Questions about Healing Operatives

[Selais]

This makes more sense. Cheers. Thanks for the explanation too. I figured he was talking about Kolto Probe because even the GCD + cast time for KI almost makes up for the energy loss from casting it in the first place.

[Jasith]

Dude, SURGICAL probe. Not Kolto Probe.

 

Surgical Probe is a free insta-cast heal that you can cast directly after Kolto Injection because KI gives you a TA. Surgical Probe costs 1 TA.

 

You'll never EVER run out of energy if you use that combo. Try it, cast KI+SP and once the GCD is gone you'll be at 80-90 energy. Add the cast time for the next KI+SP and you'll be at 100% energy before the KI casts.

 

Am I really the only person that heals this way? KI+SP for everything and if it's a hard fight making some attempt to recast Kolto Probe every 18s for that extra bit of healing if I remember?

 

That _is_ Surgical Probe. KI costs 25 energy, if it was KP it'd bring the total cost up to 40 energy. Besides, why on earth would anyone recast KP after 2 seconds?

 

KI + SP will drain your energy if you keep spamming it.

 

Keep Kolto probe on everyone in 4 man runs. Assuming you're above the energy cutoff that costs you 24 (net) energy every ~15 secs. You regen during the GCD. That means that without having DS you can get off 1 or maybe 2 of those KI->SP casts in the remaining 9 seconds. If you cast more than that your energy take a dive below your efficient regen. I say 15 secs before recast to avoid losing the probes in case of nasty spikes or stuns. You can push it to 17 but that's risky.

 

Maths on that:

4xKP, 6 secs cast/GCD: 60 energy cost, 36 energy regen => -24

2xKI+SP, 7 sec cast: 50 energy cost, 42 energy regen => -8

 

I can't quite recall if SP triggers a GCD. I think it does so calculated it here, but won't swear to it. Now this gives you 2 secs to burn before refreshing the probes, you can throw out a KI and drain another effective 13 energy, or you can DS and probably regen 2-4 energy with a wee bit of healing thrown in for free.

 

Also keep in mind that there's some talk that the energy regen is actually a bit more distinct than the UI seems to hint at. I've heard it said that the thresholds are actually

80-100: 5 energy/sec

60-80: 4.5 energy/sec

40-60: 4 energy/sec

20-40: 3.5 energy/sec

0-20: 3 energy/sec

 

For Stimpack you just add 1 energy/sec to that. If that's true you most assuredly run out of energy with your rotation, with some care you can stay in the 5/sec regen at all times with the KP only. Of course even then you'll need the occasional dip below 80%, but DS can regen that for you.

Edited January 5, 2012 by Jasith

[Selais]

Well, again, all I can say is I'm posting my experience. I did 5 daily instances last night (battle for ilum, false emperor, foundry, directive 7, boarding party) as sole healer and unless I was tossing the odd KP I was using that as my base. I'm 100% sure that KI+SP wasn't draining energy. Even spamming it, but realistically it isn't spammed every second anyway. The GCD+cast time of the next KI+SP topped the energy back to full. My KI cast time is ~1.9 or so.

[alanisUDL]

Maths on that:

4xKP, 6 secs cast/GCD: 60 energy cost, 36 energy regen => -24

2xKI+SP, 7 sec cast: 50 energy cost, 42 energy regen => -8

 

I can't quite recall if SP triggers a GCD. I think it does so calculated it here, but won't swear to it. Now this gives you 2 secs to burn before refreshing the probes, you can throw out a KI and drain another effective 13 energy, or you can DS and probably regen 2-4 energy with a wee bit of healing thrown in for free.

 

Also keep in mind that there's some talk that the energy regen is actually a bit more distinct than the UI seems to hint at. I've heard it said that the thresholds are actually

80-100: 5 energy/sec

60-80: 4.5 energy/sec

40-60: 4 energy/sec

20-40: 3.5 energy/sec

0-20: 3 energy/sec

 

 

A few things:

 

1. If your going to comment on mechanics, you should know definitively that SP triggers the GCD.

 

2. The energy amounts you listed was from beta. You get the full 5 energy/sec above 60 energy.

 

3. When you are doing the math of 2xKI/2xSI for a total of -8, you overlook that in the 2s that it takes to cast your next KI, you regain that 8 energy and are back at 100.

[DrekorSilverfang]

You have ~3.5s of regen between each KI/SP rotation which allows you to regen ~21 energy leaving you only 4 short which can easily made up by using a TA proc from medical engineering on another SP.

[Sinemetu]

That's exactly what I'm saying. Not just the tank but enough to keep everyone else topped off as well. I linked my skill tree to show that I stacked crit as I firmly believe that being able to keep everyone topped up is down to my crit/surge spec.

 

The guy a few posts above me was talking about healing hard modes so I figured I'd put my 2cents in.

 

Not sure what you mean 'every so often' with surgical probe. Injection and surgical probe are always used together. I cast Injection to get a TA and that gets instantly used on SP, literally .1second after KI lands and the TA pops (the 2 heals land together, not cast injection > wait for timer > cast probe). Are you using it differently? If they crit that's 5-6k for the injection and 2.5-3k for the SP, and I get a lot of crits.

 

Except that you picked up *fewer* bonuses to crit than I did (2/3 accomplished doctor), I'm not sure how the build you linked demonstrates a crit/surge spec.

 

I misspoke with surgical probe. I was thinking in terms of using it more frequently when you get a proc from kolto probes.

[Fubbik]

You have ~3.5s of regen between each KI/SP rotation which allows you to regen ~21 energy leaving you only 4 short which can easily made up by using a TA proc from medical engineering on another SP.

