Heh, ambisinisterr sounds like one of the veteran players in Unspecifiederror playstyle. That's exactly how I used to play my DC - as a tank/rogue. It's just a huge shame that the effectiveness, hence enjoyment, of that playstyle has been reduced dramatically since beta.
Also, as moritans advised, if you really are aiming for damage in group PvE with your third encounter, you really want Searing Light (especially in Divine mode) instead. Personally, I used to run with Divine Glow as my default third power after they fixed it to not unintentionally debuff allies since it buffs group damage noticeably. I only went full debuff/dps mode (with High Prophet set, two damaging encounters and Terrifying Insight) when I was in a group with two Clerics.
I run with 3 Cws and 1 TR on my cleric For CNs. The mobs die before i even blink.
Hybrid. But more as supportive act, as a DPS.
Full DPS cerlic runs sadly very poor.
A:
The cleric is designed like that originally.
B:
Mostly Astral Seal and Signet is enough. So you got some space for some supportives like (divine) Divine Glow (will boost TRs, GWFs mostly, well placed also sometimes a CW), may also Proph. of Doom, if you can handle and keep Hallowed Ground, Divine Armor, or any other daily almost constantly.
Also a (divine) Searing Light is kinda *** kicking, if you got mates keeping the mobs closely together.
May change on bosses to "more" healing, depending on your party and boss
C:
I'm main Cleric and prefer hybrid way.
But as already been sai a few times, most expecting a healer.
Best thing I can tell there: CtA Helms Hold.
Had a random level 17 GWF in party (rest of us was 56-60), he died a couple times at beginning and was blaming me for not healing enough (ran various runs with AS only).
He left, the level 12 GWF who came in did way better in not dying - didn't changed a skill or the way I placed AS.
So you can see easily, it's not only about you healing, it's also pretty much about the ones who you shall heal, if they are brainless and catch all possible damage they can, they die anyway.
Also there's the other one, who uses pot after pot and you constantly overhealing him/her.
I run with 3 Cws and 1 TR on my cleric For CNs. The mobs die before i even blink.
Not sure why you are referencing my post, lol.
But, yes, in a geared group multiple CW's aoe and CC tear everything up so fast, even Divine Glow is redundant and its only useful for extra Divinity. However, in a geared group, almost any DC build is effective as are many playstyles, so it is not particularly relevant to anything.
The OP is a fresh DC and likely somewhat undergeared for the content. In those situations, having an effective DC build and playstyle is far more critical.
The best way to contribute damage is through hallowed ground's 20% damage boost. And to use hallowed ground as much as possible, you slot 3 healing powers. Sunburst to build divinity, healing word/divine healing word spam to build AP, and astral shield because the power should always be used in any t2 dungeon.
The OP is a fresh DC and likely somewhat undergeared for the content. In those situations, having an effective DC build and playstyle is far more critical.
I have ran all T2s on my Cleric to farm her gear. So far i've noticed that under geared players ( or inexperienced ones to be specific) fail to use the dodge mechanic efficiently, so i was 99% of the time busy healing them. So i'm not sure how can slotting 1 damaging ability instead of a 3rd healing encounter can be more helpful to a new party that is still experiencing the dungeon. In spell plague for example, almost every mob got a DoT effects..i had to place A.Shield and Healing words frequently while punting mobs with my sunburst for more control and healing.
Even in T1 Faldever Crypts ( GauntlGrym dungeon), i had to even use my soothing light due to party members inability to dodge efficiently. So far i have never encountered a situation, either with low end nor high end parties, where my healing was "more than enough" to slot a damaging encounter.
Probably because i don't run with GFs or because im solo healing. I think with a tank in party i can slot a damaging encounter since GFs are excellent aggro holders.
Note: i have ran with your cleric before, Cure, and i can surely admit that you are one of the best clerics i have ever ran with.
The best way to contribute damage is through hallowed ground's 20% damage boost. And to use hallowed ground as much as possible, you slot 3 healing powers. Sunburst to build divinity, healing word/divine healing word spam to build AP, and astral shield because the power should always be used in any t2 dungeon.
