Cleric

The Sterling | home

Cleric

Several guides have been written on the Cleric class, so you may not see why another is needed. I have always felt that most guides are incomplete or give an overly simplistic definition of the life of a Cleric. I have also read too many times that it is not a fun or glorious life, but I totally disagree. So I decided to share my own views and impressions on the greatest healing class of Norrath. This guide is a good overall review of the class’ abilities, however it is not written for total newbies, so I will not take the time to explain the uses and level requirements of basic skills such as meditate or channeling. I will not give either any sort of walkthrough that is supposed, in theory, to help advance faster through the early levels. I will however explain in detail the various spells lines and abilities at our disposal.

For those who hadn’t noticed it so far, Clerics are the best healers in EverQuest, they have access to more healing spells than any other class and at lower levels than others. During most of your career, except perhaps the lowest levels, your main duty will be to heal others and keep your group alive, if this does sound boring for you, I advise stopping reading here and creating a necromancer. It is true that it might not be the favorite path of most players, but it shouldn’t be either. I believe most clerics belong to a different breed of players, a category of more social and helpful people, because these qualities are necessary to be successful in our profession. It is true that most of our time will be spent with the nose in our spell books trying to get mana, it is true that in the heat of battle, and our main spell will be healing. However, I dare anyone to tell me these heals are less needed than the warrior taking the blows or the wizard calling the elements to our help. Monks might get praise

Now that this has been said, lets begin, shall we? I will start by describing the abilities, strengths and weaknesses or the class. It should be noted that Clerics receive their spell circles, and their skills, at the same rate as the other priest classes, Druids and Shamans. First of all, if melee combat is important to you, I advise choosing a true melee class or an hybrid, because although they can wear platemail and wield some very good blunt weapons, Clerics in EverQuest are definitely not very strong in that aspect of things. They will hold their ground until about level 15 and remain able to take some hits and inflict some damage until about level 25. After that point, however, Clerics will become unable to be efficient at all in melee combat except maybe for short periods of tanking to take some heat off the main tanks. So, in the end, Clerics are pure casters, and their melee abilities are minimal. This is why Wisdom is by far more important than any other statistic for Clerics. The ability to wear platemail remains a true advantage though, as it allows you to wear tons of equipment that other casters cannot use, such as Adamantite epaulets.

Now, let’s get to the interesting part: the spells. The first and main line of Cleric spells is the healing spells, from minor healing to complete healing, they are the main weapon in your arsenal. They allow you to keep yourself and your group fighting longer against the toughest monsters and live to see another day. Remember that healing will be your main duty through your life, so you have to know exactly how it works, know the casting times intuitively, etc. An important note is that heals works as AE taunts, and if you heal too much, monsters might aggro on you, causing a swift death if the warriors are not able to relieve you quickly. There is also a separate line that can heal your entire group, the Word of health series, that Clerics receive late in their life but that can be a lifesaver if used properly. Still in the healing lines, Clerics get the ability to cure poisons and diseases, which are useful but rarely vital except against some very powerful poisons. Perhaps the most needed of the healing abilities, that always makes high level clerics in high demand, are the revive lines that allows us to bring a fallen comrade back to his corpse, alive, and at higher levels, that also allows to restore some of the experience lost upon death. The healing abilities are indeed the most critical ones, especially at high levels, and they have lead some people to think that Clerics were only band-aids for their group. However an efficient use of the other abilities to our disposal can make us much, much more deadly for our foes… and much more useful for our group.

The second ability of Clerics, that is almost as important as healing, is buffing. Clerics receive three separate and stackable lines of buffing spells, as well as resistance buffs. First the main line, from Courage to Resolution will increase the HP and AC of the target, the most underestimated line, the Holy Armor line that increase the AC of your tanks and finally the costly Symbol line that requires to spend a precious stone everytime you use it, but that can add tremendous quantities of hit points to your tanks. The resistance buffs are also quite useful in specific situations but only the most patient or foolish of clerics will try to keep the 5 buffs on at all times on their entire party. Clerics also receive a self only combat buff, Yaulp, which is very useful, especially as an abjuration trainer, during the early levels, the upgrades are however much less useful since almost no melee battle is done at the levels where they are obtained. Since its somewhat of a buffing spell I will also speak on the Divine Aura and Divine Barrier spells here. These long recast time spells give you temporary invulnerability against everything but stuns for a short period of time. The upgrade, divine barrier also allows you to regenerate hp and mana while invulnerable at a fast rate. I keep these two spells memorized at all times, they saved my life, or sometimes my entire party, by allowing me to stay alive and keep healing, so many times that its not even funny.

Let now see what offensive spells we have to our disposal: lets start with offensive spells. We have three lines of offensive spells, first, the VS. Everything DD spell, the strike-retribution line. Highly inefficient in most situations, especially in groups. Mostly used when soloing, which is definitely not the forte of a Cleric. The two other lines however are much more interesting: the VS. Undead line allows us to attack efficiently undead foes with mana/dmg ratios similar to those of a Wizard. It is not only useful when soloing but it’s also worth using in groups, especially against undead casters to bring them to their knees quickly. In an undead dungeon, it gives us a purpose once we are full mana with everyone in good condition. The last but not least, there is the stun lines. Highly resisted but fast to cast and very useful in groups to give a few seconds of free beating to tanks, or to interrupt a caster in a DD that would have forced us to cast a greater healing spell.

