Which classes to level up first?

[stinger01]

Hi All,

I’ve just reached level 70 but all of my classes are quite low level (i.e. under 30) so I’m going to start grinding mastery.

I have all of the classes unlocked and not sure about which ones I should level up first.

I would appreciate it if anyone can give me recommendations.

Thanks

Topic

[datguygamer]

Samurai, Paladin, Witch, Bard, Sea Dog, Skulkers, Treasure Hunters, Wizard are top priorities.

[burbman]

I would add thunderbird and spies to the list submitted by @datguygamer, and remove treasure hunters but all is based on personal preference.

[e5c4p3artist]

I recommend Paladin, Samurai, Princess, Rogue, Thunderbird, Sea Dog.

[stinger01]

Thanks for the responses everyone, I’ll focus on what you guys have listed. :-)

[RainM8]

Simply the ones you use the most

[angryde]

@stinger01 Paladin, Wizard, Witch, Sea Dog at the big-4 IMHO.

[pixelyzed]

Generally, I would level up any Elite classes you have over non-elite ones to start with.

Here the classes I’d level up first in order.

Matilda: Witch first by a mile then Bard. Druid a distant third.

Bomb: Pirate first then SeaDog. SeaDog is much less reliable in the Arena as he looses power quickly when lossing health. Pirate is a better “all-around” class, especially with the Finisher set in the Arena and Boarding elseqhere.

Blues: by far Tricksters first for me. Then Treasure Hunters then Spies but the latter two are not Elite yet. If you have Elite Rogues then that after Tricksters over the other two. I don’t see the appeal of Skulkjers personally but many like it here.

Red: Palladin first by a mile then Stone Guard for me. Samurai a distant third.

Chuck: Mage then Thunderbird for me. I play Mage the most these days because at the same mastery level, it is more powerful than TB. But when Wizard gets Elite, he will be the best Chuck class IMO.

I’d level the first of each bird in my list first in this order:

Witch, Palladin, Pirate, Tricksters, Mage.

My $0.02 ;)

[Pointless]

Wow @pixelyzed so many quibbles with your choices, and no time to elaborate right now, but let’s just say the only agreement is Red/Paladin

[pixelyzed]

@pointless It’s alright ;) It’s just a game after all and we all have our style of playing.

[Pointless]

@pixelyzed certainly agree with that, to each their own :)
We have talked about best Classes before, and you really need to separate PvE and PvP, as each facet of the game is different. For example, I find Witch next to useless in PvE, but indispensable in Arena.
To the point of the post, my main issues are you choice of Mage and Pirate. I find better Classes for both sides of the game. You do mention that when Wizard gets his Elite, that’ll be Chuck’s go-to, so I wonder if that’s why you are also ignoring Capt’n at the moment?

[pixelyzed]

@pointless

I’ve seen PvE and PvP before but have no idea what they stand for. I also make a distinction between arena play and playing everywhere else. Taking into account the enemies I’m fighting I’ll change birds, classes or weapons. But my go to are pretty constant.

And to answer your question, no I’m not ignoring Capt’n because he’s not Elite yet. I never really played it. I still don’t see anything compelling about it either in basic power nor secondary ability. Removing helpful effects is something I usually have Tricksters do. My Tricksters is Elite and level 67 vs 63 for my Capt’n so Tricksters has a lot more attack power. Within Bomb classes, my E. Pirate is level 65 and my E. SeaDog is 63 with both a lot more raw power. Outside the Arena, SeaDog can be great. My third Bomb go to would probably be Canonneer because its tripple hits will get through enemies that limit the damage they take. Same for Stone Guard or Samurai.

You also have to know that my fighting style is more brute force than anything. I try to limit using power up abilities as they take a turn I could have used to hit an enemy or the banner. That is why I love Witch too in that, at least it heals by huge amounts when I do use it to heal the banner (over 8K for me on first hit and over 10K on the second if she didn’t fall in between). Coupled with the Lasting Song set, any time I use the chili on another bird, I get huge bonus healing from Witch. So she’s pretty much a mainstay for me in and out of the arena. At that level, she has more attack power than most other birds classes other than some of Bom and BLues (also because it’s my class with highest mastery level at 68.

