Guide to choosing a class

This article will attempt to give some insight into choosing a class, bear in mind that class selection is largely a matter of personal preference and different players will have varying opinions on what constitutes the best class combinations, there is no right or wrong answer, and selection depends on a players preferred play style.

What is the best class?

There is no one best class on the game. Each class has different strengths and weaknesses, and may be better in certain situations or at defeating certain types of enemies. I.e. druids with their solar based spells are strong against undead but are extremely weak and lose a lot of their abilities when underwater or in nocast rooms. Mages maybe better against monsters that are weak to elemental attacks but their spells are useless in nocast rooms, and gain minimal hp meaning that they may be more susceptible to damage.

What class should I pick?

This is a question asked many times by newbie players, it will largely depend on your preferred play style. Remember you can reset your newbie character at any time should you make a mistake or wish to try something different. You can also create any number of new characters and class combinations. There is nothing wrong with creating a number of different characters until you find the combination right for you.

What is the best class for newbies?

As a newbie it's a good idea to try out many different classes to find the one suits your play style, there is no substitute for experience. In terms of the easiest to play, it is recommend newbies start out with the warrior or mage, these two classes represent the basic melee and magic classes respectively, and will generally be the easiest to play and understand. Necromancer is another easy class to pick up and start with because minions provide a heavy wall of safety.

What is the best class for player killing?

When combined with the best equipment, Warrior-thief seems to have a slight edge when it comes to pk. Skills such leap, charge and shadow strike work in all rooms, are difficult to avoid, and deal huge amounts of damage to opponents.

Minion Classes

Necro and druid are considered to be the two main minion classes and are at there most powerful when chosen as a first or second class, choosing them as a third or fourth undermines a lot of their minion strength, so own do so if there are compelling reasons otherwise it is best to choose them early or late in the class order. Mixing necromancer and druid is a bad idea as there is a lot of duplication and control points (the amount of minions you can have) are fixed by primary level. If you choose one high in the class order, choose the second late in the class order.

Soloing

All classes when played right can be played solo; however some are generally better and easier to solo than others. Necromancers and druids work well as solo choices; as minion classes they can effectively create their own small group and tank to protect them. They also have a range of attack spells. They also fall somewhere in the middle of hp vs mana trade-off. Depending how they are played and what other classes they are combined with, mages make a fairly poor or good solo class, because of their poor hp they tend to be more squishy and die easily, although their powerful attacks mean that they can inflict a lot of damage, blitzing through enemies quickly. Warriors make good solo choices as they are tough and can inflict a lot of damage. Thieves can take a lot of getting use to as a solo choice however they do have powerful abilities such as sneaking and backstabbing. Clerics are perhaps the weakest solo class and generally work better in groups where they can take a backseat away from the fighting providing utility support with healing, cursing and movement refresh.

Warrior

This is perhaps one of the easiest classes to play at low levels, the basic kick attack is fairly powerful and will obliterate most of the early level critters on the newbie islands. More so than any other class warriors rely heavily on having the right equipment, a weightless is a must when playing a warrior at high levels, as their weapons and equipment tend to be heavier than any other class. Mana is largely unimportant to a warrior as they have no spells instead rely on movement and hp.

Mage

Mages have some of the most powerful elemental attacks in the game. Considering the relevant elemental strengths and weaknesses of opponents is critical to working out the correct spell to use. As a third class or fourth class the mage can provide some useful utility and defensive support, as well as extra mana.

Class combinations

There are various primary and secondary class combinations. The names of the combinations are taken from the list of dual-class fighters in PK. Note that both the combination and its inverse, where the first and second classes are switched, are covered in each section, such as mage cleric and cleric mage.

The Mystic (MC)

There is some duplication in spells e.g. the cleric's flamestrike and the mage's fire attacks, but it is minimal. This is for the players who favor blasting, healing and cursing mobs all at once. Second-class clerics can still support group members well with things like groupcasting and powerful healing. Mage Clerics have a good range of defensive spells such as sanc, faith shield, armor, shield, displacement and crystal coat that work very well in combination with each other. However, mage clerics usually end up having lackluster hp.