I have ran all T2s on my Cleric to farm her gear. So far i've noticed that under geared players ( or inexperienced ones to be specific) fail to use the dodge mechanic efficiently, so i was 99% of the time busy healing them. So i'm not sure how can slotting 1 damaging ability instead of a 3rd healing encounter can be more helpful to a new party that is still experiencing the dungeon.
Oh, that's what you meant. Yes, with that I fully agree. That is just how I used to play and was a remeniscence with ambisinisterr. Since my first character was my DC, most of my experience was pre-nerfs, i.e. beta tanky DCs, release 100% AShield uptime, pre-Feywild high AP builds, etc. DC has changed dramatically since then, plus I am geared so can basically play how I like. So, I would not advise any fresh healer to play the way I played and I no longer play my DC anyway!
As a current DC and personally knowing how skilled you were on your other classes, I assume you found an up-to-date playstyle that is very effective.
With PVE gropus I run with Hollowed Grounds + Flame Strike, Brand of the Sun + Astral Shield for at will, Sunburst + AS + Chains as encounters. I like this config very much, and people like too.
I can't really imagine a healer way in this game, even if you pick and spec only healing skills, this will not be enough for healing. The way to go is supporting, with buff/debuff + mitigation. Heal for clerics in this game is very bad, it's definitively not the right path.
Not at epic levels; The cleric that I made at the start has been retired and is now just used to invoke and craft- Part AD generator, part storage mule.
Until I decide to use that space for another character, of course.
The DC is set up to be a healer, and as far as I know the only class with any healing abilities. It's just how it is.
So why would anyone expect something other than heals out of the DC?
I am not saying that they can not throw in some DPS along the way. Every class can throw in some DPS, and a DC needs to throw out some DPS to use many heals; Astral Seal, for example.
But the vast majority of people will expect the cleric to heal. If the cleric is devoted more to damage than healing then the party will need another cleric.
I know that once upon a time two clerics were not an issue. People wanted more clerics to stack certain effects. Now? I really don't know what party make-up is in vogue.
But the clerics' primary job in a party is going to be to keep the rest of the party on their feet.
That's why I retired mine.
I like to have the option to heal, but hate the expectation of having to do it.
I'll be waiting for a paladin build or a more combat-oriented cleric before I revisit that, I think.
Or at least trying.
I fear that they do not share my feelings about getting a wide variety of classes into the game as quickly as possible.
The problem is that people can't expect to clerics heal that way, people need to understand how the DC works. They need to dps to get divine power, and AD. And the most important, they don't have healing powers that people expect, like in wow. The heal are only HoT, and it's classified more for mitigation then healing itself. A "healer" cleric here, is a cleric who spams all the time mitigation and buffs, while dps to build AD and divine to keep the cycle.
grungebrmpk, Im running the same spells... mostly... keeping Chains changing depending on party setup.
An yeah, still many people think a cleric is a common heal-only class, like on other MMOs.
Cleric felt weird at beginning, but I fall in love with it's handling
The only "high" direct heal we got is a divine Healing Word - "high" is still quite low, about 1/4hp of most characters out there or lower - but followed by it's normal HoT.
I'm not sure how can you heal decently and deal damage.
Once I figure out how to record the game with sound (as much of a tech geek as I am I don't like video recording) I'll record myself as a cleric to show you how I can keep everybody alive while doing damage.
The gist is that the more capability you have of inflicting damage means the more capability you have to heal.
As such I am mainly a crit based cleric who heals large numbers less often while also doing more damage than your average cleric.
On top of that many clerics I have seen like to stand far away. I go into the middle of the fray and stand next to the Guardian Fighter or the rogue and share my Astral Shield with the entire party with the exception of the control wizard who may stand next to me or may decide to stay way out of the fight.
