[Guide] Support Clerics

Priest classes like in most MMORPGs are the backbones to a groups success in both PvP and PvE with Heals and Dispels. This guide will be highlighting on the support aspect to the Cleric class. The DPS aspects of Clerics has various difference which would be covered another time (or later addition).

Note: There will be a lot of basic stat and build explanation. Generally directed towards players who are new to the class. Advanced gameplay is a learned experience and cannot always be taught in words.

Contents:

1. Stigma/Skill Builds
2. Stats
3. Manastone/Gear Builds
4. Gameplay Hints
5. Fights and Match-ups (Soon)

Stigma Builds

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Lets start off with the stigma build, serving as the basis for many of your utility and gameplay style.
(Siel players can skip this portion as they'll have access to full stigmas.)

A full support Cleric generally has the same structure to their stigma builds by getting the full Benevolence tree. These stigmas are essentially the core structure of your build.

Benevolence: Gives you increased healing boost (+25%), the increased mana consumption is a small price to pay.
Splendor of Recovery/Ripple of Purification: Both AoE heals from the skill tree. Ripple is an awesome stigma that heals and dispels debuffs but it has an unfortunate global delay (1sec) before the heal actually recovers HP. Therefore don't cast these skill at the last second expecting you'll be able to heal all your teammates.
Flash of Recovery: instant burst heal on a 30second cooldown.
Sage's Wisdom: Decrease casting time by 50%.
Saving Grace: One minute buff that activates when target is below 50% hp.
Noble Grace: Buffs group members with buff that increases ALL healing by 50% for 15sec.

Skill Tree: Aion stigma calculator

The remaining stigma slot is variant depending on situation and scenarios. The last slot is optional and up to individual preference. Some examples to what to use for the last slot.

1. Sympathetic Heal: A good choice in many duo group situations. It provides a heal to single group target and yourself for a similar amount (The skill description for the skill is wrong). It's useful in some situations without spending the cooldown for a full AoE heal.
2. Yustiel's Splendor/Marchutan's Splendor: Upgraded version of the skill book Yustiel's Light/Marchutan's Light. Both skills will share the same cooldown as their skill book variants. However Yustiel's Splendor (Elyos) will heal for a higher amount and provides a better recovery Heal over Time. The Asmodian Marchutan's Splendor will provide a higher damage cap temporary shield.
3. Blinding Light: Debatable if worth slotting due to the long cooldown and need Magic Accuracy to land (why MA is factor will be explained in manastone builds). Though it is not to be underestimated, as the skill debuffs enemy to giving them a 90%!!~~ miss chance. That's escalates your survival against melee classes greatly if in solo situations or enemy melee class doesn't have Cleric with them.
4. Power Sprint: Faster running speed but at the cost of 30% mana. Useful for running away from getting zerged. Or the occasional chasing after a target to root them.

Stats

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Going to briefly go over the stats that are relevant to the guide and Clerics. For a more detailed explanation, Deathangel has posted a thread explaining most of the ingame stats: http://forum.gameznetwork.com/f63/stats-various-formulas-158386/.

Magic Resist (MR): Stat chance to resist magical attacks. This includes physical skills that has a magic debuff portion (eg Stuns). Physical debuff skills is unaffected by Magic Resist (eg Piercing Rupture).
<For 10 more MR than your opponent's Magic Accuracy= +1% chance to resist.>

Magic Accuracy (MA): Stat to increase chance to land magical attacks. This includes physical attacks that has a magical debuff.

Block: Physical attacks can be blocked when using a shield. The max block chance is capped at 50% in AION. Blocked hits are migrated damage and you take a huge reduction from the original damage. It only works against physical attacks.
<For 10 more Block than your opponent's Accuracy= +1% chance to Block.>

Hit Points (HP): Health stat from equipments and manastones are considered "stat" HP and is not scaled by %MaxHP boosting skills like Blessing of Health. Slotting HP is mainly a PvE option to tank against instance boss nuke skills.

