Sovereign Changes - Healers 1.3.6

18/7/10 - Updated with current changes.

Stick up a big post, and another important piece of news will follow soon after, it's always the way!

Without further ado, the proposed set, annotated with the changes from current and tyrant (without glyphs).

(Primary) Healing Set

Wil - 232             (+25, +96)

Tou - 134            (+56, +74)

Wou - 116          (+20, +61)

Ini - 106              (+98, +96)

Spi - 294             (0, +235)

Cor - 289            (0, +68)

Ele - 289             (0, +242)

6% heal crit chance      (+2, +3)

40 heal power                (+17, +40)

4 AP/s                            (+1, +4)

4% reduced chance to be crit    (0, +1)

2% reduced armor penetration  (0, +2)

Hit points/4s - 0                (0, -12)
Magic Power - 0               (0, -27)
Morale per Sec - 0            (-3, 0)
Reduced change to be disrupted 0 (-2, 0)
Int - 0                                           (-157, -80)

3 piece - 85 Wil             (0, +9)

4 piece - 85 Wou           (+85, +9)

5 piece - 5% Heal Crit   (0, 0)

6 piece - On Heal: 10% chance to increase heal power by 130 for 10s.

7 piece - On Heal: 10% chance to gain 60 Action Points over 3 seconds.

8 piece - 2m cooldown - For the next 10 seconds, your group can not be critically hit.

Source.
Image courtsey of Gaarawaar Gabs.

Compared to old Sovereign we lose 29 Toughness overall, 3 morale per second but gain in most stats, especially initiative and wounds. Lose Martyr (10% chance on hit to heal group for 192/9s  affected by willpower so heals for more),  Vivacious (10% on heal to regain 50AP), and Empowered Runes (+25% Heal Crit for 10s, 2min cooldown).

Lowering Int will mean that Stagger/Silence etc will be even harder to stick on enemies. 

The big hit for some will be the loss of Vivacious, some Sovereign Runepriests reported that they were able to play without slotting in Restorative Burst freeing up a tactic slot. With Restorative Burst it allows for some great sustained casting. There are already some, on the forums, calling for Vivacious to be returned to the 7 piece bonus slot .

The other set bonuses seem like nice passive abilities, +130 heal power for 10s, and -10% chance for target to be crit for 10s should all help out.

The change from Empowered Runes, +25% Heal Crit ability to +75% Crit Heal Amount is hard to compare. We lose the additional Blessing of Grungni and Restorative Bursts from the proc. However I think the increased crit heal amount, on average, increase our healing more than +Heal Crit. Unfortunatly with only a 10s duration (or 8.5s if it's on GCD) you might be unlucky and not crit at all during that period. I will try and do some numerical analysis and post it up later. Also I hope it doesn't cause a global cooldown, 10s abilities seem so short when you have to wait to cast that first spell.

Group uncrittable for 10s is a very nice little ability, and also good to save yourself from Witch Elves and Sorcs! Whilst the 60AP over 3s isn't as good as an instant 50AP regen, most Runepriests shouldn't have many AP issues at all wearing this set.

Compared to Tyrant, large stat increases, but lose additional 50 AP pool and Heirophants Grace. There are however hints that Hierophants Grace might be nerfed, "I mentioned in the Tank Archetype thread that we're looking at the "Undefendable" effects for 1.3.6 - likewise, we're looking at Heirophant's Grace as well." NateL

 And for those that are interested, the DPS spec!

(Secondary) Offensive Set

Int - 232

Tou - 134

Wou - 116

Ini - 106

Spi - 294

Cor - 289

Ele - 289

6% magic crit chance

40 magic power

4 AP/s

4% disrupt strikethrough

2% reduced armor penetration

3 piece - 85 Int

4 piece - 85 Wou

5 piece - 5% Magic Crit

6 piece - On Hit: 10% chance to increase magic power by 130 for 10s.

7 piece - On Hit: 10% chance to increase target's chance to be critically hit by 10% for 10s.

8 piece - 2m cooldown - Your group's abilities cost no Action Points for 10 seconds.