Which are the most important skills for a healer on dungeons?

MaLTRaiN

Hi. I am a templar, high elf and I love being a healer so I'm trying to be the best I can.

I'm on level 50 CP250 and I'm doing mostly vet dungeons, where I've seen the worst kind of players (the "speedrunners" who doesn't care for the rest of the team or the rage quitters who leave the teams when someone doesn't know a boss mechanic) and the best ones (those who teach, who help... fortunately, the most in this game).

I've read a lot of guides and saw many videos about builds, but I always say you learn with practice. I use AlphaGear addon and I have a set (gear + skills) for playing solo, other for the dailies PvP battlegrouns and another for playing dungeons (the full "healer" one).

Mostly, I use my first bar:

- Punctuaring Sweep (for healing myself in case of emergency, defend myself and make damage)
- Breath of Life (for insta heal my entire group and myself)
- Energy Orb (this forum recommended me this one a lot)
- Extended Ritual (same as the orb)
- Inner Light (must be slotted for the effects)
- Ultimate: Thunderous Rage (for helping with damage)

On my second bar I have:
- Blazing Shield
- Elemental Drain
- Unstable Wall of Storms
- Radiant Opression
- Solar Barrage
- Ultimate: Remembrance

I use very little my second bar, except on exceptional ocassions... mostly Radiant Opression, that is amazing when enemies have less than 25% of life.

I think, maybe, I could make more for helping my comrades but I don't know if there is another great skill I'm not taking in account.

Another thing... I have 10.668 of health and 31.918 of magicka (all my 64 points). And I use a food that put my health on 17.250.

I've only found the Undaunted Meddle passive skill for increasing my health and, of course, my gear focus on increase magicka (I use Mother's Sorrow and Julianos set as a base for now).

Is enough with my health for the future trials or the CP300 dungeons or should I change some enchanments and increase health instead of magicka?

Thanks for your tips!!!

mairwen85

Combat prayer, regen, springs, elemental drain, and orbs. That's your bread and butter healing kit regardless of class.

Dps skills barricade for off-balance and concussion, crushing shock for ranged interrupt.

Ideally all your enchants for mag.

Lintashi

Combat prayer is needed, for buffs and fast heal in tough situations. As ultimate, I use warhorn. I doubt, that you need more health, just remember to heal yourself too, occasionally. On my healers, I go 7/3, with 7 skills as heals and buffs, and three as damage dealing, one of them must be some kind of spammable, other-aoe, third whatever suits the build.

mocap

since you running PUGs vet dungeons and using AlphaGear addon, i suggest you to use two presets:
1) full healer preset with little to no damage support (mostly for vet DLC dungeons)
2) dd/healer hybrid (mostly for vanila dungeons or some rare DLC situations)

My healer preset (don't remember some morph names, sorry):
Inner rage, Springs, BoL, Radiant, Siphon; Temp Guard.
Puryfing Light, Blazing, Ritual, Degeneration, Heal Orb; Barrier.
(you can use double Resto in this case)

DD/healer hybrid preset:
Inner rage, Degeneration, BoL, Unstable wall, Sweeps; Temp Guard.
PuryfingLight, Blazing, Ritual, Siphon, Barrage; Shooting star.
(not optimized rotation: Blazing, Barrage, Puryfing, Unstable, Jabjabjabjabjabjabjab)

As you can see even as DD hybrid i still provide sustain (Blazing, Siphon) and Spell Power Cure as buff. Stay away from War Horn in PUG dungeons. Keeping your team alive is way better than minor damage bonus, since everyone uses their own source of Minor Force.

Now the gameplay is simple: if you see, after some packs, that your group is OK with dps, then stay on healer preset, if lacking dps, change to dps/heal hybrid.

upd: about Combat Prayer. It suck in PUG dungeons as players usually scattered left and right. You will only waste your time trying to Pray them. Also most of damage buffs in 4man content are just suck, cuz percentages. It won't help the weak DD and doesn't really need for strong one.

redspecter23

radiating regeneration, combat prayer, energy orb, shards, are key components for healers. If you're going for some dps as it appears you are, then sweeps and beam may be all you really need for a lot of content. Ritual of Retribution will fit in well too.

