Whats the best Solo class?

[joneric1014]

Hi im new to the game, though I do have alot of MMPORG experience, having played EQ1 deep into the end game, DAOC end game, & WOW end game.
Currently I dont have the massive amounts of time those games needed to remain in the end game scene, so I decided to take a new game, and be a little more casual about it, if you can call MMPORG obsesson casual.:P
I am wondering what class combo is the best for soloing? I will have to solo alot of the time, since my new job doesnt allow for long extended play sessions during the week. I also kind of want something I can find groups with too, as sometimes I still can sit down for the old 4-6 hour grind. (read: when my wifes not looking!)
I really like the idea of dragons in this game, but as a general rule, Ive always been partial to spellcasters in other games, though i wouldnt be afraid to try a tank/caster multiclass if it was going to net the best exp for the shortest time invested.
Can anyone steer me in the right direction?

Thanks,

Jon Eric

[imported_Ssilmath]

I'd have to say Paladin, as it's a decent tank class that gains life skill, so no need to multiclass for the revitalize line...And from there, you can doa lot of multiclassing, as pallies tie in the mystic line well so you can take things like druid or spiritist and add attack spells and abilities to your character...

[Snowdonia Honeythorn]

To be honest ANY class can solo and given you can multiclass there is no need to stay in a single class if you don't want to. Yes, some are more effective than others at soloing but as long as you enjoy yourself in your chosen school(s) then that's what's most important.

Also, given the multiclassing and solo-ability of the game there is no firm grouping structure like there is in EQ and other games. You don't have to have a Cleric, tank, nuker, and CC to have a successful grouping experience.

[Nosdracir]

I took Ingo to Pally 100 almost exclusively by soloing. Since Pally is a prestige school you have to start by taking Warrior to 20 and Cleric to 15 before you can start the Paladin school.

At around level 50 I took up Druid and levelled that to 35. There are some mighty handy Druid spells that root or stun which the Paladin can use. I also levelled Druid periodically as I took Pally up to 100.

I'm now working on a new toon who's levelling Warrior and Cleric at the same time. A few levels of Warrior then catch up with Cleric. Since I can use the same 1HC and 2HC weapons and the same armor for both schools the switch is simple. When I'm a Warrior I get a lot of the same healing and buff spells (from Cleric) as a Paladin has. As a Cleric I can use 1HC and 2HC weapons just as well as a Warrior can. I'm pretty much soloing this guy as well, and enjoying all the new content on Lesser Aradoth in the process.

The above just shows the flexibility of Horizons. There are classes that don't solo very easily, but it is possible to solo them all, somehow.

[gusi]

To answer the title: Dragon. Assuming by saying "class" you mean "single class".

To answer the multi-classing systematics to get the "best" solo char would indefinately be arguable. Different classes are better for different occasions, no matter how much multi-classing you put into your char. i.e. Scouts are best for 1 on 1 combat, and dropping them fast. Whereas Battlemages are best for multi on 1 combat, still dropping them fast, but usually less frequently. There's a whole sea of biped adv classes to choose from (29 total) and a couple oceans of different combinations (as there are no limits to how many schools you can take up). And don't forget the crafting!

Btw, there's a really great site that shows you loads of information about all the schools: http://horizons.gamersinfo.net/schools/schools.php . See what you can conjure up.

[Goriax]

To be honest ANY class can solo and given you can multiclass there is no need to stay in a single class if you don't want to. Yes, some are more effective than others at soloing but as long as you enjoy yourself in your chosen school(s) then that's what's most important.

Also, given the multiclassing and solo-ability of the game there is no firm grouping structure like there is in EQ and other games. You don't have to have a Cleric, tank, nuker, and CC to have a successful grouping experience.

I just want to reiterate this.Soloability isa hallmark of HZ. This game is easily soloable by just about any class. Many people have taken their characters to 100 almost exclusively by soloing. If you like to be a caster you can easily do that solo. If you want to play a dragon same there (I play a dragon and solo a lot). If you want to play a caster dragon that works (although dragons don't have a huge number of spells they do have some -- however, dragons don't have classes and a caster dragon would just be one who used training points and scales to enhance their casting ability instead of their melee ability).

