Curse

Sparkticus · Nov 02, 2007, 02:28 AM // 02:28

Just wanted to get an opinion on who is a better main healer. I'm sure the obvious answer is monk because its their job, but what about the advantage of a huge amount of spare energy from a e/mo? Am I just not thinking realistically or is a e/mo healer accepted in end group? Thanks in advance.

Government Flu · Nov 02, 2007, 02:46 AM // 02:46

Hands down, the monk. Using careful energy management and wise skill selection, you can keep a party healed for quite a while. Divine favor makes the difference: a spell that heals a member for 80 health will give them an extra +30 or more if your divine attributes are at a high enough rank.

The elementalist meanwhile, can be used as a support healer, although this is a niche for the class. They're best suited for supporting the party using wards or acting as a damage dealer. However, if you simply must be a monk with energy storage, you can help the main party healer out by casting expensive energy cost skills like Heal Party and Aegis.

You can also combine the Mo/E professions so your monk can use some elementalist glyphs, which helps with energy management. All in all, for reliable health gain, monks win the bet. Divine favor even activates on skills that don't have hit point gain to begin with, like Healing Breeze. Plus, with the ability to add monk runes to their armor, they can add an even greater edge against elementalists in terms of keeping the party alive. Those are my two cents.

Sparkticus · Nov 02, 2007, 03:54 AM // 03:54

Thanks, that was much appreciated and very informative.

Draginvry · Nov 02, 2007, 04:40 AM // 04:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sparkticus

Thanks, that was much appreciated and very informative.

Technically, a Mo/Rt would be the best, but a Mo/E would probably be a better choice if you plan to PuG a lot. For Glyph of Lesser Energy, or whatever it's called.

crucifix · Nov 02, 2007, 01:41 PM // 13:41

The second I read this thread I immediately asked myself why in the hell this topic was even brought up. Then i started reading the responses and began to slowly reach for the pack of razor blades in the back of my work truck....

first things first: a monk primary out heals every other class in the game. An e/mo doesn't. As far as the best monk build in the game; it doesn't exist. Builds are always instanced: you take the skills that you need to keep the party alive in whatever situation it is you will find yourself in.

second: divine favor single handedly trumps any other primary attribute if you want healing. The only other class in the game with healing comparable to a monk is a ritualist. Seeing as how spawning power benefits rit healing a whole lot of nothing, monks win again.

third: Never, EVER take into consideration the skill healing breeze when creating a party monks bar. Unless you are a 55 monk or using some other farming build, healing breeze shouldn't even be considered for inclusion into a play bar. It's an awful heal and it costs entirely too much energy. If one is even thinking about taking healing breeze, one needs to stop and include heal other or jameis gaze instead because healing breeze is the incorrect choice in almost every situation.

fourth: monks arent just "red bars go up yay" healers. Even if you play PvE, where aside from PS/SB prots arent always required, speccing into 4 attributes (energy management included) should be expected. If an e/mo packs a mend ailment, mend condition, and / or dismiss condition, it is an effort in futility. The reason that these skills work at the level that they do is largely due to divine favor.

Fifth: Runes. A monk can quad spec, and still have room to up attributes by a point in each area. Comparably, an e/mo healer will have 13 estorage and 12 healing, whereas a monk can spec higher into whatever attribute needed. This allocation of points also directly correlates to the aspect of prot spells and the advantages of divine favor. Lets look at Reversal of fortune for a second. At a low spec, rof negates an asston of damage. not only does this negation take effect, but the target is healed upon impact of damage. Now we have damage negation, healing from the actual skill, and an additional 30 or so health healed from divine favor. Mind you that all of this is from an investment of 5 energy. For another class to achieve the same effect, well its impossible.

sixth: energy management is easily attainable as a non elite skill on a monk. GoLE and channeling are the most common types of energy management on a monk. The reason for this is that both skills are useable for a minimal energy investment and little to no attribute spec. Even then, GoLE is subpar due to its reduced return and the fact that zealous benediction no longer synergizes nearly as well as it used to. Also keep in mind that in order for an elementalist to heal at the level a monk does, they are going to have to burn their bar much faster because of the reduced healing.

seventh: damage mitigation. This is easy, an e/mo cant use hex breaker, return, or dark escape.

so in conclusion, dont use an ele to do a monks job unless its MoM smiting, and even that has fallen out of style.

moriz · Nov 02, 2007, 09:45 PM // 21:45

incorrect: a ritualist can outheal (and for healing only. does not apply for prot) a monk any day of the month. divine favour or not.

