[Guide] Team Composition - Legend & Cata

Team Composition - Legend & Cata

This guide is aimed at giving people moving up to Legend/Cata a better idea of how to choose better and more synergistic builds for your team. Missing roles or too many of one role can lead to being overwhelmed by a certain type of enemy and cause losses. Choosing the best comp isn’t a replacement for improving positioning, game knowledge, or ability to survive, but it definitely helps.

Almost every Character and Career can have multiple roles, but it’s important to focus on their strengths. This helps with the flow of fighting, so that not everyone goes to do the same job at the same time, leaving gaps in your defence.

The terminology used is just to help in the guide’s explanation. These are very basic and broad ideas of roles, which should help you create synergistic comps. I understand that everyone has their own names for different roles.


Roles

Which of these you are depends on your Career, Talents and Items. Weapon choices matter greatly, and their strengths will define which role you can take. Knowing which build to choose for your team is learned by experience.

Tank:

A high health, high Damage Reduction or high CC Career who can hold enemies in place, usually with a Shield or high CC Weapon. Their job is to create space for your team to do their jobs. They usually have some way of controlling mixed Hordes or high Elite density.

Tanks can control the fight, and should position to create a safe area behind themselves that teammates can stand in. Knowing where enemies come from (drop spots), and where to bunker down if needed are things that Tanks should know or learn.

Types of ‘Tanking’:

  • Shield Weapons Push > Slam, or just Slam combos, which hold enemies in place
  • Heavy CC Weapons
  • Ranged Tanking, e.g, Sister of The Thorn’s ‘Repel’ Talent, or CC from Sienna’s Staffs
  • Career Skills with a lot of Stagger or damage protection, e.g. Foot Knight and Warrior Priest respectively

Frontliner:

A build that excels in melee, who can hold the line against high density or even Elite density. This includes Tanks, but also builds with high AoE Stagger, or high AoE damage in melee.

Types of ‘Frontliner’:

  • 2H Mace, Flails, Dual Maces, 1H Mace
  • Shield Weapons

Backliner:

A build that prefers to be behind someone who can CC, who need a bit of protection to enable them to deal damage. These are usually Melee Weapons with either low Cleave and Stagger or just low Stagger.

E.g. Witch Hunter Captain doesn’t have a lot of AoE Stagger, and especially can’t Stagger Elite density (without his Career Skill), so standing behind an Ironbreaker, using a Shield, gives him space to deal damage without being forced to play defensively.

Types of ‘Backliner’:

  • Melee Weapons with low Stagger or Cleave: 1H Axe, Crowbill, 1H Swords
  • Also includes Ranged Careers who can have low Stagger due to lack of melee focused Talents

Support:

A Career that offers buffs to teammates, or can benefit them in other ways, such as pulling far away enemies with range, so that they’re less of a risk of sneaking up on people when you move into that area. Their job is to offer offensive or defensive benefits, depending on their build.

Types of ‘Support’:

  • Stat buffs, e.g. Grail Knight’s Quests
  • Item drop Talents, e.g. Grail Knight and Ranger Veteran
  • Enemy debuffs, e.g. Witch Hunter’s Tag (20% damage increase)
  • Ranged pulls: shooting far off roaming enemies to aggro them and bring them into melee range, e.g. any unlimited ammo Ranged Weapons, Rapier and Pistol’s Special-Attack
  • CC, e.g. Sienna’s Conflagration Staff Staggering Hordes, or Battle Wizard’s Stagger on her Career Skill for saving people

Elite Clear:

Someone who has a specific Weapon, Career Skill, Passive or Talent, which allows them to focus on and kill Elites. Usually with a focus on Chaos Warriors, as they require the most specific builds to kill effectively. Some can be good at fighting the entire Horde, while others may have to snipe Elites out of the Horde with Melee or Ranged Attacks.

Examples of ‘Elite Clear’:

  • Melee Weapons with high single-target armour piercing damage, e.g. Dual Daggers, Mining Pick, Exe Sword, Crowbill and Billhook
  • Ranged Weapons with high single-target armour piercing damage, e.g. Javelin, Trollhammer Torpedo, Handgun, Bolt Staff, Crossbow
  • Career Skills, Passives and Talents with high single-target armour piercing damage, e.g. Grail Knight’s Career Skill, WHC headshot Crits killing man-sized enemies, and Armour Piercing Slugs on Outcast Engineer

Horde Clear (Ranged/Melee):

A Career or Weapon which has a lot of Cleave or can deal huge amounts of AoE damage. Horde Clearing weapons are usually very good at dealing with unarmoured enemies, while struggling against armour.

