Addon Spotlight: Raiding essentials for healers
by Mathew McCurley 
Oct 6th 2011 at 7:00PM
As we get Raid Finder clarifications and new details, the excitement ramps up for this brand new feature coming in patch 4.3. Raiders and non-raiders alike are clamoring for new ways to experience the high-end, endgame content. Since we also now know the role makeup for the Raid Finder, healers will be in demand as each Raid Finder group will be made up of six healers.
Healing is one of the most stressful jobs in World of Warcraft right now. The logistics for healing have changed dramatically since the Wrath of the Lich King days with a new emphasis on smart healing versus throughput. What that means is you have limited resources and need to make sure you're using them correctly. Healing is probably the most complicated role out there right now, if only because healers have a lot of responsibility. In the Raid Finder, encounter difficulties will be easier than we've seen before, but the fact is that players will still need their health bars above zero in order to beat a fight.
Healer addons can be a divisive topic, so I'm going to stick with the basics for healers in raids. Your own mileage may vary, and you're going to want to try out different setups in order to see what works for you. On the whole, people agree that having some addons to help with healing makes the job that much smoother.
More information on your raid frames
Healing is all about information. Who has how much life? What debuffs does the tank have? How many people have a debuff that needs to be dispelled? Who has cooldowns available, and should one be used? All these questions sort of become second nature after a while, but addons help relay that information to you.
Grid and Clique are two addons that go hand-in-hand together as an excellent healing system. Grid puts your raid into an easily managable interface, with smaller boxes representing raiders instead of the large party frames. Grid allows you to set what type of information is available in each corner of the box, as well as color code and use transparencies for a variety of conditions. Clique turns mouse clicks into spellcasts, allowing you to have the most needed of your spell arsenal at the ready with just a click. I recommend using Bati's healing layouts for Grid if you're just starting out, as they do a great job getting you acclimated to the role and the new addons.
Check out my Addon Spotlight on Grid and Clique.
There are healing-centric raid group addons that combine Grid- and Clique-like setups into one. Healbot and Vuhdo, the two most popular healing addons of this type, do a great job allowing you to set up what spells you want on click-cast as well as the information that appears in each box. Watch the comments for tips and tricks with these addons, as their fanbases are loyal and people swear by their effectiveness. I can't fault them -- these are amazing addons.
Download Vuhdo at [Curse].
Download Healbot at [Curse].
If you're a fan of the Blizzard raid profiles that are built in to the game (and, frankly, are a very competent setup when compared to addon alternatives), there are supplementary addons available to you in order to make that system work better for you. Adding information to the default raid profiles is easy, and I even wrote a whole Addon Spotlight about that very topic. Addons like Layover and Blizzard Raid Frame -- Indicators allow your Blizzard raid profiles to act more like Grid and deliver more personalized information in your group boxes.
Check out my Addon Spotlight on ways to add to the Blizzard raid profile.
Announce your raid and mana cooldowns
I recommended using Raeli's Spell Announcer for DPS and tanks because communication is the most important aspect of a good raid. You will not defeat bosses unless you have effective communication. RSA is an addon that adds a channel of communication imperitive to the Raid Finder, as not many people will be voice chatting together while participating in relatively complicated encounters. For healers, RSA can help announce healing and mana cooldowns to your raid, as well as whisper tank cooldowns to your main and off tanks so that they know when and how to plan their own cooldown usage. Communication between tanks and healers is extremely imporatant, so make it easier for everyone and grab RSA. You tanks will probably love you for it.
Also, one of the new meta design philosophies of Cataclysm raiding is that there will be times during an encounter when healers will have to coordinate and chain raid cooldowns to keep everyone alive during periods of heavy damage. You are going to want to know what's going on and who is using what, right? RSA helps. Alysrazor, Beth'tilac, and Rhyolith are the big offenders in Firelands, and you can be sure there will be more in Dragon Soul.
Check out my Addon Spotlight on Raeli's Spell Announcer.
Healing is a tunnel vision job. You get so focused on healing your tanks or raid that you might slip up looking at your feet. Wouldn't an audio cue be great for when you're standing in something bad? GTFO is a must-have addon for healers because you will get in to the zone and you will start forgetting where you are standing. It has happened to the best of us. Mitigate that scenario with GTFO and never forget again. There are tons of audio warnings and settings, so tinker around until you find the most annoying and destructive sound for you, and you'll always be watching where you stand from here on out.
Check out my Addon Spotlight on GTFO.
Sure, there are plenty more addons out there for healers that are useful or great, and you should recommend those in the comments below. However, to start the new enterprising, young healer on his or her brand new journey into raiding, these types of addons should make for a good first experience. Remember, as always, communication is the most important factor in raiding. If you don't communicate, you don't win. You want to win, don't you? Start talking!
That concludes our series on the brand new Raid Finder and getting people ready, addon-wise, for the newest way to raid coming in patch 4.3. I've got some ideas for new columns about the general basics for the Raid Finder and players new to the whole raiding scene, but I think I am going to save that for a time closer to the actual release of the patch. More relevant timing, you see. Smart. In the meantime, if you've got an addon that you'd like to see on Addon Spotlight or have an addon that you made yourself, send me an email at mat@wowinsider.com. I will be more than happy to take a look.
See you guys next week.
Addons are what we do on Addon Spotlight. If you're new to mods, Addons 101 will walk you through the basics; see what other players are doing at Reader UI of the Week. If there's a mod you think Addon Spotlight should take a look at, email mat@wowinsider.com.
