Which Henchies to take???

I am doing the Thirsty River mission and am getting about half way before buying it.

I usually have no prob with:

Stefan
Little Thom
Alesia
Renya
Lina

But is there a better combo???

Thanks!

Personally I usually avoid Reyna and Orion...but I like Cynn. They just don't seem to do much for me. But I like taking the necro since he gives me energy when I'm low

Drop Reyna and take Claude with you. His casting of Blood Ritual / Blood is Power on the party is very, very handy.. only issue is he tends to favor Thom & Stefan.. lol pfft! but he's definately saved my bacon in fights by BR'ing Alesia as she was struggling to heal everyone (mainly due to her stupid AI.. LOL but thats another issue.. heh).. not to mention BR'ing my elementalist which allowed me to reign death down upon everyone mucxh more.. heh

I don't particularly agree with the suggestions so far. I always take Reyna over Claude, as she has some of the best hench AI. She actually seems to pay some kind of attention to positioning, and because of it will often be one of the last henches standing. Claude will sacrifice his health regardless of what's going on around him; it makes me wonder if he doesn't have a death wish. (Notice that Reyna's AI doesn't extend to Aidan... ignore that moron once he shows up)

Aside from all the pros and cons of each individual hench, the best thing to take a look at is your party line-up. As a caster, I can definitely see Claude's benefit (and would take him over Orion or Dunham any day of the week). However, if you're playing a warrior or ranger class, Claude is one of the worst things you can do. He'll blood ritual you because you have less energy than anyone else (provided you're using any energy skills), regardless of the fact that you really didn't need it. Not only that, but if you're a warrior up front? Well, it's a touch skill, and thus he'll come up by you to do it. That's a recipe for a dead hench, and a dead hench will help no one. I can't count the number of times Claude's Blood Ritualed Stefan and effectively commited suicide...

As for what I can see that you really shouldn't change, that's Lina and Alesia. Lina multiplies Alesia's effectiveness; never let anyone tell you that two healers is better than a healer and a protector. Most people know it, and I'm probably beating a dead horse, but there are those few...

Never take Dunham. Ever. He's got the worst skill set in the game. The only use he has is if you're a necro looking for a corpse.

^ Haha that's a good one.

Actually, he uses Shatter Hex a lot, which is handy in some areas..

I normally take:

Claude-for Alesias benefit, gives her energy
Alesia-obvious
Orion-aoe, though sometimes a bit late
Stefan-sponge
Little Thorn-sponge

I do wish there was an attack command to make the warriors charge though, I dislike having to grab the initial agro.

best advice ever. i personally never take dunham as well.

and i've never once seen him take off any hexes on anyone in the party. i did, however, once see him tank 5 avicara braves. what a guy.

there is - CTRL + SHIFT + SPACE

this will Target the enemy you have selected which will send Stefan & Thom in to attack them if the enemy is within range. Generally if they are a short distance outside your aggro range and you C+S+S then both Stefan & Thom will race ahead and take the aggro.. once they have the aggro feel free to join an and do whatever you want..

This is the best thing to do as it will generally keep the spellcasting henchies out of aggro.. Heck, do this even if your playing a warrior.. this way they get aggro and not Alesia.. heh

I actually prefer Dunham over Claude myself. Yes, Claude can give me energy, but for one he never seems to do so when I need it. And he definitely has a death wish. I saw him sacrifice gimself to death once. Probably his AI got confused by the poison swamp he was standing in. No, I'd rather have Dunham. He doesn't seem to do anything at all, but at least it takes enemies to kill him and so he can at least be cannon fodder.

Never take the renger hench, she is useless.

Thanks for all the advice, I don't agree with issues with the ranger, she is always the last one standing and can seem to take a lot of abuse. But since I am a M/W I tend to need energy, so Claude might be a help....I'll experiment.

From Yak's Bend onward, I take Stefan, Thom, Alesia, Claude and Orion. I never take the ranger or the enchanter. When you are allowed a group of 8 though, well of course then I could take them all.

Now when other hench types are available later on in south shiver peak, then I take the others of the same profession.