First and foremost, please take note that I've decided to compile this guide on impulse, so yes, it is incomplete. However, I know that if I do not post this now, I may never do so, and I want to share my knowledge and experience. I would also like to add that if you wish to publish my guide or any part of it, all I ask is that you credit me. I hope to finish this guide in the next few days, but in the meantime, here are some things you need to know about the hybrid priest.
There are three paths you can take as a priest:
- The Full Support Priest (FS)
- The Attack Priest (DPS)
- The Hybrid Priest (Hybrids utilize both FS and DPS skills instead of focusing on just one.)
Before I get started, it is important to identify why you would consider playing a hybrid. To do this, I will let you in on this very important fact:
In dungeons, priests have little to no time at all to attack bosses. This goes for hybrid priests as well. Your attention should be primarily focused on the tanks, and keeping them alive. Even if you do have a grace period where no one needs healing, you should always be on your toes. A dead tank is a dead party. Furthermore, being a hybrid means taking some skills off your support tree, making supporting your party more difficult.
NOTE: Keeping yourself alive comes before keeping the tanks alive. You are no good to anyone dead.
Why then should you play a hybrid?
1. You love the priest class (and want to farm on your priest).
2. They are much better solo farmers compared to FS priests (and cost effective too).
3. You want to win duels (FS priests are excellent duellers as well, but it doesn't hurt to improve your odds).
4. You still want to be invited to raid parties (DPS priests are shunned. Shame on those closed-minded individuals.).
5. Colosseum (level 1 Holy Light can only get you so far).
NOTE 1: FS priests can get to the final round of Colosseum (Colo) quite easily as well, but without their other DPS skills, it's nearly impossible to be champion (Number 1).
NOTE 2: From experience, a Hybrid Priest can solo Wanderer without pots. Most, if not all other classes cannot solo Wanderer without potting.
Let's get started.
Stats
The first thing you need to know is never to add STR and WIS. STR gives extra attack power and parry, both of which a priest of any kind will have little to no use for. WIS is a redundant stat (it gives you more SP) as Aqua Benedicta (a skill you should be using a lot) will leave you at near full SP pretty much all of the time.
Here are some recommended stat builds:
- 03 AGI, 51 INT, 27 VIT
- 27 AGI, 51 INT, 03 VIT
- 01 AGI, 41 INT, 41 VIT
- 36 AGI, 36 INT, 25 VIT
- 08 AGI, 40 INT, 40 VIT
- 41 AGI, 41 INT, 01 VIT
- 40 AGI, 40 INT, 08 VIT
There is no right or wrong build as long as you stick within these stats (AGI, INT. VIT). However, here are a few things to ponder before making your decision:
1. Damage Over Time Skills (DoTs) are not affected by AGI. They do not crit (unlike some of the Wizard's skills).
2. Late game dungeons require high amounts of HP (which you get from VIT).
3. VIT doesn't give much of a HP boost, but it can make the difference between life and death (or getting invited to raids).
4. Heal and Highness Heal crit. Yes, if they crit, they heal for double the amount. Same goes for Ray of Genesis.
INT increases your Heal amount for all healing skills. It also increases your DoT, Holy Light and Ray of Genesis damage.
AGI increases your critical rate for Heal and Highness Heal and also increases your dodge rate (dodging an attack means you get no damage from it).
VIT increases your HP and the amount of heal you get from drinking a Potion.
NOTE: Every stat added grants a bonus equivalent of the amount of stats added. This is why balanced builds are more popular as you do indeed get more stats than you would have otherwise.Take this into consideration when picking a build. Some players prefer a focused build like the example below. Sacrificing potentially 35+ stats for an extra 20 or so AGI maximizes your critical rate, whilst lowering your Health and Magic Attack. Classes dependant on crit rate like DPS Sorcerers greatly benefit from this build.
Here is an example of bonus stats:
![Posted Image](http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/4605/statscu.jpg)
Skills (Incomplete)
Now for the part a lot of you have been waiting for. There are many skill builds out there, so I will not get into detail on all of them, but take a look at these few to get an idea of where you should be heading.
