DK Healer questions & build

ExWhizzy

Hey guys

I came back after a 1 year hiatus. Back then I already healed as Sorc and Temp so I'm kinda used to healing in general. It always bugged me not having a DK healer since I always found this class interesting and challenging. Since I'm not biased to BiS meta decisions I can live with playing a DK as a healer.

With all those new changes to healing itself I'm finding myself into several interesting questions. Maybe u guys can help me out. I think its in general very difficult to utilize skill bars properly since there are a lot of good options overall. I priotize healing > supporting > dpsing > offtanking in that order

1. Igneous Shield. Well...How should I say this. I think this skill is REALLY underwhelming from a healers perspective. It "cripples" my bar by wasting one slot for just nothing. The major mending buff is without a question a hefty buff but the shield itself is kinda meh. Since it's based off my max hp the shield itself is kinda useless for higher content not to mention that most DK tanks run it anyways overwriting my shield. So in the end it's just the major mending. Since I'm the kind of guy waeving in resto heavies anyways for healing and magicka regen I shud have major mending anyways a lot of time. I just dont understand why everybody and their mums suggest picking Igneous Shield as healer. It's always called a must have skill for DK healer. Can anybody explain?

2. Inner Light. I acknowledge the fact that crit chance is very important for heals and dps phases. But I always hated inner light. Another "useless" skill IMO. I just hate having skills for "minor" self buff reasons. In the end it's my job to support my team as best as possible. And I'm losing another important slot. What about Cauterize? This skill seems so great overall. Heals and crit bonus? 2 things I like. I know that I lose some % on magicka but is this really worth it for having a skill I never use? Cauterize is another nice fire and forget skill I can use on time. Sth. I might even using on both bars for the spell crit / heal.

3. Obsidian Shard. Since I'm lacking a spammable Earthen Heart Skill I'm a big fan of Shard to proc Moutain's Blessing. A stun + a big chunk of heal? Seems great. Why isn't this skill not this popular atm?

4. Healing Ward. It always was the "oh-s*it"-button for DKs. I just find myself not using it very often ATM due to having Obsidian Shard. Is it still this important? I know that DK is the renown king of dmg mitgation but tbh Healing Ward is not mitgation is just a burst heal / save ally button. I'm not using it to prevent dmg. I use it to save people. Is it this important when running enough other heals?

5. Light's Champion. The sole reason at least for me to play DK. I'm cycling Light's Champion > Battle Roar > Light's Champion and I'm having a good uptime of this skill. I love the resource management of the DKs. Since I'm more or less spamming Light's Champion I'm having the problem not having any usage of other ultimate abilities. Can u guys suggest other good options and when I shud use anything else? That's my biggest issue here. I don't see any reason to keep ultimate for sth. else. DPS purpose? Meh. Barrier / shield? Meh. Warhorn? Might be a good choice but since there are 2 healers in trials + some tanks running Warhorn I dont need it in every situation.

6. Heals in generell. Well...I'm not this uses to trials but my goal is to run endgame content with this character. I dont want to "overheal" more than needed (I know that its good for SPC). That's why I dont wanna "waste" too many slots for 2 many heals. Cauterize is a "HoT". Light's Champion is active most of the time. Obsidian Shard is a strong single target heal. Combat Prayer is to me mandatory since it simply gives 2 many good and easy buffs and is a aoe burst heal. 4 Skills already. What about Spring, Rapid Regen and Healing Ward then? Are those also needed? Or shud be this line-up more than enough?

7. Resource Skills. Energy Orb is quite mandatory and strong these days and I love running them. Since I use Destro offbar what about Elemental Drain these days? Running both? Since I read that regen was nerfed big time how about Drain?

8. DPS-Options. Well. I'm a Dark Elf DK. Seems like I could weave in some kind of fire DPS. I was thinking of Engulfing Flames + Wall. I can drop both and then swap back to supporting / healing. DoTs are both okayish and I'm not forced to spam them. Are there other good options for DPSing as healer ATM? Any experiences?

