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    So finally working on my last toon for gearing and my sorcerer is a hot mess.  I read the guide on dulfy but its all greek to me in regards to what needs to be where.  Just starting to work her up as my main healer Denneria is starting to shape up nicely...  Anyone with some tips?

     

    Thanks!

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    Hey! I believe we met last Saturday during the raid. My toon F'iora (Sorc - Healer) healed for the group. I am following Dulfy's guide to gear her as well I use http://www.noxxic.com/swtor/pve/sith-inquisitor/sorcerer/corruption/item-modification to help with what mods/enhancements I should get. I first make sure I have an Alacrity Rating higher than 5%, but not over 8%. Next, I focus on Surge Ratings and Power. According to Dulfy's guide, Surge Rating should be 68% and 74%. Lastly, I get things that give me Critical Rating. I take things that have higher Willpower, since it affects the most stats.

     

    Not saying this the perfect build, but it works as a first step. Any suggestions on how to improve it would be appreciated!

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    For a healer you want alacrity over 5% and under 10%. Most healers seem to feel that the higher the better, but past 9% you get into diminishing returns.

     

    For surge rating otherwise seen on the character sheet as Critical Multiplier, the rule of thumb is between 68% and 74%. Please note that over 68% is good, but anything over 73% puts you into diminishing returns until such time as Bioware change the stat curve.

     

    My personal view is this:

     

    Accuracy: Don't want it, do not need it. You are a healer, your heals have an automatic 100% hit chance unless you are doing something funky!

     

    Alacrity: 5% to 10%. Do not go above 10%, but you must be above 5% minimum.

     

    Surge (Critical Multiplier): 68-74% (Please note that diminishing returans STARTS at around 73% so you do not need to go above that in reality)

     

    Critical Rating: 100-300 Rating from gear! This WILL vary depending upon playstyle and personal preference, however, a little crit helps increase the chances of a big heal. It also makes selecting gear a little easier.

     

    After the above you want to be stacking power, power and power. Oh, did I mention power?

     

    Augments: Resolve augments. You get more return from willpower than any other.

     

    Relics: Serendipitous Assault & Focused Retribution. Enough said! SA and FR give you the best consistant numbers, but if you want a controllable burst of power to boost your healing when you want it then you can swap the FR with Boundless ages. Personally I say go with SA and FR.

     

    Set Bonus: 4 piece Force Mystic PvE. Use the Force-Mystic’s 4-piece PVE set, not the 2-piece PVE set with the 2-piece PVP set. There’s no sound reason to choose the 2-piece PVP set for Operations. Dropping the 4-piece PVE set for the 2-piece PVP set reduces your maximum HP, Armor (increasing your damage taken), and tank and non-tank healing.
     

    Edited by Ztuke
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    PVE

     

    Skill Points

     

    For progression, this is as good as it gets: 36/7/3.

    You may reallocate up to two points among the four skills discussed below.
     

    1. Sith Purity improves your cleanse, Expunge.
      1. I recommend this skill for Dread Fortress. With this skill, you can cleanse at least one debuff during four of the five bosses.
      2. This skill is useful in fewer situations for Terror from Beyond, Scum and Villainy, or Dread Palace.
    2. Sith Defiance reduces damage taken. I recommend this skill for progression.
      1. A Sorcerer has the least Armor, and unavoidable damage is common in Operations.
      2. This skill is more valuable in 16-man Operations, because many attacks deal substantially higher damage than in 8-man. In fact, a Sorcerer without this skill could’ve been globaled despite perfect play in Nightmare 16-man Kephess the Undying or Olok the Shadow.
    3. Corrupted Speed increases Force Speed’s duration and causes Force Barrier to finish Force Speed’s cooldown. Though not significant for PVE, a skilled healer can leverage it for the occasional clutch play, and less time moving means more time for casted or channeled abilities. Uses included the following.
      1. For Dash'Roode, to return faster after being lost in a sandstorm.
      2. For Titan 6, to reach a distant rock from the corner to which a DPS ran one of the Huge Grenades.
      3. For Thrasher, to switch between tanks, or to handle Firebug, faster.
      4. For Writhing Horror, to drop the DOT's puddle in a safe location and return faster.
      5. For Kephess the Undying, to catch a tank kiting Kephess while giving Energy Distortions a wide berth.
      6. For Raptus, to be in range of tanks after a challenge for which the healing and tanking doorways are far apart, or to return faster after being ported to the entrance.
    4. Reverse Corruptions reduces by 30% the duration of the force regeneration debuff from using Consumption without Force Surge. It also allows Force Barrier to remove this debuff.
      1. At its best, this skill is training wheels for an inexperienced healer or belt and suspenders for an experienced healer. A healer who benefits from this skill has room to improve his force management.
      2. At its worst, this skill encourages weak force management and misuse of Force Barrier.
        1. If you learn the rotation and techniques discussed in this guide, you should never have this debuff.
        2. Using Force Barrier to remove this debuff means that it’s unavailable to cheat death, avoid substantial damage, purge an uncleansable debuff, or complete a crucial round of cleanses 4.5 seconds faster.
      3. If you choose this skill, and choose to use Force Barrier to clear a force regeneration debuff, you’ll benefit most by channeling Force Barrier immediately after using Consumption without Force Surge for four or more consecutive GCDs.

    Rotation

     

    As a healer, you have a unique and demanding job: triage. You must determine an order to heal your allies and a rotation that will prevent deaths. A fight that is challenging to heal tests your ability to make quick, accurate decisions that complement your co-healer’s.

