[DoK] Melee Heal (Shield) Spec Observations and Suggestions
Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2018 10:00 pm
Having played exclusively as Sword and Shield DoK over the past 4 days, there are a few gaps in the build that I feel could use some filling. I will only be addressing the melee healing DoK with shield as that is my only level 40/62. I am using a mixed set of 3 Mercenary and 3 Dominator with 2 Genesis rings and a 2-piece +parry/+parry strikethrough jewelry. Link to Armory
The biggest gap I perceive is the all or nothing nature of melee healing. In order to be effective at melee healing, you need to outfit your character with DPS focused gear, forsaking any Willpower for Strength. To optimize your damage on Transfer Essence (Your main group heal) you will want to slot the Divine Fury tactic for 25% more damage at the cost of 20% less healing from direct heals (casted). This playstyle seemed the most logical to me and although my gear is somewhat not BIS, it works well in any situation with an enemy to Dps. That said, without an enemy near, you have no healing per se. Layer on top of that the class does not have any cc breaks or “escape” tools, and the glaring need for viable casted heals on self, as well as others, becomes painfully apparent.
The common issue is being punted, slow puddled or snared, and ranged down by the opposition MRDPS while helplessly spamming a 180 point HoT on yourself. I would like to see some method for producing self-heals effective enough to keep yourself alive while working your way back into melee range of an enemy target. This, I imagine, would be some sort of new ability. Shield equipped required, it could be a channeled ability like a Hold the Line for DoKs that would pulse heal you while draining AP and perhaps increase your Disrupt or Block chance by a percentage while active – say 10% - and lasting until out of AP or another ability is used (just like HtL).
Another issue for Melee Heal DoKs, like every other player, is the constant snares in ORvR and SCs. While an issue for all classes, every melee class in game has some sort of snare break and/or a charge to overcome this. Melee heal DoKs do not. As such, we are perhaps the easiest class in the entire game to kite-kill. This issue could be remedied in a few ways; Proc run speed on shield block for example, but that would entail using the one shield in-game with that proc. I’m OK with that. Many epic weapons have this proc. I would also think that taking a seldom used tactic like Bloodthirst [Covenant of Celerity will now deal 225 Spirit Damage] and adding on a run speed proc every time the covenant procs – say 30% for 3 seconds – would not only help alleviate this issue, but also add value to the tactic for both melee healing DoKs as well as pure Dps DoKs.
The last point I’d like to bring up is one I noticed within the first hour of playing. Rend Soul is underperforming for the cost. I documented my findings in the other thread, so the simplest solution I can think of is to add Rend Soul to the Empowered Transfer tactic. It would need an increase from its base 350% of damage done to around 400% of damage done or a 25% increase in its base damage. Either way, Transfer Essence is so much better right now on any target, I seldom use Rend Soul.
Other than those three gaps, I feel the change is a good one and have enjoyed playing as melee heals.
The biggest gap I perceive is the all or nothing nature of melee healing. In order to be effective at melee healing, you need to outfit your character with DPS focused gear, forsaking any Willpower for Strength. To optimize your damage on Transfer Essence (Your main group heal) you will want to slot the Divine Fury tactic for 25% more damage at the cost of 20% less healing from direct heals (casted). This playstyle seemed the most logical to me and although my gear is somewhat not BIS, it works well in any situation with an enemy to Dps. That said, without an enemy near, you have no healing per se. Layer on top of that the class does not have any cc breaks or “escape” tools, and the glaring need for viable casted heals on self, as well as others, becomes painfully apparent.
The common issue is being punted, slow puddled or snared, and ranged down by the opposition MRDPS while helplessly spamming a 180 point HoT on yourself. I would like to see some method for producing self-heals effective enough to keep yourself alive while working your way back into melee range of an enemy target. This, I imagine, would be some sort of new ability. Shield equipped required, it could be a channeled ability like a Hold the Line for DoKs that would pulse heal you while draining AP and perhaps increase your Disrupt or Block chance by a percentage while active – say 10% - and lasting until out of AP or another ability is used (just like HtL).
Another issue for Melee Heal DoKs, like every other player, is the constant snares in ORvR and SCs. While an issue for all classes, every melee class in game has some sort of snare break and/or a charge to overcome this. Melee heal DoKs do not. As such, we are perhaps the easiest class in the entire game to kite-kill. This issue could be remedied in a few ways; Proc run speed on shield block for example, but that would entail using the one shield in-game with that proc. I’m OK with that. Many epic weapons have this proc. I would also think that taking a seldom used tactic like Bloodthirst [Covenant of Celerity will now deal 225 Spirit Damage] and adding on a run speed proc every time the covenant procs – say 30% for 3 seconds – would not only help alleviate this issue, but also add value to the tactic for both melee healing DoKs as well as pure Dps DoKs.
The last point I’d like to bring up is one I noticed within the first hour of playing. Rend Soul is underperforming for the cost. I documented my findings in the other thread, so the simplest solution I can think of is to add Rend Soul to the Empowered Transfer tactic. It would need an increase from its base 350% of damage done to around 400% of damage done or a 25% increase in its base damage. Either way, Transfer Essence is so much better right now on any target, I seldom use Rend Soul.
Other than those three gaps, I feel the change is a good one and have enjoyed playing as melee heals.