4 melee fighters - viable party?

[deveroth]

Hey guys! I just recently started my second playthrough to get all the WM and 3.0 content in one fell swoop. My main is a dual wield rogue specializing in zipping all around the battlefield trying to flank, doing and taking stupid amounts of damage.

 

My current party is Eder (sword and board), Zahua (pike and greatsword DPS), Aloth, Durance, and Sagani (who does solid damage and who i really like but whose pet keeps dying). And myself.

 

My question is, is it feasible on Hard difficulty to build a party with 4 melee fighters? I'd be getting rid of Sagani (at least for the duration of the WM). I rather desperately want to see Zahua's and Maneha's questlines this time, but with my main being a melee fighter, and my reluctance to ditch ol' reliable Eder, that would put me with 4 melee fighters. My other two characters are Aloth and Durance fighting from range (both of whom I used before, neither of whom I enjoy using again, but their abilities seem to be indispensable in my playstyle).
 

Will I wind up endlessly having to reposition my party? I know it's sometimes harder to focus fire on a single enemy when the majority of the party is melee due to engagement, but will I be hurting myself in any other way? I like to use chokepoints when I can, but wonder if I won't constantly be having 1-3 characters unable to attack anyone because they can't reach or walk around.

 

At this point I'm pretty set with my main character's build, but would it be viable to make Zahua or Maneha fight from range? It seems absurd to me with the nature of their class abilities, but I'm just grasping for solutions at this point. Are either of them capable of tanking as well as Eder so that I could put him on the bench for awhile?

Any tips would be greatly appreciated!

[deveroth]

for the record, I find monk abilities incredibly underwhelming, unless I just invested in the wrong ones. I actually really dislike having to use Zahua and would prefer to give all his gear back to Pallegina and use her like I had been doing, but for RP purposes he's gotta stick around.

[theBalthazar]

Hum... With 4 in melee, they will interfere often a short time. (turn around etc...)

 

I recommand 3 max, pet include.

 

Well after... in absolute... : is viable.

Edited March 7, 2016 by theBalthazar

[Masterteo89]

I have 3 melee + a pet. But the pet or protect the ranger or goes alone to bother a ranged enemy with the support of my 2 ranged characters

[Braven]

Since the entire game (all content) can be soloed with a single character, I would say that any party combination is viable.  It is possible that one or two of your guys will sometimes run back and forth behind the others trying to find a spot to engage. You might need to take more care to ensure the battle happens out in a larger area (middle of room), or have one of them wield a Pike or Quarterstaff so they can hit from behind another's shoulders (if that still counts as melee in your book).  Also, if you do position in the open (instead of using doorways as a choke point), it will be much easier for your melee rogue to flank.

Edited March 7, 2016 by Braven

[kvaak]

I'm currently doing a handicapped (+35% required exp, + intentionally using a sub-optimal party composition) PotD run with four melee characters, it's certainly doable although you want at least one of the characters to use a pike or quarterstaff. Tall Grass (sold in Dyrford) is a keeper for the entire game if you use it on Maneha since carnage also triggers the prone on crit effect.

 

Sometimes I wish I had five since the two guys at the back are horribly squishy, PotD has a crazy number of enemies so it's really easy to get flanked in the open.

[Boeroer]

for the record, I find monk abilities incredibly underwhelming, unless I just invested in the wrong ones. I actually really dislike having to use Zahua and would prefer to give all his gear back to Pallegina and use her like I had been doing, but for RP purposes he's gotta stick around.

You are doing something wrong. Monks are one of the most powerful melee classes. If you don't like micromanagement to much (Torment's Reach needs some), then skip Torment's Reach and take Swift&Lightning Strikes + Turning Wheel and Force of Anguish. I have no idea how you can't love monks.

[deveroth]

 

 

for the record, I find monk abilities incredibly underwhelming, unless I just invested in the wrong ones. I actually really dislike having to use Zahua and would prefer to give all his gear back to Pallegina and use her like I had been doing, but for RP purposes he's gotta stick around.

You are doing something wrong. Monks are one of the most powerful melee classes. If you don't like micromanagement to much (Torment's Reach needs some), then skip Torment's Reach and take Swift&Lightning Strikes + Turning Wheel and Force of Anguish. I have no idea how you can't love monks.

