In this Rift Cleric Builds guide, I will be discussing about some of the top and most popular Rift Cleric builds. First, we will have a quick overview of Rift Cleric souls, then we will look at Rift Cleric builds for both solo play and team play.

The Cleric is primarily a healer, but the Cleric calling can also DPS, both melee and ranged and it can technically tank too. The eight souls of the cleric calling comprises of the Shaman and Druid for melee DPS, the Inquisitor and Cabalist for ranged DPS and the Sentinel, Warden and Purifier for healing. The final soul the Justicar is optimized for the role of a tank, but its not really recommended with its current implementation. But if the Justicar is paired with another melee soul, it can provide some off healing which will be later explained in this guide. Each soul gets a “Zero Point Ability” which are basic abilities acquired by the calling by simply equipping the souls. This abilities don’t require any soul points put into them. Let us look at how the Cleric fares in Solo and Group play styles. Enough on souls, now let’s get started with the actual Rift Cleric builds guide.

Rift Cleric Builds Guide

Rift Cleric builds for Solo play

There are two solo Rift Cleric builds which are pretty viable and they are pretty much identical. First is the melee build that utilizes the Shaman and Druid souls. The second is a ranged DPS build that uses the Inquisitor soul. Each build the Zero point ability of the Warden which is an instant cast HoT.

Rift Cleric build for Melee game play:

There are two ways to go about building this character but it’s the same after a point. This build utilizes the Shaman and the Druid souls primarily and Warden soul for its Zero point ability. It really does not matter if you select the Druid or the Shaman, but the warden soul is always the second so you can utilize the zero point ability of the Warden. It is a HoT called Healing Spray. We would recommend you chose the Druid, Warden second and then finally the Shaman.

When you start with the druid you will get a Faerie pet. This pet will auto cast a HoT on you when you take damage so it is an additional source of survivability. Do take care with her, as she is a very fragile pet and can die quickly if targeted by a mob. The pet can also a ranged ability that does very little damage and is almost useless. It isn’t worth the mana spent and usually mana starves her. It is better to turn it off so that the mana is used only for the HoT.

The rest of the build is pretty easy to follow. You want to get the ability Crag Hammer which is an hour long buff that adds damage to each melee attack. You will want to make sure you also put points into the talent that reduces the cooldown of Eruption of Life. This ability does very little damage but also triggers a significant amount of damage each time the mob is stacked upto 3 times. Balm of the Woods in the druid tree which is an insta cast heal on a cooldown, needs to be taken.

When you get the Shaman soul after the Warden soul, you will get its Zero Point Ability called Vengeance of the Winter Storm which also adds damage to each attack. Once you get the Shaman Soul, use the shamans base attack ability rather than the Druid’s. The Shaman tree buffs your critical strike and damage.

This build will allow to keep your self healed while you dead massive damage.
Make sure you are wielding a 2-Handed Weapon.

The Ranged Rift Cleric Build:

This is a fairly less complicated build. You need to spend all your points in the Inquisitor Tree. The other two souls will be the Warden for the Zero Point Talent, i.e the HoT and the Purifier for a damage absorption shield that can be cast only on yourself.

As an Inquisitor you will mainly be using the ability Bolt of Judgement for most of your damage and you will also be casting an instant cast DoT (Damage over time), Vex. In the Inquisitor tree you will be putting in points to reduce the cast time of your Bolt of Judgement and making Vex heal you for the portion of damage it has done.

There is another ability in the Inquisitor soul that is a 3 second cast nuke called Bolt of Depravitiy which can be further augmented to do additional damage over time. There is also a talent that makes Bolt of Judgement proc a buff that makes Bolt of Depravity an instant cast.

So mainly you will be casting Bolt of Judgement until you proc the buff. When the buff procs, cast Depravity. Keep casting Vex as it provides additional damage and also simultaneously heals you. If you feel its unnecessary then you can avoid casting Vex.

That was all about Rift Cleric builds for solo play. Now let’s look at some Rift Cleric builds for group game play:

Rift Cleric builds Group Play

The Cleric plays three major roles in group play. DPS, healing and offhealing/DPS. The DPS build for solo play works amazing for group play as well.

Healing:

There are 3 major healing souls for the Cleric calling. The Warden, which is mainly a HoT based healer, the Purifier who mainly revolves around casting major big heals and the Sentinal that is specialized in group healing. The Sentinal although has some instant heals. As of now in the entry level dungeons and rifts, they all work fine. Their specific purposes will be put to use maybe later into the game at higher levels.

The zero point ability for the sentinel includes an instant cast heal, and the warden has a HoT. The purifier is the only soul which doesn’t have a very effective zero point ability for a group setting. It’s a self only absorption shield.

Offhealing :

Along with these souls, you can pick up the Justicar if you have the choice. It can theoretically tank with their threat generation talents but it might not work properly at lower levels. Instead you can buff one of the DPS builds. In the Justicar tree all you need to take is the ability to heal others while you are damaging a target. Its early In the thiers. You can give it a try and see how it works out.

These were some tips and tricks to get good Rift Cleric builds for both Solo and Group play. If you want more of such proven and tested Rift Cleric guide, then I highly recommend that you have a look at a premium Rift Cleric builds Guide.