Devoted Cleric Guide

Transcription

1 Devoted Cleric Guide Healer's Digest For D&D Neverwinter by Perfect World Entertainment Written by Pinkeh of The Older Gamers Contact me at Revised 26 May 2013 Version 1.5

2 Page 2 My character in Red Divine Emissary T1 set. I enjoy role playing healers and damage-assist roles. There is something exciting about being the one responsible for keeping your allies alive. We're the life blood of any dungeon delve and a core mechanic to any game with the holy trinity. Written for The Older Gamers and my group of friends of The Devil's Gaunlet (without the t).

3 About this guide Abstract This is a working progress. This guide is about the Devoted Cleric only and will contain information related to my character progress; comments and critique on abilities; and strategies and tactics in general combat, dungeons or PVP. I'm working on a healing cleric, thus this guide will focus on how to play a healer solo, or in a group. Notice to Reader Information provided in this guide is 'as-is'. Whilst Neverwinter has officially 'soft-launched' in April 2013, it's difficult to know when Cryptic Studios (the developer) will continue to improve or nerf the Devoted Cleric. This document is my own work. Neverwinter and other materials are trademarks and copyright of Perfect World Entertainment Inc and its licensors. Refer to references for external sources of information. Revisions VERSION DATE CHANGES May 2013 Added cleric feats May 2013 Added paragon powers, feats, encounters May 2013 Separated builds table from descriptions. Added abbreviations and glossary. Created additional sections for planning abilities, builds, gear May 2013 Added icons for feats / powers May 2013 Formatting and table of contents. Added more information on builds and abilities. Extended chapters to be covered. Added foundry content and guides May 2013 Added T1 and T2 dungeon content, more on builds and epic gear suggestions. Page 3

4 References Curse Inc 2013, 'Wikia: Devoted cleric - ability scores table', online accessed 12 May 2013, URL= Guide Scroll 2013, 'Neverwinter Devoted Cleric Healing Guide by drake5252', online accessed 26 May 2013, URL= Page 4 Orcz 2013, 'Neverwinter: Devoted Cleric Epic Gear - Miracle Healer Gloves', online accessed 26 May 2013, URL= Perfect World 2013, 'Neverwinter', online accessed 11 May 2013, URL= Swgaming 2013, 'Guide to hidden chests in cloak tower', online accessed 26 May 2013, URL=

5 Table of Contents About this guide... 3 Abstract... 3 Notice to Reader... 3 Revisions... 3 References... 4 The Devoted Cleric... 7 Character attributes table... 7 Types of abilities for the Devoted Cleric... 9 Your combat interface Character feats & abilities Heroic feats Paragon points Combat powers Abilities: At-Wills Abilities: Encounters Abilities: Dailies Abilities: Personal skills Planning your Devoted Cleric Build: Attributes Build: Feats Build: Abilities Epic Gear Divine Emissary Miracle Healer Companions Companions Dungeon delves Normal: The Cloak Tower Hidden chest... 37

6 Boss fights Normal: Cragmire Crypts Normal: Lair of the Mad Dragon Normal: Throne of Idris Page 6 Normal: Grey Wolf Den Normal: Lair of the Pirate King Normal: Icespire's Frozen Heart Normal: Spellplague Caverns Normal: Temple of the Spider Normal: Caverns of Karrundax Normal: Dread Vault Normal: Into the Never Epic: The Cloak Tower Foundry content Zig Zag Tag A Hidden Blade... 47

7 The Devoted Cleric Page 7 Character attributes table ATTRIBUTE DESCRIPTION EFFECTS Wisdom Strength Charisma Constitution Intelligence Dexterity This is your main stat. When rolling your first toon make sure this stat is the highest stat. This affects the damage and strength of your heals. This is a secondary stat for the cleric. Pump this for Power/Crit builds. This affects critical change, severity and damage. This is a secondary stat for the cleric. Pump this for faster Recovery/AP Gain/stronger companions. Affects ability rotation speeds and AP gain. This affects your health. This is important to all classes in my opinion especially for PVP if you're in to that sort of thing. A squishy, dead cleric is a useless cleric. This doesn't seem to do anything for the cleric. This doesn't seem to do anything for the cleric.

8 Source: retrieved 12 May Page 8

9 Types of abilities for the Devoted Cleric Page 9 ABILITIES DESCRIPTION COMMENTS General These are normally passive abilities that you typically don't have to worry about. They sit at the top of your powers page in their own section. These are also your starter abilities you pick at the character selection screen. Encounter On your UI there are three buttons for encounter abilities. These are by default key mapped to 'Q' 'E' and 'R'. These make up your standard rotations as a cleric. For more information refer to encounter abilities section below. At Wills These are your main auto-attack abilities, by default key mapped to 'LMB' and 'RMB'. Clerics start with Astral Seal and Lance of Faith. You will spam these a lot. Max Astral Seal first because you will likely take it to 60 and continue to use it.

