Okay, with my lack of interest in RO and general inactivity here, this may well be the final version of this guide, which was formerly known as "Xyzzy's Full Support Priest Guide" before I changed my alias. However, I have restarted this thread and locked the old one both to clean things up a bit, and to make for easier modification later on, just in case I decide to make future changes. I case you want to check out replies in the old thread, it can be found here:
http://forums.roempire.com/showthread.php?t=6965
Anyway, thanks, and enjoy!
Thread stats as of closing of old guide thread:
Views: 145,896
Replies: 327
- Lord Disa
v02.17.05
Credit goes to Dalgar of ROEmpire for the image...thanks Dalgar!
/---[Contents]
If you wish to skip straight to a certain section in this guide, simply click on the section name in this table of contents.
1 Preface
- 1a Introduction
- 1b Credits
- 1c Useful Links
2 The Main Build
- 2a Core Stats
- 2b Final Stats
- 2c Acolyte Skills
- 2d Priest Skills
3 Skill Build Modifications
- 3a Sanctuary
- 3b B.S. Sacramenti
- 3c Secondary Support Build
4 Leveling
- 4a Novice Speed-Leveling
- 4b Acolyte Test Ascetics
- 4c Acolyte Leveling
5 Equipment
- 5a Base Equipment Set
- 5b Base Set Improvements
- 5c Specialized Equipment
6 Additional Notes
- 6a Pneuma Hopping
- 6b Why No Dex?
- 6c Vit/Dex Ratio Comparisons
- 6d Hotkeys and Battlemode
7 Update History
/---[Preface]
[Introduction]
Welcome to my Full Support Priest Guide! I'm doing what I can to make this into the best source of advice regarding Full Support Acolytes and Priests. As more questions are asked, and as I find more information that I feel can help you out regarding this class, I will keep this guide updated accordingly.
If you are reading this guide on any site other than ROEmpire or RagnarokHQ, you are quite possibly reading an outdated version of my guide, as I only support and update the guide on these two sites.
[Credits]
I wish to thank the site administrators, forum moderators, and fellow users on ROEmpire and RagnarokHQ for their support. Some of the additions and changes were made based on, or inspired by feedback from other forum members. I also wish to thank Dalgar once more for making (and allowing me to use) the image at the top of this guide.
[Useful Links]
RO Empire
- Want thorough monster and item databases? Go here.
Ragnarok HQ
- Need a good skill simulator? They have it.
Emperium.org
- Want accurate Post-Juno card stats? Go here.
RagnaInfo
- Looking for kRO update news? This is the place to be.
Pitou's SP Regen Simulator
- Want to know your SP Regen rate with certain equips and INT? Go here.
iROcalc
- Great tool for planning stat builds.
/---[The Main Build]
[Core Stats]
Follow the Core Stat build in the order listed below. Underneath the list are explanations for each step.
[1] Start with 9 INT, 9 VIT, 9 LUK (the rest will stay at 1).
[2] 99 Base INT
[3] 92 Base VIT
[4] See Final Stats subsection.
[1] Your build will focus primarily on INT and VIT, so obviously these will start at 9, which leaves the decision of whether to go with AGI or LUK. While AGI can help slightly in early levels, it will serve no purpose later on, so you will want to go for 9 LUK for the extra perfect dodge, as well as the extra resistance against many status ailments.
[2] You will want to max INT first, so you have as much SP as you can, as fast of natural SP recovery as possible, and when you heal, you want to heal for as much as possible. With proper equipment, and your final job stat bonus, you will have a total of 120 INT, which will get you a good sp regen rate, sp capacity, and heal effectiveness.
[3] Next, you will want to work on VIT. With 92 Base VIT, proper equips, and job stat bonuses, you will have a total of 100 VIT, which will get you good VIT defense, good HP capacity and regen, and immunity from Poison, Stun, and Silence. The status immunity mentioned is the reason that this should be the bare minimum VIT level to shoot for in your final build.
[4] Once you are finished with the steps above, proceed to the Final Stats subsection to read about some of the choices you have available for finishing out your stat build.
[Final Stats]
Once you've finished with the Core Stat Build, you will have a few choices to make regarding your final stat build. First, you will want to decide how much VIT you want to finish your build with...then, decide whether you wish to spend remaining stat points (if any remain) on DEX for casting speed, STR for weight capacity, or a bit of both.
- 1: Choose your final VIT level.
First, you'll want to decide how much VIT you wish to finish your build with. If you've followed the Core Stat Build, then you already meet the bare minimum VIT level that I recommend, so beyond that, it's a matter of preference. Keep in mind that increasing VIT will increase max HP, VIT Defense, Angelus benefits, and Kyrie damage absorption.
If you wish to go full INT/VIT, then get your base VIT to 99 for a total of 107. Otherwise, 92 base VIT for a total of 100 will work quite nicely, and allow room for some DEX for faster casting, or STR for higher weight capacity.
- 2: Distribute the remaining stat points.
With VIT taken care of, you will now want to decide what to do with your remaining stat points (if any). As mentioned in the Core Stat Build, AGI is of no use at later levels for a Full Support Priest, so we can disregard that. Also, while adding a bit more LUK can ever-so-slightly increase some status resistances, it's more of a waste than it's worth...but getting it to a total of 20 LUK for the extra perfect dodge is a viable option. That leaves us with the two main options: STR and DEX.
If you are making a WoE-dedicated build or otherwise plan to be in many situations that call for using potions to sustain yourself so you can spend more of your sp and casting time for your partymates, then STR can help out by increasing your weight capacity so you can hold more white potions, blue potions, blue gemstones, holy water...whatever you need. However, most builds can benefit more from having more VIT, or even higher DEX.
If you plan to make heavy use of a Phen Accessory or plan to partake regularly in WoE, or otherwise find the cast time of Magnificat to be terribly unbearable, then you may wish to add some DEX to make your cast time faster on Magnificat, Kyrie Eleison, Increase AGI, Angelus, and Warp Portal. However, please read the "Why No Dex?" Additional Notes subsection regarding the benefits of VIT vs. DEX before making your final decision.
[Acolyte Skills]
I recommend taking these in order, although some may argue for learning Increase AGI before starting into Ruwach/Teleport/Warp/Pneuma. However, your most versatile leveling spot (most character classes can level there pretty well) at that level range will be Toy Factory level 2, and Pneuma will be a life saver there, with all of the Cruisers wandering about. While most people who are the level of the person you're supporting are avoiding Cruisers while burning pots as they kill Myst Cases, the person you're supporting can kill Cruisers without taking a hit because of the protection that Pneuma provides.
[1] Heal 10
[2] Divine Protection 5
[3] Blessing 10
[4] Ruwach 1
[5] Teleport 2
[6] Warp Portal 4
[7] Pneuma 1
[8] Increase AGI 10
[9] Angelus 5 (will get to 10 as Priest)
[10] Aqua Benedicta 1
[Priest Skills]
Again, I recommend taking these in order, but with exception of Magnificat, it's a bit less important than when you are an acolyte.
[1] Magnificat 3
[2] Increase SP Recovery 4
[3] Status Recovery 1
[4] Resurrection 1
[5] Impositio Manus 2
[6] Suffragium 3
[7] Impositio Manus 5
[8] Kyrie Eleison 10
[9] Aspersio 1
[10] Gloria 1
[11] Lex Divina 5
[12] Lex Aeterna 1
[13] Angelus 10
[14] Gloria 3
[15] Aspersio 4
[16] Resurrection 4
[17] Decrease AGI 1
I really don't like skipping to another skill before maxing one, but there are some exceptions here: Angelus suffers a pretty long gap, simply because there are a lot of Priest skills that deserve immediate priority. Impositio Manus has a gap to get Suffragium maxed, because as a full support, you'll find that being in share parties with wizards makes for a nice xp fountain, so it's best to get the best magic support skill taken care of as soon as you can. Aspersio and Gloria stay at 1 for a while because the only the only change as you level them is increased duration, so level 1 will do as you get the rest of your main skill build filled out. Resurrection 1 will hold you until you're almost done with the build, when you max it for the extra benefits.
Resurrection is maxed, because when someone dies, you are more than likely the next target. You cannot kill, nor defend yourself very well...so your main goal will be to revive the person you're supporting...so the decreased cast time is essential, as well as the higher hp given to the person you resurrect, so they don't get immediately killed before you can heal them.
/---[Skill Build Modifications]
[Sanctuary]
If you do decide that you must have Sanctuary, simply remove Aqua Benedicta, Aspersio, Lex Divina, and Lex Aeterna from your build and get Sanctuary to level 8. From what I've heard, Sanctuary can be used to heal the Emperium in Guild Wars. Also, a Sanctuary placed in town is an effective, albeit costly, way to deal with heal beggars. However, getting it does mean that you miss out on the useful Lex Aeterna skill, and the less useful, but sometimes handy, Aspersio.
[B.S. Sacramenti]
I have excluded B.S. Sacramenti from my suggested skill build, because there are other, more versatile, skills to choose from. The fact that you must have two other cleric-type characters (Acolyte or Priest) lined up with you lessens its usefulness even more. However, if you have the resources for it, it can prove itself valuable in PvP situations, such as WoE. The combination of having your party under the protection of BSS, and using Aspersio on your enemies, can significantly reduce the damage that you and your allies receive.
If you wish to learn B.S. Sacramenti, simply remove Lex Divina and Lex Aeterna from your build, and then either reduce Resurrection to level 1, or reduce Impositio Manus and Resurrection to level 3.
[Secondary Support Build]
WARNING: If you wish to make a versatile support priest to support a party in as many situations as possible, then do -NOT- make this build! This build is intended for use as a secondary support, and requires the help of a Primary Full Support Priest (like the one explained throughout the rest of this guide) to be effective, as well as one more Acolyte or Priest to perform B.S. Sacramenti. For a more versatile full support build, go to the [Acolyte Skills] and [Priest Skills] main sections.
As a Secondary Support, you will rely a lot on the general Full Support for Primary Support functions, since while you do have basic support skills (Heal, Increase AGI, Blessing), you do lack many of the more advanced skills. Also, being a VIT character, you will also be relying on the Primary Supporter for your Angelus bonuses, as you lack a high level of that skill. However, your lack of many advanced party support skills is made up somewhat by the fact that you will have level 10 Safety Wall, which will help your team with encounters with melee opponents, and will be your only blue gemstone sink.
Your main shining point as a Secondary Support will be your abilities that involve reducing the opponent's effectiveness, by slowing them down, making them unable to use their skills, or by nullifying their ability to do melee damage to your party by casting Aspersio on them, and B.S. Sacramenti on your party (for PVP and WoE situations). You will also have Sanctuary, which can be used to heal the emperium in WoE, and to heal large numbers of players when you're not in a combat situation.
For stats, follow the same stat build as for the general Full Support. However, you may wish to lower your VIT a bit to get some higher DEX with this build, since some of your skills that you cast on enemies do have a cast time, albeit not a long one.
WARNING (again): If you wish to make a versatile support priest to support a party in as many situations as possible, then do -NOT- make this build! This build is intended for use as a secondary support, and requires the help of a Primary Full Support Priest (like the one explained throughout the rest of this guide) to be effective, as well as one more Acolyte or Priest to perform B.S. Sacramenti. For a more versatile full support build, go to the [Acolyte Skills] and [Priest Skills] main sections.
Secondary WoE Support Skill Build (you'll be going to acolyte job 50):
--Acolyte
Heal 10
Divine Protection 5
Blessing 10
Increase AGI 10
Decrease AGI 10
Angelus 2
Ruwach 1
Aqua Benedicta 1
--Priest
Magnificat 3
Impositio Manus 3
Aspersio 5
Kyrie Eleison 4
Gloria 3
B.S. Sacramenti 5
Lex Divina 5
Lex Aeterna 1
Lex Divina 6
Sanctuary 7
Safety Wall 10
Sanctuary 9
/---[Leveling]
[Novice Speed-Leveling]
This assumes that you have another, higher level character with some zeny to spare, and that you want to get through your novice levels as fast as possible without spending a whole lot of money.
[1] Have novice kill porings to get to 2/1.
[2] Have another character purchase a Blade and Mace, and upgrade them both to +7. Also, purchase 300 reds. Put the +7 Mace and 200 of the reds into storage.
[3] Get both characters to a secluded area, and drop the +7 Blade and 100 reds on the ground, and have the Novice pick them up. Yes, I know that puts you over 50% weight. Equip the +7 Blade. Hotkey the reds.
