A tier list for all the adventurer classes?

[Davi]

Good day guys, anyone willing to create a Tier list of adventurer classes, from best to worst?

[Iguana-on-a-stick]

Tier 1] Bard. Trivialises certain aspects of the game. (Mana management, BP management, skill checks)

Tier 2] Everyone else

Tier 3] Guardian. Considered fairly bad, does not keep up with the others in scaling.

You can argue about the classes in "2] Everyone else." Obviously, tier 3 classes are better than tier 2 ones, and tier 2 ones are better than tier 1 classes.

It also depends on level. Archers/rangers are weak-ish until they hit level 12, priests are not very useful until they hit level 4, rogues/assassins are not very useful early, get better later, but become really good at level 16, etc.

Other classes like Paladin and Arcane Knight have defenders and detractors. I think they're both fine classes. Some might kick them down to tier 3 in their rankings.

And team composition matter. Is a monk stronger than a bishop? Yeah, probably. But you need a bishop in your team for healing/buffing/countering invisiblity/webs/poison etc.

But all in all?

Almost all classes are useful in the right situation, and I'm happy to have all of them on my team. (except guardian and bard, the former for sucking and the latter for sucking the fun out of the game. But that last one is mostly just me.)

[Pure_Poetry]

I added one in the guide section, also visible here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16s1AuIKNNA

Not far from what Iguana said.

[Myroko]

S
Saint (with Quack Title, A without)
Witch
Dragon Knight
Beastmaster
Bard (Team leader with Groupies & move together, Born Leader & Quick Traits, Elusive or Stubborn Title. B otherwise)

A
Reaper (Most others would put this in S, not my play style)
Sword Master (Maybe S if you like dodge builds and don't play harder modes)
High Mage
Ranger
Knight
Arcane Knight (Only if you heavily invest Traits & start with solid base Adventurer/Elan, C otherwise)
Ranger

B
Assassin (Most others would put this in A, not my play style)
Monk

C
Paladin
Bishop (A until you upgrade to Saint, no need for 2nd primary healer or redundant buffs)

D
Guardian (Makes me sad, I like playing tanks. Solid B until party level 12)
All Novice Classes

Notable Party Training
Groupies/Bard mentioned above is Probably the strongest 6 member team build
Elites if you aren't playing with level limits is probably strongest party build

Notable Titles
Quack is a must if you play Saint/Bishop
Brave for your primary killer is never a disappointment
Elusive/Stubborn with Quick trait on any Leader with Move Together Party Skill. As noted above optimum on Bard
Arcane Ravager > Swift Sorcerer > The Spark - in that order for Witch/High Mage..All Great DPS..run 2 of them if ya want.

[Wenju]

Strongly disagree with Paladins C rank. Great tank/support and auras are actually really good. But i appreciate you kind and true accuracy on the A Arcane Knight, definitely a class that requires more respect then most players give.
Monk is also the best class to lvl up stats, get a future to be paladin, let him be a monk for 15 lvl, you will have a Boss tank.

[Myroko]

Originally posted by Wenju:

Strongly disagree with Paladins C rank. Great tank/support and auras are actually really good. But i appreciate you kind and true accuracy on the A Arcane Knight, definitely a class that requires more respect then most players give.
Monk is also the best class to lvl up stats, get a future to be paladin, let him be a monk for 15 lvl, you will have a Boss tank.

Paladin Auras are good yes, best part of the kit. Tanks in general are not good if you are looking strictly at min/max. A Brave Title High Damage dealer, smart use of bard/leader skills and Bravery Pots and every adventurer can Brave Dodge as needed for most boss fights. No tank needed. Tanks also are not able to hold Taunt, even if they are lucky enough for them to stick on a boss, for more than 1.5 rounds or less with NG+ options to give bosses more turns. So they are sub optimum to play sadly.

[Iguana-on-a-stick]

Paladins also make decent party leaders, since they have high WP growth and really benefit from WP in general. I've had success with them as leader/aura-bot who can also stun some enemies and deal the occasional holy strike or heal someone.

From a min-max perspective a bard is better, but I don't like bards.

(Though in my last game I had a swordmaster as main party leader, that was extremely effective when stacking movement buffs and the move together title.)

[Mngwa]

Why everybody disses guardians? I mean I absolutely love putting reflect damage on max, turning the skill on, mass taunt all enemies and then just watch how they all get distracted/damaged only by attacking the guardian while killing them with other mercs.

[Iguana-on-a-stick]

Originally posted by Mngwa:

Why everybody disses guardians? I mean I absolutely love putting reflect damage on max, turning the skill on, mass taunt all enemies and then just watch how they all get distracted/damaged only by attacking the guardian while killing them with other mercs.

For one thing, Taunt and Reflect are not Guardian skills. A Paladin could also do that.

For another, Reflect scales poorly. It deals flat damage, and at high difficulties or in late game, 15 damage really is not that impressive.

(For example, a level 18 (hob)goblin has around 100 hitpoints at normal difficulty. He needs to hit your guardian 7 times before Reflect kills him. And that is NOT an impressive foe by the late game.)

For a third, if everyone gangs up on the guardian, especially at high difficulty or in late game, he dies. You need to use uncanny dodge or the Block ability to keep him alive. But block only really works at lower difficulties.

A Knight could ALSO use mass taunt and uncanny dodge to soak all enemy attacks for a turn, but still be able to deal punishing two-handed sword counterattacks.

In the end, the guardians' own skills just aren't enough to put them ahead of paladins/knights, let alone tier 3s like the Dragon Knight. They're not all bad, mind you. But it's not enough.

Oh, and their stat growth is also very poor, so even if you change your mind later and want to make him a different class, chances are he'll have missed out on some important strength gains.

All that said, at normal difficulty they should still be plenty effective, and if you enjoy using them by all means do. Just because a different character might have 20% more return on investment isn't really a reason to change your setup if what you have is good enough.