The races of Lineage 2
The races of Lineage 2 are the six playable peoples of the world of Aden: Human, Elf, Dark Elf, Orc, Dwarf, and the winged Kamael.
Your race is chosen at character creation and it decides your starting stats, your appearance, the archetypes open to you, and ultimately which classes you can grow into. Because race and class are bound together, picking a race is really picking a shortlist of professions, so it helps to understand what each people is built to do before you commit your first character.
Why race decides your class
In Lineage 2 you do not freely mix any race with any class. Each race supports its own fighter and mystic lines, and those lines lead to a fixed set of second and third professions. A Human can become almost anything, an Elf cannot become a Necromancer, and a Dwarf cannot become a mage at all. This tight coupling is one of the oldest design choices in the game and it survives, with tweaks, across the Interlude, High Five, Classic, Essence, and Aden chronicles. The mobile title Revolution uses a reduced roster and its own rules, so treat it separately from the PC races described here.
For a full map of how these professions branch, see Lineage 2 classes and races. This page focuses on the peoples themselves and the flavour of playing each one.
The six peoples of Aden
The table below is the quickest way to compare the races and the roles they naturally fill. Class names shown are representative second professions from the retail-style tree.
| Race | Leans toward | Signature classes | Best known for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Human | Everything | Gladiator, Paladin, Bishop, Sorcerer | The widest class tree and every role |
| Elf | Speed and support | Sword Singer, Silver Ranger, Elven Elder | Fast, evasive, party-friendly |
| Dark Elf | Aggression | Spellhowler, Bladedancer, Shillien Templar | High burst magic and melee |
| Orc | Raw power | Destroyer, Tyrant, Warcryer | Huge HP, heavy hits, shaman buffs |
| Dwarf | Trade and items | Bounty Hunter, Warsmith | Spoiling, crafting, the economy |
| Kamael | Self-contained lines | Berserker, Soul Breaker, Arbalester | Crossbows and soul-powered skills |
Human, Elf, and Dark Elf
Humans are the baseline against which every other race is measured. They carry all five role families, so the Human tree includes the Gladiator and Warlord, the Paladin and Dark Avenger tanks, the Treasure Hunter and Hawkeye, the Sorcerer, Necromancer, and Warlock nukers and summoners, and the Bishop and Prophet on the support side. Elves trade some raw strength for higher evasion and speed, which makes their archers and their Sword Singer buffer excellent in a party, while the Elven Elder is one of the game’s core healers. The Dark Elf is the aggressive mirror of the Elf, favouring burst magic and hard-hitting daggers; if that style appeals, read the dedicated guide to The Lineage 2 Dark Elf.
Orc and Dwarf
Orcs have the largest health pools and the strongest physical output, and their shaman line produces the Warcryer and the Overlord, buffers built around chants rather than songs. The Destroyer and the fist-fighting Tyrant are among the most feared solo melee classes in the game. Dwarves are the only race that cannot fight as mystics; instead they anchor the trade economy. The Bounty Hunter uses Spoil to harvest extra materials from monsters, and the Warsmith crafts the gear and consumables everyone else buys, which makes a Dwarf a slow leveller but a reliable adena engine.
The Kamael, and their unique classes
The Kamael were added after the original five races and they play by their own rules. They are a winged people whose classes are split by gender rather than by a shared fighter or mystic archetype, and they progress through their own soldier line. A Kamael starts as a Soldier, becomes a Trooper or a Warder, and then specialises. The Kamael class list includes the two-handed sword Berserker, the hybrid caster-fighter Soul Breaker, the crossbow-wielding Arbalester, and later third-profession titles such as the Doombringer and the Trickster. Their skills often spend “souls” gathered from kills, and in many chronicles they could not take a subclass the way other races could. Because their roster is so distinct, the Kamael are covered on their own page as part of this section.
Picking a race for how you want to play
Match the race to your intended playstyle rather than to its looks. If you want flexibility and access to every role, start Human. If you like fast, evasive characters and being useful in groups, go Elf. If you want to hit hard and take space in PvP, the Dark Elf or Orc suits you. If you enjoy the trading and crafting layer, only a Dwarf will scratch that itch. If you want something mechanically different from the classic tree, try a Kamael. Whichever people you choose, your next decisions are your archetype and your first profession, and those depend on how the class system and Lineage 2 skills work on your server’s chronicle. When you are ready to plan the character in full, our overview of the world of Aden ties the race choice into the wider game.