Rift Mage Healing Guide

Rift Mage Healing Guide by Sagramor

I’m main spec healer in Rift for a good while, and during the fights in game I seen Mage healers who have problem to do their job. As far as I seen the main reasons for this are people are forced to heal in game, or simply they just checked a guide on the internet, what contains invalid information, or just simply telling you a build and what spells are there, but they don’t tell how you really should use it or how things are working.

I have give a special thanks to Gothar to translate this guide to humanly understandable form, and mark the the points what was not explained well.

Build 1:
<61 Chloromancer, 10 Dominator, 5 Harbringer>
http://www.rifthead.com/stc/zcRadldIuqAssIsdRvx0VvV

Build 2:
<61 Chloromancer, 15 Warlock, 0 Archon>
http://www.rifthead.com/stc/zcRlzldIuqAssIsdRvxx0x

Build 3:
<61 Chloromancer, 6 Pyromancer, 7 Harbringer>
http://www.rifthead.com/stc/zcRNdldIuqAssIsdRvx0cvVzz

Build joke cause why not: 
<61 Chloromancer, 10 Dominator, 5 Elementalist>
http://www.rifthead.com/stc/zcRabldIuqAssIsdRvx0VvV

The spells, buffs and debuffs – including descriptions and comments.

Buff: 

[Living Aegis] {Self}
(Increases the Mage’s Maximum Health by 10%, their Life damage by 15%, healing by 10% and heals the Mage for X to X+Y health when damaged. Counts as a Mage Armor.)
Your main Chloromancer buff, which has to be on all the time.

[Living Energy] {Raid}
(Reduces ability cost by 5% on all party or raid members. Toggled)
It is nice for you and the others.

[Lifegiving Veil] {Self}
(Ability damage dealt by the Mage heals up to 10 party or raid members. Instant Life abilities restore X1 to X1+Y1 health. Cast time Life abilities heal more based on cast time, up to X2 to X2+Y2 health. Non-Life abilities restore X3 to X3+Y3 health. Lasts 1h. 5 sec cooldown, and the same cooldown on [ Lifebound Veil] and [Synthesis])
Used for raid healing.

[Synthesis] {Ally}
(Increases the healing the ally receives from the Mage’s Lifebound Veil. Applies Lifebound Veil to the Mage. Can only affect 1 ally, never the Mage. Lasts 1h. 5 sec cooldown, and the same cooldown on [Lifegiving Veil] and [Lifebound Veil ])
If you use it on someone it will trigger [Lifebound Veil] buff as well, so keep in mind if you swap between raid/tank or other wise do complex healing.

[Lifebound Veil] {Self}
(Best used with Synthesis for Single Target healing. Ability damage dealt by the Mage heals up to 5 party or raid members. Instant Life abilities restore 13 to 15 health. Cast time Life abilities heal more based on cast time, up to 34 to 38 health. Non-Life abilities restore 2 to 3 health. Lasts 1h. 5 sec cooldown, and the same cooldown on [Lifegiving Veil] and [Synthesis])
Single target heal, use this only with [Synthesis] or it’s a nice piece of nothing.

[Symbiosis]
(Increases the healing the Ally receives from the Mage’s Livegiving Veil by 50%. If cast on the Mage’s Synthesis target, increases Lifebound Veil healing by 50%, otherwise increases Lifebound Veil healing on the Ally to match healing done to the Mage’s Synthesis target. Lasts 10 seconds. Cannot affect the Mage. 45 sec cooldown)
Bottom line: If you’re single tank healing and there is a lot of damage, then the first panic spell. If you two or swap tank healing your best friend to make sure people won’t blame you cause the wipe. If you raid healing help out someone. If you raid and tank heal at the same time save the tank when you have to raid heal at the same time.

Non-Damaging spells:

[Radiant Spores] {Enemy}
(When hit, has a 16% chance to heal the attacker for 100% of the damage done. Healing done cannot exceed an amount equal to 5% of the Mage’s Maximum Health. Lasts 26s. Radiant Spores a 100% chance to affect up to 8 enemies within 10 meters of the targeted enemy. 8 sec cooldown)
It’s always good if you have it up on the enemy, but in SL you have to put out a huge amount of healing, so don’t try to use it until the raid or tank is safe. It’s not stacking so make sure if you are not the only Chloromancer healer you have to talk who’s responsibility will it be to put up, or one of you will lose a lot of heal.

