Let me start off by saying I was on 26 consecutive quickplay Legend wins in a row before my first team wipe which happened tonight. But first and foremost, people need to realize that group equipment and career composition is key to making each match easier. I rotate between 3 different characters depending on who’s in my group. You can’t just go in with 4 melee based careers and expect an easy win. First and foremost, consider “what’s my group good at handling and what equipment are they using?”
For example, a Bounty Hunter, Vet Ranger, Huntsman, and Waystalker are all VERY good at handling Elites before they even approach the party. As long as they’re doing their job, the rest of the run will already be much easier. That isn’t to suggest nobody else can handle Elites, they’re just especially capable of deleting them with rapid succession.
The next thing you want to consider is who is best capable at countering hordes? Having an Irondrake Flamethrower definitely makes life easier. And although many weapons in the game can hold off a horde, having someone specialize in wave clearing will make life so much easier on the rest of the group. Especially when those pesky hook rats are hiding within a horde and snag one of your teammates.
Once you’ve considered your groups gear / careers, consider your own. For example, if you’re playing a shade and you’re using daggers, you may be strong against elites and bosses at melee but you’re going to be especially weak against hordes. Taking a hagbane bow can make your life so much easier since one shot can easily clear 10-20 slave rats with a well placed shot. Don’t just equip yourself to handle one aspect of the game. Try to round out your gear while playing around your specialty. I see a lot of Unchained Sienna’s using daggers for that movespeed bonus and boss/elite damage, for example. The problem there is Unchained is a tank and dagger is not great at holding off hordes.
Keep an eye on your teammates and try to cover them as much as possible. One of the most important things you want to do is keep yourself and your teammates from taking damage as often as possible. Taking a hit on legend is very punishing and making it through an entire match with less than 300 damage taken is ideal.
Lastly, and most importantly, your positioning is key! If you’re group is getting circled by a horde, try to fight the sides of the horde to prevent them from flanking. The horde AI LOVES to flank now. Don’t worry so much about racking up the most kills. Focus on helping everyone survive. You should also consider where your group is and especially where your tanks are. Playing around your tanks as a dps will make life MUCH easier.
As for me, I main Bounty Hunter - Shade - Unchained.
For Bounty Hunter - I like to use the rapier because of the attack speed and cleave which makes handling hordes fairly easy. My go-to properties are almost always 5% crit chance, 20% crit power. For my traits, I always pick between Resourceful Combatant (2% CD on crit) or Swift Slaying (20% attack speed on crit). For the BH I always pick swift slaying because of how easy it makes horde handling. For ranged weapons I use either the single shot crossbow or the volley crossbow, depending on what my group has and how well equipped they are to handle hordes. If my group doesn’t have any horde specific equipment on hand, I’ll go volley crossbow. One volley shot with blessed aim will take out a decent handful of enemies and refund twice as many bolts. However, if there’s a flamethrower in the group or a Sienna with conflag, I’ll go for the single shot for the bonus damage to elites. As for properties, I’ll stick to the 5% crit, 20% crit power and for the trait, ALWAYS go Scrounger for the crit refund. Blessed shot is always a crit so you’re guaranteed to get your ammo back. Also make sure you take the Prize Bounty talent so your blessed shots cost no ammo.
For Shade - I use dual daggers for that overwhelmingly powerful heavy attack damage. For survival, I like to go 2 to stamina and 5% attack speed and I use Swift Slaying for that extra fast heavy attack spam and light attack speed for wave clear. For ranged weapons, I’ll use the hagbane (10% power to infantry / 10% power to monsters / Hunter Trait) if my group is weak on the horde clear plus boss damage is helpful, otherwise I’ll use the volley crossbow (5% crit / 20% crit power / Conservative Shooter) for quick special kills.
For Unchained - I like the beam staff / Fireball Staff (5% crit / 20% crit power / Heat Sink) because they’re both great for elite slaying and horde defense. For melee, both swords and the mace (2 to stamina / 5% crit chance / Swift Slaying) are great. Personally I prefer either the 2h mace or fire sword because they have great horde clear and elite damage.
As for the necklace/charm/trinket. My necklace has 2 to stamina / 20% hp / Hand of Shallya (Healing an ally with medical supplies also heals you for 35% of your missing health) But 25% dupe trait is also pretty good. As a tank you should go Natural Bond since you have damage reduction and will need healing less than your squishier teammates. For my Charm I use 5% attack speed / 20% crit power / Decanter (Increases the duration of potions by 50%) and for the Trinket I use 33% curse resistance / 10% Cooldown reduction (5% crit chance is also pretty good) and Shrapnel (Grenades cause hit enemies to take 20% increased damage for 10 seconds).
I hope you guys find this helpful. If you have any other tips, feel free to comment. And remember, nobody cares about your green circles. Work as a team and try to keep EVERYONE alive, not just yourself.
