Profession/Class

Profession/Class
================
In this guide, Profession and Class are used synonymously.

There are two professions that cannot be selected by a froob, the Keeper and
the Shade. Other than that, there is a wide selection of professions available
to the starting froob. Although each profession is unique, a few of them have
considerable overlap as far as party role and combat abilities.

Your profession determines what sort of nano-programs you can cast and also how
difficult it is to raise each skill. Nano-caster professions, for example,
have an easy time raising their nanoskills, but they tend to have a tough time
raising their combat skills. No skill in the game is restricted to a particular
profession, but your profession will play a large part in skills that you raise.

There is no such thing as the "best profession". Each profession has unique
strengths and weaknesses. Some are better at solo play, some are better in
teams. Some are good at blitzing, and others are good at direct damage or crowd
control or any number of essential gameplay traits. Each profession also has a
different difficulty threshold and different "level ranges" in which they excel.
Adventurers are easy to play and are strong from levels 1 to 100, but slow down
a bit when they get past level 100. Agents are very difficult to play (because
it requires some knowledge of all the other professions), and do not reach their
true potential until well past level 100. Engineers start out weak, but because
of their strong pets, they can solo comfortably throughout their career (but it
gets expensive to keep on buying new nanos). And so on, and so forth...

Adventurer
----------
The Explorers, Funcom Love-children, All-Around Combat Specialist
"Anything you can do, we can do better"

* Main Weapons: Pistol or 1-Handed Edged
* Alternate Weapons: Pretty much any other weapon
* Main Nanoskills: MM/BM/SI for Polymorphs, MM/BM for Heals
* Tradeskills: Poor
* Overall Difficulty: Easy
* Role: Mixed (Direct Damage, Healer, Tank, Solo)
The Anarchy Online equivalent of the "Ranger" class, the Adventurer is a dual-
wielding specialist, often focusing on pistols or 1-handed edged weapons. The
adventurer has decent one-shot heals, modest defensive abilities, and makes a
versatile combatant. The damage is highly-dependent on equipment, some of which
is difficult to obtain, but in general, you will hit for small amounts of damage
very quickly, rather than big hits. Melee Adventurers are the ONLY profession
for froobs that have the Backstab ability (later on in their career). The
Adventurer has a great selection of Adventurer-only equipment, as well.

What you will love: Great Healing, Polymorphs (I'm a leet!), Being the Holy
Trinity all in one class. Access to Adventurer-only equipment. You are the
Funcom Lovechild.

What you will hate: No meeps (teleportation nanos), no roots/snares, constant
jokes about playing a "Funcom Wuv-child", expectation to be the Holy Trinity at
all times. Polymorphs mean that your big furry butt will fill your whole screen.

Agent
-----
The Red Mages, Jack-of-all-Trades/Master-of-None, Glass Cannons
"Pow! 13k Aimed Shot! Wait, he's not dead?" *runs for life*
"Oh, I have that buff. Give me a couple seconds to cast it..."

* Main Weapons: Rifle
* Alternate Weapons: Assault Rifle, Bow
* Main Nanoskills: BM/PM/SI for False Profession, MM/SI for Damage boosts
* Tradeskills: Poor
* Overall Difficulty: Hard
* Role: Direct Damage
Agents are long-range assassins, with the ability to hide in the shadows and
strike with a powerful Aimed Shot (often killing things in one hit). They also
have the False Profession ability, which allows them to cast a wide variety of
nanos from other classes. This makes the Agent a versatile and powerful class
selection. However, this versatility comes at a cost, as Agents are one of the
weakest classes in terms of Health and evading attacks. They do not bloom until
later levels, and you really need to know the potential of other professions
before you can effectively play an Agent. Opifex is the breed of choice for
these agile combatants.

What you will love: False Profession! High damage from Aimed Shots.

What you will hate: Low Health = Squishy agent. Expectation to be able to cast
buffs from all professions at the same time. SLOW casting time while in FP. IP
crunch hurts badly until TL5.

Bureaucrat
----------
The Crowd Control, Snake Charmers, Miss Congeniality
"Nice Pet. I'll take it."
"What adds? I'll subtract instead." - Terwillinger, and his calms.

