What is the Role of a Cleric?

milenaelz · May 2015

My understanding is that cleric is supposed to be the main healer in any MMO. But not in Neverwinter?

Aren't you guys tried of hearing other classes bragging about how they out healed the main healer of the game? First it was SW with their insane life steal shared feature. But then LS was nerfed and the bragging stopped

Now with Mod 6 comes the Devotion Paladin. Just like SW before, they start to brag that they out heal us :rolleyes:

I love my DC but I don't like playing the main healer in the game only to hear people telling me "I am not a cleric but I heal better than you,"

What do you guys think?

tyrtallow · May 2015

This is D&D, a game system older than any MMO you can name. D&D Clerics are not healbots, and in many settings the end boss of a campaign is usually an evil cleric who can overpower warriors in melee. In 4th edition clerics are leaders, ie, multipliers. Their job is to significantly improve the effectiveness of the party to godly levels. It just so happens that keeping people alive is part of the job description - obviously, dead people don't do much of anything.

The cleric has pretty much been the only class besides the CW that has remained solid since beta. There have been a LOT of discussions about how clerics should be better healers/dPSers/tanks/controllers/whatever, but from the start clerics have been solid at providing buffs and mitigation. Healing was always just secondary since you only needed to do enough to keep people alive... until this mod. It's an interesting change.

Regardless, mod 5 gave Virtuous/Faithful DCs a MASSIVE buff healing-wise. Righteous became unmatched at improving party DPS. As for rumors, it's the internet. Serious clerics just laughed off people who kept bragging that they outhealed DCs in mod 1-5. Oh really? Good, you're doing most of our work for us! Here's 20% extra damage reduction and 30% extra damage from Hallowed Ground, plus an extra 20% or so more from High Prophet/Terror/Plaguefire/whatever. Now go kill monsters!
Granted, heal-centric clerics were left in the dust for a pretty long time thanks to overgearing but the game is making up for that this mod.

But If you're the type who believes everything he hears, then I have this nice bridge in Singapore I'd like to sell you...
Seriously though. You could just read Kaelac's guide or try to figure out what your powers actually do and you'd figure most of this stuff out yourself. Pretty much everything DCs do (from healing to attacking) has a buffing/mitigation component to it. SWs were never a threat to DCs.
In mod5 things changed for Virt/Faithful. In mod6 the Devotion Pally seems to be a good alternative to Faithful/Virtuous. It remains to be seen how different they'll be at playing leader.

milenaelz · May 2015

I have a devotion pally too but after playing her for a few weeks, I find her to be slightly more tanky and perhaps she hits a little harder than my dc but as for her heals, I doubt she can do better than the dc. I was thinking perhaps I have not spec her well as a devotion pally? Idk.

Btw which bridge are you referring to in Singapore? I am curious :P And, thanks for your positive and constructive feedback on this topic.

diogene0 · May 2015

In mod 6, the cleric is a good healer, but you also have to help people not to die in one hit with mitigation buffs.

angrysprite · May 2015

tyrtallow wrote: »

This is D&D, a game system older than any MMO you can name. D&D Clerics are not healbots, and in many settings the end boss of a campaign is usually an evil cleric who can overpower warriors in melee. In 4th edition clerics are leaders, ie, multipliers. Their job is to significantly improve the effectiveness of the party to godly levels. It just so happens that keeping people alive is part of the job description - obviously, dead people don't do much of anything.
~SNIP~

^THIS.

My main has been Devoted Cleric since Alpha/Beta - if only because there was no Paladin, now I am leveling what will be my new main. However: in Neverwinter, Mod 6-specifically, this is what I am seeing:

Devoted Cleric: regarding Buff/Debuff/Healing Spells: Jack of all these trades. The trade-off is that she's a bit on the squishy side and does decent DPS, but nothing special. This is her role as a Leader. She can buff/debuff/heal better than anyone. Her buff/debuffs are stronger than other class, but they are "area of effect" in most cases.

Devotion Paladin: Great at healing others - but nowhere near as fast or powerful as the Devoted Cleric. Very low DPS in place of tackiness, makes a great off-tank in parties. The Paladin is more or less a direct support tank - as opposed to the Protection Paladin which is designed as a main tank. The direct support tank is good at healing individuals, or AoE around specific NPCs or Players. The buff/debuff of a Paladin is a little better than the DC and more or less automated through Class Features called "Aura" - and they all are awesome which makes selecting only two a torturous decision.

So the main difference between a Deveoted Cleric and Devotion paladin is: Cleric has very strong heals - really powerful and really good buff/debuff abilities. The Paladin has really good heals and awesome buff/debuff abilities. And they both work *very* differently (to the extremes) and eve the difference between a Devotion versus Protection paladin is radical in terms of how they work and what they actually do to benefit party.

WHEW. A lot of word to attempt clarity of what I'm trying to explain. Though a DC is not and should never be considered a "Healbot" if is better at party-healing than a Paladin, but only somewhat, albeit very differently.

mrvincent1959 · May 2015

For me:

In Mod 6, HEALING...esp that initial heal on enemy contact is priority number one. Astral Shield then spam of Divine Bastion.

