Group build feedback and advice thread

[En1gma]

@rearick, for me, Crippling Strikes is attractive because it's a very effective curse, as well as dealing respectable damage. I skipped it for Storm of Steel because I needed to develop Kincaid as a defensive powerhouse first, then a damage dealer second.

[Deleted]

Nov 12, 2014 15:07:20 GMT -5 En1gma said:

I skipped it for Storm of Steel because I needed to develop Kincaid as a defensive powerhouse first, then a damage dealer second.

This is exactly my thought about it. The required talent point focus is significant. It's pretty evident that melee AoE is a long-term plan for Kincaid and not one he's likely to realize before E1A2 at the earliest and probably not do it well until E2A1.

[Cory Trese]

My go-to attack for Kincaid at level 27 is Storm of Steel. On my current build I also use Flashing Blades.

I did not level up any other attack talents

[Zhivago]

I second this. Storm of Steel is incredible.

[thehowler]

Figured this is would be the best place to get feedback on my team. I'm new to HoS but have been playing star traders, templar assault and 4x empire for a long time. I ran a few test runs and read the forum before I started this current game on hard. Currently in the ratkin caves under the first city hunting the rat shaman. They are all level 8, and I've died about 14 times (I'd say over half of those are because I am still learning the enemies and mechanics) My team goes like this

Fyona- she's my main tank/healer basically I set her up where the most enemies are and she just soaks damage and heals. I've basically only put points into sheild of cortias (3) and blessed aura (2 with more coming). With 2 points into zealous strikes.

Kincaid- this guy is just awesome, and I'm probably using him like a noob. He's my off tank/curse factory with some mad damage out put. Sure parry (3) and cripling strikes (3) are the only things ive put points into, though darting steel is gonna get buffed soon (maybe, some of his new skills are tempting). He sets up on fyonas flank and spits curses and damage at the enemy while taking some hits for fyona.

Kjartan- my main curse factory, choking ash (5) and firebolt (2). He just curses everything with ash then sits back and burns them.

Selen- I opted to go heavy bow with her (not 100% but heavy) pinning shot (4) and punishing blades (1) are her main moves. Lots of cursing then she sits back and snipes after KJ lowers the armor. She's all over the battlefield smacking curses and damage on everyone.

So just so your clear this is my first actual time past the first city (first time eveN reaching it) and this is the team I plan to take the distance. Criticism and advice would be awesome.

[CdrPlatypus]

thehowler Welcome to HOS!

Be sure to pick up DOS on Selen for the etra move point and eventually +2 move points this will help you a lot to close the distance with Selen to get punishing blades in on a target quickly.

[Zhivago]

Welcome! I like your character choices as I play a group with the same characters

General advice:

1. Specialize! Our heroes are really, really good when you give them 1 or 2 specific roles and the higher the difficulty setting, the more you'll get punished for non-specialization.

2. Plan ahead. John Robinson has several great posts laying out character abilities. Have a general idea of what your group is going to look like a few levels from now to avoid regretting points spent on abilities that may not be synergistic with the rest of your team.

I think you'll start to realize that Fyona might be a better tank 1b than your main tank, as Kincaid's Sure Parry virtually neutralizes melee attacks entirely. Make sure you support that goal (Fyona tanking) with liberal dosings of SoC, RF, and maybe a touch of CD. While I think Kincaid's throwing knives are fun and cool, he really shines when he's dual wielding. KJ is definitely a cursing machine and CA is one of the best curses in the game. I also like where your Selen is... Get her PS to 5, as that's when it starts to hit the square behind your target, as well.

Good luck and have fun!

[CdrPlatypus]

tenbsmith I had a thought regarding your traveler's build. I'm thinking Kyera should be built out as a lore based support around sacrifice. The more I think about it the more I think that the highest scoring group will probably have a sacrifice Kyera in it to keep camping to a minimum.

Also a lore build will make her heals cheap

[En1gma]

thehowler- Welcome to the addiction

Fyona is off to a great start, keep SoC going, added Parry is always important for her. Aura is usually good at level 3, I wouldn't bring it much higher than that for a while. She is a finicky main tank, imo... If you really want her to tank, SoC and Consecrated Defense are of utmost importance to me at least.

