MapleStory Classic Cheapest Class: Meso Budget for Every 2nd Job

Checked against v1.0.0 on October 29, 2026.

The cheapest class in MapleStory Classic World is the Cleric, and the most expensive is the Assassin, but the gap comes from recurring bills, not from shop weapons. This MapleStory Classic class cost guide ranks all ten second jobs on cost drivers you can check in game, gives a meso budget per job, prices every NPC weapon ladder, potion and scroll at current shop prices, and shows how the Grand Launch skill buffs changed the math.

Quick summary

• Cleric is the cheapest job. Heal is the only skill that restores HP on demand, so it cuts the biggest recurring bill, HP potions.
• Hunter, Crossbowman, Fighter and Page are the cheap physical picks. Soul Arrow ends the Bowman's arrow bill, and since Grand Launch the Warrior's Improved HP Recovery makes every HP potion restore 20% to 50% more (Nexon).
• Assassin is the most expensive job, and Bandit is next. The Assassin is the only job with an ammunition bill that never ends, and Bandit daggers between levels 28 and 34 come only from drops.
• NPC weapons are cheap. At NiaMeowDB prices, every shop rung for one weapon type costs 13,500–42,000 mesos in total (our calculation). Potions, stars and scrolls are where mesos go.
• Budget by goal, not by class. MapleStory Quest projects 250k–2m mesos for a budget run through 2nd job and 4m–8m for a comfortable Assassin.

Cheapest class in MapleStory Classic: every 2nd job ranked by cost

We rank the jobs on six cost drivers, each one a fact you can check in a skill tooltip, shop or recipe list:

1. Self-heal: does the job have a skill that restores HP on demand and replaces potions? Only the Cleric's Heal does.
2. Potion-recovery passive: Warriors' Improved HP Recovery (+20% to +50% from HP potions) and Magicians' Improved MP Recovery (+10% to +25% from MP potions), both buffed at Grand Launch (Nexon). Bowmen and Thieves have neither.
3. Range: ranged jobs take fewer touch hits than melee jobs, so they drink fewer potions.
4. Ammunition after 2nd job: Bowmen stop paying for arrows once Soul Arrow is up; Assassins pay for stars forever.
5. Gear gaps: whether the job has a shop or craftable weapon at every tier up to level 40, and what its main weapon's Lesser scroll costs at El Moth (30,000 or 60,000 mesos).
6. Spell-only attacks: Magicians attack with spells, so MP potions are a bill every minute they train.

Tier	Job	Drivers that cost it mesos	Why it sits here
Cheapest	Cleric	Spell-only attacks; 60,000 wand scrolls	Heal covers HP, Improved MP Recovery stretches MP, and wands are craftable to 40
Low	Hunter	No potion passive; 60,000 bow scrolls	Ranged, Soul Arrow ends ammo, bows craftable to 40
Low	Crossbowman	No potion passive; 60,000 crossbow scrolls	Same as Hunter; Iron Arrow's straight line wastes shots on ramps
Low	Fighter	Melee	High HP, buffed Improved HP Recovery and Iron Body, axes craftable to 40, 30,000 one-handed scrolls
Low	Page	Melee	Same Warrior economy; blunts craftable to 40
Medium	Fire/Poison Wizard	Every attack costs MP	Ranged, and Poison Breath kills from a distance
Medium	Ice/Lightning Wizard	Every attack costs MP; Lightning Bolt is the heaviest MP user	Gear is cheap; Blue Potions are the bill
Medium	Spearman	Melee without a shield; 60,000 scrolls; no spear recipes	Only polearms are craftable
High	Bandit	Melee, no potion passive, drop-only daggers at 28–34	Short reach drinks potions; Savage Blow costs MP
Highest	Assassin	Stars after 2nd job, no potion passive, 60,000 claw scrolls	The only never-ending ammo bill, plus heavy demand for attack gloves

Jobs inside a tier aren't ranked against each other; the tier is the result. Two community projections, MapleStory Quest's cost ratings and maplestoryguide.wiki's meso-efficiency tiers, put the jobs in nearly the same order, which is a useful cross-check.

Set a meso budget by spending tier

MapleStory Quest splits players by how hard they want to gear, rather than giving one price per class.

