First Cleric

[Medivac]

Ok, so i have a decent amount of EQ experience, just never played a cleric before. After talking to several higher lvl clerics there seems to be a number of different playing styles.
My question (if anyone has the time to throw a few words of advice here) is what is the preferred/ most efficient way to play one.
When do you buff, who do you buff or dont buff, when is the right time to heal to not be out of mana all the time....
Anywho, any comments will be appreciated :D

[Pyrocat]

Let the group know when you're buffing so they don't pull and have the cleric OOM. Usually try and HP buff the melee classes and enchanter. Skip symbol for everyone but the tank, maaaybe enchanter if they're keeping a charmed pet up. Don't nuke unless you've got back up heals and you're constantly full mana, and even then stick to undead nukes or stuns. Keep stun up for caster mobs.

[stonebeard22]

HP buff everyone, Symbol the tank/puller, AC the tank/puller, heal the proper people. Keep your group alive, but realize lots of classes can heal themselves. Your main responsibility is to keep the main tank up, but in this game agro switches a lot depending on the group.

[stonebeard22]

Oh and keep root up at all times, and you DA. It gives you a couple options to let a tank peel stuff off you, or worst case root park it away from the group and away from you.

[baalzy]

HP buffing everyone is kind of a waste. I'd say initially do it, but by the time they wear off you should have a good idea for how well your tank is keeping agro, when he loses agro who ends up taking it. Anyone not taking damage is just a waste to use mana on giving hp/ac to since they're not gaining anything from it. You'd want to HP buff the puller at least and if they're having issues symbol them too. Enchanters should def be HP buffed and probably symboled too with the way resists are these days.

A tip for low levels. You get more efficient healing casting your hp buff on people then using the lower heals. And whenever possible try to time your heals between server ticks (keep your inventory screen open, when you see your mana tick up stand and heal, then sit back down).

If you feel like it, you can melee some too between these ticks (easier to do when duoing/trio'ing then in a full group). Using a 26delay weapon when I'm on my cleric I find if i swing twice, i can sit down and hit the tick, then stand and get two more swings in. Not really contributing a whole lot to the group but it's useful for keeping your melee skills up so that later on you can melee down greens that might agro on you after doing a rez for someone somewhere.

When grouping with necros, unless they're actively taking damage from a mob that the tank can't get off them (or if they fail their FD), don't bother healing them. The most effective method of damage dealing they'll have is often times their lifedrains, they'll gain their health back anyways. Monks are kind of the same thing, they have mend, let them use it.

As others have said, keep at DA, root, and at least 1 stun up. I also like to keep gate up.

2 heals (1 for CH once you get it and 1 for healing casters), 2 stuns, root, da, gate. Then luse the last slot to change out with lull and your buffs.

If you're running into times when you have so much mana you feel like nuking, make your puller pull more aggressively instead and force you to use that mana to heal.

[hedbonker]

I never DPS in a group. I am there to buff and heal. Other than buffs and heals I have gate (if I have room for it) and DA loaded. Since you cannot cast with DA up I have a hotkey that lets the group know that I am invul and cannot cast. That being said if the group gets the mob off of me I kill DA immediately. If you do that and the mob that was on you is still alive don't sit... You will die.

I symbol the tank and buff the rest of the group. If someone else wants symbol I generally oblige if they ask (If there is a monk pulling I generally symbol them as well).

On the heal front, I have a fast heal, CHEAL and a group heal up. Once HOT is in the game (Velious) I have that up as well but it can be situational based on what the group is doing. HOT is excellent for the puller before they go out to pull.

If the camp you are doing is new to you and or the tank is not known to you, pay close attention to how fast the tank's HP is going down so that you know how much time you have to deliver a heal. This is especially true for CHEAL since it is a long cast time.

The ideal heal / mana ratio is to have the heal land and heal the target for the full amount (obviously not for CHEAL since it heals for more than any tank will ever have on P99) of the spell and takes them to full health.

Be VERY mindful that healing draws aggro big time. Timing is everything with this. Make sure that the tank has good solid aggro before you cast the heal.

When you join the group ask who the MT is and who the puller is. Ask how many HP they have after you buff them. This info is good for calculating the ideal point to cast a heal.

If you have a monk pulling, always ask them if it is safe to heal them if they need a heal before they are back to camp. If they are out of your LOS and they have failed FD and you heal them, you will pull a train.

If the group wipes, your job is to be there to do the CR with them until the last person is rezzed. Unless your house is on fire or something, you have a responsibility to your group to see this process through to the end. Always.

Make hotkeys for your spells. The first line tells the group what the heal is and who is getting it. Each of the following lines should be /cast #. Since I see a max of up to 3 fizzles on spells here, 4 /cast statements allow you to fizzle 3 times and finally cast. The text that lets the group know that you are healing should not be full of spam like "I call upon the power of the gods to HEAL %t!" Make them short and to the point like "CHEAL->%t". There is enough spam in the game already... When I would get into very efficient groups that made my life easy, if it was just pull, kill constant, I admit I would have a hotkey designed for humor like "FM, I'm bored, here's a heal %t. Hope ya live /yawn" but that would only get hit once during the session. YMMV.

And finally, bind outside the dungeon you are XPing in. If you are crawling Chardok and are bound in EC... Well, I am sure you get it...

Cleric story: I was doing the monk epic camp in Chardok for the pipe (I had done this camp a billion times for this). The pipe drops off of a rare mob and you can spend hours at this camp trying to get this. We had been at the camp for about 4 hours when the mob popped. We engaged the mob and then the entire camp repopped. We killed the mob and then wiped before anyone could loot the pipe (it's droppable). There was no way in hell I was going to let that rot. I was bound in BW at the zone in. I zoned in and made a suicide run with DA back to the camp and looted the pipe and died. Good times!

