Help me pick a fun, relatively soloable Melee class

[Bergen]

Hi folks, I played from vanilla through GoD (though by GoD, I'd really given up xping and mostly did tradeskills), and I've been puttering around on a shaman for a few weeks.

I've never played any melee classes - my mains in Live were an epic druid, a necro, a cleric, and an enchanter.

Any suggestions as to which melee class to pick? At the moment the paladin, shadowknight, bard, and ranger classes are looking tempting as they have spells. Preferably one where getting an epic would be a possibility (with an appropriate amount of work).

I would like to do something different and hit things. I love a challenge, I just don't want a *pointless* (head-banging, keyboard-throwing, poop-socking) challenge.

Any thoughts?

[Rythiel]

I believe Bard will be the melee class with the most solo capability. They also aren't super gear dependent compared to other melees. Rangers can solo pretty well by fear kiting animals once you hit level 22. Shadowknights are solid as well. Paladins really shine in groups, especially in the earlier levels. Rangers and Paladins probably have easier epics than Bards and SKs if I'm not mistaken.

[Aesop]

monks are solid and solo better than any other melee class iirc. mend, good bind wound, good defense, good offense, feign death, sneak, good 2h and 1h weapon choices.

[Crashking]

Have to say here it depends on your definition of solo able - While the bard can indeed solo and there are ways to make it work so you can melee things down -- their true power to level comes from the ability to kite a number of mobs in circles taking them out with an AE song. Bard epic required dragon scale drops as a key part which means you are either going to buy them or get with a raid type guild and hope to get in on kills.

One melee class that wasn't on your list which is fun to play can go around killing stuff solo fairly well given time but yes better gear means better solo capability is the Monk. Even though it has no spells, the ability to FD and heal self though mend make it a nice class that can be self reliant. One of the monks drawbacks is its low weight limit to maintain its added AC bonus, though with some wt. reducing bags and smart play you can deal with it and the limit grows as you do. If you do decided on a monk, I would suggest the iksar for their regen again a way to help sustain your soloing and help minimized downtime, though the tradeoff is you are hated everywhere but your starting city. The faction issue can be a bit of a challenge but you have control over how much you really want NPC's to like you. Monk epic is doable given time, though I've heard of some paying for parts to speed them up (like the one from Chardok) but I think that was mainly because the zone was being so widely camped by certain folks taking out much of the zone.

I can't really speak about how the other classes you mentioned solo in 99 exactly but often when speaking of soloing it isn't just a straight up melee fight, there are tricks involved -- bard swarming or fear kiting, sk fear kiting, ranger fear kiting animals or root and shoot with bow or run and shoot -- I forget how the mechanic works exactly. Not certain on paladins aside from saying that them vs undead and using stuns and heal is their strong point that come to mind.

Hope that brief overview sparks a better idea or addition discussion towards your choice.

Oh and I saw a recent post asking about monk gear with about a 1k budget which isn't too bad to throw at a starting alt without making a major commitment.

[Aaramis]

Yeah, Bards are great melee that can solo, but their ability to solo actually doesn't involve melee at all.....so I'm not sure if that works for you.

As a melee, I'd rate it Monk > Ranger > SK > Warrior > Rogue.
Heavy twinkage can bump you forward a category or 2.

I'd also argue that Rangers outdoors vs animals are potentially #1.

[Bergen]

I'll basically be completely untwinked (each toon has to earn its own keep).

I really want something where I'm banging on mobs. So i think ranger/paladin are pulling ahead for me. Thanks for all the suggestions!

[Rythiel]

Originally Posted by Bergen [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I'll basically be completely untwinked (each toon has to earn its own keep).

I really want something where I'm banging on mobs. So i think ranger/paladin are pulling ahead for me. Thanks for all the suggestions!

Decent Ranger gear can be pretty cheap. You can grab a Silver Swiftblade for like 50p and it will carry you through the early levels. Then at 22 you can fear kite animials pretty easily. And of course you always have the option of grouping up as a DPS/Puller.

If you want to be tankier and stronger in a group, then Paladin is great. You'll just be sacrificing a lot of solo prowess.

[jolanar]

Monk is the best overall solo melee class. They are a dps, tank and pulling class rolled into one. There is a reason there are a billion monks running around. Warriors will have a similar playstyle, except no real pulling abilities unless you are a halfling with sneak and you'll do less damage but have more AC/HP and no weight penalty. Rogues are the opposite of warriors, they sacrifice tanking skill/ac/hp but gain back the dps.

Rangers and Shadowknights can both fear kite. Fear kiting is "easy" exp, but time consuming and not passive at all. Chasing mobs down to melee them is a horrible existence.

Paladins can pacify pull, CC with root, and take damage well. But they have horrible dps which makes soloing take forever. It's doable but very slow.

Bards won't be a melee class when soloing.

You can solo any class to 60 here if you are dedicated enough. None of the melee solo well past 50 though, except an epic monk with a fungi.

[b_rob242]

It might not be worth much because I only played a paladin into level 10; however, i played a paladin and a shadow knight. I like the SK better because you can life tap and more aggro. It's fun to solo, but grouping can be awesome. Though, i have to remember to speak common tongue to the soft skin group mates. LOL! I think most hybrids are better in groups tho.

[nostalgiaquest]

my bard is level 30 and I've solo melee'd almost the entire way there. Zones like upper guk with big ZEMs make it easy. And once you get your fear song you can twist fear/snare/haste and melee down mobs just fine. Not the fastest way out there, but it works just fine. Find yourself a rogue friend and you're in business.