SKILLFUL: Scar Tissue – Increases damage reduction by 5%.

I grouped these two utilities together because they are the only ones in your utility tree that are a passive damage reduction. One of Scoundrel’s weaknesses is they are the only class without a stun damage reduction. This means when we are double hardstunned without a breaker, we are in an extremely vulnerable state because we have nothing in our kit that lets us mitigate damage. That is why these two passives are extremely important to take. They are our only passive damage reduction and help with our survivability.

DO NOT TAKE. This is a specific DPS utility and has no benefit for healers. The only time we should be using Let Loose in combat as a healer is when we are trying to help our DPS find a stealther.

DO NOT TAKE. Not a bad utility for escaping one target but if there are more than one enemy attacking you, it isn’t helpful. You can’t afford to take it anymore because the new skill tree design. There is better stuff to put your points in. I would say this is now more of a DPS utility to help stay in melee range then a kiting utility for healers.

Note: Scoundrels shouldn’t have issues kiting because of our kit: Dodge helps us get unrooted/slowed roughly every 20-30 seconds (Scramble utility greatly decreases the CD of your Dodge if you are constantly being attacked), Tendon Blast slows a target so we can create distance, Scamper lets us roll twice away from enemies, and Trick Move lets us teleport away. With all these abilities in our kit, it takes away the effectiveness of putting a utility point in ANOTHER kiting ability. We just don’t need it.

DO NOT TAKE. This utility is only useful for DPS Scoundrels who are looking for an aggressive playstyle. For a healer it would be a waste to spec into this utility because we aren’t stealthing and re-stealthing often in combat.

This is a good utility when you want to run solo as a Scoundrel healer. The reduced cooldown on your hardstun can help you kite/create distance and stun a player to get important cast heals off. You can choose to replace Med Screen utility for this one (putting three (3) utilities in Skillful and one (1) in Masterful). Keep in mind, the only way to get the most out of this utility is if you are constantly using your hardstun. If you don’t like that playstyle, it isn’t worth putting a utility point into it. Also if you choose to play with a group of players particularly with a tank, I wouldn’t recommend this utility because you would only be using it for survivability and for emergency stunning to get a cast off. You wouldn’t need it if you have guard, support, and peels.

Note: With all of that being said I would recommend this utility for experienced Scoundrels, particulary duos with a DPS friend. When I say “experienced” I mean a Scoundrel who can maintain extremely good HoT and heal uptime while being focus fired, knows when you have opportunities in your healing rotation to sneak in some DPS on a target, while helping control healers and having a good understanding of all offensive classes to CC them at the right time. I personally spec into hardstun reduction when I’m duoing because it fits with my aggressive healing style and with my understanding of how to control as well as mitigate burst of different classes my team is fighting against. With hardstun reduction you could easily duo against 4 players if you know when to heal verse doing damage and how to effectively use your CCs properly. The hardstun helps you be able to get important heals off by stunning a dps who is constantly interrupting you, it also acts as another interrupt for healers as well as stopping their healing to create windows for you to help add little burst dps with your duo to help down an enemy.

DO NOT TAKE. This is a DPS specific utility and useless to take as a healer

This utility used to be second rate in 3.0-4.0 but its usefulness has slightly been increased with the having Smuggled Defenses being more accessible in the utility tree. These two utilities together would allow you to get your Defense Screen 5 seconds faster as well as giving you a 5% heal for your maximum health more often. With the increased effectiveness of these two utilities used together, it will be worth taking for healers to increase their survivability

DO NOT TAKE. This utility isn’t worth taking because it doesn’t lower the cooldown of your combat stealth enough to be useful. Also, the 50% increased movement speed addition is pointless because every time you stealth out you roll anyways which is just as effective. I personally don’t like putting utility points on a long defensive cooldown that are situational. Some games you will use it a lot while others you barely utilize it. I would rather spend a point on something I get often, consistent use out of (like Med Screen) than a small buff to a last-resort cooldown that I will often not need.

DO NOT TAKE. This utility isn’t worth spending a point in. The default Keep Cool as an ability is good enough to do its job, there is no need to spend a valuable utility point to make it slightly better. If you use the healing priority system I outline in the healing section of the guide you shouldn’t be running out of energy often. The only times you should be running out of energy are when you are never being CCed/Interrupted or you are forced to cast healing Underworld Medicine repeatedly (shouldn’t happen often).

DO NOT TAKE. The first part of this utility is DPS specific and pointless for healers. Both DPS abilities it refers to use a lot of energy to cast in addition to requiring close proximity. We also already have a slow, Tendon Blast, which has a short CD and is a 50% movement speed reduction. The second half of this utility is part of a new 5.0 utility merge. “Flash Powder” in 4.0 used to be a utility in Skillful and was worth taking for healing Scoundrels as another way to mitigate group damage or cleave because of the Accuracy debuff. Now this new merge with another strictly DPS oriented utility makes taking this utility as a healer not optimal.

This is a great utility to take in the Scoundrel tree. Any passive damage reduction is extremely important for Scoundrels because like I said before, we are extremely weak when we are stunned without a break since we have no stun damage reduction. This is a must-have.

DO NOT TAKE. This utility is good for Concealment DPS but isn’t as useful for healers. It’s just not good enough to take and with the addition of Sedatives buff in 5.0 (which is a dueling specific utility before), it gives us literally no extra benefit for us healers. One of the main reasons I personally wouldn’t take it is because we can root break with Dodge extremely often which reduces the value of this utility. We also never really get into situations where a root is what kills us; double hardstun is what kills us the most often and this utility can’t help with that. I just personally wouldn’t recommend this from a survivability standpoint because it’s not good enough to take verse the other utilities in the Heroic tier.

