Breed

Notum Wars concept art, with Opifex conspicuously absent

Breeds are like races in other Role Playing games. In the universe of Anarchy Online breeds, with the exception of the Solitus, are genetically engineered with specific purposes in mind. There are many breeds in the galaxy all (presumably) developed for specific planets by numerous corporations. The Opifex, Nanomage and Atrox are all genetically manipulated Solitus colonists experimented on by Omni-Tek so they could better serve OT on Rubi-Ka. The Mutants, failed results of Omni's tinkering, are strewn across the wastes and hidden in Biomare.

Solitus

Homo Solitus

The solitus is the breed most similar to an original human being, having naturally evolved during the time of the Omega. They are the well rounded of Rubi-Ka, and their abilities allow them to perform well in most professions and skill sets. The drawback would be that they might not be as well suited for specialization as some of the other breeds. Balanced abilities make the solitus suitable for all types of symbiants and good choices for classes with access to several different lines of symbiants. Solitus also have access to some of the best defensive perk actions. Tacky HackAI is a short term root resistance perk that can be trained as low as level 35, providing 90% resistance to roots for 15 seconds. SurvivalAI is a heal perk that can be trained at level 207. Survival provides your entire team with 3360-3600 healing over the course of 30 seconds. SphereAI, trainable at 207, provides your entire team with 100 AAO, 100 AAD, and +3% crit chance.

Opifex

Homo Opifex

The opifex is agile and cunning. What they lack in strength they compensate for with their smarts and evasive nature. Since Omni-Tek bred opifex for use in stealth, infiltration, and assassination a lot of people seem to not trust the opifex, although they are normally jovial and likable people. Opifex are very agile, which means that they have a green agility skill, and can thus have a higher evade skill than other breeds. The tradeoff for having good agility is that they don't have such good stamina and consequently have slightly fewer hit points - but they tend not to get hit as often. Opifex are natural choices for classes such as Martial Artist and Fixer, who rely on evades as their primary defense. Opifex affinity for agility and sense also result in generally higher ranged skills due to trickle down (agility and sense are also primary trickle contributors to initiatives, runspeed, treatment). The opifex breed is particularly suited to Support symbiants, which rely on Agility and Sense for every slot, although opifex abilities are generally fairly balanced and allow good use of most symbiant sets. Due to trickle, an opifex has very slightly less HP and nano than a solitus, however the low stamina of the opifex means they are among the last to reach the threshold for 2-second healdelta tick (811 stamina). The opifex breed has only one compelling breed-specific offensive perk, however there are several opifex-only items available. Blinded by DelightsAI, trainable at level 35, is a 25 second blind attack that also lowers your opponent's nanoskills by 5% (5% of base, which at 220 is ~60 for nanoclasses). Specialized Dustbrigade Vambrace - Opifex Breed is a special bracer that adds evades and is only usable by opifex, however it is difficult to obtain. I am the Eel a special evade ring which drops from Hollow Island. Supporting Carbonan Holster a special strength enhancing bracer that drops from Jack the Legchopper. Other trivial items such as Aurea's Boots of Escape, Blackpack, Flaxen Notum Pants, Modified A-4000 Sensory Panel are also locked to opifex.

