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.

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

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)

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 .

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 ONLY APPLIES TO YOU, so make sure if you need to stun break your allies you use either or go into which activates the trait if its off of cooldown. is applied on your buff bar when using , which deactivates the Tome’s passives and it becomes .

Thanks to , opening 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.

• increases your allies’ toughness, reducing incoming damage, applies , and .
• 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.
• applies and .

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

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

makes your Dodge heal nearby allies. This trait synergizes with 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 will refill your endurance bar.

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 .

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

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

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 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 , or thanks to , your final charge on or .

Weapon Skills

Mace:

• Your third auto-attack, , heals nearby allies.
• places a Symbol that heals and applies .
•  applies and . This should be used on ranged spikes.

Shield:

• applies and to allies in front of you. This should be used on ranged spikes.
• 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:

• is a good ranged heal, as well as a blast finisher.
• is a light field that also applies . When blasted by this will remove a condition from allies.
• burst heals, applies and with regenerates endurance.
• creates a perpendicular line that stops enemies from crossing.

Crowd Control

• AoE pull.
• Perpendicular line that cannot be crossed without .

Alternatives

Runes

You can change for .

Skills

If you are struggling with sustain. swap for:

• for improved condition cleanse.
• if you want more damage mitigation/blocks and heals.
• 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 , meaning more stun breaks via and .

You can run over for some healing whenever blocks an attack.