Bodyguard Mercenary

Last Updated: 5/31/21

Table of Contents

Overview

About the Class

Mercenary Bodyguards are a very well balanced healing class. They do strong AoE healing through a channelled smart heal and a low-cooldown small AoE heal, combined with very strong burst healing windows once every 20-30 seconds. When added to their very strong defensives, good mobility, and great utilities, Mercenaries can hold their own in any situation. Also, Mercenaries are the best choice in a raid group if doubling up on healers from the same class, as they can flex to AoE or single target healing much more easily than Sorc or Operative healers. Their main downside is the ease with which energy management can be stressed.

Utility and Mobility

Mercenaries have strong mobility through Hydraulic Overrides and Rocket Out, especially if Hydraulic Overrides is buffed via utilities.

Survivability

Mercenaries have great survivability. Except for classes that include a tank discipline, they are the only DPS class that wears heavy armor. As a class with a healing discipline, they possess good off healing capability for emergencies. They also possess a wide range of useful defensive abilities that include a straight buff to DR, an emergency sustained self heal and a powerful reflect.

Role in Operations

Mercenary Bodyguard is a healer class so should be focused on anticipating damage to maintain high health levels. Bodyguard is strongest at burst single target healing and supplementing AoE heals, so ideally they should take primary responsibility for healing the tank with aggro and helping out with AoE on the side.

6.1.2 Impact on Discipline

Mercenary enjoyed status as the strongest healer beginning in 6.0 (and some would say prior to 6.0 as well). In path 6.1.1, the discipline was buffed to address issues with being underpowered in leveling, which had the effect of buffing the endgame healer even further. As a result, from 6.1.1 until 6.1.2 Mercenary healing was by far the best healer and probably the most imbalanced healing meta in my memory of the game.

Enter 6.1.2 and some pretty dramatic changes. Concentrated Fire was previously the BIS choice for healers due to its +10% critical chance buff. The crit chance was dropped in favor of a much weaker buff, so the set will now only be a good "off DPS" choice to provide buffs to healing while also buffing healer off-DPS in progression situations. Tech Medic emerges as the solid favorite as the new BIS set bonus due to its new 6-piece bonus that makes Kolto Shot apply an 18s HoT that heals for around the same as Kolto Missile and can be applied to multiple targets. Even more importantly, Rocket Fuel Vapors was severely nerfed from granting up to 8 Supercharge per use of Kolto Missile to instead granting one extra tick of Kolto Pods (Kolto Bomb's HoT) and a +5% buff to the ability's healing. Instead, the primary tactical choices will involve SC-4 Treatment Scanner (+5% Progressive Scan healing and up to 4 Supercharge over its channel) for sustained healing and more frequent Supercharge Gas windows or Running Restoration (+15% Healing Scan healing and can be cast on the move) to provide more powerful Supercharge Gas windows and better mobility.

So what's the bottom line? Bodyguard Mercenary got a severe nerf by losing its high uptime on +10% critical chance and losing the nearly constant uptime on Supercharged Gas from the Rocket Fuel Vapors tactical. The good news is that the discipline was so powerful that the discipline should still be quite good (and maybe even still the best healer on many fights) just not head and shoulders above the other healer disciplines.

The main consideration for Mercenary healers to adjust to the new balancing is to get used less uptime on Supercharged Gas and its impact on both tougher energy management and reduced burst healing. I think the "sky is falling" and "RIP Mercenary, time to re-roll Operative/Sorc" comments are way overblown and the discipline will be just fine after a little bit of adjustment in playstyle.

Utilities

I usually take some combination of the following Utilities, though the optimal combination can change from fight to fight. As of 6.0, the tiers have been reorganized.

Skillfull Tier

You must take 3 to advanced to Masterful.

Improved Vents - Vent Heat now immediately recharges 15 additional cells and grants 10% alacrity for 6 seconds.

Must take, more energy = more healing.

Gyroscopic Alignment Jets - You recharge 20 cells when stunned, immobilized, knocked down or otherwise incapacitated. Also, when incapacitated, your next Tech ability deals 10% damage or healing. This effect lasts for 15 seconds.

Situational, used for fights with lots of stuns or knockbacks as it will significantly increase DPS by using more high-energy high damage fillers. Given the lack of good choices in Skillful, I would nearly always take this utility.

Threat Sensors - Increases stealth detection, melee and ranged defense by 3% and reduces the cooldown of Stealth Scan by 5 seconds. Also, when you activate Cure on yourself, all periodic damage taken is reduced by 30% for 12 seconds.

Not a utility I would have taken in 5.X, in 6.0 it remains the best available option to provide some highly situational damage mitigation from DoTs.

Masterful Tier

You must take 6 between Heroic and Masterful.

Power Overrides - Reduces the cooldowns of Concussive Missile and Power Surge by 15 seconds each. Also, Power Surge grants a second charge, making your next two abilities with an activation time activate instantly.

A very useful utility for Mercenary healers. Using Power Surge during a Supercharged Gas window enables not only one extra instant cast of Healing Scan but due to its cast time being longer than a GCD, the instant cast enables you to get more healing output overall while also being more mobile.

Torque Boosters - Increase the duration of Hydraulic Overrides by 4 seconds.

I usually take it as a longer duration for Hydraulic Overrides grants significant extra movement speed in fights and can be very helpful on many fights.

Energy Rebounder - When you take damage, the active cooldown of Energy Shield is reduced by 3 seconds. This effect cannot occur more than once every 1. Seconds. Also, when taking damage, you have a 20% chance to emit an Energy Redoubt which absorbs a low amount of damage and lasts 6 seconds. This effect cannot occur more than once every 10 seconds.

Frequently take, this can drastically reduce the cooldown on a key defensive.

Power Barrier - Power Shot , Tracer Missile, and Rapid Scan build a Charged Barrier that reduces damage taken by 1% for 15 seconds. Stacks up to 5 times.

I usually take, a good utility that will grant you 5% extra DR for the majority of most boss fights, helping survivability. I always take for any fights where Torque Boosters is not needed.

