Operative Healing 101

[bshenkd]

My first attempt at a comprehensive SWTOR guide. Be easy on me

 

Constantly livestreaming level 50 PVP and PVE healing @ http://www.twitch.tv/aioribfz.

 

Another Twitch.TV sawbones healing streamer: http://twitch.tv/LarceApollo

 

Videos

 

Voidstar #1

 

Alderaan #2

 

Final boss of Eternity Vault - SOA

 

Voidstar #2

 

Huttball #1 (8-man premade!)

 

Alderaan #2

 

Here are also some pictures that display the power of Medicine healing:

 

http://i.imgur.com/EvSux.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/ZPuII.jpg

 

Introduction

 

First and foremost, Imperial Agent Operative healing is the most fun healing class I’ve ever had the pleasure of playing! It combines the stealthiness and the energy of a rogue with the healing reminiscent of a Holy Paladin. As long as you manage your energy and cooldowns well, you could be the most versatile healer in the game.

 

The “Tactical Advantage”

 

The Tactical Advantage gives a couple % damage increase while active and allows you to cast certain abilities. When 3 points are put into Medical Consult, Tactical Advantage also increases your healing output by 6%. It can stack twice, but the % healing/damage increase does not stack. IE: 1 stack of TA gives you the same stat bonus as 2 stacks of TA. It’s crucial to keep at least one stack of Tactical Advantage up at all times to give you that 6% healing increase and, in case of emergencies, allow you to use a faster cast time/instant healing ability such as Kolto Infusion or Surgical Probe.

 

Abilties

 

Diagnostic Scan: Diagnostic Scan is the very first healing ability that you receive. It's a 3 second channeled ability that heals your target for minimal damage. After thoroughly looking through the talent tree, I can see it used as, not a healing ability, but a energy regeneration ability. With talents + stats, it's percentage to crit could be anywhere from 70-90% and with talents, each crit restores 2 energy. Based on that alone, you could see how it could be a very useful energy regeneration ability.

 

As for me, I chose to leave it out of my spec as I currently do not have any energy regen problems. I'm a hardcore PVP'er and I cosntantly need to be on the run, so a 3 second channeled ability isn't the "best" ability for me to choose. Although, like someone else in the thread said, it could be used as a good interrupt decoy.

 

After spending many days as a PVE and PVP healer at level 50, I have concluded that Diagnostic Scan is indeed a very good ability. In situations where Adrenaline Probe is down and you need to regen a lot of energy, it helps tremendously. It's also a great interrupt bait in PVP.

 

 

Kolto Injection: This is your “bread and butter” healing ability. When 2 points are put into Incisive Action, it causes your KI to grant you the “Tactical Advantage”. With a hefty price of 25 energy per cast, spamming this ability should only happen if you need to do some burst healing and if Adrenaline Probe is off of cooldown.

 

Kolto Probe: KP is your first single-target Healing-Over-Time (HoT) spell that you receive in the game. It stacks twice for double the healing which is a good and bad thing. It’s bad in that it requires you to use it twice in order to get the full effect out of the abilitity, but it’s good because after you get two stacks of KP rolling, you only need to use the ability once more in order to refresh it.

 

Kolto Infusion: Kolto Infusion is the first Tactical Advantage exploitable healing ability that you receive. It has a 1.5 second cast time and a heal size that’s comparable to Kolto Injection, but it slightly less. It costs 20 energy and can also eat away at your energy supply. For the purpose of organization and less confusion in this guide, I will not refer to Kolto Infusion as "KI". Whenever I refer to "KI", I'm talking about Kolto Injection. Note: After going through all 50 levels, I have seen no use for Kolto Infusion whatsoever. Surgical Probe replaces it completely.

 

Surgical Probe: This ability is pretty much an instant cast version of Kolto Infusion. It does a slightly less amount of healing, but with no cast time and no energy cost. It consumes one stack of the Tactical Advantage. This replaces Kolto Infusion completely.