Kincaid looks good, I wouldn't bring Crippling Strikes too much higher for now... It gets extremely expensive to use consistently. I wouldn't split his talents too much, he does great damage with blades, and since you already have 2 ranged attackers, using Darting Steel would be redundant... It's a great way to tag an enemy and hope for a kill, but unless you really devote skills and points into it, you might find it a waste. Sure Parry is amazing, but it is best at level 4 until later, since it auto-blocks 2 attacks at that level. I would suggest working on another self-buff for him, like LbtB or Footwork, and have him sit next to Fyona- dual tanking is great, and he is a great tank because of high dodge and Sure Parry.

KJ is awesome as an Ash Wizard, and is a good fit with any build.

Selen using Pinning Shot is probably my favorite build out for her. Bump it up to 5- you'll appreciate the added AoE and at that point it's not too expensive. She needs Dance of Shadows no matter what, imo, so don't neglect it when upping your talents. +2 MP makes a huge difference maneuvering for dual curses. She might be a slow burner, but by the time you get to E2, she will be awesome!

Hope I could be of some assistance

[En1gma]

It's everyone's favorite time of the day- Update Time!!

This is an update for my team called Kinetic Energy. All level 18, just beat the Storerooms.

Kincaid:

Attributes- 5 str, 12 dex, 9 con, 3, 4, 4.

Skills- 16 blades, 4 lore

Talents- Lunge 3, Storm of Steel 3, Sure Parry 4, Live by the Blade 4

Summary: He. Is. Awesome. No matter the situation, he can handle it. 61 armor, +9 Dodge and Parry bonuses. He is very well defended and is one of two able tanks. I was able to stretch out talent points, and bank 3 for Storm of Steel , which is freaking astonishingly powerful. Right now he is using a Sai sword alongside a Scything Blade- a deadly combination for a deadly swordsman.

Vincent:

Attributes: 4 str, 4 dex, 7 con, 4 wil, 8 int, 10 kno

Skills: 13 sorcery, 8 conjuring

Talents: Lightning Spear 10, Frigid Air 3, Flash Freeze 1

Summary: Bow down to the pure, unbridled fury that is the Lightning Spear. Period. He fries everything, and can act as rearguard by himself if he needs to. He was instrumental in the Storerooms, as instead of running from groups of high level mobs, Kincaid and Selen waded into the thick of it, while anything near them was shocked to ashes. Over and over again, he has proven to be the single highest damage dealer in the party. Hands down.

Kyera:

Attributes: 5 con, 15 int, 6 kno

Skills: 4 conj, 16 lore

Talents: Sacrifice 3, Tears 4, Warder's Shield 5, Purifying Breeze 1

Summary: Doing her thing, keeping the machine marching inexorably forward. Heal almost completely fixes one person, and she can do it twice in a turn. Warder's Shield 5 is fantastic, and adds to a massive defensive pool for both tanks.

Selen:

Attributes: 12 dex, 8 con, 5 int

Skills: 11 blades, 4 lore, 8(15) stealth

Talents: Frenzied Blows 2, Punishing Blades 4, Dance of Shadows 2, Quicksilver Defense 4

Summary: Can you say Neo Tank? She is sitting on 15 Dodge, and 10 Parry. Sure, she only has 25 armor points right now, but since she never takes hits, she doesn't really need it... I do have a Svenick Scale Cloak that she wears for +10 armor, but I found a Hellborn Wrap that gives some crazy resistances, so she is using that for the moment. She is a perfect counterpart to Kincaid- she dances curses around him, and he in turn drives a pair of daggers through their faces, or whatever appendage passes for a face at the time.

