Post by Doc on Apr 17, 2009 3:39:57 GMT -5
The original auther of this guide is Cayeon, and it can be found here: pw.mmosite.com/guide/2008-12-04/attack_cleric.shtml
Notes: This guide is mainly directed at Full Attack Clerics, but most things like the build analysis , skill estimate and leveling apply to support clerics as well. The formulas also apply to all other caster classes.
[ ~~~ 1. Intro ~~~ ]
The goal of this type of cleric, which I'd to like to call Full/Pure Attack Cleric, or Nuker Cleric, is to maximize damage from a combination of their offensive, buffing, and debuffing skills. This will naturally require a pure MAG build, and to completely leave out all healing and support spells due to the extreme shortage of SP.
So what drives me to dare and play such a controversial and unexplored version of the cleric? Well, first of all, my passion in MMORPGs has always been to play strategical, high damage dealing fighters, which are usually very tough to level, and require a lot of skill to make full use of a wide range of different capabilities. Perfect World did not seem to offer such a character, so I was rather disappointed at first, until I found a way to twist a healer into this very model. Since it completely diverts from the original role, I actually didn't think it would work out very well, but after many weeks of experimentation, the results were beyond any expectation: when played correctly, a Full Attack Cleric can outdamage even the most powerful archers and wizards.
Unfortunately, not many players are aware of their true potential, which explains why this build is so rarely used. So by creating this guide, I'd like to raise public awareness of this very exceptional type of cleric, and inspire people to actually try it out as well. Read on if you're interested in creating the most unique class this game will ever have to offer.
[ ~~~ 2. Status points ~~~ ]
As a Full Attack Cleric, you will aim for the greatest possible damage, no matter how much defense and HP you will have to sacrifice.
MAG - Magic : (1 MAG = + magic attack based on your level and equipment magic attack)
This is your main stat, increase it by 5 points every level unless you need STR or DEX for your armor. STR - Strength: (no special attribute worth mentioning for clerics)
Will be let at a minimum to meet your armor's requirements. Usually equals putting 0.5 STR every level for magic robes, 1 STR for light armors, and 2.5 STR for heavy armors.
DEX - Dexterity : (20 DEX = 1% critical rate)
Neither the additional evasion rate nor the higher critical rate are high enough to compare with the magic attack you gain from MAG. Hence your DEX should never exceed the minimum amount required for your armor. That usually equals putting 1 DEX every level for light armors, 0.5 DEX for heavy armors, and of course 0 for magic robes.
VIT - Vitality : (1 VIT = 10 HP)
It might be tempting to put some points into it in the early levels, but it totally obliterates your damage output later when each point of MAG gets more and more valuable. Plus, the amount of HP you gain from VIT is simply too low to make any difference. Let it at 5 or if you have the cash to spare, decrease it to 3 by restatting. Getting the lacking HP solely through your equipment will be much more effective.
[ ~~~ 3. Equipment ~~~ ]
[ ~ 3.1. Armor Types and Builds ~ ]
Armors are among the most heavily debated subjects when it comes to choosing the best type for each class. Although magic robes are the most obvious path for casters, light / heavy armor has shown some benefits in wizards and support clerics as well. But is it really an option for a Full Attack Cleric?
The most notable benefits of these alternative armor builds undoubtedly lie on their higher physical defense, which might let you survive a bit longer in AoE parties or in duels against physical characters like archers. Since they can also switch to magic robes whenever necessary, they can perfectly adjust to any situation requiring the one or the other type of defense. Now for the bad news, most people are completely unaware of the actual damage loss you will suffer after sacrificing so many of your precious MAG stats for STR and DEX to be able to equip these armors in the first place.
Let me show you the statistics of a sample Pure MAG, Light Armor, Heavy Armor, Pure VIT and Full Heavy Armor build on a worksheet I created in Microsoft Excel:
Just see a bunch of numbers? No worries, I'm going to explain this statistic in detail now.
3.1.1. Heavy Armor - Full
Heavy Armor obviously has the lowest magical and highest physical defense, but in order to equip it, you'd need so much STR and DEX that you wouldn't have left enough MAG to carry your latest magic weapon anymore. That's what the Full Heavy Armor build is about �C totally ignoring damage and going for a hardcore physical defense. You could tank any physical mob without problems, but well, that's it. Your abnormally low magic attack would not only prevent you from killing the mobs in an acceptable timeframe, but combined with equally low HP and magic defense it would get you killed at every single magical enemy, be it in PvE or PvP.
3.1.2. Heavy Armor - Minimal
So, people have come up with a better solution. Instead of restricting the MAG to wear their heavy armor, they're now restricting the STR and DEX to at least be able to equip their latest magic weapon. The highest possible heavy armor they can wear at level 70 for example, would be the level 40-46 set, which still has slightly more physical defense than light armor. But again it comes at a great cost, namely a loss of 17.1% of their potential damage. Due to their slow killing speed, they'll also have to take a few more hits before their enemy dies, so their higher physical defense is practically nullified again. Not to mention they'll now have the magical defense of a level 46 blademaster. Hence both Heavy Armor builds are absolutely out of question for any serious Full Attack Cleric.
3.1.3. Light Armor
Light Armor would cover exactly that low magical defense problem. While still having a nice physical defense, this would seem like the ideal all-round armor �C if there wasn't this damage loss again. The slightly higher critical rate unfortunately doesn't make up much of the huge MAG loss, so you'd still be stuck with a mere 84.8% average of your potential damage. Just like Heavy Armor builds you wouldn't be able to kill your enemy fast enough before getting hit yourself. None of your defenses is high enough to efficiently protect your equally low HP; so yet again, this alternative option too is doomed to fail.
3.1.4. Pure VIT Magic Armor
Then how about increasing your VITwhile simply keeping your magic armor? It gives 10 HP per point, which equals about 1100 more HP than a Pure MAG at level 70. Protecting you from both physical and magic attacks at the same time, this is clearly the best defensive build for party-oriented people. However, it's a contradiction to the very nature of a Full Attack Cleric to play defensively. Just like Heavy and Light Armor builds, VIT builds can only reach 79.8% of their damage potential, which is totally unacceptable for this specific type of cleric. Your job is to kill enemies in 1-2 hits by debuffing and dealing great damage, so 1100 HP is no reason to give up the very purpose why you created this kind of character.
