Introduction

Updated for 1.2

Do you like really big guns? Does laying down a lethal storm of fire and then healing any of your allies dumb enough to step in front of a lightsaber sound like fun? Well then, the Combat medic may just be the AC for you.

 

One of the things they did really well in this game was to allow you to heal without sacrificing too much dps. None of the Trooper trees, Vanguard or Commando, has any talents to boost the damage of our AoE abilities. That means you, as a healer, can lay down just as much AoE damage as any other Commando.

 

This ability to put out huge AOE damage, and decent single target damage, makes leveling a Combat Medic so much more fun than the pain we are used to seeing with leveling healers. We also have a new resource mechanic that is more interesting than the standard, tired, giant mana pool mechanic we are all used to from every game before.

 

I've seen a lot of questions in general and guild chat, and no sticky post with answers, so I figured it was about time we started getting one together. This guide endeavors to answer most standard questions and help a new Combat Medic get off to a good start.

 

Combat Medics saw some major changes in the 1.2 Patch, and the implications will be addressed in their relevant sections.

 

Table of Contents

1. Abbreviations
   
2. Ammo
   
3. Abilities
   
4. Skill Tree Builds
   
5. Stats
   
6. Stat Priorities
   
7. Alacrity
   
8. Gear
   
9. Rotations and Strategies
   
10. FAQs
    
11. Links
    
12. Contributors
    
13. Professions
    
14. Companions (Coming Soonish)
    
15. Theorycrafting
    
16. Stat Calculator (1.1.5 version. I will post an update when I get the 1.2 version working)
    

 

Abbreviations

• CM: Combat Medic
  
• AP: Advanced Medical Probe
  
• MP: Medical Probe
  
• SCC: Supercharge Cells
  
• CSC: Combat Support Cells
  
• BI: Bacta Infusion
  
• KB: Kolto Bomb
  
• TP: Trauma Probe
  
• HS: Hammer Shot
  
• CB: Charged Bolt
  
• HIB: High Impact Bolt
  
• FA: Full Auto
  
• RC: Recharge Cells
  
• ARPS: Ammo Regenerated Per Second (gained)
  
• APS: Ammo Per Second (spent)
  

 

Ammo

 

Ammo is our resource mechanic, and deserves a section to discuss how it works. You have 12 ammo, and using most abilities costs some ammo. A few are free. Ammo regenerates on its own, at a rate tied to how much ammo you already have. The more ammo you have, the faster it regenerates. This means you generally want to stay as conservative as possible to stay in the high regen range.

 

Very Slow: 0-3 Ammo. 0.24 ARPS

Moderate: 3-8 Ammo. 0.36 ARPS

Fast: 8-12 Ammo. 0.60 ARPS

 

Note: It is worth mentioning here that our regen windows are 0-25%, 25%-67%, and 67%-100%. Compare this to the resource windows for our mirror, the Mercenary, which are 0-20%, 21-60%, and 61%-100%. This means that Heat is actually easier to manage than Ammo, so if you aren't dedicated to a faction yet, it is worth thinking about.

 

We do have a couple of abilities to help with this.

 

[*]Recharge Cells: Instant. 2 minute cooldown. Restores 6 ammo over 3 seconds. When talented, 2 additional cells recharge instantly.

 

[*]Supercharge Cells: Instant. 1.50 seconds. Among its other effects, instantly recharges 1 cell. Requires 30 charges of Combat Support Cell. This ability was changed in 1.2. The ammo return was reduced to 1 Ammo from the old value of 2, and the benefits of the other ability effects were also reduced. More on the implications later.

 

Abilities

 

Medical Probe: 3 Ammo. 2 second cast. Standard Heal.

 

Advanced Medical Probe: 2 Ammo. 1.5 second cast. 9 second cooldown. This heal is slightly weaker than MP, but it is your core heal. Once talented it not only heals, it also increases the target's armor, adds our only HoT, and reduces the cost of the next MP to 2 Ammo. That means for 4 Ammo (the cost as MP + 1) and a slightly longer cast time, you get the heal from AP, the heal from MP, the heal from the HoT, and the decreased damage intake from the armor boost. Not a bad deal.

 

Bacta Infusion: Free. Instant. 21 second cooldown. Huge free heal limited only by its cooldown. 21 seconds is pretty short. Use it early, use it often!

 

Trauma Probe: 2 Ammo. Instant. No Cooldown. Free reactive heal. This puts 10 charges of a shield on a target, and every time the target takes damage they get healed. It isn't a large heal per charge, but it's free and it adds up substantially over time. This ability used to be free, and was a great ability for the cost. I have run simulations refreshing this only when you are already at 12 Ammo, and again refreshing it whenever all the charges are used up and you are at 10 Ammo or above (so it doesn't put you below 8). The verdict: only use TP if you are at 12 Ammo and don't need to cast anything else at the moment, otherwise the Ammo cost leads to a 4% loss in max sustainable HPS.

