Cleric Training: A guide for clerics from a clerics perspective.

SerenityCNB - Dreamweaver

@LenaKitteh and Naushika: Thank you for the input, and I'll add what you stated in the guide.

WynterDawn - Archosaur

Thank you very much for the guide. While I'm new to PWI, I'm not new to MMOs. I look forward to putting knowledge to use.

Thanks again!

SerenityCNB - Dreamweaver

WynterDawn - Archosaur wrote: »

Thank you very much for the guide. While I'm new to PWI, I'm not new to MMOs. I look forward to putting knowledge to use.

Thanks again!

You're Welcome, and I'm glad that you found it helpful.

david0989

This tactic may work at earlier levels where mobs die easily, and even bad tactics work, but at later levels, this IS NOT an advisable tactic. The reason behind it is this. Clerics are a magic based class......

SerenityCNB - Dreamweaver

David. What tactic do you feel is flawed? I've played a cleric legitamately from lower to high levels. I am a level 100 cleric, so I do know what I am talking about.

Also, I'll thank you NOT to link advertisements for lost wages onto my guide that I took the time and effort to write and which several other players gave useful input to make it what it is today. If you want to post something about lost wages, you do that yourself. Don't try to piggyback off of someone else's hard work. It's less than pitiful and quite pathetic to do such a thing.

-Thanks.-

VenusArmani - Dreamweaver

SerenityCNB - Dreamweaver wrote: »

David. What tactic do you feel is flawed? I've played a cleric legitamately from lower to high levels. I am a level 100 cleric, so I do know what I am talking about.

Also, I'll thank you NOT to link advertisements for lost wages onto my guide that I took the time and effort to write and which several other players gave useful input to make it what it is today. If you want to post something about lost wages, you do that yourself. Don't try to piggyback off of someone else's hard work. It's less than pitiful and quite pathetic to do such a thing.

-Thanks.-

Just someone phishing and passing off their comment as legit. All the way from October too. :P Glad to see you're still around.

Azzazin - Dreamweaver

I'll add a pvp component to this guide eventually.

Decus - Dreamweaver

Azzazin - Dreamweaver wrote: »

I'll add a pvp component to this guide eventually.

Can't think of a better person to do so! Happy to see you involved!

Azzazin - Dreamweaver

HOW TO PK SOLO as a CLERIC - the way I do it

Information is power.

Alrighty, I'm not going to promise to hammer out all my thoughts all at once, or in a particularly organized manner; I can revise later via editing. This can be an on-going project, and if it becomes good enough, perhaps it can deserve a separate thread or sticky of its own. I believe in details, so if you can't summon enough patience to read through what I write, you don't deserve to learn anyways. I'll try to format stuff so its as easy to follow as possible.

Now, I can teach you all that I know, but I'm not going to teach all of you clerics out there how to pvp like a pro, because to honestly pk like a pro, you do need to sink some coin into your character; some serious coin. Naturally there are tactics and strategies you can employ that aren't gear-dependent, but like ANY class, to survive in pk you need a certain minimum level of gear. For example, I already employed many of the same tactics back when my gear was still under-developed that I do today (and would pull off nice surprise victories against high level assassins because of this), but when my gear got a bit better, the same tactics started achieving much more successful outcomes.

As well, as a general practice, to excel in pk you can't be worried about money all the time. In order to clear your mind for the fight ahead, you can't be worrying constantly about how much each hp pot, mana pot, defense charm, apothecary item, hp charm tick, mana charm tick, and guardian scroll are costing you. Doing so throughout the fight will slow your reaction times and prevent you from fighting as you should be able to. This can be a tough adjustment to make, and in order to make it possible, you need to have a decent amount of coin handy. PK the way its meant to be done is not cheap! And yet, if you use all of the resources available to you instantly as required, without worrying about cost, you will become a much tougher and deadlier pker for it.

As a side note, I have a lvl 101 demon cleric, and a lvl 102 sage cleric. Thus when I mention any differences between the two in terms of skills usage, I know what I'm talking about!

---

Minimum gear requirements:

-defined as the gear necessary to handle (aka, not be easily one shot or killed before you can even react) some serious pk against a range of opponents, including +10 to +12 r9 assassins, and all other r9 characters

-+10 armor and +10 or better weapon (full gear set of either rank 9 or g16), socketed as best as you can (my cleric just has r9 with immaculate hp/garnet gems atm, because I'm still aiming for better gear; if you plan on making your gearset more permanent, consider citrine or garnet gems (cheaper option) or jades of steady defense (much more expensive, but much more effective)

-physical necklace from cube; g14 minimum +10 (which I use)

-physical defense RING(s): yes, ring. Exchange 1 or both of those magic rings for +10 or better Sign of Frost: Chaos (lvl 95 ring) or Sky Cover (lvl 100 ring); preferably Sky Cover for the 2 attack lvls and slightly better refine rates. Yes, you lose a bit of magic damage. However, in exchange you get vastly more physical defense. Consider: without ornaments, your physical defense from armor and stat point alone will likely total no more than 2000, which is just not going to cut it. The addition of a +10 sign of frost: chaos to my cleric increase physical defense from 7315 buffed, to 8.8k, a % damage reduction of 4% (64% to 68%). Thats a big gain for a mere +10 lvl 95 ring; much better results achieved with +12 Sky Cover. Considering that most of the time, physical damage will be what kills you, this is a necessary sacrifice to your magic dmg if you ever want to survive long enough to kill anything. Giving up the r9 ring is probably not recommended unless you replace it with a +10 or better Sky Cover, because you do lose a lot of damage by not having r9 ring equipped. However, the sky cover will grant better survivability to physical dmg than r9 ring, which is useful when defending against a stealthed sin, or when in TW and your main role is healing only.