3.1.5. Pure MAG Magic Armor
Yes, this leaves just 1 viable option. To maximize your damage to the fullest extent, every build other than Pure MAG is a waste. Your low physical defense and HP will not be a problem here, because unlike the wizards, the cleric's protective skills can let you survive easily on a purely offensive build. What's more, by skipping all heals you'll have saved enough SP to max these skills at a very early level already. In grinding, no mob is strong enough to reduce your HP fast enough before your massive HoT kicks in again - in PvP, you can easily sleep the enemy and take your time to debuff before smashing him with full power - and in dungeon parties, you can simply put up plume shell when the situation gets critical. If played correctly, this is the only build that has virtually no weaknesses.
[ ~ 3.2. Jewelry ~ ]
Since your choice of rings is pretty obvious, I will just concentrate on the magical and physical defense enhancing kind of jewelry here. Their benefits are strongly dependent on which armor you're wearing, and for which purpose you intend to use it for.
Please note that the defenses are percentage based, so the higher your defense is, the less damage reduction you will receive when equipping additional jewelry of that type.
Physical defense: Overall, this is the better choice for robe users, as only very little additional defense is required to get a huge increase of damage reduction. The bad thing is that physical defense type jewelry usually comes coupled with HP bonus stats, which isn't the ideal choice for a Full Attack Clerics in the later levels.
Magical defense: If you already have high magical defense, more of this jewelry will probably give you no more than a 1% or 2% higher damage reduction. The reason why some players still prefer it over the physical defense jewelry is because it often has higher values of MAG as bonus stats, which can prove very useful in grinding.
If you can't decide, you can also buy 1 of each type and switch them as necessary, if your cash agrees with it.
[ ~ 3.3 Bonus Stats ~ ]
Bonus stats, not stars, are the most important factor to consider when buying equipment. First of all, if you don't plan on switching equip on every second mob, make sure that no piece of armor lacks any of the basic elemental defenses. The more elements are missing, the higher the remaining elemental defenses will be, but you'd have a hard time fighting against mobs of these specific elements since your overall defense would be much lower.
The options of bonus stats are:
For higher endurance:
+ HP or VIT: Probably the most common bonus stat. Since you can get a very high amount of HP from it, most players consider it as their main choice for improving their viability.
+ Physical Defense: You can get a fair amount of it to profit from the huge damage reduction until the percentages become inefficient compared to VIT. Remember that HP increases the numbers of hits you can take from both physical and magical mobs, while + physical defense is only limited to physical damage. In later levels, most of the mobs are magical, so I'd advise you to never choose physical defense over HP, except for PvP purposes.
+ Elemental Defense: Not what you should look for. HP/VIT is much more valuable. For higher damage:
+ MAG: Quite rare, and comes in very low values compared to HP/VIT. Mostly + 4 or + 5 MAG is the highest you can find, while HP goes easily over 80 at a cheaper price. If stacked, the difference can be even higher. But if you're looking for even more damage instead of HP on equip, + MAG is your best option in the lower levels.
+ Magic Attack: Mostly comes in rather low amounts compared to MAG. To find out which one gives more base magic attack, refer to my formulas in the Questions and Answers section.
- % Casting Time: Very rare, will increase your damage per second by a small amount, but overly expensive for what it's worth. Even when stacked at 30% or above, you almost can't tell the difference, especially if you're lagging.
+% Critical Rate: Very rare and expensive, rises in effectiveness over the levels as your damage output increases. Its efficiency compared to + MAG strongly depends on how much an attack is based on magic attack instead of a fixed value. For example:
To outdamage 1% critical rate on average: As Pure MAG at level 50 (wearing average 3 star equipment), your equipment will need at least + 6 MAG when using great cyclone level 10.
As Pure MAG at level 80 (wearing HH80 sword + average 3 star equipment), your equipment will need at least + 10 MAG when using wield thunder level 10.
Seeing that +1% critical is much easier to get than +10 MAG, +% Critical Rate as bonus stat actually proves to be more effective than + MAG in the higher levels.
Other:
+ MP recovery: Unless it's heavily stacked, you'll be burning through your MP way too fast to notice the recovery.
+ HP recovery: Comes in too small amounts to be useful.
+ STR / AGI: No need for additional STR/DEX over the minimum requirement for armor.
+ MP: No use in adding even more MP as a pure MAG build.
+% Experience: The available +% of Experience are too low to make any real difference while grinding.
+ Movement Speed: Became totally useless since the Forest Ruin was closed.
+ Evasion Rate: Due to high accuracy of your enemies, + Evasion Rate barely has any effect.
+ Accuracy: Magic attacks never miss, no need for any accuracy at all.
[ ~~~ 4. Skills ~~~ ]
The totally different arrangement of skills is what truly sets apart a Full Attack Cleric from the common healer. Only when giving up on what most people call the very purpose of a cleric, you will be able to explore their true powers that have been overshadowed by the common support role bias. The right combination of the skills will enable you to easily outdamage wizards and archers, so you will have to do a lot of planning before deciding which to level. Setting very clear goals and determining the extent to which you want to restrict your supporting abilities will be crucial to achieve an optimal skill array that best suits your needs.
Basically you can go from a pure damage dealer, who only skills attacking spells and buffs, to a PvP type cleric, who will also include debuffs, to a secondary supporter, who will use ironheart blessing as well. Just remember that the more skills you omit, the sooner you will be able to max your important nukes.
[ ~ 4.1. Nuking Spells ~ ]
Nuking Spells will generally be your first priority.
Physical Nukes:
Plume Shot: This will be your main attack throughout the lower levels, so I advise you to max it. Only when the benefits of Metal Mastery start showing at around 60+, Plume Shot will slowly disappear from your grinding combo, but due to its very low casting time, it will still be invaluable in PvP against magic classes.
Razor Feathers: Useless in normal PvP or grinding, the damage is way too low to compensate for its horrendous casting time. The only real use of it will be for solo AoE leveling at level 70+, so don't get it until you really have the SP to spare.
Metal Element Nukes:
Great Cyclone: Good damage, very fast casting �C your main attack in all levels. Get it to 10 as soon as possible, it will allow you to kite mobs (slow-down effect) and deal great DPS at the same time. Thunderball: Your only DoT skill, which won't show its full power until much later. Useless in PvP, but absolutely necessary in PvE to replace Plume Shot against wood type mobs. Set it aside until you've maxed Spirit's Gift, Elemental Seal and Plume Shot / Great Cyclone.
