Heya folks!

I'm a returning player and despite all the whining about the current state of sage/sorc DPS, I decided to level one because it's one of the few classes I haven't played.

After some hours of research, I noticed that literally no one on the internet talks about Balance Sage. Is the Balance spec just severely underpowered (even weaker than Telekinesis) or why is that?

Tbh I think it is currently inferior to TK for most if not all fights. Balance deals a lot less well with target switch, or short burst windows. While it gains more from "AoE spread" than the TK wave cleave, and in some fights it will do better, TK's superior mobility, control over their burst and relatively lenient target switching will make it a vastly better spec for ops.

For pvp, both I find are viable but for different reasons. Balance does pressure dps, TK does a mix of burst single target and cleave aoe spikes that I guess can be called pressure, altough not as much as Balance. The main difference is their defensives. Balance uses heavy self-heals through DoTs and Force Serenity, and LoS with Dots, but in exchange is less mobile overall than TK. TK has higher DR (read sturdier), and the most impressive mobility among the rdps spec right now. I've seen both being ran successfully, and I personnaly run TK in solo ranked on JC.

As for solo pve, either work play what you like, but I personnaly like TK's floor wiping TK Waves. However it really doesnt matter.

A strange combination of boredom and air bubble in the head made me decide to look dumb, but see if it works, and using an awesome lightning sorc with no companion I charged in a taris heroic...and wiped group with only saber strike. Resurgence, Static Barrier and Unatural preservation were the only abilities I used other than that. It was all I needed to complete the heroic. And 25 minutes (while it normally takes less than 5).

Point is there are some things where what you choose to play doesnt matter in solo play.

Even Pyro PTs.

Thanks for your insight.

It's not that I'm more interested in Balance than in TK, it's just funny that I found no discussion about a whole spec anywhere.

I'm more interested in PvP when I reach endgame, so I guess learning TK from the beginning has its perks.

Although I play both specs I prefer balance as it is lighter on the fingers and has a similar aoe and single target rotation basically. Less complicated so more effective. I only switch to TK when I really need the burst window (Styrak, Brontes a few others)

Damage wise unless you get a certain bug on TK wave they are both mediocre right now and there is not much difference in their dps output in a fight , but on Balance at least you will heal yourself 1,3k-1,5K hps while putting out the same damage basically. So it helps staying alive while not loosing dps on self heal abilities and makes your healers happy.

As for mobility again that really only significantly helps TK if you get the bug to instant cast TK wave. Your TK bolts, and mind crush require you to stand still on TK sage more abilities than on balance. Balance only stands still when channeling telekinetic throw.

As for multi target balance is far better and easier (dots spread automatically with aoe). On TK you have to reaapply weaken mind and mind crush to every new target or you loose dps but simply reapplying them to new targets can lead to apm loss (Looking a multiple gold mobs in this case as on reg and silver you probably just nuke them with TK wave and Force quake).

But they are both mediocre in terms of dps single target. In add fights balance can shine though (Corruptor, Torque, a few others).

In the end Balance is very consistent mediocre dps throughout about 9K in new bis 248, tK is streaky (you can get 10K to even 11K in 30s intervals but then it drops to sub 8K to 8,5K the next 30 secs depending on your procs and mental alactrity and force speeds.

In PvP Blance is easier to play too although both sage specs are glass cannons now and you really just want to avoid taking heat. But the self healing on Balance helps there.

So Balance is more of a dot spec and TK more of a direct damage spec in that case.

Dot specs historically are good damage wise, but pretty slow (meaning that in the same time I apply my dots to all targets, I could've simply nuked them down). Is that the same case in Swtor? Does the Balance spec have a "ramp up" window where you apply dots for several seconds, before you actually start doing damage?

I mostly want to know what's faster during leveling. I level with a Sentinel buddy who specs into direct damage (not the dot tree) and I wonder if there's some synergy between those specs.

Ramp time actually is the same in both cases as even on TK for ideal rotation dps wise you have to apply 2 dot abilities on target (mind crush and weaken mind).

If you follow rotation perfectly TK will have the bigger upfront burst though over 30 seconds.

It is also the same on Balance (Severe Force and Weaken Mind). But after that once you hit your aoe on balance (Force in Balance) it hits as aoe hard and spreads those dots.

On balance you get your core abilities faster while leveling up.

In terms of PvP most players play Balance/Madness if they do go dps sage at this point because of the self healing from the dots (you get quite a bit of life leech if you spread your dots to a punch of players duking it out at mid). And its attacks which damage the enemy and restore your health somewhat at same time.

Experienced pvp players joke that they don't call incomings on a guard point in PvP if they see a TK sage coming at them but may consider doing so if a Balance/Madness spec approaches, just because the later may actually prove duel worthy.

Balance is visually my favorite spec as most of its attacks have very transparent animations so they are hard to pinpoint visually who/ what is you attacking for less experienced players. That does not apply though to its imperial counterpart (Madness sorc) as it is easier do see the stream of lightning coming from a sorc at you than from the pebble stream from the republic sage.

Ramp time actually is the same in both cases as even on TK for ideal rotation dps wise you have to apply 2 dot abilities on target (mind crush and weaken mind).

 

If you follow rotation perfectly TK will have the bigger upfront burst though over 30 seconds.

 

It is also the same on Balance (Severe Force and Weaken Mind). But after that once you hit your aoe on balance (Force in Balance) it hits as aoe hard and spreads those dots.

 

On balance you get your core abilities faster while leveling up.

 

In terms of PvP most players play Balance/Madness if they do go dps sage at this point because of the self healing from the dots (you get quite a bit of life leech if you spread your dots to a punch of players duking it out at mid). And its attacks which damage the enemy and restore your health somewhat at same time.

 

Experienced pvp players joke that they don't call incomings on a guard point in PvP if they see a TK sage coming at them but may consider doing so if a Balance/Madness spec approaches, just because the later may actually prove duel worthy.

 

Balance is visually my favorite spec as most of its attacks have very transparent animations so they are hard to pinpoint visually who/ what is you attacking for less experienced players. That does not apply though to its imperial counterpart (Madness sorc) as it is easier do see the stream of lightning coming from a sorc at you than from the pebble stream from the republic sage.

The leveling progression between TK and Balance is pretty similar. Both get workable fairly quick compared to many specs in the game.

One thing you need to consider tough, is that TK is also capable of multi-dotting (altough must do so directly) and maintaining those with TK wave. You also only need to slap one DoT on a new target, to get your auto-crit. The 2nd one, CD is more part of a rotation, and its a fast ticking high dps dot, not a long one.

While Balance can DoT spread nicely, its in case where targets are too far apart to do that and that a target switch occur that it run into dps loss and force issues.

As for the self-healing, they certainly are handy, but the 9% extra DR from TK can come in handy as well.

Tbh its mostly that there are very few good TK/Lightning sorcs around in pvp more than anything else that gives them that rep. I can assure you anyone who sees me coming and decides not to call is probably in for a surprise.