In Dune: Awakening, players must choose their class right at the beginning. MeinMMO reveals which one is best suited and why you should not start with a particular class.
How do classes work in Dune: Awakening? The survival MMO Dune: Awakening throws you directly into an interview right after the visual character creation. There, you are supposed to tell more about your background. Each answer influences the origin of your character and the starting class.
In Dune: Awakening, there is no rigid class system. Throughout the game, you unlock all classes of the survival MMO and can distribute your skill points across multiple skill trees simultaneously. So later on, for example, you can combine the “Bindu Sprint” of the Bene Gesserit with the turret of the Mentat.
How did the ranking come to be? MeinMMO expert Cedric Holmeier played the beta of Dune: Awakening and has already engaged extensively with the game. This ranking focuses on the best class for starting, also considering when to unlock other classes in the game. The list is sorted from “Perfectly suited” at the top to “less well suited” for selection during character creation. We explain which class you should choose during character creation.
This is how it continues after the start of Dune: Awakening:
The best classes for starting
Mentat
Why is the Mentat so good? The Mentat is the best choice for anyone who wants to avoid problems when starting Dune: Awakening. Thanks to the powerful turret, every battle in the starting area becomes child’s play. The auto-fire turret takes down every enemy with a few shots and also provides cover. Additionally, it’s easy to shake off melee pursuers as the NPCs do not flee from the turret.
His other abilities, such as a poison grenade and a shield wall, provide additional damage and utility that can be used in various ways. For example, you can attack enemies with the grenade while being in cover and also go into cover anytime you need protection.
His passive abilities significantly increase damage only when hitting enemies in the head. Those with good accuracy can benefit even more; for others, other bonuses may be more suitable.
Bene Gesserit
What distinguishes the Bene Gesserit? The Bene Gesserit is an assassin and mage class in Dune: Awakening that knows how to manipulate their own body and others. Their best tool is the “Bindu Sprint”, which promises a lot of additional mobility.
This ability allows your character to quickly cover medium distances, making it well-suited to eliminate enemies with melee attacks directly. Additionally, it helps to quickly move from A to B, even outside of combat.
The second useful ability of the class is the skill “Compel”, which you can use to lure enemies to you for elimination with your melee attacks or simply to draw them out of cover. This ability also has many good applications.
Both the class’s passive abilities and melee attacks only become truly useful later in the game. At that point, the opponents have thick shields that need to be cleared with melee attacks. Before that, ranged combat is simply much stronger.
Swordmaster
What can the Swordmaster do? The Swordmaster is the master of melee combat in Dune: Awakening. He knows how to defeat multiple enemies at once with his sword. Accordingly, the majority of the class’s abilities are built around this.
With the ability “Retaliate”, your character will make a nasty riposte next time you parry, which deals high weapon and bleeding damage to the enemy.
With the ability “Deflection”, you can deflect enemy projectiles as long as you have enough stamina. To get closer to enemies, you only have the “Knee Charge”, which brings you to the opponent over a short distance and knocks them back with a heavy thrust.
The Swordmaster has no bonuses for ranged combat, making him rather unsuitable at the start. The enemies in the Haggah Basin South predominantly have no shields, while the enemies in the Vermillius Gap only have weak shields. Focusing on melee early in the game simply isn’t worthwhile.
Trooper
Why is the Trooper so far behind? The Trooper is actually a good class in Dune: Awakening. His passive abilities buff various weapons in the game and he offers a diverse mix of utility abilities, attack abilities, and speed bonuses.
The first skills are strong as well: With the “Shigawire Claw”, you can quickly move from A to B, especially over mountains. It functions like a grappling hook and provides good mobility early in the game.
The explosive grenade provides good damage and can hit enemies even in their cover or lure them out. The anti-gravity field makes enemies float, turning them into easy targets. This way, melee opponents can be fended off and ranged targets transformed into sitting ducks.
In our ranking, this class occupies a low position because it is unlocked very early in the game. In the first area, you already meet the class trainer, who will unlock the skill tree for you after three enemy kills. Starting with the Trooper class during character creation would therefore feel wasted, especially since the trainers for other classes are unlocked several hours later.
Planetologist
What about the Planetologist? The Planetologist is a unique class in Dune: Awakening because it focuses solely on resource extraction, exploring the game world, and operating vehicles.
The class has only one ability, a springboard that makes enemies and allies jump into the air. The class offers no assistance in combat or defense.
The Planetologist cannot be chosen during character creation and is therefore excluded from this list. The abilities of this class can also be learned from the class trainer in the first area, which is why it would likely occupy the last place in this list.
It is only suitable as a supplement for players who particularly enjoy skills like farming, exploring, or flying/driving and want a bonus there. However, for starting, your points are better spent on other abilities.
Dune: Awakening offers countless possibilities for character builds through its class system, which can be tailored individually to each player’s playstyle. However, at the start, it is recommended to choose a class that supports you in ranged combat and does not focus too much on melee, which becomes important later in the game. What else you can expect from Dune: Awakening can be found here: Dune: Awakening – Everything about the release on PS5, Xbox, and PC
