So has anyone found a clear winner in the combat stakes out of all the archetypes, so far? I'm a pretty bad fighter as I'm sure the Magnagorans among you have noticed But I'm curious as to whether there's any obvious "best combat class", or if they're all fairly well balanced.

Any character that is Tae'dae is automatically better than any non-Tae'dae, obviously. So in terms of overall power, it goes...

Tae'dae Warriors > Tae'dae Others > Everything Else

Hope I cleared some things up for you.

Well... that is untrue, I'm Viscanti, and I killed Bandeon with him only hitting me once. But, I think Moondancers and Hartstone are the best.

Ah, of course you must factor in skill. My diagram is only 100% accurate if all involved have roughly equal combative skill.

I assume Guido was refering to just the straight coolness factor of being a tae'dae
(I have 18 charisma I'm allowed a large ego)

Bandeon is the Paladins' Champion, I'm assuming he excels in fighting, then how did I beat him? Am I better then the Champion of the Paladins?

Well... okay, here we go. The true diagram.

Tae'dae Serenguard > Tae'dae Hartstone and Moondancers > Everyone else > Tae'dae who are members of cities

Stinky cities ruin our edge.

Well.. considering Bandeon had attacked me around 6 times, and hit with only two swings.. I'd have to say

Lots of stuff > Tae'dae stuff > Other stuff.

I'll be honest.. I've never seen Bandeon fight anyone, ever, prior to becoming Champion.

That's just vauge enough to work!

For my own thoughts, I'd say that Moondancers have the potential to be the best by far.. The combination their Fae create is quite overpowered, especially if you add in Patchou.. But I digress..

Most of the archetypes are more or less equal

Well Bandeon fought me once, and I'm sure he fought others, I'm sure theres plenty of people you've never seen fight who fight quite often

Well I always figured that the Champions from each guild would be the notable combatants from each guild.. Which didn't really happen except for in a few cases.

Up till your post, I'd simply never heard of anyone fighting Bandeon, hence the comment.

From what I've gathered thus far, I think that Guardian archetype are kind of the best overall right now. Warriors are just being tweaked continuously from what I see, so their kind of hard to judge at the moment. I think that the Mages are the least versatile since their primary skill is only useful within their own demesne. Or maybe I feel that way because I myself am a Mage...

Mages are incredably versatile, and cool, of course. But Tae'dae stink. It's MUGWUMPS that have all the coolness. Not that I'm biased. But I think the most powerful archtype is EASILY wiccan. An army of ents and turning you into a toad at half mana, together? Hells no! I think everyone knows how horrid life would've been if achaean occultists had absolve!

I found it pretty funny they turned the occultist-type into a nature class

oh, and speaking of questionable champions.... what's up with the Serenguard's?

I've never even *heard* of Malicia.

Well i'd never heard of many of the other champions. Malicia is... well, Malicia is cool.

Cool isn't really fit for a Champion.

...but can she fight?

I'm inclined to agree, but then point out that given the average Moondancer 90%+ will never particularly involve themselves with PK to any extent so it's likely other classes are going to be the ones to watch. The best requires the best people to (ab)use it.