Priest - What Makes a Priest The Best Healer?

The Priest is a caster class and is considered by most to be the best all-round healer in WoW. His spells are Holy and Shadow based. A Priest can also do quite a bit of damage but is mainly known for his great healing capabilities in both PvE and PvP.

One of the downsides of playing a Priest is the leveling. Even though the Shadow talent tree is available, which greatly increases a Priest’s damage done, it can still be time taking because the spells cost a lot of Mana. Once you get to the higher levels though, you can always count on a spot in any kind of party or raid wherever they are going because a Priest is just great and everybody knows it.

All the Priests are able to cast a Stamina buff on themselves and party and raid members. If a few points in the Discipline tree are spent another buff called Divine Spirit becomes available. This buff boosts the Spirit of players. A Priest’s healing spells are based on Holy power and one has a variety of instant, small, big, HoT and AoE heals to choose from which make the priest the best overall healer. If a Priest prefers to do damage he is pretty much stuck on the Shadow spells if he wants to get the best out of his Priest.

You can choose from quite a few races if you want to play a Priest. The Human Spirit and Blood Elf’s Arcane Spirit racials make them nice choices. Other races you can choose from are Dwarves, Night Elves, Draenei, Trolls, and Undead.

A Priest can choose to go for a full Discipline build if he likes to heal and likes to play PvP. There are some great talents in the tree that make the Priest tougher, his heals more effective and the Priest will also gain some new abilities like Pain Suppression and Power Infusion. The Discipline Priests are great single target healers. This, together with abilities like the ones mentioned above make the Discipline Priests great for PvP as well.

The Holy tree is also great for healing. It’s probably a bit better when it comes to raw healing then the Discipline tree. Some other healing spells like Circle of Healing are learned which make the Priest even a better healer. The Holy build gives more bonus healing and is normally considered to be better for PvE purposes when it comes to healing.

Finally, the Shadow build. Priests make great healers but they sure can do good damage as well. His damage is based on Damage over Time (DoT), and fast spells like Mind Blast and Mind Flay. The great thing about a Shadow Priest is that he can also support his group by placing some debuffs on a target like Vampiric Embrace and Vampiric Touch which will convert some damage done to mana and hitpoints for both the Priest and his group members.

Blue Post: Underwater Combat, Uldum, Class Changes

Quote from Blizzard staff

Vashj'ir - Underwater Combat
We're working to ensure combat, breathing and travel are less cumbersome in this underwater zone than many of you may be thinking. The zone is quite large with a great deal of quest content and exploration to be done. In many areas you'll really get a deep ocean feel, but since you're questing down there, we want to make sure underwater gameplay is greatly improved. (Source)

Uldum / Larger 5-man Dungeons
There's a level 85 five-player dungeon you might just learn about soon which holds seven bosses in a single instance. It's in a place you may have heard of before... Uldum. ^.^ (Source)

Armor upgrades at level 40
We talked about changing it, but decided we liked it the way it is. It's a pretty nice reward to suddenly be able to equip mail or plate at higher level. By similar logic, you could argue that we should make helms, shoulders, trinkets and even mounts at low level because they're awesome upgrades and players are going to get them anyway.

It doesn't actually make the itemization simpler to add plate at lower levels. We have to create more items and make sure they are well distributed. That's not a huge consideration either way, but you listed it as a benefit and we don't see it like that.

We also don't think it's a huge balance problem either way. Nobody is so weak below level 40 that perfect gear optimization is really going to make a difference between success and failure.

The strongest justification for letting e.g. warriors use plate at level 1 is the feeling at level 40 of having to swap out all of your gear. But even in that case if you hold on to the mail for a few more levels until you get a more suitable quest reward you're not really going to be at a noticeable disadvantage. (Source)

Mage (Forums / Talent Calculator)
Winter's Chill
Yeah, we probably need to make Winter's Chill apply the entire stack at once like Improved Scorch and Improved Shadow Bolt. (Source)

Paladin (Forums / Talent Calculator)
Healing in Cataclysm
Our goal is for paladins to be able to raid heal. Don't look at the designs for spells that none of you have even been able to try and conclude those mechanics can't possibly allow you to raid heal and therefore our goal can't possibly be met and will therefore be abandoned. It's fine to raise concerns -- that's one of the reasons we announce stuff like this early -- but some of you are trying to get a spell buffed that you haven't even cast yet.

I will say our vision for the AE spell though is not that the paladin runs around constantly, but that you position yourself where you can do the most good. Sometimes that will be back with the healers. Sometimes that might be in the melee. Sometimes you'll have to spread out and your group healing won't be as efficient (in the same way a shaman's group healing isn't as good in the same scenario).

Tranquility is on a very long cooldown. It is not the way druids AE heal. We want to shift it from 5-person group to raid because we'd like to do that with every spell. Having to organize players by arbitrary group is a strange concept since it doesn't actually manifest itself in the real world (in the way distance from you on the battlefield does).

We aren't going to give paladins anything resembling Circle of Healing. One (or two) of those spells in the game is plenty.

Spirit will be a good stat to stack but only to a point. Once you can heal say a six minute boss fight without going out of mana, then any additional Spirit is pretty much wasted. At that point stats like crit start to look pretty attractive because they increase your spell's throughput without increasing the mana cost. Maybe you'll be able to heal someone with one cast, allowing you to swap over and heal another player. In today's healing environment, where a lot of that excess healing will be wasted overhealing, getting a huge crit on a spell isn't nearly as valuable.

We'll have to see how raid healing goes. We might be okay with the tendency for groups to still assign paladins to tank healing because they are particularly good at it. What we want to avoid are those cases where a group feels like they can't possibly keep tanks alive because they lack a paladin or they can't possibly keep groups alive because they have too many paladins. (Source)

Rogue (Forums / Talent Calculator)
Rogues Cooldowns

In actuality it's not quite this extreme, but the stereotypical rogue encounter is that if they have their cooldowns available, they're going to wreck you and if they don't have their cooldowns available, you're going to wreck them. Giving Cloak a chance to fail was a way to make sure that rogues couldn't guarantee that they would be immune to spells for a few seconds. Usually they would be, but sometimes they'd get unlucky and the lock or whoever would have a chance against them.

