Rant's Guide to DoL Hybrid Raid Healing & Macros

[rantology]

Last updated 2/03/2012 for patch 1.7

What is DoL Hybrid healing and why is it so important?

DoL refers to the justicar spell Doctrine of Loyalty obtained at 6 points. It's an instant cast smart heal (it automatically picks the lowest HP members of your party/raid) that hits up to 10 targets. To make it fully effective you need at least 10 points in the tree to obtain Mien of Honor, which increases the healing done by Salvation, Reparation and all Doctrines by +50%. It requires convictions to use which are generated by life-based damaging spells, so clerics who DoL heal also fill the DPS role.

DoL is the most powerful raid-heal in the game currently, being that it's instant cast, heals for quite a lot, hits 10 targets, has a 35m range and can be used near infinitely as cleric DPS souls all have more than sufficient mana regen abilities. These reasons alone make DoL clerics the best raid healers in the game, and on top of that, we're able to pull some pretty respectable DPS.

Itemization and SP Coefficients

• SP Coefficient - Doctrine of Loyalty has a .5 SP coefficient, meaning that for every 1 SP you add, you're going to get .5 more healing on each (non-crit) DoL you cast.
• Itemization - It's wise to stack SP with most pure DPS builds, and it's no different with a hybrid raid healer build.
• Source Machines / Sigils - Pure SP lesser essences are the way to go, in addition, investing in a double shield greater sigil/machine is well worth it. I'm speaking of the Hailstone Tideshard and Frozen Deep One Tear. While they won't yield personal DPS, they will proc extremely often as they have no internal cooldown (they can stack as well, i.e. it's not uncommon at all to see both of them up on the same target). And as with all shield-type effects these will never overheal or waste their procs.

DoL Playstyles

There are several different playstyles available to suit both raid needs and personal preference, but primarily there are two mind sets you need to choose from based on your raid's needs.

DPS-focused - This playstyle will offer some pretty competitive DPS numbers, often using 51 point DPS builds. You focus on DPS and reparation healing, but use DoL when burst damage occurs on the raid.
Healing focused- You focus on being a raid healer first and a DPS second. You prioritize your GCDs for healing raid damage before maintaining a DPS rotation and usually use more healing heavy talent builds.

Either playstyle you should keep in mind that it is your responsibility to counter raid damage with DoL, you are in the raid as a hybrid DoL cleric because you are the best at raid healing, do not be afraid to mess up your DPS rotation in order to save raid members.

Mandatory talents for a DoL spec

There's a million different DoL talent specs that you can use and still be an effective raid healer, but let's focus on the very basics you 100% need in order to DoL heal. You will need these 11 points in the Justicar tree to effectively raid heal.

Tier 1 talents:

• Pick 5/5 Hammer of Virtue. "melee attack abilities" will apply to any spell which includes "requires melee weapon" to use in the tooltip. Note that this talent will also affect the Inquisitor ability Soul Drain so it is optimal to take it, even as a ranged hybrid.

Tier 2 talents:

• 3/3 Life's Devotion which will buff the proc-chance on your salvation healing. Salvation only affects yourself and/or your Righteous Mandate target.
• 2/2 Healer's Creed. Increases the healing you recieve by 10%.

Tier 3 talents:

• 1/1 Reparation - This will provide passive raid healing based on the damage you do. It will heal 5 party/raid members for 10% of your damage, or 25% of the damage of any ability from the Justicar tree.

Optional Talents (having mana issues?) - from the Justicar tree, these are all personal preference talents that are beneficial but optional. It doesn't really matter where you sink points into in the Justicar tree to get them, but stay away from the tanking-specific talents as you won't be tanking anything as a raid healer.

• Purpose - If you find yourself running out of mana often, it's worth it to throw one more point in justicar to obtain. It doesn't matter if you're a caster or melee hybrid, you can pop purpose, run into melee and spam Strike of Judgement to fill back up on mana. A macro for this would look like this.
• Righteous Mandate - This will provide a little bit extra healing on a tank. These heals are not dependable as you personally have to be at 100% HP before your Salvation healing will transfer to a tank, but it can add up to a decent little chunk of extra HPS on a tank over the course of a fight.
• Light Makes Right - This will give you 2 convictions every time a life based spell crits. This is usually reserved for hybrid builds that have trouble generating convictions because they lack life-based abilities in their normal rotations.