Skill Build A
Skill Build B
Skill Build C
Skill Build D
A good balance between your attack tree and your heal tree is the key to a good hybrid build. Anything else, and it's no longer a hybrid. Once again, there are no right or wrong builds, but as you can see from the links above, certain skills remain learned/unlearned throughout. I will elaborate on this further, starting with your Acolyte skills.
![Posted Image](http://www.roguard.net/img/skills/Skill_Acolyte_Holy_Light_01.png)
Attacks the enemy with Light and inflicts an amount of MATK as Holy damage. Aspersio: The next 3 Holy Lights are critical hits.
[Level 1] 27% Holy damage.
[Level 2] 30% Holy damage.
[Level 3] 33% Holy damage.
[Level 4] 36% Holy damage.
[Level 5] 39% Holy damage.
NOTES: At max level, with Aspersio, it is your most powerful skill. However, you cannot afford the luxury of maxing this. You may argue, "But Holy Light x 3 (crit) is 234% MATK while Ray of Genesis is only 139% MATK. Why shouldn't I max this?". A few reasons: It only lasts for 3 casts within 20 seconds. It takes too long to execute all 3 casts on a moving target. You are not a DPS priest. You are a hybrid and you should rely on skills that you have, both attack AND support. You are assuming you will be using Aspersio solely for this. I would much rather throw my DoTs and Aspersio-Highness Heal and watch my target die. Either leave this at level 1, or max it. I recommend the former.
![Posted Image](http://www.roguard.net/img/skills/Skill_Acolyte_Lex_Divina_01.png)
Throws a Holy hammer at your target and inflicts an amount of your MATK as Holy damage.
[Level 1] 22% Holy damage.
[Level 2] 26% Holy damage. Critical hit if target's HP <20%.
[Level 3] 30% Holy damage. Critical hit if target's HP <20%. If it's a deadly blow, you acquire 3 Holy Water.
NOTES: Can be useful in Colosseum, but ultimately loses out to Ray of Genesis. Leave this at level 1.
![Posted Image](http://www.roguard.net/img/skills/Skill_Acolyte_Oratio_01.png)
Recite the Holy Lord's prayer to inflict an amount of your MATK as damage every 2 seconds for 20 seconds.
[Level 1] 8% damage. (80% total damage.)
[Level 2] 9% damage. (90% total damage.)
[Level 3] 10% damage. (100% total damage.)
[Level 4] 11% damage. (110% total damage.)
[Level 5] 12% damage. (120% total damage.)
NOTES: Your first DoT. Recommended to learn level 1 of this asap to quicken leveling. You can max this skill after maxing Aspersio or leave it at level 1.
![Posted Image](http://www.roguard.net/img/skills/Skill_Acolyte_Judex_01.png)
Drops a Thunder of Judgement on an enemy and 2 surrounding enemies to inflict an amount of your MATK as damage. Aspersio: All targets hit are stunned for 3 seconds.
[Level 1] 14% damage.
[Level 2] 17% damage.
[Level 3] 19% damage.
NOTES: You will rarely use this skill, and when you do, you will only be using this for it's stun. Leave this at level 1.
![Posted Image](http://www.roguard.net/img/skills/Skill_Acolyte_Blessing_01.png)
Increases the max HP of all party members within sight for 30 minutes.
[Level 1] 3% max HP.
[Level 2] 6% max HP.
[Level 3] 9% max HP.
[Level 4] 12% max HP.
[Level 5] 15% max HP.
NOTES: This is a very useful buff, but you do not necessarily have to max it. The reason being majority of all raid parties have at least 2 priests and chances are the other priest will have Blessing at level 5. Still, I recommend you to max this skill.
![Posted Image](http://www.roguard.net/img/skills/Skill_Acolyte_Increase_Agility_01.png)
Increases the movement speed of all party members within sight by 40%.
[Level 1] Lasts 10 seconds. 260 second cooldown.
