RK Healing

[Galwimloth]

Gwinvordol was asking in game about how to trait and rotate for healing as a rune-keeper with an eye toward more grouping. Having healed the occasional instance, here is what I've gleaned.

Class Slot Traiting is fairly easy, since you have seven slots by level 59 and there are only eight healing traits anyway. If there's one you haven't earned, the choice is made for you, but if you have all eight, the one I usually leave off is Author of Exaltation, which extends the life of the single-target morale bubble. That bubble should last long enough for you to get the target back out of danger.

Virtues, and gear for RK healing still look to will as the primary stat to boost, but vitality is a close second in healing. A healer is much more valuable to the group than a DPSer, and must not be allowed to die, so resistance, mitigation, and morale are of greater importance, especially as RKs are squishy to begin with. Even though it's tedious, do some deeds for Zeal.

For Legendary traits, the Wonderous Foreshadowing is obvious, since even if you don't use the skill, you get a 5% boost to healing. (Although I never found the quest for this, so it's something to look into). Martial Training is also a must-have for the stat boosts to morale and armour. For the third slot, you could go with That Which Does Not Kill Us, but I'm partial to Steady Hands. There's nothing more dramatic than, having spent all your power on healing, but seeing that the last boss of the instance is down to maybe 20,000 HP, popping steady hands and then Epic Conclusion to kill him before the group dies.

That's the pre-battle stuff, now how do you actually use it?

First rule is to always drop the stone before battle starts (unless you're in a no-stone instance like Saruman or Draigoch), if for no other reason than threat reduction. When combat does begin, using steady attunement skills like Weapons Shall Not Harm Us or Do Not Fall to Flame/Storm/Frost can be a good idea to let the tank build aggro. But fairly early in, you'll want to put Prelude to Hope and Writ of Health on the tank, and maybe another of whichever one cools down soonest on the lead DPS, in case they pull aggro. Remember, RK healing is about being proactive.

Keep an eye on your buffs and re-drop the stone if it goes away.

Now, if anyone has taken some damage, you want to use Mending Verse to get them back up near full, and to get your attunement up to three. If after that, the group is still at pretty much full life, the rest of your job is just maintaining those HOTs on the important people, and using Mending Verse and Epic for the Ages on whoever's taking damage, which should just be the tank.

If damage is spread all over, say because you're fighting an AOE or distributed damage mob, you want to bust out Rousing Words, which is the only full fellowship heal you've got. It requires you to stand still, so be careful when using it in instances where you're constantly on the move.

If the tank is being overwhelmed, run up your attunement as fast as possible with Writs and Preludes to get to Word of Exaltation, the bubble. The bubble lasts for 4 seconds. During that time, cast Glorious Foreshadowing and Epic for the Ages. That should be the combo to get the tank back to stability and allow the HOTs to take effect. I have them in consecutive slots on the Quickslot bar just to make it easier. There's also the 9-attunement full-fellowship bubble. The time to use that is when you're overwhelmed. If you lose sight of the tank, or if people are dying left and right, or if you're just panicked, push the button. Don't let it sit unused.

That's my main rotation. I don't like Our Fates Entwined unless you know that there's not going to be any wounds or debuffs that are going to damage you. The Rune-sign of Storm/Flame/Frost is an HOT like Prelude and Writ, but it doesn't last any longer than Prelude and costs more power.

For power management, if you're in a long slog, use Self-Motivation as soon as you get up to 7 or 8 attunement to start its cooldown. Do the same with your pots. Also remember Calming Verse, which gives a small power reduction buff. You also want to pop that if you pull aggro.

And then there's Do Not Fall This Day. the "in-combat" rez. This lasts for the duration of combat and steadies you by 6. If you know that you have time, use it early (obviously this is only for boss fights with its 10 minute cooldown). Discuss with the raid leader as to who the target is. If there's a second healer who has an in-combat rez of her own, that might be the better target than the tank.

The last thing I'll say, and this may just be my obsessiveness, but I have a separate LI Rune-Stone and Satchel for healing and for DPS. If you're a jeweler or a tailor (which you should be), you can craft them until you find the legacies you want, and grind out the points. Just remember to equip the right one!

Well, that's what I do. Any other RKs' advice is welcome, even "OMG how could you do that it's so stupid?!" to any of the above.

[Merowin]

I don't know anything about healing on runekeepers, but I do have a minstrel, and one thing that is always very helpful is to communicate with the tank. Let him know if he is doing something that is causing you problems, like running out of range or hiding behind pillars. There may be a reason for him doing that, but it may also be that he had no idea that it would make your job harder.

There are also things you can do that will cause problems for the tank that you might not be aware of. As a healer, you like to heal people and starting early makes that easier. So many healers like to use a heal over time or dropping a healing stone as the tank runs in to start the fight. Bad idea. It will cause all the mobs in the room to run for you or your stone instead of the tank and the tank will have to try to pick them up one at a time. Without the early heal, the tank can run in, let the mobs gather around him, hit challenge and he will have picked up all the mobs with just one skill. Especially wardens may have problems with heals over time ticking on them as they run in, since it is harder for a warden to get initial agro.

Because a runekeeper's heals over time last for a while, it may even happen that the tank will start the next pull with your heal still ticking away on him. If that causes problems just tell the tank to wait until the heal has expired.

[rolandarcturus]

I second merowin on holding off initial healing. You always, always need to give the tank at least 10 seconds to build aggro. Yes, some tanks are very capable of getting the whole room's aggro at once and in the first seconds of a fight, but others are not. I have been in so many pitched battles that would have been easy victories if the RNK would have just held off for a second or two with their initial healing.

[Galwimloth]

Good points on tanking, and I'll try to change that in my own game. Steady-attunement skills though should not draw aggro, and the run-speed debuff or Fall to Flame (coordinate with hunters to see if they're using fire oil or light oil and attune accordingly) should be good early skills to use so you're not idle.