Orb of Arion any good?

Discussion in 'Gotham City (General Gameplay)' started by Captain1Dynamo, Dec 8, 2018.

  1. FALLEN-ONE Active Player

    Exactly. Ty. People use CostCo too much and just think it’s about how much more they get for their buck slash power over time, however they don’t realize that once pet is out healing, in a lot of content, even regular they’d have to spam priority again because pet won’t pick up the slack on time or ever be clutxh. I would also be inclined to use had the cost of prioity been normal once pet is out but as of right now it’s garbage in elite and spike damage heavy content
  2. AberrantAngel Committed Player

    I think it is safe to say, like all things friends on the player and possibly the power set. And possibly what other artifacts you use. Gemini, Orb, soul work very well with sorcery, in arbitor form priority is basically spamable. Orb and Nature where your priority heals anyone with pharamones is great.
    So like all things in this game it comes down to play style power and what the person likes or learns to work with.
    • Like x 4
  3. Balton hero Committed Player

    Seems like these artifacts have specifically targeted water healers(intended by devs since they're from Atlantis episode?), as with water being so shield based, the Manacles of Force becomes useful(in dps too if you use bubble damage buff) and with how rarely I have to use my priority heal, so does the Orb of Arion.

    It's an interesting thought, when adding in that Manacles of Force also benefits Ice(Frozen Water) more than the more selfhealing tank powers if this is the devs starting to make power-specific artifacts, based on the episode we're getting, which seems a natural progression from general role-based artifacts.
    • Like x 3
  4. Darth Piper Loyal Player

    Manacles has its uses for self-healing tanks as well. One of its biggest features is the ability to take a big hit and split it over 5 ticks... that alone can be enough to let you pop a healing move or let your healers get you with their healing moves. Sure, the shield cooldown reduction will most benefit ice tanks, but it still applies to other tanks who use a shield as well.
    • Like x 1
  5. WesPypes3679 Committed Player

    Well put. I think there are advantages and disadvantages for certain players and certain powersetsm. I find the Orb very useful as a Nature Healer. I use Swarm Shield and Bloom as my Oh Crap moment go to moves in elite content. I utilize The Orb as another HoT. I never find the need to spam priority heals. The EoG combined with a Superpowered focus has made the Orb that much better for me as Nature. Demon Fang also helps as with power consumption. Only 24k resto versus my 27.6k rest on my Water Healer and my Nature comes out as the better healing power for me.

    The Orb may not be for everyone, but I think its great for what I need it to do.

    I also use The Orb on my Water healer, I set it like a Priority HoT and focus on shielding and my other HoTs till it's off cooldown. Then reapply similar to how I am laying down 2 solice of the seas. Just keeping them up I find little issues with Healing in Elite content.
    • Like x 1
  6. L T Devoted Player

    So when you heal content you mainly just spam your priority heal constantly?
    • Like x 2
  7. Schimaera Devoted Player


    Meh, you can solo tank HiveE as Ice or Fire and stuff with healer(s) using Orb of Arion and it does still work well. No problem tanking current Elite stuff either. I just heard positive feedback about the Orb of Arion. And yeah, these healers adjusted their loadouts to the artifact and it's doing fine. Shocking to realise that there are more than the usual four of five healing abilities.
    • Like x 1
  8. TheLorax 15000 Post Club

    Out of curiosity, when you run elite content, who are you running with?
  9. Brit Loyal Player


    It has nothing to do the pet. Why do you keep talking about the pet? How many times do I have to explain to you that the pet is NOT the purpose of the artifact? If the only thing the artifact did was spend a triple cost of a priority heal to summon the pet, then you would be right, because that would totally be not worth it.

    The whole point of the artifact is that you pay x3 cost for the priority heal, and it casts a priority heal that is x3 the healing. You get a heal that heals for triple the amount, and you get it instantly. That Fire Tank with his huge health pool barely gets budged by your normal priority heal; that's why you have to spam it. So you're busy spamming it for 1.5 seconds, trying desparately to keep them up, while with the Orb I get to do all that same amount of healing INSTANTLY, for the exact same power cost.

    The pet doesn't matter. The pet is just gravy. The pet is extra healing, but the pet isn't what makes people survive spike damage. It's basically just a HoT, that helps a little AFTER the spike damage while you're recovering power. But that is not the purpose of the artifact. Even without the pet, the whole point of the artifact is to better handle spike damage by casting a heal that heals TRIPLE what your priority heal does, and cast it instantly without having to wait for global cooldowns while you spam it and hope that the tank doesn't die in the meantime.

    Yes. I have healed Elite raids with it. It works just fine, as long as you actually know what you're doing. Clearly you don't have a clue how the artifact works, and in the hands of a clueless player, you will run yourself out of power by constantly overhealing. But if you actually understand the artifact and use it correctly, it is flatly better for any healing build that ever needs to address any amount of spike damage.
    • Like x 6
  10. FALLEN-ONE Active Player

    It works for some powers and does have pros and cons. Sure, you get triple heals for a pet to let’s say heal a fire tank and obviously you are going to adjust your loadout for whatever the powerset you are healing. I don’t spam priority nor anyone close to max sp’s should. What I’m saying is, timing is everything, sometimes you’d have to do 2 or 3 priorities- sure... that is either to help out a tank or heal an idiot group member. With the artifact you do not have that luxury, depending on your healing power, more often than not you’d have to use priority over again especially when we are talking about Elites. I’d love to see you go and heal Terra fight or Morgwar in SSe without the need to use a priority 2 or 3 times in a row depending on what’s going on around you, go ahead and use your Priority for 300% Cost slash Effectiveness and apply HoTs after that and see what happens. As Celest, you will wipe 9 out of 10 times just because your priority is the only thing that other than a channeled 12s cd burst will save a tank’s life. Some instances can become chaotic and a tank might end up pulling too many adds and or a boss, at the same time your troll can be taking damage as well.

