Nyel's AO Guide to Professions
My background in AO: I have played this game since Feb 2003, I have multiple 220 toons, and I have played every toon in the game.
General note: Any breed can be any profession. Each has advantages depending on your goals and play style. I have simply suggested breeds which are easy to play for new players and are solid choices for the profession. At the request of others, I added the following generalizations about breeds:
Atrox get more life, but have lower nano skills. (Tanks and Damage Dealers)
Nano mages get higher nano skills, but lower life. (Buffing Toons and Healers)
Opifex get higher evades, but lower life. (Damage Dealers and Tanks)
Solitus are just average at everything, which is both good and bad. (All Categories)
The professions in AO can be roughly divided into the following categories: buffers, tanks, healers, tradeskillers, and damage toons. (A toon is a character you create and play in the game.)
The BUFFING TOONS:
Meta-Physicist
Casts nanos which increase the nano skills of all players in the game and controls pets which heal, mezz, and kill.
PROS: Nano skills are essential to playing the game. Everyone needs them and will search out an MP sooner or later. MP's can even charge for buffing other toons because they are so much in demand. The MP has pets which heal, kill, and mezz for him. MPs can warp themselves and others to the gardens in Shadow Lands. Composite nanos are incredible. Lost Eden has given MPs some nice player debuff nanos.
CONS: MPs are subject to buff begging from everyone in the game. It gets annoying after level 100 when you can easily cast CI (composite infuse). MPs also die within a few hits from high level mobs.
Suggested Breeds: Nano Mage, Solitus
Trader
Sell items to the specialty shop for 25% more credits than anyone else. They cast wrangles that buff the weapon and nano skills of other toons. Good tradeskillers.
PROS: Wrangles are in high demand by others and you can even charge for casting them. Selling loot from missions to the trader shop is a great way to make credits for your very first toon. Ransack and deprive skills make them very good at killing monsters and other players. They become good mezzers late in the game. Traders are also excellent at making items (tradeskills) and get nanos to increase their skills. Barter armor is very nice. Lost Eden has given traders some nice player debuff nanos and better end game shot guns.
CONS: Traders are also plagued by buff beggars. They did not get a good weapon from the Shadow Lands expansion and the Alien Invasion weapons are not a real option until late in the game.
Suggested Breeds: All have advantages depending on your goals
Bureaucrat
Walking XP buffs who can turn monsters into pets with high damage and a master of crowd control.
PROS: They XP buffs and insurance claim perk makes them sought after by teams. Crats can mezz and root mobs very well, making them excellent at crowd control. They get droids that attack for them and can charm monsters into pets which also attack for them. Ability to charm high level mobs give crats excellent damage output which is often overlooked by players. Special crat only gear that increases XP. Some crats earn credits charging for Psychology trade skill. Lost Eden introduced nice pistols into the game. Lost Eden has given crats incredible evades for a short time making them hard to kill.
CONS: XP buffs do not help with Alien Experience. Charmed pets will attack the crat as soon as the charm ends. A dead crat often results in a loose pet which kills the rest of the team.
Suggested Breeds: Solitus, Nano Mage
Agent (Feline Grace & Enhanced Senses) See Damage Dealers
Nano Technician (Neuronal Stimulator) See Damage Dealers
Doctors (Superior First Aid and Iron Circle) See Healers
Enforcers (Essence line and Prodigious Strength) See Tanks
The TANKS:
Enforcer
Mongo nano line draws and holds aggro to make mobs attack you instead of your team or the healer.
PROS: Mongo nanos are the best aggro holding nanos in the game. Lots of life and designed to take punishment. Enforcers are the leaders of large raids like Alien Play Field. It is hard to kill a good enforcer. Crypt of Home weapons are great ways to bridge the gap between stygians and frost bound reapers. Essence line is highly sought after as a buff.
CONS: Depend on others to heal you. Enforcers job is to stand there and die if needed so that the rest of the team will live. Mongo takes effort to learn how to use, it can draw more monsters than your team can handle. A patch added with Lost Eden nerfed the cocoon perk.
