Best skills to prioritize for a support-class agent?

Question

So I finally hit the level cap for the mid-tier bracket and I'm super hyped to actually be useful in the Sunday raid our guild is doing but man I am totally stuck on where to put my last 45 skill points. Ive got about two days to finalize this build and I dont wanna be the reason we wipe on the first boss again lol. I was doing some digging on the forums and found two totally different schools of thought which is just making my brain melt. One guide says you have to max out the Healing Over Time tree because it provides the best efficiency for long fights but then I saw this other pro player on YouTube saying that HoTs are garbage for this specific dungeon because the burst damage is too high and you need to prioritize Shielding and Instant Flash Heals instead.

My logic was that if I focus on the passive aura buffs I can just stay in the back and keep everyone buffed without worrying too much about my own mana management but then I started thinking about the utility skills. Like is it worth it to grab the Stun Resistance buff or is that just a waste of points if our tank is actually good at dodging? I also read that Mana Restoration is the best skill for support agents but some people say it doesnt scale well into the late game so I dont want to waste my points on something thatll be useless in a month.

I'm trying to figure out what actually feels the most impactful in a high-pressure situation because I only have a budget of about 200 gold to respec if I mess this up and I really dont want to have to grind more gold before the weekend. Do I go for the crowd control stuff to help the DPS or just stick to being a pure health battery? I keep going back and forth because every time I think I have a plan I read another comment saying X skill is a trap and now I'm just sitting here staring at my skill tree with way too many tabs open...

Dread_troa · Accepted Answer

In my experience, hots are a total trap for this raid. You need burst. Put those 45 points into Shielding and Instant Flash Heals because boss spikes are brutal. Skip Mana Restoration; it scales poorly and youll regret it later. To manage your rotations better, I recommend the Razer Naga Trinity Wired Gaming Mouse since the side buttons make instant casting way easier. Ive tried many setups, and active mitigation beats passive auras every single time.

Shawnanany · Answer

I ran the numbers on a similar build last month and found that players often ignore the math on Cleanse and Aura of Protection. In the second phase of that raid, the tick damage isnt actually what kills the group, its the 4-second silence debuff. If you arent specced into utility, your healing numbers wont matter because youll be locked out from casting anyway. I personally found that a 30/15 split between defensive auras and utility works best for mid-tier brackets. It is a decent option if you want to be impactful without the stress of perfect burst timing.

Aura of Protection: 15 points for flat 8 percent mitigation

Cleanse: 10 points for the silence phase

Enhanced Vigor: 20 points to boost dps health pools I manage my skill rotations on a SteelSeries Apex Pro TKL Mechanical Keyboard since the adjustable actuation helps hit cleanses faster. Tbh, a fast drive like the Samsung 970 EVO Plus 1TB NVMe M.2 SSD also helps with asset loads during boss transitions. Focus on utility and you will be fine...

qnguispqsw · Answer

Agreeing on the silence debuff, my squad wiped last night tho. Cleanse totally works for saving gold. Are you doing main tank healing or group utility?