DK Healer End-game?

Ohhgrizyyy

Can DK healers be effective in end-game/running end-game sets or should it only be Templar or maybe Warden? I've considered making a Warden but from what I've seen they lack a reliable burst heal unless I'm mistaken

Donny_Vito

If you want to throw Rocks at people and heal them, then yes. But in all honestly I'd say no as most of the utility buffs that DKs give will come from the Tank. Could be mistaken though.

AerionMagnus

I think people only use Warden/Templar in vet end-game trials. Dunno about vet DLC dungeons. You're fine on normal, though, but normal is easy as hell anyway.

Royaji

Can you clear end-game with DK healer? Sure. Will it be the most efficient and competitive way? Definitely no. Will you have fun? That's a difficult one to answer objectively. Average group will be reluctant to take you. You will have to find like-minded people to play with. But it can be fun if you go in understanding all the limitations.

Warden makes a solid healer but it is a more difficult class to play. For someone new to healing Templar is the most reliable and socially acceptable class. But after getting experience you can jump on a Warden and do really well. In trials one Warden and one Templar is a fairly competitive setup.

Krayl

Depends on what "end game" means for you.

If "end game" is doing 4 man content like arenas, vet dungeons, hard mode, dungeon skin runs etc, then yes DK healer will be mediocre to great depending on the make-up of the rest of your group. Certainly totally viable.

If end game is normal trials, possibly craglorn vets, you'd probably be fine there.

Vet progression groups for vmol, vhov, vas, that's where you're going to run into groups that would rather have a templar and warden healer.

iam117

You can comfortably heal with a DK at any content. I have completed Vmol with one, and will be pushing harder content with her hopefully soon. I am just returning to game after a long break, but you can heal or tank on any class, is it optimal? that is completely subjective to group composition and what is required by raid lead. Most groups are reluctant simply because of the "play as you want" mantra that leads poor play habits on a bad class into trials to fail. If you have good knowledge of mechanics and the game, and work hard to master your class and roll, you can very effectively and efficiently heal or tank any class in any content. Each truly does have its pros and cons.

Ohhgrizyyy

I'm just over the "meta way or no way" mentality. I dont force a build to work but if I can play something that does the same or slightly less I'll do it. Kinda tired of how its been Templars and almost only Templars for years now. I feel DK could have stronger or better heals but utility wise they arent as strong.

P.S I have little to no healing experience in ESO when it comes to PvE xD. I've never even done much end-game content outside of some 4-mans. (Mostly a PvPer and only really PvE when farming a gear set)

Ohhgrizyyy

Would Dk healers not be useful in the sense of being able to use Engulfing to increase groups fire dmg?

iam117

Ohhgrizyyy wrote: »

I'm just over the "meta way or no way" mentality. I dont force a build to work but if I can play something that does the same or slightly less I'll do it. Kinda tired of how its been Templars and almost only Templars for years now. I feel DK could have stronger or better heals but utility wise they arent as strong.

P.S I have little to no healing experience in ESO when it comes to PvE xD. I've never even done much end-game content outside of some 4-mans. (Mostly a PvPer and only really PvE when farming a gear set)

You will need to follow the "Meta" when it comes to raiding as far as armor goes, this is unavoidable in most cases because those buffs are needed/required by most end game groups. DK's have very strong healing due to easy access of major mending. Minor/major brutality/sorcery can be helpful, and resource regen on ult use is freaking awesome.

Dragonnord

Sure you can! In fact, get a Nord and you can heal and tank at the same time.
 

josiahva

You can use any class to perform any role in any content sufficiently if your ability is up to par. That being said, playing something off-meta will lead you to be like me and start to hate trials. because trials are full of elistists who will want you to be this class, using these skills, wearing this gear...and nothing else is good enough to get a spot, regardless of how good of a player you are. I understand that thinking for leaderboard runs, but it seeps down like a disease from leaderboards all the way to normal trials and the whole trial scene is contaminated with it. Its actually one of the reasons I want them to open trials up to pugging. Pugs dont care what you wear or what class you are as long as you do the job...its why I like pugging vet DLC dungeons, it allows me to try out an off-meta setup in more difficult content without the elitist attitude. Some of those set ups end up being sub-par, but most are perfectly sufficient for the challenge at hand.

MartiniDaniels

Krayl wrote: »

Depends on what "end game" means for you.

If "end game" is doing 4 man content like arenas, vet dungeons, hard mode, dungeon skin runs etc, then yes DK healer will be mediocre to great depending on the make-up of the rest of your group. Certainly totally viable.

If end game is normal trials, possibly craglorn vets, you'd probably be fine there.

Vet progression groups for vmol, vhov, vas, that's where you're going to run into groups that would rather have a templar and warden healer.

Normal trial - end game.. bua ha ha ha

exeeter702

Its important to understand that their are 2 schools of thought that players have in regards to this subject.

