Which Class Do I Choose

DDO unlike other MMO gives the player much freedom in designing their characters. You can pick up sword and train as a fighter and halfway through your career, start reading books and learn spell casting. This part of this guide focuses on how each class measure up and what a player should do in order to get the character he or she wants. Due to the availability of abilities, feats and enhancements, the way the level split is performed can make or break a build. Here I discuss some of the more common splits as well as their merits. For a more detailed look at multi-classing, read New Players' Guide to Multiclassing.

Fighter
The fighter is perhaps the most versatile among the melee classes. This is due to the extremely high number of feats that it has access to. Depending on how you set your fighter up, it can be either strength or dexterity based. It can work on maximising damage or to focus on defence. Many fighters are likely to go strength based due to it being the only class with enhancements to increase strength. The capstone enhancement of a fighter is 10% melee alacrity which basically means it is focused on offense.

A damage based fighter will likely go for kensai. Due to how the prestige class is broken down, the more effective builds go with 12, 18 or 20 levels of fighter. Builds with 12 levels of fighter do so for the power surge ability which increases strength by +8 for 1 minute. 18 level fighter builds in general do so to splash 2 levels of rogue or monk for evasion. Needless to say, level 20 fighters stay pure to take advantage of the capstone.

A defence based fighter will likely go for stalwart defender. Unlike the kensai, a stalwart defenders are likely to go 18 or 20 levels of fighter. The reason for 18 levels of fighter is to maximise out the defender armor class bonuses and stance. In addition, they will splash 2 levels of paladin for saves and aura bonuses. Of course, level 20 defenders do so for the very attractive capstone to increase their versatility by being able to deal more damage when tanking is not needed.

Barbarian
The barbarian's combat prowress is based on its ability to enter rage to increase power and endurance. Almost all barbarians are strength based to focus on its strength. Due to the decrease in armor class while raging, one can hardly find barbarians built for defence. Instead, many barbarians will take advantage of this disadvantage and load guard items which inflict damage to enemies that hit the barbarian. The capstone of the barbarian is a +2 increase to strength along with increased two handed fighting abilities.

Many barbarians are likely to remain pure to gain access to the capstone and a stronger rage. Due to the prestige enhancements, the more effective builds go with 12, 18 and 20 levels of barbarian. Builds with 12 levels of barbarian are likely to be tempest barbarians that do so to fit in 6 levels of ranger for the speed increase. 18 level barbarian builds in general do so to splash 2 levels of rogue for evasion or 2 levels of fighter for feats.

Paladin
The paladin is the holy warrior in DDO. Its strength is the ability to call on upon holy powers to raise their defensive as well as offensive prowress. The main weakness of the paladin is its dependancy on a number of abilities. This is compounded by some abilities and enhancements that depend on the stats. While many paladins are strength based, there is an increase in the number of dexterity based paladins that take advantage of the compatibility with the monk class. The capstone enhancement of a paladin is the ability to inflict extra damage to evil enemies. In addition, it imparts makes all weapons equipped good aligned for damage reduction purposes.

A damage based paladin will likely go for knight of the chalice while a defence based fighter will go for defender of siberys. Unlike the other classes, paladins do not usually follow the same format for level splits. The likely level splits are 14, 18 and 20. The main reason for taking 14 levels of paladin is due to the availability of level 4 spells at L14, the more notable being holy sword and zeal. In addition, they will take 6 levels of ranger for the tempest enhancement. 18 is for the tier III enhancements and 20 for the capstone. Most multiclassed paladins will have 2 levels of rogues or 2 levels of monk for the evasion feat.

For more in depth information, read A Guide to Creating Paladins by Junts.

Ranger
The ranger is based on the concept of a wilderness warrior who is hardy, skilled survivor. Rangers have excellent soloing capabilities due to their fighting prowress and selection of spells. While the other classes have no inherent ranged capabilities, the ranger is given many abilities which make it capable ranged opponent. In fact, the ranger is currently the only fighting class with access to ranged prestige class enhancements. The captsone enhancement of a ranger is ranged alacrity which gives the ranger a bonus to ranged attack speed. Due to the varied abilities of rangers, there are many ways to play them.

