Ragnarok Online Archbishop Full Support Guide

Ragnarok Online Archbishop Full Support Guide by T3chnowitch

So, you want to build a full support Archbishop. That’s great! Though it can be a difficult class to level at times, the full support AB is vital to the health of the party in both PvM and PvP environments. In this guide, I’ll give you a few pointers on how to go about building and playing a full support AB.

Special thanks to Kasshin and Funen1, who provided some advice to improve this guide!

What does the class do?
The Archbishop, in general, is an extension of the Priest/High Priest class. It receives a wide variety of buff skills and some extra healing options, as well as offensive skills designed to take down shadow and undead element monsters. It is a flexible class, capable of physical and magical offensive power as well as defensive or supportive capabilities.

This particular guide, however, is concerned with the full support Archbishop, an Archbishop whose stats and skills are centered solely around healing and buffing the party members. As a FS Archbishop, your job will be to keep the party alive to the best of your ability, to resurrect fallen party members when you fail, and to keep up the buffs that allow other, more offensive classes to do their jobs at their utmost. It’s a daunting job at times, but it is an important one.

Stats: If you’re reading an Archbishop guide, the chances are you already have a pretty good idea of what stats are and how they work. However, for those of you who are new to Ragnarok Online and are simply trying to plan ahead, here are a few pointers.

STR: Strength. The STR of a character affects their attack power and their carrying capacity. It’s not really important as a full support character, and so for such characters it usually functions as a dump stat.
AGI: Agility. The AGI of a character affects attack speed and Flee, making it useful as both an offensive and a defensive ability. It also helps reduce your chances of contracting Bleeding, which is one of the most annoying status affects in the game.
VIT: Vitality. A character’s VIT determines their soft defense and HP pools. While soft defense does not count for much in the face of the hard defense that armor grants, every little bit helps. Since VIT adds to your HP pool as well as defending against a host of bad status effects, it’s a very important stat to invest in.
INT: Intelligence. INT determines your magic attack, magic defense, and SP pool. INT is also used in the formula to determine how much your character heals and, like VIT and AGI, helps to defend against a few bad status effects. It is therefore of the utmost importance that you invest heavily in INT.
DEX: Dexterity. A character’s DEX affects their accuracy and their variable cast time–the higher your DEX, the higher your accuracy and the lower your variable cast time is. Accuracy matters very little to you as a FS AB–it’s the reduction to your variable cast time that’s important. It is fairly worthwhile to have a decent amount of DEX.
LUK: Luck. LUK affects your critical attack rate, your perfect dodge, and your magic attack power, as well as defending against bad status effects like Coma and Stone Curse. Your Crit has no bearing upon your effectiveness as a FS; however, having decent P.Dodge and a fair amount of bad status resistance increases your survivability, meaning you can keep on being an asset to your party rather than a detriment. LUK is therefore a good investment.

A more detailed write-up on Stats and how they affect you can be found here: http://irowiki.org/wiki/Stats
Always plan your stat build ahead! You can use the stat calculator here: http://calc.irowiki.org/

Skills: While there are a whole host of skills from Acolyte, Priest, and High Priest that you need to know about and have in your build in order to become a fully functional FS Archbishop, I’m going to focus solely on those skills you receive once you attain your third job class–or rather, I‘m going to focus on those skills important to FS Archbishops–since by the time you get to 3rd class you should already know and be comfortable with your previous incarnations. Besides, there is already a great guide to non-trans Priests on these very forums, and new players would do well to check it out first.

