cleric’s primer

8/6/2019 cleric’s primer

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Master, nooooo!A cleric’s primer by frznvimesImage

`` I was originally planning to make this a guide for new players which

focused on how different powers are more or less useful as a clericprogresses through the game. In trying to write about the various usesfor each power I realized I would also need to describe the associatedtactics, which is why this ended up being so long. Anyway, I hope new andexperienced players will find this guide useful. If nothing else, I’ve

got a neat quote for each section. I think the screenshot’s pretty good

too. =D`` Because there are so many threads about cleric builds floating aroundon the forums I have purposefully avoided putting any in this guide. Iwould like to request that others do the same and not use this thread torequest reviews of their build or to ask others to give them a build. Thereason for this is simply to promote people to ask specific questions andgive answers that will be useful to as many people as possible. However,

do feel free to post them if it'll help you pose/answer a question.`` Please do use this thread to pose and answer questions, share tacticsand strategies, and point out places where you disagree with this guide.Try to be as specific, informative, and courteous as possible whenposting.

`` Be advised that I stopped playing Aika shortly after the level cap wasraised to 60, and this guide is no longer being maintained. If/when thegame changes enough to warrant rewriting this guide, and someone feels upto the task, please feel free to borrow from this as you see fit (a nodof acknowledgment would be nice though ;) ). I wish all you futureclerics good luck and all your prans a bountiful harvest of disgustingfish roasts.

...`` Well, who says the sexy pran has to be everyone's favorite?

IndexWhat’s it going to be then, eh? ~Anthony Burgess, A Clockwork Orange

I. How much do you heal?II. Other equipment bonuses of noteIII. Why monsters hate clericsIV. Who to heal firstV. Dead PaladinsVI. Running

VII. The little things that countVIII. Paladin skillsIX. Cleric SkillsX. After 50XI. After 60XII. Things to consider when designing a buildXIII. PransXIV. PVPXV. Exceptions



XVI. Dealing with bad teamsXVII. Sources and acknowledgements:

I. How much do you heal?I want to nurse the sick, so much that I annoy them, ~César Vallejo, Me

viene, Hay Dias

`` Accurately calculating how much a spell will heal for is not alwayseasy, but it can be done. The main thing to figure out is how differenttypes of bonuses (mostly coming from equipment) will change how many HP aspell will heal. These bonuses work the same with all spells with twoexceptions. Heal level does not add the same amount to each spell, andrejuvenation divides any healing it receives from equipment over all 5 ofits ticks of healing (so an extra 100 healing will add 20 to each tick).Heal Level — equipment or skills (see Exalt) that add to a cleric’s heallevel are deceptive and depends on a spell's cast time. Instant castspells gain 30% (see Holy Intervention and Rejuvenation) , 1 second castspells gain 50% (see Cure), 2 second cast spells gain 65% (see

Revelation), and 3 second cast spells gain 80% (see Healing Corona). Anitem that says it adds 80 Heal Level will actually add 40 HP to each castof cure and 52 hp to each cast of revelation.Skill Attack Max — this adds a variable bonus (from 0 to X, X being theindicated amount) to the amount a spell heals. A piece of equipment thatadds 80 skill attack max will add between 0 and 80 HP to a spell eachtime it is cast. Skill attack max adds to attack spells in the same waythat it does to healing. The skill attack max mount stone does not effecthealing.Magical Attack (mattack) — this usually adds directly to the amount youheal. Unfortunately there are some things that add mattack do not effecthealing at all. Yes, this is stupid and confusing. Pieces of equipment(wands, bonuses from accessories, etc) and most skills do add to healing

but pran skills, some player skills (see Bless), mattack mount stones(thank you Caleia for bringing this to my attention), and mattack relicsdo not. An item with +80 Mattack will add 80 HP to each cast of a healspell, but a +80 mattack pran skill will add 0 HP to each cast. Mattackfrom equipment also adds a slight amount of variation in how much youheal, on average about 5% (which isn't very significant but explains whythere's variation in how much you heal). Mattack adds to magical attacksin the same way that it does to healing, but all mattack (including pranskills) is added.Intelligence — Each point of the intelligence stat adds to a character’smattack and heal level (the actual amount isn’t entirely clear but I

estimate it’s somewhere around 3 to each). Characters will be able to

spend stat points after level 50, but until then there are few ways to

obtain intelligence points (mount stones and a certain warrior skill).Criticals (crit rate) — Heals can crit for around 40% extra healing. The %bonus amount can be modified, but for a cleric there are not many ways todo so (see Archangel’s Blade). How often one gets a critical heal is

based on their crit rate, which is the % chance to do so. A cleric with acrit rate of 10 would get a critical on 10% of their heals. Attacks critin the same way as heals. Note: perfect criticals (pcrit) are somethingdifferent. It’s a chance to do double damage on basic attacks (physically

hitting people with one’s wand) and is calculated entirely separately



from regular criticals (crit rate doesn’t add to pcrit rate). Pcrits arenot very useful to a cleric as it’s most effective for them to attack

with spells.

II. Other equipment bonuses of note

”My briefcase,” Rick said as he rummaged for the Voigt-Kampff forms.“Nice, Isn’t it? Department issue.” “Well, Well,” Rachael said remotely. “Babyhide,” Rick said. He stroked the black leather surface of the

briefcase. “One hundred percent genuine human babyhide.” ~Philip K. D*ck,

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

`` In addition to the above bonuses from equipment, there are a few otherbonuses that can be helpful to clerics even though they do not help withhealing.+% damage versus demons/undead — This is a great mod for increasing yourdamage in pve. We get a team buff to increase people's damage againstdemons/undead (see Archangel's Light), our attacks have large damage

bonuses against these types of enemies, and we also get a skill to changeenemies into demons/undead (see Holy Signet). Finally, these bonuses aremultiplicative (if you have a 16% versus undead weapon, a 10% vs. undeadbuff, and a 150% vs undead attack you'll do 191% damage). It is notuseful for pvp.+ move speed — Moving quickly is one of the best ways for a cleric tostay alive in pvp (see Haste and PVP), therefore items with + move speedare very useful to a cleric. They also save time when moving around,which is nice.+ HP — A cleric with more health will live longer, giving them more timeto heal themselves and their teammates.+ MP — A larger mana pool will let a cleric cast more spells. However, ifa cleric is not having problems with running out of mana this bonus will

not be useful.Defense (pdef, mdef) — For every 8 points of defense a character has allincoming attacks will be reduced by 1 point of damage. This is mostlyuseful in outdoor pve where average mobs have smaller, more frequentattacks. Players, bosses, and dungeon mobs tend to use fewer and largerattacks, meaning defense is of less value against them. Cleric armorcomes wthl less defense than that of the other 5 class.Refining Items — When a piece of equipment is refined it gains bonuses toits primary attributes (mattck/pattack for weapons, mdef/pdef for armor).A piece of armor refined to +4 or above also gives bonus HP/MP andabsorbs a small % of incoming damage. Weapons refined to +4 or above willglow a little bit. This is very useful, but also somewhat risky. Refiningequipment past +3 (+4 for superior items) has a chance of destroying or

weakening it (lowering the level of refinement). This chance increaseswith every level past the safe level.

III. Why monsters hate clericsThere was an old person of Calis,Who lived in a blue marble palace;But on coming downstairs, he encountered some bears,Who swallowed that person of Calis. ~Edward Lear



`` Here’s the rule for teaming: Mobs Make Clerics Dead. `` Every player in a team needs to understand the basic mechanics of mobaggro in order to work together, but this is especially true for thecleric. To start with, here is a basic hierarchy of who a mob will chooseto attack:

1) Paladins have certain skills (provoke and challenge), indicated bycrossed red swords over the mobs’ heads, that draw the attention of mobs

away from other players and onto themselves. With some particularlypowerful mobs, or paladins who have not put enough skill points intotheir aggro drawing skills, it may take several applications of theseskills before they gain the full attention of the mob. Warriors have askill that does this too (taunt), but it’s not as powerful as thepaladin’s versions. These types of skills can also miss. 2) Mobs primarily attack whoever is doing the most damage to them.3) Mobs will attack clerics who are using their healing, buffing, ordamage shielding skills (the range for this appears to be slightly largerthan a mob’s aggro range). 4) Mobs will attack the first player to enter their aggro range, which I

estimate to be around 10 meters. The final boss of a dungeon will have alarger aggro range.`` #3 is bad news for the unprepared cleric! In a team, groups of mobswill usually be pulled by the paladin entering their aggro range. Thiswill cause the monsters to cluster around and attack the paladin, atwhich point the paladin will use provoke. After the paladin does this theother team members will start attacking the mobs without drawing theirire. If a player attacks a mob before the paladin uses provoke they willdraw the attention of that mob. If a cleric uses a heal/buff/shieldbefore the paladin uses provoke, they will draw the attention of all themobs. The result is usually a dead cleric. So, no matter how badly apaladin is getting hurt it’s usually best to refrain from healing them

until they use provoke.

