Character build strategies (Viking)

This page is used to find characters build strategies for **Expeditions: Viking** and contributors may add their own builds on this page as well. Every different character strategy has to begin with a heading 2 with a name of the class and perhaps the special properties, for example:

```
==Dual-wielding Berserker with healing abilities==

```

Every character build should have at least describe the purpose of the build, the primary stats distribution (STR, END, etc.) and in which skills the charachter should specialise. You can use headings 3, 4 and 5 for those sections.

For more information about the process of creating characters, see Character generation. For more information on how to gain access to mercenaries, see Preparations: A Motley Hird and Monsters in the Marsh.

## Player character builds

The most difficult character build is probably how you distribute primary points for the player character, especially the first time, since you are unfamiliar with the game. While it sounds safe to distribute all 29 points among all primary stats and specialise in one or two, so you can pass most stats checks during the game, there are in general three valid strategies to distribute points for a character build. The first in one primary stat (score between 8, 9 or 10) and three secondary stats (between 4-7) and one stat at 1. The second strategy involves two primary stats, two secondary stats and one stat at 1, while the third strategy involves three primary stats and two stats at 1.

Although this means that any character build is open for the player character, the most important skills for the player character are leadership and diplomacy, so the minimum recommended Sense score is 4. If you want the ability to heal injured characters during dialogue, the minimum sense score is 6. If you want to be able to pass hard sense checks too, you need at least 8 sense.

A second important primary stat for leaders is endurance, because your party gets surprised by attackers sometimes. During a surprise attack, you can choose the position of party members and switch weapon sets. After that turn, the enemies have the first opportunity to attack you and use skills. To survive such a turn, a decent shield and skill with it is advised, thus endurance should be 4 at least.

Although stealing is not needed at all to finish the game, a good thief can get access to containers with only a small chance of getting caught. Unfortunately, the chance of stealing something unnoticed depends purely on the Finesse score of the player character and this task can't be given to a party member with a high score in that statistic.

The weapons you would like to wield determine which third or even fourth primary stat is important for your character. Since you have only 29 primary stats points just like any other character who joins your party, you can use the other character build strategies for your protagonist. But remember, you have about 350 skill points at the end of the game if you have completed nearly every quest available, so spent your points wisely.

Since diplomacy combined with leadership and a certain role in combat require a large amount of skill points, it's recommended to pick an utility skill which doesn't require to many points and can be done during all shifts at a campsite.

In short, any character build with some points in sense and combat skills mentioned in this article can be chosen for your player character, but diplomacy and leadership are really important for the thegn of Skjern. Because the combat and leadership skills require a lot of skill points, pick only a simple utility skill which can be used for all shifts. Great allround character builds for the player character are Berserker / warrior, Scout / thief, Tank healer (strength) and Warrior with scouting + support.

## Summary of all character builds

In the table below you can find a summary of all character builds mentioned below.

Legend:

* Build strategies: the three basic ways of distibuting points. One primary stat means one prime (scores 8-10) and three secondary (scores 4-7). Two means two primary stats and two secondary stats and three means a specialisation in three primary stats and two stats at 1.
* STR: Strength
* END: Endurance
* FIN: Finesse
* PER: Perception
* SEN: Sense
* Melee, ranged and support: how a character with a certain build will perform in general in melee combat (damage), resisting damage (defense), ranged combat and with support skills.
* PC: Whether the build is suited for a player character in general.

## Archer with decent melee and support skills

From the start of the game, you get Ketill Kolbjarnarson and Aife joins the party much later. They are excellent archers, but Ketill lacks melee skills and due to his slightly disappointing endurance, he isn't that great with a shield. While Aife is highly skilled with a spear and has 1 point more endurance, she however doesn't have access to a lot of support skills. With this build, you can have it all in one mercenary.

If you need to tweak this build for the shieldwall tactic, you can sacrifice finesse and thus melee skills for endurance and more skill with a shield. This build is similar to Archer warrior hybrid with support, but this build prefers Finesse over Strength.

### Stats

 Endurance
 Finesse
 Perception
 Sense

The most important stat of this build is perception. Since an archer should be good at dealing critical hits too, you need high finesse to have a high critical chance and to have decent skill with wielding spears or knives in combat. Since you need support skills, 4 Sense is the minimum. If you want healing too, raise it to 6 points. The remainder should be spent on endurance. In case you want a shieldwall archer, endurance should be at least 7.

