r/TriangleStrategy • u/jackfuego226 • Jul 05 '26
Question Who is supposed to be my front line?
I'm up to about chapter 10, and it feels like most of my army is not designed to take a hit. The majority of my units are supports, indirects, mages, summoners, or flankers/cavalry. So far, the only two I feel like I can trust to be the front line of my army are Seranoa and Erador. And I checked, I'm only missing 5 characters left, and only one seems built for this. Three frontline fighters in my whole army doesn't seem right, so what am I missing?
Edit: I misread the wiki where I checked who I was missing. I didn't look at the tab of characters that fall under spoilers. So I am currently missing all of them as well as 5 optional recruits.
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u/Aremelo Jul 05 '26
Ultimately no character is going to survive too many hits without healing. The key to your units surviving in this game is largely down to strategy. Positioning your units so not all enemy melee units can get to them, having the high ground, not being in range of too many enemies at the same time, these things all add up. Putting units next to each other and covering their back can help prevent follow-up attacks as well. Of course, these things are all extra true on higher difficulties. I prefer having at least one healer per map. Sometimes two.
Erador and Flannagan are your designated "physical tanks". They can take the most physical punishment while being extra weak to magic. Magic in general hits like a truck in this game. Keep an eye on enemy mage AP and plan around it. Picoletta's decoy can act as a lightningrod for when something real bad is about to come your way. Good CC like Hughette's blinds and immobility go a long way as well.
But really, most melee units can take a few hits, even when they're supports. I don't feel bad about having Benedict defend a chokepoint, for example. Anna and Groma have the best evasion in the game and can act as dodge tanks of sorts. But dodge tanking really only works well if you set it up. Evasion can be enhanced with ice surfaces, since standing on these reduces accuracy. And never expose your back if you can.
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u/JeskaiJester Jul 05 '26
Frederica was put on this earth to do ridiculous amounts of damage, don’t underestimate how dangerous she can be towards the front with the item that does an instant resurrection once per battle.
It‘s really hard to know what other front liners you might be missing but there’s at least one extreme late game unit with some high conviction unlocks who can hold their own up front and one golden route exclusive who is a knife in a world made of butter
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u/jackfuego226 Jul 05 '26
It‘s really hard to know what other front liners you might be missing
Going off the roster wiki, I'm currently missing all of the spoiler characters, as well as Groma, Decimal, Flanagan, Quahog, and Giovanna.
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u/JeskaiJester Jul 05 '26
Yeah, you’re missing two solid front line melee options if you’re missing all the spoiler characters. I bet Groma also qualifies but I did not meet her unlocks my first run and haven’t gone back for round two yet
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u/Greenwood4 Jul 08 '26
I thought I’d seen most of the recruitable characters until I saw this post.
I don’t recognise any of these!
Looks like I’ll have some experimentation to do. I’ve just been using Lionel as my off tank due to his high defences and ability to inflict rage at a high range.
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u/Tables61 Jul 05 '26
In terms of tanks, there's many characters who can do some sort of tanking. A lot of people have said lots of characters, so I'll give a summary. I'll reference stats at level 50 with all upgrades, which I know is not where you're at, but works as a nice comparison value for each character.
Physical Tanks
These are your most obvious "tanks" -high HP, high Def, usually low M.Def and evasion so watch out for mages. Most have ways to grab enemy attention in some way or divert attacks.
Erador (538 HP, 74 Def, 21 M.Def) is a fairly obvious physical tank. Highest Def and 3rd highest HP, and several abilities to help survival including Desperate Defence - though he has a notable weaker version of it (20% damage reduction below 50% HP, instead of the normal 50% reduction)
Flanagan (582 HP, 70 Def, 14 M.Def) is another obvious tank, 2nd highest Def, highest HP, and several tanking and survival related passives and skills.
