Advice for my next team

[hissrad]

So I'm about to restart and I have a team picked out and I would like some ideas on what to do with them.

First is Vraes, I'm planning on a two handed spear build using Crushing Blow and Stone skin with a few points in burst of speed. Later on I'll likely level natural mastery but....not sure yet. Thoughts?

[hissrad]

Next is Vincent, I've gotten him to the CoD before focusing around Lightning Spear and Flash Freeze. I'm thinking of trying a spellsword build but I've always used him as an AoE mage. I'm guessing Charged Speed and Thundering Blade would be important.

[hissrad]

Third is Fyona,while I've used her as an off tank before I've never really been comfortable with her. I usually end up spreading her talent points around too much early on.

Her and Tamilin are the ones I'm struggling with.

[anrdaemon]

Since you are not building Vraes for tanking, I think you'd need Fyona to fill in the gaps, and early on.
Good thing to focus on important things, right?

Vraes&Natural Mastery: Pick first point as early as possible, and keep it down until you're comfortable with your meatshield.

P.S.
Is it really necessary to spread your posts?

[hissrad]

And finally Tamilin, I've never used her much honestly. I've gotten used to Selen off tanking and poking stuff into the ground.

Should Tamilin focus on her bow or the updated ToS? Not sure what to do here, tips?

[anrdaemon]

Feb 13, 2016 6:00:35 GMT -5 hissrad said:

Should Tamilin focus on her bow or the updated ToS? Not sure what to do here, tips?

Both are viable, if not equal. Bow will be okay early in the game, but once you get your hands on 1AP knives, they will be pretty much comparable.

[hissrad]

Feb 13, 2016 6:00:29 GMT -5 anrdaemon said:

Since you are not building Vraes for tanking, I think you'd need Fyona to fill in the gaps, and early on.
Good thing to focus on important things, right?

Vraes&Natural Mastery: Pick first point as early as possible, and keep it down until you're comfortable with your meatshield.

P.S.
Is it really necessary to spread your posts?

I thought it'd make quoting specific parts easier(I forgot what I was doing and hit post so....figured I'd stick with it)


So two handed Vraes shouldn't tank? I was thinking that boosting stone skin early would make up for Phalanx Shield being missing.

[anrdaemon]

Since Vraes don't have any other dedicated tanking talents than Phalanx Shield, the only way he can tank is with sheer meatshield (=Stone Skin), just swallowing all hits (especially ranged hits) during opponent's turn. Melee situation is a little better, you have your defensive parry, which isn't that bad on Spears.
But lacking sheild, it'll be a second hand skill. Behind your meatshield.

[xdesperado]

You'll need plenty of healing to take advantage of Vraes Stoneskin.

The added armor from Stoneskin helps soak damage, but you have to heal him to take advantage of the extra HP and then be ready to heal him again if your tanking.

From my recollection of playing Vraes with stoneskin it got to the point where the needed amount of healing just to max his HP out was so great that it was more or less a waste if used on any of the others. Note that was with Kyera and a long time ago, perhaps Fyona can make better use of the extra healing required since she has a similar talent to boost her own HP.

[fallen]

Feb 13, 2016 6:00:35 GMT -5 hissrad said:

Should Tamilin focus on her bow or the updated ToS? Not sure what to do here, tips?

Depends on the group style. The biggest difference will be range. ToS will always max at 4, and bow will max at 7 or 8. Bow has a major advantage that Tamilin can make better use of a few MP points and still "be everywhere". She can knock out summoners from the far back ranks.

ToS is amazing against clusters, and a great way to augment your -AP curse. It is possible, but takes some serious discipline I think, to use it as your only -AP curse.

If you are going with ToS, know that the damage on Thrown Daggers + that Talent are not really that amazing compared to what Bows can punch out. So, you should be considering how to curse your enemies (-Armor, -Res) or Buff yourself (+Dmg, +Crit, +Elemental) to make sure that the hits really count

[ntsheep]

Don't die. Don't blink. Blink and you die. So don't blink! If you blink you die. So don't die,,, and don't blink!

[matrim]

The success of this group composition really depends on the difficulty. In my opinion, this build will struggle on hard and above. The main reason is the lack of a dedicated tank. SS is a good talent but needs to be supplemented with other talents to help Vraes out. You might want to consider Fyona's +armor talent, it pairs with SS quite well. I believe the only real choice for Tamilin is -AP via Torrent of Steel. You will need something to bring down the number of attacks or you are going to get overwhelmed. Without Kyera and going spellsword Vincent that leaves Tamilin to pick up AP duty. Once your group fleshes out a bit, (at about level 25) you should be able to make a good -res team. Tamilin and Fyona pair beautifully to bring down res by 32 and All Resist by 16. With Thundering Blades and Elemental Sundering, Vincent will melt things. Vraes can be used for the high res mobs. The -res will also bring Tamilin's damage back up to (and exceeding really) her damage with a bow. 1 AP weapons synergize extremely well with -res as all the damage comes from elemental damage and that is the same on all weapons, so might as well get as many swings as possible. Personally, I see Vraes as the weak spot in the group. If you're not going PS with him he really needs Kyera to support him, Fyona just doesn't suit him as well. Again, just my opinion.

[hissrad]

Thanks for the help everyone, looks like I should rethink at least part of this.

[En1gma]

This group could do it, but the current plan might run into issues the way it is.

Vraes, if you want him to run SSk, should consider NM. CdrPlatypus's idea of running a 1H build and shield, SSk, and Berserk Rage could do VERY well here as well, I think. Go Swords or Spears for their excellent defences, and don't even touch Phalanx, as its bonuses will be wasted by the negative effects of BR. This allows Vraes to tank effectively by way of using only weapon and shield Strong Dice, and adds a great layer of base damage.

Vincent could do Spellsword, but should make getting FF up to at least its cross shape a major priority. Charged Speed and Thundering Blades for mobility and group damage.
-- More effective for this group would be TB/ES damage build. Drop your first points into ES 3 and TB, then get started on FF to help Tam doink AP before the Shaman. This is how I would run this build, but Spellsword could fare well if you're careful enough.

Fyona should run BA 3, CD 1, and SoC (10 eventually), but don't neglect ZS or Reckoning if you're using Strickening or ToS. I would take a good hard look at Strickening BTW, as Sundering will benefit greatly from a hefty dose of resistance cursing.

Tam should get to ToS 3 and start boosting Blacknight and DI. Alternatively to that path, I think a full curse build could do very well here. ToS 3 and Blacknight until SS opens up, them go all in until you get up to -10 -12 armor. Between SS, ToS, and Strickening (if you use it [determines on how well you want her to tank]), you will be able to drag enemy defenses down to manageable levels.

No Parry curses means Vraes should use SSw, and TB will be very important to group accuracy.

Hope any of this helps, and let us know what you end up deciding on!

[CdrPlatypus]

En1gma I would definitely use Strickening for this group.