Every class can heal just fine, you need only find the ways that class synergises with the restoration staff. The only thing that really defines Templars as the best healer is not actually their skill at healing, it's the fact that they are the only class that can return stamina to other players on the team without using a master restoration staff.

I don't have any links to guides, but I can say that nightblades make awesome healers.

Templars are very good at supporting stamina characters and are one of the only classes that have a burst heal, which can be useful. Not as good as the nightblade at HoT potential tho, and the Nightblade healer is more damage dealing/mitigating than the Templar. Sorcerer healers can do useful things like AoE stun whilst healing, or healing through pets while also using a resto staff. They have pretty good cc for mobs in general but their healing potential from what I see isn't as high as either.

When it comes to healing though, it's about what you provide. As a support, as an off damage, sometimes even an off tank. Magicka templar tanks can make awesome off healers. It really all depends on what kind of style you want to play, because PvE roles are a little less strict.

Kwik1 wrote: »

I was kind of hoping Sorc or even NB were good. if they are maybe someone could link a decent guide to read up on them?

You can do all endgame 4man content with a sorc or a NB healer. Even with stamina mates, even no death achievements. For raids it works too but you'll need a templar in your group (2nd healer or even a DPS one) for repentance/shards (not for the easiest raids though).

one of the only classes that have a burst heal

The sorc burst heal (the pet one) is stronger than Templar's one. It only scales of magicka while templar one scales of Magicka and spell damage. Sorcs can have way more magicka than templar.

Templar healers are great, it's the easiest way for healing. But it's not the most fun to play. If you don't like to play as a templar healer don't play it. NB and Sorcs healers are both great. I find my NB way more fun to play than my templar.

What a NB healer can offer to the group ?
NB healers have better HPS than every other classes. Your "Oh *** button" is Healing Ward. You'll do a lot of damage while healing (and you'll need to do lot of damage to be a good NB healer). More DPS = Bosses die faster = Everything is easy. You can help Magicka users with balls and siphon spirit/elemental drain (same skills you'll use as a templar or a sorcerer or a DK). Quickiest "Ulti recovery". Group buff : Minor Savagery, Major vitality (depending on what ulti you're using, it's only viable on 4 man dungeon cause for raid warhorn is a must have).
Cons : you can't keep up the stamina of your teammates (EDIT : with recent updates master resto staff 160 CP is the way to go if you want to give stamina back to your teammate, in future update new monster set will be added to help maintaining your teammates stamina's pool), but your teammates should know how to manage their ressources (if they're not bad) so it's not a big deal for 4man content. Like I said for raid, you'll need to have a templar to do that (it can be a second healer but it can be one of the DPS, and for easy raids, even the tank can do that (Edit : With 160 CP master resto resto staff you can do the job too and in future patch new monster set can help you doing that too)). You don't have good CC. It'll take time to master this type of healer. You'll be relying a lot on HoTs and Healing Ward, you don't have burst heals.

What a Sorc Healer can offer to the group ?
Biggest burst heal of the game (matriarch's one). You can add some DPS (a little more than templar but not as big as NB), you'll have the better CC of the game (Negate). You'll be an immortal healer (cause of your self shield). You can offtank easily (if something went bad). You'll have tons of magicka (which means better heals). You can help Magicka users with balls and siphon spirit/elemental drain (same skills you'll use as a templar or a nightblade or a DK). You can grant minor prophecy to your teammates.
Cons : you can't keep up the stamina of your teammates (EDIT : with recent updates master resto staff 160 CP is the way to go if you want to give stamina back to your teammate, in future update new monster set will be added to help maintaining your teammates stamina's pool), but your teammates should know how to manage their ressources (if they're not bad) so it's not a big deal for 4man content. Like I said for raid, you'll need to have a templar to do that (it can be a second healer but it can be one of the DPS, and for easy raids, even the tank can do that (Edit : With 160 CP master resto resto staff you can do the job too and in future patch new monster set can help you doing that too). It can be difficult to control your matriarch (how to place her, paying attention to her life pool, ...).

