Theorycraft

[Asahida]

So I'm still pretty early on in my playthrough, while with the option to Scout adventurers I feel a bit pressed to min/max (very hard ironman + OCD), but I'm working with quite imperfect information due to the lack of info outside the game.

So for starters I'd like some recommendations of good traits+class combos you can make by scouting your adventurers.

I'm even more so interested in some party leader builds because as far as I understand, I'll be able to setup parties in the future with the leader providing benefits according to his willpower? The consensus seems to be that bards make best leaders so I'll go with one with the born leader trait for one party. But what other classes make great party leaders and what traits should I look out for? Do any of the other stats besides willpower matter for the party leader functions, bravery maybe? What are the stat requirements for a bard? What about for the other hybrid classes? Information seems quite barebones wherever I look unless you reached that part of the game. There's also 0 information on the traits of the story companions which can eventually join your guild, so I'd feel bad already having an adventurer for the role one of them would accomplish.

Lastly, a late game save would also probably help a ton as it would provide me the means of moving forward with perfect information whenever I want to check out a class I haven't unlocked, thus being able to scout the perfect candidate for said class with my current understanding of the game.

[Pure_Poetry]

This is EXACTLY what I humbly tried to tackle in an extensive video I recently made on ALL these topics (Best Traits / Builds / Compo / Stats to look for / Skills to go to / Teamwork skills, etc...). This complements my guide on Steam (where you asked more or less the same thing actually, but I 1st felt doing this in a video would be easier... except it took me 3+ hours :-D !). Feel free to take a look :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmtB2cGeFBs

It is part of a wider "Let's Play" Series, but the video on its own should be self-explanatory (I hope). Sorry for broken english btw.

[Akameka]

Well, for starter :

Imo, the two best (and very rare) passives are :
- Mana core is extremely good on any role, but especially those who burn SP like crazy (arcane knight/mage/healer for exemple
- Talented grant +20% growth on any stats and +30% groth on two random stats (star marked)

Then :
- Born leader is good for party leader (duh)
- Masochist is good on any frontliner. also, they don't mind getting force healed, so you can send them on the field over and over.
- Magicaly deaf is good on any pure tank role (50 magic res) - but no magic for them.
- Same thing with stone skin, but for physical res.
- Kind is great on healers/paladin (+20% heal)
- Light step gives dex growth and +1 movement, so that's nice.
- rational gives +20% growth on the 3 mind stats, so a good thing for bravery/magic oriented builds.
- magically gifted for magic builds
- soldier training and sword gifted for melee builds

After that, any kind of growth bonuses are great. most gives +30%, their evolved version gives +50%

Be carefull, starting stats can be as low as 3 and as high as 7 (8 if boosted by a stat). Growth is more important but, starting low means you'll have to level up more before getting advanced class evolution, and that means less growth factor for thoses starting level.

________________

Then, when you has a good base character, you want to add trainer perks on top of that.

Soon after starting the game, there are 2 DEX trainer, 1 STR trainer and 2 Magic trainers. Any other trainers will require a more trained team to reach so are out of the equation for starting characters.

Thoses are unique. Only one character can have those at a time.
If the character dies, if he leave, if you fire him, or if the training fail, the trainer will become available again later (RNG, can take some time)

You can either divide thoses, or slap them all on a level 1 character to have a MC with monstruous stats.

________________

Then, there are events on the field. thoses gives great bonusses and some are even repeatable. If you really want to min-max, you wanna spam low level mission to get them all with minimal level up.

short - 1 event --> 1 star
medium - 1 or 2 events --> 3 stars
long - 1, 2 or 3 event ? (I guess, I am not there yet) --> 5 or 6 stars

rules of thumbs : Always use the character you want to upgrade to stat check, even if his stats are low. They will be the one benefiting any passive gain or stat increase from event.

Forest :
- Fountain. repeatable. --> gives 1 skill point to one person or +1 Wisdom to everyone
- Muscle man --> gives + 40% strength grow to a charachter with 10+ STR or strong passive.
- puppy wolf --> A kind character can get him. Rest a day after the mission and he should be healed and now gives a great passive.
- The talking sword. --> bad at first but can be upgraded into a very powerful two handed sword
- A few +1 wisdom events
- adventurer's notes --> a few stats increase for the reader.

Cave :
- Magic cristal --> gives 3rd magical eye (true vision and a few intel or dex stat growth if I remember well.

