1.8 Healing Builds

[Novetan]

With the nerf to warden coming in 1.8, I'd like to open the discussion as to what specs people will be using both going ID and for all other content. Please post spec and justification, feel free to elaborate with any macros, play style or additional info.

Sincerely, a nub cleric alt

[Noshei]

Honestly It won't have much effect on Raiding clerics. Warden has never been the best spec to use, though it has been decent depending on your spec.

I can still see 3 prominent specs with 1.8. They being: 51 Puri (Tank Healer), 3x/3x Puri/Sent, and 3x/3x Warden/Sent.

All 3 of these builds perform great in raids and you can customize them to your need and play style. The only thing that you will have to look is not having more than 1 cleric running Warden as it will be less effective.

[The Witchking]

I think we'll see a resurgance of sent/puri as the go to specs since Serendipity is such an awesome reactive ability. The shields are fine for the current content and the combination of short cast times and instants will make this spec shine in raids.

I expect to see the main tank healer stick with Sent/Ward stacking hots so this spec won't fall from favour.

As for pvp - i'm not sure. Serendipity is the only thing keeping our specs viable due to pushback - even with the new PTS changes, so it will be a hybrid sentinel build of some flavour.

[Sfira]

Ill use my 3xward/3xsent and 51 puri for PvE (I hate senticar, so ill let others spam DoL). I have a feeling that 51 puri will be needed in ID...I also fear it will be hair pulling time at encounters that require much movment.

As for PvP....if the 1.8 changes go though, ill most likely stop healing and have some dps fun for a change;-)

Cheers

[Stay]

I'm still in love with sent/ward (39/27 here) and will continue to play it as an exclusive pure healing build unless it becomes clear I need another.

If 51 puri is needed for ID, I'm going to put on my mean mug, along with my "obey your raid leader, he died for your sins" T-Shirt , and make someone else do it. Ugh @ standing still spamming a 3s cast on a tank.

[Op2mystic]

I'm still in love with sent/ward (39/27 here) and will continue to play it as an exclusive pure healing build unless it becomes clear I need another.

If 51 puri is needed for ID, I'm going to put on my mean mug, along with my "obey your raid leader, he died for your sins" T-Shirt , and make someone else do it. Ugh @ standing still spamming a 3s cast on a tank.

I agree. 38sent/28 ward here and I won't change. I use 51 sent in a very few cases but find the first build best in most all situations even wf's which now days I find horrible anyways and have pretty much stayed away since becoming R40 right after it was implemented.

[Unhurtable]

Warden changes? How can it affect the Cleric healing in raids that is DoL spam?

[Errosion]

Warden changes? How can it affect the Cleric healing in raids that is DoL spam?

I c wut u did thur.


In all reality, it will affect the people who enjoy raid healing as Warden, but it probably won't break as much otherwise. People will still roll Purifier and Sentinel hybrids, and Warden Hybrids.

[Eughe]

Considering that nerf has been undone...

[Raen]

With the new nerf they're planning to impliment/are testing, I'd say Sent/Ward will be more effective than full Warden when 1.8 comes around.

Already communicated this in game after the playtest where I had the pleasure of chatting with a number of clerics (with a few guest appearances by other classes!)

Both Zinb and I decided not to go with the solution because its so dirty. As stated before, the only real clean solution is one we are also not thrilled about - but we are going to test it out.

Warden Hots will be reverted to their former stacking, and hit with a fairly severe PvP only healing nerf. The thing we do not like about this is that it may be overly punishing to the individual warden. We are going to start with the biggest nerf and scale back if it feels like it needs to be.

~Daglar
Lead Game Designer: Rift

The "severe PvP only healing nerf" he is talking about is a 75%-ish nerf. This means that cast times are going to be much more influential in healing PvP, so a lot of Puri/Sent, Senticar and Sent/Ward builds are going to be more potent potentially.

EDIT: PvE is unaffected.

[Valavus]

Considering that nerf has been undone...

This. If people would take the time to read the PTS forums instead of just responding to mass hysteria, it would clear most threads like these off the boards.

And if anyone asked me what I'll be running, 34/32 puri/sent hasn't let me or any tank down so far...so unless my tank headbutts the floor on the first ID boss, that's what I'm sticking with. Trion already said that ID will have more complex boss encounters. And I just don't see a build without Serendipity cutting it when having to move way more often than every 3 secs.

[Noshei]

I'm going to try running a 38 Puri / 28 Warden build on wednesday to see how it does. It seems like I will be able to get some really good numbers. So far with testing it I was able to get almost an 8k Latent Blaze, and that was with 0 buffs.

[Hotter]

I too have loved the 3x,3x ward/sent. It is a very nice hybrid. Just tried a full-on 51 ward and it is a nice change of pace. Still learning the finer parts, but the sp boost in hots makes a noticeable difference.

[Valavus]

I'm going to try running a 38 Puri / 28 Warden build on wednesday to see how it does. It seems like I will be able to get some really good numbers. So far with testing it I was able to get almost an 8k Latent Blaze, and that was with 0 buffs.

Bigger shields for sure, as you'll have a 25% boost for 38 points. But you'll prolly want that b-Rez back for ID progression. Guess it's a YMMV issue.

[Noshei]

Bigger shields for sure, as you'll have a 25% boost for 38 points. But you'll prolly want that b-Rez back for ID progression. Guess it's a YMMV issue.

Yeah I doubt I will use it in ID, it's more just a play around spec to see how it does. Normally you would do 38/28 with Puri / Sent, but I want to see how well this works out. Should be interesting.