 

Recuperative Nanotech: RN is the Imperial Agent’s one and only AOE heal ability. It’s a HoT ability and only heals up to 4 members contained within the AOE. RN does not require nor consume a stack of the Tactical Advantage, but does have a 30 energy cost and has a 12 second cooldown.

 

Stim Boost: This ability consumes one stack of the Tactical Advantage and gives you an extra 3 energy every 3 seconds for 45 seconds. This is an ability you must have up 24/7.

 

Adrenaline Probe: On a 2 minute cooldown with no energy cost, Adrenaline Probe restores 50 energy over 3 seconds (66 energy if talented).

 

Shield Probe: On a 45 second cooldown that costs no energy and lasts 15 seconds, it's a great addition to the Operative arsenal of abilities. This is a great ability to pop right as you're being targeted and, if talented, increases your healing to yourself by 15% while active.

 

Countermeasures: Classic ability that lowers aggro while healing. Pop it when you start to direct attention to yourself in PVE.

 

Skills & Stat Priority

 

My current skill tree

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#401MffbzGoRdsZ0cZGb.1

 

The link listed above is my preferred talent tree.

 

As far as stat priority goes, here’s what I have come up with:

Cunning > Surge > Crit > Power > Alacrity

 

Strategy

Always try to keep your energy level above 60%. If your energy level is above that, you’ll gain the full amount of 5 energy per second (6 energy per second if Stim Boost is up). The less energy you have, the slower the energy regeneration is. The energy regen goes like this:

 

• > 60%: 5 EPS
  
• 60% > x > 20%: 3 EPS
  
• < 20%: 2 EPS
  

 

If you ever find yourself around 20-30%, you might as well drop yourself all the way down to zero and pop Adrenaline Probe. You’ll get the most out of this very important cooldown this way. The same can be done if burst healing is needed.

 

A great way to prep for a fight is to cast Kolto Injection * 2 to get your Stim Boost and one stack of the Tactical Advantage before the fight even begins! It saves some energy down the road, which is crucial for Operative healing.

 

Single-target Healing

 

The way I start off my single target healing goes something like this:

 

• Cast Kolto Injection * 2 to get 2 stacks of the Tactical Advantage.
  
• Cast Stim Boost (I now have 1 stack of TA left)
  
• Cast Kolto Probe * 2.
  
• Cast Kolto Injection once more (if KP hasn’t procced an Tactical Advantage by now, I now have 2 stacks of Tactical Advantage)
  
• Switch between KI and SP. Never let KP lose its two stacks. It’ll cost you an extra 15 energy.
  

 

Multi-target Healing

 

• Once again, get two stacks of Tactical Advantage with KI and cast Stim Boost.
  
• From there you can keep everyone topped off with KP HoTs. Note: You don’t have to give everyone two stacks. The only people that should be getting two stacks are the tanks and the people who are taking most of the aggro away from the tanks.
  
• Use KI/KI/SP if needed. Also, if everyone needs to be healed, let your group know to gather up so you can toss your Recuperative Nanotech.
  

 

Conclusion

 

You can also find this article on my guilds website @ http://bravofivezero.net/blog.php/?p=12.

 

- Aiori <3

 

Changelog

 

2/19/12: Updated guide & created Operative version

Edited February 20, 2012 by bshenkd

[wbozejr]

Great post, certainly confirmed a lot of my own thought processes as I am predominantly a pvpr and certainly think and spec that way. I play a more hybrid approach but my real purpose for this response is to get your feed back on the Talent "Toxic Screen".

 

I ignorantly thought mental effects were force effects (ie able to remove afflictions etc) but after learning it doesn't aid in removing those, I find it being a wasted point.

 

Could you share your thoughts on that, maybe give me reason to keep it or confirm my intent to drop it?

