Hi, I'm just hitting level cap with my cleric main on Phinny. Does anyone have any tips about playing a cleric in group/raids at level 75? What healing spells should I prioritize (groups vs. raids, main heal vs. group healer, etc)? What AA's (not counting the autogrants) are most important. Are any buffs important other than Tenacity and Purpose? Thanks!
It's been awhile since I played a cleric at that level, but I'll provide the tips I recall: Note: I was in a mix of Anguish/Tacvi/Demiplane gear when I first started raiding TSS, so I was sitting in the 13k mana range which dictated the spells I would use. Key Spells: Light - I always went with the level 70 Ancient: Hallowed Light, simply for the lower mana usage, and the fact that it managed to heal rather effectively. Promised Renewal - In group situations, I would pop this off at the start of a fight allowing me to use clicky heal items to supplement the tank until the heal went off. Tenacity/Purpose - Nuff Said Armor self buff - You can opt to go with the Druid/Sham/Symbol combo if you prefer, but I've always done Tenacity/Armor so that I can self buff in the event nobody else is around. Key Items: Tacvi Cleric Hammer Braided Kirin Mane (Vish eye quest item) Cleric Epic 1.5/2.0 Key AAs: Divine Arbitration Celestial Regeneration Defensives/Heal AAs (obviously) - I don't really recall anything too specific that they get otherwise, unfortunately. As a cleric, I kept it very simple for heals. I rarely, if ever, used my elixir line unless it was group elixir for mobs that had AEs, or for large pulls. For indoor zones, keep Yaulp up, it certainly helps your mana regen having that little extra. If you have the mana to spare, nukes/mark of the martyr were always nice to put on the mobs. I used Divine Arb and the Cleric 2.0 religiously, nearly on cool down, as they were mana free heals and typically enough to keep the tank alive. Celestial Regen was another that I would use nearly on cool down, simply because it was free heals. While the Tacvi hammer is certainly under-powered for heals in the TSS era, it's still free heals. Same goes for the Braided Kirin Mane. Most important thing is: know your mana- understand how many casts of X you can get with your mana pool. Getting an idea of your tanks hitpoints is always a good thing as well, so you know that you can get away with casting X heal at Y percent. Hope this helped a little bit!
Ancient: Hallowed Light is still your best bread and butter heal. Promised Renewal is useful in most settings due to low cost and high returns especially with overgeared tanks who mitigate well and can go a few ticks without a Heal. Desperate Renewal is a good spell to use when GoMana procs, and for curing and healing simultaneously. Sacred Remedy has some niche uses due to fast cast time. Buffs... Tenacity unless you have a Druid then Symbol + Ward. Spell Haste for all casters. Divine Intervention for big pulls on important people (tank). Aura of the Pious always on until SoF then use Circle of Divinity until Underfoot when you can use two auras. For AAs get in roughly this order (I am assuming you have autogrants through PoP): Mnemonic Retention - Extra Spell Slot Gift of Mana - Free Heals Healing Adept - More Powerful Heals Healing Gift - More Heal Crits Expansive Mind / Mental Clarity - More Mana Regen Healing Boon - More HoT Crits Abundant Healing - Extra HoT Celestial Regeneration - More Powerful Group HoT Radiant Cure - Remove Debuffs Get your epic 2.0. 2.0 + DArb cover most of your emergency heal needs. Get your 1.0 for free rezzes until Rez AA is added. Braided Kirin Mane and weighted Hammer of Conviction also have value for healing during global cooldown.
When things get tight and the mana is looking poorly, pop your Divine Avatar AA and get in there with your Voodoo Wand or another Theft of Thought weapon. This tactic can regenerate most of a massive mana pool in the 3m duration. I use this tactic every raid night almost. Go into options -> keybindings. Assign "Stop Casting a Spell" and "Stop Action" to a single button. I use tilde. This button will stop any action or casting in game. You can spam this button - it is superior to ducking or jumping. Ducking, you must accurately press the button an even number of times to cast again. Jumping you must wait to land to cast again. In keybindings, assign keys to "toggle last two targets", "toggle target and myself", "Cycle through nearest PCs", and "cycle through nearest corpses". Use these keybindings. Make spellsets that are just one spell with all other gems empty. Make most of them point to the same gem. Make macros with /memspellset setname. These buttons will load the spell into that one gem without disturbing the others. If you put these macros on a hotbar, you can with one easy click load all your various buffs to that gem. This is far faster and more accurate than rclick nonsense.
Pay attention to your Hstats. Try to max out your Hsta since it equals your stun resist and Hagi for your avoidance. Honorable mention AA: Unfailing Divinity (DI fires), Persistent Casting. Don't skimp on buying your defensive aa's I'll normally buy them first. Preference augs with HP and mana. It doesn't matter how much blue stuff you have if you run out of red stuff. Set up audio triggers for gift of mana firing. Get into the habit of using your divine aura/barrier spells/AA if you get in trouble.
SOME raids. If you cast it on other raids, it will be a swift way to have your application denied. (Know what your spells do, and when they are appropriate to be used.)
