Cleric 101
Cleric Class Basics

This guide covers Cleric basics up to the Omens of War expansion.

Clerics are the primary heal class. They have the strongest heals and the best HP/AC buffs in the game. They rely on a group to be effective. They are a wisdom based class.

Base Stats
Generally its best to focus on getting as much Mana/Wisdom/Mana Regen/AC as possible. Your strength/encumbrance will be low at first but gets better with each expansion.

Ideally you’ll have a shield in your secondary slot. Shields are not capped by the AC soft cap so this can be a huge AC boost if you have a good one. This can be hard/expensive to obtain at lower levels but eventually there are a lot of good/easy choices.

Important Cleric Stats are:

Wisdom – Increases Mana Pool – scales in effectiveness based on level. Example: A Level 1 will get less mana from 1 wisdom than a level 60. Wisdom also increases skill-up chances.
Mana
Mana Regen (Flowing Thought) – You can get a max of 15 Mana Regen from items by default. This increases to 20 in OoW.
Armor Class – Important for Clerics because you’ll need to be able to take hits. You’ll find yourself being attacked a lot, especially in earlier expansions when its easier to get adds and tanks have low aggro.
Hit Points
Stamina – Increases HP
Strength – Increases encumbrance limit

Focus Items

Focus Items become active in Luclin and Clerics will need a few different ones. They have different names depending on the era and specific item, but the description will tell you what they do. If you have two of the same type they will not stack; the highest one will be used. You’ll want to get the following:

– Extended Buff Duration – Works on both Buffs and HoT’s. Having long lasting HoTs will greatly increase your mana efficiency.
– Extended Cast Range
– Mana Preservation
– Spell Haste
– Healing %+
– Direct Damage Mod % (for Magic-based DD – this includes undead DD)

Heroic Stats

These provide a boost once they are available in Plane of Time+. If you raid your base stats will likely already be maxed out from gear and AA. Heroic Stamina will have the most noticeable impact because you will become much tankier.

Heroic Wisdom – Increases Mana Pool and spell shielding. You can get up to 35% spell shielding (1% per HWis). There is no cap on how much mana you can get from Heroic Wisdom.

Heroic Stamina – Mitigation/Stun Resist –  This decreases your damage taken by mobs. This is important to mitigate damage and to resist stuns.

Heroic Agility – Avoidance- Clerics will gain avoidance AC from this stat. It is not a super high priority but is nice to have for survival.

 

Spells

Healing

Clerics have a two main healing spell-types:

Direct Heals (Single Target) – Use these when damage spikes get high. They generate some threat so if the tank doesn’t have decent aggro expect mobs to potentially come after you.

Heals over Time (Single Target) – These are highly efficient (especially with extended buff focus/AA and generate very little aggro. These should be used when damage spikes are low and to conserve mana.

Both heal types have Group Versions as well. Generally Group HoT’s are still low aggro while Group Single Target heals can generate moderate to high aggro.

Clerics also have a unique Heal: Complete Heal (39). It has a 10 second cast time, costs 400 mana, and heals for 7500. In later expansions it can be cast indefinitely. Clerics can cast this back to back with a pause (a delay) between their casts to create CH chains on the tank. This is a common strategy on some raid fights where mana would otherwise become an issue.

– Starting a level 51 you get “fast” heals as well. These are good for when you need a quick heal, but they don’t heal for as much as a normal direct heal.

Buffs

Clerics get the best HP buffs in the game. To reach the the full HP buff potential you’ll need to stack 3 spells: HP Type one, Symbol, and Armor Class. Some examples of these spells are:

These spells generally stack. Eventually you get the “Aegolism” line of spells at level 60 (Velious), which counts as an all in one buff. There is also a level 40/45 version of this in LDoN. Some examples are:

Other Important Buffs include:

