test content
Logo
What is the Arc Client?
Install Arc
Making a DC - PvE Healing Guides????
ikostus
Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users, Neverwinter Knight of the Feywild Users Posts: 1 Arc User
Hey everyone,
I was looking around in these forums because I just started my DC for PvE Healing and I cannot seem to find any well-put together guides up to date for it!
If anyone either has one or plans on making one, please let me know about it!
And any tips would be much appreciated!
Thank you all,
Kostus
I was looking around in these forums because I just started my DC for PvE Healing and I cannot seem to find any well-put together guides up to date for it!
If anyone either has one or plans on making one, please let me know about it!
And any tips would be much appreciated!
Thank you all,
Kostus
Post edited by ikostus on
0
Comments
The game has just undergone a major update too. Many things have changed about PvE healing.
The closest to an up to date build from a reliable source is GCTRL's Sentinel Tank PvP-focused healing guide.
Having looked at the other PvE healing guides from the sticky, they are garbage with a lot of misinformation about extremely basic things.
For better understanding of the core basics (as long as you do not take Power selection exactly to heart due to being well out of date), this is probably the best class guide across all class forums ever and it is on PvE Solo Healing by UnspecifiedError, who unfortunately no longer plays:
http://nw-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?314631-Guide-to-Everything-Cleric-What-you-need-to-know-have-to-solo-heal-everything-PvE
Note that apart from Benefit of Foresight in the Faithful tree, Paragon feat selection for pure PvE healing does not matter anywhere near as much as you may think, especially in decent gear. In addition, while levelling, Paragons are even less relevant for that specific context.
Anyone reading this planning on making a guide?
With all the ArPen gear floating around now there will be even less DC's capable of healing Dungeons so it is still happy days for Cleric's when it comes to queue times.
Unfortunately this won't last long because if the vast majority can't finish dungeons thanks to ArPen DPS Clerics pitiful heals then the vast majority will stop trying and then even the good healers will struggle to get a run.
With the new content it could be argued that you don't need Dungeons anymore and can just farm the solo dailies and dungeons but DPS Clerics are not even close to being in the same ballpark as true DPS classes so solo farming will remain slow, painful and largely uneconomical.
Could you elaborate on your comment concerning armor pen, etc? I am relatively new to the game, my cleric is level 48 and like the OP I have been reading the forums trying to gain some insight into the class. I am guessing you are referring to clerics who have chosen to gear more for DPS than heals thus their dungeon healing is sub-par? If this is the case what stats would you now (post-update) recommend if the focus is on healing vs DPS?
Any advice would be appreciated - thanks!
A lot of how you want to allocate your stats will be dependent on your feats, and to some degree, what powers you prefer to have slotted.
Astral Shield is more or less required as an encounter power for parties after lvl 50. It's a good AoE Heal over time (HoT), and great defense buff.
Forgemaster's Flame and Bastion of Health are the other two strong AoE heals.
Sun Burst is a lesser heal + damage, but was/is used more for AP/DP generation. Recently nerfed to generate less AP, but is still a good AoE to proc feats/abilities. I'm still using it in parties some, but looking at alternatives.
Healing Word is fair, IMO; but some people like it a lot. I only use it sometimes to solo, and then only to top up HP between battles. Is nice if you're running around with a buddy or two in zones
Astral Seal at will is a big staple, more or less required to solo heal parties. spam that around a lot, especially on elites and bosses.
Hallowed Ground, if feated with Moon Touched, is another AoE (huge) buff that will heal (regen) also
Important, IMO, for DCs in this game to understand that damage mitigated is greater than damage healed.
Defensive buffs, and temporary HPs, are at least as important as healing power; especially because the DC class doesn't have any large burst healing power. You can't really heal someone back from the brink of death (potions are for that); so if you can mitigate incoming damage, there is not as much chance that the person will end up on the brink.
Astral Shield is the best encounter power defense buff.
Divine Armor and Hallowed Ground are both excellent daily buffs.
Sacred Flame imparts a little temporary HP from hits to nearby allies, so you could include that as a small buff.
Passives, like Foresight, are not only great for the DC, but the mitigation is transferred to allies with most heals cast also. rank 3 foresight + 5 feat points (Benefit of Foresight) is 11% DR, more or less to the entire party, for a healer.
Another peeve I have is that I see a lot of clerics that never change powers during dungeons. Some powers are definitely better suited to certain circumstances than others. Takes some practice, and experience, to know where you need Power A vs Power B on your encounter bar, but don't forget about switching powers around to suit circumstances.
It's easily possible to have too much healing powers slotted. Most of the time, Astral Shield + 1 other heal + astral seal is plenty of healing. I've been slotting AS + FF mostly, and Divine Glow (because it is great AP/DP generation + defense debuff on enemies). I spam seal around, drop a shield when it gets hairy, and use FF (only in D mode for heals) pretty much every cooldown.
Astral Seal, followed by a D Mode FF, on an elite creates a pretty strong temporary heal emitter out of the enemy target. Should be plenty to keep DPS going strong on a boss or elite. I personally like to kite into the FF heal radius myself.
How much healing you have to bring is going to depend on how good your party is. Lower geared, less experienced party is almost always going to need more healing out of the DC. Strong parties don't need nearly as much.
with those you should be able to heal through everything.