Which melee class to level broke?

[Midoo]

With only banded (or nothing) to start with and stock bronze weapons, what would be a fun melee class to level? (inb4 "none")

I mostly group up so I want to be useful but I also enjoy soloing. I don't plan on taking any of them to 50 but I just want a backup character to smack mobs up close and personal when I'm sick of magic, not to level seriously or invest in gearing.

I love all of these classes equally, but I'd love to hear veteran opinion on how fun they are post-20. This is what I know about them already:

Shadow Knight
+ Good steady aggro tank, can solo
- Faction and crippling XP penalty

Paladin
+ Great snap aggro tank, can solo
- XP penalty, already have a WIS character

Warrior
+ Good dps/tank I hear
- Disgustingly gear dependent and helpless outside of groups

Rogue
+ Killer DPS
- Miserable soloer, nearly impossible to level without a group

Bard
+ Can solo the whole game to max in one week
- ...but not until the 25 mob update

Not considering:

Monk
- Waiting for Iksar to drop

Ranger
- Mediocre performance, already have a druid

[drackgon]

SKs are super fun, FD is amazing alone. With a few wps like Lamanation, or Mt2h you can dbl for 80-100 dmg. And fyi I was in banded/bronze all way to 50(by 40 replaced a lot of pieces ie helm/shoulder) But I ended up at 50 with 4 pieces of bronze left. SKs dont do the dmg a warrior or rogue will do. But they have some fun stuff in their kit. Plus one of the few on your list that can solo while waiting on a list to joina group.

My other Vote would be Bard. Needed big time on this server. But they really not melee, yeah lower lvls are you. But mainly your their to twin songs.

[sycopata666]

SK no solo lvl easy, and solo with the exp penalty light blues doing eternal, the problem on meles are the downtime, this is why at really paladin is better in solo, why his heals are more mana efficients than the life taps, and mana is replished more fast than health.

Other classes including monks are total equipment dependant, monk in long term have best items / cost, but in kunark.

Bards in my opinion are not a mele class

[tommydgun]

I mean the answer is monk but you are waiting for iksar... personally I prefer a human for a few reasons. Warriors can solo a bit actually but you do need at least more than banded.

[BlackBellamy]

Bard is not a melee class and you even admit that in your class description.

If you want to solo the only choices are SK and Pally. If you want to spend 10 minutes fighting a mob then 2 minutes getting your mana back, go Paladin. If you want to fight for 2 minutes then spend 10 minutes healing up, go SK.

[Fammaden]

Monk is better than any of them on a budget, cured silk is as cheap as banded if not cheaper. Monk is very capable solo and great to duo with anyone. Monk never needs to worry about money for spells, or even weapons during classic. Monk has a 20% class penalty in green, so waiting for Iksar means you're waiting to be at a 40% penalty and also be a year behind in a limited time frame server lifespan.

Monk fits everything you say you want, but if you're hell bent on the fugly ass lizard dude, so be it.

[eqravenprince]

Bard is not a melee class and you even admit that in your class description.

If you want to solo the only choices are SK and Pally. If you want to spend 10 minutes fighting a mob then 2 minutes getting your mana back, go Paladin. If you want to fight for 2 minutes then spend 10 minutes healing up, go SK.

Not sure why a SK would need to heal to full, I never do. I bind wound up to 50%, then go kill.

[cd288]

SK no solo lvl easy, and solo with the exp penalty light blues doing eternal, the problem on meles are the downtime, this is why at really paladin is better in solo, why his heals are more mana efficients than the life taps, and mana is replished more fast than health.

Other classes including monks are total equipment dependant, monk in long term have best items / cost, but in kunark.

Bards in my opinion are not a mele class

Or just fear kite on the SK and then you're not taking any damage

[DMN]

Rogue don't have good DPS on green.

Bard don't count.

none of them are going to solo worth a crap except SK and even then it's going to be fear kiting 100% of the time which could be quite tedious/boring.

[Christina.]

You won't be able to have fun soloing on ANY melee classes without them having some pp invested into gear lol. And even WITH gear, soloing on melee isn't typically easy besides Monk and even then it gets tedious after a few levels. Also, shadowknights being this "good at soloing" class is a myth, if you ever played a sk , you'll know it's a headache to be honest, it involves a lot chasing feared shit, alot of playing dead, failing at playing dead then dieing and mediocre warrior damage. (Don't believe it)

Edit : Since you mostly group, and this character will be starting fresh with no pp invested and the picks are sk, paladin, warrior, rogue..I'd say go warrior

[sycopata666]

I also played a SK in Agnar, and fear kitting is just a pain, your are not a necro, and hit a mob in fear kitting is lost half of hits.