Class commentary, would love to hear everyone's thoughts

[Jinxology]

What's everyone's fav class? Would love to hear some opinions. I'm Level Lvl 97 and still have a couple classes locked, but so far some opinions:

Ranger: Hands down my favorite. After some practice, almost always crit on attacks, and his talent makes him even better. Range > melee.

Ronin: Favorite melee class. Has great range and crits are easy.

Astromancer: Fun but haven't played much yet, probably 3rd fav.

Bard: Neat concept but just too hard to use.

Boxer: It's rare to be able to just pound on something a bunch without needing to dodge out.

Barbarian: Only ok when on the ground. Lackluster.

Mage: Love me a mage, but very reliant on the RNG of starting with good spells.

Assassins: Just can't seem to make these guys work for me. Least fav class.

[lordsteel166]

I have had the most success with Chiefs with the right upgrades. I like the bard, can be very mobile.

[Omegatherion]

Knight, Valkyrie, Duelist, Barb, Ronin in that order. I like my classes more straight forward and don't want to mess with weird stuff like the Bard, Gunslinger or Boxer.

I do like the ranger in general, but i would have to play with the stick instead of the D-Pad and i hate this in 2D platformers.

[Aeralis]

Knight: I haven't rolled a single Knight in the past couple dozen runs (not hyperbole, they're just straight up not appearing) so I actually don't have much experience with them.

Valkyrie: Very good, one of my favorites. The parry is phenomenal for really busy rooms and the reach is great for picking off dangers from around walls. I can tell this is a class that won't scale up as well as all the more specialized classes later on though.

Barbarian: Awful. Does great on the ground... Too bad this game so heavily favors aerial combat. You kinda need to get a different weapon onto them if you're going into certain areas.

Chef: My favorite. Sure, they're weak, but who cares when you can hit and run, and deflect, and stock extra healing, AND have a built-in status effect for using with other relics? (Also, fun note, the fire effect is from the Chef themself, not the frying pan, so you can swap weapons and still have the DoT.)

Ranger: ...Fine. A little awkward to get used to, but powerful once you do. Just doesn't mesh well with me personally.

Duelist: ...Also fine. Rewards crafty footwork with big damage, but I'm having trouble seeing how its a bigger reward than just smacking guys around with a bigger sword.

Boxer: Another of my favorites. Just a lot of fun to use, and can clear out rooms like nobody's business. Not super great at fighting bosses, though.

Mage: Now I know you're supposed to be weaving spells and attacks... but honestly I just kinda love the staff itself. Outside of that, how good your Mage is pretty much solely relies on what spells they get.

Astromancer: Mage, but better.

Gunslinger: Eh... kinda falls into the same spot Ranger does for me. Just with the added need to reload your gun.

Ronin: Very solid, and will likely end up being a late-game Valkyrie replacement.

Assassin: Meh. Same problem as the Duelist; lots of cool tricks, but not really any better than just smashing things with someone else.

Dragon Lancer: Awkward, but neat. Charging is honestly more appealing as a platforming and traversal tool than it is as a combat tool.

Bard: Trash tier. Its a solid concept and very good at doing what it does, and it CAN absolutely wreck things. The problem is that it's been put into a game that in no way actually supports that playstyle, and in a majority of circumstances you're gonna find yourself in a spot where trying to properly play the Bard is difficult at best and actively harmful at worst. If the Bard was in any other game I'd absolutely love it, but the level design in this game just plain doesn't support it at all.

???: There's one more class I haven't found yet, which is weird because I feel like I've spread out across almost the entire manor screen.

[Nukular Power]

I'm surprised there isnt a Thief class that recharges by opening chests/picking up gold

[Dan_The_Noob]

Knight >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Every other class.

[Stanis23]

Still cheesing everything with Astromancer, I'm too spoiled by Comet to use other class now... The amount of fairy chests I just straight up ignore the puzzles by using Comet is insane. Also crazy good with any multi hits stack relics.

[Dan_The_Noob]

Originally posted by Aeralis:

???: There's one more class I haven't found yet, which is weird because I feel like I've spread out across almost the entire manor screen.

Pirate?

[pajakulebrc]

Regarding the Pirate... Iam not sure if its just a keyboard thing or if it was meant to be like that, but every time I try to hold to shoot the cannon, the Pirate does one normal attack swing first and it annoys the heck out of me.... The talent is neat for cheesing fairy chests though.

For other classes I like Ranger the best for exploration, for bosses depends how much you outgear them. Many times its simpler to just facetank it with Barb. Do a DPS race with ground smashing. Otherwise I like Knight or Duelist for "regular" bossing.

[rustySpeculum]

I really wish the bard's spin kicks would prioritize hitting notes over enemies when their hitboxes are overlapping.

[Pumpkinreaper]

Dragonlancer: Potent but I absolutely hate, hate, HATE using them, since they have no real fluidity to them. It's just stop, sit in place, release charge attack, repeat.

Barbarian: If their spin attack didn't have an animation lock when you land that you have to dash cancel out of (if you even have room), I probably would like this class a lot more. Their unlockable 'alternate' form is neat and removes that issue but instead trades it for less damage/having to take risks to actually deal meaningful damage if you don't get a status applying relic.

Chef: Potent especially once you have the potion class recharge upgrade. The burn they inflict with every attack is useful and helps make up for the slow swing speed of their pan. Probably one of the most versatile classes in the game.