*Note: clerics as healers can afford to give up a considerable amount of damage in TW, if it comes with a significant survivability gain, which is something most other classes, barbs excepted, cannot do.*

-r8 reforge weapon with a stat called Purify Spell, or if you are really really wealthy, r9 3rd cast weapon (I use a r8 reforge with purify).

---

Purify Weapon

***** I CANNOT STRESS ENOUGH how game-changing having purify spell is... ONCE your gear hits the right point, you became much more difficult for dps-users to kill. *****

What does purify spell do? Each attack you receive has a 5% chance to purify all* debuffs from you, and give you 5 seconds of 200% speed and immune to stun/immobilize/sleep/slow. What does this mean? When your gear is good enough to survive a number of hits, you can start relying on your weapon to get you out of sticky situations, provided you employ the right tactics. More on how to use a purify weapon will come later.

*Not all debuffs are purifiable. And I'm not talking about being unable to purify because you are stunned or sealed, I'm talking about buffs that can't be purified by any means, period. When you encounter these debuffs, you want to ensure you don't waste time and chi trying to purify them; instead, depending on the debuff, you will react in other ways.

Debuffs which cannot be purified:

Archer:
-Arrow Inferno (the debuff increases charm cooldown by 3s and decreases hp recovery from hp pots by 20%)

Cleric:
-Seal of the Gods (15 second debuff which both seals and immobilizes, while also giving target 90% dmg reduction... more on this skill later)
-Magical Shackles (a MORAI skill; each time target uses a skill, has 30% chance to take physical damage equal to the base magic dmg of the cleric who used the skill... more on this skill later)
-Aurora Array and Absorbing Array (MORAI skills; Aurora Array is aoe, whereas Absorbing Array is single target with lower cooldown; both skills produce a debuff which absorbs healing from charm or hp pots or apoths; this debuff cannot be 'purified' in the usual sense, but the debuff can be removed if enough hp is recovered via charm and hp pots used by target... more on this later)

Barbarian:
-Berserker's Rage/Wrath (can produce a debuff which will prevent target(s) from being able to fly for 30 seconds)
-Raging Slap (produces a 6 second debuff that prevents you from targeting anybody else except the barb who used the skill on you)

Venomancer:
-Bewitch (essentially a debuff that acts like a seal but isn't a seal, because using anti-seal genie skills does not prevent this skill from working; prevents you from doing anything with skills for 6 seconds)
-Soul Link/Soul Shatter (its kinda a debuff; a little mob is linked to you, and any damage that the mob takes is transferred directly and instantly to you)

Assassin:
-Death Link/Death Chain (some of the damage the assassin takes gets transferred to you, except for damage you do to the assassin, which won't get bounced back to you)

Psychic:
-Diminished Vigor: (similar to Arrow Inferno, increases charm cooldown and effectiveness of hp pots and heals)
-Soulburn (every time you use a skill, for 8s, you take damage equal to the psychic's soulforce... very nasty skill)

Mystic:
-Transfusion/Sublime Transfusion (a portion of the healing you receive [can be your own heals] gets redirected to the mystic who cast the skill on you)

Tips on getting r8 reforge weapon:

-set up a buy catshop near the faction base in Archosaur
-let the main factions on your server that participate in trials know that you are buying at competitive prices
-participating in faction trials of your own---this will give you the opportunity to collect mats like damascene ores (necessary to reforge your r8 wep as you try and get purify) that disappear if you leave faction base.

*****ONCE AGAIN, having a r8 reforge weapon is CRUCIAL to surviving against assassins. If you do not consider obtaining a purify weapon, then you will be unable to utilize this guide to its full extent. My cleric is able to survive situations clerics with full jades cannot survive, due primarily to the purify stat on weapon.*****

---

Suggested gear:

-defined as gear that could be replaced with other options without game-changing impacts, but which has features that make it more desirable than the rest of the available gears

-on my cleric, I sacrifice 50 magic points in order to equip a light armor g16 helm, thus granting me ~1000 more hp than an equally-geared but arcane-helmed cleric. I decided this was an excellent defensive trade-off, because when we divide 1000 hp/50 stat points, it comes out to 20 hp/stat point. This is a better trade-off than barbs get when they allocate vitality points, and is twice as good as if those 50 points sacrificed were placed directly into vitality, which would yield only 500 hp on a cleric. Again, a cleric can afford to sacrifice some damage in order to get better defensive results.

