Team composition

[Tchey]

Hello,

Only pure curiosity : what kind of team you run ? Why ? How ?

I'm running a 5 members team, keeping the last spot for later, if and when needed. I'm thinking about a ninja-type, not sure yet. All custom. Only level 3 or 4, wave 4 or 5 so far.

- Dwarf fighter with a hammer and shield
- Half orc fighter with a bow
- Human wizard with a crossbow
- Half elf cleric with a masse and shield, stays out of combat and useless most of the time
- Half orc barbarian with a big axe

What about you ?

[Sakkat Bamboo]

For my first run, i've try with the normal heroes already avalaible :
My team is lvl 31 :
- Tork Dwf Gdc Heavy Armor/Shield. He is my Tank
- Lia Elf DB : Dual Destruction Dagger, Leather gear with thorn and counterstrike gear. She's my main damage dealer ( Around 350 With critical damage ). She can counter attack if ennemy's miss her with 50% probability and cleave when kill ennemy.
- Chris Hum Hlr : Mace/Shield Chain armor. Bonus Wisdom/heal/magical damage. My main healer
- Aust (Custom Char) Hum UH : 2H Hammer Chain armor. My second healer but more offensive (Better Str/Int). Second healer can be really great if my main is focus. He can revive and heal very well.
- Hathaway Gnm Ctl : Magic Crossbow Spellcaster robe. He is my controller/summoner. He deal really great magical damage. Can spawn Elemental and got a real powerfull map control.
- Aramil Elf Elm : Magic Crossbow Spellcaster robe. My elementalist. Deal big magical damage in AoE. But Elm isnt really powerfull compare to Controller. They have same gear and deal approximatly same damage.

Magical class in this game need more difference. They have same spell and lot of Feats and Traits are the same.
If needed i think i'm gonna remplace my Elm for a Great weapon warrior with a 2H weapons.

[Spritesgc]

I use the pre-made original characters, because I was testing out the game and when I noticed I was at level 20 or something and decided to continue with them until the 1000th battle achievement. Now they're Lvl 90 and something and still heading for the 1000th battle...

- Half Orc Fighter: Goes on front and kills almost everything by swinging the [insert big heavy weapon].
- Dwarf Fighter: Classic Hammer n' Shield. Pretty much immortal, as Def and HP is high af.
- Elf Fighter: Two Swords. Counter/Cleave Rampage.
- Human Cleric: Started as a support healer. Became useless pretty fast and now has a [insert heavy weapon] and goes front and beat or Slay Living stuff.
- Elf Archer: She's kinda meh. Almost useless. Just pin-point easy targets.
- Gnome Mage. Cast Meteor Shower. Procedes to be a pseudo-archer for the rest of the battle.

[Sakkat Bamboo]

Pseudo archer xD That's so true. I dont know why they didnt add Staff or Scepter for magical character. And archer doesnt have skill.... Some classes actually are really useless.

[Meowella]

Half Orc Fighter with Melee 2h, Ranged Thrown. Str 20 Dex 14 Con 18.
Human Cleric with Hand Crowwbow and Shield, Ranged Thrown. Dex 16 Wis 20
2* Human Rogue with Dual Wield, Ranged Thrown. Dex 20
2* Gnome Wizard with Crossbow, Int 20 Cha 18.

The Cleric uses a Hand Crossbow for 1 reason, it qualifies for Zen Archery AND lets your use a Shield. This enables your cleric to have a high AC for survivability without impuning on your offensive capabilities (most damage comes from bonuses such as flaming or frost, rather than the base weapon type).

Early on your elementals from 2 wizards and Fighter can soak up most of the damage, while everyone else just gets on with being mediocre. By level 5 you're looking at a better output from Rogues, Fireballs and Animate Dead from the Cleric.

While you may think more Fighters (or Barbs) are good because they do more damage, it's only in the early levels (up to about level 9) then Opportunist strikes and the Rogues, who probably have higher AC by now, are pulling ahead.

