Rift 1.6 Cleric Builds: Classic 5-man Healing Build

Hello everyone, with release of 1.6 and Warrior mitigation buff, warrior tanks are now very tough and do not require much tank heals. The new 5 man in Ember Isle also have fight encounters that require more AoE heals than tank heals. These combinations really make the 34 sentinel/32 warden build shine and make it almost the perfect dungeon healer.

Build: 34 Sentinel/32 Warden/0 templar

The above build is the one I personally use. However, if you are not into PVP at all and/or need more beefed up AoE heals, you might try this build below instead. Personally I find it annoying to have to keep casting the 0 point purifier shield constantly and the Break Free ability comes in handy at times when you get Crowd Controlled as a healer and there is no one else in your party to cleanse you.

Macros
The first macro is to make your Orbs of the Stream heal for much bigger amounts.
#show Orbs of the Stream
suppressmacrofailures
cast Tidal Surge
cast Orbs of the Stream

The second macro is an instant cast big heal for those moments where someone need to be topped off quickly.
#show Touch the Light
suppressmacrofailures
cast Touch the Light
cast Tidal Surge
cast Healing Invocation

You may or may not find it helpful to make a macro for your AoE cleanse with a stopcasting command like this
#show Empowering Light
suppressmacrofailures
stopcasting
cast Empowering Light

This is a nice macro to have that couples your cleanse over time with your normal cleanse spell.
#show cleansing waters
suppressmacrofailures
cast curative waters
cast cleansing waters

Gear: The general consensus among the cleric community after patch 1.5 is that the optimal ratio of SP and SC is 2.5 SP: SC. This means that SP comes first on gear upgrades unless your SC is fairly low. Remember, SC have a softcap of 45%, which is about 1.1 k SC. Having more SC after that point does not do you much good.

In terms of trinkets, you should definitely get the Sacred Heirloom of Eth off xDSM. It may overheal a lot, but it is nice to have. Another trinket that is not bad to have is Spirit Wolf Totem from xKB. For more trinkets info, see this link here.

For your Lessers/Greater Essences, you will want to grab Hailstone Tideshard from Water raid rift in Ironpine Peak (Hunger of the Deep). The rest 5 slots should be filled with lessers for the stats boost. Here are recommendations of the 5 Lessers you should incorporate after 1.6.

Dark Rituals	Death Vendor - 100 inscribed
Last Rituals	Death Vendor - 100 inscribed
Living Quest	Life Vendor - 100 inscribed
Living Surge	Water Vendor - 100 inscribed
Pyro Flare	Fire Vendor - 100 inscribed

If you cannot afford the new 100 inscribed Lessers yet, you might considering purchasing the older Lessers that cost 50 inscribed. Here is the top 5.

Last Rites	Death Vendor - 50 inscribed
Living Hunt	Life Vendor - 50 inscribed
Dark Rites	Death Vendor - 50 inscribed
Pyro Spark	Fire Vendor - 50 inscribed
Northern Winds	Air Vendor - 50 inscribed

Strategy
This build utilize the most Serendipity procs out of all possible cleric builds. This is due to the fact that you will utilize a lot of instant cast heals/HoTs with this build, which will all have a chance to proc Serendipity. Since Serendipity procs so often, you can actually time it so it is only used on your big heals such as Healing Invocation or Healing Communion.

You will pre-cast Orbs of the Stream on your tank using the above macro. This will help your tank to mitigate some of the initial hits. Keep in mind that this is not always safe to do so and can generate aggro on pulls with multiple mobs if the tank doesn't snap them right away.

After the tank pulls and have the mob beating on him, you have two choices to make. If the tank is not taking a lot of damage, you can start casting Healing Spray on the tank, followed by 4x stacks of Soothing Stream and Healing Current. If the tank is taking on a serious beating, then consider Healing Breath followed with Healing Invocation and then jump into the HoTs when tank health stabilize a bit.

Keep in mind that this rotation is not set in stone. During a heretic fight you probably won't be sticking to your rotation much anyways. Just remember that there is a 11- 12 second period where these HoTs stay on. With Soothing Stream, as long you refresh it within the 12 window, you will regain all 4 stacks. Try to keep the HoTs on as much as possible but don't fret if you can't keep them up due to casting other essential heals. HoTs are there to help you soften some of the damage the tank takes but you will still have to heal them with your HI.

Make sure to use Healer's Covenant on the tank when he/she is taking a serious beating or on the dps that pulled the aggro. The Touch the Light macro also works well to save a party member from the brink of death. Also keep Orbs of Stream up on the tank - its cooldown is 45 seconds.

If you need to proc Serendipity, casting Healing Flood usually works well and seems to grant me the proc every time. This is an useful trick to keep in mind.

For AoE heavy fights, you will want to spam Healing Flood as much as you need to proc Protect the Flock and Serendipity. Healing Flood will also help to soften some of the AoE damage. You have three AoE cooldowns you can use in conjunction with your Healing Communion + Serendipity spam. These cooldowns are situational and can save you from a bad situation but your bread and butter is going to be the Healing Communion spam for AoE damage.

The first cooldown is Healing Showers. Its on a 2 minute cooldown timer and its nice to pop it to slow down some of the incoming AoE damage while you spam Healing Communion.

The second one is Divine Call, a instant cast group heal with a cooldown of 60 seconds. The usefulness of this spell cannot be overstated. Not only will it save your group members that are brink of death, you can use also it on non AoE fights when the tank lose aggro and the mobs are coming after you. This will buy you some time while you pop a Healer's Covenant on yourself or the Touch the Light Macro.

The third one is going to be Ripple. This one has 45 second cooldown and does not trigger a GCD. The best way to make Ripple effective since it lasts only 6 seconds is to hit it and then follow it right after with 4x Soothing Steam and Healing Spray. You can replace one of the Soothing Stream with Healing Spray if you like.
The trick with healing with this build, especially with regards to AoE damage, is to be proactive rather than reactive. This means knowing when big AoE damage is going to hit and time your cooldowns/serendipity with it. In between the AoEs is where you try to proc Serendipity.

This build also have some of the best utility all around. You have the goodies form Sentinel and Warden trees. From the sentinel tree you gain a battle rez and AoE cleanse. From the warden tree you gain a 15% mana return on a 2 minute cooldown and a Cleanse over time. AoE cleanse is super useful in the new Ember Isle dungeons as quite a few fights will have mechanics that put dots on multiple party members that needs to be cleansed ASAP. Cleanse over time can come in handy in certain fights, such as the one werewolf fight in xDD where you can put a cleanse over time on the tank and not worried about him getting feared.

The only weakness with this build is that if your tank is taking very heavy damage, then maybe a sent/purifier might be a better build. However, I have rarely encountered anything in the 5 mans that is stressing the tanks (maybe Plutonius in xDSM) so this has not being an issue. Another possible shortcoming is that this build is not too mana friendly if you have to constantly spam your Healing Communion. However, these days, between my 15% mana return from warden and my mana pots, I rarely run out of mana even on AoE heavy fights.

This build also works decently as a healer in PvP settings. Under those situations, timing serendipity with your big heals is even more important as you may not have the extra seconds to get your big heals off otherwise.