7.1 Commando Combat Medic Combat Style (Class) Guide

Combat Styles is the new reworked class system introduced to Star Wars The Old Republic in Game Update 7.0. I’ve finally put together an in-depth overview and guide of one of my favourite Combat Style (Class), Commando Combat Medic. Here is my 7.1 Commando Combat Medic Combat Style Guide.

My 7.1 Mercenary Healing (Bodyguard) Combat Styles (Class) Guide can be found here.

Happy to receive feedback on this guide, especially improvements or corrections. Quality feedback will be compensated!

---

GUIDE UPDATES

17th July 2022

• Expanded the PvE Gear Section to clarify what stat thresholds you should aim for.

26th July 2022

• Hyperlink Tooltips now work! Hover over any ability hyperlink with an icon next to it to see the ability’s description.

23rd – 24th September 2022

• Fully updated for 7.1! Updated Implants, Tacticals and Gearing and Stats and Builds sections.

---

Table of Contents

---

7.1 Commando Combat Medic Healing for Beginners (PvP Basics)

Below is an infographic I put together designed for players new to the spec. Hopefully, it will help you get started with this combat style.

If you want to know more details about why I picked specific things or exact details on my gear loadout, read the corresponding sections via the contents menu above.

---

Introduction

How does one sum up the new Commando Combat Medic Combat Style? Meh. On the one hand, it could have been far worse. On the other hand, there are some bizarre and incredibly frustrating decisions we have to make in our new ability tree (especially PvPers).

In this guide, I discuss the differences between 6.0 vs. 7.0, do a deep dive on the new Ability Tree, talk about the new Legendary Implants (Set Bonus) options as well as Tacticals, cover Gearing and go over the Rotations and Priorities. I’ve also included a Build section that covers the different builds I use for those not interested in the nitty-gritty details. The guide concludes with a PvP Tips and Tricks section.

My goal with this guide is to give a foundational overview of the class and showcase the ins and out’s that will be of benefit to beginners and more experienced players alike.

I’ve definitely written this guide with more of a PvP slant (like my previous Mercenary/Commando Healer Guides). But for the first time, I’ve decided to include some PvE elements too. It’s definitely not my area of expertise though so take it with a grain of salt. I welcome any feedback from more experienced PvE healers!

---

Commando Combat Medic Changes (6.0 vs. 7.0)

A number of underlying changes have been made to Combat Medic Commando. As you will see below with the new ability tree, the level we are granted certain passives has changed and some passives have been removed completely. We are also losing some abilities or they are becoming optional in the ability tree. Here are some tables that show most of the changes.

Alternatively, you can view the tables for yourself using this link and going to the 'Changes' tab - Link

---

7.1 Commando Combat Medic Combat Style Overview

Weapons - Assault Cannon
Resource - Energy Cells
Basic Healing Description - Excellent burst capability with decent AOE healing and excellent DoT mitigation.
Base Heal - Med Shot

Here is what the new 7.0 Commando Combat Medic Combat Style UI looks like. You can see the ability tree on the right side of the UI.

Here is a detailed overview of the Commando Combat Medic Ability Tree (right-click and open a new tab to see it better).

Alternatively, here's a link to view the Ability Tree Table for yourself - Link

---

Ability Tree Breakdown

Here is an in-depth breakdown of the Ability Tree with some comparisons to 6.0 and some comments. Click on a Level to see the info! (In some instances uses Mercenary names instead).

---

Key Abilities

Here are lists of all the key abilities you will use and should have on your Hotbar. Also includes some optional abilities.

---

Legendary Implants (Set Bonuses)

Set Bonuses have been moved to Implants in 7.0 and are now called Legendary implants. You can read more about how to obtain the new Legendary Implants in my Legendary Implants Guide.

Here is a list of all the relevant Combat Medic Legendary Implants. You will be able to have two different set bonuses equipped at a time. You can not stack two identical Legendary Implants.

Name	Tertiary Stat	Description
Advanced Scanning	Alacrity	Reduces the cooldown of Advanced Medical Probe by 1.5 seconds and the cooldown of Bacta Infusion by 3 seconds.
Concentrated Fire	Critical	Activating Supercharged Cell makes your next High Impact Bolt, Mag Bolt, or Bacta Infusion critically hit or heal.
Random Charge	Alacrity	Damaging an enemy or healing an ally has a 10% chance to generate a stack of Supercharged. Cannot occur more than once every 5 seconds.

