Class Confusion–Breaking It Down

There sure are a lot of classes in EQ2 – 24 to be exact.  Figuring out what they can do (and what they can’t) can be problematic.  Here is a breakdown of each class in the most basic, briefest way possible.


A note on soloability: In this definition, we’re talking about the ease of completing quests that are designed to be done by an individual of the appropriate level.  Can every class solo?  Certainly!  Is it painful and lame for some and quick and easy for others?  Again, certainly.  It pays to know how much suffering you’re setting yourself up for, right off the bat.

First we have our fighters.  They range from sword and board to hand-to-hand to augmenting their melee with spells.  All of these folks can tank (some better than others).

Class	Description	Soloability	Armor Type
Guardian	The premiere tank of EQ2.	Not Great	Plate
Berserker	Tanks well also does good damage.	Good	Plate
Monk	Good damage, decent tanking.	Good	Leather
Bruiser	Great damage, decent tanking.	Good	Leather
Shadowknight	Spell damage, good tanking.	Good	Plate
Paladin	Buffs and heals, good tanking.	Not Great.	Plate

Next we have our priests – the healers of EQ2.  These folks all have different kinds of heals – reactives (heals a target when it gets damaged), heals-over-time, or wards (which absorb damage) – and some are great soloers while others are painfully bad.

Class	Description	Soloability	Armor Type
Templar	Reactive heals, terrible damage.	Poor	Plate
Inquisitor	Reactive heals, decent damage.	Good	Plate
Warden	Heals-over-time, decent damage.	Good	Leather
Fury	Heals-over-time, good damage.	Good	Leather
Mystic	Wards, great buffs, poor damage.	Poor	Chain
Defiler	Wards, great debuffs, poor damage.	Poor	Chain

Mages are our next entry.  Spell damage is what these folks provide.  Some of them use pets, some provide utility, and others just blow sh*t up.  All of our mages are good soloers and they all wear cloth armor.

Class	Description	Soloability	Armor Type
Wizard	Elemental damage to single targets.	Good	Cloth
Warlock	Poison/disease damage to AOE.	Good	Cloth
Conjuror	Elemental damage, elemental pets	Good	Cloth
Necromancer	Poison/disease damage, undead pets	Good	Cloth
Illusionist	Crowd control, power regen, caster buffs	Good	Cloth
Coercer	Crowd control, power regen, melee buffs	Good	Cloth

Last but certainly not least, we have our scout classes.  These provide our melee damage and lots of it.  Most of our scouts are good soloers.  They dish out great damage, but they are, on the whole, a little squishy.

Class	Description	Soloability	Armor Type
Swashbuckler	Damage to AOE, debuffs.	Good	Chain
Brigand	Damage to single targets, debuffs.	Good	Chain
Troubador	Damage, power regen, caster buffs.	Decent	Chain
Dirge	Damage, power regen, melee buffs.	Decent	Chain
Ranger	Ranged and melee damage.	Good	Chain
Assassin	Damage to single targets.	Decent	Chain

Phew!  That’s a lot classes.  Did I say I’d cover tradeskills in this entry, too?  Well, my dear readers, I do believe I have fibbed.  We’ll talk about that next.