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PvE Mercenary Healing Guide 2.2 (Bodyguard)

NeNiMel

By NeNiMel
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NeNiMel

NeNiMel

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THE GUIDE HAVE BEEN REPOSTED DUE TO NAME CHANGE

New updates to the guide can be found here:

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=690668

 

 

 

 

 

Table of content

  1. Introduction
  2. Talents
  3. Rotation
    - The abilities
    - Single target healing
    - Multi target healing
    - Hints and common mistakes
  4. Stats, Gear and Consumables
    - Stats
    - Gear
    - Consumables
  5. User interface
  6. Conclusion
  7. Appendix
    - Commando / Mercenary Translations

 

 

I. Introduction

For a long time I have been missing a detailed guide for mercenary healers, so I decided to write one myself. I am by no means the best mercenary healer there is, but I do have a decent amount of experience about what to do and not to do.

This guide builds on my own knowledge about mercenary healing, which I have combined with inputs from various discussions and guides from other forums.

 

I would like to hear your feedback, especially if there are any additions or something you disagree with in the guide. The feedback is useful, so I can keep the guide up to date :)

 

I will in the guide refer to allies that are being healed as "targets", just to avoid any confusion.

 

 

 

II. Talents:

The talent tree I personally prefer:

Mercenary (36/8/2)

 

Alternative:

Mercenary (37/8/1)

I don't like this spec, but some people do, because of the little extra AoE healing.

 

 

 

III. Rotation:

Mercenary healing is all about heat-management, so it is very important to have the proper rotation. Unfortunately the rotation mainly depends on the fight, so it is hard to say what rotation is the best but I will try to give an overview here of the basics of the merc. healing rotation.

 

The Mercenary healer uses the Combat Support Cylinder.

 

The abilities

Main healing abilities:

  • Supercharged Gas - Used for two purposes: 1. To enter burst rotation, when a lot of healing is needed. 2. To vent heat, when little healing is needed and heat-level is high.
  • Rapid Shot - Used as filler to heal for a small amount and build stacks of Combat Support Cylinder.
  • Rapid Scan - The highest single-hit heal in the rotation.
  • Healing Scan - Used to heal and apply buffs. Buffs increases armour rating by 10% (talented) and places a HoT on the target (talented). It also reduces heat-cost of next Rapid Scan (talented).
  • Emergency Scan - Used as a burst heal, due to no cast time.
  • Kolto Shell - Used as buff/HoT on the tank
  • Kolto Missile - Used for AoE healing and buffs. Buffs increase the healing received by 3% (talented), and reduces damage taken by 5% on the target (talented and active Supercharged Gas).
     
    Other healing abilities:
  • Cure - Used to cleanse debuffs.
  • Vent Heat - Used to vent heat, when heat-level reaches roughly 60.
  • Termal Sensor Override - Used to vent heat, when heat-level reaches roughly 30.
  • Power Surge - Used together with Rapid Scan to create a burst heal.
  • Onboard AED - In combat revive.
  • Jet Boost - Used for AoE (Often not in the rotation due to long CD)
     
    Defensive abilities:
  • Energy Shield - Used to reduce all incoming damage by 25% (mostly used in burn a phase).
  • Kolto Overload - Used in burn phases to regenerate HP when it is below 30%.
  • Chaff flare - Used to drop aggro so that the tanks in the team have an easier job.
  • Hydraulic Overrides - Used to increase movement speed and to break movement-impairing effects.
  • Determination - Used to break stuns on yourself.

 

Single target healing

As mentioned earlier Mercenary healing is all about heat-management, so it is important to always keep the heat-level low so that the regeneration-rate does not suffer.

A good way to keep the heat-level low is to use Supercharged Gas as often as possible, because it vents 8 heat each time it is used. But be careful using this method, because it might mean that Supercharged Gas is on cooldown, when the tank is taking a beating, so do not use it for this purpose if it is not needed.

Supercharged Gas is also used to enter the burst rotation, when a lot of “Oh ****” healing is needed. The burst rotation is all about doing as much healing as possible in very little time. A way to achieve this is to follow the burst rotation below.

Whenever Supercharged Gas is activated use a Kolto Missile to apply a 5% damage reduction shield on the target.

 

Prior to all larger fights make sure to build up 30 charges in the Combat Support Cylinder, by spamming Rapid Shots at an ally. This will ensure that Supercharged Gas is ready to use immediately, if needed. During the fight Rapid Shots and the occasional Rapid Scan should be enough to build up 30 charges when it is needed next.

 

It is also important to keep the Kolto Shell active on the target that is taking the most damage during the fight and this is generally kept on the tanks. The Kolto Shell will provide a continuous, passive healing to the target and is therefore helpful to keep the heat-level low. It should be reapplied whenever it runs out, there is a tank switch (apply to the new tank) or in case of special mechanics (for example: needing to move out of range from of the target for a period of time where Kolto Shell may wear off before you can return to healing range).

 

The Kolto Missile is a great assert in the repertoire, even when it will only affect one target out of four possible. The primary reason for this is the 3% healing bonus that the target will receive through the Kolto Residue talent. The Bonus makes Kolto Missile combine well with other healer’s abilities from other classes (for example: sorceress’s healing circle). Kolto Missile can also be used to lower the amount of damage the target takes by preceding Kolto Missile with Supercharged Gas to apply a 5% damage reduction shield on them.

 

Healing Scan and Rapid Scan should be used in succession of each other, since Healing Scan will lower the heat-cost of Rapid Scan, when the Critical Efficiency talent is active (down to 17 from the normal 25). Healing Scan will provide the target with a small heal-over-time after the initial burst heal and an additional 10% armour through the Proactive Medicine and Reactive Armour talents.

Rapid Scan should only be used, when the heat-level is low because of the high heat-cost. Avoid using two Rapid Scans back-to-back as it will generate a large amount of heat and lower the regeneration-rate.

 

In most cases if the standard rotation is used, then the target should only take a moderate amount of damage after the Kolto shell, Kolto Missile and Healing Scan is used. In these cases it is often a waste of heat to proceed with a Rapid Scan. Instead I would recommend using Rapid Shot as a filler, whenever the fight allows it. The reason for this is, that Rapid shot is a good way to build stacks in the Combat Support Cylinder and still heal the target for a decent amount without generating any heat. If the target still takes a lot of damage after Healing Scan, then proceed with Rapid Scan of course

 

Emergency Scan has no heat-cost, but a long cooldown. It should be used if the heat-level is getting high or when it is needed to make a quick heal at somebody.

Cure used to cleanse debuffs from friendly targets :)

 

 

Standard rotation:

The rotation is prority based, so it should not be execute top-down, but the abilities with higher priority should be used most often.