The re-cast time is slow, so a few clerics who can spare the slot keep several stuns memorized and chain cast them to keep casters stunned at all times. It is definitely an underrated line that I still use at level 50. I do not recommend trying to stun yellows or low reds though, unless they are MR de-buffed, the success rate would be ridiculously low.

Finally, I will explain the use of our crowd control spells. Although somewhat useless with an enchanter in the group, the spells could be of critical importance if you are the only one able to use them in the group. They include the fear series which allows you to make monsters run away for a short period of time to deal with their friends first, be warned that they may come back with friends though, very dangerous in a dungeon. Clerics also receive a VS. Undead variant of this line, spook the dead, which is more efficient but which can only be used against undead targets. Another vital line is the Lull line that allows a Cleric to calm some foes and make sure they will not harm you while you pass nearby or slaughter their friends. Finally, there is the root spell that could arguably fit in this category, it prevents a monster from moving. Snare, a druid/ranger ability is much more useful to prevent monsters from running, so no one should root if a member of one of these classes is present in the group.

Clerics also receive a few utility spells, such as bind, gate, invigor stamina, reckless strength, etc. Useful in the correct circumstance, but not much more than that. Bind and Gate however are vital spells that can greatly reduce death downtime or increase the speed of selling trips to town.

As you can see, the Clerics have a variety of spells available to them. Although their healing and buffing spells will always remain their main weapons, they aren’t purely band aids in groups. If being the lifeblood of your group, the tide-turner, sounds exciting, the Cleric class is definitely for you. Some of our miscellaneous advantages are that we are always wanted in groups, we are always needed in Dragon and Planes raids and we have always a lot of fun if we like our job. We can also make a lot of friends very quickly. I have read that monks were praised for their pulls, warriors for the critical hits and wizards for their incredible blasts, well, personally I’ve never seen anyone being praised as much as myself last time I menaged to get a complete heal off in time on a warrior who had fallen below 1/8 of a bubble of HP =) Being a Cleric have its glory, and people do realize how vital you are to them. That’s by itself a very important satisfaction.

Good luck young Clerics, go forward in the name of your Gods, and let nothing stand on your way until you stand at the top of the highest tower of the Plane of Air!