The Shadowmancer (MT)

Generally a tougher class to play, mt's generally have to decide how they will kill each mob, either by using mage blasting spells or their arsenal of thief skills. Second class thief allows them to sneak around well, or immobilize mobs with shadow bind. The mt is generally worse at stealing things than a dedicated thief since mage does not seem to synergize well with it. MT's also have to train more stats, as the mage class requires the use of int and wis, and the thief class benefits from dex and chr.

Spellslayer (MW)

This is for the warrior who mainly favors all out attack to defense. This class doesn't have access to a lot of minion support or tanks. The warrior part of the class also negates a lot of the mage's natural squishyness as it provides huge amounts of hp. MW's do very well soloing higher level and fame mobs as they can either use the warrior's prime selection of brutally powerful weaponry or the mage's powerful spells, though as with most caster-melee combos, extra time will need to be spend training stats to get the best mileage out of this combination.

The Archlich (MN)

This is a good option for necros, you can create minions and blast their enemies while taking cover behind tanks for protection. Mage blasting is generally weaker however, since switching to mage cast level equipment horribly weakens most minions.

Stormcaller (MD)

One of the rarely-seen class combinations, since many of the spells in both classes overlap, and many of the druid analogs of these spells require huge amounts of setup time or are otherwise restricted. For example, call lightning requires one to be outdoors with the weather cloudy, while ball lightning has less lag and is unrestricted.

The Inquisitor (CT)

A very weak choice due to the absolute lack of synergy between the classes. Having the thief as a second class severely impairs the ability to do damage and none of the cleric utility spells can increase the typical methods that thief has of dealing damage. For example, the cleric faerie fire curse lowers armor, but backstab and shadow strike, the strongest direct damage skills available to the thief, hit through armor anyway. Thief cleric is a slightly better choice, as cleric is much better as a secondary than a primary class due to its utility value.

The Crusader (CW)

This choice is for the defensive warrior, clerics have a lot of spells that work well with warriors, since warriors rely on hp and movement. The movement refresh spell group can be particularly useful for warriors who often run out of movement while fighting. The ability to heal yourself in and out of battle without consumables is also a big advantage especially with mobs that regenerate quickly. Many cleric curses, such as lethargy, faerie fire and weaken, help the warrior to do extra damage or take less while fighting. Protection spells such as armor, faith shield and sanc provide extra longevity. Stat training can be mildly annoying, as to wield those heavy weapons and hit enemies consistently, str and dex must be trained alongside wis and chr.

The Witchdoctor (CN)

CN's create minions to support themselves, then use necro spells to blast enemies down while keeping their minions healthy with heal spells. Necro is the pereferred first choice to have the strongest minions and highest damage.

The Shaman (CD)

Cleric seems to be a very popular pairing with druid because its utility spells benefit the druid and its minions, and the other options for a second casting class, mage and necro, significantly overlap with skills and spells the druid already has. Salves that can be poured onto the druid and its minions, such as barkskin or stoneskin, stack well with cleric protective spells to help reduce damage. Druid offense has a wide spread across all damage types and does respectable damage in most cases, though the lower amounts of mana that dc's generally have compared to other caster combinations can be an annoyance.

The Rogue (TW)

At high levels warrior thieves can make excellent tanks due to their high hp, and access to defense avoidance skills such as parry and dodge. TW's also make the strongest hitters, with access to some of the best hitting equipment, big heavy weapons, and a wide array of melee damage skills spanning both classes. TW's are especially potent in pk, often able to dispatch other players, even fellow TW's, in two or three hits of their weapons.

The Voidwalker (TN)

Extremely rare

The Ranger (TD)

extremely rare

The Death Knight (WN)

WN's create weak minions to assist them in battle and occasionally take a few hits for them while they fire off strong attacks in their hitting sets. Since they are not in necrocast sets all their minions are generally weaker, but they are usually doing the majority of the damage themselves using power attacks combined with bulky weaponry. WN's have acceptable endurance and can increase it with a strong bone shield and bone armor if needed.

See also

• class selection article on alteraeon.com
• building a good warcaster article on audiogames.net