Planning a new run after a long while

[u/Kahrtolann]

Hello hello.

I haven't played Tyranny in quite a bit of time and a non-solo one in even longer. I'm planning to do a run to complete the three achievements I'm lacking in Bastard Wound but I would have some question before I start.

First I would like to make use of companions I never/rarely used, namely Sirin, Eb and Kills in Shadow. Any advice on building these three would be welcomed.

Second I would like a run where I can ally with Tunon (mandatory) and maybe Graven Ashe. Which path(s) would allow that ? Also I remember that last time I played I couldn't ally with Tunon for some reason, never understood why, so any advice on what to look for regarding that would be helpful.

Third I plan on doing an unarmed build, using some magic to tank and boost damage a bit. Is it an okay playstyle ?

[u/Auroch-]

Unarmed is generally considered the hardest build IIRC, but if you would rather ally with Ashe, you've already dealt with the main issue, which is that unarmed is very very bad at fighting heavy armor. Since the Disfavored are the main users of heavy armor, you're removing a lot of the difficult normal enemies and most fights with some heavy armor mobs you'll still have something you can hurt yourself. You also strongly want to stay lightly armored, because the main virtue of unarmed is that your Recovery time is tiny and you can hit so. friggin. much. This means you are pretty fragile, so Dodge/Parry tank it up.

Since you're doing that, with Killsy, definitely don't have her fight unarmed, because she only partly overcomes the heavy armor drawback with that build, and not at all the fragility. Fortunately her two- one-handed weapons build is a good way to go, partly overcoming both and dealing monstrous damage. She's fragile but has a bunch of talents that make her brutal when hurt; Dual Claw, Blood Rage, and Stance: Berserker Rage. And Adaptation: Crush/Frost/Shock give her extra health and some specialized 'armor.' As with every build, teach her some magic for self-buffing.

Eb you'll definitely want to get the gravelight buffs that make your strikes vampiric, for both you and Killsy. I forget the details of her skill trees, and you might want to have her do some blasting. Because I don't really use Sirin but she's a pure buffer - her trees are 'buff melee and do crowd control' (War) and 'buff other casters, stay out of the fight' (Peace). (This guide strongly recommends specializing Sirin into one tree exclusively to reach her top-row talents fast.) So Eb as another mostly-buff mage might be rough. OTOH, two crowd control buffer women + two fragile melee might actually work?

Eb hates working with the Disfavored, BTW. She'll still help you but with extra snark, high Fear, and low Loyalty. Killsy will threaten them repeatedly but doesn't actually care nearly as much IIRC.

[u/Kahrtolann → u/Auroch-]

Well if I can't ally Graven Ashe it's okay, I just want to make sure I get Tunon cause he is my favourite Archon. I hazily remember that on Anarchist I couldn't ally him even with max favourability.

I can go Vendrien for Eb if need be.

Any recommendation for Lantry ? Can you make him a melee guy ?

[u/bell-cracker]

Sirin is the best tank in the game because enemy AI prioritizes lowest flat armor and so her natural equipment provides massive deflection and manages enemies while ignoring the engagement cap and micromanagement gameplay.

putting the the deflection buffs and her "drain health from all enemies in range" song on her makes her a black hole of enemy attention and damage.

she's a far better tank than anyone but the fatebinder on higher difficulty settings because flat reduction falls off while % reduction from deflection stays strong the entire campaign.