Cleric Creation Guide by Fallconn

Archetype: Healer Primary Attributes: WIS, VIT, INT Continents: Qalia, Thestra

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What is a Cleric?

The Cleric is Vanguard: Saga of Heroes’ healer class that is very often found on the front lines of battle. The Cleric may not dish out huge amounts of damage but certainly makes up for it with his tremendous defensive capability and healing potential. Able to wear plate armor and arguably one of the best buffing classes, the Cleric is a great stand-in tank.  Once you add all of his abilities together, you end up with a class that is certainly an asset to any group.

Since Clerics are used in many roles, choosing your race and which stats to build can be difficult. If you plan on using your Cleric primarily for healing, you’ll want to work on vitality and wisdom with any remaining points spent on intelligence. If you are more prone to getting your hands dirty, you may consider building up strength and dexterity with extra points spent in constitution or possibly wisdom to bump up your energy pool. See the Ten Ton Hammer statistics guide to get a better understanding of how stats affect your character.

Building a good Cleric takes some careful planning at the character creation screen and requires you to learn a handful of tactics in the lower levels.

Selecting the Right Race

Clerics of all races start with the same attributes, but the choice of race can affect how many points the Cleric automatically gets placed into its prime attributes.

Starting attributes:

STR	CON	DEX	VIT	INT	WIS
35	30	25	35	35	50

Each character gets 20 attribute points (AP) per level, starting at level 10. 6 of your AP are placed for you automatically--one per attribute (STR, CON, DEX, VIT, INT, WIS). 4 points are assigned to attributes based on your race if you are not a human (humans are kojani, mordebi, qaliathari, and thestran). You can place 10 (14 for humans) wherever you want to within soft caps of 5 per level.

Additionally, characters get racial bonuses to their soft caps. These are called preferred stats and allow characters of a race to flesh out in a way that reflects the traits of the race. Non-human races get 4 bonus points to soft caps (usually two or three attributes only) while human races get 6, 1 for each attribute. Thus, a human can be more balanced, while a non-human becomes more specialized.

The table below shows the attribute scores at level 50 before gear and buffs for the Cleric based on the race selected. We've highlighted the best results for each of the primary attributes for you. It is possible to reach the soft cap for three attributes as a human, but those soft caps may be lower than those attainable by other races.

Racial Abilities

The other important factor to consider when picking the race for your Cleric is racial abilities. With their short durations and long recasts, racial abilities are less important than attributes in the selection process, but they can be used to pick between races that are otherwise equal. The racial abilities are listed below.

Thestran: Inspirational Commands
You will have 3 inspirational commands at your disposal: Inspirational Presence, Inspirational Wisdom, and Inspirational Tactics. Each command is a group buff that will add either 2% to mitigation, a 3% reduction to mana cost of all spells, or a 2% increase in damage. You may only maintain one command at a time, however you may have all 3 effects active at the same time. Recast is instant.

Human Ingenuity: + 10 bonus to all weapon skills, and dodge.
Crafting: +10 Ingenuity
Harvesting: +5 Lumberjacking

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Dwarf: Earthen Embrace
For 60 seconds, this ability will turn your body to stone. Along with removing all poison effects, you will mitigate 25% damage and become immune to movement impairing spells such as knock back, stun, and snare. Recast is 30 minutes.

Small Race: 2% bonus to evasion
Crafting: +10 Finesse
Harvesting: +5 Mining

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Halfling: Pride of the Vael (WAR only)  or Shroud of the Vael (all but WAR)
Pride of the Vael: This ability will add a vast amount of hate to a single target, and apply a buff on the halfling for 30 seconds. All attacks during this time period will count for double aggro. Recast is 15 minutes.

Shroud of the Vael: This ability will remove 99% of aggro from a single target but keep the halfling in combat. Additionally, for 30 seconds afterwards, any spell cast or attack made will have its aggro reduced to 1% of normal as well. Recast is 15 minutes.

Small Race: 2% bonus to evasion
Crafting: +10 Reasoning
Harvesting: +5 Reaping

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High Elf: Arcane Balance
This ability will take the cumulative amount of mana in a group, add 25% to that number, and evenly redistribute it to all members. Recast is 15 minutes.

Elven Wisdom: 2% reduction in mana cost
Crafting: +10 Reasoning
Harvesting: +5 Reaping

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Qaliathari: Swiftness of the Sands
For this next 10 seconds, you will evade all melee attacks and spells. Recast is 30 minutes.