`` Every cleric is occasionally going to make the mistake of drawingaggro. Sometimes it happens because provoke misses some of the mobs, orthey were out of range when the paladin used it. Sometimes a heal getsused too early. It’s just how things go and there’s no sense in feeling

too bad about it when it does happen. If a teammates notice a mobcharging toward you they’ll usually try to attract the mob by attacking

it. For this reason, you should not attack the mob as it will become moredifficult for teammates to draw it away. If nobody notices that you’re

being attacked, or if several mobs are attacking, run toward the tank.This may feel counterintuitive, but it will help the paladin in drawingaggro off you (paladins can’t draw aggro from range). If you try to run

away you’ll A) abandon you teammates B) run into another group of mobs orC) run away from everyone who can save you and die alone in a corner.

Remember: run toward the tank.`` You’ll probably be spending your time at the edge of the party and

focusing on your teammates’ health bars. You should try to stay aware ofthe surroundings at all times so that you don’t accidentally enter the

aggro range of another group of mobs. If you do this, run toward thepaladin and shout “ADDS” (because mobs are being added to combat).

Hopefully things will turn out okay.



IV. Who to heal first”After all, Watson,” Said Holmes, reaching his hand for his clay pipe, “I

am not retained by the police to supply their deficiencies.” ~Sir Arthur

Conan Doyle, The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle

`` Most dungeon teams consist of 1-2 clerics, a tank (usually a paladin

but sometimes a warrior can fill the role if everybody if cautious), and3-4 damage dealers (warlocks, riflemen, dual gunners, and warriors).Because of how the heals available in this game work, it is easier forclerics to heal one person taking more damage (the tank) than an entireteam taking less. This will become apparent to you the first time yourtank loses control over the mobs. If the tank dies, the mobs will scatterand start attacking multiple people at once. Trying to heal everybodywill often result in either A) people not getting enough healing anddying or B) running out of mana, and then they die anyway. Therefore, themain job of a cleric is to keep the tank alive. If the tank dies, youshould resurrect her (paladins are female) while the mobs tear the otherteammates to shreds. This may seem cruel, but things will turn out betterthat way.

`` If you are the only cleric on the team (which works perfectly finewith good players), you are your own top priority. You need to stay aliveunder all circumstances. If the cleric dies there is nobody to resurrectthem and then the team doesn’t have a cleric. Teams without clerics don’t

complete dungeons (except for superfantastic paladins, but they don’t let

their clerics die anyway).`` After yourself and your tank, a your third priority is to keep theother cleric alive. If you die, the other cleric can heal the tank andresurrect you. The other cleric is your friend, not your rival.`` Finally there are the other people on the team. They are expendable.It’s nice to keep them alive if at all possible, but if one of them dies

the team can go on. Maybe there will even be time to resurrect them, butone shouldn’t let the tank die while making the attempt.

V. Dead PaladinsWhen midnight mists are creeping,And all the land is sleeping,Around me tread the mighty dead,And slowly pass away. ~Lewis Carol, Dreamland

`` All hell breaks loose when the tank dies in a dungeon. Mobs chargetowards the other team members, some of whom stand and fight while othersflee for their lives. As the one responsible for keeping the paladinalive, you’ll probably know when the paladin is going to die a few

seconds before everybody else does. That means it’s up to you to salvage

the situation.`` In the best case scenario the mobs charge after one of your otherteammates and completely ignore you, in which case you should ignore yourteammates and resurrect the paladin. The paladin can then take the aggroand save the day. Hooray!`` When it rains it pours, so it’s more likely that you’ll have at least

some of the mobs chasing after you. You should try to act as you would ifyou got aggro before the paladin used provoke. Run towards the mostaggressive/intelligent/cleric loving teammate in the hopes that that



person will draw the mob’s attention. Then go resurrect the paladin. Do

not attack the mob and be careful not to aggro any additional mobs. Ifthe teammate is trying to pull aggro off you and is having trouble,you’ll probably have to kite the mob by running around the room andstaying out of its attack range while keeping it within the attack rangeof your teammate.

`` If that doesn’t work you need to run away. Head back the way the partyprogressed through the dungeon until the mob resets and teleports back toits starting location, then run back to the paladin and give them cpr.Or, even better (but less exciting), resurrect them.`` If you can’t bring your paladin back to life that doesn’t mean the

team can’t keep going (although they might choose not to and simply retrythe dungeon). A warrior can act as a tank if necessary, and warlocks aredecently tough if they have a high enough mana shield (their yellow bufficon). The team could also try to get through the dungeon by kiting mobs,with the person the monster is attacking running away while everybodyelse attacks the mob until it changes targets (then its new target runs,and so on).

VI. RunningAnd suddenly there was a terrible roar all around us and the sky was fullof what looked like huge bats, all swooping and screeching and divingaround the car, which was going about a hundred miles an hour with thetop down to Las Vegas. ~Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing in LosVegas

`` Sometimes you’ll be in a party and the decision will be made to runthrough part of the dungeon rather than fight through it. As a cleric youwill be expected to cast the movement speed buff (see Haste) on everybodyin the team. The paladin will run in front of the team so that they willattract the attention of all the mobs (to keep the other team members

safe) by entering their aggro range first. It is important not to run infront of the paladin. It is also important that everybody keeps in arelatively tight group. Running works because the mobs will, afterreaching a certain distance from their spawn point or falling far enoughbehind the person they’re chasing, teleport back to where they started.

If people are too far behind the paladin they will draw the aggro ofmonsters who have teleported back to their starting points (the mobs willattack the player and follow them farther if the player isn’t moving

quickly enough for the mob to lose sight of them).`` Using skills while running (such as healing yourself) will draw theaggro of the monsters chasing after the paladin. If you need to heal, usea potion. Do not heal your allies. There are a few buffs available toclerics (See Angelic Armor and Holy Intervention) which are useful to

cast before the group starts running (you can cast Holy Interventionwhile running without drawing aggro, but only if it doesn't healimmediately). Use these on yourself and the paladin.`` Sometimes running gets you into a tight spot. You and/or the paladinmay be at low health. If you use a heal, you will draw the aggro ofwhatever mobs are chasing you, yet if you don’t you and/or the paladin

may die. If you have the short term invulnerability spell (see DesperatePrayer) you can use the biggest heal at your disposal on the paladin andthen make yourself invulnerable for a few second while they gather aggro.



The spell will then end and you’ll be back to healing as usual. If you

don’t have this spell you’ll have to wait until the paladin uses provoke

and then heal them as quickly as possible before healing yourself. If youpanic and heal too early it is very likely that both of you will die. Ifyou wait too long the paladin will die (see Dead Paladins). It’s a tough

situation, but your best shot at winning is to remain calm and pay very

close attention to what the paladin is doing.

VII. The little things that countWe live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas ofinfinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. ~H.P.Lovecraft, The Call of Cthulhu

`` Knowing more about the game can be tremendously helpful to a clericbecause you have more to keep track of than the other classes. You needto keep track of your teammates health bars and any negative debuffs thathave been inflicted on them (try to learn to recognize the icons). Youneed to know what your tank is doing so that you don’t draw aggro. You

need to know where the mobs are so that you don’t walk into them. Youneed to know what the mobs are so that you can predict what they’ll do.

Finally, you should know how your teammates’ classes work so you canpredict what they may do. Most of these things you’ll learn from

experience, but for the last item I recommend browsing the other classes’

forums and getting an idea of what skills they have and tactics they use.Especially paladins.

VIII. Paladin skillsYet surely, and especially to another scientific man, there was nothingso horrible in vivisection as to account for this secrecy. ~H.G. Wells,The Island of Dr. Moreau

`` This is not an explanation of how paladins work (you should still readtheir forum). This is a cursory list of their powers that a cleric shouldlearn to recognize.ImageProvoke This is a paladin’s main aggro drawing skill, an aoe centered

around the paladin. Mobs that have been provoked will briefly show a pairof crossed red swords floating above their head.ImageVanguard This is a long duration buff that increases the paladin’s

defense. A paladin that doesn’t have this will take more damage from

groups of mobs.Image

Transference This is a short duration buff with a long recharge thatgives the paladin back a % of the damage they do as hitpoints. When apaladin has this up they are much tougher as long as they are notstunned.ImagePerseverance This is a very short duration buff with a short cooldownthat reduces the next 3 attacks the paladin takes by a large % (30 to60). A paladin that doesn’t have this will take MUCH more damage from

bosses.



