Earth Defense Force 6: Choosing the Best Class for New Players

Earth Defense Force 6 offers a diverse roster of classes, each with unique strengths and playstyles. For new players, navigating these options can be daunting. This article breaks down the classes, highlighting their strengths and weaknesses to help you choose the best starting point. While personal preference and cooperative play can shift the meta, this guide provides a solid foundation for your EDF journey.

Understanding the Classes

Ranger: The "vanilla" class, offering a wide range of weapons suitable for any situation. They also have access to fun vehicles.
Wing Diver: Excels at any range with powerful weapons and flight capabilities. They have low armor but high mobility.
Air Raider: A support class that can also stand on its own, with healing, shields, and airstrikes, plus drones for localized attacks.
Fencer: A tank class with the highest armor, a variety of guns for both ranged and melee combat, and excellent movement with boosters and jumps.

Air Raider: A Complex but Rewarding Support Class

The Air Raider is arguably the most complex class to master in Earth Defense Force 6, requiring a significant understanding of its mechanics to reach its full potential. Despite this complexity, the Air Raider remains a valuable asset to any team due to its unique support capabilities and surprising offensive firepower.

Reload Credit System

At the core of the Air Raider's gameplay is the reload credit system. This system governs the replenishment of certain strikes and vehicle requests. Each ability requires a specific amount of credits, earned by defeating enemies. While the game doesn't provide a numeric display of credit count or enemy credit values, players quickly develop a sense for it.

Importantly, every enemy killed in a mission, regardless of who or what delivers the final blow (including other players, NPCs, or even scripted airstrikes), contributes to every Air Raider's reload credits. This benefit applies even if the Air Raider is downed in multiplayer. Credits are earned simultaneously for all abilities that use the system; each ability receives the full credit allocation, without division, and regardless of whether the strike or vehicle is currently equipped.

Drones: Versatile Offensive Tools

New to EDF 6 are drones, which offer a distinct advantage over conventional air ordnance. Unlike airstrikes, drones only require their return to be ready for redeployment. This results in significantly faster reload times, although drones possess less strike power and are better suited for engaging single targets.

Drones can effectively replace Limpet Guns for much of the game, and are usable even underground.

Timing Considerations: Reload Credits vs. Timers

It's crucial to understand the timing differences between reload credit-based strikes and timer-based strikes. A reload credit-based strike cannot be deployed again until the previous strike's effect ends. However, it can begin earning reload credits immediately upon initiation, as the bar empties.

Conversely, a timer-based strike only starts its reload cycle once the previous strike's effect concludes. This means that in target-rich environments, a reload credit strike can potentially be ready faster than a timer-based strike, even those with short timers. However, if a beacon for a timed strike is destroyed, it will continue firing while simultaneously initiating its reload.

Starting Allocation and Vehicle Deployment

The Air Raider begins each mission with a starting credit allocation sufficient to deploy all strikes for the first time. Vehicles also start with varying amounts of their credits filled; for example, the Armored Vehicle Grape begins at 100%.

Summoning a vehicle requires selecting it and throwing a smoke grenade to mark the desired drop location. A Transport Aircraft Noble will then appear, hover briefly, and release a large shipping container containing the vehicle. The transport is invulnerable to enemy attacks.

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Vehicle deployment is triggered by pressing the bottom face button on the controller (or Z on keyboard) when a vehicle is ready. This initiates an animation where the Air Raider throws a grenade a short distance. While not a fully variable throw, the player can influence the distance by adjusting the camera position.

Careful Marker Placement

Precise marker placement is essential to avoid wasted credits. Placing the marker too close to a building, for example, can result in the vehicle landing on the roof. The game attempts to mitigate this with a container bounce upon landing, but this can sometimes lead to the vehicle landing upside-down or sideways.

If a vehicle ends up on a roof, the best solution is to destroy the building, provided the Air Raider has a suitable weapon equipped. Vehicles in EDF 5 possess a strong self-righting mechanism, often flipping over on their own or when re-entered, even when completely inverted.

Vehicle Limits and Usage

The number of vehicles an Air Raider can have in play simultaneously is limited to three. To enter a vehicle, the character must step inside one of the glowing blue circles around it and press the revive/enter vehicle button. Vehicles with multiple positions will have multiple circles corresponding to each crew position. If no circle is present, the vehicle is either occupied or the current class cannot access any of its positions.

While in a vehicle, any weapon reloads in progress are paused, but the Air Raider's reload credits continue to accumulate normally. A Wing Diver's energy will also regenerate as usual, and her off-hand reloading will continue uninterrupted.

Picking up items is possible within a large circle around the vehicle. Vehicles can be healed by life-replenishing devices, but vehicle weapons (excluding Barga's fists and feet) have limited ammunition that cannot be replenished in the field.

Enemies typically ignore unoccupied vehicles, although they may accidentally attack them while targeting something else. Colonists and Cosmonauts may continue to attack abandoned vehicles if they saw the driver exit. Occupied vehicles tend to have a slightly higher aggro priority than dismounted characters.

Target Designation and Guidance

The Air Raider has multiple methods for designating targets, including off-map artillery strikes and target designation for other players using lock-on weapons. Prolonged strikes using the Guide Kit may require continuous direction, while the Bulge Laser can be redirected with the Guide Kit or left in place.

