SWTOR 6.0 Bodyguard Mercenary PvE Guide by Otio

Complete Bodyguard Mercenary 6.0 SWTOR Healing Guide, suitable for fresh level 75 beginners as well as more advanced players who seek to improve their performance! Focuses strictly on PvE! Written for VULKK.com by Otio

UP TO DATE FOR PATCH 6.1.2

OVERVIEW

Out of the 3 imperial healing classes, the mercenary is your quintessential single-target burst healer. Using a combination of medical scans, missiles that heal you somehow, and medpacs fired from a pistol, the mercenary healer is a valuable asset to any raid team.

This guide will go over everything you need to know about building and using this class. I am intending this to be accessible to both beginning and experienced players, but I am assuming a certain level of knowledge as to the terminology of both MMO’s and SWTOR in particular.

There’s a trend amongst SWTOR guides of describing your class’ proficiency in various categories, so let’s do that now.

Single-Target Healing
Mercs are unequivocally the best single-target and burst healers in the game. All of their abilities focus on direct healing and they have a particular emphasis on instant abilities. If you want a healer that can zero in on a tank and keep them alive through high damage boss fights, you want a mercenary.

AoE Healing
Mercs are considered the weakest of the three healing classes for strict AoE situations. We have a spammable heal that is decently effective, and we can definitely put out decent AoE numbers, but this is not our area of expertise.

Off-DPS
DPS isn’t our job, but we still manage it ok. We have a few abilities to throw on bosses in between spurts of healing that are very effective. Generally the best healing class for off-DPS.

Utility
Here’s the thing, Mercs have utility, but it’s utility that’s usually shared by other classes. We have a reflect, but so do Juggernaut tanks, we have a way to avoid knock-ups and pulls, but so do Powertechs and Assassins. What we have that makes us special is our healing potential, not much more.

Survivability
 Great defensives and Heavy armor make us very hard to kill.

Alright, with that out of the way, let’s get into the meat of things…

STATS AND GEARING

Stat Distribution

Full disclosure, I am not a theory crafter, I do not intend to be a theory crafter, so I am deferring to the work of others in some of my recommendations here.

First off, do not worry about stat balance until you are level 75, and are using full iRating 306 gear (whether that’s moddable or not). If you start trying to balance yourself before then, you will end up wasting a lot of time on gear that you will end up throwing away, it’s not worth it, be patient.

Once you are at the point where you’re ready to min-max, your stat priority is as follows:

• 0 Accuracy
• 1213 OR 1895 OR 3208 Alacrity
• The rest of your tertiary stats into crit
• Medtech amplifiers

Heals cannot miss, therefore healers have no real need for accuracy. Prior to 6.X, there was a group that advocated for healers to hit 110% accuracy anyway as a way to provide better off-dps. A couple of things changed with 6.0 that makes this a less attractive option. First, the accuracy threshold has increased, meaning it requires significantly more investment to reach the required level. Second, the dps and heal checks have changed drastically. DPS checks are lower, heal checks are a bit higher, meaning that the extra dps you’d get from building Accuracy is often not needed, and the heals you lose by swapping stats often is needed, this of course changes from fight to fight, but that is the general trend. I would stick with 0 Accuracy unless you are a very experienced healer doing content that needs extra dps or completely consistent interrupts and stuns, and even then, I would advise against it in most situations.

If you’re new to healing in SWTOR, you’re probably wondering why there are 3 possible levels of Alacrity that are ideal, well that all has to do with a small quirk in how the game handles cooldowns.

Even if an ability is instant and has no cooldown there is still a minimum amount of time that must elapse between abilities. This is known as the Global Cooldown or GCD. The normal GCD with 0 alacrity is 1.5s, however at certain levels of Alacrity that gets rounded down; to 1.4s at 1213, and 1.3s at 3208.

If your guild has the “Zeal” Set bonus active, you can reach a 1.3s GCD with less alacrity, 1895 to be exact. I would however caution against this as the bonus does not work in MM operations, so if you plan to pursue that level of content, it’s best to use either 1213 or 3208.

There is no statistical difference between the output of healers with GCDs of 1.4s and 1.3s, try both out and use your preference. My personal preference is with the 1.3s build, I’m very used to the feeling of that GCD, if you prefer the 1.4 build, definitely use it. After you hit your alacrity threshold, everything else should go into crit. So how do we do this? Below are 3 set-ups for your use, with as little tertiary stat loss as possible, one for each level of alacrity. It is not necessary to be 100% stat perfect, and if you can’t find these specific enhancements feel free to make substitutions. As long as you are just above your alacrity threshold, and you put as much into crit as you can, you’ll be fine.

1213 Alacrity

• Earpiece: Sha’tek Adept Device MK-19 (Crit)
• Implants: 2 x Sha’tek Adept Package MK-19 (Crit)
• Enhancements:
  • 1 x Nimble R-19
  • 1 x Nimble R-20
  • 5 x Adept R-19
• Augments:
  • 4 x Advanced Alacrity Augment 74
  • 10 x Advanced Critical Augment 74
• Crystals: 2 x Eviscerating Crystals (Crit)

1895 Alacrity

• Earpiece: Sha’tek Adept Device MK-19 (Crit)
• Implants: 2 x Sha’tek Quick Savant Package MK-19 (Alacrity)
• Enhancements:
  • 1 x Nimble R-20
  • 6 x Adept R-19
• Augments:
  • 4 x Advanced Alacrity Augment 74
  • 10 x Advanced Critical Augment 74
• Crystals: 2 x Eviscerating Crystals (Crit)

3208 Alacrity

• Earpiece: Sha’tek Quick Savant Device MK-19 (Alacrity)
• Implants: 2 x Sha’tek Adept Package MK-19 (Crit)
• Enhancements:
  • 3 x Nimble R-18
  • 1 x Nimble R-12
  • 3 x Adept R-14
• Augments:
  • 11 x Advanced Alacrity Augment 74
  • 3 x Advanced Critical Augment 74
• Crystals: 2 x Eviscerating Crystals (Crit)

For all levels the Best in Stat Armoring/Barrel/Hilt is Versatile 80 or 80R-1, and the BiS Mod is Lethal R-2.

Again, it’s not necessary to get 100% stat perfect to be a successful healer, and to be honest I’m not even at this point yet. If you are, however interested in min-maxing to the fullest, a lot of people have done a lot of number crunching to get the perfect stats, and I encourage you to seek them out. I would recommend the wonderful Sevrahn, whose spreadsheet informed the above builds.

RELATED ► Complete SWTOR EndGame Gearing Guide for Level 75

Relics

For on level content, the go to relics should be Serendipitous Assault and Focused Retribution, which boost power and mastery respectively.

As it stands most endgame content is capped at level 70. Being at level 70 caps mastery, power, and endurance, making the above relics do nothing, so the only time you’ll really need those relics is for VM Dxun, MM Dxun, and the new FP. Otherwise if you’re in older content you should use Devastating Vengeance, which grants crit and Primeval Fatesealer, which is a clickable relic that grants alacrity, which are not capped for reasons. (For the record, these stat caps can allow you to further optimize your stat distribution if you so desire, the builds above assume no caps)

If, like me, you are averse to clickable relics, you can also run Ephemeral Mending for legacy content. It isn’t ideal, but at least it gives you something.

Stims

For the same reasons that you need different sets of relics:

• For on-level content: Advanced Kyrprax Versatile Stim (Mastery + Power)
• For legacy content: Advanced Kyrprax Proficient Stim (Accuracy + Crit)

The Mastery and Power stim is ideal for healers, but again, in legacy content both of these stats are capped, so the stim doesn’t actually do anything. Thus, for legacy content, defer to the accuracy and crit stim.

