BLACKGUARDS Hints&Tips INTRODUCTION Hi people, my name is VigoMiller, a seasoned player at the end of his thirties. This is my first contribution for the player community. Better late than never, huh? This document is created due to the following reasons: - I like this game, this is my respect - the difficulty of the game is not homogenous. Some battles are much more problematic than others - players might get disappointed by their choices made in earlier game stages which would be a pity, this game is great! Therefore the goal of this document is to provide a helping hand at game start and early decisions about character development. Treat this as a sort of extended manual. I will not spoiler the game itself (story or boss battles). Please keep in mind that what you read here not the “essence of truth” but only my opinion. You might see things otherwise. That is why I will always try to explain my advice. Chapters: - Character creation thoughts - Melee combat overview - Ranged combat overview - Spell casting overview - Weapon choices - Spell choices - Companions - General tips CHARACTER CREATION Make your decision of your play style. You will have far less adventure points (AP – the basis for character development) than you would want at any time in the game. The protagonist here is NOT a superhero. You will see him/her falling unconscious quite much :). Without going too much into the details, I cannot really find any solid reason NOT to start as a mage. It is merely 500 points, and you still will be able to develop it to a heavy-armor-wearing, two- handed-sword-swinging berserker. But if you choose warrior, say goodbye to all the spells. However spells, on their own will not be enough for neither killing your opponents nor saving you from kicking the bucket. You will run out of manna much earlier. Hence my statement: mixed setup is more powerful than pure spell caster or weapon master. I had to restart the game three times to realize this phenomenon. Some tips for working combos: - “warden”: archer with some staff use + healing spells + buffs - “defiler”: master staff user with de-buffs and healing - “antipaladin”: heavy armored 2-h weapon user with some buffs/debuffs At creation, based upon your play style, choose one weapon skill and max it out (lvl8). Two only if you want ranged AND melee (actually, if you go ranged always keep at least 1 melee weapon skill at reasonable levels, because without such you lose PARRY in melee which is crucial) . Tip: in the first chapter you will find mainly axes/maces and bows. From talents, choose Body Control to 8, Perception to 4. Willpower are also important but not crucial. If you go casting, buy all spells with grade A and B (see later), but level up to 8 two or three of them. Later on only special NPCs can teach you these, or books must be purchased for LOTS of money. Put lots of points to attributes. They are pretty straightforward (in order of importance): - Melee: Agility, Strength , Intuition - Ranged: Agility, Dexterity, Intuition - Casters: Charisma, Courage, Intuition These are I’d say “main” attributes. Unfortunately you cannot neglect any stat other as well, sooner or later for a good skill you will need them. Generally, Agility and Intuition are very good for all classes in case of defensive play which I strongly suggest. The AP that you start with seems to be much. Well, it is. An average battle brings you 50. Difficult battle up to 125 (mid game) to 200-250 (main boss battles). “Easy” battles 25. It is easy to lose an easy battle though :) There are no levels in this game, every now and then you will face adversaries (battles) which you will find very difficult. You might be forced to spend AP for cheaper, but yet strengthening attributes/skills/spells instead of keeping them for the BIG BADASS skill. Also the best skills have many prerequisites, plan ahead to be able to fulfill these when you find the appropriate trainer. MELEE COMBAT First and foremost, melee should wear heavy armor (take the appropriate specials and heaviest armor as equipment). This will mitigate damage which they will suffer a lot (armor = incoming damage reduction). Ranged is quite painful in the game (yours too), a good archer will tear any melee in pieces (specially with armor ignore attacks) if manages to trap him/her for a round or so which easily happens if the running melee manages to walk into a trap. Use Perception to mitigate this. Sometimes this saves you a wipe. You might believe that if you specialize Naurim (first party member you meet, dwarf warrior) to be a pure warrior class he will crush your enemies. Well, eventually he might. But it is very rare that you annihilate enemy ranks like knife goes through butter WITHOUT buffing Naurim or de-buffing his enemies. Melee dogfights can become stationary. Melee can dodge unlimited times and parry once a round. Therefore, if melee goes 1v1, than it will take quite a long time before one overcomes the other if no other factors are present. That is why you need buffs or de-buffs, or must attack the same target with multiple characters. By the way the latter is exactly what the AI will do. Great advantage of melee is that later in game, when real high levels skills become available there is no cool-down on them and they cost nothing. Therefore theoretically melee never tires (while they are conscious, but this is valid for everyone anyway). This is the main factor why at endgame melee is the key to many battles. Shields do NOT increase your armor. They add to attack/defense. I suspected that 1h weapon + shield will therefore result more frequent hits with smaller damage each. This expectance is not proven unfortunately. 