Previously I have hosted a thread aimed at helping Larian improve the starting presets,but the thread got messy real fast and in retrospect I don't think it provided accurate information on how to improve them.
I have decided to review all presets individualy for each companion in hopes that Larian can get better information on how to improve the presets.I will start with the Red Prince because he ranks last on my list of strong companions.
I will mark my detailed opinions as spoilers to make the thread easier to read and will add short descriptions for people who aren't interested in in-depth opinions.
1)Warfare based presets
a)Fighter preset - the closest thing to a staff wielding paladin in the game.
Fighter is a very good support preset for the Red Prince,provided you are able to replace his starting weapons with a staff.
The racial +2 in Intelect in tandem with the +2 in Constitution and the Oportunist talent makes him a good mid range fighter for defending back row casters.
Strong points:
*battle stomp and fire breath are very flexible abilities which can be used to kite multiple opponents at once
*free fortify and point in Geomancy - this is good, because at level 2 you can replace contamination with fossil strike and have a slot open for either searing dagger (if you want to make a damage focused battle mage out of the prince) or frost armour (if you want to make the prince more akin to a paladin, contributing to the party with both damage and support spells.
Weak points
Contamination is only good here if you have a party of Zombies, otherwise it is a filler/waste of an ability and should be removed asap.
Very weak as a tank - requires Battering Ram/Bull Horns and some points in Wits and Strenght to be considered competent as a front line fighter....will remain inferior to human,elfish and dwarven companions who will also suffer due to the lack of a gap closer
b) Inquisitor - stay away - read at your own perril!
Must avoid,complete antisynergy between skills, stats, talents and racials. You would need 2 levels in Polymorph to fix the stats and skill set as well as a str based melee weapon (which beats the purpose of recruiting the Red Prince as a magical weapons specialist.
c) Battlemage - so good,the only thing missing is a shield.
With the adition of the tutorial zone which can help your party reach level 2 faster,the Battlemage preset has become a viable choice for the Red Prince, if you want him as a front line fighter.
The +2 in Persuasion from preset and racials also make him very competent at dealing with situations in which it is better to talk your way out of a fight/resolve solutions peacefully, rather than fight.
My only recomendation is that you do not use any companion with this preset as a dual wielder - take a shield, you will get more value from it. Outside of this, I have nothing bad to say about a Red Prince with the Battlemage preset, he is good even as a dual wielder.
d)Knight - a weaker battlemage
Not the best companion to knighten, but thankfully not the worst. The +2 int and Rage will feel like antisynergy early on due to your lack of ranged spells,but this can easily be fixed.
The Red Prince will require much support from his allies to be a competent front line fighter and back row defender because he will be very squishy as a two handed specialist. I would also recomend puting your main greatsword and staff on the hotbar to switch weapons at ease and increase the prince's ability to kite and adjust to enemy compositions.
2) Finesse based presets
a)Rogue - my personal favorite version of the Red Prince
I love using the Red Prince as a Rogue because the +1 in Persuasion and +1 in Thievery makes him very good early game as a thief - even if caught in the act that +1 in Persuasion can help you get rid of most of the fools you robbed.
I also believe that the rogueish Red Prince can be a very strong adition to any team due to the amount of paths open to his customization and early game benefit
b)Shadowblade - a major disapointment
A major let down, the Shadowblade is a failed attempt at creating a Finesse centred crowd controler. Chloroform and Mosquito Swarm are in direct antisynergy as well as Backlash and Fire Breath.
Thankfully at level 2 it can be salvaged with either a point in Aerothurge,Polymorph or Warfare...it just depends on whether you want the prince to be better at removing physical or magical armour.
c) Ranger and Wayfarer - great potential, but past level 2 they are hard to diferentiate
As a ranger,the Red Prince acts a reliable source of physical damage and has access to a very good healing spell. Fire Breath here plays the role of a utility skill which is used to punish those who get too close to his royal highness.
The wayfarer preset is indicative of why Geomancy is such a strong choice for a bow wielding Red Prince - Fossil Strike is an excelent spell to use to slow down opponents and can be used defensively in combination with Fire Breath to make the life of those fortunate enough to bypass your front line a living hell.
Wayfarer features weaker stats and a weaker talent than the Ranger for the Red Prince but has better skills for combat.
3) Spellcasters - light reading from here on
a)Wizzard,Enchanter and Witch
Thankfully all spellcaster presets work fine on the Red Prince, but they don't make for strong choices due to the fact that Fire Breath has a small range and can only be used defensively to place a fire field.
Humans and elves are better choices for using pure spellcaster presets because their racials provide more benefits than those of the prince for the whole party.
b)Conjurer - second only to Inquisitor in terms of how bad it is
As a conjurer the Red Prince is subpar because he gets horrible stats. This is the second hardest preset to use on the Red Prince.
Thankfully the skills have some synergy and with patience and a party strong enough to compensate for the Red Prince's shortcomings he can be made into a decent spellcaster - one that remains inferior to his human and elfish counterparts and can also be considered inferior to the not yet released dwarven counterpart as well!
4) Hibrids - this section covers Cleric and Metamorph
a)Cleric - slightly weaker than the fighter preset.
The skills synergise very well and the stats are somewhere between mediocre and bad, but the talent choice is very weak and I think it really needs 1 point in Polymorph at level 2 to make the stats better and enable the Red Prince to be agresive in combat.
b)Metamorph - the bulgarian salad.
As a metamorph, the Red Prince is akin to a bulgarian salad, it has lots of stats and they somehow balance out.
strong points
*you can mix and match armours and weapons to your likeing
*you can mix and match skill lines to your likeing
weak points
*you are limited to spears and staves to get vallue from the free oportunist talent and free point in two handed weapons
*the red prince will be inferior to his human,elfish and dwarven counterparts as a metamorph.
Comments on Fire Breath and Demonic Stare.
I consider these to be situational utility skills, which work best with the Battlemage, Fighter, Knight, Shadowblade and Metamorph presets because they are free damaging skills that synergises with the skill set provided by the afore mentioned presets.
When I finish reviewing all available companions I will probably due to a over all ranking for the companions.
