How do I heal best?

[GorumT]

I wanna be the bestest healer on Sarlona. I'm a cleric level 3 and run with a friend that is a lvl 3 rogue. What gear/skills/enhancements am I looking for that will make me the bestest? Thanks for any help.

[Chaos000]

what's your stats and race?

[Kraldor]

Enhancements - Cleric Life Magic I,II,III,IV gives a straight percentage bonus to healing effectiveness.
Items - Weapons with Greater/Superior Potency/Devotion for your spell level

Besides things affecting your character, you should look to improve your own playing skills as well.

Hotbar all of your useful spells. All of the ones that need to be cast quickly (Heals), you should associate with an easy to reach shortcut key. The faster you can click the spell, the easier it will be to keep someone alive in game.
Make a habit of checking over party members' health bars, so you can be ready to throw a heal at a moment's notice.

[Chaos000]

You will see significant returns with the Empower Healing feat. I don't turn it off on my Cleric.

I would say to be the "bestest" learn the quests, pace your spellcasting to keep a party alive without having to resort to scrolls and wands.

cost wise... mass aid scrolls give you the most bang for the buck

[Garth_of_Sarlona]

Lots of good suggestions already

Learn to cycle between spells - each cure spell has an independent cooldown, so while you're waiting on the cooldown of e.g. cure mod you can cast a cure serious.

Hold off using Heal except for cases where someone is very low on HP - Heal with all the enhancements suggested above will almost always overheal, it's normally better to use the cure spells.

Try to use the mass cure spells when there's 3 or more people. Learn to target the middle person.

Learn to use hotkeys - use the Function keys to target people and your assigned hotkeys to cycle through your spells. I almost never use the mouse on my cleric except when I'm using buffs at the start of a quest.

Consider getting the gloves from the Reaver.

Buy Heal scrolls and hotbar them, along with wands - as you get more familiar with the high level quests you'll learn which ones need you to mainly start off using scrolls (e.g. VOD) and which ones you can burn mana.

Garth

[GorumT]

I'm lvl 5 at this time (Almost lvl 6! ^.^) and have a 19 Wis, everything else is around 10-12. My int is low, like a 10, Chr. is only a 12 I think. I don't have any nifty gear realy.

When do Clerics get a group Heal?

[Angelus_dead]

I'm lvl 5 at this time (Almost lvl 6! ^.^) and have a 19 Wis, everything else is around 10-12. My int is low, like a 10, Chr. is only a 12 I think. I don't have any nifty gear realy.

For gear, go find the Tangleroot / Splinterskull quest chain and hunt for the Splinterskull Acolyte Ring. (That chain also provides Philarion favor, which is helpful at low levels)

When do Clerics get a group Heal?

The cure spells go Light, Moderate, Serious, Critical, Mass. So that's a level 5 spell, requiring a caster of level (5*2)-1 = 9. However, when you first obtain new levels of cure spell it's still not often a good idea to use them yet: The Mass cure spells are only superior if you truly have a large group of PCs being hit by the spell at the same time.

Also note that the word "Heal" refers to a specific spell in DDO, not the name of a category. You get Heal at level 11, and Mass Heal at level 17. Heal is much better than anything Cure.

[GorumT]

For gear, go find the Tangleroot / Splinterskull quest chain and hunt for the Splinterskull Acolyte Ring. (That chain also provides Philarion favor, which is helpful at low levels)


The cure spells go Light, Moderate, Serious, Critical, Mass. So that's a level 5 spell, requiring a caster of level (5*2)-1 = 9. However, when you first obtain new levels of cure spell it's still not often a good idea to use them yet: The Mass cure spells are only superior if you truly have a large group of PCs being hit by the spell at the same time.

Also note that the word "Heal" refers to a specific spell in DDO, not the name of a category. You get Heal at level 11, and Mass Heal at level 17. Heal is much better than anything Cure.

Great info there, thanks.

On a related note, I made lvl 6 tonight. I was thinking of putting this level into Paladin for a extra turn per day, Martial Weapons Proficiency, and some extra hit points. What do you guys think? Would it be a waste of a level?