DO NOT TAKE. This is a DPS Scoundrel utility and pointless for healers. We already can sustain a healthy amount of Upper Hand by just healing.

DO NOT TAKE. This utility isn’t bad but isn’t worth putting a point in. The goal in this utility is to make it safer when you use your combat stealth by gaining 2 seconds of Dodge therefore, you evade damage and cleanse DoTs so you can safely get away. You can literally do the same thing by stealthing out and using your Dodge ability then rolling. This utility isn’t that great for being in a higher tier which makes it worthless to consider. Again, like I said before, I personally dislike putting points in abilities that are situational with long cooldowns, I would rather save my utility points for shorter CD abilities that I use often because it increases overall effectiveness of the utility point I put in.

DO NOT TAKE. This is a DPS utility and has no benefit for healers.

This is one of the best utilities in the Heroic tree and should be a priority for Scoundrel healers. If you are constantly being attacked in PvP you can theoretically get your CD of Dodge reduced from 1 minute to just shy of 20 seconds. Even if you are attacked only once every 3 seconds the CD is cut in half to 30 seconds. Dodge is an extremely important ability in your kit because it lets you dodge all white damage for its duration and when activated cleanses all slows/dots/roots.

Note: This ability not only procs for single target attacks but also DoT ticks. If you are constantly being DoTed the CD of Dodge will reliably reduced to nearly 20 seconds. More DoT ticks means it will be easier to cleanse them off with Dodge.

Note: Just think about what this utility does with the new combination of Back At Ya, you will have a 3 second 150% single target reflect theoretically every 20 seconds. That is crazy!

This is the second best utility in the Heroic tree. It’s a must-have for Scoundrels because it gives us two things that are very beneficial for us: it decreases the CD of your Defense Screen and your breaker. This utility syncs well with Med Screen utility in the Masterful tree. Our weakest moments for a Scoundrel are when our breaker is on cooldown since we only have one true escape. A 30 second reduction on your breaker as well as a decreased CD on Defense Screen increases your survivability greatly. This utility is a must-have in 5.0.

DO NOT TAKE. This is a DPS focused utility and pointless to take for healers.

SITUATIONAL.This is a new 5.0 utility which is extremely powerful. Since you spec into Scramble which reduces the cooldown on your Dodge, it makes this utility even more powerful. With this utility you will have a reflect for single target Force/Tech damage, sending it back at the attacker. This means that DPS have to be more careful continuing to tunnel you through your Dodge because it can be reflected back. If you have good awareness you could easily send a Backstab or Heat Seeker back at the enemy who cast it for 150% of it’s damage. This utility is great if you are being tunneled. It makes DPS think twice before attacking you. I have personally killed players with this utility (or they have killed themselves lol) and been in many situations where I have reflected over 40K+ damage back at my attackers.

Note: I personally feel like this is a great utility to take for solo ranked or group ranked because many of the games come down to who can get the most damage out as fast as possible. People will blindly tunnel through your reflect and/or you can easily catch tech/force abilities to reflect back. It might be enough damage for your team to get a kill as well as make them extremely unsure about whether or not tunneling you is truly the best strategy.

Note: Be aware that even though this returns 150% damage back at the attacker you still receive the initial damage.

Note: This utility in combination with the Scramble utility helps reduce the CD of Dodge every time you get attacked. That means you could theoretically have Back At Ya proc with Dodge every 20-30 seconds.

Note: Refer to the Dodge section to see when is the best time to use Dodge to reflect back an ability during a fight.

DO NOT TAKE/SITUATIONAL. I personally would not recommend this utility for a PVP healer. The “buff” to Kolto Pack is easily nullified by interrupts, it actually reduces the overall healing output of the ability, and ultimately does extraordinarily little to alleviate the difficulty in getting our burst heals out. This utility is meant to help give us some breathing room when we need to burst heal but does very little to actually accomplish that because you still have to cast to get the burst out. The instant double stack of Slow-release Medpac is only moderately helpful as it only saves you a single GCD, assuming you actually need a double stack in the moment. And the 10% self heal over 10 seconds is very fluffy. To make matters worse, this utility suffers from the issue of providing multiple, not necessarily overlapping benefits. The 10% self heal might be nice in a moment but the double stack of your HoTs useless and vice versa. The bottom line is that Back At Ya and Surprise Comeback are almost always superior choices in the Legendary tier.

Tip: For advanced players, I would spec into this for group ranked if you are forced to face a mez comp. Specing this utility will be better running than two (2) DCDs if the enemy team is not actually attacking you. For solo ranked it’s iffy. If you know there are tanks in queue you can run with this utility but if you are forced to play 3 DPS matches, specing into two (2) DCDs in legendary would hands down be better just in case you are tunneled.

Note: Currently in 5.0 there is a bug(?): the double stack of probe is healing instantly for a huge heal. I do not believe this is intended.

This utility turns your Pugnacity into a DCD. I recommend putting a point into this to increase your survivability in combat.

Since this utility was moved around it is now worth taking as a DCD improvement.This will improve the effectiveness of your shield that you are popping very often to absorb damage. Just keep in mind that Surprise Comeback is BETTER than this utility overall. Using them together is fine but do not remove Surprise Comeback to take this utility. It is NOT worth it.

DO NOT USE. Trick Move is a very buggy and broken ability which still only works 50% of the time as intended. Its design is supposed to let you create distance, kite, or travel to an ally to heal. Instead, because of bad coding, much of the time it doesn’t teleport you anywhere, teleports you past your location, and/or almost always doesn’t teleport you properly upstairs. With how this ability is not working as intended, putting a utility point into it in your legendary tree isn’t worth it. The only thing you would gain is another root break which, like I said before, isn’t really needed because of how fast Dodge gets off CD. Even with the new addition in 5.0 of it also gaining Upper Hand, it’s still not even close to being good enough to use.

