Started a Cleric, any tips?

[AenimaNerd]

So I'm not normally one to play healer classes, but I wanted to give Cleric a try, so I made a High Elf Cleric focusing on Stamina and Wisdom, because strength isn't really relevant for that class if I'm correct. So do you have any tips for me during my questing as a Cleric?

[Victorio]

Learn to duo with enchanters. It gets better and better.

[Sorn]

Being plate-wearers, STR is actually pretty important as a cleric if you don't want to be encumbered constantly.

If you've got a HE cleric, you'll want to start on this line of quests (Tunare Symbol quests) for the free clicky root, which will save your butt and save a spell slot. (Make friends with a druid or wizard for the third quest unless you're cool with going back and forth across Norrath several times on foot.)

Armor-wise, doing the Bracers of the Reverent quest twice might be in your best interests (and if you want to be a golden cleric, do the full set of armor quests!). Later on, you can go for the Aegis of Life, which would require some faction-work and lots of travel/camping, but it's a back slot/secondary item with +10 wis so it might be worth it!

For weapons, you can try the Bonethunder Staff quest for cool battle cleric bonus points, or attempt the quest for Shining Star of Light to get a 1HB with a cool name. You will also want to do either Paw of Opolla or Testament of Vanear for your offhand if you go the 1hb route.

Or you can buy some cheap stuff in EC, but that's kinda boring...plus you need to save up for all your spells.

These quests I've named are all stuff you can complete by mid-thirties with help. The Bonethunder Staff can be obtained before level 20 if you choose to use the Regurgitonic rather than kill Mammoth.

As for playing tips...

* Starting at 24, use heal macros and load more than one heal spell. By this point, group members will have larger disparities in HP, so you use your big heals for melee and small heals for casters (usually).

* You do not have to just sit around and heal, you can also root-CC, stun, and fear. That last one is useful if you're playing with someone who has some form of snare, like a druid or ranger who can only fear animals. You can also nuke, but only the undead nukes are mana-efficient on a cleric. Cleric nukes are decent in the early levels.

* Learn aggro management as a healer. A lot of p99 players will discuss what tanks can do to hold aggro (good gear, procs, well-timed taunts, other melee types holding back or using evade properly), but your timing and choice in spells makes a pretty big difference in the first few seconds. Big heal = big aggro, but when you drop that big heal can either hurt or help your tank. In later levels, you will have to pay attention to when the monk puller is FDing, who is engaged with what and for how long, and be able to guesstimate how much aggro you've accumulated over the course of a fight.

* Always keep Divine Aura loaded in your spellbar, and maybe Divine Barrier if you have the space to spare. A wipe's a wipe, but if you're trying to buy time for the tank to get something off you, DA is irreplaceable. You should be one of the last ones to die in a group, followed only by a class with FD, because if the cleric dies it'll be a miracle if the rest survive unless you have secondary healers who know what they're doing.

* People are gonna ask you for rezzes in far off places when you're high enough. You're allowed to say no. Or yes. Or wander into zones and offer free rezzes for no reason. Or go anon and ignore the world.

* Hoard all the peridots.

[Jimjam]

Some of your hp/ac line of buffs can be used as heals.

Worth mentioning a second time, don't be afraid to use spells other than heal. Rooting a mobs to control who they hit will save a lot of mana in the long term. A well timed stun can drastically changed a fight.

Let melees do a little bit of your job for you; in med breaks someone will often offer to bandage the group to 50% hp, you might as well let them since no pulls will be coming in and it will result in the med break finishing earlier.

[Tecmos Deception]

Most important advice for a cleric is: populate your friends list with cool, active players who like to group with you.

True for most classes really, but to a lesser extent probably.


Don't let the role of cleric as "healer" and as a group class trick you into the drugery of healbotting groups of 6 though! Clerics have a lot of cool tools, especially in smaller groups. Clerics can solo from like 1-50+ very effectively on undeads (unrest is so great if it isn't too busy). Root to help CC; it's easier to prevent damage than to heal it. Stun to interrupt nasty spells; it's easier to prevent damage than to heal it (usually), and you can interrupt complete heals and charms and stuff too that really make fights annoying. Resist buffs on the tank and puller; again, it's easier to prevent damage to heal it. Make use of invuln spells for more than just when shit hits the fan, like to break a camp of a few shadowknight mobs... you can eat a lot of HTs without getting hurt. If you have respectable charisma, you can help break big camps up easily with calm. You get a memory blur spell which can sometimes be put to great use. Shy away from using your nukes very often, but if you're sitting at max mana and no one needs rebuffs and the group doesn't need healing... fire one off! No point in sitting at 100% mana all the time and wasting your mana regen... so long as you don't go crazy and end up at only 50% mana when a big pull happens and you need to do a lot of other casting.

