Best starting parties for Adaptive & Region-locked modes in Wartales

If you’re new to turn-based strategy RPG Wartales the first thing you’ll need to do is choose a starting party. This can be tricky with no prior knowledge of the game, so read on for my guide to the best starting parties in Wartales for both adaptive and region-locked.

Best starting parties in Wartales - Region-locked or adaptive

No matter which of the five options you choose, you’re going to begin the game as a group of four companions. Your choice will also make a difference to your starting resources, which may affect your decision too. If you're not sure which game mode to choose, check out my guide about choosing adaptive or region-locked.

If you’re playing region-locked the chances are you’ll soon be expanding your party. Later in the game, you’ll need to expand to upwards of 20 companions, so the initial four you choose are of less importance. 

If you intend to go with the adaptive option you can instead choose to go with a very small band, even reducing the number from the initial four. This is because battle numbers will scale to be a challenge, allowing you to customize your play style. Whichever mode you choose, the ranking below remains the same. 

Related: Wartales Max Party Size & Optimal Size

All starting parties in Wartales, ranked

These are the five starting options available to you. 

5. Bandits looking to escape the Guard

Starting with a bunch of stolen items (2 Braised Chicken and 6 Cloth) is, frankly, annoying. The guard will take them from you if you walk past them, so you’re immediately on the back foot. The starting setup isn’t great either, with three very squishy archers and rangers and just a brute for a tank. There’s pretty much nothing I like about this setup. 

4. Young farmers looking for a better life

Starting with +10 Bread will keep you fed for a while but food isn’t usually hard to come by. The -2 Happiness is temporary so not much of an issue. It's the party make-up I’m not keen on. Brutes are OK tanks, but not great, while neither your two spearmen nor your archer are meant to be engaged. Unless you intend to immediately find and recruit another tank, this is a poor option all around. 

3. Men escorting merchants who lost their employer

While this makes you sound a bit stupid, it isn’t the worst starting setup! 150 Krowns gives you some nice spending power once you find Stromkapp, where you’ll also be able to buy or make medicine if you need it. Starting with a swordsman, brute, and warrior gives you all three shades of tank to experiment with, while the spearman offers a little range and some nice DPS. The lack of a ranger (backstabber) is a shame, but otherwise, it's a solid lineup. 

2. Apprentice friends looking for adventure

This is a well-balanced team containing a tank (swordsman), tank/DPS (brute), ranged threat (archer), and a thief-style DPS (ranger). You start with +30 Influence, which is nice as it can be hard to find early on and is very useful. You’ll start with -5 Raw Materials, mainly used for repairs. But as long as you head north-west early and find the town Stromkapp, you’ll have access to a forge to buy more. 

1. Deserters fleeing an abusive captain

This is my favorite starting destiny in terms of roleplaying and you don’t need to worry about the 50 Suspicion you start the game with. Suspicion drops with time, and 50 isn’t enough to worry the guards, so if you keep your nose clean it’ll have no effect. The +10 Raw Materials is great for repairing armor too, so it's a win-win. A swordsman and a warrior equals two great tanks, while the ranger and archer cover melee and ranged DPS. This is an excellent starting position. 

Related: How to get a ship in Wartales Pirates of Belerion (map)

Choosing your Wartales destiny - the best options

Once you’ve settled on your companions and starting gear, you have a few more choices to make these are my favorites, along with a back-up option for each that may suit your style better.

Your companions…

• Are cunning fighters: This gives all your companions a 10 percent bonus to combat experience and combat influence gains. Influence is an important currency throughout the game, while extra experience is particularly useful if you’re playing region-locked. 
• Show incredible resilience: A 10 percent increase to your constitution means more health and carrying capacity - always a good thing! 

If they had a flaw, it would be…

• A very hard time getting up: Increased danger during sleep really isn’t an issue. You can usually find a place where there is no danger, such as a town. Plus, if you do get attacked and don’t want to fight, just reload a recent save.
• An uncommon bout of bad luck: I don’t tend to rely on Critical Hits in the game, so having it reduced by three percent isn’t a burden. 

Note that you can also choose a positive Trait for each of your companions on the final screen (Customisation) by clicking each one. I prefer to let it be randomized, but if you do want to choose they’re all good options.

For more information and help with Wartales, check out Where to find Ornate Keys in Wartales, my Wartales Relationships Guide, and more right here at Pro Game Guides!