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Discussions Rules and Guidelines
21 
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There are many paths you can go down, and I haven't tried all of them. All I can do is to show you my favourite builds.
* Tracker (Quartermaster)
This is my favourite damage dealer; excellent at one-punching a single enemy.
Mark Target, Agile, Critical Edge, Rearm, Critical Aim, High Velocity, Elemental Amp, Assassinate (any extra points into Armor-Piercing Ammo and Extra Supply)
Ranged Weapon with mods: Precision RW with critical damage bonuses (critical aim isn't necessary). Go for Vulnerability Shot, Aimed Shot, Explosive Shot and Headshot, and make sure you have +1 Accurate.
Energy Blade with mods: The blade itself should have Evasion and as many Flurry of Strikes as possible. +1 or +2 Bonus strikes is also very good. The mods should also have Evasion, bonus strikes, Flurry of Strikes and/or Double/triple strikes. Note that bonus strikes do not stack.
Weapon Tool with mods: The tool should have Evasion and Enhanced Weapon. The mods should have as many Critical Amps as possible, and Evasion is a bonus here as well.
Shield Core with mods: Evasion, evasion evasion... and as few other cards as possible (none, if possible). Anything else is a bonus, so keep your Evasion shields/mods until you find one with higher Evasion. EVASIAAAAAN! If you must, pick mods that boost damage at the cost of shield strength... especially those that also boost shield strength.
* Bruiser (Quartermaster)
Also an excellent damage dealer; best at bashing 3+ enemies at once.
Provoking Strike, Fortified, Rearm, Retaliation, Weapon Master, Cleave, Elemental Amp, Wild Pummeling (any extra points into Ground Slam and Extra Supply)
Heavy Melee with mods: The weapon itself should ideally be the Illustrious one, which ignores DR, but until you get that one (or if you get it too early), Stagger is a fantastic effect. Therefore, Shockwave Strike mods are excellent here. Once you have a really high chance of staggering, the weapon should ideally have Overload. This combo is a genuine hard lock after a turn or two.
Weapon Tool with mods: The tool should have Evasion and Enhanced Weapon. The mods should have as many Critical Amps as possible, and Evasion is a bonus here as well.
Shield Core with mods: The new type of core that replenishes itself is actually good here. I don't recommend them with any other build. I ended up with one that had 20 shield strength, 15 DR and 12 Evasion, restoring itself almost fully each turn. The mods should have Evasion and DR. Any Shield Hardeners is a nice bonus - so try to limit the amount of cards here. The Illustrious Shield mod that combos with this could be excellent, but I got one at lvl 4 and it became obsolete by lvl 10. My total DR was 89% without any cards played by the final battle.
* Miner (Demolition)
Can become a strong damage dealer who doubles as a Scavenger (not as good a Scavenger as the Scrapper).
Strip Away Defenses (no use in spending the points until lvl 3 in other words), Incendiary Grenade, Yearning for Explosions, Volatile Materials, Heavy Blast Bomb, Sweeping Fire, Fiery Materials, Excessive Weapon Modification. Any spare points into Purging Incineration.
Heavy Ranged with mods: Keep on to the ones with Initiative boosts, the more the better. The difference between going before vs after all the enemies is enormous. Other than this, getting Accurate +1 is going to be crucial, and Stagger and/or Overload is of course really nice.
Weapon Tool with mods (replacing Scavenger Tool if he is your main damage dealer): The tool should have Evasion. The mods should have as many Critical Amps as possible, and Evasion is a bonus here as well.
Shield Core with mods: Evasion, evasion evasion... and as few other cards as possible (none, if possible). Anything else is a bonus, so keep your Evasion shields/mods until you find one with higher Evasion. EVASIAAAAAN! If you must, pick mods that boost damage at the cost of shield strength... especially those that also boost shield strength.
* Scrapper (Functionnaire)
Good damage dealer and always nice to have because of Eye for Loot and Team Preparation. Dirty Punch is one of the best lvl 1 abilities, as it remains powerful throughout the game.
Dirty Punch, Suit Modifications, Eye for Loot, Sabotage, Team Preparation, Destabilizing Attacks, Improvised Weaponry, Function Maximizer, Scrapstorm
Spread Ranged with mods: Hold on to the ones with Initiative boosts, high spread and as many non-choke/point blanks as possible. Stagger or Overload are of course always an excellent option for mass damage cards, but any high-percentage effect is nice. If you can get an Accurate +1 mod that is great, and the other one should be a secondary barrel type, preferably with Overload (if the weapon don't already have it). Both mods being secondary barrels is a really nice damage boost - and at lvl 10 both should have two high-percentage effects each.
