When should I use this? 8% hardly seems worth the -25% force regen. I get a talent that makes it free on healing trance crits and I would obviously use it then, but...it doesn't seem like the benefits would outweigh the negatives without the proc.

As far as I understood it, you're getting a minor edge on regen when using noble sacrifice without stacking beyond the first stack, but that's probably without force spent on outhealing the damage on your self taken into account.

 

Basically there might be moments when you'll run dry a short while before the end of an encounter and still need to put out some healing, in that case Noble Sacrifice even without Resplendence might be a worthwhile - albeit risky - way of enhancing your force pool just enough to keep your group alive long enough.

 

On a sidenote: Does anyone know if there's a delay between casting Noble Sacrifice and receiving the damage? Is it possible to use it to break yourself out of a Whirlwind/Force Lift?

Leveling it is ok; however, once you talent Resplendence it is very nice. Resplendence gives Healing Trance a 50/100% chance to proc a free Noble Sacrifice (Free being no Force cost and no Health Cost).

I use it often in PvP when I have full HP but no Force because the other team is neglecting to target me (bad idea).

as biochem, its fairly easy to use noble sacrifice. I just use it once and wait for the debuff to go away, and use it again. once i get half hp or so i pop my reusable medpack if i havent been healed yet.

 

though, dont use it expecting to be healed every time you do. healers have more important jobs than topping you off for using it too much. but honestly, if you stick to a good rotation and dont waste force on healing, you shouldnt have any force problems. least as a telekinetic sage anyway

When should I use this? 8% hardly seems worth the -25% force regen. I get a talent that makes it free on healing trance crits and I would obviously use it then, but...it doesn't seem like the benefits would outweigh the negatives without the proc.

 

i always have lots of medic pacs with me ^^ works great with it

you give morale and you get morale back and force.

Not really worried about the damage...more the -25% force regen.

Nice for a long boss fight, when you're low on force power and not getting hit by some boss ability... preferably when you have a heal over time on you.

When should I use this? 8% hardly seems worth the -25% force regen. I get a talent that makes it free on healing trance crits and I would obviously use it then, but...it doesn't seem like the benefits would outweigh the negatives without the proc.

 

Yes obviously with resplendence it's a no brainer. That said when should you use it? Well first we need to understand the specifics behind it.

 

Assuming you have the +100 force power talent, one use of Noble Sacrifice will give you 48 force power at the expense of 15% of your health and 25% of your regen. All Sages regen at 8 fps, meaning you lose 2 fps on use of NS, falling to 6 fps, for a total of 10 seconds that the debuff is active. This in turn means that you have a net gain of 28 fps over that 10 second period (48 - (2 fps x 10 sec) = 28). In other words, you gain 28 more force power than you would normally.

 

Never let the debuff overlap as it stacks and resets the time it takes to expire. Doing so drastically reduces the effectiveness of the ability. Now you lose 40 fps in regen (4 fps x 10 seconds of debuff) only to gain 48 total, at the expense of another 15% health (30% total since this is your second use). In other words, 8 more force for 15% more health.

 

Conversely if you stagger them enough to let the debuff wear off, you can easily tap 2-3 times before needing to heal yourself. As others have touched on your can also further combat this with medpacks (especially if you're a biochemist). However you should NEVER use NS off of its resplendence proc if you're being targeted by anything, unless you're confident that you can handle it. Otherwise you're just helping your enemy kill yourself by depleting your health even faster.

 

So you need to look at the situation: Am I going to have aggro and be taking dmg? Don't NS. Does my tank/companion have all the aggro? NS away, off of cooldown early and often. And ultimately, Can I spare the GCD time to use it?

Edited December 27, 2011 by Khadroth