Build advice

paerarru

Howdy. I'm brand spanking new to the game (have lots of experience with other mmos though), and I'm looking to roll. A class.

Cleric is one of the classes that have piqued my interest, and my question is, is that dex/light armor build still a nifty idea? If I understand correctly, this one is more geared towards soloing and pvp/tw (tw especially is my interest), but rather sub-par for grouping because of less healing power. But is it still possible to main heal some of the less challenging fights, or will I be forever relegating myself to secondary healer status?

Any other insights and comments on cleric builds and their effect on gameplay is very welcome. Thank you.

Decus - Dreamweaver

I have never been a fan of the LA cleric build. It seems to do well in lower levels by offering some protection versus physical enemies, but you will re-stat your character come late 9x to wear robes again anyway.

The fact is you sacrifice magic attack (and thus healing potential) for some increased defense. I cannot imagine this benefiting you in TW as your job in TW is to support (and thus, heal) or in non-squad PvP because your damage output will be reduced. Also, while you may have a slightly higher critical hit rate (maybe 2%-3% more), your heals cannot crit, so that's a wasted metric.

If you want to check the numbers, use PWcalc to build some hypothetical clerics at different levels (mid-game and late-game) and see if you like the stats by comparison. I know you said you are new, and thus may not have a clear grip on gear and whatnot, so I might just do it for giggles a little later when I have the time.

Sakubatou - Sanctuary

I agree with Decus. The unfortunate truth is clerics are squishy, but we cover squishiness with 3 shields, an assortment of control skills (sleep, paralyze) and strong heals that heal faster than most things can damage us. I always considered vit builds and LA clerics squishier because their Vit or LA didn't make a huge difference to their squishiness, but they lost some of the ability to out-heal the damage they were taking, whereas a pure arcane build I took more damage but could heal it back easily and DD or heal them at the same time.


In TW, LA clerics might have some advantage. You can also consider a heavy vit build since vit increases pdef and mdef. LA builds don't have room for vitality so even though they have more physical defense they have low hp. In PvE you'd still be fine most the time as an LA cleric but trust me, knowledgable barb can tell how strong your heals are. I can normally guess a cleric vitality to within 5-10 points just from the difference of what their heals should be.

SerenityCNB - Dreamweaver

paerarru wrote: »

Howdy. I'm brand spanking new to the game (have lots of experience with other mmos though), and I'm looking to roll. A class.

Cleric is one of the classes that have piqued my interest, and my question is, is that dex/light armor build still a nifty idea? If I understand correctly, this one is more geared towards soloing and pvp/tw (tw especially is my interest), but rather sub-par for grouping because of less healing power. But is it still possible to main heal some of the less challenging fights, or will I be forever relegating myself to secondary healer status?

Any other insights and comments on cleric builds and their effect on gameplay is very welcome. Thank you.

Hello, and welcome to the game. Let me try to answer your question before some of the trolls get to you first. Cleric was my first class, and is my main, so I do know a bit about them.

LA cleric is not a terrible idea, but its not the best one either. You sacrifice a lot as a LA cleric, and I personally don't recommend it. However, it is useful for a solo playstyle, and even if it was in group play, it is your cleric, so I'd tell you to build it how you want. That said, my own preference as well as many others is to go Arcane Armor. (AA) The reason being is that LA requires a certain amount of dex to wear it, taking away from magic potential, or vitality points, and that could prove to be detrimental. Now, similiar to you, I like to play solo. I do squad with people, and have even done quests with people, but when I'm not in an instance or helping someone/getting help from someone, I'm normally solo. In fact, so much so that I have never been in a faction for all 100 of these levels, and I've been an AA build this whole time. It is true that AA does lack the phys. def of LA. However, it can be supplemented. I'm an AA cleric, but I'm not squishy either. I can take a few hits, and dish some out too. They key is getting phys. resistant ornaments as the main ones you equip. Unlike armor, they don't require a certain amount of points to be statted...just for you to reach the level requirement. The extra pdef that it provides will prove to be helpful. LA will have more pdef, overall, but there is a trade off. Better pdef for less healing and killing power. A good friend of mines was a LA cleric until he restatted, so its not a terrible idea. However, dex does nothing for a cleric, so I personally recommed going pure/purish/vitality arcane. (Later on...around level 70 ish, you can start sharding your armor. You can do it before then too, but its kind of a waste since you'll level very fast. You can also start refining your equipment as soon as you deem it appropriate. Its random in success rate and does cost mirages, so thats up to you when you choose to do it, but it is worth doing.

Also, my LA cleric friend was a very capable healer. In fact he taught me a few things being that his level was much higher than mines was. He could solo heal every instance he was in, and then some, so I know that it can be done. You won't necessarily be a secondary healer.

Now, regarding pvp, and tw, I PERSONALLY would still go arcane. Clerics don't have the hp or pdef either way to really survive well in pvp and tw related instances. Our ability needs to be kill before we get killed. I still don't have 4k hp unbuffed, and I hate say it, but a cleric is a target. LA won't really save us from melee combatants, and if we are LA, then we become more vulnerable to the arcanes as well. For example, if I was going against you, and I were to drop tempest on you, it would do a lot more damage to you if you were wearing LA instead of AA. Also, due to having a higher magic def., due to higher magic point allocation, that tempest would do even less damage to you.

Now, if on the other hand, I were to plume shot you with LA, it would do less damage to you than to an arcane. However, you'd still feel that blow (LA requires a middle ground defense in ALL caftegories, with no particular weakness, but no particular weakness either), and since clerics don't have the highest hp or pdef, it puts you that much closer to death. Now, someone else can give you more insight on pvp related techniques, and tw ones since I don't do either. Like I said, I've always been factionless by choice, so tw is someone else's ground to speak on.

