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Healers for WvW Havoc/zerg?


Wisty.4135

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So, I've been having some fun derping around in WvW lately, and I found I enjoy healing/supporting during pitched battles the most. However, with the sheer amount of damage coming through, it feels like the heals my raid druid and raid tempest output do nothing overall. Besides say a firebrand (which I've also played but just can't get into), what are some of your favorite / effective healers? Is heal scrapper a welcome addition in these style of groups? Or a heal (plaguedoctor's?) scourge? Let me know why too!

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Firebrand is not top at anything but it's mid-top in all, so it's not mainly a healer, cleanser, cc, boons, stab , etc. but all, which is why it rules the field, it takes time to memorize the skills and priorities, also reacting to what's coming, however, I couldn't find Guardian as my playstyle regardless of the spec. I asked some great FBs and they said it's easy once the skills are well-known, the hard part kicks in when your party starts taking hits as you're the backbone support of the sub-squad.

For healers, Scrapper is a great condi cleansing machine, I average around 450+ cleanses/2min, and its heals comes from healing itself and from boon conversion. Scrapper is the #1 support after a Firebrand has secured its place. Once both are present, a Tempest is better than another FB/Scrapper, because of auras and healing burst + cleanses. In terms of burst healing, Tempest is #1 because of how easy it is to abuse auras through leaping/blasting combo fields. There is a Chrono for melee balls, but it's more of a Veil bot, and some CC and downed control for either side, but I won't consider it a healer, the heals are a bonus.

After a Firebrand, I would rather a Scrapper over Tempest because of condi conversion, and because Gyros are combo fields, which is opposite to shouts, also Bulwark Gyro's toolbelt skill and the stealth are really good in large groups and probably broken in small-scale fights + it's a lot easier to play Scrapper in zergs, you will pick it up once you read skills description and ran into a fight or two. Tempest would be last because although it has the highest healing output and a bit below Scrapper cleansing capabilities, it feels meh to me because it's not the type of support that you can hide behind or play around as much as FB/Scrapper, it's squishier than both and has (much) less to offer with respect to them, aaaand, I don't like the idea of Tempest personally. Hint: not all commanders will give you a place with actual sub-squads as a Tempest if it may concern you, so it's more of a GvG option.

Regarding Scourge, please, please, please, don't pick Transfusion if you want to support, sometimes I Vapor Form through portals after I'm downed only to find a Scourge teleporting me back outside. It's probably useful in small roaming groups, but I don't think it would see much use in zergs.

Also, for healing/supporting, unless it's a small group, you shouldn't expect that you can keep everyone alive alone.

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@"Auburner.6945" said:....you shouldn't expect that you can keep everyone alive alone.

This was the other thing I encountered. Coming from solo-healing raid groups to running in ~15-man squads, it felt like I wasn't doing anything in terms of survivability or sustain, but my experience on Firebrand was even worse in terms of raw healing output. I suppose it's an adjustment to playstyle too - I've almost always got shouts + Rebound up for bombs, but I feel like I get more use out of being a ranged disruptor on my Tempest, compared to mostly camping water.

I used to have a scrapper build.. uh... Elixer gun, heal-pot, bulwark, stealth, and one situational utility, running hammer as a main weapon with some healing power stats... Haven't touched it in so long and regeared to a Yolosmith. Might have to look back into it, as FB's just not my cup. I do like the 1500 range of tempest, and rebound is great if your team knows to play around it.

One of the pitfalls I was expecting was the transfusion on necro I've been screwed and saved by it multiple times, but I wasn't sure if thebclass would be welcomed or not. It's hard to say.

But thanks for the info; TBH, I eas expecting a lot more "just play FB lol."

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@"Swagger.1459" said:Poor Druids...

“Bringing heavy healing to GW2, unlike anything you have seen before. Strong support, very powerful in upcoming raids and WvW. Can sustain a zerg train of 20-30 players in WvW.”...

Guess blame ANet for making a once called "best ever PvE" (RIP) completely incompetent in PvP/WvW.

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@Swagger.1459 said:Poor Druids...

“Bringing heavy healing to GW2, unlike anything you have seen before. Strong support, very powerful in upcoming raids and WvW. Can sustain a zerg train of 20-30 players in WvW.”...

This was perhaps the biggest surprise to me. In raids I bring it for offensive buffs, as healing is secondary (but still pretty good). In Havoc/Zerg stuff, though, it seems the utility is outclassed by FB/Herald, and the heals are sub-par for anything greater than a 5-man derpsquad.

@Sovereign.1093 said:best healer i had was a rev =',) high skil cap toon though

This was another one I wanted to try, but I felt like the tablet manipulation was a bit awkward in these fights. I can see it working on a 5-10 man scale, but anything more would just be spamming Ventari 6 off CD?

