==>All Maplestory Guide List<==

==>Magician Guide List <==

Complete Priest Guide

Table of Contents:



I. About

II. Introduction

III. A few words about the Pros and Cons of Priests

IV. Insight into Priest skills

V. Skill-synopsis and Plans for possible Builds

VI. Priest Builds

1. An “Average Build” (and why build-charts for Priests suck)
   
2. The Doom Build
   
3. The Early-Dragon Build
   
4. The “Zakum can wait” Builds (aka Late-Dispel Builds)
   
5. The Low-Dispel Build
   
6. The No-Ray Build
   
7. The No-Doom Build (aka The Mastering-Second-Job Build)
   
8. The "Solo-Priest" Build
   
9. The "True-Solo-Priest" Build

VII. HP-Gear

VIII. Training-Guide

IX."Rules" for Party

X. Miscellaneous

XI. Addendum







I.About



July 06 – Lost an almost complete version of the guide (or lets say around 70%) among some other stuff by loosing the disc it was on at university cause of some damn coincidence. Sucks to be me.



03.09.06 – Guide is up. Completed a rewrite from a weak back-up, since there were still so many questions out and no real complete Priest Guide that faces many new aspects that weren't covered in Squeeks old Guide and aren't in the new Party one.

Further fixes in format may follow, though I already fixed a lot with the List-Tags for higher readability and better viewing pleasure. Dunno about adding some pictures as well yet, would require a stable host I don't got my hands on right now.

Other than that, feel free to notify me of any errors and spelling mistakes I overlooked. If there are any vital questions uncovered by the Misc-section, I'm open to suggestions as well. Finally, if my numbers regarding Blood Priests are wrong, I'd like to know and correct that part. From what I heard it should be close to accurate though.



03.09.06

- Fixed the skill-chart, added the Doroness Robe and shields to HP-gear.

- Removed the other HP-gear for female Mages in that process, since they don't seem very worthwhile anymore.

- Added Zakum/Pianus to training options.



08.09.06

- Some minor fixes here and there, added Lumiere's remarks on Doom and Dispel I yet had to add.

- Planning to add the other new information for Doom, a build that prioritizes Dragon and some rephrasing on "Solo Priest" remarks soon.



09.09.06

- Added the skill build focussing on Summon Dragon.

- Added the builds skilling Dispel later to favor "solo play" and did some rephrasing on the low-Dispel one.

- Some additional remarks and rephrasings in skill descriptions and the deeper insight part.

- Some minor typos and errors in sentences fixed while overlooking the guide in the process.

- Thinking of the Solo Priest changes, some additional content for party rules and FAQ and extracting the Luckless/Blood Priest ideas from the FAQ to an own short section.







II. Introduction



I’d like to open this guide with a few words about its target audience and what I have in mind what you already have in mind when you show interest in a guide for Priests. If you are aiming for, or have just reached Priesthood, you most likely already have a hang of the game’s basics and also didn’t choose to become a Cleric just because you heard those are rad to fund another of your characters and planned to quit your magician halfway. Thus I do not think I have to bore readers with the dozenth guide about the class of the Magician, how you put your skill-points into “Maxing max MP” before going for your attack-skill or where and how to allocate your AP best. Also I won’t go too deep into possible or “most suitable” Cleric-builds, how and where to train as a Cleric and when you should buy&use which equips best. Because this isn't a Cleric-Guide. If you need any help on that, I'd recommend the lecture of both Squeeks and YuhwoOs guides for any questions.

Thank you for your time.





III. A few words about the Pros and Cons of Priests



A Priest’s true power lies in its abilities to survive, aid and buff other party members with valuable spells and, of course, improve his healing skills with increasing intelligence. It is no real secret and common sense, that Priests are weak, aka “the weakest class” in the game. With the Cleric’s amazing recovery-skills, one might wonder how deadly and imbalanced they would be, if only they did more damage than Wizet limited them to do. The melancholy of the in comparism weak damage-numbers they produce aside, people often forget and neglect though, that they are paid for their weakness with unique defensive capabilities, enabling them to be more offensive than some of the melee-classes and survive in places where other characters have to bring a lot of potions, even when accompanied by a Priest. Combining the Cleric’s knowledge of “Invincible” and its own passive power of “Elemental Resistance”, Priests are able to negate large amounts of damage, enabling them to basically train and hunt wherever they survive a single hit of a monsters strongest attack. So in the end, Priests do not really strive for the highest damage, but for adaptability and defense and thus learn to erode strong enemies slowly, but at most likely much less costs than other classes.

Note now, that this does not take into account partying yet. Priests are all about the skill “Holy Symbol” after all. A whopping 50% increase in exp-gain in party (when maxed and only in a party of 2 people or more) is like their own little Double-Exp-Card, just of course only half as good. With something like that in their skillbook, Priests would and should try to party with someone else as often as possible. If one does not like to, it’s fine as well, but the whopping 50% decreases to an only charming 10% then and ultimately after L100 soloing becomes a pain.





IV. Insight into Priest skills



Skills. That’s what it’s all about in the end, isn’t it. In direct comparison, Priests get one of the most versatile sets of skills in Third-Job of all classes. Let’s take a deep look, what options lie ahead of us after those 40 levels of hard and sometimes boring work as a Cleric.





Elemental Resistance



common abbreviation: ER

Masterlevel: 20

Type: Passive

Skill-Requirements: none

Description: Gains a higher tolerance for all element-based spell attacks from the enemy.

• Skill on Level 01: 12% increase in tolerance against element-based spell attacks
  
  Skill on Level 20: 50% increase in tolerance against element-based spell attacks

This unique skill permanently powers up the defense against almost all magic based on any element in the game, which almost makes the term “Magical Resistance” adequate. Right with the first point we already get a nice 12% damage cut and when maxed all magic attacks are cut in half. As ER actually decreases all the spell damage from not only fire, ice, lightning and poison attacks, this passive skill will be extremely useful.





Dispel



common abbreviation: n/a

Masterlevel: 20

Type: Active

Skill-Requirements: none

Description: Cancels out all spell effects of the enemies within a certain area, along with curing everyone in the party of all sicknesses.

• Skill on Level 01: MP -15; Area affected: 110%, Dispel Rate: 34%
  
  Skill on Level 20: MP -20; Area affected: 300%, Dispel Rate: 100%

Not much to say about this one. Dispel does right what the name says and nullifies all magical effects in a certain area, may it be negative status ailments of the party or power ups of enemies. At least on maxed skill level that is. Before, this skill won’t work every time it’s cast and will only work at a safe 100% all the time on master level. Also, area affected will greatly increase during powering up this skill. Note that Dispel can’t cure the status “Stun” and unfortunately neither the "super-defense-skills" of certain enemies (e.g. Bone Fish, Gobi House, Zakum) that drop all damage received to 1. Those spells have to run out on their own after a few seconds. However, Dispel can still be used while being sealed up and having all the other skills blocked. Right now this skill mostly serves its purpose in the mighty Zakum battles and when facing Thanatos, but safe dispelling of enemy spells might prove itself more and more necessary, when stronger monsters come out.





Mystic Door



common abbreviation: Door

Masterlevel: 20

Type: Active

Skill-Requirements: Dispel Level 3. Consumes one “The Magic Rock” each time used.

Description: Creates a portal that heads to the nearest town. All members of the party can use it multiple times until the portal disappears. Press up to pass.