Siren's Kiss: Probably the cleric's least used skill �C it's pretty much the weaker version of Tempest. It deals some good metal damage, but the requirement of 1 spark totally ruins it. Its only use would be to bridge your combo in solo AoE at poison mobs (Razor Feathers -> Siren's Kiss -> Purify) and in PvP (Wield Thunder -> Cyclone -> Siren's Kiss ), so I wouldn't recommend it until 70+.
Wield Thunder: Your best spell ever. Get it immediately once it becomes available, and do always keep it maxed for your level. Its enormous damage compared to your standard nukes makes it invaluable in every situation, may it be PvE or PvP.
Tempest: The spell that will strike fear into the faces of your enemies. Even though it uses 2 spark, it will allow you to 1 hit almost every class in PvP when they're properly debuffed. Unfortunately, it's very expensive to level, both money and SP wise, so I advise you to set it aside until 70+ unless you're a very PvP oriented player.
[ ~ 4.2. Debuffing Spells ~ ]
Debuffing Spells are the Full Attack Clerics' speciality. All the surplus SP you saved from the heals will be used to max these 4 spells as soon as possible for maximum PvP advantage.
Elemental Seal: Your most used debuff in PvP as well as in PvE in the later levels. Get it once Spirit's Gift and Metal Mastery are at a fairly high level.
Dimensional Seal: Great debuff against magic metal or fire element mobs, since you are going to defeat those with Plume Shot. Get it when you have Elemental Seal maxed.
Silence Seal: Your paralyze debuff. It has rather limited use (in PvP against melee classes for example) and doesn't show its real benefits until it's upgraded to Holy / Dark.
Chromatic Seal: An absolutely mandatory debuff to level. It can sleep your enemy for up to 33.6 seconds at level 10, which gives you plenty of opportunities in every fight: healing yourself, debuffing the enemy, escaping from mobs or taking aggro off someone else. Get it as soon as you can.
[ ~ 4.3. Buffing Spells ~ ]
While the party buffs are totally useless to a Full Attack Cleric, the single buffs are undeniably necessary to level if you don't want to depend on another cleric all the time. Their priority over the debuffs is debatable and solely depends on your preference.
Single Target Buffs:
Plume Shell (self-buff only): Takes 80% of incoming physical damage, and subtracts it from MP instead of HP. During its uptime, you will be pretty much invincible to all physical classes, so I'd advise you to max it as soon as possible, preferably in your 50s.
Vanguard Spirit: Significantly increases your physical defense. It's very cheap to level, max it when you have some leftover SP from your nukes.
Magic Shell: Increases magical defense. Since you won't have many problems fighting against magical mobs anyway, don't level it too much until Vanguard Spirit is maxed.
Celestial Guardian's Seal: A quite useful regeneration buff, but way too expensive in the lower levels. Don't get it until much later when you can afford to spend so many SP.
Spirit's Gift: This buff is an exception; get it as soon as you can. It dramatically increases your damage. party buffs:
Party Buffs:
Greater Protective Aura
Aegis Spirit
Exalted Renewal
Arcane Empowerment
Party buffs have exactly the same effect as single buffs with the difference that they affect the whole party and last 1 hour instead of 30 minutes.
[ ~ 4.4. Healing Spells ~ ]
The only skill you're ever going to need from this category is Purify. Ironheart Blessing is optional, all other heals are to be strictly avoided if you don't want to end up being a supporter.
Blessing of the Purehearted: Leave it at 1. Not even support clerics need it.
Ironheart Blessing: If you ever get tempted to skill heals to get invited more frequently into FBs or HH, go for this one. Ironheart Blessing will be the only requirement to act as a secondary healer. At 60+, it can also save you a huge amount of HP pots and make a real difference in PvP, so I advise you to level it at least a little. Consider it as a short secondary regeneration buff.
Wellspring Surge: Leave it at 1. You can use it for a while in the lower levels to save yourself some HP pots until you have the SP to level Ironheart Blessing. For more flexibility in duels, you can max it later at 8x when you have excess SP, but it isn't needed at all.
Revive: Don't EVER level this skill, no matter how many SP or money you have. People are going to bug you all the time to fly over half the map to revive them. Level 1 is enough to avoid this situation and still be able to revive people in danger of a party wipe in dungeons.
Purify: Get it as soon as it becomes available, and leave it at 1. Leveling this skill will only reduce its cooldown time.
Soon the Light: A simple party heal. Don't get it; let the other cleric heal the party.
Stream of Rejuvenation: A mix of Ironheart and Blessing of the Purehearted. Don't get it, you're no healer.
[ ~ 4.5. Pure Support Spells ~ ]
These spells must be avoided at all costs. They're locking your own powers to support other people, which is totally contrary to the purpose of your build.
Regeneration Aura (also called Blue Bubble): It reduces the damage taken by enemies and constantly heals everyone who stands within its array, so it's quite a valuable skill �C for a support cleric. Don't get it. As a Full Attack Cleric, you're not supposed to abandon your tremendous damage output to heal the party.
Heaven's Wrath (also called Red Bubble): Increases damage and casting speed for everyone within its array. Don't get it. You're much better off dealing the additional damage yourself.
[ ~ 4.6. Passive Skills ~ ]
Metal Mastery: Extremely expensive, but gives a great increase in metal damage. It's very much worth its high cost; get it when you have leftover SP from Spirit's Gift.
Flying Mastery: This totally depends on your preference. If you're not very rich or spending real money to pay for faster wings, consider getting this skill. Just remember that it solely increases the speed of your original white wings, not the brown ones or any DQ / Cash Shop wings.
[ ~ 4.7. How to get the most out of your SP ~ ]
Especially at level 40-50, you will find yourself among tons of different skills that you won't be able to learn right away. Since there is no way to purely farm SP, you will have to save them as much as possible.
- Don't get skills just to 'try them out'. Look at the skill descriptions, make your plans, and stick to them.
- Concentrate on no more than 2-3 skills at a time, which you will always keep maxed for your level. 2 good skills are better than 5 average ones.
- Plan ahead at least 5 levels, so you can skill your nukes as soon as they become available.
- If you ever happen to have a surplus of SP, don't waste them on useless skills. Save them for later.