    Though no rotation is ideal for every situation, your goal is using Resurgence > Innervate on cooldown. As a rotation, this is Resurgence > Innervate > two or three other abilities. Using Innervate on cooldown, and having it consume Force Bending, is the key to force management and, for healing one ally, provides unrivaled HPS (healing per second) and HPF (healing per force).


    Guides adequate for the casual player have sprouted like mushrooms. Most recommend one or more poor techniques regarding rotation. I redress these below.
     

    1. Though Revivification usually has the largest share of a Sorcerer’s effective healing in an Operation, using it merely because its cooldown is finished is poor technique. To maximize this ability’s, and your total, effective healing, synchronize Revivification with AOE damage. Using it more often wastes time and force, and using it early wastes its healing, which is slightly front-loaded and requires good positioning.
       
    2. Using Force Bending, the buff given by Resurgence, for an ability other than Innervate is almost always poor technique. For example, using this buff to reduce the cost of Revivification reduces not only the HPS that you can sustain but also your ability to regain force.
       
    3. Treat Revivification and Overload as alternatives unless using them back-to-back won’t overheal. If Overload is sufficient, use it alone. If Overload is insufficient, and Revivification alone will be sufficient over its 10-second duration, use Revivification alone.


    If you wish to analyze HPS and force management with rotations, see this worksheet “Operation HPS” model.

     

    BIS Gear

     

    For PVE, this is BIS. See this model for a detailed explanation and supporting calculations.

    As a rule-of-thumb: Willpower > Power > Surge to about 250 > stack Alacrity. Zero Critical from gear is optimal. Zero Accuracy from gear is optimal, because abilities used on allies can’t miss.

    Regarding relics:

    1. For your Serendipitous Assault relic, Kell Dragon will outperform Dread Forged if you often deal damage.
      1. While Dread Forged has one cooldown for procs from damage dealt or healing, Kell Dragon has two independent cooldowns for procs from damage dealt and for procs from healing.
      2. Though I rarely maintain Affliction on an enemy when healing is challenging, damage from Overload tips the scales in favor of Kell Dragon when it can deal damage to multiple enemies, such as during the final phase of Dread Masters.
    2. You may replace the Serendipitous Assault relic with a Boundless Ages relic if you prefer to have this additional cooldown.


    Guides adequate for the casual player and crude or error-filled models have sprouted like mushrooms. I redress their suboptimal recommendations below.
     

    1. Use the Force-Mystic’s 4-piece PVE set, not the 2-piece PVE set with the 2-piece PVP set. There’s no sound reason to choose the 2-piece PVP set for Operations. Dropping the 4-piece PVE set for the 2-piece PVP set reduces your maximum HP, Armor (increasing your damage taken), and tank and non-tank healing.
       
    2. Use Resolve (Willpower) Augments. Though Overkill (Power) Augments provide roughly equal total output if you have BIS gear and use Static Barrier as often as you should, Willpower increases the likelihood of Force Surge procs.
       
    3. There is no sound argument for any Critical from gear.
      1. The math is straightforward and definitive: zero Critical maximizes output for healing tanks, non-tanks, or both for any fight that’s challenging to heal.
        1. A low amount of Critical – 144, to be precise – would be optimal if Static Barrier could crit.
        2. A very low amount of Critical would be optimal if Static Barrier’s absorbing were less than 10% of your effective healing, but using Static Barrier so sparingly is poor technique for almost every fight that’s challenging to heal, even if your co-healer is a Sorcerer.
      2. No benefit from Critical outweighs its cost.
        1. Nearly 1000 Critical guarantees that Dark Infusion crits with Recklessness, but so much Critical reduces overall output by almost 4%.
        2. Critical increases the likelihood of Force Surge procs, but poor rotation is the sole cause of having too few for Consumption. Rather than lessening this one symptom of a poor rotation with Critical, correct your rotation. Mistakes in your rotation have additional penalties, none of which Critical can alleviate.
      3. Even if all else were equal, healing favors consistency (Power) over RNG (Critical).

     

    Playing Like an Expert

     

    1. Heal to prevent deaths, not to top meters.

      Meters are a valuable tool and enhance competition, but don’t influence a skilled healer’s decision-making. For example, suppose that 8 DPS are at half health and won’t take damage for another 20 seconds, and, meanwhile, 1 tank is at half health and might die in a few seconds. Triage says Static Barrier or Innervate the tank, but meters say Revivification the DPS.

      AOE heals can have high EHPS, but heal slowly. Before choosing an AOE heal, be sure that you’re using your head (triage), not your epeen (meters).

       
    2. Minimize over-healing, especially of non-tanks.

      HPS is trivial for a skilled healer. As shown in this worksheet “Operation HPS” in the model, in an 8-man Operation, a Sorcerer healer may indefinitely sustain over 7k HPS (8k HPS including Static Barrier’s absorbing), more than twice what any fight requires.

      Among Sorcerer healers, a quality that sets an expert apart is efficiency. In particular, efficient use of Revivification is crucial to your EHPS and force management. In general, rather than using this ability on cooldown or prematurely, use it after AOE damage only if Overload is insufficient.

       
    3. Replenish force before a period of intense damage, so that you can heal through it without pausing to replenish force.

      Among Sorcerer healers, a quality that sets an expert apart is the ability to leverage his resource pool, which is generous compared to the other healing classes’. For example, since damage can be intense during the first phase of Nightmare Cartel Warlords (Horic), and will be manageable during the second phase (Tu’chuk), I’m willing to heal without pausing to replenish force during the first phase, even to the point of nearly 0 force. I can use Consumption during the second phase without risking an ally’s death.

