Lancer

Lancer
	Image:Lancertrans.png; A Male Amani Lancer.

"Steadfast defenders, fearsome attackers."

The Lancer in The Exiled Realm of Arborea is a heavily armored class which specializes in a lance with melee defensive capacities.
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 ^[1]

"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 Lance.

For more details on this topic, see Metal armor.

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.

Twotwolancer — 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 File:StandFast.jpg Stand Fast. When the enemy is vulnerable after a successful block, the Lancer will abuse the chance and File:ShieldCounter.jpg Shield Counter. Knocking down the enemy might be hard, but thanks to File:Debilitate.jpg Debilitate the job will be done even quicker, and when it doesn't budge, the Lancer will fight with might and bash with their File:ShieldBarrage.jpg Shield Barrage, followed by a File:SpringAttack.jpg Spring Attack. If that doesn't work, File:ShieldBash.jpg 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 File:Leash.jpg Leash, and if one leash was not enough, File:ChainedLeash.jpg Chained Leash will chain 6 enemies and pull them toward the Lancer.

Racial traits

For more details on this topic, see Playable races.

For more details on this topic, see 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:

The Aman has a lot of defensive capabilities coming from File:LastAmanStanding.png Last Aman Standing, File:BloodofDragons.png Blood of Dragons and File:Nostrangertopain.png No Stranger to Pain which can greatly increase their survivability chances, although has a smaller hitbox compared to Baraka.
The Baraka has File:AncientWellspring.png Ancient Wellspring, a healing ability that can fully recover all health, and more mobility coming from File:Gathernomoss.png 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.
The Castanic has File:SkirmishRunning.png Skirmish Running which increases their running speed during combat for dodging magic circles.
The High Elf has File:CoreInfusion.png Core Infusion which completely recovers their mana, and File:ResilienceofMind.png Resilience of Mind which restores an amount of mana upon revival to get back into combat quickly.
The Human has File:DeftFootwork.png Deft Footwork and File:IndomitableSpirit.png Indomitable Spirit which greatly increases their defense when facing enemy players, aside from that, they got File:ResilienceofBody.png Resilience of Body which restores an amount of health upon revival to get them back into combat quickly.
The Popori and Elin has 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.

Importantance of hitbox

For more details on this topic, see Hitbox.

Lancers have the unique ability to block attacks for those standing behind 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.

Pros:

Incredible defense. As long as the Lancer still has mana, that Lancer will be able to block any incoming attack.
Great stunning abilities. Having over 4 abilities that could lay a stun and being closed ranged could mean a great deal.
Highest resistance. Out of all the classes, the Lancer has the biggest amount of resistance.
Self-dependent. With the ability of a personal healing ability, the Lancer can depend on self when needed, even against bosses.

Cons:

Slow attack speed. The most durable comes with a great price, the most slow.
Slow running speed. Speed is not your strong suits, you'll be the slowest runner, and a joke against enemy players if you're attempting to escape.
Poor escape mechanics. Although strong at defending against an incredible amount of damage, compared to the Warriors, they can just dodge and escape instead.