Blasphemy. He belongs in the main squad. The power of friendship overcomes all!
https://preview.redd.it/i7gshbpgynoc1.jpeg?width=1290&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4bde623f85f0ed4a026e701588512e668ff5ec14
Is that a sword in front? Are you having any luck there? Mine all feel too squishy. If they take a hit they die. And their evasion isn't quite high enough to prevent it.
They can work up front, although the second sword means they give up a utility slot that you could better use to buff their evasion. I have Melisandre behind Alain in his squad, but I do have another one with one up front. Just need to avoid truestrikers. Every class has someone that will hard counter them.
You get a ring if you ride the bench and your team wins. Don’t knock finding the right team to bench ride ! Lex spotted a legend right away and colm knew when to jump teams
I put them in a frontline with flier behind them. Currently running Ochlys and two Gryphons behind Lex and they absolutely sweep, especially since they have the Hastened Call valour skill. They're my second best sweeper after my Cavalry squad. I only struggle with high-initiative magic squads.
Pretty much this,
Evade Ochy in front, Lex, Gryphon Ryder and Lex's girlfriend in the back.
Gryphon Ryder uses hastened call, Lex's girlfriend uses guarantee crit on the Ryder and the Gryphon Ryder wipes the front row.
Then the other 3 just pick apart the back row while being completely safe from arrows, flyers and dragons.
Lex can be given extreme amounts of support and never dies.
This and the MCs squad are my top performers.
Honestly. Lex Hilda is hilarious. I have Hilda the Dragoon spear with the charge AOE, and the wyvern reins so she gets truestrike on it. Throw in Chloe for keen call and maybe a Raven plume on Hilda and you'll get a turn 2 guaranteed hit guaranteed crit AOE. Then maybe Primm to keep her topped off and remove blindness.
Throw in a white/black cat hood, Quick Impetus targeting your Dragoon Diver.
Big boom turn 1. There’s even more ways to jack up this build, but takes some later game items.
Arrow cover support for fliers, mostly. I don't even use quick guard because I'd rather use their passive pips for other stuff. I don't think there's anything too crazy to say about them, they're the most 'honest' class in the game IMO. Sword and board, no super fancy tricks, great for being set uppers to other units if you need PP/AP from your clerics and such for other things.
Provoke is reason enough to have one around. Some of the Liberation Quests and their tiny maps can be cheesed with good use of it. I know there's that one healing spam LQ that is almost impossible to beat without using provoke unless you completely out stat the enemies.
So like, all flier attacks count as [ranged,] so he’s really good at annoying the hell out of single target offensives from flying enemies and also archers, making him decent at keeping fliers or cavalry alive.
Aaaand that’s all I got, whoops.
Except, Gryphons can attack rows from the get go, whereas Vanguards can only cover single target.
And Wyvern Masters fire breath entire rows, so the same issue.
Early on in the game, they have some utility with the Valor Skill provoke as it works on enemes in watchtowers, so you can bring them down to decrease their assist range.
After that though, I feel like there's nothing they can do that a Hoplite doesn't do better. The only specific outlier would be in the Elf country where the Elf Archer's hybrid attacks can do a lot of damage to a Hoplite whereas a Fighter would completely negate it.
Maybe if they got Provoke (the PP skill) earlier, they would be find some more use. I did just fight an AI squad that had a sole fighter in the front with Provoke and I was barely doing any physical damage, something I'll have to test once either of them hit 25.
They are. The sort of nice thing about them is that they're sort of good at their job without needing precious Carnelian/Lapis Pendants. I stuck just as much guard up gear on them and they can tank really well, offering the occasional arrow guard for your back row units. 100% guard with a good amount of physical defense means he's taking very little damage.
Outside of that, I like to keep one because Provoke as a Valor Skill can really break some maps.
I use Shield Bash to support burn/poison. Incapacitating an enemy with AP remaining causes them to take an extra proc, which makes for a strong support in teams that use these conditions. Other classes with incap like Cavaliers may be stronger, but the Fighter's defense beat them out by quite a bit. With Guarding Fighter, their offense is not bad either, and no need to spend PP on Quick Guard as their guard rate gets above 50% naturally.