Human Ingenuity + 10 bonus to all weapon skills, and dodge.
Crafting: +10 Ingenuity
Harvesting: +5 Lumberjacking

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Dark Elf: Spawn of Haelufir
This ability allows you to summon forth a small drake for a short duration. The type of drake you summon will be based on class and level. Each type of drake will have a variety of effects at their disposal, ranging from group auras, to breath attacks. The higher level drakes will also learn spells that are sympathetic with their associated class. Recast is 30 minutes.

Elven Wisdom: 2% reduction in mana cost
Crafting: +10 Finesse
Harvesting: +5 Skinning

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Gnome: Forge Crystal
This ability allows you to operate a variety of devices, only available to gnomes, which are able to materialize a energy crystals. Crystals will have several common effects, ranging from percentage based mana, health, and endurance heals to several uncommon, rare, and even ultra rare effects such as prismatic group resist buffs, rune and damage shields, minion summons, and more.

Small Race: 2% bonus to evasion
Crafting: +10 Problem Solving
Harvesting: +5 Mining

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Mordebi: Curse of the Ancients
This ability stuns the target for 8 seconds, and reduces the aggro range to 0. The target will not assist/aggro while stunned, and the effect does not generate any aggro. Recast is 30 minutes.

Human Ingenuity + 10 bonus to all weapon skills, and dodge.
Crafting: +10 Finesse
Harvesting: +5 Reaping

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Stances:

Clerics have two main stances to choose from:

• Healer’s Focus – Healing done by spells increases, but avoidance ability decreases. 
• Castigator’s Fury – Damage done by spells and melee attacks increases, but casting time and endurance cost is increased. 

Level 1-10 Tactics

As with most classes, understanding your preferred game style and knowing if you plan on primarily playing in a guild, solo, or with pick-up groups is your first step towards having a great gaming experience. It is important to understand the role that each class plays and their strengths and weaknesses.  Make sure to review each of the class guides before starting your character rather than spending numerous hours working on a character only to find that this is not the right one for you.

Okay, you’ve read the class guides, decided on the Cleric, picked a race, customized your appearance, and determined your playstyle. Now what? As you log in, you will enter the world at your chosen race's starting area. You’ll immediately notice that there are NPCs with starting quests. Gather all of the quests that you can find and start working on them.  There’s one sure fast way to level 10 and that is quests, quests, quests. The important part of questing is to gather as many as possible and complete the quests for the area you are in. Typically, once you have completed the local area quests, another quest will lead you in the right direction for the next location containing more level appropriate content. I highly recommend finding a friend to help you with these since some of them require a group. Most of the lower level group quests can be done with just two or three people and you’ll each get decent experience just by hunting or finding the object required for your quests. Another quick way of leveling is to group with a higher level character. Although you won’t get experience for the kills, your quests will be done quicker and you’ll gain plenty of experience just for turning in completed quests. There are many areas with repeatable quests which are a great way to gain experience quickly albeit with some repetition.

I’ll quickly go through each level where new abilities are given below. For a more detailed explanation of each visit the Ten Ton Hammer Cleric spell list here.

Level 1

You’ll start with 2 spells, Anathema which is a direct damage spell and Healing Touch which is your first heal.  Typically you can pull a mob using Anathema and get off a couple casts before the mob is at your feet.  Use your Hand of Censure when available to add to your damage. Heal yourself as needed with Healing Touch and after killing just a few mobs you’ll reach lvl 2. Make sure to collect any loot that drops and sell whatever you can’t use.

 

Level 2

It’s time to find your trainer (this is usually one of the quests you’ll receive).  Pick up your next two spells from the trainer. You’ll receive Resolution which adds to HP and AC and Gift of Ardor which increases accuracy and damage. Make sure to buff yourself and any lucky stranger around.

 

Level 4

At level 4 you’ll get another buff for yourself and friends called Endowment of Fervor which raises Dexterity, Strength and Constitution. You’ll also get a self only buff called Power of Reprisal which gives you a chance to deal additional damage on a successful attack. Last but not least you’ll get Ward Shield which protects you from the next 2 attacks. Ward shield is handy to have when you need to get off a heal and are getting interupted by the mobs constantly hitting you.