Power Glove with mods: Hold on to the ones with Evasion and few cards. The mods should both be Shockwave Strikes, two each.
Scrapper Tool with mods: Get Scrappy Bomb and/or Razor Net, and a nice damage boost if you can. There are two Illustrious mods avilable here; one with very high Evasion and one with a "draw a card when you stagger an enemy" effect. Both are fantastic, but I am unsure if you can actually get both in a single run.
Shield Core with mods: Evasion, evasion evasion... and as few other cards as possible (none, if possible). Anything else is a bonus, so keep your Evasion shields/mods until you find one with higher Evasion. EVASIAAAAAN! Since the Scrapper is already a bit tanky, you might give him some DR - but he got no way to taunt.
* Leader (Psyker)
Inspire, Firestarter (put one here now, but pick Negotiator on level 3), Negotiator, Lead By Example, Mind Drain, Mental Shield, Mind Scrambler, Mental Attacks, Impending Doom. Any excess points into Drill Training.
Depending on which other ranged weapons you have, you may want to have one Assault Ranged on your team because of Suppressing Fire and its usefulness throughout the game. If you bring a Tech or Medic, Suppressing Fire's lack of actual damage makes it the most useful for those two (taking one for the team so to speak). The Leader's main activity will be mental attacks and Lead By Example, so the standard weapon Light Ranged is a fine choice in that regard. Inspiring Shot, Tracking Shot, Purging Shot and Run & Shoot are all good cards. Even if you have 50% of your Initiative as damage through mods, your Initiative will rarely go much beyond 20, and then you get to shoot an enemy for 30 damage tops. In other words, the raw damage output of Light Ranged is the poorest of them all. I am unsure how valuable it is to go out of your way to combo the Initiative to super-high numbers just to deal... say... 50 damage to one enemy. That is still unimpressive in the endgame. The draw-a-card effect might actually be more valuable.
Energy Blade with mods: Lead By Example is an amazing card as it gives you the first turn uninterrupted. The blade could have a nice effect, but it is only one target and 20 damage or so; the important bit is the initiative boost to the rest of the team. As such, the blade itself should have Evasion, and so should the mods. The raw damage of Flurry of Strikes will make it useless against any Armor and DR-heavy enemy, so Quick Strike, Double and Triple Strike plus a bonus strike boost are better choices unless you are absolutely sure that the Armor and DR is gone by turn 2. Even then, a new Lead By Example or mental attack are probably better choices. Limit the number of cards on both the Leader's weapons for this reason.
Mental Tool and mods: Keep the one with an Initiative boost and few cards. The strongest mental cards you can get are False Sense of Security, Demean and Rakhar Growl. All of these will trigger the Mind Drain ability for each enemy, filling your hand to the brim (the latter one to a lesser degree).
Shield Core with mods: Evasion, evasion evasion... and as few other cards as possible (none, if possible). Anything else is a bonus, so keep your Evasion shields/mods until you find one with higher Evasion. EVASIAAAAAN!
* Medic (Surgeon)
The healing abilities and boost abilities of the Medic are both lacklustre (except Adrenaline Boost, which is glorious). The Surgeon specialization, however, remains strong throughout the game. He is at the most powerful when he goes first, so make sure you boost Initiative to 21+ and one more than the two other teammates.
Adrenaline Booster, Regenerative Suit, Medical Diligence, Purify, Self-Cleansing System, Purist, Understanding of Anatomy, Learning Experience, Superior Purging. Any extra points into Paralyze.
Assault Ranged with mods: Get as many Suppressing Fire as you can, and a high percentage Overload effect. Get Accurate +1, and you're set.
Medic Tool with mods: Get one with evasion, and the same with the mods. The most useful cards are by far Flash Fever and Stupefy.
Another Medic Tool/Tech Tool/Weapon Tool: All three options have their uses. I prefer to use a Tech Tool just to add utility beyond spamming Adrenaline Booster. The one I have currently gives +34% shield damage, which combines nicely with Overload. Taunt bots are also nice.
Shield Tool with mods: Again; evasion. But here I'd suggest fully using the Medic's support function by adding Restoring Pulses. At least one member of your team should have them with the accompanying shield restoration boosts.