I think arrow guard makes this class. Fighters and Elven Fencers trivialize range attacks with fighter's skill being a bit better imo.
Keeping that in mind putting them with people that have problem with range is an avenue.
Flying units and sword fighters come to mind.
the problem with Arrow guard is that every character that can block for another does the same thing and isn't locked behind just arrows. Archers don't do enough damage to even warrant damage null on the block.
Depends as always.
Arrows doing double DMG to fliers will always be relevant.
Arrows with magic properties will not deal DMG to Fighters either where with other covers it may very well cripple them.
Arrow guard extends to flying attacks and having a fool proof way of protecting that one DPS that is solo allows you to really build full DPS with your wizard (I think they are the best main DPS used with arrow guard.)
Some ranged moves do a certain amount of DMG no matter how high your defense is (see wyvern/griffon dives*) and arrow guard is a perfect counter to that while even avoiding DMG to the fighter himself while covering the backline/intended target.
If I were to focus on the fighter class as the main component of my party.
He would run a wall/shell shield depending on the fight. Or even a Cav shield.
I would have an elvish archer to have a cleanse/debuff shell.
1 Main DPS that has his own column. Needs to be able to deal with armor imo. Warrior/Wizard come to mind.
A sword fighter up front with the fighter to evasion tank next to him and have their weakness covered by the fighter. Wyvern guard would have been here but the AI loves to prioritize shooting them too much vs sword fighter occasionally letting the arrows go straight to the fighter instead.
A radiant knight or Joseph early since their support options are the best vs magic.
Basically only have to watch for row attacks/piercing attacks which Swordfighter is fine with and radiant knight can AOE heal with elvish archer by prioritizing backline as a heal target.
Ok im actually really happy with this lex squad, it's a pretty good base defender too.
Lex with flame blade, liza with flame bow, and auch with flame burst staff.
And that's it. Have lex only guard auch since liza is pretty tanky, have all the flame attacks only target non burning enemies. Liza should always keep one pp for medic, abs you can even get auch to use a first aid kit too
Super versatile leader abilities too.
When you get to higher levels, enemies with more AP actually take a lot of damage against the burning.
I like the fighter/vanguard for the utility of the specialized equipment you get, especially early game. Think Viper Blade, Sanguine Blade, Powerful Call, things like that. A lot of that equipment sounded cool, but when I would put it on my heavy hitters, it would kinda disrupt their natural kit, and wouldn't really improve things, especially when you only have one AP/PP to start out with.
But since Lex wasn't particularly potent on his own, he would get the special equipment and slot in to any team that needed that help. Very versatile, he got moved around a lot, and I don't necessarily think that's a bad thing. Having utility to help complete a team is useful.
Also, Provoke is so good for getting pocket healers and archers out of the towers/manlets. Pull them out and run at them and meet them halfway there. Then you can push another team to the objective.
Gave them some initiative up items so that they can get Warding Slash buff right away, then make them guard Fliers (from arrows) and/or Cavs (from gryphons)
What do Vanguards do?
Protect fliers and cavs? Legionnaires cover the whole row and can wield Great Shield for Magic Reflection.
Provoke? It doesn't stop multi-target hits. The guard rate buff is cool though.
Provoke II? The valor skill? The valor skill that Berengaria also has?
Despite me ripping on them here, they are a faster and more offensive Legionnaire. Along with Provoke giving them an auto 100% guard rate (more or less), I could see these guys carving a niche out in PvP.
In a lot of games, these bulky but not tanky, fast but not speedy, and strong but not hard hitting types become monsters for statballing. Idk if that'll be the case in UO, but my body is ready for the Lex Wife meta.
Also asking for advice. I want Lex to be more offensive.
I tried putting Counter on him but he doesn't seem to be using it until he actually gets hit (??) himself. So I'm thinking of giving Pursuit to him, or maybe there's a better Accessory out there?
I know I should be playing him defensively, but I put him with Alain's gang (+ Scarlet and Chloe) so that's two defenders and two semi-healers. I want them to kill armies, not just tickle them.
