A rundown on each profession. (Unfinished)

This post is not finished. It still requires a separate and very detailed guide for each profession!

Main Abbreviations used:

Mob = Monster (an attackable NPCs)
PvP = Player vs Player
PvM = Player vs Mob
Froob = Free Player/Content
Calm = A nano that puts a mob into a "Sleeping" state so it's not to attack you until attacked.
Mezz = A temporary calm (More like a stun)
Tool set = All the nanos and items that a profession is capable of using
Funcom Love Child = A profession that is usually strong vs more professions then most, and/or is much more wanted in a team
Damage Dumper = A program used to monitor and record who does the most/least damage
AC = Armor Class (Reduces damage that you receive on each hit up until the minimum damage is reached)
QL = Quality Level (The item level system that each weapon has)
TMS = Total Mirror Shield (A nano part of the Soldiers tool set)
AMS = Augmented Mirror Shield (Another nano part of the Soldiers tool set)
SMG = Sub Machine Gun (A weapon skill)
Fgrid = Fixers Grid
Fear = A nano that makes the mobs (And even players) move around erratically with no control over their character for a duration.
blitz = Running straight for the objective/target without worry about the obstacles
Buffs and Debuffs = Increase or decrease in a particular skill or function of the game
Toon = A players character
HoT = Heal over Time
DoT = Damage over time
AoE = Area of Effect
1he = One handed edge (A weapon skill)
2he = Two handed edge (A weapon skill)
1hb = One handed blunt (A weapon skill)
2hb = Two handed blunt (A weapon skill)
DD = Damage Dealing
AR = Attack Rating (Helps you land hits, while having those hits do more damage)
Inits = Initiative (How fast you attack with a particular group of weapons)
AAD = Add all defense (Basically is same as evades at a 1/1 ration, except it provides the evades to all three)
AAO = Add all offense (Increased your AR by the amount listed)
Twink = Making the players character much stronger then the average player by using what resources are given to them in the game
Raid = Multiple teams put together to form a large group (Does not get experience points or progress in quests though)
HP = Health Points
NP = Nano Points

Profession Abbreviations used:

MP = Metaphysicist
Crat = Bureaucrat
Advy = Adventure
Enfo = Enforcer
Engi = Engineer
NT = Nano Technician
MA = Martial Artist (Also references the Martial Art's skill)
Doc = Doctor
Sol = Solder

____________________________________________________________________________________


To start this off I'm going to name each one of these professions by a role. Assault, Support, and Defense. I'm also going to uniquely place each profession from 1-14 on how hard they are to play, and how sought after they are for teams in both PvP and PvM.

How many choices?

There are 14 Professions in total. 12 are froob, 2 are Shadowlands only. Each have their own weaknesses and strengths. Some are extremely effective against the other, while the next is weak. It's similar to a circle of death. We will give a rundown on each one.

Adventure

The leet... well known for its cuteness. Well this profession can actually transform itself and others into a leet! Yes, as well as overgrown cats, two headed dogs, and pit lizards, although trust me when i say they aren't the cute little lizards you see on the giecko commercials. They are massive beasts. With its transformations, it also raises and in some cases, decreases damage and other factors. These decreases are offset by far from the increases you gain.

Adventurers are very good in combat. With the ability to create shields around themselves to farther protect their team, and themselves. They have absorbs as well. They have some great damage and with its ability to heal 1/4th or so as good as a doc (which is pretty damn good). With all this plus the fact they get an amazing amount of evades, they can do massive soloing.

Advy's have one of the best perk systems in game. Although this is limited to expansions only and the amount of perks you receive. They have very good buffs for pistols and 1he. This makes them ideal in pistol and 1he. They heal, they support, they assault. This makes for one devastating effect.

Since Advy's have such a huge variety it is hard to choose which one. However, we would not rely on an advy for heals in serious situations. Their supportive role is always nice. But in the end, they seem more of an Assault class. They are one of Funcoms Love Childs, but more so in PvP then PvM. I will classify them as Assault.

Agent

Agents are the masters of deception. Able to avoid detection from even the most keen Adventure, they use their nanos to conceal themselves, which is also how they use their primary special, Aim Shot. Which is on just about all their main weapon, rifle. They can also go into visual profession mode using their tool kit, which allows them to use most of the other professions nanos, and even some of their profession specific equipment! They can also go undercover to spy on the other side without a lost, unlike the side applications where you will lose any progress for the side chosen.

