dcuo guides

Ice

Sections

1. Getting Started 2. Stats & Skill Points 3. Gear & Weapons 4. Powers 5. Loadouts 6. In the Wild 7. FAQs & Discussion

Notes & Precursors

I mainly play PVE content at the moment, so most of this guide is focused on that. This thread is mainly meant to stay on the subject of Ice Tanking. There are plenty of other good threads that focus on Ice

DPS, Fire Tanking, and the like.

Abbreviations

AoE = Area of Effect (an attack or action that has an effect in the general area you cast in) DoT = Damage over time (ticks of damage over time) Aggro = Enemy aggression (attention and attack efforts are focused on specific targets) CC = Crowd control (any form of stun, status effect, or attack that hinders movement/actions) Mobs = General low-level enemies

Getting Started

As the tank in a raid or alert, your duties comprise of (in order of importance):

1. keeping attention/attack focused on you2. staying alive to maintain #13. grouping and positioning enemies for the protection of the group/better DPS4. slowing/encasing/generally messing with enemies5. Managing your power pool6. providing additional DPS in group

1) Aggro - Attention/Attack

Since our gear, powers, and attributes help us stay alive longer by mitigating damage, our main job is to ensure that enemies are attacking us and not any other classes in our parties. Obtaining and maintaining aggro is the primary way to do this.

As an Ice Tank, anytime you cast a power you create a "taunt" that gains you aggro from an enemies it has landed on. According to Update 5's release notes, this means "Taunt effects on Tank role powers should now consistently use a 15m radius either around your target or yourself depending on the activated power…". What this means is:

If you directly cast a power at a targeted enemy, the taunt will land on that enemy and any others within a 15m radius around your target.

If you cast a power without a target or one that is casted around your character, any enemies within a 15m radius will be taunted.

Aggro will be kept anywhere from 7-12 seconds (depending on the enemy) and you can gain it again by casting another power at that enemy after or 2 seconds before that period ends on the same enemy/in the same range. If other characters other than tanks attack/cast powers at aggro'd enemies, you should not lose their attention. The only case where this may happen is with Controllers placing Defense or Damage debuffs on enemies (though the attention Controllers receive when doing so seems to have been reduced since Update 5). With two or more characters in tank stance, aggro can become a bit more difficult to maintain as the mechanics on how Fire vs Ice Tanks obtain aggro are different.

Note: Because you ideally have the attention of all mobs/bosses around you, do not try to resurrect another player unless you are the last resort/player in getting that person up. Instead, you'll want to take the aggro party away from any downed player so that others can resurrect (and heal) him without dropping themselves - you're the babysitter!. If you must try resurrecting or you are the Off-Tank (a secondary tank for managing mobs in boss fights/raids), try to drop aggro off to the other tank, make your way to the downed player and cast Reflect to not be interruptedbefore reviving.

2) Staying Alive

Once you have aggro, its equally important to stay alive to maintain it. Different from Fire Tanks who can increase and heal their health, Ice Tanks rely on their defense to help reduce damage taken. To stay alive you'll be relying on this fact and will want to do the following after obtaining aggro:

Ensure your defense buff is up - As Ice Tanks, we receive a 90% increase in our base defense stat for a ~10 second window anytime we use a power (ice-based or movement-based). You can see if this buff is active by looking at your stats in the PDA immediately after casting a power or by looking for a green shield icon under your character's name while playing. The latter is a better way to keep tabs on

Block - You receive an additional 5000 def increase when blocking (hold R1) an attack. If too many mobs are attacking you or your health is going down at an alarming rate the best thing to do is to block

Dodging/Evading - Along with blocking, dodging (R1 + any direction) is important at key points in the game. For tanks, you don't want to be sitting in a Boss's DoT (e.g. Vice's/Atrocitus's Red Vomit), both your health and healer will be ripped at you. The same goes for charge moves that are telegraphed (by the attack icon above an enemy's head). Maintain aggro with taunts, but bullfight instead of sitting there

Increase Defense/Protection More - Some powers will allow you increase your defense more or protect you entirely (Reflect) or partially (Winter Ward, Cold Snap, Shatter Restraints, Bitter Winds) from attacks.

Heal - Both Hibernate and Ice Elemental (both super charges) provide some healing over time. Since update 6, this healing now scales with your Dominance combined with Restoration = more effective but still questionable

Note: Since Update 6, Winter Ward, Bitter Winds and Shatter Restraints provide a damage prevention effect that scales and prevents additional damage roughly equal to 13.5% of your Restoration score combined with 100% of your Dominance. Also, since Update 6, having a maximum defense of 5278 is no longer the max an Ice Tank should/could have. Since Armor Penetration was introduced, both more defense and damage mitigation is needed to compensate for different levels of base defense being ignored: Tier 1 Raids ignore 12%, Tier 2 Raids (FOS) ignore 25% .

3) Grouping

To ensure all enemies in the area are being tanked; your Controller and DPS can CC/DPS in an un-scattered AoE fashion; and your party is not being attacked and is focused on one point - you'll want to organize mobs and or boss in a specific place (as long as the damage you're taking is manageable). This can be done by:

pulling enemies to you with an attack (Inescapable Storm really does pull, but other attacks such as Ice Bash will get their attention and hopefully force them to mosey over for an attack)

Casting powers that have AoE attacks and cause aggro in your general radius (Bitter Winds, Wintry Tempest, Cold Snap)

Cornering/Kiting - There will be times when simply grouping enemies on you won't be enough. Its often ideal to move or start this group near a wall or corner to help trap mobs. You can move or Kite mobs/bosses to areas once you have aggro. To do this, first grab aggro on the said mobs, and slowly move/roll yourself to where you want to go, remembering to maintain aggro with a cast every 8 seconds or so. If mobs become scattered during the move, rope them in with Inescapable Storm.

Volume Management - There are also times where you do not want to aggro the entire room. For those times, be mindful of where you are jumping into/taunting. Picking off the first 2-4 mobs (using Ice Bash or Inescapable Storm) in FOS rooms is better than jumping into the entire pack or center of the room. Chunk up your work.

Note: Along the same lines, Look at the area radar often - if there are any red dots that aren't accounted for (especially near your party members' dots), make sure they're not being tanked for a valid reason (near dead, its a generator, wimpy mob, stupid Rambo DPS/troller/healer)

Note: When grouping mobs and attaining aggro, be on the look out for fixed location powers/effects (such as Circle of Protection, Wintry Tempest, Inferno, broken Health/DMG barrells etc.) that your party may have already placed somewhere. You'll want to tank (pull or kite) the mobs to and in those areas for optimal damage (both from DOT and Power interactions DPS might be setting themselves up for) and healing. DPS and Healers will love you for this. Keep em grouped in there and in cases where no fixed powers are cast yet - call out that its safe to cast them once you have things grouped for extra cookies and milk from your party mates.

Note: For extra cookies, you can help set DPS power interactions (mostly frostbitten-based ones) by casting Wintry Tempest yourself (assuming your power is sufficient enough and all mobs are grouped). It'll help DPSers that use Frost Blast, Mass Detonation, etc. that cause extra DMG to frostbitten, burning, electrified etc. mobs.

4) Messing with Enemies

There are several ways to mess with enemies to thwart them from stopping anything you or the rest of your party might be trying to do.

Knocking down - the best way to gain time and breathing room to set up your tanking/pull more mobs in/get party members out of trouble (stuns, damage, etc.). My go-to's for doing this on a group scale are Bitter Winds and Wintry Tempest - both of which will AoE pop enemies up into the air before knocking them down. Whirlwind Attack (from the Flight Tree) can also do this to an already grouped set of mobs. Weapons also have knock-ups that do the same on a more individual basis - check out each moves description the weapon tree for words like "knock up" or "launches".

Stunning - This mostly happens with weapon combos check out each moves description the weapon tree for words like "stun" or "block breaker". Keep in mind most mobs have a temporary immunity to any weap attack stun used more than twice in a small window of time.

Rooting & Encasements - specific to Ice Tanks, enemies can become rooted and/or encased in ice. For each mob to be encased, its a three step status effect process: - frostbitten -> rooted -> encased. Since Update 5, its generally easier to move through this process. Certain powers (Inescapable Storm, Wintry Tempest, Snow Devil) will inflict frostbite on mobs (though Bosses are all but immune), once frostbitten, other powers (Bitter Winds, Freeze Wave, etc.) when casted will cause mobs to be rooted and then encased (often with another cast). Note: This process is not guaranteed and can use a lot of power, but when used with a healthy power supply, controller applying cryo-attacks (that help root/encase frostbitten mobs, another Ice Tank/DPS) in large mobs can be effective. If you do find yourself with encasements, grab them and smash others with the ice block for serious damage or shatter them with Resonating Gale (considered more of a DPS power).

5) Managing Your Power Pool

Good tanks can handle all of the responsibilities above while managing their own power - meaning they have enough power to continue to maintain aggro (and mitigate damage). In larger groups, you can depend on the power buff from Controllers, but should also be building combos when you can in between triggering powers to help with the regen yourself (trying to hit either the blue or orange colored combo counts for higher amounts of power restoration on your own). The less stress you put on the controller the easier it is for them to ensure the healer (most importantly) and DPS have enough juice to heal and hurt respectively. As an Ice Tank you can help out by making the most of your powers and:

pulling enemies cheaply with Inescapable Storm to gain aggro Cast Ice Bash and attack with an AOE weapon attack jumping into a group of enemies and cast Cold Snap, Bitter Winds, or Reflect building chill effects (side affect of Cold Snap, Reflect, Winter Ward, Ice Bash) until 5 are obtained for ice armor (which

takes the normal 90% def buff we get with power usage and extends it to 60 seconds)

Note: It is very bad form for you as a tank to spam your powers to the point of draining your entire bar. Controllers will hate you because they need to resupply you even though you only need 1-2 powers every 8-12 seconds, Healers will hate you because you'll have little power left to protect them and even yourself, DPS will hate you because they think you're trying to compete with them rather then doing your job.

6) Additional DPS

In Tank stance, you do not get the damage buffs from your powers the way you do in DPS stance. Your damage is also reduced by 20%, so you should not be at the top of the damage scorecard at the end of an instance. This doesn't mean that you shouldn't be attacking enemies while taking care of the rest of your duties. Even in tank stance, you can make a contribution to taking down large enemies or mobs, just be mindful of your power consumption when doing so. Relying on weapon combos as primary means is a good bet, Power Interactions (smashing encasements) and DoT Powers (DownDraft, Wintry Tempest) are your other best friends, but make sure you have enough power to hold aggro/stay alive (without taxing the troller/party members) before using a power solely for DPS purposes.

Stats & Skill Points

Dominance

As noted above, Dominance has nothing to do with aggro, but everything to do with CC (both how much you as a tank are affected by it and how much you can control mobs). As tanks, being CC'ed means potentially losing aggro on enemies - so avoiding it or breaking out quickly is uber important. Suggested dominance levels to ensure you can CC, but limit being CC'ed are here:

T1 HMA Raids: 300 T2 HMA Alerts: 325 Raids: 350 FoS Raids: 400

Since Update 6, your dominance also contributes to some of your damage mitigating and healing abilities as an Ice Tank. Winter Ward, Shatter Restraints, and Bitter Winds all prevent additional damage roughly equal to 13.5% of your Restoration score combined with 100% of your Dominance. So if your dominance in Tank Stance is 500 and your Restoration is 200 (purely made up value), each gives you 527 damage mitigated (absorbed for you). Its wise to not only have high dominance as tank for CC but also for these mitigation effects.

Note: Your dominance doubles in tank stance.

Defense

Defense as mentioned above is your bread and butter as an Ice Tank. All of our gear has steady increases in it as you progress from no gear to T1 -> T2 -> T3. Defense helps reduce the amount of damage you take. To calculate how much damage your defense is currently mitigating, use this formula from http://dcuo.mmorpg-life.com/601/gui...s-descriptions/:

At level 30: Your Defense/71 = % of Damage Mitigated/Reduced

Example: My current defense (without a buff from a power cast) is 3180 = 44.78% of Damage isn't taken

Example: My current defense (with a buff from a power cast) is 6000 = 84.5% of Damage isn't taken

Currently, as of Update 6, there is no defense cap that Ice Tanks will hit - so the more defense the better. This is especially true with Armor Penetration being a factor in Raids (and probably increasing in future/harder instances), as you'll need to compensate for the percentage of lost defense in the instance you're running no matter your base defense. To reiterate, the armor penetration stats (or how much base defense mobs will ignore) per raids is below:

Tier 1 Raids ignore 12% Base Defense - BC 1,2,3 and Khanh Tier 2 Raids ignore 25% Base Defense - FOS 1,2,3

Note: You'll want to watch out for any gear that drastically adds to or subtracts from your current defense and nab/run away from it respectively.

Movement Modes

I have only ever used flight when tanking but you can create a tank with any movement mode (as most movement modes don't have dedicated Tank-specific Super Charges/Moves). Here are some things to note from general experiences:

Flight: Flight has some pretty interesting powers that could be used to tank with namely: Low Pressure (pulls in mobs within a radius around you) and High Pressure (knocks up/pushes back mobs as well as causes extra damage if Low Pressure was used beforehand). I've used these before, but pass on them as there are equal if not more accurate pulls (Inescapable Storm) and pops (Bitter Winds, Freeze Wave) in Ice. Whirlwind Attack can be a good knock down/CC to Bitter Winds. As a 50% Super Charge, Vacuum Bubble does double duty as a good AoE damage dealer and mass stun to anything in sight on the screen. If your group need a few seconds, it can buy you that as a tank.

Super Speed: Speed drain ,a super charge, is a great power for a Tank to have in order to support his/her party - If Controllers are down or folks need more power, this can be used quickly while tanking and would let Healers, Controllers, DPS continue to focus on their activities.

Acrobat: Perfect poise, a super charge, makes you take no damage and breaks you out of/makes you immune to CC's. As an Ice Tank there are already moves to negate CC and damage, but this could be a back-up to those in cases where you're waiting for cooldown or out of power. Depending on your play style, acrobatics also provides you with agility on the group while tanking (when in movement mode) - moving faster and leaping over enemies could be handy.

Note: While you can tank when in a movement mode (tapping down L3 - flying, super speed, acrobatics), I find it easier to do so in almost all cases when in standard walking mode. The chances that you'll be hit a far distance away from the fight are much less and you're able to more easily organize mobs around yourself.

Spec'ing

When using your skill points and wanting to dedicate completely to your tank duties, it helps to do the following:

1. equip all of your best tank gear (hint: look for the "role:tank" text in its description)2. make sure you're in tank stance3. open up any of the main attacks/combos of you main weapon - This includes any melee combos, knock backs/ups, and at

least one good range attack for times when you want to kite/tank from afar.

4. nab any necessary powers from your movement mode - Super Sonic, Rocket Glide, etc.5. invest in the escape power restores in your movement modes (necessary for PVP stuns, and helpful for tank as we get

CC'ed a lot > need to break out > need power to grab aggro even in worst case scenarios of not having trollers/PoT/Defibs) - *you can skip this if you're super new and have very little skill points*

6. grab Defense from various weapon trees - Bow, Dual Wield, Dual Pistols, Staff, Martial Arts. The Iconic Nanoweave Armor is also a good thing to spec into for more defense (+100 for us with our defense buff)

7. grab Dominance - spec'ing into Dominance until you hit the desired level for the type of PVE content you're running (these days I shoot to be over 400). The Iconic Intimidating Gaze is also a good thing to spec into for more dominance (+50 for us when in tank stance). Since update 6, grabbing more Dominance than the minimum will help with more Damage Mitigation and is worthwhile to do.

Note: Here's a pretty handy table to show where points should be allocated for an Ice Tank focusing on Defense, Dominance, and Health

Note: If you're low on skill points or wondering how to get more as a new tank, I highly recommend my league leader's essential feat point guide - http://obliterationdcuo.shivtr.com/..._threads/772446

As a T2.5-T3 geared PVE Tank, the above method is what I have recently used when spec'ing only for FOS2/3, but I've also experiemented with the following and within the past week or two have reverted back to my previous method for skill point spec'ing. Note: Your mileage may vary (with groups, your own skill/experience as a Tank) when using this second method:

Method #2 - As I'm geared around the complete T2.5-3 Mark, I still following steps #1-5 above but skip #'s 6 and 7 as ideally my gear and skill/experience as a Tank are doing most of the work (getting > 6000 DEF after casting a power in Tank stance and near or > 450 DOM). As an Ice DPS/Tank, I'm putting no SP into Defense instead putting all into Might, Crit DMG Chance and Magnitude. Pre update 6, I started doing this once I had near all T2 gear and didn't feel squishy in the slightest (especially with casts like Reflect, Bitter Winds, Shatter Restraints and Winter Ward good healers, and solid blocking/boss reading). Feeling comfortable after a couple more T3 pieces, I'm back at this for all raids now. This means you're essentially minoring in DPS while

majoring in tanking (while enrolled in Tank College ) .

Note: If you're gearead around the complete T2.5-T3 Mark as the paragraph above notes, and would rather minor more on survival than damage, I'd recommend skipping Might, Crit DMG Chance and Mag and grab Health from all of the skill trees. Health, while more of a primary necessity for Fire Tanks due to their tanking bonuses, still helps us.

Think of our life as a dam, leaks (attacks) in the walls of the dam cause the spilling of water (our health). Our Defense spec'ing and bonuses help ensure those leaks are (up to 75%) smaller/slower when they happen, but increasing the volume of the water (again, our health) the dam is holding also helps as the slower leaks will take even more time to drain the entire dam - aka, we live even longer.

Gear & Weapons

Gear

Note: While some folks might inspect and judge you if you are not in "all purples" (aka epic gear), there are often Blue-labeled pieces of gear that have better stats for what Ice Tanks care about than Purple (e.g. a 90.7 dps Power Affinity Bow dropped from the Green Lantern HAs has more defense than its 97.1 epic counterpart found in Kahndaq). Choose your gear for a reason that helps the stats we care about as Ice Tanks (namely Defense and some Dominance).

