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Newcomer's PVE-Healing guide
metaplexus
Member Posts: 123 Arc User
INTRODUCTION
Please note: this is made for Anointed Champion DCs. I'll try to cover some things for Divine Oracles as well. This is still a work in progress
Hi all!
I've been playing this game for some time already, and wanted to share some thoughts of mine on Clerics healing in dungeons. I want to point out, that my cleric is purely made for PvP, class–wise, ability score–wise and feat–wise. I wanted to play only PvP, but after some time discovered that the game isn't any dull on PvE side either (yes it is repetitive and lacks some unique boss mechanics, but let's not discuss it here).
So for any of you not perfectly specced/rolled/geared Clerics, this one is for you. This guide will not discuss any feats or ability scores, but just skill usage and the general playstyle of a supporting/healing Cleric. These things come by playing, and you must play the game to learn them. I'll give some general hints and tips for playing here, but you should definitely test them in the game. If I can do it with my spec, you can definitely do it with yours!
If you want to give heavy flaming or have questions you don't want to express here, hit me up in game: Saga@tear667.
This guide is not about numbers, theorycrafting or builds. Also keep in mind, that the descriptions of skills are pretty shallow, they are meant for newer players or those who just want to log in from time to time and run an instance every now and then. After the skill introduction I will concentrate on a few skills that need more attention.
If you want specific information on these kind of things, please take a look at a (gigantic) guide by Kaelac.
Some numbers I've presented here are from his guide.
GEAR AND STATS
This guide is about powers and playing, so I will just briefly tell about my gear and stats.
As you can see, my gear is far from optimal (no 3rd artifact, PvP–gear...). The gearscore may be somewhat ok, but the stats are far from good. Anyway, I've got many compliments of my playing from people in T2 instances, as well as in CN, MC and VT, so you don't really need that specific super setup to start with. I suggest you'd get 24k glory and bought the Bloodcrystal Raven Skull, since it will (at rank 30–59 , that means rare), restore 10% of your HP and grant 50% of your missing HP as temporary hit points. Combine it with soulforged (mine is lesser and it's enough) and a potion, and the first ”near death” situation eases immediately when it happens.
Soulforged is also very good, since you never know when you will lag in that red area, or CW is five seconds late with Singularity and you take too much damage from adds. Consider buying it on early stage. My weapon enchant is normal Holy Avenger, and I haven't really tested others. Vorpal is good, if you aim for good amount of crit (which we shouldn't really do). But if you got greater/perfect Vorpal and decent amount of crit and lots of power, your allies will probably never die.
POWERS
I have introduced skills that sometimes have a slot in my skill bar. Then I have divided those skills to ”I use” and ”I don't use” sections, meaning that ”I don't use” skills can be used or even are widely used, but I don't use them myself often. The skills that aren't described aren't worthy enough even to make it on here.
At wills
I use:
Astral Seal – A–must–use in instances. Makes a debuff on an enemy that will heal the person damaging the mob. Tag all bigger mobs with this, especially the main boss.
Sacred Flame – Fast for building Divinity and the third hit gives temporary hit points on allies near the target (ok area, not so much hp given).
Blessing of Battle – Good damage, though slow casting. Gives a temporary defense buff on allies near the target.
Encounters
[Healing]
I use:
Astral Shield –This is our go–to encounter in every fight. You must use it a lot, since it provides 24% incoming damage reduction, as well as heals in Divine mode. Play with it a lot, so you'll learn to utilize the most of it. I'll explain more of this skill later.
Exaltation(Anointed Champion) – A skill I didn't first like due to it being hard to time correctly. Now I love it. A solid heal and 10% damage/damage resistance buff for 10 seconds. The damage immunity in Divine mode is not the most important part of the skill, but can save your or teammate's life on a critical moment. Will also give regeneration in Divine mode.
