[Eru]

Disclaimers:
1. Im only lvl51, so my opinions may change later but right now I dont see how.
2. I would define my game-play style as casual and completely void of caring about pvp.
3. If you use CS items, this is all moot as CS makes many things possible/different.

People are generally concerned with 4 styles of cleric builds:
1. A PvP build
2. The Soloing Cleric
3. The Cleric-tank (Clank)
4. The Party/Support Cleric

#1 – The PvP build
As I mentioned, I dont PVP (as I think its pointless in Fiesta) so if that is what *you* like to do, then read up on ppls opinions on what a good pvp build is

#2 - The soloing cleric
Question: "What is the best cleric build to solo?"
Answer: "There is none because cleric soloing is pointless."

Reasoning:
There are only 4 reasons I can think of for soloing as a cleric:
1. You like casting heal on yourself while *slowly* dealing *low* amounts of damage.
well...uhm...good job?...keep doing what youre doing I guess

2. You hate people
Why are you playing and mmorpg? Go buy a console and help reduce the lag on Fiesta's servers

3. People hate you
-> This only happens if u suck consistently as a cleric...and I mean in some legendary fashion. You have to be in a lot of parties and/or KQs and be *really* bad an awful lot before a cleric has a problem finding a party.
-> For info on how to suck as a cleric, search All the Rage for 'kq cleric'
-> Also, it's possible you might just be a jerk, in which case u may have the same problem in real life

4. You want all the exp from your kills
-> Basically as a cleric your damage dealt is horrendous compared to every. other. class. Even with Bash and Trip maxed you wont be able to do comparable damage over time.
-> With even a non-aoe fighter duo you can kill mobs more than twice as fast as u could solo. So while you dont get full exp for each kill, you will kill much faster over time, and therefore get more exp.
-> Of course, this means you have to be in an area where mob-spawn is conducive to this, and be in a pty with someone who doesnt just sit around and knows how to play their class.

#3 - The Cleric-tank (Clank)
Question: "What is the best cleric build for a cleric tank?"
Answer: "None. Clerics shouldnt tank unless a warrior-tank isnt around, in which case a support build will do well enough in a crunch."

Reasoning:
Im assuming you want to be a Clank because of one or more of the following:
1. You like tanking mobs
ok...there is this other class called "w a r r i o r". They are designed to have the best hp and def in the game. You like to tank? You should play as a warrior.

2. You think it's cheaper to tank as a cleric
-> Clerics have the second best hp/def in the game, plus they can heal themselves. This means that they *can* tank if they have to (kinda).
-> A *good* tank must be able to hold agro effectively and simply put, clerics just cant do that. So sure, it may be cheaper to run in and Bash mobs (slowly) and spam-heal yourself
-> Inevitably you will loose agro, then your squishees will become squished.

3. You like being the hero
If you are spam-healing yourself guess who you are *not* healing? Thats right...your party. It's not that heroic to just revive ppl when you let them die.

#4 - The Party/Support Cleric
Question: "What is the best build for a party/support cleric?"
Answer: There are two effective builds for support clerics:

Reasoning:
1. Full END
-> You get every drop of the blockrate free stat END bonus and you will have a good amount of HP.
-> You will lose the crit. rate bonus, which does come in handy when you do need it, and you only get the Divinity increase to you SP pool whereas some SPR boost to SP can be nice.

2. SPR/END hybrid (usually 25spr/rest end)
-> You get the crit. rate free stat SPR bonus & the blockrate free stat END bonus, plus an increase to both HP and SP
-> Some stop SPR at +25 because after that the rate of crit. rate bonus is halved (it would take 10 more points to gain an extra 1%). Also because of the Divinity SP boost, there is little reason to use build-points to increase SP pool instead of HP pool.
-> After +25 SPR, just dump the rest of the build points into END, therefore at a higher lvl you will be mostly an END build, with a 5% crit. rate bonus and a slight increase in your SP.
-> Another option is to continue to add points to SPR in addition to END at perhaps a 1:1 or 1:2 ratio. It doesn’t really make sense to do this unless you are willing to commit 10 point chuncks to SPR in this fashion
-> Keep in mind that each point into SPR means that much less HP and blockrate bonus, and an alive cleric is a useful cleric whereas a cleric with 10zillion SP is no good lying face down on the ground

3. Full SPR (ineffective support build)
-> While this adds a lot of SP to your pool, you don’t need a full SPR boost to SP coz clerics have the passive skill Divinity that greatly increases SP.
-> Full SPR is a poor support build for 1 major reason. You can’t take a beating. By going *full* SPR you loose the awesome blockrate from the free stat END bonus, and you loose the increase to your HP pool.
-> If you are freaking out because you are about to die and you are to busy spamming HP stones and pots then you are likely to busy to heal your party members. (u should generally use HP pots/stones to heal yourself and cast heal on your party)

Other thoughts:
DEX is a useful stat for clerics who may want to occasionally hit something with their hammers. But you should just look for DEX on equipment for this, and not waste free stat points on DEX. Also Aim (power) scrolls help a lot, and are rather inexpensive, especially if you produce them yourself

Gear stats for END/SPR dont add to blockrate/crit. rate, just HP/SP pools.

Mace vs. Hammer? Well, I think if I did the math right, hammers win out for damage per second, even after lvl40, but yes, you need dex gear and aim scrolls. Again tho, you just don’t attack that much as a support cleric, so imo, it doesn’t really matter, but I guess it's better to have a hammer for when you do need it.

If you get bored:
If you find yourself with a support cleric and no one to party with (and #3 from “soloing cleric” does not apply), then you may become bored, or hate grinding after a while.
I recommend you find things to do when this happens like:
1. buff/heal/pty newbies (for mara, skel king, etc…)
2. start an alt with a new class (increase your in-game knowledge)
3. work on your production skills
4. farm herbs/mushrooms/wood/starfish/clams/etc…
5. dance…in a pvp area
6. do something besides play Fiesta (go outside, wash a hamster, play a different game, dry a hamster)