I keep seeing people bring up the command table and not really understanding how it works, and explaining in other threads how it can be handled, but I figured making a big thread and doing it that way might get more visibility and help people out.
As a brief piece of insight, command tables this expansion are a callback to old school RPG’s where you had troops and named officers and you could place them in certain slots. This is done deliberately, and for the sake of trying to capture an element of strategy, which when understood, makes life easier.
On the topic of that, I’ll bullet point some things, and then expand upon them in greater detail.
- Positioning matters. When discussing the new command table for this expansion, if you look at your troops and your companions, each of them have a symbol next to their portrait, highlighting what type of unit they are. The hunter’s bow is ranged dps, the healer cross is obviously a healer, shield a tank, sword a melee dps. Putting your people in the right positions will save lives. Tanks in front along with burly melee dps, and ranged in the back, especially your healer (unless your mission has a specific thing which targets the backline).
- You are not limited to the amount of troops you can place in a mission. You should always go into missions with a full 5 man team. Troops can be placed as much as you want. The only requirement is one companion be on the team. So for example, for Venthyr players, when all you have is Nadjia, you can put 4 troops with her to ensure she has a full squad.
- Percentages are gone. It is not about mixing and matching affixes and getting to 100%. There’s a little bit more RNG here when discussing the command table because it’s done like more of a traditional RPG. Every mission has a level, and some missions have special affixes such as fire attacking only the backline, or healers being in the back (which makes a unit like Theotar, or cleave units really good). Successfully be around, or above the level, and positioning your troops / companions properly will lead to success.
- Troop level is determined (special shoutout to another forum goer whose name escapes me who actually figured that one out) by an average of your companion’s levels. In other words, if you have three people floating around level 20, then your troops will also be close to level 20. If you suddenly get a new companion who is level 1, your troops will go down.
As a basic tip, when thinking about who to send on what mission, a lot of it depends on what the reward is, and what the point to the mission is.
In other words, if a mission awards basic anima (mostly 5 anima more than it would cost to actually send them on the mission), 1 companion and 4 troops should be more than enough. If you wanna play safe, 2 companions and 3 troops is enough. For people who have been doing Torghast and keeping up with their Renown campaign, you can easily send 2x3 on two missions to double dip and get something more. Same thing for something like crafting materials, which occasionally pop up.
For more thoroughly challenging missions (Eruzal, I’m looking at you), sending all four companions you have currently at max health + one troop in proper positions will help you down this mission. If you are too low a level, don’t bother, Eruzal will 1 shot everybody eventually on 3 round cooldowns. The same can be said for missions with big rewards, such as Soul Ash. The command table is mostly negligible, but there are boons for people who actually go through with it and understand it.
With the raid and season 1 beginning this week, we dunno if other missions might pop up as well, so having this information might be helpful. I hope you find success. I might edit this post as I think of more things if I think of something else worth talking about.
Edit: Other people have also begun posting real helpful information, or things I didn’t include because I forgot to. Rather than repost what they’ve posted in my own words, I’d just advise people to continue using this thread to provide helpful information, and for people seeking said information, going through the thread will be helpful to you.