Healing Word – Good in fights like Fulminorax (Malabog's castle) and Valindra (Valindra's tower), where these bosses do ~5k damaging attacks from time to time. HW will pretty much negate the damage over time. Pass it on Wizards and Rangers that don't like to hang out near your Astral Shield. Make sure you use it much, so you never have 3 stacks remaining, and 99% of the time; do not cast it in Divinity [discussion going on this below].
I don't use:
Forgemaster's Flame – Frankly, I have never used this skill (due to being mostly PvP–player), although people say it's one of the best cleric healing spells. Can't afford a respec atm, and not up for doing any big tests on preview server, to be honest :P try it out, and if you like it, use it.
Sunburst – Aoe damage and aoe heal in the same skill. Sounds godly awesome, but the reality isn't quite that. The aoe is centered on you, so you have to move well in order to get the best out of it (usually near the fighters/rogues that have the aggro from mobs). The damage isn't that good, and neither is the healing portion of the spell. It procs off some good feats (I've heard, but since my build is what it is, it isn't that useful). This one, alongside with Forgemaster's Flame, is a skill that most Clerics seem to favor. I don't personally use it, so go play with it and decide for yourself. The real upside: you can throw mobs off cliffs in Divine mode (and Flurrying rogues/Crescendoing fighters that are tagged to them as well).
Bastion of Health – Not worth using, too small area combined with a long cooldown are not good things to begin with. The amount of healing... doesn't fix it.
[Damaging/debuffing]
I use:
Divine Glow – A damage resitance debuff on mobs (aoe spell), and from Divinity a damage buff for your allies. Go with this one if you don't need to do heavy healing. Will also generate Divinity nicely. Practice landing it (while moving as well), since you want to make many players and mobs get under it, and it's embarrassing if you miss it a lot.
Daunting Light – The best damaging encounter of Clerics, if you don't need to do much healing or you are two Clerics in a group, consider taking this and blasting those groups of mobs.
I don't use:
Chains of Blazing Light – An area of effect ability that chains enemies to ground and deals moderate damage. Okay to use, but I'd go with Divine Glow+Daunting Light (+Astral Shield).
Break the Spirit – A damage over time spell that reduces target's attack. Will slow from Divinity. Not really worth using, except if you have two Clerics in the group.
Dailies
I use:
Hallowed Ground – Our main daily. Gives a 15% damage and damage resistance buff for very large area, and lasts quite long as well.
Anointed Army(Anointed Champion) – Don't use this if it's not feated. Use this if it is. The feated version doesn't only give you damage/damage resistance buffs and crowd-control immunity, but also restores some HP and action points when the buff ends. Not as good as Hallowed Ground, but has its uses.
Flame Strike – [Damaging] Good for groups of mobs if you want to clear a bit faster.
I don't use:
Guardian of Faith – [Damaging] Not very good in PVE since deals quite a low damage and is single target only. The heal is not worth mentioning.
Divine Armor – Good for saving teammates from a sure death (though you never are sure when it will strike). Quite situational, you can have it slotted, but I wouldn't use it without experiencing a lot of dungeon running first. In addition to temporary hit points, this one also gives a defense buff.
Passives
I use:
Holy Fervor – Will generate you additional AP. Very good to use, since everyone loves Hallowed Ground.
Healer's Lore – +15% healing. A neat choice if you don't need extra defense (Anointed Armor) yourself.
Anointed Armor(Anointed Champion) – Usable on a heavy damage taking match, for example if you have only one CW on a freaking–lots–of–adds boss. However, assuming you could stay alive without slotting this, it will limit your ability to help others. Rather rely on potions than this.
I don't use:
Anointed Holy Symbol(Anointed Champion) – Using encounters from Divinity will grant your teammates temporary hit points. For some very stupid reason (that is illiteracy this time) I haven't put any points in this skill. I'll be doing some research on it very soon. Feel free to post your thoughts on this one.
Divine Fortune – Makes healing spells generate Divinity as well. You shouldn't be using this, especially if you use Sacred Flame and/or one damaging encounter. If you run out of Divinity too much on a fight, consider temporarily slotting this (however, try to learn to play without it!) [discussion going on this below].