But the thing about them standing way far away is that they tend to not be in any danger granted that these two factors are all met:
1. People avoid splats. If you don't avoid splats you will die. Avoid them. Thank you!
2. You need a GF. Elitist players have tried to make the game into a giant DPS race. I really don't care for that at all. A decent GF will keep the CW's alive and safe for the cleric.
You can't have both decent DPS and really good heals, but you can be be both a decent DPS and an excellent damage mitigation/heal support. Decent DPS means the DPS you do is noticeable. You do nowhere near the DPS of true striker classes but with you around mobs tend to die faster, in part because of your actual DPS and in part because of your DPS powers also have control properties (reduce mob mitigation/damage, snares/roots, etc).
As far as I know there are only three general types of clerics - those which focus primarily on both healing and mitigation (healbots, defensive DCS); those which focus primarily on mitigation, and then DPS/control and healing (specialized builds, offense-type DCs); and then everyone else. Normally you only want the first two types in your group.
Healbots work because of divine fortune and/or foresight (spamming heals = very good AP/divine power gain) + lots of support for healing (primarily from the Faithful path), including extra stats/temporary HP/mitigation and feated Hallowed Ground, which helps make up for the cleric's lack of personal DPS. The second type works because of holy fervor and/or healer's lore (extremely fast AP gain, lots of extra little heals), various support feats for low CD attack/control skills (Ethereal Boon, Repurpose Soul), a good combination of attack-healing/mitigation/control skills and Divine Armor, the ultimate defensive power.
Obviously you can play your cleric however you want when tackling easy content but the above is for challenging content.
Clerics who behave like true DPSers are like wizards that refuse to slot and use control skills, GFs which refuse to use block/aggro-management powers, GWFs which refuse to use AoEs and rogues that refuse to slot powerful single-target DPS powers.
"Hybrid" clerics could work I guess, but you'd have to be filthy rich to get good enough gear to meet all the necessary stat breakpoints to make your build viable, among other things.
Note that the type of cleric your are isn't necessarily set in stone, a few gear/power changes and you can easily switch from one type of cleric to another. Obviously though a cleric who stacks AP generation feats/powers/stats is going to be a much more effective offense-type cleric than someone who doesn't, for example, and you won't be a very successful healbot if you skip the best faithful path feats.
Being an offense-type DC myself I'd prefer teaming up with a defensive/healbot cleric since clerics of the same type usually use the same skills - skills that neither stack nor complement each other.
You there. New to the game? Feeling overwhelmed? Maybe you think getting to end-game is impossible for a casual player like yourself, or maybe you just need to be around a community that helps each other stay sane and competitive with the latest news, current trends, random chitchat and most of all LEGIT (that is, we try to keep things fair) gameplay. If you don't mind being around quirky people and the rare occasional drama (one of our prominent TR members is apparently a mafia godfather) join nw_legit_community at http://www.nwlegitcommunity.shivtr.com/forum_threads/2330542.
1. People avoid splats. If you don't avoid splats you will die. Avoid them. Thank you!
2. You need a GF. Elitist players have tried to make the game into a giant DPS race. I really don't care for that at all. A decent GF will keep the CW's alive and safe for the cleric.
That's exactly why i'm fully healing. My party tends to fail to avoid splats sometimes since they are usually focused on killing adds and clearing the way through (even i fail to do so sometimes). Hence why i try to keep their health topped.
Since my job is easier and more relaxing than them; as i'm only healing here and there ( i don't have any bosses to kill nor adds to control) and i have a better vision over their current HP and their current aggro so it is much safer if i run a full healing style for my party than increasing my duties to also dealing damage on top of healing.
However my style tend to be inclined more to smooth and as fast as possible runs, hence why i don't take tanks and i usually solo heal and tank at the same time (i only take GFs if they are specced as DPS conqueror though). Perhaps with a tank in my party, i can start focusing on dealing damage aswell. A matter of play style and party composition i assume.