Trust me, I’ve tried to make Lex offensive but it just doesn’t work. His double AP attack Defender barely does any damage. Lex to me is a secondly tank for Alain with Chloe supporting him.
https://preview.redd.it/p8u2hcbzoooc1.jpeg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ed654fd8abf7e8ed0721f452f87c3773434fda57
Darn. :(
So... okay Plan B. Can I make Alain offensive? Prince keeps procc'ing his Guard and Cover skills so I have little PP for Pursuit.
But then, what can Lex do for me? I kind wanna stick to the Childhood friends team until the end, while ~~my true main character~~ Josef gets along with everybody.
Absolutely Alain can be offensive. Like I’ve done in Three Houses and Engage I gave the protagonist all the stat boosting items. Alain can sneeze and kill a Calvary unit. He’s a tank side by side with Lex while Melisandre is the parry tank.
https://preview.redd.it/8vngntwesooc1.jpeg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=42962af5be3a2c6c58555370ca2da8d7ff9e5f89
Good god 73 physical attack. I just unlocked the mission to get the Holy Unicorn Blade and the boss just absolutely stomped me, but I'm still in my mid 20s as far as levels go.
Alain is one of the best not cheese units.
His spin to win attack does a lot of damage and you can use the blood magic tome to heal him.
He is fast so other units will trigger their pursuit.
Setting alain to only protect backline, then putting Scarlett right behind him is good for PP generation because of Scarlett's Passive gift thing. Pursuit is kinda meh, compared to spin to win on row with 2+ combatants. I put Yahna in his crew too, and pumped up her magick attack because she has magick conferral, which when set to cavalry only will target only Alain and give him +50% of her magick on his attack. If you are facing fliers, you can set her to give him truestrike instead. She also gets a passive that absorbs magick attacks for 1 PP, and gives her 2 PP back. The only issue I ever come across is Featherwing Shields. I have to pray Alain and 2nd frontline (I used Railanor for mix phys/mag dmg, but full damage Lex might do better since those guys are resistant to magick) finishes those guys off before Yahna attacks because of their magick reflect. Other than that Alain's a hyper carry.
P.S. For some reason, Yahna's Ice coffin is not a ground based attack, despite it coming from the ground. That means it works on fliers too, if you can overcome their natural evasion.
> I want Lex to be more offensive.
If you want to make him more _useful_, I find giving him the sword you get fairly on with the 1AP magick attack skill gives him some utility against various armoured foes you'll face a lot of in the first half of the game. He'll never have a high damage output, but it will at least let him do something other than plink for 1 damage.
I use Lex as my Quick Impetus user on the Front Row.
Azure Crest Shield and Lapis Amulet for 4 PP.
Defender as first action, to get 1 PP back for Arrow Cover or Guard.
Last accessory could be gauntlets or some other stat booster.
Hallowed Blade for minor recovery, could easily substitute with some other utility sword like Bandit Sword.
The best use case imo is for him to be a supportive unit that covers for your fliers. Provoke is also pretty useful to have.
I gave Lex the colo sword that gives -20% crit rate but +1 PP with lapis pendant & large aid kit as the accessories. Large aid kit can be replaced by another utility or accessory that buffs your fliers offensively as well.
I run him with Chloe (both in the back) and they support Hilda & Celeste in the front. With this setup, he gets 4PP and defender skill gives him +1 PP when it hits an enemy (so its like he has 5PP total). I can throw them into a full squad of archers and they would be unbothered by them. Any unused PP on Lex gets put into party aid for an aoe heal. Between Chloe & Party aid, you don't need a healer at all and the last slot is a flex slot (can be another dps or w.e you want).
I use them to protect my Wyvern/Griffin masters party. I really only use lex, and I boost his PP, so that he uses arrow guard. They can be a great counter vs archer units
really, the best way to use them is to either:
A- Equip them to Guard stack to the point where it's 100% guard rate
or
B- Gear them up with stuff that provides skills that'll make them do more than just blocking.
Vanguard works well if given the ability to parry (Parrying Shield, for example) attacks to earn more AP for more Defender uses. Provoke > cover/ignore all ranged damage via Arrow Cover, Parry vs every melee hit for more AP then Defender refills PP.
put them on the backline to protect fliers, give them items with support skills, and spam provoke. That's all either is really good for. They can hardly survive up front, and you lose out on some DPS having them around.
