Healing WAR/DRK

I have been playing healer (AST) for a while and I wanted to know from all healers, is it just me or WAR/DRK hard to heal through big pulls? I can keep a PLD easy and hardly touch a heal with them but WAR/DRK are DPS squishy (feels that way). Do DRK have a lot buttons to keep track of? I am coming across a lot of DRK who do big pulls in the level 70 dungeons but do not use convalescence, rampart, or any other defensive cooldown. Are other healers having this issue or coming across these things in dungeons. Just looking for advice on these issues. I have come across healers, while playing DPS in level 70 dungeons who kindly let the tank melt for not using defensive cool downs with big pulls.

DRK should be using Dark Arts and Abyssal drain to keep them selves topped off.

Warrior should be using Steel Cyclone to do the same.

Properly rotating CD's, it shouldn't be an issue.

I honestly can't recall having healed at WAR in lvl 70 content yet and I been 70 AST since like day four of launch.

I can say for fact that DRK is in a bad place mitigation wise. They take larger hits and I am under the understanding that the job has a higher skill level required to play at any kind of efficiency.

To sum up: I hate healing for DRKs because they require so much more baby sitting that I can't pump out much DPS. Runs take longer and they are more nail bitey than they should be. PLDs are a cake walk.

Outside Role Skills we have TBN for mitigation. However, like Deceptus said, we have Abyssial Drain and Dark Arts. And Quistis to keep us topped up on MP while we spam it. Big pulls are fun with DRK and keep us filled up. The more enemies, the quicker TBN pops, the more MP and HP we absorb. But again, it takes practice and trial and error and rotation of the few mitigation skills we have.

Tanks using cooldowns in dungeons? Whether DRK, WAR, or PLD this is quite rare in DF from my experience and a big reason why the majority of my comms go to DPS.

The only reason why I favor any tank over a DRK is because I don't have to worry about bloodprice and can spam holy at will.

I just always try to remain adaptable regardless of which tank is leading the way, and recognize which ones are healer conscious, and the ones who only see me as a heal bot.

WARs in Deliverance and DRK are just flat out squishy.

DRK should be using DA and Abysmal Drain to keep up and give the illusion of tankiness and WARs are just health sponges with Steel Tornado doing the same but honestly, I've noticed a lot of DRKs never using TBN or even DA/Abysmal Drain in 4 man and WARs never using Steel Tornado, or so rarely it makes little difference to their survivability. It sucks but it just makes me feel better whenever I'm on those jobs leveling, knowing I'm doing better than half those DPS in Tank glamour.

Only bad Warriors are squishy. You can literally spam Inner Beast now.

I play DRK and WHM mainly.

DRK just lacks many defensive cooldowns.

WAR is "squishy" but with OGCD management they are very good.

In the end, I've never had a problem with GOOD tanks that DRK or WAR.

I've had a lot of issues with DRK's but I think I actually prefer healing WAR to PLD, the large health pool means I get the most out of Benediction and I don't have to worry about the awkward dance I sometimes find myself in with Clemency spamming PLD's.

In general, no I don't feel like any tank is squishier than the other when played properly.

Back when DRK was released we got a lot of bad tanking on that job because everyone thought it was cool looking so everyone suddenly thought they could tank. But that's it really.

So DRK do not have as many defensive CDs as the other tanks. WAR has defensive CDs but are squishy and can basically spam their SC and IB, while PLD has most defensive CDs and can mitigate well. I will keep this in mind, as I still have a lot to learn. Thank you for the advice.

Paladins in Shield Oath with frequent cooldown usage are absurdly tough right now. While a good WAR/DRK can get close to that (certainly enough for big pulls in the current experts), one that decides not to use their tank stance because they want more DPS is going to feel like they're wearing paper mache armor in comparison. The Blue DPS club has a lot of members from those two classes, and if you get one of those you're going to have a much tougher day at the office.

Warrior should not be a problem. It packs the widest defensive suite of the three tanks; if he's dying quickly then he's just not popping his cooldowns, meaning he's bad. Dark Knight is pretty squishy until it gets access to delirium and quietus, at around 64 most dark knights can supplement their awful cooldown suite with some really nasty AoE lifesteal on their dark arts abyssal drain, and use quietus and blood price + delirium to refill their MP easily in big pulls.

My experience as a WHM main is that all 3 tanks played well can chain pull well, although it is undeniable that PLD is in better place. When I see a WAR or a DRK, unconsciously I will pay more attention to their health bar, but ultimately its about the player.

DRK's are out a defensive CD in dungeons due to Dark Mind being ineffective against physical damage, which comprises 99% of what is seen in dungeons with the rare exception of like... Ice Sprites.

This is a thing being complained about quite a bit on the tanking forums, so feel free to chime in.

TBN is good in dungeons, however it goes away almost immediately on big pulls, so its likely to go completely unnoticed on the buff bar, and provides a short burst of taking no damage instead of a predictable, extended duration of taking reduced damage, which again, is obnoxious in dungeons (and in raids as well to an extent), and another thing we're trying to get SE to address.

All of our cooldowns outside of TBN are short in duration and lengthy in recast time. This is why Abyssal Drain is so important in dungeons to us. Its common to just pop a single defensive and then sustain the rest of the pull on AD's self healing, but it requires good mana and blood gauge management.

As for WAR, a WAR in a dungeon that is squishy is just a bad player, imo, as that job packs some of the best and most readily accessible (read: short cooldown/long duration) mitigation amongst all the tanks.