• Skill on Level 01: MP -80; Portal works for 30 seconds
  
  Skill on Level 20: MP -33; Portal works for 180 seconds

A lovely party-skill and also a handy skill for oneself. Just as the skill says, this spell creates a magic portal to the nearest town at the cost of one Magic Rock and can be used multiple times until it fades. It also can be used in maps where Return Scrolls usually are blocked, as in Orbis or Eos Tower. While the “Nearest Town” Return Scroll serves the same purpose, Mystic Door usually is used for the other way round, enabling party members to quickly get to the map the door was placed or returning to your own map after doing something in town. The usefulness of Mystic Door obviously depends on the map design and how far away those are from town. Thus one will find the door extremely useful when ganging up in the Sanctuary on Victoria Island or training at zombies in El Nath (though there are the Dead Mine Scrolls now), while it isn’t really a necessity any more in Ludibrium maps due to the overall shorter ways.

Most of the time Priests only activate this skill with one point and are fine with this. While more points into Door make it possible to actually use it for going to town, storing and selling stuff and returning to your map, it is arguable if this expense is really worth skillpoints. Let’s take a look at that later though.





Holy Symbol



common abbreviation: HS

Masterlevel: 30

Type: Active

Skill-Requirements: Dispel Level 3.

Description: For a certain amount of time, everyone in the party can gain more EXP while hunting monsters. It only works 100% when the party is bigger than 2.

• Skill on Level 01: MP -51; For 32 seconds, all members of the party gain 102% EXP
  
  Skill on Level 30: MP -80; For 120 seconds, all members of the party gain 150% EXP

Cleric was all about the skill “Heal”, Priest is about this one. The all mighty Holy Symbol. The idol everyone falls to their knees to L70 at the latest. The skill people definitely want you to have when you party up with them. As already mentioned above, on master level this skill grants a 50% increase in experience points gain for a party of two people or more, but only works at 20% of its original power when you are on your own, making it only 10% on L30. Downsides of this skill are its slow casting speed, which can be avoided by casting it on a rope/ladder, and its kinda low duration even on master level. With max Invincible lasting 300 seconds and max Bless at least a 200, you will certainly notice how often this spell runs out and has to be recast. Growing slowly in effect and duration and taking 30 skill-points to master, you also might not find Holy Symbol of any use at all until it reaches around L12-15, where it lasts around a minute and grants roughly half of its full potential already. Despite its slow improvements on levels it’s highly advisable to max Holy Symbol ASAP after Third-Job-Advancement.





Shining Ray



common abbreviation: Ray or SR

Masterlevel: 30

Type: Attack

Skill-Requirements: none

Description: Attacks multiple enemies at once with the ray of holy light. Applies massive damage to the undead monsters.

• Skill on Level 01: MP -21; Basic attack 60, mastery 15%
  
  Skill on Level 30: MP -50; Basic attack 105, mastery 60%

After the highly debatable Holy Arrow in 2nd-Job, Shining Ray has become somewhat of a legend to be the attack skill for Priests, crushing Holy Arrow both in power and target area. While both of this is true, it also isn’t at the same time. Shining Ray proves to be a worthwhile attack skill hitting up to six targets at a time, with an overall good power on master level, but weak distance and comparable slow casting rate, as Priests lack the skill “Magic Booster”. Since Priests are immobile for a little more than a full second when casting, it is suggested to either use it at weaker enemies or in combination with teleport. Additionally, maxed or a higher level MP Eater might come in handy in places you spam Ray more often, since its around twice the cost of Heal in the end, which may lead to your MP-bar lowering faster than you’re used to.

Shining Ray is a cool skill to have later on, unfortunately it is nowhere close to a key-element for training fast in Third Job and thus shouldn't be favored over more vital skills too early.





Doom



common abbreviation: n/a

Masterlevel: 30

Type: Active

Skill-Requirements: Consumes one “The Magic Rock” each time used.

Description: Turns multiple monsters into snails at once. Speed, attacking ability, and the looks all change. Does not work on boss monsters, and can only change up to 6 monsters at once.

• Skill on Level 01: MP -88; Changes for 5 seconds, with 52% success rate
  
  Skill on Level 30: MP -30; Changes for 20 seconds, with 90% success rate

Maybe the most unique skill in the game, Doom brings down the most fearful enemies in the game to the knees of its caster by turning them into pathetic Blue Snails. As a Blue Snail, a monster’s attacking capabilities are reduced to practically null, while it keeps its original number of hitpoints, experience and drop-options. The original elemental weaknesses and defenses are nullified as well, but snailed undeads will still be weak to healing. The monster's original "value" will stay the same however, meaning their original avoid and level will keep lower-levels from being able to hit them and taking down sudden "easy targets". As an additional note, the same way attack skills always target the same number of enemies in a group larger then six, Doom as well will always target the same six foes for snailing. So it is not possible to jump down into a larger group and snailing more than 6 of them, without luring them apart. This is especially noteworthy since Doom has a very good range (not depending on its level), so having more than 6 possible targets for it in range might happen quite often.

This skill has two catches overshadowing its otherwise godly potential though, the first being the cost of a Magic Rock and the second the missing 10% to a 100% ensurance of the skill actually doing something even on master level. Since this skill seems a little odd, we’ll look a bit closer at it later on as well.





Summon Dragon



common abbreviation: Dragon

Masterlevel: 30

Type: Active

Skill-Requirements: Consumes one “The Summoning Rock” each time used.

Description: Summons a holy dragon for a certain amount of time. The dragon will stay beside you and attack the enemies in the process. The higher the skill level, the stronger the summoned dragon is.

• Skill on Level 01: MP -32; Summon a dragon with basic attack 64 for 10 seconds
  
  Skill on Level 30: MP -80; Summon a dragon with basic attack 150 for 140 seconds

As other classes gain the ability to summon something in Third-Job, Priests use Summon Dragon to call for a Dragon Whelp, which will hover around you for a limited time, automatically attacking nearby enemies with direct bursts of magical power. These attacks are non-elemental and not holy as one might think at first, and as an extra, each Dragon comes with l33t-hax-accuracy, being able to hit anything that moves (and stands still) regardless of its masters Intelligence and level. While the attack power of 150 on master level sounds nice, the Dragon suffers from a leisurely fire-rate, and the 140 seconds it stays are really needed to compensate for this. Finally, this skill suffers the same fate as Doom, being practically useless on lower levels, so unless you’re planning to put a lot of SP here right away, you might want to wait with putting only a few in it in hope for some initial use.





V. Skill-synopsis and Plans for possible Builds



Fair warning, this part may be long. While this elaboration isn’t a must-read, what I want to cover in this section is the WHY to this whole “What skills should I max?” question depending on various circumstances, hopefully answering all possible questions to the Whys and Pros and Cons, so in the end you actually have a solid idea of why you follow the build you choose.



Let’s take an overall-look now at what skills we got, their general usefulness and what options we have to begin with, during our journey to Level 120. From L70-120 we gain a total of 151 skillpoints: One from Roberia in El Nath after completing Third-Job-Advancement, the rest from future level-ups. All skills of our Third-Job-Book combined make a total of 180 skillpoints, meaning we basically lack a number of 29 skillpoints to simply max out all the skills available. Simply put or thought for now, this means one 30-SP-skill being left aside or splitting points over two “last” skills. Let’s make things a little easier by outlining priorities, people can –or have to– agree on regardless of their preferences.





=========

Holy Symbol

=========

This is a skill not worth any debate. Priests will max this. Regardless of you being a loner or party-camper, additional experience will always be your private Exp-Boost-Event. Mark 30 points as spent for that one.