This ability makes Agents one of the hardest professions to use, specially when your just starting. This is because you need to know every professions tool set to be able to use them effectively and know what you should use and what not to. There are huge side effects from disguising yourself as another profession, the biggest being a large amount of nano inits and nanoskills that get debuffed. As well as other big debuffs.

Once you figure out what is best for the Agent to use though... they can become extremely effective in PvM and PvP. And they can even substitute for some professions when they need certain buffs that the team might be missing. With this ability of using other professions' buffs though, comes with it a very nice demand of buffs from other players that can lead to a nice bit of tips. Nothing like having an all-in-one profession!

Unfortunately Agents aren't wanted in teams if they have the other professions that were needed. But if there is no other profession around, they are the best substitute for it. But in PvP, they can become a real hassle because of the powerful special, Aim Shot, and their ability to be very sneaky. They don't naturally have a lot of debuffs, nor that many supportive or defensive buffs, but think what they could do when mimicking a Doctor? Heals, init debuffs, and better damage to top it all off. Their damage isn't all that great though. They fair well, but they are usually below average.

Even though Agents don't normally have a lot of support, for them it is all about supporting the team, or using your supportive powers when disguised to defeat players. Damage is not nearly as good as most of the other professions. And they can only get so many evades. They are nearly impossible to find when hidden, which is also a nice recon/supportive tool for them. I think of them being mostly support.

Bureaucrat

Bureaucrats are another pet class profession. Their pets work just about the same as other pets but require a bit more attention in certain situations. Unlike the other pet classes, but similar to a Trader, you can manipulate the mind of a mob and have complete control over them also know as charming. This allows for a possibility of up to three attack pets total. But until later levels they only get one, surprisingly weak, pet that they can summon.

Crats are very unique for their ability to significantly increase the overall experience the team gets. They also have some interesting defensive auras. They have extremely powerful supportive powers such as init debuffs, and mezzing. They can also provide some of the best damage in game from their nukes combined with their pets strength as well as their personal damage from their most commonly used weapons, the pistol. They are also very good with evades. Combine this with their init debuffs and high damage, they become extremely good Pvp'ers. And if you add in the power of calms, they become quite possibly, the best PvM solo profession in game.

Crats have a very supportive role. With all their unique abilities to make a teams life so much easier that some people like to classify having a crat in a team as "Easy Mode". They are one of Funcoms Love Childs. I classify them as Supportive.

Doctor

Doctors are a bit obvious. They are the absolute best healers in the game, by far. They are nearly invisible in a one on one PvP and if you find a PvP battle against two docs, no lie, it might never end.

Docs can support their team in more ways then one though. Having a nice variety of HP buffs, init debuffs for mobs, HoT's, DoT's, and even a little bit of grid knowledge, where they can team grid like fixers, just not as effectively.

Docs tend to be a full supportive class. However much needed in just about every situation. They get the best solo capability, but at a cost. They lack some serious damage. They normally go straight to the bottom of any Damage Dumper. They usually use pistols throughout their career.

Having such a serious lack of damage, docs are definitely not a combat group. They don't really have much defensive abilities much as supportive abilities to increase survivability by healing and buffing HP. and seriously impacting the effective damage a mob can dish out. But this goes heavily for PvP as well. With their ability to make most players take many seconds to use most actions, and use of DoT's combined with heals for yourself to survive an onslaught of damage, you can still kill almost all professions, albeit slowly. They are one of Funcoms Love Childs. I classify them as supportive.

Enforcer

Enforcers are well known for their tanking abilities. Their nanos consist of Absorbs, Taunts, Shields, and massive HP. They are the stand there and get hit type of profession. They can take a beating like no other.

Enfo's are fairly decent with damage. They can go just about any type of melee attack and make out great. 1hb, 2hb, 1he, 2he are the most commonly used melee skill. Even piercing used to be quite good but the others sort of made their way to the top. And Melee Energy is also a commonly used weapon for those wanting to be different.

Enfo's are able to hold aggro very well. Better then any other profession can, and they have area taunts which make it a lot easier to keep a horde of mobs from attacking you precious teammates, which without a doctor, a good bit of damage, and many other supportive characters, can make things really nasty for the tank. So he needs to be able to keep any other mobs from attacking his allies. They are one of the most required profession, along with Doctors, for PvM teams. But they also have a very nice tool set that allows for very good PvP'ing ability.

