Sawbones Theory Thread

[The_Glaive]

Contained in this thread will be guides for different Scoundrel Sawbones builds, ranging from solo PVE and PVP builds to flashpoint and operations builds for PVE and premade PVP builds.

 

When I can, I’ll supply short descriptions from the build submitters or ones that I can observe when they are submitted. When submitting, please indicate what type of build it is (i.e. PVP or PVE) and leave a short (one or two sentence) summery of the build so that I can add them to the lists.

 

I’d also like some replies and posts about healing rotations, general uses for skills and abilities, theories about taking certain skills over others, and other ways of helping the scoundrel healing class.

 

I would ultimately like this thread to be a compendium of all things Sawbones so that anyone just starting the class will get a leg up on the other healing classes.

 

Skill Trees Submitted:

 

PVE Builds

 

Leveling/Missions/Solo/Flashpoints

 

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#701MfsdkGoRdsZ0cZGo.1 - (32/3/6) Submitted by thesoundofwolf – general build putting a point into most of the utility skills of the Sawbones Tree.

 

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#701MffMdhoRdsZ0cZG0M.1 - (31/3/7) Submitted by SirArion - Skill tree focusing on healer survivability during encounters

 

 

Raiding/Operations

 

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#701MffrzGoRdsZ0cZG.1 - (33/3/5) Submitted by FoolishLobster – This build drops all of the utility/survivability skills and focuses on PVE healing effectiveness.

 

 

PVP Builds

 

General PVP

 

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#701MffrzGoRzsZ0cZGb.1 - (31/3/7) Submitted by RadioheadXXX - This build uses the standard 31/3/7 build picking up Dirty Escape in the Dirty Fighting tree.

 

http://db.darthhater.com/skill_calc/smuggler/scoundrel/#::e5fe2fe4fe6f4e2f10ef22: - (33/8/0) Submitted by Larce_Apollo – all points not in the sawbones tree are instead in the scrapper tree, focusing in burst damage and stealth speed and level.

Edited December 19, 2011 by The_Glaive

[RadioheadXXX]

As of right now, this is the build I plan on using.

 

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#701MffrzGoRzsZ0cZGb.1

[thesoundofwolf]

This is the build, I am thinking. To proc Upper hand, might as well shoot tranqilizers at a mob- I suppose. And have a duality use for PVP.

 

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#701MfsdkGoRdsZ0cZGo.1

[Shainra]

As of right now, this is the build I plan on using.

 

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#701MffrzGoRzsZ0cZGb.1

 

I'm planning on the exact same build. I figure plenty of PvE healing, and the extra 2 points in Dirty Escape are handy for the occasional PvP venture.

Edited December 13, 2011 by Shainra

[JakeLightbearer]

Yeah, I think I'm also using this build.

 

Basically, it seems like a no brainer to get all of the healing-related Sawbones talents, and then grab the boosts from Scrapper and Dirty Fighting, leaving you four points to choose two of the following: Scar Tissue, Sedatives, Scramble, Med Screen, or Dirty Escape.

 

Although I plan to PvE primarily, Dirty Escape looks like it could help on those occasions when there's an aggro management error.

[FoolishLobster]

Raiding PvE spec:

 

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#701MffrzGoRdsZ0cZG.1

 

Now, I know what you're thinking: "*** Med Screen?". It's a defensive cooldown. Any improvements to that would be beneficial. Again, this is a RAIDING spec. Some might say to put points into sedatives. But what use is it when you can't Tranquilize bosses?

[Higherpower]

I must say I've got to agree with the 33/3/5 setup in the trees. As far as healing throughput and raid success goes, only the 3/5 in the other two trees are going to increase your throughput without wasting any points to jump to the next (also quite not useful) tiers.

 

I do not disagree that sedatives are not going to be useful on bosses, but I'd assume having an extra CC for trash between bosses is going to make a decent impact (think sap for rogue with a damage reduction after breaking). I would drop Med Screen for Sedatives and have an identical build to the one directly above mine.

