Taugrim's MMO Blog

Guide Overview

This guide takes a look at two Sage/Sorcerer healing builds that I use for PvP, 29/12/0 and 31/8/2. I go over the builds, abilities, gear, and some general and Sage-specific healing tips in this guide. I play a Sage so I’m going to use the Sage names for talents and abilities but include the Sorcerer equivalent in brackets.

Ryndar is my Sage healer, which i focused on leveling through warzones. At that point there was only one bracket, which led me to come up with the 29/12/0 build (you can get Resplendence [Force Surge] and Force Wake [Electric Bindings] together at 48) to help survive the last couple levels to 50. With a lot of the Imperials still ahead on gear, I kept this build for the increased survivability while in the 50s bracket. Once I got comparable gear, mostly Champion and some Battlemaster, I swapped to the 31/8/2 build for more healing utility at the cost of survivability.

Please post your feedback, tips, and questions!

Revision History

• Feb 20, 2012: added Rotations to the Guide
• Feb 17, 2012: updated to account for the 1.1.3 stat change.

Table of Contents

1. Talents
2. Healing Abilities
3. Salvation [Revivification]
4. Healing with Conveyance [Force Bending]
5. Other Skill to Keep in Mind
6. Stats
7. Gear Sets
8. Builds
9. Rotations
10. General Healing Tips
11. Sage/Sorcerer Healing Tips
12. About the Author

1. Talents

Instead of including every talent, I look at some of the key talents to take or avoid from a PvP prospective.

Seer [Corruption]

• Immutable Force [Dark Mending] is a must, as Deliverance [Dark Infusion] will be your main heal and with Conveyance [Force Bending], the cast time will drop to 1.5 seconds.
• Wisdom [Haunting Presence] should be skipped, as there are more useful talents to spend 2 points on (2% more healing if you heal for 200k in a match will net you 4k more healing, which is one critical Deliverance [Dark Infusion] heal at 50).
• Psychic Suffusion [Force Suffusion] is skipped in the 29/12/0 build, as Salvation [Revivification] isn’t a part of this build, so it would only help Force Quake [Force Storm]. For the 31/8/2 build it increases the healing of Salvation [Revivification] by 10% and it is better than your other two options, Valiance [Dark Resilience] and Wisdom [Haunting Presence].
• Rejuvenate [Resurgence] and Conveyance [Force Bending] are must-haves. Conveyance [Force Bending] is the core of Sage/Sorcerer healing because it allows you to adapt to the situation at hand: get a fast burst heal, help gain force back, etc.
• Valiance [Dark Resilience] isn’t really a great talent, but the advantage that Egress [Fadeout] gives in PvP for creating a gap against melee classes is useful for helping your survivability. The Egress [Fadeout] bonus will allow you to gain 1~2m on a melee opponent and, coupled with Confound [Conspiring Force], will help you get just out of range more often than with just Force Slow.
• Healing Trance [Innervate] and Resplendence [Force Surge] are both must-haves as they give you a way to gain Force back without the health loss from Noble Sacrifice [Consumption].
• Confound [Conspiring Force] helps to create a gap against melee classes. 20% is not much but you only need 5 meters to out-range melee classes. Keep in mind that currently the snare is only applied on a fresh application of Weaken Mind [Affliction], so you need to let the DoT drop off in order to reapply the snare.
• Salvation [Revivification] is a choice you make for an extra healing option versus survivability. Skipping this allows you to get Force Wake [Electric Bindings] for survivability and utility.

Telekinetics [Lightning]

• Inner Strength [Electric Induction] and Mental Longevity [Reserves] help with your Force management both by causing Noble Sacrifice [Consumption] to generate more Force and by making everything cheaper.
• Disturb Mind [Exsanguinate] helps with preventing nodes from being capped (remember, DoTs interrupt caps) and also increases the duration of the snare from Confound [Conspiring Force].
• Telekinetic Defense [Lightning Barrier] is an obvious choice, given how powerful Force Armor [Static Barrier] is in most situations.
• Force Wake [Electric Bindings] is the extra survivability you can get by trading out Salvation [Revivification]. This really helps your survivability by rooting anyone you knockback (charges/leaps cannot be used while rooted, giving you time to LoS (Line-of-Sight) after your knockback against melee classes). The root lasts 5 seconds if no damage is dealt and a minimum of 2 seconds if they take damage. Something to keep in mind is that roots are not part of the resolve system. So if you use Force Wave [Overload] while your enemy is resolve capped it will still root them; great for stopping someone in the fire pits in Huttball.

2. Healing Abilities

Now let’s look at the Healing abilities you get as a Sage/Sorcerer. I’ll address Conveyance [Force Bending] and what it does to the heals in a later section and also take a more in-depth look at Salvation [Revivification] in its own section.

• Benevolence [Dark Heal] – This is an inefficient heal that you should really only use when Deliverance [Dark Infusion] is locked out due to an interrupt. The reason is that you’re looking at roughly the same amount of force but only half the heal amount.
• Deliverance [Dark Infusion] – This will be your main heal. It costs roughly the same amount of Force as Benevolence [Dark Heal] and heals for twice as much. When talented and with Conveyance [Force Bending], it also provides the equivalent of two Benevolence [Dark Heal] heals in half the corresponding time (i.e. 2 Benevolence [Dark Heal] heals take 3 seconds and 1 Conveyance [Force Bending] Talented Deliverance [Dark Infusion] takes 1.5 seconds).
• Rejuvenate [Resurgence] – This ability doesn’t really heal for much but is very important to keep in your rotation. You want to cast this ability every chance you get in order to get the Conveyance [Force Bending] buff. Keep in mind that the Conveyance [Force Bending] buff does last 4 seconds longer than the cool-down for Rejuvenate [Resurgence].
• Healing Trance [Innervate] – This is another ability that you want to use as often as you can. When this ability critically hits with any of the heals, you get a buff that will allow you to use Noble Sacrifice [Consumption] without a penalty. The heal for this is decent but you’re still using Deliverance [Dark Infusion] as the main heal.
• Force Armor [Static Barrier] – This really isn’t a heal, but it might as well be. When talented it becomes efficient and will generally allow you to get off heals that you normally wouldn’t be able to.

3. Salvation [Revivification]

Personally I don’t think Salvation [Revivification] is very good in most PvP situations, so I made a build that dropped it in order to gain Force Wake [Electric Bindings] for some extra survivability. The reasons I’m not a fan of this ability in most PvP situations are that it is a 2 second cast that is a ground-targeted AoE, people have to stand in the area for 10 seconds to receive a noticeable amount of healing, and it costs 100 force (91 with talents). In most cases people are going to be moving around a lot, so landing it initially will be tough and then standing in it will often be detrimental, especially for melee classes that are chasing enemies. There are situations where Salvation [Revivification] is useful but more often than not I think you’re better off using another heal. To this extent I believe there is more situational advantage to having a root from Force Wake [Electric Bindings] than having Salvation [Revivification], especially if you’re having survivability issues.

If you do take Salvation [Revivification], then you want to get around 17 total ticks of its heal in order to get an amount of healing and force usage roughly equivalent to two Deliverance [Dark Infusion]s. As this ability ticks once per second and lasts 10 seconds, you’re looking at landing it on 2 people for 9 seconds, 3 people for 6 seconds, 4 people for 5 seconds, and so on (this does not count the initial landing of the heal). Something to keep in mind, mostly for raiding/PvE situations, is that Salvation [Revivification] can heal up to 8 people simultaneously (not sure how it determines who gets healed).

I mostly run the 31/8/2 build now that my gear is better, and as I mentioned above I rarely use Salvation [Revivification]; maybe 2~3 times in a Warzone. I would recommend that you give this ability a try and see if it fits with your playstyle, but do not rely on this ability too much. Use Salvation [Revivification] to complement your healing instead of making it part of your core rotation. One thing I do is use Salvation [Revivification] early while nobody really needs healing (or I just topped people off) and my Force is relativly high, as the 10 second HoT can help heal once people start to take damage again.

4. Healing with Conveyance [Force Bending]

Now that we’ve looked at the healing skills for a Sage/Sorcerer, let’s take a look at how they change when you apply Conveyance [Force Bending]. Conveyance [Force Bending] is key to rolling out good heals in a reasonable amount of time.

• Rejuvenate [Resurgence] – This ability is key as it applies your Conveyance [Force Bending] buff. Something to keep in mind is that this spell has a 6-second cool-down and Conveyance [Force Bending] lasts 10 seconds. Using Rejuvenate [Resurgence] early (even if not needed) and holding on to the Conveyance [Force Bending] buff can allow you to get the Conveyance [Force Bending] effect on two different spells very quickly.
• Benevolence [Dark Heal] – With the cost reduction this becomes as force-efficient as Deliverance [Dark Infusion]. If the target isn’t missing much health then this will be your go to spell after a Rejuvenate [Resurgence]. Another tactic is to bait an interrupt by casting this spell and then follow it up with a Deliverance [Dark Infusion] or Healing Trance [Innervate] after being interrupted. Knowing your enemy is important for this and if you’re playing against the same enemies you’ll pick up on some behaviors (e.g. do they interrupt any ability or only healing abilities, do they interrupt consistently or forget to interrupt some times).
• Deliverance [Dark Infusion] – The decrease to cast time allows this spell to be your staple heal without giving the enemy a large window to interrupt.
• Healing Trance [Innervate] – The critical chance increase makes this almost guarantee giving the Resplendence [Force Surge] proc. Something to note is that the Conveyance [Force Bending] buff isn’t consumed by the initial casting of Healing Trance [Innervate]: this allows you to start casting another ability to get the Conveyance [Force Bending] effect as long as you start it before the last tick of Healing Trance [Innervate].
• Salvation [Revivification] – Using Conveyance [Force Bending] will help mitigate one of the major issues with this spell (high force cost) but if your critical chance is low, it’s probably better to save Conveyance [Force Bending] for Healing Trance [Innervate]. Noble Sacrifice [Consumption] will give you 40 force (48 with the extra Force talents), while Conveyance [Force Bending] will reduce the cost of Salvation [Revivification] by 30 force.