I'm actually not just not liking the monk class, but actively almost-hating it. I don't get it. All of Zahua's abilities either cause status effects on enemies that other character can cause more reliably and more frequently, or buff his damage output similar to barbarian abilities. What am I missing with this class? So far there is NO micromanaging to be done; I just put him on aggressive and he uses all his s*** but still sucks.

[Mocker22]

 

 

for the record, I find monk abilities incredibly underwhelming, unless I just invested in the wrong ones. I actually really dislike having to use Zahua and would prefer to give all his gear back to Pallegina and use her like I had been doing, but for RP purposes he's gotta stick around.

You are doing something wrong. Monks are one of the most powerful melee classes. If you don't like micromanagement to much (Torment's Reach needs some), then skip Torment's Reach and take Swift&Lightning Strikes + Turning Wheel and Force of Anguish. I have no idea how you can't love monks.

I'm actually not just not liking the monk class, but actively almost-hating it. I don't get it. All of Zahua's abilities either cause status effects on enemies that other character can cause more reliably and more frequently, or buff his damage output similar to barbarian abilities. What am I missing with this class? So far there is NO micromanaging to be done; I just put him on aggressive and he uses all his s*** but still sucks.

 

Your doing something very wrong. Monks are outstanding and Zahua is actually quite good for a pre-made companion. For starters you may try going unarmed as that is really whats intended. Look at Kdbuya's Juggernaut Monk thread for a good solid build.

 

Perhaps with more info about what talents you've taken and your gear on him we could be more helpful.

Edited March 8, 2016 by Mocker22

[KDubya]

I frequently run five melee guys with Sagani with a bow and no casters on PotD and it works fine. Instead of standing in the doorway either rush in and engage in the middle of the room or entice the enemy to come through the door where you have your guys in a semi-circle and it will be 5 vs 2 or 3

[Arnegar]

It isn't not-viable, but that many melee characters will have trouble actually getting to fight all the time due to space constraint and the game's incredibly bad pathing. You should at least give two of them reach weapons if you want to have four melees. There are so many places in this game where fighting in a bottleneck is hugely beneficial because it allows your tank(s) to take all the hits, but in doing so, I found it difficult to make use of even a single "DPS" melee without reach.

[Baron Pampa]

It's viable and fun. Bottlenecks work differently - you rather aim to create a halfmoon of death, where only one enemy fits and all your warriors punch him. It's good to have some reach weapons, as sometimes it's difficult to position them correctly. 

[Dr <3]

Perfectly viable in my opinion. Just be sure to give to 2 of them an "extended" reach weapon like pikes ( hallo tall grass !) at least as alternative weapon, so if they have difficut in engaging, you can just swich weapon and hit from the second line. Really i see no problem

[kvaak]

Monks can take and dish a fair amount of damage, my problem is the fact they use attack-tied abilities every two seconds which constantly get interrupted by disengagement and such. Sometimes they just won't use swift strikes until you input it several times. The game gives you no feedback when they refuse to or can't follow orders so you have to keep pausing at half second intervals to prevent them from acting on their own. The fire/ice split is particularly inconsistent, sometimes your monk just refuses to do anything while the ability is in effect, as if it was a "channeled" ability, sometimes he acts just fine. Other classes have these issues as well but they pop up less often since most don't get an instant ability you constantly want to keep up (swift strikes), nor do they use melee abilities all the time.

 

I guess allowing the AI to use abilities might remedy that to some extent but that won't guarantee they'll use attacks I actually want them to use.

 

If it wasn't for the extremely quirky micromanagement/AI I'd replace a fighter in my current PotD lineup with a monk, in their current (and probably final) state I just find them unplayable.

[Boeroer]

Yeah - it can be annoying if you want to micromanage your monk all the time. That's why I set them on autopilot most of the time.

[Raven Darkholme]

Main problem for mre than 2 melees will, as pointed out before, the bad pathing.

If you don't mind microing the actual movement of your chars (I personally hate that), than 4 melees are super viable.

[Ymarsakar]

I usually use paladins or/and chanters with a lot of melee. Passive heals and support.

The barbarian probably might need a reach weapon, on top of whatever other weapon slot combo it has, to ensure it can switch if the doorway is blocked off.

 

As for zahua, I replied in the other thread about monks.

 

For melee characters, I usually set Ai to self defense only. For ranged characters, sometimes defensive. Never auto attack to offense for me, since it moves people out of position.

Edited March 9, 2016 by Ymarsakar