10 Daily Daily abilities are your elite attacks. They are class specific and their effects vary depending on your specialisation under feats. You get to place two (2) on your UI. You need to build up AP through combat and abilities in order to use one. Save them for hairy moments. Page 10 Class Clerics can choose to have two (2) class specific passive abilities. They sit to the left of your Encounter Abilities on the UI. Some boost your healing, others lower your threat generation. For more information refer to the class abilities section below. Divinity This is the cleric's special class skill. Divinity is used to boost an encounter ability or to channel damage/heals on your intended target. You toggle the ability by hitting 'TAB' by default. They are normally built up through combat actions, but you later get a class ability that lets you build it up with noncombat actions. They are separate to action points which are used for your Daily abilities. When you switch to divine mode, your UI will change accordingly. Your character will also glow-in-the-dark. You unlock Divinity from Level 10 onwards. You start with 3 maximum bars of Divinity. You get one extra bar when you unlock the Tier 5 'Greater Divine Power' ability under the Faithful paragon tree. You can boost the maximum amount of Divinity through feats, powers and certain procs. Divinity mode also has its own At-Will abilities. One is 'Punishing Light' is to channel damage on single target, 'Soothing Light' is channeled healing on single target. Both will drain your divinity rather quickly.

11 Your combat interface This is your combat UI. Below is a graphic of the normal mode on the cleric. Page 11 This is Divinity mode below. Class skills Encounters AP Bar At Wills Daily Stamina

12 Character feats & abilities The feats tab of your character page will contain information regarding available heroic and paragon feats. You build your character using 20 Heroic Points, then you work on Paragon Points. You gain 1 heroic point per level till a total of 20. Then you continue earning Paragon Points till you have a total of 31. It takes 20 points to reach the Tier 5 paragon ability. Page 12 Note: Heroic and Paragon Points have to be used in brackets of 5 before reaching the next tier of abilities. For example: for Heroic Points you spend 5 in Tier 1, then 5 in Tier 2, then 5 in Tier 3, and 5 in Tier Heroic Points + 31 Paragon Points = 51 Points

13 Heroic feats FEAT EFFECT COMMENT TIER 1 Healing Action Grants 1/2/3% more action points for healing For all clerics. Page 13 Greater Fortune Gives 1/2/3% more healing from your Wisdom stat Max it. Toughness Gives a 3/6/9% bonus to max hp Probably suitable for PVP. TIER 2 Holy Resolve Gives 5/10/15% of your max hp as temp hp when you drop below 30% health. 5 minute cool down... this could keep you alive in a dungeon or PVP but the cool down is quite long. Domain Synergy Gives 1/2/3/4/5% bonus to your Recovery stat. Recovery makes your skills recharge faster. Important for all builds. Weapon Mastery Gives 1/2/3% bonus to crit chance. Option for critical builds. TIER 3 Initiate of the Faith Gives.2/.4/.6/.8/1% of your power is made as bonus crit strike. Option for critical builds. Although 1% of 1000 power is only 10 points towards critical severity.

14 Repurpose Soul Gives 5/10/15% of your spell effect (heal or damage) on crit heals allies in an area around the target. Taking 1/3 will give you bonus heals when your heals or damage crit. Not essential but can be useful even if not a critical build. If you have 10% critical chance this would mean 1 in 10 hits will activate this passive feat for nearby party members. Have not confirmed if this affects both Encounter and At-Will abilities. Page 14 You and your target gets a temporary buff when its working as intended. Battlewise Gives 2/4/6% less threat generated. Less threat is important for dungeon. Clerics draw threat through AOE heals. You'll find that tanks will hold agro on the boss but have nothing to keep trash off you. TIER 4 It'll be up to your team mates to CC adds. Alternatively you can take up threat reduction feats and abilities. Cleanse Grants 10/20/30% chance on heal to cleanse a debuff. 1 point just to get cleanse. This ability activates a lot even at 10%. More points in it is wasted points. Templar s Domain Grants 5/10/15/20/25% chance when dealing damage to grant a 30% bonus to armor penetration for 5 seconds Do you really want armor penetration in a healer? Bountiful Fortune Gain 3/6/9/12/15% more divine power More divinity means more channeled damage/heal beam!

15 Paragon points As this is a healing guide I'm only talking about feats that help keep your buddies alive. This will make use of the Faithful Paragon tree. Page 15 FEAT EFFECT COMMENT TIER 1 Deepstone Blessing When your target is affected by Temporary Hit Points your heals are 2/4/6/8/10% more effective. Take 5/5 As you'll be spamming Astral Seal on enemies all the time, this is preferred over Enduring Relief. Enduring Relief For 3 seconds after you heal a target from Divine Mode, that target gains 1/2/3/4/5% bonus Healing from you. Take 0/5 Benefit of Foresight TIER 2 Defense bonus from Foresight is increased by 1/2/3/4/5% Take 0/5 Linked Spirit You link with every ally you Heal, increasing their stat ratings by 1/2/3/4/5% of your stat ratings for 10 seconds. Healing multiple targets at once will increase the bonus all targets receive. Take 5/5 TIER 3