 

My build will look originally like this (i'm currently 48): http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#401rffMzhoRzZ0cZhrbkM.1

 

I now am thinking about switching 2 points around, 1 out of Toxic Screen and 1 out of Lethal Injectors and put them into Deadly Directive to up my alacrity a bit.

 

Long winded way of asking, am I missing anything getting rid of Toxic Screen?

 

Love my build, LOVE the operative, keeping what I am doing otherwise

 

Thanks again!

[Vakyoom]

Yes i would expect surge probe to completely replace kolto infusion... KInf seems like such a waste every time i use it at lower levels i regret wasting my TA stack...

 

Great guide, please sticky this devs. i'd like to come back to it later incase i actually wanna heal.

 

 

 

btw for your combat rotation, for the part where you have combat stim it still says "UH" instead of "TA". this was a nice write

[bshenkd]

Great post, certainly confirmed a lot of my own thought processes as I am predominantly a pvpr and certainly think and spec that way. I play a more hybrid approach but my real purpose for this response is to get your feed back on the Talent "Toxic Screen".

 

I ignorantly thought mental effects were force effects (ie able to remove afflictions etc) but after learning it doesn't aid in removing those, I find it being a wasted point.

 

Could you share your thoughts on that, maybe give me reason to keep it or confirm my intent to drop it?

 

My build will look originally like this (i'm currently 48): http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#401rffMzhoRzZ0cZhrbkM.1

 

I now am thinking about switching 2 points around, 1 out of Toxic Screen and 1 out of Lethal Injectors and put them into Deadly Directive to up my alacrity a bit.

 

Long winded way of asking, am I missing anything getting rid of Toxic Screen?

 

Love my build, LOVE the operative, keeping what I am doing otherwise

 

Thanks again!

 

1. I use Tox Screen because there are many mental debuffs that are worth dispelling (IE: Flashbang, flash grenade). Also, the extra heal is nice to use when kiting.

 

2. Very interesting build! I assume you went far enough into the Lethality tree just to pick up the Stim Boost buff?

 

3. Seems like a very nice build that has the intent to spread a lot of DoTs to keep people from planting bombs and capping doors in warzones.. very nice! But, if you ever want to be a truly dedicated healer, you're definitely going to need to put all 3 points into Accomplished Doctor. The 30% critical bonus is amazing.

 

Yes i would expect surge probe to completely replace kolto infusion... KInf seems like such a waste every time i use it at lower levels i regret wasting my TA stack...

 

Great guide, please sticky this devs. i'd like to come back to it later incase i actually wanna heal.

 

 

 

btw for your combat rotation, for the part where you have combat stim it still says "UH" instead of "TA". this was a nice write

 

Thanks! I spend about a good 35 minutes trying to make sure that everything converted correctly but I missed that one. Good find and thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed the article

[Vakyoom]

still needs to be stickied!!! gogo yellows

[scootle]

Nice write-up. Useful for my budding Oper healbot.

 

Question... do L50 oper healers really value cunning/crit/surge over the more "traditional" healer stats of power/alacrity? Two reason I ask... so I can plan my gear path and second, so I can decide which purple L49 earpiece to attempt to RE the recipe for (they are on different RE paths).

 

Thanks!

 

edit: So I did some more research and I guess end-game, alacrity is all but worthless, so instead it's a tossup between crit/surge/power. Problem is, you can max out only either crit/surge or power/surge on the L49 tier 2 purples... any advice?

Edited February 20, 2012 by scootle

[bshenkd]

Nice write-up. Useful for my budding Oper healbot.

 

Question... do L50 oper healers really value cunning/crit/surge over the more "traditional" healer stats of power/alacrity? Two reason I ask... so I can plan my gear path and second, so I can decide which purple L49 earpiece to attempt to RE the recipe for (they are on different RE paths).

 

Thanks!

 

edit: So I did some more research and I guess end-game, alacrity is all but worthless, so instead it's a tossup between crit/surge/power. Problem is, you can max out only either crit/surge or power/surge on the L49 tier 2 purples... any advice?