 

Kolto Bomb: 2 Ammo. Instant. 6 second cooldown. Our only AoE heal. Limited to only heal 4 targets, but has a low cooldown. Talented, it also provides a 3% buff to healing received. Patch 1.2 increased the number of targets from 3 to 4, but reduced the buff from 5% to 3%. Kolto Bomb doesn't heal the 4 most injured, it heals the 4 closest to the center of the targeting circle, so getting it to hit the 4 people who need it most in a cluster during Operations is generally impossible. The increase in target-cap does increase the odds of healing the people who need it, though, and makes AoE healing in FPs easier as well.

 

Field Aid: 1 Ammo. Cures Physical and Tech Effects. With the Psych Aid skill it also cures Mental effects and provides a (very) small heal.

 

Hammer Shot: Free. Instant. No cooldown. When using Combat Support Cells as your ammo type, you can use this to target people as a very small heal while letting ammo regen.

 

Skill Tree Builds

 

SWTOR skill trees are all pretty straightforward, without a lot in the way of options, so this build shouldn't be much of a surprise.

 

Standard PvE Build w/ Muzzle Fluting.

Standard PvE Build w/o Muzzle Fluting

No Alacrity Build

 

I highly recommend taking Muzzle Fluting. The changes to Charged Bolt make it free during SCC now by default, so the faster cast time lets you fit more of them in during SCC. With the increase in Ammo costs for AP/MP spam, you can't afford to spam it as much during SCC, so weaving in Charged Bolts will help you maintain Ammo and meet enrage timers.

 

The increase in Ammo costs also re-raises the concern about Alacrity interaction with Effective Cost. Some more modeling needs to be done to assess that answer properly, but the No Alacrity Build may help if you are having trouble with Ammo management.

 

Optional Skills in the above build are discussed below. If a skill isn't mentioned, it is pretty much essential and there is no reason you should ever not take it.

• Psych Aid. Cleansing debuffs is currently not a significant part of any fights, and the healing debuff in PvP can no longer be cleansed. That said, there really aren't any other options at this level, so you might as well.
  
• Muzzle Fluting. Free Charged Bolts will help you with Ammo management during SCC, and making it faster helps ensure you can fit that last AP or KB in before SCC expires. This used to be optional, but it is now highly recommended.
  
• Cell Capacitor. Ammo management is now for less forgiving, so you should be taking these.
  
• Treated Wound Dressings. The less damage you take, the less you or another healer has to heal you. A dead healer saves no one.
  
• Med Zone. Viable alternative to Treated Wound Dressings. Increased self-heals when you need them most.
  
• Combat Shield. Great for PvP, but more importantly makes sure you get that self-heal off when you really need it. I don't put points here, but it is a good alternative to Treated Wound Dressings, or Muzzle Fluting if you really don't want to take it.
  
• Trauma Probe. Far less useful now that it costs 2 Ammo. I recommend still taking it and only casting it when you have 12 Ammo. Pre-casting it, however, can add trouble with initial aggro from adds at the start of a fight, so it is possible you may find yourself using this ability very rarely. Not a lot of other good options, though.
  

 

I have seen a lot of hate towards Kolto Bomb, and some of it is warranted. Per person, and correcting for cooldowns and duration, KB heals for 52% of the HPS of Sage's Salvation. Capped at 4 players, this means we can AoE heal for half of what a Sage can in 4-man content, but if we want to cover 8 people in an Operation, we can only do 26% of a Sage. On the other hand, we can cast it on the move, and it is cheap enough to be used nearly every cooldown. KB is absolutely worth taking, especially as we have no other AoE options and single-target healing 8 people is not Ammo efficient anymore.

 

Stats

 

The only stats you should be concerned with are Aim, Surge, Critical, Power, and Alacrity. Endurance comes for free, so don't worry about it, and the other stats are for other classes.

 

Aim: Provides increases to ranged damage and critical chance, tech damage and critical chance, and healing power and critical chance. Note healing critical chance IS tech critical chance. Simply stated twice to make it clear Aim increases healing critical chance.

 

Critical Rating increases the chance you will have a critical effect from damage or healing abilities. This increases the effect by 50% plus the bonus from your Surge rating.

 

Surge rating increases the bonus on critical effects.

 

Power increases the base damage/healing of your abilities. Power affects all of your abilities, Tech Power is exactly the same, but only benefits Tech abilities, such as healing.

 

Alacrity makes cast times faster. Cast time abilities cast faster. Channeled abilities take less total time, with the ticks coming faster. Unlike in some other games, this does not increase the number of ticks of any HoT/DoT abilities or the rate they tick. This also is the only stat with negatives associated, specifically it makes abilities more expensive. This happens because an ability with a cast or channel time has an Effective Cost that increases as the ability casts faster, defined as:

 

(Effective Cost) = (Base Cost) - (Resources Regenerated While Casting)

 

By casting faster, you decrease the Resources Regenerated, resulting in a higher Effective Cost. This can make chain casting more costly, and cause you to drop into medium regen with a high alacrity build when the same casting rotation would not have done so in a low alacrity build. Previous to 1.2, this was offset by the increase in free time where you could recharge, but with lowered throughput in 1.2 it remains to be seen if there will be sufficient free time to support high alacrity builds.

 

Stat Priorities

 

I am currently rebuilding my Combat Medic Simulator, and I will upload the program and source code once it is completed.

