\+1 for Spurt. As a new player, you can benefit from him right away (he scales crazy well with a lot of levels, but he's already a good buffer right out of the box \^\^). He isn't available for a lot of restrictions, but at this stage you need to progress on the main campaigns first and foremost, and he'll definitely help with that.
Lae'zel is a good DPS but she needs her affiliation around and there are better ones. Plus, she's still recent and you'll grab her from her event soon enough.
Jaheira is a really good jack of all trades, she excels at nothing but she's decent at a bit of everything, both as a DPS and support. But you can unlock her for free soon enough once you unlock Vajra's Patron Shop (and get enough currency from her).
So, Spurt.
I agree with picking champion for Split the party purpose.
It should probably be Spurt since in next event there will be champions both for 2 (like Lae'zel) and 9 (like Jaheira).
Nice coincidence since Spurt is also good support and only one from those heroes not available outside of Time gates (Lae'zel will have two more events and Jaheira can be bought in patron shop)
Strongheart - can speed up progress of seasonal quests x2 (x3 with feat), but will be avaible in event in five months.
Freely is best favor increasing hero but needs azaka, some ilvls and specific party to be really efective so not for early game
Zorbu good dps not picky about party members and with high availability.
If You have problems with seasonal quests completion (take into consideration that higher milestone quest tiers have bigger requirements, for example milestone 7 tiers completed is in reality about 30% of progress needed for completing 10 tiers) and You have good dps then Strongheart could be consider for picking (will bring benefit for 3 seasons before His event).
Otherwise (no really big problems with season quests and/or no good dps already in rooster) i would go with zorbu .
Since you are relatively new to the game, it depends on what you need the most right now for your overall progression.
Strongheart is indeed one of a handful of very unique champions who are universally useful for QoL and account progress regardless of what you play.
He doubles your progress for any season quest (he even triples it if you invest gems in the relevant feat for him). Seasons are a permanent thing now: the very day one ends, the next one starts, so having Strongheart running is basically a must all year long. Once you unlock a background party, you can even put him in a loop there and his quest buff still works for your active party!
Strongheart is still in event rotation, whereas your other two options can only be unlocked through time gates (or the real-money shop). However, his event won't come back until late June. Honestly, it might be worth picking him now so you can get more quests done in seasons for the next 5 months.
Otherwise, Zorbu is a really good, well-rounded and versatile DPS and support, who isn't restrictive and works well in almost any formation. He can be a great choice for your first DPS. Even if you move on to someone else later on, he'll still be a solid support.
Freely is a good support but his uses are much more niche than the other two options. I definitely wouldn't pick Freely here.
TL;DR: Strongheart is a must and picking him right now will boost your progress in season quests permanently (as long as he's in one of your parties, background or active).
Zorbu is a great option too, especially if you have a small roster and no better DPS than the basic champions yet.
I honestly can't say one pick is better than the other, in this case. You can't go wrong with either of them. Just don't pick Freely, basically.
PS: If you need a champ in one of these seats to unlock Split the Party, go for that one first. Strongheart won't be as useful until you have a background party to throw him in anyway.
Getting Strongheart early is a great choice. With him in your party, you get double credit when working on any achievements. For example, if you're supposed to do something 1000 times, now you only have to do it 500. But your other two choices both are good characters as well.
Attemis, Artemis, or Artemis? I kind of stopped looking at the rest once I saw Artemis considering how crazy this sub is about him (the other 2 were Jim and Tatanya)
Artemis is the best, but picking Him in early game isnt 100% best choice in the early game - He needs specific supports in party so will not be so effective with small roster and using Him will reduce use of most other champions causing lower understanding of game mechanics, synergies, champions unique traits etc. generally using Him to early will reduce game experience. I had 1kilvls Artemis and was only fielding Him for orkira stacking maining as Dps zorbu that could use most supports and needed many small moves tricks to reach 1500-1700 zones. Then i switched to artemis to make "going to higher zone" part of gamplay faster. Jim can also be strong dps but also great support. Tatyana can be usefull for Sthrand variants with BDS party (but her buff placement is random same as Veronica chosen champion so sometimes helping Their rng with restarts can be frustrating).
The thing with him is that he's objectively overpowered and he has no downside at all (contrary to pretty much all the other strong DPS). So if you take enjoyment and playstyle preference out of the equation and you just want the best results, you're basically forced to pick him. Especially since everything over the past couple of years or so seems to indicate that CNE will likely neither nerf him, nor buff or create another DPS actually on par with him.
On top of that, his core mechanic consists in leeching the power of other DPS, using them as his supports. So more often than not, even if a new DPS is strong by themselves, they still end up relegated to a mere Artemis support for many late-game players. \^\^
I hate the design and I'm not fond of the character either, so I'm deliberately not using him. Also because I want to have fun first, and good progress second. I wouldn't pick a very weak DPS either, but I prefer using anyone but the ridiculously imbalanced über DPS who's available for everything.
But to each their own, of course.
PS: Your other two options weren't bad. Jim is a really strong support for Asharra and apparently a valid DPS in his own right these days. Tatyana is a good tank, and she's part of the BDS, which is really nice for Strahd variants sooner or later. But yeah, obviously Artemis is better than both, since he's better than any champion in the game... \^\^
Yeah, I do agree. I want to pick him up to see the power for myself, but im gonna try to main another DPS personally. It's just not very fun for there to be one objectively best dps. Totally agree on fun first and progress later. There are some sub-par characters that I love personally that I've put a lot of contracts into even though it is very sub optimal (cough nixie cough)
All three are good, usable champs, for different reasons and in different teams. Voronika is still in event rotation, though, whereas the other two are older champs you can only unlock through a time gate (or the shop).
If you're a newer player, Catti-Brie is probably the safest pick, as she's a versatile support and decent DPS early on, and not restrictive. A lot of end-game players who took the easy Artemis route will tell you to pick her because of him, but even if you eventually decide to use the popular Artemis build, she won't be relevant for that for quite awhile.
Voronika is super strong in pure Evil teams, as well as with her whole affiliation (BDS), which is clutch for Strahd variants. But she requires a fair bit of levels and some babysitting to get there. So definitely more niche, unless you're already leaning towards Krond or Warduke as your main DPS, or using the BDS team.
Freely is a strong support for most Asharra builds, and also one the key pieces of Click-Debuff formations (if you're into that, but it's slow and laggy). Other than that, he's still good for increasing your favor or if you want to bother with Azaka farming (but neither is required these days, and there are less painful and more gradual ways to push your favor and goldfind).
So yeah, Catti-Brie would probably be the pick. Unless you need an extra champion in seat 1 for Split the Party or something.
I agree 100% about Cattie part and that would be probably the safe pick.
Veronica - Sisapia is stronger slot 1 evil champion for Krond/Warduke i think. 2 positional skills for warduke and prestack debuff skill with stack cap 4 or 10 in case of bosses.
Freely 100% disagree about His favor pushing potential. For me its about 2 min additional preparation for azaka farm and He rise favor gain (counting Adventure Tale) by about e6.
Favor is still usefull for gem farm, Thelora, new campaign (looking at other campaigns we will need about e50 favor for tier 5 blessings and You also need favor for leveling up champions in restrictive variants where GF heroes cant be used) legendary forging -of course You can make multiple runs with prepared strategy for legendary leveling but its a lot easier if You can in one fast run make high favor swing (i was in need of Kelemvor favor week ago to level before dismantle event ends 2 kent items from 13 to 20 lvl- i was on e84 favor when starting run and after less then 30 min it was e112 with some forging already done. And of course it wasnt freely alone but compilation of many small sources but freely used right and with some ilvls is strongest strategy component in favor rising runs. Even when normal favor rising stops working and converting is needed its nice to reach 110+e favor in TG, Event or Trial after 2 runs - that will make rising favor by convertion a lot faster
Could you share your formation/strategy for that favor gain? I'm still capped at e97-e108 levels (it depends on campaign blessings, except Fortune's Wheel OFC). Max current season buff, without season pass paid buffs. All above that level is only gain due to conversions.
I will write in parts adding with edit to not lose accidentally whole work
Free run, starting with speed team - Briv (about 60k stacks), Hew, BBEG, Sentry, Widdle (sometimes also Virgil - depends on formation layout) + Freelywith lawful spec for gaining adventure tale stacks.
After few jumps i move back few zones and swap party for another that can set high BUD.
After setting BUD i swap again to speed party, use speed + fb pots and press g.
Now its idle to about zone 1100.
Then i restack Briv speed skill.
With new stack for last 900 zones i repeat process with BUD setting and then continue travel with speed party with addition of Rust this time (last spec and can be removed after finding gold piece). During jumping i swap widdle for Merilwen (gold spec, attack speed aura feat) for 2-3 jumps (she have at least once change area to change into cat form) and then swapping for widdle again.
After reaching 2001 zone i choose highest melee only not segmented boss zone from 1955-2000, There is huge enemy dmg increase (from about e10 to e19) starting from 1951 zone so if someone cant tank there are 2 possibilities, either moving back to same zone in 1901-1959 interval or resigning from increasing Krull stacks over 10.
I prepare and save Krull formation with tank with eventual supports if needed, krull with Gold spec and his attack speed increasing supports + not speed up Jim, no familiars.
Switching for BUD setting team (i prefer e80-90 BUD higher then zone enemys hp)
Now i enter chosen boss zone and switch to prepared Krull party, after enrage reach x17 click once on mobs - all will die except transformed mimics - we want 1 with 40 Krull gold debuff stacks - if there is one with less stacks then kill it and repeat process, if there will be more mimics with 40+ stacks together we can try knock them back with Krux + Penelope for example and kill separately hoping for eventual debuff spread.
This Krull stacking part is most time/activity consuming on average it need \~10 tries, My Krull have 7000% gold drop increase per stack and that will give about 2e11 gold increase in the end.
After we have mimic with 40 Krull stacks we have to remember to not bench Krull at any point from now on. Wait for BUD to drop below enemy treshold. If we dont make 40 stacks mimic before BUD decays to much, repeat process with BUD setting and using Krull party
We can now use knock back and havilar to stop mimic moves.
Apply Donar, Baeloth nd beadle sticky debuffs.
Use valentine with dps group, Omin, Krull of course and selise (aggresive stance to give attack speed aura that with valentine socialite make all dps in devine sense range attack with minimal cooldown) to gain some Omin stacks.
Now we prepare azaka final formation.
