Class Choosing Guide
Introduction
In Maplestory, there is no "best" class. This is because of a procedure that the game creators use called "balancing classes". If there was a "best" class, everyone would be that class and there would be no need for other classes. That is why game creators balance every class to make sure they are all played. Instead, each class has its own pros and cons.
Therefore, the hard part is deciding which class is best for you. It might be because of the massive damage, looks, or just fun, but it must fit your playing style. Otherwise, you may become bored quickly.
Warriors
Warriors are melee fighters, thus they cannot use ranged attacks like the other classes. Therefore, and as presumed, warriors have the much much more health and defence than other classes. Attacking melee is sometimes boring, but the sheer damage of every hit makes it worthwhile.
Warriors do a lot of damage at higher levels, but are eclipsed by Mages in the intermediate zone. At this point, Warriors seem pretty pathetic, but don't give up.
Also, it is debatable to choose two-handed, which is commonly abbreviated to 2H, weapons over 1H weapons. The good news is that you can use both depending on the environment. This is resulting because of the Warrior's "Mastery" skills. For example, Fighters get Sword and Axe Mastery. If you pick Axe Mastery, you get a higher minumum damage + accuracy for BOTH one-handed and two-handed axes.
Pros:
- Highest HP and Defense of all classes.
- Choice of 5 different weapons types.
- Can choose between 1-handed and 2-handed weapons.
- Get area of effect skill, also called "mob attack" (can attack multiple monsters) Slash Blast, in first advancement.
- Highest attack
Cons:
- No ranged attacks.
- Lowest MP of all classes.
- Unstable damage; varies a lot( unless you have weapon mastery.)
- Low accuracy and avoidability.
NOTE: It is hard to realize it, but warriors always do the most damage. It is very hard to tell, of course. But for example, mages do the most damage at intermediate levels because they have skill mastery. Also, mages are always using a skill that uses 20 mp (magic claw respectively) whereas power strike does one attack where weapon defence of the monster is applied, magic defence is applied twice to magic claw, therefore resulting in lower damage attack monsters with high defence.
Warriors - Fighters
Fighters have very high damage to a single target, from the Warrior's second class. They get effective attack skills like Final Attack and Rage. They also have the ability to choose between fierce swords to cool-looking axes. Extremely high damage as a Crusader, with Panic, Coma, and Combo Attack.
Pros:
- Very high HP.
- Great offensive skills (Rage)
- High damage to single targets.
Cons:
- Extremely low MP.
- Horrible at mob-control.
Warriors - Pages
Pages are similar to Fighters only during 2nd class because of the usage of swords, but Pages get more MP. They are average at single targets and multiple targets. Pages can do elemental attacks as a White Knight. This will allow the Page to do more damage to a type of enemy while also doing good damage to others.
Pros:
- More HP than Spearmen
- More MP than Fighters.
- Does moderately well against single + multiple targets.
- Deals elemental damage.
Cons:
- Less HP than other Fighters.
- Less MP than Spearmen.
- Not specifically good at one thing.
Warriors - Spearmen
Spearmen are different from other 2nd adv Warriors. They use slow pole arms and spears, but they do a lot of damage at once. These weapons have very high max damage, but very low minimum damage. Therefore, they have unstable attack. However, they are very good at mob-controlling. They have good party skills such as Hyper Body that will make all parties want one. They also have a balanced amount of both HP and MP.
Pros:
- High maximum damage.
- Mob-controlling masters.
- Acquires Party skills (i.e. Hyper Body).
- More balanced amount of HP and MP.
- Has far more MP than Fighters and Pages
- Higher Melee ranger than Fighters and Pages.
Cons:
- Less HP than the other two classes.
- Low minimum damage.
- Unstable damage, varies a lot.
- Slow attack.
NOTE: In 4th Job, ALL warriors get a skill called "Rush". Its skill name itself, describes that the slowness speed of 2-H swords/axes/blunt weapons, and spears and polearms, are all canceled, as to the skill itself...
Magicians
Magicians are very abundant in the MS community. You can see many Magicians walking around all the time. Sure, they can't melee for their lives, but who needs melee when you can use magic spells either in the monster's face or far away? Using spells like Energy Bolt and Magic Claw, they can inflict good damage in the intermediate levels, and protect themselves with Magic Guard. They are liked in Party Quests for the damage they are able to do.
