Character Guide

[Gilliam Yaeger]

I got bored and spent a couple of hours writing up this analysis of different characters and the class skills. Hopefully this'll help out people having trouble with the game. Enjoy!

LEAD
Viable candidates:
May Yeerum (+20% Counter, -30% Enemy Dodge/Counter) - Ultimately, I think that May is the best Lead. By the classes very nature the Lead is going to be drawing a lot of aggro, so you'll want a high Counter rate to dish damage back, and that -30% Enemy Dodge - the only bonus of its kind in the roster - means you're not going to whiff that vital map-winning team attack when you really need it to connect (which happens enough that it gets frustrating).

Asimobot (-5 Skill Regen, +30% Health, +10 Crafting Quality) - For a total of +80% Health, Asimobot Lead is the tankiest character in the game. 'Nuff said. I'm not quite sure what Crafting Quality does, but if it does anything to mitigate the pile of +2% Team Attack junk crafts I tend to end up with in the endgame then that is also a very good reason to choose Asimobot. Also call him Guy-Man because Daft Punk are ♥♥♥♥ing awesome.

Michonne (+15% Counter, +20% Health) - A fine balance between May and Asimobot. Likely the best choice for the Lead class if you don't care about accuracy.

Mr. Beaver (+20% Health, +10 Item Drop) - Item drops are always useful. They help you make better stuff. Also he's a ♥♥♥♥ing beaver, how is that not awesome?

Season 1:
EAGLE Lasso - Really really useful. Pulls enemies away from vulnerable allies and towards the beefier Lead, into range for a beating (coughgunbirdscough) or pulls bosses into position for a Finisher. Even if it wasn't the only option this would absolutely be the skill of choice for this slot.

Season 2:
Fan Club - Look, the only time when you absolutely NEED to gain Audience is at the start of a level while you're still untransformed and don't have access to Skills. This is a Skill. Its inactive when you really need it, so whats the ♥♥♥♥ing point? Avoid like the plague.
Giraffe's Apprentice - Spears are an interesting weapon type, and if you manage to get a good one absolutely switch this on.
Vitamins - Whenever you're not using a Spear, which will probably be a lot of the time, use this instead. +15% HP is a lot on the tanky Lead.

Season 3:
Join Up - Damn useful on big maps. Can be used to really extend your team's range by combining it with a Teamwork movement boost - which can be damn important on some maps where the boss insists on forcing your team out of Finisher range. Feel free to use it if its up your alley. Can also be used to pull allies out of danger and heal the wounded with either Circle of Friendship or Shout of Courage.
Provoke - Makes enemies attack the tankiest member of the squad rather than the Assist with 10 health left. Its as useful as drawing aggro generally is, though it can be made excellent. With some defence boosting gear and as much Counter as you can manage activating this effectively translates into your lead attacking every enemy within 7 squares. They might need a heal (or a rez) at the start of your next turn though. The 30% self-heal is really good too.

Season 4:
Guardian Beast - While mass-inducing 30 defence sounds neat, in practice the short range and the superiority of Shout of Courage make this something to pass over. Could be worthwhile if combined with Join Up, but still not as good as Shout of Courage.
Shout of Courage - Its Circle of Friendship! But it also gives a hefty attack boost! Equipping this effectively gives you two Assists and if used properly means you'll never be out of healing. It also boosts attack, meaning things will die faster. Absolutely the best thing on the Lead's movelist, and can save lives if combined with Join Up.

Season 5:
Marvelous Strength - Its a 30% boost on the single strongest move available to you. Ends fights a lot faster, meaning this is a must-have.
Role Model - While its better than the trash-tier Fan Club skills, its really not worth bothering with compared to Marvelous Strength.

(continued)

[Gilliam Yaeger]

ASSAULT
Viable candidates:
Mao Shinmei (+3% Critical, +20% Attack) - She's the default for a reason. Assault Mao will destroy everything in the game with ease with the second highest possible attack of any character available. She's also really cool looking.

Evan Tyson (-1 Movement, +1 Acrobatics, +30% Attack) - While that +10% Attack compared to Mao is very nice, it definitely does not make up for a -1 Movement penalty. Use him as a Scout if you want him.

