It seems like classes have been part of gaming since, well forever. Even before video games were a thing we have been so conditioned by classes in tabletop games and Dungeons and Dragons that when a game comes along and does things differently it makes us pause, afraid of the new.
That is what has happened here with Throne and Liberty, the new MMO from NCSoft and Amazon as it sets out to redefine how we view classes in the game and offer a level of freedom that we aren’t regularly used to.
We still have the more traditional weapon types – great swords, magical staffs, and the like but rather than you choosing a class at character creation time and being rigidly locked into it for the duration of your playthrough, Throne and Liberty lets you switch things up as you go along, instead using your different weapons and abilities you buff along the way, shape your fortunes.
You can still build out a Warrior or a Mage and definitely should try both, but you are not locked into one style once you have chosen. You can have two weapons active at any one time so you may have the sword and shield if you want to tank out and play as a warrior, or if you prefer are more magic twist then you could go for the staff and wand.
The thing about Throne and Liberty which makes it so different is that you can easily switch between what you need for the occasion.
While that may sound like the best of all worlds, weapons level up with use so if you gravitate towards a specific style more than another then it may be that secondary skills soon become obsolete. Keeping your hand in with all the different class styles you want to play therefore becomes quite tactical.
After Level 25 you will start earning specialization points that you can use to augment your weapons so it is best to start off with an overall idea at least of the build you want to play with, rather than just throwing points at everything when they start to arrive.
Throne and Liberty classes
For ease, we will put the classes in Throne and Liberty into more traditional groups and list the weapons you need to use for it.
Warrior
- Weapons: Sword and Shield, Greatsword
- Role: Tank
- Strength: Crowd control and melee
Ranger
- Weapons: Ranged, bows/crossbow
- Role: Crowd control
- Strength: Ranged attack, traps
Mage
- Weapons: Staff and wand
- Role: Support
- Strength: Spells, debuffs, AoE
Assassin
- Weapons: Daggers, dual blades
- Role: Stealth damage
- Strength: Stealth, agility
Throne and Liberty best starting class
We would suggest going with the Warrior style until you get familiar with how the game scales. If you prefer to be a little more hands-off then the Mage build is a great choice. While the others are all solid enough, the Ranger would be our last choice based on the current meta.
Of course, the ability to switch between these almost on the fly means you can try out what you feel the most comfortable with early on without having to worry about having separate characters for each class.
You can get started in Throne and Liberty for free by downloading the client from Steam or via the game’s own site.