An offense based melee ranger is likely to be strength based and with the tempest enhancement that provide at present the highest static melee attack speed. The more common builds are likely to be 18 or 20. Unlike the other classes, 12 ranger does not provide much notable benefits to the build. 18 levels of ranger currently provides more benefit compared to 20 levels. The main reason is it allows splashing 2 levels of other classes ie 2 levels of monk for more feats and wisdom bonus to armor class or 1 level of monk and rogue for extra feat, monk wisdom bonus and rogue skills.

A defense based melee ranger will be dexterity based to take advantage of the ranger's dexterity enhancements to allow extremely high unarmored armor class. Many of these builds will also have monk splashes to allow a further increase of armor class with a moderate wisdom score. Some will splash some paladin levels to gain a bonus to saves as well as immunities. Common builds include 15 and 18 levels of rangers. As will other melee rangers, such builds will be tempest rangers.

Due to the availability of ranged based abilities, ranged ranger builds are not uncommon. Due to the disparity of the prestige class enhancements, most of the ranged builds will likely be arcane rangers. As ranged combat is very slow in DDO, the increase in ranged speed from the capstone is very valuable and thus most of them will stay pure. That said, there are also a couple of rangers that will splash 1 or 2 levels of an arcane class.

Rogue
Many people have the impression that a rogue must be a light melee combatant that is incapable of dealing out damage like the heavy melee classes. While this may be true when fighting one to one with enemy, it doesnt paint the full picture of a rogue's combat prowress. A rogue can deal punishing blows on an enemy when it does not have the enemies' attention. In the hands on an experienced player, this is not a problem but when a new player is in control, it can mean stealing agro away from the heavy melee classes and thus getting unwanted attention. At present, the rogue capstone enhancement is the ability to cheat death by having a chance of a self resurrection.

There are many ways to build a rogue. Among the prestige class enhancements, the assassin and acrobat has the most value. The mechanic falls behind due to the bonuses being geared towards trapsmithing which is not really needed due to most players being able to read the necessary numbers easily. The ability to smite constructs is useful but there is a lack of constructs in much of the content which makes it truely useful.

The most common rogue builds go 12, 13, 18 and 20. The reason for 12 levels of rogues is due to the tier II assassin enhancement, which gives added sneak attack damage and assassinate ability, or acrobat enhancement, which gives a boost to melee attack speed with staves and immunity to knockdown effects. 13 levels of rogue gives 1 more valuable rogue feat as well as 1 more die of sneak attack damage compare to 12 levels. 18 levels are mainly for assassins for the tier III ability of vorpal effects with sneak attacks while 20 levels is mainly for players who want a higher assassinate difficulty check. Common splashes for rogue builds include 6 levels of ranger or some monk levels.

Wizard
The DDO wizard is a master of arcane magic who can specialise in the various spell schools due to the large number of feats. With one of the highest possible casting stats due to the +2 intelligence from the capstone enhancements, wizards can excel in crowd control, instant kill or and other spells with difficulty checks. Due to the lower spell point pool compared to sorcerors, spell point conservation is a must for all aspiring wizards. To aid this, a wizard has more spells per level and the ability to swop spells at shrines and taverns to be able to handle any possible situations.

The class spread for wizards is very narrow, limiting them to 16, 18 or 20 levels. The main reason is due to spell damage, difficulty checks and spell penetration being linked to class levels. Deep multiclassing thus reduces the effectiveness of the spells. Wizards with 16 levels are likely to be melee wizards splashing 2 levels of paladin and 2 levels of an evasion class. 18 levels of wizards allow the build to fit in 2 levels of rogue for evasion and trap skills. Pure wizards will be full spell casters who will be relying on the capstone to boost their spells.

