4.0 Class Guides/ 4.0 Operative/ 4.0 PvE/ SWTOR

SWTOR 4.0 Operative Medicine PvE Healing Guide by Z’ik’aria

Dulfy 66 Comments May 13, 2016

SWTOR 4.0 Operative Medicine Healing Guide written by Z’ik’aria of Jedi Covenant.

Intro to Operative Healing

This guide is designed to optimize all healing put out by a operative healer. This guide is meant for PVE players and players who wish to optimize their healing during Operations and Flashpoints.

Terms used in this Guide

• HOT’s (healing over time)
• HPS (healing per second
• DPS (damage per second)
• DOT’s (damage over time)

Operative healers are used in every situation from single target healing to multiple target healing. Their single goal is to increase the health of the allies around you. Because of changing combat situations no healer has a set rotation to follow. Rather you have a basic guideline that will allow the needed procs to be activated when needed and the needed abilities to come off of cool down when needed. Operatives are also one of four classes with a raid buff.

Advantages:

• Most mobile healer in the game
• Highest Multiple target healer
• Strong sustained healing
• Able to self cleanse DOTS
• High passive damage reduction

Disadvantages:

• Moderate burst healing
• HPS is determined on how you manage your HOTS
• Stuns/interrupts greatly affect burst healing/single target healing
• Low DPS while in healing spec

Talent Building

The talents that a operative healer chooses greatly influence what the healer can and cannot do. For best healing it is best that you do not use a single talent build. Instead keep several different builds for different fights and different situations you might find yourself in.

Talent 1

(used for long drawn out fights. Also the talent for everyday Flashpoint healing)

Skillful

• Nanotech Suit
• Chem-resistant Inlays
• Infiltrator

Masterful

• Med Shield
• Endorphin Rush

Heroic

• Revitalizers
• Augmented Shields

Talent 2

(Used for situations for stealthing such as stealthing past the ads between the first boss and second boss of Eternity Vault)

Skillful

• Nanotech Suit
• Chem-resistant Inlays
• Infiltrator

Masterful

• Med Shield
• Advanced Cloaking

Heroic

• Augmented Shields
• Escape Plan

Talent 3

(used for fights in which many stuns or interrupts will appear)

Skillful

• Nanotech Suit
• Chem-resistant Inlays
• Infiltrator

Masterful

• Med Shield
• Counterstrike

Heroic

• Augmented Shields
• Circumvention

Also as a note Fortified Kolto is not a bad skill to use, especially on fights where there are specific healer mechanics to be followed. (Kiting the spike on EC)

Gearing

Gearing for your operative healer is very important. Each tier of gear has its own requirements. All of the bonuses from each tier of gear stack on one another. This mean that no matter what lvl gear you have on as long as it is tier gear you get the bonuses from it.

Earpieces and Implants are considered Enhancements and Mastery Stims are used on Operative healers

Tier Gear Bonuses

• (2) Activating a healing ability has a 15% chance to grant Field Medic’s Critical Bonus which causes your next Kolto Injection or Underworld Medicine (Republic version) to be a Critical. This effect can only occur once every 30 seconds.
• (4) Reduces the energy cost of Kolto Infusion or Kolto Pack (Republic version) by 2.
• (6) Reduces the cooldown of Recuperative Nanotech or Kolto Cloud ( Republic Version) by 3 seconds.

216 Tier Gear

216 Tier gear are dropped from SM operations.

Numbers:

• 7700 HPS (Single Target)
• 5871 Endurance
• 4990 Mastery
• 2648 Power
• 1449 Critical
  • 8X Adept Enhancements 42
  • 1X Critical Augment 40
  • 2X (+41 Critical Rating) Color Crystals
• 1253 Alacrity
  • 2X Quick Savant Enhancement 42
  • 13X Alacrity Augment 40
• 0 Accuracy

220 Tier Gear

220 Tier Gear is dropped from HM operations

Numbers:

• 8210 HPS (Single target)
• 6302 Endurance
• 5179 Mastery
• 2788 Power
• 1505 Critical
  • 7X Adept Enhancement 43
  • 3X Critical Augment 40
  • 2x (+41 Critical Rating) Color Crystal
• 1238 Alacrity
  • 3X Quick Savant Enhancement 43
  • 11X Alacrity Augment 40
• 0 Accuracy

224 Tier Gear

224 gear is dropped from NiM operations. They are also dropped from the weekly Priority HM

Numbers:

• 8450 HPS (Single Target)
• 6375 Endurance
• 5393 Mastery
• 2940 Power
• 1543 Critical
  • 6X Adept Enhancement 44
  • 5X Critical Augment 40
  • 2X (+41 Critical Rating) Color Crystal
• 1329 Alacrity
  • 4X Quick Savant Enhancement 44
  • 9X Alacrity Augment 40
• 0 Accuracy

(These numbers can be found here:http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=847112 along with many other numbers.) I use these numbers and they are very reliable.

