Healer role advice

Moro-Murasaki

I’m coming to ESO after playing FFXIV for quite some time now. I always main a healer in MMOs and in FFXIV the healer meta was to keep up shields or HoTs to allow yourself the most DPS uptime.

I feel like ESO could certainly function like this, after all with my points all in Magicka I’m sure my abilities will do reasonable damage, but I don't know what the expected function of a healer is here.

While I certainly plan to progress into endgame right now that is not where I am - I just want to have an idea of my role when I queue for my first dungeon.

Are healing requirements steep? Should I be trying to put out damage as my next priority if everyone is okay? Am I capable of dishing out enough damage that it's worth the MP? Do I need to worry about ripping aggro off the tank?

Right now I’m a Templar though I’ve also messed around with a Warden. Not sure how much difference class is going to make but those two were the only classes with some dedicated healing skill lines.

FakeFox

Doing Damage as a healer is for sure something you can do in four man dungeons. But for the real endgame contend your role should be healing, buffing damage and giving resources, as the damage you can do in full healer gear is far lower that what your DDs can get out of your buffs. Endgame setups run sets that give buffs to your allies like Spell Power Cure, Mending or Wormcult. You use restoration- + lighningstaff to give your group the optimal buffs. As for classes Templar is arguably the best and pretty much every successful raidgroup uses Templars, but other classes are viable as well.

For starting out you should focus on keeping everybody alive obviously, though you can play more offensively in normal dungeons if you like since the incoming damage is a joke anyway. In my opinion you should start out playing buffsets and using buffs early, to get used to keeping good uptimes and managing your resources without having gear that does it for you. Aggro doesn't matter at all since Tanks keep it via taunts anyway or should use CC in AOE fights.

Moro-Murasaki

@FakeFox Thank you, that was concise but also exactly what I was looking for. Can't lie I'm mildly disappounted I won't be doing much damage in endgame, I always did enjoy lovingly embarassing my DPS friends by parsing higher than they did, but buff management is also not a foreign concept to me.

Also I love your signature, can't agree more.

Taleof2Cities

Good points, @FakeFox, though it's kind of restricted to a PvE perspective.

@Moro-Murasaki, are you going to be doing any PvP heals?

You're on the right track already ... Templars (#1) and Wardens (#2) are generally the optimal choice for end game heals.

FakeFox

Yeah, what I said refers only to PvE since I understood you want to do PvE. PvP it is rather different.

Moro-Murasaki

I may venture into PvP at some point but it isn't high on my priority list. From what I understand there definitely is incentive to do it in this game which is nice but it isnt something I'll be hopping in at level 18 for sure.

Yay Templar healers! Glad to hear they're a good choice.

Magdalina

The general priority is staying alive->healing allies->buffing allies->doing damage Depending on group and the content you're doing you may end up anywhere from actually spending most of your time dps-ing to having to literally spam heals nonstop without even any time for buffs.

And yes, templars are still the best. Let us know if you want any more specific gear/skill related advice:)

Moro-Murasaki

@Magdalina Thanks! I really benefit from having a priority system in place, that will be handy to hang on to.

I do wonder what sorts of buffs I offer or will offer as a Templar. As a Warden there was a morph of one of my healing abilities that increased resource regen that I remember. I think the only thing I've seen on Templar is a Minor Sorcery buff to neaeby allies when I use a certain move.

Where should I look for these buffs? If there is a specific weapon or skill line I need to grind out better to start early I suppose. I am only in the low twenties right now so I have plenty of time ahead of me.

Also as an update did my first few dungeons without much incident except a tank who I think might have queued wrong as he didn't seem to have any taunt moves or at least wasnt able to keep any enemies/bosses on him. I popped on an ice staff on my destruction bar and heal/tanked Spindelclutch, was fun!

Magdalina

Moro-Murasaki wrote: »

@Magdalina Thanks! I really benefit from having a priority system in place, that will be handy to hang on to.

I do wonder what sorts of buffs I offer or will offer as a Templar. As a Warden there was a morph of one of my healing abilities that increased resource regen that I remember. I think the only thing I've seen on Templar is a Minor Sorcery buff to neaeby allies when I use a certain move.

Where should I look for these buffs? If there is a specific weapon or skill line I need to grind out better to start early I suppose. I am only in the low twenties right now so I have plenty of time ahead of me.

Also as an update did my first few dungeons without much incident except a tank who I think might have queued wrong as he didn't seem to have any taunt moves or at least wasnt able to keep any enemies/bosses on him. I popped on an ice staff on my destruction bar and heal/tanked Spindelclutch, was fun!

Most of the buffs are actually non class skills

For example, the third Resto staff skill - one of its morphs, Combat Prayer, gives everyone it hits an 8% damage buff. This is REALLY strong actually, best healers keep it up 100% whenever possible(it lasts 8 seconds).

There're a few skills in Destro staff skill tree that you should look into as well - the pre-last one, one of its morphs, Elemental Drain, applies Magicka Steal to target which restores X magicka to whoever hits that target with elemental damage for next 20-something seconds. If you have magicka dps in your group, then this is a must pretty much. As a templar you could also apply that (de)buff using Radiant Aura(and since buffs of the same name don't stack then you'd have no need for Ele Drain) but Radiant has certain disadvantages to it - it agroes ALL THE THINGS(whereas Drain actually doesn't agro anything at all, you can safely cast it before the fight), is hard to see, etc.

