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Screwfloss' Guide to the Support Cleric
screwfloss
Member Posts: 7 Arc User
The Support Cleric
Date of writing: 3/29/2014
Edited: 3/31/2014 - invigorated healing for linked spirit
Hello everyone and thank you for taking the time to read this. I've noticed that a lot of clerics out there think there's two available builds: heals and DPS. I don't often see the third, most effective build (for PVE) discussed: the Support build. The support build offers excellent healing and buffs/debuffs, making your party slice through T2s/CN/MC/VT as fast as possible. In my opinion this build is second-to-none when it comes to quickly farming CN for AD.
Why direct healing is bad
Spells like healing word and bastion are a waste of a spot on your tab bar while running dungeons. Why? Because you'll probably be reserving one spot for Astral Shield, so that means you have only two spots left for encounters that can splash debuffs on enemies.
The idea is simple: debuff the mobs/boss as much as possible, thus providing excellent healing from Astral Seal. Most players also use a little bit of life steal, which goes a long way when the mobs are debuffed/they are buffed. I regularly see CWs go from 20% to 100% health from a shardsplosion.
Also, most players pot like crazy so half the time you use bastion, it'll be a waste.
Ability Scores
You'll want the 20/20/20 str/wis/chr build for this. The charisma helps you get your daily up quicker, which is important for ensuring good uptime for hallowed ground.
Feats
http://i.imgur.com/jchjbb6.png
Boons
http://imgur.com/IKPORQB,WGFSOwb
http://imgur.com/IKPORQB,WGFSOwb#1
Gear
You will need the High Prophet's set. This is a T1 set that's easily available by running T1 dungeons during DD.
http://imgur.com/RZVcNRd,ViqnSFY#1
You will need rank 7/8 enchants to boost your Crit, Recovery, Defense, and Deflect to ~2k. I use the Cat companion.
Use a Terror enchantment. Perfect Terrors are definitely worth it.
Encounters/Passives
These should live on your bar for all dungeon running (with a few notable boss fight exceptions):
Encounters
Passives
Dailies
How this works
Here are the rationales for the encounters:
Sunburst
Divine Glow
Hallowed Ground
This is one of the best damage buffs in the entire game. Spam it! It's particularly good right at the start of an Arcane Singularity or just before an Oppressive Force. HG+Divine Glow and then OF makes for a very happy CW!
Your Standard Rotation
This will vary a little depending on context, but in general
At the start of the pull and no singularity
In any T2, if your group is geared, (13k+) all the mobs will be dead at this point. Otherwise:
When you see an Arcane Singularity
Arcane Singularities are awesome for this build. They get the mobs grouped, and (smart) players will stand right up at the base of the sing, allowing you to get your debuffs/buffs effectively.
You should: run up to the base of the singularity. Seal at least one or two mobs. Wait until your teammates have stacked up with you and cast divine glow, and then a sunburst. The CWs will drop their shards and push them in. If HG is available at any point during this process cast it. Unless you really feel it's necessary, wait until after the sing to drop Astral Shield.
If a CW is mostly using Oppressive Force, just get your buffs/debuffs up on him/the mobs and let him cast. This is ultimately more effective than Sing (sing only affects 15 enemies, OF has no limit) but requires a the CW to be geared well and for him to know what he's doing.
Boss Fights
For T2s, CN, MC, and VT, I generally use the same encounters that have been mentioned. This allows your team to simply nuke the boss. The notable exceptions are: FH boss and VT boss. I'll usually swap out sunburst for healing word because the party will get so spread out (and in FH, your GF will probably want heals as he kites).
Other than that, just keep divine glow/terror/3 stacks of HP up on the boss. This is much more beneficial to your team than providing them direct heals. This build enables your party to simple nuke all Karru bosses, all SP bosses, ToS bosses, CN bosses (yes, even the dragon, though more on that in a moment), and MC bosses. For VT boss I'll typically use healing word if the party gets spread out.
CN boss fight
While one of the more difficult fights, you can still use sunburst/divine glow/shield. What you want to do is wait until you hear a sing (you should hear those regularly, because you do have 2-3 cws in your group, right?) and then as quickly as possible run to the base of the sing, cast HG, shield, sunburst, and divine glow. This allows your party to keep those adds in check, and also does excellent damage to the boss itself. While no singu, just keep running around and sealing as much as possible.
