Need help with a dps healer (celestial).

highjusticar · January 2014

I have been playing a lot lately and am getting nearer to 40 with my group/duo character and my solo character. Its time to start thing about either a new solo character or group/duo character. Since I don't know yet what my friend I play with intends to go with, I want to build a character that is good either way.

Leveling up I have noticed that we have at times needed someone more heal specc'd or tank specc'd on some of the more tough fights in the comic series and adv packs.

I thought I would try my hand at a celestial healer since most of the dps powers also heal. The character is a nun, so that limits what powers will fit the concept.

Looking around I found two builds by Man of Light.

His healer build.
http://co-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=202901

His dps build.
http://co-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=210281

I am looking at shoe horning the needed skills from both into one build.
Sort of.

These are some of the skill I think I need to do so.
PowerHouse (Link to this build)

Name:

Archetype: Freeform

Super Stats:
Level 6: Ego (Primary)
Level 10: Recovery (Secondary)
Level 15: Presence (Secondary)

Talents:
Level 1: The Radiant
Level 6:
Level 9:
Level 12:
Level 15:
Level 18:
Level 21:

Powers:
Level 1: Radiance
Level 1: Celestial Conduit (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 6: Conviction (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 8: Iniquity (Rank 2)
Level 11: Imbue
Level 14: Illumination (Brilliance)
Level 17: Redemption (Rank 2, Salvation)
Level 20: Ascension
Level 23: Ritual of Radiant Summoning (Rank 2, Unbound Ritual)
Level 26:
Level 29:
Level 32:
Level 35:
Level 38:

Travel Powers:
Level 6: Phoenix Flight (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 35:

Specializations:

They are picked in no certain order other than the old 'I need this, this and this' order.

I am not too sure about the stats I will SS as they will probably depend on the skills I haven't picked yet.

I am looking at three passives: Seraphim, AoPM or AoRP.
The first is great for me, but doesn't do much in the group/duo setting other than what buffs it gives.

Which one of those I take will pretty much determine which form from IDF, compassion or concentration.

I am not sure if I should take R3 Inequity or the advantage.

I haven't picked an AD, block or any of the bubble powers. Not sure if I need a better/more reliable AoE than CC. I do have a question about it though.

If I buff my group and debuff the mobs we are fighting with Illumination and I attack a mob with CC, can it jump to a teammate and heal him or will it only stick to jumping to another mob and the opposite if I heal a teammate?

Thats all I have for now. Thanks for any help any of you can give me.

kallethen · January 2014

Looking at your passive choices, I think there's two to consider for a DPS standpoint. Seraphim would boost your paranormal damage along with healing (and provide a constant heal over time effect to your team). AoPM boosts all of your stats (and teammates), which indirectly increases survivability and DPS (more Dex = more Crit chance, more Con = more HP, more Pre = more healing, more superstats = more damage and healing, etc).

One of my healing toons uses AoRP, which is a great passive too. However, it's purely defensive and wouldn't contribute to DPS.

For your form, I would recommend Compassion since it boosts both healing and damage. It's especially nice if you have Seraphim or the Sentinal Aura spec, as they'll proc a stack when they heal yourself or an ally.

IDF is decent for defense (especially when paired with AoRP, the combo is like giving your teammates mini versions of the Invulnerable passive), and Concentration is good for offense. I figure Compassion offers a good middle ground to defense (in the form of better heals) and offense.

oniganon · January 2014

Hm, well I had a go.

Super Stats:
Level 6: Presence (Primary)
Level 10: Constitution (Secondary)
Level 15: Dexterity (Secondary)

Talents:
Level 1: The Inferno
Level 6: Lasting Impression
Level 9: Quick Recovery
Level 12: Survival Training
Level 15: Impresario
Level 18: Acrobat
Level 21: Sniper Training

Powers:
Level 1: Radiance
Level 1: Celestial Conduit (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 6: Illumination (Brilliance)
Level 8: Seraphim (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 11: Compassion
Level 14: Ego Sleep (Plagued by Nightmares)
Level 17: Spirit Reverberation
Level 20: Mental Storm (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 23: Protection Field (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 26: Iniquity (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 29: Force Shield (Force Sheathe)
Level 32: Ego Form (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 35: Unbreakable (Rank 2)
Level 38: Redemption (Rank 2, Salvation)