For the most part the enfo's damage is irrelevant, and most of the time you will see them about half way on most damage dumper programs. Their defense is amazing though. With so much HP (Near three times more then other professions), shields, absorbs, and even some decent evades, they are extremely defensive. They do not hardly support a team other then just sitting there and tanking all the hits. They are one of Funcoms Love Childs. Although they are very assaulting like professions, I have no doubt that they are all about defense.

Engineer

Yet another pet class, capable of handling two pets, both being combat pets. You will get a robot and a mechanized dog. The Engineers' robot is typically stronger then your average pet since there is no good support for them. The dog is a strong hitter, however they are extremely weak and in a lot of cases only take one or two hits to be killed. These dogs also require the expansion pack Shadowlands.

Engis have some really good defensive buffs. Having offensive auras, supporting auras, and even the best AC buffs makes them a plus for any team. They can even jump in a robot suit later in the game! This suit buffs their MA skill by 300, although this usually doesn't stun the eye of them since they are mainly pistol/grenade users.

Engis buffs are for pistol and grenade. But unlike Adventures, they have the ability to cast these buffs on other players, which could lead to some "Tips". They do quite well with assault rifle as well though. They also have decent soloing capabilities. Their pets also last forever or until they die, you terminate them, or you log off. They are one of the best tradeskilling professions as well.

Engis give off reflects, heighten AC's, and make the teams overall defense a bit better... Which makes for a very desirable defensive classed profession. They are one of the most sought after profession for PvP, but still makes PvM life for a team, so much easier.

Fixer

If you want to ride the grid, Fixers are the best profession for the job. They even get their own special grid, known as fgrid. This grid system that is exclusively built for fixers (However eventually they are able to send their team into the fgrid) leads to a lot more discrete locations. They are wonderful for blitzing a mission since they can go just about anywhere quickly, and buff their run speed by a tremendous amount.

Fixers are a great mix of everything. Their supportive abilities yield from buffing everyones run speed, providing them with powerful HoTs, rooting/snaring their opponents, and getting them a quick evacuation. They have the best evades out of everyone. This helps a ton when combined with their HoTs. They're able to be extremely effective in combat, with good evades and heals that accumulate over time, which allows them to solo very well. They also have amazing damage, just about matching the most powerful Soldiers. They are very good at using SMG weapons.

Fixers are very fast professions, and are very fun to play. They are good DD for PvM teams but they are even more deadly in PvP since they are near impossible to hit. Even though they have nice supportive tools, it doesn't really fit the bill. Evades are just about the only defense they have (Even if they are the best), which they can help buff their team with evades, but when they get hit, they get hurt... bad. I think the best place for them is assault.

Keeper

This profession requires Shadowlands!

Keepers are great team professions. They have fairly decent damage, especially at low to mid levels since they get very nice early to mid game weapons. They have lot's of defense, for both themselves and the team. They get great perks that allow them to survive for a while through absorbs and heals, as well as getting very good evades. They are nice solo'ers as well since they have lot's of defensive abilities and very nice ways to heal themselves.

Keepers auras help the teams overall strength by a nice bit. In PvP they are extremely sought after if the opposing team is dealing with a Bureaucrat that is using fears. This is also true for the few mob encounters that have fears, however this is rare which is why they are not often needed except for select raids. However, they are still have decent DD using some one of the strongest weapons in game, great support, and are able to tank very good if something happens to the team, so they are a good replacement.

Keepers really don't have that much going for them offensively even though they have decent DD. Their support abilities are nice to help make everyone else work easier. They have extremely good defense though. Put in with very good self healing abilities, and auras that can do many effects including additional healing, makes them a defensive class.

Martial Artist

Martial Artists can be an incredibly bad-ass damage dealer. They rely heavily on their fists, feet, and critical hits. They have a very offensive nature. They do however have the 3rd best healing power (About as 1/4th as good as Adventurers, and no where near as good as a Doctors) however it lacks a great deal.

MA's are very offensive, but they rely heavily on defense since they have hardly any reasonable supportive healing to aid them. Their main defense is evades. They can get a very nice amount of evades, which will make the mobs miss most of the time, requiring a lot less healing then normal.

