WildStar Medic PvP Guide
WildStar Medic PvP Guide by IIIII
Overview
Medic is a fun, albeit simple class. Medic is a medium ranged hybrid healer and damage dealer. Medics are equipped with medium armor and focus more on positioning and decision making than intricate rotations. They also have persistent fields and probes which are unique and exclusive to the class. This guide will focus on Medics from a PvP perspective but a lot of this can translate over into PvE. If you haven’t already checked it out, Unindel does an amazing analysis on the Medic.
Why play a Medic?
Do you like high mobility, high damage classes? Do you enjoy having a unique style of healing? Does boiling your enemies from the inside out sound like an appealing approach to combat? If you said yes to any of the above, Medic is for you! Medics have some of the highest burst in the game which coupled with group wide buffs and their ability to control the battlefield make them an intrical addition to any group. If healing is your thing, Medics take an approach that buffers both health and shields for a unique blend of omgthatssoawesome! If you’re considering the Medic as your class, I recommend giving it a try. I promise you won’t regret it.
Pros: High mobility, high burst, buffs, great utility, tactically rewarding, unique features, fisticuffs!
Cons: Minimal CC, most damage is channeled and therefore interrupts can be a larger detriment to you than to others, short range healing can sometimes be a bit harder to pull off, takes a bit of levels and gear to get the ball rolling.
Stats:
Tech increases your assault power and is your primary DPS stat. You’ll almost always want to pick up pieces that have a high roll on this.
Moxie and Brutality are your secondaries that increase critical chance, critical severity, and strikethrough. You’ll want gear with a combination of all 3 of these DPS stats but if you can get more tech in favor of either of these, I would recommend it.
Flat stats. Some gear will give direct stats such as +critical hit rating, +strikethrough chance etc, etc. Gear like this will almost always be better than a brutality/moxie/tech equivalent.
Rune slots:
Rune slots for DPS tend to be the elements of Earth, Fire, Life, Logic, Shadow and Omni. You’ll want to aim for gear with these slots more often than the more support oriented Water/Air etc. The BiS Medic rune sets tend to focus on Earth and logic mostly, followed by Fire. Omni can be slotted by any element so will be your best slot.
Abilities:
This guide will use the following rating system:
Gold – A must have. You’re literally hurting yourself if you don’t take this.
Blue – Very strong. An exceptionally strong choice.
Green – Average-Strong. A solid choice but nothing game breaking.
Pink – Meh. This is generally something that’s doesn’t stick out but you might use for some reason unbeknownst to me.
(No lower ratings because I acknowledge that each and every skill have their own place to shine and can change rating depending on the circumstances.)
Assault skills:
Discharge – Discharge is your primary actuator builder. You’ll always be taking this but the fact that it does decent damage is just icing.
Gamma Rays – This is your single target (PvE) dump. You likely won’t take this in PvP unless you’re like xX720noscopeaimbotXx good. Landing all 3 beams on a player actually is scary large burst but it’s not practical due to the nature of Wildstars combat.
Nullifier – Nullifier exists as a zoning tool that respectable damage. While you won’t take this skill for Arena, you might find yourself putting it to good use in objective PvP. Placing it on capture points or Mask stations can reward you with a lot of damage.
Fissure – This skill is a blessing from the Carbine gods. Fissure boasts a 12% tech debuff that improves with tiers, and has some nasty damage compliment that. It also comes out in ticks which can help proc some of our other goodies. A+, always take.
Devastator Probes – Having a DoT option is always nice, but due to the nature of PvP being dominated by burst, I find this ability lacking. If the Meta every switches over to sustained damage I could see this being considered.
Quantum Cascade – The cause of many rage quits and late night balance arguments. Our ol buddy QC is a world wide AE that packs a wallop. This will be your PvP dump and makes it extremely easy to land the bulk of your damage. It has the potential to wipe groups if you’ve stacked multipliers which is both extremely fun for you but worrisome towards the health of the game. (QC telegraph has been confirmed for a change and I will update this to reflect that as soon as it goes live.)
Collider – Collider is nice bit of damage that can become quite significant given its requirement is met. As an instant cast burst skill with 2 charges, you’ll always be looking to pick this up if you want to see health bars drop faster than you can say “Carbine please add kitty resonators into the game, I beg of you”.
Annihilation – Another field a la nullifier, that can be used successfully as a zoning tool in objective PvP. Unfortunately due to mobility being king in arena structured PvP, you’ll probably pass on this.
