Alt decisions

[AjiBuster499]

I have a main now (Ruina for life ;D) but I've encountered a small issue.

Since for the most part I duo with a friend, there are times he can't login (good example is recently because of holidays) and I'm stuck with nothing to do on my Ruina. Thus, I'm in need of looking for an alt. I have 12 capped characters and 8 more to finish leveling so I'd like suggestions on potential alts based on my preferences below:

• I want a strong class that can do decent damage but is still very much able to survive
• I want something that's about middle on the difficulty scale
• Strong burst would be nice but I can handle some continuous dps classes
• A class that can still put out good damage with bad gear, since this Alt will be (most likely) less geared than my Ruina.
• This is subjective but looks flashy
• I do melee best but as long as I'm not super far from the boss I'll be fine

my current list of characters that I can recall off the top of my head:

1. 95s
   1. Gladiator
   2. Reaper
   3. Arch Heretic
   4. Destroyer
   5. Sniper
   6. Saint
   7. Inquisitor
   8. Light Bringer
   9. Dragoon
   10. Defensio
   11. Oracle Elder
2. 85 Dark Avenger
3. 73 Dark Summoner
4. 70 Guardian
5. 5 Kali (to be Spirit Dancer)
6. 4 Warrior (to be Lunar Knight)
7. 1 Silver Hunter
8. 1 Assassin (to be Abyss Walker)
9. 1 Tinkerer (to be Shooting Star)

I can delete any of the low levels for others since they've gone nowhere and can easily use their spot for another class.

Suggestions?

[MomoeNagisa]

Based on the classes you have, I recommend Reaper/Abyss Walker the most. There are quite a number of other classes in this list that fit the description too, but here are some quick thoughts:

Reaper -- Survivable (big self-heal), strong, and mobile. It's melee down to the fisticuffs and has good consistent DPS. The fire effects are beautiful and Reapers have also been viable for a long time. Overall very versatile.

Abyss Walker -- Survivable (mini-heal that can be shared to allies), strong, mobile, and also very bursty. It has a number of big skills, and can bounce throughout the air like it does throughout the meta. Just kidding, but seriously this class had its fair share of ups and downs in the past. Nowadays it's quite a fun and mobile class, though it's more mid-ranged than melee.

Gladiator -- I think this could be another good option. This is a strong melee class with a lot of i-frames and must utilize them correctly to survive. It's incredibly popular (for good reason) and has also been strong historically, so typically you can't go wrong with it. Coup is also very flashy -- even if you're not the most geared, you'll always see the chunk of damage dealt by it.

Others: Dragoon (awakening soon!) and Spirit Dancer (super flashy) are also strong melee options from your list. Arch Heretic is an option too, but as it is a transform class, it won't be able to class-change if you're looking to make a swap.

Also, have you also considered having a healer or a tank as your primary alt? It'd give you the ability to fill roles as you need them, which can make some difficult party compositions work out.

[Frikinhel]

I would also throw Oracle Elder into the mix for 'others', she's a very fun character to have as an alt. Flash Tempest is a powerful and flashy skill.

I also agree that opting for a class like healer is a good idea, everyone loves a healer. You should no problem joining a PUG party of lesser-geared randoms with this kind of character.

[AjiBuster499]

Based on the classes you have, I recommend Reaper/Abyss Walker the most. There are quite a number of other classes in this list that fit the description too, but here are some quick thoughts:

Reaper -- Survivable (big self-heal), strong, and mobile. It's melee down to the fisticuffs and has good consistent DPS. The fire effects are beautiful and Reapers have also been viable for a long time. Overall very versatile.

Abyss Walker -- Survivable (mini-heal that can be shared to allies), strong, mobile, and also very bursty. It has a number of big skills, and can bounce throughout the air like it does throughout the meta. Just kidding, but seriously this class had its fair share of ups and downs in the past. Nowadays it's quite a fun and mobile class, though it's more mid-ranged than melee.

Gladiator -- I think this could be another good option. This is a strong melee class with a lot of i-frames and must utilize them correctly to survive. It's incredibly popular (for good reason) and has also been strong historically, so typically you can't go wrong with it. Coup is also very flashy -- even if you're not the most geared, you'll always see the chunk of damage dealt by it.

Others: Dragoon (awakening soon!) and Spirit Dancer (super flashy) are also strong melee options from your list. Arch Heretic is an option too, but as it is a transform class, it won't be able to class-change if you're looking to make a swap.

Also, have you also considered having a healer or a tank as your primary alt? It'd give you the ability to fill roles as you need them, which can make some difficult party compositions work out.

