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Originally Posted by vsp
3) Turtle Tamer
PROS: This class _used to_ be a contender for the top spot, but it's been nerfed. However, it is still a familiar-boosting machine, with Amphibian Sympathy and Empathy of the Newt each jacking familiars up 5 pounds; a lot of people will take a turn or two through this class just to acquire those. Wisdom of the Elder Tortoises is a much-needed MP boost, vital for any class. Tenacity of the Snapper and Reptilian Fortitude are nice but expensive, Spectral Snapper even more so.
CONS: Armorcraftiness is useless once you have the Mall available, and not very useful even then. Headbutt is dependent on normal attack to-hit rates, so it won't let you jump ahead like DFS will. The Shell skills used to be great, but have been nerfed into uselessness even when fully jacked-up.
4) Accordion Thief
PROS: A very wide variety of buffs. You can jack up your (or anyone else's) stats, meat drops, item drops, combat initiative, melee damage or MPs. Ode to Booze gives a couple of extra adventures per day. Polka of Plenty is vital for building up huge stacks of meat once you have access to some of the big-drop areas.
CONS: You can only have three AT buffs running at any given time, and they get expensive in terms of MPs to begin with. The fact that large numbers of players are in Ronin at any given time lowers the usefulness of buffing others dramatically. The skills boost combat ability indirectly, but aren't as effective as spells or DFS. You'll be able to avoid a lot of damage, but not deal much out.
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Now that I'm taking my secondary down the AT route, I may end up revising this a little, maybe going 3A and 3B rather than 3 and 4.
The Tamer analysis stands: Headbutt + Chrome Helmet Turtle is a nice combo and cheap to buy, the familiar skills and Wisdom rock, the rest is a wash.
The AT, on the other hand, is surprising me with its ability to do damage. Part of it is that Moxie is super-easy to build up as an AT, but I'm hitting for more than I thought I would with a very-high Moxie and low Muscle. Instead of pumping up Muscle via candy, Thin Black Candles and Super-Spiky Hair Gel just to be able to damage Giants, I'm hitting for 20-25 a shot with Muscle around 100 and Moxie around 150, with my Star Crossbow. THAT was a surprise; it's almost as if Crossbow Fever is inherent in the class or something.
Moxious Madrigal is a must for any class; it's +10 Moxie for a mere 2 MP, something that everyone will benefit from. I'm on the fence about Stevedave's Shanty of Superiority -- an extra 10% to each stat is very nice in the later levels, but it won't help much early on. Aloysius's Aptitude looks like a no-brainer until you stare at its 40 MP cost for 5/15 turns.
But since high Moxie > high anything else... damn. My AT's base right now is 91; after figuring in Butt-Rock Hair, Stevedave's, the Madrigal, a Star Crossbow, a Chrome Helmet Turtle, Sneaky Pete's Breath Spray, a Badass Belt and a Mr. A., it's _167_ pumped up, and I could take it even higher if I wanted to. Hell, that's enough to handle the Hole in the Sky already, and I can drop down to eXtreme Cold-Weather Gear _much_ earlier than a Muscle- or Myst-centric character can to rake in meat from the Peak.