Aion Group Roles

So I've been playing Aion for quite a bit this holiday and currently lvl 37. Im at a stage where there are many instances and group quests to do. After experiencing many of these group activities, I found that not many people are clear on what their class role is so Im just gonna mention some simple advices.

Templar



Your role is to tank. That is it. It may sound simple but there are so many tanks who fails to do this. The purpose of tanking is to let the mob attack you, yes you, not anyone else. It should be on you during the entire fight. Naturally the mob tends to go for healers or major dps class. This means you gotta constant taunt and use aggro skills, do not try to use your dps skills instead of an aggro skill, that is not your job. I've seen many tanks who did their dps skill which made the mob switch aggro to the healer and the result is entire party dead... If somehow the mob resist all your aggro skill and is running towards someone else, physically pull it back or stun it! Do not let the monsters touch anyone but you.

Sorcerer



Your role is to cc (crowd control). Again this sounds simple yet a lot of parties die due to sorc not doing it's job. CC does not mean sleep the mob beside the one the group is attacking at the start... it means that mob should be CONSTANTLY slept/rooted/treed (lol treed XD) until the other mob dies and the tank can now tank this one. The group will be happy if you just stood there and not do any dmg but kept the other mob under control. Many sorcs just wants to dps their heart out and forgets to cc, the result will be the other mob goes to attack the healer and the healer dies.

Cleric



Your role is to heal. Most who plays this class understands their role perfectly in a group. Just watch the hp bars on the side of the screen and click heal if someone's hp drops. However there are still some who thinks they're sorcs and nukes at the mobs... then when the tank hp is left with 1/4 they start healing it up. Well unless you know exactly when the mob will crit or do a magic skill that might finish the tank off, I dont recommend you doing this... If you really wanna help in dps, then summon your Holy Servant, he's your servant, let him do the nuking.

Chanter



Im a chanter myself, since chanter is the official supporting class in Aion, we have several roles. First is mantras, look at who is in your group, if you got like 2 rangers obviously it would be beneficial if you put up attack or crit mantras. If you got 2 sorcs then magic mantra would be the choice here. Do not put up mantras that you would use normally when you are soloing since you are neither the best dps nor the best healer therefore you should always think how can i make my GROUP better. You can always adjust your mantras in different occasions, if the sorc and cleric wants to rest then put up the mana mantra, helps them recover faster, time is $$. If the tank died and we should all run away, put up the speed mantra. Our second role would be healing, if you are the only healer in your group then you should be constantly healing, never dps and heal at the same time. Since we only got one major heal (which requires casting time) and hot(healing over time), it is hard to recover the tank's hp if it is too low. One heal is almost equal to one hit from the mobs in these group required areas. Even if you have a cleric in your group, it is still wise to watch for everyone's hp just incase the cleric lagged or is getting attacked, do not always rely on the cleric. Last role would be dps, just wack and spam skills and hope for knockdowns lol.

Ranger



Your major role is obviously to do damage, being one of the strongest dps class in the game. It is actually pretty easy to play a ranger, just stand there and spam skills, remember to turn on some self buffs from time to time. You may have to kite occasionally, it may be for luring several mobs out and then the tank can pull one and keep it aggro or you have to keep one busy until the tank can come help you. After playing ranger for a while, Im sure you've got your own system to kite and avoid contact with the mob as much as possible. Stunning at the right time really helps also, if you see the mob is preparing to cast a magic skill, spam the stun chain combo, you might just save everyone from getting stunned or something. Ranger has one cc skill, which is sleep arrow. However the mob may resist and the reuse time is 3 mins...so not really reliable but it is still a cc skill so use it whenever you can (if there are no cc in your team).

I'm not familiar with the following classes so I'll just mention a few things judging by what I see.

Spirit Master



For lower levels, most of the time you will be considered as back up cc due to your root skill. Just remember to root the melee one, no point rooting the range guy if he can still hurt you... At higher level, just dps it out. However in emergency situations, eg. healer or tank died, by fearing or slowing the mob down, just might give enough time for others to res the dead.

Gladiator




You come in handy when vsing mobs that summons adds since you have aggro and aoe skills. However, do NOT use aoe skills when a mob is cced next to you. It might be in your routine to use that skill when you are soloing but please do not use it during group fights. I've seen glads waking a cced mob many times because they 'accidently' pressed the aoe skill. It might just caused the entire party to die. If the templar falls, it is only natural to think that you will be tanking the mob next since you've got taunt and plate armour so just try to keep the mob on to yourself until the templar is back.

Assassin



Personally I dont see how assassin can upset a group in any way. You are a very fast dps class, just watch out for random aggros that you pull from the tank due to your insane dmg, just put on evasive skills and the tank should reclaim aggro by then. Again, stunning at the right times helps. You may have to kite occasionally (due to no rangers), if it fails you have sprint and hide to get away.

So the above are my advices and thoughts on group gameplay for each class. Sorry for the classes Im not familiar with but if you follow the rest, there should be no reason for you to die during group grinds or quests.