Considering the complexity and the amount of options we have with ArcheAge’s class system, many players have been looking for advice on what skillset combinations and class builds to go for. There are 120 different classes in this game and finding the right one that suits your play style and is also formidable in combat can be difficult for newer players. This guide will give you a quick breakdown of some of the most popular class builds in ArcheAge which will hopefully give you some ideas about your characters.
Below you can find a basic breakdown of class roles and several recommended classes/builds which fit the role: Tanking, Healing, Damage Dealing, Support, Leveling. If you need more details about each skillset be sure to read our classes guide first!
TANKING BUILDS
Though not the most popular role, we’ll start off with tanks. Tanks are focused on holding aggro and absorbing damage from monsters and players, primarily to give damage dealers some breathing room to melt their enemies. Almost all tanking builds have the Defense skillset included. Most popular and viable skillset combinations are:
- Abolisher (Defense, Auramancy, Battlerage) – good tanking and support of allies, with debuffs and melee damage options
- Paladin (Battlerage, Defense, Vitalism) – good survivability and sustain, and decent damage dealing tools
- Templar (Defense, Auramancy, Vitalism) – supportive tank with buffs and heals
- Skullknight (Defense, Occultism, Auramancy) – strong tank with powerful damage-dealing and crowd control options
HEALING BUILDS
Behind every good tank is a good healer. Healer’s goal is to keep their tanks and damage dealers alive in fights through heals and other supportive abilities. In ArcheAge healers are typically capable of doing decent damage along with supporting their allies, and most popular classes for this are:
- Templar (Auramancy, Vitalism, Defense) – heavily armored healer build with good survivability and supporting tools
- Edgewalker (Auramancy, Occultism, Vitalism) – two strong supportive skill trees with strong ranged spell-casting potential for damage and some CC (crowd control)
- Heirophant (Auramancy, Vitalism, Witchcraft) – another supportive build with strong CC
- Cultist (Vitalism, Occultism, Sorcery) – clutch heals while dealing tons of damage
Be sure to also take a look at support builds below.
DAMAGE DEALING BUILDS
Damage dealing classes have the most variety and plenty of combinations you can go for, so we’ll break down DPS builds into a few categories: Archery, Mage, and Melee DPS.
leveling-guides.com/archeage-class-builds/
ARCHERY
With a dedicated skillset called “Archery” building one isn’t overly difficult, but there are plenty of synergies with other skillsets you can combine to make your character more effective. Some of these are:
- Ranger (Archery, Shadowplay, Vitalism) – very strong DPS potential with decent sustain/healing
- Stone Arrow (Archery, Shadowplay, Defense) – also focused on high damage, but with more direct survivability
- Trickster (Archery, Shadowplay, Witchcraft) – ranged assassin build with strong single target and AoE crowd control
- Primeval (Auramancy, Archery, Shadowplay) – one of the most popular builds in the game with excellent damage and assassination potential
MAGE
Mages are some of the most popular archetypes in MMORPGs, and it’s not much different in ArcheAge. You can combine many different skillsets and focus your damage dealing efforts to ranged spell casting, and most players choose some of the following:
- Arcanist (Sorcery, Auramancy, Witchcraft) – excellent combo of single and area-of-effect (AoE) spells with supporting potential
- Spellsinger (Sorcery, Songcraft, Shadowplay) – high damage output class based on burst damage, with a lot of flexibility
- Spellsong (Sorcery, Auramancy, Songcraft) – build focused more on supporting allies but also capable of DPS
- Daggerspell (Sorcery, Shadowplay, Witchcraft) – very popular build with high amount of burst damage and crowd control
- Demonologist (Witchcraft, Sorcery, Occultism) – powerful CC and burst damage, great build for PvP or PvE
MELEE DPS
Melee builds are often different than mages or archers: since you’re on the front lines you need to consider taking more survivability, sustain, or other defensive abilities. Most builds here are focused on either Battlerage or Shadowplay skill trees, combined with some other tree with strong defense, sustain or crowd control. Some popular melee damage-dealing builds include:
- Inquisitor (Battlerage, Shadowplay, Vitalism) – crit-focused PvP build with devastating melee damage and self-healing
- Executioner (Shadowplay, Battlerage, Occultism) – melee DPS with damage and CC spells
- Blackguard (Battlerage, Vitalism, Occultism) – crowd control and healing mixed with melee damage
- Dreadnought (Shadowplay, Occultism, Defense) – burst-based build with increased survivability
- Darkrunner (Battlerage, Shadowplay, Auramancy) – very strong and popular melee damaging build with group utility
- Blighter (Defense, Battlerage, Shadowplay) – PvP-focused build with improved defense and extremely powerful melee attacks
SUPPORT BUILDS
For the most part support builds are based on Songcraft skill tree, often mixed with Vitalism for healing allies, and strong crowd control from several other skillsets.
- Cleric (Auramancy, Songcraft, Vitalism) – full support build with healing and buffs
- Caretaker (Defense, Songcraft, Vitalism) – healer and support build with higher survivability
- Dreambreaker (Witchcraft, Defense, Auramancy) – some damage potential but mostly based on supportive spells and crowd control
- Blade Dancer (Battlerage, Shadowplay, Songcraft) – strong melee DPS with supportive abilities from Songcraft
LEVELING BUILDS
In essence most leveling builds have at least one damage-dealing and one supportive skill set. Vitalism is very frequently found on leveling builds for most players as the self-sustain can help immensely in clutch situations. Though very often any DPS build can work well — if you can take out your enemies quickly enough there’s no need for sustain. Flexibility is also the key with leveling builds, as you will want to have both single and multi target spells, some sort of crowd control, and escapes or heals if things get rough. Some builds you can start with if you lack inspiration are:
- Necromancer (Occultism, Witchcraft, Vitalism) – good mixture of single target and AoE spells, crowd control and healing
- Paladin (Battlerage, Defense, Vitalism) – melee build with decent sustained damage with strong survivability and sustain
- Naturalist (Sorcery, Vitalism, Archery) – ranged damage dealing with flexible mix of spells and abilities good for various leveling situations
This is by no means an exhaustive list of class builds in ArcheAge, and their popularity or viability can easily change between frequent patches. We do still hope this list provided you with some insight into the most frequently used classes and what makes them strong. It’s a good place to start if you’re a beginner and unsure about which skillsets to pick, and you should always experiment and try things out for yourself. Everyone has a different playstyle and simply because a build isn’t popular doesn’t necessarily mean it won’t work for you!
Be sure to help your fellow players and share your own thoughts, builds and experiences in the comments section below.