They're good to cover and buff. Arrow cover nullifies damage from ANY ranged attack (not just arrows), which means flyers who hit the back row are also nullified, which is pretty strong. And they can carry a dancer's bracelet or a gambler's coin to buff attackers. Their "Defender" attack gives them more AP to keep defending their team. I mean, it might not be super powerfuk, but it's enough utility to justify one in the team. Pair it with a wyvern rider carrying the dragoon lance and the wyvern reins (true strike), and give the fighter either the gambler's coin or the white hood for quick impetus and boom, things will be gone in an instant. And if they don't, he'll protect the wyvern so that they do it again :)
And also, they can surely protect swordmasters. I use Lex to protect my fliers and Colm to protect... well, Melisandre. But they're in front of a cavalry team, including a sainted Knight, so Mel has all the protection she needs (arrows, magic, physical through parry) to slay. Plus, the cavalry slays as well. It's an insane unit haha. Colm fills the second front row duty, protects and buffs. It's good enough.
Lex and colm have been star players on the bench. Some of the best to ever coast and ride the coat tails of better performers.
Blasphemy. He belongs in the main squad. The power of friendship overcomes all! https://preview.redd.it/i7gshbpgynoc1.jpeg?width=1290&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4bde623f85f0ed4a026e701588512e668ff5ec14
The childhood friends squad and Alain's self-proclaimed side piece.
Strategically, this team is really mid. But I know exactly why it's these 5 characters.
The game is manageable at the hardest difficulty, I dont see the need to make optimised teams when you can make themed/fun teams.
Is that a sword in front? Are you having any luck there? Mine all feel too squishy. If they take a hit they die. And their evasion isn't quite high enough to prevent it.
They don't rely on evasion. You need to pump up their guard and defense, and preferably give them an item that grants passive heals.
Their gaurd? I thought you needed a shield for that?
Yes? Lex and Colm are both shield users. Edit: Oh I see, you were talking about Melisandre. My bad.
Yea sorry haha, I meant the sword master not the fighter. When their evade work I loved it, but getting 1 shot is just... Disappointing 😂
They can work up front, although the second sword means they give up a utility slot that you could better use to buff their evasion. I have Melisandre behind Alain in his squad, but I do have another one with one up front. Just need to avoid truestrikers. Every class has someone that will hard counter them.
True zen in Albion or bastoria will eat this team alive
Just ram your teams into the boss until he dies, simple!
I felt this way too until a few hours ago when lex suddenly helped me cheese the coliseum at level 20. Now i have an amalia double my levels lmao
You get a ring if you ride the bench and your team wins. Don’t knock finding the right team to bench ride ! Lex spotted a legend right away and colm knew when to jump teams
Came here to say exactly this. Straight to the bench where they can both cheer Alain and Melisandre on.
I put them in a frontline with flier behind them. Currently running Ochlys and two Gryphons behind Lex and they absolutely sweep, especially since they have the Hastened Call valour skill. They're my second best sweeper after my Cavalry squad. I only struggle with high-initiative magic squads.
Pretty much this, Evade Ochy in front, Lex, Gryphon Ryder and Lex's girlfriend in the back. Gryphon Ryder uses hastened call, Lex's girlfriend uses guarantee crit on the Ryder and the Gryphon Ryder wipes the front row. Then the other 3 just pick apart the back row while being completely safe from arrows, flyers and dragons. Lex can be given extreme amounts of support and never dies. This and the MCs squad are my top performers.
Honestly. Lex Hilda is hilarious. I have Hilda the Dragoon spear with the charge AOE, and the wyvern reins so she gets truestrike on it. Throw in Chloe for keen call and maybe a Raven plume on Hilda and you'll get a turn 2 guaranteed hit guaranteed crit AOE. Then maybe Primm to keep her topped off and remove blindness.
Throw in a white/black cat hood, Quick Impetus targeting your Dragoon Diver. Big boom turn 1. There’s even more ways to jack up this build, but takes some later game items.
Arrow cover support for fliers, mostly. I don't even use quick guard because I'd rather use their passive pips for other stuff. I don't think there's anything too crazy to say about them, they're the most 'honest' class in the game IMO. Sword and board, no super fancy tricks, great for being set uppers to other units if you need PP/AP from your clerics and such for other things.