### Major skills

The two most important skill for this build are skill with the bow or the sling. The other important skill depend on how you want to fight in melee. If a spear is fine, then that should be the second skill. Else knive and shield are important skills. Of the support skills, galder is quite important for the party, but leadership is a great skill if you need an archer with high mental resistances, so the mercenary or player character doesn't get demoralised a lot.

* Bow or sling (rank 5, first priority)
* Knive or spear (rank 5, second priority)
* Shield if using a knive (rank 5, third priority).
* Galder (at least rank 3)
* Leadership (at least rank 3)
* Witchcraft (at least rank 3)

### Minor skills

By investing skill points in the following minor skills, you can improve the gameplay of an archer:

* Keen Eye
* Walk Your Shots
* Night Eye
* Fortune-Favoured
* Crippling Shot
* Sexist
* Rebuke (if you are not going to use a shield).
* Backstabber
* Quick feet
* Charge
* Heavy sleeper
* Nimble
* Hardened
* Evade

### Armour

Since this character build has a high perception and is skilled in ranged weapons, you probably want to avoid helmets which give penalties to accuracy, though you can still consider steel helmets or aventail helmets for extra defense. You can use any type of body armour, since high movement is not required. If you intend to let this unit stay behind the shieldwall, you give the unit armour which provides higher DR to ranged attacks compared to melee.

## Archer with good support skills and skill with shields

This character build is a combination of archer and a healer. In case you need an archer who is good in healing other units, has access to lot of support skills and who can also join the shieldwall when the arrow and bullets rain down upon the party, you should consider this build. This build can be a good stats point distribution for campers as well.

Since this build doesn't leave much room to invest in Strength or Finesse, units who follow this build are performing poor or below-average in melee combat.

### Stats

 Endurance
 Finesse
 Perception
 Sense

Since an archer needs high accuracy, the Perception score should be 9 or 10. To be a good support unit and, a Sense score of at least 7 is required, while Endurance should be at least 6. If poor melee skills are no concern to you, any remaining points should be spent on the three major stats.

In case you want this unit to have at least access to some weapon skills, you can set the Strength or the Finesse score at 4. If you want this unit to expose enemy shieldbearers and cleave through them, the axe and strength are good pick. If you want this unit to deal damage and inflict enemies with status effects such as poison and bleeding wounds, finesse and skill in knives are necessary.

### Major skills and weapons

The most important skills for this build are bow or sling, healing and the shield skill. Other important support skills are witchcraft, galder and leadership. If witchcraft is picked as skill, this can also be the main camp task for this unit.

### Minor skills

By investing skill points in the following minor skills, you can improve the gameplay of a melee archer:

* Quick feet (requires 4 finesse)
* Keen Eye
* Walk your shots
* Heavy sleeper
* Fortune favoured
* Blood Thirsty
* Relentless
* Sexist
* Protect
* Hardened
* Evade
* Nimble
* Strider

### Armour

Since this character build has a high perception and is skilled in ranged weapons, you probably want to avoid helmets which give penalties to accuracy, though you can still consider steel helmet or aventail helmets for extra defense. You can use any type of body armour, since high movement is not required.

## Archer warrior hybrid

This character build is a combination of archer and a warrior, you probably need a party member who can fight in the shieldwall but when enemies are out of melee range, you can fire arrows or bullets at them. Since there aren't many characters with high strength, endurance and perception, apart from Asleifr Grimvardarson, you likely need to make a mercenary fit for this build.

### Stats

 Endurance
 Finesse
 Perception
 Sense

Since you need a character with high strength, endurance and perception, you have few points left to spend on the other two primary stats. You should give the character 4 finesse in case you want to have access to the passive skill quick feet or want to make this character a dual-wielder. Else you can spend the 27 points on the three stats instead of 24 points. In case you want an excellent archer, the perception needs to be 9 or 10.

The main disadvantages of this build are that you won't score critical hits often and due to a low sense score, this character can be vulnerable to physical and mental effects and lacks the ability to use a lot of support skills.

### Major skills and weapons

The three most important skills for this build are bow or sling, axe or sword, dual-wielding or shield. If dealing damage is the main priority of this unit, you should focus on the bow and sword skill. If you want to deal extra damage in melee attacks, you make a dual wielder with the sword as the main weapon and an axe in the off-hand slot.

* Bow or sling (first priority)
* Axe or sword (first priority)
* Dual-wielding or shield (second priority)

At campsites, this unit can be a guard or a scout, so you can invest more points in minor skills.

