best bro...dead

[Twogun]

so, i love this game. and i don't mind not being great at it.

but i have a big problem. i do pretty well when i'm just armoring up bros with one handed weapons/shields. but the SECOND i try to use a two handed weapon, my bro's die. most recently, i found a two handed sword. i was careful not to use it until i had about 200 armor/170 helmet. my bro had 12 melee defense. he took a shot in one battle but survived. next battle was in a swamp. i was careful to keep him on good footing. i'm plinking away, weakening the brigands as they get closer. they engage, there are two of them adjacent to him. he misses. i move a DP bro behind him so i can rotate him out if he gets banged up, but can't quite get there. in two turns, he's dead, even though i was sure to have him adjacent to my best super tank guy.

now, i've failed a lot at this game. but man, this is killing me. he was my best bro, with my best(improved) armor, my best helm,and my best weapon and i was very worried about losing him, because on ironman, i'm now kinda screwed. yet still, he's dead after two battles.

so what do i do? i'd also like to try to make a nimble/duelist. but i imagine he'd literally die in the first battle. i can be fairly successful just using shielded bros/a good group of back liners. but it makes the game pretty boring.

so, help if you can.

[Coldoge]

My rule, before using two-handed weapons is have 20 Melee Defense, Brawny and Battle Forged for heavy bros, Colossus and Nimble for light bros. Have Indomitable for tougher enemies, and Reach Advantage for the big fights if you can fit it in the build. But like everything in BB this rule depends on the situation. I get by against zombies without Indomitable and possibly Nimble and Battle Forged as long as the Melee Defense is 20+ because the higher damage output with two-handed weapons, killing zombies faster, outweighs not having the other perks.

[turtle225]

Yeah 12 defense and sub 200 armor isn't very durable.

You don't need to rush to use 2Handers or Duelists early. Prior the crisis the battles are generally small enough that you don't need high dps to win.

As Col-Doge said, you can be more aggressive against Zombies because they are weak and high damage is the best counter to their swarm strategy.

For running Nimble, get as much hp as possible and any old Raider armor is fine. You still need good melee defense (12 is not enough).

Here's an example.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1942985452

That guy isn't the greatest dude ever, but he works. I actually recommend you build it a bit more defensive (drop Executioner, Backstabber, and/or Frenzy for defensive perks) since you are still getting used to the game.

The more dps units you have, the more that they can keep each other safe by winning the battle quickly. If you only have one dps guy and everyone else is tanking then the battle might drag which puts your dps guy in a lot more relative danger.

[Twogun]

ok. thanks guys. i'll give it another go

[WarWise]

Two handers are mid to late game.
That is why the first thing you should do when you start a regular game is to ditch the wood axe and get a shield for every one of your melee fighters.

[jfoytek]

Originally posted by Twogun:

so, i love this game. and i don't mind not being great at it.

but i have a big problem. i do pretty well when i'm just armoring up bros with one handed weapons/shields. but the SECOND i try to use a two handed weapon, my bro's die. most recently, i found a two handed sword. i was careful not to use it until i had about 200 armor/170 helmet. my bro had 12 melee defense. he took a shot in one battle but survived. next battle was in a swamp. i was careful to keep him on good footing. i'm plinking away, weakening the brigands as they get closer. they engage, there are two of them adjacent to him. he misses. i move a DP bro behind him so i can rotate him out if he gets banged up, but can't quite get there. in two turns, he's dead, even though i was sure to have him adjacent to my best super tank guy.

now, i've failed a lot at this game. but man, this is killing me. he was my best bro, with my best(improved) armor, my best helm,and my best weapon and i was very worried about losing him, because on ironman, i'm now kinda screwed. yet still, he's dead after two battles.

so what do i do? i'd also like to try to make a nimble/duelist. but i imagine he'd literally die in the first battle. i can be fairly successful just using shielded bros/a good group of back liners. but it makes the game pretty boring.

so, help if you can.

First off your putting to much importance into a single brother if you think of him as your best bro.

Secondly if you don't want to bro to die don't take away his shield. Especially if he only has 12 melee defense!!! 200/170 isn't exactly a tank either thats more like run of the mill battle forged. And I assume you atleast had battleforge before handing this guy a 2 hander???

