BH Healing for PVE

[Ertei]

The stat priorities seem awful. Power scales abysmally for heals and the value of alacrity is depressed given our short casting times and 9% from talents. While power would be the best, all things being equal, since power actually translates into such a small increase in bonus healing as far as I can tell, mathematically, crit (and then surge) are the greatest boosts to healing throughput.

 

That's not to say that power is bad or should be avoided, but the coefficient for healing is so terrible, that it just doesn't measure up to crit (and eventually surge at a sufficient level of crit).

[Chorusgirl]

The stat priorities seem awful. Power scales abysmally for heals and the value of alacrity is depressed given our short casting times and 9% from talents. While power would be the best, all things being equal, since power actually translates into such a small increase in bonus healing as far as I can tell, mathematically, crit (and then surge) are the greatest boosts to healing throughput.

 

That's not to say that power is bad or should be avoided, but the coefficient for healing is so terrible, that it just doesn't measure up to crit (and eventually surge at a sufficient level of crit).

 

I'd like to see your math on this since most our gear is Power/Alacrity. If you have the figures to support what you say I wanna see :-D

[Ertei]

I'd like to see your math on this since most our gear is Power/Alacrity. If you have the figures to support what you say I wanna see :-D

 

Actually, most of our gear is crit/surge. Take a look at the badge gear from corellia, other than the subpar chestpiece which is power/alacrity, the rest is crit/surge. A wonderful spread of the weights for stats was done here (not mine, but no reason to redo work that was already well done):

 

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=70055

 

The relevant issue is that power is ~6 points to a single bonus healing, whereas crit is 23.75 points to a full percentage point. Even if you have 0 surge on your gear, a percentage of crit is a 0.65% increase in your healing throughput. Since power and crit come in roughly equal amounts on gear, you are trading 1 point of bonus healing for (0.65/4) or .16% healing. Given that, at 50, my rapid scan hits for roughly 2.3k and a less than 2 second casting time (before critical reaction) I'm getting roughly 2 hitpoints per second from the crit compared to 1 hp/sec from the same amount of power.

 

And surge scales even better at 5.8 points per percentage. Which in turn makes both it and crit even stronger.

 

Power is far better for dps since it scales far better for dps.

 

Again, it's not a bad stat, it's just worse for throughput than crit/surge. Don't avoid it, but pick crit/surge over that.

 

Edit: On a side note, I feel like there is some danger in overvaluing surge compared to crit (as the more you have of one, the better more of the other is) but we'll see. I kind of feel like surge might scale too well which really just makes healing this slot machine of crappy non-crits and then explosive crits for double or more of the non-crit value.

Edited January 4, 2012 by Ertei

[Chorusgirl]

Actually, most of our gear is crit/surge. Take a look at the badge gear from corellia, other than the subpar chestpiece which is power/alacrity, the rest is crit/surge.

 

If you look at our Tionese, Columi and Rakata vendor - 3/5 or our set pieces are Power/Alacrity. The helm and gloves have crit surge. Can't really say that leveling gear(planet comendation) is the same as the stuff you get in end game. If anything it seems we'll want a well rounded gear set (if bioware set up our gear correctly).

 

 

As for the stat weights - This guy took his percentages and divided it by the crit from his own gear, I do the same thing and get 19 crit = 1% and if I remove my glove 25 crit = 1%. There's more to the stat weights than what is listed in the post that you linked since his XX = 1% should hold true across the board if they were correct. It seems that there is more involved than just a straight-line calculation. I sit at 30% crit unbuffed and this doesn't include the 3% crit from combat cylinder (not sure if it's a tooltip bug) then you get 5% crit from the agent buff and I should be at 38% crit without really trying to gear for it (197 rating total).

 

Also the bonus we receive from each ability is a different percentage. I just compared my own heals before I got full columi gear and the crit bonus was as follows (after about 30 or so of each heal) RS - 40% more over normal heals, ES was 65%, HS was 75% and KM was 90%. I have 144 surge, from Columi Helm and Gloves.