Pyro Shield - When activated, your Energy Shield charges with electricity, zapping attackers for elemental damage when they deal direct damage to you. This effect cannot occur more than once each second.

Situational, there are some fights where this utility would be useful and preferred over Power Barrier.

Heroic Tier

A maximum of 3 utilities

Thrill of the Hunt - Allows Unload, Blazing Bolts, and Progressive Scan to be activated while moving.

Always take, being able to channel on the move is a massive boost to your mobility and is the most essential utility for this class.

Stabilized Armor - Reduces damage taken from area effects by 30%. Also, while stunned, you take 30% less damage from all sources.

Must take, 30% AOE and stun damage reduction is massive.

Kolto Surge - Kolto Overload triggers at, and can heal you up to, 60% of your maximum health. Also, Kolto Overload lasts 2 seconds longer and heals for twice as much each time it restores health.

I usually take, I love this utility for any operation with lots of raid-wide damage. If you get low on health but the healers are swamped and trying to burst-heal a tank to keep them alive, then as long as you don’t eat any big damage spikes you don’t need any heals for 12 seconds (and generally will still be in decent 50-60% health after 12s). When used with skill, this makes Kolto Overload a HUGE survivability boost over its existing capabilities. Absent an enrage or other high damage AoE or mechanic, I never die when I hit Kolto Overload with this utility.

Trauma Regulators - 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.

Don’t usually take as while a 40% potential heal sounds nice, you need Energy Rebounder for this to be meaningful and Stabilized Armor will usually reduce your damage taken by more than this utility will heal you.

Example Utility Build

Here is what I run for most encounters, though I frequently take other situational utilities for specific fights.

Key Passives

Emergency Response - Eliminates the energy cost of Emergency Scan. In addition, activating Emergency Scan grants Emergency Response, which makes your next Healing Scan activate instantly. Lasts 15 seconds.

Makes Emergency Scan your only free heal apart from your basic Kolto Shot ability. Its effectiveness is limited by its lengthy cooldown, but should generally be used on cooldown and paired with Healing Scan to provide a powerful single target burst heal.

Kolto Residue - Kolto Missile leaves a residue on up to 8 enemies in its area of impact, reducing movement speed by 50% for 3 seconds. Also, Healing Scan grants Invigorated to its target, increasing healing received by 3% for 45 seconds.

The slow is largely meaningless in PVE. The Invigorated buff from Healing Scan is a helpful buff and skilled healers should endeavor to keep this buff on all targets taking regular damage. Spam of Healing Scan during Supercharged Gas should be sufficient to guarantee this effect.

Warden - Increases the critical healing bonus of all heals by 5% and causes Rapid Scan to generate an extra stack of Supercharge when activated. Also, the effects of your Supercharged Gas are modified.

This passive is key in that Rapid Scan - despite its filler status - is your most effective ability to generate Supercharge due to it doubling up on stacks.

Critical Efficiency - Activating Rapid Scan grants a charge of Critical Efficiency, which reduces the heat generated by your next Healing Scan by 5. This effect can stack up to 3 charges.

This passive makes your Emergency Scan and Healing Scan combo even more energy beneficial. Due to the cooldowns on both abilities (outside of Supercharged Gas), you will have used Rapid Scan 3 times in between each use and thus have maximum stacks. As such, Advanced Medical Probe will only generate 5 heat while your base energy regeneration is 5 heat per second, thus the combo should be +10 in net heat vented.

Kolto Boosters - Reduces the heat generated by Kolto Missile by 5, and increases the critical heal chance of Kolto Shell by 5%. Also, Kolto Shot vents 1 heat when it normally heals and 2 heat when it critically heals.

This passive is notable primarily for the buff to Kolto Shot that enables it to actively regenerate energy in addition to any passive energy regeneration during that GCD. As you will see below in the rotation discussion, Bodyguards should anticipate periodic use of Kolto Shot due to this passive.

Proactive Medicine - Emergency Scan applies Proactive Medicine to the target, healing for additional health over 9 seconds. Also, Progressive Scan grants the Protected effect to targets it heals, increasing their armor rating by 10% for 45 seconds.

This passive further buffs Emergency Scan by applying a minor HoT to the target and granting a second helpful buff to the armor rating of friendly players.

Gearing in 6.0

Gearing Stat Allocation

Please see my Gearing Guide and Alacrity Guide for a detailed overview of gearing in 6.x in SWTOR.

For Bodyguard Mercenary, I gear as follows:

  • Set Bonus: Tech Medic (Concentrated Fire is an okay backup)

  • Tactical: Running Restoration or SC-4 Treatment Scanner (I prefer Running Restoration for my personal healing playstyle, but I swap to SC-4 Treatment Scanner for fights with above-average AoE damage and will occasionally run Rocket Fuel Vapors for very high AoE damage fights like Red)

  • Amplifiers: Medtech

  • Mods: Unlettered Lethal Mods

  • Relics: Devastating Vengeance & Primeval Fatesealer (Serendipitous Assault & Focused Retribution for Dxun/PVP)

  • Stim: Proficient

  • Adrenal: Critical (Triage for Dxun only)

For Bodyguard Mercenary, I allocate my tertiary stats as follows:

  • Accuracy: 264 (Heals don't miss! However I run a Proficient Stim in capped content so get some Accuracy, and may occasionally run a bit more Accuracy for a few prog fights like Revan where healers need to get an interrupt and want to avoid their interrupts missing.)

  • Alacrity: around 2,200, a secondary option is around 3,500 for high alacrity (at least 2,050 if the Zeal guild perk applies)

  • Critical: all remaining tertiary points go into Critical

  • Shield: None

  • Absorb: None

Set Bonus

Tech Medic

Increased drop rate from conquest crates.

(2) +2% Mastery

(4) Onboard AED becomes an instant-cast.

(6) Kolto Shot leaves Lasting Meds on its target, restoring health over 18 seconds.

Analysis:

Tech Medic was redesigned in patch 6.1.2. Combined with nerfs to Concentrated Fire (the previous healer set bonus of choice), it seems that the developers intended for Tech Medic to be the preferred healer set bonus.