[Natural Conversion] {Enemy}
(Causes the next damaging spell cast by the enemy to heal their target for 200% of the damage done. Lasts 30s. 1 min 30 sec cooldown)
It is a nice spell, it can save lifes, but a lot of times it’s does not eork in SL.

[Blight] {Enemy}
(Removes all heal over time effects. Reduces healing received by 10% for 8s. 30Sec cooldown)
It can help in some bossfights, personally with good team and high dps it’s not that usefull, plus most of bosses don’t get heal any heal during a fight.

[Essence Conversion] {Self}
(Restores 7% mana. Consumes 7% health.)
This spell is an eye for an eye, but if you die and get CR-ed or somehow you managed to burn your mana, it can help you to get back into fight.

[Living Shell] {Self}
(Restores 1% of the Mage’s Mana per second. Absorbs up to X damage. Lasts 30s. 2 min cooldown)
This can be one of your best friends or worst enemies. If you’re in a short fight it can save your life when the damage goes out of control. If if you don’t get much damage, but you’re running out of mana. this can recharge you without losing health. On the other hand, if you have to manage your mana it can be your worst enemy, because it burn more mana away.

[Nature’s Cleansing]
(Removes 1 Curse, Disease, or Poison. 100% chance to heal allies they cleanse for 6% of the caster’s Maximum Health.)

[Cleansing Rush]
(Removes 1 Curse, Disease, or Poison from up to 10 group and raid members within 25 meters. 100% chance to heal allies they cleanse for 6% of the caster’s Maximum Health. 10 sec cooldown)

[Soul Tether]
(Brings the fallen ally back to life, restoring 50% health and mana. Usable in combat. 5 min cooldown)
Normaly during raids you don’t use this whenever you want, only when the main healer or the raid leader tells you to.

Non-Damaging Heal:

[Bloom]
(Restores X to X+Y health. 10 sec cooldown)
A nice instant heal with a bad cooldown. On its own it’s not that powerful but the right
synergy crystal can make it usefull. If you tank healing it might not be the best heal to use on the tank, because the tick’s form [Void Life] can trigger the same amount of heal with [Lifebound Veil]. But if you have to move or heal someone else from the raid it can be a lifesaver.

[Resurgence]
(Restores 359 health over 6s. 10 sec cooldown)
It’s nice to use on someone who doesn’t get huge damage in short time, or in some cases if you are tank healing and you know that the tank will get a big hit in 1-2 sec then use it prior to the damage and it can help you out with your healing. You can also use it as any instant heal use it while you have to run around and jump.

[Healing Torrent]
(Restores X to X+Y health and an additional Z health over 6s. 15 sec cooldown, 2 sec cast)
It’s a nice heal, only problem that this have 2 sec cast time. This heal work best with Build 2 cause you can make it instant, or in the other build you can use it when you don’t have to move but you can’t damage.

[Natural Healing]
(Restores 421 to 466 health. 1.5 cast time)
It’s a nice heal, with global cooldown cast time. This heal work best with Build 2, because you can make it instant. In the other builds you can use it when you don’t have to move but you can’t damage.

[Essence Surge]
(Restores health equal to 100% of the Mage’s Maximum Health. 1 min cooldown)
This is the panic heal, or the best way in the start of a fight to take agro away from tank for a quck death (just trolling is not good, but funny as hell).

[Flourish]
(Restores X health on up to 10 party or raid members. 20 sec cooldown)
Which is also know as the aoe panic heal. It doesn’t do much, but helps.

Charge Consumers:

[Entropic Veil]
(Increases damage and healing done by 16%. Consumes Charge while active. Charge cannot be gained while active. Does not trigger a global cooldown. Toggled)
Most guides tell you to use it as much as possible, but that’s not a good idea. Make sure you only use it to help the the others when you don’t need your charge for something else. It is wise only to use it this ability when tank or raid take a lot of damage. If you are a tank healer and you have no problems to healing the tank, but the raid was hit with huge damage, then you can help the raid healers only by turn this on until everything is good , again. (The other time to use it with safe heal on tank or aoe heal on raid, it can give the edge to make sure everyone will stay alive.)