Set Bonuses

Apex Predator

Set Bonus

• 2pc: +2% Mastery
• 4pc: Activating Power Shot, Tracer Missile or Rapid Scan increases the critical chance of your next Power Shot, Tracer Missile or Rapid Scan by 10%. Stacks up to 5 times but is removed on 6th stack
• 6pc: Dealing damage with Power Shot or Tracer Missile and healing with Rapid Scan grant a stack of Power Step, stacking up to 5 times. At 5 stacks, your next Power Shot, Tracer Missile, or Rapid Scan is more effective and costs no heat.

Commentary

At first, I thought the Apex Predator set would be the go-to. Making the merc’s filler heal, the one that is least useful, more powerful is an alluring concept. There are two issues that I see that keep me from recommending this set without reservation.

First, while Rapid Scan is your filler heal, and you do use it often, buffing 1 of every 6 casts seems lackluster compared to sets with more consistent sets. Second, the set is fairly difficult to obtain in the first place. Drops from Dxun are inconsistent to say the least, and this set is not directly purchasable. If you want this set, you’ll likely need to build another set to use while you collect the pieces.

Concentrated Fire

Set Bonus

• 2pc: +2% Mastery
• 4pc: Doing damage or healing an ally has a 10% chance to generate a stack of supercharge. Cannot occur more than once every 5 seconds.
• 6pc: Activating Supercharged Gas makes your next Rail Shot, Mag Shot, or Emergency Scan critically hit or heal

Commentary

This set has been nerfed quite significantly, but it is still in contention for the best set we have available. The strength of this set comes from two places. First the extra supercharge does come quite frequently and helps make heat management easier. Second, the buff on Emergency Scan makes burst combos more effective, and the buff on Rail Shot gives you better off-dps. This is not the uncontested best set for merc healing, but it is in the conversation.

Notorious

Set Bonus

• 2pc: +2% Mastery
• 4pc: Power Surge grants Precision Targeting, increasing armor penetration by 10% for 6 seconds. This effect cannot occur more than once a minute.
• 6pc: Power Surge grants an additional charge.

Commentary

There’s an argument to be made for this set. Power Surge is the main facilitator of your best burst combo and having that go even further is a good thing.

In my experience though, the occasional boost that this set gives isn’t enough to match the consistent boost that other sets give. I can see this being niche for very spiky fights, but otherwise stay away.

Rapid Response

Set Bonus

• 2pc: +2% Mastery
• 4pc: Activating a healing ability has a 15% chance to cause your next Rapid Scan to be critical.
• 6pc: Healing an ally with Rapid Scan applies a buff to them for 10 seconds. Each enemy defeated by this ally increases your healing by a 2%, stacking up to 5 times.

Commentary

This is the new set that drops in MM Dxun. For the average player that means this set is going to be prohibitively difficult to obtain, and frankly it doesn’t seem worth it.

Possible use in PvP, possible niche use in add-centric PvE fights, otherwise, somewhat useless.

Tech Medic

Set Bonus

• 2pc: +2% Mastery
• 4pc: Onboard AED becomes an instant-cast.
• 6pc: Kolto Shot leaves a heal-over-time on the target.

Commentary

6.1.2 gave a massive buff to this set, and put it in contention to be the best set for merc healers. While I still don’t find the 4pc part of this set to be relevant, the new 6pc gives this set a flat HPS buff that, when used properly, gives you the most healing potential out of the merc sets. The caveat to that is that using this set to the highest level requires a slightly different playstyle than the classic merc healer. You will have to manage your HoT’s on multiple targets, much in the way an operative healer would have to. If you are an operative healer transitioning to a merc, or if that playstyle appeals to you, this will be the set you want to pick up.

Squad Leader

Set Bonus

• 2pc: +2% Mastery
• 4pc: Whenever you take damage with Energy Shield, a weaker shield is applied to nearby allies for 3 seconds

Commentary

Not really meant for a healer, if you’re taking consistent damage you’re probably out of position. If you’re positioned properly, you’ll get very little use out of this.

Hunter Killer

Set Bonus

• 2pc: +2% Mastery
• 4pc: Stealth Scan also applies Stealth Protection to you, scanning a small area around you

Commentary

PvP set. Not even very useful there. Worthless for PvE.

Game Plan

Set Bonus

• 2pc: +2% Mastery
• 4pc: When your Kolto Overload’s Health Monitor is triggered for the first time, it deals damage back to the enemy who damaged you

Commentary

Similar to Squad Leader, if you play well, you’ll get little use out of this. I can’t see this having a role in PvE.

Woad’s Instinct

Set Bonus

• 2pc: +2% Mastery
• 4pc: Thermal Sensor Override gains 2 charges

Commentary

I don’t find much use out of Thermal Sensor Override as it is, having one more charge of it makes no sense to me.

Bottom Line:

There are three sets in contention to be the best set for mercs: Apex Predator, Concentrated Fire, and Tech Medic. Concentrated fire will provide the best burst potential, slightly easier heat management, and better off-dps, at the expense of more consistent buffs provided by other sets. Apex Predator provides consistent buffs on a filler heal, and minor buffs to off-dps, on a set that relatively difficult to obtain and does not necessarily provide the best healing output. Tech medic provides the best overall healing potential, but requires you to alter your playstyle to maximize its output.

I would build at least Concentrated Fire and Tech Medic and try both to see which feels better to you. I personally prefer Concentrated Fire, but you might not, and either set will serve you well at all levels of content. I’m still not convinced as to the value of Apex Predator, and even though the Concentrated Fire nerfs brought it back into the conversation, you’ll still need to build another set first because of how difficult Apex Predator is to obtain.

Above are all of your set bonus options and my thoughts on them. I am only listing and commenting on the Merc specific and Bounty Hunter sets, the general sets are not worthwhile in my opinion and I will not discuss them here

Tacticals

SC-4 Treatment Scanner

Effect
Progressive Scan heals for an additional 5% and generates Supercharge Stacks while channeled, up to 4 stacks for a completed channel.

Commentary
This tactical replaces the old HP-5 dart device and it is fantastic. Along with providing a mildly stronger AoE presence, it makes your heat management significantly easier by giving you more consistent access to Supercharged Gas. This is my pick for most situations.

Rocket Fuel Vapors

Effect
Kolto Pods last a second longer and heals for an additional 5%.

Commentary
This tactical used to be incredibly good, and it was basically broken, then it got understandably nerfed, but now it’s fairly weak and I can’t recommend itl. On paper the tactical is fine, while it says it’s a 5% buff, because it adds a tick to the HoT it’s effectively a 40% buff. The issue with this of course it that it requires people to stand in your kolto pool for the duration and that just doesn’t happen in very many situations. It’s possible to use this when everyone is stacked for the entire fight, but outside of that specific scenario, it isn’t worthwhile, and even then, I would say other tacticals will still do more for your healing output.

Running Restoration

Effect
Healing Scan can be cast while moving and heals for an additional 15%

Commentary
The main purpose of this tactical is for fights with heavy single-target damage where the 15% on your Healing Scan can provide extra burst. The mobility is nice, but you are typically going to be using abilities that make your Healing Scan instant, which means that aspect of the tactical isn’t always useful. I would personally argue that the extra supercharge gained from SC-4 makes up for the extra burst you can get with this, but this is still a good tactical you’ll probably want in your arsenal.

Cool Your Jets

Effect
Rocket Out vents 20 heat and immobilizes enemies around you for 2 seconds.

Commentary
Worthless in PvE, possible niche PvP use but I don’t PvP enough to say for sure.

Jettison

Effect
Jet Boost increases your movement speed by 50% for 3 seconds. For each enemy hit with Jet Boost, the cooldown of Hydraulic Overrides is reduced by 3 seconds.

Commentary
I can’t imagine a use for this anywhere, so many better options out there that I wouldn’t even bother.

Missile Blastback

Effect
Missile Blast knocks its target back and refunds some heat.