What a Templar Healer can offer to the group ?
Your "Oh *** button" is BoL. If your tank or your DPS are stamina they'll appreciate that you use repentance and shards. It's more confortable for them to manage their ressources. You can remove armful effects from your teammates (and yourself too ). You can help Magicka users with balls and siphon spirit/elemental drain (same skills you'll use as a nightblade or a sorcerer). You can grant your teammates Minor sorcery. You can reduce healing effectiveness of your enemies. Easy access to Major Mending.
Cons : It's not as fun to play as other healing class (maybe cause it's the easiest route ?). You'll have less magicka than every other magicka classes. You won't do the same damage as a NB or sorc healer. You'll have less CC.

And yeah you don't ask but :
What a DK Healer can offer to the group ?
Good DoTs, Group shields, Good CC, group buff (Major Sorcery, Major and Minor Brutality). You can help Magicka users with balls and siphon spirit/elemental drain (same skills you'll use with every other classes). Easiest access to Major Mending (with Igneous Shield).
Cons : Same as Sorcs. +You'll be relying a lot on your shields, you don't have burst heals (your "burst" heal isn't a "flash" one). It'll take time to master this type of healer.

Mush55 wrote: »

All classes can heal, but templar has the best tools for it.

You're wrong about it. Templar has the best tools to support stamina ressource management, that's it. For healing purposes, all classes have good tools to do it. If you were talking about flash heals, sorcs has the better one.

Duiwel wrote: »

Every class has access to Restoration tree so saying sorcs and DK's make good healers ( cause they have access to restoration skill tree is wrong ) Healing springs and rapid regen are good but BoL and the ritual abilities are WAAAAY better...

Have you played Sorc and DK healer at endgame or played with a good one ? Seems not cause you're saying crap. DK use their shields in combination of resto skills (and combination of stuff). BoL < Matriarch's Heal. In pure healing capabilities, every class can do the job at endgame. Templar is just better support for stamina ressource managements and easier to master. Don't talk about classes/role you don't know a *** about... That's painful. Remind me of those people who said "if you wanna tank just make a DK" ROFL.

About resto staves, you forgot Combat Prayer and Healing ward.

EDIT : Templar healers use resto staff + Templar skill (such as BoL) - NB Healers use Resto staff + NB skill (such as Funnel Health) - Sorcerer Healers use resto staff + Sorc skills (such as Matriarch's Heals) - DK Healers use Resto staff + DK skills (such as Shields). Skills are different but serves the same purpose : keep your teammates alive, help your squad doing the job (by giving ressources back or with CC abilities or with DPS). (was talking about endgame content here, such as raids)

Restoration staff is more important for heals than the Templar skills (excluding possibly BoL)

Each class brings something unique to the table for support

NB: control and HoT
DK: shields and damage reduction
Sorcerer: not sure, never played it much

As a Templar healer I actually do not use a restoration staff. In a decently organized group (dps stays out of red areas and tank will block the heavy attacks) I get away with using dual swords (damage) and destruction staff (heal/debuff/buff).

Extended Ritual along with Purifying Light (people under-rate this, good damage, cheap and a great HoT) is usually more than enough to get by. During a bad pull or certain bosses I might have to cast BoL a couple times but other than that it is a skill only used when I forget I am the healer and forgot to reapply Purifying Light. In raids I would slot reto staff as I am not required to do as much damage as I would in a 4 man dungeon.

Mush55 wrote: »

When you have 1 class with a whole skill line and passives solely devoted to healing , I would say that class has the best tools for healing.

