Earth Defense Force 6: Best Solo Class

Highlights

• Fencer is a tank class with heavy weaponry, suited for group play more than solo missions in EDF6.
• Air Raider, like Ranger but focused on support, struggles in early game but can be unstoppable with the right loadout.
• Wing Diver is a glass cannon with high mobility and damage potential, requiring careful energy management in solo play.

There are only four different playable classes in Earth Defense Force 6, but they all have a very unique playstyle that separates them from the rest. These classes include the Ranger, the Air Raider, the Wing Diver, and the Fencer. Each playable class has their own gimmicks, their own specialized weaponry, their own unique systems, and their own pros/cons. The Fencer, for example, is Earth Defense Force 6’s ‘tank class’ with a lot of heavy weaponry and close-range options.

Meanwhile, the Wing Diver is EDF6’s glass cannon, trading survivability for a lot of mobility and damage potential. However, the classes that are strongest in multiplayer are absolutely not the same classes that are the strongest in a solo playthrough. So, with that in mind, let’s go over all of the classes EDF6 has to offer (despite the initial flaws of the game) and talk about which one is the best one to use when playing solo.

4 Fencer

A Class of Extremes

First up and therefore lowest on the list for ‘best solo class’ is the Fencer. The Fencer is an absolute unit with the right gear and in the hands of someone who knows how to play them, but they’re also the class most likely to get absolutely swarmed by bugs, due to them just having pretty low overall mobility, even while utilizing the Deflection Shield booster dash trick. Where the Fencer does its best is when it’s in a group of people and it’s able to jump into the fray while being covered from behind or their allies are keeping the enemies busy while the Fencer uses their Heavy Weaponry to decimate them from afar.

On their own, the Fencer can just very quickly get overwhelmed by enemies, especially on the harder difficulties. And, while they have the ability to keep them at bay while dashing around, it’s very difficult to do consistently and doesn’t work against all enemy types. Playing the Fencer alone is like playing a Tank alone in an MMORPG, it can be done decently but is in no way comparable to playing a class more designed around dealing damage or mobility. Let’s compare it to say, Helldivers 2 for example, where stopping movement at all on the higher difficulties can lead to immediate death, and it should be clear to see why the Fencer struggles a bit more when playing solo.

3 Air Raider

Like Ranger, But With More Support Options

Next up is the Air Raider, and this class can sometimes feel like by far the best class for solo and sometimes it can feel like the worst. The Air Raider is essentially the Ranger but with more of a focus on support. As they gain more weapons, the Air Raider gains access to more and more utility-type items such as AoE healing devices, drones, and even vehicle summons. However, in exchange, the Air Raider has a lot fewer direct and simple damage options, which can make things very difficult when the enemies get too close.

Additionally, the Air Raider doesn’t have the same combat sprint that the Ranger has, making it a lot more tedious to gather Armor, Weapon, or Health crates as well as making them less mobile overall. And finally, the Air Raider also struggles for a while in the early game due to not having access to a lot of their vehicle summons. Once players get past the sort of ‘wasteland’ area of the game, they’ll find they have more summons to use, but until that point, the Air Raider’s vehicle call-ins might as well not exist. With the right loadout against the right enemies, the Air Raider can be unstoppable, but if they’re poorly prepared even slightly, it’s incredibly easy for them to be overwhelmed and subsequently killed.

2 Wing Diver

The Definition of a Glass Cannon

Landing in second place for ‘best solo class’ is the Wing Diver, which is by far Earth Defense Force 6’s most mobile class. The Wing Diver is the very definition of a glass cannon in EDF, as they have very low base Armor while having very high damage potential and even higher mobility. Players using the Wing Diver will need to keep constant track of their energy levels, as their jetpack isn’t the only thing that uses their energy, a large percentage of their weapons do too. So, Wing Divers need to constantly decide whether dealing damage to enemies or creating distance is more important, and if they try to do both and run out of energy, they’re left almost entirely helpless while their Engine Core restarts. However, in comparison to the Fencer who takes a whole lot of skill and practice to survive with, the Wing Diver only takes a bit of practice.

Once players get the hang of flying around, using their dashes, and managing their energy, they’ll find that it’s relatively easy to maintain the proper distance from enemies. So, while this class is one where even a simple mistake can lead to getting knocked out instantly, it’s also a class where the player can stay relatively safe while outputting some absurd damage as long as they’re careful. In solo, this can be a bit more difficult since the enemy’s attention isn’t split between players, but it’s just a bit more difficult, which is nowhere near too difficult or ‘impossible’.

1 Ranger

Don’t Underestimate Rolling

And in first place, shockingly, is the base class of EDF6 AKA the Ranger. The Ranger is the standard soldier of the Earth Defense Force, and is basically the ‘Mario’ of this game, serving as the most basic of basic characters to show that the other classes are a bit more unique. However, most of the time, simple is best, and that’s true in EDF6 as well. The main reason the Ranger is the best solo class is due to their balance. The Ranger strikes basically the perfect balance between mobility, range of different weaponry, damage output, and range. They don’t have access to a lot of the more ‘unique’ weapons like the Wing Divers Energy Weapons or the Air Raider’s summons, but that in no way means that their weapon repertoire is small.

On top of this, people vastly underestimate the rolling in EDF, it’s absurdly strong. Rolls in most Soulslike games, for example, are very useful but only with proper timing due to the timing needed to line up the small number of I-frames of the roll with the active frames of the enemy’s attacks. The roll in EDF6, in comparison, just has a noticeable amount more I-frames, making it pretty viable for Rangers to just roll anytime they’re not shooting. Additionally, by being a jack-of-all-trades, the Ranger has access to weaponry of all different types and ranges which allows them to adapt to each mission very easily. They can swap onto weapons with homing projectiles when fighting flying enemies, close-range guns when fighting the red ants, and heavy weaponry with a lot of AoE when going up against large swarms of robots, invaders, or bugs. It all boils down to this, the class that can adapt the best to the enemy types found in each mission is the one that’s the best to use in a solo playthrough, and out of EDF6’s 4 playable classes, the most adaptable class has to be the Ranger.