Overview of Races, Classes, and Sub-Classes of Aion Online - The Tower of Eternity

Races
There are two playable races in Aion: The Tower of Eternity. These are the Elyos and the Asmodians if you have not already seen them.

The Elyos live in Elysium, the lower half of Atreia. After the Epic Cataclysm, they ended up on the surface exposed to bountiful amounts of sun light. Over the 750 years that have passed, their bodies have transformed into a marvel of beauty. This result has caused the Elyos to become arrogant and believe that they are blessed by Aion, whereas the Asmodians are cursed in darkness. Their main traits consist of being friendly and comforting amongst one another. Once Daeva, Elyos are blessed with angelic wings.

The Asmodians live in the cold and dark regions of the world hidden from sun light. After 750 years, their bodies have transformed significantly. The nails on their hands and feet have turned into claws, their skin has been drained of its flesh color, and they have grown a small mane on their backs for warmth in their desolate environment. Unlike the Elyos, they do not feel blessed and are aware of their daunting history. However, when the opportunity presents itself, the Asmodians will not hesitate to show their loyalty and pride for their own kind. Once Daeva, Asmodians are blessed with black wings.

Classes
Once you have chosen your race, the next step is to decide on your class. There are four main classes in Aion and then each class has two sub-classes (which will be discussed later on). The four main classes in Aion are the Warrior, Scout, Priest, and Mage. Each will be broken down below:

Warrior: Warriors can wear up to chain armor from levels 1 to 10 and then up to plate armor afterwards. This grants them with the most physical defense in the game. Warriors use polearms, greatswords, swords, and maces as their primary weapons. They can also use shields. Out of all four classes, Warriors are the only class meant to tank. Throughout leveling, no matter which sub-class you choose, Warriors learn the most abilities to mitigate damage. In addition to their physical defense, this makes it no question which class should be tanking. Below, I will go over both sub-classes for the Warrior, as they are not both for simply tanking.

Scout: Scouts can wear up to leather armor and use swords, daggers, and bows as their primary weapons. Scouts, unlike Warriors (excluding Stigmas), can dual-wield weapons. Scouts also are incredibly evasive, which gives them some tanking capabilities, but not much since their mitigation is very poor. Regardless of the sub-class you choose, Scouts are meant to deal damage without being the focus of their target's hate. The majority of a Scout's abilities is based around stealthed DPS and long ranged DPS.

Priest: Priests can wear up to leather armor from levels 1 to 10 and then up to chain armor afterwards. They use maces and staffs as their primary weapons. They also are the only other class, other than Warriors, to be able to use a shield. This grants them the ability to be the second best tanking class in the game, but I would hardly call them a tank. Their armor and shield is more for survival, as Priests are the only class able to heal and that paints a large bull's-eye on their chest. As such, Priests are one of the most useful classes in the game since most any scenario requires a healer. The Priest sub-classes are mainly to tilt the scale either towards healing or damage dealing.

Mage: Mages can wear only cloth armor and use spell books and orbs as their primary weapons. Mages are the most fragile class in the game but they can deal the most burst damage by a long shot. When going all out, Mages sometimes can simply one-shot another player if they get lucky hits. It is because of this reason that they are so fragile. Mages do get abilities for crowd controlling, a root ability to get away from opponents, and a snare ability to keep distance, but once someone catches up with them they are in trouble.

Now that you have been introduced to the four main classes of Aion, I will now cover each class' sub-classes. Sub-classes can be chosen at Level 9 after completing your Ascension quest. Upon reaching Level 9, you are automatically given the Ascension quest. The quest typically takes under 10 minutes to complete and will give you up to 99.9% of your experience for the level, maxing out your experience bar. Upon reaching Level 9, immediately begin your Ascension quest and do not take any actions to gain experience otherwise.

Sub-Classes
Once you complete your Ascension quest, you are simply asked which sub-class to choose. The following are Aion's sub-classes:

Warrior
Gladiator: Gladiators are the DPS side of the Warrior class. Gladiators use either polearms or greatswords as their primary weapon (can also dual-wield through the use of a Stigma) and are masters of close-ranged melee through pure strength. The bulk of their abilities are for dealing high amounts of melee damage and to stun their opponent. However, their ability to wear plate armor grants them with high amounts of physical defense. This, combined with the fact that two-handed weapons have high amounts of parry, allows them to be suitable tanks despite not using a shield. Are Gladiators able to tank raid content or hard named? No, not likely. Can Gladiators tank in 75% of tanking situations? Most definitely. Gladiators can keep high threat through their damage, but they do have the ability to taunt as early as Level 10. I personally play a Gladiator, and combined with the fact that I play along with a Cleric, we are near unstoppable in most scenarios.