9. Anything else? Supportive & other skills I'm missing or that are very good ATM? I'm still not 100% sure about what to use overall

10. Gear. Are there any new healer sets that are viable? I know of all the old "classics". SPC, Worm, Inflate, Healer set. Anything else that's useless ATM?

Okay guys that's it for the moment. I know it's a lot of text and that it's a wall of text but well maybe u can help me out a bit

Tasear

Congratulations on your endeavor !

The World needs more healers.... just remember vent in zone is free therapy

0) They have been doing awesome work with this class and role. There's been significant changes in simply just the past few months for dragonknights healers. So honestly believe it's there turn to shine!

Skillwise

1) It's 2k shield which is signifcan't because you can constant case it as a healer. Why not pair this with bone shield and have a lot of mitigation for allies

2. Cauterize targeting was recently fixed so give that a try instead of magelight

3. and 4. Wasn't there a targeting issue at one point with this? Also I belive they increasing range or something to this skill come next patch. At last more reason to use it and forgo healing ward

5. Mamga Amour is sexy only dragon knight kinda of thing. Also good to use if you have to rez and everyone died. Shifting stands can save you in direfost so i would pick that up.

7. healing springs isn't technically need in four man dugeons> healing ward is a good option is you are playing it safe but not technically needed. You necessarily don't need rapid regain, but easier to use starting off. Instead you could use talons or ash cloud and control enemies that even get close.
8. I believe some skills are based on spell damage and more damage means less likely to get stalled in dugeons. Add quick siphon if you plan to do dps.

9. Maybe for a dk healer focus on migration. As such slow eniemes, or root them and shield allies. Lastly slot molten armaments...it's a dk only buff.

Suggested Gear


Trinimac's Valor Set


LEVEL 50 CHAMPION 160

(2 items) Adds 129 Magicka Recovery

(3 items) Adds 967 Max Magicka

(4 items) Adds 129 Magicka Recovery

(5 items) When you cast a damage shield on an ally, you have a 20% chance to call down a fragment of Trinimac that heals you and your allies for 3667 Health and damages enemies for 3667 Magic Damage in a 5 meter radius. This effect can only occur once every 5 seconds.

---- Really designed for dk healers

Inventor's Guard Set


LEVEL 50 CHAMPION 160

(2 items) Adds 129 Magicka Recovery

(3 items) Gain Minor Slayer at all times

(4 items) Adds 2% Healing Done

(5 items) When you use an Ultimate ability, you and the closest 2 allies within 28 meters of you gain Major Aegis for 10 seconds, reducing your damage taken from Dungeons and Trials Monsters by 15%

--- plays on strengths for migration

Lamia's Song Set


LEVEL 50 CHAMPION 160

(2 items) Adds 967 Max Magicka

(3 items) Adds 129 Magica Recovery

(4 items) Adds 967 Max Magicka

(5 items) When you activate your Ultimate, you heal you and your allies within 20 meters of you for 30 Health per point of the Ultimate's cost.

--- Doesn't really play on strength on the class, but with the usage of light's champion you won't have to worry about some resource management and cost more burst heal potential.

Shadrir

I have a baby Dk healer and I have some of the same questions. I'm experimenting with different builds to see what works best for me and group. Even trying out a health based healing build focusing on shields and debuffs to dmg. But your main point is valid. DK tanks already have a better shield so the only benefit for a DK healer is the major mending which has been cut in half I think. The shield is THE main reason I play a DK at all. (I played shield healer in EQ2 and Rift) If that is not effective then I'll save my frustration and level up my Warden or Nightblade healers. My Warden is much, much easier, but I like shields.

Question: You say you rotate Light's champion, battle roar and light' champion as if battle roar is a separate spell. Are you saying you cast the ultimate, generate Battle Roar, and then cast ultimate again because light's champion is up so quickly? How good is that for healing the group. I absolutely love the Warden healing ultimate. Its cheaper and is an area heal. Light's champion is single target? and offers interesting buffs.

