D&D 4E What are the generally powerful classes in 4e?

[Istar]

I'd have to add Warden to the mix too. While they are less absolutely impressive punishing defenders and damage dealers than your fighter is you can survive ANYTHING. The level 12 Goliath Warden one of my players was running for a while was not only simply unkillable, it was unmovable and just laughed at any condition. She was dropping some really serious DR and other bennies on the party too. She wasn't too sticky, but it usually didn't seem to matter as damage mitigation was pretty impressive. Builds are quite straightforward too.

YEP, Striker Build Warden is pretty impressive.
Wardens by nature are very very hard to kill, then throw in an attacking build and you have striker damage combined with being hard to kill.

Imagine how hard it would be to knock off a party of just Wardens ?

By coincidence I am playing a Goliath Warden, L6 now - but with a specialist path Stoneblessed then Raven Knight ED, at Epic he would have move 10 with Avandra boots to shift 5 then charge with phasing and insubstantial.
Effectively 50% resistance to damage and move through anything.

But a Dwarven Warden at L1 with Crippling Crush is quite powerful starter.
At-will Slow and extra Con mod to damage.

 

[Jack99]

I agree on the fighter and the wizard. I also happen to think that the bow-ranger and the healer-cleric stand out. While there are builds or other classes that can be tweaked to deal more damage that the twin-strike-machine, none match him when you add the ability to stay alive. 20+ range on the damage and innumerable immediate powers to prevent monsters from catching up, make him one of the likeliest characters to stay alive and keep doing damage. A healing-focused is also very effective, perhaps too effective. Fights last forever, because you can't challenge the party until he has run out of healing (which he rarely does) or out of hit points.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

Yeah but the point is all the class bonuses work with all their weapons, rather than just a +1 to hit with dagger and a little more damage with a shuriken.

The +1 rogues get with the dagger is just icing on the cake though, to give you the incentive to stick with that weapon.

OTOH you know that Rapier for the rogue is actually identical in expected damage output, right? Either you bump to the +3/d8 of the rapier or you use the feat slot for Light Blade Expertise and bump your dagger to +5/d4. It turns out to be a wash. This is the genius of the design, there's no optimum weapon. You can even take the feat that lets you use a longsword and use that and its a wash.

The real advantages for the rogue are SA, your ability to use specific powers to attack NADs, etc. plus your build features. Honestly I find the Thief to be the most boring 4e class ever designed. Yes, it gets its advantages with all weapons, but the whole thing about it is the thing doesn't do anything. You might as well just hang a sign on yourself that says "take 18 damage", lol. Where's the drama?

 

[Balesir]

Certainly it is a bit easier for your starting player to pick up bow ranger and just do awesome damage without needing to master any tactics, but the BS/AD/CS rogue builds are all right up there with a modicum of tactics.

Yep, my experience of rogues is that it matters more how they are played than how they are built. This makes them a favourite striker, for me. With some good build choices, good use of stealth and powers like Shadow Steel Roll you should be getting CA every time - and your attacks are basically a mixture of debuffs and a vehicle for your Sneak Attack bonus(es).

I think, too, some 4E classes can be very useful/powerful in a party context. We have a Fey pact Warlock who tag-teams with the Fighters to pretty good effect. Stuff like using Hunger of Hadar to make sure a "fighter pocket" doesn't get flanked and deliberately getting into tricky positions - only for the "hunters" to become the hunted when it turns out that weedy Warlock is now a hard-as-nails Dragonborn Fighter just lovin' having them all stuck to him

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

Yep, my experience of rogues is that it matters more how they are played than how they are built. This makes them a favourite striker, for me. With some good build choices, good use of stealth and powers like Shadow Steel Roll you should be getting CA every time - and your attacks are basically a mixture of debuffs and a vehicle for your Sneak Attack bonus(es).

I think, too, some 4E classes can be very useful/powerful in a party context. We have a Fey pact Warlock who tag-teams with the Fighters to pretty good effect. Stuff like using Hunger of Hadar to make sure a "fighter pocket" doesn't get flanked and deliberately getting into tricky positions - only for the "hunters" to become the hunted when it turns out that weedy Warlock is now a hard-as-nails Dragonborn Fighter just lovin' having them all stuck to him

Yeah, I found the starlock in my first group definitely didn't come through as being a huge single-handed success, but luckily the player of that PC was pretty savvy, and we figured out that with a decent rod and playing it more as a controller/auxilliary striker and almost leader-like he really was quite nasty. OTOH the BS rogue in that same group never did well. She just didn't have the grasp of basic tactics. She'd just run out into the middle of the enemy and get hammered flat and get CS once every 3 rounds. She had fun though, so it was OK, and even with bad tactics in paragon it is pretty hard not to have CS virtually all the time against SOMETHING. I'm sure if Thief had existed back then it would have been perfect for that player.

 

[Mengu]

It varies a bit by tier. Some classes perform better at heroic, some are more potent at epic, some have fairly even performance. Looking at it overall, here are my own random observations. And just to note, my opinions will be biased by characters I've seen in play, if I haven't seen it, it might not be on my radar.

Powerful - Bard, Fighter (including Slayer, excluding Knight), Psion (at epic), Ranger, Rogue (including Thief), Shaman, Warlord, Wizard (excluding Swordmage)

Weak - Assassin (excluding Executioner), Ardent (particularly heroic), Barbarian (mainly paragon), Druid, Seeker, Sorcerer, Vampire

I dislike the Binder on paper, and I've never seen a Binder in play. That probably says something about the class, but I didn't list it.

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

The real advantages for the rogue are SA, your ability to use specific powers to attack NADs, etc. plus your build features.

Yes, yes, a thousand times.

I found, with my brutal rogue, that the ability to nearly auto-hit by attacking Reflex (via Piercing Strike) or another NAD and inflict Sneak Attack damage was far, far more useful than going for high-[W] powers.

You're kind of dependent on having a good defender, but if you have one, there's no reason not to get in and flank.

Brad

 

[Otterscrubber]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned rogue by now. It's hard to build a poor rogue in this edition!

I found the essentials rogue, Thief, to be quite interesting. Fullfilling all the expectations of the class and the genre. Also able to do solid damage and stay alive just fine.

 

[Gortle]

It varies a bit by tier. Some classes perform better at heroic, some are more potent at epic, some have fairly even performance. Looking at it overall, here are my own random observations. And just to note, my opinions will be biased by characters I've seen in play, if I haven't seen it, it might not be on my radar.

Powerful - Bard, Fighter (including Slayer, excluding Knight), Psion (at epic), Ranger, Rogue (including Thief), Shaman, Warlord, Wizard (excluding Swordmage)

Weak - Assassin (excluding Executioner), Ardent (particularly heroic), Barbarian (mainly paragon), Druid, Seeker, Sorcerer, Vampire

I dislike the Binder on paper, and I've never seen a Binder in play. That probably says something about the class, but I didn't list it.

Fair enough, but Seeker is so poor it deserves a category all to itself.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Yeah, I found the starlock in my first group definitely didn't come through as being a huge single-handed success, but luckily the player of that PC was pretty savvy, and we figured out that with a decent rod and playing it more as a controller/auxilliary striker and almost leader-like he really was quite nasty.

Ditto- my Dwarven Starlock is MCed into Psion, and seems to fill a space between the party's Wizard and the Rogues & Rangers who flit through the group. Coupled with his extraordinary toughness, he makes problems for our foes...and often serves as the final physical barrier between them and the back row types.