The four piece set bonus is very slightly helpful for progression situations. An instant rez is better than a cast rez or having to burn a cooldown for an instant cast. I would prefer an actual healing buff but I have seen many situations in progression where a tank dies and the group wipes because the team was one GCD too slow in getting them revived. So cool though not really great.

The six piece set bonus adopts the old HP-5 Dart tactical benefit by letting your base heal apply a HoT. The HoT lasts a long time over 18 seconds and provides a heal that is fairly close to the heal by Kolto Missile applied to each affected player. The HoT can be refreshed on one player such as a tank, or by rotating it among several players a healer can keep several Lasting Meds HoTs ticking at once.

The value of this set bonus is most important when viewed in context with the impact of changes to the Rocket Fuel Vapors tactical. Prior to 6.1.2, using Kolto Missile on cooldown in a group would provide super high uptime on Supercharged Gas and its energy savings and healing buffs. In that situation, I found myself using Kolto Shot only very occasionally as I never really had energy issues.

Now I expect to see much more use of Kolto Shot. It should not need to be spammed given the discipline's energy cooldowns and still fairly frequent use of Supercharged Gas. That said, a Mercenary healer will likely need to use it semi-frequently anytime energy cooldowns are not available to stay energy positive.

Skillful players will likely look to keep Lasting Meds ticking on several targets at once by rotating their use of each Kolto Shot amongst 3-4 players. It is a far cry from the ticking HoTs from Operative healers but between Kolto Shells on most players and Lasting Meds on several more, the Mercenary has more and better passive healing with Tech Medic than otherwise.

In comparison to the new Concentrated Fire set bonus, I think Tech Medic is a clear winner. Concentrated Fire offers the potential for more Supercharge but at an almost negligible level (see below for more discussion on that). The six piece is better to offer a guaranteed critical heal every Supercharged Gas, but as discussed below that is also a bit marginal because the Emergency Scan could crit anyway. Tech Medic offers a guaranteed sustained healing increase.

Impact on Rotation:

Kolto Shot will need to be used anyway in the rotation and generally should not be prioritized just for this extra HoT. However, I do think there are a few considerations to how to decide when to use Kolto Shot:

  1. Rotate Kolto Shot among players as much as possible. Refreshing the Lasting Meds HoT by spamming Kolto Shot is a huge waste of this set bonus. If you can remember to rotate each Kolto Shot among around 3-4 players who consistently take damage then you will get a lot more sustained healing from having HoTs ticking on multiple players. The best candidates will be any tanks and likely most melee DPS, though this may vary from fight to fight. Sometimes you may have to spam Kolto Shot on one player to try and keep them up when your energy is horrible, though honestly if you are in that situation Kolto Shot is unlikely to save them anyway.

  2. Heat management. Kolto Shot is free and its total heal with Tech Medic is not too terribly much lower than Rapid Scan. Experience is key here but if you know there is little danger of spike damage then Kolto Shot is far better with this tactical to heal players or at least mitigate low ongoing damage in combination with Kolto Shell.

  3. Prep for AoE damage phases. In fights with predictable sustained AoE damage phases (e.g., Dread Council burn phase) then using Kolto Shot to get HoTs ticking on most players and get your heat in an optimal situation can be very helpful. Just like an Operative who has HoTs ticking on most players, a Merc who has Kolto Shells and Lasting Meds on most players will be able to really kick out powerful sustained AoE healing.

When to Take:

I recommend for all healers unless their team composition will require significant healer off-DPS. In those cases, Concentrated Fire may be better due to its much better buffs for damage while still providing healing benefits.

Concentrated Fire

Increased drop rate from PvP.

(2) +2% Mastery

(4) Damaging an enemy or healing an ally has a 10% chance to generate a stack of Supercharge. This effect cannot occur more than once every 5 seconds.

(6) Activating Supercharged Gas makes your next Rail Shot, Mag Shot or Emergency Scan critically hit or heal.

Analysis:

Concentrated Fire was nerfed in 6.1.2 to remove the +10% critical chance buff applied by gaining a stack of Supercharge. The four piece then assumed part of the old six piece bonus without any net additions to the combined set. It's design goal appears to be primarily for DPS players and to offer an off-DPS option for healers.

The set suffers greatly by losing its main attraction to healers via the +10% critical chance buff. The remaining benefits are really not that great, as we will briefly discuss below. When compared to the Tech Medic set that offers a guaranteed and high uptime buff to healing output, Tech Medic is a clear winner for healing though Concentrated Fire will be slightly better for healing while prioritizing off-DPS for tight DPS checks.

The 4 piece can generate a Supercharge as often as every 5 seconds but that is misleading given the low chance to proc. The rate limit means that the RNG to proc it only begins 5 seconds after it procs then takes some time to proc again. More testing is needed to determine an average proc rate but it seems likely be 5-10 seconds or so. That suggests the 4 piece should provide an extra Supercharge every 50-100 seconds, or around 4-6 extra Supercharge windows over a fight. It's also possible to waste the proc if you are sitting at 8 Supercharge, proc it to get to 9 and then cast Rapid Scan that would have gotten you to 10 anyway thanks to the Warden passive. So, it's nice but very RNG dependent and not that helpful due to the lack of control. Letting a high cooldown ability trigger an extra free Supercharge 2-3 times a fight would have been a similar HPS benefit and far more useful in my opinion.

The 6 piece is helpful by making your Supercharged Gas windows more powerful by giving you an auto-crit on your free heal. It is also very helpful for adding off DPS for tight damage checks on operations by letting you use the auto-crit on a Rail Shot. For healing purposes, it's helpful but weak. The healing ability could crit anyway, so the incremental healing is as big as the difference between a crit and a non-crit, but as small as the difference between a crit with extra crit damage and a crit with regular crit damage. In the latter case, the buff is quite small indeed.

Impact on Rotation:

No change to rotation or ability priority.

When to Take:

I do not recommend for healers except perhaps in cases where DPS checks are a major factor and a little extra healer DPS would make the difference. However, I personally would prefer Tech Medic and allow the better healing to give me a few more GCDs of DPS versus Concentrated Fire.

