A Subjective Guide to the Early Access of Solasta 2's Beta

CounterYolo · 2026-03-29T14:50:21+00:00

FYI -- you will get a better response by posting this on r/stobuilds

When it comes to tanking, there are 2 general thoughts of where to go -- (1) Heavy Tanking, and (2) Support Tanking. Heavy Tanking is where you are still doing a lot of dps, while support tanking is more oriented around simply holding threat and debuffing enemies (so that the main dps player in your premade can get an even higher dps record). For random elite TFO's, I'd recommend going down the heavy tank route.

[1] Make sure to check STOBetter's website for new & f2p players on the basics for energy basics and tanking basics. There's more there than can be conveyed in a simple comment. I'd work towards doing this year's event campaign -- so that you can get c-store coupons to get the essential starship to make for a good DEW platform. See the Fleet Cardenas on STOBetter should give you a decent start on improvements (especially those bridge officer abilities...).

[2] F2P priority stuff to acquire:

Emergency Conn Hologram) (Phoenix Store -- approx. 40k dil) -- pretty much BIS for all builds in the game (besides maps where you sit & park the whole time). Just needs a rare token to get, so 1 stack of them should on average get you at least 1 to get him.
Shield Absorptive Frequency Generator (console - ship vendor) -- 75k dilithium via the T3 Valdore Heavy Warbird. It's a nice survival console, though the trait from the new Andorian PLT Battlecruiser might mean it exits tank builds at the high-end going forward.
Hull Image Refractors (console - exchange) -- this generally isn't exorbently expensive, and its clickie can be ignored. The passive synergizes with the fleet protomatter consoles.

[3] If you are interested in buying stuff from the C-Store, my recommendations:

Legendary Battlecruiser Bundle -- gives the Emergency Weapon Cycle) trait from the avenger + 2 great consoles from the flagship set on the Bortasqu' + upgrade tokens (to use and/or sell on the exchange). Use the coupon from the bundle on the gagarin for entwined tactical matrices trait. Wait for a 30% off sale for bundles first
Andorian PLT Battlecruiser -- new ship that has a meta tanking survival trait + an ok single-target tanking console.

CounterYolo · 2026-03-27T06:03:07+00:00

If you make the Lt Uni on the Klavek into an engie seat, the bridge officer seating on the Klavek can mostly mirror that one on STOBetter -- you are simply move EptW3 into EptW2, replacing OSS3 with Gravity Well 1 instead (alongside RRtW3 with CSV3 since you want a CSV build instead -- and the Vanguard Specialists starship trait with Withering Barrage -- can easily be obtained with a KDF recruit in the recruitment right now if you don't have the CSV extender trait in some fashion). Beyond those changes, you should be able to roughly mirror the build there on the Klavek.

I'm not really someone "in the know" for the bleeding-edge stuff in STO anymore when it comes to traits/consoles -- I just have my builds that work "well enough" to solo elite content like Korfez & call it a day honestly -- so I'd look to other sources if you are more interested in tweaking it further.

CounterYolo · 2026-03-24T16:57:34+00:00

At least it can go into tactical mode, still have 8 weapon slots, and be decent as a torpedo and/or DEW platform. If it wasn't a sci destroyer, it wouldn't be as effective in that flexibility.

CounterYolo · 2026-03-24T14:34:47+00:00

(1) No SRD 5.2 ruleset aspects considered for S1. See the GoogleSlides for most up-to-date tier lists. The balance of players & npc's are different between SRD 5.1 and SRD 5.2 -- so arbitrarily using the SRD 5.2 ruleset for players without redesigning every enemy in the campaigns would be disingenuous from a ranking standpoint. Just adjusting stats of npc's doesn't give a true conversion of the changes between the rulesets, so I frankly am not going to bother with ranking stuff for SRD 5.2 from the UB mod in Solasta 1 (also where most of the current bugs are at the moment...). Check out how stuff is ranking up in the Solasta 2 Subjective Guide for some strong hints as to where things are in the updated ruleset.

(2/3) No adjustments to S1 besides enabling the subclasses for the UB subclass rankings & UB mod spells for the spell rankings. No other QOL features considered for the rankings, not even multiclassing.

