ISO: Advice from veterans, team setup

Hey guys, I am getting a little frustrated and thought I'd ask the group for advice.

I'm an older gamer, and I don't know all the ins and outs of this game. I am looking for help deciding what combinations of characters might make decent combo. Some I have are good characters, but they tend to get defeated because I probably don't know who best to pair them up with. Maybe I have a good combination and just don't realize it? If anyone sees this and can look at roster, and give some ideas on good combos etc, I sure would appreciate it.

I drive during the day so I will check back in the evenings to see if there's any good pairings I could make. Thank you all again!

Edit: my Trooper handle (I think that's the term?) says Thane-3018

Hi fellow trooper,

I also recently started this game, early September (Senjutsu made me nostalgic to reinstall the game; I last played in 2016... the game has changed a lot, I basicly re-learnt to play it ).
I'll tell you what I learned in this period, I hope others will add / comment also if I'm speaking nonsense, so I can also learn from it :)

1. There is no generic good setup
You always have to adapt to the content you're running, be it the story campaign, LoL, BNW, daily/weekly dungeon (gold key) or whatever dungeon from the rift. Even different difficulty levels may require different setup.
Since not just the players but the enemies are also using talismans - certain battles require preparation.

2. Read the guides section of the forum
It has some very good topics worth reading like (just to pick a few really important generic topics) :
https://forum.ironmaidenlegacy.com/s...er-s-Guide-v-1

https://forum.ironmaidenlegacy.com/s...set-Management

3. Stuff to look for
In general you'll want to look for a balanced party to cover major roles, just like in any rpg, but that alone will not guarantee success. There is really no one-and-only way to overcome even any one obstacle in the game, most of the challenges may be handled multiple way.
Still in general, you'll want to
- have some heavy damager
- have someone to debuff your enemy ( remove beneficial/golden effects )
- have someone to remove debuffs on self/enemies ( remove harmful/silver effects )
- have someone to buff self/allies ( grant beneficial/golden effects )
- have someone with the ability to heal allies
- have someone with the ability to resurrect allies

The above roles are of course more than the free slots in any party so obviously you'll want a setup that contain toons where the roles overlap.

This is the backbone - now you top all of this with various talismans, talisman combos, keeping in mind that talisman stats _should_ align your toons stats.
for eg. if your toon is a gunner dealing physical dmg, you will want to look for 'will' type talismans for him/her and the very least 'bulwark' types. you may also want to consider warrior talismans on colorless lots for said character on colorless slots, preferably the 'fierce' type. Cosmic talismans are especially useful as you can put it to any slot with set items that would otherwise appear on a 2-4 pieces of set talismans...

If one combination doesn't work, and you get stuck, try to analyze the problem.
What went wrong, why did I die? How could I prevent it, what options do I have?
The Compedium can be a great help, to defeat foes or even build tactics. You need to disable passive for Avalon? Check the compedium entry on 'Effects', look up passive disable and perfect disable (almost every effect has a basic and an elevated version be it positive or negative effect), and you can check what toons have that ability in any way - and you can check which ones do you own of them.
As you progress further in the game, you'll have access to better and better toons and the ones you thought to be hella strong become weak by time.

All in all, there's no telling what works best 'in general', it's all a complex thing, a mixture of what you are facing with, what's the problem you have, what toons and talismans you have access to.
Oh and Dark Road Eddie is one of the best Eddie in game, so be very glad you have one (I don't).

About any of the characters can battle. Most are obsolete in some way after about a month from releases. The biggest trick I learned is. Max all with skill shards. Get all the relics from the arena store, and work to get the current talisman. As you build your character, be sure to read and learn their skills. Build your Talisman choice based on this. You'll find they will hit harder and survive better. This is rather general, but you'll find it will work across the board. The best advise is to enjoy the game. Go at your own pace and don't worry about the latest greatest thing. It all comes to you in time.

Your characters that are maxed awakened will serve you well in all modes of gameplay. bespoke talismans.

Characters that I found very useful as a newer player are:
Ben Breeg Eddie,
Van Helsing Eddie,
Grim Reaper Eddie,
Sentinel Icarus,
Assassin Trickster,
Magus Chopper,
Assassin Musashi,
Gunner The Prisoner

And my absolute favourite early character that's fairly easy to get, the Sentinel War Dog with Brave talisman set if possible.

Unfortunately there are a lot of 5 star toons in that list and I was lucky to get some of them early on but if you take care and try to compliment one character with skills from another you should find your feet quite quickly.