Advanced Scanning Package - in my opinion, is the best of the three Set Bonus options we have. Reducing the cooldown of Bacta Infusion is a no-brainer as far as I'm concerned especially with the limited mobility we have now. The Bacta Infusion -> Advanced Medical Probe combo every ~15 seconds (depending on alacrity) is one of the few opportunities we now have to do significant healing on the move.

Concentrated Fire - is also a good option. Supercharge guaranteeing a crit on Bacta Infusion especially paired with Advanced Scanning makes it a decent choice. How it works is that as soon as you activate Supercharged Cell, you get a Concentrated Fire buff that lasts for 20 seconds. This means you have 20 seconds to use Bacta Infusion to get it to crit, which is plenty of time. You are better off using it while Supercharge is active though to take advantage of the 5% heal increase from Supercharge.

Random Charge Package - A 10% chance to build a stack of Supercharge every heal or damage ability, with a 5-second cooldown, is kinda meh. Consider how many times you could potentially build a stack in a 15-second window. Is it really worth it when you could instead reduce the cooldown of Bacta Infusion to ~15 seconds? Building supercharge is pretty easy as is (especially with the SC-4 Treatment Scanner Tactical).

Regardless of whether you PvP or PvE, you're going to want to use Concentrated Fire. As for picking your second Legendary, I think it comes down to personal preference.

---

Tacticals

Tacticals have not changed from 6.0. However, Rocket Fuel Vapours was removed at the start of 7.0 and then put back in the game in 7.1 but renamed to Kolto Vapours.

Here is a list of all the relevant Tacticals for Commando Combat Medic in 7.0. All Tacticals can be purchased from Sabacc Sav on the Supplies section of Republic Fleet for 3,000 Tech Fragments and 1 Million Credits.

Name	Description
SC-4 Treatment Scanner	Successive Treatment heals for an additional 5% and generates Supercharge tacks while channelled, up to 4 stacks for a completed channel.
Kolto Vapors	The Kolto Pods left by Kolto Missile last a second longer and heal for an aditional 5%.
Running Rapid Restoration	Advanced Medical Probe can be cast while moving and heals for an additional 15%.

SC-4 Treatment Scanner is the best choice. Being able to build 4 stacks of Supercharge every ~13 seconds (assuming the cast is not interrupted) is very useful. It is consistently useful across all content.

Kolto Vapours is a situational option. Kolto Pods lasts for 3 seconds by default which is pretty decent already considering the Kolto Bomb cooldown is ~5.5 seconds. With this Tactical, you're adding an extra second of Kolto Pods which equals one extra tick of healing. Kolto Pods ticks are around ~1600-3600 each.

Is it worth missing out on Supercharge stacks from Successive Treatment for a small extra tick of healing on Kolto Pods? It really comes down to how often you can effectively use Kolto Bomb. Are four or more people constantly grouped up together in a particular encounter? To summarise, it may be situationally useful but for the majority of content, you're better off with SC-4 Treatment Scanner.

Running Rapid Restoration is completely useless. The only time you should be using Advanced Medical Probe is when it's procced to instant cast by Bacta Infusion. So don't even bother buying this Tactical.

---

Gearing and Stats

Now you have a couple of options here. Keep using the static/unmoddable Med Tech and/or Mender's gear or use Item Modifications.

It's only really beneficial to upgrade your static gear pieces to Item Rating 328 if you saved up your Weekly Crates prior to 7.1. It's much easier to use two 328 pieces to gain access to the modifications vendor. See my Game Update 7.1 Level 80 Item Modification Guide for details on how to get access to the Item Modification Vendor on your faction's Fleet.

Static/Unmoddable Gear

My general advice would be to not use static gear if you want to be optimised. But if you are happy to stay at just 328 Item Rating and not fuss around with your stats or mods, you can use static gear. Just stick with Med Tech pieces and maybe swap around one gear piece for Mender's depending on the Legendary Implants you use. If you are using two Alacrity Legendary Implants, you will have to swap out one Critical armour piece for an Alacrity armour piece.

Here is the stat distribution for Med-Tech and Mender's Gear.

	Med-Tech	Mender's
Head	Alacrity	Crit
Chest	Alacrity	Crit
Gloves	Crit	Alacrity
Legs	Crit	Alacrity
Boots	Crit	Alacrity

For non-armour pieces, you want to wear the following:

• Thyrsian Adept Earpiece
• Thyrsian Med-Tech's Blaster Pistol
• Thyrsian Med-Tech's Offhand Blaster
• Thyrsian Relic of Focused Retribution
• Thyrsian Relic of Devastating Vengenace (< 4000 Critical Rating) OR Serendipitous Assault (> 4000 Critical Rating)

If you end up with any Rakata pieces from doing PvE content, wearing them is perfectly fine as stats are identical to Thyrsian at any Item Rating!

