How do classes in Wolcen work? Part of planning a good ARPG build is knowing what class with which to start. At least, that’s how it normally goes. In Wolcen, classes are picked when you start the game, and you can choose melee, ranged, or magic. However, these groupings aren’t that rigid, so you can easily swap from one to another quickly and easily.
That being said, it’s still good to know the strengths of each Wolcen class and discover the kinds of playstyles they best support. While you can more or less change your class whenever you like after the first hour, I'm here to give you a primer on how to approach your first Wolcen build attempt.
How Wolcen classes work
Wolcen's classes all fit into the normal archetypes you would expect from a fantasy ARPG. The melee class is a warrior, the ranged class is an archer, and the magic class is a mage—all fairly simple stuff. The choice you make dictates your starting equipment and first skill, but nothing else. The intro has you playing some weird generic warrior type no matter which class you choose, but you’ll switch over to the one you’ve chosen once you’re through the tutorial.
The important thing to bear in mind is that you can reset both your stats, skill points, and even buy new Wolcen skills. Skills you can use are dictated by your weapons, which makes it easy to change classes if you fancy a change. This means a bit more grinding, but it's nowhere near as painful as starting from scratch.
Ranged
This encompasses a lot more than just a bow. The Ranged class is rogue in Wolcen speak. You can use daggers, pistols, and bows, in other words. It allows for a welcome bit of variety; it's a good choice for commitment-phobes, as well as those who prefer to do things with a bit of style.
The skills at your disposal differ just as much as the tools of your trade, so you can go all in on bow skills to make arrows rain from the sky, or launch piercing arrows through the monsters in front of you. For utility, you can drop auto-turrets, use smoke bombs, and even curse enemies to make them more vulnerable to damage. There are a few other skills too, but all of them point more towards versatility than pure damage, so this is a good one for the tricksters among you.
Magic
As with the Melee class, your weapons are all cut from the same cloth, but your skills are far more versatile; you have a lot of options and paths to pursue. Using magic is a good choice for people who usually play mages or just like to look stand out; this is not a subtle class.
In terms of skills, you can choose to wield the elements of fire, ice, and lightning to annihilate your targets. Equally, summon minions to fight for you if you enjoy fantasy delegation. There's a fun mix of abilities, and finding the right blend can take time, but it’ll be worth it when you’re an unstoppable force of nature.
Melee
This is the most straightforward of the three Wolcen classes. It’s also the only one in with which you should also combine investment in the Toughness skill: the other two classes should mostly keep you out of harm's way. Melee is all about using one big weapon, two smaller weapons, or a weapon and a shield to deal out, and take massive damage. The skills are a little more varied than you might expect, though.
Flight of Gaavanir, for example, basic throws Mjolnir out to deal damage at range, while Bleeding Edge launches a spinning axe that spins around you in a murderous arc. Bladestorm is the most powerful skill at present, which turns you into a tornado of steel and pain. Regardless, the Melee class is for those who like to be in the thick of battle, prize strength above all else, and just like hitting monsters with really big swords.