Commentary
As a healer you should not be DPS’ing enough, or have enough heat issues, to warrant picking this up

Power Cycle

Effect
When you use an ability with Power Surge, that ability is not put on cooldown.

Commentary
I go into the uses of Power Surge later in the guide, but typically when I use it, it’s on abilities with no cooldown, making this tactical worthless.

Bottom Line
There are two tacticals in the conversation for BiS, SC-4, and Running Restoration. SC-4 is the better of the two in my opinion and is what I’d recommend for general purpose healing. The extra supercharge it gives you is invaluable in both heat management and burst and that’s without mentioning the buff it gives to progressive scan. RR is useful in niche, single-target focused situations and it’s worth having to respond to those scenarios. I am only listing and commenting on the Bodyguard Merc specific and Bounty Hunter tacticals, the general tacticals are not worthwhile in my opinion and I will not discuss them here.

UTILITIES

Skillful

Jet Escape

• Effect: Reduces the cooldown of Jet Boost by 5 seconds, Rocket Out by 3 seconds and Determination by 30 seconds.
• Commentary: This is a fight specific utility. Pick this up on fights where you need these abilities often. Otherwise, you won’t get much out of this

Afterburners

• Effect: Missile Blast immobilizes the target for 4 seconds. Direct damage caused after 2 seconds ends the effect. This effect can only occur once every 8 seconds. In addition, Jet Boost’s knockback effect is stronger and pushes enemies 4 meters further away.
• Commentary: The only aspect of this that applies to healers is the adjustment to Jet Boost. It’s not useful in PvE, possible PvP usage but otherwise stay away.

Gyroscopic Alignment Jets

• Effect: You vent 20 heat when stunned, immobilized, knocked down or otherwise incapacitated. Additionally, when incapacitated, your next Tech ability deals 10% damage or healing. This effect lasts for 15 seconds.
• Commentary: Free energy is free energy, and the extra healing afterwards helps to recover from any healing lost while you’re stunned. This doesn’t proc on every fight, so feel free to swap this out for conditional utilities, but if you can take it, I would always recommend this.

Improved Vents

• Effect: Vent Heat now immediately an additional 15 heat and grants 10% alacrity for 6 seconds.
• Commentary: This is a must have, it makes your instant heat sink even more useful, and guarantees that you’ll be in the highest heat dissipation range after use.

Boresights

• Effect: Increases the damage dealt by Sweeping Blasters by 25%
• Commentary: For DPS this is a must, for heals, even though you may occasionally use Sweeping Blasters, it won’t be enough to justify picking this up.

Adhesive Supplements

• Effect: Power Shot and Tracer Missile reduce the movement speed of targets they damage by 40% for 9 seconds. In addition, the slowing effect applied by Kolto Residue lasts an additional 3 seconds.
• Commentary: PvP utility, does nothing in PvE

Threat Sensors

• Effect: Increases stealth detection level by 3, melee and ranged defense by 3% and reduces the cooldown of Stealth Scan by 5 seconds. Additionally, when you activate Cure on yourself, all periodic damage taken is reduced by 30% for 12 seconds.
• Commentary: For PvE the major relevant modifier here is the one to Cure. The extra survivability is something you should consider on fights where there is a lot of periodic damage and there aren’t other uses for your cleanse. It isn’t necessary, but it definitely can be useful.

Heat Damping

• Effect: Eliminates the heat generated by Jet Boost, Concussion Missile, Cure, and Electro Dart.
• Commentary: I take this just out of convenience. There isn’t much in this tier worth getting and it’s nice not having to worry about using these more utility based abilities. If there is a fight specific utility I need in this tier, this would be first to go.

Masterful

Power Barrier

• Effect: Power Shot, Tracer Missile, and Rapid Scan generate a Power Barrier that increases damage reduction by 1% for 15 seconds. Stacks up to 5 times.
• Commentary: I find this utility underrated. It’s a flat 5% survivability buff, and often I manage to keep the buff going without even thinking about it. If you’re struggling to maintain the buff consider something else, but otherwise definitely take this.

Torque Boosters

• Effect: Increase the duration of Hydraulic Overrides by 4 seconds.
• Commentary: This is useful depending on how you use Hydraulic Overrides, if you use it to avoid knockbacks, it generally won’t help unless you’re struggling with the timing, if you use it as an in-combat speed boost, it will. You can consider picking this up accordingly.

Pyro Shield

• Effect: When activated, your Energy Shield ignites in a blaze, scorching attackers for X elemental damage when they deal direct damage to you. This effect cannot occur more than once each second.
• Commentary: This tier has good utilities, and while Pyro shield might have niche uses, it’s hard to justify picking it up in comparison to the options around it. More useful in PvP, but not worthwhile for PvE.

Power Shield

• Effect: Energy Shield now further decreases ability activation pushback by 30%, increases all healing received by 20% and makes you immune to interrupts.
• Commentary: More of a PvP utility, can be nice in certain fights but generally not worth it.

Energy Rebounder

• Effect: When you take damage, the active cooldown of Energy Shield is reduced by 3 seconds. This effect cannot occur more than once every 1.5 seconds. In addition, when taking damage, you have a 20% chance to emit an Energy Redoubt, which lasts up to 6 seconds and absorbs X damage. This effect cannot occur more than once every 10 seconds.
• Commentary: This utility is….ok. The Energy Redoubt shield amounts to roughly 1.5% of your health, making it basically nothing, but the more frequent Reactive Shield still makes this worth it. All in all, I usually pick this up, but this is also the first thing I get rid of for conditional utilities.

Power Overrides

• Effect: Reduces the cooldowns of Concussive Missile and Power Surge by 15 seconds each. In addition, Power Surge grants a second charge, making your next two abilities with an activation time activate instantly.
• Commentary: While the change to Concussive Missile is irrelevant, the change to Power Surge extends your best burst combo by one ability, and allows you to use it more often. I would recommend this in every situation.

Jet Rebounder

• Effect: Activating Jet Boost generates 2 stacks of Supercharge and heals you and up to 7 other allies within 8 meters for X-X health. In addition, Jet Boost deals 30% more damage and reduces its active cooldown by 1 second when you take damage. This effect cannot occur more than once per second.
• Commentary: Do. Not. Take. This. The healing is tiny, and you end up needlessly knocking adds around, not worthwhile at all.

Supercharged Reserves

• Effect: Reduces the cooldowns of Cure and Disabling Shot by 3 seconds each. In addition, you build up to 10 stacks of Supercharge over the course of using Recharge and Reload. This effect cannot occur more than once every 30 seconds.
• Commentary: This is a conditional utility. If you need extra cleanses or interrupts pick this up. The other effect it has is fairly pointless, as both heals and DPS can build supercharge before a fight with Kolto Shot

Heroic

Trauma Regulators

• Effect: While Energy Shield is active, you generate a stack of Trauma Regulators each time you receive direct damage. Stacks up to 10 times. When Energy Shield expires, each stack of Trauma Regulators instantly heals you for 4% of your maximum health.
• Commentary: I have heard of people making good use of this, but I never found it particularly useful. If you experiment with it and want to use it, it can replace Kolto Surge, likely making Energy Shield stronger than Kolto Overload.  

Smoke Screen

• Effect: Rocket Out generates a Smoke Screen when used, keeping you from being leapt to or pulled and making you immune to interrupts and ability activation pushbacks for the next 4 seconds. In addition, taking melee or Tech damage within 4 seconds of previously using Rocket Out refreshes its cooldown. These effects cannot occur more than once every 40 seconds.
• Commentary: PvP utility, does nothing in PvE

Kolto Surge

• Effect: Kolto Overload triggers at, and can heal you up to, 60% of your maximum health. Additionally, Kolto Overload last 2 seconds longer and heals for twice as much each time it restores health.
• Commentary: This utility takes your strongest DCD and makes it twice as strong. It’s possible to work without it, but I never do. I would strongly recommend taking this if possible.

