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By now, you should already know the ins and outs of the combat in Vanillaware’s latest installment. Instead of giving players a hands-on approach, you must prepare your units before each battle, adding a new and engaging strategic layer. Within these units, you must also aim to make the best formations if you want to make your first hours in Unicorn Overlord a breeze. So, prepare to grab your favorite characters and place them like chess pieces before leading the rebellion through this oppressed nation.
5 Ideal Formations for Your First Hours in Unicorn Overlord
We must clarify that this list is aimed at those who’ve just begun the game. While this installment gives you characters like candy, that doesn’t mean you can use them all simultaneously. You need to expand your units by obtaining renown, which can take a while. However, there are three-person formations that are the best for the early game in Unicorn Overlord, and we want to share them with our fellow rebels.
1. The Classic Formation
We call this the classic one because it has everything you need in a unit. You have your tank or support unit to take the blows with high defense. We’ve also included a healer to top up our tank, and the cherry on top is a DPS such as Clive to do the killing blows. You can make this formation with a Knight, Cleric, Lord, or Fighter. While it might not have the best DPS potential, it is great for the early game and a hard one to kill.
If possible, we recommend deploying this unit first and having it take on enemies as fast as possible. This will be the one that’ll lead the charge, which can be done easily with its high stamina and mobility. You can also swap Alain for Lex if you need protection from ranged attacks in certain stages.
2. The Siege Formation
After a few hours, you’ll notice some stages have barricades and other defenses across the battlefield. This is one of the best formations you can grab in Unicorn Overlord to make quick work of these stages. By placing Mordon as the leader, you can destroy obstacles with ease. You can swap Mordon for Berenice as your leader if the battlefield has no defenses. She has a lot of mobility as a leader and can lead your contingent easily. This is the unit we recommend for clearing the map fast.
One thing to remember is that you might use many items to keep the unit afloat. While Sharon is there to heal Mordon and Berenice, she won’t be enough. Mordon and Berenice aren’t the sturdiest characters, so prepare your healing potions and revival orbs ahead of time.
3. Ranged Formation
Some stages will pit you against groups of Thieves, and due to their dodge skills, they can be extremely annoying. The easiest way to defeat them is by bringing an archer, which this formation aims for. With a tank like Hodrick, you can keep Archers like Rolf safe. This will allow the latter to deal with any slippery characters. This isn’t a DPS-oriented formation, but getting the first hit and letting another unit do the finishing blow is great.
You might see we included a Witch; there’s a reason for it. Since Hodrick and any other tank only do physical damage without bonuses, having a Witch to provide magical damage is great. They can buff your melee fighters to make their attacks hit harder. After that, they also throw magic at foes, making it a solid unit to thin the enemy’s numbers.
4. Cavalry Formation
Josef is heaven-sent in any unit. He can tank, heal, and deal a lot of damage to early-game enemies. This is why we feel this formation is one of the best you can have in Unicorn Overlord. You’ll have to position Josef at the front and let him lead the charge as a leader. He doesn’t have a lot of stamina, but he can reach enemies faster. We recommend deploying this unit later in the stage and letting it sweep the remaining enemies or clear the boss.
This is a cavalry unit because we included Clive as our primary DPS. He hits hard and fast, which is great against certain bosses and enemies with big health. You might feel Rolf doesn’t belong there, but we feel he’s great in the unit, too. With his ranged attacks, he can do damage from afar while staying safe, thanks to Josef’s skills. Overall, it’s a tight formation that will be hard for enemies to break.
5. Dodge Formation
Characters with shields aren’t the only tanks in the game, and Travis is living proof of that. Thieves such as Travis boast good PP, which allows them to dodge attacks instead of blocking them. This is great because you don’t trade DPS for a shielder. Due to certain weapons, Travis can do a lot of damage and even inflict poison while evading enemy attacks.
In this formation, we included Chloe as the lane-clearer and healer, and Aubin, who deals considerable damage and brings the coveted Parting Blow skill. After some experimentation, we saw this formation as a pretty tight one in many fights. It will struggle against spear characters and ranged units, but it can take on Gladiators, Fighters, and even Sellswords.
In the end, you should experiment with the formations you want. There is no shortage of characters in the game, and creating a new unit might pave the way for some interesting combat situations. However, these should help you during the game’s early hours while you focus on liberating the first areas of Cornia.
