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How to Flash Point Like A Pro (Leveling Version) [partial content]


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How To Flash Point Like A Pro

The Leveling Version

 

In this thread, I describe the things that a group can do to burn through the leveling flash points with efficiency, speed, creativity, and flair. This post is for every role - Tanks, Healers, and Damage Dealers. Players should have mastered all of these behaviors for their specific role before attempting a hard-mode flash point.

 

General Behaviors

 

Queue only for roles for which you are properly geared and specced and that you know how to play. Your gear should always have your primary stat on it and should not have any other class's primary stat. Additional information about gear and spec for each role can be found below. Worst case gear should be green and within 2 levels of yours. This is very inexpensive to obtain from GTN.

 

Understand that in general (possibly excluding double experience weekends), completing a flash point offers far more experience than killing things in flash points. Bonus quests are worthwhile. Killing groups of trash just to kill them is not even close to worthwhile.

 

If you do not know the encounters or are new to the flash point, speak up! It is better for everyone to type a few lines of text explaining the mechanics of an encounter than to wipe because someone didn't know them and then have to type a few lines of text explaining the mechanics of the encounter you just wiped on.

 

Only the Tank pulls / starts fights. The Tank gets to set the pace because he has to think about things like whether or not the party (especially the Healer) has enough energy / ammo / focus to complete the encounter, patrols that might interfere, and all sorts of other things. If you want to set the pace, please roll a Tank. I hear we need more of them.

 

Avoid stuff on the ground that your enemies put there. It can only lead to pain and anguish.

 

Run to the Tank if you get aggro from an enemy you can't quickly kill or Crowd Control. This makes it much easier for the Tank to see you're in trouble and for them to pull the enemy off you. Running away from the Tank means he may not see you're in trouble and, if he does, will have an exponentially more difficult time solving the problem for you. In short, running to the Tank means you might live; running away from the Tank means you will die.

 

If you can, get into stuff on the ground that your party puts there. Usually it will heal you.

 

General kill order is weakest to strongest. This should always be used unless another strategy is required, such as in some boss fights. The idea here is that the quicker you dispatch enemies, the less damage comes into the party. Additionally, Tanks can't always grab and hold every enemy so eliminating the weak ones quickly means they're not beating on the Healer.

 

Learn how to use your Crowd Control abilities. These can be useful for minimizing the damage an encounter deals out as well as skipping unnecessary encounters.

 

Only the Tank breaks Crowd Control. Whomever breaks Crowd Control needs to get control over that enemy else it will hammer whomever controlled it.

 

Avoid using skills that reposition enemies. This game offers precious little in terms of area of effect taunts while at the same time offering players a wide variety of area of effect damage. It's best to have enemies bunched up around the Tank, or at least where the Tank wants them. The sole exception to this is if you can reposition enemies to improve area of effect damage.

 

When you see a barrel, exercise patience. Barrels, especially the exploding ones, do not always have immediately obvious uses. In a whole lot of cases, they are placed strategically to quickly eliminate "adds". Wait until those adds have stopped moving and do their "set" animation, then blow up the barrel. If you use it too early, you waste it and you waste time and energy killing the adds from full health.

 

Roll Need only on items that are immediate upgrades for you. Reference the stats your gear should have on it to determine whether or not it is actually for you. If something is over your level and nobody else in the group has rolled Need, that's a good place to roll Need, too. Everything else, companions included, is at most a Greed roll. Be nice. Let others get their upgrades, too.

 

Line Of Sight (LOS) means that the Tank will pull in a manner that brings the enemies to you. Usually you will have to hide behind something so you can't see the enemies and they can't see you. The Tank will Taunt an enemy and run to the hiding spot. The enemies, now properly irritated with the Tank, will follow him to layeth the smaketh down upon him. When they get into range, cut loose with your AOE.

 

If you are out of combat and need Health or Energy or Ammo or Focus, self-heal.

 

Tank Behaviors

 

Gear for Tanks (over mid-30's) has some combination of Defense, Absorb, and Shield and avoids all other secondary stats.

 

The vast majority of your specialization / skill points should be in your Tanking tree.

 

You should know how to Taunt and you should have it on a button that is easily and quickly accessible at all times. Area taunts, too, if your class gets them.

