⚔️ The Raid Leader’s Guide to Engineering Teams

Building a Balanced Engineering Party 🎮

🧙‍♂️ Party Wipe: Why Balance Matters

If you’ve ever played World of Warcraft — or even watched Stranger Things — you know what happens when the party isn’t balanced.

Imagine this:
You’ve got 5 Rogues, no healer, no tank, and zero coordination. Someone yells “LEEEEROYYY JENKINS!”, pulls the boss early, and it’s a total wipe. 💀

Or flip the script:
In Stranger Things, Will has a choice — cast Protection to shield the party, or Fireball to take a risky offensive shot. He picks Fireball. It's a bold move… and they still wipe.

Why?
Because even in fantasy — team comp matters.

Now imagine that’s your engineering team.

In Part 1, I broke down the RPG “classes” I see on engineering teams — Warriors, Rogues, Mages, Healers, and more.

This post goes one step further:
✅ How to build a balanced party
✅ How to adapt to team size and company stage
✅ How to flex when you're missing roles
✅ How to spot the signs you’re headed for a party wipe

Let’s queue up.

⚔️ 1️⃣ Party Makeup for Different Team Sizes

Not every team has a full raid comp — here’s how to build with what you’ve got.

Even small teams need balance. The goal isn’t to have one of every class — it’s to cover the most essential roles without overlap or neglect.

Small team (3–4 engineers):

You won’t have every class — but you can choose complementary ones.

Example party:

• 🛡️ Warrior or 🌿 Druid → core systems & flexibility
• 🔮 Mage or 🛠️ Artificer → deep tech or tooling
• ✨ Healer or 🎵 Bard → glue and support
• 🗡️ Rogue or 🏹 Ranger → speed and exploration

Mid-sized team (5–7 engineers):

You can start balancing offense and defense.

Example party:

• 🛡️ Warrior
• 🔮 Mage
• 🌿 Druid (hybrid)
• ✨ Healer
• 🗡️ Rogue
• 🎵 Bard, ⚔️✨ Paladin, or 🛠️ Artificer (optional)

Large team (8+ engineers):

Now you’re in raid party territory.

At this size, you can balance depth and coverage. You’ve got room for specialization, redundancy, and mentoring.

Example party:

• 🛡️ 2 Warriors (infra + legacy refactoring)
• 🔮 2 Mages (frontend + backend)
• 🛠️ 1 Artificer (CI/CD, automation)
• 🌿 1 Druid (fills the gaps)
• ✨ 1 Healer (docs, onboarding, support)
• 🎵 1 Bard (culture & morale)
• ⚔️✨ 1 Paladin (quality, testing, reviews)
• ☠️ 1 Necromancer (legacy knowledge)
• 🧘‍♂️ 1 Monk (simplicity, code clarity)

Bonus: room to rotate roles, grow juniors, and build out specialized lanes.

🧙‍♀️ When a Party Becomes a Guild

Too big for one raid? Time to split the group.

If your team grows beyond 8–10 engineers, you’re not running a party — you’re running a guild.

You’ll need:

• Squads (mini-parties) with ownership
• Multiple Raid Leaders, each leading their own encounters
• Coordination between parties, not just individuals

🛡️ Don’t try to run one giant party.
🎯 Instead, run several small ones — each balanced, aligned, and ready for their own boss fight.

🧭 2️⃣ Party Makeup for Different Company or Product Stages

Your team makeup should evolve with your product — and your company.

Just like you wouldn’t bring a fishing pole to a boss fight, you shouldn’t bring five generalists to a legacy system rewrite. Different product stages demand different builds.

Early-stage startup (0→1, MVP):

• Prioritize speed, flexibility, and getting to “good enough.”
• Stack with 🗡️ Rogues, 🌿 Druids, 🏹 Rangers
• Multiclassing is normal
• Too many 🛡️ Warriors or ⚔️✨ Paladins = unnecessary drag

Scaling phase (1→many users):

• Systems need stability and repeatability
• Add 🛡️ Warriors, 🛠️ Artificers, ⚔️✨ Paladins
• 🎵 Bards keep morale steady during rapid growth

Mature product / Enterprise:

• Legacy systems, compliance, and complexity demand new roles
• Add ☠️ Necromancers, 🔮 Mages, ✨ Healers
• 🎵 Bards and team health become non-negotiable

🚨 3️⃣ Signs You’re Missing a Class

How to know when your party comp is about to fail the mechanic.

Sometimes the signs are subtle. Sometimes they hit you like a party wipe. Here's how to recognize them before you’re on cooldown.

• No 🛡️ Warrior?
  Refactors stall, legacy piles up, stability suffers
• No 🔮 Mage?
  Tech depth is shallow, systems don’t scale, hard problems stay unsolved
• No ✨ Healer?
  Documentation disappears, onboarding slows, the team gets grumpy
• No 🎵 Bard?
  Burnout rises, retros suck, no one wants to be on-call
• Too many 🗡️ Rogues?
  Velocity is high, but so are bugs, rewrites, and team tension
• No 🛠️ Artificer?
  Everything feels manual. CI/CD? More like copy/paste/deploy
• No ⚔️✨ Paladin?
  Tests go missing, quality drops, reviews feel optional
• No ☠️ Necromancer?
  Legacy systems turn into haunted mansions. Only ghosts live there now 👻

🧩 4️⃣ Covering Gaps with Flexible Classes

When you can’t hire, you flex the party.

A good Raid Leader knows how to stretch the party. Here’s how to fill gaps without burning players out:

But remember:

• Flexing is a short-term strategy
• Long-term gaps lead to burnout or fragility
• Multiclassing is powerful — until someone’s doing two jobs at once

🎯 Final Thoughts

There’s no one “meta build” for engineering teams.
You won’t always have the luxury of a full party — but you can be intentional about how you build, flex, and lead.

Think like a Raid Leader:

• Know the fight
• Build the right comp
• Make the call that keeps the team alive

🎮 The secret to a great raid isn’t perfect balance — it’s understanding your players, playing to their strengths, and helping the whole party win.

Just like in Stranger Things, when the Demogorgon shows up — you better have the right party, the right plan, and someone ready to call the shot.