Apex Predator

Increased drop rate from Dxun Nature of Progress operation. Not available from the Tech Frag vendor.

(2) +2% Mastery

(4) 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.

(6) Dealing damage with Power Shot or Tracer Missile or healing with Rapid Scan grants 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 generates no Heat.

Analysis:

This set is not terrible but buffs the wrong abilities and as such is outshined by the Tech Medic set bonus. For healers, Rapid Scan is a filler that is used semi-frequently but is the lowest priority and does the least healing. Buffing it is nice but it encourages over-use which is a very bad idea. Tech Medic's buff to Med Shot provides a safer and more predictable (i.e., not RNG dependent on critical chance) healing benefit.

The critical buff from the 4-piece set bonus means the average use of Rapid Scan will be buffed 25%, with the 6-piece set bonus meaning every 6th use of the ability is free. This is a nice buff but is unlikely to come close to the impact on healing from Tech Medic.

Impact on Rotation:

No impact. The periodic free use of Rapid Scan will help energy management and likely enable a second use of the same filler shortly thereafter, but that will vary based on the healing situation so would not fall into a “rotation” comment so much as simply making your healing decisions regarding energy levels slightly easier from time to time.

When to Take:

Not recommended but is a possible alternative to Tech Medic. However, it is not as strong a set for healers and is much more difficult to obtain via its limited availability solely through drops from Nature of Progress operation or random appearance on the Kai Zykken vendor.

Rapid Response

Increased drop rate from The Nature of Progress Operation on Master Mode Difficulty, and has a small chance from Unidentified items on the Spoils of War vendors.

(2) +2% Mastery

(4) Activating a healing ability has a 15% chance to grant Combat Medic's Critical Bonus which causes your next Rapid Scan to be critical.

(6) Healing an ally with Rapid Scan applies Restorative Drive to them for 10 seconds. Each enemy defeated by this ally increases your healing by 2%, stacking up to 5 times.

Analysis:

This set bonus was introduced in patch 6.1.2 along with MM Dxun. A key unknown for is what internal cooldown (if any) is applied on the triggering of the auto-crit buff. Absent a cooldown, the ability has a 50/50 chance to trigger after 4 GCDs and 75% chance to trigger after 8 GCDs. This can be really strong though it seems likely there will be an internal cooldown limiting its use to every 30 seconds or something.

The six piece is tantalizing but I think very difficult to utilize on most fights. It offers the potential for high uptime on a +10% healing buff but with a lot of hurdles. You can only get the buff from players whom you have healed with Rapid Scan, only within 10 seconds of using Rapid Scan on them and you only get charges when they defeat an enemy.

The ideal scenario for the 6 piece set bonus are fights with high uptime on add waves. The best example is the Control Center encounter in the Dxun Nature of Progress operation, where you are continuously fighting 8+ adds at a time. Just use Rapid Scan on a DPS with high sustained AoE damage and you are highly likely to get a couple stacks of Restorative Drive. The downside is that Rapid Scan is usually a very low priority in AoE fights due to the desire to use Kolto Missile and Progressive Scan on cooldown versus their lower priority in single target. Trying to fit in extra Rapid Scans to proc the set bonus is a mixed bag because it offers a cool healing buff but comes at the cost of reduced healing output for using your worst single target healing ability instead of a better heal.

Impact on Rotation:

No change in overall ability rotation. You should be using Rapid Scan often enough to take full advantage of the 4 piece set bonus anytime it procs. For the 6 piece, I would recommend adjusting your target selection for heals such that Rapid Scan is nearly always going on a DPS player (preferably one assigned to deal with adds).

When to Take:

The set's recommendation depends highly on the internal cooldown for the 4 piece set bonus auto crit. If the set has no internal cooldown then it is likely to be best in slot. Assuming that the cooldown for the 4 piece set bonus is 30 seconds or longer then I would recommend the Tech Medic set for most encounters.

The Restorative Drive set is potentially very powerful on fights with lots of adds. Continuous waves of adds provide to enough opportunities to get stacks of Restorative Drive and to buff all your heals.

Tactical Items

Rocket Fuel Vapors

Increased drop rate from flashpoints.

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

Analysis:

Rocket Fuel Vapors was significantly nerfed in patch 6.1.2. Now it provides a buff to AoE healing by adding an extra tick of healing from Kolto Pods (the HoT applied by Kolto Missile) and buffs the HoTs overall healing by 5%.

Kolto Pods normally ticks 3 times over its duration so adding an extra tick represents a 33% increase in healing prior to the 5% buff. Combined this should buff the healing done by Kolto Pods by 40%. In comparison to an average tick of Kolto Missile per person, Kolto Pods does around half the healing as Kolto Missile's initial heal. Thus, on a combined basis I would expect Rocket Fuel Vapors to buff the combined healing provide by Kolto Missile by around 13-15%.

A 15% buff to a low cooldown AoE heal is very helpful for AoE fights. On a heavy AoE fight where I can use Kolto Missile on cooldown and always clip the maximum 4 people, I would expect Kolto Missile to output around 35-40% of my total healing combined with the Kolto Pods HoT. In those scenarios, running Rocket Fuel Vapors could provide around 5-6% extra healing entirely through AoE HoTs. That's not as powerful as the old Rocket Fuel Vapors but still a meaningful increase in AoE healing.

It is important to note that the healing buff from Rocket Fuel Vapors falls apart on any encounter where you are not using Kolto Missile on cooldown. The tactical buff in incremental healing per use of Kolto Missile is relatively small so its power entirely depends on being able to spam Kolto Missile via its 4 GCD cooldown. On fights with some but not continuous AoE I would typically use Kolto Missile far less often and its HoT would often be wasted via AoE healing from myself and other players. In that scenario the tactical healing buff amounts to maybe 1% or so which is very weak compared to SC-4 or Running Restoration.

