A continuation of the Raid Healing Roles series. Previously, I introduced the idea that healing in a raid is different than healing in a regular instance. I also discussed some of the core philosophies of a Tank Healer and some tips for filling that role as a priest.

Today, we’ll talk about the flip side of that particular coin. Instead of focusing your power on a single target (the tank), you may be assigned to heal the raid as a whole.

Raid Healer
First off, let’s define “the raid”.

“The Raid” is everyone who isn’t a tank. (Again, that’s a simple, broad definition and should not be seen as an advertisement for tunnel vision healing.)

What that should tell you, as a healer, is that the damage you’re mitigating is unexpected, and probably AOE related. Since it’s not a tank, you generally can’t predict who is going to need a heal - the damage might come to anyone. It might be the rogue, it might be the warlock, could be that shaman who just got three windfury crits in a row.

One thing’s for sure, if it’s AOE damage that you’re healing, you have multiple people who all need to be brought up NOW. Another AOE might wipe them all out while you’re healing one of them back to full.

One thing you cannot assume is that just because you’re not healing the rockstar tanks, you have a less important job. The job of your tank is to take damage and keep other people from taking damage. The job of the healer is to keep everyone alive, and the job of the dps is to kill the mobs before the healers run out of mana.

Did you catch that? The dps (the “raid”) is there to make YOUR job easier. Love them, hug them, cuddle their strange and bizarre buglike pets and tuck them in at night with a mug of hot cocoa, because they are there to help YOU.

The job of keeping them alive is important, difficult, and in absolutely NO way less important than being a tank healer. I cannot stress this enough. It could be argued that being a raid healer takes more skill than being a tank healer (and the opposite can also be argued). Tank healers have a single target and their biggest worry is spike damage on that target. The raid healers have anywhere from 8 to 24 targets, and have to be prepared to heal anyone at the drop of a hat. They have to evaluate the situation (how many people are hurt? How badly? Can I use mana efficient heals, or do I need to go for speed? Will there be more damage incoming soon? Can I use my HoTs, or will they take too much damage for that to help? Is that warlock gnawing on his own leg again? Did the rogue forget that he had a feint button and therefore needs to be punished for stealing aggro from the tanks? Did I leave the oven on after that last batch of cookies?)

Being a raid healer is hectic and requires lightning reflexes. Anyone who thinks that being a raid healer somehow makes you “second string” needs to be a raid healer for Gruul. That’ll wipe the smirk off their face quick, fast and in a hurry.

Tips and Tricks for the Raid Healer

1. Frisbee. (Prayer of Mending, for the tragically uninformed). Yes, this was also a trick for the tank healer. Why use this as a raid healer? It’s an instant cast spell that will heal people while you’re not watching them. Anything that heals someone without me dedicating precious casting time to their welfare is aces in my book. As a raid healer, I’ll often toss this on the tank (yes, the tank) and hope that it bounces around through my raid targets. When you’re dealing with sporadic AOE damage, the frisbee is KING of healing. For nonsporadic AOE damage, it’s still pretty gosh darned good, and even if it only heals the tank, I don’t think anyone’s going to break down your door with torches and pitchforks. Remember, the tank isn’t your main concern, but you KNOW he’ll kick off the frisbee and send it spinning to someone missing health. Chances are, that person missing health will need another heal soon, and you’ve got the start of a chain reaction that will make your job as raid healer smooth as buttah. Love your frisbee, priests.
2. Renew. HoTs are magically delicious in raid healing. If you have five people that need heals, you probably don’t have time for a full-cast spell to heal them. Toss a hot on each of them. It’s instant cast, will tick while you’re healing the other raid members, and will help mitigate any additional incoming damage they might receive. If you have time, you can come back afterwards and fill those health bars, but a ripple of well-placed HoTs can save a raid from death. Ask any tree you meet.
3. Flash Heal. This is quite possibly our most mana inefficient spell. But when raid healing, you may very well have to heal multiple people back up in a short time. You may have a mage on the brink of death, and the difference in casting time between flash heal and greater heal is enough to keep them alive. Don’t LEAN on your flash heal, but don’t be afraid to use it, either. If people need heals RIGHT NOW, flash heal is your go-to guy.
4. And now, my favorite, Downranking. Until very recently, I did not downrank my heals. My tanks STILL get full rank Greater Heals, and I only have a single downranked gHeal that I use to heal the raid. Why do I downrank? Because a downranked gHeal is MUCH more mana efficient than flash heal, and non-tanks rarely need a heal as big as your full-rank gHeal. If your raid can spare the extra second or so for the longer cast time of greater heal, you should use a downranked spell to heal them instead of a flash heal. I have to say that most of the time I don’t get a chance to use this in raids - the incoming damage is too drastic for the cast time. But I do use it sometimes, and I now use it a great deal in five-mans when healing the dpsers.
5. Prayer of Healing. This is your “free” (non-specc’d) group heal. It’s really only good if at least three people IN YOUR GROUP are close enough to you and need something along the lines of a flash heal’s worth of health. It’s got a long cast time and is a smidge on the mana-intensive side, but if you have those three people in your group near you and needing a heal, it’s great to bring all of them up at the same time.
6. Circle of Healing. This is a deep-healing tree talent point, and you cannot get both this and Improved Divine Spirit, so you should coordinate with other priests and your raid leader so that a raid healing priest gets THIS talent, and another priest gets the Spirit buff. That being said, Circle of Healing fixes some of the problems with Prayer of Healing - not only is it instant cast, it can be cast on a group that you aren’t in. Definitely a key talent for a raid healing priest. Used wisely, it’s worth its weight in gold. Er…well…it’s worth the weight of something that’s not made out of pixels in gold!
7. Binding Heal. If you need a heal and you’re raid healing, there’s a pretty good chance someone else does too. Crank up your binding heal for a quick double-whammy of healing goodness. Two for one special!
8. Lightwell. If you’re in a group of ranged dpsers, lightwell is a great way for them to heal themselves while you are otherwise occupied. Warlocks especially tend to love them, and they’re quite handy when used properly and in the right situation.

You want to match your heal to the situation. Does someone need a heal NOW? Use Flash Heal. Do a lot of people need a bit of a pick-me-up? Sprinkle some HoTs in there. Someone need a decent chunk of a heal, but otherwise everyone’s doing fine? Use your downranked gHeal. And when you can spare the global cooldown, toss a frisbee out in the mix and listen to the enchanting melody of it doing your work for you. Every fight will have different needs, and raid healers need to be the most flexible healers you can find. Do your recruiting at the Cirque de Soliel if needs be.

Tune in next week for the next exciting installment of….RAID HEALING! Same Ego time, Same Ego channel.

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 20th, 2007 and is filed under Healers, ~ Vonya. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.