2H weapons do more damage overall, especially so with the skills later (e.g. Hammer Blow). My biggest so far was 82 damage in a single hit (…on a 23 HP lizard-man… he dies 3 times :)). Hence there will be no 2H weapons (or rarely) in chapter one, take maces or swords first but do not invest too much. Later you will start to receive above average 2H weapons which already will out-damage 1H weaponry. Spears are special. They are also 2H but make less damage (specially the connected skills) but they reach 2 hexes. Do not underestimate this trait. In many battles you will be able to protect your squishy casters/archers if you hold a bottleneck with the sturdiest character. In such cases spearmen can cause quite an annoyance from the second line. Also, they can use Deathblow which causes wounds frequently (2-3 at a time!), which is a hefty de-buff for the enemy. RANGED COMBAT Damage wise ranged combat until endgame is more efficient. Basically because you do not have to move. In addition, special ability Triple Shot. In its current form it is overpowered. Usually hits over 20 damage, no cost, no cool-down (on a full-buffed archer my best was 66). On big battle-maps my archer with this kills 2 enemies in 3 turns. There are drawbacks of course, and this is why I like this game so much. Unlike Legolas, you CANNOT parry with bows equipped. Also, bows, crossbows get penalized within 4 hexes. Therefore, if melee gets to you, in every turn you have to move away before firing. This means attacks of opportunity on you, and sometimes may not be possible at all (small crowded rooms). RPG-wise archers should not wear heavy armor but here nothing restrict this (unless you are caster as well). It is fully viable to develop an archer with heavy armor and some good melee skills. There is no archer among your party members except for Niam. She is and elf archer-caster (“warden”) and is really-really good as she comes…but…(spoiler alert) do not get “addicted” to her. This is basically why I would suggest start off with a “warden” build because otherwise you will have difficulties building an effective archer out of Aurelia for example (although not impossible). SPELL CASTING My second failure was to believe that my almighty arch-mage will dominate the battlefield. In practice, my protagonist casted 2-3 spells (in average 1 of them failed), made a few hits with his staff and then fell unconscious soon after. Long story short, DPS mage is a no-go unless you are ready for some serious cheating. The other uses of magic on the other hand, are quite powerful. BUFFs can easily double the damage output of your characters. They miss less, they act more frequently, they do more damage, they crit more. DE-BUFFs lessen the above values for enemies. At higher ranks both buffs and de-buffs will be available in “mass” versions, which will make certain battles (not all) much easier. Another important topic is healing. There is only one real healing spell (Balm of Healing). IMO the most powerful spell. Even on first level it heals 10 HP, which is beaten down from your melee during 2-3 turns. This means that 1 healer mage can keep up 2 melee easily, and this will be so later as well because basically you can purchase level 2 from the healing spell even at start if you want so. Again, in normal RPG casters wear robes. Here you can equip them with full leather armor which is better than flat-lined mages in rags. I also tried heavy armor but for intensive casting this does not worth due to the sacrifice of regeneration of Astral Points (manna). No matter the leather however, it is relatively easy to mop up the floor with your casters. Therefore you shall protect them. Based on my experience there seems to be a certain agro- system in the game because if you cause too much damage with a certain character the enemy tends to be drawn to him/her. BUFFs do not count much in this regard, so another reason why you should not start with damaging spells. Still, casters have to move a lot. This means that whenever it is the turn of your caster, always check whether you are as far from the enemy as possible to be still able to carry out your desired action. If not, try to find a better position before casting. Creating bottlenecks on the battlefield is another good option. Use barrels, crates to find a spot where no more than 1 melee can approach you. (You have 1 parry with your staff.) Generally, if you cannot parry, expect that a good melee will ALWAYS hit you (from chapter 2, definitely) and if he/she crits, that can be 50% of your HP. Also read carefully what base stats are needed for certain spells, because this is what will influence your casting success ratio. Unfortunately there are spells where this stat is Strength or Constitution, which are generally low for traditional casters. WEAPON CHOICES I had some thoughts about this in melee section and I assume that you have read it, so I will be brief. As I stated already I’d go for 2H weapons for bigger damage, specially with special skills. Spears also have their use because of their 2 hex reach. Actually weapons