Lancer

Classes:

The Lancer:	Skills •	Glyphs •	Weapons •	Armour

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Lancer
Role	Defense
Combat range	Short (5 meters)
Movement speed	Slow (105%)
Weapon type	Lance
Armor type	Metal

"Steadfast defenders, fearsome attackers."

The lancer is a heavily armored class which specializes in a lance with melee defensive capabilities.
As they carry a large shield alongside the lance, most attacks can be fend off, after which the lancer can retaliate from a distance using its lance. In order to balance this, the lancer is very slow.

Official description

"Stand fast at the heart of the storm, roaring defiance into the wind. Shield your friends and smite your enemies. Pin down your foes and laugh as they try to knock you down.
As powerful in defense as in attack, the lancer’s role in a fight is at the head of the formation. His heavy shield absorbs damage, while his lance provides striking power that’s targeted yet effective against multiple foes. Numerous skills for drawing aggro let the lancer take the heat and give his party members more opportunities. Lancers can minimize damage to their own party and help them devastate the enemy."

Equipment and attributes

For more details on this topic, see Metal armor and Lance.

Equipment

The lancer is equipped with metal armor for great increase on the defense lines. Being of the only two classes to wear the metal equipment gives the lancer a big advantage, especially when the shield enters the scene of play. Although not the fastest of attack speeds, the Lance is a great weapon which fends off enemies in a direct cone of sight of the attacker toward the enemy, dealing massive damage to anyone within that range.

Attributes

Lancers should focus on increasing their damage absorbing as top priority by improving their lance. The higher item level the lance, the more damage absorption it has. It is recommended to focus on getting mana since a lancer without any mana is completely defenseless. While looking for common items, picking equipment with more mana is very recommended above movement speed as the lancer will have to stand and defend attacks, opposed to the warrior's way of fighting which involved evasion. While looking for attributes for enchanting, lancers should be on the lookout for attributes that increase their aggro from enemies, mana regeneration and healing received.

Skills and racial traits

Skills

For more details on this topic, see Lancer skills.

A male castanic lancer and a male human lancer using  Shield Barrage in attempt to stun the enemy.

Lancers are capable of an incredible amount of defense power thanks to their defending skill Stand Fast. When the enemy is vulnerable after a successful block, the lancer will abuse the chance and Shield Counter. Knocking down the enemy might be hard, but thanks to  Debilitate the job will be done even quicker, and when it doesn't budge, the lancer will fight with might and bash with their  Shield Barrage, followed by a  Spring Attack. If that doesn't work, Shield Bash will surely do the job. And if the enemy decides to change their mind and target a different group member, the lancer will pull it back easily with Leash, and if one leash was not enough,  Chained Leash will chain 6 enemies and pull them toward the lancer.

Racial traits

For more details on this topic, see Playable races and Racial traits.

Being able to pick between one of the seven races proves to be a tough choice. Each race has their own unique racial traits that can effectively improve the gameplay of the lancer, depending on race choice:

• Amani have a lot of defensive capabilities coming from  Last Aman Standing,  Blood of Dragons and  No Stranger to Pain which can greatly increase their survivability chances, although has a smaller hitbox compared to Baraka, but is negligable.
• Baraka have  Ancient Wellspring, a healing ability that can fully recover all health, and more mobility coming from  Gather No Moss, and  Indefatigable which gives them more health than any others, only when they constantly die. The Baraka also has the biggest hitbox, making them the easiest to target when being healed.
• Castanic have  Skirmish Running which increases their running speed during combat for dodging magic circles. Though, this only lasts 30 seconds after which there is a cooldown of 5 minutes.
• High elves have  Core Infusion which completely recovers their mana, and  Resilience of Mind which restores an amount of mana upon revival to get back into combat quickly.
• Humans have  Deft Footwork and  Indomitable Spirit which greatly increases their defense when facing enemy players, aside from that, they got  Resilience of Body which restores an amount of health upon revival to get them back into combat quickly.
• Poporis and elins have nothing that could assist a lancer in combat. Instead, they get multiple abilities for non-combat situations such as swimming and movement speed outside combat. Also, their hitboxes are the smallest, which for healers are more difficult to target.

Importance of hitbox

For more details on this topic, see Hitbox.

Lancers have the unique ability to block attacks for those standing in front of them. They block attacks with their shield, and is based off the size of the model's hitbox. Hitboxes are based on race size, but have been "normalized" (slightly reduced for baraka and amani, and slightly enlarged for elins, poporis and castanics). Even after being "normalized" Baraka have the largest hitbox and elin have the smallest. When choosing a lancer race it is important to take the size of the hitbox into account as this will determine how much damage you will block for people behind you as well as how easy it is for the healer to target you.

PlayStyle

As said before, the Lancers are unique in tanking. Warriors are also capable of tanking, but are based on evasion rather on tanking head on. In dungeons against bosses, these lancers are always preferred over warriors.

Lancers have a rather low damage output. Instead their skills are mostly composed on stunning the monsters, taking aggro and taking all the blows they throw at you with taking no / the least damage possible.

They are very well capable to play solo, though they level much, much faster in a party. When grinding BAM's there are three things a lancer has to do.

1. Keep the boss in place. The DPs characters should be places behind the boss while you take the front. Of course the BAM will jump around some bit, but you shouldn't move if the BAM doesn't.
2. Hold Aggro! This can't be stressed enough! Melee DPS characters have crystals which makes them stronger when they attack from behind. If they DPS to much, the aggro may switch and the BAM will turn around. This is the moment you use your skills (Challenging Shout) to regain aggro, you'll want to use that skill every time it's off cooldown.
3. Block Everything! There's nothing worse than a dead tank. If the BAM is new to you, and you aren't familiar with its attack patterns, you better play a bit more passive than wait to the last moment to block.

Glyphs and crystals

Glyphs

For more details on this topic, see Lancer glyphs.

Specializing in glyphs like all classes means a great deal to customization. Notable glyphs are:

		This section requires an expansion. [edit]

Crystals

For more details on this topic, see Crystals.

		This section requires an expansion. [edit]

Gallery

An amani lancer.

Baraka lancer.

A female castanic lancer.

An high elf lancer going against a vulcan.

A popori lancer.

References

List of Classes

Tank

Melee Offense

Ranged Offense

Healing

Lancer

Brawler

Berserker

Slayer

Warrior

Reaper

Ninja

Valkyrie

Archer

Gunner

Sorcerer

Mystic

Priest