-Matchless Wings (robe): has all the things clerics need in abundance: +speed, +physical defense, +hp, +def level, physical dmg reduction. I compared Matchless Wings to the g16 light armor robe (having 2 pieces would give 700 bonus hp) and concluded that I prefered the physical defense over the extra hp. Unfortunately, the dexterity points on the robe would not be very useful to a cleric, leaving 2 of the 4 stats not very good. In a comparison of stats with similar survivability in each case, I prefer the stats with lower hp and higher defense, since it makes it easier to keep yourself healed.

-the obvious: if you can afford r9 2nd or 3rd cast, you will see leaps and bounds in all of your stats defensive and offensive. Highly recommended if you can afford it.

---

Other Requirements:

1. HP Charm: please never enter pk without a hp charm equipped... at least not as a cleric. About the only classes that might conceivably get away with no charm would be full jades +12 r9 barb, or lvl 105 assassins who never leave stealth! Needless to say, a cleric neither has 40k hp nor stealth. Put the charm on.

2. MP Charm: if you truly want to excel, a mana charm is a MUST! Unlike other arcanes, simply hitting mana pots every now and then is not sufficient, because via the effects of Plume Shell, mana becomes a cleric's second pool of life. Without a mana charm, a dps user will drain your mana dry within mere seconds or less, leaving you unable to do anything useful with your skills.

3. Defense charms: Get both the physical and magic defense charms (called Mystic Armor Charm and Charm of Defense, respectively). If you've never used these before, here's how they work. You manufacture them (lvl 8 apothecary required) by trading Perfect Stones at a high lvl apothecary master (I use the one in Snowy Village) under the Charms tab. For example, if you click a Charm of Defense, the next magic attack to hit you will only do 50% of the damage it would have otherwise done. Needless to say, very useful. The magic and physical defense charms share a cooldown of 10 seconds, so make sure you click the right one according to whatever class you are fighting against. To excel, you should: (a) have a physical and magic defense charm clicked (takes 20 seconds to have both of them clicked and cooled down again), and (b) click defense charms throughout a fight whenever the person you are fighting potentially hits you for over half your hp (which can happen when you fight r9 +12 anything).

4. Apothecary items: Keep your inventory well stocked with the ones you'll use most often.

-Ironguard Powder -> lvl 90 apoth often used with genie skill Fortify to get 12 seconds of stun-free immune to damage. Obviously excellent as a defensive move, or when launching a surprise offensive when the enemy thinks you are vulnerable.
-Pan Gu's Essence -> available only if you are in a faction with a lvl 6 apothecary wing: 8 seconds of immune-to-damage with no side effects like ironguard powder has
-Shadow Binder Powder -> lvl 90 apoth which is one of the best offensive AND defensive apoths available to any class, not to mention cleric. This apoth gives 15 seconds of 100% speed AND stun resist. Since being slow is one of a cleric's biggest drawbacks, this apoth is amazing, and much better than vacuity powder, which only gives 20 seconds of stun resist. Used properly this apoth not only prevents the stun, it turns a fight into your favor for 15 seconds, allowing you to keep up from a running enemy, or escape from a pursuer.
-Dew of Star Protection -> sometimes used when you want to fool the enemy into thinking you are going to be easy to kill; the problem with ironguard powder is that people run from you when you use it. However since dew of star, used on a cleric (you'll have your own physical and magic defense buffs in place), is much less noticeable (you have to spot the 'increased physical defense' buff) you can avoid this problem. As well, when combined with a purify weapon, the enemy will hit you a number of times before realizing you have an apoth in (if a dps-user), which increases the likelihood of getting a purify, and thus allowing you to quickly kite and then fire a few attacks off.
-Zooming Thunder Powder -> great for a surprise attack which you think will have a high likelihood of quickly killing enemy; gives 6s of zero channeling on skills like Tempest, Razor Feathers, and Wield Thunder (long channeling skills that are often avoided in a pk fight by enemy because of how long they take to channel)
-White Tea -> regain 2 sparks; essential in TW (use one each time you rez back at base) and in pk can be used to triple spark a 2 spark skill like Tempest.

---

Necessary Skills and their Uses:

-defined as skills that you will use all the time if you are in pk, which you must have in order to excel

Short answer: nearly all skills are necessary in various situations. However, some skills certainly see a lot more use than others. Exactly which skills you tend to use the most will also depend to some extent on whether you are demon or sage, of course.

It is not my job to tell you what the skills do, just how to use them. In some cases I'll point out the differences between sage and demon, and how that affects gameplay, though.

Defensive Skills:

Vanguard Spirit:

One of the biggest advantages a sage cleric has in terms of surviving assassins and other dps-users is the fact that sage vanguard spirit increases physical defense by 100% for 10 seconds.

Now I know what you demon clerics are saying: 'we can get that too, we just use stream of rejuvenation'. True enough; however in practice, stream of rejuvenation takes far too long to channel and cast (assuming you have g16 or r9 armor in) if your sole aim is to get the physical defense buff.

If you are fighting a stealthed assassin, you want to use this skill and ironheart blessing, along with plume shell, while waiting for the assassin to make his move. More on the exact tactics will follow later in this guide.