Stims/Adrenals

The use of stims and adrenals can change the face of a battle.

Stims:

• Always Keep a stim activated
• Use Advanced Polybiotic Versatile Stim

Adrenals:

• Adrenals should be used during a rough spot in the fight or when the raid leader calls for raid buffs.
• The best adrenal to use as an operative is the Advanced Polybiotic Efficiency Adrenal. While you can use the crit adrenal the alacrity is by far the better choice.

Rotation Guidelines

As an operative healer your rotation depends on how well you manage your HOT’s and your buffs, and by making sure that all of your procs are activated at the optimal time.

For Optimal healing keep your energy above 60% as much as possible. (see energy management for further details)

Before each fight begins make sure that the tank(or tanks) each have 2 stacks of Kolto Probe.

Stim Boost will cause your Kolto Injection or Kolto Infusion to be cast instantly. It will also activate a 10% alacrity boost for 15 seconds.

Single Target healing

• For optimal Single target healing keep two stacks of your Kolto Probe on the tank(or tanks) at all times. (To make this easier focus the main tank using alt+F}
• Kolto Probe can be refreshed by Surgical Probe which does more instant healing and costs half as much energy.(using Surgical Probe also help keeps Tactical Medicine activated) Surgical Probe requires Tactical Advantage.
• Use Kolto Infusion almost on cooldown. It is best used on tanks.However depending on the fight it may be necessary to prioritize heal the DPS and in that case place your kolto infusions on the DPS.
• Make sure to keep Recuperative Nanotech’s Buff (invigorated) activated at all times as that increases all healing received. (Note only affects 4 targets.)
• Kolto Injection should be used as needed but remember the channel is long so in cases of emergency its is best to use Stim Boost then Kolto Injection.(See burst healing).
• Diagnostic Scan can be channeled while running. It costs no energy and if this ability crits it restores 2 energy. Use while moving from fight to fight or if your energy drops below 60%.
• Use Kolto Injection and Diagnostic Scan while Kolto Probe and Kolto Infusion’s HOTS are ticking away to keep your target’s health up.
• Kolto Waves are best used on 3 or more players however that does not mean it is not worth using on a single target. It can help boost a player’s health when things go downhill on you and your Kolto Infusion is not available and you need a quick heal.

Multiple Target Healing

• Initiate your multiple target healings with Recuperative Nanotech which provides a small HOT and it invigorates all healing the target will receive (see Procs and Buffs). Note Recuperative Nanotech only affects 4 Friendly targets and those targets are chosen by their proximity to the Target on which the ability was cast on. (Depending on what type of group you have first cast it on a tank to make sure their health stays up.)
• After using Recuperative Nanotech use Kolto Waves it is a channeled AOE heal that affects up to 8 friendly targets. For best use make sure that the ranged DPS in your group are stacking (when possible). This ability is best used on 3 or more members.
• Watch the group’s health when Multiple target healing and time your Kolto Waves to start healing group members after they receive damage.

Burst Healing

For targets with 2 stacks of Kolto Probe

• First use your Surgical Probe then if they are still taking high amounts of damage activate your pugnacity which will allow you to instant cast either Kolto Injection or Kolto Infusion.(If you have the option use Kolto Infusion as its HOT will continue to heal them)
• Kolto Injection has a high heal but it is a long cast. Use it after using Kolto Infusion with Stim Boost
• For targets with 1 stack of Kolto Probe
• Open by using Kolto Probe to start that high healing HOT
• After the target has 2 stacks of Kolto Probe use your Surgical Probe.
• After Surgical Probe use your Kolto Infusion or Kolto Injection. If the proc from you 2 piece set bonus is active use Kolto Injection. (if needed with your Stim Boost)

For targets with 0 stacks of Kolto Probe

• First cast you Kolto Infusion on the target to get a HOT going on them
• Then use a Kolto Probe and a Surgical Probe (in that order)
• After those steps use your Stim Boost and an Kolto Injection
• Finish them off with the second stack of your Kolto Probe and an Surgical Probe

Procs and Buffs

As a operative healer your HPS depends upon the proper timing and usage of your Buffs and Procs. Here is a list of what each buff/proc a operative healer can get and how to get them.

