Triarchus Class Overview in Expeditions: Rome

Expeditions: Rome has a lot of classes, and early on in the game you are tasked with choosing your character's specialisation. This is an important choice since it can't be changed later on in the game, but it's too early to know enough about them to make an informed decision.

In order to prevent that, I decided to write an overview of each of the classes and all of their subclasses, how they work in battle, and what their skills are. That way, you can make the most informed decision possible.

One thing I'd like to mention is that each of the subclasses has two different skills that can be unlocked. One will always be a passive, whilst the other will always be a skill. Players will need to spend one, four, and seven skill points to be able to unlock each of the subsequent tiers.

Additionally, I will only be mentioning the first level of each of the abilities to keep the article as short as possible, given that it is long enough.

Triarchus

The support in battle, a good Triarchus play can turn the tide of battle. These are the most tactical characters, choosing whether fighting aggressively or defensively with them can be the difference between life and death for your crew. Their three different subclasses are:

Medic

The Medic's predominant purpose is to keep allies in the battle for as long as possible with higher healing strength and abilities to cure status effects.

Tier one:

• Field Medic: +25% more Health restored when healing. (Passive)
• Logistics: Applies coordinated to allies, giving allies +1 Movement maximum for the turn.

Tier two: You must spend one skill point in the ability branch to be able to unlock this tier.

• Cure: Provokes Attack of Opportunity, but removes two stacks of Bleeding, one stack of Burned, three stacks of Poisoned, and one stack of Burning from allies. (This ability has two charges)
• Posioner: 5% chance that any of your attacks apply Poisoned. (Passive)

Tier three: You must spend four skill points in the ability branch to be able to unlock this tier. 

• Good As New: Cure now also restores 25% Health per status effect cured. – Requires Cure to unlock. (Passive)
• Revive: Bring an incapacitated target back in action with 20% Health. The target will retain unused Movement, but their Action Point will be spent. Provokes Attack of Opportunity. (This ability has three charges)

Tier four: You must spend seven skill points in the ability branch to be able to unlock this tier.

• Interference: If an enemy within your reach attacks an ally, you get to make your Attack of Opportunity against them.
• Curse: Applies Weakened to enemies within a 6 hex radius, reducing their damage by -50%. (This ability has one charge)

The Medic's capability to revive a fallen target is indispensable for whenever a minor mistake leads to an unfortunate defeat. Picking up a downed target with their movement points intact allows for the capability to recover from battle and prevent injuries in the overworld. 

Flagbearer

Centred around buffing, Flagbearers have the most varied sets of attacks of any subclass present in the game, making them capable of buffing allies for tons of different purposes. 

Tier one:

• War Horn: Applies Rallied to allies within a 6 hex radius, increasing their damage dealt by +25%. (This ability has three charges)
• Bolstering Presence: Applies Bolstered to all adjacent allies, making sure they cannot fail Morale checks. (Passive)

Tier two: You must spend one skill point in the ability branch to be able to unlock this tier.

• Guidance: Downing an enemy awards +3 Morale to allied characters within 3 hexes. (Passive)
• Inspire: Restore the Action Point to an ally who has spent theirs. Provokes Attack of Opportunity. (This ability has three charges)

Tier three: You must spend four skill points in the ability branch to be able to unlock this tier. 

• Ruse: All enemies within the area of effect will move out of that area, with a 1 hex radius, and a range of 8. (This ability has two charges.)
• Orator: Inspire now resets the target's cooldowns as well. – Requires Inspire to unlock. (Passive)

Tier four: You must spend seven skill points in the ability branch to be able to unlock this tier.

• Embarrassing Ruse: Ruse now also inflicts -10 Morale. – Requires Ruse to unlock. (Passive)
• Rousing Speech: Restores 25% Health to all allies within a 6 hex radius. (This ability has one charge)

Flagbearers are the most tactical of the bunch, with several of their abilities serving multiple purposes that will have unique implications in combat. With Ruse allowing them to displace enemies which can force them out of cover for Sagittarius to take advantage of, and a wonderful healing ability that is multi-target makes them perfect to pair up with the Medic subclass.

Destroyer

Who said supports can't deal damage? Destroyers are centred around dishing out tactical damage, such as Armour Shred, and make use of kills in tactical ways.

Tier one:

• Deathblow: Deals piercing damage, inflicts 1 Armour Shred, and deals +50% increased damage against a target who is Stunned, Stuck, Knocked Down, or Sundered; Has a range of 2 hexes. 
• Fortune Favoured: +5 Critical Chance (Passive)

Tier two: You must spend one skill point in the ability branch to be able to unlock this tier.

• Shredder: +1 Armour Shred (Passive)
• Quick Lunge: Deals Piercing damage and applies Crippled, however cannot shred Armour. (This ability has three charges)

Tier three: You must spend four skill points in the ability branch to be able to unlock this tier. 

• Reckless: Applies reckless to self, increasing base damage by +50%, Armour-Shred by +1, but reduces all resistances to 0 and cannot use tactical items. (This ability has two charges)
• Quick Feet: This unit will no longer trigger Attack of Opportunity when moving around an enemy, only when disengaging. (Passive)

Tier four: You must spend seven skill points in the ability branch to be able to unlock this tier.

• Sunder: Sets the target's Shield Strength to 0 before dealing damage, this ability cannot be resisted, it also applies sundered to enemies, which doesn't let them restore the Shield Strength at the beginning of the turn. The ability deals piercing damage and 1 Armour-Shred. (This ability has two charges)
• Finisher: Attacking an enemy who is Stunned, Stuck, or Knocked Down restores 10% Health. If the attack kills the target, the Action Point is refunded and the cooldown of Deathblow is reset. (Passive)

Abilities such as Sunder work perfectly when paired with a Sagittarius. Being able to not only reduce Shield Strength to 0 but also deal damage after the reduction is a unique skill to the Triarchus, and one that can make sure shield-bearers are taken down swiftly. Meanwhile, attacks such as Finisher allow them to restore action points for killing downed targets which will closely mimic the attacks pattern of the Brawler Velens. This is perfect when paired with the Rod of Asclepius, which will make them not only heavy-hitters to shielded targets, but also allow them to provide heals to their allies.

Verdict

Triarchus has two main builds, either going down the Medic-Flagbearer path which will allow for overall support, or Destroyer-Flagbearer, which will ensure they can buff their allies whilst also being capable of adding their own aggression to the battlefield, especially when targeting shield bearers. Having one of each is a great way to make sure that everyone in the party survives, and makes for a good class for your main character.

Make sure to check the other three guides, each depicting all of the abilities and their separate builds and uses on the battlefield, such as the Princeps, Sagittarius, and Veles. Make sure to tell me down in the comments below which class you went for!