       
    4. Avoid debuffing your rate of force regeneration.

      Among Sorcerer healers, a quality that sets an expert apart is almost never debuffing his rate of force regeneration. This debuff is perilous; it can start you down a vicious spiral on which you’ll always be force-starved. Two techniques allow you to replenish force without debuffing your rate of force regeneration.

      First, until you’ve replenished enough force to heal through the next period of intense damage, every 7.5 seconds use Resurgence > Innervate followed by Consumption for one or more charges of Force Surge.

      Second, don’t hold 3 charges of Force Surge for your next Revivification unless it must be used while moving. When I have 3 charges of Force Surge, I often use Consumption once immediately before Revivification. This offsets most of the cost of Revivification. It also allows me to use my next ability sooner than if Revivification were instant.

       
    5. Use Static Barrier liberally and wisely.

      Among Sorcerer healers, a quality that sets an expert apart is liberal and wise use of Static Barrier.

      For tanks, it’s usually fine to refresh Static Barrier immediately as Deionized expires. There is, however, an important exception: reserve Static Barrier for immediately before (or after) moments when a tank’s health is likely to be low. For example, time Static Barrier so that you can apply a fresh one to a tank whenever Titan 6 puts a Huge Grenade on him or Brontes’ targets him with Arcing Assault.

      For an ally targeted by a damaging mechanic, such as Kephess the Undying’s Dread Bomb, you have only a moment to mitigate damage with Static Barrier. Your awareness and quick action can be the difference between life and death.

      For a non-tank likely to take unusual and high damage, such as from adds or an uncleansable DOT like Tyrans’ Affliction, Static Barrier can prevent his health from dipping too low. Preventing such an emergency with Static Barrier can give AOE heals time to top up non-tanks, which, in turn, allows healers to focus on tanks.

      See “Tips for Certain Bosses” for a list of the rare circumstances in which spamming Static Barrier is prudent. Otherwise, this is almost always poor technique, because AOE heals provide superior HPCT (healing per cast time) and HPF (healing per force).

       
    6. It’s very rarely appropriate to use Dark Heal.

      Dark Heal has no place in a rotation.
      • Static Barrier and Innervate have higher HPS and HPF.
      • Dark Infusion usually has comparable HPS and always has higher HPF.
      • Though Dark Heal is a small heal, it isn’t for topping up allies. It costs too much force, and merely snipes your or your co-healer’s HOTs or AOEs.

      When an ally is about to die, it might be appropriate to use Dark Heal, but only if none of the below abilities is available.
      1. Static Barrier is instant, and it absorbs more than Dark Heal would heal.
      2. Innervate has higher HPS than Dark Heal, and its immediate tick and first channeled tick occur before a cast of Dark Heal would finish.
      3. Dark Infusion buffed by Recklessness and Polarity Shift is usually more effective than Dark Heal. An ally saved by Dark Heal will remain close to death without further healing; Dark Heal won’t resolved his emergency. Dark Infusion buffed by Recklessness might resolve his emergency, allowing you to heal someone else next.

     

    Parsing

     

    Parsec reports your and your co-healer’s performance during an Operation. TORParse offers an alternative live parser. Avoid the MOX parser or any other parser that encourages poor techniques by failing to distinguish effective healing from over-healing.

    After an Operation, upload your combat log to TORParse. This site analyzes your healing.

    • If the percentage of your healing that is effective is less than 55% for bosses on farm or 70% for bosses during progression, identify which abilities are the culprits. Though it’s acceptable for Resurgence to have a high percentage of over-healing, any other ability should be used effectively.
    • No parser captures Static Barrier’s absorbing. Any healing attributed to Static Barrier is from skill Corrupted Barrier.

     

    Tips for Certain Bosses

     

    Operation: Terror From Beyond

    Dread Guard

    • Use Static Barrier on the tank with Kel’sara’s Leech.
    • Force Barrier resists damage from Heirad’s Lightning Field.
    • Though Force Barrier doesn’t purge Ciphas’s Doom, it resists the damage that it deals upon expiring.
    • Force Barrier purges Kel’sara’s uncleansable DOT, Withering Terror.

    Kephess the Undying

    • In the first phase, Force Barrier clears any stray Energy Distortion that attaches to you or resists damage from Laser Blast.
    • In the second phase, Force Barrier resists damage from Dread Bomb or, if you’re unable to channel a Pylon, purges Corrupted Nanites.

    Terror from Beyond

    • Use Cloud Mind to lower your threat with each Tentacle during the first phase, and on cooldown during the second phase.


    Operation: Scum and Villainy

    Dash’Roode

    • Rejoin your group in record time after being lost in the sandstorm with one point in skill Corrupted Speed rather than two points in Fadeout.

    Titan 6

    • Force Barrier resists damage from a Huge Grenade.
    • Force Barrier resists damage from Launch (Defensive Systems 5) if you’re unable to find a rock with a vacancy.
    • During the final phase, spam Static Barrier whenever Revivification, Overload, and Resurgence > Innervate are on cooldown.

    Thrasher

    • Adds in the arena’s upper level spawn every 45 seconds, which matches Cloud Mind’s cooldown. Use Cloud Mind just after each group of adds spawns.
    • On Nightmare Mode, after Thrasher’s health falls below 50% and more than one pack of Mercenary Snipers spawns, it’s helpful to spam Static Barrier immediately before the knockback to the arena’s upper level.

