Sawbones Spec Healing Guide for Scoundrels

A forum to discuss topics and issues relevant to the Smuggler class in Star Wars The Old Republic.
Post Reply
User avatar
Dodd Formeianna
Priest
Posts:624
Joined:Tue Mar 22, 2011 12:29 am
Location:Several provinces east of Cuspar
Sawbones Spec Healing Guide for Scoundrels

Post by Dodd Formeianna » Wed Jan 04, 2012 8:58 pm

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=56339

While this guide doesn't necessarily cover a lot of new ground, it definitely gave me a few pointers on the use of Diagnostic Scan. I rarely use it since it is a crappy HOT, but with the correct talent choices it can be used as a means of using a slow, minimal heal (with high chances of crit) which returns energy back to you, without popping Cool Head or Pugnacity, and has a minimal cooldown, making you more of a viable healer for long-term PVE fights. I will definitely be respec'cing with this in mind when I hit level 50.

Pretty much useless in PVP, though.
Image

User avatar
Fynn
Priest
Posts:666
Joined:Tue Dec 13, 2011 8:52 pm

Re: Sawbones Spec Healing Guide for Scoundrels

Post by Fynn » Thu Jan 05, 2012 7:26 pm

Thanks Dodd! Great link.
Fyyn Cob
'SWTOR Player. Healer. Scoundrel. You'll like him'

User avatar
njessi
Scribe
Posts:143
Joined:Wed Jun 30, 2010 4:02 am

Re: Sawbones Spec Healing Guide for Scoundrels

Post by njessi » Thu Jan 05, 2012 11:21 pm

My spec is something like this with 2 pts left over. The one major omission from the suggested pve endgame spec in that post is black market mods (+alacrity) which I include.

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#701MffbzGoRdsZ0cZG.1

~Sent from my phone using Tapatalk~
Mistress of Hawtpants

User avatar
Dodd Formeianna
Priest
Posts:624
Joined:Tue Mar 22, 2011 12:29 am
Location:Several provinces east of Cuspar

Re: Sawbones Spec Healing Guide for Scoundrels

Post by Dodd Formeianna » Wed Feb 29, 2012 5:42 pm

So I'm going to post my fairly simple take on Sawbones...will likely just do it here, rather than create another new thread.

Basically, hit me up in game if anything here doesn't make sense.

First, I'll reference njessi's article she wrote concerning Upper Hand, since she wrote it very simply and eloquently. This is the most important mechanic for sawbones spec scoundrels. The biggest thing for me at first was learning which of my scoundrel abilities trigger it, and visually recognizing if I had 1-2 stacks up. I recommend always trying to have two stacks active as much as possible. This will give you flexibility of using ALL your healing abilities, and keeping one UH in your back pocket in case of emergency.
http://hawtpantsrepublic.com/2012/01/17 ... that-work/

You'll know when the stacks of UH are triggered since your toon will laugh nervously (Yes - EVERYONE IN YOUR PARTY CAN HEAR YOU LAUGH, and when you gain UH repeatedly, your toon sounds a bit like a moron with anxiety issues).

Next comes energy management. If you spam your heals, you will run out of energy and be unable to further heal. In boss fights and flashpoints (particularly Ops and HMs), this typically equates with a party wipe.

The Scoundrel energy mechanic works in the following simple way...the more you energy have, the quicker it regenerates. You should ideally try to keep it at 75% or higher at all times, to ensure it regens as quickly as possible.

Pugnacity is arguably your most important healy-sustainability power for energy. You should trigger it at the beginning of a big fight or a mob pull, and keep it up all the time. If you do this, you will have more staying power in combat. I have two talent points in exploratory surgery, which means I automatically gain UH when I cast underworld medicine. When I fight in HMs and Ops, I usually start before combat by casting underworld medicine on my main tank to gain auto UH, then slapping Pugnacity down immediately. By the time my tank pulls the mob, I have full energy again, and I'm starting off the fight with quick energy regen. Then I keep my two UH stacks up, when pugnacity cools down, I cast it again. Repeat and rinse.

Cool Head is a good quick energy boost, but has a cooldown. So save it for emergencies only.

If you're starting to deplete your energy, consider diagnostic scan, assuming you have talent points invested in prognosis critical and patient studies, which you should. Yes, the heals are insignificant, but think of it primarily as a means of regaining energy, with a healy side-effect.

Kolto Pack is a nice, big fat heal, but consumes your UH. Consider using it only while you have 2 stacks of UH up, or if you really, really need it.

Emergency Medpac is a nice heal, but beware, it also consumes UH.

Next are HoTs (Heal over Time). Use them a lot. They are:
-slow release medpac - can grant you UH if specced in medpac mastery
-kolto cloud - group heal! (assuming you are specced for it) This is sucky in Operations - only heals 4 toons at a time.