Impact on Rotation:

Rocket Fuel Vapors should only be taken on fights where you expect to encounter very high AoE sustained damage to the group. As such, you should generally look to use Kolto Missile on cooldown to maximize its benefit. If your healing priority does not let you do that, then Rocket Fuel Vapors is probably not a good choice for that fight.

When to Take:

Take in very heavy sustained AoE damage encounters, though based on preference and playstyle either Running Restoration of SC-4 may still be preferred due to their buff to single target healing.

Running Restoration

Increased drop rate from operations.

Healing Scan can be activated while moving and heals for an additional 15%.

Analysis:

Healing Scan is typically the most used healing ability for Bodyguard Mercenaries and the key to burst healing phases during Supercharged Gas windows. Running Restoration provides a powerful buff to single target healing during these windows.

On purely single target healing, Healing Scan can make up more than half your effective healing. A 15% buff to half of your healing can be up to a 8% (or better) healing buff overall and is quite strong. This tactical is straightforward and a good choice for stronger single target healing and making your Supercharged Gas windows much burstier if used to spam Healing Scan.

When compared to other tactical options, Running Restoration may be an ideal choice for some fights and for some play styles but not all. The tactical will not be ideal for AoE healing as Healing Scan is a purely single target heal. For really high sustained AoE healing that requires using Kolto Missile on cooldown, Rocket Fuel Vapors is a solid choice. For mixed single target and AoE healing, SC-4 Treatment Scanner is a good choice also.

The real question is for general purpose use whether to use Running Restoration or SC-4 Treatment. Running Restoration provides a stronger buff to Healing Scan, which is primarily usable during Supercharged Gas windows. SC-4 Treatment Scanner provides a much smaller buff to Progressive Scan that is used far less often in the rotation, but more importantly generates 4 Supercharge during its channel. SC-4 therefore provides more frequent uptime on Supercharged Gas and its energy regeneration and availability of Healing Scan with no cooldown and a reduced energy cost.

So which is better, really strong Supercharged Cell windows via Running Restoration or weaker but more frequent windows via SC-4? For pure single target healing, the results are fairly close and depend heavily on playstyle. My testing seems to favor Running Restoration, though as you factor in more group healing (and Progressive Scan becomes more important) the balance shifts towards SC-4.

The key distinguishing factor between the tacticals relates to energy costs. SC-4 provides more frequent uptime on Supercharged Gas and its +5% healing buff and 10 energy regeneration. However, SC-4 does not otherwise noticeably increase my actual healing output via its core abilities, as the 5% buff to Progressive Scan is just not that impactful. As such, to deliver more healing I have to use Healing Scan or Rapid Scan (my two spammable heals, though one only during Supercharged Gas windows) more often with SC-4 than I would with Running Restoration. I actually can do that fairly easily, and in my testing I found that I Healing Scan actually made up a higher percentage of my healing output than under Running Restoration because I could use it that much more often.

However, it’s important to remember that Supercharged Gas only regenerates 10 energy whereas Rapid Scan costs 18 and Healing Scan has a base cost of 20 (which can decrease down to 0 depending on whether Supercharged Gas is up and the number of Critical Efficiency stacks). So each Supercharged Gas only “pays for” around half a Medical Probe or around the same for an Healing Scan at its base cost. That is not a self sustaining net energy usage to deliver enough higher cost healing to compensate for the +15% buff from Running Restoration.

In my testing, I found that to keep using Healing Scan during each Supercharged Gas window I had to use far less Rapid Scans. That makes sense since Healing Scan is a far better healing ability, but using less Scans severely compromises my Supercharge generation since each one generates +2 Supercharge. My preliminary testing found that this compromise cut the net Supercharge coming from Progressive Scan by nearly half.

Overall, I found that Running Restoration outperformed SC-4 in a purely single target heal context primarily because it delivers more healing per ability use net of the related energy costs. By getting as much healing out of every Healing Scan as possible, I had more overall energy available to use Rapid Scans to generate Supercharge stacks.

Since it probably seems like I’m dumping on SC-4 as a tactical option, let me be clear. I think it’s a really good tactical. When one still maintains a primary focus on single target healing priority but includes at least 4 total healing targets, I found the two were extremely close in total healing output.

I believe the key driver for folks will depend largely on playstyle and will shift from fight to fight. Players who tend to avoid using Supercharged Gas on cooldown and sometimes save it a few GCDs for predictable burst windows should most likely take Running Restoration to maximize the burst of those Healing Scan spam windows. Folks should take SC-4 if they are used to the old Rocket Fuel Vapors tactical and want Supercharged Gas up as often as possible for energy management and reduce the risk of spike damage without burst available.

Impact on Rotation:

No change to rotation. Healing Scan will be stronger when it's available off cooldown and during Supercharged Gas windows.

When to Take:

Running Restoration is great for fights that require high mobility (e.g., Master/Blaster, Red, etc.) or where the key focus is very high single target burst healing.

Ultimately the choice between SC-4 and Running Restoration will depend a lot on healer playstyle. If you tend to sometimes wait to hit Supercharged Gas to align your burst heal phases with high burst damage, Running Restoration will be really strong since each burst window will be significantly stronger. If you tend to use Supercharged Gas on cooldown for energy purposes or tend to focus more on AoE healing, SC-4 will be better. I suggest running both and swapping back and forth as needed between fights.

SC-4 Treatment Scanner

Increased drop rate from flashpoints.

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

Analysis:

SC-4 is a great tactical in that it provides a slight buff to your best burst group heal ability and noticeably increases your uptime on Supercharged Gas windows. I feel that it is the best tactical for folks as they transition away from the old Rocket Fuel Vapors, and its ridiculously high uptime on Supercharged Gas, back to a “normal” healing system.

Please see the analysis above on Running Restoration as it relates primarily to discussing the merits of each tactical. SC-4 will be better in a variety of circumstances. It provides better group healing in situations where Progressive Scan is a highly effective group heal. It provides more frequent uptime on Supercharged Gas, which can be important for fights where spike damage is unpredictable or highly frequent. The increased uptime can also be very helpful for players who prefer to use Supercharged Gas as an energy cooldown as much as for spamming Healing Scan.

