Cleric Mastering

Well, as we all know, clerics are the weakest and most complicated characters to play. Having to keep an entire party alive is not something easy, specially when aggro jumps from player to player. Also, since they are support characters, they do not need much HP, though there are several builds, like LA hybrids, that players use to improve their role as a cleric. 

Regular build on clerics is always pure magic, and some vitality and strength (always capping the strength at 54-56, which is the amount of strength you will need to wield endgame weapons and gears such as TT99 Gold and Nirvana).

There is players, like myself, that use the Light Armor build. "Why would a cleric go light armor?" Because it is very useful if you PvP, since you will not be as squishy against meele characters, and it is also good to handle physical mobs better without having to run away and use Plume Shell/Wings of Protection all the time; just a couple Ironheart Blessings and you are ready to pwn some stuff. And yes, magic attack will be slightly weaker than a pure magic cleric, but there is nothing gear and Jones Blessings cannot solve. Just cap your strength and dexterity to 103 (requisite for endgame gear) and put the rest on magic. Do not put any points in vitality since you do not need it. You can easily get to 70 vitality sharding your gear with citrine gems/stones of the savant/primeval stones.

Skills

It is always good to know how to use your skills and how they work on different types of mobs and players. Try to max out all your buffs (Celestial Guardian Seal, Vanguard Spirit, Magic Shell, Spirits Gift and Purify) and heals first (Ironheart Blessing, Stream of Rejuvenation and Wellspring Surge are best for saving the tank. And do not forget about Chromatic Healing Beam for squad heals), then the seals (Chromatic, Elemental, Dimensional and Silent Seal), and after those, your direct and AoE attacks (AoEs are great for grinding). Do not forget about BB and RB (Regeneration Aura and Heavens Wrath respectively); you will need those in higher level instances/zhening, specially in FC and TT runs. Remember to always have MP pots, as many as you want and of any kind you like. Herb Yuanxiao is best at lv.80+

Genies and You

Yes. Genies are your cleric´s best friend. Try to have a genie with good lucky points so you can put as many skills as possible. Recommended genie skills are:

 - Cloud Eruption: gain 200 chi instantly at skill lv.10

 - Holy Path: increases own speed to 15.0 m/s for 6.8 seconds at skill lv.10 (Great for keeping up with your squad at instances.)

 - Tree of Protection: increases max HP by 34% by 6 seconds and also recovers HP during that time at skill lv.10. (Goes great with a strength-based genie.)

 - Second Wind: recovers 800 HP instantly at skill lv.10 (Strength-based genie recommended).

 - Badge of Courage: 40% chance to break you out of stuns. Get this 40% to 100% with a strength-based genie. This skill works great in PvP against Blademasters and Assassins.

 - Mantle Ripple of Death: decrease targets Chi by 20 constantly during 60 seconds. Great for keeping your opponent without Chi so he/she cannot use Chi-based skills against you.

Cleric Role in a Party

Yeah, I know you know your role as a cleric. But do you know how to develop it successfully? Here are some tips on keeping your party alive.

 - Always focus on the tank. This is basically the main job, keeping the tank( whether it be a barb, BM or sin) alive. Because if the tank dies, DDs die and that means, you die.

 - Keep an eye on your party mates. This is very important, since any party member could steal aggro from the tank at any moment, so you gotta rapidly switch from the tank over to him. Try getting used to keyboard shortcuts for party members, it saves you the time of having to move the mouse over to his/her name.

- Too hard to keep everyone alive? Then get in range of every party member and spam the squad heal (Chromatic Healing Beam), without forgetting to IH the tank. Use BB if necessary and if the tank and DDs play "ping pong" with the boss´s aggro, so your work is not that hard.

 - And last but not least... Keep an eye on YOURSELF. Do never, ever forget about your HP, no matter how into your party you are. Remember, if you die, everyone dies, so watch yourself!

PvE cleric

Fighting against mobs, elite mobs and mini bosses is not an easy job for a cleric. Most rather have someone else to do it for them since they are squishy and die easily. Well, here are some tips on how to PvE as a cleric.

Against Mobs: if we are talking about mobs that have close physical ranged attack, we will always want to keep them at distance. So, this is the trick: IH yourself a couple of times, then use your Great Cyclone to reduce their speed so it will take them a bit more to approach, next use Wield Thunder, then use the Silent Seal to paralyze it and keep it at distance, and then just keep alterning attacks until it is dead. 

