Rune Priest Spec Discussion

[Torgal]

Thought I'd foment some discussion regarding rune priest specs, playstyles etc because it's friday afternoon, I'm bored at work, and it's always good to hear people's opinions on yer favourite class.

i, Post your spec!
ii, Why're you running this spec?
iii, What's your playstyle with this build?
iv, Which abilities / tactics are key for your build?
v, Which abilities / tactics do you wish you could get, but are out of reach in your build?
vi, Which 4-set of tactics will you be using at 40?
vii, What's your favourite biscuit / small cake?

i, Something like this.

ii, Heavy Grimnir spec, because I find myself using AoE effects more than anything else in scenario / open rvr play. Rune of serenity reminds me of Prayer of Mending from WoW, which was basically my favourite spell ever BofValaya is a really powerful spell, which heals for almost as much as the 3s direct heal, but is not nearly as fragile, and if it hits more'n one target it becomes much more AP efficient.

iii, I like to keep rune of serenity on cd as much as possible, typically in another group than the one I'm in since I can cover heals in that group with BofValaya. Anyone taking light damage I try keep rune of regen up all the time since it's our most efficient single target heal. BofValaya gets spammed a LOT, especially in open RvR (last night it accounted for 70% of all my healing - SKILL!). I rarely cast rune of resto, and only spam G's Gift when I'm running away from fire. Rune of mending I tend to cast, but don't like it - it's inefficient as hell, but at least it's only a 1s cast so often it's the only thing I can get out.

iv, I'm currently working towards Ancestor's Echo which I love the sound of, and I've heard some really good things about it. I'll get it next level, so that's pretty exciting. Master Rune of Adamant is going to be a big part of my healing rotation when it's fixed (sooon right?!). I've included Rune of Battle because it sounds like fun, so that's my one concession to a non min/max build.

v, Valaya : Rune of Burning would certainly make solo PVE much less painful. I don't tend to do much of it right now because it literally takes me 15 seconds to down an even level mob, then wait on AP regen to do the next one... snore.

Grungni : Rune of Binding sounds like it'd make a significant difference to my PvP survivability. Very nice right there, but I don't feel I'm lacking tooooo much on the survivability stakes right now. Rune of Fortune sounds like fun, I'd like to try that out one day.

vi, For scenario / rvr healbotting I'll probably be using :

Ancestor's Echo
Regenerative Shielding
2/3 of : Discipline / Sundered Motion / Restorative Burst depending on whether I want more healing power, survivability or AP regen. I suspect I will be usually using Discipline and RB.

vii, Man, I'm glad you asked cause I can't get enough of viennese whirls. The nice crumbly buttery biscuitey bit outside, and then cream + jam inside. Fookin lovely mate.

[Gunnarr]

Sven:
i: Something like this.
I'm not completely decided on details yet, most of all on the specialist spells. I may switch out either or both efficient runecarving (free immolate and instant PoM) and rune of burning (big singletarget damager which I'm not sure is useful because of the fragility of the spell) for immolating grasp (snare and AP burn) or Mater rune of adamant (choice between an offensive and defensive master rune! Yummie!)

ii: Heavy Valaya spec, since:
1) I think hots are incredibly powerful in RvR, allowing you to move while still being healed for sizeable amounts
2) Master rune of speed is sexy!
3) Even though Grimnir is also good, I don't like AoE heals that much (something with priding myself on quick fingers and healing the right target at the right time)

iii: I stack hots. Meaning I stack rune of regeneration and rune of mending most of the time. If someone is taking a heavy beating I put a rune of serenity on him as well, and shield that person to give the hots more time to tick up. When multiple group members are taking damage I still use Blessing of Valaya. The main concern here is the inefficiency of RoM, but I don't let that put me off too much. - in most situations there were multiple healers present and it was possible to stop healing for a few seconds, leaving me with a full AP bar.

iv: Rune of fate and rune of burning. Then I'll finally be able to do some significant damage! Raaaaaarh!

v: Ancestors blessing, rune of nullification and rune of binding from Grugni. Ancestor's echo and rune of battle in Grimnir.

vi: 4 out of 5 from: restorative burst, discipline, blessing of grugni, efficient runecarving and regenerative shielding.

vii: Can't find picture, will update later. But they're yummie! 

[Torgal]

I used to be Valaya spec, because I'm also a massive fan of HoTs, but it's almost dissapointing that Rune of Regeneration is a core ability, this not affected by any points in your trees (actually because it's always considered to be specced into, so it's not a bad thing). The only HoT that Valaya affects is Rune of Mending, in fact it's the only heal that's affected unless you consider our shield, which I personally don't use so much. I've also heard that the contribution to RoM that Valaya spec makes is only geared towards the direct heal portion, not the HoT (which is very counter-intuitive), I haven't tested this myself though. I would prefer valaya to be a better HoT spec, as it stands I don't feel like I'm missing significant HoT power by not having any points in Valaya since RoR is the best HoT we have anyway.

That was a little rambley, sorry if it makes little sense.

I'm really torn on the value of taking MRoS along with MRoA - it could be very valuable to be able to switch it up like you say, and don't forget that MRoS can be defensive too - stack that beast with the rank 2 morale that speeds you up, and you'll be belting out heals like nobody's business, a nice 'panic move'. I think I will try it out (having the both of them specced, that is).

