Greetings, this guide is aimed at new players, players that are coming back to maple, or simply players that have been playing for a while but still don't know who to play as. I ma going to be honest and mention that I have never reached level 200, not even 170, although I have played the game for a fair bit (despite this account being recent) and I tried out every single class, which I believe made me posses some sort of knowledge about the classes.
When choosing a class it is important to know what it is that you want out of the class. Most people go for damage, because that seems to be the important thing, but some classes despite being strong, aren't fun to certain people. For example, Blasters seems to have the highest DPS at the moment, but I personally just don't find them fun to play. Anyway, I am going to be talking about the 4 main things that make up a class, attack, defense, mobility and the overall difficulty. All of the information can be found when creating a character or on the Maple Story website under Jobs & Classes. Some of them are accurate and some aren't. I am going to split this guide into 5 sections; Warrior, Magician, Bowman, Thief and Pirate. Now I was going with the stat charts visible on the website rather than the in game ones, so few things may vary, I shall change them once I log-in to the game.
Most of you may be aware of this chart when creating a character, seems pretty simple, but... what does it actually mean? Is Hayato's mobility really worth being shown as 5/5? And what is the Beast Tamer one about?!
Warrior
Warrior is what the name suggests, strong and defensive... to an extent.
Explorer Warrior - Explorer warriors are pretty much similar when it comes to their stats (according to Maple Story itself) their attack is pretty strong, defense and mobility are alright and they aren't difficult at all.
Now this is the same for all explorer classes, although some explorer classes vary.
The chart stats are:
Attack - 4/5
,
,
Defense - 3/5
,
,
,
Mobility - 3/5
Difficulty - 2/5
Because it is a warrior, you can already expect that the defense will be pretty good compared to let's say a bowman. The attack is great too, but seems a bit sluggish at first. The mobility side is nothing special to be fair. The only way Explorer Warriors are mobile, is because of their "Flash Jump" like skill, all 3 warrior paths get it, none are different than others. Because of their high damage and defense their difficulty level is pretty low, although they do lack in mobility. Also the Paladin route seems to posses more defense than the other 2 routes, but lacks in damage.
Dawn Warrior - Dawn Warriors have got same chart stats as all Cygnus,
but they all differ from one another.
The chart stats are:
Attack - 3/5
Defense - 3/5
Mobility - 3/5
Difficulty - 1/5
This kind of warrior tends to be faster with attacks and seems more fluent and mobile. The defense is great as it is a warrior, but lacks in high numbers per line, but it evens out in the later game because of how many lines per skill this class does. Despite this Dawn Warrior's mobility being a 3/5 (Same as an Explorer Warrior)
these warriors can also leap upwards which is something that Explorer Warriors cannot do. The difficulty of the class falls under few categories, pretty easy to level, doesn't need skill books, provides a permanent buff for an entire account (but the character itself), great starter class, just like any other Cygnus.
Aran - Combo class, recently revamped. I am not sure why but for some reason whenever I played as an Aran, its defense always felt like it was lacking the warrior-esque feel to it. It could have been me though. This class provides a cool Link Skill which can be used by one character at a time in the server the character was made. The skill increases the experience gained from Combo Exp orb which are earned every 50 Combo Kill you make.
The chart stats are:
Attack - 4/5
Defense - 3/5
Mobility - 3/5
Difficulty - 5/5
Aran is a Warrior but like I mentioned, its defense doesn't feel like a warrior, at least it doesn't to me. I might be wrong so correct me if I am wrong. Aran's attack is great, high numbers, decent lines, amazing drain skill which recovers your HP and the more you attack the stronger you are! The mobility is... just like a normal Warrior's with an addition to a dash ability which if used correctly, can become a great mode of transport. The difficulty level of it is something that is rather odd to me, I'm not sure whether it is because of it's mechanics or because of the defense problem (despite being able to drain HP) I've mentioned, but according to the charts, it is a difficult class to play.
Mihile - A warrior of light with amazing defense, great counter skill and... that's it. Despite the class not being as powerful as other classes, it is still a fun class to play. Also provides a permanent buff same as any Cygnus character, and comes with a link skill too which has been changed from providing 100% stance, to absorbing few blows and providing a temporary damage boost.
The chart stats are:
Attack - 3/5
Defense - 5/5
Mobility - 3/5
Difficulty - 1/5
I am pretty sure that the last time I checked, the in-game difficulty of this class is a 4/5 or 5/5 and let me tell you why. Ever since the Mihile revamp, this class got a new counter skill, which is an active skill. In order to use the skill you have to time it right with when the mob is about to hit you. Which is pretty difficult if you have slow internet, as lags prevent you from being able to correctly use this skill. BUT, there is a way for static mobs, all you need to do is stand close enough so the mob won't attack you at all, but close enough so that when you use the skill it will counter the enemy. The damage of this class is what repels players from playing it, also the mobility is basically a standard Warrior "Flash Jump". Defense is the main big thing about this class, not sure if it rivals the Paladin defense though.
