Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands Best Starting Class Guide

Wondering what is the best starting class in Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands? This guide explains what starting classes there are, what they do, what’s best for beginners, and what to avoid. There are 6 different starting classes in total. You can also pick a secondary class after the 5th Main Quest, then you have access to both classes’ skill trees and their passive feats. The starting class determines your skill tree and active skills. Do note that the starting class cannot be changed! After the story you can switch your secondary class, but the primary class is fixed and unchangeable.

What Starting Classes are in Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands?

Below the 6 starting classes are in the in-game menu order:

1. Stabbomancer – Has a stealth ability that renders you invisible for a few seconds, during that time all hits have 100% crit chance (but deal less crit damage) and enemies ignore you. Can also cast a spinning blade on the ground that damages enemies standing in it (good against bosses). Has a class feat for added Crit Chance. Its skills are geared towards melee attacks, it’s more of a close-range build. The most useful aspect of this class is the stealth ability to get away from enemies when things get tough and the focus on Critical Hits for damage output. Doesn’t have a pet companion.
2. Clawbringer – Has a small fire dragon pet that constantly follows you around (pet that helps you). Also has two hammer abilities, a ground slam and a hammer throw. A close-range build, but a bit more varied than the Brr-Zerker.
3. Spellshot – A classic spellcaster / mage build. Has the ability to wield 2 spells simultaneously (all other classes can only have 1 spell equipped). Can even dual-wield the same spell, having it equipped to each hand with separate cooldowns. Also has ability to turn enemies into passive sheep, rendering them completely defenseless and easy to kill (doesn’t work on bosses). Class Feat for improved Spell Damage (adds +10% damage for each weapon reload up to +50% total). The best damage-dealer build for medium range. Doesn’t have a pet companion.
4. Graveborn – Is accompanied by a Demi-Lich Companion (pet) that follows you around and deals dark magic damage. Has ability to sacrifice own health to apply dark magic status effect to enemies. Also the ability for Life Leech and bonus Dark Magic damage but you take damage each second in exchange for this. One of the more tricky classes, due to the abilities hurting your own health. A sort of necromancer that is heavily reliant on Dark Magic, not recommended for beginners.
5. Spore Warden – Has a Mushroom Companion that follows you around everywhere, can deal poison damage and even revive you when upgraded. Can shoot a barrage of arrows (not particularly strong) or summon a Blizzard (decently powerful). A solid all-rounder but better as a secondary class.
6. Brr-Zerker – The classic melee build, uses a melee leap and a melee spin. Also has a feat to add Frost Damage to attacks which slows enemies. This is for players who want to get up close and personal with the enemy, but this comes at a high risk as you’ll take more hits when close to enemies. The abilities are not very good against bosses, compared to other classes. Doesn’t have a pet companion.

What is the Best Starting Class in Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands?

The best starting class is the Spellshot with Character Background Village Idiot (18 Strength, 17 Dexterity, 10 Intelligence, 10 Wisdom, 10 Constitution, 10 Attunement). This is a mage / sorcerer build with insane damage output when correctly skilled and using the right spells. You should put attribute points primarily into Dexterity for increased Crit Chance (definitely max it out). Make your secondary attribute Constitution to increase your health and Shield. Spellshot has a skill called “Mage Armor” that restores 10% of your Ward (shield) on each weapon reload so the more shield health you have the more you restore with each reload. This can make you practically unkillable by reloading after each shot (use a high-damage weapon that has only 1 bullet in the mag). Picking Village idiot gives you 8 free attribute points and only deducts 3 from Intelligence, simply add 3 points back to Intelligence during character creation. On an overall point basis the Village Iditot origin gives you the most free attribute points and deducts the fewest. The 8 points in Strength are equivalent to dealing +10% more Crit Damage. Because we’ll spec heavily towards max Criticial Hit Chance, this free bonus to our Crit Damage will come in handy!

The key thing to know is that the Spellshot relies on fast weapon reloads to gain a stack of +10% spell damage on each reload. This comes from the Class Feat “Spellweaving”. It can be stacked a total of 5 times, for a total of +50% Spell Damage (but can be further upgraded). We will use various damage multipliers to instant kill any mob. With this build you’ll definitely need a fast reloading weapon, best are weapons with only 1 bullet in the mag and reload time under 1 second, thus you have the max amount of Spellweavings all the time for the spell damage bonus. We will only need the weapon for the reload damage bonuses. Our damage will come from the spells which we’ll use to kill any mob in one hit.

