Hottie's 3.0 Guide to Scoundrel PvP Healing: How to be a better healer

[DomiSotto]

Hottie, thank you! Electronet is the bane of any healer’s existence. I appreciate the screenshot very much! It is particularly dire because Mando/Mercs are uncommon, and it tests your awareness like nothing else. Wish there was a strong sound effect associated with that blessed thing!

[kissingaiur]

Hottie, thank you! Electronet is the bane of any healer’s existence. I appreciate the screenshot very much! It is particularly dire because Mando/Mercs are uncommon, and it tests your awareness like nothing else. Wish there was a strong sound effect associated with that blessed thing!

 

Yeah. What's kinda annoying for me is that I don't see the animation for net a lot of times because of the low settings I am forced to run the game on. Really have to react fast because Net can be an instant death in large group battle.

 

I added this section after being in a match with i-kid-you-not 3 mercs who were chain netting me on cooldown. Literally, the most annoying thing in existence.

[kissingaiur]

Tips and Tricks to surviving 1v1s

 

I want to first start off saying that your goal in a 1v1 in a PvP match is not to win but to survive. Changes in 3.0 such as the removal of Explosive Probe as well as the addition to self heals to all classes makes possible to "win" (unless the player is heavily undergeared or just terrible). Your goal is to survive till they switch off or you get a peel.

 

Note: Without interference in a pure 1v1 you should not die to any dps class.

 

When a player switches to you the key is to figure out what spec they play quickly, adjust yourself to the class and rotate through your cooldowns effectively. The more comfortable you get with dueling it will help you get into that mindset in regs if a player switches to you.

 

Note: I am catering this section to fighting players who know how to play their DPS classes effectively. If you are fighting a bad player your actions might be different.

 

MELEE:

 

Juggernauts/Guardians

 

 

I am catering this section to specifically Vengeance because it will be the spec which is the hardest you will face. Juggernauts/Guardians are hard to fight against because of the amount of control they have, you will consistently be rooted, slowed, hardstuned (a stun that cannot be broken on damage ie Force Choke), and pushed.

 

1) The main damage is going to come from Ravage/Master Strike which is a 3 set attack doing damage each tick. The last tick is what you need to focus your attention on. Use your Debilitate/Dirty kick to interrupt the last tick of Ravage/Master Strike (needs to be timed correctly). This will remove the majority of the damage output of the Jug/Guard as well as help you create distance when the player is stunned.

 

Main Ravage/Master Strike Rotation: Push > Throw > Leap > Ravage

 

You will notice the player is glowing when he/she leaps which means he/she is CC immune. This is why players will Ravage at this time because if your instinct is to CC a Juggernauts/Guardians jumps to you, you will be wasting a stun while they are immune. The Key here is to wait for the last tick of Ravage/Master Strike to CC them where there Unstoppable (?) wears off. Then double roll away.

 

Your Evasion is another tool you can use to mitigate all of Ravage/Master Strike damage. Since Ravage/Master Strike is all white damage while your Evasion is up you ill dodge all the damage.

So your options are CC, Evasion and if all of those are down use your Shield Probe/ Defense Screen for the last tick. I sometimes Flash it but not all the time because I like to save Flash when multiple players are on me or when I really need a range CC.

 

2) Juggernauts/Guardians have the most interrupts out of all the classes. When leaping they interrupt, as well as push back, hardstun, Awe (AoE Mez ie a stun that can be broken on damage), and their actual interrupt. When fighting a Juggernauts/Guardians be aware of all these factors. When I single target heal myself is when I have the Juggernauts/Guardians stunned and my majority of my other healing comes from HoTs, Instant heals (including Kolto Cloud because it gives you Procs) and Kolto Infusion.

 

3) With all melee the idea is to keep distance. This will be hard because a Jug/Guard has leap up every 10~ seconds and can reset when they push. After your stun is successful or you get a chance go find a place to pillar hump so they cannot leap to you. This is a good time to heal up as well.