Demon Slayer/Demon Avenger - The Demon line is a pretty cool, newbie friendly class, strong damage, nice defense, extremely mobile, and pretty easy to play. Demon Slayer uses Demon Force for most of his skills which can be easily replenished by attacking the monsters, where as the Demon Avenger uses HP only for his skills which he can quickly regain using some skills and thanks to this class' passive HP Drain skills, this class is nearly unstoppable.
The chart stats are:
Attack - 4/5
,
Defense - 4/5
,
Mobility - 3/5
Difficulty - 3/5
Personally, the mobility on the chart is very misleading. This character can "flash jump" horizontally AND vertically, and most importantly glide. This makes him an extremely mobile class. His mobility should be a 4/5 and difficulty should be a 2/5 thanks to his HP regen skills. Both routes provide a different skill link, Demon Slayer's give you an extra damage against bosses, where as Demon Avengers raise your total damage in any situation.
Hayato - Ahh... Hayto, the amazing Thief branch class... Wait... It's a Warrior?! Well it is, but surely doesn't feel like it. Hayato does offer a nice link skill though which raises some of your stats and damage. Also this class has 2 different stances which are easily labeled as, bossing and mobbing.
The chart stats are:
Attack - 5/5
Defense - 3/5
Mobility - 5/5
Difficulty - 5/5
Hayato's attack is pretty good, his defense lacks in plenty of ways which makes him feel more like a Dual Blade rather than a typical Warrior. His mobility is what surprises me the most. The only reason why this character's mobility is so high, is because of the skills the class comes with.
Some skills allow you to damage mobs and also jump to higher ground. Pretty cool, but in my opinion it doesn't deserve a 5/5 mobility if the Demon class only gets a 3/5. Falcon Dive and Dankuusen combo/Hitokiri Strike and Dankuusen combo is a very cool way of staying mobile on the map. Not a beginner friendly class.
Kaiser - Something similar to an Aran, but with fire and dragons, and more chance of survival. This class is a key masher class for the first 3 jobs. It offers some cool skills and a nice Link Skill which increases your %HP which for a Demon Avenger is heaven!
The chart stats are:
Attack - 4/5
Defense - 3/5
Mobility - 4/5
Difficulty - 4/5
The attack is decent, nothing more to say, can be viewed as overpowered if done and funded right. Kaiser has some cool drain abilities too as far as I remember. Defense is actually better than what the charts say, and the mobility is just perfect. Great "Flash Jump" and the most amazing skill of all, the cool Grapple chain. Thanks to that, the mobility of the class goes through the roof, also you can teleport during the morph.
Blaster - This is a new addition to the Resistance, although for some reason, it shares a different stat chart to the other resistance classes, at least on the website. This is a class that feels more like a Pirate with an explosive knuckle weapon. Few cool skills, great mobbing skills, alright bossing skill, quite mobile, and in my opinion, a bit boring. Don't get me wrong, the class is great and all, but it has some skills that are just... difficult to explain and use I guess?
The chart stats are:
Attack - 5/5
Defense - 3/5
Mobility - 4/5
Difficulty - 4/5
This is another class that lacks in defense despite being a Warrior, it does have few skills to counter that, but... it doesn't do its justice in my opinion. Attack is great, after all it is the highest DPS class in the game at the minute. Mobility is good too, not good enough to be a 4/5 but good enough to fulfill the needs really. It comes with a "flash jump" which can be accelerated with the right use of a "push back" skill. And can also jump higher using the same "push back" skill. Difficulty comes from the awkwardness of skills and the complexity of them too.
Zero - This is a special class that is only available for a short period of time, no one ever knows when they are open unless there is an update about it on the Forums. This class has a special play style when you control two characters at the same time. It used to be the most over powered class which started at lvl 100 and had an amazing set of skills to show off and fly across the maps slashing enemies on the way.
The charts stats are:
Attack - 5/5
Defense - 3/5
Mobility - 4/5
Difficulty - 5/5
This class can also feel like a Dual Blade as well, strong damage, lacks in the defense department, really unique, mobility is great thanks to their "flash jump" and also a flash teleport which you can use bot horizontally and vertically. By the way, this class has A LOT OF SKILLS! Difficulty level comes from controlling both characters nearly at the same time in order to do some great damage, as most skills link with the skills of the other class. But none of the less, it is still pretty cool and requires you to have a character with a lvl over 100 on the server prior to creating one.
, 
, 
, 
, 