Getting Sigil Of The Devoted to Mythic is also a good idea so you can have Hallowed Ground up as much as possible. Make sure Hallowed Ground is rank 4 as well.

I respecced after Mod 6 into Faithful. It is good for insta-heals plus Benefit Of Foresight for some group protection, although sometimes I question if it actually works considering how everyone can get melted so quickly in T2.

Cleric should be renamed to: Cleric, Master Of Divine Bastion Of Health

thewolfisloose · May 2015

@OP I mean, no more tired than DPS classes saying they out damaged each other. Same pointless self-congratulating dribble.

And as it has been said healing is one part. What about keeping those HPs from getting lost in the first place? DC's are also equalizers, weakening the enemy and bolstering the party. That's harder to measure because there are no numbers showing exactly how much you mitigate and increase damage.

All classes can do multiple things. Just pick a class and kick some ***.

hallacatt · May 2015

Regarding the whole OP vs DC thing:

If we lived in a world where you are slowly whittled down to dead, Devotion OP's would outheal DC's so badly its almost funny. However, we dont live in that world. The most valuable thing a party wants out of their healer slot right now is the TREMENDOUS amounts of mitigation/buffs a DC brings that keep you from getting gibbed on the spot. For mod 6 as it is currently DC is a VASTLY more desirable healer for dungeon content. In any given dungeon run I tank in, I know if its a DC healer everything will be ok. If its a Devotion OP, then I expect a struggle. My 2 cents.

sockmunkey · May 2015

Clearly someone needs a lesson from the master.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apro94getuc

Real Clerics got better things to do then heal.

angrysprite · May 2015

hallacatt wrote: »

Regarding the whole OP vs DC thing:

If we lived in a world where you are slowly whittled down to dead, Devotion OP's would outheal DC's so badly its almost funny. However, we dont live in that world. The most valuable thing a party wants out of their healer slot right now is the TREMENDOUS amounts of mitigation/buffs a DC brings that keep you from getting gibbed on the spot. For mod 6 as it is currently DC is a VASTLY more desirable healer for dungeon content. In any given dungeon run I tank in, I know if its a DC healer everything will be ok. If its a Devotion OP, then I expect a struggle. My 2 cents.

I've played Paladin's since they became available in my pen-and-paper days. With that said and the way Neverwinter works: I cannot agree more with the above statement. It is true, very, very true. It also depends a lot on the player knowing their class and being experienced in high-activity, confusing situations and the DC is definitely better-suited in this regard.

I prefer my Protection Paladin over my Devotion Paladin - when I want to be a healer I like my DC a lot more: DCs can target others for their heals. Paladins are mostly on auto-pilot and don't have that kind of granular healing control (for the most part). So when I'm in Tank mode I agree: I'd rather have a DC over a Paladin in that spot (though anything is better than nothing, obviously).

fluppery · May 2015

I am a Divine Oracle faithful/rightous build.

What I do is all about damage mitigation and boosting damage. Healing comes as a side effect to keeping that up.

My spells are aoe and best used on a cluster of mobs and allies.

Heres a tip, if you're hurt bad: If you run from the fight, you wont get much heals or protection. Stay near the fight and AOE heals will help you.

rapo973 · May 2015

From a pragmatic point of view, many teams want healing. Maybe this is enough for a T1, but it's not enough for a T2.
There's no cleric strong enough if you're 1-shooted by a small spider in eToS or by an archer in eCC.
Limiting my statements to the T2 dungeons, here it's where you can show the best of your cleric:
- healing
- AP gain
- Mitigation
- buff/debuff
- protection (example: "Have Faith" or "Unbreakable devotion <- this one was ok before mod 6, now it's not so efficient due to the level of damages of the T2 dungeons).

How do you mix them? As you prefer if you can complete your missions. With different degrees of efficiency (it depends on your build) you can do almost everything you want. I can buff and debuff as a virtuous, but probably I'm not so efficient as the righteous in this area. The opposite is true if we talk about heal or AP gain.
Is it so important? Please answers the next questions. If you find some "no" in your answers then you have food for thoughts.
Do I finish all the dungeons?
Do the other players want me in their teams (both premade or random)?
Do the other players want me as a friend to run dungeons in the future?
Do I find good teams easily?
As an overall, do I progress smootly with my toon?

My answers are yes and it means that I'm playing my role correctly, whatever it is.

Concering the OP: give me a (good) OP tank and I will rule the T2 dungeons with him. Recently I've discovered that my build works extremely well with the OP tank (you know, the famous ball with blue rays) Heal tank? sincerely I don't see many of them in game. Most of the players still want clerics.

suicidalgodot · May 2015

Politkommisar rather than Squad Paramedic.

In the case of the classical Tank - DC - 3x DPS layout My priorities would be (1) AoE buff (HG, ASh), (2) keep the tank up and running, (3) debuff enemy officers, (4) patch up those DPSers that can't yet LS themselves or that took a mean swipe.

If there's a Pally on the team as 2nd Tank (or another DC), I'd switch (2) & (3) over, depending on how well it works. Or if the reds are outgunned.

What is the Role of a Cleric?

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