 

 

  1. (Supercharged Gas - To vent heat).
  2. Kolto Shell - OBS! Only when the old run out or when there is a tank swap.
  3. Kolto Missile - Can be difficult to place, if so go no. 4.
  4. Healing Scan.
  5. (Rapid Shot - Filler, use it to build stacks in the Combat Support Cylinder if no big heals are needed).
  6. Rapid Scan.
  7. Emergency Scan.
  8. Rapid Shot - Use if heat-level is high, until it again is below 30ish.

 

Burst rotation:

During Supercharged Gas, Execute top-down and repeat.

 

 

  1. Emergency Scan
  2. Kolto Missile
  3. Healing Scan
  4. Rapid Scan

 

Emergency Scan is prioritised higher in the burst rotation because you want to give out as much healing during Supercharged Gas as possible. The reason for this is the 5% extra healing dealt during this period.

 

 

Multi target healing

Mercenaries only have one useful AoE heal ability which is the Kolto Missile. So whenever AoE healing is needed use it on a group of 3+ people.

 

If Jet Boost is speced into healing too, then this is also an opportunity for AoE heals. Jet Boost has some unfortunate side effects. 1. It has a very high cooldown. 2. It is difficult to position, since you will have to stand in the middle of a group of friendly targets. 3. It knocks back enemies, which is often not preferred, when people are stacking and the enemies have been grouped up for AoE damage.

 

 

On the move

In some boss fights you often need to move around to avoid being hit by some mechanic, during which it can be difficult to heal someone if they get hit. Mercenaries have four abilities that are useful in such a situation. The first is Emergency Scan, which can be cast instantly and provides a large amount of healing. Secondly Power Surge can be used together with Rapid Scan to create a large instant heal. Lastly Kolto Missile and Rapid Shots can be used, because they have no cast time, but they can be difficult to position since you will have to target an area on the ground and face the target respectively.

 

 

Hints and common mistakes

- Be smart ;-)

In many boss fights there is a transition phase in which there is no need for healing. The transition phase is therefore a good opportunity to get the heat-level down, so do not worry about the heat-level if you know such a phase is eminent.

 

- Practice makes master

Almost all boss fights requires special rotation for mercenary healers, especially when it is hard mode or nightmare mode ops. I would recommend that new healers start out on easy runs just get a hold of the standard rotation. When they have gotten a hold on the rotation and learned the heat managing, then they can try to evolve their rotation so it matches the fight.

 

- Work as a team

In operations will there always be minimum one other healer besides yourself and it is therefore often important to have a clear agreement on who does what, so you don´t waste time or heat on unnecessary heals, moving or cleansing. Especially cleansing which is often an issue that needs a special agreement. A good way to learn how this works is to run with an experienced healer that has lead a healing team before.

 

- Cancel the cast

The target sometimes get healed by other healers in the group before you finish the cast time of your on heal. To avoid wasting heat on an over-heal in such a case, just take a small step forward or backwards to cancel the cast.

 

- Don´t stand passive

If there is a down period in the fight where no healing is needed, then do not just stand passive. Instead use some heat on doing dps to the enemy target or use Rapid Shot to build stacks in the Combat Support Cylinder (hint if Rapid Shot is used on enemy targets it still builds up stacks), so Supercharged Gas is ready for use.

 

- Don´t waste heat on over-heals

Just dont!

 

- Don´t heal like in PvP

In PvP I tend to just spam heal, because I know I will die (healers always get targeted first) and get my resources back again. In PvE the entire raid will probably die together with you.

 

- Don´t reapply Kolto Shell too often

It might have a relatively low-heat cost, but it does not have a high cooldown. Therefore it is possible to reapply it multiple times in a row, which will eat your heat.

 

- Use your defensives

The defensive abilities are a good way to minimize and avoid damage done to yourself. Energy Shield and Kolto Overload are mostly used in the burn phase of a boss fight, but sometimes Energy Shield can be used to minimize the damage taken if it is used in the start of the fight, because then it will be off cooldown when the burn phase starts. Hydralic Override is a good ability to give you more movement in the fight, but it can also be used to remove movement-impairing effects, like slows and traps.

Chaff Flare should be used if the tank is having trouble holding aggro or if the boss has a mechanic that resets aggro, to ensure that you take as little damage as possible by reducing the likelihhod that you will take aggro from the boss

 

 

 

IV. Stats, Gear and Consumables

 

Stats

Here is an overview over the stats that are relevant for a mercenary healer and what I think of them.

 

Aim

Aim is the main stat for bounty hunters and is useful for mercenary healers, since it boosts the bonus healing and increases critical chance for a small amount. Items with aim: All except relics and enhancements

 

Power / Tech power

Power is important for healers, since it boosts the bonus healing/damage. Items with power: All except barrels and armourings.

 

Critical rating

Critical rating increases the chances of getting a critical heal/attack, when an ability is used. Critical rating is not a linear stat, which means that the increase to critical chance will decrease with the amount of critical rating, so it is not a good idea to stack too much of it. Items with critical rating: earpieces, implants, mods, enhancements and augments.

 

Surge rating

Surge rating increases the magnitude of the critical heals/attacks. Like critical rating, surge rating is only valuable until a certain amount. Items with surge rating: earpieces, implants, enhancements and augments.

 

Alacrity rating

Alacrity rating decreases the activation time of the abilities, reduces the global cooldown, and increases the resource regeneration rate. Like critical and surge rating, alacrity rating is only valuable until a certain amount. Items with alacrity rating: earpieces, implants, enhancements and augments.

 

 

Aim or power?

There is often an ongoing discussion on about which of these two stats are better for healing. Some believe that aim is the better stat, because it provides a boost to the critical chance in addition to the healing boost. Others believe that power is the better stat because of the higher healing coefficient it provides.

I personally prefer to use reflex augments to boost my critical chance a bit, but still like to have a lot of power on my mods (which is the other place you will have to decide between aim or power).

 

Power or critical rating?

I would definitely go for power over critical rating. I do this because I prefer to have constant high heals and not base the size of my heals on luck. I do not have any critical rating on my items, because I find that the critical chance will get high enough when stacking aim. That being said, critical rating is still very useful, when gearing up the character.

 

Surge rating or alacrity rating?

After patch 2.0 alacrity rating is now actually a very useful stat for healers and should definitely be used. Surge rating is a good stat also and should be used to increase the critical multiplier. I use alacrity and surge in equal amounts, that means I have five pieces of gear with surge rating (earpiece, 2x Implant, offhand and mainhand (two last in enhancement)) and five pieces of gear with alacrity rating (head, chest, gloves, greaves and boots (all in enhancement)) (the reason for this combination is that I can easily swap to dps :) ).

 

Quick overview

Aim >= Power > Surge (70%) >= Alacrity > Crit (25%)

 

Details about the healing coefficients and more are found here http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=615111

 

 

Gear

Since the set bonus is now bound to the armouring, you can use whatever gear you like, as long as it is modable. I recommend using a modable belt and bracer too.

 

 

Modifications:

Here is a list of modifications that i recommend using as a mercenary healer.