    Operations Chief

    • Use Force Barrier to purge one of his Explosive Probes.

    Cartel Warlords

    • Though I’ve never done this for any other fight, on Nightmare Mode, it’s helpful to blanket the raid with Static Barrier (and then channel Seethe to replenish your force) immediately before pulling.
    • If you’re unable to heal an ally through Garr’s Stabbing Spree, and he doesn’t have a CC break available, use Extrication to pull him far out of Stabbing Spree’s range.

    Styrak

    • On Nightmare Mode, to control a Chain Manifestation, I recommend Overload > Force Slow > Electrocute when Force Slow expires. A freeze grenade works, too, but has a 3-minute cooldown.
    • Immediately before Styrak divides himself into 4 (or, on 16-man Nightmare Mode, 8) Manifestations, it’s helpful to Static Barrier each ally who’ll likely be closest to a Manifestation.

    Hateful Entity

    • Use Force Barrier when Hateful Entity will strike you with the next Dread Touch (because your debuff has just expired). Hateful Entity will strike you with Dread Touch though you’re channeling Force Barrier. Dread Touch still knocks you down and stuns you (cancelling your channel of Force Barrier), but Force Barrier resists its damage.
    • If you revive an ally while in combat and after everyone has been struck by Dread Touch, it’s imperative that he be topped up immediately. Dread Touch’s debuff doesn’t persist through death, and, therefore, Dread Touch will strike him next.


    Operation: Dread Fortress

    Nefra

    • Using Force Barrier to purge the DOT allows you to complete a round of cleanses 4.5 seconds faster.

    Draxus

    • Though on Hard Mode you can’t cleanse a Guardian’s Affliction, Force Barrier purges it.

    Corruptor Zero

    • Force Barrier neither purges a Concussion Mine nor resists Anti-Gravity Field.
    • Force Barrier resists damage from Unified Beam. I don’t recommend relying on it, however, because your allies need healing during this phase on Hard Mode.

    Brontes

    • An ally with an Orb takes mild periodic damage from the Orb until he detonates it. Heal him through this periodic damage, reserving Static Barrier for immediately before the detonation.
    • Force Barrier isn’t useful if you have an Orb, because your Orb won’t detonate while you’re channeling Force Barrier.
    • To prepare for the phase with six Fingers, blanket the raid with Static Barrier while two or three Robots remain. Deionized will expire as the initial rounds of damage during the six-Finger phase have exhausted Static Barrier, allowing you to blanket the raid with Static Barrier a second time. This technique is incredibly effective, maintaining everyone at full health for much, and sometimes most, of this phase.


    Operation: Dread Palace

    Tyrans

    • Though on Hard Mode you can’t cleanse Tyrans’ Affliction, Force Barrier purges it.

    Raptus

    • For the Healing Challenge, I open with Resurgence > Innervate > Revivification > Static Barrier. If this opener isn’t sufficient for your healing team to coast through, use one or more cooldowns.

    Dread Masters

    • Shortly before triggering the final phase, blanket the raid with Static Barrier. During the final phase, spam Static Barrier on non-tanks whenever Revivification, Overload, and Resurgence > Innervate are on cooldown.

     

    PVP

     

    Skill Points

     

    If you choose to invest 36 points in the healing tree, I recommended the following allocation: 36/7/3.

    1. Sith Purity is mandatory for PVP.
    2. Corrupted Speed is mandatory for a PVP allocation with 36 points in the healing tree.
    3. I favor three skill points in Penetrating Darkness and none in Corrupted Barrier.
      1. My impression is that Corrupted Barrier hasn’t saved or materially extended my life. While I channel Force Barrier, my resolve wears off, leaving me vulnerable to being stunned and killed the moment that I stop channeling.
      2. There are two factors that might change my mind.
        1. Corrupted Barrier’s HOT can proc a relic, increasing a proc relic’s uptime.
        2. In the brief moments when I’m not the target of the enemy team, and I’m confident that there isn’t a nearby enemy in stealth, I’ve allowed Corrupted Barrier’s HOT to heal me slowly while I heal my allies instead.

    The alternative, which is usually superior for 4v4 (arena), is “Bubble Stun”: 26/18/2.

    • Bubble Stun is a useful defense against melee.
    • Burst damage is crucial in PVP, and especially 4v4. The skills in the middle tree allow you to dish some out.
    • You may reallocate the point in Reconstruct to Corrupted Barrier. I’m uncertain which is preferable.

    Though Force Suffusion adds healing to Overload, I don’t invest points in this skill for PVP. I can’t afford to use Overload merely for healing when it’s usually necessary for defending myself or, in 8v8, the cap.

     

    BIS Gear

     

    This is likely BIS for PVP without Warzone Bolster.

    At this time, however, Warzone Bolster allows you to cap Expertise while also having

    1. the Force-Mystic’s 2-piece PVE and 2-piece PVP set bonuses (see here for details), and
    2. better stats from using certain PVE components in your Main Hand and Offhand (see here for details).

    For Augments, Overkill (Power) > Resolve (Willpower), because Static Barrier usually has the largest share of your total output.

     

    Basic Advice

     

    1. Use grenades like any other consumable. The 3-minute cooldown on grenades matches the 3-minute cooldown on Force Barrier, which is convenient when an enemy is licking his chops anticipating the denouement of your Force Barrier. In general, I prefer seismic grenades, which knock enemies unconscious. When you shouldn’t add to enemies’ resolve, cartel waste or freeze grenades, which slow or root enemies, respectively, are better.
       
