Rank the soloing power of all classes

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There's a topic here entitled "Toughest class/kit to solo?". The problem is that it's possible to solo with any class/kit.

Instead of asking for the worst, please rank the best/easiest and the worst/hardest soloist.
I suggest you limit yourself to the best five and worst five, but go ahead and rank all 51 if you feel up to it.

It will take some time and effort on your part since there are so many, but please give it a try!

Better break out your BG2 manual. Now let the frantic cut'n paste begin!

Fighter
Berserker
Wizard Slayer
Kensai

Ranger
Archer
Stalker
Beast Master

Paladin
Cavalier
Inquisitor
Undead Hunter

Barbarian

Cleric
Priest of Talos
Priest of Helm
Priest of Lathander

Druid
Totemic Druid
Shapeshifter
Avenger

Monk

Thief
Assassin
Bounty Hunter
Swashbuckler

Bard
Blade
Jester
Skald

Mage
Abjurer (no Alteration)
Conjurer (no Divination)
Diviner (no Conjuration/Summoning)
Enchanter (no Invocation/Evocation)
Illusionist (no Necromancy)
Invoker (no Enchantment/Charm)
Necromancer (no Illusion)
Transmuter (no Abjuration)

Sorcerer

Fighter/Thief
Fighter/Cleric
Fighter/Druid
Fighter/Mage
Fighter/Mage/Cleric
Fighter/Mage/Thief
Mage/Cleric
Mage/Thief
Cleric/Ranger
Thief/Cleric

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Here are my rankings:

Easiest five
1 Sorcerer
2 Fighter/Mage
3 Fighter/Thief
4 Inquisitor
5 Fighter/Mage/Thief

The hardest five
47 Necromancer (No Mirror Image, Mislead, Project Image or Simulacrum)
48 Avenger
49 Druid
50 Shapeshifter (Greater Werewolf is good, but no armor is bad)
51 Totemic Druid (Spirit Animals become obsolete once you can conjure Elementals).

Man, it was hard to pick the five worst! Each class or kit has something good. Even though the druids get Insect Plague and Nature's Beauty I had to rank them at the bottom.

Necromancer made the worst five maybe more as a statement about the most powerful mage spells than actually being that bad a kit. I considered putting the Wizard Slayer there instead because the restrictions on that kit is after all quite severe.

 

@ Earl Grey

I would have to agree with your rankings generally. However, I believe that arcane spells rule all, so I would nudge the F/T out of the top five and put the M/T in. I would also nudge out the Inquisitor and bring in a F/M/C.

Easiest five
1 Fighter/Mage/Thief
2 Sorcerer
3 Thief/Mage
4 Fighter/Mage
5 Fighter/Mage/Cleric

The hardest five
Any class without Mage/Sorcerer

 

It is very difficult to pick the hardest 5. I would have to say though that druids would certainly make the list. However, any list that would not include the beast master is deficient. The summons you get are crap, the familar isn't much help, you have a small list of spells, and have an extremely limited armor and weapon selection.

Best 5 for me are:

Sorcerer
F/M/T
F/T
F/M
M/T

So basically it's the sorcerer who is the best, with the other 4 being variations on the same theme.

Edit:

Worst (#51) has to be the beast master.

[ August 09, 2004, 17:43: Message edited by: Aldeth the Foppish Idiot ]

 

Best five

1 Sorcerer
2 Blade (better buffs than F/M)
3 Fighter/Mage
4 Fighter/Druid (anti-mage spells rule all)
5 Undead Hunter (immune to hold and lvl drain)

Worst Five

47 Invoker or Transmuter
48 Druid
49 Thief (much worse than kits - no fighter or magic)
50 Fighter (no magic of any kind)
51 Kensai (good damage - but diabolical AC)

@Earl: Can't agree with the poor ratings you have given all the druid kits. They can be very powerful if used right and the anti-mage spells can incapacitate large groups quite easily, plus G Elemental Summoning and Devas. At least the shapeshifter, can turn into GWW for improved AC or can cast Iron Skins and other protective spells - what will the kensai do? Also, you need to check your specialist mages out again, as I am sure a few of them have restrictions of two schools, making them even more restrictive. I had to include two fighter classes in the bottom five, as they get no magic or other bonuses - wizards slayers are a bit better because they can disrupt magic users.