Long story short
A heavy healing fight:
At–wills: Sacred Flame (for fast Divinity generating) + Astral Seal
Encounters: Healing Word + Astral Shield + Exaltation
You could also consider Sunburst/Forgemaster's Flame instead of Healing Word or Exaltation.
Dailies: Hallowed Ground + Anointed Army / Divine Armor
Passives: Healer's Lore + Holy Fervor / Anointed Armor
Easy healing fight:
At–wills: Sacred Flame / Blessing of Battle + Astral Seal
Encounters: Divine Glow + Astral Shield + Daunting Light
Dailies: Hallowed Ground + Anointed Army / Flame Strike
Passives: Healer's Lore / Anointed Armor + Holy Fervor
If you are a Divine Oracle DC
Use Foresight as a passive skill. It mitigates 6% (11% if max feated) of incoming damage, and you share the mitigation bonus with allies when healing them. It is a must skill to have slotted.
Then, you should switch Exaltation for either Forgemaster's Flame or Sunburst, and Blessing of Battle for Brand of the Sun.
The dailies don't really change, since Hammer of Fate is a damaging daily power. Use Hallowed Ground and Divine Armor.
Please note: this is made for Anointed Champion DCs. I'll try to cover some things for Divine Oracles as well. This is still a work in progress
Hi all!
I've been playing this game for some time already, and wanted to share some thoughts of mine on Clerics healing in dungeons. I want to point out, that my cleric is purely made for PvP, class–wise, ability score–wise and feat–wise. I wanted to play only PvP, but after some time discovered that the game isn't any dull on PvE side either (yes it is repetitive and lacks some unique boss mechanics, but let's not discuss it here).
So for any of you not perfectly specced/rolled/geared Clerics, this one is for you. This guide will not discuss any feats or ability scores, but just skill usage and the general playstyle of a supporting/healing Cleric. These things come by playing, and you must play the game to learn them. I'll give some general hints and tips for playing here, but you should definitely test them in the game. If I can do it with my spec, you can definitely do it with yours!
If you want to give heavy flaming or have questions you don't want to express here, hit me up in game: Saga@tear667.
This guide is not about numbers, theorycrafting or builds. Also keep in mind, that the descriptions of skills are pretty shallow, they are meant for newer players or those who just want to log in from time to time and run an instance every now and then. After the skill introduction I will concentrate on a few skills that need more attention.
If you want specific information on these kind of things, please take a look at a (gigantic) guide by Kaelac.
Some numbers I've presented here are from his guide.
GEAR AND STATS
This guide is about powers and playing, so I will just briefly tell about my gear and stats.
1. Gear and stats
As you can see, my gear is far from optimal (no 3rd artifact, PvP–gear...). The gearscore may be somewhat ok, but the stats are far from good. Anyway, I've got many compliments of my playing from people in T2 instances, as well as in CN, MC and VT, so you don't really need that specific super setup to start with. I suggest you'd get 24k glory and bought the Bloodcrystal Raven Skull, since it will (at rank 30–59 , that means rare), restore 10% of your HP and grant 50% of your missing HP as temporary hit points. Combine it with soulforged (mine is lesser and it's enough) and a potion, and the first ”near death” situation eases immediately when it happens.
Soulforged is also very good, since you never know when you will lag in that red area, or CW is five seconds late with Singularity and you take too much damage from adds. Consider buying it on early stage. My weapon enchant is normal Holy Avenger, and I haven't really tested others. Vorpal is good, if you aim for good amount of crit (which we shouldn't really do). But if you got greater/perfect Vorpal and decent amount of crit and lots of power, your allies will probably never die.
POWERS
I have introduced skills that sometimes have a slot in my skill bar. Then I have divided those skills to ”I use” and ”I don't use” sections, meaning that ”I don't use” skills can be used or even are widely used, but I don't use them myself often. The skills that aren't described aren't worthy enough even to make it on here.