 

For now, I will just give general recommendations. Aim generally comes free with no tradeoff options. Otherwise, current modification and enhancement options give the decisions of Power vs Crit and Surge vs Alacrity.

 

Until I can get the new simulator fully functional, I will simply recommend getting your crit to ~30-35%, then Power > Crit. Surge > Alacrity, although it hits stiff DR penalties once you start getting above 200 Surge Rating. Above that, you can experiment with Alacrity and see how it treats you.

 

I will provide better recommendations once more post-1.2 data is available.

 

Alacrity

 

I will provide more guidance on Alacrity post-1.2 once we have more data and modeling available. For now, my instinct says that we won't have the downtime necessary to make the speed vs power trade-off we made in 1.2 for successful high-Alacrity builds. Until more data is available, I recommend focusing on making your heals hit as hard as possible, not as fast as possible.

 

Gear

Obviously, I'm not going to make a Best in Slot list, as those are annoying to keep up.

 

However, crafted gear is worth addressing. When you RE green crafted gear, it can gain one of three prefixes: Redoubt (+defense), Critical (+crit) or Overkill (+power). If you RE those blues, they can gain one of five second stats: Presence, Shield, Alacrity, Surge, and Accuracy. Presence only boosts your companions, and is useless in group play. Based on the above stat priorities, it can be seen that only two combinations are of any value.

 

Expert Gear: Power + Surge

Endowment Gear: Critical + Surge

 

Since the power vs crit debate is still open and will likely be a matter of preference even after the math is in, I'm not going to make a call about which of those two to use, but obviously there is better synergy with the Endowment gear. Take whichever works better for you.

 

As of Patch 1.2, you can get crafted orange gear with augment slots. You should be pulling the armoring, mods, and enhancements out of your set gear and putting them in these crafted orange items with a +Power augment.

 

Rotations and Strategies

 

We are going to have to make some adjustments in 1.2 from how we played before.

 

First, the basics:

• Always use Combat Support Cell as your Ammo type.
  
• Before any fight, pre-stack 30 charges of CSC by firing Hammer Shot at your allies.
  

 

Now for some specific issues:

 

• Trauma Probe:
  Trauma Probe has always had a problem with early aggro. If you pre-cast it on a tank, when they pull, the first damage they take will trigger TP, and any adds the tank hasn't hit yet will turn and start attacking you. Pre-1.2, we worked around this by waiting to cast it until after the pull. Post-1.2, TP costs 2 Ammo, and the early moments of a pull before any of the smaller adds die tends to be when there is the most damage. You can't afford to cast TP after the first AP/MP combo, that will drop you into medium regen.
   
  You can see the problem. When should you actually cast it?
  
  • pre-cast on boss fights
    
  • pre-cast on trash if you know the tank can pick up all the adds quickly
    
  • pre-cast on trash if you actually want some of them shooting at you for a few seconds to reduce damage on a poorly geared tank. This can work well in a PUG, but it's risky.
    
  • Cast during a boss fight if you are at 12 Ammo and have no need for a "real heal" at the moment.
    
  • Cast during trash only if you are at 12 Ammo, don't need a better heal, and think the fight will last 30s so all the charges are gone before the next trash pull.
    

   

  [*]Supercharge Cells:

  Supercharge Cells got hit pretty hard in 1.2. The Ammo return got cut in half, as did the healing done bonus (from 10% to 5%). SCC shined before partly because it removed the cooldown on AP, and AP/MP spam was so efficient. In 1.2, AP/MP costs 33% more, and you, frankly, can't afford to spam it like before.

   

  Let's first look at the implications on the % healing change. Let's look at what happens if you used SCC every time you hit 30 Charges of CSC. It takes 15s to build up 30 Charges of SCC using HS. During that time, your % bonus is ramping up, from 0%-3%, and the average over the period is 1.65%. SCC lasts 10s, 13s with the PvE set bonus. So let's look at what the average % increase is over 25-28s pre- and post-1.2:

   

  Pre-1.2:

  No Set Bonus: (15*1.65+10*10)/25 = 4.99%

  Set Bonus: (15*1.65+13*10)/28 = 5.52%

   

  Post-1.2:

  No Set Bonus: (15*1.65+10*5)/25 = 2.99%

  Set Bonus: (15*1.65+13*5)/28 = 3.20%

   

  As you can see, it was beneficial to use SCC as often as possible before, even if you didn't need it for AP/MP spam or the KB shield. Now, the increased healing buff only cancels out the loss from having to rebuild the stacks, and you would be just as well off maintaining 30 CSC and holding onto the 3% buff, saving SCC for when you really need it.

   

  Note: SpaniardInfinity reported back with early results of the new Operation, Explosive Conflict. He found that Ammo management was sufficiently tight he had no choice but to use SCC every time it was available for the 1 Ammo returned. He would pop SCC, cast AP/MP/AP and then manually click off the SCC buff so the next MP would generate 6 CSC charges and allow him to use SCC again sooner.

   

  This strategy completely negates the 2pc set bonus, decreases your average healing bonus % from CSC/SCC to a mere 2.46%, and largely prevents the use of SCC for the utility of KB's DR shield (the strength of which was cut in half anyway). However, with all of the reductions to our Ammo efficiency in this patch, it may be that this is how we are forced to play.