### Minor skills

By investing skill points in the following minor skills, you can improve the gameplay of a melee archer:

* Quick feet (requires 4 finesse)
* Keen Eye
* Walk your shots
* Stun
* Charge
* Heavy sleeper
* Fortune favoured
* Blood Thirsty
* Backstabber
* Nimble
* Strider
* Relentless
* Sexist
* Protect
* Hardened
* Evade
* Dodge
* Sneak attack

### Armour

Since this character build has a high perception and is skilled in ranged weapons, you probably want to avoid helmets which give penalties to accuracy, though you can still consider steel helmet or aventail helmets for extra defense. Since you need to compensate for the lower mental resistance, you want to give this unit a helmet which provides good mental resistance bonuses.

You can use any type of body armor, since high movement is not required.

## Archer warrior hybrid with decent support

This character build is a combination of archer and a warrior, you probably need a party member who can fight in the shieldwall but when enemies are out of melee range, you can fire arrows or bullets at them. The warrior archer hybrid lacks access to leadership due to lower Sense, which makes the character more vulnerable to status effects. In order to improve that, Sense is raised to the minimum of 4, a trade-off can be made with Endurance and/or Strength. This build is similar to Archer with decent melee and support skills, but this build prefers Strength over Finesse.

### Stats

 Endurance
 Finesse
 Perception
 Sense

Since you need a character with high strength, endurance and perception, you have few points left to spend on the other two primary stats. In case you want an excellent archer, the perception needs to be 9 or 10.

Since this build leaves little room to invest in Finesse, that should be set to 1.

### Major skills and weapons

The three most important skills for this build are bow or sling, axe or sword, shield and leadership. If dealing damage is the main priority of this unit, you should focus on the bow and sword skill.

* Bow or sling (first priority)
* Axe or sword (first priority)
* Shield (third priority priority)
* Leadership (fourth priority)

At campsites, this unit can be a guard or a scout, so you can invest more points in minor skills.

### Minor skills

By investing skill points in the following minor skills, you can improve the gameplay of a melee archer:

* Keen Eye
* Walk your shots
* Stun
* Charge
* Heavy sleeper
* Fortune favoured
* Blood Thirsty
* Backstabber
* Nimble
* Strider
* Relentless
* Sexist
* Protect
* Hardened
* Evade
* Dodge
* Sneak attack

### Armour

Since this character build has a high perception and is skilled in ranged weapons, you probably want to avoid helmets which give penalties to accuracy, though you can still consider steel helmet or aventail helmets for extra defense. You can use any type of body armour, since high movement is not required.

## Assassin

This character build is a combination of archer and a rogue and aims to have a character build just like Hrodgaerda. The purpose of this build is to have character good at dealing damage in melee and ranged attacks, inflicting Status effects such as bleeding, poison, panick and who can use most support skills as well.

### Stats

 Endurance
 Finesse
 Perception
 Sense

Since you need a character with high Perception and finesse, you can spent only a few point on endurance and Sense. In case you want a character with more endurance, you can sacrifice a point in finesse or perception. This build simply leaves no room to invest in Strength, so that stat should be set at 1.

The main disadvantages of this build is the low endurance, which result in having lower hitpoints and having low blocking percentages if a shield is wielded.

### Major skills and weapons

The three most important skills for this build are bow or sling, knive and dual-wielding. If dealing damage is the main priority of this unit, you should focus on the bow. Instead of a knive and dual-wielding, you can consider giving this character a spear, although that skill doesn't have many damage dealing-skills.

* Bow or sling (first priority)
* Knive (second priority)
* Dual-wielding (third priority)
* Witchcraft (fourth priority)

At campsites, this unit can become a medicine maker.

### Minor skills

By investing skill points in the following minor skills, you can improve the gameplay of an assassin:

* Quick feet (requires 4 finesse)
* Keen Eye
* Leadership to improve physical and mental resistances.
* Anticipate opening
* Crippling shot
* Walk your shots
* Charge
* Heavy sleeper
* Fortune favoured
* Blood Thirsty
* Backstabber
* Sneak attack
* Nimble
* Strider
* Relentless
* Sexist
* Hardened
* Evade
* Dodge

### Armour

Since this character build has a high perception and is skilled in ranged weapons, you probably want to avoid helmets which give penalties to accuracy, though you can still consider steel helmet or aventail helmets for extra defense. Since this character does fight in melee and use ranged attacks, you probably want give this character armour which provides the same percentage of protection from melee and ranged attacks and has low penalties to movement.