==============

Elemental Resistance

==============

Remember the short lesson on Cleric’s/Priest’s defensive powers from the introduction or be lectured now: Lower damage is our friend. Since we are low on HP most of the time, suffering lower damage is always good, but since we can instantly heal us, we can basically train or party anywhere we don’t die even from the strongest attacks monsters can offer. Invincible from 2nd Job was the first step to greatly increase our defense, ER offers the next one and is even more powerful. It enables us to train at various places without Magic Guard and even Hyperbody, making live a lot easier and training/partying even more efficient. A lot of Ludibrium’s best training places for Priests require a certain amount of ER and even though skilling it around halfway first might be sufficient, it is advisory to concentrate on maxing ER early on as well. Reserve another 20 SP here.





========

Mystic Door

========

Let’s remember about that one. For 19 additional points invested here, we get to last the Door 3 minutes instead of the initial 30 seconds. Sounds convenient and most likely it is. What you gain from that and what L1 Door most likely will not do in most situations, is the ability to leave your current map for town, sell stuff, eventually repot, store some things if necessary and afterwards return to your old map. That sounds quite nice and it is, often can’t do that in only 30 seconds, I assure you. However, the price for this negligible sort of convenience isn’t quite low, seeing how other skills might and will need these SP more than Door. L1 Door already serves its main purpose well, to quickly bring (back) party members to your current map. For the other direction, there are things called “Return Scrolls”, which should still do for the majority of time. So for now, let’s say we can save 19 SP here.





Now let’s take a break here, since I’m positive from now on people’s idea might diverge. What we already gathered is a 50 SP spent for sure and a sound option of saving 19 from a skill not necessarily worth skilling further than L1.

So we take 50 SP from our initial 151 SP and fall to 101. Let’s take another 1 SP from that and put it into Mystic Door, so we got those skills covered and got a nice number of 100 SP left to spend. With Dispel (20), Shining Ray (30), Doom (30) and Summon Dragon (30) left to look into, we’d need 110 SP for all those skills. So now we’re only 10 SP short to simply max all those skills – sounds better already, doesn’t it? Let’s continue.





====

Dispel

====

What we gain from further skilling Dispel is basically the insurance that it actually works (fast) and a wider area covered to both help allies with their status ailments and ourselve by dispelling enemy power-ups. Now this is technically a tough one to judge objectively, since with unknown things that may have yet to come to MapleStory, this skill might just be become even more important over time or not. For now, Dispel might be only called a must at boss enemies as Zakum, Pianus and Papulatus. If you think you can live with a dispel-rate of say ~70-80%, ultimately at bosses in party your allies might think different when they (or maybe you as well) get raped while you try to make your stupid skill work.

Looking at numbers alone, from L11 on the Dispel-rate only increases by 3% each level contrary to the 4% from L1-10, eventually opening the option to stop at L10 for a so-called “Solo Build”. Is this advisory? Even if you are a party pooper, I would’nt exactly say so. Keep it in mind for now as an option though, we’ll see about this later.





========

Shining Ray

========

Now there it is! Yay for Ray or Nay for Ray? Actually there’s a lot one could say about this skill and still wouldn’t do reality justice, since it is really debatable what to do with Ray. For now, let me stick to the facts: It’s obvious an attack skill is either a no-go (1 SP for fun is permitted and actually advised, whatever you may decide) or to be maxed. No use in a half-assed skilling, waste of SP. Is Ray worth its SP? Most definitely, the answer would be “Yes”. Even though its range sucks compared to other skills and horizontally even looses to Claw&Arrow, a decent area-skill which finally targets not only undeads is a good thing to have. It will most likely find rare use in (bigger) parties and at undeads you’ll still stick to Heal most of the time, but Shining Ray opens a lot options to hunt and kill several monsters more efficiently. It’s also a big help if you want to help out lower level buddies in training. If you want to go for Ray, note one additional thing: The skill mastery already caps at L28 as in many skills and the additional 2 SP only raise the skill power from 103 to 105. While for now saving 2 SP does not sound that crucial, one may raise the question if 2 magic attack are worth spending 2 SP, that would do better in one of the other skills not maxed.





====

Doom

====

Ironically, the most unique skill in the game also aims for the title of the most useless skill in the game. Or let’s call it “arguable” to be more fair. I won’t deny any bias I have towards Doom, but let me point out, where its problems lie, which nobody can deny. Basically, Doom cannot seriously be thought of of a training and neither a hunting skill. If you want, take a brake from reading here and look yourself over all of the skills in MapleStory, that consume a Magic or Summoning Rock. ... ... ...

You noticed something yourself? Together with Mystic Door, Doom is the only skill in the game that offers one very limited effect when cast. For the summoning type skills, players sacrifice a rock to gain a familiar type bonus, that lasts a certain amount of time. For Door, it’s kind of an equivalent trade: You use one rock, you get one Door. You’ll never really spam Door, thus you’ll find the rock consumed in the process to be fair and affordable.

However, Doom. When you cast Doom, it targets (up to) 6 enemies. After you killed them, you’ll cast Doom for another (in best case) 6 targets. And another. And another. Consuming a magic rock each time. For both training and hunting this process burns magic rocks worse than Hermits’ Shadow Partner hungers for summoning rocks. Looking at the droprate of items and immense amount of exp needed for level-ups – is this skill seriously considered to be used in any common sense players might imagine? Keeping in mind, it does not even work a 100% for each target when mastered? Let’s be fair and think of more/other reasons one might use Doom. Doom may be a great way to ease tough situations in party and save party members from monster(-attacks) who got themselves in whatever shit you can think about. Doom might also be useful to travel through dangerous maps, snailing evil monsters and such. All that in mind though, a full 30 SP sound rather harsh for a skill I have problems to come up with justifications for its overall usefulness. Not even considering the 10% off to a full 100% chance of working and the rock consumed.

So....what to do with Doom? Looking at its development over the levels, at L10 it works 70% of all time and lasts 10 seconds. 15 seconds at 80% rate at L20, 20 seconds with 90% chance at maximum L30. Keeping in mind we are 10SP short to max all skills we talk about here, we could leave Doom at L20, and still gain the 80% rate with 15 second “snail-duration”. Now that sounds like its pretty useable, even after all the pessimism. The last 10 SP would grant an additional 10% rate and 5 seconds, which might not sound very much in total comparism, yet with an unsetady skill as Doom, it is a justified to say that even little improvement can and will be a great help, considering the spell’s cost. Also regarding that the longer duration is crucial when snailing stronger and stronger enemies, that take longer and longer to kill (most likely with Ray). Talk about a mind-boggling skill...





===========

Summon Dragon

===========

Oh yes, we’re finally approaching the end of this section here. Summon Dragon is left and looking into this skill will be a lot easier, promised. As already pointed out before, a crucial part of Dragon is the skill duration. Let’s quickly note Dragon’s statistics at some key levels:

L10 – power 100, 55 seconds duration

L20 – power 130, 100 seconds duration

L30 – power 150, 140 seconds duration

While both increases drop a little during the levels up to L30, note how the benefit in duration is still pretty decent. While Dragon “only” gains 20 power from 20-30, it stays 40% longer on the map with those last 10 points spent. Simpler put, that’s around 10 additional (and of course stronger) attacks for your rock spent. Judging from the point that a rock-skill should grant the maximum output possible and due to its familiar-type the cost/performance-ratio is about right, it basically does not seem advisable, to go for Dragon only halfway either. However, since Dragon is not that a crucial skill to have and Priests without (good) Dragon do not “fail”, this point is arguable as well. The additional firepower from above most of the time comes in handy when fighting stronger and lesser enemies not weak to Heal, or when assissting a party and granting a few shots of decent damage while concentrating on buffs and Heal.





