WATCHMEN

This guide is for my fellow Swtor healers that think they may feel a calling for Sawbones Healing. It is a very rewarding class. It also is a very challenging class to gain maximum rewards. I will do my best to keep this guide clean and a easy read so you can be on your way to healer greatness.

Must Haves Before Even Trying Sawbones

1- A good connection to the game. This class you will spend most of your time doing instant casts. Everything we do from healing or surviving requires split second reactions. Other heal classes are more forgiving if you have a little latency problems.

2- You must be familiar with keybinds. Better yet, you must be very comfortable with keybinds. I myself use a Naga mouse with shift/cntrl modifiers. Whatever you chose, you will be required to use at least 20 different actions as Sawbones at any given time. Action Bar clicking you will only amount to 50% your potential.

3- A clean UI. We as Sawbones have to constantly be watching everywhere at everytime. We need to know where our allies and our enemies are. Having a sloppy UI will greatly reduce our poential. Small action bars,chatboxes, and character portraits allow for more surrounding awareness. The ops frame is the only thing that should be in your forward view.

Sawbones Skill Points

You can try whatever skill points you want, it is your character. On my guide I will not beat around the bush. This is the ONLY spec in competition PvP matches as a full time healer: Here

It will be easier for me to explain what we don't use over what we do:

Scar Tissue 0/2..yes 4% damage reduction would be nice to have, however at your BiS gear you will have over 20k health. Even if you were hit by a 6k crit this talent would only reduce the incoming damage by 240. Not worth losing the other talents. Period

Scramble 0/2..of course none in this talent..we have 2/2 Dirty Escape. Sounded PvP worthy though didnt it.

Sedatives 0/2..I would really like to have this for the initial attack on a node capture especially used on a Vanguard/Powertech. However we don't have the point allowance for it. It is missed but not in the cards atm.

Anatomy Lessons 0/2..We are healers, the only thing that would be nice here is Dirty kick energy reduction. Definately not worth 2 points.

Our Stats

Okay I will save you lots of Comms and Creds on this one. You can spend hours looking up threads,spreadsheets, and other guides. Thats fine. However since this is my guide, here we go:

Cunning 1550 Unbuffed

This is the cap where Power will yield more return than Cunning. Yes Cunning gives crit bonus, but it is diminishing returns at this point. After 1550 heals will be greater gaining Power.

Endurance 1650

Your endurance can be higher or lower. However I reccomend you have 20k buffed. This is the number you need for that

Expertise 1300

This is a must. I am at 1291, which is close enough. We just want around 1300. We need it for heals and survivabilty. Expertise has the least amount of diminishing returns of any stat in PvP.

Crit Rating 325-350

This will put you around a 37% crit rate when buffed and stimed.  Crit has a very high diminshing return rate. Seek Surge or Power if you get to this point. You do however want at least 35% crit rating.

Surge Rating 425-450

This will put you at around a 79% multiplier. Diminishing returns will spike at this, less than crit however, but at this point Power is better.

Alacrity 100-150

Oh alacrity..what do we do with you. Well since you are 2/2 Black market Mods. You will only need around 100 alacritywhich takes .1/sec off my cast time. 150 Alacrity will actually take .2 seconds off cast time. I run 106 Alacrity myself. Most of the time what i am casting is instant and i would rather have those abilities maxed instead of a .1/sec cast reduction.

Power 685+

After the other stats are reached above its all Power and Tech power from this point on. There is no diminshing returns.

Tech Power 1275+

Same as Power. Skys the limit. As long as above stats are reached.

Augments are your friend for tweaking stats above. I suggest Skill 22 and Overkill 22.

Alright Now to Healing Gameplay

Rotation..There is no set rotation..however there is priority abilities.

1. Upper Hand. You always want 2 stacks of upper hand. Always Always Always!

2. Slow-release Medpack. Before the match even starts, you want to have some Slow-release medpacks on your team so when you are going to the objective you should have max upper hand available. Slow-release medpack is our mega HoT. It allows for our teammates to be recieving heals while we are mobile. It also is a guarenteed way to have a constant flow of upperhand during battles. You want to watch your energy but ultimately you want 2 ticks on your fellow players. I always lead off with one per and refresh it to 2 per when the first one is about to expire. Then depending on the situation i renew the 2 stacks on those in most need of it.

