Best Items from TBS2

[Caxs]

My favorite items from The Banner Saga 2 (new items only – no carry-overs)

8 - Throstr’s Tooth - +2 STR; +25 2X STR DAM
Good on anyone who has invested in the Artery Strike Talent. Used with Rook and Alette.

7 - Fallows Rebirth – Protects frm death unless STR is 1; -3ARM; 35% DODGE STR
Good with the Defy Talent. I had this one on Mogr and Egil.

6 - Gormr Statue – Knockback on STR attacks of +3; +2 WIL per kill; +1 STR
As others have said, great with Alette’s Overwatch. Broken even.

6 - Jokullhallr - +2 All Talent Ranks
Nid became a wrecking ball with this and Lucky Shot. Also liked with Hakon.

5 - Hunnfang - +2 BRK; +1 MOVE; +1 ARM on rest
Eirk, Trggyvi, and Bolverk really made use of the +2 BRK. Had 1 in each caravan.

These are my favorites so far. I have NOT used any Rank 9 or 10 items except for a few sparring matches. Not sure if I’m being too stingy an item shopper or just haven’t come across them.

What were some of your favorite TBS2 items?

[Fringehunter7719]

Mask of Andvettr is pretty much the best item. It allows you to slag and burn your own troops, ignore walking on drumfire and other hazards. Makes you immune to disease from Eyeless and Stonesingers, makes the AI make constant 0 damage attacks (I can't stress enough how huge this is). Combine with a mender and (especially if you only run 2 hero parties) essentially achieved immortality. Strength resistance is ridiculously good. 4 effective health and that avoids almost any "whittling down" is amazing.

After that anything with knockback 3 + Alette is broken.

Clasp of Kyn is pretty good. Will regen + armor regen is a solid combo and the talent ranks are decidedly handy. Basically a Calabilla deluxe.

Bjorg av leander isn't new, but it works stunningly well with Folka.

The Blackfish works really well with any archer. Slag and burn does 2 damage+break damage to the target for a measly 1 willpower, with 2 splash damage and tile hazards left behind. +2 move and 7-8 break on an archer is very powerful.

[Aleonymous]

Originally posted by Fringehunter7719:

The Blackfish works really well with any archer. Slag and burn does 2 damage+break damage to the target for a measly 1 willpower, with 2 splash damage and tile hazards left behind. +2 move and 7-8 break on an archer is very powerful.

Aye, the Blackfish was my fav as well!

[No Excusez]

This one is very nice on Oli: Tool of Scyldings

'+2 BRK Talent Ranks; +30% 2x STR Damage; +1 Ranged Distance'

The BRK rank talents are alright but it's the fact that his ranged is increased plus you will likely get a 2x str damage on axe storm.

[Aleonymous]

I kinda dislike how they over-worked the CRIT in Saga2: Items, Abilities, Talents (all those stacking)... It goes against the "deterministic" nature of the STR-ARM core of the game.

[Fringehunter7719]

I'm not really a fan of crit to be honest, a lot of the time I use enemies to block other (often stronger) enemies. Not being able to chip away strength for fear of accidentally opening new paths to your heroes is a significant double edge, to the sword of crits.

To be fair they do naturally sit with axe storm and thrash, which are already random. More chances of smaller crits works out much better. Well, insofar as I almost never use axe storm anyway, as one of the weakest raider abilities.

I think I'd prefer Hagn's fall (2 range; +2 break talents; 2 arm) for a ranged unit of range 4 to Tool of Scyldings though, once you get to 6 range you can attack slow units (dredge scourges etc.) that only have 3 movement and 1 willpower from safety with no chance for retaliation, even if you don't have a turn advantage, which is a pretty nice boost. Range 5 isn't enough for that, which is all you get from a +1 range on a horseborn/axe thrower.

[some guy]

i feel like bringing enemies to 1 health is much less viable this time around. often i just start picking them off, especially if they have certain abilities.

[Fringehunter7719]

It's not really bringing enemies to 1 health that's the issue per se, it's more situations like you have a ~17str varl and a 11/11 arm/str dredge. It's early in the battle, first or second round, and there are still lots of full strength dredge left, including some of the tougher ones hiding in the back, with as much as 23 str.

With crit attacking that 11/11 dredge is a liability, because it can open a path for the 23 str dredge because a crit is a 1HKO. Without crit you can hit or whirlwind (even better) taking 1-2 (or even 3 or 4 occasionally) such enemies from enough of a threat that break + will hit will do some damage to completely neutered (6str plus perhaps a heavy impact +1 leaving 4-5 str and easy to polish off at your leisure in a single hit).

[No Excusez]

Originally posted by Fringehunter7719:

I'm not really a fan of crit to be honest

I think all this discussion on crits might warrant its own thread. I'm not a big fan of it either lol

[Fathom]

Originally posted by Aleonymous:

Originally posted by Fringehunter7719:

The Blackfish works really well with any archer. Slag and burn does 2 damage+break damage to the target for a measly 1 willpower, with 2 splash damage and tile hazards left behind. +2 move and 7-8 break on an archer is very powerful.

Aye, the Blackfish was my fav as well!

but doesnt it make you loose stats?

[Fringehunter7719]

Sort of, it reduces your strength attack by 5, but not your strength.

So your stats are the same, but if you use strength attacks they are going to be reduced by 5. It doesn't affect the damage from slag and burn though, which is what makes it great. 2 str damage + 7-8 break damage + 2 splash strength damage to adjacent targets + coals for additional direct strength damage is a very potent attack for a price of just 1 will.

It's 2 break (with the +2 move being a nice bonus) better than doing the same with the next best break item. So it really depends how often you are going to want to do attacks which aren't break/slag and burn with that archer.