[Larce_Apollo]

Mine:

 

http://db.darthhater.com/skill_calc/smuggler/scoundrel/#::e5fe2fe4fe6f4e2f10ef22:

[SirArion]

This is the setup I am going with: www.torhead.com (31/3/7)

 

After playing two builds I never found that Diagnostic Scan was that useful nor was adding the ability to (at max with lucky crits) add 6 energy to my pool. I can save 4 points for other things and avoid an ability I should only be using if I have messed up my resource management in the first place.

 

Scar Tissue is not just for when the tank messes up, it's for ALL damage so for AoE's and environmental effects it will help me stay alive in order to heal others, same goes for Med Screen. The less I have to worry about my own health the more I can heal others.

 

Sedatives may not be able to work on bosses but they work fine on elites and some champions. Reducing the damage for 10 seconds by 50% made a big difference in what I could solo and with a group that lets you CC first it will be proactive healing.

 

No Holds barred is a nice 6% Crit bonus to just about everything we do and all our heals.

 

I don't really like the last two points in Flash Powder but there really isn't a better place to put them, besides which even if you toss it out in a group and people immediately break it by attacking the mobs there is still 20% less accuracy meaning less damage you need to heal.

[Eroiqua]

I found sedatives very useful in some of the group areas...I forget the name of the actual mission, but one that comes to mind involved fighting a bunch of Mandalorians on Nar Shaddaa. At times there were 3 elites and a couple more strongs in a group, and we couldn't quite get everything down before the tranq wore off. The 10 seconds of half-damage from an elite really made a difference.

 

As for diagnostic scan, I found it to be rather useful. It was really good in fights where the rest of my team were good at avoiding damage and only took a little here and there. I could DPS the boss with more than just my basic blaster attack then top off my group (usually just the tank, really) while regenning energy. Far more efficient than using energy on slow-release medpacs (often overheal with such a pro group) and doing piss-poor DPS while regenning from the medpac applications. I found that, talented, the diagnostic scan crit quite a bit.

Edited December 13, 2011 by Eroiqua

[Ramladu]

This is my projected solo pve/warzone build (assuming they add dual specs early on):

 

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#701MffMdhoRzcZhZhrbz.1

 

It gives up kolto cloud, diagnostic scan and survivor's scars for some extra dot-based damage. For solo questing kolto cloud isn't worth the point investment, and I'm thinking it'd be situational at best in pvp. I can't stand being a pure healer if I'm pvping without a premade - without some level of offense, it can get frustrating being caught alone.

 

This is very specifically a solo pve/random queue warzone build, not intended for difficult group content or premade pvp. I'd use one of the pure healer builds for that stuff.

 

Also, bear in mind I purposely avoided playing smuggler/IA in beta, so this build is purely theoretical. For example, if vital shot's damage is still tiny even with these talent boosts, that would kind of invalidate the entire purpose of the build.

[Wallach]

31/3/5 is sort of the obvious base for PvE Sawbones; there's 2 points within Sawbones itself that are pretty much filler and can go into Med Screen, Scar Tissue, Scramble, whatever. Then you have the two left over points; I'd probably put them back into Sawbones for like Sedatives, but the Dirty Kick and Flash Grenade talents in Dirty Fighting would also be decent choices I guess.

[optionaddict]

Has anyone found/have a suggestion for a good sawbones PVP build that I can also PVE with?

[Rhellion]

31/3/5 is sort of the obvious base for PvE Sawbones; there's 2 points within Sawbones itself that are pretty much filler and can go into Med Screen, Scar Tissue, Scramble, whatever. Then you have the two left over points; I'd probably put them back into Sawbones for like Sedatives, but the Dirty Kick and Flash Grenade talents in Dirty Fighting would also be decent choices I guess.

 

I agree. I plan on running 33/3/5 with Sedatives, but may very well switch out Sedatives for Dirty Kick as far as PVP goes.

 

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#701MffrdGoRzsZ0cZG.1

[Perringaiden]

My first cut at a Sawbones skill set.

 

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#701MffbzGoRdsZMIZM.1

 

Sawbones Talents skipped

 

• Anatomy Lessons - Less concerned with combat effectiveness.
  
