Undecided about 3 classes seekin advice

[Asherdoom]

hello fellas!
i am undecided between marauder, black orc or magus to play. which one would you recommend that perform good in pve and pvp?

i am superundecided!

[Teetog]

Hi Asherdoom,

These are all very different types of classes. How did you zero in on these three? Do you have any pre-existing characters? If so, what are they and what do you enjoy / not enjoy about them?

I'm sure all three do fine in PvE and PvP, you just have to play them correctly

[Asherdoom]

i got all of them at rank 20 lol

i was a little away and did not see class changes so i dunno which is the most viable of the 3

[th3gatekeeper]

hello fellas!
i am undecided between marauder, black orc or magus to play. which one would you recommend that perform good in pve and pvp?

i am superundecided!

VERY very different classes. This will depend on the "role" you want to play in a group. Warhammer is 100% all about group play, and filling a role in groups so its best to look at the question "which class should I play" instead it should be "which role would I like to fill".

I have 2 of these classes, and know generally about the third to give you a very high level overview of the role of the class.

Black Orc - This is a TANK first and foremost. Yes, you can spec more "glass canon" spec and you can do some decent damage, however the role you SHOULD be playing on any tank in this game is tank, first and foremost. Period. There are lots of tanks who throw on a 2H, stack strength, and go for the "deeps" and some even laughably through on Focused Offense for more damage. The reality is this, you cannot compete with the damage output of a real damage class, and dont offer as much to the group, so your handicapping your group.

So the role of a BO is mostly going to revolve around guarding targets and staying within range of them, as well as using your taunt for interrupts (not necessarily for your damage) as well as things like hold the line. In Warhammer, the "tank" class is mostly going to play like a "support" class in PVP. In PVE due to aggro you can actually "tank" mobs, but in PVP your primary job is guarding allies, making sure they dont get nuked from some backline BW.

So the PRO of a BO: You make one of the biggest impacts on the battle field with your Guard and HTL abilities.
CON of a BO: You are more a "support" role than an actual "tank" in PVP. Your damage output will be low, and you wont be directly killing things MUCH, unless you want to go selfish off-spec pseudo melee DPS.

Mara - If you are looking for a melee "brawler" DPS type class. This is it. Your job is to NUKE stuff. If you play this class, you will likely get as worked up as I do about tanks not using guard, because its a big key for you to do your job to the fullest. You are moderately "tanky". You have very high burst damage, as well as great debuffs. If the target is in your melee range, not much can sustain it other than a coordinated group.... This class offers something in all gametypes. In SCs you will hopefully have support (like a tank using guard and a healer who tosses heals your way a little) and you will blow stuff up.

In RVR you will likely be sitting around a bit due to lack of ranged DPS (RVR favors range typically) with the exception of trying to use your Mara Pull to bring targets into melee range. Then they die. Simple as that.

So the PRO of a MARA: You basically have everything and can do everything. You have amazing damage, debuffs, mara pull.. moderately tanky, have escape abilities.
The CON of a MARA: You will be somewhat dependent on a Tank guarding you to fulfill your potential and likely need SOME type of healer as well.

Magus - This is the class I dont have, so ill keep it short. This is a ranged DPS class. Its kinda in a weird spot. It can do amazing AOE damage, so its great for RVR but its a tough class for things like SC and for really single target nuking people. If you like sitting back and setting up combo chains on large groups of people. This can work great. You also have a "pull" that works wonders as well. Its probably a great solo class frankly needing the least amount of other player "support" to play. It just doesnt truly EXCEL as much as the other two in a full fledged "group" setting. I dont often see competitive 6 man groups "LF Magus" in SCs while you WILL see "LF - MARA" or "LF-TANK" for competitive SCs.