5. Other Skills to Keep in Mind

Here are some skills that don’t heal but that you should keep in mind while healing. I’m not going through all the other skills, as the principles can be applied to other abilities (i.e. Force Stun [Electrocute] and Force Lift [Whirlwind]).

• Force Wave [Overload] – This 20-second-cool-down knockback is a real life-saver and using it at the right time can change the course of a fight. With Force Wake [Electric Bindings] this can allow you to create a gap in order for you to get some healing on yourself or others without taking damage. Keep in mind your LoS options for after you knockback and what gap closing potential the enemy has.
  For Example, against an Assassin you don’t want to use Force Wave [Overload] until you get them to use their Force Speed. To create this opportunity use Force Slow and the 20% speed boost from your Force Armor [Static Barrier] to create a minor gap. Most Assassins will use their Force Speed to catch up to you, giving you the perfect opportunity to Force Wave [Overload] and create a gap. Another option to get them to use Force Speed is by using your own Force Speed to create a gap.
• Force Stun [Electrocute] – Instead of healing through damage, you can use Force Stun [Electrocute] to create a gap yourself or give yourself time to heal an ally. Make sure that you don’t just use this defensively. Using it to help drop an enemy healer can force the enemy to play defensively, leading to a reduction in damage to your allies.
• Force Speed – Similar to Force Wave [Overload], the key is not to use this ability every chance you get, but to look for an opportunity to capitalize on the effect. Knowing where you can LoS and what your opponent has to stop you is key. Another use for this is to get to a location for a key Force Wave [Overload] (like the bridges in Void Star) or to catch up to an ally that needs a heal immediately.
• Mind Snap [Jolt] – This ability is often overlooked, but having a 30-meter interrupt can help prevent damage (interrupt a Tracer Missile, Grav Round, etc) and also help bring down an enemy (interrupt an enemy healer). Don’t get caught up always trying to heal through damage, look for opportunities to prevent the damage before it happens.
• Force Slow – Mostly used to create a gap against melee opponents to prevent damage, but also remember it can prevent the enemy from kiting your allies.
• Restoration [Purge] – This cleanse helps keep you away from Warriors and Assassins. Both use Force-based slows that you can cleanse. Also remember, cleansing a DoT early (Curshing Darkness) can prevent a lot of damage. The trick is identifying which abilities can and can’t be cleansed. A general rule of thumb is that you can cleanse anything from a Force user (Sith Warrior, Sith Inquisitor, Jedi Knight, Jedi Consular).
• Rescue [Extrication] – This can help to prevent damage if you’re coordinating with a player (pulling them away from melee classes or near a LoS location). The major part to keep in mind is that you both need to be on the same page, as if the person you are pulling runs right back in, then all you really did was lower their damage and use up a global cool-down. The best use I came up with is to pull an ally near one of the Healing “items”.
• Revival [Reanimation] – Your combat Resurrection ability. As of 1.1.1 it was changed to revive at 25% HP instead of 1% so it’s now usable in actual combat situations. This can help keep a node defended for longer and is really helpful in Voidstar to allow an ally to avoid the re-spawn door. Do keep in mind that they will only have 25% of their HP so giving them a shield after they pop up and some heals is going to be a must (they do pop back up out of combat so they can use out of combat abilities right away).

6. Stats

For primary stats you’re looking at Willpower and Endurance. Pretty straightforward: Willpower increases your healing, damage, and critical chance, while Endurance increases your survivability.

I haven’t done extensive testing but my general stance for secondary stats is Critical Rating > Power > Surge Rating. The major reason for this is that Healing Trance [Innervate] critical hits are your way of getting Force back. Conveyance [Force Bending] works to accomplish this, but if you’re using Conveyance [Force Bending] on Healing Trance [Innervate] then you’re not getting its effect on another ability. There is a diminishing return on Critical Rating and Surge rating. The post from tuskake goes more in depth on this but it looks like you want around 300-400 Critical Rating and 100~200 or so Surge Rating. After that point you will want to focus on Power. With the 1.1.3 change to Surge Rating I would keep the same stat order but the number for Surge Rating changes (150 Surge Rating gives ~18% instead of ~23%).

7. Gear Sets

There are four different sets you’re going to be looking at for level 50 gear, two for PvP and two for PvE. The set bonuses are listed below and are followed by my thoughts on the set bonuses and which pieces I picked.

PvP

• Force-Master
  • (2) Reduces cool-down of Crushing Darkness or Mind Crush by 1.5 seconds. Crushing Darkness or Mind Crush damage heals you for 0.5% of your max health.
  • (4) Increases range of Shock and Jolt or Project and Mind Snap by 5 meters.

• Force-Mystic
  • (2) Reduces the lockout debuff duration of Static Barrier or Force Armor by 3 seconds.
  • (4) Consumption or Noble Sacrifice restores 3% of your max health over 6 seconds.

PvE

• Force-Master
  • (2) Reduces cost of Lightning Strike and Force Lightning or Disturbance and Telekinetic Throw by 2.
  • (4) Affliction or Weaken Mind damage has a 10% chance to increase alacrity by 5% for 15 seconds. Cannot occur more than once every 20 seconds.

• Force-Mystic
  • (2) Reduces cool-down of Innervate or Healing Trance by 1.5 seconds.
  • (4) Increases total Force by 50.

The PvE Force-Master set bonuses could be nice if you’re going damage, but if healing is your main focus then you’re probably going to want to skip this set.

The PvE Force-Mystic (2) set bonus is a good bonus to get. Cutting 1.5 seconds off the cool-down of Healing Trance [Innervate] allows you to use it one global cool-down earlier. The usual rotation will involve Rejuvenate [Resurgence], Deliverance [Dark Infusion], and Healing Trance [Innervate] (in no particular order). Due to the 3-second channel on Healing Trance [Innervate], you’re looking at roughly 6 seconds (will change with Alacrity), meaning you need to use 1 more global cool-down in order to have Healing Trance [Innervate] up again (most likely Noble Sacrifice [Consumption]). This is going to drastically improve your Force management while still outputting good healing. The (4) set bonus gives you an extra heal in your force pool and, more importantly, increases your Noble Sacrifice [Consumption] restoration by 4 Force (total with Mental Longevity [Reserves] becomes 52).

Considering the diminishing return on Expertise, you want roughly 550 unless your aiming for a PvE 4 set bonus. With Battlemaster gear, 550 Expertise is achieved with 11 pieces leaving you 3 pieces for non PvP gear (to maximize your stats). If the set bonuses don’t mater then your generally looking to fill these three pieces with the Matrix Cube, Bracer, and Waist. If your looking to get a 2 set bonus then any 2 of the set pieces can be traded, while keeping the Matrix Cube. The reason you can trade any 2 set pieces is that between equal tiers (i.e. Champion vs. Columi, Battlemaster vs. Rakata) the only difference is End, Primary Stat, and Expertise.

I went with getting the 2 pieces of the PvE Force-Mystic and 3 pieces of PvP Force-Mystic. The Healing Trance [Innervate] cool-down reduction, in my opinion, is the best set bonus of all the sets for healing. The PvP Force-Mystic set bonus is helpful, and having 3 pieces of this set allows you to get some extra Expertise. If getting the PvE Force-Mystic set is not an option, or will take time, and you have access to more PvP gear, then I would go with completing the PvP Force-Mystic set. Noble Sacrifice [Consumption] is used constantly and the 3% healing (even though not much) will still help restore small amounts of damage that you receive. The PvP Force-Master set bonus might look good to accomplish this while adding damage, but you’re looking at a total of 2% health over 6 seconds with a 15 second cool-down. On the other hand, Noble Sacrifice [Consumption] is already part of your healing rotation and would be providing 3% over 6 seconds with roughly a 9 second cool-down (Resplendence [Force Surge] will follow the 9 second Healing Trance [Innervate] cool-down).

8. Builds

Here are the two healing builds I have used with my Sage and recommend. Each build has its own advantages and disadvantages. Both are designed with PvP in mind and there are specific talents that should be dropped if your focus is purely for PvE (e.g. Confound [Conspiring Force]).

Survival Healing – 29/12/0 - Sage [Sorcerer]: This build gets Force Wake [Electric Bindings] out of Telekinetics [Lightning] to help with survivability in PvP. The main idea for this build is to stay alive through your own actions instead of relying on your team to cover you, mostly because the cover is always welcome but not always available.

Full Healing – 31/8/2 - Sage [Sorcerer]: This build takes Salvation [Revivification], the 31-point ability from the healing tree, to give you another option for healing. I still do not use Salvation [Revivification] too often in Warzones, maybe two or three times in a 15-minute match, it’s helpful to have when the few right situation comes up. I recommend playing with the 29/12/0 build first to get used to healing with the core healing spells before adding Salvation [Revivification] to your tool set. I’ve seen a lot of sages and sorcerers rely too much on Salvation [Revivification] instead of using it to compliment their healing.

