Honor The Dead Vs Breath Of Life? Which is better?

RedFireDisco · August 2016

When building a templar with a self heal (not a group healer) - Which is the best?

I had always assumed Bol was the go to spam for a temp, but looking at the cited values I can't see a single reason to run Bol.

Honor The Dead 4590 Magicka

Beacon your inner light, healing yourself or a wounded ally for 12524 Health. Healing anyone who is below 75% Health restores 60% of the ability's cost over 8 seconds as Magicka.

Breath of Life 4590 Magicka

Beacon your inner light, healing yourself or a wounded ally for 12137 Health. Also heals one other injured target for 3169 Health.

So costs being equal, it appears neither is a guaranteed self heal? All I can ascertain is that Honor heals for more, gives magicka back and heals more people.

I must be missing something, but I can't see it.

Does anyone know which is better for a self heal due to proven metrics?

Thanks in advance

Avezack · August 2016

For me: 1. BOL

ADarklore · August 2016

I use BoL... from my understanding, HtD is more for 'group' healing while BoL is more for solo-oriented healing. I believe that BoL will always heal SELF if you need it... and then heal others that are in need. If you don't need healing yourself, then it will heal others.

psychotic13 · August 2016

BoL

RedFireDisco · August 2016

ADarklore wrote: »

I use BoL... from my understanding, HtD is more for 'group' healing while BoL is more for solo-oriented healing. I believe that BoL will always heal SELF if you need it... and then heal others that are in need. If you don't need healing yourself, then it will heal others.

That's what I thought - however, the info suggest both heals may not heal the caster at all, therefor; the only reason to choose bol over a better heal would be if that were in fact the case.

Everyone says bol, but like many things in this game, there is very little information available to confirm it.

Mady · August 2016

I use Honor The Dead. Pretty alone with that, but.... unlimited Magicka.

Vildebill · August 2016

From what I can read in the tooltip HtD is far better if you are only healing yourself since you get magica back. BoL is better if you need to heal more people.

k9mouse · August 2016

Sorry, I do not have my char skills in front of me ATM so I am confused about the names of the skills. I like the one when my char waves her hand in the air about her head -- it is a self heal and a group heal for speed casting.

The skill who makes the Char pray (with a glow of light on the praying hands) seems to heal more, but is so slow to cast. The speed factor is why I do not use that one.

nine9six · August 2016

Solo - HTD

Group - BoL

psychotic13 · August 2016

RedFireDisco wrote: »

ADarklore wrote: »

I use BoL... from my understanding, HtD is more for 'group' healing while BoL is more for solo-oriented healing. I believe that BoL will always heal SELF if you need it... and then heal others that are in need. If you don't need healing yourself, then it will heal others.

That's what I thought - however, the info suggest both heals may not heal the caster at all, therefor; the only reason to choose bol over a better heal would be if that were in fact the case.

Everyone says bol, but like many things in this game, there is very little information available to confirm it.

I think it heals whoever needs it the most, just like healing ward. So if you're in PvP and an ally is near you, they can end up getting your heal from HtD while BoL will heal both, BoL is more reliable. But HtD would be better for say VMA were there isn't allies to take your heal.

mdylan2013 · August 2016

Neither, just jab away. With the right build that pretty much gives you enough of a self heal to dps through any damage you take. Throw in healing ward if you have a resto.

milkbox · August 2016

k9mouse wrote: »

The skill who makes the Char pray (with a glow of light on the praying hands) seems to heal more, but is so slow to cast. The speed factor is why I do not use that one.

HtD and BoL are both "instant" cast (in quotes for latency delays)- the slow heal is Lingering Ritual.

ADarklore wrote: »

I use BoL... from my understanding, HtD is more for 'group' healing while BoL is more for solo-oriented healing.

I always understood it as the opposite- BoL is best for group heals, while HtD is only viable for running solo.

I think with both heals there is always a chance of someone "stealing" your heal- but if your intention is to only heal yourself, HtD is a better spammable because of the magicka return. I only run as a group healer, but I think HtD is definitely worth a try for solo PvE.

ADarklore · August 2016

Well, based upon tool tip, HtD would only actually HEAL self if you were below 75% health... while BoL seems like it would heal no matter what your health was at. Also seems like, for solo, if you're in open world and someone comes along and joins in a battle such as Dark Anchor, you activate HtD, but if the ally had less health then you- THEY could get the heal and you could end up dead. With BoL, I've never had it fail to heal 'self' in those situations if my health was below 100%.

milkbox · August 2016

ADarklore wrote: »

Well, based upon tool tip, HtD would only actually HEAL self if you were below 75% health... while BoL seems like it would heal no matter what your health was at. Also seems like, for solo, if you're in open world and someone comes along and joins in a battle such as Dark Anchor, you activate HtD, but if the ally had less health then you- THEY could get the heal and you could end up dead. With BoL, I've never had it fail to heal 'self' in those situations if my health was below 100%.

