I'll chime in here for Dragoons.
Dragoons are, hands down, the lords of mobility on Herocraft. 20% of our mana goes a long way for us, literally. In addition, we're a relatively inexpensive class to play, especially of the warriors. But before I get into all of that, I'll talk about our combat stats.
First, Dragoons do a little more damage than Paladins and Dreadknights, but come in notably lower than Samurai. When using diamond grade weapons, Paladins use a sword and hit for five, and Dreadknights use axes to hit for six. We use spears (spades) to hit for seven. Samurai hit for 10 with swords. Defensively, Dragoons have the fourth highest defense of all the Herocraft classes. Paladins come in first with 129.2 max HP, and the ability to wear diamond chest and legs armor. Dreadknights come in second with 119.4 max HP, and can use diamond chests. Surprisingly, Blacksmiths come in third, with 109.4 HP , and can also use diamond chest pieces. Dragoons come in a very small sliver behind that, as we also have 109.4 max HP, but we can only wear diamond leg armor as opposed to the slightly more protective diamond chest. We can wear iron in all other slots. For the sake of reference, Samurai come in last by far, with 104.5 max HP, but they cannot wear diamond armor at all, and the only iron armor they are able to wear is a helmet. The highest they can use in all other slots is chainmail (which I -think- is less protective than iron, someone correct me if I'm wrong, as I'd like to know too, lol).
What does this mean in terms of logistics? Quite simply, Dragoons are the cheapest warrior class to fully equip with maximum armor and weapon. For the sake of simple calculation, let's say iron ingots sell for 0.5 coins, and diamonds sell for 4.
Paladin: Diamond Sword = 2 diamonds, diamond chest = 8 diamonds, diamond legs = 7 diamonds, iron helm = 5 iron, iron boots = 4 iron
2(4) + 8(4) + 7(4) + 5(0.5) + 4(0.5) = 8 + 32 + 28 + 2.5 + 2 = 72.5
Dreadknight: Diamond Axe = 3 diamonds, diamond chest = 8 diamonds, iron legs = 7 iron, iron helm = 5 iron, iron boots = 4 iron
3(4) + 8(4) + 7(0.5) + 5(0.5) + 4(0.5) = 12 + 32 + 3.5 + 2.5 + 2 = 52
Dragoon: Diamond Spear = 1 diamond, iron chest = 8 iron, diamond legs = 7 diamonds, iron helm = 5 iron, iron boots = 4 iron
1(4) + 8(0.5) + 7(4) + 5(0.5) + 4(0.5) = 4 + 4 + 28 + 2.5 + 2 = 40.5
Samurai: Diamond Sword = 2 diamond, chainmail ches... God, who even knows the average price of chainmail these days? All I know is that it's pretty pricey.
Numbers without the math in the way:
Paladin = 72.5 coins
Dreadknight = 52 coins
Dragoon = 40.5 coins
Samurai = Expensive as fuck
As you can see, Dragoon is the cheapest of the Warrior classes to outfit. In fact, at the prices I listed, with the average value of a gold ingot coming in at 10 coins, it's actually two coins cheaper for a Dragoon to upgrade to a gold spade instead of a diamond one and hit for 8 damage, than it is for a Dreadknight to use a diamond axe to hit for 6. Plus, the cost difference between a diamond spade and a gold one is only six coins. which can easily be made up by a couple of mob kills, as opposed to the 12 coin difference for a gold sword, or 18 coin difference for an axe.
However, there's another cost factor to add on top of that: Staying power. In both PvE and PvP, a Dragoon can safely stay on the field MUCH longer than the other warrior classes.
For PvE, a Dragoon can take two diamond spades out with him for the same resource consumption that a Paladin or Samurai would use for their swords, giving them what amounts to double durability, so they can grind mobs for much longer before they need to replace their weapon (especially when you consider that two hits from a Dragoon spade is just one damage less than three hits from a Paladin sword). Plus, if you do need to replace your weapon in the field, you only need to find or steal one diamond, as opposed to two (or even three in the Deathknight's case). This has helped me multiple times while mob killing, and as an even bigger bonus, the time you would have had to spend getting a new sword or axe allows you to keep killing, allowing you to gain yet more money while you otherwise would have been off the field. Moreover, your ability to instantly disengage from a mob battle going poorly (like one with a pissed off Enderman), can save your life, preventing both inventory and EXP loss at the minor cost of a small amount of time and food to let your HP regenerate.
