» Tue Mar 18, 2014 3:21 pm Hello! My name is 脡milie, I鈥檝e been a healer for near a decade now in several games, both in hardcoe PvE and hardcoe PvP, and work in the medical field. I like to do bits of theorycrafting, and I鈥檝e been in the PTS for a while! I did put a lot of effort into this. If you have criticism, please be constructive!
If you have any feedback,additions, questions or general information, please let me know by PM or a post! English is also not my native language, please inform me of incorrect grammar and spelling. This guide relies on community contributions, there is also a dedicated section for your healing builds!
Contents
I. Purpose of this Article
II. Introduction
What is healing?
III. Attributes of Great Healing
IV. Challenges
Healing Specific Challenges
Magicka Management & Overhealing
Triage
VI. Classes
Restoration Staff
Templar
Dragon Knight
Night Blade
Sorcerer
VII. Stats
VIII. Gear
IX. Guilds, Vampires, Werewolves and stuff
X. Community Healing Builds
XI. Conclusions
I. PURPOSE OF THIS ARTICLE
My purpose for writing this article is to educate healers, both new and old, the important aspects of healing in ES:O
It is targeted as a general guide to healing, and not such as a focused, in depth guide towards one class. I will try to cover PvP and PvE healing to the best of my ability.
II. INTRODUCTION
Healing, in its most simple terms, can be a very stressful role. There are tons of factors that combine to become a great healer; but arguably the most important things to know are reaction speed, your class, and knowledge of your encounter. It is extremely important you understand your class thoroughly, in and out.
A) What is healing?
Keeping everyone alive. Healing is the act of restoring health in order for them to survive in the forms of avoidable and unavoidable damage. The latter is something to take note of later in this guide.
Healers also dispel harmful effects, and in occasions resurrect dead players. Usually in games, healers in raids (or in this case, adventure zones) are given assignments to heal, based on a specific task. For instance, you may heal the tank, whom of which soaks up damage, or the other raid members. In PvP, everyone. That will be discussed thoroughly later on.
In ES:O all players regardless of class have the ability to heal thanks to the restoration staff. Some classes, however, are naturally better at it. That is not to say that any class is inferior, it depends on how they are played.
The classes currently are as follows:
Dragon Knight
Templar
Sorcerer
Nightblade
III. ATTRIBUTES OF A GREAT HEALER
1. Be familiar with your class. Understand its strengths and weaknesses. You *must* be at ease with your character. If this includes changing your UI with addons, do it. If it requires keybinds, do it.
2. You must *anticipate* the fight. To be a great healer, you have to counter the damage offset efficiently and quickly.
3. Understand your role, and healing assignment if necessary.
IV. CHALLENGES
More than DPS and tanking, healing is all about precision and reaction. Tanks and DPS players will occasionally have to make sudden, split decisions. A healer has to do this with every spell. You must be cautious and reactive.
A) HEALING SPECIFIC CHALLENGES
Obviously your most basic goal is to make yourself and everyone around you survive until you鈥檝e mauled whatever poor slob was unfortunate to cross your bloodthirsty rampage. Though to do this, you must be aware of different aspects of healing, such as:
Spells suited for the situation, like fast cast spells with lots of magicka drain, or slow cast spells that use less magicka
The class and skill of your tank. Player error in this game by a tank will cause large spike damage
The way threat is set up in this game, you may draw it yourself. You must be prepared to heal yourself and survive.
You will have to make good use of your spells to get your group through encounters.
B ) MAGICKA MANAGEMENT & OVERHEALING
This topic is a doozy. Healing spells take a load of magicka. You鈥檒l have to be cautious, until you鈥檙e higher in level. Without magicka, you and your group will likely drop like a freshman on prom night. Improper management, yours and other player鈥檚 errors will quickly dispose of your group.
Stats point in the direction that there is a separate stat for magicka regeneration altered by your magicka, armor, weapons, etc., among other things that need to be considered.
Because of the way healing is set up in this game, you need to think about and adjust for:
Magicka Regeneration
Spell cost
Healing per point of magicka
flat bonuses depending on class
Overhealing
Overhealing is the act of healing targets at full, or near full health. This is wasted magicka.
C) TRIAGE
Triage in games, as it is in medicine, is working on the most critically injured patients first and moving up. People below a certain threshold are usually left for dead.
It is your job to try and keep everyone alive. Realistically this is not possible all the time. You鈥檒l have to make choices on who to let live, and who will die. This circumstance usually applies when two people are critically injured and you have time to heal one, or you are straining on magicka resources.
Unfortunately, while counter intuitive to the healer role, it鈥檚 a sacrifice that benefits the group.
