What, in your opinion, is the mc's most unique class compared to the party?

[UndyingRevenant]

With companion kits, there might not actually be one, but I was curious if anyone had ideas. With the coming dps oriented thief, and bard, options get pretty limited. There seems to be a good amount of tanks of all flavors, at least 2 dedicated healers, and all flavors of d/rps. Seems like with the presence stat and the current summons, that a summoner is a pretty good option to bring the most to the team and different enough you don't step on toes, a black mage grease/fireball monkey with a summon seems pretty solid, with berwyn and etheryn being dps/heal hybrid currently.

In the end, there's plenty of variety and nothing seems weak to the point of mattering unless you actively try to do something weird, but was just wondering if anyone had thoughts. All the classes are fun, but could also be fun to kinda find the "sub class" that's missing from the roster.

 

[WolframL]

dps oriented thief

Einin isn't going to be a companion because William missed the deadline. The only remaining companion that's not in the game yet is Viviane and her initial setup is geared towards support.

So yeah, a build centered around Twist the Knife is basically going to be a Champ Thing; Ryn has it and it synergizes with all her offensive powers in her Outrider's Gear set but she's splits those powers with healing and a Spell-tagged attack that inflicts statuses but doesn't get bonus damage from it, so she's not optimized for Twist the Knife shenanigans. This miiiight change depending on how her third set winds up working (all we really know is 'more physically oriented') but there's no guarantee of that and Savin only knows exactly what that one's going to be like mechanically.. It sure looks great though. xD

 

[Kingu2]

So yeah, a build centered around Twist the Knife is basically going to be a Champ Thing; Ryn has it and it synergizes with all her offensive powers in her Outrider's Gear set but she's splits those powers with healing and a Spell-tagged attack that inflicts statuses but doesn't get bonus damage from it, so she's not optimized for Twist the Knife shenanigans. This miiiight change depending on how her third set winds up working (all we really know is 'more physically oriented') but there's no guarantee of that and Savin only knows exactly what that one's going to be like mechanically.. It sure looks great though. xD

Cait also has a thief build with twist the knife. also lets not try to derail the thread immediately.

Warrior is probably the Champs most unique class as most of the perks from that class aren't really shared by any of the Companions. Apart from that what makes the MC especially unique in combat rather than the class is the build as a whole. the champ gets access to skills and equipment that none of you're companions can have just as they have there own unique equipment and skillsets. those things are much more impactful in combat than simply the characters class and is better described as build rather than sub-class.

 

[WolframL]

Cait also has a thief build with twist the knife. also lets not try to derail the thread immediately.

True, Hexblade Leathers also has it but she also splits her damage types with Leech being a Spell power, her Ultimate is a heal and Smite Evil is an Encounter power (hence it only works once) so she's not entirely optimized for it either, meaning the Champ can still do more with physical DPS and Twist the Knife if that's the sort of build you're interested in.

And a two-sentence mention that a character the OP thought was in the game (to tell them that there is a role missing from the companion roster) and to bring up the existence of another companion they didn't seem to be aware of is derailing the topic?

 

[Kingu2]

True, Hexblade Leathers also has it but she also splits her damage types with Leech being a Spell power, her Ultimate is a heal and Smite Evil is an Encounter power (hence it only works once) so she's not entirely optimized for it either, meaning the Champ can still do more with physical DPS and Twist the Knife if that's the sort of build you're interested in.

You can do any build better than any companion frankly. I don't see being able to do it better as a qualifier for uniqueness.

And a two-sentence mention that a character the OP thought was in the game (to tell them that there is a role missing from the companion roster) and to bring up the existence of another companion they didn't seem to be aware of is derailing the topic?

you were answering a question that wasn't asked and throwing in stuff about future content yes. and the role was filled by Cait and Ethryn even if not optimally.

 

[Burnerbro]

You can do any build better than any companion frankly. I don't see being able to do it better as a qualifier for uniqueness.

I'd say it does if the difference in performance is significant enough and comes from either access to some uniquely gated options or, like in Wolfram's example, from a more focused specialization.

Going back to the topic, resolve damage dealing is another build type where the Champ has the least amount of competition so far, but it is also less supported by the kits of most companion sets. Plus atm the Champ doesn't get any single target Resolve nukes that can be used to race enemy dps or to get key targets out of the fight quickly.

 

[Kingu2]

I'd say it does if the difference in performance is significant enough and comes from either access to some uniquely gated options or, like in Wolfram's example, from a more focused specialization.

Going back to the topic, resolve damage dealing is another build type where the Champ has the least amount of competition so far, but it is also less supported by the kits of most companion sets. Plus atm the Champ doesn't get any single target Resolve nukes that can be used to race enemy dps or to get key targets out of the fight quickly.

I don't fully agree but I think I get what you're trying to say. Like in the support role you have Caits priestess set, her witch set, Ryn's raiment, and Kiyoko's kitsune-bi set. while the first three are dedicated healers and serviceable in every area witch Cait is purely healing and defensive skills best used in the rift were enemies mostly have low armor but can do lots of damage and resolve damage. Ryn and Cait's priestess set have some offensive options and are better for general fights while Kiyoko is a purely offensive support who is very useful for taking out high armor and evasive enemies like in the undermountain. However all of these builds still fall under "support" class, they help the party indirectly through buffs, debuffs and healing. It's a position anyone of them could fill no problem. Just because one could perform better in some areas, whatever the reason and by however much, does not mean that position is filled solely by them.

more or less what I was trying to say in my first post is that when it comes to "uniqueness" it's the build that is more impactful than the class or role that they play, especially since all specific classes like that have pretty much been filled already.

 

[UndyingRevenant]

True, Hexblade Leathers also has it but she also splits her damage types with Leech being a Spell power, her Ultimate is a heal and Smite Evil is an Encounter power (hence it only works once) so she's not entirely optimized for it either, meaning the Champ can still do more with physical DPS and Twist the Knife if that's the sort of build you're interested in.

And a two-sentence mention that a character the OP thought was in the game (to tell them that there is a role missing from the companion roster) and to bring up the existence of another companion they didn't seem to be aware of is derailing the topic?

Hey sorry for late reply, I don't think you derailed at all, in fact that was incredibly useful to know. I was excited for Einin and haven't kept up to date, I always thought they were just a soonTM addition. Really disappointed. Thanks for your input too, especially with Einin's (permanent removal?) I agree that a twist the knife oriented build's a pretty solid choice. In the end, it's not a big deal though, all the classes can work and the kits make nearly any "sub class" possible without your input, I just thought it'd be fun to brainstorm.

 

[Ireyon]

I think any kind of pure mage or thief build is pretty unique at the moment.

It might be because all companions in their base form are built to somewhat work together but basically everyone but Arona and Brint has some kind of heal spell or support in there. Not bad but it makes it kind of obvious that the builds are basically early game crutch builds. It's one of the reasons why I switch Cait to Witch as soon as possible (because her Witch gear takes her support and heals and cranks them up to 11) and build myself as a dps alongside Brint. A properly built healer like Witch Cait is perfectly sufficient in a party and proper combat roles improve your action economy.

That and split builds (like spellblade thieves) suffer from a lack of focus which hampers their damage compared to pure thieves (even assuming you can be bothered to buy the drinks that max out another stat for you). That might change if stances ever receive a rework to just be active all the time instead of the current "waste your first turn" model.

Which is kind of sad because I would really love for my scythe-swinging, spell slinging spellblade to work...