So my basic rotation should look like:
-underworld medicine
-Pugnacity
-underworld medicine
-HoT: Slow Release Medpac
-I will likely have 2 x UH now, if not, then another underworld medicine for good measure.
-Ensure Pugnacity is still up.
-More heals as needed (start consuming your UH, but use them with discretion and keep them restored as much as possible).
-If I start drawing aggro or getting hurt, I'll pop defensive cooldowns and use medpacs from my inventory, and throw in surrender for good measure. Save your focus and energy for the others as much as possible, but healing yourself can also strategically help gaining more UH.
-Don't die. This is pretty important. Make sure your tank isn't a n00b. If he is, be sure to call him names, cause drama and quit group immediately.

I'll post my endgame spec eventually when I'm at home. I also need to talk about stacking stats, and which ones I use, and why. I tend to favor criticals when I heal...casting a nice fat critical heal of 5K+ feels pretty damn good. So I will add more, eventually when I get around to it.

Hope this helps a bit.
Image

User avatar
Veela
Deacon
Posts:219
Joined:Mon Jun 28, 2010 4:48 pm

Re: Sawbones Spec Healing Guide for Scoundrels

Post by Veela » Tue Apr 03, 2012 9:39 pm

I love this thread. Trust me, it's not falling on deaf ears. I am very appreciative for all this work and time, guys and gals!
Veela
Bishop via Guild Banker | Sawbones | Black Magic Internet Witch

User avatar
njessi
Scribe
Posts:143
Joined:Wed Jun 30, 2010 4:02 am

Re: Sawbones Spec Healing Guide for Scoundrels

Post by njessi » Wed Apr 04, 2012 3:05 am

In 1.2 we will get the ability to stack upper hand to 3, which gives a lot more wiggle room to save 1 at all times. Unfortunately, they're getting rid of the giggle so you'll have to watch for the AWESOME UI DISPLAY THAT TOTALLY SHOWS YOUR BUFFS IN AN INTUITIVE AND OBVIOUS MANNER.
Mistress of Hawtpants

User avatar
njessi
Scribe
Posts:143
Joined:Wed Jun 30, 2010 4:02 am

Re: Sawbones Spec Healing Guide for Scoundrels

Post by njessi » Wed Apr 04, 2012 3:30 pm

Mistress of Hawtpants

User avatar
Dodd Formeianna
Priest
Posts:624
Joined:Tue Mar 22, 2011 12:29 am
Location:Several provinces east of Cuspar

Re: Sawbones Spec Healing Guide for Scoundrels

Post by Dodd Formeianna » Wed Apr 04, 2012 3:47 pm

To:DPS
From: Your Healers
RE: Fire

DO NOT STAND IN THE FUCKING FIRE, KTHX
I LOL'd at work when I read this.

I PUG'ed EV last week, and it seemed like my uber friends were taking deliberate lava baths around Gharj just to test my patience.

When I used to PUG in WoW, I usually would begin any instance with the following disclaimer..."I can provide heals through many in-game problems. Unfortunately stupidity is not included in that list. Kthnxbye."
Image

User avatar
njessi
Scribe
Posts:143
Joined:Wed Jun 30, 2010 4:02 am

Re: Sawbones Spec Healing Guide for Scoundrels

Post by njessi » Wed Apr 04, 2012 4:03 pm

But lava is toasty warm!
Mistress of Hawtpants

User avatar
Maizan
Priest
Posts:1419
Joined:Sun Dec 11, 2011 11:15 pm
Location:Mississauga, Ontario Canada Eh.

Re: Sawbones Spec Healing Guide for Scoundrels

Post by Maizan » Wed Apr 04, 2012 8:32 pm

Please provide stupidity heal.
Desperately needed.

Maizan Blackrose.
- Ah..Which end of the lightsaber do I hold?
___
Sorry, got nothin.

User avatar
Fynn
Priest
Posts:666
Joined:Tue Dec 13, 2011 8:52 pm

Re: Sawbones Spec Healing Guide for Scoundrels

Post by Fynn » Sun Apr 15, 2012 11:41 pm

Hey folks, any updates on the guide since 1.2? It seems we are more useful, but I'm so NOT an expert its gross. I figured I'd go to the masters!
Fyyn Cob
'SWTOR Player. Healer. Scoundrel. You'll like him'

User avatar
njessi
Scribe
Posts:143
Joined:Wed Jun 30, 2010 4:02 am

Re: Sawbones Spec Healing Guide for Scoundrels

Post by njessi » Mon Apr 16, 2012 6:08 pm

One big change in 1.2 is that you can now stack upper hand to 3 rather than 2, so it's easier to manage. Also I believe that the cooldown and efficacy of kolto cloud has been fiddled with. And they took away our damn giggle.
Mistress of Hawtpants

User avatar
Dood
Deacon
Posts:1685
Joined:Thu May 27, 2010 9:17 pm
Location:The Happiest Place On Earth
Contact:

Re: Sawbones Spec Healing Guide for Scoundrels

Post by Dood » Mon Apr 16, 2012 7:39 pm

njessi wrote:One big change in 1.2 is that you can now stack upper hand to 3 rather than 2, so it's easier to manage. Also I believe that the cooldown and efficacy of kolto cloud has been fiddled with. And they took away our damn giggle.
I miss the giggle. :woe:
fFormerly fknown as fDood.

