*preface* All information here will be based off of the various PC versions balance and performance history.

Hi guys,

One of the most asked questions when it comes to BDO is what class you should play.

Most people give you the generic "play what looks fun" answer but im a numbers guy so if you want some solid suggestions your in the right place.

I will go over our starting classes and give you the strengths / weaknesses / and any extra information I feel will help you in making a decision in what to play.

Section 1 : Relevance -

In the current state of BDO's meta only 3 of our starting 6 classes are currently relevant ( a top performing class in at-least one area of the game):

Those classes are : Wizzard / Witch / Sorc.

The current classes that are irrelevant in the BDO meta are : Warrior / Berserker / and Ranger.

If you want to stick to a class from launch to current game, and perform at an optimal level without re-rolling at some point I would recommend sticking to one of the the 3 relevant starting classes.

*explanations of why will be included in the specific class breakdowns.

Section 2 : Class breakdowns -

Since I have listed 3 classes as no longer relevant in the BDO meta I will start with those 3.

     Warrior:

     The warrior is the slowest grinder of the starting classes. It has great mobility and a high skillcap but lacks aoe (Scars of Dusk having a long cooldown). It has an advantage in  1 v 1 pvp pre-awakened over ranger, wizard, and witch but is countered by berserkers grab and sorcs mobility. In large scale (node wars) warrior acts as a "front line" before awakening. Once awakened the warrior gains a large amount of damage and slightly better aoe clear speeds.

The awakened warrior lost most of its "protection" with a sweeping nerf and have lost its relevance with this hit. It now lacks super armor on most of its abilities and is no longer viable for 1 v 1 or large scale pvp. It is one of the slowest grinding pve classes once awakened as well leaving it with no real role to fill that is not done better by another class.

    Berserker:

     The berseker is a pre-awakened juggernaut. It has 2 full self heals, more passive HP, a heavy damage grab, great mobility, and very fast grind speeds. It will seem overpowered until awakenings are released across the board. In 1 v 1 the zerk has the advantage over every class except sorc out of our starting classes. 

The awakened zerk was also top tier for a long time but was dethroned by a nerf that affected how CC works in BDO, destroying their grab chains. This koocked them down to B tier and the same protection nerfs that gutted warrior also hit zerks giving them a double dose of worthlessness in the bdo metta.

They no longer have protection on most o their abilities, and no longer have their cc chains. This has left them as a weak 1 v 1 class with mediocre grind speeds and no role to fill in large scale in the current meta.

     Ranger:

     The pre awakened ranger is the fastest grinding class of the starting 6 but relies heavily on mana potions to achieve this.  They have great overall damage and a ranged hard CC which is extremely powerful at this stage of the game. This combination makes them valuable in large scale and allows them to melt witch / wiz in 1  v 1. They have a good chance to catch a sorc due to their aoe spam as well.  The ranger will die though if caught by a grab from a warrior or zerk. Overall I believe that ranger is the best pre-awakened class out of the starting 6.

That being said it becomes absolute garbage once awakened. It fill no role that most other classes cant fill better. It grinds slowly, gets smashed in  1 v 1 , has little protection, becomes melee based, and is squishy once awakened, maning it can not stand the aoe spam of large scale pvp.

The ranger is the worst of the starting 6 classes to play long term.

     Witch / Wiz : 

     The best classes to start with if you plan to play long term. Both are god awful at 1  v 1 pre-awakend, loosing to any hard cc (which every other class has). Both are amazing aoe grinders, second only to ranger, but do not rely on potions. They are the best support characters in the game by a large margin, healing and buffing any party they are in. They also have a skill called Protected Area which single handedly decides who wins guild and node wars. Once awakened these classes become even more powerful and essential, allowing them to both grind even faster and hold their own in 1  v 1 scenarios.  They become the second fastest grinding class (behind Musa) on low DP mobs and are all around an amazing class in every aspect of the game. They also support faceroll gameplay with constant protection on most abilities and straight forward easy to use and land skills.

     Sorc:

Sorc is by far the most technical and skill based class of the starting 6 (and debateably of all the classes in BDO).  The difference between a good and bad sorc is the difference between being hunted by a kid with a nerf gun or a US Navy Seal. A good sorc is the god of 1 v 1 pvp. Both pre-awakened and awakened, challenged only by a very good ninja (and Striker / Mystic but both of those classes are just broken past sanity).  Pre-awakened sorc is the king of  1 v 1 pvp, in node wars it is the assassin that picks off the enemy's witch / wizards and protects their own in the back-lines. 

