Some basic healing stuff

Healing in SWL is pretty fun, and doesn't require fantastic gear to get good results.

Heal targeting is a little bit of a pain. You can use F1-5 to target your own team members, and the mousewheel will allow you to scroll through your team selection. You won't be able to select someone who is out of range. For raids, you will need to use ctrl-tab to pick out targets in the second group. Kinda hoping they sort that out soon tbh. You can also press alt and then click the raid window to pick out def targets, but that's a fairly clunky process.

To be healing in Elite 1, you'll be wanting blue talismans (all healing) and ideally you should have a load of glyphs on your gear too. Healers look for crit rating and crit power, no need for hit unless you're using an assault rifle - if you are, put a hit glyph on the rifle and that way you can keep your heal kit as interchangeable as possible.

Ideally, use radiant heal pieces - they give you the most heal rating. It's better to use a 3 pip radiant item than a 2 pip luminous item with an additional effect on it. If you get a radiant with an extra gimmick, that'll be best, but it's not going to have a massive effect.

In order of difficulty, fist is the easiest weapon to heal with, then blood, with AR being hardest. It's worth noting that healing with AR still uses all heal items (you can swap in some dps pieces if your tank isn't dying, but only do that once you really know what you're doing.

For this post, I'll be talking fist and blood, in part because I've not been using AR yet myself, so can't really tell you much from experience.

Fist

If you healed in TSW, you may be expecting fist to be full of HOTs - that's not exactly the way it works any more.
When you refresh a heal over time, the remaining duration of the HOT is applied as a heal - it's not wasted.

Your basic ability is Nurture. Nurture gives a HOT which stacks up to 3, and in most cases is going to be your main button masher. It will heal the member of the group with the lowest percentage remaining, and put the HOT on that target. That means that you don't have to worry too much about who you have targeted - it'll automatically pick out the lowest % hp. On the downside, if your dps are standing in the fires, there's a risk that they may get a heal meant for the tank, which is why if there's a lot of damage flying around, you may well want to be using other abilities.

Renewal is your 3 energy ability. It's a nice little ability which heals 3 times for a flat amount. The associated passive is Recuperate, which basically adds a bit to your HOTs and other heals for 3 seconds. It's pretty much your first go to in the case of some bigger hits landing.

Feral Regrowth costs 5 energy. The immediate burst heal is pretty low, but it's got a decent amount of healing delivered over the next 6 seconds as a HOT. The passive Outgrowth adds a group effect, where it will heal one more group member with a decent HOT for 3 seconds.

Regeneration is the healing elite. It's a groupwide heal and cleanse, giving a good chunk of hp back and leaving a 4 second HOT which is nice. The passive Natural Remedy makes it a brilliant Ohshit button, as it increases the initial heal and redirects overheal to the most injured member of the party - which should really be the tank.

Invigorating Wrath is another good panic button. This transforms your ability bar and takes a little getting used to. So far, I don't believe we can reorder the new bar's abilities, so get used to them! Your left mouse button delivers a single target heal, your right is a group heal. There is also a group wide HOT which can be cast with E (as default), which is the only ability during Wrath to cost energy. It's a really nice way to get a boost to healing when needed, but is a little unpredictable with timing. Invigorating Wrath's duration is based on how much Fury you have. With a totally full Fury bar, you'll get just enough time for 4 casts, so don't hesitate!
The passive Serenity adds an extra ability to your Wrath ability bar - Serenity. It's a big ass nuke single target heal, which also allows you to convert your remaining Fury into heals. It means that as soon as you cast it, your ability bar will go back to normal, but it'll give a good whack of hp back!

The special abilities from the middle row are a bit more complex.

Ferocity consumes the existing HOTs on your def target and gives an extra hit of healing. The passive Brutality then adds an extra HOT on for good measure.
Wild Surge leaves an area on the ground where anyone standing in it will be healed and cleansed. It's got a good duration to it (10 seconds), but isn't going to be too handy on highly mobile fights. The passive Wild Burst adds an extra spike of healing when the effect ends. It's potentially very strong, if the dps stand in it for the whole duration.
Savagery is a bit meh tbh. It's a single target DPS boost, with the passive adding a bit of healing to it. It's one of those abilities which might be useful if you know exactly who the strongest DPS is, so that you know who to buff!

For extra passives:
Warmth - bigger single target heals[/:m]
Potent Wrath - an extra group HOT when Invigorating Wrath ends, not bad for a bit of light group healing[/:m]
Keen senses - extra healing when you need it most, but isn't that much stronger than Warmth[/:m]
Wild Nature - more fury = more Invigorating Wraths[/:m][/list:u]
My fist build looks like this:
Basic: Nurture
1: Feral Regrowth
2: Invigorating Wrath
E: Regeneration
LMB: Renewal
RMB: Convalesce (from Blood Magic).[/list:u]

Passives
Recuperate
Outgrowth
Serenity
Natural remedy
Potent Wrath[/list:u]

How to play it:
Spam Nurture. When you need some group heals, you can use Invigorating Wrath, Feral Regrowth and Convalesce. To top the tank up when needed, use Renewal. For big damage, use Regeneration.

