question about important Cleric spells

[Lopretni]

i have a level 8 cleric, almost level 9. did mail runs to level 5 and i've grouped my way up and will hopefully continue to do so. i have these spells so far, i was curious if there were any others i should pick up or if i ought to be alright. i'm just doing Crushbone right now and when i outgrow that i plan to go to Unrest or Befallen.

Level 1
Courage, Cure Poison, Divine Aura, Flash of Light, Lull, Minor Healing, Spook the Dead, Strike

Level 5
Cure Blindness, Cure Disease, Furor, Gate, Holy Armor, Light Healing, Stun, Summon Drink, Ward Undead

Level 9
Center, Fear, Hammer of Wrath, Root, Soothe, Summon Food

any recommendations about future spellgroups are welcome as well, i'm ok on plat right now but i try to keep the future in mind.

[Daena]

Absolutely essential (14-24):
Bind affinity, cancel magic, expulse undead, healing, invis vs. undead, smite
Calm, daring, endure magic
Bravery, counter poison, dismiss undead, greater heal

You don't need resist buffs other than endure magic (might prove useful even as low version) as you will get better versions later on. I've yet to use fears much till 40+ when I once grouped with a necro. Low level symbols suck, but you can pick Ryltan at 24 to buff before some tough fights (like hags in Unrest).
Hammers are utterly useless, yaulp might have use when you're so overweight you cant move, but can get later versions for that. AC buffs do very little, pick them 29+ though for tanks.

[webrunner5]

I know you don't want to here this, but you NEED, as a Cleric, to buy EVERY spell you get. You will be surprised how many low level ones you use higher up. [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[Lopretni]

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

Absolutely essential (14-24):
Bind affinity, cancel magic, expulse undead, healing, invis vs. undead, smite
Calm, daring, endure magic
Bravery, counter poison, dismiss undead, greater heal

You don't need resist buffs other than endure magic (might prove useful even as low version) as you will get better versions later on. I've yet to use fears much till 40+ when I once grouped with a necro. Low level symbols suck, but you can pick Ryltan at 24 to buff before some tough fights (like hags in Unrest).
Hammers are utterly useless, yaulp might have use when you're so overweight you cant move, but can get later versions for that. AC buffs do very little, pick them 29+ though for tanks.

thanks for the reply, i was on the fence about the resist spells and yalup. might pick up yalup next time i'm in town. my armor takes up like 80% of my weight, it sucks but it's worth it cause it's kept me from CRing more than once.

i picked up Fear just in case but as i get higher in levels i'll probably have to be more selective about what i get.

Originally Posted by webrunner5 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I know you don't want to here this, but you NEED, as a Cleric, to buy EVERY spell you get. You will be surprised how many low level ones you use higher up. [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

this isn't feasible right now but i will go back and re-buy what i miss when i have the platinum, i'm really just looking at what is important, what i absolutely need to keep a group's wheels spinning smoothly in a basic sense. it'll be nice at a higher level when i have more freedom in what i'm doing so i can do that, i'd like to have a full spellbook one day.

i hit a snag in leveling, the only downside to playing a group reliant class is you're reliant on other people not being selfish dicks and that's not really always gonna happen. think i'm gonna play with a necro for a bit, maybe hop back on my cleric when i find a group of good people. thank you for the replies though, i don't think i'm closing the book on the cleric class yet.

[Daena]

You are not group reliant at all, till level 50/51. In fact aside from a very good duo or trio, soloing is vastly better than any PuG you can find. Just nuke undead and afk, exp is much faster this way, sad as it is. There's a great undead solo guide somewhere in the forum, as well as on wiki page.

If i had to do it again:

1-14 doesn't matter, just get bind and ALL essential spells up to level 24
14-22(24) Kurn's tower, I would make sure I don't get kos with burynai and solo lower levels of Kurn for as long as giant icebone/charbone skels are blue (can be done to 24 but gets dull so I left at 22)
22(24)-40 Unrest, first floor, start second floor at 24 with new undead nuke
34-40 Unrest hag tower, fastest exp in game
40-44 group in CoM to learn some group tactics
44-50 solo specters in Feerrot
50-51 undead ghosts in TT, get Seb key meanwhile, or just start KC 49+
51+ group KC, 54+ Seb/KC/HS what ever

[kaev]

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

You are not group reliant at all, till level 50/51. In fact aside from a very good duo or trio, soloing is vastly better than any PuG you can find. Just nuke undead and afk, exp is much faster this way, sad as it is. There's a great undead solo guide somewhere in the forum, as well as on wiki page.

I'll disagree with "soloing is vastly better than any PuG". First, I'd question the whole notion of playing a cleric solo wizard style (nuke & afk), it makes a lot more sense to actually play a wiz and nuke whatever type of mob you feel like and get the ports besides if that's the way you want to play.