16 Invigorated Healing Sun Burst, Bastion of Health, and Astral Shield apply invigorated healing to affected targets. After 6 seconds Invigorated Healing expires and Heals the target for.5/1/1.5/2/2.5% of their Max Hit Points. Take 5/5 Page 16 Power of Life Astral Seal now heals for 2/4/6/8/10% more and Sacred Flame now grants 2/4/6/8/10% more Temporary Hit Points. Take 5/5 Mark of Mending Moon Touched TIER 4 Healer's Lore gain 1/2/3/4/5% bonus to it's effect, and your Power stat is increased by 1/2/3/4/5% of your Recovery stat while Healer's Lore is active. Allies affected by your Hallowed Ground also gain 1/2/3/4/5% of their maximum Hit Points every 3 seconds. Take 3/5 Take 5/5 TIER 5 Greater Divine Power Add a 4th pip to Divine Power. Take 1/1 Total Points Spent 29/31

17 There should be 2 points remaining so you can choose where they go. I'm all for Rising Hope to add an extra minute of stat buffs. 2% divine power isn't really that much. SUGGESTIONS PARAGON Rising Hope When in Divine Mode you have a chance to proc Rising Hope with Encounter powers, which grants you 15% more Recovery and Power for 30/60/90/120/150 seconds. Virtuous T1 Page 17 Righteous Rage of Tempus Critical Damage generates an extra 2/4/6/8/10% more Divine Power. Righteous T1

18 Combat powers Abilities: At-Wills These are spam-able abilities key mapped to your LMB and RMB. LMB for damage, RMB for healing by default. Note: Hold down your mouse for continuous attack. Page 18 FEAT EFFECT USE Astral Seal Lance of Faith Sacred Flame Encase your enemy in an astral seal. You or any allies striking the target will regain Hit Points. Upgrading it to (3) will improve the damage and duration of the seal. A spear of golden light sears your foe. The third hit deals additional damage. Upgrading it improves damage. Bathe your enemy with burning sacred light. The third hit of this power deals additional damage and you or allies near your target will receive a small amount of Temporary Hit Points. Upgrading it improves damage and range of the buff. Put this seal on all the targets your group is about pummel in the ground. It works by healing your group for every action taken against the affected monster. You should max this as soon as possible. You will pick up feats later to improve the amount of hp healed. Single target attack, reliable and consistent damage early in to the game. You don't really need to upgrade this ability as you'll replace it for Sacred Flame later. You should max this as soon as you get it as it'll be the thing you'll spam till Level 60 and beyond. This replaces Lance of Faith. On the third strike of every set of attacks, it buffs any allies in range with temporary hp. You will pick up upgrades later to improve the amount of temporary hp and range. You will use this ability to increase your Divinity bar (all the time).

19 Brand of the Sun Draw upon the power of the sun dealing damage over time. Not suitable for small group encounters. You're more likely going to use this in T2 dungeons because you may not have time to spam Sacred Flames with the masses of trash mobs spawning on top of you. Page 19 Useful for threat reduction, but unreliable for building up divinity for your encounters in a lot of situations. Damage will feel rather weak overall especially in single target combat scenarios. Sacred Flames will be your primary, this will be a unique ability for the rare occasion that you're unable to spam Sacred Flames (because you're kiting mobs).

20 Abilities: Encounters FEAT EFFECT USE HEALING Sun Burst Invoke a blast of radiant light that burns foes around you and Heals yourself and allies. Divinity: Now Knocks enemies away and Heals for more. Useful at early levels as hybrid healing/damage. Divinity mode is used for emergency knockbacks and a more powerful spike heal. Page 20 Do not use Divinity mode in dungeons or group combat. Knockbacks are unnecessary and interrupt your DPS allies trying to group up mobs to AOE burn / CC. Versatile ability that stays in your combat UI for a long time. Healing Word Apply a Regeneration effect to both you and your target. This power has 3 encounter charges, and recasting on an affected ally will extend the duration. Divinity: Now directly Heals you and your target as well as applying Regeneration. In addition, it does not consume an encounter charge. Max this when you get it. You'll use it for many situations. Use it as a pre-emptive buff on whoever is about to pull a mob. It ticks over 5 seconds. Further recasts extend the period of time healed. Initially fells somewhat weak but as you level up the heals are quite significant. This is a DOT heal, if you need spike heal use Sun Burst or Bastion of Health. You need to aim this one... so it pays to position yourself in a spot where you can see who you're aiming the heal at. Versatile ability that stays in your combat UI for a long time.

21 Forgemaster's Flame Astral Shield Ignite your target with Astral Fire, Slowing them while they burn. Divinity: The flames will now Heal you and your allies near the target. Create a shimmering shield at target location that reduces incoming damage to allies in its protective circle. Divinity: Allies now Regenerate while in its radius. Puts a DOT on a single target. It also applies the SLOW effect. In Divinity mode it also heals allies in range of target. I probably won't use this on a healer even with Divinity mode because there are more reliable healing abilities like Astral Shield, Healing Word and Bastion of Health. The DOT stacks with other similar types of attacks like Brand of the Sun but the damage overall seems a bit weak. This will be your primary healing ability that never leaves your skill bar once you get it. Used in T1 and T2 dungeons. Lasts about 15 seconds unless negated by a boss monster like Idris. Make sure you place it in a location where your allies can easily get to. Page 21 This skill should only be used in divinity mode because the normal version doesn't heal! Use it with large groups of mobs or boss fights. Very powerful buff and HoT especially if you've also added feats to go with it i.e. Invigorated Healing.

