PARTY OF FOUR:
For the best well rounded party (with story) make your source hunters into “Ranger Build” and “Dual Wielding Grenade Wizard”, pick up Madora and build her into the "Leadership Knight Build", and pick up Jahan and build him into your "Shadowblade".
PARTY OF THREE:
Going just one lone wolf so that you can have a party of three is actually MUCH better than having two lone wolfs if you are playing solo. You will still get the achievement, and will also be able to dismiss that third follower which means you don't have to invest/worry about crafting/blacksmithing/etc! (see "Mule" notes if you don't understand why that is) I would obviously suggest going “Ranger Build” + “Dual Wielding Grenade Wizard” at creation and making the Dual Wielding Grenade Wizard the lone wolf so that the ranger can pick up glass cannon later in the build. Pick up Jahan and have him be the Shadowblade for a terror party. Remember, if you do this, pick up the 5 leadership on you Dual Sword/Axe Grenade Wizard as he has the "Lone Wolf" and make sure he gets a +1 Leadership helm!
PARTY OF TWO:
You guessed it, “Ranger Build” + “Dual Wielding Grenade Wizard” (You will have to replace "glass cannon" with another talent on your Ranger as glass cannon and lone wolf are not compatible)! Also, I would strongly, strongly recommend if you go with "something else" that you at least do the following:
1. Both should have level 4 Hydro (water) with Hail Attack
2. One uses bow with a level 5 Expert Marksman (elemental arrows are that useful early-mid and mid-end bows deal untold damage)
3. The OTHER one uses grenades (pinpoint/slingshot)
4. Both end up over 15 Int after items and gear (for max CD)
5. Both use summons first round of every serious fight
6. Take lone wolf AT CREATION, as the extra points you gain per level are NOT retroactive
What you put in the hands of your other person is up to you, dual just has the easiest/highest damage output every playthrough because of Tormented Souls.
THOUGHTS ON PARTY COMP:
- More people in your party the easier combat becomes, the less people the more difficult
- Less people means less inventory management, more means more
- More people in your party the more different playstyles you can include, less means less
- Henchmen are soulless boring husks and companions are not much better, source hunters are done very well, so the more followers the more you have to deal with weak story, the less followers the better the story feels.
In my opinion if you want to go for the best experience the game can offer you will go two lone wolfs and play with a friend (suggested builds above for two person party); if you are great at the game and want more of a challenge make sure you are on tactician. If you are playing solo then I would suggest going four party, as leveling up your people and putting gear on them etc. is most of the "fun" in single player IMO... Why/who would go three party then? Most likely people who are playing solo who want the "lone wolf" achievement...
For the best well rounded party (with story) make your source hunters into “Ranger Build” and “Dual Wielding Grenade Wizard”, pick up Madora and build her into the "Leadership Knight Build", and pick up Jahan and build him into your "Shadowblade".
PARTY OF THREE:
Going just one lone wolf so that you can have a party of three is actually MUCH better than having two lone wolfs if you are playing solo. You will still get the achievement, and will also be able to dismiss that third follower which means you don't have to invest/worry about crafting/blacksmithing/etc! (see "Mule" notes if you don't understand why that is) I would obviously suggest going “Ranger Build” + “Dual Wielding Grenade Wizard” at creation and making the Dual Wielding Grenade Wizard the lone wolf so that the ranger can pick up glass cannon later in the build. Pick up Jahan and have him be the Shadowblade for a terror party. Remember, if you do this, pick up the 5 leadership on you Dual Sword/Axe Grenade Wizard as he has the "Lone Wolf" and make sure he gets a +1 Leadership helm!
PARTY OF TWO:
You guessed it, “Ranger Build” + “Dual Wielding Grenade Wizard” (You will have to replace "glass cannon" with another talent on your Ranger as glass cannon and lone wolf are not compatible)! Also, I would strongly, strongly recommend if you go with "something else" that you at least do the following:
1. Both should have level 4 Hydro (water) with Hail Attack
2. One uses bow with a level 5 Expert Marksman (elemental arrows are that useful early-mid and mid-end bows deal untold damage)
3. The OTHER one uses grenades (pinpoint/slingshot)
4. Both end up over 15 Int after items and gear (for max CD)
5. Both use summons first round of every serious fight
6. Take lone wolf AT CREATION, as the extra points you gain per level are NOT retroactive
What you put in the hands of your other person is up to you, dual just has the easiest/highest damage output every playthrough because of Tormented Souls.
THOUGHTS ON PARTY COMP:
- More people in your party the easier combat becomes, the less people the more difficult
- Less people means less inventory management, more means more
- More people in your party the more different playstyles you can include, less means less
- Henchmen are soulless boring husks and companions are not much better, source hunters are done very well, so the more followers the more you have to deal with weak story, the less followers the better the story feels.
In my opinion if you want to go for the best experience the game can offer you will go two lone wolfs and play with a friend (suggested builds above for two person party); if you are great at the game and want more of a challenge make sure you are on tactician. If you are playing solo then I would suggest going four party, as leveling up your people and putting gear on them etc. is most of the "fun" in single player IMO... Why/who would go three party then? Most likely people who are playing solo who want the "lone wolf" achievement...