Going down your list here:

1. Reaper. Was my main in 93 cap because I loved killing things with a kick (rip Flaming Locust Downkick 200% > 100%). Awakening is hype for me because Beast Swipe is so cool, but I have a few problems with my skill crests (I used free expansion and have some skill crests in there that I want out to place in my main 4 but forget to save DNP up to get a 7day to remove them Q_Q). Also I need to get a more solid ulti filler rotation back. Flaming Locust days were so much easier but Reaper's been on my mind for a while.
2. Abyss Walker. I like the OP burst to it (although for some reason I have this distaste for too much OP), but mine's at level 1 and I REALLY HATE leveling. If I can get myself hyped enough for it one weekend though I'll grind during xp event.
3. Gladiator. So mesmerizing. I love it. But I suck at it. It has a lot of good defensive capabilities but they're not as... how to say this... as active (bad verb but I mean like not as there in the open as say Machina Bubble *COUGH OP DEFENSE BUFF COUGH*) as Ruina, and most of it comes from iframes which, except for Parry's i-frame (which I instinctively click instead of letting parry... parry.) I fail to time right. But I always get hyped watching glads be glads.
4. Dragoon. I wouldn't actually attempt to make it my primary alt until awakening *cough headbutt and RAINBOW POWA cough* xd but it's strong. I really dislike the look of the Neris gear on her though. Then again, I don't like the look of Neris gear on many female characters.
5. Spirit Dancer. I watched a vid of a SD doing her thing and it was soo cool, but similar issue to AW, there's no xp event going and I really don't like grinding, even with xp event. Once weekend comes around and I can nolife for a day with xp event I might get a capped SD.
6. Arch Heretic. I really only have this one leveled to cap because I was like "Hey, I see literally no AH around these days. I wonder why nobody plays them that much." So I leveled one, and it was fun, until I got bored of rotation.
7. Healer/Tank. I do have Saint and LB leveled up, but Saint does zero damage (aka nothing gets cleared) if you misplace relics, and LB is just kinda funky to play for me. I was in the process of leveling a Guardian, but it's damage was so bad I got bored q_q.
8. Oracle Elder. I really don't know why I stopped playing her. It was an interesting class. *thinks* *a little later* Oh yeah, their SA was terribad. iirc that's getting fixed next patch so I might see about OE again once SA buff comes for her. It's really sad when you get stopped in Sharp Hurricane spam because your SA broke for no reason Q_Q.

When I login today I'll check out my Reaper and see what I can do about those skill crests. And once XP event comes during a weekend I'll level up my SD and AW (in that order xd). If you have any suggestions about countering my faults with my list of potential alts please reply here . I'm also open to hearing about other prospects for my primary alt.

[MomoeNagisa]

1. IIRC, I think you can still remove/recover locked skill crests (just not locked talismans).
2. Yeah..AW burst is really strong, but it is it's own disadvantage that it's very heavily weighted into one long, lingering skill. Cast your ult at the wrong time, and the boss's next ability might just be dashing a screen away...or maybe going invulnerable to do a mech... there's actually a bit of knowing each boss's patterns involved with this. It's still going to take practice, so let's not call it OP quite yet ^^
3. Glad will be a bit of work to learn itself, but do make sure you get the nest mechs down ahead of time (find out which frames deal damage -- best way to find out is by getting hit lol). From there on, you can start optimizing with your class's i-frames (there's a list of them somewhere in the PVP section, if you end up choosing this class and need the TL;DR version).
4. Fair enough. And while Neris can be ugly, I think this can be worked around -- you can always get a costume to cover it up (thanks to the greatness that is DNP)!
5. Hmm, another option is you can drop 5 days of DNP coupons on an exp scroll if waiting starts to suck :P
6. Yeah, I don't know why we don't see many AHs. The other day, though, a very strong AH dropped into one of my parties and opened my eyes to how powerful the class really is... But then again, the class does have its downsides. Aside from being unable to class-change, having the Cleric buff as your party buff skill means you'll be at a slight disadvantage when partying with other Clerics (due to having fewer unique party buffs) -- and not surprisingly, Saint is a popular healer and Guardian is a popular tank. Luckily, you can party with non-Cleric alternatives, such as Light Bringer as healer, etc.
7. As an alt healer/tank, you can go pretty mule-y and not worry about your damage in nests. As lame as that sounds, you don't always need the maximum-sized heals to be useful, etc. (If you're doing end-game raiding, then it's a different story, but for everything else involving a party, you should be able to manage)
8. Hmm, I can't say much about Oracle Elder's SA, but if I'm not misunderstanding, you generally need to be hit (or electrocuted by a wild Ignacio) to have your SA broken. I'd just work on learning nest mechs for now, because https://i.imgflip.com/221pug.jpg

Overall I think a lot of the faults can be overcome by just practicing the nests you want to beat more. Once you get more comfortable with the mechs, then you can start doing the cool stuff. Good luck with the leveling later on though! Reaper seems like a fitting option for your criteria but I do still think any of those other classes can work out too!