BlueRahja Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 (edited) Below is in character flavor, if you dont care for it, skip ahead to the underlined parts. You sit in a classroom in a burned out college on Corellia, the sound of construction carries throughout the halls, but just barely over the locker room talk of the other bodyguards. The sound of footfalls coming up to the classroom door cause the room to fall into a hush, and a tall human wearing heavily aged armor walks in, closing the door behind him. He stands for a moment at the front of the room, taking you all in, and giving you an opportunity to do the same. He wears blue plate greaves and boots, with a brown republic officer's chest plate and long-coat, all of this topped off by an antiquated Hellfire Mandalorian helmet, which he slowly removes, revealing a white bearded well groomed, aged face. "Names Krosis. I'm here to open y'alls minds." he says with a thick Cadimiman accent. /endRP So we play the Utility heal class, and every guide I see for us bodyguards in PVE really only talks about healing. That's a lot of chatter for a class that only has 3 actual heals. Are you gonna argue that rapid shots and kolto shield are heals? Yeah sorry I can't hear you on account of how I don't care. If you are looking for rotations and all that, Chorusgirl has made a very good guide on everything you need to know about healing, and someone else made some stickied guide that will tell you the same stuff, only with a section on not doing exactly what I'm going to tell you to do. So, without wasting any more of your time, the good stuff.... When to dps?The short answer, whenever you can. Hardmode boss fights have enrage timers. If your group is just starting HM BT for instance, you are probably struggling with this unimaginative mechanic. If someone is telling you not to dps, they haven't done hardmodes, and probably shouldn't be telling you what to do. K...why?Heh, you said Kay Y. Anyways, a dead mob is one that isn't hitting you, and the rest of the group. So is a mob that is knocked on its back, knocked over an edge, launched into the air, being electrocuted, struggling with an explosive dart, inundated with blaster fire, or unconscious. And that's what makes us the special unique snowflake in the healing pantheon. No battle rez? That's ok, the people I'm responsible for don't die. (Warning: this may infact be a bold faced lie) Hmmm, fair enough good sir, tell me what to do then! Well lets break down our utility tool kit. As I said, other guides have covered heals, I'm just here to broaden your options. Examples will be for BT, as its normally the first stop on our Hardmode journeys, and if you haven't started that, most of us have done regular, so its the most familiar, and can still apply while leveling. -Death from Above: Regular mobs spend the duration on their backs, taking decent damage. Whatever you don't kill, should be dead soon. This is very handy when small clusters of regular mobs add to a fight. EG, corridor adds, the medics for the flaming mon calamari, the probes gathering around your tank during the darkside robot boss. -Explosive Dart: This causes the mob to act like they have a bee on them. They lose focus and start swatting away, and when its all over, they, and their nearby friends get launched into the air. Uses? See that guy the tank missed, and its shooting you? Its because he wants a dart. EG, anything with the word "medic" in its name. Its also a great way to keep scattered adds from shooting you, and nothing says "loose mob here" like an explosion. -Electrodart: Its a good stun on a reasonable cool down that works on a TON of things! Is electrodart off cooldown? Are you saving it for the next fight? No? Then the tank is taking damage they shouldn't be. Use this on heavy hitters within groups to minimize the damage at the start of pulls. EG, Silver quality or better mobs like the heavy weapon troopers, and the big robots. -Jet Boost: An MMO with fall damage for mobs? We are in a golden age of gaming. You are now the Hunterkhin, and you will Fus Ro Jetboost whenever you can. Mobs that are falling to their terrible death are not shooting you. Also, things that explode on death, should be moved away from the party. EG, probe adds on the Darkside Droid boss, Kaon fat ghouls, adds that jetpack in close to ledges, and Malgus's -Missle Blast: This is not a big winner, but its 2 seconds of the mob not doing anything, and it might finish it off, or give something else time to come off cooldown. EG, That guy who didnt die from death from above, the medic that just got up after explosive dart, anything attacking you while you have no other options, again, nothing says "Loose mob" like an explosion. -Unload: This is a very low heat option to add dps on a boss fight when everyone is topped up. Remember, there's enrage timers on everything now, if you don't like it, make a time machine, stop WoW from being made. If you realize 1/2 way through an unload that you shouldn't be dpsing right now, you can clip it and get back to work. If I have my heat in check, I combine this with fusion missile, BUT I suggest not doing this too often, unless the fight isn't very healing intense. EG, Yadira Ban. This girl loves being unloaded on. Is everyone topped up? Are you in the yellow? Good, then start unloading. -Sweeping Blasters: This is