[Level 2] Lasts 11 seconds. 240 second cooldown.
[Level 3] Lasts 12 seconds. 220 second cooldown.
[Level 4] Lasts 13 seconds. 200 second cooldown.
[Level 5] Lasts 14 seconds. 180 second cooldown.
NOTES: Used mainly for escaping danger and rushing through a tight spot. More often than not, 10 seconds is more than enough time to do both. You will rarely use this skill otherwise. Leave this at level 1.
![Posted Image](http://www.roguard.net/img/skills/Skill_Acolyte_Resurrection_01.png)
Resurrects a fallen player. Usable in combat. Aspersio: Eliminates cast time and the player will be resurrected with full HP.
[Level 1] 50 minute cooldown. (5 minutes in kRO2)
[Level 2] 40 minute cooldown. (4 minutes in kRO2)
[Level 3] 30 minute cooldown. (3 minutes in kRO2)
NOTES: Always summon your guardian or ask a party member to summon their guardian (if you can afford the time to ask them), AND cast Aspersio before Resurrection. The reasoning for Aspersio is obvious. You don't want your party member to die immediately after being resurrected. Also, yes, a guardian's buff benefits all nearby party members. Guardians, when summoned, gives a Movement, Vigor and Haste boost that increases, depending on the level of the guardian. The buff you want is Vigor. While Haste decreases your cast time, Vigor decreases the cooldown of all your skills.You can get your first guardian at job level 10 in Prontera from your job NPC. As for levelling this skill, well...it depends on your preference. At level 3, with a max level guardian summoned and full AoD (Abandon of Despair) gear, your Resurrection cooldown can decrease as much as 15 minutes (give or take a minute or so). From my experience, maxing this skill has saved a lot of potentially wasted time in raids. I'd go as far as to say it was the reason half my raids were successful. However, you will only use it in raids so it is entirely up to you whether to max this or not.
![Posted Image](http://www.roguard.net/img/skills/Skill_Acolyte_Aqua_Benedicta_01.png)
Instantly restores 15% of your SP and generates 3 Holy Water charges. You can only keep 3 charges at a time.
[Level 1] 15% SP. 3 charges.
NOTES: Holy Water is not an item. It does not take up inventory space. A lot of people forget to keep casting this skill until it is too late. You should be casting this as often as possible, even when you have 1 or 2 charges remaining. This is the main reason priests never run out of SP. Also, although it is instant cast, this skill has a dreadful 3 second animation where you can not move. Trust me, it will affect you at some point. Nothing you can do about it. You must learn this skill.
![Posted Image](http://www.roguard.net/img/skills/Skill_Acolyte_Aspersio_01.png)
Uses up 1 Holy Water charge to improve one skill. Skills improved:
- Holy Light (Next 3 Holy Lights become critical attacks.)
- Judex (Stuns enemy and 2 surrounding enemies for 3 seconds.)
- Resurrection (Eliminates cast time and fully restores HP of fallen player.)
- Heal (Next 3 Heals become critical heals.)
- Highness Heal (Boosts your Highness Heal by 50% and players affected will receive a 10 second heal over time for the same amount.)
- Magnus Exorcismus (All enemies affected will receive an Oratio debuff.)
- Ray of Genesis (Eliminates cast time.)
- Sanctuary (Increases the max HP of all players inside by 15% for the duration of the skill.)
[Level 1] 60 second cooldown.
[Level 2] 40 second cooldown.
[Level 3] 20 second cooldown.
NOTES: Your most used and most important skill. You must max this skill.
![Posted Image](http://www.roguard.net/img/skills/Skill_Acolyte_Heal_01.png)
Heals a player for an amount of your MATK as HP. Aspersio: The next 3 Heals are critical heals.
[Level 1] 30% MATK as HP.
[Level 2] 33% MATK as HP.
[Level 3] 36% MATK as HP.
[Level 4] 40% MATK as HP.
[Level 5] 43% MATK as HP.
