Curse

Shiraishi · Jun 15, 2006, 11:08 PM // 23:08

So I've done some experimenting with my ritualist lately, and found that it can be quite useful in the Barrage/Pet build.

The goal here was to essentially replace the monk, as spamming Heal Party can be quite inefficient when you have spirits like Recuperation and Life that can accomplish a similar task, and unlike Heal Party, affect pets and minions as well. In addition, the spirit spamming gives energy to the necromancers, and the use of spells like Spirit Transfer, Mend Body and Soul, and Feast of Souls take advantage of both your spirits and the ranger spirits. The direct heals are also faster, and having quick methods to heal the party is very useful in such runs.

After countless runs using this healing build, it can be seen that the minions and pets generally stay alive longer, and there's less need to spam healing spells, courtesy of Recuperation. Not to mention I also get a lot of comments on how the party likes me better than a monk.

But as most of you are probably aware, there is no such thing as one profession completey replacing another, so I advise that perhaps the Orders necro in the party bring along a Heal Party, to fill in for the time gaps that it takes for the ritualist to summon the spirits. The best runs I participate in have the Orders necro double as a backup healer.
It's either that, or have someone bring Succor, and maybe have the Orders necro put Blood Ritual on you a bit more often than normal. A ritualist can spam heals just as well as a monk, when armed with an endless supply of energy.

The build may still need tweaking, but I've found it to work quite nicely for the majority of B/P groups.

Profession: Ritualist/(any second profession)

Name: The B/P Ritualist Healer

Type: PvE

Category: Healer

Skills Set:
Boon of Creation (Spawning Power)
Recuperation (Restoration Magic)
Life (Restoration Magic)
Spirit Transfer (Restoration Magic)
Mend Body and Soul (Restoration Magic)
Feast of Souls (Spawning Power)
Ritual Lord {Elite} (Spawning Power)
Flesh of My Flesh (Restoration Magic) --- or you may use whatever resurrection spell you're comfortable with

Attributes
Spawning Power: 14 (12+1+1)
Restoration Magic: 15 (12+3)
OR
Spawning Power: 15 (12+1+2)
Restoration Magic: 14 (12+2)

I have made two sets of attributes because some people might prefer to use two major runes over a superior and minor. Because of one of the latest updates, major runes now only subtract 35 health each, giving the second set of attributes a +5 health over the first. Both sets of attributes produce a good healer.

Now the reason your secondary profession doesn't matter is because you won't use it at all. By spending all of your attribute points into Ritualist attributes, you can take full advantage of the true healing powers of the ritualist.

Now to break down how the build works.

You'll want to always start by casting Boon of Creation. This gives you back health and energy whenever you summon your two spirits, so you won't lose much by spamming them. And you'll need the energy, in case you have to quickly heal a teammate that starts getting ganged up on. At 14 Spawning Power, it lasts 57 seconds, and grants you 47 health and 8 energy.

Use Ritual Lord next while you start spamming spirits. At 14 Spawning Power, it should cause your rituals to recharge 71% faster.

Re-cast Boon and Ritual Lord as necessary, and keep a steady eye on Ritual Lord so that you don't end up losing the benefits of it while you're summoning a spirit. Since you only have two spirits, and both of them are essential to the team, a mistake in timing can be devastating.

Now on to the spirits.
It doesn't matter which order you cast the two spirits in, just try to keep a steady flow of them. Recuperation will help lessen the need for spamming heals. And by casting Life right as soon as you can cast it again, it should heal the area for about 80. At 15 Restoration, leaving it out for the full 30 seconds will heal for a grand total of 150. And that's to all allies, minions and pets alike.

Another thing to note is that Life and Recuperation have fairly large areas of effect, and someone reported that it's about 2.5 times the size of the aggro range. This allows you to easily sit in the back most of the time, only needing to get closer if you need to directly heal someone. So if you pay attention and keep your distance, your job as a healer can actually be pretty easy.

