Lineage 2 Best Class - Min-max your Way Towards Greatness

Lineage 2 Best Class

Welcome to our Lineage 2 guide. In this one, we will try to bring you closer to picking your Lineage 2 Best Class that will do some amazing things in PvP. When it comes to PvE, as long as you find a good party, there’s no possibility of going wrong with a class of your choice. Thus we will look purely at the PvP aspect of classes, as this is most likely the most important part of the game that brings the most joy. Be it sieges or just casual PvP duels, it’s a very important part of Lineage 2, and a very enjoyable experience. 

First, we will talk to new players that have never played Lineage 2, or are curious about what this wonderful game has to offer. We will tell you why exactly you shouldn’t consider min-maxing your first character, and that you should create that one special character that you want to be. For example, in World of Warcraft, if I wanted to feel noble, proud and powerful, I would choose a Human, Night Elf, or Blood Elf, instead of a Gnome or a Goblin. And liking your first character, maybe even roleplaying as them, can turn even a bad game into a wonderful experience that is worth remembering. And since Lineage 2 is an amazing game, this can be a very interesting journey if you are able to commit. And it’s very easy to commit to something that you like to see grow. 

If you are quite experienced in Lineage 2, and you are interested in just checking out the best classes so you can min-max your character, feel free to use our Table of Contents to skip to a point in our guide that could interest you, stranger.

Creating your First Character

Your first character is an issue of its own. Choose right, and you will fall in love with the game. Choose wrong, and the whole game will seem tedious and pointless. How to make the best choice possible? What credentials should you take into account when you are figuring who your first character is? Why should you go for something you like in the beginning, rather than choosing the best choice possible metagame-wise? We will answer these questions right here, in this section. Feel free to skip it if you are interested in min-maxing. But if you are a fresh player, we advise against it.

How to choose your character?

Picking the right race and class can easily be the most important thing about an MMORPG that will keep you playing for hours on time. Truth is, if you play a certain character for a very long time, you might notice that the end-result is not really what you like to look at. It is a huge problem in MMORPG genre, as creating a character that you don’t like playing can completely pull you away from the experience. It is why we will start with this spectrum of choice, and what you should take into consideration.

Race Specifics

Race Stats - race is a very important thing in Lineage 2. Picking a wrong race will lock you away from certain class progressions. Each race can be aesthetically bad-looking for you, and there are some special properties that some of you min-maxers might consider as a valuable choice for your character. There are 6 races in the game currently, and it doesn’t appear to be that there’s going to be more of them in the future. Each race has access to a certain spectrum of classes, additional stats, and properties. 

Humans are your generic race that are quite balanced when it comes to statistics. No special abilities, but they can transfer to the largest amount of classes.

Elves can jump from higher places safely and hold their breath for much longer when they are underwater. Additionally, their attacks, spell casts, and movement are much quicker than other races, and their ranged marksmanship skills are incomparable to others. However, they lack in strength and pure melee power.

Dark Elves similarly to Elves can jump from higher places and hold their breath for a longer period of time. They are not as fast as normal Elves, instead they dabble in pure power. STR and INT statistics are much, much higher. Dark Elf is a good investment for pure PvP damage.

Orcs are strong and powerful, resistant to various negative effects like poisons and sicknesses. Their physical strength is out of this world, same with their HP and MP pools. They are also quite fast when it comes to recovering from their wounds. What they lack is speed, movement, attack, and casting speed, as they are underwhelmingly slow. They are also less proficient in evading attacks and marksmanship.

Dwarves are the true masters of any craftsmanship. They are also really strong and harsh. Their inventory is considerably bigger than inventories of other classes, and their movement is less hindered by being over encumbered.

Kamaels, where to even start with this race. Similar to elves, but a little bit more manly, also - they are born with a single wing at their backs, which is amazing. These guys have an affinity towards darkness, they can debuff their enemies, or buff themselves with dark magic, consuming souls of enemies to fuel their own skills. Most of their skills require souls to cast so they get more powerful the longer the fight lasts. 

Race Looks - you should really consider the looks for your race+class if you want to play an MMORPG for a longer time. You are going to spend countless of hours looking at your screen and your created character in the middle of it. There’s no point in looking at something that you don’t like. If you don’t like the look of a character there’s no reason for you to play in a constant agony, that your character isn’t sexy or manly enough. You want to play as a tank, but you don’t like the look of Orcs who have an increased HP Pool and are resistant to some negative effects? Dark Elves, and even Humans will make amazing tanks. Don’t lock yourself away from an enjoyable experience, just because you want to focus on being the strongest, as even a low tier race+class combination can completely wreak havoc even in top-tier PvP at the highest possible level. 

