Combat Medic (Aggressive Healing Spec)

[Sylvaise]

Considering that the medic upper tier talents are severly lacking and in some cases, medical therapy, outright broken I personally found no reason to go further into the healer tree than 22 points. Given this I've been toying with a Combat Medic spec and have had some solid results in battlegrounds thusfar.

 

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#401rffMzh0ozZZhrrkMM.1

 

(2 free points to spend at your discretion)

 

I have personally had a lot of success with this build in pvp and pve both.

 

PvP

My average healing done per game has not fallen at all, but I am able to bring a lot of utility to voidstar and alderran, 21 second duration dots making capping points/bomb planting impossible, and have noticed a huge increase in energy regen. With improved stimboost giving 10 energy upon activation you can better manage the tiered energy regen. Additionally the improved adrenaline probe allows you to push harder with hps/dps and still be able to recover and much more often. In many games I'm able to get both the 300k damage and 300k healing medals, keeping in mind that I still primarily consider myself a healer and that is my #1 priority.

 

PvE

I haven't missed recuperative nanotech in the least and the increased energy regen and management tools from this hybrid have drastically helped me in healing intensive fights. The amount of energy generated over the course of this fight far exceeds that created by a standard 31 medic build and thus gives you the option of more hps or added dps. I have healed every hardmode with this spec with no problems and many of the operations in normal and hardmode with no problems as well.

 

TL;DR a hybrid healing spec for those of us who enjoy a frantic playstyle and don't miss top tier medic talents.

 

~Cheers from Birgette your friendly Imperial Medic on The Fatman

[Oghier]

I've been considering exactly that spec (and there's a tough decision whether to dump those last two points into Medical Therapy, once fixed, or Lethal Dose). How much damage do you manage in a typical Huttball match? Do you regularly get the 75k medal? And are you pugging or playing in a pre-made with a guard?

 

The increased energy return looks attractive for PvE as well as PvP, as you mention.

[FearNight]

Thanks for sharing. This build looks interesting. I'm thinking I would spend the last 2 on Lethal Dose since it would benefit Lethal Purpose so much.

 

I hate the thought of giving up Laceration, though.

Edited January 27, 2012 by FearNight

[Sylvaise]

I've been considering exactly that spec (and there's a tough decision whether to dump those last two points into Medical Therapy, once fixed, or Lethal Dose). How much damage do you manage in a typical Huttball match? Do you regularly get the 75k medal? And are you pugging or playing in a pre-made with a guard?

The increased energy return looks attractive for PvE as well as PvP, as you mention.

 

Personally, once fixed, I would put those points in medical therapy though currently I have them in lethal dose for the synergy with corrosive grenade, corrosive dart, and kolto probe and the energy regen from the dots.

 

I always get the 75k damage medal, and in some longer matches I can almost always get the 300k damage, in all the wfs unless I relegate myself to guard duty on alderran in which case its a craps shoot.

 

I PUG 100% of the time in PvP and though its frustrating at times its a lot of fun and I get to play with a ton of different people because The Fatman server is pretty populated.

 

Its a fun spec and it takes a little getting used to to balance your killer instinct with actually healing people but you'll find a good balance after a couple of games. There's always free time when people don't need to be healed that you can toss in some damage.

[BelphagorAD]

Looks promising- I've been less than impressed with the nanotech ability.

 

I'll give it a try tonight (won't have the extra 2 pts until I hit 50)-

but of the things left to train, what would work best with the rest?

 

Does the shortened cooldown from Vanish help enough to spend it there? In PvP I'm always wishing I could escape more often...

 

Thanks for pointing this out... I like extra energy to do things, this should help with that.

[Scarloch]

Thanks for sharing your experiences with this spec. I recently switched to a medic/concealment hybrid. It's okay, but it's very hard balancing healing vs. melee attacks. I think your medic/lethality hybrid offers better synergies.

[Phanatik]

I am enjoying the role of a combat medic...dont have all the points yet though (lvl 28).

 

In normal matches im around 120-200k damage and 110-160k healing.

 

Although I sense this play style would really lack against any organized pvp group.

[Pagy]

I'm too attached to accomplished doctor... but it means I have to burn pts in the broken medical therapy...

 

combat stims are soooo good. totally better tha RN imo

[alexishomer]

drop surgical probe and pick up cull.

[Pagy]

does lethal dose apply to hots?

 

that may be worth getting if so

[Arrys]

drop surgical probe and pick up cull.

 

I've been considering a cull build myself for when I decide to play my operative. Rolling HOT's of all kinds. More of an offhealing chaos build than the healing first concept here.

[Sylvaise]

does lethal dose apply to hots?

 

that may be worth getting if so

 

The tooltip is ambiguous, and I have not done any testing to make sure the %crit bonus applies to hots, but from reading the talent it should apply. I'll mess with it if I have a need to respec. If you're worried about it not applying the bonus there's a lot of places to put those 2 free points.

