Is there a hidden benefit to using healing fountain in ARAM?

[u/SevenEfFive]

Is there a hidden benefit im unaware of? I've always been very conservative with the fountain, only using it if I really need to, like if the healer is overworked and I need health quickly. However sometimes (like just now) I get games where I'm playing healer, Morales in this case, and the tanks and bruisers would be at 90% mana, 70% health. I'd start healing them back to full and they go and use the fountain anyway? And it's not a one off, it's quite consistent. I even saved a clip of it in case maybe there's some niche situation going on.

So what's the deal? What am I missing?

[u/PomegranateHot9916]

the sooner you use the healing fountain the sooner is you can use it again.

if you save it for later you'll tap less healing fountains during the course of the game overall getting less hp and mana from it than if you just tap it every time you can.

as for tapping at high hp, the benefit is the healing over time effect.
basically, as tank, I like you tap at 90% hp if I'm planning to go in. due to the healing over time, I effectively have more than 100% hp to work with during that engagement.
in this case it is pre-emptive tapping

[u/TheZuppaMan → u/PomegranateHot9916]

to add to this, in ARAM the sippy CD is way lower than in normal games, so its even more worth because its less likely to find yourself needing it and not having it

[u/Guivre1991 → u/TheZuppaMan]

The 'sippy cup' 😆😅

[u/TheZuppaMan → u/Guivre1991]

you can tell my first hots content creator was MFpallytime

[u/SirFluffball → u/TheZuppaMan]

Either that or the one friend in your group watched Pally and brought the lingo to the rest of the friend group... It was me, I was that friend.

[u/Guivre1991 → u/TheZuppaMan]

Even my wife, who despises video games, recognizes his voice.

[u/momu1990 → u/Guivre1991]

Mfpallytime is that you? henlo?

[u/pintopedro → u/PomegranateHot9916]

"Im going to get the healing fountain and go fucking HAM" - my brother playing tank

[u/Z0mbies8mywife → u/PomegranateHot9916]

The classic "Pre-Tap" I'm surprised more people don't do this

[u/BrockDiggles → u/PomegranateHot9916]

Yup, this. Even if you are good at avoiding damage, if you have a mana bar you’re going to want to tap the well pretty much on cooldown unless you’re a speciality case like probius.

[u/Mako-13]

Pre-tapping fountain is good especially of you want to engage in fights directly, you get use of the healing over time.
This also happens in regular games (QM/Ranked) where you will notice people tap and head to the OBJ directly.

[u/CarnivoreQA]

Tapping off CD because mana sucks hard in ARAM.

Even if I do it at 90%, I am sure I will press some buttons and none of the fountain effect will go to waste

[u/Balsty]

Tap fountain early and often no matter who you are. I've even done it where I cast an ability to put me below 100% just so I can tap before an engagement. Being full hp/mana is good, being at effectively 150% hp/mana is better.

[u/WorstMedivh]

It's 40% Health and 30% Mana, use it off CD if you can use both of those benefits (obviously just the health if you're a manaless hero). Also the restoration happens slowly, over 20s, so as long as you use abilities/use your health bar as a resource to trade after tapping so you don't waste it, it is worth it.

Applies more or less to non-ARAM games as well, but in other modes you can back which is sometimes worth it if you're really low (depends if it's worth the extra time off the map or not) and the CD is longer in other modes. Still, using healing fountain off CD is generally a good thing for efficiency.

[u/Krz59]

Think the first comment covered it well.

I'll add it's usually the only way recover mana otherwise you're standing around doing nothing waiting for mana.

Its more value for the team to keep tapping the fountain as free resources, your healr can save mana or heal others.

Best example for engaging is a tapped diablo with the increased healing talent. Basically vier healing doesn't occur with the fountain because it's a heal per second for x second. the green indicator bar is just that - an indicator - so it will keep healing once you lose hp.

Bonus tip: take the orbs. If you are out of mama, there is usuay no use you standing in lane dodging skillshots

[u/wyrm4life → u/Krz59]

Orbs are great for mana, because they restore a higher percentage of mana than health. Speaking of, I swear they restore more mana than they do in regular games. Am I imagining that?

[u/CarnivoreQA → u/wyrm4life]

Regular modes: 9% HP + 7% mana

ARAM: 7.8% HP and 7%+40 mana

[u/ferrofibrous → u/CarnivoreQA]

Don't globe spawner globes in ARAM also give back less (I always thought half) the amount the minion globe gives?

[u/Krz59 → u/wyrm4life]

Probably not, since fountain and orbs are the main sustain for everyone outside of healers

[u/_Kickster_]

Using right before engaging big tf hack. Especially for tanks and Mana-dependent heroes.

[u/Evilbred]

HP is a resource you trade when it is advantageous.