Ryo Yoshi (+1 Movement, -20% Weapon Attack) - Weapon Attack, while useful on the Assault, pales in comparison to the might of Squarehouse Kick. A damn solid choice since more movement means your Assault gets in murder range faster.

May or Michonne (+whatever counter) - Either one of these girls makes an impressive Assault. Every attack they counter is another mook-OHKOing Assault attack per turn, and they can leave half the map stunned if combined with Stunning Parable. Its a winning combination! Michonne is somewhat better for this purpose than May is thanks to the health bonus.

Ashley Smith (-20% Health, +30% Sword Damage) - She's only here to tell you not to use her. That health penalty means the Assault, which NEEDS to be in the front lines to do its job, will die really fast, and Squarehouse Kick is not a sword attack. She looks damned cool though.

Weasley Stripes (+10% Health, +30% Pistol Damage) - In theory, Weasley is a good choice. With the Assault's gigantic attack behind them, Pistols can do some serious hurt in Assault Weasley's hands. Unfortunately Pistols are not Squarehouse Kick and are therefore inferior.

Season 1:
Strong Arm - While cool when it triggers, 90% of the time you're going to be using the Assault to murder the hell out of everything in punching range rather than acting as a stepping stone. When you need it its nice to have as an option though.

Season 2:
Squarehouse Kick - The absolute best skill in the game, bar none. Get a bunch of enemies in a circle, drop the Assault in the middle, and fire off this skill to watch them all die horribly, with the exception of tough enemies like turtles and rhinos who will merely be crippled by the attack. This is Chuck Norris's weapon of choice for a reason people.
Almighty Assault - pffhahahahahaha

Season 3:
Fan Club - Like all Audience skills, its ♥♥♥♥.
Martial Arts Master - Considering your Assault can easily reach 200+ attack by Season 2, +15% is a hell of a lot. Use this.
Weapon Master - Weapon attacks are neat, especially backed by the Assault's gigantic attack, but you'll want to focus on boosting Squarehouse Kick over weapon attacks.

Season 4:
It's Cleave Time! - A 50% chance to trigger a lesser version of Squarehouse Kick with every attack. Whats not to love?
Trample - Only 70% damage? When Squarehouse gives us 120%? ♥♥♥♥ that noise. Its sort of useful to get the Assault across the map, but if you really need to move your Assault around it'd be much better to either use Teamwork vaulting, the Lead's Join Up ability, or just forgoing an attack in favor of moving twice.

Season 5:
Battle Fever - Finally, an actually meaningful choice! Battle Fever is a fantastic ability that both heals the Assault (always welcome for someone who tends to be quite fragile) and gives them a 30% boost to their ridiculously high attack. If the Assault wasn't oneshotting units before they'll certainly be doing so now.
Stunning Parable - While Battle Fever is fantastic, this Skill can, with a little luck, allow the Assault to tear through their enemies with impunity as well as cripple bosses with a fair degree of reliability. Especially if they're set up with a counter build. If you've got enough counter boosting gear to give to the Assault, use this. Otherwise, stick to Battle Fever.

[Gilliam Yaeger]

TECHIE
Viable candidates:
J Blues (+5 Skill Regen, +8% Dodge, +5% Critical) - J Blues is amazing. Third highest Skill Regen on the list, that dodge makes him the second best at dodging in the game (and, in practice, the best period) and that Crit bonus is a neat cherry on top. And even without all those good points, his amazing afro is enough reason to pick him in itself. He's the default for a reason.

Alien (+10 Skill Regen, -30% Health) - With the best Skill Regen bonus in the game, the Alien makes a fantastic Techie. While that -30% HP may make you hesitate, in practice if you use a sniper build he'll never be close enough for enemies to take advantage of it.

Weasley Stripes (+10% Health, +30% Pistol Damage) - In theory, Weasley is again a good choice. Pistols synergize well with the Techie class, with Multi-Shot being the only source of wide-range AoE damage for most of the game and Weapon Expertise giving a total of +60% pistol damage. Unfortunately pistols are ♥♥♥♥ compared to rifles so don't even bother.

Alert Johansen - what the ♥♥♥♥ do you think you're doing put that lady back in the support slot where she belongs

...Well, I guess if you're using J Blues as the Support so you've got a dodgetank healer, its okay.

