Decide Which Class to Choose on Maple Story

If you are having a hard time choosing a character for Maple Story, here are some suggestions to help you out.

Steps

  1. Decide the type of skills you would like your character to have. Make your decision based on the skills that you will enjoy using the most in the game. Think about whether you most enjoy stealth, creating damage or cruising through the game in an even-handed manner.
  2. Identify the skill set of each class. Obviously, each of the classes carries a different way of playing. Read through the following for details before you make your choice.
  3. The following is a complete list of each possible class:
    • Explorers
      • Fighter/Crusader/Hero (Warrior)
      • Page/White Knight/Paladin (Warrior)
      • Spearman/Berserker/Dark Knight (Warrior)
      • Fire/Poison Wizard (Magician)
      • Ice/Lightning Wizard (Magician)
      • Cleric/Bishop (Magician)
      • Hunter/Ranger/Bowmaster (Archer)
      • Crossbowman/Sniper/Marksman (Archer)
      • Bandit/Chief Bandit/Shadower (Thief)
      • Assassin/Hermit/Night Lord (Thief)
      • Gunslinger/Outlaw/Corsair (Pirate)
      • Brawler/Marauder/Buccaneer (Pirate)
      • Cannoneer(Pirate,must pick from character select screen)
      • Dual Blade (Thief - Bandit that wields Katara as well as dagger)
    • Cygnus Knights
      • Dawn Warrior (Warrior - Fighter)
      • Blaze Wizard (Magician - almost Fire/Poison, without Poison)
      • Wind Archer (Archer - Hunter)
      • Night Walker (Thief - Assassin)
      • Thunder Breaker (Pirate - Brawler)
      • Mikhail/Milhile (Dawn Warrior, KMS and GMS)
    • Resistance
      • Battle Mage (Magician - unlike anything, uses Staff)
      • Wild Hunter (Archer - Crossbowman, but mounted)
      • Mechanic (Pirate - Gunslinger technically, very unlike Pirates, unique, mounted)
      • Demon (Warrior - comes in 2 paths: Demon Slayer and Demon Avenger. Demon Slayers use HP and DP for attacks, and use 1 handed axes and maces. Demon Avengers uses a special sword and HP consuming moves.)
      • Xenon (Thief/Pirate hybrid - uses Energy Sword, uses STR + DEX + LUK, bonus Surplus Supply system)
      • Blaster(Warrior, uses hand cannons)
    • Hero
      • Aran (Warrior - uses Polearm, exclusive combo system)
      • Evan (Magician - unlike anything, uses a dragon)
      • Mercedes (Archer, uses dual crossbows)
      • Phantom (Thief, uses cards and a cane)
      • Luminous (Magician, uses a shining rod, orb, unique attack system that is different in KMS then some others)
      • Shade (Pirate - Uses mainly knuckles as primary weapon and Fox Marbles as second weapon, The only character who could go through the Middle Door at the Temple of Time, also known as EunWol)
    • Nova
      • Kaiser (Warrior - Aran, uses a two handed sword, Dragon's Soul, a combo system and can transform into a dragon)
      • Angelic Burster (Pirate - uses a cannon/gun hybrid weapon and a soul system)
    • Sengoku
      • Hayato (Warror - Samurai class who uses two handed swords, currently unavailable in KMS)
      • Kanna (Magician - Shrine Maiden class who also can summon foxes,currently unavailable  in KMS )
    • Exclusive Classes
      • Jett (Pirate - Gunslinger with a science fiction twist, available in some servers only)
      • Dragon Warrior (Pirate - Similar to Jett but with different animal-themed animations and also uses summons. CMS only)
      • Beast Tamer- Chase (Magician- of the beast tamer class, powers from several animal creatures: Cat, Snow Leopard, Bear and Hawk)
      • Zero (Warrior/Magician Hybrid - Child of Rhinne, The Transcendence of time, separated in to two by the Black Mage: Alpha(male), Beta(female) and imprisoned into the mirror world. Instead of using Mana, Zero uses Time Force (TF))

