Alternatives to Healing Ward for an "Oh ***!" range heal?

weedgenius

Hi all, I'm bummed about the initial heal being removed from Healing Ward. It was my go-to skill for sending a quick assist to an ally who lost a lot of health and was far away from me, or when things are hectic and I see someone's bar drop before I can get to them. Sometimes that small health boost and the subsequent shield can be a game-changer because it gives my ally time to reposition, self-heal, or otherwise respond to the situation. I'm struggling to find a replacement skill that will allow me to help someone in a pinch with low health who I can't target directly right away. Any suggestions?

I'm a Warden healer and I am talking about PvE context.

DeadlyRecluse

It's still going to be your best bet. You'll just have to follow up with HoTs under the shield a little more promptly.

keevil111

So weird, I was in WGT as a warden healer and I use the heck out of healing ward. The 2 DDs are talking to each other on mic saying negative things about "the healer" using ward. I thought that was stupid, so I asked them what their problem was with the skill. The one guy says it's only good for solo PVP? WTF? LMAO.

I always use it like the OP says, just enough of a breather to apply a hot or an actual heal before someone dies. It's a great skill for PVE and PVP. Without the initial heal it won't help as much. But it will have to do. I mean what else is there that can serve that singular purpose.

db0ssman

You might have to be a little proactive with keeping groves growing on the ground for an emergency proc. If you keep mutagen up during the fight it's low life proc might replace the emergency health lost on shield.

What are they replacing the healing with? Otherwise why use it over ward Ally?

Shanjijri

I don't run Ward for a while... Since we got Healthy Offering (NB healer here). I also have a Warden now, and same: I don't use Ward.

For Warden, Enchanted Growth is a good burst heal. It's 20 meters instead of the 28 from Ward, but still good.

Healthy and Enchanted are like my Ward... But even with the nerf, I don't think Ward will be useless. I even know some people who use Ward Ally and are fine with it, even if it does zero heal.
Healing Ward will still apply a final heal. Also, if there is Blood Altar, some Energy Orbs floating around, some HoT applied... You'll be fine. ^^

db0ssman

Hello fellow NB healer main. It's like seeing a unicorn.

db0ssman

I meant it more in a practical sense that there will be no point to the end shield for most healers. The main reason is that basically every class has some kind of hot/frequently used heal and the shielded person will have full health by the time it is done. Dots will eat the shield and not health, so health will still tick up. If there is so much damage the shield drops, they won't get a final heal anyway.

keevil111

Right plus ward is one of the few remaining skills you don't have to aim. It targets lowest health ally. That's why I will still use it because taking the time to aim a heal can be gamechanging in some situations.

db0ssman

You may want to switch it to the ward Ally morph. That way it is an emergency stop gap with a free shield to yourself.

Lightspeedflashb14_ESO

Ward ally was always better then healing Ward. On a warden, you have 3 burst heals. Budding seeds, enchanted growth and bursting vines. You need to have a little more situational awareness if you can't burst heal with one of those and rely on ward at all. Really though, use combat prayer.

db0ssman

I think the problem with those as emergency heals is that you need to proc seeds 2x for the heal, growth uses ult which means it isn't always available and the vines drag you to the person. If you use it when they are in harsh aoe, you will get 2 dead. I think OP wants something that functions more like breath of life or healthy offering where it is an instant smart proc to save them.

DeadlyRecluse

Lightspeedflashb14_ESO wrote: »

Ward ally was always better then healing Ward. On a warden, you have 3 burst heals. Budding seeds, enchanted growth and bursting vines. You need to have a little more situational awareness if you can't burst heal with one of those and rely on ward at all. Really though, use combat prayer.

None of those really work for what the OP wants, though:

weedgenius wrote: »

1. sending a quick assist to an ally who lost a lot of health and was far away from me, or when things are hectic and I see someone's bar drop before I can get to them.
2. to help someone in a pinch with low health who I can't target directly right away.

