Stem's Guide To Celestial Healing

I'm on the PS3, so the buttons are somewhat different

I tend to use the same sort of placement for my controller as well as my healer - L+X is for recharge / renew, R+square is for a group shield, R+triangle is for a supercharge. Seeing as I mostly use L+square and L+circle, if I don't have admonish and consume souls in those spots I get all screwed up.

Unfortunately I'm a creature of habit - I know what I like, and like what I know

I guess the button placement isn't that big a deal for me. Playing different toons and different loadouts, I'm used to change. I've been using JEEBIE's loadout for some time now. Love it. Was pugging some T4 stuff over the weekend and was top DPS in healer stance! Fun times. Also finding it to be a great dual spec. Pretty much just replace Renew with Smite on my bar. Change gear, hit T, and ready to roll. Even without Dark Pact, I get major damage out. Best dual spec I've ever played.

^^

There's a few powers that could be worthwhile to have in DPS, but I've been running my no stacking issue loadout lately and I've been going blessing over anoint/DP anyways. So i'll run Wither/Bene/Blessing, then I'll have the Smite/retribution to spam. I do like CG in DPS lately because it's just really nice to have something that can save a raid up your sleeve. So that's the only thing I don't have.

Back to healing. I solo healed Paradox with your build for the first time tonight, JEEBIE. Went okay, but with 4 DPS, power was at a premium. Went to HB combos (Solar Flame and Meteor Blast) with McB. Using RcW was too power hungry. I was talking with the team afterwards, and I may go back to using CS and a SC (CI or CG, most likely), when called to solo heal T5. Just easier that way.

Yeah, on Villain side we are very efficient when it comes to damage. Much more than Hero side which focuses more on damage output than efficiency. Both are viable methods, it's just what we do over here. So with all our DPS being at 12+:1 ratios of damower I don't have power issues very often other than when I have to burst heal multiple times in a row which is the same in my full healer setup.

But i do agree you do use more power, just something to work out as a team. Villain side my guys are going to be that efficient regardless, it's just how we play, so it's not really something we have to consider as a tradeoff. But for those that use more power i guess it would be a question of is healing that way worth them having to go to more efficient setups... or will they even be willing to. So I can see the issue and I think it's a good point to bring up.

It does use a decent amount of power, and it's not as if just normal healing is bad, so if your group can't handle the power usage don't push it.

And just a little info. Know a guy who was able to solo heal EO with like 3k+ Resto, doing 1/3 the top dpser. Pretty nice. I usually have more resto so my burst heals are better, but then I'm also like 1/4-1/5 of the top DPS (lower if it's not a smooth run).

Unfortunately It will be tougher than I thought to put a Dox run together to record a Solo heal, being in a newly formed league means pugging quite often. The video will be a bit postponed BUT I might instead Solo heal with JEEBIE's Build since PS3/PS4 players are finding it a bit tougher.

Interesting that it would vary like that across factions. I have a villain alt, but have not played her enough in group content to get a feel for villain side. Of course, I have to ask are "all the DPS" you speak of Celestial? You had mentioned in prior posts that a large number of DPS had gone Celestial. We still have a pretty good mix, at least in league.

My resto is currently right around 4k, even with only a little tier 2. I have 114 SP, so there isn't a lot left after tier 1 resto and the DPS crit innates. Don't get me wrong, though, the battle build works, and I still was just behind the 4th DPS in damage out, despite holding back on RcW. It just seems like it would be more efficient and safer to go full healer, when solo healing this sort of content. Having a group HoT (CS) or two (CI) would take the emphasis off of burst healing. It seems that even though the AcB HoT and the McB heals hit 4 apiece, someone tends to get left out. Is it proximity at time of cast that those heals are based on?

All our DPS play that way for the most part. Even as gadgets our guys are going for that level of efficiency.

And it's just something I've noticed having characters on either side of the US server. Hero side you can be at like a 6:1 damower ratio and if you're top damage you're considered good. On villain side, doesn't matter how much damage you're doing we're gonna give you crap for having anything below a 10:1 ratio .

I go full healer when I solo and still finish 4th dps.