Season 1:
Multi-Shot - While its theoretically a great move, you need a pistol to use it. If you've got a super amazing pistol then absolutely go for it if you want, but 90% of the time this move will be useless since rifles are so much better. Also Find Weakness is just better in every way so ♥♥♥♥ it.

EDIT: Whoops turns out that this works with Rifles too. A bug? Either way, this changes everything. Its now a perfectly viable option though Find Weakness is still probably better overall.
Find Weakness - +30% damage for three turns? Thats ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ phenomenal. To put things into perspective, your average finisher deals about...what, 700 damage? With an application of Find Weakness, thats turned into a ball-busting 910 points, meaning a total of an extra 630 damage over the course of three turns. Switch into this at the very beginning of the game.

Season 2:
Sniper Cat - Holy ♥♥♥♥ this is amazing. With a rifle at max distance, this easily gives an extra 100 damage on rifle attacks, allowing the Techie to oneshot troublesome mooks (like gun birds) from halfway across the map. Leave this on and never turn it off.
Teleport - If you want to get around, thats what the Teamwork maneuvers are for.

Season 3:
Fan Club - Audience booster. No.
Time Sink - ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ incredible debuff, even moreso if you can get the cooldown dropped to 1 turn.
Weapon Expertise - +30% damage on the best weapon attack in the game. Nuff said. You can't really go wrong with either Time Sink or Weapon Expertise, so pick whichever one you like. I personally tend to stick with Weapon Expertise.

Season 4:
Cool Invention - One of the only sources of Defence in the game, and it gives quite a hefty amount of it in addition to being a Healdouken. Go for this if your Skill Regen is high.
Energy Reserve - If you've got relatively low skill regen, absolutely go for this over Cool Invention. Invention's really damn good, but Skill Regen is by far the most important thing for a Techie.

Season 5:
Supreme Nerdiness - Thats a 25% chance per turn of you being able to oneshot two mooks at long range, healing two units and making them a hell of a lot tougher, or debuffing enemies in rapid succession. Doesn't give you two actions per turn so don't get the wrong idea, but being able to use the same skill twice in a row is almost as good. Really damn useful, but also unreliable. Its very nice when it goes off, but three times out of four its not going to happen.
SWAT Mode - Snipe things better. Significantly more reliable than Supreme Nerdiness.

[Gilliam Yaeger]

SCOUT
Viable candidates:
Evan Tyson (-1 Movement, +1 Acrobatics, +30% Attack) - Effectively turns the Scout into a second Assault. Since the Assault is the best class in the game, this is a very good thing. The number one choice.

J Blues (+5 Skill Regen, +8% Dodge, +5% Critical) - Second highest dodge in the game means he's a fantastic choice for a dodge-counter build, and the extra Skill Regen means he'll be able to use Stunning Pose and Lightning Dagger that much more often. The number two choice.

Gus Fune (-1 Movement, +20% Attack, +25% Team Attack) - Made usable thanks to the class bonus cancelling out that -1 movement, Gus is a serious contender for the best Scout in the game thanks to that 25% Team Attack booster. But...he's an overweight, bearded furry. The shame of actually having him on your team will probably outweigh his fantastic stats.

Antitonic (+10% Dodge, -1 Movement, +10% Health) - That +10% dodge is really useful if you're going for a dodge-counter Scout.

Ryo Yoshi (+1 Movement, -20% Weapon Attack) - More movement is always good, and with the Lightning Dagger combo you won't really need weapons.

May or Michonne (+whatever counter) - If you want a counterattacking Scout, you want dodge bonuses instead of counter bonuses.

Season 1:
Stunning Pose - The third best move in the game, and the best debuff period. Stuns are incredible - they cut down a bosses actions by roughly half and deny mooks a turn at all. For most of the game, this is why you'll be using a Scout.

Season 2:
Dexterity - +20% dodge is an awful lot. If you want to use Fast Reflexes you'll want this.
Fan Club - No. Don't even think about it.
Mobility - +2 move is really ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ good, but you'll have access to The Speedy boots next season which do the exact same thing. Whether you use this or Dexterity really depends on the quality of shoe you have access to.

