B Tier - -
Berserker, Savant, Paladin, Knight, Juggernaut
C Tier - -
Warden
Since Spirit Weapons won’t be in the game on release, Vitality is near useless until later updates.
Savant is a mixed bag. Yes, you have the flexibility to use just about anything, but everything you use is far, far less effective than other builds. Jack of all trades, master of none. Until we see stat scaling, I can’t give it anything higher than B tier.
I feel like warlord could be the best player class in the game and it’s because it balances malleability with power: you can use whatever weapons you find fit for the situation, you can adjust your fighting style when you want to, it seems like the perfect balance for strength and flexibility. Only caveat is drop rates and galleons being required for learning and relearning fighting styles.
My problem with Warlord is that fighting styles are inherently less flexible than Magics, even with weapons to shore up their weaknesses. They are inherently bound to close range, even “longer ranged” fighting styles like Cannon Fist; you are bound to close range combat, and even with weapons such as Muskets and the like you are still useless in mid to long range combat against Mages and Conjurers.
Juggernaut and Paladin are so low because, if you’re going to use a soul weapon then you might as well be a knight or a full warden.
Savant is in the same boat, no infusions so no mixed scaling, but at least you have some variety.
Berserker/Warrior are the opposite, they are purist so they’re in B since you get the most out of their fields.
Warlord is by itself in A tier since I think infusions of styles into weapons makes for more interesting builds than warrior/berserker alone. Think colossal or nimble weapons being boosted by thermo speed, or later on a lost style infusion to boost large weapons AOEs.
S is reserved for the magic hybrids and magic itself for my belief that magic is more malleable than fighting styles. Think about it, magic can have a magic zone, maybe styles get one similar, however the magic zone will have properties of the magic being used. So a shadow zone could make someone colorblind, a light one blinds, a fire one burns. This can lead to a potential setup, one that can be capitalized by another magic, or an infused style/weapon attack. To keep it short I’ll just list what I view the 2 hybrids as…
Warlocks/Conjurors:
Warlocks -
Infusion of magic and fighting styles, it combines these two customizable methods of attack. Set up with magic, strike with styles. If you create a zone then styles would be the best for keeping enemies in them, if you need some pressure on the enemy towards a particular direction, then magic is your answer. Control the battlefield with magic, strike with your fists (potentially with synergies mixed in for bonus damage).
Conjurors -
Infuse your magic into your weapon strikes, amplifying them or modifying the properties of your spells (arcanium weapons weapon-created spells). Same logic from warlocks largely applies, however, now with the appeal brought by weapon skills. Unleash a flurry of slashes at an enemy or send slashes of magic from a range.
Yeah Fighting Styles don’t have long range moves because they’re not intended to be a long range play style. The point of them is to close the gap, get in close and deal good damage. Fighting Styles have two moves that can be used to close distances, Crash and Rushdown. Smash can be used as a means to descend quickly or just a general offensive mid air tool and Shot I can see being a tad bit useful but not for closing gaps.
You know what does have long range options though? Weapons. With tools such as a bow you can offer some mid range pressure pretty easily and use fighting styles as a good way to move around, along with other weapons you might have. Not even going to consider muskets and flintlocks but I imagine they’ll be good long range weapons due to their much faster projectiles at the cost of their fire rate. Weapons can easily cover the weaknesses of fighting styles or magics, which imo gives them the most versatility overall as far as build choices go. It’s easier to strap weapons on any playstyle compared to Magic or Fighting Styles since weapons are versatile and can just fill in spots you want patched. If you got a weakness to range then equip a bow, weakness to close range then put on a great axe, etc etc.
I don’t think Warlord will be top tier or anything but still it’s not like it’ll be trash or unusable. Weapons will always be a usable no matter your playstyle because they fit into just about anything. You’re not going to use magic at close range and you’re not going to use fighting styles afar (unless you’re using cannon fist) but you can use weapons for just about any situation as long as you have the right weapons.
Its all based off my current experience, also vit as a 2nd stat is really nice just makes u have extra hp so its b/a tier by default especially if u just build minimal def gear with a lot of power gear
disclaimer: this is all personal opinion and prediction
viability
from what i’ve heard about conjurer and warlock infusions the amount of damage they can potentially deal is nuts (and they’re also really versatile)
juggernaut’s controversial but i think having a lot of health while using a close-ranged style of fighting has the potential to be really effective
as for berserker, warlord, and mage i think they just excel in the certain playstyle each goes for
warden is boring as hell but they will probably tank decently well
while savant is meant to be flashy and all i feel like they’ll be overwhelmed by the amount of skills they have, all meant for different playstyles
although skilled savants will probably excel with managing everything, its the easiest class to accidentally end up with as a new player, who probably wont be able to do that
knight and warrior seem kinda mediocre to me, sure they’ve got access to a wide variety of skills but their style of fighting seems simplistic, could probably be a tier higher to be honest
paladin’s also really controversial, and i could just be dumb, but i think combining health with range wont work well
cool factor
from the bottom up (you will also see where my bias probably comes from)
warden - self explanatory, you’re not winning your battles by being a wall
mage - you stand still and shoot at people from afar, thats boring as hell man
paladin - mages that made an actual attempt to be somewhat intimidating
knight - average dark souls character
warrior - somehow i visualize warriors as either “most skilled person there” or “caveman brain”, but both are cool as hell
berserker - beat people up with your bare fists? hell yeah.
juggernaut - big man punch smaller people (jojo character)
warlock - fucking weeb average anime character
conjurer - endgame souls boss (also able to cosplay, i guess)
warlord - your average action movie protagonist, but also, big man with bigger sword
savant - Jack of all trades. Need i say any more?
ngl, I’d probably make Warden S because it seems very viable for fighting bosses, like, just have 3 guns and a shit load of hp, bosses can’t do shit while you regen 20 hp per second.
I get that, just have my doubts that Fighting Styles will be able to keep up with the top Magic users in the game. For the average player honestly I think they’ll probably have a very easy time using Fighting Styles effectively as you don’t really have to think as much; no aiming blasts and whatnot. However, when you take a good Fighting Style user and place them against a good Magic user, the sheer existence of hovering (the mechanic, not the spell type from WoM) and magic high jumps (yes, I am well aware that Fighting Styles have mobility options as well) is probably enough to tip the odds far in the Magic user’s favor, as long as they play it smart. Once again, no clue how it’ll go until I can see it myself, these are just my guesses, but in my opinion Magic will always be the strongest stat in AO.
Savant is the jack of all trades and master of none. You have flexibility and almost nothing else. If stat scaling isn’t incredibly impactful, Savant will be fine. If stat scaling is massive, then you will have pitiful damage with everything you use and won’t be able to use Magics, Fighting Styles, or Weapons to anywhere near their fullest potential.
