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In need of a PVE DC Healer's guide for Dummies!!
tewaza2
Member Posts: 4 Arc User
I enjoy playing Clerics. I guess it has something to do with growing up hearing the stories my dad told about being a medic in Viet Nam. Anyways, back to the point. I'm new to this game but have played a cleric in a different MMO. This Cleric is not the healer I am used to and, in the few parties I have been in, is still expected to be that healer. I don't expect that I can come in fresh to this game and just be great at it immediately but I didn't expect to feel so lost! After doing some homework on the forum I am even more confused! Everything seems focused on end game. I get that. At the beginning of the game, though, I am kinda hoping for a guide to help me just become a better Cleric as I get there.
I have made it to lvl 40 but I know I need to respect. My question, is there one build on here that most everyone agrees is the solid standard for a PVE healer with an easy learning curve?
I have made it to lvl 40 but I know I need to respect. My question, is there one build on here that most everyone agrees is the solid standard for a PVE healer with an easy learning curve?
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http://nwcalc.com/dc?b=cn4:2hwcg:5m9s,19k3314:6c000:60000:60000&h=0
These feats are pretty much the generic heroic build. Very little variation from this is worth it (maybe taking the single point out of healing action and putting it in holy resolve).
Max toughness, weapon mastery, greater fortune, repurpose soul, get one point in cleanse, and as many as you can (you get extra if human, for instance) in bountiful fortune. Holy resolve is definitely worth a point or two (or three).
Healing action is trash.
Domain synergy is trash.
Initiate of the faith is hilariously trash.
Battlewise is wholly unnecessary.
Templar's domain has a 5min internal cooldown and arpen doesn't work with all our powers anyway (or at least, it didn't).
Also, get 2 points in rising hope (top tree, incorrectly called bountiful forture on that site).
Please note that I haven't tried the new Paragon path, so I'm not considering it in this character build.
Paragon Path: Divine Oracle
Heroic Feats (assuming non-Human)
Greater Fortune - 2
Toughness - 3
Domain Synergy - 4
Weapon Mastery - 3
Repurpose Soul - 3
Cleanse - 2
Bountiful Fortune - 3
Paragon Feats
Faithful Line:
Deepstone Blessing / Enduring Relief - 5
Benefit of Foresight - 5
Invigorating Heal - 5
Moon Touched - 5
Greater Divine Power - 1
Righteous Line:
Divine Advantage - 5
Ethereal Boon - 5
Powers
Passives: Foresight, Divine Fortune
Encounters: Sun Burst, Bastion of Health, Astral Shield
Dailies: Hallowed Ground, Flamestrike
At-Will: (Sacred Flame / Brand of the Sun), Astral Seal
While leveling up, you'll need to run some different powers.
1) While Hallowed Ground is my main Daily at 60th lvl, it wasn't that useful until I had ranked up Moon Touched. During the leveling process, I used Guardian of Faith as my healing Daily.
2) Astral Shield is pretty much required at 60th, but you need something else to take its place while you level up. I'd suggest running some kind of dps power. I like using Searing Lighting since it's AoE function ignores the x5 target cap, but other popular choices are Daunting Light or Chains of Blazing Light. (Also until you get Astral Shield, it's probably best to switch out Divine Fortune for something like Holy Fervor.)
I'm not sure if your question is aimed at a feat layout or powers used. As morsitans already linked a feat layout, I would like to add some short info about powers to be used:
Hope that helps,
Urbs
I echo Morsitans above on the feats to avoid -- Healing Action and Domain Synergy, in particular look tempting but in reality their benefits are so tiny as to not be worth the feat points that can better be used elsewhere.
Once combat starts, try to place Astral Seal on each enemy in range of your melee classes -- in particular those with higher health. Once you've laid down Astral Seals, feel free to hurl Sacred Flame into the densest part of the battle. This combination will provide a steady trickle of healing and temporary hit points to your party.
Divine Power is precious. When healing in dungeons, try always to use Divine Power for maximum party benefit -- for powers such as Astral Shield, Bastion of Health and Forgemaster's Flame. Don't use it for Healing Word nor Sunburst (the return is not worthwhile on the former, and the repel of the latter irritates many players).
I still mostly use the power rotation detailed in the guide, with the exception that I use Sunburst (non-Divine) in place of Healing Word. Another change I made from that guide (and one that will likely draw derision from my fellow clerics) is selecting the Faithful capstone feat -- Greater Divine Power -- for the fourth pip of Divine Power (I dropped the single point in Bountiful Fortune). Many players are skilled enough to balance their divine power usage. I am not among them. For my playstyle, I find I can provide much more "bursty" healing by building up four pips of Divine Power as a reserve for when a battle gets a bit hectic.
I hope some of those tips help you make decisions on how to play your cleric...
On most parts of the game Astral Shield and Astral Seal heal enough, so you can also focus on other great spells like Divine Glow, Searing Light, ...
The "problem" about healing in Neverwinter is a lot people are used to the "classical MMO healer" with high singletarget heals, but the NW cleric is much more about constant low heals, more regenerationlike, and mitigation, with some buffs/debuffs.
Also Neverwinter itself is much about movement, the lazy ones die in general - or they are tanks, aligned to that thing parties split often very fast and maybe someones drifts of your range, also everyone needs to watch his own health.
And there are many people fighting somewhere outside the AShield, it's not that critical but it can get critical if they are attacked.
In addition to that you need to attack to gain Action Points and Divinity, so you actually need to watch in all directions at same time and check your mates locations during fights and place AShields where it's needed, manage your other spells.
To use this tanky build for PVE, get charisma+strength instead of wisdom+strength. Stack HP in character defense slots, use priest rings from drake seal vendor or from AH. A lesson that can take clerics a long time to learn is that most of our contribution to team survival comes from damage mitigation, NOT heals, and damage mitigation effects do not depend upon your power or crit chance, so no need to stack these to astronomical levels.