Pros:
- High damage during 1st class adv
- Fastest leveling after Lvl 15+
- Incredible amounts of MP and MP recovery
- Magic Claw can attack through walls and with stable, good damage
Cons:
- Very low HP
- All money spent on MP pots until you get MP Eater in 2nd job
NOTE: Magicians can "jump attack" by pressing your spells "hotkey" and jump in the same time, although its very difficult to use. NOTE: Although other classes overpower in 3rd class, they have very strong mob attacks and party skills that help you to be invited to parties.
Magicians - Fire/Poison
Fire/Poison wizards deal a lot of damage and can drain away at the monster's HP using poison.
Pros:
- Highest damage of 2nd adv Magicians
- Effective drain against high level enemies with poison
- Fire has the second most elemental advantage, second to holy.
- Have party skills
Cons:
- Poison is difficult to use properly
- The only fire offensive spell, Fire Arrow, is blocked by terrain
Magicians - Ice/Lightning
Ice/Lightning wizards can freeze their opponents and bombard them with spells that hit multiple enemies at once. This calls for faster leveling.
Pros:
- Fast leveling with lightning, multiple monster hitting
- MP Eater + Lightning will often get a great amount of MP back
- Cold Beam isn't blocked by terrain
- Cold Beam can freeze monsters so the monster will not be able to touch you
- Stronger than clerics against normal monsters
- Have party skills
Cons:
- Not quite as raw damage
- Lightning as the second least elemental advantage
- Lightning is expensive in mp; 40 Mana
NOTE: In 4th Job, Mages get a skill which where they can have infinite MP, but of course, to use the skill itself, it uses a big amount of MP, only lasts for 40 seconds, and has a cool-down timer of 10 minutes.
Magicians - Clerics
Well, Clerics... a bit different from the other mages. They don't do much damage, no, but they have the unique ability to heal. A party player, the Cleric tends to stick to parties for the offensive actions and just hang back, heal, and buff the members. In 3rd class, Priests have awesome spells that can turn monsters into snails and summon dragons. Making the trouble of level 30-70 worth the trouble. They can also do great damage against undead enemies.
Pros:
- Can heal (which virtually eliminates the need for hp pots, but seal my interfere; advised to keep a few spare hp pots for emergencies)
- A lot of damage against evil/undead monsters
- Great party skills
- Jump-attack using Heal
- Easily accepted into parties
- Gains EXP from healing people (More Hit Points equals More EXP)
Cons:
- Weakest damage
- Slow physical attack rate
- Due to constant massive amounts of MP used, MP recovery items turn expensive
- Leveling process pits you against same enemies over and over
- Limited enemies for heal (holy attacks undead monsters)
Thieves
Thieves are a very interesting class in MapleStory. They can jump-attack with throwing stars and attack up close with daggers. Thieves don't get much defense, but they have high avoidability, making the enemies tend to miss. They get fast attacks instead of few strong blows, and as a 2nd class, they get one of the most fun skills in MapleStory, Haste.
Pros:
- Fast attacks
- Range or melee
- Jump-attacks
- Cool equipment
- High accuracy and second highest avoidability
- Fast leveling ranged
- Has a passive skill that enables them to avoid an avoidable attack for 40% when mastered
Cons:
- Low HP and defense
- Dagger thieves are hard to level
- Daggers have short range
- Claw thieves stink up-close
- Assassins tend to need an incredible amount of meso
- Thieves are also abundant
Thieves - Assassin
An Assassin (or, abbreviated, sin) is the ranged thief, using throwing stars and claws. They have more stable damage than bowmen but compared to Bandits, they do less damage in general because of the unstability. With Haste, they are very fast and fun to play. People say that sins are the most fun class.
Pros:
- More stable damage than Bowmen
- Benefits from Warrior Potions
Cons:
- Stinks fighting up-close
- Extremely expensive in meso
- Repeatedly uses Lucky Seven skill
- Sins are VERY common
Player's note: Warning, stars are extremly expensive nowadays so be prepared that if you want to get nice/strong stars, they're gonna cost you. Normal stars are less expensive than their "flashier" counterparts. (i.e. kumbis and icicles)
Thieves - Bandits
Bandits (or, strangely, abbreviated... dit) is the dagger thief, the melee kind. Although they have less HP and defense than Warriors, they can avoid many attacks and can attack fast. They get a high-damage skill during 2nd class adv called Savage Blow.
