I decided to make a short guide to help out the newbies (and anyone who’s been maining a class for a while and wants to try something new) that lays out 3 important advantages and weaknesses of each class. IMPORTANT NOTE: I am not including the Alchemist in this post, since I haven’t actually unlocked him yet. I’ve only recently gotten back into playing this game, having originally started it prior to the patch that added the Alchemist class. Anyone who wants to add a section for him/her is okay by me. Fighter PROS 1. Your go-to melee fighter, they don’t need fancy maneuvers like the Pugilist or faith magic like the Paladin to slaughter anyone in their path. 2. Weapon flexibility. Fighters are the only class out of all base six who don’t have some sort of restriction with weapons (Wizards need staves for high intelligence, Thieves need daggers for backstab, Paladins have Consecrate, etc.) allowing you to customize their melee offense as you see fit. 3. Most durable of the classes. They can take hits like no tomorrow, and have a lot of skills (Regeneration and Hardening, anyone?) that make them even more durable, making for a safe, reliable class. CONS 1. Low starting Intellect and Faith and no encouragement to boost either stat means you won’t be casting spells often. 2. Outside of Enrage/Frenzy and Charge, Fighters have very poor mobility, which coupled with their poor spell-casting ability means they have a lot of difficulty fighting long-range enemies. 3. Low combat versatility. The fighting tactics of a Fighter is basically just “Smash target and move on to the next” with little to no strategy or backup. If brute force fails to overpower the enemy, they have few other options unless a handy spell is off cooldown. Thief PROS 1. Your go-to stealth class. Thieves have inherently high Stealth and Speed and can boost both stats higher without equipment. It’s entirely possible to make your way through an entire level without even being noticed once (and there’s even an achievement for doing it). 2. Thieves are far-and-away the most mobile class of the bunch, high Speed coupled with the very easily spammable Dash skills means they can travel around the map like nobody’s business. 3. Thieves are matched by no one at hit-and-run tactics, able to slip in and out of the shadows while picking off individual foes- in fact, their Job Satisfaction skill even encourages using this strategy. CONS 1. Escape options spent, Thieves have little else to defend themselves. They’re encouraged to build Speed and Stealth over combat-focused stats, so if you get cornered by a tough monster, the ability to avoid being noticed isn’t going to help much. 2. Outside of backstabs, Thieves have no inherent instant-damage skills, meaning they struggle against enemies with lots of health and defense. You’ll want to pick up Vital Strike as soon as possible to offset this weakness. 3. Combat-wise, they’re very much one-trick ponies. Hopping from enemy to enemy and assassinating them is a very nice trick, but once it stops working, Thieves can’t do much else. Wizard PROS 1. As the only class who’s encouraged to build Intellect, Wizard is the class you want for casting Red magic spells. At high levels and enough boosts, it’s possible to being casting spells nearly every turn without any breaks for recharging. 2. Magic is by far the most versatile skill category. Polymorph your Magic Mirrors, send Charmed monsters flying with Teleport Away to assassinate far-away targets, Teleport about for hit-and-run tactics- Wizards are extremely versatile and can handle just about any threat with the appropriate skills. 3. Inspiration and Willpower are among the most useful passives in the game. The latter makes it easier to Charm/Enslave enemies, while the former has a very good chance of instantly allowing you to cast an extra spell- and it can activate more than once in a row, which means the monsters are in for a heck of a day. CONS 1. Wizards are very difficult to approach thanks to their large amounts of crowd control, but if that’s gone and they’re still being chased, there’s little they can do about it. Wizards CAN take a hit or two, mind you, but that’s about it. 2. All the versatility of the Magic category meets a curb when you can only ever have five skills at a time- and one of them is reserved for Fireball/Ice Blast, which while useful, can’t be removed. Wizards can tackle a large variety of situations, but can only have so many strategies ready at any one time. 3. Magic-resistant enemies are the bane of this class. Willpower helps a little with preventing monsters from ignoring your spells, but it can only take you so far before a powerful enemy is barreling down on you and all of your magic is bouncing off it like stones off a brick wall. (I’ll add Ranger, Pugilist and Paladin later. Feel free to tell me if I missed anything and/or got something wrong.)

“send Charmed monsters flying with Teleport Away " – wow, I have never used this, thanks for this piece of advice :D You may add that once a mage got ice blast he can add a fireball spell on the panel if finds it. It’s awesome for killing everything with ice blast + fireball.

One smaller thing to note is that on higher difficulties, the Wizard and Fighter are actually the SLOWEST classes as well, making them a bit trickier to use since they need more speed-based items to not fall behind some of the faster mobs in the game (like raptors, wolves, etc.). Other than that, a decent guide so far, but I wish it had some better formatting… ^^;

Lets not forget, If you charm/enslave the summoners theyr creatures be yours

Enslaving the end boss (at least on the first act, haven’t tried it on the others) also instantly wins you the act.

