The Healing Commando

[Jedi_Knight_Jess]

Thanks to you guys on the forums, I decided that armortech/salvage/underworld trading are the best bets for my new commando....but is it too late to start crafting for my Lv. 29 Knight??

 

 

I was curious about a good healer build for my newest toon. For the skill trees, I plan, like my defenise guardian to take mostly the entire left tree, and a few from the middle and far right

 

During a FP, a JC asked me to keep them healed, and I sadly... had no idea how to do that.... all I had was my med probe, and that only healed me....

 

I'm not a big warzone fan, but I do love those flashpoints

[Gyronamics]

Here's a build for pve

 

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#800rfRRRosdzcGzZMccZb.3

 

Some flexibility but roughly that's what you want.

 

To heal someone else with your probes you must click them as your target then use the probe

Edited February 27, 2014 by Gyronamics

[Jedi_Knight_Jess]

Thanks for the screenshot!

 

 

Really? I honestly didn't know it was that simple to use the medic probe..... wow

 

 

 

What's the difference between the gunnery and the assault commando?

[treemu]

The basic usage of Gunnery relies on the rotation of

Grav Round (your most spammed ability, reduces target's armor rating by 20%)

Demolition Round (always use if the target has the armor rating debuff from Grav Round and is off cooldown)

Full Auto (use when Grav Round brings it off cooldown and buffs its damage)

and High Impact Bolt (enabled by Grav Round and buffed by up to 3 uses of it).

These four combined brings out the best damage output, but with a cost. A Gunnery Commando relies on being left alone to spam their abilities in peace, because any pushback or interruption cancels Grav Round and Full Auto, which are charged and channeled abilites respectively. This also means a Gunnery Commando has fairly weak mobility; they must almost always stay in place to dish out half of their best abilities.

 

Assault Specialist relies on applying multiple DOTs (short for 'damage over time') on your enemies. The DOTs can come from

Plasma Cell activation

Incendiary Round

Plasma Grenade

and Assault Plastique.

All of these abilities place a separate DOT on the opponent that slowly ticks away at their health. The basis of Assault Specialist is keeping these DOTs up (meaning reapplying them when they run out is your top priority) and using High Impact Bolt as often as possible. Assault Specialists move with a lot more freedom than Gunnery Commandos, because only one ability (Plasma Grenade) requires staying in place and even that can be made instant cast with a skill they get in late game, although only once every two minutes or so. The actual rotation of Assault Specialist Commandos also includes the usage of Full Auto and/or Charged Rounds, which ever suits the situation best.

 

It's kinda debatable which of these dish out the best damage, but the general consensus as of now leans more on Assault Specialist being the supreme one. Personally I like Gunnery the best, as it focuses more on the actual mothakriffing cannon you carry with you rather than throwing flaming blobs around, making it more aesthetically pleasing to me.

 

Hope this helped!

[Jedi_Knight_Jess]

It does help a lot! My commando is only Lv. 11, and I only put a point or so into health

 

 

I guess I want my class to be a hybrid... is that possible? I want to focus mainly on healing- keeping myself alive and to be good for flashpoints really..... and a bit of a damage dealer too

 

so can a Commando be a Medic/Gunnery specced type thing?

[treemu]

They can, but it's preferable to choose a role and stick with it. Going hybrid heal/dps only means you'll be a bad healer and a subpar dps, something no group would want.

[NeNiMel]

It is possible to go with a hybrid healer, but I would recommend not going that way, because you will not be useful as DPS neither as a healer.

Luckily full out healers can still bring a lot of DPS to a fight, since most of their stats are shared with the DPS spec.

 

If you still wanna try out some commando healing you can read my guide. It covers the basics and also gives some more advanced tips. The guide is in mercness but there is a translation in the buttom.

[Gidrea]

When you get Combat Support Cell, and I don't remember at what level that occurs, you will be able to heal with Hammer Shot. While it doesn't do a lot of healing, it's free and instant, no cool down. It will also build up Charged Cell, which will give you other boosts to your healing at higher levels. It's good for keeping tanks topped off.