[Natural Splendor]
(Deals X Life damage over 8s to up to 8 enemies. Restores Y health over 8s on up to 8 party or raid members near the enemy. Consumes Charge while active. 8 sec channel, 2 min cooldown)
The lazy man’s button, you can cast it and you go for a coffee. It’s a nice heal, but only when needed.

[Wild Growth]
(Restores X health over 12s on up to 10 nearby party or raid members. Snares and increases damage taken by 10% on all nearby enemies. Consumes Charge while active. Charge can be gained while active. 1.5 sec cast, 1 min cooldown)
It can’t be stacked, so coordinate the with other mage healers and the raid to get the maximum damage. Never use it for healing.

And the world dominating DaMage Spells:

[Void Life]
(Deals X Life damage to the enemy each second for 3s. Triggers a significantly larger heal from Lifebound Veil on the target of the Mage’s Synthesis. 3 sec channel)
If you are tank healing, then this is your best friend, who will carry you through the time before one of your loved ones returns.
It triggers [Boon of Life] each second.

[Nature’s Touch]
(Deals X to X+Y Life damage. Triggers a significantly larger heal from Lifebound Veil on the target of the Mage’s Synthesis. 0-2.5 cast time, 6 sec cooldown)
Normaly it would be a waste of time to use it, but with the passive [Boon of Life] it can be instant. To get as much as possible out of this, make sure that you have 3 stacks of [Boon of Life] before casting it. If you cast it for the healing effect, remember the small detail, that this spell takes time to travel to the target, so you won’t get an instant heal when it was casted.

[Corrosive Spores]
(Deals X to X+Y Life damage. This damage triggers a significantly larger heal from Lifebound Veil on the target of the Mage’s Synthesis. Deals an additional Z Life damage over 8s to up to 5 enemies within 7 meters of the initial target. Lasts 8s. 8 sec cooldown)
This is a nice spell, that instantly hits the target, making it more useful than [Nature’s Touch] in some cases of tank healing.

[Ruin]
(Deals X to Y Life damage. Triggers a significantly larger heal from Lifebound Veil on the target of the Mage’s Synthesis. Deal 100% of their damage over 6 seconds. 15 sec cooldown)
Don’t use it in a fight where you can stand still. If you tank healing [Void Life] does as much or more healing and if you raid heal the same goes for [Vile Spores]. If you have to run and heal, it can be a good way to do that. Triggers [Boon of Life].

[Vile Spores]
(Deals X to Y Life damage. Deal 100% of their damage over 6 seconds. 2 sec cast)
If you’re tank healing, forget that you have this.
Triggers [Boon of Life].

[Nature’s Fury]
(Deals 1258 to 1391 Life damage to up to 4 enemies. 1.5 sec cast, 8 sec cooldown)
Well, this is a sort of a useless spell for healing. Mostly ‘cause you can use it only on trash, but on trash there is no big raid damage, and when you tank healing you should not use it at all.

Extra from builds:

Build 1:
<61 Chloromancer, 10 Dominator, 5 Harbringer>
http://www.rifthead.com/stc/zcRadldIuqAssIsdRvx0VvV

[Acumen] {Passive}
(Increases your Intelligence by 10%.)
More Spell Power, more Spell Critical Rate

[Eldritch Knowledge]{Passive}
(Increases your Spell Power by 10%.)
Mo’ damage, mo’ heal, mo’ mo’.

[Mental Fortitude]{Passive}
(Increases your Maximum Mana by 10%. Increases the range of non-melee damaging abilities by 5 meters.)
More mana can be useful during a long fight and 5 extra meters for you spells.

[Mass Charged Shield]{Raid}
(Applies Mass Charged Shield to all party or raid members. When hit, deals X to X+Y Air damage to the attacker.)
If no other mage (with better X and Y) has this ability , then feel free to use it, because it can give a small amount of extra damage to the raid, and more agro to tank.

[Reflective Command]
(Causes the next hostile spell cast on the ally to be reflected back at the caster. Lasts 10s. 15 sec cooldown)
Well, it can help you to keep someone alive, and do a nice amount of damage at the same time.