Ancilla: This skill creates an Ancilla, a stone that is used for the Epiclesis skill. Ancillas can also be used to restore 15% of your max SP; however, since you can only carry three Ancilla at a time, it’s better to save them for Epiclesis. Making an Ancilla consumes one Blue Gemstone.
Cantocandidus: This skill functions as a group Increase AGI buff, with the added benefit that at higher job levels you receive a stat bonus to the effect (for example, at job level 50 you receive an additional +5 AGI for the skill’s duration, on top of the AGI you’d normally get from Increase AGI 10).
Clearance: This skill has a chance (ranging from 68 – 100%) to remove a host of bad status effects from your party member–Blind, Frozen, various poisons (including Guillotine Cross poisons), and so forth and so on. Unfortunately, it also removes certain buffs from your party member (Gloomy Shyness, Saturday Night Fever).
Clementia: This is a group Blessing buff. Like Cantocandidus, you receive a +1 bonus to the stat increase every ten job levels.
Coluseo Heal: This is a group Heal skill. There is a 2.5% healing bonus added for each party member affected by the skill. Keep in mind that the skill’s radius is determined by the skill’s level; the lower the level you use, the closer you will have to be to your party members in order to catch them all in the skill’s radius.
Duple Light: This skill gives you a chance to deal an additional physical attack (with your weapon’s current element) or a neutral property magical attack with each non-skill melee attack you make. The skill is more useful to battle Archbishops, but level 5 Duple Light is required to get Sacrament, so if you plan on taking Sacrament at all you can’t skip out on Duple Light.
Epiclesis: Epiclesis is a very, very useful skill. First and foremost, it resurrects any and all fallen characters in its range (which is about 5×5 cells). It also increases your max HP for the duration of the skill (increase ranges from 5-25%) and increases your HP and SP regeneration rates. It takes one Ancilla AND one Holy Water to use Epiclesis. The skill functions as a panic button skill; if your party is facing annihilation, use Epiclesis to turn the tides in your favor! (NOTE: If any of your party mates are wearing Evil Druid [Undead] armor, then Epiclesis will not affect them.)
Eucharistica: This skill increases your attack power against Demons and your resistance to Shadow property attacks. While it certainly has party applications in many dungeons (like Geffenia), this skill is more beneficial to demon killer Archbishops and getting it at any level will require taking skill points away from other areas, so think carefully before adding it to your FS skill list.
Expiatio: Expiatio enables your (or your allies’) attacks to bypass a target’s defense by 5-25%. Level 1 is required to get Sacrament and even at this level it is very useful against tough monsters, so it is acceptable to get it at low levels rather than maxing it out.
High Heal: An upgrade to the Heal skill, High Heal heals the target for 2x – 3.2x the normal rate. This is affected by your INT, of course, so the higher your INT is the more healing output you can manage.
Lauda Agnus: This skill removes Crystallization, Blind, Burning, Freezing and Frozen, and Petrification status from a target with a 50 – 80% chance.
Lauda Ramus: This skill removes Deep Sleep, Howling of Mandragora, Silence, Sleep, and Stun from a target with the same success rate as Lauda Agnus.
Oratio: This skill reduces the Holy element resistance of all enemies on screen. While this obviously has more uses for undead killer Archbishops, level 5 is required if you plan on getting Sacrament at all.
Praefatio: This is a group Kyrie Elesion buff, with an additional 2% absorption effect. The effectiveness of this skill is not determined by your Kyrie Elesion level; the level of Praefatio itself is what determines how much damage/how many hits will be blocked.
Renovatio: This skill recovers 3% of your max HP every 5 seconds for the duration of the skill (90 seconds). In addition, it deals damage to undead monsters.
Sacrament: Sacrament decreases a target’s fixed casting time by 10 – 50% for the duration of the skill.
Silentium: This is an AoE Lex Divina debuff, inflicting Silence status on enemies in a 4 – 8 cell radius around you. It is extremely difficult to get both Silentium and Sacrament on the same skill build, therefore it is important to decide ahead of time which skill is more important to you BEFORE distributing your skill points!

It’s important to note that group buffs and heals are more SP intensive than their single-target counterparts. This means that it’s more difficult for your natural SP regen and the bonus SP regen from Magnificat to keep up with your SP consumption if you keep spamming them. Therefore, when soloing, duoing, or in parties of less than 6 members, it is more efficient to simply use their single-target equivalents. Do a head count before venturing forth and know whether or not you’ll be picking up extras along the way, and plan accordingly.

A more detailed write up on Archbishop skills can be found here: http://irowiki.org/wiki/Arch_Bishop
Always plan your skill build in advance! You can use the skill calculator here: http://irowiki.org/~…skill4/acb.html

BUILD: The full support build is rather straightforward. STR will always be low and INT, VIT, and LUK will always be higher. Why VIT, you ask? Well, VIT determines your survivability, granting you a higher HP pool and more resistance to certain bad statuses. It is of the utmost importance that you remain standing as long as possible in a bad situation, enabling you to heal party members that are in distress and revive party members who have already fallen. You will also need a fair amount of both DEX and AGI, in order to decrease your variable cast time and increase your Flee respectively. Higher Flee means you get hit less, meaning you have to heal yourself less, meaning you have more SP to heal and buff your party mates. Lower variable cast times mean you can get your buffs off faster in a tight situation.

Suggested final stats as Archbishop:
STR: 1
VIT: 95 (+5 at job level 50)
AGI: 96 (+4 at job level 50)
DEX: 55
INT: 92 (+8 at job level 50)
LUK: 100

This stat distribution is optimal for both survivability (which, remember, is important) and for support efficiency. The distribution of VIT, AGI, INT, and LUK will provide immunity to most bad status effects while providing a needed boost to HP/SP totals, healing, Flee, and P.Dodge; the 55 DEX will give you a decent reduction to your cast time (which will then be further reduced by Sacrament). As with any other class, there is some variance to be had. You can go for 120 INT and sacrifice points from LUK or AGI, but I recommend that you only do that if you are extremely familiar with the class and how it performs in a variety of situations, and feel comfortable in your ability to compensate for the lower status effect resistance. If you want to go that route, spend some time with the outlined stat build first and reset once you’ve gained some experience with the class. Another possibility is to go for a higher DEX to reduce your variable cast time more and just dump your remaining points into LUK. Personally, though, Coma scares the crap out of me and I’d rather have some protection against that and just deal with a longer cast time.

