Bare Bones Cleric Guide

_WillFire_ - Sanctuary

Bare Bones Cleric Build

The intent of this document is to give folks new to the Cleric a basic outline and platform to build thier character from. Regardless of your "style" of play every Cleric will eventually have enough SP to max out almost every skill they have. The key word here is *eventually*. Getting from starting your character too a point where you can start comfortably making decisions on which way you want to go ( and what skills to get ) is the challenge for most new players.

With that in mind this "guide" is as basic and "no-brainer" as I can make it.

Stats:
1 Str, 3 Mag per level until 49th.

Huh?!

You heard me right. Stat allocation will change in the *future* so stick with me.

So...at 49th level your stats will look like:

Str: 54
Vit: 5
Agi: 5
Mag: 149

You will have 47 points left over. *DON'T give in to the tempation to spend them until this point*

Once your Str is 54 if you are going to continue as a full Mag build you *never have to touch Str again* ( or at least until you hit 99th ). One less thing to concentrate on. What do I mean by you won't ever have to touch it again? According to the PW item database the best Arcane you can get at 99th requires 54 Str. Simple and clear? Good.

Should you decide to go LA or HA later on you have a decent place to start from.

Armor choices:

Since this is a basic guide I'm not going to confuse you with all the different arguements between Arcane, Light Armor, and Heavy Armor. For our purposes we are going to stick with Arcane and, considering, you can make the decision yourself once you get higher in level. Over the first 60 levels you will find plenty of drops and quest armor. You should *never* have to buy it.

Magic Defence, Physical Defence, or What?:

Look...I said I'm not going to argue the intricacies. Up until 60th it really doesn't matter all that much anyways ( TW and TT runs sort of force thinking about it at this point ). If you think it matters then this guide is worthless to you.

Rings, Necklaces, weapons...:

Ok...I'll recommend anything that adds to your Magic Attack. The entire intent of this build is to get you to the point where you can start actually making decisions about what *sort* of build you want to develop out into. A word of warning though...don't buy it if you can get it through quests. Save your coin as much as possible.

Skills:

Ok here are the basics. You can function just fine as a cleric with *just* these skills in this order until you hit 49th and decide which way you want to jump.

Max for your level ( Primary ):

Plume Shot
Great Cyclone
Ironheart Blessing
Spirits Gift

Put points in when you can ( Secondary ):

Vanguard Spirit
Plume Shell
Magic Shell

Buy only one level of skill for now ( Tertiary ):

Celestial Guardians's Seal
Blessing of the Purehearted ( Pre-Req for Ironheart )
Wellspring Surge ( Pre-Req for Revive )
Revive ( Pre-Req for Purify )
Soon, the Light ( Pre-Req for Stream of Rejuvenation )
Stream of Rejuvenation ( Pre-Req for Regeneration Aura aka "Blue Bubble" )

YES I've skipped many skills but these are the basics you *must* have in order to

1) Solo grind
2) Function as a Cleric
3) Have a base to build from where you can branch off into all the different types of builds. The extra stat points left over are a good start on a VIT build or a LA build...or simply just add them all to Mag for a Full Mag build at this point.

You'll have 50 levels to talk to people and watch other clerics before you make any serious decisions and still be able to function solo and in parties.

Enjoy.

Mysticlifex - Heavens Tear

Good guide very simple I liked it, and ALL new players becomming a cleric should read this guide.

Waittilli - Lost City

I say you put all those extra points into MP so you can level faster, and you still will earn plenty of stat points to go LA or vit build after if you choose so.

Daibar - Heavens Tear

Agreed. Why gimp your character for 47 levels because you 'might' go LA?

With the extra Mag you have, you'll have made at least an extra 600k in the same time (approx price of intermediate reset note)

Isaphet - Heavens Tear

... I lol'd

54 strength by the time you are level 49? So the person decides they want to go arcane, they have all those stat points (26 at that level) tied up uselessly until they reach level 100 which could be adding to their attack/healing power or their hp. In my book that would be ample cause to buy a reset note. Considering the number of stat points left to waste in this guide, removing need for a reset seems to be one of the primary concerns. How ironic.

3) Have a base to build from where you can branch off into all the different types of builds. The extra stat points left over are a good start on a VIT build or a LA build...or simply just add them all to Mag for a Full Mag build at this point.

