If you are wishing to become a healing Runepriest, there are only two lines to look at, Grimnir for AOE heals, and Grungni for our single target heals. Rune of Regeneration isn't related to any of our paths and it isn't worth speccing in Valaya to improve Rune of Mending and Rune of Shielding.
My recommended healing spec.
Alternative spec taking Grungni Morale 4 for rushes. Third spec taking Grimnir Morale 4 and forgoing Rune of Binding. Ancestor's Echo is optional as well as speccing Master Rune of Adamant or Fury (or Both).
Here is a rundown of the different lines, ordered in priority for a healing runepriest. Tactics are indicated by italics. Purple indicates abilities for my ideal spec. Sadly only 3 and none of them are absolute must haves by any means.
Grungni - Increases the power of your single target heals, Grungni's Gift, Rune of Restoration, Protection of the Ancestors and your single target DPS.
- Master Rune of Fury - Cast a rune on the ground which gives 20% chance to restore 50AP to a group member whenever they active an ability. Lasts 30s.
- This my preferred master rune, feeding back AP to all in the group including yourself. Make sure you are using keybinds to cast master runes.
- Rune of Binding - Instacast 9s Stagger, dealing 331 elemental damage.
- This is our only CC ability apart from Rune of Sundering. A good 9s stagger helps to defend yourself and allows you some offensive capability knocking out enemy healers etc.
- Runic Blasting - Increase crit chance of Grungni's Gift, Rune of Fire and Rune of Striking by 15%.
- This tactic can be useful for lower ranked and poorly geared Runepriests. It gives a much higher chance to proc Blessing of Grungni and Restorative Burst.
- Ancestor's Blessing - 25% chance on direct heal to restore 50AP. Does not work on yourself.
- I haven't used this tactic myself but it could be useful if you regularly run with a group that has high AP usage classes.
- Rune of Fortune - Deals 367 damage, 2s cast, 30 AP and heals defensive target for 150% of the damage dealt.
- This is almost a replacement for Rune of Striking, adds some utility if you decide to go offensive.
- The healing component is not reduced by Divine Fury.
- Rune of Nullification - Critical attacks place a 50% heal debuff on enemy players for 5 seconds.
- If you are going to make an offensive DPS Runepriest you should probably have this tactic.
- Beware it doesn't proc off most DOT abilities. It does proc from Rune of Burning, Rune of Battle and the initial Rune of Cleaving hit.
- Rune of Ending - Morale 4 Ability. Deals 1144 damage to all enemies within 30 feet and heals all group members within 100 feet for the damage dealt.
- Whilst this is a reasonable morale 4 ability, and would definitly replace the default ability, you will have to drop points in the other line to reach it. I don't think it brings enough to the table to warrant the points.
- Ancestor's Echo - Direct heals have a 25% chance to create a shield on your target that can absorb up to 647 damage.
- A good ability that is also triggered by Blessing of Valaya our group heal. It's possibly not any stronger than some of our default tactics but may well compete for your 4th tactic slot. You can see my numerical analysis of this versus Discipline here.
- Master Rune of Adamant - Cast a rune on the ground that heals all group members within 100 feet 139hp every 3s for 30s.
- A lot of healers choose to take this spell over Master Rune of Fury.It gives a small amount of health to each member (about a third of the health per second of Rune of Regeneration). Personally I don't feel like it is enough to overcome the AP regen of Master Rune of Fire, but it is a nice, although probably not battle breaking, addition to your healing. With the Sovereign set bonus of 10% chance to regain 50AP on heals it does look a little more attractive. Make sure you are using keybinds to cast master runes. What tactics does this proc on initial cast? If anyone knows please tell me!
- Rune of Skewering - Morale 4 Ability. Deals 2400 damage to all targets 40 feet in front of you.
- This would be my choice of Morale 4, giving you the opportunity to add that burst damage on a morale charge. Unfortunatly to reach it you have to lose Rune of Binding in the Grungni line. Again I use Rune of Binding far too much to spec for this morale.
- Rune of Battle - Buff you or a friendly player to deal 358 damage to all enemies in 30 feet every 3 seconds. Lasts 15 seconds. 2 minute cooldown.
- Casting this ability in a tight packed AOE situation as currently found in city sieges or keep defences can net you a fair amount of damage. Unfortunatly you need other AOE to capitalise on it to get the kills. Adds a bit of spice and fun to play with, I recommend every runepriest has a play with this ability once in their career.
- Grimnir's Fury - Resurrect all group members within 30 feet to 50% health and does not cause resurrection sickness. 5s cast, 3minute cooldown.
- This ability sounds good in theory, but the chances of two or more people dieing within 30 feet is often quite low. Range isn't good enough to warrant getting this ability as it will be used rarely if ever.
- Concussive Runes - Each attack in the Grimnir line has a 25% chance to detaunt the target reducing their damage towards you by 50% damage for 15s
- This tactic needs to be reslotted each time you zone to work correctly. It procs off all our AOE damage abilities but the chance is unreliable. It use to proc 100% but this is no longer the case. It also breaks if you attack the target again.
- Extended Battle - Increases area of effect of Rune of Battle and Rune of cleaving by 50%.
- This is a good ability if you are going to spec offensively in the AOE line. One wonders if it stacks with the invader set bonus increasing range by 10 feet.
- Master Rune of Speed - Cast a rune on the ground that reduces all build up times by 0.25s for all group members in 100 feet. Lasts 30s.
- This ability does help to improve HPS throughput with Blessing of Valaya and does benefit other group members. Unfortunatly it doesn't do anything for instacast abilities, which is most attacks for melee classes.
- Valaya's Shield - Morale 4 Ability. Heals all groupmates within 100 feet for 1596HP over 15s and gives 375AP over 15s.
- Not a terrible ability but doesn't sound battle breaking, most people will never spec that far into Valaya unless going DPS anyway.
- Immolating Grasp - Each tick of Rune of Immolation has a 25% chance to drain 30AP from your target and snare them by 40% for 5s.
- This is a decent tactic if you are going to spec for DPS in the Valaya tree. Helps with AP regen as hopefully you will be casting this on a number of targets at once. The snare can be nice at times too.
- Efficient Runecarving - Each tick of Rune of Mending has a 20% chance to make the next Rune of Immolation free. Each tick of Rune of Immolation has a 20% chance to make Rune of Mending instant.
- An interesting tactic but unfortunatly completely overshadowed by the strength of Grungni's Gift. Rune of Mending is already a quick cast, could have worked if it was for Blessing of Valaya or Rune of Restoration. Free Rune of Immolation is a good idea but it's not that powerful, doesn't use that much AP and Rune of Mending is a terrible spell to cast!
- Rune of Fate - Deals 1029 damage over 24s and heals your defensive target for 150% of the damage dealt.
- An interesting spell, the damage over time is weak considering it lasts for 24s. The healing is a nice little bonus and all adds up to the DPS on your target.
- Rune of Burning - Deals 864 damage over 6s. 10AP/s. *May be incorrect as of 1.3.5
- You probably want this ability if you are heading down the DPS route.
- Earth's Shielding - Each attack against Rune of Shielding will randomly debuff one of the attackers stats for 10s.
- A terribly weak ability considering that Rune of Shielding will probably only last for one attack and then has a 20s cooldown to recast. Complete waste of a tactic slot.
