Aion Class Review - The Cleric

Immerse Yourself In The Cleric

The Cleric is one of only two healing classes in Aion; both come from the priest archetype, but the Cleric is the closest to a traditional healer of the two. Armed with an arsenal of player buffs, heal over time and direct heal spells, the Cleric is an essential element of any complete group.

Strengths:

• Ability to wear chain armor, allowing for higher survivability than cloth casters.
• Powerful heals that when used properly can make the Cleric nearly impossible to kill.
• Bulk of their power comes from ranged abilities, further enhancing survivability

Weaknesses:

• Low damage output when solo

The Cleric possesses the ability to resurrect its allies which no other class can do. While the Chanter is more of a dedicated group buff class with strong damage potential, the Cleric is very much the healbot or walking potion of the group. Healing in Aion, however, is a very dynamic process and resource management is key to being an effective healer here.

Unique Abilites

Clerics learn a race specific Divine Power skill at level 10. The Elyos get Salvation while the Asmodians get Pandaemonium's Protection , a different name for the same ability that allows the player to trade two thousand Divine Power points for 50% of their maximum mana and hit points. Divine Power (DP) is accumulated by killing mobs or Baldur, it is not a resourse to be used lightly as it is not gained quickly or easily.

Combat

Solo combat will be slower for the Cleric than it will be for most other classes, but it will also be steadier. Managing your health and mana properly can make you an almost unkillable soloist with little to no downtime.

Clerics can initiate combat with their ranged spell - Smite. It deals a strong amount of damage and has a short re-cast time. Smite deals ranged damage with a two second cooldown. If you have pulled from max range, you should have time to get two or three of these off before the mob reaches you Once the target closes in on you, your primary combo attack can finish them off.

Combos

• Smite - ThunderBolt - Discharge - This is your ranged combo chain, both Thunderbolt and Discharge are instant casts, however Discharge is a random chance proc ability that deals insane damamge, if it pops up you need to use it.

• Condemnation - Heaven's Judgement - Lightning - The melee combo for the class. Condemnation starts the party with a low damage strike but it signifigantly lowers the targets attack speed. Heaven's Judgement is a stun spell, use this against a target with high melee damage and a considerable amount of health. Lightning is an isntant cast nuke that is great as a killing blow.

Defining Abilities

• Dispel - A cleansing spell that removes harmful effects from you and your allies. A great class specific spell.

• Summon: Holy Servant - A stationary helper that deals damage to your target for a limited amount of time. An excellent "get out of jail free" card that can really save your bacon when you get an unexpected add.
  

• Resurrection - The only class to have a ressurection spell. Standard rez spell, but at later levels you gain a group rez spell as well a summon and rez spell for wipe recovery.

• Rebirth - The ability to self rez! lasts thirty minutes and has a thirty minute cooldown. The ultimate weapon in wipe recovery and an amazing tool that vittually assures you a never ending demand for your services.

• Reverse Condition - A mana tap that allows you to swap your current mana and health levels. used properly this spell will make you a casting powerhouse.

Overall the Cleric is a great class for those that want to be the cornerstone of a group as well a capable solo class. Most long time MMO healers will gravitate towards this class as it fits with the standard defenition of the genre. The Aion Cleric is an amazing blend of some of the best traits of all the healing classes seen currently in MMOGs and with the advanced combat chains and ability to wear chain mail armor they are certainly one of the most fun to play.