Allright. Let’s get finished with the key-facts for Priest-Builds I tried to illustrate in this section:



Ditching Door, we are 10 SP short for maxing all our skills.

Saving an optional 2 SP from Shining Ray, we can boost one remaining skill a little more.

The most obvious options elaborated from all this would be now:

• Keeping Doom at L20 (/22) basically grants us all “vital” skills, yet we don’t get Dooms full potential.
  
• Keeping Dragon at L20 (/22) grants us maxed Doom among all the other skills, which might come in handy now and then after all.
  
• Keeping Dispel at L10 (/12) and maxing all other skills may be a valid option for everyone who does not plan facing bosses and risks the hardships of not having the perfect Dispel-rate.
  
• Ditching Shining Ray is an option as well for full party natures. With the 30/29 SP saved we can even prolong Mystic Door, enabling us and our party to make better use of it – if necessary.
  
• Ditching either Doom or Dragon completely. This, along the No-Ray-choice, is most likely the route that makes the least sense on first sight. Mystic Door would be the only skill benefitting from that, wouldn’t it. However, keep in mind there was Second Job as well...

VI. Priest Builds



Basically, all possible (advisable) Priest builds allow a lot of variation depending on personal preference and where you train/party. Especially in the first 20-25 levels the distribution of skillpoints may greatly vary and there is not necessarily a “best” or more importantly “worse” route to take. In most of the builds however it should be a priority to max Holy Symbol ASAP and look out to have enough ER to be able to train at places with decent exp-rates.



Note: In the following there will be “quick-charts” for later builds, where for simplicity I didn’t mind to always add the early 3SP into Dispel to unlock other skills into the lines. I’m aware of that requirement and you should be as well when planning the respective builds.





[1] – An “Average Build” (and why build-charts for Priests suck)



70 – Shining Ray (1)

71 – ER (1), Dispel (2)

72 – Dispel (3), Door (1), HS (1)

73 – HS (4)

74 – HS (7)

75 – HS (10)

76 – HS (13)

77 – HS (16)

78 – HS (19)

79 – HS (22)

80 – HS (25)

81 – HS (28)

82 – HS (30), ER (2)

83 – ER (5)

84 – ER (8)

85 – ER (11)

86 – ER (14)

87 – ER (17)

88 – ER (20)

89 – Dispel (6)

90 – Dispel (9)

91 – Dispel (12)

92 – Dispel (15)

93 – Dispel (18)

94 – Dispel (20), Shining Ray (2)

95 – Shining Ray (5)

96 – Shining Ray (8)

97 – Shining Ray (11)

98 – Shining Ray (14)

99 – Shining Ray (17)

100 – Shining Ray (20)

101 – Shining Ray (23)

102 – Shining Ray (26)

103 – Shining Ray (28), Summon Dragon (1)

104 – Summon Dragon (4)

105 – Summon Dragon (7)

106 – Summon Dragon (10)

107 – Summon Dragon (13)

108 – Summon Dragon (16)

109 – Summon Dragon (19)

110 – Summon Dragon (22)

111 – Summon Dragon (25)

112 – Summon Dragon (28)

113 – Summon Dragon (30), Doom (1)

114 – Doom (4)

115 – Doom (7)

116 – Doom (10)

117 – Doom (13)

118 – Doom (16)

119 – Doom (19)

120 – Doom (20) (+2 spare points *)





Allright, let me say a few words to this exemplary build-tree, so the other ones do not need explanations in such detail again. This build would most likely not be the most efficient one, but a decent build that makes fun as well. Let me point out some possible thoughts about it:

• The early SP into Ray seems quite useless, however especially the “arrow-less” Clerics might find it useful and fun to fight&hunt weaker monsters with Ray or assist lower-level-buddies. Since it will be a long road till Ray is actually skilled as an attack skill in this build, bored Priests may now and then take a break and play around with it, since other than Dragon or Doom it actually has some utility on L1 already.
  
• The early SP into Door is arguable as well. Especially if you still manage (or are doomed) to train at zombies, Door will prove itself useful early on. If you don’t see any use for it though, save that point for later, when you are fine with HS and/or ER. Note that the way to popular training grounds in Ludibrium is quite shorter now than the way to zombies in Ossyria is.
  
• Dispel is favored over both Shining Ray and Dragon here, since it is the key to fight bosses earlier, neither Ray nor Dragon are needed there and hence “slow down” your build boss-wise. Having no real “firepower” of your own until around L100 may be tedious however, so stay tuned for other builds, that adjust such feelings at the cost of the so-called boss-requirement.
  
• One word regarding the “spare points”: Doom gains an additional duration-second (15->16) at L22, so putting those into Doom isn’t exactly the worst choice, not to forget an additional 2% chance. This may or may not be more welcome than 20 additional seconds for the Mystic Door.
  
• Now, regarding the distribution of ER, which is the most noteworthy thing: Depending on whether you are luckless or not, if you train with a DK or not, what HP-gear you have in your backpack and what hardships you are willing to take, the examplary and incomplex distribution in this chart may be and will be most likely utter wrong. The problem is, this part can’t really be put in chart with a remark “There. That’s how you should do it.”. The early point into ER basically allows you to train at Death Teddies somewhere in your mid-70’s without too much HP-gear. Master Death Teddies, which can very well be fought before L82 where the ER-skilling begins again, would require a few points more than that though (usually around 4-7), if you don’t train with a Dragon Knight or don’t want to be dependent on the DK’s Hyperbody. Since I would’nt exactly advise to take on (Grim) Phantom Watches before L85+ anyway, the chart should be more or less correct again for those though, since depending on HP-gear around 12-15 ER sufficient to survive their magic attacks without Magic Guard or Hyperbody. Vikings may need a few points more than that though to be on the safe side without any DK/equip-help. Avoiding their attacks is way easier however.
  
  Easier put: Skilling of ER is something one has to manage individually and the “optimal” skill-tree will most-likely not look the same for everyone from L70 to the late 80’s. Keep this in mind for all the other builds, to simplify things.

[2] – The Doom Build



Since the only difference to the Dragon Build would be the swap of Doom and Dragon, the chart would most likely look the same just with Doom skilled from L103-113 and Dragon L113-120. I couldn’t think of any reason why Doom should be skilled earlier over any of the skills, however one might stick to the former plan and skill Dragon L1-20 first (which would be L103-110 then), before maxing Doom last. Again, note that the two “spare points” that can be drawn from Shining Ray give Dragon an additional 4 power and 8 seconds duration that might be more favorable than prolonging Door.





[3] – The Early-Dragon Build



While build #1 would be already what I’d call the “Dragon Build”, there is an interesting option to give this certain skill even more attention and skill it way earlier than considered before. The idea behind this concept is, that granted you have a good party and party most of the time, the skill you will benefit the most is actually Dragon. Let’s say you party with a good DragonKnight most of the time: At around L80 you will have maxed Holy Symbol. Your party won’t need Ray, Doom or Dispel and granted your DK covers you good, you won’t even need much or any ER early either. So instead of waiting to skill Dragon after L100 and not having it maxed until even L110something, there is a solid option to skill it right after HS. Obviously, this comes at the cost of being able to solo though, since you prolong the wait for maxed ER. This can be fixed a little by carefully planning how much ER you need where on which level (slowing down Dragon again though), however the preference of a 30SP-skill over a 20SP-skill will naturally slow you down a little on that part, since you’d most likely proceed skilling ER at around L90, where regular builds can already look back at maxed or at least sufficient amount of ER to party&solo everywhere safely on their own. With this variable build of Dragon and ER in the beginning, it’s hard to draw a concrete chart for it, the basics would look like this though, with the option of adding additional ER anytime in between:

• ER (1) > Door (1) > HS (30) > Dragon (30) > ER (20) > Dispel (20) > Ray (28/30) > Doom (20/22)

Since early Dragon is most likely a party-concept, I’ve continued the examplary build with proceeding ER after Dragon and then favoring Dispel over Ray and maxed Ray over maxed Doom, as in the first build. Alterations as in former builds or following ones are up to you though.





