It is a huge heal, but I like having the three heal SOs in it anyway, in case I need to heal a Tank in a hurry (say, during an AV fight, or in PvP). They're certainly not high priority slots, though - slot it whenever you can afford to.
In PvP you need Heal and Range as a priority.
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In PvP you need Heal and Range as a priority.
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Range always nice to have too 
thePhilosopher Martial Arts/Regen/Fire Scrapper
theRegulator Empathy/Energy/Soul Defender
Total Inertia Ice Blast/Kinetics/Psy Corruptor
Total Inferno Ice Blast/Thermal/Leviathan Corruptor
I have 3 heals, and 1 or 2 rech.
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In PvP you need Heal and Range as a priority.
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Range always nice to have too
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You mean Recharge, right? 
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In PvP you need Heal and Range as a priority.
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Range always nice to have too
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You mean Recharge, right?
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3 hea 2 rec 1 range ftw
thePhilosopher Martial Arts/Regen/Fire Scrapper
theRegulator Empathy/Energy/Soul Defender
Total Inertia Ice Blast/Kinetics/Psy Corruptor
Total Inferno Ice Blast/Thermal/Leviathan Corruptor
Not quite sure how i have mine slotted from memory at the moment, but i would personally put the emphasis on just the heals and the range, seems to recharge fine as default. I would use it however as i'm sure you have read and know... as an emergency measure!,
It leaves you vunerable and unable to heal yourself with either Heal Aura or Health Inspirations!, you really dont want to be in the thick of things after using AB pain too much.
Stay on the circumference of the battle within helping distance until the negative effects have worn off for you to get back in there.
It only takes one or two lucky strikes for them to break the Empath as the weak link in such a situation and start the slow but inevitable team wipe.
Oh, just so you know Kin, if Regen Aura is up (and active, IE, you've dropped it) the +Regen negates AP's -Heal, so you can spam it all ye want.
I like to have a range in AP as well as it allows me to stay away from the tanker who may be getting a lot of AoE attention.
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Oh, just so you know Kin, if Regen Aura is up (and active, IE, you've dropped it) the +Regen negates AP's -Heal, so you can spam it all ye want.
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Not quite negates; you still can't take any "forced" healing while AP's -Heal is up.
Natural health recovery still takes place, though, and if this happens to be boosted by RegA, etc... you still get the benefit of that boost through the -Heal.
Which I'm sure is what you meant. 
Aye.
A long long while ago, in a City not so far far away, I had a mind/emp controller - he was my second char in CoH. It was the first time I'd gone empathy in any build and I took AP.
In the early lvls I loved the power. Sure, it put me at risk for a short time, but I managed that in other ways, and the large amount of heal I could deliver made it worth while.
As my troller got into the mid/late teens/early 20s, I remember begining to worry. The in-game description made Heal Other sound far less useful than AP, so I'd not taken it (a big mistake). This ment AP was my only ranged heal and I found myself in situations where it was my only choice for a tank or other team member under heavy aggro.
Of course, I learned that laying down AP on somebody taking damage at a high rate was often a rather bad idea. The damage kept coming and having used AP ment I couldn't heal them again for a short while. You know what happens next.
Last night I tanked an Atta on invincible with mostly purple bosses. The team's empath defender did a good job on helping me with the alphas. I noticed from the buff icons she was using AP quite often.
Initially this worried me. If I took a serious alpha and a badly timed AP, I would definitely faceplant. This didn't happen. As the mish went on, I tried to spot when she had used AP on me and whether or not I was rendered unhealable for a short time. It seemed to me that I wasn't affected in this way.
Has AP changed in the last couple of issues? I don't remember reading any release notes, though my mind troller was last used back in I6 and I took a short break after that so may have missed announcements. How exactly do the debuffs work on AP now?
If indeed the target -Heal debuff is no longer in effect, have they provided another consequence? Less heal, more recharge etc?
If the target debuff is no longer in effect, this makes me wonder about taking AP on my earth/emp, who uses HA and HO. There are some occasions where I can't heal the tank fast enough for example. I wonder if taking AP would improve my support as an /empath.
Then again, my earth/emp is lvl35 and at higher lvls it feels like buffs are more of my role than heals. Do you think AP is a worthwhile choice at this late stage in addition to HO and HA?
Thanks, and apologies for long post. I've got some boring work to do and I'm procrastinating.
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If indeed the target -Heal debuff is no longer in effect, have they provided another consequence? Less heal, more recharge etc?
[/ QUOTE ]There never was a -heal on target in AP. It is the caster that cannot be healed after using the power, not the target.
Hmm. Coming from you, I'm forced to believe that statement, but my memory feels strongly compelled to disagree. How odd. I could have sworn back in I6 I had problems following up an AP with HA. Hmm.
Ok, assuming the current situation, what do you think of my other questions?
Max is, of course, correct. The -heal is on the caster, not on the target.
As for Absorb pain, I must admit, my empath has never had it, but I haven't played my Empath seriously since before ED. I looked at her slotting the other day during a brief and rare play session with her, she still has 4-6 slotted heals, 6 slotted stamina and 6 slotted Hasten.
AP can be a lifesaver to many people, especially blasters during AV/EB/GM fights and it can really save a tanker in trouble. it's knowing when you can use it, or if you're just putting off the inevitable TTW (total team wipe). There are situatyions where even an Empath can't save the team, and it's no use you using it, only to be in trouble yourself during the fight.
Defiant 50's
Many and varied!
@Miss Chief
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Hmm. Coming from you, I'm forced to believe that statement, but my memory feels strongly compelled to disagree. How odd. I could have sworn back in I6 I had problems following up an AP with HA. Hmm.
Ok, assuming the current situation, what do you think of my other questions?
[/ QUOTE ]My main is an empath, I've had him since EU beta (And I3 on live), and had AP since L4, so I'm fairly sure about it never having had -heal on target
It will definitely add to your healing, it can properly slotted bring a DP'd tank from red to green HP, and it recharges fairly quick with 1 RecRdx and hasten. On a defender I'd say it's a must-have, on a controller it depends on whether you want to focus on empathy or your primary. However, you should still always pick HO before AP.
my 2 inf,
AP should be used only in emergency as a life-saver power, as it can really turn the tide on your side when the red bars start to appear.
If the tank is getting it right then this power will, along with heal other become your 'bread and butter' towards the end of the game (along with buffs of course). Almost to the point where I found that I hardly ever used healing aura any more. If you are doing very little damage (i.e. have concentrated on mostly primary and pool powers as I did) then this power can be used safely and often - if someone needs healing (say from half hit points) and heal other isnt recharged then you should have no qualms in using this power - very useful power.
As for slotting (and due to the fact that I used it loads), I put 3 heals and 2or3 recharge on it (depending on respec).
If you want to test how good the heals are in it then just let them go red and deside what suits you best.
Thanks everyone for the replies. It has taken me a while to find my way back here, but the responses are greatly appreciated.
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On a defender I'd say it's a must-have, on a controller it depends on whether you want to focus on empathy or your primary.
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Well, I'm currently lvl36 so I've already taken all the primaries I want, and unless something changes in a big way I won't be adding any slots to them. If I respec'd AP into my build it would most probably be at the expense of Animate Poo, which is currently 3 slotted and which I've been considering dropping for a while.
Decided to give an empath a try but not sure how to slot AP.
I was originally planning on 3 recharge, 3 health but after playing with it for a while, it seems to heal all damage in the circumstances I've used it so not sure if the health SO's are needed?
Any feedback on favoured slotting would be appreciated