Healing Spec with Survival? Advice Please.

[Rayneia]

I'm not sure if this topic is a contradiction in terms or not but right now I'm running the standard 31/7/3 healing spec with half BM and the rest recruit gear. I average about 300-400K per WZ in healing though if the other team targets me at any point, I'm down in about 2-3 hits. Sadly enough, folks have gotten much better at locking down an IA so we can't heal ourselves. The other issue is if I'm stuck in a 1v1, my DPS is so pathetic that folks often stand there and let me wack at them while they spam "LMAO." Ok, not really but you get the point...

 

I was wondering though, is there a modified healing or hybrid healing spec that will give me a bit more survivability/DPS while not killing my ability to be a decent healer for my team? Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks,

 

Rayneia

[z-monty]

In my experience, I haven't heard or found one that really increases your survivability that much more. As a healer myself, I know exactly what you're going though and how damn frustrating it is just fearing the sight of two lightsabers with one toon. The closest thing I've found that works is, when someone targets you, have two stacks of KP on you in the hopes that it will give you a TA stack, then save that stack when you get under 30% health. At that point, just try to run away while spamming SP to keep yourself alive. Feel free to toss in a Flashbang, Debilitate, or Sever Tendon as well to hopefully slow the guy down as well. At this point, the attacker will either get bored, give up, be pulled off you by another teammate, or just keep going until you die. Cloaking Screen is also nice, but its mostly a last resort due to the 3min cooldown it has. Bottom line, there's really nothing you can do but accept the fact that, at least right now, we're pretty damn squishy. The best thing you can do is just accept this and try your best to find out what works best in keeping you alive. Ops are the most mobile of healers thoughh, so dont be afraid to use that to your advantage.

[Satedbuffalo]

I'm not sure if this topic is a contradiction in terms or not but right now I'm running the standard 31/7/3 healing spec with half BM and the rest recruit gear. I average about 300-400K per WZ in healing though if the other team targets me at any point, I'm down in about 2-3 hits. Sadly enough, folks have gotten much better at locking down an IA so we can't heal ourselves. The other issue is if I'm stuck in a 1v1, my DPS is so pathetic that folks often stand there and let me wack at them while they spam "LMAO." Ok, not really but you get the point...

 

I was wondering though, is there a modified healing or hybrid healing spec that will give me a bit more survivability/DPS while not killing my ability to be a decent healer for my team? Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks,

 

Rayneia

 

Hey Rayneia,

 

There are hybrid specs, but they will kill your ability to be a decent healer for your team. They're designed around self-heals. In my opinion, they work out really well in 1v1s (they win those kinds of tournaments all the time), but they're not what I'd want in a warzone. If you're healing, you're healing (and ccing).

 

Basically, there's no spec that's going to give you significantly more survivability if you're a straight healer. There are some talents which help - chem-resistant inlays, etc. - but the keys to surviving as a healer really arise out of playstyle and teamwork.

 

In other words, even as a Operative healer, you're relatively flimsy. If you're being focused by 3 or more DPS, you're going to have a lot of trouble (your team heals are probably going to go to zero, unless you're really good about keeping HoTs and your AOE heal up while keeping yourself alive). That said, if you can keep moving constantly, LOS ranged DPS with good consistency, have a tank buddy who knows how to operate in a WZ queue with you, learn the maps, learn the pillar dance, etc. etc. you're going to see a huge spike in a survivability and HPS. Not getting hit means you can spend more time healing the rest of your team.

 

The above is probably obvious, but it's really the only source of Operative survivability, if you're being focused. Make them regret targeting you.

[Jonespiano]

The solution to any survivability problem, for any class from the tankiest to the squishiest, is don't get hit. I surround myself in green names and hit Cloaking Screen when I see more than two red ones. I run back and forth (because mobile players are more difficult to target) while keeping Kolto Probes up on everyone to mitigate AoE and DoT damage. If I get a Vanguard or Sentinel on me, I cleanse the DoTs, use Evasion and Shield Probe, and try to LoS and slow. I'm also not afraid to use RN on the cooldown, even if it's just myself, because if I'm on the move, my arsenal of heals is otherwise fairly limited. These are all things that help me cheat death a lot.

[tatatan]

Hi,

1. you'll see as the time pass, that biggest problem atm is your gear. I run in WZs to medics that hold even x 2-3 enemies (depends on cooldowns of special abilities ).

