I've been reading stuff online for the last few hours and have basically seen it come down to the same three (really, two, but sometimes three) every time:

 

Med Op/Treek Tank: Can stealth past almost anything with sleep dart, can sometimes CC two enemies in mixed groups, stealth (needs to be said again because it's so useful), and of course being able to drop out of combat.

 

Dark Assassin/Treek Healer: Same as med/op for the most part except it reverses the tank/healer composition.

 

Those two are the two I see in pretty much every thread requesting a great heroic soloer. Then there's also:

 

Shieldtech/Treek healer: Generally regarded as an easier tank than shadow, easier on the comp healer as well since you have very little fear of spike damage that comps tend to have trouble healing through. However, no stealth, and stealth is awesome. Also they lack a 60s CC so you can't take one of the mobs out of an H4 fight, which makes a large difference on incoming damage.

 

Any opinions on this one? I already have several classes that I play with friends so I'm not worried at all about "play what you like", I'm specifically looking for the best suited to what I want to do in this case, namely soloing H4's as close to even level as possible. I love the challenge and want to see how far I can push a solo character.

Edited August 3, 2015 by sutasafaia

you have it pretty much figured out. if you are good then you can probably do most of them on just about any healer class with or without a treek, but short of that, then yeah. what you said. Edited August 4, 2015 by sumquy

Lethality/Ruffian scouperative with healer comp for faster kill times.

Decent off-heals and knockbacks don't hurt your dps too much.

(Though the droid boss in Korriban tactical is still a lot easier as healer with dd comp, but at least it's doable.)

Edited August 4, 2015 by Mubrak

Sorc / Sage DPS and Treek. Sorcs / Sages can off-heal and do good dps. Treek is an amazing companion. I use her to solo most H4's. I swap her stances depending on who I am fighting. If it's just a group of strong and elite adds, I have her go tanking stance. If it's a boss I have her go heals.

you have it pretty much figured out. if you are good then you can probably do most of them on just about any healer class with or without a treek, but short of that, then yeah. what you said.

 

At lower levels. Any class with any companion can do it at level, provided you know the class, character and companion are geared properly, you use interrupts, knock-backs, defensive cooldowns (including Unity) and CCs. I usually don't have problems until about hoth, that is when I start to also need luck to to solo a H4 at level. That is the planet when I start getting stun locked and die quickly. Being at least two levels above the quest usually makes a huge difference for me.

 

Doing slinger now...been using Treek in heals whenever I do a heroic.

 

Last class before that was a scoundrel (sawbones). Did them with wookiee in tank stance.

 

Before that leveled Sage, dps spec...use dps companions.

 

Sage was the easiest, but that was before they nerfed Force Quake.

 

I will say I cheat...I have 1 of ever imp class at 60 and at least 2 of every republic class. I have basic comms and credits coming out my ears, so I have really good gear from crafting, comms and credits. Average player at best, but gear makes up for that. Above average healer, but dps very average. I do know all the classes, rotations and abilities since I have played them all at least once before. Twice on some counting mirror classes. I also know all the heroics by now, even if I don't have all the achievements. I did them all before there were achievements leveling my first 3 toons. At that time I couldn't even think of soloing a heroic 4 even over leveled. I was lucky to not to wipe with 4 over leveled people in group.

Edited August 4, 2015 by mikebevo

Thanks for the replies. The question though, is one of them the best? Is there another setup that will work even better? I'm just unsure which of those three (or another one I did not list) that will pull it off the best.

Thanks for the replies. The question though, is one of them the best? Is there another setup that will work even better? I'm just unsure which of those three (or another one I did not list) that will pull it off the best.

 

Not really a best as every H4 is different.

 

Many I suppose can be completed easier (subjectively 'the best') by well geared stealth classes simply because many have objectives which can be completed without combat when using stealth.

 

For example, there are a number of H4s that simply require activating a number of consoles or clicking objects, many of which can be done without combat using stealth and stealth CC.

 

Another bunch require killing a specific named champ, which again stealth will help in getting to the champ with little or no combat, and then its a matter of killing the champ which usually just needs some heal ability (either player or comp).