## Berserker or warrior with healing abilities

While Gunnarr the Peaceful is an excellent berserker and he can be a great warrior as well, he lacks the skill to use healing due to his Sense being four points, while he has six points in finesse. Since you only need four points in Finesse to being able to dual-wield and have quick feet, it is easy to swap this around and have a beserker or a warrior with 4 finesse and 6 Sense at least. This is a decent build for player characters.

### Stats

 Endurance
 Finesse
 Perception
 Sense

The role of berserkers and warriors is to deal damage with close range weapons such as dane-axes, axe and sword, while wielding a shield or a second weapon in the other hand. Therefore they need high strength and endurance and have some finesse as well. In case enemies are out of range, they should have a decent Sense score so they can use support abilities such as Healing, Demoralise, Galders and perhaps Taunt, Leadership skills and Protect.

### Important skills

The most important skills of berserkers and warriors are:

* Axe or sword skill (first priority)
* Dual-wielding or shield (second priority)
* Dane-axe (third priority)
* Healing (fourth priority, get at least 3 healing)
* Galder (fifth important skill, get at least Thorr's Blessing)

### Minor skills

There a lot of minor skills which improve the battle capabalities of these units during combat. These minor skills are:

* Charge
* Opportunist
* Leadership to improve physical and mental resistances and to give an attack to another unit with the Inspire ability in case the berserker can't reach them.
* Witchcraft rank 1 for the Demoralise abilty.
* Sexist
* Blood Thirsty
* Backstabber
* Taunt
* Relentless
* Fortune Favoured
* Strider
* Nimble
* Anticipate Opening
* Hardened
* Evade
* Dodge
* Sneak attack

### Armour

Since this character build has a low perception and thus unskilled in ranged weapons, you can use aventail or masked helmets. Since berserker only deal damage in melee range, you probably want this unit to wear armor which doesn't have high penalties to movement or armour improved with armour oil or the agile property. You can also improve the movement by giving this character Odinn's necklace from the temple of Ribe.
When blocking percentages are at least 75%+, you can consider to give warrios armour with high melee DR. This will improve how long the shield will last, since damage to shields is calculated near the same as melee damage and since arrows or bullets can't damage shield, you are relatively safe from ranged attacks as well. Berserker need armour which provides protection from both attacks at the same rates, though armour with higher melee DR can be considered.

## Berserker with perception

This character build is basically very similair to a berserker build and it aims to create the perfect berserker when it comes to damage. While it seems odd at first to give a pure melee fighter points in perception since that primary stat has little to do with melee skills, this build gives the berserker access to the passive skill Keen Eye, which boosts armour piercing by 50%. This will not improve the maximum damage of the berserker, but it will improve the average damage against medium and heavy armoured enemies considerably, especially when the weapons gets more armour piercing. The only recruitable character suited for this build is Asleifr Grimvardarson, but a mercenary designed for this role can become much better than him.

A character of this build is the ideal candidate for the sword Excalibur. For even more temporary damage, this unit should carry at least one bottle of Berserk Tonic in the utility slot during every battle.

### Stats

 Endurance
 Finesse
 Perception
 Sense

Strength needs to be 9 or 10 for high damage. You need 6 perception to gain access to Keen Eye. A score of 4 finesse is the minimum, but you can increase to improve the odds of critical hits. The remaining points can be spent on Endurance. This build simply leaves no room to spend on the primary stat Sense, so that should be 1.

### Major skills and weapons

Since this build is focused on dealing high amounts of damage, it should focus on swords as the main weapon while dual-wielding, the sword skill heavy hit and execute are directed to killing and dealing high damage compared to the axe skills. The second setup can be a bow, but this berserker can never become as good as an archer with that weapon, so the dane-axe or a weapon and shield should be the second weapon set. Spot traps is important to avoid traps, since the berserker could be the first to encounter the traps.

* Sword (first priority)
* Dual wielding (second priority)
* Dane-axe or shield (third priority)
* Spot traps (fourth priority)

At campsites, this unit can be a guard or a scout, so you can invest more points in minor skills.

### Minor skills

By investing skill points in the following minor skills, you can improve the gameplay of this warrior:

* Keen Eye
* Opportunist
* Charge
* Anticipate Opening
* Heavy sleeper
* Fortune favoured
* Blood Thirsty
* Backstabber
* Relentless
* Sexist
* Nimble
* Strider
* Protect
* Thick skin
* Hardened
* Evade

### Armour

While this character build has a a decent perception and may become quite skilled with ranged weapons, you can still use aventail or masked helmets if you are not going to use ranged weapons with this build. Because berserkers fight in melee range, you probably want this unit to wear armour which doesn't have high penalties to movement or armour improved with armour oil or the agile property. You can also improve the movement by giving this character Odinn's necklace from the temple of Ribe.