Supercharged Defense

• Effect: Activating Supercharged Gas Increases your defense chance by 15% and grants immunity to interrupts for 8 seconds. In addition, your Endurance is increased by 3% and all healing received is increased by 3%
• Commentary: This is in a similar boat to One Man Army. Great in theory, but I can’t justify it over the competition.

Stabilized Armor

• Effect: Reduces damage taken from area effects by 30%. Additionally, while stunned, you take 30% less damage from all sources.
• Commentary: A flat survivability buff. Most of the damage you take as a healer in raids is AoE damage, thus, I would always take this.

Battlefield Protocols

• Effect: Stealth Scan grants Battlefield Protocols, increasing the damage or healing dealt by your next non-channeled direct damage or healing ability by 20%. For each target revealed from stealth, you generate an additional charge of Suppression Protocols. This effect stacks up to 5 charges and lasts for 10 seconds.
• Commentary: In PvE all you get is one stack, as you don’t reveal any enemies from stealth, that’s just not worth it in this tier, don’t take this.

Thrill of the Hunt

• Effect: Allows Unload, Blazing Bolts, and Progressive Scan to be activated while moving.
• Commentary: Progressive Scan, and to a lesser extent Unload, are the main ways Merc healers stay mobile. I would always take this too.

Tag and Bag

• Effect: Hindering a target with Electro Net grants Tag and Bag, increasing your alacrity by 15% for 9 seconds. Additionally, Supercharged Gas reduces the cooldown of Kolto Overload by 5 seconds.
• Commentary: In theory this is an ok utility, it turns your Electro Net into an offensive cooldown if you can land it on a vulnerable target (nothing with CC immunity), and significantly reduces the cd of your best DCD. However, with the competition in this tier, and the fact that finding a vulnerable target in a raid situation is a very rare occurrence, I can’t justify taking it.

Bottom Line
This is the utility load-out I use in general situations. It’s helpful to get a good idea of what all your utility options are and to tailor your loadout for specific fights. I go into detail on all your options above.

ABILITIES

Legend:

• [Num] This modifier is unlocked at level Num
• [TacticalName] This statement is true if you equip the tactical TacticalName
• [UtilityName] This statement is true if you select the UtilityName utility
• [SetName] This statement is true if you have the SetName armor set equipped

The abilities in this part of the guide are explained individually in separate segments, each following the following structure:

1. Ability Name and its in-game icon
2. Ability Description – the effect of the ability when you activate it
3. Relevant Modifiers -displayed in a short list, which follows the rules of the above-mentioned Legend
4. Commentary and Analysis about the ability

Active Abilities

Kolto Shot

Heals a friendly target for X-X.

• [52] Vents 1 heat for a normal heal and 2 heat for a critical heal
• [Tech Medic] Applies a HoT to its target

A Single-Target, instant, energy-negative, very small heal.

This is one of the most important abilities of the merc healer. While kolto shot does have a heal component to it, that should never be the primary purpose for its use. Kolto Shot is, above all else, a tool for heat management, thus, this seems like a good place to talk about heat.

Mercs and Powertechs are unique in that they don’t have a pool of energy that they pull from, instead their abilities all generate heat, and they cannot use their abilities when they hit max heat. Mercenaries have 4 levels of heat dissipation:

• Fast: 5 heat vented per second (0%-40% heat)
• Moderate: 4 heat vented per second (41%– 58% heat)
• Slow: 3 heat vented per second (59% – 80% heat)
• Very Slow: 2 heat vented per second (81% – 100% heat)

Your goal should be to remain in the 0-40 zone as much as possible, and Kolto Shot is your best tool to make that happen. As a rule of thumb, try to weave a Kolto Shot in between every 2 to 3 healing abilities. This, of course, will change based on the fight, some encounters have very intense bursts of damage, you may need to use 4 or more healing abilities before you can relax enough to use a Kolto Shot. If this happens you can chain a few Kolto Shots together during lower damage phases to lower your heat level. Properly using Kolto Shot and keeping your heat level down is what allows you to invest into your other heals, thus, while Kolto Shot doesn’t directly contribute to most of our healing, it does facilitate the use of the rest of our abilities without quickly overheating.

[Tech Medic] With the Tech Medic set your Kolto Shot becomes an important part of your actual healing, through the HoT it applies to your target. To make the most use of this, you want to spread out your Kolto shots in order to keep HoTs active on multiple players at a time. From my experience, you can reasonably keep HoTs on 3-4 players using a normal ability rotation. You should be looking to keep these up on targets that are consistently taking damage, generally the tanks and 2 dps. This HoT is not currently trackable with the “Raid HoTs” feature of Starparse so you will need to track it manually, but once you get into the rhythm of it that becomes more natural.

Emergency Scan

Instantly Heals a Friendly Target for X-X

• [28] Emergency Scan becomes free to use and procs Emergency Response, making your next Healing Scan activate instantly
• [64] Emergency Scan applies a small HoT to your target

A Single-Target, instant, free, medium sized heal.

There isn’t a ton to say about this ability. It should be used on cooldown in almost all situations. It is your second strongest single target heal, it’s completely free, and it provides a buff that makes your strongest single target heal (Healing Scan) an instant cast. Even if you’ve just used your Healing Scan, the buff Emergency Scan gives will last long enough for H.S. to come off of cooldown and still be cast instantly.

The HoT component of the ability is a little less than the immediate component, but still very relevant, so you should be looking to drop this on someone that is continuously taking damage to avoid wasting that part of the heal. The only time to consider delaying this ability is either: A) A large burst of damage is coming up soon and you want to save it in response or B) You are focusing entirely on AoE healing and you have AoE abilities to use. Outside of those specific situations, keep Emergency Scan on cooldown at all times.

Healing Scan

Heals a friendly target for X-X

• [28] Becomes Instant within an Emergency Response Window (See Emergency Scan)
• [32] When using H.S. your target becomes invigorated, increasing heals received by 3%
• [36] Cooldown is Reduced to 0, and heat cost reduced by 5 when under a supercharge window.
• [44] Casting Rapid Scan grants a stack of Critical Efficiency, reducing cost of H.S. by 5, stacks up to 3 times.
• [Running Restoration] Healing Scan can be cast while moving and heals for 15% more

A Single-Target, 2s Channel*, cheap, large heal.

This is the bread and butter of the merc healer. This is your best single-target heal, and it’s relatively cheap. The only caveat is that it is best used in conjunction with other abilities. Using the proper combinations will net you the best results.

Use H.S. directly after Emergency Scan whenever possible, those two abilities, used together, are your most consistent burst combo.

Supercharge windows (discussed later) are where H.S.’s can really shine. While this is active, H.S. should become your new filler heal, replacing Rapid Scan, do not be afraid to spam these during that timeframe, as they are cheaper than Rapid Scan, and heal for more.

Rapid Scan

Heals a friendly target for X-X

• [20] Crit Chance Increased by 5%
• [36] R.S. Grants 2 stacks of Supercharge instead of 1
• [44] Casting R.S. grants a stack of Critical Efficiency, reducing cost of H.S. by 5, stacks up to 3 times.
• [60] Healing done by R.S. Increased by 3%
• [Apex Predator] On Activation, increases the crit chance of subsequent R.S.’s and increases healing and eliminates cost of every 5^th cast.
• [Power Barrier] Rapid Scan builds a barrier that reduces damage taken by 1% for 15 seconds, stacks up to 5 times.

A Single-Target, 1.5s Channel, medium cost, medium sized heal.

