*Release* Rift Cleric Discussion

fangblackbone wrote:

Things have evened out a bit with the crowding and I have lurched to almost 15. I have most of the cleric souls except inquisitor and shaman. I have the quest for the inquisitor but the plane shard isn't dropping for me =(

You have to be part of the closure of a Rift event. Need to get in before stage 3.

You have to be part of the closure of a Rift event. Need to get in before stage 3.

I have, several in fact. I'm bugged. I just need to abandon and collect the quest again.

fangblackbone wrote:
You have to be part of the closure of a Rift event. Need to get in before stage 3.

I have, several in fact. I'm bugged. I just need to abandon and collect the quest again.

No. Same thing happened to me. The shard eventually dropped. I think you have to be in the group that gets credit for the final boss kill.

I wish they'd give one to you for defeating invasions or footholds too.

Arovin wrote:

OK, I have been running Cabalist/Justicar/Inquisitor and I absolutely love it.

We just completed an Iron Tomb run and the massive AOE damage along with all the tiny heals are awesome. The Justicar's -50% aggro really helps, I only pulled arggo once or twice and lost it really quick when I did. For all the AoE spamming I was doing it felt pretty good. If things looked bad for the tank I could run in and spam Strike of Judgment to help heal. As an off healer and DPS this build is great.

I have been thinking about this same build, how is this going for you? And could you post your build?

NathanialG wrote:
Arovin wrote:

OK, I have been running Cabalist/Justicar/Inquisitor and I absolutely love it.

We just completed an Iron Tomb run and the massive AOE damage along with all the tiny heals are awesome. The Justicar's -50% aggro really helps, I only pulled arggo once or twice and lost it really quick when I did. For all the AoE spamming I was doing it felt pretty good. If things looked bad for the tank I could run in and spam Strike of Judgment to help heal. As an off healer and DPS this build is great.

I have been thinking about this same build, how is this going for you? And could you post your build?

I want to like Cabalist but every time I try it for my main soul, I wind up going back to Inquisitor because with it I'm able to take down mobs so much faster. It feels to me like Cabalist won't come in its own until later in the game. So I too would like to hear more about your spec if you're able to make it work well at Iron Tomb levels; I definitely haven't tried mixing Cabalist with Justicar.

This is my current build at 22.

My basic rotation in Iron Tomb is this:
Tank pulls start casting Bound Fate. Since this is a long cast the tank should have time to build aggro
Next Bolt of Radiance just to make sure you have a conviction for an emergency
Then Decay to get 3 lurking decays.
Then cast Tyranny x3
Repeat Decay and Tyranny till group is almost dead.
When a group is down to 1 mob cast Decay to Get your Lurking Decays up so you can skip casting it next fight.

When you start getting low on mana use either Sigil of Power or run in and use Purpose with Strike of Judgment to fill back up.

Always stay in Mien of Honor for the -50% aggro and keep Righteous Mandate up on the tank for extra healing.

Where this build struggles is single target fights. Instead of Tyranny you need to use Obliterate which is on such a long cool down it is frustrating.

I find when soloing I kill much faster if I can get at least 3 mobs on me at a time. Tyranny does awesome damage but only when the mobs are grouped.

End game my planned Cabalist build is this:
Cabalist33/Justicar16/Inquisitor17

Is that the build you solo with also?

I was trying real hard to make a melee dps cleric, but they're just not cut out it seems or at least not at lower lvls.

When i visit the cleric again i'm going to go with a casting dps build.

Here are all 4 of my planned Roles for end game:

Ranged DPS:Cabalist33/Justicar16/Inquisitor17
Melee DPS:Inquisitor28/Shaman24/Justicar14
Ranged Healing:Warden 32/Cabalist20/Justicar14
Melee Healing and/or Tanking:Justicar32/Cabalist22/Warden12

Strekos wrote:

Is that the build you solo with also?

Yes I have been, when I am not experimenting. Solo its survivability is not great of I don't heal fast enough. Once I get 12 points in Inquisitor for the added Vex healing that will change. I can then use Vex to pull mobs to help keep me up while I spam Tyranny and should not have to use convictions as much for healing.

As far as soloing goes, my cleric goes into Justicar far enough to pick up Reparation then I have the rest into Shaman. Good tough and steady DPS. I have Druid as my third soul just for the streamed HoTs the pet gives me. She's not high level enough to have any really advanced or developed build, though.

When i visit the cleric again i'm going to go with a casting dps build.

I played this build very briefly before launch. Its ranged dps and healer with a slight edge towards healer.