I'm a bit confused as to how you run with 4 CWs that melt everything before you can even blink, but that also require you to be constantly spamming healing words or everyone will die. Why is nobody standing in your astral shield? if you've got 4 CWs, it doesn't really matter where they stand: they're not melee, after all. Why not just have 'em all stand in the shield? And if they all insist on splitting up for maximum 'annoy the DC' variety, you might as well not bring AS anyway, since it'll only be of use to one person at a time.
I'm a bit confused as to how you run with 4 CWs that melt everything before you can even blink, but that also require you to be constantly spamming healing words or everyone will die. Why is nobody standing in your astral shield? if you've got 4 CWs, it doesn't really matter where they stand: they're not melee, after all. Why not just have 'em all stand in the shield? And if they all insist on splitting up for maximum 'annoy the DC' variety, you might as well not bring AS anyway, since it'll only be of use to one person at a time.
i run with 3 CWs, and they do stand in the astral shield. But in a dungeon like CN sometimes they stand outside of it to position their singularities and since every skill the CW can do requires them to stand for atleast 1/1.5 second(s), i have to constantly heal them.
When i said everything dies, i meant the adds. My healing is mostly needed on boss fights since adds constantly spawn when you kill them. When you are a CW and have red wizzard, archers and Grim Hollowed Knight on you...you would be pleased if you get a healing word and AS to share the aggro with u..and sunburst for the linked spirit and divinity for me.
Same with SP, almost every mob there got a DoT so AS and Healing word mandatory there if you want to avoid wipes. I even use divine sunburst to help with punting the adds with the CWs.
When it comes to the last boss, putting healing words on TRs while kiting the adds takes the aggro off them. So i make sure i take adds on me while also healing other CWs while they have the aggro and making sure that TR doesn't have any mobs on him.
Same story with Frozen Heart.
So it isn't really about getting cocky on everyone because i'm the healer " you need me , you obey me else i wont heal" style. As a DC you should do your very best to ensure your party is safe and sound even when they do mistakes such as not standing in the AS.
I dunno, the only time I've ever found HW to be particularly useful is FH, to keep the GF topped up.
Spellplague can be happily done without it: the boss pretty much just needs to be kept sealed and then a TR can solo it. Keep your CWs in a shield while they grab&punt everything else.
I dunno, the only time I've ever found HW to be particularly useful is FH, to keep the GF topped up.
I dont run with GFs, i can kite the adds on FH perfectly. I use the HW to take aggro off others and to heal myself aswell while keeping Astral shield on the boss for the healing and taking aggro off the TRs.
Spellplague can be happily done without it: the boss pretty much just needs to be kept sealed and then a TR can solo it. Keep your CWs in a shield while they grab&punt everything else.
Sometimes TRs get aggro accidentally of some adds, 1 HW on them = you take aggro instead. Also at some point, the adds are unpushable due to the enraging mode from the overseer over the servants so i have to use HW to keep the CWs topped while they have the aggro.
You can't have both decent DPS and really good heals, but you can be be both a decent DPS and an excellent damage mitigation/heal support. Decent DPS means the DPS you do is noticeable. You do nowhere near the DPS of true striker classes but with you around mobs tend to die faster, in part because of your actual DPS and in part because of your DPS powers also have control properties (reduce mob mitigation/damage, snares/roots, etc).
Both Ambi and I would disagree with that.
The right to command is earned through duty, the privilege of rank is service.
The group dynamic, the particular dungeon, and even further the particular pull, or particular boss etc all should factor into the DC skills and playstyle. I have full miracle healer, ancient weapon, ion stone, good enchants etc 6k power and faithful tree but i can do very good dps in any T1 and still keep everyone alive without trouble. And same for most T2's. With 3 heal spells on encounters, i would be overhealing like crazy for most end game content, so i slot 2 heals, and the third is either buff or debuff for trash pulls, and easy bosses, for hard trash pulls, and hard bosses, i will go 3 heal spells just in case.
