Dread Knight, Paladin, or Bard? Choosing a class.

fivetigers

I’ve been thinking of trying this game out and I had a few questions about these 3 classes.  Generally speaking I like a class that mixes swords and sorcery.  I like killing stuff with swords, but buffs, debuffs, self heals, DoT and AoE spells, root spells/abilities, are also things I enjoy mixing in with melee.

 

1. 
   Which of Dread Knight, Paladin, and Bard is the best melee DPS?
2. 
   Which of Dread Knight, Paladin, and Bard has the best self heals (or any other method of restoring hp)?
3. 
   Which of Dread Knight, Paladin, and Bard is most effective for solo play?
4. 
   Are there class restricted items?  If so, how do they affect my above questions?
5. 
   Can Dread Knight, Paladin, and Bard all dual wield swords, are any of them better suited to dual wielding swords than the other classes?
6. 
   Is there another class that I didn’t mention, that would be a better blend of melee and magic for what I’m looking for?
7. 
   Are there any mostly magic based classes that can be used quite effectively in melee as well, or are more suited for melee than the other magic classes?

 

 

Thanks for all the answers.

Sovrath

I love my dread knight and also enjoyed the paladin.

I think a Bard can make songs as an fyi.

I found the dread knight easier for me as I like doing damage and healing myself. I found it easier for me than healing myself while getting wailed on by mobs.

I am also partial to the 2 handed sword.

I don't believe dread knight or paladin are "dual wield" anything. The dread knight does better with a 2 hander the the paladin a sword and board.

There are items that some classes can't use but it's not really a big deal as it's mostly armor or weapons that say a mage can use but a warrior can't or wouldn't want to.

Cleric is a mage/warrior affair.

the "Warrior" can do dual wielding and i think the ranger as well.

Fibsdk

Originally posted by fivetigers

I’ve been thinking of trying this game out and I had a few questions about these 3 classes.  Generally speaking I like a class that mixes swords and sorcery.  I like killing stuff with swords, but buffs, debuffs, self heals, DoT and AoE spells, root spells/abilities, are also things I enjoy mixing in with melee.

 

1. 
   Which of Dread Knight, Paladin, and Bard is the best melee DPS?
2. 
   Which of Dread Knight, Paladin, and Bard has the best self heals (or any other method of restoring hp)?
3. 
   Which of Dread Knight, Paladin, and Bard is most effective for solo play?
4. 
   Are there class restricted items?  If so, how do they affect my above questions?
5. 
   Can Dread Knight, Paladin, and Bard all dual wield swords, are any of them better suited to dual wielding swords than the other classes?
6. 
   Is there another class that I didn’t mention, that would be a better blend of melee and magic for what I’m looking for?
7. 
   Are there any mostly magic based classes that can be used quite effectively in melee as well, or are more suited for melee than the other magic classes?

 

 

Thanks for all the answers.

1. Bard

2. Paladin

3. Dread Knight

4. Yes. They don't effect the above questions as classed based items are tailored to each class.

5. Bard is the only one of the three that dual wields. Dread Knight can use a 1h + a shield, or a two handed weapon but not dual wield weapons. Paladin is restricted to sword and board.

6. For solo/dps purposes I would choose Ranger. If you keep your bow current by getting the best crafted tier bow available at each level cap then It's one of the fastest soloers. snare+ multishot is crazy. However it requires you have a great bow and not just what's available. After 50 dual wielding swords is the best form of dps a ranger can do.

7. Best solo class in the game is the Disciple hands down. Healing through melee combos. I have done a lot of group content solo on this guy. After level 50 they are as powerful at the other classes. They pretty much even out at that point

 

Dread Knights are great tanks. Does more damage than paladins and can solo effeciently after mid twenties. Paladin is a better healer and better tank than the Dread Knight but has the lowest dps in the game making it a very slow solo class. It will litteraly take forever to kill things. which is why i would personally choose a Dread Knight to play, if you want to go the tanking route. Often the last guy standing when a pull goes bad because of the awesome AoE lifedrain abillity.

Bards are fun and one of the best additions to any group, since it raises the dps of the whole group by as much as 30% if not more in addition to crowd control ability and good dps on their own. However after level 30 they are painful to solo with. You can't mitigate much damage, which forces you to kite a lot. It's a slow way of advancing since you will find yourself with a lot of downtime even with regenerative songs.

Paladins are the best tanks in the game hands down. The Dread Knight you are  crippled by silence spells for your taunts or AoE life drains. Very hard to kill if played right. However has very low dps unless they spam their virtue points making it a very frustrating and time consuming class to solo with.