Cleric Guide

Discussion in 'Priests' started by Xandos, Jan 18, 2023.

  1. Xandos New Member

  2. Emilari UI Designer

    Hello! Thanks for sharing.

    I like that your guide is fairly short, which makes it likely people will read it. I also like the pictures and how relatively complete it is for being a quick read. Most of what I've got to add is from a raiding standpoint, but it all works in groups as well.

    Personally, I do things a bit differently, which I'll share. I don't believe that there's any one way to cleric, and I enjoy seeing some variety out there. Good variety in a cleric team means that we're using most of our tools collectively. I'll also note some additional things that people might like to know. In an attempt to keep this somewhat brief, if I don't mention a portion of your guide, it's because I agree with what you've put in it. :)


    Multibinds:
    When it comes to multibinds, did you know that you can include an entire social macro key to your keybind and not just one AA? The trick is to never use /pause. Just activate the things you want to activate... this way you can have up to 5 abilities or clickies tied in.

    IE:
    Line 1: /alt activate 1
    Line 2: /alt activate 2
    Line 3: /useitem ItemName
    Line 4: /useitem ItemName
    Line 5: /alt activate 3


    Buffs to Keep Active:
    For clerics, the age old debate of should I go with Armor + Aegolism or Dru + Clr combo, it's relatively minor differences either way. It's personal preference... the only wrong thing to do is not have HP buffs at all.

    In addition to my familiar buff, I also keep a mount buff and an illusion buff on me at all times.

    I do occasionally use Retort on some raids, but I never ever ever get rid of Ward on my spell bar. Ward of Persistence is hands down one of my favourite spells. The point of loading Retort, particularly when we have a brand new one like this year, is because it tends to have the best reverse damage shield attached per level cap, and that we don't have to swap targets from our tanks. The weapon proc is just a nice bonus for raiding. It's also a wonderful spell in groups.

    I also take the time to learn which events Divine Contingency procs on, and do load and use that one on those events.

    On events that start off with a wave of adds, I'll also pre-buff my group with Anticipated Interdiction. I don't bother to refresh this during a raid event though. It just gives you an extra short-term passive uh-oh when your tanks end up with multiples before things get flowing nicely.

    I also always ensure the entire raid is buffed with Rallied Greater Blessing of Vie before engage. It doesn't last so long on tank groups which is fine, but it's helped save many a melee or priest when they find themselves tanking unexpectedly.


    Extended Target Window:
    I like to load up all the out-of-group tanks, the Main Assist and their target, and all the DPS group priests on mine. If one of those DPS group priests goes down, it's highly likely their whole group is going to follow them, so it's worth tossing out a few extra DI's and the occasional heal when you have the time. The DPS get all confused when the Main Assist dies, so it's also good practice to try to keep that person alive too.


    Gear Priorities:
    I disagree with your weapon choice for a raiding environment. When I parsed out all the ToL raid weapons and our proc hammer, the proc hammer does provide the most melee DPS. However, that's not our job on raids. For the most part, we should be targeting players - not mobs.

    If I did decide to use contraventions instead of interventions to get off a melee burn while still healing, I'd simply have the summoned hammer pre-summoned in my bag and use my bandolier to swap weapons for the duration of the burn and then swap back after. I usually can't be bothered and just do a caster burn with interventions.

    I use my proc hammer in groups, or when I'm moloing. I use my DA Hammer (Divine Hammer of Consternation) when soloing, and I use Luclinite Coagulated Censer for raiding; I'll upgrade to the NoS equivalent when the opportunity presents itself. I find the mana proc to be incredibly useful, and pair it with an additional mana proc aug (Helping Hand).

    The mana procs are useful as if I'm burning hard, I burn through my mana hard, even with constant yaulp use. For similar mana purposes I also make sure to use the alteration spec aug (Tome of Manipulation). I also use the dodge aug (Stone of Judgment), and the Frosty Gem of Enhanced Protection in my shield.