 

Yep, yep. Alacrity is pretty terrible for a class that has a limited resource pool. It's nice to have faster cast times, but faster cast times = burning through energy much quicker. And for the earpieces.. crit/surge is a much better combo than power/surge in my opinion. The only way to benefit from surge is to get crits, so the more crit you have the more benefit you get from surge rating.

[Obbu]

Yep, yep. Alacrity is pretty terrible for a class that has a limited resource pool. It's nice to have faster cast times, but faster cast times = burning through energy much quicker. And for the earpieces.. crit/surge is a much better combo than power/surge in my opinion. The only way to benefit from surge is to get crits, so the more crit you have the more benefit you get from surge rating.

 

I think that alacrity gets an unfair amount of flak from many operatives.

 

Yes, it doesnt have as much direct result as cunning, power and so on: but as diagnostic scan is such a long channel, it gets a huge amount of benefit from alacrity.

 

Couple that with the small amount of time you are shaving off kolto injection (getting ever-closer to the 1.5s gcd cast time) and you make the ability to work DS into your rotation that much more bearable.

 

Burning through energy faster is true - but every alacrity-quickened cast that you use creates spare time in which to regen your energy via DS.

 

Its not a Godly stat, but its certainly far more workable than people imply.

 

2.5 -> 2.0 sec cast KI is a no-brainer for most agents, 2.0->1.6 is the same % speed change.

 

Couple that with a 3.0 -> 2.4 sec DS cast time, and every six KI casts you have earned a free DS channel time-wise.

 

If you mana dump and end up OOM, you can DS yourself back to happy-regen-land faster. Extra points if you have a non-heal buddy who can off-spec-heal for a few seconds while you spam DS.

 

Just some food for thought.

 

I personally find my big heals healing for good amounts - but that in raid/pvp situations the sheer amount of damage can impact my ability to stay in the energy sweet spot.

 

Alacrity burns energy faster, but does provide more recourse to regenerate it as well.

 

I wouldnt stress too much over the fact that some of gear has it

[Pawstruck]

Well-done guide. I especially appreciate the rotation explanations for both single- and multi-target healing. You might also consider adding some generalized PVP advice (if you heal much PVP) for the Operative, especially managing cooldowns and etc.

 

I have a question, though.

 

I am trying to choose between my Sorcerer and my Operative. My question is NOT, "which is the better healer?" because from what I have seen the answer to that is a resounding "Sorcerer."

 

My question is simply this: Do you feel gimp/worthless as an Operative? MANY of the threads I've seen put Operatives dead last in both healing and DPS. (I'd like to PVP heal, but I'd also like to be able to respec and do some DPSing in battlegrounds too).

 

It is obvious that the Operative needs some love from BioWare. But the question is: How badly, and do you think they'll get it?

[ContrailNZ]

Operatives suck as PvP healers.

 

They are like snipers but don't have snipers best CC / defense abilities. Legshot, cover pulse, ballsistic dampeners, cover dmg reduction etc etc. Lol, Operatives are really squishy.

 

There is no real way to survive vs any dps class. If you get focused your contribution is a quick death.

 

I should state you can vanish once to escape, but you cant heal while doing it and the instant you pop out you are dead.

 

The only advantage ops have is their dot healing, but the dot amount healed is so little it only helps in newb fights where for some reason your team mates are taking pitiful damage.

 

The ironic thing for operatives is as a dps you are only good in pvp and as a healer you are only good in pve (still worst pve healer).

 

I suppose duel spec will make the class more enjoyable, but other healing classes are good at both pvp and pve for each of their dps or healing spec.

Edited February 20, 2012 by ContrailNZ

[ContrailNZ]

I should mention of course that if you ever do need to burst heal you are out of energy in about 4 heals.