- Crystal: Hawkeye (in the colour you prefer)

- Barrel: Reflex

- Armoring: Reflex (with set bonus)

- Mod: Agile, (Nimble)

- Enhancement: Adept, Quick Savant, (Battle, Insight)

- Augment: Reflex

 

Relics:

This is a list over the most usefull relics.

- Boundless Ages

- Serendipitous Assault

- Elite Warhero of Boundless Ages

 

Misc:

This is the best in stock Earpiece and Implants in my oppinion for mercenary healers.

Earpiece

Implant

 

Two pieces of the set bonus will increase the duration of Supercharged Gas to 13 seconds, which means two additional Healing Scans or one additional Kolto Missile while under its effect. Four pieces will reduce the cooldowns of Healing Scan and Emergency Scan.

 

 

Consumable

Consumables are an important boost to the stats and can mean the difference between victory and defeat. A mercenary healer will want to be equipped with the following:

 

- Medpac

- Reflex Stim

- Triage Adrenal

 

 

 

V. User interface

The user interface is a very important part for healers, since you can increase the healing done a lot, by just setting it up correctly. The optimal user interface differs from player to player, but I will try to cover the basics here.

 

Graphical user interface

First of all the normal group window should be changed the ops window (can be done in preferences), since the character pictures are just a waste of space in the graphical interface. The ops window and the health bars inside it should be as large as possible, since healers have to focus mostly on the group’s health and not so much the battleground itself. By making the ops window large also makes it, easier to spot debuffs on the friendly targets.

By increasing the maximum zoom in the preferences you can get a better view over the battlefield. This will help a lot when placing an AoE heal.

 

One thing should be done by all healers is to focus target the boss to easily see how much health the boss has left and to see what skills the boss is casting (interrupt if it´s possible and if there is time).

 

This is my GUI

 

Controls

Assign hotkeys to the abilities that is most frequently used. This might be obvious to most people, but I have met several people that did not use hotkeys, and was surprised how much it helped them, when they started using them. Place the hotkeys close the movement buttons, so they are close at hand (I use the number just above the letters).

 

 

 

VI. Conclusion

Healing as a mercenary is both fun and challenging, since a mercenaries have this special heat mechanism that makes it play-style unique. The most important part for mercenaries is to learn how to control the heat-level and since most boss fight have different mechanisms the optimal rotation might differ a lot from the standard rotation.

 

I hope that you find this guide useful and want to try out as a mercenary healer sometime :) I had fun writing this guide and fell that I too learned something by writing it.

 

Special thanks to twiggie , for his guide on mercenary healing, that gave me a lot of inputs to this one. And thanks to Noxxic.com for providing my basic knowledge about mercenary healing, when I started out.

 

 

 

Appendix

Commando / Mercenary Translations

 

Stance: Combat Support Cell = Combat Support Cylinder

and Energy = Heat.

 

Skill tree:

Commando (36/8/2)

 

Commando Ability _=_ Mercenary Ability

Main abilities:

Supercharge Cells _=_ Supercharged Gas

Hammer Shot _=_ Rapid Shot

Medical Probe _=_ Rapid Scan

Advanced Medical Probe _=_ Healing Scan

Bacta Infusion _=_ Emergency Scan

Trauma Probe _=_ Kolto Shell

Kolto Bomb _=_ Kolto Missile

 

Other abilities:

Field Aid _=_ Cure

Recharge Cells _=_ Vent Heat

Reserve Powercell _=_ Termal Sensor Override

Tech Override _=_ Power Surge

Emergency Medical Probe _=_ Onboard AED

Concussion Charge _=_ Jet Boost

 

Defensive abilities:

Reactive Shield _=_ Energy Shield

Adrenaline Rush _=_ Kolto Overload

Diversion _=_ Chaff flare

Hold the Line _=_ Hydraulic Overrides

Tenacity _=_ Determination

 

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2013-07-27 Version 1.0 - Original post

2013-08-05 Version 1.1 - Added Appendix with commando translations and a special thank to twiggie

Edited by NeNiMel
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Lesarie

Lesarie

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Posted

As i think, this post enough full as merc guide, and have interesting point of mind on character.

I can just write, that almost never use energy shield and rapid shots, but agree, its useful sometimes. I've received heat over really rare, so, cant evaluate it.

About gear - its ok, if your stats are balanced, so, too much crit without power, or too much power without crit not really good, as i think.

But, generally, i agree, that post can be good guide for beginners.

And, btw, alternative skill tree liked more :)

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NeNiMel

NeNiMel

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Updated for patch 2.10!

Latest update: 2014/10/06

 

[aname=table]Table of content[/aname]

[jumpto=introduction] I. Introduction[/jumpto]

[jumpto=talents] II. Talents[/jumpto]

[jumpto=strategies ] III. Healing Abilities & Strategies[/jumpto]

[jumpto=abilities] – The abilities[/jumpto]

[jumpto=prefight] – Pre-fight[/jumpto]

[jumpto=midfight] – Mid-fight[/jumpto]

[jumpto=transition] – Transition Phases[/jumpto]

[jumpto=multi] – Multi target healing[/jumpto]

[jumpto=rotation] – Rotation Priorities[/jumpto]

[jumpto=move] – On the move[/jumpto]

[jumpto=hints] – Hints and common mistakes[/jumpto]

[jumpto=statsgearmore] IV. Stats, Gear and More[/jumpto]

[jumpto=stats] – Stats[/jumpto]

[jumpto=normalgear] – Normal Endgame Gear[/jumpto]

[jumpto=nightmaregear] – Nightmare Gear[/jumpto]

[jumpto=more] – More[/jumpto]

[jumpto=ui] V. User interface[/jumpto]

[jumpto=conclusion] VI. Conclusion[/jumpto]

[jumpto=thanks] – Special Thanks[/jumpto]

[jumpto=appendix] VII. Appendix[/jumpto]

[jumpto=changelog] – Changelog[/jumpto]

 

 

 

[aname=introduction]I. Introduction[/aname]

[jumpto=table]Back to Table of Content[/jumpto]

 

This post is a detailed guide that discusses the optimal talent tree, strategies and gearing for mercenary healers in PvE content.

 

This guide builds on my own knowledge and inputs from various discussions and guides from other forums. This guide would not have been possible without all these inputs, so consider this guide as a work of the SWTOR forum, instead of the work of a single player.

 

About myself, I am NeNiMel of The Red Eclipse. I have been playing as a mercenary healer almost since launch of this game, so I do have a decent amount of experience about what to do and not to do. I have personally tried out everything that I put into this guide, to ensure that it works in practice and not just in theory.

 

I would like to hear your feedback, especially if there are any additions or something you disagree with in the guide. The feedback is useful, so I can keep the guide up to date :)

 

I will in the guide refer to allies that are being healed as "targets", just to avoid any confusion.