Sentinel/Cabalist/Warden

and if you want to go even more healer, Purifier/Cabalist/Warden

Those damage shields you get on top of your purifier heals are so nice.

I didn't play in beta so this game is really new to me. I haven't seen much discussion of the Sentinel here so here's what I've done so far:

I've built a Sentinel/Warden/Purifier as my main and so far up to level 20 I'm loving it. I'm planning on putting all my points into just Sentinel and Warden (majority in Sentinel).

The Sentinel tree brings great aoe heals and some good single target emergency heals that have really paid off healing rifts and stuff. The Warden brings some HoTs that are useful when its slow or you just need to top off the tank or give a dps a quick jolt. The Purifier brings a required shield, trust me its needed.

The end result is a great group healer and solid, but not too fast soloer. I've really only run into one situation where my damage wasn't high enough to drop a boss mob, but I was also 3 levels lower that it. It has great survivability, rarely has any downtime and I've been able to easily handle 3 mobs at once.

My basic solo rotation goes like this:

Shield of the Ancestors, Light Bolt, Light Bolt, Life's Vengence, Shards of Light, Life's Vengence, 1 or 2 Waterjet if needed.

Though I'm only level 14, I'm really liking my Shaman/Warden/Sentinel, basically a melee healer with backup instant nukes, a real hybrid character that reminds me a little of WoW's shaman. I took Sentinel just for the zero point instant heal, which really compliments the Warden hots and has proven invaluable so far.

Basically I can use Waterjet to pull or add some ranged dps when on the move, and the meat of my dps is melee with the Shaman abilities. I really like having a survivable character (especially after playing Mage in alpha, yikes) and so far I have no problems with adds or anything else due to all the self healing I can do.

It's also fun to heal rifts on the fly without having to switch specs. I've got my keybinds set up so all of my attacks turn into my heals just by hitting shift, so it's easy to heal and dps as needed during rifts or warfronts.

Tobliz wrote:

As far as soloing goes, my cleric goes into Justicar far enough to pick up Reparation then I have the rest into Shaman. Good tough and steady DPS. I have Druid as my third soul just for the streamed HoTs the pet gives me. She's not high level enough to have any really advanced or developed build, though.

I have the same build with my cleric. I was feeling a bit lacking in the dps department until level 20. But once you get your cleave attack, the Massive Blow reset proc and the mana regen abilities, it feels a lot better. I try and avoid comparing him to a WOW pally - but the "hybrid tax" concept worries me a bit. Will melee dps clerics be viable in endgame? Worst case scenario I would hope there will always be a need for a Justicar/Shammie or Druid off healing on the front lines.

I posted these in the macro section too, but for my cleric tank build, I am 44 justicar / 12 purifier / 10 shaman.

Here are my tanking macros that I use for single target and multi-target tanking - really simplifies things for me, and works well in pvp also.

Justicar Tank Macro (basic attack sequence)
(single target)
============================
#show Strike of Judgement
/stopcasting
/suppressmacrofailures
/cast Cauterize
/cast Fated Blow
/cast Sovereignty
/cast Glacial Shield
/cast Precept of Refuge
/cast Censure
/cast Strike of Judgement
============================

Multi-target:
============================
#show Even Justice
/stopcasting
/suppressmacrofailures
/cast Cauterize
/cast Glacial Shield
/cast Fated Blow
/cast Precept of Refuge
/cast Purpose
/cast Even Justice
============================

So I have picked up Rift again and I am rolling with my almost 16 cleric. I have every soul except shaman. I was tossing and turning over whether to have my 0 point soul be purifier or sentinel to help round out the warden's healing ability. I know the purifier's shield is a big deal but I went with sentinel because of its instacast heal. Why? Well at 15, the shield absorbs 279 damage with a 30 second cooldown and the instacast heal heals for 120-140 and has an 8 sec cooldown. This is important because I can fire off 3 and almost 4 heals for every shield I cast. So the damage negated potential is greater with the heal and, it is more versatile since not only can I cast it 3 times for every 1 shield, but I can use it on 1-3 people for every shield.

Just in the first half hour of running with this build, I have used the insta-heal around 10 times to save players who have bitten off more than they can chew or were jumped by an invasion. (5 of those times where when I stumbled upon a duo with no heals trying to close a same level rift)

So I have good healing ability and good single target dps with an inquisitor/warden/sentinel 12/8/0. Warriors will love you!

The difference with a shield is that it will prevent spell pushback.