I have been informed that some Archbishops who focus solely on WoE do invest some points (20-30) into STR to help with the large quantity of specialized gear that they have to carry and switch around. If you wish to be a WoE-only Archbishop, then this is might be a worthwhile stat variance for you; I’d advise that you also invest some cash or Zeny into purchasing a Heavy Lifter Box to expand your carrying capacity, since in addition to your gear you’ll also have to carry your standard toolkit. So a WoE build that included STR would probably look a little like this:

STR: 20 – 30
VIT: 95 (+5 at job level 50)
AGI: 87 – 88 (+4 at job level 50)
DEX: 55 – 56
INT: 92 (+8 at job level 50)
LUK: 100

You would need to have a decent amount of VIT and LUK to resist Mandragora Howling, which would be a horrible skill for a FS Archbishop to be hit with. Therefore taking points from AGI would probably be your best bet; you could switch your AGI and DEX around so that you get a lower cast time, or take points from both of those stats in order to get 120 INT for increased healing capacity.

Skills
– Heal 10
– Increase AGI 10
– Blessing 10
– Angelus 4
– Cure
– Aqua Benedicta
– Ruwach
– Teleport 2
– Warp Portal 4
– Pneuma
– Divine Protection 5
– Holy Light
– Magnificat 5
– Lex Divina 5
– Lex Aeterna
– Sanctuary 7
– Increase SP Recovery 4
– Resurrection 4
– Status Recovery
– Imposito Manus 5
– Suffragium 3
– Aspersio 5
– Slow Poison 4
– Kyrie Elesion 5 or 10
– Safety Wall 10
– Gloria 5 (If Kyrie Elesion 5.)
– Assumptio 5
– Clementia 3
– Cantocandidus 3
– Praefatio 5
– Duple Light 5
– Oratio 5
– Expiatio 1
– Sacrament 5
– Ancilla
– Epiclesis 5
– Coluseo Heal 3
– Renovatio
– High Heal 5
– Lauda Agnus 2
– Lauda Ramus 2
– Clearance 3

The above skill build is one that includes Sacrament as opposed to Silentium; as I mentioned in the skill run-down previously, it’s difficult to include both into a single skill build. I personally think Sacrament 5 is more useful than any level of Silentium. If you want Silentium, you could probably make do with getting less Sacrament and letting the two more or less even out, but your potential party and guild mates will probably thank you for getting Sacrament 5 instead.

Lauda Agnus and Lauda Ramus are both useful in PvM and WoE situations not just as prerequisites for Clearance, but because they give stat buffs to “healthy” characters; Lauda Agnus boosts VIT for 60 seconds (+6 at level 2) and Lauda Raumus boosts LUK for 60 seconds (+6 at level 2). Clearance is used defensively to remove bad status effects and debuffs from your guild mates; it’s an upgraded version of Status Recovery.

If you’re worried about SP usage, taking Meditatio might solve your problems. You don’t need to max all the smaller Priest/High Priest buffs like Imposito Manus or Aspersio; you can leave these at the minimum level required for more important buffs like Assumptio and use the excess points to dump into Meditatio. It does help save on SP restorative items.

GEAR: Gear is more than just looking good. It’s important to have the right gear for the right situation in order to increase your survivability over the long term. This is a small sample of the gear you might find useful, broken down by type.

Headgear:
Some cards to consider for your headgear are Archangeling (Max HP +300, HP/SP Regen increased by 100% when base LUK is 77 or higher), Blue Acidus (Max SP +40, when the headgear is upgraded to +4 or less additional Max SP +40 and SP Regen +5%, best for slotted mid headgear), Carat (INT +2, when headgear is upgraded to +9 or higher Max SP +150), Isilla (INT +2, adds a 5% chance the user will gain Flee +30 and 50% reduction to variable cast time when dealing magical damage), Katherine Keyron (reduces variable cast time by 1% per upgrade level, when headgear is +9 or higher increases magic damage by 2%), and Ryncho (increases the effectiveness of Heal by 3%, increases SP cost of skills by 5%). For lower levels when you can’t easily obtain immunities to certain status effects via stats alone, status effect resistance cards are a good investment for slotted mid headgears. Cards such as Nightmare (AGI +1, immunity to Sleep status) and Ungoliant (HP Regen +10%, immunity to Bleeding) are an effective way to increase your survivability when you have gaps in your stat immunities. The better headgear cards are usually very expensive, so be prepared to spend a good chunk of zeny on getting a decent card for your slots.

– Benevolent Guardian [1]: Def 10, M.Def 0. The Benevolent Guardian [1] increases the received recovery rate of skills (such as Heal, High Heal, or Aid Potion) by 5% and increases the effectiveness of the wearer’s own healing skills by 2%. If you upgrade it to +7 or higher, your healing skills are boosted by an additional 5%. When equipped with the Healing Staff, your healing skills receive an effectiveness increase equal to 1% per refine level of the Healing Staff. When equipped with the Holy Stick [1], your healing skills are boosted by 3% per refine of the Holy Stick [1]. Slot: Upper and Mid.

– Black Devil’s Mask: 0 Def, 0 M.Def, all stats +2. Slot: Mid.

– Black Frame Glasses and Black Frame Glasses [1]: Def 2, M.Def 2, INT +1. Slot: Mid.

– Chibi Pope [1]: 0 Def, 7 M.Def. The Chibi Pope increases the effectiveness of healing skills by 5%; when worn with Blush or Blush [1], healing effectiveness is increased by an additional 10%. Healing is increased further when upgraded to +6. When upgraded to +9 or higher, M.Atk increases by 7%; if upgraded to +12 or higher, M.Atk increases an additional 5%. Slot: Upper.