Here's a good listing of most the Tank armor and Tank accessories currently in the game It can pay to look out for Defense heavy rings/accessories/Trinkets from seasonal events, shops, and treasure chest

drops

Weapons

While I have personal preferences (Bow and Martial Arts) for tanking, I've read and talked with plenty others who prefer/are successful with many other weapons. Things in common from all of the input I've heard are:

Making sure you know your weapon's combos that build up power the quickest (getting to those blue and orange combo counter levels)

Having/using a lunge attack to close the distance between you and the next target(s) to aggro Using attacks/combos that knock-back or stun mobs Knowing what attacks will help you stationary tank (focusing the fight in one place) vs. kiting (keeping attention from afar

for safety/placement) - for the sake of your health and folks trying to work around you (healing/damage circles, CC)

Some weapons, such as the Green Lantern DLC drops as well as the Flash DLC Mars of Momentum drops have added power affinities (additional benefits that randomly proc when performing power/weapon attacks in combat) for you and your party. If you have the chance to use one of these weapons and its comparable to a weapon without a power affinitiy, I'd highly recommend it. As a Tank, the affinities are currently:

GL DLC Tank Power Affinity: Small chance to absorb damage to yourself when used against enemies Flash DLC Sparc Weapon Tank Power Affinity: Small chance to absorb damage to yourself and 3 allies in Tank Role

equipped with SPARC weapons when used against enemies; Allies not in Tank Role will be de-taunted

Note: The Flash DLC Sparc Tank Weapons only absorb damage for other Tanks in your party and yourself, not all members. Its said/speculated that the damage absorbtion is equivalent to that of the Iconic Hard Light Shield and mitigates up to a specific cap.

Note: For Power Affinity Weapons, you can see a power being activitated by red sparks at your character's feet.

Note: If you are using and rely heavily on Ice Bash as a way to obtain aggro, you'll want to make sure the weapon you choose has both an AoE and single Target combo/attack (e.g. Bow: Arrow Storm, Flurry Shot) that you are very familiar with and comfortable getting out quickly.

Here's a good listing of most of the Tank Weapons currently in the game

Powers

Here are thoughts on the best and worst of Ice Tanking powers IMHO, as of Update 7:

Do Take

Bitter Winds: mitigates damage (total = all of your Dominance + 13.5% of your Resto), knocks up enemies around you, damage over time, 10% control resistance

Winter Ward: This power just got better with its scaling damage mitigation (total = all of your Dominance + 13.5% of your Resto), alongside its ability to break you out of being CC'ed (not to mention 3 other people in your group getting broken out as well!)

Reflect: no brainer (great for real emergency moments - too much aggro, quick escapes, resurrecting) as it reflects the 3 next attacks on you with a cap of 10,000 cumulative damage.

Inescapable Storm: best pull for the job. grab aggro on bosses easily and cheaply. pull in mobs/adds to help group things with quick cooldown

Maybe Take

Shatter Restraints - much like Winter Ward, it provides damage mitigation (total = all of your Dominance + 13.5% of your Resto), and breaks you out of CC, but only seems to provide immunity to 3 other group members for future CC and not break them out of current CC. Consider taking this alongside Winter Ward if you plan on PVPing.

Resonating Gale - an almost too good aggro nabber and mass knock down power. There is some recoil to the cast, but you can leap in shortly after. If you're working with a troller with cryo-ish powers or another Ice Tank, its situationally great to have to destroy anything encased. Be careful in how much attention you grab with it though.

Ice Bash - a must for ice DPS, and its on the way to other needed powers. I don't use it in Tank Stance, but others do while tanking to nab aggro with weap attacks. If used be mindful of the weap attacks used with it to grab aggro (AoE for mass attention vs. single attack for picking out targets)

Wintry Tempest - Instant cast AoE DOT with frostbite causing potential + a knock up and down. This is helpful in damaging and frostbiting (moving towards encasement) grouped mobs but costs a good amount of power to cast.

Freeze Wave - A good AoE knock back (but not knock down) and aggro grabber. This can provide help along the way to encasements (if used on frostbitten enemies) and its quick cooldown (helps for repeat use in encasements and for a quick cast to maintain boss aggro)

Cold Snap - Instant, cheap cast that is AoE damage/aggro. Reflects some damage back at attackers and also increases your CC resistance.

Whirlwind Attack - From the Flight tree, this power circles around mobs and after its animation knocks them down, which can be good for CC and group management.

Don't Bother

DownDraft (Flight) - This used to be my bread and butter after grouping to help knock down/slow/DoT mobs. DownDraft was seriously NERFed in Update 4 and does not slow or knock down anymore.

Ice Elemental - Its a common, but poor "oh $hit" move, Slow movement modes (no lunging), questionable life recovery - even with the Dominance and Restoration scaling healing - all for 100% of your super charge Hibernate - takes you outta the fight, aggro is dumped and your party gets the aggro for relatively small heals (when compared to a dedicated healer) to you. Any charge-heavy or DPS centric powers like Impaling Ice, Snow Devil, etc. (too long charge with aggro, not lots of damage/distraction)

Note: While outdated for allocating skill points into weapon tree innates, the DCUO Source's Skill Planner is still solid for planning out your powers spec before actually spending time/money in doing it in-game.

Encasements

As mentioned above, Encasements can help CC a mob and give your group breathing room when fighting. These cubes can also be used to attack with like any other objects. While encasing enemies isn't required and is only one way to manage mobs, here's what I know about it. Encasement scenarios build in the following order:

1. Frostbitten - Through Inescapable Storm or Wintry Tempest2. Rooted - Through Freeze Wave, Bitter Winds (happens, but to a lesser extent), a side effect on enemies attacking after

casting Reflect (this often skips needing to frostbite enemies), Controller Cryo Powers (can sometimes skip the need to frostbite enemies)

3. Encasement - Recasting any of the above Ice or Controller Powers

Note: With the above sequence in mind, you should tell Controllers you run with to be on the look out for specific powers (Inescapable Storm or Wintry Tempest) and to throw any Cryo-related powers they are going to throw at mobs you're directing those attacks on. Similarly, be ready to use Freeze Wave or Bitter Winds when you see someone rooted for a chance at Encasement. For the longest path to Encasement, you'll want to pull with Inescapable Storm or put a Wintry Tempest Circle down in a group of managed mobs, then cast Freeze Wave twice (depending on how many Roots you get on the initial cast) to get to a chance for encasement - watch your power when doing this though.

Super Charges

As a tank, you want to choose a super charge that helps our main tasks:

Staying Alive - Ice Elemental may help with this some (extra defense, CC protection, and now scaling heals based on Dominance and Restoration) but its a 100% cost for it as well as loss of lunging/mobility and a whole new loadout to set up (make sure you have a pull and AOE aggro nabber in that loadout to compensate for mobility issues). Perfect Poise (from Acrobat) makes you take no damage and breaks you out of/makes you immune to CC's. Hibernate also provides a quick heal and escape, but beware of using for reasons noted above (aggro dump, being thrown out of a PVP fight, less then stellar heals depending on Dominance/Resto)

Aggro - Props to Tollendyr for pointing out that a super charge, since update 5, also causes aggro when used. He says: "It's great having an aggro-generating ability that can be cast even when you're at 0 or very low power, or even when you're getting low but you can tell that your Healer is hurting for power more than you and you want to make sure that they get it from the Troller rather than having it go to you, but still need to Taunt. The better your Trollers are of course, the less Power becomes an issue, but in a place like FOS 2, it can't hurt to be prepared for any eventuality." Tollendyr goes on to recommend Freeze Ray as a good viable aggro nabber as its cheap (35%!) and single target focused (so you can pick what mob to aggro)

Stunning - Blizzard will stun and/or encase a group of mobs, but costs 100%. Vacuum Bubble (from Flight) will stun anything in your wide line of sight range for a few seconds (enough for your team to recover and perform an action - get a crucial defib/recharge/heal off). In addition it costs 50% and does some decent secondary DPS as well.

Group Support - If you're a speedster, Speed Drain (from Super Speed) can provide the group with some power regen while doing some damage

Note: You don't have to take a super charge or place one in your loadout as a tank. As you'll see in the build section, sometimes relying on other things for damage mitigation, stuns, or even emergency health recovery/protection can better fill that 6th spot in a loadout.

Loadouts

When picking powers to put in your rotation, as a tank you'll need:

A pull move - a way to taunt from a distance and more importantly position enemies as you see fit on the battlefield A cheap power to instantly cast for your defense buff at any point A focused AoE Aggro move - a way to taunt 1 or a small group of enemies An AoE aggro move - a way to taunt and/or renew aggro within a group of mobs Damage Mitigators - ways to reduce your damage even more than your defense buff A pop-up/stun move - a way to disrupt incoming mobs and help your party get a few minutes of breathing time CC Breakout - a way to get yourself out of stuns/controls as well as your team

Option 1 - Well Balanced Tank LoadoutPower spec reference for this build (use 11011010010101010100110010000000000000110001000 to load the build)

This loadout/spec will give you all of the basics to being a multi-purpose, generally well-rounded, Ice Tank:

Inescapable Storm - Pull/Focused Aggro - also a good way to reel bosses/mobs back in when they start wandering + frostbite

Reflect - Damage Mitigation - My oh crap moments/telegraphed big boss attacks + chill effect Bitter Winds - AOE Aggro Move + Knock-up + Damage Mitigation - My other AoE aggro nabbing method (with lunging)/in

your face protection Freeze Wave - AoE aggro renew move + knock away - Also, rooting/encasements if done after enemies are frostbitten Winter Ward - CC Breakout /Damage Mitigation - Breaks you and 3 of your party out of any CC effects and extra damage

protection for when you need it + chill effect towards Ice Armor

You have options for the last slot of the loadout depending on your situation:

Vacuum Bubble - Stuns - Supercharge for large stuns and general secondary DPS Shatter Restraints- CC Breakout /Damage Mitigation - Breaks you out of any CC effects, protects 3 of your party from

CC effects, and extra damage protection for when you need it Wintry Tempest - AOE damage/Frostbite + knock-up - Slows some mobs + DoT, but lots of power to cast Cold Snap - AOE Aggro Move/Quick Cast - Cheap Instacast for Def Buff

For general purposes, I often carry Wintry Tempest with this loadout for the knock up + power interactions for my party and Freeze Wave. When PVPing, worrying about lots of CC, or I need even more damage mitigation (harder raids/instances), I'd use Shatter Restraints. If you're looking for more Ice Armor instances (for whatever reason), Cold Snap is the way to go. If you're looking for mass stuns of 1-3 seconds and some more DPS, Vacuum Bubble can give that to you (especially with the Tank necks that increase Super Charge regen that drop from Sub Construct or FOS3).

Option 2 - DPS Minded, but Still Solid Tank (A DPS in Tank's Clothing)Power spec reference for this build (use 11111010010101100101100000000000000000100100001 to load the build)

This loadout and power spec goes well with a very geared/experienced Tank (T2.5-3) and Skill spec Option #2 noted previously. This is what I currently use near 90% of the time:

Inescapable Storm - Pull/Focused Aggro - also a good way to reel bosses/mobs back in when they start wandering + frostbite

Reflect - Damage Mitigation - My oh crap moments/telegraphed big boss attacks + chill effect Bitter Winds - AOE Aggro Move + Knock-up + Damage Mitigation - My other AoE aggro nabbing method (with lunging)/in

your face protection Wintry Tempest - AOE damage/Frostbite + knock-up - Slows some mobs + DoT, but lots of power to cast Shatter Restraints - Damage Mitigation + CC Breakout + Team CC Prevention + AOE Aggro move or Freeze

Wave - AOE Aggro move + push back + encasements Vacuum Bubble (Flight) - Group AOE Stun Super Charge

Other things I spec into with Power Points to use but not on my Tank Loadout - i.e. they're for when I am DPSing (and don't want to fully re-spec into the role):

Ice Bash Frost Blast Glacier Flash

Other candidates/tweaks to this build include:

1. using Cold Snap in your loadout instead of Shatter Restraints for the same AOE Aggro with less push and more Damage/CC protection + Chill effects towards Ice Armor.

2. Not taking Glacier Flash (you can Ice DPS without IMHO) and taking Super Strength for picking up/smashing encasements (props to ManofSteelII for that idea)

Note: I focus secondarily on DPS and have T2.5-T3 Tank gear, so innates and other powers not noted above are chosen for DPS stance in this build and I put my skill points into Might, Crit Hit Damage, and Crit Hit Chance. I'm giving up CC breakouts in this build - so there are drawbacks in instances (you'll need to find work-arounds) or PVP (can't work around this - you'll need to respec to be an effective Tank).

Note: With this loadout, you're relying more on smart tanking - very good gear, blocking, mitigating damage, using Trinkets/Drinks and managing ads more effectively. Your powers will give you less leadway and be less forgiving of your lack of skill. Be warned!

Option 3 - Encasement Heavy Tank ("The Hotel Ice Cube Machine")Power spec reference for this build( use 11111010111101010100100000000000000000110000000 to load the build)

Inescapable Storm - Pull/Focused Aggro - Also a good way to reel bosses/mobs back in when they start wandering + frostbite

Reflect - Damage Mitigation - My oh crap moments/telegraphed big boss attacks + chill effect Bitter Winds - AOE Aggro Move + Knock-up + Damage Mitigation - My other AoE aggro nabbing method (with

lunging)/in your face protection Wintry Tempest - AOE damage/Frostbite + knock-up + slows some mobs + DoT - But lots of power to cast Freeze Wave - Good cheap AoE aggro renew move, knock away - Also, rooting/encasements if done after enemies are

frostbitten Resonating Gale -Great aggro grabber of everything in front of you, knock down + power interactions

Note: this loadout focuses on encasing (which is still one of the toughest traps to pull off) and power interactions. See encasement in detail for more info. This build can be power consumption heavy, so be aware of when you're going for encasements and pick your timing carefully. I'd wait for the following scenarios, personally:

Controller/other Ice character has rooted mobs -> Use Freeze Wave Non-boss characters (can't really encase big bosses) When you have more than enough power for frostbiting + two potential Freeze Waves + more power for another aggro/def

move if needed More troublesome enemies (Omega Sentries, Wing Armors) When you have a significant amount of mobs frostbitten (no reason to pop Freeze Wave if not) -> Pop Freeze Wave When you have a significant amount of roots from your first cast of Freeze Wave post-frostbiting mobs -> use Freeze

Wave Once encased, use Resonating Gale on 1 or more mobs for extra damage

In the Wild

Here's how I use my powers in situations:

Mobs

I tend to approach mobs in one of two ways:

Pull - I use Inescapable Storm to pull groups of mobs close to me. Can be repeated to pull from different directions (Oan Sciencecells)/stubborn mobs that didn't get the taunt intially.

Dive In - Using the bow's lunge I'll jump into a group of adds (or walk in) and then cast most usually Bitter Winds (or Freeze Wave/Wintry Tempest if Bitter Winds is cooling down) for the knock-up and set up for next steps.

After either of those, I do one of the following:

1. if I'm low on power or the mobs will drop quickly, I tend to begin my long and most CC-based combos on the most bothersome ones in the mob in order to build up my own power regeneration.

2. If I have a surplus of power, I'll use Wintry Tempest for DoT/DPS and to frostbite the entire group (and then move to combos or the next option below)

3. If the mobs are tougher or I've casted Wintry Tempest above, I'll use Freeze Wave for a chance at rooting. If a significant number of mobs are rooted and I'm not abusing my power pool, I'll cast it once more for encasements or shout to the Controllers/other Ice characters to cast their encasement-causing powers

In general, Once 7-8 seconds have gone by and I still have all mobs grouped loosely around me, I'll cast Cold Snap, Freeze Wave, or Bitter Winds again to mantain aggro and then repeat weapon combos. All the while, I'm looking out for new adds or escaping ones and pull them back in with Inescapable Storm.

Additionally, If I can kite or push back a mob group into a corner in this cycle I will try to help herding and DPS. This is also where I try to "flip" the group so that they are facing me instead of the rest of the party (position-wise the mobs are in between me and the rest of the party).

If I've pulled too much aggro or the healer/troller drops or stops, I'll cast Reflect as a last ditch save. Blocking, Bitter Winds, or Winter Ward/Shatter Restraints also helps if becoming overwhelmed.

If I or the party is getting CC'ed by enemies (Wing Armor, etc.) and I have it on my loadout, I'll pop Winter Ward or Shatter Restraints for CC escapes and try to kite the CCing mobs away from the party.

Bosses

With bosses, my job is to maintain aggro 100% of the time, I generally lunge much the same as with mobs (with Bitter Winds or Cold Snap/Freeze Wave), then begin my long combos in order to build up my own power regeneration. If a large attack is telegraphed, I cast Reflect. Other than that, I'll pop my super charge (Vacuum Bubble) for DMG (especially when ads/mobs form around the boss - i.e. Coast City Bosses/Prime Assasin) and try to pull any mobs into the boss and I with Inescapable Storm.

Note: For telegraphed attacks that are AOE, if you see someone not blocking when they should (FOS2 Prime Assasin)/busy , or resurrecting another person up - it's useful to cast Reflect/Winter Ward/Shatter Restraints and get between the bosses line of sight and them as you may take the damage planned for them in some cases.

Other Tid Bits

Nuero-macs - Don't pull them or get close at all. Use Ice Bash or Resonating Gale to nab aggro and provide knock back in the latter's case.

Watch out for and keep yourself and mobs where healers place circles of protection as well as DPS place AOE attacks (meteor, circles, Inferno, Wintry Tempests)

Its probably not a good idea to try to resurrect someone as a tank since you'll have aggro on you at most times. If you must and its dire, as an Ice Tank you can pop Reflect and try to revive (before getting hit more than 3x).

When positioning, try to keep enemies a small distance away from the rest of your party - I aim to be at least a lunge distance away from the controller and healer

If there are other party members who are melee'ing (DPS, HL Controllers), its more important to maintain aggro, but also to position mobs/bosses so that they (and more importantly their attacks are facing away from any of the melee characters, who are ideally smart about what they're doing) aka "flipping". For AoE attacks, call them out if you see them telegraphed/know the pattern, as you can't protect melee folks from those.

Specific Situations

ADD Bosses

There are plenty of bosses (and a few mobs) that have A.D.D. (Aggro Deficiency Disorder) at some point or another when your party is fighting them. What this means for tanks is that it is extra difficult to maintain the boss' aggro/focus on you. Here are some cases where I've found that to happen and generally what I try to do.

Batcave: Brainiac Sub Construct - Avatar of Tech (2nd form) Batcave: Inner Sanctum Raid - ARC Arkham Asylum - Scarecrow (in Dog Form) Kahndaq - Black Adam (with Giganta Powers) Oan Sciencecells: Lyssa Drak's Constructs

Most of these cases can be solved by taunting after 4-6 seconds of your first taunt (which nabbed aggro) try to build quick combos with weapons in between, but don't let those get in the way of refreshing aggro.

Non-Aggro O'Clock

Similar to the above, there are bosses/times where aggro cannot be held at all (often called an aggro dump). As a tank, your job is to maintain aggro until that point, warn the rest of the party when it is lost, and regain it as quickly as possible.

Batcave: Brainiac Sub Construct - Avatar of Tech (2nd form): When the scorpion charges, he often selects a target other than the tank - be ready and call it out. Regain aggro as soon as possible with Inescapable Storm or a lunge + power right after. Kite him back to the middle of the room or the nearest wall to give your party room to spread out.