do not differ much from each other. Stat-wise it is rock-paper-scissor game, whenever you want to gain in one stat, you will have to sacrifice something. It is a rare occurrence that you can purely gain something. Also, forget the abundance of magical weapons. Most of them are simple steel and nothing more. The very few “rare” weapons improve your attributes slightly (e.g. +1 Courage and such) but still you probably will have to compromise for that. The only real difference between weapons is the damage type. Some monsters have immunities or high resistances that you should consider. In this regard Piercing is the weakest (skeletons, zombies are immune, some others have high resistance). Do not throw away good weapons for this alone though. Just keep in mind that this can happen and have your melee specialize for more than one solution. Slashing/Bashing does not have any difference, Infantry damage is the best (generally lower resistances), but it is rare to have in on standard weapons. There will be a 2H Basing at early mid- game (Palios) which stayed at Naurim until finish (in chapter 5 Ripper becomes better slightly), and nearing endgame you will be able to get Bloodletter which is a spear doing Infantry damage, best spear in game, easily doubles damage output for Takate. Ranged are in easy situ because all they have to do is change the arrow type. From arrows you can have Slashing, Piercing, Bashing, Fire. Too bad that besides the standard Piercing arrow all the others are quite expensive you probably will not be able to allow it until mid-game. Arrows with Bashing damage are again seriously OP, they cause knockdown quite frequently. Regarding ranged, there is little to no difference between bows and crossbows. In order to utilize the rare finds, I suggest to have someone using bows and the other (if exists) shall use crossbows. SPELL CHOICHES Here is a list of spells with my grades. There are no unusable spells, but some are significantly better than others. A: excellent choice, you will use it a lot B: good, but situational. C: you will not miss it… or maybe I just did not find the way how it could really shine? Spell: Balm of Healing Grade: A Explanation: the only healing. You will wipe a lot without. Spell: Cold Shock Grade: A Explanation: cheap, reliable, has mass version on level 4. Makes life easier in melee. Spell: Clarum Purum Grade: B Explanation: poisons can be pain in the ass but are not lethal. Can be healed through and might slow down your melee but will not stop them eventually killing their target. Also, when poison poses a problem then typically comes from mob innate abilities (e.g. Ghouls), meaning they will reapply it on every successful hit. If you try to remove these you will spend all your actions doing so which easily will result a lost battle. Spell: Corpofesso Aching Limbs Grade: A Explanation: excellent de-buff, has mass version. Similar to Cold Shock, do not teach both to the same caster. Spell: Culminatio Ball of Lightning Grade: B Explanation: I generally do not think that damage spells worth it. Spell: Duplicatus Double Vision Grade: B Explanation: good protection buff, albeit a bit expensive Spell: Ecliptifactus Shadow Force Grade: C/A Explanation: too bad that the shadow cannot cast spells. If you make an “antipaladin” however… Spell: Fastness of Body Grade: A Explanation: good protection spell can be lifesaver on mage, or if you do not want melee to be hit (which will happen against e.g. Ghouls…) Spell: Fortifex Arcane Wall Grade: B Explanation: an easy way to create bottlenecks Spell: Gardianum Magic Shield Grade: C Explanation: honestly, I never learned this, prolly overlooked. Also, I tend to shoot enemy mages to death, hence they wear rags and are easiest kills. Spell: Hawkeye Marksmanship Grade: B Explanation: for an archer-heavy team, this one pays off. But honestly, your archers will be lethal even without. Spell: Ignifaxius Burst of Flame Grade: B Explanation: usable e.g. to finish weakened enemies. On level4 it will have Cone effect, which might already worth it, but it is difficult to position correctly (as you will see in one of the battles where a “friendly” mage will damage you more with this spell than he hits the enemy…) Spell: Ignisphaero Fireball Grade: B Explanation: in case enemies are clustered and you have abundant manna…otherwise… damage spell… Spell: Karnifilo Frenzy Grade: A Explanation: This one is excellent. Maybe the best offensive spell on dummy but hard-hitting melee. If your mage has high initiative and can charm the enemy melee to slay each other. Also has area of effect version on lvl4. Spell: Lightning Find You! Grade: A Explanation: excellent de-buff, specially against archers. Has mass version at lvl4. Spell: Magica Infracta Grade: B Explanation: removes de-buffs. You rarely meet mages against you. If you do, have a good archer with Triple shot… Spell: Move as the Lightning Grade: A Explanation: on level 3 this one gives you one additional action. Turns your melee to killing machines. Spell: Paralyze Grade: B Explanation: the description is a bit messy… also very expensive. Against big boss battles (e.g. golems) might have its uses. Spell: Sensattacco Masterstroke Grade: A Explanation: simple target BUFF, increases damage AND crit%. Combine with a de-buff on the enemy or an attack increasing buff and melee becomes really effective. Spell: Standfast Catlike Grade: A Explanation: buff increasing attack and dodge. Has mass version on lvl4, relatively cheap. Both offensive and defensive buff, must have. Spell: Thunderbolt Grade: B Explanation: another direct damage. Spell: Witch's Bile Grade: C Explanation: maybe this one is not worth to take it at all. Spell: Witch's Spit Grade: C Explanation: little healing, little poison removal… not worth the AP Spell: Wrath of the Elements Grade: A Explanation: Take maximum level 2. The damage element is negligible but the area-based knockdown is very good. In case of clustered enemy they can be kept continuously lying on the ground (it consumes a turn to stand up) COMPANIONS Naurim He will be with you from the beginning, will have talents in Maces/Axes and shields, cannot cast spells. I would continue him this path, from middle chapter 2 once the first better 2H drops (Infrantry type damage!), make him use it (2H Bashing Weapons). Main target is Hammer blow and later Liberating blow. However if you lack AP (which you will) prioritize defense abilities first, like Dodge and Armor Use. Attack of Opportunity is nice but hence it is just a “normal” attack it is not much difference. Weaponmaster is also good, but costs much, by the time you can afford it you will not need it. Keep Body Control high to avoid knockdowns. After you have all three Dodge, Armor use, Hammer Blow and Liberating Blow and 2H Bashing at 18, keep pumping his base starts (Strength, Agility, Intuition etc) to make him hit better. Eventually he becomes a sturdy butcher, with buffs like Move as the Lightning, Standfast Catlike, Fastness of Body, Sensattacco Masterstroke (in this order) he will almost always hit with Hammer Blow (30-80 damage, almost always a kill) or Liberating blow (knockback, knockdown, multiple enemies) and for battles where you have special objective it will be safest send him in. Takate Takate is a spear-fighting tribesman joining early mid-game. He has no spells but he is quite good with his spear (has Deathblow) and has some ranks in Armor use. I was satisfied with his path so I kept him on it, maximizing spear use. Every now and then there will be battles where piercing weapons are unusable. Until you can give him Bloodletter you will have to train him something else, I would go for 2H Swords (this synchronizes with his existing abilities, like Feint or Deathblow and you will have good 2H swords early). Almost everything is valid for him what I wrote for Naurim. By endgame he does not have that high damage as Naurim, but due to Deathblow he much frequently causes wounds which are good de-buffs, never expire and very rarely get healed. (However, who cares the wounds once Naurim smashes everyone with 1-2 hits :)) Aurelia Aurelia is a witch, she joins a couple fight after Takate. She has the crappy Witchs-xxx spells at start, plus Wrath of the Elements and Karnifilo Frenzy . I strongly suggest to rely on the latter two. I also suggest to add Balm of Healing and at least one mass buff/debuff to her repertoire. I also would recommend bows because she will not be able to survive battles with her starting specialty (daggers). She has good mediocre stats though therefore she can become a quite good archer. Protection-wise give her Dodge skill and dress her into leather armor. Niam Female archer/caster with great potential. No matter how you develop her, you cannot be mistaken. Zurbaran He is a mage who will be with you from the beginning of your adventures. He is fragile like a blown egg and generally pretty weak in whatever you want him to do. Spartans threw children off Taigetos for much less... His base stats are way too low, and this influences in this game system pretty much everything. Do not even consider joining him in melee, unless you are contesting "who falls first"-type challenges. I used him as healer, buffer/de-buffer and if he had nothing to do, he used his crossbow to finish off a few enemies. Stack him up with potions and a big belt, and RUN if someone approaches. GENERAL TIPS - concentrate damage to make enemies fall - keep track who parried already - cause wounds first, damage later - big moves (like Hammer blow or Liberating blow) tend to miss a lot (until you max out everything that influences it). Use them on de-buffed enemy. - have perception for at least one party member and on big battlefields use it (it is NOT automatic) to avoid traps - do not rush unless especially told so. quick victory might be pyrrhic. - it is not tragic if one of your party members goes down. Just throw a heal on him/her within 3 rounds. - killing all enemies on a map does not always solve the battle - some battles are harder than others. Except for main plot you usually can postpone them a while. - Check the battle log. Vital information can be shown there. - Lots of enemies have healing potions. Sometimes even two. They tend to drink it below 50% health. Maybe sometimes it is worth more NOT to attack… - shops DO NOT restock ever. Arrow can become short in supply. - watch out for Mengbilla inn prices! - Bandages outside the battle can be used only by those who have ranks in Treat wound. Therefore it is better to rely on healers. - dwarf are short in height …use this when calculating Line of Sight - prolly a bug, but ammunition does not count towards encumbrance if equipped - if a target cannot be knocked back, WILL be knocked down