Bowmen

  1. The following describes Bowmen.
    • Bowmen can use ranged attacks, and hit very hard with them. Although useless in melee early on, their high damage capability at ranged makes up for it. They have unstable damage at first. They are very hard to jump-attack with.
    • Pros:
      • Damage starts to shine later in the game
      • Most range in the game
      • Most uncommon whole class in the game
      • Highest accuracy among all classes
      • Relatively cheap equips (especially for crossbowmen)
      • High knockback ability
      • Hurricane's (Bow Master skill) rivals Triple Throw (Night Lord with Shadow Partner (star thief))
      • Pierce (Marksman/XBow master skill) deals very, very high damage to mobs.
      • Marksmen get a skill that can one-hit KO any non-boss monster.
      • Arrow Eruption/Rain allows 3rd job Bowmen to mob up close.
    • Cons:
      • Mediocre HP, and MP
      • Unstable damage (fixed in 4th job, where you get 90% Mastery)
      • Use up close until you attain Power Knockback and Mortal Blow
      • Attack speed is slower than that of their star counterpart (especially crossbowmen)
      • Movement and jumpshooting is tougher (but possible)
      • No party skills until 4th job.
      • Only tank ability is puppet (warriors have skills to increase weapon defense, and hp. Magicians have magic guard/magic armor to decrease damage taken. Thieves have avoid-ability and alchemist/chakra later on to improve regeneration)
    • NOTE: Bowmen are not as useless up close as sins, as the skill, power knockback (pkb) knocks close enemies away much more easily.

Magician

  1. The following describes magicians.
    • Magicians are very abundant in the MS community. You can see any class of the Magician walking around all the time. Unlike bowmen and assassins, their attacks are both melee and ranged. A constant damage dealer they often have some survivability through magic guard. They are liked in Party Quests for the damage they are able to do and the skills they can contribute.
    • Pros:
      • Very good damage comeback in 4th job in the form of mob skills
      • Incredible amounts of HP and MP recovery
      • Take damage through Magic Guard, in MP
      • Higher magic defense
      • Can telecast (teleport + attack skill)
      • Heal, used by Clerics, Priests, and Bishops, defeats the purpose for HP potions
      • Owns all the other classes at 4th job. (15 monsters at amazing levels of damage but use more mp).
      • Most mages have mob moves
    • Cons:
      • The only 2nd job advancement attack as cleric is holy arrow, which is equal almost to magic claw.
      • Low weapon defense
      • Same problem with bowmen with jumpshooting
      • Low HP
      • Overpowered by some classes
      • Though Magic Guard helps it so they don't die, it also costs a lot of mp, and mp is more expensive than hp to buy potions for. NOTE: monsters/bosses that dispel also dispel Magic Guard, so it requires fast reflexes to recast and avoid dying)
    • NOTE: Although other classes overpower Priests in 3rd class, they have a whole slew of party skills that attract the attention of all parties.

Thief

  1. The following describes thieves.
    • Thieves are a very interesting class in MS. They can jump-attack with throwing stars and attack up close with daggers (although you will have to choose between those). They also have the coolest-looking equipment (debatable). Thieves don't get much defense, but they have high avoid-ability, making the enemies tend to miss. They get fast attacks instead of few strong blows, and as a 2nd class, they get one of the most fun skills in MS, Haste.
    • Pros:
      • Fast attacks
      • Range (for star-throwers or melee (knife-wielders) but can go hybrid
      • Can jump-attack
      • High accuracy (though not as high as Bowmen) and very avoid-ability
      • Triple Throw with Shadow Partner (Night Lord) speed rivals the Bow Master's Hurricane
      • Alchemist is very useful for Hermits (Heals 150% more from pots, and things like onyx apple last 15 minutes instead of 10)
      • Hermit's low survivability rate is made up for their good avoid-ability skills such as flash jump, although it takes some practice to get used to using it correctly. Also a good skill to get around faster.
      • Meso Guard greatly increases bandits survivability rate
      • Meso Explosion is a very powerful skill, but you have to use your own meso's for it.
      • Night Lords 4th job skill Ninja Storm knocks back all monster in range and stuns them so you have more room to attack (commonly achieved in much higher levels because of the difficulty acquiring the skill)
      • One of the best choices in parties for boss runs
    • Cons:
      • Mediocre HP
      • Assassins must be funded (to have good stars e.g. Ilbis, which cost around 15mill depending on the world)
      • Dagger thieves have the hardest time leveling in the 1st job (unless they use stars until level 30)
      • Assassins generally have less defense than Bandits because if the ability to wield shields
      • Assassins have nothing to protect their HP (But they can HP wash, requires a bit of nx)
      • Dagger thieves (Bandits) are harder to level until 3rd job
      • Daggers have short range, though fixed by Boomerang Step in 4th Job
      • Assassins tend to require more meso to maintain than other classes as well as the price of acquiring stars.
      • Thieves are very abundant, dagger and star alike (though much more of the latter).