I haven't played WoW or DAOC so don't know how easy it is to solo there, but compared to high end EQ1it's like night and day.

Because it's so easily soloable I WOULD recommend getting into an active guild or recruiting some friends who are on regularly. Sinceyou don't have to group it's easy to avoid contact with others and too much avoidance hurts the experience I've found.

[joneric1014]

I see. So am I to assume that every time you make a lvl, your allowed to lvl any class you want, as long as youve got the levels pre req done? IE: can i level a war to 20, then a cleric to 10, and then, once these requirements are made, I get to pick the prestige class of pally and start off at lvl 1?

[C`gan]

Pretty much. With the exception of the prestige classes which require certain minimum skills/abilities/levels, you can take what you will when you will. The experience you gain only applies to your currently active class, so you don't get a warrior level boost by raising paladin, for instance. However, where the mixing of classes comes into play is in the skills. Each class raises certain skills by certain numbers of points.In order for another class to raise the same skill, it has to be at a level where it's skill point value for that skill is higher than what your current is. Since I know crafting, I'll use an example from there.

Blacksmith, you get eight points per level for smelting. Fitter, you get ten points per level for smelting (fitter is a prestige class requiring a minimum of smelting 150). So, you take blacksmith up 19 levels for a total of 152 points in smelting and take fitter at level 1. For fitter to raise smelting, it has to raise to level 16 (160 points to smelting) before you raise the smelting skill. But, by raising fitter to 16, it does not boost the blacksmith skill quarrying, for example, nor do you end up with blacksmith level 20.

[oluviel]

there's only one true solo class in the game, dragons so they are the best and worst.

[Nosdracir]

I see. So am I to assume that every time you make a lvl, your allowed to lvl any class you want, as long as youve got the levels pre req done? IE: can i level a war to 20, then a cleric to 10, and then, once these requirements are made, I get to pick the prestige class of pally and start off at lvl 1?

HZ is not like D&D where you pick your next class level when you gain a level. You get XP for whichever school is current. When you gain enough XP, you gain a level in your current school. You visit and greet the appropriate trainer to change to another school.

To switch to the paladin school you need to have gained 20 levels of warrior and 15 of cleric in any order. You could do 20 warrior then 15 cleric, or 5 warrior, then 10 cleric, then 10 more warrior, then 5 cleric, then finally 5 more warrior. Prestige schools like Paladin start at level 20, so you instantly gain all the level 1-20 paladin abilities (which mostly overlap level 1-20 warrior abilities that you already have).

You also have an Adventure Rating which is formula-derived from all the levels of all your schools. Your current AR is compared to dead mob level to determine how much XP you gain from killing it. When you first become a paladin level 20, you'll have an AR of 22 or maybe 23 because of your other school levels.

If you do all the tutorials you can gain two levels in each of the four base adventuring schools, and the same in the three base crafting schools. These won't impact your AR and will give you a chance to try all the base schools if you want.

[Brassandyn]

The best solo class is the one you're playing. I'm not even sure if it's possible to gimp yourself so bad you can't level.

The downside to this multiclassing everyone is talking about is picking up a new class when you're level 90-100, and start off the new class at level 1 (or 20 if it's prestige) and having a rating of 50 or 60. So it pays a little to plan ahead because some classes just don't "fit" together well. Only experience can tell you which, and if you find yourself lacking enthusiam for the result you can alway drops the class.

[AA0]

The real answer is to play what you want. Play what appeals to you, most classes are fun to play and are soloable.
For true solo play, I'd stay away from monks (horrible damage and defense), battlemage (because of the low hit stats), and sorceror (unless you like really slow battles).
For casters, fire magic is a very complete, strong line of magic on the arcane side, and nature on the mystic side is very complete, but trades pure brute for healing. Some classes gain no magic abilities as they level, if you ever decide to multiclass (warrior, monk, scout, spearman, berserker, and more), they will be very limited in what they gain

Battle Mage - Prestige class. Mix of mage and warrior. Able to cast fire spells in platemail.

