Original content created by community member: Mosby

Summary of tips from the beta forums, and other posts:

General

1. Official Lorebook Entry for Minstrels
2. Minstrels are the primary healers and rezzers. That doesn't mean it's our job to keep you at full morale; it means it's our job to make sure you don't get to zero morale.
3. If we aren't needed for significant damage, we split our time between healing and buffing. Our buffs are short-lived (usually 10 seconds, 20 with a trait) but are quite nice. Casting these buffs requires us to damage the target (from range), so our combat style is not like healers in other games. Also, casting these buffs requires chaining them in sequence (up to 4 in a sequence) with a very short time allowed between "tiers." Any interruption (to heal, to remove fear, to run around) makes us restart and delays that 45-second ICMR buff (a major party-saver) or that 10% fire resist that you might want up. We don't mind switching to heal (that's what we do), but interrupting our chain for a silly reason annoys us.
4. Even if the buffs aren't that important in this fight, we often try to keep cycling them to retain access to the higher-level ones if things go South. This means we aren't spamming heals on you when you don't need it and we are generating damage aggro. This is the price we all pay to have some of the better emergency abilities on tap.

Healing

1. We can only heal effectively with no mobs on us, and you should be scrambling to get them off us.
2. Healing requires line-of-sight. We can't heal effectively around corners, tents, buildings, etc. Remember, we have to be in line-of-sight of everyone in the group, not just you. We're generally going to be near (and behind) the tank. If you run out of line-of-sight, we have to stop healing everyone else just to get to you.
3. Although many minstrel songs can be played while moving, we can't heal while moving -- so stay close.
4. If we're out of power, be prepared to heal yourself.
5. Our heal types:
   1. Quick - Raise_the_Spirit: single target, quick to cast, but still interruptible. Heals roughly a quarter to almost half of the morale bar (464 at level 50). Has a 1 second recharge.
   2. Big - Bolster_Courage: single target, slower to cast and therefore very interruptible. Heals a third to over half (928 at level 50). No recharge.
   3. Instant - Chord_of_Salvation: not interruptible, heals about halfway between quick and big (667 at level 50), but has a 30 second cooldown. Received at level 38.
   4. Group - Inspire_Fellows: a little longer to cast, heals any members in range for the same as the quick heal (464 at level 50), 5 second cooldown. Lots of aggro. Also provides a 30 second reduction to ranged, tactical, and melee vulnerability, so some Minstrels try to keep that cast.
   5. Panic - Triumphant_Spirit: Instant, non-interruptible, and can be cast wile moving. This is the only heal we can cast while the fellowship is in motion. Received at level 30. Heals everyone in the party for a big heal and a quick heal combined (1392 at level 50). 15 minute cooldown. After casting this, the Minstrel is probably the main target of every mob around.
6. Morale regen buff (party) - Anthem_of_the_Free_Peoples: instant cast. However we need to chain three songs before we can use this.
7. In addition to reactive healing, Minstrels spend a lot of time bringing up defensive buffs on themselves and the party. This reduces the damage people take, making the healing job much easier.
8. Whenever we heal, if there are any 'loose' mobs (those not yet aggro'd), they will aggro on us. This happens a lot with archer mobs.
   1. Having a burglar or lore-master stun/mez an elite ranged mob (for example) while the fellowship deals with a linked elite melee mob is going to cause the archer to have free rein to take potshots at the healer after it wakes up.
   2. In some situations it's better to stun the melee mob and pull the ranged mob, even though that takes more discipline to get right. (The puller has to run out of the ranged mob's line of sight to get it to run towards the fellowship, and the rest of the fellowship has to hold its fire till the mob arrives in the right place. Alternatively, a burglar can Enrage the range mob to pull it.)
9. A Tier 7 relic will give you +5% incoming healing. Two of these (one in each legendary item) should likly be close to your first relic priority. +10% incoming healing makes a world of difference.

Resurrection

1. We get our rez skill at level 20.
2. We can't rez in combat (without a special high-level trait), so don't release just because we don't rez you right away.
3. Our in-combat rez (Rally) has a 25 minute cool-down (20 minutes with trait, down to ~15 minutes with a Legendary Weapon), so we only use it in emergencies. If you die, and the the party can survive the battle without your help, you're probably going to have to wait until combat is over.