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@Wisty.4135 said:

@Swagger.1459 said:Poor Druids...

“Bringing heavy healing to GW2, unlike anything you have seen before. Strong support, very powerful in upcoming raids and WvW. Can sustain a zerg train of 20-30 players in WvW.”...

This was perhaps the biggest surprise to me. In raids I bring it for offensive buffs, as healing is secondary (but still pretty good). In Havoc/Zerg stuff, though, it seems the utility is outclassed by FB/Herald, and the heals are sub-par for anything greater than a 5-man derpsquad.

@Sovereign.1093 said:best healer i had was a rev =',) high skil cap toon though

This was another one I wanted to try, but I felt like the tablet manipulation was a bit awkward in these fights. I can see it working on a 5-10 man scale, but anything more would just be spamming Ventari 6 off CD?

my friend aolus knows it better than i. he has a blast trying to keep me alive in the past

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@Auburner.6945 said:Regarding Scourge, please, please, please, don't pick Transfusion if you want to support, sometimes I Vapor Form through portals after I'm downed only to find a Scourge teleporting me back outside. It's probably useful in small roaming groups, but I don't think it would see much use in zergs.

If used properly, it can work wonders. I've saved a lot of friendlies from getting killed by using transfusion. Zerg fights might be a bit too much but if you're midline, you can pull friendlies from the front to a safer position if they're down. I've been testing and running transfusion since HoT so I got a bit of experience on how and when to use it during fights. You just don't want to use transfusion when you're new to it because that can kill a whole squad x3

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@Kagusaki.3176 said:

@Auburner.6945 said:Regarding Scourge, please, please, please, don't pick Transfusion if you want to support, sometimes I Vapor Form through portals after I'm downed only to find a Scourge teleporting me back outside. It's probably useful in small roaming groups, but I don't think it would see much use in zergs.

If used properly, it can work wonders. I've saved a lot of friendlies from getting killed by using transfusion. Zerg fights might be a bit too much but if you're midline, you can pull friendlies from the front to a safer position if they're down. I've been testing and running transfusion since HoT so I got a bit of experience on how and when to use it during fights. You just don't want to use transfusion when you're new to it because that can kill a whole squad x3

There are scourges that saved me with Transfusion many times, even during ultra skill lag numbers type of fights, but the thing is, it has to be a really good scourge. Most of the times I have died more than saved, so like a good and a new scourge to PvE raids that expects downs, same goes for WvW to know when and where.

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two of the best things about scrappers is the shared superspeed on low CD that gives the group mobility, and the bulwark-gyro group-damage-reduction. I like to play it with shield+overshield for added protection application. buldwark-gyro+shield-4 at first inc gives group around 50% reduction, superspeed and a lightning-field for your daredevil. Use shield-5/hammer-4 to avoid damage intake from bulwark-gyro.

I really like to play heal-rev and I'm also quite good with the tablet.You don't get as high heal-burst as with ele, or high sustain healing as with scrapper, but a pretty good heal burst every 3s and smaller bursts by moving the tablet around/staff-4 etc.In my opinion, the reason it's not really played anymore is the lack of stunbreaks and the lack of cleanses. the tablet-skills are no match against the scourges condi-spam and without mobility-skills (except staff-5) you will usually be crippled/immobed and die off-position.If you have a scrapper, then heal-rev as addition might also be good.

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@Dediggefedde.4961 said:If you have a scrapper, then heal-rev as addition might also be good.

I have an engineer and a Rev. My rev is my raid-ready condi rev, which I've had some good success with - the Khalla Elite is A+ for my small-scale fights in sustaining and disrupting, and citadel bombardment is gross when specced for extra missiles. I could perhaps switch some geat out to make it a heal rev, but I'd really need to practice it.

As for engie, I have a YOLOsmith for roaming, but have played bunker scrapper in pvp; i'd need to adjust my build and gear slightly, but I can give it a shot.

@Auburner.6945 said:Most of the times I have died more than saved, so like a good and a new scourge to PvE raids that expects downs, same goes for WvW to know when and where.

I'm a mediocre scourge, and currently specced for damage. I have done some heal scourge before, but only in organized PVE. I wasn't sure if the skillset would quite transfer over, or if it'd be welcomed given how much utility a scourge brings as a damage dealer. I'll definitely look into it though

Also as a quick aside, thanks for all the links and guides! Reached Mithril so far this week healing and I've been getting a better feel for what to expect in terms of fight dynamics and when to use what as a Tempest. I'm dying a lot less, and helping my team die a lot less provided they don't get caught. I think that was my biggest issue - lack of knowledge for the battle flow, which greatly impacted positioning and healing effectiveness. Gonna keep up the practice.

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