This article comes from Mr. T the tank, who, ironically is making a Veteran Dragonstar Arena (VDSA) healing build for the Dragonknight class.  After playing with him and clearing Vet DSA, I can tell you it works very well.  So let’s show off his build below.

UPDATED PAGE HERE

Rebirth of the Infernal Warden:Dragon Knight Healing in VDSA

Introduction:The goal of this build is to allow a DK to perform as well as a Templar does in VDSA. For completing end game content like VDSA, a healer has to not only heal but also needs to be applying buffs/debuffs and some damage (DPS) to augment the group. This build is very hard to master as it requires constant bar swapping between Restoration and Destruction Staffs, but with practice it becomes second nature. While I focus on VDSA, this build can be used in all PvE content including AA, Hel Ra and even Sanctum.

 

Main Gear Set

Torug’s Pact x3 (1 Nirn Heavy armor, 1  Nirn Medium armor and Nirn Destro and Resto Staffs)

Martial Knowledge x4

Healer x4 (Jewelry with two spell damage and one cost reduction)

 

Alternative Gear Sets:

 

Used When Using Elemental Ring or Chains (Medium Weave the Attack)

Torug’s Pact x3 (1 Nirn Heavy armor, 1  Nirn Medium armor and Nirn Destro and Resto Staffs)

Infallible Aether x3  (Good for the five percent spell and armor reduction by medium weaving your spells on mobs)

Healer x5 (Jewelry with two spell damage and one cost reduction)

 

DPS Preferred (Healthy Rings used when Emperor Buff from Cyrodiil is not Available)

Torug’s Pact x3 (1 Nirn Heavy armor, 1  Nirn Medium armor and Nirn Destro and Resto Staffs)

Infallible Aether x5  (Five percent Armor and Spell Resist Debuff and a big increase to your heavy attacks used in your medium weave)

Healing Mage Jewelry x3  (Jewelry with two spell damage and one cost reduction- Energy Orb/Healing Springs reduces weapon damage on Melee Enemies and Bosses.)

 

Mundus:

 

Mage: (Preferred)

Increases Max Magicka which in turn increases your spell power and heals. This amount is further increased through passives and mages guild abilities. Atronach is often chosen by Templar healers for the mana regen but with DK’s having the passive battle roar (restores resources when using an ultimate), mana regen is often not needed. Weaving heavy attacks in is also a way to recoup mana in down times along with energy orbs as you dont have to be  in combat for the mana regen affect.

 

Attribute Points:

As far as attribute points goes, it doesn’t matter where you slot the points. Just be sure that your health is  between 17K to 20K with food. Any more than this is overkill for a healer and any less is near suicide. I personally get by with all armor pieces and attributes in mana and run about 18 K Health with the Emperor buff on my heal bar. (Health is increased on my DPS bar with structured entropy.) This allows my Dummer to have between 37K and 38K mana and 2470 Spell Damage buffed with my main armor set. Allowing me to use minimal heals for even the most high damage situations.

 

Champion System:

Mage: Focus at least thirty points into the the apprentice tree for the passive spell precision (Increases Spell Critical by 12 Percent) . I prefer putting points into Elemental Expert and Elfborn for DPS. Put at least one point in blessed and spell erosion. You do not have to put a lot of points into blessed though because with such high magicka, spell power and buffs your heals will be more than enough and it doesn’t do anything to increase your dps.  I also put a large amount of points into Staff expert to gain an additional ten percent damage bonus to light and heavy attacks. This makes medium weaving your abilities very worthwhile.

 

Thief: Focus points into Magician (Tower) which lowers the cost of spells, then arcanist (Lover) as it increases mana regeneration,and tenacity (Lover) for it improves the amount of mana that heavy attacks restore. Thirty points in the Lover tree also provides the passive bonus synergizer that gives 2 ultimate per synergy used. Since I have close to 250 champion points I also sprinkle 1 point into anything that might be useful for general use as well like nimble or tumbling.