Suggested Breeds: Atrox
Soldier See Damage Dealers
Shade See Damage Dealers
Fixer See Damage Dealers
Adventurer See Healers
The HEALERS:
Doctor
Best healer in the game who can always find a team.
PROS: Teams beg you to join. A high level doctor is hard to kill. Doctors make lots of friends in the game. Leaders of teams in many situations. Superior First Aid and Iron Circle are highly sought after as a buff.
CONS: Learning to heal is difficult. When toons die, they blame the doctor. Really needs a team to level in the early stages (becomes a good solo toon late in the game). Complete heal draws more aggro than the enforcer's mongo.
Suggested Breeds: Nano Mage, Solitus, Opifex
Adventurer
Good heals, good damage, decent tank, and the ability to turn into animals.
PROS: Advs can do it all: heal, tank, and deal damage (but none of it as well as the specialized professions). Late in the game they become a very high damage dealer. Second best healer in the game. (A good Adv will out heal a bad doc.) Also have map nanos for Shadow Lands, one even buffs XP.
CONS: Not specialized = docs heal better, enforcers tank better, and many other professions do more damage. In a team adventures are expected to do it all = heal others, tank, and deal damage depending on the situation. A patch added with Lost Eden nerfed the cocoon perk.
Suggested Breeds: Solitus, Atrox, Opifex
Martial Artist See Damage Toons
Keeper See Damage Toons
Meta Physicist See Buffing Toons
The TRADESKILLERS:
Engineer
Robot pets to attack things and the ability to make almost everything that can be made in the game.
PROS: Robot pets do not time out, they live until killed or terminated by the Engy. Tradeskill nanos help the Engy create items for themselves and others. Engies can charge for tradeskills and make lots of credits. Bots will auto attack so an engy can be AFK without the team ever knowing it. Bots do high damage compared with Crat Droids and MP Demons. Engineers seem to do very well in PvP on the Lost Eden Battle Stations.
CONS: Have to manage IP to invest in tradeskills. When Bots lose aggro, monsters attack the squishy Engy. Players will expect Engies to have every tradeskill they want, which is not possible at low levels if the Engy is designed for damage output. A patch added with Lost Eden nerfed the cocoon perk.
Suggested Breeds: Nano Mage, Solitus,
Trader See Buffing Toons
The DAMAGE DEALERS:
Shade
High damage output but low health. Wear tattoos and spirits.
PROS: Possibly the highest damage out put in the game. No need for treatment skill. Get to wear tattoos instead of clothes (see CONS) which looks cool. Very good at killing other players.
CONS: High damage draws more aggro than a Shade's squishy body can handle and often results in death. No implants or symbiants for the shade. Shades are not allowed to use many items in the game. Shades must buy or camp spirits often as they level. Very expensive toon to start. At high levels Shades become great evade tanks and are rarely out damaged. Tattoos look cool but do not provide much armor class protection so they are mainly worn for looks while in town and are rarely seen in battle.
Suggested Breeds: Opifex, Solitus
Soldier
Great damage out put and shields make it an easy toon to learn. Tab Q is all you have to do while you learn to play the game, making soldiers a very good first toon.
PROS: Shadow Lands and Alien Invasion gave soldiers incredible guns that do high damage. Total Mirror Shield makes the solider a great tank. Taunt lines help draw and hold aggro. Full Auto hits for up to 15,000 points of damage, the current maximum damage cap. Very easy toon to learn. Good at killing other players. Lost Eden added additional PvP in the form of Battle Stations and soldiers do very well there. LE also gave soldiers a few nice guns to replace the outdated SL ones (AI assault rilfes were not very effective).
CONS: Buying new gun frequently gets expensive. May have to change gun choices to ensure maximum damage output as you level. Soldiers are so easy to play that they can become boring eventually. Rumor has it that an upcoming patch might reduce the maximum damage a toon can inflict on another player in the Battle Stations.
