Class Info: Difference between revisions
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If you're new to the game, I'd point you towards my [[Newb Guide]] for help picking your first character race/class. | If you're new to the game, I'd point you towards my [[Newb Guide]] for help picking your first character race/class. | ||
=Genres= | |||
The classes are clumped into 'genres', the 'help genre' output make this very clear: | |||
<pre> | |||
0) Sorcerer Augurer, Mage, Nephandi | |||
1) Divinity Cleric | |||
2) Rogue Bladesinger, Fathomer, Thief | |||
3) Fighter Paladin, Ranger, Warrior, Barbarian | |||
4) Aberrant Vampire | |||
5) Shaman Druid | |||
</pre> | |||
These are mostly used for equipment restrictions, which might limit usage to to 'Rogue' types for example. | |||
The genre's MOSTLY also share the same primary statistic, though there are exceptions. | |||
=Class Stats= | =Class Stats= | ||
Your class determines your max stats. | Your class determines your max stats. The help file for each class explains the details of that class. | ||
*Each class has a Primary, Secondary, and Deficient stat. | *Each class has a Primary, Secondary, and Deficient stat. | ||
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**Deficient stat = 18 | **Deficient stat = 18 | ||
**Others: 20 | **Others: 20 | ||
The prime stat is kinda the determining factor on the characters usage, so here's a quick reference of that | |||
For more information on each individual stat and what it is used for, see [[Stats]] | |||
{| class="wikitable sortable" | |||
!Class | |||
!Primary Stat | |||
|- | |||
|Thief, Fathomer, Vampire||Dex | |||
|- | |||
|Barbarian, Warrior, Ranger, Paladin||Str | |||
|- | |||
|Cleric, Druid, Augurer||Wis | |||
|- | |||
|Mage, Nephandi||Int | |||
|} | |||
Here's a table showing each class's max stat values in full. | |||
Note that this isn't related to your 'base stats' that you set at the beginnging of game, this is the maximum values you can attain by wearing equipment and using buff spells. | |||
{| class="wikitable sortable" | {| class="wikitable sortable" | ||
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Here's another way of looking at that data someone else made, | Here's another way of looking at that data someone else made, I find it a bit more confusing, but it also includes which Deities create a sigil that boots that stat. | ||
{| border="1" | {| border="1" | ||
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|- | |- | ||
|} | |} | ||
=Class XP= | =Class XP= | ||
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Each class gains a different number of hp, mp, and movement points, per level. These are based on a dice roll with a die of X sides (rng column below) | Each class gains a different number of hp, mp, and movement points, per level. These are based on a dice roll with a die of X sides (rng column below) | ||
*You MUST have max Con in order to attain max hp gains. | *You MUST have max Con in order for the chance to attain max hp gains. | ||
*You | *You MUST have max Int in order for the chance to attain the max mp gain | ||
*I have no idea how movement gains work, and it doesn't matter. | |||
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|} | |} | ||
= | =Primary Attacks= | ||
At Avatar level (50), these will be your primary attacks. | |||
I've included what is believed to be the primary modifier where known. | |||
Attacks flagged with the * represent "Gimmick Attacks" (see below) | |||
*'''Augurer:''' You'll be casting coil, then 12x spirals, repeat. | |||
**'''Spiral Blast:''' HP Based. Area attack (hits whole room). Fastest attack in game. < 1 bar lag | |||
**'''Coil of Flame:''' A spell that does continuing damage over 5-10 rounds then can be reapplied. | |||
*'''Mage:''' | |||
**'''Quantum Spike:''' All Paths. Basic mage attack. 2 bar lag. | |||
**'''Paradox Flux:''' Path of Destruction. Better than qspike | |||
**'''Immobilize*:''' Path of Balance. Gimmick Attack (see below) | |||
**'''Invoila Magicka*:''' Path of Countermagick. Gimmick Attack (see below) | |||
*'''Nephandi:''' | |||
**'''Qlippothic Shift:''' Magic attack. | |||
**'''Spelldowns:''' The real tactic of nephs is their litany of spelldowns. See [[Neph Spells]]. | |||
*'''Cleric:''' | |||
**'''Virtue (devout):''' CHA Based | |||
**'''Necromantic Touch (evil):''' Near game-breaking attack for fast leveling. | |||
*'''Fathomer:''' | |||
