Jump to content

2.4+ PvE Sawbones Scoundrel Gearing

Classicks

By Classicks
in Scoundrel / Operative

 Share

Recommended Posts

Classicks

Classicks

Posted
Posted (edited)

Introduction

 

Disclaimer: This guide is no longer being updated. Please see the more comprehensive guide here. Alternatively, you can find my guide, and many others, at SWTORBOARD.

 

Hello, all. I am Comeback, a Scoundrel Healer from The Harbinger. I have been maining a Sawbones Scoundrel since launch. Currently I play in Intrepid - a 16-player Progression guild. You may also know me as Fusebox from what was Level Capped on The Bastion (or my current guild on that server, Don't Panic - yes, I have 2 Scoundrels).

 

In my brief research on the Scoundrel forums, I did not find any guides updated for this tier and wanted to offer a gearing guide to this content and beyond, should any Scoundrels out there find it helpful. The Hard Mode level Ops may very well be farmed through and through before the Nightmare content arrives, but that is no reason not to use your time, your tokens and your comms wisely.

 

I really do not like guides or spreadsheets that just say "here are the best pieces, get them" so I will try my best to explain my rationale for why one would actually pick certain pieces/stats over others - some of which is left up to personal preference. This is a work in progress - if you have any suggestions please feel free! Here goes...

 

The Stats

 

For reference: 2.0+ DR Curve

 

Cunning or Endurance?

 

Cunning. It boosts your heals.

 

Power or Crit?

 

Both. I try and keep around 275-325 critical rating if possible, the rest is power. Your Accomplished Sawbones talent in the second to last tier of the tree gives you a static 30% surge bonus to your Underworld Medicine, Kolto Pack, and Kolto Cloud abilities when fully specced in the talent (3/3). Since the benefits of surge are only seen when you crit, it makes sense to pick up some critical rating as a Scoundrel healer. Not to mention, your Diagnostic Scan gives you energy back each tick of the channel when it crits. Yes, this ability can be used as a filler even if not for the full duration.

 

Surge or Alacrity?

 

Both. Alacrity has become a fairly useful stat for Scoundrels. It increases our energy regen per second, makes cast times and GCDs shorter, and also speeds up our channel on Diagnostic Scan which returns energy when it crits. Additionally, our pugnacity's effectiveness scales with the amount of alacrity we have got. It essentially speeds up each and every one of our heals.

 

Surge is also a useful stat for us. Since picking up some critical rating is a good idea based on the dynamics of the class (see above), supplementing that with some surge rating before the diminishing returns mark is smart. We will get into the how much of each in the Min/Max section (see below).

 

 

The Augments

 

We get a bonus 9% cunning as Scoundrels in the first tier of the Sawbones tree. Makes Advanced Skill Augment 28 an obvious choice.

 

 

The Relics

 

There are a few options for relics: Ephemeral Mending, Serendipitous Assault, Focused Retribution, Boundless Ages. Currently I roll with 1) Serendipitous Assault and 1) Boundless Ages. I always do Operations with Triage Adrenals, but they're on a 3 minute cooldown and only 15 seconds of uptime; if you want to be a healer that can dig your team out of a hole, Boundless Ages is your friend [just make sure to use it in anticipation of heavy damage phases (e.g. Titan 6 soft enrage) - it lasts for 30 seconds!].

 

The Gearing

 

 

Quick definition of Best in Slot.

 

What does Best in Slot mean? It means that a piece provides us with the high power/low endurance mods and high power/low endurance enhancements (stats > endurance). All of the unassembled and Oriconian drops/comms pieces (think Black Market, Verpine) in this tier are either straight power or straight crit in terms of mods and enhancements. Since much of the Oriconian drops/comms pieces we see are riddled with crit, it is best to pick up power in our unassembled pieces. Keep in mind your gearing may change based on if you pick up an Oriconian Shotgun (crit color crystal, crit mod, crit enhancement) or Oriconian Ears/Implants (offer less stats, more endurance).

 

Best in Slot Gear

 

Pieces with red are non-ideal (those stats can be fulfilled by other pieces). For more info on what this means to you, check out The Min/Max section.

 

Notes:

BiS Mods = 69 power/critical

BiS Enhancements = 62 power/critical, 94 surge/alacrity

Head 131 crit / 94 alacrity

Chest 131 power / 94 surge

Hands 131 crit / 94 alacrity

Legs 131 power / 94 surge

Feet 131 crit / 94 alacrity

Belt 69 power

Bracers 69 power

Mainhand 172 power / 94 surge

Offhand 172 power / 94 surge

Earpiece 130 power / 94 surge

Implants (2) 130 power 94 alac

_______________________

 

Running the above - full Field Medic's except Field Tech Ear and Professional's Implants - will get you:

 

Total = 1,134 power, 397 critical, 470 surge, 470 alacrity.

