New Player Requesting Class Summaries!

[Sines]

So, free weekend. I apologize in advance for the problems influxes of newbies can sometimes cause ^_^

However, I would like to try out the game, but I only have so much time. Which means I probably can't play enough to really test out the games content. So, if any of you can spare the time, I'd appreciate a summary of each class and what they contribute to a team (And how they play solo). Keep it to the four base classes, please, for obvious reasons.

Also, any basic initial tips for building characters, so I can avoid the common newbie pitfalls. Thanks for your help!

[Darkman_0]

Don't have much time, but I'll give you this advice.

Start with an apprentice or squire and build tower stats. THey do by far the best solo, with their towers, and allow you to powerlevel other characters.

[Sines]

Powerlevel other characters? Can you powerlevel yourself somehow?

Also, I'm a bit more interested in effective playstyle. Once the monsters start coming in, how do the classes play out, either by repairing towers (Or otherwise interacting with them) or directly engaging enemies. The enjoyability of the active play is what's going to determine whether I buy it come monday. So, I want to know how each class ends up playing, so I can focus on trying out the one that sounds the most fun for me. I'm not too concerned about building a powerful character right now, I just want to find out whether or not I like the game.

[stergil]

Also realize the game is exponentially more fun co-op than it is solo.

Even solo, for the full experience, you need several different classes at max level with decent stats to build a combination of towers/defenses. At least you need this on the more challenging survival mode maps and such.

You can easily plod through the campaign maps with just your Squire/Countess or Adept/Apprentice.

If you're truly pressed for time find some Insane level difficulty Glitterhelm runs. That map and difficulty level is an experience faucet. You can get to level 70 in 2 quick games.

Couple of other tidbits I wish I knew when I started
-There is a substantial per-wave exp bonus for not getting hit
-There is a substantial per-wave exp bonus for not dying
-Buy the EXP Bonus from the Tavern Keeper for every level 70+

Good luck

Edit: Yes once you get a decent tower build for an app or squire you can power level other toons, particularly quickly on insane glit. Basically you build with one char and quickly switch to the toon you want to PL to soak up the exp.

[stergil]

Also, I'm a bit more interested in effective playstyle. Once the monsters start coming in, how do the classes play out, either by repairing towers (Or otherwise interacting with them) or directly engaging enemies. The enjoyability of the active play is what's going to determine whether I buy it come monday. So, I want to know how each class ends up playing, so I can focus on trying out the one that sounds the most fun for me. I'm not too concerned about building a powerful character right now, I just want to find out whether or not I like the game.

In my opinion that will prove to be a wasted effort. I found that the fun begins end-game, the leveling itself is trivial and not much fun. The fun is when you have several toons (or several friends especially) that you combine class abilities and defenses to overcome challenges.

I found the game quite boring SP. It sat in my steam list unused for weeks until a friend got it and I started playing with him.

[Ceron]

For starting out, the biggest thing to keep in mind is that Squire and Apprentice have towers that can physically block enemies from advancing towards the crystal. As a new player you'll become very frustrated if you aren't playing Squire or Apprentice.

[metarugiasoriddo]

I know this is going to sound lazy, but you should check out the wiki. The main page has links for each character, which explain them in detail.

http://dungeondefenders.wikia.com/wi...Defenders_Wiki

[MitchellW]

I found the solo play campaign to be quite fun the first tiem through as an apprentice or squire.

After you do that on medium (or hard if you get really good), then you'll really want to be trying to mixup your classes.

Playing with other people is definitely fun.

I don't think you need to rush to level 70 to enjoy the game.

On to address the starting post:

Each class can be built:

Hero, Hybrid or Tower.

Hero builds focus on killing monsters directly. Most maps cannot be beat with just hero damage (without signifcant overleveling). Hero builds often focus on HP and Hero Damage. Casting is helpful for them as they can head out to the frontlines and repair defensses quickly without dying. Squire/Countess Hunress/Hunter are often the choices for this.

Tower builds focus on having the strongest towers. You really want at least one tower build among your characters. Apprentice/Squire are the usual choices. Huntress and Monk towers don't have standard barricades. They work differently. There are lots of benefits to them, but at the start while learning maps Apprentice and Squire are a lot more forgiving.

Hybrids work on both. They won't be the best at either, but it does mean you get the 33% bonus to tower damage for keeping the builder of a tower out during combat phase.