22 DAMAGE / CC Searing Light Throw a powerful beam of light through targets in front of you. Divinity: Damage increased and when the beam pierces a target, it also deals half damage to enemies around that target seconds cooldown Rank 2 - Damage: +10% Rank 3 - Damage: +10% You should aim Searing Light at the furthest opponent in the middle of a cluster of mobs i.e. wait for them to swarm your meat shield and aim it at the one furthest away from you in the middle of the pack. It should explode marvelously. If you fire Searing Light at point blank range, it generally shoots upwards and affects one target with no AOE damage. Page 22 If you get the mobs to form a single line, aim it at the furthest away again to make use of the spell's AOE effect. Use this in Divinity mode for maximum damage. Daunting Light After a brief delay, summon a powerful column of light that burns the targeted area. Divinity: Now instantly strikes targeted location in a larger area. I use this all the time for leveling, PVP and sometimes dungeons. Max this when you get it. Use it with Divinity if you can spare the pips. It'll hit all targets in range of the spell so drop it in the middle of the cluster. Incredible against melee trash mobs. Versatile ability that stays in your combat UI for a long time. Chains of Blazing Light Mark a location with a holy rune for a short duration. when the foe steps on the mark, chains of fiery light Immobilize them. When first cast can Immobilize multiple enemies at once, but damage is reduced for each additional target. Sort of useless. Maybe useful for PVP. Never seems to have a use in dungeons or leveling. Divinity: Now instantly marks location, and deals additional damage.

23 Divine Glow Temporarily reduces the defense of enemies at target location. Divinity: Deals additional damage to enemies, and allies caught in the flow gain enhanced damage. Use this with Daunting Light. Does decent AOE spike damage and has the ability to weaken targets caught in the location. In divinity mode it enhances your allies damage by a short duration. Page 23 Prophecy of Doom Paragon path ability, marks a single target with a debuff, if it dies within a certain time, it adds a significant amount of action points, and the skill is recharged instantly. Use this on trash monsters to quickly replenish your daily. Use in divinity mode to double the AP gained.

24 Abilities: Dailies FEAT EFFECT USE Guardian of Faith Call down a faithful angel to smite your foe from above, leaving them Prone. As the angel ascends, it Heals your allies. Pretty much stop using this once I maxed out Flame Strike. Good starter daily. Keep it at 1 point. Page 24 Flame Strike Raise a column of holy fire that knocks targets upwards, and then splashes down in a wider area. Max it. Powerful AOE damage daily that will be used in a variety of situations. Harrowed Ground Your prayer temporarily sanctifies the ground around you, and allies standing on the ground have enhanced offense and defense. Max it Powerful AOE heal and damage mitigation to be used in dungeons. Divine Armor Call down an angel to cast a protective ward over allies in the targeted area for a long duration. While encased in divine power, your allies have enhanced defenses and are granted portion of their max hit points as Temporary Hit Points. Doesn't see much use because Harrowed Ground can be so much better in my opinion. If you have points to spare, give it 2 points. Hammer of Fate A big fucking hammer drops down from the heavens and smacks a single target like a truck. Will hit the target 3 times. When casting it the cleric will be immune to CC. Max it Single target spike damage, stun, and knocks back target. Useful in solo and epic bosses. Caution on use of knockback in group situations unless monster is pinned to a wall. Useful in PVP to kill players with lowhealth because it stuns and hits them like a truck.

25 Abilities: Personal skills FEAT EFFECT USE Healer's Lore Increases your healing powers by 5% per tick. Max it Useful in variety of situations, especially early levelling and normal dungeons. Page 25 Divine Fortune Sooth Holy Fervor Foresight Terrifying Insight Your heals and buffs now rebuild your Divine Power instead of only your attacks. Decreases threat from your healing spells. Your attacks build more Action Points for your Daily Powers You have a permanent damage resistance buff that you share with allies when you heal them. Whenever something damages you, you get a buff to your damage against them. Max it. Will always be one of the abilities active because you want to generate as much divinity as possible. Max it. Although use is somewhat limited because even with maximum threat reduction I still draw agro from the tank through heals. Mechanically this is something that's broken in this game in my opinion. The only thing you can do is endure because there is no way to know how much more threat you're generating, only that you're doing much more than everyone else in the group. You'll most likely have this equipped for T1 or T2 dungeon runs. You may swap it out for Healer's Lore or Sooth depending on the T2 boss mechanic. Up to 8% or something damage mitigation. Seems like a waste of points. I didn't take any points in this because you can only have two active personal skills, and one will always be Divine Fortune, the other is likely one of the other three listed above. Same as Foresight, seems rather pointless. Prophetic Action Fully resist one attack every 60, 50, 40 seconds Long cooldown. Seems rather pointless.