 

That is too much crit & arguably too much surge. So what is the best way to min/max? Check out the next section!

 

Note: Vendor Belt and Bracers are BiS straight off the shelf. Shotgun is worth getting if everyone in your raid group still needs the unassembled token (you will have to replace the enhancement eventually). If almost noone does, don't waste your comms just wait for the drop!

 

 

The Min/Max

Most individuals when gearing any class of character will opt to substitute 1 of their 5 set bonus pieces for an Oriconian drop/comms piece. It just makes gearing up easier.

 

If we take the appropriate pieces listed in The Gearing section (full Field Medic's except Field Tech Ear and Professional's Implants) as the best baseline for gearing we can afford to replace either a Field Medic Head, Hands or Feet piece with an Oriconian one and still keep our 4-set bonus which, while not huge, is worth holding onto. (2) Increases the healing done by Recuperative Nanotech or Kolto Cloud by 15%. (4) Increases maximum energy by 5.

 

I picked up an Oriconian Head for my 1 off-set piece. (The same concept in min/max would apply should you get Gloves or Boots. Keep in mind you may have to do some min/maxing if you pick up a Oriconian Offhand Shotgun with comms, or Oriconian Implant or Earpiece. Use the mods, enhancements, crystals, etc. to min/max to a comfortable position).

 

Again, it does not matter which piece you chose as your off-set piece - you will either stumble upon it as a random boss drop, or have to purchase it with comms. Oriconian pieces are classified as either MK-1 or MK-2. MK-1 = from vendor, good mods, bad enhancements. MK-2 = random boss drops in HM DP/DF, bad mods, good enhancements. The way in which you min/max will only be at a differential of +/- 7 crit/power depending on if you are swapping out a mod vs. an enhancement.

 

Scenario: Headpiece purchased from vendor.

 

Oriconian Mender's MK-1 Headgear

You should: Replace bad Crit/Alacrity enhancement with good Power/Alacrity enhancement from Oriconian Pummeler's or Oriconian Foestopper's Legs (from Jedi Knight vendor, 140 ultimate comms). This is the only good enhancement in the game that can be purchased with comms. Stats now: 335 crit, 470 surge, 470 alacrity.

 

Lowering your crit:

You can replace a crit mod with a good power one from an Oriconian Mender's MK-1 Belt or Bracers from the vendor (linked above) for 80 comms to be at 266 crit, or leave it at 335. I personally think 266 is too low and 335 is too high, so from here I might swap out my 41 power crystal for a 41 crit to be at 307.

 

If you want to lower your surge, you can:

Replace a Power/Surge enhancement from a Set or MH/OH piece with another Power/Alac Enhancement from Sentinel legs to drop down to 376 surge, 564 alacrity.

 

 

I personally see my stats ending up at 266 or 307 crit, 376 surge, 564 alacrity.

 

 

 

 

 

First time making one of these. Any feedback/am I missing anything? :rak_02: I intend on updating if there is positive feedback. Thanks for reading!

Edited by Classicks
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Syrlex

Syrlex

Posted
Posted (edited)

I have seen numerous debates and threads about crit rating numbers, and power versus crit. I am no expert, by a long shot, and I have some questions for my own understanding. I will give my character's current ratings, to help make my questions clear:

 

To start, she is in a mix of 72/78 with 3 of 4 set pieces still only 69s (the 4th is now 72). And I run S&V and TfB on HM, DF/DP currently cleared SM and working on HM.

 

Power rating: 1230

Tech Power: 2157

Crit Rating: 153 (25.92% crit chance due to bonuses and buffs)

Surge Rating: 331 (69.13% crit multiplier)

Alacrity Rating: 519 (8.77%)

 

As far as I know I use the expected skill tree, and the numbers above are fully buffed with a stim.

 

Firstly, are the numbers decent?

 

Secondly, my questions revolve around the statements I have seen which say things like "you want to have X crit rating" (where X is some number between 250 and 350). I thought the point of crit for a Sawbones was that you "should" have about 25% crit chance and about 70% crit multipler.

 

Well, I have 25% crit chance, but I do not seem to need 250-350 crit rating to get there. And so I have put the "excess" into power. Likewise with surge --> alacrity.

 

To the OP (and other knowledgeable Sawbones players) can you help me to understand if:

 

1) my crit is too low (way below 250-350), and

2) if it is low, am I really "supposed" to have a crit chance well above 25% (by more-or-less doubling from 150-ish to 300-ish crit rating)?

