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Guide New 1.6 Class Rankings!

Discussion in 'Annihilation' started by DrPyro, Feb 19, 2015.

Guide - New 1.6 Class Rankings!
  1. DrPyro Gold

    XP:
    23,751xp
    ANNI CLASS RANKINGS 4.0
    New 1.6 Edition!

    Ah… 1.6. The least controversial re-design to the most controversial re-design in Anni history. Got a bit twisted up by that? I did too. Anyway, on to the rankings.

    Some of you may have seen my previous class rankings, and if you have, you may have also noticed that for the most part, people agreed with the general area where a class should be put. Almost everyone knew engineer should be at the bottom, and scout and transporter toward the top end.

    This time, it’s not so easy.

    Because everything has been re-balanced and each class has a new “niche” where it and only it is the #1, it is now MUCH harder to actually rank the classes, because so much of it comes down to your situation. Vampire is great at nighttime but horrible in the day. Miner can get iron the most quickly of any class, but is terrible at PVP.

    NOTES:
    -This is obviously an opinion, and that means people will disagree. That’s fine. If anyone makes a good point about how class X is underrated, class Y is overrated, etc. , I’ll not only look into it, but will likely change the positioning up as well. The goal is to get the rankings that the community feels is right, not just an individual.
    -Just because a class is ranked higher than another does NOT mean its better at everything compared to ones ranked lower. Remember, every class has a niche where it excels at, and these rankings have been generalized!
    -I try to update these rankings as often as I can, but I’m obviously doing other stuff as well. I participate heavily on a FRC robotics squad, and spend a LOT more time with that thing over working on this post.
    -I pan to add more analytics later, but for now, I’m busy with what’s mentioned above, so that may be a bit.

    Without further rambling, here are the new 1.6 class rankings!

    (30) Civilian
    Seriously. This class is just as, if not more, useless than it was before the update. This class, like the Philadelphia 76’ers, now has a tradition of being bad. People make fun of it, and now getting killed by one is almost a joke. Even if you’ve never played anni before, please, please just use handyman. At least it has a point.

    (29) Healer
    Glitch time! There is a way to remove the weakness debuff, but I’m not describing it here, as I don’t even use it myself for the sake of being fair. Nice guy Pyro, Eh? Anyway, glitch aside (actually, news flash, I think they fixed it) , Healer is a rather desperate team class. You sacrifice your own health to give it to someone else, 1:1. If I give a teammate 2 hearts, I loose it myself. However, if I live long enough, I may get a few bonus hearts; one each minute, I believe, for a max of 15. Sound good so far? It is, but that’s not the whole story. If I give a teammate health, I have no way of getting it back very quickly, setting myself up for being an easy target. I can’t even fight back, given I have weakness 24/7. Heck, unless I live for 10 minutes without dying, I’m not seeing that full 15 hearts. Even then, I still can’t really fight with it.

    (28 ) Beserker
    7 hearts? Really? 7? Yeah, that’s what I thought too when I read the description for bezerker. Too bad, I guess. Sure, you can get up to 13 hearts with this class, 1 per kill, but honestly, If I want more than 10 hearts, I can now just use Healer, or even better, Defender. Sure, this is the most legit way to get over 10 hearts without restriction, but honestly, good luck getting there. You’ll need 3 kills IN A ROW to get back to even, another 3 to max out. Good luck with that, and even if you have a good bow and iron, you’ll need it.

    (27) Hunter
    Currently, I think Hunter’s broken. Literally. Wolves do spawn reliably now, but the hunt ability does nothing when right-clicked. It doesn’t even say I used it. More info to come when the class is fully fixed.

    (26) Iceman
    This class really isn’t what it used to be when it first came out. Back when it was first released, it was the class to have. Then, suddenly, people realized that it was mostly worthless. Most maps don’t have much water and lava to go around walking on, meaning there’s little area for Iceman to take advantage of. Slowness I on hit really doesn’t do much either, and drowning people is illegal for the most part. At least he can… oh, wait, that’s all? Seriously? Yep, another mediocre semi-specialized PVP class that really isn’t important to winning the game and is being outpaced by the better ones. Pass.

