With 2.0 out for a while, I’ve come to love the Commando more than ever before. I’ve been a hard-core Gunnery spec Commando since Day 1, though I’ve healed many a Flashpoint and Operation when requested. That said, I always felt that the little heals and cleanse abilities we had were just cute little side bits, and while helpful in very specific situations, weren’t generally all that used. This has changed completely in 2.0
The reason this has all changed for me since 2.0 is tied specifically to 2 new abilities and 1 change: Kolto Bomb, Hold the Line, and the change to how Grav Round works.
Before I got into detail, let me preface all the below with the knowledge that casting heals clearly causes a drop in DPS, though less than most might think. If a group is right up against the enrage timer, than clearly one must go all out on DPS. This discussion is more for the FP and Ops groups that might have a new healer, an undergeared healer, or occasionally an Ops group that may have been limited in their class availability (aka no Sage healer).
With Kolto Bomb, as DPS we can now toss a significant AOE heal every 6 seconds. Thanks to it being cheap on ammo, and instant cast, it is useable virtually on every CD. While this is clearly not necessary 90% of the time, having the option is huge. And with the Grav Round armor debuff lasting 45 seconds and only needing one shot to apply, you don’t have to worry about screwing up your rotation, just tweak it a little (I usually just lose 1 Hammer Shot). In my mostly 69 gear, I can toss 2500-3500 heals (per person) on 3-4 people in a melee group surrounding a boss mob, or, I can hit myself and 1-2 ranged dps or healers with no problem at all. This makes life a lot easier on healers such as other Commando Combat Medics, who have excellent single target heals but are hurting on AOE abilities, or Sages who can only cast Salvation on 1 group. It also makes life easier on boss fights where you have to group up, such as the Annihalation Droid aoe damage phase or the Soa platform hopping fights in Eternity Vault, those extra heals can mean the difference between life and death quite often.
A very nice combo ability is the Shadow tanks Shadow’s Shelter ability. Anytime you see this ability put down by the Shadow Tank, try to stand in it. Any heal you cast is improved by 5%. I’ve actually had Kolto Bomb crit for 5k before (in full Gunnery spec). While this is not normal, a 5% bonus is still 150 bonus heals on hopefully 2-3 targets you’re hitting. Be aware however that this ground effect has an irritating downside: it is often impossible to see any little damage circles put down by a boss through the Shadow’s Shelter effects, so it’s worth standing at the edges.
I referenced Hold the Line as the 2nd new ability that caused me to adjust my play style. This ability means you can lock yourself down and not get hit by knockbacks and yanks. Because we can do this, we are able to toss out a Kolto Bomb or a quick Medical Probe/Advanced Medical Probe while the group healers are getting launched all over the place. This extra 2-3k heal can very often mean the difference between a wipe or a successful kill on a Flashpoint boss or large trash pull. Being that this ability can be extended to 10 full seconds via talent points means we don’t have to be exact on its timing, and still be safe. This skill also has additional utility, in that a Guardian Tank is able to Guardian Leap to you to avoid the big damage, then leap back to the boss.
The final advice I’d like to throw out there for all Gunnery Commandos is to keep Emergency Medical Probe keybound. Doing this has saved me more wipes in Flashpoints than I care to think about. When a tank dies, the healer quite often has to immediately spam heals on himself once the trash/boss focuses on them, meanwhile we can brez the tank, hit them with Kolto Bomb and a Tech Override/Advanced Medical Probe and immediately be back in business. Hitting Adrenaline Rush first is not a bad idea, as you might get some adds your way, and AR will keep you around 30% life while you do your other magic. In the event that a healer dies, you can bres the healer, and do the exact same sequence on the tank while waiting for the healer to accept the res.
My 8 man raid was having a little difficulty the other day with HM Infernal Council, we had a Sentinal that was having some problems downing the Marauder assigned to them. A fact that escaped me til now is the Sentinel may have had Guard tossed on them from a tank, as they generally take a bit of damage from any/all boss fights and this helps mitigate it. Would the Guard ability act as a 'heal' for the Guarded target (i.e. Sentinel) and thus give them the debuff inadvertantly? PS. Note, I also researched the Zen ability 'heal' effect today, which I understand may also have been a problem in that fight.