Atomize – This on crit proc ability hits like a truck and you’ll find yourself weaving it into other skills GCDs for an upsetting amount of damage. Having off GCD skills is always nice and makes your combos fluid and quick. A++ don’t leave home without it.
Dematerialize – This is another skill that I think will shine in another meta. Unfortunately during the burst meta, you kill things too fast for purging to really be considered an effective utility. Damage on Dematerialize is mediocre and it’s got a full GCD. Maybe later :~)
Support Skills:
Emission – Bread and butter actuator gain for healing. Very simple, very useful.
Crisis Wave – In the same vein of QC, Crisis Wave offers a large telegraph AE heal to spend our cores on. The heal is significant but the cast time can be daunting. Having tiers into this skill will make up for it’s base flaws and you’ll likely have this on your bar if you’re healing.
Dual Shock – I love the idea behind this skill but I think it fails in that it scales purely off level and support power. As a hybrid skill, I would like to see this scale from both AP/SP to see it shine in a hybrid build. The redeeming quality here is that it’s a off GCD nuke heal that can be extremely valuable in PvP. You wouldn’t be amiss to include this in your LAS.
Mending Probes – Unlike it’s DPS counterpart, I find this probe extremely useful. Healing is another world entirely, and having a significant HoT can tie up a build nicely. Mending Probes will virtually negate some of the other classes DoTs which is enough reason to me to consider it.
Triage – I haven’t extensively tested this skills effectiveness yet but I’ll keep it blue for now because I can see the merits in having a heal/shield skill on such a short cooldown. If you find yourself needing something to fill out your LAS you might want to take this lil goodie.
Flash – Flash is works as a great burst heal for when your out of cores or need that extra bit of help keeping yourself or your allies up. T4ing this makes it one of your best skills as a healer.
Barrier – Your Oh shit! button. Even as a DPS you might consider taking this skill as I have in the past. A shield heal, HoT, and interrupt armor all in one package. If you’re having trouble staying alive this skill will help even out the playing field. Unfortunately it costs an arm and a leg in focus to cast, so only use it if you really to.
Rejuvinator – Again I’m rating blue through ignorance alone. I haven’t touched this skill because at face value.. it’s bad. It’s a ground targeted HoT that requires whoever you’re healing to stop what they’re doing and run for. Even if you drop it directly on them, it accomplishes the same thing that Mending Probes does. I guess if you really wanted to stack HoTs against a DoT heavy team this could be useful, but even then I can’t justify the heavy AMP point investment required to unlock this.
Shield Surge – Probably my favorite skill in the game… that I never use. That’s through no fault of it’s own (kinda) than it is that my play-style just doesn’t allow for cast time skills. As a healer you’ll want this every time, and often T8. Due to T4 SS giving 25% shield mitigation in conjunction with our Energize Passive, it effectively becomes a heal. My only issue with this is that, again, I think hybrid skills should scale from both AP and SP.
Extricate – This is a tricky one. It has a barrier to use in that it requires a lot of skill to maximize its power. Having the only ability in the game to control an ally is a power that cannot be taken lightly. If you play with someone with extreme communication and coordination, this skill could be top tier. Unfortunately for someone like me who solo Qs into PvP, it’s more of a trap than anything.
Utility Skills:
Paralytic Stun – A CC is a CC is a CC. 98% of the time you’ll have this on your bar for PvP. CC is the queen to the Mobility King in the PvP realm. The only time you should ever not have this on your bar is if you know you’re going up against a team who can stack IA/CC breaks.
Urgency – As I’ve pounded into your brains; mobility mobility mobility. Urgency offers us both a blink and a movement speed buff on a relatively short cooldown. This is absolutely necessary for any PvP outside of Arenas.
Restrictor – Similar to Urgency, this offers a blink (backwards) but leaves a snare field rather than giving us movement speed. I see these two abilities as brother and sister and which you take will be preference.
Antidote – Very good skill to take as a healer in PvP. Being able to cleanse that healing debuff on you and your friends is an extreme advantage and one that should not be ignored. The low cooldown and utility of this skill makes it a must take in the higher tiers of competitive PvP.
Recharge – One of few ways a Medic has of fighting the OOM raid boss. Although the numbers seem very meh, any bit of focus sustain helps. The empower bonus is great but the 2 second cast time leaves a lot to be desired. If I could sacrafice the empower for a lower cooldown I think I would. Either way, this is must have.