[4] Save at the Kafra next to the Culverts on the map just west of Prontera, then head to the Rocker map south of that. Alternatively, you can save at Izlude and head west, south, east from Izlude to get to Poring Island to kill Marins if you're up for a bit more of a challenge.
[4] Kill Rockers. You'll need to use a red every time you get hit until you're up to about 60 hp, then you can drop down to using a red after every two hits you take. If you decided to save at Izlude and go to Poring Island, you'll be looking for Marins. Beware, they occasionally cast Frost Diver. By the time you are out of reds, your job level will allow you to access storage to get the next 100.
[5] Once you're to 12/10, you should have about 85-100 of the 300 reds remaining. Take the acolyte test, and then equip the +7 Mace and return to Rockers to level your job level until you're out of reds. By then, your Heal level should be acceptable enough to use that instead of reds. From here, follow the aco leveling subsection below.
[Acolyte Test Ascetics]
In case you are unaware of the location of the ascetic that you need to talk to for the Acolyte test, I have provided them for you. I am only listing the mapname and coordinates, for simplicity. You can access the world map on the official Ragnarok Online web site to find out how to get to the specific map mentioned. For coordinates, remember that 1, 1 is the southwest corner, and the first number is the x-coordinate (increases as you go east), and the second number is the y-coordinate (increases as you go north). Oh yes, and after talking to the ascetic you were assigned to, you will need to walk back, because your save point is now that ascetic, so you can't use death as a shortcut back to Prontera.
Mother Marthilda: Sograt Desert(moc_fild07) : 41, 355
Father Rubalkabara: Prontera Field(prt_fild03) : 365, 255
Father Yosuke: Prontera Field(prt_fild00) : 208, 218
[Acolyte Leveling]
- Pre-Heal 10
Kill Rockers, healing when necessary...if you don't have enough reds or sp to take them on yet, kill pickies until you can semi-safely start on Rockers. As you near Heal 10, start finding swordies in share range, and support them on Poring Island (South, South, East from Prontera or West, West, North from Payon), healing when necessary.. but do make sure that they know of your sp difficulties. You may also consider healbombing in Payon Cave level 1, killing Skeletons, then Zombies as you near Heal 10.
- Post-Heal 10, Pre-Blessing 10
Support swordies or thieves on either Smokies (East, East from Payon), or Elder Willows (East, South from Payon). Don't bother with blessing for now, as at low levels it's just a waste of SP. Once you have Blessing to about level 6, start using that...but make sure you keep enough SP to heal when necessary. If you're taking the solo approach, continue on Payon 1.
You may also try partying up with an archer and head to the new Greatest General map (South, West from Payon). If you do this, both of you will need to bring flywings. Your job will be to keep the Archer blessed and help him find Greatest Generals...but beware of Vagabond Wolf, who spawns occasionally on the map. Also, the Archer needs to have Vulture's Eye maxed, and needs to be some distance away from the Greatest Generals before attacking, so he's out of range of them being able to cast Earth Spike on him.
- Post-Blessing 10, Pre-Pneuma
Support a swordie or thief on the map two north of Geffen. You may also try leveling with an Archer on Greatest Generals (see information above regarding this). Partying with a Mage on argiopes may also work, but Petites may pose a problem. Flywings may help, but separating a support from the person he's helping also leads to potential problems. If healbombing, you may consider Payon 2 (watch out for Archer Skeletons here, they can cause problems) or Orc Dungeon.
Once you get to higher levels, you may consider supporting a mage in Clocktower level 2, killing Punks and Clocks. However, with the mage having neither the hp of a wizard nor the Quagmire skill, Ridewords and Mimics pose a serious threat. Things may be easier here if you learn Increase AGI before Pneuma, but even then it's still quite risky, and Pneuma will help out immensely in Toy Factory, which is a much more stable leveling area. In Clocktower, the Mage must be experienced with making use of vertical firewalls, and needs to know how to deal with Ridewords and Mimics (easiest strategy would be to cast a firewall on the opposite side of him as the threat, then run though it, then cast a vertical firewall).
- Post-Pneuma to Priest
Once you have Pneuma, you can support a number of classes in Toy Factory level 2. Your primary targets will be Cruisers, as you are nearly invulnerable to them so long as you make proper use of Pneuma. Keep in mind that they do have a short-range skill that is not blocked by pneuma, so if they are targetting someone who's right next to them, this will still hit, doing about 200 dmg. If you can, stay in the lead so they're more likely to target you, and stand back a ways to prevent this from happening. Swordies, Thieves, Archers, and Mages are all good choices for killing them. If you two can handle the damage they deal, Myst Cases are also a viable option, when no Cruisers are nearby. They are cast sensors, so mages can use the usuall vertical firewall then firebolt technique, and with archers, your best option would be to cast holy light or increase agi up (once you start learning it) to get it chasing you, then run in circles as the Archer shoots it.
Clocktower level 2 may also be an option.. see info in the Pre-Pneuma section regarding this. Also, if you are unable to find someone to support, you can go to the Glast Heim Churchyard and healbomb Ghouls, Wraiths, and Evil Druids...finding a mag party (a party which has a Priest casting Magnificat to speed up sp regen rates) will be quite beneficial here for sp regen, as well as for having an easier time finding someone to Resurrect you when you have a bad experience with a Hunter Fly, Mimic, or Dark Lord.
- Priesthood
Party, support.. need I say more? For the first few job levels, however, you may wish to mag party a bit more in the Churchyard while learning Magnificat and Increase SP Recovery.
/---[Equipment]
Be warned, most of the good equipment that you'll be getting is expensive. With this considered, Many of the selections below start with a pretty cheap store-sold option to start with, while others you can do without anything until you have more money. Also, all card options are based on Post-Juno stats.
[Base Equipment Set]
- Weapon
Once you finish with your melee novice days, save enough money to purchase a Staff in Geffen. Later on when you have some more zeny, buy an Arc Wand (also from Geffen), and that'll get you by until you have your base INT to 99 and have reached Priesthood. After reaching Priesthood, you'll want to find a three-slotted Staff and three Fabre cards to make a Triple Vital Staff. That will do the job to help you reach 120 INT with your final equips, as well as help with your VIT and max HP. Don't bother upgrading any of your weapons, as physical attack strength isn't a concern of a Full Support.
Final Weapon: Triple Vital Staff
- Upper Headgear
Whatever you want (preferably with high DEF) that can be equipped on an Acolyte, until you have more money. When you can afford it, get an Erudite Hat (Slotted Hat with Elder Willow Card). Later on when you're more wealthy, get an Erudite Biretta, and upgrade it to +4.
Final Upper Headgear: +4 Erudite Biretta
- Middle Headgear
Whatever you want. When you become much more wealthy, get Erudite Sunglasses.
Final Middle Headgear: Erudite Sunglasses
- Lower Headgear
Whatever you want, so long as it doen't interfere with you wearing your Erudite Sunglasses when you finally get them.
- Armor
Start with an Adventurer's Suit. During mid-levels, you may wish to find a slotted armor that you can equip, and socket it with a Baby Desertwolf Card, for the +1 to INT. Your final armor goal is a Slotted Saint's Robe, and a PecoPeco Card will be your best card choice (for the +10% Max HP). Upgrade the Saint's Robe to +4.
Final Armor: +4 PecoPeco Saint's Robe
- Garment
Start with a hood. Later on when you have a LOT of zeny (as this is one of the most expensive equips you'll want to get for your Priest, short of the Safety Rings), Get a Slottted Muffler of the highest upgrade level possible (at least +6, but if you can manage to get a +7 or +8, more power to you, but plan on spending several million zeny), and then socket it with a Raydric Card (also plan on spending several million zeny on this) for 20% neutral damage reduction.
Final Garment: +6 Immune Muffler
- Accessories
Earrings may be of some help early on, but are not needed for achieving the 120 total INT in the end. Your final accessory selection will likely be the most expensive of all the equipment listed in my guide, and you may very well not be able to afford them (or be lucky enough to find them) until you're well into the 90s in base level. This final accessory goal is two Safety Rings, which will get you a whopping +3 DEF and +3 mDEF each.
Final Accessories: Two Safety Rings
- Shield
Start with a Guard. Later on, you'll want to gather a collection of damage reducing Bucklers. You may want to acquire +6 or better slotted Bucklers to use with the appropriate cards, but +4 will also do if you don't mind slowly replacing them with higher upgrade level versions later on. You'll want a damage reducing Buckler for each of the most common races in the game. The cards are as following: Bigfoot* for Insect, Khalitzburg* for Demon, Orc Warrior* for Brute, Rafflesia for Fish, Sky Petite for Dragon, Soldier Andre for Plant, Thara Frog* for Demi-human. The four that have stars should be your main priorities.
Final Shields: +4 Bigfoot, Khalitzburg, Orc Warrior, and Thara Frog Bucklers
- Shoes
Start out with Sandals until you have a decent zeny supply. Then when you get some zeny saved up, for your earlier levels, use Sohee shoes for the increased max sp. Later on, you may wish to switch to Eggyra Shoes, since once your sp regen is higher, the increased boost to it will matter more than max sp. Once you get to the point where your sp regen rate is fast enough that you are finding it hard or impossible to run out of sp, then switch to Green (Matyr) Shoes...the increased max hp will help out noticably by itself, and will also make Kyrie Eleison protect you a bit better. Once you have made your final footgear selection, upgrade it to +4.
Final Shoes: +4 Green Shoes
[Base Set Improvements]
Once you've obtained all of your final equipment selections from above, you will want to start acquiring operupgraded versions of the ones you have at +4. Try to get at least +6 versions...if you can get +7, great; if you manage to get +8, perfect! The success chances on anything beyond +8 are so negligable that I wouldn't recommend wasting too much time dreaming about them. You probably noticed that I told you to get at least +6 and higher if possible right away for the Immune Muffler...that's because the Raydric card alone costs several million zeny, unlike the rest of the cards you use.
One thing though, make sure that if you are trying the upgrades yourself (rather than buying them from vendors, which would be a safer option), that you upgrade the equipment BEFORE inserting any cards (if the equipment breaks, any cards in it are lost as well), and do not try to upgrade your current Base Equipment Set that you are relying on (example: find a new set of slotted shoes to try to upgrade to +6; don't try to upgrade your only set of +4 Green Shoes to +6).
You will be shooting for an Improved Base Equipment Set, which will look something like this (remember, if you can get better than +6, more power to you):
Weapon: Triple Vital Staff (no changes)
Upper Headgear: +6 Erudite Biretta
Middle Headgear: Erudite Sunglasses (no changes)
Lower Headgear: (whatever)
Armor: +6 PecoPeco Saint's Robe
Garment: +6 Immune Muffler (no changes)
Accessories: Two Safety Rings (no changes)
Shields: +6 Bigfoot, Khalitzburg, Orc Warrior, and Thara Frog Bucklers
Shoes: +6 Green Shoes
[Specialized Equipment]
- Upper Headgear
When doing any PvP related activities, or if supporting in High Orcs, a Poo Poo Hat will help out a bit for reducing damage taken.
- Armor
Although your Basic Set armor will get you through most situations, you may want to acquire some other, more specialized, carded Saint's Robes for special occasions. For War of Emperium (Guild Wars), you will probably want an Unfrozen (Marc card) Saint's Robe to prevent you from being frozen. Also, some boss monsters use particularly powerful elemental skills on a frequent basis (Dark Lord with Meteor Storm, Baphomet with Lord of Vermilion, and Stormy Knight with Storm Gust, for example). For those, you may wish to have an elemental armor of the appropriate element (Dokebi for wind, Pasana for fire, Swordfish for water...the other elements are pretty much insignificant in comparison to these three).
- Garment
Along with the elemental armor cards listed above, there are some additional elemental resistance cards available for garments. The main ones you may wish to consider are Dustiness (wind), Jakk (fire), and Marse (water). Combined with an armor of the same element, you will be pretty well protected against the biggest AoE skills that boss monsters can toss at you. However, whether you should use an elemental resist muffler or an immune muffler is dependant on what you're doing around the boss monster. If you're going to be taking many hits from them, you'll still want to use the immune muffler for the neutral resistance. If you're going to be mostly hanging back to support, the elemental resist muffler may be a better choice.
Also, I could think of a few reasons to get a Frilldora card for the level 1 Cloaking skill...not all of which involve being able to get though towns without being accosted by heal/buff beggars.