You should never run out of stacks if you are maintaining HoTs on four (4) targets and using Kolto Cloud on CD. This alone should always give you three (3) stacks to be used to cast Emergency Medpac or Kolto Pack.

Note: When you use your combat stealth then unstealth or get unstealthed, you passively gain two (2) Upper Hand to use as you like.

Note: This is why you see Scoundrel healers before combat, stacking HoTs and Kolto Cloud on allies in spawn. Not only are your allies going to go into combat with HoTs ticking but it also allows you to enter combat with three (3) Upper Hand ready to go to use as you please.

Note: You have a passive called Tactical Bedside Manner that states once you consume an Upper Hand with a healing ability all your healing is increased by 3% for 6 seconds. This means every time you use Emergency Medpac or Kolto Pack you will receive a small healing bonus of 3% for 6 seconds after. This is super important if you want to Min/Max your HPS.

The good thing is, if you follow the healing priority as stated previously you will have 90%+ uptime with Tactical Bedside Manner.

Note/fun-fact: If you listen closely you will notice that every time your character laughs in combat, that is an indication you just gained an Upper Hand.

This is a new passive ability added in 5.0 that is unlocked at level 68. This will allow you to have a guaranteed critical hit with your Emergency Medpac after every other Kolto Pack (if you use the ability on cooldown because of its internal cooldown). Also be aware of what 100% Crit chance means. In 4.0 there was a change that stated if an ability is an automatic critical hit your crit chance will be added as extra bonus damage in addition to the usual critical multiplier. This passive ability gives us a slight increase to our burst potential and is something you should be aware of every time you use Kolto Pack.

This ability works in 8 man warzones and not arenas. This means you will not be able to use it in regular warzone arenas, solo ranked, or group ranked. I try to use Stack the Deck off cooldown.

Note: Good combos include;

Stack the Deck -> Kolto Cloud -> Kolto Wave for AoE healing.

Stack the Deck -> Kolto Pack -> Emergency Medpac -> Underworld Medicine -> Emergency Medpac for single target burst healing.

Stack the Deck -> Diagnostic Scan if you are in a desperate situation and you need energy back. Diagnostic Scan in your passives gives energy back every time you crit heal on a target.

This is your emergency energy regeneration; use it sparingly as it’s on a 2 minute cooldown. It could be the longest two minutes of your life if you are energy starved.

Tip: If you spend a utility point on Keep Cool, it will increase the energy restored by 15. I would recommend this if you are struggling with energy management.

In your Scoundrel passives you will notice you have an ability called “Patient Studies” which buffs your Diagnostic Scan to restore 2 energy per Crit heal, making it your secondary energy regeneration. Since 3.0 you can do this on the move. This should be used to try to keep your energy above 60% to keep a healthy passive energy regeneration rate.

You will have to use this ability in the healing priority rotation I provided, every 1-2 cast heals or after a channel of Kolto Wave. I tend to use it anytime I have a window where I don’t need to single target burst heal or AoE cleave to save a player(s). Always be actively looking for opportunities to sneak it in especially when you know Cool Head is on CD. If you are constantly getting CC/Interrupted you will notice your energy doesn’t suffer as much and you will see yourself not using this ability that often.

Tip: If you are really low on energy and Cool Head is on CD there are only two options. Wait for energy to come back by spamming Diagnostic Scan or activate Pugnacity + Stack the Deck and spam Diagnostic scan. The Alacrity bonus will increase your channeling speed as well as your increased Critical Rate from Stack the Deck.

Tip: The HPS of Diagnostic Scan is pretty much worthless (it was an HPS decrease pre 3.3 then the healing was nerfed again) and should only be used for energy regen. There are situations when you are kiting and you have no procs for Emergency Medpac, left and you can’t afford a cast heal, use it on the move to restore some HP. That is the only situation you should use it as a heal, when you have NOTHING left.

Note: Your base energy regen of 6 per second significantly drops off below 60 energy. Be aware of this threshold so you can maintain a healthy energy regeneration rate. The more time you spend above 60 energy, the more energy you generate, and consequently the higher your potential HPS because you don’t have to spend the GCDs frantically trying to stabilize your energy when you should be healing.

This is the only ability in our kit that can increase the rate at which we heal. Keep in mind what an Alacrity bonus does: it decreases your GCD, lowers the time between ticks of your HoTs, helps you cast heal/channel faster, and lowers the CD of your abilities. Use this ability’s Alacrity increase in combination with cast healing to burst heal someone or burst heal a group of targets with Kolto Wave.

Tip: Keep in mind that new Eternal Commander purple gear has a two (2) piece bonus which gives you an proc making your next Underworld Medicine a critical hit.. It procs around every 30+ seconds. When combined with the Prolonged Prescription passive after popping Pugnacity, your next Underworld Medicine will be a big Crit and cast instantly.

Note: Since 4.0 when activating Pugnacity you will receive Prolonged Prescription which will let you cast your next Kolto Pack or Underworld Medicine instantly. I would recommend using it with Underworld Medicine. Always go for your biggest heal because you should be activating Pugnacity to burst heal someone in majority of situations. The only time I use Pugnacity instant cast on Kolto Pack is when the player I was going to burst heal has his HP back (if he popped CDs or got healed by another source). If there is no other low player to use the instant ability on before the proc runs out, use Kolto Pack on yourself or an ally you think will get bursted later. Since Kolto Pack has a small HoT/small damage reduct, in this particular situation it is more beneficial use the instant cast like this versus your big heal which would be less effective since the player’s HP is full.

