Returning Player Baby Steps As PUG Healer

Speely

Hi, lovely ESO squad. So I played a lot for the first few years of the game. Bounced until recently. Liking the new content, but I have been mainly solo exploring it, which is easy and not indicative of "good" builds. Still fun, though.

Breton, btw.

My gear was a bit outdated. I'm CP360+ and my only desire to play group content is via a healer because I cannot be bothered with DPS optimization or tanking yet because I feel a bit lost, but I need to do group content to get better gear.

So I respecced my solo/maelstrom-focused magicka temp (Magnus/Julianos) into a pure healer. I wanted your take on the setup I will be using to farm for Olorime, Sanctuary, Worm's, SPC, monster pieces, etc. I have a crafter char who can make whatever, but dropped stuff is often BIS rn, it seems.

I don't want to be a burden. It's my biggest fear aside from crows with clown faces.

So here's what I am rocking after respeccing yesterday, mostly because I can craft most of it.

5 pc purple Kagrenac's
4 pc purple Seducer's
3 pc Healer's Habit (all jewelry)

Atronach mundus and divines on all small pieces. Infused on head and curiass (which are both Heavy because PUGs... Thus Kagrenac's as well. No guild, and fast rez + Spell Damage is nice for PUGs, yeah? I also don't have Undaunted Mettle, thus no Medium.)

Resto and Lightning staves.

My skill loadout is pretty standard for 4-man ala Alcast and other contemporary guide makers. Heavy resto skills and temp heals on resto staff bar, and destro skills/purifying light/channeled focus/shards on the other.

I use mid-tier, not BIS food, but it's ok. Basically the right bonuses but not the highest numbers. I am ok with it for now. Gonna work on that on my cook. I don't have an alchemist, so I just use Essence of Magicka as a potion, as well. This is my Achilles Heel, because I cannot be bothered to f with Alchemy. Ugh.

I am happy with my CP allocation and my skills. I chose Seducer's for a 4pc because my sustain is not above 2k yet, but I feel like this isn't ideal even for a farming build. Can prolly get this over 2k with gear quality and potion upgrades.

Does this sound kind of ok for farming in PUGs, though? I know how to play a healer, but it's been a minute.

Bonus: should I just find potion options for spell power/crit, or do non-elite players still use Degeneration and Inner Light? I feel like with the rotations needed for efficient healing these days, there is no room on bars or between refreshing HoTs/buffs/debuffs for either, right? Should I just suck it up pay for potions, or is sacrificing a few slots for these skills doable rn for a healer, in your experience?

Thanks for any insight into any of my questions, or any critiques of my initial "welcome back" build.

WildRaptorX

You could be a naked Orc stamina healer and be able to heal through normal content to grind some better gear.

Don’t worry about it because you’re teammates won’t be.

fiender66

Keylun wrote: »

You could be a naked Orc stamina healer and be able to heal through normal content to grind some better gear.

Don’t worry about it because you’re teammates won’t be.

LOL, should be fun. I've to try that

Raisin

If you don't have better gear, you don't have better gear. That's why you're farming. No one in a PUG has any business being rattled with you. Most popular healer gear is about providing bonuses to the group and those aren't necessary for farm runs. As long as you can keep the group alive and even do them some good (shards, ele drain, POTL), you're fine. So as far as gear goes, at this point it's really just about wearing something that makes you feel like you can do your job.

Do keep in mind that templar healers usually run Power of the Light instead of Purifying, to provide breach debuff. That's only necessary if you have stam DDs though. Also SPC and Olorime provide the same buff, so I wouldn't prioritize getting both of those. SPC can have its use in 4Man content, but Olo is generally considered ideal. Sanctuary should also be a breeze to farm, so that's always a good place to start. Worm is reasonably easy. Hollowfang won't be as easy.

As for skills: On one hand, you absolutely won't have space for Degeneration/Inner Light in serious runs of anything; on the other hand, you also shouldn't need most of your skill slots for farming. But honestly, you just straight up don't need those buffs for now. It's completely fine to run normal magicka pots in a lot of content. I'm assuming you won't be farming vCR+2/+3 for perfected Olo right now, so you'll be fine. I'd personally find it a waste to get expensive Spell Power pots for farming. Same goes for food, just use blue bi-stat food.
I'd recommend figuring out a vague order in which you wanna aim for what gear, so you have some of the easy stuff (sanctuary, worm) to wear for when you go get the harder stuff (Symphony of Blades, maybe vMGF or vLoM).

