Best Starting Classes for new player

[Azarul]

Looking for some advice on the best 2 starting classes for someone new to the game. Not looking to make the game any harder than need be. Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks

[facciola007]

Ranged healer (archer healer) with summoning then warrior up close tough guy

Typically I make the ranged the better speech of the two while the warrior is the blacksmith

[Ishan451]

You get a choice of a Ranger/Archerer, Mage (with healing) and Two Handed Warrior companion pretty much right out of the gate, as soon as you reach the first town.

So you can basically do whatever you want, just pick the 2 companions to compliment your team. There is only one fight (outside the tutorial area) where it's only your two heroes, to my knowledge.

[❤ FL☰☰K⬤]

A ranged healer will be a less effective archer or healer than specializing; it's not discouraged to "dip" into off-spec schools (as in, 1 or 2 points for low level spells), but investing to get to a point where healing is effective, so that your spellcasts would never fail, you have to invest in Int alongside Dex, meaning you'll have less Constitution, Speed, or Perception. The alternative being to save/reload at chests hoping for Int+Dex gear, and since it's highly random, you could be there a very long time.

The first two characters you make should just be custom. Mages are strong; Air and Water as well as Fire and Earth synergize with each other. Air+Water is more useful for snaring and control rather than damage (and control is very important, don't underestimate it) as it deals primarily in single-target spells and stuns (stuns have 50% increased chance to stun while it is Raining, a water spell). Fire and Earth combos a lot off of itself but doesn't become very effective until you get Acid Breath and Deadly Spores, around level 7 or 8. The first recruitablr mage you meet in town is an Air+Water mage, so if you want to have variety and cover all bases, you should make your starter Fire+Earth.

As well, I believe mage should carry Leadership since they may benefit the least from it's effects (spells don't have an inherent chance to miss, so the increased hit chance is wasted on a mage, for instance, and Leadership buffs only apply to party members other than the Leadership carrier). All of your mages should take Witchcraft as well. Oath of Desecration has a low cooldown at high intelligence as is a huge damage boost (50% for 3AP, can't go wrong at all). Witchcraft also has great debuffs such as Curse and Mass Weak, a very powerful summon, Armored Undead Skeleton, though his AP cost is a bit steep, and towards the late-game, a hard resurrect spell rather than just scrolls, and am Invulnerability spell, convenient for squishy backliners in a moment of worry).

Since you get a warrior early on (though I dislike her initial setup, maybe you will choose to forego her), you could also diversify by having a Scoundrel/Marksman character (they both work off of Dex, just equip a bow or dagger for however you feel like utilizing it). I suppose ranger has the greater advantage for multiple-target attacks, while the scoundrel has better damage multipliers for single-target punishment (Guerilla is the biggest one, but you need a high Sneak investment to reduce the AP cost to enter sneak mode in combat). I haven't played a Scoundrel-type character yet but I plan to; they have nice control abilities, such as Charm and knockdowns, as well as a cheap, personal Haste.

All of your characters should have 1 Expert Marksman at some point so they can all carry Tactical Retreat; depending how encumbered some characters are, it may cost 6AP to move 15m compared to the 4AP of Tactical Retreat, with the added benefit of leaping OVER dangers, rather than wading through them and taking damage).

I don't know, I'm missing a lot more but there's way more than can be covered without ruining the experience and experimentation of the game. Always keep in mind that certain elements leave behind some type of residual field, and these can be used in seemingly unorthodox ways to create combos for powerful effects. Do not ignore that painting or lantern which has a gear cursor rather than a hand or a pointer, it's telling you that it does something (who knows what? Press it and find out!). There are switches hidden all over the place which only reveal in proximity. You can sometimes throw your teleporter through, or Feather Fall/Tactical Retreat/Phoenix Dive over a some fences or barriers if you can't find the real entrance. Etc. There's too many things, just jump in and fiddle around.

You will probably get mobbed with 4vs12 battles. This is completely fair. It relies on you disabling enemy units until their numbers are manageable. If you are getting schooled up and down, it really is a case of gitgud.

I'm done cellphone typing ugh ._.

[Tomkatt]

Originally posted by longboard bong lord ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°):

Fire and Earth combos a lot off of itself but doesn't become very effective until you get Acid Breath and Deadly Spores, around level 7 or 8.

Not entirely true. I skipped those skills entirely, I don't like close range work with my mage. However, Fireball + Boulder Bash or Boulder Dash is an amazing combo (makes the boulder a powerful exploding meteor, instead of just a big rock). You can get this combo fairly early, before Acid Breath and Deadly Spores.

[❤ FL☰☰K⬤]

Boulder Bash just doesn't hit that many times. Acid Breath and Deadly Spores hit 3-5 times and are self-comboing due to that. Like, Boulder Bash will leave behind a noxious cloud when used on a patch of flame, and Deadly Spores will trigger that noxious cloud as it creates a cloud from one explosion, but the next explosion detonates it. 'Least, that's how I seemed to observe it.

But by "very effective" I meant the difference between, like you said, Boulder Bash, which might deal a couple hundred damage, versus Acid Breath and Deadly Spores dropping 500-600 like a dirty bomb. But that's because Boulder Bash makes up for it's weakness in utility control, and the other two are just power attacks.

[Gregorovitch]

Originally posted by Azarul:

Looking for some advice on the best 2 starting classes for someone new to the game. Not looking to make the game any harder than need be. Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks

Now that two new companions have been added (there used be only two) technically it doesn't matter what classes you start with for your main chars. You have a mage, a 2H warrior, an archer and a melee rogue available.

Since everyone is starting at level 1 really it is all about how you develop your chararcters and you have tons of options in that department.

It is better when creating your characters (in the sense of being easier to create a more powerfull character) to go for a single class simply because you will only have one attribute governing their key abilities to max. Warrior-Strength; Archer/melee rogue-Dex; Mage-Int etc. If you go for something like a Battlemage then you need both Strength and Intelligence.

The most powerfull party that is easiest to play is probably 2 mages + 2 2H warriors. The most fun is probably 1 mage, 1 2H warrior, 1 Archer and 1 melee(dagger) Rogue but it's a bit harder early on 'cos the archer and the rogue are not as effective as the mage and the 2H warrior.

When developing your characters it is most effective to focus on Crowd Control spells and abilities and dealing as much damage as possible per turn. Mages excel at Crowd Control. 2H warriors and melee rogues excel at damage output. Archers can end up as either but early on they are a bit of both and not that brilliant at either. Straight 1H warrior is IMO underpowered becasue they just do less damage than 2H and aren't realy that much less squishy, especially early game.

[zonker39]

Why bother with raising blacksmithing or crafting when Jahan is a natural choice for it? I went with an earth/fire mage and a backstabber, there's nothing as good as a rogue with maxed-out stealth for taking out enemy spellcasters or archers in round 1.