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. They gained the ability to heal allies in Build 47, and were given robe armor in Build 97. The style of their ability has changed as well, from spell scrolls like the Wizard’s offensive variety to Tomes. The tomes’ healing capabilities and MP costs were reduced in Build 113; the same build changed Priest’s graphics slightly so that he no longer held a shield. Their main weapon, the wand, gained the ability to pierce enemies in Release 25.0.0. More recently, Exalt 1.1.0.0 made Tomes scale negatively with player count, but gave some much-needed offensive capability.
Even then, the Priest can be 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 classes. To unlock the Priest, reach level 5 with the Wizard. See his stat gains, caps, and averages here.
As a robe class, the Priest has a higher MP capacity, along with quick MP regeneration with 75 WIS. His high WIS also bolsters the healing capabilities of his tome. However, like other robe classes, he is very prone to damage, and with a vitality cap of 40, he is more reliant on his tome to keep his HP topped off. As a wand class with attack and dexterity capped at 50 and 55, respectively, he is effectively the weakest class in the game in terms of raw damage-per-second, at least without some endgame items. This skillset makes Priest a support-oriented class, a role that Priest can fulfill very effectively.
As mentioned earlier, the Priest’s weapon is the wand. Wands are 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, Wand of Recompense, Wand of Evocation, Wand of Retribution are the highest tiered wands available. Most UT wands sacrifice one or both of range and/or piercing; these wands help keep the Priest in a safe distance. Retribution is an untradable drop from Oryx 3, but the others are tradable.
The St. Abraham Wand is a decent beginner drop from the Manor of the Immortals. While its damage is comparable to the T9 Wand of Deep Sorcery, it’s 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, sacrifices some damage and piercing in order to ignore a target’s defense. Comparible to the T12 Wand of Recompense in most situations, it shines against enemies like the Stone Guardians, the Avatar of the Forgotten King, and especially against enemies found in the Nightmare Colony.
These wands boast very high damage, but sacrifice piercing.
The Conducting Wand (Condu) gives a higher rate of fire and an additional +4 DEX and WIS. For a relatively easy boss (the 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 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, isn’t an endgame boss. However, it only has a range of 6.6 tiles, much lower than most wands.
The Wand of the Bulwark from 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, this weapon is great to pre-fire against enemies with invulnerability phases.
While the Soul’s Guidance has fairly weak, wavy main shots, it has an interesting proc: creating blue souls that follow the user, deal damage, and heal the user’s HP. At the end, they explode with a Curse effect (though at a small radius).
The Magic Wand is an ST wand that drops from the Puppet Minions from the Puppet Master’s Encore. With 150% rate of fire and the ability to pierce shots, it’s most comparable to the Thousand Shot bow. Along with it’s unique property of both ignoring obstacles and shots that boomerang back, it’s the perfect wand for clearing the Realm, particularly the Mountains/Godlands.
These endgame wands give the Priest competitive levels of DPS.
The Dusty Catalyst’s great damage is at least comparible to the Wand of the Fallen, beating it until ~38 DEF. However, it inflicts Silence if you fire it In Combat, meaning that either your shots or your healing is gone whenever you get hit. This weapon might be better on other wand classes, though it’s not terrible. While weaker than the Lumiaire, it also pierces enemies, making it amazing for clearing gods and weak dungeons.
The 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 no piercing a slightly shorter range of 7.2 tiles, but don’t let that discourage you from using a very strong wand from Archbishop Leucoryx.
The Priest is a long ranged healing class. His heal is instantaneous, effecting every player within the vicinity of the Priest when cast. 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 healing buff that increases players’ HP regeneration beyond the initial healing.
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, often you’ll find that fellow adventurers will appreciate and respect you for doing so. Tomes are also affected by your character’s wisdom, so the more wisdom your priest has, the stronger the heal is and the longer the healing lasts.
The 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 grants a bit more healing per use but it is a soulbound drop from Oryx 3. However they have a fairly high cost of 120-130 MP to cast a heal.
The 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 heal ratio of all tomes.
The Book of Geb costs only 100 MP and is the only tome that grants 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 also retaining the Healing status.
The Tome of Holy Protection (Prot) grants the Armored status, increasing your defense by 50%. This gives the Priest a Warrior-level amount of defense, 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 or a high level pet only makes things easier.
These tomes have offensive abilities, but cost 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 overal health of a player with penalties of -5 VIT and -20 HP.