– Crown of Deceit [1]: 3 Def, 10 M.Def, INT +4, reduces variable cast time by 10%. If the headgear is upgraded to +7, +2 Def, M.Atk +5%, reduces variable cast time by an additional 5%. If the headgear is upgraded to +9, +5 M.Def, additional M.Atk +5%, reduces the variable cast time of skills by an additional 5%, reduces skill delay by 5%. Slot: Upper and Mid.

– Donut in Mouth/Chocolate Donut: 1 Def, 0 M.Def, Max HP +100. Restores 1 HP to the user every 10 seconds. Slot: Lower.

– Dress Hat [1]: 3 Def, 7 M.Def, STR +1, INT +1, M.Atk +2%. Increases physical damage by 2% and the effectiveness of healing skills by 5%. If upgraded to +7 or higher, M.Atk +1% and healing skills +1%. Slot: Upper.

– Evolved Pipe: 0 Def, 0 M.Def, VIT +1. Reduces damage from Brute race monsters by 5%. Slot: Lower.

– Flapping Angel Wing: 3 Def, 0 M.Def, AGI +1, INT +1, A.Spd +3%, variable cast time reduced by 3%. Slot: Upper.

– Fricca’s Circlet: 6 Def, 10 M.Def, INT +2, Max SP +50. Slot: Upper.

– Holy Marching Hat [1]: 5 Def, 5 M.Def, INT +1, DEX +1. If refined to +7 or higher, Heal effectiveness increases by 5%; if upgraded to +9 or higher, M.Atk +5 and Heal effectiveness increases an additional 5%. Slot: Upper.

– Mitra [1]: 12 Def, 5 M.Def, INT +1, VIT +1. Increases the wearer’s healing skills by 5%. When base INT is 120, M.Atk +10. Granted as an award from the Archbishop class change quest. Slot: Upper.

– Sigrun’s Wings: 2 Def, 0 M.Def. When worn by Acolyte, Mage, and Ninja characters, INT +1. Slot: Mid.

– Takius Blindfold: 1 Def, 0 M.Def, INT +2. Slot: Mid.

– Umbala Spirit: 1 Def, 0 M.Def, Max HP +1%. Increases the recovery rate of Meat by 25%, grants a chance of Meat dropping when defeating a monster. Slot: Lower.

– Well-Chewed Pencil: 0 Def, 0 M.Def, DEX +2, Hit +2. Slot: Lower.

– Yggdrasil Crown: 6 Def, 0 M.Def, VIT +2, INT +2. Increases the wearer’s healing effectiveness by refine level +1%, increases the effectiveness of received healing skills and items by refine level +1%, and each upgrade over +7 increases the healing and recovery bonuses by 2%. Slot: Upper.

Note that this is by no means an exhaustive list of headgears available. I preferred to list headgears that had a direct effect on your Heal effectiveness or your cast time as opposed to every headgear in the game you could equip. There are other headgears in game that might be more appealing to you based on personal preference or situational need, and so it’s advisable that you check out the iRO Wiki Database for more options. http://db.irowiki.org/db/

Armor:
First, a note on armor and armor cards. You will find out very quickly (if you haven’t already, that is) that elemental effects play a part in just how much damage you take from a monster or group of monsters. While a monster’s normal attack is neutral property, many monsters use spells and other skills with specific elemental properties, the damage of which can be reduced by using armors of that elemental type. For example, an Anubis’ Dark Strike skill can be reduced by equipping an armor slotted with a Bathory card, which gives the armor the Shadow element. There are four armors that have their own elemental properties without cards: Aebeecee’s Raging Typhoon Armor (Wind), Claytos’ Cracking Earth Armor (Earth, of course), Lucius’ Fierce Armor of Volcano (Fire), and Saphien’s Armor of Ocean (Water). These four armors come in un-slotted and slotted varieties and can negate the need for hard to find elemental cards for those elements, but they tend to be a bit more expensive. Otherwise, it’s a good idea to get several armors with high defense that you can slot with cards that will give them an elemental property (I personally use Glittering Jackets, since they‘re cheap and can be worn by a variety of classes from non-trans level 60 all the way up to 3rd class 150). Those cards are: Bathory (Shadow), Pasana (Fire), Swordfish (Water), Dokebi (Wind), Angeling (Holy), Argiope (Poison), Evil Druid (Undead), Ghostring (Ghost), and Sandman (Earth). Argiope and Evil Druid are not really necessary to have in your collection; indeed, most people have no use for them, and I only list them for curiousity’s sake. In addition, it’s a good idea to get a Marc card (grants immunity to the Frozen status and +3% resistence to water property attacks) for WoE and those pesky non-3rd levels, when you can’t easily get full immunity to the Frozen status by stats alone. And now, a brief list of useful armors:

– Claire Suits [1]: 58 Def, 0 M.Def. A cheaper option for the frugal Archbishop.

– Diabolus Robe [1]: 57 Def, 5 M.Def, Max SP +150. Increases the effectiveness of the user’s healing skills by 6%, reduces skill delay by 10%. When worn with the Diabolus Ring, it increases the wearer’s physical and magical damage by 3%.