    Type 3 augments for the spells you use regularly are a good investment as well.

    There are also a few other clickies out there that are nice to have; anything with a heal on it that has a 1.5s cast time or less is good to have to cast spells during global spell cooldown. These clickies often heal for more than their base value thanks to all of our healing mods.

    The ones I'm aware of are: Apothic Dragon Spine Hammer, Small Manisi Branch, Weighted Hammer of Conviction, Braided Kirin Mane, Necromantic Dragon Bone, and Prayers of Life. The Dragon Spine Hammer and Manisi Branch are on a shared cooldown timer.

    My Raiding Spell Bar:
    1) Guileless Remedy (Multibind 1 + 2)
    2) Atoned Intervention (Multibind 1)
    3) Sincere Intervention (Multibind 1)
    4) Sincere Remedy (Multibind 1 + 2)
    5) Determined Renewal or Merciful Remedy or Merciful Intervention (Multibind 1 + 2)
    6) Issuance of Conviction
    7) Refreshing Splash (Multibind 3)
    8) Syllable of Invigoration (Multibind 3)
    9) Ward of Persistence
    10) Ecliptic Blessing
    11) Divine Mediation
    12) Swap Slot --- Axoeviq's Retort, Unyielding Rebuke, Divine Bulwark, Word of Greater Rejuvenation, Devout Acquittal, Divine Contingency, Anticipated Interdiction or Bastion of Divinity as needed.
    13) Swap Slot --- Divine Keep, Sincere Coalition, Shining Fortitude, Aura of the Pious, Symbols, or Persistence as needed.

    I run two single-target multibinds and one aoe/group multibind. The reason I have a second single-target one set is so that I can instantly convert to no-damage single-target heals as-needed. If there's an entire event where I'm barred from using Interventions (which is uncommon), I'll load different spells in those two spots (this is when I would bring out Promised Reclamation).

    I will swap between the Renewal or Remedy in my 5th slot depending on the target; whether I need faster smaller heals, or larger slower heals. I know a few clerics that use a third intervention there regularly, but I don't like that as it leaves a gap whenever you've got Quick Time, Imperators Command, or Celestial Rapidity going. I only load up a third intervention there if I'm doing a DPS burn for giggles.

    I load things in my swap slots using the /memspellset and /memspellslot commands; I find it faster for me than navigating the right click menu on the spell bar. Kudos to whichever dev designed the /memspellslot command, it was a HUGE QoL update for me. :D

    I choose to use our curing group heal and our curing group HoT over the non-curing versions because the curing versions can proc our Sanctified Blessing AA. Determined Renewal also procs Sanctified Blessing. However, I generally leave group HoT's to the shaman team as that's how their Synergy works (Spirit of Renewal procs Luminary's Synergy). Druids is more like ours (Syllable procs Templar's Synergy; Lunarush procs Preserver's Synergy). I AoE HoT as often as I can.

    Interventions and Contraventions can proc our Recourse of Life AA.

    All of our direct healing spells can proc our Abundant Healing and Tunare's Grace AA. Mana-free AA and clickies do not proc these.

    I choose not to use delayed heals for the most part because they don't proc these AA; they aren't a direct heal. Promised Interposition does make delayed heals more attractive, but I personally haven't found them attractive enough to devote a spell slot full-time to it. I'd likely change my mind if they ever got around to releasing spell gem 14 (I see you in the options ---> keybinds window in-game, and in the UI code for the spell cast window). There's no harm in choosing to use a delayed heal, and it's a good idea for at least some of the clerics on a team to be using them; I'm just not that cleric personally... I prefer my Interventions.

    I love Ecliptic Blessing and keep this on cooldown. I love that I can heal an out-of-group tank and my group at the same time with it, or I can use it on an in-group tank for a super beefy heal. The short-term buff attached is also brilliant for saving tanks. It's unique and it works well for us, and kudos to whomever designed it.

