Priest

Priest
Job Base(s):	Acolyte
Job Type:	2-1
Job Level:	50
Race:	Human
Changes At:	Prontera Church
Number of Skills:	34
Total Skill Points:	198
Total Quest Skills:	2
Job Bonuses

Overview

Once Acolytes have undergone rigorous spiritual training and have served the Church and the community as a whole, they have the opportunity to be promoted within the ranks of the Church. If the Monk is said to train their body to fight evil and the Undead physically, the Priest does so with magic. As their spiritual journey brings them closer to God, they gain advanced skills in healing as well as new ways to assist their allies and harm their foes. They are able to resurrect fallen comrades, protect them from harm, and bless their weapons. They can create spaces of safe haven where the Undead cannot penetrate and can decimate hordes of Undead with ease.

Most Priests find themselves in company more often than not, typically giving up their offensive abilities in order to further support those they travel with. Even though Priests are typically not on the front lines of battle, they need to be constantly aware of their surroundings and their companions. A Priest that fails to pay attention can cause problems for themselves and their friends. Priests must be able to focus on the situation at hand and also be able to multitask with little difficulty in order to assure their party stays alive.

Job Change Guide

See Priest Job Change Guide for detailed information.

Once the player reaches the minimum Job Level at 40 as an Acolyte and feels they are ready to advance in their spiritual journey, they can talk to the High Bishop in the first room on the left side of the Church in Prontera. If the High Bishop feels that the player has devoted themselves fully and is ready to prove their faith to the religion, he allows the player to start the test to become a Priest. This test involves not only facing the Undead directly but also proving that the Acolyte has studied and practiced the teachings well. If desired, the player can choose to have a player who has already become a Priest assist them in the combat portion of the test. The accompanying Priest needs to bring a Rosary in their inventory in order to participate with the Acolyte. If the player has reached Job Level 50, the High Bishop will inform them that they do not need to complete the pilgrimages portion of the test as they have experienced enough of the world to advance in the ranks of the Church.

Changing into a Priest from an Acolyte requires the player to complete a number of tasks, including:

Pilgrimages
Exorcism and Temptation Trials
Purity Test

After successfully completing these tests, the player will be transformed into a Priest. The High Bishop will also award the player a Bible [2] if they are at Job Level 50 or a Book [3] if they are lower in Job Level.

Builds

Full Support (FS)

STR: 1
AGI: 1
VIT: 80-95
INT: 90-99
DEX: 8-20
LUK: 8-20

As the name suggests, this is the most support-oriented build for Priests. The primary stat for FS is INT. It gives the player a larger SP pool and higher SP regenate, which means they can cast more healing spells and buffs. They will want to take, and almost always maximize, the Magnificat skill to help with their SP regeneration. Maximizing INT also grants resistances to a few status effects. The second stat is VIT. It gives the player larger HP pools and higher DEF, which allows them to live longer and keep other players alive. As a FS Priest, a player does not want to die, as they cannot help the rest of their party when they're dead. Typically, the third most important stat is LUK. Most importantly for FS, higher LUK increases perfect dodge rates as well as grants a slew of resistances and gives additional MATK and MDEF. DEX is usually the fourth stat for FS Priests, as it helps cut down on variable cast times, so the player can cast more spells more often. Some players will put less LUK and more DEX into their builds and vice versa, depending on personal preferences. Players can also take less VIT for more DEX or LUK, if they feel their survivability is high enough.

The player will be primarily healbombing undead monsters or partying with others for leveling. If the player intends to solo for the majority of their playing time, it is not recommended to go with this build as undead-specific maps are hard to find and leveling slows down as the player increases in level. If the player wants to become a full-support Archbishop and finds themselves soloing often, a recommended route is to go with a Battle, Turn Undead, or Magnus Exorcismus build until they transcend and go with a full-support build after, as those builds have higher damage outputs and allow the player to gain more experience than healbombing undead alone.

A FS Priest's main arsenal of skills include maximizing Resurrection, buffs (namely Kyrie Eleison, Gloria, Magnificat, Suffragium, Aspersio, Increase SP Recovery, and Impositio Manus), and getting Status Recovery, Lex Divina, and Lex Aeterna. Some players like getting Sanctuary or Safety Wall as well.

Semi Support Solo Leveling Build

STR: 1-40 (optional for more damage)
AGI: 60-80
VIT: 50-70
INT: 80-90
DEX: 40-60
LUK: 1

This build is designed for players who need to level by themselves in the early stages. AGI provides attack speed and some FLEE, so this will allow players to quest and kill their way to a high level. Due to lower VIT / INT stat progression as the player invests in AGI early on, it is not as effective as a Full Support build in party situations in terms of support, but is still quite viable.