 

I didn't know about it until I accidentally targeted my companion one day and tried to shoot... "what's this green beam coming out of my gun?"

[AAAAzrael]

It is possible to go with a hybrid healer,

 

Is there a standard hybrid build that works well? I am sometimes in a position on my healer when I don't have to heal that much and I could DPS moreto help out the DPS, but there isn't an effective DPS rotation in heal spec as far as I can see.

[cashogy_reborn]

There is not an effective healer/DPS hybrid.

 

However, if you find yourself in a situation where you dont need to heal and can add damage, Supercharged Cells also provides a good offensive buff: ammo cost reduced 100% for Charged Bolts and Full Auto. So you can pop Supercharged, and then spam DPS skills and be regen'ing ammo the entire time.

[Gidrea]

Here's a build for pve

 

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#800rfRRRosdzcGzZMccZb.3

 

Some flexibility but roughly that's what you want.

 

To heal someone else with your probes you must click them as your target then use the probe

 

I forgot to mention... it's easiest to target them by clicking on your group/ops frame.

 

Go to Preferences>User Interface>Operations Frames and check "Use Operations Frames as Group Frames"

http://i705.photobucket.com/albums/ww51/GidreaLightsky/Screenshot_2014-03-03_11_07_07_960911.jpg

 

Then open your interface editor, and move the Operations Frame up close to your toolbar, and set the "Health Height" and "Health Width" to a large number.

http://i705.photobucket.com/albums/ww51/GidreaLightsky/Screenshot_2014-03-03_11_12_26_700141.jpg

 

It makes it easier to watch the group members' health, including your own, and it's much easier to click on their frame to target them. It works for yourself, too.

[Kaos_KidSWTOR]

Your Probes, you have to be targeting the other people to heal them with them, simple as that.

 

I would highly reccomend you go with Commando Healing. It's very easy, and it's fun!

 

Pros of Commando Healing

 

Trauma Probes are OP.

Good single target healing, can keep a tank alive really easily

Best AOE heal in the game, Kolto Bomb can heal an infinite number of targets because of Kolto Pods and Kolto Residue.

 

Cons of commando healing

 

Resource Management can get a bit out of hand.

Takes some time to get good

No real OH SH** heal except Bacta Infusion.

 

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#800dfMRRdsdzfhzZMccZb.3 is my prefered build for healing, i use it on my Merc healer and can heal just about anything.

[Jedi_Knight_Jess]

Thank you for the lovely tree pic post

 

But what about my damage? If I don't specc the other two trees, will my commando suck dps wise?

 

I really wanted to make my smuggler a healer too, but I worry about my damage output....

[Gyronamics]

You'll do about half the damage of a dps.

 

When soloing with your companion you spend about half the time doing damage and the other half doing healing.

 

In group content you are expected to do your primary role of healing and not to do the role you are weak at unless everyone is full health and you have full ammo.

[Pietrastor]

Here's a build for pve

 

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#800rfRRRosdzcGzZMccZb.3

 

Some flexibility but roughly that's what you want.

 

To heal someone else with your probes you must click them as your target then use the probe

 

I'm using the same build, love my Concussion Charge AOE heals

[Uber_the_Goober]

There is not an effective healer/DPS hybrid.

 

 

Sure, my spec Full gunnery with the points in medic tree that reduce cast time of MP and cooldown of AMP. I actually use my healing abilities from time to time. Puddle heal is used on cooldown religiously. I'm not gonna be a good "only healer" but I do OK. 150k to 200k heals in a warzone on top of my 500k to 600k damage does alright. It means the difference between winning a 2v3 and losing it sometimes.

[Jedi_Knight_Jess]

It's been a while since I picked up my poor commando, poor guy's still on nar shadaa I think.....

 

 

Is it viable to put any points in the skill trees besides the healing one?