Magic Mobs are not a great deal, specially if their element is Wood, since Wood is weak to Metal, and clerics are metal-based. Just Plume Shot/Great Cyclone/Wield Thunder. Maybe you can even AoE grind since you have high magical and elemental resistance. Sirens Kiss and Razor Feathers are best for this type of grind. Use Tempest whenever you can also.

Against Mini Bosses: basically the same as mobs, just gotta use Silent Seal and Chromatic Seal wisely so it won´t approach too much, and if it gets to you, don´t freak out; just attack 2 times, IH 2 times, attack 2 times, IH 2 times and so on. Spark if possible. Sage/Demon spark is the best (Lv.89+).

Against Bosses: you are probably thinking "bosses?! is this girl insane?!". Well, no, I am not. If you are good at this class and know how to keep yourself alive, you can play the tank role in a party. At Lv.99, I am able to not only tank, but solo FB19, 29, 39, 51 and 59. The hardest of those, for a cleric, is FB51 (Secret Frostcovered Grounds), since mobs and bosses inflict physical damage. Tanking is possible if you use your skills wisely. Here is the how:

  - IH yourself a couple of times before hitting

 - Debuff the boss with the Elemental and Dimensional seals.

 - Spark (Demon/Sage Spark works best)

 - IH twice

 - Attack 3 times (cyclone-thunder-cyclone)

 - IH twice again

 - Spark whenever you can (cloud eruption helps building your chi faster)

 - Cyclone-thunder-cyclone again

 - And then just keep repeating those steps until it is dead meat :D

e: for this to work, you must be a higher level than all the DDs in the party, since they will out DD you in battle if you are lower (obviously) or in their level range.

PvP Cleric

Hmmm, I bet you are not sure about this part, since clerics can get owned easily during PvP. Well, if you are a master of your class, that is not the case. This are some of the tricks I use against the different classes you can confront in a duel/PK/TW. I suggest you be a master of keyboard shortcuts for PvP; will prevent your butt from getting owned :P

 - Assassin: the most sneaky class in the game. If caught unguard, they are an easy kill for you (PK). Just Chromatic Seal + Elemental Seal + Spark + Cyclone + Thunder = fried fish. If they catch you unguarded, it is a bit different, even impossible to survive - do not worry, nothing is impossible. They will most likely be on stealth and then spawn on you and stun you, so, you use Badge of Courage (genie skill), IH 1 -2 times and use crab meat/HP pots if possible, then sleep him with you Chromatic Seal and do as said above. If you do not have Spark ready, do not worry, just attack normally with magic attacks only.

 - Blademaster: they stun too, but they are soooo easy compared to an assassin. Most commonly BMs will spark before they hit, so you just sleep them while they are sparking so they do not have a chance to stun/attack you, magic debuff, spark and kill. Easy peasy.

- Barbarian: could almost be a joke if it weren´t for their incredible amount of HP. And your squishiness, of course. Keep them at distance with Silence/Chromatic seals + magic debuff + spark + attacks = dead.

- Wizards: the almighty wizards. Not-so-almighty against another magic class, but still strong. Sleep + DIMENSIONAL seal + Spark + Plume shot as many times as you can.

- Psychics: same old story as wizards. Be careful, because if they use Soul Burn and you do not notice, you are dead. Soul of Vengeance and Soul of Silence are their amazing reflect buffs, so keep yourself IHed and use Plume Shell and Wings of Protection of possible.

- Venomancers: the pet is always the problem. If you cut fast enough through the pet (magic attacks only since they are physical), the veno is served to you in a silver plate. Sleep, dimensional seal, and plume shot her twice or 3 times and she is owned.

- Another Cleric: well this is a healing battle. Haha, just kidding. The cleric that sleeps its opponent first wins. As simple as that. Of course, not all clerics are masters of PvP so it is probably easy for you to kill them. Spark, followed by one or 2 plume shots and done.

It is just a matter of knowing which skill is for what and of course, being as quick as you can. Use your skills and your advantages against the different classes wisely and your set to PK. Though you will not always get out victorious, and that is the real fun of PvP! 

If you have any questions on how to be a cleric on certain dungeons/instances or PvP-related, feel free to contact me in-game or here. 

Hope this guide was of help!

Good luck and happy leveling!
ElizabethF (Dreamweaver Server)