This is your main filler heal, you use it when Emergency Scan and H.S. are not available. R.S. is generally weaker than those two and costs more. The main strength of R.S. is that it is a great way to build supercharge stacks [SC-4 Treatment Scanner] if Progressive Scan is on cooldown. Using a few R.S.s is fantastic for getting closer to a supercharge window if the phase is too tough to spam Kolto Shot

Progressive Scan

Heals a friendly target for X over the duration, and heals one new friendly target within 20 meters for X with each tick, healing up to four total targets with the final tick.

• [64] Progressive Scan protects the targets it heals, increasing their armor rating by 10%
• [68] Increases Healing done by Progressive Scan by 3%
• [Thrill of the Hunt] Can Be channeled while moving
• [SC-4 Treatment Scanner] Heals for 5% more and builds 4 supercharge stacks over the course of the channel

An AoE, 2.4s Channel, medium cost, variable heal

In my opinion, Progressive Scan is the most underrated ability in the merc’s toolkit. It consists of a single-target heal more powerful than a H.S., and a growing AoE component, making it increasingly powerful over the duration of the channel. Assuming every tick is effective, it does the healing of roughly 3 H.S.’s, 4.5 Emergency Scans, or 5.5 R.S.’s, with one major caveat, the amount of healing each target gets is different, with four targets getting 4, 3, 2, and 1 tick(s) of healing.

Progressive Scan is a smart heal, because of that the additional targets chosen by the ability are based on who has the lowest HP.

With all that in mind, you should gravitate towards Progressive Scan whenever 2-4 people need some moderate healing. In strict AoE situations however, default to kolto missile first. You should be channeling this on the target you wish to receive the most healing, ideally a tank. It’s also important to know that the 20m range for the additional targets is calculated from the first target. That means that while you have a 30m range for this ability, it can still hit people up to 50m away from you, AND if you channel it on someone with no one in a 20m range of them, you will not get good use out of it.

[Thrill of the Hunt] If you are using the “Thrill of the Hunt” utility (and you should be), Progressive Scan is a great way to keep you mobile while healing.

[SC-4 Treatment Scanner] With the tactical, Progressive Scan is now the most cost and time efficient way of building your supercharge, default to it if you need to build supercharge quickly.

Kolto Missile

Heals up to 8 allies within 8 meters of the targeted area for X-X

• [40] Kolto Missile leaves a pool of Kolto at the target location healing allies that step in it
• [52] Cost Reduced From 20 to 15 heat
• [68] Healing done by K.M. and by the dropped Kolto Pool increased by 3%
• [Rocket Fuel Vapors] The pool of Kolto your Kolto missile leaves now heals for 5% more and ticks one more time.

An AoE, Instant, medium cost, small heal

For a long time, this was the only AoE ability mercs had. It isn’t especially powerful, but considering it has the potential to hit your entire team, it should be your first instinct in situations with raid-wide damage.

To put some more concrete numbers on it, if your kolto missile hits:

• 2 people: You output more healing than with a Rapid Scan
• 3 people: You output more healing than with Emergency Scan
• 4 people: You output more healing than with Healing Scan

It is undoubtedly a strong AoE, but it will be up to you to decide if a weaker heal on several people is more useful than a single, stronger heal.

Kolto Shell

Deploys a Kolto Shell around the target with 6 charges that lasts up to 3 minutes. When the target is damaged, Kolto Shell loses 1 charge and heals the target for X. This cannot occur more than once every 3 seconds.

• [52] Crit chance increased by 5%
• [56] Increases shell charge count from 6 to 7, increase healing done by 3%, and reduce internal cooldown by 0.5s

A Single-Target, Activate on Damage Taken, low cost, small heal.

Kolto Shells are a bit of a controversial topic for merc healers. On paper, they’re a great ability. Taking all charges into account they do even more healing than an H.S.. The issue of course, being that they only do their job when your target takes damage, and they take a minimum of 17.5 second to get all that healing done.

With their most recent buffs, Kolto Shells have become a very important aspect of minimizing raid wide damage, and they should not be neglected if you want to make the most of your healing. I would recommend the following:

• Place shells on the entire group prior to a pull.
• Refresh shells on tanks continuously, waiting for shells to fall off before reapplying
• Refresh shells on raid whenever possible. Prioritize mDPS -> rDPS -> Heals.

Keep in mind, refreshing a shell takes a GCD, the same amount of time that an Emergency Scan or a procced H.S. takes. If you have to pick between refreshing shells and applying a direct heal, your answer should depend on the healing needs of the target, opting for shells if they’re relatively safe, and opting for direct heals if they are in immediate danger. You will get better at reading these situations as you gain experience with healing and using a merc. It’s also important to remember that kolto shells cost heat, not a lot, but it adds up when you’re chaining the cast, so if you get behind on your shells, be prepared to do some heat management after 4-5 casts. If you use StarParse, I would highly recommend getting into the habit of using its built-in “Raid HoTs” feature. This will do the job of keeping track of who has shells on them, allowing you to keep your UI clean while only refreshing shells as they fall off. This makes it much easier to keep all your shells active, and lets you make the most of this ability. 

Cure

Cleanses a friendly target of up to 2 negative tech or physical effects.

• [48] Now removes Mental Effects and is a small heal
• [Threat Sensors] When activated on yourself, reduce periodic damage by 30% for 12 seconds
• [Heat Damping] Cost is reduced to 0
• [Supercharged Reserves] Cooldown reduced by 3 seconds

This is your cleanse, nothing special to report here. There is a small heal component to it, but that’s just a bonus, and you shouldn’t use it as a heal. This is a cleanse, use it as a cleanse.

Supercharged Gas

Requires and converts 10 stacks of Supercharge to vent 10 heat and increase healing done by 5% for 8 seconds. While active, Healing Scan has no cooldown and generates 5 less heat.

• [Supercharged Defense] On Activation your defense chance is increased by 15% and you’re immune to interrupts for 8s. Endurance and all Healing Received is increased by 3%
• [Tag and Bag] On Activation reduces CD of Kolto Overload by 5 seconds

Ok so for those of you that have played merc heals before or play a merc to dps, you’ve probably noticed that I have yet to explain the supercharge system. Well, now is the time to rectify that.

In addition to the heat system, mercs have a secondary form of energy, the supercharge, which appears as a buff on your toon. You have a maximum of 10 stacks of supercharge, which passively gives you a 0.1% bonus to healing per stack, and can be consumed, all at once, to activate two abilities, Supercharged Gas, or Supercharged Celerity, discussed in the Utility section.

You build Supercharge in the following ways:

• 1 Stack on a normal Kolto Shot
• 2 Stacks on a critical Kolto Shot
• 2 Stacks on a Rapid Scan
• [Concentrated Fire] Healing an ally has a 5% chance to build 1 Stack
• [Rocket Fuel Vapors] 1 Stack for every ally healed by a Kolto Missile

Nine times out of ten, your supercharge stacks will go into a supercharged gas. Supercharged Gas is your most frequent and most important offensive cooldown. It helps manage heat, boosts healing done, and most importantly removes the cooldown off of H.S.. This allows you to spam cast your biggest and most important single target heal over and over again for 8s. Most of the time, that’s how you’re going to want to use your supercharge windows. See that an individual is low, pop the CD, spam some H.S.’s, problem solved. There are some specific healing combos that I will get into in the combo section, see that for more information.

Generally speaking, you should use this cooldown very liberally, while the passive bonus is nice it’s very small and not worth holding onto for the passive alone. Supercharge stacks are relatively easy to build and once the supercharged gas window is over, you should be looking to rebuild them. You can do this with some extra Kolto Shots, a couple of Rapid Scans, [Rocket Fuel Vapors] or a well-placed Kolto Missile.

Power Surge

Your next ability used within 15 seconds with an activation time will activate instantly and then grant immunity to pushback and interrupts for 6 seconds.

• [Power Overrides] Cooldown is reduced by 15 seconds, and works on 2 abilities instead of 1
• [Power Cycle] When you use an ability with Tactical Override, that ability is not put on cooldown
• [Notorious] Gains an additional charge

Power Surge is your second offensive cooldown.