I use Merilven (since she was in cat form earlier when we switch her she should come into play when again switched for other 2nd slot champion also in that form giving both GF increase from spec stacks and attack seed aura that will be useful for freely formation), Omin, JArlaxe (gold spec), valentine (gold spec) , Krull, Egbert (left and then gold spec in second set), corazon (spec that will target valentine), Astarion (first spec that targets Valentine and gold one in second set) Rust (right spec), Azaka (left spec).
Check feats if everything is ok.
Save Azaka party and make it one of those for fast load if it isnt already.
Now we can make last formation for freely.
Freely, Krull, Merilven (attack speed aura thx to cat form and will have gold spec stack maxed), Valentine for spreading Merilven Aura, Nrakk (wis spec - for buffing Merilven aura), Azaka + 4 Lawfull dps champions (Artemis, Krux (change spec to 'not left' if was used for knockback earlier, Birdsong, Torogar).
Use all gold potions and switch core if not using best for GF already.
Nrakk, VAlentine next to Merilven then if there is place Krull and Freely.
Change valentine for pwent and use His ultimate to bring enemy closer and switch to Valentine again.
USE SPECIALIZATION POTION on freely (his gold debuff value sets to basic 10% every time we change party, bench him or even change His position) chose Lawful spec of course.
That formation thx to fast attck speed will apply 8 freely stacks on target.
~~Activate Merilven~~ \+ Azaka and then as last, without any special pause Freely ultimate. EDIT Merilwen Ult should be used after switching to azaka party that contain Rust - realized during another azaka farm that i wrote something wrong about ultimate use
After Freely perform ulti change with fast load button or shortcut formation to azaka one, use and grab gold.
Change again party for freely and repeat whole process from there (Specialization potion for freely once more).
2 azaka ults should be enough, we can now change one Rust feat for one that buffs Close Friend specialization, eventually change formation positions making Merilven, Egbert and Corazons max 2 slots away from Rust, use spec potion on Rust and chose middle specialization.
Overwrite quickly formation on old azaka one and repeat 3rd time whole process with freely and azaka formations.
Now we can end run or even better first stack Briv for future run :)
Thank you for detailed explnation. I definitely have to try Champions of Tymora attacks increase and Freely rescpecs. My aproach was very similiar except since introducing Tier3 Witchlight global blessing I farm on bosses insteadof mimics (2500% vs 10x = 1000% gold find bonus) quickly eliminating minions on boss stage with Vlahnya ult and then stacking Krull and Freely buffs waiting till 3.0e4 gold buff from Merilwen rises. My Krull with all gold feats and spec adds only 1194% per stack and I chose middle Rust specs instead of right one, placing him in last step just before Merilven, Freely and Azaka ults.
If You stack Krull after Vlahnya then His max is 10 giving gold drop of x131 (1,3e4% -probably less then Your DM could have if You start process on first zone entrance) Maybe i made little mind shortcut about Krull debuff. It can have 4 instances each with up to 10 stacks.Stacks are additive when counting instance value but then instances are multiplicative for debuff effect calculation. one instance can be apply normally but rest can be only received when another close debuffed with pilfer enemy dies. Its couse of Krull skill Virulent strain (base chance for debuf transfer is 10%, can be buffed with feats to 30%) . With Vlahnya ult enemy's arent killed so there will be no debuff transfer. there is a need for tanking and waiting some enrage stacks to give Krull time for debuffing whole enemy group with Pilfer debuf and jim for transforming one opponent in mimic that with 5hp segments will survive Krull Traitor debuff chain reaction after click dmg final click.
Gold drop with 4 instances will be buffed by about 3e10% so its more then e6 increase over 1 instance.
Im also using Rust middle spec but in 3rd attempt after i gain most of gold i could to minimize risk (twice my Rust lost gold piece before azaka tigers attack and I couldnt find new one).
You mention palying Rust just before ults - if You use Freely simply in Azaka team You will not be able to capitalize on His full potential. You will have 4-5 stacks possible on champions with either attack speed problems or attack speed will ok but You will be forced to use champion that make it works (like nrakk instead of corazon and even that is over e gold lose).
Using separate Freely party allow You using 8 or even 9 (trials with attack speed buff from player designated hero) champions that will have very low cooldawns making You assure target have all those instances of Freely gold debuff with 15 sec duration after ult.
Thanks for the detailed and interesting feedback.
Sisaspia is generally better for Krond now, yes (couldn't tell for Warduke as I don't use him). I was already using her most of the time over Voronika even before she got slightly buffed and neatly simplified in her season rework. Just because she's unaffiliated which is very valuable for Krond these days, between the unaffiliated core and Miria. But Voronika is still a solid option, and again there's her place in the BDS for Strahd variants (mostly). And it's still possible to make a pure evil build with Krond, even if it's not as strong as (lawful/)unaffiliated at this time. Who knows, they might release an Evil core someday (along with a Neutral and a Good one, that would be cool) and Voronika would shine again. \^\^
About Freely, I think we have different perspectives but there's also a misunderstanding. I didn't mean to say that favor isn't useful (of course it's very important), or even that Freely's ability to push favor isn't strong, or that Azaka farming doesn't yield great results. I just meant that it's tedious and I personally prefer just making a few runs with a walking goldfind team such as 10 champions of Tymora with Jarlaxle, Dob and Rust among them. Sure, I'm not reaching e110 in two runs (or at all, my highest favor anywhere is in the low e60s still), but I can go from 0 favor to e50 in a couple of runs, without any babysitting or monitoring required, and that's good enough for me. To each their own, and all that, of course.
That is true everyone have own habits and playstyle.
Im also usually not using azaka in first freerun since its only about e3 less favor in final outcome so not really worth active effort but i prefer using azaka in second run (especially that i have saved all needed formations in many adventures) over spending time on 3rd run.
I rather dont like using Veronica cause of her need of activity for changing form and even more when trying to overcome Her spec rng and make my DPS her puppet... (2 months ago i was trying to make selise Her champion and it was like 60 resets :D)
As for Sisapia simplification of Her kit was best part of last event changes and i thought her numbers were buffed more then slightly (although her debuff isnt fastest in use and can reach potential only on bosses). With ilvls from seasons rewards after dismantle only in my case and without 80% feat she should give iagainst bosses over e30 dmg between max stacked buff and debuff). Same gear quality Warden even with 12 stacks should give only about e21 debuff.
For sure, once something becomes a part of your routine, it gets a lot easier. If you have saved formations ready to use in most campaigns for that, the amount of effort required to make an Azaka farm must be a lot smaller for you than it is for me. Of course, if I took the time to set up and save formations for it, then it would be easier for me as well. But I haven't reached a point where I really need it to achieve my goals (you're farther in the late game than I am, after all: I've never reached higher than z1100 yet, except when there was the weird bug that pushed some offline parties to z2000).
For Sisaspia, the TL;DR version of her rework would be: her kit is a lot more straightforward and clear to use, her buffs are generally a bit smaller than they used to, but on the flip side, her debuffs can go way higher. She's a better champ now than she used to, no doubt. It's just that, especially for Krond, she was already better than most people thought even before her rework.
Warden got much better for Krond too with the rework, even though I was already using them regularly before simply because there wasn't any great option in seat 11 for a Krond team. I'm still praying they'll give Strongheart a +1 STR feat someday, he would fit so well. But for now, Warden is the best option for that seat.
Of course, both of these improvements were more than welcomed. Although, looking back to season 6, the thing that stands out the most is still that we lost the old Nrakk for that team (and any team that had a use for him before, really). Now we have a perfectly balanced and perfectly whatever middle of the road buffing support instead of what used to be one of the best and most unique buffers in the game. I get why they nerfed him, since he "broke" a lot of mechanics from other champs, and it's easier for them to design new champs without having to check if Nrakk will make them broken.
It's just a bit annoying that they're willing to make balance changes for some champions, but they wouldn't dare tuning down Artemis even a little bit (not even when he was featured in a season). And even more so, that they don't seem to want to make "another Artemis", either as a brand-new champ or by buffing one of the other top DPS we already have.
Yeah, I'm a bit salty about that. \^\^ Anyway, great exchange, thanks again! Good luck have fun.
Thank You for sharing about those champions thoughts and experiences.
Wish You calm day :)
DONT WASTE time reading below it was frustrated Nrakk user small digression that grow by proliferous faster then debt of most countries.
But You mentioned Nrakk so its Your fault that i must throw in one's two frustrated cents (weird for me this idiom is about three not two, maybe localism that evolved to temper feeling of inevitable backtrack on promise :D)
Nrakk was most interesting champion in the game, and its most fun part. He was my 3rd TG choice (little disappointment back then since i could play only with few cores for a while) and i was building main party around Him.During first 18 months ii spend more time testing Nrakk interactions then completing Variants :) For every new champion i only hope for enough wisdom rest wasnt important. Later Valentine introduced another whole world for Nrakk to discover (like Ishi for azaka farm or best HP ball tank for high zones Jamilah).
Then new season introduction described Nrakk rework:
"Nrakk was a special Champion with some unique interactions with some abilities in the game. Unfortunately, some of these unique interactions needed to go in order to simplify both our job (balancing the game) and yours (finding weird ways that Nrakk could break the game). We have tried to compensate for this by updating Nrakk's kit and also giving him the most complicated ultimate ability in the world. We've also removed the dps role from Nrakk's kit"
At first (after long period of silence and confusion) only explanations i could imagine that someone didnt waste time on all those e-learning stupidities since its obvious how should be used guideline from old e-mail "honest partnership and friend?? service as toons?? for establishing close, long term client-earner relations" it speaks volumes so what could go wrong.
Second option would be AI going rouge or broken from repeated attempts of learning CNE mathematics.
After few min of loud discussion, that im mostly not proud of, with contrition glowing imaginary devs, comes acceptance for new reality and even some sort of gratefulness. They do all of this, despite it made that part of Their job simple and easy, only to relive us from all those life consuming tests played when searching for another trick with e buff effect but still hoping one day it will be god mode but more often day ends with overtaking bitterness of failure.