Types of ‘Horde Clear’:

  • Flamethrower type Weapons
  • Careers with high Attack Speed
  • Careers with high Cleave
  • Careers Skills, e.g. Bladedancer on Handmaiden, Ranger’s Parting Gift on RV, Virtue of Confidence on Grail Knight, Indiscriminate Blast on BH, and Kaboom! on Battle Wizard

Boss Killer:

A Career/Weapon/Talent, which allows you to focus and deal heavy damage to Bosses. Depending on the gamemode, heavily building into Boss killing isn’t always necessary, but it’s nice to have at least one in the group to make Boss fights go a bit smoother.

Types of ‘Boss Killer’:

  • Single-target Melee Weapons, e.g. Dual Daggers
  • Ranged Weapons, e.g. Huntsman’s Longbow or Bardin’s Trollhammer Torpedo
  • Career Skills, e.g. Shade, Grail Knight, Bounty Hunter, Outcast Engineer, Pyromancer

Special Killer:

Someone who focuses on and kills Specials, usually from range.

Types of ‘Special Killer’:

  • Most Ranged Weapons in general
  • Ranged snipers are more specialised Special killers, but aren’t always necessary, e.g. Longbow’s, Crossbows, Handguns and Bolt Staff
  • Movement Speed, e.g. Slayer and Grail Knight can take heavy Movement Speed builds to help them deal with Specials
  • Mobility Career Skills, e.g. Slayer, Zealot, Handmaiden and Battle Wizard
  • Lock-on Career Skills, e.g. Pyromancer and Waystalker
  • Battle Wizard’s Lingering Flames Talent can replace the need for a Special Killer in low Ranged comps

Here’s a good example of a composition with all roles filled (their main roles are bold):

Waystalker:

Longbow – Special killer, Elite killer, Monster killer

Ironbreaker:

Mace(s)/Drakefire Pistols - Frontline, Melee clear, Elite killer, Special killing

Witch Hunter Captain:

Rapier/BoP - Special killer, Elite killer, Melee clear, Monster killer, Support

Unchained:

Fireball/2H Mace – Frontline, Special killer, Horde clear, Monster killer, Elite killer, Support (Temp HP Talent)

The more people focus on their specific job or role within the group, the easier the game will become.

An example of this is Special Killing. If everyone backs off from killing or controlling the Horde to kill a Special, then it leaves gaps in the defences and people will take damage. However, if the person who’s best at Special Killing backs off alone and kills the Specials, while everyone else continues to CC and kill the Horde, noone will take damage. Instead of backing off, try preemptively calling out which Special you can see and where they are.

If you’re in a premade group, you’ll learn to trust your Special Killers.

Learning your teams strengths and weaknesses will help you determine who is better for which job, and playing with them will eventually teach you what they’re capable of. Bouncing your builds off each other to make a good composition is part of the fun in this game.

Calling your roles before a match is very helpful, and playing as certain Careers doesn’t always mean you’re filling a specific role. Please be vocal about what you intend your build to do.

This may seem obvious to people who play in a premade while on VOIP, but Quickplay doesn’t always give people time to discuss ideas or give suggestions. This makes the learning curve for solo players in QP longer than in premade groups.

With this in mind, when joining Quick Play, you should always take a build with a lot of versatility, too many of one role can cause a wipe.


Conclusion:

You’ll eventually learn that this game is completable by solo, duo and trio players, and that roles only really matter when you’re playing in groups, and that’s fine. Learning the roles should help you understand the entire point of certain Careers who have Passives and Talents dedicated to a specific function, and feel weak in other places.


Additional info:

What is Screening?

Screening is the term our group has come to describe blocking enemies in front of a ranged Career, or someone who doesn’t have the ability to hold Hordes alone for longer durations. Other ranged Careers can do this for each other depending on the situation. Weapons with higher Cleave, Stamina for pushing or CC in general should prioritize Screening when necessary. Using pushes on enemies at the sides is also a form of Screening.

E.g.
There’s a Horde in front, but also a Pack Rat on it’s way. Unchained and Waystalker are together. Either the Unchained should stop shooting fireballs and hold the Horde, so that the WS can kill the Pack Rat, or the WS should Screen for the Unchained instead.

This is different to Frontlining, as it’s usually done very quickly for short periods of time before both people revert back to their usual job or both switch to melee for more safety in dealing with the Horde.

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Oh a guide for the newer ones?

Not bad, i think it explains a division of roles straightforwardly and clearly, have an upvote^^

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Yeah, I’m going to change it a lot. They have to approve these, so I didn’t get chance to trim it down in 100 edits. :stuck_out_tongue:

I don’t think anyone playing cata need guide xd I mean team comp is only needed when you doing helmgard challenges or something like that (maybe cata deeds too but still don’t think that is needed)

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That may be true, but this guide was very clear at the start:

It is not aimed at experienced Cata players (although you may never stop learning).

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@Perteks

It’s also supposed to help people learn similar terminology, especially for people who aren’t playing on VOIP or are playing solo.

I still need to reword a lot and add a deeper explanation of screening.

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Never heard that anyone use t hat terminology ingame, it was sniper or nuker nothing more in term that its not obvious from just name itself

Words aside, I’ve thought about the game in this way as well.

