What is the best DPS class in long run???Follow

Necromancer, if you want to solo.
Berserker, if you will group alot.
Rogue, if you will group alot with a good tank.
Wizard, if you plan on getting enough good gear to put you on par with a Necromancer who can DPS naked.

I am a little biased since I know that Necromancers can solo anything in the game that does not summon even things 10 levels higher.

I have been playing since Dec 99 and have played every class in just about every zone. DPS is something to be considered only when sustained healing cannot be maintained.

Meaning, If you are in a group, pulling single mobs, and resting and medding after every single mob, then yes, DPS is important. This is because if you cannot DPS a mob down fast enough, you already know your healing wont sustain you past a minute and you will die. If your group makeup is healer heavy and your DPS is lighter, then your group can often do a full chain pull rotation with having mezzed mobs nearby ready to engage the second the previous mob is dead. In this case, DPS is not so critical because however long it takes your team to kill a mob, you will still be able to sustain healing and not need down time to med.

When I am pulling for a exp group, I base the rate that I pull the mobs on the healers ability to keep up with the tank; NOT the DPS ability of the group. Years ago when mana pools were tiny, and clerics thought that drinking ales would regen their mana faster, there was a lot of down time regardless of the DPS the group had.

An enchanter, however, isn't at all a DPS class.

Also, I disagree that enchanters are not useful in grp situations anymore. Although it is generally true that they are not considered a DPS class, I find it very refreshing when i am pulling that I dont have to worry about splitting two mobs and I dont have to kite circles around one until my mez sticks. With an enchanter in group setting I can keep melee songs loaded and go full grp dps mode leaving the mezzing to the enchanter.

It makes pulling faster, makes for less down time, and adds survivability to the group, all for the tradeoff of some raw dps that may have been in the grp had the enchanter not been there.

So enchanters being far from the top of the 'best DPS' list, are also far from useless.

While your DPS is impressive, certainly, and you do make a good case for the Wizard soloing capability, one caveat: Wizards cannot solo summoners. You nuke a summoner that's high enough to actually give you experience, it will be the first and last shot you get in that fight.

Magicians, because of the durability of their pets, can solo summoners. Enchanter can also solo summoners because they can hide behind a charmed mob which will easily out DPS any pet.

The BEST dps class is ranger, but rogues and berserkers generally do MORE dps.
And hello beastlords and monks, both pretty good at reducing mob hp.

Of course I'm somewhat biased but....

Dayum! Must have been suffering from rez effects when I posted that =(

This is not the dps class you're looking for, move along.

Edited, Jul 22nd 2008 12:12pm by Donbayne

The devs have done an appropriately decent job at balancing classes when it comes to the 'Best DPS Class' question. It mostly comes down to how you play, how quick/snappy/alert you are, and how versatile you are.

I have seen monks that are amazingly good pullers/splitters but are relatively less than optimal DPS. I have seen the exact reverse in some monks also. They pound the snot out of mobs but if they have more than 1-2 targets or adds they are not in their happy zone.

Same thing almost with Beastlords, Beserkers, Rogues, Rangers, (Enchanters)etc. Each class by itself is fine, but it comes down to the player and his skill and adaptability and quickness as picking up the ball when it is dropped somewhere by some unforseen event.

Sitting in front of a mob and popping a random AA or disc with auto-attack on is only marginally effective if the player cannot adjust to the current situation. Not only following orders from the raid or group leader, but also taking care of things, within their scope of 'do-ability' without having to be told.

Amazingly good tanks are very often frustrated by those lesser-attentative tank players who just sit there, expect to maintain aggro, be healed, and do nothing else.

Often 'DPS' is not the key to winning an event. Often it is add control, timing, player /say or move interaction, and assisting other key classes. In fact, too much DPS on a mob will trigger additional adds before the raid is ready to handle them. This is especially true for mobs that split into multiple smaller mobs. If you kill several mothers, you have a ba-zillion babbies to deal with and that just kills off your healers and enchanters.

Players who continually dmg a mob when told to stop DPS are heavily sworn at by other raid members/leaders hehe....

Sometimes a tanking class will be put on 'Enchanter protection' simply standing near an Enchanter or whomever waiting to draw away any aggro that they get by doing their assigned role.

Chanter isnt a DPS class???? Check your sources..maybe most enchanters dont try to be a dps class but when the initiative is taken by one they can sore to the top of the parse easily. Without charmed pet and using only summoned pet and really trying to dps my enchanter has done 70k to 100k damage on a single mob at about 1200 DPS in crystallos. Thats with max DoT crit/damage AA..Mana resurgance on, and max DD crit AA's. NOW if i was to add a charmed pet with haste to that figure...do the math. So im gonna have to disagree with you on enchanters not being a DPS class. Maybe if you just sit there thumbin it, casting haste, clarity, and tashin stuff (slacking) I own a parser and I see who does DPS. Chanters are DPS gods with charmed pet, and just to make you think a little more, how much dps you think a chanter adds just hasting a group of melee or mana resurging a nuker??

/bow
My public loves me. /wave
/bow

I am very disappointed that the Beastlord class has rarely been mentioned. A Beastlord is not only a dps class, mostly because of his warder. In addition, can slow, snare(pet AA and/or spell), dot, dd.

All I'm saying is that the Beastlord should be in this conversation of dps.

Our best BL in our guild happens to also do the most DPS in most raid dps/melee encounters. This is the case because of his skill playing the BL class, his attentiveness and awareness of spells, aa's, and auras going on around him, and his AA count.

He positions himself in optimal melee range depending on the mob we are fighting. I see him cycling expertly through his aa's during a fight, and keeping every tool he has, so to speak, sharp and rdy for battle.

True, Beastlords are usually not considered the top of the best DPS mtn, but its how you play and your passion for efficiency. For him it keeps him at the top of our GUild parsing. We dont have any beserker mains, and our rogue mains seem to be on and off. Our monk leaders are fine, but somehow the BL tops them all.

So this all means to me that HOW and HOW OFTEN you play is far more important than WHAT class you play when considering the best dps among all classes. If your play style doesnt match the strengths of the class then change to a class that you can be efficient and accurate and precise with. (If you are trying to maximize dps)

Many times, like I mentioned before, DPS just isnt that important. In some raid situations, and often in most group situations. Especially in guild groups. We often joke around and waste time goofing off instead of 100% precision and efficiency.

Heck, last night our raid leader was heading up an 'after-hours' event in Crystallos. In between waiting for a spire respawn he says "Everybody invis and wait, I am going to try something"
We are all silent and confused a bit when all of a sudden 12 mobs attack the camp and wipe us all. 20 mins later, and after lots of jokes about lemmings and the next time 'he wants to try something', we got back to clearing mobs.

So goofing off for a 20 min rez and recovery is the epitome of non-efficiency. But it was fun and most of us laughed at the sillyness of it. So play a class you want to have fun with, and can play well, that matches your play style. You will always be more DPS, more efficient, more better of a player.

Here is the most recent parse from the orc in solteris for my guild.



We are a "dps heavy" guild. And as you can see by the top 21 people here (out of a full 54 man raid), that the top dps melee classes by far are rogues and zerkers, followed by monks, rangers, and beastlords.

The top dps caster classes are wizards and necros. There are NO other casters on the list above. Sorry, no chanters in the top 20.


Quoted for truth and emphasis

By the way, I am #18 on that parse, and I still have a couple lines of dps aa's to fill, including Lightning Strikes, which I am working on now.