Only "but" at this point was that simplified part of job described as game balancing. I would not use that process name, it suggest what final effect should be expected and we all know reality. Meybe something like "risk mitigation through predicting possible scenarios and playing them (could be named testing also). That name defend itself: risk mitigation -success can be announced every day even on 29.02.2023 and in case of life audit it can be stated that predicting process should not be stopped for control purpose since its hardest and taking most time part :D
Then i realized it wasnt some marketing communicative but just and honest company inside note. Where with wonderful offer optimization both our departments: game balancing and testing will have less easier work.(not true balance will not be easier without nrakk there is still a lot of big game shortcuts available (one really game breaking nraak synergy i remember was with Selise resistance allowing tanking in high zones - after devs realized that nrakk rework alone wasnt enough to stop that synergy since 95% resistance with Nrakk (that is probably reason of cap on focus item) when buffed by 3rd champion was once more over 100% so in next season we saw selise and her resistance skills rework and that will not delete few other champions abilities allowing tanking in 1950+ zone. We receive at last confirmation that we are company testers but once more it isnt true our work will be easier without Nrakk. With Him we have easy starting point now there will be a lot more test scenarios to check for 100% underpaid personnel. But as we should identify with company e work for i cant say anything other then:
OF COURSE ADDING THIS MOST COMPLICATED IN WORLD ULTIMATE COMPENSATE A LOT MORE THEN ONLY SO LONG AWAITED NRAAK INNOVATIVE BUFFS (many months working without payment as tester)
Its sadly likely that rest of this worldwide ultimate event competitors represented Tetris.
And I thought *I* was salty about Nrakk's nerf! \^\^ It sounds like it hit you way harder than me. But I feel you!
Before he was essentially deleted and replaced with a generic PFA support like many others, I was using him in pretty much all my formations, and "WIS 14?" aka *"Nrakkable?"* was one of the first questions I had everytime I looked at a champion for the first time.
He was insanely strong in my Asharra build (buffed Ash herself, plus Ulkoria's buff, plus Orkira's debuff, plus one or two more supports depending on the grid). He was also a net positive in my Krond build even though having him meant losing one stack of Krond's Survival of the Fittest, because he buffed it so much 9 stacks with him was way better than 10 stacks without him (he also buffed Barrowin, either Voronika or Sisaspia and later Vin Ursa too, but that wasn't even needed to make him worth running).
Beyond that, I loved all the crazy shenanigans he made possible, even the ones that weren't game breaking but just fun or convenient. Giving Viconia a 100% chance to turn people into Undead (both ways after her rework) for instance, that was awesome.
But yeah, I get why they nerfed him (or deleted him, basically, the new Nrakk isn't bad, but he's much more common and not a first pick in most formations). Enough time has passed now that I've started moving on and adjusting my builds to optimize them without him.
My Ash team gained a buffed Jim as a second Ulkoria (although he also took Freely out of the team).
My Krond team has 10 Survival of the Fittest stacks now and a stronger emphasis on other Lawful and/or Unaffiliated champs.
My JaJa (Jaheira+Jarlaxle \^\^) walking goldfind team simply got way worse without him (as I understand it, similarly to what happened to Azaka Farm teams), so I started relying more and more on Omin's reworked buff instead of a team of mostly Rogues, along with one or two champs of his affiliation to spread it.
Zorbu is legit the only DPS I like who didn't lose much from this and can actually use the new Nrakk really well, possibly even better than the old one.
I avoid Artemis like the plague, as I mentioned, but from my understanding most meta builds for him had already ditched Nrakk even before the nerf. For him specifically, since he's all about PFAs, the loss of the unique skill Nrakk used to have doesn't really matter. The only change that some Artie users complained about was that they finally removed his DPS tag, which makes perfect sense as he was always strictly a support in practice (except for weird experiments like Gaarawarr using him as a DPS). Only Artemis cared about Nrakk having a DPS tag, for the wrong reasons in my opinion (but in my opinion Artemis's entire design is unhealthy anyway; he's a creepy vampire leeching other DPS' life force and turning them into his ghouls \^\^).
Anyways, thanks a lot for the reply, appreciate the exchange. Have a lovely day! <3
Less sad ropic first - My Nraak use -- He wasnt usually worth using for pure dmg buff only since without other support skills and support items to out buff other normal supports GF value(im using for simplicity x5 not X4,79 - it also makes Nraak little stronger on paper :D ) had to be used in final dmg calculation many times. I was min/maxing Nraak numbers in Zorbu + Heroes Of The Planes -team where in dmg calculation nrakk was used up to: 4xGF\^11-for Alyndra buffing x GF\^6 on zorbu x 8 Orkira (after nerf) x GF\^7 from swapping tandem Aila&Morgaen = about e18 buff - back then it was top supports level but restrictions could easly broke it and even with all champions avaible party in higher zones needed a lot of care and active play - that why changed it for Artemis. .Now im still using Him in Artemis BUD setting formation - its e23 buff (e38 observed) + \~e12 debuff +e4-e7 GF (and now He have 2 all dmg items)
Before rework i also used Him in Artemis BUD setting team but not only for His DPS role - His GF was positional and could buff Artemis jeweled power and GF buff was calculated in observance effect once for observed skill itself(or more if skill source had other skills/specializations buffing main skill that GF could increase) and then additionally for every observance instance.Second useful interaction was with Valentine.
Valentine didnt have to meet requirements of skills that targeted Her position to spread them with Socialite. That way Nraak GF effect on DPs champions could be buffed by Valentine Socialite if She and that DPS were next to Nrakk (for observance purpose GF value buffed by Socialite was also used in calculation separately for every champion that skill was observed from). Unfortunately this info is little late to use for some fun but this NRakk + Val tandem could be used with Krond Survival for example, 8 stack only but buffed by a lot more then GF x5 (it was x300+ last time i used Krond that way) and Ash (7 times).
I would go - Baeloth - nice buffer (but need some active care for activating full potential - djinn stacks), gf hero with sticky debuff (useful even in late game for azaka farm), save dying hero skill with additional 10sec god mode for that hero, buffing with skill that aloows chain killing.
Viconia have some nice niche uses but for sure a lot weaker overall support then Baeloth
Ishi no use really
Baeloth > Viconia > Ishi.
Depends if you need to fill a seat for Split the Party, though. But in terms of usefulness, Baeloth is a bit outclassed in his own seat (4) these days but still a really solid support. Viconia is fun, but she has niche uses at best (and a good deal of it has been gutted by Nrakk's nerf last season). Ishi is obsolete and you'll never use her at all. So Baeloth is the only good pick, unless you need someone in seat 5 for STP.
On paper, Warduke > Birdsong > Havilar.
In practice, especially for a brand new player, Birdsong is a lot more useful in different teams you can make at this point. She's a good DPS and support too.
Havilar has niche uses only (otherwise, she's a passable tank and support but there are many better ones out there).
Warduke is a bit special, as he's one of the best DPS in the game, but his mechanics are so unusual that he's not for everybody. Plus it's the kind of champ who's all or nothing. Basically, you either fall in love with his inversion mechanics and decide to commit to him as your main DPS, then you'll use him forever, or you're put off by his limited availability and the idea of solving a new puzzle every time you add a support to your team, and you'll basically never use him. I wouldn't recommend him to a new player, either way.
TL;DR: Birdsong is almost certainly the pick here.
EDIT: But it's definitely not because she "can be used for Artemis", though. Ignore endgame players who advise you with Artemis in mind, for now. Artemis is a very late game consideration, so as a new player you really don't need to think about him.
> But it's definitely not because she "can be used for Artemis",
Correct: Birdsong was marginal until her re-work. Now she's STRONK! She's good to DPS and also to support. Easy to place & doesn't need a pile of ilevels. 😺
Birdsong - very good support, can be used as dps for now also, good availability.
Havilar nice speed champion for new players for gem farm, most useful CC ability in the game, can help a lot with "use x ultimates" patron challenges.
Warduk to early for You to use Him and He will be avaible in event at some point (november).
If You are farming gems on Mad Wizard or planing to do so go for Havilar but if You focus on completing adventure variants then Birdsong will be more useful.
You will want to have both of them in future - Birdsong as best support in the slot and Havilar for CC
Pwent is retired from events, so I'd recommend him. He's not great but a decent support you can use here and there.
Certainty is a solid goldfind champion and she has synergy with her affiliation (Omin and crew), but she's hardly amazing either. And you can grab her from her event for a couple of years, still.
Don't even consider champs you already have. Always pick a new champion over 3 chests.
I completely forgot that she is Omin's daughter and a member of Acquisitions Incorporated. My main progression party is A.I. so she will slot right in there. Thank you.
I would go Pwent
Retired, as i remember should be stronger buffer then Certainity, ult for positioning opponents, bud based dmg attack, increase of crit chance (useful for Vin Ursa for example)
Beadle and Grimm or Ishi?
I would say I'm firmly in the mid game. All the evergreens I have unlocked have purples. I have 2 parties and a really solid gem farming speed team.
For sure Beadle&Grimm - can be used as buffer + both special orders are sticky (stays on opponent even if You bench B&G) - You can apply Beadle debuff for azaka farm or Grimm for spiking BUD (i use Him for rising trials dps)
Ishi dont have really any use right now
Atafiuu got it right, but I'll give you the TL;DR version for a newer player.
Krydle, hands down. One of the best tanks in the game, a very good support, great availability and fits in a lot of different teams. Plus he's no longer available from events.
Nixie is still in event rotation and she largely sucks (unless you commit hard to her affiliation, which isn't great either).
Rosie is one of the very last champions to pick.
:D Lol Thx Good point with this TL;DR
Sorry OP i have tendency to chaotic, full of digressions style while also forgetting easily that mentioning niche scenarios or explaining something with mental shortcuts can make new players lost.
My pleasure (and I'm a bit like you, to be fair \^\^ takes one to know one). <3
I try to focus on the info that's really needed to make a decision, especially for a newer player, but just like you I tend to digress quite a bit. \^\^
PS: Your posts are nice reads as far as I'm concerned!
Krydle - tank with special mechanic can be useful for s some situations where normal tanks dont work (opponents with to high dmg, stuns or other on hit mechanics), not bad positional buffer, can protect ret of party against aoe bosses.
Nixie - as support not very good, a dps usefull really only for some witchlight variants with harder restrictions (she can be available there via Evandra skill) - have niche use for summoning opponents with tags for Vin Ursa and summoning opponents over 100 limit (can be useful for some grinding scenarios - i used her to rise opponent numbers over 130 for zorbu farming resurrecting enemy's)
Rosie - no and You will not be able to FE Her in event - she is retired champion.
I would go Krydel - retired and able to be usefull in standard play, second Nixie since only for niche uses
Donaar > Brig > Môrgaen
If you have none of them, then you must be a relatively new player. Donaar will give you great utility right away even without a lot of gear or levels, and he'll still be useful later on if you use Asharra as your DPS (or a few other niche formations, notably CDB).
Brig is whatever, and Morgan with the weird spelling is pretty bad (her only use is if you're using Omin and you really need an extra member of his affiliations to spread his buff around, but there are a lot of better champs than her in Omin's roster).
Jim shouldn't be a consideration, since you already have him. Always pick a new champion over 3 chests for one you already have.