Travel Powers:
Level 6: Phoenix Flight (Rank 2)
Level 35: Teleportation

Specializations:
Presence: Selfless Ally (2/2)
Presence: Grandeur (3/3)
Presence: Moment of Glory (3/3)
Presence: Vulnerability (2/2)
Sentinel: Eternal Spring (2/2)
Sentinel: Sentinel Aura (3/3)
Sentinel: Moment of Need (3/3)
Sentinel: Wither (2/2)
Warden: Fortified Gear (3/3)
Warden: Ruthless (2/2)
Warden: Elusive (2/2)
Warden: The Best Defense (3/3)
Mastery: Sentinel Mastery (1/1)

Pre for heals and Compassion. Con for a decent health pool and Spirit Reverb. Dex for higher healing and damage through crits.

Using talents to stack Rec and a bit of End, because Talents are probably your only source for these stats. Include at least one Ego mod somewhere on your gear.

Ego Sleep is used to apply Disorient, Fear, Vulnerability, Wither and Sentinel Mastery, which aside from debuffing the hell out of the enemy, also sets them up for Spirit Reverb to return energy when hit with Conduit.

Mental Storm is not only a nice aoe DoT that debuffs resistance to its own damage type and is boosted by Seraphim, but as a Paralyze it also reapplies Vulnerability, Wither and Sentinel Mastery.

Iniquity is there for a long ranged heal, and to guarantee you can keep Compassion stacks going even in the bizarre situation that no one in your team is taking any damage for long periods of time (because it damages you, thus allowing you to get heals, thus triggering Compassion). You needn't be too concerned over the health cost with SSS Con, Seraphim, Sentinel Aura, Selfless Ally and Mend.

Ego Form is there so that, if you get in a situation where DPS is far more important than any healing, you can switch to Ranged DPS role.

Unbreakable is there not only as a nice defense cooldown, but to assist in getting Redemption off in difficult situations.

flowcyto · January 2014

kallethen wrote: »

Looking at your passive choices, I think there's two to consider for a DPS standpoint. Seraphim would boost your paranormal damage along with healing (and provide a constant heal over time effect to your team). AoPM boosts all of your stats (and teammates), which indirectly increases survivability and DPS (more Dex = more Crit chance, more Con = more HP, more Pre = more healing, more superstats = more damage and healing, etc).

One of my healing toons uses AoRP, which is a great passive too. However, it's purely defensive and wouldn't contribute to DPS.

For your form, I would recommend Compassion since it boosts both healing and damage. It's especially nice if you have Seraphim or the Sentinal Aura spec, as they'll proc a stack when they heal yourself or an ally.

IDF is decent for defense (especially when paired with AoRP, the combo is like giving your teammates mini versions of the Invulnerable passive), and Concentration is good for offense. I figure Compassion offers a good middle ground to defense (in the form of better heals) and offense.

Don't forget there's also AoED if we're talking dps-oriented Support, which is great for boosting teammate and pet/summon dmg, and the lightning dmg proc works offa crits.

highjusticar · January 2014

thanks for the suggestions. If this ends up as my solo character, I will most likely take seraphim. If it is a group character, then it will depend on what my duo partner takes.

If I take AoPM, which stats do I need to SS since the aura can push some of them past the DR mark?

I am also working on another character build idea so that I will have another option so that I will end up with a duo character and a solo character, but that will be a different thread.

stellariodragon · January 2014

kallethen wrote: »

One of my healing toons uses AoRP, which is a great passive too. However, it's purely defensive and wouldn't contribute to DPS.

I use and love Aura of Primal Majesty if only because it makes all those silly max/min DPS builds less squishy when I'm teamed up with them. I swear I stopped losing alerts once I switched to AoPM. If you're in hybrid mode it stacks with another AoPM user in healing mode.

Also, another trick I use as a hybrid healer is to have two sets of offensive gear, one with impact prisms to increase offense and another with Sentinels's Brooches for healing. If the battle takes a turn for the worse I switch from a hybrid w/ offensive gear to a healer build with bonus healing.

I usually start a boss battle with a burst of Ebon ruin with paranormal paranoia and then build up stacks of Compassion with full charges Vengeance (which charges faster each cast and has reduced resistance thanks to the paranormal paranoia).

