Priestess Class Guide

*For general class information, see Priestess.*
The Priestess (Priest) has much in common with the Wizard. Like Wizards, the Priestess relies heavily on spells for combat, has low defensive stats, and cannot wear armor beyond robes. In the early game, when compared to the Wizard, the Priestess lacks high damaging spells, particularly spells that damage multiple opponents, and lacks defensive spells outside of what she learns at the Library. For this reason, the Priestess is harder to play than the Wizard immediately outside of Valmorgen. In the later game, the Priestess gains access to an assortment of powerful items that greatly enhances the offense and defensive capabilities of the class. While the Wizard is all about being direct in terms of inflicting damage combat, the Priestess gains other abilities such as the use of followers and small-scale healing, and later on, "debuff" attacks.

## Key aspects of the Priestess class

* **Followers**: the Priestess is able to raise up to 3 Skeleton followers *(additionally, there is also possibility to donate / to pray for Krypta and to receive 3 more Skeletons. It gives a kind of good flexibility between these 3 \* <Krypta Skeletons or Shadow Beasts/Stalkers that summoned from the appropriated jewels> + 6 <alive followers> + 3 dead ones. The best set in a mid-later game, may be, is 3 "jewelled" Shadow Beasts + 1 Marksman with 5 Oathmen + a combination of 2 ShadowBeasts + 1 Vampire correspondingly. Regard your vampires first of all like your party healers. Try it, combine it, use it, love it!)*. These skeletons are raised instantly during any non combat turn, and should they survive a few battles, will level themselves up to Skeletal Overlords. This ability is extremely useful in the early game, and gives the Priestess one of the easiest starts of any class. Although these minions are not a huge source of damage, they make effective meat shields (bone shields?), or at least free speed bumps between the Priestess and her prey.
	+ **Early-Game**: One playstyle is to consider the skeletons as free, disposable shields. As such, consider selecting "Auto Dismiss Dead Followers" to keep a constant stream of followers. An alternate approach is to allow your skeletons to level up. This playstyle results in much more overall power, but at the cost of having to babysit your followers, rest to heal them, and occasionally resurrect them. Maybe it is better to pray at Fervus Temple for healing rather then resting, then you and your followers all get fully restored after battle for as long as the spell lasts. After 7th level the priestess may control Lesser Undead creatures to fight for her. Controlling allows the priestess to recruit some more powerful followers, like Vampires and Shadow Beasts. In order to do this one has to disable the skeleton summoning spell, and create a free "slot", as otherwise the 3 skeletons block charming.
* **Spell Combat**: As a spellcaster, the Priestess will be relying on spells for combat. Unlike the Wizard, spells must be sought as opposed to simply being available in the beginning. Initially, the main attack for the Priestess is her reliable Drain Life spell, which does damage and has minor healing effects. This attack is weak, however, so more powerful spells must be obtained later. Seeking newer spells is the primary goal for the Priestess after Valmorgen. One of the spells that must be obtained later on is *Deathblast*, which gives the Priestess a much needed area-attack spell. Later on, spells such as Exploding Aura and Mass Wither, two crucial spells, will need to be obtained. When spell power is sufficiently high, the Invisibility Gems become useful in providing cover while you blast away your enemies before they can attack you.
	+ It is noted that charged items such as the Wand of Lightning Storm and the Jewel of Fiery Doom do not get the benefit of the Priestess's high INT.
* **Intelligence**: Assuming that you have all the spells you need, the only thing stopping you from total destruction of your foes is their magic resistance. Magic resistance can be overcome by having high Intelligence (INT). The INT stat also raises damage dealt by spells. As an INT class, your base INT goes up by 1 every 2 levels. Since INT is arguably the most powerful stat in the game, levels are important for the Priestess. Fortunately, the Priestess only requires 1200xp to level up. Later in the game, items will be available to boost the INT of the Priestess.
* **Be Careful of Monsters with High MGR**: Some monsters have unusually high magic resistance, so it will be necessary to watch out for them. Either switch to hand-to-hand (disable your spells) or get higher INT to beat them! The most common High MGR monsters are the Dryad and Medusa. To beat the Medusa using Deathblast, 75+ INT is required. If you don't have Deathblast, don't even try to fight them using spells. A better approach is to level up your followers and simply let your army destroy any magic resistant foes.
	+ See the list of high-MGR monsters on the Wizard guide page for details. The same information applies to the Priestess. However, because Deathblast is a level 5 spell, whereas the Wizard's Meteor Storm is a level 7 spell, 10 additional INT is needed for the Priestess to defeat these monsters as compared to for Wizards, unless the Priestess has the Ring of Mighty Devastation, which provides a level 7 spell for the priestess.