- Accessories
You may also want to start a collection of various carded clips to help you in certain situations: Hide Clip (mostly for lower levels, when your melee partner is more capable of taking hits than you), Envenom Clip (for hitting high-flee monsters to tank for a magic user, for example), Phen Clip (in case you happen to need to use cast time skills when mobbed), Detoxify Clip (because Status Recovery doesn't cure Poison).
/---[Additional Notes]
[Pneuma Hopping]
I've heard some complaints mentioning how 'useless' Pneuma is post-comodo, or how badly it's been 'nerfed,' and complaining how you are left vulnerable from the time one pneuma expires until you cast the next one because it can't be stacked...so I feel the need to dispell some rumors and let you know how to effectively use pneuma to get continuous protection from it, should the need arrise.
The first and most important thing you should understand about pneuma is what it blocks, and what area is protected by the pneuma. Pneuma completely blocks all ranged attacks (not melee or magic attacks) toward a target that's in its area of protection. This includes arrows from archer skeletons, attacks from penonemas, and bullets fired from cruisers, among other things. Pneuma's area of protection (AoP) includes the tile that the pneuma is on, as well as the next tile in all directions, forming a 3x3 area.
Code:
ZZZZZ
ZOOOZ
ZOXOZM
ZOOOZ
ZZZZZ
In the figure above, the 'X' represents the tile that the pneuma is on (we'll call it the Pneuma Tile), and each 'O' represents a surrounding protected tile (we'll call them the surrounding tiles). The AoP consists of both the Pneuma Tile, as well as the eight surrounding tiles. You may not cast another pneuma on top of an existing pneuma, or within the next two tiles away from it, so each 'Z' in the figure above represents an unprotected tile upon which another pneuma may not be cast (we'll call them perimeter tiles). So, if you cast another pneuma, it must be cast outside the the AoP and perimeter. This does not mean that you cannot achieve continuous pneuma protection, however. If you place another pneuma on the third tile to the right of the first (represented by 'M' in the figure), you will get this:
Code:
ZZZZZZZZ
ZOOOOOOZ
ZOXOOXOZ
ZOOOOOOZ
ZZZZZZZZ
You'll notice that now the AoP of the two pneumas touch each other, providing complete protection for you and/or someone else to move from one to the other. You can continue to 'pneuma hop' if need be, in any direction, including placing the new pneuma where the last one used to be after it expires, to backtrack.
Also, if you are partied with a bow user and a melee class and encounter an enemy that uses long-range attacks, be sure to place the pneuma on the opposite side of the melee player from the enemy, so it will protect him, but not also shield the enemy from the arrows of your long-range ally.
[Why No Dex?]
I've grown quite tired of people telling me that a Full Support Priest build should have less VIT and more DEX, and all the posts where people others how necessary it is for them to get DEX to speed up their skill casting. As such, I have added this section to explain why DEX is unimportant for a Full Support Priest build.
I will start by explaining what DEX does for you. Each point of DEX lowers the cast time of skills (that have cast times) by two thirds of a percent. To make that easier to remember, just keep in mind that for every 15 DEX, you've reduced the cast time by 10%. DEX has NO effect on the delay after a skill is used. This is a great stat for Wizards, as many of their skills take between 7 and 20+ seconds to cast...and even longer if they use a Phen Clip. Also, wizards have no defensive stats (their defense is their offensive capabilities), so taking 20 seconds to cast will lead to their cast being interrupted by an attack, or them getting killed. However, Full Support Priests are a completely different story. A Full Support Priest has four skills that have a cast time associated with them: Magnificat (5 seconds), Kyrie Eleison (2 seconds), Increase AGI (1 second), and Angelus (0.5 seconds). At the 1+14 DEX at Job 50, Magnificat will be 4.5 seconds, Kyrie 1.8 seconds, Increase AGI 0.9 seconds, and Angelus 0.45 seconds. If you knock your VIT down to 95 to get DEX to 19, you will only be shaving about 0.6 seconds off Magnificat, 0.36 seconds off Kyrie, and 0.12 seconds off Angelus and Increase AGI. Reducing VIT to 80 to get 50 DEX will still only be shaving 1.6 seconds off Magnificat, 1 second off Kyrie, and 0.33 seconds off Increase AGI and Angelus.
Now let's talk about VIT. The examples below are for a 99/50 Priest with Matyr Shoes, PecoPeco Armor, and a Triple Vital Staff. Two examples will be given for each change.. one including an Andre Egg shield in the equipment, and one not including it. At 99 VIT and Job 50, you will have 10,926 hp, or 11,381 with an Andre Egg Shield. Reducing your VIT to 95 will drop your hp down to 10,722 (204hp drop), or 11,168 (213hp drop) with Andre Egg Shield. Reducing VIT to 80 will drop hp to 9,956 (970hp drop), or 10,371 (1,010hp drop) with Andre Egg Shield.
So, by reducing VIT to 95 to get DEX to 19, you sacrifice 204-213hp for a 0.12-0.6 second cast time reduction (on the four skills that have a cast time), and by reducing VIT to 80 to get DEX to 50, you sacrifice 970-1,010hp for a 0.33-1.6 second cast time reduction. This also means that by reducing VIT to 95, you sacrifice 61-64hp Kyrie Protection and 6 VIT defense with Angelus (4 natural, 2 from Angelus); and by reducing VIT to 80, you sacrifice 291-303hp Kyrie Protection, and 29 VIT defense with Angelus (19 natural, 10 from Angelus). Also keep in mind that the top end of the cast time savings is for Magnificat, a skill that is rarely used in the heat of battle.
Considering the enormous cost of dropping VIT compared to the negligable benefit of the added DEX, I conclude that dropping VIT to 80 in favor of getting 50 DEX is not a wise decision. However, if you still insist on getting *some* DEX, dropping VIT to 95 and getting DEX to 19 at some point in your build isn´t a terrible tradeoff...but re-read the numbers above and make that decision yourself.
[Vit/Dex Ratio Comparisons]
WARNING: This section contains a lot of technical information! If you are new to the game and don't wish to be confused, then skip over this section for now, and come back once you're more familiar with the game.
For your enjoyment, I have gone though the grueling task of finding out the exact differences between several different ratios of VIT and DEX. Below, you will first see the control data (the stuff that doesn't change), followed by the variable info and results. The results include Max HP, VIT Defense, resistance against Silence, Stun, and Poison, as well as cast times for the support skills and the damage you would take per hit from a Hunter Fly, a Ride word, and Dark Lord.
- Control Data
Level: 99/50
Equips:
Triple Vital Staff
+6 Erudite Biretta
Erudite Sunglasses
+6 Buckler
+6 PecoPeco Saint's Robe
+6 Immune Muffler
+6 Green Shoes
2 Safety Rings
Buffs:
Blessing 10
Increase AGI 10
Angelus 10
Magnificat 3
Control Stats:
STR 1+15
AGI 1+17
INT 99+21
LUK 9+7
Armor DEF: 44%
Max SP: 1766
- 107 VIT / 15 DEX
Max HP: 10,926
VIT DEF: 127~192
Stun/Silence Resist: 100%
Poison Resist: 100%
Cast Time: 90%
Magnificat: 4.5s
KE/Warp: 1.8s
Increase AGI: 0.9s
Angelus: 0.45s
Hunter Fly: 1-47
Rideword: 108-258
Dark Lord: 1088-1373
- 100 VIT / 42 DEX
Max HP: 10,569
VIT DEF: 120~172
Stun/Silence Resist: 100%
Poison Resist: 100%
Cast Time: 72%
Magnificat: 3.6s
KE/Warp: 1.44s
Increase AGI: 0.72s
Angelus: 0.36s
Hunter Fly: 1-53
Rideword: 124-264
Dark Lord: 1104-1379
- 90 VIT / 61 DEX
Max HP: 10,058
VIT DEF: 108~147
Stun/Silence Resist: 98%
Poison Resist: 96%
Cast Time: 59.3%
Magnificat: 2.97s
KE/Warp: 1.19s
Increase AGI: 0.59s
Angelus: 0.3s
Hunter Fly: 1-62
Rideword: 144-273
Dark Lord: 1124-1388
- 80 VIT / 75 DEX
Max HP: 9,548
VIT DEF: 96~121
Stun/Silence Resist: 88%
Poison Resist: 86%
Cast Time: 50%
Magnificat: 2.5s
KE/Warp: 1s
Increase AGI: 0.5s
Angelus: 0.25s
Hunter Fly: 13-72
Rideword: 164-283
Dark Lord: 1145-1398
- 70 VIT / 85 DEX
Max HP: 9,037
VIT DEF: 84~99
Stun/Silence Resist: 78%
Poison Resist: 76%
Cast Time: 43.3%
Magnificat: 2.17s
KE/Warp: 0.87s
Increase AGI: 0.43s
Angelus: 0.22s
Hunter Fly: 31-81
Rideword: 182-292
Dark Lord: 1163-1408
- 60 VIT / 93 DEX
Max HP: 8,527
VIT DEF: 72~79
Stun/Silence Resist: 68%
Poison Resist: 66%
Cast Time: 38%
Magnificat: 1.9s
KE/Warp: 0.76s
Increase AGI: 0.38s
Angelus: 0.19s
Hunter Fly: 47-91
Rideword: 198-302
Dark Lord: 1179-1417
- 50 VIT / 99 DEX
Max HP: 8,017
VIT DEF: 60
Stun/Silence Resist: 58%
Poison Resist: 56%
Cast Time: 34%
Magnificat: 1.7s
KE/Warp: 0.68s
Increase AGI: 0.34s
Angelus: 0.17s
Hunter Fly: 62-101
Rideword: 213-312
Dark Lord: 1194-1427
[Hotkeys and Battlemode]
For playing a Full Support Priest, you really need to use battlemode. By typing /bm, the three rows of hotkeys will be mapped to the letter keys on the keyboard. The F-keys become row 1, "qwertyuio" becomes row 2, "asdfghjkl" becomes row 3, and "zxcvbnm,." also becomes row 1.
To type in chat while in battlemode, you need to hit either enter or spacebar to make the chat cursor appear in the chat window. While the cursor is in the chat window, the only skill keys you can hit are the F-keys until you hit enter to send the message (if any) so the cursor leaves the chat window.
One inconvenience regarding battlemode is that hitting enter will always toggle between "battle" and "chat" modes, even when you don't want it to...so if you use the enter key when talking to an NPC, or in the menu for your teleport skill, it will toggle you to chat mode. With that in mind, make sure that after talking to an NPC or using any menu that you check to make sure that the cursor is not in the chat window, and hit enter if it is. To make things a bit easier, I'd suggest hitting ALT-M and setting the 'alt-1' macro to /bm so you can quickly and easily toggle battlemode on and off, because when you're not in a combat environment, battlemode gets very annoying very quickly.
With that said, here is the way I have my hotkeys set up:
Row 2 (qwertyuio):
1(q) - Warp Portal
2(w) -
3(e) -
4(r) - Pneuma
5(t) - Status Recovery
6(y) - Suffragium
7(u) - Impositio Manus
8(i) - Aspersio
9(o) - Aqua Benedicta
Row 3 (asdfghjkl):
1(a) -
2(s) - Ruwach
3(d) - Gloria
4(f) - Heal
5(g) - Kyrie Eleison
6(h) - Increase AGI
7(j) - Blessing
8(k) - Magnificat
9(l) - Angelus
Row 1 (zxcvbnm,.):
1(z) - Teleport
2(x) - Resurrection
3(c) - Hiding (when Hide clip equipped)
4(v) - Envenom (when Envenom clip equipped)
5(b) - Clip (to switch between clips)
6(n) - Holy Light
7(m) - Lex Divina
8(,) - Lex Aeterna
9(.) - Holy Water (to see how many left)
Now, the trick to using this hotkey setup is to place your left fingers on FGHJ (instead of home row, ASDF). With your fingers positioned there, you have Heal at your pinky, Kyrie Eleison at your ring finger, Increase AGI at your middle finger, and Blessing at your index finger. You can reach the hotkeys further right with your index finger, and the hotkeys to the left with your pinky finger, and the keys above and below the same way you would when typing.
Make sure to practice a bit after setting your hotkeys up like this, as it does take a bit to get used to. Also practice using some skills, typing a message in chat, then immediately using skills again. Lastly, try typing part of a message, then clearing the chat window as fast as possible to use skills, because there will be times when you're typing a message but need to get back into battle mode to use a skill immediately.