For Mobs I fear/paralyze them with grasping shadows, then ebon ruin with nyctophobia, and then a chain of Vengence or Ebon Ruin. I dunno, I might swap out Grasping Shadows because I tend to forget it during a long battle. I might switch to howl, since I play with a lot of players who use Rage Builds but that has a different range. I also don't know how helpful Parnormal Paranoia is DPS-wise.

Also, Palliate or some other threat wipe is essential for healers. Especially if there are no tanks. 0.0 It does end the encounter if there is no one else fight on your team though.

Legion's Gloves of healing + 2x R8 Sentinel's Brooches, Vigilante's Rejuvenating Belt, Ascension, Celestial Conduit, Palliate, Redemption (Salvation), Force Field R2, Presence Mastery = Can just barely keep a bunch of idiot max/min DPSers alive with a good tank. ;3

flowcyto · January 2014

highjusticar wrote: »

thanks for the suggestions. If this ends up as my solo character, I will most likely take seraphim. If it is a group character, then it will depend on what my duo partner takes.

If I take AoPM, which stats do I need to SS since the aura can push some of them past the DR mark?

I am also working on another character build idea so that I will have another option so that I will end up with a duo character and a solo character, but that will be a different thread.

If you take any of the support passive auras, you always want to SS Pres (doesn't have to be primary, though) and gear for it a good bit- the portion that helps teammates scales w/ Pres (the bonus for you scales off of ur SS's as a whole).

Other two SS's are up to you. W/ AoPM, Int PSS works well cause you get more return from all secondary SS's and non-SS from its spec tree. Otherwise pick what ya want- Dex for more Crit (for dmg and heals), Con for more Health, Rec_End for better energy management, etc.

highjusticar · February 2014

If I went with AoRP, what would be a good way to increase my dps and heals? Crits are nice, but Iniquity doesn't crit.

In another note, how worth it are the Q-store gear items that are 11K each like the armadillo or samurai stuff?

flowcyto · February 2014

Should prob grab Compassion and Sentinel Aura, so the toggle will auto-stack in combat as long as you or anyone else is taking dmg. Also scales w/ all the Pres ya should be stating for AoRP. Other spec tree can be Guardian for more ranged dmg and defense (or Warden if ya wanna pickup Elusive).

Since ya using Dimensional dmg powers, Ebon Ruin's paranormal adv gives ya a nice dot + debuff that increases all ur dmg.

highjusticar · February 2014

If I put Illumination on a mob and a person hits the mob and gets healed from it, does it count as me healing him for compassion?

kallethen · February 2014

highjusticar wrote: »

If I went with AoRP, what would be a good way to increase my dps and heals? Crits are nice, but Iniquity doesn't crit.

In another note, how worth it are the Q-store gear items that are 11K each like the armadillo or samurai stuff?

AoED would increase damage of you and your team (plus provide lighting strikes on crits).
AoRP would increase damage resistance of you and your team.
AoPM would increase all stats of you and your team.
AoAC would decrease cooldown times for you and your team
Seraphim would increase your paranormal damage and healing (and give a passive HoT to you and your team).

If you want both damage and healing, I'm thinking Seraphim is best. Second best would be AoPM.

The yellow questionite gear isn't awesome, but they are at least useful if you get the set bonuses. I find it's best to get three secondaries of the desired set and for your primaries stick with the Heroic gear from Silver Recog when you get to level 40 (or Legion... or the new Justice gear when it hits the live server). If you want to boost your non-physical damage, go with the Cyber set of yellow Q gear (I do with my AoRP support to give her damage a bit of oomph to make her more effective if she doesn't need to be healing/buffing/debuffing).

monaahiru · February 2014

If me myself going for DPS-Healer build, I have 2 way to approach.

Build type A.
[Heroic Globe of Precision] (Insert Gambler's lucky gem for more critical chance)
[Heroic Armor of Defense] (Insert Impact Prism for more defense)
[Heroic Helm of Speed] (Insert Impact Prism for recharge speed)

PSS CON, SSS PRE and STR. Mods will be 4 for CON and 2 for PRE.
...I will take AoPM for slotted and attack by my self in this way.
Spectree will be CON/Sentinel/Vindicator/CON.
Your Sentinel aura and Conviction with Adv. works well for both self/team AoE heal.
I will take [Pyre] and [Fire Snake] because we can still attack while targeting teammate for healing.