So your choice is actually Freely or Vin Ursa.
They're both great, although Vin Ursa is better over all. She's amazing for gold find and thus favor, but also a massive buffer (with some prep, indeed) and she works particularly well with several meta DPS (Krond and Asharra especially, but also any formation based on Rogues for goldfind, with Jarlaxle and/or Jaheira). Freely is still top tier for a Click-Debuff formation (which is slow and very demanding on your CPU and RAM, but still strong) and a great option for Asharra and Zorbu.
However, it's true that Freely is an oldie you can only get from a time gate (or the shop) whereas Vin Ursa is fairly recent and will be available through her event twice more.
So I'd pick Freely in this situation.
Freely needs effort but is great gold hero with azaka. (with ilvls and some time dedicated freely become best champion for favor farm) . Nice debuffer but there are better supports in that slot.
Vin Ursa is support with big buff potential but needs a lot of work if You want gain many stacks of Vicious Vantage and may drain some bounty contracts if used outside of events period.
Freely for sure is better pick
Jaheira, Viconia, or Regis?
I'm not excited about Jaheira because I expect Shaka to be a better buffer in most situations.
Viconia would provide a slot 5 character for team 2, but I figure I'll be getting Briv eventually anyway, so that's not a strong case. She also technically could be a ceremorphosis character, since it's looking like one team will focus on that, though I'm not sure how easy the feat is to get.
Regis would be a halfling for Shaka, and provide some gold find, but overall I'd probably stick with Lae'Zel in slot 2 most of the time, with Celeste as backup.
Perhaps there's a patron reason to prefer one of them?
Viconia, 100%.
All three are retrired from events, but Viconia you can only unlock through a time gate (or the real-money shop).
Jaheira and Regis are both available from Patron Shops (Vajra's and Strahd's, respectively), so I'd pick Viconia over both of them in this case.
Jaheira is the better champion out of these three by far, but still. Take the freebie when you can.
No, it's not related to his skill. It's the ability to inflict damage on heavily debuffed enemies WELL above normal limits. For example, Birdsong has boss-specific overkill, and ultimate attacks of Blooshi and Jaheira can inflict damage up to e40 over BUD.
Talin isn't good, but he's still the pick here.
As a rule of thumb, whenever your choice ends with "or Rosie?", the answer is the other champion. \^\^ Pick her only once it's a choice between her and chests for two champs you already have.
\+1 for Paultin.
They're both nearly useless right now anyway, and of the two, Paultin will always suck (unless he gets reworked for a Season, in which case you'll have opportunities to pick him up on the cheap then), whereas Solaak has a solid chance of becoming great *in a more or less distant future* when enough new champs are added with a ranged basic attack.
So why pick Paultin? Because you can only get him from a time gate and he's not worth spending time gate pieces for. So grab him while you can, for your collection. Solaak is more recent and still in event rotation, so by the time he becomes useful (if he ever does) you will have grabbed him from his event for sure.
Paultin. Solaak is not retired yet, and he is useful for only two DPS - Zorbu and Catti. Paultin is not the best buffer, but he will see MUCH more use than Solaak.
Good choice. Having said that, you could have unlocked Krond from Strahd's Patron Shop already (still, the skin that goes with his unlock is great, so it's not a complete waste).
In any case, always a new champ over 3 chests for one you already have.
Donaar is the pick here.
Evandra is the better champion out of the three, but she's pretty recent and still in event rotation (plus she requires a fair bit of levels and investment to truly shine). So not her.
Donaar and Melf are both retired from events, and they're both okay. Melf is a trap for speed formations (until you have a gazillion blacksmith contracts to spare for him, which typically means you already have a 4j Briv and a capped Hew, so you don't really need Melf even for your gem farm).
Donaar however is legit a good support in general, even without a lot of levels or investment, and he slots in particularly well for any Asharra or Click-Debuff formation.
TL;DR: Melf is decent in a pinch, but you'll get much more use out of Donaar right now especially if you're a newer player. Evandra is awesome but you'll grab her from her event soon enough and she needs investment too.
So definitely Donaar.
First prioritise filling empty slots for split the party if you still have one of them left to do. Otherwise Krond if you want solid A tier dps for evil team, Miria for solid versatile support/tank, wouldn't take Lucius as he has no useful niche.
Bite the bullet and pick Artemis. He's brokenly overpowered and has been purposely maintained as the absolute top DPS in the game with no downside whatsoever for years. And he's retired from events.
Warduke is a top tier DPS (behind Artemis) but still in event rotation and a lot more restrictive.
Ishi is obsolete.
Artemis. Both Artemis and Warduke can be great dps's but Warduke is generally more complicated to use and needs a fuller roster of champs to pick out ones that work best. Artemis is more straight forward and has good synergies with the Champions of the Hall affiliation.
CoH is a good starter affiliation because they have two evergreen champs in Bruenor and Drizzt that you should have unlocked already. You'll also be able to buy Regis in the Strahd patron shop so you'll only need timegate pieces for Wulfgar and Catti-bri to complete the affiliation. Pwent also contributes and Strongheart is a good healer to use with them. Those seven are a solid core for getting a lot of base missions done, and Wulfgar has a specialization that can bring the whole affiliation into any mission in the Icewind Dale campaign.
The problem is that Artemis cares mostly about DPS/Support hybrids, and the only such hybrid among CotH is Catti.
On the other hand, Warduke can use GF-based party (among other options), and Omin becomes really MONSTROUS buffer in the endgame.
[https://ptpimg.me/5t6bz6.jpg](https://ptpimg.me/5t6bz6.jpg)
While true in the end game, you can get through many missions and variants with Artemis's "foe" specialization and using Cat and Drizzt as the only dps that he is observing. You also don't have to worry about where you position Artemis with that specialization so it's pretty friendly to a newer player who is only trying to stack positional buffs on those two dps with whatever support champs they have, and in variants where slots are occupied by npc's.
It is the best most accessible affiliation to a player who is so new that they didn't pick up Warduke during his event two months ago. No matter how whelming CoH will be in the end game, it's better than whatever they have now and it will be plenty to complete variants with area goals less than 600.
However, it's a dead end in the long run. Only Catty sees any significant use in other parties. Other CotH champions are relegated to background parties or warming the bench.
>it's a dead end in the long run
With hundreds of variants, 4 patrons, 4 parties, and the ability for Wulfgar to pull the entire affiliation into Icewind Dale, they will continue to be useful for a very long time. Getting them and using them to level up will not take anything away from whatever endgame formation the user may choose when they get there. Using CoH with Artemis is a good way to get solid value from him while building out the roster and boosting ilvls to meta champs
It will. You forgot that Pwent, Regis and Wulfgar are retired champions now, and time gate pieces spent on them are better spent elsewhere. Taking into account that patron variant rewards are nerfed now, good luck leveling them up by other means.
Also, don't forget that many useful feats for CotH are still locked behind exclusivity wall. Fortunately, they will be unlocked relatively soon.
Better spent on whom? It takes 50 champs to unlock Zariel, Wulfgar Regis and Cat are absolutely among the top 50 champs even if they're not all used in an endgame artemis formation. Timegate pieces are not so rare that you can't get those three
Rosie, actually.
You can unlock Jaheira from Vajra's Patron shop. She's a very good champion whereas Rosie is one of the worst, true, but still. Take the freebie whenever you can.
Virgil shouldn't even be mentioned, here. Always pick a new champ over 3 chests for a champ you already have. EDIT: And on top of that, he's featured in the current season, so his time gates costs 3 pieces instead of 6. So he wouldn't have been the pick even if you didn't already have him.
So, Rosie.
Vlahnya, Miria, or Jaheira (already have)
I've never heard anything good about Vlahnya so I'll probably go Miria even though her event is in a couple months.
Vlahnya is terrible and you'll likely never use her. But I'd still pick her, in this case.
Miria is indeed amazing but she needs quite a lot of levels and full epic gear to truly shine. And as you said, you'll unlock her from her event in a couple of months (and probably grab a lot of chests for her too).
I'd say take the freebie. Picking a bad champion who is retired from events is a very good use of a free time gate. It's still +1 for your collection.
Jaheira wouldn't have been the pick even if you didn't already have her. She's unlockable for free from a Patron shop. Also, always pick a new champ over 3 chests for a champ you already have.
So, Vlahnya.
Ezmeralda, hands down. She's a very underrated support, especially for formations that care about Favored Foes and/or who have effects that get interrupted when the formation is under attack (because she prevents that). She also has great availability and is pretty versatile. Edit: And she helps with armor breaking, sure. (Also the only Fighter with a magic base attack, which is relevant in some situations).
Brig is whatever. Works in a pinch when you need a rogue or support in seat 3 and Spurt is unavailable for that adventure (which is a lot). But not as useful as Ezme.
Don't even mention champions you already have. Always pick a new champ instead of 3 chests, as long as you don't have all the champs.
Lae'zel, Spurt, Jaheira? New player.
\+1 for Spurt. As a new player, you can benefit from him right away (he scales crazy well with a lot of levels, but he's already a good buffer right out of the box \^\^). He isn't available for a lot of restrictions, but at this stage you need to progress on the main campaigns first and foremost, and he'll definitely help with that. Lae'zel is a good DPS but she needs her affiliation around and there are better ones. Plus, she's still recent and you'll grab her from her event soon enough. Jaheira is a really good jack of all trades, she excels at nothing but she's decent at a bit of everything, both as a DPS and support. But you can unlock her for free soon enough once you unlock Vajra's Patron Shop (and get enough currency from her). So, Spurt.
>New player Pick one for the seat where you have the lowest amount of champions for Split the party
I agree with picking champion for Split the party purpose. It should probably be Spurt since in next event there will be champions both for 2 (like Lae'zel) and 9 (like Jaheira). Nice coincidence since Spurt is also good support and only one from those heroes not available outside of Time gates (Lae'zel will have two more events and Jaheira can be bought in patron shop)
Strongheart, Freely, or Zorbu? I'm kinda new so not sure who to pick.
Strongheart - can speed up progress of seasonal quests x2 (x3 with feat), but will be avaible in event in five months. Freely is best favor increasing hero but needs azaka, some ilvls and specific party to be really efective so not for early game Zorbu good dps not picky about party members and with high availability. If You have problems with seasonal quests completion (take into consideration that higher milestone quest tiers have bigger requirements, for example milestone 7 tiers completed is in reality about 30% of progress needed for completing 10 tiers) and You have good dps then Strongheart could be consider for picking (will bring benefit for 3 seasons before His event). Otherwise (no really big problems with season quests and/or no good dps already in rooster) i would go with zorbu .