The Air Raider's Laser Guide Kits and Guide Beacon Guns enhance the lock-on range and lock speed of guided weapons. They can also focus a normally multi-target weapon onto a single target, enabling area suppression weapons to effectively engage powerful enemies.

The lock target from a Laser Guide Kit is dynamic and can be moved by the Air Raider at any time, allowing for aim adjustments on moving targets or sweeping missiles across multiple enemies. If the Air Raider stops aiming the Guide Kit, missiles will briefly maintain their lock before losing target.

Guide Beacon Guns affix a lock-on designation Beacon to a fixed position or an enemy, offering precision targeting with a zoom mode and long range. Placed Beacons last indefinitely, even if the Air Raider is downed, but disappear when the object they are attached to is destroyed. Reloading the Beacon Gun deletes all currently placed Beacons.

While offering an inferior boost compared to the Guide Kit and generating a fixed target, Guide Beacon Guns allow the Air Raider to place multiple Beacons simultaneously and do not require continuous aiming. They also enable single-targeting of multi-target guided weapons like the Naegling Self-Propelled Rocket Launcher.

Assist Devices: Buffing Allies and Hindering Enemies

Assist devices affect all player characters and friendly NPCs within their radius. Life-recovering items also affect enemies in their area of effect, but the small radius makes this a negligible disadvantage.

Power assist devices do not affect the damage dealt by turrets, bombs, mines, or Air Raider strikes. Guard assist devices do not affect the durability of Decoys, but Life Vendors will work on them.

Assist devices have a fixed duration. Life recovery devices stack their effects, while Power and Guard assist devices do not; using multiple Power or Guard devices only applies the best multiplier.

Forcefield Generators: Defensive Barriers

Forcefield generators create glowing walls that absorb a set amount of damage. Allies can fire through the field (although their splash damage will reduce its hitpoints), while it blocks enemy shots. The Guide Kit laser can pass through forcefields, and the field will stop enemy explosions from dealing splash damage to allies.

Enemies generally cannot walk through forcefields, although large physical attacks may penetrate them.

Decoys: Misdirection and Diversion

Decoy devices have a high targeting priority, functioning as a hybrid of assist device and forcefield. They have their own hitpoints and a timer and remain in effect even when reloaded.

Normal Decoys are placed and activated manually, while DLC "Pure Decoys" are fired from a modified Limpet Gun for remote placement. Pure Decoys have a longer duration but lower durability than normal Decoys.

Decoys are less effective in "stealth" missions due to reduced enemy aggro range. Allies will damage Decoys with normal shots, but will not deliberately target them. All devices adhere to vehicles and travel with them. Forcefield generators are more effective on moving vehicles in EDF 5.

Limpet Guns and Suppress Guns

Limpet Guns attach flashing lights to enemies. However, only one explosive Limpet Gun projectile attached to a building or low-level enemy will detonate, as the game engine sometimes deletes the others.

The Suppress Gun replaces Wireguns and functions as a short-range shotgun.

Dodge Rolling: Evasion and Mobility

The dodge roll move, executed by pressing the jump button while moving left or right, is crucial for quick movement and evading enemy attacks. It flattens the Air Raider's hitbox, allowing many attacks to pass harmlessly over him, and provides brief invincibility frames.

Artillery Strikes: Area Denial and Damage

Artillery strikes consist of Mortars, Howitzers, and Cannons, each with different characteristics. These strikes are based on a Reload Credit requirement, with Mortars being the cheapest, followed by Howitzers, and then Cannons.

Each strike has an "attack radius" (the overall effect area) and a "blast area" (the effect area of each individual shot). Shots are randomized within the attack radius, so being outside the red area does not guarantee safety.

Mortar: Cheap, deals more damage per shot than the Howitzer, but has smaller splash and effect areas.
Howitzer: Deals low damage with a large splash area, effective against groups of low-level enemies.
Cannon: Fires double the number of shots with a smaller splash radius, but deals high damage per hit, capable of taking down Colonists on Inferno difficulty.
Mortar Drones: Usable underground, but less effective in low-ceiling environments.

Class Overview and Recommendations

Ranger: A solid all-around class, easy to pick up and play. A good choice for players who want a balanced experience.
Wing Diver: High damage output and mobility make them a strong choice for experienced players. However, their low armor requires careful positioning and energy management.
Air Raider: Complex but rewarding, the Air Raider offers unparalleled support capabilities and surprising offensive potential. A good choice for players who enjoy strategic gameplay and teamwork.
Fencer: A powerful tank class with excellent damage output and mobility. However, mastering their movement and weapon combinations requires practice.

Which Class is Best for You?

New players: The Ranger is the most accessible and forgiving class, providing a solid foundation for learning the game.
Players who enjoy support roles: The Air Raider offers a unique and rewarding support experience, with the added benefit of being able to hold their own in combat.
Players who prefer high damage output and mobility: The Wing Diver is a strong choice, but requires careful play to avoid being overwhelmed.
Players who enjoy tanking and dealing heavy damage: The Fencer is a powerful option, but requires practice to master their movement and weapon combinations.

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