Group Summary: Wow. Let me just say that LS Vincent is the craziest thing this side of Vraes wearing a frilly dress in his off-time. There isn't anything I have ever tried that can beat this group for raw damage output, while taking almost none on return...... Freaking 15 DODGE on Selen!!!!! Come at me bro.... Selen is staying put on QsD for now, +7 dodge/parry is amazing. She will bump DoS to +2 mp, then work on PB and FS for more damage. Kyera should have been patient and not put a point into Sacrifice 3, it only netted me an extra 8 sp. Wasted point until the talent gets balanced. I'm almost considering Banishment for her, but she still has work to do protecting the party. Vincent is going to boost Flash Freeze until 5 or so, just because we need a way to mitigate ranged attacks since we have no range 6 attacks, unless I go with Banishment or Pinning Shot, neither of which will fit, I'm afraid. He will eventually put another point into Flash Freeze for the AoE, then idk... maybe work on Thundering Blades to bolster group accuracy. Kincaid is amazing. Storm of Steel 3 going into E2 is going to crush everything that LS 10 doesn't. I'll bring it to 5 for the time being, then bring Lunge to 4, then he will work on Flanking Unity for the added group accuracy. I have a feeling that we are gonna need it later, so I want to have it in mind early.

What a blast to play- if you're reading this and you haven't tried a pure LS Vincent, you are missing out on one of the finer parts of this game!! As always, thanks for reading, I'll update as I get further in the game.

[thehowler]

hey guys! Thanks for all the quick and awesome feedback. Really appreciate it. I have a plan with each of them, it's just hard since I don't know what to expect.

Selen is going to get pinning to 5 then work on DoS to 3. After that she's just gonna up her curses.

Kincaid is going to get rid of his throwing knives and up his cunning footwork. Don't think the added movement of his other buff is necessary since he's just going to be tanking.

KJ is going to keep doing what he's doing until meteoric shockwave is available.

Fyona is going to up shield of cortias and consecrated def, after her aura gets to 3. I also plan on getting righteous fury up because who doesn't want more buffs!

[tenbsmith]

akhhck! work is a bear. Can't keep up with this thread, but appreciate the feedback I've gotten. I'll circle back later when I have more time.

[En1gma]

So... CdrPlatypus and others who've done the Iron Curtain build.

I still have yet to start another incarnation of this build, mostly because I went so far with it and I hate repeating myself.

I have been entertaining the thought of substituting Kincaid for Vraes. Shocking I know. I'm thinking about a Sure Parry heavy Kincaid, bolstering Lunge as it goes along. Sure Parry plus jacking up his dodge skill has been very successful, plus his damage output is better than big V, while taking less damage overall, IMO. With him able to fend off anything thrown at him, albeit with finesse over brawn, I feel like he would do just fine.

If I can get Sure Parry to 8 by E2, then he can move on to improving Lunge, and maybe even Footwork for added protection plus crit%. If I find that Fyona isn't connecting even with Pinning Shot and Ash, Kincaid can put points into Flanking Unity. I feel that he is impossibly more flexible than Vraes, deals higher damage than V with a mace and shield...

Not worrying about protecting Kincaid with SoC as much would allow Fyona to focus on Consecrated Defense and she could focus on protecting herself. This allows for more points into Fervor or Zealous Strikes, or whatever talent sheneeds to be most effective... What do you think?

[CdrPlatypus]

En1gma I'm still a big fan of SoC and prefer it over CD because it benefits the whole party and it is good to go where as you have to hit something with CD to get its benefits. I've tried Fyona with a 2 handed hammer and that's a fun change up to this build. I've also been toying with the idea of Fyona investing in BFD (no aura) and Vraes going stoneskin + BOS until 18 then Taking Juggernaut with a 2-handed polearm

The top Google play Nightmare Ironman group was done with Kincaid/Fyona//KJ/Selen btw, so it is a very viable group.

[Zhivago]

Agreed. Group buffs are pound for pound more effective than individual buffs, because they apply the plus stats 4x. When you take full advantage of synergies inherent between certain abilities you gain significant advantages and stay comfortably ahead of the curve. Any Ironman group needs to prioritize survival to mitigate mistakes and bad luck, while having just enough damage output to kill enemies efficiently (although I'm currently testing a high damage Nightmare build while waiting for more e3 content).