Crowd Control

1. We can Fear an evil mob for 15 seconds. Don't chase after him; he will come back. A Feared mob will run directly away from the minstrel. This is a great way to move a mob, so he can be cc'd away from the group (where AoE effects won't wake him back up). If the Fear wears off when the mob is near other (non-aggro'd) mobs, they may aggro and join the battle. The range is small though, and the number of mobs may be limited. Damage will usually cancel the Fear effect, so avoid damaging him unless you are trying to pull him back.
2. With a trait equipped, our Cry skills can stun mobs. In War-Speech stance (our less-healing-more-hurting mode), this can easily be over a 70% chance per Piercing Cry (our main damage-dealing skill).
3. We can also lull undead to sleep for 30 seconds.
4. We can Distract a mob, which reduces his aggro radius significantly. This will let you pull the mob(s) next to it, without it noticing.

Damage

1. We can enter a stance called War-speech (our hands glow). While in this stance we can do a lot more damage than normal, including some very powerful AoE damage. However, our healing ability is cut in half.
2. You don't have to sacrifice DPS just because you have more than one minstrel in your group. Usually, one of us will be the primary healer, and the rest of us will go into War-speech stance.
3. We have some pretty nice buff skills, that buff the whole group. The less we need to heal, the more we can contribute to the overall dps of the group.
4. We have 3 different 'Tales' that buff different stats. Once cast, they continue to buff the whole group, though the other fellowship members must stay within a certain range of the minstrel. We can only use one at a time, but if you are lucky enough to have 3 minstrels in your group, we can each use a different one.

Miscellaneous

1. We have an ability called 'Song of Aid' (10-minute timer [8 with a trait] and lasts for 10 seconds) that enables every response ability for everyone in the fellowship.
2. Conjunctions are not easy for us. We always have to re-target, and we can't use red or yellow at range (due to change by 12/2010). Let us go last in the order, and let us contribute blue or green if possible.
3. We have a feign death skill that allows us to get out of combat for a little while (up to 30 seconds). If we get too much aggro, we can use this skill to allow other characters a chance to get the mob's attention. Unfortunately, we stay in combat (so we don't regen power quickly) while we are feigning, and of course we can't do anything else (like heal you) while we're out.
4. We can remove the Dread you get from dying, but only on party members, not on ourselves (until level 62), and it has a 30 minute cooldown. If you get Dread, ask to have it removed. Removing dread takes a long time to cast, however. Don't move until it's done (it takes a few seconds after it's cast for your dread to fully drop, so start moving when the Minstrel does). It is extremely common for someone to run out of range while casting the ability--don't be that person.
5. We can remove fear. Unlike the Captain's equivalent, ours has a moderate cooldown, so we can't spam it across the party or keep removing fear that gets re-applied often. Also keep in mind that we have to be very close to you to cure your fear. Please don't keep asking for fear removal if someone else needs it more or if we have just removed someone's fear. Let us know if the fear is important to you (not all fear effects matter to everyone) and we'll put you on our triage.

Sparrow's Rule of Thumb

Since my heal restores about 25-35% of your health, assuming you and I are around the same level, I would be wasting my power if I healed you every time you got hit and went down 4% of your health. I am going to wait until you're at least down 20% before I cast anything on you.

• If I'm bored -- I heal at 80% and otherwise spend my time spamming buffs and regenning my power
• If it's REALLY boring/easy -- assisting with attacks on any ranged mobs we have on us (not picking them off on my own - assisting whichever one someone has already started whacking!).
• If things are rough -- I try to heal at about 75%, conserving power the rest of the time.
• If 3 or more people are down by 10-15% -- I will do a group heal, which also adds the nice buff. If there are multiple mobs (especially at range) I may avoid using this skill due to the aggro it generates.
• If one person gets down to 60% health -- they get my immediate attention for one heal (I cast it and glance to make sure it "sticks").
• If they get down under 50% health -- they get my UNDIVIDED attention until I get them back up to 90%+, because that means they probably have multiple mob aggro on them (otherwise I would have caught them before they got down that far).

Betha's Before You Release

You don't get dread when you're revived by a minstrel or a captain. So if you die, and it looks to be a full group loss, make a few determinations before you decide to release:

1. Did the healer die?
2. If so, can the healer get back in time to rez you before you? Is the area clear of mobs?
3. If the healer needs an escort to get back, coordinate who that will be -- the minstrel can remove dread from just one person, until level 62 (with the SoM expansion, we now can remove dread on the whole group).