T4 healer tips

[Estellios]

My advice is: no matter what the kill order is, make sure to top off the tank(s) some time before the next wave spawns. The final phase is really precarious till you get used to topping off the tanks before your group finishes killing 2nd soldier/knight or 2nd dreadnaught. When the enemy in question is at around 20% or so is a good time to do it that way you just have to adloquium or stoneskin both of them before or right as the next wave pops and you will have a good amount of time before you need to burst heal and it will allow the tanks to establish hate.

If you get caught with your pants down the next phase will pop with the tanks at half hp and you have to scramble to get them topped off, leading to you getting murdered and wipes.

[Vid]

This is a guide I wrote for upcoming healers when it comes to Turn 4, hopefully it will prove useful.

Turn 4 - The Gauntlet

This is a gear check for your whole party. Tanks, DPS, and Healers all need to be well geared for this fight or it can overrun you quickly. The damage can easily get out of hand and trying to keep both tanks up can be very difficult. Have your strategy planned out ahead of time, and make sure everyone knows exactly what they are doing. Suggested that your Cure 1 heals for roughly 900-950 for this fight.

While strategies may vary, the healing is no joke in this fight, and you can find yourself running out of mana very quickly if you do not time your cooldowns.


Phase 1 - Spiders

The fight starts out simple enough, the tanks grab a group of spiders and your group begins to AE them down. You can toss a single regen on the tanks, but let it expire and do not cast again until the 2nd phase. Healing here shouldn't be an issue, the spiders do very little damage, and for the most part you will only be casting Cure 1. As the spiders slowly die off, start to position yourself for the 2nd phase before it happens.

When you are more well geared and familiar with the fight you can even run into the pack of spiders with Cleric Stance and cast Holy. However this is not suggested for those without the proper gear or familiarity with the fight.


Phase 2 - Herp Derp Robots

2 Knights and 2 Soldiers will spawn in specific locations, it is recommended that you position yourself between these locations before they appear, so in case you get healer aggro the tanks can easily pull it off you. Healing here can be a little difficult depending on how well geared your tanks are, as these robots tend to hit hard, and do AE damage to anything around them. However tossing a Regen on any melee dps should be enough to keep them alive.

Cure 1 will still be your main spell for the tanks, but always keep Regen up during this phase. The fight becomes easier as the robots die and the tanks will end up taking less damage. This should give you a little time to regain some mana, but if needed feel free to pop Shroud of Saints during this phase or at the very beginning of Phase 3 (any later would not be advised).


Phase 3 - Dreadnaught & Spiders

Before this phase begins cast Regen on the 2nd tank who will not be grabbing the Dreadnaught, then hide behind the Dreadnaught as it lands. This will typically aggro some of the spiders and make them run toward the Dreadnaught, so he can absorb them faster and your dps can start to attack him sooner. Positioning wise you should stay behind the Dreadnaught.

This particular phase can be quite hectic as there is a lot of spike damage on the tank. Always be casting Cure 1 to anticipate the damage, and keep Regen up at all times. It's also highly recommended to keep Eye for an Eye on the tank, as well as rotating Virus in when possible. You may need to use Cure 2 as the fight goes on, and its suggested you use Shroud of Saints during the beginning of this phase or at the end of the 2nd phase so you will have it up later.


Phase 4 - Spiders & Rooks

You get a small break from healing during this phase, but not by much. Position yourself directly in the middle so that the tanks can pull the spiders and rooks off of you in case you gain initial aggro, then once aggro is established run out of the middle so you don't get hit by the Rooks debuffs. Healing here shouldn't be an issue, typically one tank will grab most of the spiders and 1 rook, so you can focus most of your heals on them. While the other tank will take 1 Rook, and take very little damage, so he can prepare for the next phase.

You can keep Regen up during the beginning and middle of the fight, but do not recast it once the spiders hit around 40-50% health left. This will help for the next phase coming up as you don't want to be pulling initial aggro.


Phase 5 - Herp Derp Robots & 1 Dreadnaught

1 Knight, 1 Soldier, and 1 Dreadnaught will spawn and be tanked accordingly. Typically both robots will be on one tank, with the Dreadnaught being tanked separately. After initial aggro is established get Regens up on both tanks, and alternate your healing between the tanks. The tank on the Dreadnaught will have periods of spike damage, so keeping them topped off or close to it is ideal. Letting them fall to 50% health can be fatal.

The other robots will be easier to heal, again keeping Regens on the melee dps should keep them up. Once both robots are dead, you can focus all your healing on the Dreadnaughts tank. However the Dreadnaught will be not be dead before the last phase occurs.