Ensign · Nov 03, 2007, 06:33 AM // 06:33

LoD on recharge with a 40/40 set actually outheals a Restoration Ritualist on its own, if it's hitting every time. Without LoD though, Healing can't keep up with Restoration, no contest.

crucifix · Nov 04, 2007, 02:15 AM // 02:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by moriz

incorrect: a ritualist can outheal (and for healing only. does not apply for prot) a monk any day of the month. divine favour or not.

then how the hell can you say rits are better healers?

Cobalt · Nov 04, 2007, 02:37 AM // 02:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by crucifix

then how the hell can you say rits are better healers?

The biggest reason would be at least for the PVP side is monster AI automatically swarm monks thus others like Rits do not have to spend near as much time running for their lives thus have more time to heal.

Toutatis · Nov 04, 2007, 02:45 AM // 02:45

Quote:

then how the hell can you say rits are better healers?

Healing is only "restoring lost health". Rits have much more effective spells when it comes to doing this single aspect of party support - greater raw health restoration potential (even after taking the monk's divine favor into account) at lower energy costs. The catch is that rit heals all have conditions attached to them, and if those conditions aren't met in the field they become less powerful (compare this to the monk's healing abilities, the majority of which don't have conditional effects with a few notable exceptions).

Protection - "negating or reducing incoming damage" - is an entitely different aspect of party support. Ritualists have a few options for this, but the majority of them are based around fragile spirits that generally take damage every time their protective effects kick in; while these options may protect the entire party, the effect is usually gone very quickly and binding rituals tend to have longer recharge times, so they can usually only be used once per battle. Compare this to the monk's protection options, which tend to be fairly energy efficient, reusable several times per battle, and have the ability to prevent more damage than the ritualist can over time.

In summation, the rit is the superior choice if all you need is a healer with no protection. The monk is the superior choice if you need protection or a reliable heal/prot hybrid.

Biostem · Nov 04, 2007, 02:57 AM // 02:57

I really don't know if this is an appropriate addition to this thread, but here goes:

I've found that reducing damage or redirecting it is better than straight healing. I've also found that keeping your team condition free is also better than just patching up the damage those conditions cause (health lost through degen or other circumstances).

Anyway, the fact that divine favor causes any monk spell to also heal is pure icing on the cake, not to mention that divine favor itself has some very good skills...

crucifix · Nov 05, 2007, 03:28 PM // 15:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by Biostem

I really don't know if this is an appropriate addition to this thread, but here goes:

I've found that reducing damage or redirecting it is better than straight healing. I've also found that keeping your team condition free is also better than just patching up the damage those conditions cause (health lost through degen or other circumstances).

Anyway, the fact that divine favor causes any monk spell to also heal is pure icing on the cake, not to mention that divine favor itself has some very good skills...

Yeah I'm on the same page as you. damage negation has to be taken into account when the word healing is even compared across 2 classes. The point about monks being priority target is invalid to the discussion. The 2 applicable forms of PvP in this discussion are HA and GvG's and i don't think that I have ever been in a situation where a monk has been standing in a dangerous range of NPC's at VoD whilst actually being in correct placement in correlation to the rest of the team.

moriz · Nov 05, 2007, 10:21 PM // 22:21

"healing" refers purely to pushing red bars up. as such, it's safe to say that outside of LoD, ritualists can "out-heal" a monk any day of the week.

Age · Nov 05, 2007, 11:39 PM // 23:39

I would say partially yes but Monks can do a better jop agaisnt hexes.I have played both the only difference is the Rits have to lay down a spirit or hold an item.

Brian the Gladiator · Nov 06, 2007, 09:43 PM // 21:43

Monks are better healers than rits because of divine favor.

Thomas.knbk · Nov 06, 2007, 09:56 PM // 21:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brian the Gladiator

Monks are better healers than rits because of divine favor.

They're not. Spirit Light is pretty much the awesomest healing skill in the game.
'Not letting your team die' is something completely different from healing though, and monks are far better at that.