Top 10 (or less) Heroes

[LoucoMarx]

Who are those fighters you can rely on at the battlefield, no matter the situation?

My personal favourites are:

1_ Folka
2_ Hakon
3_ Alette
4_ Bolverk
5_ Tryggvi
6_ Ro'ech
7_ Derdriu
8_ Eyvind
9_ Zefr
10_ Mogr

[Boot Boots]

1. Alette (Get her to level 10 and pair her with that one item that raises range and causes knockback. Keep spamming lvl3 overwatch and you've more or less broken the game. Even without that, overwatch still makes her a force!)
2. Eirik (Feed your friends willpower while strategically blocking your enemies’ movements in stealth mode. His 3 exertion and amazing mobility often comes in handy as well. Oh, and summon a mother f'ing bear too - why not?)
3. Egil (The indestructible man!)
4. Yrsa (Obliterate your enemies' armor while tacking on some extra damage.)
5. Bolverk (If his stats were any higher he'd be a one yarl army - he arguably already is)
6. Iver (Amazing stats and he can ravage multiple enemies when he learns tempest.)
7. Zefr (Awesome support character and a perfect complement to Bolverk.)
8. Dytch (Eirik-lite. He doesn't have any of his bells and whistles, but possessing track makes him invaluable,)
9. Hakon (Ridiculous strength and great offensive abilities make him a powerhouse.)
10. Oli (Super useful for me during Bolverk's path. His stats are good-not-great but they're balanced well across the board, and his range and shield wall ability gives him some solid survivability.)

Honorable Mentions:
Eyvind
All the Horseborn
Folka

After looking back on my list I would go back and edit some of the rankings I made if I wasn't so lazy, but the first two were definitely my MVPs and these ten were the ones I relied upon most during my playthrough.

[Myll_Erik]

Interesting choices :)

Mine =

1. Folka
2. Alette
3. Bolverk
4. Rook
5. Hakon
6. Iver
7. Canary
8. Egil
9. Eyvind
10. Zefr

[Hisomu]

1. Ekkill
2. Alette
3. Derdriu
4. Iver
5. Gunnulf
6. Eyvind
7. Nid

[Savvas]

1.Mogr
2.Ekkil
3.Oli
4.Horseborn with stun ability
5.Iver
6.Gris
7.Eyind
8.Yrsa

[Fringehunter7719]

On the battlefield Alette is in a class of her own. Everyone else is definitely lower division.

1. Alette (Overwatch, Overwatch with guaranteed knockback)
11. Eyvind (6 range on his lightning and huge armor bypassing damage potential)
12. Eirik (invisibility plus rally spam for Alette being a part of "breaking the game")
13. Yrsa (highest break of the archers and best first ability, 8 break +2 damage + splash damage with items)

Everyone else is lower tier, lots of competitive choices, but only Bolverk has anything truly unique and powerful with his second hits. All the varl that can get whirlwhind are also potent, especially Iver and Krumr who have the best stats of the bunch. Zefr is useful, but poor access to will restoring items and lack of an offensive option hold her back.

[Pshek]

1. Gunnulf(my strongest varl, and favourite)
2. Mogr(DESTROY ARMOR ON -8)
3. Alette(owerwatch)
4. Egil(really srtong character, more with +STR items)
5. Eyvind(lights!)
6. Oddleif(good first ability, great with second fire ability)
7. H&M(both great guys)
8. Bolverk(two attacks!)
9. Horseborn, who can ride through the enemy positions(forgot his name)
10. Hakon or Iver(take third varl position in my battles)

[Aleonymous]

I won't rank my top 10, just list them:

• Iver (w/ Tempest)
  
• Krumr (w/ Tempest)
  
• Fasolt
  
• Oddleif
  
• Rook
  
• Alette
  
• Bolverk
  
• Eyvind
  
• Zefr (w/ Breeze)
  
• Folka

But, it's really about compositions, combos and synergies, so we should make a fav-party thread too :)

[Sky Marshall Sanders]

I refuse to list Rook, Alette or Bolverk; they are each mechanically fantastic because they break the symetry of the turn paradigm, and as the point of view characters you get much more attached to them than the others.
In no real order:
Eyvind - Having a mender in TBS changed the gameplay dynamics and made them much more fun. They are much less critical in TBS2 given the regeneration talents, but they still are pretty great.
Iver - His Amazing bases and caps were let down a little in TBS by Headbutt being lackluster at best. Now that he can hit his caps and also get Tempest he is the best Warhawk in either army and one of the top three Varl overall. And he's a main character, so he gets a lot of chances to shine in the writing.
Egil - For all his incredible cutscene frailty, this is the best frontliner in the game.
Ysra - She's the best archer (who isn't a designated protagonist). She has 3 break, and she has a great ability for crippling high armor targets. Now she can get another area denial ability and ruin more AI controled idiots.
Eirik - He summons a bear and ensures your other units can do more cool things. He may not be the strongest individual on the team, but his impact on your strategy is immense. All the "support" units are silly good in both games and Eirik is no exception.
Mogr - He's the shieldbanger most committed to his role. Not as invincible as Egil, but he can hit harder and do more without expending willpower. Another of the top three Varl.
Oddlief - She's a cool character. Mechanically she's not that great in TBS2, but she's really fun in cutscenes. Also really good vs Bellower in TBS.
Oli - I'm not sold on his power vis-a-vis the other units, but he's the only ranged unit the Ravens get and range covereth a multitude of sins.
Hakon - He was my favorite Warhawk in TBS. Iver is better now, but Hakon is still good. He hits insanely hard but you have to be at least a bit careful with him.

