Prelude Dark Pain Squad Planner

The Squad Planner on this page is an interactive lineup builder for Prelude Dark Pain’s Early Access roster. It follows the same deployment limit as in-game battles: five hero slots, no empty seats, chosen from the nine Act 1 recruits. Each slot accepts one hero, displays their portrait and class lean, and shows a role tag summarizing what they contribute on the grid—Tank, DPS, Support, Control, or Ranged.

Use the planner when you theorycraft before a boss, compare two fifth-slot candidates, or check whether a story-mandatory companion breaks your role coverage. It does not simulate damage numbers or battle points; it answers the earlier question of whether your squad can taunt, control space, and finish targets without duplicating the same job three times.

Where the planner lives

Scroll to the interactive module embedded below this article (or above the FAQ on mobile). You will see five numbered slots, a hero picker, and role filters along the top. Selecting a hero fills a slot; clicking a filled slot clears it or swaps the assignment depending on your device. The planner state stays in your browser session so you can iterate without reloading—refresh the page only if you want a clean slate.

Nothing you configure here writes to Steam Cloud or save files. Treat outputs as a checklist, then mirror the lineup in the Citadel deployment screen before launching a mission from the Statera world map.

Understanding the five role tags

Role tags compress eight official class types into five planning buckets the community uses in squad compositions:

Tag	Planning job	Act 1 examples
Tank	Absorb charges, taunt elites, hold choke points	Tammais, Rayder
DPS	Reliable battle-point damage, bleed, or burst finishers	Soren, Gala, damage-build Tizon
Support	Healing, buffs, cleanses, sustain	Support Tizon, Urza
Control	Knockback, blind, traps, zone denial	Maya, Sade, trap Tizon
Ranged	Backline pressure without exposing melee units	Maya, Gala

Heroes can carry more than one tag depending on talent branch. Damage Tizon reads DPS; support Tizon reads Support. The planner uses default Early Access builds so beginners see consistent labels—respec in-game and mentally adjust tags when you pivot branches.

Step-by-step workflow

1. Start from a template or blank slate. New players should open Best Squad Compositions and recreate the balanced Act 1 lineup—Tammais, Maya, Tizon, Soren, Sade—in the five slots. Compare how tags cluster before changing one hero.

2. Apply role filters when fixing a weakness. If your last attempt died because backline archers never moved, filter Control and test swapping Urza in for Soren while keeping a Tank tag present. If fights timeout, filter DPS and evaluate Gala or damage Tizon without dropping Ranged coverage entirely on open maps.

3. Check tag diversity. A healthy Act 1 comp usually includes at least one Tank, one Control, and two DPS or Ranged profiles with one Support or flex slot. Three Control tags without Tank often fail Crusade bruiser missions; double Tank without Control lets assassin-type enemies flank your carries.

4. Cross-reference hero pages. Click through to Heroes entries for skill lists, virtue branches, and recruitment gates. The planner assumes you own the hero; it cannot warn if a World Mission recruit like Rufio is still locked behind a narrative choice.

5. Deploy in-game and adjust talents, not slots first. Free respecs at the Citadel fix many “wrong tag” problems without rebuilding the whole squad. Change skills before you replace a hero the planner marked correctly.

Example lineups to recreate

Balanced story clear — Tammais (Tank), Maya (Control/Ranged), Tizon damage (DPS), Soren (DPS), Sade (Control). Tags cover every checklist row from the tier list guide and handles mixed Ashen Crusade patrols.

Burst objective rush — Tammais (Tank), Soren (DPS), Tizon damage (DPS), Gala (DPS/Ranged), Rufio (DPS). Fewer Control tags; use only when you can end fights by killing a priority target quickly.

Survival boss attempt — Tammais (Tank), Maya (Control), Urza (Support), Sade (Control), Soren (DPS). Slower kills but extra Support and double Control for multi-phase initiative pressure.

Load each into the planner and watch how the tag row highlights gaps before you commit an evening to retries.

Limits and what the planner cannot do

The tool does not model elevation, moving carriages, or mission-specific forced companions. Narrative battles may require Rayder or deny benching Tizon even when tags look suboptimal—slot the mandatory hero, then rebalance the other four slots around them.

It also ignores Citadel raids: heroes on timed raids cannot fight until they return. The planner lists roster availability, not your save-specific deployment lockouts.

Future Early Access heroes—Verdun, Hagias, Corzo, and others on Quickfire’s roadmap—will appear in picker lists after they ship. Until then, nine heroes keep combinatorics manageable but still offer hundreds of valid five-hero sets.

After planning: related reading

• Heroes — recruitment, skills, and dual talent branches for every Act 1 character
• Squad compositions — community-tested templates with mission notes
• Build guides — align talents and gear with the roles your planner tags show
• Battle points guide — turn sequencing once the lineup is set

The Squad Planner turns roster anxiety into a five-minute checklist. Fill the slots, read the tags, then go win the grid fight.