RotMG Choosing the Right Class Guide

RotMG Choosing the Right Class Guide by Tarbomb

With all the “what class should I pick” threads flying around, I was thinking that I might try to make an informative guide about RotMG’s different classes for people new to this game. If this is received well enough I might post it on the wiki as an article, but for now I’ll just put my guide in a forum post and see how helpful it is to people.

Also: Be sure to check out Dalla’s flowchart at the bottom, which is a well-written, easy-to-understand guide for those who want to follow a conservative, fairly safe approach to class selection. Also check out the class guides, which provide valuable insight into the gameplay of each class. My guide will attempt to “fill in the blanks” that these two resources overlook – primarily, class-specific strengths and weaknesses relative to each other, and to provide reasons why one should pick or avoid a certain class. It is not intended to replace either of these two resources, and I highly encourage those who are asking this question to themselves to check them both out before making a decision.

Robe classes

Staff classes

Wizard

The first class you’ll encounter when you start RotMG, the wizard is a long-range pure offense class designed for dealing the maximum amount of damage to a single target from a medium to long distance. It plays the role of the “glass cannon”: Wizards are capable of doing high single-target damage via staff and spell, but they’re also the most fragile of classes, with the least defense and health of all the classes, no defensive ability, and an average 50 speed. They’re best used in the godlands and against single, high-health targets such as Oryx (1/2), Sphinx, Thessal, and the Tomb Trio.

Who would want a wizard? Those looking for a class to farm pots in the godlands (unmaxed or maxed) and to do tombs and wine cellars reliably and efficiently would be well served by a wizard. Wizards are also decent at doing non-cube/skull event bosses: the Pentaract, Sphinx, Hermit, and Landlord are all handled quite well by wizards. Through spellbombing, they can easily claim soulbound loot on practically anything in the game.

Who would not want a wizard? Those who like playing recklessly would be poorly served by a wizard. Wizards are also poor at mob control, rushing, and team support, and those looking for a class to do those things should look elsewhere.

Necromancer

Necromancers are a hybrid between the wizard and the priest – a medium-to-long range, staff-wielding class with a healing ability. While lacking the pure damage of a wizard, its healing ability, while situational, allows it to play a good bit more aggressively than the wizard.

Who would want a necro? Those who like staves but find themselves getting into trouble with wizards should definitely consider a necromancer. Necromancers do quite well at farming pots in the godlands (unmaxed or maxed) and can solo dungeons moderately well, and have some team-support abilities as well. They also perform well for a robe class against the Landlord and the Hermit, and are capable of going up against Pentaract, Sphinx, and Skull. The good DPS and ease of use of the staff, combined with a healing ability, make necro the ideal training class for newbies looking for their first maxed character.

Who would not want a necro? Those looking for a class that does one thing well should not consider necro; in many ways it’s a jack of all trades and a master of none. Its damage is poorer than that of a wizard, its heal is less reliable than that of a priest, and its performance against events is outshined by all other long-ranged classes except perhaps sorcerer. Due to the skull’s reliance on enemy numbers to heal, necros heal very poorly against single targets such as sphinx and tomb bosses, and in these situations becomes little more than a crippled wizard without a spellbomb; those who intend to do these kinds of encounters often should definitely look elsewhere.

Mystic

Mystic is one of the more unusual of RotMG’s classes – a fast (60 speed) staff class with an ability that neither directly impedes the enemy nor benefits the player, but instead stops combat from occurring. While mystics in the hands of poor players and trolls have given it a bad reputation as a griefing/trolling class, a well-used mystic is quite powerful and is capable of a unique and extremely powerful form of team support.

Who would want a mystic? The mystic is the ultimate class for those who enjoy strategy – the stasis allows mystics to control a battle, rather than to simply kill enemies or heal teammates. Due to its speed, and its ability to put almost any enemy out of commission for a short time, mystics also do well at rushing dungeons. Those who wish to provide long-ranged team support at events will enjoy the mystic’s ability to stasis enemies around a stasis-immune boss, allowing the entire team to focus fire on the boss itself rather than its minions. Its most significant niche is probably the Tomb of the Ancients, where its combination of speed, long range, and stasis make it extremely useful to have, especially in “dirty” tombs where two or more bosses are awakened at once. And with an orb of conflict, the mystic can meet (or even exceed, for high-DEF enemies) a non-spellbombing wizard in burst DPS.