## Progression

Moving through the mid-game, playing the Priestess is harder than playing a Wizard due to the lack of high damage and multiple target spells. Fortunately, this deficiency is first mitigated once the Staff of Death is obtained. As one of the best schematic items in the game in terms of improving the class, getting the Staff of Death is of ***utmost importance*** to the Priestess, since her damage output will be improved dramatically. While Deathblast is not as powerful as most wizard spells, it is much better than level one drain life. A priestess with the Staff of Death still does more damage than most physical combat classes.

As hinted above, the first big goal after Valmorgen is to try to obtain this staff. However, there is a big gap between level 10 and 20, so this will not be possible for quite a while. Hence, a strategy needs to be in place for leveling and gaining other interim items. There are two main approaches. One is to go with a huge entourage of followers, which will keep you safe and not require much resting to heal them (due to damage being spread out over the 12 of them). However, your weak offense means that the horde will deal most of the damage, thus leeching most of your XP. The other approach is to just use three basic skeletons which provide no real offense, and just a bit of tanking. You get almost all the XP in this way, but you must fight much weaker foes since you have such poor defenses and little offense.

The Wind Storm enchantment from the Temple of Lunord is very useful for the Priestess, as it provides a great deal of firepower, and works well in conjunction with the Priestess' high INT and moderately high willpower. With Wind Storm, nearly any encounter on the Fertile Plains can be won in the early game. It is preferable to obtain items that boost willpower, including the Shield Beard Ring (for socketting into a Mithril Belt, Dwarven Headband, or Nevryl Amulet).

Make sure you have the Ironcloth Robe or better yet Wizards Robe and, if convenient, a few "secondary" items such as the Bandanna of Thought Stimulation, which can be obtained relatively easily, just for walking in the Witch King Ruins cocoons (that means without any fights, so ASAP after achieving possibility to go to the Fertile Plains and afterwards to the Dark Forest, take with you at least 100 of PoMD and *run* to the ruins, because Headband of Prescience, Belt of Balance, Spellcasting Gloves, Ring of Might and perhaps other very useful at first play stage will be not so easy to get as there). Use the Goblin Territory to gain gold right out of Valmorgen in order to buy consumables and items. Once close to level 20, head to HFM South to find the items necessary to assemble the Staff of Death. You'll also have to venture to the Valley of Gur-Mechina to obtain the Mystic Staff. Since the valley contains Phantom Stalkers, it's advisable to search the area with monster detection on. When this item is obtained, the game becomes much more straightforward. Afterward, gather any other items that boosts INT. As with all classes, spending time in the Dark Forest to obtain the use of Merlan's Potions (specifically, the Medusa Potion) will be necessary, as well as spending time in the Wild Gardens Library and the Fertile Plains to craft the items highlighted below. Once you've gained the Circlet of Lycanthropy and the Ring of Mighty Devastation (both require searching through the Dark Forest), it is probably time to move on to the Desolate Wastelands.

Priestesses should go into the Desolate Wastelands with the Staff of Death available at the very least. Going into these areas, the Priestess should find the items at Ruins of Thallis, and complete the quest at the Imp's workshop. The items at Thallis offer very powerful boosts. If you're patient enough to search through Thallis while avoiding most encounters, you can possibly go there and gather the Priestess items even before you are strong enough to seriously fight the encounters here.

**Dark Forest Aura and Thallis Fairgrounds Stats Boost**

For the Dark Forest Aura, the Aura of Might is useful for gaining a bit more INT constantly, as well as some STR for carrying and some WP for praying. The Aura of Victory is arguably not so useful for the Priestess in the long run, because the Priestess already has very low parry stats, so the additional parry boost will not make much difference (i.e. you might as well don't bother with Parry). Additionally, with the use of invisibility gems, parry is less important in the long run. The same analysis also applies to the Aura of Fear.

