veteran run with a few additional restrictions to try and get a better idea of balance/add a little more challenge. For the purposes of this post, remember that I did not purchase or upgrade ANY gear. Outside of a few refinements, no gold was spent. This also means Mel's ability is largely useless, since I'm not really spending any gold.

This is gonna be long, so apologies in advance.

General Balance

Although intentional, there's a huge emphasis on positioning to deal with many of the difficult encounters in the game. This means that classes/items that can refresh abilities are among the most powerful in the game. This isn't necessarily a bad thing - given the mass of enemies you face on Veteran, it's necessary. What it does mean is the other classes don't feel as good to use. However, no crits or damage ranges does mean that it's generally pretty consistent to calculate how much damage you'll take or how many enemies you'll engage in a turn.

Gear allocation from the game is actually pretty sparse, particularly toward the late game. Notably, you don't get Crucible round or tower shields, but receive 2 kite shields. Weapons are a bit hit or miss. Most of them will have at least 1 drop, but there are a few gaps, mostly on the 2H weapons, IIRC.

Stat growths in general feel pretty fine for most of the popular core characters. I only ever moved a growth item once in the playthrough (swapping the SKL ring to SPD ring on Slyker).

XP balance is OK, but it does feel like the game incentivizes prioritizing certain units, which leads to some units gobbling up most of the XP and some other units falling behind. The one exception to this is related to healers. XP gain on healing is reeeeeally bad. By the end of the game, the highest level I had on a healer was 23. I used 3 different units, and 1 of them never hit the T3 promotion because they got such low XP. However, they're also the easiest unit to cheese for XP growth by parking next to a unit and healing them over and over. In order to get them enough XP it feels like this is almost necessary, either by delaying chapter completion to get as many heals as possible or straight up cheesing XP gain.

Gold consumption is manageable, but it does feel like some meta-gaming is required to make the right choices. The fact that I manged to beat Veteran without any refining or purchasing of weapons means that it's not really necessary, but if you don't know how to play more optimally, it feels like you can end up building a weapon that ultimately isn't that useful, which can be the difference between a good unit vs. a dead unit.

Lastly, the final choice you make in the game means that if you aren't cheesing XP, any XP gained by that character is wasted. By the end of the game, my sacrificial character had gotten to the grand level of 15. The dead weight wasn't really that bad, but I do think this dynamic hurts subsequent playthroughs. The replacement units at the end are certainly strong, but once you know its happening its a question of whether or not you favor other units to make sure all resources are used as efficiently as possible.

Weapon Balance

Suffice to say, swords are king in this game. They provide bonuses to attack and hit just for having mastery above C, which equates to +4/+20 at SS rank. Couple this with the flank bonus, if you have any mobility, then you most likely will want to be able to use swords. Zweihander in particular is probably in the top 2 or 3 weapons in the game.

Axes are also extremely powerful. I'd wager that the Long Axe Finn comes with is probably the best weapon in the game, and Benjen with the Warhammer deletes Defender units. That said, these tend to feel more like specialized tools looking for specific problems to solve than anything. Ignoring DEF can be replicated with flank attacks, same with ignoring block. This makes the loss of HIT early on a little tough to deal with, and in the late game, makes poor SKL growths pretty brutal.

Spears feel like the red-headed step child in this game. They're low damage/high hit, but towards the end of the game, usually stat growths mean more than smaller weapon bonuses. If you're using a spear, chances are it's a unique one that comes with a special passive/skill.

Bows are pretty straightforward, but the shortbow and longbow feel a bit underwhelming compared to other options. Horn bow can hit up to 3 enemies, and regular bows can be enhanced with the END enhancement to turn Abigail into a missile launcher.

Class Balance

Base growths do tend to dictate that Skirmishers need to become Assassins, though. They generally have enough SPD and SKL to land most hits, but very weak STR, so they need the sword + assassin bonus to do real damage. Blademasters require high STR and SKL, meaning that Illyana really feels like the only good option there as she gets the STR ring for most of the game. Rangers feel fairly awkward to use - some maps their toolset is useless, others it feels like they can move across half the map in one turn.