Moddable Gear

I would highly recommend going the moddable gear route and mimicking the Med Tech static gear stats (two Alacrity enhancements and three Critical Rating enhancements). Now you can just use the 328 modifications and be done with it. But, if you are willing to do some PvE Content, you can really optimise your stats while remaining at 328 Item Rating. Before I go into the details, let me explain how bolster works in PvP.

Item Rating and Bolster

As of Game Update 7.1, PvP bolster is now at Item Rating 328 and Augments now work. However, colour crystals still are not working (shrugs).

Remember Level Sync/Bolster will only start affecting your stats if you go above an overall rating of 328. In other words, it doesn't matter what the Item Rating of individual pieces/mods you have equipped are as long as your overall Item Rating is at 328. As long as your overall Item Rating is at 328, your stats will not get reduced. However, if your overall item Rating goes up to 329, then all your stats will get reduced by the bolster system to 328 levels. This means you miss out on bonus stats.

You can make things easy for yourself and just stick with 328 mods/gear or you can wear some pieces/use mods with higher item ratings to increase your stats. If you are willing to do PvE you can better optimise your stats than if you just stick with 328 gear and upgrade your Implants.

BiS Item Rating Set-Up

The optimal Item Rating set-up for PvP currently is as follows.

• 316 Relics
• 334 Implants
• 330 Mainhand and Offhand
• 330 Rakata Earpiece
• All Armour pieces with Enhancements 330
• Belt and Bracers - one 330, one 328

This will give you an overall Item Rating of 328 while increasing your stats quite a bit compared to just wearing normal 328 PvP gear. If you aren't able to obtain a Rakata Adept Earpiece, you can instead use a 328 Thyrsian and have both your Belt and Bracers at 330 Item Rating.

BiS Mods

These are the mods you should be using in your gear.

• Versatile Barrel 100 (330)
• Versatile Armouring 100 (330)
• Lethal Mod 100 (330)
• Adept and Nimble Enhancements (330)

PvP Stats

You do not need to worry about Mastery or Endurance. It is included by default on all of your Item Modifications. Your focus should be on getting your tertiary stats (Alacrity and Critical Rating) at the right thresholds.

Stat	Descriptor	Raw Number
Alacrity	1.4 GCD	2054
Critical Rating	Diminishing Returns	4000

PvE Gear and Stats

You do not need to worry about Mastery or Endurance. It is included by default on all of your Item Modifications. Your focus should be on getting your tertiary stats (Alacrity and Critical Rating) at the right thresholds.

Stat	Descriptor	Raw Number
Alacrity	1.3 GCD Guild Perk	3209
Alacrity	1.4 GCD No Guild Perk	2054
Critical Rating	Diminishing Returns	4000

Relics

Focused Retribution is the first relic you should have. The second relic will depend on your Critical Rating. If you are below 4000 Critical Rating, you should use Devastating Vengeance. If your Critical Rating is above 4000, you should use Serendipitous Assault.

Augments

You can utilise three tiers of augments depending on your budget. If you can, at least get the Purple Level 75 Augments (that extra Power is too good to pass up). Gold Augments are extremely expensive and are not worth the effort unless you have billions of credits lying around.

The following Crew Skills can craft Augments.

• Armourmech - Alacrity Augment 74 & 77
• Synthweaving - Critical Augment 45, 74, 77 & Alacrity Augment 45

---

Stims, Medpacs and Adrenals

In PvP and PvE, you want to be using the Versatile Stim.

PvP

For PvP, you want to be using the Warzone Medpacs and Adrenals. You get these as a drop from your match completion crates. The Medpac does not restore a fixed amount of health. Instead, it restores 35% of your maximum health. The adrenal increases your Damage Reduction by 15% for 15 seconds. So use it as another cooldown.

PvE

For PvE, the Advanced Kyrprax Medpac and Advanced Kyrprax Adrenals are the highest level available. You can craft them on Biochem and if your raid toon is Biochem, you can craft reusable versions to use instead. Only characters with the Biochem Crew Skill can use reusable Stims.

---

Rotations, Priorities and Buffs

Here are all the various rotations and priorities and important buffs. But first let's discuss our resource, Heat.

Energy Cells

Commando Healers have Energy Cells as their resource. Using an ability costs Energy Cells. The more abilities you use that cost Energy Cells, the lower your Energy Cells get. Some abilities cost more Energy Cells than others. Med Shot is our base Heal does not cost any Energy Cells and should be weaved in (used) regularly between your other Abilities that cost Energy Cells.