Pros:
- High damage with Savage Blow
- Less common than sins
- Much cheaper than sins (scroll wise; 3rd job for bandit is very costly, because a skill called meso exposion uses mesos to cause damage.)
- In 4th job, they have a nice skill, called "Assassinate"; when maxed, gives four powerful strikes, with the last strike, critical.
Cons:
- Less damage than Warriors
- No ranged attacks
- Weak defense shields
- Savage Blow takes a lot of mp
NOTE: The use of Savage Blow, taking 27MP when maxed, therefore, results in use of MP pots. This does surely take up money, but not as much money as Assassins', because they have to also pay for the cost of stars.
Bowman
Bowmen can use ranged attacks, and hit very hard with them. Although useless close-range their high damage capability at ranged makes up for it. They have unstable damage at first. They are very hard to jump-attack with.
Pros:
- Extremely high max damage
- Uncommon class.
- Highest accuracy among all classes.
- Cheap equips, ammunition.
- Has a knockback ability.
- Second highest Avoidability of all classes
Cons:
- Unstable damage when starting out until the 2nd job advancement.
- Difficult to use in melee combat.
- Hard to jump-attack.
- Slower attack rate and less avoidability than Assassins.
- Very long training.
NOTE: Bowman are not as useless up close as Assassins, because the skill, Power Knock-Back (player abbreviated to "PKB") knocks close enemies away much more easily.
Bowmen - Hunters
Hunters are Bowmen who use bows. Although Hunters and Crossbowmen are very similar, Hunters attack faster, but weaker than the Crossbowman. Hunters can hit mobs with a ranged attack skill.
Pros:
- Faster attacks
- Higher knockback
- Arrow Bomb can hit mobs in different terrain, and can stun
- In 4th Job, they have a skill called "Storm of Arrows", which can fire multiple arrows rapidly, until the button is released.
Cons:
- Lesser damage than Crossbowmen due to the 1.4 Bow damage multiplier.
- Arrow bomb isn't that powerful compared to iron arrow
Bowmen - Crossbowmen
Crossbowmen are the type of Bowmen who use crossbows. Again, Hunters and Crossbowmen are very similar, Crossbowmen do higher damage at once with slower attack speed. They can attack enemies in a line.
Pros:
- Higher damage due to the 1.6 Crossbow damage multiplier.
- Crossbowmen aren't common, meaning cheaper equipment
- Iron arrow does more damage than arrow bomb
- Iron Arrow has a farther range than Arrow Bomb
- Iron Arrow can attack through walls unlike Arrow Bomb
- Requires 5 less STR, resulting in slightly higher dexterity
- Extremely good in 3rd job with Blizzard Arrow, which can freeze monsters for 3 seconds
Cons:
- Slower attacks
- Iron Arrow does not stun like Arrow Bomb
- Iron Arrow can't fire upward or downward like Arrow Bomb
Level Power of Classes
Beginner [1-10]
Most powerful: Pre-Warriors
Least powerful: Pre-Magicians
1st class [10-20]
Most powerful: Warrior
Least powerful: Pre-Bandits
[20-30]
Most powerful: Magicians
Least powerful: Pre-Bandits
2nd Class [30-70]
Most powerful: Assassins in the beginning, then Bandits middle to end.
Least powerful: Bandits and Warrior in the beginning, Mages in the end.
3rd Class [70-120]
Most powerful: Warriors/Bowmen/Hermit, all depending on what you mean by powerful and where. (Maps, party type, solo, etc.)
Least powerful: All magicians
All classes are powerful at one time, and there will eventually be level 120+
Therefore, Mages are early gamers, Sins are early-mid gamers, bandits are mid-late gamers, and warriors and bowmen are late gamers all the way.
Hope you learned something from this read!
Conclusion
Hopefully, you have realized that there is no best class to Maple Story. All classes have their good points and bad points.
Remember class-balancing and also keep in mind that although one class might dominate at a certain level, at later levels your class may be stronger than they. Do not forget that you should also allow your personality to dominate the decision on which class to choose, rather than choosing a class because many people choose it, or because it is reccomended by your friends.