ExWhizzy

Tyvm for ur insights Tas
I will try some things especially concerning the shield aspect. Great information. Ty mate

Tasear

ExWhizzy wrote: »

Tyvm for ur insights Tas
I will try some things especially concerning the shield aspect. Great information. Ty mate

I forget pick mystic orbs if you only truly want to play in 4 man dungeons.

ExWhizzy

I'm more a fan of Energy Orb coz healing but both specs are great overall. I now swapped out Obdisidian Shard of Igneous Shield. Since it only heals one it'll be kinda useless in trials. Magicka cost seems to be the same. I always thought I had to spam shields to get the major mending 24/7 but its not true. Warden dont have major mending as well whole time, when peeps wont drop below 40 % Hp. Casting Shields every 6 seconds for ultimate gains and having half of the time mending is great overall.

I guess I found my overall Skills so far. I'll be most of the time on Resto Staff. Destro is for DoT DMG and Buffs.

Resto:
- Cauterize (Fire and forget HoT + Spell crit since my main bar)
- Igneous Shield (need it on front bar so I can "spam" it more frequently)
- Healing Ward (just the live saver. I still use it kinda rarely but its good to have)
- Combat Prayer (buffs 2 gud to pass)
- Healing Springs (my most fav healing skill in the game and a solid choice for trials as well)
- Ult: Light's Champion (I shud be able 2 have a good uptime on that, therefore its a very strong utility + healing tool in generel)

Destro (Fire, I am a Dark Elf. And a DK. I do a good amount DoT DPS. In a trial scenario I guess that there'll be anybody else using Lighting Destro anyways so it's not needed for me):
- Igneous Weapons (nice party DPS Buff)
- Energy Orb (heals + resource management. I shoot some balls within my rotation or in longer fights and then swap back to main bar)
- Elemental Drain (just a solid Debuff overall)
- Engulfing Flames (nice DoT + DPS buff for everyone who uses fire DMG)
- Elemental Blockade (another great DoT)
- Ult: Magma Armor (Though I still dont use this very often since I kinda "spam" Light's Champion)

Gear:

SPC seems BiS overall.
I'd love to combine that with either Healer Set or Inventor's. Both seem sexy. Since I see more people using Healer Set I guess Inventor's might be a better bet. I just dislike Inventor's bonusses besides the Major Aegis. They seem overall weak. On gear I still need some thoughts.

Tasear

@ExWhizzy for sets worm or mending other popular set would not be useful for your plans. I think Triminic valor would be a wish choice for you. In four man dugeons it will help more to do a bit more dps. There's always Inflabilie ether for minor vulibility. .

ExWhizzy

Hey mate.
Thx again for the advice.
There are plenty of good gear ideas I could use.

Still not sure about all the skills I'd use. So many utility and dmg tools I can chose from.

Shadrir

Redguard DK wanna be shield healer here. I was thinking about two options for my lvl 30 Redguard DK healer: 1) stam healer with Twilight Remedy set that procs 18k heal when people activate a synergy. I would pair this with Powerful Assualt(?) armor for weapon dmg proc everytime I use vigor. I would use Vigor, bone shield, and trapping webs to provide synergies for twilight procs. I would also use healing ward and lights champion ulti along with support shield ulti. could this work in normal dungeons?

2) Magika Redguard Dk- Utilize Redguard's stamina pool and use twilight Remedy set to proc bone shield, talons, or trapping webs. Pair this set with Trinimac's Valor and should have plenty healing with healing ward, combat prayer, and Quick siphon.

Would both of these builds work in normal dungeons? Could either work anywhere? Other suggestions on how to level up at lvel 30 when I don't have good gear?