Batcave: Inner Sanctum Raid - ARC: Just before the ARC absorbs a mob's power, he is invulnerable to taunts while in his shield (until he selects a power to absorb). The best way to handle this is to renew aggro just before this happens (~ every time his health drops another 20%) to help your chances of him running after you once the shield is up.

Oan Sciencecells: Vice: Once Vice has a telegraph icon above him, he will charge in a specific direction. This cannot be stopped (and even with Reflect, you will be knocked down/stunned). Your best bet is to call it out so everyone can dodge the attack and then lunge + power to regain aggro as soon as he's stopped moving forward.

Kahndaq - Black Adam (with Doctor Fate and Zatanna)

In short when you're in any of these cases, 1) use your powers to nab aggro in smaller time intervals (around 4 seconds instead of 8s, 2) call out if aggro/focus is lost, 3) regain it as quickly as possible with cheap power taunts (Inescapable Storm/AOE Aggro Powers), if it helps in cases, call out to the party not to cast anything right right away so you can more easily taunt with a power (do this quickly).

There are other things you can to do help at points where aggro is lost and you see other's being attacked:

Cast Shatter Restraints or Winter Ward (this will break 4 people of any stuns but also buff their defense slightly) Jump into the attack line/line of sight - so you take (or reflect) the damage rather than your party member

Range Tanking

There are going to be times where you'll want to stay away from a boss due to the amount of damage they can cause to even tanks. In this case, kiting, can be a valuable technique. to do so, you'll first need aggro with a taunt (if you're keeping your range, Inescapable Storm or Ice Bash + weapon attacks are your best bet). Once aggro is nabbed, you're going to want to keep your distance while moving around - essentially having the boss chase you instead of the rest of the party.

You'll want to have a plan a few seconds in advance of where you're taking the boss and avoid bringing it towards your party members (remember the point is to still protect them while protecting yourself). You'll want to renew focus with a taunt a bit quicker than usual (to ensure you don't loose aggro from a distance). Here are some situations where kiting can be effective:

Kahndaq - Black Adam (with Giganta Powers): Keep your distance, but he can be taunted in this stance Batcave: Inner Sanctum Raid - Zeta Drone: You'll need to move him north or south depending on where the repair bots

appear Batcave: Brainiac Sub Construct - Brainiac: If possible, you'll want his focus but from a distance. Advise your party to

move to 1/2 of the room while you move to the other and continue to try to taunt him Watchtower Containment Hard Alert - Eradicator: If you're going for the no mobs destroyed feat - you'll need to kite his

mobs every time they drop away from your party

Note: Its important to let the party know if you plan on kiting so DPS and Healers don't waste their time/power throwing down circles/fixed-location casts.

FOS3

While there's plenty of general advice for how to take down FOS3, here are some thoughts from an Ice Tank's perspective:

Call out which targets are being focused on (which medics, which sentries) so the group can focus fire Some mobs (medics, infantry, snipers) cannot be consistently aggro'd by casting powers - stunning/knocking them

up/down and juggling is a very solid alternative. With the Sunstone Sentries that appear with boss, its your job to call out which one to focus on (our league always does

South Side mobs 1st - makes it consistent and easy to remember) , continously juggle them (Bitter Winds, Wintry Tempest, Weapon Combos), and with Gold Sentries to protect yourself (Bitter Winds/Reflect) before juggling.

If/when you are Tanking Non, Ursa, and Zod, try to keep them back to the shielding wall that they appeared from - this will separate them from the mobs without putting you/the team in harms way during mob respawns.

With Medics, it is your job to try to:o separate them and tank them outside of the range of their one shot red aura for the sake of the rest of the team.

o stun them out of their healing (by lunging them when they raise their hand) and popping them out of their red aura shield (through knock-up powers like Wintry Tempest or Bitter Winds).

o protect the rest of the team/yourself with Winter Ward when you think a red aura may have been hit with precision attacks

If you are tanking with another tank in the room, communicate often on the following:o Who is tanking what Medicso Where you are positioning Medics (need to separate them from each other in the 2nd and 3rd waves)o Who is tanking the bosses as they appear vs. tanking the mobs

Frequently Asked Questions/Discussion Points

What are some good tips and loadouts for leveling up an Ice Tank?

If you're leveling up an Ice Character and hope to use them as a Tank in DCUO in the future (or even if not), here are some things to consider:

Completing bounties, races, investigations/briefings, and feats will all give you really good experience and help in leveling - do as much as possible (if you need help and are near level/right after 30, this guide to essential feat points can be a help also)

If you can survive, play solo missions/content in DPS Stance - things may go a bit quicker with the DMG buffs your weapon attacks get after casting powers. Check out the descriptions in the trees for the % buff amounts, but Ice Bash + Wintry Tempest/Shatter Restraints/Winter Ward is great for damage - You get extra procs on your weap combos and the DMG done from your weapons has a 40-50% buff for ~8 seconds.

Solo content loadouts should not be focused on Tanking/grouping mobs - since you're on your own, mobs will naturally gravitate towards you. There's no need for grouping powers like Inescapable Storm or re-aggro moves like Cold Snap/Freeze Wave.

When thinking of a solid loadout (some defense, some offense) for solo'ing mission content, try this out:

o Bitter Winds/Winter Ward/Shatter Restraints (your first line of defense - if its getting to hot pop any of these and roll out to give yourself some room. BW will knock enemies up and shield you some, WW and SR will break you out, increase your DEF some, and give you a good DMG buff on top of that)

o Reflect (your 2nd last ditch defense move)o Hibernate (not good for later content, but great for leveling up as its your last ditch defensive move - takes you

outta battle and heals you some for cheap S.C. cost)o Ice Bash (for added cheap damage + ice armor benes).o Wintry Tempest (good AOE damage if you have power to spare and mobs grouped up some - its also a good

set up for Frost Blast's added damage) or Resonating Gale (another good AOE DMG maker, 50% DMG buff giver and knock down to everything around you).

o Frost Blast or Glacier Flash (these are mostly damage moves - the former is a charge AOE attack that's an ICE DPS' bread and butter, the latter is a single target near instant cast that can do some good ticks of DMG).

Play group activities (alerts, grouped-up mission instances) in Tank Stance (if that's what you want to do in the future) - this gives you practice, the added innate bonuses of being an Ice Tank (DEF buff with powers). Also remember to equip your best Tank Gear while doing so.

Learn your weapon combos - especially which knock up/down or stun mobs (they'll be important as Tanks later). Know which ones are good to use to manage groups of mobs vs. single enemies. Also get used to building your weapon combo meters up to at least the blue if not orange levels in battle (for power regeneration/Tank re-aggro timing in the future).

What does Ice Armor aka Ice Form aka That Gross Frost that Destroys my Character's Outfit do for us?

From what I can tell when in Ice Form (after 5 chill effect-causing powers), you get the following bonuses for 1 minute:

In Tank Stance: you get a 90% increase to your base defense - This doesn't take your already buffed defense and increase it by 90%, so its really not an extra benefit. The only helpful bit to ice form in Tank Stance is that your def is buffed for 1min w/o having to use powers. IMHO, that's nice, but while tanking I'll need to use powers to maintain aggro anyway. In worst cases - being out of power and having to nab aggro with SCs or relying on the other tank until you can build power, its a nice to have, but those situations shouldn't happen - with update 6 dom/def mitigation updates, my loadout is better served by Bitter Winds, Shatter Restraints etc. than Cold Snap.

In DPS Stance: last I heard you get 35% precision buff (i'll have to check on that to be sure), which is nice and can be gotten rather quickly by cycling ice bash and winter ward.

Ok I personaly would like to ask the community if at all has anyone else built a Movement Based DPS Toon with primarily your Movement as a source of Damage and so on and so on.

The reason im asking is because i have Created a Super Speed DPS named SwiftStorm (was hoping to respec him to lightning had him for like 3 months before Lightning dropped) But with only SS attacks i Have the load out

Cyclone Push(40% DMG boost)

Tornado Pull(35% DMG boost i believe)

Switched between the Vortex Trap(35%DMG Boost) & Phase Dodge (for Alerts since he isnt Geared cause no one runs T1 anymore not even my Freakin Leauge)

Speed Dash(35% DMG Boost)

Ionic Drain

Metabolic Boost

This Loadout alone even while sitting only one Vendor Gear with 2 Pieces of T1 Flash Pieces and only 40 SP i have Crit for over 1100 before and on a regular combos end at like 500+.

Im not gloating at what little success ( or Faliure ) i may have gotten but id like to know why havent i seen many people actualy make what their given work. yes its buggy and not an optimal build by comparison to my Fire Powers but i Make it work when im not on My main Troller Tye Hailstorm. And im only asking a general Question as to why is there no one at least TRYING to make a Movement type character id hate to be Insulted for asking as i know i will juding by the people ive seen comment on the forum's.

A GUIDE TO WEAPON/ROLE SYNERGY

If you are a Controller (Gadgets/Mental): Select Brawling, Dual Wield, Hand Blaster or Staff for DOMINANCE. Select Rifle, Dual Pistol, One-handed or Two-Handed for VITALIZATION.

If you are a Healer (Nature/Sorcery): Select Dual Wield, Dual Pistol, or Martial Arts for RESTORATION. Select One-Handed, Staff, or Hand Blaster for CRITICAL HEALING EFFECT.

If you are a Tank (Fire/Ice): Select Brawling, Rifle, Hand Blaster, or Two-Handed for HEALTH. Select Bow or Staff for DEFENSE. If you are a Fire tank, and therefore rely on self-heals, see "Healer" above.

If you remain in DPS (Any Power): Select Martial Arts or One-Handed for MIGHT. Select Dual-Wield, Brawling, or Martial Arts for CRITICAL ATTACK DAMAGE.

If you are mostly concerned with PvP: Select Bow or Staff for TOUGHNESS. Select Bow or Martial Arts for STEALTH RATING.

When deciding between two Styles which both offer bonuses, think about your play style. Do you want to be Melee-focused (Brawling, Dual-Wield, One-Handed, Staff, Two-Handed), Ranged-focused (Bow, Dual Pistol, Rifle) or have a mix of both (Hand Blaster, Martial Arts). Eventually you will get both, but your first choice is important because you will rely on it while leveling to 30. You cannot even begin to purchase

additional fighting styles until level 10.

What Stat is Important?This is a brief reminder on the role of each stat. I have not gotten into math here; to see this for yourself, open up your Inventory panel (I on the PC, or the symbol that looks like a utility belt) and select the tab that says "Stats", second along the top. Select each stat for a full explanation of how that stat affects you in play.

Health is your green bar. While every character wants to avoid death, Health is especially important to Tanks.Power is your blue bar. No Fighting Style provides any bonus to Power.

Might adds to the damage of your powers; that is, the 6 abilities you have in your loadout. It's most important for DPS characters.Precision adds to the damage of your Fighting Style attacks. No Fighting Style provides any bonus to Precision.

Defense reduces the damage you take from NPCs. It is mostly important to Tanks.Toughness reduces the damage you take from other players. It is important to those who focus on PvP. The bonuses to Defense & Toughness provided by Fighting Styles always come together; any Style which buffs Defense also buffs Toughness by the same amount.

Dominance determines the duration of your crowd control powers, such as stuns and confuses, on targets. Various endgame Raids and Alerts have recommended Dominance levels. This is required for Controllers.Restoration affects your Healing powers. The higher your Restoration, the more you heal. Obviously it is important for Healers, but it is also key to Fire Tanks who use self-heals.Vitalization affects your ability to restore the blue bar (Power). In DCUO, the ability to "heal power" is a Controller function, so Vitalization is mostly important to Controllers.

Critical Attack Chance and Damage is not listed on your stats and there is no way to really monitor it in battle. Presumably it increases the percentage chance of a critical hit, and increases your critical attack damage by a flat percentage as well. It is mostly important to DPS characters.Critical Healing Chance and Effect is also not listed on your stats and there is no way to track it. Presumably it affects powers which you activate, whether they target you or someone else. Critical Healing Chance and Effect is important to Healers and to Fire-Tanks.

Stealth Rating affects your ability to go unseen when using Stealth/Hide, Disguise, or Canine Form (available in the Gadgets, Mental,or Shapeshifting trees, respectively). This stat is not tracked anywhere you can monitor, but is only important if you have a power which lets you enter Stealth.

Fighting Style BonusesI have listed here all the bonuses provided by each Fighting Style. Each Style has some small bonuses linked to its essential combos, but the real bonuses are available

only after "drilling down" for three combos or so.

Bow: +30 Defense & Toughness; +60 Might; +3 Restoration; +4 Vitalization; +1% Critical Attack Chance; +2% Critical Attack Damage; +12% Critical Healing Effect; +3 Stealth RatingBrawling: +18 Dominance; +3 Restoration; +70 Health; +1% Critical Attack Chance; +12% Critical Attack Damage; +3% Critical Healing Chance; +2% Critical Healing EffectDual Pistol: +70 Might; +45 Restoration; +15 Vitalization; +14% Critical Attack Damage; +1% Critical Healing ChanceDual Wield: +18 Dominance; +60 Might; +48 Restoration; +4 Vitalization; +1% Critical Attack Chance; +14% Critical Attack DamageHand Blaster: +18 Dominance; +70 Health; +60 Might; +3 Restoration; +2% Critical Attack Damage; +1% Critical Healing Chance; +12% Critical Healing EffectMartial Arts: +25 Health; +70 Might; +45 Restoration; +14% Critical Attack Damage; +2% Critical Healing Effect; +3 Stealth RatingOne-Handed: +45 Health; +70 Might; +3 Restoration; +15 Vitalization; +2% Critical Attack Chance; +14% Critical Healing EffectRifle: +70 Health; +10 Might; +19 Vitalization; +3% Critical Attack Chance; +3% Critical Healing Chance; +2% Critical Healing EffectStaff: +30 Defense & Toughness; +18 Dominance; +25 Health; +10 Might; +4 Vitalization; +3% Critical Attack Chance; +14% Critical Healing EffectTwo-Handed: +70 Health; +15 Vitalization; +3% Critical Attack Chance; +2% Critical Attack Damage; +4% Critical Healing Chance; +2% Critical Healing Effect

Getting the Maximum BonusIf you are looking to get every single bonus available for a particular stat, this is the place for you. I have listed each stat and all the possible bonuses from Fighting Style.

Health (up to 375): Brawling, Hand Blaster, Rifle, Two-Handed (70 each); One-Handed (45); Martial Arts, Staff (25 each)Defense & Toughness (up to 60 each): Bow, Staff (30 each)Dominance (up to 72): Brawling, Dual Wield, Hand Blaster and Staff (18 each)Might (up to 410): Dual Pistol, Martial Arts, One-Handed (70 each); Bow, Dual Wield, Hand Blaster (60 each); Rifle, Staff (10 each)Restoration (up to 150): Dual Wield (48; Dual Pistol, Martial Arts (45 each); Bow, Brawling, Hand Blaster, One-Handed (3 each)Vitalization (up to 76): Rifle (19); Dual Pistol, One-Handed, Two-Handed (15 each); Bow, Dual Wield, Staff (4 each)Critical Attack Chance (up to +14%): Rifle, Staff, Two-Handed (3% each); One-Handed (2%); Bow, Brawling, Dual Wield (1% each)Critical Attack Damage (up to +46%): Dual Wield, Martial Arts (14% each); Brawling (12%); Bow, Hand Blaster, Two-Handed (2%)Critical Heal Chance (up to +12%): Two-Handed (4%); Brawling, Rifle (+3% each); Dual Pistol, Hand Blaster (1% each)Critical Healing Effect (up to +51%): One-Handed, Staff (14% each); Hand Blaster (12%); Bow (3%); Brawling, Martial Arts, Rifle, Two-Handed (2% each)Stealth Rating (up to +6): Bow, Martial Arts (3 each)

Guide to All Things FireIMMOLATION

Immolation powers focus on calling forth fires from within yourself to affect the world around you.

Powers

Immolation

Burst into flames, causing damage to nearby enemies.

[Power Interactions] Grants Immolation: Immolation causes damage when you are struck by an enemy.

Tank Role: +10% Control resistance

Damage Role: Increases all damage by 35% until the hit counter resets (at least five seconds)

Enflame

Surround yourself in flames to burn nearby enemies.

[Requires Flashpoint] [Vulnerable to Interrupt]

[Power Interactions] Immolation: If Immolation is active you also create a concussive wave causing additional damage.


Flashpoint

Unleash a blast of heat pushing enemies back.

[Requires Immolation] [Usable While Controlled]

[Power Interactions] Immolation: If Immolation is active, nearby objects and enemies burst into flames. Removing immolation from you. Inflicts Burning: Burning enemies take damage over time.


Meteor Strike

Call a meteor to strike and burn enemies. The meteor may be thrown at or used to smash enemies.

[Requires Flashpoint]

[Power Interactions] Inflicts Burning: Burning enemies take damage over time.


Volcanic Calamity

Unleash the power of an active volcano under the feet of an enemy and cause devastation over a wide area.

[Requires Level 8] [100% Supercharge Cost]

Reignition

Reignite your flames, instantly restoring some of your Health. Nearby enemies to burst into flames.

[Requires Level 8] [Usable While Controlled] [25% Supercharge Cost]

Burnout

Gain immunity to control effects for yourself and up to three group mates and push enemies away. While in the Tank role the immunity period is much longer.

[Requires Inflame] [Requires Level 12] [Usable While Controlled]

Tank Role: Extends Effect time


Fiery Weapon

Ignites your weapon, increasing damage and critical strike chance.

[Requires Flashpoint] [Requires Level 12]

[Power Interactions] Burning Enemies: Striking a burning enemy has a chance to heal you.


Consume Objects

Cause nearby objects to explode, damaging enemies and healing you.

[Requires Meteor Strike] [Requires Level 12] [Usable While Controlled]

[Power Interactions] Encased Enemies: Enemies within encasements created by Ice, Nature, Mental and Gadgets powers take heavy damage.


Spontaneous Combustion

Cause nearby enemies to begin bursting into flames and sometimes knock them down.

[Requires Burnout] [Requires Level 16] [Vulnerable to Interrupt]


Inferno

Explode with power causing an area to burst into flames.

[Requires Fiery Weapon] [Requires Level 16] [Vulnerable to Interrupt]

[Power Interactions] Grants Immolation: Allies within the field gain Immolation. Immolation causes damage when you are struck by an enemy. Inflicts Burning: Enemies within the field take damage over time.


Stoke Flames

Reinvigorate yourself restoring health over time.

[Requires Consume Objects] [Requires Level 16] [Usable While Controlled]

[Power Interactions] Causes enemies around you to burst into flames.


Ignition

Ignition powers center on setting objects and enemies ablaze and harnessing the power of those fires.

