Comments on: Flash Heal: Raid Healers, Know Your Priority

By: Zhields

Zhields — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 05:09:23 +0000

Recently joined a guild that two heals most raids with the exception of Chim, Nefarian, and To4W. Holy Priest and Resto Druid is our comp. We can easily raid heal and still keep the tanks up with some smart/great instincts PoM, Surge of Light procs and Lifebloom, also vocal Cooldown coordination [Lightwell CD/Charges, Guardian Spirit, Divine Hymn, Tranquility]. We’re also vocal about when to use our Healthstones, Potions, and Lightwells for when healers are out of range, or have to prioritizing their heals on the tank that needs the heal more than the dps ATM.

We feel like this two healing strategy makes us A LOT more focused on prioritization on which heal to cast on which low-health raid-member/s [including the tank]. Kicking up our challenge up a notch.

We gain an extra dps and able to zerg the boss down faster during their kill phase/high damage phases like Cho’gall, Maloriak, Magmaw, and Ascendant Council.

It does throw off our strategy sometimes when dps pushes hard too fast like when Maloriak goes down to 25% without having a second green phase means trouble for the raid if Abberations are still up. Also when Chimaeron goes down too fast and unexpectedly not having a third feud, don’t have everyone topped off, puts us in a difficult/funny position.

By: Iavasul

Iavasul — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 16:37:10 +0000

I usually run Holy and raid heal. One place I spend more time on tanks is heroic Chimaeron.

I have a designated group to heal to keep up over 10k, but when a massacre is hitting instead of a PoH for my group I queue a Greater Heal for the next tank in case it’s a Shutdown/Feud. We have Lay on Hands set up, but having that back up extra health to top off the tank as an extra precaution. I can quickly get my group over 10k before the next save of spit after the tank.

By: Freakhopper

Freakhopper — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 16:52:42 +0000

I was reminded of how lazy I was at helping tank healing just recently.

I have been part of my guilds progression 25man hard mode raids and I have ceased raiding as of recent for an upcoming deployment (USAF). Anywho, I pratcipated in a normal 10man pug to help my husband out this weekend and needless to say, no one was helping anyone out. In 10 mans especially, there is no room for a healer not to be tagging everyone AND cleave healing the tanks.

Course I killed the meters, let the tank die and got called a baddie. As a famous nobody said in some random pug- A bad healer is a bad healer …. nuf said?

By: Joe Ego

Joe Ego — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 15:43:45 +0000

With two different groups on Cho’Gall 10 normal, I was healing Cho’Gall’s tank and it was always lots of damage through Flame’s Orders during an add phase. On my kill with the first group I received help from the 3rd healer on every add phase. On the second group (wipefest) I was consistently entering the final phase nearly empty on mana and occasionally losing the tank outright when Worships weren’t handled fast enough.

On that fight, especially, the raid damage is mostly avoidable and the tank damage can be high. Unfortunately a group that can’t handle Worships effectively is also likely to be taking more raid damage, which means more tank damage and OOM/frustrated healers.

By: Euredice

Euredice — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 17:34:53 +0000

Spot on!

By: Lixor

Lixor — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 07:18:45 +0000

If you define the 3 roles. You got 1-3 tanks 5-7 healers and 15-19 DPS.
If a tank dies that’s relative the biggest loss. At least 33% usually 50% of that role. If a DPS dies, that’s a 6-7% loss in that role.

But if you lose 50% of any role it’s probably a wipe, since the numbers are different the priority generally is tanks>healers>DPS

For normal we keep the tanks in the same group so we got the raidhealers precasting PoH on that group, with the tank healers that’s more then enough in normal encounters.

By: Tomaj

Tomaj — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 05:56:09 +0000

As I like to say to my raid healers, “Don’t forget, the tanks are part of the raid, too.”

By: Oestrus

Oestrus — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 23:26:39 +0000

I have to admit that when I’m raid healing, I do fall into the trap of not showing the tank enough love unless the situation gets really dire (i.e. Guardian Spirit). I admit that I could probably stand to improve upon that and will probably start doing so in the near future.

I also need to say that if the situation were reversed (i.e. a tank healer suddenly spamming the raid) I would get really annoyed. I don’t think there is as much wiggle room for the opposite to be acceptable, though I’m sure some situations will come up.

By: MrHealthplan

MrHealthplan — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 20:07:01 +0000

Great article! My 10-man team runs with a Resto Druid, Disc priest, and now a Holy pally and we all take part in healing the tanks through Beacon, Lifebloom, PW:S, etc. Tanks are always our top priority.

Personally, I have found issues with healing priority mostly in 25-man raids, mainly due to the larger amount of healers needed. Communication is absolutely essential, and I think calling out for help on Vent/Mumble is also an effective way to keep the tanks alive. For example: Saying “Hand of Sacrifice used on “BLANK,” need extra heals” gets the message out quicker than waiting for the tanks health to drop, especially when the damage can be predictable.

By: Ryder

Ryder — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 19:44:54 +0000

Also I almost always roll renew on tank(s) and pop POM on them, on cooldown