Healing Aggro

MntMan - Lost City · March 2009

I figured I'd post this in general to get the most responses. I recently started playing a cleric and I had a few questions to make myself better at it, especially for FB runs which I do a lot of.

1) What's the general rule on heal aggro? If I'm a higher level and I heal a lower level tank who is one on one with a mob will it pull aggro from heal only?
2) If the tank is one on X with mobs, where X is greater then 1, will I always pull the other mobs as aggro? This seems to happen a lot. I noticed it doesn't matter how high a level BM it is either.
3) Since I've never played as a tank I don't know what a tank can withstand. So for instance if a tank is doing AoE on a fb19 run is he OK and I just heal after all mobs are dead? Or will he need a heal while he is gathering? If the later it seems I could pull aggro from him. I often like to stack a heal or two before they run in, but few wait for this.
4) If a tank is not doing AoE and charges into a group of mobs do they know it's coming and can withstand the damage without heals? I ask because if I heal then I pull aggro and **** the rest of the group.
5) I use iron heart exclusively, but as I get higher up in levels does the AoE heal also pull aggro? How about the higher level iron heart like spell (stream of rej I think its called).

A lot of times doing an fb run the tank will have a charm. Even though I know they have the charm I'd like to save them the issue of it ticking off too many times, but should I just say **** it and let it tick away so I don't draw aggro.

Any advice in these areas would be great. Just want to make myself and my crew safer on runs. Thanks

Maliza - Heavens Tear · March 2009

Heal agro mostly happens when a barb or bm is 1 on x (x>1) and hasn't used an aoe.

Only cast a heal after you see the aoe (so all mobs have hate on barb or bm). If the barb/bm gets to much damage and doesn't use aoe, don't heal unless you know you can keep yourself alive and kill all mobs running to you.

Sorry to say this, but better a dead barb/bm (i have both a cleric and barb too) then a dead cleric who has to townportal and get back in the fb (if you are the only cleric).

Stream of Rejuvenation can also catch healagro the same way as ironhart or any other single heal. AoE heal same thing.

I have had no problem healing a lower lvl bm or barb on a boss, you probably don't have to spam heal either, out damaging is another thing though...

Just say at the beginning of a run when a barb or bm is pulling: no aoe = no heal

Darksky - Heavens Tear · March 2009

In 1 on 1 , heal agro can happen if the tanker misses the 1 st strike ... this usally happens on low lvl barbs, thats why acc is important b:bye...

Bobncut - Sanctuary · March 2009

You seem to be talking about two different kinds of FB runs. A tank who is not hesitating to gather all the mobs in a room so they can AOE them all at once is likely enough levels above the FB that they could easily solo. An IB if it's convenient for you, is a welcome alternative to a possible charm tick, but it isn't essential. In particular, don't worry about hitting an IB while I'm running around one of the large rooms in FB19 gathering up a horde as I'm just relying on proximity aggro to do that.

On the other hand, if you are in an FB that is more of a challenge for your party's levels and the party has gotten aggro from multiple mobs, then the tanks are relying on you for heals. It is their job to make sure they have aggro on all the mobs either with a series of AOE attacks, the barb's AOE aggro skill, by each taking a mob, or whatever your party is set up for. Talking about how this will be handled before it happens is always a good idea in this type of FB.

Weng - Heavens Tear · March 2009

MntMan - Lost City wrote: »

I figured I'd post this in general to get the most responses. I recently started playing a cleric and I had a few questions to make myself better at it, especially for FB runs which I do a lot of.

1) What's the general rule on heal aggro? If I'm a higher level and I heal a lower level tank who is one on one with a mob will it pull aggro from heal only?

Heal aggro has nothing to do with level difference. You'll only heal aggro if the mob that is attacking the player that has not been hit.

meaning, if say there are 2 mobs ganging up on a barb (mob A and mob

. If the barb is only hitting mob A and you cast healing on the barb, then mob B will come running after you.

The only way to prevent healing aggro is to have the player touch all the mobs involved at least once. Whether he/she hits mob A then switch target to mob B, or use AOE skills. As long as all the mobs involved in the fight are hit by a player, you will not heal aggro.

this applies to pets as well for Venos. Herc has a better chance of preventing heal aggro due to it's Bramble Guard skill which hits all melee mobs. However, if a ranged mob has not been hit by a herc, then when you heal your herc, the mob will come after you.

