Looking for input on main character builds

[deciBelle]

Hi! So I've been restarting the game a couple of times now, beating up the farm kids with various weapon combos and I've been wondering what folks are gravitating towards for their main characters.

Currently I'm looking at four possible builds for myself, a bow user with diplomacy and leadership, an axe+shield leadership style character, a sword + shield character and a dual axe berserker for the Gunnarr style.

Trying to narrow these down, I'm comparing axe vs. sword in combination with a shield. It feels as though axes are better able to brute force their way through opposing shield users, while swords are kind of meh in most areas by comparison. Am I judging this correctly?

And would it be feasible to have a dual wielder that can switch to a weapon + shield set on the fly, or would that spread my skills out too much? Thanks in advance for the input!

[BloodyPork]

Depends on who you want to be in your party..

Also shield point is always necessary because your main char always start in the front of your formation in many fights so he would be the target of most enemies and will be downed easily without shield. But you'll have more than enough points anyway, as long as you stay away from giving skill points to non-combat skill (but 1 point of scout is okay.. if you want to make one of your merc a perfect fighter).

The most natural is one handed and shield imo. My preferred build is knife+shield and bow with stat distribution: 1 str, 7/8 finesse, 10 perception, 6 sense (important to resist demoralize).
Put all points into bow > good passive like keen sight, fortune favored, etc > leadership > shield. Leadership is important even if you don't intend to use it's active because it increase your mental resist to stave off demoralize which halve your accuracy rate. Quick shot is very op btw.

[acidshadow]

I'm a big fan of the dual wielding so my main has been running sword/axe for his first setup and axe/dagger as a back up, i run with 1 shield, an archer, a sling and a spearman and another berserker like me and I have very little trouble unless theres an abundance of archers.

I would like to note that every person in my hird has the healing skill because it just seemed right. I am more or less focusin each person into 1 type of camp ability other than guard so that i can craft what i need and still keep my reserves up...

Gunnar for president 2020!!!!

[deciBelle]

Originally posted by BloodyPork:

[...]
Also shield point is always necessary because your main char always start in the front of your formation in many fights so he would be the target of most enemies and will be downed easily without shield.[...]

I've noticed that. Pity that you cannot set up formations, or I would be more comfortable starting with a bow out!

Originally posted by acidshadow:

I'm a big fan of the dual wielding so my main has been running sword/axe for his first setup and axe/dagger as a back up, i run with 1 shield, an archer, a sling and a spearman and another berserker like me and I have very little trouble unless theres an abundance of archers.

I would like to note that every person in my hird has the healing skill because it just seemed right. I am more or less focusin each person into 1 type of camp ability other than guard so that i can craft what i need and still keep my reserves up...

Gunnar for president 2020!!!!

Good call on giving every hird member healing, I may just do that as well! What's your reasoning for mixing up your weapons in dual wield stance? Wouldn't it be more skill point (and stat) efficient to limit yourself to one weapon type, i.e. either axe/axe or knife/knife?

[BloodyPork]

Starting with a bow is fine. Just make sure to set your main equipment to shield and knife. During your turn (after the initial opponent attack), you can then switch to bow and fire away.
I'm using bow main and bow is the most op.. he can quickshot from quite far with 95% accuracy to kill 2 opponents in a single turn.

[acidshadow]

Good call on giving every hird member healing, I may just do that as well! What's your reasoning for mixing up your weapons in dual wield stance? Wouldn't it be more skill point (and stat) efficient to limit yourself to one weapon type, i.e. either axe/axe or knife/knife?

Different main hands allow for different attacks, axe in main helps with shields... daggers are awesome when people are immobilised/stunned. swords are good for really strong hits, but we're not allowed to use in your offhand and axe and dagger pros outwiegh swords

[Atomic]

Hi Everyone, we just started up a strategy discussion sub forum and we'd love it if you helped us get some threads going with your build strategies!

http://steamcommunity.com/app/445190/discussions/5/

[deciBelle]

Will saunter over and have a look, thanks!

[Tomn]

Honestly, I dig extra conversation options too much, so my own build is hyper-focused on diplomacy and leadership and isn't really intended for a frontline role. That being said, leadership's "Inspire" ability is absurdly powerful and despite doing nothing but holding a shield and standing around I can contribute to battle by giving heavier hitters like Gunnar or Nefja extra attacks.

I do play on medium, though, so this might not be ideal.