 

Easiest five:

Sorcerer
Archer
Fighter/Mage/Thief
Mage/Thief
Blade

Hardest Five:
Enchanter
Beastmaster
Fighter
Druid
Cleric

 

@Bard
This is the SoA forum.

@Aldeth
I agree, Beast Master is a really bad kit. Still, the Wizard Slayer can't stealth or go invisible among other things, so I think the Wizard Slayer might be worse. I make this comparison since both are basically fighter types.

I just started a Transmuter and there were no problems learning and casting Necromantic spells.
Also I started an Invoker and he can cast Conjuration spells.
So my list above is AFAIK correct. Perhaps it was fixed in the patch?

[ August 09, 2004, 19:58: Message edited by: Earl Grey ]

 

Best Five (I'm going for best in terms of a mixture of ease of use and power)

1. Blade
2. Sorcerer
3. F/T
4. F/M
5. R/C

Worst five (in no particular order)

Fighter
Thief
Druid
Beastmaster
Avenger

 

My choices would change somewhat in ToB, especially in the worst 5.

Best 5:
Blade
Sorcerer
F/T
R/C
Inquisitor

Worst 5:
Shapeshifter
Druid
Wizardslayer
Necromancer
Beastmaster

@Bard: Kensai worse than ALL 50 other classes listed and only because he can't wear armor? You can head to De'Arnise Hold right out of Chateau Irenicus for the Shield Amulet. It has good duration, 50 charges, and can be recharged at any store. If you go with One-Handed proficiency, that's another -1 AC bonus.

Shield Amulet: Base AC set to 4 for 5 turns
DEX bonus: -4 for 18 DEX
Ring of Gaxx: -2
Ring of Earth Control: -1
Cloak of Protection +2: -2
Dusty Rose Ioun Stone: -1
Final AC: -6 (not great, but respectable)

 

@Earl: my bad, but even so, the druids are still a very powerful class. They still have the anit-mage spells, iron skins and some great summons.

I am intrigued by the issue with the speciality mages. If this is the case, then maybe Necro is the worst. But this is wrong and has changed since BG1, so I am surprised.

@Drumheller: okay, -6AC is good. But, you have no stealth or magic to help you against enemies and have to fight crowds of them head-on. Whilst the Kensai is a great class and I really like it, I feel it is a serious limitation for soloing.

 

Yeah, I'd probably never solo a Kensai. Unbeatable for chunky fun, though!

 

You left out the Kensai -2 AC bonus as well, for a total of -8. Earlier in the game, you can get pretty much the same AC with the Cloak Of The Sewers and the RoP +2 that you get from Aran Linvail (instead of the Ring Of Gaxx, which a solo Kensai will find tough to acquire). Also, a Potion of Invulnerability will get you a base AC of 0 and a killing machine with AC -12.

Kensai are tough to solo, because they're basically vanilla fighters without armour until about level 12. With a little support, they're vicious killers, but they need someone else to draw the heat off them or they won't last long against a couple of tough critters. Since you can't summon any diversions of your own and have no missile capability (well, unless you have one of the returning daggers, Rifthome Axe or can use the Dwarven Thrower), you have to do it the hard way. It's not that they suck, just that they aren't designed to handle everything.

 

Interesting point dmc. Although I'm still apt to think that a barbarian or a berserker would fare OK against mages, provided they use the mage ability. Sure, they can't do anything to avoid direct damage spells, but these guys have enough hit points that they will survive the spell. Not much to argue about on the bottom three though.

 

Best:

1) Blade

2) FMT

3) Sorcerer and F/M

4) Half-Thieves and Mages

Based on which class can take on anything in the game the earliest.

EDIT: Removed Content

[ August 10, 2004, 18:09: Message edited by: Scythesong Immortal ]

 

I forgot about that . . . thanks NonSequitur.

 

The Kensai isn't all that bad, i've soloed one through SoA, and i can't recall having any mayor problems? Long time ago though... I have no recollection on how i did it, but i did it!

Altough i wonder if that was the time i was impersonating Sephiroth from FF, with über-stats and such... Forgetful Yakman...