Berserker - Crazy prestige melee, wears light armour and hits very hard. No magic

Blood Mage - Prestige caster. Uses spirit magic but more powerful then spiritist

Chaos Warrior - Prestige hybrid class. Some energy magic, but specializes in chaotic melee damage.

Cleric - A heavy tank with healing skills, offense is somewhat low.

Conjurer - A prestige caster. Ice/Summoning skills. Best supports melee classes with abilities, and attacks with magic.

Crossbowman - Prestige archer - Uses a shorter range crossbow for more damage.

Dragon - A class of its own

Druid - Basic caster class. Uses nature magic, healing, and leather armour as a caster.

Elemental Archer - Prestige archer. An archer with added effects to their arrows

Flame Disciple - Prestige monk - A mix of mage and monk.

Guardian - Prestige hybrid - Melee class using heavy weapons, chainmail and some added nature magic

Healer - Prestige healer. Very high healing traded for very little offense

Ice Disciple - Prestige monk - Ice magic mixed with a monk. Ice slows enemies

Knight of Creation - Prestige melee class - A melee class that summons weapons and armour. Gains some summoning magic.

Mage - Basic class - High damage low defense mage. Gains a lot of magic

Monk - Basic class - Fast attacking class, considered the most broken in the game

Paladin - Prestige melee - A warrior that can heal himself

Ranger - Prestige archer - An archer that gains nature magic and arrows.

Reaver - Prestige melee - A warrior that can make their weapons attack ethereally

Scout - Basic class - Your basic archer

Shaman - Prestige caster - Gains blight and nature magic, only caster to wear heavy chainmail.

Sorcerer - Prestige caster. Uses mind magic to hold enemies

Spearman - A prestige class, heavily defensive warrior

Spirit Disciple - monk prestige. Adds spiritist to a monk

Spiritist - basic caster class. Magic penetrates armour

Storm Disciple - monk presitige, adds nature magic to monk. Nature stuns enemies

Warrior - basic class, no magic, good tank and offensive

Wizard - prestige class, caster type energy spells primarily which stun enemies

[imported_Twelvebagger]

Oh I could go on for hours on this post, this is a good thread!

I would more clearly define what you mean by soloable.

All classes are soloable, some more than others. Monk being the least.

The above post sums up basic definitions, I'll go into a bit more detail assuming you mean something greater than soloing.

If you wish to only multiclass a little bit, paladin is a great choice especially earlier in the game. As you take more and more classes however, paladin eventually pales in comparison to reaver in every way (again, once you're multiclassed extensively). Paladin will allow you some healing ability without the need to mutliclass cleric beyond the paladin prerequisites. You will get decent melee ability, and if you choose to, you can cast nature and spirit line of spells provided you multiclass a nature and spirit gaining class or classes.

If you are looking for a class that has a high survivability rate, cleric would be a very good choice. You will lack offensively, but you will have platemail and a full line of heals, which together = supreme staying power.

If you are looking to create a powerful build that allows you to mass slaughter and live to tell about it, you will need to multiclass. With that said, there are several options to choose from,, and your best bet would be to choose a viable main class and build secondary classes around it.

While it largely depends on playstyle, I would recommend the following main classes from the arcane line:

Knoc
Chsw
Sorc
Btlm

And from the priest line, I would recommend:

Cleric
Druid
Reaver
Possibly paladin or ranger.

If it helps any, check out the articles at sail.to/darkdefenders. I wrote one on multiclassing which just contains basic information on building a toon.

The above is not to say that those classes are gods and the rest suck---I just believe that these are the supreme choices to make builds around, because they tend to beat out the other classes when looking at overall strength.

Granted, it largely depends on how you define strength, and I am doing so by looking at damage output and survivability in intense combat situtaions (typically multiple mobs).

(Mage, for instance, can dish out nasty damage with multicast, fusion burn, burnout, flame bomb V, but they lack the crowd control that a sorc has, and in my mind, this makes sorc a better choice, and probably the only cloth wearing class that makes a strong main).

