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.

In addition to the guide below there is a fantastic guide by Black Screen Gaming found at https://blackscreengaming.com/alter_aeon/articles/classes/index.php

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 Caveats

In many games Warrior is the most basic, simplest class you can use; that's not the case in Alter Aeon. Warrior has 3 main stats compared to other class's 2: Strength, Constitution, and Dexterity. This makes stat training extremely difficult. To add insult to injury the main feature of warriors (Combos) requires that you learn nearly every ability in the Warrior's skill book. To add tragedy to the insults and injury many of those skills require 4 practices instead of the 3 most other skills in the game need. You will need to plan your practice usage carefully when playing warrior. This huge problem is exacerbated to a complete debacle if you combine Warrior with Mage or Necro as you now must train 5 stats instead of 3. If you go Warrior/Cleric, which is one of the most popular combinations for new players (Paladins are cool, right?), you will need to not only manage ALL 6 stats at once, nearly all of Cleric's important spells are frontloaded to early levels making a tricky experience of practice management downright frustrating.

That caveat does not mean Warrior should be avoided. On the contrary Warrior is an incredibly powerful, easy to play class. One just needs to manage their expectations when choosing a caster as their second class. You will not be a warrior simultaneously throwing fireballs or smiting foes with holy fury until much much higher level. Until then you will be a warrior who occasionally uses the minor utility spells those classes provide.

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 mob player killing arenas. Note that both the combination and its inverse are used, 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, mage thief'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 mage thief is generally worse at stealing things than a dedicated thief since mage does not seem to synergize well with it. Mage Thief'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)

Warning: Stat management of Mage/Warrior can be extremely difficult for new players

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. Mage Warrior'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)

Warning: Stat management of Cleric/Warrior can be extremely difficult for new players

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 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)

Cleric Necro'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 preferred 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 druid cleric'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. Thief Warrior's are especially potent in pk, often able to dispatch other players, even fellow Thief Warrior's, in two or three hits of their weapons.

The Voidwalker (TN)

Thief Necros are extremely rare.

The Ranger (TD)

Thief druids are extremely rare.

The Death Knight (WN)

Warning: Stat management of Warrior/Necro can be extremely difficult for new players

TL;DR

Pros:

• Arguably second best tank combo in game
• Necro's spells provide you with some of highest HP, AC, and resistances available
• Demon summon spells provide lots of tangential utility

Cons:

• Second only to Warrior/Cleric as the most difficult stat management combo. You will be constantly starved for practices
• This is not a damage focused combo, your minions will be effectively cosmetic unless you run a necro set and even then they will be much weaker than main class necros
  • Because you won't be wearing a NECR_CAST_LEVEL set while generally running XP your minions won't be just 5 levels weaker, they will be 21 levels weaker than a main class Necro (5 from your Necro class lagging your main Warrior, plus 16 more levels because you won't be wearing a cast set) So if you want to be a badass warrior running around with hordes of minions you should play Necro/Warrior, not Warrior/Necro

Details

This combination is slightly misleading as one might assume you would be a warrior with a bunch of necromancer minions to help with your damage (In fact, in game messages even directly say this) but this is not the case. At least until much, much higher levels. You will be main class warrior so you will be wearing warrior equipment. This is a problem for necromancer since for minions to have any sort of durability or power you must have NECR_CAST_LEVEL gear on. Gear which has both Warrior stats and Necro stats is extremely rare and is usually only found by random. This means your minions will be so useless as to be not worth even learning the skills. The tanking minions will die in only a couple hits, the damage minions will simply not do any damage, the paltry selection of Necro damage spells will be absolutely anemic.

If this is the case, what is the point of Warrior/Necro? The answer is that Warrior/Necro is arguably the second best tank combo next to Warrior/Thief. The reason for this is three spells: Bone Blade, Bone Shield, and Bone Armor. These spells create items which are (arguably) the best possible tank items a warrior can wear at a given level. If cast with a Necro cast set they can create monstrously powerful items with perfect stats for a tank. Warrior/Necro/Cleric therefor makes you a virtually unstoppable juggernaut. Rounding out your top 4 with mage will eventually give you access to even more defensive spells

Tips

These tips are intended for new players, as you gain levels and learn the game you may and should diverge from these suggestions.

