Back after forever -- what on earth do I do with this cleric

[Tenzle]

Hey all -- comming back to the world after a huge hiatus. I'm not sure that this guy was ever played after gs4 (but he does not appear to have any stat migration, just a fixskills)

Name: xxxxx Race: Giantman Profession: Cleric (shown as: Cleric)
Gender: Male Age: 20 Expr: 763964 Level: 25
Normal (Bonus) ... Enhanced (Bonus)
Strength (STR): 80 (30) ... 80 (30)
Constitution (CON): 62 (16) ... 60 (15)
Dexterity (DEX): 54 (-3) ... 54 (-3)
Agility (AGI): 57 (-2) ... 57 (-2)
Discipline (DIS): 72 (11) ... 72 (11)
Aura (AUR): 94 (17) ... 94 (17)
Logic (LOG): 72 (6) ... 72 (6)
Intuition (INT): 98 (24) ... 98 (24)
Wisdom (WIS): 98 (24) ... 98 (24)
Influence (INF): 62 (11) ... 62 (11)
Mana: 86 Silver: 555
>skills
Pontis (at level 25), your current skill bonuses and ranks (including all modifiers) are:
Skill Name | Current Current
| Bonus Ranks
Armor Use..........................| 40 8
Physical Fitness...................| 102 24
Arcane Symbols.....................| 108 26
Magic Item Use.....................| 108 26
Harness Power......................| 108 26
Spirit Mana Control................| 108 26
Spiritual Lore - Blessings.........| 5 1
Spiritual Lore - Religion..........| 105 25
Perception.........................| 50 10
Climbing...........................| 25 5
Swimming...........................| 25 5

Spell Lists
Major Spirit.......................| 25

Spell Lists
Minor Spirit.......................| 25

Spell Lists
Cleric.............................| 25


Now back when I played all I had to do was bane things and everything went well -- now what I'm reading is that people are 2x spell aim and MIU to make a caster cleric and I'm not really sure if i'll be any good at that with the AWFUL dex that I have on this giantman. Is there any way to turn my little cleric into a decent pure caster, or am I going to have to go physical with him if I want to get anywhere?

[Tenzle]

Also of note -- I'm VOLN (not max rank), and I appear to worship Onar (not sure why), so I have bane not smite.

[Parker]

There are plenty of people I know of who are very successful without Spell Aiming/MIU.

However, you might find that MIU/AS are useful things to have, as they also increase DS

[Tenzle]

I'm not even sure if I wanna stay runestaff or try out brawl/shield and make better use of my VolnFU. Mostly wondering what clerics do these days not really sure whats a viable path to take with a low dex giantman these days.

[Willington]

Welcome back!
Cleric is the 1 profession i havent played but i do know raise`n clerics are needed in about every city here. I know that doesnt help you in anyway just glad to see another player returning(PC raised a ton of money for this)

Heres to hope`n some wise old Cleric helps you!

[Tenzle]

Got another question that someone might be able to answer if i've got:

Your 30 day migration period will begin when you choose to degrade a skill.

that hanging around -- does it mean that I have a 30 day free migration period for coming back? or that I have a single fixskills available?

[jarin321]

It means your skills will instantly migrate when you change them. Normally skills will migrate very slowly but new characters are given 30 days to adjust their skills instantly. They gave the same benefit to characters returning. Just type goals in game and it should popup your browser allowing you to adjust your skills. Save your fixskill because after 30 days your skills will not migrate quickly. If you made a huge change you will want your fixskills. For the stats have you tried going to the inn and checking in? If not that is how you adjust your stats. As a cleric I personally used a runestaff. Voln Fu sucks. I had a Voln Fu rogue and it can't kill shit. It's good for knocking stuff down but as clerics our spells don't care if they are already down. Overall Voln sucks ever since they got rid of the exp absorption bonus of symbol of dreams. Before that it was useless for Clerics anyway since we could meditate. If you want to be a powerful Cleric then go over to COL. There is nothing like using sign of wracking to refill your mana a couple times a hunt. As clerics we hunt with CS which is not affected by low spirit like AS is. So we can wrack to refill mana and keep hunting. You are a giant which have the second best spirit regen after dwarfs, halflings, and gnomes. I looked at the new SunFist society but they just don't have the mana regeneration to match wracking. Up to you though.