Note: If you activate Pugnacity remember that you don’t have to use your instant heal right away! You have the 15 seconds duration to use your instant. Sometimes you need to activate your Pugnacity for its damage reduction or a situation changes like a target you wanted to use your instant on is healed up – don’t be afraid to wait to see if another healing opportunity comes up so you can use it more effectively. Another example is I sometimes activate Pugnacity to use it in combination with my Kolto Wave. I wait to see who is the lowest HP target is after my Kolto Wave before using my instant.

Note: If you spec into the utility Surprise Comeback this turns your Pugnacity into a DCD which decreases incoming damage by 20% and heals you for 5% of your maximum hp every 3 seconds. This is a great utility but the downside is you sometimes need to pop Pugnacity in situations to mitigate burst on yourself verse saving it to pop during situations you need to burst heal an ally and use your instant cast proc. It unfortunate that if you spec into this utility you have to use your only real CD in two very different situations. Just do the best you can.

This ability is the foundation of your healing. Maintaining two (2) stacks of HoTs on four (4) targets is your goal. I would not recommend trying to keep HoTs on your entire 8 man in warzones because it’s virtually impossible. It would leave you no room for any other healing ability throughout the game. Rotating HoTs on four (4) targets who are taking damage or burst helps you stabilize your group healing and also allows you to cast/channel heal in between HoT refreshes. The success and skill of a Scoundrel lies in how well they maintain their HoT uptime even while kiting, being CCed, and cast healing. Remember that HoTs are your number one priority in your healing because they mitigate sustained DPS over time which is the strength of this healing class.

I can’t stress enough how important it is to not let your HoTs drop. Re-stacking HoTs takes time and numerous of GCDs (8 GCDs to be exact) where you are better off cast healing or doing other things. It will also be a heavy HPS loss since almost half your healing in a warzone comes from your HoTs. The better you become at remembering to refresh your HoTs, the higher your HPS potential will become and consequently your ability to save players.

Slow-release Medpac accounts for roughly 40%+ of your overall within a warzone. Just think about what that means: that is almost half of all the healing you will do in a warzone. Not only will their healing stabilize the players who are being damaged allowing you to cast heal but serve other benefits as well.

Slow-release Medpac help you generate Upper Hands and help reduce the amount of energy you expel during fights. If you are consistent in maintaining good uptime with your HoTs, each heal tick on a player has a chance of gaining an Upper Hand. Upper Hand not only gives you the opportunity to cast Kolto Pack which can be a life saving heal but also allows you to cast Emergency Medpac which also refreshes your HoTs.

Since 4.0 with the addition of Emergency Medpac being able to refresh your HoTs it slightly changed the Scoundrel play style allowing them to control their energy output. Let’s explore why that is: There are only two ways you can refresh your double HoT stack which is using Slow-release Medpac or using one of your Upper Hand stacks to cast a Emergency Medpac. There are very specific differences between these two methods. Slow-release Medpac costs more energy to use (10 energy) while Emergency Medpac costs a UH + 5 energy and heals for a small amount in addition to the refresh. It’s more energy efficient to cast Emergency Medpac when refreshing especially when your target is low HP. There is more bang for your buck. Just be aware that you shouldn’t refresh strictly with only Emergency Medpac because you will run out of UP stacks and which you also need to spend casting Kolto Pack which is part of your healing priority rotation. So the main thing to take away from this is the better your HoT management, the better the UP gain, the better your HPS potential (because this would allow you to heal and refresh with Emergency) and the less stress you put on your energy output.

Tip: Your HoTs can be refreshed (if stacked twice on a target) by Emergency Medpac. A good refreshing rotation is two (2) refreshed by pressing Slow-release Medpac, while the other two (2) refreshed by Emergency Medpac. This will save some of your Upper Hand procs for emergencies as well as give those players who are refreshed by your instant a 5-10k heal as well as restacking their HoT. If I’m in a group taking heavy damage I refresh with Slow-release Medpac once and three (3) times with Emergency Medpac, focusing my three instant heals on the players taking the most damage.

Tip: If you can, try to refresh your HoTs at the last moment before they fall off because you won’t be clipping their healing. You should try to effectively use all the time in between refreshes for cast healing/channeling and popping instants. This doesn’t mean however it’s wrong to refresh HoTs early. There are times when I know I am going to go through a double hardstun or double Mez rotation so I make sure I prioritize refreshing my HoTs early so they will be healing while I am sitting in CC. Always make sure you have your HoTs healing if you are being CC chained because it is one of the strengths of Scoundrels to be able to keep heals up while stunned. This all comes with experience, awareness, and practice.

Tip: Who should you prioritize your HoTs on? For starters, yourself because you will most likely get heavy focus fire, possibly a tank, and two (2) other players taking damage. If you specced into Supplement Medpac which gives you damage reduction while self HoTed, you should prioritize HoTs yourself at all times.

Tip: StarParse has a function that lets you do a Ops Frame overlay to help track Slow-release Medpac. I tested this myself and it works great! I really suggest all Operative Healers to use this in PvP. It will let you know how many HoTs are stacked on each target in your frame as well as a timer indicating when they are about to drop.

StarParse Website: http://ixparse.com/

How to step up Starparse to display raid HoTs:

Step 1: Open the program.

Step 2: Click “PARSE” on the top right. It show green when you click it.

Step 3: Click “INTERFACE” then “SETTINGS” and set a hotkey for “lock hotkey”. This will let you lock or unlock the Raid HoT overlay on your ops frame. The default is Ctrl + Shift + Z.