**'''Vindur Gong:''' Air based attack, doesn't work in Swamps, a few other room terrains that I forget. | |||
*'''Thief:''' | |||
**'''Circle:''' DR Based. Slow. 4 bar lag. There's a luck check involved as well. | |||
*'''Paladin:''' | |||
**'''Shieldbash:''' WIS Based | |||
*'''Ranger:''' | |||
**'''Gash:''' WIS+STR Based. Requires talonous weapon. | |||
**'''Fletch + Missile Weapon*:''' Gimmick Attack (See Below) | |||
*'''Warrior:''' | |||
**'''Smash:''' A basic attack which totally sucks balls. | |||
**'''Stun*:''' Gimmick attack (See Below) | |||
*'''Barbarian:''' | |||
**'''Rend:''' CON based | |||
**'''Chokehold*:''' Gimmick attack. See below. | |||
*'''Vampire:''' | |||
**'''Grasp Suspiria:'''INT & DR Based (See 'news 1149') | |||
*'''Druid:''' | |||
**'''Nadur Dorn:''' MANA Based (See 'news 1171'). A spell attack that is technically 'non-magic'. | |||
=Gimmick Attacks= | |||
*Some classes get a 'gimmick' attack that works well against a small sub-set of mobs. | |||
**I can think of about 10-15 for each gimmick. | |||
*Still very useful in some cases, because they allow you to go do things solo that would otherwise take a group. | |||
**Certain mobs that used to be "a big deal" are now soloable and "ain't no thang" thanks to a gimmick tactic. | |||
*'''Warrior:''' Stun | |||
**Stun completely immobilizes a mob for 2-5 rounds, then needs re-applied. | |||
**Typically only works on relatively entry-level easyish run mobs | |||
*'''Ranger:''' Fletch + Missile Weapon | |||
**Use the fletch skill to craft arrows and fire at a mob from a room away, where a tunnel or area boundary prevent the mobs from reaching you. | |||
**Will need to fletch a LOT of arrows. | |||
**8 Rangers in an "Archer Army" can pack quite a punch to kill, or simply assist in a kill. | |||
*'''Mage (Path of Balance):''' Immobilize | |||
**Completely immobilizes a mob for 2-5 rounds (similar to stun), then needs re-applied. | |||
**A decent subset of mobs are inherently susceptible to this, and more can be made susceptible to this by a Nephandi | |||
***Neph spelldowns cause various penalties to saving throws, including save vs. paralysis | |||
*'''Mage (Path of Countermagick):''' Invoila magicka | |||
**Makes you 100% immunte to ALL magic (including healing) | |||
**This can allow you to easily survive a magic-based mob, or a magic-based penalty for ip+ violation. | |||
*'''Barbarian:''' Chokehold | |||
**This can only be used as an initial attack, but with flee tactics can then be re-applied. | |||
**Can be re-applied if you flee/quit/relog, OR if you flee and a different barb enters and chokes. | |||
**One barb can choke/flee/quit repeat. | |||
**Two barbs can take turns doing choke/flee back and forth. | |||
Offhand, I would say each of these gimmicks work on between 10-15 '''useful''' mobs, and many more useless ones. | |||
=Notable Notes= | |||
Some things you should really know. | |||
*You're going to need every class. The whole game is balanced out so that no class/attack can kill everything. You do need the gimmick attacks too, they make some things so vastly easier than 'the hard way' that nobody even goes and runs those as a group anymore. You should kinda always be leveling more chars in your downtime when there isn't much else going on. | |||
*Clerics get the near gamebreaking spell 'necromantic touch' at level 14 if you are Evil align. This spell not only gets you a literal shit fuck ton of xp per hit, but also sucks life from the mob to you, so you never need to heal. Just buy some mana's, and go necro your face off. This is by far the fastest class to level. You don't ever need to worry about stats or equipment, it's so easy its almost kinda broken. | |||
*Paladins are probably the next easiest to level. | |||
*Cleric's and Mage's have additional "Paths" you can specialize in at level 50. See links: | |||
See: [[Cleric Path Info]] & [[Mage Path Info]] | |||
=Basic Usage by Class= | |||
Maybe this is helpful to someone to just have a generic description of each class. I'll try to outline what you'll be doing with each. I'll group them by their primary stat: | |||
'''Dex Based: ''' | |||
The Rogue characters are mostly used as hitters, however they can also tank stuff because the high dex allows them to dodge/parry that stuff much better than a Fighter class. | |||
