[Guide] Sorcerer / Sage Healing

Orderken · February 11, 2015

This is an in-depth guide to healing at level 60. Its focus is PVE, but much applies to PVP.

To view this guide here:

[jumpto=Corruption]Sorcerer – Corruption[/jumpto]
[jumpto=Seer]Sage – Seer[/jumpto]

To view this guide with enhanced formatting and pictures on Dulfy:

Orderken · February 11, 2015

[aname=Corruption]

Sorcerer – Corruption

[/aname]

Table of Contents

[jumpto=Corruption - Ratings]Ratings[/jumpto]
[jumpto=Corruption - Utilities]Utilities[/jumpto]
[jumpto=Corruption - Gear]Gear[/jumpto]
[jumpto=Corruption - Rotation Guidelines]Rotation Guidelines[/jumpto]
Abilities
2. [jumpto=Corruption - Heals for a Single Ally]Heals for a Single Ally[/jumpto]
3. [jumpto=Corruption - Heals for Multiple Allies]Heals for Multiple Allies[/jumpto]
4. [jumpto=Corruption - Dealing Damage]Dealing Damage[/jumpto]
5. [jumpto=Corruption - Cooldowns]Cooldowns[/jumpto]
6. [jumpto=Corruption - Other]Other[/jumpto]

[*]Maximizing Your Performance

[jumpto=Corruption - User Interface]User Interface[/jumpto]
[jumpto=Corruption - Datacrons]Datacrons[/jumpto]
[jumpto=Corruption - Legacy]Legacy[/jumpto]
[jumpto=Corruption - Consumables]Consumables[/jumpto]

[aname=Corruption - Ratings]

Ratings

[/aname]

For Ravagers or Temple of Sacrifice on Hard Mode, Sorcerer is a desirable healing class. It has weaknesses, but also strengths.

Handling high damage to a single ally: Strong. Mercenary is a little ahead. Operative is behind.
Handling high damage to multiple allies: Weak. Mercenary and Operative are far ahead.
Resource management: Trivial, and doesn’t limit healing. Mercenary and Operative must manage resources, and resources limit their healing.
Synergy with co-healer’s class: Strong. Pairs well with Mercenary or Operative. Sorcerer-Sorcerer isn’t ideal, but is preferable to Operative-Operative.
Mobility: Incredible. Mercenary and Operative are fine, but less mobile.
Handling mechanics: Fine. Operative is close. Mercenary is far ahead, because Hydraulic Overrides outshines every personal utility available to Sorcerer or Operative.
Passive damage reduction: Weak. Mercenary and Operative are ahead. Sorcerer has the lowest Armor and is only healing class lacking a Utility that increases damage reduction for all area effects by 30%.
Dealing damage in the healing Discipline: Strongest. Mercenary is close behind. Operative is far behind.

[aname=Corruption - Utilities]

Utilities

[/aname]

Skillful

Force Suffusion: Overload heals you and up to 7 other allies for a small amount.
Sith Defiance: Increases damage reduction by 3%.
Tempest Mastery: Increases damage dealt by Force Storm by 25%.
Empty Body: Increases healing received by 10%.

Select Sith Defiance and Empty Body.

For your final point to unlock the Masterful tier, Force Suffusion is customary. But if a fight, such as Torque or Underlurker, requires high DPS, and a Force Storm can hit multiple enemies, prefer Tempest Mastery.

Masterful

Suppression: Activating Cloud Mind grants you Suppression, which increases damage reduction by 25% for 6 seconds.
Corrupted Flesh: Reduces damage taken from periodic effects by 15%.
Dark Resilience: Reduces the health cost of Consumption by 25%, and increases the healing of Unnatural Preservation by 30%.
Backlash: A Static Barrier that you place on yourself erupts in a flash of light when it end, blinding up to 8 nearby enemies for 3 seconds. Direct damage breaks this blind.
Lightning Barrier: Increases the amount of damage that Static Barrier can absorb by 10%.

Select Lightning Barrier.

Except as noted below, to unlock the Heroic tier, select Dark Resilience.

Consider Backlash for Story or Hard Mode Revanite Commanders.
Select Suppression for Coratanni. It’s ideal for the second phase (Ruugar).
Select Suppression and Corrupted Flesh for Revan. (Forego Corrupted Barrier in the Heroic Tier.)

Heroic

Surging Speed: Your movement speed increases by 50% while Polarity Shift is active, Force Speed lasts 0.5 seconds longer, and Force Barrier finishes Force Speed’s cooldown.
Force Mobility: Innervate may be activated or channeled while moving.
Corrupted Barrier: Your Static Barrier, Force Barrier, and every charge of Enduring Bastion each heal you for 2% of your maximum health every second.

Select Force Mobility.

Corrupted Barrier > Surging Speed in general, but Surging Speed is preferable for Blaster.

[aname=Corruption - Gear]

Gear

[/aname]

Optimal gear for a typical Sorcerer healer follows. For further discussion, or if you wish to optimize gear for your healing, see my Model.

Set Bonus

SOR 6-Piece Force-Mystic’s
Retain a pre-SOR 2-Piece Force-Mystic’s until you have the SOR 6-Piece.

Augments

Power > Willpower, but the difference is small (0.25% for all 14).

Power versus Critical

With 14 Power Augments, the amount of Critical that maximizes expected healing is about 55 in Resurrected gear or 120 in Revanite gear.
With 14 Willpower Augments, the amount of Critical that maximizes expected healing is about 40 in Resurrected gear or 105 in Revanite gear.

Alacrity versus Surge

Among your Ear, Implants, and Enhancements, 3 have Surge and 7 have Alacrity.

Relics

Among relics of the same tier, Serendipitous Assault >= Focused Retribution > any other.

Accuracy

None. Accuracy has no effect on healing an ally.

[aname=Corruption - Rotation Guidelines]

Rotation Guidelines

[/aname]

In combat, no rotation is ideal for long. A healer’s job is triage. Decide who most needs your next heal by anticipating damage and cooperating with your co-healer. Guidelines for choosing your next ability follow.

Use Resurgence on cooldown. Use Innervate on cooldown. When healing is challenging, use Roaming Mend on cooldown.
The priority for Force Bending is: Roaming Mend > Innervate > Dark Infusion or Dark Heal.
Force Bending causes each charge of Roaming Mend to heal immediately.
[*]Force Bending increases your expected healing by about the same amount whether it buffs Dark Heal, Dark Infusion, or Innervate. Among these, prefer Innervate. Force Bending increases the expected number of Force Surge procs from an Innervate by almost 1.
[*]Don’t use Force Bending for Revivification.

[*]Use Static Barrier liberally but wisely.
1. Static Barrier is ideal for mitigating spike damage to a single ally, because it’s instant and can absorb a high amount of damage. Reserve Static Barrier for this purpose when a fight has frequent spike damage that you can prevent.
2. Static Barrier is for routine tank healing, but not, in general, while a tank is at or near full health.
3. Static Barrier is useful for mitigating an uncleansable DOT effect on a non-tank. Preventing a non-tank’s health from dropping far below others’ allows you to focus on tank healing while AOE heals suffice for non-tanks.
4. Though Static Barrier costs a very low amount of Force, spamming Static Barrier is, in general, a poor use of time compared to Revivification or Roaming Mend.
[*]Use Force-Mystic’s Critical Bonus and Dark Concentration.
1. Force-Mystic’s Critical Bonus is a buff from the SOR 2-Piece Force-Mystic’s Set that causes your next Dark Infusion to crit.
2. Dark Concentration is a buff that makes your next Dark Heal instant and free. This buff helps you regenerate Force, heal while moving, or burst heal a single ally. Dark Infusion procs Dark Concentration (Dark Concentration’s cooldown is 10 seconds), so Dark Infusion + instant Dark Heal is a good combination for burst healing a single ally.
[*]Use Consumption only if you have Force Surge, so that it’s off the GCD.
1. Anticipate using Consumption about once every second or third Innervate. In SOR, you need few Consumptions, because Force costs for healing abilities are too low.
2. Prefer to activate Consumption after an ability that is instant. This guarantees that a Consumption off the GCD does activate, doesn’t cancel your preceding cast or channel, and doesn’t delay your next activation by even a fraction of a second.
Abilities
The Sections below described and offer advice about each ability. Unless noted, Alacrity reduces every figure related to time.

[aname=Corruption - Heals for a Single Ally]Heals for a Single Ally[/aname]

See my Model for activation times or healing amounts with gear that you select.