[No Excusez]

I guess my top 6 heroes (For Rook/Alette's caravan) to rely on would be:

Mogr/Egil - Solid tank/armour break front-liner
Griss/Iver - Strongarm Varl is a nice balance to back up the front line
Special ability character - Eyvind/Zefr/Aleo/Ludin, take your pick. I usually put in Eyvind because his power is game-changing
2 Archers - Nid is the best archer in my opinion. Puncture + Bird of Prey makes her a deadly sniper, she was my first lv 10. And the other Archer should be Rook/Alette
Hakon/Gunnulf - Hard-Hitter can do wonders in the late-battle

[Lina Inverse]

After my first playthrough，I tried stop using tank in alette's team.Instead using horseborn to create room for enemy to charge，the result is not bad.
I mean the overwatch+knockback thing really kind of breaks the game.Like when I consider a character useful or not，the first thing I think is whether it suits alette or not.....
So I like horseborns which can create space and Nid which can take care of other eagle eyes

[Lina Inverse]

As for team Bolvy，Bolvy is great，oli is good
I think zefr is good too，but I can't get her killing point except training，which is annoying

[Caxs]

Publicado originalmente por Aleonymous:

But, it's really about compositions, combos and synergies, so we should make a fav-party thread too :)

Good point. Certain top-tier characters can always be relied upon to carry the group because of their amazing abilities and/or stats. TBS had Hakon, Iver, Rook, Egil, Mogr, and Oddlief. TBS2 has Alette, Bolverk, Folka, Eirik, Yrsa, and Zefr. Eyvind can be counted on in both. But knowing party synergy can turn a hard battle into a cake walk.

My favs on first playthrough were:

1. Iver
2. Bolverk
3. Yrsa
4. Nid
5. Eirik
6. Folka
7. Rook
8. Oli
9. Trygvvi
10. Zefr

I'm looking forward to another playthrough using poets and horseborn more often. I deployed them each a few times, but didn't understand their abilities well enough, so I stuck with the familiar veterans and the new main characters mostly.

[rumpelstiltskin]

My dream team would be something like this:
Eyvind - all 3 of his abilities are very useful. Mend is mend; you'd keep an otherwise useless character just for the sake of mend. There's always a moment when the enemies line up diagonally, than then his chain lightning will completely ♥♥♥♥ the ♥♥♥♥ out of them. And troll stones are a great tactical tool
Bolverk - 2 attacks with a +str item are just insane
Folka - unrivaled survivability, especially when then there's an armor mender in the party, and maintaining full break capability all that time. Mogr is also a good alternative as a tank.
Dytch - track is pure tactical porn
Some high-str varl with a tempest, like Gunnulf, Sigfried, or Hakkon. Because, ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ crazy damage output, obviously.
Oddlief - ranged break, rain of arrows, and slag an burn are all very useful, and don't diminish with str.

[Retribution]

Trust me, this party is fun:

Ekkil, Egil, and Gudmundr for insane tanking and GUTS GLORY(use wisely)
RoEch for stunning and forced movement of enemy
Allette with Overwatch to tag all enemies being moved

Lastly is your choice:
Fasolt for facetanking high strength champs and moving people with Malice
Yrsa for Blackfish Armor busting
Iver for 5 Break damage+Movement of enemy AND TEMPEST
Krumr for Forge Ahead on any champ that can be useful (RoEch preffered) and TEMPEST
Sparr for more control of high priority targets+willpower boost

Another insanely fun group...but very challenging!!!
ROOK (mark of pray)
Alette (Overwatch)
Yrsa

Option A: Easy
Krumr,Hakon,Iver (all Forge Ahead)
Use Forge ahead to destroy armor with Yrsa, or to repeatedly mark of pray enemies =)

Option B: Hard but a blast to see!
Three archers of your choice.
Mark of Pray mayhem

[perico2palotes]

