User blog:Ghostly Owns/Hard Difficulty Priest Guide

Overview

I've beaten this game on Hard with Warrior, stumped with Assassin, and almost beat this game with Priest. I can say with fair certainty that so far of the three, Priest is the easiest class to play. Talk to everyone, multiple times. Some quests open up after certain events. Explore and open chests unless the guide says otherwise. Intellect is the main stat you want. Focus is also important, but with patience and rationing, your Focus will last.

Do math and see whether dual wielding or using a two handed weapon gets better stats, as well as compare armor and weigh the advantages of a set. That being said, most of the time a two-handed weapon will provide better Intellect.

Do quests for rewards. Keep gear that has the Lucky buff on for as long as possible unless a boss/miniboss is hard enough to force you to use better gear. Alternatively, keep an eye out for the endgame gear; when the entire loadout is obtained, the Lucky buff will no longer be needed. See Shiroda Fortress's part for more info.

If you're concerned about money there are various wells where you can fill Empty Bottles to make foods/potions to sell for a profit.

Keep in mind you don't have to be able to see an enemy to hit them with Shadow Bolt. You can start fights far before you can see the enemy.

Right before the enemy casts a linear projectile, crouch and you'll dodge the skill probably. Fast homing ones can hit you in the back, slow homing can be occasionally dodged by jumping and forcing it to turn and waste time.

Bandit Hill

Skill Progression: Dark Impact->Meditate->Shadow Lock->Meditate OR Meditate->Summon Shadow->Meditate->Summon Shadow Ironically the beginning is the hardest for a Prest, compared to the Warrior.

After killing the miniboss with the charge attack, backtrack to unlock the chest and get the Lederhosen. Check every item you get and see if they're an upgrade in Intelligence.

It may be faster to kill things by using strike rather than casting Shadow Bolt.

The boss is actually difficult. Shadow Lock him if you have it, otherwise wait for it to wear off first before summoning a shadow.

Ryomura Village

Talk to everyone. 2 quests before continuing the campaign (Finding a Lineage Scroll, getting a Ghost Mushroom). Talk to Captain Masaru twice, then go forward to get a quest about better water, before backtracking and going into the inn (not the weapon shop, nothing of value there) and talk to the people inside. Dump your junk - unused gear, consumables. When you leave, you should only have 1 Empty Bottle in your inventory.

The White Forest

Skill Progression: Starting with Meditate 2 and Summon Shadow 2, Summon Shadow 3->Dark Impact->Shadow Lock

Your battle plan is drawing aggro before Summon Shadow and backing off and using Meditate / Shadow Bolt while enemies fight with the shadow. Always be ready to summon more shadows, and Meditate often to replenish Focus. Do remember that Summon Shadow should be your priority, as well as that Shadow Bolt uses take away from Focus needed to recast Summon Shadow. You can make infinite money by converting the Bottled Izumi Water you can get in this area to Enhanced Water by talking to the guy at the end of Ryomura Village. Buying Empty Bottles at $2 and selling for $20, you can make a profit of 18 per water.The Enhanced Water does not stack, however. First time around before quest completion, you can only get 1 sample.

Future note: don't bother with Deep Water. They sell for $2 and give no profit.

After the miniboss is some bamboo - the secret entrance. Also, a rock that can be mined with a Pickaxe - but of no interest right now.

In the building, at the right end, keep wall jumping (just tap up repeatedly) and open the chest to get the Kabuki Mask. Sell it. The room nearest to it has the Izumi Sabatons.

The boss here isn't too difficult once you spam your shadows. Just play smart.

Return to Ryomura Village. Trade in the lineage scroll. Sell your junk again (the Ice weapon included, save the water for enhancement). Talk to the Captain again, talk to the water guy to get your enhanced water, then sell it.

Burial Grounds

Skill Progression: Split Shadow 1 -> 2->Logic 1. Get a Ghost Mushroom here for the guy in Ryomura Village.

Remember you can start fights at range and have 2 shadows ready when starting a fight by precasting (note the shadow's cooldown).

A fight with a warrior and hunter at some point is dangerous. Split them up rather than letting both gang up on you or your shadow. Focus the hunter first and lock the warrior when you can, if you can. If it feels impossible, exit the map and re-enter to grind more levels. Alternatively, there's a stack of crates nearby that they apparently can't attack you on.

Miniboss is nothing special. Swarm with shadows.

The Cloak of Night gear is excellent. Same with the Hood of Night. Equip either or both, but at least 1 for the Reflex buff. Note that Reflex only applies once.