* Main Weapons: Pistol
* Alternate Weapons: Shotgun
* Main Nanoskills: MC/TS for Bots, BM/PM/SI for charms
* Tradeskills: Average
* Overall Difficulty: Hard
* Role: Support (Crowd Control, Mezzer)
Bureaucrats specialize in charming their foes, temporarily recruiting them as
allies. They also have Bots as pets, similar to Engineers. Bureaucrats are an
excellent support class, and as support classes go, are pretty difficult to
play. They have an excellent selection of roots and snares, a fair amount of
nukes, and several unique nanoprograms that only they can use, including the
Baton line of nanoprograms (which increases the XP gained by the party). They
are also specialists in the tradeskill of Psychology.

What you will love: Charming your enemies (Making Friends, and Influencing
People), wide variety of Crowd Control, spiffy outfits.

What you will hate: Wimpy bots. Relying on other people/enemies for your damage.
Poor weapon skills. Juggling Charms. Not being part of the Holy Trinity. No one
knows what you DO exactly...

Doctor
------
The Clerics/Medics/Healers, Voted Homecoming King/Queen by Popular Vote
"Every time I have to CH, I'll take a drink... wait, don't take off your armor!"
- Icydoc and his Complete Healing drinking game
"Nano please! Like, now!"

* Main Weapons: Poor with all weapons, but Pistol is default
* Alternate Weapons: Shotgun, 2 Handed Edged, 1 Handed Edged, Martial Arts
* Main Nanoskills: MM/BM for Heals, MM/BM/TS for Heal-Over-Time
* Tradeskills: Average
* Overall Difficulty: Easy
* Role: Healer
A Doctor of any breed is a welcome addition to any party, as they are the most
effective healers. If you are playing a Doctor, you can expect to get invited
by most groups in the dungeons. Your damage output will suffer though, and it
can take laboriously long to kill things as a solo player. If you thrive on
teamwork and don't mind waiting to get picked up by a group before really
taking off in terms of experience and loot, a Doctor is a good option. Nanomage
gives you more for your nano-skills, but most people pick Solitus as their
breed for survivability. Most doctors use Pistols for their weapons, a cheap
and effective solution for primary weaponry. Naturally, Doctors are good at the
tradeskill of Pharm Tech.

What you will love: The most popular profession, period. Everyone wants you in
the team. The love and respect of your peers.

What you will hate: Being blamed for everyone's mistakes. Relying on a team for
damage. Running out of nano constantly. Buff beggars who want SFA/IC (Superior
First Aid/Iron Circle). Heal Aggro.

Enforcer
--------
The Guy/Gal with the Big Stick. THE tank.
"Me Trox. Me bash. Me kill."
"MONGO!!!" - Common Enforcer Warcry
"In battle! Use Item. Monster angry! Doctor safe!" - from Da Taunter!
"I am known by many names. Tank. Meatshield. Fighter. Brawler. Corpse.
I am the Enforcer." - from the Enforcer's Prayer (paraphrased in a hundred
other games)

* Main Weapons: 2 Handed Edged, 1 Handed Edged, 2 Handed Blunt, 1 Handed Blunt
* Alternate Weapons: Any Melee Weapon
* Main Nanoskills: BM/MC for Essence, BM/PM for Mongo, BM/MM for Challenger
* Tradeskills: Poor
* Overall Difficulty: Easy
* Role: Tank, Direct Damage
These guys are the tanks, and they are the heavy-hitters in the game. They are
designed to take damage and dish it out. As an Enforcer, your primary Job is to
stay on the front line, and hold the enemies as long as you can. You have a
variety of tools to keep aggro and a decent amount of skills to keep yourself
alive. You are also the first choice for most people when they want to select a
tank for their team. Atrox is the breed of choice for Enforcers, but you can
also be successful with Solitus. Most Enforcers use large 2-handed Blunt or
Edged Weapons, although some use 1-handed Blunt or Edged or even Piercing
weapons dual-wielded.

What you will love: Being part of the Holy Trinity. Finding large sticks and
sharp sticks and killing things with them. Having more Health than God (even
the Nano Mage squishy Enforcers). Mongo is a great self-heal.

What you will hate: If you do your job right, you are always the first to die.
Ranged enemies. Expectation to always have the best and biggest weapon at the
earliest point in time. Mongo is also an AoE Taunt. Behe Buff Beggars.

Engineer
--------
The Guy/Gal with the Big Bot, Tradeskiller.
"/pet hunt. *yawn*"
"You need me to tradeskill what?"
"Mocham's + Wrangle plz" - A typical Engineer request

* Main Weapons: Pistol
* Alternate Weapons: Shotgun, Grenade Launchers
* Main Nanoskills: MC/TS for Bots
* Tradeskills: Good
* Overall Difficulty: Medium
* Role: Support
Engineers are probably the easiest of the tradeskill professions to play. They
have the strongest pets, have the easiest time upgrading their tradeskills,
and many tradeskill items are Engineer-only. Later on, they get the ability to
"warp" other players to their location, making Engineers popular for teams (if
someone dies, they can just get warped back to the team by the Engineer). Most
Engineers use Pistols, and some Engineers even endeavor to create their own
personalized pistol.