ImageDivine Ward This is a long lasting and very slowly recharging buff thatnegates a number of skill attacks used against the paladin. This only hasa certain number of charges (the max with the current level cap is 10),but they are not consumed by regular attacks.Image

Aegis A short duration buff with a long recharge which adds a largeamount to a paladin’s defense and heals them for a small amount every 2

seconds. Boss mobs can still hurt them but normal mobs will not pose muchof a threat.ImageDeliverance This is a skill which consumes all of a paladin’s mana and

turns it into hp for their target (usually themselves or a cleric). If apaladin uses this they will be completely drained of mana and be unableto use their defensive skills.

IX. Cleric SkillsThe time is out of joint: O cursed spite,

That ever I was born to set it right! ~William Shakespear, Hamlet

`` To those who are planning to read only this section of the guide:please go back and at least skim the rest. This section may help you makea better build, but the rest will help you be a better player (and that,dear reader, is much more important).`` I’ve color coded the various skills a bit. Orange skills improve by

the same amount with each point you add past the first (they improvelinearly). Purple skills gain more benefit with each subsequent pointadded (they improve exponentially). Skills that are neither are… quirky.

Most skills linear ones improve by an extra amount when they reach theirmaximum level.`` If you are attacked while using a skill, there is a chance you will be

interrupted. If this happens the skill will go on cooldown and notexecute its effect. Skills that have no cast time can occasionally beinterrupted during their animation, but this doesn’t occur very often.

Skills that have no cast time can usually be used while moving if youhold the move key (you’ll stop if you’re using autorun). You can cancel

the animation of some instant cast spells (saving you about half asecond) by activating other animations, but this is a gray area as towhether or not it is an exploit so you'll have to figure it out yourselfif you decide to use it.

Format:IconPower name

“Official Description” Target, cast time, recharge, duration, level availableTable of data that changes by level (bold entries are available with thelevel 60 cap, others will be available after the cap is raised)Thoughts and advice.

ImageInsight“Illuminates the selected 6 meter area and reveals hidden enemies.”



Manually targeted aoe, instant cast, 6s cooldown, 10 mana, availablelevel 1 (starts maxed)`` All clerics start with insight at level 1, for free. It remove stealthfrom invisible enemy dual gunners and riflemen in pvp. It castsinstantly, costs virtually nothing, and recharges quickly making it easyto cast around randomly when defending a choke point during a relic raid

or at a specific location after seeing an enemy turn invisible. It isalso useful in pve as a pulling/mobbing tool because it’s a quick way to

draw aggro from range without spending mana. Since it basically counts asan attack, it removes a charge of divine ward on enemy paladins too.

ImagePurify“Cancels one harmful curse on an ally.” Single ally, instant cast, 1s cooldown, 50 mana, available level 1(starts maxed)`` There are many wonderful things about this skill and you will use itfrom your first dungeon until the day you stop playing Aika. All clericsget it for free at level 1, it casts instantly, it recharges almost

instantly, and it’s cheap. It is one of the few skills we have that doesnot draw aggro (meaning you can safely use it on a paladin when they’re

trying to pull)! Hooray! There are a couple of downsides one should beaware of however1) Some mobs apply status effects very often (bana’s poison, white lion

gunner’s slow, etc) and trying to keep these debuffs off yourself andyour teammates is simply an effort in futility. Fortunately the moreharmful debuffs (stun, silence, etc) come about less often. Learn torecognize the icons and decide what’s worth removing. 2) Only one harmful effect is removed at a time. This isn’t usually aproblem in pve as you rarely get more than 2 debuffs on an ally at atime, but in pvp it’s not uncommon for somebody to suddenly get half a

dozen at a time. When that happens, you have another tool (see

Revelation).3) Not all debuffs can be removed. Removable debuffs have a red outlinewhile others have a purple outline (such as dismount debuffs and guardslow). There’s simply nothing you can do about these.

ImageHoly Arrow“Deals X damage. Y% damage to demons and undead.” Single enemy, 1.5s cast time, 2s cooldown, available level 1 (starts with1 point)Skill Level — Damage — Undead/Demon Multiplier — Mana1 — 53 — 150% — 332 — 65 — 152% — 41

3 — 87 — 154% — 564 — 111 — 156% — 705 — 139 — 158% — 886 — 173 — 160% — 1097 — 209 — 162% — 1328 — 255 — 164% — 1619 — 308 — 166% — 19410 — 373 — 168% — 23511 — 450 — 170% — 284



12 — 530 — 172% — 33413 — 626 — 174% — 39414 — 725 — 176% — 45715 — 841 — 178% — 53016 — 966 — 180% — 609`` This is your basic magic attack and it comes with 1 innate point. The

damage multiplier is a fairly straightforward bonus where enemies thatare classified as demons or undead (as opposed to humanoid, structure,plant, animal, etc) take significantly more damage.`` Since whacking people with your magic wand is both slow and vulgar,although funny at times, you’ll be relying on this spell when solo untilyou get your second, and last, attack at 27 (see Holy Tempest).`` There are several reasons to replace this power once you reach level27. The first is that it has a cast time and tends to get interrupted(see Angelic Armor). The second is that it only targets one enemy. Thethird is that it takes a lot of skill points. And the fourth is that itdoes less damage than your other attack.`` I recommend you keep putting points into it until level 27, at whichtime you’ll want to use holy tempest instead and use these points

elsewhere.

ImageCure“Heals the target for X.” Singly ally, 1s cast time, 1s cooldown, available level 4Skill Level — Heal Amount — Mana1 — 93 — 462 — 124 — 613 — 155 — 774 — 190 — 945 — 235 — 1166 — 280 — 139

7 — 337 — 1678 — 404 — 2009 — 484 — 24010 — 579 — 28711 — 676 — 33512 — 789 — 39113 — 907 — 44914 — 1039 — 51415 — 1173 — 58516 — 1316 — 651`` Cure is the cleric’s core heal. It has a moderate casting time, low

mana cost, and moderate heal amount. Up until level 40 (see Revelation)it’s pretty much mandatory for healing a team through a dungeon. After 40

it’s still an excellent option. Over time this spell will put out morehealing over time than any other available (this may change when thelevel cap is raised), but at a higher mana cost as well. However, noskill is without its own limitations. 1) It is not very good for healingoneself as it can be interrupted while under attack. 2) If multipleteammates are taking damage it will take some time to cast it on all ofthem. 3) In pvp you have to stop moving to cast it, which can bedangerous.



`` Every cleric should have at least 1 point in cure. At 1 point youstill get the full healing bonuses from your equipment (with ok equipmentat level 50 this is around 500, 1k with great equipment) for a minisculeamount of mana. However, having a 1 point cure means you need to havethose large bonuses from equipment for it to heal a significant amount.Therefore the 1 point cure character is a late game build. Even with

equipment, at 1 point it will lack the oomph to handle more dangeroussituations and so should be combined with a more powerful heal (seeRevelation).`` I recommend continuing to put points into it until level 40 if youwant to play on a team. After level 40 either keep it high or reduce itto 1 point and use the level 40 heal (see Revelation). If you’re not

going to play on a team (and why did you make a support character ifyou’re not going to team?), skip it.

ImageAngelic Armor“Absorbs X physical damage for a maximum of 1 minute. Reduces areaphysical damage by 25% and absorbs the rest.”

Single ally, instant cast, 15s cooldown, 60s duration, available level 6Skill Level — Absorption Amount — Mana1 — 258 — 1032 — 336 — 1343 — 420 — 1684 — 522 — 2095 — 642 — 2576 — 774 — 3107 — 936 — 3748 — 1134 — 4549 — 1374 — 55010 — 1632 — 65311 — 1926 — 770

12 — 2262 — 90513 — 2616 — 104614 — 3018 — 120715 — 3432 — 137316 — 3858 — 1543`` Angelic Armor will change more than any other skill as you level up.Early on it is your best skill, providing a hefty hp buffer againstphysical attacks (it does not work against magical attacks) whilepreventing you from being interrupted while casting Holy Arrow or Cure.This buffer also prevents attacks from damaging your equipment, somethingthat’ll save you (and your teammates, if you’re nice) a bit of money for

a while. It also casts instantly, making it a very reliable spell to castwhile you’re being attacked.