Powers

Fireball

Launch a fireball at an enemy causing damage and knocking them down.

[Power Interactions] Inflicts Burning: Set enemies on fire causing damage over time.


Absorb Heat

Draw heat away from an enemy stunning them and causing damage.

[Requires Detonate]

[Power Interactions] When used on Burning enemies you will heal yourself and increase your maximum health for a short time.


Detonate

Cause an enemy to explode, dealing them damage and knocking them down.

[Requires Fireball] [Usable While Controlled]

[Power Interactions] Burning Enemies: Burning enemies take heavy damage.


Wildfire

Knock down the target and spread fire.

[Requires Detonate] [Usable While Controlled]

[Power Interactions] Burning Enemies: If the target is Burning, nearby enemies are also set on fire. Also receive small heal along with any allies in the AoE.


Fireball Barrage

Launch a deadly stream of fireballs to damage and knock down enemies unfortunate enough to be in their path.


Eternal Flame

Increase your health by 100% and become immune to control effects. Each time you are struck in combat you restore a significant amount of health.


Backdraft

Pull enemies toward you and damage them.

[Requires Absorb Heat] [Requires Level 12] [Usable While Controlled]

[Power Interactions] When used on Burning enemies you will heal yourself and increase your maximum health for a short time.


Flame Cascade

Unleash a pyroclastic barrage to damage and knock down enemies.

[Requires Detonate] [Requires Level 12] [Vulnerable to Interrupt]

[Power Interactions] Burning Enemies: Enemies who are Burning take additional damage. Frostnipped Enemies: Enemies who are Frostnipped take additional damage. Electrified Enemies: Enemies who are Electrified take additional damage.

Damage Role: Increases all damage by 60% until the hit counter resets (at least five seconds).

Fireburst

Unleash a pyroclastic barrage to damage and knock down enemies.

[Requires Wildfire] [Requires Level 12] [Vulnerable to Interrupt]

[Power Interactions] Burning Enemies: Enemies who are Burning take additional damage. Frostnipped Enemies: Enemies who are Frostnipped take additional damage. Electrified Enemies: Enemies who are Electrified take additional damage.


Burning Determination

Free yourself from control effects and receive healing.In the Tank role, allies also gain immunity to control debuffs and effects. Causes targeted enemy to burst into flames, taking damage over time.

[Requires Backdraft] [Requires Level 16] [Usable While Controlled]

Tank Role: Extends immunity against debuffs and effects to allies.


Mass Detonation

Detonate a target enemy and others nearby.

[Requires Flame Cascade] [Requires Level 16] [Vulnerable To Interrupt]

[Power Interactions] Burning Enemies: Burning enemies take heavy damage.


Snuff Out

Blast the enemy with fire causing heavy damage and knocking them down. If they are at 35% health or below, they will take double damage.


Iconic Powers

Special thanks to Frzn for the following information regarding damage and weapons @

http://forums.station.sony.com/dcuo...?topic_id=23452

Neo-Venom Boost testing results by Directorchas

I did not have enough time to run the number of tests I wanted to but I did 8 tests (4 normal & 4 w/ NVB) which showed steady results that I'm willing to say with some confidence that this is what NVB does.

I was using my raid Rifle and the hold triangle attack which puts out 12 continuous shots, I did this twice in a row for each of these tests. I used one of the large stature drones in the war room. I was timing how long it took until the second set of 12 was done firing. I was in Troller stance so as not to have the DPS damage bonus from NVB effect my numbers.

No NVB results:Ave damage per shot was 48.5 and took between 12.8 and 13.5 seconds to complete all 24 shots. I had 3 crits in each of the 4 tests.

With NVB results:My damage per shot was ave 48.7 and the times ranged from 13 seconds to 13.9 seconds. Each had between 2 and 3 crits per set.

NVB gave 6 procs w/ ave 95 damage each (I have 1200ish might)*One set had a 7th proc according to my notes but I'm wondering if this my not have been a fatigue induces hallucination.

So it seems that NVB does not effect Crit chance, shot speed or damage. I did not think to record the crit damage so I cannot say for sure it doesn't effect Crit dam % but I'm guessing not.

NEO-VENOM BOOST:Costs 450 power500 defense buff for 12 seconds (this number is from another source thread)6 procs of 95 damage (w/ 1200 might) in 6 seconds+100% Weaponization

Important Tank Stats

DOMINANCE

From Tensu (SOE Developer) Regarding Dominance:

Dominance does two things. It affects how much damage is required to break a control effect and it also determines whether you can control a target at all in higher tiered areas. It doesn't have any affect on threat though.

The reason Dominance is useful for tanks is because enemies who are knocked down, stunned or being juggled can't attack back. Tanks with high enough Dominance can take a lot less damage versus weaker "trash" (non-boss) type enemies by keeping them on their backs or otherwise helpless.

(thanks to Deadpool5241 for allowing me to pull this from his gadgets thread)

2 DOM = 1 additional damage an enemy must take before control is broken

HEALTH

The more health you have the more hits it takes to KO you. This is very important for fire tanks since while in the tank stance, some moves increase maximum health for a short period of time.

DEFENSE

The higher your defense the less damage you take each time you are hit. Every 71 defense = 1% damage mitigated at level 30.(not critical for fire tanks to spec into, more of an ice stat)

CRITICAL HEALING MAGNITUDE

When you put skill points into this stat it increases your critical heal effect by 4%. so when a healer crit heals you it increases the size of that heal by 4% for each point you put into it.

Important DPS stats

PRECISION

Affects weapon damage.(white numbers) 10 precision = 1 point of weapon dps

MIGHT

Affects power damage. (yellow numbers)

4 might = 1% increase in base damage at lvl 1 (.25 % / point)

4 might =1.8% increase in base damage at lvl 30 (.45 %/ point)

Critical Attack Chance

Each point you put into this stat gives you a +1% chance to have a critical hit, this is important because critical hits do significantly more dmg then normal hits, so the higher your percentage the more likely you are to have a critical hit.

Critical Attack Damage

Each point you put into this stat increases the dmg of your critical hits by 4% this is important because it allows you do to more dmg in shorter periods of time when you are landing bigger critical hits.

Tetrasoul's Fire Tank Restoration Test:

Resto does currently effect your self heals some earlier tests I did showed this for self healing.

Health: 2339 Tank Stance Buffed Health: 3742 From Backdraft w/ burning buff:4327

Defense:1331 Power:1144 Restoration:740 Vitalization:4

Critical Healing Magnitude:+4% Critical Healing Effect:+0%

Critical Chance:+1%

As this guy is a week and a half at 30, I will be working with 30SP to work with.

First Build of testing: Martial Arts starting skill.

Acrobatics 7 points spent, and the other 23 spread through out Martial Arts, Staff, Bow, and Dual Pistols.

Healing Done

Backdraft: Reignition:

Reg. Heals(31x): 205 - 297 (267.38 Average Heal) Reg. Heals(19x): 482 - 1108 (751.52 Average Heal)

Crit. Heals(3x): 313 - 373 (344 Average Heal) Crit. Heal(2x): 1000 - 1447 (1223.5 Average Heal)

Stoke Flames:

Reg. Heal: 71-76-82 repeatedly these 3 numbers so lead me to believe its a fixed value just random which of the 3 will happen

Crit. Heal: 93-100-106 samething with only those 3 numbers for crits for healing.

I found stoke flames to be an ok ablity at this point rather weak though but increasing in strength do to its power interaction. And at this point I wanted to see if any of the abilities heals were effected by health size which was something I read for Reignition. So I removed all gear; well at the time I thought it was all gear found out I had left my cloak on. But everything else was off and I had a noticable dip in Health.



Healing Done



Crit. Heals(x): Crit. Heal(2x): 859 - 1099 (979 Average Heal)

Stoke Flames: This abilities heals stayed the same.

The reason that I took off my gear was I was hearing that a percent of our healing was based off of our health amount. I saw no change in the healing pattern whengear was removed. Now sinking SP in resto here was the change in those skills heals



Critical Healing Magnitude:+14% Critical Healing Effect:+0%

Critical Chance:+4%

Upon looking at the numbers I increased the amount of damage i take by just under 1%, but on the other hand I increased my self healing by 35%. Personal opinion is thats a good trade off for TTL but that is also not knowing boss swing timers and/or abilities.

Healing Done



Crit. Heals(7x): 361 - 460 (425.42 Average Heal) Crit. Heal(4x): 1266 - 1601 (1447.5 Average Heal)

Stoke Flames:

Reg. Heal: 80-86-92

Crit. Heal: 115-123-131

Ao there is an increase in self heals do to resto points spent. BD was changed and its heals are a sure sign of improvement over what it had been haven't spent anytime to check total healing numbers of it yet do to no time.

And the powers that stack with each other looks like this

Any ability =60%

SF/BD/Backdraft = 25% (Backdraft needs target to be burning and for the target to be near enough to have been effected by its ability while burning. So inferno,enflame,Immo/flashpoint, wildfire renewed buring effect)

Wildfire = 25%

Absorb Heat =25%

But to recieve the 25% from Backdraft,wildfire, and absorb heat the target needs to be burning to receive the 25% bonus of each. Now you can cast wildfire which does reset the timer for the burning effect and cast back draft to keep 60%+25%+25%. And always the third one is absorb heat.

"1 (original health) + 0.6 (for using powers) + 0.25 (for that first power being Burning D or Stoke Flames) + 0.25 (for second power) + 0.25 (for third power) = 2.35 multiplier"

TANK ROLE

(while in tank stance you receive 20% damage debuff but healing received is increased by 80%)

Forget about damage output while in tank role, I read thread after thread talking about how to increase your damage output while tanking…that isn’t your job your job is to take the damage and to hold the agro so FORGET about damage output.

The tank’s job in a group is to hold agro (the enemies attention) so you take the damage so your squishier group mates aren’t getting hit. You are the group punching bag. How do you do this? Each power you use is an “auto taunt” and any enemy in that powers AoE will be taunted by you, causing their attention to be on you. So if your power is a single target power (fireball, absorb heat, etc..) then only one target will be taunted by you. If you use an AoE attack (meteor, enflame, inferno, Reignition, etc..) any enemy in that AoE will be taunted by you causing them all to start attacking you) Now every taunt is on a “timer” lasting about 10-12 seconds. The easiest way to try this is to go into an easier HMA the first boss you encounter cast Enflame, then block, count to 10, repeat you will hold agro the entire time. That’s it 2 things to do, cast a power and block for 10 seconds then repeat. This is the easiest way to tank, if you spam powers each time you cast your timer is reset, if you run out of power then you cant cast so its important to be wary of your power usage because if you run out of power and cant cast then your timer will run out and the enemies attention will move to your group mates, which makes them very unhappy. Using powers while in tank stance grant you a 60% health buff. First power used without an active health buff grants you the 60% regardless of what it is. now after UPDATE 4 the powers that gave you a stacked 25% (wildfire,backdraft,absorb heat) when used on burning enemy now stack! so you can open with inferno and get the 60% buff, then hit wildfire for stackable 25% then backdraft for another 25% then your trinket

for 15%/20% depending on the trinket. now be mindful that the buffs are based on your BASE health, not your buffed health amount.

DPS ROLE

The DPS’ job is to do most of the group’s damage (should be about 70% of total group damage) Now with fire DPS you’ll notice the best moves have a cast time and are vulnerable to interrupt. This is because those powers cause a burning effect which causes DoT which is important for fire DPS. Most of fire’s best DPS moves do significantly more damage to targets that are already burning. Keep this in mind when choosing your loadout.

LOADOUTS - TANK

jmonk24’s current PVE tanking loadout:

ENFLAME/INFERNO: LOW PRESSURE: BACKDRAFT:BURNING DETERMINATION: STOKE FLAMES: REIGNITION/ ETERNAL FLAME

*Each one of these powers is a self heal except enflame/inferno and low pressure, which you can switch out with whatever pull you have in your movement mode.

Open with enflame/inferno to get stuff burning, or BD for single targets, then low pressure and BD are my pulls and stoke flames for nice HOT self heals with stacked dom, SC self explanitory

jmonk24's current pvp tank loadout:

STOKE FLAMES: FIERY WEAPON: ENFLAME:BURNOUT: BURNING DETERMINATION: REIGNITION

LOADOUTS - DPS

jmonk24’s current PVE dps loadout

METEOR/FIREBALL:FIERY WEAPON: INFERNO:FIREBURST: MASS DETONATION: FIREBALL BARRAGE/VOLCANIC CALAMITY

Open with Meteor to get decent damage small AoE and get mobs burning, then go fiery weapon for dmg bonus, then go right into inferno so you are going 35% 45% then 50% then pop fiery weapon again so your buffed inferno boosts your fiery weapon, then spam weapon attacks for crazy crits. for trash mobs go mass det to melt mobs away, more and more i'm moving away from mass det i find i use it less and less as i go the inferno+fiery weapon>wpn attacks is what im using most now. fireburst is more for those liutenant style mobs or you get it to spread to hit multiple mobs and get them burning. Boss fights go full rotation but after inferno use your dps trinket then go into fireburst/snuffout/ mass det.Fireball Barrage I believe is a better Supercharge attack then Volcanic Calamity because it is only 50% Supercharge so you will get more uses out of it, its quicker to fill 50% then 100%, however i did notice to big crits from VC one initial BIG crit, then smaller hits, then another medium crit, about 10k total dmg, not bad, i might have to use VC.. (read ongoing posts for reasoning behind loadout change) NO change with U4

jmonk24's current dps pvp loadout:

SAME AS PVE LOADOUT

**for this use a good AoE Supercharge, speed drain would be nice for SS because it damages enemies while giving power back to entire group, also recommend Fireball barrage here as well if your not a flyer

Sample Skill Point Build

101 Skill points total.(this is how my skill points were laid out a few months ago for my controller, just a sample to see the effect it has on your stats)

Total stat bonuses from all Weapon Innates

12% Crit Dmg

20 Vit

3% Crit Chance

40 Might

75 HP

86 Total SPs spent on Weapon trees

12 on Bows (primary) - 60 Might

11 on Brawling - 12% Crit Dmg 45HP 21 Dom

7 on Dual P. - 12% Crit Dmg

8 on Dual W. - 12% Crit Dmg 5 Vit

7 on Hand B. - 60 Might 45HP

7 on M. Arts - 12% Crit Dmg

10 on 1-Haned - 60 Might 45HP

10 on Rifle - 3% Crit Chance 45HP

7 on Staff - 3% Crit Chance

9 on Two H. - 3% Crit Chance 45HP

Totals without innates (+ innates)

225HP (300)

48% Crit Dmg (60%)

6% Crit Chance (10%)

180 Might (240)

10 SPs spent on Movement Skills

Speed Force

Interial Flywheel

Knockback resistant

Restraint resistant

Restraint recovery

Knockback recovery

Breakout Mastery

1º Tipos de tanks = existem dois tipos de tanks no jogo ambos especializados em puxar agrro e defender os companheiros , porem cada um de maneiras diferentes .>>>Tank de Fogo = Alta quantidade de vida (HP) , e muitas magias de auto cura>>>Tank de Gelo = Alta quantidade de defesa , e alta absorção de Danos

2º Habilidades , Caracteristicas , Vantagens e Desvantagens.2.1>> Puxando agrro : O tank é responsavel por atrair a atenção dos inimigos ,ou seja PUXAR O AGRRO, isto

funciona da seguinte maneira com o tank de fogo , quando vc usa um poder se vc estiver com a role tank

ativada( simbolo do escudo) Automaticamente vc passa para o topo da da lista de ataques do inimigo e ai eles

vem pra cima de vcs , todo poder que vc usar ira puxar agrro porem o que interfere é o raio de ação (Alcance) do

poder um poder que da dano em area vai atrair mais atenção de varios inimigos do que um poder que da dano em

apenas um inimigo , no caso do tank fogo causar burning(chamas ) no inimigo é um otimo indicativo de que ele vai

vir pra cima de vc.

2.2>>Vantagens : o tank de fogo de fogo possui uma serie de ataques AeO (danos em area ) e poderes de

autocura , porem a maioria destes poderes de auto cura só dão cura relativamente alta se o inimigo ou vc

(depende do poder) estiver em burning , por isto sempre tente deixar o inimigo em chamas . e depois usar poderes

neles para receber auto cura.

> No PVP , quando lutamos contra um controler (MENTAL ,LIGHT OU GADGET) ganhamos certas vantagens ou seja

somos imunes aos debuffs de redução de vida deles , temos alta resistencia contra poderes de controle , e a

melhor parte ganhamos + 55% de danos quando atacamos um controller por isto é quase impossivel um controller

vencer um tank.

>Ganhamos +3 de percepção contra inimigos que utilizam stealth

2.3>>Caracteristicas: a grande caracteristica do tank fogo é a seguinte:

- 20% de danos causados ( ou seja todo dano que vc causar em um inimigo quando vc estiver com a role Tank , vc

sofrera uma penalidade de -20%)

+ 60% do total de vida(hp) , + 80 % de vida recebidas (nas magias de cura ou autocura , menos coca).

EX; Para vc ativar as habilidades de vida, vc tem que usar poder ou seja eu tenho 3400 de HP , quando eu uso o

backdraft (embaixo do nome aparece um icone no formato de coraçao) ,automaticamente minha vida vai para

6400 , após 12 segundos o efeito passa e minha vida volta a ser 3400 , uso de novo outro poder ela volta a ser

6400 por 12 segundos.Uma coisa importante e que esses 12 segundos é exatamente tambem o tempo em que o

inimigo vai estar com agrro em vc .

2.4Desvantagens>> :aqui são algumas desvantagens que vc deve saber com respeito a ser um tank de fogo:

> -20 % de dano em qualquer inimigo quando esta com a role tank

> Quando lutamos no PVP contra um Healer os poderes deles ignoram o nosso poder de aumento de vida , alem

disto eles ganham + 70 % de dano em cima de nos , o que torna muito dificil um tank ganhar de um healer no

PVP.

3ºEstatus do Tank de FogoComo tank de fogo vc deve ter como primordial os seguintes estatus :Health(HP), Defense, Dominance, Critical

healing , Restauration.

>>Health = sem duvidas o estatus mais importante para o Tank fogo , porque é aqui onde vamos receber nossos

beneficios que por consequencia nos torna forte para aguentar danos de inimigos , este é o nosso diferencial se vc

tem poca vida vc vai ser morto facil .EX:

Vida > __+60%__>trinket(800hp/20s)= Hp por 12 segundos

3400 > __5440__> 6240 = 6240 +(acrescimo de acordo com a quant de dominancia)

>>Defense = este é o atributo responsavel pela defesa , é ele quem determina o quanto de dano vc vai

absorver ,para o tank ele é muito importante tambem pois independente de ter a vida alta se vc não tiver defesa

esta vida vai embora rapido, em luta quando o tank de fogo defende ele ganha um bonus na defesa , se vc se

manter imovel defendendo vc ganha o bonus ,se vc se mexer vc perde ele, por isto as armaduras do tank sempre

vem com alto indice de defense e toghtnes o tank de fogo nos chefes mais fortes em pve deve sempre defender.