Season 3:
Full Power Dagger - Daggers are ♥♥♥♥.
Lightning Dagger - Behold, one half of the second best move in the game. This is the killer of gods, the assassin's blade. When combined with Biinon's Invisibility, you're looking at an easy 1000+ damage for free. And you can do anything you ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ want afterwards - activate Teamwork to follow up with a Finisher, attack a second time, back off to avoid counterattacks or to clock another mook in the face, reuse Biinon's Invisibility...The possibilities are endless.

Season 4:
Biinon's Invisibility - The other half of the second best move in the game. Not only does it heal you, not only does it make Lightning Dagger the most damaging move in the game, but it also makes enemies ignore you. Great for lining up Shockwaves. Sometimes it glitches out and doesn't deactivate if you hit something while its up. Abuse this whenever it happens.
Fast Reflexes - Its exactly as amazing as it sounds. With the proper equipment and character combination, you could easily reach as high as 80% dodge. Combined with Lightning Dagger I could see a well-made Scout soloing entire stages like they're a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Assassin's Creed protagonist.

Season 5:
Rouge Like - Daggers are ♥♥♥♥.
Shockwave - Its like Squarehouse Kick, only it can hit up to 9 people for 200% damage and its got a much larger cooldown time. This is an absolute must-have. "But Gilliam," I hear you say, "If it can hit more people than Squarehouse and does more damage, why is that the best move in the game and not this?" Simple - you get Squarehouse in Season 2, you get this in Season 5, and it starts off on cooldown every map.

[Gilliam Yaeger]

SUPPORT
Viable candidates:
Alert Johansen (+6 Skill Regen, +1 Fan Conversion Rate) - So good she blows everyone else out of the water so much I'm not even gonna bother listing them. That fan conversion rate seriously adds up across the course of the entire game, and she's got the second highest Skill Regen score in the game to boot.

J Blues (+5 Skill Regen, +8% Dodge, +5% Critical) - Okay, I lied. J Blues, with his massive dodge bonus, makes an excellent Support as well (since, y'know, you want your healer to take as little damage as possible.) If you do make him Support, make Alert the Techie. No, don't use the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ alien for Techie, you want that Fan bonus because it'll eventually translate into amazing things such as +25% attack, +10% HP and +5% mech hit rate all at once for the entire team right as the going gets rough. Its ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ important, especially on Hard where you will otherwise be killed by angels and kaijus


Season 1:
Healdouken - This move is only going to see use in the very early and very late game. A 50% heal is a lifesaver in Season 1 and your only source of large-scale healing until Circle of Friendship, and once you gain access to Torin's Bravery this turns into a devastating attack.
Energy Reserve - Switch to this the instant you hit Season 2, and don't turn it off until you get to Season 5.

Season 2:
Circle of Friendship - The second best heal in the game, this is what will keep you alive throughout the entire game. Even when the Lead gains the best heal in Season 4, this remains useful though a little obsolete. That all changes in Season 5, where with Torin's Bravery this turns into the best AoE attack in the game. A genuine keeper.
Recover - Oh wow, more skill regen but only when you punch something. The Assist sure needs that don't they? No, wait, they don't. Also using this means not using Circle of Friendship. Don't even bother.

Season 3:
5th Gen Phoenix - Its the only move you get in Season 3, and oh man its a doozy. Instant revival at half health is exactly as useful as it sounds.

Season 4:
Mend Friend - Stun's a real pain in the ass, and this gets rid of it. But its situational at best, since Stun goes away at the end of the turn.
Fan Club - No.
Bow Expertise - ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ 70% EXTRA DAMAGE WHAT. Thats ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ HUGE! If Stun's not a gigantic pain in the ass for you, use this. It allows the Assist to contribute to combat very nicely regardless of her equipment.

Season 5:
Torin's Bravery - So, we're at Season 5 and the Assist is feeling a bit outclassed. The Techie has Healdouken, but better, the Lead has Circle of Friendship, but better, and the Assault and Scout can even heal themselves with no problem. So what's an Assist to do? Turn on this skill and become a god of mass-murder, thats what. For five turns Circle of Friendship becomes the best AoE move in the entire game, and while it does render the Assist unable to heal everyone else has already got that handled. It also looks super cool when activated.
Web Shot - Stun really is good enough to give Torin's Bravery a run for its money, and with twice the usual duration and a typical cooldown time of 1 turn at this point the Assist can effectively shutdown/cripple a single enemy for an entire level. You're probably better off just killing them with Torin's though.