*'''Fathomer:''' Their attack is strong and puts out consistent damage, but its limited to certain room terrain types (doesn't work in Swamps for example). They get abilities to be impervious to blindness (glass eye) and not have to drink springs to empty their stomachs (salinate). They are basically just used as a hitter mostly, often in cases where other attacks trigger retaliation from a mob. You can do solo tasks with them if you want. Not much special going on, just a character with a decent hit. | |||
*'''Thief:''' Thieves attack "circle" is DR based, and there is no cap on DR, so historically Thieves were the most popular class and people have been adding DR to Thieves for 30 years. Circle is strong but has a long wait-time afterwards. You will be typing circle... wait...wait...wait... circle....wait...wait...wait... over and over and nothing else. Also a lot of the best gear for thieves is restricted to neutral alignment, which is somewhat of a pain to manage. They get no magic. Thieves are strong but very boring. | |||
*'''Vampire:''' They use Blood Points instead of magic, which I actually really like. Each thing you do is only like 1 or 2 BP, and when you're out you just feed on your opponent. Its easier to manage than mana really. Their attack is great, and fast, though many mobs block/prog against it. They're a lot like thieves but, I think, more useful - they are much better tanks because they get some skills that help reduce damage, and can hit while tanking because grasp is so fast, they get the same sneaky stuff, same basic attack stuff, but also some spell buffs, a teleportation thing, and a dr buff. Main downside is you cannot idle on them except in a dark indoor room, they get fucked up in the daytime, outdoors. So, they're good for logging on and killing something, not really for longer term exploring or sitting around with. | |||
'''Strength based: ''' | |||
The Fighter chars are typically tanks. They can carry the most shit, and can get the highest AC and HP probably. They're built to survive a beating, but don't get super versatile skills/spells to defend against different ailments or situations. Its a hammer for when you need a hammer, not a Swiss Army Knife. | |||
*'''Paladin:''' A big dumb lovable great tank. Pallys pretty much kick ass, but they're balanced by the fact they don't get nearly any useful basic skills like scry, scan, track, etc, and their primary attack Shieldbash can ONLY be used when you are tanking. So, for kills where the mob switches tanks, that is problematic and you probably want to tank on something else that can attack when you're not the tank. Really really great tank, really NOT great at exploring or if not tanking. | |||
*'''Ranger:''' Rangers are a lot like warriors but better, in my mind. They get a skill that raises dex to 22, exactly like warriors, in addition to their natural secondary stat of wis. So they have 2 secondary stats basically. Their attack Gash is under-powered until you prestige them into a Hunter however. They also get wasp-talon which will poison a mob and is useful sometimes. Finally, they get the gimmick of missile-weapons and can be used to kill a certain list of mobs from a room away by just firing arrows. So, good tank, ok attacks, and a gimmick. Plus good at exploring with basic navigation skills like scan/track/etc. Not great as hitters until they're prestiged. | |||
*'''Warrior:''' Beat ass old warriors. Sigh. There's really nothing here, if you want to tank something you'd be better off using a Pally/Ranger probably. Their own attacks tend to suck, 'smash' is nothing great. They get 2 useful other ways to do damage though: stun, a gimmick that only lands on crap mobs, and the ability to wield the sword Nasr, which does a lot of damage, but you can wear that on any other Fighter as well and you might as well. Mostly used where you just want to let Nasr chew something down and don't need to do anything more. Not very exciting stuff here. There's some kinda interesting opportunities now that you can prestige them into War-Thi, War-Mag, War-Cle, War-Dru I guess. | |||
*'''Barbarian:''' The game here is that they cannot wear magic equipment, they have their own home town instead of Darkhaven, and they can't read scrolls. Their attack 'rend' is a barehanded attack, so you can't wear weapons. So, basically the balance is - no magic, no weapons, BUT good strong ass attack. Great hitters. They also get the gimmick 'chokehold' which can be exploited quite a lot. An 'army' of 8 barbs can take down a lot of bigger mobs. | |||