In Cataclysm, we want to reduce both extremes. That is, the rogue shouldn't feel invulnerable when they have all of their cooldowns available and they shouldn't feel helpless when they get caught without them. In that environment we think it's safe to remove the chance to fail because Cloak won't be the only thing that determines victory or defeat vs. a caster. Things like Smoke Bomb and larger health pools as well as other changes should help keep a rogue alive when Cloak is on cooldown. Likewise, the warlock won't be stunned so much so they won't be quite so frustrated when the rogue does pop CoS.

Having a ninety percent chance to succeed is actually a pretty frustrating place to be. At that point you aren't grateful when you roll lucky. You're mad because you were so unlucky. At 90% you start to count on something, which makes it worse for it to fail. If Cloak had a 10% chance to succeed (we wouldn't do that, but just for sake of argument) then you'd feel awesome when it did work because you got lucky. What I'm getting at is that it's not like we thought the 90% deal was super fun gameplay. We just thought it was necessary.

Without the entire gamut of Cataclysm changes though, we're not sure rogues need a PvP survival boost at the moment.

My paladin comment above was more poking at the silliness of expressing "Gotcha!" because we figured out a way that we're comfortable getting rid of a 10% chance to fail on Cloak of Shadows. (Source)

Warrior (Forums / Talent Calculator)
Bladestorm
It isn't necessary to change Bladestorm just because Whirlwind changes. If you want to blow the cooldown for a single target damage boost we don't really have a problem with that. Whirlwind was balanced around doing single target damage, which meant it just got free damage when there was more than one target. Bladestorm by contrast doesn't amount to a sizable chunk of damage in PvE. (Source)

Cataclysm Class Preview: Priest

Quote from: Zarhym (Source)

In World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, we'll be making lots of changes and additions to class talents and abilities across the board. In this preview, you'll get an early look at some of the changes in store for the priest class, including a rundown of some of the new spells, abilities, and talents, as well as an overview of how the new Mastery system will work with the different talent specs.

New Priest Spells

Heal (available at level 16): While priests already have a spell called Heal, the existing version becomes obsolete at higher levels, which is something we intend to change in Cataclysm. Introduced at a low level, the "new" Heal spell will functionally work much like a down-ranked Greater Heal did in the past, adding more granularity to your direct-healing arsenal. If you need to heal someone a moderate amount and efficiency is an issue (making Flash Heal the incorrect spell for the job), then Heal is what you want to use. Heal is intended to be the priest's go-to direct-healing spell unless they need something bigger (Greater Heal) or faster (Flash Heal). We will be following a similar philosophy with all the healing classes.

Mind Spike (level 81): Deals Shadowfrost damage and puts a debuff on the target that improves subsequent Mind Spike damage. The intent of Mind Spike is to fill a niche missing in Shadow DPS, though it may be occasionally useful for healers as well. Mind Spike provides a quick nuke to use in situations where the priest doesn't have time to set up the normal rotation, such as when adds are dying too fast or you have to swap targets a lot. Spamming Mind Spike will do about as much damage as casting Mind Flay on a target afflicted with Shadow Word: Pain. The idea behind the debuff is that when you cast Mind Spike, we expect you to cast a lot of them; we don't intend you to fit it into an already full Shadow rotation. It also provides Shadow with a spell to cast when locked out of the Shadow school. (School lockouts will no longer affect both schools for multi-school spells.) 1.5-second cast. 30-yard range. No cooldown.

Inner Will (level 83): Increases movement speed by 12% and reduces the mana cost of instant-cast spells by 10%. This buff will be exclusive with Inner Fire, meaning you can't have both up at once. Inner Fire provides a spell power and Armor buff; Inner Will should be useful on a more situational basis.

Leap of Faith (level 85): Pull a party or raid member to your location. Leap of Faith (or "Life Grip") is intended to give priests a tool to help rescue fellow players who have pulled aggro, are being focused on in PvP, or just can't seem to get out of the fire in time. Instant. 30-yard range. 45-second cooldown.

Changes to Abilities and Mechanics

In addition to introducing new spells, we're planning to make changes to some of the other abilities and mechanics you're familiar with. This list and the summary of talent changes below it are by no means comprehensive, but they should give you a good sense of what we intend for each spec.

• All HoTs and DoTs will benefit from Haste and Crit innately. Hasted HoTs and DoTs will not have a shorter duration, just a shorter period in between ticks (meaning they will gain extra ticks to fill in the duration as appropriate).
• We want to bring back Shadow Word: Death as an "execute" -- something you do when the target is at 25% health.
• While we want to keep the priest's role as a well-rounded healer, we also want to make sure the class is a viable tank healer, which is something priests moved away from a little in Wrath of the Lich King. Greater Heal will probably be the tank-healing spell of choice, though we've also discussed giving Discipline a second shield so that they have a small shield to cast on lots of different targets, and a big, more expensive shield to cast on a tank or anyone else taking a ton of damage.
• Divine Spirit and Prayer of Spirit will be removed from the game. As Spirit will be the primary mana-regeneration stat, we don't want it to vary as much between solo, small group, and raid play. Blessing of Kings and Mark of the Wild will not boost Spirit either.
• Mana will be a bigger consideration for all healers. We aren't trying to make healing more painful; we're trying to make it more fun. When the cost of a spell isn't an issue, then casting the right spell for the job is less of an issue because you might as well just use your most powerful spell all of the time. We are, however, getting rid of the five-second rule, because we don't want to encourage standing around doing nothing. We're also going to cut back on the benefits of buffs such as Replenishment so priests (and all healers) don't feel as penalized when those buffs aren't available.