• Tactical Advantage- Tactical Advantage is a buff that allows you to exploit targets. Tactical Advantage is required to cast both Surgical Probe and Kolto Infusion. It can be gained over time through your HOTS (which in the middle of fights is an easy thing to accomplish) or by casting Kolto Injection. It can stack up to 3 times and it lasts 25 seconds.
• Power Surge- Power surge is a buff that increases your power by a moderate amount for 6 seconds. It is gained by throwing out any heals on a friendly target or yourself.
• Mastery Surge- Mastery Surge is a buff that increases your Mastery by a moderate amount. It lasts for 6 seconds and is gained by throwing out any heals on a friendly target or yourself.
• Tactical Medicine- This is a buff that increases all healing output by 3% for 6 seconds. It is gained by casting Surgical Probe on a friendly target. This Buff is one of your most important buffs so make sure to regularly use Surgical Probe.
• Invigorated–Invigorated is a buff that originates from your Recuperative Nanotech. It Increases all healing the target received. Note this will also affect the healing that the target will receive from a co healer. Keep it activated on as many targets as you can and keep it activated as often as you can.
• Field Medic’s Critical Bonus- This buff is received by completing your 2 piece set bonus. Everytime you cast a healing ability it has a 15% chance to activate this buff. The Field Medic’s Critical Bonus can only be activated once every 30 seconds and once activated it will cause your next Kolto Injection to crit.

Energy Moderation/Aggro Management

Because a operative healer can only hold 100 energy it is important to maintain a level above 60% If your energy drops below 60% use your Diagnostic Scan which will build energy quickly. If you must continue to Mass heal targets while your energy is below 60% wait until your energy levels drop below 45% then activate your Adrenaline Probe which will instantly rebuild 50 energy.

Aggro Management on a operative healer can be tricky. Because of how much healing you are constantly doing (due to your HOTS) it will be likely that your aggro will be very high. To reduce the threat you generate there are several things you can do.

• Key thing to remember if you do pull aggro and cannot drop it run to the tanks.
• Use Countermeasures on Cooldown
• Remain with 15-20 meters of the tanks so that if you do pull aggro you can easily scamper back to them.
• If you continue to pull aggro use your Cloaking Screen it will cause you to instantly drop all aggro.
• If you do pull aggro activate your Shield Probe and your Evasion.

Rezzing Targets During Combat

As a operative healer you have two ways to rez a dead group member during combat.

1. Combat Rez- Combat rezzing an ally (Using Resuscitation Probe) will place a global cooldown on every member of the raid/group. This cooldown will not allow any other combat rezzes to be activated for 5 minutes. This move is primarily reserved for the tank or healer incase one of them dies. However if the fight is dps heavy it may require you to rez a dps.
2. Stealth Rez- To execute a proper stealth rez make sure that all allies have no HOTS that you have casted on them. While still in combat make your way to the dead player. Once on top of the player you which to target activate your Cloaking Screen. You can rez Multiple Allies While executing a stealth Rez. Stealth Rezing can be tough as there are many things which will cause you to enter combat. If you have and active HOT on an ally you will not be able to exit combat. If the boss deals damage to you, you will automatically enter combat making a stealth rez impossible.

DPS’ing While in Heal Spec

If the fight requires you to do DPS then there are somethings to consider.

1. As a operative healer you only have several dps moves, none of which do any major damage.
2. Using Dps abilities will cause your energy to deplete faster than normal.
3. To DPS while in heal spec keep the DOT from your Corrosive Dart on the target. Then use your Shiv, Fragmentation Grenade, and Overload Shot. To regain energy use your Rifle Shot. Fill in the down time between your abilities with Carbine Burst and Rifle Shot
4. In General Corrosive Dart>Backstab>Shiv>Overload Shot >Rifle Shot.
5. Multiple targets: Fragmentation Grenade>Carbine Burst.

When energy falls below 60% use Rifle shot to regain energy

About the Author

I have been Healing since I started playing in 2.0. I started on a commando. I then moved to a sage/sorcerer in 3.0. I started playing as a scoundrel then as well. Once 4.0 came around I started maining with my scoundrel/operative. Currently I am in the guild Imperial Command on the Jedi Covenant server. Special thanks to Ki’fico and Imfamine for all the time spent parsing with them.