Summary / Final Thoughts
This build works great for low GS and high GS groups. I regularly queue for ToS and FH and take 10-11k teams through with absolutely no problems. I have never, not once, ever, gotten a complaint about lack of healing while using this build.
Remember: your main heal is Astral Seal. Once you've gotten:
The only major downsides to this build are:
If I've gotten any technical points wrong please let me know and I'll correct them.
Date of writing: 3/29/2014
Edited: 3/31/2014 - invigorated healing for linked spirit
Hello everyone and thank you for taking the time to read this. I've noticed that a lot of clerics out there think there's two available builds: heals and DPS. I don't often see the third, most effective build (for PVE) discussed: the Support build. The support build offers excellent healing and buffs/debuffs, making your party slice through T2s/CN/MC/VT as fast as possible. In my opinion this build is second-to-none when it comes to quickly farming CN for AD.
Why direct healing is bad
Spells like healing word and bastion are a waste of a spot on your tab bar while running dungeons. Why? Because you'll probably be reserving one spot for Astral Shield, so that means you have only two spots left for encounters that can splash debuffs on enemies.
The idea is simple: debuff the mobs/boss as much as possible, thus providing excellent healing from Astral Seal. Most players also use a little bit of life steal, which goes a long way when the mobs are debuffed/they are buffed. I regularly see CWs go from 20% to 100% health from a shardsplosion.
Also, most players pot like crazy so half the time you use bastion, it'll be a waste.
Ability Scores
You'll want the 20/20/20 str/wis/chr build for this. The charisma helps you get your daily up quicker, which is important for ensuring good uptime for hallowed ground.
Feats
http://i.imgur.com/jchjbb6.png
Boons
http://imgur.com/IKPORQB,WGFSOwb
http://imgur.com/IKPORQB,WGFSOwb#1
Gear
You will need the High Prophet's set. This is a T1 set that's easily available by running T1 dungeons during DD.
http://imgur.com/RZVcNRd,ViqnSFY#1
You will need rank 7/8 enchants to boost your Crit, Recovery, Defense, and Deflect to ~2k. I use the Cat companion.
Use a Terror enchantment. Perfect Terrors are definitely worth it.
Encounters/Passives
These should live on your bar for all dungeon running (with a few notable boss fight exceptions):
Encounters
- Sunburst
- Astral Shield
- Divine Glow
Passives
- Divine Fortune
- Foresight
Dailies
- Hallowed Ground
- Anything
How this works
Here are the rationales for the encounters:
Sunburst
- Splashes a stack of High Prophet's on 5 enemies
- Splashes terror up on 5 enemies
- Procs burning guidance
- Gets foresight up on your teammates
- Does a little bit of healing
- Gets invigorated healing up on teammates
Divine Glow
- Debuffs up to 5 mobs
- Buffs allies
- Splashes Terror on up to 5 mobs
- Splashes High Prophet's on up to 5 mobs
Hallowed Ground
This is one of the best damage buffs in the entire game. Spam it! It's particularly good right at the start of an Arcane Singularity or just before an Oppressive Force. HG+Divine Glow and then OF makes for a very happy CW!
Your Standard Rotation
This will vary a little depending on context, but in general
At the start of the pull and no singularity
- Seal a one or two of the heavier mobs.
- Wait until a few players (typically GWFs) are up in the pull and have begun their rotations. Hopefully your CWs will be smart, and stand right up at the pull.
- Cast Divine Glow (in divinity, always in divinity) on both yourself, your teammates, and the mobs. You should prioritize hitting players if they're grouped together, otherwise, target the mobs. But always make sure to hit yourself and at least one player.
- Sunburst (non divinity)
- Start sealing more. Wait until someone has taken damage and then cast Astral Shield.
In any T2, if your group is geared, (13k+) all the mobs will be dead at this point. Otherwise:
- Keep sealing! While your encounters are on CD, don't stop sealing! A great way to seal is to run right up into the pull and seal the mob in front of you. Then rotate 90*, and seal that mob. Keep rotating 90* and sealing whatever is in front of you.
- Put up hallowed ground as much as possible. For groups that can't clear a pull in their first rotation (or groups that like to pull TONS of mobs), you should cast this about 3-4 times per fight.