Blood Magic

Blood is the shield healing weapon. When you apply a shield to a shielded defensive target, there are 2 options. If the second shield is bigger, it will replace the first. If the second shield is the same size or smaller, then the target will be healed for the value of the shield.

Blood magic's basic heal is Mend. It's auto targeted on the lowest % hp member of the group, just like nurture.
Sanctuary is the 3 energy heal. It puts a shield onto the target, if there is already a shield then it will heal them instead. The passive Restorative Ward increases the healing output of repeat applications, making it good for spamming on tanks. It also stops you taking Martyrdom damage, which I'll come back to shortly.

For 5 energy, Convalesce will heal your group for a good chunk of direct healing. Anyone below 35% will also gain a barrier, which can be handy for buying you time to get them healed up again. The passive Soothe then increases any additional healing received, making it good for group heals when there's a lot of damage coming in.

The elite is Communion. It shields, it heals, it cleanses, but as the healer you only benefit from the cleanses. You won't receive any heals or barrier from this yourself (you just keep on giving!). The passive Sacrament then makes it so that any Communion shields which get popped by damage will then heal the whole group (including you).

As you heal, you will gain Martyrdom. On the upside, the higher your martyrdom, the bigger your heals, but on the downside you will also start taking damage and gain a debuff to how much healing you receive. It is possible with blood to heal others so much that you die! As a result, it's good to take some specials which reduce your Martyrdom.

• Redemption - single target heal and cleanse for a decent chunk of hp The Mercy passive increases the size of the heal.[/*:m]
• Rupture - single target interrupt which will deal damage based on heal rating if you're martyrdom is high. The Blood Flow passive will add a good HOT for your defensive target if your Martyrdom is high enough, but it's an interrupt, which may irritate some tanks if used at the wrong moment.[/*:m]
• Runic Hex - causes enemy attacks to heal their target, applies debilitated so less damage is dealt and when it ends will give an aoe heal. The passive Paroxysm spreads the healing effect to other mobs at the end of the effect. It's got the potential for a nice load of healing, if you can get it onto the right target![/*:m][/list:u]

You can also use Rejuvenate to recover some of the hp you lose to casting heals. The passive Resurgence will add to the heals you receive, but tbh it's not something which I've found much use for personally.

Other passives:
Sanguine charm - gives you a short boost whenever you reduce your Martyrdom level, which would normally cost you power. Bit meh really.[/:m]
Rites of Refuge - boosts the protection rating of players you've shielded. Not bad, but there are better options. If you're tank healing, could be very handy.[/:m]
Shroud of Retribution - deal a bit of damage back to monsters hitting your shields. It's not going to win any dps races, but if you've got the space it won't suck![/:m]
Red Tide - handy for times when you're having to heal hard, this will give you a power boost if you gain two power increases from martyrdom in 6 seconds.[/:m][/list:u]

Build wise:
Basic: Mend
1: Runic Hex
2: Redemption
E: Communion
LMB: Sanctuary
RMB: Renewal (from fist)[/list:u]

Passives:
Rites of Refuge
Restorative Ward
Paroxysm
mercy
Sacrament[/list:u]

How to use it:
Keep an eye out for your Martyrdom levels!
Spamming Mend is fine, but you'll need to use Sanctuary more. Don't be afraid to drop your martyrdom with Redemption and Runic Hex regularly - it's better to avoid killing yourself by focusing on others too much! Communion is your main group heal. Ideally people will be close enough to Runic Hex, but think we all know that your DPS can be relied on to keep their distance if there's actually a reason to stick close by! If your tank is taking big damage, get a shield on them and use renewal a few times for a good boost without having to worry about martyring yourself.

There are other options and builds, but these are a couple to get you started 🙂

I have been blood/fist healing so far and here is what I'd like to add.

First of Sanctuary and martyrdom, with passive you do not take damage from martyrdom only when shield. That means you can be alive and healing with maximum martyrdom for very long time without dieing, as long as you only shield the target and use fist to fill up the little hp might lose in excess of shield.

Second martyrdom dumps, you only really need one. My preference is Redemption with mercy passive, if I use it on high health target I will lose 100% martyrdom, making it easy to recover. And if I use it when tank is low on health it becomes a heal nuke. Runic Hex and Rupture are situational, like HR5 or HR4 where group needs just a little more DPS or CC.

Elite, in addition to Communion you have Eldritch Scourge + Desolate passive. It give a short HoT to all party members near target including you, the healer, and add a little DPS to the group. Ideal for HR4 for example.

My standard build is as follows:
Actives
Mend
Communion
Wild Surge
Redemption
Sanctuary
Renewal

Passives
Crimson pulse + small HoT on crit
Sacrament
Mercy
Restorative Ward
Recuperate

I use Wild surge not so much for healing, but rather for cleansing and slowing of enemies, the slow effect is great for any add fight, allowing me to keep distance and rest of the group to deal with them. It can be changed to invigorating wrath for more healing if needed.