Plume Shell:

Used very frequently in any fight against a physical damager, and especially dps-users. In fact, it should be put in nearly on cooldown if you are under attack and cannot sleep the enemy or otherwise avoid getting hit. When your gear is good enough, plume shell used properly can greatly increase your chances of getting a purify before you die when being attacked by a dps sin or bm.

Plume shell is a very very powerful skill, but how good it works for you all depends on how long you can keep your mana full. When your mana runs out, so does the shell. Thus, whenever you have plume shell in, you should make a habit of hitting 5,000 mana pots made from tokens. This, combined with a mana charm, will essentially give you far more than your roughly 9,000 to 10,000 mana as extra life.

An example: a 5,000 mana pot recovers 2,500 mana within 5 seconds, 5 seconds being the cooldown of mana charm. Assuming you have 10,000 mana, your mana charm will tick at 75% (2,500 mana), giving you a actual pool of 12,500 mana. Now, if you click a mana pot right before an assassin stuns you, that pool is increased to 15,000 (when the mana charm will tick again). Since your mana pool is taking (sage, 85%) of the damage, and its 1 mana point per hp of damage, 85/15000 = 100/x ; x = 17,600 damage. This is the amount of damage a bm or assassin has to do in 5 seconds to completely wipe out your mana pool before the shell runs out. Now, if you have decent physical defense, first of all, the odds of the sin breaking your mana pool are fairly low. Secondly, the sin is apsing on you this entire time, so that the likelihood that you get a purify from your weapon is very good. I'll get into more later on what to do when your purify weapon procs.

Sage absorbs 85% dmg (as opposed to 80% for demon) whereas demon costs 15 chi (as opposed to 30 for sage). I give demon the slight edge here. When your gear is good enough, 80% or 85% doesn't really matter; how long you can hold onto your mana pool is what decides if the plume shell works for you or not. Thus in a drawn out battle, the 15 chi saved over repeated uses is probably going to be more useful.

Ironheart Blessing:

I hardly need to mention this, but this is the skill you will use more than anything else, enough to term it a spam skill.

Example: While waiting for a stealthed assassin to make his move, this skill can be spammed between plume shell and vanguard spirit cooldowns.

Sage recovers additional 10% hp, while demon recovers a negligible amount of mana to the target of the heal. Your barb tank in pve may love you for demon ironheart, but for pk, sage ironheart has the clear advantage.

Purify:

While vanguard spirit, plume shell, and ironheart blessing can all be used while waiting for the enemy to attack, purify gets much more use once the enemy has actually attacked. The following is a list of debuffs you should, in most cases, immediately purify (and will be able to purify). Naturally, you cannot use the purify skill when stunned, slept, or sealed.

Movement Debuffs:

immobilize: for example, if an assassin uses Tackling Slash, you will be stuck in place for 9 seconds (and vulnerable to a stun lock if he uses his seal skill called Throatcut right afterwards). Purify immediately upon receiving the immobilize, and his seal will still land on you, but you'll be able to run away; once the 4 second seal falls off you are back in business again.

***WARNING***: Better assassins may start with the seal from Throatcut, and then Tackling Slash you as you run away. This gives them about 2 seconds of stun lock, and then you are still immobilized. If this happens, you either (a) use plume shell if it is not in already, or you (b) purify if plume shell is still in. We can assume that a sin this good will not be attacking you without tidal protection and deaden nerves in, so it is highly risky to stay in melee range with the assassin without purifying the immobilize and running away.

Slow: may or may not need to be purified immediately, depending on the situation. Knowing when to purify or not purify a sleep takes experience, but here are some examples of both situations.

Purify slow debuff immediately if: you have just used Chromatic Seal (if sage) and you are running to put distance between you and your target (because you don't want to waste 10 seconds running at uber slow speed); if you have multiple slows stacking on you and you can barely move (eg, mystics Nature's Vengeance stacking with any other slow skill). Also, any situation where an arcane is hitting you from near their max range, and you want to kite without relying on holy path from genie to overcome the slow, a purify would be acceptable (though heals might work just fine too in most cases).

Probably can wait: if a barb or bm uses a

Amily_Alaine - Raging Tide

Nice Guide ^^

Decus - Dreamweaver

Azzazin - Dreamweaver wrote: »

HOW TO PK SOLO as a CLERIC - the way I do it

This is really great work Azz. Thanks for taking the time to add it in. We were sorely lacking in-depth info for PvP.




Bump (yea I know it's a sticky, whatever) to update the guide when possible!

Azzazin - Dreamweaver

Getting to it, getting to it lol.

Azzazin - Dreamweaver

Booooo... I added a bunch of content to the guide and it appears the forums was cutting it off; so when I saved I lost a bunch of it that I had written at the bottom. I have moved the guide into a thread of its own; my updates will keep it bumped and perhaps when its completed per my satisfaction, I'll get it stickied. Anyways, see

http://pwi-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=1517521

for all further updates to my pk guide.

Azzazin

SerenityCNB - Dreamweaver

Azzazin - Dreamweaver wrote: »

Booooo... I added a bunch of content to the guide and it appears the forums was cutting it off; so when I saved I lost a bunch of it that I had written at the bottom. I have moved the guide into a thread of its own; my updates will keep it bumped and perhaps when its completed per my satisfaction, I'll get it stickied. Anyways, see

http://pwi-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=1517521

for all further updates to my pk guide.