Who would not want a mystic? The mystic is not a straightforward class to play, and those who just want to shoot enemies and spam their abilities should not consider a mystic. The mystic also lacks the sustained DPS of its staff-class stablemates, the wizard and the necromancer. Furthermore, the mystic is extremely unforgiving with the Orb of Conflict – at 90 speed, it’s extremely easy to slam into an enemy before one can react, making it a poor choice for those who want to relax, or for those with poor reflexes.

Wand Classes

Priest

The priest is a long-range healing class. Although it does the lowest DPS of any class in the game, its powerful healing ability can keep it, and its teammates, alive.

Who would want a priest? Played conservatively, priests are, bar none, the safest class in the game and are extremely difficult to die on. Those looking for a forgiving, easy-to-play class should look no further. Priests are also the class of choice for dedicated team-support players. Beyond that, priests are probably the most versatile class in the game – equally capable at soloing and at team play, and capable to defeat any boss in the game. Those who want a class that can do everything will enjoy the priest.

Who would not want a priest? With horrendous DPS, especially against single targets, the priest is not a good class for those who are impatient. The priest’s low DPS also means it fares poorly when competing for soulbound loot with heavy-damage classes, and in these situations it is rare for a priest to get loot; those looking to get soulbound on everything should look at a DPS class instead. Many players also expect priests to heal them and rage when they don’t; players uncomfortable with this situation should not play priest.

Sorcerer

The sorcerer is a long-range pure offense class. Its ability, the scepter, allows it to do soulbound damage across a large number of targets.

Who would want a sorc? Sorcerers, with their high speed, long range, and high vitality make very safe damage dealers capable of doing damage safely and efficiently. Their ability, the scepter, allows them to strike a large number of targets with a small amount of damage instantaneously, making them the single best godlands group-based pot farmer

Who would not want a sorc? Sorcerers do rather poor single-target DPS with their wands, and in terms of pure offense are completely outclassed by wizards, which is preferred by many offensive players. It also doesn’t perform that well against event bosses. In short; if you’re not looking for a godlands potfarmer, look elsewhere.

Leather classes

Bow classes

Archer and Huntress

You may be surprised to see me group two classes into one section, but there’s a good reason. Both of these classes wield bows, wear leather armor, and carry identical stat caps. Their gameplay is very similar in most respects, with some differences based on their abilities that I’ll cover in a separate subsection.

Who would want an archer or huntress? Bow classes excel at mob control due to piercing, and can mow through mobs from lowlands to godlands with little effort. Both classes also have excellent mob-control abilities, do well against non-cube/skull events. Coral bow turns them into the best solo godlands potfarmer in the game, and doom allows them to tomb with ease. Their abilities also offer powerful mob control abilities, allowing them to slow, paralyze, or (with archer) daze enemies to help themselves and their teammates.

Who would not want an archer or huntress? Bow classes, being medium-range classes, have shorter ranges than staff and wand classes but lack of extra speed or defense possessed by dagger and sword classes; this can be quite frustrating at times, especially in wine cellars. Without the UT bows, they also do terribly in tombs due to the spread and piercing on three-shot bows.

Which one: archer or huntress? This is a classic debate, with numerous arguments running for both. In general, archer has an edge over huntress when dealing with bosses due to the range, precision, and piercing of the quiver (not to mention higher damage for less MP), while huntress’ AOE-effect traps give it an edge against mobs and in dungeons such as abyss.

Dagger classes

Rogue

The rogue is a fast, medium-ranged character with an ability that can shroud it from enemy view for a limited time. The cloak means that enemies will not fire at rogues, but it does not shield them from shots fired by omnidirectionally-shooting enemies or enemies shooting at other players, leading to the common occurrence of a rogue being “killed” by another player.