However, PvP is where a Dragoon's cost efficiency truly shines. Armor is what makes or breaks a fight with another player, or a group of them. A fully armored Dragoon can effectively whip the piss out of a ninja or other DPS class simply because of the huge gap in defense levels. The faster an opponent goes down, the less damaged the Dragoon's armor (especially his expensive leggings) takes. Disarm and Jump both work extremely well together against melee classes, allowing the Dragoon to get in, knock his target's weapon away, strike a few times, then get out while waiting for mana to regenerate and Disarm to cool down. This is also a good way to escape if you get ambushed and have no hope of winning the fight. If a Paladin, Dreadknight, or Samurai gets into an engagement that goes badly, they're pretty much screwed unless they're fast on the Recall. These tactics will make your armor (and gold spade if you're using one) last a lot longer, so long as you don't get stupid with Jump and break it all with falling damage, saving you a lot of money over the long run. Combine that with the upcoming dual spec system, you'll also be able to take Smith to repair your stuff after retreating, further increasing the cost efficiency of your equipment while keeping you at maximum combat capability. Should the worst happen and you die, using Jump properly will help you move across terrain MUCH faster than other classes, letting you get back to your stuff sooner so you can start killing again.
That's enough of the boring stuff. Now I'll get into what you're really interested in... combat. PvE is pretty simple to figure out. Run, smash, jump if you get into trouble, eat as needed. Something of interest to note is that a Dragoon's diamond spade is the perfect weapon for killing Creepers. I'm not sure what their max HP is, but it takes four hits to get them to the point where they die from pretty much anything. Just make sure to get in and out quickly, not let them blow up instead of dying, and don't fight them in a path where they might take falling damage, as that will kill them and deny you your EXP and loot.
PvP is a whole other monster, and there's a lot to it. Much of PvP isn't something I can explain well in a single post, it's just something you have to intuitively know or learn on your own. However, there's one thing that must be said before all others:
THE MOST IMPORTANT ASPECT OF A DRAGOON'S ABILITY TO FIGHT IN PVP IS THEIR SKILL IN THE USE OF JUMP! PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE! The moment you hit level 10, start jumping like a squirrel on crack. Jump everywhere, even if you don't need to (though you should always keep at least 20% mana in reserves in case something happens). Learn to gauge distances at a quick glance, and get a feel for how far and how high you can jump, and how much ground you can cover. On top of this, Jump gives a Dragoon a few seconds of minor safe fall, allowing you to drop a couple of levels over a long distance without taking damage. Another use is dropping straight down and then using Jump right before you hit the ground to take advantage of the safe fall, allowing you to avoid a lot of, if not all, damage. Be careful when doing this, though, as just a little bit of lag can make the difference between a successful spring and becoming a pancake. There are multiple types of jumps you can make as a Dragoon, such as the straight up jump, running jump, double jump, running delayed double jump, hurdle, spring, and a huge variety of others. I won't even begin to try to describe them all, so I'll just tell you that there are a few factors in your jump, such as how fast you're running, where you're looking, whether you're falling or not, and whether you're still on the ground or partway through a normal jump. Another thing to note is that you can alter your flight path after using jump. You can slow down in mid-air, or even change direction if you're good enough. One tactic of mine when in a fight is to feign a retreat. As my opponent is pursuing me, I'll start to jump, but instantly turn around and go flying over his head to land behind him and open up on him with my spade, disarming him when he realizes what's going on and tries to defend himself.
Once you've got a good feel for Jump, it's time to start practicing the second PvP aspect that Dragoons are known for: Infiltration. You would be surprised to find out how many cities think they're secure from Dragoon jumps due to walls that go all the way up to the sky. Everyone expects Dragoons to come in through the skies. Something a large amount of people don't take into account with trying to secure their base is that Dragoons have another, more covert way of getting inside: Mining tunnels. Very, very few people, including a lot of Dragoons themselves, don't think of is our ability to jump up to areas that other classes can't. In regioned areas, we can jump into tunnels that citizens have dug under their base while mining and assumed are secure because there's no obvious way to get into them. Use Jump to get up into such a tunnel, and walk right under the wall and into their city. I personally find it both ironic and amusing to break into a city that has sky high walls designed to protect against a Dragoon's ability to jump over by walking underneath them. Also, another ability of ours that frequently is forgotten about by both Dragoons and other players is Charge. Charge operates in a manner similar to Blink, except you have to have a target on the other end in the form of either a player or a mob. Charge allows you to instantly warp to another player or mob within range, so long as you have direct line of sight to them, even if it's through a one block hole. I don't know its exact range, as I don't use it often, but I've found it usually works from six blocks away.
Alright. Now you know what you're capable of in terms of numbers and equipment, as well as how to get inside a city. It's time for you to learn how to fight as a Dragoon.
