Class Pro's & Con's

[Ebonskaith]

It seems that this post likely already exists, however I can not find it.
I am asking primarily because I play an AM and they don't seem very popular in WB requests. I play a Healer because Order is generally short Healers, but I will be damned if I will be pigeon holed to a race as well. I can live with the "If you like it, play it, and don't worry about what premades want", I'd like to know why though. Since I am asking for this one (and SM I suppose, ya know Order is short tanks as well, won't be pigeon holed to race again) if some people are so inclined maybe a collection of other classes would be nice for other people as well, help people pick useful and fun.

[Toshutkidup]

Well AM can be a great healer but for WB’s I believe WP are preferred for much better AoE healing and RPS do better ST healing. Now in regards to tanks, one issue is looks. 2nd issue is it’s hard to play a tank on Order when a high amount of players are RDPS, so the tanks are always in back lines instead of front lines pushing. That’s my opinion anyway from someone who solo’s and doesn’t play WB any longer.

[Nameless]

Rp st healing superiority is quite dubious. Rp is valued cos it brings much better synergy with the second healer

[Foofmonger]

I can give you a very cursory/basic read-out on classes. It's not gonna be that deep, and I'm not going to cover every nuance.

Healers:

Medium Armor Healers: These are generally the most armored and most survivable of healing classes, and are the most desired on their perspective realms. They can also spec for shield/lifetap healing, and melee DPS specs.

DOK: Destro's most wanted healer, most survivable, great AoE healing, and flexible spec options for shield or DPS.

WP: Order's most wanted healer, most survivable, some of the best AoE healing in the game, a little less strong than DOKs in DPS, but also shield spec works great.

Light Armored Pure Healers: These are generally the best single target burst healers in the game, the Zealot and RP classes. They have some options for damage as well, but generally this is not specced. They are generally the 2nd most wanted healer classes in their realms, just behind WP/DOK. They are squishier than those classes, and require more positioning/kiting, but they are great at keeping targets alive through burst cycles. Both of these classes are relatively close in power level.

Light Armored Hybrid Healers: These are generally considered the least desirable healers per realm, and have some of the highest skill caps in the game. A very good Shaman/AM can be indispensible to a WB, but a bad one is a roadbump for the enemy team. These classes tend to have "niche" reasons to bring them, such as particular specs or abilities (like instant-rez, or AM EoV sever spec, or Shaman FOTG spam), and therefore you only usually want 1-2 in a warband. They tend to be good at kiting, but don't have the raw healing output of the other classes. However, they have pretty good utility, hybrid specs, and have great DPS specs for smaller-scale content (like roaming).

Tanks:

Aura Tanks: Chosen and KOTBS. These are generally "the most desired" tank for either realm. They focus on AoE buffing and debuffing, which is important in large scale fights. Knights tend to be more defensive/buffing focused, while Chosen tend to be more offensive/debuffing focused. Both classes are strong.

Combo Tanks: BO and SM. These are generally "the 2nd most desired" tank for either realm. They both have cooldown reduction abilities that are extremely strong for their realm, and can be built in a variety ways from "heavy damage" to "heavy survivability", all with good utility. Some AoE buffs/debuffs/etc... but not as much as the Chosen/KOTBS.

Grudge/Hatred Tanks: BG/IB. These are generally "the least desired" tank for either realm. They are both still good classes, but have more of a niche than the other tanks.

IB: Niche is heavily focused on buffing a single ally heavily. Not as strong as buffing a whole group, but works great in some comps where you can turbocharge one of your strong DPS classes.

BG: NIche is heavily focused on debuffing enemies on the assist train, so like an IB but instead of being focused on buffing a single ally, they are more focused on debuffing the enemy that is being attacked. Still heavily single target besides a few debuffs.

RDPS:

Blaster RDPS: Sorcs and BWs, generally "the most desired" RDPS classes for the realms. Squishy, but do the most damage and have the more burst damage potential out of RDPS classes.

BW: More utility/AoE.
Sorc: More ST damage.