    Funny that you’ve brought up a tire tank, I’ve played fire the longest and you are doing it wrong if you aren’t blocking. A fire tank can have 150k that jumps back and forth as a Yo-Yo because of it’s useless passive and actual defense. You are saying when a Fire tank or any tank power outside from Earth and Ice start taking in more damage than then can handle you just pop a priority once and apply HoTs on a tank who is at like 50% health and dropping? and while there’s let’s say a troll and a dps sitting at 25% health with the aggro on them and your only burst is on cooldown? plus all the mechanics going on at the same time when you need to shield? Moments like that are very common and you must be a god-tier player not to admit it. Orb of Arion limits your ability to be more reactive with your heals especially if you aren’t electric but you probably are because it does indeed work well for it. Whoever says, you can pop it once and use HoT’s is probably doing regular starro stuff and event DLC
  11. Brit Loyal Player


    /sigh. I'm not going to keep trying to explain to you what the artifact does, when you want to argue with me without actually understanding it. You keep on insisting that it's about the pet, or that it's about the heal over time (which is just another way of saying the pet). It's not. It's about delivering larger heals, and doing them faster, while also spending less power to cast them. It's simple math.

    No. Your outrageous accusations have no merit. I am using it and healing Elite Atlantis just fine. I've run all content in the game. It works incredibly well for people who understand it. That is why I try to explain it to the other players; so that they can understand and properly consider a potentially useful tool, instead of listening to somebody who insists it's awful while still having little understanding of what it can or cannot do.

    The Orb can heal any Elite content in the game, as many of us have accounted. If it was trash, like certain other artifacts, we would not hesitate to say it was trash. There are plenty of trash artifacts not worth using. The Orb is good though, and it is only in the hands of poor healers that it (or more accurately, the healer using it) performs badly.

    If you are claiming that in your Elites, you never have to use a priority heal more than twice in a row, then.. well... I've never seen a group where every single player performed that flawlessly. I have always seen dozens of cases of somebody taking half or more of their life in one hit, and a need to heal them, and do it immediately, before they get killed. With the Orb, you land the equivalent of 3 priority heals instantly, rather than waiting for 1.5 seconds of cooldowns to pull it off. And if the incoming damage is coming so slow that you actually have 1.5 seconds to gradually heal them, then it really wasn't spike damage in the first place that required immediate use of a priority heal. I would not throw a triple-empowered priority heal on somebody who was at 90% just to top them off and waste the majority of it with overhealing, though without the Orb, I suppose you can always waste your power like that without having to worry too much.

    In contrast, if your complaint is that you believe landing our triple-priority heal on the Tank is going to get a different teammate killed because they are also taking too much spike damage... when multiple group members are taking large amounts of damage, all at the same time, I recommend you use your Group/Raid Heals, instead of trying to Priority Heal each of them one at a time. Trying to heal them one at a time like you described will get players killed while they are waiting for their turn.

    I suppose in the end, the significant changes to the playstyle that it requires pose a challenge for poor healers who have little ability to manage their power pool, time their heals appropriately, and anticipate spike damage. So if a less skilled healer wants to slop through things just mashing their heals on cooldown whether or not they are needed, then this is not the artifact for them. The Orb really only works for people who understand the game, the fight mechanics, the way the powers actually work, and what is needed to be successful. If it's too hard for you to manage yourself with an artifact which clearly does more healing, faster, and for less power, then it's good that you acknowledge it, but the fault does not like in the Artifact; it's entirely User-Error.
    • Like x 4
  12. Schimaera Devoted Player

    This FALLEN-ONE keeps on talking about how he has tanks constantly under 50% health and controllers of all classes and dps getting damage in and having aggro.

    Of course he feels like the artifact is bad - the Orb of Arion can't make a shi*ty group good all of a sudden.
    • Like x 3
  13. recoil2 Dedicated Player

    i have no problem using the orb of arion, but then i also use a major HOT and have demon's fang equipped also so even with hybrid speccing using hand blasters power isn't a problem. the orb of arion is fine if you don't constantly spam it.
    • Like x 2
  14. HurricaneErrl Dedicated Player

    We were having a discussion last night whether the Orb would be good for a fire tank with the Resto boost? But then the discussion ended up being an argument into the age old question of Dom vs Resto for fire tanking. Anyone here have any input into this?
  15. recoil2 Dedicated Player

    dominance in tanks is mainly for pulls, and stuns/ccs for trollers. resto would probably be just as important as that INCLUDES one's own heals by definition. and while you most definitely want a tank to have adequate dominance, it doesn't matter at all if the tank dies seconds later.
  16. TheLorax 15000 Post Club

    Dominance is important for tank self heals and shields. It's not just for CC's.
  17. FALLEN-ONE Active Player

    Go heal SSe, USe, Terra, Throne E first boss or final boss in cot e then come back here and post again.
  18. recoil2 Dedicated Player

    true, they do need both, not sure why anybody would be arguing whether they need one or the other.
  19. L T Devoted Player

    If you could trigger the special effect it would totally be worth it. Since you can't if you're going to use a healer artifact, I'd suggest the fang. Pretty sure they both give the same % resto increase.
  20. Schimaera Devoted Player

    Nah, I tank them and my healer uses a 160 Orb of Arion.
    I'm a bad healer myself, yet from the perspective of a tank that has to rely on a healer I can say that I always felt save with my OoA healer. No power issues to report either, from a controller perspective.
    • Like x 1