It has a moderate cooldown, and should be saved for periods where large burst healing is needed. Mercs are already the best class for burst heals, and this cd allows you to take that even further to respond to tight situations.

With Power Surge, you should prioritize H.S. over R.S. which are your only two healing abilities that have a cast time. I like to use this in conjunction with a Superpowered Gas whenever possible, which ensures I can spend it on an H.S.

Do note that if you are actively in an Emergency Response window (for an instant H.S.), using an H.S. will still consume Power Surge. Obviously, this completely wastes the cooldown so be careful to avoid this.

[Power Overrides] Having the Power Overrides utility allows this to affect two abilities instead of one, making it an even more powerful cooldown.

Onboard AED

Shocks and revives an incapacitated ally. This ability is usable while in combat. When used, all party members can neither use not be the target of an in-combat revival for 5 minutes

• [Tech Medic] Becomes an instant cast

This is your combat rez, not much to say other than make sure it’s on your bar in case you need it.

The debuff it drops on the raid is significantly shorter in story mode allowing for more rezzes.

Vent Heat

Rapidly vents 50 heat over 3 seconds.

• [Improved Vents] Immediately vents 15 additional heat and grants 10% alacrity

Both Vent Heat and Thermal Sensor Override are designed to help you manage heat. It’s often helpful to think of both of them in the same way that you would think of any other offensive cooldown. Some cooldowns, like Power Surge discussed earlier, are more direct in that they let you output your base heals faster or more effectively. Vent Heat works in the opposite way, it allows you to neglect your basic heat management (essentially by using fewer kolto shots) and still stay in your ideal heat zone, boosting your healing output by letting you use fewer small heals.

Vent Heat is something to use whenever you need it, that is, you’ve gotten over 40 heat and you can’t afford to throw out some kolto shots to recover. It has a relatively long cooldown, so if you find yourself needing it more than it’s available you may want to examine your heat management technique or how much damage your group is taking.

Thermal Sensor Override

Your next ability generates no heat. Effect lasts 15 seconds

• [Woad’s Instinct] Gains an additional charge

Thermal Sensor Override is another cooldown designed to help you maintain your heat in tight healing scenarios. It is generally less useful than Vent Heat, but can still come in handy in healing intensive fights. Ideally you want to use this on a channeled ability, be that a channeled heal or DPS ability. This is for two reasons, one, these abilities tend to be more expensive than non-channeled abilities, and two, doing this allows you to make the most use of your passive heat dissipation.

Defensive and Utility Abilities

All of the abilities below are designed to help you survive, or can make you a more useful raid member outside of healing.

Energy Shield

Increases damage reduction by 25% for 12 seconds

• [Pyro Shield] Does damage to attacker when active
• [Energy Rebounder] Cooldown is reduced when player is attacked
• [Power Shield] Decreases ability activation pushback by 30%, increases healing received by 20% and grants interrupt immunity
• [Trauma Regulators] Gains stacks based on incoming damage while active, heals player when shield expires.
• [Squad Leader] Grants allies small shields on damage taken

This is your most basic Defensive Cooldown. The strength of this is highly variable depending on your utility loadout, but you should generally think about it as a “reactive” DCD. This should be what you hit instinctually when you know you’re about to take damage and you want to minimize that. It will not, however keep you alive on its own. What it does do is allow you time to heal yourself up, or, in cases of spike damage lessen the amount of catch-up healing required.

Use this liberally.

Kolto Overload

Activating this ability applies a Health Monitor for up to 60 seconds, which triggers a Kolto Overload when your health is reduced to 35% or less. If your health is already 35% or less, Kolto Overload triggers immediately. Once triggered, K.O. goes on cooldown and rapidly heals you up to 35% of your max health for 10 seconds.

• [Kolto Surge] Now triggers at, and heals up to 60% and lasts 2s longer
• [Tag and Bag] Activating Supercharged Gas reduces the cd of Kolto rush by 5s
• [Game Plan] Deals Damage back to attacker

This is your “I’M GONNA DIE” button. You shouldn’t be looking to pop it preemptively, as you don’t want to waste it. If you’re taking large amounts of consistent damage, you can pop it in conjunction with Energy shield to help it work better.

The best use of this is during periods of heavy raid wide damage. Popping it allows you to focus on healing the group, while being assured that your own health is in good hands.

Responsive Safeguards

Activates an advanced response system that absorbs all incoming direct single target damage for the next 6 seconds, reflecting 50% of the absorbed damage back at the attacker and healing you for 5% of your maximum health each time an attack is absorbed.

• none

This is a reflect, and gosh it is strong. While dependent on the fight, this ability can take you from 0 to 100 very quickly. This is usually the first defensive I pop in a tight pinch. This ability can be unreliable though, so keep in mind that it only works on certain incoming damage. When it IS working, make sure this is the only DCD you pop, because the others are useless while this is active. If you pop this and your health is still dropping, you will need to pop something else.

Determination

Purges incapacitating and movement impairing effects

• [Jet Escape] Cooldown reduced by 30 seconds

This is your stun break, use it when you’re stunned AND you can’t afford to wait out the stun to keep healing.

Hydraulic Overrides

Grants 6 seconds of immunity from all movement-impairing effects, knockdowns and physics and increases movement speed by 30%

• [Torque Boosters] Duration increased by 4 seconds.
• [Jettison] Cooldown reduced by 3s for every enemy you hit with Concussion Charge

Hydraulic Overrides is an incredibly useful ability, any time any boss or piece of trash has a knockback, pull, knockup etc. You can avoid that mechanic with a well-timed Hydraulic Overrides. That is something you have to learn fight to fight when to use, but generally speaking you are better off staying on your feet than being knocked around, if you can avoid being cc’d with this, do it.

The other aspect of Hydraulic Overrides is the movement speed buff, which is very helpful to chase down those pesky DPS that like to run away from us for reasons. Ideally you shouldn’t have to use this for just the extra speed, but don’t be afraid to, it’s a relatively short cooldown.

Disabling Shot

Interrupts the target’s current action and prevents that ability from being used for 4 seconds

• [Supercharged Reserves] Lowers the cooldown by 3 seconds

This is your interrupt. As a healer interrupting generally isn’t your job, mostly because without building Accuracy your interrupts have a chance to miss. Still, have it on somewhere on your bar just in case an extra interrupt is needed. If you do end up using it, make sure to communicate with the rest of your group.

Rocket Out

Jet backward 20 meters, gaining immunity to controlling effects while jetting. Cannot be used while immobilized or hindered.

• [Jet Escape] Cooldown reduced by 3 seconds.
• [Smoke Screen] Using R.O. prevents people from leaping to or pulling you, makes you interrupt immune, and R.O. goes off of cooldown if hit within 4s
• [Cool Your Jets] Vents 20 heat and immobilizes nearby enemies

Rocket out is a unique movement ability in that it shoots you straight backwards. It takes some practice to get used to this and to aim properly without looking. It is very handy to quickly move out of circles, or move circles away from your group, so it’s worth the effort to learn how to use it.

A good way to practice your aim is to move in the direction you want to go, click and hold the left mouse button and rotate 180 degrees, this should change where your camera is looking but not where your character is moving. Then tap your right click, and your rocket out key bind. This should turn you around and send you flying in the direction you were originally moving.

Jet Boost

Blasts 8 nearby enemies back and away. Targets hit by this take X-X elemental damage and have their movement slowed by 50% for 4 seconds.

• [Jet Escape] Cooldown reduced by 5 seconds.
• [Afterburners] Kockback effect is stronger and pushes enemies 4 more meters away
• [Heat Damping] Cost is removed
• [Jet Rebounder] Increases Damage dealt and adds a heal component. In addition, taking damage reduces active cd.