 

You should know who to Guard and always do it. Guard reduces threat and incoming damage for the person you've guarded. You should guard whomever draws the most aggro. In a perfect group, one in which the Damage Dealers follow this guide, you will Guard the best Damage Dealer in the group. However, experience tells us that, especially in leveling flash points, Damage Dealers don't always perform optimally and Healers garner a lot of enemy attention. If your Healer is consistently drawing aggro and your Damage Dealers simply won't do the right thing, you'll need to guard your Healer.

 

Your priority in combat is to keep enemies off the Healer. Your secondary priority is to keep enemies off the Damage Dealers. Your tertiary priority is to deal damage.

 

Use your cooldowns if you're taking too much damage. Don't use your cooldowns if you're not taking too much damage.

 

Be aware of positioning. Many Damage Dealer classes do much better when they are behind their target and many enemies have area attacks on everything in front of them. Typically we turn the enemy to face away from the party / Healer. On some encounters you may need to work a bit harder than this to keep your Damage Dealers behind your enemy while avoiding positioning that can lead to bad things like getting knocked off a high platform.

 

Some damage dealers have to build up stacks of whatever during combat to make them more effective. If you wait too long to start the next encounter, those stacks drop off and they become less effective until they build them back up. There are good reasons to wait to start an encounter like explaining boss mechanics and someone not being ready. But once everyone is ready, especially on the next trash pull, it's time to GO!

 

If you think a fight is over and you're still in combat, there is probably a Crowd Controlled enemy somewhere. When its Crowd Control breaks, it will chase you down and it will bring everything between it and you with it. Find it and kill it before it does that.

 

Healer Behaviors

 

Gear for Healers has some combination of Alacrity, Critical, Power, and Surge and avoids all other secondary stats.

 

The vast majority of your specialization / skill points should be in your healing tree.

 

You should know how to do things like Cleanse and have that (plus your heals) on buttons that are easily and quickly accessible at all times.

 

Your priority in combat is to heal yourself, if you need it. (A dead Healer heals for 0.) Your secondary priority is to heal the Tank, if he needs it. Your tertiary priority is to heal the Damage Dealers, if they need it. Your quaterinary priority is to deal damage, if doing so will not harm your ability to do any of the rest of your priorities in the near future.

 

You may find it easier to use the Operation frames even in Party-size groups. The UI places these much more closely together and they're much smaller than Party frames.

 

Damage Dealer Behaviors

 

Gear for Damage Dealers has some combination of Alacrity, Critical, Power, Accuracy, and Surge and avoids all other secondary stats.

 

The vast majority of your specialization / skill points should be in a PvE damage tree. This is sort of a soft requirement for leveling flash points since there aren't any enrage timers. Behavior is far more important than optimizing damage output.

 

You should know how to reduce or dump aggro.

 

Your priority in combat is to take enemies off the Healer. Your secondary priority is to stay alive. (A dead Damage Dealer deals 0 damage.) Your tertiary priority is to deal damage to enemies in the proper order.

 

Your first priority means that if the Healer starts taking damage and the Tank doesn't immediately solve the problem, you must peel that enemy off the Healer, even if it kills you. A Healer who is taking damage can heal only himself, and this tends to wipe the party. A skilled Healer will realize what you did and increase priority on healing you for the rest of the flash point and may even add you to their friends list.

Edited by DarthTHC
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FLASH POINT: Black Talon & The Esseles

 

You can queue into these flash points before Tanks are even Tanks. In fact, you can't randomly queue into them after Tanks become Tanks and the queue doesn't care about roles so they're a lot of fun. Just zerg everything.

 

FLASH POINT: Hammer Station

 

Having Scavenging and Slicing can help you avoid fights.

 

Using crowd control on the big droids makes things much easier on the Healer.

 

There is a bridge. Blue = safe. Red = about to be gone. Gone = dead.

 

BOSS: DN-314 Tunneler

 

General: Avoid but otherwise ignore the adds.

 

Healer: The laser attack reduces the Tank's health quickly. When you see it start, start healing. Even if your Tank is at full health, he won't be by the time your heal takes effect.

 

BOSS: Vorgan the Volcano

 

General: The adds need to die first. Focus-fire one then the other. Order is unimportant, but Torchy deals damage better than Sawbones heals. They cannot be Crowd Controlled.

 

BOSS: Battlelord Kreshan

 

General: This boss has a big knockback. Don't get knocked off!

 

Tank: Face the boss toward the console. When he does his channeled attack, step out of it.

 

Damage Dealer: Adds have priority. Knocking them off is preferable to killing them.

 

FLASH POINT: Athiss

 

Having Slicing can help you avoid a jump and make you feel better. Having Archaeology can help you avoid fights.