-weng

jemima · March 2009

Heal aggro only gives a very small amount of aggro. It's greater than being nearby the mob, but a lot less than attacking the mob. If the tank has attacked the mob, you won't steal aggro from it. So if they've used an AoE, they're safe.
If they haven't, don't heal them. If they're pulling all the mobs but not doing anything to hold aggro, then they should learn to tank better.

Asterelle - Sanctuary_1381265973 · March 2009

If a tank is charging through a group a mobs and hasn't aoe'd yet then they are still gathering more mobs. Don't heal them until after they've started attacking.

MntMan - Lost City · March 2009

Thanks all for your responses. I think where I had recently failed was with an inexperienced tank.

As noted above (thank you for pointing out) I was talking about 2 types of fb runs. One with a much higher lvl tank doing AoE on say an fb19 run and an fb where it is a challenge for the whole group.

On the fb19 runs I wont worry about healing the tank until after they kill with an AoE. My real concern was just so their charm didn't tick, but I'll disregard in the future so as not to accidentally pull mobs.

With other fb runs I have noticed that even if the tank does AoE once, if I am constantly healing (spamming) then sometimes the mobs still peel of. I just did an fb run where the tank was well experienced and used AoE as well as alternated between attacking mobs to keep aggro. This worked very well.

So an a note even if they do AoE it does not mean they will continue to hold aggro if you heal. They need to alternate attacks or continue AoE.

Thanks again. If I'm a cleric in your fb run you'll be happy know I won't be making those mistakes. b:pleased

Maliza - Heavens Tear · April 2009

Just one more thing:

AoE of barbs/bm's can miss part/all of the mobs.

So in a more challenging fb, have bramble gaurd on the tank (little agro when mobs melee hit the tank) and stack IB about 2-4 times before the tank goes in. This gives the tank a bit less then 15 secs to gather all the aggro he needs. Also mobs regen health. When the mobs health is full (i.e. 1 aoe hit, rest of the attacks concern 1 target), the agro table of the mob resets and healing agro is a concern again. This happens more easily with mobs that steal HP (red Hexalot Warriors in fb51 for example).

Have fun healing in fb's and talk to the tank how he's gonna maintain aggro (and tell him that is the time you are gonna heal).

O yeah: not all tanks use charms

Klath - Sanctuary · April 2009

Half of posts above are wrong, healing generates aggro as much as attacking a mob. But ironheart specially generates small aggro, but its nowhere near what someone said "little more than being near a mob".
Countless times i have pulled aggro from someone using normal attacks against a boss (Happens a lot with BMs). So i would say it generates LESS treat than if you casted a spell doing the same damage, but still generated a high enough treat to pull the monster from the tanker.
If you spam stream of rejuvenation, you will understand instantly what i mean, sometimes it can pull aggro even from barbarian's flesh ream, depending on the barbarian's attack.

If a tank is charging through a group a mobs and hasn't aoe'd yet then they are still gathering more mobs. Don't heal them until after they've started attacking.

This is partially true, and helps to prove what i just said.
Example: A BM is on a AoE party with a cleric and he got bramble guard from a veno before mobbing, so he IS generating treat enough to keep the mobs on him if they managed to hit him, but as soon as you cast your first ironheart, they will all move to attack you.
Another example: BM AoE party again, usually BMs will first use 2-3 skills before you can heal them, if they use only one skill, chances are you will aggro ALL the mobs except for their main target (which took more damage).

Usually you better wait for the explosion effect (barbarian's flesh ream), or for the blademaster to use a couple AoE attacks first.

Answering the topic on a simple way:
Yes, heal does generate enough treat to pull monsters from your tanker, be careful.

Ninnuam - Sanctuary · April 2009

Just had to say, a very good question and very helpful answers. Nothing to add really, just wanted to say that something like this would've saved my **** quite a few times back when I first started. The aggro mechanics aren't really explained anywhere, and I still see a lot of newbie clerics popping a heal on someone before the mobs have been aggroed while running their fbs. At their level, elite fb mobs are usually a one or two hit death. Personally I've grown accustumed to it with my squad. Pulling an ad or two happens. Or a ranged mob that runs out of the initial aoe. Pop a heal on them, hit plume shell and let them get aggro so you can continue to heal safely.

On the other hand, if you just have an idiot barb who rushes into a pack of 5 mobs, flesh reams one and expects you to heal him, or a bm who just keeps whacking on one mob without aoeing all of them first to ensure aggro, just let them die. Explain how things work if they're lower level, or just drop squad if it happens during a higher level fb/tt run (trust me it will lol).

Healing Aggro

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