In Avowed, your journey begins not with a fixed class but with a choice that shapes your character’s destiny: the first ability you pick from the fighter, ranger, or wizard skill trees. Each path offers unique powers-from the fighter’s brute-force Charge to the ranger’s strategic Tangleroot and the wizard’s elusive Minor Missiles-but it’s the ranger’s crowd-controlling spells that often give players the edge in the game’s challenging battles. Discover which starting abilities will set you on the path to mastery in this dynamic RPG where every skill point counts.
There are three classes of ability trees in Avowed: fighter, ranger, and wizard (which correlate respectively to archetypical warrior, rogue, and mage classes). Fairly early on, you’re directed to choose which tree to invest your first ability point in, though you’re free to mix and match abilities across all three classes.
Here’s our recommendation for the best class in Avowed, plus our thoughts on the best class abilities to get first.
Best class in Avowed
In Avowed, the best class to focus on initially is the Ranger, as it offers a strategic advantage early in the game with abilities like Tangleroot, which immobilizes enemies and helps manage challenging combat encounters. Unlike traditional RPGs where classes are fixed, Avowed allows players to blend abilities from Fighter, Ranger, and Wizard trees, but starting with Ranger skills provides strong crowd control and versatility. While Fighter abilities like Charge excel in melee damage and Wizard spells like Minor Missiles offer ranged magic, Ranger’s crowd control and tactical utility make it the superior choice for your first ability point investment.
Though all three class trees have powerful abilities, we’d say ranger is the overall best class in Avowed. And that’s the case right down to the very first ability you pick.
During the “On Strange Shores” mission in the main story, you’ll have to choose a starting ability from the three skill trees:
- Charge (fighter): A dash attack that deals high melee damage.
- Tangleroot (ranger): A spell that locks nearby enemies in place for eight seconds.
- Minor Missiles (wizard): A spell that fires three homing projectiles at nearby enemies.
This choice isn’t a commitment to a class. But the ability you choose here sets the tone for your character.
Charge is fine if you’re planning on focusing on a melee build, but otherwise ineffective. Minor Missiles, in our experience, is indeed incredibly minor: the 1o-second cooldown is too long to make the most of its damage output. Avowed fights tend to be challenging because you’re overwhelmed with a high number of enemies, or because you’re facing a singular large enemy who can rapidly close the distance between you. Tangleroot solves for both.
Even beyond that initial choice, the skills in the ranger tree tend to be a bit more broadly applicable for all builds than those in the wizard and fighter trees. Passive ranger abilities cover damage boosts for five weapons (maces, swords, dagger, bows, and guns), compared to two for the fighter tree (greatswords and greataxes) or one for the wizard tree (wand). And its active abilities allow you to both slow down time and turn invisible.
Best abilities in Avowed
In Avowed, the best abilities to pick first depend on your preferred playstyle, with strong options available in the fighter, ranger, and wizard skill trees. For melee-focused builds, the fighter’s Toughness ability is essential, increasing maximum health by 20%, which helps with survivability in tough encounters. Rangers shine with abilities like Tangleroot, which immobilizes enemies for strategic advantage, and Survivalist, enhancing the effectiveness of food for health and essence restoration. Wizards benefit from spells such as Minor Missiles, which launch homing projectiles to deal damage at range, and Grimoire Mastery, unlocking powerful elemental spells useful both in combat and exploration. Overall, ranger abilities like Tangleroot stand out early for their crowd control, while fighter and wizard abilities offer solid defensive and offensive options respectively, allowing players to tailor their character’s development flexibly across these trees.
Whatever you choose for your first ability doesn’t lock you into a class. You’re free to invest ability points across all three class trees. You can reset your ability points at any point for a small fee, though that fee increases as you level up. You’ll get one ability point per level and can also earn additional ability points by rejecting the Voice’s power at various junctures throughout the main story.
At first, only a handful of abilities are available for each class. You’ll unlock the second tier of abilities at level 5, the third tier at level 10, the fourth tier at level 15, and the final tier at level 20.
Beyond that, there are minimal requisites – for example, to unlock spells in the wizard tree, you need to find a grimoire with that spell first – but for the most part, once you hit the level threshold, you’re free to invest ability points into the skills you want to prioritize.