    2. Don’t give an enemy full resolve unless this will secure an objective or ensure his death. For example, in Huttball, an enemy ball-carrier shouldn’t have full resolve close to fire pits, because this will prevent pulling or knocking him into a fire pit.
       
    3. Except for Novare Coast, when you’re defending a node, stand away from the cap. For example, in Hypergate, if an enemy can CC you and begin capping your pylon in less than 2 seconds, he will finish the 6-second channel to cap it unless you have a CC break available. In addition, don’t pursue an enemy out of range or LOS of your node, because an enemy in stealth will cap it behind you.
       
    4. Don’t over-rotate between two nodes that your team is defending. First, don’t leave the quiet node vulnerable to join a battle at the other node unless it’s reasonable to expect that this other node will be lost. Second, if you’re at the node under attack, and your team’s kills have given it the upper hand, consider leaving for your node that had been quiet while the remaining enemies are mopped up.
       
    5. Focus on winning, not healing. For example, in Novare Coast, it’s often appropriate for you to channel to cap though not healing will allow an ally to die. As another example, in Huttball, you’re capable of carrying the ball whenever Force Speed is available, and even better at getting ahead of your ball-carrier and advancing him past fire pits with Extrication.
       
    6. Assist with killing enemies with low health. If an enemy crosses your path or leaps to you while barely clinging to life, stop healing and Shock him dead. A reasonable goal is having 30,000 damage and 1 killing blow in every competitive 8v8.
       
    7. You’re naked without Static Barrier, and inviting an enemy to appear from stealth and relieve you of half of your health. However, it’s good to give a Sorcerer ally a chance to Static Barrier himself, because he may have Corrupted Barrier or Backlash.
       
    8. While there is safety in numbers, there is danger in a stack. Stacking attracts AOE damage, stuns, and CCs, which are far worse than the benefit of any AOE healing.
       
    9. The keys to your survival are using your environment to LOS; your environment in combination with Force Slow, Force Speed, or Overload to kite; Overload or Jolt to interrupt; Electrocute to stun and reduce an enemy’s damage dealt by 25% for 10 seconds; Warzone Medpac and Unnatural Preservation to heal yourself when moving, especially when your health drops near or below 30%; and Warzone Adrenal to increase your damage reduction. In addition, monitor the battlefield for health packs, and treat them as healing cooldowns that you can use Force Speed to snap up. Without guard, a reasonable goal is exceeding 90,000 damage taken per death in every competitive 8v8.
       
    10. Cleanse early and often with Expunge. It’s easier to prevent damage with this instant ability than it is to replenish health by casting or channeling heals. You can also cleanse certain CCs, such as Whirlwind. If you’re desperate, Expunge is also a small heal for yourself while moving.
       
    11. In 8v8, dying restores you to full force. If you or an ally can monitor the time remaining until a respawn, it can be strategic to die and respawn quickly with full force. This takes some gumption, since you must die in time to respawn without catching a full door, but, as a healer, you’ll usually have multiple enemies who’ll be happy to dispatch you post haste should you present the opportunity.

     

    Maximizing Your Performance
     
    Datacrons
     
    You should obtain all datacrons that provide Willpower and, especially for PVP, or Endurance.
     
    Companions
     
    Completing all dialogue and quests available from certain companions for a character in your Faction and Legacy will grant a bonus to certain stats. You should obtain:
    1. 1% Critical from Andronikos Revel,
    2. 1% Surge from Ashara Zavros,
    3. 1% healing received from Talos Drellik, and,
    4. especially for PVP, 1% total health from Xalek.

     

    Consumables

     

    1. Stim: Prototype Nano-Infused Resolve Stim, which provides 169 Willpower and 70 Power for 2 hours. This is superior to any reusable Stim available with Biochem.
       
    2. Adrenal
      1. For PVE, Nano-Infused Triage Adrenal, which provides 675 Force Power for 15 seconds. This is superior to any reusable Adrenal available with Biochem. For a detailed analysis of the expected benefit of Adrenals in BIS gear, see the worksheet “Relics & Adrenals” in the model.
      2. For PVP, Warzone Adrenal, which increases Damage Reduction by 15% for 15 seconds.
      3. An Adrenal can be used at any time (i.e., it’s off the GCD) and doesn’t use a GCD. Adrenals have a 3-minute cooldown.
    3. Medpac
      1. For PVE, Prototype Impeccable Medpac, which restores 5575 to 6800 health immediately and leaves a HOT that restores 2475 health over 15 seconds. This is superior to any reusable Medpac available with Biochem. The cooldown shared by all types of Medpacs usable outside of Warzones is the longer of (a) 90 seconds and (b) the end of combat.
      2. For PVP, Warzone Medpac, which restores 35% of your total health immediately. This has a 90-second cooldown.
      3. A Medpac can be used at any time (i.e., it’s off the GCD) and doesn’t use a GCD.
    4. Grenades: Reusable grenades are available with Cybertech, and otherwise you may purchase single-use grenades.
      1. For PVE, grenades that stun can be useful for trash mobs or boss adds. A freeze grenade will root a Chain Manifestation on Nightmare Mode Styrak.
      2. For PVP, grenades are very useful.
      3. The cooldown shared by all types of grenades is 3 minutes. Throwing a grenade uses a GCD.