I do have a slightly different opinion on defensive units now from this run, but with a huge caveat. Defensive units all have very bad SPD growths, meaning they will almost always be doubled, if not tripled. This means that every point of DEF is worth 2x or 3x on a faster unit. So if you toss the DEF ring on Arnold immediately, you can eventually get his DEF so high he can't be damaged without being flanked. As for class selection, only the taunting options really make sense. Generally speaking DEF growths are pretty poor on almost every other character (with a few exceptions), so getting a few extra points generally doesn't mean much. However, the group taunt skill has a fun caveat because XP is assigned per enemy hit. CH18 can get you 1/2 - 2/3 of a level with a single skill usage at level 35. As for overall use - I found using 1 to slow down the enemy on one side makes it easier for weaker units (because my gear is sub-optimal) to reposition for easier kills. Of the 3 units available, Douglas is 100% the best option skill wise, so it comes down to DEF growths on the other units if you switch. A few extra points of DEF > any of the defender base skills, because you're not using them for damage.

Axe users are a mixed bag. Benjen's comical STR growth, higher SKL growth, and Resolute skill make him a single hit monster as a Warrior. Finn is obviously an absolute beast as well. Sven and Kaelith have a much tougher time. Kaelith is like a worse Marcus, and Sven requires either a turn of setup to apply Fear, or someone else to prime an enemy to have a decent hit chance. Overall I'd say the Warrior and Raider classes are decently balanced with each other (skill to do large damage twice, or consistent but lesser damage bonuses on kills), with hero being not as great, except for the weapon proficiencies. T3 classes pretty much pushes you to Warlord. It has the ability to refresh a turn, and also full heal + fortify itself. The other classes do not compare.

Lance users are mostly choosing between Lancer/Marshal or Scout/Commando. You could go Hero/Lionheart as well, but I don't find that particular line all that strong comparatively. I personally don't think these units have high enough DEF to justify them risking getting smacked, so they all went Scout/Commando for me. This gives them turn refreshing AND sets up much easier kills for other units. Taunting and Marked are one of the few ways to lower DEF on an enemy, with Marked also increasing your Hit, which is incredible. This pairs really well with archers as well.

Archers I found were best served as Scout/Commando as well. I used Abi and Ajax (END enhance and Horn bow). This gives me up to 3 sources of marked per turn, with the ability to spread it between grouped enemies, making it easier to mop up with other units. Longbow/Sniper could be interesting, but I find that turn refreshing is more powerful than deleting a single, non-elite unit. Hunter/Ranger has the same issue that you don't always have access to bushes/mushrooms in places that make sense for your engagements. This makes Scout/Commando the best synergy in a team.

Lastly, we have healers. As I mentioned before, XP growth is awful for them because they all have horrible stat growths. In terms of skills, Acolyte/Enlightened is hands down the best option. Crusader/Paladin could maybe work with Cedric, but as mentioned before, horrible stat growths make that a risky proposition. Priest/Saint feels pretty niche, and actually makes it more difficult to level your priest by full healing a unit instead of taking multiple turns. Also, turn refreshing is a fairly broken skill, so Acolyte is extremely hard to beat, especially in the mid game. Late game, the Enlightened nerf does harm its overall usefulness, but it can still massively accelerate your front line by launching units forward, then refreshing their turns to mow down the first line of enemies.

Story

In general I think the story is fine. The character arcs generally make sense and the story beats aren't out of nowhere and make sense in-universe. However, it does feel like the difference between Marcus/Illyana at the end feels a little more contrived on Marcus' end. Why would someone who is so upset at the killing of innocents side with Crawford, the guy who instigated a war to gain power? Once August is dead, isn't the civil war essentially over as Rickard has the rightful claim to the throne - eliminating the need to do the extreme acts that turned him away in the first place?

Final Final Thoughts

Honestly - fantastic game. I think the game is pretty well balanced around normal mode (which it should be), and assuming a blind playthrough, you probably won't put yourself through as much hardship as I did to myself. None of the unit deaths I've had ever felt like anything but my fault, which is good.

I do think some QOL improvements for restarting chapters would be nice (100% survival permadeath is pretty painful right now). I do think with the number of people finishing Veteran that maybe it'd be interesting to do a Hardcore mode - no resets, permadeath. Would potentially give some lesser used units potential use cases as well.

Thanks for the hard work, and constant bug fixes!

[eturulja]

That's a very interesting challenge run, good to see you can still beat it with just what's given to you through weapons. Surprised you were able to do it without a single upgrade though, but kudos! I think your analysis of the weapons later in the game is pretty in line with my thoughts.