Build type B.
[Heroic Globe of Precision] (Insert Gambler's lucky gem for more critical chance)
[Heroic Armor of Agility] (Insert Gambler's lucky gem for more dodge chance)
[Heroic Helm of Speed] (Insert Impact Prism for recharge speed)
PSS CON, SSS PRE and INT. Mods will be 2 for CON, 2 for PRE and 2 for INT.
...I will take AoED for slotted and do summon & heal by this way. I won't attack by myself but pets will do good DPS.
Spectree will be CON/Sentinel/Commander/CON.
Your Sentinel aura and Conviction with Adv. works well for both self/team AoE heal.

Don' forget taking self-rez and team-rez because rez is the most important Heal power in this game.

flowcyto · February 2014

highjusticar wrote: »

If I put Illumination on a mob and a person hits the mob and gets healed from it, does it count as me healing him for compassion?

I don't believe so, since the source of that healing proc is a debuff that's separate from you.

flowcyto · February 2014

After leveling a toon w/ AoRP I can attest that its quite the awesome aura- prob the only one I'd personally stick w/ on committed Support toons in this game- this is after trying some of the others on diff toons before switching their builds to no longer be healers.

With enough Pres ur basically giving everyone in proximity near defense passive-levels of extra mitigation, and combo w/ target-free heals like sentinel aura means you have to use targetted heals much less and can press the attack more in groups. Its also very handy in XP alerts w/ lowbies when lvling- all the teams where I had no teammates above lvl 18 would not have ended nearly as smooth w/o it. Def has been quite nice the few times I've done Gravitar w/ it too.

Minimizing the instances where I have to direct heal or shield is a pretty big draw for me, cause this game's default party UI is horrendous to heal with (imo)- esp in Rampages. And the games finicky targetting system doesn't help there either.

highjusticar · February 2014

Right now I have leveled the character up to 11 as a stopping point as I am pretty sure what I am doing up to that point. I hope!

I did take AoRP and like it though I can't figure out if there is a way to tell what my total resistance is without adding what AoRP says plus what my defense says together. I wish there was a total resistance place to look at.

I have:

1 Radiance
1 Celestial Conduit
6 Illumination
8 AoRP
11 Compassion

6 Presence PSS
10 Constitution

1 The Radiant
6 Tireless
9 Amazing Stamina

I have noticed a few things. Celestial Conduit eats a crapton of energy. I really need to do something about that. I almost went Ego PSS to get the Insight spec. I might still do that as it has some nice things in it.

Something like

Force of Will 2/2
Insight 3/3
Follow Through 3/3
Sixth Sense 2/3

Not sure if that would be better than the presence spec I have planned.

Selfless Ally 2/2
Grandeur 3/3
Moment of Glory 3/3
Force of Will 2/2 or Vulnerability 2/2 (if I take a power to use it like @oniganon suggested.)

I do need a good AoE power or at least I seem to have needed one up to 11th. I don't have the Brilliance adv for Illum yet, so that may make a difference.

I am looking at getting Circle fo Radiant Glory as my self rez since it can also heal and only has a 2 minute cooldown vs rebirth's 5 minute one.

kallethen · February 2014

Yeah, Celestial Conduit is very energy hungry, if I remember last time I tried it. So I'd say it's time to start thinking about energy unlocks. I've got a few of ideas:

Molecular Self Assembly (MSA) - This is what l1ghtstar's DPS celestial build uses. Have some powers with quick cooldowns (Conviction and BCR are good self-heals with cooldowns) and rotate them in between your attacks. MSA gives energy every time a power comes out of cooldown. Downside is that it can feel very micromanaging, but from my experience the energy return is fairly reliable. If you go with this, I highly suggest picking Int as a secondary superstat (it boosts MSA's energy return, and lowers cooldown times, AND lowers energy cost of powers).
Spiritual Reverberation - Since you have powers that deal dimensional damage, this could be a potential energy unlock for you. All we need is a power that applies the Fear debuff. Yes, I know this is in the Darkness powerset, but I don't think it's too much of a stretch (the rest of the Darkness set though, could be very out of theme). A good source for Fear would be Ego Sleep with the Plagued By Nightmares advantage. This will make the sleep power ally Fear on foes (plus it's some crowd control, but we're more interested in the Fear). Anytime you cause dimensional damage on a foe that has Fear, this energy unlock triggers. Since you have Constitution as a superstat, this energy unlock should perform well. I find the energy return to be reliable on my Dark/Celestial toon.
Overdrive - This energy unlock triggers when you use a maintained power for at least half it's duration. Then it'll return energy every three seconds for a short duration. Highly scales on Rec, then by Int (opposite of what the description says). It's... okay. For a Power Armor toon, this energy unlock works great. For others, it's a kinda hit or miss. I tried this on my Ice toon who had Avalanche and Frost Breath. It did okay if I was using those powers constantly, but then I'd have problems if I was relying on spamming Ice Blast for damage.