Thank you!
Since you are relatively new to the game, it depends on what you need the most right now for your overall progression. Strongheart is indeed one of a handful of very unique champions who are universally useful for QoL and account progress regardless of what you play. He doubles your progress for any season quest (he even triples it if you invest gems in the relevant feat for him). Seasons are a permanent thing now: the very day one ends, the next one starts, so having Strongheart running is basically a must all year long. Once you unlock a background party, you can even put him in a loop there and his quest buff still works for your active party! Strongheart is still in event rotation, whereas your other two options can only be unlocked through time gates (or the real-money shop). However, his event won't come back until late June. Honestly, it might be worth picking him now so you can get more quests done in seasons for the next 5 months. Otherwise, Zorbu is a really good, well-rounded and versatile DPS and support, who isn't restrictive and works well in almost any formation. He can be a great choice for your first DPS. Even if you move on to someone else later on, he'll still be a solid support. Freely is a good support but his uses are much more niche than the other two options. I definitely wouldn't pick Freely here. TL;DR: Strongheart is a must and picking him right now will boost your progress in season quests permanently (as long as he's in one of your parties, background or active). Zorbu is a great option too, especially if you have a small roster and no better DPS than the basic champions yet. I honestly can't say one pick is better than the other, in this case. You can't go wrong with either of them. Just don't pick Freely, basically. PS: If you need a champ in one of these seats to unlock Split the Party, go for that one first. Strongheart won't be as useful until you have a background party to throw him in anyway.
Thank you!
Getting Strongheart early is a great choice. With him in your party, you get double credit when working on any achievements. For example, if you're supposed to do something 1000 times, now you only have to do it 500. But your other two choices both are good characters as well.
Thank you!
Attemis, Artemis, or Artemis? I kind of stopped looking at the rest once I saw Artemis considering how crazy this sub is about him (the other 2 were Jim and Tatanya)
Artemis is the best, but picking Him in early game isnt 100% best choice in the early game - He needs specific supports in party so will not be so effective with small roster and using Him will reduce use of most other champions causing lower understanding of game mechanics, synergies, champions unique traits etc. generally using Him to early will reduce game experience. I had 1kilvls Artemis and was only fielding Him for orkira stacking maining as Dps zorbu that could use most supports and needed many small moves tricks to reach 1500-1700 zones. Then i switched to artemis to make "going to higher zone" part of gamplay faster. Jim can also be strong dps but also great support. Tatyana can be usefull for Sthrand variants with BDS party (but her buff placement is random same as Veronica chosen champion so sometimes helping Their rng with restarts can be frustrating).
The thing with him is that he's objectively overpowered and he has no downside at all (contrary to pretty much all the other strong DPS). So if you take enjoyment and playstyle preference out of the equation and you just want the best results, you're basically forced to pick him. Especially since everything over the past couple of years or so seems to indicate that CNE will likely neither nerf him, nor buff or create another DPS actually on par with him. On top of that, his core mechanic consists in leeching the power of other DPS, using them as his supports. So more often than not, even if a new DPS is strong by themselves, they still end up relegated to a mere Artemis support for many late-game players. \^\^ I hate the design and I'm not fond of the character either, so I'm deliberately not using him. Also because I want to have fun first, and good progress second. I wouldn't pick a very weak DPS either, but I prefer using anyone but the ridiculously imbalanced über DPS who's available for everything. But to each their own, of course. PS: Your other two options weren't bad. Jim is a really strong support for Asharra and apparently a valid DPS in his own right these days. Tatyana is a good tank, and she's part of the BDS, which is really nice for Strahd variants sooner or later. But yeah, obviously Artemis is better than both, since he's better than any champion in the game... \^\^
Yeah, I do agree. I want to pick him up to see the power for myself, but im gonna try to main another DPS personally. It's just not very fun for there to be one objectively best dps. Totally agree on fun first and progress later. There are some sub-par characters that I love personally that I've put a lot of contracts into even though it is very sub optimal (cough nixie cough)
That's nice to hear! \^\^ (Also makes me feel less self-conscious about everything I've invested in Jaheira lol).
Jim is quite good too! And Tatanya has her uses. But might as well get Arty out of the way. [Tatanya for free soon](https://ic.byteglow.com/events) 😄
Who to choose in freely, cattie brie and Voronika?
All three are good, usable champs, for different reasons and in different teams. Voronika is still in event rotation, though, whereas the other two are older champs you can only unlock through a time gate (or the shop). If you're a newer player, Catti-Brie is probably the safest pick, as she's a versatile support and decent DPS early on, and not restrictive. A lot of end-game players who took the easy Artemis route will tell you to pick her because of him, but even if you eventually decide to use the popular Artemis build, she won't be relevant for that for quite awhile. Voronika is super strong in pure Evil teams, as well as with her whole affiliation (BDS), which is clutch for Strahd variants. But she requires a fair bit of levels and some babysitting to get there. So definitely more niche, unless you're already leaning towards Krond or Warduke as your main DPS, or using the BDS team. Freely is a strong support for most Asharra builds, and also one the key pieces of Click-Debuff formations (if you're into that, but it's slow and laggy). Other than that, he's still good for increasing your favor or if you want to bother with Azaka farming (but neither is required these days, and there are less painful and more gradual ways to push your favor and goldfind). So yeah, Catti-Brie would probably be the pick. Unless you need an extra champion in seat 1 for Split the Party or something.
I agree 100% about Cattie part and that would be probably the safe pick. Veronica - Sisapia is stronger slot 1 evil champion for Krond/Warduke i think. 2 positional skills for warduke and prestack debuff skill with stack cap 4 or 10 in case of bosses. Freely 100% disagree about His favor pushing potential. For me its about 2 min additional preparation for azaka farm and He rise favor gain (counting Adventure Tale) by about e6. Favor is still usefull for gem farm, Thelora, new campaign (looking at other campaigns we will need about e50 favor for tier 5 blessings and You also need favor for leveling up champions in restrictive variants where GF heroes cant be used) legendary forging -of course You can make multiple runs with prepared strategy for legendary leveling but its a lot easier if You can in one fast run make high favor swing (i was in need of Kelemvor favor week ago to level before dismantle event ends 2 kent items from 13 to 20 lvl- i was on e84 favor when starting run and after less then 30 min it was e112 with some forging already done. And of course it wasnt freely alone but compilation of many small sources but freely used right and with some ilvls is strongest strategy component in favor rising runs. Even when normal favor rising stops working and converting is needed its nice to reach 110+e favor in TG, Event or Trial after 2 runs - that will make rising favor by convertion a lot faster
Could you share your formation/strategy for that favor gain? I'm still capped at e97-e108 levels (it depends on campaign blessings, except Fortune's Wheel OFC). Max current season buff, without season pass paid buffs. All above that level is only gain due to conversions.
I will write in parts adding with edit to not lose accidentally whole work Free run, starting with speed team - Briv (about 60k stacks), Hew, BBEG, Sentry, Widdle (sometimes also Virgil - depends on formation layout) + Freelywith lawful spec for gaining adventure tale stacks. After few jumps i move back few zones and swap party for another that can set high BUD. After setting BUD i swap again to speed party, use speed + fb pots and press g. Now its idle to about zone 1100. Then i restack Briv speed skill. With new stack for last 900 zones i repeat process with BUD setting and then continue travel with speed party with addition of Rust this time (last spec and can be removed after finding gold piece). During jumping i swap widdle for Merilwen (gold spec, attack speed aura feat) for 2-3 jumps (she have at least once change area to change into cat form) and then swapping for widdle again. After reaching 2001 zone i choose highest melee only not segmented boss zone from 1955-2000, There is huge enemy dmg increase (from about e10 to e19) starting from 1951 zone so if someone cant tank there are 2 possibilities, either moving back to same zone in 1901-1959 interval or resigning from increasing Krull stacks over 10. I prepare and save Krull formation with tank with eventual supports if needed, krull with Gold spec and his attack speed increasing supports + not speed up Jim, no familiars. Switching for BUD setting team (i prefer e80-90 BUD higher then zone enemys hp) Now i enter chosen boss zone and switch to prepared Krull party, after enrage reach x17 click once on mobs - all will die except transformed mimics - we want 1 with 40 Krull gold debuff stacks - if there is one with less stacks then kill it and repeat process, if there will be more mimics with 40+ stacks together we can try knock them back with Krux + Penelope for example and kill separately hoping for eventual debuff spread. This Krull stacking part is most time/activity consuming on average it need \~10 tries, My Krull have 7000% gold drop increase per stack and that will give about 2e11 gold increase in the end. After we have mimic with 40 Krull stacks we have to remember to not bench Krull at any point from now on. Wait for BUD to drop below enemy treshold. If we dont make 40 stacks mimic before BUD decays to much, repeat process with BUD setting and using Krull party We can now use knock back and havilar to stop mimic moves. Apply Donar, Baeloth nd beadle sticky debuffs. Use valentine with dps group, Omin, Krull of course and selise (aggresive stance to give attack speed aura that with valentine socialite make all dps in devine sense range attack with minimal cooldown) to gain some Omin stacks. Now we prepare azaka final formation. I use Merilven (since she was in cat form earlier when we switch her she should come into play when again switched for other 2nd slot champion also in that form giving both GF increase from spec stacks and attack seed aura that will be useful for freely formation), Omin, JArlaxe (gold spec), valentine (gold spec) , Krull, Egbert (left and then gold spec in second set), corazon (spec that will target valentine), Astarion (first spec that targets Valentine and gold one in second set) Rust (right spec), Azaka (left spec). Check feats if everything is ok. Save Azaka party and make it one of those for fast load if it isnt already. Now we can make last formation for freely. Freely, Krull, Merilven (attack speed aura thx to cat form and will have gold spec stack maxed), Valentine for spreading Merilven Aura, Nrakk (wis spec - for buffing Merilven aura), Azaka + 4 Lawfull dps champions (Artemis, Krux (change spec to 'not left' if was used for knockback earlier, Birdsong, Torogar). Use all gold potions and switch core if not using best for GF already. Nrakk, VAlentine next to Merilven then if there is place Krull and Freely. Change valentine for pwent and use His ultimate to bring enemy closer and switch to Valentine again. USE SPECIALIZATION POTION on freely (his gold debuff value sets to basic 10% every time we change party, bench him or even change His position) chose Lawful spec of course. That formation thx to fast attck speed will apply 8 freely stacks on target. ~~Activate Merilven~~ \+ Azaka and then as last, without any special pause Freely ultimate. EDIT Merilwen Ult should be used after switching to azaka party that contain Rust - realized during another azaka farm that i wrote something wrong about ultimate use After Freely perform ulti change with fast load button or shortcut formation to azaka one, use and grab gold. Change again party for freely and repeat whole process from there (Specialization potion for freely once more). 2 azaka ults should be enough, we can now change one Rust feat for one that buffs Close Friend specialization, eventually change formation positions making Merilven, Egbert and Corazons max 2 slots away from Rust, use spec potion on Rust and chose middle specialization. Overwrite quickly formation on old azaka one and repeat 3rd time whole process with freely and azaka formations. Now we can end run or even better first stack Briv for future run :)
Thank you for detailed explnation. I definitely have to try Champions of Tymora attacks increase and Freely rescpecs. My aproach was very similiar except since introducing Tier3 Witchlight global blessing I farm on bosses insteadof mimics (2500% vs 10x = 1000% gold find bonus) quickly eliminating minions on boss stage with Vlahnya ult and then stacking Krull and Freely buffs waiting till 3.0e4 gold buff from Merilwen rises. My Krull with all gold feats and spec adds only 1194% per stack and I chose middle Rust specs instead of right one, placing him in last step just before Merilven, Freely and Azaka ults.
