When Summerset will hit, healer will be able t run a monster set, so there were many discussions about healer monster set and i heard many things about the Chokethorn set. Many people think that it sucks, mainly because its target is random.
I did some test the last day. With the event, i was able to PUG DLC dungeons and, even at normal, it was a nightmare. So many squishy DPS without even the most basic that got one-shotted by everything. Chokethorn was very handy and saved many squishies from certain death. I will put a list of ros and cons regarding my findings:
PROS:
1) the heal is huge and smart target. When Chokethorn procs, the squishy with 1% health will immediately go back to at least 50% with you doing nothing. It's like a Resto ult, but with only the heal
2) huge distance. You can almost position everywhere and chokethorn will still be in range.
3)big proc chance. It proc every time you do something that heals, not only abilities. As a nightblade, Strife procced Chokethorn many times for, but it can also proc from non-abilities, like heavy attacks.
4) the heal is so huge that you can basically stop healing while active. That means you can freely reposition, apply buff/debuff and do heavy attacks to replenish magicka
5) the uptime is great. 4 seconds of burst healing, 6-7 seconds of actually working, 4 seconds of huge healing again.
CONS
1) it only heals. Expert player don't need extra heals, so they could benefit more from other sets.
2) you can't control when it proc. You have to play around the proc and not opposite. Remember when i said you can freely heavy attack when Chokethorn is active? Well, if it procs while you are almost at full magicka, heavy attacking won't help you very much, right? So, sometimes the "Chokethorn window" will come in the perfect moment, but many times it will feel wasted
3) the plant can die. Honestly, it didn't happened to me, but i was in normal. The plant was attacked, damaged and sometimes even stunned by the enemies. So i guess the plant can surely die during veteran dungeon.
So my final verdict is: great set or non-expert healers: people who still need practice, have problem with resources, and so on. Great set for PUG and uncordinated groups.
Redundant set for expert healers and cordinated groups.