A question in cabal chat today led to some conflicting information on healing with the basic ability.

There are 2 practices, one is spamming basic and use power ability if basic does not manage and the other is to use basic only if you run out of energy. Just to get it out of the way, I'm advocate of the later, but there are more than 1 person who thinks spamming basic is the way, so be your own judge.

Spamming basic. It allows you to heal up any dps who might have taken damage and saves energy for big heals when needed. In easy fights that will be all that you need. It is clean and familiar way to heal, and works wonders in Elite 1 runs.

Using basic as last resort. When healing with blood basic will eat your health and it will not save any blood DPS at max corruption, so better to just do nothing on throw heals on need to heal basis. When using rifle, you are doing almost no damage, defeating purpose of taking leech, so better to go with power. And as fights intensify you do not need to change your healing habits.

Over all if basic is enough to keep your tank up, tank is likely overgeared, use dps talismans and do some damage while throwing heal now and again.

I think there's an consideration about the difference between blood and fist healing.

With blood, there is an obvious downside to spamming your basic - you risk doing damage to yourself when you don't need to. It's better with blood to be proactive with your shields, after all, what's the point in being able to prevent damage if you're using it after the damage has landed? The duration of Sanctuary is decently long, so it's not going to eat your energy too much or increase your Martyrdom by too much.

With fist, the basic is a stacking HoT which doesn't really heal for much until you've got it stacked up to 3. There's no downside to using it proactively, and having more HoTs working on your def target plays into some of the tricks fist healers use for big damage (Ferocity for example).

Frankly, a lot depends on gear level and content. You should be able to adapt your build and gear to match your situation. If you've got a tank who's taking little damage, that's great, switch stuff around and join in on the damage. If you've got a load of group damage coming in and you're going to need to stay on top of it, then that's not the time to be trying to compete for DPS.

You need to decide when it's appropriate to be using your basic abilities and holding energy in reserve, and when you need to be using your energy as your main source of healing, with your basic ability as potential filler or to help generate more energy with crits. As you progress into later content, you'll find that bosses will hit harder and harder. That will mean that you'll need to use more energy abilities to keep your tank alive. Your basic abilities will remain very useful though for moments when you want to heal another team member without worrying about switching your defensive target. Just how much we'll be using our basic abilities remains to be seen as we move up through the content.

As an aside, trying to save blood DPS at max corruption is not something that the healer should be trying to do. If someone is deliberately reducing their incoming heals by 95% and relying on you to heal them, then if they die that is their fault. Blood DPS who do not manage their own corruption appropriately are failing as a DPS, it's not the healer's duty to prop up a bad player's habits. It's practically rule #1 for DPS that a dead DPS does zero damage. You should toss heals their way if you have them spare, but if they have mismanaged their corruption, that's their own problem.

In my opinion learning to swap targets in hectic fights is essential to become a good healer. While relying on basic to heal target you want, is a very bad habit. I agree that proper use of basic is part of what healer needs to learn, but I find spam argument lacking unless you are preparing for a burst, even for fists.

As for healing blood dps at max corruption, it is only a bad dps habit when player continues to do it even after healer fails, or if it is a fight with a lot of group damage. I blame this one on healer because healers in less than 100 IP gear with no glyphs can do it. If it is between the dps or the tank I agree let dps die, otherwise a blood dps taking damage from nothing else but corruption is playing the way weapon as designed. If dps stands in stuff though it's all on that dps 🙂

Learning to swap targets in a hectic fight is important, yes, but that's not necessarily an argument about using a basic ability or not. If you are using an energy ability when a basic will do, you are using the wrong ability and wasting energy. Given that your point is that healers need to learn to use energy appropriately, you're contradicting yourself.

Healers with IP under 100 and no glyphs can heal corruption damage, but not once corruption has reduced incoming heals by 95%. Blood dps need to use the various mechanics they have to occasionally reduce their corruption, allowing them to be healed and then they should be raising their corruption again. I'm not suggesting that blood DPS should not get to 100% corruption, (hell, it's the best place to be for them,) but they should not have 100% uptime at 100% corruption. Doing that will mean that the healer has to work WAY too hard - at that much corruption being healed for 4k will require 80k of heals, and that's a serious burden to put onto a healer who's already busy. That's the point about Blood dps's design, it's a trade-off between wanting to be at max corruption and having to survive it.

Not sure how I am contradicting my self. Swapping target and applying direct heal to keep all in group alive and not running out energy is about managing energy. That way a healer is much more prepared for harder fights.

I'm not arguing against that basic is more energy efficient, since it uses no energy, but you have no control on who has least hp, nor is it a big enough heal to be effective in a hard fight. So learning to rely on it is going to form a bad habit.

As for blood dps there is no boss fight with 100% full corruption. There are breaks in fights and rotation, most healers mange it just fine, by firing of the aoe heal elite. Fist healers seem to have least problem with it, while leeches struggle. But a good leecher is more dps to group than max corruption, so it's fair trade off. And as long as healers can manage it, I do not see why they should not.