Hey, the name i will be going by for this post will be Kithide (pronounced Kitheed). I have been playing my Combat Medic Commando alongside my shadow tank since launch, my commando can currently be seen on The Harbinger raiding in <Intrepid>'s progression team and could previously be seen in <Ascension>'s progression team back on the Jedi Covenant.

I have amassed a notable amount of experience and skill with the class over the time spent in this game, even during which times when commandos were considered the black sheep of the healing community and were shunned from serious raiding and labelled "gimped", striving to prove common misconceptions wrong.

Well there are no misconceptions now! Commando's are solid healers and have all the tools they will ever need to to keep your raid group up and running to down that boss you've been grinding at for a week.

I'm here to show you how to use those tools to be successful, I hope this guide can be found helpful and useful.

open to criticism and all constructive critique will be taken into account and if i find the points made valid i will edit the post to include said point and include the contributors name at the end.

CHEERS!

1. The Terminology
   
2. The Build
   
3. The Abilites and Talents
   
4. The Gear
   
5. The Basics
   
6. The Advanced
   
7. The Kithide
   

Hmmm

Was hopping for some feedback, oh well. Hope this helped someone.

Great post, Thanks.

I've just hit 49, so have to start thinking about HM's soon. I think the option with both point's in Steady Hands is needed. No matter how good the Tank is, I just seem to draw agro. Even when I have not planted a single thing on the Tank and he jumps in, NPC's are at me. Even when using the Drop Agro ability. This rarely seems to have any affect. ( Maybe it's a bug!. )

But this healing Class really suits my Playstyle. So i want to become extremely proficient in it. This Guide will to be of help.

Quick question, how's best to cope with Tank plus Two Melee, I had this the first time the other day. I was quite unprepared for the amount of damage that was going out. ( Though in my defense, DPS did just tend to stand in the AoE.) Though I have gained in power now. I would like to be a bit more prepared in the future.

Thanks again, great post.

When dealing with a large qualtity of raid wide damage, use KB andd~KB on CD to smooth the damage as much as possible, as well KW is your friend. It will get better with experience and better tanks.

As for adds running to you off the bat.. this is a tanking issue not a threat issue. When a tank runs in he has exactly 1 threat. If he fails to damage those adds at all he will remain at 1 threat. That being said, the tiniest heal (trauma probe) will easily strip him of agro and any loose adds will flock to you.

Speaking of TP, it can sometimes be beneficial to place it on the tank after he has threat, otherwise you may take a lot of damage as you generate threat as TP heals. If I have TP placed on the tank as he enters the fight I drop threat once he starts tanking the main target just to make sure I don't steal threat.

Then again, this seems less important now than it did before and you can usually get away with having it on the tank before the fight starts. Still, it's something to know. Nice guide by the way, I've been working on a video guide for a while now but haven't finished anything yet so I know how difficult and time consuming it can be to make these, good work.

The question is not between power and alacrity but alacrity and surge. Since power shares a stat slot with crit.

So ideally you will want a small amount of surge and then stack the **** out of alacrity. The power will come from the other stat slot.

Speaking of TP, it can sometimes be beneficial to place it on the tank after he has threat, otherwise you may take a lot of damage as you generate threat as TP heals. If I have TP placed on the tank as he enters the fight I drop threat once he starts tanking the main target just to make sure I don't steal threat.

 

Then again, this seems less important now than it did before and you can usually get away with having it on the tank before the fight starts. Still, it's something to know. Nice guide by the way, I've been working on a video guide for a while now but haven't finished anything yet so I know how difficult and time consuming it can be to make these, good work.

TP is the most cost effective heal in the game currently and should always be placed on the tank. If you know your tank has an agro problem or does not front load his threat, then you may want to pause before placing TP on him. I would not reccomend blowing your agro drop at the beginning of the fight. I prefer to save it for when adds are present or soon to be present

TP is the most cost effective heal in the game currently and should always be placed on the tank. If you know your tank has an agro problem or does not front load his threat, then you may want to pause before placing TP on him. I would not reccomend blowing your agro drop at the beginning of the fight. I prefer to save it for when adds are present or soon to be present

Yes, I am starting to realize that this no longer applies. I took a break for a few months and came back recently and just kept doing what I used to do. Previously, if TP was cast on the tank as he entered the fight you would immediately draw threat from everything else in the room, thus requiring a threat drop. That seems to have been changed, sorry for cluttering up the page with that nonsense.

