Over the last few months, Ten Ton Hammer has
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/aion" target="_blank">brought
you the in-depth details – straight from the mouths
of the developers at NCsoft – concerning the eight major
classes in Aion,
NCsoft’s upcoming fantasy-themed MMO. Today we continue our
interview series with the Cleric class! Again, we sat down
with Associate Producer Lani Blazier, and she gave us all the info we
desired regarding the playability of the Cleric in groups, solo, and
even some strategies on how to excel with this particular healer. Check
it out!
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/71788" target="_blank"> style="width: 200px; float: right;" src="/image/view/71788" />
Ten Ton Hammer: The two
style="font-style: italic;">Aion healer classes
are the Cleric and the Chanter. Let’s talk a little about the
Cleric today. Can you tell us where the Cleric’s divine
powers originate from and how they wield those powers?
style="font-weight: bold;" />
Lani Blazier: The
Cleric’s divine powers ultimately originate from
style="font-style: italic;">Aion
itself—from the Aether that suffuses the world of Atreia.
Asmodian clerics serve Marchuta, the Shedim Lord of Destiny, and Elyos
clerics serve Yustiel, the Seraphim Lord of Life.
A Cleric wields power by taking the Aether stored within itself and
radiating it outward—often to heal its compatriots or even
resurrect the soul within the body of a fallen ally. As long as the
Cleric’s stored energy remains intact, the Cleric’s
allies can withstand even the most furious assault. Exhaust the Cleric,
and the rest of the team becomes vulnerable.
Ten Ton Hammer: Healers
often have varied roles: battle clerics, buffers, straight healers, and
so on. What is the primary focus of
style="font-style: italic;">Aion’s
Cleric?
Lani: Clerics
focus on primarily healing and buffing. They also enhance the abilities
of party members and remove debuffs. They are the heart of a
group—they keep everyone together (quite literally).
Ten Ton Hammer:
Throughout various games, healers have been notoriously difficult to
solo because their damage output tends to be low. How has
style="font-style: italic;">Aion avoided this
pitfall? Will the Cleric be a viable choice for soloing?
style="font-weight: bold;" />
Lani: The
Cleric is absolutely, unequivocably viable when soloing. In my opinion,
it’s easy to solo with a Cleric. It just takes a little
longer to down a monster because, yes, a Cleric’s damage per
second is lower. However, if you are having a problem soloing with a
Cleric, you have missed the most fundamental thing about your character
being a Cleric—it can heal itself. Heal early and often! Is
your character down 15% to 20%? Use a healing over time skill, like
style="font-weight: bold;">Light of Renewal or
style="font-weight: bold;">Light of Rejuvenation.
Feeling a little pressure? Cast a direct heal on your character like
style="font-weight: bold;">Healing Light and
top off with a heal over time skill while your character attacks an
opponent with a ranged skill or use a
style="font-weight: bold;">Hallowed Strike that
decreases the opponent’s attack speed and chains to a
followup skill. Your Cleric can tear almost anything apart in just a
few more seconds than other classes and then walk away from the dead
corpse while brushing dust off its fully healed self. You just need to
liberally pepper your character with heals in between attacking the
opponent.
While it takes a little longer to kill a particular opponent, your
character can take on monsters equal to its level (or one level higher
than it is) either one-on-one, or once you are comfortable with your
charater’s abilities, two-on-one, or even three-on-one. You
just have to remain cool under fire, and watch your
character’s mana points.
Clerics also shine during group play, of course! Join up with a tank or
a damage-dealer (especially a melee damage-dealer), and your teammate
and your Cleric can play and play and play. Group as the triumvirate of
tank, damage-dealer, and Cleric, and nothing can stop you. Well, maybe
not nothing, but between the buffs your charcter can add to itself and
others and your Cleric’s ability to heal, your
group’s longevity becomes amazing.
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/71785" target="_blank"> style="width: 200px; float: left;" src="/image/view/71785" />
Ten Ton Hammer: How will
Clerics do in PvP combat? What do these healers have in their bag of
tricks that will give them a fighting chance amongst some of the more
devastating classes?
Lani: Clerics
can immobilize opponents with Restraint,
and can summon an immobile spirit that can attack at range for a short
time, giving them a breather while they heal themselves. They can clear
quite a few debuffs, and have some accomplished ranged attack skills
that have a damage over time component to eat up enemies. At level 37,
they can pop a Prayer of
Focus to boost their ability to not be interrupted by a
damaging attack, allowing them to heal themselves and attack their
enemy more effectively for 10 seconds. At level 40, they can cast an
immediate Blessed Shield
on them that absorbs some damage and boosts healing skills. The biggest
threat for a Cleric is anything that makes it unable to
cast—either to cast a damaging skill, or to heal itself.