For the Thallis Fairgrounds stats upgrade, the INT boost is probably the most useful upgrade.

## Items guide

*See also: items usable by Priestess for a complete list of usable items*
### Weapon

* **No weapon**: The Priestess may use a Staff for the purpose of physical combat against Medusae, and later on, the Warlock, when completing the Lormidia Wizard Tower quest. Alternatively, it is feasible to go with no weapon at all until the Staff of Death is obtained. Medusae are to be avoided, since basic weapons have no effect on spell combat.
* **Spiked Staff**: Socketed with various Beard Rings.
* **Staff of Death**: As noted earlier, this item is extremely important because it significantly increases overall attack power.
* **Doom Staff**: This is an upgrade of the Staff of Death obtained in the late game at the Imp Workshop on the Desolate Wastelands. Since it gives **INT +8** and Magic Resistance by 10, this upgrade is very valuable. The completion of the Imp Workshop quest to allow the upgrade is a priority for high level Priestesses.

### Armor

* The first armor that should be purchased is the Ironcloth Robe, which can be obtained at the Traveller's Dell Trading Post or some other locations. Once this armor is obtained, make sure it is enchanted maximally. The Mithrilweave Robe and Wizards Robe are upgrades, but are not crucial upgrades, so make the switch when you stumble upon these items.
* **Robe of the Dead**: (*Armor: 2, Death Cry Spell, INT +4*). Obtained at Thallis, this is definitely the best armor.

### Belt

* **Mithril Belt**: Socketed with 3x Medusa Beard Rings for **INT +6**
* **Ancient Belt of the Godly Mind** (*INT +5, WIL +5, Spell Damage +1; Sunken City item*) - This is one of two belts that really make sense for this class. The Ancient Belt of Godly Mind does a good job at enhancing spell power (through spell damage, and INT).
* **Belt of Blasting** (*Armor: 2, INT +8, Spell Damage +1, socketable; from Abandoned Library schematic (Requires Ancient Belt of Godly Mind, Ring of Devastation, and Dragon/Skull Beard Ring)*) - This belt is a good upgrade of the previous. You get a great INT boost and the ability to socket in a holster. When you are able to handle the Dark Forest, you might want to start gathering the components. Of course, you'll be required to go to an area like Gur Mechina to get the required Beard Ring. There are two typical choices for socketing (which requires the "Improved Belt of Blasting" Schematic): Holster of the Arcanist (*+2 Int*), and Holster of Magic (*+1 Spell Damage*), both found in the Dark Forest. Both of these selections offer rather small bonuses, and are about equally viable in the long run for the Priestess (Compared to the Wizard, the Priestess has more INT in the long run, so additional INT is maybe not so important).
* Necromancy Belt (*Armor: 1, INT +3, Spell Damage +2, MGR +5*) is found in Thallis but probably qualifies as the poorest Thallis item of them all. It is worse than the Belt of Blasting in almost every respect because it cannot be socketed. The Belt of Blasting can have either +10 INT and +1 Spell Damage or +8 INT and +2 Spell Damage, according to which of the above suggested holsters is embedded, and both of those configurations is clearly superior to that of the Necromancy belt. The +5 MGR is of passing interest but by the time you have access to items such as the Dwarven Locket (in the necklace slot) with its +40 MGR, you'll probably not be requiring MGR in the belt slot. If you need a lot of MGR for special occasions, you're usually better off using a Mithril Belt embedded with 3 Skull Beard Rings for +15 MGR.

