Fantasy MMORPG Skyforge has many amazing and memorable character classes on offer. It is, after all, a game that lets you play as gods. Overgrowth, the latest expansion for the game, gives you the chance to experience battle as a new class: the powerful Grovewalker. But what are the Grovewalkers, how do they impact the game’s rich world and what can you expect from this mysterious new entity?

The answer lies in Aelion’s distant past, when the nature goddess Tessa and her followers were drawn into a parallel world where flora, rather than fauna, were the dominant species. Trapped in this peaceful world, Tessa and her followers settled there, becoming more and more powerful in the ways of natural magic as years passed. As new generations were born, they began to take on the physical appearance of the botanical life around them and were filled with powerful earth magic. This new species came to call itself the Grovewalkers.

Their peaceful existence could not last and when Machavann's Avatar invaded this realm with his phytonide forces, Tessa and Grovewalkers tried to fight back. Macavann’s magic was corrupt, however, and many Grovewalkers were turned against their kin.

Tessa cast one last desperate spell, creating a portal back to Aelion for herself and her remaining loyal followers. Now, the portal must be closed in order to save Aelion for the phytonide threat, but there’s not enough magic in the world for Tessa to do it alone. And that’s where you come in…

So what are the advantages of the Grovewalker class? These powerful fighters can swap between their human and floral forms and are ideal for handling large numbers of enemies in either guise.

While in human form the Grovewalker Blooming attack is one that can turn the tide of battle. Not only does it shoot organic acid at your foes, but more deadly acid-spitting flowers sprout in its wake and these also attack nearby enemies for up to ten seconds. Combine this with Tessa’s Call to boost the flower’s strength, then use Tessa’s Call again to detonate the flowers causing massive area of effect damage. If crowd control is more important, use Breath of the Forest to push enemies back, and Nature’s Grip to lash them in place with crushing vines.

While the Grovewalker human form works best at range, sometimes you just need to lay the smackdown, and that’s when you transform into the Living Armor form. Now suitably protected by bark-like skin, you can use Living Missile to hurl yourself at groups of enemies, delivering punishing damage when you strike. The effect is amplified if you use Shield of Thorns at the same time, reflecting any damage back at enemies and protecting you from harm. If you do find yourself wounded, the Touch of Life skill recharges your health for six seconds – a priceless ability in larger fights.

As you can see, the Grovewalker is more than just a damage-dealing tank, and more than another healing mage. They’re an amazing combination of the two, and a great example of the sort of unique experiences Skyforge offers.

Skyforge is available to play for free now on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The Overgrowth expansion is also live now.