I popped down to Qeynos this morning to buy some Alkali Loam, Pearls and Vanadium – my usual shopping list as a level 58 jeweler – from the cheaper Qeynos brokers.
I’d meet Arioma, my level 5 good-side ranger, who would get the items for me. I brought with me a bagful of new ranger spells, including an Adept 3 ranged opening move; and some nice jewelry to fill up the empty slots.
Business concluded, I ran her to Oakmyst to try out her new App4/Adp3 combat arts. There were some non-aggro badgers right there, waiting to die. I took out the three level 7/- badgers without problem, but the level 7 momma badger, well, it was a very close fight. I won, but didn’t feel good about it.
Rangers have great ranged attacks, especially flanking ranged, but once the fighting gets toe-to-toe, the battles turn into a long slogfest. Having great gear and abilities made it possible for her to solo critters two levels above her at all, but my necro would have mowed it down with lesser gear.
Everyone generally is aware that mages solo better than fighters, who solo better than scouts, who solo better than priests. But is there a standard test to see just how well each class measures up?
There is. It’s been in the game since the second adventure pack, and definitively measures your soloing skills.
It’s the Splitpaw solo arena event. Seven waves of opponents, one encounter with two at a time, one with three, and the final encounter is a one-up-arrow mob a level higher than you. The whole thing scales to your level. If you win - congratulations, you can solo acceptably well. If you lose… better work on it.
The devs say that any class can solo Splitpaw arena with average gear. That’s what they say, anyway.
Here’s how my characters rank.
Dorah - 38 necromancer - soloed all seven waves without needing to rest. It’s just a speed trial for her now.
Tipa - 38 monk - had trouble soloing it before I gave her feysteel weapons and engraved leather armor. Still has trouble with the multiple encounters, but she can kill one, feign death and rest. Heals and high burst damage were key against the last mob.
Nashuya - 44 shadow knight - kills easily. The last mob, a healer, requires extremely high dps at the end of the fight in order to defeat the chain warding – harm touch, lifetap, pet and gnoll master strike did the job.
And the not so good:
Dera - 55 Inquisitor - the last time I tried, I couldn’t kill the final boss. Cleric DPS was too low to get through the wards, and it came down to who had the most power. It wasn’t me. Dera did the best against groups – reactive heals, group debuffs, heretic’s fire, and the debuffs that cause damage when anyone hits or uses a spell or an art, all combine to help mobs kill themselves. But when they are just sitting there waiting for you to let their ward heal them, not much you can do. Just don’t have that kind of direct damage.
Verd - 36 Warden - rooting and nuking got him through to the last mob. But, as with Dera, it came down to a battle of who had the most power in the end.
I’ve never taken Dina (70 troubador) there. I already know how well a troubador soloes a level 71/+ mob. With lots of mezzing and heal song pumping out that 51 point heal every six seconds, I maybe could eventually kill him, but it isn’t what I’d call soloing. Now that I can stealth in combat, I have a lot more opportunities to mez, stealth, get behind him and let loose with my big backstab attack.
Here’s how I think the classes would stack up in the arena, and in the land.
Necromancer, Conjurer, Wizard, Warlock, Illusionist, Bruiser, Monk, Paladin, Coercer, Shadow Knight, Brigand, Swashbuckler, Assassin, Dirge, Fury, Troubador, Ranger, Inquisitor, Warden, Defiler, Templar, Mystic.
Mages generally best. Necromancers are clearly the best soloers. Conjurers don’t get the self heals or taps, so though they solo well, it’s second to the all-powerful necromancers.
I placed Coercer after the classes that can heal – against the last mob, there are no pets to charm, so the tactics are stun, mez, root, run and nuke, but without the nuke power of the wizard or warlock. Illusionists do get a pet to help them. Shadow Knights really rely on high dps to overcome their indifferent healing.
Brigands and swashbucklers have dps which is less dependent on positioning than the other scout classes, as well as a generally higher utility. An assassin can try to stunlock the mob to set up the good positional attacks. Dirges get heals and good melee buffs. Furies get heals and a wide range of nukes and dots, as well as root. Troubs get no real heals, but can keep one monster mezzed indefinitely, allowing them to set up positional attacks. I know little about rangers; experience with my level 6 suggests they’d be powerful with root, snare, and plenty of room, because they are crappy in toe-to-toe melee.
Inquisitors don’t do great nuke or melee damage, but their debuffs, reactive heals, and reverse damage shields let the monster kill itself. Wardens, Mystics, Templars and Defilers are the best healers, but give up soloability.
I could be wrong… take your toon to Splitpaw and let me know how well you do in the solo arena.