Static Barrier

Description

Static Barrier is instant and lasts up to 30 seconds.
It provides a large absorb rather than a heal. As an absorb, it can’t crit, which is one of the reasons that a Sorcerer benefits less from Critical or Surge than the other healing classes.
It has no cooldown, but debuffs each recipient with Deionized, which prevents receiving another Static Barrier from anyone for 15 seconds (Alacrity doesn’t reduce this).
Utility: Corrupted Barrier causes your own Static Barrier to heal you for 2% of your maximum health once every second.

Use

See [jumpto=Corruption - Rotation Guidelines]Rotation Guidelines[/jumpto] > #3.
Until you obtain the SOR 4-Piece Force-Mystic’s Set, Utility: Corrupted Barrier allows Static Barrier to restore health lost to Consumption. In general, don’t use Static Barrier on another Sorcerer healer.

Resurgence

Description

Resurgence is instant and has a 6-second cooldown.
It provides a small immediate heal and a HOT that heals 5 times, once every third second for 15 seconds. It also can trigger Renewal.
Renewal adds burst and additional healing to Resurgence.
- Overwriting your Resurgence on an ally triggers Renewal in 1 second.
- Renewal heals for an amount equal to n+1 ticks of Resurgence’s HOT, where n is the number of HOT ticks that remained from the overwritten Resurgence.
- Renewal is a major boost for Resurgence. For example, if you overwrite Resurgence before the third tick of its HOT, the expected healing of the new Resurgence over 1 second is greater than that of a Dark Heal in 1.5 seconds.
[*]Activating Resurgence grants you 1 charge of Force Bending. You can have at most one charge of Force Bending, which lasts up to 15 seconds (Alacrity doesn’t reduce this). Force Bending is consumed by, and benefits, your next Roaming Mend, Innervate, Dark Infusion, Dark Heal, or Revivification.

[*]Resurgence grants it recipient Protected, which increases his Armor Rating from gear alone by 10% for 45 seconds (Alacrity doesn’t reduce this).
- Though not substantial, any increase in mitigation helps, especially a tank.
- Protected doesn’t stack, regardless of the number of healers giving this buff.

Use

Use Resurgence on cooldown.
As discussed in [jumpto=Corruption - Rotation Guidelines]Rotation Guidelines[/jumpto] > #2, the priority for Force Bending is, in general, Roaming Mend > Innervate > Dark Infusion or Dark Heal.
Renewal is strong incentive to rotate Resurgence between at most 2 allies.
- Before SOR, rotating Resurgence among 3 allies, or using its HOT to top up any non-tank, was common and justified. Unlearn this. Don’t lose Renewal’s burst and additional healing.
- In an Operation, while both tanks take substantial damage, rotate Resurgence between them like clockwork. While only one tank takes substantial damage, Resurgence this tank alone.

Innervate

Description

Innervate is a 2.4-second channel. Its cooldown is 9 seconds, or 7.5 seconds with the pre-SOR 2-Piece, or SOR 6-Piece, Force-Mystic’s Set.
It heals up to 4 times, including immediately. As a channel, it’s immune to pushback.
Utility: Force Mobility allows you to activate or channel it while moving.
Force Bending increases its critical chance by 25%.
Each critical heal from Innervate procs 1 charge of Force Surge. You may have up to 3 charges, which last up to 30 seconds (Alacrity doesn’t reduce this).

Use

Use Innervate on cooldown.
Innervate may be used while moving, begins healing immediately, and, though it’s lost some of its pre-SOR punch, has high HPS.
Innervate alone generates Force Surge.
- Force Surge takes Consumption off the GCD and, with the SOR 4-Piece Force-Mystic’s Set, eliminates its health cost.
- Force Surge reduces the activation time and Force cost of Revivification.

Dark Infusion

Description

Dark Infusion is a 2-second cast with no cooldown.
Force-Mystic’s Critical Bonus, a buff from the SOR 2-Piece Force-Mystic’s Set, causes your next Dark Infusion to crit.
Force Bending reduces its cast time by 0.5 seconds.

Use

Dark Infusion is decent for healing a single target. Its average HPS is about the same as Dark Heal’s (including if both were buffed by Force Bending).
Use every Force-Mystic’s Critical Bonus.
- You don’t need use it promptly, because its duration and cooldown are 30 seconds (Alacrity doesn’t reduce the duration).
- If Recklessness and Force-Mystic’s Critical Bonus overlap, finish Recklessness without a Dark Infusion. Otherwise a Dark Infusion crit consumes both Force-Mystic’s Critical Bonus and a charge of Recklessness.
[*]Dark Infusion is one heal (the other is Revivification) that procs Dark Concentration (Dark Concentration’s cooldown is 10 seconds), a buff that makes your next Dark Heal instant and free. Dark Infusion + instant Dark Heal is a good combination for burst healing a single ally.
[*]Prefer to use Force Bending for Roaming Mend or Innervate, as discussed in [jumpto=Corruption - Rotation Guidelines]Rotation Guidelines[/jumpto] > #2.

Dark Heal

Description

Dark Heal is a 1.5-second cast with no cooldown.
Dark Concentration, a buff from a completed activation of Dark Infusion, Revivification, Crushing Darkness, or Lightning Strike, causes your next Dark Heal to be instant and free.
Force Bending increases its critical chance by 60%.

Use

Dark Heal is decent for healing a single target. Its average HPS is about the same as Dark Infusion’s (including if both were buffed by Force Bending).
Use most Dark Concentration procs.
- Its cooldown (i.e., rate limit) is 10 seconds, and its duration is 15 seconds (Alacrity doesn’t reduce these).
- In a few ways, Dark Concentration is analogous to Tactical Advantage for an Operative healer.
  1. Allow Dark Concentration to arise naturally as you heal, without contorting your rotation to proc it on cooldown.
  2. Spend Dark Concentration naturally as you heal. Allowing a proc to expire from time to time is fine.
  3. With respect to Force, using a proc is equivalent to one-quarter of a Consumption (off the GCD). Per minute, if you use 4 procs, you need 1 fewer Consumption.
  4. Dark Concentration helps you burst heal a single target.
[*]Prefer to use Force Bending for Roaming Mend or Innervate, as discussed in [jumpto=Corruption - Rotation Guidelines]Rotation Guidelines[/jumpto] > #2.

Unnatural Preservation

Description

Unnatural Preservation is instant and has a 30-second cooldown (Alacrity doesn’t reduce this).
It’s off the GCD and costs no Force.
It heals you, and only you, for a large amount.

Use

This is similar to a defensive cooldown.
You may also use it for routine healing when you’re out of range of a round of AOE heals.

Expunge

Description

Expunge is instant and has a 12-second cooldown.
It cleanses up to two physical, mental, or Force effects and provides a very small heal.

Use

For PVE, if Expunge can cleanse an effect, it’s almost always better to cleanse it than heal through it.
For PVP, Expunge cleanses Inquisitor or Warrior CCs.

[aname=Corruption - Heals for Multiple Allies]Heals for Multiple Allies[/aname]

See my Model for activation times or healing amounts with gear that you select.

In SOR, every ability that may heal multiple allies in one activation is “smart”. If more allies are within range than the ability can heal, the ability selects those allies whose percentage of maximum health is lowest.

Revivification

Description

Revivification is a 2-second cast and has a 12-second cooldown.
Revivification’s radius is 8 meters, twice that of its “puddle”.
If an ally is in the radius of a Revivification, and doesn’t already have a HOT from it, Revivification can grant him a HOT.
- Revivification dispenses HOTs immediately and, until all 8 of its HOTs have been dispensed, once every second for 10 seconds. An ally who grazes a Revivification for an interval shorter than one second might not receive a HOT.
- Revivification’s HOT heals 11 times, immediately and once every second for 10 seconds.
- An ally may have at most one HOT from your Revivifications at any time. If an ally with a HOT from your previous Revivification stands in your new Revivification, nothing happens. He’s ineligible until the previous HOT is gone.
[*]Force Surge reduces Revivification’s activation time. One charge of Force Surge reduces its cast by 0.25 seconds; two charges reduce its cast by 0.50 seconds; and three charges make it instant.
[*]Revivification is one heal (the other is Dark Infusion) that procs Dark Concentration (Dark Concentration’s cooldown is 10 seconds), a buff that makes your next Dark Heal instant and free.
[*]Force Bending reduces Revivification’s Force cost by 30%.

