Ship Droid; Improvised Healer?

[DeutschGamer]

Hey guys, not exactly a newbie to the game although some may argue that point with what I'm about to ask, but I had a question about the ability to use the Ship Droid as a healer companion. If I scour the right vendors for upgrades, is it feasible to use him with a Sentinel/Guardian?

 

Its most likely my way of playing but I find myself dying too fast when I play as these classes without a healer companion. I can do damage yes, but the enemy often outlasts me in Endurance even when my gear is properly upgraded. I generally use Kira as a companion and she does good damage, but she isn't a tank and apparently I'm not a very good one either.

 

Anyone have any tips for either upgrading the ship droid or basically teaching me how to use Guardian/Sentinel abilities to survive until Doc comes around? I don't want to resort to using the droid if I have to, if everyone else can master the class I'm sure I can with some advice.

[MishraArtificer]

The only thing I see being a problem is this: I'm not sure if you can turn his basic melee attack OFF. I tried (Trooper/Vanguard tank/DPS hybrid) when I was still a low level on Coruscant, as well as taking a short vacation to Tython for shiggles, and I can't remember if I got him to stop attacking before healing. As soon as I launched an attack, he'd just go run up and punch things! Funny as hell to watch, but not when you're depending on him to actually HEAL you later in the fight.

 

Thankfully, I managed to survive until I got my healer companion (Elara Dorne) when leaving Taris.

 

If you absolutely want to try, scour the planet commendations vendors on the early planets; I think there's enough droid parts to go around between that and scavenging what you need from T7-01. If you can, see about getting the Legacy droid vendor on your ship, and see what it has in stock.

[shama]

Hey guys, not exactly a newbie to the game although some may argue that point with what I'm about to ask, but I had a question about the ability to use the Ship Droid as a healer companion. If I scour the right vendors for upgrades, is it feasible to use him with a Sentinel/Guardian?

 

Its most likely my way of playing but I find myself dying too fast when I play as these classes without a healer companion. I can do damage yes, but the enemy often outlasts me in Endurance even when my gear is properly upgraded. I generally use Kira as a companion and she does good damage, but she isn't a tank and apparently I'm not a very good one either.

 

Anyone have any tips for either upgrading the ship droid or basically teaching me how to use Guardian/Sentinel abilities to survive until Doc comes around? I don't want to resort to using the droid if I have to, if everyone else can master the class I'm sure I can with some advice.

 

I've not personally used the ship droid as a healer, but most accounts seem to say he is an 'ok' healer ... better than not having one. As other poster said though, you can't stop him running into the action and trying to punch the enemies - which could be a problem.

 

So instead I'll try and deal with the second part of your post and give some advice on surviving until Doc arrives

I have no played Sentinel, so can't give much advice on that. You said you're apparently not a good tank - but neither are Sentinels. Only the guardian is a tank, so which AC have you actually chosen?

As a guardian, my personal opinion would be to concentrate on the skills that help with tanking. Sure you can go DPS, but if you want a full discourse on all the options for the guardian then you can get that in the class specific forums!

 

So, go for the skills that increase your chance to block damage, or active your shield, and also the things that give you extra shields. Going for extra damage skills should not be your focus if you want to tank. Slow and steady, and surviving big attacks is what you should be aiming for.

 

For example, with enough points spent you can make it so that using Blade Storm generates a barrier that absorbs damage. Once you have this ability you'll tend to use Blade Storm fairly early in your attack just so you can get a 'free' barrier up. Then your other two barriers (Saber Ward, Warding Call) which have a longer cooldown can be saved for when you really need extra protection.

 

Remember while using Kira (or T7) to disable their 'taunt' abilities (particularly T7 who has a couple of abilities marked as 'high threat' IF you want to keep all agro on you. It isn't essential though as spreading the damage between the pair of you can be more useful than just keeping it on yourself. Just remember to taunt onto yourself every now and then and back it up with some big damage to keep the enemy's interest.

[matthiaskotor]

There's more info on this in the JK forums, but yes, some people have used him. He's apparently not *terrible*, but I didn't try it.

[Arandem]

Upgrade kira all you can, the only time i ever use a healer such as doc is for incredibly hard bosses. Im lv 41 and i still only use kira. I tried out the droid for a little while and i guess he does all right. But i really think he sucks so i just send him on missions for my crew skills.

[Arandem]

I wouldn't waste my time or money upgrading the droid and instead just get through it until you get doc.

[ninjashadowdark]

I've not personally used the ship droid as a healer, but most accounts seem to say he is an 'ok' healer ... better than not having one. As other poster said though, you can't stop him running into the action and trying to punch the enemies - which could be a problem.

 

So instead I'll try and deal with the second part of your post and give some advice on surviving until Doc arrives

I have no played Sentinel, so can't give much advice on that. You said you're apparently not a good tank - but neither are Sentinels. Only the guardian is a tank, so which AC have you actually chosen?

As a guardian, my personal opinion would be to concentrate on the skills that help with tanking. Sure you can go DPS, but if you want a full discourse on all the options for the guardian then you can get that in the class specific forums!

 

So, go for the skills that increase your chance to block damage, or active your shield, and also the things that give you extra shields. Going for extra damage skills should not be your focus if you want to tank. Slow and steady, and surviving big attacks is what you should be aiming for.

 

For example, with enough points spent you can make it so that using Blade Storm generates a barrier that absorbs damage. Once you have this ability you'll tend to use Blade Storm fairly early in your attack just so you can get a 'free' barrier up. Then your other two barriers (Saber Ward, Warding Call) which have a longer cooldown can be saved for when you really need extra protection.

 

Remember while using Kira (or T7) to disable their 'taunt' abilities (particularly T7 who has a couple of abilities marked as 'high threat' IF you want to keep all agro on you. It isn't essential though as spreading the damage between the pair of you can be more useful than just keeping it on yourself. Just remember to taunt onto yourself every now and then and back it up with some big damage to keep the enemy's interest.

 

I've not personally used the ship droid as a healer, but most accounts seem to say he is an 'ok' healer ... better than not having one. As other poster said though, you can't stop him running into the action and trying to punch the enemies - which could be a problem.

lol this

[Fei-Ke]

I would upgrade t7 or just get overleveled a bit by doing FPs, space, pvp, bonus series missions etc.

Gearing the thrashcan sounds like a waste to me, there would be no reason to use him once you do get Doc.

I think t7 is supposed to do the trick for sentinels until you get Doc, you just don't like him that much (me neither).