    (25) Farmer
    For the few things Farmer does, it does them well… It’s just that we need to note the word “few”. Farmer is good at getting a LOT of wheat, apples, ghast tears, nether wart, books, and providing some iron and gold ore to go along with it. He can even till soil with his spawn tools and autoplant seeds. However, the drops themselves are rare, some maps have little or almost no wheat (or soil for that matter, hint hint canyon), and potions can be gotten now by beating a wither boss. That, and the feast ability has little effect. Overall, this class is extremely specialized, and I’d only recommend it if you routinely use the materials above AND if you routinely play on maps with a significant amount of wheat.

    (24) Thor
    Boom! That first sentence just dealt two true hearts of damage. It may or may not have actually affected an enemy, and now I have a 90 second cooldown before I can post again. That sentence can’t even cut wood. This sentence is a stone sword, and is the only real weapon I have in my arsenal in the wild, wild forum. I’m supposed to have another sentence where I am more resilient when near enemies, but that sentence doesn’t really do anything. Now you see why Thor is #23.

    (23) Bloodmage
    Bloodmage really did get a huge nerf last update, and players have taken notice. It used to be that one in every six, seven kills involved a bloodmage, but now, it’s generally one in 30. Very few people use the class, and have a good reason for doing so. Even though the corrupt ability reduces enemy health by 30%, but two-minute cooldown really reduces its potency. Also, the blood mage is supposed to poison the enemy, but the chance for that seems to be really low. It’s advertised at about 30%, but from my playtesting, it feels like about 15%. In general, I don’t suggest this class.

    (22) Engineer
    Enguineer is essentially half-pointless if you just do what the class description says. You can only use the bunker buster ability once every 30 seconds, and the blast radius itself is not that big. Also, you can only blow up blocks placed by the enemy, so there are also limited opportunities to use the class. In reality, if I plan on dragging myself all the way from my base to another, I’m going to bring a better class than Enguineer. I’d bring scout and simply grapple the thing: problem solved. However, this class is a boatload of fun, given that I can rocket-jump and be the world’s worst troll with the knockback the TNT deals. It’s like a kazoo: It’s fun to blow at people, but it’s not really widely used as an instrument.

    (21) Riftwalker
    The transporter class worked so well that the Devs decided to make an inverse of it. Thus, instead of you going to the destination and allowing others through, you can get someone else to go to the destination to let you through. Sadly, though, this class really is a clan class. About 75% of the time, you and your destination will not be in co-ordination. About 75% of the time, you won’t get more than just yourself in the rift. 75% of the time, the rush will fail. Thus, unless you join a clan and tamper with the odds using TeamSpeak or something, your chances of having a good rush with 3+ people is only 1/64, or under 2%. You can have fun horsing round with the class given that there’s only a 30 second cool down if you rift alone, but doing so is rarely productive.

    (20) Assassin
    Assassin was probably the greatest disappointment in a LONG time for the anni community. Before the update, this class contended for #1, and it had its reasons to. It had anything you really wanted in a class; a buff that really served as an all-purpose, powerful move that could end stalemates. Now, it’s been reworked into a kill-first class. It has the same form as its predecessor, but now you don't get the haste buff, the leap doesn't propell you anywhere, and you can still take fall damage. Assassin needed to be nerfed a bit to fit the bill for the new class rebalancing, but not that much! It can get a kill on another leather reliably every 40 seconds, but heck, pyro can do that every 30.

    (19) Vampire
    This class is essentially a flashlight; it’s useful in the nighttime, but utter crap in the daytime. In the nighttime, you are an absolute beast. Although you can’t drain health from an enemy anymore, which makes me rather sad, you can still transform into a bat and attack people while doing so, see in the dark, and receive a resistance buff. However, as soon as the sun comes out, vampire becomes the worst class in the game. Seriously, it does. You can’t turn into a bat anymore, you get a weakness de-buff, and your night vision potion is even more worthless than hunters “hunt” ability. (It doesn’t even work) Thus, the reason why it’s so low is because it’s only night time for about one eighth of the entire game. Really, it’s a class you use for about three or four minutes a game at best.