 

 

Marauders/Sentinels

 

 

How to react to Mara/Sents is very similar to Jug/Guards they just have a little more burst to them. Mostly the spec you need to be worrying about are those who run Carnage/Combat.

 

1) Your priority is to stop or reduce their Ravage/Master Strike damage. Just like Jug/Guards this ability is white damage. Save your Evasion to dodge this ability or CC them when they are channeling it. If you can't do either of those use your Shield Probe/Defense Screen and repeat this CD rotation.

 

2) Kite, kite kite. Make sure you are using your Sever Tendon/Tendon Blast (your slow) on CD. Stager using your roll to bait leaps (leap is on a 14-15 second CD), once leaped roll again to keep distance.

 

3) Mara/Sents have three ways of interrupting, hardstun, Awe (AoE Mez) and their actual interrupt.

 

4) Mara/Sents have Transcendence which increases movement speed by 50% of themselves and raid group (up every 30 seconds), this makes it hard to kite till this is down. Depending how they are speced it also can purse your slow.

 

 

PowerTechs/Vanguards

 

 

This section is based on FotM AP PowerTechs/Vanguards. Their burst is very predictable. The key to fight mainly is to not panic and react correctly. What a PT/Van is trying to do is to line up all their abilities to hit you and get you down to 60%~ in a couple GCDs (Gobal Cool Downs). After the burst their damage is lowish till their burst rotation is back up again. So if you react correctly when they burst you can have some breathing time to heal back up before they burst again.

 

PowerTechs/Vanguards main burst rotation: Thermal Detonator > Retractable Blade > Rail Shot > Magnetic Blast > Rail Shot...

 

1) When a PT/Van is coming to burst someone they normally will pop Hydraulic Overrides. This will increase their movement speed and immune to slows and roots (Physical effects). They normally burst with this up because they can run circles around you and make it difficult for you to kite away. When I see a PT coming towards me with HO up I stun them right away. It's good to have them waste their HO in stun and anything else they popped to increase their damage.

 

2) Majority of PT/Van damage is going to come from their Rail Shots which can hit for 10K+. Rail Shot is white damage so popping your Evasion when they are about to Rail Shot will decrease the damage you take by a lot. I have also rolled and dodged Rail Shots (can be tricky and random since roll only dodges 30% of white damage) as well as pillar humped when they are about to use it.

 

3) Be aware that a PT/Van has the ability to pull you back to them to stay in melee range. To bait this I like to roll once and when they pull use my second roll. Keeping distance is the key since PT/Vans are melee.

 

4) Since the overall damage to PT comes from lining up their main burst, you have to make sure you heal back up as fast as possible before they use their rotation again which is I believe every 25 seconds(?).

 

5) PT/Vans have a passive resistance to physical effects. This can be annoying. It makes when you stun or slow them they will be able to resistance it. Just keep that in mind.

 

6) PT/Vans have 4 ways to interrupt you: hard stun, AoE stun, pull and their actual interrupt. Why would a PT/Van use a AoE stun as an interrupt? If a PT/Van really wants to kill you it's always a possibility that they can and will use everything to stop you from casting.

 

7) When you see a PT coming after you try kite them in the your back line. PT/Vans are incrediblity bursty this means if another player decides to switch their focus on you when you are getting the PT/Vans main burst you will have to pop multiple CDs to insure you don't die which you can't sustain for long. Kiting them in the back line insures one of your DPS to see and peel him/her off without another player jumping into "time to 1-shot the healer" bandwagon.

 

 

Operatives/Scoundrels

 

 

This is based on dealing with Concealment Operatives/Scoundrels. They can be incredibility burstly but that all depends if they get lucky crits. A lot of what makes them annoying is that they can kite just as well as you can.

 

1) Just like dealing with other melee try to bait them to roll then double roll away. Always try to keep distance using your roll as well as Sever Tendon/Tendon Blast on CD.

 

2) Since their slows/roots are tech you can cleanse them off of you.

