Aion Priest Class Guide - The First 9 Levels

Your Priest begins her career in leather gear and wielding a mace. Eventually, you'll be working your way up to chain armor and gain the ability to sport a shield, as well. For now, just about any manastone or stat, with the exception of shield defense, will help supplement your leveling. Evasion and physical crit help when you're meleeing, HP and MP keep you off your butt and limit your downtime, while magic boost augments your offensive spells. It should be noted that as of version 1.5.8, spells cannot crit and magic boost does not effect healing spells.

If your goal is to be a party healer, you may want to hoard any cloth gear you happen across, as it will typically provide much more MP and concentration than leather or even chain. Of course, this shouldn't be much of an issue until much later in the levels.

If you've already tried one of the other classes, you may find the leveling process of a Priest a slow and tedious affair. You are pretty difficult to kill, but the trade off to such sturdiness is that you may find yourself boring mobs to death. Fear not: the action will ramp up and following Ascension, leveling for both the Cleric and Chanter classes gets much more interesting.

Your Priest is created with only two spells, along with your melee auto attack. Smite delivers a magic blow to your enemy, while Healing Light is a small instant heal. Pull from range with Smite and begin striking the mob with your weapon until your cool down is up or the mob is dead. Use your Healing Light to keep your health topped off between battles.

At level 3 you gain a nice melee ability in Hallowed Strike, as well as your first buff, Blessing of Health. You can apply the blessing to any friendly player, and as it uses little mana, there's no reason not to drop it on everyone you encounter in your travels.

Level 5 brings a heal-over-time (HoT) spell with Light of Renewal, and your other main buff, Blessing of Rock. Your ability rotation during these few levels can follow this chain:

HoT yourself to help offset the incoming damage, and pull from range with Smite. Once the enemy reaches you, apply Hallowed Strike and continue to auto attack until your Smite cool down is up.

Heaven's Judgment, your first chain spell, is another melee ability that procs from Hallowed Strike. Be sure to watch your screen for the icon to flash when it is available and use it accordingly.

Level 9 brings your final two Priest abilities. Promise of Wind is a self-only buff that has a chance to increase your offensive damage, while Light of Resurrection is one of your class-defining skills. Be prepared to rez your fallen comrades in battle. It is important to note that this ability cannot be used on yourself, unfortunately. For this reason, it becomes more important for you to avoid drawing the mobs attention to yourself.

As the only class in Aion capable of taking this role, you will be called upon - frequently - to heal in a group. Attaching yourself to a friendly Gladiator in PvP battles creates a formidable team, capable of dealing extreme amounts of damage with very little weaknesses. The best advice for a player new to this party role is to practice often, at every opportunity. This will help ensure that your skills are developed when you need them.

Remember to keep your buffs applied to all party members, and to reapply following a death. Try tossing your HoT on the tank just before he pulls; the spell will help to mitigate the initial incoming damage and keep you from getting behind.

Once you ding level 9, you'll see the Ascension quest automatically pop into your quest log. Go ahead and devote yourself to this one quest until you have your wings, since you can always return to your starting area and finish up any final tasks afterward.

The choice between Cleric and Chanter is mainly one of party role - do you prefer to be a main healer, rarely called upon to deal out damage in a party? If so, the Cleric is your class. If, however, you prefer to do melee and magic damage, bring the buffs that boost your group's effectiveness, and offer healing support, you will be suited by choosing the Chanter class.

Regardless, in the Priest you have picked a solid solo and party role that can toss spells and heals, buff friends and root or stun foes, and still take a bit of damage in your shield and chain armor until help arrives.