Then there's Wall of Elements in Destro staff skilltree, specifically you want Wall of Lightning(therefore a lightning staff) because it applies a certain status effect to enemies that can greatly buff the dps of your allies.

There're some PvP skills that can come in handy as well - Warhorn is a great ultimate because of how it buffs your group(extra resources+damage buff) and Purge is a great cleanse, though as a templar you have less need of it. Speaking of cleanses, templar's Purifying Ritual can really come in handy - it's a long lasting weak HoT which synergy can cleanse negative effects from your allies(such as some very nasty DoTs some bosses/mechanics put on you).

There's also helping your team with resource management - templar Shards are great for that, their synergy restores a noticeable chunk of resources. It's very common to throw these at tanks(especially since stamina doesn't regenerate while blocking), but your dps might appreciate it too. Another skill of similar utility is the Necrotic Orb from Undaunted skilltree, but as a templar I'd just use shards, they're on the same cooldown anyway. The other morph of that orb is a pretty cool heal btw.

Note that this all depends on the team a lot - for example if you're pugging and your team has a grand total of 6k dps(which is insanely low) there's really no point of adding 8% to it with Prayer and some more with Warhorn, might as well try to add to dps yourself. If both your dps and tank are stamina there's little to no point in Drain(it does come with a nice debuff but most tanks apply it already so that's void). If you and tank are both running Warhorn(which ideally you should), you might want to coordinate whose goes first so you don't blow them at the same time, effectively wasting an ulti - or just run something else perhaps. Some tanks absolutely don't need shards, others(especially on certain fights) want them a LOT. Some don't actually know Shards' synergy restores resources

Oh. Another (de)buff advanced healers use is Power of the Light(Backlash morph. Another templar skill) which applies a rare debuff, but it has a very short duration and costs stamina(which you may need for breaking free/dodging etc). It's more of a Trial thing, I usually don't bother with it even if I'm healing my friends in a vet dlc dungeon.

Far as your dungeon goes, some people intentionally queue for dungeons, especially on normal, as a wrong role to get faster queues...it's not really very nice, I mean if you queue as a tank at least slot a taunt imo. But good job and creative thinking to you for using that ice staff

Meetre

Dark Flare has another nice debuff to prevent enemies from healing while your group is damaging them. Used more in pvp, but I like it for some pve dungeons to cut the healing npc's are getting. I've also switched away from repentance, it is the morph of the third skill in the Templar healing tree. can't remember the base skill or other morph name, but it gives magic back to group members who damage enemies in its radius. I like it more than elemental drain, one hit covers 28m radius instead of having to hit each enemy with ele drain.

Edit to add: On my healer with a "good" group, I pull 10k to 15k dps for most fights. so you can do damage while healing, just not as much as a dedicated dps is expected to pull.

Moro-Murasaki

Ooooh, so many things to look into!

I've actually already morphed for Dark Flare so that's one down. I think I'm only a few levels away from getting Shards so that's good as well. My mages guild is quite low and I have yet to even see PvP though that Ultimate sounds nice.

It seems to me that there must be a large difficulty spike at some point - these first dungeons are kind of a joke thus far. Is this the veteran thing I see mentioned? I mean don't get me wrong I love getting these free skill points but I would be really disappointed if things stayed this lax in post-50 content.

Again thanks for the help @Magdalina and @Meetre I will definitely put it to use.

Meetre

Most of the normal dungeons are kind of easy. I have soloed a few on my healer, it just takes time. The dlc dungeons will give you a bit more of a challenge and when you unlock vet dungeons you will find a lot of the mechanics you ignored on normal are now nearly one-shot kill hits to you. The real fun starts in trials (large group dungeons with a group cap of 12). The vet trials will put you to the test until you get the mechanics down and have a good group to do them with.

Moro-Murasaki

Oh yessss okay that's what I'm looking for. Glad to know there is something challenging waiting for me.

Magdalina

There's...less small man challenging content than I'd like. But vet dlc dungeons and trials(which is not small man so not really my personal preference ) are kind of in the right place. Unfortunately though they love nerfing dlc dungeons, poor IC dungeons have been nerfed literally over 10 times already I think:/

The general dungeon difficulty goes like dlc>dungeons II>non dlc dungeons with no number>dungeons I. This is a lot more profound in their vet version(though some dungeons are a joke even in vet...Elden Hollow II, I'm looking at you and your brethren). Vet dlc dungeons are generally where most people refuse to pug and some refuse to go there at all because you can and just might spend hours wiping there even with a semi decent team. They're not unbeatable by any means though, I've no death speedran hm'd them and that was FUN More a matter of practice and group coordination.

exeeter702

If you want respectable damage while maintaining the most potent hot uptime of any healer in the game, than go with nightblade. You are entirely viable in all pve content including end game vet trials. Templar in particular is mind numbingly boring, especially when coming from healing in other games. Templar and warden are most definitely not the only healing options in thia game.

Nestor

Surprised no one has posted this yet.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DxS7eT_ky4

AcadianPaladin

^ Hee!

Yes, one of my healer's roles is to take the blame when anyone dies, if dps is too low or if the boss gets away from the tank. She's a happy elf and cheerfully accepts this burden.