3) there is some part of this optimization puzzle that I am not yet understanding.

 

Thanks in advance.

Edited by Syrlex
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Classicks

Classicks

Posted
  • Author
Posted (edited)

Good question Syrlex.

 

When min/maxing almost never do you want to look at the % rating (for something like crit). What it takes for a Scoundrel Healer to get 25% crit is a lot less than it would be for, say, a combat sentinel.

 

Firstly, Scoundrel Healers pick up both a crit % talent AND a % cunning talent in the tree. I am not able to log in at the moment to tell you the exact amount of crit % this contributes, but it is a pretty decent amount. You will get to 25% crit without too much work. However, crit % is NOT something that hits diminishing returns, but actually the crit rating.

 

When people say get around X percentage, it is my impression that it is a lot more ballpark, and subject to class-specifics (and a lot less exact than talking about the actual rating in this way). Keep in mind that at your gear level, getting 300 crit might be a lot more painstaking and unrealistic than it would be at the 78 level.

 

Hope this helps.

Edited by Classicks
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Syrlex

Syrlex

Posted
Posted (edited)

Thank you for taking the time to respond, but before I make big changes to my gear, I would like to see how the numbers would look if I follow your advice. Candidly speaking, I am concerned about taking a big hit to my power and alacrity scores. Maybe my gearing error is large or maybe the risk to correct is large ... it is hard for me to know without commentary from experienced Sawbones players.

 

For me, this means adding about 200-ish crit rating (estimated to be another 3-5% crit%) and about another 100-ish surge rating (estimated to be about a 6% surge boost) at the cost of 200 power and 100 alacrity (putting me below 450 alacrity rating (the 8% target that everyone recommends).

 

My guild are progressing through the early stages of DF and DP HM, and screwing up my gear (devil's advocate approach -- not saying you might be wrong) would be a big problem for the team.

Edited by Syrlex
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Classicks

Classicks

Posted
  • Author
Posted (edited)

I hear you. My stats on my Scoundrel are far from ideal. I am above 325 crit rating and my Surge needs to drop. This is partially due to the fact that I could have better choice of implants (Kell Dragon Power/Surge -- not alacrity) and I don't want to get too many crit/alacrity enhancements in my gear. This not the ideal mark where I would like to be at.

 

I might be the minority here, but it is my personal belief that healing stats should better reflect a person's role in the Ops group. Scoundrels are, in my opinion, the most versatile class of healer. I assume you heal in 8-man, correct? Your stats might be different if you healed with a Sage than it would if you healed with a Commando, for instance.

 

Crit Rating: 153 (25.92% crit chance due to bonuses and buffs)

Surge Rating: 331 (69.13% crit multiplier)

Alacrity Rating: 519 (8.77%)

 

These numbers do not seem too far off for your gear level. If you're worried you don't have enough surge, 1 enhancement is not going to make or break anything. edit: In fact, I probably wouldn't touch surge/alac. You could work in 1 more crit mod or crystal and be good.

 

My guild are progressing through the early stages of DF and DP HM, and screwing up my gear (devil's advocate approach -- not saying you ight be wrong) would be a big problem for the team.

 

I healed on my 72 Commando Healer with almost no alacrity, no set bonuses, and 4 or 5 pieces of accuracy in an alt pug group and still was able to do 3k EHPS in HM DF. Obviously I already had experience in the operation on my Scoundrel, but you get my point - your gear looks good enough for the job. The only thing I might suggest at this juncture would be to add in 1 more crit piece. Maybe other Scoundrels could chime in here.

Edited by Classicks
Link to comment
Share on other sites
SelenaCat

SelenaCat

Posted
Posted

I'm having similar issues when deciding which pieces of 78 gear to buy from the vendors and I find myself eyeing the pieces with crit mods instead, which just seems ... dirty. I'm only using 2 pieces of Arkanian since the +5 energy doesn't seem worth the loss of stats.

 

At this point, I think I'm going to go only with pieces that have power mods (whether Mender or Targetter) and just stick with my Insight 72 mods (crit/alacrity) until I get some drops from HM's. I don't find myself using Diagnostic Scan very often, in part because we overgear the SM's were primarily running, which eliminates one of the major reasons to improve my crit (the HPS difference from "ideal" stats is pretty minimal).

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Classicks

Classicks

Posted
  • Author
Posted
I'm having similar issues when deciding which pieces of 78 gear to buy from the vendors and I find myself eyeing the pieces with crit mods instead, which just seems ... dirty. I'm only using 2 pieces of Arkanian since the +5 energy doesn't seem worth the loss of stats.