'''Constitution based:''' | |||
Only Druids here. To me much more of a Swiss Army Knife class. Really robust list of skills/spells and decent fighters. | |||
*'''Druid:''' I think Druid is my favorite class. BUTTTT you realllllly need to get the high end Druid gear to make them worthwhile. Their attack "dorn nadur" will hit most things, but has a high mana cost and isn't super high in damage initially. With the gear you can get though you can drastically drop the mana cost and increase the damage. They are by far the best class for exploring, navigating, puzzle solving, and holding their own in impromtu fights. The only shortcoming here is that dorn isn't very good until you get the gear that influences it. | |||
'''Wisdom Based:''' | |||
Spell Casters. One's a hitter, the other has options. | |||
*'''Augurer:''' They're our version of a Time or Blue Mage. They suck to level and don't get much fun stuff until Avatar. At AV they have the fastest attack in the game, which is hp based, so they can put out a ton of damage very quickly. They're frequently used for kills where you are hitting behind a Tank and want to put out big damage. | |||
*'''Cleric:''' There's a lot of options here. They get different spells if evil or devout. They can pick from 3 paths based on their deity that have different uses. So, 2 alignments x 3 paths. The paths allow you to make them in a tank/fighter, a fighter that only works outdoors, or a better spell buffer and remote support character. Devout and Evil both have some decent cool attacks and spells. Paths aside, they're better fighters than you would think and get lots of nice buffs, spelldowns, and I find them fun solo chars for most of the entry-level avatar mobs. Prestige has added a LOT of opprotunity here, and Cle-Dru, Cle-War, Cle-Thi, Cle-Mag all make them even more functional for bigger runs. Probably my 2nd favorite class, they just have 'a lot' and offer a wide variety of gameplay usages and customization's. | |||
'''Intelligence Based:''' | |||
Spell Casters. One's a hitter/debuffer, the other has options. | |||
*'''Nephandi:''' Nephs, to me, are like a vamp redo. They're even more macabre and weird. They are hitters, but have a shit fuck ton of spelldowns, and this is often their primary usage. Many mobs can be abused by gimmick tactics only after a Neph has cast their litany of spelldowns on them, these drop mob resistances so low things like poison, immobilize, stun, actually work. So, they're often kind of a specialized 'downer' who runs in and preps the mob for other chars to go kill. That said, they're also fine to use as hitters themselves, and especially after you prestige them into an Infernalist. | |||
*'''Mage:''' Similar to Clerics there are a lot of options here because there are six Paths you can specialize into. The basic usage would be as a hitter, casting Quantum Spike, or one path gives Paradox Flux which is better. You can also take Paths to give them the Immobilize or Invoila Magicka gimmicks, both of which have application against a certain subset of things. They're great travelers with portal and astral walk, and of course have tons of spells both defensive and offensive. Kinda what you would expect here. You end up needing multiples to use as a spell buff bot, a hitter, and immob'r, and maybe a countermagick tank. | |||
[[Category:Information]] |
Latest revision as of 15:29, 23 August 2023
This page breaks down each class by their stats, gains, attacks, etc.
If you're new to the game, I'd point you towards my Newb Guide for help picking your first character race/class.
Genres
The classes are clumped into 'genres', the 'help genre' output make this very clear:
0) Sorcerer Augurer, Mage, Nephandi 1) Divinity Cleric 2) Rogue Bladesinger, Fathomer, Thief 3) Fighter Paladin, Ranger, Warrior, Barbarian 4) Aberrant Vampire 5) Shaman Druid
These are mostly used for equipment restrictions, which might limit usage to to 'Rogue' types for example.
The genre's MOSTLY also share the same primary statistic, though there are exceptions.
Class Stats
Your class determines your max stats. The help file for each class explains the details of that class.