Suggested Breeds: Atrox, Solitus, Opifex
Agent
Can become any profession able to cast most nanos and use most of the items in the game.
PROS: Agents can sneak thru missions allowing them to blitz items very well earning them lots of credits. Shadow Lands gave Agents a good gun. Agents deal high damage and can become any profession a team needs. They often become doctors for healing and Crats for XP buffing in teams. Very good at killing other players. Feline Grace and Enhanced Senses are highly sought after buffs. Lost Eden added additional PvP in the form of Battle Stations and agents do very well there. LE also gave agents a nice gun to replace the outdated SL ones (AI rilfes were not very effective).
CONS: High damage out put and a squishy body often get the Agent killed. Other players will beg Agent to become Traders, Crats, and MPs for buffing. False Profession line is a timed nano which prevents the Agent from changing professions as often as they might like. Rumor has it that an upcoming patch might reduce the maximum damage a toon can inflict on another player in the Battle Stations.
Suggested Breeds: Opifex
Nano Technician
Kill 20 monsters at the same time with area of effect damage nanos and cast personal notum harvester to fill up your nano pool.
PROS: Best AoE damage dealer in the game. Become very good mezzers (calm/root/blind) at high levels especailly in ShadowLands mission teams where NTs are used for crowd control. Personal Notum Harvester replenishes nano pool and is sought by many. The ability to kite (running around in circles casting AoE nanos on monsters as they chase you) makes NTs very good at soloing large groups of mobs. Kiting also earns NTs credits by selling the loot. Neural Stimulator is also highly sought after as a buff. Good NTs are some of the best PvP toons on the Lost Eden Battle Station.
CONS: High damage out put and a squishy body often gets the NT killed. Lag can kill NTs in a second during a kite. A bad kite will make everyone in the area mad at you.
Suggested Breeds: Nano Mage, Solitus
Fixer
Meep to the grid, become a smurf, blitz missions, and out run everyone else.
PROS: Shadow Lands and Alien Invasion gave fixers excellent weapons. Fixers can warp themselves and others into the grid or the special fixer grid (quest reward) which has short cuts to remote areas of the planet. Fixers speed passed mobs in missions allowing them to blitz items for others. Click saver helps fixers earn lots of credits. Very good at killing other players. Grid armor gives tons of evades and turns you blue (looks cool), but cannot be used in ShadowLands and is classified as social armor. Some fixers earn credits charging for Breaking and Entering Tradeskill.
CONS: A patch to the game reduced the effectiveness of grid armor. GA is expensive and also requires nano skills which are not needed making it a waste of IP and credits if most of your time will be spent in ShadowLands. Bursting at the wrong time (when the doc and the tank are out of nano) often results in death. Blue nano skills are hard on IP.
Suggested Breeds: Opifex, Solitus
Keeper
No one begs you for buffs and tier 3 looks like a knight in shining armor.
PROS: Healing and nano regeneration auras are helpful. High damage output, especially late in the game. Keepers have no nanos to cast on other toons, so no one pesters them for buffs. Very efficient on IP use and often end up with a surplus. Auras stack with other buffs and last a long time. Lost Eden gave keepers decent swords and removed the "after stygian gap".
CONS: Keepers look like Enforcers, but lack the mongo line which makes Enforcers great tanks. Have to choose between nano regeneration and healing auras. Long casting time on several nanos with huge nano pool requirements. A patch added with Lost Eden nerfed the cocoon perk.
Suggested Breeds: Atrox, Solitus
Martial Artist
Weak heals and good damage without spending tons of credits on weapons.
PROS: No weapons to buy. High evades keep them from getting hit so often. Good damage at all levels of the game. Lost Eden gave MAs a nice stick to beat things with -- possibly as good as the BoB from the AI expansion.
CONS: Heals have a long recharge time. Weapon users often out damage MA's. Blue nano skills use lots of IP.
Suggested Breeds: Opifex
Engineers See Tradeskillers
Adventurer See Healers