## Berserker with perception and sense

This character build is basically very similair to a berserker build and it aims to create the perfect berserker when it comes to damage. While it seems odd at first to give a pure melee fighter points in perception since that primary stat has little to do with melee skills, this build gives the berserker access to the passive skill keen eye, which boosts armour piercing by 50%. This will not improve the maximum damage of the berserker, but it will improve the average damage against medium and heavy armoured enemies considerably, especially when the weapons gets more armour piercing. A mercenary is needed as a character for this role.

Compared to the berserker with perception, this build sacrificies Endurance and possibly finesse to improve Sense, which gives access to the leadership skill, which will boost physical and mental resistance, making the character better at resisting negative status effects. The character will be more vulnerable to damage, due to having less hitpoints and lower base damage reductions. For even more temporary damage, this unit should carry at least one bottle of Berserk Tonic in the utility slot during every battle.

### Stats

 Endurance
 Finesse
 Perception
 Sense

Finesse, sense and perception need to be 4, 4 and 6 respectively to have access to neccessary skills. Strength needs to be as high as possible in order to maximise damage, which leaves only a mediocre amount of points for Endurance.

### Major skills and weapons

Since this build is focused on dealing high amounts of damage, it should focus on swords as the main weapon while dual-wielding, the sword skill heavy hit and execute are directed to killing and dealing high damage compared to the axe skills. The second setup can be a bow, but this berserker can never become as good as an archer with that weapon, so the dane-axe or a weapon and shield should be the second weapon set. Spot traps is important to avoid traps, since the berserker could be the first to encounter the traps.

* Sword (first priority)
* Dual wielding (second priority)
* Dane-axe or shield (third priority)
* Spot traps (fourth priority)

At campsites, this unit can be a guard or a scout, so you can invest more points in minor skills.

### Minor skills

By investing skill points in the following minor skills, you can improve the gameplay of this warrior:

* Keen Eye
* Opportunist
* Charge
* Anticipate Opening
* Heavy sleeper
* Fortune favoured
* Blood Thirsty
* Backstabber
* Relentless
* Sexist
* Nimble
* Strider
* Protect
* Thick skin
* Hardened
* Evade

### Armour

While this character build has a a decent perception and may become quite skilled with ranged weapons, you can still use aventail or masked helmets if you are not going to use ranged weapons with this build. Because berserkers fight in melee range, you probably want this unit to wear armour which doesn't have high penalties to movement or armour improved with armour oil or the agile property. You can also improve the movement by giving this character Odinn's necklace from the temple of Ribe.

## Camper

Any party member with decent or high sense, such as Ketill Kolbjarnarson, Roskva the Black, Eydis Asulfsdottir or Morcant can be become a decent camper, due to having access to the witchcraft and healing skill. But instead of choosing one of them, you can also create one from scratch instead.

### Stats

 Endurance
 Finesse
 Perception
 Sense

Because the combat skills of a camper are of secundary importance, it means that the primary stats points can be distributed more freely, instead of picking three primary stats. If the camper must be a reserve combatant as well, you must single out either strength or finesse, if the camper should wield a ranged weapon and a melee weapon. In case you require a more melee focused camper when it comes to primary stats, perception can also be lowered to 1.

### Alternative stats

 Endurance
 Finesse
 Perception
 Sense

Instead of the stats distribution above, you can also consider to give a character for this role the stats in the table to the right.

That way the character can be become a reserve combat for a certain purpose later if it's needed.

### Major skills

The important skills of a camper are:

* The crafting skills (crafting, artisan, armoursmithing)
* Witchcraft
* Tinkering
* Healing
* Heavy sleeper

### Minor skills

* Repairing
* Preserving
* Hunting
* Combat related skills.

### Armour and weapons

If you intend not to let a character designed for this purpose, enter battle, you basically don't need to give any armour or weapons to her or him at all. Or you can give this character the equipment other party members no longer need, due to better equipment being available for combat-focused party members.

In case that the character does enter the fray occasionally, the equipment depends on the primary stats distribution and skill in weapons.

## Healer ultra-hybrid

This healer hybrid build has the goal to create a healer who can act as archer and fighter as well. The big downside of this build, is that defences are poor or just average, depending on how many points have been spent on endurance by the player. If the endurance skill is below 4 points, the character won't have access to the shield skill, which detrimental to its defense abilties. It also determines the base damage resistance and health points. The player can pick strength or finesse as the attribute for melee damage and skills.