[Thunder Blast]
(Deals X to X+Y Air damage. Interrupts and knocks the enemy back. 15 sec cooldown)
A nice “just in case” interrupt, it already proved it can be useful in some cases.

[Transmogrify]
(Transforms the enemy into a harmless squirrel for 30s or until damaged. Can only affect 1 enemy.)
Just for fun.

[Lightning Blade]
(Summons a blade of electrical energy. Slashing attacks deal an additional 26 Air damage. All other damaging attacks have a 5% chance to deal an additional 26 Air damage. Lasts 1h.)
Just some extra damage, because we can!

The advantage that you get from this build is some nice extra stat, a “just in case” interrupt, some extra damage for the raid and mostly importantly the extra 5 meter range. In some areas of the game the boss put a 30 meter aoe around him, so this allows you to continuously heal, while you are clear from damage.

Best use: single target healing, tank swaping, tricky situations. And when a just in case interrupt needed.

Build 2:
<61 Chloromancer, 15 Warlock, 0 Archon>
http://www.rifthead.com/stc/zcRlzldIuqAssIsdRvxx0x

[Vitality]{Passive}
(Increases your maximum health by 10%.)
To have as much HP as possiable is always nice in SL, but for a Chloromancer it is good in case you have to use [Essence Surge].

[Magical Affinity]{Passive}
(Increases the amount of Charge your abilities generate by 25%.)
More charge means more chance to use Charge Consumers.

[Opportunity]{Passive}
(Your spell casts have a 10% chance to reduce the cast time of your next spell by 100% and mana cost by 40%. Can occur once every 3 seconds at most.)
This is the heart of this build. Now you can use instantly use spells (some with more than 1.5s cast time) even while running and you will get away with it.

[Neddra’s Might]{Raid}
(Increases Endurance by 70 on all party or raid members. Lasts 1h.)
If there is no support it’s always nice to have more HP.

[Searing Vitality]
(Deals X Fire damage over 8s. Applies Searing Vitality to the Mage each second, increasing Endurance by 11 per stack. Max 5 stacks. Lasts 5m.)
Cast in the middle of the fight, and you will have more HP than before you casted it.

This used to be my favorite build back in the old days, but since there have been some changes in the mage healing system this build has its problems now. There are some advantages as well, for example that you can use some casting spells which you normally should not use and more HP gives you a higher chance to stay alive.

Best use: Hard to master, and need good gear, but than it’s all situations cause nice single target instant heals.

Build 3:
<61 Chloromancer, 6 Pyromancer, 7 Harbringer>
http://www.rifthead.com/stc/zcRNdldIuqAssIsdRvx0cvVzz

[Ignition]{Passive}
(Decreases the cast time of your Fire spells by 20% and all other spells by 5%. Reduces the mana cost of non-instant Fire spells by 20%.)
It gives you 5% cast time reduction, but it’s not that important.

[Burning Fury]{Passive}
(Each time you fail to critically hit an enemy with a damaging single target ability, you will gain a 15 second duration stacking buff. This buff increases your Spell Critical Hit Chance by 10% for each stack. A successful critical hit on an enemy will consume all stacks of the buff.)
Most people using this build only do so because this passive ability.

[Eldritch Knowledge]{Passive}
(Increases your Spell Power by 10%.)
Mo’ damage, mo’ heal, mo’ mo’ again.

[Blazing Light]
(Deals 360 Life damage over 16s. Increases the Mage’s Dodge chance by 10%.)
Some guides say that it is good to use it, but while testing the build I actually found it was setting back the HPS, because any other Chloromancer spell will gives you more heal than this can give you.

I have to admit that when I tested this build it raised my crit from 22% to 30%. But if you get better gear you will crit more and more so this 8% will be less and less. While testing this it giving me 8-10% lower HPS on tank healing and 5-10% higher HPS on raid healing, than Build 1.

Best use: Raid healing only cause in single target healing all the other build work better. If you higher gear this build will do less and less HPS like the others.