[ ~~~ 5. Your role in a party ~~~ ]
In FB/HH parties, a Full Attack Cleric's role is very versatile and needs to be adapted to each situation. Since there is mostly only 1 other cleric in your party, your task will be to watch over him and protect him at all costs. Use your sleeping or paralyze debuff in case he takes aggro, and help him out by tossing in some Ironheart Blessing whenever his heals can't keep up with the damage taken. Especially at bosses, you can act as a secondary supporter, while attacking and debuffing during Ironheart Blessing's effective HoT (Heal over Time). Debuffs will be adjusted according to the layout of your party: Elemental Seal if there are more magic classes, Dimensional Seal if there are more physical classes. In the easier parts of the dungeon where no debuffs or additional heals are required, concentrate on high damage dealing for faster killing.
This is indeed a very unusual role for a cleric, so make sure to inform everyone of your build before setting up the party, to avoid any misunderstandings later on. You also need to talk it out with your party in which situations you should revive or not, as most people hate to grind back the higher exp loss from revive level 1.
[ ~~~ 6. Where and how to Level ~~~ ]
[ ~ 6.1. Monster Locations ~ ]
As your level increases, the exp from questing diminishes until eventually grinding takes over the most part of your time. A Full Attack Cleric can sometimes be a pain to level, so you need to look out for special spots which are best suited for your strengths. Until level 75, it's best to grind on nearby magic or poison mobs, preferredly in the air or underwater since they give much more exp on average, and are also more spaced out for higher security from aggro spawns.
Level 37 �C 44: Native Vipion level 41, flying poison mob. Location: North of Swiftwind Tribe.
Level 45 �C 52: Evolved Vipion level 50, flying poison mob. Location: Around the Elf, Untamed and Human starter towns.
Level 53 �C 57: Vipion Revolutionary level 54, flying poison mob. Location: City of Misfortune.
Level 58 �C 62: Foxwing Supreme level 60, flying magic mob. Location: North of Tusk Town, or around the starter towns for non-aggro.
Level 63 �C 64: Vampiric Nightstalker level 62, flying magic mob. Location: Village of the Dreaming Cloud.
Level 65 �C 70: Minion of Alucard level 68, flying magic mob. Location: Swamp of the Wraiths, around the Altar of Disbelief.
Level 71 �C 74: Carrion Vulture level 72, wood element flying magic mob. Location: Fragrant Hills, north of Sanctuary.
Level 75 �C 82: Mothran Dazzlewing level 80, wood element flying magic mob. Location: Lake of Woe, west of Dream Weaver Port. This is where the famous butterfly parties start: A group of 6 people using an exp scroll and killing as many butterflies as they can during 1 full hour. It's considered the cheaper alternative to AoE, as the exp reward is enormous compared to normal grinding.
Level 83 �C 90: Ultrafin Supreme level 88. Location: Sea of Isolation. Fish parties work the same as the butterflies. Alternatively, if you don't find enough people for your party, you can solo AoE at the level 85 poison mobs called Malicious Cadevil, east of Thousand Streams. Be aware that their stacked poison can be quite strong, so I advise you to max purify to avoid any casualties.
[ ~ 6.2. Skill Combos ~ ]
Setting up a good combo will be crucial to maximize your damage output in all kinds of situations. PvE combos should always be adjusted to kill as fast as possible with minimal hits. Mostly you will be using this:
Elemental Seal -> Wield Thunder -> Thunderball -> Cyclone
If the mob is rather strong you can try to minimize the hits taken by slowing them down first, and using faster skills to heal or cast plume shell immediately if the situation gets critical:
Cyclone -> Wield Thunder -> Cyclone -> Plume Shot
At Fire or Metal magic mobs, use this:
Dimensional Seal -> Plume Shot -> Plume Shot
In case the mob is totally superior to you and you can't outpot / outheal it (mostly Fire or Metal physical mobs), you need kite it by constantly using cyclone and running away from it till its safe to attack again. Another option is to use plume shell, but it will burn through your MP like hell.
[ ~ 6.3. MP Management ~ ]
Clerics are the class with the worst MP upkeep in the game. In the higher levels, you'll sometimes be using over 1k MP per mob, which will drain away your cash in no time. The cheapest solution of course is to sit down and go AFK for a while until the MP fills up again, but that clearly is not an option in FB/HH or intense grinding parties.
The best way to go without seals is to level your apothecary craft up until you can make Concentrate Orbs. They regenerate 100 MP per second during 10 minutes, and you can get 5 for 15 Serpentine Herbs and 20 Butterfly Herbs. That's 300.000 potential MP in 50 minutes for a few grasses, more cost-effective than seals could ever be. In case your Concentrate Orbs can't keep up with the rapid MP usage in battle mode, simply make some Arctic Orbs or buy the normal MP Potions.
Another point to consider is the MP usage of the skills themselves. Wield Thunder has about 1.5 times the damage of Great Cyclone, but almost 4 times as high MP usage. If you're not in a hurry, save yourself 200 MP by casting Cyclone or Plume Shot twice, instead of 1 Wield Thunder.
[ ~~~ 7. Magic Attack Formulas~~~ ]
Equipment magic attack: You get it by adding all +magic attack giving equipments, i.e. weapon, rings, soulstones and bonus stats.
For example, if your weapon gives 500-650 magic attack, your rings 100, your soulstones 15, and your
bonus stats 25, your equipment magic attack is 640-790.
Base magic attack: This is the value you see under Magic Attack in your character window. You can calculate it with the following formula:
(1+(MAG/100))*(level+equipment magic attack)
For example, if you have 1100-1500 equipment magic attack and 500 MAG at level 100, you'll have
around 7200-9600 base magic attack.
Skill Damage Calculate(approximate):
((base magic attack)+(MAG+weapon magic attack)*(magic attack % from skill)+skill add-on damage)*(100% + additional % from metal mastery)
Please note that it doesn't take into account the mob's defense. Unless you can figure out how much
damage reduction a specific mob has exactly, you can only calculate your damage on the extreme low
level mobs like goats and dogs.
About the Formulas:
I came up with the MAG and magic attack formulas myself, and I'm very sure they're accurate. Numerous
calculations all have come up with exactly the right value. If you're in doubt, you can test them yourself;
they're relatively easy to calculate.
The damage formula I got from the official forums of PW-PH, but here my tests have shown some minor
deviations from the expected results, so I cannot guarantee its absolute validity. Still, it did a good job to
accurately predict the % damage loss of the alternative armor builds compared to Pure MAG.