– Divine Cloth [1]: 50 Def, 0 M.Def. Increases the wearer’s resistance to Curse, Stone Curse, Stun, Sleep, and Silence by 5%. Useful at lower levels, before you can achieve immunity to these status effects with stats.

– Holy Robe and Holy Robe [1]: 57 Def, 5 M.Def. Reduces damage received from Demon race monsters by 15% and from Shadow element attacks by 10%. Since you’ll be spending a lot of time fighting Demons and Undead (or just monsters with Shadow property attacks) when you get stuck soloing, this is an attractive armor to have.

– Orleans Gown [1]: 15 Def, 0 M.Def. Increases variable cast time by 15%, but makes casting uninterruptible.

– Puente Robe [1]: 42 Def, 0 M.Def. Increases the recovery rate of skills and items by 5%, and reduces the cast time of skills by 3%.

Shield:
A note on shields. Shields are useful for FS Archbishops for the express purpose of increasing your survivability. Remember, you aren’t going to wade into the thick of battle and melee anything, so you don’t need to worry about having a high A.Spd. What you do have to worry about is standing an assault long enough to heal or perhaps even raise your tank or DPS. Though there are exceptions to every rule, it’s generally advisable to use slotted shields so that you can take advantage of cards that will reduce the damage you take from certain elements, races, or sizes of monsters. A good all-purpose card is the Hodremlin card, which reduces damage taken from Small, Medium, and Large monsters by 15% and adds a 0.3% chance that you gain +30 P.Dodge for 10 seconds. Cards that grant reductions to only one size or race typically offer a higher reduction rate, usually around 20%, so if you’re going to a dungeon or field with only one race or size of monster it’s a good idea to bring along a more specialized shield. A short list of useful shields is as follows:

– Bible of Promise (1st Volume) [1]/Bible of Promise (2nd Volume): 10 Def, 0 M.Def, enables the use of Odin’s Power. Depending on what version of the BoP [1] you use, Odin’s Power will grant either +70 Atk/M.Atk or +100 Atk/M.Atk.

– Exorcism Bible: 80 Def, 0 M.Def, HP Regen and SP Regen +3%. When equipped with Holy Stick [1], increases the damage inflicted by the user’s Magnus Exorcismus by 20% and adds a 2% chance of casting Turn Undead level 1 when physically attacked. This is, of course, more useful to a ME Archbishop, but FS Archbishops can get plenty of use out of its HP/SP Regen bonus and high Def.

– Immune Shield [1]: 55 Def, 0 M.Def. When upgraded to +5 or higher, provides resistance to neutral property attacks by 1% per refine level, up to +12.

– Orleans Server [1]: 75 Def, 2 M.Def. Grants a 5% chance of reflecting magical damage, and when worn with Orleans Glove [1] reduces the variable cast time of skills by 10%.

– Valkyrja’s Shield [1]: 80 Def, 5 M.Def. Reduces damage received from Fire, Water, Shadow, and Undead element attacks by 20%. Frankly, this is one of the best shields in the game, if not the best.

Garments:
I should note that, while there are many garment cards that would be useful for specific situations, the one card that is useful in a wide variety of circumstances is the Raydric card, which grants 20% resistance to neutral property attacks. This means that the normal attacks of monsters (and the non-elemental attacks of players) will hit you for 20% less damage. That’s a -lot- of damage you won’t be taking. Richer players can spring for a Deviling card, which grants 50% resistance to neutral property attacks but has the downside of increasing damage taken from all other elements by 50%. Players of limited means can opt for a Noxious card, which reduces Neutral property damage by 10% and ranged damage by 10%. Now, on to some useful garments:

– Archangel Wing [1]: 18 Def, 0 M.Def. Can be enchanted at Malangdo Island.

– Diabolus Manteau [1]: 15 Def, 0 M.Def, Max HP +100. Reduces damage from neutral property attacks by 5%, increases physical damage dealt to Satan Morroc by 10%. When worn with Diabolus Boots [1], max HP +6%.

– Fallen Angel Wing: 18 Def, 18 M.Def, LUK +2. Reduces magical damage taken from Demihuman race monsters by 10%.

– Heavenly Maiden Robe [1]: 18 Def, 0 M.Def.

– Heroic Backpack [1]: 20 Def, 0 M.Def. Enables the use of Greed level 1 and grants a whole host of benefits that I just can’t be assed to list. Check it out here: http://db.irowiki.or…item-info/2576/

– Muffler [1]: 8 Def, 0 M.Def.

– Musika [1]: 10 Def, 3 M.Def. Enables a 2% chance of auto-casting Heal (at the wearer’s current level) on the wearer when physically attacked.

– Nidhoggur’s Shadow Garb [1]: 25 Def, 3 M.Def. Reduces damage received from all elements by 7%, increases the wearer’s SP by ((Base level / 3) + (Refine level x 10)), and grants a 1% chance to restore 1% of the damage you deal as SP. That last part isn’t very important for FS Archbishops, but all the rest of it is, making this one of the better garments you can equip.

Footgear:
– Diabolus Boots [1]: 15 Def, 0 M.Def. Grants the wearer +10 HP for every base level.