[Angelus_dead]

On a related note, I made lvl 6 tonight. I was thinking of putting this level into Paladin for a extra turn per day, Martial Weapons Proficiency, and some extra hit points. What do you guys think? Would it be a waste of a level?

It's not a waste, except that you shouldn't act like the extra turn has any value. That's not where the benefit comes from.

[GorumT]

It's not a waste, except that you shouldn't act like the extra turn has any value. That's not where the benefit comes from.

Cool, so where does the benefit come from then? If I'm having a good idea, it would be nice to know WHY it is a good idea, lol.

[Narmolanya]

My suggestion is if you can take the sovrengn host enhancements as well. It give you the ability to fully restore one players hps every five minutes. You can get the basic faith tenants at lvl one and the advanced (the one to fully heal) at lvl 6. It realy comes in handy at higher levels when melees have lots of hps.

[Angelus_dead]

Cool, so where does the benefit come from then? If I'm having a good idea, it would be nice to know WHY it is a good idea, lol.

Paladin gives you martial weapons, slightly more saves and AC to the party (if you don't already have a better pally). Unlike using the fighter or barb class to learn martial weapons, paladin levels still add spellpoints so you fall less behind as a cleric.

[Strykersz]

Paladin gives you martial weapons, slightly more saves and AC to the party (if you don't already have a better pally). Unlike using the fighter or barb class to learn martial weapons, paladin levels still add spellpoints so you fall less behind as a cleric.

You gain a small amount of sp by splashing a wisdom caster as a cleric(because you get a second hit of bonus sp).

[Desteria]

TO be the best healer you can be... I'd stay pure cleric, there can be lots of reason for various level splashes btu most of them are for builds planed entierly in advace or for very specific reasons, your goals imo dotn need a splash...

Feats that help you heal better or for more or FASTER....
Empower healing: chepeast metamagic to increase healing only one that effects the HEAL spell
Quicken SPell: Makes spells cast VERY fast it;s the OMG he needs healign NOW metamagic feat, also you can not be interupted so no lost spelsl to concentration checks...
Empower spell: makes all spells deal more damage or heal more damage same as empower healign but costs more, but stacks with it as does....
Maximize Spell: makes all spells deal more damage or heal more damage costs more then empower spell but is twice as effective, for less them twice the cost.

and Yes you probably woudl nto want to run all of these all the time, they can make your spells rather costly if you dotn have certen items to reduce there costs &/or really high SP.... I do run them all the time on my cleric but shes got all the toys.

The really important ones imo are quicken, and empower healing the other 2 are just bonus if you want your Mass cure moderate wounds to hit like a decent HEAL spell on every one they are worth having, (my MCMW spells cost 82 SP and land for 175ish on average, crits for 300+).

Mental toughness: more SP never hurts.
Improved mental toughness: more SP never hurts.


ITEMS:
the higest level Superior Potency or devotion item/weapon you can get, (most common on hend held weapons), I suggest mostlyonly useign spells that are under the levle of the item you have they will tend to hit for more then your higher level spelsl for less SP any way beacsue of the item.
Healing lore items can be usefull BUT imo less so since i cast a heal that is target to FILL the person I heal up so crits are mostly wasted.
SCROLLS and WANDS and MANA pots.... all can get costly BUT soem of them you can use before you coudl actuyl cast the spells liek raise dead and heal scrolls if i rember right are actuly usable 2 levels befor you could cast the spells soo at levle 9 a heal scroll is goign to succed somethign liek 95% of the time and hit for a LOT more then your spells are at that time and it;s SP free.


ENHANCMENTS:
+% to healing I forget the exact name.
+% to wands and Scrolls makes your expensive wands and scrolsl mroe efective woohoo!!!!
+SP's more SP = more spells
Empower healign maky cheaper save SP every tiem you cast a spell while this Metamagic is on wich shouold be almost every time you cast a healign spell
the crit %and mutipliers are optiosn as well but liek the items I find them less important so i tend to have one level of each as filler AP's at best.


