Zenith: The Last City | All Classes and Roles in this VR MMORPG

One of the biggest questions any new player when starting into a new MMORPG is what classes, roles, and subclasses there are, and which to pick. You’re probably wondering the same if you’re considering playing Zenith: The Last City in VR, or are just getting into it. As far as Virtual Reality MMORPGs go, Zenith is still one of the best.

While you won’t be overwhelmed for choices in Zenith, there’s still some choice to be had when picking your class. Here are all of the classes in Zenith: The Last City.

The Blade Master

First let’s cover The Blade Master. As the name implies the Blade Master excels at close quarters combat with a pair of swords. These swords need to be swung through enemies to deal damage, though swings only deal noticeable damage every few moments, which means just waving your wrist around inside of an enemy won’t be effective, you have to actually swing your arms. Blade Master abilities are triggered by what patterns your slashes follow, for instance two downwards slashes in a row on an opponent, and by throwing your sword, among other ways.

The first thing you should consider when considering the Blade Master is whether or not your VR playspace is big enough to support the melee playstyle. No matter which role you take the Blade Master involves a LOT of swinging your arms around.

If your playspace is directly in front of a fragile computer monitor, or is surrounded by close objects or walls, then make sure you can swing your arms comfortably without risking hitting something. Breaking a controller mid fight would not be fun, and neither is constantly wondering whether you’re about to punch a wall or not. Also consider that swinging your arms constantly as a Blade Master can be physically limiting if you have a joint injury in your arms, you might even get tired muscles if you play for long enough. Whether or not that is a bad thing is up to you.

So if you’re okay with swinging your swords a lot, also consider if you may enjoy the type of combat that the Blademaster provides. A lot of sword swinging also means a lot of enemies very close in front of you and in your face. You’ll be looking at a lot of enemy models very close up, and possibly walking straight through them while repositioning. This close quarters style of fighting is not for everyone, and others find it extremely appealing due to its hectic nature. This, combined with the Blade Master’s quick dash movement ability, may cause motion sickness in some as well.

As for the Blademaster’s roles, as with any class in Zenith they are DPS, Tank, and Healing. The DPS role is the most intense, because you will be swinging your swords a lot to deal as much damage as possible, and you will also always be under threat of quickly drawing an enemy’s attention and being the focus of melee attacks, though you will have some tools to overcome that difficulty such as your dash.

The Blademaster is arguably the best at Tanking because of their ability to draw a lot of enemies and group them together in melee. This means that DPS characters can easily use their Area of Effect abilities on the entire group, and so can the Tank Blademaster to hold the aggression of those enemies. The one unfortunate side effect of being a Close Quarters Tank in a Virtual Reality game is that it can be easy to not notice an enemy if they are to your sides or behind you.

Blademasters can also be healers with a selection of great healing abilities such as an AOE heal that triggers in the spot where you throw one of your swords. Don’t think that you will have to heal in close quarters just because you can only fight in close quarters.

The Essence Mage

Where the Blade Master is meant for close quarters fighting, the Essence Mage is meant for purely ranged combat. Rather than a pair of swords, the Essence Mage has a pair of blasters. These blasters fire bolts of blue energy with the press of a trigger, and can be charged by holding the trigger down for a more powerful blast. Firing too quickly can cause the blasters to run out of ammunition, so you can’t just continually fire without stopping. Waiting a few moments will cause the ammunition to replenish automatically.

Essence Mage abilities are generally triggered with hand gestures such as grabbing and pointing at the ground, or holding down trigger with an empty hand and throwing. They vary more than the Blademaster’s abilities, which mostly activate via slashing combos.

Unlike the Blademaster the Essence Mage does not require a lot of constant wild movement, making it an easier class to play for those with limited play areas, or for those that easily become motion sick. Unlike the Blademaster’s potentially nausea inducing (but awesome) dash, the Essence Mage has a teleport instead. This Teleport not only makes them a generally more static class to play, while still granting them some mobility, but it also is easier on the senses.

Some find it boring to just point blasters and do a few gestures to damage enemies, and prefer the hectic slashing of the Blademaster, but the Essence Mage is a generally chiller and less active experience. You will generally be further away from opponents, and concentrate on dishing out damage or providing support from afar. Aiming and timing your shots is also an important skill as the Essence Mage. The ability to aim well consistently is just as important as your equipment or level.

As for the roles the Essence Mage can take, this class has the DPS, Tank, and Healing roles just as any other class in Zenith: The Last City. DPS focuses on showering powerful ranged attacks from safely far away, and even if enemies turn on you, you will still have some abilities such as your teleport to pull away from their wrath.

Tanking as the Essence Mage is viable, but a little tricker than tanking as the Blademaster considering that your weapons are meant to be used from far away, but can still be used at point blank range. Attempting to draw enemies in can make it hard for your DPS teammates to deal damage effectively while your opponents chase after you. So tanking as an Essence Mage involves a lot of close up AOE abilities and point blank shooting, which removes a lot of what is unique about the class when compared to the Blade Master.

Healing as the Essence Mage is just as fun as healing as the Blade Master, though the Essence Mage’s healing abilities tend to be focused more at healing from far away. This makes the Essence Mage more of a traditional healer, and as with any other role more static to play than their sword wielding counterparts.

The Cyber Ninja

The Cyber Ninja class wasn’t available at launch, and Ramen VR announced it Cyber Ninja class in February 2022, and was released publicly in May 2023. Unlike the other two classes listed here, the only role available for the Cyber Ninja is DPS. This is a class solely devoted to damage dealing and moving around very quickly.

The Cyber Ninja lives up to it’s name, too. You have a lot of abilities to increase your movement and jump speed to quickly get into and out of combat. You even have the ability to go into stealth mode, which will make most enemies unable to see you. Even better, you can ambush enemies for big damage when you hop back out of stealth mode.

Also unlike the Blademaster and Essence Mage, the Cyber Ninja is capable of attacking regularly from up close and far away. This class gets a single weapon that can transform from a bow to a pair of melee weapons, making the Cyber Ninja capable of dealing huge damage no matter what kind of fight they’re in. If you want a solid damage dealing and rogueish class with great movement and self-supporting abilities, then you should give the Cyber Ninja a try.

Well, there you have it, all of the classes in Zenith: The Last City, a fantastic VR MMORPG. For more about the game check out their website or our previous article on it.