Trying my hand at cleric, are there any interesting tricks of the trade outside of using my highest level heal and ch? I'm not super high level yet, but I know there's more than sitting there and timing my complete heal... I know to use divine aura to avoid getting wrecked... What other sort of tips are there with using fast heals, hot, reverse ds's?
Typically you'll have 5 heals up: Fast Heal (Remedy, et al) Big heal (Light) CH HoT Group Heal (optional) The fast heal is for "oh crap" moments, chanters being beat by an angry ex-pet, etc. Big heal for times when you need to patch because you were late on CH (Remedy probably isn't enough here). A lot of the advice will vary with your level, where you are fighting, etc. so it's hard to give meaningful advice. I have found that casting HoT on the tank on inc works pretty well, though. Oh, here's one: Bind "Stop Action" to a handy key. Back in the old days we had to duck to interrupt casting. One drawback is you had to remember to stand up again. Stop Action immediately stops what you were doing without the penalties of duck. I bound Stop Action to my old duck key because ducking was so ingrained. Stop Action stops macros, too (great for Shammies and their 5-line Canni macro).
Just need to count to 3 ad nauseam and then press a key timely. Outside of that, it's just gear: FT, Mana, resists (not so much if you have the other two as they typically go hand in hand). Min max you may need to identify focus gear for fast casting (spot heals), improved healing (bigger heals), and mana preservation (doesn't matter as much in a CH chain), extended range can also come into play on certain encounters. IE, you can heal against Vyemm with spot heals and avoid the flux. Alteration is your specialization for obvious reasons (heals). For AA your first AA go to spell casting mastery then divine arbitration (oh shoot instant heal to tank from group health), FT, healing adept, then gift (or vice versa). That basically is it. The cancel action is a valuable mapping to pursue. So will hot keys for any tanks in raids. For grouping your almost always going to be faster pressing F1-F6 and pressing the number that corresponds to the appropriate heal than you ever will with clicking with a mouse. I think there's also an option to force you to stand when you cast (I think it defaults to on), but it saves you from having to key (or macro) to /sit off then cast. It'll make the difference a few times for your purple club tanks. Clericing is easy, being a good cleric requires paying attention and managing your group / raid contributions against your mana pool and responsibility (chain, spot, heal DPS).
I have the "stop spell casting" i think bound to my old duck key. I never knew about this "stop action",so does it reset your macro timers as well? and is it just /stopaction ? thanks
I don't know if there is a /command for it. You can find it under the Commands section of key bindings, though. I also bound it to my old duck key. Edit: Yes, it stops macros as well.
Which is essential when you're adding cleric nukes on a macro with a /pause and need to stop it to heal. Had a more few deaths to my warrior until I figured that out. Press D to stop action, press 4 to CH instead of scrambling on a screen swap to manually click a CH or spam heal my chanter.
I rarely keep 5 heals loaded unless it is a raid situation and I am only healing. I normally keep up a Light, a HoT, Complete Heal, and swap remedy in and out depending on what we are doing. I do not normally keep a group heal loaded, since they are mana in-efficient unless you are healing more than 3 people at a time and I can usually top everyone up with HoTs after a fight. For most XP camps you can wait until the tank is between 30 and 40 % HP and begin casting your Complete Heal unless you have a tank in which case I would likely use Lights instead of CH. Also don't be afraid to duck out of a complete heal if you see it is not going to land in time and cast a faster Remedy or Light spell. Try to time your heals to land when the mob dies if possible to minimize down-time between kills. This way the tank can pull more mobs quickly. Also if there is a monk or bard pulling, make sure you know when it is safe to heal them. You don't want to heal too soon before a FD attempt and risk training your group. A heal over time on the puller when he goes out for a difficult pull or on the tank just before the mobs get to camp is also a boon as it gives you time to allow the situation to get under control without you pulling early aggro. I always have at least two stuns loaded, usually more, and I always have root loaded. I make it a habit of using my no-damage lvl 2 stun on any mezzed mobs and many times will toss a root on them as well to keep them from bee-lining to the chanter. I use my biggest knock-back stun whenever a charm pet breaks to get it away from the chanter quickly and allow them to recast charm. Using root parks as crowd control is also key when you do not have a chanter. A quick stun or two to grab their attention and then move a short distance away and cast root. It will run towards you and stop when rooted. Then you can move back to healing your group and they can handle up on the add when able. You wear plate armor, so don't be afraid to get hit some. If you need to get a mob off you, do not run around crazy, run to the tank and stop in front of them so they can get the mob off you. You can always root it there and move way. Roots and Stuns in my opinion are the difference between a good cleric and a cleric that can count to three and poke a CH button. Also pay attention to your out of combat regen. Sit around at the beginning of fights allowing your mana to regen as long as possible and then stand and heal all at once. Remember your job is NOT to keep everyone's HP bars full, it is to keep people alive. Also remember you are in charge. Your mana dictates how fast the group can pull, so be cognizant of nuking and wasting mana. We have all had groups where the cleric wastes mana and then everyone sits around waiting for the next pull, don't be that guy! Also realize that if you get a consistently over-zealous DPS type that is constantly pulling aggro, that sometimes it is cheaper to res them and rebuff than it is to keep them alive. That also brings up another point, as a cleric, you make "life and death" decisions on who lives and who dies. Your priorities are always yourself, the chanter, and the tank. Other people can be ressed back in easily, but if the chanter or tank dies, it is likely not going to end well, and if you die well that leads to my final piece of advice. "A dead cleric heals nobody." When choosing gear, I would prioritize HP and Stamina just as much as Mana and Wisdom, especially at lower levels, in fact for lower levels I would go HP over Mana over Stamina over Wisdom. There are going to be stressful situations where pulls go crazy, remain calm and keep in mind how long your heals take to cast and who are the most important people to keep alive. Being a cleric is not a glamorous job, but it sure is satisfying when all hell breaks loose and at the end everyone is alive and the bad guys are all dead. Zardnok Old School Cleric
I think something we all overlooked was Divine Aura and Divine Barrier. I personally keep both loaded at all times. These are best used on a jailbreak pull until you have tanks with AoE taunt. 4 mobs run in and smash the tank, you heal over time and splash heal and 2-3 mobs come to you (depending how good your chanter is at mezzing). A DA/DB buys your group members time to get the pull under control and then you play catch up healing everyone who did their best to keep you alive and CC the jailbreak. I recommend not dropping DA until everything is under control or you absolutely have to heal the tank to prevent a wipe. If you're still tops on a mob's aggro list it'll come right after you again as DA/DB is a faux and temporary "memory wipe" for only you until the buff fades.
I rarely load DA or DB. Back in the day I always had DA loaded, but now I just use my stuns and roots and actively participate in the crowd control. I can think of only 3 times that I might have used DA to save myself in the past 30 levels. Another thing I thought about tonight during a raid was a generic /assist button. Use that to bounce around to see who the bad guys are targeting and heal as needed.
Double tapping F2-F6 will target the player's pet. I've healed groups with 3 chanters and their pets up in IC Velks. It doesnt get much worse than that.
I keep DB up all the time, mostly for blitzing thru SG to WW and similar situations and only because it takes 3 years to refresh.