At the late game your HIT chances are probably pretty good, and you're not relying on counter-attacks as much because how powerful your player phases become, so lances drop off a bit as that is where their advantages lie. This could potentially be remedied by stronger AVD units as enemies, but the backstab/flanks in the late game help a lot with those as well.

I think the availability of turn refreshes help tilt the balance towards classes that have them. Might look into potentially making them harder to trigger, but it's also fun imo to have stronger player phases as it feels like more agency is in the player's hands.

Really happy you enjoyed the game enough to try a second run with restrictions, love hearing if things like this are possible or not. Thank you for sharing your thoughts going through it again!!

[Leninade]

I think the main thing is less that turn refreshes are powerful, it's that not having them makes you feel less powerful.

For the main damage dealer classes, if there was a way to tie in a turn refreshing ability to an existing ability, that would probably feel better than nerfing the existing classes abilities. All of them can only trigger once per turn and have conditions so even hitting all of them (stiletto, elk effigy, blademaster for example) is difficult. I honestly don't think I ever used Mithra's idol once, either.

As for the 0 upgrades, I think that comes down to the fact that certain unique weapons and primarily back stabs are so powerful. This 100% would not be possible without the bonus to ignore DEF of a unit on a flanking hit because some elite defender units are too tanky otherwise. This is also why Assassins were so strong for me.

[Lampros]

Originally posted by Leninade:

Although intentional, there's a huge emphasis on positioning to deal with many of the difficult encounters in the game. This means that classes/items that can refresh abilities are among the most powerful in the game. This isn't necessarily a bad thing - given the mass of enemies you face on Veteran, it's necessary. What it does mean is the other classes don't feel as good to use.

Precisely my point. This is why the Warlord is the strongest class. It gets the most reliable turn refresh - plus self-heal!

Originally posted by Leninade:

Stat growths in general feel pretty fine for most of the popular core characters. I only ever moved a growth item once in the playthrough (swapping the SKL ring to SPD ring on Slyker),

I'd like Slyker to get a bit more focus on his stat orientation: tilt it wee bit more toward tanking or damage. His stat growth is too much "jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none."

Originally posted by Leninade:

XP balance is OK, but it does feel like the game incentivizes prioritizing certain units, which leads to some units gobbling up most of the XP and some other units falling behind. The one exception to this is related to healers. XP gain on healing is reeeeeally bad.

If an Acolyte gets the item that renews a turn on an incomplete heal, his XP will be okay. But that's just 1 healer, and the other healers do indeed suffer.

Originally posted by Leninade:

Lastly, the final choice you make in the game means that if you aren't cheesing XP, any XP gained by that character is wasted. By the end of the game, my sacrificial character had gotten to the grand level of 15. The dead weight wasn't really that bad, but I do think this dynamic hurts subsequent playthroughs. The replacement units at the end are certainly strong, but once you know its happening its a question of whether or not you favor other units to make sure all resources are used as efficiently as possible.

The choice to lose character is indeed a horrible mechanic, but I ignore the XP wastage though. There is still enough to go around for you not to hoard it.

Originally posted by Leninade:

Suffice to say, swords are king in this game. They provide bonuses to attack and hit just for having mastery above C, which equates to +4/+20 at SS rank. Couple this with the flank bonus, if you have any mobility, then you most likely will want to be able to use swords. Zweihander in particular is probably in the top 2 or 3 weapons in the game.

Absolutely. Both Marcus and Finn - my co-MVPs and primary hybrid DPS/tanks - only use 2H swords.

Originally posted by Leninade:

Axes are also extremely powerful. I'd wager that the Long Axe Finn comes with is probably the best weapon in the game, and Benjen with the Warhammer deletes Defender units. That said, these tend to feel more like specialized tools looking for specific problems to solve than anything. Ignoring DEF can be replicated with flank attacks, same with ignoring block. This makes the loss of HIT early on a little tough to deal with, and in the late game, makes poor SKL growths pretty brutal.

I've found 2H axes wholly unnecessary on both Marcus and Finn. If you can always kill 2 characters a turn at minimum with 2H swords (which can multi-hit AND give you higher avoidance), then why use anything else?

Originally posted by Leninade:

Spears feel like the red-headed step child in this game. They're low damage/high hit, but towards the end of the game, usually stat growths mean more than smaller weapon bonuses. If you're using a spear, chances are it's a unique one that comes with a special passive/skill.

They are the worst indeed, but not that far behind axes in my opinion.