Hmmm

Was hopping for some feedback, oh well. Hope this helped someone.

Dude you went way too indepth on a "rotation" for this. as a healer merc thats 53 at the moment i dont use a rotation

I use a simple priority list (this is in Commando terms since this IS the commando forums)

1. AMP > MP

2. KB

3. SSC

4. HS

5. TP

6. BI (unless in big trouble)

7. (new aoe heal that i cant remember name)

8. Cure (it does heal for 8 ammo!)

Commando healing can never be explained with a priority. It is far to complicated. Just from looking over your priority I see a great number of incorrect statements that would gimp your actual healing.

I never thought Id have someone come in here and say the guide was "too detailed" lol.

Great post, very helpfull I noticed that the reduced suffering from pushback is especially helpfull in early levels. Alot of tanks who forget to get all mobs

+ some boss fights with random stuff.

TP is the most cost effective heal in the game currently and should always be placed on the tank. If you know your tank has an agro problem or does not front load his threat, then you may want to pause before placing TP on him. I would not reccomend blowing your agro drop at the beginning of the fight. I prefer to save it for when adds are present or soon to be present

Nice guide Hak. Love my commando heal, most underrated healer out there for no reason other than L2P. I laugh at people who i hear comment that commando heals are any less viable then the other healers. Its the person behind the keyboard that dictates the effectiveness of any healer of any class.

Had saying that, just a note on trauma probe. I agree with everything you've said and when running with a tank that i know is competent and active in holding aggro on groups of adds, i'm happy to put trauma probe on him before a fight. Had saying that, those tanks are few and far between, so generally what happens is that the healer ends up with the bulk of the aggro because of the TP.

My personal playstyle and what i find effective is placing TP on myself before trash pulls because you drawing aggro 90% of the time is unavoidable due to ineffective tanks. Gives you a buffer for when this happens and gives the tanks a bit of extra time to pull them back off you before you're in trouble.

For boss pulls though, apply to the tank for everything already stated.

Not telling anyone how to play, just what i find is effective.

I'd be interested in warzone tips on how to deal with melee dps, when your teammates don't peel for you (because this is usually the case). I'm known on my server for being a healer. That's not a big deal on my scoundrel or sage, who can run/LOS. But when I get 2 warriors (or 2 assassins) on me, and all they do is interrupt, and stun me I can get a bit frustrated. And in those moments I often think, if only I were on my scoundrel/sage.

So any tactical advice? Because reactive shield and hold the line cool downs aren't fast enough with two good melee players on me.

So any tactical advice? Because reactive shield and hold the line cool downs aren't fast enough with two good melee players on me.

Sorry no tactical advice, at this stage you're pretty much pooched......

Because we are not sages or scoundrels, i like to stand in the middle of the action and heal with my boys in the centre. So if i do get jumped, i move to where everyone can see me and hope and pray for help. No point running as a commando imo, we don't have the tools. Heal through it and hope for help.

If played right, you can still put up comparable numbers with other healers, you may die more, but you spend your time alive healing and not running.

Dude you went way too indepth on a "rotation" for this. as a healer merc thats 53 at the moment i dont use a rotation

 

I use a simple priority list (this is in Commando terms since this IS the commando forums)

 

1. AMP > MP

2. KB

3. SSC

4. HS

5. TP

6. BI (unless in big trouble)

7. (new aoe heal that i cant remember name)

8. Cure (it does heal for 8 ammo!)

As Hak stated, this list has a few issues that don't synergise well the Commando's role and playstyle along with just not providing the highest effective HPS. Read Hak's guide and it explains the issues with the priority list above.