Azzazin

Nice job on your guide. I'm just seeing it sadly. I haven't been on as often lately. Doing other things in real life, so I haven't really been on the forums much. I appreciate your efforts on it, and you did an awesome job on your guide. Congratulations on the sticky.

Sidenote: I think that what I did to avoid the annoying cutoff was to copy and paste the guide via microsoft word. It's been a while since I did it, so I'm not certain, but I believe that was the tactic that I employed to avoid that cutoff on these forums boards....and why I haven't needed any additional space. b:laughb:victory

SerenityCNB - Dreamweaver

VenusArmani - Dreamweaver wrote: »

Just someone phishing and passing off their comment as legit. All the way from October too. :P Glad to see you're still around.

Yup. I'm still around, just mostly inactive at the moment. I hope to change that though. Lol. I had some serious lag issues when I last played....so much so that I could no longer effectively run any bh without risking my team. Been dealing with some real life issues as of late, and trying to get things taken of. Soon, this cleric hopes to make a return...especially since the new sirens of war update. Lol.

Congrats on becoming a mod too Venus. b:laughb:thanksb:victory

SerenityCNB - Dreamweaver

Amily_Alaine - Raging Tide wrote: »

Nice Guide ^^

Thank you. b:laughb:victoryb:thanks

shasha92

iam cleric lvl 62....my mag is 205 with extra mag on my armor...vit 72...str 54 dex 10....my weapon still using the 48 weapon lvl cos i cant afford to buy or craft my own...anyone can help me or give advise for me thanksb:cryb:cry

SerenityCNB - Dreamweaver

Ok. Firstly, since it seems that you are not a LA or HA build, don't add any more dex. Honestly, if you can reset it, I would...because if you're not putting in dex for LA, or HA you really don't need it. Secondly, I'd leave my str. at 54 where it is. You've done good there. You're a bit high in vit in my opinion, but if that works for you, then go with that. (A dead cleric heals no one after all....and its your build not mines. )

Now, in regard to your level, I'll tell you something about me and my cleric. I didn't find out how to AOE grind until late level 80's, and had white armor...or at the most...blue or purple gear until I hit my 70's...exempting the level 50 glaive that was given to me by a friend and a level 60 magic sword that was given to me by 2 other friends. (Thanks to the barb that trained me, the bm that trained me, and the traditionally LA cleric until you restatted to AA cleric that trained me as well...and thanks to all three of you for giving me your old gear and teaching me how to get my own. You know who you are. Lol.)

Ways you can make coin: Do quests. Seriously, I know that the xp reward sucks, but the extra coin helps a lot at that level. Even white gear up to level can do the job.

Grind: Kill mobs, or AOE kill them and sell the drops. It may seem stressful, but you'll get your gear.

Meditate: I can't stress this one enough. If you're grinding, doing a non timed quest...take the time to meditate. I meditated up until I got sage spirits gift...so please...spare yourself the cost of unnecessary mana pots and meditate.

Spare the hp pots: Should go without saying, but just in case, you're a cleric...so don't use hp pots if you don't really need to. They're nice to have in an instance run...but I often have them as my "Oh ****!!" button if things are about to hit the fan and my heals alone cannot keep up. (Like when my barb heart takes over and I start tanking wyvern and he debuffs me...yeah....I can't really heal my squishy AA self through that, keep tanking, and purify at the same time, so I hp pot that as I'm purifying.) You don't have that issue, so save the hp pots for when you really need it and rely upon your own heals for the most part.

Team up with friends who are willing to help you, and try to see if you all can work together for a similar cause. Not everyone is up to gear, so thats a tactic that can help a lot of you at once and prove to be fun.

Ask for help or an older weapon ingame: This one is risky as its a double edged sword, and will likely turn some people off from you. However if you kindly explain your situation and ask for help EARNING a weapon, then some people will be more likely to help you. At your level you can equip a TT60 weapon, so ask for help with that and earn the pieces that you need to craft it...but DO EXPLAIN BEFORE THE RUN BEGINS, in group chat that your weapon is undergeared...that way they can get a second cleric or mystic if need be, and you won't be blamed for weak heals. (One of a clerics most important attributes is their rep, so you don't want to deface that...for example...I tell anyone that I run the higher level TT's with that Emp can one shot me, as can Belial, but I'll do my best...but I'd get a second cleric if I was them. People know that my gear isn't as good as others (TT90, with a TT99 green weapon), and I'm still invited anyways because of my good reputation and skill at being a cleric. I've survived where higher refined r8/nirvy geared clerics have fallen. They just make sure that if its a one shot situation, they get someone that's not a one shot too. Lol.) I'm saying this to remind you that though your gear is important...skill is more important and can still compensate for gear some. That said, those are a few tips towards earning coin. Pick up every coin you find. Pick up drops and sell them. It adds up. I hope that helps. Take care in game and good luck with it. You can do it.

"TT60 Ancient Arbor is the weapon you want. Remember that until you hit 70...then you want TT70 gear.