Class Specifics

Class & Weapons - weapon choice is all about looks, and your feelings about the weapon that you are wielding. Of course, there are also some in-game characteristics like Attack Speed, Accuracy, Critical Chance, and Physical Attack. But the sheer feeling of a weapon is a huge deal for some people. Some players just like to see their character wielding a giant Two-Handed sword. Others want to feel like assassins and they will go for Dual Blades. And some just want to shoot enemies from a huge distance using a giant Bow. If you don’t want to min-max, and you want to go for Fashion Souls, you should just look for weapons that have a synergy with a certain race+class combination, and use them to please your eyes. 

Class Aesthetics - your chosen class will completely change the way you see your character. If you wanted to see yourself being a powerful warrior with huge criticals and a two-handed weapon, and you ended up choosing a Bishop, you might’ve made a small mistake. If you want to go for someone who can stand in a fight for a very long time, taking damage and outlasting your enemies, someone who will most likely be the last one alive on the battlefield, tanking more and more incoming damage, and you’ve chosen a squishy Abyss Walker, or an Assassin, you are going to jinx yourself. 

Do your research. Look at what the class is about in the midgame and endgame. Because your class might be extremely boring in the beginning but will get more and more enjoyable as you go up in levels. For example, I didn’t enjoy a Palus Knight in the beginning, Shillien Knight was a little bit better and things started to get interesting with various debuffs that you can cast on your enemies. And finally - when I Awakened my character into a Sigel Shillien Templar, it was just amazing to play as, and it was a very joyful experience of being this wonderful tank, that can also deal a lot of damage thanks to debuffs. However, they are not as sturdy as other tanks in the game due to their low Constitution, and they are prone to eat some hard Crowd Control before they reach max level. But they are extremely fun nonetheless. Same thing can happen to you with your Temple Knight for example.

Class Role - while this point is simple, it’s not really the case. In a game like Lineage 2, we can easily differ some roles in the beginning. Your first job class shapes your character into something, and over the next two jobs, and your Awakening, it evolves into various things that can completely change the way your character plays out. Your Human Warrior might go into two Jobs after you reach a certain level - Warlord or Gladiator. Warlord is an amazing class for group play due to multiple AoE damaging and crowd controlling, making them amazing PvP supports for mass PvP. However, they are quite lacking when it comes to Player Killing or 1v1 PvP fights. On the other hand, Gladiators will be absolutely amazing in 1v1 scenarios, but they will do poorly in mass PvP due to lack of crowd control abilities. 

Class Roles in PvP

In general you can single out a few roles. A Tank, Melee Damage Dealer, Archer, Nuker, and a Summoner (Healers don’t count):

Tank - a classic. Melee, deals some damage, defense, has some useful debuffs and CC depending on the class. If you want to be the so-called leader of your group that leads their party members into the fray and plays for the team. They can withstand a lot of damage, especially when they’ve got a healer on them. Tanks will do amazing against Archers, as heir debuffs and CC can take away the only advantage that they’ve got - range. Close the distance, and beat the hell out of them. They are, however, really weak against Nukers, unless their specific class allows them to somewhat counter their range, damage and CC, to close the distance and lock them down. They feel great to play, very similar to paladin class from other MMORPGs.

Melee Damage Dealer - they deal way more damage while being really squishy. They can deal with archers easily as long as they get a jump on them, as range is most likely one of the three things that can demolish them. The second one being Nukers for obvious reasons (range and damage advantage), and third one - stronger Melee Damage Dealers. Blade away in melee-based battles if that is your pick.

Archer - physical, ranged, high damage dealers, as they are so-called in other MMORPGs. They are very strong against Nukers, as their damage can be a little more persistent. They will however, do poorly against melee opponents, unless they are sure to stay away from slows and stuns.

Nuker - magic damage from afar. Lots of fire burst from a long range, lots of CC, and multiple debuffs. Crazily powerful against all melee classes, but consistent DPS from Archers will somewhat hinder their strengths. Their debuffs are truly devastating, and if you get hit by it, and you are melee, you better run. If you know what you are doing, opponents will drop faster than you imagine.

Summoner - this class is quite special. They won’t deal as much damage as Nukers, as they don’t have that many attack spells. However, thanks to their summoned creatures they will take less damage. They may transfer 50% of their damage taken into their summons, making them somewhat tankier, of course, at the cost of reduced damage in comparison to other classes. Respect their elder, whatever that means.