Protection Probes – Of our 3 unlock skills, this is by far the most appealing. Having a flat damage reduction on a less than 20 second CD can relieve a lot of the pressure. PP takes some heavy investment into the utility tree, so this is a healer medics go to. Did I mention that with proper AMPs, this grants an interupt armor? HELL YEAH!
Empowering Probes – Well this is it guys. This is what makes Medics the best partner to have on any team. Hell, I would goes as far as to say Medics are the most important class in the game! Having a % damage empower that scales in tiers to 30% total is such an incredible buff that I’m surprised it even exists. This should never be off your bar as a DPS medic, and I wouldn’t blame you if it was there as a healer medic.
Magnetic Lockdown – Very good skill that just doesn’t quite fit my play-style. Roots are arguably the strongest CC in the game, being the only one(?) that can’t be blocked with interrupt armor. ML is an easy to aim, AE root alongside some pretty nice damage. The cast time is extremely off putting but with some tiering and proper use, you’ll find this extremely handy.
Calm – This is without a doubt the most important PvP skill Medics have. CC breaks are just as important as CCs. Even more so when you consider ours gives damage mitigation, shield restore, and if AMPd, a dash token. If you don’t take calm I hope you enjoy staring at the ressurect timer.
Field Probes – Lol….
..but seriously, lol. This is the one skill I look at out of all of ours and think to myself.. I would never take that under any circumstances. Whoevers decision is was to put a very meager (25%?) heal reduc on a STATIONARY FIELD, obviously has never PvP’d. The design of the skill is bad, the tiering is bad, even the fact that it’s the last skill you unlock as a Medic is bad. Who wants their final skill to be such a dud? It didn’t feel good hitting that level. I’m giving this skill it’s own color of red because it’s literally that bad.
Assault AMPs:
Armor Pierce – Without proper testing, I can’t see this being a useful take. So many classes have ways of debuffing resistances and every time that happens the value of this line becomes lower and lower. I do not recommend this.
Assault Power – Assault Power!
Strikethrough – Most classes I’ve come across do not have a high base deflect chance and if they are one of the new who can increase theirs, the difference is so large that 3% would not be a noticeable difference. You could still pick this up if you find yourself lacking in places to dump points.
Empowering Aura – Incredibly cost efficient AMP. Giving you and your allies an extra 8% crit is just another reason why Medics are so valuable in comparison to other classes. You might even dig this deep as a healer just because it’s that good.
Core Damage – This buff is one of the only thing that makes Medics complex, and even then it’s not hard to manage. You’ll almost always have 100% up-time on this and although the numbers will probably be nerfed, you’ll pick this up as a DPS no matter the changes.
In Flux – Just like Core Damage, this is a buff that will do it’s job while you do yours. It’s extra damage though so pick it up and move on!
Recycler – Definitely the class defining AMP. Recycler let’s the RNG god decide if you keep to keep bursting or if you get to resort to discharge. Luckily thanks to the nature of QC coming in 4 ticks, you’ll proc this very often in PvP which means more up-time on QC!
Victory Spark – Not an AMP you’d pick up in PvP but could see it being used for heavy grind sessions. Personally, I think this should be replaced with something more interesting.
Danger Zone – Although Medics sport an average 15-20 meter range, you’ll want to play right up front to proc this AMP as much as possible. A huge AP buff simply for playing as a melee gets my thumbs up
Annihilation – Unlocks Annihilation
Meltdown – I love this skill. Absolutely love it. It’s a AE nuke that does considerable damage but also applies overload which deactivates shields? Such wow. Incredibly good in PvP where you can essentially eliminate 10k+ worth of shield by pressing one button.
Assault / Utility AMPs:
PvP offense – Increasing your PvP offense for PvP is a no brainer!
Lifesteal – Definitely a throw away tree. While having some free health just for doing damage is nice, it’s outclassed by the many other incredible options throughout the AMP tree.
Weakness into Strength – Completely useless AMP as you always have atomize proc’d due to our high amount of crits.
Antigen Isolation – Hit or miss AMP. I don’t really like conditional AMPs that rely on kills but having this in a warplot or battleground match could be very useful.
Stay With Me – A damage buff when your low health fits the last stand trope and I don’t really mind having this option available. I just wonder if 30% isnt maybe a bit low of a conditional for a 4 point investment.