   

  [*]Kolto Bomb:

  Kolto Bomb is tricky, with its lack of smart-healing it can be really frustrating to toss this into a group during an Operation and see it heal everyone but the 2-4 targets you wanted it to heal most. It is, however, instant, so it can be used on the run. I like to keep nameplates on and try and toss this out a lot as we move in the direction of the lowest nameplates.

   

  Pre-1.2, the KB shield during SCC was amazing. It provided a flat 10% Damage Reduction, for 15s. At 10%, this was absolutely worth popping SCC for before a single predictable spike, even if the rest of the SCC duration would be spent on DPS or moving and unable to heal. At 5%, you should remember that this tool is in your bag, but it isn't nearly as effective as it used to be. This is a proactive ability, it only works if you can get it on the player before they take damage. It works quite well on bosses with spike phases like Gharj's Frenzy, Foreman Crusher, and even, with some coordination effort, to help shield players on Soa's Lightning Balls.

 

 

Frequently Asked Questions

Questions in this thread will get added here if it seems appropriate.

 

Links

 

Contributors

Sheridyn - error corrections to the skill calculator

Lileth - an alternate build and pvp advice

Dashall - PvP advice

Proctor - assumption corrections and GCD information

Raani, maxbaby, Moobi, and Serialx for testing of the C++ calculator

Edited April 13, 2012 by RuQu

Professions

 

Biochem.

 

Currently, endgame, biochem is the only profession with any real benefit. You can do any other profession you want, but just be aware that, currently, the benefits of Biochem are known to far outweigh it.

 

The Devs have said that the reusable stims and adrenals will be phased out over time. They will remain in game, but they will not be adding more powerful versions, so they will eventually be obsolete.

 

Patch 1.2 improved the end-game desirability of the other crafting professions. I will update this section soon when I have more info.

 

Theorycrafting

1. Tionese Gear Stats
   
2. Constants
   
3. General Formulas
   
4. Simplified Formulas
   
5. Calculated Tionese Values
   
6. Ammo Neutrality
   

 

Many formulas for the game's mechanics have already been sorted out over at Sithwarrior.com. To date they don't have a thread containing what we need to know, so I am going to leverage this formula list to help us.

 

Tionese Gear Stats

We should also settle on some constants so we all use the same numbers. From that Sithwarrior.com site they list base stats at level 50. All we really care about are

 

Cunning: 100

Aim: 250

 

For calculation in this thread, I propose we assume someone is geared at the Tionese level, the first tier of epic gear.

 

I summed the stats for Tionese Combat Medic Gear. I separated out secondary stats that were on removable mods.

 

• Total Aim: 959
  
• Total Endurance: 900
  
• Fixed Power: 36
  
• Mod Power: 118
  
• Fixed Crit: 175
  
• Mod Crit: 104
  
• Fixed Surge: 40
  
• Mod Surge: 0
  
• Fixed Alacrity: 120
  
• Mod Alacrity: 242
  

 

 

This brings our base stats to 100 Cunning and 1209 Aim.

 

The moddable secondary stats total 464 rating points.

 

Assumed Constants for Theorycrafting

Level: 50

Cunning: 100

Aim: 1209

Rating Point Budget: 464

Crit from skills: 9%

Alacrity from skills: 9% Assuming 100% First Responder uptime. Can be revised later.

 

The following values (from Torhead.com) are used in the first equations below to calculate the value of heals. Since I don't think I can make a table here the format will be as follows:

 

Ability : Coefficient : StandardHealthPercentMin : StandardHealthPercentMax : Standard Health

• AP : 1.94 : 0.077 : 0.117 : 6485
  
• MP : 2.72 : 0.116 : 0.156 : 6735
  
• TP : 0.481 : 0.022 : 0.026 : 7085
  
• BI : 2.28 : 0.084 : 0.144 : 7085
  
• KB : 1.08 : 0.034 : 0.074 : 7085
  
• HS : 1.00 (hammer shot is special. It heals for 100% bonus healing only)
  

 

General Formulas

Selected formulas we care about:

 

Ability Healing Min = Coefficient * HealingBonus + StandardHealthPercentMin * StandardHealth

 

Ability Healing Max = Coefficient * HealingBonus + StandardHealthPercentMax * StandardHealth

 

Aim Healing Bonus = Aim * 0.14

 

Tech Power Healing Bonus = Tech Power * 0.17

 

Power Healing Bonus = Power * 0.17

 

Crit Chance % = 5 + CritFromSkills + 30 * ( 1 - ( 1 - ( 0.01 / 0.3 ) )^( ( PrimaryStat / max(Level,20) ) / 2.5 ) ) + 30 * ( 1 - ( 1 - ( 0.01 / 0.3 ) )^( ( CritRating / max(Level,20) ) / 0.45 ) ) + 30 * ( 1 - ( 1 - ( 0.01 / 0.3 ) )^( ( SecondaryStat / max(Level,20) ) / 2.5 ) )

 

Crit Size % = 50 + 50 * ( 1 - ( 1 - ( 0.01 / 0.5 ) )^( ( SurgeRating / max(Level,20) ) / 0.1 ) )

 

Activation Speed = CastingTime * ( 1 - ( %AlacrityFromSkillsAndBuffs / 100 ) - 0.3 * ( 1 - ( 1 - ( 0.01 / 0.3 ) )^( ( AlacrityRating / max(Level,20) ) / 0.55 ) ) )

 

Simplified Formulas

 

General forms of equations are great, and the thread on Sithwarrior.com I linked above is worth reading for those interested. I'm going to leave the above formulas for reference, but also reduce them using some of our assumed constants listed above to make them easier for people to work with and read.