Healing Boost: Though this may seem to be a relevant stat for "healers", there are other stats far more valuable to slot than focusing on healing boost. If certain gears provide healing boost for PvE, then feel free to use them.
<Every 10 Healing Boost increases your heals by 1%.>

Concentration: Innate stat (not displayed in Profile window) that reduces chance of interruption for casting skills from incoming attacks.

Manastone/Gear Builds

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Unfortunately, your manastone build is highly dependent on your accessibility to gears. The top end gears opens up hybrid builds but the low end gears offer limited options. These builds will be orientated towards PvP gameplay. As support Clerics is built for survivability, their MA and MB will be quite low. For advanced users, I would also suggest you have 2 sets macro'd to switch depending on enemy match-ups.

Full Block:
Do note that this build is orientated to counter against Physical Classes ONLY. It'll offer high survivability against physical damage by blocking the damage and only receive reduced portion. Unfortunately this build will leave you vulnerable to many forms of magical debuffs from enemies. Some positives are low financial investment to setup for beginners and viable build for PvE.

Block stat figure to aim for is about 3.5k+ if considering enemy has 3k accuracy.

Recommended items:

Full Magic Resist:
The most favourable manastone build by many Cleric players. It'll offer high survivability against magic skills/debuffs from enemies. This build is most effective against physical classes as their base Magic Accuracy is low enabling Clerics to resist their skills that have debuffs (eg Silence Arrow). It can still work against magical classes provided they do not have high amount of MA slotted and your MR is very high.

Going full Magic Resist is 2nd most gear dependent build on Clerics. Numerous investments/sacrifices are necessary to boost MR to the max. Decent MR stat figures is anywhere between 2.5k to 2.8k MR.

Recommended items:

Hybrid MR/Block:
Essentially the best of both worlds with access to both high MR and high block. Though this build is pretty much reserved for the rich. It is the most expensive/costly setup that might not be accessible for every player.

You could obtain around 2.5k+ MR and 3.4k+ block with the right tweaking. Manastones with 1-2 armour slots block and 5-6 armour slots MR is a common setup. Don't use hybrid builds if you cannot obtain optimum stat numbers. 2k MR is not enough to resist many skills, nor will 3k block provide sufficient block chances.

Recommended items:

Gameplay Hints

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Playing a support cleric is actually very straightforward, as Kretia puts it: "Spam Cleanse and run for your life".
I recommend a few keybinds to certain key skills to make gameplay smoother. (Keybind guide if you're unfamiliar how to get it set up.)

These are your main things you'll be doing on a regular basis. Bind them!

• Cleanse
• Remove Shock
• Greater Healing Potion
• Recovery Potion/Serums
• Healing Skills (including group heals)
• Select Group Member(s)
• Root
• Hallowed Strike/Traumatic Blow
• Shield skills

Your objective is to rotate heals and cleanse among party members when needed. A good way to start is learning how to defend yourself against one enemy target for practice. And build this up in small skirmishes like 2vs2 or 3vs3 group battlegrounds before attempting open world maps.

Groupies
The longer you survive, the more likely you'll be able to keep your group alive as Clerics are often the first/second target in group scenarios. There is some foregrounds to groups. You can rearrange the order of the group members by dragging them up or down on the group list. Ensure that the group hp/status is in your direct line of sight and not tucked away to the side.

Positioning is must in group plays. You are essentially the second leader in the group to lead them to victory. Position and keep re-positioning yourself so you're out of immediate danger. Avoid standing in close distance to Spiritmasters who might Fear Shriek you. Don't stand still when a Gladiator runs in and spams AoEs.

Spam Cleanse!!
Cleric's greatest weakness is a buried silence (silence after 2+ debuffs). To prevent this, always react by using Cleanse on yourself when you see a debuff. Cleanse has a short cooldown and animation, there is nothing to lose (except MP) by using it repeatedly. This will prevent an enemy's attempt to cover silence debuff on you and you can pot off the silence straight away.