That’s also why mana conservation and consumption is
something that Clerics monitor constantly.
Ten Ton Hammer: As you
said, a Cleric’s primary role in the group is team healer,
but occasionally they might be called to assist in other aspects of
group support such as buffing, debuffing, and damage. Are
these things that the Cleric will be able to do and can you give us
examples of the abilities that they will have in order to accomplish
off-focus group assistance?
style="font-weight: bold;" />
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/71776" target="_blank"> style="width: 200px; float: right;" src="/image/view/71776" />
Lani: Clerics
primarily heal, true. As subclasses of the Priest, they give a 10% to
health from Blessing of
Health and a 10% increase to physical defense from
style="font-weight: bold;">Blessing of Rock. At
level 25, Clerics can use Winged
Blessing to boost Strength, Will, and flight speed. Also
at level 25, Summer
Circle increases fire defense and earth defense, or
style="font-weight: bold;">Winter Circle
increases water defense or wind defense.
Dispelling is also an important role, and the prosaic
style="font-weight: bold;">Dispel skill clears
any abnormal physical conditions of one single target within range,
while the Cure Mind
skill similarly clears abnormal mental conditions.
Clerics have numerous ranged attack skills, some that also deal
additional damage over time component. Their damage is steady and not
as fierce as, say, a Sorcerer, but will certain help take down monsters
when they are called upon to do so.
Ten Ton Hammer: What sort
of weapons and gear does a Cleric wear? Will the Cleric have an
advantage over using a staff rather than a mace and shield combo?
style="font-weight: bold;" />
Lani: Cleric’s
can equip cloth, leather, and chain armor. They have the second highest
defense stats after the Warrior class. We’ve seen players
equip cloth or chain during group play and plate armor for solo play.
Wearing cloth will boost a player’s MP, but it has a much
lower defense compared to plate armor. Overall, the Cleric has very few
skills that strengthen defenses and their duration is short, so
it’s important to know what and when to wear the right armor.
Also, it’s vital to keep your character buffed at all times.
Clerics get some nice buffs as a Priest subclass. Use them!
Don’t leave a 10% bonus to health on the floor by not buffing
Blessing of Health.
As for weapons, the safe route is to equip a mace and a shield,
although the staff has a higher magic-boosting power than a mace. I
would recommend using the staff for long-range magic attacks or when
you are in a group and the mace for close-combat melee/when you are
soloing.
Ten Ton Hammer: As a
Cleric, will a player want to hang back and deal in mostly spell damage
and heals or will he want to stay in the action with melee as well?
style="font-weight: bold;" />
Lani: If a
Cleric is in a group, it will want to hang back, clearing conditions
and healing, and throwing in some ranged skills. While soloing, a lot
of the same strategies that one would use as a Sorcerer apply. Stay as
far back as you can as long as you can, use
style="font-weight: bold;">Restraint to
immobilize an opponent and then attack from range, remove negative
conditions on your character as quickly as possible, and use your
attacks that have a damage over time component to wear away at enemies.
In addition, frequently use your healing skills to keep yourself
healthy and able to continue casting skills.
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/71738" target="_blank"> style="width: 200px; float: left;" src="/image/view/71738" />
Ten Ton Hammer: Will the
Cleric be able to resurrect? If so, is this a high level skill? Will
they be able to resurrect only one player at a time and will they be
able to resurrect themselves?
style="font-weight: bold;" />
Lani: Yes,
Clerics can resurrect. They can resurrect themselves at level 22,
resurrect one targeted player in your group at level 37, and resurrect
all dead group members in range at level 40.
Ten Ton Hammer: Are
resurrection spells usable while the Cleric is in combat, on the move,
or in flight?
Lani: Resurrection
spells are like any other spell - they can be used while the player is
in combat or in flight, so long as the character isn’t
moving, as that would interrupt their skill use; they can also be
disrupted by an attack. Standing still while being attacked, or
hovering while in flight are totally acceptable times for clerics to
use their resurrection skill.
Ten Ton Hammer: With the
use of potions and Stigmas by other classes, will the Cleric still find
a place in casual groups and be needed? What is the advantage of
bringing along a healer rather than relying on potions?
style="font-weight: bold;" />
Lani: Clerics
are always useful. Groups with a Cleric in them can dare more, cause
more damage, and clear more monsters. A Cleric on the team makes any
group able to clear an area more quickly and safely. Clerics
don’t have a long cooldown time like potions do. Clerics can
heal during combat extensively. Clerics can buff you, debuff your
conditions, and heal. Clerics don’t cost you extra money from
a vendor nor take up your inventory space. And Clerics make good
company. Can you converse with your potion to try to figure out a
quest, to strategize for a group encounter, or to help you quickly when
an enemy Assassin tries to clean your clock? Thought not.
To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our Aion Game Page.