- Try to use sunburst after you've cast divine glow on yourself. This isn't always possible.
- Don't pay too much attention to player's health bars. They're responsible for keeping themselves alive (by dpsing, potting, CC'ing, and just staying close to you). Intelligent CWs that have taken damage will bounce around like rabbits until they see themselves glowing. They'll hopefully see Eye of the Storm, drop shard, and just like that they're at 100% health. So much better than bastion! You've both helped the group quickly kill mobs AND healed them!
When you see an Arcane Singularity
Arcane Singularities are awesome for this build. They get the mobs grouped, and (smart) players will stand right up at the base of the sing, allowing you to get your debuffs/buffs effectively.
You should: run up to the base of the singularity. Seal at least one or two mobs. Wait until your teammates have stacked up with you and cast divine glow, and then a sunburst. The CWs will drop their shards and push them in. If HG is available at any point during this process cast it. Unless you really feel it's necessary, wait until after the sing to drop Astral Shield.
If a CW is mostly using Oppressive Force, just get your buffs/debuffs up on him/the mobs and let him cast. This is ultimately more effective than Sing (sing only affects 15 enemies, OF has no limit) but requires a the CW to be geared well and for him to know what he's doing.
Boss Fights
For T2s, CN, MC, and VT, I generally use the same encounters that have been mentioned. This allows your team to simply nuke the boss. The notable exceptions are: FH boss and VT boss. I'll usually swap out sunburst for healing word because the party will get so spread out (and in FH, your GF will probably want heals as he kites).
Other than that, just keep divine glow/terror/3 stacks of HP up on the boss. This is much more beneficial to your team than providing them direct heals. This build enables your party to simple nuke all Karru bosses, all SP bosses, ToS bosses, CN bosses (yes, even the dragon, though more on that in a moment), and MC bosses. For VT boss I'll typically use healing word if the party gets spread out.
CN boss fight
While one of the more difficult fights, you can still use sunburst/divine glow/shield. What you want to do is wait until you hear a sing (you should hear those regularly, because you do have 2-3 cws in your group, right?) and then as quickly as possible run to the base of the sing, cast HG, shield, sunburst, and divine glow. This allows your party to keep those adds in check, and also does excellent damage to the boss itself. While no singu, just keep running around and sealing as much as possible.
Summary / Final Thoughts
This build works great for low GS and high GS groups. I regularly queue for ToS and FH and take 10-11k teams through with absolutely no problems. I have never, not once, ever, gotten a complaint about lack of healing while using this build.
Remember: your main heal is Astral Seal. Once you've gotten:
- Three stacks of high prophet's
- (Perfect) Terror
- Divine glow on teammates
- Divine glow on enemies
- Hallowed Ground
The only major downsides to this build are:
- you can't instantly recoup from a heavy hit without potting. But honestly, who cares? Once your teammates see how much more damage they're dealing, they'll be happy, even if they have to pot more often.
- It's expensive. Terrors aren't cheap, and neither are rank 8 enchants. But again, it's totally worth it.
- As jazzfong mentions in the comments, it's not a reliable build for PvP.
If I've gotten any technical points wrong please let me know and I'll correct them.
Post edited by screwfloss on
0
Comments
2. Good common guide.
3. PvE only build.
4. Extremely bad if u go for any type of pvp matches include open pvp match (in a month).
5. Wiped all if all allies pot is in cd.
Require other pve oriented dc to give feedbacks and comments. Appreciate your effort in writing guide.
3. I've actually used this build (using healing word, shield, and break the spirit) in PVP and won 5 pug matches in a row, getting +50 assists (this is post patch, I just ran those PvP matches on 3/28/2014). So it might not be the best PvP build, but it's certainly viable. Do not discount how much more damage players take when they've gotten HP, Terror, and Break the Spirit up on them. I've seen GWFs get crushed within seconds when all the debuffs up on them.
5. I've never had this be a problem. Again, as long as players keep dpsing, they get an acceptable amount of heals. That doesn't mean I've never been in parties that haven't wiped of course. But 90% of the time if we wipe, we succeed the next try. And who doesn't like 15-20 minute ToS runs? If my party is truly having a hard time during a boss fight (or they've run outta pots) then I'll swap out Divine Glow for Forgemaster's Flame, and alternate Shield/FF for 100% uptime on AoE heals. The fight will take longer, but it'll work.