I you are interested in a guide for PvP content, then check out SpaniardInfinity’s guide on the commando forum (link)

 

 

 

[aname=talents]II. Talents:[/aname]

[jumpto=table]Back to Table of Content[/jumpto]

With the changes to the talent tree in patch 2.6 you no longer need to waste two talent points in the Peacekeeper / Fronline Medic talent. Instead these two points can be used in other talents that are more relevant for PvE. One of the points should be used on more survivability by choosing Powered Insulators / Treated Wound Dressings. The last point should be assigned dependent on the fight at hand. That leaves two options:

 

Option 1:

Mercenary (36/8/2) / Commando (36/8/2)

Option 1 will provide more survivability, by assigning the second point to Powered Insulators / Treated Wound Dressings aswell. This will probably be the preferred spec for most fights since there are not that many encounters where cleansing is needed. The increased survivability can be directly translated into less healing needed.

 

Option 2:

Mercenary (36/8/2) / Commando (36/8/2)

Option 2 should be used in fight where cleansing is a huge part of the fight. The second point should be assigned to Cure Mind / Psych Aid, which will buff the Cure / Field Aid ability, so it heals for a small amount when it is used. Additionally the ability will then also cleanse mental abilities, but there are no mental debuffs in the endgame content at the moment.

 

 

 

[aname=strategies]III. Healing Abilities & Strategies:[/aname]

[jumpto=table]Back to Table of Content[/jumpto]

Mercenary and Commando healing is all about resource management, so it is very important to have a proper rotation. Unfortunately the rotation heavily depends on the fight, so it is hard to say what rotation is the best. This section will give an overview of the abilities and rotation basics needed in mercenary and commando healing.

 

The Mercenary healer uses the Combat Support Cylinder. And the primary resource limitation is called Heat.

The Commando healer uses the Combat Support Cell. The primary resource for the commando is called Energy Cells.

The resource system is almost identical the only difference is a minus sign. That means as a mercenary you will like to keep you heat-level as low as possible, but as a commando you will like to keep you energy-level as high as possible.

 

 

[aname=abilities]The abilities[/aname]

[jumpto=table]Back to Table of Content[/jumpto]

[jumpto=strategies]Back to Healing abilities and Strategies[/jumpto]

Main healing abilities:

  • Supercharged Gas / Supercharge Cells
    - Used for two purposes: 1. To enter burst rotation, when a lot of healing is needed. 2. To regenerate resources, when little healing is needed and resources are low.
  • Rapid Shot / Hammer Shot
    - Used as filler to heal for a small amount and build stacks of Combat Support Cylinder / Cell.
  • Rapid Scan / Medical Probe
    - The highest single-hit heal in the rotation.
  • Healing Scan / Advanced Medical Probe
    - Used to heal and apply buffs. Buffs increases armor rating by 10% (talented) and places a HoT on the target (talented). It also reduces heat-cost of next Rapid Scan / Medical Probe (talented).
  • Emergency Scan / Bacta Infusion
    - Used as a burst heal, due to no cast time.
  • Kolto Shell / Trauma Probe
    - Used as buff/HoDT on the tank
  • Kolto Missile / Kolto Bomb
    - Used for AoE healing and buffs. Buffs increase the healing received by 3% (talented), and reduces damage taken by 5% on the target (talented and active Supercharged Gas / Supercharge Cell).

 

Other Relevant abilities:

 

Defensive abilities:

 

 

[aname=prefight]Pre-fight[/aname]

[jumpto=table]Back to Table of Content[/jumpto]

[jumpto=strategies ]Back to Healing abilities and Strategies[/jumpto]

This section describes what mercenary and commando healers should do to prepare before a pull.

 

Combat Support Cylinder / Combat Support Cell

With 30 stacks in the in the Combat Support Cylinder / Combat Support Cell all healing done is increased by +3%, it is therefore a good idea to build up these stacks with Rapid Shots / Hammer Shot before each pull. Another reason to build up stacks before the fight is to ensure that Supercharged Gas / Supercharge Cell is ready right away.

 

Kolto Shell / Trauma Probe

After patch 2.6 Kolto Shell / Trauma Probe can be applied to multiple targets, so before each pull all members in the team should be covered with a Kolto Shell / Trauma Probe to reduce the raidwide damage.

 

 

[aname=midfight]Mid-fight[/aname]

[jumpto=table]Back to Table of Content[/jumpto]

[jumpto=strategies ]Back to Healing abilities and Strategies[/jumpto]

This section describes the strategies that mercenary and commando healers should use during a fight.

 

Supercharged Gas / Supercharge Cell

Supercharged Gas is the core ability of a mercenary healer whereas Supercharge Cell is the core ability of a commando healer. The abilities are mirror of each other and provides great burst healing potential or works as a rolling buff that should be kept up as often as possible:

 

  • General healing buff
    When Supercharged Gas / Supercharge Cell is being activated it will consume all charges in the Combat Support Cylinder / Cell and thereby removing the +3% healing buff from these. Instead, Supercharged Gas / Supercharge Cell will provide a stronger healing buff during its duration that will increase all healing done by +5%.
  • Heat management
    Using Supercharged Gas as often as possible will make heat-management a lot easier. Each time Supercharged Gas is used it will went 8 heat, which will accumulate to a lot over the entire duration of a fight. Same goes for Supercharge Cell each time it is used it will regenerate 8 energy cells and thereby help out with energy-management.
  • Healing Scan / Advanced Medical Probe buff
    Supercharged Gas / Supercharge Cell will reset and remove the cooldown on Healing Scan / Advanced Medical Probe when it is active.
    That means that during the duration of Supercharged Gas mercenaries will be able to burst heal with the Healing Scan –> Rapid Scan combination. And commandoes will be able to burst heal with the Advanced Medical Probe –> Medical Probe combination during the duration of Supercharge Cell. (OBS! watch your resources!)
  • Kolto Missile / Kolto Bomb buff
    When Supercharged Gas / Supercharge Cell is active it will buff the Kolto Missile / Kolto Bomb, so it will applies a 5% damage reduction shield on all targets it hits.
    Since it is the Kolto Pods and not the actual Kolto Missile / Kolto Bomb that applies the buff you will be able to use a Kolto Missle / Kolto Bomb and then activate Supercharged Gas / Supercharge Cell and still apply the shield. This way you can apply the shield to more targets during a single Supercharged Gas / Supercharge Cell.
  • Additional DPS buff
    When Supercharged Gas / Supercharge Cell is active, the resource cost of Unload / Full Auto and Power Shot / Charged Bolts are removed. This buff will not increase the healing output, but might be useful in situations were a little damage is needed, without it affecting the resources negatively.

 

Under normal circumstances, Supercharged Gas / Supercharge Cell should be used whenever it is ready, but in some fights, it is better to hold it for a few seconds to be ready for a coming burst healing phase.

