Life Staff AoE Healing PvP Build for New World

The Area of Effect (AoE) PvP healing build is a more simplistic Life Staff build that solely focuses on pumping as much healing out as possible. It's 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 in order to maximize your healing effectiveness. As a AoE Healer, your positioning is everything. You need to make sure you are positioned behind your group members, and more importantly, away from your opponents.

This build excels at healing output, but lacks defensiveness. Its ease and lack of complexity makes it a very beginner-friendly build. While it is needed in large-scale PvP scenarios, there is only room for a few of this role in an army, and it's 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 due to high cooldown abilities, and by using the Heceta Life Staff artifact, allowing you to spam heavy attacks when your abilities are on cooldown to support your group members even further with addtional buffs. This build is best used for large-scale PvP situations, such as Outpost Rush or Wars.

• 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 or even 200 Constitution. The rest of your attributes should go directly into Focus to maximize your heals.

Slot	Perks	Gem	Weight	Attribute	Source
Life Staff ( Heceta)	Light Touch Refreshing Move Blessed Fortifying Sacred Ground	Cut Pristine Diamond	-	Magnify	Artifact
Rapier	Refreshing Fleche Keen Speed Keen	Cut Pristine Amber	-	Focus	Crafted/BoE
Helmet ( Great Helm of the Frigid Dawn)	Enchanted Ward Elemental Aversion Refreshing	Cut Pristine Opal	Heavy	Magnify	Crafted
Gloves ( Gauntlets of the Frigid Dawn)	Enchanted Ward Elemental Aversion Refreshing	Cut Pristine Opal	Heavy	Magnify	Crafted
Chest ( Featherweight)	Weightless Refreshing Physical Aversion Health	Cut Pristine Opal	Light	Magnify	Artifact
Pants	Enchanted Ward Shirking Energy Health	Cut Pristine Opal	Light	Focus	Crafted/BoE
Boots	Health Enchanted Ward Refreshing	Cut Pristine Onyx	Light	Focus	Crafted/BoE
Amulet	Health Stamina Recovery Thrust Protection	Cut Pristine Onyx	-	Focus	Crafted/BoE
Ring	Sacred Hearty Healing Breeze	Cut Pristine Onyx	-	Focus	Crafted/BoE
Earring	Refreshing Toast Healthy Toast Regenerating	Cut Pristine Onyx	-	Focus	Crafted/BoE

Please note:: If you have access to artifacts, it is most effective to use the Featherweight light chest, allowing you to then wear two pieces of the Heavy Frigid Dawn set for maximum defensive capabilties. This is the current meta for healers in large-scale PvP content, such as OPR and wars.

When running Freedom you should run 4 stacks for the most optimal crowd control reductions.

In PvP combat it is best to run 5 stacks of Enchanted Ward for maximum damage reduction to light and heavy attacks.

Refreshing is valuable, and it's important to ensure you use the full 4 stacks across all of your pieces to minimize the cooldowns of your healing abilities as much as possible.

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!