The best builds are the result of mixing and matching abilities across all three skill trees, in response to how you find yourself playing the game. Still, the abilities that apply to most builds in Avowed are:
- Toughness (fighter, level 1)
- Arcane Veil (wizard, level 1)
- Steady Aim (ranger, level 1)
- Evasive (ranger, level 1)
- Arcane Veil (wizard, level 1)
- Shadowing Beyond (ranger, level 5)
- Quick Switch (ranger, level 10)
Toughness boosts your health by 20%. Considering each attribute point you put into Constitution only increases your health by 5% per attribute point, by that logic, Toughness alone is worth four Constitution points. (And that’s before you rank it up: You can eventually scale Toughness to increase your health by 45%.)
Also in the realm of “staying alive,” invest in Arcane Veil, a wizard tree spell that cuts the damage you receive in half for 20 seconds. If you unlock Arcane Veil as a skill on its own, you don’t need to equip a grimoire just to cast it.
Evasive, a ranger skill, reduces the stamina cost of dodging by 25%. If you run out of stamina, you can’t attack, can’t dodge, can’t do anything, really. Pair that with Quick Switch to speed up how quickly you can switch weapons in battles, allowing you to make the most of Avowed’s two loadouts. These two abilities together allow you to stay nimble in combat.
If you plan on using any ranged weapon, Steady Aim is essential. When charging up your power attack with a ranged weapon (basically, holding the “shoot” button), time slows down by 25% or up to 75% at higher ranks. Think of it as Max Payne mode, but without the dramatic diving.
Lastly, Shadowing Beyond turns you invisible for a brief period, contingent on how much essence you have in reserve. There are a number of instances in Avowed where you’re highly encouraged to take a stealthy approach, with failure typically resulting in a difficult battle. It does not take much playtime to realize Avowed isn’t exactly a finely tuned stealth sim. Shadowing Beyond is essentially a cheat code for some of the game’s more frustrating missions.
How can choosing the right initial ability shape my entire Avowed playstyle
Choosing the right initial ability in Avowed fundamentally shapes your entire playstyle by setting the foundation for how you engage in combat and develop your character’s strengths. Since skill points are limited and respeccing can be costly later, your first ability often defines your primary combat role-whether it’s the Fighter’s aggressive gap-closing Charge for melee dominance, the Ranger’s crowd control with root spells to control the battlefield, or the Wizard’s powerful spellcasting for ranged magical damage.
This initial choice influences not only your combat tactics but also which complementary skills you’ll prioritize as you progress. For example, starting with the Ranger’s root spell enables strategic crowd control that synergizes well with other immobilizing effects, enhancing your effectiveness in fights. Meanwhile, a Fighter’s Charge ability encourages a frontline tank or damage dealer role, focusing on stunning and disrupting enemies. Wizards, with their spellcasting abilities, lean toward a more fragile but high-damage playstyle.
Moreover, Avowed’s flexible skill system allows mixing abilities from different classes, but having a strong initial ability helps you optimize your build and playstyle early on, making your character more effective and enjoyable to play throughout the game.
How does selecting a background influence my initial combat approach in Avowed
Selecting a background in Avowed influences your initial combat approach primarily through the starting attributes and weapon tied to that background, which align with specific playstyles. For example, the Vanguard Scout background boosts Perception, Dexterity, and Constitution, favoring ranged combat with increased accuracy and critical hits, and starts with an axe, making it ideal for players who prefer long-range engagements. The Arcane Scholar, on the other hand, emphasizes Intellect, Perception, and Dexterity, starting with a dagger and encouraging a magic-focused playstyle with quick spellcasting and some melee capability. Noble Scion offers a balanced spread of attributes and starts with a sword, supporting versatile melee or hybrid builds. War Hero boosts Might, Resolve, and Constitution, favoring aggressive melee combat with a spear. Court Augur leans towards agile, ranged combat with minor bonuses in Dexterity and Intellect, starting with a mace.
While these backgrounds provide distinct initial stats and weapons that shape your early combat tactics, Avowed allows full access to all equipment and abilities later on, making backgrounds more about role-playing flavor and unique dialogue options rather than strict gameplay restrictions. Thus, your background choice sets the tone for your initial combat style but does not lock you into a specific path, giving you flexibility to evolve your playstyle as you progress.