My high usage of certain birds is also linked to the weapons I have for them. When I didn’t have a complete Blues set, I used Bomb and Chuck more. I now have two full sets for Blues (Beep and Ballista) with 3 out of 4 items at level 72 so I use Tricksters a lot as it is my favorite Blues class right now. As for Chuck’s Wizard, it has more raw attack power than my other Chuck classes (all at M63 except Mage at M65) but as it’s not Elite, its max health is significantly lower so it falls more often and it can make a big difference in the arena nowadays as it’s getting harder there. I no longer have a usable Resurection emblem as I never got a level 72 version so I am more careful about that since my Valliant is also still all Level 62 (fully enchanted though). My banner has a max health of around 42K and I confront enemies all the time with banners in the 47K+ health range.

With all that said, I do change strategies at times. Very early on, my go to classes were Guardian, Rogues and Druid. I started each battle by shielding my birds with Guardian and hoped I could get two venomous attacks in before my birds got obliterated. I missed the Rogues Elite a few weeks back and got another class I didn’t want instead (forget which) but I’d use Rogues more too now. As I got stronger, I abandonned Guardian and leveled up Palladin and later Stone Guard. When Samurai gets Elite, it will be a great Red class too. I use Pallading 98% of the time when I use Red and Stone Guard occasionally. As my Chuck got stronger, I used Wizard a lot before until the Elite classes were introduced. For Chuck, I switched to TB at some point and used that for quite a while then I switched to Mage for the added attack power.

Also, I play Epic as a stress reliever and I do not overthink strategy :) I am an entrepreneur in the Web site design and development space so I tackle code, strategy and other stuff where I solve problems all day so Epic is not a place where I want overthink ;) Could other classes serve me better? Maybe. But I limit my Arena to making objectives now and just try to have fun with the rest. With my birds at their current level and the weapons I have, events are usually a breeze for me now so no worries there. The latest caves were harder but I got through them in a couple daus and will tackle them again to 3 star those I didn’t. Other than that, it’s just about having fun for me :)

[Pointless]

@pixelyzed please don’t take my disagreement by any means “you’re wrong”, we both have women in our lives to do that for us :)
(Sorry to any who may take offense by this seemingly misogynistic statement, really not meant to be that…we all know who really rules the household).
I personally only use Witch (and any Matilda Class, for that matter) in Arena (PvP = Player vs Player). I do have Lasting Song, but due to my limited usage if the Class, I stick with Sweet and its healing, as that’s what Matilda is really all about.
I really think you are selling Capt’n short, but this is based in my playing style, one which does not include Tricksters and the dispel from that Class. He can hitchard enough, and I will often buff Wizard before a Chuck Rage to make the attack and associated Criticals/Splash even more deadly. Plus I have a shiny new L72 Finisher Set that is a force on its own with a Bomb Rage.
I am still rather hesitant to use both Blues and Chuck in either Arena or PvE situations (Player vs Enemy), so that may account for choice, as I won’t be without a Chuck due to the devastating Rage. Wizard in PvE and TBird in PvP.

[pixelyzed]

@pointless Don’t worry, I don’t take your comments that way :)

I may be selling Capt’n short but I really find Tricksters far more useful. Tapping on it will also “clean” any harmful effects on all birds and the banner at once AND boosts everyone’s attack power by 15% for 3 turns. Like I said, I limit my use of power ups like that so they need to be compelling for me to use them. Trickster’s in the right circumstances is. It is also naturally one of the most powerful Blues class for raw attack power equaled only by Skulkers and surpassed only by Treasure Hunters. With Beep and hitting multiple enemies at once Tricksters can be devastation in the Arena and everywhere else. So I do not need the Capt’n dispel power when I have Trickers in my team.

In any case, if I do bring Bomb, it’s usually Pirate only because of its raw power (and I’m used to it) but I’ll usually choose SeaDog or Frost Savage over Capt’n anyway. All these 3 are M63 for me now and, with Finisher, Capt’n yields 2706 attack, Frost yields 2977 and SeaDog a staggering 4135 when at full health. My Pirate at M65 yields 3367 (10K+ when Finisher proc’s) and has 500+ more health points than Capt’n for me so it stays up longer in the Arena and can survive more deadly attacks in the Caves or in Events. Writing this I realize I should probably level up Frost’s mastery and use that more though :) The only reason I do not use SeaDog more is that, one blow from a powerful enemy and it looses half its attack. That makes it too unreliable in the Arena for me.