Impact on Rotation:

Players should prioritize using Progressive Scan on cooldown as often as possible to build Supercharge. Players should be careful to avoid spamming Healing Scan during every Supercharged Gas window, as doing so will create major energy issues or require spamming Kolto Shot outside each Supercharged Gas window. When running SC-4, a good approach is to try and only use 2 Healing Scans each Supercharged Gas window, instead of 3-4, which provides a good balance for energy management and less powerful but more frequent burst windows.

When to Take:

SC-4 is a a solid all around tactical due primarily to the extra uptime on Supercharged Gas from its extra stacks. This will enable significantly higher uptime on Supercharged Gas for energy management purposes. It's 5% buff on Progressive Scan will also be more helpful on most fights for strong single target healing combined with good AoE healing. I also think that SC-4 will be a good "bridge" for folks used to the playstyle under Rocket Fuel Vapors with very high uptime on Supercharged Cell. SC-4 won't be nearly that high but still noticeably higher than Running Restoration.

Ultimately the choice between SC-4 and Running Restoration will depend a lot on healer playstyle. If you tend to sometimes wait to hit Supercharged Gas to align your burst heal phases with high burst damage, Running Restoration will be really strong since each burst window will be significantly stronger. If you tend to use Supercharged Gas on cooldown for energy purposes or tend to focus more on AoE healing, SC-4 will be better. I suggest running both and swapping back and forth as needed between fights.

Amplifiers

Med Tech

As a tech-based healing class, this one is a no brainer and clear best solution. There are amplifiers to buff AoE healing and HoT-based healing, but given that Tech Healing buffs ALL your healing abilities and your best healing is single target via Healing Scan, Tech Healing is by far the best option.

Key Abilities

Kolto Shell - Generates 10 heat. Deploys a probe with 7 charges that last up to 3 minutes. When the target is damaged, a charge is consumed and heals the target. There is a 3 second cooldown on triggering Kolto Shell charges. Only one Kolto Shell may be active on a target.

This is the Mercenary equivalent of the Sorc bubble, except instead of absorbing damage it applies a heal to partially offset the damage. An individual charge doesn’t heal as much damage as a Sorc bubble absorbs, but the multiple charges and much longer duration more than offset it.

Cure - Generates 10 heat. Cleanses negative tech, physical and mental effects.

Basic cleanse ability. Notable that it cleanses Tech but not Force negative effects. Thus it is useful for certain fights like Karagga (can cleanse gravity debuff) or Corruptor Zero (cleanse DoT on tank) but not Force debuffs.

Emergency Scan - Instant single target healing ability. Free ability due to Emergency Response passive ability. 21 second cooldown prior to effects of alacrity.

Best and most efficient healing ability, should generally be used on cooldown. Due to the long cooldown, its overall benefit is reduced.

Healing Scan - Generates 20 heat (15 during effects of Supercharged Cell, and can be reduced to 15/10/5 due to stacks of Critical Efficiency). Cast single target healing ability, can be buffed to become instant after Emergency Scan due to Emergency Response passive ability. Due to Kolto Residue passive ability, grants Invigorated status to its target (+3% healing for 45 seconds). 12 second cooldown prior to alacrity, no cooldown while under the effects of Supercharged Gas.

Most powerful single target heal but with limited use outside of Supercharged Gas. Spam during Supercharged Gas, otherwise try to pair with Emergency Scan to make it free. Due to regular use of Rapid Scan outside of Supercharged Gas, Healing Scan will generally be net positive from an energy perspective.

Rapid Scan - Generates 18 heat. Cast single target healing ability. Filler. Generates 2 stacks of Supercharge due to Warden passive.

This is the spammable single target healing ability, so will be used very often. That said, due to its energy cost it cannot be spammed indefinitely. See below for further discussion on rotation, but generally will want to alternate Rapid Scan and Kolto Shot to manage energy.

Progressive Scan - Generates 28 heat over duration. Channelled AoE healing ability. Heals a friendly target over the duration, and heals one new friendly target within 20 meters with each tick, healing up to four total targets with the final tick. Ability also grants Protected buff (+10% armor rating for 45 seconds) to targets it heals. 15 second cooldown prior to alacrity.

A powerful channelled AoE heal that can be used on the move. Due to its long channel time, is a great candidate for using Thermal Sensor Override (next ability that costs energy is free) to maximize the energy regeneration.

Kolto Missile - Generates 15 heat. Instant AoE healing ability. Lobs a kolto bomb at the target area, exploding on impact. Heals up to 8 allies within 8 meters of the targeted area. 6 second cooldown prior to alacrity.

Does less AoE healing per person than Progressive Scan but can affect more players and has a much lower cooldown and so is semi-spammable.

Kolto Shot - Free single target healing ability. Basic “attack”. Generates 1 stack of Supercharge normally and 2 if it crits.

Your “basic attack” heal, see below rotation discussion as this ability should be used semi-frequently in most rotations.

Supercharged Gas - Requires and converts 10 stacks of Supercharge to vent 10 heat and increase healing done by 5% for 12 seconds. While active, Healing Scan has no cooldown and generates 5 less heat.

Supercharged Gas is the signature ability to Mercenary classes, and while in healing spec its most important benefit is the removal of the cooldown on Healing Scan. This enables massive burst single target healing.

Cooldowns & Other Abilities

Vent Heat - Rapidly vents 50 heat over 3 seconds. Most powerful energy cooldown. 1:30 cooldown.

Thermal Sensor Override - Your next ability costs no energy. Lasts 15 seconds. 1:30 cooldown.

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. 1:00 cooldown.

Hydraulic Overrides - Grants 6 seconds of immunity from movement-impairing effects, knockdowns and physics and increases movement speed by 30%. 45s cooldown.

Unload - Channeled ranged attack, can be used on the move with Forced March utility

Rail Shot - High damage ability, 15 second cooldown.

Fusion Missile - Hard cast single target / AoE filler

Power Shot - Filler cast ability

Electro Net - High damage ability that deals increased damage as the target moves. Long cooldown.

Rapid Shots - Free spammable basic ranged attack, builds 1 Supercharge per use.

