Rift Cleric Healing Guide

Rift Cleric Healing Guide by Sokanon

Author’s Notes
First off, this is a huge undertaking and I apologize ahead of time for the lengthy post. However, I find that many of the builds people suggest are not posted in any guides section, and people have so many preferences/arguments for one way or another, that I figured the best way to write this guide, was to include them all (at least the popular ones I could find) and let the reader decide which suits them best.

Similar to my Inquisitor guide, I will point out the Pros and Cons of each build. Some of these points will be referenced in posts below this original thread, most of it concerning data based on the numbers/ratios/capabilities of spells/abilities.

With these notes in mind, I hope you find my post useful and informative despite these terms. I will also try to update this guide concerning specific uses where I can.

Why These Builds?

• They offer a great deal of versatility
• They each provide similar but differing playstyles
• They each have their own pros/cons which leaves it up to the player to decide which is best
• If you use a 33/33 or 34/32 build, picking up Templar for the third soul offers a little more mobility

Stat Priority

Each build will favor its own stat priority, but I will do my best to give a worthwhile overview.
Spell Power– Useful for all healing spells. Favors Purifer builds with Ancestral Flame.
Crit Rating– Useful for all builds. Favors builds with Sentinel (Serendipity) or Warden (Overflow).
Wisdom– 1 : .033mp10 / .76sp
Intelligence– Usable in all builds, favoring none.

The Builds

34/32 Puri/Sent
Pros

• Excellent tank healing
• It’s use of Restorative Flame scales extremely well with Spellpower
• Provides a variety of cooldowns to use for emergency situations
• Benefits from crit as well due to -Serendipity-, every critical heal lowers the cast time of the next by 1.5sec
• Offers a battle rez
• AoE heals using overheal from Surging Flames and Healing Communion
• AoE healing provides a 5% damage reduction for 6seconds for those effected
• Healing Flare and Healing Breath provide heals that can be applied on the move, HF being spammable

Cons

• No mana return like Cascade provided by Warden, or melee builds
• AoE heal spam is mana intensive
• Slightly less mobility than a Warden build

33/33 Puri/Sent
Pros

• Healing Invocation now applies a HoT based on 30% of the healing done
• All other pros of the 34/32 Puri/Sent with the following exceptions (see Cons):

Cons

• Less moblility than 34/32 No longer has Healing Flare. Only movement heal is Healing Breath.
• Loses out on 2% mana reduction on healing spells
• AoE heals no longer provide 5% reduced damage taken over X seconds
• Suffers from the same Cons as 34/32 Puri/Sent

34/32 Sent/Puri
Pros

• Healing Invocation now becomes the main source heal, providing a 30% HoT based on amount healed
• Provides an extra cooldown the 34/32 puri/sent didn’t have, Caregiver’s Blessing
• All of the pros of the 34/32 Puri/Sent with the following exceptions (see Cons)

Cons

• Because of talents, Restorative Flame heals for 5% less and no longer applies a SP based shield to the target, making Healing Invocation your main heal
• No Healing Flare. Only movement spell is Healing Breath
• Loses a total of 4% mana cost reduction to healing spells
• Suffers from the cons of the 34/32 Puri/Sent

33/33 Puri/Ward
Pros

• Provides more consistent less bursty AoE healing via Healing Flood (513 health over 12seconds to 5 party/raid members) , and appropriate use of Ripple
• 2min CD Cascade: Returns 15% of the casters base mana over 3sec
• [Healing Breath] instant cast heal, 8sec cd
• Consistent tank-healing provided by Healing Current, Healing Spray, Soothing Stream
• Provides some of the stronger Purifier cooldowns as well as its own
• Benefits about equally from SP or Crit (Overflow talent for crit)
• More mobility than Sent/Puri build

Cons

• The upfront healing is less than a Sentinel build, but it can sustain high HPS
• Gives up some strong cooldowns for consistent healing
• No battle rez
• Burst AoE can be hard to deal with
• No AoE cleanse
• No damage reduction when using AoE spells

32/32/2 Ward/Sent/Puri
Pros

• 10min Battle Rez
• Benefits from some of the Sentinel’s stronger cooldowns
• Provides consistent AoE healing and provides better burst AoE healing with Healing Communion
• Consistent single-target healing provided by Healing Current, Healing Spray, Soothing Stream
• 2min CD Cascade: Returns 15% of the casters base mana over 3sec
• Empowering Light – AoE cleanse
• Benefits even more from crit due to Overflow and Serendipity
• AoE heals provide 5% damage reduction
• Talents from Sentinel tree allow the HPS to be higher than Puri/Ward
• More mobility than a Sent/Puri build

Cons

• Sacrifices cooldowns from Puri build for the consistency of Warden
• Has to heal more upfront than a build with Puri due to loss of RF/AF synergy and Ward of the Ancients, so it can be slightly more mana intensive

Tips and Hints

• Every build has its own pros and cons, choose what works best for you or your environment
• Don’t play something you don’t like playing. There are some people who can do things they hate excellently, however most people tend to make more mistakes if they are doing something they don’t like
• Adapt to the build. If you do a lot of moving, you will most likely favor Warden based builds. If you tend to find your place and stand still, you’ll favor Puri/Sent builds.
• There is no right or wrong way to heal. I personally will argue for specific encounters that there are more efficient/effective ways to heal, but in the end, if it gets the job done, it gets the job done.
• Be aware of your cooldowns at all times and any debuffs they play place on the target. A healer is only made stronger by his cooldowns, know when to use them.
• If you use a Warden build, be sure to keep your HoTs up (Soothing Stream, Healing Current, Healing Spray) up on your main target at all times, filling the big heal intervals with Healing Invocation or Restorative Flame

Useful Macros

There are plenty of ways to build macros. I am simply offering some common ones you may see, but you can add/remove/edit anything you wish to customize it for your preference.

Purifier/Sent builds:
#show Touch the Light
suppressmacrofailures
cast Touch the Light
cast Flashover
cast Healing Invocation / Restorative Flame (or Healing Communion / Divine Call for AoE)

#show Touch the Light
suppressmacrofailures
cast Touch the Light
cast Flashover
cast Latent Blaze

Purifier/Warden builds:
#show Flashover
suppressmacrofailures
cast Flashover
cast Tidal Surge
cast Restorative Flame

#show Latent Blaze
suppressmacrofailures
cast Flashover
cast Latent Blaze

Sent/Warden builds:
#show Touch the Light
suppressmacrofailures
Cast Touch the Light
Cast Tidal Surge
Cast Healing Invocation (or Healing Communion / Divine call for AoE)

Simple Mouseover macros:
#show spellname
Cast @mouseover spellname

Final Notes

• This post does not encompass all of the possibilities for these builds, but I hope this has provided enough information to allow any player, new or old, to make informed decisions on what spec to use/how they should heal, etc
• These builds in no way represent anything final. They only offer some of the more common variations you will find. Alter the builds as you see fit, as that is what the purpose of these are.
• For data concerning specific spells/ability uses, please refer to the post below

I hope you all have enjoyed this writeup.