I can see that, as most of the healing moves also do damage, though the numbers will clearly drop. Do you still run with Core Strength in full healer setup? I always used the Supercharge mod.

I use core strength. I've thought about the SC mod it could still be good. But I consider the celestial SC as a bonus, whether its CI or CG. So I go for more total damage, plus I sometimes swap in McB.

That's cool. I tell you I'm really looking forward to Armories. I like the idea of being able to switch between battle healing and full healing builds within a raid.

So I was solo healing Dox while using JEEBIE's Build. I Spec all my DPS Crits and Healing crits plus almost all of the out of 6 resto. I also put on 3 pieces of DPS gear. My Resto was standing at 3925 and my prec 600+ with 1500+ might! This build does good damage, manage to do half damage of the 3rd place guy. Sadly it was a fail Dox run, but the healing was sufficient for the group and my damage definitely made a difference! When ever I can get a League group together or some friends I will put of a video. For now I'm trying my luck with pugs.

I still dont understand the concept of doing damage to heal, outside of an alert. Malediction will only hit 3 people other than yourself. Given that you are generally in the back of the room away from danger, it will hit support classes, and never the tank. So 3 people + yourself will get the heal from it, and they may never take damage. The heals, from my memory, were also VERY slow.

I like the concept, just not my play style I guess. I wish the heals were to the GROUP, not just a total of 3 other players.

I totally get where you're coming from, Cadens. On paper, it really doesn't seem viable, but it does work. It's just more labor intensive.

What I notice is that in raids, if you're solo healing, there are going to be some gaps in your heals. For others reading (I know you're familiar), what I mean is that AcB will set up a 6 second HoT on yourself and 3 others. McB plus precision attacks (weapon or RcW) will set up a slower "manual HoT" again on yourself and 3 others. Even if the 3 others in each case are different, you still miss one, since the 4th is you both times. It's possible that you'll miss more than that. Furthermore, since McB healing goes on for 12 seconds, if you use that the full time without reapplying AcB, you lose it's HoT for 6+ seconds. If you stop to reapply AcB, you lose the heals from McB for a second or 2. The one (or more) that's left out of your HoTs may need burst heals or shielding, especially if it ends up being the tank, so again, you have to interrupt McB heals.

What I started doing is AcB/McB/RcW (or weapon attacks) x 2/AcB/RcW (or weapon attacks) x 2, then rinse and repeat. That way, I get a 4-man burst heal in every 6 seconds, which should hit any players who missed out on an HoT, and maintain the HoTs with a minimal gap (the second or 2 it takes to reapply AcB). When heavy damage comes in or if a player is about to stand up from a rally, I will cast DL. I throw in Blessing as needed to mitigate.

It works, but like I said, it's more labor intensive. I'm all for increasing the number of players healed by both. We'll see what comes with GU 32. The changes made to Sorcery and Nature healing sound like they are going to apply, at least in part, to all the healing sets.

The heal seems to be for the whole group where the benediction buff is only for you + 3 others.

Give it a try. I'm not struggling healing using it in t5 raids, they are very smooth it's a great way to heal. It is "slow" but it's basically every 2s I get a 2k+ group heal... that's more than enough to cover most things. Slip in some Admonish combos and renew clips for things like Ravenger or random spike damage. It's awesome. Your first tick of healing will be low as you are just starting to get damage out there, so you can get a first tick of like maybe 1k, then you get ticks of 2k+ for the next 5 ticks, then it all starts again.

Last I tried it, the heal only applied to those with the malediction buff active.... If this changed to all 8, then dang thats nice. You only get additional ticks of heals if you keep the damage going though right?

Yeah, this has been my experience, as well. I'm not seeing 8 getting the heals from McB. Yes, you have to keep the damage going. From what I've read, the accumulated damage over a couple seconds is translated to healing at 1:1 with a cap based on your resto.

Ya, I can back this up. The heal only applies to 4 total people, one being you. Fun for alerts, not practical for raids given the spike damage.

Maybe I'm wrong but doesn't change the fact that I've solo healed everything in the game with that setup So it is in fact very practical because it works.