Edit: Saying your server name, and cleric name may help too in getting a squad or help.

XXkillergodx - Heavens Tear

hey guys this is a little info for all of us mages ,new and old. invest in the apoth craft because of a powder ,and other things, that lets you go faster than normal, for a limited amount of time of course. that way if you use your holy path at a bad moment or your genies energy is still low or your genie doesn't have the skill, you can use that apoth item and get a fair distance away, or closer, of your target. the first speed item should be easy for you to make. If someone else said this or the guide mentioned this, i probably didn't noticed it or i was lazy to ready everything. bye. b:bye b:avoid

Zero_Phoenix - Dreamweaver

Was browsing forums for tips in 3-2, 3-3, and noticed that the videos you have of 3-2 aren't there anymore. =/

Went through your other links, and:

> your illustration of RB in FC is...ah, no longer there?
> All Cleric Caster Nirvana video is private
> AoE grinding video is gone
> Nowitsawn's BB "tip" is broken

If you were already aware of this, then sorry for bringing it up again and feel free to ignore this post!

On the other hand, I think this is a great guide, Serenity. A bit too wordy at times--pictures would be lovely.

You didn't mention much about debuffs, however, but I would agree that they aren't that much of a priority. But clerics have the second best MDef debuff! And I rarely ever see BMs use Glacial Spike anyway.

EDIT: Just noticed that the last comments were about a year ago... ^__^;;

deadcalm22

i'm cleirc lvl 87 i got 105 str and 64 vit and the rest on magic is that build ok or no?

Xx_BeLLa_xX - Harshlands

deadcalm22 wrote: »

i'm cleirc lvl 87 i got 105 str and 64 vit and the rest on magic is that build ok or no?

No unless you plan to be HA (Heavy armor), if you use Arcane armor (AA) buy a reset note and reset the str and put it in magic (or vit if you feel like it, but not in dex), you don't need more then 54~55 str to wear the end game gears.

deadcalm22

Xx_BeLLa_xX - Harshlands wrote: »

No unless you plan to be HA (Heavy armor), if you use Arcane armor (AA) buy a reset note and reset the str and put it in magic (or vit if you feel like it, but not in dex), you don't need more then 54~55 str to wear the end game gears.

ok thanks i think i will buy reset note then

HrunsPanda - Archosaur

Wow what a long story.

The only thing that i would like to teach all newbie clerics (and unforunately many not so new ones) is to understand the effect of IH. It heals over 15 seconds. That means while it can be used to refill someones HPs, its true strength is in negating the damage someone gets. For that, you need to cast it before the damage starts comming in and cast it again even if the player is still (or again) at full health. However, it also means that you dont have to keep casting it until the player is at full health unless he is receiving lots of damage. So when multiple players are receiving damage, you can IH them each, 1 after the other. And maybe have the one who needs some more healing twice. Use paterns like: IH player A, IH playerB, IH player A, IH player C, IH player A, IH player B etc... where A is the one who receives most damage. Dont just look at the HP bars and IH the one that is lowest because you will be delayed and chasing after the facts of reality instead of anticipating and understanding what is happening around you.

And LA clerics... ? I wouldnt put that in a guide. AA barbs are even a more logical choise and i dont know any of those.

Sakubatou - Sanctuary

deadcalm22 wrote: »

i'm cleirc lvl 87 i got 105 str and 64 vit and the rest on magic is that build ok or no?

As stated above, 55 strength is the most a cleric needs for G16 AA gear.

I wouldn't really bother reseting until you are near 100 and can plan your endgame gear out based on your own personal resources (r9? r9t3? G16? Morai? TT99/G15?...) and stat your strength around that. End game cleric's can get by with about 35 base strength and 20 more strength from gear adds.

The other reason you may want to wait for endgame is so you have a feeling on whether you want to keep vit or not. My opinion, and that of many other clerics, is that vit is not needed. Many more suggest a few points in vit while leveling but when you get to 100 and decent refines you can stat it out. And the some just like having vit, even if they already have 15k hp from gear refines and vit only adds a couple hundred more. Its a personal choice based on what you plan to do with your cleric. You can find plenty of forum discussions debating it. My point is if you wait till 100 and put basic refines on your gear (+5) you may decide 64 vit is 61 too high, or decide you'd rather kill faster or heal better and restat out a little.

SerenityCNB - Dreamweaver

Hello all. I know that my guide is a bit outdated now due to a lot of changes. I'll try to update it as I can, but due to having an unstable connection (think I've finally got it stable enough to run a bh and not endanger my squad by having a high chance of dc'ing) I'm presently having difficulty in most instances and haven't really been on here a lot. I've also had quite a few real life issues that needed to be taken care of which have kept me away. Been gone for over a year now and aside from a few random points, I have not had a chance to play. So as I can, and as I get a better understanding of a lot of the newer and changed aspects of the game, I will try to replace any misinformation, and add anything new.

With that said, to all who are reading the guide.

Newer clerics: You've got it a bit easier than we did before. There is an npc that gives a free charm up until level 60 I believe. Those who have the choice, I personally recommend the hp charm as survival takes place of mp, and being able to survive a few bouts of random aggro or accidential aggro is much more important than what a mp potion can take care of provided you manage it properly. You'll also keep your squad alive better if you're not dead as well. Lol.