For training I would recommend aiming for at least Birg armor. I went to chainmail personally. I would personally go runestaff. I believe most of the benefit of shield and brawl is for casters who have to go into offensive. Going into offensive loses a lot of benefit from a runestaff because it is treated as a weapon. However you generally want to hunt in guarded stance. Offensive can increase spell damage with 302 and 317 but I never seen that much of a difference. I would rather not take a chance getting hit and have to possibly cast 302 one more time. For a runestaff you will want to train a minimum of 8 magical skills per train. That includes everything under magic skills, spells, and lores on the goals page. I peronsally 1.50-2x'ed in the cheap ones like AS, MIU, Mana control spirit. For mana you will want to 2.5-3x Harness power. They changed it so that you need harness power to get your full mana. Then train in major spirit spells to 225 and minor to 130. From there I would pour points into Cleric spells because that will increase your CS. Then for lores go for Religion as it will increase your damage. Other then that climbing to 40, swimming to 20, 2x first aid, and 1x survival. First aid and Survival are for skinning so that's optional. Then physical training till you are maxed in hp. Anything after that is a waste since as a caster you won't get ReDux. Then umm.. a few points in perception? Think I covered everything. From your current skills it looks like you are a little tight on points but that should change when you stop training in major spirit at 25 and minor spirit at 30. You can go to 40 in minor spirit for spirit wall but at the moment you probably don’t have the mana to use it much. I would suggest dumping points into harness power when you can. At least to 2x.

For spells you want to review the spell circles and familiarize yourself with the changes. https://www.play.net/gs4/info/spells/home.asp For hunting since you are only 25 you will mostly use 302. 312 can be powerful if you pray and set it to a 6 second roundtime. Use 317 only if you have mana to burn. When my cleric was in her 50's I started using nothing but 317 to hunt. But then I have 300 or so mana which I could refill 2-3 times a hunt with wracking. 319 is nice if you have multiple critters in the room. Be careful as there are DS changes where your DS will drop if multiple critters are attacking you at the same time. For multiple targets I recommend using 217 and then 316. 217 will reduce everything in the room's TD. Making 316 your mass stun spell easier to hit. If you are on a single target 212 will make them easier to hit with your spells. So you have to weigh the cost of 12 mana against the benefit of a few less casts of 302. Mostly only use it against bounty critters which are tougher than normal and you only have to kill the one.

As for gods you will want to use convert to change your god to want you want. A good god which are listed first with convert list will make you able to hunt under. A evil god will make you able to hunt living. So if you stay in Voln stick with a good god. If not go with an evil one. Just a personal preference but living are better to hunt. Better skins. What’s the point if the mouse is already dead?

[mrjrd222]

I've been a voln cleric from 1-76, and it's worked really well for me, especially in the beginning when I was Bane/voln.

I kept my brawling maxed, and didn't train in shield use, but still used a shield, and I still do. For living you 302, or 317 with extra mana. For undead you 301 then kick. I always had plenty of mana hunting this way even without wracking. I 2x'd in HP for the first ~30 levels then just kept it to singling.

Anyway, you really don't need spell aiming to do well at low levels, but it helps with mana problems (wands) and can be fit in while you're in your free migration period at least. Bane is really nice too, and with voln fu you have a way to kill undead. But wracking is very powerful, allows you to use 317 earlier, and MOST clerics would say go CoL. It's basically up to you how you want to hunt!

[Tenzle]

Wow, thanks for all the good info -- Yeah I'm using a runestaff now, although I spend most of my time in forward stance for the bit of a damage boost. My biggest problem is being a bane cleric I really cant seem to fight undead at all -- will I ever really be effective against undead without either spell aim or as a smite cleric? It seems really hard as right now if I get a bounty task for something unread 7 out of 10 times I just have to abandon it because the increased cost of bane along with the lack of a second round of plasma flares just annihilates me. Are clerics mostly stuck hunting whatever they are aligned too or are there some good techniques for cross hunting without going shield/brawl/fu?

[mrjrd222]

With CoL and a few more levels cross hunting wouldn't be a problem with 317. Lots of HP, lots of spirit, lots of wracking, you can blow up just about anything with 317.