 

Just hope adrenaline probe is up and for some reason you dont need to do any burst healing for 2 minutes. (as if any PvP is like that)

[snowgoon]

I should mention of course that if you ever do need to burst heal you are out of energy in about 4 heals.

 

Just hope adrenaline probe is up and for some reason you dont need to do any burst healing for 2 minutes. (as if any PvP is like that)

 

Not if you're healing properly. I play Operative medic and with Stim Boost and proper use of SP + DS you should never ever fall under 60% energy. The only times this happens to me is when I try to contribute more than one Shiv here and there.

 

Certainly, Operative healers are considerably more work, and thus will antagonize the players who play with one hand and eat popcorn with the other, but those who stick it out with the class become very viable and very talented healers.

 

 

@OP Thanks for the guide, hopefully will draw more operative healers, a class I feel is underutilized and over-criticized.

[Elrias]

 

Certainly, Operative healers are considerably more work

 

IMHO that is the important point: Operative healing is not per se weaker than sorcerer healing (at least if our therapy trait gets fixed in the near future). However, operative healing is considerably more complex than sorcerer healing, requires more concentration and better knowledge about resource management.

 

The somewhat annoying part of this is that we do not get any additional benefit in return for the larger amount of complexity: We have to put in more skill, more concentration, and more theoretical knowledge just to get to aproximately the same level as a sorcerer healer.

[Zerikin_Loukbel]

Having run the numbers all we need to do it spam KInj + SP. Its our more efficient heal combo and really the only thing worth using.

[matthewcreech]

Having run the numbers all we need to do it spam KInj + SP. Its our more efficient heal combo and really the only thing worth using.

 

If you are running Hard Mode Flashpoints, RN is actually very cost effective healing. If you have 2+ melee it really shines giving you considerably more breathing room.

RN loses its lustre quite rapidly in Operations though.

[Attaraxia]

If you are running Hard Mode Flashpoints, RN is actually very cost effective healing. If you have 2+ melee it really shines giving you considerably more breathing room.

RN loses its lustre quite rapidly in Operations though.

 

You seriously think so?

 

RN on 2 targets = roughly 1555x2(my gear-level numbers) healing over 15 seconds = 207.3hp/s

 

It takes 4.3 seconds to regenerate the cost of RN at max regen. (my gear, the set bonus (-4 cost) and stim boost up the entire time)

 

KI-SP = 2511 + 1056 (again, my gear-level numbers) in 3.22 seconds(1.72KI + 1GCD) = ~1107hp/s. If you had 0 alacrity, it would be 2 + 1.5 = 3.5seconds = 1019hp/s, and you would stay energy-neutral(which is the real benefit of not using RN)

 

So not only is KI-SP ~5x better than RN(on 2 targets) in hp/s, but in the 4.3 seconds you now need to spend on regen due to casting RN, you gave up 1.33 KI-SP combos worth of cast time, and 1.04 KI-SP combos worth of energy. In that TIME, you could have healed for 4763. With that Energy, you could have healed for 3430. Both are more than the total healing of RN on two targets, and you could have done it within 5 seconds, instead of waiting 15.

 

In fact, the only conceivable time when RN is actually worthwhile would be if everyone were taking damage faster than KI-SP could cope, and RN would be enough to save them. Since this theoretical time doesn't actually exist (if KI-SP's dramatically higher hp/s cannot overcome the incoming damage, RN can't overcome it either), there is no time when RN is the right choice to save a life.

 

And that's before counting in the fact that RN has no internal targeting logic. Currently, it just heals whoever is in range (and that range being only 10m is another large problem when compared to KI-SP's 30). Meaning that if 4 people need it, and you cast it on them while they are in a group of 8 people, RN may very well heal the 4 who DON'T need it.

 

In short, don't use RN. Ever, really. It's a very very bad top-tier talent.

Edited February 20, 2012 by Attaraxia

[Elrias]

 

In short, don't use RN. Ever, really. It's a very very bad top-tier talent.