26 Planning your Devoted Cleric Build: Attributes BUILD ATTRIBUTES COMMENTS Page 26 Balanced Strength Charisma Wisdom (Highest) Strength (Base + 3) Charisma (Base + 3) Wisdom (Highest) Strength (Base + 6) Charisma (Base + 0) Wisdom (Highest) Strength (Base + 0) Charisma (Base + 6) A balanced character for all types of builds. Wisdom will still be your highest attribute, whilst balancing Strength and Charisma. Focus on power and critical chance. Personally I think your gear should stack power and critical hits over recovery and action point gain because it pushes your heals and damage up as much as possible. As much as I want a pure healer, you also need to do some damage as you level up, and also to help out burning adds during a dungeon. Focus on recovery and action points gain.

27 Build: Feats BUILD FEATS TO TAKE COMMENTS Healer A All rounder Healing Action (3) Greater Fortune (3) Domain Synergy (5) Repurpose Soul (1) Battlewise (3) Cleanse (1) Bountiful Fortune (4) Total (20) For healers focused on power and healing. Page 27 Healer B Critical builds Healing Action (3) Greater Fortune (3) Domain Synergy (1) Weapon Mastery (3) Initiate of Faith (4) Repurpose Soul (2) Bountiful Fortune (4) Total (20) For critical chance based healers. Be mindful that you have to fulfill the requirements of the previous tier (5 points) before you can go up to the next tier.

28 Build: Abilities BUILDS ABILITIES COMMENTS Epic Dungeon A Healing AS DL BH Daily Harrowed Ground Divine Armor Encounters Astral Shield Daunting Light Bastion of Health For tough fights where you depend on others for damage. Suitable for large groups of trash. Strong AOE healing and damage mitigation. Suitable for boss fights in T1 and T2 dungeons. Astral Shield You control where your party should fight, make sure your party members know to stand in your 'blue circle' (Astral Shield in divinity mode). Page 28 Personal Power You should always drop AS in Divinity mode. Healer's Lore Daunting Light Divine fortune At-Wills Sacred Flame Brand of the Sun Astral Seal Daunting Light can be fired off with or without Divinity. The main use of DL is adding extra DPS. Keep in mind the normal DL shot has a slight delay so if your party is knocking mobs around the place it'll miss. Use a pip of Divinity for extra range (especially when there is a cluster of adds in one location). Bastion of Health Bastion of Health can be fired with or without Divinity. Reserve is for spike heals or 'oh-shit' moments to top off your allies health. Epic Dungeon B Damage AS DL DG Daily Hammer of Fate Flame Strike Encounters Astral Shield Daunting Light Divine Glow Personal Power Holy Fervor Divine fortune At-Wills Sacred Flame Astral Seal This group of encounters add more DPS over Boss Fight A build. High AOE damage group of encounters Strong AOE debuffs and damage. Suitable for trash mobs in T1 and T2 dungeons. Divine Glow Divine Glow in divinity mode can hit your targets in an AOE with additional damage, as well as buff your allies damage by 15%. Use it as soon as it comes off cooldown. In normal mode it is a decent debuff and damage encounter on mobs. Daunting Light Daunting Light can be fired off with or without Divinity. Use it as soon as it comes off cooldown.

29 Normal Dungeon A Healing SB HW SL Daily Flame Strike Harrowed Ground Encounters Sunburst Healing Word Searing Light Personal Power Healer's Lore Divine fortune At-Wills Sacred Flame Suitable for early normal dungeons like The Cloaked Tower, Cragmire Crypts, maybe Throne of Idris. Sunburst Use Sunburst to heal your allies at your location. DO NOT use the knockback in Divinity mode because it slows down your group's DPS. Use Sunburst when your group of allies need healing. You may find that using it off cooldown means that you can't heal the group when they need it most. Healing Word Healing Word is single target Heal-Over-Time. So learn to aim it at the target you're looking for. The ability is fairly generous in terms of the general direction or person you're aiming it at. Will be your best healing ability for a while. Use it sparingly. Reserve for oh-shit moments. Page 29 Astral Seal Searing Light Searing Light is a useful AOE damage spike. Target a mob furthest away from you, allowing the spell to hit things along the way to maximise its damage potential. Fire it off with or without divinity as soon as it leaves cooldown. Normal Dungeon B Daily Suitable for later normal dungeons. Daily Spam Flame Strike Prophecy's Doom BH PD FF Hammer of Faith Encounters Bastion of Health Target easy-to-kill trash mobs or the veterans and elites that are about to die. I.e. you know that they will definitely die within the count-down as it instantly resets the ability cooldown. Prophecy's Doom Forge-master's Flame Personal Power Holy Fervor Divine fortune At-Wills Sacred Flame Astral Seal Use Prophecy's Doom in conjunction with a daily ability. Fire off your preferred Daily as soon as your AP bars are filled. It's likely you'll be using it in conjunction with Flame Strike or Guardian of Faith, since you won't have the healing bonuses with Harrowed Ground yet. Bastion of Health Bastion of Health can be fired with or without Divinity. Reserve is for spike heals or 'oh-shit' moments to top off your allies health. Forge-master's Flame Forge-master's Flame puts a single target Damage-Over- Time condition on your target. Use it on veterans and epics in divinity mode as it also spike heals everyone in range of the target (which occurs a lot in dungeons).