Notes: This guide is mainly directed at Full Attack Clerics, but most things like the build analysis , skill estimate and leveling apply to support clerics as well. The formulas also apply to all other caster classes.
[ ~~~ 1. Intro ~~~ ]
The goal of this type of cleric, which I'd to like to call Full/Pure Attack Cleric, or Nuker Cleric, is to maximize damage from a combination of their offensive, buffing, and debuffing skills. This will naturally require a pure MAG build, and to completely leave out all healing and support spells due to the extreme shortage of SP.
So what drives me to dare and play such a controversial and unexplored version of the cleric? Well, first of all, my passion in MMORPGs has always been to play strategical, high damage dealing fighters, which are usually very tough to level, and require a lot of skill to make full use of a wide range of different capabilities. Perfect World did not seem to offer such a character, so I was rather disappointed at first, until I found a way to twist a healer into this very model. Since it completely diverts from the original role, I actually didn't think it would work out very well, but after many weeks of experimentation, the results were beyond any expectation: when played correctly, a Full Attack Cleric can outdamage even the most powerful archers and wizards.
Unfortunately, not many players are aware of their true potential, which explains why this build is so rarely used. So by creating this guide, I'd like to raise public awareness of this very exceptional type of cleric, and inspire people to actually try it out as well. Read on if you're interested in creating the most unique class this game will ever have to offer.
[ ~~~ 2. Status points ~~~ ]
As a Full Attack Cleric, you will aim for the greatest possible damage, no matter how much defense and HP you will have to sacrifice.
MAG - Magic : (1 MAG = + magic attack based on your level and equipment magic attack)
This is your main stat, increase it by 5 points every level unless you need STR or DEX for your armor. STR - Strength: (no special attribute worth mentioning for clerics)
Will be let at a minimum to meet your armor's requirements. Usually equals putting 0.5 STR every level for magic robes, 1 STR for light armors, and 2.5 STR for heavy armors.
DEX - Dexterity : (20 DEX = 1% critical rate)
Neither the additional evasion rate nor the higher critical rate are high enough to compare with the magic attack you gain from MAG. Hence your DEX should never exceed the minimum amount required for your armor. That usually equals putting 1 DEX every level for light armors, 0.5 DEX for heavy armors, and of course 0 for magic robes.
VIT - Vitality : (1 VIT = 10 HP)
It might be tempting to put some points into it in the early levels, but it totally obliterates your damage output later when each point of MAG gets more and more valuable. Plus, the amount of HP you gain from VIT is simply too low to make any difference. Let it at 5 or if you have the cash to spare, decrease it to 3 by restatting. Getting the lacking HP solely through your equipment will be much more effective.
[ ~~~ 3. Equipment ~~~ ]
[ ~ 3.1. Armor Types and Builds ~ ]
Armors are among the most heavily debated subjects when it comes to choosing the best type for each class. Although magic robes are the most obvious path for casters, light / heavy armor has shown some benefits in wizards and support clerics as well. But is it really an option for a Full Attack Cleric?
The most notable benefits of these alternative armor builds undoubtedly lie on their higher physical defense, which might let you survive a bit longer in AoE parties or in duels against physical characters like archers. Since they can also switch to magic robes whenever necessary, they can perfectly adjust to any situation requiring the one or the other type of defense. Now for the bad news, most people are completely unaware of the actual damage loss you will suffer after sacrificing so many of your precious MAG stats for STR and DEX to be able to equip these armors in the first place.
Let me show you the statistics of a sample Pure MAG, Light Armor, Heavy Armor, Pure VIT and Full Heavy Armor build on a worksheet I created in Microsoft Excel:
Just see a bunch of numbers? No worries, I'm going to explain this statistic in detail now.
3.1.1. Heavy Armor - Full
Heavy Armor obviously has the lowest magical and highest physical defense, but in order to equip it, you'd need so much STR and DEX that you wouldn't have left enough MAG to carry your latest magic weapon anymore. That's what the Full Heavy Armor build is about �C totally ignoring damage and going for a hardcore physical defense. You could tank any physical mob without problems, but well, that's it. Your abnormally low magic attack would not only prevent you from killing the mobs in an acceptable timeframe, but combined with equally low HP and magic defense it would get you killed at every single magical enemy, be it in PvE or PvP.
3.1.2. Heavy Armor - Minimal
So, people have come up with a better solution. Instead of restricting the MAG to wear their heavy armor, they're now restricting the STR and DEX to at least be able to equip their latest magic weapon. The highest possible heavy armor they can wear at level 70 for example, would be the level 40-46 set, which still has slightly more physical defense than light armor. But again it comes at a great cost, namely a loss of 17.1% of their potential damage. Due to their slow killing speed, they'll also have to take a few more hits before their enemy dies, so their higher physical defense is practically nullified again. Not to mention they'll now have the magical defense of a level 46 blademaster. Hence both Heavy Armor builds are absolutely out of question for any serious Full Attack Cleric.
3.1.3. Light Armor
Light Armor would cover exactly that low magical defense problem. While still having a nice physical defense, this would seem like the ideal all-round armor �C if there wasn't this damage loss again. The slightly higher critical rate unfortunately doesn't make up much of the huge MAG loss, so you'd still be stuck with a mere 84.8% average of your potential damage. Just like Heavy Armor builds you wouldn't be able to kill your enemy fast enough before getting hit yourself. None of your defenses is high enough to efficiently protect your equally low HP; so yet again, this alternative option too is doomed to fail.
3.1.4. Pure VIT Magic Armor
Then how about increasing your VITwhile simply keeping your magic armor? It gives 10 HP per point, which equals about 1100 more HP than a Pure MAG at level 70. Protecting you from both physical and magic attacks at the same time, this is clearly the best defensive build for party-oriented people. However, it's a contradiction to the very nature of a Full Attack Cleric to play defensively. Just like Heavy and Light Armor builds, VIT builds can only reach 79.8% of their damage potential, which is totally unacceptable for this specific type of cleric. Your job is to kill enemies in 1-2 hits by debuffing and dealing great damage, so 1100 HP is no reason to give up the very purpose why you created this kind of character.