Originally posted by Leninade:

I do have a slightly different opinion on defensive units now from this run, but with a huge caveat. Defensive units all have very bad SPD growths, meaning they will almost always be doubled, if not tripled. This means that every point of DEF is worth 2x or 3x on a faster unit. So if you toss the DEF ring on Arnold immediately, you can eventually get his DEF so high he can't be damaged without being flanked. As for class selection, only the taunting options really make sense. Generally speaking DEF growths are pretty poor on almost every other character (with a few exceptions), so getting a few extra points generally doesn't mean much. However, the group taunt skill has a fun caveat because XP is assigned per enemy hit. CH18 can get you 1/2 - 2/3 of a level with a single skill usage at level 35. As for overall use - I found using 1 to slow down the enemy on one side makes it easier for weaker units (because my gear is sub-optimal) to reposition for easier kills. Of the 3 units available, Douglas is 100% the best option skill wise, so it comes down to DEF growths on the other units if you switch. A few extra points of DEF > any of the defender base skills, because you're not using them for damage.

The Defender-based classes are the worst-designed classes for multiple reasons. I do think Arland is better than Douglas in practice (if you only use 1 Defender-based class like I do), because you likely will have higher level and thus higher Defense with Arland by the time you get Douglas.

Originally posted by Leninade:

Axe users are a mixed bag. Benjen's comical STR growth, higher SKL growth, and Resolute skill make him a single hit monster as a Warrior. Finn is obviously an absolute beast as well. Sven and Kaelith have a much tougher time. Kaelith is like a worse Marcus, and Sven requires either a turn of setup to apply Fear, or someone else to prime an enemy to have a decent hit chance. Overall I'd say the Warrior and Raider classes are decently balanced with each other (skill to do large damage twice, or consistent but lesser damage bonuses on kills), with hero being not as great, except for the weapon proficiencies. T3 classes pretty much pushes you to Warlord. It has the ability to refresh a turn, and also full heal + fortify itself. The other classes do not compare.

None of these damage-oriented characters that require items to hit things work well - and that includes even Skirmisher-based classes such as Reyson and Cassidy.

Originally posted by Leninade:

Lance users are mostly choosing between Lancer/Marshal or Scout/Commando. You could go Hero/Lionheart as well, but I don't find that particular line all that strong comparatively. I personally don't think these units have high enough DEF to justify them risking getting smacked, so they all went Scout/Commando for me. This gives them turn refreshing AND sets up much easier kills for other units. Taunting and Marked are one of the few ways to lower DEF on an enemy, with Marked also increasing your Hit, which is incredible. This pairs really well with archers as well.

Lancer/Marshal worked for me and DK. But for me I had to use a tower shield and forgo a polearm.

Originally posted by Leninade:

Archers I found were best served as Scout/Commando as well. I used Abi and Ajax (END enhance and Horn bow). This gives me up to 3 sources of marked per turn, with the ability to spread it between grouped enemies, making it easier to mop up with other units. Longbow/Sniper could be interesting, but I find that turn refreshing is more powerful than deleting a single, non-elite unit. Hunter/Ranger has the same issue that you don't always have access to bushes/mushrooms in places that make sense for your engagements. This makes Scout/Commando the best synergy in a team.

I don't agree. The Ranger's capacity to one-shot most things is invaluable - especially if you run an undermanned crew like I do.

Originally posted by Leninade:

Lastly, we have healers. As I mentioned before, XP growth is awful for them because they all have horrible stat growths. In terms of skills, Acolyte/Enlightened is hands down the best option. Crusader/Paladin could maybe work with Cedric, but as mentioned before, horrible stat growths make that a risky proposition. Priest/Saint feels pretty niche, and actually makes it more difficult to level your priest by full healing a unit instead of taking multiple turns. Also, turn refreshing is a fairly broken skill, so Acolyte is extremely hard to beat, especially in the mid game. Late game, the Enlightened nerf does harm its overall usefulness, but it can still massively accelerate your front line by launching units forward, then refreshing their turns to mow down the first line of enemies.

I can't get the new Enlightened to work and will never use one again in its current state.

[Leninade]

Originally posted by Lampros:

Precisely my point. This is why the Warlord is the strongest class. It gets the most reliable turn refresh - plus self-heal!

Yeah, if they're not #1, certainly at least #2. Assassins I think have the easiest to trigger turn refresh + insane flanking bonuses, but requires a bit more careful playing, which can get you stuck for a bit as opposed to just plowing through with a Warlord. So I guess Assassin is #1 for me in open maps, Warlord on narrow maps.