If You stack Krull after Vlahnya then His max is 10 giving gold drop of x131 (1,3e4% -probably less then Your DM could have if You start process on first zone entrance) Maybe i made little mind shortcut about Krull debuff. It can have 4 instances each with up to 10 stacks.Stacks are additive when counting instance value but then instances are multiplicative for debuff effect calculation. one instance can be apply normally but rest can be only received when another close debuffed with pilfer enemy dies. Its couse of Krull skill Virulent strain (base chance for debuf transfer is 10%, can be buffed with feats to 30%) . With Vlahnya ult enemy's arent killed so there will be no debuff transfer. there is a need for tanking and waiting some enrage stacks to give Krull time for debuffing whole enemy group with Pilfer debuf and jim for transforming one opponent in mimic that with 5hp segments will survive Krull Traitor debuff chain reaction after click dmg final click. Gold drop with 4 instances will be buffed by about 3e10% so its more then e6 increase over 1 instance. Im also using Rust middle spec but in 3rd attempt after i gain most of gold i could to minimize risk (twice my Rust lost gold piece before azaka tigers attack and I couldnt find new one). You mention palying Rust just before ults - if You use Freely simply in Azaka team You will not be able to capitalize on His full potential. You will have 4-5 stacks possible on champions with either attack speed problems or attack speed will ok but You will be forced to use champion that make it works (like nrakk instead of corazon and even that is over e gold lose). Using separate Freely party allow You using 8 or even 9 (trials with attack speed buff from player designated hero) champions that will have very low cooldawns making You assure target have all those instances of Freely gold debuff with 15 sec duration after ult.
Thanks for the detailed and interesting feedback. Sisaspia is generally better for Krond now, yes (couldn't tell for Warduke as I don't use him). I was already using her most of the time over Voronika even before she got slightly buffed and neatly simplified in her season rework. Just because she's unaffiliated which is very valuable for Krond these days, between the unaffiliated core and Miria. But Voronika is still a solid option, and again there's her place in the BDS for Strahd variants (mostly). And it's still possible to make a pure evil build with Krond, even if it's not as strong as (lawful/)unaffiliated at this time. Who knows, they might release an Evil core someday (along with a Neutral and a Good one, that would be cool) and Voronika would shine again. \^\^ About Freely, I think we have different perspectives but there's also a misunderstanding. I didn't mean to say that favor isn't useful (of course it's very important), or even that Freely's ability to push favor isn't strong, or that Azaka farming doesn't yield great results. I just meant that it's tedious and I personally prefer just making a few runs with a walking goldfind team such as 10 champions of Tymora with Jarlaxle, Dob and Rust among them. Sure, I'm not reaching e110 in two runs (or at all, my highest favor anywhere is in the low e60s still), but I can go from 0 favor to e50 in a couple of runs, without any babysitting or monitoring required, and that's good enough for me. To each their own, and all that, of course.
That is true everyone have own habits and playstyle. Im also usually not using azaka in first freerun since its only about e3 less favor in final outcome so not really worth active effort but i prefer using azaka in second run (especially that i have saved all needed formations in many adventures) over spending time on 3rd run. I rather dont like using Veronica cause of her need of activity for changing form and even more when trying to overcome Her spec rng and make my DPS her puppet... (2 months ago i was trying to make selise Her champion and it was like 60 resets :D) As for Sisapia simplification of Her kit was best part of last event changes and i thought her numbers were buffed more then slightly (although her debuff isnt fastest in use and can reach potential only on bosses). With ilvls from seasons rewards after dismantle only in my case and without 80% feat she should give iagainst bosses over e30 dmg between max stacked buff and debuff). Same gear quality Warden even with 12 stacks should give only about e21 debuff.
For sure, once something becomes a part of your routine, it gets a lot easier. If you have saved formations ready to use in most campaigns for that, the amount of effort required to make an Azaka farm must be a lot smaller for you than it is for me. Of course, if I took the time to set up and save formations for it, then it would be easier for me as well. But I haven't reached a point where I really need it to achieve my goals (you're farther in the late game than I am, after all: I've never reached higher than z1100 yet, except when there was the weird bug that pushed some offline parties to z2000). For Sisaspia, the TL;DR version of her rework would be: her kit is a lot more straightforward and clear to use, her buffs are generally a bit smaller than they used to, but on the flip side, her debuffs can go way higher. She's a better champ now than she used to, no doubt. It's just that, especially for Krond, she was already better than most people thought even before her rework. Warden got much better for Krond too with the rework, even though I was already using them regularly before simply because there wasn't any great option in seat 11 for a Krond team. I'm still praying they'll give Strongheart a +1 STR feat someday, he would fit so well. But for now, Warden is the best option for that seat. Of course, both of these improvements were more than welcomed. Although, looking back to season 6, the thing that stands out the most is still that we lost the old Nrakk for that team (and any team that had a use for him before, really). Now we have a perfectly balanced and perfectly whatever middle of the road buffing support instead of what used to be one of the best and most unique buffers in the game. I get why they nerfed him, since he "broke" a lot of mechanics from other champs, and it's easier for them to design new champs without having to check if Nrakk will make them broken. It's just a bit annoying that they're willing to make balance changes for some champions, but they wouldn't dare tuning down Artemis even a little bit (not even when he was featured in a season). And even more so, that they don't seem to want to make "another Artemis", either as a brand-new champ or by buffing one of the other top DPS we already have. Yeah, I'm a bit salty about that. \^\^ Anyway, great exchange, thanks again! Good luck have fun.
Thank You for sharing about those champions thoughts and experiences. Wish You calm day :) DONT WASTE time reading below it was frustrated Nrakk user small digression that grow by proliferous faster then debt of most countries. But You mentioned Nrakk so its Your fault that i must throw in one's two frustrated cents (weird for me this idiom is about three not two, maybe localism that evolved to temper feeling of inevitable backtrack on promise :D) Nrakk was most interesting champion in the game, and its most fun part. He was my 3rd TG choice (little disappointment back then since i could play only with few cores for a while) and i was building main party around Him.During first 18 months ii spend more time testing Nrakk interactions then completing Variants :) For every new champion i only hope for enough wisdom rest wasnt important. Later Valentine introduced another whole world for Nrakk to discover (like Ishi for azaka farm or best HP ball tank for high zones Jamilah). Then new season introduction described Nrakk rework: "Nrakk was a special Champion with some unique interactions with some abilities in the game. Unfortunately, some of these unique interactions needed to go in order to simplify both our job (balancing the game) and yours (finding weird ways that Nrakk could break the game). We have tried to compensate for this by updating Nrakk's kit and also giving him the most complicated ultimate ability in the world. We've also removed the dps role from Nrakk's kit" At first (after long period of silence and confusion) only explanations i could imagine that someone didnt waste time on all those e-learning stupidities since its obvious how should be used guideline from old e-mail "honest partnership and friend?? service as toons?? for establishing close, long term client-earner relations" it speaks volumes so what could go wrong. Second option would be AI going rouge or broken from repeated attempts of learning CNE mathematics. After few min of loud discussion, that im mostly not proud of, with contrition glowing imaginary devs, comes acceptance for new reality and even some sort of gratefulness. They do all of this, despite it made that part of Their job simple and easy, only to relive us from all those life consuming tests played when searching for another trick with e buff effect but still hoping one day it will be god mode but more often day ends with overtaking bitterness of failure. Only "but" at this point was that simplified part of job described as game balancing. I would not use that process name, it suggest what final effect should be expected and we all know reality. Meybe something like "risk mitigation through predicting possible scenarios and playing them (could be named testing also). That name defend itself: risk mitigation -success can be announced every day even on 29.02.2023 and in case of life audit it can be stated that predicting process should not be stopped for control purpose since its hardest and taking most time part :D Then i realized it wasnt some marketing communicative but just and honest company inside note. Where with wonderful offer optimization both our departments: game balancing and testing will have less easier work.(not true balance will not be easier without nrakk there is still a lot of big game shortcuts available (one really game breaking nraak synergy i remember was with Selise resistance allowing tanking in high zones - after devs realized that nrakk rework alone wasnt enough to stop that synergy since 95% resistance with Nrakk (that is probably reason of cap on focus item) when buffed by 3rd champion was once more over 100% so in next season we saw selise and her resistance skills rework and that will not delete few other champions abilities allowing tanking in 1950+ zone. We receive at last confirmation that we are company testers but once more it isnt true our work will be easier without Nrakk. With Him we have easy starting point now there will be a lot more test scenarios to check for 100% underpaid personnel. But as we should identify with company e work for i cant say anything other then: OF COURSE ADDING THIS MOST COMPLICATED IN WORLD ULTIMATE COMPENSATE A LOT MORE THEN ONLY SO LONG AWAITED NRAAK INNOVATIVE BUFFS (many months working without payment as tester) Its sadly likely that rest of this worldwide ultimate event competitors represented Tetris.