 

Crowd Control can be used to skip a lot of trash fights.

 

BOSS: Professor Ley'arsha

 

Tank: Try to keep her facing away from the party, especially the Healer.

 

Damage Dealer: Adds have priority.

 

BOSS: The Beast of Vodal Kressh

 

Tank: Find a place to Tank him that you won't get knocked back. The doorway behind him works well.

 

Damage Dealer: Adds have priority.

 

BOSS: Prophet of Vodal Kressh

 

General: When the boss stealths out, 4 balls of fire appear and fixate on one party member. The fire causes a large amount of damage over a short period of time, therefore it is to be avoided rather than healed through. Run from it without leaving the room.

 

General: If you die, don't release unless the party has wiped. Running back might stick you with enemies you avoided and often resets the encounter.

 

Healer: Cleanse the DoT the boss often puts on party members. If you don't have a Cleanse yet, start a heal on them as soon as it starts to tick.

 

FLASH POINT: Mandalorian Raiders

 

Having Slicing can help you skip encounters.

 

There are a lot of skips in here that can be done simply by running around trash groups. There are lots of others if you have at least one party member who can stealth-stun.

 

All the big droids have a big knock back. Watch your positioning so you're not knocked off or knocked back into other groups.

 

BOSS: Braxx the Bloodhound

 

Mechanics: The dogs have no aggro table. Braxx has an AoE buff to the dogs' damage. Keep the dogs and Braxx away from each other and things go well.

 

Tank: Grab Braxx and drag him straight back to the back of that little stage he's on. He will freeze you periodically. Save your Taunt for the moment you un-freeze. Ignore the dogs.

 

Healer: Position yourself in the middle of the room, close enough to the back wall that you can heal the Tank.

 

Damage Dealer: Focus fire one dog then the other. Drag them away from the Tank, preferably past the Healer. If the second dog starts eating the Healer, do whatever you can to get its attention on you then go back to the first dog. Burn both dogs then burn Braxx.

 

BOSS: Republic | Imperial Boarding Party

 

Kill Order: Sentinel / Marauder dies first because he has no aggro table. Sage / Sorceror dies next because he's easy. The other two should die at about the same time but if you have to choose one over the other, kill the Smuggler / Agent third.

 

Strategy: The easiest strategy is to get everyone into a corner at the bottom of the ramp to LoS the group. Tank taunts the Sent/Mara and hides in the corner. All 4 baddies group up right there for an AoE Damage Dealer party. None of them can be Crowd Controlled.

 

General: It will be everyone's job to peel bad guys off the Healer. There's just too much going on in this fight, especially early on, for most on-level Tanks to be able to deal with it.

 

BOSS: Mavrix Varad

 

Strategy: If there are turrets up, it is everyone's job to kill the turrets. Even the Tank. That's all there is to it.

 

FLASH POINT: Cademimu

 

Having Slicing and Scavenging can help you skip encounters.

 

There are a lot of skips in here that can be done simply by running around trash groups.

 

A lot of fights with Champion level droids can be ended with a good, well-timed knock back of your own.

 

All elevators in this place move faster than gravity. Don't jump. It won't end well for you.

 

You can skip a lot of trash encounters if, after you defeat Grimyk, everyone runs straight through to the elevator. Everyone has to run, no stopping, or it gets ugly.

 

You can do another run through skip once you're at the bottom of that elevator by running all the way to the back of General Ortol's room. Again, no stopping.

 

BOSS: Officer Xander & EN-4C

 

General: Focus damage on Xander. EN-4C dies when Xander dies.

 

General: Do not stand in front of either police vehicle. Doing so puts you right inside a freeze ground effect when EN-4C comes active (the one farther from the boss) and if he lives too long (the one nearer to the boss).

 

General: If EN-4C targets you, run from it. Do not let it anywhere near you or it will freeze you, probably killing you in the process. Instead, run around the freeze circles so the droid goes into it and is frozen.

 

BOSS: Captain Grimyk

 

General: There will be groups of 4-5 adds that hit pretty hard and are hard for the Tank to control. They should be rounded up and run through the flames.

 

General: When Grimyk dies, he explodes. Any adds near him at the time will die. Any adds not near him at the time will take a while to kill.

 

General: An alternative strategy for this is for ranged to stand on top of the police vehicle and for the Tank to LOS pull Grimyk behind it. If you're doing this strat, it is important that nobody attacks or heals until Grimyk is where the Tank wants him.