But What About A Pure Party?
Get asked this a lot...
Q: "If you built a 'pure build' party what would it looks like?"
1. Knight (Madora); Unchanged from the guide save for removing of magic (for if she could cast magic she wouldn't be "pure" now would she?), she is your "pure" two-handed man-at-arms knight.
2. Wizard (Jahan or Elessa); 4 in Water, Air, and Witchcraft with 1 point in all the other schools. Dual wands for the +2/4/6 stats you can get from them but don't waste point in dual or wand skill. You would also have to give the unique summon of the game (Nick) to this person as well as all scrolls, as they are the only "magic users"... This would be your "pure" magic wizard.
3. Ranger (Source Hunter 1); mostly unchanged from guide... Stats change to Dex (7/10/12) Per/Spd (6/7/8) and magic you obviously would have to get rid of (can't have her not being "pure" now could we?) Remove "far out man" talent but mostly everything else can stay the same. Bring E.M. to 5 and pick up two master level E.M. skills. This is your "pure" bow/expert marksmen ranger.
4. Tempest (Source Hunter 2); Take pinpoint and slingshot and then bully, backstab, opportunist, and parry master for talents. Stats would be Dex and Str (7/9/11) with Con (6/7/8). Dual a dagger in your main hand and an axe/mace/sword in your off hand. Bring dual wielding/scoundrel up to 5 and man-at-arms up to 3. Put some vodoo dolls on him/her because, tempest? This would be your "pure" backstab dual wielding grenade throwing tempest.
ROLEPLAYING: If you were taking the "pure party" further and wanted to role play, the consequences of traits be damned, your Tempest would most likely be independent, egotistical, renegade, blunt, materialistic, heartless, pragmatic, and vindictive with the rest up in the air, while your Ranger would be altruistic, independent, righteous, spiritual, and compassionate with the rest up in the air. Obviously that would make things more difficult for some situations.
OVERALL: Frankly with a grenade thrower and a special arrows shooter levels 1-15 won't be that much more difficult, per say, battles will be longer and thus damage taken will go up- the biggest issue would be not wasting AP/turns on people who only had certain skills, ie. "destroy summon". Levels 15-FIN you will have to be doing all your master level spells on turn 2 because you won't have scoundrel's "adrenaline" skill (unless you cheated and didn't go "pure"!) which means that you will have to count on sneak attacks and/or round two+ fights which = more difficult. Impossible? Hardly. You would still have all the master skill available that crush 15-FIN just less repeats...
Q: "If you built a 'pure build' party what would it looks like?"
1. Knight (Madora); Unchanged from the guide save for removing of magic (for if she could cast magic she wouldn't be "pure" now would she?), she is your "pure" two-handed man-at-arms knight.
2. Wizard (Jahan or Elessa); 4 in Water, Air, and Witchcraft with 1 point in all the other schools. Dual wands for the +2/4/6 stats you can get from them but don't waste point in dual or wand skill. You would also have to give the unique summon of the game (Nick) to this person as well as all scrolls, as they are the only "magic users"... This would be your "pure" magic wizard.
3. Ranger (Source Hunter 1); mostly unchanged from guide... Stats change to Dex (7/10/12) Per/Spd (6/7/8) and magic you obviously would have to get rid of (can't have her not being "pure" now could we?) Remove "far out man" talent but mostly everything else can stay the same. Bring E.M. to 5 and pick up two master level E.M. skills. This is your "pure" bow/expert marksmen ranger.
4. Tempest (Source Hunter 2); Take pinpoint and slingshot and then bully, backstab, opportunist, and parry master for talents. Stats would be Dex and Str (7/9/11) with Con (6/7/8). Dual a dagger in your main hand and an axe/mace/sword in your off hand. Bring dual wielding/scoundrel up to 5 and man-at-arms up to 3. Put some vodoo dolls on him/her because, tempest? This would be your "pure" backstab dual wielding grenade throwing tempest.
ROLEPLAYING: If you were taking the "pure party" further and wanted to role play, the consequences of traits be damned, your Tempest would most likely be independent, egotistical, renegade, blunt, materialistic, heartless, pragmatic, and vindictive with the rest up in the air, while your Ranger would be altruistic, independent, righteous, spiritual, and compassionate with the rest up in the air. Obviously that would make things more difficult for some situations.
OVERALL: Frankly with a grenade thrower and a special arrows shooter levels 1-15 won't be that much more difficult, per say, battles will be longer and thus damage taken will go up- the biggest issue would be not wasting AP/turns on people who only had certain skills, ie. "destroy summon". Levels 15-FIN you will have to be doing all your master level spells on turn 2 because you won't have scoundrel's "adrenaline" skill (unless you cheated and didn't go "pure"!) which means that you will have to count on sneak attacks and/or round two+ fights which = more difficult. Impossible? Hardly. You would still have all the master skill available that crush 15-FIN just less repeats...