Healing BGs

OBJnoob

I'm not an experienced healer so I could definitely use some advice but this thread is also just to talk about the plight of healers in BGs.

I thought the Warden set for Endless Archive looked pretty good so I threw it on a PvP healer. I'm using Gardener of Seasons Ice Staff front bar: Crystallized Slab, Deceptive Predator, Polar Wind, Soothing Spores, and the weird grappling vine thing that I've never used before and can't remember the name of. Trees ulti. Rallying Cry backbar sword and shield: blue Betty, ice fortress, Resolving Vigor, living trellis (using the minor lifesteal morph, can't remember name,) and Lotus flower (the one that heals more than one target.)

Things the build has going for it: It's pretty survivable so that's good. Not as incredibly tanky as some healers I'd wager, but I'm wearing the wild hunt ring and I'm using deceptive predator for speed and minor evasion. Couple that with the grappling vine and I'm both able to get out of dodge and stick with who I'm healing very well. I'm stage 3 vampire, blocking on both bars, have about 38k HP, and a fair amount of crit resistance (rallying cry,) plus reduced block cost. So the survivability is like B+ level I think.

Also, if you hadn't already noticed, this is a very high Ulti Gen build. Very high uptime on major and minor heroism. Extra ulti when I use the grappling vine. Extra ulti for activating an animal companion ability (I think that's right?) Extra ulti for using my Ulti on low health targets. I'm running the tree ulti on both bars, and I can drop them... Frequently.

Things I provide my group beyond healing: 250-ish weapon damage and 1300-ish crit resistance. Occasional (working on my uptimes,) minor heroism and/or major cowardice to nearby enemies. Minor toughness. Minor recoveries buff. Oh wait I just remembered I think I'm wearing Magma Incarnate so I'm also helping with minor resolve and minor courage.

Downsides: I don't know if it's a console issue or just a me issue but I'm not really sure when I'm successfully overhealing and when I'm not. If someone needs a fat heal I try to hit them with Polar Wind first and then immediately hit them with spores. I assume it works out most of the time but I'm really not sure.

I don't have ANY damaging skills. So I'm pretty useless without somebody to follow. And I'm finding my teams feel a little, uh, aimless sometimes. A combination of "well I don't do very much damage do I?" And "I don't know or care where I'm supposed to be."

I've had a few capable teammates that I'd follow around helping go on killing sprees but after about 5 minutes of them never doing anything to win the game I'd leave and see if anybody else gave a crap.

Obviously this problem is worse for me specifically because I'm an OBJ noob and all... But seriously, I'm a healer bruh. I'm not getting any killing blows here... Help me WIN. I'm here to help you be awesome. Please help me win, lol. Being awesome while losing perhaps hits even on the joy-o-meter but helping someone else be awesome while losing registers 0 joy, I say again, 0 joy.

Necrotech_Master

yeah going in a solo queue as a healer is going to be sheer hit or miss, especially if your still in lower MMR

once you get to higher MMR your team will seriously appreciate having a healer available

healers tend to do the best when the group sticks together, but some of the objective modes dont necessarily favor doing that, but in something like DM, a healer can make or break a team winning

OBJnoob

You're right. The fact that it's CtR weekend isn't helping matters. I like CtR though so -snicker- trying not to huff too much about it.

Just got out of a decent match-- sadly we did lose again. I got to heal some brawls though I think my healer does pretty well. As I was typing another que popped and we won! Well done team.

Notes on myself... I'm trying to work the overheal thing too much maybe. Running myself out of resources a little bit. Gotta incorporate some more heavy attacks.

Necrotech_Master

for the gardner of seasons, for the harbinger mode (when you block cast a heal), you have 6 seconds to do a overheal to proc the aoe debuff/buff, so yeah you dont really have to spam

both bonuses in gardner only get the bonus from overhealing using green balance skills, so you dont need your other heals to do the overheal

probably make sure you have mag pots, or switch some of your heals to be stam (like the green balance conal heal, dont recall the name, but you could use the stam morph so your not 100% leaning into mag)

vigor being a heal over time lasts 15 sec so you dont have to worry much about that one

OBJnoob

Yeah I could definitely switch to stam spores that would help my sustain. It'd remove minor recovery buffs from what I give my team though so... I'ma think about it. It really would help a lot.

