History

As one of the original five classes, Priest has undergone many changes. Priests used to be completely armor-less, had no ability, but could equip two [rings](/wiki/rings). They gained the ability to heal allies in Build 47, and were given [robe armor](/wiki/robes) in Build 97. The style of their ability has changed as well, from spell scrolls like the [Wizard](/wiki/wizard)'s [offensive variety](/wiki/spells) to [Tomes](/wiki/tomes). The tomes' healing capabilities and MP costs were reduced in Build 113. Their main weapon, the [wand](/wiki/wands), gained the ability to pierce enemies in Release 25.0.0. More recently, Exalt 1.1.0.0 made Tomes heal less per player as player count increases. In compensation, the Priest gained some much-needed offense through wand buffs. Even with all these changes, the Priest is still considered one of the best support classes in the game, due to his ability to instantly heal himself and his allies from damage. However, as a wand class with low attack and dexterity, he is also the least offensively oriented class. To unlock the Priest, reach level 5 with the Wizard. See his stat gains, caps, and averages here.

Stats and Equipment

As a robe class, the Priest has the highest MP (385) and WIS (75) in the game, which buffs up tome usage. But like other robe classes, he is very prone to damage, reliant on Tomes and Pets with a VIT of 40. With a wand and very low offensive stats (50 ATT, 55 DEX), he is the weakest class in the game, at least without some endgame items. This skillset makes Priest a support-oriented class, a role that Priest can fulfill very effectively.

Weapon

Wands are low-medium damage, long-ranged, piercing weapons; while they make the Priest offensively feeble compared to other classes, it allows for him to engage targets at a very long distance.

Tiered Wands have unmatched utility for the Priest. In order, the [Wand of Ancient Warning](/wiki/wand-of-ancient-warning), [Wand of Recompense](/wiki/wand-of-recompense), [Wand of Evocation](/wiki/wand-of-evocation), [Wand of Retribution](/wiki/wand-of-retribution) are the highest tiered wands available. Most UT wands sacrifice one or both of range and piercing; these wands help keep the Priest in a safe distance. Retribution is a soulbound drop from [Oryx 3](/wiki/oryx-the-mad-god-3), but the others are tradable.

The [St. Abraham Wand](/wiki/st-abraham-s-wand) is a decent beginner drop from the [Manor of the Immortals](/wiki/manor-of-the-immortals). While its damage is comparable to the T9 [Wand of Deep Sorcery](/wiki/wand-of-deep-sorcery), its superior 10 tile range helps during phases that would be dangerous with a tiered wand (mainly, Oryx 1/2's dance phase).

The Crystal Wand, dropping from the [Crystal Prisoner](/wiki/crystal-prisoner), sacrifices some damage and piercing in order to ignore a target's defense. Comparible to the T12 Wand of Recompense against single foes, it shines against enemies like the [Stone Guardians](/wiki/stone-guardians), the [Avatar of the Forgotten King](/wiki/avatar-of-the-forgotten-king), and especially against enemies found in the [Parasite Chambers](/wiki/parasite-chambers).

These wands boast very high damage, but sacrifice piercing. The [Conducting Wand (Condu)](/wiki/conducting-wand) gives a higher rate of fire and an additional +4 DEX and WIS. For a relatively easy boss, the [Horrific Creation](/wiki/horrific-creation), this wand outdamages even the T14 wand (against low/decent DEF). As a downside, it sacrifices a tile of range, in addition to its nonpiercing. The [Wand of the Fallen](/wiki/wand-of-the-fallen) is excellent in single target boss fights, with better DPS than the Condu and only really beaten by endgame UTs in turn. Its boss, [Daichi the Fallen](/wiki/daichi-the-fallen), isn't an endgame boss. However, it only has a range of 6.6 tiles, which is much lower than most wands.

The [Wand of the Bulwark](/wiki/wand-of-the-bulwark) from [Stheno the Snake Queen](/wiki/stheno-the-snake-queen) is a unique weapon that fires extremely slow, parametric shots. This makes the wand nearly impossible to aim, but with the same effective damage as the [Doom Bow](/wiki/doom-bow), this weapon is great to pre-fire against bosses with invulnerability phases, or just against a chasing pack of enemies.

While the [Soul's Guidance](/wiki/soul-s-guidance) has fairly weak, wavy main shots, it has an interesting proc: creating blue souls that follow the user to deal good AOE damage. At the end, they explode with a Curse effect (though at a small radius), leading to an overall decent damage output if combined with an aggressive playstyle.

The [Magic Wand](/wiki/magic-wand) is an ST wand that drops from the Puppet Minions from the [Puppet Master's Encore](/wiki/puppet-master-s-encore). With a 150% rate of fire and the ability to pierce shots, it's most comparable to the [Thousand Shot](/wiki/thousand-shot) bow. Along with its unique property of both ignoring obstacles and shots that boomerang back, it's the perfect wand for clearing the godlands.

These endgame wands give the Priest competitive levels of DPS. The [Dusty Catalyst](/wiki/dusky-catalyst)'s high damage is at least comparable to the Wand of the Fallen, beating the Fallen until ~38 DEF. However, it inflicts Silence for 0.4s if you fire it while In Combat, meaning that either your shots or your healing is gone if you take decent damage. This weapon might be better on other wand classes, though it's still very strong. While weaker than the Lumiaire, it also pierces enemies, making it amazing for clearing gods and weak dungeons. The [Lumiaire](/wiki/lumiaire)'s two shots deal amazing damage, the clear highest of any non-sitting wand. The only drawback is its very slow shot speed, meaning that you either have to be able to predict the enemy's movement or have to get incredibly close to the enemy in order to deal damage. It also has a shorter true range and no piercing, but don't let that discourage you from using a very strong wand from [Archbishop Leucoryx](/wiki/archbishop-leucoryx).

Ability

The Priest is a long ranged healing class with an instantaneous heal, affecting every player within the vicinity of the Priest. Your party heal reduces in potency as there are more players around, but you'll always be healed for the full amount. Most tiered tomes also provide a lingering {{template-healing}} buff that increases players' HP regeneration beyond the initial healing. Tomes are also affected by your character's wisdom, so the more WIS your Priest has, the stronger the heal is and the longer the healing lasts. The Priest's ability is what makes him such an amazing support class and a long-lasting soloing class, even with a robe. His ability can turn the tide of the battle, help out players who are taking large sums of damage, and even prevent them from dying. Although healing others is not necessary, you'll often find that fellow adventurers will appreciate and respect you for doing so.

The [Tome of Holy Guidance](/wiki/tome-of-holy-guidance) is the best tradable tiered tome, healing the most HP and having the longest Healing duration. The [Tome of Hallowed Language](/wiki/tome-of-hallowed-language) grants a bit more healing per use, but it is a soulbound drop from Oryx 3. However, they both have a fairly high cost of 120/130 MP to cast a heal. The [Tome of Purification](/wiki/tome-of-purification) heals more than the T6 Tome of Holy Guidance, with a lower MP cost when considering its sublime +10 WIS and +10 VIT. In addition, it uniquely removes negative status effects from the user. Unlike the tiered tomes, it does not grant Healing, though it does have one of the best MP per regular heal ratio of all tomes (beating even the T7).

The [Book of Geb](/wiki/book-of-geb) costs only 100 MP and is the only tome that grants {{template-speedy}}, making it a good choice for rushing dungeons or clearing realms. The added +5 DEF, +3 VIT and +3 WIS also helps when taking damage while rushing. It costs and heals as much as the T4 tome, while retaining the Healing status.

The Tome of Holy Protection (Prot) grants {{template-armored}}, increasing your defense by 50%. This gives the Priest a Warrior-level amount of DEF, which, with the healing, is an unfathomable amount of survivability. In exchange, it heals less with an extreme MP cost (150 MP); bringing MP potions and a high level pet makes things easier.

These tomes have offensive abilities, but sacrifice durability. The Tome of Pain gives the priest an AoE offensive ability (500 damage) that also heals. However, this tome's healing is expensive and weak (80 HP / 120 MP). The stat bonuses are great: +4 ATT, +4 SPD +2 DEF, but affect the overall health of a player with penalties of -5 VIT and -20 HP. The [Necronomicon](/wiki/necronomicon) is an even riskier alternative because in addition to Cursing enemies, they Curse *yourself* as well. It shoots out a row of shots; it is impossible to hit all of them, but you can hit 3. Small groups can use this to increase their damage, but may not need it if there are Mystics nearby to Curse instead.

These tomes provide sublime offensive stat bonuses, in exchange for a weaker heal. It's best to pair them up with a strong, offensive wand. The [Ceremonial Merlot](/wiki/ceremonial-merlot) gives an amazing +20 ATK on use, along with -5 DEF. It also provides one of the lowest ST heals, equal to the T1 tome. In addition, there is a 1% chance to be inflicted with {{template-drunk}} whenever you are hit hard enough. It drops from [Oryx 1](/wiki/oryx-the-mad-god). The [Tome of Holy Furor](/wiki/tome-of-holy-furor) from [Oryx 2](/wiki/oryx-the-mad-god-2) is similarly DPS oriented, providing a slightly weaker +15 DEX for slightly longer. Despite the weaker offensive stats, along with a better heal, this tome actually increases your survivability, giving you +55 max HP and +7 speed on equip.

The [Tome of the Mushroom Tribes (Fungal Tome)](/wiki/tome-of-the-mushroom-tribes) places a healing mushroom on your cursor, which heals up to 10 players for 120 HP per second, for 3 seconds. Most notably, the mushroom's heal does not decrease by player count. This, along with the fact that other players *know* that they'll be healed, makes this tome one of the greatest support tomes in the game. While it is unaffected by Wisdom, you can spam multiple for massive group healing. It drops from the [Crystal Worm Mother](/wiki/crystal-worm-mother).

The [Chaotic Scripture](/wiki/chaotic-scripture), dropped by [Archbishop Leucoryx](/wiki/archbishop-leucoryx), practically outclasses both aforementioned damaging ability tomes. This tome summons a Chaos Beam on your cursor that also *armor pierces*, allowing the Priest to behave more like a Wizard, as you can choose where to deal your damage. As usual, the disadvantage is a low heal for high MP, so you might want to carry a swapout. The Chaotic Scripture is a great tome for if you want the Priest to deal high amounts of damage.

Armor

While robes have the least defense, their MP and WIS boosts pair well with the Priest's tomes.

The [Robe of the Grand Sorcerer](/wiki/robe-of-the-grand-sorcerer), [Robe of the Star Mother](/wiki/robe-of-the-star-mother), and [Robe of the Ancient Intellect](/wiki/robe-of-the-ancient-intellect) are the primary armors of the Priest. All three provide ample DEF, MP, WIS, and boosted ATT. While these robes may not be as powerful in specific areas, their versatility can not be ignored - one can never go wrong with these.

All of these robes are good for increasing the Priest's utility. The [Robe of the Mad Scientist](/wiki/robe-of-the-mad-scientist) from [Dr. Terrible](/wiki/dr-terrible) gives a pretty decent +7 WIS/VIT and a special proc that reduces MP cost by 25%. This stacks with the Twilight Gemstone, *reducing your MP cost by a whopping 47.5%*. This robe is great for healing as much as possible. The [Ritual Robe](/wiki/ritual-robe) is obtained from [Malus](/wiki/malus). While slightly weaker in terms of MP and defense, it has an amazing +20 WIS bonus, increasing how much you can spam tomes, in addition to their potency (around +60 HP). It doesn't work well for the Fungal Tome, but is a great support robe otherwise. THe [Tlatoani's Shroud](/wiki/tlatoani-s-shroud) is different from the previous two robes in that instead of reducing the amount of MP needed to cast an ability, the shroud directly gives an amazing +180 MP, along with a nice +10 WIS. The greatest risk of equipping this robe is that it *has no defensive stats whatsoever*, making you incredibly vulnerable to damage. This robe is best used if paired with other defensive gear or if one wishes to have a full utility priest.

The [Water Dragon Silk Robe](/wiki/water-dragon-silk-robe) is a UT robe obtained from [Nikao the Azure Dragon](/wiki/nikao-the-azure-dragon). Compared to the T14, this robe sacrifces all its MP, 1 DEF and 3 WIS for 2 extra ATT and a hefty 6 SPD. While healing focused Priests wouldn't like this robe, the increase in weapon damage and maneuverability allows increased overall DPS and rushing ability. An additional proc provides more health on ability use, albiet with a long cooldown. Overall, this robe is a solid choice for a Priest who is playing offensively.

These two robes are amazing for increasing the Priest's DPS, but sacrifice MP and WIS. The [Diplomatic Robe (Diplo)](/wiki/diplomatic-robe) from [Chancellor Dammah](/wiki/chancellor-dammah) is a good balance between DPS and survivability. With its increase in HP and its proc which allows massive DPS, Diplo is a good choice for the Priest, giving him more defensive stats and high DPS potential. Meanwhile, the [Vesture of Duality](/wiki/vesture-of-duality) from [Archbishop Leucoryx](/wiki/archbishop-leucoryx) is the opposite, giving high DPS but reduced survivability with its proc. While Priests are not normally known for damage, these endgame robes (along with a great weapon) dramatically boost the Priest's damage potential. Plus, if one has a good healing tome, the loss in survivability could be negated with good heals.