Defensive Offense
Root and Hallowed strike is your best form of offensive utility skill. Their cooldowns are 10second and 8second respectively making it highly spammable. Root allows you to kite efficiently against melee classes. It is also a good habit to get use to burying root. A quick method is by using "Storm of Aion -> Aero Snare -> Root". This reduces your enemy's MR, and will prevent their movement unless they use escape skills. (Greater healing potions only remove max 2 debuffs).

Hallowed Strike will greatly reduce their attack speed decreasing their damage output on you. Be careful when using Hallowed Strike though, you don't want it chaining into Infernal Blaze on Plate classes. If it stuns, you'll give them a free trigger of their Remove Shock skill chain (Temp's heal/pull or Glad's attack boost/stumble). Traumatic Blow shares cooldown with Hallowed Strike and is useful against casters but it's melee range which might present some difficulties of getting close to hit them.

Finally Chastise can stop delay an Assassin using hide/windwalk to get away. Unless they decide to pot it off first, which opens a free Root chance.

Healing 101
Learn to prioritize who to heal more. When it comes to healing, don't blow all your big skills in one go, especially Flash of Recovery. Mages/Chains are more likely need of burst heals and dispels for silence while Plates is less likely to get focused down. And precast Healing Servant and Light of Rejuvenation before (or during) fights, every Heal tick counts.

Burst Heals: Stacking "Flash of Recovery with Noble Grace or Blessed Shield" can instantly heal you back up to full HP. Getting Radiant Cure off is sometimes difficult without getting interrupted, using Prayer of Focus beforehand is a smart idea to increase concentration and prevent interrupts.

Rotating heals: is also a factor to take into consideration. "Light of Recovery -> Healing Light -> Light of Recovery -> Healing Light" is called heal rotations. This is done to maximise the benefits of Light of Recovery's shortcast time and also provides a sustained recovery during the 2second cooldown which is filled in by Healing Light's ~2sec cast time.

Adding onto the healing rotation is you can start a heal cast on a player A and tab to another player B. The heal will continue casting and land on player A enabling you to prepare skills on player B after first cast completes. This might get complicated to manage when you add in jump heals (next hint) during the mix.

Jump-skills
Clerics can exploit several mechanics relating to the jump animation into their gameplay.

Jump casts is the main one where you jump during the casting of a skill and the casting finishes in mid-jump. The timing depends on latency/ping, lower ping players would need to jumpcast with more precise timing. Jumpcast is done by pressing "Forward + Jump" during the casting, before it finishes (around 70-80% cast bar). This will allow you to continue kiting without being stationary for extended period of time.

Auto-running is often never used by players but it's essentially the second technique after jump casts that many teachers leave out. After a jumpshot, there is a global animation delay (skill bar greys out) where your character will raise its arms into the air to finish the cast animation. This can essentially by skipped by pressing auto run during the jumpcast, as soon as your character lands, it'll run and skip the last animation. E.g. Skill -> 75% cast -> Forward -> Jump -> Autorun. It might take some practice but it's little things like this that can swing tides in your favour.

Glide is another technique that will help during fights. You can glide to avoid certain "Land only" skills like Ambush and Aether Holds. Glide counts as if your character is "flying" and will prevent enemies from using those skills on you. Glide can also be done to prevent Doom Lure, if you're pulled during glide, you can continue gliding away and bypass the 1second paralyze from the pull.

Shields
A worthy mention is that a well timed shield skill can block damage and prevent certain knockdowns, aether hold and/or Doom Lures. There is some strategic thinking involved as you might precast them if you anticipate your enemy's next move.