Old castle :
- Posessed body --> giives posessed trait, +20% all stats growth except wisdom
- Pilfering bodies --> gives a trait that grant more loot
- Necromanacer encounter --> get his book (+30% INT groth). You can pass the book between characters before they lvl up, effectively granting +30 INT growth to every character of the guild.

Hunt necromancer quest (3*) : Go right as soon as you can and decypher the notes in the room --> +1 INT and +20% int growth.

_______________

Special characters are unique characters you can recruit

Elan :
Do the rescue son quest (early quest). Be fast and go top right side of the map, then heal him (healer or potion).
--> He has talented (+20% all stat growth and two +30% growth stats), kind (good for paladin), has a unique skill tree which allows him to get +3 and +30% stat growth in every stats. S tier character.

The merchant daughter :
Rescued from scenario. Give her time to think. Then she'll join after defend village quest. To get rid of her cripled passive, you have to bring her along during the kill bandit king quest (latter).
--> She has good INT/wisdom stats. Makes a very good mage. Also, her unique skill tree grant her bonus INT and wisdom stats and growth, increase loot value and reduce stamina consumption when you bring her along.

Archer lone adventurer :
Convince him to help during defend village mission, or let Elan talk to him.
--> He is a good archer/bard, but not the greatest one you can get I guess.

___________

Special monster blood.

Some bosses gives special blood that you can turn into permanent stat potions.
The boss bullbird from rescue son quest gives +1 STR, Troll blood is +1 END.
Given how the troll blood reciepe doesn't disapear after craft, and how there is a character achievment to kill boss monsters, I guess thoses respawn and are farmable.

EDIT : The guild merchant can sell thoses potions if upgraded enough.
_______________

That's it up to mid game, but I guess someone further on can tell you more !

[Asahida]

Originally posted by Pure_Poetry:

This is EXACTLY what I humbly tried to tackle in an extensive video I recently made on ALL these topics (Best Traits / Builds / Compo / Stats to look for / Skills to go to / Teamwork skills, etc...). This complements my guide on Steam (where you asked more or less the same thing actually, but I 1st felt doing this in a video would be easier... except it took me 3+ hours :-D !). Feel free to take a look :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmtB2cGeFBs

It is part of a wider "Let's Play" Series, but the video on its own should be self-explanatory (I hope). Sorry for broken english btw.

I had already watched 2/3 before as it did answer quite a few of my questions hehe. But at the same time it requires scrubbing through the vid in order for me to review something specific and that is why I was looking for answers in a written format easy to find. Your guide and vids are a godsend for someone like me, can't thank you enough.

Originally posted by Akameka:

Well, for starter :

Then, when you has a good base character, you want to add trainer perks on top of that.

Soon after starting the game, there are 2 DEX trainer, 1 STR trainer and 2 Magic trainers. Any other trainers will require a more trained team to reach so are out of the equation for starting characters.

Thoses are unique. Only one character can have those at a time.
If the character dies, if he leave, if you fire him, or if the training fail, the trainer will become available again later (RNG, can take some time)

You can either divide thoses, or slap them all on a level 1 character to have a MC with monstruous stats.

That's it up to mid game, but I guess someone further on can tell you more !

These are some great pointers especially from the perspective of someone who hasn't yet finished the game. Everyone has different interests, but you more or less went over some aspects I was curious about regarding traits, zones, trainers and recruitable characters :)

I got a question regarding the trainers, you mentioned a few available close to the start and some trainers available later on. Are all trainer traits unique or just the ones from the "advanced trainers"? Thanks for taking your time to help a brother out :D that must have taken a while.

[Pure_Poetry]

Originally posted by Akameka:

Well, for starter :

Imo, the two best (and very rare) passives are :
- Mana core is extremely good on any role, but especially those who burn SP like crazy (arcane knight/mage/healer for exemple
- Talented grant +20% growth on any stats and +30% groth on two random stats (star marked)

Then :
- Born leader is good for party leader (duh)
- Masochist is good on any frontliner. also, they don't mind getting force healed, so you can send them on the field over and over.
- Magicaly deaf is good on any pure tank role (50 magic res) - but no magic for them.
- Same thing with stone skin, but for physical res.
- Kind is great on healers/paladin (+20% heal)
- Light step gives dex growth and +1 movement, so that's nice.
- rational gives +20% growth on the 3 mind stats, so a good thing for bravery/magic oriented builds.
- magically gifted for magic builds
- soldier training and sword gifted for melee builds

After that, any kind of growth bonuses are great. most gives +30%, their evolved version gives +50%

Be carefull, starting stats can be as low as 3 and as high as 7 (8 if boosted by a stat). Growth is more important but, starting low means you'll have to level up more before getting advanced class evolution, and that means less growth factor for thoses starting level.