User avatar
Dodd Formeianna
Priest
Posts:624
Joined:Tue Mar 22, 2011 12:29 am
Location:Several provinces east of Cuspar

Re: Sawbones Spec Healing Guide for Scoundrels

Post by Dodd Formeianna » Mon Apr 16, 2012 9:22 pm

On the surface, I'd say in my gameplay I haven't noticed much change between pre and post 1.2. The main change is kolto cloud, which I use in my rotation now...quite liberally. The buff they gave to this power is nice...I noticed a big difference in KP last Saturday when we were fighting the Fabricator droid, as the group healing tick enabled me to keep the rest of the party healed without losing too much focus on the main Tank. That is a pretty healing intensive fight anyway...and after a few attempts, we downed him for the Alvian First.

As njessi noted, we now get an extra UH stack, which gives us so much more flexibility for healy-ness. So basically my rotation consists of building 2 UH stacks right off the bat, blowing Pugnacity immediately after (consuming one of my UHs), then building the two extra stacks (for a total of 3) as quickly as possible so I can use my other UH-consuming abilities when I need them.

I was wondering if the other scoundrels might want to comment on soloing as an endgame healer...something I didn't talk about in the post above.

Two schools of thought in my books:
1) Use Guss Tuno. Guss heals, you just kill stuff, and heal yourself a bit extra when he can't keep up. You will die infrequently, fights will be slower, and have a failed Jedi Cuspar wannabe at your side. His story and character quirks are quite funny. I have him geared up in pretty much full Tionese right now (the crystals and commendations may as well be good for something, right?)
2) Use Akaavi Spar. Akaavi burns down mobs relatively quickly, wears Heavy Armor, and you just keep her healed, and help her with extra damage with Orbital Strike, grenades, etc. I also just got Akaavi geared up in Tionese armor, and that is working pretty well for me.

I used to only solo with Guss Tuno, but after 1.2, I'm finding that if I am specc'ed as an endgame healer, fights go so much quicker with the extra DPS'age that Akaavi brings to the table. Has anybody experimented with other strategies? Bowdarr is cool too...but his DPS is less strong as Akaavi's. He will likely be my next companion to gear up...excluding Risha, whom I have forced to wear the slave girl costume for all the attitude she has given me in the past.

And yes - I miss my neurotic giggle, too.
Image

Darklinda
Priest
Posts:194
Joined:Wed Jan 25, 2012 7:37 pm

Re: Sawbones Spec Healing Guide for Scoundrels

Post by Darklinda » Tue Apr 17, 2012 6:00 am

for solo you want a tank out why cause you need to get in the back of the stuff your killing to do the must damage

User avatar
Dood
Deacon
Posts:1685
Joined:Thu May 27, 2010 9:17 pm
Location:The Happiest Place On Earth
Contact:

Re: Sawbones Spec Healing Guide for Scoundrels

Post by Dood » Tue Apr 17, 2012 2:47 pm

I don't heal, so my comments are completely off-topic.

I've been splitting time between Gus and Risha because Gus is hilarious and Risha is just hot when you summon her and she says, "Time for fun!" Also when she's almost dead she begs a little bit and I kind of like that, which is probably why I used Corso for so long. Either that or because Bowdar is pretty much worthless except for Han Solo cosplay in-game, which is pretty impossible according to canon.
fFormerly fknown as fDood.

User avatar
Bulwark
Cardinal
Posts:1740
Joined:Thu May 27, 2010 6:17 pm

Re: Sawbones Spec Healing Guide for Scoundrels

Post by Bulwark » Tue Apr 17, 2012 3:05 pm

Darklinda wrote:for solo you want a tank out why cause you need to get in the back of the stuff your killing to do the must damage
this.

Raikir
Priest
Posts:253
Joined:Mon Apr 04, 2011 12:28 am
Location:I can see Mexico from here!

Re: Sawbones Spec Healing Guide for Scoundrels

Post by Raikir » Tue Apr 17, 2012 5:21 pm

This is from the perspective of a full SS slinger.

I've had varying levels of success with all of them except Bowdaar. Bowdaar just sucks as a tank. With Risha or Akaavi you can blow through mobs pretty quickly but have to pause to heal after every encounter which slows things down(*cough* dailies). Akaavi can semi-tank with her heavy armor, but Risha outdamages her. Corso is a good tank and does decent damage if you gear him out ( I haven't played him post 1.2, apparently he's been improved further).

Guss is by far the best, his CC ability is invaluable and he can provide that extra little bit of dps. Plus, you're not sitting around healing after every encounter, which speeds things up (*cough* dailies) considerably.
Swell Guy/Man's Man

Post Reply