Cleric's shield may have a longer cooldown than other classes' shield skills but provides a secondary advantage to them. Blessed Shield like previously mentioned can boost all your healing skills, doubling their effectiveness. Life Curtain is a shield that also recovers HP/MP. Immortal Shroud is a long 10mins cooldown but will allow you to get longer heals like Radiant Cure or Ripple of Purification off. And Imprevious Viel is a 'get out of jail' card that blocks 10k damage but also prevents you from using skills, you can still use potions (and it can be removed prematurely by right clicking the buff icon).

PvPvE?
Shatter Memory (stigma) may seem very useless in PvP but there's some hidden uses to the skill. Firstly, it'll count as one "magical" attack counter on certain resist magic skills like Focus Evasion. Using Shatter Memory first followed by a Root will save you casting into their resist skill or waste a damage skill.

It's second use is less common. You can aggro a monster in a PvPvE map and use Shatter Memory to shrug off the monster onto your enemy if they've damaged it, making it particularly useful against Sorcerers. Shatter Memory will aggro the mob towards you and hitting you, thus preventing getting locked in sleep, while if the sorcerer accidentally AoEs it, you'll have an indirect ally in combat.

Misc
There are also a few "hidden" facts about certain skills that NCSoft does not explicitly state in their skill descriptions.

• Noble Grace increases heals from both skills AND potions. Using this before potting serums can double their effectiveness.
• Saving Grace can act as a second Flash of Recovery. If used on a target/self when they're below 50% HP, the heal will immediately activate and recover HP.
• Festering Wound and Word of Destruction can stack their debuff. Essentially if you can bury those 2 debuffs, the enemy will not be able to recover HP at all for 1 minute.
• Blinding Light is a debuff that gives opponent a 90% miss chance. This is the highest blind percentage debuff in the game. (Blinding Burst at 80%, Blind Godstones 70%, Sandstorm Trap 60%).
• Ripple of Purification has a 0.5second and 1second delay for the dispel and heal effect respectively. Although difficult to pull off, it could be timed to cleanse off Fear Shriek.
• Unfortunately Ripple of Purification AND Yustiel's Light/Splendor heals nearest "allies" and not group exclusively, which could include SM's Spirit, Healing Servant or other nearby ally players.
• Charge time skills is not reduced by the cast time stat. Do not use Sage's Wisdom expecting to charge Vitality's Gift faster.
• Hallowed Strike is one of the few skills ingame that cannot be potted or dispelled. It is not a valid use of means to bury/stacking debuffs.

Fights and Match-ups

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Some tips on fighting against the individual classes in a 1vs1 scenario.


Assassin

Ranger

Sorcerer

Spiritmaster

Templar

Gladiator

Cleric
If your opponent is support. Sit down, wave at each other. Drink tea/coffee and discuss about world peace.
If your opponent is DPS Cleric. Cleanse, heal, if feel in immediate danger (no need to kite). Repeat until they've given up or consumed all mana. Then sit down and negotiate a peace term.

Chanter
If your opponent is support. Sit down, wave at each other. Drink tea/coffee and discuss about world peace.


Gunslinger

Aethertech

Songweaver



If you got anything to add/contribute, or felt I've left out. You're free to leave a reply and I'll take it into consideration.

 

Where is the part about the legendary Alexxu jumpmace?

 

Not done yet. Will get there eventually.

 

best support cleric guide of all time

 

No jumpmace ? bad guide.

 

editt....... Good guide anyways. Keep the work.

 

which acces are better sauro commander or enraged hyperion to be full mr...?

 

Both Acessories set will give you the same MR and block, the difference between then will be the magic supression, HP, spell resist and strike resist, Mb/Ma/ and pvp attack when combinated.
You can check what i'm saying in the links below:
Enraged Hyperion's Nolan Necklace
Sauro Commander's Necklace

 

What are the difference between Magic Resist, Spell resist, Magic Suppression? Can u explain me for that
I m not clear on that xD

 

short: Magic resist vs magical accuracy, spell resist vs crit spell, magic suppression vs magic boost

Long: http://forum.gameznetwork.com/threads/stats-and-various-formulas.158386/
Magical Attack: Base magical damage 1 = 1 damage increase. Orbs/Spellbooks/Harps/Pistols/Aethercannons inflict magical damage. Magical attack influences the base damage of their auto attacks.