Rotations and Priorities

Commando Healers have a loose rotation centred around the Bacta Infusion -> Advanced Medical Probe combo, using Successive Treatment off cooldown and the efficient use of Supercharge.

Key things to consider:

• Try to use Bacta Infusion -> Advanced Medical Probe off cooldown. You want to do this for a couple of reasons. To take advantage of Advanced Scanning (Legendary implant) cooldown reduction of Bacta Infusion (if you're using it) and to keep Integrated Probes up (Ability Tree Passive). Integrated Scanning lasts for 15 seconds.
• Activating Supercharge Cell makes your Bacta Infusion critically heal (if you're using Concentrated Fire Legendary implant). So you should try to use Bacta Infusion AFTER activating Supercharge. The buff that this Legendary applies when you use Supercharge Cell is available to you for 20 seconds. While it is better to use Bacta Infusion -> Advanced Medical Probe with Supercharge active to take advantage of the 5% healing increase, the Concentrated Fire buff lasts beyond that 6-second duration of Supercharge. In the event you muck up your rotation, you will still be able to utilise the buff just not as effectively since you are missing out on the 5% healing increase from Supercharge.
• Watch who you target with Successive Treatment. The additional ticks of healing spread out to allies around the initial target of the heal. To use it efficiently, place it on an ally with friendlies close to them or yourself if you're next to your teammates. Alternatively, it works well as a burst heal for yourself or a tank if required. Use it off cooldown ideally towards the end of Supercharge.
• Use Med Shot (1 charge) and Medical Probe (2 charges) to build up 10 charges of Supercharge Cell then activate it. Try to use it off cooldown. You should build up 10 stacks fairly quickly and regularly by using Med Shot frequently as a filler. If you're using the SC-4 Treatment Scanner Tactical this will make Successive Treatment build up to 4 stacks of supercharge.
• Medical Probe builds up stacks of Critical Efficiency which reduces the cost of your next Advanced Medical Probe per stack (stacks up to 3 times). Having 3 stacks of Critical Efficiency will make your next Advanced Medical Probe free. Medical Probe if you're specced into Charged Barrier (Ability Tree Passive) also gives you 2% Damage Reduction per charge. You can have up to three charges (6% DR).
• Trauma Probe can be refreshed on priority targets or stacked players as your energy cell management allows. Always refresh Probes on everyone during downtimes including when there aren't many enemies around or not much damage is going out.
• Kolto Bomb is not only an AoE heal but also acts as an AoE Slow reducing the movement speed of up to 8 enemies hit by 50% for 3 seconds. This is particularly useful in Huttball.
• Weave in Med Shot to build up your supercharge and to help manage your heat! It is your base heal and does not cost any Heat.

The key to healing well is to be able to quickly switch targets and be able to predict who is going to take the most damage. Use your filler abilities when there isn’t much damage going out.

How to use your Defensives and Utilities

In this section, I'm going to talk about how and when you utilise each of your abilities including positioning.

• Echoing Deterrence - use when taking a lot of incoming damage especially burst damage from multiple sources. Keep in mind that you can use it while stunned.
• Reactive Shield - use when taking a steady amount of damage. If you are specced into Trauma Stabilisers (Ability Tree Passive) use it when you are getting hit by a few enemies so you can build your 10 stacks up quickly. You can click off the stacks (you can see them on your buff bar) to apply the heal immediately if you're low on health.
• Adrenaline Rush - use when taking a decent amount of damage. You can precast it before going into fights and it will trigger automatically once you go below 35% (or 60% if you take the Kolto Surge passive).
• Diversion - use when getting hit by a couple of enemies to absorb some damage and in more heated fights to give yourself 6 seconds of interrupt immunity. Keep in mind that players can still stun you.
• Electro Net - ideally used on enemy team healers, enemy ball carriers in Huttball or on pesky melee DPS who won't leave you alone.
• Concussion Charge - use to give yourself or a (ranged) teammate some breathing room. If knocking melee with leaps away use your knockback near a LoS (line of sight) point so they can't leap back to you straight away to get them off your tail for a few extra seconds. For example, if you're near a pillar use the knockback while standing near the corner of it, then go around the corner to prevent melee from leaping to you.
• Tech Override - Use to give yourself an instant cast (no channel) on Medical Probe. Also, gives you 6 seconds of interrupt immunity. Again, players can still stun you. Note it does not work with channelled abilities (damage/heal ticks multiple times throughout cast) eg. Successive Treatment, Full Auto.
• Recharge Cells - use to increase your Energy Cells in the event you get low on Energy Cells and really need to be able to keep healing. Also makes the next ability you use cost no Energy Cells.