At wills
I use:
Astral Seal – A–must–use in instances. Makes a debuff on an enemy that will heal the person damaging the mob. Tag all bigger mobs with this, especially the main boss.
Sacred Flame – Fast for building Divinity and the third hit gives temporary hit points on allies near the target (ok area, not so much hp given).
Blessing of Battle – Good damage, though slow casting. Gives a temporary defense buff on allies near the target.
Encounters
[Healing]
I use:
Astral Shield –This is our go–to encounter in every fight. You must use it a lot, since it provides 24% incoming damage reduction, as well as heals in Divine mode. Play with it a lot, so you'll learn to utilize the most of it. I'll explain more of this skill later.
Exaltation(Anointed Champion) – A skill I didn't first like due to it being hard to time correctly. Now I love it. A solid heal and 10% damage/damage resistance buff for 10 seconds. The damage immunity in Divine mode is not the most important part of the skill, but can save your or teammate's life on a critical moment. Will also give regeneration in Divine mode.
Healing Word – Good in fights like Fulminorax (Malabog's castle) and Valindra (Valindra's tower), where these bosses do ~5k damaging attacks from time to time. HW will pretty much negate the damage over time. Pass it on Wizards and Rangers that don't like to hang out near your Astral Shield. Make sure you use it much, so you never have 3 stacks remaining, and 99% of the time; do not cast it in Divinity [discussion going on this below].
I don't use:
Forgemaster's Flame – Frankly, I have never used this skill (due to being mostly PvP–player), although people say it's one of the best cleric healing spells. Can't afford a respec atm, and not up for doing any big tests on preview server, to be honest :P try it out, and if you like it, use it.
Sunburst – Aoe damage and aoe heal in the same skill. Sounds godly awesome, but the reality isn't quite that. The aoe is centered on you, so you have to move well in order to get the best out of it (usually near the fighters/rogues that have the aggro from mobs). The damage isn't that good, and neither is the healing portion of the spell. It procs off some good feats (I've heard, but since my build is what it is, it isn't that useful). This one, alongside with Forgemaster's Flame, is a skill that most Clerics seem to favor. I don't personally use it, so go play with it and decide for yourself. The real upside: you can throw mobs off cliffs in Divine mode (and Flurrying rogues/Crescendoing fighters that are tagged to them as well).
Bastion of Health – Not worth using, too small area combined with a long cooldown are not good things to begin with. The amount of healing... doesn't fix it.
[Damaging/debuffing]
I use:
Divine Glow – A damage resitance debuff on mobs (aoe spell), and from Divinity a damage buff for your allies. Go with this one if you don't need to do heavy healing. Will also generate Divinity nicely. Practice landing it (while moving as well), since you want to make many players and mobs get under it, and it's embarrassing if you miss it a lot.
Daunting Light – The best damaging encounter of Clerics, if you don't need to do much healing or you are two Clerics in a group, consider taking this and blasting those groups of mobs.
I don't use:
Chains of Blazing Light – An area of effect ability that chains enemies to ground and deals moderate damage. Okay to use, but I'd go with Divine Glow+Daunting Light (+Astral Shield).
Break the Spirit – A damage over time spell that reduces target's attack. Will slow from Divinity. Not really worth using, except if you have two Clerics in the group.
Dailies
I use:
Hallowed Ground – Our main daily. Gives a 15% damage and damage resistance buff for very large area, and lasts quite long as well.
Anointed Army(Anointed Champion) – Don't use this if it's not feated. Use this if it is. The feated version doesn't only give you damage/damage resistance buffs and crowd-control immunity, but also restores some HP and action points when the buff ends. Not as good as Hallowed Ground, but has its uses.
Flame Strike – [Damaging] Good for groups of mobs if you want to clear a bit faster.
I don't use:
Guardian of Faith – [Damaging] Not very good in PVE since deals quite a low damage and is single target only. The heal is not worth mentioning.