I'm fond of that 0 point purifier shield. I stagger it with the shield in the druid soul, where I also get an instaheal and a pet that heals (somewhat), and limited melee. For my main punch, cabalist. Really nice AoE. Aoe/Shields/Heal, I have no problem handling multiples my own level.

This has been more of a PvP focused build, but worked fine for the rift running and questing I did while waiting for a WF. Not sure how much longer it will remain viable, but its fun right now.

Build at 21

Oh, and the shield vs pushback thing? Great when trying to harvest a node, until the mob breaks the shield, you probably won't be interrupted.

I have been struggling healing dungeons the past couple of weeks. I'm slowly learning how to heal properly as I have never played a main healer in an MMO.

The last two AP runs (One with a Rift Stalker tank and one with a Justicar) have gone pretty smoothly. Partly due to me getting more comfortable healing and not panicking as much. Mostly though its the build and macros that have made the difference.

Purifier34/Sentinel32

This makes a great single target and group healer. The focus is on Surging Flames. I always liked the concept of Surging Flames for group healing, but it does not seem dependable on the tank as the tank is not always going to be getting over heals. What I did was take Shared Recovery to use as my main heal and keep Surging Flames up on myself. Shared Recovery is a moderate heal with a moderate mana cost and a 1.5 sec cast time that heals both myself and the tank. If I am at full health the Tank gets 150% of the heal and the rest of the group gets 50%. It treats it as a single target heal so Enflamed Rejuvination goes off from it, but not Protect the Flock.

The only problem I find with this build is it contributes 0 DPS. That is where i feel 90% of situations in dungeon runs Chloromancer makes a better group healer.

I'll post my macros when I get home tonight.

Here are the Macros I use with the build from the previous post. Healing Flare is listed at the end of most of the heals so I can get some healing off while moving if I have to.

**EDIT** (I don't use the modifier keys [alt] [ctrl] or [shift] in my macros as I play left handed and cannot reach those keys easily. You my have better success healing if you add them to yours.)

Primary Heal

#show Shared Recovery
suppressmacrofailures
cast Searing Transfusion
cast Ward of the Ancestors
cast Shared Recovery
cast Healing Flare

Will drop the endurance buff and shield at the beginning of combat and then spam Shared Recovery to keep the Tank, group and myself up.

Big Heal

#show Touch the Light
suppressmacrofailures
cast Touch the Light
cast Flashover
cast Healers Haste
cast Restorative Flame

Big Heal will instant cast a Crit Restorative Flame followed by a second instant cast Restorative Flame. Plus 3 more fast casting Restorative Flames.

Mouse Over Heal

#show Healing Flare
suppressmacrofailures
cast @mouseover Healing Breath
cast @mouseover Shared Recovery
cast @mouseover Healing Flare

Quick Healing Breath for emergencies.

Group Heal

#show Divine Call
suppressmacrofailures
cast Divine Call
cast Healing Communion

This will also put protect the flock on the group.

Self Heal

#show Healing Breath
suppressmacrofailures
cast Shield of the Ancestors
cast @self Healing Breath
cast @self Restorative Flame
cast @self Healing Flare

Restorative Flame will keep me shielded till I lose aggro

Cleanse

#show Sterilize
suppressmacrofailures
cast @mouseover Sterilize
cast @self Sterilize
cast Sterilize
cast Empowering Light
cast @mouseover cauterize
cast @self cauterize
cast cauterize

Cleanse will make sure anyone one near me, I have targeted, have mouseover or myself will be cured. I had trouble with this last night, but fixed it toady.

Arovin wrote:

Here are the Macros I use with the build from the previous post. Healing Flare is listed at the end of most of the heals so I can get some healing off while moving if I have to.

**EDIT** (I don't use the modifier keys [alt] [ctrl] or [shift] in my macros as I play left handed and cannot reach those keys easily. You my have better success healing if you add them to yours.)

Primary Heal

#show Shared Recovery
suppressmacrofailures
cast Searing Transfusion
cast Ward of the Ancestors
cast Shared Recovery
cast Healing Flare

Will drop the endurance buff and shield at the beginning of combat and then spam Shared Recovery to keep the Tank, group and myself up.

Big Heal

#show Touch the Light
suppressmacrofailures
cast Touch the Light
cast Flashover
cast Healers Haste
cast Restorative Flame

Big Heal will instant cast a Crit Restorative Flame followed by a second instant cast Restorative Flame. Plus 3 more fast casting Restorative Flames.