Clerics seeking endgame gear: OHT gear was once a cheap and viable option. Still is as far as pve is concerned, though at this point I do not recommend it.

Warsoul which was once virtually unobtainable seems to be obtainable now, and it stats are high.

TT90/99: like my armor still is... =__= Seems to be good enough to survive in MOST pve instances. You won't survive in nation wars however.

G13 Lunar Nirvana /G15 Lunar Nirvana. Lunar is great endgame gear especially once it becomes G15. At G15, it is known for its defensive stats. I'd recommend this gear if you like farming lunar a lot and don't mind the fee. At G15, I believe that it has +xx defense levels. This is also good for surviving in pvp as you will be targeted as a cleric.

G13 TT/HH Nirvana --/--G15 TT/HH Nirvana: TT gear is the other optional path aside from Lunar Nirvana. Those of us who made the (once mistake) of getting the TT99 green mirage only to find out we could not nirvana it now can by getting the TT99 gold pataka, and nirvana'ing it to the nirvana weapon of your choice. Remember that gold gear binds, so if your blacksmith level is not high enough, do NOT equip that gold weapon until you can get a trusted friend to nirvana it for you up to second cast G15. Same applies for gold armor in TT. Make sure that your armorsmith level is high enough or get a friend to second cast it. The beauty of TTG15 is that you get + xx attack levels. I personally have the G15 glaive because I thought I'd get that +16-17 vit, the high magic add ons, and the channeling, and well....I didn't get it. Still a good weapon though. Still kills good. Just didn't have the add ons that I thought that it would. Now personally, since I don't pvp aside from nation wars, we all die anyways so I try to deal as much damage as possible, so the +40 attack is nice where I'm coming from. I'd go lunar, but I don't like the fee of it....so TT is more desirable for my personal preferences. Note that as a cleric, you TYPICALLY want to strive to upgrade your armor first. As I said, I'm wielding a G15 Nirvana glaive with a perfect shard in and running around clad in TT90 green armor. This IS NOT the typical way to go. I've done so, because I've been grinding spiders to make money due to my horrible connection. So for me, being able to kill them all with a tempest and gaining more money to gear up was preferable to risking dying as my connection went out and my character stood there doing nothing. Squad play, your armor needs to be up to par, before your weapon does. as a TT99 green weapon can heal any instance. Surviving that hit is more important. That said, you typically need to upgrade your gear first, but that is situational.

NOTE regarding G15 Lunar and G15 TT: Now I may be mistaken, but you DO NOT get the + attack levels of TT or the + defense levels of Lunar with just one piece. You need to get several pieces of them. I think that for G15 Lunar and TT, you can get a total of 20? You can mix and match TT and lunar to get a mix of both attack levels and defense levels.

G16: Full TT nirvana gets +40 attack levels, whereas full Lunar gets +40 defense levels. From what I've read, this gear is astounding, and is much greater than even G15. It is the best healing weapon that you can get aside from R9 recast, third cast...or whatever it is now. You have to get lucky with the mold drops, but once you get it, its worth it. This is one of the true completionist endgame gears.

R8r: Its shining attribute is that purify proc. Worth it I guess. I have no experience with it, but it is good gear.

R9r/3rd cast/whatever cast it is: Expensive...Very Expensive....EXREMELY EXPENSIVE...but the most powerful gear in the game.

For Nation wars, remember that a lot of your contribution points come from attacking, so don't just heal. Kick @** and take names. Its one of few times that you'll be able to do it as a cleric. Lol.

Still getting back in the game, but that's some of the information that I've acquired. Hopefully that helps, and I will do my best to upgrade this guide as I can. (Hopefully no d/c failures. Lol.)

SerenityCNB - Dreamweaver

HrunsPanda - Archosaur wrote: »

Wow what a long story.

The only thing that i would like to teach all newbie clerics (and unforunately many not so new ones) is to understand the effect of IH. It heals over 15 seconds. That means while it can be used to refill someones HPs, its true strength is in negating the damage someone gets. For that, you need to cast it before the damage starts comming in and cast it again even if the player is still (or again) at full health. However, it also means that you dont have to keep casting it until the player is at full health unless he is receiving lots of damage. So when multiple players are receiving damage, you can IH them each, 1 after the other. And maybe have the one who needs some more healing twice. Use paterns like: IH player A, IH playerB, IH player A, IH player C, IH player A, IH player B etc... where A is the one who receives most damage. Dont just look at the HP bars and IH the one that is lowest because you will be delayed and chasing after the facts of reality instead of anticipating and understanding what is happening around you.

And LA clerics... ? I wouldnt put that in a guide. AA barbs are even a more logical choise and i dont know any of those.

Regarding what you say about IH, I agree with this and that is very close to my method of healing. Its better to be proactive than reactive, so IH'ing people who are potential aggro threats is wise before they do take aggro. That way you can avoid a potential crisis...i.e. sins that have the weapon, but not the defense to tank it...AA classes that AOE, but can't take the hits without heals. Be wise in what you do. Don't heal the leeroy jenkins wizard that is endangering the squad just because he wants to AOE, but do keep focus on your squad if they're functioning properly. People will inevitably take aggro, so tossing a random heal here and there is advisable. I agree completely with what you're saying there and as it is my method of healing, I support it.