 

Warrior:  The number one skill you want to focus on is bastion (Lord) which increases the strength of your damage shields which makes healing ward a very powerful skill. The lord also has two really cool passives that work well together. Field Physician which reduces damage while resurrecting another player and Infusion which increases mana regeneration of players resurrected by you for 8 seconds by X amount. This build will increase a resurrected player’s mana by 745 regen which is an awesome amount for any magicka based player. For vampires, also put points into elemental defender (Lady) for added protection against fire and to get the Spell Absorption passive that grants a good amount of magicka back every ten seconds when taking damage equal to thirty percent of your health. (This will happen a lot). As in the thief tree there are a lot of useful skills to gain by putting at least one point into it.

 

To Vampire or Not?

A lot of players are very hesitant to be a vampire in such a fire heavy game. For this build to be most optimal, the ten percent mana and stamina regen and the damage mitigation that vampire receive at fifty percent is enough for me to choose vampire. A lot of AoE such as flame trail already one shots dps and healers so unless you are going to run 24K health, bite the bullet and join the darkside. Besides with three piece nirn, running a heavy and medium armor piece your spell resist will be close to 20K which is further supplemented by points in elemental defender. The Dummer passive helps as well. (If applicable).

 

Abilities:

 

Bar 1:

Igneous Shield– Provides a group damage shield but more useful is  the buff major mending which increases all healing performed by thirty percent when this ability is used

Healing Springs- A general heal that will tick for 4k with your buffs up. Good for preventive healing since other classes dont have an ability like extended ritual.

Healing Ward- The DK Breath of Life. When Combined with your buffs and champion points, this provides a generous heal and a large damage shield. Used for protection until you can provide more direct healing.

Quick Siphon– Your main heal for VDSA. Hit as many mobs in the arena with this and your other party members can heal themselves by just dpsing. This is constantly buffed when Major Mending and Sorcery are up and allows you to be more focused on DPS. Tanks can also slot caltrops or another aoe ability to receive the same type of healing benefit.

Inner Light– Provides additional crit but more so used for the seven percent max magicka ( five percent for the morph and two percent for the mage’s guild passive) and two percent mana regen.

 

Ultimate: Shooting Star: Can be used for DPS but mainly just slotted for the two percent max magicka and regen.

 

 

Bar 2:

Structured Entropy– Slotted for additional health and providing major sorcery but also balances your bars since this is also a mage’s guild ability.

Pulsar– Debuffs mobs with minor mangle which decreases their health by ten percent and also provides very good aoe dps for a healer. Make sure you start aoeing mobs as soon as portals spawn as you can dps and even kill them before they fully spawn.

Energy Orb– A great ability that can be used for healing the group when clustered or for providing mana over time when the synergy is used. This is an awesome ability that is very underrated. I heal 90 percent of VDSA with this and quick siphon.

Crushing Shock– High DPS Skill that is weaved to provide great single target and can also interrupt.

Inner Light– Provides additional crit but more so used for the seven percent max magicka ( five percent for the morph and two percent for the mage’s guild passive) and two percent mana regen.

 

Ultimate:

Standard of Might– Used when running with advanced players that do not require as much healing. Good for clearing trash.

Aggressive War Horn– Slotted and used during boss rounds for fast executes. If the tank can use this then I usually dont slot it.

Reviving Barrier- Provides a five to ten percent mana regen for having it slotted depending on your pvp rank. This is a huge damage shield and heal over time (30K Damage Shield and 30K Heal over time with my martial knowledge set). Used for beginning groups that may take more damage than seasoned vdsa players.

 

Comments: In general the abilities on the resto bar do not change but for certain fights I do change out the second bar. If the other party members are not hitting the synergy for energy orb I will switch it out for elemental drain if I notice the group is having magicka issues. I will also slot chains if the tank is a non dk and be responsible for that. Changing out healing springs for combat prayer is another possibility but it is much more difficult to use for preventive healing. The flip side is it provides dps with minor berserk which increases their damage.

