New Healer Questions (Calling Health Experts)

I am in Post-Searing and just getting started as a Monk/Mesmer.

I am dividing attribute points between Divine Favor and Healing Prayers only (I have about 5 in each so far).

From Corwen I purchased Wanderer's Handwraps, Pants, Vestments, and Sandals. I still have the Monk Scalp Design everyone starts with.

I am completely clueless as to how to proceed and be the best healer I can be. Granted, some of that will just take practice, but there should be items etc, that will benefit a Monk/Mesmer that focuses on healing.

----Could I get some suggestions on the following?----

1. What should I be shooting for as far as armor, runes, headgear, focus?

2. What weapon should I use?

3. What goals would be useful for a healer? For example, work toward getting certain skills? Should I start saving up for certain equipment?

4. Oh, and could someone point me toward Healing focused Monk/Mesmer builds or guides for PvE/PvP? The ones in the build directory are mainly Protection/Signets and such.

Any help would be appreciated!

Well, let's see...

Early on splitting your skills roughly between healing and divine as you have done is probably fine. Later on, you'll want to invest some in inspiration too; actually if you have a few points here and there to spare, you could start investing there if you wanted.

Basically, your biggest problem as a healer is energy. At this point you've probably got about 30-35, which is, if you think about it, only 3 heal others or healing breezes (incidentally, you should avoid using 10 energy spells if you can: orison is more efficient since for 10 energy you get your divine bonus to count twice). For your equipment, don't worry about the damage on your weapon, just the energy. Ideally, you'll want to try to find yourself a +12energy staff or focus. This is why inspiration is useful: you can help suppliment your energy with some of the energy steal spells (or things like channeling) so you can keep casting longer, and that's the key.

Check the build forum for more information on different monk builds. Once you get the spell, you might wish to experiment with divine boon (it really gives your healing a boost, but the energy cost is pretty steep), especially when you have a decent energy management system.

Rico

Mo/Me? Good choice. Now onto your post...

Monk is mostly all I've done for the past...well, long while, so I have more than a little experience.

1. If you're going to focus on healing, as you said, then I'd get either the Wanderer's armor set or the Ascetic's--Wanderer's being my choice, as your Mesmer secondary will help you manage your Energy well enough. Also, you'll want to get the +1 Healing Prayers hat, of course, and eventually some sort of Healing rune--major or superior, doesn't really matter. The health hit from a superior isn't worth it in my opinion, so I stick with major.

2. Weapon? I use a Holy Staff with a +5 Energy Insightful head and a +20% Enchantment wrapping, but good luck getting exactly that in PVE. If you go the staff route, you'll want to aim for ones that increase energy, or cast speed/recharge of Healing skills. You could also get a Holy Rod and some sort of focus item--being that I've never used them, I wouldn't really know what to look for, though I'd assume it'd be generally the same modifiers as the staff.

3. Certain skills are more effective than others--Orison of Healing is a common staple, and Heal Other, Dwayna's Kiss, and Healing Seed are all commonly used skills as well. I like Heal Party simply because of the enormous range, but it DOES have an equally enormous energy cost, so most shun it. For your Mesmer half, you'll want to focus on Inspiration, more than likely, to manage your energy. Spells like Energy Tap, or its Elite counterpart Energy Drain can prove absolutely invaluable for keeping your energy up.

4. Guides? Can't help you there. Everything I learned I either learned through trial and error, or was taught my my guildmates.

Hope this helps, and if I'm glaringly wrong, feel free to correct me.

I would of looked around some more for collectors armor it is better than what the crafter sells it for at higher stats and I would use wand with a focus device and eventually get a few runes.

Ive had this basic set up and done well in HoH many times, so here's a decent pvp set up:

16 healing
13 divine
2 inspiration
2 smiting

skills:

orison
word of healing (elite)
dwayna's kiss
healing touch
healing seed
smite hex
inspired hex
res signet

Basically, this build is filled with a ton of strong, cheap, and spammable 5 mana skills. Currently, there's a ridiculous amount of hex groups so I run both smite and inspired. Remove hex is ok but a hex group will usually have several interrupt mesmers...and a 2 second removal is that much harder to get off. Inspired hex is a mesmer skill, at just lvl 2 inspiration you remove a hex and gain 5 energy. (free spell)

Seed - use on anyone that constantly gets targeted

orison / word / dwayna's / touch - all have short cooldowns, so you'll have to pick which one will be most effective in the given sitaution. Word of healing heals for about 220 total (16 heal + divine bonus) to an ally under 50% health, so thats ur obvious choice for a low hp ally. Dwayna's has a bonus heal for each enchant / hex, which can make it potentially very strong.

Dwayna's Kiss is going to be your bread and butter healing spell. Rebirth should be the only res spell you ever use. Vigorous Spirit is a cheap heal to toss on wars. Later on, when you're good at managing your energy, you might want to look at adding Divine Boon into your skill bar. Healing Touch is a great self-heal.