It is one of the slowest grinders, only faster than warrior of the original 6 pre-awakened but becomes one of the fastest once awakened. gaining the spot for fastest grinding class (highest DPS on high DP mobs such as those at Gyfin , Hysteria, Akhman). 

Sorc is a god but you need to put in alot of time learning animation cancels, rotations, and situational awareness. You also need very fast reflexes and solid snap decision making skills. Bad sorcs are cannon fodder. Play at your own risk.

Section 3: Maining a non-lauch class:

If you plan to main a class that will launch at a later date I would highly recommend you play a witch or wizard at launch. 

They both are very fast grinders, not dependant on potions, and can grind quickly with very little gear investment.

These classes will allow you to stockpile silver and are "safe" classes for world boss farming allowing you to save those boss weapon boxes until your chosen class is launched.

Hope this helps some of you who are trying to decide what to play!

I'd just like to also put in, fighting a Zerk as a Sorc pre awakened in a 1v1 is damn hard, probably the hardest for Sorc out of the starting classes.

I main a Sorc on PC and will main a Sorc on xbox, and I agree with OP, sorc is, almost without a doubt, the hardest class to play without much reward for the effort, yet sooooooo satisfying to play

And I thought I can play a zerker and switch to ninja later.... Im confused ? ....and thanks for the information!

2 minutes ago, malixoxo said:

And I thought I can play a zerker and switch to ninja later.... Im confused ? ....and thanks for the information!

It's just a guideline - the best way to play BDX is to choose class you enjoy.. There is nothing worse than playing class which is not enjoyable. I'm going zerker until Mystic/Striker as this seems to be the only class that floats my boat atm.  Sorc is hard to play and remaining 4 classes are just plain boring for me.

Besides, Harming explains things from more competitive perspective.  

4 minutes ago, Rocketfuel77777 said:

It's just a guideline - the best way to play BDX is to choose class you enjoy.. There is nothing worse than playing class which is not enjoyable. I'm going zerker until Mystic/Striker as this seems to be the only class that floats my boat atm.  Sorc is hard to play and remaining 4 classes are just plain boring for me.

Besides, Harming explains things from more competitive perspective.  

thats why I also picked the zerker because I dont really like the others.... I prefer to play rogue and thats why I wanted to play ninja but I dont want to wait for its release and will just try out the game and learn all the stuff so that Im ready later

1 hour ago, Wiitchcraft said:

I'd just like to also put in, fighting a Zerk as a Sorc pre awakened in a 1v1 is damn hard, probably the hardest for Sorc out of the starting classes.

True! 

For the pre awakened matchup you want to iframe the lava piercer (i tend to jump and frame forward through them, they dont expect it and its hard to do a 180 on lava pierce)  and kite back. Only open up if your sign of agony stun lands or of you land a dream of doom knockdown. Move in , dps, move out.  Sorc also has a bigger advantage with controller because zerks cant shake off properly due to it being a double tap directional, which cuts their mobility in half ( i couldnt stand it in beta).

25 minutes ago, malixoxo said:

thats why I also picked the zerker because I dont really like the others.... I prefer to play rogue and thats why I wanted to play ninja but I dont want to wait for its release and will just try out the game and learn all the stuff so that Im ready later

Ninja is not that far away I think as this is one of first classes added after launch. 

1 hour ago, Harming said:

 

Section 3: Maining a non-lauch class:

If you plan to main a class that will launch at a later date I would highly recommend you play a witch or wizard at launch. 

 

 

If I use the wizard until striker is released should i use the character bound items from pre order and ultimate edition on wizard or save them for striker? Also which items are character bound?

 

 

7 minutes ago, Lawd Aizen said:

 

Your costume will be bound (and most likely your exp scrolls).

Everything else will be transferable or is shared. 

There is no shudad costume for striker on any of the pc versions so I dont think It could be transferred.

I cant remember how I got my costume on the other versions TBH, i think its mailed to the first character you log in on as that classes armor bound.

I may be wrong there though.