/---[Update History]
02-17-05
Fixed error in stats section. 100 total VIT is now the core build level, as it is needed for stun/poison/silence immunity.
02-04-05
Hey look, I figured out how to fix the links on the section/subsection titles to actually go back to the Title in the ROEmpire version, instead of the very top of the page. I also added the option to click on the title image (this works on both ROE and ROHQ versions) to skip down to the Table of Contents.
02-03-05
Complete overhaul of Stat Build sections.
01-18-05
Slight formatting change in Preface section, and Acolyte Leveling subsection.
01-15-05b
Reorganized the sections a bit.
01-15-05
Finished Equipment Section overhaul. Updating to ROHQ now. Enjoy!
01-14-05
Organized the Equipment Section into the three parts, and added in the second part. Still need to do the third part. Continue ignoring the black text for now, until I get it into the right place.
01-13-05
Well, the Equipment Section overhaul has become a bit larger of project than I had planned. I'm redoing the section to be a multi-part section, with the first part giving information for the basic equipment set, the second giving information on how to 'perfect' that set once all times are acquired, and the third giving information on additional equips that will be helpful in special circumstances.
Being a pretty large update, this will take me a while to complete, so for now, ignore the text in black, as it's unfinished. ROHQ users, you won't see this particular update...once I finish with the Equipment section overhaul in its entirety, I will catch the ROHQ version up to the current update.
01-08-05
First half of the Equipment section overhaul. Updated Weapon though Accessories. Next update will take care of Shield and Shoes, and will have a bit of additional info after Shoes.
01-07-05
- Added VIT DEF Chart link to Credits section.
- Added guide creation date to bottom of Update History section.
- Started fixing durations in Why No Dex section, but will have to redo a lot of it, so the changes are currently incomplete.
12-29-04
Removed excessive number of emoticons from the guide. In fact, I removed all of them. That should make the guide look better on ROHQ, where I can't disable graphical smilies. I dislike graphical smilies. I also dislike how when I put a quotation mark before an end-parenthesis, it was turned into a graphical smilie on ROHQ, so I changed it so it wouldn't do that.
12-28-04
Added Vit/Dex Ratio Comparison Section.
12-19-04
Added image to top of guide. My thanks go to Dalgar of the ROEmpire forums for making this image and giving me permission for using it for my guide.
12-15-04
- Changed the 7 AGI/3 LUK recommendation on the stat build to 9 LUK. While the additional AGI can help a bit at earlier levels, it will be of absolutely no use later on, clearly making LUK the better option.
- Updated link to iROCalc, and the description for emperium.org and Pitou's SP Regen calculator.
- Updated into to Acolyte Skills section, regarding the reason for getting Pneuma before Increase AGI.
12-14-04
Changed the Introduction to reflect the fact that I am now only updating and supporting this guide on ROEmpire and RagnarokHQ.
10-20-04
Made some major modifications to the Acolyte Leveling section, to make it more useful with the Amatsu update's monster relocations. Further changes to this section may be made in the future, if I find better alternatives to those that are listed.
10-06-04
Corrected spelling mistake on Acolyte skill build. "Aqua Benedict" has now been corrected and reads "Aqua Benedicta".
Added clarification in the description of Pneuma's AoP in the Pneuma Hopping section, stating that it is a 3x3 area.
Added note to the very top of the guide (before contents) to advise reader that the leveling guide needs modifications made to be effective with the Amatsu monster location changes.
Fixed terrible grammatical error in the Pneuma Hopping section. "Casted on".. that's so terrible.. *slaps self*
08-21-04
Added 'Hotkeys and Battlemode' Additional Notes subsection. This was originally typed as a reply to a PM to me asking about it, but I decided to past it into the guide, and make one addition to it regarding setting the alt-1 macro to /bm.
06-17-04
After some convincing, I was talked into re-adding the 95 vit/19 dex option. It is located in the "Why No Dex?" Additional Notes subsection. While I am not a fan of this stat alternative, I have been convinced that it´s not as bad as I was making it out to be.
06-15-04
Removed format version system. Only the date-based version system will remain. Removed the paragraph in the Stats section that discusses the option to get 95 vit and then 19 dex...getting less than 99 on int or vit so you can get dex is a bad idea...don't do it. Added the "Why No Dex?" Additional Notes subsection, which explains (in great detail) my stand on the dex issue, when it comes to Full Support Priests.
06-09-04
Removed numbered part of format version. It now only indicates which site the formatting is intended for. In the future I may remove that part of the version information entirely...I'm not sure yet.
Added this Update History section to the actual guide, rather than being a separate post. I can only imagine how annoying it'd get, having this huge update post continually appearing as the latest post...so instead, it's here. I will post one more reply regarding this update. That reply will explain the easiest way to check to see when the last update was (the version number) for the site it's on.
Changed part of the stat build: Instead of starting with 9 AGI, I changed it to recommend 7 AGI and 3 LUK. This way, at the end of the build, you will have 3+7 LUK with job bonuses, which will get you an extra Perfect Dodge. If you've already set it to 9 AGI and 1 LUK, never fear, this difference is negligable, and by no means necessary.
Changed the Secondary Support Build slightly: Reduced Lex Divina from 8 to 6. Level 6 of Lex Divina gets the maximum duration (60 seconds, compared to 50 seconds at level 5). Beyond that, the only change is sp consumption, which is not important. The freed up points have been assigned to raising Sanctuary from 7 to 9, for added duration.
05-24-04
Added triple vital staff to viable weapon options as Priest, once you have obtained other +INT equipment. The +3 VIT and +300 max HP, along with the HP bonuses of Matyr and Pecopeco cards, can definately make up for the loss of 1-2 INT in most situations.
05-23-04
Minor skill build order change: Changed Angelus level learned as Acolyte from 6 to 5, and moved Aqua Benedicta 1 from Priest to Acolyte. Since the last order change placed the maxing of Angelus after Aspersio, this change will be beneficial.
I do have some plans already for the next update (involving triple vital staff as a weapon equip option), based on forum member input...if there´s anything else you think is missing from the guide, or questions you´d like answered, let me know!
05-18-04
The modification I did to the Priest skill build was a tad complicated, so I nixed it in favor of a more versatile build order.
05-13-04
- Removed "SP Regen and Juno" section. It wasn´t totally accurate, and is now completely obsolete with Juno now being on iRO. In case you feel like you missed out on it, I´ll summarize: once Juno hits, you´ll have better sp regen, but to get the best regen, even at high levels, you´ll need to sit down and have magnificat...making Priests incredibly valuable, and sitting will be more important than it used to be for getting the best regen.
- Modified Priest Skill Build order slightly. Placed Kyrie Eleison before Angelus, and renumerated many of the skills with letters. Those lettered skill sets can be done in a different order than they´re listed, based on who you level with or where you typically level. (so instead of going a,b,c,d, you might go d,b,c,a or whatever) If this confuses you, then just learn them in the order provided, and ignore what I just said.
04-24-04
Added more info to version system. The date-based part of the version indicates the last content or organization update. The last part indicates what site this version of the guide is formatted for (roe, rhq, or emp), as well as indicating changes to formatting (to make the guide look better or be easier to navigate on the site it´s formatted for).
04-20-04
Moved Table of Contents to top of guide. Added Introduction section to Contents, as it is now underneath the Table of Contents. Added separate Credits section, and included links to many of the sites that have been especially helpful for making the guide, as well as playing the game.
04-16-04
Corrected error in Pneuma Hopping section. It originally said that the AoP included the Pneuma Tile and the six surrounding tiles. I meant eight, not six. Arg.
Modified the main build slightly:
Raised Aspersio from 1 to 4. The damage modifiers will greatly help when supporting any melee class in places like Glast Heim, and the extra few levels will help you conserve Holy Water. This will add a bit to the versatility of the build slightly.
Added Decrease AGI 1 to the end of the skill build. While this won´t help much at all with PvE (player vs. environment), it can prove valuable for PvP, including WoE, since it not only slows a person and lowers their AGI somewhat at level 1, it will cancel some buffs like two-hand quicken. Also, most melee characters have little to no mDEF, so its success rate will still be decent against them.
To make room for those, I lowered Magnificat and Gloria from 5 to 3, which will make a slight difference, but in this case, the benefits will outweigh the slight inconvenience...especially since it makes the build more versatile overall.
If you have been following my build and already have Magnificat and/or Gloria to 5, then get them both to 5, keep Aspersio at 1, and don´t learn Decrease AGI. The previous build is still a rather nice build, and is only slightly less versatile than this.
Credit goes to forum members for input leading to the content of this update.
04-14-04
I´ve decided to add Emperium.org to my list of sites where I´m updating and supporting my guide, and have updated the introduction sections of the guide accordingly. I was pleasantly surprised to find a site that has enough content, and seems interesting and promising enough to spend some time with, along with the two sites I´ve been updating and supporting my guide on for a while now.
For my next update, I plan to do some minor reorganization (mostly regarding the Introduction and Contents sections), as well as make some fo formatting changes to make the guide look its best on each site.
04-11-04
Changed name of newest section from ´Secondary WoE Support´ to ´Secondary Support Build´ since for a WoE-dedicated build, having a higher level of Improve SP Recovery because of the shear frequency of skill use.. and also, other supportive skills can be arranged better for WoE than how I have them. However, for other PvP situations, and for PvE (Player vs. Environment) interaction, my Secondary Support build shall still perform nicely, even though the demand for it may not be terribly high.
04-10-04b
Added Secondary WoE Support to the list of skill build modifications. This build is intended to work together with a general Full Support Priest (what the rest of my guide is for), and one more aco/priest (to use B.S. Sacramenti) and provide additional support, primarily in the form of lessening the enemy´s effectiveness. This is -NOT- a versatile support build! For a versatile support build, follow the normal support build mentioned in my guide, NOT the Secondary WoE Support build.
Oh yes, and let me know if you feel that I have not provided enough warning in the guide, pertaining to the fact that this is not a versatile build for everyday support. I don´t want to risk people confusing that with my regular full support build advice.
04-10-04
Reorganized sections...put skill-based Additional Notes subsections in with the skill-based sections, and put the leveling-related Additional Notes subsections with the other leveling material. This should make future updates a bit easier to manage...especially when I get to some of my planned formatting changes and additions for the skills sections.
04-07-04
Overhaul of Equipment section, with some changes, additions, and reformatting. Enjoy!
04-06-04b
Added ´SP Regen and Juno´ Additional Notes subsection.
04-06-04
[1] Addition to Stats section, inspired by forum feedback.
[2] Changes to Equipment section, inspired by forum feedback.
[3] Removed ´Eggyra vs. Sohee´ Additional Notes subsection. If the SP Regen Calculator I was given the link to is correct, then.. actually, I´ll include this in another update...there´s so much information, now that I think about it. Oh, and this was also inspired by forum feedback. This was a completely feedback-inspired update.
04-05-04
Updated again, with Additional Information subsections regarding how to breeze through novice levels quickly without too much zeny costs (assuming you do have a higher level character to buy and upgrade a couple things), and regarding locations of the Ascetics for the Acolyte test.
I plan to address some forum input in the next update, or in replies to this thread before the next update, so rest assured that the last few replies have not been ignored.
Forum Moderators, if it´s not too much trouble, could we get this thread stickied? I think it could be a valuable asset to the RO community.
04-03-04
Updated, to include information regarding B.S. Sacramenti, and how to modify my suggested skill build to include it. Enjoy!
03-30-04
[1] Added Subtopics from Additional Notes to Contents, since there´s a LOT if information in that section now.
[2] Added "Eggyra vs. Sohee" Subtopic to Additional Notes Section.
Enjoy! Feel free to reply if you have any comments, suggestions, or questions.
03-27-04
(1) Massive reformatting job, now easier to read, easier to navigate, and easier for me to edit and add to. Changed section name formatting to look a bit more neat, and to be unique for using search functions to find them easily from the table of contents. Added aforementioned table of contents. Moved some paragraphs around to make the guide more modular in design, and reworded accordingly, and also to be more clear and concise where necessary.
(2) Changed introduction, and added version number, which is simply the date of the most recent update, so for those keeping track can see if the guide has been updated since their last visit (even though I post a reply on each update).
(3) Added the Additional Information Section, which currently has information regarding Sanctuary, as well as an abundance of Pneuma-related material.
Enjoy!