Shielding (Mana Regen) – This gives mana regen and HP/AC. Stacks with other Cleric HP buffs
Yaulp – This is a short duration combat buff. Yaulp 5 and higher also gives mana regen. Cancels when sitting or on a mount.
Spell Haste (PoP+) – Increases your spell haste. Can be cast on others.
Bulwarks (LDoN+) – Buff that absorbs a set % of melee damage. Has a limit to the amount it can absorb.
Divine Intervention – Level 60 buff that has a chance to Complete Heal your target when they otherwise may have died.
Divine Aura – These spells make you invulnerable. There is a level 1 and a level 29 version. They do not share a cooldown.
Resist Buffs – Clerics can buff resists vs spells for Poison/Magic/Disease/Fire/Cold.
Resurrect Spells – Resurrect corpses people to restore XP. Cleric 1.0 Epic replaces this
Invis vs Undead
Cures – Clerics can cure Curse/Poison/Disease

Offensive Spells

Root Spells
Direct Damage and PBAE – Magic DD, Undead DD, and Magic PBAE spells. Eventually Clerics get an Undead DoT
Stuns – Clerics get a large amount of stun spells. Eventually they get Targeted AE and PBAE stun.
Fear Spells
Pacify (lull) – Lowers aggro radius of mobs for easier pulling
Reverse Damage Shield – Mob debuff that acts as a damage shield (i.e. Mark of Retribution)
Blind – Clerics can blind mobs although this isn’t needed often
Dispel – Clerics get dispel

Spell Specialization

Clerics should Specialize in Alteration. This will save mana when healing.

AA Recommendations

An under-geared Cleric’s biggest issue is going to be mana. Healing output per cast is usually not an issue (Cleric heals are very strong) but getting +Heal % AA is still good and indirectly saves you mana as well.

Typically it’s best to start with passives that save mana, then pick up some of the utility spells and weave in Combat Stability/Agility when needed. You can get things in whatever order works for you. Everyone is in a different situation and Clerics have a lot of choices.

Some of the priority Cleric AA are:

Mana Preservation/ Heals

Spell Casting Mastery – Flat reduction to Spell Mana Cost
Healing Gift – Increases chance of Critical Heals (This is really nice once you have a few ranks)
Mental Clarity – Extra Mana Regen (stacks with Flowing Thought/Items)
Healing Adept – Increases Heal amount by a flat %
Celestial Regeneration – Group HoT (Can be Mass Group Buffed)
Divine Arbitration – Averages out group HP. Fast Cast. Little to no aggro. “oh crap” heal button.
Expansive Mind (OoW) – Increases your Flowing Thought Cap (Mana Regen from Items)

Stats/Defensive
Combat Stability – Increased Mitigation AC
Combat Agility – Increased Avoidance AC
Innate Enlightenment – Increases Wisdom Cap
Planar Power – Increased Max Stats

Utility
Spell Casting Reinforcement – Increases buff duration (Works on HoT’s also)
Radiant Cure – Group Curse/Poison/Disease Cure. Also removes 1 detrimental effect
Bestow Divine Aura – Invulnerability – Can cast on others
Innate Run Speed – Base Run Speed Increase
Mass Group Buff – PBAE a Group Buff Spell
Quick Buff – Decreases buff cast time (works on HoT’s too)
Divine Aura – Self Invulnerability
Divine Resurrection – 100% res with no res sickness and gives player full mana. Long cooldown
Purify Soul – Essentially cures target of all debuffs.

 

Bonus Tips

– Get your Cleric 1.0 Epic ASAP. It has a clicky 96% res and free resses is a huge quality of life improvement.

– Keep Clarity, Invisibility, and Spirit of Wolf potions handy

– Get a levitate item like the fairy illusion from the in-game store (easiest option), Shield of Striding (instant-cast, LDoN or LoY+?), or Pegasus Feather Cloak (lol).

– Get a mount ASAP so you can meditate while healing

– /use target (player) hotkeys to heal people outside of your group if needed.

– Learn how to use the extended target window. Set hotkeys if needed. /xtar to see help menu. You’ll get it at level 20.

– Remember to heal Enchanter charm pets! You can even put them on the extended target window.

– If you raid you’ll likely end up in a Complete Heal (CH) chain at some point. A simple macro looks like this:

/shout 111 CH on %T 111 (%T is your current target)
/cast # (CH spell button)
/pause (delay) 10 = 1 second. So /pause 20 would be 2 second pause
/shout 222 CAST NOW