I do appreciate the time you took to write this down, but whoever reads this needs to consider that this is merely a single players opinion. While accurate in some points, it's not a mantra and currently every class has some space to fill. I used to main Wizard for ages on BDO PC and while i had a blast with that class i would never call it TOP Tier and certainly not a fast grinder. 

BDO is very gear-dependent and no matter which class you play - If you enjoy the playstyle and are averagely geared, you will kill people, you will be able to grind and do Node Wars. True that Large-scale is dominated by Witchtards, but that's mostly due to single skill they have - Protected Area which helps with group engagements and that's that.

Play what you enjoy the most, don't let other people discourage you because they had some bad experience or couldn't master some class. What i wholeheartedly do recommend however is to watch Awakened Playstyle of your Class, cause it will change a lot.

Not bad, wrong section tho

42 minutes ago, Grammaticus said:

I do appreciate the time you took to write this down, but whoever reads this needs to consider that this is merely a single players opinion. While accurate in some points, it's not a mantra and currently every class has some space to fill. I used to main Wizard for ages on BDO PC and while i had a blast with that class i would never call it TOP Tier and certainly not a fast grinder. 

BDO is very gear-dependent and no matter which class you play - If you enjoy the playstyle and are averagely geared, you will kill people, you will be able to grind and do Node Wars. True that Large-scale is dominated by Witchtards, but that's mostly due to single skill they have - Protected Area which helps with group engagements and that's that.

Play what you enjoy the most, don't let other people discourage you because they had some bad experience or couldn't master some class. What i wholeheartedly do recommend however is to watch Awakened Playstyle of your Class, cause it will change a lot.

Agreed. 

This is aimed at players who want to compete at the highest level and min / max.

If you plan to race to the top of any leader boards or want to have the best advantages going into a seige guild then this will help players.

Casual players can have a great time with any class.

I could go full scum and tell everyone to run striker / mystic / witch lol but even I cant stomach that for the sake of efficiency lol

This info is definitely correct for the current PC meta.

The only thing i would say that is certain for whichever class you pick, is that you will spend endless hours grinding to get them the level and skillpoints to be competitive. So make sure its a class where you enjoy the combat. If you dont enjoy the combat, you will lose interest, get bored, or reroll to another class and waste the time you invested.

We will be way behind PC content wise and with the upcoming removal of renown bonuses, evasion, dp, and accuracy builds might be viable again resulting in some classes being better or worse in PvP.

There is no dead class in BDO, and if you work hard for the gear, any class can shine in their own way at softcap and beyond. 

is there any kind of release schedule known for when the other classes are released on console? 

not that I play all of them as I have the most fun playing Sorc on PC  

but it would suck if it was anything like Tera on console that after over a year still is missing most of the PC content and only now have added Valkyrie

and it would just suck if wanted to play for example Striker / archer and have to wait for a year to be able to do so

and I wonder if all current regions will be available ( I don't expect Drieghan yet) but Kamasilvia 1+2 /Valencia 

I just hope they don't follow Tera's release scedule

10 hours ago, Harming said:

True! 

For the pre awakened matchup you want to iframe the lava piercer (i tend to jump and frame forward through them, they dont expect it and its hard to do a 180 on lava pierce)  and kite back. Only open up if your sign of agony stun lands or of you land a dream of doom knockdown. Move in , dps, move out.  Sorc also has a bigger advantage with controller because zerks cant shake off properly due to it being a double tap directional, which cuts their mobility in half ( i couldnt stand it in beta).

 

Thanks for the tip. I kept fighting Zerks in the beta, it all went smooth until i got hit once then i felt lost, like it was grab into grab into grab etc. though i was also missing a good health regen move. I should have tried teleporting behind more, i dont think i knew about other classes having to double tap until after the beta though.

Man i can't wait for release so i can try stuff out and practice certain match ups.

Everyone please understand that what he wrote was accurate....until basically 5 seconds ago.

Case in point as to why you shouldn't use tiers or the "current" state of a class to make decisions.