– High Fashion Sandals [1]: 7 Def, 10 M.Def.

– Variant Shoes: 13 Def, 0 M.Def, Max HP and Max SP +20%. Each upgrade to the Variant Shoes decreases the HP/SP bonus by 1%, but every two upgrades grants an additional +1 Def. Most people don’t bother upgrading them at all.

– Vital Tree Shoes: 16 Def, 3 M.Def, Max HP +10% and HP Regen +5%. Restores 30 HP to the wearer every 10 seconds, and increases the recovery effectiveness of items and skills by 5%.

Accessories:
Some cards to consider for your accessories are Kafra Blossom (reduces damage from fire, water, wind, earth, holy, and shadow elements by 10%, adds 2% chance to reduce damage from those elements by an additional 10% for 10 seconds), Muka (HP Regen +10%), Phen (prevents skill casting from being interrupted, increases cast time of all skills by 25%), Spore (VIT +2), Worm tail (DEX +2), Yoyo (AGI +1, P.Dodge +5), and Zerom (DEX +3). Now, on to accessories:

– Angelic Ring: 0 Def, 2 M.Def, adds a chance of increasing healing effectiveness by 20% for 3 seconds when casting Heal, Sanctuary, or Aid Potion.

– Bangungot Agimat Tattoo: 0 Def, 0 M.Def. Increases the effectiveness of the wearer’s healing by 4%, increases the effectiveness of received healing by 7%.

– Black Rosary [1]: 0 Def, 15 M.Def.

– Bradium Earring [1]: 0 Def, 0 M.Def, INT +1, DEX +1, M.Atk +2%.

– Buwaya Agimat Tattoo: 0 Def, 0 M.Def, M.Atk +7%, decreases fixed cast time by 7%.

– Cat Hand Glove [1]: 5 Def, 0 M.Def. AGI, VIT, DEX, LUK +1. Great for a Phen, Spore, Wormtail, or Zerom card.

– Clip [1]: 0 Def, 0 M.Def, SP +10. When worn with the Spiritual Ring, SP Regen +9%, Magnus Exorcismus damage increased by 30%, Heal and Sanctuary damage increased by 50%. Great for Heal bombing.

– Diabolus Ring [1]: 0 Def, 0 M.Def, HP +100, SP +100. Increases physical damage against Satan Morroc by 10%, increases resistance to Frozen status by 15%, increases effectiveness of the wearer’s healing power by 5%. When worn with Diabolus Robe [1], increases physical and magical damage by 3%.

– Earring and Earring [1]: 0 Def, 0 M.Def. INT +2 for Earring, INT +1 for Earring [1].

– Eye of Dullahan: 0 Def, 0 M.Def. Reduces damage from Demon and Undead races by 4%, grants immunity to Poison status.

– Glorious Ring: 0 Def, 0 M.Def, Max HP +300, A.Spd +5%. Reduces variable cast time of skills by 3%, reduces damage from Fire, Water, Wind, and Earth property by 10%, increases the effectiveness of the wearer’s healing by 5%. When worn with the Medal of Honor (Acolyte), increases physical damage by 5% and magical damage by 3%, and increases the effectiveness of the wearer’s healing skills by an additional 5%. Obtained via KvM Battleground for 1200 points. Account bound.

– Medal of Honor (Acolyte): 1 Def, 6 M.Def, Max HP +600. Increases physical and magical damage by 5%, grants a 1% damage of inflicting Silence on the target when doing physical melee attacks. When worn with the Glorious Ring, increases physical damage by 5% and magical damage by 3%, and increases the effectiveness of the wearer’s healing skills by an additional 5%. Obtained from Tierra Gorge or Falvius Battlegrounds for either 500 Bravery or 500 Valor points. Account bound. Useful primarily for its combination with the Glorious Ring.

– Light of Cure: 0 Def, 0 M.Def, VIT +2. Increases the effectiveness of the wearer’s healing skills by 2%. This can be enchanted in Mora with Cure Lv. 1, an effect that decreases the skill delay of High Heal by 3 seconds.

– Nile Rose [1]: 0 Def, 0 M.Def, HP +10. This can be quested for once per character, essentially getting it for free with some bonus EXP attached.

– Orleans Glove [1]: 0 Def, 0 M.Def, DEX +2. Increases magic damage by 3%. When worn with Orleans Server [1], reduces variable cast time by 10%. Great for a Phen, Wormtail, or Zerom card.

– Ring of Archbishop: 0 Def, 0 M.Def, DEX +2. Increases the effectiveness of the wearer’s healing skills by 2%. This can be enchanted in Mora with Archbishop Lv. 1, which increases the wearer’s healing effectiveness by 3%.

– Rosary and Rosary [1]: 0 Def, 5 M.Def, LUK +2 (Rosary); 0 Def, 3 M.Def, LUK +1 (Rosary [1]). When worn with the Spiritual Ring, SP Regen +9%, Magnus Exorcismus damage increased by 30%, Heal and Sanctuary damage increased by 50%. Great for Heal bombing.