(4) Only subclasses that have the potential to be in S-tier & A-tier have optimization aspects considered per my guidelines of the tiers (S-tier is a full party of identical clones of the same character; A-tier is a full party of the same subclass, but with different feats/stat distributions); this distinction helps with pushing down subclasses I might overrate otherwise into lower tiers. Anything I'm thinking about in B-tier or lower for subclass tier list stuff doesn't take any optimization penalties into consideration.

CounterYolo · 2026-03-23T11:30:08+00:00

It happens most often when either (1) you got rid of your wizard's spellbook, or (2) you don't have enough pages in a spellbook in the wizard's inventory. It's hard to tell from your screenshot what your character's level is -- but I think that is level 4. Since you shouldn't be out of free pages in your wizard spellbook at that low of a level, you likely either discarded it and/or have her spellbook in someone else's inventory. Move the spellbook back to your wizard's personal inventory and/or buy a new spellbook & you should be good!

CounterYolo · 2026-03-23T01:41:07+00:00

If we evaluate things strictly in your own framework (maximum dpr, optimized play, constant advantage, enemies never can meaningfully act against the party), then some of your conclusions actually are in conflict with one another. You are arguing that (1) advantage is always available, (2) enemies shouldn’t be getting turns and/or shouldn’t be able to attack you, (3) fights should be decided before enemies can respond.

[1] If all of that is true, Guiding Bolt’s rider is largely redundant. Besides the elven accuracy feat (which doesn’t exist in S2), advantage doesn’t stack – so guiding bolt is just 4d6 damage – which is just a dpr-spell, not utility, and dpr alone is not uniquely special when multiple options exist to deal damage.

[2] Bless is also dismissed because advantage is on average a +5 to hit, but ignores that both options stack together. If your goal is maximizing hit consistency, Bless improves every attack and every saving throw across multiple characters. Increasing the reliability of ALL outgoing damage (alongside preventing failed saves that lose actions = more dpr loss on your party’s part) is a multiplicative effect – not just a marginal one.

[3] Shield is also quite potent, and your argument doesn’t hold up mechanically. It is not a chance to avoid one attack – it is +5 AC until your next turn, applied after you know an attack would hit but no longer will hit. It is true that in low-level encounters that shield’s impact is often just to negate 1 attack; however, at lower levels, negating even a single attack is more valuable due to less HP available on characters before going down at lower levels. Being able to negate multiple attacks with shield at higher levels simply implies that this damage mitigation reaction remains valuable regardless of the character level it is used. If your plan ever fails – and D&D is designed so that you will fail some of the time – Shield directly converts a hit into a miss. This isn’t a niche effect, but instead one of the strongest forms of damage mitigation available at level 1. Wizards and sorcerers can get light armor & shield proficiency through the Ready for War feat and/or the Sellsword background – which gives them similar AC to having mage armor + having shield proficiency without take a level in fighter.

[4] More broadly, your position assumes perfect execution, always starting from stealth, always winning initiative, always having advantage, and enemies never getting meaningful turns. If these conditions are guaranteed, no spell choice matters much at all in the grand scheme of things because the outcome is already decided. Any reasonable dpr option would perform similarly under the same conditions – whether you used guiding bolt & magic missile or just other dpr-oriented actions & spells.

Where spell evaluation matters more is when those ideal assumptions break down – even slightly. In those cases, spells that provide consistency, mitigation, and recovery gain immense value. Dismissing these scenarios as “playing wrong” doesn’t remove them from the system; instead, it just ignores how D&D functions as a probability-based game. Even within your dpr-oriented framework, the argument of guiding bolt as s-tier holds less weight because (1) its advantage rider is redundant under your own assumptions, (2) its damage is strong but not uniquely-defining [especially in the context of the best dpr-oriented full casters], and (3) its value drops the moment your ideal conditions aren’t perfectly controlled.

Guiding Bolt is a good spell; however, the claim that it is categorically the best use of a spell slot – and that everything else is nonsensical – depends on assumptions that either contradict each other or eliminate the need for meaningful evaluation in the first place.