Those that believe a non templar/warden healer is some kind of snowflake odd ball healer that you have to bend over backwards to barely make work. And those that understand that of the 5 actual healers in eso only 2 of them are in a position to compete in leaderboard vet hm trial pve content.

Dk healers are absolutely fine for anything that isnt vet hm trials where pushing a score is priority number 1. Let no one tell you otherwise. They possess 2 strong burst heals, exclusive access to on demand major mending and a very respectable aoe hot.

GimpyPorcupine

I've wondered this too, but haven't tried it yet.

I would think you'd need to be applying some type of flame damage to get the Burning status effect for sustain reasons (Ardent Flame Combustion passive).

Trinimac's Valor would be interesting, since you'll likely be hitting Fragmented Shield frequently to keep Major Mending up. That's basically a big free heal every 5 seconds, plus good sustain from the first 2-4 item bonuses.

The knockdown from Obsidian Shard will be pretty unreliable, especially in trials when so many of the adds are CC-immune anyway. Same goes for Shattering Rocks. That would also reduce the overall effectiveness of Cinder Storm.

Ohhgrizyyy

https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Special:EsoBuildData?id=112243

Thoughts?

This is with Olorime body, IA Jewelry, Resto and Lightning. Bogdan Monster (could use Earthgore or new set coming with Wrathstone)

Also thats updated racial passives for Update 21

iam117

GimpyPorcupine wrote: »

I've wondered this too, but haven't tried it yet.

I would think you'd need to be applying some type of flame damage to get the Burning status effect for sustain reasons (Ardent Flame Combustion passive).

Trinimac's Valor would be interesting, since you'll likely be hitting Fragmented Shield frequently to keep Major Mending up. That's basically a big free heal every 5 seconds, plus good sustain from the first 2-4 item bonuses.

The knockdown from Obsidian Shard will be pretty unreliable, especially in trials when so many of the adds are CC-immune anyway. Same goes for Shattering Rocks. That would also reduce the overall effectiveness of Cinder Storm.

On a DK Trinimac's is not effective for trials, but very useful in 4 man content.

Terion_Fyr

I play DK, NB, SORC and Warden endgame Heal and i have no problem with them.
Test it yourself. See how far you can go.

Every Class as a Healer, has a Unique way to go. There are so many way atm. to regnerate resources. And with the new Set you are able to regnerate stamina and magicka aswell. if you have questions and you want to run a veteran dungeon with me, add me ingame:

@TerionFyr


(My english is not that good, i apologize for weird grammatik)

Royaji

Ohhgrizyyy wrote: »

Would Dk healers not be useful in the sense of being able to use Engulfing to increase groups fire dmg?

Tanks do it. And a healer who goes into range of engulfing has probably walked past his DDs. So no Combat Prayer and general heals. Not a good idea.

Ohhgrizyyy

Royaji wrote: »

Ohhgrizyyy wrote: »

Would Dk healers not be useful in the sense of being able to use Engulfing to increase groups fire dmg?

Tanks do it. And a healer who goes into range of engulfing has probably walked past his DDs. So no Combat Prayer and general heals. Not a good idea.

Wasnt sure if tanks ran it or not, It does have a 10m range on it so it wouldn't be too horrible

DMuehlhausen

If you have friends you run everything with you are just fine. As pretty much any combination of of class and builds are viable. If you want to get into a raiding guild or go with randoms you'll be laughed at and ridiculed and kicked from the group.

D0PAMINE

I wanted to try DK healer. Also, when you need to do damage, chains is a free ranged spammable on bosses or mobs with CC immunity

Terion_Fyr

D0PAMINE wrote: »

I wanted to try DK healer. Also, when you need to do damage, chains is a free ranged spammable on bosses or mobs with CC immunity

But you gain aggro.. sadly

Still DK Healer is really usefull with all the buffs. If you got a Tank who isnt a DK, you are a worthy member of the team.

MaxwellC

@Ohhgrizyyy
Cleared vDSA, cleared Rakhat (vMoL not twins since I came in after their healer had to unexpectedly go), vAA, vHRC & I think all vet dungeons including all DLC ones except the most recent 4.
You can be a DK Healer but it really comes down to at-least with my trial groups is them knowing you & knowing that they're movement has to be more restricted as it's more unforgiving.

Builds should always be fine-tuned based on how you function but it's relatively easy if you have your group being more restricted in movement so it's easier to heal them.

My main issues were getting heals to targets that moved to far out of my range but (my GM argues with about this) siphon spirit & light's champion are very good skills as a DK healer as well as the FoO heal version which iirc boosts mag crit too.

TimeWizard

Ohhgrizyyy wrote: »

https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Special:EsoBuildData?id=112243

Thoughts?

This is with Olorime body, IA Jewelry, Resto and Lightning. Bogdan Monster (could use Earthgore or new set coming with Wrathstone)

Also thats updated racial passives for Update 21

It looks pretty good. The couple things I would recommend changing are switching Cauterize and Fragmented Shield to put Fragmented on your front bar in order to keep major mending up easier. Also switch Warhorn to the back bar and putting Barrier on the front bar for more regen because dk has horrible sustain.