`` As you level up, this skill will start to feel weaker (after level30). This is because the damage buffer it provides does not take yourpdef into account (see Other equipment bonuses of note). Early on youhave very little defense and so the fact that Angelic Armor doesn’t take

it into account does not matter very much, but by level 30 you’ll have

enough to appreciate the loss. Fortunately by this time you’ve traded inHoly Arrow for your second attack (see Holy Tempest), which doesn’t have

a cast time and so doesn’t get interrupted. This second spell is also an

aoe attack, meaning you’ll want change to fighting several enemies at the



same time rather than killing them one by one. This will cause AngelicArmor to go down faster, and you’ll start to notice that it’s less mana

efficient than healing. You’ll start running into enemies who deal magic

damage, which Angelic Armor does not defend against. In dungeons, enemieswill do enough damage to take it down in 2-3 attacks. Finally, AngelicArmor does not improve with equipment at all and will always protect you

for the exact amount listed by the skill. Basically, you’ll need to startrelying more on other defensive spells.`` Angelic Armor does have a second redeeming effect that may make itworth keeping for you. Any physical aoe attack against the player willfirst have its damage reduced by 25% before it counts against the shield.Many enemies in the late game have highly damaging aoe attacks and it maybe valuable to keep just for that purpose. Bosses in particular have verylong ranged aoes that can reach players standing far out of melee range.Angelic Armor will go down quickly against these attacks, but having itas a low or moderate level will still significantly reduce the amount ofhealing you need to do thanks to the 25% aoe damage reduction.`` Finally, Angelic Armor is very important to a cleric participating inpvp. Four out of the six classes deal physical damage, and three of those

classes deal enough of it to kill the unprepared cleric in a matter ofseconds. Riflemen in particular can kill a cleric with 1-2 powerfulattacks. Angelic Armor provides a buffer against these players, givingyou time to defend yourself (heal or run). It is particularly goodagainst warriors because they have a lot of aoe attacks, which arereduced by 25%.`` I recommend putting as many points as possible into it until you reachlevel 34 (see Holy Intervention), at which point you will probably wantto keep it at a low to moderate level (or drop it entirely) to free upskill points for other powers. If you decide to participate in pvp you’ll

want to put as many points into this as possible.

ImageBless“Increases physical attack by X and magic attack by Y for 10 minutes.” Single ally, 2s cast, 2s cooldown, 10 minute duration, available level 8Skill Level — Physical Attack — Magic Attack — Mana1 — 13 — 17 — 982 — 16 — 12 — 1223 — 20 — 25 — 1514 — 24 — 31 — 1905 — 28 — 37 — 2366 — 34 — 44 — 2857 — 40 — 52 — 3428 — 48 — 61 — 409

9 — 56 — 72 — 49710 — 64 — 83 — 59811 — 74 — 96 — 70812 — 86 — 111 — 83413 — 98 — 127 — 96514 — 111 — 143 — 110915 — 124 — 160 — 126216 — 145 — 187 — 1429 Note: at level 16 bless becomes an aoe buff centeredaround the cleric with a range of 20 meters.



`` This is your first, and weakest, team buff. The mattack bonus fromthis spell is the kind that does not effect your healing. The bonuses itprovides are fairly small, but when used on an entire time the damageadds up. It’s also better in the early game because players have fewer

skills to use and so will be relying more on their basic attacks, whichare faster and deal less damage. Later on the bonuses from this spell

will become mostly insignificant (paladins are the one exception as theyrely on their basic attack for most of their damage, even at the end ofthe game). At level 40 you get another spell (see Archangel’s Light) that

fills the same role more effectively for fewer skill points.`` If you play on the pvp server (which I recommend), there is no reasonto invest in bless as you can get a free 1 hour lvl 11 bless any timejust by visiting town. To get a better version you'd have to be at leastlevel 52 and investing 12 skill points for an extra 15 damage (47 at 14skill points and level 60). If you play on the pve sever I recommendputting a few points into it early on, but by the time you reskill at 27you’re pretty much done with this spell.

ImageRejuvenate“Heals the target for X every 2 seconds for a total of 10 seconds.” Single ally, instant cast, 2s cooldown, 10s duration, available level 10Skill Level — Heal Amount — Mana1 — 42 — 1032 — 52 — 1343 — 63 — 1684 — 77 — 2095 — 92 — 2576 — 111 — 3107 — 133 — 3748 — 159 — 454

9 — 187 — 55010 — 219 — 65311 — 254 — 77012 — 291 — 90513 — 331 — 104614 — 374 — 120715 — 417 — 137316 — 463 — 1543`` This healing spell is quirky, and you’ll either love it or hate it.

This is not a primary healing spell. It is a secondary healing spell. Itmay be able to keep a good paladin alive against average mobs, but itwill not keep the paladin alive against a boss. When you cast it on aplayer it will instantly heal the target twice, and after that once every

two seconds for ten seconds. Any healing bonuses from equipment that youhave will be divided by five and added to each tick of healing. Thisspell heals more slowly than cure, costs more mana, and does not stackwith itself (even if two different clerics cast it).`` There are several nice things about Rejuvenate. First and foremost isthat it casts instantly. It’s also a fire-and-forget spell because onceyou cast it on someone there’s no reason to cast it again until its

duration runs out. Finally, one cast of rejuvenation heals more than onecast of cure. These three features add up to it being a good secondary



target heal. If multiple teammates are taking damage you can focus on oneof them while rejuvenation slowly heals up the others (this works wellagainst boss aoes which hit hard but infrequently). It is also good for asolo cleric because it casts instantly and so will not be interrupted.For that same reason, it is also good for pvp.`` This spell is optional. If you want to use it you need to put a lot of

points into it or else it won’t do much good.

ImageResurrect“Resurrects target with X% of his/her HP and MP.” Targets a dead teammate, 5s cast, available level 12Skill Level — % Mana/Health — Cooldown — Mana Cost1 — 10 — 33s — 2222 — 20 — 30s — 2743 — 30 — 27s — 3594 — 40 — 24s — 4295 — 50 — 21s — 518

6 — 60 — 18s — 6217 — 70 — 15s — 7448 — 80 — 12s — 9439 — 90 — 9s — 110310 — 100 — 6s — 1286`` Sometimes a teammate will die. When somebody dies in a dungeon theyhave 60 seconds to be resurrected before they are automatically kickedout of the dungeon and can no longer participate. To return to thedungeon and keep helping their team they need to use a cash shop itemcalled a dungeon recall. You should not expect players to have or to buya dungeon recall because most of them won’t. For this reason, clerics

need resurrect.`` Resurrect is a straightforward skill. It brings a dead teammate (you

can’t use it on people who aren’t in your team) back to life with acertain % of their maximum health and mana. It has a long cast time sothink about when to use this skill. If you’re under attack it’s very

likely you’ll be interrupted before you finish, and because you only have60 seconds to bring your dead teammates back to life you don’t have a lot

of room for error. With one point in this skill, you’ll have at best two

chances to cast it on a dead teammate before they disappear. When theycome back to life they’ll have very little health and mana so you’ll need

to heal them quickly. Resurrected teammates start out with no aggrothough, so the only thing likely to kill them immediately is an aoeattack.`` If at all possible, it’s best to put several points into this spell(I’d say 3-5 for general use). This will give the resurrected person a

decent chunk of mana to work with and protect them against aoes. Thecooldown reduction is also very useful if multiple people die. Maximizingthis skill, however, is usually overkill (see Exceptions).

ImageHaste“Increases target's move speed by X for 10 minutes.” Single ally, 2s cast, 2s cooldown, 10 minute duration, available level 17



Skill Level — Move Speed — Mana Cost1 — 5 — 1592 — 6 — 2083 — 7 — 2484 — 8 — 2975 — 9 — 358

6 — 10 — 4297 — 11 — 5218 — 12 — 6259 — 13 — 73410 — 15 — 891 Note: at level 10 haste becomes an aoe buff centered around thecleric with a range of 20 meters.`` This is the signature cleric buff. Each point of move speed makespeople run about 2.4% faster. It’s purported that different classes haveslightly different base movement speeds (DualGunner>Cleric>Warrior>Paladin>Warlock>Rifleman) which become noticeablewith high move speed bonuses, but this requires a lot of movement speedfrom equipment as well. Few players aside from paladins who plan oncarrying relics in pvp spend the money to maximize their speed (they also

have an additional piece of equipment, their shield, on which they canhave move speed bonuses). Moving faster is still very nice for everyonethough. In pve, mobs who are chasing after players will return to theirspawn point after running a certain distance from it or losing sight ofthe person they’re chasing. If your team decides to run through part of a

dungeon rather than fight through it (see Running), it is important tohave haste so that you can outrun the mobs. Running faster also givesyour team an edge if something bad happens (see Dead Paladins). In pvpyour best survival tactic is to run away from an enemy and stay out oftheir attack range, and haste is critical for this purpose.`` With the addition of the free 1 hour lvl 6 haste buff on the pvpserver there is no point in investing in haste before level 41 (when youcan get level 7 haste). A high level haste is still nice for pvp (the

free version is enough for running through dungeons), but it's optionalnow. If you play on the pve server you'll probably want to get it up toaround 6 for running through dungeons.