No I'm afraid not, this is a particularly weird starting point that will only be okay in the end if you decide to go light armour, its terrible for all arcane. If you've already decided to go light armour it wont hurt you too badly, but in that situation you should have pumped the dex already and be using it.

Advice to anyone reading this guide... check the sticky at the top of this forum. Its a great guide that will help you understand clerics immensely until level 50. The guide you have just read, is not.

_WillFire_ - Sanctuary

Thanks for the input.

All of your objections really make no difference whatsoever. This guide was created for those who are learning the Cleric class and want a basic platform to go in any particular direction. 47 points at 49th is not going to make any real difference to your grinding or healing ability. Reset scrolls are comparitively cheap but why buy one when you don't have too?

If you go Full Mag you will never have to touch Str again. One goal out of the way when it doesn't make a difference. Toss the extra points into Mag and continue on with 5pts into Mag every level.

The extra points can be thrown at Dex for a LA build for early PvP/TW but you will likely, once again, be using a reset scroll later. Better to now simply work out where you want to be at 60-70 with your stats. Simpler. Most go back to robes at 80-90th anyways

The points could be thrown into Vit for that type of build if it interests you. You won't have to keep track of Str. Just continue on tossing 1 or 2 into Vit until you have the HP you want and the rest into Mag.

Again this guide was not intended to go into the nitty gritty of the different types of builds. Once someone has gotten to almost 50th they should have a real good idea of what they want to do without having to worry if they've "messed up thier build".

Forp - Heavens Tear

in all honesty, the guide sucks. the stickied guide is good enough.

_WillFire_ - Sanctuary

Forp - Heavens Tear wrote: »

in all honesty, the guide sucks. the stickied guide is good enough.

Very constructive.

I agree the other guides are good. Your opinion, however, is doubtful.

_WillFire_ - Sanctuary

Waittilli - Lost City wrote: »

I say you put all those extra points into MP so you can level faster, and you still will earn plenty of stat points to go LA or vit build after if you choose so.

At 49th the extra points won't make that much difference in either healing or grinding ability. Also, at about 50th, the reality of the grind starts kicking in. Most who feel they've "messed up thier build" either give up at this point or start sweating out how they are going to get reset scrolls. This build gives you the opportunity to go in any particular direction you want.

*shrug*

Forp - Heavens Tear

what's your guide good for? you say "get enough strength to wield level 100 robes by 49", how is that good? you say keep 40~ points banked for later, which would be good if he had the right points in strength in case he was unsure about his build preference, but usually people decide by 29.

you don't talk about skills, and you choose to level more expensive skills(spirit's gift) first, even though it will be maxed much later than the 2 more important buffs: vanguard spirit and magic shell.

you don't talk about the good and bad points of each different armor.

your jewelery tip is empty.

_WillFire_ - Sanctuary

Daibar - Heavens Tear wrote: »

Agreed. Why gimp your character for 47 levels because you 'might' go LA?

With the extra Mag you have, you'll have made at least an extra 600k in the same time (approx price of intermediate reset note)

lol...gimp?

Have you done the math?

Let's say our n00b cleric friend decided at level one to go with a Vit build. Are they "gimp"? No.

So with that build they are doing:

6 mag, 1 str, 3 vit every two levels. Thier stats would look something like this at 50th:

Str 30
Vit 80
Dex 5
Mag 155

Not much different from my build at all.

Let's look at the stats for my build at 49th again:

Str: 54
Vit: 5
Agi: 5
Mag: 149

Let's say you want to go toward the Vit build above. Toss the 47 points into Vit and you have:

Str: 54
Vit: 52
Agi: 5
Mag: 149

Not much difference eh? Add 5 points when you hit 50th ( say 2 vit, 3 mag ) and there is even less difference. Only now you don't have to worry about Str in your stat allocation. Just 3 Vit and 7 Mag every 2 levels until your Vit is where you want it. Or even 2 Vit and 3 Mag every level ( 4/6 every 2 putting the single point that used to be for Str into Vit ).

If you *really* want to go light armor this early I trust you know enough math to take it from here.

_WillFire_ - Sanctuary

Forp - Heavens Tear wrote: »

what's your guide good for? you say "get enough strength to wield level 100 robes by 49", how is that good? you say keep 40~ points banked for later, which would be good if he had the right points in strength in case he was unsure about his build preference, but usually people decide by 29.