3.1.5. Pure MAG Magic Armor
Yes, this leaves just 1 viable option. To maximize your damage to the fullest extent, every build other than Pure MAG is a waste. Your low physical defense and HP will not be a problem here, because unlike the wizards, the cleric's protective skills can let you survive easily on a purely offensive build. What's more, by skipping all heals you'll have saved enough SP to max these skills at a very early level already. In grinding, no mob is strong enough to reduce your HP fast enough before your massive HoT kicks in again - in PvP, you can easily sleep the enemy and take your time to debuff before smashing him with full power - and in dungeon parties, you can simply put up plume shell when the situation gets critical. If played correctly, this is the only build that has virtually no weaknesses.
[ ~ 3.2. Jewelry ~ ]
Since your choice of rings is pretty obvious, I will just concentrate on the magical and physical defense enhancing kind of jewelry here. Their benefits are strongly dependent on which armor you're wearing, and for which purpose you intend to use it for.
Please note that the defenses are percentage based, so the higher your defense is, the less damage reduction you will receive when equipping additional jewelry of that type.
Physical defense: Overall, this is the better choice for robe users, as only very little additional defense is required to get a huge increase of damage reduction. The bad thing is that physical defense type jewelry usually comes coupled with HP bonus stats, which isn't the ideal choice for a Full Attack Clerics in the later levels.
Magical defense: If you already have high magical defense, more of this jewelry will probably give you no more than a 1% or 2% higher damage reduction. The reason why some players still prefer it over the physical defense jewelry is because it often has higher values of MAG as bonus stats, which can prove very useful in grinding.
If you can't decide, you can also buy 1 of each type and switch them as necessary, if your cash agrees with it.
[ ~ 3.3 Bonus Stats ~ ]
Bonus stats, not stars, are the most important factor to consider when buying equipment. First of all, if you don't plan on switching equip on every second mob, make sure that no piece of armor lacks any of the basic elemental defenses. The more elements are missing, the higher the remaining elemental defenses will be, but you'd have a hard time fighting against mobs of these specific elements since your overall defense would be much lower.
The options of bonus stats are:
For higher endurance:
+ HP or VIT: Probably the most common bonus stat. Since you can get a very high amount of HP from it, most players consider it as their main choice for improving their viability.
+ Physical Defense: You can get a fair amount of it to profit from the huge damage reduction until the percentages become inefficient compared to VIT. Remember that HP increases the numbers of hits you can take from both physical and magical mobs, while + physical defense is only limited to physical damage. In later levels, most of the mobs are magical, so I'd advise you to never choose physical defense over HP, except for PvP purposes.
+ Elemental Defense: Not what you should look for. HP/VIT is much more valuable. For higher damage:
+ MAG: Quite rare, and comes in very low values compared to HP/VIT. Mostly + 4 or + 5 MAG is the highest you can find, while HP goes easily over 80 at a cheaper price. If stacked, the difference can be even higher. But if you're looking for even more damage instead of HP on equip, + MAG is your best option in the lower levels.
+ Magic Attack: Mostly comes in rather low amounts compared to MAG. To find out which one gives more base magic attack, refer to my formulas in the Questions and Answers section.
- % Casting Time: Very rare, will increase your damage per second by a small amount, but overly expensive for what it's worth. Even when stacked at 30% or above, you almost can't tell the difference, especially if you're lagging.
+% Critical Rate: Very rare and expensive, rises in effectiveness over the levels as your damage output increases. Its efficiency compared to + MAG strongly depends on how much an attack is based on magic attack instead of a fixed value. For example:
To outdamage 1% critical rate on average: As Pure MAG at level 50 (wearing average 3 star equipment), your equipment will need at least + 6 MAG when using great cyclone level 10.
As Pure MAG at level 80 (wearing HH80 sword + average 3 star equipment), your equipment will need at least + 10 MAG when using wield thunder level 10.
Seeing that +1% critical is much easier to get than +10 MAG, +% Critical Rate as bonus stat actually proves to be more effective than + MAG in the higher levels.
Other:
+ MP recovery: Unless it's heavily stacked, you'll be burning through your MP way too fast to notice the recovery.
+ HP recovery: Comes in too small amounts to be useful.
+ STR / AGI: No need for additional STR/DEX over the minimum requirement for armor.
+ MP: No use in adding even more MP as a pure MAG build.
+% Experience: The available +% of Experience are too low to make any real difference while grinding.
+ Movement Speed: Became totally useless since the Forest Ruin was closed.
+ Evasion Rate: Due to high accuracy of your enemies, + Evasion Rate barely has any effect.
+ Accuracy: Magic attacks never miss, no need for any accuracy at all.
[ ~~~ 4. Skills ~~~ ]
The totally different arrangement of skills is what truly sets apart a Full Attack Cleric from the common healer. Only when giving up on what most people call the very purpose of a cleric, you will be able to explore their true powers that have been overshadowed by the common support role bias. The right combination of the skills will enable you to easily outdamage wizards and archers, so you will have to do a lot of planning before deciding which to level. Setting very clear goals and determining the extent to which you want to restrict your supporting abilities will be crucial to achieve an optimal skill array that best suits your needs.
Basically you can go from a pure damage dealer, who only skills attacking spells and buffs, to a PvP type cleric, who will also include debuffs, to a secondary supporter, who will use ironheart blessing as well. Just remember that the more skills you omit, the sooner you will be able to max your important nukes.
[ ~ 4.1. Nuking Spells ~ ]
Nuking Spells will generally be your first priority.
Physical Nukes:
Plume Shot: This will be your main attack throughout the lower levels, so I advise you to max it. Only when the benefits of Metal Mastery start showing at around 60+, Plume Shot will slowly disappear from your grinding combo, but due to its very low casting time, it will still be invaluable in PvP against magic classes.
Razor Feathers: Useless in normal PvP or grinding, the damage is way too low to compensate for its horrendous casting time. The only real use of it will be for solo AoE leveling at level 70+, so don't get it until you really have the SP to spare.
Metal Element Nukes:
Great Cyclone: Good damage, very fast casting �C your main attack in all levels. Get it to 10 as soon as possible, it will allow you to kite mobs (slow-down effect) and deal great DPS at the same time. Thunderball: Your only DoT skill, which won't show its full power until much later. Useless in PvP, but absolutely necessary in PvE to replace Plume Shot against wood type mobs. Set it aside until you've maxed Spirit's Gift, Elemental Seal and Plume Shot / Great Cyclone.