Mouse Over Heal

#show Healing Flare
suppressmacrofailures
cast @mouseover Healing Breath
cast @mouseover Shared Recovery
cast @mouseover Healing Flare

Quick Healing Breath for emergencies.

Group Heal

#show Divine Call
suppressmacrofailures
cast Divine Call
cast Healing Communion

This will also put protect the flock on the group.

Self Heal

#show Healing Breath
suppressmacrofailures
cast Shield of the Ancestors
cast @self Healing Breath
cast @self Restorative Flame
cast @self Healing Flare

Restorative Flame will keep me shielded till I lose aggro

Cleanse

#show Sterilize
suppressmacrofailures
cast @mouseover Sterilize
cast @self Sterilize
cast Sterilize
cast Empowering Light
cast @mouseover cauterize
cast @self cauterize
cast cauterize

Cleanse will make sure anyone one near me, I have targeted, have mouseover or myself will be cured. I had trouble with this last night, but fixed it toady.

==============================================
==============================================

I've been playing around with this heal spec, trying to tune it some. And here are my comments on it.

I like it, and I like the spec as a whole - especially as I was getting used to it in a couple of dungeon runs last night.

As to the macros - I'll take them individually. Most of them I liked, and use as-is.

The big heal one though, I've found in experts it's usually not worth it to have all the other misc. abilities clumped in with it.

So I changed mine to be:

Big Heal
#show Resstorative Flame
suppressmacrofailures
cast Touch the Light
cast Restorative Flame
cast Healing Flare

At best, It will give it to me instant sometimes if I'm spamming it, 1.5s if Serendipity is up, and 3s otherwise. Using Shared Recovery helps guarantee it's up whenever I need it.

I also put my self shield of the ancestors in with the instant heal macro. Just to keep me shielded, but I put it in the rotation behind Healing Breath.

As to the primary heal macro: In Experts I've found it's better to keep Searing Transfusion available for those @(&# moments, since It does heal for about 2k. As such, my primary heal macro is as follows:

[quote]
Primary Heal

#show Shared Recovery
suppressmacrofailures
cast Ward of the Ancestors
cast Shared Recovery
cast Healing Flare

Overall -- I really like this spec Arovin , so thanks for doing the legwork on it. I'd been looking for a spec that was able to hold it's own in experts against a broad range of mobs. This one isn't able to do it *easily* as a single healer, but none of them really are, and this one at least I feel like I can get the job done.

What's a good primary healer build with DPS? My wife and I are looking to play together, and I'll probably make an alt warrior, and she'll go cleric. I know she'll want to focus on healing, but DPS will probably make it more interesting for her. If it matters, ranged DPS is probably better for her than melee, but I'd appretiate build ideas for both.

Also, a Warrior build that can hold aggro but also dish out the DPS is appretiated, as I think that will make a good compliment. Survivability is much of an issue, as the warrior will always be running around with a healer focused cleric

Also, what abilities does the cleric have to reduce downtime? I find all my mage builds incorporate something to reclaim mana, otherwise downtime is painful.

Shoal07 wrote:

What's a good primary healer build with DPS? My wife and I are looking to play together, and I'll probably make an alt warrior, and she'll go cleric. I know she'll want to focus on healing, but DPS will probably make it more interesting for her. If it matters, ranged DPS is probably better for her than melee, but I'd appretiate build ideas for both.

Also, a Warrior build that can hold aggro but also dish out the DPS is appretiated, as I think that will make a good compliment. Survivability is much of an issue, as the warrior will always be running around with a healer focused cleric

Also, what abilities does the cleric have to reduce downtime? I find all my mage builds incorporate something to reclaim mana, otherwise downtime is painful.

Remember, you guys can use the roles also. You can have one role for a dps warrior and another for a more tank like if you guys run up on some elites. Right now at 50, i have a dps role that i use when i solo, a bard role that i usually HAVE to use when I run experts, and a ranged dps I use for rifts and some expert dungeon bosses.

A nice mixed build for duo'ing would be sentinel and inquisitor with some cabalist thrown in too. Maybe 32 sent, 24 inquisitor, and 10 cab.

I can find the specific points later, but that would be a good blend for dps/heals and support.

I have 3 specs, plus new macros I will post later.

I'm more worried about what choices she's going to make levels 1-10 during the free weekend. Also, if duo, why sentinal over purifier?

Buffs, battle rezzing at 32, instant heal, instant aoe heal, instant group cure, and shared healing to heal both at once, then back to dps.

Plenty good for duoing, questing, PVP, and even running non expert dungeons.

I'm at work now, but will post a build plan later.