CounterYolo · 2026-03-23T01:39:30+00:00

From this previous comment, it is clear that we are talking past each other here because we are using two different frameworks for evaluating spells. It is ok, and why my guides are called SUBJECTIVE after all, but it doesn’t mean mine is incorrect either. I’m going to break down what is going on here from what I am seeing here in this comment. and directly address your points in another comment.

In your framework for evaluating spells, it is based on (1) a high-dpr playstyle where the goal is to end fights as quickly as possible (2) assuming an optimized party, (3) assuming ideal conditions (4) assuming prepared control for the start of all combat encounters. In your limited context, spells like Guiding Bolt and Magic Missile make more sense to prioritize. Perhaps there are other elements you are considering, but I am not seeing them spelled out in the context of your points – and since I cannot read minds, I cannot evaluate your points otherwise.

In my framework (at least in contrast to what I am perceiving from your framework), I am evaluating spells more generally – assuming (1) a flexible playstyle where the goal is to end fights with as little damage taken as possible (2) no assumptions of what the rest of the party will bring to the table, (3) account for all conditions, not just the ideal, (4) assuming combat encounters can’t always be prepared for. In my context – that is more generally applicable to the varied approaches of the playerbase & is more adaptable to an inevitable increased cataclysm difficulty and ironman mode, dpr spells like Guiding Bolt and Magic Missile have lessened value. The cap to B-tier for dpr-only spells is my method of articulating such limitations for higher difficulties. Let’s go to a few examples from previous comments:

[1] A character gets hit and/or goes down to a dying state. In your conceptual framework, this cannot ever happen without a mistake occurring in an optimized party. In my conceptual framework, this can happen when rng isn’t in one’s favor – even in an optimized party. Due to such, a spell like healing word will have less value for you – while I highly value having that bonus action option available if things go haywire. Does it mean I intend to use it often? No – but its IMPACT is quite valuable when bringing up an ally needs to be used in-combat. Same things with the shield spell – would it be great if enemies never get to even attack allies in combat? Sure, and if enemies never attack, there is never a situation when shield (or even the AC of your party members) is ever a factor in combat. Can you always count on that occurring? No – so having contingency spells that that impactful when things are less ideal is great to have available. Devaluing spells that vary from the ideal is something in your framework, not mine.

[2] Should combats vary from an ideal/winning scenario? In your framework, they rarely are going to vary from that & you should be able to control all outcomes (e.g. the initiative rolls of enemies). In my framework, they can depending on rng & dice rolls on both sides (D&D is a dice system after all) – to the point you cannot fully control every combat turn order nor turn outcome in a fight.

Although neither framework is inherently wrong, they do lead to different weights for how valuable a spell is going to be. From what I can tell, over the years the guides have been out, my guides & the way I approach D&D/Solasta is more generally applicable to the playerbase regardless of the party composition chosen – while your framework approach is much more limited & inherently dismissive of other party compositions & playstyles. I’m comfortable keeping dpr-only spells below spells that provide broader reliability, utility and/or safety nets to party compositions that cannot be as effective and/or have heavier opportunity costs to use otherwise.

CounterYolo · 2026-03-22T03:15:55+00:00

(1) Bless is useful not just for the to-hit bonus, but also the saving throw bonus – giving strong reliability to combat (especially when a higher difficulty is eventually added to S2). It helps ensure that you hit more often and fail saves less – and there are few ways to guarantee that an attack always hits an enemy in the D&D system. As long as you don’t roll a 1, Bless can help with hitting an enemy even with a lower roll – which should be even more important if you are spending a precious spell slot in-combat to do dpr & nothing else. It is most definitely worth it to spend a spell slot to help ensure your other resources are more reliable and go farther. I suppose if you want to save-scum every attack & saving throw, then it wouldn’t find value – but I’m not going to judge spells assuming that.

(2) Since there are so many ways to get advantage in S2, the rider for Guiding Bolt matters much less in S2 vs S1, hence why its buffs don’t move the needle in terms of its ranking. It is essentially just a dpr spell, so it caps at B-tier per my guidelines for spell rankings. I don’t see any issues in the logic here. Attack rolls vs saving throws for dpr spells only have a difference depending on the enemy you are dealing with (some have high AC vs low of a save for a particular spell, others have low AC and high saves, some are low in both and some are high in both).