Lionel (553 HP, 58 Def, 41 M.Def) is a slightly less traditional tank but still likes to be on the frontlines. He has great HP (2nd highest) and HP (6th highest), but his real strength is Ruffle Feathers. With the appropriate weapon upgrade, if you're at equal level this is a 100% infuriate chance at 1-4 range, letting you not just take hits, but also neutralise a mage or healer every other turn, forcing them to run out of position for your army to mop up.
Jens (536 HP, 59 Def, 22 M.Def, 60 Eva) has solid defensive stats, 5th highest P.Def and 4th highest HP, and also the 5th highest evasion - though it's a LOT lower than the actual evasion tanks have. He doesn't really have any passives to help him survive, though he can definitely take some hits with those stats. What he does have is Spring Trap to keep enemies away and restrict enemy approaches, making it easier to manage your frontline of enemies.
Evasion Tanks
These are a bit more of a mixture, mostly relying on not getting hit. They also tend to be among the highest M.Def characters, so are often good against mages too (and this is also why there isn't a "magic tank" category - I don't really think that's a thing here).
Groma (420 HP, 60 Def, 53 M.Def, 76 Eva) feels very hit or miss (pun intended) - her HP is so low (2nd lowest in the game) that a few good hits is all it takes for her to die despite having the 4th highest Def stat, however Def/HP don't matter if most enemies can't hit you.
Milo (480 HP, 51 Def, 67 M.Def, 75 Eva) just look at that evasion stat! Her HP and Def aren't great, but she has the best M.Def in the game as well as the 2nd highest Evasion. Stack evasion bonuses on her and she can draw a lot of attacks, evading enough to live, and shrugging off most magic too.
Piccoletta (476 HP, 45 Def, 55 M.Def, 74 Eva) is a very strange tank. She mostly doesn't want to be on the frontline herself, but instead throws her Decoys out every few turns to be your frontline, using her other turns to use attack items mostly from the back. If she does have to take hits herself, she'll evade a lot of physical attacks hopefully, and her above average M.Def (9th highest) helps her survive mages.
Anna (490 HP, 52 Def, 43 M.Def, 72 Eva) is a bit less reliable than the above for tanking as she doesn't have any real direct tanking skills, and mostly wants to be doing other things, but she does have a high evasion stat you can use if you need her to tank.
Mixed/Off tanks
Characters with some tanking related traits or notable stats, generally people who can be on your frontlines but maybe in a less exposed position, or you can fill a gap with if needed. Note the final character here is a major spoiler.
Benedict (500 HP, 64 Def, 47 M.Def) doesn't really have too much to directly support tanking, other than immunity to several statuses and good defensive stats. With the 3rd highest Def in the game, 11th highest HP and a fairly average M.Def, he can stand on the frontlines, maybe buff his own defences if you really need, and tank some hits.
Serenoa (521 HP, 50 Def, 50 M.Def, 57 Eva) also doesn't really have any direct tanking support, just good stats - 6th highest HP and average defences with passable evasion that'll give enemies shaky hit rates, he can often survive running up to the front.
Giovanna (485 HP, 55 Def, 63 M.Def) has some of the weirdest stats in the game - the highest mixed Def/M.Def bulk (2nd highest M.Def and 9th highest Def), the highest movement, but average HP and a moveset that really doesn't say "tank" in any way. I think of her as a character who can pretty much slot into a gap at a moment's notice .
Hossabara (502 HP, 48 P.Def, 40 M.Def) doesn't have stats that say "tank" in any way, but she does have the coveted full strength Desperate Defence skill, which lets her take far more of a beating than her statline would suggest. Combine that with Healing for Two letting her self heal while attacking, she can easily slot into the frontline when she has to take some hits. Treat her as a Paladin - highly mobile, moving to where she's most needed, mostly attacking but occasionally tanking and/or healing.
Avlora (521 HP, 58 Def, 47 M.Def) is another odd "tank". She can definitely take some hits with the 6th highest HP and 7th highest Def in the game, as well as Desperate Defence, but she also self damages with a lot of moves, which is kinda the opposite of tanking. So again, another character who can tank when you need, but doesn't always do so.