The rule is, unfortunately (don鈥檛 hate me!), roles. If a sacrifice between a DPS or tank has to be made, it is (usually!) more profitable for the DPS to be sacrificed. If DPS/DPS, the one you like better (just kidding!), it should be the one that you feel contributes more to the group.
The other circumstance is if you are close to defeating the enemy, and you have to pick between a healer or DPS. In such cases it may be prudent to save the DPS to kill that mob quickly. However, it鈥檚 up to your discretion!
V. CLASSES
Now to the meat of the matter. The classes are all suited well for healing. Each class has something to bring to the table, and all may heal thanks to the restoration staff.
While the Templar may look obvious to some, it is important to note that they are the only class that can heal without a restoration staff. This is really their only advantage to other classes.
A) RESTORATION STAFF & ABILITIES
I decided to include this in the class section, because every class should (preferably) be using the restoration staff. The only exception is the Templar, but the Templar can gain many great synergies from the restoration staff.
ACTIVES
TIER ONE - GRAND HEALING
INSTANT CAST TIME, GROUND TARGET. RADIUS 8 METRES. 46 MAGICKA. 4 TIERS
Heals allies in target area for X amount over 3 seconds
MORPHS: Increased duration by one second OR restore magicka for each ally healed
TIER 2 - REGENERATION
INSTANT CAST, 28 METRE RADIUS. 28 MAGICKA. 4 TIERS
Heals two wounded allies for x over 20 seconds
MORPHS: More ticks on heals OR Instant healing on low health allies
TIER 3 - BLESSING OF PROTECTION
INSTANT CAST. 20 METRE RADIUS. 49 MAGICKA
Heals allies in front of players for x. Affect allies get x amount of armor and spell resistance for 8 seconds
MORPHS: Increased healing and radius OR Allies gain damage bonus
TIER 4 - STEADFAST WARD
INSTANT CAST. 28 METRE RADIUS. 6 SECOND DURATION. 60 MAGICKA. 4 TIERS
Creates x damage absorption field for 6 seconds on the lowest health ally in front of you. Shield strength is bolstered by 300%, increasing based on health lost
MORPHS: shields yourself + ally OR heals target when shield ends
TIER 5 - FORCE SIPHON
1.5 SECOND CAST. 28 METRE RANGE. 20 SECOND DURATION. 32 MAGICKA. 4 TIERS
Nearby allies gain x health when attacking target affected by force siphon. Player gains 100% additional health when attack target
MORPHS: Also restores magicka on hit OR ability is instant cast
RESTORATION STAFF PASSIVES
ESSENCE DRAIN. 2 TIERS: Final hit of heavy attack heals a nearby ally for 30% of damage done.
RESTORATION EXPERT. 2 TIERS: Increases healing on allies under 30% health by 15%
CYCLE OF LIFE. 2 TIERS: Deals 1% damage for every 10% health you have.
ABSORB. 2 TIERS: Blocking restores x magicka
RESTORATION MASTER. 2 TIERS: Increases all healing by 5%
B ) TEMPLAR
Because of the nature of templars, I will just go down what I think looks decent for healing, including the restoration tree. The Templar is a very strong healer because of the Restoring Light tree, and synergizes well with the restoration staff. There are also passives later that reduce the magicka of spells, and the ultimate is really nifty in a jam. This class would also be my recommendation to people starting out, or people that want an easier healer. Restoring aura can鈥檛 be beat when it comes to support. They also have the only native dispel outside of the PvP line.
ACTIVES
TIER 1 - RUSHED CEREMONY
INSTANT. AREA. 28 METRE RADIUS. 60 MAGICKA. 4 TIERS
Heals nearby wounded ally for x
MORPHS: Restores magicka when healing low health allies OR heals up to three targets
TIER 2 - HEALING RITUAL
2 SECOND CAST. 12 METRE RADIUS. 39 MAGICKA. 4 TIERS
Heals nearby allies for x. Heals self for additonal 30%
MORPHS: increased self healing OR additional healing on target
TIER 3 - RESTORING AURA
INSTANT. 12 METRE RADIUS. 6 SECOND DURATION. 46 MAGICKA. 4 TIERS
When slotted: Increases stamina and health regeneration by 15%.
When activated: increases health and stamina regeneration of nearby allies by an additional 80% for 6 seconds.
MORPHS: Increased radius OR Has no cost. Consumes essence of corpses to restore health and stamina
TIER 4 - CLEANSING RITUAL
INSTANCE. 12 METRE RADIUS. 0.7S DURATION. 49 MAGICKA. 4 TIERS
Instant removes a negative effect from self. Over 12 seconds, heals nearby allies for x every 2 seconds. Allies in range may activate purify to remove all negative effects and healing for x.