NOTES: Your main healing skill. You will be spamming this in raids. Keep in mind that Heal generates threat. Stupid, I know, but it's part of the game, and you must be very mindful of this. Never heal a tank until he or she generates some amount of threat (when the tank has landed a couple of hits, or pots). I don't recommend using Aspersio for Heal. Don't get me wrong; there's nothing wrong with it, but it isn't as effective as an Aspersio-ed Highness Heal. Recommended to learn this skill till level 4. Why? We just don't have enough skill points. 3% heal isn't much at all. However, it is a matter of preference, so max it if you want.
![Posted Image](http://www.roguard.net/img/skills/Skill_Acolyte_Renovatio_01.png)
A player with this buff will be healed for an amount of your MATK as HP every 2 seconds for 12 seconds.
[Level 1] 16% MATK as HP.
[Level 2] 19% MATK as HP.
[Level 3] 22% MATK as HP.
NOTES: Your first Heal over Time (HoT) skill. It is instant, so you can cast it while running and, it has no cooldown. Need I say more? The priest with the higher MATK should keep Renovatio up on the tank always. Whether you are FS, DPS or a hybrid, you should max this skill. Also, keep in mind that Renovatio has a shorter range than Heal and Highness Heal. This may affect party positioning.
![Posted Image](http://www.roguard.net/img/skills/Skill_Acolyte_Meditatio_01.png)
When your heal crits, and if your existing hit rate exceeds 95%, the percentage of the surplus hit rate will be added to your heals that crit.
Bonus heal from Meditatio = ((A% - 95%) x B x Level C).
'A' being your existing hit rate, 'B' being your original heal amount and 'C' being the level of this skill learned.
[Level 1] 340% bonus.
[Level 2] 380% bonus.
[Level 3] 420% bonus.
[Level 4] 460% bonus.
[Level 5] 500% bonus.
NOTES: Oh, boy. Meditatio... This skill confuses a lot of people. I have described it as best I can in the above description.
Here is an example to clear the air:
Asuna has 105% hit rate. She does not have Meditatio and so, heals Kirito for 1,000 HP. When it crits, it heals for 2,000 HP. She then decides to max Meditatio. She still heals Kirito for 1,000 HP, but when it crits, it heals for 2,500 HP. (2,000 + ((105% - 95%) x 1,000 x 500%)).
Please note that this skill does not add to your critical rate. It only adds to your critical value for heals. Bottom line, leave this at 1. First of all, you will not surpass far beyond 95% of your hit rate until you start obtaining FULL SETS of late game gears. Secondly, even if you did, the amount is still too small to make much of a difference. To top it off, priests have a naturally low crit rate, even after wearing epic gears.
![Posted Image](http://www.roguard.net/img/skills/Skill_Acolyte_Highness_Heal_01.png)
Heals a player and 2 surrounding players for an amount of your MATK as HP. Aspersio: Boosts your Highness Heal by 50% and players affected will receive a 10 second heal over time for the same amount.
[Level 1] 44% MATK as HP. 66% with Aspersio.
[Level 2] 49% MATK as HP. 73.5% with Aspersio.
[Level 3] 54% MATK as HP. 81% with Aspersio.
[Level 4] 59% MATK as HP. 88.5% with Aspersio.
[Level 5] 64% MATK as HP. 96% with Aspersio.
NOTES: Your most powerful healing skill and the skill most coupled with Aspersio. Always cast Aspersio before casting this. Max this skill.
Facts:
- A level 5 Highness Heal cast after Aspersio heals for a total of 192% of your MATK. 96% from the HH itself and another 96% from the HoT alone. And on three people!
- Highness Heal can crit. Yes! 384% heal, baby! And yes, the HoT crits when your Highness Heal crits.
- You don't have to be near your target to cast this. You can stand as far as 25 meters away. I blame the vague description for this misconception.
- The HoT from Highness Heal stacks with Renovatio.
- Highness Heal can affect NPCs and invisible players.
