MagDK self healing in PVE

El_Borracho

I've played primarily stamina characters (DK, Nightblade, Necro) and Magsorcs who all have their own dedicated self-heals. Created a MagDK DPS recently and have been loving the damage it puts out and the play style. But its taking a while to get used to the lack of a self-heal. I understand the Flame Lash and Burning Embers heals which work well when things are under control. But occasionally things get a little dicey (especially in pugs) and it would be nice to have a self heal like Vigor or Twilight Matriarch that I could hit as a panic button.

Obviously, I could go get Vigor and fix that. But is there another skill that I am overlooking that will give me a burst heal like Vigor? I've looked at Coagulating Blood and Draw Essence, but both don't appear to give the same burst that Vigor or TM do. Any thoughts are appreciated.

DUTCH_REAPER

My cdb has healed me for over 11k in PvP and 21k in pve. Do u have points into CP self heal?

Edited due to mistype

El_Borracho

DUTCH_REAPER wrote: »

My cdb has healed me for over 11k in PvP and 21k in pve. Do u have points into CP self heal?

Edited due to mistype

Ahh, not for my PVE DPS. I forget about CP sometimes. That makes sense. I'll play around with that. Thank you

ATreeGnome

El_Borracho wrote: »

I've played primarily stamina characters (DK, Nightblade, Necro) and Magsorcs who all have their own dedicated self-heals. Created a MagDK DPS recently and have been loving the damage it puts out and the play style. But its taking a while to get used to the lack of a self-heal. I understand the Flame Lash and Burning Embers heals which work well when things are under control. But occasionally things get a little dicey (especially in pugs) and it would be nice to have a self heal like Vigor or Twilight Matriarch that I could hit as a panic button.

Obviously, I could go get Vigor and fix that. But is there another skill that I am overlooking that will give me a burst heal like Vigor? I've looked at Coagulating Blood and Draw Essence, but both don't appear to give the same burst that Vigor or TM do. Any thoughts are appreciated.

I usually just rely on recasting burning embers early. This will give you a powerful bust heal even if it's only be ticking for a few seconds.

I do think you shouldn't be so quick to dismiss Coagulating Blood. Keep in mind that it gets boosted based on how much missing health you have.

Obsidian Shard is an option as well, but no matter what you pick nothing is going to match the instant burst of Twilight Matriarch unless you combo it with major mending from Fragmented Shield or Igneous Shield. Probably not worth using up 2 slots though.

UntilValhalla13

Dragon's blood is one of the strongest self heals in the game. It's disgusting when running cores in vcr.

Oreyn_Bearclaw

For a specific heal on a DK, Dragon Blood is your answer. That said, with a little practice, you will find that burning embers is a really strong burst heal and likely all you need. The one caveat is that you cant let the dot expire completely if you need the heal, as it's the second cast that gives the heal. But even simply double tapping the skill will give a decent heal in PVE.

thadjarvis

For pugging you'll have a healer. Even if the healer is very green, you probably still will have at least 1 HoT on you. If embers isn't enough for the situation I would probably try a shield first over coag.

El_Borracho

Thank you everyone. I'll grab the dragon blood. Appreciate it.

JumpmanLane

On MagDk cauterize, coag, embers, powerlash, and leap of course.

Or you could go BRP Resto, Healing Ward, rapid regen, changing cauterize for the offensive Flames of Oblivion (or even KEEP cauterize) but then drop coagulating blood.

MagDk has pretty good heals.

robpr

Coag normally heals you for 8k-ish +33% missing health and due to DK passives next coag cast during old one duration you get even 12% more.

colossalvoids

Pretty much what people already said, coag and embers for pve. If you use degeneration might look into other morph entropy somewhat similar to blood craze heal once every 2 sec on top.

Vildebill

Embers is great but neaed to be timed. I prefer harness magicka over dragon blood in PvE though, you can be more proactive with your defense with a shield than a heal.

Slothylicious

I agree that coagulating blood is quite strong, but no one likes cauterize? The amount of healing looks good, is it just too unreliable?

Bradyfjord

I feel that casting hardened armor and cauterize is really good. Cauterize gives you major sorcery in addition to a very strong heal over time. Hardened armor gives you defenses and a damage shield that scales off of health. If you run high health this is a good setup. Combined with burning embers you will easily be able to manage your health.

LittlePinkDot

El_Borracho wrote: »

I've played primarily stamina characters (DK, Nightblade, Necro) and Magsorcs who all have their own dedicated self-heals. Created a MagDK DPS recently and have been loving the damage it puts out and the play style. But its taking a while to get used to the lack of a self-heal. I understand the Flame Lash and Burning Embers heals which work well when things are under control. But occasionally things get a little dicey (especially in pugs) and it would be nice to have a self heal like Vigor or Twilight Matriarch that I could hit as a panic button.

Obviously, I could go get Vigor and fix that. But is there another skill that I am overlooking that will give me a burst heal like Vigor? I've looked at Coagulating Blood and Draw Essence, but both don't appear to give the same burst that Vigor or TM do. Any thoughts are appreciated.

Green dragon blood is your class heal. Also you can use the healing morph of Inferno. And of course you can use a resto staff backbar. My magDK was designed for PvP but I can use her as a healer in normal dungeons just by swapping some skills.

JumpmanLane

Bradyfjord wrote: »

I feel that casting hardened armor and cauterize is really good. Cauterize gives you major sorcery in addition to a very strong heal over time. Hardened armor gives you defenses and a damage shield that scales off of health. If you run high health this is a good setup. Combined with burning embers you will easily be able to manage your health.

Nah cauterize gives you major prophesy WHICH is GOOD!

El_Borracho

So I ran all weekend with coagulating dragon blood. That's what I've been looking for. Its great at bailing you out when you get mopped on and need an instant heal. That skills description is lacking, to say the least. Its as good as, if not better than vigor.

Thank you everyone for your assistance

Oreyn_Bearclaw

JumpmanLane wrote: »

Bradyfjord wrote: »

I feel that casting hardened armor and cauterize is really good. Cauterize gives you major sorcery in addition to a very strong heal over time. Hardened armor gives you defenses and a damage shield that scales off of health. If you run high health this is a good setup. Combined with burning embers you will easily be able to manage your health.

Nah cauterize gives you major prophesy WHICH is GOOD!

Agree, if you are in PVP. In PVE, you get major prophecy from potions anyways (or from the other morph), and running cauterize leaves a fair amount of damage on the table. You are much better with the other moprh for DPS. Now of course, the issue is that if you want to take a meta rotation for a mDK and add a heal (other than embers), you are going to have to drop at least one dot, but Flames of Oblivion would not be my first choice. And if you are going to slot an oh crap heal that doesnt do damage anyway, I would just use dragon blood.

On an mDK, I would really only run CDB if doing upstairs in VCR or maybe backroom of VMOL, (might be a few other situations, but all involve being isolated from your group and taking oblivion damage that you cant shield), otherwise first thing I would add for trial purposes is actually a shield most of the time.

JumpmanLane

Oreyn_Bearclaw wrote: »

JumpmanLane wrote: »

Bradyfjord wrote: »

I feel that casting hardened armor and cauterize is really good. Cauterize gives you major sorcery in addition to a very strong heal over time. Hardened armor gives you defenses and a damage shield that scales off of health. If you run high health this is a good setup. Combined with burning embers you will easily be able to manage your health.

Nah cauterize gives you major prophesy WHICH is GOOD!

Agree, if you are in PVP. In PVE, you get major prophecy from potions anyways (or from the other morph), and running cauterize leaves a fair amount of damage on the table. You are much better with the other moprh for DPS. Now of course, the issue is that if you want to take a meta rotation for a mDK and add a heal (other than embers), you are going to have to drop at least one dot, but Flames of Oblivion would not be my first choice. And if you are going to slot an oh crap heal that doesnt do damage anyway, I would just use dragon blood.

On an mDK, I would really only run CDB if doing upstairs in VCR or maybe backroom of VMOL, (might be a few other situations, but all involve being isolated from your group and taking oblivion damage that you cant shield), otherwise first thing I would add for trial purposes is actually a shield most of the time.

I agree, totally agree. I was just correcting the guy who thought cauterize gave Major Sorcery. I totally love Flames of Oblivion in PvE. But I pvp a ton and ain’t swapping morphs for PvE.

In a trial I would. If I still had to farm Maelstrom I would. But for everything else I stick with cauterize.