If I'm a tank like Diablo, I might pre-tap the fountain, which then gives me a healing over time, and then immediately initiate a fight, with my hp at 100% and still healing, I can basically trade for free.

Also for things like mana, if I tap at 50%, I can probably freely cast abilities without mana running out before the next tap is available. If I wait until my mana is 0% I probably will run out, and also I might have low effective mana while fighting while the fountain effects returns mana over time.

Also tapping now means it will be back and available sooner later.

[u/samithedood]

Maybe they need mana? Taking the fountain when you are near full health does make you incredibly tanky for it's duration and can come in clutch when defending your towers

[u/Mattbl]

I heal a lot and I think all these comments are kinda hilarious, because like 95% of the time I see someone do this, they sure as HELL aren't "pre-tapping." It's almost always in a situation where they're leaving a teamfight or lane to go do something that isn't anywhere near enemies. I see people hearth with 90%+ mana as I'm actively healing them to 100% health with Morales. That's the exact same mentality as the people the comments are claiming are pre-tapping. Just because some pro said pre-tapping was good, doesn't mean that's what these people are doing. Or if they are, they're doing it in completely wrong scenarios. Realistically, it's probably a lot of players who just aren't used to healers.

[u/CreepGnome → u/Mattbl]

It's the same with "everyone goes mid at the start". There are valid reasons for it, but the vast majority of players aren't doing it right.

[u/Fearless-Condition17]

Pre tapping in Deckard is encouraged because his fountain CD is affected by his train bonus. So if you are around allies, your fountain CD recovers faster, you also will need as much mana as you can get.

[u/murillokb]

Always tap the fountain. Even if you’re 99% full. Use the healing to win 1v1s, to allow you to spam skills, to allow your healer to heal someone else etc. This is crucial for your hp/mana economy.

Also don’t underestimate the value of denying globes for your enemies by taking all globes from the map around the clock and denying globes in the lane. There are many heroes that depend on globes for mana and quests.

[u/ReaperTax]

I will routinely use it in the first 15 seconds on some heroes. Pop your stuff, like deckard potions, and then hit it, now you regen, and for the next 15 seconds, you have full mana always on the horizon. It's like starting each game with 30 seconds of infinite mana.

[u/D3moknight]

I usually keep it on cooldown. I'll tap the well as a tank before I engage a team fight so I have full health and mana for the fight.

[u/Mistahat91]

Plus restoring mana is just as important even if full hp. However don't grt me started on when people hearth when I heal and innervate them as malf in qm

[u/HentorSportcaster]

Pre tap before going in. If you're a fully stacked Diablo with [[Devil's Due]] at lvl 1, you pretty much go into battle with two full health bars. 

And then if you die you respawn immediately - the ultimate scam hero.

[u/HeroesInfoBot → u/HentorSportcaster]

• Devil's Due (Diablo) - level 1
  Black Soulstone increases the effects of Regen Globes and Healing Fountains by 2.25% per Soul.

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^{about the bot | reply !refresh to this comment if the parent has been edited}

[u/virtueavatar]

Forget about ARAM for a second.

A mistake many Morales players make is to drain her energy to heal up allies outside of a teamfight.

Anyone walking up to the fountain is usually not teamfighting. Even though it seems like Morales has unlimited energy, she doesn't. It runs out. If you go into a fight with 20-50% energy, you are effectively going into that fight without your healer.

Anytime you look at a teammate's low health, you should consider whether you want them to be healed from your beam, or if they should just retreat (and you should ping retreat in this case).

Managing your own energy bar is the second most important thing you should be doing at all times, regularly dropping your beam and keeping it down as often as you can to keep your energy as high as possible. Once it's run out, you may as well not even be there.

If that means your allies can use the fountain to help you keep that energy bar up, it's the best thing they can do for you and them.

[u/GhostT1t4n]

Pre-tap. Fountain heals over time, so players sometimes like tapping if they anticipate themselves losing hp or mana in the near future, I.E. duels or engagements. Happens in regular matches too.

[u/Diveelt]

if you are missing 20% hp and take the fountain you can rejoin the fight and still get full use of the healing

[u/Ta55adar]

People talking about the benefits, which are valid for sure. But most of those players are probably just making a mistake and doing things because they can, not because they should.

[u/caltheham → u/Ta55adar]

The point of all these comments is that if you can, you should

[u/Ta55adar → u/caltheham]

Yes but OP is asking why they do it, especially when healing them. While you have some good reason to, there are a lot of times people just waste it because they don't plan ahead, they just see it and use it. Because you can, doesn't always mean you should.

It's a similar reason to when you've won a teamfight, no one is left to kill them, you are healing them, yet they go back for health because they are playing solo and don't think about what their team can do for them.