Note: English is not my native language, so I’m sorry for any grammar errors.
Since I’ve seen so many people asking for opinions about their builds and most of them haven’t played the CBT, I’ll make this little guide of how you can plan a good build based on what you want to play and still be effective.
Note 2: The goal of this topic is to guide newbies and who didn’t played the CBTs on make their builds knowing what they’re doing, not just do a build and ask opinions without knowing what they have done.
Step 1 - Choose your game style
Wait… Can’t I choose the base class already?
No, your type of gameplay will decide your base class, so you don’t get disappointed after have spent so many hours leveling and you don’t enjoy playing with your character, making you delete it
How do I choose a style?
First, how do you imagine playing the game and how do you want to play? It doesn’t matter if it sounds crazy as a “support swordsman”, “defensive archer” or even “tank wizards”. There are classes for all tastes.
So pick one number and a letter and complete the blank spaces below:
I want a (number) (letter)
1- Offensive
2- Defensive
3- Support
4- Utility
A- Archer
B- Cleric
C- Swordsman
D- Wizard
This will give you an overview of how you want to play, and reduces the chance of doing a build that you won’t enjoy playing.
Step 2 - Polish your game style
Ok, I picked up my style, what now?
Now answer these questions:
1- Will you focus on PvE or PvP?
2- Will you focus on single target or AoE?
There are classes that do better on PvE than PvP and vice-versa, example:
Ranger is a great AoE PvE archer, but on PvP don’t do much…
Quarrel Shooter isn’t that good on PvE, but outclasses almost every archer class on PvP
Hoplite is better at single target burst, but Barbarian do better with groups of mobs
There are builds better for PvE and builds better for PvP, and there are balanced builds that perform great on both.
Step 3 - Choose your classes
Now I know how I want to play, what to do now?
Now it’s time to pick your class, each class tree have 14 different classes, 9 having 3 cicles, 2 classes having 2 cicles, 2 classes having one cicle only and 1 hidden class that have 1 cicle (except for archers, they don’t have hidden class… yet)
You may have noticed that are 4 colors with the class emblems:
Red
Green
Blue
Yellow
Red classes are more offensive and attack oriented, they normally are the DPSs
Green classes are more focused on support, they have the highest diversity. Each green class offers a unique type of support.
Blue classes have more defensive skills, while also being offensive, they are the balance between the “Defensive” and “Offensive” game style, but they are more defensive oriented.
Yellow classes have a unique style of gameplay, they don’t follow a specific role, you must see the class to know what are their style and if they fits your style.
So many classes, what do I do? Pick many classes or specialize in few ones?
This is a good question, having diversity on your build allows you to have lots of skills, but you won’t excel in any of them.
I recommend choosing 1 or 2 “core” classes on your build and focus them to C2 or C3, example:
I want to do a off-tanker that do great on PvP and PvE, so what are the best classes to do this?
Peltasta - Hoplite combination will make me a great off tank, and great on PvE, but what I do to have utility on PvP? Pick Cataphract for mobility and CC on PvP
So my core classes are Hoplite and Cataphract.
Example 2:
I want to do an AoE PvE archer while having some utility.
So my core class will be Ranger for AoE, for utility I can pick Hunter or Scout.
Step 4 - Research
But how will I know the classes styles?
Now do some research, try to know the feels of the classes, see a few gameplays of the classes of your choice, look for attributes, skills and sinergy with other classes.
After you finish your build, revise it. See if your class choices and the path are the ones you want. If it’s all OK, share it and now ask for the opinion who have played before, so you can have feedback and improve your build!
Wait… All of this just to still ask opinion of others??
There is a difference between doing builds without knowing anything and remodel it based on opinion of others only and make a build knowing what you’re building and remodel it using opinion of others based on what you really want.
Step 5 - Rebuild your build
The more you rework your build, the better it will be for you.
You will have more knowledge and more likely it will be perfect for your gameplay.
Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed the topic and that I have helped those who were a bit lost on building.