Use

Revivification’s activation time is the same with two or three charges of Force Surge. Therefore, activate Revivification with two charges (use Consumption if you have three) unless you must use it while moving.
Using Revivification to heal a single ally, such as a tank, is a poor use of your time and Force and of Revivification’s cooldown. The total amount that it heals a single ally is small.
In a 16-man Operation, if two or more Sorcerer healers intend to heal more than 8 allies, they should center their Revivifications at least a few meters apart, as though drawing a Venn Diagram with little or no intersection.
Don’t use Revivification to proc Dark Concentration.
Don’t use Force Bending for Revivification.

Roaming Mend

Description

Roaming Mend is instant and has a 15-second cooldown.
It places 4 charges on its target (i.e., the ally whom you’re targeting or, otherwise, you).
Upon triggering, a charge is used, healing the ally who has the charges.
- Without Force Bending, Roaming Mend triggers only when the ally who has it takes damage at least 0.5 seconds after having received Roaming Mend.
- With Force Bending, Roaming Mend’s trigger requirement and delay are waived. Roaming Mend immediately heals its target, travels to another ally and immediately heals him, and so on.
[*]After a charge is used, any remaining charges travel to another ally in line-of-sight and within 20 meters.
- If no such jump is possible, the remaining charges are canceled.
- Travel time is proportional to distance, ranging from about 0.1 seconds for 0 meters to about 0.75 seconds for 20 meters.
- Roaming Mend may return to an ally whom it healed before.
[*]The maximum duration of Roaming Mend is 30 seconds (Alacrity doesn’t reduce this) for each ally who receives its charges. However, activating Roaming Mend cancels any remaining charges from its previous activation.

[*]Upon being healed by Roaming Mend, an ally receives Resistant, which increases internal and elemental damage reduction by 3% for 45 seconds (Alacrity doesn’t reduce this).
- Spreading Resistant shouldn’t influence whom you target for Roaming Mend.
- Resistant doesn’t stack, regardless of the number of healers giving this buff.

Use

When healing is challenging, use Roaming Mend on cooldown.
Use Roaming Mend with Force Bending unless raid-wide damage is frequent enough to trigger all four charges before its cooldown finishes.
Force Bending + Roaming Mend provides burst healing for one or more allies. If one ally’s health is much lower than others’, Roaming Mend prefers to heal him twice, providing about the same amount of healing as Force Bending + Innervate, but usually many times faster.

Overload

Description

Overload is instant and has a 20-second cooldown.
Utility: Force Suffusion grants it a very small heal for you and up to 7 allies in its “cone” (one-third of a circle with you at its center and a 15-meter radius).

Use

Overload’s heal is almost worthless.
Overload must heal at least 3, 4, or 5 to provide greater expected healing than Dark Heal (without Force Bending), Resurgence, or Static Barrier, respectively.
A healer’s job is triage, which is not, in general, maximizing HPS or topping up allies. Before using Overload, be certain that using Static Barrier on, for example, the ally with least health, isn’t wiser.
Even when using Overload is appropriate, such as for Malaphar, healing allies for about 3% of their maximum health is unlikely to alter a fight’s tempo or outcome. Consider Utility: Tempest Mastery instead.

[aname=Corruption - Dealing Damage]Dealing Damage[/aname]

Capitalize on every opportunity to deal damage.

For a single target
- Without Recklessness
  - In general, Affliction > Crushing Darkness > Force Lightning = Lightning Strike = Shock.
  - Crushing Darkness or Lightning Strike procs Dark Concentration but is susceptible to pushback.
  [*]With Recklessness: Force Lightning > Lightning Strike = Shock
[*]For multiple targets
- Without Recklessness: Force Storm. If Force Storm reaches only 2 targets, however, Affliction or Crushing Darkness have higher DPS on any target that will survive for the duration of its DOT.
- With Recklessness: Force Storm

Affliction

Affliction is instant and has no cooldown.
It’s a DOT that ticks 7 times, immediately and once every third second for 18 seconds.
For PVE, maintaining this DOT is straightforward if you set the boss as your Focus Target and adjust your [jumpto=Corruption - User Interface]User Interface[/jumpto].

Crushing Darkness

Crushing Darkness is a 2-second cast with a 15-second cooldown.
It’s a moderate attack that, if it hits, leaves a DOT that ticks 6 times, once every second for 6 seconds.
It procs Dark Concentration (Dark Concentration’s cooldown is 10 seconds) even if your target resists it, which offsets some of its Force cost and helps you resume healing.

Lightning Strike

Lightning Strike is a 1.5-second cast with no cooldown.
It procs Dark Concentration (Dark Concentration’s cooldown is 10 seconds) even if your target resists it, which offsets some of its Force cost and helps you resume healing.

Force Storm

Force Storm is a 3-second channel with no cooldown.
Its radius is 8 meters.
It attacks up to 8 enemies once for every second that you channel it. Therefore, while useful for interrupting multiple enemies capping in a Warzone, activating it won’t interrupt an enemy who has less than one second remaining on his cap.
As a channel, it’s immune to pushback and consumes only one charge of Recklessness per activation regardless of the number of ticks that deal damage or crit.

Shock

Shock is instant and has a 6-second cooldown.
It’s useful for burst or while moving.

Force Lightning

Force Lightning is a 3-second channel with a 6-second cooldown.
As a channel, it’s immune to pushback.
For PVP, it slows the target’s movement speed by 50%.

[aname=Corruption - Cooldowns]Cooldowns[/aname]

Polarity Shift

Description

Polarity Shift is off the GCD and has a 2-minute cooldown.
It increases your Alacrity by 20% and grants you Unshakeable, which makes you immune to interrupts and pushback, for 10 seconds (Alacrity doesn’t reduce this).

Use

For PVE, reserve Polarity Shift for an emergency or a burn phase. If you’re using Recklessness, too, active Polarity Shift first, so that its Alacrity shortens Recklessness’s cooldown.
For PVP, Polarity Shift is also for interrupt immunity. An ideal time for it is immediately after gaining full resolve.

Recklessness

Description

Recklessness is off the GCD and has a 90-second cooldown.
It buffs you with two charges of +60% Critical chance for direct heals or Force attacks. This buff lasts for 20 seconds (Alacrity doesn’t reduce this).
- It doesn’t apply to Static Barrier, ticks from a HOT (including Renewal) or DOT, or Expunge.
- Except as noted above, each heal from an instant or cast that crits consumes one charge. A single activation of Roaming Mend or Overload can consume both charges.
- It applies to each tick of a channel (i.e., Innervate, Force Lightning, or Force Storm), and consumes exactly one charge as it ends, regardless of the number of ticks that occur or crit.

Use

For PVE or PVP, reserve Recklessness for an emergency or burn.
The priority for healing with Recklessness is, in general, Innervate > Unnatural Preservation > Dark Infusion or Dark Heal > Roaming Mend.
- Avoid Resurgence, because its small immediate heal can consume a charge.
- Regarding Innervate
  1. Though the combination of Force Bending and Recklessness causes Innervate’s critical chance to exceed 100%, it’s better to use Recklessness for an emergency than to rely on favorable RNG without it.
  2. Recklessness + Innervate is very likely (or, in combination with Force Bending, guaranteed) to proc 3 charges of Force Surge. This is merely a side-effect of Recklessness, not its motivation.
  [*]Though Dark Infusion is a larger heal than Dark Heal, an instant Dark Heal (with Dark Concentration) is greater burst.
  [*]Roaming Mend is low priority, because it (a) has a delay without Force Bending and (b) can’t heal the same ally with consecutive ticks.
[*]For dealing damage with Recklessness, see [jumpto=Corruption - Dealing Damage]Dealing Damage[/jumpto].

Force Barrier

Description

Force Barrier is an 8-second channel with a 3-minute cooldown (Alacrity doesn’t reduce these).
Its activation is off the GCD, and you may activate it while controlled. But, since it’s a channel, you can’t activate or maintain it while in motion.
While you channel it, you’re immune to all enemy effects.
Channeling Force Barrier builds stacks of Enduring Bastion, a shield that absorbs damage and grants immunity to interrupts and pushback for up to 5 seconds.
- You gain one stack of Enduring Bastion upon activating Force Barrier, and one additional stack every 2 seconds that you channel it, up to a maximum of 4 stacks after channeling it for 6 seconds.
- The number of your stacks multiplies the amount of damage that Enduring Bastion can absorb and the amount of healing that you receive from Utility: Corrupted Barrier.