Nanomage

Homo Nano

The Nanomage were constructed especially to control Nano-bots, and in that department they perform extremely well. They are more fragile than the other breeds as they are more geared towards intelligence and mental abilities than raw strength and physical prowess. The nanomage relies so much on notum that they cannot live beyond the orbit around Rubi-ka. Nanomages get 2 Hit Points for each point of Body Development (Atrox 4, rest 3) and so are lacking in HP. At higher levels the Dependency benefits are outstripped by the detriment of poor HP. While the Nanomage can cast programs earlier, most high level nanoprograms have level requirements which nullify the benefit of high intelligence. Their nanoskills and nanocost cap is better than other breeds, which makes nanomage a common choice for casting professions. Nanomages are well suited to control symbiants, and quite terrible at using infantry and especially artillery symbiants. Several defensive nanoprograms (for NT and trader) provide more benefit to nanomages than to other breeds. The nanomage has no compelling breed specific perks, although quite a few items. Shades of Lucubration is a buffing item that adds +30 Intelligence and Psychic and, with a 166 CL requirement, can be equipped at very low levels. Mick McMullet drops it; found at Clondyke at 1100, 3700 in the walled area near the Notum Facility. Mick has a high regeneration rate and is suitable for multiple 200s or level 220 solo. The Expensive Kevlar Vest of Professor Jones requires Strength and Nano Programming and adds +20 to nanoskills and +50 to NP. De'Valos SleeveAI; each adds 30 to nanoskills; Alien Invasion required. Nanomage Enhanced Alien Tank ArmorAI is a special version of the alien tank adding 530 HP for nanomages, compared to 300 on the normal version. Dreadloch Endurance Booster - Nanomage EditionLE is a new HUD item for nanomages, adding 500 HP and 20 str in addition to 25 aad. This item can be right clicked to activate a 5000 point absorb shield, which is very handy for all professions in PVM and PVP.

Atrox

Homo Atrox

The reason Omni-Tek ever colonized Rubi-Ka is the magnificent ore of Notum on the planet. To extract the Notum, they obviously needed a workforce optimized for that sort of strenuous and excruciatingly demanding task. The atrox was the perfect breed! Their enormous strength and stamina along with their dedicated and loyal nature, made them both extremely adept miners, and frighteningly effective fighters. The atrox are asexual (without reproductive capabilities, though most claim they are male) and are often considered be less intelligent. They have a big advantage in Strength and Stamina. The Stamina gives a small amount of extra HP, but the real source of their hardiness is the highest rate of HP (4 instead of 3 or 2) per point of Body Development. This comes at the very real cost of having less Intelligence and Psychic. The one-third boost to HP compares favorably to the diminutive loss of nanoskills. The atrox is particularly well suited to Infantry and Artillery symbiants. An atrox also has several compelling perks and a nice set of gloves. Silken Legchopper Gloves are a pair of gloves restricted to the atrox that add 40 2he and 1he and can be equipped at low level. Mongo RageAI, trainable at level 207, is a perk that adds 1500 AAO for a brief period (20 seconds), allowing Atroxes to hit people with high evades. Wit of the AtroxAI, trainable at level 35, adds 320 dodge ranged as well as +60 to several damage types for 30 seconds.

Max Abilities

See Main Article Ability Maximums

Max ability level 200:

Breed	Strength	Agility	Stamina	Intelligence	Sense	Psychic	Max IP Spent. Abi.
Atrox	512	480	512	400	400	400	1.209.545
Nanomage	464	464	448	512	480	512	1.336.100
Opifex	464	544	480	464	512	448	1.253.075
Solitus	472	480	480	480	480	480	1.371.732

Max ability level 220:

Breed	Strength	Agility	Stamina	Intelligence	Sense	Psychic	Max IP Spent. Abi.
Atrox	912	780	912	600	600	600	3.055.545
Nanomage	664	664	748	912	780	912	3.317.700
Opifex	764	944	680	764	912	748	3.277.475
Solitus	772	780	780	780	780	780	3.633.132

Other Breed Stats

See Main Article Hit Points and Nano Pool

Ability Point Costs by Breed

The ability maximums per breed are inversely proportional to the IP cost for abilities. For example, atrox, with the highest Stamina maximum, spends fewer Improvement Points (IP) to increase Stamina points than all other breeds, Opifex spends fewer IP on Agility, etc. The left part of the below table shows ability IP costs by breed.

Nano Cost Reduction Percent

This stat is the effective maximum you can get in the stat that reduces your nano cost for nano formulas and is shown in the middle part of the table below.

Health and Nano Pool

While the actual amount of a Body Development Skill and Nano Pool Skill a character may buy is dependent on their profession, their breed determines how many points of health or nano energy are added to their pools per point of skill. To find the base health of a character, take their Body Dev. or Nano Pool skill value and multiply it by their breed "Benefit" multiplier from the right-hand-side part of the table below.