A careers role is defined by talents and weapons(i.e. Battle Wizard can nuke or frontline very well depending on kit).

However, you cant depend on any career doing anything. That player behind the career matters.

That said, IF you are a good player, you need to think about what you can do to move your team forward and what causes the most wipes and fill that role. Then you will help the most.

For me Horde clear and special clear are the two crucial elements. The best players say special clear is THE key, but on Cata or higher C3O for example. . . horde frequency and density can stall your progress through a map if you dont have appropriate horde clear.

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Great guide, teams that understand playing to their strengths work better than those just floating around.

That said I think if you notice a special kill it. Dont trust that your team will do it. I’ve seen countless wipes because too many specials spawn and everyone expects the special to be killed by someone else.

So play your role but be aware and be flexible to fill in if the plan isnt working for that encounter

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Mercenary, Witch Hunter Captain, Ironbreaker, Shade.

You’re welcome.

What do you mean?

Oh. Certainly.

So mercenary is a melee powerhouse with aoe cc+party temp hp and damage reduction. He basically works as a battery for the team and has amazing sustain in melee. Most weapons work but recommended ones are the executioner sword and halberd. For ranged go with your own personal preference. I like the handgun to snipe specials from afar.

Witch Hunter Captain is almost the same as mercenary. He has great melee sustain with a aoe cc that adds crit for increased team dps. He also works as a buffer/debuffer with his triggers like marking enemies for benefits and increased dmg. With a WHC in the team. Nobody needs to use shrapnel on their trinkets besides maybe the WHC himself to maximize dmg increase vs patrols. (Like tossing a fire grenade to debuff them). As for weapons I prefer the duals and brace pistols. But I’m certain whatever you’re most comfortable with works too.

Shade is the murderer of the team. While Merc and WHC can pretty much handle themselves very well they do an even better job together in sync. Add a Shade in the mix and you have a heavy hitter that can fight with ease with the Mercs and WHC support. Not to mention the fact that Shade can pick off key targets like chaos warriors or bannermen with ease. Also works on specials. Not to mention how quickly a shade kills a monster boss with the assistance of a WHC debuffs/buffs. Dual daggers and short bow. All the way :wink:

Ironbreaker is the most important class in any team. Especially since the IB with correct setup and talents literally carries the entire team. An IB with dual maces, barkskin necklace and the talent that reduces taunt cool down is just to OP. You can pretty much taunt every single time. Horde coming at you? Go right in and taunt. Patrol? Taunt. You get the taunt back so fast you can use it at every encounter.
Oh and ofc during taunt the IB takes 50% less dmg. Combine that with his default 30% reduction and an additional 40% from barkskin. Yeah, you never have to block. You just hit back and win. So with a good IB the rest of the team hardly gets hit at all during larger encounters like hordes or patrols.

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I must admit. You have a fair amount of knowledge in the dark arts of necromancy.

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It’s a Player Guide, so I don’t think necroing counts. :slight_smile:

I forgot to mention that with the setup I suggested there are no ranged focused classes. So no risk of having 1 ranged class being picked off from the fray since the entire team is running a brawler comp. No need to worry that much about friendy fire either.
You can ofc do slight changes like using unchained instead of merc.
Or one of my current favorites. Battle wizard with bolt staff. Just let your imagination run wild.
All I can say is. This setup
Mercenary, Iron Breaker, Shade, Witch Hunter Captain does not have any issues with specials or even ranged specials.

Also I would prefer to not be associated with Necromancy. Especially since I know what Saltzpyre would do if he believed I worshipped such heresy.

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At least on Cata it’s not THAT easy sadly. xD But he really is tanky as frick. Or replace the hammer with Axe+Shield and spam the sh*t out of that 1st heavy → push → repeat and with a good choke point you can easily hold the whole horde (excluding bosses and CW) yourself. You’ll never kill them yourself, but you sure as hell give the rest of the team any time they need.

Had a pretty funny situation when I was trying to do my first Skittergate Cata run with a friend. The finale came down to me with IB Axe+Shield vs the entire finales space worth of enemies. Because I killing them slower then they spawned, after a good 5 to 8 Minutes alone in the pit I could literally hardly circle around anymore since every free space was taken up by enemies, but it took what felt like an eternity for them to finally take me down, since I couldn’t revive because of Raskits spells. Then came back and whiped the floor with them with Zealot and a highly specific flail build, but that’s a different story. Some of the most fun times I’ve ever had in this game.

Edit: Recently talked to the friend about this and he made a screenshot. Here ya go: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/537270189666992148/719034729910894672/552500_screenshots_20200508174745_1.jpg

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Lemmi just stop you here: everything will work (usually). If you play as a team and you watch each other’s back then you’d come on top.

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“5 months later”

In the knick of time!

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Update: cleaned it up a bit, added better definitions with examples.

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