[Guide] PVE Scoundrel Healing

[Elbmuh]

Just updated the guide with locations of specific mods and enhancements!

[xkellyx]

Great Guide! Hey admins!! Time for a STICKY or what?!?

[IInox]

Gj man. Nice guide.

 

You have a PM

[Riplin]

Great guide

 

I would like to get some others opinions on how I've set my stats up. I do not consider myself an expert by any means but feel I am a very strong healer and have a pretty good grasp on the class.

 

With the way scondrel healing and energy regen/management is set up, and that the vast majority of our heals are instant or already have a lower base cast time than sage/manos, alacrity isn't at important to us. I'm not saying that it is not useful, just that we don't need to stack as much as they do.

 

When I first started gearing up at 55 I was stacking alacrity a bit, but noticed how much surge was lacking. So I swaped out some enhancements back to the power/surge until my surge was back up at 75.16%(584 rating). This put my alacrity at 4.06%(144 rating). This only reduced my regen rate by .1 which is a non factor with how easy we can get out energy back. My underworld medicine cast time is 1.92s and Kalto pack at 1.44s.

 

While I did notice a bit of a difference in my global cool down it wasn't anything that affected my healing. I have zero issues with energy management, very rarely ever need to use my cool head. And hardly ever use pugnacity anymore unless I am in dire need of upper hand, but the way I manage them I usually never get caught with out 1 or 2 up especially with everything procing them now.

 

The burst healing imo is just crazy with my stats how they are now. I do still need to replace a few A mods which will bump my power a bit more and I am still using the old war hero relics with the static power but will be replacing 1 with the power proc, but the 113 power only reduces bonus healing by ~20. I'm still undecided on 2nd relic cause I suck at managing a clicky relic.

 

Stats(only with class buffs no stim)

Hps - 32154

Cunning - 3047

Bonus healing 948

Crit - 26.76(307 rating)

Surge - 75.16%(584 rating)

Alacrity - 4.06%(144 rating)

 

All gear is mainly 69s, with Verpine implants and 72 bracers. As I replace the A mods health and cunning will come down a little, but crit and power will go up.

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[armenak]

Sticky this please? =) Edited May 6, 2013 by armenak

[Elbmuh]

Great guide

 

I would like to get some others opinions on how I've set my stats up. I do not consider myself an expert by any means but feel I am a very strong healer and have a pretty good grasp on the class.

 

With the way scondrel healing and energy regen/management is set up, and that the vast majority of our heals are instant or already have a lower base cast time than sage/manos, alacrity isn't at important to us. I'm not saying that it is not useful, just that we don't need to stack as much as they do.

 

When I first started gearing up at 55 I was stacking alacrity a bit, but noticed how much surge was lacking. So I swaped out some enhancements back to the power/surge until my surge was back up at 75.16%(584 rating). This put my alacrity at 4.06%(144 rating). This only reduced my regen rate by .1 which is a non factor with how easy we can get out energy back. My underworld medicine cast time is 1.92s and Kalto pack at 1.44s.

 

While I did notice a bit of a difference in my global cool down it wasn't anything that affected my healing. I have zero issues with energy management, very rarely ever need to use my cool head. And hardly ever use pugnacity anymore unless I am in dire need of upper hand, but the way I manage them I usually never get caught with out 1 or 2 up especially with everything procing them now.

 

The burst healing imo is just crazy with my stats how they are now. I do still need to replace a few A mods which will bump my power a bit more and I am still using the old war hero relics with the static power but will be replacing 1 with the power proc, but the 113 power only reduces bonus healing by ~20. I'm still undecided on 2nd relic cause I suck at managing a clicky relic.

 

Stats(only with class buffs no stim)

Hps - 32154

Cunning - 3047

Bonus healing 948

Crit - 26.76(307 rating)

Surge - 75.16%(584 rating)

Alacrity - 4.06%(144 rating)

 

All gear is mainly 69s, with Verpine implants and 72 bracers. As I replace the A mods health and cunning will come down a little, but crit and power will go up.

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

I think we might have a different healing style, but really there is no argument for me... I am even willing to go as far as saying 440 alacrity minimum is necessary to be an effective scoundrel healer. The alacrity helps slow release medpac casts go quicker and give you enough time to use 3 heals between refreshing srmp on the last person and the first person again over 2 with below 440 alacrity. The alacrity also becomes extremely noticeable when a target is taking HIGH damage and below 30% and you need to quickly cast emergency medpac to sustain their health, or even a kolto pack to be able to save them.

