Cleric Questions:

[Ashcroft]

So being new to Rift, I have a few questions about the clerics, healing, generally.

Now I see a lot of senticar specs being called the best, what I'm a little confused about is : Why would we even bother with a shield as they have inferior SP.

Should I be going board and sword? (mace/dagger)
2hd staff/polearm?
1hd/Totem(OH)?

Is there a reasoning behind the shield, other then survivability?

Is this S&B spec specifially for Senticar healers or generally across the board for cleric heals?

Thanks.

[Azuri]

2 handed crafted hammer is your best bet until you get raid drop for caster/healer. Shield is only used for tanking.

[Edge-]

Senticar specs are popular again? Did I miss something recently? >.>

[Azuri]

Senticar specs are popular again? Did I miss something recently? >.>

Err I didn't look at his specs to be honest I was in the middle of things, he needs to get a spec sorted. I'm Inqus/defiler/ward for range DPS. I toss the 5% link on someone to proc the rage.

[Primalthirst]

Senticar specs are no longer widely used, it was the king of burst healing through ~1.1-1.10 but since the soul revamps in 1.11 has been overtaken by various Warden, Sentinel and Defiler combinations.

You never used a shield when playing it, just because you have points in a tank soul doesn't mean you need to use a shield. There are no soul-based weapon or armor limitations, only class based ones.

[Ashcroft]

Alright thnxs for the replies.

I may be just getting my assumptions wrong, but I I thought you could only block with a shield and most senticar specs use up all those talents; but as some people have said, my information could be out of date.

Currently 45 now, and have been healing high-tier purifier+Warden /w a dagger and totem.

[Primalthirst]

You can only Block with a shield (except for Warlords) but the Block talents were only taken in Senticar so you had enough points to get either Light Makes Right which used to be at 22 points or Absolution for the Battle Rez at 31pts

[Onorvele]

Two big changes to Clerics when the soul trees were rebuilt for SL (the 1.10 -> 1.11 point):

• Healing is no longer based on damage done.
• Melee damage is no longer based on weapon DPS.

The first is what really killed -icar builds. The second means that you needn't avoid a 1H + Totem for Druid/Shaman based damage, just use what you have access to that gives you best SP. With some nuances.

[Deleted]

So being new to Rift, I have a few questions about the clerics, healing, generally.

Now I see a lot of senticar specs being called the best, what I'm a little confused about is : Why would we even bother with a shield as they have inferior SP.

Should I be going board and sword? (mace/dagger)
2hd staff/polearm?
1hd/Totem(OH)?

Is there a reasoning behind the shield, other then survivability?

Is this S&B spec specifially for Senticar healers or generally across the board for cleric heals?

Thanks.

Whatever you have heard about Cleric healing is most likely wrong, Senticar specs are dead and gone, I actually duo healed the first 10 man (TOTDQ) with another cleric in what he called a 'Wardicar spec' that he claimed to be the best, regardless of which when I did triple his healing at pretty much every encounter I think he had to seriously reconsider his spec :P

I'll give you a quick talk through cleric healing at the moment and the specs I use

• 61 Sentinel/ 15 Purifier - Sustainable moderately strong single target healing, strong AOE healing when targets are below 50%, weak AOE healing when targets are above 50%, 2 Major utility cooldowns healers covent (40% Damage Reduction) + Vigilance (Cheat Death+ Additional Heal), In my opinion this is by far the best spec for solo healing experts
• 61 Warden/ 15 Sent - Very strong sustainable AOE healing all around, several strong AOE healing cooldowns such as wave of renewal + monsoon, these become godlike when paired with the ability known as 'Tidal Surge', unfortunately the single target healing in this spec is practically non existant and very weak at that
• 61 Defiler/15 Sent - This spec is pretty much the exact opposite to warden, it has very strong single target healing and extremley weak AOE healing, the basics are you have 4 different 'links' a 30%, 20%, 10% and 5% damage reduction link that can be placed on different members of the raid, defiler healing revolves around getting stacks of 'Foul Growth' on targets, of which their are several ways to do this such as manually applying them, applying them through damaging abilitys and also using high consumption mana abilitys to apply them in emergency situations and then detonating those stacks for large amounts of burst healing, This spec also has by far the most powerful cooldown in the game known as 'Unstable Transformation' this ability can be cast on yourself or any other friendly target and Reduces the damage they take by 50%, increases the healing they recieve by 50% and everytime they take an attack they are healed for around 2k health, so this ability is practically 'Godmode' and to make it even better it has a 10 second duration and only a one minuite cooldown!
• 61 Purifier/ 15 Sentinel - I must admit I haven't played around with Purifier to much as we already have a cleric who does that spec in raids so there is no need for myself to bother with it at the moment, but from my understanding its more of the same, there are a lot of shielding and damage reduction abilities with a fairly low healing output so the aims of the purifier stay the same which is to use shielding abilities to avoid people taking damage in the first place, I believe it also has several very nice cooldowns ^^