* Technician (I like both the Master of Robots and the shield specialization - latest run is with a Master of Robots)
The Master of Robots specialist is useful throughout the game, but really steps forward in longer, more drawn-out battles when he can get all four bots out. Before Terrorbot is unlocked, the Sentry Bot needs anti-Armor strategies to be of any use, but is really nice when you have this (nice combo with the Miner).
Tool Expertise, Shield Expertise, Sentry Turret, Mechanical Knowledge, Hard Plating, Gadget Master, Robot Mastery, Terror Bot, Electric Discharge. You should get +1 Fast Deployment in mods at some point, so Master Deployment isn't really necessary. However, if you get some spare points via the new artifact, longer battles where you get to play multiple bots could really use some more Fast Deployment - because +1 means only 1 bot gets it.
Assault Ranged with mods: Get as many Suppressing Fire as you can, and a high percentage Overload effect. Get Accurate +1, and you're set.
2 Tech Tools with mods: Get Fast Deployment, Razor Net and Extra Shield Damage. Try to have 2 Assist Bots, 2 Taunt Bots and 2 Restoration Bots.
Shield Tool with mods: Again; evasion. But here I'd suggest fully using the Technician's support function by adding Restoring Pulses. At least one member of your team should have them with the accompanying shield restoration boosts.
Scrapper (Tinker)
I tried Tinker again. Used to be my favourite specialization with the Scrapper because of the energy efficiency skills. Now they are pretty much redundant because there are several exits on each derelict as well as several computer consoles with energy restoration (which has come in the meantime). Also, I -want- to go back to the Station because I want access to the shop as often as possible to maximize the chances of getting the "perfect" equipment. I ended up trying Absorption Shell, Team Efficiency and Dirty Bomb from this specialization. The former was useless because it only lasts 1 turn so you have to use it on a teammate who has already had his turn. The latter is of course excellent, while the middle one is decent I guess - not really that strong as long as you have Team Preparedness and other card advantage in the team.
Dirty Punch, Suit modifications, Team Preparation, Improvised Weaponry, Energy Siphon, Team Efficiency, Dirty Bomb
Spread Ranged with mods: Hold on to the ones with Initiative boosts, high spread and as many non-choke/point blanks as possible. Stagger or Overload are of course always an excellent option for mass damage cards, but any high-percentage effect is nice. If you can get an Accurate +1 mod that is great, and the other one should be a secondary barrel type, preferably with Overload (if the weapon don't already have it). Both mods being secondary barrels is a really nice damage boost - and at lvl 10 both should have two high-percentage effects each.
Power Glove with mods: Hold on to the ones with Evasion and few cards. The mods should both be Shockwave Strikes, two each.
Scrapper Tool with mods: Get Scrappy Bomb and/or Razor Net, and a nice damage boost if you can. There are two Illustrious mods avilable here; one with very high Evasion and one with a "draw a card when you stagger an enemy" effect. Both are fantastic.
Shield Core with mods: Evasion, evasion evasion... and as few other cards as possible (none, if possible). Anything else is a bonus, so keep your Evasion shields/mods until you find one with higher Evasion. EVASIAAAAAN! Since the Scrapper is already a bit tanky, you might give him some DR - but he got no way to taunt.
Leader (Strategist)
First time I tried this specialization. I chose High Priority Target, Push the Advantage and Battle Commands from this specialization. The two latter were both fantastic, while the former was not a good combo with Lead by Example after all. I started by using him as a taunter, but in the end the most powerful usage was to make sure that the team took the turn undisturbed, either with Lead by Example, Inspiring Shot, Demoralize or Assure. Universal Cursing and Draw Fire were both filtered out and ignored after a while. I guess that I would have gone down that path if I chose Protect Me instead of High Priority Target, especially since my Technician had a lot of DR in addition to a high-level Illustrious shield mod. The team would have been invulnerable to single-target attacks for three turns.
Inspire, Firestarter (1 point on lvl 2, then wait), Negotiator, Lead By Example, Demoralize, Protect Me, Drill Training, Push the Advantage, Battle Commands
Light Ranged with mods: Get one with Inspiring Shot and a nice effect. +1 Accuracy removes the need for Tracking Shot, but Purging Shot could be really nice against some enemies.
