Grock's guide to the Linkbot! (A general defiler how-to)

[Grocket]

Legend
CE: Combined Effort
MH: Marrow Harvest
SV: Siphon Vitality
Vex: Vex
PT: Pain Transmission
SD: Somatic Desecration
BoP: Bond of Pain
Beacon: Beacon of despair

Three things to take from this thread
Do not die to mechanics.
Do not die.
You are nothing but a link.

Now, as for general "How-To"

ST Priorities:
***Marrow Harvest every single target*** (5% Magic Debuff - Tenebrious Distortion lasts 30 seconds)
Beacon**>MH>CE>BoP>PT>Vex>SV>SD

**Never put your beacon in scary places. It is a dps gain via PT but be aware of its locus (Think Crucia Platforms, Breaths, and things of such a nature)
Your beacon will spawn in the center of your target's hitbox.

Link Priorities
30% on tank taking most damage
20% on tank taking 2nd most damage, etc.
5/10% links on pets>melee for dps
*5/10% links on people who prefer death over life more often than the rest.

*Cancel and apply the 5/10% links on raid members targeted with damage mechanics, standing in bad, running through bad, etc. actively, as needed (Ideally preemptively).

Specs:
A spec for those who die:
http://rift.zam.com/en/stc.html?t=00...quR.xMz.xb.-11
Best all-around build(entirely imo, there are a plethora of perfectly viable defiler builds):
http://rift.zam.com/en/stc.html?t=10...uquR.VMc.V.-11
Best dps: **Must be in melee**
http://rift.zam.com/en/stc.html?t=10...fuquR.V.VV.-11
I use the middle build for crucia, and the last build in EE.

Stat weights:
Defiler prefers gear with:
sp/wis>cp>>>>int>>>>>>>>>>>sc

As Needed: Endurance > everything!
(Raid buffed, in full endurance gear, (seal,core,stellar rugged crafted pieces) I am around 25k health in the non-survival type defiler builds. I generally start progression fights with full endurance items, but begin adding dps gear as much as possible once I evaluate how much my green bar is dipping.)

As far as what Im actually doing during any given fight, some things im always aware of:
Are 30% and 25% links up on tanks?
Do I need 10/5% links on anyone who is about to take extra damage? if no, are they on pets/melee?
5% debuff on everything?
DPS rotation
Tank health looking scary? Trigger Foul Growth!... Still scary? Pop CD!
Anyone below ~30%? If so, spot heal!
Anyone about to be targeted with mechanic? if so, HoT them and 10/5% link them!
Laser beams of death approaching? Move!
Spores? ****!

^ These are just some of the things that you should have in your head to perform optimally.

Macros:
Spam
#show Marrow Harvest
suppressmacrofailures
cast Marrow Harvest
cast sanction heretic (If in an inq build)
cast Somatic Desecration
cast Bolt of Radiance (If In a Justicar build)
cast Vex

Cooldown (Visual Indicator that your target is safe for 10 seconds)
#show Unstable Transformation
cast Unstable Transformation
say 10 Second CD on %t

*Cancel Minor Links
#show Link of Misery
suppressmacrofailures
cancelbuff Link of Misery (Cancels 10% Link)
cancelbuff Link of Distress (Cancels 5% Link)

Cancel Beacon
#Show Beacon of Despair
suppressmacrofailures
cancelbuff Beacon of Despair (Cancels Beacon)

*Your links are Off GCD meaning link swapping can be done without hindering dps/healing.
Sometimes it's fine to leave your links alone on tanks+2pets/melee for max dps, yet oft times active swapping of the 5/10% links, in addition to 1 GCD heal via explosive growth+Ghastly Restoration, prevents deaths. (Defilers are excellent spot healers)

Foul Growth Trigger(A spot heal)
suppressmacrofailures
cast Ghastly Restoration
cast Loathsome Restoration

Spot Heal* (seperate buttons if using defiler raid crystal)
cast Healing Breath
cast Hideous Reconstruction
*It is your job to spot heal as a defiler, do not ignore low health bars for dps ever. ever.

Concerning Explosive Growth: If your raid wipes because it oom'd you, then you were likely wiped to begin with. I never cast foul growth, always explosive growth+trigger if not targeting a linked tank.

