Below are hints and tips for healers out there. These are in my own opinion and I encourage everyone to go above and beyond what I post here.
**For clarity, we will have a group of five level 80’s, which includes one tank, three DPS and the healer. The mobs they fight are multiples. No single threat here. Let’s just say that the fight sequence goes as such: Tank pulls the mobs and continues to gain aggro on the entire mob. DPS 1, 2, and 3 begin to attack the mob. All begin following the kill order set as Skull, X, Triangle, and Diamond. As Skull dies, tank and two of the DPS switch to X while one of the DPS switches to Triangle. Out of kill order, this DPS gets aggro and the mob begins to hit on them. As this DPS loses health drastically, the healer must then heal this DPS. Diamond changes aggro to healer and runs off to attack. Now the overall situation is this. Skull is dead, X is being hit by Tank and two DPS, Triangle is attacking one of the DPS, and Diamond is attacking the healer. **For this posts sake I wanted the aggro to be lost to offer a situation here. Please don’t post that the tank must suck because aggro was lost. Just take the healing advice.
Pre-fight situation. Before the tank goes in and aggroes the mob, the healer should cast any beneficial spell so that the fight will be that much easier. For Druids, this should be Lifebloom. Priests should use Prayer of Mending. And so on.
When the battle begins, the order goes as thus; Tank, Healer, DPS. It is not the healers job to warn DPS about their health or their position. Everyone should know their place. The healer is there so that the meat-shield Tank can survive. So the tank will need constant healing with DPS receiving bonus heals. By bonus heals, I mean healing received at an appropriate time when the tank can survive the cast time to heal a DPS. Most of the time, a DPS can survive with a smaller heal or in case of a druid healer a lifebloom or two.
Now when a DPS grabs aggro, they should back off on hitting that target and the tank should get aggro back. This is when the bonus healing should be recieved by the DPS. If the DPS still has aggro then the healer needs to make sure that they have time to cast a larger heal on the DPS without losing the tank.
When multiple DPS take separate aggro or rather damage from multiple sources, the healer needs to realize who will survive longer. If a rogue and an retribution paladin both suffer damage, the healer should heal the rogue first then switch to the paladin. The paladin will last much longer than a rogue for the fact that they wear plate armor, can heal themselves need be and can cast a shield around them that reduces damage taken. This situation also depends on the gear, resistance, and mob doing the damage. Watch the health loss of each as you heal and be sure to act accordingly.
When the healer takes aggro, the tank is either dead or a circumstance has occurred that the tank can not gain aggro. In such a case, the healer needs to make sure they are not lost and the tank remains at an adequate health range. In most cases a smaller heal can be used to keep the healer alive. The tank will remain your priority here even though you are being hit. If high amounts of damage is being taken by the healer, then a larger heal will be needed. Try not to burn through your mana healing yourself and trying to heal the tank and DPS. At this point the DPS are not even on the list. Leave them be or throw out a party wide heal such as Wild Growth, Chain Heal, or Circle of Healing.
Post-fight. The healer will need to top the groups health off or at least make sure they are not close to death. Ambushes can wipe a party very easily. After the fight, the healer will need to gain mana, so heal the tank and yourself then gain your mana unless you of course cast another party wide heal. Druid’s lifebloom comes is handy once again here as you can cast one on each of the party members and then drink away. Cost effective and fast.
Once again I would like to state that this is all in my own opinion and I welcome any healer to post more information that can be useful to everyone else.
Blogger (80 elite) 