Entrapment – Really solid AMP to pick up in conjunction with magnetic lockdown. The expose works for anyone so you’re allowing your entire team to do 6.6% more damage. Unfortunately it’s only usefulf if you have Magnetic Lockdown.
Chemical Burn – A pretty nice dot after crits that ignores Shield Pierce, but at a heavy cost. Aside from being T3, it also costs 6 points. If the dot could stack and did a bit more damage I would find this more appealing.
Energy Pulse – Interesting AMP that also servers as a damage buff when below 30% health. If you consistenly find yourself on the brink of dying, you might consider picking this and Stay With Me to cheese kite your way to winning.
Utility AMPs:
CC resilience – I’m on the edge about this line because of how common CC break and CC immunity is. I would still take this unless I was hurting elsewhere.
Cooldown Reduction – Incredibly useful AMP and especially so for PvP. Energize is on 26 sec CD with 15% CDR and while 4 seconds might not seem a lot, it can mean life or death in PvP.
Dash Regen – Useful mechanic, but out shined by it’s competition. I think you’ll find that dash regens at a perfectly acceptable rate and an extra 21% chance won’t be game breaking.
Concerted Effort – A really good AMP for healers who pack a lot of cast time skills (Emission, Crisis Wave, Shield Surge etc). Having a lowered cooldown on your other skills from being interrupted is really nice. Pro tip: This procs even if you interrupt your own cast with a dodge or jump.
Quick Dodge – The 30 second ICD on this AMP is a bit worrisome but I find it’s positives to more than make up for it. Regening a dash token for doing something you would’ve done anyways is a nice little gift to have. Did I mention this procs off of Calm?
Solid State – A necessary AMP for any healer running prot probes. IA is extremely valuable in PvP and you’ll need to pick it up on your way to unlocked PP anyways.
Regenerator – Passive health regen that is a bit negligible due to its poor scaling. If this saw buff I would think about picking it up as a healer just for that free bit of sustain.
Shield Reboot – I have yet to find this useful but then again, I haven’t tested it a whole lot. I just don’t see it being worth 4 points at all.
Amorpous Barrier – A good amp for a understandably heavy cost. While I wouldn’t run this personally, if you were to put together a tanky medic this AMP should definitely be at the top of your list. Maybe 4 points though?
Prot Probes – Unlocks PP
Health Probes – Another hands free healing mechanic with poor scaling and a heavy point investment. Great in theory, but not worth the points.
Support Utility AMPs:
Shield Capacity – Shields are only 50% mitigation until you personally use a shield heal. Even then, increasing a defense by 9% that’s 25% less effective than health isn’t the best choice, but it also isn’t the worst.
PvP Defense – Pretty cut and dry here.
Emergency Extraction – If you’re going to run Extricate, you better pick this up.
Defense Mechanism – Reducing Barriers cooldown by 2 seconds can be useful and if you’re already sub 30% procing this AMP, you’ll probably really appreciate the lowered cooldown. If you’re having trouble staying up, grab this AMP.
Shield Protocol – I’m honestly not sure how this works. Do you shields constantly regen during the 10 seconds this buff kicks in? If so, that could be pretty useful. I’ll keep it blue.
Debilitative Armor – It’s not clear yet how effective reducing PvP stats are but if it turns out to be good then this is a great AMP to consider. Still put off on all these 6 point AMPs, though.
Acerbic Injection – Incredibly strong AMP that is often looked over because of the 2 second self disable. I’m telling you right now that the heal you get from this is so significant that the disable is negligable. I think this is a very smart AMP to take.
Support AMPs:
Focus Cost – Sounds good right? Unfortunately 6% is very insignificant but you might put points here to climb up the tree.
Support Power – Support Power!
Focus Recovery – Again, sounds good, but then you realize that with the extra .3 regen it would take 105 seconds to gain enough focus for one Crisis Wave cast. Ok.
Reboot – One of my favorite healing AMPs, Reboot gives your shield heal more oomph if your targets shields were empty. It really just pushes shield surge from a top tier skill to a god tier skill.
Emergency – Having a helping hand when your low health is very welcome. Pick this up if you find yourself dropping a lot.
Protective Surge – Hands free healing is always cool! Not sure if the numbers are quite where they need to be but cool AMP none the less.
