What abilities do you have equipped on your party? (obvious spoilers)

[Urthor]

ftr, all skill slots and all party members unlock after Battle of Enkidu Hill so true theorycrafting really doesn't start until that point in the game. If you're before there, well you've read the title and you know what you're getting.

I'm not far past there, so I don't have every single ability unlocked, which cribs Soha specifically from the looks of things because her bar really depends on getting a proper build going (when you're not just nuking fields with Shadow Blast 3). Also means the majority of this can be dramatically wrong.


Atm I have

Lucien - Greatsword
Actives
Flame Strike ++
Wide Swing+
Ice Blade+
Inspire
Command Aura
Battle Tactics
Passives
Elsaber Mastery
Greatsword Mastery
Battle Hardened

Straightforward Flame Strike build for grinding down regular mobs ASAP, and 3 buffs for boss fights to fill the bar. Wide Swing is VERY strong however, the only reason flame strike takes priority is Wide Swing's startup time vs regular mobs. Wide Swing is very much Lucien's strongest ability

Ingrid - Needlegun
Actives
Aimed Shot
Razor Volley
Suppressive Fire
Poison Rain
Sonic Cannon
Phlogiston Powder
Passives
Piercing Shot
Pharmacology
Pyromaniac

I'm not sure why I've written all that, because Ingrid is solely an auto attack character at this point in the game. Ingrid with the starting needlegun was absolutely not carrying her weight, Ingrid with a crafted Steel Needlegun one shots mages in the backrow very well, and takes them off the turn bar. Multi hits vs no armour is very effective etc etc

Soha - Runesword

Actives
Shadow Blast
Blood Link
Gift of Life
Blood Saber
Dark Saber
Shadow Bolt
Passives
Blood Affiinity
Life Beacon
Agile Mind

Shadow blast is an incredible ability, but Soha feels like she needs the last few abilities to get the cornerpieces to really make a full blood or a full dark build work. Until then it's just throwing out shadow blast and seeing what happens.

Eskandar

Actives
Stealth
Eviscerate
Hamstring Slash
Focused Shot
Backstab
Leaping Strike
Passives
Ambush
Poison Coating
Better Part of Valor

Eskandar's odd to say the least. A lot of single target damage, and none of them overwhelmingly powerful at that. I'm not sure stealth is even worth it except for boss fights. It takes time to charge up that can be used for another attack, backstap takes TP that can be spent on Shadow Blast and all the extra damage is just overkill, and Stealth stops foes attacking Eskandar which means they focus down Lucien, which isn't a good thing at all.

Kesh - will update, haven't tried him out in an area yet.


Anyway, I'm fairly sure most of my stuff is way off the pace, except for Shadow Blast carrying on normal which might be news to some struggling with normal, so interested in what everyone else thinks.

[Dancing Dragon Games]

Cool thread!

Just a side note - you don't actually get your final slots until the next part of the game. Everyone (especially Ingrid with turret summons) gains a cool ability.

So you're about 90% there in terms of having all the skills and slots.

[myhr2]

I plan on making a Skill review when I finish the game and have tinkered around enough (playing on Hard, btw).

My current set-up is as follows :

Lucien - Knightblade

Actives
Enchant Fire 3
Searing Slash 3
Battle Tactics 3
Imposing Presence 3
Hold the Line 4
Stay Resolute 5
Aetherial Strike 2

Passives
Charisma
Press the Attack
Battle Hardened

My Lucian is the tank, he's alone in the frontline, and have an augment on his weapon to "taunt' the ennemies. So his main purpose is to act as a "TP battery" with his passives. His damage is really lackluster, and he's very slow, so I had to slot some Agi augments for him to have some actions...Can't really go full Vit sadly, and counter-attack is kinda a waste on him since his damage is so low. Also, I haven't be able to really benefit from his "tanking skills" like Intercept or Rescue, since they destroy my formation in unintended ways, which is baaaaaad. By the way, Charisma is the single best passive in the game, it's so powerfull, since it buffs the Agi of all the 4 other characters, and everything else to boot. It's a late bloomer, though, since it's % based.

Ingrid - Sniper

Actives
Aimed Shot 4
Suppressive Fire 5
Junk Pile 3
Razor Volley 3
Acidic bioproduct 3
Magnetic Pulse 2
Missile Storm 3

Passives
Covering Shot
Piercing Shot
Deadeye

I have Lucian in the Front line, and everyone else in the Second Line, with Ingrid behing Lucian, and man is Covering Shot doing some job. Junk Pile is also the best tank in the game (poor Lucian). Overall devastating set-up, the only problem being she has barely enough actions to attack, buff, cast Junk Pile! Very frail, but she can turn the tides of battle by herself. The Sniper gun is awesome to take out annoying targets, but I kinda want to try the Needlegun with that set-up and see how thing goes.