### Stats

 Endurance
 Finesse
 Perception
 Sense

The stat distribution for this build is quite liberal. In case a high sense score and reasonable endurance are needed, the player should either maximise Perception or the chosen melee stat, depending on if an archer or a fighter is more desired. As already mentioned, the player can either pick finesse or strength as attribute for melee damage, depending on which skill trees are preferred. The undesired stat should be left at 1. The minimum Sense score is 6 to have access to Healing and it's up to the player whether more points are invested.

### Major skills

* Healing (first priority)
* Bow or sling (second/third priority)
* Axe, sword, dane-axe, knive or spear (second/third priority)
* Witchcraft (fourth priority)
* Leadership (fifth priority)
* Dual-wielding / shield (sixth priority, requires 4 finesse or 4 endurance)

### Minor skills

By investing skill points in the following minor skills, you can improve the gameplay of this build:

* Quick feet (requires 4 finesse)
* Galder
* Heavy sleeper
* Hardened
* Nimble
* Strider
* Backstabber
* Blood Thirsty
* Relentless
* Sexist
* Fortune-Favoured
* Keen Eye
* Night Eye
* Walk your shots
* Charge
* Opportunist

### Armour

Since this character build has a high perception and is skilled in ranged weapons, you probably want to avoid helmets which give penalties to accuracy, though you can still consider steel helmets or aventail helmets for extra defense. Armour with low penalties to movement should only be considered.
When blocking percentages are at least 75%+, you can consider to give this unit armour with high melee DR. This will improve how long the shield will last, since damage to shields is calculated near the same as melee damage and since arrows or bullets can't damage shield, you are relatively safe from ranged attacks as well.

## Odin's chosen warrior

The character build of Odin's chosen warrior, also known as Odin's Murdering Machine, Gungnir Berserker or Thegn of Murder (if the player character gets this build), is a character build with the purpose of creating the perfect warrior for wielding Odin's spear, Gungnir. This spear has the unique ability to pierce all characters in it's path, thus it may inflict damage on two enemies with each normal attack. As such, a character wielding this godly weapon, will become an even better damage inflicter than an elite berserker wielding Excalibur under the right circumstances. The build itself is a slight alteration of the Scout and thief. For even more temporary damage, this unit should carry at least one bottle of Berserk Tonic in the utility slot during every battle.

### Stats

 Endurance
 Finesse
 Perception
 Sense

In order to maximise damage and critical hit chance, Finesse should always be 10. Depending on whether you want a more sturdier warrior or one with the healing ability, Sense should be either four or six, though 8 Endurance is more logical. Perception should be set at 6 solely for the passive skill Keen Eye. The remaining points should be invested in Endurance.

### Major skills

The most important skill is of course the spear. The second set can either be knive and shield or Gae Derg as second spear set, though the weapon is available near the end of the game. Of the support skills, Leadership is recommended to boost physical and mental resistance.

Witchcraft is a nice camping skill and combat skill for this type of build, but if skill points are scarce, the skill should be raised to level 4. Spot traps is also a nice skill, as mobility and preventing getting trapped, are of great importance as well.

Summarised, the important skills are:

* Spear, first priority
* Leadership, second priority
* Knive and shield, third and fourth priority.
* Witchcraft, fifth priority
* Spot traps, sixth priority

### Minor skills

By investing skill points in the following minor skills, you can improve the gameplay of this build:

* Blood Thirsty
* Backstabber
* Charge
* Anticipate Opening
* Keen Eye
* Quick feet
* Nimble
* Strider
* Fortune-Favoured
* Relentless
* Sexist
* Opportunist
* Lone Wolf
* Low Profile (if there aren't many hirdmen with this skill).
* Hardened
* Evade
* Dodge
* Fencer
* Heavy sleeper
* Galder (if there are skill points left)
* Healing (if there any skill points left, requires 6 Sense)

### Armour

The recommended body armour for this build is lammelar armour, with hardened leather and the agile property, as defense and mobility are important. As long as Gungnir isn't obtained and the character fights often in the shieldwall with knive and shield, body armour should provide higher melee reduction over ranged. When Odin's weapon is acquired, damage reductions should be balanced. The equipped helmet should be of the highest quality available.