If you find yourself running into mana issues, the most forgiving -icar spec in terms of mana would be Shamicar with Endless Winter. You will have Purpose, Ageless Ice and Endless Winter working for you, it's nearly impossible to make your blue bar go down in these builds.

DoL Talent Builds & Macros

There are a ton of various talent builds out there for DoL healing, but here are the most viable/commonly used ones. Inquisicar if you prefer ranged, Shamicar if you prefer melee and Senticar if your raid has need for one. Note that you need to make sure your raid has at least 1 Inquisitor for the Clinging Spirits debuff.

Inquisicar:

There are few macros for inquisitors but the basic rotations are included within the macro pages for each build. It is also your responsibility to ensure that the Clinging Spirits debuff is applied to anything your raid is DPSing at all times. Use Aggressive Renewal early and on cooldown to avoid mana issues, also keep a very healthy supply of Heroic Mana Tonics on hand as you will need them.


51/11/4 DPS Heavy Build.(Click for macros for this build.)
Advantages:
-As high in DPS as a hybrid can get.

Disadvantages:
-Just the base DoL healing capability
-No Protect the Flock buff
-No cleanse

45/11/10 'Middle of the Road' Build (Click for macros for this build.)
Advantages:
-Higher in DPS than the healing heavy build
-DoL hits 15% harder with Surging Rapids
-Has Tidal Surge for a big burst heal when paired with DoL
-Has a cleanse

Disadvantages:
-Less DPS than the 51 point build.
-No Protect the Flock buff

38/17/11 Healing Heavy Build. (Click here for macros for this build.)
Advantages:
-Strong AoE healing (DoL hits 5-10% harder depending on if you take Watchful Gaze or Light Efficiency)
-Protect the Flock buff
-Has a cleanse
-Has an additional .2 crit modifier with Walk in the Light

Disadvantages:
-Lowest in DPS of the 3 Inquisitor builds listed

Shamicar:

Shamans in general have a harder time generating convictions than Inquisitors because their natural DPS rotation includes only 1 life-based ability, so you have to use Bolt of Radiance and other abilities not normally found in the rotation to generate convictions on a steady basis. There are two ways to deal with this. A) Spec deep justicar for Light Makes Right and/or B) Use 2 separate macros- one normal DPS macro and a separate Conviction generating macro to ensure you have convictions at all times. You need to make sure that your raid has at least 1 Inquisitor before considering playing a Shamicar. If your raid is missing the Clinging Spirits 7% magic debuff then they're going to lose out a lot of DPS. Also, as a melee hybrid you need to make sure that you do not use Censure, as this will over-write the 7% Clinging Spirits debuff with an inferior 3% one. Censure is not included in any of the macros in this guide.

51/11/4 DPS Heavy Build. (Click here for macros for this build.)
Advantages:
-Highest possible DPS shaman hybrid build

Disadvantages:
-Only the base DoL healing capability
-No Protect the Flock buff

38/17/11 Healing Heavy Build. (Click here for macros for this build.)
Advantages:
-Strong AoE healing (DoL hits 5-10% harder depending on if you take Watchful Gaze or Light Efficiency)
-Protect the Flock buff
-Has a cleanse
-Has an additional .2 crit modifier with Walk in the Light

Disadvantages:
-Lowest DPS of the 3 shaman builds listed
-Low amount of AoE capability due to the lack of Vengeance of the Primal North

45/21/0 Justi Heavy Build. (Click here for macros for this build.) A few points can be moved around to suit personal preference in this one, you can take a few points (up to 6) out of shaman and throw them in Inquisitor to grab Sanction Heretic and Armor of Devotion.

Advantages:
-Having the Light Makes Right talent offers much faster conviction generation
-3/3 Vengeful Justice means you can AoE up to 5 targets and heal for much more through reparation with Even Justice, a DPS and HPS increase on 4 or more targets
-Righteous Mandate will give you addition tank HPS

Disadvantages:
-Lower single target DPS than the 51 point build
-No Protect the Flock buff
-Only the base DoL healing capability

Senticar:

Senticars are a unique role as you'll be 32 points into sentinel and have several abilities normal hybrids will not have at your disposal. Don't forget to use them! The downside to this spec is that your DPS will absolutely tank to sub-chloro/bard levels. However the advantages are that you can seamlessly switch from helping out on tank healing, spot healing and cleanses to pumping out infinite amounts of raid healing.