 

BOSS: General Ortol

 

General: This guy fires missiles periodically. Or, more correctly, causes the overhead missiles to fire. If you are under them, you will die. It's way too much damage to heal through. When you see the warning, watch for which missile isn't firing and get under that one. The middle is not safe.

 

General: If you die, do not release unless the whole party wipes. The door to the room closes when the encounter begins so you can't get back in to help anyway.

 

Tank: Most frequently I see the Tank start the fight in the far right corner of the room. The missile in that corner never seems to be the first one fired.

 

Tank: Ortol has a big knock-back. It helps for the Tank to position him near a corner so any Damage Dealers that need to be behind him for best output can't be knocked into a fire.

 

FLASH POINT: Boarding Party

 

At this point, most of the flash points have skips you can do by avoiding encounters or stealth-stunning the right enemy. I won't mention these from here on out.

 

BOSS: HXI-54 Juggernaut

 

Strategy: Very simple Tank & spank. Avoid circles on the ground and avoid the streams of lightning and you'll be fine.

 

BOSS: Major Alvena

 

Mechanics: When a droid dies, adds come in. Kill the adds before moving on to the next enemy.

 

Strategy: Both droids can be Crowd Controlled. Make sure you don't AoE if you use this strategy.

 

BOSS: Sokan Do’Nair

 

Mechanics: This guy has two Healers with him. He will break Crowd Control on them if you use it, so we usually don't bother with it.

 

Tank: Grab Do'Nair and drag him away from the Healers, as far as you can.

 

Damage Dealer: Burn one Healer then the other. Interrupt heals.

 

BOSS: Chief Engineer Kels

 

Mechanics: On a very frequent basis, one of the reactors will release a torrent of energy that causes damage and pushes back. There will be warnings, but their names are non-intuitive. Just watch for the one that seems to be glowing differently and get out of its corner. There's a long visual lead on it.

 

Tank: You need to hold aggro on everything.

 

Damage Dealer: Burn one droid, then the other, then Kels.

 

BOSS: Commander Jorland & Friends

 

Mechanics: Jorland has two friends: an overpowered Healer and a shielding Tank. The Healer must die first and interrupting his heals helps trim the length of the encounter significantly. The shielding Tank dies second, followed by Jorland. Pretty Tank & spank.

 

FLASH POINT: Taral V

 

Not only can you skip a lot of trash in here, you can skip bosses too. Just run on by.

 

General: There is a bonus for blowing up Research Stations. Whenever you get close to one of the first several, they spawn a group of adds. The best strategy for these is for everyone to bunch around the Research Station, wait until the adds are close, then blow the station. Doing this will kill all the adds for you.

 

BOSS: Handler Gattan

 

Skippable.

 

Strategy: Tank holds aggro on everything. Damage Dealers burn one cat, then the other, then Gattan.

 

BOSS: Captain Shivanek

 

Strategy: A beast add will pop as soon as you start the encounter. Tank holds aggro on both, Damage Dealers burn the beast then Shivanek.

 

BOSS: Lord Hasper

 

Bonus boss.

 

Mechanics: When he pulls you in, he's going to unleash a terribly damaging AoE. Run away when he pulls you in, run back when his lightning storm ends.

 

BOSS: PD-44

 

Skippable.

 

Mechanics: Basic Tank & Spank. Unlike most bosses, his channeled and long wind up attacks can be interrupted.

 

BOSS: General Edikar

 

Mechanics: Doing the bonuses enables a terminal that lets you get rid of 2 of the 4 turrets he spawns with. Not a big deal either way.

 

Mechanics: Edikar will spawn droid adds 3 times throughout the fight. These need to be burned down quickly - Tank, too.

 

Alternative Strategy: Some Tanks like to Taunt Edikar and hide behind an object. If everyone hides exactly correctly, all adds will group up on you for a nice AOE Damage Dealer party. But it's hard to hide exactly correctly so this usually results in the Healer dying and the party wiping.

 

FLASH POINT: The Foundry

 

This is a painfully long flash point that also has a lot of bonuses. Yay team.

 

BOSS: The Foundry Guardian

 

This is a basic Tank & Spank fight.

 

BOSS: (Story Spoiler)

 

 

The boss is HK-47.

 

 

Mechanics: The boss will periodically go into his stasis chamber and the chamber will lower. If you are under it when it does this, you die. When the chamber lowers, you must shoot it at its four corners to get it to raise. Failing to do so quickly results in the boss becoming enraged and invulnerable, which means you get to run back and try again.