Archer RDPS: SW and SH, this is a weird one, because each of these classes has a dedicated melee spec that plays totally different. For their ranged specs, they are generally the least desired RDPS per realm. This is due to heavy physical damage and a general single target focus. They can't compete with other RDPS for AoE damage and don't have a huge amount of gain for what they provide (although they have some perks, such as heal debuffs). For the melee classes:

ASW: A very strong ST burst melee class, but lack of AoE means its not heavily desirable in large content unless played by geared/very good players. Not heavily desired.
MSH: A very strong AoE burst melee class, with pounce. Overall fits into the "melee" desire, but tends to be above some other MDPS classes. Moderately desired.

Turret RDPS: Engie and Magus. These classes are generally "the second most" wanted RDPS classes per realm. They do decent damage, have good utility, and can build pretty tanky. Usually you don't want a ton of these classes, they are brought more for utility (if you want to stack damage at ranged, just grab BWs/Sorcs), but they can still be used well.

Magus: Deals magical damage, has no pull delay.
Engie: A little weaker than magus due to damage types, pull delay, and a little nuance in abilities.

MDPS:

Berzerker DPS: Choppa/Slayer + Brawler DPS: Marauder/WL: All 4 of these classes are about equal in terms of "desire' and it's relatively high for MDPS classes. It really depends on what comp you are running and why as to how many you bring and of what types.

Choppa: Strong displacement ability + good damage is the basics.
Slayer: Undefendable + good damage is the basics.
WL: Most mobilie class in the game + good damage (but less than Slayer) is the basics.
Marauder: Tankiest MDPS + good damage (but less than Choppa) is the basics.

Stealth MDPS: These classes are highly "not wanted" in general, due to their lack of AoE damage and the realtive strength of the other 4 MDPS classes. Very good/geared ones can be viable in a variety of diffrent types of content, and both classes are good in small scale (6v6 or below), but their relative squishiness combined with lack of mobility and lack of aoe damage makes them not very desired at the moment.

Rough Summary:

Healers:
WP/DOK: Most Desrired (4-6 per wb)
Zealot/RP: Medium Desire (2-4 per wb)
Shaman/AM: Least Desire (1-2 per wb)

Tanks:
Chosen/Knight: Most Desired (3-5 per wb)
BO/SM: Medium Desired (2-4 per wb)
BG/IB: Least Desire (1 per wb, maybe 2 if you can stretch)

RDPS
BW/Sorc: Most Desired (X per wb, DPS is very dependent on comp).
Magus/Engineer: Medium Desired (1-2 per wb).
SH/SW: Least Desire (0-1 per wb)

MDPS:
Choppa/Slayer: Most Desire (X per wb, dps is very dependent on comp)
WL/Mara: Most desire (X per wb, dps is very dependent on comp).
MSH: Medium Desire (X per wb, same as above).
ASW: Low desire (0-2 per wb).
WE/WH: Least desire (0-1 per wb).

Hope that helps!

[mytreds]

Knight: good auras, tanky, negligible damage

Chosen: better auras, better tankiness, better damage

[yoluigi]

Knight: good auras, tanky, negligible damage

Chosen: better auras, better tankiness, better damage

Chosen atm are the best class they can do all great (solo,duo, 6man, Wb) Which makes no senses lol

[lifeson]

Just a few perspectives from SM at around invader gear level....

Hoeth is ok- especially WW to help your team's cooldowns.
However, Heavens Blade not stack with armor pots so kinda useless.

Vaul is mediocre with underwhelming and clumsy skills
- Crushing advance could be a good skill but requiring a nearby target makes it awkward
- Vauls tempering (aethyric armor) could be great, especially as a GTDC counter, but 3s is pathetic (same for We'z Bigger on BOs)

Khaine (Ether Dance) - well its fun and can melt badly geared opponents but unless you have top gear its pretty useless against all those high geared destro. Interested to hear perspective from a 2H SM in endgame gear. Playing 2H feels 'right' however on the class.

In short - feels semi-broken for defensive specs.
Ok in organised team with good melee presence and a backbone but painful to play RvR in pug as your rdps heavy warband just run away and leave you to die in a mincing machine. Playing the mirror (and any tank for that matter) is a joy on dest due to critical mass of melee alongside you.