>>Dominance = A dominance serve pro tank de duas maneiras , primeiro ajuda a puxar o agrro , segundo apos o

penultimo update os tanks de fogo ganham um aumento de saude suplementar baseado na quantidade de pontos

de dominance q vc tem, fora os 60 % de quando se usa poderes,o aumento é um poco mais de 2 pontos de hp

para cada ponto de dominance.

>>Restauration e critical Healing = Restauration em conjunto com a dominance ,influencia na quantidade de

autocura q vc recebe , já o critical healing ele afeta na cura critica influenciando na quantidade maxima de cura.

4º PODERES FOGOBOMS PARA O TANK Vou citar aqui poderes q são boms para o tank de fogo na minha opnião e que conferem certa vantagens pois

entendendo eles fica mais facil de montar a sua build , mas primeiro algumas considerações , poderes com tempo

de carregar não são boms para o tank uma vez q vc vai estar sendo atacado constantemente não vai ter tempo

pra isso ,para o tank de fogo o burning (CHAMAS) é muito importante então sempre tente deixar o inimigo ou vc

em burning, independente do poder q escolha monte uma boa sequencia e se não se adaptar mude é normal fazer

isto.

>IMOLATION =Porque? causa burning em vc causando dano assim em todos os inimigos q te tocarem, alem disto

chama agrro dos inimigos pra vc, como tank constantemente vai ter inimigos batendo em vc assim vc consegue

causar dano neles sem precisar fazer nada , custa pouca energia ,por ser o primeiro poder vc não desperdiça

ponto de power, é um otimo poder para se começar uma luta.

>EMFLAME =Porque? causa burning em todos os inimigos proximos de vc , puxando o agrro deles , é um otimo

poder para se começar uma luta.

>FLASHPOINT=Porque? da dano em area e puxa o agrro de todos estes inimigos, quando usado com o imolation

ativado causa burning em todos os inimigos no raio de ação alem de causar knockdown nos inimigos , (inimigos no

chão significa pausa nos danos q vc toma) .

>FIREBALL =Porque ? causa dano e knockdown , tem longo alcance , puxa agrro a distancia, causa burning .bom

para começar uma luta contra um unico inimigo.

>ABSORB HEAT=Porque? causa dano , stun , puxa o agrro a distancia e quando usado em inimigos em estado de

burning regenera um pouco de vida.

>BACKDRAFT=Porque? causa dano, puxa inimigos q estão longe de vc para perto de vc , puxa o agrro destes

inimigos , e se usado em inimigos q estão em estado de Burning te regenera um pouco a vida.

>BURNING DETERMINATION=Porque? te da vida , causa danos nos inimigos , te deixa imune nos três proximos

golpes contra vc, alem de quebrar controle contra vc e os seus companheiros , é um poder indispensavel no PVP.

>INFERNO=Porque? é o poder mais top do fogo na minha opnião , causa dano , burning e puxa o agrro em area

nos inimigos , alem de causa imolation em vc e nos seus companheiros q estiverem na area ,ou seja quem tocar

ne vc e nos seus companheiros tomam dano adcional.

>STOKE FLAME=Porque? é um poder HoT(Heal over Time ) regenera vida gradativamente porem só vale a pena

se o inimigo ou vc estiverem em estado de burning , ou seja em conjunto com Inferno , imolation , enflame vai te

dar uma boa quantidade de vida.

>CONSUME OBJECTS=Porque?Te da vida e causa dano no inimigo alem de puxar agrro, em inimigos healers,

gelo e controlers , causa mais dano ou seja bom para PVP e PVE.

>SUPERCHARGE =Na minha opnião qualquer supercharge de fogo(Vulcano, fireball barrage ou eternal flame) eu

considero bom e util , seja para puxar agrro ou para causar dano ou para te dar cura, porem o Reignation é um

poder q no inicio é indispensavel , vai ser ele q ira te salvar nas horas mais dificeis alem dele causar burning e

knockdown e puxar agrro.

5º PODERES DE MOVIMENTAÇÂO BOMS PARA O TANK

Todos os modos de movimentação compartilham duas vantagens gerais q são boms para o tank de fogo , dentre

elas a primeira é de puxar inimigos q estão longe e o backdraft não alcança para vc , isso para o tank de fogo é

muito bom já q ele não possui poderes em sua build que puxa inimigos muito distantes como o tank de gelo tem.

Estes poderes são:

Low pressure = fligth

Grapple line attack =acrobata

Tornado pull= Superspeed

OBS: se vc escolheu superspeed (burro devia ter escolhido voar) como eu , aqui vai mais duas dicas de poderes q

vão te ajudar muito tanto no PVP quanto no PVE.

Warling Dervish = ataca varios inimigos ao seu redor, tira bastante dano , mesmo se vc estiver no chão, stum ou

paralizado ele pode ser ativado ,e se estiver sobre controle e usar ele automaticamente ele quebra o controle e

regenera 200 de Power (mana). No PVP sempre que me dão knock down ou stun eu uso pois assim mesmo no chão

eu vou estar atacando.

Speed Draining (supercharge)= é um poder que causa dano em alguns inimigos, e recupera uma grande parte

da sua mana . Eu uso ele da seguinte maneira ,se gastei toda minha mana , ativo ele causo dano, recupero mana e

com esta mana ou uso magia de auto cura ou solto um inferno para tirar mais dano ainda depende da situação.

Tank:

Tree:

1°

- Immolation: Immolation, Flashpoint, Enflame, Burnout, Meteor Strike, Consume Objects , Stoke Flames e Reignition.- Ignition: Fireball , Backdraft , Absorb Heat e Eternal Flame.- Iconic Power: Miracle Worker , Powerful Resistance e Nanoweave Armor.

- Loadout: PVP: Immolation, Flashpoint,, Absorb Heat, Backdraft, Stoke Flames e Reignition. PVE: Immolation, Flashpoint, Backdraft, Burnout, Stoke Flames e Eternal Flame.

2°

- Immolation: Immolation, Flashpoint, Enflame, Burnout, Meteor Strike e Reignition.- Ignition: Fireball , Backdraft , Absorb Heat e Eternal Flame e Burning Determination.- Iconic Power: Miracle Worker , Powerful Resistance, Nanoweave Armor e Wisdom of Solomon.

- Loadout: PVP: Burnout , Meteor Strike, Absorb Heat, Burnout, Burning Determination e Reignition. PVE: Immolation, Flashpoint, Backdraft, Burnout, Burning Determination e Eternal Flame.

Weapon: Você vai ter que usar melee, eu sugiro uma com muito dano e stun ou knockdown. Minha sujestão vai para two-hand ou Browling, muito dano e de fácil manejo, ambas tem ambos tem knockdown. Agora você precisa saber as regras básicas do pvp, visite este tópico [Você precisa estar registrado e conectado para ver este link.]

http://dcuobr.forumbrasil.net/login.forum?/login?redirect=%2Ft365-guia-fire

http://dcuobr.forumbrasil.net/profile.forum?mode=register&/register?redirect=%2Ft365-guia-fire

Como jogar:

- PVP: Você vai ficar puchando as pessoas para perto de você e distanciando eles do healer, use o Backdraft para isso. Use o Burnout contra inimigos controlers e sempre lembrese de usar o Burning Determination/Stoke Flame quando sua vida estiver baixando, Meteor Striker da um bom dano e Absorb Heat pode da stun nos inimigos. Se você preferir pode trocar Burnout e Meteor Strike ou o backdraft e colocar no lugar o Immolation e o Flashpoint para causar burning nos inimigos e usar o Absorb Heat para recuperar sua vida.

- PVE: Usar Immolation primeiro e depois flashpoint para causar burning nos inimigos para gerar aggro e Backdraft para puchar o mob e gerar mais aggro. Se quiser trocar o Eternal Flame pelo Reignition fica a seu critério.

Damage:

Tree:

1° e unica

- Immolation: Immolation, Flashpoint, Fiery Weapon , Meteor Strike , Reignition.- Ignition: Fireball , Absorb Heat , Wildfire e Fireburst.- Iconic Power: Hard-Light Shield , Weapons Expert , Tactical Genius , Super-Strength e Nanoweave Armor.

- Loadout: PVP: Meteor Strike, Fiery Weapon, Absorb Heat, Fireburst, Reignition e Hard-Light Shield.PVE: Immolation, Flashpoint, Fiery Weapon , Meteor Strike , Fireburst e Hard-Light Shield.

Weapon: Minha sujestão vai para uma arma de longo alcance, como Bow, Dual Pistol e Rifle... Eu uso Bow, achei legal, usei muito tempo dual wield, da muito dano e tudo mais, mas seus poderes mais fortes como o Fireburst tem tempo de conjuração e pode ser interrompido, então uma arma de longo alcance é melhor. Bow da bastante Stun pq o pessual defende muito, muito boa a arma, recomendo.

Como jogar:

- PVP: Você vai manter distância dos players inimigos e ficar usando o Fiery Weapon e descendo o casete nos caras, quando você ver que tem um perto de morrer, use o meteor strike, mas você pode usar ele qualquer hora, muito bom o poder. Absorb Heat da stun e recupera sua vida quando o inimigo ta com burning. No 1x1 você vai ficar atirando de longe e mantendo distancia, caso ele tente te atacar de perto use melee para não perde o foco, quando ele defender use seu block break o qual toda arma de longo alcance tem e MUITO. Use o Meteor Strike e depois pege o meteoro e jogue no player, como você tem Super-Strength vai da um bom dano no cara. Use o Hard-Light Shield para tomar menos dano e o Reignition quando tiver com o HP baixo.

- PVE: Você pode ir para o meio do mob e usar o Immolation e Flashpoint para matar o mob rapido, em duo é muito bom. Ja em hard alert eu acho um pouco dispensavel, Fireburst faz o trabalho bem melhor.

Observações finais: Fico faltando 1 ponto de power, na verdade eu não sei o que fazer com ele, o Volcanic Calamity não me atrai muito pq para ser sincero eu acho uma bosta, só serve para PVE e o fireburst é muito melhor além de da stun. Essa build de DPS é a que eu uso e se alguém tiver algo a acrescentar, por favor, diga. Todos os poderes de movimento tem resistencia contra stun e knockdown, sugiro que coloque em todos. O mais importante de sua build e que você fique confortavel com ela.

How to play a Healer

Overview

This is 1 of 4 guides that is intended to show players how to play their respective roles; Healer, Tank, Damage and Controllers. The focus of theses guide is not on any particular powerset, but an overview of how to play your respective role. The purpose of this guide is to show how the Healer role should be played.

The knowledge in this guide is garnered from various members of the DCUO community. Any and all player suggestions are welcome and will be considered valid until proven wrong by the general community. So in other words if you have an idea feel free to post it!

As stated above this is the Healer guide. It will focus on both PvE and PvP content and show you, the player, what you need to fulfill that role. Healers can take advantage of the Nature and Sorcery powersets.

If you intend to use this guide to build and create a Healer please be sure to read through it at least once so that you know how to the guide works and which sections you need to refer to.

List of contributorsSuperskull85, DarkMagic, SoCal_Ninja, dcuo_owl, mrdosu, yd00w, SnixDragonfyre (Wannebep; grammar)

Table of Contents

1. What is a Healer?

a. Healer MythsHow Healing Works

a. The Basic Healsb. The Healing Formulac. Health Healing and Restorationd. Power Healing and Vitalizatione. Critical Heal Amount and Chancef. Tanks

1. Types of Heals

a. Selfb. Groupc. Aread. Fielde. Buffsf. Shields

Learning your Role

a. Levelingb. Duosc. Alerts

d. Raidse. Open Worldf. PvP

Managing your Role

a. Power Usageb. Healing Priorityc. Tanking in PvP

i. How to Debuff Tanksii. Overcoming Controller Debuffs

Building your Character

a. Movementb. Loadouts

Balancing Stats

a. Skill Point Managementb. Restoration vs Critical Heal Amount and Chancec. Power vs Restorationd. Defense/Toughness and Healthe. Damage vs Healing

Positioning

a. Line of SightGroup Interaction

a. Healer vs Healerb. Solo Healingc. Tanksd. Controllerse. Damagers

Weapons and Equipment

a. Ranged vs Meleeb. Necks, Rings and Trinketsc. Affinitiesd. PvE vs PvPe. Weapon Combo Regen

Conclusion

a. Player Suggestions

What is a Healer?A Healer in DCUO is the player that maintains a group’s Health and overall well being. In general Healers focus on 3 things: Health, survivability and stat increases (Buffing).

Health is a Healer’s main focus. In DCUO Health is the stat that keeps players alive and allows them to do their respective jobs. Without Health the group dies and the instance, or dungeon, will not be successful. Health is indicated by the green bars next to your groups’ names. To maintain Health levels you need to use a “heal.” For information regarding heals please see the “Different Types of Heals” section below.

Survivability is a Healers second focus. Survivability is the measure of a Healers ability to keep players alive. This measurement is based on several factors including Restoration, Power Management, Positioning, and Group Interactions. Healers can use Shields to increase a groups survivability as well.

The third focus of a Healer is Buffing. While this focus is not available to all Healers, some do have the ability to Buff both healing and damage. Buffs are usually regular traits that you use with special effects to boost Restoration, Might or Precision.

Healer Myths

Healers should focus equally on damage.

This is not true. An effective Healer should be focusing on healing stats and not damage stats. Most heals will not do any damage to enemies so in order for a Healer to take advantage of Might they would need to

sacrifice a heal for another trait. This can be a burden to your team if there is not a full Healer in your group. Unlike the other roles, Healers will do next to no damage with their traits.

There is a way to play a hybrid Healer, or a backup Healer, but this play style requires a full Healer or is limited to certain content. For information about hybrid healing please see the appropriate section below.

Healers play well with same powersets.

This is the opposite of what is actually true. Healers of the same powerset do not play well with each other. Each powerset has a couple aspects that interact with all Healers of the same type. For example some Field heals will cancel other Field heals and some healing buffs do not stack with each other. The most optimal setup for Healers is to have a maximum 1 of each powerset.

There are ways you can play with 2 or more of the same powerset but this requires more communication between the 2 Healers. For more information please see the Healer vs. Healer section under Group Interaction below.

Healers are always required to use ranged weapons.

This is a common misconception shared by all roles except Tanks. It is socially accepted that all players in a group should be using ranged weapons except the Tank. This is not entirely true or accurate. While it is safer to use ranged weapons, Healers (or players in general) should not think that they must use ranged weapons. If you know the battlefield well you can use any weapon that you prefer using.

For more information please see the Ranged vs Melee section under Weapons and Equipment below.

How Healing Works

There are 2 types of healing a Healer can take advantage of: Health Healing and Power Healing. Both types of healing generally does not split unless used on both a player and and an NPC.

Health Healing is a Healer’s primary focus and the basis of most of their heals. This type of healing utilizes the Restoration stat and has a base range.

Power Healing is a minor focus of Healers that usually involves using a Supercharge trait. This type of healing utilizes the Vitalization stat and usually has a constant base. ThoAll Healers have 4 basic heals that they can take advantage of: a Targeted Self Heal, a Full Group Heal, a Shield and a small Healing Buff. Each of these basic heals cost similar amounts of Power, have the same effective bases and have a similar Health/Power ratio.

Targeted Self Heal:

This heal costs 250 Power, has a base range of 68-83 and affects you and the lowest group member. It is usually has the worst Health/Power ratio. Nature uses Blossom while Sorcery uses Rejuvenation.

Full Group Heal:

This heal costs 360 Power, has a base range of 68-83 and affects you and 7 others in your group. It usually has the second best Health/Power ratio but requires a 5 second cast time. If you are interrupted during this cast time your group will not receive any heals but you also won’t lose any Power.

Shields:

The cost of this heal varies between the 2 powersets Nature’s Shield costing 250 and Sorcery’s costing 280 Power. Shields don’t have a base heal range, instead their healing is directly based off of the Healer’s Restoration. Shields will attach to the 4 closest group members and/or the Healer if a 4th group member is not present. Shields have the best Health/Power ratio.

Healing BufThis buff does not have the same effect between the 2 powersets but it is usually a cost free increase that interacts with other heals in the powerset. Nature’s buff are Pheromones they release while Sorcery buffs themselves with Golden Soul Aura.

The Healing Formula

All healing is based off a general formula. This formula models all heals and can predict healing numbers well beyond current limitations.

Healing formula: RH=B*(1+HB)*(1+HR)*(1+RV/(100*SR)) CH=B*(1+HB)*(1+HR)*(1+RV/(100*SR))*(1+BA+A)where, RH=Regular Heal, CH=Critical Heal, B=Base Heal Value HB=Healer Bonus (65%), HR=Heal Received (usually 100%) RV=Restoration or Vitalization, SR=Scale Rate (4 for Health, 10 for Power) BA=Base Critical Heal Amount (25%), A=Additional Critical Heal Amount

Each heal has a Base Heal Value (B). This value can vary between heals but is usually no more then 100 and no less then 1. Base values also differ between Health heals and Power heals.

Health heals always have a min and max bound to their base value. The game sees this boundary as (MinB, EffectiveMaxB+1) and will select a bound at random each tick of a heal from MinB-EffectiveMaxB. So for example the basic self heal has a base range of 68-83. The effective range is actually 68-82 so the game will randomly select a base value from that range every time you cast the heal. This range gives the heal a minimum regular heal effectiveness of 319-385 at level 30 (minimum Restoration of 740).

Healers will receive their Healer Bonus only in Healer stance. In Healer stance this bonus increases all base values by 65%. In Damage stance Healers effectively have a Healer Bonus of 0% meaning that base values are unchanged.

For a list of base values please see the 2 charts below:

Health Healing and Restoration

Health Healing is the main job of a Healer and is the way Healers restore Health to group members or balance out damage the group is taking. Health increases (+) are represented by green numbers and damage (-) is represented by red numbers. You can see your group members remaining Health by looking at the green bar next to their name in the group listing.

Health Healing utilizes the Restoration stat. For everyone 4 points in Restoration you increase your base Health healing by 1%. A level 30 Healer has at least 740 Restoration or 185% increase of all the base numbers listed above.

Power Healing and Vitalization

The opposite of Health Healing is Power Healing. Power Healing is primarily the job of the Controller role. However Healers can utilize this type of healing by using either Regeneration (Nature), Transcendence (Sorcery) or Speed Drain (Super Speed). By restoring Power using one these Supercharges you balance out the Power you and your group are using to fulfill their respective roles. You can see your group members remaining Power by watching the blue bars next their names in the group listing.