I know that Polar Wind won't proc the set but it is my strongest heal. I normally use it first just to get the friendly out of danger then follow with spores to ensure that the spores will overheal instead of be 100% needed.

So like in a perfect world... We're in a big old fight, I'm merrily tossing heals around-- tis the season and all-- I notice someone needs help. Or better yet I noticed somebody is about to need help.

I grab my trusty vine and I sling that sucker round my teammate, yanking myself into the fray. I immediately pull block and use Polar Wind, then I hit him with Spores, hopefully putting major cowardice on nearby enemies. It's a cool style because I actively seek to bodyblock for my teammates in situations like this. And when it wasn't quite like that I normally don't worry too much about the cowardice and just keep everyone topped off for the minor heroism.

Body-blocking is an interesting tactic for a healer to have. I enjoy it. I'm sure Im not the first healer to do it but I really consider it part of my build. For another example if the enemies are ranged. I slap my Shimmering Shield up and get in front, tyvm.

As far as Vigor goes-- I'm actually using the selfish morph. It's a reliable way to proc rallying cry and magma incarnate.

Necrotech_Master

when i run my warden in the archive, i usually use polar wind more as a burst heal, since it burst heals you +1 other target who is the lowest hp

a reason i would suggest echoing vigor is you dont really need the super strong heal on yourself since you have polar wind, having the large aoe heal over time will help keep your allies closer to max hp, which would make it easier to proc overheals for gardner of seasons (since you only need overheals from the green balance trees)

based on what you said as well it doesnt look like your using the aoe heal over time from green balance (the pvp morph is corrupting pollen which applies major defile to enemies in the area while healing allies)

OBJnoob

Mm. Well.

When I ran my warden through EA I went with Arctic Blast because it was an Oakensoul build. Plus I run solo so... -shrug- I have two Wardens, and even though I earned the gear on my orc stamden I'm using the set on my dark elf vampire Magden for PvP.

Anyways. If you could suggest another useful monster set then I might give up Resolving Vigor but as is it's my only way to proc magma incarnate so I don't think it's going anywhere.

No, I'm not using corrupting pollen. There's no real reason not to-- call it a barspace thing I guess. Its definitely on my radar as a skill I could/should be using but I am struggling to have teams that group up at all, much less hold still, so for now i think im comfortable without it. It's hard enough to hit these jokers with my Ulti. I had some werewolf the other day-- he was going ham with my help-- but every time he'd get chunked he'd just sprint off in some big circle trying to not get hit. Lol. Bruh, I got you.

But about corrupting pollen... Are you sure it's an AoE HoT? I don't think it is. It's an AoE burst heal, with a synergy that heals for more. Perhaps the synergy is a HoT and that's what you mean?

Necrotech_Master

for corrupting pollen, i was kind of mixing it up with the other morph, but it also kind of has a heal over time

the allies get heal over time as long as they hit the synergy, and it does a burst heal at end of the 6 seconds

the other morph, budding seeds, has the heal over time + burst heal + synergy and the unique effect is that you can cast the skill again to do the burst heal early

so both morphs have their merits, though the corrupting pollen is also a debuff on enemies

for monster sets, theres different options depending on which way you want to aim

if you want more survivability for yourself, then i would go with nibenay bay battlereeve (gives you dmg shield when someone uses a gap closer, when you dont have a dmg shield passive dmg reduction from player dmg)

if you want more support oriented monster set you could go with ozezan (grants minor vitality to allies when healing, and additional armor when overhealed, which would support gardner due to also needing overheals to proc it)

so if you used ozezan, you could give allies both minor heroism (from gardner) and a unique 4272 bonus armor as well as minor vitality (the minor vitality would overlap if you went into harbinger of the fall mode with gardner set though)

theres probably a few other monster sets that could still be useful too (earthgore for emergency heals, chokethorn)

magma incarnate is not bad, but it only really effectively works if your heal targets are within 8 meters of each other, not 100% uptime, and minor resolve is usually easier to source from other places (in fact procing magma on yourself with resolving vigor is alone not giving you the minor resolve because your getting that from vigor)

Brakkish

In the simplest of terms, a healer; of any class - it's a thankless job.

It's the moments after the BG where someone takes the time to whisper "Nice heals", or "thanks for the heals" that is added fuel for continuation of the role.