New Talents and Talent Changes

• We want to improve Discipline's single-target healing capacity. One key is to make sure shielding isn't always a more attractive option than healing.
• We want to improve Holy for PvP healing. One way to do this is to make sure that Heal's throughput is similar between both specs.
• We want to improve Shadow for short fights and reduce its susceptibility to school lockouts.
• Discipline will finally be getting Power Word: Barrier as a talented ability. Think of it like a group Power Word: Shield.
• We want to make Holy a little bit more interesting to play. One new talent will push the Holy priest into an improved healing state when he or she casts Prayer of Healing, Heal, or Renew three times in a row. The empowered state varies depending on the heals cast.
• Since the Shadow tree has a lot of passive damage-boosting abilities -- something we're trying to avoid in Cataclysm -- we will need to replace several of the tree's talents. One idea is to play off of the new Shadow Orbs mechanic (see Mastery section below), possibly allowing you to consume an orb to increase damage from Mind Blast or reduce Mind Spike's cast time.
• Misery will no longer affect spell Hit chance. We want players to be able to gear themselves around a Hit cap that isn't variable depending on group composition.

Mastery Passive Talent Tree Bonuses

Discipline

• Healing
• Meditation
• Absorption

Absorption: Improves the strength of shields such as Power Word: Shield, Divine Aegis, and Power Word: Barrier.

Holy

• Healing
• Meditation
• Radiance

Radiance: Your direct heals add a small heal-over-time component to the target.

Shadow

• Spell damage
• Spell Crit
• Shadow Orbs

Shadow Orbs: Casting spells grants a chance for Shadow Orbs to be created that fly around you and increase your shadow damage. This will help lower-level characters feel more like "Shadow priests" before they obtain Shadowform.

We hope you enjoyed this preview, and we're looking forward to hearing your initial thoughts and feedback on these additions and changes. Please keep in mind that this information represents a work in progress and is subject to change as development on Cataclysm continues.

[...]

A few quick clarifications:

Neither Inner Fire nor Inner Will has charges. The decision is on which armor you want up at the time.

Preventing dot clipping is something we want to do in general. It obviously benefits Shadow priests just as much as warlocks.

The idea behind Mind Spike is that you can't always settle into your normal, and high-ramp up rotation. It's also useful when you have to move or get school locked.

The closest analogue to PW:B is the DK Anti-Magic Zone, but it has some important differences, such as a way to counter it in PvP (since it absorbs all damage, not just magical damage).

The idea behind the Holy "cast three in a row" talent (it's called "Chakra") is that we've always positioned Holy as a versatile healer. This talent lets you shift into different modes. If you need to be a tank healer, cast three single target heals and your single-target healing is now better. Cast three area heals, and you can be a temporarily specialized group healer. We're going to try to play this mechanic up with a cool UI to try to get that "I'm almost in the zone" feel. We'll let it apply to as many types of spells as we can, perhaps even Smite for those times when nobody's taking damage.

We pulled Misery because we are pulling every group benefit that improves hit. It's annoying to have to swap your gear in and out depending on who shows up for your group. In general we're going to push even harder in Cataclysm for bringing people you like to play with, not bringing people who have awesome buffs. The answer to almost every question of "But why would they bring me?" should be "Because you know what the hell you're doing."

Blue Post: Cataclysm Class Information Coming!

Quote from: Bashiok (Source)

Beginning Wednesday, April 7 we will begin releasing class previews containing an overview of some of the changes currently being planned for each of the 10 World of Warcraft classes. The type of information you can expect from these posts are a list of the new spells from 80-85, the new passive mastery bonuses for all talent trees, a brief outline of some of the talent changes we're currently planning, and in some cases new low level spells for select classes.

These changes will by no means be comprehensive, and are subject to change between now and the launch of the expansion. It's also important to understand that some classes are currently further along in the development process than others, and as a result the amount of information will vary from class to class. Please do not let this frustrate you should your class be amongst those which are on the "lighter" side of things, as all classes will receive the same level of design attention before the expansion is released. Additionally we'll be providing more information for all classes, especially as we move into the beta phase.

Below is the schedule for each class:

• Shaman - April 7
• Priest - April 7
• Warlock - April 7

• Warrior - April 8
• Death Knight - April 8
• Rogue - April 8

• Hunter - April 9
• Druid - April 9
• Mage - April 9

• Paladin - April 16*

These posts are being coordinated internationally so they'll be posted at different times throughout the day and night on the given dates to give players around the world the ability to see posts made at a convenient time. This thread will be updated with links directly to each class preview as they're posted.

*The paladin is still deep in development. Instead of giving a preview that would be potentially less comprehensive than the other classes we made the decision to post it when it's ready, in order to properly honor the paladin class and those that play them. The wait isn't too long however as we're expecting to be able to post it on April 16.

Aion: Cleric Changes and Patchnotes [26-08-2009]

• Grace of Emprean Lord had its cooldown reduces from 5 minutes to 3 minutes - Spells do no cost mana for 12 seconds.
• Wrath of Earth had its damage increased - Inflicts 233 Earth damage and causes 259 damage every 3 seconds for 9 seconds
• Summon - "Divine Energy" had its damage increased from 900 to 1,620 - Summons a holy spirit. The spirit uses 900 fire damage spell. It loses life every time it casts the spell.
• Mass Party Cleanse had range radius increases from 10 meters to 20 meters - Cleanses up to 3 effects from up to 6 party members and recovers 3,700 hp.
• Word - "Pain" now includes a 400 magic resistance debuff - Inflicts 456 earth damage, and 507 damage every 12 seconds for 2 minutes.

Aion Guides: Beginners PvP and PvPvE Guide

The Build

Now I know you want to get into all the juicy stuff such as strategy and what not, but before I discuss that you should first consider your character’s build. You can customize your characters strength and weakness threw the use of mana stones, enchanting, food, drinks, scrolls, etc. However to keep it basic for beginners; I will stick to manastone and enchanting discussion.