### Headgear

* **Bandanna of Thought Stimulation** (*INT +4*). Again, increasing INT is good. This is naturally an item that will remain useful throughout all stages of the game, so do not get rid of this. It has its use because it is the *only* headgear that can raise INT. Even later on there will be monsters that will really test your intelligence.
* **Dwarven Headband**, when socketed with 3x Medusa Beard Rings for **INT +6**, outclasses the Bandanna of Thought Stimulation in the long run. However, because Medusa Beard Rings are hard to obtain, consider leaving the headband last on the list of items to receive beard rings.
* **Circlet of Lycanthropy** / **True Werewolf Circlet**. This is a very useful item because it gives a pretty good stat boost. The True Werewolf Circlet is the upgrade of the Circlet of Lycanthropy available later on.
* **Helm of Displacement** (*Grants the "Wind Storm" Spell*). This item is available at Krolm's Anvil, an area considered to be the hardest location in the game. This item is very desirable because it gives you an additional attack spell which is needed by the Priestess even more than by the Wizard, since the Priestess has fewer attack spells in comparison. When going all-offensive in terms of damage in conjunction with the use of invisibility gems, this item is certainly the optimal headgear.

### Accessory

* Generic accessories include the Black Stone, the **Holster of the Arcanist** (currently the best item on Middle-Late game, when you most of the time don't have any followers) and the **Holster of Magic**. However, the Priestess has two class-unique accessories:
* Sterling Ribcage (*Grants the "Damage Shield" (+5 armor) spell to cast on a random team member; Dark Forest item*). Has the same as the Bracers of Immolation, so they can be replaced according to your current slot needs.
* Stone of Damnation (*Grants the "Mass Wither" spell; Thallis item*). "Mass Wither" seems a powerful spell since it is of a high level attack, but though it persistently stuns multiple enemies every other round, it lasts a few first rounds only. While using the Invisibility Gems, it doesn't matter for you if an enemy is stunned or not; the STR -10 additional effect of the spell is nothing at all, e.g. you will die both from a few punches with Damage 50-100 and from such with Dmg 49-99.

### Other Gear

* **Ring**: For most of the game, you should be using the **Ring of Protection** which can be purchased right from the start. Later on, it's generally useful to replace this ring with the **Ring of Mighty Devastation** that grants the *Exploding Aura* spell. This spell is very useful because it's the only level 7 spell easily accessible by this class and it can hit invisibility enemies (such as Imps, and its overall damage is about the same as that of Meteor Storm. Therefore, the Ring of Mighty Devastation is ***very important*** in the late game. Through the workshop on the Desolate Wastelands, it's possible to upgrade the Ring of Mighty Devastation to the Ring of Mightier Devastation which adds +10 MGR. Compared to a Wizard using Exploding Aura, the spell causes more self damage to the Priestess because the Priestess has lower MGR defense spells, so use this item with care, in tougher areas, and certainly with invisibility gems to avoid taking both self damage and damage from enemy attacks.
* **Cloak**: There are three main choices choices: the Protective Cloak (*+5 MGR; Fertile Plains*), which you'll be able to get rather easily if you can handle the Fertile plains and the Medusa there, the Forest Cloak (*gives the Camouflage blessing; Found in the Fertile Plains*) and the extremely powerful **Cloak of Dread**  (*Int +8, Armor +1*) (or at least, it was incredibly powerful at +12 INT, but it was weakened at some stage to the +8; but this is still pretty good of course). This is found in Thallis, an area typically accessed at the late game stage when your character has high enough Int. The +8 Int makes this item the best choice of cloak.
* **Gloves, Boots, Armband**: All classes have a set of generic and semi-class-specific schematic items for these categories. For the priestess, the schematic boots (Boots of the Magi) are useful, but not mandatory. It is, however, still necessary to stay on the Fertile plains to get at several Medusa Beard rings and a few Ratman Beard rings.
	+ Later on, you'll have access the to the Boots of Lunord and the class-specific Gloves of Doom (*Armor: 2, Int +8, Parry +10*  - which is equivalent to the Arcane Gloves with 2 Medusa BRs, but obviates the need for the hard-to-find Beard Rings).
	+ Boots of Lunord should generally be used if your INT is sufficient to defeat the monsters (which should be the case given the number of Int-boosting items available).
	+ The best Bracers are the Bracers of Immolation (more to protect your followers) and the Mithril/Nevryl bracers (to protect yourself), socketed with Ratman Beard or Medusa rings. Between Mithril and Nevryl Bracers, the Nevryl ones are more preferable later on, because melee damage will often be avoided by invisibility gems.
* **Necklace**: For combat purposes, the basic necklaces are the Blue Charm (*+10 MGR*) and Green Charm (*+4 Armor, -7 MGR*) purchased from Lormidia. Switch between these two depending on whether the enemy is magic or physical in terms of combat. Later on, after the completion of the East Cheswick Quest, the Priest should replace the Green Charm with the **Ring Amulet** socketed with the Ring of Protection or Ring of Fortitude. Similarly, the Blue Charm should be replaced by the Rezzenthells Spellkiller (*+25 MGR*) or eventually, the powerful **Dwarven Locket** (*+40 MGR*). The **Nevryl Amulet** can be embedded with 3x Medusa Beard Rings for +6 INT.
* **Other Important Items**: The Medusa Potion is crucial to this class because it provides a significant Int boost.