SPELLS that ARN'T cure's/heals
ok some times the best healing is NOT letting the damage land in the first place!!!!
Mobs layign on there backs don;t hurt your party, mobs standign there stunned dont hurt your party, mobs with large commets fallign on there heads and fallign on there buits dont hurt your party (they may be pourty ****ed at you when they get up though ).
At your level, 2 spells that you already have that are along this line are SOUND BURST level 2 AE stun for a short time, it;s a fort save to not be stunned great against evasive things nto so good againt thouse big heavy hitting ogars and trolls; COMMAND a will save level 1 spell even with it only being level 1 it will still hit a lot of the big dum bruts that hit liek mac trucks well the above mentioned ogars adn trolls single target so you do need to learn when it;s better to try it then to just heal your party.


Anyway hope these ramblings may be of some use to you.

[Zenako]

Frankly the best advice on the previous poster is found in the last paragraph. The goal of the cleric is for the party to succeed in its quest. Party members can be helped in this goal in many ways.

You can reactively heal them after they get hurt, using spell points, wands, scrolls.

You can proactively take out the enemy with spells like Soundburst, Command, Hold Person, etc and let your allies pound them without getting hurt themselves.

You can also (with the right mindset and build) wade into melee and help there too.

You can prevent damage by making sure everyone has certain resistance spells up. Casting an Aid Spell on someone costs about as much as healing spell would, plus it gives them a bonus to hit for some time. I also frequently at low levels summon up an ally to take attacks, and spot enemies. While the monsters attack your summoned ally, you get free attacks on them, plus the +2 to hit flanking bonus. Can make a nice difference in some battles and you never have to worry about healing your summoned help.

On the thoughts of splashing a paladin level, it has pros and cons. Many of the pros are fairly obvious. Among the cons are your spell casting abilities. You will be getting spells one character level (or more if you take more than one paladin level) later in life, which means you have to wait a littel longer each time for the next bank of spells. You will have fewer spell slots to fill with memorized spells, and this really mostly affects your highest level spells. You might end up annoyed that you can only take 2 of the 3 spells you wanted to at high level, when you only have 2 slots available instead of 3. The extra flexiblity is valuable. Also the DC or saving throw against your spells will be lower since those are based on your cleric level, not character level.

If you want to be a better melee. Better fighting thru magic is possible. Divine Favor and Divine Power spells can make up a lot of difference if you need to come out swinging. If you take the Sorveign Host Enhancements, the first level gets you access to longswords. A decent martial weapon. The second tier of that enhancement line is a nice backup effect (heals 1000 HP, and cures virtually every affliction in the game on the target of the effect). Although to be honest, only my Paladin has it. My clerics have found better uses for their action points.

I am a strong defender of Divine Healing. I always take it on my clerics. Not only does it provide an alternative to using Turns undead for things other than Divine Vitality, it can reach places and do things that normal spells cannot. Divine healing has a certain radius of reach. If the target is within that distance you can hit them with Divine Healing. Even if the target is in another room, and around the corner, or behind a grate, or a magical barrier. DH1 does about 30 points of healing, DH2 = 6 and DHIII = 90, per use. In some fights I will drop one on a character I know will be taking hits, as they enter the fray. This healing over time (it lasts for 30 seconds) and ticks off healing every 2 seconds (d4, 2d4 or 3d4 for DH1, DH2 and DH3 respectively) can make the difference in a tight battle.

At the highest end game quests, it does not make as much of difference (when characters have 400+ hit points, mobs hit for 100+ and spells do even more, but along the way it is very very useful).

[GorumT]

Thanks for the help guys, I have a few hours before I can log into the game, so if any differing opinions on the Pally splash are offered, I would appreciate them. Would like all the info I can before I make a decision. I took the lesser spell slots thought to heart, it was a concern of mine. I reshuffeled my APs last night to try and maximize my SPs and Healing potential. Not sure how well it came out, but it doesn't look to different from what I already had.

If I go with a pure caster Cleric, should I consider dropping the +2Plate and +2 Large steel shield for Robes that offer higher SPs? Do such items exist?

Thanks for any additional help.

[Zenako]

Thanks for the help guys, I have a few hours before I can log into the game, so if any differing opinions on the Pally splash are offered, I would appreciate them. Would like all the info I can before I make a decision. I took the lesser spell slots thought to heart, it was a concern of mine. I reshuffeled my APs last night to try and maximize my SPs and Healing potential. Not sure how well it came out, but it doesn't look to different from what I already had.