Now that being said you could build your character to be in a basic categories’: Offensive, Defensive, and hybrid. Each one adds valuable options to the group. In addition, each comes with there own strength and weakness.

Offensive builds is where you want to take your opponent out before it takes you out. In that sense you most be able to react faster and out maneuver your opponent to use this build to its full potential. If you fail to do so, you leave your self vulnerable to a counter attack to your opponent. That being said these type of builds excel in spike damage in groups, so they have the time to prepare a proper assault on an enemy player, while have the time to retreat to the safety of the group to avoid being counter attack. These builds are generally more vulnerable (not always) to taking more incoming damage then say if you built hybrid or defensive.

Defensive builds are the opposite in the sense you try to out last your opponent threw your increased survivability. In order to bring this build to its full potential you most have the patience to deal with longer fights and not lose focus. Your objective as a defensive build is to interrupt your opponent’s combo flow as much as possible forcing them to make a critical mistake, wasting their opportunity to spike you down. If you can play the fight longer and stay focused, you can force your opponent to trip up. This build is especially common for healers in group fights. For their success largely depends on their ability to hamper their enemies attempts to spike damage them.

Hybrid builds are mix offensive and defense nature. For example Crit has an offensive and defensive nature attached to it. When you land a Crit hit, you will do more damage. In addition, you also stun your opponent. Thanks to this nature, crt makes a perfect example of a build that be used offensively or defensively. In groups hybrid builds are useful in that they play an offensive and defensive role at the same time. For example a sin or ranger could crt lock a dps attempting to spike a healer. In this situation not only did you kill the enemy, In addition you stunned your opponent which saved your healer.

Manastone by categories:

• Offensive mana stones: Attack, Magic Boosting Power,
• Defensive mana stones: Shield defense, parry, evasion, magic defense
• Hybrid: HP, MP, Critical, Max flight time, Acc, magic acc

Please note I would advise against using mp and max flight time normally, as both of these problems can be easily countered by a pot. In addition I would advise against using Acc or Magic acc, as the benefits normally do not counter the use of other mana stones available.

Builds I would advise for classes as follows in no particular order of importance.

• Templar: Hybrid, Defensive
• Gladiator: Hybrid, Offensive
• Cleric: Hybrid, Defensive
• Chanter: Hybrid, Defensive
• Ranger: Hybrid, Offensive
• Sin: Hybrid, Offensive
• Sorcerer: Hybrid, Offensive
• Spirit Master: Hybrid, Offensive

For enchanting offensively you will want to focus on increasing your weapon first as you level. Defensive will want to focus on a shield first (if you have one and are going for a shield defense spec), and then proceed to upgrade armor. While in the future you may be able to afford both, doing so while leveling will be difficult.

For example my chanter is currently defensive specked since I live to pvp in groups with my legion. I use shield defense manastones and put priority on my shield, and then the rest of my armor.

I fly Solo

For those of you like to solo, there is good news and bad news for you. While the abyss grants the opportunity to attack unsuspecting opponents in a 1v1 scenario; one most use caution. In the abyss it is common to find solo players or small groups to pick off, the problem you say? Well to put it simply they, lets just say that their friendly faction isn’t to far away normally when they call for back up.

When you PvP alone, you keep what you kill. In other words all the abyss pts you earn threw damaging the target, go straight to you upon your opponent’s death. This is a bonus if you are trying to level up your abyss rank quickly. This is due to that if you are in a group, the pts are split evenly. Although this comes at great risk as well, for traveling alone increases your chance of death. If you die to an opponent in PvP, you will lose abyss points (note there is no exp penalty for dying in PvP).

Birds of a Feather Stick Together

If soling isn’t your thing, give group PvP a go. Just like solo PvP there are advantages and disadvantages. The advantage of Group play is that you can rack up more kills quickly and not have to run as much if the enemy calls in for back up. Also it is always nice to have a team mate watch your back, in case some one tries to return you the favor. In the abyss, small groups pick normally off solo or other enemy small groups. While there are bigger groups in the abyss, they are fare less common and mostly seen at places such as fort sieges.

The disadvantage is that your pts will be split for kills you earn as a group. This will slow down your abyss pt gain. Although, if you are continuously killing with out dying, it may pay off then continuously getting killed solo in attempt to hog all the abyss pts to yourself. It really depends on your class and builds which style of play will fit your needs for abyss pts.

Solo tactics

As a solo player you want to catch your opponent off guard and finish him/her off before they have time to react. Due to this more offensive/hybrid builds are preferred here. While you could attempt a defensive build solo ganking spree, you give your opponent more time to react for a counter attack or escape.

Now I know what your thinking, “should I kill my opponent if there currently attacking a mob?” This is a common ethics question asked in any PvP game. Basically you have to go with your beliefs on this one. If you feel it is wrong then don’t do it. However, don’t expect your enemy to return you the favor. As this strategy does give an advantage that some will defiantly consider taking in solo play.

When camping a particular area, it is always a good idea to bring a kisk with you. A kisk is a bind on the go item that remains stationary on the ground. Hiding it in weal covered area, or a hard to reach spot is advised. Once you have your kisk in a safe area nearby, you can quickly return the favor of the unsuspecting prey that just killed you going, “omg wth I just killed you haxor”:

In addition it is always good to be mobile. Once you begin to kill the enemy, it will not be long before they shout out your location. It is best to stay on the move so the Zerg doesn’t find you and take back some of those abyss pts earned.

Group tactics

In a group you want all 3 builds to be present. This way you can cover a little bit of everything, making it easier to overwhelm opponent(s). In addition in group vs. group fights it is very important to stay in formation. If you thin out to much, you just make easy pickings for your opponent(s)

Now then the formation my legion has used in the past and has found to work, Is to bunch up and push as a group. I know this sounds very simple and stupid just asking to be AoE'd… but it works. There are several reasons why this is a valid tactic and essential for survival in group play.