Great guide Hak , I especially like your how your Kithide healing style is named after yourself, very rock starrish . Only one or two small things I noticed, firstly, any reason why you don't show this build as a "Tank healing build" or something like that. The reason why I like this build is because it takes a situational heal (Concussion charge which heals for a static amount + costs ammo) and turns it into a DR buff for yourself (Permanently reduces incoming damage by a percentage + Free) along with an extra 35% protection against pushback, which is quite valuable in situations where you are taking raid wide damage such as the Lots of Missiles phase in Titan 6, or Black Obtuse Channel in Operator IX, but again, these talent points are situational. In fights where you can stack up for healing, the concussion charge heal will provide you with a nice quick heal.

Food for thought and all that

I'd be interested in warzone tips on how to deal with melee dps, when your teammates don't peel for you (because this is usually the case). I'm known on my server for being a healer. That's not a big deal on my scoundrel or sage, who can run/LOS. But when I get 2 warriors (or 2 assassins) on me, and all they do is interrupt, and stun me I can get a bit frustrated. And in those moments I often think, if only I were on my scoundrel/sage.

 

So any tactical advice? Because reactive shield and hold the line cool downs aren't fast enough with two good melee players on me.

The best thing you can do is change your build to a pvp build, something like this. It is also important to realise that as a commando, you will get focused, even though you have actually become a formidable enemy even in heal spec in 2.0. So plan accordingly, wherever you stand and start casting your heals should have 2 points of exit where you can employ some LoS and/or run to your team and hopefully your team will take pity on you and kill the people following you.

If you have a tank guarding you, TP goes on the tank, provided the tank is actively guarding you, not just putting a guard on you and wandering around, tapping people on the nose and leaping to anything that moves halfway across the map. If you dont have a tank guarding you, then TP goes on yourself. TP procs off any damage, including dots and can be lovely to kite people with, when your TP ticks harder than their dots.

Over the space of about 5-7s, a commando is the king of mobile burst healing if your cooldowns are up.

You have Bacta Infusion, Kolto Bomb, Concussion Charge (Save this for an opportune moment, dont waste just for a heal) and Tech Override + Medical Probe, which will quite happily heal you for the best part of about 12k (before crits) all while you are running around. So those are your heals that you can use to heal yourself while kiting your attackers. Your AMP is also ~1.3s cast time, so employing LoS might give you enough time to cast one of them.

Moving onwards to actually surviving (which is what you are after).

Starting with the melee classes, sentinels/guardians are the easiest to counter purely because of Electro Net. You can cast it on them as soon as you see them looking at you, and then move to safety. One thing to mention with this, you must move out of 10m range, because blade storm/force scream & dispatch/vicious throw(?) have a 10m range and do quite a bit of damage. If you have been leapt upon, its still not too bad, because of the powerful single target heals that you have. If one leaper leaps, you just take him with you, dont fire off concussion charge just yet, move him over to your teammates and keep healing. You can heal yourself and a few of your team mates for quite a while with only one dps attacking you even if they are a watchman/annihilation spec with the low cd interrupt and 0m leap. Just don't blow cooldowns until people are about to, or are in severe danger of dying. Your teammates will be your best chance of survival, so keep them alive. If you get beset upon by a leaper in the middle of nowhere and you are by yourself, then you have a plethora of choices to slow/stun the target, you can plasma grenade for a slow, concussion charge for a knockback + slow, kolto bomb for a slow, cryo grenade for a stun, concussive round for a longer stun. Preference is to use slows first, kolto bomb being the number one preference. As they leap and catch up, cleanse yourself, all leapers will apply physical effects to you, whether they are slows or dots and they can be cleansed, so do it. One leaper should not be able to hurt you enough that you are unable to heal yourself through their damage. If they do get the better of you, hold the line and leg it, once they leap again, stun, keep legging it.

