All character classes The Technomancer Guide
In this chapter you will find general information about classes / styles of combat: Guardian, Rogue, Warrior and Technomancer, coupled with description about how to fight and develop your character. Before you go to further chapters, you should read through the basic information.
Last update: 04 August 2016
In this chapter you will find information about the classes available in the game, otherwise known as "stances" because you can switch between them at any moment in the game. The best strategy is to focus on maximizing the effectiveness of a single class, or to focus on two of them but not more - otherwise your character, even after reaching the 30th level will be a little too weak. The Technomancer class isn't a separate "character class" - it's an additional electrical power used in combat. Different enemies have various resistances to the powers offered by it. Also, it uses Power points. This is why it's really hard to call it a separate class.
Each class has access to its own equipment based on basic attributes, primarily strength and dexterity. Because of that you must pay attention to the weapon associated with a specific style of combat if you are planning on playing with more than a single class. You won't be able to get rid of the weapon, you will be able to change it. Note that the equipment you aren't using (or you're not going to use at all) should be given to a companion that can make use of the said equipment.
When purchasing abilities and attributes you should be guided by the specificity of the class. It's not a good idea to, for instance, mix classes of Guardian and Rogue equally, mainly because of the equipment those classes use - Rogue uses dexterity to wield better daggers, whereas Guardian focuses on strength, allowing him to equip heavy weapons and thick armors.
Guardian
Guardian class is addressed to people that like a more defensive approach and like to focus on attack power instead of mobility. This is one of the easiest classes to play. A character of that class is equipped with a heavy weapon and a shield, the latter blocking all of the attacks and projectiles from firearms automatically (provided you hold the defense button). It won't, however, block energy-based attacks, poisons, or special attacks of heavier enemies and bosses (like charges).
A character of that class is the most effective against small groups of medium and heavy enemies, especially those that are powerful and not very mobile. Because of that you might have problems dealing with clusters of enemies and groups of larger foes that won't be affected by your shield.
A good method against a typical enemy is to perform 3x primary attacks + a shield attack when the enemy is trying to jump away. You can also block the counterattack of the enemy, but if you are fighting a single foe it's better to just simply overpower him quickly, instead of fighting with multiple enemies at the same time. After purchasing some of the abilities the shield can gain additional functions, like the area of effect attack.
While playing with that class you should be focusing on developing attack power of the character. You should also invest points into shield to increase the effectiveness of its attacks, and unlock additional weapon effects (electricity, knockdown). You will often fight with numerous enemies attacking you at the same time - performing a single attack without getting hurt in the process is quite a difficult feat to achieve.
While upgrading the weapon of your character try to maximize the disruption effect. This will allow your character to be a little more mobile, because when you achieve about 80% of that value you won't have to block basic attacks - you just have to attack enemies and their attacks will be interrupted. Secondly, invest similarly as with abilities - increase the attack power while ignoring critical damage.
Rogue
Rogue is a perfect character for people who like to jump from one enemy to another, striking them with a light weapon. This is quite a difficult character to play with and without proper companions you will have problems dealing with more numerous groups of enemies. The class is equipped with a dagger and a pistol as a secondary weapon. This character is most effective against large groups of weak enemies, or single but powerful foes.
Gameplay with that character depends heavily on the development method (which abilities you will unlock). In the first scenario you can focus on ranged combat: upgrade the pistol and the abilities of the Technomancer to the maximum. On the other hand you can build this character as a melee combatant, fighting in close range. However, the latter is not recommended. The best method to play with this class is to circle around the enemies that focus their attacks on your more durable companions and attack them from behind. Similarly to the Guardian, you should perform 3 basic attacks, but after that either use your firearm or jump back.
Due to the skillset of the Rogue, this style of combat is focused around dealing critical damage - you won't be able to deal high amount of "normal" damage, regardless of how you build that class. Thanks to the mobility, this class is also extremely proficient in laying traps on the battlefield. You should focus on purchasing abilities increasing critical damage. Additionally, the ability that increases damage dealt to enemy while attacking them from behind is also very effective. Finally, you should try to acquire and upgrade the poison attack - this will allow you to get rid of tougher enemies a lot quicker.
Weapon upgrades should be focused around maximizing the effect and the frequency of critical damage. A weapon can be upgraded in various ways, depending on your gameplay style, but you should use a pistol with a high disruption stat and increase it even further. This will allow you to interrupt enemy attacks or continue your own without stopping. Afterwards, focus on upgrading the attack power of your pistol.
Warrior
A warrior is probably one of the most frequently selected classes in the game. He has balanced statistics. He doesn't have as strong attack as the Guardian because of the weapon he uses - a long staff. It is an offensive character, he cannot block attacks and only a rather large dodge. He is the only character that can effectively hurt many opponents at once with a regular attack.
Fighting by using the basic attack is extraordinary since the very beginning of the game because the range of the staff is bigger than of other weapons and you can perform the first hit while being outside the reach of opponent. Additional attack is a kick that can break the enemy defense. However, the most interesting is the additional action button which allows performing a short attack combination that hurts the enemies around you. It is worth noticing that you can dodge in two ways: by pressing only the button or with a direction in which you intend to dodge. By default the dodge without a direction is a short jump back that allows performing counterattack faster. With a direction selected it allows having greater distance and catching breath.
This character is very simple when it comes to development. In first order you should develop interruption of enemy attack and then damage you deal. You can completely ignore the critical hit modifier. The most important thing is that the enemy attacked by you cannot complete his attack so that you must perform as little dodges as possible and be able to quickly defeat the opponents. If you obtain good equipment with high resistance to basic damage, you can frequently jump among the opponents and attack all of them simultaneously.
Technomancer
Technomancer is a unique class which cannot exist on its own and serves as a secondary choice to other classes. It has its own development tree but it doesn't use any weapon - only Power points. They require time to regenerate, which slows down the speed of using abilities. What's worse, some enemies are very resistant to these attacks. In this case, if you like using these additional abilities, then in first order you should unlock increased reach of the lightning against a few enemies and greater number of available Power points.
Lightning has high interruption level, what you should have in mind when playing as Rogue. Two basic active abilities: electrifying weapon and lightning attack, aren't the only ones that can be actively used in combat. In order to learn more about attacks used with technomancy, read Abilities chapter.