03-22-04
Updated, to add equipment suggestions. Feel free to add any comments or suggestions.
03-19-04
Created guide.
http://forums.roempire.com/showthread.php?t=6965
Anyway, thanks, and enjoy!
Thread stats as of closing of old guide thread:
Views: 145,896
Replies: 327
- Lord Disa
v02.17.05
Credit goes to Dalgar of ROEmpire for the image...thanks Dalgar!
/---[Contents]
If you wish to skip straight to a certain section in this guide, simply click on the section name in this table of contents.
1 Preface
- 1a Introduction
- 1b Credits
- 1c Useful Links
2 The Main Build
- 2a Core Stats
- 2b Final Stats
- 2c Acolyte Skills
- 2d Priest Skills
3 Skill Build Modifications
- 3a Sanctuary
- 3b B.S. Sacramenti
- 3c Secondary Support Build
4 Leveling
- 4a Novice Speed-Leveling
- 4b Acolyte Test Ascetics
- 4c Acolyte Leveling
5 Equipment
- 5a Base Equipment Set
- 5b Base Set Improvements
- 5c Specialized Equipment
6 Additional Notes
- 6a Pneuma Hopping
- 6b Why No Dex?
- 6c Vit/Dex Ratio Comparisons
- 6d Hotkeys and Battlemode
7 Update History
/---[Preface]
[Introduction]
Welcome to my Full Support Priest Guide! I'm doing what I can to make this into the best source of advice regarding Full Support Acolytes and Priests. As more questions are asked, and as I find more information that I feel can help you out regarding this class, I will keep this guide updated accordingly.
If you are reading this guide on any site other than ROEmpire or RagnarokHQ, you are quite possibly reading an outdated version of my guide, as I only support and update the guide on these two sites.
[Credits]
I wish to thank the site administrators, forum moderators, and fellow users on ROEmpire and RagnarokHQ for their support. Some of the additions and changes were made based on, or inspired by feedback from other forum members. I also wish to thank Dalgar once more for making (and allowing me to use) the image at the top of this guide.
[Useful Links]
RO Empire
- Want thorough monster and item databases? Go here.
Ragnarok HQ
- Need a good skill simulator? They have it.
Emperium.org
- Want accurate Post-Juno card stats? Go here.
RagnaInfo
- Looking for kRO update news? This is the place to be.
Pitou's SP Regen Simulator
- Want to know your SP Regen rate with certain equips and INT? Go here.
iROcalc
- Great tool for planning stat builds.
/---[The Main Build]
[Core Stats]
Follow the Core Stat build in the order listed below. Underneath the list are explanations for each step.
[1] Start with 9 INT, 9 VIT, 9 LUK (the rest will stay at 1).
[2] 99 Base INT
[3] 92 Base VIT
[4] See Final Stats subsection.
[1] Your build will focus primarily on INT and VIT, so obviously these will start at 9, which leaves the decision of whether to go with AGI or LUK. While AGI can help slightly in early levels, it will serve no purpose later on, so you will want to go for 9 LUK for the extra perfect dodge, as well as the extra resistance against many status ailments.
[2] You will want to max INT first, so you have as much SP as you can, as fast of natural SP recovery as possible, and when you heal, you want to heal for as much as possible. With proper equipment, and your final job stat bonus, you will have a total of 120 INT, which will get you a good sp regen rate, sp capacity, and heal effectiveness.
[3] Next, you will want to work on VIT. With 92 Base VIT, proper equips, and job stat bonuses, you will have a total of 100 VIT, which will get you good VIT defense, good HP capacity and regen, and immunity from Poison, Stun, and Silence. The status immunity mentioned is the reason that this should be the bare minimum VIT level to shoot for in your final build.
[4] Once you are finished with the steps above, proceed to the Final Stats subsection to read about some of the choices you have available for finishing out your stat build.
[Final Stats]
Once you've finished with the Core Stat Build, you will have a few choices to make regarding your final stat build. First, you will want to decide how much VIT you want to finish your build with...then, decide whether you wish to spend remaining stat points (if any remain) on DEX for casting speed, STR for weight capacity, or a bit of both.
- 1: Choose your final VIT level.
First, you'll want to decide how much VIT you wish to finish your build with. If you've followed the Core Stat Build, then you already meet the bare minimum VIT level that I recommend, so beyond that, it's a matter of preference. Keep in mind that increasing VIT will increase max HP, VIT Defense, Angelus benefits, and Kyrie damage absorption.
If you wish to go full INT/VIT, then get your base VIT to 99 for a total of 107. Otherwise, 92 base VIT for a total of 100 will work quite nicely, and allow room for some DEX for faster casting, or STR for higher weight capacity.
- 2: Distribute the remaining stat points.
With VIT taken care of, you will now want to decide what to do with your remaining stat points (if any). As mentioned in the Core Stat Build, AGI is of no use at later levels for a Full Support Priest, so we can disregard that. Also, while adding a bit more LUK can ever-so-slightly increase some status resistances, it's more of a waste than it's worth...but getting it to a total of 20 LUK for the extra perfect dodge is a viable option. That leaves us with the two main options: STR and DEX.
If you are making a WoE-dedicated build or otherwise plan to be in many situations that call for using potions to sustain yourself so you can spend more of your sp and casting time for your partymates, then STR can help out by increasing your weight capacity so you can hold more white potions, blue potions, blue gemstones, holy water...whatever you need. However, most builds can benefit more from having more VIT, or even higher DEX.
If you plan to make heavy use of a Phen Accessory or plan to partake regularly in WoE, or otherwise find the cast time of Magnificat to be terribly unbearable, then you may wish to add some DEX to make your cast time faster on Magnificat, Kyrie Eleison, Increase AGI, Angelus, and Warp Portal. However, please read the "Why No Dex?" Additional Notes subsection regarding the benefits of VIT vs. DEX before making your final decision.
[Acolyte Skills]
I recommend taking these in order, although some may argue for learning Increase AGI before starting into Ruwach/Teleport/Warp/Pneuma. However, your most versatile leveling spot (most character classes can level there pretty well) at that level range will be Toy Factory level 2, and Pneuma will be a life saver there, with all of the Cruisers wandering about. While most people who are the level of the person you're supporting are avoiding Cruisers while burning pots as they kill Myst Cases, the person you're supporting can kill Cruisers without taking a hit because of the protection that Pneuma provides.
[1] Heal 10
[2] Divine Protection 5
[3] Blessing 10
[4] Ruwach 1
[5] Teleport 2
[6] Warp Portal 4
[7] Pneuma 1
[8] Increase AGI 10
[9] Angelus 5 (will get to 10 as Priest)
[10] Aqua Benedicta 1
[Priest Skills]
Again, I recommend taking these in order, but with exception of Magnificat, it's a bit less important than when you are an acolyte.
[1] Magnificat 3
[2] Increase SP Recovery 4
[3] Status Recovery 1
[4] Resurrection 1
[5] Impositio Manus 2
[6] Suffragium 3
[7] Impositio Manus 5
[8] Kyrie Eleison 10
[9] Aspersio 1
[10] Gloria 1
[11] Lex Divina 5
[12] Lex Aeterna 1
[13] Angelus 10
[14] Gloria 3
[15] Aspersio 4
[16] Resurrection 4
[17] Decrease AGI 1
I really don't like skipping to another skill before maxing one, but there are some exceptions here: Angelus suffers a pretty long gap, simply because there are a lot of Priest skills that deserve immediate priority. Impositio Manus has a gap to get Suffragium maxed, because as a full support, you'll find that being in share parties with wizards makes for a nice xp fountain, so it's best to get the best magic support skill taken care of as soon as you can. Aspersio and Gloria stay at 1 for a while because the only the only change as you level them is increased duration, so level 1 will do as you get the rest of your main skill build filled out. Resurrection 1 will hold you until you're almost done with the build, when you max it for the extra benefits.
Resurrection is maxed, because when someone dies, you are more than likely the next target. You cannot kill, nor defend yourself very well...so your main goal will be to revive the person you're supporting...so the decreased cast time is essential, as well as the higher hp given to the person you resurrect, so they don't get immediately killed before you can heal them.
/---[Skill Build Modifications]
[Sanctuary]
If you do decide that you must have Sanctuary, simply remove Aqua Benedicta, Aspersio, Lex Divina, and Lex Aeterna from your build and get Sanctuary to level 8. From what I've heard, Sanctuary can be used to heal the Emperium in Guild Wars. Also, a Sanctuary placed in town is an effective, albeit costly, way to deal with heal beggars. However, getting it does mean that you miss out on the useful Lex Aeterna skill, and the less useful, but sometimes handy, Aspersio.
[B.S. Sacramenti]
I have excluded B.S. Sacramenti from my suggested skill build, because there are other, more versatile, skills to choose from. The fact that you must have two other cleric-type characters (Acolyte or Priest) lined up with you lessens its usefulness even more. However, if you have the resources for it, it can prove itself valuable in PvP situations, such as WoE. The combination of having your party under the protection of BSS, and using Aspersio on your enemies, can significantly reduce the damage that you and your allies receive.
If you wish to learn B.S. Sacramenti, simply remove Lex Divina and Lex Aeterna from your build, and then either reduce Resurrection to level 1, or reduce Impositio Manus and Resurrection to level 3.
[Secondary Support Build]
WARNING: If you wish to make a versatile support priest to support a party in as many situations as possible, then do -NOT- make this build! This build is intended for use as a secondary support, and requires the help of a Primary Full Support Priest (like the one explained throughout the rest of this guide) to be effective, as well as one more Acolyte or Priest to perform B.S. Sacramenti. For a more versatile full support build, go to the [Acolyte Skills] and [Priest Skills] main sections.
As a Secondary Support, you will rely a lot on the general Full Support for Primary Support functions, since while you do have basic support skills (Heal, Increase AGI, Blessing), you do lack many of the more advanced skills. Also, being a VIT character, you will also be relying on the Primary Supporter for your Angelus bonuses, as you lack a high level of that skill. However, your lack of many advanced party support skills is made up somewhat by the fact that you will have level 10 Safety Wall, which will help your team with encounters with melee opponents, and will be your only blue gemstone sink.
Your main shining point as a Secondary Support will be your abilities that involve reducing the opponent's effectiveness, by slowing them down, making them unable to use their skills, or by nullifying their ability to do melee damage to your party by casting Aspersio on them, and B.S. Sacramenti on your party (for PVP and WoE situations). You will also have Sanctuary, which can be used to heal the emperium in WoE, and to heal large numbers of players when you're not in a combat situation.
For stats, follow the same stat build as for the general Full Support. However, you may wish to lower your VIT a bit to get some higher DEX with this build, since some of your skills that you cast on enemies do have a cast time, albeit not a long one.
WARNING (again): If you wish to make a versatile support priest to support a party in as many situations as possible, then do -NOT- make this build! This build is intended for use as a secondary support, and requires the help of a Primary Full Support Priest (like the one explained throughout the rest of this guide) to be effective, as well as one more Acolyte or Priest to perform B.S. Sacramenti. For a more versatile full support build, go to the [Acolyte Skills] and [Priest Skills] main sections.
Secondary WoE Support Skill Build (you'll be going to acolyte job 50):
--Acolyte
Heal 10
Divine Protection 5
Blessing 10
Increase AGI 10
Decrease AGI 10
Angelus 2
Ruwach 1
Aqua Benedicta 1
--Priest
Magnificat 3
Impositio Manus 3
Aspersio 5
Kyrie Eleison 4
Gloria 3
B.S. Sacramenti 5
Lex Divina 5
Lex Aeterna 1
Lex Divina 6
Sanctuary 7
Safety Wall 10
Sanctuary 9
/---[Leveling]
[Novice Speed-Leveling]
This assumes that you have another, higher level character with some zeny to spare, and that you want to get through your novice levels as fast as possible without spending a whole lot of money.
[1] Have novice kill porings to get to 2/1.
[2] Have another character purchase a Blade and Mace, and upgrade them both to +7. Also, purchase 300 reds. Put the +7 Mace and 200 of the reds into storage.
[3] Get both characters to a secluded area, and drop the +7 Blade and 100 reds on the ground, and have the Novice pick them up. Yes, I know that puts you over 50% weight. Equip the +7 Blade. Hotkey the reds.
[4] Save at the Kafra next to the Culverts on the map just west of Prontera, then head to the Rocker map south of that. Alternatively, you can save at Izlude and head west, south, east from Izlude to get to Poring Island to kill Marins if you're up for a bit more of a challenge.
