I'm a very bad PvP Healer! Pls advice!

[Zojen]

Greetings,

As some of you know, I'm very new to the game. Zojen will be my first lvl 60 and my very first dedicated healer. I've leveled all by Warzones aside from the Chapters 1-3 from the storyline, currently at 57 Valor.

My concern is that, every battleground I join, I'm outperformed by other healers (mostly sages) in overall healing and HPS. All my gear is 162 rating on all slots at lvl 58.

My strat:
- I try to keep 2 stacks of Slow-release MedPack (SRM) at all times on my teammates in range, Kolto Cloud on cooldown, Kolto Waves whenever possible and using Emergency Medpack (EM) to keep everyone at top
- Once damage spikes start coming on someone I apply Underworld Medicine(UM) + EM, or UM + Kolto Pack + EM and try to resume SMPs + EMs on the group, but after those dmg spikes start I just can't keep people alive and I start to panic and go UM + EM spamming and I start losing the 2 stacks of SRM and it's usually a mess at that point.

I understand this isn't lvl 60 WZ and sometimes level / gear can play a factor, but can someone give me some personal tips or advice on how to become a better healer? Specifically on:

• how do you keep track of SRM in the Ops group
• what's basically your rotation? if any
• more spammed ability?
• how and when do you use of Triage on the team

I have already read Hottie's guide on the swtor forums, Scoundrel 101 Healing and our own Scoundrel PvP Healing Guide but I still feel like a mess and any help would be very much appreciated!

Cheers!

[Iolo'pax]

Heya Zojen!

I don't have much help I am afraid, as my healing experience is mostly with Sages but, I have an Imp operative I play from time to time usually only in PvP.  I am sure other folks will chime in who play Scoundrel and offer more solid advice.

Sages have better AoE healing, at least they did before the latest patch (which is where all of my experience was) and Scoundrels have better single target healing (guys chime in and keep me honest). I also believe that the true glory of Scoundrel healing comes once you get the healer set bonus in your PvP gear ( I know you doing <60 right now).

I dunno if a memo went out somewhere but players have gotten MUCH better at focus firing lately, especially against  healers. Your uptime  is key to big numbers. My Operatives biggest numbers have come in matches where I stay alive the longest. Staying Mobile, including the use of cloaking screen, and changing positions in the warzone are paramount to your success.

ObiOne21 has a toon that is a Scoundrel healer and is Very good at PvP healing from what I have seen (or rather benefited from hehe). Maybe shoot him a note asking for tips. (Assuming more folks don't jump into the thread)

 

[Jemms]

Zojen wrote:

My concern is that, every battleground I join, I'm outperformed by other healers (mostly sages) in overall healing and HPS.

 And?

Sages are uber op right now.  3.3 granted us major boosts to all heals, although kicked our mobility slightly.  This isn't AS noticeable in regular wz's as much as in ranked.

Back to your point:  Scoundrels since 3.3 did actually gain some mobility, and that's the key: Mobility.  Hot up everything.  Big casts when you can.  Maximize your expertise, it's the all-important stat in pvp.  Cap is 2018.  Anything under this and you will be losing out to someone with this.  No getting around that.

I have no class-specific advice, however.  Like Iolo mentioned, we have some Tremendous Scoundrel (sawbones) healers in the guild: ObiOne21's toon, EmilyF is great.  Another is Garranaw.

Hope to see you soon!

[Ev'line]

Out of curiosity, what is your expertise with all 162 gear? From my experience, having a 162 weapon, offhand and implants limits bolster. Try swapping out a few of those pieces with 156 artifacts available from the GTN or doing the intro solo quests on Oricon. You can even buy the 148 mods from the fleet for your weapon and off-hand. It should help a bit.

You can test Bolster outside of Warzone on one of the fleet ships, The Gav Daragon. You are looking for a device called the Bolsterizer I believe. Swap a few pieces out until you get to 2018.

Also, don't use PvP crystals in non-PvP weapons.

Sorry, I can only offer advice based on gear as all my healing experience in WZs is from a Sorc (bad, I know).

[Zojen]

Nice! I'll go check my expertise right away and test the bolster. It also seems leveling to 60 might help me get a better picture with the gear bonuses.

Appreciated, this has been really helpful! Thanks for the references too! :)

[Gilthresa]

Don't worry so much about hps and total healing output, rather worry about keeping your team alive. The best way for that to happen is to befriend a tank playing character, and a DPS or two, and go in together. A good DPS looking out for his healer can help peel and create space for the healer to do their job appropriately, and can be an unstoppable killing machine with a healer in his/her back pocket. Learn to use and abuse line of sight as much as possible as well. This means running around pillars and the like to prevent enemy ranged from being able to target you. Generally you want to place yourself is such a way that there are as many of your teammates between you and their DPS as possible, or that you have an available escape route that will take you back to your teammates quickly.

[Nwahs]

 Good advice Gilth :)

[Mazikeena]

Hey Zojen, as a fellow pvp n00b, I want to say that following Gil's advice to be sneaky and hide as much as possible is very helpful. You won't get as many medals being far from the node, and it takes practice to learn where to best places to stand are, but you will be harder to kill.

Some ideas from my own experiences (but take with salt, since I don't consistently pvp)

- defense screen, keep up whenever you are taking damage

- dodge, increase defense against ranged + purge

- scamper, increased damage reduction which is good when you're being focused fired by ranged

- stealth out if you are taking too much damage and relocate. With points into the utility that triggers dodge when you steath, you won't be knocked out of stealth due to dots.

- You can put a utility point so that you can clear roots from yourself.

- 1v1, you can repeatedly stun and/or root (root requires a utility skill, but it only effective against melee) your opponent and then heal yourself while he sits on it -- good for stalemating and can also help you escape. When it works, this strategy will also fill you with glee.