Warrior

  1. The following describes warriors.
    • Warriors are mostly melee fighters. They cannot use range attacks like the other classes until much later in the game. Therefore, and as presumed, warriors have the far more health and defense than other classes. Attacking melee is sometimes boring, but the sheer damage of every hit makes it worthwhile.
    • Warriors do a lot of damage at higher levels, but are eclipsed by Mage's in the intermediate zone. At this point, Warriors seem pretty pathetic, but don't give up!
    • Also, it is debatable to choose 2H, or 2handed, weapons over 1H weapons. The good news is that you can use both depending on the environment. This is resulting because of the Warrior's 'Mastery' skills. For example, Fighters get Sword and Axe Mastery. If you pick Axe Mastery, you get a higher minimum damage + accuracy for BOTH 1H and 2H axes.
    • Pros:
      • Highest HP and Defense of all classes.
      • Choice of 8 different weapons types.
      • Can choose between 1-handed and 2-handed weapons.
      • First Mapler's to get a mob skill.
      • Pages (mace/sword users) can use elemental charges like those of Magicians to enhance attacking in 3rd Job and beyond
      • High raw damage.
      • Spearmen are wanted in parties should they have Hyper Body (increases max HP and MP by 60%)
      • Fighters are liked for their Rage ability. Increasing attack by 10.
      • Dragon Knights are the first class to have the ability to hit 15 monsters in the map. (Dragon Roar)
      • Crusaders do more damage on single monsters, while White Knights do more damage based on elemental powers, and Dragon Knights do more damage to mobs.
      • Dragon Knight have a more increased range but more evident in 3rd job.
      • Crusaders and White Knight gets mp regeneration in 3rd job.
    • Cons:
      • No ranged attacks until 3rd (for Spear and Polearm users) or 4th job(for every other warrior)
      • White Knights/Paladins (Pages past level 70) have restricted training choices since they rely on elemental advantages (like magicians) to train efficiently.
      • Lowest MP of all classes (until 3rd class).
      • Axe and Mace users have relatively unstable damage throughout the whole game. Spear and pole arm users also face this problem, though this is fixed in the 3rd job. Either way, this unstable damage is akin to the damage of pre-4th job (cross)bow and claw users. Pole-arm users and spearman get more mastery however in 4th job. Although Axe and Mace are unstable, they do relatively more damage than the stable sword
      • Low accuracy + avoid-ability.

Pirate

  1. The following describes pirates.
    • Pros:
      • Have both Brawler which in later levels pays off with pretty cool skills such as Transformation. Also the Gunslingers are fast, can jump shot, and have fire or ice bullets/ammunition when lvl. 70
      • The job doesn't get as boring like most jobs because at the 1st and 2nd job there are pretty cool skills. This also applies to 3rd and 4th job.
      • As of 2008, there aren't that many of them yet so you have a better chance to be well known.
      • Gunslingers eventually get a skill that rivals hurricane (rapid fire)
      • Gunslingers can get onto the haystack at the Henesy's Market Entrance.
      • Infighters have one of the best survivability rates in the game because of invincibility frames.
    • Cons:
      • Pirate can be viewed as a different version of thief. They both have somewhat a same job style consisting of either short range attacker (aka. Brawler/Bandit), or throwing objects such as stars or shooting bullets (aka. Gunslinger/Assassin).
      • Also, after a while they can get boring and even annoying. Since the release many Pirates have invaded the HPQ (Henesys Party Quest) spots and now it takes even longer to get into a party. Of course, as of 2010, HPQ is pretty empty.
      • Ask friends for advice. If any of your friends are already playing, ask them for some advice on the class benefits. It might help you to decide.

Perma-Beginner

  1. The following describes perma-beginners.
    • Pros:
      • No EXP damage when you die
      • You don't have to decide which of the five others you could do
      • Being part of a unique society
      • Adds some challenge
    • Cons:
      • No special skills
      • Must be funded (a lot) for weapons and equips
      • Extremely weak compared to other classes
      • Takes a long time to level up

Cygnus Knights

  1. Cygnus knights are spin-offs of the 5 original classes, but with certain differences.
    • Pros:
      • Levels up faster than any other class
      • Decent (and flashy) skills for most classes
      • Does not require any mastery books
      • Has a skill that boosts other characters depending on level
    • Cons:
      • Can be boring depending on your playstyle
      • Regular class weakness apply depending on which Cygnus knight you choose

==

Tips

  • Don't try to go with the flow. If everyone likes mages or thieves, you don't have to like them. Choose which class you want.
  • Choose what best suits your game-playing skills.
  • Mage's and warriors hurt a lot. The difference is that warriors have more HP and mage's have a lot more MP.
  • If you are a Perma-Beginner, say "thanks" or just ignore them if somebody calls you noob.
  • Try different classes.
  • Read some of the related wikiHow articles on Maple Story for more information to help you make your decision.
  • Look on Youtube or other sites about pros and cons of classes

Warnings

  • If you aren't satisfied with your character, you always have the option to delete it. Alternatively, they make good character card and storage mules.

Related Articles

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