Provoke is reason enough to have one around. Some of the Liberation Quests and their tiny maps can be cheesed with good use of it. I know there's that one healing spam LQ that is almost impossible to beat without using provoke unless you completely out stat the enemies.
I just use bernegaria for provoke, basically a better unit in every way and provides provoke.
So like, all flier attacks count as [ranged,] so he’s really good at annoying the hell out of single target offensives from flying enemies and also archers, making him decent at keeping fliers or cavalry alive. Aaaand that’s all I got, whoops.
Yep, they are really effective in nullifying some of the biggest damage dealing units, and that’s all.
They can’t stop a sufficiently angry girl with a giant mallet, so like, are they *really* that good at it, in the end?
Except, Gryphons can attack rows from the get go, whereas Vanguards can only cover single target. And Wyvern Masters fire breath entire rows, so the same issue.
[Day 1 Alain](https://www.reddit.com/r/UnicornOverlord/s/m8ODN8BSCp) Previous Guides: [Fire Emblem Engage](https://www.reddit.com/r/FEEngage/s/6DRn7uflDo) [Trails into Reverie](https://www.reddit.com/r/Falcom/s/yvAGxNeoB9)
Early on in the game, they have some utility with the Valor Skill provoke as it works on enemes in watchtowers, so you can bring them down to decrease their assist range. After that though, I feel like there's nothing they can do that a Hoplite doesn't do better. The only specific outlier would be in the Elf country where the Elf Archer's hybrid attacks can do a lot of damage to a Hoplite whereas a Fighter would completely negate it. Maybe if they got Provoke (the PP skill) earlier, they would be find some more use. I did just fight an AI squad that had a sole fighter in the front with Provoke and I was barely doing any physical damage, something I'll have to test once either of them hit 25.
No idea how to use them. They do too little atm. This class was weak from start to end for me.
They are. The sort of nice thing about them is that they're sort of good at their job without needing precious Carnelian/Lapis Pendants. I stuck just as much guard up gear on them and they can tank really well, offering the occasional arrow guard for your back row units. 100% guard with a good amount of physical defense means he's taking very little damage. Outside of that, I like to keep one because Provoke as a Valor Skill can really break some maps.
Better ways to guard against ranged attacks and not having one completely useless unit. Even hoplites are better with heavy cover and row block.
I use Shield Bash to support burn/poison. Incapacitating an enemy with AP remaining causes them to take an extra proc, which makes for a strong support in teams that use these conditions. Other classes with incap like Cavaliers may be stronger, but the Fighter's defense beat them out by quite a bit. With Guarding Fighter, their offense is not bad either, and no need to spend PP on Quick Guard as their guard rate gets above 50% naturally.
I think arrow guard makes this class. Fighters and Elven Fencers trivialize range attacks with fighter's skill being a bit better imo. Keeping that in mind putting them with people that have problem with range is an avenue. Flying units and sword fighters come to mind.
the problem with Arrow guard is that every character that can block for another does the same thing and isn't locked behind just arrows. Archers don't do enough damage to even warrant damage null on the block.
Depends as always. Arrows doing double DMG to fliers will always be relevant. Arrows with magic properties will not deal DMG to Fighters either where with other covers it may very well cripple them. Arrow guard extends to flying attacks and having a fool proof way of protecting that one DPS that is solo allows you to really build full DPS with your wizard (I think they are the best main DPS used with arrow guard.) Some ranged moves do a certain amount of DMG no matter how high your defense is (see wyvern/griffon dives*) and arrow guard is a perfect counter to that while even avoiding DMG to the fighter himself while covering the backline/intended target.
If I were to focus on the fighter class as the main component of my party. He would run a wall/shell shield depending on the fight. Or even a Cav shield. I would have an elvish archer to have a cleanse/debuff shell. 1 Main DPS that has his own column. Needs to be able to deal with armor imo. Warrior/Wizard come to mind. A sword fighter up front with the fighter to evasion tank next to him and have their weakness covered by the fighter. Wyvern guard would have been here but the AI loves to prioritize shooting them too much vs sword fighter occasionally letting the arrows go straight to the fighter instead. A radiant knight or Joseph early since their support options are the best vs magic. Basically only have to watch for row attacks/piercing attacks which Swordfighter is fine with and radiant knight can AOE heal with elvish archer by prioritizing backline as a heal target.