But do be prepared for the majority of the time spent with teammates who don't even realize you're a healer, or even the extreme; even after the match with you sitting a 2mil+ heals a 6000+ score from crit heals, and you get something like "you're worthless, not a single kill - quit the game!"

You really have to just play for yourself, as anti-teammate as that sounds.
Eventually, you play with the same people long enough they recognize who you are, what spec you're on and the value you're bringing to the table. Unfortunately, there will always be those who don't get deep enough into BG's to see beyond kill counts.

OBJnoob

Glad you joined in @Brakkish I was very impressed by your video in the other warden thread. I meant to tell you so but... Didn't, lol. I did however give you an awesome.

I understand you're more of a tank than a healer but... May I ask what sets you're wearing? Like I don't want to rip your build off but I am impressed by your survivability and also curious how you were immobilizing people. My guess is you must be running an immobilize poison?

There was one skill on your bar that I didn't know what it was. But that's not so weird-- I haven't done much healing in my time here, I'm using a lot of abilities I'm unfamiliar with as well!

On Xbox NA BGs it's hard to type and the voice chat is broken. So nobody really says anything. I'm not looking for a thank you. Just mostly... Well. I don't want to sound arrogant because I'm not the best player. But. Not having myself as a DPS on my own team seems to leave a hole. A hole in outgoing damage and, more importantly, a hole in direction. A lot of my teams seem to have no direction.

Brakkish

Correct, immobilize is coming from Escapist's Poison

The other healing skill you might be referring to (slotted far right in the vid) is:
https://eso-skillbook.com/skill/budding-seeds
I use it as an area HoT, but converts to an instant if triggered again. It's handy.

And https://eso-skillbook.com/skill/radiating-regeneration as my main spammable.

Alter goes to work just by dropping it, another area HoT - no cost really.
And obv, polar wind for the teammates getting focussed. Or doing too much YOLO. (which I eventually will save resources for someone else if they do that too much).

I swap sets sometimes for a more tanky setup - but in the vid you were referring to I was running https://eso-sets.com/set/buffer-of-the-swift (weps and jewelry 5 piece)

And https://eso-hub.com/en/sets/maras-balm (5 piece)
All heavy
All armor sturdy
All weps powered.
Full points into Health
Ritual Mundus
Monster set is various, users choice - there I think I was running Earthgore and something else that gave a 4% healing done, (looking for an 8% boost total) cant recall exactly as I swap monster sets out a lot depending on team composition and opponents.

OBJnoob

It must've been Altar that I didn't recognize.

HMM.

I'm not sure what to say. I have Maras and Buffer. I'm going to keep using Gardener of Seasons because that's really the whole point but... I may steal some other ideas from you. I may change my mundus to the Ritual. And I may tank up a little bit.

Oh I know what I want to ask-- how much weapon damage do you have, and how important is it for healing? I feel like you're going to say "hardly any, and it's not." In which case that may be another thing I'm doing wrong. Not that I have a bunch of weapon damage... But I have been clinging to what little I got, thinking it'd help my healing.

Brakkish

One thing I didn't mention that may be different is I'm on Nord. Frost resistance, 4620; Just taking damage (which is always) you get 5 Ult every 10 secs in addition to what you'd normally be generating, and 2600 Phys and Spell resists. In Addition; 1000 HP boost, along with a 1500 Stam boost.

I like Altar https://eso-skillbook.com/skill/overflowing-altar because it lasts for something like 30 secs, HoT for every teammate in the area and ticks (on my build) for like 400 Health every sec. with zero management. Easy to obtain in the undaunted skill line. And has a radius of what seems like 4 miles.

Buffed up, I'm well over resist cap sitting at 55%, which is perfect for knocking anyone's penetration down. Pen has to get through the overage first.

Flare gives another 10% mit from all damage. https://eso-skillbook.com/skill/revealing-flare

As for weapon damage - as you've suspected, I couldn't tell you And correct again, I've tested in the past, and seeking out Wep damage wasn't worth any tradeoff - for the fact you pointed out earlier (around team cohesion). Having better heals won't fix the bad gameplay or bad teamwork, or allow you to heal four corners of the map at the same time as teammates chase rabbits. And for that - I stand firmly; I build tanky first, built for objectives; any heals I can spare to the otherwise would be rabbit chasers is charity on my part and discretionary based on their level of teamwork. Now if I got a team member absolutely wrecking bad guys next to me, helping me to survive in return - I'm pumping heals his way no questions asked. The guy that runs solo into both teams - lol, nope saving my resources for the fight that will be coming my way after he gets vaporized in the .2 seconds.

