Greetings TORWarriors, it’s time for another edition of the Imperial Agent Weekly. This week I’d like to continue last weeks discussion on Imperial Agent Operatives that are specced for healing. For the background information on resource and buff management when operating this spec, check last weeks article here.

Cause you know I get my physical every year on Alderaan!

Lets jump right in and take a look at the core skill tree for IA Ops healers (these trees are completely focused on PvE). Your core skill tree should probably look something like this:

These are your base choices, you still have four points left over

As you can see the emphasis is on the Medicine tree and more specifically the healing skills in that tree. I’ve not put any points into skills like Precision Instruments or Sedatives that distract from our primary goal of maximizing our healing abilities. In the Concealment tree I’ve put three points into Survival Training which increases healing done and healing received. I’ve also put 3 points into Lethality in the Lethality tree as this increases your ranged and tech crit chance which is a key part of the amount of healing you dispense.

I’ve put two “optional” points into Evasive Imperative as this gives you a bit of a situational “get out of jail free” card. You could also put those into Chem Resistant Inlays (CRI) which reduces your damage taken by 4%. This isn’t a bad idea either in terms of survivability but the choice probably comes down to your individual play style. It’s a bit of a trade off because CRI improves your damage mitigation against AOE attacks or “mobs gone wild” but I personally like having the evasion as a fall back if I get jammed up somehow.

You may also want to consider putting those two points into Deadly Directive for the four percent Alacrity boost but I’m still skeptical about how important Alacrity is for healers. Because of the way our resource management works and how we have to stack buffs to get the maximum throughput for healing, I’m not sold on having more speed to spend those resources being an effective use of those two skill points.

You now have four points left over to spend as you wish. I don’t see any point to putting these into the Lethality tree as there isn’t much here that’s useful for a healer. On the other hand the Concealment tree has some useful skills that will improve your survivability. There are good options that give you a bit of creative freedom. You can choose to improve movement speed, your endurance percentage, or your defense percentage. Another good option for those last four points is to go back to the Medicine tree and put 2 each into Chem Resistant Inlays (if you haven’t already) and Med Shield which both also increase your survivability.

If you went the second route (four optional points in the Medicine tree) your skill tree will look like this:

This is your tree with all of your skill points allocated

Ok, so your skill tree is filled out to maximize healing efficiency but how do you heal? Let me start by saying that this will always be situational and partly governed by your individual play style and the group you’re with but here are some basic guidelines:

1) You should attempt to have at least one “stack” of Tactical Advantage at all times.
2) Keep your Stim Boost up at all times.
3) For your primary damage absorber (your tank) you should always refresh 2x Kolto Probes during the last 3 seconds of the current ones effect.
4) Get Recuperative Nanotech up for your group damage absorbers, try to target this so that the max number of people get the benefit.
5) Watch your resource bar. Don’t forget that the lower it gets, the slower it regenerates! When you bottom out hit that Adrenaline Probe to get back in business quickly.
6) When you get in a low energy jam, start spamming Diagnostic Scan. It’s free and if you’ve upgraded it with Prognosis Critical and Patient Studies it’ll get you back in business quicker than you think.

Tip ‘o the week: Do not forget to use Relics and Adrenals! These can be a lifesaver when you hit that point where you just can’t keep up. I also want to remind you (because this keeps coming up in discussions about our class) Operatives do not get the benefits of portable cover when crouching in place the way Snipers do. You crouch but do not get the laser shield or damage reduction.

Imperial Agent Weekly is an ongoing column for aspiring IA’s everywhere. For players who are just getting started with the Imperial Agent, check out our Newbie Guide here.