What you will love: A bot that will stay with you FOREVER, as long as you are
logged in. Tradeskilling. Beacon Warp. /pet hunt.

What you will hate: Buff begging all the time for nanoskill buffs (Mocham's and
Wrangles). Expectation that you are a tradeskiller, even if you haven't raised
any tradeskills. Bot Aggro (Why are they attacking me and not the big robot?!).

Fixer
-----
The Flash, Blitzers, Smurfs, Taxis.
"I have a need... a need for Speed!" - Top Gun (1986)
"Zooooooooom!" -Zipzipzoom, Fixer
"Hardcore Fixer-on-Fixer action is like watching a boxing match between 2 blind
men. Eventually, one of them will get lucky and knock the other one out. By
then, the crowd will go home, the judge will be asleep and the cameraman will
go off to film paint drying." - Tarradax

* Main Weapons: SMGs
* Alternate Weapons: Pistol, Ranged Energy
* Main Nanoskills: MM/BM/TS for Heal-over-Time, MM/MC/TS for Grid Armor, TS/SI
for Movement buffs, MM/SI for Damage Boosts
* Tradeskills: Good
* Overall Difficulty: Medium
* Role: Mixed (Crowd Control, Support, Tank, Direct Damage, Solo)
This profession specializes in moving quickly. They have access to a special
form of the Grid which allows them to transport themselves virtually anywhere
in Rubi-Ka. Run speed, Heal over Time, and NCU buffs make for a well-rounded
profession which excels at missions and soloing. They also have the best
evades, including the highly coveted Grid Armor line of nanos that allow them
to become virtually untouchable in combat. Their nanoskills, however, are all
dark blue. Opifex is the breed of choice.

What you will love: Runspeed buffs. Heal Over Time. Fixer Grid. Submachineguns.
Meeps. Roots AND Snares.

What you will hate: Dark Blue Nano Skills. Runspeed/NCU/HoT Buff Beggars.
Submachineguns. Grid Armor will break your Piggy Bank (AKA Smurf Envy).

Martial Artist
--------------
The Hand-to-Hand Combat Masters, Kung-fu Ninja Monk fighters.
"Everybody was kung-fu fighting! Those cats were fast as lightning!
In fact it was a little bit fright'ning, But they fought with expert timing!"
- Carl Douglas (1974)

* Main Weapons: Martial Arts
* Alternate Weapons: 1-Handed Blunt, Piercing, Bow
* Main Nanoskills: BM/SI for Heals/Damage boosts, PM/TS/SI for Crit buffs
* Tradeskills: Poor
* Overall Difficulty: Easy
* Role: Mixed (Direct Damage, Healer, Solo)
The best part of the Martial Artist is the fact that you can do lots of damage
without investing in a weapon; your hand-to-hand damage goes up as you put
more points into the Martial Arts skill. Martial Artists have decent self and
team one-shot heals, a variety of boosts for their attacks, and dish out a lot
of damage with little/no dependence on equipment. However, they generally
aren't very sturdy. Opifex makes for great Martial Artists, but Solitus and
Atrox work well, too. I highly recommend this profession for your first
character, as you will never have to spend money on finding a good weapon.

What you will love: Not having to buy any weapons. Martial Arts attacks. Crit
buffs. Spiffy outfits.

What you will hate: Noticing that weapons tend to do more damage. Expectation
to be the healer despite mediocre heals. AND tank, too. Ranged Enemies.

Metaphysicist
-------------
The Meatball Persons. The Mocham's/Web buffers.
"I believe I can fly. I believe I can touch the sky." - R Kelly (1996)
"See my pets? Yes, I have three of them."
"No, I don't have Composites. Sorry." - Selmah's logon.

* Main Weapons: Poor with all weapons, but 1 Handed Blunt is default
* Alternate Weapons: Bow, 2 Handed Edged, Pistol
* Main Nanoskills: All Nanoskills
* Tradeskills: Average
* Overall Difficulty: Hard
* Role: Support, Direct Damage
Metaphysicists are known for two things: Nanoskill Buffs and summoning Pets
(often called "Meatballs" or "Blimps"). They get three pets: Attack pet, Heal
pet, and "Mezz" pet. They are also one of two classes that eventually get the
gift of Flight, with the nano Quantum Wings (Who needs a Yalm anyway?). They
aren't too sturdy and aren't great with weapons, but with enough resources,
they are pretty self-reliant, capable of soloing most of the time.