Ring

Top choices by many a player, the [Ring of Exalted Health](/wiki/ring-of-exalted-health), [Ring of Unbound Health](/wiki/ring-of-unbound-health), and [Ring of Decades](/wiki/ring-of-decades) provide a hefty boost of HP (+140/+180/+190). Pure health rings benefit a Priest by allowing them to absorb more damage, before instantly restoring it again with a simple use of a tome. The [Ring of Unbound Defense (UBDef)](/wiki/ring-of-unbound-defense) is a niche ring as it gives a more dubious stat, but the frailer Priest enjoys the defense. DEF helps get more value out of each heal; +180 HP with 35 DEF is better than +180 HP with 25 DEF. However, defense is typically a less valuable survivability stat than HP, especially in late game content.

The [Ring of the Pyramid](/wiki/ring-of-the-pyramid) is a balanced ring, providing both +100 HP and +4 DEF. It also gives some extra Attack, helping priests who struggle with dealing damage. The [Bloodshed Ring](/wiki/bloodshed-ring) drops from a harder dungeon ([Cultist Hideout](/wiki/cultist-hideout)), but provides slightly more HP & DEF (+110/+6), while also giving a well-needed +6 WIS.

Although even more dubious than the UBDef, the [Ring of Unbound Magic (UBMP)](/wiki/ring-of-unbound-magic) is the best tradable ring for pure support. Its +180 MP pushes the Priest's support role to the extreme level, allowing him to cast more times - a godsend when his teammates need constant healing.

For more defensive or support based priests, one may choose a more wisdom/mana based ring. The [Sourcestone](/wiki/sourcestone) and [The Twilight Gemstone](/wiki/the-twilight-gemstone) are endgame rings which don't sacrifice as much as UBMP. Each ring provides +110 MP and some speed. The Sourcestone helps survivability with an additional +110 HP, though the Gemstone gives +8 DEF and *reduces the MP cost of your ability by 30%*, easily surpassing all other rings in pure utility.

Some priests that want to have a balanced approach may want to consider the [Bracer of the Guardian](/wiki/bracer-of-the-guardian), [Divine Coronation (Coro)](/wiki/divine-coronation), and [Omnipotence Ring (Omni)](/wiki/omnipotence-ring). The Bracer focuses on the defensive side, giving better HP and DEF, as well as +80 MP. Coro is more offensive, giving a decent +8 DEX and +110 HP, but a weaker DEF and MP (+55) boost. Meanwhile, Omni gives decent, balanced bonuses to every single stat, which Priests can take advantage of.

Strengths and Weaknesses

The Priest's strength lies in his ability; one of the best in the game, turning him from yet another frail robe class to one that can easily solo event bosses. As a support character, he is also necessary at all levels of group play for all kinds of Dungeons. One of the Priest's biggest weaknesses is that his MP is much more crucial to his function than any other class; making the Silence and Quiet statuses even more devistating. And without extremely strong (and diffcult to get, if not just rare) UTs, the Priest lacks in terms of DPS. While the Tome gives a ton of survivability, the Priest is weak to shotguns, pops, and other (near) instant kills, because they still have low defense. But because of his long range, the Priest is debatably the safest class in the game, very suitable class for new players or players committed to a new player experience. A freshly leveled Priest already has a good deal of survivability and utility, able to safely farm the godlands, and will only get better with stat potions. Having a good deal of patience and time is very beneficial to playing a fresh Priest. Priests can play both offensively, eating shots at mid-range, dealing damage, and healing it up. Or defensively, relying on the tiered wand's high range.

Group and Boss Role

With the ability to instantly heal himself and his allies, the Priest is probably the most ideal support class in the game. While the Priest is not obligated to heal teammates, any good Priest will generously heal others during all sorts of dangerous situations, from events to dungeon bosses. While typically weak overall, The Priest is a catalyst to speeding up the progress of farming the godlands, taking down bosses, or anything else because his ability makes things easier for others all around.

Summary

The Priest excels as a support class. Even though he has the worst DPS in the game, he is capable of almost anything on his own and can do things that other classes can't do (like walking towards an armies of gods). Used for supporting or attacking, the Priest is almost unbeatable with the correct use of the tome and wand, and almost invincible once maxed. Just watch out for those quiet shots! If you want a very safe class that can attack at long range and effectively support a group, the Priest is for you!

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