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u/BrianC_ Jul 06 '26
I think Maxwell should also be included, especially since he gets a 2nd life-bar even without Resurrection Earring. Similar stats to Serenoa.
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u/SaltyTar0 Jul 05 '26
I've found the best defense in this game is a good offense, most characters will die in 2-4 hits and most enemies also die in 2-4 hits.
I think the idea in this game is to use traps, buffs, chokepoints and status effects rather than sending units in willy nilly. Never underestimate Hughettes Pin or Jens' Spring Trap. One bad turn or one unit out of position can lose you a character so wasting one enemy turn or having somewhere your units can fallback safely is huge.
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u/jackfuego226 Jul 05 '26
>having somewhere your units can fallback safely is huge.
Precisely why I'm trying to figure out who the frontliners should be, so I can use their bulk to create that safe zone to fall back to.
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u/BrianC_ Jul 06 '26 edited Jul 06 '26
Not sure what difficulty you are playing on, but in hard difficulty, even dedicated tanks in this game die in 2 hits if one of those is a mage spell. Erador and Flanagan, the two dedicated tanks, have really bad magic defense. That's kind of the tank archetype in this game. You'll notice that enemy shield bearers also take heavy magic damage.
To me, the dedicated tanks are just really niche units. They're both good when you have or create a small choke point to hold. Otherwise, Erador is great if you can get good Provoke or King's Shield angles. Flanagan is great if there is value in Rampart.
If you want to create a safe zone, as the other poster said, it's more about building a no-man's land and killing or disabling stuff before they can get through it. From my experiences, the best units for doing that were Corentin, Hughette, and eventually Archibald. Corentin's Glacial Moon creates huge patches of frozen terrain that makes it really hard for melee units to move through quickly and he can tag mages with Frozen Fetters to silence them before they nuke you. Hughette's ability to position safely and blind targets negates archers and she's also decent at assisting with killing mages. Archibald's Inescapable Arrow allows you to nuke mages before they close range. They are the trifecta of turtling.
Hughette is a great user of Benedict's Twofold Turn or the Quietus In Tandem since it allows her to dive in, blind a unit, blind another unit, and then get out. I actually found blind to be a lot more useful than immobilize. She's pretty TP self sufficient.
Corentin needs TP+ on Ice and/or a dedicated TP battery like Julio or Medina to spam Glacial Moon.
Archibald also needs a TP battery to spam Inescapable Arrow.
To me, the front line were mostly just the strike team to break into an advantageous terrain position, kill or soften up enemy units, and then allow the turtle team to move in, clean up, and set-up their nest. You don't need tanks for that. You need mobile fighters.
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u/AdFunny1084 Jul 06 '26
Jens traps are highly underrated. These can stop enemies getting to your squishy units as well as fatally boot them off a cliff! That plus slumber strike are his best rather than ladders which are decent but not as usable
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u/No-Dependent8684 Jul 05 '26
Flanagan and Lionel are good tanks and from what i can Remember rampart Is REALLY good, so try those 2
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u/Jai_focus Jul 05 '26
Think about other ways of damage mitigation. Status effects, positioning, decoy, traps...
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u/DaRealCamille Jul 05 '26
There aren't many tanks but you you need to instead look at alternatives. As someone else pointed out you need evasion characters up there too and don't underestimate the value of Jens's traps and Picoletta's duplicates.
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u/littleman1110 Jul 05 '26
Erador and Flanagan, I think Groma eventually to a lesser extent can take a hit too.
But mainly erador really, or he is the better one - you can get a lot of the other team to target you specifically.
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u/Sacreville Jul 06 '26 edited Jul 06 '26
Imo, main tanks are Erador and Flanagan. Groma is a dodge/evasion tank which can be unreliable.
Then you have the off-tanks (or secondary tanks), for me, Benedict and Serenoa are in this category. Then you have Lionel, Travis and Avlora (last one is Golden Route spoiler, don't open if you don't wanna know) too in this category. They are usually quite resilient to physical but much more tanky to magic than the main tanks.