MORPHS: Reduced cost, removes additional effects OR has increased duration.
TIER 5 - RUNE FOCUS
INSTANT. SELF. 12 SECOND DURATION. 25 MAGICKA. 4 TIERS
Creates an area of self protection for 12 seconds, increasing armour and spell resistance by x.
MORPHS: restore magicka while in focus OR receive more healing while in focus.
ULTIMATE:
RITE OF PASSAGE
INSTANT. 12 METRES. 4 SECOND DURATION. 150 ULTIMATE.
Heals nearby allies for 11 every 0.5 seconds for 4 seconds. You cannot move while channeling this ability.
MORPHS: allies take less damage when effect ends OR increases duration
PASSIVES
MENDING: Increases critical strike chance on allies by up to 30%. Critical strike chance increases the more health an ally is missing.
FOCUSED HEALING: increases healing power by 30% to allies standing in an area of protection created by rite of passage, cleansing ritual or rune focus
LIGHT WEAVER: increases duration of restoring aura by 20%, reduces cost of healing ritual by 20%. Gains x armor and spell resistance while channeling rite of passage.
MASTER RITUALIST: increases resurrection speed by 40%. Affected Allies resurrect with 100% more health. 50% chance to gain soul gem upon successful resurrect.
DRAGON KNIGHT
The dragon knight features many defensive cooldowns, and can be tough to kill. They also have many support abilities via the earthen heart tree that can bolster them and their allies鈥?abilities. The Dragon Knight healer can perform exceptionally well in PvP. Since they do have a lot of support, the restoration staff is great synergy (and also required for healing!) on a dragon knight.
Notable skills benefitting a healer:
TIER 2 EARTHEN HEART - MOLTEN WEAPONS
INSTANT. 20 METRE RADIUS. DURATION 45 SECONDS. 35 MAGICKA
Increases weapon damage of nearby allies by x for 45 seconds. Bonus is increased by 100% on caster.
MORPHS: Light and heavy attacks add fire damage OR increased critical strike rating
TIER 3 EARTHEN HEART - OBSIDIAN SHIELD
INSTANT. 12 METRE RADIUS. 20 SECOND DURATION. 53 MAGICKA.
creates an x point damage shield for 20 seconds on all nearby allies. Shield strength is increased by 100% on caster.
MORPHS: shields absorb more damage OR damage dealt when effect ends.
TIER 5 EARTHEN HEART - ASH CLOUD
INSTANT. 5 METRE RADIUS. 12 SECOND DURATION. 60 MAGICKA
Snares enemies for 70% and increases their miss chance by 30%.
MORPHS: deals damage to affect targets OR disorients enemies on cast
ULTIMATE:
DRAGON KNIGHT STANDARD. - ARDENT FLAME
INSTANT. 15 METRES. RADIUS OF 8 METRES. 200 ULTIMATE.
Enemies take x amount of damage every second and receive 50% less healing. Ally make activate to damage and immobilize.
MORPHS: can move standard OR increased damage done and decreased damage taken while near standard for all.
EARTHEN HEART PASSIVES:
ETERNAL MOUNTAIN: Increases duration of Earth Heart abilities by 10/20%
BATTLE ROAR: Restores Health, Magicka and Stamina. Restore amount increased by x% of the ultimate鈥檚 cost.
C) SORCERER
Sorcerers are my personal favourite for PvP, but they may not be everyone鈥檚 taste. They have high mobility, high armor increases and great synergy with the restoration staff. In addition, if you are stacking magicka you have the option of switching to a destruction staff for high spell damage. In addition, dark exchange will never make you want for magicka. Here are a few abilities that may help you out:
TIER 4 DAEDRIC SUMMONING - BOUND ARMOUR
INSTANT. SELF. 70 MAGICKA
Increases armour by x when toggled on, but reduces maximum magicka by 10%.
MORPHS: increases heavy attack damage OR provides increased armour
TIER 5 DAEDRIC SUMMONING - CONJURED WARD
INSTANT. SELF. 20 SECONDS. 46 MAGICKA
Creates an x point damage absorption shield on self and summoned creatures.
MORPHS: increased shield strength on self OR pets deal additional damage
DAEDRIC SUMMONING PASSIVES
TIER 3 - DAEDRIC PROTECTION: Increases player鈥檚 health regeneration by 10% with any summoning ability slotted (including bound armor or conjured ward)
DARK MAGIC ACTIVES
ENCASE OR RUNE PRISON - SINGLE AND MULTI TARGET CC RESPECTIVELY
TIER 4 DARK MAGIC - DARK EXCHANGE
INSTANT. SELF. 3 SECOND DURATION
Restores x amount health and magicka while channeling, drains x% of stamina per second.