Use

For PVE, most boss effects respect Force Barrier. Note, however, that it isn’t a threat drop.
For PVP, and Arenas in particular, use it to thwart substantial damage. Don’t delay until you have only a sliver of health.
For Warzones, it allows you to defend a cap by yourself for some time. In addition, if you have Utility: Surging Speed and a cap is suddenly undefended, you may be able to arrive in time to defend it by using Force Barrier for a moment to finish Force Speed’s cooldown.
For Ancient Hypergates, it doesn’t prevent death from the Pylons’ explosion.

[aname=Corruption - Other]Other[/aname]

Consumption

Consumption is instant or, with Force Surge, off the GCD. It has a 1.5-second cooldown.
Consumption exchanges 11% of your maximum health for 8% of your maximum Force.
- Neither Static Barrier nor damage reduction mitigate Consumption’s health cost, because it isn’t considered damage.
- Utility: Dark Resilience reduces its health cost by 25%.
- The SOR 4-Piece Force-Mystic’s Set waives its health cost.
[*]You must have more health than Consumption’s cost to activate it.
[*]Without Force Surge, Consumption debuffs your rate of passive Force regeneration.
- This debuff lasts for 7 seconds (Alacrity doesn’t reduce this).
- This debuff can stack up to four times. Each stack is a 25% debuff. Gaining a stack refreshes its duration.
- Force Barrier purges this debuff, but this is an atrocious use of Force Barrier.

Cloud Mind

Cloud Mind is off the GCD and has a 45-second cooldown (Alacrity doesn’t reduce this).
For PVE, it lowers your threat with each enemy by 25%. Use it proactively, especially after adds spawn.
With Utility: Suppression, it increases damage reduction by 25% for 6 seconds.

Extrication

Extrication is instant and has a 1-minute cooldown.
It pulls the ally who’s your target about one-third of a meter in front of you. You can’t use this ability on yourself.
For PVE, it lowers the ally’s threat by 25%. This is useful if a DPS or healer continues to have aggro after using his threat drop.
For PVP, use it to advance an ally ball-carrier in Huttball or to pull an ally into the central shelter in Hypergate as the Pylons explode.
For PVE and PVP, you may pull an ally out of harm’s way to your safe location. However, in general, don’t pull another Sorcerer channeling Force Barrier.

Unlimited Power

Unlimited Power is off the GCD and has a 5-minute cooldown (Alacrity doesn’t reduce this).
It buffs every Operation group member within 40 meters. This buff increases Primary Stats and Endurance by 10% for 10 seconds (Alacrity doesn’t reduce this).

Maximizing Your Performance

[aname=Corruption - User Interface]User Interface[/aname]

Tailor your UI for healing. These choices are personal, but consider the recommendations below.

All crucial, time-sensitive information should be visible simultaneously. Therefore, Operation Frames, Action Bars, and Player Castbar should be adjacent and just below your character’s feet. Configure these using the Interface Editor.
Under Preferences > User Interface, enable “Show Cooldown Text”.
Use the Interface Editor to configure your Operation Frames.

[*]Using the Interface Editor, enable Focus Target and Focus Target Castbar. Certain bosses have casts or channels that deal substantial damage to allies.

[*]Using the Interface Editor, for the Player Buff Tray, enable Highlight Options > “Highlight Effects” and Sort Options > “Personal Effects”. This makes it easy to see your procs.

[*]Using the Interface Editor, for the Target Frame and Focus Target, enable Highlight Options > “Highlight Buffs” and “Highlight Debuffs” and Sort Options > “Personal Buffs” and “Personal Debuffs”. This makes it easy to see your effects, such as a HOT on an ally or a DOT on an enemy.

[aname=Corruption - Datacrons]Datacrons[/aname]

Gain up to 50 points of these stats through Datacrons.

Willpower
Endurance

[aname=Corruption - Legacy]Legacy[/aname]

To increase each stat below by 1% for every character in your Legacy and Faction, complete all of the quests that one of the listed companions can offer.

Accuracy – Skadge, Scorpio, Khem Val, or Broonmark
Critical – Gault, Ensign Temple, Andronikos, or Vette
Healing received – Mako, Doctor Lokin, Talos Drellik, or Malavai Quinn
Maximum health – Blizz, Kaliyo, Xalek, or Lt. Pierce
Surge – Torian, Vector, Ashara, or Jaesa

Though optimal gear for healing has no Accuracy, increasing Accuracy through this Legacy perk helps you interrupt, crowd control, or deal damage.

[aname=Corruption - Consumables]Consumables[/aname]

Unless noted, Alacrity reduces every figure related to time.

Stim

An Advanced Anodyne Resolve Stim (purple quality) provides 198 Willpower and 81 Power for 8 hours (Alacrity doesn’t reduce this).

Adrenal

An Adrenal increases a stat for 15 seconds (Alacrity doesn’t reduce this) and is off the GCD. The cooldown shared across all Adrenals is 3 minutes.
For PVE, an Advanced Anodyne Triage Adrenal (purple quality) increases Force Power by 750.
For PVP, a Warzone Adrenal increases Damage Reduction by 15%.

Medpac

A Medpac heals you and is off the GCD. A Medpac can’t crit.
PVE
- The cooldown shared across all Medpacs usable outside of a Warzone or Arena is (a) the remainder of your present combat or (b) 90 seconds, whichever is longer.
- An Advanced Anodyne Medpac restores 7535 to 7892 health immediately and an additional 2875 health over 15 seconds.
[*]PVP – A Warzone Medpac restores 35% of your maximum health and has a 90-second cooldown.

Grenades

A Grenade is an instant ability. The cooldown shared across all Grenades is 3 minutes.
PVE – Grenades that stun or root can be useful for certain adds, such as during Styrak on Nightmare Mode, Grob’Thok with Nightmare Power, or Revanite Commanders.
PVP – Grenades are very useful.
- A player affected by one or more of a Grenade’s effects receives Bastioned, a buff that grants immunity to all effects of further Grenades for 3 minutes (Alacrity doesn’t reduce this). Bastioned doesn’t persist through death.
- If a Grenade has a stun or unconscious effect, this effect respects resolve.

Set “Buff Scale” as low as possible. Increase “Debuff Scale” until debuffs are prominent.
For your usual Operation group, disable “Show Health Text”. This is clutter rather than useful information.
Disable “Show Only Removable Debuffs”. Debuffs that may deal substantial damage to allies often aren’t removable.

Since activating Roaming Mend cancels any charges remaining from its previous activation, Roaming Mend is the highest priority for Force Bending unless raid-wide damage is frequent enough to trigger all four charges before its cooldown finishes.
Burst healing is crucial. Force Bending + Roaming Mend provides burst healing for one or more allies.
Edited April 14, 2015 by Orderken

Orderken · February 11, 2015

[reserved]

Orderken · February 11, 2015

[aname=Seer]

Sage – Seer

[/aname]

Table of Contents

[jumpto=Seer - Ratings]Ratings[/jumpto]
[jumpto=Seer - Utilities]Utilities[/jumpto]
[jumpto=Seer - Gear]Gear[/jumpto]
[jumpto=Seer - Rotation Guidelines]Rotation Guidelines[/jumpto]
Abilities
2. [jumpto=Seer - Heals for a Single Ally]Heals for a Single Ally[/jumpto]
3. [jumpto=Seer - Heals for Multiple Allies]Heals for Multiple Allies[/jumpto]
4. [jumpto=Seer - Dealing Damage]Dealing Damage[/jumpto]
5. [jumpto=Seer - Cooldowns]Cooldowns[/jumpto]
6. [jumpto=Seer - Other]Other[/jumpto]

[*]Maximizing Your Performance

[jumpto=Seer - User Interface]User Interface[/jumpto]
[jumpto=Seer - Datacrons]Datacrons[/jumpto]
[jumpto=Seer - Legacy]Legacy[/jumpto]
[jumpto=Seer - Consumables]Consumables[/jumpto]

[aname=Seer - Ratings]

Ratings

[/aname]

For Ravagers or Temple of Sacrifice on Hard Mode, Sage is a desirable healing class. It has weaknesses, but also strengths.