Glad to read elsewhere they have apparently fixed the non-functioning of MRoS, though the performance issues are possibly still present. That said, I've been in scenario groups with some rune priests using master runes, and my FPS stayed fairly steady. I'm tempted to try it out again, just to confirm that it's still broken :/ are you still specced for a master rune? is it causing you FPS problems? I'm half tempted to spec fury for the duration, if it wouldn't mean slapping a bunch of my points in Grungni.

Tried out Rune of Battle on sunday for some PQ AoE fun. It's entertaining, but I don't think I'll keep it for RvR purposes. It's pretty difficult to get on someone that's gonna be in range of multiple enemies for the entire duration because of it's short duration (15 secs), group only requirement, and prohibitive CD (1 min).

Oh since I'm now 28, I've gained access to Regenerative Shielding, and Ancestor's Echo - both of which I'm running as my pair of tactics right now. They proc like crazy, and provide a really big benefit to your group. Definitely happy with those two tactics. I'd love to get some numbers somehow about how much damage they prevent.

[Gunnarr]

Yes, I realise its only RoM that's affected by Valaya, but the problem with the spec is the same as I have with all other RP specs: it only affects one skill (two if you count the buff) that I use heavily, and some have a second spell that I use occasionally: Rune of restoration for Grugni (well, not heavily, but I try to squeeze one in now and then), rune of mending (and shields on myself when I get singled out in Valaya, Serenity and Valaya in Grimnir.)

As I'm playing at the moment, I do use RoM and RoR about as much, and mana-cost be damned. Indeed, I often cast them as a pair. These should be my 2 most-cast spells - Serenity would be in there if it wasn't for its cooldown though. Anyway, with Grugni being the worst path for the boost it gives to the associated spells, Valaya and Grimnir tie off for me, more or less.

Looking at the spells, the list of spells that appeal to me are:
Grugni: master rune of fury, ancestor's blessing, rune of nullification (healer killer!), rune of binding
Valaya: master rune of speed, rune of fate, efficient runecarving, and rune of burning and immolating grasp as "perhaps"es.
Grimnir: master rune of adamant, ancestor's echo, grimnir's fury, and rune of battle as a: "perhaps, sounds fun"- choice.

As you can see, there's no clear winner for me. I'll probably try out a Grimnir spec as well, possibly soon, for the extra HOT from the master rune and the ancestor's echo + mass res. Grugni stands out as a more offensive spec for me, with more AP regeneration options and some good offensive debuffs, like the "we have 5 seconds to kill this guy"-ability. I can't see myself speccing into Grugni quite as soon, but when I find myself surrounded by plenty of other healers all of a sudden I may. 

To be honest, I have no idea if the MRune is causing performance loss - my computer seems to run the game without much of a problem. Perhaps I'm screwing over everyone else in the scenario with my MRune, but I notice none - or too little to notice - performance loss on my own computer. It's an entertaining idea that others would be hampered by the rune though.

[Torgal]

As you can see, there's no clear winner for me. I'll probably try out a Grimnir spec as well, possibly soon, for the extra HOT from the master rune and the ancestor's echo + mass res. Grugni stands out as a more offensive spec for me, with more AP regeneration options and some good offensive debuffs, like the "we have 5 seconds to kill this guy"-ability. I can't see myself speccing into Grugni quite as soon, but when I find myself surrounded by plenty of other healers all of a sudden I may. 

Before I actually started playing the game every spec I put together contained rune of nullification, it just sounded that good. I'd love to spec for that tactic, and boost up offensive crit rates. Great for focus firing, but it's not reliable in any way is it?

To be honest, I have no idea if the MRune is causing performance loss - my computer seems to run the game without much of a problem. Perhaps I'm screwing over everyone else in the scenario with my MRune, but I notice none - or too little to notice - performance loss on my own computer. It's an entertaining idea that others would be hampered by the rune though.

I run without a problem too, most of the time. The only times I've had any problem at all were when I specced for MRoS, or when others in the WB in open rvr have used it. I'm gonna try MRoA tonight and see how it goes.

EDIT - What you mention about RP specs trees being really tightly defined to just one or two spells - frustrating isn't it? I'm levelling an archmage too, and it feels really wierd to have a single tree to slap all your points in that affects all of your heals. On one hand it's nice to have because I've got a boosted (equivalent of) rune of restoration aswell as (equivalent of) rune of mending. On the other hand, I sort of like that there's really no wrong way to spec a RP, it conforms to playstyle, but doesn't gimp you if you have to perform a different role (everyone can still spam rune of regen when it boils down to it).

[Pythias]

The only HoT that Valaya affects is Rune of Mending, in fact it's the only heal that's affected unless you consider our shield, which I personally don't use so much.

Guys, dont underestimate shields in RvR. There will be alot of healing debuffs flying around in the endgame and shields are unaffected by those debuffs, afaik.

[Torgal]

Yeah shields are ok, I tend to use it on a focus fire target when I am struggling to catch them in time. The rune priest one does about half the shielding value of the archmage one though, so it tends to just drop like it wasn't even there, then it does a tiny little heal (which probably IS affected by the debuff). It's not nearly as effective for keeping people alive long enough for HoTs to tick. At least the RP one is castable outside the party though, I find that very frustrating about the AM version.

[spell]Rune of Shielding[/spell] vs. [spell]Shield of Saphery[/spell]

(ignore the hover tooltips on those spells, wardb is clearly messed up) - All things considered, I don't know which one I prefer

Specced into MRoA last night - it's fun! I noticed client slowdown after continued use of it, but it seems improved. I managed an hour's play without it becoming unplayable. I updated my Ati drivers too, because I heard some mention of the latest set (8.10) helping (honestly I don't think they did, but it's hard to tell isn't it).