Need help as healing Merc in PVP

[MadBernieSkills]

Just as the title says. I can't seem to do anything right, so I'm looking for advice/rotations etc. I can't out-heal anyone's dps and I can't out-dps anyone's heals. If I'm 1v1, I pretty much am just going to die. Right now I just hit level 26. Is it just a matter of needing to be higher level or just that my gear sucks. I'm not a twink. This is my first character on the server I'm on. I have a 50 tankassin and a 49 healing op on another server. I'm an average pvp'er. I'm not bad, but not the creme of the crop either. I do fine with my assassin and I absolutely destroy with my operative. Nobody can take my down with that character. I realize it is probably easiest at 49 (where my OP is), but I always end up with highest in healing, medals, objectives, etc.

With the merc, I'm just awful.

[silvershadows]

It gets a lot better post 40.

[JMBMCMXC]

Hey - I'm playing a healing merc also and it can be frustrating at times, but ive put it down to being a low level getting stomped by levels 35+. It's always going to be tough on the lower side of 30. Just stick with it and try and focus on how much you're helping your team with every heal rather than how much you're get killed. Try your best to stay under the radar when healing in the heat of battle, although this will be impossible if the opposing team has marked you for death.

 

Basically just try and stick in there until level 40 when there is a fresh set of PvP gear. You'll also have most of your class abilities & utility you need to be a healing machine

 

Good luck

[TrooperCam]

Also remember your a ranged healer so stay a bit back out of the action.

 

I can't remember which exact heal abilities you have by 26 but its pretty much going to be that rapid shot spam x 10 to get your supercharged gas buff up to use the with the aoe heal which can be used twice before the 10 x rapid shots starts again. (someone will explain the exact terms better than what i can off the top of my head)

 

Don't forget to have fun and in time you'll have good days but it does depend on the group your with.

[Lady_Alyria]

Just as the title says. I can't seem to do anything right, so I'm looking for advice/rotations etc. I can't out-heal anyone's dps and I can't out-dps anyone's heals. If I'm 1v1, I pretty much am just going to die. Right now I just hit level 26. Is it just a matter of needing to be higher level or just that my gear sucks. I'm not a twink. This is my first character on the server I'm on. I have a 50 tankassin and a 49 healing op on another server. I'm an average pvp'er. I'm not bad, but not the creme of the crop either. I do fine with my assassin and I absolutely destroy with my operative. Nobody can take my down with that character. I realize it is probably easiest at 49 (where my OP is), but I always end up with highest in healing, medals, objectives, etc.

With the merc, I'm just awful.

 

Yeah Mercs and Ops are completely different animals. I play both, though I'm dps on both. If you are specced for healing you aren't gonna out dps another class. Tracer Missle makes a huge difference in merc dps, I thought I was super weak until I got it at 20. As for healing, a major difference between a merc and a op is you have a huge range as a merc. Take advantage of that, you never want to be in the thick of things, you want to be off to the side, behind a pillar, on top of something, make your would-be murderer have to find you to kill you. Now once you are found, given how long it takes to cast a heal, that can and will be interrupted you aren't going to heal yourself while dps is pounding on you. Stun, bubble, run cowardly to the others for protection.

[MadBernieSkills]

Thanks for the comments. It is as I expected. I really see that not having all of my abilities is what is hurting me so much. By the time I'm 41 I'll have the good gear and all of my talents needed. My gear was also particularly weak before. I had 5 greens level 19, the rest were blue 20's. Now I have only 1 green 19. Some blue 20's and higher and some orange 23's and higher. I noticed my heals going up about 20% just from the upgraded gear. I'm still at level 26. Still, my biggest heal on a crit is about 2400. On my operative, I hit over 4500. So I have a long way to go. I'm sure those upper abilities and talents will help.

As far as positioning, I've been getting better at that. Keeping a low profile is probably the other thing I needed to do most. With my operative, it didn't matter, I was too strong to care. Now, I really have to hide and heal.

[DomingoDarkrage]

Other than learning each battleground and the useful places for positioning (voidstar pillars, civil war ramps/pillars, hutball skyways, etc.) it can really help to find an assassin tank to team up with, one who knows how to guard and taunt.