The first reason is the limit on healing range. Unlike most games, Aion is not very forgiving in healing range. If you move out of heal range, the healing spell will interrupt, if it is not instant cast. In addition, the range of healing magic in this game is noticeably smaller compared to others. That being said if some one runs to far ahead of the group two things happen. They die to focus fire from the enemy team, or the healer has to run an expose themselves to hostile fire to heal them. Obviously that is suicidal in both situations.

The second reason is the limit of ranged damage in Aion. Just like healing, the range is quite limited. Meaning if your ranged dps move to far ahead of the group, they expose themselves to melee attackers. In addition the same can be said about your opponents range. If you move as a group, you force your opponent ranged dps to expose them self to counter attack if they try to spike some one important such as a healer.

The third reason is to for retreating. If you retreat in a scattered formation, you will be picked off one by one and make it all the easier for a complete wipe. However if you retreat as a group, some of your opponent may get cocky and charge ahead of their group (you have no idea how often this actually happens…). In addition, backing off from the enemy group forces them to advance toward your groups new position to reestablish range. If they are unorganized, they will spread out a bit advancing on your groups position, making it all the easier to pick them off. Even better is if you retreat around a corner… as you break line of sight of rangers and healers, leaving any melee dumb enough to charge ahead after your group with out support… Usually leading to a very painful death.

When moving as a group you ideally want your stronger melees up front, such as Templar and Gladiator. In the middle you want your healers(to prevent melee ambush, and in the back you want your ranged dps… and your sins.
Now the sin role is pretty important here as they have to pivot a lot in the flow of combat. If they notice some one trying to ambush there back lines, they can stealth and return the favor to them; all the while warning there team of the threat. If your back lines are clear of enemies, the sin should focus on hit and run tactics threw out enemy lines. Kill the squishiest target you can find (cough Sorceress) and proceed to run away your pansy mane away back to your group before you get focus fired.

The Templar and Gladiator job is to hold the front lines of your group, all the while pressing into the lines of your enemy group. They key is to not to press to far in, but enough to pressure your opponents group to spit up. If your front line succeeds in this, your enemy squishes and healers become easy targets for your dps to spike down. In addition though Templar should focus on cc any one trying to advance into there group, or pull away opponents trying to flee or hiding in the mass of another group. The Gladiator should spam his AoE is up to continue to put pressure on the other group’s healer.

The healer servers as a guide point for the group. Your group leader should make your own healers, so your group doesn’t get carried away and out run there heal distance. It is also a good way to keep tabs on what is happening on your healers. Not only that but they make great rally points for knowing when to stop the advance or retreating, since they are in the middle of the formation. The ranged dps know not to pass the healers, while the templar and gladiators know to stay in front of healers. Having healers knowing when to move and where to hold there ground is essential to moving as a group basics.

The ranged dps obviously wants to hold up the back of the line as far as possible to slow down the incoming of melee dps attempting to kill them. However if the lack of melee dps threat, it is safe to move a bit closer to the melee lines. However, staying at the front of the group for long periods of time should be avoided…. for obvious reasons.

Example video moving as group… will post a better when vepo learns how to fraps so you get a better perspective… and not have to /facepalm at that newbie Arc.

Game Options

In order to aid you in PvP, I would advise messing with the game options tab until you feel comfortable. However, I know that is a lot of options to play with, so let me suggest a few to you.

• Camera: I would advise setting the camera to Max (this allows you to zoom out all the way with the camera, note you can still zoom in if you need to with this feature enabled.
• Show distance to target: Allows you to see how far away your current target is. This works on friendly and enemy targets.
• Fix Compass to North: This option helps keep a sense of direction. It is important to yell out incoming attacks; also this feature helps to call points to retreat or rally too.
• Disable click to move: Really depends on your class and preference here. Just note the click to move is defaulted off. If you prefer moving with keys I advise turning this feature on.
• View target’s target: Simple enough and very useful. If you click and enemy or ally you see who they currently have target. This helps with assisting if you picked an ally, or you can call out who is about to be attacked if your enemy is looking at an ally. Also pro tip here if a healer has them selves targeted it more then likely means they are about to or in the process of a heal/buff themselves (if non aoe). So if they change to them selves quickly, be ready to stun ASAP. This can interrupt instant heals if you get good at it (stunning them before they hit the instant heal).

Key Bindings

Key bindings help save a ton of time when it comes to pvp. Not only that but there is a bunch of features you can enable with key binding as well that would normally take much longer to do manually. However fear not clickers, as you can still be effective in PvP clicking. Although if you want my honest opinion as a healer in PvP; I find that using a combination of using clicking and key binding to be the most effective. Just play around with it until you feel comfortable, but keep in mind speed is very important in PvP. That being said here is a few key bindings you should consider.

Combat Key Bindings

• Select Nearest ally: This works like tab but instead of picking the nearest enemy, this feature will select the nearest friendly target. This is useful for healing or assisting those that are not in your group/force.
• Select Nearest Enemy: Used to cycle threw enemy targets. Useful for picking out hard to find enemies, or those hiding in a big group.
• Assist Target: This will change your target to the target’s target. Very useful for assisting for dps.
• Change Weapon: for those that change weapons this is extremely important. I find the starting change weapon feature to be a bit lagish (could just be me though). I personally prefer setting the key to a key bind for quick switches.
• Toggle Power shard: Good for physical dps users as this allow you to quickly turn off or on your power shards.

Group Key Bindings

• Select Yourself: Very important feature as a healer. Changing from a friend target to heal your self takes time, and you don’t have much of that to waste in PvP.
• Select Group Members: Very important for healers and melees. For healers this lets you heal your group members quickly by targeting them. For melees you can use this to target who ever your suppose to be assisting. Once you have selected the member, you can then hit the assist button to attack their target.