MA's have one of the best critical attack setups in-game, What am i saying... they HAVE the best critical attack setup... They are so good, they are actually able to get to a 100% critical attack setup endgame. I think the highest calculated critical setup was about 101% or so.

This is why MA's can cause so much damage. At endgame, you could see them normally doing about 80-90% critical hits, along with about 6-8k damage every critical hit. That's a lot of damage!

MA's have great defense with their evades, other then that though, it's all they have. Surprisingly that's about all they need for PvP. The small/slow heals is usually enough to make a fight against players and mobs easy combined with these evades, but healing others that take damage faster is not much of an option for them. It's not hard to say they are a defensive class, even though it is more self defense.

Metaphysicist

Metaphysicists are the masters of three different pets. Attacking, mezzing, and healing. You could hide, send your pets out to fight, heal each other, and support each other, while you sit there watching and dealing out the deck playing solitaire. A lot of their strength comes from their pets. With this being said, having the ability to boost their nanoskills to an extreme amount makes them typically stronger then what they should be at their level.

Capable at casting endgame nanos before almost all other professions. Although each profession has their own buffs, MP's can use these supportive buffs to assist others so they may cast stronger nanos, and in general, heighten your teams overall strength. It is possible, and happens a lot, that one may get bored of this profession fairly quickly because of the ability to cast all but endgame nanos at incredible levels.

But you can live out your retirement! Due to the ability to cast very useful buffs on others in need, MP's may receive "Tips" from other players, sometimes in the millions for a single buff. Their pets also only last a certain amount of time which leads to recasting your pets, and all buffs on them.

The most common sets of weapons are either bow for more damage and a powerful special called Aimshot, or 1hb + a shield that MP's can create from the notum in the air that provides a huge increase in their defensive capabilities while maintaining some small but personal damage. Both of these setups leave for a very nice PvP experience, but lack on the PvM side.

MP's primary expectation is to buff the team with their amazing nano skill boosting nanos and provide other support they have. We will classify this profession as support.

Nano Technician

When it comes to nukes, Nano Technicians are by far the best. They rely in most cases, solely on nukes for damage. They have many buffs that help them cast these nukes quicker, farther, and with constant effectiveness by extending the NP of the NT and lessening the NP requirements of all nanos.

NT's are very self defensive professions. They rely heavily on evades, absorbs, reflects, and other means to keep themselves alive. They tend to have a lot of NP with little health. They can be a difficult profession to learn but they also become one of the best damage dealing professions in game. And if you find an NT that uses their AoE nanos on a large group of mobs, chances are, even at very low levels, they are exceeding even the best damage dealing professions such as Shades. Single targets are also decimated by their powerful nukes. But they usually range somewhere between middle and top DD.

NT's are actually extremely supportive at the same time. They have a great line of buffs that allow for other professions to use their nanos more effectively. They even have a line that allows them to lessen the opponents nano resist by a ton, so that the rest of the team can very easily cast their own supportive and offensive buffs on them. They can also mezz mobs similar to that of a Bureaucrat leaving them to be a viable option to help mezz adds.

They also can provide what most people call "Power Leveling" with their AoE nukes. This can bring in a heap load of credits for the NT by kiting (Running around in medium sized circles to stay clear from the mods to avoid being hit), and leveling a group who pays you by the level. So they can have a nice career if placed at a good level range to level other players.

In PvM they are very weak to solo a mob. Their chances of survival are only good if they kite, which not all mobs can be kited. And there only only a very few bosses that can be at that. They do achieve some of the best damage in game though and they have great support, so they are extremely effective in a team. PvP wise, they have one of the best tool sets available. They can root, stun with nukes, drain nanoskills with nukes, do tons of damage to players, have a great alpha capability, and are just generally built to fight a player.

All this consider, where the NT's defense is mostly for their selves, their damage being incredible high, but their supportive nature is just amazing, I think of them as a support class.

Shade

This profession requires Shadowlands!

If you are looking for raw power, you'll be interested in one of the strongest professions in the game, Shades. They are by far the number one DD profession vs a single target wielding powerful piercing weapons or possibly even using the MA skill. The only match for their DD is a Nano Technician using their AoE's on a large group of mobs. They are a little bit different then other professions. They do not use implants, instead they use spirits, which are like symbiants but there is not much twinking like there is with implants. This doesn't leave the fun out of twinking though, since getting on weapons and equipment is even harder now that you get less skills since you can't yield higher QL spirits then what the level requirements let you.