Upon reaching level 25, a new quest will appear, urging you to meet Kafra Einscope in Prontera. She will lead you to the Prontera church, where you can change your job into a priest. It is no easy feat getting to level 25, even as a hybrid acolyte, so I congratulate you for getting this far. Things will start getting a little bit easier (and more fun) from here on out.
![Posted Image](http://www.roguard.net/img/skills/Skill_Priest_Credo_01.png)
Recite the Apostle's Creed to inflict an amount of your MATK as damage every 2 seconds for 30 seconds.
[Level 1] 9% damage. (135% total damage.)
[Level 2] 10% damage. (150% total damage.)
[Level 3] 11% damage. (165% total damage.)
[Level 4] 12% damage. (180% total damage.)
[Level 5] 14% damage. (210% total damage.)
NOTES: Your most powerful DoT and the one you should cast first. Why? You want to be as far away from your enemies whilst still having them within your reach. Credo has a 5 meter advantage over your other two DoTs. If you cast Credo first, enemies will automatically move within range for you to cast Oratio and Adoramus. This skill makes farming significantly more efficient as you never have to move at all. You lure your enemies to you one by one and by the time you reach your fifth target, the first three will already be dead. I highly recommend you to max this. However, it is also ok to leave this at level 1.
![Posted Image](http://www.roguard.net/img/skills/Skill_Priest_Adoramus_01.png)
Calls upon a Holy Light to inflict an amount of your MATK as damage every 2 seconds for 20 seconds.
[Level 1] 10% damage. (100% total damage.)
[Level 2] 11% damage. (110% total damage.)
[Level 3] 13% damage. (130% total damage.)
[Level 4] 14% damage. (140% total damage.)
[Level 5] 15% damage. (150% total damage.)
NOTES: Your second most powerful DoT, with an added disadvantage. It has a 1 second cast time. Because of this, you should cast Adoramus after Credo and Oratio. This is especially important in PvP where your opponents will be moving around a lot. It is entirely up to your preference whether or not to max this. Maxing this better improves your farming.
![Posted Image](http://www.roguard.net/img/skills/Skill_Priest_Magnus_Exorcismus_01.png)
Generates a field to inflict an amount of your MATK as damage to a maximum of 10 enemies. Aspersio: All enemies affected will receive the Oratio debuff.
[Level 1] 24% damage.
[Level 2] 28% damage.
[Level 3] 32% damage.
NOTES: This skill may have been your strongest skill against Undead in RO1, but it looses it's shine in RO2. Always use this with Aspersio and only use this when the off-tank (OT) is having difficulty killing mobs/summons (adds). As I mentioned before, you must prioritize healing the tank above all else.
![Posted Image](http://www.roguard.net/img/skills/Skill_Priest_Ray_of_Genesis_01.png)
Calls forth the wrath of God onto a single target to inflict an amount of your MATK as damage. Aspersio: Eliminates cast time.
[Level 1] 95% damage.
[Level 2] 106% damage.
[Level 3] 117% damage.
[Level 2] 128% damage.
[Level 3] 139% damage.
NOTES: Taking out technique and luck, Ray of Genesis is, if I'm not mistaken, the strongest burst damage skill in the game, with range. What is burst damage? It is essentially a large amount of damage being thrown out in an extremely short amount of time. Because of it's practicality with Aspersio, it is the preferred skill to use in PvP. If you want to be Champion (number 1) in Colosseum, you must learn this skill. It doesn't hurt that this skill looks badass.
Facts:
- Although you cannot move while casting this skill, you can do so during the animation. This is very important to note as it makes GenRay much more versatile.
- This skill can be cancelled during casting by moving your character.
- Only use Aspersio with this skill in PvP. It is a waste to do so for PvE.
- The damage from this skill comes down on your enemy in 6 parts. Each part can crit or miss, but they do not do so together.
In the screenshot below, you can see that one of the six parts has crit.
![Posted Image](http://img585.imageshack.us/img585/613/wanderer2.jpg)
To be continued...
I understand that the guide is still incomplete, but please feel free to comment.
Edited by Cailen, 21 April 2013 - 11:55 PM.