 

General Strategy:

Video Link

Buffs: Your goal is to keep three buffs active as best as possible: Major Sorcery (Structured Entropy), Major Mending (Igneous Shield) , and Minor Mangle (Pulsar). Major Sorcery Increases your magicka damage and healing through a twenty percent increase to spell damage. Major Mending Increases Healing and Minor Mangle does a health debuff on all mobs within pulsar’s range.

 

Healing: Your main heal is quick siphon, your emergency heal is healing ward and healing springs is a protective heal in the case of heavy enemy aoe or a way to prevent unknown incoming damage. For the most part though you want to be on your destro bar as much as possible which is why energy orb is so important to the build. It allows you to launch several aoe healing orbs which provide a great deal of healing and an emergency heal if needed by hitting the orb synergy along with magicka overtime increased by the amount of allies that were being healed. Quick siphon is another heal that needs to be spoken on. A lot of players often choose siphon spirit for the mana return but for a non templar, quick siphon is a much better choice for the instant cast. The reason for this is it can be put on multiple enemies and  a player can be healed from every mob that is affected by quick siphon by just aoeing. Essentially they heal themselves by just attacking the enemies. The more enemies attacked, the greater the amount of healing that they receive.

 

DPS: Use pulsar for aoeing alongside the other dps and a medium weave with crush shock on bosses or other pesky mobs. Also remember crushing shocking is a ranged interrupt so prevent as much enemy abilities as possible: Example Hedge Wizard AOE, Crystal Shards, Fighter’s Guild Circle of Protection.

 

Round Ten Tanking Bars and Strategy:

 

100% Burn:

Resto: Igneous Shield- Healing Springs- Quick Siphon- Combat Prayer- Inner Light

Sword and Board: Pierce Armor- Absorb Magic Or Viotle Armor- Molten Whip- Energy Orb (Or Engulfing Flame if a DPS can slot elemental drain)- Inner Light

 

Tank taunts all adds and takes them away from the group to the opposite side of the entrance of the arena after the the boss is pushed to 75 percent. DK Healer taunts the boss and tanks at entrance. Use a combination of lava whip and other skills to assist the dps to defeating the boss. Use tripots and the battle roar passive to keep your stamina up. After the fifty percent suck in, tank comes back and take second set of adds. Once the tank is away, push boss to 25 percent suck in and defeat the boss. Ensure you keep quick siphon on the boss for heals and combat prayer on the dps for additional damage.

Video Link

50 % Burn:

Resto:  Igneous Shield- Healing Springs- Quick Siphon- Combat Prayer- Inner Light

Destro: Engulfing Flame- Structured Entropy- Elemental Drain- Crushing Shock- Inner Light

Group is centered north with tank. Tank takes fire at the entrance. At 75 percent, tank taunts the two adds and boss. Use a medium weave crushing shock spam and Engulfing Flame on the fighter’s guild champion so that his healing circles are interrupted (Tank can also bash at this time). Ensure all three adds are kept  within standard of might range so that you can assist the DPS in killing the mage. DPS switches fire to melee add then boss. (AOEing both the boss and melee at this time is preferable to ensure he is pushed to fifty percent). Make sure summoners are killed at this time as well. All party members are sucked in, heal using quick siphon igneous shield and a combat prayer. Tank taunts the two adds that spawn and continues to tank the boss. Everyone focus fires the boss through the suck in (use same healing method) and ignore adds. (Adds will despawn when the boss if killed.)

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Conclusion: While this build focuses on DK Healing with major mending and battle roar, this can easily be translated to a sorc or nightblade as well. I highly encourage other classes to heal the end game content like VDSA and trials for not only the challenge but also to show that you don’t have to be a Templar to be a damn good healer. If anyone has any questions I will be more than willing to answer them by sending an in game mail to @talosseptim (NA Server) or comment below.