Power Healing takes advantage of the Vitalization stat. For every 10 points in Vitalization you increase your base Power healing by 1%. By default Healers do not have any Vitalization and their gear does have not have a Vitalization component. Any increase to this stat needs to be done through either skill points or power points.

Please note that Power Healing is a very minor focus of Healers. You should not worry about restoring Power unless you have any skill or power points to spare.

Critical Heal Amount and Chance

Critical Heal Amount is the amount your regular heals are boosted when they are selected to be critical heals. Critical Heal Chance weighs the random roll for regular vs. critical heals more towards critical heals.

Critical Heal Amount is also known as Critical Healing Magnitude and Critical Healing Effect. There have been many debates about whether these 3 names represent different stats. However through testing it has been shown that each of these known names boost regular heals by the same amount.

Tanks

Tanks can increase your healing to them by modifying the “Heal Received” variable in the formula above. Tank healing increases affect both regular and critical heals. Currently only Fire Tanks can increase the Heal Received variable and they increase it to 180% (or +80%).

Types of Heals

There are 4 types of heals currently available. These heals include Self, Group, Area and Field.

The strength of a heal is unaffected by its heal type. So you could have heal A that has a base of 10-14 which is a Group heal and heal B that has the same base but is an Area heal. Both heals would have the same strength of 10-14 regardless of their type.

Self

Self heals hit 1-2 players and are usually single target heals within your group. This means that they will hit you and the group member with the lowest Health.

For Nature these heals include Metabolism (Canine) and Blossom. For Sorcery these heals include Watcher and Rejuvenation.

Group

Group heals can hit multiple targets within your group. Unlike Self heals which hit a max of 2 targets, Group heals will heal a group member even if they don’t have the lowest Health. Buffs and Shields are also considered to be Group heals.

For Nature these heals include Roar, Metabolism, Harvest and Regeneration (50% Supercharge). For Sorcery these heals include Invocation of Renewal, Transmutation (heals when items, ie: barrels, crystals, and so on, are destroyed), Shared Fate and Transcendence (50% Supercharge).

Area

Area heals are similar to Group heals but have a larger range of targets. Like Group heals Area heals will hit all group members but they will also hit players and NPC’s that are not in your group. For example if Batman needs a healing in Batcave: Inner Sanctum during the Brother Eye fight then you could use an Area heal to recover some of his Health.

Currently Area heals seem to be focused on the Nature powerset. Sorcery’s only Area heal is Life Element. All other heals in Sorcery are considered Field heals which are explained below. Nature’s Area heals include Savage Growth, Bloom and Cross Pollination.

Field

Field heals are a localized version of Area heals. Field heals can heal any player but they must be within a certain radius or “field.” Field heals will also heal NPC’s such as Batman in the Batcave Raids.

Fields are currently restricted to Sorcery. These heals include Circle of Protection (CoP) and Soul Well.

Buffs

Buffs are not true heals but they are important to a Healer and do indirectly increase the strength of all heals and other stats. Buffs can increase Restoration, Might, Precision, Critical Heal Amount/Chance, Critical Hit Amount/Chance and damage prevention. Buffs are limited to the 4 closest group members.

The most noticeable Buffs are included in the Nature powerset which include Hive Mind, Carnage, Insectoid form, Primal Wolf form and Gorilla form. Sorcery can buff themselves (and the group) but they do so in different ways. Sorcery can buff their critical heals using Golden Soul Aura while their CoP can add Control Resistance to whoever stands in its field.

Shields

Shields are a defensive version of Buffs and are considered a special type of heal. Unlike normal heals Shields will not restore Health instead they absorb and prevent damage. They are considered to be the most efficient type of heal with their strength directly scaling with Restoration (60% of Restoration in Damage stance and 125% in Healer stance). Like Buffs, Shields increase a group members damage prevention to 100% and are limited to the 4 closest group members.

Nature’s shield is Swarm Shield and Sorcery’s shield is Boon of Souls.

Learning your Role

Leveling

This is your time to experiment with your different powers and to learn what each of them does. That said, while you are leveling you are mainly going to be by yourself. Your only responsibility is to yourself. This means if you are in the healing role, you’ll want to equip any heals needed to keep yourself alive, while also having damage skils so that you can get through content quicker. You’re goal for leveling is to just have fun with your character. You can really try all manner of skills and powers, and the experimenting will help you know what powers you liked and didn’t like for the future.

If you’re leveling with a friend you should look at the Duo section below.

Duos

Duos are the best starting point for someone just learning the healing role, because Duos won’t demand that you focus entirely on healing. Instead it’s good to try a more hybrid approach, mixing single target heals, shields, buffs and some damage abilities. The big group heals probably aren’t necessary, as it would be a waste of the extra power those abilities cost. That being said, you are still responsible for keeping your teammate alive, so it’s important to know how the healing role works in conjunction with the other roles you’ll be playing with.

Healer and Healer:This is a little overkill. One healer should be sufficient to heal all Duos. One of the healers should switch to the

Damage role. This will make the duo move a lot quicker. However, if you are having trouble in the Duo, there is nothing wrong with having 2 healers (aside some power interactions, see Healer vs Healer 9.a.), and it will increase your survivability to make it past trouble spots.

Healer and Tank:This is the slow and steady combo. A Tank that knows his role will be managing all threat and should be

taking the blunt attacks from all enemies and bosses. Tanks have high Defense (Ice), or a high max Health and self heals (Fire), meaning they can take a lot more punishment than other roles. Also your heals get a bonus when used on Fire tanks (see Tanks 2.e.). It should be relatively easy to keep the Tank’s Health up, and you should be protected as long as the Tank is taunting the enemies properly. In this combo you should feel that keeping Health up is easy, and you will have less pressure on you. This means you can focus on doing extra damage with your weapons or even using some damage abilities. The downsides to this combo are a lower damage output and Power regeneration is limited to weapon combos.

Healer and Controller:A Controller’s role is to give power, debuff and crowd control. You should find this combo to be the middle

ground between the Healer and Tank combo, and Healer and Damage combo. With debuffs on enemies they should take more damage, and do less damage to you. The extra Power back will allow you to cast more heals and have an easier time keeping you and your partner alive. Controllers can also stun enemies and manage enemies similar to a Tank, but without the damage mitigation. You’ll be without the super defense and threat management of the tank and the higher damage output from a Damage role, but this middle ground should hold up its own.

Healer and Damage:In this combo, you will have no help healing your partner, but a good Damager can more than double the

damage output of any other role. Enemies should die a lot quicker, but you will be required to play a lot more defensively than you would with other roles. You should let the Damager worry about doing all the damage, and focus mainly on keeping your weapon combo going for Power regeneration, and casting shields and heals to keep the party up.

Alerts

Alerts are the first opportunity Healers have to test their healing abilities. While in an Alert group it is recommended that you do not try to take a hybrid approach as there should be other player in your that will fulfill other roles. Your group will appreciate your full healing abilities and in harder content being a full Healer is essential. When participating in Alerts make sure you practice moving with your Tank and conserving Power to help your Controller keep Power up for the rest of the group. For more information about power management please see Power Usage.

There are a couple different tiers for Alerts.

Normal Alerts: These Alerts are meant for lower levels. You don’t need a full group of players playing each role to complete these Alerts but it can help if you need the support. It is recommended that you complete these Alerts as you level to get a better understanding of how to work with a group. They will also give you XP that will gain some levels.

Hard Tier 1 - Easy: You are not required to have certain gear for these Alerts but they are slightly easier to other Alerts. Typically you should be able to complete these as you complete Duos. Playing these Alerts will give you the gear you need for next tier of Alerts. These Alerts consist of Area 51, Ace Chemicals and Watchtower Containment Facility/Hall of Doom Armory

Hard Tier 1 - Normal: This will be the first time you will be required to have certain gear. You will be required to have a Combat Rating of 34 to enter these Alerts. However this amounts to a couple of pieces in the easy versions. Usually these Alerts are harder then the easy versions and require you to be more attentive to your group members Health. Be sure to use your shield whenever possible. These Alerts consist of Smallville, Arkham Asylum and Stryker’s Island Penitentiary.

Hard Tier 2: These are entry level Alerts to Raids. You will be required to have a Combat Rating 43 to participate in these Alerts which will require mostly Tier 1 Iconic gear. There is not a whole lot of difference between these Alerts and others. They are a stepping stone to Raids and are usually longer and more involved. Not only will you need to kill enemies but you will also have to destroy certain object to prevent enemies from spawning and you will need to kill bosses before they enrage. If a boss enrages your group will die pretty fast. For the most part these are responsibilities of the Damager role but be sure to help them out whenever possible.

Raids

Raids are the highest level of PvE content. Raids require a group of 8 players to complete and the most communication. During this type of content you should have a healing a partner. Try to split up your responsibilities evenly and make sure you and your partner are able to cover the entire Raid group. You want to make sure you don’t use too much Power and that you are able to work well with your partner. You can find more information about group dynamics in Group Interaction.

Like Duos and Alerts there are different tiers to Raids.

Tier 1 Raids: Tier 1 Raids require a Combat Rating of 43 and will help you earn gear for Tier 2 Raids. These Raids don’t require specific strategies but there are attacks and mechanics that you need to avoid. In Kahndaq make sure you able to heal around the many objects in the area. It is recommended that each Healer are separate from each other to cover Be sure to target the Waterkeeper’s and the main boss to prevent additional enemies from spawning to fast. During the last boss fight be sure to block or roll whenever Black Adam targets you.

For the Batcave Raids be sure to focus spawners and any Shield Armors that spawn. Before entering the last boss fights be sure to ask your group what their strategy is. Each fight requires a specific strategy and the strategy varies slightly.

Tier 2 Raids: These Raids require a Combat Rating of 53 and will help you prepare for future Raids. You will want to ask your group for the strategies before the Raid starts as your group will be required to work well together in order for the Raid to be a success. The most important rule you need to keep in mind is that you should avoid melee for the most part.

The mobs in these Raids hit really hard causing you take a lot of unnecessary damage. Try not to fly to high as you will be targeted by turrets or take extra damage through grounding effects. As a Healer it is important you use your shield to protect your group. At this point in your progression your shields will protect your group members from several hits allowing them to escape from enemies if need be.

There are currently no Raids higher then Tier 2.

Open World

Healing in the open world cities of Metropolis, Gotham and Central City can be a bit trickier then healing in an instance as a group. In massive battles you will not be able to group with everyone so some of your heals will not work as intended. When healing in the open world you want to use Area and Field heals as they will hit any player regardless if they are in your group or not. Try to stay near the majority of players and use your heals more aggressively then you normally would. You will be able to see a player’s Health if they are not in your group by constantly healing them. You will see their Health bars above their character and below their name.

For Nature be sure to use Savage Growth, Harvest, Bloom and/or Cross Pollination. For Sorcery be sure to use Soul Wells, Circle of Protection and Life Element. You will not be able to attach shields or buffs to players not in your group.

PvP

PvP stands for “Player versus Player.” You can access PvP content through Arenas and Legends. You should be using PvP gear. This will give you added survivability through the use of the Toughness stat. However you will not need to wear any PvP gear in Legends.

Arenas allow you to use your own character, loadout and weapons against other Heroes or Villains. Arenas can be played with 2, 4, 5 and 8 players. Your group should consist of at least 1 Healer, Controller and Tank so that you can overcome the effects of your counter role. For 8v8 Arenas having another Healer and Controller can useful to cover more ground.

As a Healer in Arenas you will be focused a lot. Your job will be to absorb most hits and keep your opponents focused on you so that your group can take them out. Sometimes the Controller in your group will share some of the damage. If this is the case you can either let them do that if they feel they are able to or if you spec into Health and Toughness you can keep your healing strong and force your opponents to focus you.

There are no roles in Legends. In Legends you pick an Iconic player to play as and against other Iconic character. These characters include Batman, Huntress, Two Face, Catwoman, etc. Because there are no Healers you do not actually need to heal. Your job in Legends is to work with your group to capture the objectives. Legends can be played with 2 or 4 players.

In both Arenas and Legends it is important to fight on the objective. By fighting on the objective you a) capture the objective for your group and b) prevent your opponents from capturing it. Once your opponents are down make sure you capture the objective fully before moving on to the next one.

Managing your Role

Managing the various aspects of healing is a tricky part of playing the Healer role. Constantly casting heals will quickly drain your Power and prevent you from player your role when your group actually needs healing. Healers also need a clear path to other players and certain players require more attention then others.

Healing Priority

As strange or hurtful this may sound, not every member is as important for group survival. The most important player in a group is arguably the Tank. Without a Tank the chance of a group wiping is really high unless the group has a lot of higher level gear and is aware of the situation. The role of a Tank is to grab the attention of most of the enemies so that they only hit the Tank and no one else. Without a Tank your group may find it hard to perform their own roles.

Your second priority should be Healers. For the most part this means keeping yourself alive. However if you are in a situation where 2 Healers are needed and the other Healer is unable to heal keep themselves alive then you should lend them a hand. Without a Healer your group will have a lot of trouble staying alive. So as long as the Tank is grabbing the enemies attention you should ensure that your group receives healing by keeping yourself alive and able to heal.

Your third priority should be Controllers. Controllers provide your group with Power so keeping them healed will ensure that your Tank keeps the attention of the enemy, your Damagers able to deal damage and you able to keep

healing. Controllers do have other priorities as well so managing your Power well helps them perform their job better and spread Power to other members of your group. This is explained in the following section.

Your last priority should be Damagers. For the most part Damagers are not 100% essential to group survivability. That is not to say Damagers are not essential to your group makeup, they are, but if they go down it does not mean your group will go down as a result. Getting through the various content will be slower but a group with a Tank, Healer and Controller can survive against most encounters. Now there are situations where your group can wipe without the assistance of a Damager due to certain enrage mechanics. If you are faced with such a situation keep at least 1 Damager alive will usually ensure that you overcome the enrage mode as long as all other members of the group are also alive.

Healing in DCUO does not require you to specify your target like in some other MMOs. Usually heals will target the group member with the lowest Health. Healing priorities become less imported for specific heals but rather how you position yourself or who to prioritize when reviving. Reviving is the method of picking up player who has been knocked out. There is a short window available to revive a group member so if 2 players go down prioritizing a Tank over a Controller, for example, is going to give your group a greater chance to survive. You can find out more about positioning below.

Power Usage

Out of the 4 roles Healers have the biggest available Power pool but it can be easily be wasted if you don’t pay attention to how you are healing. The first skill you need to learn when managing Power is how to read Health fluctuations. Health will continuously increase and decrease throughout a battle. There is no permanent way to prevent Health from dropping so being aware of which heals you should use is essential to conserve your Power by using weaker heals when appropriate.

Being aware of the battle: Some bosses have random attacks that can cause an extreme amount of damage but will usually not immediately deal the same amount of damage a second. If this is the case then building a players Health up gradually is more efficient then using your biggest heal and depriving your group of any passive healing that you may have provided them.

The general rule for awareness: If a player is hit hard and not in danger of getting hit again try to gradually heal them. If you notice that they keep taking damage and you can’t keep their Health stable try a stronger heal. If they are in danger of dying then use your strongest single target heal to bring them to full Health.

Different types of Tanks: There 2 types of Tank currently available in game: Ice and Fire. Ice Tanks can usually prevent most of the damage done to them which generally requires less healing. However Ice generally has less Health. When healing an Ice Tank try to keep them maxed out whenever possible. Ice Tanks do not receive any additional healing so being more attentive to their Health will dramatically increase their survivability.

Fire can provide assistance in keeping their Health up. They also have a higher Health pool which means their Health fluctuation limits is lower then other players. Healing given to a Fire Tank is increased by 80% which you can use to your advantage. Because they receive stronger healing your gradual increases are more effective and a stronger heal won’t go to waste if they are low on Health. You don’t want to keep a Fire Tank always maxed on Health. Keeping them around 75% Health and allowing them use their own heals to supplement yours. When healing Fire Tanks you can generally take a less attentive approach and focus more on the group.

Group fluctuations: Conserving Power when healing a single target is easier then conserving Power when healing a group. Generally speaking weaker single target heals will not be efficient in healing a full group that is taking a lot of damage. This is where your more expensive group heals come into play. You have 2 options when your entire group takes a lot of damage: a) cast a weaker heal and then cast your full group heal or b) use your Superchage.

The first option takes at least 5 seconds to pull off. This is not ideal in situations where your group is vulnerable to a quick second hit. However if you can predict the battle effectively you can use your group heal without wasting your limited Supercharge heal. The second option should be only be considered if you have no other choice. Using a Supercharge will not cost you any Power but you have limited (usually 2 or 3 times per battle) use of Supercharges so you do want to use your Supercharge careful.

If you are healing with another Healer work with them to bring your group to manageable Health. Allow your healing partner to heal the group half of the way while you heal the other half. You will want to communicate with the other Healer so that you don’t use the same traits. Healing from the same trait will not stack more then once.

You can utilize your shield to help prevent a player’s Health from fluctuating allowing you to heal them more efficiently. You can’t target the shields specifically so positioning yourself closer to your injured group member is important as

you will only be able to shield a maximum of 4 players. Make sure to cast your shield first before you attempt to heal.

Last thing to keep in mind is your combo level. You should try to get to at least a 12 hit combo in between healing your group. The higher your combo the more Power you will restore yourself. More information about combos can be found in Weapon Combo Regeneration 11.e.

Tanking in PvP

PvP forces a Healer to take on the Tank role and the Healer role most of the time. In PvP there is no such thing as aggro in the traditional sense. The threat level in PvP is dependent on how strong your group is. Generally the opposing team will want to test your strength as a Healer. If they find you are not too strong they will continue to focus on you. However if they find that you are too strong they will focus your Controller(s). Your job as a Tank in this situation would be to show the opposing team that your healing is even strong when given to your group members.

On paper playing as a Tank is not all that difficult; grab aggro, cast some defenses and block. In PvE you generally don’t want the aggro. However if you do need to grab aggro to help revive a fallen Tank this can be tricky. NPCs generally don’t aggro to Healers as they will usually flip between Controllers and Healers alike. To grab some aggro you can try to do a bit more damage then usual or you can knockback or stun mobs. Once you have aggro you will be acting more like a Fire Tank by cycling heals and blocks. For information about PvE tanking tactics please see the How to play a Tank guide in this series or the various Fire Tank guides.

As a Tank in PvP be sure you know the mechanics of PvP well. Know when and what to block, know when to block breaker, know what to lunge, etc.