Who would want a rogue? Rogues are an excellent maxed class for those who like to play alone. Their cloak makes them capable of quickly and efficiently destroying godland pentaracts, cubes, and skulls, and soloing difficult encounters such as the Tomb, allowing a skilled rogue player to gain wealth very quickly; as a result, rogues are often the class of choice for those looking to obtain a large amount of loot in a short amount of time. Rogues are also the best class for those who like to rush dungeons. And rogues are great for adrenaline junkies – their high speed, combined with the risk inherent in playing them makes rogue a very exciting class to play.

Who would not want a rogue? The risk inherent in playing rogue makes them a poor choice for those looking for a safe class to play. Rogues also have limited use in team play (aside from rushing dungeons to allow non-cloaked players to bypass enemies when reaching a certain objective, e.g. a sarcophagus in a tomb) Also, rogues are relatively inefficient at farming the godlands and don’t do that well against large bosses that fire in all directions (Sphinx and Thessal in particular). Also, those with laggy connections should avoid the rogue, which is the most vulnerable to dying due to lag of all the classes.

Assassin

The assassin is a medium-ranged dagger fighter that trades the defensive abilities of the other two classes for a long-ranged AoE DoT attack. Its poison equals the spellbomb as the finest soulbound generator in the game, and as a result it is often seen in wine cellars.

Who would want an assassin? Those looking to get good loot while playing in a team against event bosses are best served by the assassin, whose poison allows them to gain soulbound damage easily from a safe distance. The assassin is in particular the class of choice for those who wish to get loot at wine cellars (even unmaxed), and is very popular as an alternate character for alt-boxing WCs.

Who would not want an assassin? The assassin makes a poor solo class due to the inefficiency of using poison as a primary damage tool: as a hit-and-run attacker with a long recharge time, the assassin simply takes too long to kill anything without resorting to its dagger, which it cannot use without taking a lot of risk (as it lacks the defensive cloak or decoy of the other two dagger classes). It’s also extremely tricky to use against bosses with short periods of vulnerability due to the delay between tossing a poison and the poison landing; if you intend to farm dungeons, don’t use an assassin.

Trickster

The trickster, like the other two dagger classes, is a medium-ranged fighter with high speed. Where it differs is its ability, the decoy, which is perhaps the most complex and difficult to master ability in RotMG. When the decoy is used, the player teleports to the mouse, and a decoy is generated that walks about eight squares (to the top of the screen, if you’re using off-centered view) in the direction that the player was going. Successful use of the trickster rests on juggling both the decoy and the teleport while dodging and doing damage to the enemy, which makes the trickster one of the most difficult classes to use in the game.

Who would want a trickster? The trickster is the class of choice for people looking for a high-damage dagger class that can do solo and group play equally well. The decoy allows the trickster to perform well doing cubes and skulls, and its high DPS (the best of the dagger classes) gives it the ability to perform well against large bosses such as Thessal and Sphinx as well. Trickster is also known for being an extremely fun class to play due to high speed, teleport, and the complexity of using the decoy; those who want excitement should look no further.

Who would not want a trickster? The trickster is probably the hardest class to master in RotMG and is extremely unforgiving if used improperly (teleporting onto a boss will spell instant death, and this happens often to newbies used to putting their mouse on an enemy and hitting space with other classes) which makes it a very poor choice for inexperienced players. Trickster is also not particularly efficient for farming events – while fully capable of taking them on, it takes time for a trickster to place a decoy and take advantage of it; those looking for pure event-farming efficiency should look a a rogue or melee class instead.

Heavy (a.k.a. Melee) Classes

Sword classes

Warrior

The warrior is a pure offense class. Capable of the highest sustained DPS in the game, and equipped with an ability that increases it even further, it’s capable of pounding most enemies to dust in seconds. However, it’s limited by its short range.

Who would want a warrior? Warriors, along with tricksters, are considered one of the most fun classes to play in Realm by many veterans. Those who want to farm skulls and cubes would be well served by a warrior – at 4.5k DPS when boosted, the warrior can shred through a cube or skull in mere seconds while dodging the attacks using a speed boost on a tiered helm or taking the attacks with the armor boost from jugg. Warrior’s high DPS also makes it excellent for use against other events, and nets it soulbound in any high-competition situation.

