Basic character info

Terms Used
Power: Blue bar under your health bar.
Ability: skills placed in the load-out tray that use power.
Healing: The act of refilling health OR power.
“Heal” or “Healer”: The role (or act) of specifically filling the health bar.



Lesson Plan:
Lesson 1 - Stats and You
Lesson 2 - Power Regeneration
Lesson 3 - Your Guide to Weapons (unfinished)
Lesson 4 - Abilities, The Unabridged Version (unfinished)
Group Studies; Sorcery (unfinished)
Group Studies; Nature (unfinished)



Basic Mechanics of Healing
Whowa?

Some importiant tips are as followed (let us pray two of the three are bugs)

1. If a player is rolling to dodge while you throw a heal it will not hit. Hopefully... fixed!
2. If the player is too far away from you the heal will not hit.
3. If there are objects between you and the player this includes enemies the heal will not hit.
4. Lunge attacks will block a heal from hitting. (May be fixed with the rolling issue.)
5. Certian weapons (or their combos) will prevent a heal from landing.

Lesson 1: Stats and You

Health - Health indicates how much damage you can take before you are knocked out. Fairly strait forward. This will regenerate fairly quickly OUT of combat, but requires an ability that heals HP to replenish IN combat.

Power - Power controls how often you can use your abilities (powers in the load-out tray). This regenerates very slowly in combat, kicking up when you use your weapon to attack the npc or pc. This increased power regen lasts for five seconds AFTER you stop attacking. (It is not dependant on the hit counter.)

Defense - Defense is used to reduce the damage dealt by NON players. The ration is 1% reduction = 71 def at level 30.

Might - Might effects the damage potential of any given ability. At level 30 you gain .35% damage per point.

Restoration - Restoration effects the base potential of health healing properties on abilities. For every 4 points of restoration you gain a 1% increase.

Vitalization - Vitalization effects the base potential of power healing properties on abilities. For every 10 points of vitalization you gain a 1% increase.

Precision - This is your base weapon damage, which in turn increases your combo damage. For every 10 points you gain 1 damage.

Toughness - Toughness reduces the damage you take from players. For every 71 points you reduce the damage by 1.

Dominance - This allows a target to sustain more damage before a controlled effect is removed. (Snares, polymorphs, stuns, etc). This ratio is 2 points = 1 damage.


For ‘healers’ the most important stat is restoration. Your purpose on a team or raid is to keep people alive and this is done most effectively by being able to heal more efficiently for the power spent. Power comes second, or third depending on your personal tastes. Health and defense play a higher role of importance to healers who choose to use melee weapons than those who use ranged. Due to being ‘in the thick’ of fighting and more likely to catch a power attack or area affected attack.

Vitalization is 100% completely worthless for ‘healers’ and a waste of time. Passive power regeneration is only (at this time) affected by your hit counter which is located at the lower right of your screen when you begin to attack. Vitalization does not increase the amount of power you get on weapon hits, nor combos. Vitalization only effects the power replenishing properties of certain controller skills. In other words, Restoration is to Healers as Vitalization is to Controllers.

Dominance would be last on the list of stats to pick up. We have very few abilities which have an effect, such as stun, that we use for anything other than it’s healing effect very often. (But it is fun watch them walk around as a puppy…)

In addition to the visible stats, we have two more to worry about that are not recorded visibly anywhere in-game. “Critical healing Magnitude.” “Critical healing chance.” We can argue all day without getting very far on the topic of which is better to have. Let us assume our heals are, on average, around 500 points. If we focus on healing chance, we may heal 1 out of 5 times at 750 points. If we were to focus on healing Magnitude we may heal 1 out of 10 times at 950. In this department, it is very preferential with how you stack your bonuses.

Lesson 2: Power Regeneration

We have four ways to regain power:
a) Building up the hit counter between heals
b) Teaming/Raiding with a battery.. Er Controller
c) Getting knocked out
d) Stock up on Sodas and drink one any time it is off cool down

The surest way to replenish your power is by throwing a weapon hit on an npc to trigger the boosted regeneration. Each time the hit counter changes colour, the power regeneration amount increases. The base 'weapon triggered' regeneration is 10 power per second. The major downside to this regeneration method is that during fights with a large amount of crowd control effects it seems a fruitless endeavourer to keep/regain power. (Breaking out of these effects uses a nice portion of our power, snarf.) However it is not on a timer of any sorts, nor in someone else’s hands all together. You can control when this form of regeneration is in effect.

Now, while being in the hands of a third party, the abilities Controllers possess to replenish the power bar is the second surest way to regenerate your power. Each tree has several abilities which give power back to team/raid members, and a good Controller uses these abilities for as long as their own power holds out. But even with the help of a Controller we will find our selves in dry spells during dire situations.

Getting knocked out is not an ideal form of power regeneration, but you do come back with full power. So it is a notable, just not ideal, form of power regen.

Stocking upon Sodas is an ineffective, expensive, and irresponsible way to manage your power. Sodas are great to use, especially when you need mana to pull off a heal -now-, but should not be your answer to power regeneration. Why is this below getting knocked out? Personal reason, spending 5,400 per alert on top of repairs is worse than just paying a repair bill.

Lesson 3 Your guides to weapons.

Draft Version
By Doctor Comics

My thanks to LoTekGhost, Oats, fenrirw0lf, ryuuis, puppetsoul and to the SOE folks who made us a new forum for things like this.


One of the most common questions I see on chat channels and in the forums both here and at SOE is this: "Is (weapon A) good with (power B)?" This guide is designed to answer that question.