ImageHoly Signet“Inflicts X magic damage every 2 seconds and causes vulnerability to holymagic on all enemies in 4 meter radius for 12 seconds.” Enemy targeted aoe, instant cast, 12s cooldown, 10s duration, availablelevel 19Skill Level — Damage — Mana1 — 36 — 108

2 — 44 — 1333 — 53 — 1604 — 65 — 1945 — 78 — 2346 — 95 — 2847 — 112 — 3358 — 132 — 3969 — 154 — 46110 — 178 — 534



11 — 204 — 61212 — 232 — 69613 — 261 — 78314 — 293 — 87915 — 329 — 98716 — 365 — 1095

`` Don’t be fooled: Holy Signet is an aoe debuff spell, not a damagespell. It is a pve only spell. It is also a very important spell. Enemiesstruck by Holy Signet take a very small amount of damage every twoseconds and have their racial type changed to demon/undead. This is verypowerful because cleric attack spells have a large % bonus to damageagainst demons and undead. Unfortunately, players don’t have a racialtype at all and so the debuff will not work on them, making it useless inpvp.`` You receive the full benefit of this spell with 1 point, so that’s all

you need.

Image

Exalt“Increases cure level by X and decreases the MP required for a cure skillby Y%.” Passive skill, available level 21Skill Level — Heal Level — Discount1 — 30 — 10%2 — 60 — 12%3 — 90 — 14%4 — 120 — 16%5 — 150 — 18%6 — 180 — 20%7 — 210 — 22%8 — 240 — 24%

9 — 270 — 26%10 — 300 — 30%`` The description of this skill is misleading. It effects all of yourheals (cure, rejuvenation, revelation) and not just cure. It adds heallevel (see How much do you heal?), so each point in this skill adds 9-24health to your heals. Exalt’s appeal comes mostly from the mana discount,which starts out at a good 10% and slowly increases to a hefty 30%(available at level 57, which we can’t get to yet). `` There are two good reasons not to put more than 1 point into thisskill. The first is that each subsequent point only adds a 2% discount,which is quite small. It takes a lot of points for this to matter muchand you have other skills that could use them. The second reason is thatExalt doesn’t matter if you’re not running out of mana. Therefore, what

you do with Exalt should be a personal decision based on experiencerather than something planned in advance.`` Everyone will benefit from 1 point in this skill. You do not need morepoints unless you are truly struggling with your mana supply.

ImageShroud of Turin



“Increases buff duration by X and decreases the MP required to cast the

skill by Y%.” Passive skill, available level 23Skill Level — Duration — Discount1 — +2 min — 10%2 — +4 min — 12%

3 — +6 min — 14%4 — +8 min — 16%5 — +10 min — 18%6 — +12 min — 20%7 — +14 min — 22%8 — +16 min — 24%9 — +18 min — 26%10 — +20 min — 30%`` This is a skill made purely for convenience. It extends the durationand decreases the mana cost of your long duration team buffs (Haste,Bless, etc). Since they already last 10 minutes and should not be recastduring combat, this skill only serves to reduce the downtime caused byrebuffing a team (it may seem more useful for pvp where you may not be

around somebody when their buffs run out, but it's more likely they'lldie before that happens). The discount scales the same way as with Exalt.The discount is kind of nice for pvp because you will inevitably diesometimes and come back to life with very little mana, so it’s handy to

be able to rebuff for less. However, it’s not actually important. `` This is purely a skill of personal convenience and is entirelyoptional. You probably have better places to spend the points.

ImageHealing Corona“Recovers the HP of all targets within 6 meters by X.” Self targeted aoe, 3s cast, 3s cooldown, available level 25

Skill Level — Heal Amount — Mana1 — 441 — 1032 — 530 — 1343 — 638 — 1684 — 764 — 2095 — 900 — 2576 — 1053 — 3107 — 1229 — 3748 — 1407 — 4549 — 1613 — 55010 — 1820 — 65311 — 2027 — 77012 — 2256 — 905

13 — 2510 — 104614 — 2766 — 120715 — 3039 — 137316 — 3339 — 1543`` Healing Corona has two serious flaws which essentially ruin it. Firstoff is its long cast time, making it easily interrupted and slow to reactto somebody suddenly taking damage. Second is that the 6 meter range issomewhat short, making it completely unsuitable for healing the tank in aboss fight (bosses have highly damaging long ranged aoe attacks which



often have a stun or silence effect. Ranged characters, and especiallythe cleric, should stand as far away as possible to avoid getting hit).It does have some value in that it’s the most efficient heal available(even on a single target), but Healing Corona doesn’t save lives. It’s

just too slow.`` It also has two smaller flaws in that it draws an incredible amount of

aggro and it does not work on players in your raid group, only players inyour party.`` You many want a single point to use it as a downtime reducer, but it’s

not worth investing more than that.

ImageHoly Tempest“Inflicts X magic damage on all enemies within 4 meters of the target.

Deals 150% damage dealt to demons and undead.” Manually targeted aoe, instant cast, 3s cooldown, available level 27Skill Level — Damage — Mana1 — 284 — 213

2 — 344 — 2583 — 416 — 3124 — 504 — 3785 — 596 — 4476 — 702 — 5277 — 820 — 6158 — 948 — 7119 — 1088 — 81610 — 1236 — 92711 — 1390 — 104212 — 1562 — 117113 — 1750 — 131214 — 1944 — 1458

15 — 2160 — 162016 — 2398 — 1798`` Holy Tempest is awesome and completely replaces Holy Arrow. It doesmore damage, takes fewer skill points, casts instantly (so nointerruptions), and is an aoe. Like Holy Arrow, it gains a damage bonusagainst demons and undead. Unlike Holy Arrow, this bonus is a static+50%. It burns quite a bit of mana, but since it’s an aoe it’s actually

very efficient if you hit several enemies at once with it. Making theswitch from Holy Arrow to Holy Tempest means changing your pve strategyfrom attacking single targets to gathering groups mobs (typically of 3-6). This can be a difficult adjustment, but give yourself some time toget used to the change and you’ll be a more powerful character for it.This spell does not, however, transform you into a damage dealing

goddess.`` Holy Tempest has some serious idiosyncrasies to deal with. The mainone is that you have to actually click on the ground where you want tocast it rather than on a mob/player or else it won’t cast. Sometimes thisalso occurs if you click the ground too close to your target withoutactually touching them. Holy Tempest also has some minor accuracy issuesand will regularly miss a couple of times when attacking a group of mobs(it calculates a hit against each enemy separately though, so you won’t

miss all the mobs). It also takes a moment to animate, so if you’re



attacking a moving target you need to lead it by about half a second plusany lag time from your internet connection (this is mostly a pvp issue).These are things you’ll just have to get used to. `` You don’t need to max holy tempest for pve, but clerics don’t gain a

lot of damage from equipment so you’ll want to put whatever you can in.

If you want to kill people in pvp, every point matters even more because

you can’t get your +50% damage bonus against demons/undead on otherplayers.

ImageRapture“Recovers the mana of all party members within 6 meters by X per second

for a total of 10 seconds.” Self targeted aoe, 2s cast, 3 minute cooldown, 10s duration, costs 10mana, available level 32Skill Level — Mana Restored1 — 1092 — 130

3 — 1654 — 1935 — 2256 — 2747 — 3148 — 3679 — 40910 — 45511 — 50612 — 57513 — 63214 — 69415 — 762

16 — 881`` Rapture is good but not great. It ticks 10 times, but takes 3 minutesto recharge and so isn’t fountain of endless mana. The first few points

you can add scale rather poorly, but the later points improve it quite abit. It does not improve with equipment and so will always restore theexact amount stated in the skill description. It only works on players inyour party and will not work on other players in your raid group.`` There are several things to think about when using this skill. Firstis its short range. You want to hit as many allies as possible so it’s

best to tell your teammates before you use this skill (they may even getannoyed if you fail to warn them). The second thing is when to use thisskill. If even are proceeding smoothly, it makes sense to use Rapture asoften as you can to decrease downtime. If you’re coming up on a boss

fight you will probably want to save it until you’re actually fightingthe boss and people are running out of mana. Finally, if your team isstruggling you should feel no guilt in saving it to keep yourself and/orthe paladin from running out of mana. When clerics don’t have mana,

people die.`` Definitely get 1 point in it, more than that is probably a waste dueto the long recharge but if you are going to add more points you shouldmax it.