Step 4: Click “INTERFACE” make sure “Raid Hots” and “Lock Overlay” are checked.

Step 5: Go into your game and use the hotkey you just set to show your overlay (should appear somewhere to the left side of your screen. Drag the overlay and resize it to fit your ops frame.

YOU ARE SET TO GO!

My Ops Frame when overlayed:

IMPORTANT: To input the names correctly in order on the overlay you need to make sure that first the overlay has no names input into it. Unlock your overlay and clear the names out by clicking the white “x” button on the right side of the frame when hovering over the frame. Second, HoT everyone once in spawn before the match starts (healing a target will put them in your overlay), going from top left -> down the left side then top right and down the right side.You can unlock your overlay at any time to make sure the names line up with the names in your ops frame. If they don’t, don’t panic! Just drag, drop, or delete to fix the overlay errors.

Tip: Correcting overlay mistakes does take some time to make sure everything is perfect. Make sure you give yourself some time before every match to reset everything. Trust me, it’s worth it!

Note: If someone leaves your group after you’ve already set everyone in their proper place in the overlay, this will mess up your overlay. It’s a pain. Normally I just ignore it and if I have time I try to move the person and add the next one by healing and moving their name to the proper location.

Note: There are also times where the overlay is buggy and no matter what you do you cannot have get the players name to show up. This happens and you just have to deal with it because remember, this wasn’t designed for PvP where players are constantly leaving and joining your ops group.

This is your emergency heal as well as a way of refreshing your Slow-release Medpac. It heals for around 5k-10. It’s a good spamming ability if someone is at 20% and you don’t feel confident that you can have enough time to get a cast heal off to save them. But you will mostly be using this ability as a HoTs refresher. This ability accounts for roughly 10% of your overall healing within a PvP match. Most of the time it will be your third highest heal, unless you are in AoE cleave spamming Kolto Wave.

Note: In 5.0 there is a new passive,Bootlegged Remedy, which grants you an auto Crit Emergency Medpac for the passive proc duration. This gives you an instant slight burst heal every other Kolto Pack (based on the passives internal cooldown of 18 seconds).

This an instant AoE heal. This should be always used on CD and is the second best way to generate Upper Hand procs. Should be placed on a target close to three (3) other players to get the best HPS benefit. This ability, used on CD, will account for roughly 20-30% of your overall healing within a PvP match.

Tip: Before entering combat with your group activating Kolto Cloud helps stack your procs as well as helps you heal the beginning burst of combat.

Tip: Even in 1v1 duels you should be using this ability on CD to maintain Upper Hand.

Note: In your skill tree you will notice Kolto Cloud gives a 3% healing increase to all sources for 45 seconds. Keep this in mind when you are casting this ability to get the best spread as possible in your groups because all those people it touches will get a 3% increase in healing.

Note/fun-fact: This ability is a “smart heal” which means it prioritizes players who are low HP over ones with more HP.

This is your channeled AoE healing ability. It cannot be used while moving so be aware of your positioning when using it. It is an amazing ability and Crits often (sometimes up to 60% on my healing parses). Never underestimate the strength of the AoE healing. That all being said the only disadvantage to this ability is that like I said before, you have to stand still and cast it in a desired location. In PvP it is sometimes hard to get proper placement positioning with your Kolto Wave because it is extremely easy for players to just walk out of it or for you to be pushed back, interrupted, or stunned during its channel. Even though Kolto Waves HPS potential is high using it effectively in PvP is an annoying struggle that we just have to deal with. This ability can account for >10%-20% of your overall healing in a warzone. This healing percentage highly depends on whether or not you are in large AoE fights or using it for a filler in between cast healing.

Tip: It’s worthwhile to be using this ability when you have 3+ players in the wave healing range. This might be hard because it requires you to place it somewhere and players to not walk out of it. Just do the best you can with the placement.

Tip: You can either place it manually (drag and drop) or double click the ability while targeting a player. Be careful of how you place this ability as it’s not always wise to double click because you could get more players if you drag and place it manually in some cases. Optimizing the placement will take practice.

Note: Since Kolto Wave is a placed AoE ability it is very easy to have players run out of it or be pushed out of your heal radius. If player(s) leave your AoE radius, cancel the channel (you can do this by just moving). Don’t continue to heal no one hoping the players are going to come back.

Note: Don’t forget about Stack the Deck, which increases your group’s Crit chance by 10% for 10 seconds. If there is intense AoE battle I time it with my Kolto Cloud, Kolto Waves, and even my Pugnacity for high HPS.

This is a low cast time single target heal which also places a HoT on your target. It costs an Upper Hand proc and also has a base cooldown of 9 seconds. You should be using this ability on CD because it has overall better single target HPS than Underworld Medicine, triggers the healing buff you get by spending an UH, and the HoT on the end can generate new UHs. It also gives the player Healing Hand (since 3.0) which gives a 45 second resistance to 3% elemental and internal damage (effective when fighting against Assassins/Shadow, Powertechs/Vanguard, Pyro Mercenaries/Commando, and Scoundrel DPS).

Tip: It is smart to use this ability like a “buff”. Buff yourself and your tank or other players before combat. 3% might not seem as much but over time it is worth it.

Tip: This is a good ability to bait interrupts with if you really need to get out a Underworld Medicine or a Kolto Wave. This means casting the ability for the sole reason of trying to get the enemy to waste their interrupt so you can cast something else freely right after.

Note: In 5.0 there is a new passive,Bootlegged Remedy, which grants you an auto Crit Emergency Medpac for the passive proc duration. This gives you an instant slight burst heal every other Kolto Pack (based on the passives internal cooldown of 18 seconds).

