A decision guide for your first character
Six classes is not a hard choice. It is three choices — what you want to be doing at level 30, how much failure you tolerate, and whether you play alone — and the answer falls out of those.
Start with the party question
If you play mostly solo, cross off Scholar first. It is the only class whose official weakness is low attack power, and low attack power is exactly what solo content punishes. Knight is the second-slowest solo pick, because its weakness is damage as well as mobility.
If you have a fixed group, the calculation inverts. Scholar becomes the highest-value pick in the game, because every group wants a healer and almost nobody levels one. A Knight who holds a line is the second most valuable.
If you queue with strangers, take a class that does not need cooperation to function. Archer and Mage both work in a disorganised group because their contribution is damage and debuffs, not coordination.
Then decide how you want to fail
Every class in Astellia 2 has an official weakness, and that weakness is the actual gameplay. Pick the one you find interesting rather than the one you think is strongest.
| Class | You will spend the game… | That is fun if… |
|---|---|---|
| Knight | Deciding where the fight happens | You like being the reason the group survives |
| Berserker | Trading hits you cannot afford | You like pressure and fast decisions |
| Assassin | Looking for the right moment to commit | You like timing over stats |
| Archer | Managing distance | You like control and setup |
| Scholar | Watching everyone else's health bar | You like being needed |
| Mage | Choosing when to detonate a room | You like big, planned damage |
The four common mistakes
Picking a class for a tier list that does not exist. No damage coefficients, cooldowns or stat curves have been published. Any ranking you see is an opinion, including this one.
Picking a tank to "be safe". The Knight's described weakness is low damage, and in a game with a lot of solo questing that is the weakness you feel every session.
Picking a healer to "get groups". True, but only if you actually enjoy healing. A Scholar who resents healing is a Scholar who quits at level 20.
Ignoring the weapon fantasy. Longsword and shield, greatsword, twin blades, bow, staff, grimoire. If none of those weapons appeals, you will bounce off the class regardless of its role.
A short decision tree
- Do you want to be the reason the party survives? → Knight (or Scholar, if you would rather heal than tank).
- Do you want to end fights quickly and accept the risk? → Berserker.
- Do you want to choose when the fight starts? → Assassin.
- Do you want to control a fight from a distance? → Archer.
- Do you want to delete groups of enemies? → Mage.
- Do you want to be indispensable and never top a damage meter? → Scholar.
The reroll question
There is no published information on class-change costs, and no confirmation that class changes exist at all. That matters: if you cannot reroll cheaply, the first choice is the expensive one.
The safe approach in any new MMO is to level two characters to roughly the point where the class's weakness starts to bite — which for most of these classes is when group content opens — and then commit. It costs time, not money, and it tells you something no guide can.
What each class pairs with
Astels are summoned companions, so every class is effectively a duo. The official material names one Astel, Papilla, as a guaranteed launch summon, and does not publish a class-compatibility table.
The practical rule from the class descriptions: classes that give up defence (Berserker, Assassin, Mage) benefit most from a companion that absorbs attention, and classes that give up damage (Knight, Scholar) benefit most from one that adds it. That is reasoning from the stated weaknesses, not a published system.
The answer, in one line
Play the class whose weakness you find interesting, because you will be living with it. If you want the group-friendly pick, take Scholar or Knight; if you want the solo-friendly pick, take Mage or Archer; if you want the highest-variance pick, take Assassin or Berserker.
Full official descriptions for all six are in the classes overview, checked 6 November 2026.
What the class does to your first week
The launch build gives every class the same content and different friction, and the friction shows up in specific places.
| Class | Where the weakness bites first | When it stops hurting |
|---|---|---|
| Knight | Solo quest chains; low damage slows every kill | When group content opens |
| Berserker | Boss fights with no healer | When you learn the defensive window |
| Assassin | Long fights against armoured targets | When burst windows matter more than sustain |
| Archer | Anything that closes distance fast | When you learn to pre-position |
| Scholar | Every solo quest, all of them | When a fixed group forms |
| Mage | Being focused by anything mobile | When a tank holds the line |
Read that column as a warning about which evening will annoy you, not as a ranking.
If you cannot decide, pick by weapon
The six weapons are deliberately distinct: longsword and shield, greatsword, twin blades, bow, staff, grimoire. Animation feel is the one thing a guide cannot convey and the one thing you will notice in hour three. If two classes are tied on role, pick the weapon you want to watch for a hundred hours.