     

     

    Your Abilities in Detail

     

    Heals

     

    For calculations of GCD, cast, or channel times; healing amounts; or HPS or HPCT with gear that you select and all skills, buffs, and bonuses from Datacrons or Companions, see the worksheet “Abilities – Current Gear” in the model.

    Static Barrier

    • This instant single-target ability is a large absorb rather than a heal. It lasts up to 30 seconds.
    • This ability can’t crit, and therefore doesn’t benefit from Critical or Surge.
    • This ability debuffs the recipient with Deionized, which prevents you or any other Sorcerer from using it again on him for 17 seconds (15.5 seconds with the 2-piece PVP set).
    • Using this ability on yourself when you have two points in skill Corrupted Barrier will heal you for 1.09% of your total health every second while it lasts. In PVE, I don’t recommend using Static Barrier on another Sorcerer healer, because he should have Corrupted Barrier.
    • In PVE, use this ability on tanks. It’s also ideal for absorbing imminent damage when an ally is targeted by a damaging mechanic, such as Kephess the Undying’s Laser Blast or Dread Bomb. See Section “PVE”, Subsection “Playing Like an Expert”, Topic 5 for a detailed discussion.
    • In PVP, this ability is even more important than it is in PVE, because it can be used while moving.

    Resurgence

    • This instant single-target ability delivers a small immediate heal and leaves a HOT that ticks once every 3 seconds thereafter for 15 seconds.
    • This HOT provides a buff, Reconstruct, which increases Armor Rating by 10%. Though not substantial, any increase in mitigation is helpful. Note that Reconstruct doesn’t stack, and therefore there’s no further increase in Armor Rating from you or any other Sorcerer applying Resurgence to an ally who already has it.
    • This ability has a 6-second cooldown. Since the HOT and Reconstruct last for 15 seconds, it’s optimal to rotate this ability between 2 or 3 targets. The customary targets are the tanks and yourself.
    • You should use this ability on cooldown in PVE or PVP, because it buffs you with Force Bending. You can have at most one charge of Force Bending, which lasts up to 10 seconds. Force Bending will be consumed by, and benefit, your next Innervate, Revivification, Dark Infusion, or Dark Heal.

    Innervate

    • This channeled single-target heal is your signature ability, and should be used on cooldown. It delivers an immediate heal and 3 channeled ticks.
    • It has a 9-second cooldown, which for PVE will be reduced to 7.5 seconds by the 2-piece PVE set bonus.
    • Force Bending increases Critical chance 25% for this ability’s immediate heal and each of its 3 channeled ticks.
    • Each critical hit of this ability’s immediate heal or any of its 3 channeled ticks buffs you with a charge of Force Surge, and refreshes the 25-second duration of this buff. This buff stacks up to 3 times. You’ll consume this buff with Consumption, each use of which consumes 1 charge, or with Revivification, which consumes all charges.

    Dark Infusion

    • This is your casted single-target heal, and it replenishes a respectable amount of health. It’s your default ability for single-target healing when Resurgence and Innervate are on cooldown.
    • Force Bending benefits this ability by reducing its force cost 30%. It’s better, however, to consume Force Bending with Innervate.

    Revivification

    • This ability is the most powerful AOE heal in the game. It has a 15-second cooldown.
    • Over 10 seconds, this ability delivers 11 ticks of healing, 1 immediately and 1 each second thereafter. It has a radius of 8 meters, which is about twice the radius of the ground graphic. Up to 8 allies within its radius receive each tick.
    • If more than 8 allies are within its radius, it heals the 8 closest to its center. When, in a 16-man Operation, two or more Sorcerer healers intend to heal more than 8 allies, they should center their Revivifications at least a few meters apart, as though drawing a Venn Diagram without much intersection.
    • Force Bending benefits this ability by reducing its force cost 30% (which is 30 force). It’s better, however, to consume Force Bending with Innervate.
    • Force Surge benefits this ability by reducing its cast time. One charge reduces its cast time by one-third; 2 charges reduce its cast time by two-thirds; and 3 charges make it instant. Unless you must use this ability while moving, and therefore need it to be instant, I recommend casting it with only one or two charges of Force Surge. The base GCD for an instant ability is 1.5 seconds. The base cast time for this ability, when reduced by either one-third or two-thirds, is less than 1.5 seconds. Therefore, you can use your next ability sooner if Revivification is a short cast than if it’s instant.

    Overload

    • This instant AOE heal replenishes a small amount of health to each ally in your frontal “cone”. This “cone” has a 15-meter radius and spans about 150-160 degrees (about 10-15 narrower on your left and right than 180 degrees).
    • This is your only heal, besides Unnatural Preservation, that costs no force. It has a 20-second cooldown.
    • You should position yourself so that as many allies as possible are within your frontal “cone”. Overload still applies its knockback and damaging effects, so you must be aware of the direction that you’re facing before using this ability to ensure that you don’t knockback adds or break CC. During boss fights, this usually means being at the rear of the ranged stack. During trash pulls, this usually means being between the trash and the ranged stack, with your back to the trash.
    • This is a useful heal for Operations, especially 16-man.

    Unnatural Preservation

    • This is an instant, large self-heal with a 30-second cooldown. It’s your only heal, besides Overload, that costs no force.
    • In PVE, this shouldn’t be regarded as merely a defensive cooldown. First, on the rare occasion you need a defensive cooldown in PVE, you have Force Barrier. Second, you can usually be patient while AOE heals, Resurgence, or Static Barrier tops you up. Therefore, to take advantage of this powerful heal in PVE, I recommend using it immediately after consuming two or three charges of Force Surge with Consumption.
    • In PVP, this is an excellent defensive cooldown.