Energy Blade with mods: Lead By Example is an amazing card as it gives you the first turn uninterrupted. The blade could have a nice effect, but it is only one target and 20 damage or so; the important bit is the initiative boost to the rest of the team. As such, the blade itself should have Evasion, and so should the mods. The low raw damage of Flurry of Strikes will make it useless against any Armor and DR-heavy enemy, so Quick Strike, Double and Triple Strike plus a bonus strike boost are better choices unless you are absolutely sure that the Armor and DR is gone by turn 2. Even then, a new Lead By Example or mental card are probably better choices. Limit the number of cards on both the Leader's weapons for this reason.
Shield Core with mods: Evasion, evasion evasion... and as few other cards as possible (none, if possible). Anything else is a bonus, so keep your Evasion shields/mods until you find one with higher Evasion. EVASIAAAAAN!
Technician (Shield Expert)
Tried this specialization again, choosing several of them - all passive skills so I usually cast bots or shot with the Assault gun. As such, I am unsure if these passive bonuses are worth it compared to going the robot route, which is more active. Combos nicely with that regenerative shield and Illustrious shield mod, though. Impenetrative Shields was useless since it only lasts one turn so you have to choose a teammate who has already had his turn... so no nice combo with Taunt Bot.
Tool Expertise, Shield Expertise, Team Shield Amplifier, Mechanical Knowledge, Efficient Recharging, Gadget Master (because Miner-Demolition teammate), Reflective Shields, Electric Discharge. Impenetrative Shields was a dud, so Damping Field is probably a much better choice for those points.
Assault Ranged with mods: Get as many Suppressing Fire as you can, and a high percentage Overload effect. Get Accurate +1, and you're set. If you can also get some Focus and burst cards, even a Support class can actually deal some noticeable damage - especially with the Miner demolitionist removing Armor like a boss. If your other characters do the Overload thingy, it is not unfeasible to go full burst&focus here (provided you have a Miner/demo).
2 Tech Tools with mods: Get Shield Strength, Damage Resistance and Extra Shield Damage. Try to have 2 Assist Bots, 2 Taunt Bots and 2 Restoration Bots. Once your team has got +1 Accurate, get rid of the Assist Bots (unless you use the Bruiser). If you go the Regen Shield route, it is extra important to have DR and extra shield strength. I got only 18% Evasion, which is pretty much worthless - so maybe more DR and base shield strength would have been better options.
Shield Tool with mods: Again; evasion. But here I'd suggest fully using the Technician's support function by adding Restoring Pulses. At least one member of your team should have them with the accompanying shield restoration boosts. The Shield Expert's passive bonuses make the Regen Shields better, in which case you should probably go for DR effects rather than Evasion. This is because the Illustrious shield mod does not have Evasion and the Tech is not very evasive anyways.
When that is said, there are a few principles that will be helpful even the first time you play the game and try to figure out which ability to pick.
* Drawing more cards is good, better than recycling. So picking abiities that lets you draw cards, filter through cards or pick cards are going to be very useful.
* Initiative is good, because getting to move before the enemy is an obvious advantage.
* Evasion is good. Yep, not getting hit is going to be an advantage. This goes the other way around as well; not getting to hit things is an obvious disadvantage.
* Dealing more damage is good. This includes abilities that remove Damage Resistance and Armor. When the enemy goes into negative DR/Armor, this counts as a damage boost that is especially effective with burst damage cards.
* The fewer cards you have in your deck, the better, because some cards are better than others and you want to draw the right cards at the right time. This means that when you pick abilities, passive/innate abilities are often better than getting more cards to play. Nothing is more demoralizing than picking an ability that gives you 3-4 cards that turn out to be useless to you so you have to take them out of the deck. That's a waste! Of course, many card-abilities are excellent, too.
* Getting a +10% damage boost is better than +10 Weaponry. This also counts for all the other abilties. In other words, don't waste points on the "expertise" abilities. You'll get plenty picking up tools and mods.
Other than that, any of the builds I have posted here are good.
If you want, you can post your team build and current equipment here and I can give you feedback.
As for Bruiser? Unless you're in arena, don't upgrade provoking strike. It cramps the deck for better cards later. In the early game you WANT damage to be spread out, THEN you provoke and replenish shields on the bruiser.
You preferably want mods, shields and weapons with as few abilities as possible, unless those abilities are particularly valuable.
I found Master of Robots to be utterly useless for two reasons. As mentioned, enemies have armor so unless you specifically spend turns shredding their armor so your bots won't be useless, they do zero damage. (I didn't take him far enough to unlock Terror Bot, so I can't say if he actually is a functioning member of the team later on.)