	The Sterling \| home Bard \| Cleric \| Druid \| Enchanter \| Magician \| Monk \| Necromancer \| Paladin \| Ranger \| Rogue \| Shadowknight \| Shaman \| Warrior \| Wizard Cleric Several guides have been written on the Cleric class, so you may not see why another is needed. I have always felt that most guides are incomplete or give an overly simplistic definition of the life of a Cleric. I have also read too many times that it is not a fun or glorious life, but I totally disagree. So I decided to share my own views and impressions on the greatest healing class of Norrath. This guide is a good overall review of the class’ abilities, however it is not written for total newbies, so I will not take the time to explain the uses and level requirements of basic skills such as meditate or channeling. I will not give either any sort of walkthrough that is supposed, in theory, to help advance faster through the early levels. I will however explain in detail the various spells lines and abilities at our disposal. For those who hadn’t noticed it so far, Clerics are the best healers in EverQuest, they have access to more healing spells than any other class and at lower levels than others. During most of your career, except perhaps the lowest levels, your main duty will be to heal others and keep your group alive, if this does sound boring for you, I advise stopping reading here and creating a necromancer. It is true that it might not be the favorite path of most players, but it shouldn’t be either. I believe most clerics belong to a different breed of players, a category of more social and helpful people, because these qualities are necessary to be successful in our profession. It is true that most of our time will be spent with the nose in our spell books trying to get mana, it is true that in the heat of battle, and our main spell will be healing. However, I dare anyone to tell me these heals are less needed than the warrior taking the blows or the wizard calling the elements to our help. Monks might get praise Now that this has been said, lets begin, shall we? I will start by describing the abilities, strengths and weaknesses or the class. It should be noted that Clerics receive their spell circles, and their skills, at the same rate as the other priest classes, Druids and Shamans. First of all, if melee combat is important to you, I advise choosing a true melee class or an hybrid, because although they can wear platemail and wield some very good blunt weapons, Clerics in EverQuest are definitely not very strong in that aspect of things. They will hold their ground until about level 15 and remain able to take some hits and inflict some damage until about level 25. After that point, however, Clerics will become unable to be efficient at all in melee combat except maybe for short periods of tanking to take some heat off the main tanks. So, in the end, Clerics are pure casters, and their melee abilities are minimal. This is why Wisdom is by far more important than any other statistic for Clerics. The ability to wear platemail remains a true advantage though, as it allows you to wear tons of equipment that other casters cannot use, such as Adamantite epaulets. Now, let’s get to the interesting part: the spells. The first and main line of Cleric spells is the healing spells, from minor healing to complete healing, they are the main weapon in your arsenal. They allow you to keep yourself and your group fighting longer against the toughest monsters and live to see another day. Remember that healing will be your main duty through your life, so you have to know exactly how it works, know the casting times intuitively, etc. An important note is that heals works as AE taunts, and if you heal too much, monsters might aggro on you, causing a swift death if the warriors are not able to relieve you quickly. There is also a separate line that can heal your entire group, the Word of health series, that Clerics receive late in their life but that can be a lifesaver if used properly. Still in the healing lines, Clerics get the ability to cure poisons and diseases, which are useful but rarely vital except against some very powerful poisons. Perhaps the most needed of the healing abilities, that always makes high level clerics in high demand, are the revive lines that allows us to bring a fallen comrade back to his corpse, alive, and at higher levels, that also allows to restore some of the experience lost upon death. The healing abilities are indeed the most critical ones, especially at high levels, and they have lead some people to think that Clerics were only band-aids for their group. However an efficient use of the other abilities to our disposal can make us much, much more deadly for our foes… and much more useful for our group. The second ability of Clerics, that is almost as important as healing, is buffing. Clerics receive three separate and stackable lines of buffing spells, as well as resistance buffs. First the main line, from Courage to Resolution will increase the HP and AC of the target, the most underestimated line, the Holy Armor line that increase the AC of your tanks and finally the costly Symbol line that requires to spend a precious stone everytime you use it, but that can add tremendous quantities of hit points to your tanks. The resistance buffs are also quite useful in specific situations but only the most patient or foolish of clerics will try to keep the 5 buffs on at all times on their entire party. Clerics also receive a self only combat buff, Yaulp, which is very useful, especially as an abjuration trainer, during the early levels, the upgrades are however much less useful since almost no melee battle is done at the levels where they are obtained. Since its somewhat of a buffing spell I will also speak on the Divine Aura and Divine Barrier spells here. These long recast time spells give you temporary invulnerability against everything but stuns for a short period of time. The upgrade, divine barrier also allows you to regenerate hp and mana while invulnerable at a fast rate. I keep these two spells memorized at all times, they saved my life, or sometimes my entire party, by allowing me to stay alive and keep healing, so many times that its not even funny. Let now see what offensive spells we have to our disposal: lets start with offensive spells. We have three lines of offensive spells, first, the VS. Everything DD spell, the strike-retribution line. Highly inefficient in most situations, especially in groups. Mostly used when soloing, which is definitely not the forte of a Cleric. The two other lines however are much more interesting: the VS. Undead line allows us to attack efficiently undead foes with mana/dmg ratios similar to those of a Wizard. It is not only useful when soloing but it’s also worth using in groups, especially against undead casters to bring them to their knees quickly. In an undead dungeon, it gives us a purpose once we are full mana with everyone in good condition. The last but not least, there is the stun lines. Highly resisted but fast to cast and very useful in groups to give a few seconds of free beating to tanks, or to interrupt a caster in a DD that would have forced us to cast a greater healing spell. The re-cast time is slow, so a few clerics who can spare the slot keep several stuns memorized and chain cast them to keep casters stunned at all times. It is definitely an underrated line that I still use at level 50. I do not recommend trying to stun yellows or low reds though, unless they are MR de-buffed, the success rate would be ridiculously low. Finally, I will explain the use of our crowd control spells. Although somewhat useless with an enchanter in the group, the spells could be of critical importance if you are the only one able to use them in the group. They include the fear series which allows you to make monsters run away for a short period of time to deal with their friends first, be warned that they may come back with friends though, very dangerous in a dungeon. Clerics also receive a VS. Undead variant of this line, spook the dead, which is more efficient but which can only be used against undead targets. Another vital line is the Lull line that allows a Cleric to calm some foes and make sure they will not harm you while you pass nearby or slaughter their friends. Finally, there is the root spell that could arguably fit in this category, it prevents a monster from moving. Snare, a druid/ranger ability is much more useful to prevent monsters from running, so no one should root if a member of one of these classes is present in the group. Clerics also receive a few utility spells, such as bind, gate, invigor stamina, reckless strength, etc. Useful in the correct circumstance, but not much more than that. Bind and Gate however are vital spells that can greatly reduce death downtime or increase the speed of selling trips to town. As you can see, the Clerics have a variety of spells available to them. Although their healing and buffing spells will always remain their main weapons, they aren’t purely band aids in groups. If being the lifeblood of your group, the tide-turner, sounds exciting, the Cleric class is definitely for you. Some of our miscellaneous advantages are that we are always wanted in groups, we are always needed in Dragon and Planes raids and we have always a lot of fun if we like our job. We can also make a lot of friends very quickly. I have read that monks were praised for their pulls, warriors for the critical hits and wizards for their incredible blasts, well, personally I’ve never seen anyone being praised as much as myself last time I menaged to get a complete heal off in time on a warrior who had fallen below 1/8 of a bubble of HP =) Being a Cleric have its glory, and people do realize how vital you are to them. That’s by itself a very important satisfaction. Good luck young Clerics, go forward in the name of your Gods, and let nothing stand on your way until you stand at the top of the highest tower of the Plane of Air!