PROs of Magus: Good for RVR, great class for soloing. Ranged DPS class.
CONS of Magus: They are not in high demand, and dont really "excel" at any one thing better than other classes. For example - I personally would rather have a Sorc in my group but Sorcs need to be supported with heals. They have a higher "upside" imo but have the "downside" of needing heals (or they kill themselves). Magus doesnt need that. So they can sustain themselves well, with solid range DPS. Just dont expect to nuke someone in 3-4 global CDs like a Sorc basically can.... Or a Mara can (when supported).


Hope that Helps! Thats the best quick summary I can provide!

[GodlessCrom]

Viskag gave a good overview. Couple addendums: 2h BO can work very well in an organized group. "You Wot?!" is a good "oh ****" button.

Mara is tanky...for a melee dps class. Which is kinda like being the world's fastest paraplegic sprinter. You need gear and a group if you wanna have fun and be an mdps. You can make a weird 1v1 solo roam spec and genuinely be very difficult to kill, but you then do very little damage.

Magus has some of the highest ST burst in the game. Its a very solo friendly class in that it excels at murdering pugs.

[th3gatekeeper]

Viskag gave a good overview. Couple addendums: 2h BO can work very well in an organized group. "You Wot?!" is a good "oh ****" button.

Mara is tanky...for a melee dps class. Which is kinda like being the world's fastest paraplegic sprinter. You need gear and a group if you wanna have fun and be an mdps. You can make a weird 1v1 solo roam spec and genuinely be very difficult to kill, but you then do very little damage.

Magus has some of the highest ST burst in the game. Its a very solo friendly class in that it excels at murdering pugs.

Thanks for the clarification. While a 2H BO can work well in an organized group, I try and specify what 2H BO means because it doesnt mean "stack str and forget about guard and go FO baby!" What it means is you will grab a 2H for slighty more damage. Still need to spend renown points on stuff like +Parry % and your focus is still guard. Then yes, 2H BO can work fine, but you are still primarily a "support" role in that Guard should be almost always your #1 priority. In fact, I would argue that even as a 2H Tank, "DPS" falls probably pretty far down the priority list.

So the TLDR for 2H BO: You are still a tank, no you are not a DPS, you will still play more like a support class than a DPS class.

For Magus, I havnt kept up with all the changes. I was under the impression their ST can be high but takes quite a bit of setup. Otherwise I agree - very solo friendly, murders PUGs, but I would still argue isnt in a "META-6man" group though that doesnt mean you cant be wildly successful in a 6 man group either. Because you can!

What I dont want the OP to do is:
1) Pick a BO and go strength stacking, FO, and forget guard.
2) Pick a Mara thinking its a very solo-friendly class. It KINDA is, but its also not... Seeing as you can get nuked pretty hard without guard by someone who knows what they are doing.
3) Pick a Magus and then later wishing he rolled a Sorc.

As long as he gets the intended role for each class
BO = Tank (guarding allies)
Mara = Melee DPS (relies on tank+heals generally)
Magus = Backline Caster DPS

Then he should be fine.

[braxkedren]

You guys did a great job on explaining those classes. Would you mind doing that with how Shamans are?

Thanks

[Kabuterimonga]

lmao u tryin to decide between 3 totally different careers, better to think which role do you enjoy the most, then pick the career

[peterthepan3]

Pretty much agree with Viskag, though I would disagree with comment re ST burst as it is probably the best ingame when the stars align (admittedly requires a lot of ramp-up time). It's a very solo-friendly class (you can expect to beat most classes, and at least put up a good fight against tanks/WHs/Melee WPs), too.

[Aethilmar]

I cannot comment on BO other than if you go that route you'll have to learn to speak Greenskin.

Marauder is probably the most newbie friendly MDPS in the game. Works in warband. Works solo. Easy to level. Easy to be effective (Monstrosity is just that good as you are levelling). I'm about to find out what happens when you hit 31 and lose your bolster so maybe I'll change my tune then.

Only other thing to add about Magus is they offer some really good tactical play for an RDPS. Their ranged stun is no joke and you can effectively cut off another groups healing for several seconds which is enough for your team to kill a squishy dead, dead, dead.