– Seal of Cathedral: 0 Def, 0 M.Def, INT +2. Increases the effectiveness of the wearer’s healing skills by 2%. This can be enchanted in Mora with Catholic Lv. 1, which decreases the SP cost of Coluseo Heal by 30.

– Spiritual Ring: 0 Def, 0 M.Def, INT +2, DEX +1. When worn with Clip [1] or Rosary/Rosary [1], SP Regen +9%, Magnus Exorcismus damage increased by 30%, Heal and Sanctuary damage increased by 50%. Great for Heal bombing.

– Vesper Core 01: 1 Def, 3 M.Def, INT +2, Max SP +5%.

– Waterdrop Brooch [1]: 0 Def, 2 M.Def, Max HP +1%. Reduces damage taken from Water element attacks by 5%. Excellent choice for a Kafra Blossom card.

Weapons:
– Arc Wand [1] and Arc Wand [2]: 60 Atk, 95 M.Atk, INT +3. One-handed staff.

– Croce Staff [1]: 30 Atk, 175 M.Atk, INT +4. Adds a chance of auto-casting Blessing at the user’s current level on the target when Heal is used. One-handed staff.

– Glorious Cure Wand: 70 Atk, 135 M.Atk. Reduces skill delay by 10%, increases the effectiveness of the weilder’s healing by 14%. When upgraded to +6, healing effectiveness increased by an additional 5%, bypasses the M.Def of Demihuman monsters by 5%, and grants Bless Lv. 1, which increases healing bonus by (upgrade – 5) x 2, til an upgrade of +14. At +9, adds a 10% chance of auto-casting Heal Lv. 10 on the target when Heal is cast. At +10, the healing effectiveness of the weilder is increased an additional 10%. Obtained via KvM Battleground for 2000 points. One-handed staff. Account bound.

– Healing Staff: 10 Atk, 105 M.Atk, each upgrade increases the effectiveness of the user’s Heal and Sanctuary skills by 1.5%. When worn with the Benevolent Guardian [1], increases the effectiveness of the user’s healing skills by an additional 1% per upgrade level of the staff. One-handed staff.

– Holy Stick [1]: 50 Atk, 140 M.Atk. Reduces the cast time for Holy Light, Turn Undead, and Magnus Exorcismus by 25%. When worn with Exorcism Bible, adds 2% chance of using Turn Undead Lv. 1 when physically attacked, increases damage inflicted by Magnus Exorcismus by 20%. When worn with Benevolent Guardian [1], increases the effectiveness of the user’s healing skills by an additional 3% per upgrade level of the Holy Stick [1]. While this is more useful overall for ME Archbishops, the set with the Benevolent Guardian [1] is worthwhile for FS Archbishops. Can be enchanted at Malangdo Island.

– Laphine Staff: 30 Atk, 180 M.Atk. Each upgrade reduces the fixed cast time of skills by 1%. One-handed staff.

– Recovery Light [1]: 30 Atk, 160 M.Atk. Increases the effectiveness of the weilder’s healing skills at the cost of increasing SP consumption per upgrade level. One-handed staff.

– Speedy Recovery Wand: 70 Atk, 125 M.Atk, INT +3, DEX +2. Reduces skill delay by 15%, restores 5 SP to the weilder every 10 seconds. Obtained via Flavius Battleground for 100 Valor points. One-handed staff. Account bound.

– Strong Recovery Wand: 70 Atk, 125 M.Atk. Increases the effectiveness of the weilder’s healing skills by 14%, restores 5 SP to the user every 10 seconds. Obtained via Tierra Gorge Battleground for 100 Bravery points. One-handed staff. Account bound.

– Wand of Affection: 30 Atk, 160 M.Atk, INT +2. Increases the effectiveness of the weilder’s healing skills by 10%. Can be enchanted in Mora. One-handed staff.

– Dea Staff [1]: 30 Atk, 220 M.Atk, INT +6, VIT +2. Adds a small chance of restoring 220 SP to the user when casting Heal. Each upgrade increases magic damage by 1%. Two-handed staff. Can be enchanted at Malangdo Island.

GEAR SETS
– Morpheus Set: Morpheus Hood (3 Def, 0 M.Def, INT +2), Morpheus’ Shawl (8 Def, 3 M.Def, Max SP +10%), Morpheus’ Bracelet (0 Def, 0 M.Def, INT +1, Max SP +5%), and Morpheus’ Ring (0 Def, 0 M.Def, INT +1, Max SP +5%). When assembled, it grants INT +5, M.Def +11, Max SP +20%. Increases the variable cast time of skills by 25%, but makes skills uninterruptible.

– Valkyrie Set: Valkyrie Helm [1] (10 Def, 5 M.Def), Valkyrian Armor [1] (55 Def, 0 M.Def, All stats +1; when worn by Acolyte class characters, resistance to Silence status +50%), Valkyrian Shoes [1] (13 Def, 0 M.Def; when worn by Acolyte class characters, Max HP +5 per base level), Valkyrian Manteau [1] (10 Def, 0 M.Def; when worn by Acolytes, P.Dodge +5, additional P.Dodge +2 per upgrade level up to an upgrade of +10). Set grants all stats +1. Heavy and prohibitively expensive, but a nice option for wealthier players.