31/32/3 Classic Senticar (Click here for macros for this build.)
Advantages:
-All of the Sentinel Utilities
-All of the Justicar utilities
-2 separate b-rez'

Disadvantages:
-Being a Senticar your DPS will be terrible

32/22/12 Super Raid Healer (Click here for macros for this build.)
Advantages:
-The most beastly DoL you can possibly get
-All of the sentinel utilities
-A lot of the Warden utilities

Disadvantages:
-No AoE damage to speak of
-Very low DPS
-Only 1 brez

32/22/12 DPS focused Senticar (Click here for macros for this build.) - If you wish to have the Clinging Spirits debuff in this build simply take the 2 points out of Mental Resilience and put them into Clinging Spirits.
Advantages:
-Highest DPS you'll be able to get out of a Senticar build
-Modest AoE damage
-Inquisitor will give you another .2 modifier on your crits (for a total of a .4 modifier)
-All of the Sentinel utilities
-Aggressive Renewal
-Mein of Aggression
-A purge

Disadvantages:
-Only 1 brez



There are other builds available (cabicar, druicar etc) however in my experience they are either sub-optimal or extremely niche-role and I will not post them in this particular guide, but if you're interested in them please ask and I'd be happy to give you any details you need.

Feel free to ask any questions.

***Authors comments: I personally use the 38/17/11 Inq/Sent/Justi build on any fight I hybrid for in HK. Inquisitor is in my opinion the most optimal raid heal spec as Inquis does more damage than Shaman, has an easier time generating convictions, and a bit better AoE. In addition, it brings the Clinging Spirits debuff to the raid which is a huge raid DPS increase. Protect the Flock is also an extremely good talent. Though all of the builds I listed above are viable specs.

[Calibrex]

love it!

10char

[rantology]

heh, found a typo in the guide. When I referred to Spiritual Deficiency I actually meant Clinging Spirits. I'll fix it as soon as I get editing privileges.

I thought I had proof read all of that without missing something too, dang.

Thanks to Wat for pointing that out.

[Hyuntikwa]

Thanks for this post! +1

-Pick 5/5 Hammer of Virtue if you are a caster hybrid, more armor will reduce the damage you take from physical damage.

Shouldn't that be Armor of Virtue?

[rantology]

Thanks for this post! +1



Shouldn't that be Armor of Virtue?

Bleh, typo #2 :/

[Jinjah]

Why doesn't it include the 45/11/10 inquisicar build? Is that one out of date? (Ican imagine this happening due to the changes to inquisitor...but that'd mean I've been using a gimped spec for quite a while.)

[usman]

Very nice guide Rant, lots of very useful info, though if i may be so bold as to add another macro for casting DoL itself -

#show Doctrine of loyalty
stopcasting
cast doctrine of loyalty

This ensures an instant cast of DoL everytime you need it, rather than waiting for whatever you were casting to finish.

Also, do you think that the 51/11/4 inquisicar is stronger than the 45/11/10 sent version with the extra 20% of heal/damage crits?

[rantology]

Why doesn't it include the 45/11/10 inquisicar build? Is that one out of date? (Ican imagine this happening due to the changes to inquisitor...but that'd mean I've been using a gimped spec for quite a while.)

It's not out of date however the 51 build will yield slightly more DPS. I didn't think to include it but I'll mention it in there when I can edit the post. The only thing you're gaining from a 45/11/10 build would be a .2 modifier on your damage/healing crits at the cost of DPS. Now that we are free to stack SP due to the Corporal Punishment changes crit modifiers are not as big a deal as they used to be.

It doesn't have any glaring advantages or disadvantages to the 51 or 38 point builds. As I mentioned there are about a million different hybrid specs out there, I didn't put every variation into the guide.

Very nice guide Rant, lots of very useful info, though if i may be so bold as to add another macro for casting DoL itself -

#show Doctrine of loyalty
stopcasting
cast doctrine of loyalty

This ensures an instant cast of DoL everytime you need it, rather than waiting for whatever you were casting to finish.

Also, do you think that the 51/11/4 inquisicar is stronger than the 45/11/10 sent version with the extra 20% of heal/damage crits?

Thanks, I'll put that macro in there. =) Yes I would use the 51 point build over the 45 personally, but they are both viable. If anything the extra .2crit modifier to DoL crits are what make the 45 spec more appealing than the 51, it's all personal preference.

