The 4 most powerful classes

[darnapkin]

If you had say which 4 classes where the best in the game,, do to weapons and spells, what 4 classes would they be,, and what weapons would you arm them with.

In my party of 4 I'd really like to have 2 good tanks and 2 good casters
i'm just unsure of what weapons and armor to find for them.. Should I go with the pure classes or hybrids? what are your thoughts?


thanks for the advice ;0

[True_Moose]

Pre-patch? Bishops. If you train them right, by the time you hit level 10 or so, you can have them casting spells at a great rate, from all over the place. I say pre-patch because you really need a pickpocketing thief to take spells from shops effectively, without it'll cost you a ton of money, and will take longer. Alternatively, I like alchemists, but really, for a magical damage dealer, it's personal preference between alchemists and mages.

I'm a real fan of samurai, especially when you team them up with a good sword and some damage spells. You can let them level up magic more or less on their own, but being able to launch a fireball, especially with their huge initiative, at the beginning of combat, and following it up with lightning strike and criticals...well, I love it. Alternatively, a rogue with a bow and dual-wielding swords and daggers can do a ton of damage in the front row, and stealth more than makes up for the lack of armor.

Rangers are sick. Ranged combat is really powerful, and with their insta-kill, they're great. If you have a tripleshot crossbow, they're the way to go. If you do go tripleshot, make it a female, for an item to help with stamina.

Finally, bards and gadgeteers. Both are effective, but I'd go with gadgeteer, because of the Omnigun. Takes a little while to get going, and don't expect fighter type damage numbers, but in terms of status ailments, very good.

So:
Samurai
Ranger
Gadgeteer
Bishop

So only 1 real front-line fighter, but because a ranger's skills fly up anyway, especially with a tripleshot, you can neglect the ranged combat and scouting skills, and instead specialize in polearms or swords. They can also wear good armor on the frontlines.

[darnapkin]

well whats a good sword for a samurai? and what about a monk with the staff of doom?

[Sinteuil]

Muramasa and of course *light are the best swords for a sam, and I'd say staff of doom is a good midgame weapon for a monk until you pick up the zai bo for the endgame.

[True_Moose]

The problem, of course, with saying any weapon, is that most of them are randomly generated. Early on, I find that Bloodlust is a great sword for samurai until you get something better. More attacks are good for characters with criticals - that's why I recommend the Tripleshot with the ranger.

Monks are good, but I've never really been sold on Psionics. Probably just me, but that combined with the armor restriction, well, just not my cup of tea.

[Ziggurat]

Like all in this post I don't go for the "fighter" class. Samurais are really good, but start out a bit slow until the cursed weapon from Ferro's brother in the bank. The monk I think is more interesting with a weapon than without, although they get quite deadly with fists. Not the damage, the stun and instant kills make it. Unlike most people I tend to switch classes, from Mage to Sam, Priest to Lord, Thief to whatever. You get the idea. Mages starts out with more attack than Alcs, but Alcs outshine them later. Many good choices in this game if you develop them right. You need at least one good tank to take damge, tho. Sams get beat up alot. I would go for a Rogue, Lord, Valk for that up front. We can spend much time on this...

[Scatter]

Actually, i think you're not looking for "the 4 most powerful classes"; rather, the most powerful foursome. Which is really impossible to select, considering the varieties of mixtures that work well. If you want to talk about the "four most powerful" you'd have to do it on a solo basis.

Technicalities aside, i'd say it depends upon your weapon choices and whether you like to do any practise.

Rogue is probably the single most damage-capable character, regardless of getting a *light*--the backstab multiplier goes up to 4X when your level and weapon skills are high enough, which makes for a max of 5X damage on unaware opponents. Which no other character can claim.

Lord is exceptional in that once the Dual-Wield bonus puts you over 100%, the second weapon actually improves the combat stats for the first one. Two maces is my favorite, though sword and mace is a good combination, too.

Samurais don't get Lightning Strikes often enough for me to make that a deciding factor, BUT they get the sword bonus, which is almost as good as the Lord's dual if you dual wield the Enchanted Wakizashi. (personally, i think many more weapons should be either-handed, and i have many years' experience in SCA combat with two weapons)

Throwing Ninja is an interesting idea, but the game doesn't include enough really good thrown weapons, and the lack of recoverability is a nuisance. FN with C'o'C is frustrating when all the enemies like to stay away.

Monks are great once their Martial Arts goes over 100, but until then, their Int and Pi requirements make them lousy fighters. Monk with staff might as well be a Psionic.

Fighter? forget it. Berserk mode sucks up an unlikely amount of stamina, and Close Combat bonus doesn't seem to work up nearly as well as specific weapon or dual bonus.

Valks are fun, but the game has (again unreasonably from the POV of someone who's wielded the heck out of them) put initiative penalties on two-handers. (ok, they thought heavier = slower BUT--DUH--using two hands??!!)

Spellcasters: Bishop is great if you only have one caster and you can get all the books. Alchemist is great because of all the lovely cloud and condition spells; i love a powercasting Alchemist probably more than a Bishop because of the School bonus. The other pures are too weak in magic or get no HP and wear insufficient armor.

I disagree about having to have a tank, but that's because i always take an extra level to get high Stealth for everyone, and develop Dex, too.

I will always take a Bard over a Gad, too, mostly because the instruments are already complete, and you don't have to go to twice as many places for your equipment. Though i got tired of both many games ago, mostly because of the inexplicably high stamina requirement.

Ranger with Modern Weapon is lovely, just gotta Mephisto Jan-Ette until you get the Phaser. (the KIA bonus applies to moderns)

Class-changing works well for both Alchemist-to-Ranger and Mage-to-Samurai, especially if you are Hobbits.

Priest-to-Lord i don't like, mostly the Dex/Spd workup takes too long.

[Sinteuil]

Originally posted by Scatter: Monk with staff might as well be a Psionic.

Yes, but then you miss out on that nifty zai bo (unless of course you edit it to make it more psi-friendly). My results with that weapon have always been very satisfactory for the endgame! [img]smile.gif[/img]