Warriors just got rebuffed on PC:

Warriors :

• slashing to death animation is full SA now

• balance strike got bigger range

• armor break + knee kick got some QOL

• they can grab from awakening stance

• some skills can be cancelled with block

• ground smash got SA

• ultimate ground smash got 100% cirt and 50% damage increase and 2 more hits

• war cry got frontal guard

• counter got frontal guard

• spear WP consumption changed from 95 to 50

• some skills were resetting CD when used off CD so it was fixed

Ninjas and Mystics nerfed a bit. Tamers and Valks buffed. This stuff changes all the time. Pick what YOU like. DO NOT pay attention to tier lists or current pecking orders to make a decision. You will regret it. You will waste your time and money. That said, the OP still gave valuable and accurate information. Tier lists are important to understand the state of things, what classes have protections changed, and so forth to improve your matchup understanding. Tier lists are very useful in general. But when it comes to picking a class to main, do yourself a favor and get them out of your head.

Uggh. Please tell me they haven't nerfed Sorcs AGAIN.

3 hours ago, Cloudkicker said:

Everyone please understand that what he wrote was accurate....until basically 5 seconds ago.

Case in point as to why you shouldn't use tiers or the "current" state of a class to make decisions.

Warriors just got rebuffed on PC:

Warriors :

• slashing to death animation is full SA now

• balance strike got bigger range

• armor break + knee kick got some QOL

• they can grab from awakening stance

• some skills can be cancelled with block

• ground smash got SA

• ultimate ground smash got 100% cirt and 50% damage increase and 2 more hits

• war cry got frontal guard

• counter got frontal guard

• spear WP consumption changed from 95 to 50

• some skills were resetting CD when used off CD so it was fixed

 

Ninjas and Mystics nerfed a bit. Tamers and Valks buffed. This stuff changes all the time. Pick what YOU like. DO NOT pay attention to tier lists or current pecking orders to make a decision. You will regret it. You will waste your time and money. That said, the OP still gave valuable and accurate information. Tier lists are important to understand the state of things, what classes have protections changed, and so forth to improve your matchup understanding. Tier lists are very useful in general. But when it comes to picking a class to main, do yourself a favor and get them out of your head.

Is this from the test servers? 

3 hours ago, Cloudkicker said:

Everyone please understand that what he wrote was accurate....until basically 5 seconds ago.

Case in point as to why you shouldn't use tiers or the "current" state of a class to make decisions.

Warriors just got rebuffed on PC:

Warriors :

• slashing to death animation is full SA now

• balance strike got bigger range

• armor break + knee kick got some QOL

• they can grab from awakening stance

• some skills can be cancelled with block

• ground smash got SA

• ultimate ground smash got 100% cirt and 50% damage increase and 2 more hits

• war cry got frontal guard

• counter got frontal guard

• spear WP consumption changed from 95 to 50

• some skills were resetting CD when used off CD so it was fixed

 

Ninjas and Mystics nerfed a bit. Tamers and Valks buffed. This stuff changes all the time. Pick what YOU like. DO NOT pay attention to tier lists or current pecking orders to make a decision. You will regret it. You will waste your time and money. That said, the OP still gave valuable and accurate information. Tier lists are important to understand the state of things, what classes have protections changed, and so forth to improve your matchup understanding. Tier lists are very useful in general. But when it comes to picking a class to main, do yourself a favor and get them out of your head.

Thanks for bringing this up, I havent played the test server so this is new to me.

I will have to check it out.

A few things you can always count on though is that Witch / Wiz will always be top tier.

And any new class will be FOTM for a few months to encourage re-rolls untill it is nerfed back in line.

Other than those givens balance tends to swing heavy. They nerf / buff with a sledgehammer instead of a chissel so things are highly variable

6 hours ago, Harming said:

Thanks for bringing this up, I havent played the test server so this is new to me.

I will have to check it out.

 

A few things you can always count on though is that Witch / Wiz will always be top tier.

And any new class will be FOTM for a few months to encourage re-rolls untill it is nerfed back in line.

Other than those givens balance tends to swing heavy. They nerf / buff with a sledgehammer instead of a chissel so things are highly variable

Yeah totally agree. Some classes will never be terrible. Also its weird how KR sees things vs how do. Example, KR thinks Striker is trash because it can't do Aakman, Hystria, Mirumok, etc worth a damn, but we all know it's not trash at all. I think KR has a bigger influence on balance, so sometimes a good predictor. Just an observation 

1 hour ago, Cloudkicker said:

Yeah totally agree. Some classes will never be terrible. Also its weird how KR sees things vs how do. Example, KR thinks Striker is trash because it can't do Aakman, Hystria, Mirumok, etc worth a damn, but we all know it's not trash at all. I think KR has a bigger influence on balance, so sometimes a good predictor. Just an observation 

That definitely makes sense.  Striker is a monster of  1 v 1 and small scale though.