- Each class has a Primary, Secondary, and Deficient stat.
- Primary stat = 25
- Secondary stat = 22
- Deficient stat = 18
- Others: 20
The prime stat is kinda the determining factor on the characters usage, so here's a quick reference of that
For more information on each individual stat and what it is used for, see Stats
Class | Primary Stat |
---|---|
Thief, Fathomer, Vampire | Dex |
Barbarian, Warrior, Ranger, Paladin | Str |
Cleric, Druid, Augurer | Wis |
Mage, Nephandi | Int |
Here's a table showing each class's max stat values in full.
Note that this isn't related to your 'base stats' that you set at the beginnging of game, this is the maximum values you can attain by wearing equipment and using buff spells.
CLASS | Str | Int | Wis | Dex | Con | Cha | Lck |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Augurer | 20 | 20 | 25 | 18 | 20 | 20 | 22 |
Mage | 18 | 25 | 22 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 |
Nephandi | 20 | 25 | 20 | 22 | 20 | 20 | 18 |
Cleric | 20 | 22 | 25 | 18 | 20 | 20 | 20 |
Fathomer | 20 | 22 | 20 | 25 | 18 | 20 | 20 |
Thief | 20 | 20 | 18 | 25 | 20 | 22 | 18 |
Paladin | 25 | 18 | 22 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 |
Ranger | 25 | 20 | 22 | 22 | 20 | 18 | 20 |
Warrior | 25 | 18 | 20 | 22 | 20 | 20 | 20 |
Barbarian | 25 | 18 | 20 | 20 | 22 | 20 | 20 |
Vampire | 20 | 22 | 20 | 25 | 20 | 20 | 20 |
Druid | 20 | 20 | 25 | 20 | 22 | 18 | 20 |
Here's another way of looking at that data someone else made, I find it a bit more confusing, but it also includes which Deities create a sigil that boots that stat.
Statistics | Primary Statistic (25) | Secondary Statistic (22) | Deficient Statistic] (18) | Deity Sigils |
---|---|---|---|---|
Strength | Warrior, Ranger, Paladin, Barbarian | Bladesinger | Mage | Bael, Tempus, Kardis, Adendra, Sil-Galith, Grishnakh |
Dexterity | Thief, Fathomer, Bladesinger, Vampire | Warrior, Nephandi, Ranger (with mercuria) | Cleric, Augurer | Keltas, Masefi, LaChte, Shivvan |
Intelligence | Mage, Nephandi, Cleric, Vampire, Fathomer | Warrior, Paladin, Barbarian | A'enari, Z'hyal, Gre'Vos, Cawyn | |
Wisdom | Augurer, Cleric, Druid | Paladin, Ranger, Mage | Thief | Vl'aresch, Sarane, Estathius |
Constitution | None | Druid, Barbarian | Fathomer | Mak'kor, Wirawyth, Kalerd, Tirebaen |
Charisma | None | Thief | Ranger, Druid | Ghordohl, Sh'Vath |
Luck | None | Augurer | Nephandi, Bladesinger | Bron'trel |
Class XP
Each class has a different experience "schedule" or "xp required" to attain each level.
These are too tedious to document, and really don't matter a whole hell of a lot, but, yes some classes require overall more xp to level up than others. That's often offset by the fact they may gain xp easier, thanks to better attacks, etc, so really I find doesn't matter at all.
Gains per Level
Each class gains a different number of hp, mp, and movement points, per level. These are based on a dice roll with a die of X sides (rng column below)
- You MUST have max Con in order for the chance to attain max hp gains.
- You MUST have max Int in order for the chance to attain the max mp gain
- I have no idea how movement gains work, and it doesn't matter.
