Healing Strategy for HM Bulo

[kjchan]

Hi all,

 

I've asked some tactical questions in the past for operative healing and am in need of even more specific advice this time around.

 

So my raid group finally started a concerted 2 hour session just for HM attempts. When we got to Bulo we just hit a brick wall. So our pull strategy is to use the common tactic of boss stacking which means the volley targets the barrel running tank.

 

For those first 20ish seconds, damage is primarily taken by the main tank which is not an issue. Then the off tank goes on his run and now I have two folks taking consistent damage. And then (and perhaps this is our flaw) we stay stacked a little too longer after volley, and Bulo throws his fire barrel and gets at least two DPS guys with the hit. And then the exonium carts and load lifters come out and at this point we're all at 50% health...with mass barrage to go. Needless to say it was like this for about an hour with no discernable improvement. Couldn't really make it to add wave 3.

 

So questions:

 

1) What are your healing strategies to survive that first barrage of hits (from first fire barrel onwards)? I admit after our team had put SM on farm that this was a complete mind shift. There was a second when the entire raid was at 50% with incoming mass barrage where I had my first ever "Oh sh_t what do I do now moment" since 3.0 launched.

 

2) What are your general healing strategies on operative/scoundrel healer throughout this fight?

 

As a note, I was doing approximately 5500 HPS with 4500 eHPS for the fight with my merc healer partner capable of doing 3500 eHPS (he had the night off last night). I am completely min/maxed at 192 gear using Orderken's guide through and through with a 6 set piece bonus, following standard operative healing procedures. I even slotted in the 2 piece DM set piece. I am not sure what I can do to squeeze more productivity off although I am open to suggestions.

Edited March 30, 2015 by kjchan
It was unclear that I was asking for help.

[rheia]

Hey, HM bulo is tough on scoundrel due to sudden spiky damage, but it is manageable, IF people understand when and where from damage coming from and do their best to mitigate it.

 

During that first phase where your stacked your raid is taking damage from barrel throw and carts, and it really should not be happening.

 

Things to work on:

 

Your raid can spread out from stacking the moment your second tank drops the purple circle upstairs. The whole purpose of stackign up is for that tank to get the circle upstairs so he can murder the adds. You can zoom out a bit and the moment you see purple drop, call for spread out. Make sure you are not standing on top of your co-healer and any dps at that point. Healers space is generally to the middle, close to tanks, but with enough space between each other so barrel throw doesn't drop on more than one of you. Ranged spread dps towards the back, melee dps, towards middle at max possible distance to still dps.

 

The tank who is not upstairs should be one taking all the extra carts damage by stepping back a fair bit, and melee dps obviously should be at max reach to the opposite direction, so they don't eat it.

 

In general you want to get Bulo to 75% before the first barrage hits so it can deal with second wave of adds, so dps away like a madperson for a few seconds before the second tank runs to get barrel. (you can slow release the barrel runner tank and kolto wave the group before the second tank runs off for incoming healing buff tho)

 

After that start hotting people (as you moving back from stacking already), especially melee who may or may not move out of lifters/unlucky barrel on time, because the moment you see purple circle drop up top, you know there will be a lot of spike damage coming on very fast and very soon, so make sure tank has double stacks of slow release, pop pugnacity, precast kolto pack on main tank, kolto cloud, and pray your raid mates are doing everything they can not to take unnecessary damage. Kolto waves is nice in that fight in moderation, especially if you running heavy melee but you will need to triage on tanks a lot still, and hot+emergency medpack the person who just took the barrel throw asap.

 

About barrage phase: you can drop 3 blue circles on top of each other before they activate and start doing damage ( I generally drop 2 by inherent need to move to stay in range of tanks who are moving the most in the phase too). But your dps should not be running like headless chickens dropping barrage circles everywhere and cutting off healers from tank range. Try not to panic and don't cancel casts when barrage starts, it really helps when everyone handles that stage in a more controlled manner.

 

Best of luck

 

PS. Your healing numbers are fine, as a display of your ability, as are your co-healer's. My co-healer is a sage, and our numbers are generally quite a bit lower, when people do their thing right, and don't put themselves in the position where they take unnecessary damage or splash the damage intended for them only onto the nearby people. On the other hand, I also spiked over 5.5K ehps on my mercenary the other day on an alt run taking some new people in who were just learning the fight. So, a lot of it depends on practice. Pure healing numbers really do not tell the whole story, take a look at it in conjunction with incoming damage numbers, and try to determine why those people took so much, and what can THEY do to avoid it.

Edited April 1, 2015 by rheia

[Orderken]

A few suggestions that might help.

 

First, don't stack. Be spread just enough so that only one player takes damage from each (i) Barrel Throw or (ii) exploding Lifter or Cart. In addition, spreading a little allows you to determine the player whom a Lifter or Cart is targeting, which, in turn, allows you to precast and the targeted player to reduce his damage taken with a cooldown.

 

Second, it might help to experiment with healing priorities. I'd start with you (Operative) on the tank(s) and DPS in melee range of Bulo, and your co-healer (Mercenary) on the others. In addition, until your tanks have every Pirate in each wave under control immediately, it's prudent to keep 2 stacks of Kolto Probe on yourself and your co-healer.

 

Third, your co-healer should improve. 3.5k EHPS is low while wiping to damage on HM Bulo. I expect that most groups' first kills had both healers at or above 4k. A Mercenary should excel, not struggle, on a fight that's about single-ally burst healing.

Edited March 31, 2015 by Orderken