Handling high damage to a single ally: Strong. Commando is a little ahead. Scoundrel is behind.
Handling high damage to multiple allies: Weak. Commando and Scoundrel are far ahead.
Resource management: Trivial, and doesn’t limit healing. Commando and Scoundrel must manage resources, and resources limit their healing.
Synergy with co-healer’s class: Strong. Pairs well with Commando or Scoundrel. Sage-Sage isn’t ideal, but is preferable to Scoundrel-Scoundrel.
Mobility: Incredible. Commando and Scoundrel are fine, but less mobile.
Handling mechanics: Fine. Scoundrel is close. Commando is far ahead, because Hold the Line outshines every personal utility available to Sage or Scoundrel.
Passive damage reduction: Weak. Commando and Scoundrel are ahead. Sage has the lowest Armor and is only healing class lacking a Utility that increases damage reduction for all area effects by 30%.
Dealing damage in the healing Discipline: Strongest. Commando is close behind. Scoundrel is far behind.

[aname=Seer - Utilities]

Utilities

[/aname]

Skillful

Psychic Suffusion: Force Wave heals you and up to 7 other allies for a small amount.
Jedi Resistance: Increases damage reduction by 3%.
Tectonic Mastery: Increases damage dealt by Forcequake by 25%.
Pain Bearer: Increases healing received by 10%.

Select Jedi Resistance and Pain Bearer.

For your final point to unlock the Masterful tier, Psychic Suffusion is customary. But if a fight, such as Torque or Underlurker, requires high DPS, and a Forcequake can hit multiple enemies, prefer Tectonic Mastery.

Masterful

Blockout: Activating Cloud Mind grants you Blockout, which increases damage reduction by 25% for 6 seconds.
Mind Ward: Reduces damage taken from periodic effects by 15%.
Valiance: Reduces the health cost of Noble Sacrifice by 25%, and increases the healing of Force Mend by 30%.
Kinetic Collapse: A Force Armor that you place on yourself erupts in a flash of light when it end, blinding up to 8 nearby enemies for 3 seconds. Direct damage breaks this blind.
Telekinetic Defense: Increases the amount of damage that Force Armor can absorb by 10%.

Select Telekinetic Defense.

Except as noted below, to unlock the Heroic tier, select Valiance.

Consider Kinetic Collapse for Story or Hard Mode Revanite Commanders.
Select Blockout for Coratanni. It’s ideal for the second phase (Ruugar).
Select Blockout and Mind Ward for Revan. (Forego Life Ward in the Heroic Tier.)

Heroic

Metaphysical Alacrity: Your movement speed increases by 50% while Mental Alacrity is active, Force Speed lasts 0.5 seconds longer, and Force Barrier finishes Force Speed’s cooldown.
Force Mobility: Healing Trance may be activated or channeled while moving.
Life Ward: Your Force Armor, Force Barrier, and every charge of Enduring Bastion each heal you for 2% of your maximum health every second.

Select Force Mobility.

Life Ward > Metaphysical Alacrity in general, but Metaphysical Alacrity is preferable for Blaster.

[aname=Seer - Gear]

Gear

[/aname]

Optimal gear for a typical Sage healer follows. For further discussion, or if you wish to optimize gear for your healing, see my Model.

Set Bonus

SOR 6-Piece Force-Mystic’s
Retain a pre-SOR 2-Piece Force-Mystic’s until you have the SOR 6-Piece.

Augments

Power > Willpower, but the difference is small (0.25% for all 14).

Power versus Critical

With 14 Power Augments, the amount of Critical that maximizes expected healing is about 55 in Resurrected gear or 120 in Revanite gear.
With 14 Willpower Augments, the amount of Critical that maximizes expected healing is about 40 in Resurrected gear or 105 in Revanite gear.

Alacrity versus Surge

Among your Ear, Implants, and Enhancements, 3 have Surge and 7 have Alacrity.

Relics

Among relics of the same tier, Serendipitous Assault >= Focused Retribution > any other.

Accuracy

None. Accuracy has no effect on healing an ally.

[aname=Seer - Rotation Guidelines]

Rotation Guidelines

[/aname]

In combat, no rotation is ideal for long. A healer’s job is triage. Decide who most needs your next heal by anticipating damage and cooperating with your co-healer. Guidelines for choosing your next ability follow.

Use Rejuvenate on cooldown. Use Healing Trance on cooldown. When healing is challenging, use Wandering Mend on cooldown.
The priority for Conveyance is: Wandering Mend > Healing Trance > Deliverance or Benevolence.
Conveyance causes each charge of Wandering Mend to heal immediately.
[*]Conveyance increases your expected healing by about the same amount whether it buffs Benevolence, Deliverance, or Healing Trance. Among these, prefer Healing Trance. Conveyance increases the expected number of Resplendence procs from an Healing Trance by almost 1.
[*]Don’t use Conveyance for Salvation.

[*]Use Force Armor liberally but wisely.
1. Force Armor is ideal for mitigating spike damage to a single ally, because it’s instant and can absorb a high amount of damage. Reserve Force Armor for this purpose when a fight has frequent spike damage that you can prevent.
2. Force Armor is for routine tank healing, but not, in general, while a tank is at or near full health.
3. Force Armor is useful for mitigating an uncleansable DOT effect on a non-tank. Preventing a non-tank’s health from dropping far below others’ allows you to focus on tank healing while AOE heals suffice for non-tanks.
4. Though Force Armor costs a very low amount of Force, spamming Force Armor is, in general, a poor use of time compared to Salvation or Wandering Mend.
[*]Use Force-Mystic’s Critical Bonus and Altruism.
1. Force-Mystic’s Critical Bonus is a buff from the SOR 2-Piece Force-Mystic’s Set that causes your next Deliverance to crit.
2. Altruism is a buff that makes your next Benevolence instant and free. This buff helps you regenerate Force, heal while moving, or burst heal a single ally. Deliverance procs Altruism (Altruism’s cooldown is 10 seconds), so Deliverance + instant Benevolence is a good combination for burst healing a single ally.
[*]Use Noble Sacrifice only if you have Resplendence, so that it’s off the GCD.
1. Anticipate using Noble Sacrifice about once every second or third Healing Trance. In SOR, you need few Noble Sacrifices, because Force costs for healing abilities are too low.
2. Prefer to activate Noble Sacrifice after an ability that is instant. This guarantees that a Noble Sacrifice off the GCD does activate, doesn’t cancel your preceding cast or channel, and doesn’t delay your next activation by even a fraction of a second.
Abilities
The Sections below described and offer advice about each ability. Unless noted, Alacrity reduces every figure related to time.

[aname=Seer - Heals for a Single Ally]Heals for a Single Ally[/aname]

See my Model for activation times or healing amounts with gear that you select.

Force Armor

Description

Force Armor is instant and lasts up to 30 seconds.
It provides a large absorb rather than a heal. As an absorb, it can’t crit, which is one of the reasons that a Sage benefits less from Critical or Surge than the other healing classes.
It has no cooldown, but debuffs each recipient with Force-imbalance, which prevents receiving another Force Armor from anyone for 15 seconds (Alacrity doesn’t reduce this).
Utility: Life Ward causes your own Force Armor to heal you for 2% of your maximum health once every second.

Use

See [jumpto=Seer - Rotation Guidelines]Rotation Guidelines[/jumpto] > #3.
Until you obtain the SOR 4-Piece Force-Mystic’s Set, Utility: Life Ward allows Force Armor to restore health lost to Noble Sacrifice. In general, don’t use Force Armor on another Sage healer.

Rejuvenate

Description

Rejuvenate is instant and has a 6-second cooldown.
It provides a small immediate heal and a HOT that heals 5 times, once every third second for 15 seconds. It also can trigger Renewal.
Renewal adds burst and additional healing to Rejuvenate.
- Overwriting your Rejuvenate on an ally triggers Renewal in 1 second.
- Renewal heals for an amount equal to n+1 ticks of Rejuvenate’s HOT, where n is the number of HOT ticks that remained from the overwritten Rejuvenate.
- Renewal is a major boost for Rejuvenate. For example, if you overwrite Rejuvenate before the third tick of its HOT, the expected healing of the new Rejuvenate over 1 second is greater than that of a Benevolence in 1.5 seconds.
[*]Activating Rejuvenate grants you 1 charge of Conveyance. You can have at most one charge of Conveyance, which lasts up to 15 seconds (Alacrity doesn’t reduce this). Conveyance is consumed by, and benefits, your next Wandering Mend, Healing Trance, Deliverance, Benevolence, or Salvation.

