Defiler Debunked (Rift Noob Here)

[CajunLanMan]

Could someone please explain to me ( or link me to an explanation ) the mechanics behind the defiler links? I'm feeling very dense, by not understanding the links.

I like the idea of the defiler, because it's a healer with a taunting pet. I'd love to play the druid like that, but you have to invest so many points to get the better pets, you have too few in the other healing trees to be effective at healing.

Let me also mention that I'm not raiding, or even running dungeons. I'm mid 20's in level, and I like to run small groups of 2 or 3 (thus my fondness of hybrid characters). I also like to pop into Instant Adventures, and you never know what you're going to get there. Perhaps that's why I'm not understanding the links. I can't fathom why you would want the healer to intentionally take damage.

Thanks for the info.

[Muspel]

I can't fathom why you would want the healer to intentionally take damage.

Because it means that less damage is taken by the tank. Reducing the damage that the tank takes by 30% is incredibly powerful when you're dealing with bosses that do high burst damage.

Not to mention that the links reduce the damage that's intercepted, and what little does get through is absorbed by Husk of Indifference, meaning that you almost never lose any health.

Also, for future reference, questions like this should go in the Cleric Discussion forum. The guides forum is for guides.

[Varkrey]

Defiler isn't a healer, per se.

Defiler is a support class. They support their team by absorbing a certain % of damage from the targets of their links.

Mainly, you cast your links on the tanks and healers of your group (or people with really low HP). Later in the tree you get a shield which absorbs all the damage you take from the links and the shield gets refreshed every time you use a healing skill.

Defilers are THE most needed class for end-game raiding content as bosses hit tanks so hard, that without the defiler link mitigation, they would die nearly every time they took a crit hit.

Defilers apply a stacking buff on the targets of their links at 2x the chance of the link % whenever the defiler attacks or can be applied directly. This buff stacks 3 times, increases max HP by 2% per stack and heals for a very large amount after it expires or is triggered by another healing skill.

They also have the best survivability cooldown in the game which gives the target of said skill +50% healing received and heals them a moderate amount each time they are hit for 10s, and can be used every 60s.

They also have the best heal over time ability of all classes. Not to mention their solo play potential at lvl 60 (you can easily knock out dailies meant to be for groups of 5 or more players by using your beacon correctly).

It's a unique class with many uses that you'll discover and refine mostly once you hit 60.

[Sheridyn]

Could someone please explain to me ( or link me to an explanation ) the mechanics behind the defiler links? I'm feeling very dense, by not understanding the links... I can't fathom why you would want the healer to intentionally take damage.

Defiler is very different to the other healing souls in Rift. You have a special absorption shield called Husk of Indifference, which sponges the damage you take from your links. In the 15-point tier of the soul tree, you should spot a talent called Cardial Conversion - this will cause your Husk of Indifference shield to automatically refresh whenever you use one of your healing abilities. Provided you occasionally use one of your healing abilities, you will be able to negate all the incoming damage you intercept from your links with your Husk.

Another unique mechanic to Defiler is Foul Growth. You'll receive this spell fairly early on in Defiler (16 points), but it becomes many times more useful once you take points in Rampant Growth, the talent in the 25-point tier. Foul Growth is a healing time bomb (which you can stack up to three times) with a 10-second fuse. You can use some of your other healing abilities to detonate it prematurely. Once you have the Rampant Growth talent, any offensive damaging ability you use has a chance to put a Foul Growth on your linked allies (stronger link = better chance).

When you put it all together, Defiler is about linking people up and negating a portion of the damage they take with a combination of a link and your self-absorption husk. You primarily use your damaging abilities, but detonate your passively accumulated stacks of Foul Growth on linked targets when they need healing.

[CajunLanMan]

This information helped quite a bit. Thank you all very much.

Also, I must apologize for the placement of this thread. I went looking for it under the Cleric board, but couldn't find it. That's when I realized I had put it on the wrong place.

[Garimon]

Holy Crap.

I haven't been playing long at all, just a few days, and though I am really enjoying everything so far, I am more or less feeling my way through the class. Currently I'm using a cabalist/inq build but after hearing about all that the defiler can do I am really, really interested in giving it a go too.

Thankfully we can buy a little pile of different roles, so we can play and experiment exactly like that. I used to play a shadow priest in the game that shall not be named, even pre-BC, and really enjoyed the ability to dps and heal. I absolutely loved Karazhan and ICC for just that reason. Defiler sounds like it will be a treat!

Garimon@Hailol