 

Kolto Shell / Trauma Probe

The Kolto Shell / Trauma Probe will provide a continuous, passive healing to the target when it takes damage and is therefore extremely helpful for the resource management. The Kolto Shell / Trauma Probe should be applied to as many targets as possible during a fight to lower the overall damage taken by the raid.

The Kolto Shell / Trauma Probe is extremely effective in fights with a lot of raid wide damage and in these fights; the mercenary and commando healer should focus on blanketing the raid with Kolto Shell / Trauma Probe, whenever there are no more pressing matters to attend.

It might not always be possible to keep 100% uptime on all raid members during the entire fight, especially in 16man. In these cases, it is good to have a priority on who will benefit most from a Kolto Shell / Trauma Probe. The priority will be based on who takes the most damage during a fight and will in most cases look something like this:

 

  • Tanks
  • Melee DPS
  • Healers
  • Ranged DPS

 

It is important, not to reapply the Kolto Shell / Trauma Probe on a target unless the old one is depleted (or very near depleted), because if it is reapplied too often the full potential is not used and the heat-level or energy-level will most likely go out of hand. The Kolto Shell / Trauma Probe should as a minimum be kept up on the tanks at all time.

 

Kolto Missile / Kolto Bomb

The Kolto Missile / Kolto Bomb is a great assert in the repertoire, even when it will only affect one target out of four possible. The primary reason for this is the 3% healing bonus that the target will receive through the Kolto Residue talent. The Bonus makes Kolto Missile / Kolto Bomb combine well with other healer’s abilities from other classes (for example: sorcerer’s healing circle). Kolto Missile / Kolto Bomb should be used as often as possible just to keep up the Kolto Residue buff.

 

Healing Scan & Rapid Scan / Advanced Medical Probe & Medical Probe

The Healing Scan –> Rapid Scan combination might be the strongest single target burst combination in the game. Healing Scan and Rapid Scan should if possible be used in succession of each other, since Healing Scan will lower the heat-cost of Rapid Scan, because of the Critical Efficiency talent (down to 17 from the normal 25).

 

Same goes for the commando. The Advanced Medical Probe –> Medical Probe combination is really strong for single target burst healing. Always try to use Advanced Medical Probe before Medical Probe as this will lower the energy-cost of the Medical Probe, because of the Field Triage talent (down to 17 from the normal 25).

 

Healing Scan / Advanced Medical Probe will provide the target with a small heal-over-time after the initial burst heal and an additional 10% armor through the Proactive Medicine and Reactive Armor / Preventative Medicine and Armor Screen talents.

 

Rapid Scan / Medical Probe should only be used, when there is plenty of resources because of the high resource-cost. Avoid using two Rapid Scans / Medical Probes back-to-back as it will drain a large amount of resources and lower the regeneration-rate.

 

Emergency Scan / Bacta Infusion

Emergency Scan / Bacta Infusion has no heat-cost, but a long cooldown. It should be used if the resources are getting low or when it is needed to make a quick heal at somebody. Emergency Scan / Bacta Infusion can also be used as a filler between two abilities that costs heat.

 

Rapid Shots / Hammer Shot

In most cases, the target should only take a moderate amount of damage after the Kolto shell, Kolto Missile and Healing Scan is used. In these cases, it is often a waste of heat to proceed with a Rapid Scan. Instead, I would recommend using Rapid Shot as a filler, whenever the fight allows it. The reason for this is that Rapid shot is a good way to build stacks in the Combat Support Cylinder and still heal the target for a decent amount without generating any heat. If the target still takes a lot of damage after Healing Scan, then proceed with Rapid Scan of course

 

 

[aname=transition]Transition Phases[/aname]

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Many fights have some sort of transition phase where there are a minimum of healing needed. It is a good idea to utilize these phases to prepare for the coming phase.

 

Combat Support Cylinder / Combat Support Cell

Use the transition phase to build up stacks in the Combat Support Cylinder / Combat Support Cell, by using Rapid Shots / Hammer Shot (or Rapid Scan / Medical Probe) to heal up raid members instead of other healing abilities.

 

Kolto Shell / Trauma Probe

Reapply the Kolto Shell / Trauma Probe on as many raid members as possible during the transition. This way they will be ready for what is coming.

 

 

[aname=multi]Multi target healing[/aname]

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This section describes the strategies that mercenary and commando healers can use for multi target healing.

 

Kolto Missile / Kolto Bomb

Mercenary’s and commando’s most useful AoE healing ability is the Kolto Missile / Kolto Bomb. The Kolto Missile / Kolto Bomb will instantly heal 4 people for a moderate amount and leave a puddle of Kolto Pods on the ground that will heal everyone standing in it overtime. Whenever AoE healing is needed use it on a group of 3+ people.

 

Jet Boost / Concussion Charge

The Jet Boost / Concussion Charge is also a useful AoE heal, that heals all allies around your current position for a moderate amount if Kolto Jets / Kolto Wave have been talented. When using Jet Boost / Concussion Charge there as a AoE heal there are a few things to consider:

 

  • High cooldown
    Jet Boost / Concussion Charge has a high cooldown and can therefore only be used a few times during a fight.
  • It is difficult to position
    Jet Boost / Concussion Charge is a nice AoE heal ability, but do not use a lot of time moving around just to be in a better position for Jet Boost / Concussion Charge, the time is better used on other abilities. Position yourself in the middle of a group with friendly targets (often together with the ranged DPS and other healers) in the start of the fight, and if any of these targets take damage, then you can use Jet Boost / Concussion Charge to heal them without changing your current healing target (often the tank).
  • It knocks back enemies
    This is often not preferred, when people are stacking and the enemies have been grouped up for AoE damage. So do not use it when adds are around.

 

 

[aname=rotation]Rotation priorities[/aname]

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This section describes the basic rotation priories for mercenary and commando healers. This should be used as a rough guideline and as you gain more experience with the class you will find that this is not the most ideal approach for all encounters in the game.

 

Standard rotation:

The rotation is prority based, so it should not be execute top-down, but the abilities with higher priority should be used most often.

 

  1. (Supercharged Gas / Supercharge Cells - To regenerate resources).
  2. Kolto Shell / Trauma Probe - OBS! Only when the old run out
  3. Kolto Missile / Kolto Bomb
  4. Healing Scan / Advanced Medical Probe
  5. (Rapid Shot / Hammer Shot - Filler, use it to build stacks in the Combat Support Cylinder / Cell if no big heals are needed).
  6. Rapid Scan / Medical Probe
  7. Emergency Scan / Bacta Infusion
  8. Rapid Shot / Hammer Shot - Use if heat-level is high, until it again is below 30ish.

 

Burst rotation:

During Supercharged Gas / Supercharge Cells, Execute top-down and repeat.

 

  1. Emergency Scan / Bacta Infusion
  2. Kolto Missile / Kolto Bomb
  3. Healing Scan / Advanced Medical Probe
  4. Rapid Scan / Medical Probe

 

Emergency Scan / Bacta Infusion is prioritized higher in the burst rotation because you want to give out as much healing during Supercharged Gas / Supercharge Cell as possible. The reason for this is the 5% extra healing dealt during this period.