9. Rotations

There is no magic rotation that you will always use in PvP.  A lot of what your going to do will come down to the situation your in and reacting to what your opponents are doing. I’ll lay out some of the common scenarios that you may run into and my typical rotation in those situations. The goal with these rotations is to be as flexible as possible and I don’t cover every possible case. You will need to adapt depending on the situation but these rotations can give you a framework to build up from.

• Scenario 1 - If your allowed to free cast and nobody is really in need of healing (everyone above 70% hp and no threat of of large burst damage) then you want to run a force efficient rotation.
  • If you don’t have Conveyance [Force Bending] start with Rejuvenate [Resurgence]. Otherwise go straight into your rotation of Healing Trance [Innervate] and cutting off the last tic with Deliverance [Dark Infusion] followed up with Rejuvenate [Resurgence]. If you got a Resplendence [Force Surge] proc then I use Noble Sacrifice [Consumption] otherwise I use Force Armor [Static Barrier]. Then you repeat the rotation. You’ll need to add another ability if you don’t have the PvE Force Mystic 2 set bonus. The reason for the Rejuvenate [Resurgence] after your Deliverance [Dark Infusion] is so you have your Conveyance buff available to you in case you need to change your rotation. The idea here is to get the Resplendence [Force Surge] proc as often as possible to maintain/gain as much Force as possible.
  • *Rejuvenate [Resurgence]* => Healing Trance [Innervate] => Deliverance [Dark Infusion] => Rejuvenate [Resurgence] => Noble Sacrifice [Consumption] / Force Armor [Static Barrier]
• Scenario 2 - If your allowed to free cast and you need to burst heal (someone is hovering around 30~70% hp and you think they will live longer than 1.5 seconds) then you want to put out as much healing as possible.
  • If you don’t have Conveyance [Force Bending] start with Rejuvenate [Resurgence]. After checking this go into Deliverance [Dark Infusion] followed with Healing Trance [Innervate] and then casting Rejuvenate [Resurgence] afterwards. Once again, if you got your Resplendence [Force Surge] proc then use Noble Sacrifice [Consumption] and if you didn’t use Force Armor [Static Barrier]. You’ll have to add another ability if you don’t have the PvE Force Mystic 2 set bonus. The idea with this rotation is to put out a large amount of healing rapidly.  This works great if you know who is going to be taking a large amount of damage.  Because your using your Conveyance [Force Bending] proc on Deliverance [Dark Infusion] you’ll most likely see yourself losing Force the longer you run this rotation.
  • *Rejuvenate [Resurgence]* => Deliverance [Dark Infusion] => Healing Trance [Innervate] => Rejuvenate [Resurgence] => Noble Sacrifice [Consumption] / Force Armor [Static Barrier]
• Scenario 3 - If you need to heal someone immediately (someone is is around 10~40% and/or you expect a large amount of damage soon) then you want to buy time for them to LoS or for you to get some heals in.
  • If your target doesn’t have the Force Imbalance [Deionized] de-buff then start off with Force Armor [Static Barrier].  You’ll want to follow quickly with Healing Trance [Innervate] to give them some breathing room. If you have Conveyance [Force Bending] then cut off the tail end of your Healing Trance [Innervate] with Deliverance [Dark Infusion] to get the 1.5 second cast. If you didn’t have Conveyance [Force Bending] then go with Rejuvenate [Resurgence] into your Deliverance [Dark Infusion]. If your target is still in trouble then skip using your Noble Sacrifice [Consumption] and move into the rotation from Scenario 1 or 2 if you can free cast. The idea with this rotation is give yourself or another healer time to heal a person, ideally trying to bring them outside of the execute range (<20/30% depending on class) as quickly as possible.
  • *Force Armor [Static Barrier]* => Healing Trance [Innervate] => *Rejuvenate [Resurgence]* => Deliverance [Dark Infusion]  => *Noble Sacrifice [Consumption]*

These are a few of the common scenarios and what I try and do when I run into those situations. This does not cover everything and depending on what is going on you’ll have to adapt. Try to move around whenever your using a string of instant cast abilities and remember to keep Conveyance [Force Bending] so you can go into a “powerful” rotation without having to cast Rejuvenate [Resurgence] first.

10. General Healing Tips

• Identify Line-of-Sight options in a map, as LoS is a huge component of healing (it’s a huge part of everything really). Know when to break LoS to prevent damage to yourself and how to maximize your LoS so that you can heal more people. For this I usually sit just past a corner. This allows me to have a huge LoS and if I get in danger or see a lull in the fighting I can back behind the corner to cut off a large amount of area for people to see/target me.
  For example, on the west side after the bridge on Voidstar there is a stack of crates that will block LoS.
• LoS is important for the target you’re healing also. If you’re trying to heal melee classes that are chasing someone that went around a corner then you are probably not going to get off a long cast heal. Don’t waste your time starting the heal if it’s not going to land — move and start the heal from a better angle.
• Try not to go back to the same locations after you die. This will keep the enemy guessing instead of always looking towards the same corner to find you. The longer it takes people to find you the longer you get to heal undisturbed.
• Know the class that is attacking you. Each class has a wealth of abilities at their disposal but they can’t have them all (know common builds or powerful talents). The most important thing to keep in mind is the rate that your opponent can interrupt you. Juggernauts have an 8-second interrupt cool-down, while Sorcerers have a 12-second interrupt cool-down. Also, understand how specific abilities give you information about your opponent’s spec.
  For example, knowing that an Assassin has the pull limits what other abilities he has and what you need to watch out for (in this case most likely full tank or running a tank/balance hybrid meaning he is running a 12-second interrupt instead of a 10-second interrupt). Knowing the Assassin has the pull also lets you know that his Force Speed will remove snares and roots, so you should save your Force Slow for after he uses Force Speed.
• Earlier I mentioned using Benevolence [Dark Heal] as a way to bait the enemy’s interrupt so you can maintain your Conveyance [Force Bending] buff for a heal. This principle also applies to other situations. If you notice you’re being interrupted consistently, think about throwing in a heal with the intent of it being interrupted, and follow up with the heal you really want. Keep in mind Commandos and Mercenaries are the only class that do not have an interrupt (i.e. interrupt with a lockout effect).

11. Sage/Sorcerer Healing Tips

• Rejuvenate [Resurgence] early and often. Conveyance [Force Bending] lasts 10 seconds, which allows you to Rejuvenate [Resurgence] before you get into a fight so that you have Conveyance [Force Bending] ready and waiting for when a person starts taking damage, instead of having to use a GCD on Rejuvenate [Resurgence] once the fight has already begun.
• As stated above, Conveyance [Force Bending] is not consumed immediately by Healing Trance [Innervate], which allows you to start another healing ability before the channel finishes and get the effect from it. A recent Q&A has pointed out that Conveyance [Force Bending] was not intended to effect multiple abilities so this may change (it could be referencing the bug that allows Conveyance [Force Bending] to be used on two Deliverance [Dark Infusion] heals back to back). One thing to keep in mind, with the current system, is that if you start your Healing Trance [Innervate] and the Conveyance [Force Bending] buff wears off you do lose the critical chance bonus for the rest of the channel.
• Use Force Armor [Static Barrier] before you get into a fight. This creates 2 effects, the first being that you can gain the force back from using it before the fight starts (more important if you’re using Force Armor [Static Barrier] on your whole team). The second is that it puts the Force Imbalance debuff on early allowing you to reapply Force Armor [Static Barrier] earlier in a fight.
• Deliverance [Dark Infusion] and Healing Trance [Innervate] both root you while casting, so try to move around the battlefield while casting your instant cast abilities (Force Armor [Static Barrier], Rejuvenate [Resurgence], etc.). Use that time to head towards/change  pillars, to hide yourself to try, or keep people from singling you out as the healer. Remember being on the move makes it harder for melee damage dealers to hit you (have to chase you) and allows you to get out of range from range damage dealers.
• Noble Sacrifice [Consumption] is an interesting way of getting Force back. Unfortunately in a PvP situation it tends to not be useful unless you have Resplendence [Force Surge]. The reason for this is that it will net you 28 Force (20 without Mental Longevity [Reserves]) if you don’t have Resplendence [Force Surge]. Basically you’re getting 48 Force at the cost of 15% of your health and 25% force regen rate. Default regen is 8 per second so you lose 2 per second. That means over 10 seconds you lose 20 force. The net force you gain without Resplendence [Force Surge] isn’t even enough to heal the damage that you took to yourself. In the end I tend not to use Noble Sacrifice [Consumption] if I don’t have Resplendence [Force Surge] ready. The one time I will not hesitate to use it without Resplendence [Force Surge] is if I have Conveyance [Force Bending], Healing Trance [Innervate] is ready, and I don’t have enough force to use Healing Trance [Innervate]. There are times when you should use this to help heal someone else, but remember if you are in danger it will hurt you more than it will help.
• If you have a spare GCD, re-buff your allies. Most people overlook the 10% damage reduction that the Consular/Inquisitor buff gives against Internal and Elemental damage.

12. About the Author

I mostly play healers in MMORPGs and decided to try writing a guide. Please post comments and questions.

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This video covers four PVP specs at level 50 for the Bounty Hunter Powertech and Trooper Vanguard advanced classes in Star Wars: The Old Republic. Vanguard and Powertech are mirrors so this video is applicable to players of both classes.

The video provides detailed commentary on the following specs:

1. 26/13/2
2. 21/2/18
3. 1/22/18
4. 4/6/31

For the links to the specs, please refer to the Specs section in my PVP Guide.