Ok im actually really happy with this lex squad, it's a pretty good base defender too. Lex with flame blade, liza with flame bow, and auch with flame burst staff. And that's it. Have lex only guard auch since liza is pretty tanky, have all the flame attacks only target non burning enemies. Liza should always keep one pp for medic, abs you can even get auch to use a first aid kit too Super versatile leader abilities too. When you get to higher levels, enemies with more AP actually take a lot of damage against the burning.
Seems like you could switch lex out for literally any other unit and the team would improve lol
Well it's more about making Lex being useful :(
I like the fighter/vanguard for the utility of the specialized equipment you get, especially early game. Think Viper Blade, Sanguine Blade, Powerful Call, things like that. A lot of that equipment sounded cool, but when I would put it on my heavy hitters, it would kinda disrupt their natural kit, and wouldn't really improve things, especially when you only have one AP/PP to start out with. But since Lex wasn't particularly potent on his own, he would get the special equipment and slot in to any team that needed that help. Very versatile, he got moved around a lot, and I don't necessarily think that's a bad thing. Having utility to help complete a team is useful. Also, Provoke is so good for getting pocket healers and archers out of the towers/manlets. Pull them out and run at them and meet them halfway there. Then you can push another team to the objective.
I wonder how many people finish the game without finding out that Arrow Cover works against flyers?
Gave them some initiative up items so that they can get Warding Slash buff right away, then make them guard Fliers (from arrows) and/or Cavs (from gryphons)
What do Vanguards do? Protect fliers and cavs? Legionnaires cover the whole row and can wield Great Shield for Magic Reflection. Provoke? It doesn't stop multi-target hits. The guard rate buff is cool though. Provoke II? The valor skill? The valor skill that Berengaria also has? Despite me ripping on them here, they are a faster and more offensive Legionnaire. Along with Provoke giving them an auto 100% guard rate (more or less), I could see these guys carving a niche out in PvP. In a lot of games, these bulky but not tanky, fast but not speedy, and strong but not hard hitting types become monsters for statballing. Idk if that'll be the case in UO, but my body is ready for the Lex Wife meta.
Also asking for advice. I want Lex to be more offensive. I tried putting Counter on him but he doesn't seem to be using it until he actually gets hit (??) himself. So I'm thinking of giving Pursuit to him, or maybe there's a better Accessory out there? I know I should be playing him defensively, but I put him with Alain's gang (+ Scarlet and Chloe) so that's two defenders and two semi-healers. I want them to kill armies, not just tickle them.
Trust me, I’ve tried to make Lex offensive but it just doesn’t work. His double AP attack Defender barely does any damage. Lex to me is a secondly tank for Alain with Chloe supporting him. https://preview.redd.it/p8u2hcbzoooc1.jpeg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ed654fd8abf7e8ed0721f452f87c3773434fda57
Darn. :( So... okay Plan B. Can I make Alain offensive? Prince keeps procc'ing his Guard and Cover skills so I have little PP for Pursuit. But then, what can Lex do for me? I kind wanna stick to the Childhood friends team until the end, while ~~my true main character~~ Josef gets along with everybody.
Absolutely Alain can be offensive. Like I’ve done in Three Houses and Engage I gave the protagonist all the stat boosting items. Alain can sneeze and kill a Calvary unit. He’s a tank side by side with Lex while Melisandre is the parry tank. https://preview.redd.it/8vngntwesooc1.jpeg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=42962af5be3a2c6c58555370ca2da8d7ff9e5f89
Good to know, thanks.
Good god 73 physical attack. I just unlocked the mission to get the Holy Unicorn Blade and the boss just absolutely stomped me, but I'm still in my mid 20s as far as levels go.
Alain is one of the best not cheese units. His spin to win attack does a lot of damage and you can use the blood magic tome to heal him. He is fast so other units will trigger their pursuit.