Now since you still have one foot in the "I like to dps" arena - you can do both on the build, simply by switching sets. You won't do a ton of damage but plenty to kill squishies. Just swap your sets to Crimson Twighlight and Leeching
https://eso-sets.com/set/crimson-twilight
https://eso-sets.com/set/leeching-plate

Using the last two sets is diabolical, but fun. Not only do you get an HP boost from the sets, but the damage scales off your HP, AND you're getting an added boost to your Polar Wind (Crits around 14k per press of the button) AND you're getting additional self heals.

Also, Sentinal shoulder and Earthgore head is my go-to monster piece setup. Nibenay if DPS is strong on the opposing team.
Also I may mix and match Crimson or Leeching with say Mara's if there's a lot of dot builds opposing.

But if theres crazy dps on both opposing, I'll just go full on tank with Maras, Swift, Nibenay

OBJnoob

Ah, Nord is it? Yes, I can see how that's a good choice. My build is sorta accidently an ulti gen build-- so it would benefit from Nord. I'm not going to race change about it though, I change my characters up too frequently to worry about that. Mine is a Dark Elf, with helps against flame damage since I'm stage 3 vampire.

So. I ventured into Cyro the other day. "Healer LFG." I felt like getting some AP and healing some big fights but I was invited into a trio instead. Okay, no biggy, beggars can't be choosers as momma always said.

Turns out it was a pretty loosely knit group. Everybody was kinda doing their own thing but crown was tagging along with this other group. So we did end up in a zerg -v- zerg fight after all. I spent half my time healing our zerg and half my time making sure crown was okay.

It was pretty epic. Crown was on some tanky sorc build but he had a little damage to him. But what was so cool... He'd find a group he wanted to attack and streak into them. Drop his burst (he was almost wiping them, too bad he had no help,) but then of course he'd get dogpiled. I'd grasping vine my way over to him, give him some Polar Wind then some Soothing Spores, and then when he'd streak away I'd use him to grappling vine myself back out. It was low-key pretty epic.

That being said... I did make some changes. I dropped Sword and Shield from by BB and equipped a resto staff instead. Radiating Regen is way better than the minor lifesteal morph of living vines. And also, on my front bar, I replaced grappling vine with Budding Seeds. Other than playing with that sorc, grappling vines just hasn't been that useful for me. The skill itself seems kinda buggy in the same way gap closers sometimes are, and it's very expensive.

I like the changes a lot.

I do not think I'll be tanking up though. I am pretty tanky anyway, and what you have in tankiness I have in speed. I like the speed.

Brakkish

OBJnoob wrote: »

<snip> I'd grasping vine my way over to him, give him some Polar Wind then some Soothing Spores, and then when he'd streak away I'd use him to grappling vine myself back out. It was low-key pretty epic.

Lol I can picture this; this sort of troll-riffic fun is just my style.

Added note on the speed; I use https://eso-skillbook.com/skill/deceptive-predator Major expedition, snare immunity, plus another 10% mit to AOE just for having it slotted.

OBJnoob

Fear not, I'm using deceptive predator too. And the wild hunt ring. Which again, I really like the speed. But I'm also aware it's a pretty "meh" choice of mythic and if ever I feel I'm missing anything I can always change it out. I kinda enjoy having that simple fix in my back pocket too.

I'm glad you appreciated the streak / grappling vine story. The sorc didn't say anything to me once we parted ways but I'd like to think he thought it was pretty cool too. I mean... It was.

Brakkish

OBJnoob wrote: »

I'm glad you appreciated the streak / grappling vine story. The sorc didn't say anything to me once we parted ways but I'd like to think he thought it was pretty cool too. I mean... It was.

Oh I'm sure the sorc gave you a pixelated head nod on the way out. How could he not, I'd of been rolling.

Like the way you can "feel" someone's pixelated bewilderment after you reflect their javelin and they stand there stunned for a couple of seconds just trying to figure out what happened.