The Ultimate PvE Cleric Guide for Ashes of Creation

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As a Cleric in PvE, your role is to sustain your team, control the battlefield with healing and mitigation, and ensure your Mana lasts throughout the fight. Unlike healers in other games, you are not a passive support; you must actively manage your cooldowns, anticipate enemy burst damage, and use your positioning to stay alive while maximizing your healing output. Every engagement is different, and knowing when to heal, mitigate, or reposition is the key to success. Your priority is sustaining your team while ensuring you don’t run out of resources before the fight is over.

One of the most effective ways to approach a PvP encounter is by maintaining a steady healing rotation while ensuring you always have Mana available. Opening with Soothing Glow on your frontline ally (or yourself) ensures that small, consistent healing is already in place before combat begins. Once damage starts rolling in, Flash Cure should be your go-to heal, as it provides the best burst healing for its Mana cost. When multiple allies are taking damage, Communal Restoration offers a powerful group heal as well as HoT (Heal over Time), making it invaluable in sustained fights.

When enemy burst damage is imminent, Defiant Light is one of your strongest defensive tools. This ability should be preemptively cast before large incoming damage to ensure survival, especially for your tank or other priority targets. Similarly, Divine Flare is an excellent tool for mitigating incoming magic damage, as its upgraded version grants 50% magic mitigation to allies inside its radius. This should be used before heavy magic-based abilities or raid mechanics hit, ensuring both healing and damage reduction in one cast.

Your mobility and positioning are key to staying alive in PvP. Wings of Salvation is your only movement ability, making it your primary escape tool when being pressured by enemies. However, it can also be used offensively to quickly dash to a teammate in danger and follow up with Healing Touch, your instant melee heal, to save them in clutch situations. Be mindful that Wings of Salvation is also your only crowd-control break, so using it too early can leave you vulnerable to stuns and roots.

When facing high-pressure situations where multiple allies are taking damage, your AoE healing abilities become essential. Consecrating Wave is a fast, Mana-efficient AoE heal that can hit up to 10 targets, making it a solid choice when your team is grouped up. Resplendent Beam is another strong AoE heal but requires charging for maximum effectiveness. Use it when you have time to prepare a stronger group heal, but don’t hesitate to tap-cast it for quick emergency healing if needed.

Mana management is crucial in PvP. Bless Weapon should always be maintained on a high-uptime DPS or tank to passively regenerate Mana over time. Barrier can be used as an emergency life-saving tool but comes at a cost, sacrificing 25% of your HP to give an ally a large temporary health boost, so use it wisely. Judgment can be cast offensively to contribute some damage and apply burning stacks, but should only be used when healing is under control and Mana permits.

Mastering the Cleric in PvP requires precision, resource management, and anticipation of enemy actions. You are the backbone of your team—your ability to keep your team alive while maintaining your own safety and Mana will determine your effectiveness in battle.

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Two-handed swords are a fantastic option when the Cleric needs to jump into the fray and deal AoE damage, though you should always prioritize using the weapon that provides the most Magical Power for your build. The flexibility of two-handed swords makes them a viable choice for Clerics looking to enhance both their offensive and support capabilities.

By choosing specific nodes in the two-handed sword skill tree, the Cleric can bring significant utility to their team. These nodes allow Clerics to provide 15% attack speed buffs to Fighters and Rangers in their party, ensuring a notable boost in their DPS. Additionally, selected passives grant 20% longer crowd control (CC) durations, giving the Cleric more control over the battlefield.

Here’s a breakdown of the most effective choices for the two-handed sword skill tree as a Cleric:

• Deadly Finisher: Bleed – Adds a bleed effect to your attacks, increasing overall damage over time. This is particularly effective for sustained fights.
• Refreshing Followthrough – A must-have for Mana management, this passive restores Mana while attacking with your weapon, keeping you in the fight longer.
• Deadly Finisher: Wound – Applies a healing reduction effect to targets, which is crucial against certain PvE mobs that rely on self-healing, making fights more manageable.
• Weapon Training: Disable Duration – Increases the duration of your crowd control abilities. This passive gives you and your tank more breathing room by extending stuns, roots, or other CC effects.

Keep in mind that in order to benefit from these passives, the Cleric must actively be using a two- handed sword as their weapon of choice. This setup allows the Cleric to contribute to team utility, AoE damage, and CC extension, making it a versatile choice for hybrid playstyles.

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Longbows are a solid choice for Clerics due to their long-range capabilities and their ability to apply utility-based effects rather than raw damage. As a Cleric, your focus is not on dealing heavy ranged damage but on maximizing Finisher and Deadly Finisher effects, which trigger beneficial effects for both you and your team. The more frequently you land attacks, the greater your chances of activating these passives.

When choosing a weapon, always prioritize the one that provides the highest Magical Power increase, as this directly affects both your healing output and offensive potential. Until you obtain a top-tier weapon (typically at level 20+), use whatever grants the best stats.

The Longbow stands out as a Cleric weapon because it offers the highest Magical Power rating among ranged options and allows for long-range auto-attacks. This enables Clerics to stay at a safe distance while still contributing both offensively and defensively.

Here’s a breakdown of the most effective choices for the longbow skill tree as a Cleric:

• Weapon Training: Disable Duration – Increases the duration of your CC abilities, giving you and your tank more breathing room during fights.
• Bullseye Effect – With the chosen nodes, the Cleric provides this buff to the party, empowering their next ability after landing a shot.
• Extended Crowd Control – The chosen passives increase the duration of all CC effects by 20%, making roots, slows, and stuns significantly more impactful.

While the Longbow isn't a Cleric's primary weapon for damage, it is a strong utility tool that allows you to contribute debuffs and set up follow-up abilities from a safe range while maintaining a strong healing presence on the battlefield.

Shortbows are a viable choice for Clerics who prioritize attack speed over range and magical power. While the shortbow sacrifices both Magical Power and the long-range capabilities of the Longbow, its increased attack speed allows for more frequent attacks, which can trigger Finisher and Deadly Finisher effects more consistently. This makes it a good option for Clerics who want to maximize utility effects in fast-paced situations.

By using a Shortbow, Clerics gain access to faster auto-attacks, which can help apply debuffs or trigger passives that enhance both offensive and defensive playstyles. While the shorter range requires the Cleric to position more carefully, the higher attack frequency makes up for it in terms of utility contribution.

The Longbow stands out as a Cleric weapon because it offers the highest Magical Power rating among ranged options and allows for long-range auto-attacks. This enables Clerics to stay at a safe distance while still contributing both offensively and defensively.

Here’s a breakdown of the most effective choices for the longbow skill tree as a Cleric:

• Weapon Training: Disable Duration – Increases the duration of your CC abilities, giving you and your tank more breathing room during fights.
• Bullseye Effect – With the chosen nodes, the Cleric provides this buff to the party, empowering their next ability after landing a shot.
• Extended Crowd Control – The chosen passives increase the duration of all CC effects by 20%, making roots, slows, and stuns significantly more impactful.

It’s important to note that choosing the Shortbow means you’ll be sacrificing Magical Power and long-range safety, which are the primary strengths of the longbow. However, the shortbow’s attack speed compensates by increasing the frequency of utility and debuff applications, making it a strong alternative for Clerics who value fast-paced support and adaptability. Use whichever weapon best fits your situation until you can obtain a top-tier magical power weapon later in progression.