Sage / Sorcerer Healing Guide for PvP


Guide Overview

This guide takes a look at a couple Sage/Sorcerer healing builds that I use for PvP. 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. With 1.2 I’ve switched to running 22/19/0 for added efficiency and more survivability.

Please post your feedback, tips, and questions!

Revision History

  • Apr 12, 2012: updated guide for 1.2.
  • Mar 31, 2012: added a new potential build for 1.2 PvP Healing.
  • Feb 23, 2012: added Force Potency [Recklessness] to Section 5, Force Speed Sage Tip, expanded on Rescue [Extrication].
  • 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 these 2 points are a ~16% increase to Deliverance [Dark Infusion] heals, allows you to cast more faster. 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 and 22/19/0 builds, 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] helps augment Sage/Sorcerer healing but is not as helpful as the pre 1.2 version. because it allows you to adapt to the situation at hand: get a fast burst heal, help gain force back, etc.
  • Valiance [Dark Resilience] is no longer required for Egress [Fadeout]. 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] is a must for getting a “decent” quick heal into Sage/Sorcerer rotation. 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 or to bait an enemy interrupt. The reason is that you’re looking at roughly the same amount of force but only half the heal amount. With 1.2 change to Conveyance [Force Bending], this will likely be used more but is not going to out heal most damage dealers.
  • 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. With the increased cast time (new Conveyance [Force Bending]) this will likely take a back seat to Healing Trance [Innervate] in more “pressing” situations. 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 to Force regeneration if you have Resplendence [Force Surge]. 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 was mostly running 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 increased critical chance this heal will heal for roughly the same amount as a non critical Deliverance [Dark Infusion]. This can be handy if someone needs healing quickly and Healing Trance [Innervate] is on cooldown. 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 reduction in Force cost helps maintain your force allowing you to avoid having to use Noble Sacrifice [Consumption] as much (or not at all). 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 Potency [Recklessness] – This can help you overcome high damage situations by giving direct heals an increased critical change. Keep in mind it only affects direct heals (i.e. Deliverance [Dark Infusion], Benevolence [Dark Heal], Rejuvenate [Resurgence]), meaning Healing Trance [Innervate] and Salvation [Revivification] will not get this effect. Because it can affect Rejuvenate [Resurgence], make sure you use it after you cast Rejuvenate [Resurgence] to save a charge for another heal. Most likely you’ll end up using it on Rejuvenate [Resurgence] anyway after casting another heal but in case you have an opportunity for a long cast heal, it is good to try and save the charge.
  • 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. Keep in mind with Telekinetic Effusion [Lightning Effusion] the cool-down is dropped to 20 seconds allowing you to use Force Speed more often.
  • 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”. Keep in mind you can use this pull people away from melee to give yourself some breathing room before you heal, but also remember that this does use up a GCD so your target could end up in a worse position before you can start healing.
  • 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.
The PvP Force-Master (2) set bonus piqued my interest until I realized just how small the 0.5% heal was. The (4) set bonus didn’t really interest me, as I need to stay within 30m to heal my target, so the 5m boost in range would not come into play most of the time.

The PvP Force-Mystic (2) set bonus is invaluable, as cutting 3 seconds from the lockout allows you to get your powerful Force Armor [Static Barrier] up more often on more targets. The (4) set bonus seems limited though, as a 3% heal is not the most powerful bonus, with 16k HP you’re looking at getting an extra 480 hp 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.

Pre 1.2 – 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).

The changes to Expertise in 1.2 has caused me to change to using full set of PvP Force-Mystic for PvP. Losing the cooldown reduction to your much needed quick heal hurts but the extra healing and survivability outweigh what is lost.

For Relic slots I’m using the Matrix Cube and the PvP relic that gives Power on use. The rest of my gear is PvP gear to get myself as clost to 550 Expertise.

8. Builds

Here are the 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. Valiance [Dark Resilience] also helps to offset the change to Resplendence [Force Surge] and Noble Sacrifice [Consumption].

Survival Healing 2 – 27/12/2 – Sage [Sorcerer]: A slight change to the 29/12/0 build by dropping Egress [Fadeout] to get 6% more Willpower from Will of the Jedi [Will of the Sith].

