Thread: Power problems?

Hello there,

a friend of mine has a mini at level 74. He has about 6.1k power (what sounds quite ok for me as my RK has rougly 7k and I never even bother about power).

The problem is he runs out of power very quickly while only healing. We were doing the trees in Limlight gorge and he had no power left when the mob was still at 20K of 70K morale. That's 30 seconds maybe.

What could be the problem? Are there specia do's and dont's as to what skills to use?

Thanks for any advice.

Do use bolster courage.
Do use anthem of composure + coda.
Don't use chord of salvation.
Don't use raise the spirit.
Don't use inspire fellows.

You shouldn't be running out of power while healing.

Originally Posted by asearchforreason

Do use bolster courage.
Do use anthem of composure + coda.
Don't use chord of salvation.
Don't use raise the spirit.
Don't use inspire fellows.

You shouldn't be running out of power while healing.

I wouldn't go that far. I use Chord of Salvation every time it is off cooldown when healing intensive fights and Inspire Fellows probably every 10 seconds or so if needed.

The key to not running out of power is threefold:
1) Trait so that your ballads are on a maximum of 10 seconds for cooldown, then use three Anthems -- one of them MUST be Anthem of Composure -- and your Coda. This is a 30 second rotation that keeps the Power Over Time effect of Composure/Coda up on you.

2) When you are down by 1.5k power, use a potion, even if this is the beginning of a fight. Pro-active potting works wonders.

3) At a minimum, your ICPR should be around 1k, although 1.4k would be better. Don't try to achieve this using Fate alone -- use ICPR jewellry and relics.

Other things that help with power but which are not really necessary are the -Healing Skills Power Costs legacy on your Songbook, armor that gives -Healing Power Costs as a setbonus (DN, Draigoch), and some of our traits. What DOESN'T help is Perfect Ballad use... the heal-to-power ratio of using Major Ballad is MUCH better than Perfect Ballad.

Originally Posted by asearchforreason

Do use bolster courage.
Do use anthem of composure + coda.
Don't use chord of salvation.
Don't use raise the spirit.
Don't use inspire fellows.

You shouldn't be running out of power while healing.

I would amend those "dont's" with Don't Use Them Excessively. Chord of Salvation is good when you need to put a big heal on someone quickly, but it shouldn't be used all the time. Raise the Spirit is good when you need a quick heal, but it's kind of a waste of it isn't traited. Inspire Fellows is good if you need to get heals to your entire fellowship and aren't in Harmony. It's also good occasionally for the incoming damage reduction bonus.

All that being said, I mainly heal through my Coda, applying anthems as needed.

The stuff said above is all good. In addition, being level 74 I'm assuming your gear isn't top notch. With better gear, you heal more, which means less healing needed and less power being used.

Also, look into getting the 3 set bonus on the draigoch set (-10% healing power cost) as well as the legacy on your book that reduces healing power cost.

Basic points: Legacy, draigoch set, avoid chord of salvation/raise the spirit, increase tactical mastery, utilize anthem of composure coda (this one I don't see as much as necessary, the more intense the fight the more outgoing healing you take away when you clear ballads multiple times in a fight - aka pick your poison)

Originally Posted by Apache140

The stuff said above is all good. In addition, being level 74 I'm assuming your gear isn't top notch. With better gear, you heal more, which means less healing needed and less power being used.

Also, look into getting the 3 set bonus on the draigoch set (-10% healing power cost) as well as the legacy on your book that reduces healing power cost.

Basic points: Legacy, draigoch set, avoid chord of salvation/raise the spirit, increase tactical mastery, utilize anthem of composure coda (this one I don't see as much as necessary, the more intense the fight the more outgoing healing you take away when you clear ballads multiple times in a fight - aka pick your poison)

I'd agree with this. Power will get better at 75 as you start to gear out. Also, if you're duoing the trees on your rk, he's probably having to heal you an awful lot, so between not being capped and attempting to heal an rk tank, its not overly surprising he'd run into power issues. And I also agree with not using codas, it is usually more detrimental than beneficial IMO. I hardly ever use codas and I rarely have power issues. If I'm having to heal so much that I'm running out of power, the tiny power restore from the coda is not worth the loss in time and healing output I'll suffer from stripping my ballad and anthem buffs when using coda. In a controlled fight it can be used, so it might be useful for trees in limlight. Most real fights are fairly short and healing intensive, so I don't see coda being useful at all in any situation that really matters, though I know I'm in a fairly small minority in that opinion.

ETA: one other thing he might check is how he's traited. 4b/3y will give you maximum base healing output (and therefore potentially mean you need to heal less and therefore use less power), and is how I trait for most difficult content, but 4y/3b is also very viable (and actually probably my preferred setup when I can get away with it) and allows you to keep up anthem of the third age much more consistently which can offset the loss of a 4th blue. Since you'll be using more anthems and at base doing a little less healing, this can be a little more power intensive, but you can offset this with your choice of yellow traits (-anthem power cost, power restore on herald's strike).

