Prison Tale Priestess Guide

Prison Tale Priestess Guide by WabidWabbit

Hopefully some of the excellent existing guides from the previous forums will be restored soon but in the meantime, I thought it would be helpful to throw some information out there for those looking to start a priestess and wanting some pointers. My idea for this thread is not debate the merits of different build types (pure vs. semi-pure vs. attack vs. helper, shield vs. orb, staff vs. wand or MS vs. VB et cetera) but to put common information for all here and to explain some of the differences in build types without getting too much into my personal build choices, although it can be helpful to mention pros and cons for each type. I’d be very grateful if, to debate, you could start a new thread with the topic like “Shield vs. Orb” and only put comments in here for things I’ve left out that would be useful to add. I’ll then try to edit my post to include any good pointers so we can improve this temporary guide. So in other words, we can make this a compendium of information and move debates/discussions elsewhere.

Also, to start with, I’m only going to post some very limited core information which will be very incomplete as I don’t have many hours at the moment to write something up but I figure something is better than nothing the way things stand for those needing help and have been asking in game. I’ll start with basics for low level Prs, med and DL and will come back to add more on skill points then do stat points after.

Skill Points

Investing in Every Spell

As with all classes, you should always put at least one point into every spell, even if you don’t intend to use it. This is because, to go to the next tier of spells, you need one point all of the spells in all of the lower tiers. However, unless you need a spell (see below for recommended spells) I would only ever put a single point into a spell. It’s tempting to spend what you have but at times you may need to hold on to a point for a few more levels to put it somewhere more appropriate. Remember, if you make a mistake, you can only redistribute your skill points for free the moment when you finish your 2x, 4x and 6x rank-ups and you’re otherwise stuck unless you can purchase a reset stone from the real-life cash shop.

Step 1 – Meditation and Devine Lightning
The basis for every prs build. This is the main mob attack.

The most important spell for leveling quickly (killing a lot of monsters quickly for faster XP) for a low level Prs (under 6x) is Divine Lightning, “DL”, which can attack a number of monsters at once that are in range and doesn’t need to be aimed. Each bolt of lightning can attack a different monster if you have enough monsters nearby. You get this skill as a low 2x and at level 1 it’s not too helpful but by level 4 you’ll be outgunning most other classes through 4x. Prior to being able to obtain DL, put only one point into each spell except, if you have some points left over, put them into Meditation, “Med”.

Meditation is a passive skill. You don’t press a button to cast it. It improves your character’s mana points (“MP”) regeneration rate. No matter what spells you actively cast, they all use mana and a prs will quickly run out and will have to keep waiting to rebuild or use a lot of expensive MP pots. The key for low 2x and 3x is to build Meditation enough to support the level of DL you are casting so you repot less often and don’t run out of pots quickly. You don’t need to max Meditation first and leave DL on one else you’d be loosing opportunities to kill more and XP faster with higher levels of DL. Similarly you shouldn’t invest a lot of points in DL and leave Med on 1 point as you won’t have enough regen to be able to cast DL all the time.

Each player at a low level will find a comfortable balance of Med vs DL points depending on how often they like to cast DL. There is no golden rule here. Most Prs, until DL is level 4, raise Med in parallel or a point or so above DL.

So, how high to take DL? The magic numbers 4 points and 7 points. You should not be maxing DL as a low level prs. Why 4 and 7? Because at 4 points you get an extra lightning bolt as well as increasing damage and at 7 points you get another extra lightning bolt as well as increasing damage. The points inbetween only increase damage. Thus at 4, you can attack one more monster in a mob and ditto at 7. I would suggest 2x and 3x aim for level 4 and 4x to 6x aim for level 7 with this skill. However some prs like to stick to just 4 bolts as that uses less MP, although you kill less monsters at once. Most prs go for 7 bolts.

Once you’ve got your DL to 4, before you raise any higher, you really need to look at maximizing Meditation first else you’ll be wasting a lot of killing time in a party potting or running out of pots and regenerating. This is a must.

So a quick summary of the most common route to leveling both is raise both Med and DL together approximately or as you see fit until DL is level 4, then take Med to level 10. After that, you can optionally take DL to 7, which most prs do, although a fair percentage stay on 4 depending on the type of build they want. Attack prs after 6x can raise DL to 10 but this will usually hurt on the MP useage until you have good 8x gear to help maximize your regen plus there are other things you’ll need to spend points on.

Step 2 – Multi-Spark/Vigor Ball and Virtual Life

For every build, I’d make sure you have Meditation maxed first and DL on at least level 4.

The best one-on-one targetted attack for a priestess is either Multi-Spark, “MS”, or Vigor Ball, “VB“. Both are useful for hunting a boss or monster for specific items. (e.g. Witches drop a lot of MP.) They range further than DL and you’re not wasting mp on inconsequential monsters. They typically use less mp too and can be used for finishing off the odd monster left in the remains of a mob or targetting that pesky archer or witch that is keeping back and hitting you from outside the mob.

You only need to raise one or the other, VB or MS, not both. You should never put extra points into both and should leave one of them on a single point. The aim is to max the other with 10 points, the maximum you can put into any spell.

The two main differences between MS and VB are:
1) VB damage is related to your spirit stat points but MS is not; and
2) MS can be fired repeatedly much faster than VB.