Siren's Kiss: Probably the cleric's least used skill �C it's pretty much the weaker version of Tempest. It deals some good metal damage, but the requirement of 1 spark totally ruins it. Its only use would be to bridge your combo in solo AoE at poison mobs (Razor Feathers -> Siren's Kiss -> Purify) and in PvP (Wield Thunder -> Cyclone -> Siren's Kiss ), so I wouldn't recommend it until 70+.
Wield Thunder: Your best spell ever. Get it immediately once it becomes available, and do always keep it maxed for your level. Its enormous damage compared to your standard nukes makes it invaluable in every situation, may it be PvE or PvP.
Tempest: The spell that will strike fear into the faces of your enemies. Even though it uses 2 spark, it will allow you to 1 hit almost every class in PvP when they're properly debuffed. Unfortunately, it's very expensive to level, both money and SP wise, so I advise you to set it aside until 70+ unless you're a very PvP oriented player.
[ ~ 4.2. Debuffing Spells ~ ]
Debuffing Spells are the Full Attack Clerics' speciality. All the surplus SP you saved from the heals will be used to max these 4 spells as soon as possible for maximum PvP advantage.
Elemental Seal: Your most used debuff in PvP as well as in PvE in the later levels. Get it once Spirit's Gift and Metal Mastery are at a fairly high level.
Dimensional Seal: Great debuff against magic metal or fire element mobs, since you are going to defeat those with Plume Shot. Get it when you have Elemental Seal maxed.
Silence Seal: Your paralyze debuff. It has rather limited use (in PvP against melee classes for example) and doesn't show its real benefits until it's upgraded to Holy / Dark.
Chromatic Seal: An absolutely mandatory debuff to level. It can sleep your enemy for up to 33.6 seconds at level 10, which gives you plenty of opportunities in every fight: healing yourself, debuffing the enemy, escaping from mobs or taking aggro off someone else. Get it as soon as you can.
[ ~ 4.3. Buffing Spells ~ ]
While the party buffs are totally useless to a Full Attack Cleric, the single buffs are undeniably necessary to level if you don't want to depend on another cleric all the time. Their priority over the debuffs is debatable and solely depends on your preference.
Single Target Buffs:
Plume Shell (self-buff only): Takes 80% of incoming physical damage, and subtracts it from MP instead of HP. During its uptime, you will be pretty much invincible to all physical classes, so I'd advise you to max it as soon as possible, preferably in your 50s.
Vanguard Spirit: Significantly increases your physical defense. It's very cheap to level, max it when you have some leftover SP from your nukes.
Magic Shell: Increases magical defense. Since you won't have many problems fighting against magical mobs anyway, don't level it too much until Vanguard Spirit is maxed.
Celestial Guardian's Seal: A quite useful regeneration buff, but way too expensive in the lower levels. Don't get it until much later when you can afford to spend so many SP.
Spirit's Gift: This buff is an exception; get it as soon as you can. It dramatically increases your damage. party buffs:
Party Buffs:
Greater Protective Aura
Aegis Spirit
Exalted Renewal
Arcane Empowerment
Party buffs have exactly the same effect as single buffs with the difference that they affect the whole party and last 1 hour instead of 30 minutes.
[ ~ 4.4. Healing Spells ~ ]
The only skill you're ever going to need from this category is Purify. Ironheart Blessing is optional, all other heals are to be strictly avoided if you don't want to end up being a supporter.
Blessing of the Purehearted: Leave it at 1. Not even support clerics need it.
Ironheart Blessing: If you ever get tempted to skill heals to get invited more frequently into FBs or HH, go for this one. Ironheart Blessing will be the only requirement to act as a secondary healer. At 60+, it can also save you a huge amount of HP pots and make a real difference in PvP, so I advise you to level it at least a little. Consider it as a short secondary regeneration buff.
Wellspring Surge: Leave it at 1. You can use it for a while in the lower levels to save yourself some HP pots until you have the SP to level Ironheart Blessing. For more flexibility in duels, you can max it later at 8x when you have excess SP, but it isn't needed at all.
Revive: Don't EVER level this skill, no matter how many SP or money you have. People are going to bug you all the time to fly over half the map to revive them. Level 1 is enough to avoid this situation and still be able to revive people in danger of a party wipe in dungeons.
Purify: Get it as soon as it becomes available, and leave it at 1. Leveling this skill will only reduce its cooldown time.
Soon the Light: A simple party heal. Don't get it; let the other cleric heal the party.
Stream of Rejuvenation: A mix of Ironheart and Blessing of the Purehearted. Don't get it, you're no healer.
[ ~ 4.5. Pure Support Spells ~ ]
These spells must be avoided at all costs. They're locking your own powers to support other people, which is totally contrary to the purpose of your build.
Regeneration Aura (also called Blue Bubble): It reduces the damage taken by enemies and constantly heals everyone who stands within its array, so it's quite a valuable skill �C for a support cleric. Don't get it. As a Full Attack Cleric, you're not supposed to abandon your tremendous damage output to heal the party.
Heaven's Wrath (also called Red Bubble): Increases damage and casting speed for everyone within its array. Don't get it. You're much better off dealing the additional damage yourself.
[ ~ 4.6. Passive Skills ~ ]
Metal Mastery: Extremely expensive, but gives a great increase in metal damage. It's very much worth its high cost; get it when you have leftover SP from Spirit's Gift.
Flying Mastery: This totally depends on your preference. If you're not very rich or spending real money to pay for faster wings, consider getting this skill. Just remember that it solely increases the speed of your original white wings, not the brown ones or any DQ / Cash Shop wings.
[ ~ 4.7. How to get the most out of your SP ~ ]
Especially at level 40-50, you will find yourself among tons of different skills that you won't be able to learn right away. Since there is no way to purely farm SP, you will have to save them as much as possible.
- Don't get skills just to 'try them out'. Look at the skill descriptions, make your plans, and stick to them.
- Concentrate on no more than 2-3 skills at a time, which you will always keep maxed for your level. 2 good skills are better than 5 average ones.
- Plan ahead at least 5 levels, so you can skill your nukes as soon as they become available.
- If you ever happen to have a surplus of SP, don't waste them on useless skills. Save them for later.