 

Purely mathematically speaking, RN is really not very effective in any way at all. That said, there are a few specific situations in which it is useful.

 

First, you can use RN as sort of a buff that you use just before a fight starts (hit RN, wait 3 sec to regenerate your energy, and let the tank start the fight; RN is still gonna be ticking for the first few seconds of the fight).

 

Second, it is also useful for all situations in which you cannot use any casts, e.g. because there's an interrupter targeting you... RN might not be great, but at least it is instant.

 

Third, it is simply the only AoE heal we have... so in situations which really require AoE heal it is just the only option.

 

Finally, at least for most builds, I'm not sure what else the one additional point that you save if you don't get RN might be useful for.

Edited February 20, 2012 by Elrias

[Xaearth]

First, you can use RN as sort of a buff that you use just before a fight starts (hit RN, wait 3 sec to regenerate your energy, and let the tank start the fight; RN is still gonna be ticking for the first few seconds of the fight).

 

Which will likely no longer be a good idea after they frontload the healing as part of the "improvements" coming. Not that it's a bad thing, just clarifying.

 

Second, it is also useful for all situations in which you cannot use any casts, e.g. because there's an interrupter targeting you... RN might not be great, but at least it is instant.

 

You'd probably be better off using Shiv -> Surgical Probe or Shiv -> Infusion, unless you can't find something to stab or there's multiple targets needing healing involved, which brings us to...

 

Third, it is simply the only AoE heal we have... so in situations which really require AoE heal it is just the only option.

 

Unfortunately our AoE also happens to be the least effective by far. So in situations which really require AoE heal, you aren't taking an Operative.

Edited February 20, 2012 by Xaearth

[matthewcreech]

You seriously think so?

I think that Hardmode Flashpoints are the only time in your career where RN might be of use, hence the preface, and it is cost effective, not for HPS but for HPE or HPGCD, hence cost-effective.

Purely mathematically speaking, RN is really not very effective in any way at all. That said, there are a few specific situations in which it is useful.

The heal is roughly equivalent to a Kolto Probe on multiple targets, if you have the set-piece bonus it is more cost effective than KP purely for healing (KP, however does generate TA).

Comparing HPS it is craptastic compared to our bread and butter.

With 2 targets, RN exceeds KI in HPE & HPGCD.

With 2 targets, RN even exceeds the HPGCD of KI+SP

Currently, it just heals whoever is in range (and that range being only 10m is another large problem when compared to KI-SP's 30). Meaning that if 4 people need it, and you cast it on them while they are in a group of 8 people, RN may very well heal the 4 who DON'T need it.

HM FP = 4 players

 

In a HM FP, RN also makes trash pulls go a lot faster. You may have experience a PUG where the group wants to keep churning through trash like a compactor and rarely pause to heal up. This is more prevalent with 1 or more Sith Warriors.

RN + KP on the tank can cover most of the trash pulls in HM FPs. This is probably more of a factor of the Hardmode Flashpoints not being exceedingly hard.

[Pagy]

I stopped reading at "diagnostic scan is a very good ability"

 

he's obviously a terrible healer

[Obbu]

I stopped reading at "diagnostic scan is a very good ability"

 

he's obviously a terrible healer

 

What do you do when you run out of energy, if not diagnostic scan?

 

Auto Attack?

 

Staying at full regen rate 100% of the time is impossible, unless you are being carried by a much better geared/skilled raid.

[Xaearth]

What do you do when you run out of energy, if not diagnostic scan?

 

If you're running out of energy and Adrenaline Probe isn't up, you try better next time.

 

If you drop down into the lower resource tier, sure DS can help. But, if you're having to do it on a regular basis, you're more a liability and less an asset.

[Obbu]

If you're running out of energy and Adrenaline Probe isn't up, you try better next time.