If I go with a pure caster Cleric, should I consider dropping the +2Plate and +2 Large steel shield for Robes that offer higher SPs? Do such items exist?

Thanks for any additional help.

At lower levels, (up thru 11ish) I would strongly recommend staying in the Armor. It is very easy to have enough AC at those levels that random monsters still have trouble hitting you. Part of this is due to AC being easy to get at first and then a royal pain to push past certain points, while attack bonus tends to keep steadily climbing and eventually overwhelm all but well equiped defensive characters. I would also suggest looked for Adamantine Plate, since the extra -3 to all melee damage is very nice in that it helps you avoid taking as much damage.

There is a nice lowish level helm - Helm of the Flame - level 5 required, which gives a boost to low level healing spells and some spell points too. You can find plenty of weapons/spectres/clubs etc with various levels of POWER on them. POWER 1 gives you an extra 10 spell points. POWER 7 would give you an extra 70. Power goes in increments of 10. WIZARDRY items (useable by any caster, not just wizards) gives you boosts in increments of 25. So a WIZ 3 item would give you a boost of 75 spell points.

What I often would do at lower levels, is equip a POW weapon in one hand, giving me some extra spells points. I would use those spell points to cast things like Resist Fire, Bulls STR, or Bless, or things like that until below the extra points granted by the POW weapon. I would then switch to either a melee weapon, or something that would help my spellcasting, like a Devotion or Potency weapon. Only the most powerful devotion or potency weapon or item you are using gives a benefit for those level spells, so it does not help to hold more than one. Just remember to reequip that item before you shrine to rinse and repeat that process.

Now at high levels, I have two clerics. One wears robes with things like Fearsome on them, since she is a caster cleric and has very poor stats for melee. The other cleric wears Full Plate and can readily mix it up in melee if needed, but most of the time just controls the field with healing and spells. Both of them by default are using Spell Boosting weapons in both hands. Superior Potency VI (which boosts the damage and healing effects of spells by 50% up thru 6th level spells) and Greater Spell Penetration VI which adds +3 to the effective level for getting past spell resistence. Spell resistence is basically a non issue until you reach the higher levels of the game, so do not worry about it at this point.

You can also find shields and armor that have spell boosting abilities on them.

As for making a choice tonight, if you are still uncertain, I would stick with more cleric, there is really not a lot of harm in waiting a level or two if you want to splash paladin later on. This will give you more time to see what is what in the game.

I know I have plenty of extra midlevel to lowlevel cleric gear hanging about that I could send your way (if you are interested in getting items that way). Some players prefer to "earn" everything on their own, and I can respect that, my first characters back in 2006 had to do that way, and it was a fun part of the game, and forced me to learn the value of various choices.

Since every account can have 10 characters, don't be afraid to stick with a choice, if it does not work out, you can always create another character and play them. (I have over 20 characters in the game, ranging from level 1 to 16 and enjoy them all to various degress. Obviously not all of them get played every day or even every week...only so much time in the day... and some I hold back for running with guild members who are working on new characters and need some help in those levels to complete quests.)

[GorumT]

At lower levels, (up thru 11ish) I would strongly recommend staying in the Armor. It is very easy to have enough AC at those levels that random monsters still have trouble hitting you. Part of this is due to AC being easy to get at first and then a royal pain to push past certain points, while attack bonus tends to keep steadily climbing and eventually overwhelm all but well equiped defensive characters. I would also suggest looked for Adamantine Plate, since the extra -3 to all melee damage is very nice in that it helps you avoid taking as much damage.

There is a nice lowish level helm - Helm of the Flame - level 5 required, which gives a boost to low level healing spells and some spell points too. You can find plenty of weapons/spectres/clubs etc with various levels of POWER on them. POWER 1 gives you an extra 10 spell points. POWER 7 would give you an extra 70. Power goes in increments of 10. WIZARDRY items (useable by any caster, not just wizards) gives you boosts in increments of 25. So a WIZ 3 item would give you a boost of 75 spell points.