Exorcist

Turn Undead (TU) Build

STR: 1
AGI: 1
VIT: 60-80
INT: 90-99
DEX: 60-80
LUK: 20-40

The TU-based build is often treated as a hybrid build. Most TU Priests double as Support due to the compatibility of stats and availability of support skill points. INT and LUK are the two stats that directly affect the success rate of instantly killing the Undead property targets with TU, and a must-have skill is Gloria. There is debate about the practicality of having any LUK at all (success rate difference of 2~3%), especially if the Priest is hybrid, in which case those extra points can be invested into either VIT or DEX.

Magnus Exorcismus (ME) Build

STR: 1
AGI: 1
VIT: 60-80
INT: 90-99
DEX: 60-80
LUK: 20-40

The only reliable AoE skill a Priest has. The main concern of ME-based build is the MATK and Cast Time. Players will use Level 10 Safety Wall and Lex Aeterna to mass kill Undead and Demon monsters through the use of Magnus Exorcismus. ME Priests can also effectively instantly kill Undead by using their Level 1 Resurrection, which is ranged and has no Cast Delay (but still consumes a Blue Gemstone).

Note: This build is quite difficult to play due to no survivability and the fact that there are no longer pure Undead property maps available in game. Players may find it difficult dealing with non Undead/Demon monsters on them due to the poor damage of the Holy Light skill.

Battle Priest

This is the Melee combat version of the Priest class. This build is effective against fighting Undead and Demon monsters, is very self sufficient, and also can be very fun to play. Unfortunately, it suffers from no area skills which limit it to single target killing. Battle Priests are still capable of semi/secondary-party support due to Sanctuary not relying on INT for amount healed, as well as the party buffs available, but by no means can compete with a Full Support build when it comes to support and cannot be relied on to support a full party on its own. It is usually recommended not to go full Battle Priest, and go with a hybrid Battle + Support build as it is extremely hard or slow to level a Priest solo in the later levels without an AoE skill.

This build has the following variations:

Strength

STR: 60-80
AGI: 70-90
VIT: 50-80
INT: 40-60
DEX: 40-60
LUK: 20-40

Quite effective at leveling to a high level with nothing but Eden gear on and using little to no healing items. This build is capable of self buffs, self healing, and self warping for quick transportation. Medium to Medium-High INT is still recommended for maximum efficiency in heals and buffs. A Stunner may be the best weapon option for this build due to the chance of stunning, but an Eden Group Mace III is just as efficient.

Critical

STR: 60-80
AGI: 70-90
VIT: 50-80
INT: 40-60
DEX: 20~40 (just for leveling up early on, near 100% CRIT builds do not need HIT, so low DEX is fine)
LUK: 60+

This build can be very expensive, but can out-DPS the Strength build due to consistent Critical Hits, which never miss and hit harder than regular hits. With autocasts, the player can increase their damage output even further.

Tactics

Party Menu Healing / Buffing

The most effective way to heal and buff a party is through the Party Window (Alt+Z). Trying to heal a party by manually clicking players can become impossible when players become mobbed or are bunched up, and can lead to players dying. This is why it is strongly recommended to make use of the Party Window. Another benefit to the Party Window is the ability to monitor all players' health. Ensure that the "Lock Menu" feature is on (by clicking the picture of the lock) when using this system to avoid opening private messages when trying to heal / buff a player.

SP Recovery & Conservation

One of the biggest issues new Priests have when playing the class is maintaining their SP. There are many ways for Priests to ensure that they always have SP for those dire situations. These are some important methods on maintaining SP:

Always ensure that Magnificat is on at all times. This skill will not only keep a faster SP Recovery for the Priest, but also for the rest of the party that rely on SP for using skills as well. Keeping this buff up will make parties much smoother for everybody. Try not to wait until SP is bottoming out to cast this spell, because at that point it will already be too late.
Get Increase SP Recovery. It grants the player additional natural SP regeneration. If the player cannot naturally regenerate SP (such as when carrying 50%+ weight capacity), the SP recovery will not continue until the player can resume natural regeneration.
Make use of Assumptio (Transcendent only) or Kyrie Eleison. These skills keep people protected and greatly saves SP on healing in the long run. These skills can greatly help fragile Crowd Killers such as Rangers or Spell Caster Wizards and Sages. These defensive skills can also help the party tank quite a bit. Note that any character cannot have both buffs on at the same time. An Arch Bishop can also use Praefatio, which will give KE to all party members. If the Priest notices that certain party members are lagging behind, using KE on them will give them time and leeway to retreat back to where the party is.
Stack SP Recovery or Max SP increase equipment. Gearing a Priest up with equipment that will increase their SP Recovery or Max SP will vastly help a player to maintain SP at all times.
Always have Healing Items (SP) on hand. All players should have SP healing items on hand at all times to restore SP, at least in emergencies, and this includes Priests as well. As most classes should have HP healing items of some sort on them at all times, Priests should also have SP healing items on them.
Sitting. Sitting helps to regenerate HP/SP quickly, so if the player needs to get a small boost of SP quickly, it may be worth it to sit briefly, even in combat. Note: There is an animation delay between sitting and standing back up. Be careful if using this method while in combat as the player can still be hit.

Some common items that can be easily obtained for SP regeneration include:

Strawberry: Easily farmed off Spores or Yoyos, or bought from Vendors.
Blue Potion: Can be brewed by Alchemists or purchased from Vendors.
Blue Herb: Can be farmed off Blue Plants for high drop rate. Alchemists can be use them to brew Blue Potions.
Grape Juice: Farmed off Dragon Flies (rare monsters). Can also be made with the Juice Quest.
Royal Jelly: Farmed off Enchanted Peach Trees and Zipper Bears.
Orange: Farmed off Baby Desert Wolves, Peco Pecos, Condors, etc.
Green Ale: Usually only available through holiday quests. Restores 50% of Max HP and Max SP. Can also be purchased off Vendors.

Skill Tips

Priests should remember that Lex Aeterna loses its rather long Cast Delay if used under the effect of Magic Strings, to the point when it can be constantly casted. This is a great way to double the damage output of parties, especially in single target situations such as MVPs.

Some skills in the Priests' arsenal may not serve a strong use while still leveling as a Priest, but many may have uses in MVP situations or other specific scenarios. These should be hotkeyed as well, and often an Arch Bishop will have all four rows of hotkeys used up. Some of these include:

Pneuma: A very powerful and necessary skill for Endless Tower runs as well as when fighting ranged monsters within a party. Certain ranged monsters and skills are very powerful and this spell can save players a lot of stress. Make sure the party members are positioned correctly. Nine people can actually fit into one Pneuma's area.
Aspersio: This skill endows a party member's weapon with the Holy property, which will greatly improve a party member's physical damage when the monsters are weak to the Holy property.
Status Recovery and Cure: Priests must pay attention to the Status Effects inflicted on their party members and should use the two skills on them accordingly.
Sanctuary: This spell has great healing power for a low SP cost (but uses a Blue Gemstone). Highly recommended to have this skill at Level 7, as that already provides the maximum healing power already. Level 8~10 only increases its duration.

Equipment

This article or section needs to be updated.

Eden Group Equipments Quests

Main article: Eden Group Equipments Quests

Eden Group Equipment is free and a great place to start for gear to use. The Staff is a good weapon and generally a good choice for a Priest and their future classes' use.

General Equipment Recommendations

Main article: Equipment

The Equipment article lists some general all purpose equipment that is useful through the PVM phase and also for endgame use as well.

Third Class Compatible Equipment

Main article: Arch Bishop Equipment

It is recommended to look at the Equipment recommendations for the Third Class job to see what equipment to strive for, rather than to spend a lot of money on a piece of equipment that will not be used in the future as a third class. However, some equipment may have a high level requirement, or are transcendent only.

Weapons

After considering what requirement skills have (some skills can only be used with certain weapon types), the Weapon Search tool within the iRO Wiki DB site is very helpful. Generally, for physical classes (both melee and ranged), something with high ATK is best. For magic classes, something with high MATK is best.

Link to the iRO Wiki DB Weapon Search: http://db.irowiki.org/db/weapon-search/

Full Support

Headgear

Recommended cards:

any Max SP increasing cards.

Armor

Weapon

Shield

Recommended cards:

Resistance cards.

Garment

Footgear

Vidar's Boots

Recommended cards:

Sohee, Verit and Firelock.

Accessories

Clip + Spiritual Ring (SP Recovery Boost)
Morpheus's Bracelet
Morpheus's Ring

Recommended cards:

Phen.

Equipment Sets

Morpheus

This cheap and affordable set is a great way for Priests to get some additional Max SP and a little more out of their heals.