Note: Adding the initial heal and the HoT healing of this ability, the overall healing is greater than Underworld Medicine. It is also more reliable healing than your other big cast heal because it has more crit opportunities (because part of the healing is split into a HoT). So it not only heals for more on average, it is less reliant on a single lucky crit to be effective. The HPS and healing per energy of non-critical Underworld Medicines is very poor. Unless you are concerned about your target dying very soon, Kolto Pack is a better heal.

This is your big cast heal which heals for around 8-25k~ with a 1.8 second cast time. Unlike Kolto Pack, Underworld Medicine does not have a cooldown and is spammable in single target burst healing situations.

Tip: The long cast time of this ability (about 1.8 seconds with a standard Alacrity value) makes combining it with the 10% Alacrity buff on Pugnacity an effective way to get the ability out much faster.

Tip: When healing single target burst with Underworld Medicine, it is best to try predict burst before it happens. I know this is hard and takes some getting used to but it really helps you save players. Start casting your single target burst rotation at 80% of the players health if you hear someone is about to, for example, get Commando bursted or a Carnage Marauder is setting up a burst combo. The more awareness you have in situations like this the better of a healer you will be because in the current state of the game if you start healing exactly when the burst is going or slightly after, there is no way a Scoundrel to out heal it.

Tip: Burst healing for a Scoundrel isn’t our strong point. To help with that it is really imperative that you have HoTs rolling a target before cast healing. It helps make up for the long cast time since it will be ticking while you are casting. By stacking your instants on a target this will help you put the most HPS on a target who is getting bursted.

Tip: Try to use a Emergency Medpac right after Underworld Medicine because if it Crits with HoTs it all adds up for a great burst heal. If it all crits that’s 20k (cast heal) +10k (instant heal) +5k (HoT heal)= 35k+ heal. Not only is it a good burst heal but it’s also a way of reducing the energy loss from spamming Underworld. By sneaking in a Emergency Medpac you can refresh your HoTs on a target, has a nice burst heal potential while also managing your energy output.

Note: When you get your Eternal Commander purple gear you will have a set bonus that gives you a proc (Field Medic’s Critical Bonus) making your next Underworld Medicine an automatic critical hit. This proc looks like a purple icon on your buffs bar. Be aware of this buff so you can save a Crit heal for a player who really needs it. Used in combination with the new Pugnacity passive it will make your next Underworld Medicine an instant Crit heal.

This ability has a low cooldown and is one of your main DCDs. When you are taking any form of damage not hesitate to pop it.

Tip: Sometimes when I need to escape quickly and my Dodge isn’t up, I use the combo Disappearing Act -> Defense Screen. This lets me absorb whatever DoTs or projectile damage are coming toward me for a short time when I combat stealth. This helps to not be popped out of stealth right away. Again, this is only if I Dodge is on CD – otherwise use Dodge.

Note: Your shield should be used to mitigate burst damage versus dot damage. Dot damage should be mitigated by your Dodge and/or your HoTs.

Note/fun-fact: Your shield can get boosted by your relic procs (Master and/or Power) which makes it absorb for slightly more when you activate it.

Note/fun-fact: Any ability that absorbs damage in this game gets converted into healing. So for example if your Defense Screen absorbs 10K damage in combat that turns into 10K healing in the warzone statistics.

One of the most overpowered abilities you possess, use it wisely. When activated it cleanses all DoTs, roots, and slows and causes you to dodge all incoming white damage (melee and ranged attacks) for 3 seconds.

Tip: If used in combination with Disappearing Act it will let you stealth out safely by cleansing all DoTs and other effects that might pop you back out of stealth.

Tip: Don’t be afraid to use Dodge sometimes to break roots or any movement impairments on yourself. I mostly do it when I see myself out of position. I use Dodge so I can double Scamper to get into a safer position to heal.

Tip: Prioritize using your Dodge to cleanse or dodge:

● Crushing Darkness/Mind Crush DoT – Sorcerers/Sages

Note: You know when this ability is on you by looking at your debuffs or just by listening. When it is casted you will notice a loud sound like a heart is beating; when you hear this cleanse it.

● Ambush/Aim Shot – Snipers/Slingers

Note: You know when a Sniper/Slinger is channeling this ability on you have red square on your character. Really easy to notice and counter. Not only will you dodge this ability and reduce its incoming damage to 0 but also the follow-up Followthrough/Trickshot, which comes next in the Sniper/Slingers rotation because it is also ranged (white) damage.

● Railshot/High Impact Bolt – Powertech/Vanguard

Note: Main PT rotation is similar to: Thermal Detonator -> Retractable Blade -> Rail Shot -> Magnetic Blast -> Rail Shot. Be ready for it because it is instant cast. This also removes the tech damage debuff applied by their Thermal Detonator.

Note: There is a bug(?) that if you use Dodge and are stunned right after white damage mitigation does not work. You will eat all of the damage. Just be aware of it…it sucks.

Tip: With the new reflect on Dodge utility there is an entirely new element to using the cool down effectively. Here’s a brief rundown on some of the best abilities to reflect.

● Heatseeker Missiles/Demolition Round – Mercenary/Commando

Note: Heatseeker Missiles/Demolition Round is one of the best abilities in the game to catch with your reflect. It often comes after their Blazing Bolts/Bolstorm channel due to its long channel time or their Tracer Missile/Grav Round filler. Additionally, this ability has a travel time so if you are observant and quick you can react to the animation of the ability in flight and pop your reflect.