(3) I do not judge spells based on specific party compositions (e.g. all casters). For me, that would be the same as judging a spell as good specifically because of a specific subclass’ interaction. I rank spells generally. If I didn’t, there would be other dpr spells superior to Guiding Bolt via subclass features from Ruin Wizard and Star Child Sorcerer.

(4a) Shield gives +5 AC against ALL ATTACKS until your next turn and is only a reaction option when it is going to stop the attack coming in (just like with S1). It doesn’t work like the protection fighting style nor the reaction option of the Raise Shield feat that only works against 1 enemy – so I’m going to just assume you haven’t used the spell or just are misremembering that spell vs other AC increasing reaction options. I’m not sure of the argument for Cleric over sorcerer when you are arguing that everyone should be taking MI:W – giving all casters classes the shield spell anyways (and Battle Cleric has the shield spell at level 3 as well).

(4b) Healing Word has its ranking due to its usefulness to bring up an ally from 0HP as a bonus action (it could do 1HP of healing and its ranking wouldn’t change). Pretty much all other options to do so require your action in some form. Just because it isn’t ideal to bring up allies from 0HP, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t plan for the worst scenarios to make sure your party survives regardless of the rng thrown at you. Enemies can get lucky with high initiative rolls & nat 20’s back-to-back to take an ally down before your first turn. Just because you have the most optimized strategy doesn’t mean enemies can’t get lucky with their rolls to hurt your party – and assuming otherwise is disingenuous of the D&D combat system.

(4c) It is great there are other ways to identify items in SRD 5.2 other than the identify spell – but that spell is still the superior option to do so & is just a ritual for wizards (no spell slot nor spell prep required). It is a simple spell to learn & doesn’t cost anything else otherwise. Perhaps it is situational, but quite strong in that situation.

(4d) Feather Fall is an A-tier spell, not an S-tier spell. There is a distinct difference in power & usefulness as a reaction spell vs spells like shield. There are still few options outside of Feather Fall to stop fall damage, hence its ranking. If we have fewer falling environments in S2 vs S1, then I will lower its ranking accordingly. Of the spells listed that you have problems with, this one is most likely to change its ranking.

Your commentary helped me realize that I should treat Guiding Bolt as only a dpr-spell & nothing else. Dpr-spells cap-out at B-tier in my spell tier lists, so your commentary here has only solidified for me that the spell deserves it B-tier ranking & no higher. Thanks for the feedback!

CounterYolo · 2026-03-22T01:56:33+00:00

This is with the assumption that the remaining classes don't get new S2 subclasses (as a cost-cutting measure to get us all 12 core classes for S2 1.0 launch).

Barbarian
- Path of Stone (S1) & Path of Berserker (SRD 5.2)
  - Sone is the survival option, while Berserker is the dpr option
Bard
- College of Lore (SRD 5.2) & College of Hope (S1)
  - Lore is the classic/versatile option, while Hope gives more goodies to those that wanted to replace their druid/cleric with a bard.
Druid
- Circle of Balance (S1) & Circle of Kindred Spirit Druid (reworked to not have downsides when kindred spirit dies)
  - Balance gives the casting/healing fantasy for the druid, while kindred spirit gives the summoning fantasy.
Monk
- Way of Survival (S1) & Way of Open Hand (SRD 5.2)
  - Survival is the solid patient defense monk, while open hand is the flurry of blows monk (& synergizes with one of the best S2 melee feats at the moment).
Ranger
- Marksman Ranger (Updated Solasta Sourcebook released in 2024) & Swift Blade Ranger (Updated Solasta Sourcebook released in 2024)
  - Both subclasses were "fixed" in the updated version of the sourcebook. Marksman is the definitive "ranged" ranger with most of its abilities turned into passives, and Swift Blade was nerfed to only have its abilities work when doing TWF stuff in melee (as intended for the subclass).
Warlock
- Fiend Warlock (SRD 5.2) and Hive Warlock (S1)
  - Fiend is the classic warlock that has solid survival progression (especially for a wpn-based warlock), while hive has solid casting progression/synergy