You'll likely see fights where your fodder doesn't last - usually against multiple enemies. That's fine - pace your spellcasting and always have focus on hand to summon more shadows. Shadow Lock enemies to decrease the # of threats at a given time. Meditate as soon as you can. Staying back and doing nothing is fine.

The boss here also summons fodder - but you're better at it than him. Again, always be ready to Summon Shadow. Kill off his shadows so yours can stay around longer to kill off his.. Meditate when you can (and can fully benefit from it). Shadow Lock isn't needed. Dispense Shadow Bolts when you have too much Focus.

This boss drops Shadow Walk. Running away is important for a Priest and for covering ground.

Return to Ryomura Village. Giving the Ghost Mushroom to the guy gives you Grips of Lightning, which you possibly might want to equip.

The Emerald Temple

Talk to people. Continue the campaign. Buy the European Wine from the Dutch trader to give to the drunkard in Ryomura Village. He gives the Luck Cat Amulet, which gives the rare Lucky buff. Also buy the Crab Claw as well for the mission. There's a chest near the armor shopkeeper. Don't open it, it contains a Shadow Gem which you won't use for a while. Buy a Crab Claw. It's needed for the campaign.

Dai'Jin Mines

Skill Progression: Logic 2.

Nothing much to say here. Spam clones, meditate often, pace your spells. Might want to Shadow Lock the Berserkers lest they snowball and destroy you. Don't touch the spikes, ever.

Bring your Crab Claw. The first door has a neutral NPC and a chest that contains a Pickaxe.

Lady Akari will oneshot you if you are hit.  Spam your own projectile and jump over hers, Meditating when you need to. Or keep her far away enough and you can just exit the map on the other side.

I got Logic. Because Priests heavily invest in it to begin with, the returns are far greater.

Lord Dai'Jin is medium difficulty, punishing multihit moves hard - possibly forcing you to Re-Spec. Turn off your Shadow Clone binding to be sure you never cast it. Beware his Kunai Sting which can keep you in range of his other attacks. Patience is needed in this battle. Counter his Kunai Sting with Shadow Lock to give yourself breathing room. Save Potions for when he's managed to get his combos off on you.

Alternatively if you find that he's too annoying, Re-Spec into Meditate 2, Spirit Barrier 2, Insight 3, Frost Spike 3, Soul Shatter 1. Then cast Soul Shatter whenever you're near full focus.

Then Re-Spec back to normal: Dark Impact 1, Meditate 2, Summon Shadow 3, Shadow Lock 1, Split Shadow 2, Logic 2.

IIRC there's a chest that requires Blink. It's not important, though.

Return to the Emerald Temple. The guy you freed can enhance your gear, and gives you a Shadow Gem. Don't do anything yet. Save the enhancements for the best gear. In particular, you can only get 2 Shadow Gems total in a F2P runthrough. Anyways, talk to guy in the field near the scarecrow and start his quest, and grab an Empty Bottle.

If you level up, get Logic 3.

The Venomwoods

Skill Progression: Dark Intentions 1.

Ryota the Sly is trivialized by your expendable fodder, who will gladly suicide his poison shots and make him inhale his own poison. Don't forget to take a sample of the poison in his area.

Go all the way to the right before backtracking to the door - that's the way to the boss.

Lord Takeshi has heavy passive regen. Summon another Shadow only when he kills one. Mostly you'll be Meditating and casting Shadow Bolt to kill him.

Return to the Emerald Temple. Sell junk. Cash in the toxin. If you don't like challenges, bring 2 Invisibility Potions (or one if you're patient | buy from the foreign merchant in the Emerald Temple). Also buy the Exotic Spices to save yourself a trip.

The Shogun Palace

Skill Progression: Energy Field 1-> Shadow Lock 2

The Warriors's Blood Mirror can do a little or a lot of damage. It all depends on whether you have Split Shadow.

Haddaku the Swift is annoying. Feel free to Energy Field his clone.

The mages here are threatening because they can instantly deplete your focus with a linear spell (dark crescent), heal each other/themselves relatively fast compared to past mages, and do decent damage with their fast homing fireballs. Any fight that involves more than 1 enemy and has a mage should not be taken lightly.

Challenge/Fun Room

There's a room here that heavily suggests you bring a Invisibility Potion to get 2 chests. In here is a Warrior/Mage combo, next to them is a Warrior/Assassin combo.

