Act I, II, III Guides (Party Combos too)

[Museigan]

I've noticed not only through personal experience but also through reading peoples posts on the forums the frustration at the difficulty and speed curve; so i'm writing this in hopes it can help people better understand how to get a capable foothold within the game.

There's 'Hidden' difficulty meters on this game, and many would blame it all on RNG; but a lot of the RNG can be mitigated by your class choices early on; remember the disclaimer about everyone before you failing, truthfully I think this exists because they knew without stuff in the lore store you're *going* to fail, but that said expect to lose the first games through and even suffer through a few zergs to the first 2 or 4 hardcore mode lorebooks then get a HERBALIST unlocked, you will NEED this, afterwards you'll want to save up one more class of note, personally I advise the Buskar and to finalize your team with a Hunter (fast Sword/Board specialist) or a Blacksmith (AoE Melee, Heavy type); remember to keep your group together and have your GODSBEARDS on your HERBALIST as she can party heal ability during battles; without this ability this game is absolute HELL.

Difficulty with Herbalist: Hard
Difficulty without Herbalist or a Party-Heal item: Dark souls meleeing if parry/dodge didn't work.

Key Strategies: Resource Management! In FTK resource management is everything; don't use godsbeards to heal unless it's an herbalists' "Party Heal" and don't use a party heal if only one person is hurt and nothing present could viably kill them in the next blow; use your money largely on godsbeards or essential progression weapons/armor; by and large most of your gear will come from your foes and will be a result of luck, but occasionally you'll find yourself with enough money in a act to deck out a character or two; try not to ever over-do it as the herbs steadily raise in cost, so you need to remember to weigh cost of herbs vs cost of pipe upgrade. REMEMBER; Herbalists not only are the only 'quick' build way to heal the entire team (Or anyone at all) ordinarily; if you're healing everyone at once thats saving two other people turns to fight; and nothings more precious in FTK than turns.

ACT I: The Rushening
Act I is best defined by 'Hurry!', of all the acts i'm covering here it's the most stringent and leanest with time, you only get 12 'turns' to get your things together, visit the first city, go to the artifact and don't be afraid of using 1-2 focus to ensure you get it done -- after this you need to gear up and ensure your herbalist has 4-6 godsbeards if you can as you descend into the mines with whatever gear you came across; theres emphasis on this, most people starting off try grind too much and slip into chaos-mode.
The True Threat: Time. In Act I time is more likely to kill you than the enemies themselves.
Ideal Weapons at this point: Burnt Tome, Smith Hammer, Heavy Sword, Anything lucky you come across.
Bounty: Try to get one bounty in this act; no more as it'd take too long unless you got lucky and it's all squished together.

Act II: The Calm Before the (Chaos) Storms
Act II Is where you first get some breathing space, send your 'Adventure' based character out to the castle objective and from here ensure your team is able to take on the bad guys about; you shouldn't be struggling with the Act I level enemies at the point you're intending to go into any of the bosses' fights; against Lich you'll want to use physical damage as his resistance is really high, but after you get through the first one it comes a lot easier.
The True Threat: Not Having Teleport scrolls mixed with the distance of 3 targets, also the Cellar is hidden so watch where it initially pans over to or you could be lost at sea searching.
Ideal Weapons: Stumbling across a Night Market (If unlocked) with fire or lightning swords for your melee, for your casters and bards there's a few items but I found the ice-lute was a solid bardic weapon and any wand with Vaporize and a Barrier ability was strong for the Herbalist.
Note: You'll want 15+ in your physical and/or resistance at this point; toss your focus caps in loo of more resistances and having +3 or more HP regen a turn on your people at this point would be ideal for being able to have smooth sailing; buskars can net 12-30 a night if they entertain around here.
Important: Upgrade your pipes before Act 3, try to bolster your coin a lot with bounties on this act.

Act III: This is where the game really hurls you to the wolves; so try to have another portal scroll or two ready if you were fortunate and found them on side-adventures; but don't be like my recent playthrough where I got here then was too cocky after Act II; after going to the distant town it informs you they can get an Airship to reach the bad-guys tower, but they need you to go into the wastes and slay two demons in different caves within the time limit or (of course) chaos will rise.