3. Kolto Cloud. Okay you have your SRM's out on people. At this point there is a fight for the objective. This is when you find your melee and you cast kolto cloud. DO NOT cast it unless you have 2 upper hands. It consumes a chunk of energy, but it is our highest healing ability if used at the right time with 2 upper hands. Also make sure there is 2 or more teammates in the area when you do cast it. I always find two and cast it on the stronger of the 2..say a tank or sentinel..so i know they won't drop dead before it gets all its ticks out. I also run into the kolto cloud tick area myself to get some of the yummy effects if i am a little low on health. 90% of the time your kolto cloud will be used within 30 yards of a objective. Hallways in voidstar are usually a great place for it as well.

4. Underworld Medicine. By the time I get my SRM's out and a kolto cloud, there is always someone that is being targeted the most. Usually the other healer. I will lead off with this ability. It guarentees me I get a Upper Hand. It also is our highest heal. Underworld Medicine should always be used if you are stocked in energy and everyone is around 40%-80% health.

4. Emegency Medpack. This is our bread and butter ability. It is our most used, most powerful, and quite frankly if we ever lost it, the reason to never heal as sawbones. Learn it, Live it, love it..hold onto it like its your long lost teddy bear as a kid. You get the point. This ability should be your main keybind. The one you are the fastest at hitting. No shift/cntrl modifiers..you want it set to a big button lol.

The secret to Emergency Medpack is know your team. I say again..KNOW YOUR TEAM. Usually there is around 4 people within range of you. Someone is getting targeted and dropping fast. Lets say TWO people are being targeted and dropping fast..know which one of those players are going to die fast. In my guild I have a  Guardian tank with 26k health..i also have a Vanguard that has around 20k health. They both seem to be targeted alot as am I. I know during the fight when we are all dropping fast that I can blow 2 defensives. I know the Guardian at 35% still has alot of life. I know the Vanguard..well when he gets to 40% i have my finger on the emergency medpack button. Then soon as he takes his next hit..I know its spam time. Spam Spam Spam..I usually got to hit the vanguard 2-3 times then by that time hit myself 1-2 times..by that time hit the tank 1-2 times..all with the Emergency Medpack all within a few short seconds.*if we are all under 30%

This is why i say you MUST have keybinds. Yes you HAVE to be spamming emergency medpacks in this situation. However if you don't get a SRM or kolto cloud out in between these spams, it will only be a matter of time before you all die. So you have to able as sawbones to physically cast 5-12 abilities in 10 seconds. As mentioned above if you are a ability bar mouse clicker, don't be a sawbones. Be a sage or commando. Moving on.

5. Triage. Use triage on every CD as far as I am concerned. Know your enemy. If there is a Sniper,Powertech,Maurader in range. Your triage is more important than anything above to get out. I will recant using it every time it is on CD and say you want to use RIGHT after a debuff attack is given. Which means it should be on CD all the time. LOL

5. Kolto Pack. Its fast..it heals for a good amount. Its a great ability! WRONG!! First off it consumes Upper Hand so if you cast it more than once all your other heals will lose power. Second it consumes alot of energy. I rarely use Kolto pack. Only if I have 3 upper hands. The ONLY time Kolto Pack is a priority heal is a huttball ball carrier..sometimes you got to go all in and burst heal all you got. The other time is on a incoming zerg..If there is you and a tank and you can't keep up heals and you KNOW your going to die. I will burn out 3 kolto packs on my tank to maybe give him enough health for me to respawn and get back.

6. Diagnostic Scan. This is for energy gain. Sometimes we go thru our energy in the heat of the moment. I will cast this real fast if i'm not in a high demand situation when I fall below 75% energy, or if i can't recuperate cause i am in combat. I also have had times where I am forced to spam this because I ran completely out of energy lol. You want to avoid that, but it does happen. The good thing however if you obtain the stats earlier i mentioned in this guide DS can actually put out 1.2k-1.5k heals in 1.8 seconds..not too bad for something spammable and a free energy cast.