I actually don't know how to beat this room outside of getting the Warrior into the same corner you are (and thus making him unable to attack you) and soloing the mage. However, a combination of Decoy and Blink (and possibly the Swiftness buff) will be more than enough to grab the chests. Repeat again to get out. Buying a Shadow Potions is likely cheaper than using Re-Spec twice. If stuck, just go to settings and leave current area.

The 2 rewards in the chests are the Shogun Flame Bo and the Fancy Robes. 'Put on the Fancy Robes as soon as you get them. 'They have the highest Intellect stat of any chest gear in the game.

A similar fight later on has the advantage of space - attack the warrior then run all the way back to the beginning of the room, deactivating the mage and making it 2 1v1 battles rather than 1 1v2 battle. After this fight's room is the Boss room, and it doesn't save before the fight begins. Save before entering the door..

Warlord Asura is dangerous. Avoid his channeled attack and keep away from him when he turns red.

Don't forget to enhance the Fancy Robes.  If you put in the Shadow Gem and it says Transcendent quality, then upgrade it. If not, then feed it Gold or some other material first.  (get gold from the Dai'Jin Mines) Otherwise, refrain from enhancing things, you never know if there's anything better coming up.

If you still haven't done so, buy the Exotic Spices for the Fallen Village's Inn Shopkeeper.

The Fallen Village

A chest next to the armor shopkeeper contains an Emerald. Don't open it till you need it.

The Inn shopkeeper needs Exotic Spices and will reward you with an Emerald. What you really want though is to fill most of your inventory with Empty Bottles . At the end of the Fallen Village is a well that gives Healing Potions that can be sold for $37 each. They stack, too (not limited by 5 like Empty Bottles).

If you feel like your gear is inadaquate, feel free to go shopping for weapons / gear. Personally I got 2 Shadow Kusaris and the Walk of Shadow.

Haruki Residence

Skill Progression: Dark Intentions 2->3.

Spam your Shadows, even more so thanks to your lack of CD. If you find that you're dying, you can always presummon a shadow, wait till it's nearly off cooldown, start a fight and have a second one ready instantly.

Daisuke the Noble is a knockoff Warrior without heals. He has an ability that negates damage a few times. Swarm him with your shadows. 

Before the boss fight, there's a hidden chest that can be wall jumped to to get the Snow Silk Leggings. While technically the 2nd best in Leg slot for Intellect, the gap between the two (16) is the smallest for gear with Reflex - so it's our endgame gear.

Lord Tetsuo has some threats in his Blood Mirror and his projectile (which will oneshot you). Spam shadows, be ready to run (and jump) away from the projectile, stop attacking him when he has Blood Mirror activated (unless you're at high HP). Not too hard, though it's a long battle.

After the fight, collect the doll from the chest, and talk to the guy. Then head to Emerald Temple to collect the Shadow Gem from the chest near the armor shopkeeper. Then upgrade the Snow Silk Legs. If you put in the Shadow Gem and it says Transcendent quality, then upgrade it. If not, then feed it an emerald or some other gem first. (get gold from the Dai'Jin Mines)  Then return to the Fallen Village and get Pazu's Glass Doll. Feel free to sell it. Then you continue on with the quest.

Ichisan Castle

Skill Progression: Dark Impact 2->Dark Impact 3.

The mages here can teleport and can create an aura that massively boosts their damage but stuns them on hit. Beware this.

Generic enemies have more skills, but are still easy to kill, if tedious. 

With your skills and lower CDs it's possible to have your shadows distract an enemy while you duel another. Keep summoning shadows as soon as you can while you Shadow Lock the other and Meditate and use Shadow Bolt. Energy Field is great for disabling pesky melee enemies and buying you time to summon more shadows or otherwise wait for CDs to run down.

Ichisan Retainer isn't too special. Has a buff, Volitile Wrath that makes him give and take more damage that procs whenever he's hit. He has a channeled heal that fully heals him. Either Energy Field him or Shadow Lock him if he tries it. It looks like the blink spell you have.

There's a chest inside a room that contains the Naga Eye. Another endgame gear.

There is a chest here that probably requires Blink. Wall Jump and Blink to get to a ledge then do something to get to the chest itself.

Kasumi has a variety of skills. Sadly, she's the one out of her league. Presummon a shadow before talking to her.

Mine the rock after the boss room to get a Crystal. Go to the White Forest's hidden well and mine the rock there for another Crystal.

Shiroda Fortress

Best in slot items for intellect.

• Serpent's Hood (from Lady Shiori) at 42 Intellect.