Sign Key Bindings

This is very important feature of Aion, as you can mark targets to make team work easier. The signs in Aion work on allies and opponents. What I would recommend is to mark your healers, your enemies’ healers, and your enemies’ glass cannons. You want to mark your healers as rally point as mentioned earlier in the guide, so your group stays in formation. You want to mark you opponents glass cannons (heavy dps, light defense) and kill them before they destroy your group. After the glass cannons are out of the way move on to enemy healers. In addition, you may want to assign some of your group members to cc/harass healers while you kill the glass cannons.

Conclusion

This is the end of the guide. Keep in mind this guide is made from my experience and what has worked. There are multiple ways to PvP, some of which that are not discussed in this guide simply because it would take to long to cover all of them. I hope you have found this guide useful and enjoy your PvP experience in Aion.

Aion Guide: Cleric PvP Guide

This is a list of how-to-fight different classes for the version 1.2. There are articles for each of the classes. As of right now (June 30, 2009) there are guides for Templar, Gladiator, Sorcerer, and Cleric, others are still in process.

This guide explains how to fight against other classes using tips for General situations.

Foreword 

Some of the terms will be explained before the actual guide, so remember them as they will be referred quite often in the guide. 

• PC means members of Opposing Factions (Elyos, Asmodians, Balaur)
• Also, Snare I am referring to is this skill available for Sorcs, Spiritmasters, and Clerics: Restraint I - Skills - Aion
• Greater CC Pots are these: Greater Healing Potion - Items - Aion
• LoDS: Lightning of Divine Slash
  VoD: Voice of Destruction
  FoR: Flash of Recovery

Important Note: AionArmory's Database is from 1.0 so skills from it has lower damage/heal values on skills than the 1.2's actual values (Korean Powerbook values are much higher)

PvP Chat Tab Radar

Make sure you drag it out to an easily visible location.
This radar will let you know if any opposing faction members are within just outside of your visible range.

Third, Aions Healing Class, Cleric

It's a shame that there aren't many high damage skills in their skill line.

However, they can keep their HP high using Priest-exclusive heals and repeatedly use chains to slowly eat away their opponent's HP, guaranteeing victory.

If they can predict their opponent's attack pattern, and with careful timing and attack chains, pushing in Festering Wound I - Skills - Aion will make this class unstoppable.

PvP for Clerics

Cleric's PvP style = Survival of the fittest!

Though they don’t possess skills that do burst damage, their skills are not weak. They have repeatedly usable skills and DOTs as well as heals. If they push the battle into long-term, no one can stop Clerics.

Clerics can show that burst heals are sometimes more scarier than burst damage!

Tips from Player ? 다레니안, Server Tiamat, Lvl 50, Elyos

Clerics PvP is about slowly burning the opponent to death!
Because they do not possess burst damage, you have to use

• Smite II - Skills – Aion
• Restraint I - Skills - Aion
• Lightning of Divine Slash I - Skills - Aion
• Flash of Recovery IV - Skills - Aion
• Festering Wound I - Skills - Aion
• Voice of Destruction I - Skills – Aion

and etc to slowly kill the opponent.
Once the fight starts, you have to stay away from using skills that require cast time of 2 seconds or so. Maybe use them when they are snared? Unless Divine Spark I - Skills - Aion triggers? but if that actually triggers in PvP, how about wearing robe armor?

Lets have a look at this skill, shall we?

Yes, you did read Voice of Destruction I - Skills - Aion right. Correct values: Instantly inflicts 753 magical fire damage on a target within a 25m radius of you and up to 12 enemies within a 20m radius of the target, inflicts additional 655 damage on them every 3 sec for 57 sec, and decreases the recovery effect the targets receive by 50%. Requires 4000 DP and has a 60 Minute recharge.

Total damage possible: [753+655(57/3)]x12= 158,376 + 50% recovery reduction for 57 seconds on all targets.

However, it is curable with a Greater CC Pot, so use it after you've forced the enemy into using it.

Tips from Player ? 킴벌리, Server Zikel, Lvl 50, Asmodian

Clerics ground battles tend to be putting the battle into long-term damage battle, using continuous DOT damage. While the Smite III - Skills - Aion chain is powerful, its cast time gives room for the other classes to spike you, which may lead to death. Keep using DOTs like Summon: Holy Servant I - Skills - Aion and Chastisement I - Skills - Aion, and if you are 42 or higher, you can use the instant cast chain that starts Lightning of Chastisement I - Skills - Aion. In all, just get hit as least as possible while using instant cast damage/heal spells and you will win.

PvP Keyboard Setting

Setting the most used skills to keys that can be pressed easily is basic! This is something that Clerics must look into as well.

The key skills like

• Flash of Recovery IV - Skills – Aion
• Splendor of Purification I - Skills - Aion
• Fairness II - Skills - Aion
• Festering Wound I - Skills - Aion
• Voice of Destruction I - Skills - Aion
• etc

should be placed in keys that can be reached easily.

Also, after you have put out and configured a separate chat tab to monitor your enemy's skill usage, put it on a place on your monitor that's easily visible. Using systems that can detect enemy presence is very important as well.

Tips from Player ? 새벽이, Server 발데르, Lvl 47, Elyos

You can decide the keys on your own. Once you start entering the Abyss frequently, you'll change it all. One thing to do is configuring your Combat tab to display enemy attack, critical, skill use, and enemy effects and etc, then put it on somewhere easily observable. Knowing what the enemy does by reading this tab is VERY IMPORTANT!!!

Gears and Other Preparations

Manastones

Many suggested that Magical Resistance helps the most.

However, this is only when you are equipped with Abyss Gear, and have filled every slot with Magical Resistance, only then you will see real results.

So many also suggested that if getting this is hard for you, getting HP or Magical Boosting Power bonus depending on your stats would do as well.

Stigma

Many suggested the following Stigmas. You can get mass heals or anti recovery debuff from this setup.  

• Flash of Recovery I - Skills – Aion
• Blinding Light I - Skills – Aion
• Festering Wound I - Skills – Aion
• Sage's Wisdom I - Skills – Aion
• Splendor of Recovery I - Skills – Aion

GodStone

Many suggested the 1%-2% damage stones. This is because Clerics have high Magical Boosting Power, and can expect powerful blasts upon trigger.

