I am a level 100 Raid cleric on the test server. I have been raid a raid cleric for about 3 years now, however, i have not had any guidance. I can top a heal parse with 2.1mil heals., but thats just mashing the heal keys. I have read the AA's that i have. AA count is over 8k. I have all the aa's that i can activate. I just do not know how to utilize them the right way to maximize a heal rotation. Please help. i want to be not just a good cleric, but a great one. Bluecleric dblueberry of Firiona Vie/Test If you are OOR, I am Out of Caring =P
Bluecleric, First of all, hi Small warning, your post may be moved to the priest forum (so look for it there if you don't see it here). Now, here's some information to help you: Best places to ask healing advice (if your own guild clerics aren't available): EQLive clerics forum - for example: Good Heal team? - this is a thread started on these forums. Most of the info might not apply to you but there's a section about non-raid times that may be worth viewing. If you're having questions, maybe others in your guild are as well and some tips in there might help the team. /join serverwide.cleric:cleric - this is the serverwide channel and if you have questions on the spot, it's going to be your best source of immediate response and answers EQClerics.org EQClerics.org is the only active external site and should supply most of what you will need (let me know if you want to see something that isn't there). When should you use certain activated AA's - this is a quick read on typical AA's you might want to use (and when) for grouping, though it applies to raids as well. Healing - be all that you can be - this is a post specific to raiders. Talks about the spells to use before and during events as well as AA's and their suggested use during raids as well. The top of this thread has hyperlinks to each section in the post so you can jump right to right where you need the info (for quicker moving around the long thread). For example, celestial rapidity lasts a short time (so if you use flurry of life and celestial rapidity together, hit flurry of life first THEN celestial rapidity ... not the other way around).
Like many questions, "how to utilize [cleric AA] the right way to maximize a heal rotation", has an answer of "it depends." However, if you'll permit me, I'm going to try and answer a slightly different question other than the one you posed. Because while we could come up with an answer of how to get the most amount of healing per unit time in a rotation (like it was dps) that's not really the most efficacious use of your AA's. Raids are dynamic. Healing needs are dynamic. And therefore your use of AA's must be as well. Heal (and related) AA (and don't forget items such as your BP, relevant circles, and any other clickies you may have) are, at most times, more situational rather than static. Sure, you can use them to increase your basal level of healing, and I use 1 or 2 for that, but it's good to sometimes have something in reserve for when you need it. For example, if the tank is starting to exhaust their mitigation abilities, your raid's healing capacity is diminished due to splitting up healers / dead healers / increase in mob damage / adds, unexpected tank swaps, diverting heals off MT / OT to group or raid heal, etc etc then it's nice to have the option to ramp up your healing when you need it. Likewise, different phases of an event will be more difficult than others. For example, HoF 4.2 gets more difficult as the waves of mobs progress. You're not going to want to use your healing AA when the waves are relatively easy and instead want to save them for waves that are more difficult. An opposing example would be the first half of the raid in Houses of Thex. The difficulty of the event is more front-loaded with your healing team split between the two golems, making it a good time to use those AA, as compared to the second half of the event where now your heal team is no longer split and can focus on a single tank (adds aside). As for the AA themselves: I use Burst of Life mostly for cases of the MT / OT needing a heal ASAP but my heals are down in that ~2 sec period between spell casts. For completeness sake I should also mention QM could also do this, but due it's mana granting ability it's usually of higher utility to the raid as a whole to give to someone else. Beacon of life also fits in here. Usually for group heals when I can't cast anything, or to top people off when I don't want to detract from healing the MT. Also, as all three heals are insta-cast they are the only direct heals we can throw while we are moving. This is nice to have for those situations where an event forces you to "move now or you die and/or wipe the entire raid!" but you still need to heal someone at the same time. Epic and Divine arb also fill this role, and as they have a cast time of < 2 sec they can be used without interrupting heals. Good for the tank (if you're in group) and also other members of the group that need a heal when you