not dependable, but it does have a stagger effect on weak mobs, so when death from above is on cooldown, and the stuff is dying fast anyway, add a template of Sweeping Blasters to speed up the process and maybe prevent a little damage. EG, Pod Robots, corridor adds, just be careful you aren't the only one hitting the mobs, or you die shortly after, and look silly. -Powershot: No. Its has a cast bar. If you suddenly find you need to be healing, and it hasn't cast yet, you wasted your time, should have just used rapid shot. If you are past the phase where you are getting comfy, you might try powershot rotations during Supercharged Gas, but rarely will you be so unoccupied with your primary role that you have time for this. If you do have the time for a castbar, you should be using.... -Fusion Missle: Decent damage up front, and damage over time, and it can bust up groups of soft mobs nicely when combined with sweeping blasters or explosive dart. Downside is the cast bar, which I just said was a bad thing. But if you have time for such things, then it should be used on this, its just more bang for your buck....literally. EG, groups of tightly packed mobs that aren't currently tearing your tank apart...So good on Kaon, and Yadira Ban LOVES when you give her one of these before unloading on her. <warning> WATCH YOUR HEAT <warning> -Railshot: Rarely get to use this, normally I have players targeted, and don't see it up. I like the sound, and its fun to use when I can. Keep an eye on heat if you do though. -Flame Thrower: If nobody is in immediate danger, its a fun followup to fusion missile, you get to feel like a Pyrotech for a few seconds. High heat, be careful. -Rocket Punch: Mob is almost dead? Self Esteem not at 100% A well timed rocket punch will make you feel like Bruce Campbell. This isn't very useful, it seems like you just told me to use common senseYup. Hopefully though if anyone endured their way through any of this, it got them thinking about how they can expand their use, beyond "Here's some green numbers guise!" We have so much utility, I would hate for anyone to sidestep being a great player in favor of being a good healer. Get your healing figured out, and expand your toolkit. Explore your options! TL;DRShoot stuff when you aren't healing. Any other tips? Kolto Missle any time you have to move. Think before you rapid shot. Who needs it more, the tank, another player, or the boss you are fighting? Tab targetting! Edited February 16, 2012 by BlueRahja Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScuffleShuffle Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 Useful, good advice. When I have downtime in healing I alternate on targets that I can stun or somehow knock out of the battle. One tip of my own: I think Ctrl + tab tabs between allies for most people, and is super useful to quickly target an ally in a tight healing spot. Jet boost is super useful to get rid of mobs near one of the many many pits they placed throughout the game. You just may lose the experience and the item from it, but in a tight spot is worth not wiping. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DomingoDarkrage Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 Thanks for making a merc healing utility post, as it answers questions that some of us come up with. Since I spend a lot of my time healing, I do not really have a good grasp on what to dps with when I have 0 heat. sure, unload is good, and DFA does a lot of damage. But the order of casting is important. example: From 0 heat, using powershot is bad! Why? Because you have 1-2 seconds of casting when you could regen heat. So unload and then power shot is far better. I normally unload when i'm zero heat, or DFA if a buncha mobs need to lie on their back for a while. Explosive dart is awesome before healing because 1) your heal lands and you have regened the heat back, 2) that guy isn't going to do anything for 5 seconds. But i'm curious about a good rotation to dps with, when starting at zero heat and no one needs healing. Pretend it is against a single target though, we can imagine its a boss fight without any immediate healing required. This is primarily from a heat point of view, with damage second. Any suggestions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueRahja Posted February 16, 2012 Author Share Posted February 16, 2012 (edited) I find, and this is purely personal experience, that if I have time to start rotating damage, at all, I start with explosive dart-fusion missle-unload, and then slip into a powershot rotation if by some miracle people aren't taking damage. But I do feel as a healer, its our responsibility to maintain low heat, so its best to do this during supercharged gas. Its also very much worth mentioning that rarely are you going to have enough seconds in a row where you aren't healing something or someone that you have time to commit to an actual rotation, which is why above all else I suggest analyzing the situation, and using your own personal experiences and knowledge of fights, to do what you are comfortable with, and always be ready to switch back to a friendly target and get back in the game. We all know how long a second is as a healer. Sometimes that's the whole life expectancy of a naughty dps. Oh, another neat trick I really like is using Jet boost to clump up groups of mobs and dropping