It's good, as I stated in the OP, for a simple platform with which you can branch off into any of the popular builds without making huge mistakes.

you don't talk about skills, and you choose to level more expensive skills(spirit's gift) first, even though it will be maxed much later than the 2 more important buffs: vanguard spirit and magic shell.

I do talk about skills. I talk about the skills that are basic to each of the different types of builds. Spirits Gift is probably the single most important self buff you can get. It's in a class all it's own. Both your heals and your attacks are powered by mAtk. Do the math genius.

you don't talk about the good and bad points of each different armor.

your jewelery tip is empty.

Read the name of the guide again, find some crayons, and connect the dots.

Peace out.

Forp - Heavens Tear

_WillFire_ - Sanctuary wrote: »

It's good, as I stated in the OP, for a simple platform with which you can branch off into any of the popular builds without making huge mistakes.

and still losing over 20 points that went to strength and wont need to be there for awhile. i'm 75 with only 41 strength.

_WillFire_ - Sanctuary wrote: »

I do talk about skills. I talk about the skills that are basic to each of the different types of builds. Spirits Gift is probably the single most important self buff you can get. It's in a class all it's own. Both your heals and your attacks are powered by mAtk. Do the math genius.

you don't talk about skills. you say "level these to your level, level these after; then when you got all those, level these". you don't talk about the importance of the skill, nor what it's used for. spirit's gift is not the most important buff. it's more important than celestial guardian for sure, but not more important than the 2 defense buffs. a cleric's goal is to stay alive to be able to keep others alive - ignoring a huge defense bonus is not something you want to do. maybe you should do the math, genius.

_WillFire_ - Sanctuary wrote: »

Read the name of the guide again, find some crayons, and connect the dots.

"Bare Bones Cleric Guide". i drew lines to each of the letters, but i got nothing. what was i suppose to see?

_WillFire_ - Sanctuary

Forp - Heavens Tear wrote: »

"Bare Bones Cleric Guide". i drew lines to each of the letters, but i got nothing. what was i suppose to see?

Apparently you are incapable of basic logic skills...therefore I banish you to the bowels of Heck oh Minion of Stupidity.

/waves Spoon

b:victory

Forp - Heavens Tear

_WillFire_ - Sanctuary wrote: »

Apparently you are incapable of basic logic skills...therefore I banish you to the bowels of Heck oh Minion of Stupidity.

/waves Spoon

b:victory

you told me to connect the dots, but there was none, so i just connected all the letters b:surrender

Nelae - Heavens Tear

I dont see the point of doing things like that b:chuckle

Scoleo - Sanctuary

take the time to read what willfire is saying people. Its BASIC guide. NOT IN DEPTH. It is for Beginners! And for that I think he did a great job. It allows people to not mess up their build, and as they level, they can use the points and extra sp as they see fit. This guide is very helpful for those just starting the game

Forp - Heavens Tear

Scoleo - Sanctuary wrote: »

take the time to read what willfire is saying people. Its BASIC guide. NOT IN DEPTH. It is for Beginners! And for that I think he did a great job. It allows people to not mess up their build, and as they level, they can use the points and extra sp as they see fit. This guide is very helpful for those just starting the game

a guide should be in depth. basic or not, it should explain what in the hell he's telling you to do. "raise this, throw these stats here" is not a guide.

Nelae - Heavens Tear

Scoleo - Sanctuary wrote: »

take the time to read what willfire is saying people. Its BASIC guide. NOT IN DEPTH. It is for Beginners! And for that I think he did a great job. It allows people to not mess up their build, and as they level, they can use the points and extra sp as they see fit. This guide is very helpful for those just starting the game

Saving stats is a waste, if a newbie wants some info, he should brows so many topics, or start a new.
This is something i surely wont recommend to new players.

_WillFire_ - Sanctuary

Nelae - Heavens Tear wrote: »

Saving stats is a waste,

Why?

if a newbie wants some info, he should brows so many topics

Hey...lookie that...this IS a topic. Imagine.

, or start a new.

Considering the huge mass of posts here are about builds essentially asking the same questions ( and the minority of posts here are actually giving good advice ) I'm simply cutting down on the majority.

This is something i surely wont recommend to new players.

/sigh

Again why?

Tell me one thing that, realistically, following this guide would hurt?

_WillFire_ - Sanctuary

Forp - Heavens Tear wrote: »

a guide should be in depth. basic or not, it should explain what in the hell he's telling you to do.