Energy Shield - Increases damage reduction by 25% for 12 seconds. 2:00 cooldown.

Responsive Safeguards - Absorbs all incoming single target direct damage for the next 6 seconds and reflects 50% of the absorbed damage back at the attacker and healing you for 5% of your maximum health each time an attack is absorbed. Can be used while stunned. 2:00 cooldown.

Kolto Overload - Applies a Health Monitor that lasts 60 seconds, which triggers Kolto Overload when your health is reduced to 35% or less. If your health is already 35% or less, it triggers immediately. Once triggered, it goes on cooldown for 3 minutes and rapidly heals you up to 35% of your max health for 10 seconds but will not exceed 35% of your max health.

Rotation

Bodyguard Healing Guidelines

Healing requires a very fluid playstyle. There are not any set rotations as the healer is constantly adapting to the damage taken by the team, predicting burst damage phases to prepare heals in advance and balancing the team's healing needs against the healer's energy levels to ensure they can continue providing heals when needed.

Don’t go above 40% heat for ANY reason unless you have energy regeneration abilities available.

These include Supercharged Gas (vents 10 heat), Vent Heat (vents 50 heat over 3s, or 65 if taking the Improved Vents utility), and Thermal Sensor Override (next ability generates no heat). Supercharged Gas usually means you can substitute ONE Rapid Scan for Kolto Shot.

Thermal Sensor Override should always be used on Progressive Scan and can enable substitution of 1-2 Rapid Scans or other energy-costing abilities instead of Kolto Shot. Vent Heat should be used around 65-70% heat. Usually the cooldown will get you fairly close to max energy, such that 1-2 Rapid Scans may be still be usable (with caution).

Utilize Supercharged Gas on cooldown in most circumstances to enable spamming of Healing Scan.

Supercharged Gas helps with energy management and makes Healing Scan spammable for 8 seconds. As such, this should be utilized on cooldown in stressful healing situations. The only exceptions are when healing is light and energy is in good shape or can use Kolto Shot to regen energy, or a high damage phase is incoming within 10-15 seconds so you are saving it. In AoE healing situations, Supercharged Gas should still be utilized on cooldown just for the energy regeneration properties.

Outside of a burst window, your best single target healing combo is Emergency Scan ---> Healing Scan.

Due to the passive abilities Emergency Response and Critical Efficiency, this combo of abilities should both be instantly activated, deal very strong burst healing, and be significantly net positive for energy regeneration. As long as it won’t overheal, this combo should be used on cooldown.

Utilize Kolto Shot and Rapid Scan on approximately a 1:1 basis if energy cooldowns are unavailable.

Whenever Emergency Scan and Healing Scan are on cooldown, your only choices for single target heals are Rapid Scan and Kolto Shot. In these circumstances, you will need to alternate Rapid Scan and Kolto Shot to keep your energy at a decent level.

If your energy is above 40% heat, unless someone will die you should substitute Kolto Shot or use an energy regeneration cooldown.

Once you dip above 40% heat, it severely cripples your energy regeneration and can become worse if you keep using abilities with an energy cost. As soon as you realize your situation, either use an energy regeneration ability or spam Kolto Shot to recover.

Use energy cooldowns aggressively and intelligently.

Skilled players will be aware of when energy cooldowns are (or are about to be) available and use high energy heals proactively such that Thermal Sensor Override and Vent Heat are used very nearly on cooldown.

Healing Combos

Healing is a very reactive class compared to tanks (defined high threat rotation intermingled with taunts) and DPS (very defined rotation/priority system). As such, it is easier to think in terms of healing “combos” that will vary depending on the situation. Here are some of the most common situations and how a Bodyguard Mercenary would generally approach them.

Note that all of them assume Vent Heat is NOT available, as typically that cooldown can only be used around twice per fight. As such, I highly recommend trying to plan rotations without relying on it so that it can be the “oh ****” button when someone unexpectedly takes massive damage. They also assume energy at 100%, for lower energy levels substitute Kolto Shot for a Rapid Scan or simply add a Kolto Shot somewhere in the rotation.

Combo #1 - Pre-fight / Everyone has Max Health

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  1. Kolto Shell - Cast/refresh on all players (tanks first)

  2. Kolto Shot - Cast on anyone to maintain max energy and build 10 stacks of Supercharge

Combo #2 - Single Target / high damage / no AoE damage / Supercharge IS available

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  1. Emergency Scan - Free and powerful heal, due to its long cooldown using it early is preferable so it will be available at the end of the rotation

  2. Healing Scan - Instant cast due to Emergency Response passive, it is also slightly cheaper due to using Rapid Scan up front. Since we are about to hit Supercharged Gas and reset its cooldown, using it here essentially gets us an extra Healing Scan.

  3. Supercharged Gas OFF GCD

  4. Power Surge OFF GCD Grants 1-2 instant casts

  5. Healing Scan - First and possibly second should be instant from Power Surge, frontloading heals to target. Should spam Healing Scan until just before Supercharged Gas drops off, leaving one more available after Emergency Scan before ability goes on regular cooldown.

  6. Healing Scan - Spam while Supercharged Gas is active.

  7. Healing Scan - Spam while Supercharged Gas is active.

  8. Healing Scan - Spam while Supercharged Gas is active.

  9. Healing Scan - Spam while Supercharged Gas is active.

  10. Healing Scan - Spam while Supercharged Gas is active.

  11. Thermal Sensor Override OFF GCD - By the end of Supercharged Gas, heat will likely be above 40% so if we need another strong heal this enables a cast of Rapid Scan without further compromising energy.

  12. Rapid Scan - Free with Thermal Sensor Override

  13. Kolto Shot - Needed to get energy back to a stable level.

  14. Kolto Shot - Needed to get energy back to a stable level.

  15. Emergency Scan - Comes off cooldown here so use immediately

  16. Healing Scan - Since we only used 6 Healing Scans earlier instead of 7 (thus we finished spamming Healing Scan before Supercharged Gas ended), this remained off cooldown and can be used right after Bacta Infusion.