3. It will always viable against someone weaker than you. I know this because there is no GWF will be crushed in seconds when many debuffs on them, at least not any GWF i know. When you keep on pvp at least twice a day till you found everyone you met is either weaker premade (not those 16k above premade) or solo-que guys from EoA, Synergy, Exodus, Enemy Team or high gs GWF or perma TR. If your setup can grants you a life or a sure win to your team then it is viable in pvp.
Ps: I am a HP set user pre-tenacity patch, so sure i knw what will happen when i slot HP set.
5. Just my opinion and nothing about your build: I rather do my dungeon runs slower and steadier, I hate to see my allies dying... i will keep on heal them so they are always alive and never die at all. (Carried many low gs toons in T1 DD rush, with 0 ally dying)
5. Fair enough. I used to do heal centric builds until my guild forced me to use HP. But honestly, while I do often see soul forged proc, people never complain. The only comments I ever get are compliments and friend requests. People like seeing big numbers more than they like being healed.
===
The build is a very solid PVE build and tbh if you needed to switch from debuff/buff to full heals just change powers/features - it's a full Faithful build after all.
Still need more healing? change up to MH or Fabled armour set (let's face it, if you are 'farming' end game dungeons you have both these sets anyway).
For PVE the build concept can also work taking the Righteous tree and bringing in some more damage mitigation - power of oppression/power of the sun. (and also allowing for more PVP friendly feats too)
Conversely, Astral Shield won't always be necessary for the clear either (or not all sections of the clear) swapping in Chains instead can help to spread the debuffs even wider on more mobs.
PVP
===
I too am skeptical you could face decent opposition in T1 PVE gear with no tenacity. I know I couldn't except for against weak opponents. Still good luck to you
Power slotted: SB/FF/AS, ASeal/BoB, AA/DA, DF/AHS
You sure can
But that can be a lot of over-healing a lot of the time. Do you need all that extra healing to make up for no Foresight as AC?
Can't be that; Blessing of Battle's buff by itself matches unfeated Foresight and is only 5% short of feated Foresight. With buffs and class features, AC offers the party competitive mitigation.
I think the healing rule of thumb remains: if your party members aren't very self-sustaining or are taking unacceptable amounts of damage, healing focus is needed. If they're largely self-sufficient, then debuff encounters ftw to speed things along.
Contagion - Cleric
Testament - Wizard
Pestilence - Ranger
Dominion - Paladin
NIGHTSWATCH
For sure. What's great for PVE is that it's just a power bar change to switch between the two roles, and we can easily move around the spectrum from full heal to full buff/debuff and the stages in-between in this manner. This makes it trivial to change focus mid-dungeon and also feasible to do it mid-fight if required.
After playing a bunch more PvP with HP I wholeheartedly agree. Not having any tenacity just plain sucks. I find that I can still help my team win matches just by getting debuffs up on enemy players before I die, but I die a lot. Sigh. Guess there's no option but to use the tenacity sets.
Getting back to PvE, I just want to re-iterate that even with lowbie groups, you can still heal very effectively with nothing but sunburst/shield/divine glow/seal. For example, I helped a 4man low-gs group (1 cw @ 11k, no set bonus, 2 gwfs at 12k, no set bonuses) do 1/4 CN and we had no problems (the 5th went afk and got kicked). We initially wiped a few times but once they figured out how to play with this heal style (namely, stack up in the pull) everything went quickly & smoothly. Of course, two of them then bugged the door and we had to stop. But I don't think this group would've stood a chance at clearing some of those CN pulls we cleared if I wasn't using this build: it doesn't matter if you keep healing them; if their DPS sucks, they'll die all the same (it'll just take a little longer). But if you can make their DPS good then all of a sudden clearing the trash becomes a much less painful experience.
With a strong group on VT...AS, break the spirit and div glow melts her.
With 15k+ groups (or somewhat below) the DC isn't really a healer, it's a de/buff machine.
In CN, I will often run AS, chains and div glow to help with the adds as sing lands.
Cheers!
Why Break the Spirit? Not tried it on Val, but I assume she is immune to the stun and the slow, is the reduction to her damage output necessary or effective?
