Recently, mostly due to Nemsy’s release, I’ve been looking for the ‘best’ Nature party composition in its latest iteration, with different mercs suited best for different purposes, i.e. having the flexibility for all sorts of encounters. It’s been challenging for me to pick only six, though, that would make the ‘ultimate’ 6-member team. My current contenders are:
- Malfurion
One of the ‘founding members’, his benefits are probably well-known to experienced players nowadays… Speeding up Nature abilities, healing with the Liferoot staff and a few extra options.
- Nemsy
The most recent star. Boggy with Bog Moss gives so much safety and survivability, that it takes the party to a whole new level, in my opinion. Yes, this playstyle is a bit slow, but very safe and reliable.
- Bru’kan
Another of the ‘founding members’ and the classic trio of Malfurion, Guff and Bru’kan. Ramping up Nature damage, big Chain Lightning available on turn 3 and so on — that’s about it.
- Guff
One more ‘founding member’. Although the original trio can still be played (and occasionally is probably still the best), it’s more about ‘Malfurion — Nemsy — Bru’kan’ or ‘Malfurion — Nemsy — Guff’ now if one wants to go with a lot of casters. It’s a bit slower in terms of damage output, but then again, the original version would often accumulate excessive damage by turn 3 anyway, while the new one is much more durable (for instance, now Malfurion is much safer from those casters, or you could protect two blue mercs against enemy fighters with proper positioning).
Compared to Bru’kan, Guff probably offers less total damage over several turns, is a bit focused on a single target to a point of potential overkills and lacks AoE, however, he can do more immediate burst damage in order to take down a priority target as fast as possible, so the main choice for a ‘Malfurion and two casters’ setup is probably between these two.
- Lady Anacondra
Another classic one, used as a backup or a budget alternative even in the original Nature party. She’s been improved considerably and now has alternate options in the form of big-viper manoeuvres, however, for this version with Nemsy, it is not what I have in mind (let’s say it’s a different story), so for me Anacondra has been doing mostly old-fashioned things in the form of big damage to opposing casters, with a potential for some extra healing — while that viper can occasionally also do something.
- Cookie
Although he’s probably not that impressive as a Nature caster on the battlefield nowadays, but extra 9 HP are still a thing.
- Yu’lon
She can do massive damage against some green attackers or even certain bosses (Corrupted Murlocs or the Fish of N’Zoth, for instance… maybe less so with more recent bounties… although there’s Moroes, where she is probably the key for any party to manage the boss the easiest way, and Silas, even though I don’t like this particular bounty) in a Nature party and even do the aforementioned big-viper manoeuvres as a back-up plan (another reason to choose the Jadefire Spear for equipment).
Notable omissions:
- Elise Starseeker
I’ve tried her alongside Malfurion and Nemsy, even giving the Talon Trinket a go once again, however, it turns out that with this slow playstyle of sitting behind Boggy, flinging Nature spells and healing, Anacondra would probably do more damage and have more reliable healing, making her more effective and practical.
- Aranna Starseeker (yep, the Starseeker sisters)
Although her first equipment is interesting, and her bench-jumping manoeuvres can be impressive, once again, there are probably more practical and efficient alternatives, such as old Bru’kan.
- Morgl
While he can be good in a budget or ‘big-viper’ version of a Nature team, this story isn’t about it, and we’ve got enough (arguably better) casters to choose from already.
- Other Nature mercs
There are some situational ones.
As we can see, it’s 7 worthy candidates, but only 6 places in a party. So far, I’ve been thinking of giving either Cookie, Yu’lon or Guff a break. Any thoughts?
[UPD]
Alright, I suppose I might post an update, while at it. With the reworked treasure system, Malfurion, Guff and Anacondra can find ‘Revealed in Moonlight’, which is quite strong — and encourages taking as many Night Elves, Trolls and Taurens in the team as you can, without compromising the efficiency, of course, so those Murlocs and Dragons might have a rest. There’s no reason to not take good old Bru’kan either — besides, he has some interesting options to discover, too. Nemsy is a treasure in her own right 
, even if you sacrifice a bit of potential damage for that safety, and I wouldn’t go without her to some dangerous areas, such as Darkmoon etc. As for the final slot — if you’re not carrying a merc, you might even take someone like Bwonsamdi for that potential synergy with Nemsy and that treasure — or any other suitable merc, according to the reasoning above.