Benefits:
- High to hit bonuses for everyone means each member with a decent weapon can put out a decent level of damage.
- Multiple Chump Blockers with 3 casters capable of summoning them on top of any ioun stones.
- Multiple Rogues will make you laugh as you flank an opponent, then go Rogue 2 Sneak > Rogue 1 Opportunist > Rogue 2 Opportunist > Death.

Concerns:
- Reliant on Hand Crossbows to make the Cleric decent
- Lower damage initially due to 2 Rogues.
- No Elves.

[Marchegiana]

I started with the pre-made character in order to learn the basics, and they were actually well designed up to the level I played them (25ish). But I dropped them in order to make a custom group, since choosing which improvements to get is a good part of the fun.

I made a group with a Dwarf tank with shield and hammer CON and STR build, 1/2 Elf Rogue dual-weilding light/finesse weapons DEX build with a little STR, Human Fighter dual-wield with DEX build and a few STR points added, 1/2 Orc Barbarian using great axe and a reach weapon as back up and a totally STR build, Human Cleric with a pure WIS build using a bow, and finally an Elf Wizard with a pure INT build using a crossbow.

The dwarf tank is an under-performer. I started putting attribute increases into STR many levels ago, but he just can't catch up in the damage department and his AC is lower than the Rogue or Dex based fighter.
The cleric is so-so, but does better damage than the tank and has vital spells.
The Wizard conjures an elemental and can usually get off 1 other spell before the battle ends; otherwise she is an under-powered archer.
The Rogue started off slowly, but as he got the right feats (Cleave, Improved Cleave, Opportunist) he turned into an absolute monster. Most attackers only have a 5% chance to hit him due to the high Dex, and he has the highest damage output of any of the characters. But he does rely on being able to Flank an opponent to reach max damage.
The DW, Dex build fighter does well. I wish I hadn't put those few points into STR, but he still has a good AC and fights well with light/finesse weapons. He puts out less damage than the Rogue, but he doesn't rely on flanking to reach max damage.
The 1/2 Orc Barbarian can deal either massive damage or modest damage, depending on whether or not he knocks enemies prone. In truth, he would have been better as a fighter, in order to get the improved Knock-down ability. However he does play an important role with both knock-down and the option to use a weapon with Reach.

I think the group could be improved upon by trading the tank for another Dex build dual-wielder, but it has been very successful.

[Tchey]

Nice to read. I mostly never play DnD system, even if i played a lot of paper RPG and viedo games too.

What kind of feats you select for your toons ? Mostly, mage and clerc ? Is the "Turn" line usefull later ? Should i go to Dual Wielding with my assassin, or more into Combat to get Cleave etc ?

[Marchegiana]

As far as attribute increases are concerned, it depends on how far you intend to take the characters. If you think you'll get to lv 40ish and then stop, then you'll put most of the increases into the main attribute for that character type (ie, STR for a 2 hand weapon user) and just a few points here and there as needed to qualify for an important Feat. If you think you will continue to level 70+, then just put every elective increase to your prime score, and be patient and wait for the periodic automatic increases to all attributes to qualify for specific Feats.

As far as the Feats are concerned, the following progression worked for me. And again, if you go to lv 70+ you will eventually get all of them, but getting them in a logical order will make things run smoother earlier.

General Notes: Everyone should have the proper weapon proficiency for the weapons they use. Everyone should get a ranged weapon of some sort; there will be times when you can't act unless you have a ranged attack. Web + Ranged attacks can make a seemingly impossible situation manageable. Precise Shot is vital for ranged attacks. Quick Draw will facilitate swaping between weapons (even though you have 4 weapon sets, you can only swap between groups 1 and 2 currently). Thrown weapons do not require a weapon set swap, but have a shorter range. If you are doing a DEX build, you will need the Finesse Feat early on. Sweeping Strikes, Vital Strike and the like are usefull, but secondary Feats. You need to be able to hit the enemies and do decent damage before investing in these. Having one character with a 2-Handed Weapon and the Knock-down ability is an important part of the builds I recommend.