    (18 ) Immobilizer
    Overnight, seemingly, immobilizer went from OP to UP. Now, you can only immobilize somebody for two seconds, and the stun is broken after the first hit. Now, it feels more like the old immobilizer, and that’s not a good thing. There really is not much of a point anymore, other than detecting invis people and even so, Pyro can do that. Such a shame.

    (17) Handyman
    20%. That’s the best odds you’re going to get for healing a nexus. That’s not very good. Sure, keeping a nexus is the entire point of the game, but the amount of help this class gives is quite insignificant after about phase 3, because then the percent chance drops to about 10%. At that point, it’s not worthwhile to use at all. Heck, even during phase 2 and phase 3, if you’re not going to rush a nexus, it is rather worthless. However, for those of you who have still not unlocked miner, it does get in efficiency I pick, which is helpful.

    (16) Scorpio
    Scorpio is one of the old classic classes. It’s been around ever since the beginning of the game. It was created back when ideas were original, and gameplay arguably at its best. It still retains some of those characteristics, but has since lost ground to other classes. It used to be that a full enemy would take fall damage, but that’s been removed. You used to be able to void-scorpio people as well, but that’s also been removed. The range of the hook has been slightly shortened, and in exchange, the hook can now be fired more quickly. It’s been changed, and it shows the signs.

    (15) Spy
    Spy has essentially never changed, neither in spawn tools nor abilities. Thus, there’s really not much to say here. It’s a defensive class, which is nice, but defender’s better. I would take the regen buff over the invisibility one any day. It’s good at luring in attackers, but the class is getting old. It’s a good buy if you are looking to play defense, but there is nothing really new or flashy about it.

    (14) Archer
    A sniper was once tested a bit ago as a potential class, but eventually was ruled out for being too OP. Outside of that, this is as close to a sniper class as anni has ever gotten. This class, as a whole, has a lot going for it. You get all the wood tools, including a shovel for replenishing arrows, you get a bow with punch 1, 16 arrows, a health potion, additional damage for any bow you use, and the ability to get 16 free arrows every minute. You don’t even have to pay for the class, it can be unlocked with 100 bow kills. Seems good so far? It is. However, there are a few downfalls, such as being consistently beat up in meelee attacks as well as having difficulty getting the truckload of XP needed for a good bow. Still, it’s a great way to counter those pesky warriors or scouts.

    (13) Lumberjack
    Lumberjack can break two things easily: logs and other people’s armor. With double drops on logs, Lumberjack can easily acquire wood or take out bridges. Speaking of taking out things, Lumberjack can also vanquish enemies with his brute force ability, which consists of a leather of his armor in about 4 to 5 hits. The cooldown is reasonable too, at about 30 seconds. The ability lasts for 15 seconds itself, so I would call this class and good buy.

    (12) Enchanter
    Enchanter keeps getting XP buffs, but there’s a limit to its effectiveness. Now, you get 2x XP from any recourse block that awards it, and you can use the intensifier every 2 minutes to give your teammates a 1.35x multiplier too. It’s a heck of a lot of XP AND now you don’t loose it by changing classes. What’s not to like? Well, it’s quite a hassle to change to and back from just for measly XP. Unless you plan on mass level farming for an OP rush, just using it to farm wood or melons is not time efficient. Also, because there are so many classes that can kill you easily/unfairly no matter what, such as swapper, immobilizer to a degree, and Lumberjack if you’re only wearing iron, those levels may not be worth as much as they seem. Also, I believe that the system to reduce your levels if you take damage at half a heart may be glitched. Still, a good class for those who need those levels.

