Cleric is the purest direct healer profile, combining the maximum Healing weight with Composure, Decisions, Concentration, and Anticipation.
The Cleric’s job
Cleric makes the clearest healing promise in the class data. Healing carries a 1.9 weight, the maximum recorded value. Composure and Decisions are both 1.6, Concentration is 1.5, and Anticipation is 1.4. Spellcraft and Resolve follow at 1.3, with Support at 1.2. This is not merely a hero likely to roll a large Healing number; the surrounding weights favour making, preparing, and sustaining the decisions that keep a party functioning.
The chassis reinforces that specialisation. Cleric uses spell attacks and mana, has a ×0.95 health modifier, and only a ×0.6 damage modifier. It should not be judged by damage output or asked to become a back-up damage class. Its value lies in making the party’s other specialists safer and more repeatable over a delve.
Recruitment priorities
Start with Healing. A poor result there gives away the class’s largest statistical advantage. Next, inspect Composure, Decisions, Concentration, and Anticipation as a complete operating profile. A candidate who is strong across those four can be preferable to one with a slightly higher Healing value and major weaknesses around it. Spellcraft and Resolve make sensible secondary checks, while Support adds useful group breadth.
Weapon Skill, Power, Critical Strike, and Threat all sit at 0.5. These are intentionally weak reasons to recruit a Cleric. A surprising roll may be interesting on the individual sheet, but it should not cause you to overlook a weak healing core. The class’s health modifier is also below neutral, so it needs a functioning front line rather than a plan that depends on absorbing attention.
Weights are generation tendencies, and the game does not publish its combat coefficients. They explain what the class favours and help compare candidates, but they do not guarantee the outcome of an encounter. Finish the decision with traits, wage, age, and party need.
Party construction
Cleric is the straightforward recovery choice behind any tank. Guardian creates the most conservative pairing, with concentrated mitigation in front of concentrated healing. Warden adds aggression and control, and Paladin brings its own mild Healing and strong Resolve lean. The best tank is the one that covers the actual Cleric’s weaknesses while supporting the selected damage class.
For damage, Arcanist benefits greatly from reliable protection because of its ×0.66 health modifier. Blademaster and Ranger bring physical melee and ranged options. A correct role triangle does not automatically activate a named bonus; verify class and trait combinations in the synergy table.
Race considerations
Aasimar reinforces Composure, Resolve, Spellcraft, Leadership, and Discipline, overlapping several of the Cleric’s supporting needs. Tiefling adds Spellcraft and Resolve but loses some Teamwork. Gnome’s Decisions and Spellcraft tendencies align well, while its Strength and Power negatives fall on attributes the Cleric already weights at 0.5. Human offers Decisions and Teamwork with a smaller, balanced lean.
Race scores tell you where to look first. They do not settle the comparison. A positive tendency is valuable in proportion to the class weight it touches. That is why Gnome’s negative Strength is less alarming for Cleric than it would be for a physical damage class. The individual hero may still roll outside the expected pattern.
Mistakes to avoid
The obvious mistake is hiring on Healing alone. The class also heavily favours Composure, Decisions, Concentration, and Anticipation, and a hole in that operating core can matter. The opposite mistake is overvaluing a broad candidate whose Healing result is mediocre. Cleric is selected specifically for the strongest healing bias; breadth should complement that advantage.
Do not use the ×0.6 damage modifier as a challenge to solve. Spending recruitment value on Power or Critical Strike produces a less efficient version of a role another class already performs. Also check the verified patch before relying on external advice. The changelog and archived version pages preserve the distinction between historical and current numbers.
A practical shortlist
Require a strong Healing result, then look for balance across Composure, Decisions, Concentration, and Anticipation. Use Spellcraft, Resolve, and Support to separate candidates that pass those checks. Finally compare contract cost and traits against the party’s expected delve length. This approach recruits a complete healer rather than the owner of one attractive number.
Before committing the contract, compare the Cleric with the exact tank they will support. A party that already prevents most pressure may value decisions and anticipation differently from a fragile group that needs the strongest possible recovery. Recruit for that real workload rather than an abstract healer ranking.