 

If you would like to compare some figures I'd be more than happy to. If you want to list your total stats (aim, crit, surge, alacrity, power and percentages) and do like 50 heals and record each one (of say rapid scan) that would help us all figure it out. I'll be doing this at some point when I have a couple hours to dedicate to frapsing and typing it all in a spreedsheet. Till then or someone else has the correct code for calculating our healing via a viable forumla I'm going to assume that the gear that bioware supplies us through tier tokens is the best stats for us.

 

If anyone has some info about this, a link to someone listing the calculations or recommended weighted %s please let me know, I would love to take a look.

 

and lastly WTB combat log/damage meter plzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[TroglodyteJB]

My gut is that, given the +15% crit damage from Warden, we're intended to want crit and surge over power, but with wholly undocumented diminishing returns (and unsettlingly inconsistent crit multipliers across our heals, from the few datapoints I've seen), it's a pretty open question.

 

What's bizarre is that Alacrity is really much more necessary in PvP than PvE, and yet it's on gear with Power, which is a more reliable PvE stat. I'm very confused by our itemization, to be honest.

[Wintor]

Thanks for this post. Lots of good info. Saved for future reference. Should be a sticky.

[Chorusgirl]

My gut is that, given the +15% crit damage from Warden, we're intended to want crit and surge over power, but with wholly undocumented diminishing returns (and unsettlingly inconsistent crit multipliers across our heals, from the few datapoints I've seen), it's a pretty open question.

 

What's bizarre is that Alacrity is really much more necessary in PvP than PvE, and yet it's on gear with Power, which is a more reliable PvE stat. I'm very confused by our itemization, to be honest.

 

It does seem pretty confusing now. I'm hoping for someone to find the calculations for our heals and possibly throw it up in a spreadsheet. I've never really datamined that kinda stuff before. I know the DPS mercs in my guild are going by a ideal percentage before stacking something else. Most likely it will be something similar for Healing ie. going for XX% Crit, XXX Power, etc. At the moment I'm kinda rolling with the tier gear that the game says is for merc healing and waiting for combat logs to be implemented.

[Rhunsun]

Great Merc PVE healing guide! Just hit 50 last night and will be my guild's bodyguard for FPs. Thanks for a good read!

[givemetacos]

thanks for taking the time to make that awesome guide.

[Chorusgirl]

Great Merc PVE healing guide! Just hit 50 last night and will be my guild's bodyguard for FPs. Thanks for a good read!

 

 

thanks for taking the time to make that awesome guide.

 

 

Thanks to you both, I'm glad people are finding it useful.

[Gyromite]

I'm not sure if this has been mentioned yet but in your guide you mention two times that it requires 30 rapid shots to fill your cylinder. In reality it only takes 10 rapid shots because they provide 3 stacks per shot. So it should be 10 rapid shots, 5 rapid scans or any combination of the two at a rate of 1:2;Scan:Shot.

 

Listed as follows.

 

5 Rapid Scans, 0 Rapid Shots

4 Rapid Scans, 2 Rapid Shots

3 Rapid Scans, 4 Rapid Shots

2 Rapid Scans, 6 Rapid Shots

1 Rapid Scans, 8 Rapid Shots

0 Rapid Scans, 10 Rapid Shots

[Chorusgirl]

I'm not sure if this has been mentioned yet but in your guide you mention two times that it requires 30 rapid shots to fill your cylinder. In reality it only takes 10 rapid shots because they provide 3 stacks per shot. So it should be 10 rapid shots, 5 rapid scans or any combination of the two at a rate of 1:2;Scan:Shot.

 

Listed as follows.

 

5 Rapid Scans, 0 Rapid Shots

4 Rapid Scans, 2 Rapid Shots

3 Rapid Scans, 4 Rapid Shots

2 Rapid Scans, 6 Rapid Shots

1 Rapid Scans, 8 Rapid Shots

0 Rapid Scans, 10 Rapid Shots

 

 

Thanks for this, I forgot to update it after game launch. I added in your combinations to the OP and credited you for putting this together. Thanks a bunch :-D

[Gyromite]

Thanks for this, I forgot to update it after game launch. I added in your combinations to the OP and credited you for putting this together. Thanks a bunch :-D

 

Glad to help

[Chorusgirl]