    I have completely different spellsets for when I'm off soloing, moloing, or DPS'ing in a group.

    Activated Misc. Abilities:

    Direct Heals: Burst of Life, Blessing of Sanctuary, Sanctuary, Beacon of Life
    HP Group Balancing: Epic 2.0, Divine Arbitration
    HoT's: Focused Celestial Regeneration, Exquisite Benediction, and our MGB: Celestial Regeneration.

    If you hit Tranquil Blessings before engaging, and refrain from using group Symbols or Aegolism buff spells to rebuff people, you can get two MGB CR's off per event... one TB one and then one MGB one. If your guild takes a long time to kill events, banking these TB's is incredibly helpful.

    DI-like AA: Divine Guardian - I typically keep this on one of the knights in my group; it stacks with DI, and two death-save opportunities is better than one for that one crazy knight that always wants to tank all-of-the-things.

    Mana-Bursts: Veturika's Perseverance and Quiet Prayer. These share a timer; I usually use QP on another person as druids and rangers are chronically mana-starved.

    Other Mana things: Staunch Recovery, Yaulp, Miniature Horn of Unity (clicky), Unified Phoenix Feather (clicky), Mod Rods (mages), Summoned: Kotahl's Tonic of Clarity (mages), Paragon (beastlords), Glyph of Arcane Secrets.

    Rezzes: Blessing of Resurrection, Divine Resurrection, Call of the Herald, and Staff of Forbidden Rites (OMM rez stick) clicky.

    Movement: Holy Step

    Aggro Reduction: Silent Casting, Divine Peace

    Cures: Radiant Cure, Group Purified Soul, Purified Spirits, Purify Soul, Ward of Purity

    Uh-oh I'm tanking: Bestow Divine Aura, Divine Aura, Divine Retribution, Armor of Experience, Diplomatic Papers (clicky), Valia's Unyielding Bravery (clicky), Mom's Love (clicky), Relic Fragment Figurine (crafted item; expendable clicky), Glyph of Dragon Scales

    Burns:
    Channeling the Divine, Healing Frenzy, and Flurry of life are three of our key burns yes... but you're missing a few. Healing Frenzy is a 100% chance to crit heal; Channeling the Divine Twincasts your healing spells; Flurry of Life increases the base heal of your spells by 35%. Channeling the Divine and Flurry of Life don't have stacking conflicts with our other burns, but I prefer to use them separated when I can. If my group is taking an insanely bonkers amount of damage, I'll use them in conjunction with other things.

    My favourite burn combo is Celestial Rapidity + Healing Frenzy. Even better if you've got Imperator's command going at the same time too.

    Celestial Rapidity (healing spell haste), which can be paired with your warrior's Imperator's Command (which also has spell haste) to have a short-term version of Bardless QuickTime which is incredible.

    Then... if you're lucky enough to score a bard in your group you also have QuickTime, which is Spell Haste, and Fierce Eye which increases your chance to crit heal or HoT by 17%. Remember with crit chance mods, that they can't go over 100%, so Fierce Eye and Healing Frenzy don't stack.

    Rangers MGB Auspice of the Hunter which increases your chance to crit heal by 33%, which also doesn't stack with Healing Frenzy.

    Intensity of the Resolute increases your crit heal chance by 50%, which also doesn't stack with Healing Frenzy. It's both a DPS and heal burn, though I tend to use it more as a heal burn.

    Glyph of Ultimate Power is also both a healing and DPS burn, which doesn't stack with Intensity of the Resolute or Healing Frenzy.

    Our main mitigation burns for others are Spire of the Vicar, our BP clicky (Merciful Shield), and Ward of Persistence (spell). Other group synergy mitigation things to be aware of are the SK epic (Lich Sting), and Group Armor of the Inquisitor (Paladins).

    If you somehow find time or space to add in DPS burns, we've got Improved Twincast, Divine Avatar, Battle Frenzy, Turn Undead and Celestial Hammer to toss into the mix. I don't use these often on raids because mana... but I could toss in a bit of extra damage if I did off my intervention casts.

