Cayeon's Guide on Full Attack Clerics

In the beginning, leveling will always be very hard for a cleric. Not necessarily because of your HP, but rather because of your low physical defense and your rather short attack range. At level 1, Plume Shot goes over 18.4 meters, while at level 10, you can stand 26.5 meters away, which makes a huge difference. In the higher levels, you'll be standing far enough to kill, or almost kill, the mob before it can reach you, but in the lower levels, you'll take a few more hits, especially at ranged physical mobs like Werewolven Marksmen and the Quillhogs (no idea what they're called in PW-INT). Many people get desperate in these levels and put some VIT, but that won't make any difference at all.

Once you passed this early stage (level 1-30), you will see that you won't have any difficulties to survive. Clerics get better over time, so no, there won't be any such 'hell levels' anymore.

I think you can compare a cleric to a wizard in terms of raw damage. It's about the same, except that a wizard has a wider offensive skill array to choose from. Other than that, wizards are inferior to clerics in pretty much every aspect. Clerics can buff, heal, debuff (sleep, paralyze, defense debuffs), decrease their physical damage taken to only 20% by putting up plume shell, and attack physically instead of only magically - all of which wizards are not capable of. Hence wizards are one of the weakest classes in the game, with the smallest overall usability, and generally the worst PvP capabilities. So yes, clerics are much 'stronger' than wizards.

Until level 60+ maybe, you're almost always going to grind alone, no matter which build or class you are. Except for AoE, the real grinding parties don't start until 75+ at the butterflies west of Dream Weaver Port. Before that, parties are only for FB and HH really. I did indeed have some difficulties getting into them, but not more so than any archer or wizard. That's just because there is always a lack of healers and tanks, and a surplus of damage dealers. But don't worry, if you have a good guild or some friends, you'll have no problem getting into the parties.

Financial issues, yes. Clerics are the most expensive class to level, but luckily you're not going to heal, so it should not be exactly as bad as support clerics. Still, be prepared to sometimes consume 100k + worth of pots if you're going to FB/HH. For this, you can refer to the MP management section of my guide. Other than for MP, you won't spend any more money than other classes.

About your questions, thundercrash: To unlock the party buffs, you'll have to max its corresponding single buff first. They don't have any different effects, except that they affect the whole party of course, and they max already at level 1. But since you already have the single buffs, there is no need to get the party buffs anymore.

You've understood correctly that HP is more recommended in the lower levels, and will be switched to + MAG / + critical later. This is because critical and MAG almost don't make a difference until 40+, but they're getting more effective over the levels. VIT/HP in contrast, always add the same value. But in the end, those are just recommendations based on these facts - it's still your choice when to go with which bonus stat. While you're playing, you'll easily find out what you need most.

At level 27, you normally don't have to rely on grinding yet. Your quests should run out somewhere in your late 30s, and from then on, grinding will gradually take over. As you can see, chapter 6 ''Where and how to level'' in my guide indicates the specific mobs at which you can level after your quests don't give you 100% anymore.

But, in case you really have to grind before then, I suggest you take a look at these sites to help you find a good place:

http://www.pwdatabase.com/

http://pw.rob-soft.com/m1in.php

You can search the mobs by specific criteria, and check the coordinates where you can find them ingame.


PS: Thank you dvorak for the sticky!

Fisyr, personally, I'd start over. Even though it may hurt, a Full Attack Cleric should not level his heals, especially not Blessing of the Purehearted. Leveling to 17 again usually won't take more than a day, if you already know what to do.

But well, if that's really not an option for you, let Blessing of the Purehearted at the level it is now, and concentrate on your offensive skills. Thunderball isn't needed until 60+, but the rest of your skills look fine. Make sure you keep Cyclone and Plume Shot at the maximum, and if possible, Vanguard Spirit and Plume Shell as well.

Ironheart Blessing is the only heal that a Full Attack Cleric could consider leveling. Until level 60 or so, you can heal yourself just fine with pots and Wellspring Surge level 1 (required for Purify), but once you maxed your offensive spells and have some surplus SP, Ironheart Blessing can be a pretty useful skill to have. In it can save you lots of HP pots and enables you to regenerate yourself while attacking.


heaven123,
If you're really looking forward to play as secondary healer in parties, I'm not very sure if a Full Attack Cleric is the right class to play for you.