Best Spellshot Build for Story

• Start by putting 5 skill points into “Prestidigitation” for a total of +40% reload speed. This is important because our build relies on fast reloads, but it also improves your damage per second because you spend more time shooting and less time reloading, and also makes it more fun to play.
• Put 1 point into “Mage Armor” as soon as possible, it restores +10% of your Ward (Shield) instantly on each weapon reload. We use this in combo with a super fast reloading 1-shot weapon to become invincible. Thanks to this our shield will recharge faster than enemies deplete it, so we are unkillable. This may be the single best skill in the game.
• Then put 5 points into “Font of Mana” for +20% Spell Cooldown Rate. This is much more effective than spending points in the Intelligence Attribute which only reduces Spell Casting time by -1% per point (here you get -4% per point).
• Also 5 points into “Spell Sniper” for +60% Crit Chance for Spells.
• 1 Point in “Glass Cannon” to further increase Spell Damage by +30% (to unlock this you may need to spend some more points, you can put one in “Magic Bullets” for more gun damage).
• Then 1 point in “High Thread Count” for 3 extra Spellweavings (another +30% Damage for Spells).

After this the rest of the skills becomes less important. The above skills are the most important ones. Luckily, they are the starting skills and available early on! Even better for us!

Now get any weapon with a very fast reload time. Preferably a 1-shot weapon that deals high damage in a single hit and reloads quickly (reload time below 1 second), such as a pistol. For example, this is a pistol I use (but drops are randomized in this game so there’s no fixed way to get an item like this, but you can keep checking different vending machines):

As you can see it has 0.9s reload speed (+ an extra 40% faster than that thanks to our Prestidigitation skill). It only has 1 shot which means it auto-reloads every shot, so we don’t need to reload manually which means less button-pressing for you. The damage is pretty decent too for a level 9 weapon but that’s not so important, we care only about fast reload.

Equip whatever shield you find that has the highest Shield Capacity. Recharge Delay/Rate is irrelevant! Capacity is all that matters because we’ll recharge it 10% with each weapon reload (Mage Armor skill). So in my example, it would take 10 weapon reloads (5 seconds) to instantly get 100% shield recharge (0.9s per reload – 40% from skill = 0.5s x 10 reloads = 5.0s for 10 reloads).
For class item below the shield pick anything for the Spellshot class, anything that increases Spell Damage is good.

Equip the Active Skill “Ambi-Hextrous” to dual-wield spells.

Lastly, equip 2 Spells. I like to use “Ice Spike“. It has 2 charges per hand. Because we are dual-wielding that’s 4 charges total – 2 in left hand and 2 in right hand if you have the spell twice). Ice Spike is so good because it tends to come with +100% Spell Critical Damage (or more). Because we are putting all our points into Dexterity for more Crit Chance (at 30 Dex = +40% chance) + we also have +60% Crit Chance from Spell Sniper skill. This means we will pretty much always do Critical Hits. We are dual wielding this spell so we can shoot it from left hand and right hand simultaneously.

This essentially guarantees critical hits +100% crit damage from Ice Spike’s spell perk (doubling our damage) + again doubling the damage because we are dual-wielding the spell with both hands (effectively quadrupling our Crit Damage). This will instant-kill almost any mob in your level range AND you have 2 charges AND the spell recharges after 5 seconds AND you have +80% Spell Damage from your Spellweaving Stacks AND +30% Spell damage from “Glass Cannon” skill (so +110% Spell Damage).

If you add up all that increased spell damage + all the crit damage + shooting the spell from both hands + it having two charges + you recharge your shield on each weapon reload (less than 1 second) you get the idea – we are becoming a game-breaking killing machine. I was trying this build against enemies 10 levels above me and blazed through with ease. Even main story bosses 10 levels above me weren’t a problem solo. If I got downed I would simply instant kill a mob with my spells to self-revive. While your spells recharge you will want to spam-reload your weapon to keep your 8 Spellweaving Stacks and it will also recharge your shield on each reload. This way your Shield is always at the maximum, shoot spells, reload a bunch of times, repeat. Because you instant kill all enemies with spells your weapon damage isn’t so important anymore.

You can visit different vending machines until you find one that sells the “Ice Spike” spell, make sure you get 2 of these to equip in both hands. With the Crit Damage multiplier on it, it’s pretty game-breaking in combination with our high Crit Chance (essentially 100% crit chance). This is the spell:

In summary: There are so many damage multipliers added together in this build that you can’t top it with any other class. The fact that your shield recharges 10% on each reload and you can just spam reloads infinitely makes you unkillable. As a secondary class we’ll use one with a pet to distract enemies from us, allowing us to hang back while the pet companion aggros all the enemies.

What is the Best Secondary Class in Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands?

You unlock the secondary class after Main Quest 5: Emotion of the Ocean.

In combination with Spellshot, the Spore Warden makes an excellent secondary class. That’s because of its pet, the Mushroom Companion. It has a decent amount of health and it will always follow you, doesn’t need to be manually summoned. If it dies you can revive it, or let it die and it will self-revive after a short period. We don’t absolutely need to put points in the Spore Warden skill tree, it’s just so we have the Mushroom Companion to distract the enemies while we deal damage (spells). Once you got all the Spellshot skills you want, you can invest in more health for your Mushroom Companion, or even the Eagle Eye skill for +20% weapon damage to become a better killing machine.

