Classes and builds
RebirthRO classes: every job on Loki
The pre-renewal job tree, exactly as veterans remember it. Everyone starts as a Novice; where you go from there is the first real decision you make, and the one people spend the longest arguing about.
Everyone starts as a Novice
There is no class selection screen. You make a character, you are a Novice, and you stay one until you have the job levels to change. On Loki that phase is short, because job EXP runs at 100x and the first change comes quickly.
It matters less than new players think. Your Novice levels are not wasted on the class you pick after them, and nothing about the start locks you out of a tree. What follows is the six directions that opening leads to.
The six trees
Where each starting class ends up
Base job, then the second job choice, then the Transcendent tier you reach by rebirthing. Loki stops there on purpose.
Swordsman → Knight or Crusader
- Transcendent
- Lord Knight or Paladin
Swordsman is the least complicated start in the game and the hardest one to regret. High HP, heavy armour, weapons that hit things until they stop moving.
Knights hold a mob in place and grind it down, with the health to survive the mistake you are about to make. Crusaders trade some of that raw damage for holy attacks and party defence, which is why guilds keep one around. At Transcendent they become Lord Knight and Paladin.
Pick it if you want to lead the pull, take the hits and learn the game from the front.
Mage → Wizard or Sage
- Transcendent
- High Wizard or Professor
Glass cannons, and the reason parties tolerate glass cannons. A Wizard can clear a screen of mobs with one well-placed spell, and can die to one hit from the thing that survived it.
Sages go the other way. Support magic, elemental conversion and utility nobody else brings, at the cost of the damage that makes Wizards famous. Transcendent turns them into High Wizard and Professor.
Pick it if you enjoy positioning and cast timing more than survivability. Expect to die a lot until you learn where to stand.
Archer → Hunter, Bard or Dancer
- Transcendent
- Sniper, Clown or Gypsy
Damage from somewhere the boss is not. Archers are one of the easiest classes to level alone, since almost everything dies before it reaches you.
Hunters lay traps, keep Falcons and never stop shooting. Bards and Dancers are the ones guilds argue over, because their songs and dances lift the whole party at once. At Transcendent they become Sniper, Clown and Gypsy.
Pick it if you want to solo comfortably early and be genuinely wanted in a party later.
Acolyte → Priest or Monk
- Transcendent
- High Priest or Champion
The class that splits hardest. Acolyte leads to the best support in the game and also to one of its heaviest hitters.
Somebody has to keep the party standing and it is usually a Priest, with heals, buffs and the resurrection everyone forgets to thank you for. Monks take the same starting point somewhere else entirely: fists, combos and far more burst than people expect. Transcendent gives High Priest and Champion.
Pick Priest if you want every party to want you. Pick Monk if you want to delete something.
Merchant → Blacksmith or Alchemist
- Transcendent
- Whitesmith or Creator
The money classes, and on a server that has been running since 2004 the economy is a real game in itself.
Blacksmiths forge and refine, which means every other player eventually needs one. Alchemists brew potions and raise homunculi, which is closer to a pet class than people realise. Transcendent turns them into Whitesmith and Creator.
Pick it if you enjoy watching a market more than a boss timer, or if you would rather fund your guild than tank for it.
Thief → Assassin or Rogue
- Transcendent
- Assassin Cross or Stalker
Fast, mean, and the most fun to play badly. Thieves dodge rather than absorb, which works until it does not.
Assassins open with poison and crit through most of a health bar before it registers. Rogues strip gear and shut skills down, which counts for far more in War of Emperium than the damage numbers suggest. Transcendent gives Assassin Cross and Stalker.
Pick it if you want to decide when a fight starts.
Third and fourth jobs live on Freya
Loki has no 3rd jobs and never will, because pre-renewal does not have them. That is not a gap waiting to be filled, it is the reason the server exists.
If the modern tree is what you are after, that is Freya: Rune Knight, Warlock, Ranger, Arch Bishop, Sura, Mechanic, Genetic, Guillotine Cross and Shadow Chaser at third tier, fourth jobs such as Dragon Knight, Arch Mage and Cardinal above them, and Doram as a playable race. One free account covers both servers, so this is not a choice you have to make once and live with.
Builds change as content lands, and the people who actually know the current numbers are on the Discord. The class descriptions here are about what each job is for, not a stat sheet that goes stale the week after it is written.
Class FAQ
Questions about classes
Swordsman or Archer if this is your first Ragnarok character. Both survive their own mistakes, both level alone without much trouble, and both lead somewhere useful. Mage and Thief are more rewarding once you know the maps, and Acolyte is the fastest route to being wanted in parties.
Everyone starts as a Novice. Reach the job level required for your first change, travel to the job change NPC for the class you want, and complete its quest. Second job changes work the same way at the next tier, and Transcendent means rebirthing your character and climbing the tree again with better stat totals.
The pre-renewal high tier: Lord Knight, Paladin, High Wizard, Professor, Sniper, Clown, Gypsy, High Priest, Champion, Whitesmith, Creator, Assassin Cross and Stalker. You reach them by rebirthing a maxed second-job character, which resets you to level one with a larger stat pool and stronger skills.
Not on Loki. Pre-renewal stops at Transcendent by design, and that is the point of the server. Freya, the Renewal server, has the full modern tree including 3rd jobs, 4th jobs and Doram, and one account covers both.
WoE rewards control over raw damage. Priests keep a push alive, Professors and Stalkers shut down the other guild's casters, Paladins hold a doorway and Bards and Dancers change what the whole party can do. Damage classes matter, but they matter less than the people stopping them.