 

3) The highest damaging ability a concealment Operative/Scoundrel has is Blood Boiler which can hit for 10k+. Use your Shield probe/Defense Screen to help with this burst damage. It is kinetic damage so it cannot be evaded with Evasion.

 

4) Concealment can also have shank shot which immobilize, roots you and makes it so you cannot to turn. This can be annoying because if you need to stun the Operative/Scoundrel you cannot turn to Debilitate/Dirty Kick him.

 

5) Please don't break if you get Sapped the first time before white-bar. It's pointless because you will be Sapped again.

 

6) Operative/Scoundrel have 3 ways of interrupting you, hardstun, AoE Mez and their actual interrupt.

 

 

Assassins/Shadows

 

 

You will face two types of Assassins/Shadows in Warzones. Hatred/Serenity (AoE dot Cleave) and Deception/Infiltration (single target burst).

 

A) Hatred/Serenity - The easiest of the two to survive against because they don't have singlet target burst to finish you off.

 

A-1) Kite, kite, kite. Stager your roll to force them to Force Speed them roll again to create distance. Use force slow on CD.

 

A-2) Use Evasion to cleanse the dots, prioritize cleaning Crushing Darkness/Mind Crush. Crushing Darkness/Mind Crush hits for a lot but is easy to notice it (sounds like loud heart beat).

 

A-3) Now since 3.0 Assassins/Shadows have a ranged Low Slash which stuns for 4 seconds. Please don't break this unless you are 100% about to die. It's not worth wasting a break it a baby-stun.

 

A-4) Assassins have 6 ways to interrupt you, Spinning kick (2s stun from stealth), Low slash (4s range stun), Whirlwind (8s range Mez), Force Stun (hardstun), Push back and their actual interrupt.

 

A-5) Cannot stun/slow an Assassin/Shadow when they have Force Shroud and Deflection up. These are very noticeable; one looks like a energy bubble around the assassin the other looks like they bodies are glowing.

 

[A lot of what was said about Hatred/Serenity applies to Deception/Infiltration]

 

B) Deception/Infiltration - This is a lot harder to kite as well as survive against. This is a heavy burst single target class.

 

B-1) I know I say kite but verse Deception/Infiltration it is essential that you stay as far away from them as possible. This means even using your Evasion on a root to great distance. Sever Tendon/Tendon Blast on CD and stager your rolls to bait Force Speed.

 

B-2) When you stun to heal yourself roll away at least once or gain some distance before you cast heal yourself.

 

B-3) When Deception/Infiltration they will be immune to CC/slows. Try not to get in a habit of seeing them when they pop out of stealth.

 

B-4) Watch out for Assassinates which crit for a lot when you are low HP. If you have 15k~ HP left do something, CC/stealth out to heal back up. If you are below 20k in the danger zone verse for this spec.

 

 

RANGE:

 

Snipers/Slingers

 

 

Marksman/ Sharpshooter Sniper/Slingers are normally easy to handle. Just stay at range and pillar hump normally is the best option. Just be aware that they can be bursty, with their auto crit etc, so if you are kiting a PT/Van and a sniper starts focusing you, find a way to CC them or LoS because they can burst you down easily with help.

 

1) Since they are in range and normally hunkered down somewhere they are normally easy to spot and LoS (Line of Sight). Find a pillar, wall or LoS behind the node to make them switch focus on you.

 

2) The main burst damage a Sniper/Slinger comes with Ambush/Aim Shot. Aim Shot can be fast and crit for 10K+. Good thing it is easily notable and countered. When you see a red box on your character a Sniper/Slinger is about to Ambush/Aim Shot you. It is white damage so if you quick pop Evasion the Aim Shot will be dodged.

 

3) If a sniper is really being annoying I debilitate/Dirty Kick or use Flash (if you spec into flash powder even more effect because it decrease their accuracy). Just be careful its best not to be caught out of position when a sniper is about to unload.

 

Note: There is two different ways a Sniper/Slinger can hunker down. A small shield (Hold Position) and a CD they can use which looks like an a larger shield, which makes them immune to CC. Best not to try to see them when they are immuned, just LoS.

