How to survive as healer?

[spitzworth]

I am coming back to this game after a few years break. Last time, I played zealot but eventually ragequit the game because it felt impossible. Every time I played a PvP match, it felt like there was nothing I could do to survive since all of the other team would instantly target me because I was a healer.

How are you supposed to be a healer and not get instantly nuked by the enemy team? I just don't get it.

Thanks.

[Azhag]

Stay on the maximum range, kite, rotate your defensive abilities properly (as runepriest I have mass detaunt, single detaunt, wounds buff and knockback, guess you should have the same or similar stuff). That's all you can do on your own. In organized group you can call focus heals for yourself from other healers and your tank usually swap his guard when you get focused.

[rejndjer]

also, you should prioritize wounds and armor with talismans, as well as defensive renown bonuses. if you're already not.

[mellathir]

When you enter tier 4 with a low gear/rr character, you will have to accept the fact that sometimes high rr geared characters will nuke you without any care in the world, especially if you are playing solo without a proper group. Now with that issue out of the way lets talk about some survival tips for reducing those chances to a minimum until you become the unkillable healer that every DPS will hate and come ask for tips in the forums.

One of the most important tips IMO is reducing your chance to be crit to 0%. Try to invest your rr points in futile strikes and deft defender afterwards at the renown trainer. When most of the dps attacks are non-crit and you also evade most of the ranged attacks, your survival rate will jump really high. The next thing you can do is stack talismans. Armor talismans are more preferable for small-scale groups and scenarios where you reduce the damage from focus assist melee groups. Wounds talismans are more preferable for large scale RVR to help you survive against morale bombs.

As a zealot you have access to abilities like Aethyric Shock or Winds of Insanity which can really slow down the enemy and give you time to run and get help from your team. Also never forget you have a detaunt ability which reduces the enemy dmg by 50% which I believe if you use more often solo WH/WE won't even bother trying to hit you twice.

When it comes to enemy team instantly targeting you, don't forget your healing abilities have high range and you don't have to be right next to your team to toss heals. Try to hide behind trees, bushes, walls anything to get out of sight from the enemy team and you shouldn't be the main target every time. Save up for those genesis jewelries and with a good group and higher rr gear you will reach a point where solo dps characters won't even be able to scratch you.

[wachlarz]

runic have aoe detaut ?

[Fenris78]

runic have aoe detaut ?

Both zealot and runepriest got a 10s half damage reduction skill, cooldown 3 minutes. It works exactly like a guard but wont stack with it.

It's a very potent spell, wich gives you 25% AP reduction and uninterruptable casting during the duration. Very useful to survive a focus when you are out of guard range.

[needforsneed]

if the whole enemy team is on you, you probably wont live for long regardless of what you do so its up to your teammates (who may or may not be bots)

[BackIn2021OldPlanB]

Without any particular situation i would say by far most important healer's strategy is positioning!

When i'm saying without particular situation it means for example tight coridor, great group with guard on you etc... Ofcourse you can't always pleasantly position yourself such as in current event scenario Gates of Ekrund, but did you know you can basically lonely and peacefully aoe heal on first floor while all the rest (friendly and opposite) players are fighting at the flag or upper plato (and even mid flag)? That's a big portion of the area, about half the map where fights usually going on in that particular scenario. Sure you can't HoT, HoT, HoT that way or make potentional resurrection... but, you get the point. Positioning is by far most important skill a healer (Zealot/Runepriest) should strive to master out.

I would also like to make a little correction to my fellow Asmunder. Do not stay on the maximum range. There are basically two conceptions you need to understand as a healer in order to increase your survivability while still being very effective as a healer. First do not stay! Move, position yourself constantly (when possible) according to always changeable situation. I know Asmunder didn't really mean stay as a stand still I just thought this should be mentioned.
The more important concept to understand as a ranged healer is distance. What is a maximum range? What's the appropriate distance for a zealot/RP to try to position oneself? I would say not maximum (which some might think it's about 100-150 feet). Maximum range for a aoeing zealot/RP should be about 70-80 feet from (most of) your group mates. Do not try to heal from 100 feet, because quite fast your group mates might run out of your aoe range. Also i suspect addon Enemy to not display distance 100% accurately. In heavy fights you want your aoe reaches every single one of them as often as possible.

On the other hand you maybe have personal morale problem when a groupmate constantly charging ahead leaving you all behind and he/she dies. This could be real PITA for you moving long distance just for your HoT/ST heal reaching one player. Do not bother to keep that player alive! I need(ed) more than 80 ranks to comprehend this.

[Scottx125]

Depends what you play. First off is positioning. All healers need to position correctly or you die. Simple as. Then it depends on what you're doing, if it's pugging or organised WB play. Then it depends on what healers you're playing. AM/RP stay further back, WP should be within 20-30ft of the frontline for MB ability. Then you need to gear correctly, I advocate a defensively built healer, going for 30ish crit heal, 10k wounds and as many toughness talis as you can slot. If you play a WP I've written a guide in the Empire class forum which covers this (specifically for WP but some advice can apply to other healers).

[tazdingo]

for scs i've always had the most success stacking toughness, its the only stat that doesn't make stealthers instantly switch me off. then 90% of it is just standing in the right place and detaunting correctly