Tier	Mesos (MapleStory Quest projection)	What it buys	Good jobs at this tier
Self-found	~100k–500k	Drops, NPC armor, key weapon upgrades only	Cleric, Hunter, Crossbowman, Fighter
Budget main	~500k–1.5m	A steady potion supply, weapon upgrades, cheap guaranteed scrolls	Most jobs at 2nd job
Comfortable	~1.5m–4m	Above-average weapons, weapon scrolling, gloves, overalls, better stars	Every job except a fully geared Assassin
Strong	~4m–10m	Good weapon rolls, repeated scroll attempts, rare drops	Bandit and Assassin start to feel funded here
Competitive	10m+	Perfect scrolls, rare stars	No upper limit for any job

See the projected budget per job

Job	Budget	Comfortable	Heavy investment
Cleric	250k–600k	1m–2m	5m+
Hunter	350k–800k	1.2m–2.5m	5m+
Crossbowman	350k–800k	1.2m–2.5m	5m+
Fighter	400k–900k	1.5m–3m	6m+
Page	400k–900k	1.5m–3m	6m+
Ice/Lightning Wizard	400k–1m	1.5m–3m	6m+
Fire/Poison Wizard	400k–1m	1.5m–3m	6m+
Spearman	500k–1m	2m–3.5m	7m+
Bandit	600k–1.2m	2.5m–5m	10m+
Assassin	800k–2m	4m–8m	15m+

Price the NPC weapon ladders

MapleStory Quest makes the point that shop weapons aren't what makes players poor. We repriced each ladder with NiaMeowDB's NPC shop inventories. The totals are our calculation, and they assume you buy every rung, which you shouldn't.

Weapon type	NiaMeowDB launch prices (mesos)	Our total	MapleStory Quest's total (COT2 prices)
Two-handed sword	Wooden Sword 5,000; Two-Handed Sword 13,500; Broadsword 16,500	35,000	44,500 (adds Scimitar 19,500; lists 9,000 and 11,000 for the middle rungs)
One-handed sword	Long Sword 3,000; Viking Sword 10,500	13,500	—
Spear and polearm	Spear 5,000; Studded Polearm 13,500	18,500	—
Wand	Wooden 3,000; Hardwood 5,000; Metal 10,500; Ice 13,500	32,000	48,500 (adds Mithril Wand 16,500)
Staff	Wooden 3,000; Sapphire or Emerald 5,000; Old Wooden 10,500; Wizard 13,500	32,000	—
Bow	War Bow 5,000; Composite 7,000; Hunter's Bow 13,500; Battle Bow 16,500	42,000	61,500 (adds Ryden 19,500)
Crossbow	Crossbow 5,000; Battle 7,000; Balanche 13,500; Mountain 16,500	42,000	—
Dagger	Field Dagger 5,000; Iron 13,500; Forked 14,700	33,200	~60,000 (adds Reef Claw 16,500)
Claw	Garnier 5,000; Meba 16,500	21,500	Lists Gold Titans, Adamantium Igor and Adamantium Guards as not sold in shops

The Scimitar, Mithril Wand, Ryden and Reef Claw rungs MapleStory Quest uses don't appear in the NiaMeowDB windows we parsed. That's why its totals run higher. Either way, a whole ladder costs less than 100 White Potions (35,000 mesos at NiaMeowDB prices).

Budget the running costs

Consumables are the recurring bill. The prices are NiaMeowDB's recorded shop prices. The example bills are our own calculations to show scale. They aren't measured drink rates.

Item	Price (mesos)	Restores	100 of them cost	Who buys the most (community sources)
White Potion	350	500 HP	35,000	Melee jobs: Spearman, Bandit, Fighter early on
Orange Potion	150	250 HP	15,000	Every job before 30
Blue Potion	220	200 MP	22,000	Wizards. Magic Guard turns damage into MP loss
Lemon	150	150 MP	15,000	Warriors, per maplestoryguide.wiki ("cheap blue potions and lemons")
Subi Throwing-Star	500 a set	—	—	Assassin and Bandit for Lucky Seven
Wolbi Throwing Stars	1,000 a set (Helpful Stranger+)	—	—	Assassin
Arrows	1–2 each	—	100–200	Hunter and Crossbowman until Soul Arrow

Example (our calculation): a melee player who drinks 40 White Potions an hour spends 14,000 mesos an hour. A Warrior with max Improved HP Recovery gets up to 50% more HP from each potion since Grand Launch, so the same healing takes about 27 potions, or roughly 9,450 mesos. A Wizard who drinks 40 Blue Potions spends 8,800, or about 7,000 once max Improved MP Recovery adds 25%. On mscw-guidebook's model, an hour of Lucky Seven at level 70 costs about 810 mesos to recharge Subis. So for most jobs, potions decide the bill, and ammo doesn't.

Free potions: since Grand Launch, monsters between levels 10 and 30 drop potions more often (Nexon's maintenance notes), which trims every job's bill before second job.

Plan for scrolling, the real meso sink

Going from playable to well geared costs far more than going from Beginner to 2nd job (MapleStory Quest). Citizenship shops sell guaranteed Lesser scrolls, and filling a slot adds up fast.

Scroll	NiaMeowDB price	MapleStory Quest (COT2)	Gate
Gloves Attack or Magic Attack, Lesser	40,000	50,000	Guardian of the Village+ (NiaMeowDB). Grade 9, about level 52 (MapleStory Quest)
Overall stat scroll, Lesser	40,000	35,000	Distinguished Citizen+. Grade 7, about level 42 (MapleStory Quest)
Weapon Attack, Lesser (claw, bow, crossbow, wand, spear, polearm, two-handed weapons)	60,000	—	El Moth
Weapon Attack, Lesser (dagger, one-handed sword, axe or blunt)	30,000	—	El Moth

Our calculation: a 7-slot glove filled with Lesser Attack scrolls costs 280,000 mesos at NiaMeowDB's price, or 350,000 on MapleStory Quest's number. That's eight times a full NPC bow ladder for one slot. Read our scrolling guide before you commit.

Compare ways to fund an expensive job

Method	Speed	Mesos earned	Best for	Source
Play a cheap job first	Slow to start	Positive from early levels	First characters	maplestoryguide.wiki; MapleStory Quest
Sell crafting materials to players	Medium	Higher than NPC prices (projected)	Every job	MapleStory Quest
Use self-found weapons	Depends on drops	Saves the market price	Bandit and Assassin	MapleStory Quest
Cleric "money printer"	Steady	Sell surplus drops	Funding an alt	maplestoryguide.wiki
Buy every 5-level upgrade	Fast power	Drains savings	Nobody, per both sources	MapleStory Quest

Cut costs on your job

• Cleric: turn off Magic Guard and Heal yourself. Spend on your weapon, Magic Attack, INT and MP (MapleStory Quest; maplestoryguide.wiki). See our Cleric guide.
• Hunter and Crossbowman: buy Bronze Arrows at 2 mesos each through Henesys citizenship until Soul Arrow. At max level it lasts five minutes for 5 MP (MapleStory Quest).
• Fighter and Page: use a one-handed sword and shield. maplestoryguide.wiki says guard blocks up to about 32% of touch damage at level 70. Skip weak upgrades.
• Ice/Lightning: maplestoryguide.wiki says to switch to Cold Beam and Magic Claw when Lightning Bolt drains your MP faster than it earns mesos.
• Fire/Poison: use two Poison Breaths from range, Teleport away, and repeat (maplestoryguide.wiki).
• Spearman: wait for a weapon that adds +8 or more attack, not +2 or +3 (MapleStory Quest).
• Bandit: Nimble Recovery restores HP and MP when you dodge (MapleStory Quest). Savage Blow costs 28 MP a cast (maplestoryguide.wiki).
• Assassin: stay on Subi or Wolbi stars and the Garnier until a main can fund Steelies, and max Claw Mastery early, since its 25% star recovery cuts the recharge bill by a quarter. Read our Assassin guide and claws guide.
• Weapon guides by job: our bows guide, daggers guide and blunt weapons guide price every craftable step.

Apply the rules that hold for every job

1. Weapon first. MapleStory Quest's order is weapon, then offensive scrolls and stats, then useful armor, then defense.
2. Don't vendor materials. Ores, ingots, Screws, Processed Leather, Spool of Thread, Processed Wood and gems may be worth more to crafters (MapleStory Quest). Price them in the Free Market first.
3. Use citizenship. MapleStory Quest says it reaches a 25% discount on town shops and taxis, and storage drops from 95 to 50 mesos a slot at the top grade. See our citizenship guide.
4. Join the right town. Henesys suits Warriors and Bowmen (STR and DEX scrolls). Kerning suits Thieves and Magicians (LUK and INT) (MapleStory Quest).
5. Count self-found items as money. A weapon you could sell for 500,000 mesos still costs you 500,000 when you use it (MapleStory Quest).
6. Buy the cheapest HP per meso. Red Potions, Apples and Meat give 2 HP per meso. White Potions give 1.43 (NiaMeowDB, from our potions guide).