I change my Chuck strategy more often than the others. I’ve been switching between Mage and TBird a lot recently and am bringing back Wizard into the fold too. Chuck is the one I have most sets for too although none have both items at level 62. But all have one item at level 72. Reset and Twin Lightning are my current go to sets.

I should use Chuck more in the Arena but my most used trio there recently is Witch Lasting Song, Pirate with Finisher and Blues with Ballista. I rarely loose battles with that combo. I used to never go to the Arena without Red (Palladin) but I’ve not used it there at all recently. Don’t know why. But that strategy enabled me to get to Platinum without grinding this season. Standing in 4th place now. Might make an effort to make Diamond again :)

[Pointless]

@pixelyzed I am somewhat mollified that you don’t use both Chuck and the Blues on the same Team…recipe for disaster (yes, I know Bones and Hunters have helped, but still…)
I will preface by saying my go-to is TBird/Bones, Witch/ Sweet and Capt’n/Finisher, so I am relying on Bomb for both my dispel element as well as my tank. This leaves me little choice, but I am not about to give up Witch’s Banner healing, nor Chuck’s Rage, shield or retaliation. There is an ever-growing use of Bomb Rage, especially facing the new Sets, so I do find this extremely useful.

[angryde]

@pointless Hey! I use Chuck/Wizard and Blues/Spies in the arena at the same time! XD However, your point is well taken… I only get away with it because I UP my banner + birds + sets. Great discussion with @pixelyzed.

[pixelyzed]

@angryde @pointless

I’ve used Chuck and Blues at the same time before but I do try to avoid that because they often both fall on the first enemy turn if I loose the coin toss. I’ll only bring Chuck in the Arena with two other strong birds. Witch as it’s the best healer and my highest mastery class and Bomb or Red. Enemies most often attack the weakest bird first so I want to have two birds standing after the first enemy turn if I lost the coin toss. I’ll then rage chili Bomb and Witch procs a lot of healing right away when using Lasting Song.

That is why I prefer Lasting Song to Sweet. It heals everyone even when I use the rage chili on another bird. Nature’s Blessing is good too when you have a healer in the opposing team. I like those classes/sets that do stuff automatically without needing to use up a turn to use a secondary ability or attack. Boarding is like that too and I use that outside the Arena for Bomb but Finisher is so effective in the Arena I’d be crazy not to use it there, especially as that set has both items at level 72 for me and Boarding has one part at 72 and the other at 62.

I’ve been lucky at the birds GPM in the last couple months but got absolutely nothing good from the Arena GPM in quite a while. That informs my Arena strategy too as I have no mythic emblems and my Valliant is level 62. So my banner is a bit over 42K health. I realized that I regularly battle teams with banners at 51K+ health when I though they were lower. So I hope the Arena GPM yields something good for me soon…

[angryde]

@pixelyzed

I understand where you’re coming from re: Chuck and Blues. However, because I’m a fan of the UP approach… I try to make my set-up “just strong enough,” if that makes any sense..?

I’m having great success ATM with a (E0 L62) Valiant Head + (E0 L62) Valiant Tapestry + (71) Drain Life/Vampiric. HP 28744.

Bird(s) and set(s) wise I’m using –

Wizard – L70 M65 – Last Will (E0 L72 + E0 L62)
Capt’n – L70 M62 – Gladiator’s Punch (E0 L62 + E0 L62)
Spies – L70 M65 – Cheater (E0 L72 + E0 L62)

This gives me an overall “Power” of 3190. That’s a tad high for my liking but — with some fiddling and persistence — my opponents tend to level-out at around 2900 – 3250.

Anything around that range is soundly beatable… and FAST! (we love that!)

The combo of abilities + bonuses with these birds/sets is great… I’m a huge fan.

So, I’m not entirely opposed to the forbidden/instant death combo of Chuck/Blues! XD

[Anonymous]

One of my teams is very close to yours –

(E10 L52) Valiant Head + (E10 L62) Valiant Tapestry + (E10 72) Mythic Shroud

Wizard – L70 M66 – Mana Shell (E5 L72 + E5 L72) (best all around set in the game, imo)
Elite Pirate – L70 M62 – Gladiator’s Punch (E5 L62 + E5 L62)
Elite Skulkers – L70 M62 – Cheater (E5 L62 + E5 L62)

Total power of 4328, only I seldom get teams with a lower power than mine and routinely get opponents over 5k when I run this. Not usually a problem though.
Turn 1 – Pirate’s Arrr! + Skulker’s Tricksy Trick on himself + Golden Chili on Chuck = a lot of dead birds. Even with the damage reduction from Mythic Emblems at least one bird still dies with the other two at half life.