[4] – The “Zakum can wait” Builds (aka Late-Dispel Builds)



Dispel was favored in the other two routes over the attacking skills, since max Dispel is almost essential for boss fights. However, as elaborated before, people who are avoiding those for this or that purpose, might not find Dispel useful enough, to prolong the waiting for all Ray, Dragon or Doom. Depending on how long you can life without Dispel, it’s up to you if Dispel ranks down one or two places in the skill-chart and which order you choose for Ray/Dragon/Doom. Keeping in mind the options from before, the possible simplified charts would look like either of these:



Favoring Dragon over Doom:

• Door (1) > HS (30) > ER (20) > Ray (30/28) > Dispel (20) > Dragon (30) > Doom (20/22)
  
• Door (1) > HS (30) > ER (20) > Dragon (30) > Dispel (20) > Ray (30/28) > Doom (20/22)
  
• Door (1) > HS (30) > ER (20) > Ray (30/28) > Dragon (30) > Dispel (20) > Doom (20/22)
  
• Door (1) > HS (30) > ER (20) > Dragon (30) > Ray (30/28) > Dispel (20) > Doom (20/22)

Favoring Doom over Dragon:

• Door (1) > HS (30) > ER (20) > Ray (30/28) > Dispel (20) > Dragon (20/22) > Doom (30)
  
• Door (1) > HS (30) > ER (20) > Dragon (20/22) > Dispel (20) > Ray (30/28) > Doom (30)
  
• Door (1) > HS (30) > ER (20) > Ray (30/28) > Dragon (20/22) > Dispel (20) > Doom (30)
  
• Door (1) > HS (30) > ER (20) > Dragon (20/22) > Ray (30/28) > Dispel (20) > Doom (30)

Note how again Doom ranks last in the Doom-builds? This still isn’t exactly mandatory, but since in these builds you are still planning to max Dispel, it will obviously still be of good use. Since this is so, it should be the better option to grab max Dispel first, for either bosses and dispelling status ailments. You’d start maxing Doom at ~L110 then, otherwise you’d skill Dispel from L113-120, which would really block the option of taking on bosses till Third Job is officially over.





[5] – The Low-Dispel Build



With even less consideration for Dispel, here comes the build that would easily enable to max all Ray, Dragon and Doom, at the cost of leaving Dispel at a success rate of around 70-76%:

• Door (1) > HS (30) > ER (20) > Ray (30/28) > Dragon (30) > Doom (30) > Dispel (10/12)

Skillpoint total would be 151 again, depending on whether you cap Ray at 28 or not there’s again 2 SP that boost Dispel a little further. Since you are not planning to max Dispel and thus won’t have good Dispel for bosses anyway, this build might be the only one where Doom can actually go before Dispel. However, order of skills can vary again depending on personal preference.

If you are the type of Priest who generally has less interest in parties and already knows he won’t bother about (party-)bosses, this might actually be your go for “Solo Priest”. Not having Dispel maxed might be the only thing harming your party abilities during Third Job, while you win the full potential Doom by doing so.





[6] – The No-Ray Build



More like "No Way!"-build, m I rite? Yet some people may think so and camp in parties all day long all the time, so they can actually rightfully claim that Ray is of no use for them. Considering the options that unfold to us, we can do either of the following:



- Maxing all HS, ER, Dispel, Dragon and Doom takes 130 SP away, leaving us with 20 SP we could pour into Door and actually max it. If you think this build serves you well and is unique, feel free to sacrifice your new main attack for it. Basically you would do something like this then:

• HS (30) > ER (20) > Dispel (20) > Dragon (30) > Doom (30) > Door (20)

In such a party-orientated build it is most likely you’d favor Dispel over the rest of the skills, going for Dragon right after ER however is a sound option as well, to gain that additional firepower for partying. You and your love for boss-fights decide.



- If you want to ditch Ray and don’t see any use in Door, the other option(s) left are all kinda questionable. With the 20 SP saved, the only real thing left to do would be correcting “errors” in your Second or even First Job build and maxing left-over skills late. However, the First Job build doesn’t really hold any crucial “mistakes” to make (don’t tell me you reach L100+ without max Magic Guard or still care for Energy Bolt). And regarding the Second Job, it is unlikely you are interested in this build here if you have any regrets about it. Most Second Job builds argue about maxing Holy Arrow or not, so it’s either that you do not have maxed Holy Arrow or miss points in Teleport/MP Eater/Bless. If you went for Holy Arrow in Second Job, don’t tell me you chicken out in Third Job now and ditch a stronger main attack to cover up for the price you paid for Arrow. Anf if you didn't max Arrow, do you seriously aim for maxing it now with the points that should have gone into Ray? ... ...

If you are concerned about your Second Job skills, the next build might be more what you are actually looking for.





[7] – The No-Doom Build (aka The Mastering-Second-Job Build)



I already pointed out that Doom isn’t exactly the skill that divides the winners from the losers among Priests. If you really feel that way as well, you might rightfully question why you should put any points into Doom at all then. As said, that is because we can. Leaving Door at L1, we can allocate 20-22 SP into Doom without hurt (or max Door, duh) while maxing all the other vital skills. This level of Doom will still prove itself somewhat useful and be far from wasting points.

However, remember Cleric-hood and how you were 20 SP short from maxing all the skills in your skill-book at that time? With the remaining 20 SP you could now fill up skills left behind, which should be especially interesting for people who chose Holy Arrow and are lacking in either Teleport, MP Eater or Bless. The opposite is true as well though: If you chose to leave Holy Arrow at L10 or 11, you have now enough points left to max it! Why on earth would anyone want to do this when he has Shining Ray? A valid question, keep in mind though that Arrow still is faster and wider-ranged than Ray and outdamages Claw. It will be useful one time or another as a quick attack, despite popular rumor denying it. For now, with lacking infos about Fourth Job, it can’t be said if Bishops will gain a more powerful single target attack which would make Holy Arrow totally void then, but this way or another caring for things in that far future seems void as well, also keeping in mind that damagewise HA already stands back behind Ray in lots of cases.

Anyway, if you desire any of the above builds to master Second Job leftovers, your route to take would basically be the first, with maxing your leftover skill(s) from L113 on. Swapping Doom or Dragon or even Dispel among each other is granted as usual.





[8] – The "Solo-Priest Build"



Shining Ray is leet! Solo Priests rock! That’s why I am going to max Shining Ray ASAP! :O



L70 – Shining Ray (1)

L71 – Shining Ray (4)

L72 – Shining Ray (7)

L73 – Shining Ray (10)

L74 – Shining Ray (13)

L75 – Shining Ray (16)

L76 – Shining Ray (19)

L77 – Shining Ray (22)

L78 – Shining Ray (25)

L79 – Shining Ray (28)

L80 – Shining Ray (30)

...