But on the point of not going overboard casting nukes... you can go overboard with other spells too. Don't cast symbol, ac buff, resists buffs on a mage. He doesn't need them 99% of the time, and if you try to keep every buff up on everyone you'll be oom so often your group will barely get any pulls in before you need to rebuff! Even the tank doesn't probably need a symbol until you're at the point you want to be complete healing, or if you're fighting stuff where healing is frantic and you need the tank to have some extra hp to survive until you are free to cast on him, or if you're trying to keep a warrior in enrage hp range for extra dps or something. Etc.

[snergle]

Originally Posted by Victorio [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Learn to duo with enchanters. It gets better and better.

find an enc and become his bff. learn to keep a pet on target with your finger trembling over the stun button until charm breaks. stun pet heal enc. sometimes you heal the pet.

[AenimaNerd]

Originally Posted by Sorn [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Being plate-wearers, STR is actually pretty important as a cleric if you don't want to be encumbered constantly.

If you've got a HE cleric, you'll want to start on this line of quests (Tunare Symbol quests) for the free clicky root, which will save your butt and save a spell slot. (Make friends with a druid or wizard for the third quest unless you're cool with going back and forth across Norrath several times on foot.)

Armor-wise, doing the Bracers of the Reverent quest twice might be in your best interests (and if you want to be a golden cleric, do the full set of armor quests!). Later on, you can go for the Aegis of Life, which would require some faction-work and lots of travel/camping, but it's a back slot/secondary item with +10 wis so it might be worth it!

For weapons, you can try the Bonethunder Staff quest for cool battle cleric bonus points, or attempt the quest for Shining Star of Light to get a 1HB with a cool name. You will also want to do either Paw of Opolla or Testament of Vanear for your offhand if you go the 1hb route.

Or you can buy some cheap stuff in EC, but that's kinda boring...plus you need to save up for all your spells.

These quests I've named are all stuff you can complete by mid-thirties with help. The Bonethunder Staff can be obtained before level 20 if you choose to use the Regurgitonic rather than kill Mammoth.

As for playing tips...

* Starting at 24, use heal macros and load more than one heal spell. By this point, group members will have larger disparities in HP, so you use your big heals for melee and small heals for casters (usually).

* You do not have to just sit around and heal, you can also root-CC, stun, and fear. That last one is useful if you're playing with someone who has some form of snare, like a druid or ranger who can only fear animals. You can also nuke, but only the undead nukes are mana-efficient on a cleric. Cleric nukes are decent in the early levels.

* Learn aggro management as a healer. A lot of p99 players will discuss what tanks can do to hold aggro (good gear, procs, well-timed taunts, other melee types holding back or using evade properly), but your timing and choice in spells makes a pretty big difference in the first few seconds. Big heal = big aggro, but when you drop that big heal can either hurt or help your tank. In later levels, you will have to pay attention to when the monk puller is FDing, who is engaged with what and for how long, and be able to guesstimate how much aggro you've accumulated over the course of a fight.

* Always keep Divine Aura loaded in your spellbar, and maybe Divine Barrier if you have the space to spare. A wipe's a wipe, but if you're trying to buy time for the tank to get something off you, DA is irreplaceable. You should be one of the last ones to die in a group, followed only by a class with FD, because if the cleric dies it'll be a miracle if the rest survive unless you have secondary healers who know what they're doing.

* People are gonna ask you for rezzes in far off places when you're high enough. You're allowed to say no. Or yes. Or wander into zones and offer free rezzes for no reason. Or go anon and ignore the world.

* Hoard all the peridots.

Well, I'll have to reroll my Cleric then. [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.] But I'll DEFINITELY be levelling my Freeport Bard.

[Ella`Ella]

Delete HE cleric and make a Dark Elf.

[Trollhide]

Originally Posted by Ella`Ella [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Delete HE cleric and make a Dark Elf.

Go gnome or go home

[fuark]

Originally Posted by AenimaNerd [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Well, I'll have to reroll my Cleric then. [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.] But I'll DEFINITELY be levelling my Freeport Bard.

Don't reroll your cleric. Wis and stam are good starting stats and a high elf is a good racial choice.