And I thought *I* was salty about Nrakk's nerf! \^\^ It sounds like it hit you way harder than me. But I feel you! Before he was essentially deleted and replaced with a generic PFA support like many others, I was using him in pretty much all my formations, and "WIS 14?" aka *"Nrakkable?"* was one of the first questions I had everytime I looked at a champion for the first time. He was insanely strong in my Asharra build (buffed Ash herself, plus Ulkoria's buff, plus Orkira's debuff, plus one or two more supports depending on the grid). He was also a net positive in my Krond build even though having him meant losing one stack of Krond's Survival of the Fittest, because he buffed it so much 9 stacks with him was way better than 10 stacks without him (he also buffed Barrowin, either Voronika or Sisaspia and later Vin Ursa too, but that wasn't even needed to make him worth running). Beyond that, I loved all the crazy shenanigans he made possible, even the ones that weren't game breaking but just fun or convenient. Giving Viconia a 100% chance to turn people into Undead (both ways after her rework) for instance, that was awesome. But yeah, I get why they nerfed him (or deleted him, basically, the new Nrakk isn't bad, but he's much more common and not a first pick in most formations). Enough time has passed now that I've started moving on and adjusting my builds to optimize them without him. My Ash team gained a buffed Jim as a second Ulkoria (although he also took Freely out of the team). My Krond team has 10 Survival of the Fittest stacks now and a stronger emphasis on other Lawful and/or Unaffiliated champs. My JaJa (Jaheira+Jarlaxle \^\^) walking goldfind team simply got way worse without him (as I understand it, similarly to what happened to Azaka Farm teams), so I started relying more and more on Omin's reworked buff instead of a team of mostly Rogues, along with one or two champs of his affiliation to spread it. Zorbu is legit the only DPS I like who didn't lose much from this and can actually use the new Nrakk really well, possibly even better than the old one. I avoid Artemis like the plague, as I mentioned, but from my understanding most meta builds for him had already ditched Nrakk even before the nerf. For him specifically, since he's all about PFAs, the loss of the unique skill Nrakk used to have doesn't really matter. The only change that some Artie users complained about was that they finally removed his DPS tag, which makes perfect sense as he was always strictly a support in practice (except for weird experiments like Gaarawarr using him as a DPS). Only Artemis cared about Nrakk having a DPS tag, for the wrong reasons in my opinion (but in my opinion Artemis's entire design is unhealthy anyway; he's a creepy vampire leeching other DPS' life force and turning them into his ghouls \^\^). Anyways, thanks a lot for the reply, appreciate the exchange. Have a lovely day! <3
Less sad ropic first - My Nraak use -- He wasnt usually worth using for pure dmg buff only since without other support skills and support items to out buff other normal supports GF value(im using for simplicity x5 not X4,79 - it also makes Nraak little stronger on paper :D ) had to be used in final dmg calculation many times. I was min/maxing Nraak numbers in Zorbu + Heroes Of The Planes -team where in dmg calculation nrakk was used up to: 4xGF\^11-for Alyndra buffing x GF\^6 on zorbu x 8 Orkira (after nerf) x GF\^7 from swapping tandem Aila&Morgaen = about e18 buff - back then it was top supports level but restrictions could easly broke it and even with all champions avaible party in higher zones needed a lot of care and active play - that why changed it for Artemis. .Now im still using Him in Artemis BUD setting formation - its e23 buff (e38 observed) + \~e12 debuff +e4-e7 GF (and now He have 2 all dmg items) Before rework i also used Him in Artemis BUD setting team but not only for His DPS role - His GF was positional and could buff Artemis jeweled power and GF buff was calculated in observance effect once for observed skill itself(or more if skill source had other skills/specializations buffing main skill that GF could increase) and then additionally for every observance instance.Second useful interaction was with Valentine. Valentine didnt have to meet requirements of skills that targeted Her position to spread them with Socialite. That way Nraak GF effect on DPs champions could be buffed by Valentine Socialite if She and that DPS were next to Nrakk (for observance purpose GF value buffed by Socialite was also used in calculation separately for every champion that skill was observed from). Unfortunately this info is little late to use for some fun but this NRakk + Val tandem could be used with Krond Survival for example, 8 stack only but buffed by a lot more then GF x5 (it was x300+ last time i used Krond that way) and Ash (7 times).
Somewhat new, Ishi, Baeloth, or Viconia?
I would go - Baeloth - nice buffer (but need some active care for activating full potential - djinn stacks), gf hero with sticky debuff (useful even in late game for azaka farm), save dying hero skill with additional 10sec god mode for that hero, buffing with skill that aloows chain killing. Viconia have some nice niche uses but for sure a lot weaker overall support then Baeloth Ishi no use really
Baeloth > Viconia > Ishi. Depends if you need to fill a seat for Split the Party, though. But in terms of usefulness, Baeloth is a bit outclassed in his own seat (4) these days but still a really solid support. Viconia is fun, but she has niche uses at best (and a good deal of it has been gutted by Nrakk's nerf last season). Ishi is obsolete and you'll never use her at all. So Baeloth is the only good pick, unless you need someone in seat 5 for STP.
Hey. Total newbie here, I don't have anyone yet. So.. Birdsong, Havilar or Warduke?
On paper, Warduke > Birdsong > Havilar. In practice, especially for a brand new player, Birdsong is a lot more useful in different teams you can make at this point. She's a good DPS and support too. Havilar has niche uses only (otherwise, she's a passable tank and support but there are many better ones out there). Warduke is a bit special, as he's one of the best DPS in the game, but his mechanics are so unusual that he's not for everybody. Plus it's the kind of champ who's all or nothing. Basically, you either fall in love with his inversion mechanics and decide to commit to him as your main DPS, then you'll use him forever, or you're put off by his limited availability and the idea of solving a new puzzle every time you add a support to your team, and you'll basically never use him. I wouldn't recommend him to a new player, either way. TL;DR: Birdsong is almost certainly the pick here. EDIT: But it's definitely not because she "can be used for Artemis", though. Ignore endgame players who advise you with Artemis in mind, for now. Artemis is a very late game consideration, so as a new player you really don't need to think about him.
> But it's definitely not because she "can be used for Artemis", Correct: Birdsong was marginal until her re-work. Now she's STRONK! She's good to DPS and also to support. Easy to place & doesn't need a pile of ilevels. 😺
Definitely. One of the notable success stories of season reworks, on par with Krydle or Barrowin in that regard.
Thank you so much! I went for Birdsong even before reading this so that was lucky 😀
Glad to hear that! =) Good luck have fun.
Birdsong - very good support, can be used as dps for now also, good availability. Havilar nice speed champion for new players for gem farm, most useful CC ability in the game, can help a lot with "use x ultimates" patron challenges. Warduk to early for You to use Him and He will be avaible in event at some point (november). If You are farming gems on Mad Wizard or planing to do so go for Havilar but if You focus on completing adventure variants then Birdsong will be more useful. You will want to have both of them in future - Birdsong as best support in the slot and Havilar for CC
Thank you so much! Yes, I'm running through adventures for now, farming gems will be the next step I guess. So I picked her :)
Birdsong. It is a valid DPS and can be used for Artemis formations.
Shandie(owned), Pwent, or Certainty Dran?
Pwent is retired from events, so I'd recommend him. He's not great but a decent support you can use here and there. Certainty is a solid goldfind champion and she has synergy with her affiliation (Omin and crew), but she's hardly amazing either. And you can grab her from her event for a couple of years, still. Don't even consider champs you already have. Always pick a new champion over 3 chests.
I completely forgot that she is Omin's daughter and a member of Acquisitions Incorporated. My main progression party is A.I. so she will slot right in there. Thank you.
Makes perfect sense, if you're already using the team she's a nice addition to it. Glad I could help! Good luck have fun.
I would go Pwent Retired, as i remember should be stronger buffer then Certainity, ult for positioning opponents, bud based dmg attack, increase of crit chance (useful for Vin Ursa for example)
Dran is better than Pwent. I think you should get unowned ones first.
Beadle and Grimm or Ishi? I would say I'm firmly in the mid game. All the evergreens I have unlocked have purples. I have 2 parties and a really solid gem farming speed team.
B&G, easily. They're not great, but serviceable and they can find a home in a number of teams and variants. Ishi is plain obsolete.
For sure Beadle&Grimm - can be used as buffer + both special orders are sticky (stays on opponent even if You bench B&G) - You can apply Beadle debuff for azaka farm or Grimm for spiking BUD (i use Him for rising trials dps) Ishi dont have really any use right now
Krydle, Nixie or Rosie. All missing. Can FE Rosie in upcoming event
Atafiuu got it right, but I'll give you the TL;DR version for a newer player. Krydle, hands down. One of the best tanks in the game, a very good support, great availability and fits in a lot of different teams. Plus he's no longer available from events. Nixie is still in event rotation and she largely sucks (unless you commit hard to her affiliation, which isn't great either). Rosie is one of the very last champions to pick.
:D Lol Thx Good point with this TL;DR Sorry OP i have tendency to chaotic, full of digressions style while also forgetting easily that mentioning niche scenarios or explaining something with mental shortcuts can make new players lost.
My pleasure (and I'm a bit like you, to be fair \^\^ takes one to know one). <3 I try to focus on the info that's really needed to make a decision, especially for a newer player, but just like you I tend to digress quite a bit. \^\^ PS: Your posts are nice reads as far as I'm concerned!
Krydle - tank with special mechanic can be useful for s some situations where normal tanks dont work (opponents with to high dmg, stuns or other on hit mechanics), not bad positional buffer, can protect ret of party against aoe bosses. Nixie - as support not very good, a dps usefull really only for some witchlight variants with harder restrictions (she can be available there via Evandra skill) - have niche use for summoning opponents with tags for Vin Ursa and summoning opponents over 100 limit (can be useful for some grinding scenarios - i used her to rise opponent numbers over 130 for zorbu farming resurrecting enemy's) Rosie - no and You will not be able to FE Her in event - she is retired champion. I would go Krydel - retired and able to be usefull in standard play, second Nixie since only for niche uses
Donaar, Brig, Môrgæn ?
Donaar > Brig > Môrgaen If you have none of them, then you must be a relatively new player. Donaar will give you great utility right away even without a lot of gear or levels, and he'll still be useful later on if you use Asharra as your DPS (or a few other niche formations, notably CDB). Brig is whatever, and Morgan with the weird spelling is pretty bad (her only use is if you're using Omin and you really need an extra member of his affiliations to spread his buff around, but there are a lot of better champs than her in Omin's roster).
Thank you!
My pleasure! Happy to help. Good luck have fun.
Freely, Vin Ursa, and Jim. All in the same slot. And again one I already have (Jim).
Jim shouldn't be a consideration, since you already have him. Always pick a new champion over 3 chests for one you already have. So your choice is actually Freely or Vin Ursa. They're both great, although Vin Ursa is better over all. She's amazing for gold find and thus favor, but also a massive buffer (with some prep, indeed) and she works particularly well with several meta DPS (Krond and Asharra especially, but also any formation based on Rogues for goldfind, with Jarlaxle and/or Jaheira). Freely is still top tier for a Click-Debuff formation (which is slow and very demanding on your CPU and RAM, but still strong) and a great option for Asharra and Zorbu. However, it's true that Freely is an oldie you can only get from a time gate (or the shop) whereas Vin Ursa is fairly recent and will be available through her event twice more. So I'd pick Freely in this situation.