 

Also try to Emergency scan and kolto missile as much as possible. They are efficient heals, and do not show any indicator that you are a healer due to instant casts. Not many DPS players will recognize a kolto missile fast enough to trace it back to who fired it, but they will spot the green Healing/Rapid scan in a second. Rapid shots will get you noticed as well, though with the abundance of green power crystals, not as much as it used to.

 

And since we can blow through heat really fast, learn when and who it is OK to let die. It is often more important to remain below 40 heat and let someone die, than to get above 40 heat, though it drastically can depend on the situation and your cooldowns. I try to use heat to heal people below 70% if pressed for heat (which we are always, in pvp), and hope those above 70% get hit with a kolto missile.

[MadBernieSkills]

I just wanted to update everyone. I've changed my mind somewhat on the Merc. I'm level 41 now and it is much easier than before. It seems that this class can do ok after some abilities are squired. Kolto Shell and Emergency scan. Shell basically adds 3k health to you and Emergency Scan can crit for 3k, and it is instant. Those two abilities add significant value to the healing Merc.

I still feel that the healing operative is easier. On the Merc, if I'm strictly healing, it's ok (resource-wise). If I ever need to do any damge (to assist in a kill), I over-heat very easily. The Operative seemed to be able to do some burst easier that way.

The operative is also better at staying alive, but it isn't much different now. Before I couldn't out-heal anyone's damage, now at least I can heal on par with the damage. I can stay alive a lot longer. My heals can crit for over 4k now too.

The healing operative is still better, but it isn't night and day anymore. Added stealth and better resource management make it better. Merc has better DPS, especially at range.

[Codek]

If your looking for some burst damage while you heal, try popping a relic with super charged gas. than spam Power shot until the gas runs out. Power shot becomes a free ability with gas running so you will actually net back any heat you have while spamming the shot repeatedly on a single target. If they are bad then they will drop pretty easily and you will be at 0 heat to spam heals on your team once again.

[Chaoskyx]

Prepare to be roflstomped once you get to 50 WZs.

 

 

*sob*

[MadBernieSkills]

I've been playing my merc exclusively for a bit, only pvp and class quests. Made it to 47. Doing well in WZ's. I figured that I finally figured out the merc, and the levels helped. But then my pvp buddies (co-worker and his wife) went on vacation. So I figured I'd pull out my 49 healing OP (on a different server, sob).

It only confirms my original belief. The OP is sooo much easier than the merc. So much it is a joke. The merc was actually better equipped, and the OP healing was a ton higher (about 50%).

One or both of these statements is absolutely correct.

The healing merc needs a buff.

The healing OP needs a nerf.

 

I even leveled my OP to 50, got my recruit gear + 1 battlemaster + 1 War hero. I still did well in the 50's bracket. Even geared 50's couldn't bring me down solo. Sure I wasn't a top healer like I was in the lowbie bracket, but I held my own. I played 3 pug matches, we won all 3 and I died 1 time. There were 4 of them on me when they got me.

 

It seems the big difference in healing was the crit chance. It seems like my merc crits so few and the OP crits all the time. That plus the endless supply of free heals on the OP when you are low on health. Oh, and stealth.

 

If I can ever get these 2 on the same server, I think I'll make the merc dps and just heal with the OP.

[Dyrankor]

Another aspect to consider is playstyle. If one class suits you more, you'll do better in it because it's FUN and it's working and you put the time into playing it.

 

Secondly.. thanks for playing Merc healer for a couple months instead of trying it for a day and complaining that it sucks. I, personally, have a 50 sage healer and a 38 merc, and I'm hard pressed to pick a favorite. The fact that mercs can be uninterruptable (with shield and it's talent), have a quick way to regain resource (vent heat, supercharged gas), can wear heavy armor, and have several instant heals, makes merc stand out, in my opinion. In any competitive pvp (ranked, basically) people sit on the sage and interrupt them constantly. Edit - I should also note that knowing your healing classes ROLE is important. As a mercenary, you'll have some of the best and most focused single-target healing. Don't try to "take on" more than the abilities will let you.

 

Third, a good rotation is key. Make sure you have the ability to queue up abilities 1 second before they're used - it helps a lot with efficiency. The preference is in User Interface (if I'm not mistaken). If you find yourself overheating, be sure to use your Rapid Shots often. Typically I will use Healing Scan and queue up a Rapid Shots directly after, and they go off at the same time (because RS is more or less instant).

