Got tired of seeing the same questions posted over and over, so here is a list of FAQs for new or returning clerics
1. There are so many souls and it’s all so confusing, which ones do I choose?
If you scroll down to the second post, I will outline the general mechanics for each of the souls so you can make a more informed choice about the playstyle that suits you. However, it is important to know that you can change your points spent and soul trees at any time by visiting a class trainer for a nominal fee - so chop and change as much as you like to get a feel for the different souls.
2. I want to heal, but I don't want to be just a healer - can I dps too?
Yes, you can purchase additional roles (other soul and point combinations of your choosing) from the class trainer, the first few additional roles are cheap but the more you buy the more expensive they get - for the lower levels you are better off just resetting your points at a class trainer than spending all your plat on extra roles, having 3 roles is cheap and will do you comfortably to 50
3. Are clerics wanted in raids? And for not just healing?
Yes, as long as you can follow mechanics and turn up as often as your guild wants you, being a cleric is not a hindrance to getting a raid spot (as long as the guild is not already flush for clerics). Cleric DPS is fairly well balanced with all other callings, and the game is patched fairly regularly tweaking the numbers so what might not be top dps today will be tomorrow.
4. What build should I use for levelling?
The generic answer is whatever you want, but there are 2 cleric souls designed with soloability in mind - druid and defiler. Both of these classes are pet classes, although druid's pet is controllable, defiler pet is just a totem that holds the clerics aggro for them until it dies or the mob dies and is obtainable at level 16+. Its also worth noting that having a 0 point justicar soul as part of your build nets you a small amount of healing whenever damage is done, and is often used as a 3rd soul in solo builds - or even spending a few more points in the tree to increase that healing.
5. Does putting points in healing trees lower my DPS and vice versa?
Yes it does. If you hover your mouse over the base of each soul tree you will see a description of the soul and an outline of the "gift" received per point spent (PPS) in that tree. Putting points in a DPS tree boosts damaging abilities by 1% PPS, and healing for healing tees - so making a half healing half dps hybrid build will net you something that doesn't heal well and doesn't dps well once you go up in levels and those percentages start to add up. At lower levels its less of a concern since the percentages are small additions to an abilities healing or damage. Its worth noting that warden and defiler have boosts to both healing and damage (1% healing and 0.5% damage PPS), and justicar has tank stat boosts and has 0.5% damage PPS.
6. Can clerics tank well?
Yes, while they only have the one tanking tree, the aggro mechanics for cleric are very simple and effective, and they have a number of cooldowns, making them very good tanks. You will need a separate set of gear for tanking, including a shield and gear that is higher in endurance. At lower levels dungeons, you can get away with dps gear and a shield.
7. I just returned, are my –icar builds still good? What about duracell for levelling?
Short answer no, they nerfed DoL and salvation healing.
8. I’ve been in a looking for dungeon queue for ages, why am I not getting a group?
The dungeon finder looks for 1 tank, 1 healer, 2 dps and 1 support across a number of shards. At lower levels there may not be enough people looking, but more likely noone has chosen the role of tank or healer.
9. How do I queue as support as a cleric?
Druid and defiler souls are deemed to be support by the LFD system.
10. Do I need hit and toughness?
You will need hit for expert dungeons, raids, raid rifts and some level 50+ world events. You need toughness if you plan on tanking the aforementioned. You don’t need either for anything pre-50.
11. What’s a good PvP build?
At lower levels they all work fairly well. At higher levels inquisitor heavy builds seem to be favored due to its range and high tree abilities, and cabalist for AEing and CC, but there are plenty of unique builds out there that work well with practice. Healing is mostly sent for good ST heals or warden for AE heals and there’s plenty of hybridization around.
12. Are the premade builds any good?
When you don't know what you're doing, yes. As you get more experience you will chop and change the builds to suit your own needs, but they certainly point you in the right direction.
13. Is there an advantage to using a 2-hander vs a 1-hander and offhander for melee specs?
No. Weapon damage has no bearing on your DPS anymore, go for the combination that nets you the most stats.
14. What stats should I get as a dps/healer/tank?
1 WIS nets you 0.75 spell power and 0.5 spell crit, 1 INT nets you 0.25 spell power and 0.5 spell crit. DPS and healers should be trying to stack spell power and crit power (spell crit is a very weak stat at the moment). Tanks should stack END - debating tanking stats vs more hp are pretty useless at the low end of tanking, END is king. Note: STR and DEX used to be beneficial to cleric tanks - they aren't any more, get rid of your old warrior and rogue tank lessers.
15. What's a good raiding healer build?
All cleric builds have their place, although currently chloromancer usually replaces sentinel for tank heals. Warden and purifier are sort after for raid heals and raid mitigation, and defiler is needed for tank mitigation and their 61 point ability.
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