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 and helps to offset Noble Sacrifice [Consumption]. 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.

Survival Effusion Healing – 22/19/0 – Sage [Sorcerer]: This is a post 1.2 build designed to gain extra Force efficiency as there is no “safe” way to regain force in PvP any longer. The idea is to drop Resplendence [Force Surge] along with a couple other points in order to go higher in the Telekinetics [Lightning] tree.  The idea is to get Telekinetic Effusion [Lightning Effusion] which reduces the cost of 2 Force abilities by 50% after a Force attack crits. This is achieved efficiently with Telekinetic Throw [Force Lightning] as it costs 28 Force (after talents) for a 3 second channel (passive Force regeneration will give 24 Force) that hits 4 times and if any hit is a critical then the next two heals you use are at 50% cost. If you follow with 2 Deliverances [Dark Infusions], you end up saving 50 Force and with the new longer cast time you will passively regenerate 40 Force (5 seconds of total cast time). I also look at picking up Kinetic Collapse [Backlash] to help augment my survivability. Another boost is that Effusion lowers the cooldown of Force Speed to 20 seconds. The addition of Blockout [Suppression] also allows for a more disruptive interrupt by locking out abilities for 6 seconds. This build will still require further testing but from what I’ve seen so far it looks like it could work (not as well as pre 1.2).

9. Rotations

Post 1.2 – With the changes to gear and cast times these rotations are no longer applicable but I am leaving this section to get an idea of how to think about 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 another 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.
  • A fun trick with Force Speed is to find gaps to jump that most classes are unable to jump.
    For example, you can jump from the lower catwalks (between the fire pits) in Huttball to the center (by the acid pit) without falling into the pit.
    For example, in Voidstar you can use Force Speed to jump over the gap in the bridge room without extending the bridges.  You have to time your jump near perfect but the center platforms are just close enough to make that jump.

12. About the Author

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

Follow Me

Twitter: @theotherguy09
Stream: http://twitch.tv/theotherguy09

Advertisement
Posted in Guide, Sage / Sorcerer, SWTOR
21 comments on “Sage / Sorcerer Healing Guide for PvP
  1. cmlovegun says:

    Thank you!
    Now I’m playing Commando Combat Medic, but the next toon plan Sage Seer spec.
    And Your Guide awesome and helpfull!
    Keep going!

    WBR, Alex

  2. A wild ryndar appeared and taught the young padawans the art of healing.

  3. Excellent and informative guide, I find so many guides that just say this is what i do and im the best so you should do it too. It is great to find a guide that gives explenation as to why a particular set up should work and how to make the most of said set up.
    I will be trying to implement some of your general healing tips on my combat medic.
    I am also thinking about forgetin the area heal now. Becuase actually i would only ever use it when there is a mad scrap around a node or door. However now i think i might use the points for a bit more utility :).

    Thanks again for a great guide :)

    • theotherguy09 says:

      Thanks.

      Aurella (@pjs166) :

      I am also thinking about forgetin the area heal now. Becuase actually i would only ever use it when there is a mad scrap around a node or door. However now i think i might use the points for a bit more utility :) .

      If your referring to dropping the Combat Medic AoE Heal (Kolto Bomb) then I would urge you to reconsider. It gives you an ability that you can use on the move to heal (not as good as Bacta Infusion but better then Hammer Shot) and more importantly the buffs that it applies will help your overall healing. The 10% boost to healing and 10% reduction to damage while Supercharged is huge. Personally I think you’ll find it hard to get more utility from elsewhere (just keep in mind that like Salvation it should used to assist you in healing not as your main heal). Plus it sounds like they plan on “helping” Combat Medic AoE Healing from what I read in the Q&A.

      If your talking about Salvation then disregard the above :).

  4. jmaii says:

    Great guide; thanks for sharing! I’ve gotten bored with my L50 Seer in PvP, and hope your advice will help me pick the character up again. When compared to my Shield Tech Powertech, my Seer earns so few medals and is defeated way too quickly.