Let's take a look at this skill line (the restoring light one) :

Ulti - Worst ulti of the game in PvE. You need damage mitigation : Nova will do the job better + stun + last longer + deals damage. In group PvP purposes, it can find it's uses. If you don't need damage mitigation, just use the Aggressive Warhorn
BoL/Honor the dead : Cool flash heals, but heals lesser than the matriarch's one (I heal myself 10k without crit 5k on my teammates, 16k myself on crit and 8k teammates with crit)
Healing Ritual : Lol, should I explain why this is really useless ? I hope everyone knows why.
Repetance : Great too, heals + gives stamina back, usefull as ressource management of stamina teammates
Purifying/Extended Rituals : Small HoT, gives Major Mending ( which increases your healing abilities) + heal (even if my teammates takes the synergy even when they don't need it i have to mention it) (I heal 1.3k per tick without crit 1.9k with crit)
Channeled Focus : Self Magicka Management + Major ward

Passives :
Mending : Increase healing done in function of the HP of the target. No point to argue about this.
Focused Healing : Major Mending + CC
Light Weaver : Not that good not that bad. Provides support
Master Ritualist : You rez faster. Wasn't your job to keep your teammates alive ? Joke aside, it's cool too.


Now take a look at for example Nightblade skill tree :
Nightblade :
Siphoning Tree :
Ulti - Heal + Gives major vitality (which increase healing received by targets). If you use the other morph, it's an AoE stun. For damage mitigation we have from the shadow skill tree Veil of Blades.
Funnel Health : Heals teammates while dealing damage (I heal 5k with this skill without crit). Spam skill cause of low magicka cost. Heals lesser than BoL and matriarch's flash heal.
Prolonged Suffering/Malefic Wrath : I don't find this skill usefull as a healer
Crippling Grasp : CC skill
Siphoning Attacks : Self ressources management
Sap Essence : Heals allies + AoE damage (gives you Major sorcery which increases your heals skills) (I heal 1.4 x 1.20 x number of mobs hit without crit / 2.7 x 1.20 x number of mobs hit with crits)

Oh and don't forget from the shadow tree Refreshing path : HoT (I heal 1.2k without crit and 2k with crit)

Passives :
Catalyst : Gain more ultimate (for major vitality or damage mitigation)
Magicka Flood : More magicka means better heal
Soul Siphoner : Increase healing done no point to argue about this lol
Transfer : To gain more ultimate

So yeah templar have access to good tools to keep allies alive, he also has bad one (Healing Ritual ROFL) like other classes. Templar is a great healer class, i won't deny that, but the best at healing purposes, just no. It's the best for support purposes, in term of healing done, my NB is far better than my templar. Sorc is similar to templar in terms of healing done (i've done all endgame content with no death challenge before nerfs on my healers chars which are templar, nightblade and sorc, with stamina teammates). That's what I noticed IG. Both char with 160 CP stuff (SPC). I'm capped on CP (547 atm).

I won't do the same for sorcerer cause i don't have the time right know (IRL stuff to do ) maybe later.

PS : If you know how to place your matriarch and use your shield at the right time, she won't die when you need her. It's a little bit trickier, you'll need to learn how to do so, but it's not impossible. It took me time to master this.

I am not most experienced player around, playing for 6 months maybe but i learned it the hard way that Templars are by far best and easiest to play healers in the game.

I have both healing classes (NB is Redguard thu, not like it's game changing) and when i play with pugs i have way more fun on Templar.It's because with either pugs or not prolololo group peoples tend to do stupid thing and drop heal very fast at random and that's when BoL is handy.However the biggest problem with healing with other classes is that no matter what you do - you can't restore stamina and it's simply very useful.

Sorc healer from what i heard is not bad, but healing pet is stupid and it may die when you need it the most.

If you want my advice - make a Templar just in case and see for your self and then make a second char NB/Sorc and compare them.Keep in mind you can transfer gear between your characters, even if it's bound so you won't lose your gear progress if you decide to reroll.

Shaiba wrote: »

Mush55 wrote: »

When you have 1 class with a whole skill line and passives solely devoted to healing , I would say that class has the best tools for healing.

Let's take a look at this skill line (the restoring light one) :

Ulti - Worst ulti of the game in PvE. You need damage mitigation : Nova will do the job better + stun + last longer + deals damage. In group PvP purposes, it can find it's uses. If you don't need damage mitigation, just use the Aggressive Warhorn
BoL/Honor the dead : Cool flash heals, but heals lesser than the matriarch's one (I heal myself 10k without crit 5k on my teammates, 16k myself on crit and 8k teammates with crit)
Healing Ritual : Lol, should I explain why this is really useless ? I hope everyone knows why.
Repetance : Great too, heals + gives stamina back, usefull as ressource management of stamina teammates
Purifying/Extended Rituals : Small HoT, gives Major Mending ( which increases your healing abilities) + heal (even if my teammates takes the synergy even when they don't need it i have to mention it) (I heal 1.3k per tick without crit 1.9k with crit)
Channeled Focus : Self Magicka Management + Major ward

Passives :
Mending : Increase healing done in function of the HP of the target. No point to argue about this.
Focused Healing : Major Mending + CC
Light Weaver : Not that good not that bad. Provides support
Master Ritualist : You rez faster. Wasn't your job to keep your teammates alive ? Joke aside, it's cool too.


Now take a look at for example Nightblade skill tree :
Nightblade :
Siphoning Tree :
Ulti - Heal + Gives major vitality (which increase healing received by targets). If you use the other morph, it's an AoE stun. For damage mitigation we have from the shadow skill tree Veil of Blades.
Funnel Health : Heals teammates while dealing damage (I heal 5k with this skill without crit). Spam skill cause of low magicka cost. Heals lesser than BoL and matriarch's flash heal.
Prolonged Suffering/Malefic Wrath : I don't find this skill usefull as a healer
Crippling Grasp : CC skill
Siphoning Attacks : Self ressources management
Sap Essence : Heals allies + AoE damage (gives you Major sorcery which increases your heals skills) (I heal 1.4 x 1.20 x number of mobs hit without crit / 2.7 x 1.20 x number of mobs hit with crits)
Passive

Oh and don't forget from the shadow tree Refreshing path : HoT (I heal 1.2k without crit and 2k with crit)

Passives :
Catalyst : Gain more ultimate (for major vitality or damage mitigation)
Magicka Flood : More magicka means better heal
Soul Siphoner : Increase healing done no point to argue about this lol
Transfer : To gain more ultimate

So yeah templar have access to good tools to keep allies alive, he also has bad one (Healing Ritual ROFL) like other classes. Templar is a great healer class, i won't deny that, but the best at healing purposes, just no. It's the best for support purposes, in term of healing done, my NB is far better than my templar. Sorc is similar to templar in terms of healing done (i've done all endgame content with no death challenge before nerfs on my healers chars which are templar, nightblade and sorc, with stamina teammates). That's what I noticed IG. Both char with 160 CP stuff (SPC). I'm capped on CP (547 atm).

I won't do the same for sorcerer cause i don't have the time right know (IRL stuff to do ) maybe later.

PS : If you know how to place your matriarch and use your shield at the right time, she won't die when you need her. It's a little bit trickier, you'll need to learn how to do so, but it's not impossible. It took me time to master this.

I play a mage blade so I know how good they are and I wont argue with you about them, I to have done all end game trials included and cp capped and I still stand by what I say , all classes can heal we agree on that but templars bring more tools to keep a group sustained (shards, repentance) thus a more useful healer

To the Op. If you want to do group content and heal I would roll a templar and make it easy on yourself worth it alone for the group sustain because how many dps run regen over dps especially now costs have risen

In my experience, which includes healing on all classes at one point (or still), all healers utilize very similar gear, CP and attribute allocations, and skills. When it comes to healing trials, the "usefulness" (however we want to define that..) of a healer goes far beyond just giving a little stamina back to one person via synergy. Any healer (temp or otherwise) can sustain stamina builds much more efficiently just by using a Master's Resto staff, which gives back ~400 stamina on every first tick of healing springs, to every ally within the AoE. What this means is that, as long as you have springs running on the tank and melee dps, they're pretty much always going to have the stamina to sustain.

Furthermore, there are many things that we, as healers, do (or should be doing) for our group that has nothing to do with class at all - I'm talking about Combat Prayer, Weakness to Elements, Siphon Spirit, Spell Power Cure, Major Sorcery/Brutality (only in some cases), Aggressive Horn, and soon-to-be Major Evasion (Gossamer set in August). These buffs are the real benefit of healers nowadays, and since every class has a burst heal in some form, it stands to reason that a good healer is simply a good healer, despite class selection. But this is really just the objective way to look at it. We could discuss at length all of our specific scenarios in which we achieved some accolade or another on an "unorthodox" build, but it's largely irrelevant.

In short, class doesn't matter. Templars are the most intuitive, and thus are the easiest to grasp for beginners. Anything beyond that is about gear, CP, experience, and most importantly, group cohesion. That's not to say that Templars aren't everything they are cracked up to be, because I sincerely believe they are, but the misconception that they are the "best" or "only good" healers is simply that - a misconception.

Shaun98ca2 wrote: »

Well if you want to really conclude who is the best healer. I say take each class with their class abilities ONLY no restro staff and see how they REALLY stack up. No universal abilities, rely on class merits alone.

Templar and NightBlade are easily fighting for 1st place, but I have to give it to Templar BoL is just hands down a lifesaver. If your group is derpy and makes a lot of mistakes, Templar has the tools to keep people alive. The NightBlade would struggle endlessly with a derpy group.


But again every class can heal just fine with a Restro Staff.

Does this logic still remain valid if virtually every progression group relies on their healers to run skills outside of their class? Every class has a burst heal. Healing Springs is still the #1 healing skill in the game, especially since it is the most effective way to apply SPC (and various other set bonuses).

danno8 wrote: »

I didn't see it mentioned so I will. Templars have the best access to Major Mending, so they don't need to Resto Heavy attack every few seconds to get an additional 25% healing.

I will leave it to others to debate what effect this has.

Again, more nonsense from what I'm going to assume is a player unfamiliar to healing builds outside of templar.

Dragon knights have always and still do have access to the best version of major mending via igneous shield. Up until recently they were the only class to have access to the buff at all ffs.

Shaun98ca2 wrote: »

Well if you want to really conclude who is the best healer. I say take each class with their class abilities ONLY no restro staff and see how they REALLY stack up. No universal abilities, rely on class merits alone.

Templar and NightBlade are easily fighting for 1st place, but I have to give it to Templar BoL is just hands down a lifesaver. If your group is derpy and makes a lot of mistakes, Templar has the tools to keep people alive. The NightBlade would struggle endlessly with a derpy group.


But again every class can heal just fine with a Restro Staff.

Ridiculous.

Classes in this game are intrinsically balanced around the existence of "universal skills". This is the biggest logical fail I see on here time and time again. The logic that a class that has a dedicated healing skill line by default makes them the defacto healer in the game and playing any other class aside from templar to heal is in some way going against the grain of the intended design.

To the op, please understand that templars are absolutely POSITIVELY not the end game sole healers.

Hear me out here. I'm going to sumerize as best as I can and surely I'm going to miss a few things but anyways.

DK healing
-Group wide minor brutality. Having this built into their passive, allows them to opt for the more reliable blessing of restoration rather than combat prayer. Igneous shield + BoR is great.
-Passive hot via Cauterize
-incredible mitigation ult molten shell
-nearly zero resource management concerns due to battle roar (casting igneous every 6 seconds maintains your bonus ult generation)
-natural tankyness for off tanking or battle rezzing.
-spam able cc via talons
-easy access to major mending
-trinimac set on dk healer is the sex

NB healing
-dps+healing skills via funnel health, path of restoration and sap essence. (Why bother giving stam regen when you can simply contribute to damage yourself?)
-highest damage mitigation buff in game (I think?) Via veil of shadows
-Passive ability to provide crit rating to team
-spell power cure set with funnel health is the sex

Sorc healing
-aoe stun silence + group heal ult
-strongest multi target burst heal in game via matriarch
-passive minor prophecy buff to group
-solid cc on par with dk
-3rd bar (duh)