Which, unless your reading comprehension is nil, this guide does. Admittedly it requires a modicum of thought but I tend to be optimistic of anyone who actually makes it to this forum and can read.

You, sir, seem to be the exception.

"raise this, throw these stats here" is not a guide.

You know...I've noticed that you haven't posted anything constructive. Funny that.

Nelae - Heavens Tear

_WillFire_ - Sanctuary wrote: »

Why?



Hey...lookie that...this IS a topic. Imagine.



Considering the huge mass of posts here are about builds essentially asking the same questions ( and the minority of posts here are actually giving good advice ) I'm simply cutting down on the majority.



/sigh

Again why?

Tell me one thing that, realistically, following this guide would hurt?

from lv40-50 i would kill for extra status points in vit or mag, not to say you have 20 useless str at that point.

thats why builds exist, that you get maximum from your lv, not to make it harder to play....when you get so much annoying psy mobs, on which having more hp or mp/dmg/heal would make it easier.

If you want to make a guide, make it useful, make ppl understand why, when and how.
Not some very very not beneficial post.

_WillFire_ - Sanctuary

Nelae - Heavens Tear wrote: »

from lv40-50 i would kill for extra status points in vit or mag, not to say you have 20 useless str at that point.

thats why builds exist, that you get maximum from your lv, not to make it harder to play....when you get so much annoying psy mobs, on which having more hp or mp/dmg/heal would make it easier.

If you want to make a guide, make it useful, make ppl understand why, when and how.
Not some very very not beneficial post.

So in other words you don't have any real objections. I'm not trying to be mean here. Go back and read through the build guide again and think about it. It covers the first 49 levels. Nothing you face in those first 49 levels is going to be affected noticably by going this way. What would be noticible is allowing your attacks or heals to fall behind in order to play with skills you don't need yet or spending coins on those skills.

All the basics are covered. You have stat points to put where ever you want them AND have a good idea by this point where you want to go with your build AND you don't have to sweat about Str for Arcane, Vit, or LA builds.

At this particular level you can step off in any direction and be well equipped for that decision.

Forp - Heavens Tear

just leave the topic nalae, it's another sanctuary nitwit that's too damn arrogant to shut up. i don't feel the need to repeat myself to him.

_WillFire_ - Sanctuary

Forp - Heavens Tear wrote: »

just leave the topic nalae, it's another sanctuary nitwit that's too damn arrogant to shut up. i don't feel the need to repeat myself to him.

Repeat? You've yet to say anything worthwhile.

How many times must I "verbally" spank you before you either post something useful or submit to the fact that you have nothing to say and, therefore, should leave well enough alone?

Isaphet - Heavens Tear

Maybe the flames here aren't needed, and to some extent you were just trying to help out new players (though lets face it, noone writes a guide without at least some sense of self satisfactionary egotism, not that thats a bad thing), but all in all this guide gimps your cleric for 98 levels, yes, maybe not by a lot, but once you have reached your decision stage at level 49 and up until level 98, you will be worse than every other cleric your level who is similarly equipped.

Personally I dont think there is anything wrong with holding back on some of the stats, what I take issue with is purposefully dumping off 26 mag or vit points just for the sake of "well, I dont have to worry str anymore do i?". It is obviously an incorrect thing to do, either the writer of this guide misunderstands this very basic idea, or he has made the assumption that all people who read this thread looking for assistance are both stupid and lazy beyond the point of any reasonable help. Neither reason is acceptable to give such horrible advice in a guide.

As I have said before, my opinion is that it is a complete shambles, missing out on a lot of important points while concentrating on other less important ones and offering incorrect solutions. This seems to be a long running theme on all game forums, many people pop up with ad-hoc guides that do nothing but confuse and baffle the already slightly bemused reader.

Leave it to the great guide writers, these lesser examples don't help anyone.

Waittilli - Lost City

Buy 53 pair of shoes your your entire life today.
You never have to worry about it again!

_WillFire_ - Sanctuary

Isaphet - Heavens Tear wrote: »

Maybe the flames here aren't needed, and to some extent you were just trying to help out new players (though lets face it, noone writes a guide without at least some sense of self satisfactionary egotism, not that thats a bad thing), but all in all this guide gimps your cleric for 98 levels, yes, maybe not by a lot, but once you have reached your decision stage at level 49 and up until level 98, you will be worse than every other cleric your level who is similarly equipped.