What I often would do at lower levels, is equip a POW weapon in one hand, giving me some extra spells points. I would use those spell points to cast things like Resist Fire, Bulls STR, or Bless, or things like that until below the extra points granted by the POW weapon. I would then switch to either a melee weapon, or something that would help my spellcasting, like a Devotion or Potency weapon. Only the most powerful devotion or potency weapon or item you are using gives a benefit for those level spells, so it does not help to hold more than one. Just remember to reequip that item before you shrine to rinse and repeat that process.

Now at high levels, I have two clerics. One wears robes with things like Fearsome on them, since she is a caster cleric and has very poor stats for melee. The other cleric wears Full Plate and can readily mix it up in melee if needed, but most of the time just controls the field with healing and spells. Both of them by default are using Spell Boosting weapons in both hands. Superior Potency VI (which boosts the damage and healing effects of spells by 50% up thru 6th level spells) and Greater Spell Penetration VI which adds +3 to the effective level for getting past spell resistence. Spell resistence is basically a non issue until you reach the higher levels of the game, so do not worry about it at this point.

You can also find shields and armor that have spell boosting abilities on them.

As for making a choice tonight, if you are still uncertain, I would stick with more cleric, there is really not a lot of harm in waiting a level or two if you want to splash paladin later on. This will give you more time to see what is what in the game.

I know I have plenty of extra midlevel to lowlevel cleric gear hanging about that I could send your way (if you are interested in getting items that way). Some players prefer to "earn" everything on their own, and I can respect that, my first characters back in 2006 had to do that way, and it was a fun part of the game, and forced me to learn the value of various choices.

Since every account can have 10 characters, don't be afraid to stick with a choice, if it does not work out, you can always create another character and play them. (I have over 20 characters in the game, ranging from level 1 to 16 and enjoy them all to various degress. Obviously not all of them get played every day or even every week...only so much time in the day... and some I hold back for running with guild members who are working on new characters and need some help in those levels to complete quests.)

WOW! Lots of great info in there! It took me a minute to read, but it was well worth it! Thanks so much. As you noted, I tend to prefer getting items through my own means, except of course the plat that DVplease gave me (thanks again dood!). If you realy want to help, then all I ask is to let me add you to my friends list and bug you with questions in game.

[gfunk]

For healing at low levels, you can use either potency items or devotion items. They both enhance your healing spells, but they do not stack. You can get higher % devotion items at lower levels then potency. you can find devotion and potency on sheilds, but typically its easier to find higher % ones on daggers/clubs/maces

Of course, as other posters have mentioned, damage prevention is the best healing. Soundburst (need heighten to be effective as levels go up), and command/greater command are some awesome cleric spells that can literally knock your enemies on their a**. Use soundburst to disable casters (they have a high will save), and command for melee types (they usually have a low will save). I keep a spell penetration scepter available as an offhand item to help effectiveness of these spells when appropriate (i.e. in places where you start encountering drow and others who have inate spell resistance).

buffing your party will also help alot. A frequent recitation increases your party members AC, and their to hit bonus which means they kill mobs more reliably. It's a similar duration to haste, so its often convinient to re-recite when you re-haste. Make sure your party members have the appropriate resists.. sometimes they won't know themselves, or are too shy to ask. I usually inspect what buffs they have and just give them what i think they need (may be redundant if they have an item that covers a resist but which doesnt show up on inspect). Aid is nice if you have some squishies in your party, as it gives an extra cushion of temporary HP.

CONSERVE YOUR SP... get wands for the things that can be fixed that way like poison, curse, lesser restoration, etc etc... Also have back up healing (scrolls or wands), and try and collect some mana pots. Basically, as long as you are alive and have mana, its pretty hard for your party to fail a quest.

Also, get some healing lore items eventually. These are few and far between but include:

GREATER LORE ITEMS:
scepter of healing
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s...rofHealing.jpg
gauntlets of eternity
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s...ofEternity.jpg
and the ultimate cleric armor:
blue dragon plate
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s...plateArmor.jpg

LESSER LORE ITEMS:
shiningcrest
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s...ofStMarkus.jpg
elfcraft plate (or other elf relic armor)
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s...PlateArmor.jpg


Probably the most important thing you can do is STAY ALIVE. At low levels, this is fairly easy as long as you keep out of range of the hard hitting mobs and trash (feel free to melee disabled mobs/wimps, or tougher mobs if you are well armored).

