Rift Cleric Class

Cleric Soul Specs for Healing, DPS, Tanking, and Support

Like all callings in Rift, the Cleric may choose to play any number of different styles. They are the best class for someone who wants to pursue healing, but can also choose to deal Damage Per Second or Tank for a party. In this guide to the Cleric class, I'll describe the various cleric souls and how they can help the Cleric by taking a primary or secondary interest.

Faith in Action
Cleric melee souls (Justicar, Shaman, and Druid) get access to the passive Faith in Action ability. This passive will boost your Cleric's melee attack power and critical rating by their spell power/crit, and melee hit by their spell focus rating. This means that even if you are a Melee cleric, you can still pursue spell power gear and watch as that boosts your melee prowess. Multiple copies of Faith in Action do not stack – it'd be way too overpowered if they did.

Cleric Healing Souls

No matter what role you're going to pursue, you should give your Cleric at least a splash of healing. Why? Because it's readily available and it will save you along with your fellow party members. There are numerous options. You need to decide if you want a big heal with a long cast time, area of effect healing, or perhaps healing over time spells. Most of these healing souls offer a little of each to the cleric but at their heart they are specialized.

If you choose to forego a healing soul, know that many of the other options have some means of restoring life to themselves and possibly others, but it would be in a very limited capacity. Only a healing soul can dish healing powerful enough to keep people alive when a lot of damage is coming their way.

I would take either Purifier or Sentinel with Warden and specialize in just two trees while getting the most basic abilities of the third. Both Purifiers and Sentinels get single-target heals but P gets more buffs for single players while Sentinel is better at taking care of groups. The Warden will provide some healing over time that benefits either of these souls.

That's not to say I'd knock taking all three! The ultimate healer would draw from all three of these pools to get the very best abilities. There are numerous viable combinations. Just make sure that you have the ability to save a single target from death quickly, and a spammable mana efficient heal to draw upon. Along the way, you'll get plenty of other abilities to boost your healing.

Purifier
The Purifier specializes in single-target healing and protection. This is demonstrated with the Caregiver's Blessing spell. They can bless a target so that when hit, they will instantly gain a shield absorbing some future damage. This can help keep a tank's life from falling so dramatically in combat while they apply their heals. The Purifier can also take points in Ancestral Flame, which will give their Restorative flame a shield effect. Purifier isn't a bad choice for a zero-point soul because the Cleric can get access to Shield of the Ancestors, which is a self shield spell that is useful in pve or pvp.

Sentinel
The Sentinel gets the biggest single-target heal in the game if they choose to take the Healing and Lasting invocation soul talents. However, most of their spells will do something for a group. They can heal a wide area which is great for negating enemy area effect damage, and also remove dubuffs (curses, poisons) from all allies in range. In short, they get a better single-target heal than the Purifier but it takes 6 points to really see it.

Warden
Wardens deal water-based damage but mostly focus on healing over time spells. This works well with either a Purifier or Sentinel. A Warden with the Purifier soul could keep a target shielded and constantly healing while delivering the big heals when necessary. A Warden with Sentinel could AoE heal an entire party quite effectively. Either of these would be incredibly handy in PVP or PVE for keeping your team alive. Warden at 0 points gives a heal over time and a spammable water attack, so it's a good choice for a third soul you'll sink no points into. Just two points and you get an additional heal with an instant and over time component.

Cleric Defensive Souls

Clerics get only one choice when it comes to Defensive souls for Tanking, and that is the Melee Justicar. Thankfully, this soul is more than capable of increasing your Cleric's survival many times over, while still allowing you to cast spells and deal damage.

Justicar
The Justicar is a soul best suited to using a one handed weapon along with a shield. They deal light damage through empowered strikes with their weapon. A two-hander would deliver more damage, but if damage is the concern a Shaman is a better choice. Justicars can get +15% armor early on, and combined with the use of a shield this will boost your defense substantially. This will make a negative impact on your spell power, but it's made up for in survivability. The Justicar soul receives Faith in Action.

Cleric Offensive Souls

Unless you're an end-game raid healer who needs every trick in the book to keep your friends alive, you will want to dip into one of these trees to boost your Cleric's offensive power. This is especially true of PVP, where you will inevitably be called to defend yourself one on one. These souls are each attuned to a certain type of playstyle.

We have two melee and two ranged/spell souls to choose from here.

Cabalist
The Cabalist soul is described in-game as being able to devastate the battlefield with some preparation. That's absolutely true. At just six points the first of these abilities becomes available, Obliterate. It is usable every six seconds as your Cabalist's lurking decay builds up. Obliterate allows you to dump all that power into one single target. Cabalists will typically dominate the damage done charts because of their massive AoE capabilities. Build up decay and use the Tyrrany ranged AoE that can hit up to 7 targets, followed by a few spam castings of bound fate while you regenerate and repeat. You'll weaken most of the enemy team so long as no one focuses on you. You WILL be a target. The Cabalist is a unique and under-used class that takes a little more brainpower to be effective. To increase your capabilities vs single targets it's highly recommended you take some interest in the Inquisitor soul.

Druid
The Druid is an Offensive soul that focuses on doing melee damage while getting a helping hand from Mother Nature. In the early game, the fairy that flies with you will do a healing over time spell. Later on, at 26 points, you can get a greater fairy that heals even more and can be useful into the end game. The lesser fairy will become obsolete. If you sink 31 points into the soul, you'll get a Satyr that actually does respectable dps. The druid's tree is mostly one of support to another soul for this reason. You can get better melee damage from a Shaman build, and far more defense from the Justicar. However, any Cleric that wants to do melee damage can benefit from the Druid soul, and their pets may be used to support a caster. The Druid soul receives Faith in Action.

Inquisitor
Inquisitor is the most traditional damage caster type of Offensive Cleric soul. They get a couple of Damage over Time abilities and a big nuke spell that can also be upgraded to deal a DoT. With just ten points they get the purge ability, which is extremely useful in PVP as it removes up to two debuffs from the target. It works in PVE, as well but won't be used as often. This tree is a backbone to any caster cleric that wants to do damage, and is a good third soul for a healer so they can have some offensive capabilities.

Shaman
Shamans deal burst melee and air damage to enemies, and get some special situational attacks that can be very powerful. They are designed to have a high critical rating and do great burst damage with their heavy hitting melee skills. Do go after spell power gear, the stormborn talent and the jolt ability. This can enable you to do some massive air damage, especially when you critically hit. Because their abilities often do weapon damage instantly, a big fat two-hander is your best option for burst. However, this could also be used with Justicar to give your tank some extra damage. The Shaman soul receives Faith in Action.