Using Greater Terror & High Prophet is great combo.
For PvP, I swap to Grim Armor of Faithful for Tenacity and lot more hitpoints. Slowly adding more Tenacity jewelry pieces.
Powers remain same with swap of Forgemaster for Diving Glow.
Also use Brand of Sun vs Astral Seal as the AS heals are weak in PvP and you want the enemy damage debuff. Worth recasting till you get it to crit, then Sacred Flame till encounters ready.
Only issue is moving Soulforged enchantment between HP & Grim costs 2 gold but cheaper than having 2 x sets.
Looking for a guild for PvE Dungeons to suit AEST evenings
Feats could use some work.
Diog...I must disagree. This build is especially good on big mob pulls. If your own defense and deflection are high enough you just lay AS down, sunburst to hit them with terror, div glow on your party and they all just melt. It's our strategy in CN all the time. I don't PVP much, so I can't comment about that. But I will have a grim set if need be for portions of the new content.
Not that this isn't a winning strategy for less uber levelled stuff, though: minus the sunburst and ...a few of the feats (domain synergy??), it's mostly what I use.
I prefer HW (yeah, I finally learned to love HW) for parties with lots of CWs/HRs, because they can't facetank everything all the time and usually end up spread out, and it usually provides just enough clutch healing to tide them over till the next lifesteal influx. Plus combine it with divine fortune and you have a divinity generator in and out of combat, par excellence, because there will almost always be someone a tiny bit below max health (it only needs to heal a tiny bit to give you the full divinity hit).
As to the comments about not being effective on large pulls, all I can say is, "not true." Yes, your AoE spells (sb, divine glow) affect only up to 5 enemies. Doesn't matter. For example: in CN, if your cws are pulling 20+ mobs: put down the shield to allow them to stop. Put divine glow up on them and hopefully a few enemies. Sunburst. Start sealing. Watch the fireworks. I regularly do CN like this with my guild with zero problems. Yes, your SB will only affect 5 enemies but it comes off CD regularly and if you're pulling 20+ enemies in CN (which means your CWs are geared) then the enemies that did get debuffed will have their faces melted.
That's a good point about using chains Chickie, I should really try that during CN boss fight sometime.
As for Mod 3, whether you're effective soloing is going to depend more on stat distribution/gear than how you're specced. Righteous is very useful survival wise with healing step (also for PvP), virtuous is pretty good for DPS using Healer's /Disciple of Divine lore and CoC heals while DPSing. Faithful lost effectiveness slightly due to moontouched nerf but if you're geared correctly it's going to be only a minor and manageable difference.
Guild and guide info
Module 4 Comprehensive DC guide |Module 4 MoF CW Handbook |New! Scourge Warlock Guide| NW Numbers and Mechanics guide |Crit, Power and DPS guide | Dungeon Delving guide and more
arrrrghhh.
Secondly if they screw around with feat distributors , then we should get free feat respec tokens after each update. Funny, I doubt they would fix another daily , just nerf the one really good one we have.
Lvl 51 on my cw.. Was at 23 at the start of the week, Kaelac, do you have a guide for CWs? I enjoyed your DC one very much , even if Cryptic does its darn level best to kill the class off.
I just shake my head. There is nothing overpowered about the DC, yet they continue to make downward adjustments on it.
Moontouched currently heals up to 5% max HP per 3s when hallowed ground is up. Mod 3 changed that to 3% max HP per 3s.
For CW info I can recommend Grimah's excellent guide here and build here. My idea of CW class role in parties here.
Guild and guide info
Module 4 Comprehensive DC guide |Module 4 MoF CW Handbook |New! Scourge Warlock Guide| NW Numbers and Mechanics guide |Crit, Power and DPS guide | Dungeon Delving guide and more
Even 15k+ people get hit pretty badly when doing door to door pulls and a vorpal will help more than a terror. HP is also a drop in the ocean (be realistic guys, we're talking about a 1-2% overall damage increase in a 50 mobs pull), but it doesn't hurt either and since you want it during boss fights, you may keep it as well if you're stacking power and crit to crazy levels, the difference wouldn't be huge either with more heals.