 

Aim Healing Bonus = Aim * 0.14

 

Tech Power Healing Bonus = Tech Power * 0.17

 

Power Healing Bonus = Power * 0.17

 

Crit Chance % = 23.19 + 30 * ( 1 - ( 1 - ( 0.01 / 0.3 ) )^( ( CritRating / 50 ) / 0.45 ) )

 

Crit Size % = 50 + 50 * ( 1 - ( 1 - ( 0.01 / 0.5 ) )^( ( SurgeRating / 50 ) / 0.1 ) )

 

Activation Speed = CastingTime * ( 1 - .09 - 0.3 * ( 1 - ( 1 - ( 0.01 / 0.3 ) )^( ( AlacrityRating / 50 ) / 0.55 ) ) )

 

For the healing abilities, the constants are given above, and the only part of the equation that is variable is bonus healing. For our purposes we are only going to use the average of the min/max, so, with (BonusHealing=BH) the equations can be simplified to:

 

AP = BH*1.94 + 629.05

MP = BH*2.72 + 915.96

TP = BH*0.481 + 170.04

BI = BH*2.28 + 807.69

KB = BH*1.08 + 382.59

HS = BH

 

Calculated Tionese Values

Using the values and formulas above, the following are calculated if you were in full Tionese gear:

 

Bonus Healing: 195.44

Crit Chance: 33.49%

Crit Size: 72.46%

 

Medical Probe Cast Time: 1.60 seconds

Adv. Med. Probe Cast Time: 1.20 seconds

 

Using all of the above equations and constants, bonus healing and alacrity reduced cast times, we can calculate average healing values and Healing per Second (HPS) and Healing per Second per Ammo (HPSA) values. For now, HPA is just divided by given ammo value with free treated as 1 to avoid divide by zero issues. I'm open for suggestions on how to express efficiency (HPSA) that factors in regen. For TP, KB, and HS values are given for 1 target and 10 (TP) or 4(KB) targets in parentheses. Note that for TP, the single charge value is the HPS, and the () value is actually the HPCT.

 

AP: 1008.2 Avg, 838HPS, 419HPSA

MP: 1447.6 Avg, 902HPS, 301HPSA

MPFT: 1447.6 Avg, 902HPS, 451HPSA

KB: 593.6 (2374.4) Avg, 396 (1584) HPS, 198 (792) HPSA

TP: 264.04 (2640.4) Avg, 176 (1760)HPS, 88 (880) HPSA

BI: 1253.29 Avg, 836HPS

HS: 195.44 Avg, 130 HPS

 

As you can see, TP is highly efficient if allowed to use all 10 charges, and when geared MP heals for more the AP, so AP/MP cycles provide greater HPS than AP spam during SCC, while maintaining sustainable efficiency. If you can hit three targets, KB is greater HPS than any of the other heals, and more efficient than AP, and comparable to the efficiency of AP/MP combos (583HPSA). These values support the rotation advice given in the first post.

 

Ammo Neutrality

Staying Ammo Neutral means to use the same amount of ammo in a given period as you regen.

 

AP/MP/(HS/BI)/HS costs 2/2/0/0 Ammo, and takes 1.5/2/1.5/1.5 seconds to cast (including GCD on HS/BI), for a total cost of 4 Ammo over 6.5 seconds. At 8+ ammo, we regen 0.60 Ammo per second, for a total of 3.9 Ammo over 6.5 seconds. Note that this rotation is still not Ammo Neutral, whereas pre-1.2, AP/MP/HS was exactly neutral and took 1.5s less time.

Edited April 12, 2012 by RuQu

I converted the original Google Docs spreadsheet to C++ and put it up on Google Code. I will try and post in this thread as I make updates to the program.

 

The original form of this calculator was this spreadsheet. I am no longer updating it, but it is left up for reference and interest.

 

 

Enter your stats, important skill choices, and buffs at the top. Then there are 3 buttons of importance.

 

Stat Weights

1. Click the Calculate Stat Weights button
   

 

Upgrade Comparison

1. Enter the NET changes of 1-2 peices of gear in the Upgrade Calculator Section of the "Stats" Sheet
   
2. If the HPS increases, that item is an upgrade over your current gear.
   
3. If you entered two items, a field will display which produces the larger HPS increase.
   

 

Rotational Adjustments

1. Adjust the thresholds for when you use Recharge Cells and Full Price (3 Ammo) Medical Probe, and Adv. Probe during SCC.
   
2. These changes apply to all calculations.
   
3. 
   