The group dynamic, the particular dungeon, and even further the particular pull, or particular boss etc all should factor into the DC skills and playstyle.[/B] I have full miracle healer, ancient weapon, ion stone, good enchants etc 6k power and faithful tree but i can do very good dps in any T1 and still keep everyone alive without trouble. And same for most T2's. With 3 heal spells on encounters, i would be overhealing like crazy for most end game content, so i slot 2 heals, and the third is either buff or debuff for trash pulls, and easy bosses, for hard trash pulls, and hard bosses, i will go 3 heal spells just in case.
Very true.
I usually run with a fixed party composition, which forces me to fully heal all the time. Like i said, with different composition i could perhaps focus further into damage dealing.
However, the Armor penetration bug we have on our cleric encounters makes our damage dull and low in Epic dungeon. If they ever fix that, i would consider putting some damage to my DC .
Can anyone actually recommend any decent builds for T2 dungeons and end game healing?
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faiteaccompliiMember, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users, Neverwinter Knight of the Feywild UsersPosts: 2
edited October 2013
A lot of people don't understand cleric mechanics and that you have to hit stuff to heal.....but I am specc'd to heal whether for pve or pvp...I heal....not there to do a lot of dps other than to build divinity or in some cases I can kill someone in pvp but in pve I am not there to kill stuff just hit it a lot.
Comments
I run with 3 Cws and 1 TR on my cleric For CNs. The mobs die before i even blink.
Full DPS cerlic runs sadly very poor.
A:
The cleric is designed like that originally.
B:
Mostly Astral Seal and Signet is enough. So you got some space for some supportives like (divine) Divine Glow (will boost TRs, GWFs mostly, well placed also sometimes a CW), may also Proph. of Doom, if you can handle and keep Hallowed Ground, Divine Armor, or any other daily almost constantly.
Also a (divine) Searing Light is kinda *** kicking, if you got mates keeping the mobs closely together.
May change on bosses to "more" healing, depending on your party and boss
C:
I'm main Cleric and prefer hybrid way.
But as already been sai a few times, most expecting a healer.
Best thing I can tell there: CtA Helms Hold.
Had a random level 17 GWF in party (rest of us was 56-60), he died a couple times at beginning and was blaming me for not healing enough (ran various runs with AS only).
He left, the level 12 GWF who came in did way better in not dying - didn't changed a skill or the way I placed AS.
So you can see easily, it's not only about you healing, it's also pretty much about the ones who you shall heal, if they are brainless and catch all possible damage they can, they die anyway.
Also there's the other one, who uses pot after pot and you constantly overhealing him/her.
Not sure why you are referencing my post, lol.
But, yes, in a geared group multiple CW's aoe and CC tear everything up so fast, even Divine Glow is redundant and its only useful for extra Divinity. However, in a geared group, almost any DC build is effective as are many playstyles, so it is not particularly relevant to anything.
The OP is a fresh DC and likely somewhat undergeared for the content. In those situations, having an effective DC build and playstyle is far more critical.
I have ran all T2s on my Cleric to farm her gear. So far i've noticed that under geared players ( or inexperienced ones to be specific) fail to use the dodge mechanic efficiently, so i was 99% of the time busy healing them. So i'm not sure how can slotting 1 damaging ability instead of a 3rd healing encounter can be more helpful to a new party that is still experiencing the dungeon. In spell plague for example, almost every mob got a DoT effects..i had to place A.Shield and Healing words frequently while punting mobs with my sunburst for more control and healing.
Even in T1 Faldever Crypts ( GauntlGrym dungeon), i had to even use my soothing light due to party members inability to dodge efficiently. So far i have never encountered a situation, either with low end nor high end parties, where my healing was "more than enough" to slot a damaging encounter.
Probably because i don't run with GFs or because im solo healing. I think with a tank in party i can slot a damaging encounter since GFs are excellent aggro holders.
Note: i have ran with your cleric before, Cure, and i can surely admit that you are one of the best clerics i have ever ran with.
That's exactly what i do, and i barely wipe.