 

When it comes to using supercharged gas - it can be a lifesaver or a killer. I almost exclusively use it to a) vent 8 heat and b) reduce the CD on Rapid Scan to 0. If someone's getting focused hardcore, pop that and start spamming Rapid Scan til they die or you burn up from overheating. Always a good idea to have Vent Heat ready and waiting for this.

 

Kolto missile I use almost exclusively on myself, unless several friendly targets are taking an insignificant amount of damage and I'd prefer to help focus the targets down. As a ground targeted instant ability, use Kolto Missile to lead yourself. Click it on the ground in the direction you want to go and run into it. The shield buff it grants in Supercharge mode is also decent.

 

Hope this is helpful.

Edited July 5, 2012 by Dyrankor

[Blyndfayth]

The fact that mercs can be uninterruptable (with shield and it's talent), have a quick way to regain resource (vent heat, supercharged gas), can wear heavy armor, and have several instant heals, makes merc stand out, in my opinion.

 

If you find yourself overheating, be sure to use your Rapid Shots often. Typically I will use Healing Scan and queue up a Rapid Shots directly after, and they go off at the same time (because RS is more or less instant).

 

Kolto missile I use almost exclusively on myself, unless several friendly targets are taking an insignificant amount of damage and I'd prefer to help focus the targets down. As a ground targeted instant ability, use Kolto Missile to lead yourself. Click it on the ground in the direction you want to go and run into it. The shield buff it grants in Supercharge mode is also decent. .

 

No offense, but these comments make me think you don't really PvP on your Merc Healer very much at all.

 

First off, the shield with it's talent is ONLY uninteruptible by someone using the interupt ability, such as an Assassins Jolt. You can, and will be, choked, thrown, stunned, frozen, pulled, etc. Which of course interupts your casting. I sure don't think it should when you have the talent, but it's happened to me often enough to be most aggravating. I do not know if this is what Bioware intends or not, somewhat like not being able to use Shoulder Slam against a stunned elite (gold or higher). Doesn't really make much sense. You'll also find that having a full resolve bar doesn't really seem to do anything for you either as I've also been choked, thrown, and all that while it's been full.

 

Using Rapid Shots in a WZ is an absolutely last resort. I've only used it when I've overheated for the 2nd time (after popping vent heat and supercharged gas). Any opposing player worth his salt will notice the green bullets and follow them to it's source, and then you'll be fighting for YOUR life instead of trying to save someone elses. Don't get me wrong, sometimes you can get away with it, even using it in a rotation, but I've learned that only works against inexperienced PvP players.

 

Kolto missile with the talents is your absolutely, hands down, no doubt about it best heal. Both in PvP and PvE. If you are only using it on yourself you are not playing your class right. The healing bonus you get with the talents isn't as high as it used to be, but it still helps out (I believe it's a 3% bonus down from a 5% bonus). I try to use it while several of my teammates are grouped up, then I can cycle through them and heal as needed. The extra healing they get more often than not means life or death. Popping supercharged gas and giving them the armor bonus makes this situation even better. Spamming Healing Scan (with the armor talent) on those same ppl that just recieved the armor bonus from the Kolto Missile is one of the best moves you can do as a Merc healer. Not only is thier armor rating now significantly higher, but you'll also need to heal less, thus not building up as much heat.

 

Try and find an out of the way place and hope no one notices you. Having a rotation is all well and good but once you yourself gets targeted it's all going to turn into so much poodoo. I've found that when this happens in a big group battle that it's often better to run through the crowd, dropping a kolto missile on the way, and hope a teammate picks up anyone who was pounding on you, whether by using an AoE, or a knockback, or whatever. I'd say this works maybe 1/5 of the time, but it's sure a lot better than trying to heal through the dps and hope and pray that someone comes to your rescue, because as a Merc Healer you really have no real avenue of escape.

 

You only have 1 instant heal (Quick Scan), with a possible instant heal if you pop an ability. I'll often pop a Quick Scan and a Healing Scan (with the instant ability and no heat ability activated at the same time) on someone who's almost dead. On average, this brings that person up to about 75% health, which brings that person renewed hope and frustrates the person or persons that were about to kill him to no end. Granted, when you save someones kill, they tend to hunt you down for the rest of the WZ when they notice you.

 

In short, playing a Merc healer is going to be very frustrating, but hopefully you'll find the class more rewarding in the end.