Feedback: Perk System

[Gabbek]

Hello, I’ve spent over 100h playing the game in the goblin patch (haven’t played earlier, since I just bought the game) and I decided to make a small feedback thread about perk system and how I view them (mind you – I like to play defensively with balanced party and my favourite perks are those who make my mercenaries more unique in a way!)

First thing first, I’ll rate & talk about all perks, I’ve tried all of them and I think I know some things, surely not all – but some, so if you’re interested, I hope you’ll have a good read! Let’s get to it!

Offense Tree

Tier I

Sundering Strikes – Overall very good talent, passive increase to damage dealt to armor, always helps. It’s quite boring, but a very solid choice.

Crusher – Very good tool for mid to end-game increase to your 2h weapons to effectively break shields, helps a lot on high quality of 1h axes as well, overall I think it’s very good, but later on, not early as early bonuses are very small (usually woodcutter’s axe breaks the small shield in one swing, and that’s all the early shields, mostly)

Bloody Harvest – good talent, especially once you have some good armor for your 2h. Very reliable increase to hit chance when you build your 2h as “go in and kill everyone… maybe you’ll make it out alive”.

Executioner – Good bonus if you’re depending on Berserker (tier II offense) and Killing Frenzy (tier III offense), otherwise I wouldn’t really take it, it’s a decent pick.

Push the Advantage – very tricky talent, but works wonders combined with Return Favor (tier III defense) and mace as your main weapon, especially so if you are a nimble tank! (insanely fun combo to play with, btw!)

Fast adaptation – always good pick, although a bit exploitable I feel (shooting with crossbow/bow on your 2h just so you gain +15% chance to hit for your AoE swing, for example).

Tier II

Berserker – very good for archers, pikers/billhookers as well as any 2h guy. Usually a must-pick if advancing into offense tree, in my opinion.

Head Hunter – lots of damage bound into this one! It looks useless, but if you’re an archer it helps so much with damage output. Overlooked talent by many people, I think.

Full Force – Your 2h and one handed guys will love this. Somewhat situational, but provides very good damage increase as long as you aren’t losing your armor in battle too quickly.

Debilitate – Defensive ability useful for ranged attackers (range 2) or archers, very good tool against orcs and heavy-hitters a-like.

Bullseye – Must pick for an archer, if you’re advancing into offensive tree.

Close Combat Archer – tricky to use, but holds a lot of damage, when combined with quick hands & weapon switch, just make sure you actually have some decent range skill to use it properly, works well on crossbow all-time archers, too.

Tier III

Killing Frenzy – when used properly it is raw insanity.

Perfect Focus – if you prefer to get rid of few enemies early and then deal with the rest – this might be the pick for you.

Both are very decent, although Killing Frenzy is surely easier to use, to greater success.

Defense Tree

Tier I

Colossus – if you like surving, this is something you might find handy, this is a-must pick for me, each of my brothers has it.

Shield expert – usually smaller bonus than Dodge (tier I defense) but persists through entire life of your brother (unlike dodge which heavily relies on high initiative), decent pick.

Deflect – good talent, altough usually you’re better off having 2nd shield just in case in your inventory. Godly pick for deadly difficulty & orcs fighting.

Battle Forged – good end-game tool, when you have decent armor, very good pick on your 2 handers as well as tanks.

Dodge – The best defensive trait by far, but as the game progresses it gets worse, still very interesting perk & amazing for some crazy combos! (nimble berserker with high initiative, for example)

Hold Out – It shines when you have Inspiring Presence (tier III utility) providing +5 melee/range defense, as well as 5 melee/range attack.

Tier II

Fortified Mind – insanely good perk whenever you’re fighting lots of undeads with some lost souls, usually the only way to go around such a fight without casualties.

Nine Lives – I’m not really fan of this one, but I think it has some uses on Deadly difficulty and saving very high level guy from a crazy situation, but… by that point he will probably die anyway, I think.

Nimble – very tricky, yet very useful perk if you have very good melee defense, somewhat unique but very strong, if used properly.

Anticipation – I’m not really big fan of this one if you’re using shield, if it’s your 2h or archer with this one – it shines, for sure!

Steel Brow – the best tier II talent here, in my opinion. I prefer this one over anything else.

Rotation – very useful on your shielded brothers, helps a lot if your line holds tight, usually when you have one or two guys in the back with this perk and crossbow, just so that they can jump whenever needed with shield equipped.

Tier III

Indomitable – insanely good for anything, really. Works wonders on 2h, shielded guys as well as crazy suicide tanks.

Return Favor – much harder to use than indomitable by far, but it is surprisingly good on some unique, yet hard builds (nimble / push to advantage sort of guys!)

Utility Tree

Tier I

Bags and Belts – crazy good perk if you like versatility in battle, I love it.

Taunt – insanely useful for breaking goblin’s defensive position, as well as doing some dangerous actions against fallen heroes. The only problem is getting good tank with high resolve – but if you find one, you will find this very good, if properly used.

Quick Hands – by far the most versatile perk, increases your defensive capabilties, as well as aggresive ones, great stuff!

Student – insanely good perk if chosen as first one, provides your merc with much faster level-ups, very good if you would rather get faster stat-increases than perks, usually on low-hp guys or low-fatigue ones, decent pick for Deadly difficulty as well!

Shield Bash – hard to gain much value of it, unless you dedicate to it… but then it shines, with proper defensive setup with some archers, surprisingly effective with mace/shield soldiers, fatigue your enemies to death!

Pathfinder – helps a lot in woods, in swamps – not so much, because you will usually stay defensive. Overall decent defensive perk.

Tier II

Brawny – top notch, the best one in this tree, most likely. Extra fatigue & initiative always helps!

Battle Flow – very good for 1h/shield guys, helps a lot.

Footwork – better than rotation, in my opinion, as you don’t depend on positioning of other brother with rotation to save you.

Captain – get one of this on your highest resolve guy and enjoy the huge bonus! Helps a lot against lost souls.

Weaponmaster – I think you get the most of it with swords, maces, warhammers. Decent choice for long fights.

Fearsome – spearwall-specific perk to me, it is pretty good but not in my taste, low versatility.

Tier III

Rally the Troops – insanely good! Helps a lot in long fights, you can use more abilities, a must in my opinion, at least one, preferably two, but it depends on your setup.

Inspiring Presence – same as Captain, get one and forget about it, the bonuses it provides are totally worth it. Somewhat unispiring (hint hint) perk.

Overall I think all of them are really good, at start I thought that it really sucks that you need at least 3 in tier I to get tier II,
but as soon as I’ve learned the potential power of all of them, I think it’s much better how it is than any 3 perks to unlock any tier II,
although it would give you much more options, it would surely make the opposite – you would take steel brow on everyone and not worry about head hits at all, etc.

Very well done, I’m highly impressed. They are so fun to play with around! I appreciate your work greatly. Thanks once again for a great gem! Waiting for more :) Need to convience more friends to buy it :D

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