The video discusses the mechanics for Defense and Shield, which should be considered when spec’ing into the tanking tree. For more details, read my article on Understanding the Defense and Shield Mechanics for Tanks in PVP.

To see me PVP’ing live, check out my TwitchTV channel. My stream features real-time narration and commentary – and to the extent possible interaction with the Chat Room.

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GAMEBREAKER Host for “The Republic” SWTOR show: http://www.gamebreaker.tv/category/the-republic/

This article describes the Defense and Shield mechanics for SWTOR and their implications for tanks in PVP.

Defense is the Avoidance mechanic and Shield is one of the Mitigation mechanics. In this article I use the terms “defense” and “avoidance” interchangeably.

Avoidance and Mitigation in SWTOR

To quickly define terms:

• Avoidance: not being hit
• Mitigation: reducing damage taken when hit

There are 3 categories of Avoidance as captured in the Defence Chance tooltip:

1. Melee Dodge: base of 5%, boosted by Defense Rating, talents, and buffs
2. Ranged Dodge: base of 5%, boosted by Defense Rating, talents, and buffs
3. Resistance: base of 0%, boosted by talents and buffs. This is against “spells” (Force and Tech attacks)

Mitigation comes from multiple sources:

1. Expertise: stat that provides mitigation against all damage types
2. Armor: mitigation against 2 of the 4 damage types: Energy and Kinetic. Keep in mind that for attacks that deal “weapon damage”, to understand whether Armor factors in, you have to check the damage type of the weapon itself. E.g. blasters and rifles deal Energy damage
3. Talents that provide flat damage reduction
4. Shield Chance / Shield Absorption: provided when you have a Shield offhand equipped and successfully Shield an attack that hit. The amount of damage mitigated (absorbed) is based on the offhand (e.g. 20%), your Absorption Rating, and talents in the tanking tree. SWTOR’s Shield functions similarly to WoW’s Block mechanic. The main difference is that in SWTOR you don’t have to keep oppponents in your frontal facing to Shield
5. “Bubbles”: mitigation against all damage types

The 2-Roll System

SWTOR leverages a 2-roll system for determining the outcome of an opponent’s attack as explained by BioWare’s Georg Zoeller (references: 1 2), bold emphasis mine:

First is a hit roll, accuracy versus defense, and if the attacker misses then no damage occurs. If the attacker rolled poorly enough to miss even discounting the target’s defense then a “Miss” result occurs. If he misses because of the defense then the result varies based on the attack type, the cover state of the target, and the target’s equipped weapons. All the possible results – Dodge, Parry, Deflect, Resist, Cover – are mathematically the same, but they can trigger different effects and are visualized in different ways.

If the attacker hits, then a second roll is made with the crit chance of the attacker versus the shield chance of the target. If a Crit or a Shield occurs then the damage is adjusted up or down (based on Surge/Absorb), and then it goes through to the armor and damage resistance. A critical can never be shielded, and an attacker with a high enough crit chance can push the target’s shield chance off the table. It shouldn’t be possible to get your passive crit chance high enough to start pushing off the target’s shield chance, but there are short-duration buffs that push these chances high enough to come into conflict.

Which Attack Types are Defensible and Shieldable

There are 4 attack types: Force, Melee, Ranged, and Tech.

The attack types should not be confused with the 4 damage types: Elemental, Energy, Internal, and Kinetic.

Melee and Ranged attacks are Defensible and Shieldable, whereas Force and Tech attacks are not. This is consistent with other games such as WoW and RIFT, where “spell” attacks are not dodgeable / parryable and not blockable.

Based on what Georg wrote , here is my guess on what the roll table for Crit-vs-Shield looks like for Melee and Ranged attacks that were not Defended.

Scenario 1

• Attacker’s Crit Chance: 30%
• Defender’s Shield Chance: 30%
• So remaining 40% is normal hit (not Crit, not Shielded)

Scenario 2

• Attacker’s Crit Chance: 60%
• Defender’s Shield Chance: 30%
• So remaining 10% is normal hit (not Crit, not Shielded)

Scenario 3: Shield Chance reduced

• Attacker’s Crit Chance: 80%
• Defender’s Shield Chance: 30%, but for the roll calculation it’s treated as 20% because the Crit Chance pushed 10% off the table

Scenario 4: Shield Chance negated

• Attacker’s Crit Chance: 100% (e.g. due to a proc buff that makes the attack Crit)
• Defender’s Shield Chance: 30%, but for the roll calculation it’s treated as 0%
• Therefore, the attack is a guaranteed non-Shielded Crit

Implications for Tanks in PVP

A critical consideration for SWTOR is that all classes have either Force or Tech attacks. You can see the attack type by looking at the Abilities tab for a given character and looking at the right-hand column. Therefore, an implication is that you may not get as much mileage out of your Defense and Shield-related talents as you might expect. E.g.

• Stun-based abilities across all Advanced Classes are classified as either Force or Tech attacks, so the target’s defensive capability doesn’t come into play
• I play Bounty Hunter and Trooper and most of my key abilities are classified as Tech

Keep in mind per Georg’s post that the attacker’s Crit Chance can push Shield Chance off the table. There are a lot of buffs (e.g. talent-based, from Relic, etc) that boost Crit Chance, and the implication is that when you most need to Shield heavy incoming damage, your Shield Chance may be reduced significantly or completely. Given that, and the fact that Shield Chance is calculated after the hit roll, Shield Chance is not a strong mechanic in PVP.

Another implication is that the talents for boosting mitigation may be stronger than we might have expected. In particular, this explains why in my experience Guardians and Juggernauts tanks take the longest time-to-kill: they have multiple bubble mechanics in their tank tree, including Invincible (Warding Call) and Sonic Barrier (Blade Barrier), and these excellent abilities provide mitigation against all damage types.

I shared some of the thoughts in this article on a thread for my Guide to Powertech Mechanics and PVP a week ago, and some 50 Powertechs including chainsawsamurai tested and confirmed that the Avoidance and Shield-related talents do not work against Force and Tech attacks.

When I run as a tank-spec’d Vanguard, I will likely use a DPS PVP set based on the game mechanics and avoid (no pun intended) the talents related to Melee Defense, Ranged Defense, and Shield Chance, unless they provide some additional benefit (e.g. the Ammo-regen effect from Shield Cycler).

This is not to say that you shouldn’t take the talents and tank PVP gear. If you want to max out your survivability, invest in them. It’s just important to understand what benefit you get out of them and the mechanics.

Acknowledgements

Huge thanks to Kjollborn, who helped me to realize that the attack type not the damage type is what is factored into Melee Defense, Ranged Defense, and Shield Chance.

Thanks to Lightweight, a 50 Combat Medic Commando in my guild, for helping me with testing.

UPDATE (2012/01/24): a copy of this article has been stickied on the SWTOR official Tanking forum.

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Resolve is the CC immunity mechanic in SWTOR’s PVP. It’s made visible by the while arc bar above your portrait and target portrait, and you can see it on a character as the white bar beneath their HP bar.

Here’s how it works:

• While a target’s Resolve bar is empty or filling up, that target can be CC’d
• Once the target’s Resolve bar is full (>= 1000), the bar begins to drain and the target can’t be CC’d until the bar is empty

To understand how Resolve builds, let’s look at this in-game mail from Ryndar (he’s the Sage who healed for 400k+ in his 30s, which is the highest output I’ve seen in Beta or live across servers sub-50):

Reosir and I tested Resolve stuff and thought I’d let you know what we found out (I can elaborate more in vent).

Resolve provides CC immunity when it reaches 1000.  The Resolve bar under the nameplates is a bar that is actually out of 800, so you’ll notice it fills but doesn’t go white right away sometimes.

Stuns give 200 Resolve per second of the stun.
Mez (breaks on damage) gives 100 Resolve per second.
Knockbacks and pulls generate 400 Resolve.

When you reach or exceed the Resolve threshold of 1000, 50% additional Resolve is generated for the CC ability. So a 4-second stun generates 800 Resolve and if it goes over 1000 you get an extra 400.  So two 4-second stuns used back to back will generate 2000 Resolve (800 + 1200).

OK, so that gets us to the point where Resolve grants CC immunity until the bar has drained fully.

The next question is, how does Resolve drain? It depends on the state of the player in question.

If they have not yet reached CC immunity, i.e. Resolve < 1000:

• Resolve starts to drain when the CC effect ends
• Resolve drains at a rate of 25 Resolve per second

Example 1: 4-second stun gives 800 Resolve, which will take 36 seconds to drain completly (4 seconds for the stun and when it ends an additional 32 seconds).

Example 2: 8-second mez gives 800 Resolve and is canceled immediately will take 32 seconds to drain (drain starts instantly if the mez ends instantly and it will take 32 seconds to drain).

If they have reached CC immunity, i.e. Resolve >= 1000:

• Resolve starts to drain immediately when the player becomes immune
• Resolve drains at a rate of 100 Resolve per second

Example: 8-second mez followed immediately by a 4-second stun gives 2000 Resolve, which will drain in 20 seconds (whether you sit through the entire stun or break out of it immediately).

It’s important to note that snares (i.e. movement debuffs) and roots are not factored into the Resolve system. That is, they do not build Resolve, and their effects still apply to targets that have CC immunity.

The Resolve mechanic is the most elegant CC immunity / DR (Diminishing Returns) mechanic I’ve seen in any game, because it provides visibility into the immunity state of your target, when they will likely go immune (e.g. next CC applied), and how long they will be immune for. You can also “game” your Resolve to know when to pop your CC breaker.