## Scout / thief

Apart from Nefja Holmunardottir, there are no units who can fill the role of scout within the group, so it could be necessary to create your own. In case you want a player character who is good at stealing as well, this build is suited well for that purpose. If this character is created as the main spear-wielder, it's adviced to give this character 6 Perception in order to have access to Keen Eye so the average amount of damage increases. This build is the counterpart of the warrior with scouting and support skills, which favours strength at the expense of finesse.

### Stats

 Endurance
 Finesse
 Perception
 Sense

The most important stat of this build is finesse. Since a scout fights near the front line, high endurance is needed as well. A perception of 4 is the minimum to have access to spot traps, with 6 perception this unit can be a back-up archer too. To have access to a large amount of support skills, 4 sense is recommended. By giving a character with this build 6 sense, it gains access to healing as well.

### Major skills and weapons

The two most important skill for this build are skill with the knive and spear. The other skills which are important are shield and spot traps. Of the support skills, galder is quite important for the party, but leadership is a great skill if you need an archer with high mental resistances, so the mercenary or player character doesn't get demoralised a lot or get affected by other mental status effects.

* Knive and spear (first priorities)
* Shield (third priority)
* Spot traps (fourth priority)
* Galder (fifth priority)

### Minor skills

By investing skill points in the following minor skills, you can improve the gameplay of a scout.

* Keen Eye (requires 6 perception).
* Fortune-Favoured
* Sexist
* Relentless
* Rebuke and powerful kick (if you are not going to get shield rank 5).
* Backstabber
* Quick feet
* Charge
* Heavy sleeper
* Nimble
* Hardened
* Evade

### Armour

Since this character build has a high perception and is skilled in ranged weapons, you probably want to avoid helmets which give penalties to accuracy, though you can still consider steel helmets or aventail helmets for extra defense. You can use any type of body armour, since high movement is not required.

## Tank healer with high finesse

During the game, you will get Roskva the Black and Morcant to join your hird. They are great characters as healers, but due to their low endurance stat, they don't get high blocking percentages with shields, which makes them vulnerable to harm if they don't wear excellent body armour. As such, you probably need somebody who can fight on the frontlines and who is excellent at restoring health and reviving incapacitated warriors as well.

Since there aren't any pre-made party members with a combination of high sense, finesse and endurance as well, you have to create a mercenary with these primary statistics. If you need a player character with a high Sense score, you should consider this build. This build is also a good pick for a master thief player character.

### Stats

 Endurance
 Finesse
 Perception
 Sense

Because you need a healer who can take a few hits as well, endurance and sense should be at least 8. You should give the healer 8 finesse if his healing skills are not needed, he or she can deal some damage as well.

### Major skills

The two most important skills for this build are healing and shields. In case you want a healer who can lower damage of other characters as well, you should invest skill points in galder ranks 1 and 2, witchcraft rank 1. At campsites, the healer can heal injured characters and have the healer specialised in a second task, preferably witchcraft, so the healer can make the medicine needed to cure injuries. The healer should at least have rank 3 in the knive skill.

* Healing (rank 5, first priority)
* Shields (rank 5, second priority)
* Knives (rank 3 at least, third priority)
* Spear (rank 3 at least, fourth priority)
* Witchcraft (at least rank 3)
* Galder (at least rank 1)

### Minor skills

By investing skill points in the following minor skills, you can improve the gameplay of a tank healer:

* Quick feet (requires 4 finesse)
* Protect
* Leadership (can be invested in up to rank 3)
* Heavy sleeper
* Nimble
* Strider
* Stun
* Charge
* Hardened
* Evade

### Weapons

Because characters of this role are more support units than damage dealers, the primary weapon of this character should be a knive, since tank healers need to endure some hits as well. The secondary weapon can be a spear or a second set of knive and shield.

### Armour

Since this character build has a low perception and thus unskilled in ranged weapons, you can use aventail or masked helmets. Armour with low penalties to movement should only be considered.
When blocking percentages are at least 75%+, you can consider to give this unit armour with high melee DR. This will improve how long the shield will last, since damage to shields is calculated near the same as melee damage and since arrows or bullets can't damage shield, you are relatively safe from ranged attacks as well.

## Tank healer with decent strength

During the game, you will get Roskva the Black and Morcant to join your hird. They are great characters as healers, but due to their low endurance stat, they don't get high blocking percentages with shields, which makes them vulnerable to harm if they don't wear excellent body armour. As such, you probably need somebody who can fight on the frontlines and who is excellent at restoring health and reviving incapacitated warriors as well.

In case you need a a second warrior or want a mercenary better suited for this role than Eydis Asulfsdottir, you should consider this character build. If you need a player character with a high Sense score, you should consider this build.