 

My friend's spreadsheet models also agree about the difference in alacrity. Besides, when you go beyond a certain point in Surge (it's somewhere in the 300's) the diminishing returns get so bad that it is no question to stack alacrity at that point.

[DarkSanta]

I've been toying around with alacrity/surge as well and I do agree that it seems to be a lot more important than pre-2.0. At the moment i'm at 320 surge/304 alacrity. Note that this PvP gear and I'm talking from a PvP perspective. I've been planning to get more alacrity but haven't gotten to that point yet. The thing I wanted to ask you if you have some data or some numbers to show me about that 440 alacrity number. Although I'm pretty sure that with PvP gear I won't be able to get that amount without dropping below 200 surge.

[Songwhistle]

I would always say - either go for permanet increase to power from warhero or the new proc relics (love them to bits).

 

When you actually need the increase in healing people tends to save the click relics for 3 min into a fight and all that time the power on the relic is wasted in comparison to the other 2 options. Why not consider switching to biochem if you dont already have it and use either the triage or crit adrenal depending on your current power amount and crit rating from gear.

[Songwhistle]

i totally agree on the need for you to get more alacrity as before mentioned.

[nninjacoupe]

I run a scoundrel healer on the Jedi Covenant and am one of "those" that stack alacrity over surge. Always have. Even in 2.0. I have found that about 540 alacrity rating is my sweet spot. I have healed SnV HM, TFB HM, Toborros HM etc. and my guild has no problems asking me to heal any content with them, even if some of them think I am crazy when asking to see my stats lol. At that alacrity I can actually maintain 2 stacks of srmp on 11 people. Haven't actually tried to do 12 though so it may be possible. I think the difference lies in play style.

[Voxx_Voltaare]

I'm still trying to figure out the sweet spots. Here are my current stats:

 

(4xclass buffs, no stim - although I do use a reusable nano-infused skill stim)

 

Hps - 30447

Cunning - 2810

Bonus healing 854

Crit - 28.46%(380 rating)

Surge - 73.59%(499 rating)

Alacrity - 5.03%(216 rating)

 

All but 2 of my gear are 69s, otherwise 66. I have 1 Verpine implant and a black market implant and earpiece. All 7 pieces of armor are augmented with 28 skills. Haven't done the rest yet. Also using a PvP serendipitous assault relic(until I can get the PvE one) and a battlemaster boundless ages for the 103 power(never got the WH before 2.0).

 

I still have a way to go, but I do some pretty decent heals. I don't know if I want to drop crit/surge much more to gain more alacrity. I have a reusable efficacy adrenal that boosts alacrity by 625 for 15s and bumps me up to 12.18%(841). It's the only viable adrenal since the power one reduces healing by 20%(what's the point?) Alacrity really only comes into play when under the gun and you need to get off as many heals as possible in a short time. I figure that popping the adrenal and even pugnacity when that is done will give you a nice boost for a full 30s. Of course this is only relevant if you decide to go biochem, but this makes it that much more compelling to do so.

 

I think I'll probably go full skill augments and as much power on my gear as possible while keeping crit/surge within respectable levels. I'm just not as concerned with alacrity with the two pocket buffs every 2-3min.

 

Thoughts?

[nninjacoupe]

I use a triage adrenal that boosts tech when I need the extra power on my heals. To be honest it is pretty rare that I find myself needing to use much of anything to boost healing. The healing in ops and flashpoints on bosses hasn't been very demanding. The trash mobs are ridiculous at some points. CC and kill order can solve that though.

[Squigss]

Yeah Vexx, the Triage adrenal is the healing one.

[Voxx_Voltaare]

Ok I'll have to make one of those.

[inocelda]

I notice a lot of people here debating alacrity/surge. If you're wondering about the alacrity to surge ratio, it is not something that is "your preference" or something that fits "your style of healing."

 

Based on the 18s Slow Release Medpac, you can only get 11 casts in before you have to refresh your first SRM cast. If any of you were Scoundrel healers before 2.0 this was definitely the case. It is also the case in 2.0 until you reach at LEAST 450 alacrity rating (you'll want 474 in BiS gear -- 79*6=474). After you pass the 450 threshold, you are able to cast 12 times before you need to refresh your first SRM cast.

 

Getting an entire extra cast in your rotation is well worth it to have some more alacrity and you notice much more hps gained by doing so versus stacking surge far into DRs.