My recommendation lies with option 1 or 2. I mentioned option 3 to at least give you all the options I could think of.

flowcyto · February 2014

highjusticar wrote: »

I did take AoRP and like it though I can't figure out if there is a way to tell what my total resistance is without adding what AoRP says plus what my defense says together. I wish there was a total resistance place to look at.

Yeah, finding out how much total damage mitigation ya got through DR is kinda annoying. Afaik, the way to check it is to add defense's damage resist% + damage resist from passives or other sources (here, AoRP), adding 100%, convert that % to a decimal, divide one by it, and subtract the decimal result from 1.

For example: 50% from Defense + 75% from AoRP would be 125% combined, add 100% for 225% (or 2.25), 1 / 2.25 = 0.444, 1 - 0.444 = 0.556 or 55.6% final damage mitigation.

An easy earmark to remember is that 100% added damage resistance is exactly halving damage (50% DR) (ofc this is before other things like dodge/avoid and damage shields are considered).

I have noticed a few things. Celestial Conduit eats a crapton of energy. I really need to do something about that. I almost went Ego PSS to get the Insight spec. I might still do that as it has some nice things in it.

Something like

Force of Will 2/2
Insight 3/3
Follow Through 3/3
Sixth Sense 2/3

Not sure if that would be better than the presence spec I have planned.

Selfless Ally 2/2
Grandeur 3/3
Moment of Glory 3/3
Force of Will 2/2 or Vulnerability 2/2 (if I take a power to use it like @oniganon suggested.)

I'd still take Press primary in the end, but when leveling you prob will have to change how you gear, favoring more Rec/End as a lowbie. An energy unlock will help if you build around it, but when leveling its not uncommon for energy issues to be more prominent regardless. You could always SS Rec and End to help w/ energy, changing them as you get high level w/ better gear/stats.

I do need a good AoE power or at least I seem to have needed one up to 11th. I don't have the Brilliance adv for Illum yet, so that may make a difference.

Conduit's illumination chaining is a bit inconsistent, but it can work. Unfortunately Celestial's aoe isn't really that great on the whole. That's one area where slightly breaking theme and using a diff power tree prob wouldn't be a bad idea. AoEs like Hurricane, Epidemic, Quicksand, and Lead Tempest are easy and large-range aoes, and Skarns Bane is also potent (though costly) esp for debuffing.

kallethen · February 2014

Oh! I totally forgot to give thoughts on the AoE problem.

Vengence from the Celestial set is actually a decent AoE attack. It's not a huge area, but it packs a decent punch and the Redemption Denied advantage adds some crowd control (Paralyzes main target, Stuns secondary targets).

Skarn's Bane as mentioned above a good debuffer. But that's also a Tier 3 power. I do use this on my AoRP toon for damage and debuffing (it's actually her only attack besides the energy builder I think).

highjusticar · February 2014

Has anyone ever tried just using Celestial Conduit as your main heal or self and group? With Illumination, I could heal more than one person at a time if they were close enough.

I am looking at trimming some powers to fit others in and if I don't need Iniquity for a heal, then it could go.

Speaking of Illumination, I did notice that the debuff on a mob gave me stacks of Compassion when I attacked it and got healed.

flowcyto · February 2014

No real need to have both Conduit and Iniquty- they are both very high throughput heals (though you can make iniquty a cone aoe, it loses its 100ft range then; conduit can chain to illuminated targets, but is 50ft range always). You prob still want a shield ability (MF, Protection Field), that is if you aren't using AoRP.

Need help with a dps healer (celestial).

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