---  Legal Stuff ---

Copyright 2006 Eric Rene de Cotret.

This may be not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, 
private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed 
publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other 
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violation of copyright.

All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their 
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--- Table of Contents ---

0) Version History (s7js6)
1) Introduction (g9da4)
2) General Cleric Guide (d5fi8)
3) Stats (h2su9)
4) Skills (b4ag4)
5) Training (a6fh8)
6) Frequently Asked Questions (b2gd8)
7) Finishing Stuff (j8xb5)

--- Version History (s7js6) ---

6/18/2006, Version 1.00: The first version of the FAQ has been completed. There
will likely be several revisions coming up shortly, as mistakes are fixed.

6/19/2006, Version 1.10: Made a few minor fixes, made the Skills section much
more in depth, added the Frequently Asked Questions section, and generally made
the FAQ more complete.

--- Introduction (g9da4) ---

This is a guide for the Cleric class of the game Maple Story. This guide also
goes over the Magician class, and the Priest class, which are the first job, 
and the third job for Clerics, respectively.

The guide covers the issues of where to train, what stats and skills to place
points into, what equipment to buy and how to scroll it, as well as some other
issues that new players creating a Cleric may need to know.

The reason I created this guide is that there is only one other, and it gives 
some advice that has generally been accepted by the community of Maple Story to
be incorrect, or invalid. This guide will attempt to remedy this problem. Also,
the other guide has not been updated in a very long while, and so this guide 
will provide information involving the latest updates, and how it affects the 
Cleric class. 

First will come the general Cleric guide, which will explain basically
everything you will need to know to succeed as a Cleric. If this is your first
Maple Story character, the general Cleric guide is the recommended part of this
FAQ to use.

After the general Cleric guide come the specific sections on Stats, Skills, and
other things you may need to know as a Cleric. If you are an experienced Maple
Story player, and just need to know one specific thing, these sections will 
likely help you more than the general guide.

If you are looking for something specific, it is recommended that you go back
to the Table of Contents and use Ctrl-F with the code next to the section you
are interested in. With all that said, let us get on to the guide.

--- General Cleric Guide (d5fi8) ---

Alright, just before you create your character is the dice rolling step. This
has the potential to be incredibly quick and easy, or incredibly long and hard.
On the right side of the screen, your stats will appear as follows.

Str: #
Dex: #
Int: #
Luk: #

You want to roll the dice so that the numbers appear as follows.

Regular Luk Cleric

Str: 4
Dex: 4
Int: X
Luk: Y

Lukless Cleric

Str: 4
Dex: 4
Int: 13
Luk: 4

These will maximize your damage. It is not recommended that you create a 
Lukless Cleric, as the rewards for the effort are minimal. The math behind this
statement can be found in the "Stats" section of the guide, if you are curious
as to why I believe this.

Now that you have rolled your stats, it is time to decide on your name, and 
appearance, and then create your character.

After your character is created, he or she will appear on Maple Island. Maple
Island is not a difficult place to deal with, even for first time players, so 
simply do every quest available and you should be level 8 when you head on over
to Victoria Island. Make sure that your Luk is equal to your level + 3, and the
rest of your points are placed in your Int stat.

In Lith, cough up the 100ish mesos to get transported to Ellinia. Climb to the
top of the map and talk to Grendel/Hines to become a magician. Buy your level 8
equipment, place your skill point into Energy Bolt, and get on your way over to
the Slime Tree. You get a new set of equipment in 5 level intervals, so you can
remember to upgrade yourself, without me reminding you.

As you level, place 5 points into Improved MP Recovery, and then max Improving 
Max MP. After that, max Magic Claw, and when it is maxed, train on Horny
Shrooms until 25, maybe 24, when you start PQing. Some people say that PQing is
bad experience, as it takes too much effort to get in. These people are either
not good at rushing/tracking, or they are on Scania, of which I have no
knowledge.

Anyways, at level 24, start maxing Magic Guard, which will be a necessary skill
for survival in higher levels. At level 25, purchase a bamboo hat, and instead
of having your Luk at level + 3, simply keep it equal to your level. You will
be keeping this hat for a long while, so don't purchase a new one unless it has
a bonus of +3 Int or greater, in which case, put your Luk back to your level +
3.

By level 30, your skills should be like the following.

Energy Bolt: 1
Magic Claw: 20
Improving Max MP Increase: 10
Improving MP Recovery: 16
Magic Guard: 20

Your stats should look like the following, ignoring modifiers from equipment.