Regarding LA clerics, as I said before I do know a few LA clerics, and one of them helped teach me a lot when I was leveling up and still lower leveled. I put it because it IS a viable build, and people DO use it. One of the beautiful things about Perfect World is that you can stat and gear to your preferences. ARCANE ARMOR IS NOT FOR EVERY CLERIC PLAYER. Some people will perform better with that extra pdef...even at the cost of reduced magic defense and reduced magic attack. What works for one will not necessarily work for another. Some clerics will have an easier time with an Arcane Armor build, others will perform better with LA. Some are even HA. Some are vitality build. What seems illogical to you may be a completely viable build for another player. The cleric that showed the ropes early on in this game had no real problem surviving, and when I reached an equal level as him, and squadded with him, we were both able to survive and fully heal. Both of us were known as great clerics and called upon for this reason. One of the importances of being a cleric is being able to survive. LA does provide that in terms of its greater pdef. The increases stats in strength required to wear it mean more pdef also, and the dex required for it means a somewhat better critical hit rate. As long as the LA cleric can still heal their squad, the build is still a viable one.

Sakubatou - Sanctuary

SerenityCNB - Dreamweaver wrote: »

I put it because it IS a viable build, and people DO use it. One of the beautiful things about Perfect World is that you can stat and gear to your preferences.

I personally would start with the proven standard, then branch out into obscurity and preference. Telling a new cleric that LA is viable is only true if they have excessive refines on their weapon and don't add to vit, and even then they'll still have weaker heals than most clerics.

I prefer cleric's learn to heal and survive without a gear crutch, then branch to vitality or LA or HA as a personal preference of what works for them. That way they know what full heals look and feel like, and they know how to use their shields to survive or how to avoid heal aggro, all before they start throwing gear at the problem rather than learning the class.

So for an endgame concept its fine, but how does a cleric know what will work for them or what they prefer until they've tried the other options? Specifically the main option that most their entire server will prefer.

ovenusarmanio

Sakubatou - Sanctuary wrote: »

I personally would start with the proven standard, then branch out into obscurity and preference. Telling a new cleric that LA is viable is only true if they have excessive refines on their weapon and don't add to vit, and even then they'll still have weaker heals than most clerics.

I prefer cleric's learn to heal and survive without a gear crutch, then branch to vitality or LA or HA as a personal preference of what works for them. That way they know what full heals look and feel like, and they know how to use their shields to survive or how to avoid heal aggro, all before they start throwing gear at the problem rather than learning the class.

So for an endgame concept its fine, but how does a cleric know what will work for them or what they prefer until they've tried the other options? Specifically the main option that most their entire server will prefer.

I recently made a new cleric on HT, and I made it pure, and I honestly cannot play it. I hate pure clerics. It does not suit my playstyle at all. I've adapted, I have not died. But I cannot stand it, it's terrible for my playstyle and has forced me to play differently. It has taken all of the joy of clericing out of the game for me, despite the fact that I hadn't played one in a very long time and started as a pure from scratch on this cleric. I kinda want to delete the cleric I hate it so much. It looks like my cleric, has the same preset. I can play like a pure no problem. But I hate it with a passion, and kinda just want to be rid of the whole thing. I don't think it's fair to say no guides should include how to do an explanation of how to do experimental builds correctly from level 1. If someone knows what they want to do, instead of just what other people like, I think it would be helpful to give them tips on how to do it. Just because you don't like it, or you prefer to squad with pures, that doesn't mean a guide should force clerics to cater to other people's likes first and foremost. It should include strengths and tips for all the different types of clerics. And many people do know what they prefer, because they have an idea of what they what they want to do before they do it. And look for guides to help them go about it.

Fonyan - Heavens Tear

oVenusArmanio wrote: »

I recently made a new cleric on HT, and I made it pure, and I honestly cannot play it. I hate pure clerics. It does not suit my playstyle at all. I've adapted, I have not died. But I cannot stand it, it's terrible for my playstyle and has forced me to play differently. It has taken all of the joy of clericing out of the game for me, despite the fact that I hadn't played one in a very long time and started as a pure from scratch on this cleric. I kinda want to delete the cleric I hate it so much. It looks like my cleric, has the same preset. I can play like a pure no problem. But I hate it with a passion, and kinda just want to be rid of the whole thing. I don't think it's fair to say no guides should include how to do an explanation of how to do experimental builds correctly from level 1. If someone knows what they want to do, instead of just what other people like, I think it would be helpful to give them tips on how to do it. Just because you don't like it, or you prefer to squad with pures, that doesn't mean a guide should force clerics to cater to other people's likes first and foremost. It should include strengths and tips for all the different types of clerics. And many people do know what they prefer, because they have an idea of what they what they want to do before they do it. And look for guides to help them go about it.

What build was your original cleric? I made a pure one recently too and can't say I'm digging it. It's still in the 30's so I may be able to switch it up without completely **** it over.