 

4) If you are slowed and rooted by a Sniper/Slinger its all cleansable.

 

5) Be aware that a sniper has a long range interrupt.

 

6) If you run into the Engineering/Sapoteur specs (no one really plays it anymore). The only real thing you need to remember is try to get out of their ground AoE that slows you which makes it difficult to kite. Other than that they are just annoying pests.

 

 

Mercenary/Commando

 

 

This focuses on Arsenal/Gunnery Merc/Coms because that is majority of what you will find in warzones. They can be really annoying and if you aren't careful burst you fast if they get some lucky crits. You should treat them like Snipers/Slingers, keep in range LoS majority of their damage. You should prioritize stunning/Flashing them because if left alone they deal a lot of damage.

 

1) Watch out and notice right away if you are Electro Neted (see section 9 of the guide in what to do if you are Neted).

 

2) Rail Shot, Blazing Bolts/Charged Bolts is white damage which can be dodged by popping Evasion. Prioritize Evasion on Blazing Bolts/Charged Bolts because it's a channeled ability while also slowing you.

 

3) Merc/Coms have a build up before they do a lot of damage. Good thing is they have to channel a lot of their abilities. They are very susceptible to LoS as well as interrupts.

 

4) Mercs can interrupt you 4 ways. Push back (close range push back), Hardstun, single target Mez, as well as their actual interrupt.

 

 

Sorcerers/Sages

 

 

You will face two types of Sorcerers in Warzones. Madness/Balance (AoE dot Cleave) and Lightning/Telekinetic (single target burst).

 

A) Madness/Balance - The easiest of the two to survive against because they don't have singlet target burst to finish you off.

 

A-1)Since this is range find a nice pillar or structure to kite around to LoS (Line of Sight) damage.

A-2) Use Evasion to cleanse the dots, prioritize cleaning Crushing Darkness/Mind Crush. Crushing Darkness/Mind Crush hits for a lot but is easy to notice it (sounds like loud heart beat).

 

A-3) Sorcs/Sages have 4 ways to interrupt you, hardstun, single target Mez, close range push back and 10 meter range interrupt.

 

[A lot of what was said about Madness/Balance applies to Lightning/Telekinetic]

 

B) Lightning/Telekinetic - This is a heavy burst single target class. It's easy to see Lightning makes a lot of noise when casting and Telekinetic sounds like you are being hit multiple times by air gusts. Needs to be notice quickly and your position should be adjusted.

 

B-1) Essential for you to LoS Lightning/Telekinetic damage. It can be very bursty. If the Lightning/Telekinetic adjusts their position so should you.

 

B-2) Lightning/Telekinetic can do their main burst on the move. If they kite back to try to kill you it's a good time to Flash them.

 

B-4) It's really easy for a Lightning/Telekinetic to drop you if you are low. If you notice one is about to burst you or is bursting you pop Evasion. This clears the dots on you as well as decreasing their damage of their burst.

 

 

Need to figure out how to put this on the main page but it's too long! Anyone know a way to link it? Let me know.

 

This is going to be my last update to the guide for a while unless anyone else has suggestions.

 

Cheers!

Edited June 23, 2015 by kissingaiur

[Lhancelot]

Just saying thanks I learn new stuff every time I read this guide. To put it all down in writing, the strategies versus different classes had to be time consuming. Much appreciated!

[DomiSotto]

Hottie, again, can’t thank you enough. This guide really becoming more and more valuable as I work my way through the midbies!

 

If you click on the post number, it will give you a hyperlink to this particular post. You can copy it to page one with a header to deal with length issues.

 

Another viable solution is to make a PDF document, host it off-site, and link on the first page. We can hope that one of the moderators have a moment to pin it.

[Lhancelot]

This needs stickied/pinned.

[kissingaiur]

UPDATE:

 

Trying something new, should have around 250-300 crit rating around 24-25%.