Jet Boost is a bit tricky because you can knock adds away from the DPS making their jobs more difficult. This is a 360 knockback that will very rarely get use. It’s mostly for very specific boss mechanics and usually the DPS take care of the knockbacks. Still, it’s worthwhile to have this on your bar somewhere in case an extra push is needed.

Chaff Flare

Reduces the threat towards all enemies

This is your aggro drop, as a burst healer, you can build aggro very quickly. If you have a good tank it shouldn’t be needed but keep It around, especially for trash pulls.

Electro Dart

Fires an electro dart, dealing X-X energy damage and stunning the target for 4 seconds.

• [Heat Damping] Reduces cost to 0

This is an instant, hard stun, useful for controlling adds and specific trash mechanics. Again, not usually your job, keep around for emergencies.

Concussion Missile

Fires a missile at the target that knocks it out for up to 60 seconds. Non-player, non-standard, and non-weak targets regenerate health rapidly while knocked out. Damage causes this ability to end prematurely.

• [Heat Damping] Cost reduced to 0
• [Power Overrides] Lowers the cooldown by 15 seconds

This is a long-lasting stun that is mainly for controlling adds and limiting the amount of trash on your group at one time. Like with disabling shot, it can miss, and it isn’t normally a healer’s job, but have it available just in case.

 Stealth Scan

Fires off probes that scan the area for stealthed opponents. The probes last for 10 seconds.

• [Hunter Killer] Using Stealth Scan also provides a small area of stealth detection directly around you.
• [Threat Sensors] Reduces cooldown by 5 seconds
• [Battlefield Protocols] Grants a 20% healing buff on use and again for each enemy revealed

I’m only listing this for the sake of completeness. In PvE you will not use this ability for anything. In PvP you may be asked to use it against stealth opponents.

Hunter’s Boon

Increases the target’s Endurance by 5% for 60 minutes. If the target is a group member, all other group members are also affected.

• none

Your class buff, at this point most people already have access to all the class buffs, but it never hurts to use this prior to a raid or after a wipe. You should have this buff, and the other 3 class buffs, active on you at all times.

Supercharged Celerity

Requires and converts 10 stacks of Supercharge to issue Supercharged Celerity to you and your Operation Group members within 40 meters, increasing alacrity by 10%. Lasts 10 seconds

• none

Your raid buff. As a healer it is usually your responsibility to use this, as merc DPS need to spend their supercharge as part of their normal DPS rotation. The hard part of course is that you also need your supercharge for Supercharged Gas, and you don’t want to be caught without your best offensive cooldown when you need it. This is remedied with good planning and practice, have your stacks ready a bit before the scheduled time to pop raid buffs, and make sure your supercharge building abilities are off cooldown if possible. When you pop this, your goal should be to minimize the amount of time you are without supercharge. To be fair though, the merc raid buff is the worst out of the four, and can actually mess up certain rotations for DPS if it knocks them into a new alacrity tier, so if you can’t afford to use this, it really isn’t the end of the world.

DPS Abilities

As a healer you should be looking to put in some extra DPS whenever healing is light enough to let you do it comfortably. I’m always one that advocates for topping off your allies, but if your group is at or near full health, you contribute more to the group by putting in some extra damage, and these abilities are how you do that.

Electro Net

Fires an electro net that ensnares the target, reducing its movement speed by 50% and dealing X energy damage over 9 seconds. While affected, a target that moves takes 20% more damage from electro net, this effect can stack up to 10 times on enemy players, or 5 times on any other target. Additionally, the electro net hinders the target, preventing the use of high mobility actions and escapes such as charges, vanishes, and speed boosts. Lasts 9 seconds.

• [Tag and Bag] When used on a vulnerable target, gain 15% alacrity

This is a hard-hitting DoT that’s also incredibly cheap and only takes a GCD. It should be your first ability if it is available unless your target is close to death. The damage on this ability ramps up over time so you actually want your target to survive for the entire duration to get the most use of it. If healing allows, you want to throw this on a boss whenever you can.

[Tag and Bag] Though you can potentially use this as an Offensive CD with the utility, this is not really worth it and I would not recommend taking the utility. Remember only targets that are vulnerable are those without boss immunity, and generally those enemies are the ones that create the need for offensive cooldowns.

Rail Shot

Fires a very powerful shot at the target, dealing X-X weapon damage, only usable against incapacitated targets and targets suffering from periodic damage.

• [Concentrated Fire] After activating Supercharged Gas, your next Rail Shot critically hits.

Your Electro net makes a target vulnerable to being hit by this, so you can set that up yourself, other than in your opener, your allies’ dots will almost always leave the boss vulnerable to being hit by this. It hits really hard [Concentrated Fire] and does even more damage after a Supercharged Gas. If your Electro Net is down or something is close to death, look to this for bonus dps.

Unload

Unloads your blaster into the target, dealing X-X weapon damage and generating 24 heat over the duration. Weak and standard enemies caught in the blaster fire are stunned for the duration.

• [Thrill of the Hunt] Can be used while moving.

This is a channeled DPS ability. It is a great target for Thermal Sensor Override. It can be canceled early either to resume healing or use a higher priority DPS ability. Don’t be afraid to do this, finishing this channel is not super important.

[Thrill of the Hunt] With the utility it’s also your best bet for doing DPS on the move.

Power Shot

Charges up both blasters and fires off two powerful shots that deal X-X weapon damage. Requires two blasters.

• [Apex Predator] On Activation, increases the crit chance of subsequent P.S.’s and increases damage and eliminates cost of every 5^th cast.
• [Adhesive Supplements] Reduces target’s movement speed
• [Power Barrier] Grants a stack of charged barrier reducing damage taken by 1%, stacks 5 times.

Your DPS filler. Not a great ability all around. Does a little more than Rapid Shots but costs significantly more, so be careful when chaining these together. Though there are modifiers that theoretically make this stronger you won’t use this enough to justify picking them up. Overall this is a usable ability, but don’t prioritize it over others.

Rapid Shots

Fires a quick stream of bolts, causing X-X weapon damage.

• none

Your basic attack, used when you don’t want to invest the energy into Power Shot and none of your higher priority DPS abilities are available.

Death from Above

Rains death from above, firing a volley of missiles that deal X-X kinetic damage to up to 8 enemies within 5 meters over the duration. Standard and weak targets are knocked down by the blasts. Generates 30 heat over the duration.

• none

This is a great AoE DPS ability. It’s very cheap, hits hard, and on lower level enemies, provides CC for everyone inside. This won’t be super important in ops, but is very handy in Flashpoints and chapters. If there is a grouping of enemies and healing allows, throw this out whenever you can.

Sweeping Blasters

Fires waves of blaster bolts at up to 8 targets within 5 meters of the target area, dealing X-X weapon damage over the duration. Standard and weak targets are sometimes knocked back by the hail of bolts. Requires two blasters. Builds 32 heat over the duration.

• [Boresights] Increases Damage by 25%.

Your other main AoE DPS ability. It’s very expensive, so watch your heat if you’re using this more than once, it’s still good but not as good as Death from Above.

BASIC COMBOS, TIPS AND TRICKS

Single Target Healing

It’s been said a million times, let it be said a million more, there is no such thing as a set healing rotation. Your job as a healer is to identify threats, gauge the severity of said threats, and respond appropriately. The best thing you can do as a healer is learn as much as you can about your abilities, and try to apply that knowledge. That is why I’ve gone into so much depth in the ability overview. While I will go into a few noteworthy combos here, using these alone is not a substitute for understanding your abilities.