DEX build Dual-Wielders: Rogue, Fighter, and Barbarian (probably, I haven't done that myself yet). Get the initial point in 2-Weapon fighting, then move on to Power Attack, Cleave, Great Cleave and Improved Cleave. After that finish off the 2-Weapon skill tree. For the Rogue, get Opportunist as soon as it becomes available. After that, follow the Improved Critical tree. Use light or Finesse weapons. Early on, use whatever armor has the highest base AC. Eventually you should only use armor that has no limit on the DEX bonus to AC: robes, bracers, etc.

STR build 2-Hand Weapon users: Fighter and Barbarian. Get Knock-Down and Improved Knock-Down (Fighter only) as soon as possible. Power Attack, Cleave, Great Cleave and Improved Cleave are next in importance. Then the Critical tree, and then finish off the 2-Hand tree. Knocking down an enemy can provoke an opportunity attack with Improved Cleave, and getting knocked prone when surrounded by enemies is a death sentence (both for you and your opponents). Either your main weapon or a back up weapon should have Reach.

CON build with shield: Avoid at this stage of the game. Perhaps updates will make this a viable build, but currently it will only work well for about 20-25 levels. If the adventure mode only goes to lv 20ish, then it will be useful for that.

Wizards: INT build with crossbow (dual wield hand crossbows when you get 2 good ones). Craft the crossbows into magic guided ones naturally. Get the Ranged Weapons skill tree before the Casting Feats. Important spells: Conjure Elemental. Web, Dispel Magic, Ice Storm or Acid Fog, Finger of Death.

Clerics: WIS build with bow or crossbow; again dual hand crossbows are a good choice. Zen Archery and the Ranged Weapon skill tree come before the Spell Casting Feats. The Turn ability has saved my butt twice, but that's out of 87 waves, so not a big deal normally.

This is basically what I have done, and for the most part I have face-stomped my way through the game. There are probably other good paths to take, maybe even better ones, but this will work.

Edit: Corrected an error where I wrote "point blank shot" instead of "precise shot".

[Spritesgc]

Originally posted by Marchegiana:

Quick Draw will facilitate swaping between weapons (even though you have 4 weapon sets, you can only swap between groups 1 and 2 currently).

The "Swap" button on toolbar only swap between set 1 and set 2, but if you right-click your character you can choose one of the 4 sets.

[Marchegiana]

Originally posted by Spritesgc:

Originally posted by Marchegiana:

Quick Draw will facilitate swaping between weapons (even though you have 4 weapon sets, you can only swap between groups 1 and 2 currently).

The "Swap" button on toolbar only swap between set 1 and set 2, but if you right-click your character you can choose one of the 4 sets.

Good to know.

[aumshantih]

The group that I have that's working fairly well (Level 30) are:

- Half Orc Barbarian, Str/Con, Two Handed Weapon Feats, Spear.
- Half Orc Fighter, Str/Con. Single Weapon Feats +Shield, but also branched into Two Handed Feats.
- Dwarf Cleric. Str/Wis/Con. Single Weapon Feats+Tower Shield. Really another front liner tank. Not super effective, but holds the line.
- Elf Cleric. Wis / Dex. Bows + Zen Archery, Ranged Feat tree. Mostly an Archer, but also can throw cleric spells at things.
- Gnome Wizard. Int / Dex. Crossbows, Ranged Feat tree. Battle field control mostly.
- Human Rogue. Dex. Dual Wielded light weapons, Two weapon Feats. So. Much. Damage.

[Lampros]

Originally posted by Marchegiana:

As far as attribute increases are concerned, it depends on how far you intend to take the characters. If you think you'll get to lv 40ish and then stop, then you'll put most of the increases into the main attribute for that character type (ie, STR for a 2 hand weapon user) and just a few points here and there as needed to qualify for an important Feat. If you think you will continue to level 70+, then just put every elective increase to your prime score, and be patient and wait for the periodic automatic increases to all attributes to qualify for specific Feats.

As far as the Feats are concerned, the following progression worked for me. And again, if you go to lv 70+ you will eventually get all of them, but getting them in a logical order will make things run smoother earlier.