Sorceror
What the wizard achieve in finesse, the sorceror achieves with raw unbridled elemental fury. With almost twice the spell points and a faster casting time than a wizard, the sorceror pummels the enemies into submission. The nuking ability of the sorceror is further aided by a capstone which increases spell damage. All these power comes with a great cost. The sorceror only has a small selection of spells and is unable to change them at will. Only 1 spell may be changed every three days at the trainer at a small monetary cost. As a result, one has to carefully choose spells for use in as many of the situations encountered.

Although they are different from wizards, they are essentially still an arcane casting class and are bound by the same limitations a wizard has. Like the wizard, 16, 18 and 20 levels are the most common level spread and for the same reasons as wizards.

Bard
The bard is not just a performer but an inspiration to the party giving them various bonuses to hit, fear resistance, damage and even armor class. Playing is bard is extremely difficult due to its generalist role in a party. It does not have as many heal spells or have access to the heal spell unlike the cleric or favored soul. It crowd control spells are limited and many are enchantment based unlike the wizard or the sorceror. This does not make it a poor class but rather make it challenging to play well. In DDO, there are basically 2 types of bards, melee and caster. At present, the bard capstone offers a +2 to charisma and bonuses to spell difficulty checks.

A melee bard is usually built upon the warchanter prestige class enhancements. It excels in physical damage deal both through its songs as well as through melee. Typical class spreads for a warchanter based melee bard are 16, 18 and 20. Due to the feat requirements of the warchanter, it is very common to have players go 18 levels and splash 2 levels of fighter. Some prefer evasion and will choose to splash 2 levels of rogue, a small number will even have both splashes and keep bard levels to 16. Builds with 20 levels of bard do not do so for the capstone which does not help much. Instead, they do so to gain access to an additional +1 to their songs.

Casting bards can be spellsingers or vituosos. Due to the lack of substiantial abilities for the virtuoso, spellsinger is thus more commonly seen. Due to the reliance on casting abilities, it is not common to see casting bards with deep multiclassing, preferring to go 18 or 20 levels. 18 levels of bards allows splashing of 2 rogue levels for evasion to increase the survivability. Pure casting bards will go for the capstone for stronger spells as well as an increase in the bonuses of the songs.

Cleric
The cleric is a divine class that thrives on using divine spells to bring destruction to evil and as well as to restore the wounds or even resurrect fallen allies. Due to the unparalleled healing abilities of the cleric, they are most sought after for parties. There are many ways to build a cleric, probably even more than the other classes due to the good mix of both physical and spell damage abilities. In general, they can be classed under melee, caster and healer. The capstone enhancement of the cleric is an ability to ward of death on an ally within a short period of time.

A melee cleric will be strength or dexterity based combatant and are often simply called battleclerics. Battleclerics are unlikely to be pure as they utilise cross class abilities to increase their melee abilities. Strength based battleclerics commonly have class spreads of 17, 18 or 19 levels. 17 levels of cleric allow the battlecleric to splash 3 levels of paladin for saves, immunity and auras. 18 levels is for splashing 2 fighter or 2 paladin, while 19 levels allow them to splash 1 level of any melee class to access martial weapons. Dexterity based battleclerics more often than not stay 18 levels and splash 2 levels of monk for evasion and wisdom bonus to armor class.

Casting clerics, or nuker clerics, are often pure clerics whose main focus is on increasing the effectiveness of spells. Staying pure allow them to get the highest spell penetration for spells such as destruction and implosion. Some may go 19 levels and splash in 1 level of sorceror for more spell points but this only works if the charisma of the cleric is high. Healing clerics solely focus on healing and thus often called healbots. As spell penetration, difficulty check or melee combat is not important, they are often found with 18 or 20 levels. 18 levels allow the cleric to splash 2 levels of an evasion class while staying pure allow them to gain more spells, spell points and the capstone.