can't take heals off the MT. Arb also has the nice feature of being non-aggro as it technically isn't a heal so much as a redistribution and is good for pulls and such. Epic on the other hand has a built in heal/cure. Tranquil blessing, while normally used for buffing before / after events, is also nice to use to toss a HoT on the whole raid prior to you getting aggro at start of the event. And save the MGB for when you really need it. Healing frenzy (+/- celestial rapidity) is usually used for when I need to make up for some loss of healing. If a DI goes down and another cleric has to temporarily stop heals to recast it I can pop it to make up for that brief loss of healing to cover the tank. If a healer dies I use it to help keep the tank up while we get the healer back on their feet. If the tank starts spiking, for various reasons, again it's very handy to have that extra heal power. If healers are occupied with some other task (healing OT on mini, healing through a large aoe, regaining mana, whatever) than again this is good to pick up some of the slack, at least for a little while. Celestial rapidity is also good for this, but keep in mind that the amount that it increases your spell cast rate is proportional, not a fixed rate. And even then, it will only decrease your spell cast time to a set point. If you use a lot of fast heals, than you're not going to get a whole lot (if any..) of utility out of rapidity. Conversely, relatively longer casting spells, such as your light line, will see the greatest utility from rapidity (though that still may not make it your best spell choice in the situation you are in). Our single target purify is often overlooked, but is a great insta-cast (again, great for between heals) way to remove or at least whittle down some dots / debuffs on the MT / OT or whomever you're healing. Damage not taken is damage you don't have to heal. Group purify soul is great if you have multiple group members who need cures, but if it is just the tank or just yourself then purify soul or purified spirits, respectively, is a better choice so you can save your group version. Radiant cure falls in this group too, and likewise, can help prevent your group from taking damage that they don't have to. Even that worthless ward of purity knocks off a few counters. And it's insta-cast, so as old as it is, there is no downside to using it. Yeah, that 12 counters every 12 seconds is laughable, and it will never be anything more than a very very weak supplement to other cures, but you're going to want to capitalize on every resource you have, even the weak ones, when you're dealing with 120+ counters. The AA versions of our DA, and cascading DA, also fall under that "damage not taken doesn't need to be healed" setting. Used largely for when we know an event mechanic is going to summon / chase someone. Also used for certain NPC's like Commander Galenth in WK. DA is like outfitting him with a helmet, a life-preserver, a defibrillator, kevlar, a seat belt, and replacing his sword with a foam bat lest he hurt himself all in one and basically telling him to sit in the corner while we clean up the mess he's gotten himself into. DA and call it a day. Heal raiders, not NPC's - it's demeaning. Flurry, BP clicky, focused CR I use as needed in any of the above situations or just to increase my basal healing amount for short while. Group CR usually timed to coincide with AoE's and MGB as needed. Third spire used as needed in aforementioned situations, when tank dmg is spiking, tank swap, incoming quick pickup on adds, hard hitting named, etc. VP and QM could really have it's own topic. But I usually use them to maximize my own mana capabilities, as I have very high mana expenditures, timed to make the most use of cool-down periods. For events with a high mortality rate I may be less aggressive with them and hold some in reserve in case I or someone else dies and needs mana. Divine peace used largely when I have aggro on an add (AA's of DA, CDA, spell version of DA , sanctuary, potions, etc can accomplish this as well). And while not an AA, or even cleric specific, the geomantra clicky is nice to help mitigate the damage you and other raid members take. Again, prevention being just as important as treating. It's a huge topic and there are many ways to approach it. The above is just a tip of the proverbial iceberg. I applaud your desire to be "not just a good cleric, but a great one", and while ability is certainly part of that, I think a larger portion of being a better player (of any class) is the willingness to examine your own play-style, examine your areas of weakness and strength, and have these discussions with your peers on how to best optimize spells, AA, gear, tactics, etc. CrazyLarth and Crystilla went over some great places to do that, and don't forget your own local source of clerics, whether they be main or alts in your guild. There are a lot of different approaches, and not everyone will agree, take from it what you can and see what works for you.
