IMO
1hander with shield and medium armor (good for shield walls)
+ Very Defensive (IE Shield walls: Great in some situations(siege))
- Very Defensive (IE Shield Walls: Horrible in some situations(open field))
+ Resistant to ranged attacks
-/+ moderate melee damage
- Unplayable on a server with bad ping
crossbowman with light armor (good against plate users)
+ 1 shot everything
+ Cheap armour
+ Playable on a server with bad ping
+ Ranged
- slow reload (vulnerable)
- No melee (if you are playing it right in strat)
Note: With the new commander rules in strat I think xbowmen will be terrifying snipers.
2Hander with heavy armor (heavy armor to compensate my blocking skills
)
+ Good Anti cav
+ 1 hit in melee (generally)
- Expensive Armour
- Expensive Weapons
- Vulnerable to range
- Unplayable on a server with bad ping
Note: most 2handers have a duelist mentality. If you can control this impulse you can be an asset, if not, your a liability.
Heavy Cav (good for backstabbing people and mowing down archers)
+ Fantastic damage
+ Durable
+ Horse bump/formation disruption
+ Awesome in an open field battle
+ Payable on a server with bad ping(if mounted)
- Fairly slow(for cav)
- Vulnerable to Pole arms
- Next to useless in a siege
- Expensive Horse
- Expensive Armour
- Expensive Weapons
- Unplayable on a server with bad ping(if unmounted)
Note: Another class to consider is light cav. You are more vulnerable but gain speed and cost significantly less.
Archer (my personal best but last choice unless the clan demands I would be one)
+ Cheap Weapons
+ Cheap Armour
+ Ranged
+ Playable on a server with bad ping
- Weak damage
- Limited ammo (you will spend 1/2 the battle running around picking up arrows)
- No melee ability
- The class is nerfed in every patch making the long term viability of the archer uncertain (FYI another nerf to archery in strat is in the works IE decreased accuracy increased shoot speed)
Ultimately, the choice comes down to what your clan's needs are and what you are willing to do. I've played this game for a year the first 6mo as a 1H shielder the most recent 6mo as an archer. I switched because I live on the west coast of the US and my ping on the EU servers is 200+, at best. This made me useless to my clan when I played in any EU battles so I became an archer. Now I can play NA and EU with no problem.
