TRADESMAN Deal to Dealer Squad Builds That Survive Cargo

A squad in TRADESMAN: Deal to Dealer is four bodies and a hauler that you should be able to describe in one sentence. If your sentence is “they were all on sale,” the next wolf will write a better sentence. This page offers lanes that match 1.0 rules: two scrolls per hire, duplicate epic cap, cargo-scaled enemies, sleep-to-save.

Cross-link every idea with the mercenary hub, the mercenary tier list, and combat. Talents that unlock the lane sit in talents.

Role labels we actually use

• Sponge — HP, redirect scroll, tactics position two if you bought the no-bonus-crit node.
• Cleave / bleed — forks, bears, later soldiers.
• Reach — throwers, acolytes, skeleton-killing holy kits.
• Hauler — horse until boar until bear until Bigfoot. Animals.
• Empty well — a taxi build leaves a human slot or a cargo well open on purpose. Quests.

Review-style look at squads, roads, and the merchant fantasy

Build 1 — Grampstead opener (B tier, required)

Pitchfork peasant, chicken peasant, horse, empty, empty. One food stack. This is the Getting Started lane. Sack the chicken the moment a guard exists. Do not spend epic scrolls here.

Build 2 — Watchpost humans (A tier, no animals)

Guard sponge, soldier cleave, thrower, cheap fourth, horse. Leadership enough for rares. One Industrial or food well, never four Military legendaries. This lane pays for itself on mill roads and reputation camps.

Build 3 — Fishpool beasts (S tier once gated)

Epic bear cub sponge, human redirect, boar or second human, hauler bear, Animal Handling on. Food wells only until the roar-bear cap. Group damage plus HP is how you learn cemetery roads without paladins.

Build 4 — Mole and crypt (A tier, shout required)

Paladin sponge, acolyte or inquisitor, human damage, horse or bear, merchant combat tree with a cleanse/shout. Lantern moles blind every third hit; the shout is the build. Do not bring four military wells. Bring one quest board and leave.

Build 5 — Taxi captain (B tier, money printer)

Two humans, empty, empty, horse. Cargo wells almost vacant. Drunks, kids, wounded guards. Social talents optional. This is how you fund Build 3 without fighting the 1.0 cargo tax.

Build 6 — Bigfoot endgame (S tier, gated)

Fighter Bigfoot, paladin or roar-bear, specialist (miner, barbarian, wanderer), hauler Bigfoot. Two legal scrolls each. No duplicate epic clones. Wasteland heat will test cooking — Wasteland. Until that zone asks for a new kit, this is the “I finished standing” picture.

How to swap without bricking the save

Sleep first. Party edits after the duplicate-epic rule can force choices; old extras persist until you open the panel. Keep a common in the fourth slot as a sackable hand-in victim for quests that demand a leveled thrower. Never hand in your only sponge.

Feed the lane. Cooking meals are cheaper than a fled stack of armor. Extra food slots from pillars exist so you stop selling honey you needed at night — carts.

If a YouTube squad shows three identical epics, the video predates the cap or the creator has not edited the party since. Do not copy it. Check updates. There is no multiplayer “meta” to chase; every build is PvE against your own greed.

Write the sentence. Hire the sentence. Haul less than your ego wants. That is the whole squad craft.