No one has been able to prove this. The only time I think that anyone would have a reasonable objection is if they are building on the extreme edge ( like an FAC ). Unless you are saying Vit or LA builds are gimp as well. That being said...if you are building on the extreme edge then, logically, you already know *exactly* how you are going to go about doing it, what your equips are going to be, playstyle, and so on. This guide ( if you go back and read it ) assumes the reader hasn't settled on any of this.

Personally, all ego aside, I think there is more going on here than my pride. I like to make things clear and simple for the folks who come here looking for answers. Too many threads on "how do I build this or that" and "I wish I wouldn't have done X".

Personally I dont think there is anything wrong with holding back on some of the stats, what I take issue with is purposefully dumping off 26 mag or vit points just for the sake of "well, I dont have to worry str anymore do i?". It is obviously an incorrect thing to do,

Obviously how please? ( btw it's actually 20-21pts...not 26. You need to factor in that characters start with 5 Str )

either the writer of this guide misunderstands this very basic idea, or he has made the assumption that all people who read this thread looking for assistance are both stupid and lazy beyond the point of any reasonable help. Neither reason is acceptable to give such horrible advice in a guide.

The writer of this guide ( that would be me btw ) assumes a modicum of intelligence from those who read it. He also expects that if someone is going to criticize it then they should have something useful to say. Thus far your input has been less than useful. Now if you'd like to keep up this dance and move on to more interesting and elaborate insults in order to boost your *own* ego feel free...but it does nothing for your image here or this thread.

As I have said before, my opinion is that it is a complete shambles, missing out on a lot of important points while concentrating on other less important ones and offering incorrect solutions. This seems to be a long running theme on all game forums, many people pop up with ad-hoc guides that do nothing but confuse and baffle the already slightly bemused reader.

Leave it to the great guide writers, these lesser examples don't help anyone.

So...semantic content is still essentially zero. Thanks for your non-thoughts.

_WillFire_ - Sanctuary

Waittilli - Lost City wrote: »

Buy 53 pair of shoes your your entire life today.
You never have to worry about it again!

So you expect to only live...what...26 or so years? If you are female your life expectancy is about that of a gnat. b:chuckle

KLAYTEN - Lost City

as a celric myself i like the guide even as a noob myself i think its a good wat to distribute stats and skills







b:laugh KLAYTEN THE NOOBb:laugh

_WillFire_ - Sanctuary

Allow me to address, briefly, the error that you would somehow be "gimp" by putting 21pts into Str early so that people can relax on that point.

Let's look at our base build again:

Stats:
1 Str, 3 Mag per level until 49th.

Huh?!

You heard me right. Stat allocation will change in the *future* so stick with me.

So...at 49th level your stats will look like:

Str: 54
Vit: 5
Agi: 5
Mag: 149

You will have 47 points left over. *DON'T give in to the tempation to spend them until this point*

Let's say that you decide at 49th to go full Mag. You would toss those 47 saved pts into Mag. This would put our stats at:

Str: 54
Vit: 5
Agi: 5
Mag: 196

Let's say we have a normal run of the mill magic weapon. At 49th this would be:

Jewel Quoit:
Level: 49
Str: 29
Int: 147

Physical Atk: 170 - 230
Magical Atk: 271 - 406

This would give the build a base mAtk of:
947-1347

Let's say you went with a full Mag build from the very beginning. This would add 21pts to your Mag

Str: 33
Vit: 5
Agi: 5
Mag: 217

With the same weapon your base mAtk would be:
1014-1442

A whopping 67-95 pts of damage gained. Woooo!

Let's fast forward 21 levels too 70th.

My build doesn't have to worry about Str so after 49th all stat points can be tossed into Mag. My stats would look like:

Str: 54
Vit: 5
Agi: 5
Mag: 301

The traditional Full Mag build would look like this:

Str: 39
Vit: 5
Agi: 5
Mag: 316

Note that my build is now only 15 stat pts behind the purist.

With a TT70 weapon ( Ashura's ) the mAtk for my build would look like this:
2954-3485

With the traditional build it would look like this:
3062-3613

A difference of 108-128 pts.

Sooooo gimped. b:laugh

As the levels progress the difference shrinks and becomes nil at 99th.

This proves 2 points that I've made over and over.

1) The difference those points make between a "pure" build and my guide are very very small.

2) If you want to criticize something then take the time to do it constructively and offer proof...not empty opinion and posturing.

http://www.ecatomb.net/character.php