Armor Coating – One of the stronger AMPs we have, AC increases your armor (DnD guys? Eh eh??) Incredibly great AMP that’s worth every point.
Transfusion – Another hands free healing AMP but one which takes health from you. It’s a pretty cool AMP still, and it might be worth the 4 points if it works for you.
Hypercharge – AoE shield refill every 26 seconds is a tempting choice to me! Another one of those preference points but I personally like it.
Rejuvinator – Unlocks Rejuvinator
Running on Empty – Pretty decent focus regen when you get low and can save your life. Not a mandatory pickup but definitely worth looking at.
Assault/Support AMPs:
Critical Hit – Very easy choice to make. Crit = damage = fun
Critical Hit Severity – 12% is nice but it’s not niiiiiiiiiiiiice. You can take this or you can not. You probably won’t notice it being a deciding factor into if you win or lose.
Scalpel! Forceps! – Pretty cool AMP overall but dunno if the buff duration is long enough. I think 10 seconds would be a good window for you to get the buff rolling. Question: Does Shield Surge proc both Scalpel and Forceps? If so, that is incredible and I would definitely call this mandatory.
Surgical – OK buff for a trash skill. Still would never touch it in PvP.
Power Converter – I don’t like how this functions at all. I understand you have to be careful when tuning hybrids but taking stats away feels awful. I’d rather if just give your lower 20% of your greater while leaving the greater where it’s at. Move it to T3 and make it cost 6 points and I’ll be happy.
Null Zone – Basically a big screw you to stalkers and warriors who get up in your grill. Throw points in here if you have them lying around.
Power Cadence – Passive actuator regen every 9 seconds. Definitely not worth 6 points but it is a nice AMP. 4 points and move to tier 2 before I’d pick it up.
Renewable Probes – If you’re running Mending Probes I could see you taking this but the low chance of procing makes me think twice. I can definitely think of better places to invest those points.
Burst Rotation:
Setting up a burst is quite easy for Medic. The only variable in the rotation is where you use your stun. I usually use it right off the bat to set up a near guaranteed combo.
Empowering Probes > Fissure <-> Parayltic stun – Stun is off GCD which means you cast both of these skills in the time it would have taken you to cast just fissure.
> Quantum Cascade 4 ticks – At this point a few things should have happened. You should have proc’d your atomize by now, you should have Core Damage fully stacked, and you should have regained full cores due to T8 QC / T4 Fissure / Recycler procs.
> Quantum Cascade 3 ticks |-> Energize <-> Collider <-> Atomize – This is where your burst comes in. Why only 3 ticks on QC you ask? Because we want to have every multiplier running for what comes afterwards and In Flux is running if you stay between 1 and 3 cores. If you Energize, Collider, and Atomize in that order simultaneously, you’ll get it all off in 1 second.
> Collider and remaing QCs to finish off whatever ungodly tank survived that intial burst.
This combo will net you anywhere from 60-80k damage in just under 7 seconds. Enjoy!
Match-ups (DPS Perspective):
Obviously match ups are largely dependent on player skill but for the sake of knowledge I’ll touch on how Medics do against each class.
Esper – Probably a tougher match up due to being out-ranged and the amount of CC they pack that can really mess up your combos. They’ve also got a lot of ways to avoid you whether it be pony ride or IAs.
Slinger – Another match up I’ve found personally challenging. Spellslingers have the best defensive cooldowns in the game coupled with straight ridiculous CCs. That on top of chunking you for half of your life in one shot makes them a scary opponent.
Engineer – Even in their broken state, I find Engineer to be more of a skill match up than anything. They both have similar damage and utility but I think Medics have the upper hand in a perfectly balanced dream world.
Stalkers – I kind of feel bad for stalkers for how bad they get crapped on by Medics. Obviously balance is ongoing but even in that dream world, Stalkers have it rough against Medics. Calm and Null zone totally shuts down their burst and Medic AoE is a blessing for stalker stealth fishing.
Warriors – Warriors are basically Stalkers on steroids but their steroids made them lose their stealth. They have permaslow, CC chains, high burst, and sustained damage. Fortunately, calm is a really good skill and because Warriors are always near us they proc danger zone and eat meltdown bursts. These fights can go either way but I think Medics will come out on top.
Builds:
Battleground/Warfront Heal Build
Builds are not final, merely a guideline. I warn you to be skeptical on the healing builds as they are theory-crafted and not field tested like the DPS builds.
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