[DARTH_RIOT]

great thread here guys, this is exactly what I was looking for, there is heaps of stuff out there showing graphs of DR's but this thread actually gives values which makes it extremely useful.

 

I've adjusted my alacrity, it was around 680 or so and found bringing it down to 440 only costs me about 0.02-0.05 seconds on UM. So now all those alacrity augements can be replaced with Skill and power augments so I can get my cunning up to 3000 when buffed and stimmed

 

BUT this is what I dont understand:-

 

original post says bring your Surge and Crit to 300 surge and crit at 350.

 

My surge is at 73.5% and the rating is 495. (buffed / no stim)

My crit is at 30.53% and the rating is at 540. (buffed / no stim)

 

I always thought the golden rule was stack crit up to 30% and surge up to 75%. But as you can see if I decrease my ratings down to 300 surge and 350 crit, I will be a lot lower than the 30% crit and 75% surge.

 

So the question is do I want to lower my rating or maintain the % ?

[inocelda]

great thread here guys, this is exactly what I was looking for, there is heaps of stuff out there showing graphs of DR's but this thread actually gives values which makes it extremely useful.

 

I've adjusted my alacrity, it was around 680 or so and found bringing it down to 440 only costs me about 0.02-0.05 seconds on UM. So now all those alacrity augements can be replaced with Skill and power augments so I can get my cunning up to 3000 when buffed and stimmed

 

BUT this is what I dont understand:-

 

original post says bring your Surge and Crit to 300 surge and crit at 350.

 

My surge is at 73.5% and the rating is 495. (buffed / no stim)

My crit is at 30.53% and the rating is at 540. (buffed / no stim)

 

I always thought the golden rule was stack crit up to 30% and surge up to 75%. But as you can see if I decrease my ratings down to 300 surge and 350 crit, I will be a lot lower than the 30% crit and 75% surge.

 

So the question is do I want to lower my rating or maintain the % ?

 

When you have BiS Underworld gear, your Surge rating should be 316 and your alacrity 474. I guess you could go 553 Alacrity and 237 Surge if you are still having trouble with the 2 stacks of SRM falling off but every bit that you change will cost you a few hps here and there.

 

As for Crit, 285 is the perfect rating but it doesn't really make that much of a difference. As long as you try to stay below 500 crit rating, you'll be fine. For all of those who are ignoring crit and stacking power, they will do just fine as well, even though 285 is the perfect rating for maximizing your hps. At max, you're only losing 20 hps so it probably won't be noticed.

 

The rotation is truly what separates good, okay, and bad players. Even in horrible gear, a great player can still out-perform one who is geared, simply with their rotation.

[DARTH_RIOT]

thanks - but if i decrease my crit rating, my crit % will decrease.

 

Shouldn't my Crit % be at 30% or thereabouts ?

 

Is it more important to keep crit around 30%, or is it more important to get my crit rating down to 285? Note that if come down to Crit rating 285 my crit % will decrease significantly.

 

My crit rating is currently 540 which puts me at 30% Crit so dropping down to 285 wont be too good for my Crit %.

Edited May 20, 2013 by DARTH_RIOT

[Elbmuh]

thanks - but if i decrease my crit rating, my crit % will decrease.

 

Shouldn't my Crit % be at 30% or thereabouts ?

 

Is it more important to keep crit around 30%, or is it more important to get my crit rating down to 285? Note that if come down to Crit rating 285 my crit % will decrease significantly.

 

My crit rating is currently 540 which puts me at 30% Crit so dropping down to 285 wont be too good for my Crit %.

When considering whether to bring your crit down for more power, you consider whether the benefit of more crit outweighs more power. Power will always give you a healing bonus at a flat rate of 17% (I might be wrong about this number) but the healing bonus you get from crit is dependent on your surge and crit chance. The only way to figure out which is better at a certain point is to use models or parses that emulate it.

 

Ino's models (the poster above) are showing that the ideal in BIS gear is 285 crit with the rest in power, assuming your surge is 316. At higher surge, crit is more valuable and at lower surge crit is less valuable. Any more crit over 285 adds less to your HPS than more power would. I hope that makes sense.

Edited May 24, 2013 by Elbmuh

[inocelda]

thanks - but if i decrease my crit rating, my crit % will decrease.

 

Shouldn't my Crit % be at 30% or thereabouts ?

 

Is it more important to keep crit around 30%, or is it more important to get my crit rating down to 285? Note that if come down to Crit rating 285 my crit % will decrease significantly.

