What is confirmed
The official site confirms five upgraded classes plus the customizable Specialist endgame class. Existing site research identifies Marauder, Duelist, Machinist, Hunter and Medic, but exact ability values require current retail verification.
Choose by mission need
Beginner
Prefer a role whose survival and damage loop you can understand from current in-game descriptions. Avoid copying a patch-sensitive perk board before checking Patch 1.
Solo
Prioritize self-sufficiency and a way to recover when bots do not cover a lane. Patch 1 rebalanced bot healing and fixed several bot defects, but does not grant full bot loadout control.
Four-player squad
Cover damage, control, support and survivability instead of stacking a community tier winner with no role plan.
Class selection questions
- Does your mission need sustained damage or burst against elites?
- Who controls a lane when the squad is reloading?
- Who restores health or creates recovery time?
- Which player has a simple loop they can execute under pressure?
Solo bot limitation
Reddit users are asking for bot weapon, perk and role control. That thread proves demand, not that the feature exists. Build your player Marine around the bots you actually observe in the current game, and do not promise custom bot loadouts.
Next step
Review the class database, draft a role in the Build Planner, then connect it to a real mission problem in Mission Issues.
Evidence used
official class framework · Patch 1 perk, class and companion-bot changes · community demand for bot customization
Community reports describe individual experiences and demand. They do not prove that every player, platform or mission has the same result.