2 leapers or more. Whether it be 2 leapers or 10 leapers, this is dire straits for you, mainly because they have 2 interrupts and 2 stuns, locking you for a total of 8 seconds if your cc breaker isnt up as well as interrupting every 2nd casted heal. Reactive shield straight up, this is a proactive defensive cooldown, it won't save you at 1%. Chances are they will stun you, because they know that when you have your shield up, you have 0 pushback and are uninterruptible, so they will have to burst through your health + heals + 25% DR, which is just far too much effort, so the first stun will be Awe (Not sure of Warrior counterpart) which lasts for 8 seconds and breaks on damage. Dont use your cc break on this, let the stun run out, they can't damage you without messing up their stuns, the next stun will be force stasis/choke, and that will run out the duration of your shield. This is where you pop your cc break as soon as your resolve bar hits full. CC break and Hold the line away from them, they will most likely both leap to you at once, so concussion charge once they leap and leg it. Should be able to get far enough away/LoS. If you dont have those abilities ready for use, then adrenaline rush in advance and hopefully it doesn't have to trigger. adrenaline rush combined with your heals will be plenty to deal with the incoming damage, but leaves you fairly exposed when it runs out so call out for help/run to team mates when you have enough health/ Bacta Infusion or Kolto Bomb is off CD.

Single assassin is the same as a single leaper. Most will run deception (Infiltration for a shadow) and will open with a couple of fairly big hits, followed by weaker set ups, (using shadow terminology here, the attack line will be roughly: force potency, shadow strike, shadow strike, project, clairvoyant strike (blackout), clairvoyant strike, project, sub 30% execute). What to take from that list is that every attack except project is white damage, this mitigated by your armour, which you have plenty of. The key issue here is that they need to be behind you to get Maul off. They will always get the first one off because they will pop out of stealth behind you, but after that, it comes down to how you react as to whether or not they get another maul off or they have to go shock. It takes a fairly ballsy assassin to go after a commando healer by themselves, so always check out the surroundings before you commit to just playing with this guy. Again, all situational but my preferred tactic is to concussion charge them in one direction, and you hold the line in another direction, leaving a kolto bomb behind you to snare them. if they catch up with force speed, then break out the stun. If they are still following you, then electro net them. If that's on CD, then just stand still and heal yourself while calling for help. Assassins just don't have the firepower to take you down by themselves. They have 2 stuns, one is a 4 second stun, the other is a 2 second stun. Do not cc break on the 2 second stun ever. just ride it out. The 2 second stun is their positioning stun, so they are able to get behind you. when you see it happen, get ready to turn around to face them, you have 2 seconds to watch where they are going, so use them well. their interrupt is on a 10s cooldown, so essentially they will get one out of every 4 casted abilities or so. Nothing to worry about, just drag him over to your team.

2 assassins are able to burst you down. Same deal as 2 leapers, reactive shield straight up, but chances are they wont cast whirlwind (Their version of awe, but casted) just because it can be interrupted. So you will get stunned firstly for 4 seconds, all while they are bursting you, then again for 4 seconds, obviously on the second stun you cc break and then concussion charge + kolto bomb + hold the line and just leg it. If you see them pop up when you are on anything less than 80%, pop adrenaline rush pre-emptively. Then just call out for help or drag them to your team. One thing about assassins, when they glow, do not touch your stun. Not much you can do about that for 3s other than try to heal yourself.

Stuns are good for melee dps, but concussion charge + kolto bomb + hold the line is better because they are all abilities on very low cooldowns, are cheap and heal you all at the same time. Long post, I'm tired, any questions feel free to PM me

@Afieri

Thank you for your very helpful feedback and pleasant addition to this thread.

Its I believe that one of my specs is similar to the one you provided. I will look them over, I generally shy away from survivability things, they are better for PvP. In a PvE environment, assuming that you take 100k damage over a boss fight that 4 % extra DR saved you a whopping (sorry for sarcasm) 4k damage, which is easily much less than the over heal provided by KB or your off healers Salvation or slow release med pack.

Its simply not my preference. By in good faith I will add it to my list.

@Afieri

Thank you for your very helpful feedback and pleasant addition to this thread.

Its I believe that one of my specs is similar to the one you provided. I will look them over, I generally shy away from survivability things, they are better for PvP. In a PvE environment, assuming that you take 100k damage over a boss fight that 4 % extra DR saved you a whopping (sorry for sarcasm) 4k damage, which is easily much less than the over heal provided by KB or your off healers Salvation or slow release med pack.

Its simply not my preference. By in good faith I will add it to my list.

The best thing you can do is change your build to a pvp build....... Long post, I'm tired, any questions feel free to PM me

Thanks for the tactics. Definitely food for thought.