[Ngamok]

Squire - Has high Hitpoint walls and walls that do damage. Strategic locations will stop monsters because the walls are in their way. Barricade, staple wall. Highest HP wall does damage to monsters that hit it directly. Bouncer wall does damage to monsters when they come near it and pushes them away when the wall activates (except for Ogres don't get pushed back). Slice and Dice does damage to anything that comes close to it, highest DPS wall. Bowling Ball Turret is stationary and shoots a constant stream of bowling balls straight ahead. Can bounce several times and hit more than one target. Target is knocked back in direction balls hit them. Harpoon Turret rotates and shoots. Can hit up to 6 targets in a straight line. Squire has the most hit points. Has an ability that hits every target around him in melee range. Also has a buff that makes him run faster and hit harder per swing, takes and uses mana exponentially. Countess is the female version and is in the paid DLC runs faster than Squire but has reduced health. Same is true for each male / female counter part. They also have group buffs rather than self buffs.

Monk has auras instead of towers. Instead of the stats buffing the Area, it buffs the radius size of the monk auras. Tower Health stat for Monk is duration of the aura. Monk auras cannot be damaged for this reason, they just have a duration on how many mobs are in the aura. The more mobs in the aura the faster it depletes. Ensnare aura slows down mobs that are not immune to poison. Electric aura does damage over time to any mob in the aura. Strength Drain aura reduces the mobs damage potential while in the aura. Health aura replenishes your and your allies health while in it. Enrage aura causes mobs to turn on one another while they are in it. Some slip past. Monk has a DPS increase buff for himself as well as allies near as well as an aura that repairs towers slowly. Both consume mana. Monk can be melee or ranged. The Monk weapon has a melee number on it, a ranged number, and an elemental damage number. If you decide to be ranged support, do not increase the melee damage and focus on ranged. A good weapon will also have an icon that looks like lightning shooting out left to right. That is number of extra projectiles as default is 1. They shoot out in a spread pattern in front of you like a cone.

Apprentice - Uses towers and 1 wall. The wall is a lightweight version of the Squires but it debuffs monsters that are on it by reducing their elemental immunities. Only uses up 1 defensive unit or DU. Cheap effective wall. Magic Missle Tower shoots balls of energy at targets. It's considered kinetic damage since mobs with immunities don't resist it. Fireball shoots fireballs with a little splash damage to other mobs near the original target. Fire immune mobs will take no damage from this tower. Does more damage than magic missle but shoots slower. Lightning Tower shoots lightning and hits or chains multiple mobs at once. It does damage over time. Lightning immune monsters take no damage. Also it should ignore those I think and only hit mobs that can take damage. Death Strike Tower shoots high damage pew pew bolts that pass through the floor and walls. Also has a much farther range than the other towers. Mana Bomb ability has a 3 second activation and hits and knocks back enemies around you. Overcharge let's you build faster, repair faster, and use mana bomb faster. Consumes mana.

Huntress has traps. Just like the monk, they cannot be targeted to be destroyed. Same as monk, radius is the aoe stat and the tower health is the number of charges the trap has. Explosive trap hits anything in it's radius when it gets triggered. Inferno does fire damage to anything not immune to fire over time. Ethereal does high damage to one target. Gas Trap stuns anything that is not poison immune during the duration of the trap. Darkness Trap strips away immunities from mobs and anything that comes into it's aura once triggered will be affected. It has a duration like the Inferno trap. Huntress uses Bows and Guns to do ranged damage only. They have invisibility that makes you undetectable by all but Ogres and Dark Elf Warriors or "ninjas" as they are commonly referred as. Also Piercing Shot shoots an ethereal bird out and hits anything that it passes through. Even if there are 100 mobs lined up in a row, it will hit them all. Ranger, male DLC, shoots fire birds (3 spread shot).


Other people can add what I missed as I am at work and should be working

[SyDiko]

To elloborate on what the others have said,

It's recommend to start off with a tower builder (Squire or Apprentice) character first, because they have the ability to block and wall creatures and protect your (or your team's) towers from being destroyed. Both the Squire and Apprentice are also extremely versitale in COOP play as well - you may join a game that already has a good setup and dealing damage with either are acceptable. Additionally, if you do pick the Monk or Huntress first, they'll seem easy, but that's only because the first map has easy choke points to deal with and no Orges (difficulty dependant.) However, by map 3, you will be halted because I believe it introduces 2 crystals and odd chokes. So that is also something that you should keep that in mind.

Just remember this:

Ultimately, the idea of Dungeon Defenders is to utilize all the classes individual towers and abilities to create complex, yet intricate defensive setups.

GLHF!