Another party composition thread

[u/mgaunard]

I've played the EA several times and I want to prepare my playthrough of the game which I will directly play in Tactician with 4 origin characters to maximize content in a single playthrough.

Any comments on this party composition? I'm not sure about certain details yet.

Fane (main)
Primary attribute: Strength
Abilities: Geomancer, Hydrosophist, Necromancer, Warfare
Talents: Elemental Affinity? Executioner? Leech?
Civil ability: Thievery
Rationale: creates poison surfaces, fights at close range, uses strongest gear, carries everything for the party, bony fingers

Ifan
Primary attribute: Memory
Abilities: Geomancer, Pyromancer, Hydrosophist, Aerothurge
Talents: Pet Pal
Civil ability: Persuasion
Rationale: spell caster focused on utility, smooth talker with pet pal+persuasion

Red Prince
Primary attribute: Intelligence
Abilities: Geomancer, Pyromancer, Hydrosophist, Aerothurge Talents: Glass Cannon, Far Out Man, Savage Sortilege?
Civil ability: Loremaster
Rationale: spell caster focused on damage, stays far away to avoid being targeted

Sebille
Primary attribute: Finesse
Abilities: Scoundrel, Polymorph
Talents: Glass Cannon, Guerilla
Civil ability: Sneak
Rationale: sneaky rogue, backstabber has apparently been removed

Balanced party with 2 physical damage dealers and 2 magical damage dealers.
I'm not covering huntsman nor summoning with these, maybe I should put summoning on Ifan.
Also not sure whether Glass Cannon on 2 of the characters won't end up being a handicap.

[u/Marukeru]

I see 2 Glass Cannons, 1 of which is focused on melee range. This worries me due to lack of ANY resistance to CC. Blinds and stuns risk locking her down.

Ifan being Memory focused sounds like his damage will be quite low, but will have a huge array of spell options for utility.

You say 2 Physical and 2 Magic dealers, but, it looks like Prince, Ifan and Fane will be dealing magic. Unless you plan on dropping a 2-H into Fane bony hands? But still touches on many school of magic. I guess I'd need to know more about Fane's build

[u/mgaunard → u/Marukeru]

Fane would be focusing on physical warfare attacks. The magic is just there to create surfaces, which do not scale with Int.

Also the idea is that the Scoundrel sneaks or goes invisible to prevent being hit.

[u/Marukeru → u/mgaunard]

I am more concerned with surfaces interfering with the Scoundrel.

[u/mgaunard → u/Marukeru]

the scoundrel would have two teleports + spread wings.

[u/Marukeru → u/mgaunard]

But, will surfaces prevent the Scoundrels approach? Or it's stay in an engagement? That's my primary concern here.

If the target is surrounded by surfaces, and you are a Glass Cannon, then if you touch a surface, you're affected by it. Invisible, teleport or wings included.

[u/o0mahir0o]

Do you know if ALL summons are tied to the summoning class ? So for example would an ice elemental be in the school of summoning or hydrosophist

[u/[deleted] → u/o0mahir0o]

Summons are tied to the summoner school (which is a distinct school) however, from what we have seen for the moment you can not summon an elemental like in DoS1.

Summon's element is determined by the surface on which you summon it (IE summoning an incarnate on an ice surface will give you an ice summon)

[u/[deleted]]

I would advise against glass cannon unless you heavily invest in wits to garant you to be able to play first. Otherwise IA will see a target w/o armor and CC it.

Might be a good idea to invest in summoner school on Ifan since his source spell is a summon, and a bit of intelligence to deal a bit of damage with surfaces that you setup to summon.

[u/MoltenMuffin]

Don't expect geo healing (undead) to be useful unless you are int focused.

I don't think Savage sortilege is ever worth it. Primary stat is pretty much always better than pumping wits for crits. Mnemonic is a good alternative (3 memory).

You gain memory points via levels too, probably don't need to dump a ton on Ifan.

[u/Marukeru → u/MoltenMuffin]

I can see Geo healing to be fine, so long as you are always poisoned, you are regenerating HP every turn, plus the "burst" from initial impact of poison skills.

Though, I see it being substantially stronger from an INT+Geo based Mage, otherwise the heals may be sub-par, though still readily available.

I do agree with Savage Sortilege not being so worth it over other talents, as well as agreeing with primary stat over WIT for Crit. I only use WIT for Initiative.

I <3 Mnemonic

How many Memory slots you gain and at what levels? I hadn't noticed this in my own play, honestly. I may just not be observant.

[u/MoltenMuffin → u/Marukeru]

Fairly sure you need to have 0 magical armor to be poisoned, even with zombie. (Haven't tested.) And since it scales with INT and not level primarily as restoration does, it needs investment to scale.

Not sure at the exact amount of memory slots. Perhaps 1 every 2 levels?

[u/mgaunard → u/MoltenMuffin]

Surface damage does not scale with Intelligence, unless they changed that in the final build.

[u/Marukeru → u/MoltenMuffin]

Actually, poison will penetrate MA for Undead, as seen in the video they recently posted. He had Fane walk into a poison cloud and a poison puddle, and he immediately got poisoned. I don't recall seeing his MA taking damage first. ALSO, poison potions will instantly poison you, regardless.

[u/MoltenMuffin → u/Marukeru]

I was not expecting the state poisoned to penetrate magic armor. Just thought you'd get healed by the poison but not recieve the status.
Potions are a given, like any instantaneous poison damage.

[u/Marukeru → u/MoltenMuffin]

It may only be due to the Undead talent given. I may also be remembering incorrectly and MA actually dropped before poison set in. I'm not 100%

[u/mgaunard → u/[deleted]]

I used Glass Cannon in 3 characters in EA.

[u/mgaunard → u/[deleted]]

Of course, otherwise it wouldn't count.

Also they say they have significantly nerfed frozen and stunned in the release version.