@Afieri

Thank you for your very helpful feedback and pleasant addition to this thread.

Its I believe that one of my specs is similar to the one you provided. I will look them over, I generally shy away from survivability things, they are better for PvP. In a PvE environment, assuming that you take 100k damage over a boss fight that 4 % extra DR saved you a whopping (sorry for sarcasm) 4k damage, which is easily much less than the over heal provided by KB or your off healers Salvation or slow release med pack.

 

Its simply not my preference. By in good faith I will add it to my list.

Do you ever get that feeling of realisation that you have an absolute derp? Because I have that right now . the only way I could get away with saying the 4% DR is better is because you have to spend a GCD to use concussion charge that could be better spent on another ability, but CC has the magical ability of healing others and generally you won't be taking 100k damage in a boss fight. Don't put that build in your guide, I am ashamed of it haha. Maybe take reduced cost of CC and CG and put that point into steady hands? I just really don't like pushback, too much time pvping and throwing a Hail Mary heal in PVE only to find that some wimpy little add hit me for 100dmg and it knocked my heal back by .3 of a second and my tank died .

One other thing you could mention (just a little nuance) is that when you drop Kolto bomb, try to drop it not only on people, but on where people are going to run through in the next 4 seconds, especially when SCC is up because it applies all buffs attached to KB when people run through the green mist.

Some commentary:

1. A typo: Under "the Basics" you say "KB (for single heal and KP)". Pretty sure you mean KR instead of KP.
    
   
2. Under Intermediate, make a point to mention that a KB dropped right at the end of SCC can provide the shield for the entire duration it takes to recharge 30 stacks of CSC. It lasts 15s, and a zero alacrity HS provides 3 stacks every 1.5s. 100% shield uptime on the tank and melee is easily doable with any alacrity.
    
   
3. I'd recommend changing your terminology to avoid saying "tanking your ammo." This is clearly an idiomatic choice by you, and while it may be common among your friends it is not a universal term. This game is pretty easy, so there are plenty of young players. There are also lots of non-native English speakers. Try more common language like "If your ammo drops too low."
    
   
4. Nothing about "the Kithide" sounds overly advanced. It sounds like "when the content is easy enough to not require rolling SCC to maximize healing...don't. But when it does, do. You'll be less efficient, but honestly it doesn't matter on most content when you have decent gear because this game is really quite easy." No new techniques are mentioned.
    
   
5. "Kithide" and "Kit Style" are strange terms that apparently are meaningful to you, but not to the general audience. Try replacing them with "Advanced." And then put some advanced guidance in that section.
    
   
6. Consider mentioning use of RPC and Tech Override in the Advanced section since you don't mention it under Basic or Intermediate.
    
   
7. Full Auto and Charged Bolts are free under SCC. Hammer Shot is always free. Consider discussion of when to DPS and when not to. I realize that this is "whenever you can afford to not heal," but a guide should mention it so that those just learning see that written out. You'd be amazed how many healers never do damage because "that's not my role." A dead boss can't hurt anyone.
    
   
8. Discussion of placement of CW heals and about when to use TP on the tank vs yourself. Again, pretty obvious, but a guide needs to assume some people are just reading up on a class/role they have never played before.
   

Some commentary:

 

1. A typo: Under "the Basics" you say "KB (for single heal and KP)". Pretty sure you mean KR instead of KP.
    
   
2. Under Intermediate, make a point to mention that a KB dropped right at the end of SCC can provide the shield for the entire duration it takes to recharge 30 stacks of CSC. It lasts 15s, and a zero alacrity HS provides 3 stacks every 1.5s. 100% shield uptime on the tank and melee is easily doable with any alacrity.
    
   
3. I'd recommend changing your terminology to avoid saying "tanking your ammo." This is clearly an idiomatic choice by you, and while it may be common among your friends it is not a universal term. This game is pretty easy, so there are plenty of young players. There are also lots of non-native English speakers. Try more common language like "If your ammo drops too low."
    