Best Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands Starting Classes Ranked

Below the best starting classes are ranked from 1st (best) to 6th (worst).

1. Spellshot – The ultimate damage dealer. Dual-wielding spells can be extremely punishing, you can one-shot practically any mob in the game with strong dual-wielded spells. Putting your attribute points into Dexterity for increased Crit Change + Crit Chance + Spell Damage bonuses you get from the skill tree add up to becoming an absolute killing machine. Also the ability to restore shield +10% on each reload is absolutely game-breaking as you can just fire and reload (especially with high-damage one-shot weapons like shotguns and 1-ammo pistols) and you will never run out of the shield and it will stack up your damage multiplier super quick. I instant killed enemies that were 10 levels above me using spells. Pairing it with a secondary class that has a pet to distract enemies makes this perfect for any situation. While the pet distracts the enemies,  you use your spells to instant kill any enemy and repeat.
2. Spore Warden – A great all-rounder. Although for starting class it’s better to pick the Spellshot because you’ll want to put all your skill points into the Spellshot’s tree instead (much higher damage output). The Spore Warden is then better picked as a secondary class for the Mushroom pet. If you pick him as a starter, you’d already have spent too many points in his tree and if you then pick Spellshot 2nd it would take you until level 30+ before you can afford all the good skills. If you feel safer having a pet from the start this is a good class though.
3. Stabbomancer – The active skill to become invisible (which also makes all your hits critical) is pretty good. The spinning blade is good against stationary enemies such as most bosses. The stealth skill is the more useful one of the two. Only downside is that the cooldown isn’t particularly fast. In comparison, the Spellshot is far superior in damage output as well as defense. The stabbomancer’s skill tree is geared more towards melee damage which is not very useful, using melee is high risk and you die too quick when getting close to enemies, but it also has a range of other skills that increase all types of damage.
4. Clawbringer – His fire-breathing dragon pet is interesting. His melee slam and hammer throw are decent for crowd control. An okay all-rounder but not as much damage output as other classes. Makes for a noteworthy secondary class, thanks to the fire-breathing dragon companion.
5. Graveborn – A bit tricky for beginners, requiring a high-risk playstyle because both active skills hurt yourself, which seems counter-intuitive. Using a skill doesn’t do much good when it kills you in the process. Its skills are also heavily geared towards dark magic, locking you into using this specific type of magic. In comparison, the Spellshot is good at any type of spell thus giving you more freedom to choose your spells.
6. Brr-Zerker – Playing melee in a shooter is like bringing a knife to a gunfight. You will die quickly. The action skills are useless against bosses, also doesn’t have a pet to distract enemies. High risk skills with little damage output make this the worst class in the game.

Best Spellshot Build for Endgame (Chaos Chamber)

The general strategies for the story build still apply here. The only real difference being that you may want to reallocate some points from Constitution to Strength to deal more critical damage and get through the trials faster (you can respec skills/attribute after the story). Below is the build I used to beat Chaos Trial 20 solo without much trouble and a video demonstration, although by this point I used a legendary pistol that didn’t have quite as fast reload but killed the enemies very quickly for me:

• Classes: Spellshot/Spore Warden
• Skill Tree: See image below
  
• Hero Stats: See image below
  
• Myth Ranks: See image below
  
• Weapons: Keep drawing legendary pistols from the rewards room in previous trial runs. Try to get some good legendary pistols. I used “Infuriating Queen’s Cry of the Citadel” which shoots ice and summons falling ice showers from the sky for free, but getting this weapon is obviously random. Use whatever weapon you personally get that kills enemies the fastest while also conserving ammo decently well.
  
• Spells: Dual Wield two “Ice Spike” spells, casting them with + at same time to instant kill any non-boss enemy. Deals huge damage with this build (any form this spell that does the highest damage, e.g. “Triple Ice Spike” variant or the normal “Ice Spike” variant). Can buy it by fast traveling between vending machines or get lucky with drops in previous Chaos runs.
   
• Rings: 2 Rings that increase Gun Damage by 15% each (so +30% total). Alternatively, can use ones that increase Spell Damage 15% each. Try to get ones that also buff your weapon damage type or spell damage type (I used exclusively Ice Spells + Ice Pistol Weapon, so I went for items that gave bonuses to ice damage and pistols).
   
• Amulet: Anything that increases Spellshot power at least 25%. Makes your Spellweavings much stronger. I had +55% Spellshot Power total.
  
• Shield: Whatever has the highest Capacity, the delay/recharge rate doesn’t matter. Mine had 5729 base capacity.
  
• Class Armor: Anything that gives at least +30% Spellshot Power and +15% Spore Warden Power. You want to get to at least over 50% Spellshot Power total, viewed in Hero Stats (more is better).
  
• Try to have all gear slots filled with Level 40 gear. Enchant any non-enchanted gear (enchanting machine in Chaos Chamber).

You can still respec your secondary class after the story, but not the starting class. See How to Respec.