Deployment Tactics is Pretty Useless

[YusiKha]

In its current state, Deployment Tactics doesn’t serve much of a purpose in the game. The skill is either underwhelmingly weak for a 120s cooldown, or overwhelmingly finicky that using it is just not an option in most scenarios.

Let me give some examples:
You need a partywide shield, so you decide to cast Adloquium on the Main Tank and deploy the shield instead of casting Succor.
You have saved 100mp and gained shield strength of up to 150p, at the cost of a weave slot and 180p worth of health healing.
So an overall loss of 30p healing and 80p of damage from the weave, with a chance of losing further shielding if the target takes damage before you can spread the shield.

So spreading an Adlo outside of prepull isn’t really a viable tactic. Let’s check the other galvanise that you could spread.

There are multiple AoEs coming out in quick succession. You cast a Succor beforehand for the first one, and want to spread your shield to cover the second one. Since everybody will be taking damage, you will either need a PLD/GNB to use their invulnerability skill, or precisely time your Deployment Tactics so that the old effect is broken before the new one applies, but the effect is still there for you to spread it from.
Not an easy thing to do whatsoever, so it can hardly be relied upon for standard mitigation.
Best case scenario, you gain 225p shielding for 80p from the weave. Worst case; you gain nothing.

TL;DR Deployment is a 30p or unreliable 225p gain for a 120s cooldown.
Hardly worth having, let alone being classified as a signature skill comparable to Holy and Fell Cleave. So what should we do about it?

First - decrease the cooldown.
Other GCD-affecting oGCDs (Horoscope, Plenary) have a 60s cooldown for a 200-400+ healing gain. Homogenisation is bad, but we’re standardising, not homogenising.

Second - Give it a more accessible effect.
Have it restore broken shields in the area of effect to full health, and spreading the full health shield. This means that galvanise effects would persist when broken (probably have a cracked and greyed out icon)

Finally Third - Give it an effect outside of Galvanise.
Plenary can be used with Afflatus Rapture, Horoscope heals uncharged. We shouldn’t have to give up a damage GCD to use Deployment. This is easy enough - have it affect Seraphic Veil.


So now we have a 60s oGCD that can shield for 225 potency if you need to cast a Succor, 210 potency for a 3rd mini-consolation effect, or 435 in the rare case that both are required. The original usage still remains, of course, and is now not prone to being damaged before spreading.

Thank you for reading.

[LeonKeyh]

I leveled SCH (My first healer) without looking at guides recently because I wanted to learn it and figure out what each ability does and where it should be used, and Deployment Tactics was always one that I thought that I didn't fully understand. The large cooldown combined with the actual ability, I sat there and racked my brain trying to figure out what the best use of it would be. I had found an "ok" use of it; Putting galvanize on me and the tank prepull and then using Deployment Tactics right as the tank's Galvanize runs out to refresh it, but it always seemed like a long walk for a short drink of water.

I always had just assumed that I was missing something that wasn't obvious. It seems, especially with the MP cost reduction to Succor, to just be a "meh" ability though. It would be nice if it at least in addition to spreading Galvanize would add Catalyze to the people it hits as well.

[YusiKha]

It would be nice if it at least in addition to spreading Galvanize would add Catalyze to the people it hits as well.

It used to spread the added effect, in fact - catalyse was added so that you couldn’t spread critical adloquiums, as being able to spread a ~1000+ potency (including the Crit multiplier) shield could randomly negate entire mechanics in their entirety. That was quite rightfully removed.

The more standard usage prior to ShB was spreading a Succor effect from an invulnerable target (the fairy was immune to most damage) to get double the shield value. You can’t do that anymore though, since the fairy is untargetable.

[Risvertasashi]

It's not useless at all, it's a very nice raid skill.

Granted, damage this expac has been so light that perhaps it hasn't had a chance to shine as it once did.

[GrimGale]

It used to spread the added effect, in fact - catalyse was added so that you couldn’t spread critical adloquiums, as being able to spread a ~1000+ potency (including the Crit multiplier) shield could randomly negate entire mechanics in their entirety. That was quite rightfully removed.

The more standard usage prior to ShB was spreading a Succor effect from an invulnerable target (the fairy was immune to most damage) to get double the shield value. You can’t do that anymore though, since the fairy is untargetable.