________________

Then, when you has a good base character, you want to add trainer perks on top of that.

Soon after starting the game, there are 2 DEX trainer, 1 STR trainer and 2 Magic trainers. Any other trainers will require a more trained team to reach so are out of the equation for starting characters.

Thoses are unique. Only one character can have those at a time.
If the character dies, if he leave, if you fire him, or if the training fail, the trainer will become available again later (RNG, can take some time)

You can either divide thoses, or slap them all on a level 1 character to have a MC with monstruous stats.

________________

Then, there are events on the field. thoses gives great bonusses and some are even repeatable. If you really want to min-max, you wanna spam low level mission to get them all with minimal level up.

short - 1 event --> 1 star
medium - 2 events --> 3 stars
long - 3 event ? (I guess, I am not there yet) --> 5 or 6 stars

rules of thumbs : Always use the character you want to upgrade to stat check, even if his stats are low. They will be the one benefiting any passive gain or stat increase from event.

Forest :
- Fountain. repeatable. --> gives 1 skill point to one person or +1 Wisdom to everyone
- Muscle man --> gives + 40% strength grow to a charachter with 10+ STR or strong passive.
- puppy wolf --> A kind character can get him. Rest a day after the mission and he should be healed and now gives a great passive.
- The talking sword. --> bad at first but can be upgraded into a very powerful two handed sword
- A few +1 wisdom events
- adventurer's notes --> a few stats increase for the reader.

Cave :
- Magic cristal --> gives 3rd magical eye (true vision and a few intel or dex stat growth if I remember well.

Old castle :
- Posessed body --> giives posessed trait, +20% all stats growth except wisdom
- Pilfering bodies --> gives a trait that grant more loot
- Necromanacer encounter --> get his book (+30% INT groth). You can pass the book between characters before they lvl up, effectively granting +30 INT growth to every character of the guild.

_______________

Special characters are unique characters you can recruit

Elan :
Do the rescue son quest (early quest). Be fast and go top right side of the map, then heal him (healer or potion).
--> He has talented (+20% all stat growth and two +30% growth stats), kind (good for paladin), has a unique skill tree which allows him to get +3 and +30% stat growth in every stats. S tier character.

The merchant daughter :
Rescued from scenario. Give her time to think. Then she'll join after defend village quest. To get rid of her cripled passive, you have to bring her along during the kill bandit king quest (latter).
--> She has good INT/wisdom stats. Makes a very good mage. Also, her unique skill tree grant her bonus INT and wisdom stats and growth, increase loot value and reduce stamina consumption when you bring her along.

Archer lone adventurer :
Convince him to help during defend village mission, or let Elan talk to him.
--> He is a good archer/bard, but not the greatest one you can get I guess.

___________

Special monster blood.

Some bosses gives special blood that you can turn into permanent stat potions.
The boss bullbird from rescue son quest gives +1 STR, Troll blood is +1 END.
Given how the troll blood reciepe doesn't disapear after craft, and how there is a character achievment to kill boss monsters, I guess thoses respawn and are farmable.

_______________

That's it up to mid game, but I guess someone further on can tell you more !

I second this post ;-D ! Very good imho
One small edit to make is medium map do not always have 2 events (I'd say 1.5 on average ?). There are also some other very nice events. Some of them are in my guide, but there are others left to be discovered ;)

[Pure_Poetry]

Originally posted by Asahida:

Originally posted by Pure_Poetry:

This is EXACTLY what I humbly tried to tackle in an extensive video I recently made on ALL these topics (Best Traits / Builds / Compo / Stats to look for / Skills to go to / Teamwork skills, etc...). This complements my guide on Steam (where you asked more or less the same thing actually, but I 1st felt doing this in a video would be easier... except it took me 3+ hours :-D !). Feel free to take a look :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmtB2cGeFBs

It is part of a wider "Let's Play" Series, but the video on its own should be self-explanatory (I hope). Sorry for broken english btw.

I had already watched 2/3 before as it did answer quite a few of my questions hehe. But at the same time it requires scrubbing through the vid in order for me to review something specific and that is why I was looking for answers in a written format easy to find. Your guide and vids are a godsend for someone like me, can't thank you enough.

Originally posted by Akameka:

Well, for starter :

Then, when you has a good base character, you want to add trainer perks on top of that.