 

 

[aname=move]On the move[/aname]

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In some boss fights you often need to move around to avoid being hit by some mechanic, during which it can be difficult to heal someone if they get hit. Mercenaries and Commandoes have four abilities that are useful in such a situation.

The first is Emergency Scan / Bacta Infusion, which can be cast instantly and provides a large amount of healing. Secondly Power Surge / Tech Override can be used together with Rapid Scan / Medical Probe to create a large instant heal. Lastly Kolto Missile / Kolto Bomb and Rapid Shots / Hammer Shot can be used, because they have no cast time, but they can be difficult to position since you will have to target an area on the ground and face the target respectively.

 

 

[aname=hints] Hints and common mistakes[/aname]

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- Be smart ;-)

In many boss fights there is a transition phase in which there is no need for healing. The transition phase is therefore a good opportunity to get the resources back, so do not worry about the heat-level / energy-level if you know such a phase is eminent.

 

- Practice makes master

Almost all boss fights requires special rotation for mercenary and commando healers, especially when it is hard mode or nightmare mode ops. I would recommend that new healers start out on easy runs just get a hold of the standard rotation. When they have gotten a hold on the rotation and learned the resource-managing, then they can try to evolve their rotation so it matches the fight.

 

- Streamline Supercharged Gas / Supercharge Cell

It is important to maximize the healing output and damage migration during each Supercharged Gas period. One way of achieving this is by using as many Kolto Missiles / Kolto Bombs as possible when Supercharged gas / Supercharge Cell is active, because it will put Kolto Residue on the target and give a 5% damage reduction shield to everyone that is effected by Kolto Pods.

Since it is the Kolto Pods and not the actual Kolto Missile / Kolto Bomb, that provides the damage reduction shield, is it possible to put the shield up more than twice during one Supercharged Gas / Supercharge Cell. This is achieved by first using the Kolto Missile / Kolto Bomb and then immediately following up with Supercharged Gas / Supercharge Cell. Since Supercharged Gas / Supercharge Cell is not affected by the global cooldown, this will ensure that you will not waste a single second of the Supercharged Gas / Supercharge Cell duration positioning the Kolto Missile / Kolto Bomb. If you time it perfectly and got the 2-set bonus then you will be able to throw out 3 buffed Kolto Missiles / Kolto Bomb during one Supercharged Gas / Supercharge Cell period.

 

- Work as a team

In operations will there always be minimum one other healer besides yourself and it is therefore often important to have a clear agreement on who does what, so you don´t waste time or heat on unnecessary heals, moving or cleansing. Especially cleansing which is often an issue that needs a special agreement. A good way to learn how this works is to run with an experienced healer that has lead a healing team before.

 

- Cancel the cast

The target sometimes get healed by other healers in the group before you finish the cast time of your on heal. To avoid wasting heat on an over-heal in such a case, just take a small step forward or backwards to cancel the cast.

 

- Don´t stand passive

If there is a down period in the fight where no healing is needed, then do not just stand passive. Instead use some resources on doing dps to the enemy target or use Rapid Shot / Hammer shot to build stacks in the Combat Support Cylinder / Cell (hint if Rapid Shot / Hammer Shot is used on enemy targets it still builds up stacks), so Supercharged Gas / Supercharge Cell is ready for use.

 

- Don´t waste heat on over-heals

Just dont!

 

- Don´t heal like in PvP

In PvP I tend to just spam heal, because I know I will die (healers always get targeted first) and get my resources back again. In PvE the entire raid will probably die together with you.

 

- Use your defensives

The defensive abilities are a good way to minimize and avoid damage done to yourself. Energy Shield / Reactive Shield and Kolto Overload / Adrenaline Rush are mostly used in the burn phase of a boss fight, but sometimes Energy Shield / Reactive Shield can be used to minimize the damage taken if it is used in the start of the fight, because then it will be off cooldown when the burn phase starts.

Hydralic Override / Hold the Line is a good ability to give you more movement in the fight, but it can also be used to remove movement-impairing effects, like slows and traps.

Chaff Flare / Diversion should be used if the tank is having trouble holding aggro or if the boss has a mechanic that resets aggro, to ensure that you take as little damage as possible by reducing the likelihhod that you will take aggro from the boss

 

 

 

 

[aname=statsgearmore]IV. Stats, Gear and More[/aname]

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[aname=stats]Stats[/aname]

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Here is an overview over the stats that are relevant for a mercenary healer and what I think of them.

 

Aim

Aim is the main stat for bounty hunters and troopers and is useful for mercenary and commando healers, since it boosts the bonus healing and increases critical chance for a small amount. Items with aim: All except relics and enhancements

 

Power / Tech power

Power is important for healers, since it boosts the bonus healing/damage. Items with power: All except barrels and armourings.

 

Critical rating

Critical rating increases the chances of getting a critical heal/attack, when an ability is used. Critical rating is not a linear stat, which means that the increase to critical chance will decrease with the amount of critical rating, so it is not a good idea to stack too much of it. Items with critical rating: earpieces, implants, mods, enhancements and augments.

 

Surge rating

Surge rating increases the magnitude of the critical heals/attacks. Like critical rating, surge rating is only valuable until a certain amount. Items with surge rating: earpieces, implants, mods, enhancements and augments.

 

Alacrity rating

Alacrity rating decreases the activation time of the abilities, reduces the global cooldown, and increases the resource regeneration rate. Like critical and surge rating, alacrity rating is only valuable until a certain amount. Items with alacrity rating: earpieces, implants, mods, enhancements and augments.

 

 

Aim or power?

There is often an ongoing discussion on about which of these two stats are better for healing. Some believe that aim is the better stat, because it provides a boost to the critical chance in addition to the healing boost. Others believe that power is the better stat because of the higher healing coefficient it provides.

I personally prefer to use reflex augments to boost my critical chance a bit, but still like to have a lot of power on my mods (which is the other place you will have to decide between aim or power).

 

Power or critical rating?

The balance between power and critical rating is mostly up to personal preferences, but critical rating should not become too high, because of the dismissing return at higher values. I have previously preferred to stack power and not any critical rating, because I do not like to base the size of my heals on luck. Now however I like to use a small amount of critical rating, because of the talents Critical Reaction and Warden, that benefits of a higher critical chance.

 

Surge rating or alacrity rating?

After patch 2.0 alacrity rating is now actually a very useful stat for healers and should definitely be used. Surge rating is a good stat also and should be used to increase the critical multiplier. I use alacrity and surge in equal amounts, that means I have five pieces of gear with surge rating (earpiece, 2x Implant, offhand and mainhand (two last in enhancement)) and five pieces of gear with alacrity rating (head, chest, gloves, greaves and boots (all in enhancement)) (the reason for this combination is that I can easily swap to dps :) ).