Look to acquire some more specific healer based sets later on for harder content or trials such as Olarime or other support sets.

mairwen85

Aggressive horn gives Major Force. Its very useful in dungeons, hardly a minor dps boost. But personally I bring lights champion into dungeons because it has a lower cost so more frequent use, solid heal (so pug friendly) and Major Force.

MaLTRaiN

Combat prayer, check.
Regeneration, check.
Warhorn, check.

Which one is "springs"?

And a change I missed was using a restoration staff instead my lightning ones... thanks for the advices!

mairwen85

redspecter23 wrote: »

radiating regeneration, combat prayer, energy orb, shards, are key components for healers. If you're going for some dps as it appears you are, then sweeps and beam may be all you really need for a lot of content. Ritual of Retribution will fit in well too.

Look to acquire some more specific healer based sets later on for harder content or trials such as Olarime or other support sets.

I prefer spc for dungeons as people tend to spread out more, especially pugs. Hollowfang is fast becoming a favourite of mine too, when dps don't run away from the Proc 😂

mocap

damage buffs are mostly for trials or at least 4man strong optimized premade group. But totaly nor for PUGs.
Buffing random Joe with War Horn and Prayer, when Joe can do humble 20k will add to him like 2-3k dps on top. Lol.

Hotdog_23

As already mentioned, combat prayer is nice but with some pug groups it is next to impossible to use effectively. When doing serious healing warhorn is your main ultimate and I slot Reviving Barrier from the Alliance War support skill line. One is a nice oh shoot button and the Magicka Aid passive of “Increases your Magicka Recovery by 10% for each Support ability slotted” but you need to be level 9 rank to get the most out of the passive.

Most of the time you can be a DD/healer so one bar for healing and one for DPS. Generally, I do as much dps as the dedicated dps. In this set up I use Meteor and Reviving Barrier for my ultimate’s on a templar.

edit spelling

idk

I would suggest the Ritual of Retribution instead of Extended Ritual for PvE. It has to be placed so the tank is in the area of effect anyhow and it will do damage to any enemies within that area. The only difference is it lasts 12 seconds instead of 24 which is not a big deal at all. Heals the same.

NO to blazing shield. It scales off max health and hopefully, you do not have very high max health as a healer. If you want a shield then use Dampen Magic or Harness Magicka as that scales better with max magicka.

Solar Barrage, I would not bother with it as a healer. You already have Puncturing Sweep on your bar. IMHO, having BoL on both bars is probably helpful, especially while getting used to everything.

Remembrance - Good emergency group heals but after getting comfortable with healing it will probably not be used. Especially with 4 man dungeons. Granted, I did use it quite often early in the game. Nova is more commonly used in its place as it puts Major Main on any target within it reducing their damage by 30%. Again, use Rememberance until you find you are no longer using it.

MaLTRaiN

Wow, thanks for the amazing tips. I promise that I'll read carefully all of your advices. And yes, I do PUG only or help people of my guilds...

idk

Understand, it is not a one size fits all when it comes to healing 4-man dungeons. Find what works for you.

Heck, back in the say I used to heal the first 9 arenas of vDSA with only 2 heals. Repentance (when it would heal the group) and BoL. The rest was damage skills.

mairwen85

idk wrote: »

Understand, it is not a one size fits all when it comes to healing 4-man dungeons. Find what works for you.

Heck, back in the say I used to heal the first 9 arenas of vDSA with only 2 heals. Repentance (when it would heal the group) and BoL. The rest was damage skills.

This. Healing is probably the most dynamic role in the game. You have a lot of flexibility and options in dungeons, so finding what works for you in each given scenario is key. Alpha gear is the perfect addon for that.

MitsubishiOutlander

mairwen85 wrote: »

redspecter23 wrote: »

radiating regeneration, combat prayer, energy orb, shards, are key components for healers. If you're going for some dps as it appears you are, then sweeps and beam may be all you really need for a lot of content. Ritual of Retribution will fit in well too.

Look to acquire some more specific healer based sets later on for harder content or trials such as Olarime or other support sets.

I prefer spc for dungeons as people tend to spread out more, especially pugs. Hollowfang is fast becoming a favourite of mine too, when dps don't run away from the Proc 😂

I'm currently working on getting the Hollowfang gear for my templar healer so using crafted gear. I'm using the Sentinal of Rkugamz monster set where it spawns a healing dewmer spider that heals decent amount over 8 seconds. I found it tends to proc quite a bit but people tends to run away from it.

I'm like "If you see a robot looking spider with a green looking AOE around it that's a heal stand in it.". At that point I get "I was woundering what that thing was.".

MitsubishiOutlander

I'm playing as a Breton Templar Healer using the current gear below and skills. I have no problem doing content with my
current build either doing solo things OR in groups.

Restro Staff (Main Bar)

Breath of Life , Combat Prayer , Illustrious Healing , Radiating Regeneration , Purifying Light , Ultimate: Solar Prison

Lightning Staff (2nd Bar)

Channeled Focus , Elemental Blockade , Elemental Drain , Luminous Shards , Ritual of Retribution, Ultimate: Aggressive Horn


Current Gear

Restro Staff of Kagrenac's Hope , Lightning Staff of Kagrenac's Hope
Robe of Kagrenac's Hope , Breeches of Kagrenac's Hope , Gloves of Kagrenac's Hope

Sash of the Seducer , Shoes of the Seducer , Necklace of the Seducer , Ring of the Seducer (2 of them)

Sentinel of Rkugamz (Monster Set) - I'm using Medium Helm and Heavy Shoulder.


Using that gear I don't have a magicka issue I hardly ever run out during a fight even a long dungeon fight. But looking at replacing the Seducer gear with Hollowfang at somepoint once I get them.

AcadianPaladin

My templar healer runs a lot of solo and pugs so she is set for healing unorganized randoms - not disciplined groups.

Resto: Extended Ritual, Channeled Focus, Blessing of Restoration, Rapid Regen, Illustrious Healing
Lightning: EleDrain, Wall, Shards, Reflective Light, Sweeps

Mages Guild ult on both bars for the passives and a bit of damage.

Lixiviant

Good subject! I've started trying my hand at being a healer and really didn't know where to start.

vgabor

You need different setup for soloing and for healing. And more importantly different approach, because - ideally with a right group - you're about to help the others do damage and kill the mobs and not yourself focusing on the damage. This although can wary between contents, depending on how healing intensive it is.

My recommended general healing setup for 4 man content:
gear: olorime + hollowfang + symphony/bogdan
ligtning staff (hollowfang, crusher enchant): Orb, Shard, Power of the light, Wall, Ele drain, Solar prison
resto staff (master or any): BoL, Illustrious, Combat prayer, Ritual, Radiating regen, Warhorn
Try to spend as much as you can on lightning staff bar and only swap to healing bar to refresh HoTs and CP, use heavy attack or shard if you don't have to cast anything else.

For soloing or playing half dps half heal (or when you get fake dps in the gf):
gear: false god + hollowfang + grothdarr
fire or light staff (hollowfang, crusher or berserker enchant): Inner light, Puncturing sweep, Deregen, Wall, Radiant, Elemental Storm
resto staff (maelstrom): BoL, Shard, Solar barrage, Ritual (preferably the damaging morph), Radiating regen, Warhorn
I recommend hollowfang even if you gear for damage, the first 3 bonus is exactly what mother sorrow gives and the sustain from the last bonus will let you use spell damage enchant on jewellery instead of mag regen. Also maelstrom resto staff helps with sustain, fg+hollow gives you fairly high crit to proc it reliably.

Try to get your health to 18K for 4man healing, and if you go for veteran trials try to get to 20K. You as a healer need more health than a dps as it's no good if you go down first.

Grandchamp1989

5 skills I can't be without on veteran

1. Illustrious Healing + 2. Extended Ritual + 3. orb
Will keep a group going with serious HOTs, purifying, insta heal and sustain if they're close to each other

4. Radiating Regeneration for when chaos overtakes and people run in every direction

5. Combat prayer for the dmg buff and insta heals

Breath of Life is excellent panic button to keep people alive and Barrier ulti can save a group from wiping on most of the hardest content.

Remember it's your job to help sustain the group so you really should wear a minor magicka steal skill aswell as orb and/or sustain gear.
On harder content people WILL start to ask questions if don't help with sustain.... I know from experience lol.

Gear I go Spell power cure in PUG dungeons and Olerime on trials where people stack on each other.

Red_Feather

I came here to post combat prayer in case everyone else hadn't. It's the only one I know for sure.

Tryxus

Elemental Drain
Combat Prayer
Orbs/Shards

Stx

I personally enjoy siphon spirit for life steal and magicka steal all in one. I guess if the tank is running no breach ele drain would be better though.

Jeremy

MaLTRaiN wrote: »

Hi. I am a templar, high elf and I love being a healer so I'm trying to be the best I can.

I'm on level 50 CP250 and I'm doing mostly vet dungeons, where I've seen the worst kind of players (the "speedrunners" who doesn't care for the rest of the team or the rage quitters who leave the teams when someone doesn't know a boss mechanic) and the best ones (those who teach, who help... fortunately, the most in this game).

I've read a lot of guides and saw many videos about builds, but I always say you learn with practice. I use AlphaGear addon and I have a set (gear + skills) for playing solo, other for the dailies PvP battlegrouns and another for playing dungeons (the full "healer" one).

Mostly, I use my first bar:

- Punctuaring Sweep (for healing myself in case of emergency, defend myself and make damage)
- Breath of Life (for insta heal my entire group and myself)
- Energy Orb (this forum recommended me this one a lot)
- Extended Ritual (same as the orb)
- Inner Light (must be slotted for the effects)
- Ultimate: Thunderous Rage (for helping with damage)

On my second bar I have:
- Blazing Shield
- Elemental Drain
- Unstable Wall of Storms
- Radiant Opression
- Solar Barrage
- Ultimate: Remembrance

I use very little my second bar, except on exceptional ocassions... mostly Radiant Opression, that is amazing when enemies have less than 25% of life.

I think, maybe, I could make more for helping my comrades but I don't know if there is another great skill I'm not taking in account.

Another thing... I have 10.668 of health and 31.918 of magicka (all my 64 points). And I use a food that put my health on 17.250.

I've only found the Undaunted Meddle passive skill for increasing my health and, of course, my gear focus on increase magicka (I use Mother's Sorrow and Julianos set as a base for now).

Is enough with my health for the future trials or the CP300 dungeons or should I change some enchanments and increase health instead of magicka?

Thanks for your tips!!!

I haven't healed in awhile (been tanking mostly) but I liked the changes to Rapid Regeneration. So I would consider using that instead of Breath of Life to heal your group with. It's cheaper and doesn't require you to be facing your target. I would save Breath of Life for emergencies, like if your tank is about to die.

Eifleber

I think you could actually heal 80% of the vet dungons with just Rapid Regeneration equiped!
No joke. It's by far the best healing skill as it always works and you don't have to position yourself to use it.
Lots of online builds seem to be more dedicated trial builds where gameplay usually is a lot more static with one heap of 10 dd's with a dedicated healer right behind them. Dungeons usually don' t work that way however.

For the rest I noticed that it can be very helpful to have a bit more health.
A lot of AoE attacks are just on the edge of 15-20k damage - and a dead healer is a useless healer.
Investing into 20k hp (incl food) can be very useful.

I mean: how often does it happen that your healing just isn't strong enough? Hardly ever. Perhaps vDSC II poison clouds or vCoA II lava boss. Most wipes happen because of high damage instakill attacks and dungeon mechanics, not because of not being able to keep up. Survivability is a bit underrated imo.

Btw in dungeons I play healers 95% of the time, although most are hybrid healer/dd because most dungeons (incl vet) don't really demand a fulltime healer. At least one dps skill can be handy because you may occasionally find yourself be the last one standing with a boss at 1% health.

❆

mairwen85

mocap wrote: »

damage buffs are mostly for trials or at least 4man strong optimized premade group. But totaly nor for PUGs.
Buffing random Joe with War Horn and Prayer, when Joe can do humble 20k will add to him like 2-3k dps on top. Lol.

So you wouldn't use combat prayer (berserk), elemental drain (breach), or provide any buffs (courage, force, etc) that increase dps at all? Or debuff the enemies to the same effect?

As a healer you can provide in excess of 23% buff to group dps and still provide background dps and utility. I think you're looking at this way too narrowly for someone giving advice on how to heal. It doesn't matter, pug or organised group, you fulfil the role of healer with heals, sustain aid, buffs, debuffs, and extra dps where necessary, just your bias for each of those elements shifts with the requirements of the group, favouring whatever is most needed from you.