Played the Ares Cleric/Assassin for a bit now. Here are some of my thoughs about the Ares Cleric side of it

Bash = pretty good/useful

Berserk = good but sucks you can't flee and it's only +3 str and with low hp/weaker vigs. I don't see this panning out very well for a battle cleric. Some suggestions would to be either keep the healing at the same level as gradius or have non-flee taken away.

Alignment restrictions= I don't see how being neutral has anything to do with the Ares God. If anything Ares should be red aura.

Vigor = having 1/2 vigor is weird because they have hp/mp like a regular cleric. Don't what a battle cleric will do with so much mp

Pray = Don't know what it would do beside ticking/vigging. But we vig so low. And ticking.. well only if we want to be a casting battle cleric.

Any thoughts?

War is universal, has the same effect on all warriors, and has no alignment. Thus, Ares clerics are neutral.

I've also fiddled around with Ares Cleric myself. I find it the weaker version of any paladin really. The whole point anyone trying out Ares or Kamira was hoping that they have a true ability that distinguished them as a class of their own. To me these break down version of clerics are somewhat related to playing any other multi-class. The benefit is, multi-class seem more useful and have their true strengths and weaknesses.

Ares cleric is a tough class to play. The original cleric classes were easiest - you could find a good xp spot, and camp there. The newer classes are a little harder. Ceris, most people play for the rejuvenate and resurrect spells. Kamira is tough, but at least they can max royal alignment. Gradius has an annoying aura restriction, but their potential power at high levels makes up for it.

I picture Ares cleric as potentially powerful at very high levels, given they will hit nearly twice as hard as other clerics. Their attackpower is str + level*8, whereas other clerics have str + level*2 (Ceris is even weaker).

Thus at level 30, two clerics with 210 strength.

Ares Attackpower: 210 + 240 = 450
Other Cleric: 210 + 60 = 270

How hard you hit is directly proportional to attackpower, plus the damage of your weapon. An Ares cleric at level 30 will mend for an average of 33 (about the same as paladin). It is true, they will hit weaker, but the benefits of having more MP and future cleric spells may overweigh it. Furthermore, one major weakness of a paladin is that they have no stunning attack - but Ares cleric has one of the best.


Now for Cleric/Assassin, your attackpower is str + dex + level*8. At level 30 with 210 str/210 dex:

Cl/Ass (Ares) Attackpower: 210 + 210 + 240 = 660

That means you hit as hard as a fighter/berserker. That in itself is an awesome perk - plus you get a high damage opening attack. Cleric/Assassin backstab multiplier goes up to 4x (multiclass thief only goes up to 3x). Not too shabby.

True, your healing is even worse than Ares cleric's, but eventually it will be a lot better than that of a fighter/berserker/assassin. The aura alignment, as always, is the killing point. It's the reason why there's few high level Gradius clerics. But recent changes made alignment fluctuate slower, so that should help.

In short, if you're a level 10 multiclass, you suck ass. Stop complaining and level up. =P

Not complaining but you can see that not a lot of people play the Ares cleric because it's weak in some way. The the all these great advantages, why wouldn't anyone? But obviously these pros do not outweigh the cons.

People don't play them because people play games to have fun, not to suffer for 25 levels before their character gets good. Especially when no one's played one that high - so they aren't even 100% sure if their suffering will pay off. It's just like playing a mage after 2.40 got put in....WHY? =P

I guess if you wanted to do what an Ares Cleric could do. You would be a DK. DK and do everything Ares does + more and without the disadvantages.

advan wrote:

I guess if you wanted to do what an Ares Cleric could do. You would be a DK. DK and do everything Ares does + more and without the disadvantages.

I've never seen a DK with bash or berserk, or with 4 MP per level.

delta wrote:

advan wrote: I guess if you wanted to do what an Ares Cleric could do. You would be a DK. DK and do everything Ares does + more and without the disadvantages. I've never seen a DK with bash or berserk, or with 4 MP per level.

dk Pray is just like ares beserk right?

Sort of - DK pray increases your bonus damage, while Ares berserk multiplies your weapon damage. Which one is better depends on how elite your weapons are.