Priest

From Ethene
A priest of the Elf race.

The Priest (PRI) is one of the starting vocations in DQX and primarily focuses on healing. With access to a wide range of status curing and HP restoration spells, as well as a few buffing spells, it is the best vocation for a pure support role. Its buffing abilities are not as great as that of some other support vocations such as the Minstrel or the Dancer, but it makes up for it by having extremely high magical mending-- it's the archetypal healing specialist vocation. They are capable of using Wands, Spears, Staves, and Shields, in addition to access to the vocation-exclusive skill tree Faith. Their coup-de-grace is Saint's Song, which revives all party members, recovers HP of all allies and self by about 50%, and cures any negative status effects for all allies. Their vocation proof allows them to occasionally survive a fatal blow with 1 HP.

Strategy

In battle, Priests should almost always be playing a support role. They have very few capabilities when it comes to damage output-- they can equip staves or spears for better results but this will inevitably be detrimental in any kind of difficult content since it will take away from the defense and magical mending boon provided by the traditional wand and shield combination. In combat, a Priest's role should generally be staying away from enemies and making sure the party is taken care of. Healing should be top priority, and applying buffs should be next. Only when the necessary buffs are applied and your party is at full health can you focus on things like damaging or debuffing enemies. In terms of character/equipment build, Priests should prioritize HP above other stats as they naturally have low HP and keeping the healer alive is one of the most important parts of combat. Defense should come next, and then Magical Mending third (this is an important stat but normally the character won't need to be built to prioritize it as this vocation's magical mending is naturally very high), and the others can be up to your own discretion.

Priests have a special vocation-specific skill called Care Prayer which allows them to double their magical mending. This is an extremely useful ability and is one of the primary reasons Priests are quintessential to so many party formations. One of the first actions you should take at the beginning of any difficult battle is to make sure this buff is applied. Another important self-buff is the Goddess' Grace skill, which lasts until you die, where it will auto-revive you at 50% HP. However, this buff takes longer to cast and shouldn't be prioritized over healing a party member. Rapid Stick, a Wand skill, will reduce spellcasting time by 50% for one minute after use, but it does take time to recharge. Alma Mater is important to apply to both allies and the self, as it will protect one time against an instant death attack (leaving the character at 1 HP), as long as the initial HP is over 50%. Divine Intervention does the same thing but allows the character to survive the deathblow regardless of initial HP. This skill, however, does take time to charge. The last "quintessential" skill (not necessarily required, but is useful in most battles) is Snap, Crackle, Poof, another wand skill, which will give any party member immunity to receiving negative status effects while the buff is in place.

A recommended flow for battle is to set up Care Prayer and Rapid Stick as soon as possible, but prioritize these behind immediately necessary healing. Grace of the Goddess should come next. Once you have these set up you can apply group buffs like Kabuff or Insulatle depending on the strengths of the enemy. As long as your allies are doing fine and you have time to spare make sure to give yourself a Grace of the Goddess as early in the fight as possible because it will be an important buff later on in many battles, and it doesn't expire until death. If there is a more immediate threat of death then Alma Mater (on the one or two allies that need to stay alive) may be a better option. Multiheal is going to be your primary tool for healing, although for individual allies-- and depending on their remaining HP, Midheal or Moreheal will also be necessary. Priests actually technically have access to Fullheal as a spell with charge time, although there are practically no situations in which it is ever necessary because Priests have naturally high enough magical mending that Moreheal will almost always be strong enough to restore any one ally to full HP. Besides healing, Priests should also be restoring status effects, although restoring a full party is a slow-ish process because the status restoration spells only target one ally at a time. Restoring HP should of course come before healing status effects. In this manner, a party member death should be seen as a status effect in terms of priority-- it is more important to keep the remaining party members alive than to possibly risk their death by reviving instead of healing. However, if the entire party is dead besides the Priest (a surprisingly common circumstance) then of course revival--and making sure you have a Grace of the Goddess buff--are both top priority.

Vocation Quests

Quest 57 - Aromatherapist's Request
Quest 58 - Eldona's Blessing
Quest 59 - Call of the Reaper
Quest 60 - Saint's Balance
Quest 61 - Priest's Battle