 

What do the weights mean?

Power is the only stat that doesn't have diminishing returns, so all stats are given a value relative to Power (PPE, points power equivalent). If something has a value greater than one, that means it is better than power. If it is less than 1, it is worse than power.

 

Sometime alacrity might go negative due to strange interactions with alacrity and the rotations. See additional discussion on alacrity.

 

if you choose to use the Upgrade Calculator, you never need to look at these values, but many people prefer to have an idea of their stat weights, for which the PPE values are the most useful.

 

What are the assumptions?

This assumes an intensive healing situation where you use SCC whenever you can, and spam AP/MP while SCC is up, assuming you have the ammo for it. The minimum ammo for casting AP during SCC is adjustable. Outside of SCC, Priority is AP>BI>MP(with buff)>MP(unbuffed with ammo above adjustable threshold)>HS. Recharge Cells is used whenever it is off of cooldown and you have less than or equal to an adjustable amount of Ammo.

Edited April 12, 2012 by RuQu

PVP

 

I don't PvP. Ever, really. So, on that note, I am going to include here advice from other posters.

 

By Dashall:

As for PvP a few things I've found in my experience at lvl 50, valor rank 40:

 

- Try and keep a low profile. Use Hammershot if you need to but the big green beam is an attention grabber. Shooting a guy right next to you is preferable to pewpewing the guy across the room.

 

- You're going to get jumped, know what you're going to do if that happens. Reactive shield, medpac, bacta, trauma probe, adrenal, adrenaline, recharge cells, relics, scc + kolto, concussion charge, cryo, concussive + tech override... so much you can do. Stabilize, get yourself someplace to LoS whoever is on you, get to some friendlies.

 

- Dont over-react. Know your character. Is he 50 with 500+ expertise? Dont pop all your cd's on a level 10 who just force leaped on you. Some sorc shooting lightning at you? Cryo and LoS around a pillar. Geared Operative just unstealthed, knocked you down and crit you for 8k? PANIC! Or at least take it seriously.

 

- COMBAT Medic: You can do damage! If everyone is stable, unload on the bad guys. Preventative medicine is the best kind. Mortar Volley, Pulse Cannon, nades, hammershot... I personally love to Stockstrike people, typically hits for 2k and I get a lot of kill shots with it. I normally do about 100k damage 200k heals or thereabouts. I find this more useful than spamming redundant heals. So long as nobody on my team dies, bring the pain.

 

By Lileth:

PVP as a commando (Rank 55) I never use hammer shot to heal anyone. Ever. Use Bacta, Kolto while on the run. And hammer shot the enemies, which iscreases your damage numbers / kills for more medals.

 

-- Getting attacked by a operative from stealth. As soon as my face hits the pavement, I start spamming Concussive Charge. Consussive Charge down, use Cyro Grenade. (Don't be a keyboard turner you have to face them fast)Then Bacta while on the run AWAY from them followed by Kolto Bomb. Start strafe kitting them and laugh. Finish up with a Stock Strike to their face for the killing blow. I tend to Stock Strike kill allot of people because It makes me laugh.

Edited January 21, 2012 by RuQu

Pretty much the standard from what I've had with my healing experience, and that build is exactly my trooper's build. It's like you reached into my brain and pulled my methods and build from my memory. Good guide.

Thank you for taking time to put this together. I started a new trooper and this helps a ton.

Thank you for taking time to put this together. I started a new trooper and this helps a ton.

 

Thanks. Helping folks like you out are why we make these.

You dont build charges while SCC is active, or it would completely op'd. Trauma probe is an aggro magnet (so a bad idea putting in a tank before he pulls, as you will aggro all the mobs when the first charge ticks) and usually worthless.

 

Commandos are the worst of the 3 healers, but not by that much. Kolto bomb needs a little buff (at least 1 more target affected by it, and a bit more nominal healing) and trauma probe could use a revamp, making it either group based similar to what it was in the beta.

 

We might be the best single target healer, but as far as I've seen, there is not much need for us. It is usually more group damage fights and we lack the tools for it right now.

You dont build charges while SCC is active, or it would completely op'd. Trauma probe is an aggro magnet (so a bad idea putting in a tank before he pulls, as you will aggro all the mobs when the first charge ticks) and usually worthless.

 

This is wrong. Always re-up trama probe on the tank between every battle. It will make your life MUCH easier.

 

I do agree that when a boss is putting out tons of Aoe we are in badddddd shape. But I do love the fact that we're in heavy armor. Even if we catch aggro we can take a beating.

 

Also you left out one important thing in this guide. GET BIOCHEM! Being able to craft reusable med packs that are instant and heal huge amounts meaning you can save your ammo for your team are life saving. Not to mention you can craft adrenals that boost healing through the roof for 15 seconds for emergencys.

You dont build charges while SCC is active, or it would completely op'd. Trauma probe is an aggro magnet (so a bad idea putting in a tank before he pulls, as you will aggro all the mobs when the first charge ticks) and usually worthless.

 

Commandos are the worst of the 3 healers, but not by that much. Kolto bomb needs a little buff (at least 1 more target affected by it, and a bit more nominal healing) and trauma probe could use a revamp, making it either group based similar to what it was in the beta.