The Necronomicon is an even riskier alternative; 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.
The Ceremonial Merlot gives an amazing +20 ATK on use, in exchange for -5 DEF. In exchange, it provides one of the lowest ST heals, at 60 HP. In addition, there is a 1% chance to be inflicted with Drunk whenever you are hit. It drops from Oryx 1.
The Tome of Holy Furor, from Oryx 2 is similarly DPS oriented, providing a slightly weaker +15 DEX for slightly longer. But this tome actually increases your survivability, providing +55 max HP and +7 speed.
The Tome of the Mushroom Tribes (Fungal Tome) 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 uneffected by Wisdom, you can spam multiple for massive group healing. It drops from the Crystal Worm Mother.
The Chaotic Scripture, dropped by Archbishop Leucoryx, practically outclasses both 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. Fittingly, the disadvantage is worse healing, which is why you should carry a tiered tome as a swapout. The Chaotic Scripture is a great tome for if you want the Priest to deal high amounts of damage.
While robes have the least defense, their MP and WIS boosts pair well with the Priest’s tomes.
The Robe of the Grand Sorcerer, Robe of the Star Mother, and Robe of the Ancient Intellect are the primary armors of the Priest. All three provide ample defense, MP, WIS, and boosted ATT. While these robes may not be as powerful in specific areas as some untiered robes, their versatility cannot be ignored - one can never go wrong with these.
Both of these robes are good for increasing the Priest’s utility.
The Robe of the Mad Scientist from 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 is obtained from 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 (+60 HP on most). It doesn’t work well for the Fungal Tome, but is a great support robe otherwise.
The Water Dragon Silk Robe is a UT robe obtained from Nikao the Azure Dragon. Compared to T14, robe sacrifces all its MP, 1 DEF and 3 WIS for 2 extra ATT and a hefty 6 SPD. While Priests who are dependent on their tomes to heal, the increase in weapon damage and maneuverability allows increased overall DPS and rushing ability. An additional proc provides more healing on ability use, albiet with a long cooldown. Overall, this robe is a solid choice for a Priest who are playing offensively.
These two robes are amazing for increasing the Priest’s DPS, but sacrifice MP and WIS.
The Diplomatic Robe (Diplo) from Chancellor Dammah is a good balance between DPS and survivability. With its increase in HP and its proc which allows massive DPS, Diplomatic Robe is a good choice for the Priest, giving him more defensive stats and high DPS potential. Meanwhile, the Vesture of Duality from 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.
A top choice by many player, the Ring of Unbound Health/Ring of Decades provides a hefty boost of +180/+190 HP. 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 Forgotten Crown or the Ring of the Pyramid can be used instead of a pure health ring because along with a health boost, they supply a Priest with a much needed DPS boost.
Although rarely used, the Ring of Unbound Magic (UBMP) is the best tradable tiered ring if playing as a full support Priest. It can provide a massive boost of +180 MP. The Priest himself already has a massive MP capacity, but this ring allows him to push his support role to the extreme level and to compensate the fairly high tome-casting cost. It allows him using tiered tome few more times before needing to regain MP, which is a godsend when his teammates need constant healing.
One of the unconventional choice, the Ring of Unbound Defense (UBDef) is the best tradable Defence ring. It fits well for a Priest because of his low Defence cap. In addition, it synergizes well with Prot’s Armored effect, which it allows him to be tanky as Knight if maxed Defence.
Another unconventional choice for the Priest, the Ring of Unbound Attack (UBAtt) is the highest tiered tradable DPS ring that provides +10 Attack for the Priest. While Dex ring is not a bad choice, UBAtt beats UBDex when dealing with foes that has 16 or more Defence.
For more defensive or support based priests, one may choose a more wisdom/mana based ring. The Twilight Gemstone and Sourcestone are rare and very useful rings for the priest, supplying one with +110 MP, along with a small SPD boost. The Twilight Gemstone prioritizes utility, as it has a proc that reduces the MP cost of your ability, which is useful if you want more efficient heals on the Priest. Meanwhile, Sourcestone has a great balance between survivability and utility, with both the aforementioned MP bonus along with a +110 HP, greatly increasing the Priest’s defensive stats.
The Ring of the Sphinx is a mix of support/offense, giving +100 MP, and +4 to both DEX and WIS. It allows him to strengthen his tome’s healing power a bit more and able to cast one more healing. In addition, the +4 Dex increases Priest’s low DPS.