### Stats

 Endurance
 Finesse
 Perception
 Sense

Because you need a healer who can take a few hits as well, endurance and sense should be at least 8. You should give the healer 4 finesse in case you want to have access to the passive skill quick feet, which allows the healer to manouvre around enemies without suffering an opportunistic attack. In case you don't need quick feet, you should set finesse to 1. The characer should at least have 6 strength, so they can still deal some decent damage in case their healing skills or other support skills aren't need at the moment.

### Major skills

The two most important skills for this build are healing and shields. In case you want a healer who can lower damage of other characters as well, you should invest skill points in galder ranks 1 and 2, witchcraft rank 1. At campsites, the healer can heal injured characters and have the healer specialised in a second task, preferably witchcraft, so the healer can make the medicine needed to cure injuries. The healer should at least have rank 3 in its axe skill.

* Healing (rank 5, first priority)
* Shields (rank 5, second priority)
* Axes (rank 3 at least, third priority)
* Witchcraft (at least rank 1)
* Galder (at least rank 2)

### Minor skills

By investing skill points in the following minor skills, you can improve the gameplay of a tank healer:

* Unarmed weapon skill (rank 1)
* Quick feet (requires 4 finesse)
* Protect
* Leadership (can be invested in up to rank 3)
* Heavy sleeper
* Nimble
* Strider
* Stun
* Charge
* Hardened
* Evade

### Weapons

Because characters of this role are more support units than damage dealers, the primary weapon of this character should be an axe, because axe wielders can make shields wielders a lot easier to take down with the shield hook and cleave ability, so that your warriors and archers can kill them. The secondary weapon can be fists with a second shield in case you want a hirdmen with the grapple ability. Sword with a secondary shield or even the dane-axe can be a good secondary set as well.

### Armour

Since this character build has a low perception and thus unskilled in ranged weapons, you can use aventail or masked helmets. Since the healer needs to heal party members, you probably want the healer to wear armour which doesn't have high penalties to movement or armour improved with armour oil or the agile property. You can also improve the movement by giving this character Odinn's necklace from the temple of Ribe.

When blocking percentages are at least 75%+, you can consider to give this unit armour with high melee DR. This will improve how long the shield will last, since damage to shields is calculated near the same as melee damage and since arrows or bullets can't damage shield, you are relatively safe from ranged attacks as well.

## Warrior with scouting abilities and other support abilties

This character build is very similair to a warrior and archer / warrior hybrid and the counterpart of the scout / thief, which favours finesse instead of strength, but by giving a character a decent perception score, it can be used to gain access to spot traps and Keen Eye. This build can still become a back-up archer if it is desired. Since there isn't any character with high strength and endurance, combined with decent sense and perception, you have to create your own mercenary for this role. It can be a good choice for allround player characters.

### Stats

 Endurance
 Finesse
 Perception
 Sense

Since you need a character with high strength and endurance those need to be at least 8 and 7 respectively. The other stats depend on your style. If you want a decent archer or the Keen Eye ability to improve average damage against armoured enemies, you need 6 perception, else 4 is sufficient for spot traps. If you need a character with access to all support skills, except Snaring and Benediction, you need 6 Sense, with 4 sense you only lose the healing skill. This build leaves no room to invest in Finesse, so that should be 1.

### Major skills and weapons

The three most important skills for this build are axe or sword, shield, spot traps. If dealing damage is the main priority of this unit, you should focus on the sword skill. The second setup depends on your perception score. If you have only 4 perception, dane-axe is the only viable option. With 6 perception, the bow is also worth considering. A second weapon and shield set can be considered too.

* Axe or sword (first priority)
* Shield (second priority)
* Spot traps (third priority)
* Dane-axe or bow (fourth priority)
* Support skills such as leadership and galder. You can consider witchcraft too if this is going to be standard utility skill for this unit at campsites.

At campsites, this unit can be a guard or a scout, so you can invest more points in minor skills.

### Minor skills

By investing skill points in the following minor skills, you can improve the gameplay of this warrior:

* Keen Eye
* Opportunist
* Charge
* Heavy sleeper
* Fortune favoured
* Blood Thirsty
* Backstabber
* Nimble
* Strider
* Relentless
* Sexist
* Protect
* Hardened

### Armour

Since this character build has a high perception and is skilled in ranged weapons, you probably want to avoid helmets which give penalties to accuracy, though you can still consider steel helmet or aventail helmets for extra defense. Armour with low penalties to movement should only be considered.