Whale

The Cetacean class (the Whale class) is one of the most powerful classes the game has ever witnessed. Despite being in the game for a relatively short amount of time, it managed to become the strongest marine class in every marine server. Cetaceans are known for having one of the highest Intelligence and Health stats and also for their very strong Echolocation ability, letting them reveal the position of opponents, even if they have active camouflage.

## Species

### Relatives

Cows, Pigs, Deer, Camels, Hippos, Giraffes, etc...

## Classification

### Weaknesses

Due to their giant size, Cetaceans don't have much when it comes to Stealth. Pretty much anyone can easily spot a Cetacean, while it's quite the opposite for the Cetaceans spotting others (without their [Echolocation] ability). They have poor eyesight and also lack a sense of smell, which makes them very vulnerable to pollution since they're unable to detect it. Another weakness is that even though they're fully aquatic, they don't have gills; they have lungs, meaning they're forced to occasionally swim to the surface of the water to breathe.

### Strengths

As mentioned before, Cetaceans have insanely high Intelligence and Health, and their Mobility and Power stats are not to be overlooked as well. Another advantage is that their body shape has essentially no weak points. And while they do have the weakness of a Mammal of being unable to regenerate stamina underwater, they have the strength of live birth, completely eliminating the several-month-long objective of defending the eggs.

## Origins

The story of the Cetaceans' rise to dominance is one of the most unique stories in the game.

During the Eocene era, developers released the Indohyus, which was intended to be a mammal with the same playstyle as Crocodilians, meaning its initial purpose was to camp in a watering hole and strike opponents while they don't expect it. This ended up being an underwhelming playable character since Endotherms (warm-blooded characters) regenerate most of their stamina by consuming food, not by acquiring heat from the environment, and also because Endotherms use a lot more stamina than Ectotherms (cold-blooded characters). So, most players tried playing as this character a few times and then never returned to it again.

However, a few players discovered this build is very good at hunting fish, so they ended up leveling up its aquatic speed and other abilities to be even better at catching fish. They kept doing this continuously, and they eventually traded most of their terrestrial abilities for aquatic abilities. Only a few million years later and the whole Cetacean class now dominates the entire marine biome.

There are currently several Cetaceans, each having unique playstyles. In fact, all of them are so strong, that there are no Cetaceans that could be considered average or below average.

## The Cetacean tier list

### B tier:

#### Arctic Cetaceans (Beluga and Narwhal)

The Beluga and the Narwhal are two very similar Cetaceans, and both of them are adapted specifically to the Arctic. Both of them not only developed blubber, a thick layer of fat for defense and cold resistance, they also removed their dorsal fin, which reduces mobility, but the reduced surface area increases the cold resistance even more. Their [Echolocation] is very useful for detecting locations where they can resurface to breathe since the weakness of the inability to breathe underwater is amplified by the strong ice blocking most attempts to resurface.

The Narwhal has a long-ranged tusk, which increases the accuracy of [Echolocation] and allows it to strike fish from a distance. Despite the tusk being quite unnecessary, fragile, and not very useful for defense against large opponents, the increased range certainly doesn't hurt.

Both of these Cetaceans are A tier in the Arctic, but B tier in general, since they limited themselves to only one server.

#### Boto (Amazon River Dolphin)

The Boto is another build adapted to one specific server. Its elongated snout and whiskers greatly increase the power of [Echolocation], to the point of it having the strongest and the most accurate [Echolocation] out of any Cetacean at the cost of basically their entire sense of vision. It's a bit difficult to rank it, since it doesn't really face any competition. It would be a lot easier to rate its performance if it had to contend with crocodiles and sharks.

The lack of competition makes it an easy character to play; however, it's also a risky character to play. Pollution is a big problem in the Amazon River, and it's especially dangerous to Cetaceans, since they can't recognise if the water is contaminated without a sense of smell.

### A tier:

#### Baleen Whale (Blue Whale, Humpback Whale etc.)

Baleen Whales at first reached such enormous sizes that they realised size alone was the only defense they really needed as they are the largest animal in the games history. And so they took this to the most extreme they could: They traded their [Echolocation] ability to achieve the highest Health stat obtainable. They also traded their teeth for an entirely new weapon called baleen. Baleen is very useful only for catching micro-weight builds, which Baleen Whales use to grief ridiculous amounts of micro-weight players, enough to compensate for the very low amount of XP gained from micro-weight characters.

Baleen Whales, despite being controversial for their very cheap and very easy playstyle, are nearly invincible because of their size, and because of that, they earn an easy A tier spot. The only builds that can pose a threat to them are Humans and the top-tier Cetaceans.

#### Sperm Whale

Sperm Whales retain all the awesome Cetacean abilities and have some powerful stats to back it up. They use these to fight against some of the most powerful opponents in the entire ocean server, the Giant Squid. Sperm Whales have mastered the Giant Squid matchup. And despite the squid's claws beak and superior Mobility, the Whale wins almost every time.

They're kept out of S tier, like their filter-feeding counterpart, they have a bad matchup against humans and the best cetacean build.

### S tier:

#### Bottlenose Dolphin

The Bottlenose Dolphin is the best Intelligence build in the entire ocean as well as by far the most widespread and numerous Cetacean. Their great Intelligence and team strategies allow them to set up traps and catch huge amounts of small fish.

Dolphins also have great matchups against the other top tiers of the ocean, like the Octopus and Shark. The Octopi's otherwise flawless Stealth and [Ink cloud] are completely countered by [Echolocation].

Sharks, on the other hand, can be tough for Dolphins to deal with, and this is because sharks have an even more powerful sensory ability than Cetaceans: [Electroreception]. Sharks can sense any movement made by a nearby enemy from any direction, while Cetaceans can sense an enemy only if they're directly in front, so Dolphins can't really avoid an ambushing Shark. Dolphins also may not have any real counter to sharks' powerful bite, but their high Intelligence allowed them to learn that the Sharks' gills are a huge weak point, letting them quickly turn the tide of a battle.

Having an incredible Intelligence stat, an overpowered sensory ability, great matchups against the other top marine characters, and some of the best potential of bullying Human players, there is no doubt the Bottlenose Dolphin comfortably lives in S tier.

#### Orca

Orcas have nearly everything you would need for a top-tier character. They have a strong bite, high Health, and are very fast swimmers for their size. Their tail fin has also the most devastating upthrow in the entire game. Their Intelligence may be a tiny bit lower than that of a Dolphin, but it's more than enough to counter every other build's defenses. It's also perhaps the best marine counter to platform campers. An Orca can bait an enemy in and attack or generate a water wave and knock the opponent from the platform and this is why they are the number two in Outside.

# Evolution History:

Indohyus was the first ever species of whales, they did not look like whales though, they had legs, but today, the whale main has no legs. Pakicetus was another species of whales, like the Indohyus, it had legs. Rhodocetus was another type of whale which lived over the Late Eocene. Basilosaurus was also famous. Another type of this species was none other than Jurassic Park Hall of Famer, Mosasaurus! The last species of whales is Livyatan, the biggest enemy of Megalodon. And finally, the **Whale** was the last species in the group. However it is related to other animals such as the Common Hippopotamus, Dolphin, Bison and even Cows!