Consumables

Not much difference from other classes. Flight scroll, flight pot, hp pot and etc basic materials are a must!

Tips from Player ? 카슈엔, Server 챈가룽, Lvl 50, Asmodian

I am using Magical Boosting power rather than the popular Magical Resistance manastones. I currently have 1950-ish Magical Boosting Power.
I pack the usual basic prep, flight scroll and CC pots and etc. Prep requiring Abyss point for me is Abyss HP Pot and Lesser Wind remedy (because you only need to fill the gap while your non-AP wind remedy is recharging, don?t feel the need for upper grade Abyss Wind Remedy).
I use the following stigmas:
(he listed the stigmas on the above)
If you aren't lvl 50, drop the Prayer of Quickness.

Tips from Player ? 혜빈, Server 아스펠, Lvl 50, Elyos

Manastone Id like to suggest HP and Magical Boosting power. Magical Resistance does indeed give big effects, but it gives you low hp and if not intended for party pvp that allows low magical boosting power, I don't think it?ll see good results.
IMO Healers need to have high HP against the Asmodians. If you have the Guardian Abyss set, then its good to have Magical Resistance stones. But Guardian Abyss set has low magical resistance, so you should rethink how it should go.
GodStone 1% or 2% damage stones would do.
Stigmas If you love pvp as Cleric, then Flash of Recovery, Flash, and Festering Wound are a must.

Cleric vs Templar

By the looks of skills on both classes, the fight would drag into a long-term battle.

Since they possess diverse anti-snare skills, snare shutdown wont be a big help.

And once Templar's Armor of Interception kicks in, you cant lay your hands unto him/her, so you need to dodge his attacks during its duration. You must run around while keeping your health high.

Once Armor of Interception goes down, put up your snare, then watch him use a CC pot. Only then should you unload your big damage skills.

Tips from Player ? 황금호랑이, Server Nezakan, Lvl 50, Elyos

When you are fighting platemail wearing bastards, on 1 on 1 keeping distance is keeping life! People do Flash then snare then LoDS, but this way you aren't using your snare's cooltime properly. If your Thunderbolt III - Skills - Aion is recharged, Use the Smite? Thunderbolt - Discharge combo. If not, keep your distance and unload LoDS. If you think its about time that his Stunning Strike is recharged, turn on your Blessed Shield I - Skills - Aion.
You must not be hasty! In, out, in, out, you must play such style. If he is running to nearby Tower or Artifact, then you call ur snare.
If it's a good geared Templar, then you go into long-term. We have Splendor of Flight I - Skills - Aion, and using remedies and other skills, we can stay in flight indefinitely. Templars or Gladiators cannot stay in flight longer than us. This applies to fighting against other classes long-term as well.

Tips from Player ? 혜빈, Server Asphel, Lvl 50, Elyos

You must watch out for the magic Armor of Interception, which increases magical resistance by 800. When this happens, just run around while its in effect. Once it ends, call down Snare, Festering Wound, and Flash. If the Templar ate a Greater CC Pot, Eat a Perer Jelly and call down the
VOICE OF DESTRUCTION.

Cleric vs Gladiator

Gladiators, who have less anti-snare skills, give an easier time to Clerics.

Keeping your distance and slowly draining his HP is key.

Since their melee attacks are stronger than Templars, you must avoid a CQB with them.

And since their Aerial Thrust is melee-type, it is very dangerous to Clerics who has mainly Magical Resistance Manastones. Most of the time, when Gladiators close in they start with Aerial Thrust, so watch it!

Tips from Player ? 다레니안, Server Tiamat, Lvl 50, Elyos

Dual Wield Gladiators hurt. In the past, Gladiators had ZERO chance of winning. Using Flash, Snare, and LoDS, its best to keep your distance. The key PvP skill of Gladiators, Ankle Snare I - Items - Aion, can easily removed by Dispel I - Skills - Aion.

Tips from Player ? 카슈엔, Server 챈가룽, Lvl 50, Asmodian

Since Gladiators have low Magical Resistance, they easily get Snared/Blinded. But many times you get knocked down and get owned. So keep maximum distance and use Restraint on recharge. The normal attack pattern is: Flash > Restraint > Smite > Thunderbolt > LoDS > Chastisement II - Skills - Aion. But if the Gladiator is the type that runs whenever they see Clerics, use Chastisement I - Skills - Aion > then LoDS > Chastisement.

Cleric vs Ranger

Not only are they long range attackers, but they also possess the ability to discharge explosive burst damage for a short time. So it will always be dangerous to fight them.

But if you survive that burst, the damage that comes afterwards is weak. Then you can win the battle.

Use major heals to survive the burst, and resist their silence and sleep while counter attacking.

If you got the DP Jelly, then unload VoD at counter attack.

Tips from Player ? 새벽이 님, Server 발데르, Lvl 47, Elyos

Since both of you and the opponent are long range attackers, you don't use attack spells that require casting time like Smite. Keep healing to keep your health high, and using only instant cast spells would win the battle for you. When you are silenced, use the CC pot or Root (new item, random gather when gathering upper level herbs).
Tip 1 ? If you get hit with Silence Arrow, drink CC Pot or Root.
Tip 2 ? The attack that comes right after Sleep arrow from the Ranger hurts, so use Pot or Instant heal then.

Tips from Player ? 카슈엔, Server 챈가룽, Lvl 50, Asmodian

Since there are good gears nowadays, there are many rangers with very high attack stats. However, Ranger's primary weakness is their low damage period right after their burst. And also, because of that you need to worry about your HP. Its best to swap out a piece of gear or two when fighting them. I think 7500 HP would be enough to survive their blast. Its best to survive their burst before counter attacking. Since many times you can die when counter attacking, use FoR and HP Pots to survive their burst, then counter with instant cast attack spells.