 

 

Set Bonuses

Since the set bonus is now bound to the armoring, you can use whatever gear you like, as long as it is modable. I recommend using a modable belt and bracer too.

Two pieces of the set bonus will increase the duration of Supercharged Gas / Supercharge Cell to 13 seconds, which means two additional Healing Scans / Advanced Medical Probe or one additional Kolto Missile / Kolto Bomb while under its effect. Four pieces will reduce the cooldowns of Healing Scan / Advanced Medical Probe and Emergency Scan / Bacta Infusion.

 

 

 

Gear model

Orderken have developed a gearing model for mercenary healers that can be used to optimize your gear setup. I the gear model can be used to gain insight into how each stat point will affect the overall healing output.

 

The model can be found at: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6OiwCZXjMsWeTgyclYwZE5VUDA/edit?usp=sharing

 

I recommend downloading a copy, so that you can edit it locally. That way you will be able to put in your own number and see your expected output.

 

 

 

[aname=normalgear]Normal Endgame Gear[/aname]

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The goal with this section is to describe the BiS gear for those that are not able to do nightmare modes. All gear described in this section can be obtained from operations (DF and DP HM) and from crafting.

 

Quick overview

Aim >= Power > Surge (70%) >= Alacrity > Crit (25%)

 

Personal stats goal

Here is my ask mr robot character that shows my personal wish list.

 

Here is some numbers for my personal stat goals. These numbers is for full 180 gear rating.

- Alacrity rating = 470

- Surge rating = 470

- Critical rating = 200-300

 

Rest of my power and critical rating budget goes into power. This combination of critical rating and surge rating is not the most ideal combination, but it is not far off. The ideal combination can be seen in the spoiler below.

 

Hi NeNiMel,

 

I've completed an analysis of Mercenary|Commando healing, and would like to share with you some findings that may be of interest.

 

Disregarding Critical Reaction|First Responder, for a Mercenary|Commando PVE healer, the ideal amount of Critical from gear is:

1. 363 with 3 Surge Enhancements,

2. 396 with 4 Surge Enhancements, or

3. 420 with 5 Surge Enhancement.

 

Treating Critical as a matter of personal preference as you stated in the OP is valid, however, because my model shows that healing with non-BIS Critical shouldn't fall short of healing with BIS Critical by more than 1%. Compared to 0 Critical, the above ideal amount of Critical is expected to increase EHPS by 0.66%, 0.80%, or 0.91% with 3, 4, or 5 Surge Enhancements, respectively.

 

With 5 Surge Enhancements, the 200 to 300 Critical that you recommend in the OP is expected to underperform the above ideal amount of Critical by only 0.24% to 0.07%. In my view, the headline isn't that 420 Critical is BIS when you have 5 Surge Enhancements, but rather that it's been proven that Critical is quite flexible. This should come as welcome news for Mercenary|Commando healers who are gearing up, and therefore may have substantial Critical.

 

 

 

Modifications:

- Crystal: Hawkeye (in the colour you prefer)

- Barrel: Reflex

- Armoring: Reflex (with set bonus)

- Mod: Agile, Nimble

- Enhancement: Adept, Quick Savant, Battle, Insight

- Augment: Reflex

 

Relics:

- Focused Retribution

- Serendipitous Assault

- Boundless Ages

 

A detailed guide on the best in stuck relics for healers can be found here

 

Misc:

Earpiece

Implant

 

 

 

[aname=nightmaregear]Nightmare Gear[/aname]

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Personal stats goal

Here is some numbers for my personal stat goals. These numbers is for full 186 gear rating.

- Alacrity rating = 612 (6 pieces)

- Surge rating = 408 (4 pieces)

- Critical rating = 200-300

 

Rest of my power and critical rating budget goes into power.

 

Modifications:

- Crystal: Hawkeye (in the colour you prefer)

- Barrel: Reflex

- Armoring: Reflex (with set bonus)

- Mod: Agile, Nimble

- Enhancement: Adept, Quick Savant, Battle, Insight

- Augment: Reflex

 

Relics:

- Focused Retribution

- Serendipitous Assault

- Boundless Ages

 

A detailed guide on the best in stuck relics for healers can be found here

 

Misc:

Earpiece

Implant

 

 

 

[aname=more]More[/aname]

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Consumables

Consumables are an important boost to the stats and can mean the difference between victory and defeat. A mercenary healer will want to be equipped with the following:

 

- Medpac

- Reflex Stim

- Triage Adrenal

 

Datacrons

Datacrons provides a small permanent boost to the primary stats (aim, cunning, endurance, strengh and willpower). The datacrons can also give you datashards, but these are of little use since the datacube is no longer BiS relic.

 

The datacrons that the bounty hunter should focus on collecting are the aim, cunning and endurance ones. The reason for for collecting cunning datacrons too is because cunning boosts the tech critrate with a small amount.

 

Here is a link to where you can find all the useful datacrons.

 

Companion buffs

Its posible to optain some legacy buffs, based on the affection with your companions, that will improve your total output.

The companion legacy buffs are:

 

Ranged DPS - Increased critical chance (+1%)

Melee DPS - Increased critical multiplier (+1%)

Healer - Increased healing received (+1%)

Ranged Tank - Increased HP (+1%)

Melee Tank - Increased accuracy (+1%)

 

These buffs can only be achieved once per legacy, so you only have to max out the affection with each companion type on one character.

The buffs relevant for the mercenary healer is Increased critical chance, critical multiplier, healing received and HP. The accuracy buff is only relavant for DPS.

 

 

 

[aname=ui]V. User interface[/aname]

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The user interface is a very important part for healers, since you can increase the healing done a lot, by just setting it up correctly. The optimal user interface differs from player to player, but I will try to cover the basics here.

 

Graphical user interface

First of all the normal group window should be changed the ops window (can be done in preferences), since the character pictures are just a waste of space in the graphical interface. The ops window and the health bars inside it should be as large as possible, since healers have to focus mostly on the group’s health and not so much the battleground itself. By making the ops window large also makes it, easier to spot debuffs on the friendly targets.

By increasing the maximum zoom in the preferences you can get a better view over the battlefield. This will help a lot when placing an AoE heal.

 

One thing should be done by all healers is to focus target the boss to easily see how much health the boss has left and to see what skills the boss is casting (interrupt if it´s possible and if there is time).

 

This is my GUI

 

Controls

Assign hotkeys to the abilities that is most frequently used. This might be obvious to most people, but I have met several people that did not use hotkeys, and was surprised how much it helped them, when they started using them. Place the hotkeys close the movement buttons, so they are close at hand (I use the number just above the letters).