General Notes: Everyone should have the proper weapon proficiency for the weapons they use. Everyone should get a ranged weapon of some sort; there will be times when you can't act unless you have a ranged attack. Web + Ranged attacks can make a seemingly impossible situation manageable. Precise Shot is vital for ranged attacks. Quick Draw will facilitate swaping between weapons (even though you have 4 weapon sets, you can only swap between groups 1 and 2 currently). Thrown weapons do not require a weapon set swap, but have a shorter range. If you are doing a DEX build, you will need the Finesse Feat early on. Sweeping Strikes, Vital Strike and the like are usefull, but secondary Feats. You need to be able to hit the enemies and do decent damage before investing in these. Having one character with a 2-Handed Weapon and the Knock-down ability is an important part of the builds I recommend.

DEX build Dual-Wielders: Rogue, Fighter, and Barbarian (probably, I haven't done that myself yet). Get the initial point in 2-Weapon fighting, then move on to Power Attack, Cleave, Great Cleave and Improved Cleave. After that finish off the 2-Weapon skill tree. For the Rogue, get Opportunist as soon as it becomes available. After that, follow the Improved Critical tree. Use light or Finesse weapons. Early on, use whatever armor has the highest base AC. Eventually you should only use armor that has no limit on the DEX bonus to AC: robes, bracers, etc.

STR build 2-Hand Weapon users: Fighter and Barbarian. Get Knock-Down and Improved Knock-Down (Fighter only) as soon as possible. Power Attack, Cleave, Great Cleave and Improved Cleave are next in importance. Then the Critical tree, and then finish off the 2-Hand tree. Knocking down an enemy can provoke an opportunity attack with Improved Cleave, and getting knocked prone when surrounded by enemies is a death sentence (both for you and your opponents). Either your main weapon or a back up weapon should have Reach.

CON build with shield: Avoid at this stage of the game. Perhaps updates will make this a viable build, but currently it will only work well for about 20-25 levels. If the adventure mode only goes to lv 20ish, then it will be useful for that.

Wizards: INT build with crossbow (dual wield hand crossbows when you get 2 good ones). Craft the crossbows into magic guided ones naturally. Get the Ranged Weapons skill tree before the Casting Feats. Important spells: Conjure Elemental. Web, Dispel Magic, Ice Storm or Acid Fog, Finger of Death.

Clerics: WIS build with bow or crossbow; again dual hand crossbows are a good choice. Zen Archery and the Ranged Weapon skill tree come before the Spell Casting Feats. The Turn ability has saved my butt twice, but that's out of 87 waves, so not a big deal normally.

This is basically what I have done, and for the most part I have face-stomped my way through the game. There are probably other good paths to take, maybe even better ones, but this will work.

Edit: Corrected an error where I wrote "point blank shot" instead of "precise shot".

Damn, I wish I read this before I started playing! ;(

[ViolentHipie]

Its soo good

[Kosiciel]

Originally posted by ViolentHipie:

Its soo good

What is?

[White Rabbit Alice]

i have a concept im working on but im not sure how its gonna end. this is EA and stuff changes. but from what ive seen, smite evil with a DW Pally can be nasty. if it hits,

i created what is basically an elven bladedancer masquerading as a pally.
wood elf. +2 Dex,Str, -2 Int,Con, Weapons Finesse and DW Seem to stack. TW Defense, planned crit feats, dex is a natural 20. only had to go to 18 for this. 12 +2 is 14. her hitpoints suck of course. HIGH Natural AC wears....Padded armor. (To retain Dex Bonuses) at the point i was in the game on in GoG she had +10 to each weapon attack. an AC of 25 Level 6

i may end up having to remake her in this version, anywhere i could rework this?

shes the party leader.

all the other characters builds i have in mind. WIS Archer Cleric, STR DW Pally,Rogue/Sorc,2 Sorc/s, (1 Enchanter/Necro,1 Generalist, the rogue is more utilitarian/debuff. all have summon elemental. even the cleric can pop up some undead from corpses to join in on the fun.)

ive learned however with this party setup....TURN OFF SPELL MATERIALS.