So what about Feast of Souls?
As a ritualist, I love my spirits. To the point at which I don't like to destroy them often. For me, I prefer to use Feast of Souls more as a last resort, because it can be hard to get all those spirits back out again. But Feast of Souls is great in that if your party suddenly starts to die, at 14 Spawning Power it can heal the party for 97 health per spirit.

In this case, since your rituals recharge fairly fast, you can afford to use Feast of Souls a bit more often. It's still not something I recommend to use often, but it definitely can be convenient in times of need. If timed right, it can heal the whole party for about 350 when combined with Life.

One thing to note is you need to try to keep a good balance between moving around and staying put. Feast of Souls has a fairly small range, and if you're not careful, you can easily run towards a party member to heal them, find out that you need to use Feast of Souls, and end up taking too long to run back and kill the spirits.

You're not a monk; you need your spirits to be nearby to be an effective healer. Try to summon your spirits fairly close to the battlefield at first. If the minion master knows what they're doing, you won't have to worry about you or your spirits being targeted. If something goes wrong, it's fairly easy to move back and summon your spirits again.

But if you summon your spirits too far away from the battlefield, your party can easily become out of range as they rush in to block the enemies. And you'll also be distancing yourself from the puller, who often needs healing the most. Furthermore, you're going to be running back and forth, which is something I think I mentioned you should avoid.

The last thing to talk about are the direct healing spells, Spirit Transfer and Mend Body and Soul. I picked Spirit Transfer because at 15 Restoration, and if the nearby spirit has 75 health to spare, it heals for 225. And it's practically instant, which helps make up for the speed issues that ritualists have with healing via Life spamming. Just make sure you don't stray too far away from the party's spirits, otherwise you'll just waste your energy.

Mend Body and Soul, on the other hand, is meant to work sorta like Orison of Healing. It's an inexpensive spell that provides 85 health at 15 Restoration, and is great for quickly healing up a necro that just sacrificed 20% of their health. And like any other inexpensive spells, I recommend replacing it with something else if you can find a better use for that skill slot.

And don't forget armor and weapons.
Armor-wise, I designed this build to work well with any set of ritualist armor. It's really up to your personal preference.
Same goes for weapons, I only suggest that you don't use off-hands or wands that decrease your energy regen and that they include a HCT/HSR for either Restoration or Spawning Power.
If you're not worried about how much damage your weapon will do, there's some cheap staves available to be crafted at Seitung Harbor that include the same HCT/HSR upgrade and energy benefits as the staves in Kaineng, they just don't do as much damage.
And be sure to have health upgrades in your armor and weapons, to cancel out the health loss from the Superior Restoration rune.

That's it for now. Give this build a try, and post suggestions and comments as you see fit.

As a special note, don't limit the usage of this build to strictly B/P groups. I only emphasized B/P because the B/P build needed an improvement in the healing department. Healers are appreciated just about anywhere, and this build has proven itself useful in all kinds of situations involving slow advances over terrain.

dfscott · Jun 16, 2006, 05:09 PM // 17:09

Nice build -- I'll have to give it a shot.

One thing to remember is that Ritual Lord doesn't have to be cast in any particular order -- it's a skill, not a spell and can be activated like a stance in mid-cast. I will generally cast a spirit, and then right before it completes, I'll activate Ritual Lord in order to maximize its duration.

rollingggaz · Jun 19, 2006, 06:13 AM // 06:13

Looks nice, I'll probably go for this as Im going for a supportive Ritualist!

Robin_Anadri · Jun 23, 2006, 12:10 AM // 00:10

Heh I was expecting you to say Rit/R since my brain went "B/P ritualist - barrage/pet ritualist?"

Shiraishi · Jul 08, 2006, 11:38 AM // 11:38

The first post has been edited to provide a bit more in-depth explanation, and to account for the comment about Ritual Lord.