– WoE Set: WoE Robe [1] (40 Def, 0 M.Def. Stats during WoE/PvP: +20 M.Def, reduces damage from players by 2%. When upgraded to +6 or higher, Flee +5, reduces ranged damage from players by 15%. When upgraded to +9 or higher, MaxHP + 1000 and MaxSP + 100), WoE Shoes [1] (15 Def, 0 M.Def. Stats during WoE/PvP: +10 M.Def, reduces damage from players by 1%), WoE Muffler [1] (15 Def, 0 M.Def. Status during WoE/PvP: +10 M.Def, reduces damage from players by 1%). When assembled, grants INT +5, +10 M.Def, reduces damage from players by an additional 15%.

THE FULL SUPPORT TOOLKIT:
A FS Archbishop has certain materials that they will need to maintain peak performance. This is a list of must-have items to carry with you on all your adventures:
– Blue Gemstones (At least 150.)
– Holy Water (At least 20; 50 is better.)
– Ancilla (As Archbishop; max 3.)
– SP restorative items. (Blue Potions are your standard restorative items for Archbishop in PvM environments, though if you’re strapped for cash you can also opt for Strawberries. For MvPing or WoE, you will need stronger restorative items like Vitata500, Yggdrasil Berry, or Yggdrasil Seed; these items restore much more of your SP at a time [and Vitata500 increases your SP recovery for a period of time], so it’s not necessary to spam them.)
– Green Potions or Panacea (Useful until you get Clearance.)
– OPTIONAL: VIT, INT, and DEX-boosting food items.

Mid and High TI as an Archbishop:
You’ll be doing much of the same as an Archbishop as you were as a Priest and High Priest: healing and buffing. The difference now is that you have a lot more buffs to choose from, some of which are AoE as opposed to single-target. While it may be tempting to simply spam these AoE heals and buffs, there is one important thing to remember–these skills are hell on your SP. They have a higher total SP cost, meaning that using them for only two or three people is an unnecessary drain on your SP compared to their single-target equivalents. Only use AoE buffs like Cantocandidus and Clementia in parties of six or more; only use Coluseo Heal if more than four or five of your party members need healing at one time. For smaller parties, Heal, Blessing, and Increase AGI are fine on their own, and you’re going to be able to conserve your SP and Blue Potions (and thus your wallet!) a lot more.

When the chips are down and you’re facing a TPK, use Epiclesis to turn the tides of battle in your favor! Make sure you keep a stock of Ancilla and Holy Water for just such an occasion.

Don’t want to bother with high level TI parties? Partner up!
TI parties can sometimes be frustrating affairs. Rather than putting up with all that hassle, you can instead find a dedicated leveling partner and duo your way to success! It will give you more opportunity to get used to your class before you get tossed into the deep waters of big parties, so you’re more likely to swim than you are to sink. It will also give you a chance to earn a bit of Zeny and acts as a sanity-saver when you get tired of the constant Gramps Grind. What you level on will more or less be dictated by your partner’s level and gears; your role is the same as it has always been, to heal and buff. If you partner with a squishier class (Wanderers/Maestros, Rangers, or Warlocks) then you can add tanking to your list of responsibilities. If such is the case then you want to invest in gear with high Def values, preferably with HP boosting bonuses. A Phen (or the Morpheus set) is a must in such a situation because you will have to heal and buff while taking damage and thus can not afford to have your casts interrupted.

Can I MvP with this class?
Answer: Yes! In fact the tougher, end game MvPs would be rather difficult to kill without the assistance of a good support Archbishop. You will have to tailor your gear to each individual MvP in order to ensure your survivability. It’s also a good idea to spend a little bit of cash buying Tokens of Siegfried and Life Insurance if you plan on MvPing on a regular basis; there will be times when you drop, in spite of your best laid plans and gear, and it’s good to have a back up plan so that you don’t end up having to rely upon your party mates to drop a Yggdrasil Leaf on you. Let’s face it, if times are desperate, they may not be able to.

What about PvP/WoE?
Yes, but if you plan on being a fixture in the PvP/WoE scene, then you should invest in Demihuman reduction gears. Things like a Thara Frog carded shield and a Feather Beret or Cat Ear Beret are a must for PvP/WoE. It would also be of benefit to you to invest in the WoE gear set mentioned above. In the outset of WoE you will most likely be fetching castle warps and buffing attackers on their way out; once your guild has started up a precast in a castle, however, it’s back to business as usual.

How do I earn Zeny as a FS Archbishop?
Er, well, it’s not really an efficient farming class. You can earn a little scratch by Heal bombing or spamming Holy Light, and you can earn even more by splitting loots that you pick up while leveling with a partner or party. However, you’re better off making Thief class and Merchant class alts if you want to acquire currency. A Thief class character has access to Steal, which allows you to gain more loot (and Rogues have access to Mug, which can net a little extra Zeny); Merchants have access to Overcharge, which you can use to sell vendor trash to NPCs at a 24% price increase, as well as Vend, a skill that allows you to set up a shop to sell better items directly to other players at higher prices.

That’s about it. I hope that this guide has been helpful to you, and that you have a lot of fun playing as the much-valued party support in the future. Happy hunting!