ImageHoly Intervention“Activates when the caster’s HP drops below 50% or after 1 minute to

recover HP by X.” Singly ally, instant cast, 20s cooldown, 60 second duration, available

level 34Skill Level — Heal Amount — Mana1 — 663 — 2922 — 797 — 3513 — 936 — 4124 — 1094 — 4815 — 1272 — 5606 — 1457 — 6417 — 1659 — 7358 — 1871 — 8249 — 2084 — 91710 — 2315 — 101711 — 2570 — 1133

12 — 2831 — 124613 — 3111 — 136914 — 3419 — 150415 — 3755 — 165216 — 4121 — 1815`` This spell is amazing. It casts instantly, restores a large amount ofhp, doesn’t cost a lot of mana, and it’s a buff. It creates a blueglowing ball (it’s actually a cross but it glows so much it looks more

like a blob) over the target’s head, and if that target is reduced to

less than 50% of their maximum health the buff ends and they areinstantly healed for a hefty amount. If you cast it on somebody who isalready below 50% health, they get the health instantly. So, you can useit as a buff or as a large instant cast cure. The only shortcoming in pve

is that the 20 second recharge prevents it from being spammable, meaningthis is a supplementary tool. For solo pve it can fill the same roleAngelic Armor did in earlier levels. In pvp, it has an additionalshortcoming in that you might go from over 50% health do dead with oneattack. That’s why Holy Intervention doesn’t replace Angelic Armor forpvp, but it does supplement it nicely.`` I recommend putting as many points as possible into this skill, forevery type of cleric build, because it’s so flexible.

synessa wrote:an additional information on holy intervention would bethat it causes no agro. it helped me tons of times in lm when pally'spulling some sharpshooters since it heals a hefty amount and i'muntouched at the end of it.

The caveat it that if it heals immediately when cast (ie, the target isbelow 50% health) it can draw aggro.

ImageDesperate Prayer“Immune to all attacks for X seconds but cannot use skills.” Self Buff, 1s cast, available level 36



Skill Level — Duration — Recharge — Mana1 — 3 — 180 — 3722 — 3 — 170 — 4733 — 3 — 160 — 5524 — 4 — 160 — 6435 — 4 — 150 — 487

6 — 4 — 140 — 8977 — 5 — 140 — 10498 — 5 — 130 — 11689 — 5 — 120 — 129910 — 6 — 120 — 1446`` Desperate Prayer is an emergency spell. It provides complete immunityto attack (including any effects such as stunning) for a few secondswhile preventing you from using any skills (you can still use potions andbe healed though). For pve it’s not a terrific spell, but it’s

occasionally useful. It has a cast time, which is a major flaw for anemergency skill. It has a long recharge, preventing you from using itregularly. It has a short duration, basically just long enough for apaladin to use provoke or for you to start running. And while you’re

using it you can’t heal yourself or your teammates because you can’t useskills.`` For pvp, it’s awesome. Riflemen do huge amounts of damage with asingle skill attack, but those attacks take 2-5 seconds to use. DesperatePrayer only takes 1 second to activate. If you’re quick and you see a

Rifleman pointing at you and charging up a big skill you can hitDesperate Prayer and block it. Desperate Prayer will have ended by thetime they use a second attack however so you’d better be prepared to deal

with it. Against other classes you just kind of have to guess whenthey’re about to use a stun skill and hope you get the timing right (seePVP), or just use it to run away.`` I recommend 1 point. For pve, this is optional. For pvp, it’s highly

recommended. It scales poorly beyond one point, gaining very little

effectiveness.

ImagePenance“Removes up to X helpful spells from the enemy and deals Y magic damageper spell removed.” Single enemy, 1s cast, 40s cooldown, available level 38Skill Level — Buffs Removed — Damage — Mana1 — 2 — 360 — 1622 — 2 — 428 — 1933 — 3 — 504 — 2274 — 3 — 593 — 267

5 — 4 — 686 — 3096 — 4 — 792 — 3577 — 5 — 900 — 4058 — 5 — 1011 — 4559 — 6 — 1137 — 51210 — 6 — 1278 — 575`` This is a pvp spell designed to strip buffs off of a player. With thecurrent level cap there are few monsters with strippable buffs, and thosethat do exist are not worth removing. Because it’s situational (the



target needs to have buffs you want to remove) and has a longishrecharge, penance is not very useful as a damage spell. Interestinglyenough it appears to ignore its target's defense and the caster'smattack.`` It removes an additional buff at every odd level, so be sure to keepan odd number of skill points in it. It has a long recharge, so after the

initial point it’s not critical to keep leveling it up (there’s also nobenefit in having it strip 3 buffs if your target only has two). Do nottake this spell if you are not planning to pvp.

ImageArchangel’s Light “Charges weapon to deal X% additional damage to demons and undead.” Single ally, 2s cast, 2s cooldown, 10 minute duration, available level 40Skill Level — Damage — Mana Cost1 — 10 — 5192 — 12 — 6073 — 14 — 708

4 — 16 — 8345 — 18 — 9656 — 20 — 11097 — 22 — 12628 — 24 — 14249 — 26 — 159110 — 30 — 1807 Note: at level 10 archangel's light becomes an aoe buffcentered around the cleric with a range of 20 meters.`` This is the improved version of Bless. It adds a % damage bonus to allattacks against demons/undead. To make this skill work, you either needto be fighting against demons/undead or have used Holy Signet on themobs. Because players don’t have racial types, it does nothing against

them (see Holy Signet). It scales in the same way as Exalt, but unlike

Exalt you don’t need to have mana issues for additional points inArchangel’s Light to matter. They all help, a little bit. `` Recommended 1 point for pve builds, more if you feel like it and havethe spare points (when the level cap is raised it would be a very goodskill to max). Do not take it on a pvp build or on a pve build thatdoesn't have Holy Signet.

ImageRevelation“Recovers the HP of self or an ally by X and cancels all curses and spelldiseases.” Singly ally, 2s cast time, 3s cooldown, available level 40

Skill Level — Heal Amount — Mana1 — 1737 — 7642 — 2028 — 8923 — 2367 — 10414 — 2721 — 11975 — 3117 — 13716 — 3519 — 15607 — 3948 — 17378 — 4389 — 1931



9 — 4887 — 215010 — 5403 — 237711 — 5937 — 261212 — 6522 — 287013 — 7149 — 315014 — 7791 — 3464

15 — 8799 — 380316 — 9201 — 4079`` This is the big heal. From level 40 on up you are free from thetyranny of needing Cure to heal your team and may choose between Cure andRevelation! Revelation takes twice as long to cast, but it heals a lot.Because it casts slowly you’ll keep your team safer if you try to predict

when somebody is going to need it and start casting it before their hpactually drops rather than waiting until they actually get hit. It alsocomes with a very large mana cost, so keep an eye on your mana pool whenyou use it. Because it’s such a large heal it’s very easy to overheal

your target, which wastes mana. Try asking people how many hp they haveto help you estimate when to use it.`` Besides being a large heal, revelation removes all debuffs on its

target. In pve this doesn’t mean much as people rarely get more than 2debuffs at a time, but in pvp your teammates may suddenly receive half adozen debuffs at once. Therefore, even if you decide not to userevelation as your main heal it’s worth having 1 point in it to remove

debuffs if you plan on doing pvp.Last edited by frznvimes on Mon Jan 10, 2011 4:33 am, edited 48 times intotal.ImageImage

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Posts: 340Joined: Sat Apr 10, 2010 7:33 pm

TopRe: Master, no! A Cleric's Primer

Postby frznvimes » Sun May 16, 2010 11:09 pmXI. After 50"I think you ought to know I'm feeling very depressed," it said. Itsvoice was low and helpless. ~Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to theGalaxy

`` At 51 you get your first class promotion to Saint. This comes withincreased HP, 2 skill points per level, and stat points to spend. It alsocomes with large gaps between available quests where the only way tolevel up is to kill lots of mobs. The good news is that clerics are verygood (probably the best) at grinding solo and in teams of any size. Sinceyou'll be spending so much time grinding you may even want to make abuild specifically for that purpose and then reskill when you're at thelevel cap.