    We usually have enough burn tools available that if we time them well, and synergize well with our group and raid that we don't need to resort to glyphs regularly. I'd only advise putting AA into glyphs after you've finished out all of your other AA's if you are not max AA.

    I use GINA timers to help me see when all of these abilities (both self, and from other classes) are active, and try to spread out my burns for more even coverage over time. The two most basic rules of cleric club are Always Be Casting (ABC), and Always Be Burning (ABB).

    I also use GINA timers to track Ancestral Aid (shaman MGB's) and Spirit of the Wood (Druid MGB's).

    Macros:
    Personally, I don't tend to use a lot of macros... I do use a rez macro that's a bit fancier than yours:

    Rezzing:
    Line 1: /pause 1, /corpse
    Line 2: /tt Rez Inc
    Line 3: /alt act 3800 (Blessing of Resurrection)
    Line 4: /useitem Staff of Forbidden Rites (90% rez clicky)
    Line 5: /alt act 2047 (Call of the Herald)

    I personally recommend that all clerics put in a line on their rez key to drag the corpse to you; rezzing the person that just died to an aura inside of the aura usually makes them cranky... since they often just die again instantly.

    By putting all three of my rez buttons on one key, I'm ensuring that the person I'm rezzing is getting my best available rez and making life easier for myself with only having one key. If there's a point when I want to temporarily disable one of these, all I have to do is add a hashtag:

    IE: Line 4: #/useitem Staff of Forbidden Rites

    This makes my key skip over my 90% rez clicky, but still use my 96% rez AA or my call, then when I want to re-enable things, all I have to do is remove the hashtag.

    I also use the standard announcing keys for MGB CR, DI, etc, etc... but otherwise I don't like tying things together; I like to have control of all of the buttons.
    Athilnaur, Gundolin, Xandos and 3 others like this.
  3. Metanis Bad Company

    Both posts #1 and #2 here are outstanding. Thanks for writing them up!

    Although I've been a raid cleric for 20 years, I learned something from both posts. I've been a slacker about using both Intensity of the Resolute and Exquisite Benediction.

    I would only add that in my guild we intentionally coordinate our MGB Celestial Regens so that we get the longest time coverage. We also use the Signet of Gannar :: Items :: EverQuest :: ZAM (allakhazam.com) at the same time to give all healers a 15% heal bonus.

    I just added Exquisite Benediction to that macro! (Line 4 notifies our heal channel!)

    line 1 = /pause 4, /alt act 255 ;(Ex Bene)
    line 2 = /pause 4, /alt act 35 ;(MGB)
    line 3 = /alt act 38 ;(Celes Regen)
    line 4 = /4 MGB CR cast!
    line 5 = /useitem Signet of Gannar
    Xandos and Emilari like this.
  4. Szilent Augur

  5. Szilent Augur

    Among the benefits of fancy guild banners is:

    4750 Standard of Power 0s 0s - n/a Single 6: Increase Healing by 1% to 20% (v125, Before Crit)

    It's likely that this:

    39609 Circle of Life IV Effect 0s 0s - n/a Single 1: Increase Healing by 1% to 15% (v125, Before Crit)

    is doing nothing for your team :(
    Zipe and Metanis like this.
  6. Metanis Bad Company

    You are probably correct. Of course, we're still going to use them for the cases where the banner might not be where the raid is currently fighting.
  7. Docrob New Member

    Couple things I noticed with post #1 and #2.

    In OP's write up he mentions having yaulp keybinded with his heals which is a good idea and i never thought of that so learned something there but he shows having the spell memorized. Not sure if it is just for visuallization but why would you mem the spell when we have the yaulp aa that casts the highest rank of yaulp that is scribed.

    For post #2 interventions on raids isn't the best choice especially if your in a raid that mobs are getting mezzed. most clerics I know and have talked to have dropped interventions out of thier spell line up and go with just the 3 remedy heals.