What is the point of Medic? Surgeon, I get it. Buffs and Debuffs are an incredibly powerful and important part of the game, so being able to clear your own buffs while leaving enemy debuffs is great. One thing I can say for Medic is that Paralyze MIGHT be better than Crippling Ray.
Scrapper/Functionnaire seems like his best combo, as you can actually wreck enemies with discard. Tinker was largely useless, though Lout Drone was amusingly more useful than anything the Master of Robots could put out.
Bruiser/Psyker is actually a decent combination due to the Taunt + the Psyker passive that punishes melee attacks. I would Taunt with my Bruiser, then use Psyker skills to disrupt the enemy team while the Bruiser/Psyker revenge passives + stun wreaked havoc with their lines.
Not going into skill choices, they're fairly easy, but the trick is that you give it a tech tool and some taunt bots, and a mental tool with rakhar growls. Adrenline shot is pumping up the action economy, while taunt bots, rakhar growls and sabotage helps keep the enemy at bay, purify gets the damage dealers back in the fight, and functionaire's other skills keep the cards flowing.
Now that the medic is filling all your support needs, feel free to bring two epic damage dealers to mop up. Bruiser(quartermaster) and tracker(demolitioner) for vanilla, or why not bruiser(quartermaster) and miner(demolitioner) with DLC?
I would say that Master of Robots absolutely need DR/Armor debuffs in the team in order for it to be worth it yes. The Terrorbot is good without it, but since negative DR/Armor is a damage boost, having lots and lots of those effects is not redundant. It is never a bad idea to debuff DR and armor.
The best armor debuffer is the Miner, and his ability unlocks the usefulness of burst damage for the entire team. This includes Master of Robots. Don't bother with unlocking other bots than Sentry and Terror, though. Terrorbot, Sentry, Aim, Restoration and Taunt are more than enough.
Provoking Strike is one of the best single-target damage cards in the game when it is put on a tank that regularly gets 80+ passive DR by the endgame (as well as 40+ Evasion if you want). The singletargetedness (is that a word?) is not a problem either, because the Bruiser makes that into three targets.
I just completed a run with a Tracker, Leader and Miner. I must say that the Critical Amp + Elemental Amp + Flurry of Strikes Tracker combo that I enjoy so much pretty much needs a Scrapper and his Team Preparedness abiltity in order to work properly. Even the Leader spamming Inspire wasn't really enough because the Tracker is a card glutton and starting with only four was unimpressive most of the time.
So my favourite team is a Tracker/Quartermaster + Scrapper/Functionnaire + Medic/Surgeon.
You ideally want the Medic to go first so that he puts Adrenaline Boost on himself and then the Tracker. Then the Tracker plays Elemental Amp on himself, a Critical Amp and a Flurry of Strikes on a (non-evasive) enemy. If the enemy is evasive, choose a gun card instead. The Precision Ranged weaponry is best here because of the critical boosts. With Critical Amp you don't have to worry about critical chance, just maximizing the damage you do with critical hits.
Dealing 200+ damage like this on the first turn, usually killing a single enemy, is a very powerful move. If you want to boost initiative with a card first, this will only be possible after the first turn, where initiative will have less impact.
Light Ranged has a couple of good cards; Tracking shot and Inspiring shot. While Suppressing Fire + Overload is a very powerful combo, I have lately struggled to find high percentage Overload effects on Assault Ranged weapons before the very late game. You also don't want to do that the first turn with the Medic. So I think going with Light Ranged here is fine.
Miner/demolitioner
Scrapper/tinkerer
Medic/surgeon (though surgeon has no bearing on the synergy so far)
Scrapper brings extra starting cards, medic buffs the miner, miner unleashes and annihilates the enemy, if there's anything left then the scrapper mops up. Stacking armor debuffs from the miner really buffs damage way up, add in a bunch of marking blasts, blasting charges, and incendiary grenades, buffed by various amps, and enemy teams just melt. Oh and formerly rather meh scrappy bomb becomes a mass killer thanks to the armor debuffs, often seeing it do 5x10 damage to 3 targets, which is kinda nuts, as my team is currently lvl 4.
Only team weakness honestly is initiative, we do get pounced on before we can act by the fastest enemies, but anything else and the medic just adrenaline boosts the miner, fixing initiative, and he unleashes hell.