30 Levels 1-30 Daily Sun Burst Groups of melee trash mobs Early abilities Flame Strike Encounters Sun Burst Searing Light Daunting Light Personal Power Healer's Lore Divine fortune At-Wills Lance of Faith Astral Seal If I ever catch another cleric using Sun Burst inappropriately, by the sun god I'll burn them myself! If you're using Sun Burst as a damaging skill, hit it in normal mode in the centre of the group of trash mobs. If you toggle Divine mode you'll trigger the knockback which should only be used in emergencies or oh-shit moments. You should NEVER use the knockback in group play because your allies should be trying to group mobs together for AOE burns/cc. Sun Burst will be your main encounter ability for hybrid healing and damage until you pick up Daunting Light or Bastion of Health later. Searing Light You should aim Searing Light at the furthest opponent in the middle of a cluster of mobs i.e. wait for them to swarm your meat shield and aim it at the one furthest away from you in the middle of the pack. It should explode marvelously. Page 30 If you fire Searing Light at point blank range, it generally shoots upwards and affects one target with no AOE damage. If you get the mobs to form a single line, aim it at the furthest away again to make use of the spell's AOE effect. Use this in Divinity mode for maximum damage. Daunting Light Daunting Light is excellent for melee trash. Use it with a pip of Divinity for maximum damage/ distance. When encountering groups of trash, let them swarm around you or your meat shield. Then drop it in the middle of the cluster. It can hit any number of targets in range of the attack. Divine Fortune Max Divine Fortune early to gain access to faster Divinity pips. Basically every action you do earns Divinity which drives up your damage/healing and allows you access to encounters with Divine abilities.

31 Epic Gear Divine Emissary This gear can be bought on the Auction House for cheap especially arms and feet. GEAR TIER ATTRIBUTES COMMENTS /DIFFICULTY Divine Emissary 1 Power, Critical, Recovery, Defense For pure power or critical based healers. The set is suitable for both builds. Page 31 Arms 1 Easiest Easiest to get from T1 Epic The Cloaked Tower Feet 1 Easy Easy to get from Cragmire Crypts. Chest 1 Hard Hard to get from T1 Epic Throne of Idris. Most PUGS have trouble with the final boss. Helm 1 Hardest Hardest to get as it drops from T1 Epic Lair of the Mad Dragon. Set bonus At two pieces it gives your heals and attacks a big critical chance boost. A full set gives everyone in your party a nice defense and deflection boost. Image source: orcz.com 2013

32 Divine Emissary, dyed red, female, front. Page 32

33 Divine Emissary, dyed red, female, back. Page 33

34 Wearing green shirt and pants :-( Page 34

35 Miracle Healer This gear costs a shit ton on the Auction House. Better to farm it. GEAR TIER ATTRIBUTES COMMENTS /DIFFICULTY Miracle Healer 2 Power, Critical, Recovery, Defense T2 set seems to favor critical/recovery based builds over power. Page 35 Arms 2 Feet 2 Chest 2 Helm 2 Set bonus 4 set pieces would be awesome since it heals 5% your allies total HP. Image source: orcz.com 2013

36 Companions You are inevitably going to have to play on your own for parts of the game. Cleric is probably the slowest class to level. The lower your damage, the more time it'll take for you to get through game. You'll also struggle with some of the veteran or elite bosses littered throughout the 1-60 grind. If you have the opportunity, grab at least one player to level with you. If not, below are some companions for the solo-cleric. Companions COMPANION BENEFITS CONS Page 36 Man-of-Arms Common Tank Dire Wolf Very rare Striker Cat Very rare Buffs owner Floating Stone Thing Rare Buffs owner Early access at level 15. Takes threat ok if you give it time to take agro from mobs. Cheap (2 gold) Founders pack only. Early access at Level 1. Good single target DPS. Interrupts enemies. Flanks enemies. Level capped at 30. Good pet to buff your character stats. Good place to store your gear as it doesn't bind to your pet. Level capped at 30. Attacks. Looks cute. Good pet to buff your character stats. Good place to store your gear as it doesn't bind to your pet. Doesn't attack, which is a benefit because it won't die in Epic Dungeons like the Cat. Level capped at 15. Must be bought with $60 founder's pack. AI is kind of stupid. Melee striker, thus likes to stand in red circles. Sometimes it does nothing. Will normally die in boss fights in dungeons. Must be bought with ZEN or large sums of Astral Diamonds (via auction house). Costs 980,000 Astral Diamonds, roughly USD$30 in ZEN (as of 12 May 2013). Level capped at 25. Costs 3000 ZEN or roughly USD$30 in ZEN (as of 12 May 2013).