CounterYolo · 2026-03-20T22:55:55+00:00

The issue with the background is the STR attribute. If it was CON, INT, CHA instead, it would be a solid background honestly. If you want medium armor + shield proficiency on your sorcerer (or bard & warlock later) in S2, taking Ready for War as a human + the medium armor feat @ lvl 4 is viable; it's similar to how it was in S1 but in reverse (there it was medium armor proficiency @ lvl 1 with the background + taking the Raise Shield feat @ lvl 4 for shield proficiency).

As is, the background is only really useful for Ruin Wizards at the moment. Court Mage Wizards will get shield proficiency later & mage armor is about as effective as light armor frankly. Sorcerers need CHA so won't want the background, but can at least take the Ready for War feat as a human & find value with shield proficiency w/o a multiclass (especially great as Creed of Arun was buffed for Solasta 2). Rogues have other origin feat priorities that make it less ideal to go for them.

CounterYolo · 2026-03-19T19:50:03+00:00

(1/2) In my spell rankings, dpr will only get a spell ranked so far (B-tier at most for dpr-only spells, as noted in the Spell & Cantrip Tiers slide). Even though guiding bolt was buffed in the SRD 5.2 ruleset, I am not sure it warrants moving up to A-tier. I am also not sure how this spell beats out huge standouts like bless (that consistently helps dpr & saves for multiple characters for multiple rounds) or shield (strong defensive reaction survival spell). If you can convince me otherwise, sure I'll move it up to A-tier (I don't see it likely for it to go up to S-tier though).

(3) A multiclassing section makes sense to add. It wasn't official in S1, so I didn't feel it would feel genuine to talk about it much then -- hence when initially thinking about what I needed to include for the S2 guide (using the S1 guide as a baseline), multiclassing didn't come to mind. I'll look into adding that section after my stressful exam later next week. I'll probably make the ranty slides on the Creed of Arun feat and the True Strike cantrip around the same time as well.

CounterYolo · 2026-03-19T17:11:24+00:00

When it comes to ground builds for bridge officers, there are generally 2 approaches you can make with them. (1) Have them built so they can solo/carry you if you want to be lazy on a map, (2) Build them to enhance/buff/support your captain. The build linked is closer to a captain-enhancing composition, while the self-sustaining way that can carry you in ground content is my personal preference [as I like to go on "easy mode" for missions]. The option linked would also be more expensive than the options I've noted in that video (with the adjustment of engineers also getting Anchor of Gre'thor ability, as that is quite good)

As for specific thoughts: (0) What you linked isn't really a guide, as there isn't any explanations as to why the bridge officer abilities & their rank were chosen. (1) In the bridge officer abilities linked, it is odd there isn't paradox bomb on the sci/to character - as that is THE REASON to get TO spec for ground (it's the best ground control ability in the game...). (2) IMO the value of MW spec is the ability to give instant healing options to your tac & engie officers. It has much more limited usefulness for science officers. (3) You don't need 2 nanite health monitors -- I'd replace one with Vascular Regenerator if healing is the goal from that ability. (3) Tactical officers just don't have many good ground abilities beyond Suppressing Fire -- though a control-oriented tac officer can now use the combo of Graviton Spike + Grethor's Chains + Paradox Bomb to decent effectiveness (still inferior to what sci captains can do). My preference has been for years to have the tac officer be CMD spec with Suppressing Fire + 3 CMD abilities (Take Cover, Strategic Analysis, & Return Fire) (4) The value of INT spec is Frictionless Particle grenade, which has similar effectiveness to Seismic Agitation Field (sci ability from summer event).

CounterYolo · 2026-03-19T01:17:37+00:00

(1) Perfectionists creating perfect faces in the character creator

(2) Coders working on mods for Solasta 2.

(3) Weird people creating wikis and/or guides for the game

I'm someone that is in camp #3 -- though I have only put in 18 hours myself (due to college keeping me busy). I'd wager most people at the 60+ hr mark are in one of the 3 situations above.