● Thermal Detonator/Assault Plastique – Powertech/Vanguard & Mercenary/Commando

Note: This ability will usually come from Powertechs/Vanguards but it is also part of the much less common Innovative Ordance/Assault Specialist specs of Mercenary/Commando. It is also one of the easiest abilities to reflect in the game, due to the fact that you can see it (on your debuff bar) and hear it ticking down until it detonates. Simply watch your debuff bar to know when it will go off and pop Dodge accordingly. I would recommend not waiting until the very last moment, however, as you may be hard stunned in an attempt to prevent the reflect.

● Volatile Substance/Blood Boiler – Operative/Scoundrel

Note: This ability has a “settle in” time before it can be triggered by one of their DoTs to go off. So if you see this ability applied to you and one of their DoTs is active, you can expect it to actually go off in about 3 seconds, making it very easy to reflect their biggest hit.

● Thundering Blast/Turbulence – Sorcerer/Sage

Note: This is the biggest hit in the Lightning and Telekinetics specs. It has a 1.5 second cast time, making it another easy, big reflect. Because it is a cast and can be canceled (and also may be followed up with an instant ability) I would recommend waiting until the cast has almost been completed (but not too close, leave yourself some room for error) if you want to reflect it, making your reflect much harder to react to.

● Force Leech/Force Serenity – Sorcerer/Sage

Note: This is another 1.5 second cast that is therefore easily reflected. It is only a moderately big hit but reflecting it comes with the added bonus of preventing the self heal they get from it and cleansing the DoTs that are most likely sitting on you already from their opener. Again, reduce the time available for them to react to your reflect by letting the cast go a little bit before you pop Dodge.

This is another very strong ability that Scoundrels have. It lets you roll two times while giving you a 30% damage to dodge incoming white damage.

Tip: Stagger your rolls. It isn’t always wise to roll twice right away. When kiting it’s best to bait abilities such as Force Speed from an Assassin or Leap from a Marauder with the first roll then roll again to successfully gain distance from melee.

Tip: Roll can also give you the ability to go farther if rolling off edges. If you are kiting or want to get to from point A to point B faster, try to roll off cliff sides or ledges.

Tip: If I really need to get a cast heal off I sometimes will use the combo, Roll -> Cast heal if they interrupt that, Roll -> Cast heal again.

Note: Never forget the 30% chance to dodge white damage. If you have nothing left and you can’t LoS time your roll to dodge an Ambush or a Railshot. It’s random if it works but sometimes worth trying.

Great kiting ability, helps you get into range to heal or fall back to reposition. It works like a teleport or a leap to a friendly target who is in range. So this means if someone is up or downstairs it will teleport you to their position. So this means jumping and leaping up to a ledge is possible now! You can use this either in combination with Scamper or use it defensively to create distance when your roll is down.

Picking a good target to teleport to during battle is extremely difficult. It depends on your positioning as well as theirs. Most of the players you will find have terrible positioning which makes it hard to decide on the spot to defensively teleport to. The better you get with thinking under pressure the better you will be at quickly identifying a good target to teleport to. A trick that I use now is whenever I am being focused or I’m taking any damage, I take a quick scan around my group. I am constantly planning who I will teleport if the damage is too much for my CDs to handle. Always try to be one step ahead with this ability, it will help you use it in the most effective way you can.

Tip: This ability is also good for getting away from a melee who is interrupting/stunning to get a cast heal off fast.

Tip: I tend to use this a lot if I’m AoE healing and enemies constantly push me back from the fight. I just teleport back into the group to continue healing.

Tip: If the enemy team is trying to separate you from your tank this is a good ability for you to teleport back in range of guard by using your tank as your teleporting target.

Note: This ability is extremely buggy. You will notice that it only really works if you and your target are on flat ground. It’s very easy to get caught on rocks or objects in between the player you are teleporting you and only go half away. It also sometimes doesn’t even teleport you. Be aware of this and hopefully it will be fixed soon (lol).

Note: Be aware that when you use this ability on a target to get to their location, it teleports you behind the player facing their back. Be careful if you are, for example, on a bridge because it could easily disorientate you if you continue to move forward. You might be walking off a cliff or in another direction that you didn’t want to go.

This is your hard stun. I use it defensively, offensively, and even to get cast heals off. It really depends on the situation you are in. A defensive situation is when you are taking a lot of incoming damage or are under a lot of CC or interrupt pressure. Use your hard stun to mitigate some of the damage by stunning a target and create the distance you need. In an offensive situation, I would use it to CC a healer or DPS that is free casting or help your DPS secure a kill. For the last scenario, sometimes you are in a situation where you really need to get a cast heal off yet a melee is doing everything he/she can to interrupt your casting. Sometimes it really helps to stun the melee and cast heal right away to ensure you will get the cast off successfully.

This is your slow which will help you kite melee. I use this ability more in duels than warzones. It’s a great ability for kiting but I find I don’t use it as often in warzones because I don’t want to waste a GCD on just slowing a player. This is my personal preference. In my opinion, normally as a healer you will get peels or the melee won’t stay on you for a long period of time. If a melee is truly harassing a healer I would suggest slowing him on CD to discourage him until he switches targets.

This is your AoE Mez. This will help you reduce AoE damage if you throw it into a group of people. I also use this Mez for CCing healers and helping my team get kills.

Tip:I like using the combo Trick Move -> Flash Bang to quickly teleport to an allie’s location to save them from a group of DPS who are about to kill him/her. I have gotten a lot of clutch saves, don’t be afraid to try it.

This ability is your combat stealth out and should be your last resort. It lets you stealth out in combat but be aware that if you have DoTs or projectiles shooting you when you combat stealth they will still hit you in stealth and may immediately pop you back out. This is where I suggest using Dodge right before you stealth, which ensures you will escape without your stealth being broken by damage.

