You didn't roll this cleric to heal people through dungeons involving
orcs and trolls. You rolled it to stomp on people with holy
might and
bless those on the front line with the stamina to endure those sorcerer
Infernos. Playing a cleric in a game of massive PvP and
horrible
imbalance when one player is a higher level than the other can be
difficult, but we have the endurance and potency to win against anyone
in the end. There's more to our PvP than meets the eye!
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/77744">
Do you really want to rely on this guy to kill people? Can he
even do a 720?
COME
PREPARED. Don't fly
around in the abyss without several
things.
- Wind Serum. You will have to chase people a lot as a
cleric. Don't let your wings be the reason you fail.
-
Health Serum and Mana Potions. Serums are a good backup
against burst
damage and Mana Potions may be necessary in long fights and fighting
other clerics solo.
- DP food. Sometimes things just go to hell. We
have outstanding DP backup heals and they are meant to be used.
-
Healing potions. Sometimes dispelling isn't an option due to
silences
and we NEED to be able to cast/get some stuff off of us. It
starts a
cooldown but it can be better than the cooldown of soul healing at the
obelisk/kisk.
MANO
Y MANO, or solo combat when
farming/rifting in the Abyss or
otherwise.
To
put it simply, we have it really good against most classes.
Wars of
attrition are right up our alley. We have two major things to
watch
out for, and that's silences and stuns. Both of those will
snuff our
instant heals that get us back in the game instantly.
Melee
Classes are fairly
easy to kite with our fast cooldown
root. Hit and run with Chastisement, Earth's Wrath, and Holy
Servant.
If you get stunned or otherwise brought into the fray, go for a quick
Heaven's Judgement chain for a stun to buy some time for another root
and to get back to range. If you get lucky with root not
breaking and
their potions/etc are on cooldown, go for a Smite combo and pray for a
Divine Spark to proc. You want to stay above 60% health at
all times
against Assassins and Gladiators, Templars you can be a little more
lenient with. Assassins will go for an Aether Hold into a
stun and try
to burst you down, Glads will lead with Severe Weakening into an Aether
Hold combo. Expect a DP move to be thrown out to finish you,
which is
why you need to stay high at all times. Do not doubt Templars
either-
a decked out templar with a great sword is just as potent as a mean
gladiator.
Chanters
get their own section for being laughable for us until
45+, when they have a wicked healing stigma and the best stun in the
game. Do not engage these solo at high levels.
Unless you are
entirely geared for damage, you are not outdoing a Chanter without some
great luck in interruptions and Divine Spark proccing. They
are
dangerous to kite since they will be faster than you most of the
time.
Whatever you do, don't melee them. One parry means a splash
strike
which they will likely try to combo into a stun/DP for a finishing
burst. Remember to keep Festering Wound on them to negate
their
awesome HoT.
Sorcerers
are a mixed bag. If you can survive the 50% cast
time reduction stigma, you will likely win. The typical
sorceror will
go for a Curse of Roots, get to proper range and pop everything he has,
going for a combo starting with Delayed Burst and ending with a DP or
Inferno. You will likely have to hit your healing serum and
flash of
recovery here, but he can't do that again. Light of Recovery
is potent
enough to counter individual spells with ease. Use your
instant spells
as you close the distance with them to make them panic and start
moving. While they move, you should go for a Smite combo or
get
Earth's Wrath going on them. If you get lucky with a Heaven's
Judgement, you can go for more damage or take a risk and go for a
Radiant Cure to reset the fight completely for them, only they're on
cooldown on many key abilities. Remember that you can dispel
everything they put on you, and do so. You do not want to be
running
around with negative fire resist after the initial impact!
Most
sorcerers are stigma'ed for fire and stick to it, so if you're feeling
brave you can go for a Summer Circle to make survival easier over the
course of the fight. The major downside to fighting a
sorcerer is
actually killing one. Just take heart and smile when you see
him run
off while you're asleep.
Spiritmasters
are the bane of us. A long silence, many roots, a
pet that likes to smack us on a regular basis with DoTs and debuffs,
and if we want to keep up we have to dispel constantly, limiting our
offense. On top of that, Ignite Aether will purge all of your
buffs 3
at a time if they slot for it. Rule #1 is get to the air to
avoid the
spirit for the most part if it's not water. Rule #2 is to NOT
get in
the air if they have a Water Spirit out. There is nothing
that makes a
SM grin more than sending you down crashing down if you try to get
crafty/run away. If they are using a Water Spirit, it's
actually a
good idea to try and kill it since most SMs don't even use Summoning
Alacrity or have it on a skill bar. They're made of paper and
Chastisement/Servant/Earth's Wrath should kill it in short order and
most SM's are too focused on bringing you down to heal their
pet. If
the pet isn't part of the equation, it becomes a gun-slinging match
with them more focused on DoTs and debuffs. Balance your
offense with
Dispels when Erosion/Chain of Earth/Sandblaster gets put on
you. If
the pet is down or not a part of the fight, SMs really are lacking in
burst damage and you can win a war of attrition. Survive the
fear,
survive the silence, and they'll either root you and run or be a pile
of wings in no time.
Rangers
are a problem. We have solid physical defense and a shield
but they do stellar damage and can't be kited, or rather, they kite us
better than we can kite them! Stay healthy so you can't be
burst down
after a Stunning Shot. Dispel snares and poisons, and close
the gap
just like Sorcerers to try and get some mind games going on, but most
rangers are adept at firing specials on the move. Good
luck. You'll
need it.
Other
Clerics are a battle to see
who can call in help faster. No
one dies in a cleric vs. cleric battle. We don't have any
command
stuns and we can dispel Festering Wound from the opposition.
Light of
Recovery dominates the match up and you should just open a private
store with "what's the point" as the banner after a minute or two of
not getting anywhere. Blah.
GROUP/SIEGE
COMBAT - If you don't crash
doing it, that is.
Be
aware. It's awesome to have a line in front of you of ranged
offense
and templars looking to pull people to your killing line, but if
there's a legion coming in from behind you and you're not even looking
that way, you are dead and the other clerics will have far more trouble
keeping people alive and getting resurrections done. Watch
your back
and call when you've got significant incoming.
Do not hold back with your heals. The odds of you
being able to
radiant cure someone are really low. Stick to Light
of Recovery,
dispel, Light of Recovery and use stigmas as needed. Healing
Wind is
too slow for use in serious combat, so you need to look into stigmas
for your preferred alternative. If you get a moment, drop
Festering
Wound on a target.
Perhaps the most important part of PvP is to take it
easy.
There's a lot of randomness in knockdowns and stuns proccing, sometimes
the server will lag and sometimes things just happen at inopportune
moments. Rebirth is like a suicide spell sometimes.
When in doubt, do
something else in the world. Rifting is such a lovely
griefing
alternative with much less risk. Just don't get frustrated,
and get
out there and show those rivals that we're not just healbots!
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