--

Feel free to repost this wherever you want and do whatever to it.

[joofoot]

FANTASTIC ANALYSIS! Thanks a lot for this, helps me on my second playthorugh. <3

[dq_177]

Its interesting to read someones in-depth thoughts on the mechanics of a game you're enjoying.
Maybe you could even make a guide out of it?

This will be helpful when planning my team for the Challenging playthrough, thier gimmick is going to be super gameplay optimisation.

[Gilliam Yaeger]

Originally posted by dq_177:

Its interesting to read someones in-depth thoughts on the mechanics of a game you're enjoying.
Maybe you could even make a guide out of it?

Too much effort :V

[Spaceballs the Profile Name]

"Viable candidates" is a bit strong, innit? Perhaps "My Picks" would be better, as there's some choices you make that are somewhat debatable. Otherwise this is pretty neat.

[Sayonara Kickflip]

Dude that's AWESOME! Please turn that into a Steam Guide, it's really really good!

[Gilliam Yaeger]

Originally posted by awkner:

Dude that's AWESOME! Please turn that into a Steam Guide, it's really really good!

I have absolutely no idea how to do this.

[Sayonara Kickflip]

Originally posted by Gilliam Yaeger:

Originally posted by awkner:

Dude that's AWESOME! Please turn that into a Steam Guide, it's really really good!

I have absolutely no idea how to do this.

ME NEITHER! But let's try!
Try going to the Guides tab up there (we're in the Discussions tab right now?), then there's a create guide button. That's as far as I went, I don't dare venture further! Shouldn't be too complicated though

[Garlyle Wilds]

The steam guides interface is actually super friendly and easy to use. You can basically get away with straight up copying all this stuff into it, if you want!

My choices were very different from yours.

Lead - Antitonic. +Health and +Dodge is a nice combo overall for an intended tank, although the -movement has been less than ideal. Fixed by movement shoes.

Assault - Gus Fune. Again, -movement's been occasionally a pain, but I find that teamwork makes up for that, and when you hit chapter 3 you can just slap on the +2 movement boots and welp look at him go. And that +20% Attack/+25% Team Damage really does free up the slot for him to actually do it.

Techie - Michonne. Dunno why. Felt like a good idea. Definitely more done because why the hell not and less because of class synergy. Hasn't been necessarily bad, just mismatched.

Scout - Von Andy. I just wanted the boosted audience, but honestly I'd probably do this one over. I seem to regularly have over the audience limit pretty safely, and there's plenty of other audience boosters in the game, so to anyone reading this: I can't really suggest him.

Support - Alert Johansen. Yeah this one was a pretty clear match.

[ZombieBisque]

I did Michonne as Lead, May for Assault, Scar for Support, Simon as Tech, and the Beaver for Support.

[Jaxx_On]

Screw being a guide, I stopped reading this for information and started reading this for pure entertainment after Almighty Assault. Pure comic genius.

[Doresh]

Nice one. Haven't experimented too much with the different actors, but I can give my 2 cents about a skill or two :3

Trample: This one is way better than you make it out to be. Sure it's just 70% damage, but the skill is a FREE ACTION! That means you can move, use trample AND use Squarehouse Kick in the same turn! This is even handy if there's just a boss around, as you can just trample through him before each normal attack.
And on the Night Driver path (should I cover those skills or do you want :3 ?), you can combine Trample with Driver Kick (which is essentially Trample+) for extra madness.

Multishot: Pretty handy as an early AOE, but I get the feeling the skill gets weaker over time. Maybe it's just because my Techie picks a rifle, and the skill deals additional damage only with a pistol?
Still, it's always handy to finish off weakened enemies or get rid of sprouts.

Mend Friend: This one cures ALL status effects, including bleed, debuffs and charm. The Fishmaid was a piece of cake in the beta before they moved this skill into a later season.