Divine Armor – Good for saving teammates from a sure death (though you never are sure when it will strike). Quite situational, you can have it slotted, but I wouldn't use it without experiencing a lot of dungeon running first. In addition to temporary hit points, this one also gives a defense buff.
Passives
I use:
Holy Fervor – Will generate you additional AP. Very good to use, since everyone loves Hallowed Ground.
Healer's Lore – +15% healing. A neat choice if you don't need extra defense (Anointed Armor) yourself.
Anointed Armor(Anointed Champion) – Usable on a heavy damage taking match, for example if you have only one CW on a freaking–lots–of–adds boss. However, assuming you could stay alive without slotting this, it will limit your ability to help others. Rather rely on potions than this.
I don't use:
Anointed Holy Symbol(Anointed Champion) – Using encounters from Divinity will grant your teammates temporary hit points. For some very stupid reason (that is illiteracy this time) I haven't put any points in this skill. I'll be doing some research on it very soon. Feel free to post your thoughts on this one.
Divine Fortune – Makes healing spells generate Divinity as well. You shouldn't be using this, especially if you use Sacred Flame and/or one damaging encounter. If you run out of Divinity too much on a fight, consider temporarily slotting this (however, try to learn to play without it!) [discussion going on this below].
Long story short
A heavy healing fight:
At–wills: Sacred Flame (for fast Divinity generating) + Astral Seal
Encounters: Healing Word + Astral Shield + Exaltation
You could also consider Sunburst/Forgemaster's Flame instead of Healing Word or Exaltation.
Dailies: Hallowed Ground + Anointed Army / Divine Armor
Passives: Healer's Lore + Holy Fervor / Anointed Armor
Easy healing fight:
At–wills: Sacred Flame / Blessing of Battle + Astral Seal
Encounters: Divine Glow + Astral Shield + Daunting Light
Dailies: Hallowed Ground + Anointed Army / Flame Strike
Passives: Healer's Lore / Anointed Armor + Holy Fervor
If you are a Divine Oracle DC
Use Foresight as a passive skill. It mitigates 6% (11% if max feated) of incoming damage, and you share the mitigation bonus with allies when healing them. It is a must skill to have slotted.
Then, you should switch Exaltation for either Forgemaster's Flame or Sunburst, and Blessing of Battle for Brand of the Sun.
The dailies don't really change, since Hammer of Fate is a damaging daily power. Use Hallowed Ground and Divine Armor.
Post edited by metaplexus on
0
Comments
Beginning
In the beginning it's good to have your daily and Divinity meters full. You can charge Divinity by slotting Divine Fortune and using Healing Word, and daily meter by casting Bastion of Health. This works even out of combat, but if you know the next fight will be a boss fight, save already your Divinity and AP. Just before jumping in the fight, stand in the campfire for a few seconds to gain campfire buff (+1 all ability scores) and invoke if you can.
Fulminorax and Valindra, the last bosses in Malabog's Castle and Valindra's Tower respectively, are somewhat different fights with different Astral Shield positioning and Divinity usage. However, they shouldn't be the first instances you'll be playing. I'll cover them shortly later.
When engaging the boss, lay down Hallowed Ground near the main boss, so every group member will surely be inside it. Then you should lay Divinity Astral Shield in front of the boss, so your melee fighters will also be inside of it. Smart CWs and HRs will also gather in a semi circle near it. If there are adds around, make sure you pass HW for CWs so they shouldn't have problems clearing the few in the start. After this, put Divinity Divine Glow on boss and your melee teammates (if you have it slotted) and start rocketing with at–wills (keeping Astral Seal refreshed every now and then).
If you are using Forgemaster's Flame, casting it in Divinity in the beginning is very useful. Do it after you have laid down Astral Shield.
Astral Shield usage
Because everyone in the group waits for that blue (at least most of the time blue) circle in the ground, let's have a brief discussion of it. You should always aim for the Divinity Astral Shield, but a non-Divinity version of it once in a while should not lead to a wipe. But try to make your Divinity gain match your Astral Shield cooldown.