 

Level 6

Anathema gets its first damage increase at this level which will help you start each fight by pulling with more damage.  Use your auto attack combined with Hand of Censure during the battle and throw in another cast of Anathema if your endurance gets low. You’ll bring the mobs down quick but if your health gets below 50% be sure to heal yourself.  If you are lucky and hit for a critical strike, your new finishing attack called Fist of Rebuke will light up giving you some extra melee damage capability. You’ll hear a distinct sound letting you know that you’ve activated the ability so be sure to keep the sound up for the best reaction time.

 

Level 8

By level 8 you are getting a good idea of your fighting capabilities. At this point you’ve probably collected some additional armor and learned the perfect timing for throwing in a heal while fighting. At this level you upgrade your Healing Touch and Hand of Censure abilities to level II. You’ll also gain a new helpful ability called Replenishing Strike. Replenishing Strike allows you to restore some energy(mana) back to you. This is especially helpful if you are in a group and your heals have left you low on energy. Even if you are the primary healer, using Repleneshing Strike each time that it refreshes will help to keep you from emptying your energy pool. In addition to those abilities you’ll also receive a helpful Intelligence and Wisdom buff called Bestowal of Brilliance, a great heal-over-time(HoT) spell called Alleviate and a very important ability called Divine Barrier. Divine Barrier is your “get out of jail free” card which protects you from all incoming damage for 18 seconds. I often use Divine Barrier to shield me long enough to run from a deadly battle or at least give my teammates time to rescue me if I am low on health.

 

Level 10

You’ve made it to level 10 and have learned a good set of the basic cleric abilities. Starting at this level you’ll begin placing attributes points in different stat areas (see Selecting the Right Race above). At level 10 your Resolution buff will be upgraded for increased hitpoints and AC. There are quite a few abilities added at this level such as Spiritual Guardian which will allow you to force the next incoming attack on your defensive target to be directed on yourself as well as forcing that mob to target you for 2 seconds. It will also give your defensive target additional spiritual resistance in addition to giving them 50% damage absorption on the next hit. You’ll get the Turn Undead ability which causes high amounts of damage to undead targets. Save this ability for the close calls when fighting undead mobs that you might need that little extra help with.  Turn undead uses ability points which can be found right near your energy bar meter, it also has a somewhat lengthy refresh timer so use it sparingly. You’ll also get one of the most group friendly abilities, Resurrection. On top of being able to Resurrect fallen comrades, you’ll have the ability to Summon a Gem of Life  which can be given to groupmates to resurrect you if you happen to meet an untimely death. Last but not least, you’ll receive Rejuvenate which has a slightly longer cast time but heals for more total hitpoints.

All-in-all getting to level 10 shouldn’t take more than just a few hours unless you’re still taking time to learn the game. Remember to look for new quests everywhere you head, even on some items that drop.  There is a decent dungeon list here which will help you find some of the more challenging but rewarding areas in Vanguard.

Affinities

Another note to mention are affinities. Affinities will allow the cleric to choose a line of specialty giving the cleric added benefits in certain situations. Although cleric affinities are currently not implemented in Vanguard, recent developer posts lead us to believe that they are planned for the near future.

Here is some very preliminary info on Affinities:

Originally Posted by maeglir
From: http://www.silkyvenom.com/forums/sho...864#post260864

Some more affinities info:

There are 5 affinities planned.

Purity (anti undead)
War (melee, new stance, etc)
Death (necromantic flavored,dot,fear,lifetaps)
Preservation (Better buffs)
Peace (Increased lull and pacify power, memwipe etc)

After these are outlined and worked on, he will go over main abilities again.

Conclusions

All-in-all the Cleric is a great class to play, especially in groups. There has been some chatter about the amount of damage (or lack thereof) that a cleric can dish out, but this might be corrected with further class updates. If you manage to form groups with higher DPS classes, you’ll find that you add a great balance to the group. The solo player might find the class slightly more challenging to level, but at the same time he’ll find that it takes a LOT to kill a Cleric. With that being said, the Cleric is probably one of the hardest classes to kill on the PvP servers.

Hopefully this guide has given you some insight to the Cleric class and you’ll be able to determine if it sounds like the best class to fit your style of play.

Other Cleric Resources at Ten Ton Hammer

• Cleric Class Guide
• Cleric Spells
• Guide to Vanguard Statistics
  

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