Selecting party members | Upgrading your character classes Angry Birds Epic Guide

Last update: 11 May 2016

Proper selection of party members depends on the amount of classes you were able to unlock, and the items (or sets of items) which are available to you, but the most important factor are the enemies you are going to be facing.

Obviously, to unlock all the classes and items, you will have to spend hours after hours of strenuous gameplay, because you have to amass an insane amount of various currencies and materials to be able to unlock, buy and craft all the things. You can also buy those things by using your real money, but this route is for losers, right? :)

A team for beginners

During the first few hours of your playthrough, you won't be able to create your dream team, because you won't have access to most of the elements and character classes available in the game. During the first several tens of minutes, you should have access to 3 birds : Red (with his Knight and Guardian classes), Chuck (Mage and Lightning Bird), and Matilda (with her Cleric class). By having access to those birds and classes, you can build two different teams.

The first one is :

• Red with his Knight class - he has access to an attack which forces the enemy to attack him (diverting attention from other birds), and a strong defensive ability, which soaks up over 50% of damage given to allies. The shield can be cast on multiple targets during the span of several turns, but a single bird can only have one shield on it.
• Chuck with his Mage class - he has access to an Area of Effect attack, which deals decent damage, and he can also cast a Shock Shield on his allies (and himself), which hurts enemies who attack the marked target.
• Matilda - at the given moment you are forced to use the Cleric class, although it gives access to quite interesting abilities. Her attacks heal your whole party, and her secondary ability allows you to cast a shield on your whole team, restoring 15% of inflicted damage back to the birds.

The basic principle of this team is simple - cast a Shock Shield on Red, Matilda's Healing Shield on the whole team and try to keep the enemy's attention focused on the red bird by attacking the pigs. If the enemy does too much damage, if you focused too many enemies on Red, or when the enemy attacks the other birds, use the Protect ability to decrease the damage output. This team is effective against smaller groups of enemies (as you can keep their attention on red), and it's extremely good versus foes who hit hard - Red's Protect will soak up most of the damage, while Matilda can heal the wounds.

Alternatively, you can swap Chuck's Mage class to his Lightning Bird class, if you are going to fight against enemies capable of buffing their allies. The secondary ability of the yellow bird can be used on Red, which should allow him to attack multiple enemies, drawing their attention onto himself.

The second team will consist of:

• Red with his Guardian class - he lacks the ability to focus the enemy attention on himself, but he can decrease the effectiveness of enemy's attacks, as well as cast a protective aura, which will decrease the amount of damage taken by your team.
• Chuck with the Mage or Lightning Bird class - you can find the information about both above.
• Matilda with Cleric class.

The principle of operation of this team is quite different - you won't be able to force the enemy to attack Red anymore. However, thanks to his defensive aura, reducing the received damage by 25%, Matilda's Healing Shield restoring 15% of received damage, you will be able to reduce the effectiveness of enemy's attacks on your whole party by 40%

This team is effective during short encounters, with weaker enemies, or those who have access to Area of Effect attacks - you will be able to outheal those attacks without breaking a sweat thanks to Matilda's abilities. The only drawback appears when the battles are dragged - without using a Rage Chilli on Matilda you won't be able to effectively heal your team.

A team for more experienced players - strong enemies

If you have access to most (or all) of your character classes and items, you will have a broader room to maneuver.

If you want to compile a team, that is efficient versus single, powerful foes, you should choose :

• Red with his Avenger, or Paladin class. The first one will allow you to focus all of the enemy attention on Red, while your whole team will be able to effortlessly harass the enemy team, and the second class will come in handy when the enemy has access to Area of Effect attacks, as you can defend your other birds and take the beating for them. If you are fighting an enemy group without strong Area of Effect attacks, try to complete a Grand Slam item set, which will allow you to stun and deal more damage to the enemy. If you are dealing with the enemy spamming you with AoE attacks, collect the Protector's Aura item set. If you don't have any item sets, equip Red with a weapon with Bedtime affix, and an off-hand with Vigor.
• Matilda's Bard class is without a question one of the best in the game. Not only that it allows you to heal insane amounts of missing health (laying a Healing over Time effect on your whole party as well), also her attacks stun the target. The Nightmare item set is the perfect choice for this class, as it increases the chance to stun, as well as does huge damage to the enemies coming out of a stun. If you don't have the items sets, equip Matilda with a weapon with Bedtime affix, and an off-hand with Might.
• Blues with their Tricksters, o Rogues class. The first one will allow you to dispel negative buffs from your whole party (and positive ones from a single enemy), dealing quite a lot of damage at the same time. The second one allows you to poison the enemy, imposing a Damage over Time on the target - not to mention that you can force whole enemy team to attack the specified bird in your party, and having the enemies take the same amount of damage they deal. The best item set for them is Artillery Strike, which increases their damage, critical chance and the damage of critical hits. If you took Rogues, take Red's Paladin instead of Avenger. If you don't have set items yet, equip Blues with a weapon with Critical Strike affix, and an off-hand with Might.

The principle of this team is simple - Red focuses enemy fire on himself, Matilda attacks the enemies, while healing the team at the same time (Matilda's healing abilities + Red's Paladin attacks should be enough to sustain your team), and Blues will dish out some serious damage, forcing the enemies to attack Red and hurt themselves in the process. Unfortunately, this setup does not work against a group of enemies with strong Area of Effect attacks - you won't be able to keep with healing and damaging the enemies at the same time.

A team for more experienced players - numerous foes

If you want to compile a team, that is efficient versus numerous, weaker foes, you should choose :

• Chuck with his Lightning Bird class - a debuff on the whole enemy team, as well as the possibility to send one of your birds to attack the enemy. The best item set for Chuck is Time Jump - it allows you to heal by attacking the enemies, increases his health pool, and gives a 10% chance that he will be able to move again in the same turn. If you lack item sets, you should equip him with a weapon with a Hocus Pocus affix, and an off-hand with Vitality.
• Matilda with her Druid class - it allows her to poison the enemy, applying a Damage over Time effect on the enemy for 3 turns. Additionally, she can heal your entire party - the amount of healing increases while her health pool gets bigger. The best item set is Sweet! - decreases damage taken, gives a critical chance and increases the effectiveness of received healing of the whole party. If you don't have item sets yet, try to equip her with a weapon with a Bedtime affix, and an off-hand with Vigor.
• Bomb with his Pirate class - increases the effectiveness of your whole party by 25% and deals decent damage. You can also change him to a Berserker, and focus on attacking with his secondary ability - he sacrifices 15% of his (or any other bird) health and deals the same amount of damage to the whole enemy team. The best item set is Scissors - it allows you to heal with each attack, decreases damage taken and gives a chance to attack the whole enemy group. If you lack set items, equip Bomb with a weapon with a Hocus Pocus affix, and an off-hand with Vigor.