Years go by and Black Desert is still going strong, with a robust player base and a development team that keeps on releasing new content. From new regions to classes, there’s a regular delivery of free content to grab and explore, and a nearly infinite number of hours of gameplay. One of the latest additions is a new class, the Scholar, a melee powerhouse that blends alchemy with the strength of two robust hammers. Is this a great addition to the huge Black Desert roster and worth exploring?

Hammer Time

First off, a quick reminder to any player out there wondering if Black Desert is an MMORPG worth trying. The answer varies depending on what they are looking for, but it’s a resounding yes if you are searching for an extremely rich game, beautiful at that, one that has so many things to do, so many systems to care for that it will be weeks, easily months before you feel like you are getting somewhere. It’s deep, often labeled as too complex, progress can be slow, and so on and so forth. This is a game that requires a fully-committed mindset and eventually rewards you for it.

That being said, let’s move on to a brief analysis of the new class. The Scholar is designed as female character, something that some players still consider one of the shortcomings of Black Desert, although this is minimized by the constant output of counterparts that address this situation. Keeping up with the traditionally superb art style, this class marries sexy and intelligent with a costume that highlights the golden tonalities, including the flowing hair.

Naturally, you can customize the class’ appearance from scratch using one of the best character creation systems available, or pick one of the superb fan-made designs for the Scholar.

But what interests us the most here is how the Scholar behaves in combat – after all, within the more than two dozen class choices, how appealing is this one for a new player? The answer, once again, depends on the style that you are going for. Being a melee fighter, it requires getting up close to the enemies, and you know how dangerous this can be in case of facing a powerful ranged class such as the Archer or the Sage.

Considering the melee nature, hammer strikes will be your basic attacks, with some throws worthy of Thor, but it gets a lot more interesting and versatile as you unlock new skills. It’s not all about the hammers either, with some impressive drop kick moves to make a wrestler jealous, and the blink skill is really nice to use, although it ends up lacking because you can’t do a forward dash this way. Despite showcasing an encouraging AoE damage versatility, some players might want a bigger range and faster hit chaining, as Black Desert is extremely focused on PvE grind and the decidedly wonderful animations do look a bit on the slow side.

The Scholar Awakening adds a sledgehammer into the mix, ramping up on damage and the crunch sound effects – there’s an undeniable sense of weight and power to the way the weapon flows. With some skills where the class leaps and bounds for a good distance, it all feels like there’s extreme margin for combos and great chaining, but the real worth of the Scholar will be judged by the experts, veterans of Black Desert. How it behaves on PvP, how it can get the upper hand on other melee classes, and the like. Some of the skills can feel somewhat inaccurate to use, hard to pinpoint where the hit will land, and mobility is a bit on the slower side of the spectrum, making this a class that isn’t instantly accessible for novice players.

In terms of aesthetics, it’s gorgeous as ever, with some incredible animations and smooth combos, very pleasant to watch. Sometimes it can get too flashy for comfort, so it’s recommended to check the settings and dial down things like motion blur to make it more bearable, but that’s something that could be said of most classes.

One For the Purists

The Scholar class is another significant addition to Black Desert, and one that isn’t going to be consensual. There’s no denying the visual mastery for every class, with some remarkable skill animations, but the crux of the matter here is how it plays, and that is entirely up to what players can make of it. The Scholar doesn’t feel like it’s suited to novice players, due to its small AoE range and somewhat bulky and slow movement, but eventually the more skilled players may find the sweet spot to use it for PvE grind and PvP combat. As always, it’s a neat addition to a huge MMORPG that is going strong after many years, with a very healthy player base, and the next content expansion is already around the corner, including the new Swordsman class, proof that we can’t really complain about lack of options.

Score: 7.5/10

Pros:

• Neat gravity blinks and encourages chaining moves
• Visually impressive as is usually the case

Cons:

• Somewhat slow and with a small AoE range
• Not the best class for the grind

Black Desert Scholar Class review code was provided by the publisher. You can read MP1st’s review and scoring policy right here.