Herald - Hand Kiter

The community gave this build a rating, making it second-tier: Good

Designed for: Raids

Expansions required: Heart of Thorns builds

Difficulty:
TBD
This build was last updated on January 25, 2023 and is up to date for the March 19, 2024 patch.

Overview

A specialized variant of the Renegade - Boon Support Healer build designed to be self-sufficient while kiting the Soul Feast mechanic at Deimos. Should only be used in the Deimos encounter, for other encounters see Renegade - Boon Support Healer


Skill Bar

Mace/Shield
Staff
Utility
Utility


Weapon Variants

Your mainhand weapon on the x/shield set doesn't really matter as you don't need to use any of the skills from it. If you are confident in your ability to survive, you can swap either weapon set for Hammer in order to get some ranged damage in.


Template Code

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Specializations


Trait Variants

  • Unyielding Devotion offers similar survivability to Generous Abundance if you are able to reliably hit other allies with your tablet, and less reliance on Natural Harmony for healing can give you more energy for blocks. You should also run Unyielding Devotion if you use Jalis instead of Ventari.

Revenant has a great variety of options for hand kiting, so feel free to experiment and go with the option that fits you best.


Retribution

Salvation can be swapped for Retribution for a greater focus on damage reduction over healing. This makes it easier to deal with hands, but harder to deal with the ticking damage after Mind Crush as it cannot be reduced. You should always run Jalis instead of Ventari when using Retribution.

  • As this variant lacks Resilient Spirit, boon uptime is much less important and you should take Elevated Compassion instead of Draconic Echo in Herald.
  • If you are not confident, you could use Versed in Stone as a safety net. Note that you are giving up a significant amount of healing by doing so, which can make this something of a false economy.


Equipment

Head
Harrier
Shoulders
Harrier
Chest
Harrier
Hands
Harrier
Legs
Harrier
Feet
Harrier
Backpiece
Harrier
Accessory
Harrier
Accessory
Harrier
Amulet
Harrier
Ring
Harrier
Ring
Harrier
Mace
Harrier
Shield
Harrier
Sigil
Sigil
Staff
Harrier
Sigil
Sigil
Rune
x6
Infusion
x18


Equipment Variants

Stats

The exact gear doesn't really matter, but ideally you should aim to cap boon duration to ensure permanent Resistance Resistance uptime for Demonic Resistance and Fiendish Tenacity. You can just use the gear from Boon Support Healer, even though the bonuses from Sigil of Transference and Rune of Superior Rune of the Monk don't affect you. This setup also avoid extra toughness (which can interfere with tanking) and vitality (which can be a double-edged sword as the ticking damage from Mind Crush is %-based).


Sigils

There are numerous viable sigil options and which option is selected makes little difference to the build's performance

  • Sigil of Superior Sigil of Energy - Useful if you find yourself using lots of dodges in your hand kiting. This synergises especially well if you're running Retribution.
  • Sigil of Superior Sigil of Water - If you're using a hammer, this can give you a small amount of extra survivability.
  • If you really want to try and do as much damage as possible, you could run self-buffing sigils on your hammer such as:
    • Sigil of Superior Sigil of Battle
    • Sigil of Superior Sigil of Celerity
    • Sigil of Superior Sigil of Strength
    • Sigil of Superior Sigil of Vision


Runes

There are numerous viable rune options, though Rune of Superior Rune of the Rebirth is especially good as it offers high healing, boon duration, and a save in case you fail to block Mind Crush.

  • Rune of Superior Rune of the Monk
  • Rune of Superior Rune of the Water
  • Rune of Superior Rune of the Defender
  • Rune of Superior Rune of Sanctuary


Consumables

Food

  • is ideal as it offers damage reduction, healing power and boon duration.
    • Otherwise, any damage reduction food such as will do.
    • or can be used at almost no cost in exchange for a minor loss of survivability compared to a damage reduction food.


Utility

  • or .


Usage

  • Legend swap off cooldown to maintain Resistance Resistance from Fiendish Tenacity.
  • Try to maintain Facet of Nature at all times.
  • Use Warding Rift to block every second set of hand spawns.
  • Heal through the other set of hands. Your skill priority is (in descending order): Envoy of Exuberance, Ventari's Will, Natural Harmony, Mender's Rebuke, Renewing Wave.
  • Use Crystal Hibernation or Infuse Light to survive Mind Crush.
  • Arrow right.webp
    can be activated prior to Crystal Hibernation to prevent damage from any hands that spawn while channeling the block, or if you are not confident with the timing of Mind Crush.


While on Ventari

  • Bounce Ventari's Will to allies and back to yourself to trigger the extended duration on Unyielding Devotion (if using).
  • Use Natural Harmony on yourself (or your allies if they need it), leaving enough energy for Warding Rift or Envoy of Exuberance.
  • Be sure to pick up the healing orbs that are dropped after dodging or using Ventari skills.


While on Jalis

  • Activate Vengeful Hammers and leave them running.
  • Dodge over hands to give yourself Vigor Vigor and activate Determined Resolution.
  • Try to keep Soothing Stone for emergency healing.


While on Glint

  • Activate Facet of Light and Facet of Chaos. Leave them active.
  • Activate and immediately consume your other facets off cooldown to provide multiple boons.

Video Example


Ratings

This build has a rating of 5 stars based on 4 votes.
Log in or register to rate this build.
4 stars
OfficerAndyGentleman gave this build 4 stars • November 2022
The safest handkiter, but doesn't really bring anything for the team.
5 stars
Chinkeeyong gave this build 5 stars • September 2018
The default hand kiter. Will be meta on Deimos until the end of time.
5 stars
Troupe gave this build 5 stars • April 2018
The go-to build for handkiting. Has lots of room for error as well as the capacity to heal the main group with the tablet if something goes wrong. @Nuru you can bring sword but there isn't any particular reason to - the block skill on sword 4 was removed in November 2017
5 stars
Nuru gave this build 5 stars • April 2018
Ideal build for hk. Also you can bring sword as offhand

Comments

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