    Expunge

    • This instant single-target ability cleanses up to two mental or force effects. When skill Sith Purity, it also cleanses physical effects and provides a small heal. It has a 4.5-second cooldown.
    • In PVE, when an effect is of a type that this ability can cleanse, it’s almost always better to remove this effect than to heal through it.
    • In PVP, this is a crucial ability for preventing damage and removing certain slows, roots, and CCs. The value of an instant ability, which can’t be interrupted and can be used while moving, is high in PVP.

    Dark Heal

    • This ability is a small single-target heal with a cast time equal to the GCD.
    • Force Bending benefits this ability by increasing its Critical chance 60%. It’s better, however, to consume Force Bending with Innervate.
    • In PVE, it’s very rarely appropriate to use this ability. (See Section “PVE”, Subsection “Playing Like an Expert”, Topic 6 for a detailed discussion.)
    • In PVP, when an enemy with an interrupt on a short cooldown is glued to me, and it’s time for him to interrupt me, I’ll queue up this ability to let him waste his interrupt on it.

     

    Cooldowns for Healing

     

    Polarity Shift

    • This instant ability can be used at any time (i.e., it’s off the GCD) and doesn’t use a GCD. It adds 20% to your Alacrity, and makes you immunity to interrupts, for 10 seconds. It has a 2-minute cooldown.
    • Though no amount of Alacrity on gear can provide 30% or more alacrity, this “cap” doesn’t diminish the benefit of any Alacrity in excess of 30% achieved with this ability.

    Recklessness

    • This instant ability can be used at any time (i.e., it’s off the GCD) and doesn’t use a GCD. It buffs you with two charges of +60% Critical chance for certain heals (or certain direct force attacks). This buff expires after 20 seconds. This ability has a 90-second cooldown.
    • One charge of this buff is consumed by each Unnatural Preservation, Dark Infusion, Dark Heal, or Resurgence (or certain direct force attacks) that crits.
    • In PVE, this ability is a cooldown for single-target healing. It’s usually used in conjunction with Polarity Shift to cast Dark Infusion on a tank who is low. Since the other two healing classes have better single-target healing abilities or cooldowns for such an emergency, it’s not unusual for this tank to be saved while you have one charge of this buff remaining. But you shouldn’t hesitate to activate this ability because its second charge might not be necessary; better safe than sorry.
    • In PVP, it’s optimal to use this buff with an Unnatural Preservation and a Dark Infusion. I often use it with Polarity Shift, but not habitually or as often as I do in PVE.

     

    Force Management

     

    Consumption

    • This instant ability exchanges 11% of your total health for 8% of your maximum force. You must have at least 11% of your total health to activate this ability.
    • Health exchanged for force using this ability isn’t considered damage. Static Barrier, Armor, damage reduction, or skills that reduce damage (Life Surge or Sith Defiance) won’t reduce the 11% of total health that you’ll lose each time that you activate this ability.
    • Activating this ability when Force Surge isn’t available causes a 25% debuff to your rate of force regeneration for 10 seconds. This debuff can stack up to four times, and adding a stack refreshes the 10-second duration of this debuff. For example, if you have no charges of Force Surge, after using this ability for four consecutive GCDs, your rate of force regeneration will be zero for the next 10 seconds.
    • With discipline and preparation, you should never have this debuff in PVE. (See Section “PVE”, Subsection “Playing Like an Expert”, Topics 3 and 4 for detailed discussion.)

    A Well-Timed Death in 8v8 PVP

    • In 8v8 PVP, dying restores you to full force. If you or an ally can monitor the time remaining until a respawn, it can be strategic to die and respawn quickly with full force. This takes some gumption, since you must die in time to respawn without catching a full door, but, as a healer, you’ll usually have multiple enemies who’ll be happy to dispatch you post haste should you present the opportunity.

     

    Threat Management

     

    Cloud Mind

    • This instant ability can be used at any time (i.e., it’s off the GCD) and doesn’t use a GCD. It lowers your threat by 25%. It has a 45-second cooldown.
    • In PVE, you should be in the habit of using this ability proactively, especially whenever adds spawn.

    Extrication

    • This instant ability lowers the targeted ally’s threat by 25%, and pulls him about one-third of a meter in front of you. You can’t use this ability on yourself. It has a 1-minute cooldown.
    • In PVE, this is handy to drop the threat of a DPS or co-healer who continues to have aggro even after using his threat drop. You can also pull someone out of harm’s way to your safe location.
    • In PVP, you should anticipate using this ability to advance an ally ball-carrier across fire pits in Huttball or to pull an ally into the central shelter in Hypergate as the Pylons explode. You may use this ability to pull an ally away from a group of enemies who are focused on him, but you might regret it. More often than not, you’re bringing not only him to you, but also those enemies.

     

    Useful DPS Abilities

     

    Affliction: This instant ability is an 18-second DOT. If you must contribute DPS to beat a boss’s hard enrage, your best option is maintaining this DOT throughout the fight.

    Crushing Darkness: This cast deals immediate damage and leaves a 6-second DOT. It has a 15-second cooldown, and is therefore limited to one target.

    Shock: This instant ability deals respectable damage. It has a 6-second cooldown.

    Force Lightning: This channels damage and, in PVP, slows the target’s movement speed by 50%. It has a 6-second cooldown.