Also, you can craft Torug's pact. When Aether stopped being worth it, my standard dungeon setup changed from Olo/Aether to Olo/Torugs, as tanks will usually wear Yolna/Alkosh in dungeons or Ebon in Pugs.

FrancisCrawford

Raisin wrote: »

Also, you can craft Torug's pact. When Aether stopped being worth it, my standard dungeon setup changed from Olo/Aether to Olo/Torugs, as tanks will usually wear Yolna/Alkosh in dungeons or Ebon in Pugs.

Do you run Crushing Enchants, Weakening or both?

FrancisCrawford

Some thoughts to the OP:

• If you want a five-piece set including jewelry, without bothering to craft jewelry, there's nothing wrong with Mother's Sorrow.
• There's nothing wrong with Julianos.
• I used to run Worm Cult, but it seems that DDs are usually stamina these days. Also, it was nerfed implicitly via the change in how cost reduction is calculated. And while Seducer got an offsetting buff, Worm didn't; Seducer now gives 2 1/2 times the personal benefit of Worm in the five-piece bonus, up from 2.
• I'm a big advocate of Earthgore. However, it was just at The Golden, so there may not be another opportunity to buy it for many months.
• If you run SPC, you'll want to keep HoTs up all the time. That's more annoying than it used to be, because of the change from Mutagen to Radiating Regeneration, but I do it.
• Purifylng Light is pointless now that it only amplifies your own damage.
• Damage buffs that are said to be de rigeur, like Power of the Light or Combat Prayer or Warhorn, can actually be pretty dubious in 4-person groups.
• Siphon Spirit is a pretty appealing alternative to Elemental Drain now. The only times it isn't better are usually when the tank doesn't do Major Breach or does do Blood Altar.
• It's fine to skimp on your resto bar, run both Siphon Spirit and Channeled Focus there, and have a full bar for DPS.

Qbiken

All I can say is that you shouldn't waste time farming SPC when olorime exists. Olorime is superior in every single aspect compared to SPC. Don't let anyone else tell you otherwise.

Raisin

FrancisCrawford wrote: »

Raisin wrote: »

Also, you can craft Torug's pact. When Aether stopped being worth it, my standard dungeon setup changed from Olo/Aether to Olo/Torugs, as tanks will usually wear Yolna/Alkosh in dungeons or Ebon in Pugs.

Do you run Crushing Enchants, Weakening or both?

I usually run Crusher (if running Torugs) in PUG dungeons. Weakening only if I have a tank telling me they have Crusher uptime under control.
Honestly though, I generally don't switch my enchants around for dungeon runs. Maybe for a trifecta run we're struggling with a little. I'm fairly certainl I've done anything from dungeon trifecta to casual trial with infused poison on my backbar cause I was too lazy to switch after Z'en use.

FrancisCrawford

Raisin wrote: »

FrancisCrawford wrote: »

Raisin wrote: »

Also, you can craft Torug's pact. When Aether stopped being worth it, my standard dungeon setup changed from Olo/Aether to Olo/Torugs, as tanks will usually wear Yolna/Alkosh in dungeons or Ebon in Pugs.

Do you run Crushing Enchants, Weakening or both?

I usually run Crusher (if running Torugs) in PUG dungeons. Weakening only if I have a tank telling me they have Crusher uptime under control.
Honestly though, I generally don't switch my enchants around for dungeon runs. Maybe for a trifecta run we're struggling with a little. I'm fairly certainl I've done anything from dungeon trifecta to casual trial with infused poison on my backbar cause I was too lazy to switch after Z'en use.

I don't usually have that much communication in GF PUGs anyway. Even saying "Hello" seems increasingly optional.

I did however recently switch some builds to Infused (albeit not Torug's) Weakening, on the theory that the tank SHOULD be running Crusher.

Raisin

FrancisCrawford wrote: »

Raisin wrote: »

FrancisCrawford wrote: »

Raisin wrote: »

Also, you can craft Torug's pact. When Aether stopped being worth it, my standard dungeon setup changed from Olo/Aether to Olo/Torugs, as tanks will usually wear Yolna/Alkosh in dungeons or Ebon in Pugs.

Do you run Crushing Enchants, Weakening or both?

I usually run Crusher (if running Torugs) in PUG dungeons. Weakening only if I have a tank telling me they have Crusher uptime under control.
Honestly though, I generally don't switch my enchants around for dungeon runs. Maybe for a trifecta run we're struggling with a little. I'm fairly certainl I've done anything from dungeon trifecta to casual trial with infused poison on my backbar cause I was too lazy to switch after Z'en use.

I don't usually have that much communication in GF PUGs anyway. Even saying "Hello" seems increasingly optional.

I did however recently switch some builds to Infused (albeit not Torug's) Weakening, on the theory that the tank SHOULD be running Crusher.

Yeah it depends on what you're running. I generally only PUG vDLC if anything and if you get a proper tank for that, they'll communicate OK.

In the end, I don't think the damage reduction from weakening will make or break the group. So I stick to crusher unless explicitly stated, cause I'd rather double down on it and get a good uptime than take the chance with weakening. And honestly, Torugs for me was just a laziness move. What else am I gonna wear, y'know? Don't trust myself with Z'en in a PUG, don't need a selfish support set. Sustain sets depend on the DDs, as does the option of MA without horn. Guess Martial Knowledge would be an option, but meh.

FrancisCrawford

Raisin wrote: »

FrancisCrawford wrote: »

Raisin wrote: »

FrancisCrawford wrote: »

Raisin wrote: »

Also, you can craft Torug's pact. When Aether stopped being worth it, my standard dungeon setup changed from Olo/Aether to Olo/Torugs, as tanks will usually wear Yolna/Alkosh in dungeons or Ebon in Pugs.

Do you run Crushing Enchants, Weakening or both?

I usually run Crusher (if running Torugs) in PUG dungeons. Weakening only if I have a tank telling me they have Crusher uptime under control.
Honestly though, I generally don't switch my enchants around for dungeon runs. Maybe for a trifecta run we're struggling with a little. I'm fairly certainl I've done anything from dungeon trifecta to casual trial with infused poison on my backbar cause I was too lazy to switch after Z'en use.

I don't usually have that much communication in GF PUGs anyway. Even saying "Hello" seems increasingly optional.

I did however recently switch some builds to Infused (albeit not Torug's) Weakening, on the theory that the tank SHOULD be running Crusher.

Yeah it depends on what you're running. I generally only PUG vDLC if anything and if you get a proper tank for that, they'll communicate OK.

In the end, I don't think the damage reduction from weakening will make or break the group. So I stick to crusher unless explicitly stated, cause I'd rather double down on it and get a good uptime than take the chance with weakening. And honestly, Torugs for me was just a laziness move. What else am I gonna wear, y'know? Don't trust myself with Z'en in a PUG, don't need a selfish support set. Sustain sets depend on the DDs, as does the option of MA without horn. Guess Martial Knowledge would be an option, but meh.

Ahh. I heal at a lower level than you do. The only vet DLCs I've ever done are the IC ones.

Raisin

FrancisCrawford wrote: »

Raisin wrote: »

FrancisCrawford wrote: »

Raisin wrote: »

FrancisCrawford wrote: »

Raisin wrote: »

Also, you can craft Torug's pact. When Aether stopped being worth it, my standard dungeon setup changed from Olo/Aether to Olo/Torugs, as tanks will usually wear Yolna/Alkosh in dungeons or Ebon in Pugs.

Do you run Crushing Enchants, Weakening or both?

I usually run Crusher (if running Torugs) in PUG dungeons. Weakening only if I have a tank telling me they have Crusher uptime under control.
Honestly though, I generally don't switch my enchants around for dungeon runs. Maybe for a trifecta run we're struggling with a little. I'm fairly certainl I've done anything from dungeon trifecta to casual trial with infused poison on my backbar cause I was too lazy to switch after Z'en use.

I don't usually have that much communication in GF PUGs anyway. Even saying "Hello" seems increasingly optional.

I did however recently switch some builds to Infused (albeit not Torug's) Weakening, on the theory that the tank SHOULD be running Crusher.

Yeah it depends on what you're running. I generally only PUG vDLC if anything and if you get a proper tank for that, they'll communicate OK.

In the end, I don't think the damage reduction from weakening will make or break the group. So I stick to crusher unless explicitly stated, cause I'd rather double down on it and get a good uptime than take the chance with weakening. And honestly, Torugs for me was just a laziness move. What else am I gonna wear, y'know? Don't trust myself with Z'en in a PUG, don't need a selfish support set. Sustain sets depend on the DDs, as does the option of MA without horn. Guess Martial Knowledge would be an option, but meh.

Ahh. I heal at a lower level than you do. The only vet DLCs I've ever done are the IC ones.

Yeah, in IC dungeons I think I'd count myself lucky if I get a proper tank. In the end, there's definitely groups where Weakening will help out. You're certainly doing more than the average PUG healer to smartly support your group with that, honestly, and putting a lot of thought into it as well.