 

Otherwise, for ones which require killing large numbers of mobs found in large groups, classes with strong / hard CC will have an easier time, though again every H4 is different.

 

One with a mix of humanoids and droids might be easier for an Operative / Scoundrel with stealth as they can CC a humanoid from stealth and then CC a droid, while a class like Mara / Sent may not be able to do an H4 filled with large humanoid groups without resorting to some sort of burst and run strategy as they will have no CC available.

 

Though if a player really wants to get through an H4 solo, any class is possible as all it requires is a bit of creativity such as using terrain and objects with abilities such as knock-backs to divide large groups and or burst one or two mobs down fast > run out > reset combat > go back and kill some more.

 

It may also require dying and rezzing multiple times, which depending on ones patience level and whether or not a med center is close by to reset the timer, may or may not be worthwhile.

Edited August 4, 2015 by DawnAskham

Thanks for the great reply. Would you think the operative or assassin would generally fare better then? I'm not sure if it's better to play the healer with a tank comp or to play the tank with a healer comp. Healing comps seem to be safer but their healing doesn't always match the kind of healing you can put out. On the other hand, tank comps can be "stupid" and don't mitigate the kind of damage you do either. Which would you think would work better?

 

I know the operative would be the best in an optimal mixed group scenario for flesh/droids but I don't normally like to go with best case scenario since that isn't what you normally get .

 

I did try Shieldtech with treek healing, you would think with the massive armor and a good healer comp there would be zero issues but for some reason the Shieldtech dropped faster than both my current op and assassin, I'm really unsure why since Shieldtech is considered one of the easiest ways to level. Maybe the ability to remove 1 enemy from the from stealth is simply just that important. Anyway, for the moment, I plan to focus on just one main solo class since I have so many other classes I play with friends so the best overall is what I'm trying to figure out, hence why I want to figure this out so I can go play the game some more

 

[edit for more info] I'm just not sure which I want to play, I'm really not, I've been reading up on them for hours now. So far I have a revised list:

 

Assassin-Darkness w/ healer comp: Slightly harder to play than Bounty Hunter tank, better mitigation powers, lesser passive mitigation. Can get spiked down. Stealth + 60s CC + combat escape power.

 

BH-Shield Tech w/healer comp: Easiest tank to play, also the best passive defenses, simple rotation generally. Has no get out of combat free power. Does not get spiked as easily.

 

For both tanks, it's basically a matter of out lasting all the incoming damage. The difference is assassin can remove one of the enemies from the fight (unless it's all droids) and can keep resetting the fight (sometimes, doesn't always work out). But the bounty hunter won't drop dead if I miss a defensive cooldown, but of course they take more damage since that extra enemy is still in the fight and not on 60s CC.

 

Op-Medicine w/tank comp: Fairly similar to assassin, exceot reversed roles. Can keep the tank alive for a fairly long time but has issues with champs that do a ton of burst damage. Can reset the fight if it gets ugly, which is great, and of course that 60s CC is glorious. Tank comps can sometimes be stupid, especially with AoE and positioning.

 

I really need more ideas on this one, so far these three seem to be the best way to go but I;m unsure of which. I'm leaning towards Assassin or Shield Tech but there's a lot to be said for the med-op also since you can control the healing. I have so much trouble enjoying a game when I'm not sure what to play, drives me crazy

Edited August 5, 2015 by sutasafaia

[edit] Sorry, this was supposed to be an edit to previous post, not it's own post. Can't delete either =/ Edited August 5, 2015 by sutasafaia

The mercenary healers also have great tools to solo H4. Their CC is long range and can be renewed, allowing to disable one of the add during the whole fight. They're fast; their hitting ability are decent for healers, also they're ranged and most of their hit can be cast while moving making them good kitters.

Merc healers are great but I'm honestly not sure they have the same advantages that the stealth classes can get. As much as I love the bounty hunter (and I do) I'm slowly leaning more and more towards assassin or med op. Not being able to take one (or sometimes potentially two in the ops case) enemies out of the fight seems to cause more problems than not, even with the bounty hunters high defense, particularly when trying to solo H4s close to my level.