Divine glow and hallowed ground are by far the best buffs and the set & weapon enchantment you use is more fine tuning than game changing. The DC is the only class I know having such a strong focus on encounters rotations and tactical choices. Your gear also matters but a lot less than other classes. HP is okay-ish, not game changing, but it makes dps happy because they see one big red hit damage floater larger than the CN corridor, so it's more of a fun element than anything else.
I thought LS now procs on divine astral shield ticks? Regardless, I've been debating its usefulness anyways. I would wonder if Deepstone Blessing, with all the astral seal spamming, would be better?
Is this a post patch bug from when they fixed divine Astral Shield and FF to proc it? So anyone who is getting my Ashield heals is no longer getting LS from me?
In regards to the guide..
It seems fairly good for a majority of DD's. I dont find buffing needed during trash runs, as usually the dps burns through anything anyways. I find it most helpful on elites and bosses.
Depends on the group.. I use your set up alot, but also if group is strugging or its really add heavy , I will use FF and drop SB. Becuase if there is a kiter, FF dropped at lead pack keeps him up. If Im not really using DG becuase Im running around for my life Ill drop and go full heal rotation instead.
The only problem with guides is that situations may alter, the group your in may need more of certain something.
I dont use Divine Fortune much, I dont have divinity problems , maybe will slot it in one or two add heavy places, I prefer Holy Fervor so I can drop HG faster, which is a better buff anyways.
Overall, if someone new is reading this, its not a bad way to go at all! Buffing burns things down faster.. Thank you Screwfloss, hope I didnt sound too negative, I can see the work you put in and its not a bad PVE buffing guide at all.
Oh, I use plague vs terror. But thats me.
You can use that same rotation of encounters in PVP, you just need to switch armour at least, HP is no longer viable. Wish it was..
The buff symbol shows up, but if you look you don't actually have any stat buff. AS should proc LS, only on first tick, but it's broken currently. FF seems to work fine
Getting back on topic. I completely agree. this is the most viable setup - in my opinion, which high end game DCs should go for assuming they went the DO path. the claim about not being able to insta-melt 50 mobs door to door in CN is simply not true. Yes, DG and SB only affect 5 people, but Divine DG on your CWs/Other will simply let them melt anything within the 10-15 seconds range. if anything, I would recommend new DCs who just hit 60 NOT to use this build but to go over the usual SB AS FF/BOH/HW with high defense etc etc....untill they get used to the skill set and learn the ropes of T2 dungeons. AFTER that... this build is awesome for those 11k groups and above who now care about efficiency.
What I like about your build is that you can utilize the DC true intention considering how important positioning,skill rotation and timing is. on a personal note I dropped Terror for Vorp because I wanted to have some burst heals in VT / MC with HW but now Im trying to use Frost here and there for fun
Anyway - Great guide and a great read too!
Cheers,
Still uncertain about sunburst, though. Since they stopped it proccing LS from tab-switch I've more or less dropped it since I rarely have a team that sticks together enough to make it a better choice than say...HW (in a team of squishies) or forgemasters (in a team of GWFs who want to stand in red and whale on things). If it had a higher target cap it'd prolly be much more attractive, but it doesn't, and other than that it seems to mostly for generating AP (which it certainly is excellent at) but AP generation isn't really a problem, usually.
Really? That would mean they ninja fixed something that would benefit us, how surprising. I think more likely though that you we're proccing LS from something else or seeing a stat incrase due to another buff, like rising hope or something. Maybe it's just me being a pessamist. It would be great if it's fixed. I can't check since I no longer have LS.
When I was a DO SB was pretty much a must for me. Amazing DP/AP generator and decent all around heal which never needs to be cast in divine mode. Plus as a DO it procs foresight amazingly well along with pretty much any other buffs that you have. It's always going to depends on people gears and the party set up/chemistry but it's still a very useful and versitile power.
I'm AC and don't run much PVE now but when I do I usually still use SB since it's easy and reliable and the cast then tab works for AHS which is nice. It just seems to provide more than for a run than most other options, assuming I need more healing than just AS and repurpose sould procs, etc.
DC's never have an issue with AP generation but if you can get more AP without gimping yourself in some other way then there's no reason not to. The more HG is up the better. Faster clearing and an easier time healing and keeping people up for you, especially if you have moontouched, even without it it's still amazing