 

At this point, I think I'm going to go only with pieces that have power mods (whether Mender or Targetter) and just stick with my Insight 72 mods (crit/alacrity) until I get some drops from HM's. I don't find myself using Diagnostic Scan very often, in part because we overgear the SM's were primarily running, which eliminates one of the major reasons to improve my crit (the HPS difference from "ideal" stats is pretty minimal).

 

That's not a bad idea. Keep in mind that Diagnostic Scan is a very minor reason for initially picking up the crit.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
paowee

paowee

Posted
Posted (edited)

 

First time making one of these. Any feedback/am I missing anything? :rak_02: I intend on updating if there is positive feedback. Thanks for reading!

How about the highest sustainable HPS rotation? I see some videos of Scoundrel healers in PVE who mostly spam instants and HoTs but i believe that gives you very low healing per second compared to rolling hots, diagnostic scan and spamming UW medicine and the small heal + hot ability.

Edited by paowee
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Classicks

Classicks

Posted
  • Author
Posted (edited)
How about the highest sustainable HPS rotation? I see some videos of Scoundrel healers in PVE who mostly spam instants and HoTs but i believe that gives you very low healing per second compared to rolling hots, diagnostic scan and spamming UW medicine and the small heal + hot ability.

 

I would say it really depends from fight to fight and on the group composition. Recognizing those nuances that contribute to success in a boss encounter, using acquire target of focus target to target raid members that could be taking spike damage super quickly (e.g. Heirad's lightning target, Wealthy Buyer's target on Nightmare S&V Olok), cleansing important debuff/dots proactively, etc. is more important imo than any "rotation" from a healing standpoint. It's more of prioritization/anticipation than anything else. I find myself hotting the tanks first and foremost. Beyond that, if you know a raid member will be taking damage soon -- hot them. Healing intensive fight? Hot sage healers so they can mana tap. Some fights you can be more liberal in your hotting if the damage is more widespread. Otherwise, I find more value in precasting your Underworld Medicine on tanks (and cancelling before the cast finishes if you see it being an overheal) and emergency medpacking/kolto packing dps using diagnostic scan as filler. Again, this role may or may not change depending on the other healers in your lineup.

Edited by Classicks
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Classicks

Classicks

Posted
  • Author
Posted
I have been playing scoundrel healer for a very long time also and I agree with everything that you have said in this post I am sure it will help a lot of people, very good job :)

 

Thank you! Appreciate it. I recorded a couple of kills from Brontes/Dread Masters and would like to transition what I've got here into a more comprehensive Scoundrel healing guide if there is interest. Would love to hear your thoughts when/if I do :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Wainamoinen

Wainamoinen

Posted
Posted (edited)
When min/maxing almost never do you want to look at the % rating (for something like crit). What it takes for a Scoundrel Healer to get 25% crit is a lot less than it would be for, say, a combat sentinel.

 

Firstly, Scoundrel Healers pick up both a crit % talent AND a % cunning talent in the tree. I am not able to log in at the moment to tell you the exact amount of crit % this contributes, but it is a pretty decent amount. You will get to 25% crit without too much work. However, crit % is NOT something that hits diminishing returns, but actually the crit rating.

 

I play PvP DPS Scrapper so I can't contribute much to this thread. But I was pleased to read this as it's very good advice and shows that OP understands how gearing works in SWTOR - which together with his attitude in the rest of it means I'd be tempted to listen to him. If I ever went mad and decided I wanted to keep the talentless oafs on my team standing for a second longer than they'd otherwise survive, of course.

 

So I wanted to give a good, helpful thread some props, GJ to OP.

Edited by Wainamoinen
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Classicks

Classicks

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Made a boo-boo on the math with regards to swapping a weapon crystal. Fixed.

 

I was pleased to read this as it's very good advice and shows that OP understands how gearing works in SWTOR - which together with his attitude in the rest of it means I'd be tempted to listen to him.

 

So I wanted to give a good, helpful thread some props, GJ to OP.

 

Thank you!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Holdt

Holdt

Posted
Posted
Can I ask about the crit/ala/surge value. Are they 'feel' values or theorycrafted?

 

There are theorycrafted values out there, with DR curves for every secondary stat - This thread shows the formulas for calculating these values at any level.

The values that OP included in his post are based off these values, but (I believe) based on the best available enhancements to minimize the effect of DR. I.E. These are the actual values you will shoot for based on your gear, though there are more ideal values we won't reach because each mod/enhancement only has a certain amount of stat.