    (11) Tinkerer
    Tinker is underrated. I guarantee it. First off, the pads are awesome. You can put them in crowded areas to get a good bit of XP and help your teammates, or use them on your own to acquire materials, escape from enemies, attack the nexus, or whatever. Also, the effects, both speed and haste, last a while. Each is about 45 seconds long, long enough to have a major effect on whatever you’re doing. Additionally, they have essentially no cool down, you can get rid of one by mining the stone plate, and you can always break them for the recourses. (note, this may have been fixed). The books are great too, expecially if you’re trying so hard to get sharpness 1 on that Iron sword and you keep getting smite or something. This is a good all round class.

    Top 10 time!

    (10) Swapper
    I’m going to make the argument here that Swapper is likely the most OP class in the game based on what it can do. Swapper traps are legal. Sure, it’s not a guaranteed kill like Immobilizer once was, but it’s pretty dang close. I can couple this with builder and a bow to make an inescapable wool or even dirt trap, swap an enemy into it, and bow him to death. Heck, the cool-down is only 20 seconds too, and I get 4 hearts of absorption for 5 seconds for my effort. On the other hand, the enemy gets those hearts too and can break the swapper trap if I make it out of wood or stone, but still, this class is a pain to fight against.

    (9) Pyro
    Of all the classes that ask you to blatantly run at somebody’s face ant beat them to death, pyro is right up there behind warrior. While all of the pyro’s 4 cheif abilitites involve fire, all of them are separate from each other and can be used to his advantage. Here’s how:
    -The random chance of fire on hit: Very good for randomly dealing additional damage, as well as scaring the crap out of them.
    -The firestrike is just pain and fiery death waiting to happen every 40 seconds. Just saying.
    -There is a slightly unknown fact that says that whenever a pyro shoots a bow, it SHOULD shoot a flaming arrow. (sometimes it won't due to lag) While this is less powerful than your typical flame bow, it makes the enemy expecially fear the arrow, and the eventual pain that comes with it.
    -The fire resistance is good… if you happen to come across yet another pyro or one of those rare sections of maps that actually include lava…
    There are 2 special things to note about the pyro, but they mostly cancel each other out:
    -Fire damage is not considered normal damage to the game. It has almost the same effect on somebody no matter what armor they’re wearing, so long as it doesn’t have fire protection on it.
    -It doesn’t work in water. Sorry.

    ( 8 ) Warrior
    For being an almost-free class, warrior is remarkably powerful. With the +.5 damage (in terms of hearts), you essentially move up a weapon tier automatically. Currently, the frenzy ability means you take double damage, meaning serious trouble if you get attacked, but still, it's a good pvp class. Bes of all, it's essentially free.

    ( 7 ) Succumbus
    Succumbus, ironically, drained Vampire’s old ability of having a 30-40% chance to heal a half heart on attacking the enemy and added it to its own. Now, succumbus is the master of life drain. Combine the health drain effect with the opportunity to instakill an enemy under 4 hears once every 2 minutes (warning, it’s glitchy and you’ll have to use your own best judgement), and this is the new strength rushing class. Beware.

    (6) Builder
    When it was initially released, builder held a low profile. It was the class to use if you were a bit shy about middle and didn’t really know how to help out outside of base.
    Those false ideas have thankfully left.
    Builder owns spawn recourses. The total materials in the drop often contain around 140 blocks total in it, stone, brick, wood, wool, and obsidian. While you place the blocks, the cooldown ticks. It used to be 3 minutes, but now it’s either 1 or 2… it varies based on some unknown algorithm. Still, you can build a wall with this class around your base and never need to worry about recourses again… and that’s really good.

    (5) Acrobat
    Acrobat is still one of those quality classes that hasn’t changed much over the months. Seriously, it’s literally never been changed. It still is the skybridge-dominating, easy-escaping, death-from-the-sky class that fits adventururs, nexus rushers, and PVPers alike. No matter what you do, acrobat is a good fit to your class arsenal.