Tip: Be aware that using combat stealth puts you out of combat. That means it resets the cooldown of Warzone Medpac which can only be used once per combat cycle. Try to use your Warzone Medpac before being forced to use your combat stealth. This means you will be allowed to use it again after you stealth (if it’s not still on CD). There are many situations where sometimes the best option is to stealth out so you can use your Warzone Medpac to save yourself from incoming damage. Always remember you have that option.

Tip: This tip is for advanced Scoundrels. If you are being interrupted constantly or focus target modifier interrupted (even worse) and a position where you really need to get a critical heal off, use your stealth out to remove focus on yourself, reposition or just pop back out doing a cast heal on an ally. By stealthing out, it makes the enemy(s) have to tab back to you to interrupt or CC you to stop your cast and also makes players who have you focus targeted for interrupts, have to reset their focus target modifier to be able to interrupt you on time.

Note: When you exit stealth you will automatically gain two (2) Upper Hands. This helps when you are kiting away and get knocked out of your stealth for you to continue to spam Emergency Medpac if you are in a life or death situation. With that being said I have also used this passive as a way of saving allies in critical moments. If I am in a position where I think I can save them by using the two (2) extra Upper Hand on two (2) Emergency Medpac or for casting another Kolto Pack, I have stealthed out to do it. Just be aware that this is just for critical life or death situations; don’t get in a habit of using your combat stealth for another healing opportunity. It’s still one of your best escapes for survival.

Utility Legendary – Surprise Comeback turns your Pugnacity into a DCD which decreases incoming damage by 20% for 15 seconds and restores 5% of your total health every 3 seconds. As stated in the utilities section of the guide, this is a must-have utility. Unfortunately this creates a situation where using it for the instant cast may waste the damage reduction on you. Ideally pop it in moments where you’ll get use out of both the damage reduction on yourself and the instant cast. Obviously sometimes you’ll want the instant cast but have little or no need for the damage reduction; just be careful that it’s really worth using the instant cast in these moments.

*Only a DCD if you spent a Utility point into the Legendary tier.

By putting a point in the Dirty Trickster utility you can turn this ability into a DCD for a root break every 45 seconds.

*Only a DCD if you spent a Utility point skill tree.

I use Warzone Medpack as one of my emergency heals. If someone is about to burst you, use your Medpack so you have enough HP in your pool to not die.

Warzone Adrenal grants 15% damage reduction for 15 seconds. Don’t underestimate this cooldown because any damage reduction option will help you catch up in healing yourself and others.

Tip: Try the combo Adrenal + Pugnacity DCD, it will increase your damage reduction to 35%. If you are about to die to incoming burst pop these together for a large damage reduction.

Tip: In a situation where your tank is low on HP and you are taking a lot of his guard damage use your Adrenal. I sometimes use my Warzone Adrenal to reduce 15% of my incoming damage since 50% the damage is transferring to my tank.

Note: You can turn this ability into a DCD. By taking Dirty Trickster this ability will act as another root break every 45 seconds.

Note: You can turn this ability into a healing utility. By taking Sly Surrender this ability will let you HoT a target as a double stack saving one (1) GCD, heals you for 1% over 10 seconds, and grants the permanent ability of giving your Kolto Pack have a bigger frontal heal (without its HoT). Uptime is 10 seconds, with a 45 second cooldown.

This is your combat revive. Please put it on your bar and use it. The majority of healers in warzones don’t know what this ability is, don’t use it, or don’t even have it on their bar. Don’t be that guy!

I typically use my interrupt on healers to help my DPS down a target. It has a small range which is 10 meters. If you have an opportunity, do it. It’s a great habit to get into. You can also macro this ability so you don’t have to switch targets to interrupt a healer using focus target.

Note: For experienced Scoundrels you can hook this ability up to a focus target modifier on your Naga or keyboard. After setting your target on a player you want to interrupt, anytime throughout the game, if you are in range, by clicking one button you could interrupt that player without physically tabbing to them and without switching your target. Focus target modifier gets used a lot in solo ranked and group ranked because it increases the speed at which you can react to a healer casting and interrupt them as fast as possible.

I use this a lot in arenas to stealth my group into combat. It helps my team be the first to engage from stealth or get good positioning against an enemy team. I use it sometimes in regular warzones to stealth up to the node or sneak a couple players to an off-node for a surprise attack.

This is a good ability to go into combat with if you are alone or trying to Mez a healer going into combat for your DPS. The only other time I use this is if I go try to cap a node. This is a very situational ability as a healer and is more for DPS Scoundrels.

DO NOT USE. Mostly useless as a healer because it costs 15 energy and takes a long time to deal all of the damage. I typically use it to put on a stealth class if my group is chasing for a kill to pop the enemy out of stealth.

Close range melee ability that deals moderate damage. Also builds an Upper Hand. This is your best ability for helping to do damage aside from Backblast.

I used this in combo with Shiv for a for around 20k~ damage if they Crit. Don’t use it unless there is nothing to heal.

This is your spammable close ranged damaging ability. Can’t be used multiple times in a row because it costs 15 energy. Normally I use it to finish off a target if there is nothing to heal and have already used Backblast and Blaster Whip.

This is your main AoE damage attack. Its best use is to stop node caps or a ranged attack for an enemy who is running away.

DO NOT USE. Most of the time I don’t touch this ability. Really the only use for this ability is that it can be spammed to knock Assassins/Shadows and Operatives/Scoundrels out of stealth for your team to take care of.

I use this ability to stop node caps and to pop out stealthers if I can predict their location. Majority of the time I don’t use this ability.