If you're looking at single target destruction, Dragon tops the charts hands down. Berzerker and Reaver come close, Reaver being far more versatile and equally as capable when built correctly.

Also, when starting out, consider that some classes will be great foundations that will help you in buiding your next class. Warrior will give you great weapon skills, Cleric will give you potent healing capability, Mage will give you power, etc.

/ramble off

[evilkarl]

It all depends on what you want.

I think for a melee char and single class Guardian isn't a bad choice. Nice damage, Heals from the nature line, some augmentation spells and a bit of staying power. Also imo one of the better designed classes in the game mostly because its not a copy and paste. Paladin is another valid choice it lacks the utility features (stuns,roots,regens) of guardian but can be stronger on defense and offense.

If you are going caster you have two lines of magic to choose from Priest and Arcane. I have never extensivley played arcane so I really can't say which the best. Mage the base class seems like a good choice. Priest druid or shamen are good choices for casters.

Multiclassing is a whole different issue.

[Varangaard]

When doing your multiclassed build, one thing you may want to consider is being able to cast your spells in all of your chosen schools. By design, spells are divided into two broad categories. I call them arcane and mystic (which is called as priest or nature by others). As a rule of thumb, if a school gains skills in arcane magic, most mystic spells are not allowed to you. If a school gains skills in mystic magics, most arcane spells are not allowed to you. Schools that gain no magic skills are not allowed to cast many spells at all. Each spell's description has a detailed list of schools that can use it, so study those.

Arcane magic is consisted of energy, flame, ice, mind and summoning. Mystic magic is augmentation, blight, life, nature, spirit. Primal magic is learned by dragons, and cannot be learned by others.

If we divide schools by which spells are available to them single-classed, arcane schools would be battle mage, chaos warrior, conjurer, flame disciple, ice disciple, knight of creation, mage, sorcerer and wizard. Mystic schools would be blood mage, cleric, druid, guardian, healer, paladin, ranger, reaver, shaman, spirit disciple, spiritist and storm disciple. Schools that gain no magic without having multiclassed are berserker, crossbowman, elemental archer, monk, scout, spearman and warrior.

edit: Many consider a combo of healer, spiritist and druid a very good trio. It gives you incomparable augmentation and heal (healer), spirit spells to punch through armor (spiritist) plus crowd control, heals over time and roots (druid). It lacks in armor and melee. Another trio many choose is warrior, mage and battlemage. It gives health, strength and melee skills (warrior), fire magic, energy magic and power (mage) and the ability to combine these two with some extra abilities (battlemage). This combo lacks any healing.

[joneric1014]

Wow so much time and effort put into this. Thanks alot guys! Im not used to seeing such helpfulness out of the larger MMPORGS.
Im probably going to ask a bunch more stupid questions as I learn the game. Thnx alot!

Jon Eric[6]

[C`gan]

A wise person once said, "The only stupid question is the one not asked".

You'll find this community adheres to that wisdom.

[Snowdonia Honeythorn]

What shard will you be playing on btw? If on Chaos and have any need of help or questions answered send me a tell and if able and available I will do my best to provide aid. :) I've been playing Snowy a lot lately but you can also find me on Merriweather, Esmari, or Snowdonia if Snowy isn't around.

[joneric1014]

Yeah im playing on chaos too. So far ive gone with a dragon ( i hope thats not a cliche in this game hehe )
His name is Athasian Sandfyre, and hes all of lvl 4 ..../flex

Jon Eric[6]

[Aboroth]

From what Twelve said I think hit the spot however,

I feel what he is explaining is soloing a ton of monsters ( which he does well i might add [H] ) how ever I think if you want one vs one monster then id stick with a dragon or a Archer type class. Ive seen dragons do alot of damage and kill there oppenant quickly, yet i havnt seen a dragon take on a wolf pack without a healer.Archers have long ranged attacks but in the beggining it is hard to really stand up to anything with out running back, shooting, run back somemore, shoot etc. After you get some higher lvls tho you dont have to kite anything.

But this is just my opioion if i missed understood you 12 my mistake [:P]