Pick by your starting mesos

Starting mesos	MapleStory Quest pick	Note
Under 500k	Cleric, Hunter, Crossbowman, Fighter	Don't pick Assassin expecting to buy every upgrade
500k–2m	Almost every job; Bandit if you'll farm gear	Most new players
2m–5m	Bandit, or a sensible Assassin	—
5m+	Pick on gameplay, damage and party role	Cost stops being the deciding factor

Every new account starts at zero, and since Grand Launch it can't trade at all until 24 hours after one of its characters reaches level 15 (Nexon), so the first row applies to first characters. For the shop windows see our NPC shops guide, and for the Cash Shop side of a budget our Cash Shop guide.

If you're making an alt or coming back

• Make your first character cheap. Both maplestoryguide.wiki and MapleStory Quest describe the Assassin as a second character that a funded main pays for.
• Funnel through a Cleric. maplestoryguide.wiki calls Cleric a "money printer," and old-school players often made one to fund a main.
• Returning players: throwing stars aren't the item they used to be. Basic Wolbis cost 1,000 mesos after citizenship grade 3 (MapleStory Quest). Rare stars still come from drops, and Classic World drop rates are server-side and unconfirmed.
• Fast-leveled characters reach expensive maps before they've saved for the supplies. Bank mesos for potions before training on higher-level maps; our mesos guide covers the free ways to earn them.

Want a hand with this?

If you would rather not grind this part yourself, MapleStory Classic powerleveling services are listed on FullBoosts. Read Nexon's Terms of Service before you buy any service from anyone, FullBoosts included — a marketplace listing isn't publisher permission.

What changed for class costs at Grand Launch

Grand Launch (v1.0.0, October 21, 2026) didn't change any NPC price in this guide, but four changes in Nexon's Grand Launch maintenance notes move the running costs:

Change	Who pays less
Improved HP Recovery: +20% to +50% HP from potions (was +5% to +20%)	Fighter, Page, Spearman
Iron Body: +20% to +40% Weapon Def. (was +5% to +25%)	Every Warrior, through fewer potions
Improved MP Recovery: +10% to +25% MP from potions (was +5% to +20%)	Cleric, both Wizards
More potion drops from monsters level 10–30	Every job before 2nd job
Final Attack lasts 60 seconds instead of 30	Each 25% trigger gives Warriors and Bowmen twice as long to use it

Two rules cost new players time rather than mesos: a new account can't trade until 24 hours after a character reaches level 15, and the Debt System (from October 22) freezes trading on accounts caught in real-money trading. Crafting still stops at craft level 8, so the level 40 crafted weapons above stay the ceiling. The MapleStory Classic hub collects every guide for the game.

Frequently asked questions

What is the cheapest class in MapleStory Classic? Cleric. Heal is the only skill that restores HP on demand, so it replaces most HP potions, and wands are craftable up to level 40. Both community cost rankings agree.

What is the most expensive class in MapleStory Classic? Assassin. It's the only job that pays for ammunition forever, its claws past the Meba aren't sold in shops, and attack gear for it is in high demand.

How many mesos do I need to reach 2nd job? MapleStory Quest projects 250k–2m mesos for a budget run through 2nd job, depending on the job. A full NPC weapon ladder costs 13,500–42,000 mesos at NiaMeowDB prices (our calculation).

Is Hunter cheaper than Crossbowman? Their ammo and potion costs are about the same, so MapleStory Quest ties them. maplestoryguide.wiki rates Hunter a tier higher because Crossbowman takes more touch damage.

Are Wizards expensive in MapleStory Classic? Their gear is cheap and their MP bill is moderate, and Grand Launch raised Improved MP Recovery to +25% at max. Magic Guard turns damage into MP loss, so avoiding hits saves mesos (MapleStory Quest).

What should I spend mesos on first? Your weapon. MapleStory Quest's order is weapon, then offensive scrolls and stats, then armor.

Related guides

• MapleStory Classic job advancement guide
• MapleStory Classic potions guide
• MapleStory Classic mesos guide
• MapleStory Classic claws guide
• MapleStory Classic Cash Shop guide
• MapleStory Classic hub