Soon after starting the game, there are 2 DEX trainer, 1 STR trainer and 2 Magic trainers. Any other trainers will require a more trained team to reach so are out of the equation for starting characters.

Thoses are unique. Only one character can have those at a time.
If the character dies, if he leave, if you fire him, or if the training fail, the trainer will become available again later (RNG, can take some time)

You can either divide thoses, or slap them all on a level 1 character to have a MC with monstruous stats.

That's it up to mid game, but I guess someone further on can tell you more !

These are some great pointers especially from the perspective of someone who hasn't yet finished the game. Everyone has different interests, but you more or less went over some aspects I was curious about regarding traits, zones, trainers and recruitable characters :)

I got a question regarding the trainers, you mentioned a few available close to the start and some trainers available later on. Are all trainer traits unique or just the ones from the "advanced trainers"? Thanks for taking your time to help a brother out :D that must have taken a while.

Happy to help a brotha.
I'll maybe add timestamps in the comment section later (or if someone else can do it, I'll gladly copy it in description as well :D).
All instructor trainings are unique (5 from start + Luana, Zoldak, Bai, Vincent, ... later on). Only Bai brings stats growth as well IIRC, others just some various bonuses

[Akameka]

I got a question regarding the trainers, you mentioned a few available close to the start and some trainers available later on. Are all trainer traits unique or just the ones from the "advanced trainers"? Thanks for taking your time to help a brother out :D that must have taken a while.

Also, about trainers and later unique classes. there is apparently a resurection potion out there. That probably means that unique class and unique trainer traits can be duplicated ( because the original bearer is technically dead so all his uniques becomes available again ). I would be glad if that could be confirmed by someone who tested it, as I am in Ironman save and don't really wanna test it myself on my MC. If not, I'll do it anyway. For science. but, if that was already experimented on that's better =D

Right now I am experimenting to build a great Arcane Knight MC, and see how far it can goes.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3231058735

She is not the best one but hey. she got mana core, 2 stared stats and is a "M", which is not that bad IMO. I would have loved to have Talented and sword play or magically gifted, but the probabilty of having thoses 3 seems to kinda need tons of rerolled rosters so...

As for her level up, I am still chasing after the muscle man for bringing her STR growth above 200% but I encoutered him 4 time when I could not get the perk yet and does want to come back now that I can get it !


Also, apparently you can randomly get new passive trait or lose bad ones ? Didn't happen to me yet.

[Pure_Poetry]

We talk about ressurecting fully speced Dragon Knight Elan to duplicate traits and T3 classes with the dev in another thread and he said atm it was possible. I haven't tried and it might get fixed though (or maybe not ?).

In my previous Ironman playthrough I got +2 "talented swordman" and lost 1 "weak" trait in 140 days. Now on day 70 I never got any modification ==> Gives you a rough idea on likelyhood to happen maybe (ie : very rare imho)

[Asahida]

A few questions of the top of my mind:

1. Are there other REPEATABLE events which provide stats/skills/stat growths or other permanent bonuses besides the fountain?

2. I don't know anything about the beastmaster, does it use a bow? Is it focused on dealing damage? What's its range? @Pure_Poetry you mentioned somewhere (forgot where) you wouldn't make Daryl one. Why is that?

[Pure_Poetry]

1. Arm wrestling event (+40 STR gr) and a few others that give +1 whatever attribute are the first that come to my mind.
2. Beastmaster is the T3 evolution of ranger. As for all T3 classes, only 1 adv can get it, hence not Daryl for me.

[Asahida]

Originally posted by Pure_Poetry:

1. Arm wrestling event (+40 STR gr) and a few others that give +1 whatever attribute are the first that come to my mind.
2. Beastmaster is the T3 evolution of ranger. As for all T3 classes, only 1 adv can get it, hence not Daryl for me.

I understand but I'm curious why wouldn't Daryl fit in this class and why you'd prefer a random adv instead? Does he come with some traits which make him a better fit as a ranger?

[Akameka]

Originally posted by Asahida:

Originally posted by Pure_Poetry:

1. Arm wrestling event (+40 STR gr) and a few others that give +1 whatever attribute are the first that come to my mind.
2. Beastmaster is the T3 evolution of ranger. As for all T3 classes, only 1 adv can get it, hence not Daryl for me.

I understand but I'm curious why wouldn't Daryl fit in this class and why you'd prefer a random adv instead? Does he come with some traits which make him a better fit as a ranger?