MORPHS: take less damage while channeling OR drains less stamina
DARK MAGIC PASSIVES
UNHOLY KNOWLEDGE: Increases ability magicka and stamina by x%
PERSISTENCE: Increases dark magic spell durations by x%
STORM CALLING ACTIVES
TIER 2 - LIGHTNING FORM
SELF. 6 SECOND DURATION. 53 MAGICKA
Increases armour and spell resistance by x ( a lot ) for 6 seconds and deals x shock damage to nearby enemies.
MORPHS: Increased duration OR increases movement speed while active by 24%
TIER 5 - BOLT ESCAPE
INSTANT. SELF. 56 MAGICKA
Teleports player forward and stuns nearby enemies for 1.5 seconds.
MORPHS: Damages and disorients OR absorbs projectiles
STORM CALLING PASSIVES
CAPACITOR: increases magicka regeneration by 5/10%
D) NIGHTBLADE
Nightblades are an interesting mix of shadow and healing. Many of their abilities are damaging, yet have morphs for healing. They鈥檙e similar to as if a warlock from WoW could heal with raw attack power, except with the added restoration staff. I have not tested them extensively.
SIPHONING ACTIVES
TIER 1 - STRIFE
INSTANT. 28 METRE RANGE. 35 MAGICKA
Deals 18 magic damage and heals player for 30% of the damage inflicted every 2 seconds for 10 seconds.
MORPHS: Heals a nearby ally OR receive more healing on self
TIER 5 - DRAIN POWER
INSTANT. 8 METRES. 46 MAGICKA
Deals x magic damage to nearby enemies and increases weapon damage by 6% for each enemy damaged for 17 seconds.
MORPHS: Increases power bonus and maximum targets OR also heals nearby enemies
SIPHON PASSIVES
CATALYST: Increases potion effectiveness by 10/20%
MAGICKA FLOOD: Increases maximum magicka by 4/8%
SOUL SIPHONER: Increases amount healed by siphoning abilities by 8/15%
With a nightblade, having more damaging effects may be beneficial because of the high siphoning healing. For example, mark target will allow a nightblade to ignore 75% of their target鈥檚 spell resistance, making siphon hit harder and therefore heal more on themselves or an ally. More help on the nightblade section of the guide would also be appreciated!
VII. STATS
Note that it is not wise to just stack magicka. You will hit a barrier where your magicka will start to be affected by diminishing returns. This barrier is called 鈥淥vercharged.鈥?/p>
Any of your stats may be overcharged and subject to diminishing returns if you stack them too high. You can place significantly more stats into magicka than the others, but if you dismiss health and stamina you may be liable to hit overcharge. Also, for some reason, having a low health rating increases your aggro!
Wearing all light armour will cause you to overcharge as well. If I recall correctly, the overcharged rating for Magicka is somewhere around 1800 magicka and magicka recharge at 80
VIII. GEAR
For healing light armour is superior. The light armour skill line is as follows:
PASSIVE ABILITIES:
EVOCATION: Reduces Magicka cost of spells by 1/ 2%per piece of light armour equipped.
RECOVERY: Increases magicka regeneration by 2 / 4% per piece of light armour equipped
SPELL WARDING: increases base spell resistance by 4 / 8% per piece of light armour equipped
PRODIGY: grants 5 / 10% chance for spells to critically damage
CONCENTRATION: players ignore 3 /6% of enemy spell resistance per piece of light armour equipped
When you鈥檝e reached satisfactory magicka regeneration/overcharged/whatever you want you can switch out some armour to another. Magicka is superior for healing, regardless of any class.
IX. GUILDS, VAMPIRES, WEREWOLVES AND STUFF
Vampires have a few nice magicka passives to take. I won鈥檛 list them here. Werewolf as I recall doesn鈥檛 have much in the way of healing (unless you鈥檙e a sorcerer that can stack magicka for dark exchange!)
From the guilds, Blood Altar and Bone shield are very nice. Blood altar is a powerful heal, while bone shield is an amazing damage reduction.
X. COMMUNITY HEALING BUILDS
Post or PM me your healing builds. I鈥檒l put them here =)
I鈥檒l be posting this on the official forums once they launch, these builds will be coming with me!
XI. CONCLUSION
It鈥檚 incredibly important to know your class, and be able to anticipate damage. Practice, practice, practice! Healing is a team effort. If you鈥檝e never done it, don鈥檛 expect to be super great at it.
That was tiring. Time to sleep!
What kind of healer have you played? Did you like it, or not? What could have been different?