At high levels staying alive takes a bit more effort, mainly due to nasty dps spells like delayed blast fireball and meteor swarm. The first thing that most clerics do is work on getting their HP as high as possible. Personally I wouldn't start a cleric with less than 14 con ..some people max theirs at 18, however some evasion clerics can do quite well with less. (which brings to mind the other way to stay alive which is multi-classing to get evasion. This is only effective if your build can get a decent reflex save).

The other thing is keeping yourself protected with spells. protection from energy is the obvious one, but if you work on your UMD you will be able to cast firesheild (cold) on yourself. Alot of non-melee damage at current end game is fire, so firesheild can be a real lifesaver.

p.s. I would avoid multiclassing to palidan... its not a huge benefit, and you will give up some sp and some spell power. Also, the prevelant perception (whether true or not), is the best clerics are either pure or monk spash evasion clerics. Not saying that a pali/cleric can't be great.. but many high level parties will be wary of accepting a melee slanted clerics into their midst. Stick with the tried and true builds first, then try something a bit fringy when you have more of a feel for things.

[GorumT]

For healing at low levels, you can use either potency items or devotion items. They both enhance your healing spells, but they do not stack. You can get higher % devotion items at lower levels then potency. you can find devotion and potency on sheilds, but typically its easier to find higher % ones on daggers/clubs/maces

Of course, as other posters have mentioned, damage prevention is the best healing. Soundburst (need heighten to be effective as levels go up), and command/greater command are some awesome cleric spells that can literally knock your enemies on their a**. Use soundburst to disable casters (they have a high will save), and command for melee types (they usually have a low will save). I keep a spell penetration scepter available as an offhand item to help effectiveness of these spells when appropriate (i.e. in places where you start encountering drow and others who have inate spell resistance).

buffing your party will also help alot. A frequent recitation increases your party members AC, and their to hit bonus which means they kill mobs more reliably. It's a similar duration to haste, so its often convinient to re-recite when you re-haste. Make sure your party members have the appropriate resists.. sometimes they won't know themselves, or are too shy to ask. I usually inspect what buffs they have and just give them what i think they need (may be redundant if they have an item that covers a resist but which doesnt show up on inspect). Aid is nice if you have some squishies in your party, as it gives an extra cushion of temporary HP.

CONSERVE YOUR SP... get wands for the things that can be fixed that way like poison, curse, lesser restoration, etc etc... Also have back up healing (scrolls or wands), and try and collect some mana pots. Basically, as long as you are alive and have mana, its pretty hard for your party to fail a quest.

Also, get some healing lore items eventually. These are few and far between but include:

GREATER LORE ITEMS:
scepter of healing
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s...rofHealing.jpg
gauntlets of eternity
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s...ofEternity.jpg
and the ultimate cleric armor:
blue dragon plate
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s...plateArmor.jpg

LESSER LORE ITEMS:
shiningcrest
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s...ofStMarkus.jpg
elfcraft plate (or other elf relic armor)
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s...PlateArmor.jpg


Probably the most important thing you can do is STAY ALIVE. At low levels, this is fairly easy as long as you keep out of range of the hard hitting mobs and trash (feel free to melee disabled mobs/wimps, or tougher mobs if you are well armored).

At high levels staying alive takes a bit more effort, mainly due to nasty dps spells like delayed blast fireball and meteor swarm. The first thing that most clerics do is work on getting their HP as high as possible. Personally I wouldn't start a cleric with less than 14 con ..some people max theirs at 18, however some evasion clerics can do quite well with less. (which brings to mind the other way to stay alive which is multi-classing to get evasion. This is only effective if your build can get a decent reflex save).

The other thing is keeping yourself protected with spells. protection from energy is the obvious one, but if you work on your UMD you will be able to cast firesheild (cold) on yourself. Alot of non-melee damage at current end game is fire, so firesheild can be a real lifesaver.

My Con is pretty average, like 10 - 12 I think. I put more emphasis on Wisdom. Anything other then leveling I can do to get my Con up a bit? How high should I be trying to get my Wis?