Tons of great advice here. Only thing I will add is the "Light" line of spells has really taken a back seat to the renewal/remedy/intervention lines in my opinion due to the shorter cast times which = more of a chance to crit. In today's EQ with hp's and boss dps such high #'s a "regular" non crit heal is nearly useless. So when you cast 100 "Light" spells in the time I cast 125 of the above mentioned I have a higher % and higher total amt of crits which equate to MUCH higher throughput healing!
I limited my original response to AA's (and quasi related stuff) as that was the original topic, however Adaire brings up a very important point that is worth discussing further. As Adaire very correctly points out, our "Light" line of spells are no longer the cleric work horse they used to be (in a raid setting). In a way, it suffers from the same fate that complete heal did. While both heal very large amounts in their respective time frames of the game's history, they just aren't as fast as the content requires to keep up a steady basal level of healing on the MT / OT and are supplanted by our faster casting spells. While having a large amount healed per spell is certainly an important factor, amount healed per unit time if you will, I think it is more important to have a higher heals landed per unit time. I feel tanks die more frequently because the aren't getting heals fast enough, not because the heals they are getting are not strong enough. We have 5 restriction-less single target heals that have a faster cast time than Reverent Light (Remedy, RoF intervention, VoA intervention, Rof Renewal, VoA Renewal). In addition to being faster, they also heal more*, making this a win-win. (*4 in raw amount, 5 per unit time). Remember that our VoA era Intervention and Renewal lines are not on the same timer as our RoF era versions of those spells. And those "older" spells heal about as much, if not more, than Reverent Light, and more importantly they are significantly faster and can cure your target as an added bonus. I cast Reverent Light when I have nothing faster to cast (it makes up ~13% of my single target heals). Of course, like all tools, they have there indications and contraindications. For starters, your mana expenditure with those spells will be significantly higher. If you don't have the mana / regen / ability to maximize your mana granting abilities, then you may need to ease off the throttle. If, however, you do have the resources to support using those spells, you should use them; your healing output will be much greater. Don't worry about the mana cost. If you have the mana, use it. Having lots of mana after the fight does you no good. The biggest downside, of course, comes from the intervention lines. Since they nuke your target's target they should not be used on kiters and on mobs that you otherwise should not damage. The cure component of renewal could, theoretically, be an issue if we start to see events again where curing the wrong debuff has consequences. And while they are not (in the traditional sense) considered heals, it is also worth mentioning that our damage mitigation spells are extremely useful. Damage not taken is damage that doesn't need to be healed. I throw Rallied Bastion of Vie on all the groups (if I remember...), especially on events where the likelihood of melee damage occurring to non-tanks is relatively high (ex: HoF 4.2). If they do get hit, they'll take less damage and maybe a heal once it fades. MT / OT, of course, should always have Shining Bastion on. I also heavily use Ward of Certitude, once on the MT immediately after I Tranquil Blessing + CR the raid prior to engage, and then for tank swaps, off tank pick ups, and on the MT just as a way for them to take less damage.
My preferred heal lineup no longer has Light even in it any longer. Graceful Remedy > Fraught > Graceful > Fervent > Graceful > Virt. Intervention > Graceful > Ely. Intervetion > Graceful > Fraught > Graceful > Fervent > Graceful > Frenzied Renewal > Graceful > Virt. > Graceful > etc etc... Otherwords, if you multibind Graceful, Fraught, Fervent, Virt. Intervention, Ely. Intervention, Frenzied on a single key, you will not need Light at all, you will have enough fast cast heals that one will always be up. Of course, as said, you cannot do this when Interventions may be breaking mezes, etc. Also, as a much more than 'Honorable Mention'.... Sanctified Blessing AA, when maxed, adds about 9k average* heal to EVERY 'F_ Renewal' spell because their cure component triggers it. *~50% proc rate, for 12k base, or ~50% crit rate of ~24k heal, for an 'average' of about 9k extra per heal. Honestly, Frenzied Renewal, because of that, probably belongs ahead of Elysian Intervention on the multbind... (yes, it can be added, it is not on the same lockout timer with Fraught, like some believe) I cast about 140% more heals than the typical cleric that is just spamming Light/Word