Breed	Str	Sta	Sen	Agi	Int	Psy		Max Nano Cost Reduction		Body Dev. Benefit	Nano Pool Benefit
Solitus	2	2	2	2	2	2		50%		3	3
Opifex	2	3	1	1	2	2		50%		3	3
Nanomage	3	2	2	3	1	1		55%		2	4
Atrox	1	1	3	2	3	3		45%		4	2

Breed Advantages and Disadvantages

From the descriptions and statistics above, you will see that the different breeds have different advantages and disadvantages. This becomes important when looking for a profession. These have their advantages and disadvantages as well, so it is a matter of mixing and matching breed and profession to best advantage, or to make the character that you want.

When choosing a breed, you need to consider your profession as well. Some professions just scream out for a certain breed as an obvious choice (MA's and Fixer's are often Opifex because they rely on being able to evade attacks, although it is perfectly acceptable to use the professions strength in avoiding being hit and combining it with the HP and damage bonus of an Atrox (higher strength = higher damage for an MA), he'll get hit more often, but will have more HP to compensate)). Nanomages usually choose to take a profession where they don't expect to get hit - Pet owners and doctors, NT's also, but they tend to take a lot of aggro...

There is no "perfect" breed for a profession, the player needs to make what he can out of the combination of advantages and disadvantages. Nanomages don't have many hit points, but they have higher nano-skills, so if you aren't expecting to get hit very often, but will be using a lot of nanos to attack/defend yourself, then you would choose nanomage.

Typical Combinations and their Advantages

Listed in order of preference by an opinionated person!

Adventurer:

• Atrox - A popular choice for adventurers, with Infantry symbiant friendly abilities and Legchopper Gloves, as well as trickle to most melee skills from high strength and stamina. At low levels atroxes may struggle with nano requirements and nanopool issues, however at high levels these are not problems.
  
• Opifex - A strong choice for adventurer, especially ranged, opifex has more evades and inits than other breeds.
  
• Solitus - Adventurers are generalists and the solitus is the ultimate generalist breed, however the breed specific perks available to solitus do not especially complement the adventurer toolset.
  
• Nanomage - An uncommon choice with few advantages. High level adventurers do not struggle to cast their nanos or maintain nanopool, and nanomages will struggle with adventurer symbiants and armors.

Agent:

• Atrox - A popular choice for agents because at high levels additional HP and the ability to use Mongo Rage are helpful.
  
• Opifex - The “classic” choice, providing trickle to almost all agent core skills and having abilities friendly for common agent armors and symbiants.
  
• Solitus - A decent choice, solitus breed perks (Tacky Hack) can be useful.
  
• Nanomage - Very few advantages, and a great many disadvantages. Lower HP and bad abilities match-up with Artillery symbiants and supple armor, but Dreadloch nanomage item might provide incentive.

Doctor:

• Solitus - The most common choice for doctors. Balanced abilities and useful genome perks continue to make solitus the preferred doctor breed.
  
• Nanomage - A popular choice also, can cast heals earlier at low level but increased nanopool and nanoskills do not matter so much at high levels. Access to nanomage Dreadloch item a distinct advantage.
  
• Opifex - With good HP/nanopool figures similar to solitus, opifex is still a good choice for doctor and has an easy time with Support symbiants, but few compelling reasons to choose over solitus.
  
• Atrox - Low nanoskills, low nanopool, and a very long delay before obtaining 2s nanodelta tick (781 psychic) make atrox an unconventional choice. Although rough at low levels, later on atrox doctors can do anything the other breeds can, and the additional HP inherent to the breed provide some advantage.

Enforcer:

• Atrox - High HP, low nanoskill demands on the life on an enforcer make atrox the natural choice. An easy time with enforcer armors and symbiants, as well as access to Mongo Rage later give incentive for big trox enforcers to keep appearing.
  
• Solitus - The chief advantage of solitus enforcer lies in the ability to reach 2s nanodelta tick without much effort, although many solitus enforcers regret their lack of Mongo Rage.
  