Drop Astral Shield near the boss. The ideal positioning should be something like this:
2. Dem paint skills showing positioning of Astral Shield
As you can see from the picture, 4/5 of the party is protected, while you still have the line of sight for the fifth, unprotected party member (who is back there for combat advantage damage). You can easily pass a HW/Exaltation for him. Your main goal in most of the boss fights is to shield the melee fighters. The ranged ones will usually move too much, but the position of the shield should be that the ranged ones can pass through it quite easily.
Another choice is, naturally, placing the shield that it's center will be on the boss. It's easy to gather many group members under it with that move, but especially if the CW is gathering adds with Arcane Singularity inside it, it will soon become a hellhole of 5 players and 20 mobs without any order, and that's something you really don't want happening. On the picture above, if Singularity if cast on top of the boss, at least half of the circle will still remain clear, which eases your job a lot.
In fights like Valindra (and Fulminorax if you have a godly GWFs or GFs), the shield should be dropped on ranged party members, and you should remain about at the middle of the room. HW+Exaltation on melee should be enough for them. Also in these fights, when Valindra grabs a player and starts choking him, the Divinity cast Astral Shield works wonders under them.
Remember: you should communicate with your group members. If you have a CW or multiple ones, ask for them which one will be placed first, the Astral Shield or Arcane Singularity (since these should often be about at the same place). It will also be easier to drop down Divine Glow when mobs are gathered up by Singularity.
All in all, practice using Astral Shield a lot not only in bosses but in trash clearing as well, and you'll soon read how to position it well.
Someone in my group dies
This is what is suitable for PUGs, where at least two, or even three people will usually rush for help.
If you are in a guild that has it more organized, do it the way you have planned.
If someone dies, make a fast approximation: Are you the closest person to the fallen friend?
1. Yes I am
Go help him up, but don't forget the rest of your team. Generally I lay an Astral Shield near the rest of the party just before picking the fallen one up, or put down Hallowed Ground. If the one needing help is surrounded with adds, I lay Astral Shield down on that place rather than on the rest of the party.
2. No I'm not
Move towards him so you can easily reach him with heals (but no need to be in close contact). Everyone rushing to help one player can easily create dangerous situations regarding hard hitting aoes and no one caring on crowd–control or the boss. But remember: try to let your CWs and the main boss aggro-handler do their job. Don't force your team's CW, chased by 100 adds, go and pick the fallen teammate up.
Were you the closest person or not, you should anyhow do this:
Put Divinity on before the player is up, (Divine) Exaltation immediately when he's picked up, (non-Divinity) HW right after. The target will have a brief immunity for damage and some nice regeneration from your used powers. You may also pass a second or two of Soothing Light, but it shouldn't be needed. If you don't have Exaltation slotted, here is a place for Divine Healing Word.
Keep a close eye for the just–revived, or even a just–soulforged player, since that player is at a critical state for 90 seconds (Soulforged's cooldown is 90 seconds, I have to check the timer for "just revived" debuff)
Note: You can use potions mid-reviving without interrupting the process.
Oh Gosh ! I guess your playstyle is just THAT different from me! I ALWAYS have divine fortune slotted when having Healing Word! It generates really nice amount of divinity (translates to moarrr Healing Word spam). Guess it explains why you say that HWs should not be cast in divine...
By not casting it in divinity, you miss a lot of usage out of it.. Maybe your pt isnt in need of healing that much so you dont have to spam HWs as much.. But for the struggling teams, Divine HWs are just THAT great.. Always cast it in Divine when you have like 1 HW enc charge left, or that if you have none... but most of all, alternate well so that you rarely run out of HWs. Divine Fortune makes this more possible.. The "bursty" heal from D. HW, given a proper set-up, never cease to astound me.. With only 3k Power, I can reach 5k-7k crit heal from the 'burst' part alone.. With 5,7k Power it can reach 7k-ish-8.8k-ish (this is with Healer Lore slotted, WITHOUT Vorpal, and w/o Healing Depression ofc). Imagine if we also take the proper feats to raise Power even more, and that Astral Shield is finally working to give the 5-25% Linked Spirit boost.. Divine Healing Words can be beastly (ofc, should always alternate usage with the non-divine.. to generate more divinity)
The way it works is that Divine Fortune (combined with other divinity generating feats) is constantly generating enough DP so you can reliably spam Healing Word as long as you alternate between the Normal/Versions of the skill, so that the power is constantly on CD (this is the key point). The result is a setup that rapidly generates AP while providing a steady stream of over-time/burst healing. It is a self-sustaining setup, you basically just have to use your at-wills every once in a while, although with any of the PvP sets you probably won't even need to attack that often anymore. The rest of your power loadout can be anything.