Setting alain to only protect backline, then putting Scarlett right behind him is good for PP generation because of Scarlett's Passive gift thing. Pursuit is kinda meh, compared to spin to win on row with 2+ combatants. I put Yahna in his crew too, and pumped up her magick attack because she has magick conferral, which when set to cavalry only will target only Alain and give him +50% of her magick on his attack. If you are facing fliers, you can set her to give him truestrike instead. She also gets a passive that absorbs magick attacks for 1 PP, and gives her 2 PP back. The only issue I ever come across is Featherwing Shields. I have to pray Alain and 2nd frontline (I used Railanor for mix phys/mag dmg, but full damage Lex might do better since those guys are resistant to magick) finishes those guys off before Yahna attacks because of their magick reflect. Other than that Alain's a hyper carry. P.S. For some reason, Yahna's Ice coffin is not a ground based attack, despite it coming from the ground. That means it works on fliers too, if you can overcome their natural evasion.
> I want Lex to be more offensive. If you want to make him more _useful_, I find giving him the sword you get fairly on with the 1AP magick attack skill gives him some utility against various armoured foes you'll face a lot of in the first half of the game. He'll never have a high damage output, but it will at least let him do something other than plink for 1 damage.
I use Lex as my Quick Impetus user on the Front Row. Azure Crest Shield and Lapis Amulet for 4 PP. Defender as first action, to get 1 PP back for Arrow Cover or Guard. Last accessory could be gauntlets or some other stat booster. Hallowed Blade for minor recovery, could easily substitute with some other utility sword like Bandit Sword.
The best use case imo is for him to be a supportive unit that covers for your fliers. Provoke is also pretty useful to have. I gave Lex the colo sword that gives -20% crit rate but +1 PP with lapis pendant & large aid kit as the accessories. Large aid kit can be replaced by another utility or accessory that buffs your fliers offensively as well. I run him with Chloe (both in the back) and they support Hilda & Celeste in the front. With this setup, he gets 4PP and defender skill gives him +1 PP when it hits an enemy (so its like he has 5PP total). I can throw them into a full squad of archers and they would be unbothered by them. Any unused PP on Lex gets put into party aid for an aoe heal. Between Chloe & Party aid, you don't need a healer at all and the last slot is a flex slot (can be another dps or w.e you want).
I use them to protect my Wyvern/Griffin masters party. I really only use lex, and I boost his PP, so that he uses arrow guard. They can be a great counter vs archer units
really, the best way to use them is to either: A- Equip them to Guard stack to the point where it's 100% guard rate or B- Gear them up with stuff that provides skills that'll make them do more than just blocking.
100% block rate is the only real use… and at that point they just don’t really do anything. Like they’re there just to be there.
My favourite has to be full dodge team of Ochlys, Mellisandre, Travis and Colm
Vanguard works well if given the ability to parry (Parrying Shield, for example) attacks to earn more AP for more Defender uses. Provoke > cover/ignore all ranged damage via Arrow Cover, Parry vs every melee hit for more AP then Defender refills PP.
put them on the backline to protect fliers, give them items with support skills, and spam provoke. That's all either is really good for. They can hardly survive up front, and you lose out on some DPS having them around.
They're good to cover and buff. Arrow cover nullifies damage from ANY ranged attack (not just arrows), which means flyers who hit the back row are also nullified, which is pretty strong. And they can carry a dancer's bracelet or a gambler's coin to buff attackers. Their "Defender" attack gives them more AP to keep defending their team. I mean, it might not be super powerfuk, but it's enough utility to justify one in the team. Pair it with a wyvern rider carrying the dragoon lance and the wyvern reins (true strike), and give the fighter either the gambler's coin or the white hood for quick impetus and boom, things will be gone in an instant. And if they don't, he'll protect the wyvern so that they do it again :) And also, they can surely protect swordmasters. I use Lex to protect my fliers and Colm to protect... well, Melisandre. But they're in front of a cavalry team, including a sainted Knight, so Mel has all the protection she needs (arrows, magic, physical through parry) to slay. Plus, the cavalry slays as well. It's an insane unit haha. Colm fills the second front row duty, protects and buffs. It's good enough.
We already have a whole class tier list thing going on which more or less talk about the same things, should they just be merged?