 

Still, always up for more opinions, it adds to the pool that will eventually help me figure out what the heck to play.

 

Might even try shieldtech again...they are fun. Just not sure they will solo to the extent either stealth class can.

Edited August 5, 2015 by sutasafaia

Eighteen hours later. Ok, a small update after some testing, research, asking around, etc.

 

Shieldtech can do it, but it's very hard pressed to do so. Even level H4s just hurt too much.

 

Assassin and Operative both seem capable of it, it just comes down to this:

 

Am I better off playing as a tank with a healer companion or a healer with a tank companion? Shadow seems to have an awful lot of AoE powers that break CC when fighting mobs, while Operative seems to focus on taking down one target at a time, which is more beneficial to fighting the end champions as well as making it easier to fight the larger groups. That said, assassin definitely takes less damage from said champions and groups than treek does.

 

Unsure of which way to go on this one. Leaning towards the med-op, still possibly the shield tech though...just not sure they will do well with being unable to stealth and CC.

 

[edit] Managed to do H4 Building a Better Beast [31] at level 32 with fairly minimal issues on the med-op. Not really sure the bounty hunter would have survived that even with Treek healing >.>

Edited August 6, 2015 by sutasafaia

I'm at ~45k Achievement points which means a lot of solo grinding of FP's, World Bosses, etc, etc

 

My Kinetic Shadow/Darkness Sin (optimized set bonus 196's) + Treek is my go to AC for soloing at-level PvE content. This is the only AC that I've managed to solo lvl 60 base guards with in the few places you can pull them one-at-a-time. My Scoundrel, Sage (who are a minimum of full 192 set bonus) and Treek as tank get vaporized.

 

DF/Sawbones Hybrid Scoundrel was really strong before Disciplines came along. I have a 192 VG/PT but don't use him because I like to be able to vanish as a Shadow/Sin if things go pear shaped and Resilience/Shroud is godly for cheesing mechanics.

 

For content that I'm +5 lvls or more over it's Lightning/TK all the way.

You don't even need Treek. I pretty much solo'd every Imperial heroic healing Kaliyo with my Operative. Except for one of the H4s during the Nar Shaddaa second bonus series (can't remember which one exactly), I did all of them while they were still green and not only got tons of XP but also learned how to heal with an Operative/Scoundrel.

I wouldn't use Treek as tank for packs since she can't aoe taunt and the healer player will eventually get the aggro on some of the mobs. On tough fights, you'll probably heal more than your tank companion is dealing damage.

 

From my experience, Healer + Tank companion has more survivability than Tank + Healer companion, especially on bosses types with special habilities and a lot of health. Tank players however kill faster than tank companions.

 

Stealthers are better when it's about avoid packs. But when it's about to fight, I believe mercenaries have the edge (ranged, cc, heavy armour, good runners, best off dps) and operative are slighly behind. Sorcerers would be fine if ever they could make more damage without losing power or while running.

I'm guessing assassin doesn't come into its own until later on then? My med-op has had a vastly easier time so far, granted I'm only up to Tatooine. Also might just be confirmation bias, the character I play a lot is better than the character I don't, that sort of thing. Assassin just feels clunky so far. Will they really pull ahead that far come pushing the hardest content possible as solo? So far surviving as a healer with a tank comp has been worlds easier than a tank with a healer comp (not to mention one wrong click on assassin and you go splat). Edited August 10, 2015 by sutasafaia

Is this just another testament of how much overpowered Assassins & Operatives are ?

Operatives are nowhere close to as nasty as they were pre-disciplines, their ability to hybrid was insane. I honestly don't have any personal experience with high level assassin yet so I couldn't tell you for them.

Five days later, still interested in hearing what more people think. Something tells me five days is enough time to wait for a reply

Personally, I've had better luck soloing H4's with a tank main and a healer companion than vice versa.