Try it out with a dummy (keep attacking with at wills->spam normal/divine/normal/divine/etc HW) and observe your AP gain rate/healing output.
For once I agree with tyrtallow...and that is making me feel bad
He IS indeed correct in that what is truly OP are the broken builds caused by buggy feat calculation.. and maybe that abuse of bugs is what has killed us DCs super easily right now (plus the overgeared ones)... . But that is just a MAYBE, since i really don't know yet how to check enemy's GS + feats distribution when facing classes in pug matches, and i'm nowhere near Endgame BIS... I guess we will see then, once the feat bug's fixed.. Also, those ROARs!.. *facepalm*
Let's keep our arguments civil, and really focus on the problem .. do not attack the person... and ofc keeping this small circle of our DC community alive, in harmony. Cheers
The fact that there are OP classes/builds is clear for everybody. He doesn't say nothing new when he repeats ad nauseam that.
But There are many other end game and knowledgeable players who think dc is NOT fine in his current state.
But that's OT.
My setup is somewhat a mix-and-match of your Heavy Healing and Easy Healing setup. I have not optimised my usage of Exaltaion, but I do try to use it occasionally to buff and heal teammates instead of Healing Word. My usual encounter rotations are Divine glow, Astral Shield and Exaltation/Healing word/Sunburst (have kind of stopped using Sun burst recently). Sacred flame feels awesome for charging divinity as well as the temp HP benefits, although I have heard that Lance is great for quick Divinity as well. I tried using BoB earlier on, but the slow cast times was a handicap. Probably ok to replace Astral Seals with BoB in PvP (no clue though, I have probably PvPed only twice with my DC. I probably do not know what I am talking about here, merely speculating). The previous posts make me want to try Divine Fortune, which i believe, I may never have tried.
Good guide, keep it updated and keep 'em coming. Cheers and good luck!
From my tests on test dummy LoF was much slower at gaining divinity than SF. BotB was inbetween (tests done with a stopwatch)
Interesting observation. Guess I am not missing anything, in that case, and can stick to spamming Astral Seals with Sacred Flames. Although, I am surprised with your finding for Blessing. I am assuming, each hit of all these at-wills charges your Divinity by a different %. Thanks for the info.
I think you can do better with the armor sets. But yes, playstyle matters more than gears...
Yes.. I'm one of those dissatisfied too..Notice that there are many maybes in my post... But i also can't be too sure about how weak we are when there's so many broken bugs lingering around.
@godhric & psychaos999
In Kaelac's guide (section 4.2.1.1 At Will Comparisons) you will find a table that concludes the amount of DPS&Divinity generated by our at-wills.
I used to play with Divine Fortune, but have lately changed it for Healer's Lore. I have no data to backup the change in my healing, but it feels better like this. I indeed make less spike healing due to lesser use of Divine HW, but think that overall +15% on all other healing, be it overtime healing or not, covers it.
I agree that Divine HW works wonders in a group that needs more attention, but otherwise, assuming you don't just solo queue and hope for better composition that 2 hrs + 2 trs, I wouldn't use it.
here's my guidelines of when to use divine fortune
1 debuff/buff spell+2 healing spells= slot divine fortune
Reason: you need extra divinity for the buff/debuff spell in addition to having pips for putting down blue AS or divine healing words
3 healing spells= do not slot divine fortune
the spells you have are enough to heal b/c not all of them must be used in divine mode; the third spell can usually be sunburst, forgemaster's, etc; these encounters can be used for divinity gain
Another reason you don't need to use divine fortune is because you can build 3 pips up when you cast a hallowed ground. Hallowed ground with moontouched spec is basically an astral shield. During the time it is down you can usually just at-will to regain all your divinity back.
I too used to play with divine fortune, but this was b/c I would miss healing words all the time. Once you practice targeting it enough, you'll find you don't need extra divinity.
http://nw-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?683991-DC-Positive-Builds-for-Ice-Wind-Dale
My biggest mistake in my DC was going AC for my paragon path. For an overall build for PvE, Do is superior IMHO. It gives you better damage mitigation and damage thru more useful class abilities.
http://laggygamerz.com/forum/index.php?/topic/17-kaelac’s-guide-to-devoted-clerics-in-neverwinter/
For DO, yes, since foresight is irreplaceable and a staple class feature.. Therefore only leaving you with either healer's lore / the fortune to choose from... But whether we need extra divinity or not really depends on the party anyway.. If there are many situations that calls for more clutch heals, then the 'bursty' healing from divine will be more appreciated since it can prevent other members from dieing.
For AC, you can actually use both Healer Lore & Divine Fortune without sacrificing any real class feat (i.e. Foresight) ... can also mix and match with Anointed Armor / Holy Fervor depending on the situation. If you feel that you are tanky enough for a particular dungeon, slotting Anointed Armor would be a waste. If survivability is the main concern, more divinity will always be useful with Divine Fortune. If you're with a good party who doesnt need healing that much, then Holy Fervor would be the obvious choice to ensure more uptime of HG. If you need to be tanky kite but also need Divinity, then Divine Fortune + Anointed Armor will be my choice. More divinity will always be useful no matter what since it can be used not only for healing... but also for buffing.. (and even for debuffing for DO). Since I dont stack max HP that much, I cant comment much on Anointed Holy Symbol's usefulness. But i suspect it will be Uber useful for the HP stacking DCs who want to heal thru temp HPs while focusing on tabbed sunburst (spammability) with mitigations & debuffs encounters which doesnt rely on Power stat alot for its effects
@onodrain
Yes, DO is better for PvE, since Exaltation is a skill you can easily exceed without in healing. So is Anointed Army. If we're talking about all-around PvE playing, DO is better by miles due to having Terrifying Insight for extra dps, PoD for debuffing and Foresight for party defense buff. But since I went head on on PvP, I play now with what I have, and courage players to test things that don't only rely on good setup.
And regarding Kaelac, I indeed admire the work he has put in his guide. Anyway, I want to express my own playstyle for newer players. After all, as I've stated, my build and gear are far from optimal, so I won't be discussing here the power-feat-gear-boon -synergies Kaelac brings up many times. I merely show the skills I use and how I use them, which is more subjective approach for the game. I hope one or two fresh DCs out here will catch a point or two from my guide and then create their own playstyle not based (only) in numbers, but on simply playing the game.
Anyway, I will probably link some more stuff from his guide soon, and I indeed encourage people to check his work out.
@godhric
Indeed, Foresight cannot be left out from skill bar, if you are a DO. As an AC, as you stated, there really isn't a go-to passive skill you have to stick with. So far Anointed Holy Symbol seems very good, from the little testing I've done with it, so it seems all the five skills I mentioned in the first post are viable for PvE healing. I myself like to stick with the three I mentioned often using, but this kind of discussion brings new approaches for a healing cleric that anyone can try out and choose that ones that fits him/her best.
And as I already answered earlier, the party that needs more healing calls out for more Divinity and thus, maybe Divine Fortune. It all depends on the situation, but my approach would still be trying the boss first without it, and only if I see myself lacking in Divine power a lot, I'd change my other passive for that one. It may cost my team a wipe, but I wouldn't see that as a huge problem