[Jinjah]

It's not out of date however the 51 build will yield slightly more DPS. I didn't think to include it but I'll mention it in there when I can edit the post. The only thing you're gaining from a 45/11/10 build would be a .2 modifier on your damage/healing crits at the cost of DPS. Now that we are free to stack SP due to the Corporal Punishment changes crit modifiers are not as big a deal as they used to be.

It doesn't have any glaring advantages or disadvantages to the 51 or 38 point builds. As I mentioned there are about a million different hybrid specs out there, I didn't put every variation into the guide.

This is indeed first thing that popped into my head when I saw you hadn't put it in there and I compared the two
I had actually dusted off my old purifier planar focus for my Inq spec as it was my only SP-heavy focus. Kind of feel like an ***** having the purifier greater in it now though...

Thanks for the guide, very detailed and informative =) I'd indeed put what you told me here in the main post itself, as I can imagine a lot of people reading it and wondering where the 45/11/10 spec has gone too.

[Lowbob]

I'd like to add my Senticar build with 44 in Sentinel and 11 Inquisitor.

http://rift.zam.com/en/stc.html?t=10...fstco.VLk.VhMo

It shines with extremely fine single target HPS, decent DPS, fast convition building and DoL of course. It's best used on encounters where group damage comes spiky, while there's time to heal the tank in between.

I use more than one macro for convictions, but this is the main one, while having the tank in focus:

#show Sanction Heretic
suppressmacrofailures
cast @focustarget Sanction Heretic
cast @focustarget Bolt of Radiance
cast @focustarget Life's Vengeance
cast @focustarget Shards of Light
cast @focustarget Banish
cast @focustarget Bolt of Judgment

[Jinjah]

Been experimenting with a 45inq/just11/ward10 and at the moment it's giving me higher dps in SP-heavy gear with the inquisitor synergy crystal than sent10. Will be doing some more testing, but it seems to be a more viable alternative than the classical sent10 with the recent changes.

[Quietmode]

DoL Playstyles

There are several different playstyles available to suit both raid needs and personal preference, but primarily there are two mind sets you need to choose from based on your raid's needs.

DPS-focused - This playstyle will offer some pretty competitive DPS numbers, often using 51 point DPS builds. You focus on DPS and reparation healing, but use DoL when burst damage occurs on the raid.

Healing focused- You focus on being a raid healer first and a DPS second. You prioritize your GCDs for healing raid damage before maintaining a DPS rotation and usually use more healing heavy talent builds.

Either playstyle you should keep in mind that it is your responsibility to counter raid damage with DoL, you are in the raid as a hybrid DoL cleric because you are the best at raid healing, do not be afraid to mess up your DPS rotation in order to save raid members.

I'm sad you didnt include a tank focused section! I feel ive mastered it pretty well, and was actually considering getting a 10warden or 10sentinel tank spec for more healing oomph on occasion

[Quietmode]

There is one additional Senticar build which i beleive people have called "senticarden" It drops the longer battle res and some tanking heal in exchange for a harder hitting DoL/HC. It is a huge AoE healing build.

http://rift.zam.com/en/stc.html?t=00...zoR.E0xxbkz.xx

31/25/10
justicar/sentinel/warden

As always some points can be moved around for personal preference. Such as grabbing 12 warden for the aoe hot, or switching points around in justicar/sentinel

[Amarynth]

Thank you so much for this, I've been searching for an inquisicar guide

[Dryden]

I like these senticar builds, but I think I still prefer 32 sent 22 justi 12 inq over all of these. Note that the 22nd point in Justi is just so I can queue as support and can be put anywhere. I chose an additional point in shield of faith. It was mentioned in the return of DoL post recently.

The main thing with that build is you keep light makes right for fast conviction generation, you gain aggressive renewal for when you can't or don't want to melee, crit/crit damage and healing on spells, and armor of devotion. I also find it useful to have the purge and fear immunity in a few places too. You still retain a combat res and some single target healing. You also have the option of generating all your pacts at range, which is incredibly useful.

On an output level, it seems to be close to what is posted already except that it can continue to raid heal longer when purpose isn't an option. I've done 2300 hps with it on some early kills on so the throughput is there (with new people standing in aoes, obviously). I am not full t1 raid geared yet so there's some room for improvement. The dps is low obviously, and given how much I'm actually healing I rarely do over 450.