Assumedly OP already knows about the heals you mention--which rely on the player being relatively close and/or targetable. Healing Ward (and old BoL/BoL kicker heal) are lifesavers for pug groups or scattered fights when you can't depend on DPS being where they should be.

Tasear

Mutagen goes to the lowest Ally Health unless everyone is at full. So if you watch it you can see what direction the dying person is then targe them.

If you are position right budding seeds works fine.

Vines is nice if they are taking heavy damage over time.

Wardens have better options then healing ward

ccfeeling

Get ready to rev .

exeeter702

Earthgore

RavenSworn

Be proactive with it. Hots before and after the ward. Its a great emergency damage reduction for anyone on low health. Its a god send for my NB healer, with Healthy offering, its a great dual combo. Ward + Offering will work i assure you.

Also, this ties in with Mutagen as well since at low health it acts as a pseudo BoL. with Healing ward not having the heals, it means that Mutagen will trigger on low health, rather than wondering if it procs upon the threshold.

Silver_Strider

Let people die and blame them for not being in front of you for Shrooms, Seeds and Combat Prayer.

Cronopoly

exeeter702 wrote: »

Earthgore

In PVP Daily, so many Allies see the Red Rain of Earthgore proccing and jump out of it with 1/3rd health and then Die. I'm like You idiots, let it save you....

WrathOfInnos

Use the other morph, healing ward is useless now. Combined with Rapid Regen or Mutagen, Ward Ally still works fine.

I agree this change is very bad for Warden healers though. If they didn’t take Minor Toughness away from the other 4 classes, I would be concerned about Warden healers having a spot in groups.

Basically they took away important things from healers of all classes. So mission accomplished on making healers feel useful again, right?

AcadianPaladin

Though not exactly what you're looking for and not a skill, Earthgore full monster helm set does help. As long as you are tossing out heals or keeping folks affected by your HoTs, Earthgore procs pretty reliably. It also gives me good feedback, for when I see it proc and it is a surprise, that lets me know I may have missed an ally dropping quickly. Regardless, it gives them and me some breathing room. As mentioned above, if running with young strangers that may not be familiar with the proc, it can scare them into jumping out of its 'red' aura. May be worth 'warning' others in your group if you've not run with them before.

weedgenius

Yay,! Thanks soo much for the feedback, guys.

db0ssman wrote: »

What are they replacing the healing with? Otherwise why use it over ward Ally?

@db0ssman They aren't replacing it with anything. They nerfed the skill morph by removing the upfront heal. Here's the developer comment on why:

The goal of Steadfast Ward and morphs is to protect low health targets while other sources of healing are restoring their health. The Healing Ward morph was too powerful because it was providing both a strong shield and healing to the target.

Which, to be honest, makes no sense at all. The whole point of sending a Healing Ward to an ally is that they AREN'T being healed by other means. IMO this is definitely something that was done to appease PvPers with zero thought towards how to balance what they would be taking away from PvE healers, especially non-Templar healers. (paging @ZOS_RobGarrett....)
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DeadlyRecluse wrote: »

Lightspeedflashb14_ESO wrote: »

Ward ally was always better then healing Ward. On a warden, you have 3 burst heals. Budding seeds, enchanted growth and bursting vines. You need to have a little more situational awareness if you can't burst heal with one of those and rely on ward at all. Really though, use combat prayer.

None of those really work for what the OP wants, though:

weedgenius wrote: »

1. sending a quick assist to an ally who lost a lot of health and was far away from me, or when things are hectic and I see someone's bar drop before I can get to them.
2. to help someone in a pinch with low health who I can't target directly right away.

Assumedly OP already knows about the heals you mention--which rely on the player being relatively close and/or targetable. Healing Ward (and old BoL/BoL kicker heal) are lifesavers for pug groups or scattered fights when you can't depend on DPS being where they should be.

Yes, exactly. I'm not wondering how to burst heal someone. I'm wondering how to throw someone, specifically the person who needs it most, a bone while I figure out where they are and what kind of trouble they've gotten themselves into. I pug through group finder 90% of the time. This is really vital.
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Tasear wrote: »

Mutagen goes to the lowest Ally Health unless everyone is at full. So if you watch it you can see what direction the dying person is then targe them.