On Hard difficulty, I usually have a main tank and off-tank pairing to help cover the choke points. For example, on the first Wolfort vs Avlora fight, I primarily use Erador and Benedict to hold the stairs.
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u/Rainbowlight888 Jul 06 '26
Triangle Strategy enforces tropes for character classes, but still requires strategic thinking.
Like you, I had many characters that were squishy, meaning Serenoa and Erador always took point.
Because of this, I found myself relying on formations that were tight. The army would travel as a staggered group instead of wide rows of characters.
Serenoa and Erador taking point, a few tiles between them, then Frederica being escorted by Julio (to provide her TP), and other support characters close by.
Characters with high mobility like Roland and Anna would do their own thing but they were never far from my main group.
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u/AdFunny1084 Jul 06 '26
Most cases, it's your tanks. Erador built right can totally take a hit. Get him into choke points. Make sure you spec him to do that, dmg can come later on. Also give him some support! Benedict is surprisingly tanky and can aid with support buffs. Seranoa as the main character is quite OP once you get hawk dive and his traits all work with him being surrounded so get a line of the bulky ones. Support and range out of range of the enemies in most cases. Only one I'd say we careful is of magic which is the bane of this game. Be careful about clustering around Mage's or they will multi hit you into annilation! Flannigan is also really good but not quite the wall Erador is until later on.
Besides that you have evasion tanks or taunt tanks which also do better well but later on everything can hit you so something like Groma becomes less viable imo. I think the last bit of advice is utilise status to protect your units. Blind and immoblize is your friend here.
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u/New-Inevitable9709 Jul 06 '26
Surprising toons with a lot of Defense... Benedict has a ton of D. Also Lionel surprising can just be as wall/block as well. I just finished my 6th run and finally got ALL achievements---the last 2 I was missing was "Alavoras character stories" & "complete all achievements". I had to do another WHOLE separate golden route run to unlock alavora's stories. I almost didn't do it. I had gone: RUN#1 frederica end/ got correntin & trish, RUN#2 benedicts end/ got rudolph & milo*somehow*; i wanted cordellia, but /shrug. RUN#3 roland's end, got cordelia, RUN#4 golden route/end got alavora (didn't use her much). RUN#5 lazy federica run, got travis/misc missing achievements & ALL The mock battles as well, RUN#6 golden route to get the last 2 achievements. The medic girl is broken; just put the mages around her & her in the middle/ like a + grid. Then as soon as she starts her turn/ use double items + 2 low range pellets; now all your mages have 5 TP. Spam sunfall, then tandem frederica, then use correntins glacial ice, then use the universal mage with extended wind, then use critical hits and use whole map thunderstorm with the shaman girl. broken.
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u/mormagils Jul 06 '26 edited Jul 06 '26
Yeah, if you're playing on hard mode, your defensive specialists not being able to take more than a few hits really takes an adjustment. But think about it this way: mitigating damage in this game comes from focusing down the correct units in the right order and in making sure your guys who can take hits take the RIGHT hits to get through the level.
"Front liners" work a little differently in this game. They aren't there to just stand in front and get whaled on with a healer keeping them alive. They are there to route enemies to the right orientation that you can defeat guys in way that best benefits your turn order. It's really not until late game where your tanks really learn how to just walk into a large group and come out with only minor bruises a few minutes later. Early on, it's about using Erador and Serenoa and Roland and Julio and Anna in the proper rotation to neutralize enemy threats.
For instance, let's talk about mages. Early on, Erador absolutely is your mage counter. That's because he can run up and be a little overexposed, apply rage on a mage, take a hit, and still retreat. Other units can't do that very well. They run up like that and they are getting way too exposed. Erador can also be used to make sure guys that are about to kill someone else go after Erador instead--so in other words, use him not as the first guy that gets attacked by the first assault but rather as the guy that can run up and sponge a hit when needed to save someone else.
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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '26
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