On my witch / wiz / sorc / DK i just do an emote and wait for them to 1 combo me. You cant win that fight unless you HEAVILY outgear them.

Lol tamer is far underrated I bet an equally geared tamer would stomp a striker. Go check out you tube video of a guy named Kyrandis,  dude is good. 

8 hours ago, Deathz Angel said:

Lol tamer is far underrated I bet an equally geared tamer would stomp a striker. Go check out you tube video of a guy named Kyrandis,  dude is good. 

Depends on the player. Most players have no idea what they're doing. However it is the case that Tamers are a top 1v1 class if you bother to learn. The effort/reward ratio varies greatly between classes and is also context dependent.

9 hours ago, Deathz Angel said:

Lol tamer is far underrated I bet an equally geared tamer would stomp a striker. Go check out you tube video of a guy named Kyrandis,  dude is good. 

Tamer isn't underrated at far as 1v1 goes, most top tier players agree that if a tamer knows what they're doing it almost doesn't matter what class you are, if they catch you in 1v1, you're screwed. But they basically have no place in large scale.

I'm so torn between Witch, or Tamer. I played Witch the most during the beta, so I know I like it, but Tamer still seems so fun, even if it sucks in group.

I'm enjoying my tamer only Lv 30 ish but my witch is so much fun I'm only Lv 51 on that one,  I like the kuno awakening weapon but not a big fan of the class.  Dk is good too but I am just playing witch right now so I can be ready for Xbox launch 

I cant wait to just watch the meta, from the looks of it the majority of people are going to play Sorc until the class they want releases, then they'll switch. So it seems pretty similar to what i heard PC was like, whole lot of Sorcs, now barely any after all them nerfs.

48 minutes ago, Wiitchcraft said:

I cant wait to just watch the meta, from the looks of it the majority of people are going to play Sorc until the class they want releases, then they'll switch. So it seems pretty similar to what i heard PC was like, whole lot of Sorcs, now barely any after all them nerfs.

Sorc is really high skill capped.

Most players will play them for a day or 2 and roll witch / wiz.

If you dont have you animation cancels and combos down then the class is hell to level and play, its also heavily gear dependent for pvp.

Witch / wiz is pretty faceroll and doesn't need alot of AP to be effective.

10 hours ago, Harming said:

Sorc is really high skill capped.

Most players will play them for a day or 2 and roll witch / wiz.

If you dont have you animation cancels and combos down then the class is hell to level and play, its also heavily gear dependent for pvp.

Witch / wiz is pretty faceroll and doesn't need alot of AP to be effective.

 

Most of the difficult cancels seem to be more in the Awakening move set. Though i mainly play fighting games so learning combos with cancels isnt all that new, they seem pretty straight forward in BDO, just have to develop the muscle memory.

On 1/9/2019 at 2:29 AM, Harming said:

*preface* All information here will be based off of the various PC versions balance and performance history.

 

Hi guys,

One of the most asked questions when it comes to BDO is what class you should play.

Most people give you the generic "play what looks fun" answer but im a numbers guy so if you want some solid suggestions your in the right place.

I will go over our starting classes and give you the strengths / weaknesses / and any extra information I feel will help you in making a decision in what to play.

Section 1 : Relevance -

In the current state of BDO's meta only 3 of our starting 6 classes are currently relevant ( a top performing class in at-least one area of the game):

Those classes are : Wizzard / Witch / Sorc.

The current classes that are irrelevant in the BDO meta are : Warrior / Berserker / and Ranger.

If you want to stick to a class from launch to current game, and perform at an optimal level without re-rolling at some point I would recommend sticking to one of the the 3 relevant starting classes.

*explanations of why will be included in the specific class breakdowns.

Section 2 : Class breakdowns -

Since I have listed 3 classes as no longer relevant in the BDO meta I will start with those 3.

     Warrior:

     The warrior is the slowest grinder of the starting classes. It has great mobility and a high skillcap but lacks aoe (Scars of Dusk having a long cooldown). It has an advantage in  1 v 1 pvp pre-awakened over ranger, wizard, and witch but is countered by berserkers grab and sorcs mobility. In large scale (node wars) warrior acts as a "front line" before awakening. Once awakened the warrior gains a large amount of damage and slightly better aoe clear speeds.