Each of the ten Fighting Styles offer bonuses to your character's Stats as well as bonuses to things like Critical Hit Chance or Critical Healing Effect. Certain stats are important to specific roles. So certain Fighting Styles offer bonuses to the stats which Healers, Tanks, Controllers or DPS characters are going to want. This guide lists all those bonuses and tries to provide a few different ways of seeing that information and using it to make wise Fighting Style choices.

It is important to remember that, in theory, you can eventually acquire a great many Fighting Styles. Skill points are automatically acquired every other level, but in addition you receive 1 skill point for every 100 Feat Points you earn. A wise player, or one who wants to make his character as strong as possible, earns Feats to collect Skill Points to buy all the bonuses which strengthen his role. For a complete listing of the Feats you have and don't have, pull up the "Trophy" menu and "Feats" is the first item on the list.

Although developers have stated that the ability to switch weapons "on the fly" is a design goal for DCUO, it is not yet possible. If you have multiple Fighting Styles, you can switch between them by pulling up your inventory (I) and equipping a weapon for the new Style. Most people are not going to want to hassle with this, but it is perfectly viable to have, say, a Melee-focused style which you use solo, and a Ranged-focused style for groups. You can switch between these when you join the group and switch back when the raid is over.

Stat bonuses from your Fighting Styles are passive. They add all the time, even if you do not have that weapon equipped. If you have a bonus to Might from both Martial Arts and One-Handed, you gain the benefits of both, regardless of the weapon you have equipped.

The Short Answer
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 Pistol, 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 Bonuses
I 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 Rating
Brawling: +18 Dominance; +3 Restoration; +70 Health; +1% Critical Attack Chance; +12% Critical Attack Damage; +3% Critical Healing Chance; +2% Critical Healing Effect
Dual Pistol: +70 Might; +45 Restoration; +15 Vitalization; +14% Critical Attack Damage; +1% Critical Healing Chance
Dual Wield: +18 Dominance; +60 Might; +48 Restoration; +4 Vitalization; +1% Critical Attack Chance; +14% Critical Attack Damage
Hand Blaster: +18 Dominance; +70 Health; +60 Might; +3 Restoration; +2% Critical Attack Damage; +1% Critical Healing Chance; +12% Critical Healing Effect
Martial Arts: +25 Health; +70 Might; +45 Restoration; +14% Critical Attack Damage; +2% Critical Healing Effect; +3 Stealth Rating
One-Handed: +45 Health; +70 Might; +3 Restoration; +15 Vitalization; +2% Critical Attack Chance; +14% Critical Healing Effect
Rifle: +70 Health; +10 Might; +19 Vitalization; +3% Critical Attack Chance; +3% Critical Healing Chance; +2% Critical Healing Effect
Staff: +30 Defense & Toughness; +18 Dominance; +25 Health; +10 Might; +4 Vitalization; +3% Critical Attack Chance; +14% Critical Healing Effect
Two-Handed: +70 Health; +15 Vitalization; +3% Critical Attack Chance; +2% Critical Attack Damage; +4% Critical Healing Chance; +2% Critical Healing Effect

Getting the Maximum Bonus
If 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 +60%): Dual Pistol, 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)


Lesson 4: Abilities, The Unabridged Version


Sorcery Auras

Bad Karma (BK)
Effect thrown onto enemies, when using certain skills, that causes the mob to either deal damage to their allies or heal their target with each attack. Indicated by a circling ribbon on the affected npcs.

Golden Soul Aura (GSA)
Increases the critical heal chance, applied when using *most* heals. Indicated by a golden ring rotating around the caster.

Red Soul Aura (RSA)
Various effects depending on the spell used. Applied when an npc dies near a soul well. Indicated by a red rotating ring around the caster.


Sorcery Abilities

Rejuvenation
250 power
Instantly heals the lowest member of the team or raid in addition to the healer. Grants Golden Soul Aura.

Invocation of Renewal
335 Power
6 second channel
Heals 7 members of your team or raid (including friendly npcs) in addition to the healer. Grants Golden Soul Aura

Condemn
235 Power
Stuns the target and inflicts Bad Karma

Shared Fate
220 Power
(Unsure how it works as a healer) In addition to its healing effects it also spreads Bad Karma among enemies.

Circle of Protection
350 Power
Place a circle upon that ground which heals your allies while standing in it. Enemies effected by Bad Karma will take damage and be slowed while standing in the circle. CoP ‘ticks’ every 0.75 seconds (estimation) for a mediocre duration (estimation needed). The heals are capable of criting.

Transmutation
300 Power


Boon of Souls
260 Power


Soul Well
250 Power
Similar to CoP, Soul well acts as a centered heal over time aura. It's duration is tripple that of CoP, and the healing ticks work a little differently. (As an example, it ticks every second for 10 points, when an enemy dies nearby it'll heal everyone for 100 points.) It's healing range is around double that of CoP. The Soul Well is capable of providing the healer “Red Soul Aura“. Keep in mind that Soul Well counts as an object that can be destroyed or block damange/healing LoS. It follows similar placing rules to CoP. Instead of landing at the target's feet it'll land between you and your target.

Summon: Watcher
335 Power


Nature Abilities

Metabolism
??? Power
Accelerates healing over time for yourself and your allies. This ability will tick five times at a rate of about 0.75 seconds. The pheromone only works in the healer mode. The ticks will be fore small amounts and is affected by your(?) critical rating.

Hive Mind
??? Power
Dramatically increases might, critical strike, and critical heal for yourself and group members. Critical healing bonus is estimated around 300% when applied. Affects all healing by any group member..

Regeneration
50% Supercharge
Regenerates health and power over time for you and your allies. The healing done is estimated to be 300-500 with 772 restoration.