[*]Rejuvenate grants it recipient Protected, which increases his Armor Rating from gear alone by 10% for 45 seconds (Alacrity doesn’t reduce this).
- Though not substantial, any increase in mitigation helps, especially a tank.
- Protected doesn’t stack, regardless of the number of healers giving this buff.

Use

Use Rejuvenate on cooldown.
As discussed in [jumpto=Seer - Rotation Guidelines]Rotation Guidelines[/jumpto] > #2, the priority for Conveyance is, in general, Wandering Mend > Healing Trance > Deliverance or Benevolence.
Renewal is strong incentive to rotate Rejuvenate between at most 2 allies.
- Before SOR, rotating Rejuvenate among 3 allies, or using its HOT to top up any non-tank, was common and justified. Unlearn this. Don’t lose Renewal’s burst and additional healing.
- In an Operation, while both tanks take substantial damage, rotate Rejuvenate between them like clockwork. While only one tank takes substantial damage, Rejuvenate this tank alone.

Healing Trance

Description

Healing Trance is a 2.4-second channel. Its cooldown is 9 seconds, or 7.5 seconds with the pre-SOR 2-Piece, or SOR 6-Piece, Force-Mystic’s Set.
It heals up to 4 times, including immediately. As a channel, it’s immune to pushback.
Utility: Force Mobility allows you to activate or channel it while moving.
Conveyance increases its critical chance by 25%.
Each critical heal from Healing Trance procs 1 charge of Resplendence. You may have up to 3 charges, which last up to 30 seconds (Alacrity doesn’t reduce this).

Use

Use Healing Trance on cooldown.
Healing Trance may be used while moving, begins healing immediately, and, though it’s lost some of its pre-SOR punch, has high HPS.
Healing Trance alone generates Resplendence.
- Resplendence takes Noble Sacrifice off the GCD and, with the SOR 4-Piece Force-Mystic’s Set, eliminates its health cost.
- Resplendence reduces the activation time and Force cost of Salvation.

Deliverance

Description

Deliverance is a 2-second cast with no cooldown.
Force-Mystic’s Critical Bonus, a buff from the SOR 2-Piece Force-Mystic’s Set, causes your next Deliverance to crit.
Conveyance reduces its cast time by 0.5 seconds.

Use

Deliverance is decent for healing a single target. Its average HPS is about the same as Benevolence’s (including if both were buffed by Conveyance).
Use every Force-Mystic’s Critical Bonus.
- You don’t need use it promptly, because its duration and cooldown are 30 seconds (Alacrity doesn’t reduce the duration).
- If Force Potency and Force-Mystic’s Critical Bonus overlap, finish Force Potency without a Deliverance. Otherwise a Deliverance crit consumes both Force-Mystic’s Critical Bonus and a charge of Force Potency.
[*]Deliverance is one heal (the other is Salvation) that procs Altruism (Altruism’s cooldown is 10 seconds), a buff that makes your next Benevolence instant and free. Deliverance + instant Benevolence is a good combination for burst healing a single ally.
[*]Prefer to use Conveyance for Wandering Mend or Healing Trance, as discussed in [jumpto=Seer - Rotation Guidelines]Rotation Guidelines[/jumpto] > #2.

Benevolence

Description

Benevolence is a 1.5-second cast with no cooldown.
Altruism, a buff from a completed activation of Deliverance, Salvation, Mind Crush, or Disturbance, causes your next Benevolence to be instant and free.
Conveyance increases its critical chance by 60%.

Use

Benevolence is decent for healing a single target. Its average HPS is about the same as Deliverance’s (including if both were buffed by Conveyance).
Use most Altruism procs.
- Its cooldown (i.e., rate limit) is 10 seconds, and its duration is 15 seconds (Alacrity doesn’t reduce these).
- In a few ways, Altruism is analogous to Upper Hand for a Scoundrel healer.
  1. Allow Altruism to arise naturally as you heal, without contorting your rotation to proc it on cooldown.
  2. Spend Altruism naturally as you heal. Allowing a proc to expire from time to time is fine.
  3. With respect to Force, using a proc is equivalent to one-quarter of a Noble Sacrifice (off the GCD). Per minute, if you use 4 procs, you need 1 fewer Noble Sacrifice.
  4. Altruism helps you burst heal a single target.
[*]Prefer to use Conveyance for Wandering Mend or Healing Trance, as discussed in [jumpto=Seer - Rotation Guidelines]Rotation Guidelines[/jumpto] > #2.

Force Mend

Description

Force Mend is instant and has a 30-second cooldown (Alacrity doesn’t reduce this).
It’s off the GCD and costs no Force.
It heals you, and only you, for a large amount.

Use

This is similar to a defensive cooldown.
You may also use it for routine healing when you’re out of range of a round of AOE heals.

Restoration

Description

Restoration is instant and has a 12-second cooldown.
It cleanses up to two physical, mental, or Force effects and provides a very small heal.

Use

For PVE, if Restoration can cleanse an effect, it’s almost always better to cleanse it than heal through it.
For PVP, Restoration cleanses Consular or Knight CCs.

[aname=Seer - Heals for Multiple Allies]Heals for Multiple Allies[/aname]

See my Model for activation times or healing amounts with gear that you select.

In SOR, every ability that may heal multiple allies in one activation is “smart”. If more allies are within range than the ability can heal, the ability selects those allies whose percentage of maximum health is lowest.

Salvation

Description

Salvation is a 2-second cast and has a 12-second cooldown.
Salvation’s radius is 8 meters, twice that of its “puddle”.
If an ally is in the radius of a Salvation, and doesn’t already have a HOT from it, Salvation can grant him a HOT.
- Salvation dispenses HOTs immediately and, until all 8 of its HOTs have been dispensed, once every second for 10 seconds. An ally who grazes a Salvation for an interval shorter than one second might not receive a HOT.
- Salvation’s HOT heals 11 times, immediately and once every second for 10 seconds.
- An ally may have at most one HOT from your Salvations at any time. If an ally with a HOT from your previous Salvation stands in your new Salvation, nothing happens. He’s ineligible until the previous HOT is gone.
[*]Resplendence reduces Salvation’s activation time. One charge of Resplendence reduces its cast by 0.25 seconds; two charges reduce its cast by 0.50 seconds; and three charges make it instant.
[*]Salvation is one heal (the other is Deliverance) that procs Altruism (Altruism’s cooldown is 10 seconds), a buff that makes your next Benevolence instant and free.
[*]Conveyance reduces Salvation’s Force cost by 30%.

Use

Salvation’s activation time is the same with two or three charges of Resplendence. Therefore, activate Salvation with two charges (use Noble Sacrifice if you have three) unless you must use it while moving.
Using Salvation to heal a single ally, such as a tank, is a poor use of your time and Force and of Salvation’s cooldown. The total amount that it heals a single ally is small.
In a 16-man Operation, if two or more Sage healers intend to heal more than 8 allies, they should center their Salvations at least a few meters apart, as though drawing a Venn Diagram with little or no intersection.
Don’t use Salvation to proc Altruism.
Don’t use Conveyance for Salvation.

Wandering Mend

Description

Wandering Mend is instant and has a 15-second cooldown.
It places 4 charges on its target (i.e., the ally whom you’re targeting or, otherwise, you).
Upon triggering, a charge is used, healing the ally who has the charges.
- Without Conveyance, Wandering Mend triggers only when the ally who has it takes damage at least 0.5 seconds after having received Wandering Mend.
- With Conveyance, Wandering Mend’s trigger requirement and delay are waived. Wandering Mend immediately heals its target, travels to another ally and immediately heals him, and so on.
[*]After a charge is used, any remaining charges travel to another ally in line-of-sight and within 20 meters.
- If no such jump is possible, the remaining charges are canceled.
- Travel time is proportional to distance, ranging from about 0.1 seconds for 0 meters to about 0.75 seconds for 20 meters.
- Wandering Mend may return to an ally whom it healed before.
[*]The maximum duration of Wandering Mend is 30 seconds (Alacrity doesn’t reduce this) for each ally who receives its charges. However, activating Wandering Mend cancels any remaining charges from its previous activation.

[*]Upon being healed by Wandering Mend, an ally receives Resistant, which increases internal and elemental damage reduction by 3% for 45 seconds (Alacrity doesn’t reduce this).
- Spreading Resistant shouldn’t influence whom you target for Wandering Mend.
- Resistant doesn’t stack, regardless of the number of healers giving this buff.