• This combo is a warrior with some necro utility, not a hybrid caster, do not waste mana on spells that will barely tickle the enemy.
• Do not bother wearing NECR_CAST_LEVEL/INT/WIS/MANAREG in your main gearset, you should have separate warrior and necro sets and the necro set should really only be necessary for casting the bone armor/shield/blade spells
• Ignore all of Necromancer's damaging spells (Coldfire, Tarrants Spectral Hand, etc.)
• Ignore nearly all of the necro minions until later, trust me, they will not be worth the effort
• Necro abilities to prioritize:
  • Harvest Teeth
  • Skeletal Spider
  • Bone Blade
  • Bone Shield
  • Bone armor
  • Blood Sacrifice (You won't be casting many necro spells but it will be absolutely vital to recoup mana for your cleric/mage spells)
  • Demon Lore/Familiar
  • Soulsteal/Soulforge (You'll need soulstones for demon familiars and you'll want to soulforge them into higher tiers for better familiars)

The Mountain Man (WD)

TL;DR

Pros:

• Druid called animals scale with DRUID_CAST_LEVEL at cast time giving you a powerful, useful companion without having to sacrifice warrior item slots
• Lots of utility with very little practice investment compared to other warrior caster combos
• Most of Druid's utility comes in the form of skills rather than spells so can be learned/used without WIS/INT

Cons:

• Druid abilities will be almost entirely ignored until your warrior is level 15-20 since you won't learn Call Animal until level 9 Druid and you won't be using any Druid spells at all until much much later.
  • This is both a good and a bad thing. The good is that your already difficult practice management as a Warrior doesn't get much harder. The Con side is that it feels like a dead class until you get your animal companion

Details

This combo is for people who want to be a warrior blazing a path through the wilderness with a trusty companion by their side. Unfortunately the vast majority of Druid's kit is damaging spells which will be useless to you, you won't have the mana, the stats, or the gear to be worth it. Fortunately, however, the most important Druid ability for this combo isn't a spell, it's a skill. Not only is it a skill its dependence on DRUID_CAST_LEVEL is snapshotted meaning you can wear your cast level set, call an animal, then put your warrior set back on without the drop in power that Necromancers experience with their minions.

Tips

These tips are intended for new players, as you gain levels and learn the game you may and should diverge from these suggestions.

• Ignore all of Druid's damaging spells, you don't need them, they will be a waste of practices
• Ignore (almost) all of Druid's minion spells. Earth Wall is required for Mud Walker which is a utility skill you will want later. The other minions will too weak to be useful
• I personally recommend not to waste your time on brewing until much later. By the time it's useful you will know it's time to learn it.
• Don't bother with Carve Weapon or Carve Totem, those create items which you won't need, don't waste your practices
• Druid abilities to prioritize:
  • (Important) Call Animal: this is what makes the combo, if you learn nothing else from the druid kit, learn this
  • Carve Runes and all of its descendants
  • Woodcrafting: Not a druid ability but you can create some weapons and armor for completely for free. When combined with Druid's rune carving you can make some legitimately great gear (particularly club weapons)
  • Mudwalker is useful and quite cheap to learn but it's low down the priority list since Warrior is already starved for practices anyway
• General Info:
  • Maintain a separate warrior set and druid cast set. Do not wear some warrior items mixed with some druid items. That won't make you a better druid, it'll just make you a worse warrior. You won't be using druid spells, the druid items will just be wasting space when you don't need them.
  • Before adventuring out put on your Druid set, call your preferred animal companion, switch back to your warrior set and then do protect <animal> to keep it alive
  • Many low level DRUID_CAST_LEVEL items aren't actually DRUID flagged, be sure to keep an eye out for them as they are particularly useful for this combo.

See also

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