What you will love: Quantum Wings. Self-reliance for nano-skill buffs. Your
Meatballs do everything for you except loot the chests.

What you will hate: Mocham's Buff Beggars (even if you can't cast them yet).
Short duration of pets. Running out of NCU all the time. Poor Weapon skills.
Composite Buff Beggars (You can't even CAST composites as a froob).

Nano Technician
---------------
The OTHER Glass Cannons, Kiters, Nukers.
"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" - Typical NT, running away from a horde of kited enemies
"We aren't surrounded. We're in a target-rich environment." - Dingzap, in ToTW

* Main Weapons: Poor with all weapons, but Pistol is default
* Alternate Weapons: Shotgun
* Main Nanoskills: MC for Nukes, MM/TS for Humidity Extractor
* Tradeskills: Average
* Overall Difficulty: Medium
* Role: Direct Damage
Nano Technicians are an almost pure caster class. They deal direct damage with
their huge amount of nano nukes, both on single targets and AoE. They also have
the unique nanoprogram "Humidity Extractor", one of the few ways to recover
nanopoints over time. They are very vulnerable in melee combat, but can deal
enormous amounts of damage.

What you will love: Wiping out a group of 20 monsters with your nukes. Nullity
Sphere literally makes you invulnerable. Humidity Extractor (everyone loves a
nice Humidity Extractor).

What you will hate: You are squishiest squishy that has ever been squished.
Running out of nano DESPITE having Humidity Extractor. Layers are not equal to
heals. Fumbles and countered Nano-programs.

Soldier
-------
The Guy/Gal with the Big Gun.
"TMS up! Ack! TMS Down!" - typical Soldier in combat
"That's the sound you hear just before you drop dead... PEW PEW!" - Snarfblatt

* Main Weapons: Ranged Energy, Assault Rifle, Pistol, Shotgun
* Alternate Weapons: Any Ranged Weapon
* Main Nanoskills: MC/TS for Damage Shields, PM for Taunts
* Tradeskills: Poor
* Overall Difficulty: Easy
* Role: Tank, Direct Damage
Soldiers are best known as ranged attack specialists, but also do well as tanks,
due to their unique ability to create powerful reflect shields, both long-term
versions and a short term shield that blocks nearly all damage. They have a
variety of buffs for ranged weapons, and can do well with nearly any ranged
weapon in the game. If there is one thing that they lack, it is a solid heal,
so they tend to fare better in a team with good healing.

What you will love: TMS (Total Mirror Shield). Full-Auto. Being part of the
"Holy Trinity" (both Tank AND Direct Damage). Big Guns. Having more ACs than
God.

What you will hate: One-More-Hit-Healing is your only self heal, and it's not
very good. When TMS runs out (uh oh). Running out of ammo ALL THE TIME. Hitting
for 0 bullets with Full Auto.

Trader
------
The Wranglers. The Lowbie PvP god. Riding Shotgun.
"So far, wrangling has not earned me anything, except a load of trouble, and
2/3rds of my customers who aren't even grateful. Do tell me that it's not like
this all the time, please." - GDB2222
"It's like this ALL THE TIME." - Hahnsoo

* Main Weapons: Shotgun
* Alternate Weapons: Pistol
* Main Nanoskills: PM/TS for Drains and Wrangles, SI for Calms, BM for Heals.
* Tradeskills: Good
* Overall Difficulty: Hard
* Role: Support
Traders are merchants who also happen to be quite good at shotguns, for some
reason. They have access to the special Trader shop, and have several key
Trader-only items. Their drains allow them to cast nanos and use weapons far
above their normal ability, while their wrangles are one of the most sought
after buffs in the game. They are one of the classes that excel at tradeskills,
and have several powerful tradeskill buffs. They even have decent heals and
calms, to boot.

What you will love: Drains. Equipping obscenely powerful weapons. Being feared
universally in low level PvP. The Trader Shop (PROFIT!). Tradeskills. Calms.
Computer Literacy buffs.

What you will hate: Wrangle buff-beggars (see Engineer). Being feared in low
level PvP means that NO ONE will fight you. Running out of nano/NCU all the
time. Your charms are worthless. Fumbles and countered Drains. Aside from low
level PvP, no one knows what you DO exactly (see Bureaucrat).