Cleanse

#show Jealous Intervention
cast @mouseover Jealous Intervention
cast @group03 Jealous Intervention
cast @group02 Jealous Intervention
cast @group01 Jealous Intervention
cast @group10 Jealous Intervention
cast @group09 Jealous Intervention
cast @group08 Jealous Intervention
cast @group07 Jealous Intervention
cast @group06 Jealous Intervention
cast @group05 Jealous Intervention
cast @group04 Jealous Intervention
cast @group11 Jealous Intervention
cast @group12 Jealous Intervention
cast @group13 Jealous Intervention
cast @group14 Jealous Intervention
cast @group15 Jealous Intervention
cast @group16 Jealous Intervention
cast @group17 Jealous Intervention
cast @group18 Jealous Intervention
cast @group19 Jealous Intervention
cast @group20 Jealous Intervention

Helpful Kalerts:
Dot Timers on target, Chimera's gift missing from self, Health sub 90% self, Tenebrious Distortion missing from target.[i]

Any questions/criticisms/anger/etc is certainly welcome.
It is my intent that this be helpful and not another superfluous defiler guide.

[Grocket]

Now that I'm awake, I notice that this is the rough draft of what I intended to post.

Unsure on how to revise this.

[TheGrinnz]

Very nice guide overall, personally I would say healing is Defiler's first priority because it has the capability to do so, only maximize DPS when nobody's going to die. Of course its healing capability mostly amounts to spot healing, putting up the HoT, and Explosive Growth when needed.

***Marrow Harvest every single target*** (5% Magic Debuff - Tenebrious Distortion lasts 30 seconds)

I would note that 1. you can spread this debuff with Unholy Nexus to a few mobs so it doesn't have to be applied individually, and 2. if there is an inquisitor they will be applying this debuff to ST by default, and if there is a cabalist or saboteur they can apply this debuff to groups much more easily.

Foul Growth Trigger(A spot heal)
suppressmacrofailures
cast Ghastly Restoration
cast Loathsome Restoration

Spot Heal* (seperate buttons if using defiler raid crystal)
cast Healing Breath
cast Hideous Reconstruction
*It is your job to spot heal as a defiler, do not ignore low health bars for dps ever. ever.

Personally I make mouseoverui macros as with any other healing spec:

cast @mouseoverui Ghastly Restoration
cast @mouseoverui Loathsome Restoration

cast @mouseoverui Hideous Reconstruction

cast @mouseoverui Explosive Growth

and even:

cast @mouseoverui Unstable Transformation

Of special note is that Ghastly Restoration and Unstable Transformation are off GCD so by using mouseoverui macros, you can literally save someone as fast as you can move your mouse over the raid frames (barring lag of course).

You might want to mention Explosive Growth more specifically in the guide, it's worth more than a passing reference ;) And agreed it is not ever worth using Foul Growth, the mana consumption of Explosive Growth isn't even that much in comparison to other healing soul "heal nukes".

As for editing the post you can PM a mod with an updated version of the guide and they should be able to update it for you.

[Grocket]

It is...superfluous defiler guide.

So I took the time to read some of the other defiler-type guides(As I should have done prior to posting), and I've successfully regurgitated information that's already present in other write-ups. I may redo this if enough relevant and specific details are missing elsewhere while focusing on 2-3 optimal builds for range/melee dps, and healing.

[Grocket]

...personally I would say healing is Defiler's first priority because it has the capability to do so, only maximize DPS when nobody's going to die. Of course its healing capability mostly amounts to spot healing, putting up the HoT, and Explosive Growth when needed.

I agree, and this mindset should have come across better. I will always prioritize healing unless its someone whom I can laugh at for dying without suffering a consequent wipe.. I suppose its a similar mindset to inquisicar: dps, dps, dps, dol, dol, dps, dps, etc It's a little more seamless with oGCD healing though

Based on the encounter, I use inq/sent secondary/tertiary souls if I must stay ranged or anticipate using a large portion of my gcd's on healing abilities. I use 61/10druid/5inq anytime I can maintain the combined effort debuff for top dps (all of EE basically)