 

We might be the best single target healer, but as far as I've seen, there is not much need for us. It is usually more group damage fights and we lack the tools for it right now.

 

I just tested, and you are correct we do not gain charges while SCC is active. I will correct that.

 

While my guild isn't running Ops yet, I disagree about Trauma Probe. In flashpoints TP has been highly effective for me, and I have not had any problems with aggro on me.

 

Healing aggro is 50% of damage aggro. It is unclear if that is spread evenly to all mobs in range or not, but TP heals, per charge for about 1/10 of a MP. The tank should be opening with a snap aoe aggro ability anyway, which should massively outweigh the aggro from the small heal of TP.

Yeah, Trauma Probe is an important part of your toolkit and should be up on your main healing target (usually the tank) all the time... It makes keeping your main healing target alive that much easier. I've never pulled aggro becuase of it, I usually only pull aggro on loose mobs.

shameless bump

RuQu, Thanks for starting this thread and keeping it going. Lvl 42 Commando here, same spec as you outlined in your original post. I haven't run many flashpoints since Hammer Station so that being noted:

 

Currently I'm currently running the lvl 40 PVP RB-15 gear with power as the focus.

Previously I wasn't running a set of armor, but the focus with attachments was crit.

 

Now the set of armor could make a difference, however I feel that aim > power > crit > surge allows me to not scramble nearly as much as I did with the armor I put together that focused on crit. again, this could also be the difference between a 'set' and a piecemeal conglomeration.

 

With my current set, toss a few heals out, set the medical probe on someone, target the mob or enemy we're focusing on, hammer shot the mob/enemy a bit, repeat heals. I don't trigger Super Charge cells unless I REALLY need to get a bunch of players back up in health. I don't have a problem managing ammo, although occasionally I've felt the need to use recharge.

 

TL;DR - I guess you can put me in the group that likes to have power higher than crit on the greater than scale.

RuQu this is a great guide to start. Allow me to add some raid experience.

 

Power> Alacrity > Crit > Surge.

 

Currently my guild runs 3x8 man raids. 16 aren't worth it right now as 8 man's drop the same loot. 16's just drop more...of the same loot.

 

We are currently EV 4/5 Hardmood and Hutt 1/1 Hardmode. We would be 5/5 but SOA buggs on us everytime it seems with lightning ball going underground and zapping someone. It's hard to avoid if you can't see it and enrage timer comes fast. I'll update after we kill the 4 new bosses going into Hutt tonight to see if other mechanics may change my thoughts.

 

In my experience and opinion HPS (Heals per second) are what matter the most. The reason being is you have to keep the raid over 50% health at most of the time. Most bosses are Huge incoming burst, followed by a brief rest period. You will spam MP allot. There is no way around this as you can't wait for AMP, and saving Bacta for when you need to burst heal someone back up, like after they have been thrown around the room. Saving SCC for when the next incoming burst happens.

 

The last 10% of the 1st Droid boss in EV is a prime example of OMG we are all going to die.

 

Also, the set bonuses on Combat Medic Gear Reduces cooldown of AMP (1.5 second reduction) and Bacta Infustion (3 second reduction) as well as the increased duration of SCC, make it a much more attractive set to pick up. Swapping mod's could be an option however, I don't have 2 full sets of Rakkata yet or enough level 58 mods to try this as much.

 

I also have 8 stupid epic relics that i can do some testing with if needed. Yes 8...

RuQu, Thanks for starting this thread and keeping it going. Lvl 42 Commando here, same spec as you outlined in your original post. I haven't run many flashpoints since Hammer Station so that being noted:

 

Currently I'm currently running the lvl 40 PVP RB-15 gear with power as the focus.

Previously I wasn't running a set of armor, but the focus with attachments was crit.

 

Now the set of armor could make a difference, however I feel that aim > power > crit > surge allows me to not scramble nearly as much as I did with the armor I put together that focused on crit. again, this could also be the difference between a 'set' and a piecemeal conglomeration.

 

With my current set, toss a few heals out, set the medical probe on someone, target the mob or enemy we're focusing on, hammer shot the mob/enemy a bit, repeat heals. I don't trigger Super Charge cells unless I REALLY need to get a bunch of players back up in health. I don't have a problem managing ammo, although occasionally I've felt the need to use recharge.

 

TL;DR - I guess you can put me in the group that likes to have power higher than crit on the greater than scale.

 

I just ran a test using the set stats given in the theory crafting section(basically full Tionese). Adding 1 crit rating averages to the equivalent of 0.1004 Bonus Healing. Adding 1 Power adds, as expected since it is linear, 0.17 bonus healing PLUS 0.0987 from the increased size of your crits, for a total of 0.2687 Bonus Healing gained from Power. Once I get a better handle on the healing spell coefficients and can model those better I might reevaluate, but it looks like, in full Tionese, Power is 2.67 times better than crit. I don't have time to do it right now, but I'll try and update the theory section and the stats section accordingly.

RuQu this is a great guide to start. Allow me to add some raid experience.

 

Power> Alacrity > Crit > Surge.

