Thoughts on Classes and Difficulty

[Mark]

Hi guys,

I often read that a HE Ranger or a Dwarf Priest/Paladin are some of the easiest combinations of Race/Class to win the game.

Given class has a much bigger impact on the game experience, I'm curious if based on class alone, there is any general consensus on what is easiest. If you were always playing as a human, which classes strike you as most easy/hard?

[Mondkalb]

I think this is not easy to answer because stats and other racial abilities have an impact on how a class is played. (I. e. I love to play rogues but they are of course easier with high stealth bonus.)

In general I am more fond of the mixed classes (ranger, rogue, and paladin).
Rogues have the best detection spells. Rangers have the best range attacks. Paladins are warriors with healing (and detection) spells.

For new players warriors might be easier because they are straightforward.

I'd still go with the rogue, I think, despite the lacking stealth bonus.

I just checked - my first winner was a paladin after countless unsuccessfull attempts with rangers.

[Philip]

I'd say the easiest is priest, since they get perfect detection and perfect escapes in their first two dungeon books, and Heal in a town book. Their damage is not particularly high, but they can choose whatever damage source they find and just Heal when things get a bit rough.

I'd also venture mage, since mages have perfect monter removal capabilities, excellent detection, magic device skill, recharging, buffs and Rift.

Both have excellent 0% fail monster removal, escapes, detection. Priest has healing, mage has various damage spells, recharge+magic device skill and very interesting buffs (speed, resist base and poison).

For a newbie I would recommend Warrior, just to learn how to get to clvl 25 or so. After that Ranger or Paladin, since that's about the time those classes begin to shine. Then rogue, to learn not to kill stuff. Then mage and priest once you learn to survive mostly independent of HP.

[Avenger]

In my personal opinion, priests are by far the most powerful class right now. All I do on mine is scum for vaults with Alter Reality and Clairvoyance, then loot them at my convenience. I don't have to fight anything I don't want to, between Destruction and Teleport Away, and I can fight anything I do want to, since I have a no fail heal for way beyond my max HP, and can restore all stats and experience.

After priests, I'd go with warriors, just because they're so damn durable, and they do so much melee damage. The only variant I've ever won has been on a Half Troll warrior, and even with poor HP rolls, I still had a huge amount of HP, and my damage was insane.

Next, I'd probably go with rogues, who combine solid melee stats with a large selection of utility spells.

Rangers are next - they have the capability for solid damage, but perhaps their best source comes from a mechanic I never use(and feel most people aren't especially familiar with), ranged weapons. Their melee isn't as strong as a rogue or warrior, and their magic isn't as strong as a mage.

Paladins are even further down the list, after being nerfed out of the best priest spells like Clairvoyance. Combined with the much higher failrates on the spells they do get, I don't feel they're very viable right now.

Last, for me at least, are mages. They're easily the least durable class, and lack healing from spells to help make up for that. They do have excellent damage, but it has to be done from a distance, which is dangerous against breathers and summoners(albeit not as bad as older style summoners who summoned around the player rather then themselves), and requires very careful play and positioning. Their damage is also dependant on the limited mana resource, so successful play not only requires careful positioning but also additional resource management. For players that are good at that kind of micro play, mages may be a lot stronger, but for someone like me, they're by far the most difficult and least rewarding class.

This is, of course, all opinion, and mostly based on my particular playstyle(as well as my experience in MAngband, which isn't quite up to date with the latest Vanilla).

[Derakon]

Holy spells are better than arcane spells in general, there's no question there. Arcane spells are more versatile in the town spellbooks, but the first two dungeon prayer books are dedicated to fixing the holy caster's biggest holes (detection and mobility), and once you have those you get to be able to cast Detection and Magic Mapping, two spells that arcane casters never get (honestly the lack of Detection in the arcane spell set always struck me as odd). And of course the ability to cast Heal more than makes up for the lack of Haste Self.

Priests are still a bit fragile and hard to get off the ground, though, so if you're a rank newbie you'd be best off going with a paladin or warrior.

[Thraalbee]

I agree on the previous posts. Just want to add that your playstyle has a huge impact. Only you know if you are cautious, sneaky or hot headed and you may want to choose accordingly.
Personally I tend to play most characters as tanks for the first 50 levels or so. It goes without saying that my mage wins are yet to happen. But I've won as Warrior, Priest, Rogue and Ranger.

[Raxmei]

I have a horribly reckless style of play, trying to kill pretty much everything. I find that paladins are the most forgiving class for that. The paladin class offers good enough melee with renewable healing. Priests don't have to fall back on consumable healing as much but they are slower to start. Warriors fight harder but don't have free-flowing heals to lean on, which makes the late game more challenging. I haven't won with any of the arcane classes.

[brownbear]

Warriors are very hard midgame imo.

Coming from a guy that hasn't played for a long time, (I won once or twice though years ago!) Angband is rather hard.

I should probably reiterate that the game is very hard.

Until I learn those death monsters again, I doubt I'll beat it anytime soon. Playing a warrior right now, and I've already lost a couple characters to drolems, basilisks, beholders, and a few others even with poison resistance, FA, and the like.

Without a wand of teleport other, vaults and superb feeling levels are really hard to loot. With them, they're incredibly easy. Seems like luck might matter a bit more for warriors.

Though I do remember the game being more or less a breeze once I find some Staves of Banishment to loot vaults and Destructs to finish the game.

I should stop playing randart. The weapons are comparable, but it seems like the armor you find are much worse than the regular artifacts in the beginning. Haven't got to endgame yet to compare!

[Nomad]

I agree on the previous posts. Just want to add that your playstyle has a huge impact. Only you know if you are cautious, sneaky or hot headed and you may want to choose accordingly.

Yep. I find warriors easiest because I have a horrible tendency to wade in and try to melee everything, and they're the most likely to survive that tactic. Next to them I find rogues easiest to keep alive, but I tend to pick unconventional races as I basically play them as warriors with extra spells. (Half-orc rogues are a surprisingly good combo for that: they're not stealthy, but they've got a good STR bonus with only minimal INT penalty and solid DEX.) Paladins are probably comparable in difficulty to rogues, though I don't find them as much fun to play. I don't get on with the non-melee-focused classes at all; I inevitably get them killed because I find the required playstyle frustrating and boring to maintain.