 

My crit rating is currently 540 which puts me at 30% Crit so dropping down to 285 wont be too good for my Crit %.

 

To give you a better perspective of the differences between Crit Rating and Power...

 

Crit Analysis:

Crit Rating | HPS

443--------------7,378.77

364--------------7,386.21

285--------------7,389.34

206--------------7,387.90

127--------------7,381.58

 

The above analysis shows you that 285 will give you the most hps. This is of course based on the fact that you will have the minimum required alacrity (79*6=474) to allow you to use 12 casts in your rotation versus only 11 casts for being below 450 alacrity. If you have 474 alacrity then the maximum surge you can have is 316. So, with 316 surge, 285 is the sweet spot for crit to maximize your hps. However, seeing as it really doesn't change your hps THAT much, you could have a higher crit rating (perhaps you want to gain more energy from your Diagnostic Scan) and it wouldn't hurt your hps much.

 

If anything though, you should NOT have 0 crit rating...This is the worst of both worlds, since you neither gain more energy from your Diagnostic Scans nor do you have a higher hps. The only thing that 0 crit rating does is make you have a really big heal once in a great moon...I guess if getting a stupid record in one of those pvp threads for the single biggest heal for your class is your goal then by all means, go ahead.

Edited May 25, 2013 by inocelda

[lazerxxx]

Great guide!

 

When the situation allows it, what offensive abilities are the best to use?

[Voxx_Voltaare]

There's not really that many effective ones to chose from. I tend to think of some of the "offensive" abilities as defensive ones. For example, Dirty Kick to stun someone, giving time to heal or escape; or Tendon Blast to create distance if a melee is on you. Vital Shot and Sabotage Charge are two quick abilities(using crouch instead of cover you can get off a SC almost as fast as an instant cast, unless you are already in crouch/cover of course). If I'm near someone who is pretty low on health, I may go for a Back Blast. If it crits it can do some decent damage. If you end up getting the kill you get a stack of UH out of it two. A Blaster Whip will net you a UH as well if you are out.

 

If in PvP, it's best not to think of yourself in an offensive roll UNLESS your team is pretty much rolling the other and not taking much damage. Otherwise, I tend to avoid 1v1 encounters if possible, mainly because the fight will usually take too long and/or end in a stalemate and distracting me from my main goal which is healing my team.

 

For PvE, it depends. In FPs if you are in a well geared group with experience, you probably aren't going to have to heal too much unless someone accidentally pulls extra mobs. If not a lot of damage is being taken then I'll help out offensively. Killing things quicker means less damage = less heals needed. People often expect(and you should) that you throw down a Freighter Fly-by on a large mob full of strongs/elites. You just want to be careful about stealing aggro from the tank. If they are a good tank though it shouldn't be a problem.

 

It's actually one of the reasons why I really love playing Sawbones is that you can inflict a fair amount of damage when needed and it can be fun to take quick breaks from healing. In Operations though you should really always stick to healing only. They'll be plenty of DPS and tanks to do their thing. If in HM or NiM, forget it. You might as well take all damage dealing abilities off you toolbar.

[Elbmuh]

Great guide!

 

When the situation allows it, what offensive abilities are the best to use?

I like to use XS Freighter Flyby, Vital Shot, Sabotage Charge, Backblast, and Blaster Whip.

[Florrana]

Hey! Love the guide, Im thinking about even making my main a Sawbones atm, this guide was just what I was looking for. I was curious if it wouldnt be too much trouble if either the OP could maybe post an "askmrrobot" guide to the gearing and augment choices. It would be awesome, that way we could see BiS and the correct way to go atm. Pre 2.2 of course. thanks Edited June 3, 2013 by Florrana

[DarkSanta]

I know this is a PvE guide but I wondered if you could do some PvP calculations as well. For example the alacrity, instead of getting 79 on a piece of equipment you'll only get 64. Now you say that the key rating is 450 alacrity, however, with only 64 on an enhancement you'll need 7 of them to reach 448 or 8 to get above 450 which leaves you with only 3 or 2 enhancements for surge.

 

Now if it's not feasible to aim for 450 alacrity should I aim for the same ratio of enhancements? 6 alacrity and 4 surge? Or, since I heard somewhere that alacrity is only really good if you get a lot of it, sack alacrity much more and get more surge?

 

Same goes for crit rating, how many mods/enhancements with crit should I aim for to get t he most return? The high crit enhancements give 41 rating and the high crit mods give 46 if that's any help.