 

In the preferences, there are a set of options that can be extremely useful for healers. These options can be found under Preferences -> Controls -> Combat:

  • Action Queue
    By using this option, you will be able to queue up the abilities you want to cast and thereby minimizing the delay between each action (increasing the APM). This is very useful for burst healing.
  • Sticky Ground Target Reticule
    When this option is enabled, your ground target telegram does not disappear if the target location is out of range or the ability otherwise fails.
  • Quick Ground Target Activation
    When this option is enabled, you will be able to cast AOE abilities by just double tapping the hot key. The target location will be your current target. This option is very useful when you are moving around and do not have time place your Kolto Missile / Kolto Bomb.

Edited by NeNiMel
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obliminator

obliminator

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Posted

Nice guide. My commando healer recently hit 55 (I'll translate, don't worry), and I've been having trouble getting situated with heat management, so I really like that you give "use this at this much heat" guidelines. I like how you explained when to use supercharge in a way that, unlike most guides I've read, made sense, and a bunch of other little tricks I never would have thought of on my own. I seriously can't wait to try out your advice.

 

I know in my build I take kolto jets where you take powered insulators because I've heard so much about how mercs' AoE healing is awful, and hey, I've survived the hammer station bonus boss with it in terrible gear, so that has to count for something, right? It doesn't make a big difference either way though, so don't mind me. If you heal yourself less you can heal others more, after all.

 

Also, minor error: surge and alacrity aren't found on mods (just implants, earpieces, enhancements, and potentially augments though you shouldn't waste your augment slots on such relatively useless stats).

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KeyboardNinja

KeyboardNinja

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Posted (edited)

A pretty good guide, thanks! A couple things I would clarify though…

 

Unless you need to consistently burst people back up (e.g. lots of raid damage in fights like Dread Guard), you absolutely do not want to hit SCG on cooldown. Save it for when you actually need the burst. Post-2.0, the merc healing rotation is almost heat-neutral (with the set bonuses). If your primary purpose for popping SCG is to vent heat, then you're doing something wrong. You probably need to use Rapid Shots a bit more.

 

The important point is that 30 stacks buffs your healing by 3%, which is a more significant benefit than the healing boost from SCG or the heat venting (which causes your regeneration to cap due to the neutrality of the healing rotation). Honestly, the primary benefit to SCG is the eliminated CD on Healing Scan. This is why it is a useful tool for popping people up, especially when you have a lot of people to heal. The DR buff from Kolto Missile is also very helpful, especially now that you can get it on the entire raid. I very, very rarely plan to take advantage of the heat return from SCG. It's useful, and I generally notice it, but it's not something that I plan my heat management around.

 

Spot on guidelines for Kolto Shell. It's such an unbelievably important ability. By far, it is your most efficient heal. Use it and abuse it.

 

Also really good advice on Kolto Missile. It's worth using this ability just to maintain the buff, and the amount of healing it does is actually quite significant for an instant heal. When I'm in the filler period between Healing Scans, I'll generally default to Rapid Shots, dropping Kolto Missile if I don't have to refresh Kolto Shell and I feel like building a bit more heat (to avoid capping). Note that this is one area where Commandos actually have it a bit easier, since we can use Hammer Shot to locate people in the arena, and then drop Kolto Bomb on exactly the person we want to heal. Rapid Shots serves the same function, but it's not quite as obvious. :-)

 

In general, a good guide. Thanks!

Edited by KeyboardNinja
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Rambeezy

Rambeezy

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Posted (edited)

I like your guide. You cover most if not all of the heat management rules/ideas I use. Only thing I might stress more on is the importance of kolto missile. Other than that its pretty much a solid guide. If you wanted to add another spec people can use, here is mine. http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#300rfRRR0cdzfGzZMccZb.3

I was able to kill NiM dread guard with this spec btw. The difference in mine when compared to most is that I put a point in heat damping and don't have one in cure mind. If a fight requires me to cleanse a lot and I need to fill that GCD with some heals, I will take a point out of upgraded arsenal and put it in cure mind. By having heat damping I don't have to worry about crossing the 30% heat mark should I ever need to jet boost right after kolto missile.

 

ty for the guide. GL

Edited by Rambeezy
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Rezingreenboul

Rezingreenboul

Posted
Posted
Perhaps I'm the only one that does this, as I haven't really seen it mentioned before but if its a really hectic battle with people running all over kiting adds and what not. I tend to rotate through the other players and fire off a quick rapid shot at them to make sure everyone is still within healing range of me. When the situation permits of course.
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crqp

crqp

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well i am no expert on healing merc cause i play dps merc but i read your tree and i think it is right i tried it out once on my mer at lvl 54 and it worked i got unbeatable a couple of times too. although me i prefer DPS merc ;)
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NeNiMel

NeNiMel

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Thank you all for the feedback. I have begun experimenting with kolto jets in my rotation, to see if I was too fast throwing it into the thrashcan. I have also read some other threads on how to use kolto jets best, that i found really promissing :)

 

@twiggie, Thank you! I have to say that I was your guide that inspired me to write this guide for my guild. Even though i didn´t agree with all your point, I still think It´s one of the best guides I have read for merc healing :)

 

@KeyboardNinja. Perhaps it is not entirely clear in the guide how I believe that SCG should be used. Of course should SCG not be use only to vent some heat, but I still think that it is worth mentioning the option of doing so. Besides each time I would use SCG I would also use kolto missile on the entire team to get shield and Kolto Residue on them, which i believe is better than the 3% healing bonus from 30 stacks. But I agree, it is better to save it for burst healing, but again only if it is needed in the fight.

 

@Rambeezy. Interresting tree :) I like that you don´t waste point in Cure Mind when it´s not needed, only problem is that I don´t really know when a negativ effect is mental or not mental.

 

@Rezingreenboul. I sometimes use rapid shots to locate a player so I can drop kolto missile on his position (This is easier for commandoes with their hammershot)

 

I will try out some of the things you have mentioned and update the guide asap with any changes :) Thanks again for your replies. Keep em coming, I appriciate it :D

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smilingbee

smilingbee

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Posted

Very good guide in my opinion, you got the stats priorities and amounts about right. I use a different build from the 2 you listed for PvE, kind of a hybrid between both. There is something I have never seen mentioned in a mercenary guide:

The Kolto Missile can also be used to lower the amount of damage the target takes by preceding Kolto Missile with Supercharged Gas to apply a 5% damage reduction shield on them.

 

 

I suggest using your kolto missile then immediately following up with supercharged gas. SCG is not on global cooldown. This means you waste over a second of SCG by activating it before kolto missile (you have to aim it, press the key, click to trigger). The kolto pods (HoT) will still trigger the SCG damage reduction shield, making it the best choice to go SCG >kolto missile (this is good to know for allies who enter a kolto missile residue that was buffed with a SCG without being in it for the original burst). If you're good with your timing and you have the mercenary 2-set bonus that makes SCG last 13 seconds, you can get 3 buffed up kolto missiles in a single SCG activation.

 

My priority for those 3 buffed up kolto missiles is tank group > healer/ranged group > tank group. You get about 25 seconds of damage reduction up on the tank group this way.

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