37 Dungeon delves This is probably the best part of building a healing cleric. As you level up to 60 you'll have the chance to put your healing skills and micro-management of player health bars to practice. What are you even doing with a cleric if not to keep players happy and alive? Generally you are able to access normal modes of dungeons as you reach certain levels by hitting 'K' to bring up your queues. The system will provide you with the dungeons you can queue up for. If you are past the level cap the only way you can join the dungeon is if a party at that level has joined, and you run into the dungeon via the physical entrance. If you missed any dungeons, you can always go back to a dungeon and revisit the content at the normal level. It'll be useful to know what boss fights to expect. Dungeons are 5 man groups. Refer to the builds: abilities section for further information about what abilities to equip. Normal: The Cloak Tower There is nothing difficult about The Cloaked Tower in normal mode. You get to queue the dungeon from levels After that you'll have to make a group and physically walk in the front door at the end of the Towers District. For most fights you will just open up with Astral Seal on every target available and use your Healing Word and Sunburst to heal if required. You'll find that most mobs will die fairly quickly and healing isn't that involved at this early stage. This may be your first opportunity in the game to play as a cleric in a group. It's also an easy dungeon to practice kiting mobs and staying alive as long as possible because you will generate a lot of threat from healing. Your responsibility in dungeons is damage mitigation and top-up healing. If your allies need spike heals, they should have pots. If you find an ally isn't potting then it's not your fault they die. :-) Make sure you bring pots for YOURSELF as the heals you do are ineffective on yourself! You'll pick up dungeon tokens from repeated runs of The Cloaked Tower which you can then spend on blue gear for your cleric. Although you'll probably out-level the gear fairly soon. Hidden chest A chest will spawn at the end of the dungeon if you place all six (6) quest items on pedestals. Most PUGs will fail to find all six, or one or more party members will pick up a quest item without knowing what to do with them. The chest has also been known to bug since closed beta. Page 37

38 Approximate locations of hidden loot items Page 38 Source: Swgaming.com 2013 ITEMS LOCATION COMMENT Green crystal On a table, slight detour from the lemon juice trail The lemon juice trail will not take you past the green crystal. Look for it on a table. Red crystal On a table near the first boss. You can't miss it. It's at the first boss. Starflower Blue crystal Gingershroom Glowberry On a table opposite the red crystal at the first boss. In the blue crystals cavern, to the left of the path going down into some pools of water. You'll see a room with giant blue shards of crystals and it'll be on the floor as you hug the left wall. The bonus boss (Throg the Ravenous) drops it after you defeat him. In the same room as Throg the Ravenous, it'll be located on the top floor as you leave the room. Its sitting in the open near some giant mushrooms. You can't miss it. It's at the first boss. You'll probably miss it if you don't know what you're looking for. See screenshot Make sure someone calls out they have it. In a PUG some idiot will always pick it up without knowing what it is and discard it. You'll probably miss it if you don't know what you're looking for. See screenshot

39 Blue crystal location Page 39 Glowberry location Source: Swgaming.com 2013

40 Boss fights There are 3 bosses in The Cloaked Tower. Page 40 BOSS LOCATION COMMENT First Ugly #1 Bonus Ugly #2 Final Ugly #3 Follow the lemon juice trail. Take a right down some steps instead of following the lemon juice trail. The boss is in a mosh pit. Follow the lemon juice trail. At about 60% HP two melee veterans will spawn behind your party to smash the cleric and mages. Cleric can just kite them whilst DPS roles burn. The veterans will do more damage than the boss. Avoid their red circles and you should be fine. A 2h great weapon fighter. This ugly spawns trash adds every now and then. Burn the adds, then burn him. He also drops the Gingershroom for the hidden dungeon chest. At about 75% HP she spawns adds. Lots of them. Control wizards should burn them with AOE as quickly as possible. Some of them are ranged and will snipe you if you're drawing too much agro. The tank should focus on keeping the boss's attention so it's up to your damage dealing allies to take the trash off you.

41 Clerics tend to be targeted by the boss's special leap ability so slide out of the way if a red circle appears underneath your character. If you don't, be prepared to cop 25-50% damage to your total health points. When kiting adds, make sure you remember to reapply Astral Seal to the boss and any adds you encounter as it'll heal your allies and build up your Action Points. Page 41

42 Normal: Cragmire Crypts Accessible from Levels 25. Normal: Lair of the Mad Dragon Accessible from Levels 25. Normal: Throne of Idris Accessible from Levels 38. Normal: Grey Wolf Den Accessible from Levels 41. Normal: Lair of the Pirate King Accessible from Levels 42. Normal: Icespire's Frozen Heart Accessible from Levels 49. Normal: Spellplague Caverns Accessible from Levels 52. Normal: Temple of the Spider Accessible from Levels 55. Normal: Caverns of Karrundax Accessible from Levels 59. Normal: Dread Vault Accessible from Levels 60. Normal: Into the Never Accessible from Levels 60+. Page 42

43 Epic: The Cloak Tower Easiest dungeon to farm Seals of the Unicorn for T1 non-set gear. You'll find the seal vendor at the Market in Protector's Enclave. Boss fights are similar to the normal mode. The veterans and trash have a bit more hp, but you'll open up most fights with Astral Shield in divinity mode and Astral Seal on everything that appears. Page 43 Spam Sacred Flame to build up your divinity bar. Don't forget to reapply Astral Seal when it wears off. You'll know when you stop seeing green numbers fly off the screen, and you've no healing wards on the ground. You should use Builds: Epic Dungeon B for trash mobs, and switch to Builds: Epic Dungeon A for the bosses. Where you put down Astral Shield is important because it'll govern where your party should fight. Your allies will reap the benefits of damage mitigation if they fight in the BLUE CIRCLE. If they're off doing their own thing, let them learn the hard way. If you don't see green numbers fly around your screen (as a cleric), you're doing it wrong.