Magic Boost: This Stat influences the damage inflicted by Skills. The higher is your MB, the higher will be your damage.

An Alternative way to calculate damage inflicted by spells is using this formula:

Base skill damage + ((Magic Boost/(knoweldge/10)/100) * Basic Skill Damage) = Actual Damage
The cap of this stat, after which damage does not get increased, stands at 3k. Everything over this value is used as counter for Magic Suppression (PvP).

Magic Resistance: This stat influences on your chance to resist spells and negative states (Stun/Silence/Blind/Godstone effects/any alterated status).
Certain skills are not influenced by magic resist, such as SM's Debuffs and some other particular skill exceptions.
Magic Resist is linked to another important stat, Magic Accuracy.

10 more MR than your opponent's Magic Accuracy= +1% chance to resist

Magical Accuracy: This stat influences your spells' chance to hit. It is directly linked to Magic Resist, but it also works as a boost of certain Alterated States.
Silence/Blind/Stun/Alterated states/Debuffs/Godstone procs are directly influenced by this stat. The higher the MA value, the higher is the chance to land one of those on your enemy.

See the formula above about MR to calculate your chance to hit with a spell.

Example: Your Magic Accuracy is at 2.300 and your opponent's MR is 2.700:

2700-2300= 400 -> 400/10 = 40 -> 40% chance to resist your spells.

Magic Suppression: Magic Suppression is a particular stat introduced with the 3.0 patch and it works as MB counter, with a 1:1 ratio. This stat reduces the damage inflicted on your character by lowering the opponent's MB in the damage calculation process.

Example: you have got 1.700 MS and your opponent has got 2.500 MB:

2500-1700= 800 -> Your opponent will hit on you as if he had 800 MB.

Critic Spell: Crit spell is the chance you have to inflict critical hits with your spells.

10 Crit Spell = 1% Chance to inflict crit hits with your spells

Note: magic crits are all 1.5x, this means if my skill normall inflicts 2.000 damage, it will inflict 2.000x1.5=3000 as Crit.

Crit Spell Resist: This one works as counter for Crit Spell on a 1:1 ratio.

 

Tnx )

 

Some quick notes on future status of the guide.

1) When the 4.8 patch gets implemented. The overall builds will become irrelevant due to the revamp on gears, skills and stigmas.
i.e. Magic Resist is losing its impact due to many skills getting passive magic accuracy boost. Block is also harder to maintain due to new weapons/accessories giving higher bonus accuracy.

2) Nevertheless, the gameplay hints such as heal rotations or jump casting is still vital to improving as a player.

3) As much as I would love to keep the top post updated to reflect the upcoming 4.8 changes, I've quit AION. Though occasionally I still read the official update notes on the game. Unfortunately the guide will remain outdated for future references.

4) Finally, Pure support is dying aspect. Hybrid damage/support builds for clerics will become the new metagame. All classes will have their offensive capabilities boosted and many defensive skills getting cooldown reduction.

 

at hyperion set effect what means?

 

To active the set effect you need to wear the necklace + 1 earring + ring.

 

ye i see... with 2900mr is good

 

Doesn't matter overall, it's "slightly" lower damage. Magic Boost got boosted from gear to compensate it. Punishing Earth and Earth's Wrath comes as default. You could equip Call Lightning for the lulz. It's even possible to quickly cast it because Sage's wisdom is a skill book and 0 cast time, 3mins cd.

 

Cleric
If your opponent is support. Sit down, wave at each other. Drink tea/coffee and discuss about world peace.
If your opponent is DPS Cleric. Cleanse, heal, if feel in immediate danger (no need to kite). Repeat until they've given up or consumed all mana. Then sit down and negotiate a peace term.

The most cool guide and catch up my attention haha