DoK or Zeal as a force multiplier

[akhenbagi]

I currently have a lvl 19/23 Zeal but I'm thinking about starting a DoK as I remember really enjoying that class back on Live.

My goal is to be a force multiplier in WB which I think either will do but I'm curious if the current meta favors one or the other? If one or the other has a better WB/Guild acceptance rate? etc?

Thanks!

[Omegus]

All 6 healers have spots in groups and warbands, and typically the only main rule is not to take two of the same healer class in the same party.

As for "force multipliers", Zealots have access to 3 very good morale skills and the ability to increase its morale gain with a tactic. Used right these can be game-changing, but as with all morale abilities you only get to pick 1 every 60 seconds.

Morale 1: Tzeentch's Talon. Very strong armour and resistance debuff for a single target. Used to spike down priority targets.
Morale 3: Suppressing the Fragile Unbelievers (STFU). A point-blank AOE silence that lasts for 7 seconds. Very dangerous if used wrong as it also hands out 70 seconds of crowd control immunity to anyone hit, so ideally you want to dump it on the heads of a blob of healers who do not have Focused Mind available to counter it.
Morale 4: Windblock (needs to be specced for): A point-blank AOE 50% heal debuff.

In smaller scale, Zealots should also be trying to make use of their 6 second stagger ability (Aethyric Shock) to take out an enemy healer for 6 seconds, their 4 second silence (Tzeentch's Lash) to take out another healer, and Wind of Insanity (channelled point-blank AOE knockback that doesn't give immunities) to disrupt enemy pushes, pin healers to walls, etc.

The DoK doesn't have those kind of tools - the closest it has is a point-blank AOE stagger on morale 3, but it provides more defensive options with 1001 Dark Blessings (morale 4 ability that boosts block/dodge/parry/disrupt/armour/resistances, but is hard to use as DoKs cannot boost their morale gain like Zealots can). The benefits of a DoK is that it's much harder to kill and generally has a far higher healing output, especially group healing and pure AOE healing. Zealot is probably the squishiest healer in the game, and using a lot of it's force-multiplier tools requires it to get very close to the danger.

Zealots also act as a healing multiplier as they have the ability to boost the healing received by people, so it pairs nicely with another healer like the DoK or Shaman which do more healing, and the Zealot amplifies it even further.

Some warband leaders want a DoK in each group, some a Zealot in each group, some lots of Shamans (typically higher level Shamans who can spec for a very powerful ranged AOE heal). All 3 are typically equally wanted so don't pick based on your chances of getting into a warband as healers do not have that issue.

[reyaloran]

Seeing as the reply above covers mostly the dps side of things, from a pure healing output side a zeal can heal pretty much forever while a DoK needs to recharge their pool of blood with their channel every so often which can lead to deaths in the party. A zealot also brings the 25% heal bonus to any target you crit on and a constant supply of shields from your heal ritual triggering the shield on heal tactic. Doks will bring better burst aoe healing from their 1 second aoe cast time and a aoe cleanse that zeal simply does not have access to. In all most groups tend to want a DoK and a zeal in the same group in order to cover the weaknesses of the other while giving a massive survivability increase. In terms of personal survivability they come out to being basically a wash as the only difference in armor comes out to ~200 more armor, and with how much armor pen is running around these days both will explode if the enemy band all single target you. At the end of the day though we on destro are usually under staffed with healers so in terms of being the only healer in the group I would say that the zeal does a little bit better just due to the constant shields preventing some crits on your party.

[Tesq]

zealot for sure is in a better spot than dok atm, after the detaunt nerf it requrie the same attention of any other healer when under focus, and cant enchant other party, he cant also heal while running unless going shield while having something in melee to hit(which is city usually).

zealot can hot around and buff heals, armor , reduces armor pen, ap rec, can also 100% moving around and ST heal ; focus mind instead make it a very potent group healers in important moment when dok can't get any benefith from that in terms of heals.

i'd pick zealot especially if you want a very versatile healer.