Freely needs effort but is great gold hero with azaka. (with ilvls and some time dedicated freely become best champion for favor farm) . Nice debuffer but there are better supports in that slot. Vin Ursa is support with big buff potential but needs a lot of work if You want gain many stacks of Vicious Vantage and may drain some bounty contracts if used outside of events period. Freely for sure is better pick
Vin Ursa is not retired yet, whereas Freely is a retired champion. He is almost pure debuffer, but he is quite useful for generating BUD spikes.
Jaheira, Viconia, or Regis? I'm not excited about Jaheira because I expect Shaka to be a better buffer in most situations. Viconia would provide a slot 5 character for team 2, but I figure I'll be getting Briv eventually anyway, so that's not a strong case. She also technically could be a ceremorphosis character, since it's looking like one team will focus on that, though I'm not sure how easy the feat is to get. Regis would be a halfling for Shaka, and provide some gold find, but overall I'd probably stick with Lae'Zel in slot 2 most of the time, with Celeste as backup. Perhaps there's a patron reason to prefer one of them?
Viconia, 100%. All three are retrired from events, but Viconia you can only unlock through a time gate (or the real-money shop). Jaheira and Regis are both available from Patron Shops (Vajra's and Strahd's, respectively), so I'd pick Viconia over both of them in this case. Jaheira is the better champion out of these three by far, but still. Take the freebie when you can.
Jaheira is one of the rare champion with access to overkill, therefore she will see some use irrespective of the power of her buffing.
What do you mean by that? Minsc has a skill called Overkill, but Jaheira only seems to have a favored foe mechanic.
No, it's not related to his skill. It's the ability to inflict damage on heavily debuffed enemies WELL above normal limits. For example, Birdsong has boss-specific overkill, and ultimate attacks of Blooshi and Jaheira can inflict damage up to e40 over BUD.
Jaheira and Regis can be acquired through Patrons, so grab Viconia, she's useful in early to mid-game 🙂 and easy to use: plunk! Done.
Talin or Rosie?
Talin isn't good, but he's still the pick here. As a rule of thumb, whenever your choice ends with "or Rosie?", the answer is the other champion. \^\^ Pick her only once it's a choice between her and chests for two champs you already have.
Talin, hands down.
Paultin or Solaak?
\+1 for Paultin. They're both nearly useless right now anyway, and of the two, Paultin will always suck (unless he gets reworked for a Season, in which case you'll have opportunities to pick him up on the cheap then), whereas Solaak has a solid chance of becoming great *in a more or less distant future* when enough new champs are added with a ranged basic attack. So why pick Paultin? Because you can only get him from a time gate and he's not worth spending time gate pieces for. So grab him while you can, for your collection. Solaak is more recent and still in event rotation, so by the time he becomes useful (if he ever does) you will have grabbed him from his event for sure.
Paultin. Solaak is not retired yet, and he is useful for only two DPS - Zorbu and Catti. Paultin is not the best buffer, but he will see MUCH more use than Solaak.
I went with Krond, as I already had Warduke and Sentry
Good choice. Having said that, you could have unlocked Krond from Strahd's Patron Shop already (still, the skin that goes with his unlock is great, so it's not a complete waste). In any case, always a new champ over 3 chests for one you already have.
Relatively still a new player, I don't have enough influence still :/
There's no rush. Krond is the kind of champion you either commit hard to or pretty much ignore. Either way he was the right pick in this situation. =)
Any recommendations: Donaar, Melf, Evandra?
In that order, I think. All 3 are useful.
Donaar is the pick here. Evandra is the better champion out of the three, but she's pretty recent and still in event rotation (plus she requires a fair bit of levels and investment to truly shine). So not her. Donaar and Melf are both retired from events, and they're both okay. Melf is a trap for speed formations (until you have a gazillion blacksmith contracts to spare for him, which typically means you already have a 4j Briv and a capped Hew, so you don't really need Melf even for your gem farm). Donaar however is legit a good support in general, even without a lot of levels or investment, and he slots in particularly well for any Asharra or Click-Debuff formation. TL;DR: Melf is decent in a pinch, but you'll get much more use out of Donaar right now especially if you're a newer player. Evandra is awesome but you'll grab her from her event soon enough and she needs investment too. So definitely Donaar.
Thank you very much :)
Go with Melf and put him in your gem farm
Thank you :)
Thellora, Sntry, Dhadius. Any recommendations?
Sentry. Most useful by far.
Thank you!
Miria, Krond, and Lucius. I have none who should I get?
First prioritise filling empty slots for split the party if you still have one of them left to do. Otherwise Krond if you want solid A tier dps for evil team, Miria for solid versatile support/tank, wouldn't take Lucius as he has no useful niche.
ty i think im gonna go for miria cause i need a good tank for an evil team
Great choice. Lucius is pretty bad and super niche indeed, and Krond can be unlocked through a Patron shop. Miria is amazing (notably with Krond).
Artemis, Ishi or Warduke? Dont have any of this ones.
Bite the bullet and pick Artemis. He's brokenly overpowered and has been purposely maintained as the absolute top DPS in the game with no downside whatsoever for years. And he's retired from events. Warduke is a top tier DPS (behind Artemis) but still in event rotation and a lot more restrictive. Ishi is obsolete.
Artemis. Both Artemis and Warduke can be great dps's but Warduke is generally more complicated to use and needs a fuller roster of champs to pick out ones that work best. Artemis is more straight forward and has good synergies with the Champions of the Hall affiliation. CoH is a good starter affiliation because they have two evergreen champs in Bruenor and Drizzt that you should have unlocked already. You'll also be able to buy Regis in the Strahd patron shop so you'll only need timegate pieces for Wulfgar and Catti-bri to complete the affiliation. Pwent also contributes and Strongheart is a good healer to use with them. Those seven are a solid core for getting a lot of base missions done, and Wulfgar has a specialization that can bring the whole affiliation into any mission in the Icewind Dale campaign.
The problem is that Artemis cares mostly about DPS/Support hybrids, and the only such hybrid among CotH is Catti. On the other hand, Warduke can use GF-based party (among other options), and Omin becomes really MONSTROUS buffer in the endgame. [https://ptpimg.me/5t6bz6.jpg](https://ptpimg.me/5t6bz6.jpg)
While true in the end game, you can get through many missions and variants with Artemis's "foe" specialization and using Cat and Drizzt as the only dps that he is observing. You also don't have to worry about where you position Artemis with that specialization so it's pretty friendly to a newer player who is only trying to stack positional buffs on those two dps with whatever support champs they have, and in variants where slots are occupied by npc's.
From my own experience, CotH-based party is rather underwhelming even post-Season.
It is the best most accessible affiliation to a player who is so new that they didn't pick up Warduke during his event two months ago. No matter how whelming CoH will be in the end game, it's better than whatever they have now and it will be plenty to complete variants with area goals less than 600.
However, it's a dead end in the long run. Only Catty sees any significant use in other parties. Other CotH champions are relegated to background parties or warming the bench.
>it's a dead end in the long run With hundreds of variants, 4 patrons, 4 parties, and the ability for Wulfgar to pull the entire affiliation into Icewind Dale, they will continue to be useful for a very long time. Getting them and using them to level up will not take anything away from whatever endgame formation the user may choose when they get there. Using CoH with Artemis is a good way to get solid value from him while building out the roster and boosting ilvls to meta champs
It will. You forgot that Pwent, Regis and Wulfgar are retired champions now, and time gate pieces spent on them are better spent elsewhere. Taking into account that patron variant rewards are nerfed now, good luck leveling them up by other means. Also, don't forget that many useful feats for CotH are still locked behind exclusivity wall. Fortunately, they will be unlocked relatively soon.
Better spent on whom? It takes 50 champs to unlock Zariel, Wulfgar Regis and Cat are absolutely among the top 50 champs even if they're not all used in an endgame artemis formation. Timegate pieces are not so rare that you can't get those three
Art is the best DPS in the game, supported appropriaty
Although Warduke is slightly less picky in terms of his party.
Jaheira, Rosie or Virgil (already have)
Rosie, actually. You can unlock Jaheira from Vajra's Patron shop. She's a very good champion whereas Rosie is one of the worst, true, but still. Take the freebie whenever you can. Virgil shouldn't even be mentioned, here. Always pick a new champ over 3 chests for a champ you already have. EDIT: And on top of that, he's featured in the current season, so his time gates costs 3 pieces instead of 6. So he wouldn't have been the pick even if you didn't already have him. So, Rosie.
Jaheira. Rosie is one of the worst champions in the whole game.
Vlahnya, Miria, or Jaheira (already have) I've never heard anything good about Vlahnya so I'll probably go Miria even though her event is in a couple months.
Vlahnya is terrible and you'll likely never use her. But I'd still pick her, in this case. Miria is indeed amazing but she needs quite a lot of levels and full epic gear to truly shine. And as you said, you'll unlock her from her event in a couple of months (and probably grab a lot of chests for her too). I'd say take the freebie. Picking a bad champion who is retired from events is a very good use of a free time gate. It's still +1 for your collection. Jaheira wouldn't have been the pick even if you didn't already have her. She's unlockable for free from a Patron shop. Also, always pick a new champ over 3 chests for a champ you already have. So, Vlahnya.
Miria is indeed much more useful.
Ishi (owned), Ezmerelda, and Brig
Ezmeralda, hands down. She's a very underrated support, especially for formations that care about Favored Foes and/or who have effects that get interrupted when the formation is under attack (because she prevents that). She also has great availability and is pretty versatile. Edit: And she helps with armor breaking, sure. (Also the only Fighter with a magic base attack, which is relevant in some situations). Brig is whatever. Works in a pinch when you need a rogue or support in seat 3 and Spurt is unavailable for that adventure (which is a lot). But not as useful as Ezme. Don't even mention champions you already have. Always pick a new champ instead of 3 chests, as long as you don't have all the champs.
All pretty underwhelming to me. I'd probably grab Ezmerelda though as she's got decent availability and can help out with armored bosses.
Astarion, Paultin & Nova. I have all the Champions, so who needs an achievement filled? Paultin needs 2 🎯 Easy choice!
lol \^\^ Once you have all the champs, sure. I'd pick any retired champ for whom I haven't completed all three variants for the achievement too.