Speely

Keylun wrote: »

You could be a naked Orc stamina healer and be able to heal through normal content to grind some better gear.

Don’t worry about it because you’re teammates won’t be.

Lol good to know. I guess some things never change.

Qbiken wrote: »

All I can say is that you shouldn't waste time farming SPC when olorime exists. Olorime is superior in every single aspect compared to SPC. Don't let anyone else tell you otherwise.

Noted. Thanks so much for this advice, which seems obvious just looking at the tool tips but I just missed.

FrancisCrawford wrote: »

Some thoughts to the OP:

• If you want a five-piece set including jewelry, without bothering to craft jewelry, there's nothing wrong with Mother's Sorrow.
• There's nothing wrong with Julianos.
• I used to run Worm Cult, but it seems that DDs are usually stamina these days. Also, it was nerfed implicitly via the change in how cost reduction is calculated. And while Seducer got an offsetting buff, Worm didn't; Seducer now gives 2 1/2 times the personal benefit of Worm in the five-piece bonus, up from 2.
• I'm a big advocate of Earthgore. However, it was just at The Golden, so there may not be another opportunity to buy it for many months.
• If you run SPC, you'll want to keep HoTs up all the time. That's more annoying than it used to be, because of the change from Mutagen to Radiating Regeneration, but I do it.
• Purifylng Light is pointless now that it only amplifies your own damage.
• Damage buffs that are said to be de rigeur, like Power of the Light or Combat Prayer or Warhorn, can actually be pretty dubious in 4-person groups.
• Siphon Spirit is a pretty appealing alternative to Elemental Drain now. The only times it isn't better are usually when the tank doesn't do Major Breach or does do Blood Altar.
• It's fine to skimp on your resto bar, run both Siphon Spirit and Channeled Focus there, and have a full bar for DPS.

Firstly, thanks for all the points. I didn't know about the Purifying Light change. What would you suggest for granting Minor Sorcery from the Dawn's Wrath passive, then?

AcadianPaladin

@Speely - To get the Minor Sorcery passive from Dawn's Wrath, I like Reflective Light. It has good range, hits several targets, provides some nice DoT, snares the targets and provides Minor Sorcery to allies. Frankly, I love good skills like this that help healers buff, debuff and provide some incidental damage in the process.

akdave0

Qbiken wrote: »

All I can say is that you shouldn't waste time farming SPC when olorime exists. Olorime is superior in every single aspect compared to SPC. Don't let anyone else tell you otherwise.

Not everyone has the opportunity to farm trials so readily. If you don’t belong to a guild or play during off peak hours, good luck getting Olo gear.

Speely

akdave0 wrote: »

Not everyone has the opportunity to farm trials so readily. If you don’t belong to a guild or play during off peak hours, good luck getting Olo gear.

I have considered this since I do not belong to a guild. I am relegating Olo to a future "maybe." I have never minded finding ways to make sub-optimal gear work.

AcadianPaladin wrote: »

@Speely - To get the Minor Sorcery passive from Dawn's Wrath, I like Reflective Light. It has good range, hits several targets, provides some nice DoT, snares the targets and provides Minor Sorcery to allies. Frankly, I love good skills like this that help healers buff, debuff and provide some incidental damage in the process.

Hmm. I've always liked RL. It's low cost iirc, and easy to work into a rotation with multiple benefits. Thanks, I'll give it a shot.

FrancisCrawford

AcadianPaladin wrote: »

@Speely - To get the Minor Sorcery passive from Dawn's Wrath, I like Reflective Light. It has good range, hits several targets, provides some nice DoT, snares the targets and provides Minor Sorcery to allies. Frankly, I love good skills like this that help healers buff, debuff and provide some incidental damage in the process.

Same here. I always find room for it on my Destro bar.

FrancisCrawford

akdave0 wrote: »

Qbiken wrote: »

All I can say is that you shouldn't waste time farming SPC when olorime exists. Olorime is superior in every single aspect compared to SPC. Don't let anyone else tell you otherwise.

Not everyone has the opportunity to farm trials so readily. If you don’t belong to a guild or play during off peak hours, good luck getting Olo gear.

I've never done a trial, so I don't have Olorime, so I use SPC.

As a result I wind up casting Radiating Regeneration twice every 10 seconds, which is annoying, but I could probably replace that with Ritual of Retribution/Extended Ritual if I were more careful about positioning.

And having ~100% HoT uptime has the big advantage of making Earthgore a good healing set.