First time healing (AST) - what should I know?

[HELLruler]

Hijacking this thread to ask how/when should I use each sect. I'm talking about solo healing/light party

[Lyrica_Ashtine]

Hijacking this thread to ask how/when should I use each sect. I'm talking about solo healing/light party

Sadly, Diurnal Sect is so overwhelmingly powerful compared to Nocturnal sect that Nocturnal Sect hardly has any uses. All Nocturnal Sect offers is the ability to snipe heal someone with Aspected Benefic if they're low from taking damage and about to take damage again. But this is rather niche and not worth the benefits Diurnal brings over Nocturnal. Especially in lighter content where nothing can deal serious lethal damage. You could switch to Nocturnal between each pull to throw in some extra mitigation on the tank (combined with Stoneskin). But aside from that, there aren't that many uses that Nocturnal brings over Diurnal

[Neela]

Sadly, Diurnal Sect is so overwhelmingly powerful compared to Nocturnal sect that Nocturnal Sect hardly has any uses. All Nocturnal Sect offers is the ability to snipe heal someone with Aspected Benefic if they're low from taking damage and about to take damage again. But this is rather niche and not worth the benefits Diurnal brings over Nocturnal. Especially in lighter content where nothing can deal serious lethal damage. You could switch to Nocturnal between each pull to throw in some extra mitigation on the tank (combined with Stoneskin). But aside from that, there aren't that many uses that Nocturnal brings over Diurnal

may I ask when you personally played Ast the last time yourself, your profile said its your main cls right?... your statement fits the Ast right after release... but after two cls buffs, I see way more Nocs than Diurs... especially after Noc got the heal-boost over Diur, I see them very rarely nowadays.

edit: and an instant shield is not useless at all... if you think so than Sch is useless too - and every fairy-whisperer should change to whm as well ; )

[Feyona]

may I ask when you personally played Ast the last time yourself, your profile said its your main cls right?... your statement fits the Ast right after release... but after two cls buffs, I see way more Nocs than Diurs... especially after Noc got the heal-boost over Diur, I see them very rarely nowadays.

edit: and an instant shield is not useless at all... if you think so than Sch is useless too - and every fairy-whisperer should change to whm as well ; )

I agree I only use diurn for raiding with sch co heal. All othe content I use noct especially with wmg co heal. Asts seem to get annoyed if im on sch with them cos they like noct more. Dungeons I use noct. Must say here though last boss in vault I prefer diurnal so its content biased sometimes.

[Cyrocco]

Noct for Regular Pulls, Diurn for Bosses.

My reasoning behind this is that during any (most) regular pulls, the tank is the only target taking damage, Nocts potency boost is nice, I can normally ignore the tank after casting Aspected for the majority of the pull, and because the shield is an instant cast, it lets me react quickly to the tank taking spike damage (More time in Cleric), and an Aspected -> Essential -> Aspected is a great recovery combo.

Now, the reason I use Diurnal for bosses is because the universal pattern among bosses, is that the damage is widespread, however, in most cases, the AoE damage doesn't require a real heal, and the regen is more than enough for the DPS, so I always open with Helios -> Benefic on Tank, and go straight into Cleric and basically ignore everyone.

Ultimately, I love running like this because it effectively uses BOTH stances during a standard dungeon.

[Skatedudeguy]

So to add on what others have said:

Healing in general: Get a good feel for the "chunk" of the HP bar each heal can do (if you are a numbers person you can go that route too). You'll get a feel of what each heal can do and if it will overheal or not.

Don't be reliant on your Benefic II spell. Unless the target is going to die if they do not get another heal right after, your Benefic I heal will do great and save MP. That being said, if their HP bar is going down quickly, go ahead and use II !

Make sure your gear is up to snuff. Even moreso than a tank, you need to make sure you can recover from those big hits.

For AST in particular:

I wouldn't worry too much about the cards when first starting out. If you can apply the cards to the right person, great. Heal first, DPS if you feel comfortable, and cards are last when starting. Once you get into a groove, you can balance all three parts.