    (4) Defender
    The devs decided that Defender just needed more… firepower. Well, now that’s not a problem. Defender…
    -can TP directly to his nexus area from anywhere in his base every 20 seconds.
    -gets regen 1 if he’s in his team’s base.
    -Gets ½ additional hearts for every 5 damage the nexus has taken.
    -Gets a chain chest plate that he can take anywhere
    Obviously, the defender is better in the nexus area than in the battlefield, but sheesh, that’s a lot of buffs!

    (3) Miner
    Miner has essentially not been changed at all. Well, Miner technically gets 8 coal now over 4, and a “gold rush” buff that literally does nothing (It should do something, but either it doesn’t work or the effect’s too small to notice), but the backbone of the class is the same. It still has the eff. 1 stone pick and the 75% double drop chance as normal, as well as the furnace, it’s just been barely buffed to keep up with the curve.

    (2) Transporter
    Transporter is the one class that can really carry an entire offense. It’s that good. Sure, there’s a 5-minute limit on the TP duration, but it now still lives on when you die, allowing you to become part of the TP-rushing fun too! Heck, there’s no cooldown either. You can use this class for personal use or team assistance, and this class is an absolute necessity on maps like Castles. Honestly, I don’t have much of anything new to say about this class, given it was barely changed, but it’s still really freaking good.

    (1) Scout
    Scout really hasn’t changed since the last update, but the new topography of the Annihilation scene has pushed the class up to #1. We are seeing better defenses now, higher walls, and bigger hills on maps, making the grapple especially useful. Scout can counter warriors with his speed, can go up and break TP’s and can get to the acrobats and archers quicker than they can draw their bow. If you hold the grapple, the halved fall damage makes him able to fall off cliffs and live to tell the tale. Now, with assassin severely nerfed, this is the only real solution to all the problems one faces in a rush or on an attack, and as a result, Scout is the new #1.

    Anyway, thanks for reading, I hope this was helpful, and feel free to comment on anything that’s on your mind!

  2. Rebel_Vanguard Platinum

    XP:
    10,955xp
    A note about Engineer, it can actually heal itself and it's teammates by about two or three hearts with the blast from Bunker Buster. I don't know if that'll change your view of it, but it works.

    Assassin, while I will admit it is hard to get the hang of, isn't useless by any means. The clone is great for tricking people, and if it's used a good distance away, the enemy won't notice the feather or the random Iron Sword. I won't argue with you placement of it, because I kind of agree with it, and I honestly think that Assassin needs to be buffed a little more. But, it isn't useless.

    I think Vaecon (don't quote me on this, but I think he said that he'd change it a while back) changed Berserker back to get 15 hearts again. Again, that likely won't change the placement of the class on your list, but it's worth noting.

    Other than that, this is a pretty good thread. I agree with most of what you said.
  3. DrPyro Gold

    XP:
    23,751xp
    Hmm. I'll take a look on those things and get back with the fixes soon.
  4. Bergmanman Platinum

    XP:
    558,653xp
    First, just found a couple things you might wanna fix real quick. Missing a number and Succubus is spelled funny, along with its number :wink:


    But ontopic, this was the thing that hit me the hardest. I've always found Scout to be the best, but so few people seem to agree.... Good to see someone is on my side.
  5. DrPyro Gold

    XP:
    23,751xp
    Yeah, I did some fixing to that. Turns out I needed an extra space to prevent that. Also, I'll likely need someone to confirm the new 15 heart limit: I don't officially own the class. Also, about the engiuneer ability, I can't get that to work. Maybe explain it to me?
  6. Bergmanman Platinum

    XP:
    558,653xp
    This was on the most recent patch update, so I don't think it will be going to 15 hearts anytime soon....
  7. bchaikovsky Silver

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    18,289xp
    Umm, I'm pretty sure Scorpio voiding is allowed again.
  8. DrPyro Gold

    XP:
    23,751xp
    Last I heard, it's still banned, but I'll check.
  9. SandblastPvP Gold