2. dont be afraid to play with your build, i'd try e.g.:

 

34-0-7 : you dont need the heals from concealment, rather spend it on abilities in medic tree - from 100k heals, this is 3k if 3 points invested ... this is easily outdone by better surviveability if you have more points in medic

30-0-11 : you miss aoe heal, but you also can dot with CG and PD

24-x-x : you go up to surgical probe, still good at healing party and having enough dmg

18-x-x : this isn't heal spec anymore, you're have kolto probe, you can hot ppl around you, but you also have e.g. Cull, so you can dish out serious dmg ...

 

3. what suits your playstyle most ...? you'll find out, that as you acquire better gear, you get more experience your gamestyle and game play will evolve, so dont be afraid to try new things, new builds :-)

 

have luck

 

cheers,

[Ryemfoh]

Personally when I go heals I spec 31/3/7. Being able to Debilitate 15s earlier is a huge boost to survivability when you're kiting.

[Satedbuffalo]

Personally when I go heals I spec 31/3/7. Being able to Debilitate 15s earlier is a huge boost to survivability when you're kiting.

 

And the speed boost is lovely.

[Zhothon]

To the OP,

 

Once you are top geared, we can be pretty annoying to kill. Here is some advice:

1) Use all of your survivability abilities. Debilitate, flash bang, both shields, slow, and instant cloak are all important.

2) Try to keep HOTS on yourself.

3) Dont be shy with surg probe (especially below 30% health).

4) IF you need to cast Kolto Injection, try to juke them with Diagnostic Scan first (so they interupt it) [when possible].\

5) Run around like a maniac (make them work to hit ya).

6) Try to LoS the ranged attackers.

 

As far as 1v1 killing....we definitely are not killing machines. However, I have won plenty of duels against good DPS players. Just takes some practice.

 

I use a 33/3/5 build. http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc/#4010cZGZMffrzGoRds.2

[And yes, it was very tough giving up slip away.....still on the fence about that one].

 

Edit:

Gonna try this 31/3/7 build later.

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc/#4010cZGbZMcfrzGoRds.2

Giving up endorphin rush and adding slip away. There are plenty of times Endorphin rush has been helpful (especially in PvE), but ya get more survivability with slip away.

Edited August 9, 2012 by Zhothon

[Gronkaarr]

what about gearing with all Endurance augments instead of skill augments? would this be bad for a healer?

[Satedbuffalo]

what about gearing with all Endurance augments instead of skill augments? would this be bad for a healer?

 

My gut reaction was "absolutely this is a terrible idea." I think that's still correct; you're basically comparing:

 

168 power and 252 endurance (2520 hp)

252 power/cunning and 168 endurance (1680 hp)

 

In my opinion, 84 power (or the gains from 84cunning, if you're under the soft cap) seriously outweigh 840 hitponts. Because we have no skills that give us percentages of health, increasing hp by that amount is more or less meaningless. In my experience, there are very, very, very few fights where 840 hp makes a difference, especially when we're equipped with surgical probe.

 

The bonus to power will keep your friends alive longer, make your self-heals more significant, and increase your HPS by a non-trivial amount.

[Gronkaarr]

ok, i'll buy that. thanks for the analysis

[koffinushko]

Hi , I am healer till lvl 15 and I recommend 31/7/3 spec for better survival spec. Yes I took endurance +4% in concealment tree rather than slip away, because I am focused on healing and no kitting.

 

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#401McfrzGoRdsZbcbZh.2

[Ryemfoh]

Hi , I am healer till lvl 15 and I recommend 31/7/3 spec for better survival spec. Yes I took endurance +4% in concealment tree rather than slip away, because I am focused on healing and no kitting.

 

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#401McfrzGoRdsZbcbZh.2

 

in full WH gear with 19.5k HP, that 4% boost equates to 780 HP ... or around 1 Rifle Shot worth of damage.

 

In a 15 min WZ, being able to stun every 30s instead of every 45s will give you 10 extra stuns in the match. Each stun lasts 4 seconds (or 2.66 Rifle Shot's). You don't have to kite for Slip Away to be better than 4% Endurance - all you need to do is stun on CD and you're increasing your survivability by more than double, and that's if the guy is just using his lowest damage ability ... stunning a single Ravage for example is likely to save you around 5x the HP gained from the 4% talent, if not more!

 

Edit: Just looked at your actual spec. Imperial Brew is also pretty terrible unless you are Lethality spec or have access to Acid Blade. The problem for heal specs is that Corrosive Dart costs too much energy to spam, and can seriously mess up your regen. Also by not taking Deadly Directive you will need to stack significantly more Alacrity on your gear to boost your KInj + DS to reasonable levels for PVP. This means you'll have to give up a fair bit of Surge (I can't be bothered to math it right now, but I seem to remember than 1% cast speed is something like 100 Alacrity - or 2 extra Enhancements.)

Edited August 12, 2012 by Ryemfoh