It should be noted that clerics have a good deal of defense raising shields to help them along.

*Plume shell. (You may not like it as much at low levels, but it'll be your saving grace at higher ones.

*Vanguard spirit (This is a buff...but its a useful one, and will raise your physical defense substantially at higher levels.)

*Wings of Protection: (You won't get this for some time, but its an instant cast shield that can be used and absorbs damage. Its similiar to plume shell. However, its weakness is a 3 minute cooldwon.)

*Guardian light: This also raises your defenses, and speed. Its instant cast like WOP (Wings of Protection) are, however it only lasts 10 secs. It can save you though in those emergencies. Its weakness is that it has a 5 minute cooldown. You won't get this skill until much later either.

*Sage Vanguard Microbuff: This is worth mentioning if you go sage MUCH LATER on. Not saying that you should, but speaking from a sage cleric point of view, you will get the increased pdef with each cast of vanguard. The effect lasts for 10 seconds. Again, it is useful, but requires timing. This is useful, and Demons do have one as well. This is just faster, and thus can be used on oneself more appropriately if need be.

Also, a clerics main defense comes from healing, and certain skills...not necessarily from our armor, so make sure that your IH is leveled. There are some guides around here that will give you more detailed info on them.

If you feel like you're dying a lot, try to stat some points into vit. (Ignore the forum trolls that tell you not to. Its your cleric. You do what you want to.) Vit does not give clerics the same amount as it does other classes, but it does give some, and thats better than nothing. I myself have a base of 20 vit. I don't recommed statting over 50 vit, or your healing capabilities and magic attack will start to suffer. However, stat what you feel like you need. A dead cleric heals no one, and attacks nothing either. A living cleric can still fight back, so if you feel the need to stat no vit, 70 vit, 150 vit, its your cleric, then do so. That said, I would recommend that you choose arcane armor, and add vit. if your defense is becoming a problem as a LA cleric. Remember that LA requires a higher dex rating, but also a higher str. rating, whereas arcane requires no dex, and a cap of 54 (55 if you plan to get the extremely expensive) R9 set of armor WAYYYYYYYYY down the line. LA requires a higher dex, and higher str., which will in turn affect your magic and vitality if you choose to stat any.

I hope that this helps you some, and feel free to ask if you have any more questions about this class. I'll try to answer them as best I can for you.

Take care, and good luck in game. b:victoryb:victory


Edit: Ninja'd twice. Lol.

paerarru

Thank you very much for all the replies and the welcome. b:pleased

That was exactly what I wanted to hear. Thanks for the tips on skills as well, very informative.

If I do go cleric, I'll go arcane and add some vit as needed. And I'll put those ornaments on!

SerenityCNB - Dreamweaver

paerarru wrote: »

Thank you very much for all the replies and the welcome. b:pleased

That was exactly what I wanted to hear. Thanks for the tips on skills as well, very informative.

If I do go cleric, I'll go arcane and add some vit as needed. And I'll put those ornaments on!

You're Welcome. I'm glad that I could help. A fun fact about the ornaments, because a lot of people will tell you to get -chan. -Chan ornaments will help some, but make sure that you definately have the proper pdef ones for belt, and necklace. (I prefer it for capes too.) -Chan is often found on magic def ornaments, and thats its weakness. So, it may help to have a mdef one, and a pdef one of each later on. However, if you ever have to choose between the two...unless its a supremely powerful magic ornament...choose physical ones. Both are nice though. I have both myself, but my pdef one is almost always on.

Feel free to ask any questions as you need to. Take care. b:victory

Kanmi - Sanctuary

Sakubatou - Sanctuary wrote: »

In TW, LA clerics might have some advantage. You can also consider a heavy vit build since vit increases pdef and mdef. LA builds don't have room for vitality so even though they have more physical defense they have low hp. In PvE you'd still be fine most the time as an LA cleric but trust me, knowledgable barb can tell how strong your heals are. I can normally guess a cleric vitality to within 5-10 points just from the difference of what their heals should be.

LA probably used to have back in old days, but not with the current state of game and surely not in TW/PVP nowadays .
Even if LA armor built has no room for vit, you still get more HP when refine than an AA armor .
Heavy armor really bad idea, cleric has no magic marrow, it will **** up cleric magic def big time, lower heal/magic attack . Probably fun to play i should try one .

But ya, you can relay on many buff to increase your p.def (vanguard/bell/plume shell) which is not the case of magic defense (magic shell only) . Better stick to AA if PVP/TW, with nice piece of gears/shard, p.def shouldn't be an issue .

Hollyyy - Lost City

Having been a Light Armor build until 99, i would definitely have to say that it isn't worth the risk in magic stats and will greatly affect your healing capabilities. The way i see it now, with LA, instead of having to worry about just your physical weakness you'll also have to worry about magic defense more than you need to. if its extra pdef you want, pump your gear up with a few immac garnets and call it a day.

Kurisutina - Sanctuary

AA is the way to go, Pure Magic. =3
To get your defense just shard with garnets, josd or whatever you see fit.
Use Protection ornaments and refine to get your hp. You won't be as squishy and still have a beastastic heal. ^_^

Chrisssss - Sanctuary

Its an easy build basically all mage and needed str but you can add on vit until your able to have high refined gear or have a high vit tome. Lol did see a 3.33 aps cleric though which really just failed lol but if ya bored and wanna make one.

But gotta say if ya have a high lvl main than I'd suggest all mag and needed str just cause you can speed lvl with exp stones and FCC heads, personally if ya serious about using a cleric a lot I wouldn't go that rout just cause its very important to know how your skill works and the right timing etc...., BB isn't always gonna stay up just a fyi. Every dungeon is different for clerics and what you need to do and what not its really not an easy class like how the barb is.