Build joke, because I can:
<61 Chloromancer, 10 Dominator, 5 Elementalist>
http://www.rifthead.com/stc/zcRabldIuqAssIsdRvx0VvV

[Acumen] {Passive}
(Increases your Intelligence by 10%.)
More Spell Power, more Spell Critical Hit Rate

[Mental Fortitude]{Passive}
(Increases your Maximum Mana by 10%. Increases the range of non-melee damaging abilities by 5 meters.)
More mana can be usefull during long fight and 5 extra meters for you spells.

[Biting Cold]{Passive}
(Increases the critical hit chance of your abilities by 5%.)
It’s always nice to have some extra critical hit.

[Mass Charged Shield]{Raid}
(Applies Mass Charged Shield to all party or raid members. When hit, deals X to X+Y Air damage to the attacker.)
If no other mage (with better X and Y) has this ability, then feel free to use it, because it can give a small amount of extra damage to the raid, and more agro to tank.

[Reflective Command]
(Causes the next hostile spell cast on the ally to be reflected back at the caster. Lasts 10s. 15 sec cooldown)
Well it can help you to keep someone alive, and do a nice amount of damage at the same time.

[Thunder Blast]
(Deals X to X+Y Air damage. Interrupts and knocks the enemy back. 15 sec cooldown)
A nice “just in case” interrupt, that already proved useful in some cases.

[Transmogrify]
(Transforms the enemy into a harmless squirrel for 30s or until damaged. Can only affect 1 enemy.)
Just for fun.

[Elemental Forces]
(Causes the Mage’s next 5 damaging abilities to deal an additional 70 random elemental damage. Cannot trigger Icy Carapace or a Cycle buff.)
If you have much unused charge, it can trigger Life damage to get more heal, or just more damage.

Honestly, I made this build in 2 sec probably because I didn’t have my 4th coffee of the day as usual by that time. It started as a joke, trolling is always fun, but during testing it proved to be valid build. I had nice HPS with this and the same amount of Crit as Build 3. I will test this build again when I have top mage gear. Another idea for another day could be to combine it with Pyro.

Best use: Single target healing, swap healing, and if you have the skills show off healing cause you can heal with a joke build.

Conclusion about build:

All the 4 builds have it pro and cons, but in the end on the battlefield yous skills and playstyle make sure the team stays alive..

Synergy crystal:

Before you have the raid 4 set use only the Chloromancer synergy. After you have 4 nice raid item and you have the set than there is 2 choice, the Chloromancer and the Harbringer. Now I seen a lot of forum and guide that you only should use the Harbringer. Who ever said that that person have no idea how to heal with a Mage. For tank healing use only the Chrolomancer Chrystal, and if you have the materials you can use the Harbringer for raid healing, but only if you have Harbringer weapon buff in you build.

Basic tactics as one of the healer:

If you are not the only mage healer there is are a few thing that you have to coordinate on healing and way more that you have to coordinate with the raid.

[Radiant Spores]. It cannot stack so only 1 mage can use it. Best choise is to give it to the least loaded mage, for example the person who heals the better geared tank.

[Wild Growth] has to be used when all the DPS have their nuke ready to maximize the damage. Make a macro what is yelling out when you used it to make sure everyone, who can read, will know it.

[Soul Tether] Combat resurrection is nice except when it’s wasted by 2 healers for on the same body. Make sure you have a CR rotation with the others, to avoid these situations like this. Alternatively Or let the raid leader or main healer decide who will pick up who. By experience, it’s always better to have someone to call the CR. Especially if that person is the main healer, because they know when to pick up someone to make sure that person won’t die straight away from damage.

[Flourish] If you are tank healing, then make sure you save it as much as possible to use it when it’s really needed or your aoe healer is out of mana, etc.

Always firstly make sure that your job is done, but you are part of a team, so help the others whenever you can.

Rotation and tactics for yourself:

Tank healing:

Put you tank as focus (/focus), as it will help you to monitor the buffs, spells, hp of you tank. and some spells can be nicely combined @focus macro. It’s always good to mark the tank so that you can see where he is in a running fight to make sure you keep up and he’s in you healing range.

There is no fix rotation for (mage) healers, the spells you use always depend on the situation you’re in. A fix rotation will generate a ton of overheal and when needed the important spells are on cooldown.

