How does threat work exactly?

[Ralph_Panda]

And how do threat reduction abilities work?

 

I was using cloud mind which based on the description is reducing your current threat but the bosses never seemed to stop attacking me when i used that, and i tried that in a few veteran flashpoints too.

 

Do they work in another way? like a slow reduction than a sudden threat drop etc?

[dantylergemma]

They drop your threat but if your contining to attack straight after you will regain threat if your a high parsing DPS! plus some veteran FP bosses don't have an agro table and attack randomly

[xordevoreaux]

And how do threat reduction abilities work?

 

I was using cloud mind which based on the description is reducing your current threat but the bosses never seemed to stop attacking me when i used that, and i tried that in a few veteran flashpoints too.

 

Do they work in another way? like a slow reduction than a sudden threat drop etc?

 

I don't know of any hate toss ability in the game that is both 100% instant and 100% effective. If your tank isn't keeping aggro and doesn't have you guarded you could very well get the aggro, especially if you are using huge heals on a Seer, for example. All you can do is keep using Cloud Mind, that's what you work with for your class, and maybe ask your tank to guard you.

Edited October 8, 2018 by xordevoreaux

[dipstik]

taunting within 4m (of the mob center, not the distance shown in the ui) gives you threat 10% above the highest in the table. taunting outside of 4m gives 30% above highest. aggro drop reduces your threat by 25%. guard reduces threat by 25% and damage taken by 5%.

 

2 threat generated for each 1 damage done to mob by tank (plus other taunt buffs and abilities that have high threat like pulls etc.)

1 threat is generated for every 1 damage dealt to each mob attacked.

0.45 threat is generated on each mob presently aggroed for each health point effectively healed (half plus 10% threat reduction) . thats why healers take aggro when they havent been attacked by a dps/tank. there are also reports that the threat is divided among all the mobs aggroed.

 

all threat is dropped when you disappear or die.

 

to have aggro on a mob further than 4m you need to have 30% more threat than the current target. inside 4m you need to have 10% more threat than the current target.

 

iirc... http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=741799

Edited October 8, 2018 by dipstik

[phalczen]

And how do threat reduction abilities work?

 

I was using cloud mind which based on the description is reducing your current threat but the bosses never seemed to stop attacking me when i used that, and i tried that in a few veteran flashpoints too.

 

Do they work in another way? like a slow reduction than a sudden threat drop etc?

 

The other posters have all posted correct information, but I'm guessing you need more basic advice. They instantly reduce threat, but if you keep healing and/or attacking you will start gaining some of it back immediately. In group content, if you're pulling the attention of the boss or additional mobs, it generally means you are doing something right (almost too right), your tank is doing something wrong, the mob randomly changed aggro, or some combination of the above. Many times in group encounters, when adds appear they often go for the healer. Sometimes that's because you're next on the threat table, as might happen in 4-person content, or sometimes its pre-determined. That's when you use your crowd control abilities (a good opportunity for sages to use Force Wave, Flash Bang for operatives, etc.) and defensive cooldowns and hope that the tank can use their AoE taunt. If possible, move towards your tank, not away, because it will make their aoe abilities more likely to hit the mobs trying to eat you. If you're a healer, you can try to toss some low-threat but supportive abilities on group members … for example, sages can apply Force Armor, or commandos/mercs can apply Kolto Shells. Hopefully, if you are in an operation, your co-healer(s) can take some of the heat, or if in small group content, a class with off heals can pick up some of the healing burden, or people can use medpacks or defensive cooldowns.

 

In solo content, it means your companion isn't up to par. You need to increase its influence rank and boost your presence stat so that its tanking/damage is generating more threat than you.

[SteveTheCynic]

Many times in group encounters, when adds appear they often go for the healer. Sometimes that's because you're next on the threat table, as might happen in 4-person content, or sometimes its pre-determined.

There is one threat table for *each* foe, and healing abilities affect all of them. Damage abilities only affect the ones belonging to the foes that are damaged. Adds that aren't explicitly programmed to go for healers will, nevertheless, quickly acquire threat from the healer because of that "all of them" thing. If the DPSes aren't immediately switching to smacking the adds around and the tank(s) isn't/aren't taunting or hitting the adds, the healer(s) will be the only one(s) on the adds' table, and therefore the adds will beeline for the healer(s).