    I, too, have questioned the viability of Salvation in PvP. Most of the problem is having allies stand in the healing AoE, with some trolls actually yelling at me for using Salvation instead of direct heals. I’ll give your 29/12/0 a try and see how well it improves survivability.

    You may want to expand on the use of Rescue in Sage PvP. One good use of Rescue is to get allies to advantageous positions/locations. The most obvious example would be Huttball, pulling the ball carrier to high ground or past hazards. A less common example is Voidstar: Consulars can use Force Speed to get onto the center platforms in Stage One as well as jumping the chasm before the bridges deploy in Stage Two. Getting a Gunslinger in cover on the Stage One center platform can be devastating. My favorite use of Rescue, however, is pulling ally AFKers out from their hiding places. :P

    • theotherguy09 says:

      Thanks, when I play I usually disregard medals as the current medal implementation is geared favorably towards hybrids and not an accurate view of how much someone “really” participated in the match.

      I also enjoy pulling the occasional AFKer into harms way, but I purposely left it out to avoid “condoning” killing your own team (I’ve seen Sages/Sorcs pull allies into hazards, off ledges, etc.). Luckily I’ve noticed a decrease in AFKers in my warzones lately, so I haven’t had to deal with this too much (usually they show up if a match looks dire).

      I’ll look to adding the Gap Jumping (can’t believe I left that out) and expand on Rescue.

      Thanks for the feedback.

  5. Cinid says:

    Thanks for putting this out there Ryndar. Great breakdown to leverage all the many tools of a Seer.

  6. Great guide Ryndar, much appreciated!

    Gotta say though, started out with the “survival” spec for survival purposes when I first hit 50, saved my ass more times than I could count It is something I probably would have never considered had you not shared your spec.

    However, Force Wake, a guaranteed 5s aoe root (regardless of resolve state), on a 20s cooldown. Man, that has soooo many uses, other than just saving my ass … I would have a hard time justifying giving it up now, regardless of my gear. IMO, the benefits of Force Wake far outweigh the limited usefulness of Salvation in WZ’s.

    I do pug mostly, so, my opinion may change if I premade more, or when rated’s start, we’ll see. :)

    Thanks again for sharing everything, love your stream as well!

    • theotherguy09 says:

      As I mentioned in the guide I agree that Force Wake is often better then Salvation most of the time. I’m currently using this Salvation spec to get a feel for how it could be used correctly as I’m not having survival issues as of late (probably running a guild group has a lot to do with it). I think there is potential for the extra healing as long as you use Salvation before any healing is needed. We’ll see though, I’m tempted to try my old spec to see how it works with the new gear I have.

      Something to keep in mind with Force Wake is that it isn’t a guaranteed 5 sec root. It is guaranteed for 2 sec and if they receive damage after that then it will break.

  7. I was wondering if you know anything about the pushback effect from the talents?

    Cause I have skipped some points in foresight and added them in wisdom instead, which I find to more useful for healing in pvp.

    Otherwise nice guide and loving the pvp steams from Taugrim and you. :)

    • theotherguy09 says:

      Basically when your casting any ability with an activation time and you receive damage you’ll notice your cast bar gets pushed back when you get hit. This will make abilities take longer then their supposed to. What Foresight [Lucidity] does is reduce the amount of pushback that you receive when you take damage, allowing you to cast your healing spells faster while under pressure. Pushback talents are an absolute must have in PvP.

      Keep in mind those 2 points your spending in Wisdom is a minuscule improvement to your overall healing. 2% of a 400k healing game will net you 8k extra healing. 8k is roughly 2 crit Deliverance [Dark Infusion] heals. I’ve noticed that without Foresight you could end up spending twice as long trying to cast a spell while people are attacking you. So if you assume lots of people are attacking you (making it take twice as long) for 4 Deliverance [Dark Infusion] casts (which is common) then it will take the time of 8 Deliverance [Dark Infusion] casts without interference, but if you have Foresight [Lucidity] it will only take the time of 5 (75% pushback reduction). This would give you the chance to cast Deliverance [Dark Infusion] 3 more times. Using Force Potency [Recklessness] would almost gaurentee that 2 of those would crit giving you more extra healing than Wisdom could give you in a full 15 minute match.