How to Debuff a Tank: Your job as a Healer in PvP is to not only heal but to debuff and distract a Tank. To debuff a Tank use any offensive trait. If the Tank is blinking or has Control Resistance you will not always be able to debuff them. In general heals, fields, buffs and shields will not debuff a Tank. For Nature you can use Vine Lash, Savage Growth, Roar, Harvest, Impaling Thorns, Briar or Thorn Shield. For Sorcery you can use Condemn, Vengeance, Weapon of Destiny, Soul Storm, Final Ruin and Karmic Backlash.

When you debuff a Tank you take away all of their role bonuses. For Ice this means 90% of their Toughness and all of their damage prevention effects. For Fire this means 60% of their Health and they will receive 80% less healing. If you attack a Tank with your weapon you can gain a Confidence boost of +60% to all of your damage bringing your total damage modifier to 135%. You can use this boost to help knockout a Tank.

Overcoming Controller Debuffs: There is no true way to resist a Controller. Controllers are supposed to be a Healer’s counterpart so it is generally best to avoid Controllers if at all possible as a Healer. However there are some ways you can overcome when a Controller is able to debuff you.

First make sure you have a Tank that can clear you. Tanks are meant to counter Controllers and they have the ability to remove any and all debuffs a Controller applies to you. If you get debuffed make sure you tell your Tank and they will clear you. You can also try using the Symbol of Renewal trinket. This will protect you for 20 seconds but it does have a 2 minute cooldown. This should be your last resort in PvP.

When fighting a Controller just to outplay them. You will have no advantage against them if they debuff you and because of their Confidence they will be doing significantly more damage then you. If you want to resist a Controller you need to outplay them. Losing to a Controller is nothing to be ashamed about as they are built to take you down.

Building your Character

Building your character correctly for your play style can be challenging. What do you pick for your Movement? What loadout should I use? Which powerset do I pick?

Powerset

The main difference between the powersets is mobility. Nature is usually a more mobile powerset then Sorcery that works better when your group is closer together. If you prefer moving around while you heal pick Nature and if you like grouping together and don’t mind communicating with your group more.

For more information about specific powersets please refer to the appropriate guides.

Movement

There are 3 different Movement types: Flight, Acrobatics and Super Speed. Flight users are able to hover above the battlefield while also being able to attack. Their Movement speed is slightly worse then Super Speed but on par with

Acrobatics. In combat Flight has the slowest speed and the least amount of agility.

Acrobatics moves around by jumping, gliding and zipping to walls. Their Movement speed on the ground is slightly faster then Flight but slower then Super Speed. Acrobatics can also glide through the air with automatic altitude adjustment. Their sped in the air is similar to Flight if they are not adjust altitude. In combat they have the most agility and mobility.

Super Speed has the fast horizontal Movement and has slightly less agility and mobility in combat. Super Speed is able to jump fairly high and can run faster then Flight can fly.

In harder boss battles and PvP Movement choice is less important because of grounding effect taking away all of your Movement advantages. Still Acrobatics and Super Speed are generally easier to kite or move enemies to wherever you want them while Flight has the advantage of avoiding most damage.

Loadouts

A Healer’s can change depending on your situation. However a good general formula for a loadout should be:

Low Power Heal - Self Heal - Buff or Large Heal - Small Medium Heal - Supercharge Heal - Shield

Low Power heals can include Soul Well, Savage Growth, Roar, etc. For self heals either Blossom or Rejuvenation. Buffs can include Hive Mind or Carnage while large heals can include Circle of Protection, Cross Pollination, etc. Small medium heals can include Shared Fate, Watcher, Metabolism, etc. Supercharge heals include Regeneration and Transcendence. Shields include Swarm Shield and Boon of Souls.

This loadout gives you the ability to play both PvP and PvE content and gives the widest range of healing abilities.

Balancing Stats

The tricky aspect of being a Healer is balancing the various stats that you need to be effective in your role. On the one hand you have PvE that only requires Restoration, Critical Heal Amount and Chance. On the other hand you have PvP which requires Healers to take on a semi-Tank role and requires a mix of Toughness and Health.

There is also the issue of the amount of skill points you have. A good Healer covers some of the critical stats but a great Healer takes advantage of everything. This means Healers usually need a lot of skill points to be effective in their role.

Skill and Power Point Management

How should a Healer spend their skill points? There are a lot of opinions on this topic but in general it seems Restoration > Critical Heal Amount = Critical Heal Chance and Health > Toughness for PvP. Power and Vitalization are also minor stats a Healer could focus more on if they have extra points to spend.

The first thing Healers should do with their skill points is make sure they have a functional weapon. Like every other player Healers should be able to defend themselves and be able to perform. This is especially important in PvP where your usage of weapon combos could make or break your groups survivability. Included in your weapon combos should be a Lunge (hold square), a Block Breaker (hold triangle) and enough weapon combos to build your Weapon Regen. This should cost you anywhere from 5-10 skill points depending on the weapon you want to use.

After you have a functional weapon you should make sure your Movement is functional. The investment in skill points varies between the 3 Movements but when you should have is either Supersonic for Flight, Speed Force for Super Speed and Rocket-assisted Glide for Acrobatics. If you want more usability and mobility pick up Dive Bomb for Flight, Internal Flywheel for Super Speed and 1 or 2 of Grapple Line or Glide Line from Acrobatics. This will cost you an addition 1-3 skill points.

Your third priority should be Restoration. You can find Restoration in the Dual Wield, Dual Pistol and Martial Arts weapon trees. This should cost you an additional 19 skill points unless you selected either of those weapons.

After Restoration you should balance Critical Heal Amount and Critical Heal Chance. Please note that Critical Heal Amount is labeled as “Critical Healing Magnitude” for this purpose. By balancing these 2 stats you will have a steady 4:1 increase for critical healing effectiveness. You can find Critical Heal Amount in the Bow, Hand Blasts, One Handed and Staff weapon trees while Critical Heal Chance can be found in the Brawling, Rifle and Two Handed weapon trees. For Critical Heal Amount balance the first 3 stacks and then finish the 4th stack after you have all Critical Heal Chance. This should cost you an additional 49 skill points unless you selected one of these weapons.

Once you have your healing skills you should pickup the resistances from your Movement. If you maxed out the suggestions above you do not need to spend additional skill points. However if you did not you may need to do so.

Start by picking up Knockback Resistance and Recovery followed by Stun Resistance and Recovery and then Breakout Mastery. This will cost you an additional 5 skill points.

Power points vary between the 2 powersets. However any remaining power points should be spent on the Empathic Healing and Miracle Worker Iconic traits.

In total you should have spent 75-85 skill points and 2 power points for a fully functional spec. However that is not all! Generally this is where Healer builds become more diverse.

Once a Healer can fulfill their main job they look to take a secondary job. There are many approaches that seem to work. The first approach utilizes the Vitalization stat and gaining a bit more Power to fulfill a support role. This approach has limited use but can help the Controller role with restoring Power.

The second approach utilizes the Health and Defense/Toughness stats to increase your survivability. The main application of this approach would be in PvP where the Healer essentially becomes a Tank. This approach doesn’t help your group directly but increasing your personal survivability helps if a boss decides to hit you with one of their random attacks.

The third approach utilizes Precision and Critical Attack Amount and Chance. Though a very expensive approach in terms of skill and power points this approach will increase the overall damage of your group. However it can be tricky to take advantage of this job and still be effective in your primary job.

All 3 approaches have uses and will be explained in the following sections.

Restoration vs Critical Heal Amount and Chance

Many Healers have asked if spending skill points in Restoration first is really better then spending skill points in Critical Heal Amount and Chance first. There have been many opinions on this topic, but these are mostly just that, opinions. Some Healers believe that you should focus on critical heals because if you will be healing for many small heals that will increase your odds of landing a critical heal. Other Healers believe that by focusing on both Restoration and Critical Heal Amount and Chance equally you will increase both regular and critical heals equally. However testing has shown that neither of these approaches are best.

Testing has revealed that Restoration should be focused on first because it affects both regular and critical heals. The way critical heals work is by increasing regular heals by a certain. Regular heals are rely on Restoration for their effective so that means critical heals also benefit from Restoration. Consider the following example.

You have a heal A that base value of 10. Knowing that a level 30 Healer has at least 740 Restoration, 25% Critical Heal Amount and a bonus of 65% in Healer stance you can determine that the effective regular heal of A is 47 and the effective critical heal is 58. If you increase your Restoration by 100 (25% base healing) you get 51 and 63 compared to increasing Critical Heal Amount by 25% you get 47 and 70. Overall you get an average of 10 healing from Restoration compared to 7 healing with critical healing skills. If you max Restoration at about 150 (37.5% base healing) and Critical Heal Amount at about 75% then the numbers become 53 / 66 and 47 / 94. Overall healing would be 14 for Restoration alone and 38 for Critical Heal Amount.

At first glance it is not a huge difference but with few skill points Restoration is a better choice over Critical Heal Amount. As you get more skill points though Critical Heal Amount would be better to get first. In general though Restoration is better considering that critical heals don’t always happen without enough Critical Heal Chance.

Restoration vs Power and Vitalization

Another topic of debate is whether Restoration is better then getting more Power or having a high Power regen.

More testing is needed in order for me to continue writing this section. If anyone has any facts they would like to share on this topic fee free to add them. -- Superskull85.

Defense/Toughness and Health

An interesting approach to a secondary job is trying to mimic a Tank. If you ever queue into Alerts with random players you will find that sometimes the Healer acts like a Tank if the actual Tank is not on par. This can usually cause a wipe unless the Healer is familiar with tanking tactics. This is especially true in PvP where more often then not the Healer acts as the Tank the whole match.

Of course the best option for a Healer is to not to grab aggro in the first place, but if you are forced to Tank then knowing how to Tank will help you dramatically. This is especially true in PvP where you are usually forced to be a Tank. You can find more detailed information about tanking as a Healer in PvP Tanking.

Obtaining the right stats is just as important as knowing how to play a Tank. The 2 main stats you should focus on are

Defense/Toughness and Health. Healer gear generally has a lot of Health as it is but obtaining more Health helps you survive those last couple hits before needing to heal. You can obtain Health in the Brawling, Rifle, One Handed, Two Handed and Hand Blasts weapon trees. This will cost you an additional 15 skill points to max out Health skills.

Toughness is the key stat in PvP and should be stacked carefully to avoid wasting skill points. Like Healing damage reduction seems to “lose the decimal” which means it is possible to overspend on Toughness. It is only possible to get a max of 250 Toughness from skill and power points (5 stacks of 30 Toughness (150 total) plus the Iconic Nanoweave Armor (+100)) so only 213 of that Toughness will benefit you. The other 37 points should only be used to balance out your armor. Say your armor gives you 1951 Toughness (27% rediction) you could use that extra 37 points to give you grand total of 2201 or 31% reduction. The key to balancing Toughness is to complete the +71 jumps you need for 1% reduction in damage. If you get all Toughness skills it will cost you an additional 15 skill points.

In general Health is a better investment then Toughness. However if you only need, say, 10-30 more Toughness to complete another +71 jump get those before you get any Health. Once you have all of your Health start going into more Toughness. It might be best to spend your skill points in other areas until you have 8 to spare for another 1% reduction though. To fully max out Health and Toughness you will need a total of 30 extra skill points or 105-115 skill points to max out healing as well.

Damage vs Healing

This is another topic that some players have commented on. Why do Healers do so little damage? There are many reasons for this: there is no damage component to heals, Healers are penalized by a 25% damage reduction, Healer gear has a lack of stats and in order to be an effective Healer you can’t overly use your Power.

Now that is not to say Healers can’t help with damage after all Healers need to attack Tanks in PvP. How can a Healer do damage then? Well first they need to utilize the Precision stat. By utilizing Precision 0Healers can avoid using too much of their Power. They can also increase their combo for even greater amounts of Power. You can increase your Precision by swapping out less vital gear like rings or face pieces or even sometimes your weapon. Healers don’t always need maximum Restoration. For example you can easily heal the Batcave and Kahndaq with around 1400 Restoration. Swapping out some gear would not overly hurt your healing abilities if you have more stats then you need.

Healers do still suffer from a damage penalty. You can’t overcome this penalty in PvE but you can in PvP. By simply using weapon attacks on a Tank you can gain a total of 135% damage thanks to your Confidence boost. Combined with a debuffed Tank this will allow you to do a lot more damage.

To increase your damage even more you could spend extra skill points in Critical Attack Amount and Critical Attack Chance. Spend your skill points evenly just like you would Critical Heal Amount and Critical Heal Chance. Increasing these stats will increase your critical damage which would help in the long run. However you will need a lot of extra skill points in order to have an effective amount of these stats.

Swapping some healing for damage is not a very popular investment for Healers because of a “kill, kill, kill” mentality. Focusing too much on damage could hurt your group’s overall healing if the Healer is not careful.If your group is suffering from your lack of healing it is highly recommended to focus less on damage. Still if a Healer is careful they can help with damage a bit.

This investment will cost you 12 skill points for all Critical Attack Amount skills and 9 skill points for all Critical Attack Chance skills or 91-101 skill points including healing. You could also pick either Weapons Expert or Tactical Genius from Iconics if you have the power points to spare.

Positioning

Positioning is fundamental skill each player should have. Being able to move would with the environment helps you attack enemies and heal efficiently. If you are behind an object your cannot heal your group members and if the enemies move away from you it can be hard to kill them.

Using ranged weapons will usually be safer for a Healer but melee users need to be extra aware of their surroundings. Using your shield will help you and other melee users avoid damage. Make sure to use it if you have any melee users in your group.

Ranged healing: If using a ranged weapon (Bow, Rifle, Dual Pistols Hand Blaster or Martial Arts) it is best to stay at the back of

the group so you can see the whole battlefield and effectively heal your group. There will always be occasions where you are spread out in a circle like during the Brother Eye and Black Adam boss fights but it is still best to keep your distance. Try to stay to the side of the Tank so that you don’t get hit by cone attacks and you give your Tank some knockback room.

Melee healing:Using a melee weapon is usually challenging by itself in harder content but healing using a melee weapon is

probably the most challenging. In order to be a melee Healer you need to be extra aware of your surroundings and be even more efficient with your healing. You got to know when to lunge in and attack and when to get out of the way when you take too much damage. Block is especially useful as a melee Healer.

For the most part random “trash mobs” (enemies that you face in between boss fights) are easier to melee then bosses. Trash mobs are generally easy to stun, block and control so much so that even a Healer can hurt. If the mobs are blocking then make sure to block break them and if they keep attacking you try to block so that they get knocked down. Not all mobs are blockable so you may not be able to knock them down all that often. For boss fights try to be behind the boss so that you don’t get hit by most of the bosses attacks. You will also want to watch out for the red skull next to each NPC’s name.

Red skulls indicate that NPC’s are about to do a big attack. The kind of attack they use against you will vary depending on the mob. Usually though they also have an unique animation for each attack. What you want to do is either block the damage (if it is blockable) or get out of the way so you don’t take a lot of damage. You will have to experiment to figure out a NPC’s tells so that you know what to do.

Now as a Healer you want to make sure you don’t take a lot of extra damage. You can use your shield to prevent a lot of the damage when you are attacking or need to escape but make sure you have enough Power to heal your group. If you find that you are taking to much damage get out of melee range and tap triangle to do your ranged attacks. As a Healer your job is not to do a lot of damage but heal your group so make sure are careful when using a melee weapon.

Line of Sight

Most heals operate on the idea of having a clear visible path to your targets. You can’t heal through walls, objects or even on the same level of flooring so it is important to position yourself accordingly. In general if you can see your target you can heal them. There is also the issue of being in range of your targets. If your target is near an enemy then you should be able to heal them if you can target the enemy.

The only exception to these rules are Field heals. In order to heal your targets using fields you need to make sure the field is within range of your target. So for example in order for Soul Well to heal your group members there must be a clear path between the Soul Well and your target.

Buffs and Shields will also obey line of sight.

Group Interaction

It is not always apparent what you can do for your group members other then healing them and keeping them alive. What do you do when you are healing with another Healer? How can Healers, who focus on Health, help a Controller? How can a Healer up the damage of a Damager? And what else can you do to help a Tank? These are all important questions for group dynamics.

The ideal group has at 1 player using each powerset. Some powersets don’t work well with each other and others work well with other powersets. For example 2 Nature users will overlap each other in all aspects of healing and damage the same goes for 2 Sorcery users. However 2 or more Fire users gain strength from each other by setting everything on fire. That is not to say 2 Nature or Sorcery users can’t heal together but it requires a lot more communication.

Healer vs Healer

As mentioned above if you are healing with another Healer using the same powerset as you you will need to communicate more then you would normally. Most of the fine details of each powerset are shared between multiple Healers making it harder to efficiently heal.

The following sections will briefly explain each powerset. For more detailed information about the powersets please see other external guides.

Healing with 2 Sorcery Healers: When healing with 2 Sorcery Healers it is important to remember that CoP’s will not stack. The first CoP to be used in an area will heal your group members. All of healing that would of been done by the second Sorcery Healer would be negated if 2 CoP’s overlap in the same area. In this situation it is best for one Healer to place their CoP on the main mob of enemies and the other Healer to place a CoP near the main group of players.

Healing with 2 Nature Healers:

If there 2 Nature Healers in a group there will be many overlaps. Nature works by interacting with small healing buffs known as Pheromones. When 2 Nature Healers heal together they will overwrite each others stack Pheromones. The optimal setup for 2 Nature Healers is for each Healer to use different heals that release separate stacks of Pheromones. So for example if Healer A uses Savage Growth and Harvest to heal then Healer B should try to use Metabolism and Cross Pollination. This way they will not overlap each others healing by using the same heals.

You should also designate someone to control the usage of Pheromones using Blossom. Blossom is a strong heal but it can easily mess up the overall group healing by removing all Pheromones for lots of healing for the entire group. This can cause both Healers to use extra Power if used incorrectly. Try to use Blossom when actually needed and communicate with the other Nature Healer when you want to use it. It is probably best if only one Healer has Blossom in their loadout.

If you have a Nature Damager in your group try not to use Harvest as you will steal his Poison Spores.

Solo Healing

Solo healing is not much different then healing with another Healer. The main difference is that you will be using more Power to heal the group and you will need to position yourself so that you have light of sight to all members. Typically solo healing refers to Raids where 2 Healers are generally best. You should try to have at least 2 Controllers and maybe another Mental, Gadgets or Light user that can give out Power in either role. This will help keep your Power up without stressing your Controller(s) too much.

Solo healing as a Sorcery Healer: When solo healing as Sorcery it is important to position your CoP and Soul Wells so that most of the group receives your healing. You should also call out the position of your CoP so group members can easily receive healing if they need to. Invocation of Renewal is helpful in this situation as it can heal your entire group with minimal Power.