Cleric vs Assassin

Though Cleric has many heals, Assassin's burst damage is still scary.

You can easily get 1-chained, so you'll need a bit of luck.

You need to overcome his spike damage with Blessed Shield, then use shutdown and DOT skills to counter.

Because of their Scout nature, its impossible to get a first attack in a fair battle. But you must use the combat chat tab to know when they are in hiding.

Tips from Player ? 니조심해라, Server 챈가룽, Lvl 50, Elyos

You don?t get a lot of room once you get Ambushed. Even if you have FoR, you wont survive. What should you do then? Instead of using FoR, use Blessed Shield. Even tho it?s a scrub protection, if you want to live, turn it on. Then you should FoR, after which you should be at full HP. After that, you need to get some distance. Then theres the Assassin's evasion skills?
Use Chastisement and Snare. Whether Snare gets through or not doesn't matter, just cast it out. Then use Condemnation IV - Skills - Aion, useful against Assassins since it has a ASPD debuff. Then use Flash (blind), then Assassin would run. When he is, you must not use Smite. Use Instant Cast skills to catch him. When the DOTs come off, use them again or they will Hide. When they are low hp, snare them then Smite to finish. If you encounter one with high Magical Resistance, use some helpful food and some magical tools to help out.

Tips from Player ? 혜빈, Server Asphel, Lvl 50, Elyos

When the assassin uses evasion skill(s), use Chastisement and LoDS, and if he's not mainly magical resistance, they should work. Use Blind + Snare, then Smite chain then get closer and use the Condemnation chain (why you get close is when sins get blinded they run, so to get some casting opportunity). You can also use Festering Wound to block his recovery. After that, the usual method to PvP, insta cast only survival battle.
If your snare got released right away, eat that Perer Jelly and unload the
VOICE OF DESTRUCTION.

Cleric vs Sorcerer

If your char is on Magical Resistance set, then this fight should be easier.
However, if you go easy you'll get owned by their burst damage.

You?ll be able to win if you stay out of their 25m range during their cast, then go back in the 25m range to cast your own instant cast for the win.

Tips from Player ? 다레니안, Server Tiamat, Lvl 50, Elyos

If you have a Magical Resistance set, then its VERY easy. If you have HP set, then I guess you can heal and run. Do you have Magical Boosting set? then you'll die in one chain >.>
But if it?s a fair battle, you should hit and run out of their range.

Tips from Player ? 카슈엔, Server ,챈가룽 Lvl 50, Asmodian

Since it's the hardest class to take, if you get casted with Curse: Tree I - Skills - Aion, then chances of winning goes below 10%. Because of that, you need to use Blessed Shield and Major Shock Absorption scroll at start. Use the instant cast stun skills Chastisement and the LoDS chain, then unload your Smite chain. After that, hit and run out of range waiting for stuns to recharge. But sometimes during your Smite chain, you can get fired back upon with strong burst damage. Especially the Volcanic Eruption I - Skills - Aion, which does damage after 4 sec and it'll be followed by a Stun chain. This combo usually ends in the attack Soul Freeze I - Skills - Aion, which silences you. When this happens, don't panic and drink HP pot and CC pot, and use FoR. The most important thing to remember is keeping your distance during battle.

Cleric vs Spiritmaster

This class possess control disruption and powerful debuffs, and as such they can become real pain in the *** to fight.

The Flight disruption skill that disables wings during flight is a powerful skill that's dangerous to even Clerics.

Like dealing with Sorcerers, you must keep your 25m distance and use hit and run instant cast tactic.

Tips from Player ? 황금호랑이, Server Nezakan, Lvl 50, Elyos

Upper layer-sitting Spiritmasters tend to have high Magical Accuracy. They are a lil harder to deal than Sorcs -.- But we are CLERICS!
If he/she found you first, remove ALL your buffs (you can do this by right clicking your effective buffs).
Spiritmasters do not possess burst damage. Its important to keep Dispelling their DOTs.
Also, its best not to panic when you get hit with the flight disruption spell that everyone fears. Eat the Abyss flight remedy, and use Splendor of Flight I - Skills - Aion. Also note that a good max flight time is 2:30min-ish.

Cleric vs Chanter

A very annoying opponent, as they possess many stun and recovery skills.

The battle would most likely drag into long-term considering they of are the same Priest school, and in close quarter battle they would get the upper hand.

Get as much distance as possible, and lower their HP then use Festering Wound. Don't even think about winning it in short time.

Tips from Player ? 새벽이, Server 발데르, Lvl 47, Elyos

It was really scary >.> During the castle siege, almost endless stuns.
Little room to make do with. When you get it, use HP Pot or instant heal. If you get either Festering Wound or Flash on him, then you can win it through the usual slow-death-by-fire method.
Tip 1 ? Force him to use a CC pot by putting in either Flash or Festering Wound, then cast the other.
Tip 2 ? If you see their missile-skill, Sage's Wisdom I - Skills - Aion coming, then do the same thing you do against Throw Dagger (Assassin, same sort of skill usable in flight): Turn on the Blessed Shield or use Flash then get hit, then it won't be much of a threat.

Cleric vs Cleric

Tips from Player ? 다레니안, Server Tiamat, Lvl 50, Elyos

You fight all day. While I made lvl 50, I only had two occasions to do a Cleric vs Cleric.
If it's a 1:1, don't even bother? But if you do have to fight, it will depend on whose Divine Spark I - Skills - Aion triggers, and Festering Wound effect as well.

Tips from Player ? 새벽이, Server 발데르, Lvl 47, Elyos

I think it's a zombie battle? However meets their faction member wins 99% imo XD
It would depend on the usage of Festering Wound and Sage's Wisdom I - Skills - Aion to make that difference.
Tip 1 ? the instant cast skill Festering Wound?s usage will determine the victor.
Tip 2 ? The winner will be the Discharge triggering often or meeting another faction member. >.> Lets pray!

Cleric PvP Movie