• Scar Tissue - Healers being hit in combat means someone else (generally) made a mistake
  
• Sedatives - Actually sounds like a useful ability, but I'm guessing the usual "can't be CC'd" things apply at end-level for boss fights.
  
• Scramble - Again another 'could be useful but not healing specific' talent.
  

 

 

Non-Sawbones Talents Gained

 

• Survivor's Scars - Increases healing done. Nuff said.
  
• Element of Surprise - Point-filler to get to Sneaky, could use 2 of 3 points in Browbeater instead.
  
• Sneaky - Constant movement speed bonuses are always useful, meaning that Scramble and Scar Tissue are less needed.
  
• Black Market Mods - A bonus to Aclarity which improves activation times will be useful for a tech based class.
  

 

[SelenaCat]

My first cut at a Sawbones skill set.

 

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#701MffbzGoRdsZMIZM.1

 

There is still some debate as to whether the Sneaky talent provides out-of-stealth movement increases (some testers during the latest beta thought it didn't). If it does, I will go with a very similar build, only substituting 2 points in No Holds Barred (+4% crit) instead of Black Market Mods (4% Alacrity). Most of our skills are instants or already under the GCD (1.5 seconds), so there's little value to Alacrity as it doesn't reduce the GCD or increase the rate of ticks from HoTs.

Edited December 14, 2011 by SelenaCat

[Oawa]

My first cut at a Sawbones skill set.

 

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#701MffbzGoRdsZMIZM.1

 

 

[*]Black Market Mods - A bonus to Aclarity which improves activation times will be useful for a tech based class.

 

 

I've been debating this one with myself for awhile. At high level, Scoundrels won't be using castable heals as much as at lower levels. Not sure how effective this talent is going to be then.

[Maxvla]

I've been debating this one with myself for awhile. At high level, Scoundrels won't be using castable heals as much as at lower levels. Not sure how effective this talent is going to be then.

 

At low levels you only have 2 heals, Underworld Medicine and Diagnostic Scan, both cast times. Saying you won't be using them as much at high level is pretty obvious.

 

At high level you will still be using quite a lot of Underworld Medicine, but it will be mixed with Slow Release Medpac and Emergency Medpac.

 

--

 

I'll be using FoolishLobster's build, but move the Med Screen points to Sedatives for pre-raid.

Edited December 15, 2011 by Maxvla

[Venimer]

My Hybrid build i will be using(pvp focus). For those that don't think hybrids will work. you will see later on:cool:

 

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#701MffMzhRRzZMIModk.1

Edited December 15, 2011 by Venimer

[ShiroRX]

Sedatives is amazing for leveling and pve specs.

[ShiroRX]

Dedicated pve: http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#701MffbdGoRzsZ0cZG0M.1

 

PvP/PvP server world, personal: http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#701rff0zhRRzZGhModk.1 (25/16/0)

 

ill be rolling 25/16 split most of the time. Not speccing scrapper till I get tier 5 sawbones.

 

Dedicated healer pvp specs will be used when ranked warzones are put in/when starting Ops.

Edited December 15, 2011 by ShiroRX

[Maxvla]

Why the buff to flash grenade? It's a long cd and only 8 second effect from the talent only functional against trash. That vs 4% less damage taken all the time seems pretty silly.

 

4% self damage reduction for all enemies vs 1.7% ((8/90)20) per person all parties damage reduction not effective against bosses (immune to the blind effect).

Edited December 15, 2011 by Maxvla

[ShiroRX]

Why the buff to flash grenade? It's a long cd and only 8 second effect from the talent only functional against trash. That vs 4% less damage taken all the time seems pretty silly.

 

4% self damage reduction for all enemies vs 1.7% ((8/90)20) per person all parties damage reduction not effective against bosses (immune to the blind effect).

 

Bosses are not immune to accuracy penalties. They're immune to being flash banged, which means they won't get the talent effect.

[Badelito]

Can I level as sufficiently as Sawbones as I would with Scrapper?

[Maxvla]

Bosses are not immune to accuracy penalties. They're immune to being flash banged, which means they won't get the talent effect.

 

Right, so they are immune to the flash grenade which means the talented effect won't work either. So why would you spec for it?