There are 6 primary classes in Aion: Warrior, Scout, Mage, Priest, Technist and Muse. Each primary class has 1 or 2 sub-classes, chosen when a character ascends, at level 9: once chosen, there is no possibility to change sub-class.
The Templar is the main tank based class in Aion and as such, most Templar skills are focused on increasing defense, controlling aggro and mitigating damage. Due to this, the Templar is lacking in high damage skills and is considered to have one of the lowest DPS rates in Aion. Templars usually wield a Shield and a Sword or a Mace, but can also wield a Greatsword as backup for greater DPS. The choice to use a Sword or Mace is often decided by a Templar’s Stigma skill set: if they chose the magical skills “Magix Smash” or “Divine Justice”, a Mace is used, as the Magic Boost provided by the Mace can usually double the damage dealt by magical skills. If a Templar does not use magical skills, a Sword is usually used, as Swords have a higher critical hit chance and have a slightly faster attack speed. Since Templars have little trouble in tanking mobs without the use of a shield (especially at low levels), a Greatsword can be also used to deal more damage. However, several of their skills are only usable with a Shield, including moderate damage and stuns or knockdowns.
Gear: Templars are very dependent on the gear at end-game (while in the early levels, acquiring a good weapon is recommended before acquiring good armor, as they posses a naturally high HP pool and a good weapon will also increase the amount of aggro gained). They can socket several Manastones, depending on the needs/sets: Crit Strike, Accuracy, Block, Magic Resist, Magic Suppression, HP, Attack.
Why to play it: Templars have an extremely high survivability, excellent tanking capability and are a necessary class for many instances at end-game. They require a good gear and have a slow-paced leveling, due to the limited DPS. They require some knowledge of the game and of the instances, as they posses some important skills to protect themselves and their group-mates. In addition, they are often in charge of marking the mobs, as they are usually the leaders and on the front line.
The Gladiator is the weapons master of Aion and boasts excellent tanking and damage dealing capabilities. As such, Gladiators can fill either the tanking or the DPS role in a group. Their attacks are mostly based on AoE, close range. Most Gladiators tend to use two-handed weapons such Greatsword or Polearm, given that two-handed weapons are required for their AoE skills and have a chance to knockdown an enemy when dealing a critical strike. However, some Gladiator may opt to use a dual wield approach, wielding two one-handed weapons, to increase the DPS on a single target. Moreover, a Bow could also be equipped as secondary weapon, in particular cases.
Gear: Gladiators can achieve some success with mediocre gear in most cases. However, if main tanking in end game instances, good armor is a must as Gladiators do not have access to the many damage negating skills of a Templar. As far as armaments are concerned, procuring an attack speed boosting weapon is a priority for this class to make up for the slow attack speed of two handed weapons. As for the Templars, also Gladiators can socket different Manastones: Crit Strike, Accuracy, Block, Magic Resist, Magic Suppression, HP, Attack.
Why to play it: this is the perfect class for players who want to fight and deal damage on the first line. It’s a quite easy class to play, with good tanking capability and excellent AoE damage, even if it’s highly susceptible to magical attacks. However, it’s a slow class, that deals low damage on a single target (with a two-handed weapon) and that requires a good gear when aggroing 3-4 mobs at the same time.
The Ranger excels at long range burst type DPS and is exclusively considered a DPS class. While Rangers do have a variety of skills that provide debuffs and snares on a target, the main focus of the class is to inflict high damage very quickly from afar. To aid in this focus, Rangers also have a variety of survival skills and traps that can keep enemies at bay and allow them to quickly gain distance. While Rangers do have the ability to use melee weapons such as Daggers and Swords (and have minimal skills to match), their main power comes from the use of a Bow, able to stun a target on each critical bow attack.
Gear: Rangers should wear Leather armor (not Magic Leather) to boost their Accuracy and Evasion. Depending on the most used skills, several Manastones are possible: Crit Strike, Accuracy, Magical Accuracy, Attack, Magic Suppression.
Why to play it: the Rangers is a quite easy class to play, but hard to master. If you like the challenges, have a low ping (mandatory for such a class), don’t mind a difficult learning curve and want a class able to inflict excellent burst damage, with a high mobility, particularly focused on PvP, then this could be a good choice.
Assassins strikes silently with devastating consequences to their vulnerable prey, being able to become totally invisible to their opponents. Assassins themselves are fairly weak, and when prematurely discovered, rarely survive the inevitable consequences. They use Daggers and/or Swords and are also excellent in disabling and locking down their targets, although, when ranged combat is necessary, Assassins can still turn to a Bow to continue their assault, even they lack the skills of a Ranger.