Oh, that's what you meant. Yes, with that I fully agree. That is just how I used to play and was a remeniscence with ambisinisterr. Since my first character was my DC, most of my experience was pre-nerfs, i.e. beta tanky DCs, release 100% AShield uptime, pre-Feywild high AP builds, etc. DC has changed dramatically since then, plus I am geared so can basically play how I like. So, I would not advise any fresh healer to play the way I played and I no longer play my DC anyway!
As a current DC and personally knowing how skilled you were on your other classes, I assume you found an up-to-date playstyle that is very effective.
With PVE gropus I run with Hollowed Grounds + Flame Strike, Brand of the Sun + Astral Shield for at will, Sunburst + AS + Chains as encounters. I like this config very much, and people like too.
I can't really imagine a healer way in this game, even if you pick and spec only healing skills, this will not be enough for healing. The way to go is supporting, with buff/debuff + mitigation. Heal for clerics in this game is very bad, it's definitively not the right path.
Until I decide to use that space for another character, of course.
The DC is set up to be a healer, and as far as I know the only class with any healing abilities. It's just how it is.
So why would anyone expect something other than heals out of the DC?
I am not saying that they can not throw in some DPS along the way. Every class can throw in some DPS, and a DC needs to throw out some DPS to use many heals; Astral Seal, for example.
But the vast majority of people will expect the cleric to heal. If the cleric is devoted more to damage than healing then the party will need another cleric.
I know that once upon a time two clerics were not an issue. People wanted more clerics to stack certain effects. Now? I really don't know what party make-up is in vogue.
But the clerics' primary job in a party is going to be to keep the rest of the party on their feet.
That's why I retired mine.
I like to have the option to heal, but hate the expectation of having to do it.
I'll be waiting for a paladin build or a more combat-oriented cleric before I revisit that, I think.
Or at least trying.
I fear that they do not share my feelings about getting a wide variety of classes into the game as quickly as possible.
The problem is that people can't expect to clerics heal that way, people need to understand how the DC works. They need to dps to get divine power, and AD. And the most important, they don't have healing powers that people expect, like in wow. The heal are only HoT, and it's classified more for mitigation then healing itself. A "healer" cleric here, is a cleric who spams all the time mitigation and buffs, while dps to build AD and divine to keep the cycle.
An yeah, still many people think a cleric is a common heal-only class, like on other MMOs.
Cleric felt weird at beginning, but I fall in love with it's handling
The only "high" direct heal we got is a divine Healing Word - "high" is still quite low, about 1/4hp of most characters out there or lower - but followed by it's normal HoT.
My healer spec is Forgemaster Flame + AD + Sunburst
Once I figure out how to record the game with sound (as much of a tech geek as I am I don't like video recording) I'll record myself as a cleric to show you how I can keep everybody alive while doing damage.
The gist is that the more capability you have of inflicting damage means the more capability you have to heal.
As such I am mainly a crit based cleric who heals large numbers less often while also doing more damage than your average cleric.
On top of that many clerics I have seen like to stand far away. I go into the middle of the fray and stand next to the Guardian Fighter or the rogue and share my Astral Shield with the entire party with the exception of the control wizard who may stand next to me or may decide to stay way out of the fight.
But the thing about them standing way far away is that they tend to not be in any danger granted that these two factors are all met:
1. People avoid splats. If you don't avoid splats you will die. Avoid them. Thank you!
2. You need a GF. Elitist players have tried to make the game into a giant DPS race. I really don't care for that at all. A decent GF will keep the CW's alive and safe for the cleric.
As far as I know there are only three general types of clerics - those which focus primarily on both healing and mitigation (healbots, defensive DCS); those which focus primarily on mitigation, and then DPS/control and healing (specialized builds, offense-type DCs); and then everyone else. Normally you only want the first two types in your group.
Healbots work because of divine fortune and/or foresight (spamming heals = very good AP/divine power gain) + lots of support for healing (primarily from the Faithful path), including extra stats/temporary HP/mitigation and feated Hallowed Ground, which helps make up for the cleric's lack of personal DPS. The second type works because of holy fervor and/or healer's lore (extremely fast AP gain, lots of extra little heals), various support feats for low CD attack/control skills (Ethereal Boon, Repurpose Soul), a good combination of attack-healing/mitigation/control skills and Divine Armor, the ultimate defensive power.