Really really brief overview, but gives you a rough idea of the viable specs =)
Disclaimer: I don't spend ages TC cleric specs, I just show up and heal B****s

[Cupcaek]

• 61 Purifier/ 15 Sentinel - I must admit I haven't played around with Purifier to much as we already have a cleric who does that spec in raids so there is no need for myself to bother with it at the moment, but from my understanding its more of the same, there are a lot of shielding and damage reduction abilities with a fairly low healing output so the aims of the purifier stay the same which is to use shielding abilities to avoid people taking damage in the first place, I believe it also has several very nice cooldowns ^^

61 points into Purifier not at all worth it and a huge waste. 54 Puri / 22 Sent is all you need. It's also the worst "healing spec" in the game right now. Spam your SOTS macro nonstop. Welcome to Purifier. In fact, this is my throwaway spec. It's only good for Cyril, Gelidra and Crucia. They just need to completely trash Purifier or just get rid of the Ward "healing" spells and just turn it into some more unique shielding spec that goes beyond spamming SOTS.

[zito]

Is it sad 61 builds are pretty much dominating right now? Kinda disappointing

[Edge-]

Is it sad 61 builds are pretty much dominating right now? Kinda disappointing

Are they?

I can see the logic behind them being stronger "all purpose" builds, with sub-61 builds generally being more gimmicky, if that is indeed the case (I'm not sure). I've seen plenty of sub-61 builds that perform well though, especially in experts.

[zito]

Are they?

I can see the logic behind them being stronger "all purpose" builds, with sub-61 builds generally being more gimmicky, if that is indeed the case (I'm not sure). I've seen plenty of sub-61 builds that perform well though, especially in experts.

I haven't really noticed hybrids for clerics besides the 40 defiler/X. Druid seems like it will always be 61 pointer unless they make pets static level with your own instead of gift points in their tree.

[Onorvele]

I haven't really noticed hybrids for clerics besides the 40 defiler/X. Druid seems like it will always be 61 pointer unless they make pets static level with your own instead of gift points in their tree.

I'm still rocking the Just Seer for cleric solo action - it's definitely not 61 anything. However, the 58 and 61 abilities in Warden are well worth it, as is the 61 Defiler ability (you're generally going to go either for the combat rez or the full 61), and anything less than 61 in Justicar for a tank is irresponsible due to the passives.

Dunno if it's the same for other callings - are the 61 point talents that compelling across the board?

[Rocketsurgeon]

I'm still rocking the Just Seer for cleric solo action - it's definitely not 61 anything. However, the 58 and 61 abilities in Warden are well worth it, as is the 61 Defiler ability (you're generally going to go either for the combat rez or the full 61), and anything less than 61 in Justicar for a tank is irresponsible due to the passives.

Dunno if it's the same for other callings - are the 61 point talents that compelling across the board?

I dunno, I think 40 defiler is a lot more common than 32 defiler. On the mage side, there's a healthy mix of full and hybrid specs for dps. Chloro is like Justicar, one soul to do a job so you have to fully commit. Rogues have the one tank soul to go full into for that role, dps has some success with hybrids, support seems to as well.

[zito]

It's easier to buff to a full 61 point if a spec needs a buff then trying to make the middle area successful so that plenty of hybrids can develop. This was usually the case towards the end of chocolate but for the expansion to start off like it and leaving the middle area's in the trees meh? Really disappointing.

[Deleted]

61 points into Purifier not at all worth it and a huge waste. 54 Puri / 22 Sent is all you need. It's also the worst "healing spec" in the game right now. Spam your SOTS macro nonstop. Welcome to Purifier. In fact, this is my throwaway spec. It's only good for Cyril, Gelidra and Crucia. They just need to completely trash Purifier or just get rid of the Ward "healing" spells and just turn it into some more unique shielding spec that goes beyond spamming SOTS.

Don't play 61 puri if you like...

1) having mana
2) short cast times
3) the actual ability to keep someone alive

[Cupcaek]

Don't play 61 puri if you like...

1) having mana
2) short cast times
3) the actual ability to keep someone alive

It's more like:

Don't play 61 puri if you like...

1.) to stay awake while playing