Templar: Templars are the pure tanks of the Warrior class and of the entire game really. Templars use swords or maces as their primary weapon and a shield to go along with it. They are masters at building threat and mitigation. There isn't much to say about the class other than what I've already stated, but I will say that if your goal for your character is to tank in all situations and be able to handle incoming damage the best, then the Templar is for you.

Scout
Assassin: Assassins are the masters of stealthed DPS. They are just as they sound. The primary weapons for Assassins are daggers and swords. The bulk of their abilities revolve around stealthing, applying poisons to their weapons, and disabling their opponent through stuns. If an Assassin draws the attention of an opponent, they are the most evasive class in the game which makes them incredibly hard to hit with most abilities. Assassins are also the best at parsing high DPS over a duration, making them appeal to many people. If you enjoy playing rogues or assassins in other games, enjoy stealthing, and enjoy doing damage, then an Assassin is what you are looking for.

Rangers: Rangers are the long-ranged masters of physical damage. Their primary weapon is a bow, although they use swords and daggers for melee. Rangers, unlike most other games, are entirely dependent on keeping their opponent at a long distance. They use traps and snare abilities to do so. When playing a Ranger solo, the main form of killing each mob is through kiting. Unlike WoW, where Hunters had pets, Rangers do not. Rangers, however, are experts with the bow and can deal large amounts of damage. If you enjoy kiting, launching arrows from a distance, and using lots of tactics to defeat your opponent, then the Ranger class will be enjoyable for you.

Priest
Chanter: Chanters are the DPS version of the Priest class. The actual difference between Chanters and Clerics is not significant, but significant enough to make some people choose one over the other. Chanters use staffs as their primary weapon, but can also use a mace and shield, and have the most buff abilities out of any class. They are built for two-handed melee, but can still heal effectively. As they advance, their statistics are shifted more towards defense, survivability, and HP. Similar to the Gladiator's tanking abilities, Chanters can main heal most situations in the game. However, when it comes to tough areas or raids, they simply cannot manage. If you want to play a healing class in Aion but do not want to be stuck as a class that deals little damage, then the Chanter would be a perfect choice.

Cleric: Clerics, quite simply, are the main healing class of the game. They have the best and most versatility when it comes to healing abilities and are sought after for most groups. They use a mace as a primary weapon and a shield in their off-hand. This grants them great survivability when their healing draws too much attention. Clerics also receive a short duration roots and stuns to temporarily create distance between their opponents. If you want to play the best healer in the game, then play a Cleric.

Mage
Sorcerer: Sorcerers are built to DPS. Their primary weapon is either a spellbook or an orb. Sorcerers are long-ranged magic damage dealers and they can do so with fury. As a Sorcerer reaches higher levels, they have some tremendous damage dealing abilities. Sorcerers also have in their possession lots of crowd control abilities. However, they are incredibly vulnerable and have very low amounts of HP. They do have absorption shield buffs which absorb a large amount of damage before it dissipates, but they have little to no physical defense (excluding the Plate Stigma). If Sorcerers can keep distance between their opponents, they are deadly. If they cannot, they are dead. If you enjoy having an arsenal of nukes and dealing high burst damage, then the Sorcerer will be your favorite class.

Spiritmaster: Spiritmasters are the pet class in the game. They are the only class able to have a pet. Spiritmasters primarily use a spellbook or an orb as their weapon. As the only pet class, they rely on their pets to help them defeat their opponents. Spiritmasters use 4 main pets who's abilities all vary. The key to using the pets is figuring out the situation and deciding quickly on which pet would work best. Other than having pets, a Spiritmaster is very similar to a Sorcerer. The differences are that they also rely on the use of DoT's, whereas Sorcerers rely more on simply nuking their opponent down and kiting. Spiritmasters do have the advantage over Sorcerers when it comes to soloing. If you want to be a nuking class but want more in your arsenal than just high powered nukes, then a Spiritmaster will probably fit best.

After reading this guide, you should now have a much greater understanding of Aion's races, classes, and sub-classes. I hope that this will help you better decide on which race and which class to play when the game goes live in September.

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By: Aradhana Gupta