A Guide to Barriss Offee after the "Order 66 Patch"
Introduction: "Don't throw the Barriss out with the Bathwater." :)
On December 17, CG launched a patch that boosted Sith abilities against Jedi and nerfed Barriss Offee's healing abilities. This has led to much controversy about the nerfs, whether they were warranted, what compensation should be given to purchasers, etc.
That's not what this thread is about.
This thread is a response to many of the comments I have seen since the patch, saying Barriss is "useless" or "she has no place on my team", etc. I've also seen a number of posts suggesting that many people simply don't know how to use her properly. I've used her a lot and I still think she's a valuable asset, so I hope this helps you.
Overview of Abilities
Barriss Offee is a nearly pure healer who has several ways of restoring health to a party. She has very limited offense, with a below-average damage main attack and no special attacks. She has extremely high health, which can be boosted even higher if her leadership ability is used.
Main Heal
Text (level 6): "All allies have their current Health percentages equalized. Then, each ally recovers 12.5% of their Max Health".
This is probably her most misunderstood ability, as it consists of two parts. First, all existing health pools are equalized. And second, a small heal is applied as a percentage of each character's total health.
The equalization is essentially a "communal redistribution" of health. If some characters are near full and some are near death, points are taken from the healthy ones and given to the unhealthy ones so everyone's bar is about the same. This is the controversial part of her heal that can bypass healing immunity, because it technically isn't a heal. It bothers people when it is used against them for the same reason that it is great when you use it properly. :)
After the equalization, the regular heal is applied. This will not work past healing immunity. It is also now one of the weakest pure heals in the game.
Main Attack Heal
Text (level 6): "Deal Physical Damage to target enemy with a 30% chance for all allies to recover 6% of Barriss Offee's Max Health".
Essentially this is a free heal for the party 3 out of every 10 basic attacks by Barriss. Currently this is worth 900 points or so for me when it procs. RNG is RNG, but when this kicks in at the right time, it is a life saver. And it is basically free.
Leadership Ability
Text (level 6): "Jedi allies gain 17.5% Max Health, and other allies gain half that amount. In addition Jedi allies heal for 6% of Barriss Offee's Max Health, and other allies heal half that amount."
Note that you can only get this to level 6 when she is level 60. Until then it is only 4%. This is a passive heal that each character gets at the start of their turn. The synergy with Jedi is obvious. Note that Luminara has a similar start-of-turn ability, but not a boost to max health.
Unique Ability
Barriss also has a cleanse chance, but I am really not sure if it even works. If it does, it makes too little difference for me to notice it. :(
Strengths and Weaknesses
Barriss is good at these things:
- Saving a character who is being focused down by the AI.
- Saving a character who is heal-blocked, as long as that character's health is below the average of the rest of the team.
- Providing potentially substantial passive "free" healing through her main heal and leadership ability.
- Boosting the team's overall HP total by a significant amount, depending on how many Jedi are on it.
- Wasting the enemy's time, because she is not hard to kill but it takes a while.
She is bad at these things:
- Healing the party as a whole if everyone is about the same amount down, such as might occur after several AoEs.
- Everything else other than healing. Her damage is paltry and she has no special attacks.
How to Use Barriss
First, if you are going to use her, you MUST get her main heal boosted as much as possible, simply because it is already so low. You also want at least level 4 on her attack and her leadership skill, this is where big bonuses come in.
Now, because of how her heal works, she is now not a good "main healer" for a party. She simply doesn't bring enough +HP to the party when she fires her main heal. For this reason, she is best used in conjunction with another healer, preferably Luminara. I would even go so far as to say that Barriss should never be used as the only healer in a party.. either go with two, or go with Luminara/JC, or go with no healer at all.
This may be counter-intuitive, but during one-time combat, such as PvP, it is often best to use her heal early on, not save it. You want to use it during those times when you see a great imbalance in HP totals, such as a character who is in a position to be one-shot. When that happens, use the heal. Reserve the more generalized heal of your other healer for times when the whole party is down.
Another good reason to use it early is that this is the time when healing immunity is most often active. Everyone runs Sid these days, and he should be your first or second target. If he gets his debuff applied before you can nuke him, and that character is yellow or red, that is the time to use Barriss.
Do not bother with Barriss's heal if HP totals are roughly equal, unless the party is near death. If everyone is down 30%, you're better off attacking and hoping for a proc, and saving her heal for later.
Where to Use Barriss
My assessments:
- PvP: Still a solid choice, because the passives and the health boosts are significant. However, there are many options here, and especially with the meta moving away from Jedi, she is less attractive in this area. Many people are moving away from her in Arena. I probably will as well.
- Missions (LS/DS/Cantina): A superb choice and usually the one you want to use. Why? Because you generally want to three-star these, which means keeping everyone alive as long as possible across three consecutive fights. Her passive heals are very valuable here, as is the ability to recover from a boss who nails an important but squishy character.
- GW: This is where she really shines, because this is a true war of attrition. Use her in the leader role to boost everyone's health. When you retreat to pull hurting characters out, put them back in later and let her free passives boost them back up. If necessary you can also use her main heal to recover from having one character near dead and 4 that are near full, though try not to start a fight with her heal on a long cooldown. Even if you don't start fights with her as leader, she's a great late substitution for her passive heals, and because her low offense gives you more time to regenerate cooldowns.
- Challenges: Doesn't really matter, anything works for the ones where you aren't limited by character type.
Conclusion
Barriss was overnerfed, but is still a solid character that can do a lot for you. If you are not using her at all, you are probably not playing as optimally as you could be. Don't let your annoyance with the nerfing cause you to bench a quality team member.