  8. Morslath says:

    Hey Taugrim, are you gooing to play Guild Wars 2 :D?

  9. […] Sage/Sorcerer Healing Guide for PvP […]

  10. Hey Taugrim,

    Do you plan on posting a 1.2 update? Have you been playing around on the PTR?

    • theotherguy09 says:

      I do plan on making an update for 1.2. I didn’t get a character copied over to the PTR so i haven’t played around on it, a lot of the intricacies in the class mechanics come from higher tier talents interacting with each other.

  11. Ryndar, I see you have your Seer/TK hybrid that you like for 1.2. I’ve also been seeing a Seer/Balance spec that looks interesting as well. Have you tried it? How does it work?

    http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#600GhrRMdbzZZcMfRs0z.1

    Just in case you are unfamiliar there is a link.

    • theotherguy09 says:

      So the main difference I would say between the two is that with Seer/TK your getting more survivability and CC along while the Seer/Balance hybrid adds damage to your rotation. What I would think about is what do I want to accomplish in a WZ.

      With the Seer/TK hybrid the majority of your GCDs are still spent with keeping other people alive (if people are spending time trying to kill you they aren’t killing other people). You almost have the healing GCDs picked our for you; Healing Trance when it comes off cooldown, Rejuvenate followed the majority of the time with Benevolence, and using Force Armor every chance you get. The real challenge is using your CCs and Interrupt “correctly” to stay alive and also using them to keep others alive (peeling with Force Wave and having the enemy rooted or using Telekinetic Throw to slow can give ranged DPS time for key abilities to refresh).

      The Seer/Balance hybrid changes how you want the think about your GCDs. The goal of any class/character in any game is to optimize what your doing with your time. You can think of it like chess but instead of taking turns being able to make multiple moves at a time. The way this translates for the hybrid is that you have a few options at any given time; keep someone else alive, keep yourself alive, or hurt the enemy. The challenge is to know/use the one that utilizes your GCD as effectively as possible, as any GCD spent healing isn’t dealing damage and vice versa. What this means is that when you spend a GCD you want to gain more with your time then your opponent does with their GCD and the major difference is that your adding effectiveness to your damage abilities (compared to the TK hybrid) while losing effectiveness in your CC. You can look at Force Wave as taking GCDs away from your opponent, with the root from the TK hybrid you take more GCDs away from them giving you free GCDs to gain an advantage while the Balance hybrid has to gain that advantage elsewhere.

      Overall looking at the build I think it adds diversity by giving you another option for spending your GCD (dealing damage with the TK hybrid is a very ineffective way to spend a GCD) but you end up losing effectiveness in keeping yourself and others alive. If used correctly I think the Balance hybrid can be useful in more situations then the TK hybrid but there are times that the TK hybrid is more suited for a situation (general comes up more if your running with great DPSers on your team).

  12. Ryan Riedel says:

    i have a question, does force armor count towards healing in pvp? it seems like it must with the numbers i get on heals at the end. at level 43 i hit 370k in voidstar. of course people all say i’m either lying or standing in the corner healing myself, which im not. really ticks me off being called a liar, but i guess it’s a good thing if people don’t believe it. must know what i’m doing

  13. theotherguy09 says:

    As of 1.1 (didn’t test specifically in 1.2 and haven’t played since), Force Armor does count towards healing if it negates damage.

    Early in 1.1 I had a match where I only healed people that were topped off. All that over healing was not factored into the heal values at the end (over healing is not counted). In a separate match I only used Force Armor and I had a healing value. To verify I used Force Armor on people that were not attacked and ended up with no healing. So the healing you get out of Force Armor only comes from damage that is actually prevented. If it “fizzles” or you cast over it, then there is no “healing” done.

  14. Ryan Riedel says:

    gotcha, thank you. i guess that means my healing numbers are that much better since no overhealing is counted :)

Comments are closed.

Follow
Taugrim on YouTube Taugrim on Patreon Taugrim on Twitter

Receive notifications of new posts by email

Join 688 other subscribers
© 2009–2023 taugrim.com

All rights reserved

%d bloggers like this: