Martial party

[Heijoushin]

So, started a new character/party the other day:

Rogue

Fighter

Paladin

Barbarian

Chanter

Priest

(okay, the last two aren't really martial, but the main point here is: no wizard) 

 

It's really fun! At first I was worried that things would be boring without a dedicated caster, but actually, things seem to go more smoothly. When you have a squishy caster, he gets 80% of your attention and micro-management. But now I'm spending more time on group placement and weapon management etc.

Also relied way too much on paralysis/petrify spells when playing with a wizard. I'd probably die if I had to go up against a dragon without them, but feels refreshing to do without for a bit.

 

And Trial of Iron adds a bit of tension before the big fights!

 

Anyone else done a run like this?

Edited November 6, 2015 by Heijoushin

[djphong]

I don't think its hard w/o wizard

 

Tidefall on barbarian is just broken

Team with a jugger monk and you can wipe most fights

 

add in 2 range heavy hitter rogue/ranger/cipher and Ice dragon go down on path of the damn mode. (after he's healed from the quest) 

 

[aweigh0101]

last two potd runs i've gone sans wizard. i simply got tired of spamming slicken man. i needed some SPICE!

my favorite current party is:

PC-Paladin w/ Great Sword Tide-Fall and backup War-Hammer godynsthur (stuns-on-crit) wielded one-handed for ACC bonus
Pallegina w/ Great Sword The Hours of St. Rumbault (prones-on-crit) w/ backup war-hammer strike hard (speed enchant) w/ paladin buckler
Eder w/ Drake's Bell Estoc (has extra -3 DR bypass in addition to estoc's native -5 DR bypass for total of -8 DR bypass) and backup warbow borraseine (jolting touch proc)
Devil of Caroc (or hired rogue from inn if i'm feeling impatient) w/ Tall-Grass (prones-on-crit, 10% extra-crit modifier, Reach weapon) and backup arquebus Long-Feller which has Reliable enchantment on it
Zahua dual-wielding battle-axe We-Toki (prones-on-crit) and Edge of Reason (godlike weapon). his backup is being too cool for school.

those are my 4 enforcers, i.e. the front line. as you can tell, i find weapons that prone-on-crit are the most useful and it so happens 3 of them are in Soldier Focus group. the drake bell estoc is the highest-damaging estoc in the game thanks to its additional -3 DR bypass. in order to compete with the blade of the endless paths however it would need to be enchanted to Superb, and dipped in durgan steel. I prefer the bell's huge DR bypass because late game enemies have 20-25 dr and that is very annoying.

the other two units are:

grieving mother w/ arquebus Pliambo per Casilta which inflicts -5 defenses on hit (!) w/ backup war-hammer strike hard + shield
Durance (mandatory on potd IMO) with hold-wall Arbalest that has the Speed enchantment; i carry that baby throught entire game all the way from gilded vale just so i can eventually make it Exceptional and dip the sucker in durgan steel. Not worth making it superb tho, too many other choices. I don't bother stocking durance with backups really, all he needs are his spells (and his hold-wall).

I find that a solid wall of 4 tough martial units, in my case them being 2 pallys 1 fighter 1 monk make an absolutely devastating path thru the enemy mobs. and if you keep your formation tight properly they are nigh unbeatable meatshields that can also DPS. i used to think it would be too many melee units but nope, not at all. 3 of the 4 martial units have weapons that prone on crit, and the fourth one, the PC pally, has tide fall. that is a powerhouse combo. and to top it off all four classes represented have very high accuracy too, so they use the weapons correctly. if blockage occurs, then there's a reason there are backup ranged weapons and reach weapons as well

as far strategy goes i send the four killers in front and have them create a line then i spam amplified wave w/ GM and spam shining beacon with Durance. before you know it the fight ended wee.

Edited November 6, 2015 by aweigh0101

[mosspit]

@OP: Yes. It is very refreshing and fun. Personally pre-2.0, I done one with all martials (Pally, Fighter, Monk, Barb, Rogue and Ranger).

 

I had so much fun I re-did the same all-martial combination post-2.0 with slight build variation. Triple crowned the 2nd run (PotD ToI Expert Mode) to add a bit of excitement to it. Even though I game overed like 5 times, it was a blast!

 

Basically most of the party members are built to handle their own, with at least some level of survivability. So for those playthroughs, I didn't really have a frontline. Sometimes the ranger got an enemy in her face but nothing that can't be managed.

 

Currently I am doing an all melee playthrough but with a priest and cipher. ToI just to keep things interesting too

[Sedrefilos]

There's nothing so mandatory about wizards in this game anyway. And that's a plus to me. I changed the mixture of my party every now and then and played a lot without Aloth (the wizard) so no biggie if one is absent.

Edited November 7, 2015 by Sedrefilos

[Doppelschwert]

Yeah, that's a really nice aspect of the game. Played through with

 

-melee chanter (no summons),

-implement monk,

-tanky rogue,

-ranged fighter,

-normal paladin,

-normal ranger.

 

Bending the classes into roles they were not set up for with the help of cross class talents made the game very interesting as i had much more balanced characters.

As soon as you get the soulbound weapons, and distribute them among the party, they are really powerful as well.

As I didn't want to use any scrolls, the optional major fights were too hard for me though, which is probably due to them being balanced around casters being in the party.