 

3 POWER/SURGE

4 POWER/ALACRITY

2 CRIT/SURGE

1 POWER/SURGE/CRIT

Edited June 29, 2015 by kissingaiur

[Kaos_KidSWTOR]

Hottie, please go nerf yourself. You are literally impossible to kill. I was just in a WZ with you and me and my DF Gunslinger buddy could NOT kill you.

[kissingaiur]

Hottie, please go nerf yourself. You are literally impossible to kill. I was just in a WZ with you and me and my DF Gunslinger buddy could NOT kill you.

 

Haha, yeah it comes with experience when you play a lot with people always trying to kill you. Makes for a fun match though right?

[Kaos_KidSWTOR]

Haha, yeah it comes with experience when you play a lot with people always trying to kill you. Makes for a fun match though right?

 

If "fun" is an impossible to kill healer... Then sure. It did make for good fights on the West cap on Novarre though it WAS a stalemate... So, not all was lost in that match...

[Amaste]

UPDATE:

 

Trying something new, should have around 250-300 crit rating around 24-25%.

 

3 POWER/SURGE

4 POWER/ALACRITY

2 CRIT/SURGE

1 POWER/SURGE/CRIT

 

I remember back in the old days having the 25% crit chance when we had the innate 5% alacrity and i know the large chunk of our healing comes from sustained HoTs over big number injections and what not, but do you notice that large of a difference in your HPS in 3.0 going with 250-300 crit over a straight power/alacrity/surge setup? ;o Idk where my stat issues were, but I feel like I get more out of the less crit more power approach, though my rotation is still very shoddy at best, consistency is never my strong suit in any game lol. Where abouts does that leave your bonus healing numbers with that build?

Edited June 30, 2015 by Amaste

[Amaste]

Hottie, please go nerf yourself. You are literally impossible to kill. I was just in a WZ with you and me and my DF Gunslinger buddy could NOT kill you.

 

 

 

Need moar burst.

Edited June 30, 2015 by Amaste

[kissingaiur]

I remember back in the old days having the 25% crit chance when we had the innate 5% alacrity and i know the large chunk of our healing comes from sustained HoTs over big number injections and what not, but do you notice that large of a difference in your HPS in 3.0 going with 250-300 crit over a straight power/alacrity/surge setup? ;o Idk where my stat issues were, but I feel like I get more out of the less crit more power approach, though my rotation is still very shoddy at best, consistency is never my strong suit in any game lol. Where abouts does that leave your bonus healing numbers with that build?

 

Crit > Surge is working great (noticing more crits). It's a little bit over soft cap 25.44% surge is still close to 73%. From what I was told the scaling to bonus healing is terrible so dropping some for crit is worth it. I believe I am running on 1148 (1190 with PvE set) on both toons.

[Kaos_KidSWTOR]

Need moar burst.

 

I'm the burstiest class in the damn game Tactics Vanguard!

[Amaste]

I'm the burstiest class in the damn game Tactics Vanguard!

 

But it's also the most predictable burst in the game, with a well timed roll and evasion completely destroying your burst window on an Op. >.>

[Amaste]

Crit > Surge is working great (noticing more crits). It's a little bit over soft cap 25.44% surge is still close to 73%. From what I was told the scaling to bonus healing is terrible so dropping some for crit is worth it. I believe I am running on 1148 (1190 with PvE set) on both toons.

 

I'll take a look at what my sets doing when I get off work in a bit, for some reason when I rock that i'm only hitting around 23.5% or so for crit on skill augs and crit/surge enhancements. I ADD hop between full power builds w/ overkill augs to skill augs for fun so much im broke lol. Currently sitting on the power build with 1295 bonus heal, 3.14% alacrity, 74% surge and 19 or 20% crit or so. Do you still run the 2p PvE or are you thinking it'll be worth it to start planning for the new 6p changes coming? Come 6p changes I doubt I'll be running it anymore with that nice cdr on nanotech, should provide a higher HPS.