 

Also, I've had the most success soloing H4s while leveling my Assassin tank. Partly due to to the fact that I do more damage with my Assassin than I do with my PT or Jugg, but mostly due to the advantage of Mind Trap / Force Cloak.

 

One of the funny things about H4s, is that the sheer volume of elite mobs actually makes some of them more difficult that some boss encounters in Flashpoints (a couple of Tatooine H4s come to mind). So a war of attrition may be the only way to progress. Mez one, kill as many as you can, Force Cloak, escape, wait for everything to come off CD, rinse and repeat.

 

When I tried the same with my Operative healer, the biggest problem was that Kaliyo could only hold aggro for 6 seconds after every taunt -- and the sheer pressure of multiple ranged golds on the two of us was too much to keep up.

 

Not to mention that a tank companion does less than 50% of the damage output of a player tank -- meaning the fights take longer, and you have a greater risk of getting force drained / running lower on energy.

 

/2cr

I currently use Treek for any of my H4 attempts on my operative, she seems to hold agro most of the time. She isn't the perfect tank of course but she tends to pick it up decently well since she has AoE taunting. I started a new assassin so I can give them a try but they seem to have a ton of AoE that you wouldn't be able to actually use trying to solo H4's since you want to at least keep one of the enemies mind trapped.

The main aoe (Wither) will not disturb mezzed mobs, which is nice. Discharge has a pretty short range (10m I think) so you can pull the group away from the sleeping mob a short distance and still use it.

It basically comes down to this, as far as I can tell.

 

Med-Op has great single target damage, which means they can pick off enemies in an H4 one by one with zero risk of ever breaking CC. Treek is a good enough tank that tends to manage quite well to keep the entire group targeting her. Every time you take out one enemy it gets that much easier to keep treek alive. You do spend a lot of time healing rather than dpsing though.

 

Dark-tank has great AoE, but you have to be more careful where you swing. You do more damage than treek also so fights can end faster. That said, you take more damage for longer unless you single out targets to bring down since AoE does less damage than single target. Treek seems like a good healer, not sure, I haven't had that much experience with her as a healer.

 

The biggest thing stopping me from trying assassin is leveling two classes at once is mind numbing. My op is ~36, my assassin is only 11. Obviously the op feels better since I have access to more skills and the dark tank won't come into it's own until at least 20 when you get mind trap. That said, my op is also on alderaan and that planet bores me to tears with the driving, so maybe taking a break to work assassin a bit isn't a bad idea. Wish there was a definitive answer on which was better for soloing end-game heroic stuff. You would think there would be, the game is a numbers game, one class should just do better. I guess that means bioware is balancing it decently but it's still frustrating. Normally in a game there's always class X that's best at X, class Y is best at Y, etc.

... Wish there was a definitive answer on which was better for soloing end-game heroic stuff. ...

For what it's worth, all classes (imo) are fine at soloing end-game heroic stuff, so long as they have adequate gear.

 

Soloing H4's while at level (pre end-game) can be tricky as you're gear locked. Getting at-level purples is a significant waste of resources (as you gain levels quickly enough to make the investment obsolete in short order) -- so usually one is in blues.

 

But once you hit max level you're going to be overleveled and overgeared for most encounters, particularly seeing as how there isn't much in the way of H4s. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that the highest level H4s in the game are level 55.

Edited August 18, 2015 by Khevar

For what it's worth, all classes (imo) are fine at soloing end-game heroic stuff, so long as they have adequate gear.

 

Soloing H4's while at level (pre end-game) can be tricky as you're gear locked. Getting at-level purples is a significant waste of resources (as you gain levels quickly enough to make the investment obsolete in short order) -- so usually one is in blues.

 

But once you hit max level you're going to be overleveled and overgeared for most encounters, particularly seeing as how there isn't much in the way of H4s. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that the highest level H4s in the game are level 55.

 

Yes, but it's entirely possible this can change in expansions, or even in patches in theory. It is kind of weird not to have any level capped heroic content after all. Hence why I desire to try and figure out the best one for soloing even level heroic content.

Edited August 19, 2015 by sutasafaia