Previously we covered the barest of basics for building the party based on the spread of the Loot Deck and each Hero's primary offense stat ( https://www.wix.com/dashboard/0cf6beed-dd01-4428-8425-09a3053e3f11/blog/5d216189e1d3870047f040f0/edit ). With that basic understanding in mind, let's build on that and explore the roles your Heroes can play. Here are several of the Hero roles as I have defined them:
CROWD CONTROL: Arguably the most important role in the party, this Hero slays the Consul's Minions in droves with Area of Effect (AOE) attacks or just shear number of attacks.
SLAYER: These powerful Heroes slay larger Minions, Mini Bosses and Dungeon Bosses with ease. While any Hero can become a Slayer with enough Loot and/or Treasure equipped, a dedicated Slayer is ready to fell titans right off the bat.
SUPPORT: These Heroes make their fellow Heroes more effective and/or survivable with non-offensive actions.
DEBUFF: These Heroes make the Dark Consul's forces less effective by inflicting status effects on them.
HEALER: These Heroes remove wounds and/or status effects from the party.
TANK: These Heroes can endure attacks. Some Tanks help other Heroes endure attacks, making them Support Heroes too.
In all the games I've played, the most effective four Hero parties tend to include at least two Crowd Control Heroes and one Healer Hero, with the fourth role being elective. Additionally, there are several Heroes who fill more than one role in the party. The "perfect" party is going to be personal to every Hero player or gaming group depending on your tactics and synergy plans. For now, let's look at some Heroes near and dear to me: the original eight Heroes from the Dragonback Peaks set (SDE 1.0).
CLAW TRIBE BARBARIAN: This Hero is pure offense. Her RAGE ability is good for both CROWD CONTROL and Boss-Slaying. Meanwhile, she can lend SUPPORT to the party due to her high likelihood of replenishing potions during her numerous RAGE attacks. Her potion has some support utility too, though not on herself since RAGE reduces her ARM stat to one blue die. Her potion is good support for a TANK though. This Hero will fall very easily after her RAGE attack though, provided there are any monsters left to swing at her.
Roles: CROWD CONTROL, SLAYER, SUPPORT
DEEPROOT DRUID/ANGRY BEAR: This is an interesting Hero/Shapeshift combo. Angry Bear has situational abilities that are not otherwise game-changing. Berserk offers him some versatility though. On the flip side, Deeproot Druid has a decent AOE attack and the ability to give himself Backlash. Unfortunately, Angry Bear and Deeproot Druid benefit from two different types of offense Loot, meaning players will need to commit to one form or the other for this Hero to have a meaningful impact on the endgame.
Roles: CROWD CONTROL, DEBUFF, SUPPORT
EMBER MAGE: Predominantly a CROWD CONTROL Hero with a decent SLAYER ability. She also packs SUPPORT and HEAL potions along with the ability to hold two potions, making her a well-above-average Hero.
Roles: CROWD CONTROL, SLAYER, SUPPORT, HEALER.
GLIMMERDUSK RANGER: Another dominant CROWD CONTROL Hero, excelling further in this role with her ability to make AOE attacks at a target up to eight squares away. Her Pixie Dust potion can buff her DEX stat in the beginning, helping her to be more effective even before Loot has been equipped to her. Herbalist is nice to have whenever you NEED status effects pulled off another Hero. Hunter's Salvation can help keep a Hero alive when being bullied by the Dark Consul. Lastly, movement 7 and surefoot make her highly mobile. Another well-above-average Hero in the lineup.
Role: CROWD CONTROL, SUPPORT, HEALER
HEARTHSWORN FIGHTER: With a 1AP AOE attack, this Hero excels at CROWD CONTROL. Six hearts and a good starting ARM stat plus Immune: Poison & Knockdown place him squarely in the TANK role too. I rarely use his Dwarven Curse ability, but it could be useful for setting up further AOE attacks. His potion is helpful too, though it comes with a price.
Role: CROWD CONTROL, TANK, HEALER
HEXCAST SORCERESS: While very efficient in the DEBUFF role, this Hero has a glaring lack of AOE capability. Broken Bones will make short work of high ARM, multi wound monsters, to include the Mini Boss and Dungeon Boss, but she takes up a slot that could be occupied by a dedicated CROWD CONTROL character. I want to love this Hero, but more often I find the party getting overrun by Minions when I bring her. If your party includes this Hero, I strongly recommend having at least two CROWD CONTROL Heroes to pick up her slack when the minions start growing out of control. With that said, she could be better utilized in a five or six Hero party than in a smaller three to four Hero party, with more Heroes to shore up her weaknesses.
Role: SLAYER, DEBUFF
RIFTLING ROGUE: This Hero has some interesting abilities but I'm not convinced that she's very effective. Her strong suit is in grabbing Treasure Cards and very little else. It's possible she could be used to get a headstart on destroying spawn points, but that also makes her an easy target for counter attacks from the Dark Consul, costing the party precious Princess Coins. Her decent defensive stats and passive Stealth may help mitigate that though. Further, her Teleport potion could be used by another Hero who needs to get into the action. I'm also not sold on the effectiveness of her Backstab ability. At best, it does three damage (Massive Damage + Critical) for 3AP. BAMF could be useful for protecting the party and/or drawing out monsters. Similar to the Hexcast Sorceress, this Hero may be more at home in a larger party than a three to four Hero party where each slot is critical.
Role: SLAYER, SUPPORT
ROYAL PALADIN: Anyone who knows me, knows this is my favorite Hero thematically. A pillar of any well balanced party, the Royal Paladin brings a lot to the table. Between his Iron Halo and Elixir, the Paladin helps the party to be significantly more survivable. Smite can be situationally useful, but more often I find myself making two basic attacks and then setting up his Iron Halo. He lacks any kind of CROWD CONTROL capability, but the above abilities make up for that. Just be sure to pair him with Heroes who can efficiently thin the hoards.
Role: HEALER, SLAYER, SUPPORT, TANK
Now that we've covered the original Heroes, lets look at a few party builds and how they round each other out. For this article I will be covering four Hero parties since they give a healthy amount of options, while still forcing the Hero players to pick and choose.
Balanced party 1: Royal Paladin, Ember Mage, Glimmerdusk Ranger, Hearthsworn Fighter.
This build not only follows the STR, STR, WILL, DEX build that maximizes the Loot Deck, it also has three CROWD CONTROL Heroes and four HEALER Heroes (though the Paladin is arguably the best HEALER in the group). Iron Halo will keep the group alive while Cleave, Fire Wave and Sparkleburst clean up the board.
Balanced party 2: Royal Paladin, Ember Mage, Glimmerdusk Ranger, Clawtribe Barbarian. This build is built on similar principles as the first party, except it's more aggressive. Because of the negative effects of the Clawtribe Barbarian's RAGE ability, it utilizes a "kill them before they kill us" approach. Whatever the Clawtribe Barbarian doesn't finish off, the Glimmerdusk Ranger or Ember Mage should clean up. Otherwise, the Dark Consul will finish off the Clawtribe Barbarian faster than the Paladin can heal her. If used right, this build will keep the Dark Consul player on their back-foot, while the Heroes swim in loot.
But what about the other Heroes?
I understand that a maxed out party isn't everyone's idea of a good time. Maybe you're determined to make the Riftling Rogue or Hexcast Sorceress work for you. If you're not trying to min-max your party, or you have interesting ideas, then there are technically no wrong answers. With that in mind, here are some builds for less optimal characters.
Deeproot Druid/Angry Bear: My advice, pick one form and stick with it. If you take the druid then: Clawtribe Barbarian, Royal Paladin and Glimmerdusk Ranger is one way to go. The Barbarian and Ranger can handle CROWD CONTROL while the Druid does Druid things. There's quite a bit of AOE in this party, so it should work fine. Meanwhile, if you prefer the Bear form, then either the Paladin or Barbarian should drop with the Ember Mage stepping in to help thin the hoards.
Hexcast Sorceress: In this case, you could take the Balanced Party 2 build and trade out the Ember Mage for this Hero. Clawtribe Barbarian and Glimmerdusk Ranger can handle the hoards while the Hexcast Sorceress makes short work of bigger baddies. Now, imagine softening up the Dungeon Boss with Broken Bones, THEN throwing the Claw Tribe's RAGE attack at it! Equip the Barbarian with Itty Bitty Wings for +2 to hilarity.
Riftling Rogue: Take the Balanced Party 2 build, then (it pains me to say this) drop the Royal Paladin for the Riftling Rogue. He's a crutch anyway (I can't believe I said that :P). Then laugh maniacally when the Clawtribe Barbarian makes her RAGE attack only to Teleport to safety where the Dark Consul can't exploit the RAGE side effect. Chances are you'll be teleporting all over the board since you'll never be short of potions after rolling all those red dice.
Of course these are all just my ideas based on the experiences of my groups, and limited to the eight Heroes from the original box. However, I'm confident that you'll be able to build a strong Hero party with good synergy and clear roles using these baselines combined with ideas of your own.
Whew, that was one of my longer articles. Did I miss anything? Let me know on Facebook or in the Discord. Next up will be an article for the Dark Consul. What will these well prepared Heroes encounter in the dungeon? Stay tuned for the next post.... Tactical Doctrine, Chapter Five: Populate the Dungeon (Minions)
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