Seems Kolto shell is still ticking more often than intended, not that I'm complaining :-D

[djinnerman]

Seems Kolto shell is still ticking more often than intended, not that I'm complaining :-D

 

It has been doing that it seems. I've been getting a couple heals out of a discharge. With you there, definitely not complaining. But I'm sure it is going to be relooked into in the future because of aggro problems and of course this little small extra proc we are getting out of it. It's rough that once the tank pulls a group and is hit, he is healed. Once that happens, some of the un-taunted mobs are already aggroed on you. That's something that is driving me up the wall :S Also, chaff flare doesn't seem to be working as intended (afaik)

 

Great tips btw!

Edited January 6, 2012 by djinnerman

[unicorNT]

It has been doing that it seems. I've been getting a couple heals out of a discharge. With you there, definitely not complaining. But I'm sure it is going to be relooked into in the future because of aggro problems and of course this little small extra proc we are getting out of it. It's rough that once the tank pulls a group and is hit, he is healed. Once that happens, some of the un-taunted mobs are already aggroed on you. That's something that is driving me up the wall :S Also, chaff flare doesn't seem to be working as intended (afaik)

 

Great tips btw!

 

This. Been driving me nuts, off EVERY trash mob. Dps hits whatever tank is, tank doesn't aoe, all other trash on me and i get killed stupidly fast.

[rheia]

I've learned to avoid using kolto shell on tank unless I know the fight is going to be very demanding on healing or if it's a boss that hits like a truck. I just pop it on myself most of the time nowadays, for exactly same funky aggro reason.

 

Chaff flare... I've not seen any noticable difference deploying it. Tried casting it close after beginning of the fight, or in the mid, or just before the stages that require some heavy spike healing... it can just be a social 'pretty lights' ability for all it does for me.

 

I keep it on my hotkeys, because it seems like it should be one of the good ones, but I've yet to see it make any difference.

[Nissin]

Mercs are very good tank heals and can do it indefinitely without any worry. Then have your other healer take care of the raid.

 

Usually I can sustain a rotation of Healing Scan > 2x Rapid Scans > filler forever.

Burst heal time I use combustible gas and use a kolto missile for the dmg reduction and pound out Healing Scans. Should be able to reapply the kolto missile shield before the gas buff wears off the graphic is bugged if you reapply but the buff is there.

[Osirous]

Subscribing.

 

Very interested to see how the math plays out with healing stats. I've been of the persuasion to think power is key, but I want to know more about its coefficient and any diminishing returns. I would rather stack power than crit, but if crit scales better I guess that would make sense why so many of our talents are crit based.

 

Also very curious to see some math on the usefulness of alacrity. I can't help but feel like its useless because too much alacrity will throw off our heat management rotations. We cast heat generating skills faster, but our dissipation rate doesn't increase. Unless alacrity can increase heat dissipation or we get some talent to give us a heat dissipation boost from crits or something (read: critical reaction change), I think there is def a cap on how much alacrity will provide any benefit.

[Ivaed]

Sticky please!

 

Awesome guide! Thanks for taking the time. I'm going full Bodyguard at 50 to heal FPs/Ops for my guild so these tips will come in handy.

Edited January 6, 2012 by Ivaed

[Chorusgirl]

Burst heal time I use combustible gas and use a kolto missile for the dmg reduction and pound out Healing Scans. Should be able to reapply the kolto missile shield before the gas buff wears off the graphic is bugged if you reapply but the buff is there.

 

I'm surprised how many people say that they spam Healing Scan when supercharged gas is active. Rapid Scan heals for a lot more and when you weave HS RS it's only 16 9 heat instead of 16 16.