Best PvP Classes in Lineage II

It’s something that will surely interest you if you want to wreak havoc in PvP scenarios. In general, we can assume three PvP scenarios. 1v1 PvP, Mass/Group PvP, and Open World PKing. You might think “wait a second isn’t PKing just a 1v1 scenario?”. Well, yes, but actually no. You gotta look lower, beneath the surface.

1v1 is an agreement. Both parties know that they are going to beat each other until one of them falls. It’s a fight with a declaration in the beginning, that can be easily refused by one of the two parties. It’s that easy, it’s like signing a consent document, and you can just say “no”. The police will believe you anyway.

However, PKing is more like an Ambush. There’s a Hunter, and there’s his Prey. The prey doesn’t expect to be jumped on, which can be even worse, if you get jumped on by an Archer, who will just DPS you down from a huge distance, leaving you unable to retaliate properly, as they have a huge situational advantage from the beginning of the fight. When you get jumped on, all there’s left for you to do is just run, or fight back if you have some counter mechanic against the other class. In general, getting attacked out of nowhere puts you in a very stressful situation where you might be more prone towards panicking and making desperate decisions that are quite not the best ones for your current position. It’s even harder to stay calm, knowing that you have a chance of dropping an item when you die from a PK. 

It is why we will mainly focus on 1v1 and PK aspect of the game, with PK being way more important as you can gain a lot from it and lose tens of hours of progress due to dying from a PK as well. So here are the best classes for you to use, when it comes to roles.

Best PvP Tank - Dark Avenger

While this class sounds quite edgy, it’s crazily powerful. The most popular tank class, and for a very good reason. Their resistances and damage reduction are out of this world. This is the only Tanky class that isn’t helpless against Nukers, and the way it deals with Archers is just amazing. Archers will do close to nothing to a well-geared Dark Avenger. All that DA has to do, is cast a slow debuff, chase them down, and demolish them completely.

Nukers are still a problem, but DA is definitely the best melee class that can somewhat manage against a Nuker, when they get jumped on. DA’s insane resistances from Iron Will are not the only thing that makes them less prone to insta-losing this matchup. 

It is because there are also vampiric spells that will grant you a lot of healing at the cost of your opponent. Multiple slows from your debuffs will allow you to easily close the distance (hamstring debuff from example), so you can deal some damage. This class can also summon a Dark Panther, that will be somewhat helpful during PvP encounters.

As for PK, this class is better for surviving those, rather than engaging. Of course, you can always try to engage someone in Open World PvP with a PK, but you have to do it deceively. Running up to a player, directly at their position telegraphs your evil intent immediately. Range disadvantage is also quite discouraging from engaging in such shenanigans. But on the other hand, best PK class is also Melee, so it’s possible to be successful. You can deal a lot of damage and withstand even more, and your debuffs can really work wonders for you if you manage to get close before your enemy notices you. 

As for running away from PKs, the Dark Avenger won’t really have to do that, unless you were grabbing a toast or two from the kitchen when your enemy engaged on you, and you walked in on your DA being smashed at ½ hp. Now that’s a clear sign that you should jest GTFO ASAP. Use your slow debuffs, Drain Health, Shield Stun, and run like hell. If you are somewhat ready - you should be able to withstand some damage in the beginning and get close to dish out your damage to win the encounter. Just see how much damage you take before you can actually get to your enemy, and if it already seems unpleasant, and you know that you won’t be able to withstand the damage, just cast a debuff or two if you’ve got the range and back off. 

Best PvP Melee - Treasure Hunter

Where to start with these guys. If they come close to you, you are basically dead, especially when they attack you before you see them. And since they are melee, you would have to be really blind to not see them, but it can happen when you tunnel-vision yourself into grinding or some other stuff, without rotating your camera.

Treasure Hunter is definitely the most lethal Melee Damage Dealer out there. While they don’t have a lot of survivability, their pure damage output is astounding. They have got a bunch of natural stat increases to Critical Chance, Critical Power, their basic attack speed is increased by a passive buff that is active all the time, and they can quickly close the distance to their enemy with a Dash ability. All while wielding a sweet and sharp dagger. Sweet, but it's dangerous though.

They are experts at PKing when they get a jump on the enemy. However, if the tables are turned, and Treasure Hunter is the one to get some bashing without noticing the engagement (especially from range), their only way of “winning” is to survive by running away. Avoid direct contact, and run when you are spotted and attacked before you can get close enough to survive and kill your enemy. If you don’t, you will get your head bashed in.