Second, and much more important, it seriously sucks to find yourself in a group at 50+ with a cleric who hasn't bothered to learn to play her class well on the way up. A well played cleric is a great asset to a dungeon group. A CHeal & buff bot phoning it in is an appendage presiding over repeated group wipes and/or parasiting off the efforts and good play of others. You're far better off grouping with a well-played druid healer than one of those annoying cookie-cutter twink/solo rez-bots anyday, despite the weakness of druid healing.

[Daldaen]

24-40 soloing in Unrest is faster than any group would be. But it is often camped. Beyond 40 I found soloing to be bad, I grouped once or twice and then exchanged PLs with a guildie to push through to 46.

People talk about these cleric group skills like they are hard to learn or not glaringly obvious to most people. You're fine to solo to 50 and Chardok to 60, then start grouping at some loot camps on a cleric. No one will notice the difference unless you are dumb.

Before grouping:

Make sure you reset your Specialization from Evocation to Alteration. It's pretty typical for a solo cleric to spec evocation from spamming nukes. Reset it to Alteration once you start healing in groups.

Make sure your Alteration/Abjuration skills are maxed, fizzling buffs and heals from bad skill is sadface. Divination and Conjuration don't matter for grouping. If you ever need IvU it's fortunately low enough that your skill doesn't matter. Don't bother with Sunskin, it blows.

Have a solid spell lineup that lets you fill a cleric and utility role, mine typically is:

Complete Heal
Divine Light
Remedy
Celestial Healing
Stun
Root
Divine Aura
Divine Barrier

Depending on the situation, root or one of the heals may be dropped for a second stun, or a nuke. Stun may be dropped for MoK if it's mostly melee mobs. Stun/root/extra heal may also be dumped for Group healage in the rare event that's necessary.

Use 30 Mana stun to prevent gating mobs from training you, and caster mobs from nuking your tank. It's better to spend 30 mana stunning preventing a nuke than it is to spend 350 healing back that nuke.

Use Root CC as required (if no Enchanter/Bard is present). I try to only do this when grouping with people who have some level of situational awareness. Often times you'll find people who just face roll and don't pay attention to the rooted mob behind them beating on them, when they could take a step forward and be completely safe.

Use Symbol on Tanks, Enchanters and Bad pullers. DPS should not require symbols. Once you get group symbol, may as well use that. Same deal with Heroic Bond. No one really needs AC buff other than Tanks. If you're full mana and bored, this is the time to buff the non-necessary people.

Get a Water Sprinkler of the Forgiven - Atone stick is one of the most underrated cleric items in game. Having mana free memblur, plus Root and Lull, allows you to save tourself from having to gate out from a see invis or allows you to perform a CC/Puller role if you want to get crazy with it.

You can toss nukes when full mana and HPs are fine also, even though you're a cleric.

In-low DPS groups doing epic fights, juggs, and other high HP mobs, consider using Unswerving Hammer pet (skill up Conjuration beforehand). Pro-tip - Get a Reclaim Energy clicks item from Sol Ro Mage quests, you can reclaim the hammer before a mob dies for mana free DMG. I've had hammers do like 2-3k DMG on Sebilite Protector and Tolapmuj. Don't use against mobs with instant AEs and reclaim the pet if it looks like they are casting an AE.

Use Heroic Bond as a group heal. It's the most efficient one you will get.

Beyond that, grouping on a cleric is absurdly boring in your typical - Tank, Cleric, Slower, Puller group.

[kaev]

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

People talk about these cleric group skills like they are hard to learn or not glaringly obvious to most people. You're fine to solo to 50 and Chardok to 60, then start grouping at some loot camps on a cleric. No one will notice the difference unless you are dumb.

OTOH, Chardok AE is so incredibly attractive to dummies that it's best to avoid clerics who follow Daldaen's golden rez-bot path or anything similar to it. Learn your class, meet people, build a rep. To steal somebody else's line from alt.games.everquest ~ 15 years ago... the playstyle Dald's recommending here closely resembles a robot masturbating: efficient & joyless.

[webrunner5]

I can tell you a LOT of groups totally suck being the "Healer". Bad pulls, AFK people, etc. make for a "just blame the Cleric" why we died thing. [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I have always found soloing on a Cleric much more exciting, challenging, rewarding than almost any group. Not counting if you want to quit playing, just quit. No, well crap, I can't find any replacement stuff. [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.] YMMV.

[webrunner5]

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

OTOH, Chardok AE is so incredibly attractive to dummies that it's best to avoid clerics who follow Daldaen's golden rez-bot path or anything similar to it. Learn your class, meet people, build a rep. To steal somebody else's line from alt.games.everquest ~ 15 years ago... the playstyle Dald's recommending here closely resembles a robot masturbating: efficient & joyless.

We are not talking Rocket Science to play a Cleric here. Figuring out what HP the Tank, Assist has, and using the right couple of heal spells, and timing them is pretty much it. Hell a Shaman is a LOT harder to play than a Cleric.

We aren't talking being a Enchanter skill wise with a pet or hell even being a puller for that matter. With a good Tank with the right gear, you can almost pretend you are a Wizard and be AFK half the time.