Would I still need Tainted Heals? I'm currently running a relatively cookie cutter solo build on my necro with enhanced tank pet and TH. But I have a second spec that doesn't use TH (due to having only 119 AAs currently). Would this hurt me in a group setting from random AOEs or would the random group heals and occassional heal from me be enough to keep it up?
There is no reason to have TH if you're not using your pet to tank. The occasional group heal from the group's healer will keep him alive... you shouldn't have to do any healing at all for your pet. In your non-solo spec dump Th and put those points in more dps oriented aa. If you start raiding you may have some pet's deaths until you learn how and where to put your pet to keep him safe. BTW Consumption will heal your pet when it's up .. and it's a nice temp dps buff for your pet you should use whenever it's available.
I disagree to an extent. While in a group sitting you never really need TH, in raids it can be quite the difference. They are plenty of raids where if you don't have the AA line to prevent AoEs or your myth procs your pet will end up quite low. While most times the healer can get your pet back to full, its nice to toss a quick debuff and have your pet back up and running. Lose your pet in a raid and pretty much you lost your parse.
if you have enough aa's to get tainted heals.. you would have enough aa's to shift them into bloodpact line for aoe avoid I dont raid on my necro so maybe you're right. Perhaps a tainted heals in a dps spec would be a nice raid dps/bg's spec. /shrug
Bloodpact + Acclerated Decay = Death in Raids. Necros already have the unfortunate times where a AE will knock most down to near no health. Have the 5% from AD tick right before an AE and bam roadkill. Raided all encounters in easy mode in SF xpac. Pet does die, not a lot, and not nearly enough to justify Bloodpact. Just my two cents, i am sure others do.
I was just asking about a normal group setting. When I get to the point on my necro for raids I'll have enough points to put junk where I need it. Right now I'm looking to use my 119 AAs to maximize DPS in groups when I do them, then swap back to tank pet spec when soloing. Already got the AA mirror set up.
If you have a good tank and you have good control over your pet, you shouldn't need TH for normal grouping. I personally wouldn't leave home without my TH but I can see where you should not need to have them in a group. Most groups do not encounter heavy AOE mobs and i'm going to assume you are using the mage pet most of the time. If your tank is worth his salt, then you should only have AOE's to worry about. If you stay at max range, your mage pet should be at max range right beside you. But yes, when you are raiding you will want to have TH when you raid. Stuff happens and like someone else said, a dead pet is a killer on your parse. With the recast time to get the pet back up, sometimes i don't bother until the end of the fight and just spam every other dmg spell i have.