 

Currently my guild runs 3x8 man raids. 16 aren't worth it right now as 8 man's drop the same loot. 16's just drop more...of the same loot.

 

We are currently EV 4/5 Hardmood and Hutt 1/1 Hardmode. We would be 5/5 but SOA buggs on us everytime it seems with lightning ball going underground and zapping someone. It's hard to avoid if you can't see it and enrage timer comes fast. I'll update after we kill the 4 new bosses going into Hutt tonight to see if other mechanics may change my thoughts.

 

In my experience and opinion HPS (Heals per second) are what matter the most. The reason being is you have to keep the raid over 50% health at most of the time. Most bosses are Huge incoming burst, followed by a brief rest period. You will spam MP allot. There is no way around this as you can't wait for AMP, and saving Bacta for when you need to burst heal someone back up, like after they have been thrown around the room. Saving SCC for when the next incoming burst happens.

 

The last 10% of the 1st Droid boss in EV is a prime example of OMG we are all going to die.

 

Also, the set bonuses on Combat Medic Gear Reduces cooldown of AMP (1.5 second reduction) and Bacta Infustion (3 second reduction) as well as the increased duration of SCC, make it a much more attractive set to pick up. Swapping mod's could be an option however, I don't have 2 full sets of Rakkata yet or enough level 58 mods to try this as much.

 

I also have 8 stupid epic relics that i can do some testing with if needed. Yes 8...

 

Power and Crit also increase Heals Per Second, but the trick with alacrity/haste has always been to get it up high enough that someone who needed healing but would be fine with a heal wasn't dead before you finished casting said heal. I'm not saying to avoid it like the plague...just that others may prove better.

 

*edit*Nevermind, I found the coefficients and other modifiers on Torhead.

Edited January 19, 2012 by RuQu

Good work. Finally someone wrote a good looking guide in this category.

Additional point I just found out bebopping around with my Trooper: Combat Support Cell gives a passive 1% damage and healing boost, independent of how much Supercharge you have. In case you were wondering, Supercharge gives the standard 3% on top of the 1% you get from CSC. Edited January 19, 2012 by Kazalix

Great guide! Im probably going down the Power > Crit > Surge path. Only 32 so far so i haven't really had the choices yet tho.

is CM really viable for solo play? The sound of grav round haunts me at night, and I mainly do solo PvE/PvP.

This thread needs a sticky . . . it's a really useful set of information and I'll be basing a lot of decisions I make for my new alt on this.

 

Keep up the good work

is CM really viable for solo play? The sound of grav round haunts me at night, and I mainly do solo PvE/PvP.

 

Yes, it's absolutely viable solo. I switched to Gunnery for about 30 minutes around Tattoine, and I switched back. Sure I killed faster, but Dorne just couldn't keep me alive well enough. As CM, I could keep me and a pet alive while also doing dps 50-75% of the time.

 

For some quest bosses Commando has more trouble than any other AC because we lack an interrupt with a lockout, which those fights are all designed around (there is a Dev post stating this design for fights that I can dig up if necessary). Our only options are to dps the boss down so fast they don't get to use it many times, while not having more dps than other dps specs, or just healing through that massive damage that everyone but us can avoid. I recommend using a dps pet for those fights and just healing through the huge damage as best you can..

 

With the exception of lockout based fights that our AC designers clearly screwed up in overlooking our interrupt, we are unkillable solo machines. I got stuck in a long chain of double team elites where a new one kept patrolling into me as I got knocked around by some Sith, and, it took about 15 minutes, but I killed them all. In-combat long CC and using cooldowns we can do some impressive things.

 

I really wish we had a proper interrupt like every other AC though.

This thread needs a sticky . . . it's a really useful set of information and I'll be basing a lot of decisions I make for my new alt on this.

 

Keep up the good work

 

Thanks. I'll try and get some updates in around Sunday. Busy past few days and tomorrow, and driving 700 miles on Saturday, but I should get some down time Sunday to put in some more work. This has been stickied on the Healer forum, but it really needs to either also be stickied here, or have a pointer thread stickied here so people know to go to the healer forum for this info, and another pointer should be on the Trooper (non-Commando) forum. Having all these forums spread around that cover related topics can make it so someone just picks wrong and doesn't see the info that is available because they didn't know/think to look somewhere else. I honestly didnt even know there was a Commando specific forum until after I'd tossed a copy of this on the general Trooper page.

Was really sick last night and couldn't sleep, so I got some work done on this.

 

Enjoy:

 

Added a calculator with just over 2 minutes of assumed rotation that calculates stat weights. Link and more explanation are in Post #3 on Page 1.

Great guide, this and the other one posted pushed me to respec to medic from Gunnery. At 32 currently, and with M1-4X kitted out in cyber blues we're pretty much un-killable by anything once I got a handle on the rotation. Love not getting bored with the constant grav round spam...

 

Food for thought -- I think it would help leveling people to have a suggested point allocation. For example, at my level I couldn't decide on whether to throw points into ironsights for the 9% aim buff, or to go deeper into the medic tree. I know the guide is mainly setup for play at 50 so this would be more of an afterthought I suppose. Just an idea.

 

Great work!