FYI - On my lvl 30 stam DK doing about 8000 heal over 5sec, about 1600 heals/second with crappy gear. With twilight remedy synergy should do at least that average at my lvl. I think I could pull 3200 heal/sec for grp on top of shields, and weak healing springs. Is that good?

Shadrir

a little help here?

ExWhizzy

Shadrir wrote: »

Redguard DK wanna be shield healer here. I was thinking about two options for my lvl 30 Redguard DK healer: 1) stam healer with Twilight Remedy set that procs 18k heal when people activate a synergy. I would pair this with Powerful Assualt(?) armor for weapon dmg proc everytime I use vigor. I would use Vigor, bone shield, and trapping webs to provide synergies for twilight procs. I would also use healing ward and lights champion ulti along with support shield ulti. could this work in normal dungeons?

2) Magika Redguard Dk- Utilize Redguard's stamina pool and use twilight Remedy set to proc bone shield, talons, or trapping webs. Pair this set with Trinimac's Valor and should have plenty healing with healing ward, combat prayer, and Quick siphon.

Would both of these builds work in normal dungeons? Could either work anywhere? Other suggestions on how to level up at lvel 30 when I don't have good gear?

FYI - On my lvl 30 stam DK doing about 8000 heal over 5sec, about 1600 heals/second with crappy gear. With twilight remedy synergy should do at least that average at my lvl. I think I could pull 3200 heal/sec for grp on top of shields, and weak healing springs. Is that good?

Hey mate. "Almost" everything works in normal dungeons. As long as u can dish out enough heals for the group and as long as everybody is doing his job kinda, its no problem. At high CP you could even run a 4dps or 4 whatever comp and stomp normal dungeons easily...

...vet dungeons and trials are a different story. To rely mainly on remedy heal seems odd. You need on point heals / protections with your synergy heals u rely too much on others to do something. U could utilize the Remedy mechanic as an extra healing option but I guess u will need the typical healing stuff as a main source...

I found another great but a lil bit older thread. Plenty of information here as well:

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/328074/the-dungeon-off-tank-dk-healer-build

sneakymitchell

All I got to say good job. Don't let trail groups say it's bad cause you can use engulfing flames to increase DPS on magic builds or other dks. All you probably need is more crit since dks lack having crit than say a NB. And a nb will use nirnhoned or powered for their staff since they get enough crits in them.

SoLooney

lol dk healers

exeeter702

SoLooney wrote: »

lol dk healers

Again....... you really do have a lot to learn.

Tasear

Falkreath Hold

Draugr’s Rest (Light)

(2) Max Magicka
(3) Magicka Recovery
(4) Healing Done
(5) When you deal damage with a fully-charged Heavy Attack, you create a circle of consecrated ground that heals you and your allies within 5 meters for 11,000 health over 10 seconds. This effect can occur once every 10 seconds.

ExWhizzy

Tasear wrote: »

Falkreath Hold

Draugr’s Rest (Light)

(2) Max Magicka
(3) Magicka Recovery
(4) Healing Done
(5) When you deal damage with a fully-charged Heavy Attack, you create a circle of consecrated ground that heals you and your allies within 5 meters for 11,000 health over 10 seconds. This effect can occur once every 10 seconds.

Damn Tasear this set is a sexy bombshell!

I just hit cp 160 and now I will start farming gear sets. I know that a LOT of u guys will disagree on what I will tell u know but believe it or not - it works. And it's kinda fancy.

Will all these changes I knowt that oldskool DK healer is still viable but since I love to create perfect cycled synergies I wanted to go for another route. I'm not using Igneous Shields and not Healing Ward. I know this sounds like I'm a madman but I will explain it in detail:

Resto: Deep Breath / Energy Orb / Cauterize / Combat Prayer / Illustrious Healing / Ult: Light's Champion

Destro (Lightning): Molten Armaments / Elemental Drain / Cauterize / Wall of Elements / Unrelenting Grip / Ult: Standard of Might / Aggressive Warhorn