Class | Regular | Prestige | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
HP min | HP max | rng | Mana min | Mana max | rng | HP min | HP max | rng | Mana min | Mana max | rng | |
Augurer | 13 | 18 | 5 | 2 | 7 | 5 | 14 | 20 | 6 | 3 | 9 | 6 |
Druid | 14 | 19 | 5 | 2 | 8 | 6 | 15 | 21 | 6 | 3 | 10 | 7 |
Fathomer | 11 | 17 | 6 | 2 | 8 | 6 | 12 | 19 | 7 | 3 | 10 | 7 |
Mage | 9 | 12 | 3 | 2 | 9 | 7 | 10 | 14 | 4 | 3 | 11 | 8 |
Nephandi | 11 | 13 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 6 | 12 | 15 | 3 | 3 | 10 | 7 |
Paladin | 15 | 19 | 4 | 2 | 7 | 5 | 16 | 21 | 5 | 3 | 9 | 6 |
Ranger | 15 | 19 | 4 | 2 | 7 | 5 | 16 | 21 | 5 | 3 | 9 | 6 |
Thief | 12 | 17 | 5 | n/a | 13 | 19 | 6 | n/a | ||||
Vampire | 13 | 18 | 5 | n/a | 14 | 20 | 6 | n/a | ||||
Warrior | 15 | 19 | 4 | n/a | 16 | 21 | 5 | n/a |
Primary Attacks
At Avatar level (50), these will be your primary attacks.
I've included what is believed to be the primary modifier where known.
Attacks flagged with the * represent "Gimmick Attacks" (see below)
- Augurer: You'll be casting coil, then 12x spirals, repeat.
- Spiral Blast: HP Based. Area attack (hits whole room). Fastest attack in game. < 1 bar lag
- Coil of Flame: A spell that does continuing damage over 5-10 rounds then can be reapplied.
- Mage:
- Quantum Spike: All Paths. Basic mage attack. 2 bar lag.
- Paradox Flux: Path of Destruction. Better than qspike
- Immobilize*: Path of Balance. Gimmick Attack (see below)
- Invoila Magicka*: Path of Countermagick. Gimmick Attack (see below)
- Nephandi:
- Qlippothic Shift: Magic attack.
- Spelldowns: The real tactic of nephs is their litany of spelldowns. See Neph Spells.
- Cleric:
- Virtue (devout): CHA Based
- Necromantic Touch (evil): Near game-breaking attack for fast leveling.
- Fathomer:
- Vindur Gong: Air based attack, doesn't work in Swamps, a few other room terrains that I forget.
- Thief:
- Circle: DR Based. Slow. 4 bar lag. There's a luck check involved as well.
- Paladin:
- Shieldbash: WIS Based
- Ranger:
- Gash: WIS+STR Based. Requires talonous weapon.
- Fletch + Missile Weapon*: Gimmick Attack (See Below)
- Warrior:
- Smash: A basic attack which totally sucks balls.
- Stun*: Gimmick attack (See Below)
- Barbarian:
- Rend: CON based
- Chokehold*: Gimmick attack. See below.
- Vampire:
- Grasp Suspiria:INT & DR Based (See 'news 1149')
- Druid:
- Nadur Dorn: MANA Based (See 'news 1171'). A spell attack that is technically 'non-magic'.
Gimmick Attacks
- Some classes get a 'gimmick' attack that works well against a small sub-set of mobs.
- I can think of about 10-15 for each gimmick.
- Still very useful in some cases, because they allow you to go do things solo that would otherwise take a group.
- Certain mobs that used to be "a big deal" are now soloable and "ain't no thang" thanks to a gimmick tactic.
- Warrior: Stun
- Stun completely immobilizes a mob for 2-5 rounds, then needs re-applied.
- Typically only works on relatively entry-level easyish run mobs
- Ranger: Fletch + Missile Weapon
- Use the fletch skill to craft arrows and fire at a mob from a room away, where a tunnel or area boundary prevent the mobs from reaching you.
- Will need to fletch a LOT of arrows.
- 8 Rangers in an "Archer Army" can pack quite a punch to kill, or simply assist in a kill.
- Mage (Path of Balance): Immobilize
- Completely immobilizes a mob for 2-5 rounds (similar to stun), then needs re-applied.
- A decent subset of mobs are inherently susceptible to this, and more can be made susceptible to this by a Nephandi
- Neph spelldowns cause various penalties to saving throws, including save vs. paralysis
- Mage (Path of Countermagick): Invoila magicka
- Makes you 100% immunte to ALL magic (including healing)
- This can allow you to easily survive a magic-based mob, or a magic-based penalty for ip+ violation.