Str: 4
Dex: 4
Int: 132
Luk: 30

You are level 30, and it is now time for your second job advancement. Return to
Ellinia and talk to Grendel/Hines to get your task. Climb to the very top of 
The Forest North of Ellinia, and speak to the job instructor there to begin the
advancement quest. Once you have completed it, return to Grendel/Hines, become
a Cleric and place your first point into teleport.

Now that you have a point in teleport, you should be leading every single PQ,
and be able to rush fairly consistently. When you have hit level 31, place a
point into MP Eater, start maxing heal, and head on over to Ant Tunnel 4, where
you should train, going up and down the map, until level 35.

Now, at level 35, you have a choice. You can go the easy route, and PQ, get
reasonable money from it, as well as exp. The alternative is staying at Ant
Tunnel for just a few more levels, before you head on to Jr Wraiths around 38.

Once you have maxed heal, you then get to pick your next skill. I recommend
Bless, if you are going to PQ, or party. Otherwise, go for MP Eater. While Holy
Arrow is an option, it is a bad one. If you must get it though, eliminate MP 
Eater, as Bless, Invincible, and Teleport are necessary to max. The order
after this doesn't really matter, although Invincible should be left until the
end.

Once heal is maxed, you can move on to Zombie Lupins. Levels 43-45 are the best
times to move, though. If you are PQing, then keep at it for a while longer.

Upon hitting 51, your option to PQ has been taken away from you. You must have
been getting tired of it by now anyways. You should have scrolled a decent 
Cromi, and as such, now would be a good time to go to Wraiths.

At level 60, Zombies now become an option for you. These may involve frequent
KS wars depending on your server, so you may wish to wait until you level a few
more times, although it is really up to you. You'll be here for fifteen or so
levels, so get used to the constant KSing and having to spend ages searching
for a map.

Level 70. Your skills should look like the following.

Energy Bolt: 1
Magic Claw: 20
Improving Max MP Increase: 10
Improving MP Recovery: 16
Magic Guard: 20

MP Eater: 20
Teleport: 20
Heal: 30
Invincible: 20
Bless: 20
Holy Arrow: 11

Your stats should look similar to the following, allowing a bit of variation,
based on whether you are factoring in your equipment for your luk or not.

Str: 4
Dex: 4
Int: 289
Luk: 73

After you have completed the advancment test, and become a priest, you have a
bit of a dilemma. What skill will you get first? Holy Symbol, or Shining Ray?
If you can find a party, Holy Symbol is definitely the better option. This is
why I recommended getting Bless, so that warriors will be interested in
training with you. If you can't always find a party, you may want to consider
Shining Ray, but I still recommend to get Holy Symbol first. Place your first
skill point into Dispel, and away you go back to Zombies until level 76. Place
two more points into Dispel, one into Magic Door, and then put the rest into
Holy Symbol.

At level 76, Holy Symbol now gives a 30% boost to experience per kill. It is
time to find yourself a good few dragon knights, as well as other third job
players. You'll be training with them from now on, so where you train really
depends on the person or people you are training with. Due to the way Priests
train, this guide can't really tell you what to do from now on. Finish maxing
Holy Symbol, then max Shining Ray, Magic Dragon, Element Resistance,
and then dump the remainder of the points into Doom and Dispel.

--- Stats (h2su9) ---

Stats in this game are incredibly simple to figure out. As a magician, you want
to have LUK three above your level, INT as high as possible, STR at four, and
DEX at four.

Was that really so difficult? No, but that isn't all.

There is a debate that has been going on for centuries, LUKless vs Regular LUK.
My friend from the GameFAQs Maple Story boards, Lord Grahf, has gone over this
issue already, and kindly given me permission to include his calculations in my
FAQ.



"Level 85 with Kage:

STR: 4
DEX: 4
INT: 359
LUK: 83

With average equips and an average scrolled Kage (+4 60%), you would get these
increases:

+4 INT KAGE (108 MATK)
+5 INT SERAPHIS
+6 INT, +2 LUK DARK ENIGMA OVERALL
+4 INT, +1 LUK DARK ENIGMA SHOES
+4 INT, +2 LUK DARK CLARITY GLOVES
+5 INT CAPE
+5 MATK EARRINGS.

Total, +113Matk, +28 INT, +5 LUK.

So after increases:

STR: 4
DEX: 4
INT: 387
LUK: 88

Matk 500, 88 Luk.