[4] Kill Rockers. You'll need to use a red every time you get hit until you're up to about 60 hp, then you can drop down to using a red after every two hits you take. If you decided to save at Izlude and go to Poring Island, you'll be looking for Marins. Beware, they occasionally cast Frost Diver. By the time you are out of reds, your job level will allow you to access storage to get the next 100.
[5] Once you're to 12/10, you should have about 85-100 of the 300 reds remaining. Take the acolyte test, and then equip the +7 Mace and return to Rockers to level your job level until you're out of reds. By then, your Heal level should be acceptable enough to use that instead of reds. From here, follow the aco leveling subsection below.
[Acolyte Test Ascetics]
In case you are unaware of the location of the ascetic that you need to talk to for the Acolyte test, I have provided them for you. I am only listing the mapname and coordinates, for simplicity. You can access the world map on the official Ragnarok Online web site to find out how to get to the specific map mentioned. For coordinates, remember that 1, 1 is the southwest corner, and the first number is the x-coordinate (increases as you go east), and the second number is the y-coordinate (increases as you go north). Oh yes, and after talking to the ascetic you were assigned to, you will need to walk back, because your save point is now that ascetic, so you can't use death as a shortcut back to Prontera.
Mother Marthilda: Sograt Desert(moc_fild07) : 41, 355
Father Rubalkabara: Prontera Field(prt_fild03) : 365, 255
Father Yosuke: Prontera Field(prt_fild00) : 208, 218
[Acolyte Leveling]
- Pre-Heal 10
Kill Rockers, healing when necessary...if you don't have enough reds or sp to take them on yet, kill pickies until you can semi-safely start on Rockers. As you near Heal 10, start finding swordies in share range, and support them on Poring Island (South, South, East from Prontera or West, West, North from Payon), healing when necessary.. but do make sure that they know of your sp difficulties. You may also consider healbombing in Payon Cave level 1, killing Skeletons, then Zombies as you near Heal 10.
- Post-Heal 10, Pre-Blessing 10
Support swordies or thieves on either Smokies (East, East from Payon), or Elder Willows (East, South from Payon). Don't bother with blessing for now, as at low levels it's just a waste of SP. Once you have Blessing to about level 6, start using that...but make sure you keep enough SP to heal when necessary. If you're taking the solo approach, continue on Payon 1.
You may also try partying up with an archer and head to the new Greatest General map (South, West from Payon). If you do this, both of you will need to bring flywings. Your job will be to keep the Archer blessed and help him find Greatest Generals...but beware of Vagabond Wolf, who spawns occasionally on the map. Also, the Archer needs to have Vulture's Eye maxed, and needs to be some distance away from the Greatest Generals before attacking, so he's out of range of them being able to cast Earth Spike on him.
- Post-Blessing 10, Pre-Pneuma
Support a swordie or thief on the map two north of Geffen. You may also try leveling with an Archer on Greatest Generals (see information above regarding this). Partying with a Mage on argiopes may also work, but Petites may pose a problem. Flywings may help, but separating a support from the person he's helping also leads to potential problems. If healbombing, you may consider Payon 2 (watch out for Archer Skeletons here, they can cause problems) or Orc Dungeon.
Once you get to higher levels, you may consider supporting a mage in Clocktower level 2, killing Punks and Clocks. However, with the mage having neither the hp of a wizard nor the Quagmire skill, Ridewords and Mimics pose a serious threat. Things may be easier here if you learn Increase AGI before Pneuma, but even then it's still quite risky, and Pneuma will help out immensely in Toy Factory, which is a much more stable leveling area. In Clocktower, the Mage must be experienced with making use of vertical firewalls, and needs to know how to deal with Ridewords and Mimics (easiest strategy would be to cast a firewall on the opposite side of him as the threat, then run though it, then cast a vertical firewall).
- Post-Pneuma to Priest
Once you have Pneuma, you can support a number of classes in Toy Factory level 2. Your primary targets will be Cruisers, as you are nearly invulnerable to them so long as you make proper use of Pneuma. Keep in mind that they do have a short-range skill that is not blocked by pneuma, so if they are targetting someone who's right next to them, this will still hit, doing about 200 dmg. If you can, stay in the lead so they're more likely to target you, and stand back a ways to prevent this from happening. Swordies, Thieves, Archers, and Mages are all good choices for killing them. If you two can handle the damage they deal, Myst Cases are also a viable option, when no Cruisers are nearby. They are cast sensors, so mages can use the usuall vertical firewall then firebolt technique, and with archers, your best option would be to cast holy light or increase agi up (once you start learning it) to get it chasing you, then run in circles as the Archer shoots it.
Clocktower level 2 may also be an option.. see info in the Pre-Pneuma section regarding this. Also, if you are unable to find someone to support, you can go to the Glast Heim Churchyard and healbomb Ghouls, Wraiths, and Evil Druids...finding a mag party (a party which has a Priest casting Magnificat to speed up sp regen rates) will be quite beneficial here for sp regen, as well as for having an easier time finding someone to Resurrect you when you have a bad experience with a Hunter Fly, Mimic, or Dark Lord.
- Priesthood
Party, support.. need I say more? For the first few job levels, however, you may wish to mag party a bit more in the Churchyard while learning Magnificat and Increase SP Recovery.
/---[Equipment]
Be warned, most of the good equipment that you'll be getting is expensive. With this considered, Many of the selections below start with a pretty cheap store-sold option to start with, while others you can do without anything until you have more money. Also, all card options are based on Post-Juno stats.
[Base Equipment Set]
- Weapon
Once you finish with your melee novice days, save enough money to purchase a Staff in Geffen. Later on when you have some more zeny, buy an Arc Wand (also from Geffen), and that'll get you by until you have your base INT to 99 and have reached Priesthood. After reaching Priesthood, you'll want to find a three-slotted Staff and three Fabre cards to make a Triple Vital Staff. That will do the job to help you reach 120 INT with your final equips, as well as help with your VIT and max HP. Don't bother upgrading any of your weapons, as physical attack strength isn't a concern of a Full Support.
Final Weapon: Triple Vital Staff
- Upper Headgear
Whatever you want (preferably with high DEF) that can be equipped on an Acolyte, until you have more money. When you can afford it, get an Erudite Hat (Slotted Hat with Elder Willow Card). Later on when you're more wealthy, get an Erudite Biretta, and upgrade it to +4.
Final Upper Headgear: +4 Erudite Biretta
- Middle Headgear
Whatever you want. When you become much more wealthy, get Erudite Sunglasses.
Final Middle Headgear: Erudite Sunglasses
- Lower Headgear
Whatever you want, so long as it doen't interfere with you wearing your Erudite Sunglasses when you finally get them.
- Armor
Start with an Adventurer's Suit. During mid-levels, you may wish to find a slotted armor that you can equip, and socket it with a Baby Desertwolf Card, for the +1 to INT. Your final armor goal is a Slotted Saint's Robe, and a PecoPeco Card will be your best card choice (for the +10% Max HP). Upgrade the Saint's Robe to +4.
Final Armor: +4 PecoPeco Saint's Robe
- Garment
Start with a hood. Later on when you have a LOT of zeny (as this is one of the most expensive equips you'll want to get for your Priest, short of the Safety Rings), Get a Slottted Muffler of the highest upgrade level possible (at least +6, but if you can manage to get a +7 or +8, more power to you, but plan on spending several million zeny), and then socket it with a Raydric Card (also plan on spending several million zeny on this) for 20% neutral damage reduction.
Final Garment: +6 Immune Muffler
- Accessories
Earrings may be of some help early on, but are not needed for achieving the 120 total INT in the end. Your final accessory selection will likely be the most expensive of all the equipment listed in my guide, and you may very well not be able to afford them (or be lucky enough to find them) until you're well into the 90s in base level. This final accessory goal is two Safety Rings, which will get you a whopping +3 DEF and +3 mDEF each.
Final Accessories: Two Safety Rings
- Shield
Start with a Guard. Later on, you'll want to gather a collection of damage reducing Bucklers. You may want to acquire +6 or better slotted Bucklers to use with the appropriate cards, but +4 will also do if you don't mind slowly replacing them with higher upgrade level versions later on. You'll want a damage reducing Buckler for each of the most common races in the game. The cards are as following: Bigfoot* for Insect, Khalitzburg* for Demon, Orc Warrior* for Brute, Rafflesia for Fish, Sky Petite for Dragon, Soldier Andre for Plant, Thara Frog* for Demi-human. The four that have stars should be your main priorities.
Final Shields: +4 Bigfoot, Khalitzburg, Orc Warrior, and Thara Frog Bucklers
- Shoes
Start out with Sandals until you have a decent zeny supply. Then when you get some zeny saved up, for your earlier levels, use Sohee shoes for the increased max sp. Later on, you may wish to switch to Eggyra Shoes, since once your sp regen is higher, the increased boost to it will matter more than max sp. Once you get to the point where your sp regen rate is fast enough that you are finding it hard or impossible to run out of sp, then switch to Green (Matyr) Shoes...the increased max hp will help out noticably by itself, and will also make Kyrie Eleison protect you a bit better. Once you have made your final footgear selection, upgrade it to +4.
Final Shoes: +4 Green Shoes
[Base Set Improvements]
Once you've obtained all of your final equipment selections from above, you will want to start acquiring operupgraded versions of the ones you have at +4. Try to get at least +6 versions...if you can get +7, great; if you manage to get +8, perfect! The success chances on anything beyond +8 are so negligable that I wouldn't recommend wasting too much time dreaming about them. You probably noticed that I told you to get at least +6 and higher if possible right away for the Immune Muffler...that's because the Raydric card alone costs several million zeny, unlike the rest of the cards you use.
One thing though, make sure that if you are trying the upgrades yourself (rather than buying them from vendors, which would be a safer option), that you upgrade the equipment BEFORE inserting any cards (if the equipment breaks, any cards in it are lost as well), and do not try to upgrade your current Base Equipment Set that you are relying on (example: find a new set of slotted shoes to try to upgrade to +6; don't try to upgrade your only set of +4 Green Shoes to +6).
You will be shooting for an Improved Base Equipment Set, which will look something like this (remember, if you can get better than +6, more power to you):
Weapon: Triple Vital Staff (no changes)
Upper Headgear: +6 Erudite Biretta
Middle Headgear: Erudite Sunglasses (no changes)
Lower Headgear: (whatever)
Armor: +6 PecoPeco Saint's Robe
Garment: +6 Immune Muffler (no changes)
Accessories: Two Safety Rings (no changes)
Shields: +6 Bigfoot, Khalitzburg, Orc Warrior, and Thara Frog Bucklers
Shoes: +6 Green Shoes
[Specialized Equipment]
- Upper Headgear
When doing any PvP related activities, or if supporting in High Orcs, a Poo Poo Hat will help out a bit for reducing damage taken.
- Armor
Although your Basic Set armor will get you through most situations, you may want to acquire some other, more specialized, carded Saint's Robes for special occasions. For War of Emperium (Guild Wars), you will probably want an Unfrozen (Marc card) Saint's Robe to prevent you from being frozen. Also, some boss monsters use particularly powerful elemental skills on a frequent basis (Dark Lord with Meteor Storm, Baphomet with Lord of Vermilion, and Stormy Knight with Storm Gust, for example). For those, you may wish to have an elemental armor of the appropriate element (Dokebi for wind, Pasana for fire, Swordfish for water...the other elements are pretty much insignificant in comparison to these three).
- Garment
Along with the elemental armor cards listed above, there are some additional elemental resistance cards available for garments. The main ones you may wish to consider are Dustiness (wind), Jakk (fire), and Marse (water). Combined with an armor of the same element, you will be pretty well protected against the biggest AoE skills that boss monsters can toss at you. However, whether you should use an elemental resist muffler or an immune muffler is dependant on what you're doing around the boss monster. If you're going to be taking many hits from them, you'll still want to use the immune muffler for the neutral resistance. If you're going to be mostly hanging back to support, the elemental resist muffler may be a better choice.
Also, I could think of a few reasons to get a Frilldora card for the level 1 Cloaking skill...not all of which involve being able to get though towns without being accosted by heal/buff beggars.
- Accessories
You may also want to start a collection of various carded clips to help you in certain situations: Hide Clip (mostly for lower levels, when your melee partner is more capable of taking hits than you), Envenom Clip (for hitting high-flee monsters to tank for a magic user, for example), Phen Clip (in case you happen to need to use cast time skills when mobbed), Detoxify Clip (because Status Recovery doesn't cure Poison).
