Minstrel Raid Healing
Prep:
Spend all your points into Watcher of Resolve (blue trait) line and the remaining into yellow to unlock the Anthem of Composure and the fellow heal (inspire fellows) plus buckets more tactical mastery.
Use Resonance stance (blue).
Have two sets of jewelry ideally. One for survival and one for "glass cannon".
Health and power pots.
Sheet Music stops induction interruptions and saves on power but the buff is so quick (10s) it's hard to make it feel worthwhile.
Weapons:
Raid healers must have healing legacies on their weapons. Healing a T2C with a DPS weapon isn't going to work. Max your Rally cool down and - induction time legacy is a must.
Priority in your group:
1. Heal yourself; a dead mini does no heals.
2. Heal the tank; a dead tank is a soon to be dead mini.
3. Heal the cappy; he can rez you (hopefully he is saving his rez for you or the tank)
4. Heal the rest. You can rez them when it's convenient.
Rezzing for success:
If you have a friend who (bless their hearts) keeps dying, think twice about blowing your Rally on them too often. Your Rally skill cool down can mean the success or failure of the fight in some cases. Blowing it on someone who will die again in a second is a waste. Throw them a kiss and wait for an out of combat rez, unless you are desperate for their DPS.
If there is a cappy in the group call it out when you do choose to use your in combat rez. You don't want them to use theirs at the same time and put you both on cool down.
If there is an RK in the group ask for the leader to assign someone to take their DO NOT FALL. This is an instant in combat rez but requires them also to be alive in order for it to work. Often the mini will get it and the group may be lucky to get a second on the tank.
Location:
You want to be central in the group. Stand far enough away from the mobs that you don't catch AoE damage but close enough to be able to do some short range (oh shit) heals. It takes some practice to know the best distance to be effective and safe. The ranged DPS should be close to you and spread out a little so they can keep an eye on you for ads but won't affect you with those nasty AoE debuffs if there is one. If one of your fellow mates goes all Leeroy Jenkins or suddenly shy of the group, let them go. Don't stress out about reaching someone who won't stay with the group. It is their problem, not yours. Your number one priority is keeping the tank alive.
Sometimes if you have ads it's better to yell to the tank "I've got ads and bringing to you" if you can manage it. They will see you coming and throw out a shout. Sometimes it's better to go to them than have them drag the mob to the rest of the group. Even better is to have a hunter peel it off you and take it to the tank themselves.
On with the show! Slow down on your button pushing. Practice at the training dummy to see how quickly you can hit a skill without cancelling out the last one. Button mashing = sloppy playing and unpredictable results.
1. Pre-buff
If aggro isn't a big concern, throw Soliloquy of Spirit on your tank. It stacks three times with a short cool down. Gives a moderate heal over time and power boost. I usually hit the tank with SoS and Inspire fellows (- 4% damage buff) when the group is just about ready to head in to the fight.
Melody of Battle puts a +404 parry bonus on your tank.
2. Build your Ballads
Minor Ballad, Perfect Ballad and Major Ballad have a chance to unlock the anthems and coda. Once all three land you get the buffs: +14 % healing, and - 5% power cost etc.
At the start of any boss fight you will want to use Cry of the Chorus instead of building ballads (which do DPS while the tank is getting aggro). CotC gives +18 % outgoing healing while it is active in combat and an additional 28.2 % for 10 seconds and other goodies. It's worthwhile using that skill as often as you can.
3. Choose an Anthem.
While in Resonance only one Anthem can be active at a time and will only affect your fellow. If there is a second mini in the group, ask them to not override your anthems with their own. If you are a yellow traited mini (for fellow buffs) the anthems will stack and you should be the only one casting them.
Resonant Anthem of the Third Age = - 25% induction, and + 10 % healing.
Anthem of Composure = + 6949 resistance, + 5167 Tact Mit. If your group is having trouble with bleeds use this one, otherwise with the one above.
Anthem of War = buffs the group if DPS is called for.
Note: Cast Anthem of War first to buff the fellow and then cast Resonant Anthem. The group buff will stay on your fellow and you will get the healing buff.
4. Game on!
A mini's strength is group heals. Plan your rotation for big single heals with some group heals thrown in if the situation calls for it.
The most popular heals are Bolster Courage and Chorus of Salvation. Bolster has no cool down but the post heal animation seems to take forever. You can interrupt this induction time with Chord of Salvation. If you can perfect the timing, you can land Bolster and interrupt the rest of the animation with Chorus. Chorus is also a fellow heal so you are topping up everyone else nearly constantly. Practice it on a dummy to make sure you aren't interrupting your biggest heal with this smaller one.
If everything is under control or the whole group needs some love mix in your group heals; Inspire Fellows, Chord of Salvation and Fellowship Heart. Inspire fellows is the best group heal especially if you hit Call to Ioreth (+100% heal crit) before you use it.
Fellowships Heart: Heal over time for the group. During inferno or lots of ads around is a good time to hit this. The induction time is huge so depending on the situation this may not be the best choice.
Perfect Ending is HUGE fast heal with a power boost to one recipient. When 7 heals have been used the skill PE is available for a short time. Use it while you've got it.
Coda of Resonance: Huge single heal with a -10% damage buff. It removes all your Ballads so you'll have to rebuild those (hit Cry of Chorus) to get the buffs.
Triumphant Spirit: Use Call to Ioreth + TS is a MASSIVE heal to anyone standing in 20 meters of you (so pretty much on top of you). It will also probably get you into trouble. Be ready to flop if you get aggro. If you use it wisely it can be your best friend.
How you can help your team:
Piercing cry is your corruption removal and interrupt skill. If you are savy enough to watch your fellow's morale while running around to safe spots AND can watch the boss for inductions, you are one kick ass mini. If you have a hunter friend in the group (who honestly can watch Netflix during a boss fight), ask them nicely to call out boss inductions if they see it and if the leader doesn't mind. Every major boss skill interrupted is one less massive group heal you have to do.
Healer's Strike does a small group heal and corruption removal but requires close combat and therefore not recommended.
Story of Courage will put a fear resist buff on your buds and removes one effect from the whole fellow who are within 15 meters.
Bubble them...if you feel like it. The morale bonus is small compared to the RKs bubble. Don't worry about it unless you feel like seeing the funky bubble.
Got Ads on you?:
Shame on your ranged DPS buddies for not seeing it! Call out "I've got ads on me" and watch the group suddenly care about you again. Remember to run TOWARDS the tank if you need help. Never run away.
If you were lucky enough to have made your mini a hobbit you have two flops. Use them. If you have a cool down legacy, get floppy! All the cool kids do it.
Use your fear to chase away the baddie. Hopefully someone else will grab it before it comes back.
F1 is a quick way to target yourself. Hit F1 and Bolster Courage, triumphant spirit (+ flop), anything that keeps you alive.
Spirit of Freedom will shake a daze.
Cry of Chorus will break silences.