Heal Firebrand

October 2024

Introduction

Firebrands play a vital role, they serve as the backbone of the squad, bolstering allies to keep them healthy via sources of damage mitigation, stun breaks, boons and healing. The most fundamental boon you will be providing is .

Build Fundamentals

The build excels as a boon support with both defensive and offensive capabilities, it has good healing output, great burst cleansing, stun breaks for allies and a substantial number of boons.

The Guardian’s Virtues are transformed into Tomes. When activated, the Tome replaces your weapon abilities with potent offensive or defensive skills. Not every skill within each book is worth using due to page costs, so knowing each tome skill is critical in managing pages and being effective.

Tome of Justice is your offensive Tome. As a support Firebrand, this tome is primarily used for the pull from Chapter 3: Heated Rebuke however you may wish to skip this tome completely in favour of other more valuable Tomes.

Tome of Resolve is your burst cleansing and moderate heal Tome. Usually you will only go into this tome to assist your secondary support player in your party. Knowing when to do this is possible via the party UI (see tip below on how to show party UI)

Tome of Courage is your defensive and support Tome. Access skills that apply and . This can be used in a variety of ways, more will be explained later in the guide.

TIP: In the Squad Options, deselect “View as a grid.” By doing this, you’ll be able to monitor your allies’ boons, conditions, and health more effectively, leading to improved decision-making and skill management.

Build Specifics

Survival

As a support class, your top priority is survival, as you can’t assist if you’re incapacitated. Stay alive by dodging and positioning well, as many skills rely on your facing direction and range. Your main duties include breaking stuns, keeping your party healthy, and mitigating damage. You most valuable boons are , , , but also , and . Staying close to the squad Commander ensures you can help more effectively, but be ready to adjust quickly to support your party. Maintaining a proper skill and Tome rotation is crucial when playing Firebrand.

TIP: In the General Options (F11), navigate to User Interface and ensure to tick the boxes for “Always show squad health bars” and “Always show party health bars.” These adjustments will significantly improve your ability to monitor those requiring your support. Lastly, don’t forget to enable “Thick Party Health Bars” for even clearer visibility during intense moments.

Stability and Resistance

You are the main source of and . Aim for 100% uptime of when in enemy range, and apply when in enemy bombs to allow your party to escape the impacts of .

"Stand Your Ground!" stands as your most effective ability and should be activated just before engaging an enemy within 1200 range. The skill may be called explicitly by the Commander when they are about to push into the enemy.

NOTE: the stun break part of "Stand Your Ground!" ONLY APPLIES TO YOU, so make sure if you need to stun break your allies you use either Portent of Freedom or go into Tome of Courage which activates the trait Indomitable Courage if its off of cooldown. Dormant Courage is applied on your buff bar when using Tome of Courage, which deactivates the Tome’s passives and it becomes Tome of Courage.

Thanks to Indomitable Courage, opening Tome of Courage stun breaks and applies on allies within 600 range. Typically you will open this tome when the enemy bombs or you need to maintain before it runs out.

• Epilogue: Unbroken Lines increases your allies’ toughness, reducing incoming damage, applies , and .
• Chapter 4: Stalwart Stand is a stationary field that pulses . This negates non-damaging debilitating conditions such as on your allies, allowing you to escape an enemy bomb and regroup.
• Chapter 1: Unflinching Charge applies and .

Hallowed Ground is an AoE field. This should be used in between other cooldowns or if your zerg is stationary, for example when cleaving downstate enemies.

Mantra of Liberation is a group stun break that also applies . Mantras apply to your allies in a small radius around you and in a cone in the direction you’re facing. To reliably stun break, it’s best to be facing your ally with your character when using the skill.

TIP: It is not advised to use the last charge of any Mantra’s as it will put them on a long cooldown! Only do this in an emergency or at the end of a fight, this means it will allow enough time for it to be ready again.

Healing and Cleansing

Selfless Daring makes your Dodge heal nearby allies. This trait synergizes with Superior Sigil of Energy on your weapons: don’t be afraid to use your Dodge! Save enough endurance for an escape but avoid having a full endurance bar for too long. Use any spare endurance prior to weapon swapping or opening/closing a Tome, as Superior Sigil of Energy will refill your endurance bar.

Tome of Resolve is your strongest healing utility, save it for high-pressure moments, don’t waste it to heal small damage. Upon activation, this Tome will remove three conditions from nearby allies thanks to Absolute Resolve.

Enter Tome of Resolve and use Epilogue: Eternal Oasis if your party is overloaded with conditions, then leave the Tome and take advantage of Eternal Oasis for increased healing.

Empower pulses healing and and with Honorable Staff regenerates endurance. Use it in a safe location as it will lock you in place while it channels.

Signet of Mercy

Signet of Mercy is a high-value revive utility that can be tricky to pull off. If a member of your party has gone down, indicate to your zerg that you will be using your revive utility to avoid stacking revives. Apply to ensure your cast will not be interrupted, then cast your Signet of Mercy and move away from enemies.

If your downed ally is knocked out of position or fully dies before the cast ends you can cancel your Signet to avoid its long cooldown by hitting your escape key or by stowing your weapons. If you are in a Tome, weapon stow will NOT work.

TIP:  You can speed up the cast of your Signet with . To gain it, enter Tome of Justice, or thanks to Stalwart Speed, your final charge on Mantra of Solace or Mantra of Liberation.

Weapon Skills

Mace:

• Your third auto-attack, Faithful Strike, heals nearby allies.
• Symbol of Faith places a Symbol that heals and applies .
• Protector's Strike applies and . This should be used on ranged spikes.

Shield:

• Shield of Judgment applies and to allies in front of you. This should be used on ranged spikes.
• Shield of Absorption casts a dome that blocks projectiles and detonates to a strong heal. Typically this skill is double-tapped, as the heal is often a higher priority to the block.

Staff:

• Holy Strike is a good ranged heal, as well as a blast finisher.
• Symbol of Swiftness is a light field that also applies . When blasted by Holy Strike this will remove a condition from allies.
• Empower burst heals, applies and with Honorable Staff regenerates endurance.
• Line of Warding creates a perpendicular line that stops enemies from crossing.

Crowd Control

• Tome of Justice Chapter 3: Heated Rebuke AoE pull.
• Line of Warding Perpendicular line that cannot be crossed without .

Alternatives

Runes

You can change Superior Rune of the Water for Superior Rune of the Monk.

Skills

If you are struggling with sustain. swap Signet of Mercy for:

• Mantra of Lore for improved condition cleanse.
• "Advance!" if you want more damage mitigation/blocks and heals.
• Sanctuary may also be an interesting pick, and can provide some healing along projectile destruction and Crowd Control.

Traits

If you need more , change Honor for Valor, you lose healing but reduce the cooldown of Tome of Courage, meaning more stun breaks via Tenacious Defense and Indomitable Courage.

You can run Pure of Heart over Honorable Staff for some healing whenever blocks an attack.