I'm running out of time, so I'll complete my set-up later. =)

[Luthan]

I just got the last skill slots and skills (turrets for Ingrid). Haven't played around with different builds that much. I played everything on hard and didn't have a lot of problems. Getting preemtive strikes was often a good idea. Made it a lot easier. This also was possible by attacking the enemies on Enkidu Hill from the back (where I mainly used Lucians party). Only bosses were a bit harder where I had to use some heal items or the junk pile to keep people alive. (With Kesh it seems a bit easier.)

Using Lucian for Wide Swing mainly. (This sometimes crits, I have the 3rd weapon type which is supposed to have higher crit chane.) Also the buff which gives regeneration seems nice.

Ingrid is my sniper killling some targets in the back or helping to kill that 1 guy in the front that shields 2 guys in 2nd row where Lucian wants to use the Wide Swing later. Also Junk Pile is nice. Haven't tried the turrets yet. Other tried the skills that need a lot of TP yet. (Battle usually finished earlier.)

Soha ... I did not use her much in the beginning. Now I try user her a bit more. Single heal is cool but with the passives (when she is at full heal and the blood tapped stuff will distribute to allies and heal them) she seems to be a strong help together with kesh to keep the party alive while also doing some damage. (Her last skill seems interesting here.) I'm using that skill that damages almost all of the entire enemy battlefield. Also the skill giving chance to add bloodtap to enemy for your wholy party. And the 2 melee attacks (the dark one and the blood tap attack).

Eskandar mainly going stealth and using the special attacks that can attack last row.

Kesh I'm using allmost all the heal stuff. The one giving reg and removing all debuffs is nice to keep him alive while he does some damage as long as his other heals are not ready (then using them). He is the only one in front. Eskandar and Lucian in middle and Soha and Ingrid in back. (With junk pile if needed as 2nd front character in front of Lucian).

[Dancing Dragon Games]

Might as well share how I tend to play! Changes depending on what part of the game I'm at. I only play in hard difficulty so that does affect things. You don't really need much of a tank on normal/easy.

Typical end game party:

Lucian is a tank. I slap as much plate armor, HP, VIT as possible. Knightblade is my weapon of choice. Since he's not dealing damage, I like to use tanking and buff skills as much as possible.

Actives:
Pommel Bash - stagger!
Command Aura
Battle Tactics
Stay Resolute - use for bosses
Inspire - use offensively
Hold The Line
Imposing Presence

Passives:
Battle Hardened
Press The Attack
Charisma

Specialization:
Sentinel

Ingrid as a summoner and support. I keep her out of danger and I don't really worry about her offensive power. Her summons do the work. Summons benefit from INT so I stack INT and AGI, so she can get many turns to use powerful heals, staggers, summons. For her weapon, I love using the Aetherial Needle Gun with 4 coral augments so her normal attacks do a lot of CT damage.

Actives:
Aetherial Turret
Machine Gun Turret
Junk Pile
Spare Item - this is quite useful
Supressive Fire - stagger!
Acidic Biproduct - melts a lot of armor
Magnetic Pulse - Useful for big groups of soldiers to break up their formation

Passives:
Pharmacology
Master Mechanic
Expert Engineering

Soha is the bringer of death. If I use Lucian as the main tank, I use Soha is a primary damage dealer with dark magic. I put all the best INT items on her and keep her well-protected. Runeblade is the weapon of choice, unless of course you forge Sin Credo, which is the best of both worlds.

Actives:
Blood Tap - keep her life up
Shadow Blast
Bloodlust - huge buff for physical damage dealers
Siphon Energy - interrupt enemy casts and gain TP
Siphon Power
Shadowbolt - this can destroy like... the universe, it can also critical
Nurture - when you're rocking tons of INT, this is almost always a full heal

Passives:
Agile Mind
Imbued Speed - extremely strong with high INT
Psychic Insight - insight makes you bypass a whole lot of defense

Specialization:
Dark Sorceress

Eskandar is a glass cannon physical damage dealer. He dies very easily, so keep him safe, but he does insane damage with this build. Get as much STR, Weapon power and DEX as possible. This uses both dagger and crossbow to extreme effect. Any one of the 3 daggers is a good dagger really. Maybe stick with daggers or karambits for damage though.