I’ve found that Thief is a very reliable and fun class to play with. I pick Dash, maximize Subtlety, Celerity and Shadow Mastery, coupled with stealth+speed based items, and enemies can’t touch me (Glide also helps, along with Vital Strikes, Fireball when running away). I have yet to try Ranger and Pugilist!

The Alchemist seems fairly weak at the start, but he is versatile, being able to choose from several different builds and strategies, and gets a lot of help from his ability to craft items and an unlockable perk which helps him find Legendaries. With combine, you can take two items you might not really want or have space for, and turn them into something significantly more useful (or possibly two items that you do want into something powerful) With Wit, he can become a strong spell caster, which, along with his pistol, allows you to focus on ranged combat, which is handy, because this means that you can safely combine items mid-battle, possibly giving you the boost you need.

so far, the pugilist is my most favorite class. next would have to be fighter, paladin, then thief. i hate the archer, he can go die in a hole.

WARNING: The post you are about to read is based solely on my personal opinion/experience with these classes. As such, my own plaiyng style and builds probably will have a effect upon it. So, warning said, allow me to say my two cents. This is kind of a class guide/strategy guide, as I will also try to observe good builds and strategies with each class… But, again, this is based mostly on opinion.( Also, for some reason, I can never get the Alchemist class to work for me, what is ironic, because I find it to be the most fun class to use. ) Fighter: Advantages: Fighter has high base HP, attack, and defense, what means that, in meele combat, Fighter can take down most meele oponents with very little problem just by repeatedly hitting then with your weapon of choice. It is a ridiculously easy class to use, so it is recomendable for beginners. Its “Intimidate” perk can be usefull on boss fights by letting you focus yourself just on the boss. Disadvantages: … Sadly, Fighter cant do much BUT just keep on fighting on meele, what makes it a pretty boring class to use, and not the best on higher difficulties. Also, due to its low speed, Fighter is likely to struggle against ranged enemies. Charge can help with that, though… If you wouldnt mind sacrificing “Intimidate” that is. So, when picking equipment, try to focus yourself on boosting your speed and magic resistance to make it so you arent completely humiliated by ranged enemies. Thief: Pros: Thief starts off with high Speed and Stealth. This means the ideal build for a Thief is to sneak in a oponent, hit it, kill it with one hitt( Most of the time: See Cons ), and run away before its oponents get to hit you. Even if you dont want to invest a lot on Stealth, you already START with the skill “Shadow Walk”, what means you may not even NEED a high Stealth stat to use this tactic. And, just to make it a bit better, you can get the “Shadow Mastery” skill later on, allowing you to vanish of the enemy sight almost immediatly after hitting it, making most fights almost ridiculously easy unless you either do something really stupid, or get really unlucky. “Ghost Run” and “Merchant Pack” also both provide new, fun, alternative plaiyng styles, though whether it is TACTICALLY a good idea to use then, I will leave up to you. Cons: It is somewhat hard to find high-damaging weapons that can boost Speed or Stealth, so you will probably NOT be able to kill the tougher oponents, such as Ogres, in one hit. This is usually not a problem, as you can just run away… Just try not to run right into ANOTHER room that is currently filled with monsters. While the “Dash” and “Flash Bomb” skills can both make a quick escape much easier, if you do find yourself cornered, you are pretty much done for. Wizard: Pros: Wizard starts off with “Fireball”, but, even more importantly, it also starts off with “Spell Damage”. Invest enough points into it, and you will find yourself killing most enemies with one or two hits of Fireball. Then there is the wizard high basic Intellect… And its “Inspiration” skill. If you particularly feel like plaiyng more of a “battlemage”, Fencer gives you a option to make Wizard more useable in meele combat… Not that you will be needing to do a lot of meele combat. On my own personal experience, one of the best strategies you can use with Wizard is: Start with “Classicist”, and “Trust Fund”… Then try to get all Arcane skills you can… Invest in “Spell Damage”, “Inspiration”, and maybe, on the beggining, “Forcefield”… And just spam Fireball. Cons: Due to its low base Speed, HP, and Defense, Wizard is kind of a glass canon early on, so you may want to get carefull not to get killed. Luckily, you also have the powerfull “Force Field” skill to make up for the frailness, so invest on that on the beggining. As pointed out before, Wizard can also struggle with magic resistant enemies, so you will need to invest on “Willpower” to deal with those: Though, enemies with a VERY high magic resistance might resist your spells every so often anyway, what I find to be incredibly annoiyng. Ranger. Pros: The Dog, basically. The Dog is a highly bulky ally that you start with in the beggining, that charges at the enemies. It doesnt deal much damage AT FIRST… But, if you invest on “Well Trained”, the Dog can hit for crushing amounts, especially on the Tower. Heck, I once had a Dog one-hit