A Full Attack Cleric will always act as damage dealer in the parties, except when they see that the other clerics' heals can't keep up - then they may throw in some Ironheart Blessing once in a while, but that's it. Leveling Ironheart Blessing as Full Attack is only for convenience in PvP/PvE so you don't have to use HP pots, and can solo some bosses where a hiero might otherwise be required.

The skills points sure do work out, but the earlier you level support skills, the more focus you draw away from your Full Attack build. Even in the later levels, I'd recommend to stay away from all heals except Ironheart Blessing (and maybe Wellspring Surge as quick emergency heal in PvP), so you don't end up being a supporter.

The flight mastery skill isn't worth leveling, in my opinion. As you know, it only works with the white wings, which you won't use forever. As soon as you can afford it, you'll probably buy some of the faster cash shop wings, so all SP you put into flight mastery will be wasted.

About your food for thought:

1. I like this concept, but it also made me think also what I'm thinking is that this is a fatal flaw by the developers, because logic says, clerics shouldn't out-damage when it comes to ranged magical attacks.

Indeed. Clerics are, compared to the other classes, much more powerful here than in most games. In my opinion though, the developers wanted to enable the players to make a Full Attack build as well, instead of just the possibility of support. This game lacks a ''monk''-like class; and that's probably why clerics are so versatile in all aspects. Another to point to consider is that wizards are seriously underpowered here. They're pretty much the worst class overall, and can be replaced by any other class in all circumstances. Maybe it's this comparison with the wizards that makes clerics appear so strong.

2. My logic might be wrong, but I'm still new to the game.... wouldn't a "support cleric" be able to do this in the very end? Since all clerics can max out all their skills, they're going to end up having the same skills and possibly the same stats (or restated).

Theoretically, yes. Practically, almost impossible. There are several reasons for this:

1. Lack of experience: If you've always supported, you have no idea how to play Full Attack. It may sound easy, but very few people can actually handle such a build appropriately. The experience through all the earlier levels in PvP as well as PvE is invaluable if you truly want to succeed in this game. Imagine it like this: Converting a support cleric into an attack cleric, and vice versa, is like buying a high level character from another player and expect to be equally good at it.

2. Your heals: As support cleric, you still have all your heals from the earlier levels, including the useless ones; or rather, in my opinion, detrimental ones. As long as you can heal, you're expected to do it. It will be very difficult to deny the healer role and try to get into a party as DPS once you have those heals.

3. Your mentality: If you've been a healing slave for so many levels, a fundamental change in mentality would have to happen to be able to go Full Attack. Everyone you know will still always beg you for resurrection, ask to heal in parties, help with whatever FB/HH, etc. Would you really decline these offers all of a sudden? Would you really be able to think away from the ''cleric = healer'' dogma? Would you really go for equipment that might increase your attacking capabilities, but lower your healing capabilities?

4. Play the class you like: If you like to support, go for it, a Full Attack build isn't for everyone. You should enjoy your build over all levels, not just go for one particular build for reasons like faster leveling or more opportunities to get into parties and then try to reach the high level as soon as possible to finally be able to fully play your desired build.

As you can see, a Full Attack build is so much more than just skills and stats.

3. Also I've been told a vit cleric is hard to kill in pvp due to 8K life and the spell that reduces 80% damage. But that's a completely different concept and I wont get into that.

Reaching 8k HP is almost impossible for a cleric, no matter which build you are. Even if you were Pure VIT, you'd barely have 2k HP more than a Pure MAG at level 105, which is, at that level, pretty much irrelevant compared to what you can get from your equipment. To get 8k HP, you'd have to upgrade your equip like mad, and add ultra high grade HP soulstones wherever you can. I wouldn't get my hopes up for this unless I planned to invest a great deal of real money into this game.

Since they don't die so easily, VIT clerics are quite good in parties as healers, but in PvP, their lack of damage will be a burden to them. Especially in the higher levels, due to the exponential increase of m.attack you get from MAG, a pure MAG build should probably defeat the pure VIT builds in duels. VIT builds might only have an advantage in Territorial Wars, when you get attacked by multiple people from all sides.