These two factors are what drives the debate of VB vs. MS. Generally, unless your spirit points are very high, (higher than say 250 points, which would be 8x+,) MS is better as it’s damage over time on a target will be more than VB since it fires much faster. Once you’ve got your souped up 9x Prs, you may want to go to VB (paying for a restat) but in the meantime, as it takes a while to get to 9x, you’ll want MS in most cases. Those who won’t ever pay and are determined to be 9x and hard-core have a good point about raising VB instead of MS but most prs really like the faster kills with MS until they are 8x+. My personal recommendation is to raise MS and don’t even worry about VB until you’re high level. Most prs (80% or so) seem to take this route. Both routes are valid. It’s a choice you have to make. Live with VB doing less damage (and XPing slower) until you become high level without needing to restat or get more kills in faster and pay to restat later.

So when to raise your 1-on-1 attack? After Med10 and DL4 for sure. After DL7 probably unless you don’t intend to raise DL above 4. Your 1-on-1 won’t be too hot at lower levels but as it gets higher, you’ll be using it more and more. A lot of prs seem to raise Virtual Life, “VL”, after finishing their DL work first so lets talk about VL.

VL adds a small percentage extra HP to yourself or a target. When people have close to 100 points in health, casting VL level 10 is really helpful, you get almost 25% extra health for a few minutes so you can withstand harder hits. However, as a low level prs, you will not have high base health to start with (see following stat points section ) so you yourself won’t benefit much from VL at all. Only some high hp tanks you party with will benefit. Also a low level of VL won’t really help anyone as the percentage is so small. A lot of people you party with will request VL so it will seem like a hot item to raise. This is where you make a build choice. If you like to help others, you can raise it before your 1-on-1. If you want to help yourself, there is no point in raising it until you are 7x+ with some stat decent points invested in your own health. My own personal choice was after DL, maxing my 1-on-1 then looking at VL. I think most prs raise VL first but remember it’s not going to be very helpful to you until you’re probably 8x and can spare more points for health. At any rate, don’t raise in parallel to 1-on-1 as neither will be of use until you start maxing out a skill.

Defensive Spells

So far we’ve talked only about offensive spells (apart from VL, that won’t be of practical use to you while you’re under 6x) that will garner you some XP and help you level. However, maybe you want to be more of a healer/helper or perhaps you can’t survive too well and that is hindering you from leveling. So, lets talk about some of the defensive spells for under 6x priestesses.

VL – See Virtual Life discussion in first post. Not useful until this is a almost maxed out. Not useful to you as a prs (although can be useful to high hp tanks you party with) until you have high hp and have spent close to 100 points on your own hp. So won’t benefit you under 6x and won’t benefit others much at lower levels. Later on, post 6x, will be of great benefit.

Heal – By all means spend a point or two extra here (no more than that) if you find it useful to top yourself off on hp so you don’t run out of pots so quickly or to heal crystals. Although the prs class was originally designed as a healer, sadly everyone is used to self-potting at higher levels and looking after themselves and hp pots are plentiful these days. As your first spell, it’s exciting to heal others and be helpful, that may be why you picked being a prs-medic. However as players get more savvy as they progress, you heal less and less unless you’re helping someone on a quest or boss kill or some unusual circumstances exist such as you think someone is AFK or chatting and not noticing they are almost dead. Also, once you move into the realm of DL, parties want you to DL everything as one of the best low level mob kills. You cost your party XP if you’re not wiping out mobs and they’d rather have you doing that.

Heal affects only a single player. Grand Heal will heal everyone you’re partied with. So, if you want to heal parties, don’t spend points early on with heal and wait for grand heal. Remember though, only heal can heal people outside your party (great for helping someone at a lower level than you) and only heal can help crystals plus you can’t cast grand heal on yourself.

Grand Heal, “GH” – This is the best heal for when several people need healing in a party. With heal, you have to target the person needing help and it can be difficult/impossible to get to them when they’re in the middle of a close mob and you may accidentially heal a monster. Grand Heal is untargetted, like DL is untargetted. It heals EVERY party member in range. However compared to a similar level of Heal, it provides less healing so you often have to cast it several times in a row to get a similar effect. When in a rapid fire situation where you need to alternate with some DL, GH is good. You don’t need to see where party members are and can fire this off quickly before returning to DLing. People soon learn to stay close enough to their prs to get healed. Please see also the previous paragraph for additional comparative information vs. the standard heal spell.

Overall, apart from the 1 point required for each spell, I’d spend no more than 2 additional points on some combination of heal or grand heal. You can still be a very affective medic with these low levels and you will need your points mostly for meditation and DL followed by either a 1-on-1 or building VL for later. For my own builds, I always put a point or two extra in heal and kept it there so I can heal crystals and help lower levels plus top off my party members or myself between mobs. Works even for 8x/9x but you may have to fire it off a couple of times. Attack priestesses will want to spend no extra points on healing so they can have med10/DL7 faster and so they can have more points to spend later on DL10 as their gear improves to allow for faster regen.

Holy Reflection – This is an often overlooked spell since once you’re level 70, you get MuSpell instead which is a better defence and is in fact the main prs defence bar none. However, you don’t get MuSpell until L70 so you should be looking at Holy Reflection instead to help add to your defences until 6x then respec after your 6x rank up or pay to respec at L70.

I’ve always found HR to be of great use to tank undead archers/skeletons when mobbing, particularly if they are annoyingly out of range of my DL. I only ever spent a single point or two here to add to my defense to the point where it helped with my current problems and no more. You can definately feel the benefits to HR at a low level so I would spend on this but only if you’re suffering a lot on your current levelling maps. Even if you spend no extra points on this spell, have it bound to a function key and cast it every time you’re in a mob as it lasts for some time and will help reflect some of the damage back to undeads so you get hurt less. It should be automatic to cast this whenever it runs out.