Learned Spells

Japanese Name English Name Description MP Cost Method Learned
ホイミ (Hoimi) Heal Restores at least 25 HP to one ally. 2 Level 1
キアリー (Kiarī) Squelch Cures the poison status of one ally. 2 Level 3
リホイミ (Rihoimi) Reheal Restores 3 HP to one ally every 3 seconds, for 60 seconds. 2 Level 5
ザメハ (Zameha) Cock-a-doodle-doo Cures the sleep status of one ally. 2 Level 7
ザオ (Zao) Zin Occasionally revives an ally at 1 HP. 5 Level 10
マホリー (Mahorī) Defizzle Cures the fizzle status of one ally. 2 Level 14
ズッシード (Zusshīdo) Thunk Increases the weight of one ally for 90 seconds. 2 Level 16
マヌーハ (Manūha) Dedazzle Cures the dazzle status of one ally. 2 Level 18
ベホイミ (Behoimi) Midheal Restores at least 80 HP to one ally. 4 Level 22
キアリク (Kiariku) Tingle Cures the paralysis status of one ally. 2 Level 25
スカラ (Sukara) Buff Increases the defense power of one ally by one level (20%) for 120 seconds. 2 Level 28
リベホイミ (Ribehoimi) Remidheal Restores 7 HP to one ally every 3 seconds, for 60 seconds. 4 Level 30
ザオラル (Zaoraru) Zing Occasionally revives an ally at 25% HP. 8 Level 32
フバーハ (Fubāha) Insulatle Increases the breath resistance of allies around the caster by one level (20%) for 120 seconds. 4 Level 34
スクルト (Sukuruto) Kabuff Increases the defense power of allies around the caster by one level (20%) for 120 seconds. 4 Level 36
ザキ (Zaki) Whack Has a small chance to instantly kill an enemy. 5 Level 45
ベホマラー (Behomarā) Multiheal Restores at least 80 HP to allies near the caster. 16 Level 50
ベホイム (Behoimu) Moreheal Restores at least 164 HP to one ally. 8 Level 63
リベホイム (Ribehoimu) Remoreheal Restores 10 HP to one ally every 3 seconds, for 60 seconds. 10 Level 74
ベホマ (Behoma) Fullheal Restores at least 999 HP to one ally. 16 Allocate 180 points into Faith

Vocation Tree Skills

NOTE: Any skill with a(専)is an "exclusive" skill, meaning it only applies to the current vocation.

Faith (しんこう心)
Japanese Name English Name Description Type MP Cost Charge Time SP Needed
おはらい Benediction Removes the curse status from a single ally. Skill 2 - 8
全職業でかいふく魔力+10 Natural Magical Mending +10 - Passive - - 16
マホトラのころも(専) Magic Cloak (EX) Gives you an effect that causes 10% of the damage you receive to be restored as MP for 1 minute. Skill 2 - 28
全職業で最大MP+10 Natural MP +10 - Passive - - 40
聖女の守り(専) Alma Mater (EX) Gives an ally an effect that allows them to survive a fatal blow with 1 HP remaining if their HP was above 50% at the time of the attack. Effect lasts for 2 minutes. Skill 8 - 48
全職業でかいふく魔力+10 Natural Magical Mending +10 - Passive - - 56
天使の守り(専) Goddess' Grace (EX) Gives yourself an effect that will automatically revive you 5 seconds after you die. Effect lasts until you die. Skill 5 - 70
全職業で最大MP+10 Natural MP +10 - Passive - - 80
全職業でかいふく魔力+10 Natural Magical Mending +10 - Passive - - 90
聖なる祈り(専) Care Prayer (EX) Doubles the effect of your direct healing spells. Effect lasts for 2 minutes. Skill 8 - 100
かいふく魔力+20 Magical Mending +20 - Passive - - 110
最大MP+30(専) MP +30 - Passive - - 120
ホーリーライト(専) Divine Restitution (EX) Deals a light-attribute attack in a narrow area in front of you, and applies リベホイミ (Remidheal) on yourself. Skill 4 25/45 130
たまにHP1生き残り(専)(Tamani HP1 ikinokori) May Survive with 1 HP Gives you a small chance to survive a fatal blow with 1 HP remaining. Passive - - 140
女神の祝福(専) Divine Intervention (EX) Gives an ally an effect that allows them to survive a fatal blow with 1 HP remaining if their HP was at least 2 or more at the time of the attack. Effect lasts for 1 minute. Skill 8 25/90 150
ベホマ(専) Fullheal (EX) Restores at least 1000 HP to a single ally. Spell 16 I(90/180), II(65/130), III(45/90) 180*

Classes
Warrior (WAR)Priest (PRI)Mage (MGE)Martial Artist (MRT)Thief (THF)Minstrel (MIN)Battle Master (BTL)
Paladin (PLD)Armamentalist (ARM)Ranger (RNG)Sage (SGE)Superstar (STA)Monster Master (MON)
Item Master (ITM)Dancer (DNC)Fortune Teller (FOR)Druid (DRU)Gadabout (GAD)Death Master (DTH)
Demon Swordsman (DMN)Pirate (PIR)Guardian (GRD)