Use

When healing is challenging, use Wandering Mend on cooldown.
Use Wandering Mend with Conveyance unless raid-wide damage is frequent enough to trigger all four charges before its cooldown finishes.
Conveyance + Wandering Mend provides burst healing for one or more allies. If one ally’s health is much lower than others’, Wandering Mend prefers to heal him twice, providing about the same amount of healing as Conveyance + Healing Trance, but usually many times faster.

Force Wave

Description

Force Wave is instant and has a 20-second cooldown.
Utility: Psychic Suffusion grants it a very small heal for you and up to 7 allies in its “cone” (one-third of a circle with you at its center and a 15-meter radius).

Use

Force Wave’s heal is almost worthless.
Force Wave must heal at least 3, 4, or 5 to provide greater expected healing than Benevolence (without Conveyance), Rejuvenate, or Force Armor, respectively.
A healer’s job is triage, which is not, in general, maximizing HPS or topping up allies. Before using Force Wave, be certain that using Force Armor on, for example, the ally with least health, isn’t wiser.
Even when using Force Wave is appropriate, such as for Malaphar, healing allies for about 3% of their maximum health is unlikely to alter a fight’s tempo or outcome. Consider Utility: Tectonic Mastery instead.

[aname=Seer - Dealing Damage]Dealing Damage[/aname]

Capitalize on every opportunity to deal damage.

For a single target
- Without Force Potency
  - In general, Weaken Mind > Mind Crush > Telekinetic Throw = Disturbance = Project.
  - Mind Crush or Disturbance procs Altruism but is susceptible to pushback.
  [*]With Force Potency: Telekinetic Throw > Disturbance = Project
[*]For multiple targets
- Without Force Potency: Forcequake. If Forcequake reaches only 2 targets, however, Weaken Mind or Mind Crush have higher DPS on any target that will survive for the duration of its DOT.
- With Force Potency: Forcequake

Weaken Mind

Weaken Mind is instant and has no cooldown.
It’s a DOT that ticks 7 times, immediately and once every third second for 18 seconds.
For PVE, maintaining this DOT is straightforward if you set the boss as your Focus Target and adjust your [jumpto=Seer - User Interface]User Interface[/jumpto].

Mind Crush

Mind Crush is a 2-second cast with a 15-second cooldown.
It’s a moderate attack that, if it hits, leaves a DOT that ticks 6 times, once every second for 6 seconds.
It procs Altruism (Altruism’s cooldown is 10 seconds) even if your target resists it, which offsets some of its Force cost and helps you resume healing.

Disturbance

Disturbance is a 1.5-second cast with no cooldown.
It procs Altruism (Altruism’s cooldown is 10 seconds) even if your target resists it, which offsets some of its Force cost and helps you resume healing.

Forcequake

Forcequake is a 3-second channel with no cooldown.
Its radius is 8 meters.
It attacks up to 8 enemies once for every second that you channel it. Therefore, while useful for interrupting multiple enemies capping in a Warzone, activating it won’t interrupt an enemy who has less than one second remaining on his cap.
As a channel, it’s immune to pushback and consumes only one charge of Force Potency per activation regardless of the number of ticks that deal damage or crit.

Project

Project is instant and has a 6-second cooldown.
It’s useful for burst or while moving.

Telekinetic Throw

Telekinetic Throw is a 3-second channel with a 6-second cooldown.
As a channel, it’s immune to pushback.
For PVP, it slows the target’s movement speed by 50%.

[aname=Seer - Cooldowns]Cooldowns[/aname]

Mental Alacrity

Description

Mental Alacrity is off the GCD and has a 2-minute cooldown.
It increases your Alacrity by 20% and grants you Unshakeable, which makes you immune to interrupts and pushback, for 10 seconds (Alacrity doesn’t reduce this).

Use

For PVE, reserve Mental Alacrity for an emergency or a burn phase. If you’re using Force Potency, too, active Mental Alacrity first, so that its Alacrity shortens Force Potency’s cooldown.
For PVP, Mental Alacrity is also for interrupt immunity. An ideal time for it is immediately after gaining full resolve.

Force Potency

Description

Force Potency is off the GCD and has a 90-second cooldown.
It buffs you with two charges of +60% Critical chance for direct heals or Force attacks. This buff lasts for 20 seconds (Alacrity doesn’t reduce this).
- It doesn’t apply to Force Armor, ticks from a HOT (including Renewal) or DOT, or Restoration.
- Except as noted above, each heal from an instant or cast that crits consumes one charge. A single activation of Wandering Mend or Force Wave can consume both charges.
- It applies to each tick of a channel (i.e., Healing Trance, Telekinetic Throw, or Forcequake), and consumes exactly one charge as it ends, regardless of the number of ticks that occur or crit.

Use

For PVE or PVP, reserve Force Potency for an emergency or burn.
The priority for healing with Force Potency is, in general, Healing Trance > Force Mend > Deliverance or Benevolence > Wandering Mend.
- Avoid Rejuvenate, because its small immediate heal can consume a charge.
- Regarding Healing Trance
  1. Though the combination of Conveyance and Force Potency causes Healing Trance’s critical chance to exceed 100%, it’s better to use Force Potency for an emergency than to rely on favorable RNG without it.
  2. Force Potency + Healing Trance is very likely (or, in combination with Conveyance, guaranteed) to proc 3 charges of Resplendence. This is merely a side-effect of Force Potency, not its motivation.
  [*]Though Deliverance is a larger heal than Benevolence, an instant Benevolence (with Altruism) is greater burst.
  [*]Wandering Mend is low priority, because it (a) has a delay without Conveyance and (b) can’t heal the same ally with consecutive ticks.
[*]For dealing damage with Force Potency, see [jumpto=Seer - Dealing Damage]Dealing Damage[/jumpto].

Force Barrier

Description

Force Barrier is an 8-second channel with a 3-minute cooldown (Alacrity doesn’t reduce these).
Its activation is off the GCD, and you may activate it while controlled. But, since it’s a channel, you can’t activate or maintain it while in motion.
While you channel it, you’re immune to all enemy effects.
Channeling Force Barrier builds stacks of Enduring Bastion, a shield that absorbs damage and grants immunity to interrupts and pushback for up to 5 seconds.
- You gain one stack of Enduring Bastion upon activating Force Barrier, and one additional stack every 2 seconds that you channel it, up to a maximum of 4 stacks after channeling it for 6 seconds.
- The number of your stacks multiplies the amount of damage that Enduring Bastion can absorb and the amount of healing that you receive from Utility: Life Ward.

Use

For PVE, most boss effects respect Force Barrier. Note, however, that it isn’t a threat drop.
For PVP, and Arenas in particular, use it to thwart substantial damage. Don’t delay until you have only a sliver of health.
For Warzones, it allows you to defend a cap by yourself for some time. In addition, if you have Utility: Metaphysical Alacrity and a cap is suddenly undefended, you may be able to arrive in time to defend it by using Force Barrier for a moment to finish Force Speed’s cooldown.
For Ancient Hypergates, it doesn’t prevent death from the Pylons’ explosion.

[aname=Seer - Other]Other[/aname]

Noble Sacrifice

Noble Sacrifice is instant or, with Resplendence, off the GCD. It has a 1.5-second cooldown.
Noble Sacrifice exchanges 11% of your maximum health for 8% of your maximum Force.
- Neither Force Armor nor damage reduction mitigate Noble Sacrifice’s health cost, because it isn’t considered damage.
- Utility: Valiance reduces its health cost by 25%.
- The SOR 4-Piece Force-Mystic’s Set waives its health cost.
[*]You must have more health than Noble Sacrifice’s cost to activate it.
[*]Without Resplendence, Noble Sacrifice debuffs your rate of passive Force regeneration.
- This debuff lasts for 7 seconds (Alacrity doesn’t reduce this).
- This debuff can stack up to four times. Each stack is a 25% debuff. Gaining a stack refreshes its duration.
- Force Barrier purges this debuff, but this is an atrocious use of Force Barrier.

Cloud Mind

Cloud Mind is off the GCD and has a 45-second cooldown (Alacrity doesn’t reduce this).
For PVE, it lowers your threat with each enemy by 25%. Use it proactively, especially after adds spawn.
With Utility: Blockout, it increases damage reduction by 25% for 6 seconds.