 

Mechanics: This boss periodically spawns adds in the form of droids. They can be Crowd Controlled but should be killed quickly.

 

Tank: Hold aggro on the boss. Focus on the boss. Never leave the boss.

 

Damage Dealer: Adds have priority.

 

BOSS: Burrower Matriarch

 

Bonus boss.

 

Mechanics: Stay out of the goo she spits.

 

BOSS: N4-10 Exterminator

 

Bonus boss.

 

Mechanics: Stay out of circles.

 

BOSS: (Story Spoiler)

 

 

The boss is Revan.

 

 

Mechanics: This boss has a long wind-up skill that can and should be interrupted. He will use it for the first 75% or so of the fight.

 

Mechanics: This boss has a nasty AOE that he will pull you in for. When he pulls you in, run out.

 

Mechanics: For the final 25% of the fight, this boss will barrage the ground with rocks. Avoid purple circles.

 

Mechanics: Finally, this boss has a big knock-back. Don't get knocked off.

 

FLASH POINT: Maelstrom Prison

 

BOSS: X-37 Oppressor Droid

 

Mechanics: This boss will knock the tank back. Right after he does that, he pulls everyone else in for a nice AOE explosion. When he pulls you in, run out.

 

BOSS: Colonel Daksh

 

Mechanics: Daksh has optic implant lasers that do a lot of damage when activated. When they are activated, hide behind something to LOS him. Don't get hit by the lasers. It helps to have the Target-of-Target frame active to see who he's targeting. If it's not you, feel free to add a bit more damage to him while he's playing with his eyewear.

 

Damage Dealers: Kill the two droids flanking Daksh first.

 

BOSS: Lord Kancras

 

Mechanics: Tank & Spank, but keep the adds off the Healer.

 

BOSS: Ancient Maelstrom Flayer

 

Mechanics: This boss has a big knock-back. Don't get knocked off!

 

BOSS: Lord Vanithrast

 

Mechanics: He has a bird with him. Tank takes Vanithrast while Damage Dealers burn the bird.

 

Mechanics: Run away from Spinning Strikes. It's a lot of incoming damage really fast and most Healers cannot keep up with it.

 

BOSS: Maelstrom Elite Guard

 

Mechanics: Simple Tank & Spank, but focus fire on one at a time.

 

BOSS: (Story Spoiler)

 

 

The boss is Grand Moff Kilran.

 

 

Mechanics: The boss will knock-back and then he'll move and spawn adds. When he does this, his next several attacks will be Snipe that deal out a ton of damage. LOS him to avoid getting hit while killing the adds.

Edited by DarthTHC
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Tank Behaviors section - the healer is not the typical target for Guard. Quite the opposite, you only guard the healer in specific conditions, otherwise, it should always be the stronger dps.

 

^^ This is very true. This post is awesome and needed to be made, but let's make sure we training them well. Guard does NOT belong on the healer, it belongs on the highest-pumping DPS, with preference to the melee DPS.

 

If one is in a crappy group where DPS are tunneling the elites, then yes, Guard on the healer is OK. But we are aiming to teach people how not to be crappy group members, right?

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Tank Behaviors section - the healer is not the typical target for Guard. Quite the opposite, you only guard the healer in specific conditions, otherwise, it should always be the stronger dps.

 

A further note to this is that the reduction to incoming damage only applies in PvP, It has no effect in PvE at all only the threat reduction does. The tooltip states incoming damage from enemy players meaning this does not apply to mobs.

As stated there are certain situations when the Healer should be guarded in PvE but it is rare and I can only think of two currently and both are specific phases of specific bosses, both are in Operations. In Flashpoints the guard should always be on the DPS most likely to pull agro. I

 

'm currently leveling a Operative Healer, doing a lot of Flashpoints with him and have had Tanks guard me in Flashpoints, I simply click the guard off as it just annoys me and I can heal through any damage I take anyway. Might want to update the guide OP to reflect our comments.

Edited by VorKoom
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A further note to this is that the reduction to incoming damage only applies in PvP, It has no effect in PvE at all only the threat reduction does. The tooltip states incoming damage from enemy players meaning this does not apply to mobs.

As stated there are certain situations when the Healer should be guarded in PvE but it is rare and I can only think of two currently and both are specific phases of specific bosses, both are in Operations. In Flashpoints the guard should always be on the DPS most likely to pull agro. I

 

'm currently leveling a Operative Healer, doing a lot of Flashpoints with him and have had Tanks guard me in Flashpoints, I simply click the guard off as it just annoys me and I can heal through any damage I take anyway. Might want to update the guide OP to reflect our comments.