Originally Posted by Cloudie-wan

I wouldn't go that far. I use Chord of Salvation every time it is off cooldown when healing intensive fights and Inspire Fellows probably every 10 seconds or so if needed.

The key to not running out of power is threefold:
1) Trait so that your ballads are on a maximum of 10 seconds for cooldown, then use three Anthems -- one of them MUST be Anthem of Composure -- and your Coda. This is a 30 second rotation that keeps the Power Over Time effect of Composure/Coda up on you.

2) When you are down by 1.5k power, use a potion, even if this is the beginning of a fight. Pro-active potting works wonders.

3) At a minimum, your ICPR should be around 1k, although 1.4k would be better. Don't try to achieve this using Fate alone -- use ICPR jewellry and relics.

Other things that help with power but which are not really necessary are the -Healing Skills Power Costs legacy on your Songbook, armor that gives -Healing Power Costs as a setbonus (DN, Draigoch), and some of our traits. What DOESN'T help is Perfect Ballad use... the heal-to-power ratio of using Major Ballad is MUCH better than Perfect Ballad.

Hmmm. I do use 1 and sometimes 2 perfect ballads (though sometimes 0), and pretty much never use coda and only rarely use power pots (completely agree on not waiting til you're out of power to pot though), and I don't think my ICPR is especially high (I do use 3 pcs of draigoch for the power cost set bonus, and an instrument with -power cost, but don't use the legacy), and I rarely have power issues. /shrug

I guess the moral is find what works for you. Minstrel's not my main anymore (I'm possibly the only person in the game nostalgic for the pre-RoI minstrel), and I certainly make no claims to being the best minstrel, but for me personally, I am certain relying on codas would make me a significantly worse minstrel. Many others swear by it.

Yes of course, I wasn't trying to say they should not be used. I was just trying to keep it simple and explain what to do/do not if you have power problems. There are a million threads explaining these things in detail.

Thanks to all for your advice. There is much good information in this thread. +rep

Even if he goes triple-majors (which I do, mind you), if he's running into power trouble, maybe he SHOULD leave a Perfect in there. Better to sacrifice some efficacy on heals than be unable to heal at all due to being out of power. He can also trait Absolute Pitch for an extra 3% off (1% for each ballad). Relying on the Coda is not necessary - I tend not to detonate my Coda unless I start to dip a bit low on power, and I am rarely in panic mode over power.

My other suggestion-EAT! there are foods that plus fate, will, vit, ICMR, ICPR. Find/make a cook. Cooks and minstrels=friends for life. (Save's a fortune on feeding the minstrel). If not possible, find a scholar and swallow their blue pots a lot.

Had similar issues but food and some ICPR jewellery helped. Levelling from 70 to 75 (when you get much better armour/jewellery combinations) played havoc with my power and I'd never had power problems before. My fate and vit kept dropping as everything seemed stacked for will. This rebalances, with some work, at 75 when the better rep stuff is available. I mostly play 4B3Y and can still use harmony stance for extra oomph when needed-although i notice the power difference.

I'm going to say the 'never use RtS Inspire Fellows comments/debate' is up to you -I have them as nearly maxed legacies on my book so I use them frequently, especially if tank/off tank are new/taking lots of individual damage. But they are power hungry. I probably use them more than others do, out of habit, from soloing/duoing before RoI, when BC took so long to get off (hadn't got the insta BC deed done) and it was so easily interrupted that I hated it. I also have had major skill lag recently; I overheal, just in case, so I 'never say never' to instant heals.

Healing RK's who tank (something i enjoy) means that their morale will often drop suddenly-very different from guardians-so I'll tend to use the more intensive spot heals like CoS and RtS = more power used. In long fights or where there's heavy initial damage, I'll sometimes open with cry of chorus-get my anthem of composure up-and keep it up between spamming green-it just doesn't power return- it increases fellows' resistance-good for a RK tank and the coda is there for emergency power return, and then I add other anthems as needed.

I also use SOS - a lot- for ongoing little HOTs. (waits for howls of derision ) I'm still often too late with triumphant spirit-too many pugs in Moria where it often meant instant huge aggro and death by multi mobs, so that i was terrified of using it! Old habits die hard. But now I've got the cooldown reduced I at least remember it's there..........sometimes. Every minstrel has a their quirks and it's a very flexible class, so your minstrel friend will find their own way that works. Good luck.

Lvl 75 7k health with tale and 9k power never had one single power problem. Keep anthem/coda up for pwer return. Only skill that hurts come times in inspire fellow.