• Opifex - An unusual choice, many enforcer items are based on stamina and opifex has no distinct advantage for enforcer. Like solitus, can reach 2s nanodelta without much trouble.
  
• Nanomages - An uncommon choice. Although at low levels nanomages will struggle with armor requirements and low HP, at high levels the HP difference is not very big, and a nanomage easily has the largest nanopool and the easiest time keeping it full.

Engineer / Bureaucrat / Meta-Physicist:

• Solitus - is a well rounded choice for the varied symbiants in use by these classes, Survival and Tacky Hack perks also provide them with abilities that help to compensate for lack of healing and root resist in their own toolset.
  
• Atrox - A somewhat rare choice for pet professions, however for Bureaucrat and Meta-physicist atrox HP and perks can be very useful despite symbiant struggles. Atrox is not recommended for engineer, due to struggles casting pets even for more intelligent breeds, massive symbiant trouble, and the lack of damaging perks to use in concert with Mongo Rage.
  
• Opifex - Enhances evades but has few perks besides that for pet professions.
  
• Nanomage - Continues to be a common choice due to higher nanoskills at low level, however most experienced players do not believe the advantages outweigh the hardships. Nanomage absorb item very helpful at high levels however.

Fixer / Martial Artist / Shade:

• Solitus - Good balance of skills, decent at equipping symbiants, wonderful genome perks to enhance survival and ability to reach 2s healdelta/nanodelta ticks without effort.
  
• Opifex - Highest evades, and good trickle to ranged skills and martial arts, good symbiant abilities, but few good perks from genome lines. May struggle to obtain 2s healdelta. Very easy equipping of Combined Sharpshooter's armor and shades' spirits.
  
• Atrox - Few advantages at low level, at higher level, Mongo rage can be helpful for Fixers/Shades (not so much MAs), but the extra HP is generally not an advantage for these classes in PVP.
  
• Nanomage - A bad choice that will struggle with symbiants and HP throughout their career.

Keeper

• Atrox - High strength and stamina work well with keeper armors and symbiants. Although atroxes will struggle with casting nanos at low levels, at high level their greater HP and lesser nanopool works well for keepers.
  
• Solitus - A balanced choice who does not struggle with keeper armors like opifex, nor with nanopool issues the way an atrox does. Solitus genome perks work well with the keeper toolset.
  
• Opifex - A somewhat uncommon choice, opifex provides greater evades and although struggling a bit with stamina, is just as viable as solitus.
  
• Nanomage - Just say no.

Trader

• Solitus - A popular choice for traders who has balanced stats and can easily use any of the 3 types of symbiants open to traders.
  
• Opifex - Another balanced option, with trickle to ranged skills and easy equipping of CSS
  
• Atrox - Not as common as other breeds, but decent in terms of armor and symbiants and Mongo Rage is somewhat useful to a trader
  
• Nanomage - A common choice, but one which will struggle with supple based armors and Artillery symbiants. Has a special nanomage absorb item however, as well as increased protection from Nanobot Defense.

Soldier

• Solitus - For good ability to equip symbiants and armors and great genome perks to complement soldier strengths.
  
• Atrox - Higher HP and decent at equipping symbiants, slightly less useful genome perks are only real downside.
  
• Opifex - An uncommon but not terrible choice, it's only disadvantage is a lack of any advantage!
  
• Nanomage - Struggles with symbiants and armor and few advantages make nanomage soldier a rare sight, and rightly so.

Nano-Technician:

• Nanomage - Higher nanoskills, nanocost cap, nanopool, increased protection from Greater Nanobot Shelter and the nanomage absorb item make nanomage a popular choice with NT. Lack of HP also seen as an advantage in many PVP situations.
  
• Solitus - Balanced skills and valuable genome perks make solitus a good option.
  
• Atrox - Useful genome perks, although lower nanoskills, problems equipping common NT armors and lower protection from NT shield nanos can be downsides.
  
• Opifex - Higher evades and inits are nice, though provide diminishing returns at higher levels.

Dependency values at level

Main article: Ability Maximums

See Also

• Ability Maximums
• Hit Points and Nano Pool
• Heal and Nano Delta