The Chanter can be explained in two words: commandment and conviction. Chanters rigorously train the body and mind to become skillful in healing, attacking, and enhancement magic. In addition to Chanters magical abilities, he also possesses exceptional skills involving the use of the staff. The chanter uses mantra magic to inspire the morale of allies, and since it can strengthen abilities, it is the gathering center during battle.
Chanter roles and abilities
The Chanter is similar in personality to the Cleric, but possesses more variety when it comes to physical attack skills. However, it has less mana compared to the Sorcerer, Spiritmaster, or Cleric, all of which use large amounts of mana. This means the Chanter must be careful to make efficient use of its skills even though it tends to use less mana when using them.
Chanters also possesses a variety of buffing, recovery and curing skills, which makes this class very versatile. In particular, the area of buffs, called Mantras, are the Chanter's trademark skills. This allows a Chanter to not only buff its own abilities, but to also enhance nearby allies as well.
This versatility allows the Chanter to support a party by healing, engaging an enemy to deal damage, or be a back-up tank when equipped with a shield. Its role during combat will be defined by the situations a party finds itself in.
Having the highest efficiency among all the classes for recovery and buffing magic means that in addition to grouping with others, the Chanter can effectively play alone when allies are not around.
So you want to play a Chanter...
The Chanter is one of the best soloing classes. Mostly due to their buffs, they deal a great deal of damage and have the ability to heal themselves. Not only this, they are able to use Chain armor, which is just below Plate. Their issue, however, comes when their heals are constantly canceled by mobs or other players.
Here are several good things about being a Chanter:
- Great buffs (Run speed, defense, attack power, etc.)
- Decent heals (Not as strong as Clerics but still helpful)
- Chain armor mastery
- Many attack skills, although mostly melee
Unfortunately, there are negative aspects to playing a Chanter as well:
- Heals can be canceled
- Although they are able to heal, low defense puts them in a delicate situation
While playing Chanters will rarely use their smiting abilities. Their melee attacks are much more efficient than spells, being that they will not fail. Furthermore, melee abilities are used much quicker, dealing more damage in a shorter period of time.
The biggest difference between group play and solo will come when there is not another healer present. The Chanter can play the role of both buffer and healer, even without a Cleric nearby. The issue comes when there is a lot of damage being taken by players in the group because Chanters' heals are not too strong as those of Clerics.
Chanters weapon of choice is his staff, doing both normal melee hits and melee skills. During this period, there are skills that will decrease enemy attack speed, stun enemies and similar, which help regardless if they are playing alone or with others.
Playing a Chanter is not easy
If you decided to play a Chanter, you must embrace the fact you're a hybrid healer as well as a DPS class. With your buffs you will be helping the entire group tremendously by enhancing their abilities. At the same time, you're also required to heal everyone.
That being said, Chanters are one of the most exciting and rewarding classes in Aion, but also have a high learning curve. To learn all the ins and outs of being a chanter you'll spend months and months playing, and after that you'll spend your time looking at spreadsheets and item databases looking for gear and knowledge so you can get the most out of this class.
The MMO players are not forgiving, and Aion community is not much different. If you're skilled at your class you will be often invited into groups, raids and people will soon remember and welcome you. However, if you fail at your role, it will just as easily be remembered and I doubt you want to play alone the entire game.
You can however use a shortcut. There's this amazing Chanter guide written by several skilled players which helps enormously. You'll soon learn the hidden mechanics of the class as well as get an excellent leveling, kinah making, stigmas and equipment guide.
