Priest guide: skills, stats and gear
The Priest keeps everyone alive: single and party heals, cleanses for poisons and roots, and a long blessing before a boss. It can still fight, from range and up close. Here is how to spend your points, which vestments and maces to wear at every level, and how to heal and fight from level 1 to 60.
Healer, rangedMain stat: INT15% more HPMaces with a shield
1. What the Priest does
A Priest is the reason a party survives a boss and the reason a group wins a fight between nations. It has ten skills, more than any other class: heals, cleanses, a party blessing, and enough damage to level alone. With a 15% class bonus to HP and a shield in the off hand, a Priest is also sturdier than a Mage or a Rogue.
- Solo: comfortable. Smite from range, Radiant Strike up close, and Mend yourself when you need it.
- Party: the healer. Every party wants one, so asking to join is rarely turned down.
- PvP: the most wanted target on the field, and the one who turns a lost fight into a won one.
2. Stats and a point plan
You start with STR 8, DEX 6, INT 13 and VIT 12, and every level brings 3 stat points: 177 in all by level 60. For a Priest:
- INT (main stat): every point adds 2 attack power and 8 MP. Your heals are worked out from your attack power, so INT raises your healing, your damage and your MP pool at once.
- VIT: adds HP, with a 15% class bonus. The enemy goes for the healer first.
- DEX: a little critical chance per point (capped at 30%). Heals can be critical too.
- STR: does nothing for a Priest.
| Levels | Per level (3 points) | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 2 to 20 | 3 INT | More damage and stronger heals while monsters do not attack first. |
| 20 to 40 | 2 INT, 1 VIT | From level 22 monsters attack on sight. |
| 40 to 60 | 2 INT, 1 VIT, or 1 INT, 2 VIT | More VIT if you heal in the Colony or in Morgard, where you are the first target. |
Once every point is spent, Reset stats in the character panel (C) gives them all back for free, so you can change the plan later.
3. Weapons and armor
Priests wear vestments with circlets: a circlet, a vestment, gloves and boots in every set, with VIT and MP on the vestment. A Priest fights with a one-handed mace and a shield.
| Level | Armor set | Mace | Shield |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Padded (everyone) | Wooden Mace | Wooden Shield |
| 5 | Acolyte | Iron Mace | Iron Shield |
| 15 | Cleric | Steel Mace | Steel Shield |
| 30 | Sanctified | Mithril Mace | Mithril Shield |
| 45 | Dawnforged | Dragon Mace (fire) | Dragon Shield |
| 55 | Seraphic | Seraphic Mace | Titan Shield |
Here is something many new Priests miss: your mace's attack power is part of your attack power, and your heals are worked out from it. A better mace, and a higher + on it, heals more. The boss maces are the Hollowbell Mace (level 45, lightning) and the Crownforge Maul (level 60, fire), both one-handed, so the shield stays. For jewelry, the pieces "of the Arcane" carry INT and those "of Warding" VIT. See the gear and upgrade guide for every set and the + ladder.
4. Skills
The Priest has ten skills. Every skill costs MP, and the cost grows with your level.
| Level | Skill | What it does | Cooldown |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Smite | Single target damage | none |
| 1 | Sprint | Run faster | 9 s |
| 5 | Mend | Heal | none |
| 10 | Radiant Strike | Single target damage | 1 s |
| 12 | Purify | Removes debuffs | 8 s |
| 15 | Blessing | Party buff: attack power, max HP | 2 min |
| 20 | Prayer of Healing | Party heal | 10 s |
| 30 | Plague | Area damage, damage over time, weakens | 15 s |
| 40 | Cure All | Removes the party's debuffs | 20 s |
| 50 | Judgment | Area damage, weakens | 25 s |
- Smite (level 1) strikes from 20 metres with no cooldown. You can keep walking while you cast it.
- Sprint (level 1) makes you run 55% faster for 8 seconds.
- Mend (level 5) heals one ally up to 20 metres away, with no cooldown. With no ally targeted it heals you. Moving cancels the cast.
- Radiant Strike (level 10) is a quick melee hit with a golden flash, ready every second.
- Purify (level 12) clears poisons, slows, roots, freezes and stat hexes from one ally, or from you. Stuns are not cleared. A frozen friend cannot help themselves: you can.
- Blessing (level 15) raises the attack power and max HP of your party for 10 minutes. It comes back every 2 minutes, so cast it before every boss and every push.
- Prayer of Healing (level 20) heals you and every party member within 20 metres after a short cast.
- Plague (level 30) poisons up to eight enemies in a 6 metre circle for 8 seconds and lowers their defense.
- Cure All (level 40) clears the harmful effects from you and your whole party within 20 metres at once.
- Judgment (level 50) strikes a 6 metre circle up to 20 metres away and leaves the enemies there with lower defense and slower legs for 8 seconds.
- One person hurt: Mend. Three or more: Prayer of Healing. Stand still for both.
- Keep Purify for the person who matters most right now, often the frozen or rooted Warrior.
- Between heals, Smite or Plague: damage you add shortens the fight you have to heal through.
5. Leveling a Priest
The Priest levels alone better than people expect. In Hearthmoor, where common monsters never attack first up to level 20, open with Smite, finish with Radiant Strike once you have it, and Mend yourself between fights instead of waiting. Buy the level 5 Acolyte set, Iron Mace and Iron Shield from a town trader, then follow the camps out from Emberfold: Stone Husks (5), Thornback Boars (8), Bandits (11), Alpha Wolves (14) and Barrow Skeletons (20).
In Valcrest or Gorzhak, from the Cave Bears (22), monsters attack when you come close. Pull them one at a time with Smite. The route goes on through Forest Trolls (26), Granite Golems (30), Dire Wolves (34) and Ogre Brutes (38), and the Colony Zone from level 40 is best done in a party, where a Priest is always welcome and every member past the first adds 5% XP.
- Bosses like the Barrow King (28) and Mossback the Ancient (36) need a group; offer to heal and you will find one fast.
- Your endless blue potion matters more to you than to anyone: drink it between pulls.
- The whole route by level is in the leveling guide.
6. Priest in PvP
Everyone on the other side knows a Priest wins fights, so you will be the first target. Stand behind your Warriors, keep your HP up and move between casts, not during them. Heals count for less on someone fighting players (for a few seconds after they hit a player or are hit by one), so keep your party topped up before the clash, not only during it.
- Crystal Clash (from level 20): six against six as one party. Cast Blessing before the start, keep your side alive around the crystal and use Cure All when the enemy Mage slows the whole group.
- The Colony (from level 40): a party with a Priest beats a bigger party without one. If a Rogue appears on you, fall back towards your party, and Purify yourself if it roots you.
- War of Morgard (Wednesday and Saturday 21:00 to 22:00 Istanbul time): a push into the enemy fort needs healers. Prayer of Healing on the front line, Judgment on the defenders.
- Purify your Rogue when they are rooted and they will repay you with a kill.
Times, National Points and rewards are in the PvP and war guide.
7. Common mistakes
- Ignoring your mace. It raises your heals as well as your damage. Upgrade it like any fighter would.
- Moving while casting a heal. Mend and Prayer of Healing are cancelled by moving. Smite is not.
- Forgetting Blessing. Ten minutes for the whole party, back every two. There is no reason to have it off.
- Expecting Purify to clear a stun. It does not. It clears poisons, slows, roots, freezes and stat hexes.
- Standing in front. You have a shield, not plate. Let the Warrior take the hits.
Other classes
Compare with the Warrior, the Rogue and the Mage, or see all four in the class guide.