Obviously you can play your cleric however you want when tackling easy content but the above is for challenging content.
Clerics who behave like true DPSers are like wizards that refuse to slot and use control skills, GFs which refuse to use block/aggro-management powers, GWFs which refuse to use AoEs and rogues that refuse to slot powerful single-target DPS powers.
"Hybrid" clerics could work I guess, but you'd have to be filthy rich to get good enough gear to meet all the necessary stat breakpoints to make your build viable, among other things.
Note that the type of cleric your are isn't necessarily set in stone, a few gear/power changes and you can easily switch from one type of cleric to another. Obviously though a cleric who stacks AP generation feats/powers/stats is going to be a much more effective offense-type cleric than someone who doesn't, for example, and you won't be a very successful healbot if you skip the best faithful path feats.
Being an offense-type DC myself I'd prefer teaming up with a defensive/healbot cleric since clerics of the same type usually use the same skills - skills that neither stack nor complement each other.
That's exactly why i'm fully healing. My party tends to fail to avoid splats sometimes since they are usually focused on killing adds and clearing the way through (even i fail to do so sometimes). Hence why i try to keep their health topped.
Since my job is easier and more relaxing than them; as i'm only healing here and there ( i don't have any bosses to kill nor adds to control) and i have a better vision over their current HP and their current aggro so it is much safer if i run a full healing style for my party than increasing my duties to also dealing damage on top of healing.
However my style tend to be inclined more to smooth and as fast as possible runs, hence why i don't take tanks and i usually solo heal and tank at the same time (i only take GFs if they are specced as DPS conqueror though). Perhaps with a tank in my party, i can start focusing on dealing damage aswell. A matter of play style and party composition i assume.
i run with 3 CWs, and they do stand in the astral shield. But in a dungeon like CN sometimes they stand outside of it to position their singularities and since every skill the CW can do requires them to stand for atleast 1/1.5 second(s), i have to constantly heal them.
When i said everything dies, i meant the adds. My healing is mostly needed on boss fights since adds constantly spawn when you kill them. When you are a CW and have red wizzard, archers and Grim Hollowed Knight on you...you would be pleased if you get a healing word and AS to share the aggro with u..and sunburst for the linked spirit and divinity for me.
Same with SP, almost every mob there got a DoT so AS and Healing word mandatory there if you want to avoid wipes. I even use divine sunburst to help with punting the adds with the CWs.
When it comes to the last boss, putting healing words on TRs while kiting the adds takes the aggro off them. So i make sure i take adds on me while also healing other CWs while they have the aggro and making sure that TR doesn't have any mobs on him.
Same story with Frozen Heart.
So it isn't really about getting cocky on everyone because i'm the healer " you need me , you obey me else i wont heal" style. As a DC you should do your very best to ensure your party is safe and sound even when they do mistakes such as not standing in the AS.
Spellplague can be happily done without it: the boss pretty much just needs to be kept sealed and then a TR can solo it. Keep your CWs in a shield while they grab&punt everything else.
I dont run with GFs, i can kite the adds on FH perfectly. I use the HW to take aggro off others and to heal myself aswell while keeping Astral shield on the boss for the healing and taking aggro off the TRs.
Sometimes TRs get aggro accidentally of some adds, 1 HW on them = you take aggro instead. Also at some point, the adds are unpushable due to the enraging mode from the overseer over the servants so i have to use HW to keep the CWs topped while they have the aggro.
Both Ambi and I would disagree with that.
Very true.
I usually run with a fixed party composition, which forces me to fully heal all the time. Like i said, with different composition i could perhaps focus further into damage dealing.
However, the Armor penetration bug we have on our cleric encounters makes our damage dull and low in Epic dungeon. If they ever fix that, i would consider putting some damage to my DC