No, no, no, NO! You are doing it WRONG! D:

I list this build here, because people actually follow such routes and think it rocks. Frankly, even with a few points ER in between this abomination of a skill-build is beyond remedy. The problem with such builds is, that you perfectly maneuver yourself into a painful deadend. By L80 you will have maxed Ray and can whore out some cool damage, however there isn’t really any place you gain lots of benefit from that. Several places where Ray comes in a little handy need lots of ER to actually enable you to use it, besides that people will raise their eyebrows hearing you got so little HS or no HS at all around that level and you will have both trouble finding a party and finding places you get decent exp with your maxed Ray. No matter how you put it, you will always need maxed HS and decent ER before there is any use to maxed Shining Ray. Please consider this for your own good and strive for something very similar to the fourth build, if you want to have Ray early AND be able to play well.





[9] – The "True-Solo-Priest" Build



So you people don’t give up and still think there’s actually something like a “Solo-Priest”, huh. There might be something like a “Solo-Cleric”, if you call a Cleric favoring Holy Arrow over Bless that way. But frankly, the “Solo-Priest” is a myth and the build name more a mockery than meant serious. As pointed out, even when going solo, Priests will never profit from going for their attack-skill first. The only thing close to supporting a loner’s nature would be swapping the order of HS and ER: By maxing ER first, Priests will be able to take on the undeads in Ludibrium a little earlier without HP-gear and Hyberbody, enabling them to go there solo even though their (Heal-)damage might still take a time to kill things (efficiently). Other than that, your build would most likely continue to look the same as a regular build favoring Ray over Dispel or even the Low-Dispel-Build, which I wouldn’t exactly approve of. Maxing HS right after ER will still benefit you with an additional 10% exp however, which is practically more helpful than any of the attack-skills. After that you are basically back to any of the “Party Priest” routes, so further comments aren’t really necessary, since the whole build idea is in question by that. The gain of going for ER before HS is very little after all.





VII. HP-Gear



I already mentioned so-called HP-Gear now and then in this guide. Those are most of the time scrolled equips giving a certain bonus to our base HP, raising our maximum HP. How is that useful? No, base HP do not affect Heal-damage or anything like that. Instead, remember that point regarding “Priests can train anywhere they don’t instantly die from the strongest attacks”.

Let’s illustrate it with a quick example: I got 1000 HP. Monsters in my training-area-to-be can deal me a maximum of 1100 damage. Without Magic Guard, I’d be a goner there fast and thus training would become really expensive. To get enough HP to survive there, I’d have to gain around 10 more levels, since Mages only gain around 10HP each level-up. If I could get a bonus of around 100HP through my equips though, I’d have enough HP to train without Magic Guard and any loss of pots&money. HP-equips can be of benefit for both party and soloing, while the change in equips might hurt the solo-player more than the party-priest.

In the following have a list and some advise of available HP-gear in Global MapleStory:



Weapons

1. Emergency Rescue Tube, L60 Event Blunt Weapon, +150 HP (+/-5)
   
2. Maple Lama Staff, L43 Event Staff, +100 HP (+/-5)
   
3. Maple Staff, L35 Event Staff, +100 HP (+/-5)

Just looking at the HP-bonus, the Emergency Tube is the classic among HP gear, granting a mighty 150HP with the downside of giving no magic attack at all unlike a mage weapon. A good compromise here are the Maple Staves, granting decent attack at the cost of 50HP less than the tube. The Lama staff obviously ranks over the regular staff due to higher magic attack.



Unfortunately, all weapons in question for HP-gear are event-based for now, meaning they only drop during specific times of the year, which doesn't exactly benefit their prices and availability.



Hats

1. Ribboned Pig Headband, L25 Common Hat, +50HP
   
2. Red Guiltain, L40 Mage Hat, +20 HP (+/-3)
   
3. any Mage hat you like

First choice for an HP-hat usually is the Pigband, giving a nice 50HP already with the option for more: HP-scrolls for helmets give an additional 5 (100%), 10 (60%) or 30 (10%) HP-Bonus. Simply buying 100% scrolls from the scroll-seller-NPC’s in Orbis-Tower (14th floor) or the Kerning-swamps and thus scrolling a +85HP pigband is advised for beginners. With patience and some money it’d be good to make a 10% scroll work on first slot though, since the 30 HP bonus of the 10% Hat-HP-scroll tops the 20 HP bonus from 10% Cape-HP-scrolls, making a powerful HP-pigband easier to scroll than a powerful HP-cape. Since Hat-HP-scrolls don’t drop from many monsters, it may take some time to find sellers of these scrolls though.

As a footnote, of course any Mage hat can be scrolled for HP as well, starting with a basic +35HP scrolling that I'd recommend anyway. If only little HP is needed, this might be sufficient, the loss of Int from the hat is usually quite low though, so in terms of getting the most HP possible from the hat, a clean pigband with a built-in +5 60%-scrolls-scrolling is superior any day.



Capes

• any cape you like

Since there is no cape in the game that already gives an HP-bonus, any cape that fits your taste is fine for scrolling. You may pick the Raggedy or Icarus1 Cape for some avoid-bonus, but in the end it’s more a question of fashion sense and price. Just like the Hat-HP-scrolls, 100%-scrolls add 5HP and 60%-scrolls add 10HP to a cape, yet the 10%-scroll only adds 20HP and not 30HP like the 10%-Hat-HP. Because of this, 10%’ing the first slot of a cape may not be that beneficial, but since the HP-bonus on a cape is naturally very small (starting at +25 with the 100% scrolls), it might still be worth it. Unfortunately, Cape-HP-scrolls are even more rare than their Hat-opponents, yet usually sold cheaper.



Armor



1. Females:

• Red Doroness Robe, L23 Female Mage Overall (+30HP)

2. Males:

• Orange Split Piece, L18 Male Mage Top (+10HP)
  
• Black Split Pants, L18 Male Mage Bottom (+5HP)
  
• Camo Pants, L26 Male Common Bottom (+5HP)

2. Both genders: any overall you like



Apparently Wizet favors females for HP-gear, as for now the Red Doroness Robe is the only overall in the game granting an HP-bonus and a very decent one for an armor as well. Unfortunately all the respective male overalls give MP instead of HP, so for those a combo of low-level Top&Bottom with already existing 15HP-boni win with 14 slots in total, while a single overall got 10 slots and no pre-existing bonus. However, the respectful difference in both defense-stats might render this difference close to insignifficant, depending on the outcome of the scrollings, so a decently scrolled overall doesn't necessarily loose to a top&bottom with say 5-10HP more.

Slots aside, note that the only scrolls in question here are the 10%-Def-scrolls, giving a +10HP as some sort of a bonus to the higher defense. This makes scrolling HP-armor kinda hard, since one has to land quite a few of those moody scrolls on equips for a decent HP-bonus.



Shield

1. Esther Shield, L33 Mage Shield
   
2. Mystic Shield, L22 Mage Shield
   
3. Panlid (L10) or Stolen Fence (L5)

The last resort if it comes to HP from equips. The same way 10%-armor-def scrolls give a +10HP-bonus, the 10%-shield-def scrolls do. Obviously, this doesn't exactly make scrolling a decent HP-shield easier than scrolling armors and a +20HP shield is already quite good. If you are really desparate for more HP, scroll here last, if you haven't already tried for some 10% scrolls on your shield already anyway. For obvious reasons our own mage shields win over the common crap here, mass-scrolling those however might become really expensive for only little effect.



Now some closing words, even though most of this should be kinda obvious:

• Being able to hold your regular staff/wand should be first priority when on your own. If your hat, cape and armor are strong enough so you don't have to rely on your Maple (Lama) Staff or even Rescue Tube, this is always a big win for your magic.
  