The awakened warrior lost most of its "protection" with a sweeping nerf and have lost its relevance with this hit. It now lacks super armor on most of its abilities and is no longer viable for 1 v 1 or large scale pvp. It is one of the slowest grinding pve classes once awakened as well leaving it with no real role to fill that is not done better by another class.

    Berserker:

     The berseker is a pre-awakened juggernaut. It has 2 full self heals, more passive HP, a heavy damage grab, great mobility, and very fast grind speeds. It will seem overpowered until awakenings are released across the board. In 1 v 1 the zerk has the advantage over every class except sorc out of our starting classes. 

The awakened zerk was also top tier for a long time but was dethroned by a nerf that affected how CC works in BDO, destroying their grab chains. This koocked them down to B tier and the same protection nerfs that gutted warrior also hit zerks giving them a double dose of worthlessness in the bdo metta.

They no longer have protection on most o their abilities, and no longer have their cc chains. This has left them as a weak 1 v 1 class with mediocre grind speeds and no role to fill in large scale in the current meta.

     Ranger:

     The pre awakened ranger is the fastest grinding class of the starting 6 but relies heavily on mana potions to achieve this.  They have great overall damage and a ranged hard CC which is extremely powerful at this stage of the game. This combination makes them valuable in large scale and allows them to melt witch / wiz in 1  v 1. They have a good chance to catch a sorc due to their aoe spam as well.  The ranger will die though if caught by a grab from a warrior or zerk. Overall I believe that ranger is the best pre-awakened class out of the starting 6.

That being said it becomes absolute garbage once awakened. It fill no role that most other classes cant fill better. It grinds slowly, gets smashed in  1 v 1 , has little protection, becomes melee based, and is squishy once awakened, maning it can not stand the aoe spam of large scale pvp.

The ranger is the worst of the starting 6 classes to play long term.

     Witch / Wiz : 

     The best classes to start with if you plan to play long term. Both are god awful at 1  v 1 pre-awakend, loosing to any hard cc (which every other class has). Both are amazing aoe grinders, second only to ranger, but do not rely on potions. They are the best support characters in the game by a large margin, healing and buffing any party they are in. They also have a skill called Protected Area which single handedly decides who wins guild and node wars. Once awakened these classes become even more powerful and essential, allowing them to both grind even faster and hold their own in 1  v 1 scenarios.  They become the second fastest grinding class (behind Musa) on low DP mobs and are all around an amazing class in every aspect of the game. They also support faceroll gameplay with constant protection on most abilities and straight forward easy to use and land skills.

 

     Sorc:

Sorc is by far the most technical and skill based class of the starting 6 (and debateably of all the classes in BDO).  The difference between a good and bad sorc is the difference between being hunted by a kid with a nerf gun or a US Navy Seal. A good sorc is the god of 1 v 1 pvp. Both pre-awakened and awakened, challenged only by a very good ninja (and Striker / Mystic but both of those classes are just broken past sanity).  Pre-awakened sorc is the king of  1 v 1 pvp, in node wars it is the assassin that picks off the enemy's witch / wizards and protects their own in the back-lines. 

It is one of the slowest grinders, only faster than warrior of the original 6 pre-awakened but becomes one of the fastest once awakened. gaining the spot for fastest grinding class (highest DPS on high DP mobs such as those at Gyfin , Hysteria, Akhman). 

Sorc is a god but you need to put in alot of time learning animation cancels, rotations, and situational awareness. You also need very fast reflexes and solid snap decision making skills. Bad sorcs are cannon fodder. Play at your own risk.

Section 3: Maining a non-lauch class:

If you plan to main a class that will launch at a later date I would highly recommend you play a witch or wizard at launch. 

They both are very fast grinders, not dependant on potions, and can grind quickly with very little gear investment.

These classes will allow you to stockpile silver and are "safe" classes for world boss farming allowing you to save those boss weapon boxes until your chosen class is launched.

 

Hope this helps some of you who are trying to decide what to play!

 

 

 

im curious if you noticed warrior has multi directional block on xbox... that was one of the first things i noticed. That changes alot of things if its like that on release.