/---[Additional Notes]
[Pneuma Hopping]
I've heard some complaints mentioning how 'useless' Pneuma is post-comodo, or how badly it's been 'nerfed,' and complaining how you are left vulnerable from the time one pneuma expires until you cast the next one because it can't be stacked...so I feel the need to dispell some rumors and let you know how to effectively use pneuma to get continuous protection from it, should the need arrise.
The first and most important thing you should understand about pneuma is what it blocks, and what area is protected by the pneuma. Pneuma completely blocks all ranged attacks (not melee or magic attacks) toward a target that's in its area of protection. This includes arrows from archer skeletons, attacks from penonemas, and bullets fired from cruisers, among other things. Pneuma's area of protection (AoP) includes the tile that the pneuma is on, as well as the next tile in all directions, forming a 3x3 area.
Code:
ZZZZZ
ZOOOZ
ZOXOZM
ZOOOZ
ZZZZZ
In the figure above, the 'X' represents the tile that the pneuma is on (we'll call it the Pneuma Tile), and each 'O' represents a surrounding protected tile (we'll call them the surrounding tiles). The AoP consists of both the Pneuma Tile, as well as the eight surrounding tiles. You may not cast another pneuma on top of an existing pneuma, or within the next two tiles away from it, so each 'Z' in the figure above represents an unprotected tile upon which another pneuma may not be cast (we'll call them perimeter tiles). So, if you cast another pneuma, it must be cast outside the the AoP and perimeter. This does not mean that you cannot achieve continuous pneuma protection, however. If you place another pneuma on the third tile to the right of the first (represented by 'M' in the figure), you will get this:
Code:
ZZZZZZZZ
ZOOOOOOZ
ZOXOOXOZ
ZOOOOOOZ
ZZZZZZZZ
You'll notice that now the AoP of the two pneumas touch each other, providing complete protection for you and/or someone else to move from one to the other. You can continue to 'pneuma hop' if need be, in any direction, including placing the new pneuma where the last one used to be after it expires, to backtrack.
Also, if you are partied with a bow user and a melee class and encounter an enemy that uses long-range attacks, be sure to place the pneuma on the opposite side of the melee player from the enemy, so it will protect him, but not also shield the enemy from the arrows of your long-range ally.
[Why No Dex?]
I've grown quite tired of people telling me that a Full Support Priest build should have less VIT and more DEX, and all the posts where people others how necessary it is for them to get DEX to speed up their skill casting. As such, I have added this section to explain why DEX is unimportant for a Full Support Priest build.
I will start by explaining what DEX does for you. Each point of DEX lowers the cast time of skills (that have cast times) by two thirds of a percent. To make that easier to remember, just keep in mind that for every 15 DEX, you've reduced the cast time by 10%. DEX has NO effect on the delay after a skill is used. This is a great stat for Wizards, as many of their skills take between 7 and 20+ seconds to cast...and even longer if they use a Phen Clip. Also, wizards have no defensive stats (their defense is their offensive capabilities), so taking 20 seconds to cast will lead to their cast being interrupted by an attack, or them getting killed. However, Full Support Priests are a completely different story. A Full Support Priest has four skills that have a cast time associated with them: Magnificat (5 seconds), Kyrie Eleison (2 seconds), Increase AGI (1 second), and Angelus (0.5 seconds). At the 1+14 DEX at Job 50, Magnificat will be 4.5 seconds, Kyrie 1.8 seconds, Increase AGI 0.9 seconds, and Angelus 0.45 seconds. If you knock your VIT down to 95 to get DEX to 19, you will only be shaving about 0.6 seconds off Magnificat, 0.36 seconds off Kyrie, and 0.12 seconds off Angelus and Increase AGI. Reducing VIT to 80 to get 50 DEX will still only be shaving 1.6 seconds off Magnificat, 1 second off Kyrie, and 0.33 seconds off Increase AGI and Angelus.
Now let's talk about VIT. The examples below are for a 99/50 Priest with Matyr Shoes, PecoPeco Armor, and a Triple Vital Staff. Two examples will be given for each change.. one including an Andre Egg shield in the equipment, and one not including it. At 99 VIT and Job 50, you will have 10,926 hp, or 11,381 with an Andre Egg Shield. Reducing your VIT to 95 will drop your hp down to 10,722 (204hp drop), or 11,168 (213hp drop) with Andre Egg Shield. Reducing VIT to 80 will drop hp to 9,956 (970hp drop), or 10,371 (1,010hp drop) with Andre Egg Shield.
So, by reducing VIT to 95 to get DEX to 19, you sacrifice 204-213hp for a 0.12-0.6 second cast time reduction (on the four skills that have a cast time), and by reducing VIT to 80 to get DEX to 50, you sacrifice 970-1,010hp for a 0.33-1.6 second cast time reduction. This also means that by reducing VIT to 95, you sacrifice 61-64hp Kyrie Protection and 6 VIT defense with Angelus (4 natural, 2 from Angelus); and by reducing VIT to 80, you sacrifice 291-303hp Kyrie Protection, and 29 VIT defense with Angelus (19 natural, 10 from Angelus). Also keep in mind that the top end of the cast time savings is for Magnificat, a skill that is rarely used in the heat of battle.
Considering the enormous cost of dropping VIT compared to the negligable benefit of the added DEX, I conclude that dropping VIT to 80 in favor of getting 50 DEX is not a wise decision. However, if you still insist on getting *some* DEX, dropping VIT to 95 and getting DEX to 19 at some point in your build isn´t a terrible tradeoff...but re-read the numbers above and make that decision yourself.
[Vit/Dex Ratio Comparisons]
WARNING: This section contains a lot of technical information! If you are new to the game and don't wish to be confused, then skip over this section for now, and come back once you're more familiar with the game.
For your enjoyment, I have gone though the grueling task of finding out the exact differences between several different ratios of VIT and DEX. Below, you will first see the control data (the stuff that doesn't change), followed by the variable info and results. The results include Max HP, VIT Defense, resistance against Silence, Stun, and Poison, as well as cast times for the support skills and the damage you would take per hit from a Hunter Fly, a Ride word, and Dark Lord.
- Control Data
Level: 99/50
Equips:
Triple Vital Staff
+6 Erudite Biretta
Erudite Sunglasses
+6 Buckler
+6 PecoPeco Saint's Robe
+6 Immune Muffler
+6 Green Shoes
2 Safety Rings
Buffs:
Blessing 10
Increase AGI 10
Angelus 10
Magnificat 3
Control Stats:
STR 1+15
AGI 1+17
INT 99+21
LUK 9+7
Armor DEF: 44%
Max SP: 1766
- 107 VIT / 15 DEX
Max HP: 10,926
VIT DEF: 127~192
Stun/Silence Resist: 100%
Poison Resist: 100%
Cast Time: 90%
Magnificat: 4.5s
KE/Warp: 1.8s
Increase AGI: 0.9s
Angelus: 0.45s
Hunter Fly: 1-47
Rideword: 108-258
Dark Lord: 1088-1373
- 100 VIT / 42 DEX
Max HP: 10,569
VIT DEF: 120~172
Stun/Silence Resist: 100%
Poison Resist: 100%
Cast Time: 72%
Magnificat: 3.6s
KE/Warp: 1.44s
Increase AGI: 0.72s
Angelus: 0.36s
Hunter Fly: 1-53
Rideword: 124-264
Dark Lord: 1104-1379
- 90 VIT / 61 DEX
Max HP: 10,058
VIT DEF: 108~147
Stun/Silence Resist: 98%
Poison Resist: 96%
Cast Time: 59.3%
Magnificat: 2.97s
KE/Warp: 1.19s
Increase AGI: 0.59s
Angelus: 0.3s
Hunter Fly: 1-62
Rideword: 144-273
Dark Lord: 1124-1388
- 80 VIT / 75 DEX
Max HP: 9,548
VIT DEF: 96~121
Stun/Silence Resist: 88%
Poison Resist: 86%
Cast Time: 50%
Magnificat: 2.5s
KE/Warp: 1s
Increase AGI: 0.5s
Angelus: 0.25s
Hunter Fly: 13-72
Rideword: 164-283
Dark Lord: 1145-1398
- 70 VIT / 85 DEX
Max HP: 9,037
VIT DEF: 84~99
Stun/Silence Resist: 78%
Poison Resist: 76%
Cast Time: 43.3%
Magnificat: 2.17s
KE/Warp: 0.87s
Increase AGI: 0.43s
Angelus: 0.22s
Hunter Fly: 31-81
Rideword: 182-292
Dark Lord: 1163-1408
- 60 VIT / 93 DEX
Max HP: 8,527
VIT DEF: 72~79
Stun/Silence Resist: 68%
Poison Resist: 66%
Cast Time: 38%
Magnificat: 1.9s
KE/Warp: 0.76s
Increase AGI: 0.38s
Angelus: 0.19s
Hunter Fly: 47-91
Rideword: 198-302
Dark Lord: 1179-1417
- 50 VIT / 99 DEX
Max HP: 8,017
VIT DEF: 60
Stun/Silence Resist: 58%
Poison Resist: 56%
Cast Time: 34%
Magnificat: 1.7s
KE/Warp: 0.68s
Increase AGI: 0.34s
Angelus: 0.17s
Hunter Fly: 62-101
Rideword: 213-312
Dark Lord: 1194-1427
[Hotkeys and Battlemode]
For playing a Full Support Priest, you really need to use battlemode. By typing /bm, the three rows of hotkeys will be mapped to the letter keys on the keyboard. The F-keys become row 1, "qwertyuio" becomes row 2, "asdfghjkl" becomes row 3, and "zxcvbnm,." also becomes row 1.
To type in chat while in battlemode, you need to hit either enter or spacebar to make the chat cursor appear in the chat window. While the cursor is in the chat window, the only skill keys you can hit are the F-keys until you hit enter to send the message (if any) so the cursor leaves the chat window.
One inconvenience regarding battlemode is that hitting enter will always toggle between "battle" and "chat" modes, even when you don't want it to...so if you use the enter key when talking to an NPC, or in the menu for your teleport skill, it will toggle you to chat mode. With that in mind, make sure that after talking to an NPC or using any menu that you check to make sure that the cursor is not in the chat window, and hit enter if it is. To make things a bit easier, I'd suggest hitting ALT-M and setting the 'alt-1' macro to /bm so you can quickly and easily toggle battlemode on and off, because when you're not in a combat environment, battlemode gets very annoying very quickly.
With that said, here is the way I have my hotkeys set up:
Row 2 (qwertyuio):
1(q) - Warp Portal
2(w) -
3(e) -
4(r) - Pneuma
5(t) - Status Recovery
6(y) - Suffragium
7(u) - Impositio Manus
8(i) - Aspersio
9(o) - Aqua Benedicta
Row 3 (asdfghjkl):
1(a) -
2(s) - Ruwach
3(d) - Gloria
4(f) - Heal
5(g) - Kyrie Eleison
6(h) - Increase AGI
7(j) - Blessing
8(k) - Magnificat
9(l) - Angelus
Row 1 (zxcvbnm,.):
1(z) - Teleport
2(x) - Resurrection
3(c) - Hiding (when Hide clip equipped)
4(v) - Envenom (when Envenom clip equipped)
5(b) - Clip (to switch between clips)
6(n) - Holy Light
7(m) - Lex Divina
8(,) - Lex Aeterna
9(.) - Holy Water (to see how many left)
Now, the trick to using this hotkey setup is to place your left fingers on FGHJ (instead of home row, ASDF). With your fingers positioned there, you have Heal at your pinky, Kyrie Eleison at your ring finger, Increase AGI at your middle finger, and Blessing at your index finger. You can reach the hotkeys further right with your index finger, and the hotkeys to the left with your pinky finger, and the keys above and below the same way you would when typing.
Make sure to practice a bit after setting your hotkeys up like this, as it does take a bit to get used to. Also practice using some skills, typing a message in chat, then immediately using skills again. Lastly, try typing part of a message, then clearing the chat window as fast as possible to use skills, because there will be times when you're typing a message but need to get back into battle mode to use a skill immediately.
/---[Update History]
02-17-05
Fixed error in stats section. 100 total VIT is now the core build level, as it is needed for stun/poison/silence immunity.