And I’m not sure when they bumped Gladiator’s Punch from 30% to 50% additional damage, but I’m not complaining.

[Anonymous]

Really depends on your style of play, but if I had to pick one class per bird –

Red – Paladin
Chuck – Wizard
Matilda – Witch
Bomb – Pirate
Blues – Spies

These are all around picks. Some classes will fare much better in certain situations. For example, in Arena I opt for Skulkers and Rogues over Spies.
I actually started playing when ABE first launched (back when mastery was broken up into bronze, silver and gold) and played the majority of the game with Paladin, Wizard and Druid. Well versed in RPG’s I opted for the mundane Warrior, Wizard, Healer combo. However, with all of the updates since then I’m not sure this would even still be a viable team.

[Pointless]

@pixelyzed I am a firm believer that Matilda, Witch especially in this case, is really only on a Team for healing. Playing Valiant, the only healing worth the effort of a turn is on the Banner. Why not make this the best it can be by using Sweet? Really, using Bones, the counter provides huge attack opportunities with its retribution, especially coupled with Resurrect. I will actually self-KO Chuck sometimes with a suicidal attack simply because I know the counter with Capt’n/Finisher will be worth it. I find that upon a Rage, there is usually not a heal that I am desperate for, so Lastong Song is really moot.

[pixelyzed]

@pointless I no longer have Sweet so that is not a choice for me right now. I haven’t gotten it from the GPM in ages and mine were underpowered. I have a L62 (both) Lasting Song set (E10 on both) and a L72 (both) Nature’s Blessing set (E9/E7) so I make do and now use that mostly in the Arena. And indeed, I only heal the Banner with Witch. But I disagree with you on Lasting Song, at equal level and Enchantment, I’d still go with Lasting Song over Sweet.

The only reason I don’t use my Bones set more is that it’s a L62/L72 mixed set with the L72 part at low enchantment. I have much stonger sets and I now use Reset most of the time. When I get enough shards, they’ll be going to Bones first unless I get L72 Valliant replacements beforehand. Bones was my main Chuck set in the Arena for a long time.

@angryde As I told Pointless before, I have more of a brute force approach ;) My main Arena team at this time is:

Witch: L70 M68 with Nature’s Blessing L72 E9 / L72 E7 (power 761)
Pirate: L70 M65 with Finisher L72 E10 L71 E10 (power 995)
Tricksters: L70 M67 with Ballista L72 E10 L72 E10 (power 905)

I often switch Tricksters for Palladin L70 M64 with Dragon L72 E10 L62 E10 (power 854)

Banner: Valliant L62 E10 head and L62 E10 tapestry with usually Thorn Wall or Vampiric L71 E6 (power 2367) health 42144 (I really miss Resurrection right now…)

Whole team power of 5028 with Tricksters and 4977 with Palladin and I meet teams ranging from usually power 4200 to 5700 and I rarely get 3 losses but I really don’t grind much anymore and it happens I got 3 losses quickly after completing my objectives today. So that’s that… ;)

[Pointless]

@pixelyzed I will agree Reset is an absolute pain to play against, but hit Chuck and he is down, no Reset, whereas hitting Chuck/Bones is very painful, especially with a Bomb/ Finisher in the lineup.
I do see your point on Lasting Song, but as I have L72/E10 Sweet, there really is no comparison on my end.

[pixelyzed]

@pointless Agreed on Bones. When I get my Bones set’s enchantment back up, it will be used in the Arena again :)

[angryde]

@pixelyzed I fully understand what you’re saying about brute force… but, interestingly, I’m using that approach too. The team I’ve described attacks the banner 100% of the time — except, of course, when “Last Will” triggers — and 95% of my battles are easy 3*. There is no fussing, no tactics. As I’ve said previously, I got over the slow-and-steady defensive approach (after using “Venomous” for so long). I wanted a faster and less resource greedy approach; so, I modified my old UPUD strategy slightly. Lol. I go UP because I’m primarily interested in avoiding any unnecessary LC spend. With my approach, I use what I spin, unenchanted… and this frees me up to “waste” LCs on boosting my PvE stuff.