• While in party it's most of the time the other way round. If you are usually wearing a Icarus2 Cape for example and there's nobody with Haste around, those 10 Speed might be way more beneficial for everyone than the higher magic attack you don't or rarely use anyway.
  
• The priority of getting HP-gear should usually be Hat>Weapon>Cape>Armor>Shield. As pointed out, a decent pigband is easy to scroll, after that weapons may be expensive but give a great boost. As for capes, look for one as soon as you notice both hat&weapon aren't sufficient anymore. Care for your armor and shield last, since those are the hardest to improve because there are only 10% scrolls that help you. Technically scrolling HP-armors/-shields shouldn't be necessary at all most of the time, as long as you don't try to advance to strong monsters early and watch out to skill enough ER.

VIII. Training-Guide



Technically there’s a wide range of training places, once you become a Priest and especially once you will have maxed Holy Symbol. There is always the option to party wherever with whomever you like, as long as you feel you can keep up with the rest and gain decent experience. So the following list will mostly include the common training spots for Priests, giving a rough guide-line.



L70+: Coolie Zombies, Soul Teddies, Platoon Chronos, Master Chronos, Death Teddies

After Third Job Advance, you will most likely fall into the hole a lot of classes do. You have advanced to Priest now, but since you do not have any Priest skills handy yet, your gameplay will only slowly progress and change. Soloing Zombie maps should be easy by now and may give better exp than partying, which will slowly turn around again as soon as HS reaches a decent exp-rate though. Soul Teddies in Ludibrium are an okay option as well, since they are not very crowded most of the time and can also be shared well. The large map may be tedious to travel through though and be more fun with a buddy in party.



L75+: Death Teddies

If you skilled a little ER, you may notice that advancing to DT’s now has great benefits. Your killspeed might still be laughable (on your own), yet the tremendous exp are worth the change. If you can find a party here and make use of your growing HS, the exp-rate might get even better. Take your time to progress with HS and ER here, before you think of advancing elsewhere.



L80-85+: Death Teddies, Master Death Teddies, Grim Phantom Watches

As your skills and ER grow, around L80 Master Death Teddies might become the better place to go, even though you will discover a very different map design here. Some people prefer to stay at Death Teddies and rotate in that map, rather than doing the “cliff-jumping” and climbing-tours at MDT’s. Your higher killspeed at DT’s might make up for the fewer exp, once you get a hang of it. Other than that, it’s basically a matter of your party if you got one. Depending on your HP-gear and party, you might also consider visiting Grim Phantom Watches now and then.



~L88-100: Grim Phantom Watches, Viking Party, Squid Party

As you near L90, your Elemental Resistance should be sufficient to survive both Phantom and Grim Phantom Watches without relying on a DragonKnight’s Hyperbody, which makes training there way safer than before. The regular Phantom Watches map isn’t very inviting though, since PW give 500exp less than GPW while having the same amount of HP, herding enemies is harder and unfortunately vac-hackers enjoy camping in this map.

So ultimately from L90 on, your best bets are Grim Phantom Watches or teaming up with various people at Spirit Vikings. Both places should grant excellent exp, while different playing styles. At GPW you’ll find yourself in the line of fire, either assisting a party member or just brute forcing your way through spawning Watches yourself. You might also want to try teaming up with other Priests here, since the ability to party there way more independently grants very good exp as well. Players who encounter hardships or lags at GPW and fear of dying too easily may find partying at Vikings more easy and/or fun, since here they concentrate more on rotating from party member to party member to grant buffs&heal.

A third option and good for a change would be partying with people in Aqua Dungeon to take down Dark and Lethal Squids, which are good exp and easy targets for a lot of classes.



L100++:

For now, there is basically not much news for training beyond L100. You may notice how training becomes slower from here on, yet MapleStory does not offer many better training areas yet than places already mentioned. Other than partying at Grim Watches, Squids or Vikings, some players might consider moving to Sharks and Cold Sharks deep in the Aqua Dungeon, since those are the only monsters spawning in masses granting more exp. Yet this place is a big problem for parties due to Sharks regularly dispelling all players’ skills, including Holy Symbol and more importantly Magic Guard. Most high-level warriors manage to survive here on their own, partying becomes hard though with vital skills constantly being dispelled and Priests constantly being in danger of being instantkilled without their Magic Guard. Damages way exceeding 2600 in worst case also crush any possibilities of additional HP through gear or allocated AP changing this fact.



~L100-110++:

Depending on which build you followed, at around L100-110 you most likely have maxed out Holy Symbol, Elemental Resistance and Dispel, which technically enables you to take on Zakum and Pianus (Doom Flounder) with other pepole, who of course give quite a bit experience as well. Once you got a hang of it, you may find those boss fights desirable as well, though especially Zakum takes a very good organized group of people, lots of patience and a stable internet-connection.





IX."Rules" for Party



I guess everyone should know about parties by L70. Nevertheless, enjoy a few notes that might come in handy.

• Once you got your Holy Symbol maxed, HS becomes the crack your party wants. It's common some people call for HS as soon as the blinking icon indicates it'll run out and make a fuzz if they kill even one enemy without it. So to prevent such drama right away, make sure to recast HS every once in a while if the situation allows it, before it runs out. If your party realizes you're always ensuring everyone's HS, they'll most likely learn that they don't need to call for it and won't make any drama if it should run out in rare cases either.
  
  
• The huge casting delay of Holy Symbol makes you vulnerable. Make sure to cast it on ladders and ropes if possible and always take into account, that enemies might spawn right on you while you take your 2 seconds off to recast.
  
  
• Especially with jumping Hermits around, you might notice that HS sometimes doesn't activate on them and works best when your party members are on the ground the moment you cast HS. So always have a quick eye for the golden maple leaves over your party members when casting and recast for people who didn't get theirs for what reason so ever.
  
  
• Most likely obvious and self-explanatory ingame, but if in bigger parties you are unsure about how to party at certain places or if you should stick to certain members of the party while leaving others on their own, ask your party who needs your help and/or how you should rotate. There are a quite a few experienced and calm people out there, who can live without a Priest following them all the time, while others may be inexperienced about this as well and feel irritated if they have to look out for the Priest on the map.
  
  
• As for drops: While initial agreements are never an insurance, it's always best to talk about drop-distributions with strangers before drops occur. Most of the time people don't play unfair here, since they most likely can't cheat the same player twice, but ultimately if something really worthwhile drops best "friends" may have a change of heart and resist sharing the profit if they got their hands on it first. In that case, it's always best to party with people you know or who are knwon to your buddies.
  
  
• A dead Priest is of even less use for a party than one who might be considered "slow" by some conceited "pros". Know your risks and look after your own security as well, while looking for other people's. This includes not to forget recasting Invincible or Magic Armor as well as staying out of the line of fire if not necessary.
  
  
• Going away from keyboard in a party as a Priest...sucks, for everyone. If you have to do so, tell your party members and consider going to CashShop for that time if it will take more than just a minute or two, unless you know your party really well and they don't care about you leeching.

X. Miscellaneous



Q: Regarding the guide...why is there only a detailed skill-chart for the first build?