## Late game

Eventually, the Priestess is an Int specialist, having the highest Int of any class in the game due to the various boosts from late-game items and due to leveling faster. In the long run, the Priestess has much higher Int than the amount that Wizards can have. Therefore, the Priestess is the "high accuracy spellcaster" (while wizard is the high damage, but low accuracy caster), and is also a "debuffer" due to the Mass Wither spell. The heart of the high Int capability of this class is in the items themselves, so getting the items is very important. The bottom line is that items are extremely important to this class, so make sure you get the items, even if you have to move around avoiding other enemies. Like wizards, Priestesses should use four invisibility gems when fighting hard enemies (or alternative, 3x invisibility gem + wand of lightning storm). Like the wizard, a maxed out Priestess can destroy pretty much anything before entering physical combat during the invisibility effect. Due to the abundance of Int-boosting, it's not too difficult to reach the necessary Int required to defeat the Twisted Abomination (around 140 for a Priestess). Against the Nomad Champion, it'll probably be necessary to have relatively high HPs (around 500), even higher Int, and the Stone Skin enchantment will have to be obtained from the Thallis Gardens in order to reach sufficient armor to win all the rounds.

Often, it is very helpful to have the Illusionary Hero enchantment in bulk (i.e. buying hundreds of turns at once before going adventuring). The combination of Illusionary Hero and Mass wither effectively reduces total damage from melee and ranged attackers by 75%.

**Build for high-INT Priestess relying on Invisibility Gems**

* Weapon - Doom Staff (Magic Resist +10, INT +8)
* Armor - Robe of the Dead (Death Cry, INT +4)
* Cloak - Cloak of Dread (very important because of the high bonus!) (INT +8, Armor +1)
* Helm - Dwarven Headband with 3x Medsua BR (+6 INT) (for maximum INT) **or** Helm of Displacement (for crowds) **or** True Werewolf Circlet (for defense)
* Belt - Belt of Blasting (with Holster of the Arcanist) (INT +10 total, Spell Damage +1)
* Boots - Boots of the Magi (INT +4, Parry +5, Dodge +5) **or** Boots of Lunord (for defense)
* Gloves - Gloves of Doom (INT +8, Parry +10) (same as Arcane Gloves with 2 Medusa BRs) (*may also keep:'*) Arcane Gloves with 2 Ratman BRs **or** War Gauntlets with 2 Goblin/Hammer BRs for carry-weight or H2H boost)
* Bracers - Nevryl Bracers with 2x Medusa BR (+4 INT total, +5 MGR) (*may also keep:* Mithril Bracers with 2x Ratman BR (+15 parry total))
* Necklace - Dwarven Locket or Nevryl Amulet for max Int
* Ring - Ring of Mightier Devastation
* Accessory - Holster of the Arcanist (+2 INT) or Stone of Damnation
* Other - Invisibility Gems readied; Medusa Potion in effect

**Total INT boost**

* + 8 (Weapon)
* + 4 (Armor)
* + 8 (Cloak)
* + 6 (Helm - Dwarven Headband with 3x Medusa Beard Rings)
* + 10 (Belt)
* + 4 (Boots)
* + 8 (Gloves)
* + 4 (Bracers - with 3x Medusa Beard Rings)
* + 2 (Accessory)
* + 6 (Necklace - Nevryl Amulet with 3x Medusa Beard Rings)
* + 20 (Medusa Potion)
* **Subtotal:** **+80 INT** (requires 8x Medusa Beard Rings)
* + 4 (Aura of Might)
* **Total:** **+84 INT**