Solo healing as a Nature Healer: If you are solo healing as Nature you should use the Insectoid form if you do not have Flight as your Movement. Using Flight you can position yourself above the group and can avoid most line of sight issues. Using Bloom and Cross Pollination will help heal your entire group as well.

Tanks

In order for a Tank to perform their job well they need to have enough Health and protection so that they can lunge in and survive against multiple enemies. The way you can help Tanks other then healing them is by working with what they are trying to do. If your groups needs a switch activated during the middle of a speed run then give your a shield so that they can attract the attention of enemies and get the switch without getting interrupted. If they need to stop blocking or attacking be prepared to heal them more then you normal would and be able to protect them with your shield.

Healers also have a limited use of encasement and transformation that they can use to slow enemies down. Try to use these to distract the enemy if your Tank needs a moment to regain Health from heals or to move to another location.

Controllers

Controllers restore Power to your group and control enemies. You can help them do this by using one of your Supercharge heals when the Power of your group is low or using your limited control abilities. You can also help strengthen their Restoration through buffs so that a Controller’s shields can take more hits.

Damagers

The role of a Damager is to kill enemies as quick as possible. So obviously increasing their damage potential will help them out a lot. You can do this with buffs with buffs as well to increase their Might and Precision. You could also use your encasements if they have ways of boosting their damage by destroying encased enemies. Ice, Mental, Gadgets and Sorcery can all benefit from extra encasements.

Weapons and Equipment

So the last question you probably have is, “What do I where as a Healer?” Well obviously you should wear Healer gear bu then the question is what gear should I get first, where can I get it and how does it work. These are all important questions and will be answered in this section.

If you follow the progression in Learning your Role 4 you should be able to earn gear that will help you with the next tier of content. For example the gear you earn while leveling will help you with Challenges and Duos, etc. Some items also have special effects that are not usually apparent through your progression but will help you as a Healer.

Gear Progression

In order to progress probably through the content you need to obtain lower tiers of gear. As you saw in Learning your Role 4 the natural progression goes from leveling -> Challenges -> Duos -> Alerts -> Raids.

Leveling: Healer gear is harder to find through leveling then it is in the other tiers of content. In general when you are in the leveling process Healers are less vital to success. However as a Healer certain mission will drop Healer gear that you can use to increase your Restoration when needed. This type of gear is varied in effectiveness as you may not always find a full set of gear at each level. Don’t delete or sell lower level Healer gear though as you can still use it to help you as a Healer in Challenges.

Challenges: Once you hit level 30 you can do Challenge mode missions that will provide you with gear blue quality gear. This gear will have similar Defense to the faction gear you can use for Duos and should even out your lower level gear you obtain through leveling. By completing Challenges you will earn Marks of Triumph and Renown that you can use to buy faction gear. You can find a set of faction gear in each wing of your HQ. A full set will cost you 10 Marks of Triumph. Faction gear does not have any Restoration on it but it is a good stepping stone to Duos that will provide you with more Restoration.

Duos: Once you have replaced your gear with either Challenge or faction gear you are ready for Duos. You can enter Duos through the Duty menu. Duos will provide you with Marks of Triumph and the starred or daily Duo will provide you with Marks of Distinction. You will want to make sure to do all of the Duos as each Duo drops different pieces of gear. The gear you want to aim for will drop from the bosses.

Completing Duos will help you progress to Tier 1 Iconic gear. This type of gear is sold by Raven, Original Flash and Steel in each of their respective wings. You don’t need this type of gear for Alerts but any pieces you can purchase will help you progress easier and will improve your Combat Rating dramatically over Duo gear.

Alerts: You can generally do Alerts at the same time as Duos but there are some Alerts that require a higher Combat Rating. There are 3 tiers to Alerts: Normal, Tier 1 Hard and Tier 2 Hard. Normal Alerts can be done while leveling and will award you with the appropriate level of gear. Tier 1 Alerts can be done with Duos while Tier 2 Alerts require some Tier 1 Iconic gear.

For the most part Tier 1 Alerts do not require any Combat Rating. However Smallville, Stryker’s Island Penitentiary and Arkham Asylum require a Combat Rating of 34. You can obtain this rating by completing the other Tier 1 Alerts and earning the gear provided. Tier 2 Alerts require a Combat Rating of 43 which will require you to purchase most of the Tier 1 Iconic sets. Tier 1 Alerts drop Marks of Triumph with a Mark Distinction daily and will help you buy Tier 1 Iconic gear. A full set will cost you 410 Marks of Triumph.

Raids: Once you are able to do Tier 2 Alerts you can also participate in Raids. Like Alerts there are 2 tiers to Raids which require different tiers of gear. Tier 1 Raids can be done once you have a Combat Rating of 43 and will help you earn Marks of Distinction. The gear that drops in this Raid are better then the Tier 1 Iconic set and will help you progress through each in the tier. The progression for this tier should be Kahndaq -> Batcave Outer Caverns -> Batcave Sub Construct -> Batcave Inner Sanctum. Although this progression does not fit the storyline it is generally accepted to be the best progression. Tier 2 Alerts can also be done with these Raids and will drop Marks of Distinction. You can use the Marks of Distinction you earned to purchase Tier 2 Iconic gear.

Tier 2 Iconic gear can be purchased from Diana Troy, Power Girl and Batgirl in their respective wings. This gear will help you progress to Tier 2 Raids and a full set will cost you 410 Marks of Distinction. Tier 2 Raids will drop gear that is better then Tier 2 Iconic gear and should be progressed from The Chasm -> Sunstone Matrix -> Power Core. Again this does not follow the storyline but is best progression difficulty wise. These Raids will drop Marks of Krypton which you can use to buy Tier 3 Iconic gear. You can purchase Tier 3 Iconic gear from Supergirl in the Meta wing. There are currently no Raids higher then Tier 2.

PvP: There 3 tiers to PvP armor. The first tier are rare quality drops that can be purchased using Cash. Tier 1 Iconic armor can be purchased from Aquaman, Hawkgirl and Robin using Influence. Tier 2 Iconic armor can purchased from Requisitions-T2H in the Hall of Justice for Heroes and for Villains using Marks of Conquest. You can earn Influence by killing Heroes/Villains or by completing wanted posters in Metropolis and Gotham. You can earn Marks of Conquest by participating in Arenas and Legends. You receive 1 Mark of Conquest for losing and 2 for winning unless it is the daily in which case you earn 4 marks for winning. You should progress from the rare armor -> Tier 1 Iconic -> Tier 2 Iconic.

Power Affinity

Affinities are extra effects that certain equipment have. When an affinity takes effect it is known as a “proc” and happens because you either attack an enemy or you use a beneficial trait. So far only necks and weapons have a Power Affinity.

There are 2 necks that have an affinity for Healers: the Restorative Pendant and the Livegiving Pendant. For both of these necks whenever you use a heal, buff or shield you have a small chance to increase your maximum Power by 225 for 20 seconds.

There are 2 types of weapons that have Affinities: PvP weapons and weapons obtain from the Fight for the Light DLC. PvP weapons come in 2 tiers and proc by attacking a player character. Tier 1 PvP weapons adds 192 Precision (a total of 97.1 DPS) and ignores 12% of that player’s Toughness. Tier 2 PvP weapons add 352 Precision (a total of 113.1 DPS) and ignores 25% of that player’s Toughness. You can find Tier 1 PvP weapons at the Ring War and Diamond Heist vendors and Tier 2 PvP weapons under the Meta wing of your HQ.

The Fight for the Light weapons have a small chance to heal you when you attack an enemy. These weapons can be randomly found throughout the Coast City, STAR Labs and Oan Sciencells Alerts.

Neck, Rings and Trinket

Necks, rings and trinkets are special types of equipment that will increase your stats but do not have a Durability counter. You do have to repair these items but they tend to be the rarest items in the game. Necks are the most effective at increasing your stats followed by trinkets and then rings. How you can equip 2 different rings at one time.

Trinkets allow you to increase your Restoration when activated. This increase will stack with any other buffs and is generally the best way to increase your Restoration mid-combat. You can obtain a trinket each tier of content. You can find he OmmiScry Vitalizer in Duos, Healer’s Focus in Tier 1 Alerts, Modular Psionic Enhancer (+296) in Tier 2 Alerts, Charm of the All-Father in Tier 1 Raids and Augmentive Healing Conduit (+432) in Tier 2 Raids. Each trinket increase your Restoration based on the content it is meant for.

You can also obtain PvP trinkets. These trinkets will provide some Control Resistance and a breakout with the exception of the trinket purchased using Marks of Conquest that will also clear a Controlller’s debuff. All trinket effects last for 20 seconds.

As mentioned above necks can have an affinity that will increase your maximum Power. Rings don’t have any special effects but like trinkets each tier of content has a ring available with the best being Clutch of Regrowth (+24 Restoration) that drops in the Power Core Raid.

Ranged vs Melee Weapons

There are 2 types of weapons available in DCUO: ranged and melee. When used properly ranged weapons will keep the user from receiving most of the damage done by enemies. Melee weapons are the opposite. If you use a melee weapon you are likely to take a lot more damage and you will be more vulnerable to control effects. To compensate for these disadvantages melee weapons increase Critical Attack Amount and will give you extra Control Resistance when used which will make you less likely to be controlled.

Both ranged and melee weapons have close and long range attacks. However ranged generally excel at doing more damage at a distance and melee weapons excel at doing damage up close. Ranged weapons include: Dual Pistols, Rifle and Hand Blaster. Melee weapons include Brawling, One Handed, Two Handed, Dual Weild and Staff. There are 2 weapons that have a mix of ranged and melee capabilities but do not grant you any extra advantages when used. These weapons include the Bow and Martial Arts.

It is generally excepted that Healers should use ranged weapons as it puts less strain on them for Health. The idea is that because melee users tend to take more damage Healers would have to use Power to heal themselves more then healing the group. Now that is not to say Healers should not use melee weapons but it is generally safer and more efficient for a Healer to use a ranged weapon.

For more information about using ranged and melee weapons please see Positioning 10.

PvE vs PvP

When you are playing make sure you where the appropriate gear. PvP gear won’t keep you alive long in PvE content just like PvE gear won’t keep you alive long in PvP content. You can tell the difference between PvP and PvE gear by finding out if the gear has any Toughness on it. If it does then it is meant to be used in PvP and if it does not it is meant to be used in PvE.

Some players like to mix PvE gear with PvP gear to gain a stat increase in PvP. In general PvP gear has worse stats on it compared to PvP gear so mixing in PvE gear helps to counteract that difference. The drawback is that you have less Toughness and Health. There is no exact formula for mixing gear but swapping your wasit, back and weapon for PvE counterparts gives you a good balance between Restoration and Power without losing too much Health or Toughness.

Weapon Combo Regeneration

Combo regeneration is a way to restore Power and Supercharge to yourself by attacking and building high combos. There are 4 tiers to combo regeneration and each tier gives 9 ticks of Power and 8 ticks of Supercharge.

Tier 1 has a hit counter range of 1-11 and restores 10 base Power and 2 Supercharge. There is no hit counter title for this tier.

Tier 2 has a hit counter range of 12-26 and restores 12 base Power and 3 Supercharge. The hit counter title for this tier is “Good!”

Tier 3 has a hit counter range of 27-50 and restores 15 base Power and 3 Supercharge. The hit counter title for this tier is “Incredible!”

Tier 4 has a hit counter range of 51+ and restores 20 base Power and 4 Supercharge. The hit counter title for this tier is “Superhuman!” Hits after the 51st hit only gives you 1 tick of Power and Supercharge per hit instead of 9 and 8.

There are 3 weapons that change these tiers: Hand Blasts, Two Handed and Brawling. The hit counter changes are listed below:

Hand Blasts: 1-9, 10-20, 21-40, 41+Two Handed: 1-6, 7-13, 14-25, 26+Brawling: 1-5, 6-11, 12-21, 22+

Combo regeneration scales with your Vitalization based on the healing formula explained above. For quick reference you see scaling in the following charts:

If you have to interrupt your combo it is recommended to stop at the beginning of the next time. So say you are on a 10 hit combo try to hit at least 2 more times before healing again.

Conclusion

Healing can be a complicated but rewarding role. Sometimes you are playing both Healer and Tank or trying to pickup the slack of your Controller but at the end of the day you know that your group could not have completed their task without you. Healers are the life and blood of any group which makes Healers one of the most vital members of a group.

If you have any questions, concerns or wish to suggest an addition to the guide please be sure to leave a suggestion. If you wish to make an addition directly you can view the writing of thread and open the Google Word Document. Be sure to leave a comment with your name and edit so that I can add you as a Contributor.

I would like to thank everyone who has contributed to this guide and I hope it helps all Healers, new and old. You can see some additional tips below.

Player Suggestions

“Nature:Pheromone Effects from each power do not stack. So ask the other healer what powers he is using and use different ones. It helps if each Healer has 2 powers that release Pheromones. I remove Blossom from my loadout when running with another Nature healer as it removes Pheromone effects. I let the other Healer cast it so I can focus on putting out Pheromones. One Healer needs to have Hive Mind as it boosts Restoration for both healers. If both have Hive Mind, it helps to call out when it is cast. Both Healers should have Regeneration (unless one is a Speedster and has Speed Drain)

Sorcery:Circles of Protection do not stack. They may even cancel out if a certain amount overlays (need to test but I suspect this based on experience). So try put down a Circle of Protection in a different area than the other Healer. Soul Wells may not stack either but I try to place one as far from the other Healer as possible. It is good for both Healers to use Boon of Soul and rotate usage during boss fights. Team mates don't need as many heals if they are protected by Shields. Both Healers should have a Supercharge that benefits the team (Transcendence, Arbiter of Destiny or Speed Drain)”

- dcuo_owl

“It seems as though one of the key things to healer basics is communication with the other healer, no matter what the powersets are.Most people think healers are just watching the health bars and hitting powers when they see it low

- Wannabep

“A. Chaining powers is a great way to avoid long power animations. The power that I chain together is:

Soul Well + Boon of Souls - I use this combination before every fight.

(There are other powers that chain but I forgot the other or don't know them.)

B. Knowing When To Heal

The difference between knowing when to heal and how to heal is vast. As you grow as a healer you should understand this the more you play as a healer. This is something that I can't explain but is well understood by most healers.

C. Have Fun

When raiding don't try to make it a competition on who healed the most. Stats are just a cosmetic but fun thing to look at. If you come up short on the leaderboard don't fret about it. With time you will improve.”

- Snix

“- you not only want a power that will debuff the tank but also stuns or has controll effects thems it takes pressure off your troller. condemn/vine lash/movement powers are good examples- adjust your loadouts to map i.e. a map like batcave 2v2 would require you to do more damage then say the 8v8 so adjust by ensuring you have atleast one power that debuffs/stuns in your load out- remember to use healing barrels when applicable! they give power and build supercharges- don't be dettered from using melee weapons as some have good ranged attacks i.e. martial arts. others have buffs from controll effects which can be really useful e.g. one handed, two handed, dual wield, staff- IF you are going to spam moves from far way choose block breakers. Arrow storm and mortar may put out decent damage but in healing stance it isn't anything significant. You are much better off spamming moves like explosive shot or shurkens as they help other members of your team build their melee combos- IF you attack the tank which is highly reccomended avoid jumping in the middle of a battle - rather do it from the outside to avoid getting piled on. If you get spotted by the oppsing team use the lunge to get out of wherever you are”

I run destiny healer and although it is a cruital role its a pain to solo pve with.

My healer loadout is:

Conjure Soul well ( use primarily when your about to kill alot of trash mobs )

Circle of Protection ( Primary used in boss fight or long skirmishes. cast looking down if its a ranged fight or cast on your enemy target to support your melee team members. )

Rejuvinate ( Your primary heal )

Boon of Soul ( Sheild absorbs roughtly 700-1000dmg for each teammate. Use this in large crowds or to absorb a bosses strongest attacks. )

Arbitor of Destiny ( This is your supercharge. grants endless energy for destiny skills for about 20 seconds. Use it when the fight gets intense and your running out of power and health )

Optional skill:

Invocation of Renewal or Sacrifical Offering ( Both are party heals with similar healing amounts. Invocation has a 4 second cast time and heals you as well. Sacrifical is instant cast but does not heal you and is slightly more expensive. )

Of these 2 skills I have yet to decide which one I like better.

As for a damage roll I use it strictly for pve solo's. Its decent dps and has healing/protection ability. I wouldn't recomment running this in groups.

Weapon of Destiny

Karmic Backlash

Circle of protection

Rejuvinate

Boon of Soul

Arbitor of Destiny

basically use Circle of protection on target for a AoE, Leaping attack to close in, Karmic Backlash to spread bad Karma and knock enemy back, Weapon of destiny for damage buff and start your weapon combo of choice. Use Rejuvinate and Boon of soul as needed.

Charge and save Arbitor of Destiny for boss fights and wait to use it until you out of power and at about 50% health with your soda on recharge. in arbitor form you can spam heals for free and use any destiny attack so spam away.

My DPS Sorcery Build:

1. (Iconic) Neo-Venom Boost

2. Weapon Of Destiny

3. Circle Of Protection

4. Final Ruin

5. (Optional) Rejuvenate

6. (Supercharge) Baleful Transmogrification

7. Colas

8. Trinket

I use in this order:

1, 8, 2, flurry flurry, 3, 2 flurry flurry, 4 (when enemies are at 35% HP). And repeat!

Skill Points:

Maxed out on Might, and all Critical dmg and chance.

Power Points:

What's left over I put in Iconics. Powerful Resistance, Wisdom of Solomon, Weapons Expert, and Tactical Genius.

My Healer Loadout:

1. Boon Of Souls

2. Conjure Soul Well

3. Rejuvenate

4. Circle Of Protection

5. Invocation Of Renewal

6. (Supercharge) Transcendence

7. Colas

8. Trinket

I use in this order:

Before Fight:

1, 2, 3 (use this to cancel soul well, and of course for the spike heal when needed) (Note: I also do these during a fight when needed)

During Fight:

4 (I use it on recharge (during fight)), 5 (when needed), 6 and 8 (when needed).

And repeat!

Skill Points: Max out on Restoration, Critical Healing Chance, and Critical Healing Magnitude.

Power Points: What's left over I put in Iconics. Powerful Resistance, Wisdom of Solomon, Miracle Worker, and Empathic Healing.

Damage: Weapon of Destiny, Shared Fate, Circle of Protection, Final Ruin, Rejuvenate, Arbiter of Destiny

Healer: Boon of Souls, Conjure SoulWell, Circle of Protection, Final Ruin, Rejuvenate, ARbiter of Destiny

Arbiter of Destiny: Karmic Backlash, Shared Fate, Circle of Protection, Final Ruin, Rejuvenate, Invocation of Renewal (because, well you can only put destiny items in here and none of the others make sense).

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