Gear: they wear Leather (not Magical), like the Ranger, to maximize Crit Strike, Accuracy, Magical Accuracy, Attack or Magic Suppression. Their weapons of choice are either dual wielded Swords, Daggers, or a combination of the two. Swords are a 2-strike weapons and grant a higher base damage output, but lower Crit Strike, while Daggers have a higher Accuracy, Attack Speed and base Crit Strike
Why to play it: Assassin is a surprise attack class that requires a certain degree of skill and awareness to effectively manage positioning, stun timing, aetherhold timing, and the use and choice of rune skills, especially in PvP. As for the Ranger, a “Sin” also requires a low ping, good reflexes, and an excellent mobility, since its attacks are devastating when they come from stealth mode, on the target’s shoulders, but become much weaker once the combat keeps going on for longer.
The Sorcerer is the main CC class in Aion as no other class has access to such a wide variety of ways to temporarily remove targets from a battle. They also have access to a few AoE skills and to the hardest hitting, direct damage skills in the game and are known to easily dispatch a target with one or two spells. A Sorcerer is not resilient however, and is one of the most defenseless classes in Aion. In order to ensure they are kept alive it is often necessary to assign others to protect them, a cost that most are able to accept.
Gear: the Sorcerer can wear only Cloth, and should manastone Magic Boost, Magical Accuracy, Magic Suppression. For armaments, they are limited to choose either a Tome or an Orb. While Orbs provide more Magic Boost, increasing the magical damage done, Tomes provide a higher Magical Accuracy, which reduces the chance that a spell will be resisted by the target (especially in PvP).
Why to play it: this class is primarily a DPS class with excellent CC capability. While Sorcerers can be fairly straightforward and easy to play in PvE, their low HP pool and fragile armor ultimately makes for a soft target in PvP, since this “glass cannon” can be taken down quickly if not played skillfully or if caught by surprise. One thing to note is that even with the highest mana pool in the game, Sorcerers burn through mana very quickly as their mana management skills are subpar.
The Spiritmaster is the main debuffing class in Aion in that most of the skills in a Spiritmaster’s repertoire consist of debuffs in the form of damage over time skills. To offset this lack of direct damage, Spiritmasters also have the ability to summon and command many different elemental entities that can fill a variety of roles to match any situation. But while they are able to inflict high damage over time, what makes this class truly unique lies in their ability to remove buffs from their enemies and their ability to cast fear status on their targets. As such, with proper positioning, a Spiritmaster can keep a target feared continually while their summons and DoTs can quickly dispatch the enemy while taking no damage whatsoever.
Gear: like Sorcerers, also Spiritmasters are limited to choose either a Tome or an Orb. While Orbs provide more Magic Boost, increasing magical damage done, Tomes provide a higher Magical Accuracy, which reduces the chance that a spell will be resisted by the target (especially in PvP). They wear Cloth gears, and manastone Magic Boost, Magical Accuracy, Magic Suppression.
Why to play it: the Spiritmaster is a class with high potential to be effective in all types of play, with an excellent solo capability. However, this class does require a certain degree of multitasking ability, as the player needs to be in complete control of both the Spiritmaster and his summon at all times to be effective. A complete understanding of the many different types of skills available as well as the current summons’ skills is required to excel at this class. Their CC and Fear skills, make them also particularly annoying in PvP.
Chanters have many supportive abilities which include some of the best buffs in the game as well as having access to some healing spells. The Chanter has a unique special buff system known as the mantra system. Up to 3 mantras can be instantly cast at any time and stay in effect until the Chanter decides to either cancel them or replace them with other ones. Unlike normal buffs, mantras cannot be dispelled by any means and affect all group members in the vicinity of the Chanter. If the group is not in much danger, Chanters will also focus on dealing DPS while maintaining its supportive buffs and mantras. Hence, Chanters are also considered a secondary DPS class.
Gear: the Chanter is a physical class, therefore it should wear Chain gear with boost on the Accuracy, and not on Magic Boost. Depending on the circumstances, it ought to be able to switch from a DPS set and Staff (with the ability to stun and knock down targets) to a defensive set with Mace and Shield, when some additional healing is required. Viable Manastones are: Crit Strike, Magical Accuracy, Block, Magic Resist, Magic Suppression, HP, Attack.