In the future be sure your Best Bro has Battle Forged or Nimble with the appropriate gear to match and about 30-35+ Melee defense without a shield before you decide to be rambo....

Sorry if this sounds harsh but this game is about harsh, and it sounds like you just need more time to learn!

[anaphylactic god]

pick nine lives if you want him to live
pick colossus if you dont care.

[Twogun]

really? i'd think by the time a bro hits level 5 colossus would be really helpful?

he didn't have it though.

[The Duck Knight]

I truely believe that defense is far more important than pure damage.
What is the point at a 2H guy that dies too quick.
Shields are a good way to keep everyone alive during battle and handing out 2H weapons before you reached enough defense is often a suicide move.
Heck, you can beat nearly everything without using 2H weapons in your frontrow at all.

[turtle225]

Originally posted by Twogun:

really? i'd think by the time a bro hits level 5 colossus would be really helpful?

he didn't have it though.

NineLives is statistically stronger in the early game, but Colossus is a much better perk overall since it helps protect you from injuries (which are particularly bothersome early game), and it stacks insanely well with Nimble which most of your bros should be using later. Forge even wants a decent hp count (80+ if you ask me).

[laveley]

2h needs at lest 30 meele base defence to be viable. Expecting a 12 defence would cut the chase is kinda of a bad taste joke, no offense...

And yes thats a lot of defence that only the best recruits/backgrounds will have at lvl11.

And yes, thats very restrictive specially considering that this is one of the only builds that is viable against almost anything late game.

[Twogun]

actually, all these comments are helpful.

but in other news, i've twice been destroyed on day 30 by webnechts in the woods. so it's pretty mute at this point!

not sure how to beat them. i spawn with my party spread everywhere, and they web and poison me. i can't get my bros together, and the webnechts are hard to hit, take three plus shots to kill, and seem to be regenerating faster than i can kill em!

so the two hander thing hasn't been coming up much!

[jfoytek]

Originally posted by Twogun:

really? i'd think by the time a bro hits level 5 colossus would be really helpful?

he didn't have it though.

Colossus is a strong perk useful on any bro not just nimble.... 9 Lives is a very poor perk if it ever proc's in battle that guy is dead in the next round the only time 9 Lives works is if you happen to end the fight on the same round it proc'd which is well slim to rare if ever...

Because of how situational 9 Lives is, its just a waisted perk slot...

[jfoytek]

Originally posted by Twogun:

actually, all these comments are helpful.

but in other news, i've twice been destroyed on day 30 by webnechts in the woods. so it's pretty mute at this point!

not sure how to beat them. i spawn with my party spread everywhere, and they web and poison me. i can't get my bros together, and the webnechts are hard to hit, take three plus shots to kill, and seem to be regenerating faster than i can kill em!

so the two hander thing hasn't been coming up much!

webnechts are actually a really easy mob, the only time they are scary is very early game....

Webnechts prioritize netting before poison so keep the nets off and your less likely to be poisoned. The Poison is the only real threat and since webnecht's are so easy to kill just keep the webs off your front line and kill em with your polearms in the back line?!? You are using polearms in the back line??? Correct???

[jfoytek]

Originally posted by turtle225:

Originally posted by Twogun:

really? i'd think by the time a bro hits level 5 colossus would be really helpful?

he didn't have it though.

NineLives is statistically stronger in the early game, but Colossus is a much better perk overall since it helps protect you from injuries (which are particularly bothersome early game), and it stacks insanely well with Nimble which most of your bros should be using later. Forge even wants a decent hp count (80+ if you ask me).

The comment here about nimble is a style recommendation. Turtle loves his Nimble I find it to be a bit weak for my taste and far prefer battleforged... Nimble requires to much stat spreading around where battleforge is easy FAT MAtk MDef but with Nimble you have to prioritize HP and then your Fat suffer's

[nightworg]

12 Mdef is too low for a two hander unless he use reach weapons. Candidates for two hander's are people with high starting stats in Mdef and Matt, or stars in those abilities at least.

You should aim for brothers who can reach 85 Matt and 35 Mdef at level 11. I usually start out with Retired soldiers as they have good stats in those skills.