    As for me I run Ecliptic Blessing, Guileless Remedy, Sincere Remedy and Merciful Remedy on a keybind. Since I went to that line up and throwing in splashes everytime its up my healing improved greatly.

    Both posts are really good info and like it was said not everyone plays their cleric the same way. A person had to find their play style and what works best for them to be effective.
    Emilari likes this.
  8. Conq Augur

    I'm not the best cleric around, but for raids, I put Syllable, Splash, Ecliptic Blessing then 3 Remedies in my keybind.
    Conq
    Emilari likes this.
  9. Emilari UI Designer

    My guild doesn't mez much at all... and when we do, its easy enough for me to just pay attention to my target's target and swap to no damage healing on the fly. Each raid leader has different preferences, just as each cleric does. ;)
    Lluianae likes this.
  10. Lluianae Elder

    Intervention use with mezzes going on needs Clerics to pay some more attention. While dropping them from a lineup is a means of adapting, I find it simpler to change what I'm casting and adjusting to the targets. It's why I prefer more control over what spells are needed when. Toggling targets in such a way isn't everyone's cup of tea, just as the Splash target ring can be off-putting.

    These days I try to minimise my Remedy casts in favour of GCDs with damage, so Interventions, Contraventions and Rebuke. The twinheal charges from the latter is potent enough that more should be taking advantage of it.
    Emilari likes this.
  11. Docrob New Member

    Yes I know not all guilds mez mobs on raids but there are some that do cause either their tanks cant handle taking a beating for very long or their dps sucks so they can't kill the mobs very fast. Most all cleric write-ups I have read through are geared towards high end raiding guilds that just burn through everything so a cleric can have the option of using different spells.

    Lower end guilds that raid casually have to adapt and pick which spells to use to best suit healing the raid and tanks. So interventions/contraventions are probably not a good choice over the 3 remedy. I know I play my cleric different then others but the end result is the same.

    Now for group content its totally different. Most the time I will equip my 2 hander and do melee and use contraventions and group heals to keep the tank and group alive.
  12. Emilari UI Designer

    I only joined a high end guild in ToL... last year. I still guest raid with another guild (not high end), and occasionally dabble with open raids on those servers (not high end). I've been using interventions in my multibind since they were invented back in House of Thule (2010).

    My use of interventions has nothing to with what guild I'm in, what the tanks can handle or how long it takes them to win an event. It has everything to do with paying attention to what I'm damaging.

    If a cleric is careful, there is zero harm to using interventions in any guild. If a cleric doesn't want to worry about potential mez breaks, then they choose other options. It's all personal preference and what we are each comfortable with.

    I don't believe either choice is wrong.
    Szilent likes this.
  13. Docrob New Member

    You are right. All the clerics in my guild don't use intervention spells. We used to till we started seeing mez breaks from clerics that where using them so everyone took them out of their line up. There are many ways to play a cleric and like you said it is personal preference.
    Emilari likes this.
  14. Zipe The Healer

    Congratulations on these greats posts. Some very important game and cleric class mechanics are explained, that I have found aren't known for all our fellow classmates.

    I find it very important to consider the relevance of each buff and know which ones are relevant to cast pre-combat and what others are relevant to cast mid-combat. If you consider this relevance then you realize the priorities of what you must have on your spellbar and what not or what is worth or nope. To this extended, the recommendations of abusing /memspellset are very valuable (or our recently added QoL command /memspellslot). Having a persistence loaded the entire fight when you can just /memspellset when you need it, isn't really efficient.

    I am surprised that noone mentioned the symbiosis with Issuance and FR.

    That said, I love to know that I am not the only one using a lot of keybinds for everything and, specially, that I am not the only one using only two multibinds.

    I have seen a lot of rules there that we know them ad nauseam, like always be casting or whatever... but I would like to add my own rule there, and I hope it helps somebody:

    If you use a hot button once per raid encounter: bind it to a hotkey. Don't be a mouseclicker.