 

This is incorrect. In PvE and PvP, Guard gives a 5% DR buff. It's not much, but it's more than nothing.

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Tank Behaviors section - the healer is not the typical target for Guard. Quite the opposite, you only guard the healer in specific conditions, otherwise, it should always be the stronger dps.

 

^^ This is very true. This post is awesome and needed to be made, but let's make sure we training them well. Guard does NOT belong on the healer, it belongs on the highest-pumping DPS, with preference to the melee DPS.

 

If one is in a crappy group where DPS are tunneling the elites, then yes, Guard on the healer is OK. But we are aiming to teach people how not to be crappy group members, right?

 

This post is specifically for leveling flash points. Strong DD's are the exception rather than the rule. Typically the healer draws more aggro than damage dealers. I did note that a strong DD is a better candidate if one is present and edited to include the shift toward good DD's as we level.

 

Reasonable?

 

nice job maybe some newbs will actually use it

 

Thank you.

 

Seems extremely unlikely to be used by "newbs". Anyone who cares enough to be on the forums and read this post already cares enough to know how to Flash Point well and therefore doesn't need it.

 

I fear I'm preaching to the choir, as it were.

 

But I had to try.

Edited by DarthTHC
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This post is specifically for leveling flash points. Strong DD's are the exception rather than the rule. Typically the healer draws more aggro than damage dealers. I did note that a strong DD is a better candidate if one is present and edited to include the shift toward good DD's as we level.
It's been said so many times that it's getting to be cliche: Reducing aggro on a healer is useless if nobody else is in the aggro table. Unless the healer is so overleveled and overgeared and everybody else is not, it's best not to form and/or reinforce bad habits.
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Than lets make it a good habbit shall we?

 

At the beginning ALWAYS guard the healer. Its just as much bull to start with guarding a (melee)DPS as it is to guard a healer or to guard none. You don't know how good or bad the DPS / Healers are. As long as DPS arent overaggro'ing me on mobs or taking damage I keep it on the healer to minimize his incoming damage.

 

If the DPS are skilled and attacking something else than big enemies they get my guard since they will take more damage than the healer. Else it will stay on the healer in case the dps don't get the adds which I can't control without loosing AoE-aggro around me.

 

About this guide. Its a nice idea. However I fear that the people for whom this guide is intended won't ever read it :(

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Than lets make it a good habbit shall we?

 

At the beginning ALWAYS guard the healer. Its just as much bull to start with guarding a (melee)DPS as it is to guard a healer or to guard none. You don't know how good or bad the DPS / Healers are. As long as DPS arent overaggro'ing me on mobs or taking damage I keep it on the healer to minimize his incoming damage.

 

If the DPS are skilled and attacking something else than big enemies they get my guard since they will take more damage than the healer. Else it will stay on the healer in case the dps don't get the adds which I can't control without loosing AoE-aggro around me.

 

About this guide. Its a nice idea. However I fear that the people for whom this guide is intended won't ever read it :(

 

I get what you're saying in general and I can pretty well agree with this early on in FPs up until around the point where you get an AoE taunt and on. From that point on, I definitely do not believe the healer should be the one guarded because by then you have a lot more of your AoE aggro generating skills and the healer shouldn't be drawing any regardless of the DPS screwing up since you should ideally have some form of control on them from your AoE sources and AoE taunting (and one would also hope by now the healer realized the talent in their tree for reducing the threat gained from healing is vital). Like PlasmaJohn said, if there is no one else in the threat table of course the healer is going to pull and a Guard is not going to do anything to stop it, you need to be more mobile or the DPS need to adjust their tunnel vision.

 

There may be a few instances where this still occurs due to something not going to plan (or it just being Kaon being Kaon at which point guarding the healer still wouldn't save them any more than not), but if it does it should at the bare minimum only be the weakest enemies in the FP getting to them not the strongs or higher of which it is far more likely the DPS would pull off of you and a healer can handle the weak mobs papercutting them for a moment or two for you to do your job and pull it off.

