Veles 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.

Veles

The light infantry, Veles are meant to get in and out of a fight. One of the most aggressive classes in the game, they are the glass cannons that will deal some of the highest damage each battle. They have a unique bar called "focus" which fills with each attack done, making attacks that strike twice such as "one-two" incredibly useful on them, for they have attacks that can be used with the "focus" they acquire. I will showcase which abilities cost focus along with how much in parenthesis. Their three different subclasses are:

Assassin

Assassin's are meant to go into a fight and assassinate their target, benefitting from fighting isolated enemies and flanking them.

Tier one:

• Cheap Shot: Increases Critical Strike Chance to 100% for the next attack. (Costs 2 Focus)
• Lone Wolf: Gain double critical strike chance and 20% dodge chance when 6 hexes away from an ally. (Passive)

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

• Assassinate: +40% damage against leaders. (Passive)
• Sneak Attack: Deals piercing damage, generates two focus, and deals +50% damage on the first two turns.

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

• Focus Matter: +1 Focus Maximum. (Passive)
• Marathon: Applies inexhaustible to self for the turn, making their movement unlimited until they stop moving.

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

• Rush: Restore your action point. – Requires Focus Master to unlock. (Costs 6 focus, has two charges)
• First Strike: Deal +50% increased damage to targets with full health. (Passive)

Assassin is the most aggressive of the Veles subclasses. Several of the abilities synergise with each other to make for heavy-hitting, one-shot attacks. Paired with Marathon, Assassin is the best choice for sneaking up on faraway archers and taking them out before they do any substantial damage, benefitting from the distance due to the Lone Wolf passive.

Duelist

Duelists' main purpose is using their strongest attack, Duel, to make an enemy isolated and take them out with several abilities intended on dealing the most damage to one target, whilst taking the least.

Tier one:

• Shiv: Make a quick off-hand attack at half damage, but does not cost an Action Point. (Costs 3 focus)
• Grants +30% max Focus at the beginning of combat. (Passive)

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

• Bloodthirsty: Killing an enemy grants 1 stack of bloodthirsty, increasing damage by +5% per stack, each stack lasting 2 turns. (Passive)
• Dodge: The next attack on this character has a 50% chance of getting dodged. Lasts two turns. (Costs 4 Focus)

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

• Kill On Ground: Finish off an incapacitated character and inflict -10 Morale on enemies within a 5 hex radius. (Costs 2 Focus)
• Slippery: Dodge will last until the beginning of the character's next turn, and will no longer end after the first attack. – Requires Dodge to unlock. (Passive)

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

• Quick-witted: +1 Focus per attack. (Passive)
• Duel: Calls out a specific enemy, making your next attack against them more powerful, dealing double damage, applying stunned, and bleeding. (Costs 2 Focus, has 1 charge)

Whilst paired with the Assassin subclass, Duelists make for heavy damage when challenging leaders, allowing them to become monsters at destroying the morale of the enemy with Kill On Ground. Their Duel attack allows them to pick up the strongest target and lock them with stuns, bleeding, and double damage. When doing this to leaders paired with the Assassinate strike, it makes them the perfect morale-killing machines.

Brawler

The Brawler is the weakest subclass in terms of direct damage. The best use of this subclass is as a support to set up several kills, or go through several enemies on the battlefield in the same turn. Brawler works best as the second class unlocked rather than the main one.

Tier one:

• Tactical Advance: Applies tactical, which prevents the character from incurring attacks of opportunity. (Costs 2 Focus)
• Pankration: Increases unarmed damage by +100%. (Passive)

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

• Clear Path: Upon killing an enemy, replenish 4 movement points for all allies on a 2 hex radius. (Passive)
• Feint: Move through a hex occupied by an enemy, ending up in the hex behind them.

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

• Pugilist: +1 Focus per attack when using unarmed skills. (Passive)
• Boast: Applies boasting to self. If the character's next skill kills an enemy target, all allies gain +10 Morale. However, if it does not, all enemies game +10 Morale.

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

• Reaper: Every time the character kills an enemy, their Action Point is restored, all used skills are reset, and movement is fully restored. (Costs 2 Focus, has one charge.)
• Reliable: Glancing Blow refunds the spent Action Point. (Passive)

The Brawler is the most mobile during combat. With Reaper allowing the Veles to kill enemies and move aggressively, it allows the character to make several takedowns in one turn, even if the enemy was not a civilian or militia. Clear Path allows them to move between units swiftly. The Brawler is best paired with Assassin to make up for the lack of damage in their tree.

Verdict

Veles are the biggest damage dealers in the battlefield. The Assassin and Duelist subclasses are the highest-damage dealers, but their low resistance makes them glass cannons. Their best use is to assassinate high importance characters such as Leaders, and inflict Morale damage to the enemies on the battlefield, forcing them to cower and working as a form of CC. Although their high risk high reward playstyle is risky, it can be a very fun one to select, albeit a risky one.

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 Triarchus. Make sure to tell me down in the comments below which class you went for!