[kissingaiur]

I'll take a look at what my sets doing when I get off work in a bit, for some reason when I rock that i'm only hitting around 23.5% or so for crit on skill augs and crit/surge enhancements. I ADD hop between full power builds w/ overkill augs to skill augs for fun so much im broke lol. Currently sitting on the power build with 1295 bonus heal, 3.14% alacrity, 74% surge and 19 or 20% crit or so. Do you still run the 2p PvE or are you thinking it'll be worth it to start planning for the new 6p changes coming? Come 6p changes I doubt I'll be running it anymore with that nice cdr on nanotech, should provide a higher HPS.

 

Stats bonus wise 2 PvE is way superior to the new two piece, 15% > -3 cd. In all honestly the new 2 piece is worse then the 1 second off Kolto (in my opinion). Kolto cloud is so much fluff healing while a smartly placed Kolto Wave can do ridiculous healing.

 

I also noticed that on my parses that Kolto Wave crits for a lot and I forgot about the passive that gives it 10% more crit rating. When it crits it can crit your whole group for close to 2.4k~ which is insane. More crit just makes it better since now a good Operative/Scoundrel healer tries to use it on CD. Also since we are still currently struggling with burst healing when we do heal it's good to give us the most probability of it being a crit heal.

 

Also I would still recommend you go at least 4-5% Alacrity. It helps with Kolto Wave/probe ticks.

Edited July 1, 2015 by kissingaiur

[kissingaiur]

Updated:

 

Added How to survive 1v1 situtations (all classes) link to main guide, compressed guide into sections, as well as other minor additions.

 

Added under Healing:

 

Your heal priority should be: HoTs on 4 targets > Cloud > Wave/single target heal depending on situtation.

 

Note: Try to use a Surgical Probe/Emergency Med-Pack right after Underworld Medicine/Kolto Injection because if it crits with hots it all adds up for a great burst heal. If it all crits that's 10k +5k +3k = 18k+ heal.

[Amaste]

Crit > Surge is working great (noticing more crits). It's a little bit over soft cap 25.44% surge is still close to 73%. From what I was told the scaling to bonus healing is terrible so dropping some for crit is worth it. I believe I am running on 1148 (1190 with PvE set) on both toons.

 

As a side note, tossed together a 25.w/e% crit, returned to 4.highw/e% alacrity and 72% surge set and did notice it was much easier to keep a decent HPS average. Ducky likes lol. Gotta adjust my keybinds though, do you bind target group members for quick slot targeting or prefer clicking the names?

[kissingaiur]

As a side note, tossed together a 25.w/e% crit, returned to 4.highw/e% alacrity and 72% surge set and did notice it was much easier to keep a decent HPS average. Ducky likes lol. Gotta adjust my keybinds though, do you bind target group members for quick slot targeting or prefer clicking the names?

 

I click names but I learned that way so it's more natural for me. It's easier for me splitting responsibility between both hands. It's whatever you feel more comfortable with.

[kissingaiur]

Updated: Added a link to this guide to my new mini-guide on solo ranked healing.

 

If anyone is interested check it out!

 

 

-Cheers

[kissingaiur]

Notes:

 

Testing out how Flash Powder utility works: When do does flashed target get the accuracy debuff in different situtations?

 

-If target is immune to CC then flashed, it does not debuff target

-If target is doted then flashed, debuff still is applied to target

-If target is flashed and cleanse, debuff is still applied to target

 

If anyone has another situation they want me to test let me know .

Edited July 4, 2015 by kissingaiur

[Lalainnia]

Notes:

 

Testing out how Flash Powder utility works: When do does flashed target get the accuracy debuff in different situtations?

 

-If target is immune to CC then flashed, it does not debuff target

-If target is doted then flashed, debuff still is applied to target

-If target is flashed and cleanse, debuff is still applied to target

 

If anyone has another situation they want me to test let me know .

Does it stack with sniper diversion and pt tank oil slick?

[kissingaiur]

Does it stack with sniper diversion and pt tank oil slick?

 

I think it does but i'll test this tomorrow.

[kissingaiur]

Does it stack with sniper diversion and pt tank oil slick?

 

It does stack, Flash Powder debuff stacks with Oil Slick debuff.