But that’s not always the case. You see, Treasure Hunters can use bows, and they are pretty good at them. You can use those against ranged attackers (Physical Archers, or Magical Nukers), but most of the time you will use them against Nukers when you are about to get close to them, and they are using some hexes on you, trying to either lock you down or deal some devastating damage to discourage you from certain things. In this exact scenario, bows will be used to disrupt spell casts. You can really do some mess before you get closer, so your enemy isn’t able to retaliate properly, or prepare debuffs to shut you down before you can get closer. It will require some timing as well as some additional packaged luck, but it’s manageable.

Best PvP Phys. Ranged - Hawkeye

The weakest of the Avengers, but crazily strong in Lineage 2. You expected a Silver Ranger, huh? Hawkeye is truly amazing against Nukers thanks to their ability to quickly shut down any spell casts, to then proceed with devastating amounts of damage from range. At least in direct combat. In PK scenario, range initial range when someone deals damage will be crucial to the outcome.

It is because Hawkeye (human archer), can be devastating to those who can't get close to it. It is the reason why strong Melee player characters are a counter to all kinds of physical damage dealers. True, archers are powerful from range, and if they can keep their enemies at a distance, they will basically win every single encounter. And since melee damage dealers have some quick movements or slowing debuffs, Archers can be in real trouble.

Tanks will bring doom to Hawkeyes, most of the time. They can reduce the damage taken, cast debuffs from range, and deal some devastating damage up close and personal. Especially when it comes to Dark Avengers, as a good DA can nearly nullify the damage received from Hawkeye.

There's also one additional character who will do exceptionally well against HE. And it's Swordsinger. It's a very dangerous opponent for every Archer for two main reasons. They've got buffs similar to tanks, that will reduce the damage taken, and their songs grant them even better buffs like additional evasion and movement speed. They just have so many mechanics that will allow them to get close to an Archer without risking much in the process.

Best PvP Nuker - Necromancer

With no doubt - the best nuking mage like character in the entire game, at least when it comes to PvP and PKing. The only thing that holds them back is their range, but if they get close, you're in for a serious and a dangerous ride.

Necromancer basically has a free win card in their kit. We're talking about the Anchor skill. In 90% of cases, if this skill lands undisrupted, the PvP match is already decided, and even more so in a PK situation. Anchor completely paralyzes the victim, enabling Necro to cast quite a few pure damage spells. When the Anchor ends, Necromancer can cast Silence to prevent skill usage, and continue with their onslaught.

Of course, they won't do as good against Archers. Archers don't have to get close at all to deal damage, and since Anchor is a close-ranged spell, you can imagine how helpless Necromancer can be in a situation like that. Especially when a skillful Archer manages to interrupt all of the spellcasts.

What makes Necromancer even more special, is that they can summon a particular pet, that will share the health-bar with their master. Transfer Pain skill is not something that you should overlook. Being able to reduce the damage taken, to transfer it onto your pet until it dies is absolutely huge in any PvP scenario. You can stay alive for longer. And if you can stay alive for longer, you have more time to use your spells. And some of them will have vampiric capabilities, enabling you to stay alive for even longer.

Honorable Mention - Abyss Walker

One more class - Abyss Walker. Perfect class for those who prefer to go up close and personal, but like it more risky. It's a Melee Physical Damage Dealing class designed mainly for solo gameplay. This class uses light armor and a dagger, so you can imagine how it feels to play. Rogue character, with heavy elven hits, top-speed, heal won't helm against this class, he is most likely from an assassin clan, and this guy will follow you to murder you again. Nor you, nor some kind of revolution will be able to stop this man when he is in pursuit. Just like bladedancer, but better, that's why we recommended it.

This class will offer a fun gameplay for those who like to feel like an assassin. Abyss Walker will focus on remaining undetected, getting behind the enemy's back, and dealing devastating amounts of damage. Get detected before you are able to unleash your combo, and you will basically bite the dust in a blink of an eye. You don't get detected - there's a huge possibility that your target will die quickly, unless they are able to stun you or greatly reduce their damage taken. All thanks to their enormous damage coming from their outstanding Critical Power. They've also got it easy when it comes to getting close to enemies, due to their mobility, and Ultimate Evasion, enabling them to dodge some major hits.

Basically, the Abyss Walker is able to kill every class in the game effortlessly, with only problem being uber-tanks, and also some nukers, but only if they manage to have you in their line of sight, before you pick up the pace.

Summary

It is the end of this guide. We hope that we've helped you choose your future Lineage 2 class that will allow you to enjoy this game to its fullest. Please share this guide with your friends who also want to get into Lineage 2 seriously. And if you need some resources, or you are looking for some rare stuff - check out the auctions on our site, where you will be able to buy in-game stuff from real players just like you, maybe ones edited similarly to you! Join our community, increase our population, and trade away your in-game goods!