MMORPG Classes Explained: Which One Should You Play?

In Valdoria Online, the orcs vs. elves MMORPG, each side has five classes, and each one fills a role in the group: taking hits (tank), healing (healer) or dealing damage (DPS). Here's what each class does, what it's called on each side, which abilities it learns and the easiest way to choose: try them all for free.

• 5 classes per side
• 13 abilities per class, plus your racial
• 21 talents in three trees
• 3 resources: rage, energy and mana
• 10 free characters on your account
• 60 is the level cap

Tank, Healer and DPS: Five Classes, Ten Names

In a group of five, the tank draws the enemies in and takes their hits, the healer keeps everyone alive and everyone else brings the damage. In Valdoria, that damage comes from three classes: the warrior in melee, the rogue with combos and stealth, and the caster at range. All five exist on both sides, but each side has its own names for them:

• Tank (rage): Bulwark for the orcs and Sentinel for the elves.
• Warrior (rage): Warrior for the orcs and Lunar Arcanist for the elves.
• Rogue (energy): the Stalker, on both sides.
• Healer (mana): Priest for the orcs and Druid for the elves.
• Caster (mana): Warlock for the orcs and Mage for the elves.

The other races on each side, both the paid ones and the ones you earn at level 60, use these same classes: they change the look and the racial, not the class.

Which Class Fits Your Playstyle

• You want to be the group's wall: tank. It's the class with the most health (about 5,300 points at level 60 without gear, versus under 3,000 for the healer), and it takes 10% less damage from everything.
• You like it up close and direct: warrior. It charges the enemy, bleeds it and finishes it off.
• You'd rather choose your moment: rogue. It sneaks up in stealth, stuns and disappears.
• You love keeping everyone else on their feet: healer. It heals from 25 meters away, and the big bosses demand one: Vorathar calls for “tireless healing hands”.
• You like ranged damage and crowd control: caster. Its spells reach 30 meters and can root, silence or take an enemy out of the fight.

And for your first character? There's no single answer: all five reach level 60 and all of them have a place in a group. AUTO mode lends a hand with any of them (it repeats your last attack as soon as it's ready again), and the beginner's guide walks you through your first steps. But the most useful thing you can do is try them in the Training Grounds.

Tank: Bulwark (Orcs) and Sentinel (Elves)

The tank takes the hits and draws the enemies' attention. It uses rage, wields a greatsword and builds its whole kit around threat: Buckler Crash strikes with the shield and generates a lot of threat at no cost, Challenge forces a creature to attack you and, at level 36, Bulwark's Clamor makes every creature within 10 meters come after you. To hold the line, it has Iron Rampart (half damage for 10 seconds), Unbroken (instantly restores 30% of its health) and Arcane Aegis against spells. The Bulwark and the Sentinel have the same abilities: only their side's racial changes.

Warrior: Warrior (Orcs) and Lunar Arcanist (Elves)

The warrior fights in melee with rage and finishing blows, sword in hand. Open with Charge, which launches you at an enemy 6 to 25 meters away and stuns it for one second; wear it down with Gash and Bloody Slash; then close with Finish Off, a heavy blow that only works on targets below 25% health. Steel Spin and Steel Gale hit everyone around you, Baleful Strike halves the target's healing, and War Chant gives the whole group 8% more damage and healing for 30 minutes. The Lunar Arcanist plays the same way: only the first strike changes, Moon Slash instead of Slash.

Rogue: The Stalker

Energy, combos and crits; stealth, stuns and slipping away. The Stalker has the same name on both sides and fights with a dagger: Quick Stab and venoms build combo points, and Disembowel spends them on a finisher that hits harder the more you have. In Stealth, creatures only notice you up close and rivals can't see you from more than 3.5 meters away; from there, Treacherous Blow stuns for 4 seconds and Waylay deals 50% more damage. If things go wrong, you have Evasion, Sprint and, at level 36, Slip Away: you disappear into the shadows even in the middle of combat.

Healer: Priest (Orcs) and Druid (Elves)

The healer mends and protects allies at range, with mana and a crozier. The Priest and the Druid have the same tools under different names: a cast heal (Healing or Grove's Touch), a heal that works over 12 seconds (Balm or Fresh Sap), a damage-absorbing shield (Aegis of Faith or Rootguard) and a heal for the whole group (Communal Prayer or Glade's Calm). Level 48 brings Warden Angel or Forest Spirit: your ally takes 40% less damage for 10 seconds. It can hit, too, with Castigation or Ire. One difference: the Druid's Purify also removes poisons; the Priest's Dispel doesn't.

Caster: Warlock (Orcs) and Mage (Elves)

The caster deals heavy spell damage and crowd control at range, up to 30 meters, with mana and a staff. The Warlock draws on shadow and the Mage on frost, fire and arcane, but every spell has its counterpart: Umbral Dart or Ice Dart (heavy damage that slows), Gangrene or Ember Seed (damage over time), Shadow Nova or Rime Ring (roots nearby enemies), Fear or Polymorph (takes an enemy out of the fight for 8 seconds) and Umbral Leap or Arcane Step, which teleports you 15 meters and frees you from roots and stuns. Level 24 brings Shadow Inferno or Sunlance, a spell that deals huge damage.

Rage, Energy and Mana

The tank and the warrior use rage, which they build by landing blows (Charge gives 20 at once) and spend on their techniques. The rogue uses energy, which regenerates over time, and pairs it with combo points. The healer and the caster spend mana on every spell; the caster can also instantly restore 40% of its mana with Bloodletting or Arcane Respite.

Talents: Three Trees of Seven

Each class has 21 talents split into three trees of seven, across four rows; the last row of each tree holds a single talent. These are the trees:

• Tank: Defense, Vanguard and Reprisal.
• Warrior: Steel, Impetus and Battle.
• Rogue: Venoms, Blades and Shadowcraft.
• Healer: Healing, Temperance and Condemnation.
• Caster: Desolation, Hexcraft and Control.

A few examples of what waits at the end of a tree: Thundering Charge makes the warrior's Charge stun for 1.5 seconds instead of 1, Steel Flurry gives the rogue two combo points with every Quick Stab, and Mastery of Control raises the caster's damage by 10% against slowed or rooted targets. All 105 talents, with their ranks, are in the database.

Weapons by Class

Each class has its own weapon: a sword for the warrior, a greatsword for the tank, a dagger for the rogue, a crozier for the healer and a staff for the caster. Each type has eight models depending on the weapon's quality and level, and the one you equip is the one you see in your hand; rare and epic ones glow, too. The named weapons that bosses drop take the shape of their wielder's weapon, so they work for any class: the dungeons and world bosses guide has all the details.

Try Any Class at Any Level in the Training Grounds

You don't need to level a class to 60 to find out whether you like it. From the main menu, the Training Grounds let you pick a race (paid ones included), a class, a talent tree and a level from 1 to 60, for yourself and for your rival, with Basic, Medium or Full Gear. You can fight the AI, a rival that reacts with your connection's lag and doesn't know when your abilities are ready until it sees you use them, or a friend: you create a room and give them its four-letter code. Nothing that happens there affects your character.

You don't have to settle on just one, either: your account keeps one character for each class of every race you have, so with the orcs and elves alone you already have ten. And if player-versus-player combat is your thing, check out the PvP guide.

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