    XP:
    14,680xp
    Yus! I was waiting for this :stuck_out_tongue:
    and btw, move vamp up a bit
  10. DrPyro Gold

    XP:
    23,751xp
    Issue with Vamp: I've calculated that nighttime occurs in about 15% of the game. It's great in the night, as mentioned, but night is just so... rare.
    Chargey likes this.
  11. terve886 Silver

    XP:
    9,751xp
    Healer is definitely better than Berserker:
    • Gets 1 extra heart up to 15 every minute.
    • Has increased health regenation.
    • Weakness is only -0.25 damage.
    • The ability to heal teammates is game changing if you decide to make "heal rushes." (spawn, find closest teammates and heal them full health and then keep following them.)
  12. bchaikovsky Silver

    XP:
    18,289xp
    I hate night anyways. So hard to see! Even with brightness up to max!
  13. ethansky Platinum

    XP:
    148,027xp
    Rip succubus! Half a heart 30% of the time is terrible ;-;. I wish they would make it 2 hearts 30% of the time.


    This "algorithm" is during phase 1, the timer is 1 minute to help get a kick start to your def. After phase one its 2 minutes.




    That is why you either install gammabright which is an approved mod or go into your minecraft config and change the gamma from like 1.0 to 15.0
  14. Alzi Silver

    XP:
    27,138xp
    Assassin is great. I fail to see why everyone hates it.
    antiacid900 likes this.
  15. Tdiaz5 Silver

    XP:
    76,623xp
    A few notes:
    1. Warrior gets double damage with frenzy. I agreed with it being in the top 5 first but this nerf makes me pick pyro in a tp rush now...
    2. Enchanter's ability gives a 1.35 multiplier to teammates.
    3. Miner has a 30% chance on double ore now.

    I can't say other things cause I'm not completely sure if I say right things, it might be wrong so I'll just leave it here. Other than that: awesome guide! Really helpful, I was waiting for it :D

    Edit:
    Can't believe I forgot that.
    4. Immob's beam isn't broken when the person who gets immobed gets hit in stun.

    Edit 2:
    5. Defender gets 1/2 heart per 10 nexus damage instead of 5.
  16. Sulphoric Gold

    XP:
    91,166xp
    inb4 "omg why isn't [class] higher up???? its so good because [stupid reason]"
    and "civilian is best class y is it in last place!???"
  17. xSoles Gold

    XP:
    6,119xp
    Assassin makes me sad now... It used to be one of the best classes but now it sucks. Before you could use it for anything, whether it was jumping walls, rushing diamonds, nexus rushing, getting on enemy skybridges or just adventuring. Now, with the haste and leap removed it's one of the worst classes. Don't even get me started on the blend ability. Like, seriously WHO is fooled by that. One second you're running then you suddenly stop while holding a feather. Seems legit...

    #BringAssasinBack
  18. DrPyro Gold

    XP:
    23,751xp
    I'll check on that and see if the class should be moved up. RIght now, honestly, one could make the case for civillian being better.

    (this is a quite but I can't get the gosh dang quoting feature to work)
    A few notes:
    1. Warrior gets double damage with frenzy. I agreed with it being in the top 5 first but this nerf makes me pick pyro in a tp rush now...
    2. Enchanter's ability gives a 1.35 multiplier to teammates.
    3. Miner has a 30% chance on double ore now.

    Hmm. Haven't played warrior in a while, and I'll fix things up soon.

    Also, I'll fix up builder soon.
  19. DrPyro Gold

    XP:
    23,751xp
    I actually considered putting that in there, but changed it becuase it's a glitch. I'm trying to rank the classes as if you are playing them legit, aka no acro-glitching, void-scorpioing, and no bug abuse.
  20. DrPyro Gold

    XP:
    23,751xp
    Also, I think they did quietly change immobilizer to break the stun after a hit, and if you play miner, the effect still feels like 70-75%. Both have been playtested, and I'm waiting for a game to open up to check on healer again.

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