I think top 10 heroes hugely vary depending on what game mode and difficulty you are playing. Story mode has not much in common with survival mode, and certainly some heroes such as Bolverk are way more powerful the lower str/def your enemies have, making Bolverk quite possibly top 1 hero on normal difficulty regardless of mode. But anyway, my top 10 + itemization (hard mode) + build (if relevant):
1.) Eyvind (+will / turn item, the higher lvl the better), max WP + stubborn. Looking at Eyvind's stats and skills it isn't immediatly obvious why Eyvind is the no. 1. It takes a bit of foreknowledge to see why he's on a tier of his own. Simply put, in Survival mode toughest stages are 8, any with Eyeless, centaur boss bridge, 38, 39, and 40. All those have in common barricades/environment obstacles and/or narrow passageways. Eyvind, all by himself, regardless of party composition (as long as you got _any_ characters that cover ranged, armor breaker, and DPS roles), trivializes those stages. Plus Eyvind is the only character in the game that can hit enemies that are up to 9 tiles away: you can deploy a trol stone 8 tiles away from Eyvind), which is further than a javelineer can reach (7 tiles). He bypasses armor with both trol stones and lightning chain, a plus.
2.) Overwatch Alette (strahv's bond), max EXE + max lucky shot (works with Overwatch) / Blackfish Yrsa (if not doing Overwatch). Alette's Overwatch is very strong but Overwatch, unlike trol stones / lightning chain does not work against all enemies. Any enemy with shield absorption, very high armor, or a str dmg reduction item will not be knocked back. She can't handle javelineers or trivialize boss stages like Eyvind does. She's close but not quite there. Plus you need Stravh's bond (+2 to str really helps; other knockback items make her way more unreliable) which doesn't always drop in survival mode, making her quite a gamble since she goes down a couple of tiers when you take Overwatch's knockback out of the equation (OW is still pretty good anyway).
On harder difficulty levels if you aren't bringing Alette you want Yrsa. She is the best armor breaker at the early game, and later on gains rain of arrows which nullifies bosses. The only thing that gives you trouble in this game are 18+ armor mobs and Yrsa not only melts armor like nothing, but she also gains str dmg when doing so. A lot of people would say "Rook" or "Canary" as armor breakers, but those two, when equipped with blackfish, will never hit an enemy for 11+ base str dmg like Yrsa routinely does against the toughest mobs / bosses in the game, and that's before you factor in the fact that she's already done 2/4 str dmg to that boss and any adjacent enemies, and that's ignoring fire tile dmg. She's the best armor breaker in the game (ranged > melee obviously), period.
3.) Yver (lvl <6 +2 str item; lvl 8+ Ohrmil's bangle). Not much to say here. He fits in any strategy because he fulfils any role (except ranged, obviously) and he does it very well. He trivializes very tough stages like 6 via tempest + Forge Ahead (see no. 4).
4.) Krumr (Kolgala, Ohrmil's bangle). The only thing better than Eyvind, Yrsa or Yver is having two Eyvinds, Yrsas or Yvers and this is exactly Krumr's business. Plus he can tempest like few others can, but has 13 armor, 4 armor break and 3 EXE making him rather versatile too.
5.) Bolverk (lvl <7 +2 str item; lvl 8 Yox Nauts, lvl 10 Miniature Carving). Bolverk's one of the best boss killers because of brutal dmg output + excellent armor breaking capabilities. At hard difficulty though you either keep him away from combat for the first couple of turns or you slap some str resist item on him, because any skulkers or enemy ranged attackers with exertion / +str items will destroy your str score before you even get to use it. Plus, armor breaking never scales down; str does. So a 8 str Bolverk with Miniature Carving is a monster against any mobs whatsoever. A 8 str bolverk with +str item is a mediocre asset at best.
6.) Eirik (bear skill, +WP/turn, max WP + stubborn). Folka's pretty decent, so having Folka + an infinite WP source has to be quite overpowering. It really is. Plus, the bear dying doesn't count against any achievemens, a big plus in my book. Eirik's also decent at armor breaking and due to his passive skill can be played very safely, unlike all other melee armor breakers (no. 7 is the exception).
7.) Ro'ech (+break items; lvl 8 Yox Nauts, lvl 10 miniature carving, max EXE). While technically not a ranged breaker, his passive almost makes him such. Plus he stunlocks on armor breaking plus manipulates the board. Consider what a mule kick + Forge Ahead + mule kick will do to Eyeless, for instance. That's a near full armor break + stunned boss + boss at desired board location (not always though). If this is not top-10 worthy then I'm the Pope.
8.) Oli (Gem of Vez'nan in story mode, Tool of Scyldings in Survival mode, max Crit chance, some Exploit). Toughest achievement of all BS1 & BS2 was Eyeless' reposession and it wasn't because I hadn't come up with a good strategy to get it. It was because when Eyeless was at full health and 11 armor I thought "time to soften him up with Oli". He one-shot Eyeless doing so. Twice, because at first I though "well, that had to be luck". Wrong guess.
Oli = highest single target DPS in all of Banner Saga and it's a no contest. Other Axe throwing-able toons aren't ranged, and ranged utility is far too good to even consider other characters for this spot.
Other notables are Folka (not the easiest to build or handle), Egil / Ekkil (depending on whether you want to start defensively or offensively), Zefr (Breeze with Bolverk, Yver, or Ro'ech is brutal, but she's not in Eyvind's tier) and maybe Mogr.
Ofc YMMV.