The first thing you need to know when fighting other players as a Dragoon is that cockiness will get you killed very quickly. You have a lot of HP, and you should always wear as much armor as possible when fighting, but in close quarters combat against higher damage or higher endurance classes, you're in for a tough time if they know what they're doing. If you want to survive combat as a Dragoon, you need to always have one thing in mind: Your opponent can't damage you if they can't hit you. Keep moving. This is doubly true when facing off against higher level casters, whose fireballs can do tremendous amounts of damage and will mess with your ability to Jump. It's extremely likely that you'll face calls of "Coward," and "Pussy," and "Come back and fight with some honor." Ignore them. Such expressions are nothing more than the anger of a player who can't use his strengths against you to bring you down. Your biggest strength as a Dragoon is to dictate the terms on how the engagement transpires. Against all but the most disciplined opponents, their obsession with catching and killing you by charging head on will blind them to the fact that you're slowly drawing them away from situations where they have the advantage to one where you will. Be it against one opponent or half a dozen, your ability to hit and run makes you the master of attrition, and with patience, you will wear your enemy down. Jump up around buildings to separate your opponents, then run in, smack one around for a bit, then jump out. This works especially well against other warriors, as while their HP might regenerate, their armor does not, and slowly stripping away their armor will make them more vulnerable to you, even more so if you still have some of yours. Hell, if there's one available, jump around for a bit and then land near a hole or cliff that your opponent may not notice until it's too late as he runs to kill you. Be creative. Never forget that all classes are able to hold Shift to sneak, greatly decreasing the visibility of their name and hiding it to anyone who doesn't have direct line of sight (just make sure to disable the sticky keys prompt in Windows). Make sure you keep your food bar full at all times during an engagement. If you expect PvP, bring pork chops. They recover a lot of hunger and keep you full for longer, minimizing the amount of time you have to stop moving to eat.
In terms of target priorities, your biggest threats are classes that have the ability to hinder or stop your movement. This includes all casters, Druids, and Rangers (Bards and Beastmasters are capable of using Root, but they are geared toward melee combat, where a Dragoon's superior defense and damage will win over theirs) . Rangers are especially dangerous, as they have both root and ice arrow, the ability to wear chainmail armor (and iron helms), and almost 100 max HP at level 50. On top of that, Rangers have the ability to track, which means that even if you're sneaking, every two minutes, he's going to know exactly where you are. Thankfully, there are a few factors that we have to our advantage here. The first of these is that, aside from rangers, most classes with the ability to root are relatively uncommon, and pretty easy to identify quickly. The second is the lack of defensive capability of these classes. Leather armor is expensive and inefficient, and degrades quickly. Chain armor is expensive for the protection it provides, and as only Alchemists can make it, it's rare to see in the field. Therefore, most of the classes that have the most potential to fuck your day are usually wearing little to no armor, making bringing them down a lot easier. Finally, and most importantly, root now breaks on damage, greatly decreasing its effectiveness against us.
Before you begin a fight, you need to know exactly what you're up against, so you know what to expect and how to fight. If you have the time to do a /hero who on them to determine their class and level. If doing this would expose your position or allow your opponent to catch up to you, being on a voice program like Mumble, TS, or Ventrilo with other players gives you the option to ask one of the other people in the server to do the /hero who check for you and relay back the information. Sometimes you can even have the other person calculate your opponent's max HP by looking at the wiki and his level. Otherwise, use Jump to get to a safe location before doing your check and making the decision whether to retreat or to engage.
As most of our most serious threats (and easiest targets) are low defense classes that rely on ranged attacks, I'll give some pointers on how to deal with them. The best way to fight an opponent who engages from range is to use Jump to get to point blank range with him (preferably from behind), hit him some, then disarm him before jumping away. If you can't approach him head on, shift left and right quickly and frequently, especially as you're getting within the range where he has a larger target and the fireball has less of a distance to travel. Remember that you can change direction mid jump, so use this to your advantage to throw off the lead he's trying to put on your approach. Disarming may seem unnecessary against a caster, but some players bind their offensive spells to their tools and such, and disarming them will allow you to get away without having to worry about catching a fireball in the ass. One round of this can do substantial damage to his armor (if he's wearing any), and has the potential to rattle his nerves enough to disrupt his aim, which is vital to his ability to fight back. That may sound silly, but when you consider all the factors to take into account when hurling a fireball, even a slight jitter can turn a hit into a miss. As for armor wearing classes, just stick to the tried and true method of hit and run to break down their armor, then going in for the kill once you have them where you want them.
That's a pretty basic guide to the Dragoon class and how to play it. While there are plenty of other things to take into account, like specific tactics on different geographic layouts like mountain vs. desert fighting against multiple targets, more in-depth elaboration on jumping and wall clearing, the most effective ways to distract groups of enemies, how to support other teammates and their classes in large scale engagements, and fighting other Dragoons, this post should provide you with the information you want when getting ready to choose a specialization.
While I'm only level 36 right now, I'm having a blast and loving every second of it.
That is all I have to say about being a warrior.