Actives:
Crossbow Barrage - hilarious damage with high DEX
Eviscerate
Kidney Shot - stagger!
Focused Shot
Focus - use before Whispering Fang
Whispering Fang
Feral Frenzy - ludicrous damage with high DEX

Passives:
Thrill Of The Hunt
Quick Reload
Eagle Eye

Kesh is insanely strong support. I make him an off tank and try to boost INT/WIS as well. Not much else to say - his support skills can make or break the battle. Beacon is his weapon of choice.

Actives:
Meditation
Revive
Divine Wake
Grandmaster's Boon
Enhance Chi
Pressure Points - stagger!
Disperse Damage - Use this on your tank, and make sure the tank has fellow off-tanks to disperse to... Junk Piles included!

Blood Knight Soha is another build for her that is incredibly strong. Since she gets theoretically approx 20,000 max HP, and can self-sustain through drains, this is one formidable tank. Get as much plate as you can, and stack STR. STR STR STR. Did I mention STR? Drains benefit from her STR. Rapier is weapon of choice, unless of course again you have Sin Credo, then enjoy the destruction.

Actives:
Blood tap - with this build, blood tap does a lot of draining
Blood Saber
Bloodlust - use on soha for massive STR gains
Siphon Might - even more STR
Coup De Grace - yes, with this build, CDG is quite a powerful source of damage
Siphon Power - steal INT to make your passives stronger
Siphon Energy - I... pretty much always run with this.

Passives:
Imbued Might
Imbued Speed
Swordplay Mastery

Specialization:
Blood Knight

[HawkPeft]

Lucian

Wide Swing, best skill in the game imo.
Lightning Strike, Thunderstrike, Enchant Lightning, Lightning Mastery. I switch these between the 3 elements as need, fire for most enemies, lightning for mechanical enemies, I haven't found a situation for ice attacks.
Imposing Presence
Beserker Stance
Aetherial Strike
Elsaber Mastery
Greatsword Mastery

Lucian is just a solid character, give him the counter belt, plate armor, put him in front row and he'll take the hits and dish out decent damage.

Ingrid

Turret
Imbue Lightfury
Scan
Magnetic Pulse(mostly to pull the enemy into better Wide Swing position)
Covering Shot
Piercing Shot
Expert Engineer

Ingrid with does great damage with her nailgun+turrets, give her agi/int and she'll be great. Soha+blood link(lucian)+covering shot, she'll counter pretty much every melee attack.

Eskander

Stealth
Backstab
Sneak Attack
Heightened Senses
Thrill of the Hunt
Acuity
Ambush

Eskander is the best damage dealer in the game, give him a karambit, stealth+backstab/Sneak Attack and watch him 1 shot 90% of the mobs and take chunks out of bosses.

Soha

Blood Saber
Siphon Might
Blood Link
Coup De Grace
Blood Tap
Gift of Life
Nurture
Swordplay Mastery
Imbued Might
Imbued Speed

Soha's decent, she has good health and decent defenses, so blood link on lucian who tanks everything works well, she can take a hit, and it works great with Ingrid covering shot if everyones behind Lucian, some blood taps and a coup de grace she'll be a solid character.

Kesh

Chi Blast
Meditation
Divine Wake
Grandmaster's Boon

I don't know, I use kesh for party healing, chi blast to take off aetherial barriers and grandmasters boon for tp on bosses. I'm not using kesh to his full potential, he has some interesting skills but I can't figure out how to synergise them.

[wunder]

I'm in Giovany's Lab, and Soha and Ingrid still have some missing skills. I got the special skills from Kesh (such as turret, heightened senses, etc.), but Soha has 2 blanks skill slots and Ingrid has 3. Did I miss something during game play that would have given me these missing skills? All my characters are Level 28 and above.

[myhr2]

@wunder : I'm roughly at the same point, and I'm 100% sure there are some other skills to come. Most likely scenaristic ones!

[Dancing Dragon Games]

Originally posted by wunder:

I'm in Giovany's Lab, and Soha and Ingrid still have some missing skills. I got the special skills from Kesh (such as turret, heightened senses, etc.), but Soha has 2 blanks skill slots and Ingrid has 3. Did I miss something during game play that would have given me these missing skills? All my characters are Level 28 and above.

Yep, more are coming later!

[wunder]

Thanks, Harmonic42!