Knight: Generic? Sure, but gimme that nice hit radius and being able to move and swing at the same time any day. Standing still is death.

Ranger: Feels strong but at the same time it's rough as hell to play one on a controller due to the small projectile hitbox and having to swap to analog to be able to aim in more than six directions. (Platformers have always felt really bad to play with analog sticks compared to dpads for me).

Gunslinger: Overcomes the aiming issue slightly by sheer volume of fire they can put out. Still would prefer playing as almost any other class than it, rangers and dragonlancers though.

Boxer: THIS is how you make a class that roots itself in place during attacks feel good. You're only locked in place for as long as you keep attacking, has good range and has options for dealing with enemies from different angles/ranges.

Mage: I'd argue this is one of the strongest classes in the game if only because it has a ranged attack that doesn't force you to stand still and can cast spells frequently. Their only downside is what others have mentioned before in that you're kind of dependent on which spells you get. Fortunately since you get two of them, you rarely will be left in a miserable starting state, even then though, your weapon attack is still decent.

Pirate: Why couldn't gunslinger and ranger be more like this class? Lord knows being able to hop around while keeping an arrow nocked or having a projectile hitbox bigger than a sliver would have gone a long way in making them better to use on a controller.

[Zylth]

Ladel Chef is insanely fun for me. It has the most unique exploring style which forces planning and can decimate bosses with the easy crits.

[Mechalibur]

Astromancer's talent feels absolutely busted. Free movement, invulnerability, automatic damage because why not. It also has a fairly short cooldown to boot. Their weapon is great for bosses, and 20% bonus intelligence on top of extra mana siphon as a passive is excellent.

Only downside is lowish hp and the fact that I almost never pick up blessings on them since their kit is so inherently strong.

[Ragna]

only 3 bosses killed , so far


Valkyrie / Duelist /Ronin - - very good
knight / barbarian / Ranger - - good
Assassin / dragon lancer - - average
boxer / mage / - - bad
gunslinger- -trash
chef never tried

Just unlocked Ronin . Oh boy its good

[Derpykat5]

Knight - All-around B rank. This is just to have a launching point for everything else. Good damage, good reach, decent talent. Meh subclass weapon.

Barbarian - F rank for bosses, B rank for exploration. Good, high damage with good reach, but the root and slow attack rate make it really tough to sneak in those attacks. Poor subclass weapon, but usable.

Mage - B rank for bosses, C rank for exploration. Restrictive attack angles, but good damage output with a great source of skill crits and attack methods via spells. Garbage subclass weapon.

Valkyrie - All-around A rank. Good reach, versatility, fantastic talent for blocking projectiles, the only thing keeping them from being OP is their health pool.

Archer - D rank for bosses, S rank for exploration. Attacking from out of range, high damage and reliable skill crits, talent enabling movement options to your advantage (and blocking projectiles!). Very risky subclass weapon.

Assassin - A rank for bosses, C rank for exploration. Good talent for getting out of tight spots, fast attack rate and consistent skill crits, but their range hurts their effectiveness at cleaning up enemies.

Chef - All-around C rank. The most overrated class. Slow attack rate, huge input delay until the swing makes it tricky to reflect faster projectiles, talent is only good outside of boss fights since Prime bosses don't give you enough breathing room to root yourself for 3 full seconds. Health recovery will get you an extra hit per charge at most, and needs food drops to recharge. Decent sublcass weapon, but hard to use.

Boxer - S rank for bosses (but only with subclass), B rank for exploration. Good talent that recharges quick and lets you yeet enemies out of the fight so you don't have to deal with it all at once. Decent range and air hover if you keep landing attacks. No contact damage. Subclass weapon absolutely melts bosses, but too difficult to use in exploration.

Gunslinger - D rank for bosses, B rank for exploration. Decent weapon range, but the reload hurts the weapon a lot. Not a particularly flashy talent, but if you have a lot of int it can break up packs.

Dragon lancer - All-around C rank. Slow, clunky, short range weapon. charge attack is decent, but limited vertically. Talent is good for clearing projectiles.

Duelist - A rank for bosses, B rank for exploration. Needs a lot of jump spamming to reach full potential. Very quick talent that can get you out of a lot of tight spots. Decent range.

Ronin - B rank for bosses, A rank for exploration. Weapon has good range, but the root and slow attack speed hold it back a little. Decent talent for navigation, but it won't get you out of as many tight spots as you think.

Bard - All-around C rank, all-around B rank with subclass weapon. Base weapon is incredibly difficult to use. Can be great if used properly, but requires a lot of skill. Subclass weapon is easier to use and more fun to get right, while still actually synergising with the class passive.

Astromancer - B rank for bosses, C rank in exploration. Slow attack speed holds it back, but a good fire-and-forget that gives you room to get away from bosses while they take damage. Talent can get you out of a tight spot or two, and even does damage!

Pirate - All-around A rank. Melee-range combo puts out very good DPS, ridiculous knockback keeps everything away. Talent is useful for navigation and for extra DPS on bosses if you hop off and let it shoot. Also prevents you from being rooted.

[Stanis23]

Also Astro can indefinitely hover in the air if you spam their attacks mid air, so combining with their Talents you can pretty much reach any height possible even if there's no way to climb. Absolutely busted class for exploration imo.