DK healer is one of my favourite to play I have have completed almost all content on it. (only things I don't have are vAS +2 (have +1) and vCR +3 (have +2)) Unfortunately I only get to play her for fun runs and carry runs because she doesn't offer anything unique in order to be valued for score pushing.

I wish you luck in playing with it. And as you said you are new to healing, just remember the golden rule: MOAR ORBS

dovakiin5574

I've seen DK healers do well in vMoL personally. Just have to know your class and your role WELL ENOUGH to be able to handle the pressure

zvavi

I took my dk healer for all vDLC content when I had to heal it. Excluding vSCP hm where I had to swap to DPS halfway.

Iskiab

Thing I’ve come to realize is there are very few people who know what they’re talking about. The game can be complex and most people can’t be bothered to learn, so things get simplified to where most people can understand like ‘warden and templars are the best healer, etc..’. Truth is some of the other classes are just as good at healing, or better in certain situations.

There’s no lockout on trials in eso, which means you gear up ridiculously fast and there’s little reason to join a raiding guild. If you like dpsing and healing I’d say go DK. Then you can heal dungeons and switch to dps for trials because magdk is a strong class. If you want to purely heal go warden or Templar.

Dungeons have one healer per four people and trials have two healers per twelve. Healers are high demand in dungeons but low demand in trials, no one will bother taking a risk (in their eyes) on an off class when a meta class healer is around.

Iskiab

P.S this is pve only, in pvp they’re all okay

Lightspeedflashb14_ESO

TimeWizard wrote: »

Ohhgrizyyy wrote: »

https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Special:EsoBuildData?id=112243

Thoughts?

This is with Olorime body, IA Jewelry, Resto and Lightning. Bogdan Monster (could use Earthgore or new set coming with Wrathstone)

Also thats updated racial passives for Update 21

It looks pretty good. The couple things I would recommend changing are switching Cauterize and Fragmented Shield to put Fragmented on your front bar in order to keep major mending up easier. Also switch Warhorn to the back bar and putting Barrier on the front bar for more regen because dk has horrible sustain.

DK healer is one of my favourite to play I have have completed almost all content on it. (only things I don't have are vAS +2 (have +1) and vCR +3 (have +2)) Unfortunately I only get to play her for fun runs and carry runs because she doesn't offer anything unique in order to be valued for score pushing.

I wish you luck in playing with it. And as you said you are new to healing, just remember the golden rule: MOAR ORBS

I wouldn't even bother with fragmented shield. Hardly any reason to keep up major mending and you will overwrite the tanks ward, if you are playing with a dk tank.

If I was going to make a dk healer, I think my bars would look like this-

Inner light- cauterize- igneous weapons- healing spring/Mutagen- combat prayer, ulti magma shell

Eledrain, obsidian shards, cinder storm, mystic orbs, lightning wall, ulti warhorn.

Maybe swap obsidian shards and cauterize, so you get major prophecy on both bars.

Until they figure out how to make igneous shields stack or something, they don't belong on a healers bar.

A dks main draw as a healer, a ward healer who uses sheild instead of direictly healing, using igneous shields, interferes with dk tanks, igneous shields do not stack and you remove the last one if you cast it agian, ie if a dk tank with 30k health casts it and then a dk healer with only 18k health cast it, the tanks 10k shield is replaced with your meager 2k shield that you give. That is no good. This to me would be the largest reason not to use a dk as a healer.

On cauterize, people think of it as a hot, I would like to point out it heals as soon as you press the button, every time. So you could use that as your "burst heal" that also heals over time. I mean you are not going to get 30k crits but you out to be able to get at least 15-18k and that is enough for most players.

So obsidian shards heal is nontrivial. You will be able to get 20k+ heals with that skill, if only you could target friendlys as well instead of relying on a target to get a "burst heal"

Silver_Strider

I've got a DK Healer that does just fine in pretty much everything I've taken him in thus far, granted I haven't tried vMOL or beyond with him, yet. I have cleared all vDLC dungeons as well as vCraglorn Trials with him though so its definitely doable, I just need to get a group on PS4 willing to do the harder trials to really test him out fully.

I WILL THROW ROCKS AND YOU'LL LIKE IT!!!!!

Ermiq

Yes, DK healer is quite dufficult to play compared to Templar/Warden, but it's efficient enough for vet dungeons.
PUGs don't really care if you're a DK healer, as long as you do the job well. When I was playing DK healer, no one in PUGs ever been against it.
But when you play with pre-made groups, your guild mates, friends and so on, it happens very often.
"It's a bad idea", "Are you mad?", "DK healer? What? Man, the advertisement "play as you want" is a lie, you can't heal with DK, LOL" - I've heard that all the time.