• Ethereal Grips are dropped by Shiroda Workers and Priests and have the 2nd highest Intellect in the game (at 37, the highest is in premium content). Grips of Lightning have 11 and Reflex.

• Fancy Robes (63 Intellect, 20 Focus).Enhance with Shadow Gem #1.

• Salted Legging (from Lady Shiori) at 52 Intellect. Snow Silk Leggings has 36 and Reflex. Enhance the Snow Silk with Shadow Gem #2.

• Lucky Cat Amulet is beat by Naga Eye (actually the best for Intellect, F2P and P2P), but we keep Lucky Cat Amulet for the Luck buff until we don't need luck anymore.

• Walk of Shadow (buy from armor shop in the Fallen Village) and Mystical Greaves (Haruki Retainer) are tied for 4th/5th place in Intellect.

• Spectral Scythe (from Fallen Village's weapons shop) is beat by Jadefire (Lady Shiori).
• The 2 Shadow gems go to the Fancy Robes/Snow Silk Leggings as they're aquired first. The 2 Crystals are next. Spares get Emeralds. Consult this as to where to get them.

Note that even with the best gear you are still very fragile. 

Enemies are threatening and have skills that make them decent 1v1 threats. Treat every fight like a boss fight and end things quickly - don't hesitate to use your ultimates. A moment's carelessness can result in your death. Abuse your range.

Assassins have powerful bursts capable of quickly killing you.

Warriors have Deadly Charge which can kill in one hit as well as Blood Mirror and are tanky, lack heals, and decent burst damage.

The Priests are worthy of being considered a miniboss. They have a powerful spell that can oneshot you that's slow but homing - jump often to wait it out, simply running away is too slow. They can spawn allies every few seconds which can get in your way and should be ignored. They can heal themselves. They have a spell that is linear and depletes Focus. TDLR: Kill ASAP.

My personal battle plan considering Priests is to not even move up to them, just keep casting Shadow Bolt and Shadow Lock.

Lady Shiori is just another miniboss. Stay at medium range near her. Her Baskilisk gaze just requires you to turn around to avoid heavy damage. When she flies into the air and sends a series of blasts at you you only need to tap torward her every time she sends one.

Use Shadow Lock to prevent her from doing damage for a time. Use Meditate while she's charging her medusa spell. Patience, timing and vigilance is key to this fight.

Mistwalkers are dangerous. Their trademark lethal poison will kill you. They're also fragile so either stun them or nuke them. Wait for your skills to come off cooldown before fighting a mistwalker.

Kazuro

Kazuro has 29,300 HP and 100 Focus. You might want to consult his page as well.

Abilities

• Puppet Master: Summon a clone of you (with your skills, stats and gear) while he floats in the air, out of your reach.
  • This skill has a sizable cooldown, about 1 minute.
• Frost Bolt: Sends out a fast homing bolt that will slow you. This can be used while using Puppet Master.
• Freeze Stun: Channels before releasing a short ranged shockwave that stuns you for a few seconds.
• ???: Similar to Warlord Asura's stun-heal, Kazuro stuns himself while healing rapidly.
  • Stun him or interrupt him when you see him charging this up.
  • Run your combos on him while he's helpless. Adjust where necessary (no need to stun when he's already stunned).

Fighting Kazuro is a cycle of whittling him down and fighting your own clone.

I beat Kazuro at Level 20 with ?.

My gear: ?.

Statline: ?

Combos

To be written...

Strategies

• Use your combos to keep the damage on Kazuro, and eventually kill him.
• Puppet Master:
  • Your clones are exact copies of you but controlled by the AI.
  • Keep in mind Kazuro's timer while he waits out you fighting your clone. Be nearby when the timer is almost out.
  • Kazuro's Puppet Master also has a decent cooldown, ~1m. 
• Frost Bolt:
  • Cripples your move speed, preventing you from getting behind Kazuro while stunned, and in general, from running away.
• Freeze Stun:
  • Move out of the way if you can't stun Kazuro or otherwise interrupt the ability.
  • It may be wiser to just avoid rather than interrupt Kazuro - saving your stuns/interrupts for when he's trying to heal himself.
• Heal-Stun
  • Ideally you'll prevent Kazuro from using this. Time between attempted uses is probably greater than Slam's CD, so just keep Slam on hand when Kazuro goes below half.
  • If Kazuro gets this off, immediatelybegin running your damage combos.
• Use your Potion when needed, or when you can get the full benefits while retreating (say, from Kazuro's Freeze Stun, rather than while you're attacking him).