The Bloodshed Ring is a rare ring that drops from Malus in the Cultist Hideout. It provides +100 HP, +5 Wis and Defence. It fits well for a Priest because it can increase the potency of his tome and at the same time increases his survivability, which is also equally important for the Priest.
Geb’s Ring of Wisdom supplies a hefty boost of wisdom (+10), which matches the Ring of Unbound Wisdom. The catch is, it also gives +25 to both HP and MP, and +5 VIT. The Ring of the Covetous Heart gives the priest a damage boost with its +5 ATT, and supplies the priest with +8 WIS. It also gives +15 HP and +50 MP, creating a balanced ring for offensive play and support.
Some priests that want to have a balanced approach may want to consider the Bracer of the Guardian, Divine Coronation, and Omnipotence Ring. The Omnipotence Ring gives balanced bonuses to every single stat. Meanwhile, the Bracer of the Guardian and Divine Coronation focus more on survivability, utility, and damage. Bracer offers balanced HP and MP, along with some DEF and ATT, allowing for more balance between the three playstyles. Divine Coronation is more offensive however, giving more HP, less MP, less DEF, and much more DEX then ATT.
Some of the strengths of the Priest is that he is an essential class for fighting event bosses in groups and he can solo many event bosses when maxed out pretty easily. His ability can be considered to be one of the best in the game and is what turns him from a frail robe class to a class with a lot of survivability.
One of the Priest’s biggest weaknesses is that his MP is much more crucial to his function than any other class, which makes the Quiet status from specific enemies more feared. Another weakness of the Priest is having the lowest DPS of all classes due to his low offensive stats and the generally low DPS of wands compared to other weapons.
Another weakness is that the Priest is much more prone to shotguns than most other classes. Tomes work best when the Priest takes small amounts of damage multiple times or so, not taking large amounts of damage at the same time, especially considering the Priest’s low defense and robes. This is why the Priest needs to fight from a distance. Instantaneous heals, status effect removal, and armored all need to be used carefully – a mistimed heal or buff can mean a very quick death!
Because of his long range and healing abilities, Priest is debatably the safest class in the game, and is a 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 that will only increase as he consumes stat potions. His abilities allow him to safely farm the godlands for stat potions. As with any class, a good rule of thumb is to prioritize maxing SPD, DEX, and DEF, but they do not need to be maxed in any particular order. In the hands of a skilled player, Priest’s high survivability makes him capable of soloing most common dungeons, providing him with a persistent, if time-consuming, way to max his stats. Having a good deal of patience and time is very beneficial to playing a fresh Priest.
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 event and dungeon bosses because it helps prolong the group’s survivability and thus helps take down bosses faster. 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.
Priests are very useful in event and dungeon bosses. They play mostly as a support class but can also become a strong solo class. Wands sacrifice DPS for longer range and piercing, which means that a lot of time and patience is necessary when using a priest to solo bosses. As a robe class, they need to be wary so they don’t wind up tanking too much damage before they are able to react to it. The priest isn’t typically used for getting soulbound damage since he has the lowest dps in the game. However, once maxed, they can become one of the most resilient solo classes in the game and can still manage to attain soulbound in smaller groups.
There are two main strategies that can be used with the priest: offensive and defensive.
-Offensive: The priest can use his ability to absorb a lot of damage and then heal back his HP. Using this strategy, the priest tanks damage and stands within attack range of the boss to ensure soulbound, healing repetitively every time his health drops below half. Many players find this strategy more exciting, but it doesn’t make a whole lot of difference in terms of getting soulbound damage as long as you have good aim. It is recommended to not tank high damage shots unless you have at least maxed def. A Prot is very useful with this strategy. It can also be used to rush relatively well, especially with a speedy granting tome.
-Defensive: This is the safer and more commonly used strategy for the priest. It involves staying far from enemies and using your long range to your advantage. It is safer and easier, but it might not get you soulbound as easily. Because you are shooting far from the enemy you are fighting, it may be difficult to hit them because most wands are capable of hitting enemies off-screen, even with an off-center camera. You will not have to heal as often using this strategy, so be prepared to heal someone if you are in a group. It is recommended to use this strategy if you are a new player, not maxed, or simply afraid of dying.
These are only suggestions though; get out there and play the Priest however it best suits you!
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!