In some games CC immunity / DR is tracked by the game but not made visible to the player.

As I’ve said elsewhere, SWTOR provides the highest skill-cap in terms of PVP for any game I’ve played, and the Resolve mechanic is another example of elegant, innovative design by BioWare.

UPDATE (2011/01/10): added drain rate information, per testing by Ryndar and Reosir.

UPDATE (2012/01/26): added notes about snares and roots and for abilities that apply multiple Resolve-building effects.

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This Guide provides in-depth information on the Bounty Hunter Powertech and Trooper Vanguard advanced classes (AC) in Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR). This Guide has been updated for Patch 1.1.3.

The Powertech and Vanguard ACs are mirrors of one another: the ability tooltips and talent trees are identical. As such, I am covering both ACs together in one Guide.

For ease of reading, whenever mentioning a Powertech ability or talent I will also provide the Vanguard mirror in parentheses.

Please post your feedback, tips, and questions!

Revision History

The first version of this Guide was posted on January 4, 2012. Here is the change log for recent revisions:

• Feb 17, 2012: made a 1-pt change to the talents for Iron Fist 25/14/2 spec and Caroline Parakeet 21/2/18 given the nerf to Surge Rating in 1.1.3
• Feb 14, 2012: updated priority of stats, given the nerf to Surge Rating in 1.1.3.
• Feb 8, 2012: updated section on stats, added a link to good forum thread
• Feb 6, 2012: added PVP video for 4/6/31 DPS PVP spec
• Feb 5, 2012: added decision tree for PVP set gear. Split up Stats and Gear section into 2 sections

Table of Contents

1. Advanced Class Overview and Playstyle
2. Talent Tree and Stance Overview
3. Talent Tree and Stance Pairings
4. Talent Tree Analysis
5. Heat (Ammo) Mechanics
6. Damage Mechanics
7. Defense Mechanics
8. Crowd Control and Debuff Mechanics
9. Mobility and CC Counter Mechanics
10. DPS Rotation
11. Recommended Specs
12. Stat Prioritization
13. Gear Recommendations
14. Narrated Gameplay Videos
15. About the Author

1. Advanced Class Overview and Playstyle

Powertech (Vanguard) is the “can-tank” AC for the Bounty Hunter (Trooper) base class.

Players often ask which they should play: Powertech (Vanguard) or Mercenary (Commando).

You should roll Powertech (Vanguard) if:

• You want to tank in PVE and in PVP. By tanking in PVP, I mean that you want to be able to Guard a friendly target, which redirects 50% of the incoming damage from them to you, and be able to Taunt opponents to debuff their damage on your friendlies
• You are comfortable engaging in near-quarters (0-10m) combat
• You want to maximize your ability to control casters and healers with interrupts
• You want to have tools to close gaps to opponents and to increase your in-combat movement speed

You should roll Mercenary (Commando) if:

• You want to be able to meaningfully heal yourself and your friendlies
• You want to beef up your 30m RDPS capability
• You want the option of playing a cast-time nuking spec, Arsenal (Gunnery)
• You prefer to have abilities that keep opponents at range and support a gap-control playstyle (e.g. kiting) with CC

I’m a huge fan of melee strafing, i.e. running circles around stationary targets to break their Line of Sight (LoS) to lower their offensive and defensive capability, and kite-strafing MDPS while I burn them down, so Powertech (Vanguard) fits my preferred playstyle.

2. Talent Tree and Stance Overview

Before discussing the 3 talent trees, it’s important to note the design philosophy of BioWare: all ACs are well-rounded in terms of their capabilities. E.g. tanks can dish out meaningful damage in PVP, healers are not healbots, they can functionally CC and DPS, etc. So keep that in mind when reading the following information.

All 3 trees are viable in PVP – your choice for your primary tree simply depends on what playstyle and capabilities you want to maximize.

The AC has 3 talent trees from left-to-right, 1 for tanking and 2 for DPS:

• Shield Tech (Shield Specialist): this is the tanking tree. As you’d expect, this is the tree to spec into for PVE tanking; there are talents that boost durability via Armor-based mitigation, flat mitigation, increased Shield Chance / Shield Absorption, etc. This tree provides excellent utility in PVP including an in-combat charge, -Accuracy PBAoE debuff, a proc-snare effect, and maximizes the usage and effect of our base melee attack. The main downside to this tree is that your overall ranged burst and sustained damage is lower compared to the other 2 trees
• Advanced Prototype (Tactics): this DPS tree provides a passive movement buff, an on-demand movement buff that provides movement-related CC immunity, excellent short-range (0-10m) capability, increased elemental and internal damage, crit mechanics, passive heat venting (ammo regen), and strong CC capability. The main downside to this tree relative to Pyrotech (Assault Specialist) is that your burst and sustained damage is lower
• Pyrotech (Assault Specialist): this DPS tree provides mechanics that revolve around a proc-reset for the cooldown of Rail Shot (High Impact Bolt) and strong Damage Over Time (DoT) damage and related damage buffs. This tree provides the strongest > 10m ranged capability of the trees, a proc-snare effect, high sustained damage, and excellent burst via the talent to reset the cooldown of Rail Shot (High Impact Bolt). The main downsides to this tree are the lack of movement capability and high heat generation (ammo consumption)

Before discussing the trees further, it’s important to understand the 3 “stances” that the AC can choose from. Each stances provide benefits that synergize with a particular talent tree:

• Ion Gas Cylinder (Ion Cell): this tanking stance provides increased threat, mitigation, and shield chance and a damage proc for ranged attacks. You must be using this stance to activate the Guard ability
• Energy Gas Cylinder (High Energy Cell): this DPS stance increases your elemental and internal damage, which are not mitigated by armor
• Combustible Gas Cylinder (Plasma Cell): this DPS stance provides a chance for ranged attacks to proc a 6-sec elemental DoT

Note that unlike the other “can-tank” ACs, switching stances for Powertech (Vanguard) requires a 1.5 sec cast time.

3. Talent Tree and Stance Pairings

Based on the talent tree design, here are the pairings that make sense based on the mechanics for your main talent tree, in no particular order:

• Shield Tech (Shield Specialist) + Ion Gas Cylinder (Ion Cell): this pairing improves your  durability, although maybe not as much as you might expect – see the Defense Mechanics section. This pairing provides Guard capability, a DoT proc that snares your target, a charge ability in Jet Charge (Storm), a 20% Accuracy Point Blank AOE (PBAoE) debuff, and a 3-sec root for the ranged pull Grapple (Harpoon)
• Advanced Prototype (Tactics) + Ion Gas Cylinder (Ion Cell): this pairing provides solid burst / sustained damage mechanics, strong CC capability, an on-demand movement buff that provides movement-related CC immunity, and retains the ability to Guard
• Advanced Prototype (Tactics) + Energy Gas Cylinder (High Energy Cell): this pairing provides good burst / sustained damage mechanics, strong CC capability, a passive movement buff, and an on-demand movement buff that provides movement-related CC immunity
• Pyrotech (Assault Specialist) + Combustible Gas Cylinder (Plasma Cell): this pairing provides excellent ranged burst with the proc-reset for the cooldown of Rail Shot (High Impact Bolt), excellent sustained damage, multiple ranged DoTs, and an easy-to-apply ranged snare.

As far as secondary and tertiary trees go, here are some common combinations (going from left-to-right with primary tree):

• ST (SS) primary, AP (T) secondary
• ST (SS) primary, PT (AS) secondary
• AP (T) primary, ST (SS) secondary
• AP (T) primary, PT (AS) secondary
• PT (AS) primary, AP (T) secondary

Note that if you invest >8 points in both the ST (SS) and PT (AS) trees, you may have to burn talent points that buff different stances.

You can and should consider investing talents in a 3rd tree if they synergize with the capabilities you are trying to maximize.

4. Talent Tree Analysis

Instead of breaking down every talent, let me short-circuit that by explaining the talents you can pass or should pass on.

Shield Tech (Shield Specialist)

• Combust (Static Field) is must-have for PVE tanking, but the debuff is also solid for PVP
• Rebraced Armor is must-have for PVE tanking. For PVP, you can skip this talent as it buffs Armor, which only works for 2 of the 4 damage types
• Shield Vents (Shield Cycler) is must-have for PVE but for PVP 1/2 is fine given the internal cooldown and because Shield is a weak mechanic in PVP. See the Defense Mechanics section for the limitations of Shield
• Ablative Upgrades (Ceramic Plating) is should-have for PVE but should be skipped for PVP
• No Escape (Defensive Measures) can be skipped for PVE but is must-have for PVP
• Ion Screen (Ion Shield) is must-have for PVE. Given the weakness of the Shield mechanic in PVP, this is a solid choice for PVP as well
• Jet Speed (Charge!) is must-have for PVP
• Empowered Tech (Counterattack) is must-have for PVE but can should be skipped for PVP given the limitations of the Shield mechanic

Advanced Prototype (Tactics)