ImageArchangel’s Blade “Increases target’s critical rate by x and critical damage by y% for 10

minutes” Single Ally, 2s cast, 3s cooldown, 10 minute duration, available level 51

Skill Level — Critical Rate — Critical Damage — Mana — Pieces of Caelium1 — 2 — 10% — 833 — 12 — 4 — 12% — 954 — 13 — 6 — 14% — 1092 — 24 — 8 — 16% — 1233 — 5 — 10 — 18% — 1389 — 36 — 12 — 20% — 1549 — 3`` This spell is be good to use on a dg or rm as they typically have highcritical rates from their own skills (the warlock skill fireball also hasa high critical rate). Most other characters will have fairly lowcritical rates however and so this spell will not help them out veryoften. Eventually though (like if you can ever put 10 points into it atlevel 87) this spell will give a high enough crit rate that the critical

damage bonus can be taken advantage of by most characters. If you and thepeople you play with can stack enough crit rate from equipment to get afairly high chance (I'd personally say over 20%) this spell might be ofinterest to you.

ImageIron Will“Increases chance to resist stun and shock effects by x% and y%

respectively.” Passive, available level 55Skill Level — Stun Resist — Shock Resist1 — 5% — 3%

2 — 10% — 6%3 — 15% — 9%4 — 20% — 12%5 — 25% — 15%`` To stay alive and keep healing teammates a cleric needs to beconstantly activating skills, which is why being stunned is sodevastating. The passive resist this skill adds is small, but with enoughpoints it could be very important in pvp (and possibly pve if more aoestuns appear in the later levels). At level 60 it simply adds too littleto be of much benefit, but at some point in the future (lvl 91, if itever happens) we'll be able to put 10 points in this for 50% stun resist!

ImageAika’s Grace “Recovers HP and MP of the target by x and makes the target immune to all

attacks for y seconds.” Single ally, instant cast, 2 minute recharge, available level 59Skill Level — HP/MP — Immunity — Mana — Pieces of Caelium1 — 5750 — 5s — 1898 — 32 — 6410 — 5s — 2115 — 33 — 7130 — 6s — 2353 — 4



4 — 7930 — 6s — 2617 — 4`` This spell costs a lot of mana. As a result it's probably best not touse this skill unless you really need to. Aika's Grace is remarkablypowerful however, instantly providing a huge amount of mana and hp aswell as immunity to attacks (which, like desperate prayer, preventseffects such as stun). There isn't really anything else that can match up

to it in an emergency.`` Compared with Desperate Prayer it cools down 1 minute faster, lastslonger, casts instantly, and doesn't prevent skill use. However, you maywish to have both so that you can save Aika's Grace to use on teammatesin pve and to have 2 immunity tools in pvp.

XII. After 60My poemIs finished and I haven’t mentioned Orange yet. It’s twelve poems, I callIt ORANGES. ~Frank O’Hara, Why I Am Not a Painter

`` After the level cap is raised (70 is the current max in other versionsof Aika) there will be even more skills!

ImageHoly Shield“Absorbs x magic damage and reduces magical area damage taken by theparty by 25%. Lasts 1 minute.” Team buff (?), instant cast, 3 minute recharge, 1 minute duration,available level 61Skill Level — Absorption Amount — Mana — Pieces of Caelium1 — 4194 — 2097 — 42 — 4716 — 2358 — 4

3 — 5304 — 2652 — 54 — 5964 — 2982 — 5`` Similar to Angelic Armor except that it works against magic damage,possibly effects the entire team, and has a long recharge.See feonirgod's post below for more info.

ImagePenance“Increases healing done by spells with a 1 second or greater cast time byx%” Passive, available level 65Level — Boost

1 — 20%2 — 23%3 — 26%`` This would effect Cure, Healing Corona, Revelation, and Divine Sermon.This is a huge buff and will significantly help pretty much all clericswho plan to team.

Image



Divine Sermon“Recovers the HP of party members within 10 a meter radius by x every

second for 10 seconds. Also removes one harmful effect.” Channeled self targeted aoe heal, 11s casting/duration, 5 minuterecharge, available level 69Level — HP — Mana — Pieces of Caelium

1 — 752 — 2482 — 62 — 836 — 2736 — 6`` This sounds like a very situational spell, but it would be useful ifthe tank dies and everybody in the party (except the cleric casting it)got aggro from mobs. If it works like Healing Corona, it will only healplayers in your party and not those in your raid group.

XII. Things to consider when designing a buildThen we,As we beheld her striding there alone,Knew that there never was a world for herExcept the one she sang and, singing, made. ~Wallace Stevens, The Idea of

Order at Key West

`` This is a comparison tool for excel that I made a while ago to look atthe relative maximum amounts different combinations of Cure,Rejuvenation, and Revelation could heal per second at level 60. Exalt isincluded (x axis) and on “data” page there is space at the top for you to

enter your mattack and +heal level (don't include exalt). Playing aroundwith it a bit may help you decide what build you want to make.`` Think about how many points you’ll be putting into a skill. Manyskills gain more power from equipment than skill points, but some gainnothing from equipment. Some skills increase in a linear manner, whileothers give more and more benefit from each point you add. Look at themana cost of a skill and decide if you ultimately benefit more from

having more points invested in it, or by having to cast it more often forless mana each time. Inspect your completed build and assess whatsituations it will thrive it and what situations it is not equipped tohandle (and how often you’re likely to encounter each of them). `` Consider what you’ll be doing with your character when making your

build. Reskilling is cheap (if you don’t do it daily), so don’t be afraid

to change your build and try different things. You’ll probably have tochange your build several times as you level up, or if you just decide todo something different in game. Most cleric builds fall under some of thefollowing categories:(Pure) Support Cleric — This is a cleric which has taken no offensivepowers at all in order to maximize their ability to heal and buff theirteammates.

Battle Cleric — Being a “Battle Cleric” doesn’t mean very much. Bygetting Holy Tempest, Holy Signet, and Archangel’s Light a cleric has

just about maximized their personal offensive potential in pve (I don’tinclude Bless because it is of little value to an individual Cleric. Itis absolutely a team buff). This leaves a lot of points free to spend ondefensive powers, so there is no reason for a “Battle Cleric” not to havedecent team healing abilities as well as offensive ones.Solo Cleric — a Cleric which has avoided the skills necessary to supportteammates.



Pvp Cleric — a Cleric who has chosen abilities for their usefulness inpvp (Angelic Armor, Holy Inspiration, Penance, Rejuvenation, Revelation,Haste) and avoided ones only useful in pve (Holy Signet, Archangel’s

Light). Usually, this kind of build can still support a team in pve.Multipurpose Cleric — This is what most clerics are. It means having amix of abilities that can be used for both pve and pvp, killing and

defending, soloing and teaming. Most builds without a very specific goalwill end up being fairly flexible.

I've had several people ask, so I'll add that my personal preference hasbeen to use maxed cure as my main heal until I got about 700 healing fromequipment, then I switched to using maxed revelation and level 1 cure. Ibelieve most people would be happier sticking with maxed cure as it castsfaster for a smaller amount and so is a bit more forgiving in terms ofwhen you use it and how quickly it drains your mana pool.

XIII. PransI’M A HYPER PRAN, IN A WORLD OF PRANS~

LIFE IN SLAVERY, ITS JUST GRAVY~YOU CAN STYLE MY HAIR, UNDRESS ME ANYWHERE~GEE-POTATOES, THEY PAY FOR MOAR CLOTHEZ~ ~blade_tsukasa, maintenancethread 4/14/10

`` Which pran should you choose? Probably the air pran.`` The air pran in nice. It gives you a dodge bonus skill which helpsreduce the amount of damage you’ll be taking when things go bad and avoid attached debuffs/ccs (which is effective even if you don’t have much

dodge to begin with) and it gives you the skill tailwind, which is verynice for saving mana if you suddenly have to spam your heals.`` Fire prans increase your damage. For whatever reason their bonuses tomattack do not apply to your heals. When you’re attacking as a cleric

it’s going to be slowly, so the extra damage isn’t going to do a lot foryou offensively (prans don’t give very large bonuses). Criticals are

nice, but that’s something you’re not really built to take advantage of.

Fire prans are best left to damage dealers and fast attackers.`` A water pran is going to be very similar to an air pran, but probablyless effective for a cleric. The amount of defense it adds is prettysmall, the damage shield doesn’t absorb very much, and the mana regain

skill is going to be less effective than a % based discount when thingsgo bad. The status resist can be nice, but it's pretty small. They aremost suited for paladins.

XIV. PVP

The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power,And all that beauty, all that wealth e’er gave, Awaits alike the inevitable hour.The paths of glory lead but to the grave. ~Thomas Gray, Elegy Written ina Country Churchyard

`` In pvp, you are not a fierce lion who will be swatting enemies leftand right. You are not a helpless infant who can’t contribute to your

team. You may be a cuddly bunny for a brief period of time, but that’s



only because a warlock used polymorph on you. Don’t worry, it breaks on

damage.`` No, what you are is a hasted hyena, a sneaky snake, and a circumspectcrow. You’ll stay at the edges of combat, hasted, Holy Tempest at the

ready. When you see a severely wounded enemy you can pounce in, attackonce or twice, and then jump back with a medal of “honor” in your pocket.