Phase 6 - 2 Herp Derp Robots, 2 Spiders, 1 Rook, 1 Dreadnaught

This is where all hell breaks loose. Healing here will be highly dependent on the tanks cooldowns, and your own. Everyone has a different strategy for this fight, so making sure everyone is on the same page when going into this fight is ideal. For example a Paladin using their Invulnerability ability to help mitigate the incoming damage.

Whichever strategy you use, healing here will be essential to winning. Position wise just make sure you are not near any of the enemies and semi-close to a tank in case you gain initial aggro, then move accordingly out of the way. Although it may not seem like it at first, this phase will become progressively easier as the enemies are being taken care of. Typically one of the Dreadnaughts will be fed with the 2 spiders, so you can expect more spike damage on that particular tank. Cure 2 will be your main spell throughout this phase due to the amount of damage on both tanks, and Shroud of Saints should be used either during the very beginning of this phase, or soon after.

At the very end of the fight you should be left with a single Dreadnaught, and depending on your party's dps, he may enter his enrage stage. If this happens, he will periodically do AE damage to the whole party, as well as keeping constant damage on the tank. Using Medica 1 and 2 is ideal if this happens, but hopefully this won't last long as the Dread should be close to dying, just something to look out for.


Cooldowns:

Shroud of Saints - Highly recommended you use this at the end of phase 2 or as needed during phase 3. The reason for this is typically it wont be back up again until the beginning of phase 6 or soon after. Any later and you wont have it up for most of phase 6.

Divine Seal - To be used during Phases 3 and 6. While the cooldown is only 60 seconds, these should be the two main phases where you will need to use it.

Presence of Mind - If needed use it during Phase 3, otherwise save for Phase 6. The spike damage for phase 3 can tend to overwhelm those not prepared for it, so you may end up using this early on. However phase 6 is the ideal time to use it, as you will be switching between each tank trying to get your heals off as quickly as possible.

Eye for an Eye - Typically used at the beginning of Phase 3 to help mitigate some of the damage, and then again during phase 6. If multiple people can cast this spell you may even want to consider using it on the Phase 4 to help lower some of the damage, but not necessary.

Virus - Used for Turns 3 and 6 respectively and only on the Dreadnaughts for Turn 6. Since these are the heavy hitters you want to lessen their damage anyway you can. A focus macro will help out a lot during phase 6 so you never have to switch your target between a Dreadnaught and a tank.

Swiftcast - If a tank is currently low and you have to move, use this before hand and toss out a Cure 2, otherwise save it for those o-shit moments. For the most part this probably wont be used, but is nice to have just in case.

Benediction - Save for Phase 6, as shit can get real in a split second.

Surecast - Helpful when you manage to pull aggro and get a Robot on you, this can actually save you from getting interrupted, but for the most part you will never use it.

[Shinkyo]

Snip

Good post.
Something I do during Phase 4 (rooks and spiders) is cast holy at the very beginning of the phase to stun the spiders as they aggro the healers. This give a few extra seconds for the tanks to get aggro and you're less likely to get hit.
I've started doing this from running T4 on DF with tanks that were slow at picking up adds (and obviously, I would die...).
Since the main purpose is to do an AoE stun to protect the healers, you don't really care about cleric stance but I usually use it since there's plenty of time for tanks to aggro and for you to deactivate cleric.

Also, make sure you Stoneskin the healers and use surecast (if available) at the beginning of each phase. If the tanks aren't fast enough at picking up adds, you'll die in no time...
That's the one positive thing about running DF, you have to expect people to make mistake so you come up with little tricks to mitigate them.

[AiChyan]

Start With Divine Seal, every phase should last a minute, so divine seal should be available for you at the start of every phase. Try to save your benediction for P6.

Phase 1 - Nothing special here, heal normally.

Phase 2 - Run to back of the room, start healing once enmity is established. Focus on your tank.

Phase 3 - Start with regen so that you gain enmity on the spiders, and get behind the dreadnaught so that he feeds on all the spiders. Tank will be eating tons of damage here, so eye 4 an eye him if needed and keep regen up and hope its not needed at the end of the phase.

Phase 4/5 - Throw SoS if needed! There is a high chance you would gain enmity here. At this point you should be positioned in the middle. Heal your tank and the other tank if need be, and the raid if anyone is taking damage.

Phase 6 - Hello chaos! Heal the hell out of your tank, SOS if needed, use your cool downs as you see appropriately and use benediction here if you have to, medica 2 when enmity is established and make it work

Good luck!

[Rynia]

One piece of advice I would give you is don't stress too much!

I healed t4 for the first time the other day and I was wound up so tight I was actually shaking with nerves (this happens to me in all endgame content for the first time, to be fair xD) but we only wiped once.

More practical advice, talk to your co-healer. Decide in advance which tank each of you will focus on. Obviously chuck out heals where you feel they're needed, but if you've got a game plan set up at the start then your tanks are much less likely to eat dirt!