 

To add to the discussion here, alacrity/surge is also somewhat based on your role as a healer and your healing style. My 16m group runs 2 scoundrels and 2 sages, with the scoundrels usually on tanks. As such, I'm typically using more casted abilities (UW/KP) than if I would be assigned to raid healing, where I would use instants (EM/KC/SRM). The more casted abilities you use, the better alacrity becomes. It may not seem like a lot, but .15-.2 seconds off the cast of UM over the course of a 5 minute fight is (at best) 16 more UM casts, which at my average UM is more than 100k more healing. That's a generous estimate, as I won't be chain-casting UM, but it makes the point that I'm going for.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Classicks

Classicks

Posted
  • Author
Posted (edited)

In regards to the previous two posts:

 

Anvira is correct in his/her clarification of the suggested values. Previously theorycrafted ratings suggested upwards of 440 or so alacrity rating to maintain an energy level that provides efficiency for Scoundrels. My gearing was based off of this, and the current availability of stats based on the Dread Forged Tier. Of course, with full 72s this would require like 6 alacrity enhancements which is harder to do. Anvira reiterated some key points that I highlighted earlier; healing is not as exact as mitigation or dps output would be - your healing composition, dps lineup, and Ops size may all affect whether or not you would gear in favor of more alacrity or not. If there are any questions regarding specifics I am sure Anvira or I can help :)

Edited by Classicks
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Darth_Dreselus

Darth_Dreselus

Posted
Posted (edited)

The reason why I'm asking is because of just how well Sage healing stat have been modeled. Essentially, Sages now have the tools to put in their exact healing playstyle as input and get BiS stats as output. In the absence of this (or rather supplementing such data) it is good to look around at the 'feel' values (I say feel but I mean tried and tested values via gameplay).

 

From what I have gathered so far from numerous sources I am inclined towards under 300 crit and 6 Ala and 4 surge enhancements.

Edited by Darth_Dreselus
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Kneecoalwoody

Kneecoalwoody

Posted
Posted

Hello, and thank you for this guide ^^

 

I have a few questions, if you don't mind?

 

What Mods/enhancements do you use? I know you put down which stats, but I'm looking for the name. (Example: Deft, Agile, etc.)

 

If you could list the types you have, as well as the number of them, that would be great. :) (Example: 6 Deft mods, 3 Skill, etc.)

 

And with the new relics out, do you still suggest BA/SA? I know as a sentinel we lean more towards 2 procable ones for higher numbers, even though we used to use the BA/SA.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
EnderSeventyFour

EnderSeventyFour

Posted
Posted (edited)
Hello, and thank you for this guide ^^

 

I have a few questions, if you don't mind?

 

What Mods/enhancements do you use? I know you put down which stats, but I'm looking for the name. (Example: Deft, Agile, etc.)

 

If you could list the types you have, as well as the number of them, that would be great. :) (Example: 6 Deft mods, 3 Skill, etc.)

For Mods: Artful (Cunning / Power) and Keen (Cunning / Crit)

For Enhancement: Quick Savant (Power / Alacrity), Insight (Crit / Alacrity), Adept (Power / Surge)

 

Unoptimized gear will give you:

Mods: 3 Keens (Head, Hands, Feet), 6 Artful (Torso, Legs, Belt, Bracers, both weapons)

Enhancements: 4 Adept (Torso, Legs, both weapons) , 3 Insight (Head, Hands, Feet)

 

If I'm not mistaken he recommends to switch one Insight and one Adept for Quick Savant enhancements

 

In the end, you have:

  • Barrels: 2 Skill
  • Armorings: 7 Skill
  • Mods: 3 Keen, 6 Artful
  • Enhancements: 3 Adept, 2 Insight, 2 Quick Savant
  • Augments: 14 Skill

 

Optimizing this way is "relatively easy" because Quick Savant Enhancements can be bought with comms (Jedi Knight vendor). That is also what I have planned, but I'm really far from reaching this goal.

Edited by EnderSeventyFour
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Classicks

Classicks

Posted
  • Author
Posted (edited)

Pretty much this. However 3 Keen and 2 insight would leave you at over 330 crit so I believe it actually was a replacement of 2 insight, not 1 insight and 1 adept, for the 2 quick savant.

 

In terms of relics, it is hard to say which one would be better long-term. I guess if you were to view the healing challenge on the 4th boss of DP as a "healing dummy" the Dread Forged main stat + Dread Forged power would come out on top. However, healing is extremely variable so I tend to stick with my go-to BA/SA. Some fights I could easily see myself going the more passive route, though.

Edited by Classicks
Link to comment
Share on other sites
 Share
Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...