Edited by Indignatron
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I get what you're saying in general and I can pretty well agree with this early on in FPs up until around the point where you get an AoE taunt and on. From that point on, I definitely do not believe the healer should be the one guarded because by then you have a lot more of your AoE aggro generating skills and the healer shouldn't be drawing any regardless of the DPS screwing up since you should ideally have some form of control on them from your AoE sources and AoE taunting (and one would also hope by now the healer realized the talent in their tree for reducing the threat gained from healing is vital). Like PlasmaJohn said, if there is no one else in the threat table of course the healer is going to pull and a Guard is not going to do anything to stop it, you need to be more mobile or the DPS need to adjust their tunnel vision.

 

There may be a few instances where this still occurs due to something not going to plan (or it just being Kaon being Kaon at which point guarding the healer still wouldn't save them any more than not), but if it does it should at the bare minimum only be the weakest enemies in the FP getting to them not the strongs or higher of which it is far more likely the DPS would pull off of you and a healer can handle the weak mobs papercutting them for a moment or two for you to do your job and pull it off.

 

Guard requires thought and knowledge of a lot of conditions within the party. This is true with a lot of what this guide says.

 

This guide does not attempt to be a deep, comprehensive resource. Rather, it attempts to be a high-level resource that, if followed at a basic level, will help everyone not suck in flash points. What this guide says WRT Guard falls into that. For leveling flash points, you won't break the group if you guard the healer or a good DPS.

 

Similarly, look at the kill order for the Boarding Party in Mandalorian Raiders. If you try that in Hard Mode, you're going to have a problem. Again, it's high-level, try not to suck in leveling flash points.

 

If others would like to take on the deep-dive on specific, important aspects, that would be really cool too. But possibly in a different thread which would be dedicated to that specific aspect.

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Guard requires thought and knowledge of a lot of conditions within the party. This is true with a lot of what this guide says.

 

This guide does not attempt to be a deep, comprehensive resource. Rather, it attempts to be a high-level resource that, if followed at a basic level, will help everyone not suck in flash points. What this guide says WRT Guard falls into that. For leveling flash points, you won't break the group if you guard the healer or a good DPS.

 

Similarly, look at the kill order for the Boarding Party in Mandalorian Raiders. If you try that in Hard Mode, you're going to have a problem. Again, it's high-level, try not to suck in leveling flash points.

 

If others would like to take on the deep-dive on specific, important aspects, that would be really cool too. But possibly in a different thread which would be dedicated to that specific aspect.

 

Of course you won't break the group, but again, if you're trying to have this be a resource to learn how to do things the right way during the leveling process it's best not to get people started on doing something constantly that is in general bad in 90% of post-leveling content outside of a few Ops bosses. That's the general point I and others are trying to make, the guide is helpful overall but it is never a good idea to reinforce a habit that isn't making a difference either way that will be harder to convince people to break at end game where it does matter, that's all.

 

I'm a skilled tank and a skilled DPS and this is one of the biggest issues that shows up when PUGing HM 55s because people are so set in "GUARD THE HEALER ALWAYS" (I realize you are not making this point, but so many tanks and even healers themselves are led to believe this is how it should be during leveling and it does cross over) that if you don't because it's a bad idea they get offended in such a ridiculous way that it does break groups either from people being so mad they drop out of the queue and there's no one to replace them or it just causes needless strife and more work for the healer when things keep going the wrong way. I've been on both sides of it and the argument is wasteful and pointless once someone is set in this, that's why I'm saying it's far better to just to at least put both sides of reasoning in and explain that after the point they should be able to control properly it is not necessary for it to be typically on the healer and more often on the highest damage dealer and even explain why, that's all.

 

As an aside, that kill order from Mando Raiders really isn't that hard to deal with in HM (especially if you stack everyone in the one corner like was mentioned for an easier time DPSing the Sent and for the healer to toss AoE heals), in fact it's usually the way I do it and I've yet to ever have a death at all in that HM except on a bad pull on the bonus boss due to something not being dead (and stuck below the floor where it couldn't be hit) before the boss was pulled by the tank.

Edited by Indignatron
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Of course you won't break the group, but again, if you're trying to have this be a resource to learn how to do things the right way during the leveling process it's best not to get people started on doing something constantly that is in general bad in 90% of post-leveling content outside of a few Ops bosses. That's the general point I and others are trying to make, the guide is helpful overall but it is never a good idea to reinforce a habit that isn't making a difference either way that will be harder to convince people to break at end game where it does matter, that's all.