   
4. Nothing about "the Kithide" sounds overly advanced. It sounds like "when the content is easy enough to not require rolling SCC to maximize healing...don't. But when it does, do. You'll be less efficient, but honestly it doesn't matter on most content when you have decent gear because this game is really quite easy." No new techniques are mentioned.
    
   
5. "Kithide" and "Kit Style" are strange terms that apparently are meaningful to you, but not to the general audience. Try replacing them with "Advanced." And then put some advanced guidance in that section.
    
   
6. Consider mentioning use of RPC and Tech Override in the Advanced section since you don't mention it under Basic or Intermediate.
    
   
7. Full Auto and Charged Bolts are free under SCC. Hammer Shot is always free. Consider discussion of when to DPS and when not to. I realize that this is "whenever you can afford to not heal," but a guide should mention it so that those just learning see that written out. You'd be amazed how many healers never do damage because "that's not my role." A dead boss can't hurt anyone.
    
   
8. Discussion of placement of CW heals and about when to use TP on the tank vs yourself. Again, pretty obvious, but a guide needs to assume some people are just reading up on a class/role they have never played before.
   

1)

Nope, it is there as intended to indicate Kolto Pods, this is under the assumption that KR is already active as its listed much higher in the priority Que.

2) Thank you for reminding me of this substantial strategy, i use this method personally but i suppose in my typing it had slipped my mind, thank you.

3) Excellent point, will proofread and change for easier comprehension.

4) The Kithide Section is more or less to add a tad of personality and humor to the guide to break up the monotany and walls of text as to make it slightly more memorable, also it introduces the use of SCC for its energy management, but addmittedly there is not much different between intermediate and "the Kithide".

I will Replace The intermediate with The Advanced to make things more clear.

5) see above, Kithide is my Commando.

6) these are both mentioned with their appropriate usages in "The Abilities and Tallents" section.

7) I shall Make a point to this in "The Advanced" section since the basic technique uses SCC as an emergency cooldown rather than a rolling buff and thus the free charged bolts and free full auto are irrelevant because any instance that a "Basic" commando would be using SCC would be in an "Oh **** moment" and probabl wouldnt be DPSing much.

Regardless another good point.

8)I assume you meen KW as in kolto wave,

Excelent point.

as for TP I have it stated that this is to be on the tank at all times, I shall change the wording here to "Target sustaining highest damage or anticipated damage" or something along those lines.

Thank you RuQu, very valuable input, I am updating the guide now. please if you see anything else out of place or you come across any mechanics that may have slipped my mind please dont withhold.

I like your guide for the most part being a commando healer i can see where you get your rotation. I dont know if this point was said or not but the only thing i dont agree with is your skill builds.. in fact i would not use any of those 3 (not trying to sound rude). the reason being is your gimping yourself in all 3 builds by adding psych aid. yes it might sound like your going to heal more but in reality how many times do you use your cleanse ability? i dont use it as much and that 1k heal isnt much to go gaga over and if your just trying to do heals then it would be wiser for a kb or adv probe. or any other heal for that fact. The best build I have noticed for me at least is 36/8/2. for combat medic the things i left out were combat shield, med zone, treated wounds, and psych aid. Of course though psych aid and efficient conversions can be a skill that might not matter much and be a personal players taste but in my opinion making your cc free makes its much more reliable as a raid heal then having it cost you ammo. especially when bosses have aoe raid damage where you can throw kolto bomb and also do cc right after and healer everyone. even up to 16 with kp and cc. usually with this build i give out above 3.2k - 3.5k hps or around there (in flashpoints hard mode) then maybe 3.5k - 3.8k hps (in 8 man ops) and for 16 man i hit around 3.6k-4.2k hps usually now and sometimes a bit higher, and for gear now..

I have my gear stated to give me 955 bonus heal, 30% crit, and 75% surge with 4.17% alacrity. this way my heals can be optimized and i can throw up to even 10k heals. the reason alacrity is only 4% is because with our buff first responder it'll boost it to 7% or 8% (cant rmbr) and its very easy to crit and keep that up. then for augments i would recommend power and not aim just due to the fact that power gives more heal boost then aim and is more reliablet o give it a better upgrade. Though this build and optimization is mre for if your running a lot of operations and flashpoints. anyways nice guide still!