44 You should ALWAYS bring pots and injury kits because clerics do most of the dying FIRST. Threat reduction is kind of pointless because even with the maximum reduction possible, you'll still generate more threat than the tank! So either endure the damage or KITE like a boss. If there are two clerics in your party, the benefits of Astral Shield stack so put them on top of each other! Page 44 Reserve your daily Harrowed Ground for oh-shit moments (assuming you have maxed out Moon Touched feat). When stacking Astral Shield and Harrowed Ground, you'll put down a lot of damage mitigation as well as heal your party to maximum hp very quickly. I suggest bringing Flame Strike for additional AOE damage and group trash burns. Always keep at least one pip of Divinity in reserve so you can drop Astral Shield down whenever it is off cool down.

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46 Foundry content Zig Zag Tag TITLE OBJECTIVE STRATEGY Zig Zag Tag Approximately 30 minutes duration. Kill 20 ogres and other mobs, one at a time. Exp grind. Encounters One on one combat. As a cleric it'll be slower than other classes. Your tank should draw agro, so let it do its job then begin your combat rotation. 1. Astral Seal 2. Healing Word on your companion Page 46 Forgemasters Flame Daunting Light Healing Word Daily Flame Strike At Wills Sacred Flame Astral Seal Companion 3. Forgemasters Flame (Divinity if available) 4. Daunting Light (Divinity if available) 5. Spam Sacred Flame 6. Flame Strike when Daily is available. Remember to heal your companion. Avoid red circles. Your tank companion probably won't have an interrupt so it'll get knocked around a bit. Strikers can interrupt but you'll have a harder time with the melee monsters. Tank

47 A Hidden Blade TITLE OBJECTIVE STRATEGY From the Shadows Act 1: A Hidden Blade Approximately minutes duration. Simple story quest. Follow the lemon juice trail to the bacon. Encounters Sun Burst Searing Light Daunting Light Healing Word Daily Flame Strike At Wills Sacred Flame Astral Seal Companion Go to the Mithril Gate in Neverwinter. It's near the PVP training building, opposite the market place. Talk to the dude inside, spam '1'. Then exit the building. Run to the exit and go to the Lucky Inn. Note: There are different ways to complete this quest for other classes, I'm describing my path for the Cleric. Go speak to the bartender and ask for the elf. Keep going until he says something about giving you a key if you find out which room the elf is in. Go speak to the bard. Ask about the elf. He'll direct you to a woman in a room. Go through the door near the bard. Turn left and head through the archway, first door to the right is the woman's room. Knock. Tell her that the bard sent you, she'll give you the room to head to. Go back to the bartender, tell him lives are at stake or some shit. Get the key, run back through the doorway behind the bard. Turn right and head to the end of the corridor. Page 47 Striker or Tank Use the key. Go inside, smash the 3 mobs that spawn. Then check the bed. Go back out the door you came in from. Take a right into the creepy witch. Spam '1'. 5 mobs spawn. The two that'll give you trouble is the shielded fighter and the witch. Kill the three weaker sorcerers outside first, then focus on the melee fighter, then smash the witch. You can ignore the rest of the bar and just head through the door the witch stood in front of. Now you're in a forest. Jump on your mount and head over to a pile of rocks with some arcane symbols. Click through the crap. Now follow the lemon juice trail to checkpoint 2 at the waterfalls. 5 goblins will spawn and head towards you. The one that will trouble you is the leader. The other weaker four will just shoot arrows at you. If you mount up and hurry up the hill you can just skip them.

48 At the top of the hill at check point 3, click on the pile of rocks and spiders will spawn. 3 big ones and some smaller ones. They hurt a bit so prepare to use pots if you can't heal yourself in time. When you smash the big spiders, smaller ones will spawn. Smash them too. Now proceed to checkpoint 4. It's across a river and up a small hill to a campfire. 2 sorcerers and a fighter will be waiting. Kill the weaker sorcerers first, then the fighter. Proceed to checkpoint 5 and prepare to face two more fighters. Burn one, then burn the other. They both will smash you if you don't have a companion tank. Click on the pile of rocks and then proceed to checkpoint 6. Page 48 Now you're about to face about 6 mobs. Most of them are melee so here's what to do: 1. Searing Light or Sun Burst into the middle of the group. 2. Flame Strike everything in range. 4. Spam Astral Seal on remaining mobs. 4. Daunting Light (Divinity if available). 5. Spam Sacred Flame. After the first 10 seconds the two weaker ones should be gone. Focus fire on the fighters that are targeting you. Remember to heal your companion. Get out of red circles. Run to the elf dude. Spam '1' till he stops talking. Run over to the witch again. Spam '1' till she stops talking. Run over to the elf dude's horse. Gate to Neverwinter/Protector's Enclave. Run to Mithril Gate. Speak to the NPC inside until he stops talking. Pick up your bacon. Exit the building to finish the quest.

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