Originally posted by Lampros:

I'd like Slyker to get a bit more focus on his stat orientation: tilt it wee bit more toward tanking or damage. His stat growth is too much "jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none."

I honestly think that Slyker having better DEF growths would be much better from a unit perspective. He gives bonuses to hit in a 2 tile radius around him, so ideally you'd like to sit him in the middle of a bunch of enemies so everyone else can go to town. As it is, he's too squishy to make much use of that, unless you pair him with archers.

Originally posted by Lampros:

If an Acolyte gets the item that renews a turn on an incomplete heal, his XP will be okay. But that's just 1 healer, and the other healers do indeed suffer.

Even with Phoebe holding that item as long as possible, she only got to roughly level 24 with very minimal grinding on earlier chapters. I think the lack of XP scaling (similar to Finn's skill) means that the constant flow of XP as units get injured will leave them behind units who regularly get kills. Counter-intuitively, the better you play, the less your healers can do to get XP in safe ways.

Originally posted by Lampros:

The choice to lose character is indeed a horrible mechanic, but I ignore the XP wastage though. There is still enough to go around for you not to hoard it.

I'm of 2 minds here. You get them for 19 chapters otherwise and they're required for every mission, so it does seem kind of silly to hold off on that just to have a payoff on the final chapter that isn't really too bad compared to prior ones. But if you do hold off on leveling that unit, it means other units can get even more XP, and then you swap out dead weight for a level 35 unit for free, meaning you can potentially get a few extra levels across multiple characters.

Originally posted by Lampros:

I've found 2H axes wholly unnecessary on both Marcus and Finn. If you can always kill 2 characters a turn at minimum with 2H swords (which can multi-hit AND give you higher avoidance), then why use anything else?

Long Axe is hands down the best single target weapon in the game. Axes ignore 25% of DEF, 2H axes ignore shield, and Long Axe in particular gets first strike, which is otherwise exclusive to lances. That said, absolutely agree on greatswords otherwise. Axes ironically feel like they're meant to snipe very specific enemy units.

Originally posted by Lampros:

They are the worst indeed, but not that far behind axes in my opinion.

Something I forgot to mention in my main post is that 2H weapons of all classes are crazy good compared to 1H versions. I used the poleaxe on Illyana as a Blademaster and was very pleasantly surprised when trying to get Elk Effigy procs.

Originally posted by Lampros:

The Defender-based classes are the worst-designed classes for multiple reasons. I do think Arland is better than Douglas in practice (if you only use 1 Defender-based class like I do), because you likely will have higher level and thus higher Defense with Arland by the time you get Douglas.

I think the main issue is that because all damage is calculated against DEF, it means that defenders can have pretty much garbage growths in everything except DEF and still perform essentially just as good. This means that Rho and Douglas's unique skills are not super useful because chances are they're not going to be able to do much damage. That said - weighted enhancements exist, and are perfect for our slower units.

Originally posted by Lampros:

None of these damage-oriented characters that require items to hit things work well - and that includes even Skirmisher-based classes such as Reyson and Cassidy.

I agree here. This is another reason why Assassins are so strong. They turn high SKL, high SPD, middling STR growth characters into monsters by adding 6 - 12 damage per attack. Blademasters in particular feel really weird given the unit selection. Their turn refresh doesn't work unless they get kills, and if you're not flanking, then it ends up being very avoidable, especially with fast enemies. So now you need high STR and SKL to proc the turn refresh, which no sword units really fit the bill for.

Originally posted by Lampros:

Lancer/Marshal worked for me and DK. But for me I had to use a tower shield and forgo a polearm.

For many of the classes, it's less that I feel that they aren't strong, but not as strong as another option.

Originally posted by Lampros:

I don't agree. The Ranger's capacity to one-shot most things is invaluable - especially if you run an undermanned crew like I do.

My main qualm with this is that if you're doing that, then you're spending 1 unit to kill 1 unit. If you have a unit that can turn refresh, then you can get better than a 1:1 ratio fairly regularly there. I personally feel like that leads to more consistency in fights than being able to delete a problematic unit.

Originally posted by Lampros:

I can't get the new Enlightened to work and will never use one again in its current state.