- Barbarian: Chokehold
- This can only be used as an initial attack, but with flee tactics can then be re-applied.
- Can be re-applied if you flee/quit/relog, OR if you flee and a different barb enters and chokes.
- One barb can choke/flee/quit repeat.
- Two barbs can take turns doing choke/flee back and forth.
Offhand, I would say each of these gimmicks work on between 10-15 useful mobs, and many more useless ones.
Notable Notes
Some things you should really know.
- You're going to need every class. The whole game is balanced out so that no class/attack can kill everything. You do need the gimmick attacks too, they make some things so vastly easier than 'the hard way' that nobody even goes and runs those as a group anymore. You should kinda always be leveling more chars in your downtime when there isn't much else going on.
- Clerics get the near gamebreaking spell 'necromantic touch' at level 14 if you are Evil align. This spell not only gets you a literal shit fuck ton of xp per hit, but also sucks life from the mob to you, so you never need to heal. Just buy some mana's, and go necro your face off. This is by far the fastest class to level. You don't ever need to worry about stats or equipment, it's so easy its almost kinda broken.
- Paladins are probably the next easiest to level.
- Cleric's and Mage's have additional "Paths" you can specialize in at level 50. See links:
See: Cleric Path Info & Mage Path Info
Basic Usage by Class
Maybe this is helpful to someone to just have a generic description of each class. I'll try to outline what you'll be doing with each. I'll group them by their primary stat:
Dex Based:
The Rogue characters are mostly used as hitters, however they can also tank stuff because the high dex allows them to dodge/parry that stuff much better than a Fighter class.
- Fathomer: Their attack is strong and puts out consistent damage, but its limited to certain room terrain types (doesn't work in Swamps for example). They get abilities to be impervious to blindness (glass eye) and not have to drink springs to empty their stomachs (salinate). They are basically just used as a hitter mostly, often in cases where other attacks trigger retaliation from a mob. You can do solo tasks with them if you want. Not much special going on, just a character with a decent hit.
- Thief: Thieves attack "circle" is DR based, and there is no cap on DR, so historically Thieves were the most popular class and people have been adding DR to Thieves for 30 years. Circle is strong but has a long wait-time afterwards. You will be typing circle... wait...wait...wait... circle....wait...wait...wait... over and over and nothing else. Also a lot of the best gear for thieves is restricted to neutral alignment, which is somewhat of a pain to manage. They get no magic. Thieves are strong but very boring.
- Vampire: They use Blood Points instead of magic, which I actually really like. Each thing you do is only like 1 or 2 BP, and when you're out you just feed on your opponent. Its easier to manage than mana really. Their attack is great, and fast, though many mobs block/prog against it. They're a lot like thieves but, I think, more useful - they are much better tanks because they get some skills that help reduce damage, and can hit while tanking because grasp is so fast, they get the same sneaky stuff, same basic attack stuff, but also some spell buffs, a teleportation thing, and a dr buff. Main downside is you cannot idle on them except in a dark indoor room, they get fucked up in the daytime, outdoors. So, they're good for logging on and killing something, not really for longer term exploring or sitting around with.
Strength based:
The Fighter chars are typically tanks. They can carry the most shit, and can get the highest AC and HP probably. They're built to survive a beating, but don't get super versatile skills/spells to defend against different ailments or situations. Its a hammer for when you need a hammer, not a Swiss Army Knife.
- Paladin: A big dumb lovable great tank. Pallys pretty much kick ass, but they're balanced by the fact they don't get nearly any useful basic skills like scry, scan, track, etc, and their primary attack Shieldbash can ONLY be used when you are tanking. So, for kills where the mob switches tanks, that is problematic and you probably want to tank on something else that can attack when you're not the tank. Really really great tank, really NOT great at exploring or if not tanking.