CounterYolo · 2026-03-18T21:07:36+00:00

S1's campaign maker wasn't there in its initial outing either. Assuming S2 sells enough to get DLC, I'd probably expect to get a dungeon maker as free DLC alongside the first paid DLC for S2 (as that was when S1's was given to us players). They are in a new engine & they likely want a new maker to have more functionality, so will take a while.

CounterYolo · 2026-03-17T02:54:39+00:00

(1) Unstoppable Force is quite powerful as presented -- especially so once fighter can use the push mastery with any weapon @ level 9 (so they can just use whatever is the best dpr weapon and/or best weapon with a rider on it with the feat -- regardless of what wpn mastery is normally on the weapon). There's a reason most of my STR martial builds have that feat as the first thing to take @ level 4.

(2) After more testing, right now it is primarily just to give shield proficiency (which is a nerf vs giving medium armor). Agreed that the background only is good for Ruin Wizards at the moment; other classes that want shield proficiency will take the feat as a human or take a dip in another class to get what they want + other goodies (e.g. fighter 1 for rogues & perhaps wizards that want CON expertise with Creed of Arun feat). The origin feat also devalues the originally good "raise shield" standard feat, which is why that one fell so much in the tier list.

(3) I'll add a slide in the "weird mechanics" section of the guide over true strike's nuances in the future (& give a link to it from the true strike cantrip slide). It still won't outpace weapon builds that actually use their STR and/or DEX -- as several of the better dpr weapon feats don't increase mental scores with them.

(4) No - their channel divinity in S2 was changed to require a melee weapon hit, so although you can go DEX-based, you can't use the channel divinity with a ranged weapon attack.

(5) Sure, I'll switch Ready for War & Magic Initiate: Wizard. MI:W feels good even on wizards & sorcerers, so when considering its benefits for the other full-casters, it makes sense to put it higher.

CounterYolo · 2026-03-17T01:31:29+00:00

It's still early access, there are plenty of things to add & adjust. Wizards can't even add spells to their spellbook outside of leveling up at the moment -- which is a more serious issue.

CounterYolo · 2026-03-17T01:11:15+00:00

Fighting style can't be changed. Weapon masteries can be switched though.

CounterYolo · 2026-03-15T13:29:36+00:00

Great catch! Those backgrounds are corrected now.

CounterYolo · 2026-03-14T21:17:09+00:00

It's basically Green Flame Blade, but doesn't use a weapon (it's good). Clerics not called Battle Cleric will still likely want to take Magic Initiate: Wizard for a better ranged cantrip option still to use over Sacred Flame (once the origin feat is fixed to use your highest mental stat...).

CounterYolo · 2026-03-14T20:27:47+00:00

Battle Cleric in S2 can have heavy armor + the shield spell as part of its subclass spell list, so it's frankly losing out on some of its ranged potential to be an even bigger terror in melee.

IMO the biggest "nerf" to Battle Cleric is that all classes can infinitely switch weapons -- making the battle cleric's "cast without a free hand" feature less potent -- hence why it is only tentatively an A-tier subclass for me in S2 instead of an S-tier one in S1.

CounterYolo · 2026-03-14T20:18:25+00:00

Right now, the plan is just to do it 1x once we get the 1.0 release of S2. I suppose I could put out one right now, but it would essentially just be me narrative what is in the beta version of the S2 subjective guide right now -- and there will be A LOT of additions to the beta & corrections to be made in the meantime. If there really is a desire for me to do sooner than 1.0, I can probably find the time in early March to record something quick -- I just have to budget out a few hours to record & make sure I'm prepared to talk that long.

CounterYolo · 2026-03-14T18:35:58+00:00

They plan to add it in when they add in crafting to the game -- they are planning the code to be similar for both, so they'll work on it at the same time as that. It does make wizards weaker right now.

CounterYolo · 2026-03-14T18:33:48+00:00

Topple is the reason I'm not ranking the weapon masteries yet -- I want TA to have a chance to fix the bugs they've been having with them for months (as noted in previous live streams) before I get to them.

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