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Death to All Freeps!

PvE is all well and good for gaining some quick Destiny Points, but come on. You know the only reason you're gathering those points is to gain new skills to employ in your continuing battle against the Freeps. Before we continue, let me stress one last time that you are *not* a tank. The Freeps have a distinct advantage over you and your fellow Creeps, so know your role and fulfill it well. Your primary role is that of a healer. If you want to be the highest DPS dealer out on the battlefield, or be able to soak up the most damage in epic scale PvP battles, you have absolutely picked the wrong class.

Search everywhere. You never know who will have a quest for you!

If you've ignored my advice and skipped all the PvE quests in an attempt to get right into the thick of things, I can't blame you. That's what PvMP is all about! But when you're first starting out, you're not that great of a healer, at least not in terms of spot heals. Both of your HoT spells can be cast on the same target (see the above PvE section) and you have a truly impressive amount of power to cast them with for quite some time. Far longer than most PvP battles last in any case, so feel free to cast away.

Fertile Slime is an insta-cast that heals for 173 Morale (health) initially, and then continues to tick away for 173 every 10 seconds for a full minute. Fungal Bloom is a two second cast spell that heals for 438 Morale initially and then heals for 173 Morale per tick, but does so every 5 seconds for a total of 30 seconds. Here's the big difference between the two and what makes it so important to you. If, and I do stress the word "if", you are in a bind, and your friendly target can't keep from getting beat down or giving the HoT's you've cast on them time to actually work, you can chain cast the two. It's not very efficient, but it's extremely useful in a pinch. With cooldown times, it means that every four seconds, you can heal your target for another 616 Morale. The only thing that allows this to be remotely viable is that enormous power pool of yours that I mentioned earlier.

After concentrating on healing your allies, feel free to hurl a few Fire Gourds at your enemies and giggle appropriately as they run around covered in flames for some added damage. If anyone gets into range, hit them over the head with Headbreaker for some instant damage and a chance to give them a small poison DoT. Don't become so caught up in damage dealing that you ignore a skill that may be virtually useless in PvE situations, but is critical in PvP: Curse of the Sticky Feet. At first, it will reduce the run speed of any target by 10%, making them easy targets for pursuing Creeps. As you grow in strength, you'll gain the ability to improve this Curse (among others) and add a fire mitigation reduction component to it.

Newfound Powers

The first thing you want to do when you gain some Destiny Points is to improve three of your passive abilities. Some will argue that you should improve your damage but I disagree. Did I mention you're not a tank? Damage dealing is not your primary concern and the first boost is only 1%, so ignore it until later in your career.

First up, increase your Avoidance. Not only will this allow you to avoid being hit quite so often, but as a result, your spells will be interrupted less. Uninterrupted spells are a priceless commodity no matter who you are, but especially as a healer. Next, increase your Armor skill. Everyone gets hit, so you may as well be able to withstand some of the damage you're going to invariably be in for. For the last passive skill, increase your Resistance. As with Avoidance, anything that assists in your quest to be interrupted as unoften as possible is a good thing.

After boosting those three initial passive skills, grab your first rez ability in the form of Fell Sacrifice. It can only be used out of combat and has a hellacious Morale and Power cost, but in case you hadn't figured it out by now, you're a healer. It may seem like more hassle than it's worth, but this can save large amounts of times for your fellow players, and thus you, so grab it as soon as you can.

As you progress through the ranks (by killing Freeps), you'll gain access to progressively more powerful skills. Your heals will improve not only in terms of effectiveness, but in casting times and cost as well. Further study of your Curses will grant you extraordinary abilities to aid your friends. Through the use of hallucinogenic spores, Curse of the Coward's Soul will send any enemies surrounding you scurrying off in a debilitating fear, allowing your fellow monsters to more easily deal with their current targets.

Your powers will continue to grow in ways you can barely imagine, so stick with it. Without a doubt, the early life of a Defiler is rife with hazards and death at every turn, but for those that persevere, they'll find the Defiler becomes a truly terrifying addition to any war party. Stripping resistances, shattering discipline, and decimating attribute points are just some of the skills the dedicated Defiler brings to the battlefield.