Help deciding mains ?

[Drakeos99]

Yet haven't played BNS for long time yet stopped playing after Gunner launch (lvl 50) and yet decided to come back and now warden coming out in week and half now what would be a great class to pair up with my lady friend who's 33 (BM) what would be good class to level/do stuff with her to 50+ ?

[RavTH]

play what you feel good with, but you can always try new class but stick to the class you already know.

[Wataru]

You can make warden and learn the class along with everyone else. You might be asked to tank stuff though, so be okay with that.

 

Gunner gets free dps and loads of iframes. They can also escape PvP fights with their near unlimited hooks.

[Drakeos99]

What about Soul Fighters ??

[Thrameos]

Every class has advantages and disadvantages.   Some are darn hard to get started, while others can feel great with even minimal equipment.   Some will be tiring even after you get them to end game, while others continue to provide things new.

 

I think the first place to start is figure out what role makes you feel best in game.   Are you  a person who likes to watch for that animation that indicates an attack and block it at the last second, then go with a tank class like blade master or kungfu master.   Does standing back and go pewpew feel better?   If so then force master or gunner are more your style.   Want to stand back and let others do the work for you be a more support type class like a summoner or a warlock.  Need to be something a bit different than all the others then perhaps a destroyer, blade dancer, soul fighter or assassin is more your style.

 

I have run a few of the classes to max level now.   I personally am not very good at the tank roles so BM and KFM are pretty out.   The summoner class was literally too boring to play as if felt more like I was hiding in the back than doing useful work.   Destroyer was okay but as my main is a blade dancer I already have a class with the dps and utility.  Of course the lightening blade dancer has always been not the best of choices.   With that class you have to dodge everything as defending yourself or using another skill will break you from the all important blade stance, thus given the game is already pretty punishing on melee I wouldn't recommend blade dancer as a first choice.   

 

Soul fighter is quite different from the others that I have tried.   It is a melee class with some ability to go ranged.   Don't kid yourself that it is a true hybrid as the damage output from range is not that good.   Rather, it means that when you get pushed back you don't feel helpless.  Instead it is a very dynamic class where you can operate well most of the time.  Get pushed out or need to step back because the mech requires, fine then go ranged.  Need to hope back in an kick some boss butt, sure we can dive right back in.   The class is a hybrid in that regard.   The double dash means soul fighters can get well out of the fight when they need.  Mode switching gives you a lot of options, but at the same time means a much bigger learning curve than some other classes.   Soul fighters have a ton of iframes because you have all the ability to QE in kung fu mode and then QE again in elemental mode as both stances have different cool downs.  The double set of iframes means you have to understand the  cool down icons because sometimes the skill you will be needing is on the other mode.  Also though you are not a tank class, soul fighters have a very good block on a pretty short cool down.   It is actually part of the rotation as getting your block successfully boosts your chi and allows you to put out peak damage.  Unlike the blade dancer landing a block actually feels good, not a desperate act of survival.  Spec it as a long block and time it right and you can take a full multi slash combo from the boss and then immediately turn it around in his face.   And soul fighter is also a hybrid support class.  The heal boosting and healing will make you rather popular in some raids.  Not quite popularity of "we will ignore the equipment that warlock has", but at the same time you will have important roles that no others can fill.  It is one of the classes that simplified mode actually works in.  Rather than needing to punish your fingers in some animation canceling maze and missing because a minor lag meaning the whole combo goes to crap, soul fighter simplified mode runs most of the combo for you with a simple hold of the left button.  Lift it just to push in another skill to push in the punch or time a skill right, but otherwise you can just bash away.   And to top it all off it is one of the classes with a fairly smooth power curve.  You don't feel entirely helpless until you have the right equipment but rather you can clearly see when you have a burst and when you are just dpsing even with typical equipment.  

 

Now the downsides of the class.   The basic rotation requires you to get through  3 rotations before you can get out the big ice coil or hit that big heal to save team.   This combo will be a nightmare to get through until you have some equipment and a few skill unlocks.   Thus the class feels really weak running through the quests.  Just reaching max level is not enough to fully unlock this class.  Not quite as bad as warlock running through the plot line, but still you won't feel the magic until you are able to burst through all three in a single rotation in combo which you can't hit until you are ready for BT.  Further, timing the Z boost to give you that first chi will require some timing, as it consumes all the chi you had already.  Thus if you had 4 stacks already and you hit Z, you only get one burst off rather than if you hit 2, punched V, and then hit your ZV combo for a double power punch on your burst.   Unlike the blade dancer where it is just go into stance and chop chop until the buff runs out and hit another one, soul fighters actually have timing and done poorly will not live up to potential.  Not necessarily a weakness, the soul fighter scales with skill and thus you will find that you can keep improving as you play even if the combos are slow to learn at the start.   

 

If being a jack of all trades with some serious support abilities with a fair amount of skill scaling potential is what you are looking for then I would recommend the soul fighter.  You will never be the best at any role but never left feeling helpless or useless.   It is a very rewarding class with few drawbacks in the current game.  

[Drakeos99]

What about warden ? yet want to have less stess on my fingers