02-04-05
Hey look, I figured out how to fix the links on the section/subsection titles to actually go back to the Title in the ROEmpire version, instead of the very top of the page. I also added the option to click on the title image (this works on both ROE and ROHQ versions) to skip down to the Table of Contents.
02-03-05
Complete overhaul of Stat Build sections.
01-18-05
Slight formatting change in Preface section, and Acolyte Leveling subsection.
01-15-05b
Reorganized the sections a bit.
01-15-05
Finished Equipment Section overhaul. Updating to ROHQ now. Enjoy!
01-14-05
Organized the Equipment Section into the three parts, and added in the second part. Still need to do the third part. Continue ignoring the black text for now, until I get it into the right place.
01-13-05
Well, the Equipment Section overhaul has become a bit larger of project than I had planned. I'm redoing the section to be a multi-part section, with the first part giving information for the basic equipment set, the second giving information on how to 'perfect' that set once all times are acquired, and the third giving information on additional equips that will be helpful in special circumstances.
Being a pretty large update, this will take me a while to complete, so for now, ignore the text in black, as it's unfinished. ROHQ users, you won't see this particular update...once I finish with the Equipment section overhaul in its entirety, I will catch the ROHQ version up to the current update.
01-08-05
First half of the Equipment section overhaul. Updated Weapon though Accessories. Next update will take care of Shield and Shoes, and will have a bit of additional info after Shoes.
01-07-05
- Added VIT DEF Chart link to Credits section.
- Added guide creation date to bottom of Update History section.
- Started fixing durations in Why No Dex section, but will have to redo a lot of it, so the changes are currently incomplete.
12-29-04
Removed excessive number of emoticons from the guide. In fact, I removed all of them. That should make the guide look better on ROHQ, where I can't disable graphical smilies. I dislike graphical smilies. I also dislike how when I put a quotation mark before an end-parenthesis, it was turned into a graphical smilie on ROHQ, so I changed it so it wouldn't do that.
12-28-04
Added Vit/Dex Ratio Comparison Section.
12-19-04
Added image to top of guide. My thanks go to Dalgar of the ROEmpire forums for making this image and giving me permission for using it for my guide.
12-15-04
- Changed the 7 AGI/3 LUK recommendation on the stat build to 9 LUK. While the additional AGI can help a bit at earlier levels, it will be of absolutely no use later on, clearly making LUK the better option.
- Updated link to iROCalc, and the description for emperium.org and Pitou's SP Regen calculator.
- Updated into to Acolyte Skills section, regarding the reason for getting Pneuma before Increase AGI.
12-14-04
Changed the Introduction to reflect the fact that I am now only updating and supporting this guide on ROEmpire and RagnarokHQ.
10-20-04
Made some major modifications to the Acolyte Leveling section, to make it more useful with the Amatsu update's monster relocations. Further changes to this section may be made in the future, if I find better alternatives to those that are listed.
10-06-04
Corrected spelling mistake on Acolyte skill build. "Aqua Benedict" has now been corrected and reads "Aqua Benedicta".
Added clarification in the description of Pneuma's AoP in the Pneuma Hopping section, stating that it is a 3x3 area.
Added note to the very top of the guide (before contents) to advise reader that the leveling guide needs modifications made to be effective with the Amatsu monster location changes.
Fixed terrible grammatical error in the Pneuma Hopping section. "Casted on".. that's so terrible.. *slaps self*
08-21-04
Added 'Hotkeys and Battlemode' Additional Notes subsection. This was originally typed as a reply to a PM to me asking about it, but I decided to past it into the guide, and make one addition to it regarding setting the alt-1 macro to /bm.
06-17-04
After some convincing, I was talked into re-adding the 95 vit/19 dex option. It is located in the "Why No Dex?" Additional Notes subsection. While I am not a fan of this stat alternative, I have been convinced that it´s not as bad as I was making it out to be.
06-15-04
Removed format version system. Only the date-based version system will remain. Removed the paragraph in the Stats section that discusses the option to get 95 vit and then 19 dex...getting less than 99 on int or vit so you can get dex is a bad idea...don't do it. Added the "Why No Dex?" Additional Notes subsection, which explains (in great detail) my stand on the dex issue, when it comes to Full Support Priests.
06-09-04
Removed numbered part of format version. It now only indicates which site the formatting is intended for. In the future I may remove that part of the version information entirely...I'm not sure yet.
Added this Update History section to the actual guide, rather than being a separate post. I can only imagine how annoying it'd get, having this huge update post continually appearing as the latest post...so instead, it's here. I will post one more reply regarding this update. That reply will explain the easiest way to check to see when the last update was (the version number) for the site it's on.
Changed part of the stat build: Instead of starting with 9 AGI, I changed it to recommend 7 AGI and 3 LUK. This way, at the end of the build, you will have 3+7 LUK with job bonuses, which will get you an extra Perfect Dodge. If you've already set it to 9 AGI and 1 LUK, never fear, this difference is negligable, and by no means necessary.
Changed the Secondary Support Build slightly: Reduced Lex Divina from 8 to 6. Level 6 of Lex Divina gets the maximum duration (60 seconds, compared to 50 seconds at level 5). Beyond that, the only change is sp consumption, which is not important. The freed up points have been assigned to raising Sanctuary from 7 to 9, for added duration.
05-24-04
Added triple vital staff to viable weapon options as Priest, once you have obtained other +INT equipment. The +3 VIT and +300 max HP, along with the HP bonuses of Matyr and Pecopeco cards, can definately make up for the loss of 1-2 INT in most situations.
05-23-04
Minor skill build order change: Changed Angelus level learned as Acolyte from 6 to 5, and moved Aqua Benedicta 1 from Priest to Acolyte. Since the last order change placed the maxing of Angelus after Aspersio, this change will be beneficial.
I do have some plans already for the next update (involving triple vital staff as a weapon equip option), based on forum member input...if there´s anything else you think is missing from the guide, or questions you´d like answered, let me know!
05-18-04
The modification I did to the Priest skill build was a tad complicated, so I nixed it in favor of a more versatile build order.
05-13-04
- Removed "SP Regen and Juno" section. It wasn´t totally accurate, and is now completely obsolete with Juno now being on iRO. In case you feel like you missed out on it, I´ll summarize: once Juno hits, you´ll have better sp regen, but to get the best regen, even at high levels, you´ll need to sit down and have magnificat...making Priests incredibly valuable, and sitting will be more important than it used to be for getting the best regen.
- Modified Priest Skill Build order slightly. Placed Kyrie Eleison before Angelus, and renumerated many of the skills with letters. Those lettered skill sets can be done in a different order than they´re listed, based on who you level with or where you typically level. (so instead of going a,b,c,d, you might go d,b,c,a or whatever) If this confuses you, then just learn them in the order provided, and ignore what I just said.
04-24-04
Added more info to version system. The date-based part of the version indicates the last content or organization update. The last part indicates what site this version of the guide is formatted for (roe, rhq, or emp), as well as indicating changes to formatting (to make the guide look better or be easier to navigate on the site it´s formatted for).
04-20-04
Moved Table of Contents to top of guide. Added Introduction section to Contents, as it is now underneath the Table of Contents. Added separate Credits section, and included links to many of the sites that have been especially helpful for making the guide, as well as playing the game.
04-16-04
Corrected error in Pneuma Hopping section. It originally said that the AoP included the Pneuma Tile and the six surrounding tiles. I meant eight, not six. Arg.
Modified the main build slightly:
Raised Aspersio from 1 to 4. The damage modifiers will greatly help when supporting any melee class in places like Glast Heim, and the extra few levels will help you conserve Holy Water. This will add a bit to the versatility of the build slightly.
Added Decrease AGI 1 to the end of the skill build. While this won´t help much at all with PvE (player vs. environment), it can prove valuable for PvP, including WoE, since it not only slows a person and lowers their AGI somewhat at level 1, it will cancel some buffs like two-hand quicken. Also, most melee characters have little to no mDEF, so its success rate will still be decent against them.
To make room for those, I lowered Magnificat and Gloria from 5 to 3, which will make a slight difference, but in this case, the benefits will outweigh the slight inconvenience...especially since it makes the build more versatile overall.
If you have been following my build and already have Magnificat and/or Gloria to 5, then get them both to 5, keep Aspersio at 1, and don´t learn Decrease AGI. The previous build is still a rather nice build, and is only slightly less versatile than this.
Credit goes to forum members for input leading to the content of this update.
04-14-04
I´ve decided to add Emperium.org to my list of sites where I´m updating and supporting my guide, and have updated the introduction sections of the guide accordingly. I was pleasantly surprised to find a site that has enough content, and seems interesting and promising enough to spend some time with, along with the two sites I´ve been updating and supporting my guide on for a while now.
For my next update, I plan to do some minor reorganization (mostly regarding the Introduction and Contents sections), as well as make some fo formatting changes to make the guide look its best on each site.
04-11-04
Changed name of newest section from ´Secondary WoE Support´ to ´Secondary Support Build´ since for a WoE-dedicated build, having a higher level of Improve SP Recovery because of the shear frequency of skill use.. and also, other supportive skills can be arranged better for WoE than how I have them. However, for other PvP situations, and for PvE (Player vs. Environment) interaction, my Secondary Support build shall still perform nicely, even though the demand for it may not be terribly high.
04-10-04b
Added Secondary WoE Support to the list of skill build modifications. This build is intended to work together with a general Full Support Priest (what the rest of my guide is for), and one more aco/priest (to use B.S. Sacramenti) and provide additional support, primarily in the form of lessening the enemy´s effectiveness. This is -NOT- a versatile support build! For a versatile support build, follow the normal support build mentioned in my guide, NOT the Secondary WoE Support build.
Oh yes, and let me know if you feel that I have not provided enough warning in the guide, pertaining to the fact that this is not a versatile build for everyday support. I don´t want to risk people confusing that with my regular full support build advice.
04-10-04
Reorganized sections...put skill-based Additional Notes subsections in with the skill-based sections, and put the leveling-related Additional Notes subsections with the other leveling material. This should make future updates a bit easier to manage...especially when I get to some of my planned formatting changes and additions for the skills sections.
04-07-04
Overhaul of Equipment section, with some changes, additions, and reformatting. Enjoy!
04-06-04b
Added ´SP Regen and Juno´ Additional Notes subsection.
04-06-04
[1] Addition to Stats section, inspired by forum feedback.
[2] Changes to Equipment section, inspired by forum feedback.
[3] Removed ´Eggyra vs. Sohee´ Additional Notes subsection. If the SP Regen Calculator I was given the link to is correct, then.. actually, I´ll include this in another update...there´s so much information, now that I think about it. Oh, and this was also inspired by forum feedback. This was a completely feedback-inspired update.
04-05-04
Updated again, with Additional Information subsections regarding how to breeze through novice levels quickly without too much zeny costs (assuming you do have a higher level character to buy and upgrade a couple things), and regarding locations of the Ascetics for the Acolyte test.
I plan to address some forum input in the next update, or in replies to this thread before the next update, so rest assured that the last few replies have not been ignored.
Forum Moderators, if it´s not too much trouble, could we get this thread stickied? I think it could be a valuable asset to the RO community.
04-03-04
Updated, to include information regarding B.S. Sacramenti, and how to modify my suggested skill build to include it. Enjoy!
03-30-04
[1] Added Subtopics from Additional Notes to Contents, since there´s a LOT if information in that section now.
[2] Added "Eggyra vs. Sohee" Subtopic to Additional Notes Section.
Enjoy! Feel free to reply if you have any comments, suggestions, or questions.
03-27-04
(1) Massive reformatting job, now easier to read, easier to navigate, and easier for me to edit and add to. Changed section name formatting to look a bit more neat, and to be unique for using search functions to find them easily from the table of contents. Added aforementioned table of contents. Moved some paragraphs around to make the guide more modular in design, and reworded accordingly, and also to be more clear and concise where necessary.
(2) Changed introduction, and added version number, which is simply the date of the most recent update, so for those keeping track can see if the guide has been updated since their last visit (even though I post a reply on each update).
(3) Added the Additional Information Section, which currently has information regarding Sanctuary, as well as an abundance of Pneuma-related material.
Enjoy!
03-22-04
Updated, to add equipment suggestions. Feel free to add any comments or suggestions.
03-19-04
Created guide.
can i ask something : what different +6 saintrobe with +7 saintrobe effect ?
ReplyDeleteALL EQUIPMENT +6 IS GOOD RIGHT ?