You'll want to invest heavily into the inspiration line to keep your energy up for your healing. Drain Enchanment, e. tap, e. drain, inspired hex, are all viable spells to keep your energy going. Inspired hex should be in your skill bar always unless you know for a fact the area you're to be uses no hexes. Those areas are very few.

I think putting a lot into smiting is a good way to start--just bring hench healers on your quests. Then, as the game goes on, or for doing missions with PUGs, you will want more healing, prot, and df, with no smite. At the end of the game smiting will be for farming and such.

Also, for sure, remember to smite in Kryta, the tropical area that has a lot of undead.

The problem is that the OP was asking for help being a healer, not a monk. There's a fine but rather important difference.

1. Armor: +Energy
Runes: Superior Healing, rest minor runes
Headgear: +1 Healing Prayers
Focus: Max energy + health

2. If you go staff look for max energy insightful staff with fast recharge,
and fast cast mods. Damage really dosent mater. If one hand,
go for +energy while health is above 50%.

3. IMO: The best healing skill (and best elite in the game IMO) is
Word of Healing. You can cap it in the ascension missions. Other
skills i like are: healing breeze, orison, dwaynnas kiss, heal party,
and restore life.

4. If youre gonna be a good healer, spec in protection and healing.
You don't even need your secondary. From protection I reccommend
mend ailment, and mend condition.


Attribs:

16 healing (Superior Rune + Scalp design)
9 protection (minor rune)
10 divine favor (minor rune)

Skills:

1) Healing Breeze
2) Orison of Healing
3) Word of Healing
4) Dwaynna's Kiss
5) Heal Party
6) Restore Life
7) Mend Ailment
8) Mend Condition


Enjoy,

-Jodie

First off, I applaud your attempt to tackle the healer role. There are some players on this forum who might assert that monks are unnecessary, arrogant, etc. and a detriment to grouping. However, I maintain that a good monk is ALWAYS to be appreciated. Even those naysayers can't deny the difference in sustainability that a well-timed Word of Healing provides.

I've found that, personally, I rarely use secondary skills. I began as a Mo/Me, like yourself. Capped all the elites, dabbled in Inspiration, blah blah...eventually I just found the secondary skills to be unwarranted. I changed to Mo/R for the sole purpose of leveling a pet when I'm bored.

As far as a build is concerned, my recommendation is to load up your skillbar with 5-energy, spammable spells. Orison, Dwayna's Kiss or WoH, and possibly Healing Touch for saving yourself when things get hairy. The advantage here is that more than half of the energy you expend in casting these spells is recharged before the cast animation ever ends. Signet of Devotion is an option, as well. With a solid base of cheap heals, energy management is rarely an issue.
The other half of your skills are more utilitarian than the mainstay heals. Healing Seed is a common choice to throw on a tank or two. Healing Breeze has a poor reputation on these forums, but I've never had a problem with it. I like to carry Mend Ailment as a quick, cheap form of condition removal. Anti-hex spells are always welcome in a group, also.
Regarding resurrection capabilities, you'll learn over time what works well for you and what does not. Some monks restrict themselves to the signet only, for cast-time reasons. Others prefer the reusable spells. There's really no best choice; it's a matter of preference.

Finally, a few words about runes. I never use anything greater than a minor, with the exception of Vigor runes. It's just a personal mantra of mine; I feel that reducing my own health is contradictory to the mission of a healer. I've tried running majors/superiors and didn't see enough healing boost to justify the health cost.

To summarize:
Healing Prayers 12+1+1
Divine Favor 12+1
Six points for anything else

Orison of Healing
Word of Healing
Healing Touch
Signet of Devotion
Mend Ailment
Remove Hex
Healing Seed
Rebirth

Congrats on wanting to be a healer. they arent the most respected chars unless they are decent to good. I run a build similar to the tombs build that was posted with a few changes:

Mo/ME

15 Healing (12 + hat + sup healing)
9 Prot (8 + minor rune)
10 Divine (9+1 minor rune)
Rest into inspiration

Skills:

Inspired Hex
Word of Healing [E]
Dwanas Kiss
Heal Party
Healing seed
Healing Touch
Aegis
Res Sig

Works well for both pvp and pve ive found, and as a healer the Aegis will help save your team from the Leroy style W/Mo's that think cause they have mending, they can take anything

Let us not forget one MAJOR detail... For all you monk mesmers who use tap or drain... you cant steal energy if your target doesnt have any. Just because the skill states you can steal a certain amount doesnt mean you get it. You will get what the target has, and this is not always going to be enough. You pay 5 energy to cast, and you MIGHT steal 8 from some creatures. Thats not worth the effort. In the time you are stealing, your tanks are getting killed. Just something to keep in mind.