The biggest thing is putting them on the front line spaced a little bit apart to rocket your units up by an extra 2 - 3 spaces. Once the first wave of engagements is over, you generally have most of your primary damage dealers with their turns already over. You then move your Enlightened up to your damage dealers (often to heal). Next turn you then get a little boost. Still a major downgrade, but still better than other options, I think. There's also some niche use if you're Assassin heavy like I tend to be, as it can make getting to an enemies flank significantly easier. Acolyte is still the bigger class choice.

[Lampros]

Originally posted by Leninade:

Yeah, if they're not #1, certainly at least #2. Assassins I think have the easiest to trigger turn refresh + insane flanking bonuses, but requires a bit more careful playing, which can get you stuck for a bit as opposed to just plowing through with a Warlord. So I guess Assassin is #1 for me in open maps, Warlord on narrow maps.

I am not sure it's easier. You probably need some sort of extra movement buff to ensure it to trigger every turn (e.g. Enlightened passive, extra movement boots, Acolyte active, etc.) And then there's the fundamental point, captured in RPG lingo, that "dead DPS does no DPS." To trigger that turn refresh, you often need to put the character at risk. I am risk-averse, so it's not for me. And it's certainly a less beginner-friendly way to play.

Originally posted by Leninade:

I honestly think that Slyker having better DEF growths would be much better from a unit perspective. He gives bonuses to hit in a 2 tile radius around him, so ideally you'd like to sit him in the middle of a bunch of enemies so everyone else can go to town. As it is, he's too squishy to make much use of that, unless you pair him with archers.

I wholly agree. Nonetheless, employing a tower shield was currently a temporary solution - especially after I got the refinement that gives you the ability to refresh shielding.

Originally posted by Leninade:

Even with Phoebe holding that item as long as possible, she only got to roughly level 24 with very minimal grinding on earlier chapters. I think the lack of XP scaling (similar to Finn's skill) means that the constant flow of XP as units get injured will leave them behind units who regularly get kills. Counter-intuitively, the better you play, the less your healers can do to get XP in safe ways.

She got to level 32 for me (as opposed to Cedric's level 29). No XP-farming, but I did run a 12-man squad.

Originally posted by Leninade:

Long Axe is hands down the best single target weapon in the game. Axes ignore 25% of DEF, 2H axes ignore shield, and Long Axe in particular gets first strike, which is otherwise exclusive to lances. That said, absolutely agree on greatswords otherwise. Axes ironically feel like they're meant to snipe very specific enemy units.

This one is a close call. I still prefer the defensive buff and the capacity to hit 2 targets that a 2H sword grants. But I do carry a long axe on Finn.

Originally posted by Leninade:

For many of the classes, it's less that I feel that they aren't strong, but not as strong as another option.

I agree, with a few exceptions. But then it's a stupendous task to balance so many classes!

Originally posted by Leninade:

My main qualm with this is that if you're doing that, then you're spending 1 unit to kill 1 unit. If you have a unit that can turn refresh, then you can get better than a 1:1 ratio fairly regularly there. I personally feel like that leads to more consistency in fights than being able to delete a problematic unit.

You might be right in most maps, but there are certain maps with a concentration of heavily armored enemies - for instance, chapter 19 (in fact, they are elites to boot!). I find that neither non-Ranger alternative works well here. And I plan my strategy around beating the harder encounters, not trash mobs.

Originally posted by Leninade:

The biggest thing is putting them on the front line spaced a little bit apart to rocket your units up by an extra 2 - 3 spaces. Once the first wave of engagements is over, you generally have most of your primary damage dealers with their turns already over. You then move your Enlightened up to your damage dealers (often to heal). Next turn you then get a little boost. Still a major downgrade, but still better than other options, I think. There's also some niche use if you're Assassin heavy like I tend to be, as it can make getting to an enemies flank significantly easier. Acolyte is still the bigger class choice.

Too much micro-management for this impatient old man! ;)

[Trolleur_Durden]

The item refreshing your turn on an incomplete heal works quite well with Enlightened. Go forward, partially heal someone, get another turn, which reactivates Cartograph. Then you can move everyone else.

Defenders are by far the worst class overall, because they have very low DPS, but aren't that great when it comes to tanking either. You constantly need to be on the lookout not only for 2H axe users who can destroy you, but also polearm users who will always hit your defender twice... and the character behind them, which is often fatal. Same for 2H swords users, albeit it happens more rarely. When I realized that I was looking for ways to protect my tanks, I simply ditched them completely and never looked back. Fighter into Warlords and Soldiers into Marshals are more than enough when it comes to resilience.