Daryl is Okayish for an archer but you can definitely get better passives, starting stats and boosted growth stats, despite his unique skill tree.
For a unique class you might want to find someone better suited.

1. Are there other REPEATABLE events which provide stats/skills/stat growths or other permanent bonuses besides the fountain?

For now I can confirm fountain, arm wrestler and some mundane event that gives +1 wisdom (follow trail/convince weaklings to go back to their village)

Also, for +1 stats, you can farm special monster blood from boss monsters later. You get a repeatable investigation that unlock a quest to kill them again. Those blood sample allow to craft permanant stat potions.
Also, from 2nd upgrade, from time to time the merchant will sell permanent +1 stat potion. Maybe he can even sell skill potion if you upgrade him enough

Right now I am wondering what title to take for my characters, especially the Arcane knight gal. She has access to more than 15 of thoses and they are all good in their own way ! really hesitating between Arcane ravager (+25% magic damage), the brave (so she can spam Overdrive which normally cost lots of bravery), Geomancer (teleport + earth ring FTW), poison master (that crazy poison damage build up ! already 20 per hit !), Weapon adept (+ physical damage, +2 counter for a whooping 5 counter per turn !) and swift sorcerer (reduce AP cost of spell by 1 -10% magic damage). I can't choose at all !

(still no luck with the wrestler for the STR growth increase grrrrrr !)

[Asahida]

Originally posted by Akameka:

Originally posted by Asahida:

I understand but I'm curious why wouldn't Daryl fit in this class and why you'd prefer a random adv instead? Does he come with some traits which make him a better fit as a ranger?

Daryl is Okayish for an archer but you can definitely get better passives, starting stats and boosted growth stats, despite his unique skill tree.
For a unique class you might want to find someone better suited.

1. Are there other REPEATABLE events which provide stats/skills/stat growths or other permanent bonuses besides the fountain?

For now I can confirm fountain, arm wrestler and some mundane event that gives +1 wisdom (follow trail/convince weaklings to go back to their village)

Also, for +1 stats, you can farm special monster blood from boss monsters later. You get a repeatable investigation that unlock a quest to kill them again. Those blood sample allow to craft permanant stat potions.
Also, from 2nd upgrade, from time to time the merchant will sell permanent +1 stat potion. Maybe he can even sell skill potion if you upgrade him enough

Right now I am wondering what title to take for my characters, especially the Arcane knight gal. She has access to more than 15 of thoses and they are all good in their own way ! really hesitating between Arcane ravager (+25% magic damage), the brave (so she can spam Overdrive which normally cost lots of bravery), Geomancer (teleport + earth ring FTW), poison master (that crazy poison damage build up ! already 20 per hit !), Weapon adept (+ physical damage, +2 counter for a whooping 5 counter per turn !) and swift sorcerer (reduce AP cost of spell by 1 -10% magic damage). I can't choose at all !

(still no luck with the wrestler for the STR growth increase grrrrrr !)

I have a Ranger with leader qualities, might make him a beastmaster if that's the consensus with daryl. It's also good to know you can farm stats even if it seems tedious and maybe not something I'd do.

Regarding titles I heard of them from time to time, hope someone with experience can help you out with that. Can you change titles? Can you have multiple titles at the same time?

[Pure_Poetry]

Daryl really lacks STR, hence his "meh" rating.
Regarding Arcane Ravager, I concur on all the above titles as relevant. I'd go :
- by elemination as other classes may not be as versatile and benefit from as many titles
- by build for your AK (some titles better than others depending on it)

Titles are unlocked at "Respected" rank. 1 title per adv max. Can switch, but cost 2k at T1 (and so to switch), 4k at T2 and 6k at T3.

I started allocating some near my episode 52 or so from my series if you want to take a look.

[Asahida]

What can you guys tell me about the swordmaster?

1. What other skill trees does it have besides his unique one?
2. What sword and armor is he using? Assuming GS + medium armor
3. What's his playstyle like and what traits/talents would he benefit from?
4. Does he have any unique shtick like bard (WP for MAB) or paladin (extra MAB & PAB from WP)?
5. Are there other classes with these sort of defining characteristics which alter the way you build them?

[Zeks]

What can you guys tell me about the swordmaster?

Completely OP ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ nonsense class. My swordmaster at level 18 routinely has 150 dodge on a mission and doesn't care about anything. Get him "set strength to 40" gloves, lifesteal swords and troll hide armor and he can solo levels probably, didn't try but isee no rason for him not to.