 

drop surgical probe and pick up cull.

 

In order to pick up cull, and make it usable by picking up the 2 points in energy reduction on cull, you'd have to put at least 23 into lethality. Though this is a hybrid healer spec my personal feeling on this spec is that it is more oriented to damage dealing rather than a dedicated healer spec. The combat medic spec I have in the OP is, at least in my opinion, more oriented as a straight healer spec, with some additional tools that give you some more options in PvP and some strong energy regen in both PvE and PvP. I feel that the only real bonus I lose from a traditional 31 medic spec is 30% crit bonus on kolto injection as I never really use kolto infusion because of its drawbacks and I hardly ever used recuperative nanotech even when I did have it specced.

[FearNight]

In order to pick up cull, and make it usable by picking up the 2 points in energy reduction on cull, you'd have to put at least 23 into lethality. Though this is a hybrid healer spec my personal feeling on this spec is that it is more oriented to damage dealing rather than a dedicated healer spec. The combat medic spec I have in the OP is, at least in my opinion, more oriented as a straight healer spec, with some additional tools that give you some more options in PvP and some strong energy regen in both PvE and PvP. I feel that the only real bonus I lose from a traditional 31 medic spec is 30% crit bonus on kolto injection as I never really use kolto infusion because of its drawbacks and I hardly ever used recuperative nanotech even when I did have it specced.

I'd also have some concerns with executing Cull, since it requires a Tactical Advantage. You would definitely need Medical Engineering and always have a Kolto Probe running, or else you would be dependent on Shiv. Any thoughts?

[Doki]

I've been thinging about doing saomething similar for a long time (my Heal tree looks like yours atm, but my remaining points are currently up the Conc tree). The only one though I wouldn't pass up on would be the tier 1 Conc Survival training talent -- as a PvP healer I spend TONS of time healing myself...

 

If PvP as well, I'd also consider moving the two points out of Lethal Purpose and into Vanish, as Vanish is a monster skill for those who PvP frequently and I don't really ever have energy issues (although they could be caused by Corrosive Grenade spam? Let me know). Adhesive corrosive looks great too for PvP -- I might dump my spare two points in there as well.

 

Lots of options -- sometimes I'm gland our 7-9 top teir medic points aren't necessary...

[Sylvaise]

I'd also consider moving the two points out of Lethal Purpose and into Vanish, as Vanish is a monster skill for those who PvP frequently and I don't really ever have energy issues (although they could be caused by Corrosive Grenade spam? Let me know). Adhesive corrosive looks great too for PvP -- I might dump my spare two points in there as well.

 

Lots of options -- sometimes I'm gland our 7-9 top teir medic points aren't necessary...

 

Vanish is a totally solid choice for the full time PvPer and honestly with evasion cleansing pretty much every debuff on use its invaluable at the evasion->cloaking screen scamper away that I have to do so often as a recognized healer. The shortened CC-break is amazing as well with so much CC being tossed around as well.

 

Corrosive grenade for me is really one of those finesse skills that I only use when I can hit more than one person, preferably three, I need to keep groups of people from capping an objective for awhile while I focus on healing, or i need more dps in those 1v1 situations when greedy dps come at us toe to toe. More often than not I corrosive dart people all the time in free time for several reasons:

• keeps stealth classes in combat or unable to cloak for 21 seconds
  
• keeps all classes unable to use their out of combat regen ability effectively
  
• keeps all classes from capping any point as dots interrupt capture channeling
  
• since corrosive dart ticks twice 1/4 of the time it has a good chance of actually being a net gain on energy for us with the talent points in lethality and the cost reduction in medic
  

 

I haven't tried the 30% snare on corrosive grenade yet, but to be honest a snare on a 30 meter aoe ability is a pretty tempting offer any way you look at it.

 

QFT I like hybrid builds a lot as it adds more spice to PvP especially when people pull some weird tricks out on each other. A lot of people are surprised in PvP when I 1v1 them if they push the issue though I usually try to disengage them first.

[Xenthum]

This is my current hybrid spec. I find I don't use Adrenaline probe... well ever, really. I keep solid HOTs rolling and I can keep an entire team ticking while staying alive for essentially forever.

 

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#401rffMzh0ozZhcZhrbkM.1

 

My typical level 50 numbers are in the 200k damage range 300k healing range. This of course fluctuates depending on how quickly, and how much, I get focused by the enemy team. I focus more on healing than on damage, and honestly more on objectives than either.

 

Edit: I have tried the build in the OP and it is very, VERY solid. Vanish is usually where I put my 2 points. The build I linked is more for pugging/personal survival from the 9% increased healing taken.