Conclusion - This is a really strong rotation without needing to use Vent Heat, and can burst heal through pretty much any damage in the game without any help from another healer. This shows how powerful Bodyguard is while Supercharge is available.

Combo #3 - Single Target / high damage / no AoE damage / Supercharge IS NOT available

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  1. Emergency Scan - Free and powerful heal, due to its long cooldown using it early is preferable so it will be available at the end of the rotation

  2. Healing Scan - Instant cast due to Emergency Response passive, it is also slightly cheaper due to using Rapid Scan up front.

  3. Rapid Scan - This is our strongest single target heal and builds 2 stacks of Supercharge. Three is the most we can use before heat passes 60%.

  4. Rapid Scan - This is our strongest single target heal and builds 2 stacks of Supercharge. Three is the most we can use before heat passes 60%.

  5. Rapid Scan - This is our strongest single target heal and builds 2 stacks of Supercharge. Three is the most we can use before heat passes 60%.

  6. Thermal Sensor Override OFF GCD - Makes our next cast free, which is critical given energy is now low.

  7. Progressive Scan - Progressive Scan does respectable single target healing on its own, dealing slightly better HPS than Rapid Scan. It channels so the first tick arrives earlier than Rapid Scan, deals slightly less healing over a shorter period than 2 Rapid Scans and at a lower total heat cost. Using Thermal Sensor Override here keeps us doing strong single target heals while mostly recovering energy.

  8. Kolto Shot - Energy is still slightly low at this point, so this helps set us up for a Supercharge window shortly.

  9. Healing Scan - Off cooldown and with 3 stacks of Critical Efficiency due to the earlier Rapid Scan spam, this ability is very strong and super cheap.

  10. Rapid Scan - These casts continue doing strong heals and gets us to Supercharged Gas even if we started the rotation at 0 stacks.

  11. Rapid Scan - These casts continue doing strong heals and gets us to Supercharged Gas even if we started the rotation at 0 stacks.

  12. Kolto Shot - We want to have enough energy when we hit Supercharged Gas to spam Healing Scan without totally wrecking energy.

  13. Supercharged Gas OFF GCD - Time for some serious burst heals

  14. Healing Scan

  15. Healing Scan

  16. Healing Scan

  17. Healing Scan

  18. Healing Scan

  19. Healing Scan

  20. Emergency Scan - Off cooldown earlier in the rotation but saved for the end of Supercharged Gas to get another Healing Scan off.

  21. Healing Scan - This ability ends the burst healing window and leaves the player with around 50% heat.

  22. Kolto Shot - Spam to get heat back to at below 35% or higher.

  23. Kolto Shot - Spam to get heat back to at below 35% or higher.

  24. Kolto Shot - Spam to get heat back to at below 35% or higher.

Conclusion - This rotation also manages energy and deals strong healing, but significantly more stress is placed on energy and it requires a lot more use of Kolto Shot to balance energy in between several smaller burst windows until Supercharged Gas is available.

Combo #4 - Healing team / high or low stress / high or low AoE damage / Supercharge is NOT available

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  1. Progressive Scan - Best and strongest AoE heal

  2. Kolto Missile - Second priority AoE heal

  3. Emergency Scan - Free instant single target heal applied to whomever is lowest on health

  4. Healing Scan - Instant heal applied to whomever is lowest on health (can be used to provide burst single target inside an AoE rotation or to provide two separate strong heals)

  5. Rapid Scan - No AoE heals available so target next lowest health player

  6. Kolto Missile - Off cooldown, second priority AoE heal

  7. Kolto Shot - Energy is too low here for Rapid Scan and everything else is on cooldown

  8. Rapid Scan - We can use another Rapid Scan here due to Thermal Sensor Override being available. If it’s on cooldown, use Kolto Shot.

  9. Thermal Sensor Override OFF GCD

  10. Progressive Scan - Off cooldown, top priority AoE heal

  11. Kolto Missile - Off cooldown, second priority AoE heal

  12. Supercharged Gas OFF GCD

  13. Healing Scan - No AoE heals, rotate single target heals as needed

  14. Healing Scan - No AoE heals, rotate single target heals as needed

  15. Healing Scan - No AoE heals, rotate single target heals as needed

  16. Kolto Missile - Off cooldown, second priority AoE heal

  17. Healing Scan - No AoE heals, rotate single target heals as needed

  18. Progressive Scan - Off cooldown, top priority AoE heal

Conclusion - This rotation shows off the strength of Bodyguard in doing a combination of strong AoE healing and single target burst. It provides steady AoE healing while providing windows of very strong burst single target. When paired with a Operative healer, this rotation is perfect for high AoE damage phases where the tank is still taking heavy damage (e.g., Styrak HM final burn phase).

Energy Management, Other Tips & Tricks

Per the general principles above, if no energy regeneration abilities are available and you aren’t in a high stress phase, try to alternate Kolto Shot and Rapid Scan. That rotation is slightly energy positive so can be done indefinitely, so there is almost no way to wreck your energy following this rule and is a good way to approach non-burst phases to make sure you have the energy available when you need it.

As much as possible, try to save Thermal Sensor Override for Progressive Scan It’s your most powerful single heal and due to the channel time it will give you the most benefit for energy regeneration.

Be careful about using Power Surge when low on energy. The instant cast front loads the energy cost, so if it drops you above 40% heat then you will regen less energy in that GCD. Bad timing can significantly alter your energy regeneration.

Be thoughtful in AoE healing situations about how often to use single target heals versus spamming Kolto Missile. Kolto Missile does 2/3 the healing to each target as Rapid Scan and generates 3 fewer heat, so if you can hit at least two players with the full benefit then it is likely a better choice. The only downside is that you forgo building stacks of Supercharge.

Make sure to coordinate group healing with your fellow healer. Mercenaries perform best in prioritizing single target healing via Supercharged Gas windows (spamming Healing Scans) and can throw in decent AoE heals via Progressive Scan and Kolto Missile without losing too much single target burst. If your fellow healer can prioritize raid healing, you can handle healing the tank while still chipping in solid AoE.