Remember, 'what' you acquired in that play through determines a lot; so at this point you could be a formidable military force to your foes; or you may of struggled by but have a lot of mobility and clever solutions to bosses.
The True Threat: ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Merchants who over-charge with many wanting 200+ a godsbeard; if your team is able to handle the foes you'll be able to reliably make it through the demon caves if you can keep your healing item supply up,

Hopefully with time I come up with a more detailed and comprehensive guide; but this is a hard game to write one for given that what/where/how it plays each time will vary a bit.

[Museigan]

For newbie combos i liked:
Smith, Minstrel, Hunter
The smith has the best weapon hands-down of the newbie classes and STEADY is solid throughout; the hammers' AoE will help a lot and if you get the Minstrel a Basso instrument ASAP and the Hunter a sword+board you'll find the hunter can sneaks about to unlock objectives and meet the party there easily.

I didn't like the Scholar AT ALL because the Focusing Cap is literally... in nearly every run; and it's so unlikely it happens; he had promise but the herbalist is just too much better at his job, so is the minstrel.

Unlock the herbalist ASAP to avoid a lot of tears, at this point you can make the party Smith, Herbalist, Hunter if you liked the first since the Herbalist and smith actually aren't bad with musical items; but the Herbalist will shine with a nice staff.

For Adv party combos, i've found:
Smith, Herbalist, Buskar
Minstrel, Herbalist, Buskar (No Conflict, EZ items/Exp team)
Smith, Herbalist, Woodsman (Heavy-Melee Team, weak to Magic)
Buskar, Herbalist, Buskar (Heavy Money Team, Herbalist Adventures in it)

[tolshortte]

my current run im using

Herbalist, Buskar, Hunter

ive basically geared the Buskar how i would a Smith. i got steady and taunt on the tower shield. most mobs cant even hurt him through act II. also have the scimitar on him for when i have him actually strike something. omw to the tower now.

[Museigan]

Very nice Tol! Anyone know is theres something beyond thew tower?

[LimpMadness]

i dont think there is, i finished the tower and game just closes and have to start from the begining

[Anelyn]

You don't need a herbalist really, the game is made with all combos possible to beat the game. Do as many quests as you can (always go for ones that are in the area you are in even if the rewards are not amazing - if however you have a good map layout and you can pick up something or deliver something in a nearby different biome without problems go for it).

Money is everything, money = power pretty much. Fight everything you can w/o stretching yourself on the edge, with a bit of luck you can be lvl 3 party before entering the mines (make a note where the mines are as soon as you find it on map, then plan your movement / fights / quests accordingly so that you can 100% enter the mines before you reach 5 chaos, until then just fight, buy gear, sell stuff etc).

Make a mental note in what towns are the pieces of equipment for your party, and in what order to purchase them. Beeline for statues and temples as soon as you spot them even if you are full HP and nothing to fight in the way, the bonus stats and extra XP are all that matters.

Always upgrade your weapons first on the DPS classes, and armor / resists on your tank (if you use one). You want to finish the fights as fast as possible to reduce incoming damage, debuffs and chance of someone dieing because it got targeted 3 times in a row etc.

Spend focus and coins whenever you find locations with rewards (treasure chests, items, wells etc). Don't over invest in gear with bonus to combat stats at expense of armor and resistance, you can always spend focus to increase odds of hitting or applying debuffs, but you can't do it for your defenses - and those are what will keep you alive.

Upgrade your pipes for every new act, you should have lvl 1 pipes on everyone by the time you finish the mines, and lvl 2 before you go tackle the 3 objectives in act 2.

Personally I enjoy most a group with a minstrel, blacksmith and a mage or herbalist (both scale with INT for dmg checks and have access to best AoE's in game), this gives me a real tank that can taunt everything, a good magic dealer with helpful buffs or debuffs (you can get armor up, resist up, evade up, daze, stun, slow, reset), and an amazing magic damage dealer (make sure you choose a weapon that has as one of the attacks ignore resist on perfect).

[OnlyRex]

I played the game wiht a party of 3 hunters on master difficulty and got it done :d

[Samseng Yik]

Originally posted by OnlyRex:

I played the game wiht a party of 3 hunters on master difficulty and got it done :d

Do you mean speed/dodge stat is crucial ?

[Museigan]

More speed = More Turns; so technically it's the most important.