That said, let’s get into some healing combos. First off, for a gigantic single target burst, use the following:

1. Supercharged Gas +  Power Surge
2.  Healing Scan
3.  Healing Scan (assuming Power Overrides Utility)
4. Emergency Scan
5. Healing Scan 

Supercharged Gas is cast first along with Power Surge. S.G. gives 5% boosted healing making all that follows more powerful. Your first, instant, H.S. grants invigorated on the target, giving another 3% boost. With “Power Overrides” that 2^nd H.S. is also instant, and is followed by an Emergency Scan allowing for another instant H.S., finishing the combo. That’s four powerful instant heals that thanks to the supercharge window are cheap.

If your target can’t wait for you to use Supercharged Gas and Power Surge before a heal, this combo can also be reversed, as so:

1.  Emergency Scan
2.  Healing Scan 
3. Supercharged Gas + Power Surge
4.  Healing Scan
5.  Healing Scan (assuming Power Overrides Utility)

This is slightly less effective as the 5% gets triggered later, but it is still a great combo that can burst through most damage situations.

Other than that, your Emergency Scan into a Healing Scan will be your most common and most useful combination, use them in tandem as often as possible.

I don’t like priority lists for healing, as your heals should be dependent on the situation as opposed to just what abilities are available. Still, as a fallback while you learn the class, your single target priority list is roughly as follows:

1.  Healing Scan (When procced)
2.  Emergency Scan
3.  Healing Scan (Unprocced)
4.  Rapid Scan
5.  Progressive Scan (Goes up if 2 or more people need healing)
6.  Kolto Shells (Goes up based on damage and if shells need refreshing)
7.  Kolto Shot (Goes up depending on heat level)

AoE Healing

AoE rotations are much more variable than single-target ones, as your progressive scan is often part of your single target healing and strict AoE situations are rare. Still, if you started with everything available, your AoE rotation will look something like this:

1. Supercharged Gas
2. Kolto Missile
3. Progressive Scan
4. Filler Heal
5. Filler Heal
6. Kolto Missile
7. Filler Heal
8. Filler Heal
9. Filler Heal
10. Kolto Missile
11. Supercharged Gas

If you are using the SC-4 Treatment Scanner tactical your 2^nd Supercharged Gas will likely come earlier, but the rest of the rotation stays the same.

Your filler heals here serve two purposes, to allow time for your aoe’s to come off of cooldown, and to build supercharge for the next Supercharged Gas, thus they should include a Rapid Scan or Kolto Shot as appropriate.

It is worth mentioning that in the points between your AoE’s being up, you can defer to the above detailed single target combo, and simply allocate the heals to multiple targets. If your team still needs AoE healing after one of these rotations, you can react situationally or defer to the following priority list:

1. Kolto Missile
2. Progressive Scan
3. Single Target Priorities

Single Target DPS

As a healer, your job is obviously not to do a ton of DPS. Still, there will inevitably be times where the demand for healing is so low that you’ll be comfortable putting in some damage on the boss. This is especially true at the beginning of a fight. No one’s taken damage yet, so there’s no one to heal, use this grace period to help your DPS get a head start. Your opener should look something like this.

1. Supercharged Ce lerity (only if appropriate)
2. Electro Net
3. Rail Shot
4. Unload
5. Power Shot
6. Rapid Shots
7. Power Shot
8. Rapid Shots

Only use your raid buff it has been agreed upon by the group. This is roughly as far as your opener should ever go, and you will likely need to cut it off early to begin healing. This changes from fight to fight, so even as you go through these abilities make sure you keep an eye on your raid frames.

After the opener, if you have time to dps, you use the following priority list:

1. Electro Net
2. Rail Shot
3. Unload
4. Power Shot
5. Rapid Shots (Goes Up based on heat level)

Make sure you manage your heat carefully when DPS’ing, as a healer you don’t have a lot to help you save heat on these abilities.

AoE DPS

Your options for AoE DPS as a healer are limited. Your opener on a group of enemies will look like this:

1. Death from Above
2. Sweeping Blasters
3. Sweeping Blasters
4. Sweeping Blasters

After which your priority list for AoE damage is simply:

1. Death from Above
2. Sweeping Blasters

Be very careful when spamming Sweeping Blasters, as it generates heat rapidly, and if you have max heat, you can’t heal your group.

Miscellaneous Tips and Tricks

• If for whatever reason there is a target that is outside of your range, but you cannot move to reach them, consider using another player as a jumping off point for your Progressive Scan, which can theoretically extend your own range by 20 meters.
• If you are channeling a heal on someone, and someone else starts taking heavy damage, don’t be afraid to cancel your heal and switch targets either by jiggling your character or pressing the escape key, the time lost is less important than the life saved.
• Double tap your Kolto Missile keybind to fire it at your current target, this is useful if you can’t afford the time to aim.
• Unless the fight requires otherwise, you should generally try to position yourself near the center of the group. This will make it easier to move should someone step out of range.
• Along with Progressive Scan (Given the Utility) instant heals are great ways to heal on the move, don’t be afraid to pop your offensive cooldowns if the movement is important.
• Always put your focus target on the boss. This will let you see their health, and also what abilities they are casting, letting you better prepare for spikes of damage.
• In harder levels of content, communicating with your co-healer is in incredibly important, call out who you’re prioritizing, who’s not in your range and what you need help with, so your heals are spread out appropriately and nothing gets wasted.
• As a Merc, you generally should have the highest percentage of effective healing. This goes down in AoE situations. It’s not a number to obsess over, but if you are consistently below 70% or so you should be looking to use your heals more efficiently.

CONCLUSIONS

About the Author

Hi there, I’m Otio, a healer for <Alpha Strike Force>. I’ve been playing the game for about 8 years now, but only started seriously doing endgame content around the time Rav and ToS were the new content to beat. I started out on a Marauder named Otiomnum, which is where I got my namesake. It didn’t take me too long though to realize that I was a really REALLY awful DPS, and I ended up switching mains.

I found my “SWTOR calling” if you will, when I made a mercenary named Aviatus, she quickly became my favorite toon and I discovered I had a talent for healing at a high level. Since then I’ve cleared most endgame content, with a few outstanding exceptions that I’m currently working on, and it’s all been on a healer, with the majority of that being on a merc specifically. I’ve made and levelled 12 healing toons, and knowing me, I’m likely to make more. It’s what I’m good at, and it’s what I’m proud to hang my hat on.

From Vulkk

Special thanks from me to Otio for providing the Bodyguard Mercenary 6.0 SWTOR guide (for PvE) and this one happened to be for the only one spec in the whole game that I myself have never played.

I hope you found this it useful. If so, please, share it with your friends and guildmates to help them learn the class and improve their performance by reading it too. Thanks.

For this article I have used icons from the Jedipedia and TorCommunity SWTOR databases as well as custom provided icons and images from the author of the guide – Otio.

If you are skilled with a Class and Discipline that has not yet been covered with a guide here on VULKK.com, and you want to provide one for the SWTOR Community, contact me via email or wherever you see Vulkk present.

Related resources:

• SWTOR 6.0 Class Guides List
• SWTOR 6.0 Combat Medic Commando PvE Guide by Otio
• SWTOR 6.0 Plasmatech Vanguard PvE Guide by Prasah
• SWTOR 6.0 Pyrotech Powertech PvE Guide by Prasah
• SWTOR 6.0 Tactics Vanguard PvE Guide by Prasah
• SWTOR 6.0 Advanced Prototype Powertech PvE Guide by Prasah
• SWTOR 6.0 Shield Specialist Vanguard Tank PvE Guide by Caboose
• SWTOR 6.0 Shield Tech Powertech Tank PvE Guide by Caboose

How is the Class and Spec changing with SWTOR 7.0

In Update 7.0 BioWare is introducing a new term “Combat Styles”, which will replace the traditional class-specific disciplines. If you are curious and want to get a head-start, check out the SWTOR 7.0 Class Changes Previews available on the Public Test Server.

And if you are behind on the news, find out what the SWTOR Legacy of the Sith Expansion will have to offer.