The "below 75%" is what procs the magicka return, not the heal. You are right about the steal chance, though- which is why you'd spam it if there were other players around.

Brrrofski · August 2016

Well bol has more chance to heal yourself.

Daveheart · August 2016

If you're never going to be around anyone else, HtD is easily the choice. However, if you don't have sustain issues BoL increased the odds that you'll receive a heal of your fighting nearby others.

DocFrost72 · August 2016

psychotic13 wrote: »

RedFireDisco wrote: »

ADarklore wrote: »

I use BoL... from my understanding, HtD is more for 'group' healing while BoL is more for solo-oriented healing. I believe that BoL will always heal SELF if you need it... and then heal others that are in need. If you don't need healing yourself, then it will heal others.

That's what I thought - however, the info suggest both heals may not heal the caster at all, therefor; the only reason to choose bol over a better heal would be if that were in fact the case.

Everyone says bol, but like many things in this game, there is very little information available to confirm it.

I think it heals whoever needs it the most, just like healing ward. So if you're in PvP and an ally is near you, they can end up getting your heal from HtD while BoL will heal both, BoL is more reliable. But HtD would be better for say VMA were there isn't allies to take your heal.

This.

Have run templar magic and stam everything, and if you want a self heal you'll either have to time it for HtD, or spam it. Neother works well.

But as the above says, VMA you're guaranteed to heal yourself, so that is where HtD REALLY shines as a self heal.

ADarklore · August 2016

milkbox wrote: »

ADarklore wrote: »

Well, based upon tool tip, HtD would only actually HEAL self if you were below 75% health... while BoL seems like it would heal no matter what your health was at. Also seems like, for solo, if you're in open world and someone comes along and joins in a battle such as Dark Anchor, you activate HtD, but if the ally had less health then you- THEY could get the heal and you could end up dead. With BoL, I've never had it fail to heal 'self' in those situations if my health was below 100%.

The "below 75%" is what procs the magicka return, not the heal. You are right about the steal chance, though- which is why you'd spam it if there were other players around.

I'd rather not have to SPAM in order to heal myself if I'm dying... and with Channeled Focus, it isn't like I need additional Magicka return.

Robbmrp · August 2016

Is Honor the Dead bugged and giving more self heals than using the "Smart" healing then? I see a ton of people using that now in PVP yet I'm still using BoL. I was in pvp last night and there was a Templar in there with a sword and shield jumping and spamming it while a ton of people were hitting them. This was part of a zerg so it's hard to tell if the heal they were getting were actually their own or from other players.

Sleep · August 2016

if you are only a self healer go for honor the dead because it gives you magicka back and what breath of life does is to heal one more target

ADarklore · August 2016

Sleep wrote: »

if you are only a self healer go for honor the dead because it gives you magicka back and what breath of life does is to heal one more target

But as noted earlier, HtD is unreliable if there are other players nearby, and in an MMO in open-world, chances are there are usually other players nearby. Sure if all your content was 'instanced' then HtD would be the better option, but I'd rather have the reliability of self-healing when I need it in open-world, then having to risk spamming HtD to save myself... and typically when I go for a self-heal, it's usually when I'm abruptly about to die.

EternalEther · August 2016

RedFireDisco wrote: »

So costs being equal, it appears neither is a guaranteed self heal? All I can ascertain is that Honor heals for more, gives magicka back and heals more people.

How does Honor heal more people?

Sallington · August 2016

Honor the Dead for vMA.

Breath of Life for everything else.

EternalEther · August 2016

double post

SolarCat02 · August 2016

Breath of Life is typically the best choice.

My stamplar uses Honor the Dead in her "Vigor" slot for the lower cost. (Haven't unlocked Vigor yet, so it's the next best option while I level). It's also the better morph for guaranteed solo play. Breath of Life is best for everything else.

RedFireDisco · August 2016

EternalEther wrote: »

RedFireDisco wrote: »

So costs being equal, it appears neither is a guaranteed self heal? All I can ascertain is that Honor heals for more, gives magicka back and heals more people.

How does Honor heal more people?

It heals everyone under 75% health