    Force Storm: This channeled AOE damages up to 5 enemies. Despite its high force cost, it’s useful in PVP for interrupting multiple enemies who are capping simultaneously. I’ve observed that it may not strike an enemy within its radius immediately, however, even when there are 5 or fewer enemies within its radius. If an enemy is a second or less from capping, Shock is a more reliable interrupt (and, unlike this channeled ability, can be used while moving).

     

    Crowd Control (CC)

     

    Electrocute

    • This instant ability deals immediate damage and stuns the target for 4 seconds. It has a 1-minute cooldown. Its range is 10 meters, not 30 meters like our other abilities’.
    • In PVE, if you’ll CC an enemy with Whirlwind and you’re already within 10 meters, it’s nice to stun the enemy with this ability to ensure that it can’t move or act while you’re casting Whirlwind.
    • In PVP, this is a defensive and offensive cooldown. Defensively, this ability may allow you to escape from an enemy who is glued to you. With Sap Strength, it reduces the enemy’s damage dealt by 25% for 10 seconds after its stun effect ends. Offensively, if an enemy’s health is low enough so that he can be killed during the 4-second duration of this stun, stun him to ensure that he doesn’t escape. This is particularly valuable when used against an enemy capable of stealth, especially an Operative or Scoundrel healer, who will be challenging to kill without a well-timed stun.

    Whirlwind

    • This cast CCs an enemy for 60 seconds in PVE or for 8 seconds in PVP. It has a 1-minute cooldown. This CC breaks if the enemy takes damage, including from a DOT applied before this CC.
    • In PVP, this is a defensive and offensive cooldown. Defensively, you can try to CC an enemy who is glued to you. Though you’re unlikely to complete this cast, the enemy has used his interrupt on this ability rather than one of your heals. Offensively, if your enemies have two healers in a fight, it’s valuable to use this ability against the healer who your team isn’t focusing, especially if there isn’t a Sorcerer or Sage to cleanse it.

     

    Other

     

    Force Speed

    • This instant ability can be used at any time (i.e., it’s off the GCD) and doesn’t use a GCD. It increases your movement speed by 150% for 2 seconds or, with Corrupted Speed, 2.5 seconds. It has a 20-second cooldown.
    • In PVP, you’ll have two skill points in Fadeout, so Force Speed will remove all movement-impairing effects and, for its duration, grant immunity to the application of movement-impairing effects.

    Force Slow

    • This instant ability deals a small amount of damage immediately and slows the enemy’s movement speed by 50% for 6 seconds. It has a 12-second cooldown.
    • In PVP, this ability is useful for kiting an enemy who is glued to you, who needs to rotate, or who wants to get close enough to interrupt an ally of yours who is capping.

    Jolt

    • This instant ability can be used at any time (i.e., it’s off the GCD) and doesn’t use a GCD. It interrupts the enemy’s current cast (provided that the enemy isn’t immune to interrupts). It has a 12-second cooldown.
    • In PVP, this is a defensive ability when used against a DPS who is glued to you, and this is an offensive ability when used against a healer.

    Unbreakable Will

    • This instant ability can be used at any time (i.e., it’s off the GCD) and doesn’t use a GCD. It breaks you out of roots, stuns, and CCs. It has a 2-minute cooldown.
    • In Warzones, I don’t treat Unbreakable Will as a cooldown for personal survivability. It’s better to save this 2-minute cooldown to prevent an enemy cap than to prevent your own or an ally’s death. With proper positioning when defending a node, you’ll never need to break the first stun or CC to stop a lone enemy from capping.
    • In PVP, another rule-of-thumb is not to use this ability to break a root or, unless you already have full resolve, to break stuns or CCs. To illustrate, suppose that you Electrocute an enemy. If this enemy were to break your stun without having full resolve, he’d be vulnerable to spending a full 8 seconds in your Whirlwind (unless he has a second break).

    Force Barrier

    • This channel can be used at any time (i.e., it’s off the GCD) and doesn’t use a GCD. You can maintain this channel for up to 10 seconds, and it grants you immunity to all negative enemy effects. It has a 3-minute cooldown.
    • You can begin this channel while stunned or CCed, which makes it a second CC break. Since it’s a channel, however, you can’t begin it while in motion, nor can you maintain it when an ally puts you in motion with Extrication.
    • This ability resists all damage from enemies, and most damage from the environment, in both PVE and PVP. In PVP it can be more than a cooldown for personal survivability when used to maintain your team’s defense of a node. For example, if you’re the last player defending a node from multiple enemies, prevent their cap for as long as possible, then pop Force Barrier, and finally stop channeling Force Barrier to interrupt their cap as they’re finishing. This buys your team an additional six to eight seconds to reinforce the node. As another example, since you’ll have Corrupted Speed in PVP, if a node is suddenly undefended, you may be able to stop the enemy cap by using Force Speed, popping Force Barrier, and then immediately using Force Speed again.
    • In PVP, this channel doesn’t protect you from dying to the explosion of energy from Pylons in Hypergate. In addition, an ally guarding you continues to take damage through guard while Force Barrier is active, which I consider a bug.

     

    (Reproduced by kind permission of Orderken of the <Chosen> on the Prophecy of the Five server.)

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    • 2 weeks later...

    Can't really add anything to all that, but I'll try anyway!

     

    I wouldn't sacrifice higher level armorings for the 4 piece bonus.  The 2 piece is an absolute must, but the 50 extra force power is pretty insignificant, and I'd rather have the extra armor/hp/willpower.

     

    I wouldn't even go into a hard mode raid without the 2 piece though.

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