• Prototype Electric Surge (Containment Tactics) is not needed for PVE, but it’s solid for PVP prior to getting the AOE stun at 46. At 46+ for PVP, take your pick of this talent or Power Armor in the next tier
• Prototype Cylinders (Blaster Augs) is an excellent talent when running Energy Gas Cylinder (High Energy Cell) or Combustible Gas Cylinder (Plasma Cell) but is optional if you’re using Ion Gas Cylinder (Ion Cell)
• Power Armor is very good for PVE tanking. For PVP it’s a solid choice, as it provides 2% mitigation against all damage types
• If you are running Energy Gas Cylinder (High Energy Cell): the Pneumatic Boots (Battlefield Training) is must-have for PVP, and for PVE and PVP, Prototype Cylinder Ventilation (Cell Generator) is must-have
• Serrated Blades + Charged Gauntlets (Combat Tactics): this is a controversial choice for PVP. Serrated Blades only buffs the DoT portion of Retractable Blade (Gut) by 15%, so that’s a poor ROI for 3 talent points. Charged Gauntlets (Combat Tactics) is an excellent talent, but keep in mind that unless you spec 18 points into Pyrotech (Assault Specialist), you’re only going to be able to use Rail Shot (High Impact Bolt) at most once every 15 seconds. For this reason for a heavy Advanced Prototype (Tactics) build (i.e. > 23 points) I recommend skipping these talents
• Hydraulic Overrides (Hold the Line) is must-have for PVP but can be skipped for PVE
• Kolto Vents (Kolto Recharge): this can be skipped for any context, as the HoT is very weak and only procs when you use your Vent Heat (Recharge Cells) ability. The HoT won’t proc off the other vent heat (cell regen) effects
• Stabilized Armor (Shock Absorbers) is a decent talent for PVP but should be skipped for PVE

Pyrotech (Assault Specialist)

• Integrated Cardio Package (Soldier’s Endurance) should be skipped except for PVE tanking. For PVP, the exception to this rule is if you are investing 18 points in the tree to get Prototype Particle Accelerator (Ionic Accelerator) talent but are not using Combustible Gas Cylinder (Plasma Cell), in which case this talent makes sense so you don’t waste talent points in Bursting Flame (Ionized Ignition)
• Gyroscopic Alignment Jets (Parallactic Combat Stims) should be skipped for PVE DPS. For PVP, if you are concerned about managing Heat (Ammo), consider taking Rapid Venting (Rapid Recharge) instead of this talent, as GAJ (PCS) only procs when you are CC’d, and if you are stunned / knocked down / incapacitated, you are already passively venting Heat instead of building it up (regenerating Ammo instead of consuming it)
• Infrared Sensors (Nightvision Scope) should be skipped for PVE. For PVP, this provides not only better Stealth San capability but also increased avoidance against melee and ranged attacks (but not against Force or Tech attacks), and it is the best choice for the last 2 points to get to 15 to open up the 4th tier of the tree
• Degauss should be skipped for PVE. For PVP, Degauss adds a root/snare-breaking effect to Energy Shield (Reactive Shield) which is situationally useful. That being said, my experience is that Infrared Sensors (Nightvision Scope) provides better utility in PVP, so I take that talent over Degauss to open up the 4th tier of the tree
• Rapid Venting (Rapid Recharge) is valuable in PVE for sustained DPS in long boss fights. It is also a very good choice for PVP
• Energy Rebounder (Reflexive Shield) should be skipped for PVE but is useful for PVP. Given the internal cooldown, you get the most bang for your buck at 1 talent point
• You can skip Automated Defenses (Adrenaline Fueled)
• Thermal Detonator (Assault Plastique) should be taken for full 31+ builds. Keep in mind that this ability replaces the base Explosive Dart (Sticky Grenade) and they share the 15-sec cooldown

5. Heat (Ammo) Mechanics

The “mana” bar for the AC goes different directions depending on your faction but they are functionally equivalent:

• For Powertech, Heat builds up as you use abilities
• For Vanguard, Ammo cells are consumed as you use abilities

The most important thing to understand about our “mana” bar is that it depletes (regens) at a non-linear rate. This is a rather unique mechanic, and the implication is that if you spam mana-heavy abilities, you will bury yourself in a resource deficit. Therefore, you want to manage your ability use carefully.

To see the rates of heat venting (ammo regen), mouse over the >>>> mini-bar to the right of your resource bar while using abilities.

There are talents that boost your ability to vent heat (regen ammo), and there is an on-use ability on a base 2 min cooldown called Vent Heat (Recharge Cells) that will lower your heat (regen ammo).

At level 42, we get the ability Thermal Sensor Override (Reserve Powercell) that causes the next ability to not generate heat (not consume ammo).

6. Damage Mechanics

The AC delivers a combination of the following damage types:

• Elemental damage
• Kinetic damage
• Weapon damage

Elemental damage rocks because it is not mitigated by armor, and as our Elemental attacks are Tech-based, they are not Dodgeable nor Shieldable. If you’ve read my PVP Guides across games (e.g. WoW Prot Pally, WAR Swordmaster), I prefer “non-physical” damage types because they make targets feel equally squishy in terms of your damage output.

At level 10, the AC gets the core 10m ranged Elemental attack Flame Burst (Ion Pulse). Many of the talents in the non-tanking trees revolve around this ability, so we tend to deal our best single-target damage when within 10m of a target. The Pyrotech (Assault Specialist) tree provides strong Elemental DoT capability via Combustible Gas Cylinder (Plasma Cell) procs and Incendiary Missile (Incendiary Round).

As a Bounty Hunter (Trooper), we have the excellent channeled AoE abilities Death From Above (Mortar Volley) and Flame Thrower (Pulse Cannon). DFA (MV) can wreck multiple opponents, so you should use it whenever they’re clumped together. The area-of-effect for DFA (MV) is several meters larger than the ground target icon. Flame Thrower (Pulse Cannon) is a 10m conal AoE which deals solid single-target damage, and you can rotate your character while channeling the ability the change the direction of the cone. FT (PC) is very effective against targets that are on a stationary object (e.g. a node) or are not moving.

Note that for DFA (MV), you do not have to wait until the channeled bar is complete – you will still get the last tick if you cancel the channel right before the channel cast bar is complete.

We have an excellent 30m ranged burst ability in Rail Shot (High Impact Bolt). This ability has a 15 sec cooldown, which can be reset only via the Prototype Particle Accelerator (Ionic Accelerator). The most important talents for buffing the damage on a RS (HIB) cast are the 60% armor penetration in the middle tree and the 30% armor penetration 12-pt talent in the right tree.

There is a delay before the damage from Explosive Dart (Sticky Grenade) triggers, but in PVP this is awesome as you’ll generate spike damage from the damage trigger plus other abilities.

Per the class mechanics, there are a few abilities that you should be careful about using:

• Flame Sweep (Explosive Surge): this PBAoE ability has high “mana” cost and low damage output without talents in the tanking tree. For AoE damage situations, DFA (MV) and FT (PC) are typically better options in terms of damage. The use cases for this ability are for tank-spec’d players to debuff the damage of multiple opponents or to knock opponents trying to cap a flag. Also note that the range of the PBAoE is 5m, so your targets need to be near-melee range
• Missile Blast (Explosive Round): this instant-cast ranged AoE ability deals low damage relative to the high “mana” cost so don’t spam it. It is an effective tool for preventing a node cap, especially when you are closing the distance to multiple opponents capping a node.
• Unload (Full Auto): this is a channeled 3-sec ability. As discussed above, this is a highly-mobile spec that tends to be most effective when within 10m of your target. This ability is a long self-root, there is a delay before the first tick lands, and it can be interrupted. There is only 1 talent across all 3 trees that buffs this ability, and that’s in the shared Mercenary (Commando) tree. The main use case where this ability makes sense is when you are at long-range from a target who will remain in your field-of-fire for 3 seconds and your Explosive Dart (Sticky Grenade) and Rail Shot (High Impact Bolt) are on cooldown

7. Defense Mechanics

Avoidance and Mitigation

This section is a sub-set of the information that I provided in a separate article, so check that article out for more detail than what is provided below.

Here are the terms defined:

• Avoidance: not being hit
• Mitigation: reducing damage taken when hit

SWTOR leverages a 2-roll system for determining the outcome of an opponent’s attack as explained by BioWare’s Georg Zoeller (references: 1 2), bold emphasis mine:

First is a hit roll, accuracy versus defense, and if the attacker misses then no damage occurs. If the attacker rolled poorly enough to miss even discounting the target’s defense then a “Miss” result occurs. If he misses because of the defense then the result varies based on the attack type, the cover state of the target, and the target’s equipped weapons. All the possible results – Dodge, Parry, Deflect, Resist, Cover – are mathematically the same, but they can trigger different effects and are visualized in different ways.

If the attacker hits, then a second roll is made with the crit chance of the attacker versus the shield chance of the target. If a Crit or a Shield occurs then the damage is adjusted up or down (based on Surge/Absorb), and then it goes through to the armor and damage resistance. A critical can never be shielded, and an attacker with a high enough crit chance can push the target’s shield chance off the table. It shouldn’t be possible to get your passive crit chance high enough to start pushing off the target’s shield chance, but there are short-duration buffs that push these chances high enough to come into conflict.

There are 3 categories of Avoidance as captured in the Defence Chance tooltip:

1. Melee Dodge: base of 5%, boosted by Defense, talents, and buffs
2. Ranged Dodge: base of 5%, boosted by Defense, talents, and buffs
3. Resistance: base of 0%, boosted by talents and buffs. This is against spells

There are several categories of Mitigation:

1. Damage Reduction: provided by Armor against Energy and Kinetic damage, flat damage reduction via talents, Expertise, and the tanking stance, and a bubble in Energy Shield (Reactive Shield)
2. Shield Chance / Shield Absorption: provided when you have a Shield offhand equipped and successfully Shield an attack that hit. The amount of damage mitigated (absorbed) is based on the offhand (e.g. 20%) and talents in the tanking tree

SWTOR’s Shield functions similarly to WoW’s Block or RIFT’s Block mechanic. The main difference is that in SWTOR you don’t have to keep oppponents in your frontal facing to Shield.

The important thing to understand are which types of attacks are Avoidable and Shieldable and which are not. There are 4 types of attacks: Force, Melee, Ranged, and Tech. Melee and Ranged types are Avoidable and Shieldable, whereas Force and Tech attacks are not. This is consistent with other games such as WoW and RIFT, where “spell” attacks are not dodgeable / parryable and not blockable. That being said, the main consideration for SWTOR is that all classes have either Force or Tech attacks. Therefore, you may not get as much mileage out of your Avoidance and Shield-related talents as you might expect. E.g. the melee stun and melee attack for the Imperial Agent (Smuggler) class are Tech and therefore given sufficient accuracy will always hit.

The AC has an on-demand mitigation bubble in Energy Shield (Reactive Shield). This ability provides 25% mitigation against all damage types for 12 sec, so it’s important to activate it as soon as you start taking focus fire or you may die before the bubble expires.

Protection Mechanics

You can reduce damage to friendlies via Taunts or redirect 50% their incoming damage to you via Guard.

Taunts reduce the damage on debuffed opponents by 30% against anyone except you. Taunts are off the GCD so use them liberally.

SWTOR has thankfully implemented the Guard mechanic from WAR

Guard is a buff you can put on a friendly player when you’re in the tanking stance. Guard provides a flat 5% mitigation for the guarded friendly, and 50% of the incoming damage is redirected to you. This is an excellent tool for keeping your guarded target (e.g. a healer, flag carrier, etc) alive under focus fire.

The main catch with Guard is that you have to be in the tanking stance, and keep in mind the following:

• Unlike the other 2 tank AC mirrors, we can not switch stances instantly. We have a 1.5-sec cast time. As this AC relies heavily on a mobile playstyle and staying within 10m of your target in most situations, stopping to switch stances may not always be ideal
• If you invested talent points in the non-tanking stances, those talent points are not leveraged when you are in the tanking stance

Miscellaneous

Stealth detection is provided by the Stealth Scan ability, and it’s a terrific counter against an opponent who uses an in-combat stealth.

For a detailed writeup on tanking, check out Gankstah’s excellent Tanking: A Primer thread on the SWTOR tanking forum.

8. Crowd Control and Debuff Mechanics

I recommend that you read my article, Understanding SWTOR’s Resolve Mechanic, so that you understand how Resolve works.

The AC as a variety of CC’s to work with regardless of spec:

• 30m range 4-sec stun in Electro Dart (Cryo Grenade) which has a 60 sec cooldown, 50 sec with Prototype Electro Surge (Containment Tactics)
• 30m range pull in Grapple (Harpoon) which has a 45 sec cooldown, 35 sec with Advanced Tools (Tactical Tools). You can add a 3-sec root effect with the tanking tree talent No Escape (Defensive Measures). Keep in mind the root effect builds Resolve
• 4m range interrupt in Quell (Riot Strike) which has an 8-sec cooldown, 6 sec with Hitman / Frontline Defense. The interrupt locks the target out of using the interrupted spell for 4 sec. The interrupt is fantastic for shutting down healers and interrupting dangerous channeled abilities
• PBAoE 2.5-sec stun in Carbonize (Neural Surge) which has a 45-sec cooldown

In addition, there are tree-specific CC effects:

• 3-sec root effect and a ranged interrupt from the charge ability Jet Charge (Storm) in the tank tree
• 50% snare for 2 sec from the Neural Overload talent in the tank tree
• 50% snare for 2 sec from the Sweltering Heat talent in the Pyrotech (Assault Specialist) tree

The tank tree provides the following debuffs:

• a PBAoE debuff in Oil Slick (Smoke Grenade) that lowers Ranged and Melee Accuracy by 20% for 18 sec
• Flame Burst (Ion Pulse) and Flame Sweep (Explosive Surge) debuff the target’s damage by 4% for 15 sec

9. Mobility and CC Counter Mechanics

Mobility is king in PVP, even moreso given our 10m single-target mechanics and the design of the warzones, which have an emphasis on covering ground quickly.

There are talents that improve your mobility:

• Shield Tech (Shield Specialist) provides an in-combat charge called Jet Charge (Storm), which can be further talented to provide a 30% movement buff for 4 sec
• Advanced Prototype (Tactics) provides a passive 15% movement buff in Pneumatic Boots (Battlefield Training) and a 30% movement buff for 8 sec in Hydraulic Overrides (Hold the Line) that provides full immunity to movement-related CCs and knockbacks. You can use HO (HtL) as a CC breaker, and it has a relatively short 30-sec cooldown

When CC’d, we have the same base ability to break all CC effects in Tenacity (Determination) on a base 2-min cooldown that all classes get.

Aside from Tenacity, you can counter the following CC effects:

• Roots / snares / knockbacks with HO (HtL) and Jet Charge (Storm)
• Roots / snares with the Degauss talent for Energy Shield (Reactive Shield). The extent to which you can use this as a CC breaker depends on how many procs you get from Energy Rebounder (Reflexive Shield)

10. DPS Rotation

General

• Weave in Rapid Shots (Hammer Shot) as needed to keep your Heat low (Ammo high)
• Use Explosive Fuel (Battle Focus) as needed for the huge buff to Ranged and Tech Crit Chance

AOE Rotation

Death From Above (Mortar Volley) > Flame Thrower (Pulse Cannon)

In PVE against standard and weak mobs, Explosive Dart (Sticky Grenade) is a good damage + AOE knockdown, but remember that the AOE knockdown will disperse your targets.

If you are spec’d into Shield Tech (Shield Specialist), your Flame Sweep (Explosive Surge) is a good choice for PBAoE damage and debuffing your targets’ damage.

Single-Target Rotation for 18+ in Pyrotech (Assault Specialist)

Specs with 18+ points in Pyrotech (Assault Specialist) revolve around the Superheated Rail (High Friction Bolts) talent, which provides a proc to reset the cooldown of Rail Shots (High Impact Bolt).

1. If the target is not going to die quickly, Incendiary Missile (Incendiary Round) for the DoT effect
2. Rail Shot (High Impact Bolt) – this will only cost a net of 8 Heat (1 Ammo) when the target is burning
3. From range, Explosive Dart (Sticky Grenade) or the 31-pt replacement Thermal Detonator (Assault Plastique). You can choose to open up with this ability for #1, but one minor consideration is you often want to use IM (IR) first due to the regen mechanics
4. While closing the gap, Rapid Shots (Hammer Shot)
5. Rocket Punch (Stockstrike) and Flame Burst (Ion Pulse) to try to proc the cooldown reset for Rail Shot (High Impact Bolt)
6. If you get a cooldown reset for Rail Shot (High Impact Bolt), use it
7. Rinse and repeat

Do not overwrite your IM (IR) DoT unless there is a good reason to do so, e.g. you are about to die and hope to kill your opponent with the DoT, you are trying to DoT targets to prevent a node cap, etc.

If you have IM (IR) and Retractable Blade (Gut), keep in mind that while the latter ability deals good damage, it is a use of the GCD and does not synergize with the Prototype Particle Accelerator (Ionic Accelerator) talent.

Single-Target Rotation for Shield Tech (Shield Specialist) with < 18 points in Pyrotech (Assault Specialist)

The key single-target damaging ability for this spec is Rocket Punch (Stockstrike), thanks to the 30% Crit Chance and 30% Crit damage bonus. Note that you also can reset the cooldown for Rocket Punch (Stockstrike) when you Shield. Therefore, you want to use Rocket Punch (Stockstrike) as soon as possible.

Aside from Rocket Punch (Stockstrike), you want to use Rail Shot (High Impact Bolt) ASAP to get the 15-sec cooldown ticking.

Aside from those abilities, here is the rotation:

1. From range, Explosive Dart (Sticky Grenade)
2. While closing to melee range, Rail Shot (High Impact Bolt) if possible, Rapid Shots (Hammer Shot) if not
3. As soon as you close to melee range, Rocket Punch (Stockstrike) and when that’s on cooldown, Flame Burst (Ion Pulse) until you can Rocket Punch (Stockstrike) again
4. Rinse and repeat

If you have Retractable Blade (Gut), in general you want to use Rocket Punch (Stockstrike) first, so that you apply the snare and have the opportunity to reset the cooldown of Rocket Punch (Stockstrike) via the Flame Shield (Static Shield) talent.

Single-Target Rotation for Advanced Prototype (Tactics) with < 18 points in Pyrotech (Assault Specialist)

You want to use Rail Shot (High Impact Bolt) and Immolate (Fire Pulse) whenever possible, as these are two of your hardest-hitting single-target abilities and they have 15-sec cooldowns.

Aside from those abilities, here is the rotation:

1. From range, Explosive Dart (Sticky Grenade)
2. While closing to melee range, Rail Shot (High Impact Bolt) and Immolate (Fire Pulse) if possible, Rapid Shots (Hammer Shot) if not
3. Close to melee range, Retractable Blade (Gut)
4. Rocket Punch (Stockstrike) and Flame Burst (Ion Pulse)
5. Rinse and repeat

Do not overwrite your RB (G) DoT unless there is a good reason to do so, e.g. you are about to die and hope to kill your opponent with the DoT, you are trying to DoT targets to prevent a node cap, etc.

11. Recommended Specs

I intentionally put this section after all of the previous ones, to make sure you understand the mechanics of your class before copying someone else’s spec. Too often on the forums people ask for specs but don’t understand the mechanics and therefore how to play them correctly.