[Medivac]

Good Stuff...thanx for taking the time. :)

[Ihealyou]

Having a heal message is for noob clerics. Its more fun to watch the tank freak out when his health gets low. The best serious advice I have is don't be afraid to let someone die if it means keeping the group alive. When you're getting close to oom, prioritize your heals based on who you need alive to finish the fight. Its a lot easier to rez a few people than have the whole group do a cr.

[Zereh]

I never DPS in a group.

First rule of cleric-ing ~ never say never!

You need to get your defense skilled up since each point adds to your natural AC. It's not appropriate to get up and whack stuff in every situation but don't be afraid to do so if the opportunity presents itself.

Stun is your friend. Stun is your enchanter's friend. I always have the level 5 stun memmed (the one that doesn't do any damage!). Stun gives you three seconds to pop off a root and step back or it gives the enchanter 3 seconds to get a mez off. Make sure you use the one without a direct damage component if you're trying to help the enchanter / bard with crowd control though because they tend to get pissy when you break them. =P

Don't panic when you get aggro. Don't be afraid to take a hit or three. We wear plate for a reason. Let the tank get control of the situation and learn to slowly take a step or two back. Running in circles does no one any good.

Just because you hit your DA or DB (I always have both of them memmed as well) doesn't mean you have to leave them up until they wear off. I usually hit my DA, step back and click it off soon as I can to either heal myself or whoever else is going down fast.

If the group isn't able to rescue you, use your tools to save yourself. Between your DA/DB, root and stuns you should be able to get yourself outta most situations.

I generally have three heals up: CH, 2nd large-ish heal (that doesn't take 10 seconds to land) and a small one for squishies. It won't take you long to figure out when to use what. And not everyone has to be at 100% health no matter how much they whine.

Oh, and for when shit really hits the fan, you can hit a DA or DB, sit and mem Gate to get out if that's the only option. CRs can be a lot less painful that way.

Be prepared to have the "I can't keep all five of you fools healed" talk. It's a team effort to help the tank get and keep aggro; everyone else needs to control their own so that you can use your mana efficiently. Also be prepared to let the idiots kill themselves when they don't learn to control their aggro. Usually only takes once before they catch a clue.

[hedbonker]

Well my comment about DPSing in a group applies to grouping. All of my defensive skills are maxxed from soloing. DPSing in a group is a personal choice. I choose not to do it.

[Zereh]

Your choice! <3 I can mad proc against some undead though so I smack them around every chance I get.

There is no rule which states the cleric must be sitting on their asses unless casting a buff or a heal. =)

[Klyre]

baalzy & hedbonker Have nailed down very well the life and times of the Cleric.

I would just add a couple of small points. Don’t under estimate having Blinding Luminance which is a Blind spell loaded. (Be careful where you cast though as mobs can wander) this can be just as effective as any root.
When you get to the higher Dungeons consider having two DA on your hot bar, it may seem to be fluff but I find that when things get tough you may need it. Once you cast the first one to get out of Danger you may need to cancel it after it has taken effect because someone in your party will die if you don’t. So you cancel, cast your heal and boom you are once again getting beat on. You then can recast your second. When you cast DA you immediately go low on the hate list so it can also be a good way when your group is in trouble to wait a few min before casting this. Yes your getting beat on, but you are wearing mail and you should have your own buffs on yourself. This will give the Tank a chance to take agro back from the Enchanter who is very high on the hate list that you just healed. If you DA too soon the mob just may go back to hitting squishy. This takes practice, don’t fool around though, you die, the party dies.

Your Enchanter is your best friend; she can save you a ton of mana by doing her job well, watch her closely and don’t hesitate to heal even a small boo boo. She dies fast when things go south and your job just got very hard, and you have an exponential chance of losing the entire party.

Can’t say enough about Hot buttons, learn to use them and love them. Make Hotkeys for your heals as has been already said, if you are in the group with other healers they need to know so that group mana isn’t wasted. This is particularly useful on Raids when you have multiple Clerics. As a rule watch your messages, if you see someone else cast heal on the same person the person who is higher in the text message should finish casting, hit your Duck button. This will cancel your casting. (if you don’t know what this is, figure it out)

Your Class is all about support and Mana. Let your group be your arms and legs. You are nothing without Mana, deal with it. Unless you are duoing let your group mate’s deal with damage and stuns. You are far better sitting on your Bum medding. Maximize your med time as much as possible, especially at lower levels make a hot key for Healing and messaging and sitting with one keystroke.

/cast gem 1 (Healing that is in proper slot)
/cast gem 1 (Make more than one cast to make up for fizzles)
/cast gem 1
/pause XX (as close to the time it takes to cast heal as possible) /heal %T (Only text MSG can go on pause line
/sit

Experiment, try new things, no one has all the answers. Oh, Enchanter / Bard you love them in your group.

[Hottbiscuits Dreadmuffin]

As with Zereh said, keep DA/DB up at all times. DA only lasts for a short while and doesn't heal you, but it only costs 10 mana. I use it if I have 130-200 mana and I can't root/atone the mob. If you cast DA first and when it fades the mob is still on you, you should have enough mana to cast DB. Can always do this backwards (DB before DA) if you need a bit of a heal.

If it really looks bad, don't hesitate to Gate. Don't stay and die. You can always help the group get back to their corpses.