Why to play it: the Chanter is an effective solo class and an asset to any party. While it can be played as either a pure DPS class depending on stigma skills, or as a pure support and sub-healing class, an effective Chanter will keep both in mind while switching to the one that is most beneficial to the party.
The Cleric is the main healing class of Aion and is practically a requirement for many areas of the game. The Cleric is the only class that can actively dispel both physical and mental debuffs and is the main class for single target and AoE healing capabilities. Most Clerics can usually be found wielding a Mace and Shield combination when healing, as this increases the survivability of the class by giving them a chance to block incoming physical attacks. However, some Clerics may opt to use a Staff for the slightly greater Magic Boost, particularly when soloing, as they are also able to deal a quite high DPS.
Gear: Clerics are armored with Chain armor (the second most resilient armor type) which, when coupled with their healing ability, make them a sturdy, almost insurmountable target. They should be equipped with Maces and Shield (when they play as full support) and Staves (when they play as DPS). The Cleric is also the most expensive class in terms of gear requirement, even more than the Templar, as they require multiple set for every circumstance: healer in a PvE group, soloing, healer in a PvP group, solo PvP against a physical class, against a magical class… Thus, they could need several Manastones: Magic Boost, Block, Magic Resist, Magic Suppression, HP.
Why to play it: the Cleric is a very sought after class due to its importance in all aspects of the game. It could give extreme satisfactions when it’s able to solve critical situations with few, timed spells, but it could be also very stressful to play it, especially in PvP, where they are often targeted and focused down before any other class (thus, excellent gear is required for good results). While playing a Cleric, it is important to keep in mind both the actual battle situation and the group health bar window simultaneously, as knowing which attacks are coming and which party members will get hit will help you to preemptively start to neutralize the damage done.
The Aethertech is a technist that can summon and utilize magical mechanical mounts, known as Bastions. With Bastions at their command, the Aethertech can unleash both short-and-long distance attacks and posses massive defences making them an ideal class to add to any raid, PvP or boss battle deep in the world of Atreia. By pulsing aether through these armored suits, the Aethertech can form Gatling guns, rail guns, blades, electric whips, gigantic fists, and even rocket launchers to devastate their opponents.
Gear: Aethertechs wear Magic Chain armor as their main set. Additionally, they may wear Chain, Leather, Magic Leather and Cloth. As Manastones, they should socket Magic Boost, Magical Accuracy, Magic Suppression.
Why to play it: Compared to the Templar, the Aethertech is able to mitigate less damage (it wears Chain instead of Plate) and it’s not able to taunt several targets at the same time. However, this “robot” is not only a tank, but also a good DPS, able to deal high burst damage. With a decent mobility and high survivability, this class is a good choice for players who like the tank role, but find the Templar too boring, difficult to play and slow in killing mobs.
Players start out as Technists, and become Gunslingers upon ascension. Gunslingers use Pistols and Aethercannons. The type of weapon used will affect the combat style. Aethercannons have a slower attack speed but fire great powerful blasts; Pistols are much faster and can fire off multiple shots in succession for a more dynamic style. They also have a few defensive abilities that can be used to escape or absorb some damage if needed. But if they come under intense fire, they will die very quickly as they are still a class with low HP pool and overall defence.
Gear: Gunslingers are usually equipped with Magic Leather armor, which provides magic boost and some evasion. They should socket Magic Boost, Magical Accuracy, Magic Suppression.
Why to play it: Gunslingers (or “gunners”) are basically the magic version of the Rangers. They have few buffs that should be used to burst down targets quickly, especially in PvP, and a small arsenal of CC (silence, root, stuns). With the ability to fire while running, this is a quite funny class to play, easier than its “father” Ranger. However, for a good DPS, it’s recommended to continuously switch between Pistols and Aethercannon.
The Songweaver is, at the moment, the only sub-class of the Muse, a magical violin player. With their unique combination of high DPS, decent healing and good support skills, they are valuable in team and solo play. They can either be an effective all-rounded support, or be a nasty DPS machine with some CC potential, all depending on their Stigma choices. Songweavers are also well known for their powerful MP-draining skills and they are the only class that it’s able to regenerate the MP of their group-mates. Moreover, they also possess a debuffing ability, like the Spiritmaster, that make them very requested at end game.
Gear: Songweaver can wear only Cloth, and should socket Magic Boost, Magical Accuracy, Magic Suppression.
Why to play it: Songweaver are basically a mix of Sorcerers and Clerics, and this makes them one of the most fearsome rivals (and welcomed friends). Their high versability and good survivability make them a funny class to play, useful in any party (especially in end-game, for their ability to dispel).
