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An alternative to Harrier gear for healing ?


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Hey all,

I'm looking to build a druid and firebrand for fractals and raids, but harrier gear is so much of a pain to have ... Can I replace it with something else without loosing too much healing power/concentration ?Even if I might loose a bit of efficiency, I'm okay with it if It's way easier to get !

Thanks in advance for your responses !

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Not really. Everything else either provides Toughness (mainly Minstrel and Giver's) which, while fine for Fractals other than being an unnecessary DPS loss, will mess with tanking in Raids, or sacrifices too much Healing Power/Concentration as double minors in 4 stat combinations.

Harrier isn't really that hard to get anymore though, especially since all stat selectables like LW Trinkets provide all stats now.

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Your alternatives depend on the class you play. Harrier is the go-to option for dedicated healers for a number of reasons.

  1. Power is the main stat. This allows the user to output decent damage during low pressure moments.
  2. It gives enough healing power to keep a party alive.
  3. It gives concentration, a very important stat for boon uptime.

Most other options will sacrifice on one of these three things, but there are situations where the trade-off is worth it.

Druid

For Raids you have 2 main options at your disposal.

Magi - Less dps and boon uptime than Harrier, but higher survivability. Healing power is the main stat, so hps will be higher.

Due to the loss of dps and might/fury uptime, this is a sup-optimal gear set. It is reccomended to swap to Harrier as soon as possible.[Note: You can offset the loss of concentration somewhat by running concentration food, Peppermint Oil and boon duration runes/sigils.]

Saraph - This is more useful in fractals where spirits can be a bit unwieldy to use. It allows the druid to output very respectable dps with Axe/Torch and traps while still providing good healing and boon uptime. If you love your Druid and wish to play it in Open World, this is a great gear set for you!

Giver - Not reccomended in Toughness-based encounters (Raids). A TP purchasable gear set which allows you to heal and maintain boon uptime. Good personal survivability, but significantly less damage than all other options.

Firebrand

Saraph/Plaguedoctor - You can mix these until you have the desired level of survivability, but full Saraph will provide the most value. You have all the condi burst of a dps firebrand while still outputting good heals and boons. Good for Raids, Fractals, Strikes, and Open world content.

Magi - Due to the fact that Firebrand does not have a very high boon duration requirement to maintain perma quickness, this can be a viable set in a pinch. You should get enough concentration from Food, Runes, Utilities, Sigils, ect. Due to the higher innate crit chance, you will provide decent might through the trait Empowering Might

It is reccomended to work towards Harrier or Saraph gear for better results.

Giver - See Druid section.

Tempest

Berserker - You heard me right. You can run zerker with stregnth runes and maintain perma 25 might, fury, and regen while extending pre-existing boons. A nice setup for carrying pug groups when your healer can't quite maintain boon uptime on their own.

Magi - This setup uses staff. It does not focus heavily on boon uptime, but instead on outputting very high healing per second. You can prevent downs with Rebound, And quickly rez allies with Double geyser and your Rez signet. Healing Rain and Overload water provide high burst cleanse in a pinch. If even more cleansing is desired, you can run Trooper runes. This build shines in training groups.


That wraps up some of the builds I've tried personally. I hope this answers your question :)

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@"Kuma.1503" said:Your alternatives depend on the class you play. Harrier is the go-to option for dedicated healers for a number of reasons.

  1. Power is the main stat. This allows the user to output decent damage during low pressure moments.
  2. It gives enough healing power to keep a party alive.
  3. It gives concentration, a very important stat for boon uptime.

Most other options will sacrifice on one of these three things, but there are situations where the trade-off is worth it.

Druid

For Raids you have 2 main options at your disposal.

Magi - Less dps and boon uptime than Harrier, but higher survivability. Healing power is the main stat, so hps will be higher.

Due to the loss of dps and might/fury uptime, this is a sup-optimal gear set. It is reccomended to swap to Harrier as soon as possible.[Note: You can offset the loss of concentration somewhat by running concentration food, Peppermint Oil and boon duration runes/sigils.]

Saraph - This is more useful in fractals where spirits can be a bit unwieldy to use. It allows the druid to output very respectable dps with Axe/Torch and traps while still providing good healing and boon uptime. If you love your Druid and wish to play it in Open World, this is a great gear set for you!

Giver - Not reccomended in Toughness-based encounters (Raids). A TP purchasable gear set which allows you to heal and maintain boon uptime. Good personal survivability, but significantly less damage than all other options.

Firebrand

Saraph/Plaguedoctor - You can mix these until you have the desired level of survivability, but full Saraph will provide the most value. You have all the condi burst of a dps firebrand while still outputting good heals and boons. Good for Raids, Fractals, Strikes, and Open world content.

Magi - Due to the fact that Firebrand does not have a very high boon duration requirement to maintain perma quickness, this can be a viable set in a pinch. You should get enough concentration from Food, Runes, Utilities, Sigils, ect. Due to the higher innate crit chance, you will provide decent might through the trait Empowering Might

It is reccomended to work towards Harrier or Saraph gear for better results.

Giver - See Druid section.

Yes, thanks a lot ! As a ranger main, that has tried druid a bit before tossing it away after trying it in HoT open world, I think I'll try the Saraph build, because more than raids, I play mainly in open world/fractals with it now (My alacren taking it's place as the 'instance character' for raids, my ranger only working as a DPS for those !)

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