`` It works like this because, even in pvp, you are still a supportcharacter. Most of your powers are defensive and will be used to keepyourself and your teammates alive while they dish out the damage. You arethe only class in the game without even a single crowd control power (allthe other classes have at several), so you can never disable an enemy andattack them safely. You also have a fairly low damage output (HolyTempest is nice for pve, but for pvp it’s not impressive) and so it willtake a long time to whittle an enemy down from full health. Finally, allof your defensive abilities are things you’ll need to be activating

constantly. Other classes will be able to kill you in seconds if theymanage to get you in a situation where you can’t use your powers. Knowinghow to deal with each specific class is going to be necessary if you hopeto survive.

Clerics — Ok, so you’re a Cleric too. You know all the tricks in theirbook and they know everything you could possibly do. You can outheal thedamage they can do to you, and vice versa. This is a contest ofendurance, and the one who runs out of mana first loses. Try to runaround and make it hard for them to hit you with holy tempest. It’s

pretty easy to run away in this situation as well because they have nocrowd control powers with which to stop you.Paladins — You’ll probably survive this fight, but probably won’t win aswell. Paladins have tons of defensive abilities , one slow casting rangedslow ability (which you can remove with purify), one melee stun whichlasts 3 seconds and recharges in 12 (which you can stay out of range of),and one melee silence ability which lasts 3 seconds and cools down in 12(which you can also stay away from). To kill you they’ll need to get you

in melee range and keep you there long enough to whittle you down withbasic attacks. If they have very good equipment, this is actually adanger. Many paladins get as much + move speed equipment as they can,which can total higher than maximized Haste. They also try to get highlyupgraded swords (you can tell by how strongly and what color they glow)which can do an appreciable amount of damage over time. If you can’t stay

out of melee range, just run away. If you can stay out of melee range,you still probably shouldn’t bother trying to kill them without somebody

to help you inflict enough damage.`` After 50 they get more dangerous, getting a big aoe immobilize and alarge damage temporary damage buff. If you get caught they'll have adecent chance to keep you stunned/silenced long enough to inflict someserious damage. Both of these powers have long cooldowns however (40s and

3 min respectively), so if you get caught in the immobilize you may wantto cast Aika's Grace or Desperate Prayer (if it looks like they won'tinterrupt it) just before the duration runs out (3-5 seconds) to blocktheir next cc power (probably the stun to keep you immobile) and escape.They still may not be doing enough damage to seriously threaten youthough, in which case it may be prudent to save your immunity powers fora more dangerous opponent.Warriors — Warriors are actually pretty easy to survive against. Many oftheir damage skills are aoe attacks, which Angelic Armor defends



particularly well against. They have a charge skill that stuns for 3seconds (max range 12 meters), a small movement speed buff, a 6 secondsilence, and another 1-4 second stun. You’ll notice they have a lot ofstuns that they can chain together. In mass pvp they probably won’t use

more than one crowd control power against you and so you don’t need to

worry about them very much if you have Angelic Armor, but in smaller

venues they will (in which case it's best to try and block their initialcc attack, charge, with Desperate Prayer/Aika's Grace and run away). It’s

best to just stay out of melee range against them and keep throwingtempest at them. It’ll be easier if you have a teammate. `` After 50 they get a long duration aoe fear and another high damageaoe, both with long cooldowns. This doesn't really change anything interms of what they'll do to you (chain cc or not) or how you shouldhandle them.Riflemen — Riflemen are your main reason for having Angelic Armor. Theycan kill you in 1-2 hits without it up but they may take 3 attacks ormore to kill you if it is. They have a 3 second silence (instant cast), a6 second silence (3s charge), a 5 second stun if they attack from stealth(instant cast), a powerful slow (instant cast), and a long lasting melee

range stun (if they hit you with it you’re pretty much dead). They canalso stealth. Fortunately, you can counter most of their moves. Theirhigh damage attacks have casts times of 2-5 seconds, so it’s pretty easyto tell what they’re doing. If they start charging up an attack, use

Desperate Prayer to block it and then run away. If (when) they break yourAngelic Armor, refresh it asap. If they turn invisible, quickly castinsight on where you last saw them. If they hit you with their slow,remove it with purify. You have haste, and so you can outrun them. Do so.They can do enough damage to keep breaking through your defenses and killyou before you can kill them with tempest, so it’s best not to stand and

fight with them.`` After 50 they gain the ability to attack from stealth (they losestealth on attack but can recast it instantly) and an instant cast fast

recharging 3s stun. Insight still works against them but the instant stunmakes them much more dangerous. They now have a lot of ways to instantlycc you, making it more likely they'll get off a charged attack withoutyou being able to block it (although they may make the error of not usinga cc against you since you can't cc them back). Using an immunity spelland running away becomes even more important than before.Dual Gunners — Dual Gunners have some nasty tools against clerics, andall of their skills cast instantly (so you’ll just have to guess what

they’re going to use next). They have an attack that will grey out your

screen for several seconds, making you unable to see anything. If theyuse this on you, do not heal yourself. Cast Angelic Armor or DesperatePrayer instead. Or use purify. Or just run away without being able to seewhere you’re going. The reason for this is that they have a debuff which

makes your next few heals deal damage instead of healing. Once you cansee again you can be sure that this skill hasn’t been used on you. They

also have a root (get rid of it with purify), a couple of high damageattacks, a 10s sleep, and a 10s debuff that makes all critical hitsagainst you stun for 3 seconds (They have high critical rates). They alsohave a skill which instantly recharges all their other skills. They canstealth too. Your best bet is to cast Desperate Prayer and run away assoon as possible (they have a run speed buff but it’s still slower than a



high level haste) because the longer the fight goes on the higher thechance they’ll get you with debuffs and damage. `` After 50 the only useful skill they gain is a 3s paralyze with a shortcooldown. This doesn't really change anything as you should be immune andimmune and running away no matter what they're doing.Warlocks — Warlocks are very nasty. They can kill you in 2 attacks and

there’s nothing Angelic Armor can do about it because they don’t dealphysical damage. They have a shield that absorbs up to 50% of all damagethey take into their mana (removing this with penance should be yourpriority if you’ve got teammates with you). They have a highly damaging 3

second stun, an aoe sleep that can last up to 16 seconds, an aoe andsingle target slow (purify these off), a silence that can last up to 22seconds (5-12 seconds is more common though), and if given enough time toset it up a high damaging aoe attack that stuns for 5 seconds. They caneven turn you into a bunny. And, to reiterate incase you forgot, they cankill you in as few as 2 attacks. Use Desperate Prayer and run away.That’s the entirety of your strategy. `` All they gain after 50 are a couple of attacks. This doesn't changeanything from your perspective.

XV. Exceptionssince feeling is firstwho pays any attentionto the syntax of thingswill never wholly kiss you;~E.E. Cummings, since feeling is first

`` The advice I have given is general but not universal, and there willbe situations when it doesn’t apply. For example, certain dungeonsrequire very specific skills and tactics (for example, a high levelresurrect is very valuable when doing a dungeon in hell mode), and thereare other guides available to help you figure them out. There is also no

accounting for the individual player. What works for most people may notwork for you, so don’t discount your personal experience for advice that

others give. Try things out, see how they work, and do what feels bestfor you.

XVI. Dealing with bad teams“So I have murdered Sibyl Vane,” Said Dorian Gray, half to himself—

“murdered her as surely as if I had cut her little throat with a knife.

Yet the roses are not less lovely for all that. The birds sing just ashappily in my garden.” ~Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

`` Sometimes when you’re playing with a team, you kind of want to let

them die. When this happens just try to remember that this is a game andthat people are playing to have fun. Try talking to them politely andgiving them advice to help them improve. Everybody makes mistakes, so tryto be patient and give them another chance. If the problem is moresocial, so to speak, you can ask them to modify their behavior or simplychat block them (right click on their name in the chat box and selectblock. When your block list appears, press the block button to add themto the list).



`` If all else fails though, it is just a game and it’s fine to up and

leave the party. You don’t need to be friends with every single player.

XVII. Sources and acknowledgements:A man said to the universe:

“Sir, I exist!” “However,” replied the universe “The fact has not created in me A sense of obligation.” ~Stephen Crane, A Man Said to the Universe

`` I would like to thank the following entities. Without them, this guidewould not have been written. Or, at least, it would have been a lot morework.Aika (the game)Aika WikiAika Online DatabaseOfficial Aika ForumsAnd players like you!

cleric’s primer

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