Classes
Cleric
Primary healer — Complete Heal chains, Symbol buffs, 96% resurrection.
Cleric is the primary healing class on Norrath. The Cleric spell book is dominated by healing, buffing, and resurrection lines, and the entire raid-tank survival model in PoP-cap EverQuest is built around the Complete Heal chain. Every other priest can heal in an emergency. The Cleric is the only class that can hold a tank's HP bar full indefinitely against a top-tier raid boss. Symbol and Aegolism stacks add HP and resists no other class can supply, and the 96% experience resurrection at high level is the reason a Cleric is welcome at every funeral.
Role and identity
A Cleric exists to keep the tank alive and the buff bar fat. Healing is the most visible part of the job, but Symbol and Aegolism HP stacks, resist buffs, and stuns against caster mobs all sit in the same toolkit. The Cleric does not contribute meaningful DPS in any era and is not asked to.
The Cleric identity is positional and patient. Cast time on Complete Heal punishes positioning errors and rewards attentive groupplay. Mana management defines pace — a Cleric who learns to interleave Yaulp, Cannibalize-equivalents (none, ironically), and judicious melee pre-casting will outlast Clerics who only spam heals.
Strengths
- Complete Heal at level 39 — full HP restore that scales to any tank
- Symbol / Aegolism HP stacks unique to the class
- Best resurrection in the game (96% XP at high level)
- Stuns that interrupt caster mobs and most named
- Divine Arbitration (AA) — emergency raid HP redistribution
- The only priest that can solo-heal a raid tank against an endgame boss
Weaknesses
- Zero meaningful DPS contribution
- Slow XP grind compared to melee groups (Cleric tax tradition addresses this)
- Mana intensive at high tiers — meditation downtime is real
- Long cast times on the most important spells
- Solo play is competent but slow
Solo, group, and raid
Solo
Clerics solo by root-and-nuke (using Cessation of Cor, Ward Undead, Mark of Karn) or by melee-with-buffs (Yaulp + Symbol + a fast 1H blunt). Neither is fast, but neither runs out. Self-HoTs and self-Symbols make a Cleric attrition-proof in solo camps.
Group
The Cleric is the most-requested party member from level 5 to 65. The signature contribution is mana-efficient single-target healing on the tank, with Symbol stacks and resist buffs covering the rest of the party. Cleric XP groups historically pay the "Cleric tax" — first-loot priority or 5% bonus — because the class is preventive rather than productive.
Raid
Raid Clerics rotate into Complete Heal chains: every Cleric in the rotation casts CH on the tank in sequence so the tank's HP bar remains at full between hits. The chain is the defining raid choreography of the era. AAs prioritize Mana Conservation, Spell Casting Reinforcement, and Divine Arbitration. Two CH-chain Clerics is the floor for most PoP raid bosses.
The Last Camp any-race-class combos
The Last Camp enables non-canonical Cleric races that produce real character identity. Iksar Cleric is the standout — the racial regen reduces meditation downtime, and the Cazic-Thule deity lock disappears under server rules so the player can pick a good-aligned faction grind. Vah Shir Cleric combines Safe Fall with priest casting, useful for emergency descent rescues in vertical zones like Plane of Storms.
Wood Elf Cleric of Tunare or Half Elf Cleric of Erollisi Marr open forage utility on a healer body, and Ogre Cleric brings frontal stun immunity to the priest line for the first time in the game's history. The frontal stun immunity matters: a stunned Cleric can't cast CH, and an Ogre Cleric closes the most common silent-wipe failure in tank-heavy raid pulls.
Spell / discipline highlights
The defining spells across tiers are Complete Heal (39), Symbol of Marzin / Ryltan / Naltron (HP buffs), Resurrection (rez line), Divine Aura (last-stand invuln), and Mark of Karn (the stun-and-DD opener). Late-game adds Aegolism (extended HP stack), Bestow Divine Aura (group invuln), and the Hammer of Damnation summon. PoP-cap chain rotations interleave CH with Yaulp and Mana Conservation procs.
AAs to prioritize
Mana Conservation, Spell Casting Reinforcement, and Divine Arbitration are the first three slots. Then Healing Adept, Healing Gift, and Spell Casting Subtlety. Cleric-specific AAs unlock Celestial Regeneration and improved Ward Undead. Sanctification is the long-tail pick for raid utility.
Leveling path summary
- 1-15: Starting city safe greens. Build out stun and the early heal lines.
- 15-30: Befallen, Blackburrow, Lower Guk. Group healing practice — learn aggro pacing.
- 30-45: Sol B, Mistmoore, Lower Guk. Complete Heal at 39 transforms every camp.
- 45-60: Karnor's Castle, Velketor's, Sebilis. CH chains become the rotation standard.
- 60-65: PoP raids. Your job is the CH chain and the Divine Arbitration emergency press.
Notable gear by tier
Early Clerics prize Glowing Black Stone, blunt weapons with stun procs, and the Symbol of Tynnonium crafted into Symbol-line click items. Kunark adds Black Tome with Silver Runes and the Iksar undead-staff line. Velious provides Coldain Shawl progression and Tier-9 priest robes. PoP endgame is the Time-tier priest set, Holy Mallet of Divine Grace, and the Plane of Tranquility quest items. Epic 1.0 Water Sprinkler of Nem Ankh remains relevant for its summoned-undead clicky.