Minimum Damage: 1406
Maximum Damage: 2344

Level 85 with Yellow Umbrella:

STR: 4
DEX: 4
INT: 437
LUK: 5

Average equips (Remember, I only figured up average equips for the luk mage
too):

YELLOW UMBRELLA (52 MATK)
+1 INT BLACK BANDANA
+0 INT SAUNA ROBE
+0 INT SHOES
+0 INT GLOVES
+5 INT CAPE
+5 MATK EARRINGS.
Total +57Matk, +6 INT

After increases:

STR: 4
DEX: 4
INT: 443
LUK: 5

Matk 500, 5 Luk.

Minimum Damage: 1337
Maximum Damage: 2229

Level 85 with Black Umbrella:

STR: 4
DEX: 4
INT: 437
LUK: 5

Average equips:

BLACK UMBRELLA (85 MATK)
+1 INT BLACK BANDANA
+0 INT SAUNA ROBE
+0 INT SHOES
+0 INT GLOVES
+2 STR, +2 DEX, +1 LUK CAPE (to use Black Umbrella)
+5 MATK EARRINGS.
Total +90Matk, +1 INT, +1 LUK, +2 STR, +2 DEX.

Stats:

STR: 6
DEX: 6
INT: 438
LUK: 6

Matk 528, 6 Luk.

Minimum Damage: 1413
Maximum Damage: 2355" ~ Lord Grahf's calculations on LUKless mages.



Now, what does this mean? It means that in the end, with the current equipment
available to GMSers, a LUK mage will have a higher minimum and maximum damage.
If the black umbrella becomes available to us, LUKless priests will have an
incredibly small advantage over LUK priests, but will run the risk of not
being able to use booster, if priests get it in fourth job. It has been agreed
on by many that the risk is not worth the insignificant reward, and therefore
it is best to have a normal LUK build.

--- Skills (b4ag4) ---

- 1st Job: Magician -

Improving MP Recovery: This skill increases the amount of MP naturally healed
every ten seconds by 0.1*Skill Level*Character Level. It is quite useful, and
should always be maxed.

Improving Max MP Increase: This is one of the most important skills for any of
the magician classes. The difference between maxing this skill and not maxing
it is thousands of MP in higher levels, so there is really no question about
it. This skill should be maxed immediately. What it does is increase the amount
of MP gained per level, as well as when AP is placed into it. Quite important.

Magic Guard: A skill that takes damage as MP. This skill will be essential for
survival in higher levels, and definitely needs to be maxed.

Magic Armour: This skill increases Weapon Defense by a minimal amount. Weapon
Defence prevents about 0.3 damage per point, so this skill is incredibly
worthless. Do not put any points into it.

Energy Bolt: This skill has been debated over time and time again, and some
guides disagree on this issue. It fires a small ball of magic, which can't pass
through obstacles, and does less damage than Magic Claw. Allow me to say that 
this skill is inferior to Magic Claw, and should only ever receive one point.

Magic Claw: This skill will be your main attack for a good part of your career
as a Magician. It does more damage than Energy Bolt, and can pass through
obstacles. Maxing this is obviously essential.

- 2nd Job: Cleric -

MP Eater: This passive skill steals MP from enemies and gives it to you. It is
a nice meso saver, but it is not incredibly necessary. If you need to get Holy
Arrow, this is the skill to skip.

Heal: This is the reason you became a cleric. Need I say more? I will, just in
case. This skill recovers HP of you and your party members when used, as well
as damaging nearby undead enemies.

Invincible: Lessens physical damage by a percentage, helping take a hit without
without Magic Guard, meaning you don't risk being left without MP and unable to 
heal. Obviously worth getting.

Teleport: Teleports a set distance, event through obstacles. Speeds up training 
an incredible amount, helps avoid taking damage, and has the cool factor. 
You'll want this.

Bless: Temporarily boosts Accuracy, Avoidability, Weapon Def, and Magic Def.
One of the targets of much debate. It will be necessary, if you want to train
effectively in third job, as Dragon Knights, White Knights, and Crusaders will
be looking for someone able to provide them with accuracy. Max this skill.

Holy Arrow: This is basically a more powerful and flashy version of Magic Bolt.
A pointless skill, considering your main attack will be heal until third job.
The Basic attack of the skill is rather low, and there are other skills that
you will want more than this. Just put your leftover points in it so you can
have it for show.

- 3rd Job: Priest -

Element Resistance: Allows you to take less damage from elemental attacks, 
resulting in you not dying in one hit. You'll want to max this.

Dispel: This will mainly be used for Zakum runs, so it isn't necessary to max.
It simply dispels all negative skills on you and your party, while eliminating
buffs on enemies.