    Good luck and have fun.
    Annastasya, Metanis and Emilari like this.
  15. Metanis Bad Company

    I avoid any mouse use during raids. Once your fingers "learn" the keystrokes healing becomes muscle memory and largely automatic.

    My exception is grabbing targets from the Extended Target window. I use the mouse for that and regret it all the time.
    Annastasya and Emilari like this.
  16. Emilari UI Designer

    Don't feed bad Metanis! I use my mouse for movement and targeting... I use a razer naga mouse so I also use it to activate all my hotkeys.

    I agree its easy once things become muscle memory, but for any mousers still out there it can be overwhelming since EQ has a lot of buttons.

    I had to learn that muscle memory a handful of keys at a time; it's a process that will take time, but my oh my it's so worth the trouble.
    Metanis likes this.
  17. tsiawdroi TittyGOAT

    tacoheals is a good cleric.
  18. Xandos New Member


    Sorry for the late Reply, i use the AA for that, i just have for all of my AAs the corresponding Icon choosen, as i find it easier to play, than if i just have an AA with Text. As its easier to rember what does, what for me Personally.

    And what may be Interessting about my Information wise. Im currently in a Family / Raid Guild, with arround 15 Mil DPS. And we seldom have a Full Raidforce, often we are missing 12 Peeps for a Full Force. So we normally have rather longish fights. Im really happy for all your Feedback, you have given so far :)

    And about Intervention Heals, i seldom use those, more for Fights like Shei :). When theres not a lot to Heal and i want to do something :)
    Emilari likes this.
  19. Docrob New Member

    I added the yaulp to my multibind on my guilds first raid hit saturday night and ended up removing it right after. With it attached to my multibind I had 131 casts of yaulp which is a waste. Every time it cast I noticed a missed heal going out so I moved it back onto its own key.
    Annastasya and Emilari like this.
  20. Emilari UI Designer

    Ya, the yaulp AA has a very short refresh. I just use an in-game AT for "Your surge of strength fades" to remind me to cast it as needed because it doesn't work so well in a multibind due to the refresh.

    When I'm in a position where I'm raid leading I do add some AA/clickies to mine so I can pay more attention to leading because it's easier, but I choose longer refresh things I'm otherwise prone to forgetting to cast (Silent Casting, geomantra, etc). Needing to push the button twice to get the heal once every 9m is more tolerable than once every 10s in my opinion.

    The clerics I know that have added yaulp to their multibinds and like it are usually boxers, not raiders. To each their own.

    The main advantage to adding a few to the multibind is if you're mashing the button fast enough, your attached AA/clickies are auto-casting during global spell cooldown; either manually or with a macro on a gaming mouse/keyboard. That way, you're not really 'losing' spell casts, but taking advantage of game functionality to reduce casting downtime overall.

    Many classes do this; it's just a bit difficult for clerics to figure out which abilities to add to a mash. We've got plenty that could function well in one, but we also each tend to have different go-to "uh oh" buttons. I might reach for divine arbitration, another cleric might reach for beacon of life instead. Both tools do the job.

    What I've seen most often are clerics choosing to add extra healing: divine arbitration, burst of life, beacon of life, blessing of sanctuary, focused celestial regeneration, clickies like the apothic dragon spine hammer, etc.

    I did this for many years, and see little issue with it if they are abilities people forget to use. I still do this when I'm raid leading. when I'm not raid leading though, I prefer to have more manual control over these abilities. I cast them a lot less sure, but they are often more effective when I do reach for them as additional situational uh-oh's than they are in my multibind.

    If clerics reading choose to try it out though, NEVER add in your epic clicky to a mash button. We must always have control over when are are, and when we are not curing. Having forgotten epic clickies in mash buttons has wiped my raids on specific events (hello Mearatas; you're a great relatively recent example).

    So much is down to personal preference for us.