Okay. Why am I doing this route? 1st of all I think that as a DK healer right now I'm wasting too many points / slots for Igneous Shields + Bastion. 2-3k shields are sooooo low it wont change anything. I rather cast another Illustrious Heal or Combat Prayer for less Magicka costs and more healing. I also prefer doing a resto heavy for Major Mending coz I deal DMG, regen Magicka and have a good single target burst heal this way. Both Major Mending have the same duration. For AoE heals I'm going to spam Illustrious Heal anyways. I wasnt using Healing Ward much and I'm able to cast 2 Cauterize for 1 Healing Ward cost-wise. I also prefer an instant heal over a Shield. Igneous Shields forces me to spam it which is typically bad because out of the shielding / healing aspect its non-efficient overall. I leave DMG mitgation to the tanks. My job is to keep the team alive, to buff the overall DPS, to help sustaining resources and to cc stuff around. This build can achieve all of these things.

So why am I choosing these skills?

- Deep Breath (since Cauterize cant target me having Breath's heal is nice to have. Utility is very good and I get 12% increased healing received due to Burning Heart passive. To me a nobrainer. On my Resto bar since its my main bar and I can perma cast Breath for heal and DPS purposes)
- Energy Orb (Heals + resource management. Nuff said)
- Cauterize (Wow. This thing is real bonkers. The drawback is that it wont target me but hey. The good parts just outweight here big time. the 15m radius is also not a problem since I'm an active player and I have to be kinda close coz of Deep Breath anyways. This thing is king of efficiency. VERY low magicka cost. I get 4 big single target heals with one cast. I can do other things while its active. I can still spam it if I need the heal instant. If everybody is at full life it will still be active and trigger random SPC here and there. Major Prophecy for free is also great.)
- Combat Prayer (Standard. Burst heal + 8% DMG buff. Gud stuff)
- Illustrious Healing. (I have good sustain overall. Ilustrious is overall a 25% heal increase. With high ticks I can cast 2 of them into a resto channel and it will still keep healing. It gives me time to do other things while it's still ticking)
- Light's Champion (I can cast this beast every pack. I'm at 100 ult very fast and this with Cauterize is such a great single target heal method. Due to Battle Roar it compensates that Cauterize cant target me and it gives me more magicka sustain. I hate waiting long to use ultimates. With this I can literally spam ults vs packs and bosses.)

- Molten Armaments (Major Sorcery + Heavy DMG Boost. Does Boost resto heavy heal and Lightning Staff AoE Heavy Attack. Very good since I weav in many heavy attacks. Also procs Mountains Blessing for Ultimate gain)
- Ele Drain (Just a great utility spell overall)
- Cauterize (double bar for Crit + having the emergency heal on destro bar as well)
- Wall of Elements (Concussion + off balance for team dps increase reasons)
- Grip (great skill. pulling packs together into AoE and I can spam it on bosses if I need to dps a bit.)
- Standard / Warhorn (Since it's not mandatory to cast Champion vs every pack I sometimes gain 250 ult over the course and for harder fight I can pop on of these and then use champion later on during the fight.)

Gear:
SPC will be mandatory. It's simply the best healer gear overall. For the second set I want to get Master Architect someday since it's working big time with Light's Champion. But with my heavy attacking setup Draugr’s Rest might also be a good thing to consider. The healing circle comes in handy with Cauterizing not targeting me.

Misc: A good thing about this build is that I can use Tri-Pots. I have both Major Prophecy and Sorcery 24/7 on all bars. Tri-Pots are working same like Battle Roar. I can sustain all resources I have stamina to block some heavy attacks I have to block and pots also heal ME when needed.
I can swap in Purge for Grip or Deep Breath if needed.

Overall I thing this build is more cost efficient that other build. It's more difficult to play coz u have to consider skill ranges and radius and healing urself can be kinda tricky. But I like having a build where I have to play carefully.

Shadrir

What is Bastion?

IcyDeadPeople

Shadrir wrote: »

What is Bastion?