killing a Ogre… But that is not the point at hand. Caham… Basically, let the meele fighting for the Dog, while you fight with your bow from afar. Cons: Do NOT choose the “Close Ranged Ranger” perk. It just isnt worth it. That said, the Ranger is pretty frail, and as strong as the Dog may be, he isnt immortal, so if the Dog dies, you will probably find yourself in a very hairy situation until you can get it back. And keep in mind, the Dog can only distract so many enemies at a time, so try not to walk into a room filled with enemies. The Pugilist. Pros: Well… Here is where my bias comes, but here is the thing: In my opinion, the Pugilist is kind of like the Warrior… But better in every possible way. It has similar amounts of bulk, Attack, and Defense… But much higher speed to catch up with ranged enemies. It also starts off ith the “Sweep” skill, which briefly stuns nearby enemies AND buffs your Attack and Defense, and can get a couple of other skills that are good to have when surrounded, namely Fatality. If you like plaiyng more carefully, though… The Pugilist has that too: Its “Reflexes” talent, its “Footwork” talent, and its high base Speed means hit-and-run tactics are just as possible. And by last, to deal with annoiyng Summoners with zero effort… “Come at Me” Cons: As much as I love the Pugilist, I have to try to be impartial, so here it goes: Most of Pugilist skills demand somewhat of a good timing for you to take the best of then. It is usually not worth to even consider using “Sweep” unless there are at least two or three enemies surrounding you( Except, maybe, as a alternative “Uppercut” if you have the “Wrecking Ball” perk ), and “Uppercut” is better off either as a finishing move, or if your oponents are currently in a line right next to eachother. Also, Pugilist has no actual way to scale up its damage except with the “Unarmed” skill… And, if you happen to choose the “I Travel Light” perk… Well, let us say, you might be able to kick some ass on lower stages, but your defense will REALLY suffer on higher stages, which is why this perk is, on my opinion, not worth it. The Paladin Pros: First of all: With a bit of creativity, Paladin is a amazing tank, much better then the Warrior. Yes, it has much lower health, but, see: With the “Prayer of Life”, “Devotee”, and “Purity” perks( Or even just “Devotee” and “Purity”, and reliyng on finding “Heal” ), Paladin can keep healing itself, over and over and over again, as well as using “Holy Light” to cause enemies to potentially die out of HITTING you. And this is only one way you can use the Paladin: “Wrath of God” can make some boss fights( Namelly Asterion and Shiurath ) into sweeps, especially alongside the “Storm and Thunder” talent. Alternativelly, if you ever find yourself struggling with the game, well… “Non-Combatant” actually REWARDS you for rushing through a level while avoiding combat( Though, as it wont give you any equipment, this might not be the best use for Paladin ). Cons: Paladin is highly dependent on Faith skills, and, for painfully obvious reasons, using Magic at all is not a very good idea with this class. While it can be build in many different ways, it is also a bit dependent in how you build it: Particularly, keep in mind: Paladin can ONLY be a tank if you especially build it to be so: Otherwise, its durability is only a bit superior from the one of the Ranger. Alchemist Pros: The best class for tower runs by far, Alchemist simply has everything a class needs to get more powerfull at each stage, at each level. Namelly, the Tinkerer talent, but also a few other things. Having both Wits and Precision Attack, Alchemist can also be build to be either a far-ranged Magic user, or a close-ranged meele fighter… Though, he is unlikely to be as good as either as the Mage or the Pugilist. What is really… Fun, about the alchemist, though, is its “Craft” and “Combine” talents: For all relevant effects, you can make your own consumable itens, INCLUDING artifacts, such as Tomes and the Potion of Carapace( Which, by the way, is a amazing combo with Tinkerer ). “Now Hiring” with “Fat of the Land” is yet ANOTHER option in the area of “Fun, but not really pratical”: You will be sacrificing the highly usefull “Craft” and its upgrade “Construct”, but I just find it flat-out entertaining to have my own personal horde of monsters. Cons: The Alchemist, however, takes a while to unlock its true potential, so it can die pretty easily if you are careless with it on the beggining. Due to this same reason… It is not as good in Act runs as it is in a Tower run. Its “Pistol” ability is not useless, but not quite as usefull as, say, “Fireball”… And “Gun powder” would mean sacrificing the forever usefull “Tinkerer” talent. Also, as entertaining as Combine might be, you need a high Intelect stat to be able to craft anything truly powerfull, and it is somewhat unpredictable: It should be self-explanatory enough which itens are “Paper”, "Dry’, and “Wet”, and if it ISNT, the Wiki explains, but that doesnt change the fact that each of the three cathegories is fairly wide… Overral, it is a amazingly powerfull class when you pull it off right, but… With me, for some reason, it just keeps diyng before I get to actually USE any of the powerfull builds people talk about :/

I've basically started with the Paladin, and Consecrate is great at the start, but I was feeling like I was missing out at higher floors on potentially better weapons. (I was running a stealth consecrated knife paladin)