Filed under: Add-Ons, AddOn Spotlight
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
TonyMcS Oct 6th 2011 7:09PM
Yes GTFO has saved my life many times. I would recommend everyone get it -especially DPS - it will make your healer happy ;-)
Britty Oct 7th 2011 6:43AM
I must ask, is it better than DBM?
I use DBM to mostly yell at me to get out of bad stuff, so I wasn't too sure how GTFO would be any different or perhaps more useful. Any input from people who perhaps have used both?
John Oct 7th 2011 8:56AM
DBM often tells you "bad stuff is coming" based on boss casting or a timer etc. without always telling you "you are standing in bad stuff right now" (sometimes DBM does, not always).
GTFO will not say "it's coming," but will always tell you "you are in bad stuff right now."
Tri Oct 7th 2011 9:00AM
I use GTFO and DBM together. GTFO only warns you if you stand in something dangerous. DBM has all the other warnings plus timers etc etc. They aren't really for the same thing, but together it's a powerful pair :)
EBGreen Oct 7th 2011 10:45AM
I will also add that GTFO has the advantage that it will warn you about standing in the dumb in PvP as well.
madfigs Oct 7th 2011 1:57PM
I find that if you tell people in PUGs "Have you ever considered GTFO?" you will get a hostile reaction (until you explain further) :P
Saltypoison Oct 6th 2011 7:49PM
I've never been able to get rid of Decursive. I'm so used to the audio warning and the easy left or right click without a keybind to dispel, I doubt I'll ever drop it.
Ryan Oct 9th 2011 2:23PM
I feel the same way
DarkSoul Oct 6th 2011 8:27PM
I use center icon indicators on grid and clique binding dispel/decurse to my right mouse button, with grid whitelisted in clique's frame options. I haven't messed around with an audio cue yet but it might be worth trying out.
shatto.a Oct 6th 2011 9:00PM
I love VuhDo, especially now that it has local hotkeys. Meaning, when I press my "1" button while hovering over someone's health bar, I cast Penance on them. But when I hit 1 while not mousing over someone in VuhDo, it uses my normal hotkey for that button, which is Mind Flay in my Shadow spec. It's like click healing, but with buttons.
Elwoods Oct 7th 2011 6:59AM
Ohhh I must check that out.
Personally I use Grid with Mouseover macros but this could save me all them!!
Firestyle Oct 6th 2011 9:01PM
I've been running Elv's UI, which is derivative of Tuk's UI. It's a nice all around build, with nice raid frames and filters. It comes with a healer layout, and pairs well with clique.
Donhorn Oct 6th 2011 9:26PM
Same here. It's almost the exact same thing as Grid, so it was an easy switch for me when I started using ElvUI. It's a beautiful thing.
moonangel0910 Oct 6th 2011 9:10PM
Another 2 addon's that I use beyond Vuhdo is OmniCC and Track Cooldowns. Both have helped me keep track of my cd's and the raids, so I know if a tank uses a cd or if a healer has something available when things get rough.
Rhüarc Oct 6th 2011 9:17PM
Personally, I find that using addons such as Healbot, Grid+Clique, or Vuhdo end up with more of my raid/party members dead than healed.
I also know that addons can be a huge boon to any player once they find the right addons.
To that end, I use Healium as my healing addon of choice (coupled with Hide Party when in a five man). It sets up little party/raid frames on your screen that you can position anywhere you like, as well as scale to what size you want. Immediately to the right of each player's spot on the raid frames it places little icons for each of your heals, debuff removal spells, and certain cooldowns (such as Innervate) that you can simply click to heal that player without having to target them. In my experience, once you know which heals are placed in what order, it takes just as much time to click the spells next to the raid frame as to mouse over a target to heal them.
As an added plus, it will also color the raid frames based on debuffs that the player has, and if the player has a debuff that you can remove, it will place a highlighted border around your debuff removal spell. You can also configure the addon to play an audio cue when there is a debuff to remove that you are capable of removing.
The addon may not be for everybody, but for the people who have difficulty with the more popular addons, I definitely recommend Healium.
You can find Healium here:
http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/healium.aspx
radda Oct 6th 2011 10:27PM
That's basically how I use VuhDo, except with clicking directly on a player's frame coupled with key combos.
e.g. click = Healing Touch, right = Rejuv, Shift+click = Wild Growth, etc. Didn't take me long to memorize everything. Even helps on my mage a bi too, since I can focus the tank with a left click and decurse with a right.
Løkii Oct 7th 2011 10:24AM
At last!! Someone else using healium I thought I was the only one
I have used on my druid since lvl 20 and I also never liked healbot -I do hope sometime they add more support to show incoming heals for raids but to be honest it is just so good how it is anyway
plus - I think it looks cool.The only real problem is finding anything to put on my actualy actionbar as I dont really need it
Tri Oct 7th 2011 9:04AM
I loooong time ago, when I just started playing healer, I used one called Benecast. Seems to be what Healium is based on :)
I used Healbot for a long time as well, but when I tried out Clique I fell in love, since it's just so simple, and you can use any kind of raid frames you like - even the ingame ones are plenty :)
goldeneye Oct 8th 2011 10:40AM
I was the last maintainer of BeneCast I approve and use Healium. As a certified altoholic I need to see the icons when I heal on a lesser played char!
The downside of Healium is that it gets a bit crowded in 25's and a bit insane in BGs.
And I wish it had separate profiles for the different group/raid sizes.
blazenor Oct 6th 2011 9:29PM
Razer Mouse + Healbot = Superhealer