Survivabilty

As a sawone healer we have alot of survivabilty

If you are getting killed alot in anything less than a 3v1 situation you can tweak that. On a average I take 300-400k damage and still obtain 400k-700k healing. Its why i love sawbones. No other heal class can put out those heals recieving that much damage.

Never panic. There is so many outs in a bad situation if your mind is calm

~Always keep 2 stacks of slow release medpacks on yourself

~Always use your surroundings to LoS the enemy. Pillars, behind steps, or even turrets. Always be on the lookout where you can LoS the enemy but not your teammates.

~Don't forget about Cover abillity. It isn't just for gunslingers. You can use it for a quick roll out of a AoE. Avoid a knockback. Avoid a charge ability.

~Put yourself as the main focus for your Triage Ability. Know when to use Triage. I personally save mine alot of times for Vanguard/Powertech DoTs when they are in the area.

~Dodge Ability 

1. If i see a recticle on me from a sniper/gunslinger you better believe I am going to dodge.

2. Situations where we are overun. I Disappearing Act then hit Dodge and Sneak to assure I

  get away. That way I can either do a last save on a objective capture or go hide and heal up                

3. Anytime your low on health and you know you have a ton of debuffs on

~Defense Screen

1. Since you listened earlier to the guide you always will have two SRM's ticking on you so

 use this when you can't get out of a AoE, are being tunneled and just can't seem to get

 caught up with your health.

2. In a 3 v 1 or more sitution trying to defend a objective till the calvary arrives.

3. When you are slowed. Being Slowed is death to a sawbones. This ability with a adrenal and medpack usually gets you by.

   Tactics:

1. Dps tunnel us. We are usually marked. Use it. Make sure you are kiting them away from the objective. Draw them out. So either when they are far away from the objective you can dirty kick them and run back, or if they do happen to kill you. They may be too far from the objective to prevent a capture.

2. Guard. It is yummy. Know how to use the guard you may recieve properly. If you are marked and targeted and being tunneled by many players, your going to die. Try to run away from the person guarding you and find a LoS area where you may do a stun grenade and hopefully get back in range of the person guarding you. After practice you can just feel when it's time your being tunneled. I always drop my guard or out of range it so the person doesn't take a huge damage hit over buying me a few seconds of a sure death.

3. Stealth. You wouldn't believe how many times on a initial fight that i stealth right behind the enemy zerg and get to free cast. Also your a healer but it doesnt mean you can't tranquilizer another healer Zerg vs Zerg

4. Tendon Blast..always should be on CD. Always Always Always.

5. Dirty Kick. Its not a interupt for a sawbones. Its your escape button with the spec provided above.

6. When you achieve the stats above. You actually can preform some pretty nasty dps hits. Don't forget you can dps a little as a healer. However make sure the situation allows for it!

      ~Sab Charge. can kill someone tunneling you with lower health. Heal spec i have had it crit for 3.1k dps

       ~XS Freighter Flyby. It still can cripple a enemy zerg and also buy your team time from having to interupt objective captures.

       ~Back Blast. Hits for 2.5k plus for helping elimanate a priority target if close by.

        ~Thermal Grenade..great for overworking enemy healers

In conclusion just remember we are Sawbones. We do our best healing when everyone is about dead. Its a high paced, fast reacting, really fun spec to play. You just got to keep your wits and stay focused.

Thats it for now folks.

~Morehots of the guild Watchmen.

Post Edit: Since my GM may put this on the official forums. I wanted to touch base about crit rating, cunning, and power.

Its all about the crit rating. Cunning vs Power..Cunning only wins till you get too much crit rating. Even with the 9% cunning increase. Ill explain real fast.

Breakdown going off 1550 Cunning with the 9% factored in

1 Cunning =  .14 Heal Base 

1 Power/Tech Power= .17 Heal Base

162 Cunning = 1% crit

So with the above:

162 cunning is +23 heal base with a 1% crit increase.

162 power is a +28 heal base

So Power gives you +5 per unit.

spec 1 with 1000 cunning and 500 power would have a +225 heal coefficient /6.17% crit

spec 2 with 800 cunning and 700 power would have a + 231 heal coefficient /4.93% crit

spec 1----- 5 heals =1199

spec 2-----5 heals =1211

Now my brain hurts...but i wanted to demonstrate how power yields more than cunning after 1550.