HELP complete noob with classes and builds

[Silent_Dawn]

Hello! I'm new in the forums and the game, so sorry if I'm posting in the wrong subforum!

I'm planning to play PSO2 in my free time, nothing hardcore and I don't know anyone to play with me. I'm not going to pay premium or join a guild anytime soon.

Considering all this, what class and builds should I go for? In MMOs I usually go as support/healer, but in PSO2 it doesn't seem very good...

So, I'm looking for a build that can go solo with low prerequisite and easy to learn and use.

[Anduril]

In PSO2 the support class is Techer, and it is the only class with access to the best support tech skills. Their main weapon is the Wand, which is a melee weapon that can also create a small Tech-based explosion on impact that are based on the Element of the Wand; as such it requires either a full pallete of different element Wands, or the Wand Element Change ring. Their common moves involve pulling in mob using Zondeel and casting Zanverse to help boost party DPS (though at the end of next month Zanverse will no longer benefit from some of the boosts it currently gets from a Techer), in addition to healing and casting Shifta and Deband.
A quick, basic breakdown of the common combos are:

Techer/Braver: One of the more Tech-oriented of the builds, as it uses Weak Stance which boosts damage to both weak spots and matching enemy tech weakness. Ideally, you want a Rikauteri Bow for this class as it allows you to do burst damage with Banish Arrow (which is also going to get a power reduction) and weakness matching Techs. Even without it, it can still do decent offense Tech damage and Wand explosions.

Techer/Hunter: Mostly melee/S-ATK focused, this is pretty much just about Wand Smacking offense-wise. Meshes particularly well with the Form Wand as that provides an extra attack that scales damage from S-ATK (just due to that extra attack, Form Wand is one of the best Wands for Wand melee).

Techer/Fighter: Good melee and Tech damage due to the it's stances, though they are conditional to the position of the enemy. Wand wise, it theoretically meshes well due to Fighter's Chase skills, which cause higher damage to enemies that have a status effect, and Techer's Wand Gear Element, which increase the status effect rate; this only really works with mobs, though, as most bosses don't get normal status effects. Weapon wise, there is a 13* Wand that boosts SE rate and damage to enemies with SEs.

Techer/Summoner: This is a build that is mostly a Zanverse slave combined with use of the pet Maron. Requires a Rose Skewer Tact. (This build is getting a double nerf due to the Zanverse changes and that they are changing the way Maron works a bit)

Other combos which I honestly don't see often:

Techer/Gunner: This one is about building up a Chain that then allows you to do large burst damage. (An upcoming change is going to make one of the key skills for this build, Chain Finish, Gunner Main only, thus reducing its viability)

Techer/Ranger: Basically just used mostly for access to Weak Bullet and Support Techs together. Not great for actually attacking.

Techer/Bouncer: I've really only seen this with people using Techer-usable Jet Boots since they can cast Support Techs as a Weapon Action, and since Bouncer has a few other support skills, but overall, other class combos are more efficient and useful.

Techer/Force: Basically just a Tech class, but by having Force as the sub, you lose out on a massive damage boost from Elemental Conversion that is greater than the boost you would get from Techer's support skills.


As for a good solo class combo, it really is down to what you would prefer: melee, range, tech, or pets.

[Silent_Dawn]

Thanks, Anduril! You're very thorough!

I think I won't choose support because I've read that the healing and boost are kinda weak in this game.

For ranged combat, what are the best builds for solo? I've read you have to aim in this game. I'm not confident in my aim, I'm bad at FPS games. If it's true, I guess I would prefer melee.

[Anduril]

In a party, Techer can indispensable due to the fact that it can significantly increase party DPS, both from Support Techs and healing (healing using a healing item has a long animation, so it can drop DPS when someone has to stop attacking for a couple of seconds to heal); for solo, though, it does require getting used to, and may not be your first choice (though being Te/Hu can alleviate that a bit).

That aside, a good compromise between the range and melee would likely be Gunner/Hunter.
Gunner is a close-range Ranged class that uses TMGs and isn't as dependent on hitting weakpoints as Ranger, though most of its PAs have a tenancy to hit head-shots regardless. It's typically considered a single-target class due to the fact that most of its PAs aren't that great for mobbing and Chain Trigger/Chain Finish can only be used on one enemy at a time (and is thus mostly reserved for bosses), but one of its main skills, Showtime, can pull aggro, making it fairly easy to corral enemies, plus it has a couple of PAs that have decent AoE.
Hunter is a good all-purpose subclass since it has many skills that help with survivabilty, like Automate Halfline (automatically uses a healing -mate item when your HP drops under 50%) and Massive Hunter (reduces damage and nullifies knockback), and it has skills that boost overall damage, such as from using Just Attacks in succession.

[Silent_Dawn]

Would a female Cast be too bad as techer?

[Anduril]

Would a female Cast be too bad as techer?

Racial stat differences aren't too significant unless you want to min/max. Looking at the base S- and T-ATK for a Female Cast compared to a Female Newman (assume Te/Hu, lv80/80, base stats, only Te and Hu class bonus):

Female Cast:

• S-ATK:622
• T-ATK: 628

Female Newman:

• S-ATK: 599
• T-ATK: 712

The difference in those stats is less than a 1% damage difference, especially when combined with Mag, Weapon, Unit, and Affix stats and multipliers from Skills and Weapon Potentials.

[Silent_Dawn]

Thanks for everything! I guess I'll start as a female Cast Hunter, to get the hang of the game and Hunter seems a very good subclass for most classes. Then I'll try Ranger, Gunner and Braver a bit and then Techer. Thanks for everything!

[Anduril]

Something to keep in mind: you only get one free mag and cannot reset it completely without spending real money (or by using 50 Excubes per level that you want to reduce), so you need to decide what stat you want to focus on. If your long term plan is to go Te/Hu or any other melee class, then pure S-ATK is the way to go; however, if you believe that you would rather go with a ranged class, then you would want a pure R-ATK mag. Mixed mags are not really a good idea.

[Silent_Dawn]

When do I need to choose the MAG? Can I experiment a bit before making the decision? How the Skill Trees work? Can I, eventually, buy all skills of is it limited?

[Anduril]

When do I need to choose the MAG? Can I experiment a bit before making the decision? How the Skill Trees work? Can I, eventually, buy all skills of is it limited?

You can hold off on feeding your mag, but I wouldn't wait past getting your first class to ~lv30, so experiment a bit; also, keep in mind that you do get a total of 3 free characters, so you can always go Ranged with one and Melee with another (the only real factor you need to keep in mind is that when you use aesthetic tickets [hairstyles, layered wear, accessories, etc.], those are character bound and not account bound).
Each class can only get a total of 94 Skill Points (80 from leveling and 14 from Client Orders); you cannot get all the skills on a skill tree. Here is a skill tree simulator.