Champion point passive which increases the size of shields.

I really hope someday igneous shield is tweaked to scale on max magicka instead of health, or at least the base value for allies is slightly increased.

It's part of the class identity for DK healer, something no other class can provide in a spammable ability. I keep igneous shield up on everybody and use Barrier ultimate for boss fights. This procs Trinimac's Valor set to provide some additional healing, but unfortunately I think this set also needs a buff.

Would like to try Combat Physician set if I can ever get all the pieces.

ExWhizzy

Well the main issue with Igneous Shields - its not efficient. Many people keep suggesting it and keep sticking to it coz it always was the MAIN reason to play dk healer....but sadly it is not anymore. I might be one of the few people out there with this opinion but its (at least in my logic) the only logical solution.

If u combine it with Trinimac it's okayish but since I wanna have on point healing / support and Trinimac is a big gamble.

Igneous will "heal" around 2-3k. This is nothing. It cant crit. It costs a sh*tton of magicka. Like I said out of the healing perspective it's always more efficient using Springs / Prayer / another AoE Heal. Only benefit from Igneous Shield is the Major Mending and the Ultimate gain from Mountain's Blessing. Since I use Illustrious Heal over Springs for the longer duration I go most of the time Illustrious > Illustrious > Heavy Attack. This give me the same amout of Major Mending, is more mana efficient, replenishs Magicka and give the closest target a burst heal. It even deals DMG. For me I dont see any use for Igneous due to Mendings duration nerf. Usally u could use Shields every 6 seconds due to Mountain's Blessing CD and it was fine. Now u have to use it twice if u want perma Major Mending, which is again nonefficient if u consider the "healing".

I'm using the build I posted up there.

Gearwise there are for me 3 BiS-Options. SPC is always BiS (at the current state). So it comes down to:

SPC + Worm (simply efficient for trials, not needed for dungeons. Not needed 2 have it on both healers).
SPC + Master Architect (I dont have it yet but considering it's a hefty DPS boost I consider this a good set)
SPC + Sentinel of Rkugamz + Willpower (my personal favorite though the spiderling is kinda weird sometimes. But this does have overall good stats for me and healing and if the spider is doing its job it's a great way to keep my team alive + heal stam)

Weapons would be Master Resto + Maelstrom Destro (Lightning).

I know that there are many other sets like Sanctuary, IA, Gossamer, Lamia's and all the other good sets but for me they are all too RNG-heavy or overkill in a way I suggest it's not needed.

I always though that it's DKs job to mitgate DMG. But well that's the job of the tank. When I see DK tanks with 50-60+k HP using Igneous Shields it does make my Igneous Shields a joke and obviously irrelevant. I guess ZOS' intention concerning Igneous Shields was to make it a tanking skill in the 1st place. The major mending bonus is great for self sustain healing not for healing others in this case. And that's also the reason I'm trying to break out of the compulsion to use Igneous Shield as healer.

IcyDeadPeople

Did some trials for the first time yesterday and changed Obsidian shard to the healing morph. It can be a very large heal, was critting up to 18k, but this seems completely useless in a raid situation because there is no way to control who gets the heal.

With Breath of Life or Healing Ward for example at least there is some logic to who gets the heal. With this one it is random and during the entire combat period it seems to keep healing only that one person, regardless of who is closer to the enemy target.

Could be viable if it was changed to target allies the same way Healing Ward prioritizes heal targets (lowest health).

FakeFox

Here is what I would run:

gear: 5 Spellpowercure, 5 Masterarchitect, 2 Earthgore

skills:
frontbar: restro staff (charged with lightning enchant)
1. healing springs
2. healing ward
3. combar prayer
4. engulfing flames
5. rapid regen
ult: barrier

backbar: lightning staff (charged with lightning enchant)
1.elemental drain
2. blockade of storms
3. igneous weapons
4. orbs
5. cauterize
ult: aggressive signal