Being new to a game like TERA can be difficult for newer players, especially with its innovative combat system and politics system that can catch you off guard and make you scratch your head. That’s why Ten Ton Hammer has put together five tips for the new TERA player that is sure to answer those questions meandering around in your head and help get you on the path to victory.

The Best Race to Pick in TERA

Racials are not super important in TERA because they are all normalized and useful to all classes. This isn’t 100% true, for instance your armor type determines how easy it is for you to be knocked down, so the Human racial is a lot better for squishy characters. Castanics have a movement speed increase, which is great for slower classes as well, but the cooldown is 30 minutes, so not that super huge of a deal.

What is more important than racials is a character’s hitbox. TERA is an action based game which means you’ll need to aim the targeting reticle over a character in order to damage or heal them. This means that characters who want to receive heals (Lancers) will want a bigger hitbox while squishy characters will want to pick Elin or Popori for the smaller hitbox.

Of course, you can pick any race you want and be viable, but be aware that in PvP and in PvE, the size of your character is relevant to your role. It’s very hard for a healer to heal a smaller character and likewise, it’s harder for an enemy to target a smaller character as well. So just be aware that size matters in TERA.

Hybrids Aren’t Welcome in TERA – Picking the Best Class

TERA assigns a hard role to each class and each class adheres strongly to that role. For instance, a Lancer is a tank and is dedicated to drawing the attention of the enemy and mitigating the damage. Lancers, due to being the only tank, receive near instant queues in the instance finder but also have the lowest DPS and a very difficult time questing.

On the other side, DPS classes are frail and fragile, only capable of outputting DPS. Support characters, while capable of soloing, will find that it’s easier to join a group and use their support skills to level and PvP.

Bringing in the previous tip, it’s also important to understand each classes specific role. For instance, Warriors are evasion tanks; they shouldn’t be hit while tanking. This also means that picking a race with a smaller hitbox is fine because they shouldn’t need much healing in combat.

As for as the best class in TERA, it’s hard to say, each one has its own niche role and details about each class are given at the character select screen. Play the class that sounds the most fun to you, but do understand a few caveats. As mentioned, Lancers and support classes are hard to play solo and Warriors are very difficult to play well because they need to physically avoid attacks in order to tank.

Server Selection is Important

It’s important to understand the different kinds of servers. PVE servers do not allow any non-consensual form of PvP. You’ll need to seek out PvP with other players and agree to fight one another before you can start fighting it out.

PvP servers allow consensual PvP anywhere in the world (except for cities, instance entrances, and a few other areas) as long as a player flags themselves as an outlaw. One thing to keep in mind is that a player needs to tag themselves for PvP before they can attack another player (by becoming an “Outlaw”). Outlaws can not only attack other Outlaws, but other players as well, meaning that you can find yourself in a PvP battle even if you’re flagged yourself. Players below level 11 are not capable of being attacked or flagging themselves as Outlaws.

The RP server is for roleplayers and includes a set of specific rules that prohibit OOC (out of character) dialog and strict naming conventions. Those who enjoy roleplay will find the RP server to be a welcoming home. The current RP server, Celestial Hills, is also a PvE server.

Stamina, Buffs, Crystals, and Glyphs

Gearing yourself out in TERA isn’t simple, you’ll need to work hard to get all of your equip slots filled with valuable loot. You’ll need to work even harder to make sure your Stamina is at 120%, that you have as many buffs up as possible, that your broken crystals get replace, and that your skills are properly glyphed.

Stamina: Stamina is regenerated at campfires and provides an increase to damage, damage reduction, health, and mana. Stamina can be purchased from NPCs in town instead of being regenerated at a campfire (just idle near a campfire and it will go up). Death will cause your stamina to drop to 0% (20% for Baraka). Stamina is also drained during combat. At or above 100% stamina allows for the use of talismans at a campfire which gives you an additional buff. The timer on the buff won’t start until you enter combat.

Buffs: Buffs come in lots of different ways, like the talisman on the campfire, from gathering materials, from mystics, and from items. You’ll want to be buffed so that you’re as tough as possible in the world, because each buff helps immensely with health/mana regeneration along with combat. Be sure to gather as many resource nodes as possible as you explore the world and use a talisman every chance you get.

Crystals: Enhancement crystals allow you to customizer your armor and weapons with additional stats. However, on death, there is a chance your enhancement crystals will break. Always keep tons of backups in your inventory whenever you’re doing an instance or active on a PvP server because you never know when you’ll die and one of your crystals will shatter.

Glyphs: At level 20 you’ll be able to glyph your skills to improve them. Make sure to get this done as soon as possible because the boost is impressive.

Skill is Important – Aiming, Movement, and More

The last and most important tip is to practice aiming and movement. Combat is different in TERA. Enemies do not “lock on” to you (well, some do, but it’s their special skill). Most enemies will face the character with the highest threat, charge up their attack (which will show some kind of warning, each enemy has a different way of showing it) and then assault the direction that they are facing. It’s up to you, the player, to relocate yourself away from their line of attack. The only exception is the Lancer, who is the only class designed to take the blows.

Along with movement, it’s also important to learn how to aim properly. Failure to aim properly can drastically lower your DPS, put your allies at the risk of dying, or waste important mana. Melee attacks have a “cooldown” period after you swing in order to regain control of your character to move and turn. Spells generally have some tricky ways of launching themselves out (like x meters in front of you). So it’s always good to know how your abilities work and the best way to utilize them.

Aiming comes in a few flavors. The first is the general “launch” attack, where you either swing your weapons or throw elemental destruction in front of you. These attacks can sometimes also move your character forward. The second is the ground targeted spells; these give you a targeting circle on the ground to use to determine where you cast. The final is the “skill shot.” These skills have an advanced way of aiming/targeting, like x meters in front of you, and require you to be on you’re A game to utilize correctly.

There are also lock-on abilities, but these require you to use the skill and “target” allies with your targeting reticle. Some abilities will even allow you to charge them up for additional distance or damage.

Oh, finally, looking for where to redeem your TERA preorder / collector items? Press ALT or ESC on your keyboard, go to Activites > Item Claim > Account Items. Oh, and one more final tip. Did you know you can play with a controller?

That’s our five tips for newbie players in TERA. Need some bare bones basics? Check out our Ten Basics Every TERA Player Should Know guide--you just might learn something!

Are you a complete newbie who needs help or a seasoned TERA adventurer who knows the ropes? Let us know what you think of the game so far in the comments section below.