Vice Throne Early Combat Guide: Hero Deployment and Upgrades

To clear early campaign stages in Vice Throne combat, focus all party attacks on one high-threat enemy at a time, save your ultimate abilities for elite targets and bosses, and concentrate your early upgrade materials exclusively on your primary tank and main damage dealer.

Turn Order and Target Selection

Combat in Vice Throne follows a linear initiative system. Reducing the total number of actions your enemy takes each round is the most reliable way to preserve your party's health pool.

Focus single targets: Spreading damage across multiple enemies leaves foes alive to deal retaliatory damage. Direct all single-target attacks at a single enemy until it is eliminated.
Track initiative: Check the turn indicator to identify which high-threat unit acts next. Defeat or disrupt that unit before its turn to negate incoming damage.
Rotate vulnerable heroes: If a hero takes critical damage, move them to a safer board position or use defensive skills to mitigate damage for the remainder of the round.

Hero Ability Timing and Resources

Hero active abilities offer key tactical advantages beyond basic damage output, including area-of-effect strikes, control effects, and defensive buffs.

Ability Type	Best Usage Timing	Resource Requirement
Single-Target Ultimate	High-health elite enemies and bosses	Mana/Energy cost saved for peak impact
Defensive Buff / Shield	Visual cues indicating an incoming boss attack	Reserved resources for emergency casting
Support & Healing	Mid-fight damage mitigation	Mana pool maintained above zero

Do not hold ready skills indefinitely for a perfect setup. Using low-cooldown abilities promptly allows them to recycle faster in longer battles. However, high-impact ultimates should be saved specifically to execute dangerous targets or break tough phases.

Team Composition and Synergies

A reliable early-game team balances frontline damage absorption with consistent ranged or support damage.

Deploy a Frontline Tank: Assign a high-survivability unit to absorb main attacks and keep enemies away from fragile allies.
Include Support or Ranged DPS: Pair your frontline tank with hero units capable of dealing steady damage or providing direct healing and shields.
Align Passive Synergies: Review hero information screens before battles. Position heroes whose passive traits trigger when allies attack to boost overall team output without spending additional energy.

Upgrades and In-Battle Consumables

Spreading upgrade materials evenly across your entire roster slows campaign progression. Concentrate your resources on main roles to overcome early difficulty spikes.

Upgrading Priority

Invest levels, gear, and ascension materials into your primary damage dealer and frontline tank first. When a hero hits a level cap or ascension bottleneck, farm the specific stage materials required to unlock their next skill threshold before advancing in the campaign.

Consumable Usage

Use healing consumables or survival items whenever a hero is near death. Losing a team member early dramatically lowers your team's total action count and damage output, making remaining waves significantly harder. Prioritize keeping support units alive, as their survival sustains the rest of your team through multi-wave encounters.