 

I'm a skilled tank and a skilled DPS and this is one of the biggest issues that shows up when PUGing HM 55s because people are so set in "GUARD THE HEALER ALWAYS" (I realize you are not making this point, but so many tanks and even healers themselves are led to believe this is how it should be during leveling and it does cross over) that if you don't because it's a bad idea they get offended in such a ridiculous way that it does break groups either from people being so mad they drop out of the queue and there's no one to replace them or it just causes needless strife and more work for the healer when things keep going the wrong way. I've been on both sides of it and the argument is wasteful and pointless once someone is set in this, that's why I'm saying it's far better to just to at least put both sides of reasoning in and explain that after the point they should be able to control properly it is not necessary to keep doing it, that's all.

 

As an aside, that kill order from Mando Raiders really isn't that hard to deal with in HM (especially if you stack everyone in the one corner like was mentioned for an easier time DPSing the Sent and for the healer to toss AoE heals), in fact it's usually the way I do it and I've yet to ever have a death at all in that HM except on a bad pull on the bonus boss due to something not being dead (and stuck below the floor where it couldn't be hit) before the boss was pulled by the tank.

 

You are obviously very passionate about Guard and its proper usage. I get that. I dig that.

 

This is what the guide now says about Guard:

 

You should know who to Guard and always do it. Guard reduces threat and incoming damage for the person you've guarded. Typically this will be the Healer, but if you have a Damage Dealer in the group that's just a monster, they are often a better candidate. The preference toward guarding strong Damage Dealers increases as you increase in level and Damage Dealers become more skilled and better able to dish out significant damage.

 

In my mind, that seems to tell people that early on they should guard the Healer or a good DD and as they level, they need to move that more toward DD.

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That's an improvement, I appreciate it. I wish I didn't have to be so passionate about Guard, honestly, but I've been in far too many group scenarios where it's become a huge issue which is what leads me to wanting this to be pointed out in some manner. I've had so many awkward scenarios resulting from it such as me being the tank and not guarding the healer because he's in no way shape or form going to pull whereas the 75+ geared DPS is much more likely and the healer proceeds to throw a fit and drop group over it. Alternatively, I've been the one pulling on my DPS and blowing my threat dumps only to retake again because the tank won't guard to help manage the aggro better because he believes the healer needs it because that's how he learned it leveling.

 

All else aside, I do appreciate the work you put into this guide and I do hope people who need it do actually read it. It would make life a lot easier.

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You should know who to Guard and always do it. Guard reduces threat and incoming damage for the person you've guarded. Typically this will be the Healer

 

 

and what about no? always guard dps with highest damage aka second person on threat list, there are excuses ofc, like second part of TFB fight always guard healers there, but flashpoints? well, no...only if your dps are really, really bad, then you might guard healer and if I meet another healer who cries for guard bye, bye...

Edited by Radka
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and what about no? always guard dps with highest damage aka second person on threat list, there are excuses ofc, like second part of TFB fight always guard healers there, but flashpoints? well, no...only if your dps are really, really bad, then you might guard healer and if I meet another healer who cries for guard bye, bye...

 

We just went over this already, it has been discussed and changed enough that it gets the correct information out there.

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We just went over this already, it has been discussed and changed enough that it gets the correct information out there.

 

Well, I just got back from work and wanted to say what I think about it. I couldnt posted it sooner.

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Some comments:

FLASH POINT: Hammer Station

 

BOSS: DN-314 Tunneler

 

General: Avoid but otherwise ignore the adds.

 

Healer: If you have a Cleanse, use it on the Tank when the boss's laser gets him to 10 stacks of whatever his debuff is. If you don't have a Cleanse, then start casting heals when the boss starts with his laser.

Stacks are only on Hardmode. You just get a debuff on storymode while you are targeted with the laser.

 

FLASH POINT: Mandalorian Raiders

 

BOSS: Republic | Imperial Boarding Party

 

Strategy: The easiest strategy is to get everyone into a corner at the bottom of the ramp to LoS the group. Tank taunts the Sent/Mara and hides in the corner. All 4 baddies group up right there for an AoE Damage Dealer party. None of them can be Crowd Controlled.

Can't these guys be cc'ed on story mode? Not sure about this.

FLASH POINT: Taral V

 

BOSS: Lord Hasper

 

Bonus boss.

 

Mechanics: When he pulls you in, he's going to unleash a terribly damaging AoE. Run away when he pulls you in, run back when his lightning storm ends.

Another tactics is that after three channels you hide behind a pillar to prevent yourself from being pulled.

BOSS: PD-44

 

BOSS: General Edikar

 

Skippable.

 

PD-44 is skippable, but not General Edikar. They changed that in a patch.
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