Rescue

Rescue is instant and has a 1-minute cooldown.
It pulls the ally who’s your target about one-third of a meter in front of you. You can’t use this ability on yourself.
For PVE, it lowers the ally’s threat by 25%. This is useful if a DPS or healer continues to have aggro after using his threat drop.
For PVP, use it to advance an ally ball-carrier in Huttball or to pull an ally into the central shelter in Hypergate as the Pylons explode.
For PVE and PVP, you may pull an ally out of harm’s way to your safe location. However, in general, don’t pull another Sage channeling Force Barrier.

Force Empowerment

Force Empowerment is off the GCD and has a 5-minute cooldown (Alacrity doesn’t reduce this).
It buffs every Operation group member within 40 meters. This buff increases Primary Stats and Endurance by 10% for 10 seconds (Alacrity doesn’t reduce this).

Maximizing Your Performance

[aname=Seer - User Interface]User Interface[/aname]

Tailor your UI for healing. These choices are personal, but consider the recommendations below.

All crucial, time-sensitive information should be visible simultaneously. Therefore, Operation Frames, Action Bars, and Player Castbar should be adjacent and just below your character’s feet. Configure these using the Interface Editor.
Under Preferences > User Interface, enable “Show Cooldown Text”.
Use the Interface Editor to configure your Operation Frames.

[*]Using the Interface Editor, enable Focus Target and Focus Target Castbar. Certain bosses have casts or channels that deal substantial damage to allies.

[*]Using the Interface Editor, for the Player Buff Tray, enable Highlight Options > “Highlight Effects” and Sort Options > “Personal Effects”. This makes it easy to see your procs.

[*]Using the Interface Editor, for the Target Frame and Focus Target, enable Highlight Options > “Highlight Buffs” and “Highlight Debuffs” and Sort Options > “Personal Buffs” and “Personal Debuffs”. This makes it easy to see your effects, such as a HOT on an ally or a DOT on an enemy.

[aname=Seer - Datacrons]Datacrons[/aname]

Gain up to 50 points of these stats through Datacrons.

Willpower
Endurance

[aname=Seer - Legacy]Legacy[/aname]

To increase each stat below by 1% for every character in your Legacy and Faction, complete all of the quests that one of the listed companions can offer.

Accuracy – Tanno Vik, Bowdaar, Qyzen Fess, or Lord Scourge
Critical – Aric Jorgan, Risha, Zenith, or Sergeant Rusk
Healing received – Elara Dorne, Guss Tuno, Tharan Cedrax, or Doc
Maximum health – M1-4X, Corso Riggs, Felix Iresso, or T7-01
Surge – Yuun, Akaavi Spar, Nadia Grell, or Kira Carsen

Though optimal gear for healing has no Accuracy, increasing Accuracy through this Legacy perk helps you interrupt, crowd control, or deal damage.

[aname=Seer - Consumables]Consumables[/aname]

Unless noted, Alacrity reduces every figure related to time.

Stim

An Advanced Anodyne Resolve Stim (purple quality) provides 198 Willpower and 81 Power for 8 hours (Alacrity doesn’t reduce this).

Adrenal

An Adrenal increases a stat for 15 seconds (Alacrity doesn’t reduce this) and is off the GCD. The cooldown shared across all Adrenals is 3 minutes.
For PVE, an Advanced Anodyne Triage Adrenal (purple quality) increases Force Power by 750.
For PVP, a Warzone Adrenal increases Damage Reduction by 15%.

Medpac

A Medpac heals you and is off the GCD. A Medpac can’t crit.
PVE
- The cooldown shared across all Medpacs usable outside of a Warzone or Arena is (a) the remainder of your present combat or (b) 90 seconds, whichever is longer.
- An Advanced Anodyne Medpac restores 7535 to 7892 health immediately and an additional 2875 health over 15 seconds.
[*]PVP – A Warzone Medpac restores 35% of your maximum health and has a 90-second cooldown.

Grenades

A Grenade is an instant ability. The cooldown shared across all Grenades is 3 minutes.
PVE – Grenades that stun or root can be useful for certain adds, such as during Styrak on Nightmare Mode, Grob’Thok with Nightmare Power, or Revanite Commanders.
PVP – Grenades are very useful.
- A player affected by one or more of a Grenade’s effects receives Bastioned, a buff that grants immunity to all effects of further Grenades for 3 minutes (Alacrity doesn’t reduce this). Bastioned doesn’t persist through death.
- If a Grenade has a stun or unconscious effect, this effect respects resolve.

Set “Buff Scale” as low as possible. Increase “Debuff Scale” until debuffs are prominent.
For your usual Operation group, disable “Show Health Text”. This is clutter rather than useful information.
Disable “Show Only Removable Debuffs”. Debuffs that may deal substantial damage to allies often aren’t removable.

Since activating Wandering Mend cancels any charges remaining from its previous activation, Wandering Mend is the highest priority for Conveyance unless raid-wide damage is frequent enough to trigger all four charges before its cooldown finishes.
Burst healing is crucial. Conveyance + Wandering Mend provides burst healing for one or more allies.
Edited April 14, 2015 by Orderken

Orderken · February 11, 2015

[reserved]

Azurestone · February 11, 2015

+1 for sticky

ajiehblr · February 11, 2015

So I wonder how many Alacrity you will have with this 7 alac enhancements? 7% or 8%? Can someone provide the numbers? Edited February 11, 2015 by ajiehblr

Azurestone · February 11, 2015

So I wonder how many Alacrity you will have with this 7 alac enhancements? 7% or 8%? Can someone provide the numbers?

7 pieces of alac enhancement is 602 alac point. If you have no alac boost from anywhere else, then it would give you 7.14703366% alacrity.

TitusOfTides · February 11, 2015

I have 7 pieces of alacrity gear (WZ Quick Savant enhancements) and my alacrity is at 7.45%

Orderken · February 22, 2015

how many Alacrity you will have with this 7 alac enhancements? 7% or 8%?

As much as 9.5% in full 198 gear.

ajiehblr · February 25, 2015

As much as 9.5% in full 198 gear.

Thank you. But what about PvP gear. Should I go for 7 alacrity or stack surge? PvP gear has way smaller stat pull and you need to choose between 7% alacrity and 68% surge or 73% surge and 5-6% alacrity.

Orderken · March 1, 2015

what about PvP gear. Should I go for 7 alacrity or stack surge?

For PVP, I recommend 4 Surge : 6 Alacrity.

Edited March 1, 2015 by Orderken

rmetcalf · March 2, 2015

so what kind of HPS/EHPS are people hitting in HM? I'm averaging around 4.1k not including shielding with 80-90% efficiency Edited March 2, 2015 by rmetcalf

Orderken · March 30, 2015

so what kind of HPS/EHPS are people hitting in HM? I'm averaging around 4.1k not including shielding with 80-90% efficiency

Those figures sound typical.

Regardless of your class or gear, for the new Operations on Hard Mode, it's typical to have 4k+ EHPS for a boss, or a phase of it, that's challenging to heal.

If the percent of your healing that's effective is < ~60% as an Operative, or ~80% as a Sorcerer or Mercenary, consider dealing more damage or asking your co-healer to deal more damage.

Orderken · April 7, 2015

Updated for 3.1.2.

Orderken · April 13, 2015

Section "Utilities" clarified for HM Revan.

Orderken · May 9, 2015

Bump.

Aumvaar · May 11, 2015

+1 for sticky, thank you.

Darth_Dreselus · May 18, 2015

He lives!!!!

Good mate, I actually have not seen you in a while on the forums, feared you had left the game. Who would I leech my info from then.

Also I am very grateful that the heal changes on PTS were reversed, those were seriously not great ideas.

EDIT:

Having read through the OP:

- it is interesting to see that critical is now a consideration, for about the first time since 2.0;

- even though critical is a consideration, the ratio of ala/surge remains the same. I suppose much larger amounts of crit would skew it towards a 6/4 split (with Static Barrier still advocating alacrity preference);

- You say that Dark Heal is now somewhat useful. Would that also be without the proc? I currently have the view that without the proc it follows the same rules as it has from launch (only used when absolutely neccessary to prevent death).

All in all, the Renewal mechanic is still taking some getting used to (I used to just put it on whomever as long as tanks had buffed armour) as is the loss of easy-mode Revifivation spam + movie watching. On the other hand, Force Bent Roaming Mend takes care of business.

Also interesting how THE static raid healer is now a mobile burst healer with only reasonable AoE healing.

Edited May 18, 2015 by Darth_Dreselus

[Guide] Sorcerer / Sage Healing

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