If you are position right budding seeds works fine.

Vines is nice if they are taking heavy damage over time.

Wardens have better options then healing ward

I've always got Mutagen going and it's nice when it works right. Budding seeds is a great burst heal and I try to have to on the ground at all times in case someone needs a Harvest but, again, I'm looking for something with smart targeting to help in a pinch when I can't "position right." FWIW I'm not sure I believe ZOS about the radius for vines because 90% of the time when I cast it they land on me, even when I'm at full health and others are not. @Tasear I'm surprised by your response.
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RavenSworn wrote: »

Be proactive with it. Hots before and after the ward. Its a great emergency damage reduction for anyone on low health. Its a god send for my NB healer, with Healthy offering, its a great dual combo. Ward + Offering will work i assure you.

Also, this ties in with Mutagen as well since at low health it acts as a pseudo BoL. with Healing ward not having the heals, it means that Mutagen will trigger on low health, rather than wondering if it procs upon the threshold.

@RavenSworn Thanks, that last bit makes a lot of sense to me. I didn't think about what losing the Ward heal would mean for the Mutagen proc. @WrathofInnos Same to you... thanks! I will remorph for sure and see how it plays out in conjunction with my Mutagen.
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Re:Earthgore, yes... I bought 2 Earthgore last week at the Golden vendor so that is definitely in my repertoire now!

Re:Ward Ally... I never have a problem staying alive except at times when I struggle with one-shot mechanics, so having a shield cast on me is way less valuable than a small burst to a seemingly doomed ally.

Thanks again, everyone!!!

Tasear

I agree Vines does have targeting issues and I noted it done in the past. Though in theory this should be the answer.

But on point, wardens while it's possible to play it like a Templar it is more about timing things ahead of time and be rewarded. You can see the devs even mention this during a ESO live introducing them.

Now I would check carefully on mutagen, because last checked it does work as I said, but coming back you can sorta use trees like this, but again positioing and timing. Healing ward will still be work for your needs too. At last though, my personal thoughts are you would be happier on nightblade, Templar, or Sorcerer class for your healing needs. I know might not be the answer you are looking for but I hope this together helps more.

ChefZero

Healing ward + mutagen, always.

Lightspeedflashb14_ESO

ChefZero wrote: »

Healing ward + mutagen, always.

Hardly. I use springs and combat prayer. Always. Then with blood altar as a "AOE" hot as well, you hardly need anything else on a healer.

ChefZero

Lightspeedflashb14_ESO wrote: »

ChefZero wrote: »

Healing ward + mutagen, always.

Hardly. I use springs and combat prayer. Always. Then with blood altar as a "AOE" hot as well, you hardly need anything else on a healer.

My fault, this thread is about PvE

raj72616a

Cronopoly wrote: »

exeeter702 wrote: »

Earthgore

In PVP Daily, so many Allies see the Red Rain of Earthgore proccing and jump out of it with 1/3rd health and then Die. I'm like You idiots, let it save you....

when i was first trying out earthgore after i got the helm, i rolled out of my own earthgore proc.
that visuals doesnt look benign at all!

FrancisCrawford

It's possible to heal dungeon PUGs the same way on all five classes:

• Wear SPC.
• Double-cast Mutagen on cooldown to proc the SPC.
• Drop Healing Springs underneath somebody whenever they seem to need a heal.
• Hit Healing Ward/Ward Ally before Healing Springs whenever anybody's health goes down below 50%.

I did that before I got my Earthgore helm, and it worked fine.

Other parts of the build model include but are not limited to:

• Elemental Drain, always.
• Elemental Blockade, always. Usually lightning, but my Dunmers don't want to give up their fire staffs.
• Usually not Combat Prayer or Warhorn, as most groups didn't seem good enough for them to be optimal.
• Class DPS skills with healer-appropriate side effects, e.g. Shards or Funnel Health.
• Class sustain skills, e.g. Focus or Netch.