Shades also rely on perks a lot more then other professions. Perks for them is life and death. Almost all of their damage, healing, evades, etc come from their perks. It can be a very confusing profession if just starting out. But one of the most rewarding since it's solo abilities are near (or even better in certain situations) that of a Doctors, except with over twice as much damage! They are always wanted in a team because they can make up for two high DD professions by just using one team slot.

Shades use drains somewhat like Traders, except it mostly deals with sapping HP and sapping AAO/AAD and increasing theirs'. They have the second best evades, getting near Fixers when combined with their AAD drains. They have a very nice defensive tool set as well. And believe it or not, they are actually an amazing tank, and in certain situations are more sought after for tanking then Enforcers or Soldiers! Their DD is so high that they can almost match the taunting power of an Enforcer! They have next to no support though, besides draining the opponents AAD so that the team can hit them easier.

Shades are amazing at soloing in PvM. Very quick kills makes for saving a lot of time compared to using a other good solo'ers. They are so hard to hit, that the heals they get from their perks every 30 or so seconds, and a few small heal saps, makes them this way. In PvP it only gets better. They are also the second best concealers in the game. Not nearly as good as Agents, but they are able to hide from anyone that doesn't put effort into their perception skill. This leaves for a very sneaky tactic shades can use to decapitate their opponent in a matter of seconds. They are by far the best assault class in the game, and I will consider them assault even though their self defensive abilities almost match that of a Fixer!

Soldier

A prime combat assault personnel. With massive damage even at early levels, Soldiers are wanted often. They can cap a full auto at quite an early level, which is 15,000 damage.

Sol nanos are mostly pointed towards offensive and defensive abilities making them great tankers. They typically use assault rifles, while some use SMG to gain a little bit more damage with a small sacrifice to defense. Their most defensive nano is the TMS and AMS nano line. These give them near invisibility for a short time, and this very buff makes them better then even an Enforcer when it comes to tanking for certain situations.

Sols deal some of the best damage in the game, they have great defensive buffs as well. Reflects take away a huge amount of damage. They are a very wanted profession for this very reason. Damage + defense is a great combination. Being one of the best defensive classes along with being about... third best damage dealing class in the game, people want them. They are one of Funcoms Love Childs.

Although extremely defensive, it's a sol's nature to be offensive. And when in a team or alone and only need to deal with one target, you can use both of these to obliterate your opponent in both PvP and PvM. I consider them as Assault.

Trader

Traders are a leech like profession. They like to "Sap" or steal the skills of their opponent to lessen their ability to fight, while gaining a bit of what you stole for yourself. They are probably one of the second best Critical attack profession in the game.

Traders can have some pretty high damage with their critical attacks when using shotguns. But they are a serious supportive toon. Not only in battle, but outside the battle they are able to support players by increasing their overall skills by a tremendous amount, which basically increases all nano skills and attack skills at once. Now that's nice!

With this ability, Traders can cause massive drains on opponents which makes a teams life just that much simpler. They can debuff a good bit. They are even able to heal a little bit. Although their heals are very limit, and does not come without a sacrifice, which is the case with most of their nanos. To help the team, they must essentially drain themselves of skills and other strengths.

Traders exceed in great damage. Have some defense due to their draining power, but they are great supporters. They are one of Funcoms Love Childs, in PvP anyways, but are still viable in PvM, just not really required for anything. I'm going to put them in with the supportive group.

____________________________________________________________________________________


Please let me know if there is any information that may need editing by posting or PMing me in-game on Mdkdoc187. If something was confusing I will try my best to rephrase the information to be as noob friendly as possible.

I will be making fully detailed information about each profession, to the fullest extent of my knowledge and other resources put together with my own twist of personal opinion! This guide will later be implemented into the commonly used, Budabot system. I will try and point out as much information as possible in every area. This particular thread is only a quick reference for new players to help them decide what they may be looking for. Inside the profession specific guides (When they are made) will be lot's of spoilers including all the IP information, what their IP should look like, and what is only my personal opinion of how their setup should at least match in some ways unless making a very specific twink or otherwise just want to try something new =)