- Ranger: Rangers are a lot like warriors but better, in my mind. They get a skill that raises dex to 22, exactly like warriors, in addition to their natural secondary stat of wis. So they have 2 secondary stats basically. Their attack Gash is under-powered until you prestige them into a Hunter however. They also get wasp-talon which will poison a mob and is useful sometimes. Finally, they get the gimmick of missile-weapons and can be used to kill a certain list of mobs from a room away by just firing arrows. So, good tank, ok attacks, and a gimmick. Plus good at exploring with basic navigation skills like scan/track/etc. Not great as hitters until they're prestiged.
- Warrior: Beat ass old warriors. Sigh. There's really nothing here, if you want to tank something you'd be better off using a Pally/Ranger probably. Their own attacks tend to suck, 'smash' is nothing great. They get 2 useful other ways to do damage though: stun, a gimmick that only lands on crap mobs, and the ability to wield the sword Nasr, which does a lot of damage, but you can wear that on any other Fighter as well and you might as well. Mostly used where you just want to let Nasr chew something down and don't need to do anything more. Not very exciting stuff here. There's some kinda interesting opportunities now that you can prestige them into War-Thi, War-Mag, War-Cle, War-Dru I guess.
- Barbarian: The game here is that they cannot wear magic equipment, they have their own home town instead of Darkhaven, and they can't read scrolls. Their attack 'rend' is a barehanded attack, so you can't wear weapons. So, basically the balance is - no magic, no weapons, BUT good strong ass attack. Great hitters. They also get the gimmick 'chokehold' which can be exploited quite a lot. An 'army' of 8 barbs can take down a lot of bigger mobs.
Constitution based:
Only Druids here. To me much more of a Swiss Army Knife class. Really robust list of skills/spells and decent fighters.
- Druid: I think Druid is my favorite class. BUTTTT you realllllly need to get the high end Druid gear to make them worthwhile. Their attack "dorn nadur" will hit most things, but has a high mana cost and isn't super high in damage initially. With the gear you can get though you can drastically drop the mana cost and increase the damage. They are by far the best class for exploring, navigating, puzzle solving, and holding their own in impromtu fights. The only shortcoming here is that dorn isn't very good until you get the gear that influences it.
Wisdom Based:
Spell Casters. One's a hitter, the other has options.
- Augurer: They're our version of a Time or Blue Mage. They suck to level and don't get much fun stuff until Avatar. At AV they have the fastest attack in the game, which is hp based, so they can put out a ton of damage very quickly. They're frequently used for kills where you are hitting behind a Tank and want to put out big damage.
- Cleric: There's a lot of options here. They get different spells if evil or devout. They can pick from 3 paths based on their deity that have different uses. So, 2 alignments x 3 paths. The paths allow you to make them in a tank/fighter, a fighter that only works outdoors, or a better spell buffer and remote support character. Devout and Evil both have some decent cool attacks and spells. Paths aside, they're better fighters than you would think and get lots of nice buffs, spelldowns, and I find them fun solo chars for most of the entry-level avatar mobs. Prestige has added a LOT of opprotunity here, and Cle-Dru, Cle-War, Cle-Thi, Cle-Mag all make them even more functional for bigger runs. Probably my 2nd favorite class, they just have 'a lot' and offer a wide variety of gameplay usages and customization's.
Intelligence Based:
Spell Casters. One's a hitter/debuffer, the other has options.
- Nephandi: Nephs, to me, are like a vamp redo. They're even more macabre and weird. They are hitters, but have a shit fuck ton of spelldowns, and this is often their primary usage. Many mobs can be abused by gimmick tactics only after a Neph has cast their litany of spelldowns on them, these drop mob resistances so low things like poison, immobilize, stun, actually work. So, they're often kind of a specialized 'downer' who runs in and preps the mob for other chars to go kill. That said, they're also fine to use as hitters themselves, and especially after you prestige them into an Infernalist.
- Mage: Similar to Clerics there are a lot of options here because there are six Paths you can specialize into. The basic usage would be as a hitter, casting Quantum Spike, or one path gives Paradox Flux which is better. You can also take Paths to give them the Immobilize or Invoila Magicka gimmicks, both of which have application against a certain subset of things. They're great travelers with portal and astral walk, and of course have tons of spells both defensive and offensive. Kinda what you would expect here. You end up needing multiples to use as a spell buff bot, a hitter, and immob'r, and maybe a countermagick tank.