 

Edit2: I think, really, with as terrible as the full Lethality tree is, as gimped as we are as full healers compared to Sorcs/Mercs, and as horrible as concealment is going to be (You need ALL 3min CDs to score a kill or you're useless) that a hybrid is the only way to play an Operative in PvP now.

Edited January 27, 2012 by Xenthum

[Tyerion]

This is the build I'm running with.

 

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#401rffMzhoRzcZZGbbkM.1

 

It is similar but I kept Accomplished Doc and the worthless Medical Therapy. I'm wondering if the Deadly Directive is worthless in my build and should I pick up the extra dmg in shiv instead and also if you notice a big benefit to Lethal Purpose over Accomplished doc.

[sfryman]

More power to you. I prefer playing hybrid too, but to be perfectly honest they seem kinda sub-par for end-game pvp or pve.

 

As a hybrid, you are losing the top tier abilities that make either healing or damage really energy efficient. You don't have enough points to maximize both, and since we have a limited energy pool you are gimping yourself a little bit going hybrid.

 

Your overall contribution (healing & damage), will be split more instead of heavily weighted one side or the other. But honestly due to inferior efficiency, assuming apples-to-apples comparison (e.g. you don't play dumb & let your energy max out) a hybrid's contribution to the team will be less on average. Not saying that a good player couldn't be very successful as a hybrid (and probably have more fun), but IMHO the team would probably be better off if you just pick one and let the healers do the healing & dps do the dps. We can't have the best of both worlds, that would be OP.

 

That said, do whatever you like to play. I don't think it really matters that much, especially if all you do is pug.

[Xenthum]

As a hybrid, you are losing the top tier abilities that make either healing or damage really energy efficient. You don't have enough points to maximize both, and since we have a limited energy pool you are gimping yourself a little bit going hybrid.

 

Your overall contribution (healing & damage), will be split more instead of heavily weighted one side or the other.

 

Nothing about the top tier Medicine skill is energy efficient. It's the least efficient heal in the game, in fact.

Considering Lethality as pure dps is worthless in a PvP setting, and sustained damage is worthless from Concealment and their burst is getting nerfed into oblivion, the only choices for PvP Operatives are full healing or healer hybrids.

Since the only real gain to full healing is a bad, high cost AOE heal and 30% surge to Kolto Injection, I'll take my area DoT, my 9% healing taken increase, lower CD on stim and instant energy regen from it, and my huge buff to DoT damage while maintaining most (see: all) of my healing tools.

 

In PvP, I'll take the hybrid doing 300k damage and 300k healing over the guy doing 450k damage and 50k (self) healing any day.

[BelphagorAD]

I tried the spec change over the weekend, and I love it. While my heals were slightly less potent, the amount I could cast & sustain casting better things (instead of diagnostic when low/out) because I always had energy- was FAR better. Plus I was doing more damage since I had more spare energy to throw around. Scorpio thanks you... and I am back to soloing champions again.

[Sookster]

drop surgical probe and pick up cull.

 

Are you crazy? SP costs no energy and is a tad overpowered (IMO).

 

ATM I am working towards 25/14/2 until I finish and have a 25/3/13 planned, somewhat similar to OP's post.

Edited January 30, 2012 by Sookster

[Xenthum]

Are you crazy? SP costs no energy and is a tad overpowered (IMO).

 

Agree. Cull is too much energy and to build it into your spec you sacrifice too much from the other tree(s). The damage is high, but not so high that it's worth the loss, the TA pooling, and the energy pooling required, imo.

[Daize]

This is what I plan on using for pve but probably not for pvp, depends on how much I will actually be in stealth... I'll try this spec out for pvp too though :

http://db.darthhater.com/skill_calc/imperial_agent/operative/#::fefefef4ef2ef3ef2e2fe2fe2f3e2fefefef6ef8ef2ef:

Edited January 30, 2012 by Daize

[Teykos]

The OP hybrid spec is pretty nice, and is a lot more effective in PvP than a straight up healer. For PvE though, I've noticed a ~1k-1.5k loss on crit heals per heal however from not having Accomplished Doctor and Survival Training, which kind of hurts. I'm also noticing more energy issues, which is probably because I need to heal more. So you definitely are giving up a chunk of healing -- it's not just Recuperative Nanotech. Edited January 30, 2012 by Teykos

[Zenirvana]

I starting using the Op's spec and find it hands down outperforms my old full heal spec in pvp.

 

My problem is that there is this belief that hybrid builds are always inferior. Guildmates and others on the forums will make strong claims how healer should only heal and dps should dps. But when I was full healer I found myself either out of energy and useless or my group was at full or near full on health and I was once again useless untill someone needed me.

 

Now I have the ability to stay on top of healing when needed and also throw out tons of AOE, bleeds and snares. My numbers may not be the highest in one department but I am so much more productive.