Indeed. They changed Galvanize and Fairy mechanics and left Deployment tactics as it is. DT no longer synergises well with the rest of the kit, especially for a 120s CD.

Recitation+Critlo+Deployment is still a decent full party mitigation tho, even if you only get to use it reliably at the beginning of a fight and during heavy damaging phase transitions.

[Brandedblade]

You need a partywide shield, so you decide to cast Adloquium on the Main Tank and deploy the shield instead of casting Succor.
You have saved 100mp and gained shield strength of up to 150p, at the cost of a weave slot and 180p worth of health healing.
So an overall loss of 30p healing and 80p of damage from the weave, with a chance of losing further shielding if the target takes damage before you can spread the shield.

So spreading an Adlo outside of prepull isn’t really a viable tactic.

A couple of things. I personally wouldn't deploy off the tank unless it was a coordinated moment like popping a Divine veil or benefiting from a WAR's thrill of battle. I would deploy off myself so that i can control the position the deploy goes off of. This also solves the issue of the tank taking damage at the time and eating the shield.

Not to mention if you're planning to use deployment tactics you may already be factoring in the costs of the Succor healing (using it over Succor in a moment where the healing would be over healing) and the dps loss of weaving (by using an Energy Drain in the same weave slot).

There are multiple AoEs coming out in quick succession. You cast a Succor beforehand for the first one, and want to spread your shield to cover the second one. Since everybody will be taking damage, you will either need a PLD/GNB to use their invulnerability skill, or precisely time your Deployment Tactics so that the old effect is broken before the new one applies, but the effect is still there for you to spread it from.
Not an easy thing to do whatsoever, so it can hardly be relied upon for standard mitigation.
Best case scenario, you gain 225p shielding for 80p from the weave. Worst case; you gain nothing.

This stopped being a thing the moment your faerie became unforgettable. What is stopping you from Deploying a stronger Adlo shield to cover the first couple of hits and then using a faerie or aetherflow heal to cover the rest? if you can pull it off great but otherwise it would just be easier to deploy off yourself prior to the damage going out.

[Raminax]

Maybe they could change it to affect your next Adloquium cast, similar to how Emergency Tactics work? Activate Deployment Tactics, your next Adloquium within X or Y seconds causes it to gain an AoE effect of 10 yalms around the target. Would make it a bit less clunky to use, if anything.

[Kurando]

If the SCH could spread another effect like Eye for an Eye used to, then perhaps it would feel like it has more use. Spreading Excog would be super nice though probably a bit OP, so maybe allow it to have a dual use; allowing Chain Stratagem to be spread to nearby targets. Least it's a useful utility for fighting mobs when group shielding isn't required.

[YusiKha]

Snip

I was providing best case scenarios to show how Deployment Tactics, even in the best circumstances, is an underwhelming ability.

Spread Adlo? Stronger shield than Succor’s, but weaker overall. If Succor would overheal, then 9 times out of 10 you won’t need the shield.
Spread Succor? It’s insanely difficult to do, but then you get a whopping 225potency shield for a 120s cooldown.

Yeah, you can find usages if you’re playing safely and not caring about your DPS, but Scholar already has a vastly superior safety tool that requires no setup - Sacred Soil.

[WaxSw]

It's not useless at all, it's a very nice raid skill.

Granted, damage this expac has been so light that perhaps it hasn't had a chance to shine as it once did.

Still in the middle of a battle if the damage of a hit is high you want to prioritize succor over spreadlo since the hp+shield of succor (405 value) is higher than the shield you would spread to your party (375 value) meaning that unless you need that difference of exactly 150 potency of shield (375-180*1,25) to survive which outside of ultimate is something that does not happen (and even in ultimate that can be worked around with proper cd planning) DT is not an optimal tool ,and in the case that the high damage comes from several attacks that happen in rapid succession there succor is the way to go since it will give you the healing quicker than a spreadlo and giving you more value for each gcd you use.

Imo SE should change this skill either by making eos recive shields once again becoming an ogcd succor or by making it a skill that remembers the last shield used by the user (consolation too) and spreads it because at it is rn is mostly a downtime tool and a very niche skill