 

If you drop down into the lower resource tier, sure DS can help. But, if you're having to do it on a regular basis, you're more a liability and less an asset.

 

As you move into hardmode raids, adrenaline probe does not quite keep up in all encounters anymore.

 

I would actually argue that DSing regularly is not a liability, but constantly running OOM and only then using DS is bad form.

 

When you are healing hard/NM garj and sorno, are you managing to stay in top energy tier with just adrenaline probe? If so, can you provide details as to your rotation/style?

 

Cheers.

[Attaraxia]

I think that Hardmode Flashpoints are the only time in your career where RN might be of use, hence the preface, and it is cost effective, not for HPS but for HPE or HPGCD, hence cost-effective.

 

The heal is roughly equivalent to a Kolto Probe on multiple targets, if you have the set-piece bonus it is more cost effective than KP purely for healing (KP, however does generate TA).

Comparing HPS it is craptastic compared to our bread and butter.

With 2 targets, RN exceeds KI in HPE & HPGCD.

With 2 targets, RN even exceeds the HPGCD of KI+SP

 

HM FP = 4 players

 

In a HM FP, RN also makes trash pulls go a lot faster. You may have experience a PUG where the group wants to keep churning through trash like a compactor and rarely pause to heal up. This is more prevalent with 1 or more Sith Warriors.

RN + KP on the tank can cover most of the trash pulls in HM FPs. This is probably more of a factor of the Hardmode Flashpoints not being exceedingly hard.

 

I don't even know where to start.

 

RN does NOT exceed KI-SP until 3 targets are effected. Even then, due to the nature of RN(see my previous post), one KI-SP CAN out-heal the RN on 4 players. Since KI-SP costs less energy, this means that KI-SP is more hp/e at 1 target, 2 targets, and sometimes at 3-4 targets as well. In short, you're completely and totally wrong.

 

As far as healing/gcd, you are correct. However, RN requires 10 GCDs to tick to full potential. During that time, every RN tick may or may not fall on a player who doesn't need healing, either due to RN itself not being targeted, due to people moving out of range, or due to someone (maybe even you) healing the people effected by RN. This, by default, makes KI-SP vastly superior, since it can be targeted on those who need it most.

 

In an ideal world, RN has uses. In practice, RN is a great way to waste your energy and simultaneously risk the regen black hole. Don't take my word for it though, run the numbers yourself. Or don't. It won't make me lose sleep.

 

As for hardmode flashpoints... you're kidding, right? Last time I ran a hm fp, I pulled the instance myself and dps'd the whole time. My "healing" consisted of kp on the tank and on anyone who beat me to pulling the next mob. We did it with stuns and a geared, competent tank. It was simple.

 

If that's the kind of situation where you would use RN for "more speed", even when the math says that KP(not even KI-SP. Just KP) spam is significantly higher hp/s on 4 targets, grants TA for even more healing (still entirely on the move), and leaves you with the flexibility of NOT refreshing it on 2 people who don't need it just to refresh on two people that DO, not to mention removing the range restriction of RN (you really think 4 people running a flashpoint will hug 10m range of one guy the entire time?), then power to ya.

 

However, I strongly suggest that nobody follow your example. RN is not worth it.

[Vakyoom]

As you move into hardmode raids, adrenaline probe does not quite keep up in all encounters anymore.

 

I would actually argue that DSing regularly is not a liability, but constantly running OOM and only then using DS is bad form.

 

When you are healing hard/NM garj and sorno, are you managing to stay in top energy tier with just adrenaline probe? If so, can you provide details as to your rotation/style?

 

Cheers.

 

That's pretty much what he was saying... you'd throw the DS in at the time when you'd normally do Rifle Blast or where Mercs would use the healing shots. Use it around 50 energy to keep yourself higher.

 

edit - you weren't calling the OP bad, it was the other guy... my fault. Guess i'm just expanding on what you said

Edited February 20, 2012 by Vakyoom