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== Paladin == |
== Paladin == |
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− | The |
+ | The [[Paladin]] is a hybrid of tank and healer. |
;Advantages |
;Advantages |
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* Armored in plate, paladins can take a lot of punishment, and are widely regarded as the single hardest class to kill. |
* Armored in plate, paladins can take a lot of punishment, and are widely regarded as the single hardest class to kill. |
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− | * Ability to heal and resurrect makes them |
+ | * Ability to heal and resurrect makes them sometimes vital to a party. |
− | * Wide variety of buffs for all classes |
+ | * Wide variety of important buffs for all classes. |
* Several auras with various beneficial effects for the party. |
* Several auras with various beneficial effects for the party. |
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* One of 3 classes capable of recovering the raid with their Divine Intervention (the other being Warlocks and Shaman). |
* One of 3 classes capable of recovering the raid with their Divine Intervention (the other being Warlocks and Shaman). |
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− | * Great tanks, |
+ | * Great tanks, having [[Consecration]], [[Holy Shield]], and [[Righteous Defense]] avaliable to them. |
;Disadvantages |
;Disadvantages |
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− | * Healing abilities, while good, cannot replace a priest or druid in a large group situation. |
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* Very little in the way of ranged attacks. |
* Very little in the way of ranged attacks. |
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* Lowest DPS output of any class [[spec]]ed for it, except when fighting Undead or Demons, against which they have some of the highest damage output. |
* Lowest DPS output of any class [[spec]]ed for it, except when fighting Undead or Demons, against which they have some of the highest damage output. |
Revision as of 17:57, 20 August 2007
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Classes which combine aspects of the three core types - tank, healer, or nuker. In World of Warcraft, the hybrid classes are as follows:
Hunter
The Hunter is a DPS class with tank abilities. A good puller class.
- Advantages
- Good DPS usable at range, and are the only ranged class that deal physical damage.
- Can effectively continue to DPS even when low of mana.
- Pets usually serve as substitute tanks, and are fairly easy to replace. When properly specced, pets can be a menace to casters.
- Trueshot Aura (tier 7 Marskmanship talent) buffs all party physical damage.
- Various methods of scouting, including Tracking, Eyes of the Beast and Eyes of the Hawk.
- Disadvantages
- Pet is based on hunter level, so is not usually as powerful as the opponents in a group hunting situation.
- Healing can only be used on pet.
Priest
The Priest is a mixture of a healing and DPS class with buffs as well.
- Advantages
- Considered the best healing class overall, while other hybrids are competetive in particular areas, the priest is an excellent healer for just about any situation
- Shadow priests provide good DPS, as well as healing with the vampiric embrace talent, mana recovery with vampiric touch, and abilities to increase damage from other classes on an enemy.
- A wide variety of utility and defensive spells, including Mana Burn, mind Control, Power Word: Shield, help party survivability and effectiveness.
- Several escape and aggro lowering abilities, Psychic Scream, Fade, though psychic scream is not very useful in instances.
- Disadvantages
- Cloth armor and no pets leave priests more easily damaged than other hybrid classes, though they do have defensive abilities such as Inner Fire.
- In shadowform, has no healing aside from Vampiric Embrace
Druid
The Druid is a hybrid of scout, tank, healer, and nuker.
- Advantages
- Excellent healing abilities.
- Arguably the most powerful buffs in the game make for more effective parties.
- Shapeshift ability allows druid to serve as substitute tank (Bear/Dire Bear form) and increases survivability if drawing aggro by accident, can scout (Cat form) in a pinch if there is no Rogue available.
- Crowd-control abilities allow a well-played druid to manage aggro in a group situation.
- Only class with combat usable res.
- Can root virtually any mob outdoors.
- Moonkin form (tier 7 balance talent) has a caster buff aura.
- Leader of the Pack (tier 7 feral talent) has a physical damage buff aura.
- Disadvantages
- Lightly armored, just a little better than a cloth wearer, next to no survivability vs. elite if out of mana unless feral specced and geared.
- In a large group, the druid will not tank as well against a raid level boss as a warrior or nuke as well as a mage, so he shouldn't be considered a complete replacement for any of those classes.
- res is on a 30 minute timer.
Warlock
The Warlock is a nuker with tank abilities. A decent puller.
- Advantages
- Pets add to the firepower of the party and number of targets available to the enemy; variety of pets can fill roles vs. caster/melee/humanoid mobs.
- Can switch pets during a run at the cost of shard(s) if one particular pet is especially needed for a specific encounter.
- DoT spells are ideal against opponents that like to run away when heavily damaged and for steady damage in boss fights where burst damage can get you killed.
- Can make a Soulstone which will allow one party member to self-res for 30 minutes. Good to put on primary healer so they can res the group after a wipe.
- A Master Demonologist Warlock using the Voidwalker with Soul Link has roughly 50% damage mitigation.
- Disadvantages
- Not really a true nuke class, as most of their spells are DoT rather than sheer damage.
- High level pets (Infernal and Doomguard) are inneffective at accomplishing anything but causing chaos.
- Management of Soul Shards can be difficult and take inventory space away from necessary items.
Shaman
The Shaman is a hybrid of healer, melee DPSer and nuker.
- Advantages
- Very versatile, considered the true hybrid class
- A wide variety of totems can be used to buff party members and debuff opponents
- Ability to heal and resurrect makes them very useful to a party.
- Powerful, instant-cast direct damage Shock spells with secondary effects (slow, damage over time, and interruption of spellcasting)
- Only class capable of solo-recovering a raid via Reincarnation, albeit only once per hour. A Warlock's Soulstone and a Paladin's divine intervention both need the caster and a target, as Paladins can not DI themselves and Warlocks can't resurrect the raid should they Soulstone themselves.
- Disadvantages
- Jack-of-all-trades, but master of none. Does not tank as well as a warrior, nuke as well as a mage, melee DPS as well as a rogue, or heal as well as a priest, even when trying to specialize for one of these roles.
- Stationary totems that can only affect party members, not a raid.
- Mana-inefficient
Paladin
The Paladin is a hybrid of tank and healer.
- Advantages
- Armored in plate, paladins can take a lot of punishment, and are widely regarded as the single hardest class to kill.
- Ability to heal and resurrect makes them sometimes vital to a party.
- Wide variety of important buffs for all classes.
- Several auras with various beneficial effects for the party.
- One of 3 classes capable of recovering the raid with their Divine Intervention (the other being Warlocks and Shaman).
- Great tanks, having Consecration, Holy Shield, and Righteous Defense avaliable to them.
- Disadvantages
- Very little in the way of ranged attacks.
- Lowest DPS output of any class speced for it, except when fighting Undead or Demons, against which they have some of the highest damage output.
Not a Lot of Hybrid Classes
Rob Pardo said it was their goal to not have a lot of hybrid classes. Because of this, the Death-Knight and Necromancer classes, which were originally slated for, got the axe early on. As it is, 3 out of 9 classes are true hybrid classes: the Paladin, the Shaman, and the Druid.