death from above. If your group is having trouble with the force ghost in false emp heroic...this really can make a huge difference, especially in an AoE heavy group. Edited February 16, 2012 by BlueRahja Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReasonsHundred Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 An enjoyable read! Nice to have a bit of light heartedness thrown into a post about helping you improve your game. Must admit I totally forgot that we even had Fusion Missile, must've just fallen off my toolbars at some point. Need to re-discover that, thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ewert Posted February 18, 2012 Share Posted February 18, 2012 Funny. I'll nitpick on the power shot and "wasted time" part a bit, that is also useful that power shot finishes in the end instead of like unload that "finishes" at the start. If you have some heat up, and start unload, and have to stop it midway, you lost lot of dmg efficiency. Instead if you have some heat, you power shot, so that if you suddenly need every heat for starting healing, you interrupt and do NOT lose any heat dmg-doing. Anyways, since IMHO people should have Muzzle Fluting for a fully rounded BH bodyguard, the dmg routines are actually very very simple: Due to the kolto missile talent, your power shot is also dmg upgraded. MF drops it's cost to unload-levels, and although unload still has better dmg/heat, it lasts longer and has less dmg/time than power shot, so you should pretty much use power shot at any time that: A) death from above is in CD, or not safe to use B) fusion missile is in CD, or not safe to use, or you are heat restricted C) you are not at <10 heat D) weak mob stunning/dazing is not available and highly useful E) you don't have a guaranteed chance to hit 2+ mobs with dart (timed blast! = hard) or flamethrower (long cast = mobs may split up) E is kinda iffy, always. Mobs tend to get knocked back, die, move, etc... Also if gas is up you really should have _3_ guaranteed hits on dart or flamethrower to make it worth it, which needless to say is very very iffy. (following is based on my gear level, may be slightly different with lesser gear) DFA is your best considering dmg/heat as well as 2nd best in dmg/time. It is arguably the best dmg skill in the game, for any class, period. The knockdown is useful at some points even in both operations, nevermind how useful it can be in flashpoints. Learn to aim it fast to not waste time. Fusion missile, while high heat, is the best dmg/time. If it is not a tough fight healingwise, this is your TSO skill to use. Unload can be used as a starter from 0 heat, it also dazes weak mobs, which is extremely useful on them (in harder modes even weak mobs may hit like trucks, so dazes etc. are a win). However it is not good dmg/time, so it is more a "chilling time" skill. Explosive dart also dazes, same use, also if are able to hit 3 mobs it beats power shot. Missile blast knockdowns too but that is REALLY weak otherwise, so it is the last of these to use and only if the knockdown is hugely useful. For example in EV pillars, you can dart 1, blast 1 and open unload on the 3rd mob as they spawn, if your dps guys are lazy and don't use their daze/knockback dmg skills (though I do whine at them to do that, those bastards hit hard for being just weak mobs). There are mostly 2 situations: single strong target, or multiple weak targets (be it "weak" or "not boss" ). Maximum burn for strong target, with MF, without expending any heat resources except gas, is to: If you have 0 heat, use kolto missile and healing scan on tank, SCG, DFA, PS, FM and PS till end of gas. If it is tough healing fight, throw a kolto missile with the last second of gas to get dmg reduction. If you have some heat already then you could gas, kolto missile tank, depending on heat weave in DFA and FM within those PShots. Most multimob situations can be handled with just DFA, it is supreme for those, and if anyone else joins in that is dead mobs right there. Honestly, most fights are either hard enough or easy enough that there is either no time&heat for more than your best (DFA) for that big mob, or it doesn't really matter so you can just do pretty much whatever you want while not overheating. Here's the chart of abilities with my gear so you can easily see for yourself the approximate endgame stats of them: Skill Heat DMG Casttime CD DPH DPS Usage Fusion Missile (aoe) 33 2965 1,180 30 89,85 2512,71 Top DPS, great with TSO Death from Above (aoe) 25 4869 2,370 60 194,76 2054,43 #1 skill Power Shot (-17gas-9h muz) 16 2075,5 1,180 0 129,72 1758,9 Bread n butter Shoulder Slam 0 2277,5 1,500 45 x 1518,33 Rarely available Unload (-8gas) 16 3097,5 2,370 15 193,59 1306,96 Heat chilling Rocket Punch 16 1771 1,500 9 110,69 1180,67 On the move Rail Shot 16 1722 1,500 15 107,63 1148 On the move Explosive Dart (aoe 3) 16 1561,5 1,500 15 97,59 1041 2+ guaranteed hits? Flame Thrower (cone) 25 2803 3,000 18 112,12 934,33 2+ guaranteed hits? Sweeping Blasters (gaoe) 33 2125,5 2,370 0 64,41 896,84 Only if heat not an issue (trash) Missile Blast (little aoe dmg) 25 1261,5 1,500 0 50,46 841 Only for knockdown (rarely if ever) Rapid Shots 0 985 1,500 0 x 656,67 Jet Boost (pb knockback) 16 384 1,500 30 24 256 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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