A: I hope this kinda gets clear with the explanation below it. I personally don't really think there's a use to level-by-level-skill-charts when almost all Priest-routes may vary because I could already myself post several "but under thisandthis circumstances I'd rather put some points here and there at thisandthis level..."-remarks to every chart. Instead I tried to demonstrate this problem at this first chart and just explained for the further builds, how they differ from the first and where which priorities may come into play. There isn't really a need to write several lines with the same word and a different number following one below the other, if that is technically nothing else than just saying "Concentrate on maxing [Skillname] from L70-80.". That's why, if at all, I only drew some one-lined quick-charts for the further builds and put the real deal into text-form.



Q: So which path should I choose?

A: The whole point of this guide is that you hopefully can make this decision on your own after reading it. With my thoughts on Doom, the build(s) I'd suggest the most should be pretty obvious. However, I am not programming Maple. I don't know what has yet to come and I don't know if GMS-players will naturally die out around L120 anyway because of weak or missing updates. Doom might rock. It might suck as well. Who cares. In the end, the same way as I'd declare any Cleric a success who skilled Heal and Invincible, you basically "should" max HS, ER and if possible Dispel as a Priest, as those appear to be the key-skills of Third Job you'd definitely miss later. Other than that, it's your story.



Q: How do I make money as a Priest? Do I make money as a Priest anyway?

A: I...am seriously at a loss of words most of a time regarding that question. Simply put, drop-rates are random. If you are lady-luck and find some Steelys by drive-by-killing some Dark Klocks, bam, there's your money. If you are unlucky for some time and only find some minor npc-drops, then you'll obviously make only money by looting mesos and npc'ing some crap, which sums up over while as well though. If you are regarding to whether you get drops in party or not, this is something nobody can tell you. This depends on the people you party with and ultimately on yourself, opening your mouth in/before party and agree beforehand on drop-distribution. If people will keep their word to such agreements, after they looted something first, may be on another note. The only real answer one can give here is that something like "Priests don't make money cuz all their monsters drop only crap." is wrong, especially after drop-patterns shifted with Aqua-Road-patch. Other than that, nobody can tell you how lucky you can get or not.



Q: The skill description of Holy Symbol was changed quite a few times. How many people are really needed in party so everyone gains the 150% bonus?

A: Just two. There were some lines “...if the party is bigger than two.” once, yet two has always been the number of people necessary to activate it to a 100%. Along the Aqua-Road-patch there has been a funny bug, which granted the full 150% exp-gain for the Priest alone without any party. This has been quickly patched though and today the skill still works as it should. So if you ever heard of HS working 100% for Priests alone, that was actually true for a few hours in Maple-history.



Q: Is Shining Ray’s casting speed somewhat affected by the weapon's attack speed, like Explosion is said to be?

A: No. Be it Kage (slow), Evil Wings (fast) or any wand (normal), the casting speed of Shining Ray is always the same. If you think or experience otherwise, it’s related either to lag or the “speed-penalty” you’ll notice when holding down an attackbutton for a long time while not moving.



Q: Can Mystic Door be moved? It says something like “Press ‘ to move.” in the skill-description...

A: Popular misconception. Once set, the Door cannot be moved anymore and why should it. The “Press...to move”-thing is basically Wizet’s broken and yet to be decrypted way of telling you to press “Up” on your keyboard in front of it to go through the door.



Q: Does MP-Eater really stop enemy magic attacks like some people claim?

A: Actually, yes. After a lot of test-runs at Death Teddies, Bains and even Sharks, I have encountered that all of those stop to use their projectile magic attacks after a certain number of MP-leeches. Down or low on MP, I could even safely stand right beside them and use Ray for attack without being counterattacked anymore. However, this is something I would never bet on. It is not always 3 hits of MP-Eater to “seal” an enemies attack (three times 40% drained would make 120% and thus all the enemies MP leeched), which leaves some questions unanswered regarding a possible MP-regenaration of enemies and the consumption of MP-drain/use. Additionally, not everything that seems like a magic-attack necessarily is one and vice versa. While Sharks and Cold Sharks stop to shoot their teeth or ice-beams for attack for example, they remain the ability to dispel, slow or power-up themselves even after stopping their attacks. So never let your guard down, even if you are positive certain attacks should stop after a few successful MP-leeches.



Q: How does Bless stack with other skills/potions?

A: Not at all, which is an important thing to realize once during your career. What ANY effect that alters a stat by a fixed number does, be it activated by a potion, pill or skill, is checking for already existing alterations first. If there are any, those are removed and replaced with the new bonus from the just activated skill/item. That way a weak Bless of below L10 can annoy Warriors as it cancels out their Sniper Pills (granting them 10 accuracy). Yet the same way Archers not aware of this may cancel out their 20 accuracy and avoid bonus from Bless without knowing by casting a weak Focus.



Q: Holy Arrow? Yay or Nay in Third Job?

A: It is a popular view that Shining Ray renders Holy Arrow useless in Third Job. That is okay, it is a nice way of saying one does not miss it. However, since the horizontal range of Ray sucks that much, (maxed) Holy Arrow actually still has some use in Third Job, since it shoots quicker, reaches wider and overpowers Claw by a bit, especially against darks/undeads. Holy Arrow is far from being a necessity, but still an okay attacking-skill that players who do not party all the time will use now and then.



Q: Luckless Priest - Yay or Nay?

A: Technically, as a Luck-Mage myself, I'd side with Luck-Mages in the long run, since I as well consider the luck-route more fun, being able to wear a shitload more equips and not having to rely on really godly scrollings of certain luckless-items to hold up my damage later on. However, I surely don't claim to be an expert on this and can witness that luckless Priests technically do fine. By being able to take on stronger monsters earlier, you can train faster into the higher-level-region as one would expect. However, being able to fight tough monsters earlier means taking higher damage earlier as well, which most likely will make partying with a DragonKnight for Hyperbody a must. Even though you should be using a Maple Lama Staff and could get your pigband out, Invincible might not be able to reduce the physical damage below your maximum HP already at certain places, which would make soloing impossible, even though your magic power would easily allow it. If you can make sure this doesn't apply to you, there's basically nothing stopping you to advance.



Q: What are "Blood-Priests"?

A: The basic concept of Blood Priests is taking the idea of HP-Gear further and increasing maximum HP directly by applying AP to HP for several levels. Each AP applied you gain around 10HP which roughly equals a level-up-bonus, leaving you with an additional +50HP a level if you apply all your AP to HP. Frankly, that's a lot. Let's just say you'd do so for 10 levels, that way you would gain a mighty 500HP (or more) at the cost of 50 Int. You would do significantly lower damage (unless you can cover this with some really godly scrolled shit), yet you would be able to take on way more enemies a regular build could.

I thought about putting up an extra section regarding so called "Blood Priests", yet for now I decided not to and here's why: Technically, the current maps in Maple Global don't really require or benefit such builds greatly. All the undeads you might want to dive into can be fought safely around their proper levels with (maxed) Invincible and Elemental Resistance and little differences in damage can be covered with some basic HP-gear as the pigband. The only target for now that would deal too much damage would be the L92 Bone Fish resident in Aqua Dungeon, which strongest attacks can reach around 1500 damage, which regular builds most likely don't survive unless around L120 (!). This is a lot regarding we're talking about a L92 monster (ironically the L95 Grim Phantom Watches are way less intimidating), yet their relatively poor experience (2000 base contra 2800 from GPW) and not that godly drops (seriously, if you are after Overall Int scrolls, go fight Dark Klocks which have roughly a third the HP and laughable attack power) don't really justify any unnecessary sidesteps to fight them.

As long as GMS stays that way, Blood Priest isn't really that a profitable variation and will only allow you to fight some stuff few levels earlier at the permanent cost of attack power, which isn't that powerful to begin with (permanent, unless you have too much NX cash that is...).

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