 

 

For heavy Single Target healing:

 

Super Charged Gas | Healing Scan > Rapid Scan > Healing Scan > Rapid Scan > Healing Scan > Rapid Scan

 

The reason you don't spam healing scan is because rapid scan does about 40% more healing that Healing scan. Rotating the two will give cost you

16 heat > 9 heat > 16 heat > 9 heat >16 heat > 9 heat and will heal for 1900 > 2600 > 1900 > 2600 > 1900 > 2600

 

This will be a total heat cost of 75 and healing (assuming no crits) of 13500 which would be an efficiency of 180 HP/H

 

The way you had it costs 96 heat and only does 11400 healing assuming no crits which would be an efficiency of 118 HP/H

 

16 heat > 16 heat > 16 heat > 16 heat > 16 heat > 16 heat and would heal for 1900 > 1900 > 1900 > 1900 > 1900 > 1900

 

 

 

The first rotation shouldn't put you above 40 heat where as the second probably would in the 10 seconds SCG is active (assuming that you don't have our 4pc tier bonus)

 

If you're heart desires:

SCG | KM > HS > RS > HS > RS or something similar for the 10% DR. I feel like I lag way to much in operations and KM is buggy to cast with that lag and If i try to apply the DR buff to my tank I end up wasting half of my SCG c/d. But yea let me reiterate: spamming healing scan with supercharged gas up is inefficient

[Corodris]

The +10 percent healing buff from Kolto Missles is a significant buff for either a tank or a group, as well as the +10 percent armor from the talented Healing Scan. Does this guide assume another Bodyguard who can provide it, or does another class maintain those buffs in another, more efficient way?

 

Perhaps my assumptions are incorrect, but I believe the +10 percent healing is for all healers, which is a significant buff. A GCD every 15 seconds seems worthwhile, especially in a situation where another healer is also healing the tank. The armor buff from healing scan seems inevitably up as much as possibly, seeing as HS should be an every-cooldown use in a situation where a tank is consistently taking damage (during Supercharged Gas, I'd presume KM => HS => RS => HS = RS, etc, for maximum single-target throughput).

 

I know one repliant said that his/her Kolto Missles was buggy. I have not found this to be the case, but if this is more common than I know, this may be a valid prohibitor.

[TempestasSilva]

I'm surprised how many people say that they spam Healing Scan when supercharged gas is active. Rapid Scan heals for a lot more and when you weave HS RS it's only 16 9 heat instead of 16 16.

 

 

For heavy Single Target healing:

 

Super Charged Gas | Healing Scan > Rapid Scan > Healing Scan > Rapid Scan > Healing Scan > Rapid Scan

 

 

Totally agree- for single target as you stated. However if you are healing multiple targets taking AOE damage, you may want to just spam HS because of the HoT and armor increase. Combine those with the shield and increased healing from a KM and thats a lot of synergy when hitting people in a round robin sort of way.

Edited January 6, 2012 by TempestasSilva

[Chorusgirl]

Totally agree- for single target as you stated. However if you are healing multiple targets taking AOE damage, you may want to just spam HS because of the HoT and armor increase. Combine those with the shield and increased healing from a KM and thats a lot of synergy when hitting people in a round robin sort of way.

 

Even the HS with it's hot is less healing that Rapid Scan. The increased armor is negligible in most cases and the amount of healing you do by weaving the two spells is a lot better IMO than just spamming a lower output spell with a higher heat cost. When I cast HS on myself it only increase my damage reduction (from the armor buff) from 29% to 31%. so it's either that for 9 sec or an extra 700 hp in a heal. Half the people will get the buff and hot if you're weaving it so you can priorities that to people with lower hp during aoe but I still think weaving the two spells allows you to be much more effective in operations.

 

The 10% dr only effects the targets that get healed by kolto missiles so at most 3 people will be effected per cast. Kinda wish it would effect everyone in the cloud from the missile but that visual effect seems to be more for drama than for a place that people can stand.

[Chorusgirl]

The +10 percent healing buff from Kolto Missles is a significant buff for either a tank or a group, as well as the +10 percent armor from the talented Healing Scan. Does this guide assume another Bodyguard who can provide it, or does another class maintain those buffs in another, more efficient way?

 

The kolto healing buff is 5% healing recieved on the target effected(healed by) kolto missiles and Kolto Residue. The 10% healing increase is what you get personally while SCG is active, so I guess it would be an effective 15% increased healing that you would do to your tank during that duration of your c/d.

 

BH and Sorc have a 10% armor increase from one of their heals. But only BH's have the 10% damage reduction effects (from SCG/Kolto Missiles).