Class system (original ArcheAge)

The original ArcheAge used a classless system where players selected three of twelve available skillsets. Combining any three from the pool yielded 220 unique named classes, each with its own title.

The twelve skillsets

1. Battlerage - Melee attacks with high burst damage, buffs, and debuffs

2. Sorcery - Elemental ranged magic for area and single-target damage

3. Archery - Ranged physical damage, the ranger playstyle

4. Vitalism - The primary healing tree

5. Occultism - Debuffs, snares, summoned creatures, dark magic

6. Shadowplay - Quick strikes, leaps, snares, and stealth

7. Witchcraft - Crowd control through fear, sleep, and debuffs

8. Defense - Tanking abilities, shields, and damage mitigation

9. Auramancy - Teleportation, magic defense, anti-CC, and support

10. Songcraft - Performance-based buffs for allies and debuffs for enemies

11. Swiftblade - Fast dual-wield melee combat (added in a later update)

12. Malediction - Ranged magic DPS with unique mechanics (added in a later update)

The original ten skillsets were available at launch. Swiftblade and Malediction were added in subsequent expansions, expanding the class count from the initial 120 combinations to 220.

Notable class combinations

• Darkrunner (Battlerage / Shadowplay / Auramancy) - High burst melee, extreme mobility. One of the most popular PvP builds.

• Primeval (Archery / Shadowplay / Auramancy) - The dominant ranged PvP class at many points in the game's history.

• Daggerspell (Sorcery / Shadowplay / Witchcraft) - Burst magic damage with CC chaining.

• Abolisher (Battlerage / Defense / Auramancy) - A tanky melee bruiser for frontline combat.

• Templar (Vitalism / Defense / Auramancy) - Healer-tank hybrid, common in group content.

• Hierophant (Vitalism / Witchcraft / Auramancy) - Crowd-control-focused healer.

• Stone Arrow (Archery / Shadowplay / Defense) - A durable ranged fighter.

• Enigmatist (Sorcery / Shadowplay / Auramancy) - Mobile mage with teleports and stealth.

Respeccing

Players could change their selected skillsets at level 10 for a gold fee, allowing experimentation with different class combinations. This flexibility was one of the system's strengths; a single character could switch from a healer to a damage dealer to a tank without creating an alt.

Legacy in Chronicles

ArcheAge Chronicles does not carry the 12-skillset combinatorial system forward. Instead, it uses defined classes with their own weapon proficiencies and control schemes. The shift reflects the move from tab-target to action combat, where distinct physical controls per class matter more than stat-driven builds.