PVP

I cover several specs below in my narrated Spec Guide video, so check that out for more information.

Here is a list of some of the viable PVP specs from “left-to-right”:

• Taugrim’s “Iron Fist”: 25/14/2 Powertech (Vanguard): provides charge, Guard, excellent melee capability and durability via passive mitigation. Limited ranged capability. My favorite spec, as this build offers group utility and soloing capability. For more info, check out the blog article
• Carolina Parakeet: 21/2/18 Powertech (Vanguard): combines the capability to charge and Guard with the excellent cooldown reset proc for Rail Shot (High Impact Bolt) and the heavy ranged DoT. Popular spec on the Powertech forum
• Short-Range Shutdown DPS: 8/31/2 Powertech (Vanguard): provides high mobility, strong elemental and internal damage mechanics, and short CC cooldowns
• Run-and-Gun: 1/22/18 Powertech (Vanguard): blends the cooldown reset proc for Rail Shot (High Impact Bolt) with the in-combat sprint and short CC cooldowns of the middle tree. Oozo has created a series of videos on his blog for an almost identical 0/23/18 spec
• DPS with CC: 0/12/29 Powertech (Vanguard): provides excellent sustained and burst damage mechanics with good CC capability. For more info, check out the blog article
• Full DPS: 4/6/31 Powertech (Vanguard): delivers the highest burst and sustained DPS for the AC at the cost of limited mobility. Fore more information, check out the blog article

I do not recommend investing in the upper 6 points in the tanking tree. The 31-pt talent is good but the 5 points to boost Shield Chance aren’t worth it as Tech and Force attacks are not Shieldable.

PVE

Here is a list of some of the viable PVP specs from “left-to-right”:

• Main Tank: 31/7/3 Powertech (Vanguard): provides every Armor, Shield Chance, Shield Absorption, and 2% mitigation talent. Also delivers solid damage from Rocket Punch (Stockstrike) and Elemental attacks to boost threat generation
• Sustained DPS: 4/6/31 Powertech (Vanguard): delivers high sustained and burst damage with tools for managing your Heat (Ammo). The 2 points in the 1st tier of the tree that boost Endurance are filler, as the other 3 options are PVP talents

12. Stat Prioritization

Diminishing Returns

The “secondary” stats, with the exception of Power, have diminishing returns.

Check out tuskake’s post on the official forums for a chart and numbers. Here are the approximate “soft caps” for some of the secondary stats:

• Crit Rating: ~400
• Expertise: ~550
• Power: N/A, scales linearly
• Surge Rating: ~200 (chart for new scaling in 1.1.3)

Alacrity is similar to WoW’s Haste mechanic, and as the vast majority of your GCDs will be spent on instant-cast abilities, this stat is mostly wasted. Alacrity does shorten channeled ability cast times but all of our meaningful channeled abilities have significant cooldowns.

PVP

• Primary stats: Aim = Endurance, favor one over the other for damage vs time-to-live
• Secondary stats:
  • Offensive builds (including my “Iron Fist” 25/14/2 tank spec): Expertise > Power = Crit Rating > Surge Rating > Accuracy Rating
  • Max durability builds*: Expertise > Defense Rating = Shield Rating > Power = Crit Rating > Surge Rating > Accuracy Rating

* Please note that due to the limitations for Defense and Shield in PVP, I recommend going with the “Offensive builds” stats instead of the “Max durability builds” stats. YMMV.

Some players with Tier 3 PVE (Rakata) DPS gear are reporting better performance by mixing in a few pieces of Rakata with Battlemaster.

PVE

Expertise is useless in PVE.

• Tanking
  • Primary stats: Endurance > Aim
  • Secondary stats: Accuracy Rating (under Hit cap) > Shield Rating > Defense Rating > Power > Crit Rating > Surge Rating > Accuracy Rating (at/above Hit cap)

• DPS
  • Primary stats: Aim > Endurance
  • Secondary stats: Accuracy Rating* (under Hit cap) > Power = Crit Rating > Surge Rating > Accuracy Rating (at/above Hit cap)

* Note: I have not tested yet to see whether Accuracy is worth stacking over the Hit cap to reduce your target’s defenses.

13. Gear Recommendations

PVP Sets

There are 3 “tiers” of PVP gear

1. Centurion: purchasable via Centurion commendations, which are what you get when you open Champion bags
2. Champion: purchasable via Champion commendations. Champion bags cost 200 Warzone Commendations + 200 Mercenary Commendations. Champion bags have a chance to drop a random Champion piece and provide Centurion commendations
3. Battlemaster: purchaseable via Battlemaster commendations. Requires Valor Rank 60+. Battlemaster bags as of Patch 1.1 give Battlemaster or Champion commendations. The Earpiece and Implant pieces are purchaseable for the same price of Champion bags

There are 3 sets to consider for this AC (in alphabetical order) and their set bonuses:

1. Combat Tech
   
   • 2-pc: +0.5 seconds to duration of PBAoE stun, reduces CC breaker cooldown by 15 sec
   • 4-pc: +15% Crit Chance to Rocket Punch (Stockstrike)
2. Eliminator
   
   • 2-pc: N/A
   • 4-pc: +15% Crit Chance to Rail Shot (Eliminator)
3. Supercommando
   
   • 2-pc: -1.5 second to cooldown for Heat Blast (Energy Blast) and Jet Charge (Storm)
   • 4-pc: +5% damage while Guarding

Which 4-pc set bonus do you pursue? It depends on your spec. Here’s a decision tree

1. Do you have 18+ points in Pyrotech (Assault Specialist)? If yes, here are your options
   • Use 4-pc Eliminator set for the +15% Crit Chance to Rail Shot (High Impact Bolt), or
   • If you have 21+ points in the tanking tree, other option is 4-pc Supercommando for the two useful set bonuses and replace the tank mods with DPS mods – note the associated cost for extracting mods
2. Are you running the tanking stance? If yes, here are your options
   • Use 4-pc Supercommando for the two useful set bonuses and replace the tank mods with DPS mods – note the associated cost for extracting mods, or
   • If you are using a spec such as “Iron Fist” that has 4 points in the Stockstrike Crit and Surge talents, you can opt for 4-pc Combat Tech for the +15% Crit Chance to Stockstrike and the 2-pc set bonus. Please note that some Powertechs have reported that the 2-pc set bonus breaks Carbonize (the PBAoE) ability but I have not confirmed this
3. Otherwise, go with 4-pc Combat Tech

Aside from the 4-pc set bonus, gear up with DPS-oriented pieces. Depending on the tier, that means for a given slot take Combat Tech, Eliminator, and in some cases Combat Medic, based on the stat prioritization.

Offhand

• If you are running the tanking stance, you can not Shield unless you have a Shield offhand equipped, so use a Shield offhand
• If you are not using the tanking stance, use a Generator offhand

14. Narrated Gameplay Videos

Writing Guides like this is part of what I contribute to the community. The other 2 major pieces of content that I provide are:

1. Streaming live gameplay with commentary: http://twitch.tv/taugrim
2. Narrated videos on YouTube: http://youtube.com/taugrimtaugrim

My narrated videos for this AC are included below in reverse-chronological order:

4/6/31 All-Out DPS PVP Spec

This spec synergizes around the strong offensive capabilities of the Pyrotech (Assault Specialist) tree, in particular the mechanics for Rail Shot (High Impact Bolt) and Elemental damage.

Taugrim’s “Iron Fist” PVP Tank Spec (25/14/2)

I designed this spec after discerning the limitations of the Defense (avoidance) and Shield (block) mechanics for tanks in PVP. Mitigation is king in SWTOR; therefore the spec provides a significant amount of flat mitigation against all damage types.

The 4-pc Tech set bonus, Flame Shield (Static Shield) talent, and Flame Surge (Static Surge) talent synergize to generate a high frequency of high-damage Rocket Punch (Stockstrike) crits.

<3 this spec, it rocks

50 PVP Spec Guide

I discuss four PVP specs at level 50 in terms of their key talents, tradeoff decisions, and pros and cons.

Tips for Using the Ranged Pull Ability Grapple (Harpoon)

One of the best abilities of the AC is the ranged pull, which can be used to wreck enemy players and peel for friendlies.

Powertech PVP @ 20 as Advanced Prototype Spec in Huttball

In this PUG match I led all players with 273k damage, 51 kills, 23 killing blows, and 2 solo kills while using the tanking stance. Not that stats are the most important thing, but this gives you an idea of the offensive capability of the AC.

Vanguard PVP @ 14 as Tactics Spec in Alderaan

PUG match where I discuss the core class mechanics, match tactics, and combat tips.

15. About the Author

I’ve written Guides across multiple MMORPGs, including:

• RIFT Riftblade PVP Guide and M*A*S*H Melee Healer PVP Guide
• The stickied Protection Paladin Cataclysm PVP Guide on the WoW Pally forum. The copy of the Guide on my blog has ~1000 comments. During my time in Cataclysm, I was the only Prot Pally rated 2k+ in the 2v2 and 3v3 Arena brackets in my battlegroup
• Warhammer Online Swordmaster and Bright Wizard Guides and videos
• LOTRO Captain and Orc Reaver Guides and videos

Follow Me

Twitter: @taugrim
Stream: http://twitch.tv/taugrim
YouTube: http://youtube.com/taugrimtaugrim
Facebook: http://facebook.com/taugrim
GAMEBREAKER Host for “The Republic” SWTOR show: http://www.gamebreaker.tv/category/the-republic/