 

^^ This

 

With KP rolling you get a TA proc every 4.5s or so (correct me if I am wrong here). The GCD triggered from that extra SP makes you regen 9 energy during it. 3 "batches" of KI+SP costs 12 energy net, triggering two extra SPs from procs, regaining 18 energy, for a net gain of 6 energy, which just happens to be the net cost for KP. Total time for all these effects is 15s (3*3,5 + 3*1,5) which means you can easily keep the KP stack up timewise. Add in the extra TA procs not accounted for, for stim pack or extra SPs, and you should see that it's no problem going on forever with this rotation, just as was posted earlier.

 

As long as you start your first KI at 73 energy or higher, you will most likely be gaining energy as you go.

 

This is all in theory of course. Factors such as latency, interrupts and targeting would just mean you gained more energy. Randomness of TA procs are well within the boundaries for not affecting the end result by much.

[Sinemetu]

^^ This

 

With KP rolling you get a TA proc every 4.5s or so (correct me if I am wrong here). The GCD triggered from that extra SP makes you regen 9 energy during it. 3 "batches" of KI+SP costs 12 energy net, triggering two extra SPs from procs, regaining 18 energy, for a net gain of 6 energy, which just happens to be the net cost for KP. Total time for all these effects is 15s (3*3,5 + 3*1,5) which means you can easily keep the KP stack up timewise. Add in the extra TA procs not accounted for, for stim pack or extra SPs, and you should see that it's no problem going on forever with this rotation, just as was posted earlier.

 

As long as you start your first KI at 73 energy or higher, you will most likely be gaining energy as you go.

 

This is all in theory of course. Factors such as latency, interrupts and targeting would just mean you gained more energy. Randomness of TA procs are well within the boundaries for not affecting the end result by much.

 

It sounds good, but in practice it just doesn't work out like that for me. Maybe it's my alacrity, maybe I just suck, but every time I try rolling KPs on more than two or three targets, I bleed energy.

[Xanrag]

I do a mix of PVP and Hardmode flashpoints, we don't have enough bodies at 50 in the guild yet to do operations.

 

I use the following setup: http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#401MffMzhMRzZZhrbkrM.1

 

The AOE heal just seems too underpowered, I can see how it might be more useful in operations but even then it is pretty meh compared to a sorcerer so I am putting everything into what the IA seems to be good for, single target heals.

 

I did try out having DS talented but the gain is just so low I could just as well use Rifle Shot on the enemy to regen energy instead. Instead I chose to get Combat Stims and Lethal Purpose to get more energy when needed.

 

The Lethality tree seems to work better with healing than the Concealement in my opinion and it isn't half-bad for PVP either. I always throw a lot of darts and corrosive grenades.

 

Hmm, now that I think about it Precision Instruments might be better than Evasive Imperative, but EI helps me run away better in PVP when I get grouped up on. I didn't pick Sedatives because I like to sleep dart my way through world heroics solo.

[metalblaster]

Im a lvl 50 PvE and PvP healer, Ive run a bunch of Ops up to 16 man Hm on EV and 8 man EV nightmare. Most of the people before me are correct. There really isn't a rotation. The brand of healing I like to use most often is called "Triage healing". I prioritize my direct heals, (Kolto Injection, Surgical probe over stacking kolto probes) on tanks and people tanking immediate damage and I prioritize my HoTs over direct heals (kolto probe then a Surgical probe when I can) on people who just took AOE or moderate damage and lost threat. By doing this I can maximize the amount of energy I have as well as the amount of TA points I rake in while not wasting a heal for when I need it in a crisis situation. For example, I see a DPS or healer in an Op take heavy damage from an special boss skill, ill quickly intervene with a priority of something like this: If his HP is below 30% surgical probe spam, if his HP is just above 30% kolto inject and surgical probe, maybe a kolto probe as well if I can fit it in. If he took about 50% damage from the one attack, ill heal him to full using whatever is least costly at the time and double up on Kolto probes as well as keep an eye on him while I go about healing the other people in the raid/op group so as not to miss if he gets blasted again.

 

A rotation is bad simply because you cant adapt to the current situation that you are in. Id try other things and find a style that you like and feel is the most effective for you. Triage can be a dangerous way of healing if you don't know the content, but if you do, it can mean great rewards and interesting healing.

[Obbu]

The AOE heal just seems too underpowered, I can see how it might be more useful in operations but even then it is pretty meh compared to a sorcerer so I am putting everything into what the IA seems to be good for, single target heals.

 

RN favours gameplay mechanics that involve stacking, and since huttball tends to encourage a more spread out play style (due to the way you can sprint/charge/intercede with the ball) it tends to make RN look a lot worse.

 

In VS/ALD you tend to stack the node a bit more, in general - and thus can get a lot more mileage out of RN.

 

Its very helpful in those circumstances - since we are so easy to lock down via interrupt, if your opponents are competent, the ability to hot 4 people in 1 gcd while you are locked out of direct heals can be invaluable.

Edited January 16, 2012 by Obbu

[Dwogger]

So, can anyone tell me the build for leveling in med. spec? Needs leveling, flashpoints, solo and heroic quests. No pvp I believe.

And 1 more: is it generally a good idea to level in heal spec?

[Selais]

So, can anyone tell me the build for leveling in med. spec? Needs leveling, flashpoints, solo and heroic quests. No pvp I believe.

And 1 more: is it generally a good idea to level in heal spec?

 

How about you play the game yourself and stop trying to avoid learning your class by getting other people to do it for you?

 

Want to be a good healer? Go play and stop asking questions like this. You'll learn everything you need to know to adapt the class to your playstyle. That's the entire point of having a skilltree based char build.