Buffs

In this section, I wanted to overview some of the key buffs that you can apply to yourself and other players as this will help inform you how and when to use your healing abilities and who to use them on.

Buffs you can apply to yourself and other players

• Successive Treatment
  • Preventative Medicine (Passive) - heals the primary target of Succesive Treatment for an additional x over 9 seconds.
  • Protected - increases armour of all targets hit by Successive Treatment by 10% for 45 seconds (Preventative Medicine Passive).
• Advanced Medical Probe
  • Invigorated - increases healing received by 3% for 45 seconds (Kolto Residue Passive).
• Bacta Infusion
  • Emergency Response - makes the next Advanced Medical Probe activate instantly.

Buffs you can apply to yourself

• Med Shot
  • Regenerates 1 Energy Cell when it normally heals and 2 Energy Cells when it critically heals (Med Boosters Passive).

---

Builds

In this section, I cover a couple of different builds I'm currently running.

PvP Build 1

This is my current PvP build. This build is defensive-heavy with some interrupt immunity and has little mobility.

Flex Spots

Level 39 - This is definitely one of those rows that comes down to personal preference. There isn't a wrong choice here. Personally, I like Neighbourly Probes as most of the time my teammates are bunched up within 5 meters of each other anyway in unranked. So the cross healing from Neighbourly Probes can add up quite a bit!

Level 73 - If you want that extra oomph in defensive capability, then you can absolutely take Trauma Stabilisers instead of Paralletic Combat Stims. However, I personally find that given how prevalent immobilising and incapacitating effects are at the moment, it certainly doesn't hurt to give yourself that extra help when it comes to heat management. Note, there is no cooldown on it.

Notes

The Integrated Probes (23) passive pairs well with the Advanced Scanning Legendary Implant effectively enabling you to almost always have a 3% buff to all the healing you do. If you then add in the Concentrated Fire Legendary Implant, you get yourself a potent burst heal combo if you use Bacta Infusion after activating Supercharge.

Each cast of Medical Probe builds a stack of Charged Barrier (27) which increases your damage reduction by 2% per stack and lasts for 15 seconds. So taking Charged Barrier effectively can give you constant Damage Reduction. It stacks up to 3 times so if you have 3 stacks of Power Barrier, you have 3% DR.

PvE Build 1

You can definitely build to be more mobile for PvE. For most encounters, the base defensives (without ability tree buffs) will suffice. Basically, I threw this build together for the rare occasions where I actually get to fill in as healer for my Guild.

Notes

Depending on the encounter there are a couple of rows you will want to change.

Level 39 - If you don't want to fuss around with your ability tree, then Efficient Probes is a good option to take. Depending on the encounter though, you can tailor which passive you take. For encounters where your group is going to be spread out, you can use Trauma Shield and for encounters where your group is going to be mostly stacked, you can use Neighbourly Probes.

Level 43 - you may want to take the raid buff instead. But that will depend on your group.

Level 68 - you can swap out Echoing Deterrence for Hold the Line as needed.

---

UI Setup

This is how I currently have my UI set up for PvP. I use a Logitech G600 Mouse so having the bars set up vertically, three across, matches perfectly with the side buttons of the G600.

Here is a link to my UI if you wish to download it for yourself (via Dropbox) - Xam Xam 01

---

Essential PvP Tips and Tricks

In this section of the guide, I go over some essential PvP tips and tricks. They will help you better understand how to heal in PvP and how to be a better PvPer.

---

My PVP Experience and Special Thanks

Special Thanks

Just want to say thank you to my Patreons, Twitch Subscribers and other supporters who help cover the costs of running this silly little website. Thank you to Andynul for teaching me the HTML coding used in this guide. And finally, thank you to the folks in the Theorycrafters Discord who do all the math and testing to figure out all the things. And thank you to Cease for your insights on gearing and stats for PvP.

My PvP Experience

I have a Warlord Commando (99) and an Elite Warlord Mercenary (100). I’ve been playing Mercenary/Commando heals at max level since 1.x days. I have experience PvPing on almost every Combat Style/Class and Discipline. Some more than others. I’ve levelled most of my alts through PvP (or predominantly PVP). Other classes, I have experience with include Carnage Marauder, Sage/Sorc DPS & Heals, Scoundrel/Operative Heals and Pyrotech Powertech. I do not claim to be the best PvPer, PvP is a game mode I really enjoy and I’m always looking to improve and be a better PvPer.