[ ~~~ 5. Your role in a party ~~~ ]
In FB/HH parties, a Full Attack Cleric's role is very versatile and needs to be adapted to each situation. Since there is mostly only 1 other cleric in your party, your task will be to watch over him and protect him at all costs. Use your sleeping or paralyze debuff in case he takes aggro, and help him out by tossing in some Ironheart Blessing whenever his heals can't keep up with the damage taken. Especially at bosses, you can act as a secondary supporter, while attacking and debuffing during Ironheart Blessing's effective HoT (Heal over Time). Debuffs will be adjusted according to the layout of your party: Elemental Seal if there are more magic classes, Dimensional Seal if there are more physical classes. In the easier parts of the dungeon where no debuffs or additional heals are required, concentrate on high damage dealing for faster killing.
This is indeed a very unusual role for a cleric, so make sure to inform everyone of your build before setting up the party, to avoid any misunderstandings later on. You also need to talk it out with your party in which situations you should revive or not, as most people hate to grind back the higher exp loss from revive level 1.
[ ~~~ 6. Where and how to Level ~~~ ]
[ ~ 6.1. Monster Locations ~ ]
As your level increases, the exp from questing diminishes until eventually grinding takes over the most part of your time. A Full Attack Cleric can sometimes be a pain to level, so you need to look out for special spots which are best suited for your strengths. Until level 75, it's best to grind on nearby magic or poison mobs, preferredly in the air or underwater since they give much more exp on average, and are also more spaced out for higher security from aggro spawns.
Level 37 �C 44: Native Vipion level 41, flying poison mob. Location: North of Swiftwind Tribe.
Level 45 �C 52: Evolved Vipion level 50, flying poison mob. Location: Around the Elf, Untamed and Human starter towns.
Level 53 �C 57: Vipion Revolutionary level 54, flying poison mob. Location: City of Misfortune.
Level 58 �C 62: Foxwing Supreme level 60, flying magic mob. Location: North of Tusk Town, or around the starter towns for non-aggro.
Level 63 �C 64: Vampiric Nightstalker level 62, flying magic mob. Location: Village of the Dreaming Cloud.
Level 65 �C 70: Minion of Alucard level 68, flying magic mob. Location: Swamp of the Wraiths, around the Altar of Disbelief.
Level 71 �C 74: Carrion Vulture level 72, wood element flying magic mob. Location: Fragrant Hills, north of Sanctuary.
Level 75 �C 82: Mothran Dazzlewing level 80, wood element flying magic mob. Location: Lake of Woe, west of Dream Weaver Port. This is where the famous butterfly parties start: A group of 6 people using an exp scroll and killing as many butterflies as they can during 1 full hour. It's considered the cheaper alternative to AoE, as the exp reward is enormous compared to normal grinding.
Level 83 �C 90: Ultrafin Supreme level 88. Location: Sea of Isolation. Fish parties work the same as the butterflies. Alternatively, if you don't find enough people for your party, you can solo AoE at the level 85 poison mobs called Malicious Cadevil, east of Thousand Streams. Be aware that their stacked poison can be quite strong, so I advise you to max purify to avoid any casualties.
[ ~ 6.2. Skill Combos ~ ]
Setting up a good combo will be crucial to maximize your damage output in all kinds of situations. PvE combos should always be adjusted to kill as fast as possible with minimal hits. Mostly you will be using this:
Elemental Seal -> Wield Thunder -> Thunderball -> Cyclone
If the mob is rather strong you can try to minimize the hits taken by slowing them down first, and using faster skills to heal or cast plume shell immediately if the situation gets critical:
Cyclone -> Wield Thunder -> Cyclone -> Plume Shot
At Fire or Metal magic mobs, use this:
Dimensional Seal -> Plume Shot -> Plume Shot
In case the mob is totally superior to you and you can't outpot / outheal it (mostly Fire or Metal physical mobs), you need kite it by constantly using cyclone and running away from it till its safe to attack again. Another option is to use plume shell, but it will burn through your MP like hell.
[ ~ 6.3. MP Management ~ ]
Clerics are the class with the worst MP upkeep in the game. In the higher levels, you'll sometimes be using over 1k MP per mob, which will drain away your cash in no time. The cheapest solution of course is to sit down and go AFK for a while until the MP fills up again, but that clearly is not an option in FB/HH or intense grinding parties.
The best way to go without seals is to level your apothecary craft up until you can make Concentrate Orbs. They regenerate 100 MP per second during 10 minutes, and you can get 5 for 15 Serpentine Herbs and 20 Butterfly Herbs. That's 300.000 potential MP in 50 minutes for a few grasses, more cost-effective than seals could ever be. In case your Concentrate Orbs can't keep up with the rapid MP usage in battle mode, simply make some Arctic Orbs or buy the normal MP Potions.
Another point to consider is the MP usage of the skills themselves. Wield Thunder has about 1.5 times the damage of Great Cyclone, but almost 4 times as high MP usage. If you're not in a hurry, save yourself 200 MP by casting Cyclone or Plume Shot twice, instead of 1 Wield Thunder.
[ ~~~ 7. Magic Attack Formulas~~~ ]
Equipment magic attack: You get it by adding all +magic attack giving equipments, i.e. weapon, rings, soulstones and bonus stats.
For example, if your weapon gives 500-650 magic attack, your rings 100, your soulstones 15, and your
bonus stats 25, your equipment magic attack is 640-790.
Base magic attack: This is the value you see under Magic Attack in your character window. You can calculate it with the following formula:
(1+(MAG/100))*(level+equipment magic attack)
For example, if you have 1100-1500 equipment magic attack and 500 MAG at level 100, you'll have
around 7200-9600 base magic attack.
Skill Damage Calculate(approximate):
((base magic attack)+(MAG+weapon magic attack)*(magic attack % from skill)+skill add-on damage)*(100% + additional % from metal mastery)
Please note that it doesn't take into account the mob's defense. Unless you can figure out how much
damage reduction a specific mob has exactly, you can only calculate your damage on the extreme low
level mobs like goats and dogs.
About the Formulas:
I came up with the MAG and magic attack formulas myself, and I'm very sure they're accurate. Numerous
calculations all have come up with exactly the right value. If you're in doubt, you can test them yourself;
they're relatively easy to calculate.
The damage formula I got from the official forums of PW-PH, but here my tests have shown some minor
deviations from the expected results, so I cannot guarantee its absolute validity. Still, it did a good job to
accurately predict the % damage loss of the alternative armor builds compared to Pure MAG.