On December 17, CG launched a patch that boosted Sith abilities against Jedi and nerfed Barriss Offee's healing abilities. This has led to much controversy about the nerfs, whether they were warranted, what compensation should be given to purchasers, etc.
That's not what this thread is about.
This thread is a response to many of the comments I have seen since the patch, saying Barriss is "useless" or "she has no place on my team", etc. I've also seen a number of posts suggesting that many people simply don't know how to use her properly. I've used her a lot and I still think she's a valuable asset, so I hope this helps you.
Overview of Abilities
Barriss Offee is a nearly pure healer who has several ways of restoring health to a party. She has very limited offense, with a below-average damage main attack and no special attacks. She has extremely high health, which can be boosted even higher if her leadership ability is used.
Main Heal
Text (level 6): "All allies have their current Health percentages equalized. Then, each ally recovers 12.5% of their Max Health".
This is probably her most misunderstood ability, as it consists of two parts. First, all existing health pools are equalized. And second, a small heal is applied as a percentage of each character's total health.
The equalization is essentially a "communal redistribution" of health. If some characters are near full and some are near death, points are taken from the healthy ones and given to the unhealthy ones so everyone's bar is about the same. This is the controversial part of her heal that can bypass healing immunity, because it technically isn't a heal. It bothers people when it is used against them for the same reason that it is great when you use it properly. :)
After the equalization, the regular heal is applied. This will not work past healing immunity. It is also now one of the weakest pure heals in the game.
Main Attack Heal
Text (level 6): "Deal Physical Damage to target enemy with a 30% chance for all allies to recover 6% of Barriss Offee's Max Health".
Essentially this is a free heal for the party 3 out of every 10 basic attacks by Barriss. Currently this is worth 900 points or so for me when it procs. RNG is RNG, but when this kicks in at the right time, it is a life saver. And it is basically free.
Leadership Ability
Text (level 6): "Jedi allies gain 17.5% Max Health, and other allies gain half that amount. In addition Jedi allies heal for 6% of Barriss Offee's Max Health, and other allies heal half that amount."
Note that you can only get this to level 6 when she is level 60. Until then it is only 4%. This is a passive heal that each character gets at the start of their turn. The synergy with Jedi is obvious. Note that Luminara has a similar start-of-turn ability, but not a boost to max health.
Unique Ability
Barriss also has a cleanse chance, but I am really not sure if it even works. If it does, it makes too little difference for me to notice it. :(
Strengths and Weaknesses
Barriss is good at these things:
- Saving a character who is being focused down by the AI.
- Saving a character who is heal-blocked, as long as that character's health is below the average of the rest of the team.
- Providing potentially substantial passive "free" healing through her main heal and leadership ability.
- Boosting the team's overall HP total by a significant amount, depending on how many Jedi are on it.
- Wasting the enemy's time, because she is not hard to kill but it takes a while.
She is bad at these things:
- Healing the party as a whole if everyone is about the same amount down, such as might occur after several AoEs.
- Everything else other than healing. Her damage is paltry and she has no special attacks.
How to Use Barriss
First, if you are going to use her, you MUST get her main heal boosted as much as possible, simply because it is already so low. You also want at least level 4 on her attack and her leadership skill, this is where big bonuses come in.
Now, because of how her heal works, she is now not a good "main healer" for a party. She simply doesn't bring enough +HP to the party when she fires her main heal. For this reason, she is best used in conjunction with another healer, preferably Luminara. I would even go so far as to say that Barriss should never be used as the only healer in a party.. either go with two, or go with Luminara/JC, or go with no healer at all.
This may be counter-intuitive, but during one-time combat, such as PvP, it is often best to use her heal early on, not save it. You want to use it during those times when you see a great imbalance in HP totals, such as a character who is in a position to be one-shot. When that happens, use the heal. Reserve the more generalized heal of your other healer for times when the whole party is down.
Another good reason to use it early is that this is the time when healing immunity is most often active. Everyone runs Sid these days, and he should be your first or second target. If he gets his debuff applied before you can nuke him, and that character is yellow or red, that is the time to use Barriss.
Do not bother with Barriss's heal if HP totals are roughly equal, unless the party is near death. If everyone is down 30%, you're better off attacking and hoping for a proc, and saving her heal for later.
Where to Use Barriss
My assessments:
- PvP: Still a solid choice, because the passives and the health boosts are significant. However, there are many options here, and especially with the meta moving away from Jedi, she is less attractive in this area. Many people are moving away from her in Arena. I probably will as well.
- Missions (LS/DS/Cantina): A superb choice and usually the one you want to use. Why? Because you generally want to three-star these, which means keeping everyone alive as long as possible across three consecutive fights. Her passive heals are very valuable here, as is the ability to recover from a boss who nails an important but squishy character.
- GW: This is where she really shines, because this is a true war of attrition. Use her in the leader role to boost everyone's health. When you retreat to pull hurting characters out, put them back in later and let her free passives boost them back up. If necessary you can also use her main heal to recover from having one character near dead and 4 that are near full, though try not to start a fight with her heal on a long cooldown. Even if you don't start fights with her as leader, she's a great late substitution for her passive heals, and because her low offense gives you more time to regenerate cooldowns.
- Challenges: Doesn't really matter, anything works for the ones where you aren't limited by character type.
Conclusion
Barriss was overnerfed, but is still a solid character that can do a lot for you. If you are not using her at all, you are probably not playing as optimally as you could be. Don't let your annoyance with the nerfing cause you to bench a quality team member.