Basic system as tank healer is to spam [Void Life] it gives a fair amount of heal to the tank and stack up your [Boon of Life], so that [Nature’s Touch] will be instant (or has the same cast time as the global cooldown). Oh yes, make sure that you let it cast (channel?) for 2 sec, because if you start to spam the next spell it will only tick once instead of 3 times, and only makes a difference of 0.5sec.

You should cast [Radiant Spores] on the enemy, if you have a chance, just before the tank rush in, so it will be up and you can start you fight 1 less thing to worried about. It won’t put you into combat and in a big aoe-pull it can even be nice and helpful.

Save [Nature’s Touch] and [Corrosive Spores] until your tank is really getting damage. Even with aoe pulls and boss fights I usually only cast [Nature’s Touch] and save the other. The reason for that is that for [Nature’s Touch] you have to walk all the way down and if you need an instant heal on tank it will be too late.

[Corrosive Spores] immediately triggers a heal on the tank. If your tank is doing fine, but the raid gets a lot of damage, then fire up [Entropic Veil] and shoot all that you have, trust me the raid healer will like you for it.

Raid healing:

This is almost the same as tank healing, where you save your spells. The difference is that it’s better to swap [Void Life] to [Vile Spores].

Tank swap healing:

It’s good to have a @mouseover macro with the [Synthesis], as it helps you to swap quickly. Sometimes you don’t have to swap and can manage with only using the instants spells on the other tank to keep him alive, and sometimes [Symbiosis] is needed. Keep in mind that the cooldown to swap is 5 sec every time.

Tank and raid swap:

Have the [Synthesis] on the tank all the time, then just swap the 2 healing buffs and remember that you can’t swap instantly, it takes 5 second. [Symbiosis] can be your friend here as well.

Charge management:

If you are in a bossfight you should save your charge for [Wild Growth], if it’s on cooldown than still don’t use [Entropic Veil] it’s only good if you have to really put out more heal. For exapmle if you tank getting really down on HP and you have to use your [Essence Surge], than quickly activate
[Entropic Veil] than use [Essence Surge]. If you are in a bossfight where your tank is doing good, but the raid getting a lot of damage, than the best way help the other healers (or if you in a dungeon and you are on your own) to activate [Entropic Veil] than use [Nature’s Touch] or [Flourish]. It will take a while to get used to this “rotation”, but it will gives you an edge in healing.

Overal:

Try to learn the rhythm of incoming damage and use your spells wisely and don’t generate too much overhealing. Use your instant spells when needed, like when you have to run around. Practice a lot, but remember to have fun and never toll too much.

There is still a lot of thing missing here, some of them will be later updated here, some won’t. There are some small gaps what you have to find out on your own, because it depend on you playstyle.

Macros:

#show Bloom
suppressmacrofailures
cast @mouseoverui Bloom

#show Essence Surge
suppressmacrofailures
cast @mouseoverui Essence Surge

#show Resurgence
suppressmacrofailures
cast @mouseoverui Resurgence

#show Nature’s Cleansing
suppressmacrofailures
cast @mouseoverui Nature’s Cleansing

#show Soul Tether
suppressmacrofailures
target @mouseoverui
yell CombatRes %t!
cast @mouseoverui Soul Tether
tagget @lasttarget

(sometimes it’s not working for first touch, so you have to spam 2-3 time just in case)

#show Wild Growth
suppressmacrofailures
cast Wild Growth
yell Wild Growth on %t! Increase dmg taken by 10%.

#show Synthesis
suppressmacrofailures
cast Synthesis
say Be my healed one %t!

(the say part is for the other mage tank healer to make sure people will see if you somehow still the buff)

#show Symbiosis
suppressmacrofailures
cast @focus Symbiosis

#show Symbiosis
suppressmacrofailures
cast @mouseoverui Symbiosis

#show Healing Torrent
suppressmacrofailures
cast @mouseoverui Healing Torrent
cast @mouseoverui Natural Healing

#show Natural Healing
suppressmacrofailures
cast @mouseoverui Natural Healing

#show Synthesis
suppressmacrofailures
cast @mouseoverui Synthesis

suppressmacrofailures
focus

#show Thunder Blast
suppressmacrofailures
stopcasting
cast Thunder Blast

(if you have the spell)