Mystic Door: This skill creates a door which links between your location and
the nearest town for a short while. A useful skill for restocking on items, but
it doesn't need more than one point in it.

Holy Symbol: This is the Cleric skill of the third job. It increases the amount
of experience gained per kill, and is more effective when partied. Without
this, don't expect to level very quickly.

Shining Ray: This skill will be your main attack, considering that you likely
won't be training at undead enemies much in the third job. It is a fairly
powerful holy element mob skill.

Doom: This skill temporarily turns enemies into snails, lowering their stats.
A somewhat useful skill, but it's not as important as some others. If you have
points leftover, you might want to consider this skill.

Summon Dragon: This skill does exactly what the name says it does. It summons
a dragon, which will fight along with you until its time runs out. With you
constantly using Heal, Bless, and Holy Symbol, this is a nice way for you to
be able to do some damage, in addition to the occasional Shining Ray you manage
to get off.

--- Training (a6fh8) ---

Levels 1-7: Maple Island Quests.
Levels 8-15: Slime Tree.
Levels 16-20: Pig Beach.
Levels 21-30: PQ or Ant Tunnel.
Levels 31-34: Ant Tunnel.
Levels 35-37: PQ or Ant Tunnel.
Levels 38-45: PQ or Jr.Wraiths(Subway or B2).
Levels 46-50: PQ or Zombie Lupins.
Levels 51-55: Zombie Lupins.
Levels 55-60: Wraiths(Subway or B3).
Levels 61-65: Wraiths or Zombies.
Levels 66-75: Zombies.
Levels 76+: Wherever your party members want to train.

These are just some general guidelines, they don't have to be strictly
followed. Levels 76+ are somewhat ambiguous, but it is difficult to say without
knowing your unique situation. If you need more help, you can contact me. My
e-mail address is located at the end of the FAQ.

--- Frequently Asked Questions (b2gd8) ---

Q: Why should I be a Cleric?

A: You should become a Cleric if you enjoy partying with others, and like to
know that people are counting on you. It really all comes down to whether or
not you like interacting with others. This is probably the best class to be if
you want to do things as a group, so if that's what you want to do, this is the
class for you.

Also, Clerics are a good class to fund other characters with. If you were to
start with another class, and decide that you don't like it, you won't be as
well off for starting a new character. I personally recommend a Cleric to be
the first character for any player of Maple Story, as they are the easiest to
change from, if you don't want to stick with them.

Q: I really want to get Holy Arrow. Why do you say I shouldn't?

A: Really, it's up to you, but it's commonly agreed on that Holy Arrow doesn't
give any significant benefits. While all of the other Cleric skills will be
used even as a Priest, Holy Arrow will see no use past a certain point. If you
absolutely must get Holy Arrow, I recommend one of the following skill builds.

If you intend to party as a Cleric:

1 Teleport.
1 MP Eater.
Max Heal.
Max Bless.
Max Holy Arrow.
Max Teleport.
Max Invincible.

If you don't intend to party as a Cleric:

1 Teleport.
1 MP Eater.
Max Heal.
Max Holy Arrow.
Max Teleport.
Max Invincible.
Max Bless.

Q: I disagree with ______! I demand that you change your FAQ to fit my views!

A: That's perfectly fine. You are allowed to have your own views, but it is
more than likely that if they disagree with mine, they are wrong. I do not say
things unless I am highly certain that they are accurate, as I realize that the
FAQs on this website are all of high quality, and that it is of the utmost
important to maintain the standards of this website. If you have a valid reason
for your view, e-mail it to me. If I agree that it is a good point, regardless
of whether I share the same view as you, I will include it in the next update.

--- Finishing Stuff (j8xb5) ---

Thanks to...

GameFAQs, for hosting this FAQ.

Wizet, for bringing the fun this wonderful MMORPG gives us to so many people.

Lord Grahf, for allowing me to use his calculations on LUK vs LUKless mages.

To everyone else who has helped me make this FAQ, with their questions and
constructive criticism.

And to you, the reader.

This FAQ may be hosted on:
http://www.gamefaqs.com
http://www.neoseeker.com
http://www.supercheats.com
If you see it anywhere else, e-mail me about it.

If you have noticed any errors, or have some things to add and would like to 
contact me about them, e-mail me at [email protected], and I will see
about fixing or including them in the next update. The same applies if you wish
to host this FAQ on your website. Simply e-mail me, and I will get back to you.

I hope you had as much fun reading this as I had writing it. <3

Fin.