Who would not want a warrior? Warriors lack the healing of the paladin or the stuns of the knight, relying heavily on the user’s skill to dodge enemy attacks. This makes them unsuitable for those new to melee, or those uncomfortable with dodging at close range. Like all melees, warriors are inefficient at pot-farming in the godlands; those who wish to do so should invest in a ranged class instead.

Knight

The knight is the tank of RotMG. With over 80 defense when geared up and maxed, and 75 vitality, it can eat bullets, and, with the shield, can stop enemies froms shooting altogether.

Who would want a knight? Those who want a tank should look no further. Knights also are the single best all-around eventer in the realm, eminently capable of taking on all the event bosses and killing them whether solo or in a group. Their stun makes them the most versatile melee class, giving them both the ability to stop a large enemy from firing and to decimate small mobs. Knights are also the best class for newbies who want to try out melee for the first time, since its high defense and stun ability make it extremely forgiving.

Who would not want a knight? Knights are expensive to max and to gear up – don’t make one if you’re poor. They – even more so than other melees, due to poor sustained DPS – are abysmal for godlands farming, lacking the range to take on godwalls efficiently.

Paladin

The paladin is a healing melee class. It’s capable of doing signficant damage from up close, but is also capable of both boosting teammates’ damage and healing.

Who would want a paladin? Those who want a melee class, but who are frustrated at the slow recovery time of the warrior and the knight should choose the paladin, whose 75 wisdom and healing ability allow it to get back into a battle very quickly. It’s also great for team support, and use of the oreo seal allow a paladin to take on cubes and skulls without losing much health.

Who would not want a paladin? Paladins lack the efficiency of knights and warriors at events – they lack both the pure DPS of warriors and the powerful stun and defense of knights, and the 1.4 second oreo boost only lets them get in two or three hits before they have to retreat (and this becomes even less effective when dealing with minions surrounding the boss). Timing is also crucial with paladins; those who cannot keep track of time and those with high-latency internet connections (which can induce a pause between hitting spacebar and receiving the invulnerability/healing) should not use one.

Class Choosing Flowchart by dalla

So you don’t have any maxed characters, and you want to build an army? Or you already have a small army, but you don’t know where to go? Well this handy flowchart should be able to help you out!

FAQ Time!
Q: Why should I have a Priest or Necro as my first class? They’re boring!
A: They may be boring, but they’re the bread and butter of this game. Priests are almost indestructible if you’re not retarded.

Q: So… why a DPS class after that?
A: To farm pots faster. You should be able to wein yourself from the healing, and learn to survive from just your VIT and dodging skills. A proper DPS class will increase the rate that you farm pots in godlands, as well as shortened dungeon times and qualifying for better drops at Oryx!

Q: Why should I make a knight as my first melee?
A: Knights are the introductory to melee. Paladins and Warriors are great classes, but it takes a while to get used to the melee play style. Knights are great because they’re very tanky, and the shield is incredibly useful as an introduction to melee.

If you’re already familiar with Melee, I’d suggest giving Warrior a whirl. Word of warning, it’s not an easy class to pick up for events, and be ready to sink a lot of pots into rebuilding.

Q: Why should I have those 4 classes?
A: They’re the bare minimum. Each serve their main purpose. All other classes in the game are simply hybrids of them (ie, Necro = Wizard + Priest).

Q: What order should I max after I have those 4 classes?
A: That’s entirely up to you. Personally, the order I would suggest is Priest, Necro, Archer, Wizard, Knight, Rogue, Warrior, Paladin, Huntress, Assassin/Trickster/Sorcerer/Mystic

Q: Why Assassin, Trickster, Sorcerer and Mystic as the last characters?
A: Those 4 classes are very underpowered, and essentially are useless. The other classes all overshadow them. Why play Trickster when you can play Rogue? Why play Sorcerer or Mystic when you can play a proper DPS class? It’s just logic. If you do like these classes, feel free to give them a shot. After all, this is simply advice.

Q: What should I do for gear?
A: A massive trap that a lot of new players fall for is thinking that good gear will make them a good player. Realistically, I could chuck on a T8 set and still be better than somebody who may have bought all tops. I would suggest sticking to a T9-T10 set of items (T11 set for your Priest if you can spare pots) or just using what you find. Do not spend excessive amounts of pots for gear that won’t make a big difference.