Life Staff AoE Healing PvP Build for New World

The Area of Effect (AoE) PvP healing build is a more simplistic Life Staff set up that solely focuses on pumping as much healing out as possible. It is a solo focused gameplay style that acts like a glass healing cannon. You should be opting for lower amounts of Constitution and trading it for extremely high focus. This tradeoff allows for you to use all of your Life Staff abilities on cooldown to constantly maintain the health of an army, and then roll around using Refreshing Evasion to reset cooldowns while hiding and repositioning. You will most likely not be right up front in the action, but you will be carefully placed around the outskirts of the primary fights to place healing on important control points so that fights can be turned in your favor. This build excels at healing output but lacks defensiveness. Its ease and lack of complexity make it a very beginner friendly build. While it is needed in War scenarios, there is only room for a few of this role in an army and it is overshadowed by targeted group healers in the PvP META.

This build relies on healing over time abilities to heal large groups. It is best paired with Refreshing Evasion due to high cooldown abilities. It is best for AoE war healing (PvP) or large group open world content.

• Sacred Ground — Can be freely placed on the ground to heal large "clumps" of players where the highest concentration of players are located. It is best to preemptively place it to counter enemy AoE damage and crowd control. It also amplifies the healing received of any player in the zone through Anointed.
• Orb of Protection — Projectile that is aimed at friendly players and provides a small burst of healing with long healing over time effects and a 10% fortify to reduce damage taken. Aim this on the most concentrated "clumps" of players to provide a long-duration heal over time to large groups. The more players with the heal will increase the amount of times you will receive Mending Protection.
• Beacon — Projectile that is aimed and will stick to the first player or surface it touches. This can be used on the ground when large damage is occurring, but it is best placed on front-line melee players so that the healing area continues to move to the action.

In almost all cases with this build you will be taking the Rapier for mobility and survivability. But if you are looking for an alternative that also increases healing output you can use the Void Gauntlet.

Rapier is the premier PvP secondary as it offers defensiveness and mobility with all of its abilities to help escape enemies and reposition. Riposte will stun targets and completely block and incoming attack. Evade allows for dodging abilities, a quick invulnerability frame, and a way to get haste and stamina back. Fleche dashes a far distance to escape and quickly reposition.

While this is the preferred AoE healing option, do not underestimate your need for defensiveness while playing with very low Constitution. Often times it is better to play with 50-100 Constitution and use a rapier so that you can have an escape. Void Gauntlet can be dangerous if you are dove on and locked down while playing with little health. If using a Void Gauntlet prioritize positioning and timing your healing abilities to stay out of combat.

Void Gauntlet offers healing over time and burst healing through Orb of Decay. It allows you to root enemies in place with Petrifying Scream for defensive utility and to set up kills for teammates. You can also use Oblivion to increase damage output, stamina and mana regeneration, and remove enemy buffs.

100 Constitution will be your baseline for having optimal healing output. With that being said, if you are not comfortable playing this low then you can play 150 Constitution. As you gain a grasp of the intricacies of the build it is possible to play as low as 50 Constitution to have incredibly high healing output. Nonetheless, 100-150 Constitution. It gives you enough defensiveness while still maintaining great healing. The additional points from higher gearscore sets can go into Focus for increased healing, or Constitution for more survivability.

Slot	Perks	Gem	Weight	Attribute	Source
Life Staff	Blessed Mending Protection Refreshing Move	Cut Pristine Diamond	-	Focus	Crafted/BoE
Rapier	Refreshing Fleche Keen Speed Keen	Cut Pristine Amber	-	Focus	Crafted/BoE
Helmet	Fortifying Sacred Ground** Resilient Freedom	Cut Pristine Opal	Light	Focus	Crafted/BoE
Gloves	Resilient Freedom Refreshing Evasion	Cut Pristine Opal	Light	Focus	Crafted/BoE
Chest	Resilient Freedom Refreshing Evasion	Cut Pristine Opal	Medium	Focus	Crafted/BoE
Pants	Resilient Shirking Energy Refreshing Evasion	Cut Pristine Opal	Light	Focus	Crafted/BoE
Boots	Resilient Freedom Refreshing Evasion	Cut Pristine Onyx	Light	Focus	Crafted/BoE
Amulet	Health Stamina Recovery Thrust Protection	Cut Pristine Onyx	-	Focus	Crafted/BoE
Ring	Sacred Hearty Refreshing Evasion	Cut Pristine Onyx	-	Focus	Crafted/BoE
Earring	Refreshing Toast Healthy Toast Refreshing Evasion	Cut Pristine Onyx	-	Focus	Crafted/BoE

*: Cut Pristine Diamond will give maximum healing potential. But you can make this a Runeglass diamond to spread dot damage in order to get Heartrunes recharged faster.

**: Ability perks can go anywhere that you are able to fit them. These slots are just a suggestion. It is important to try and get Mending Protection on your Life Staff for the most healing output.

***: Keen Beacon can be a useful perk to fit into your build if possible. It does give your allies offensive output. Often times more defensive and utility perk options are prioritized for survivability due to a more consistent provision of perk bonuses. If you happen to miss your beacon then you will be giving no buffs and the perk is useless. This cooldown is long, so it is a significant healing loss if you miss.

Overall with gearing, this is the ideal loadout of perks for a best in slot healing build. With that being said, be sure to refer to the Life Staff Perks guide to have a better understanding of other flexible perk options to fit into your build. You can decide what you are most comfortable with. Perhaps you feel that you need do not need cooldown reduction, drop some Refreshing Evasion and take something like Shirking Fortification.

When running Freedom you should run 5 stacks for the most optimal CC reductions. If you choose to use less, it is more beneficial to play at 3 stacks and use other perks.

In PvP combat it is best to run 5 stacks of Resilient for maximum damage reduction, but you can definitely get away with 4 stacks.

Refreshing is valuable, but do not over value it on a gear piece. Remember, you can fit it in on jewelry too. You should always have 5 stacks.

For more specific information on optimizing your gems and consumables, please refer to our dedicated Life Staff Gems and Consumables guide.

Minor Heartrune of Stoneform is the most defensive and useful option a healer has. It allows you to freely break out of crowd control effects, become immune to stagger, and obtain defensive buffs.

Stalwart Heartrune of Stoneform is the best pick as it not only gives a 10% Fortify, but a healing over time effect as well. This is our best option after the changes to Fortify in Season One.

Your Heartrune will be used similarly in PvP and PvE scenarios. As such, please refer to the Heartrune section of our Life Staff guide for tips on how it can be used most effectively.

The theoretical healing rotation for this build is as follows:

• (If Chosen) Stack Intensify 1-3 stacks depending on combat
• Dodge to receive Bend Light
• Cast Orb of Protection to obtain the Mending Protection buff, fortify, and apply healing over time.
• Cast Sacred Ground to increase the target's healing received through Anointed.
• Cast Beacon to provide additional AoE healing coverage.
• Light attack as a filler ability when cooldowns are not up, or not needed, this provides healing through Blissful Touch.
• Repeat

When using the Life Staff in PvP and PvE there are many similar nuances to a healer's mechanics and gameplay decisions. To learn more about how you can improve your gameplay, use certain secondary weapons, or additional information on specific abilities, please refer to the gameplay section of the Life Staff guide.

For more information on the most frequently asked Life Staff questions please refer to the FAQ section of the Life Staff guide for answers on PvP and PvE topics!