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From what I've seen, the base abilities of the Sage don't offer much in the way of Area of Effect powers. With that in mind, I worked on the talent trees until I came up with a build that seems to be able to do a good bit of AoE damage, supplemented by some decent single-target powers. Here's the build.

My goals were as follows:
* Have enough Force energy to use powers as fast as they become available.
* Get both AoE attack powers in the trees (Telekinetic Wave and The Force In Balance)
* Maximize (non-critical) AoE damage
* Focus on reliable damage boosts instead of boosts to damage on crits.

In the end, the build is fairly balanced, with 22 points in Telekinetics, 12 points in Balance, and 7 points in Seer. Now, the question is, how will it perform compared to more focused builds?

I'm kinda curious to see how this plays myself.

It looks decent, for what you're going for.

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Current Co-Host of All Wings Report In, the Official Podcast of the Rebel Legion SW costuming club
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I'm playing a Sorcerer mostly in beta right now (mirror class to the Sage), and I can tell you your multi-target damage abilities aren't necessarily as AoE focused as you might think. A lot of it comes from chain lightning, and DoTing up secondary targets while you wail away on others. This build could work, but I think you're spreading yourself thin to achieve something that won't be as deadly as you're expecting.

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Jedi Master Tir-Jin Meteos, The Order of 66
PC GAMER - T.J. Hafer

Well, part of it is wanting more than one ranged AoE, and the other part is wanting to be different from the cookie-cutter telekinetics build. I'm still planning to try out the build, but hopefully respec will be an option if it fails.

Respeccing within your advanced class is totally available...find the galatic trade network on Coruscant and the guy is right behind it.

And one thing to remember with aoe...make sure your tank uses aoe first....and only in small groups...more that 3 = dead tank

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Captain Zeece / Sgt. Perrian
Order of Sixty Six Webmaster
Guildmaster for The Exiled Lords




Co-host of Geekhead Radio
look me up on Twitter, Google + or Facebook - Clayton Havens

For those interested, I tried out the first 16 points of the hybrid build during the big beta weekend. The first 12 points were dedicated to the Balance tree to get The Force in Balance and Telekinetic Balance.

The Force In Balance was my first ranged AoE, and it was area-targeted instead of centered on an individual. I gained this power at level 20. Getting this power made a HUGE difference in fighting the standard 3-foe group, but was worth using on anything more than a single target. My ability to mow through bad guys improved significantly once I got this power.

Telekinetic Balance removes the cooldown on Telekinetic Throw. I gained this power at level 21. You may not think that is a big deal, since Sages have multiple single-target powers such as Project and Disturbance. However, TK Throw does a lot of damage, and because it is a sustained damage over time, you can use it to quickly take down a foe with a sliver of health left and immediately move on to the next target. It also is very handy when you have a ton of abilities and don't want the hassle of juggling your various single-target powers to get a valid attack chain. Just mash on the TK Throw button until the bad guys go away...

All of the earlier skills in the Balance tree helped as well. Will of the Jedi increased all of my Force abilities by upping my Willpower by 6%, while Empowered Throw increased my TK Throw damage by 12%. Critical Kinesis raised my crit chance for TK Throw (and Disturbance) by 10%. Pinning Resolve (just 1 rank) allowed my Force Lift to hit one standard or weak target in addition to my primary target. Finally, two ranks of Upheaval gave Project a 30% chance of throwing a second object (increasing the damage by 50%).

The rest of my points went into Telekinetics, to increase my maximum Force and reduce the cost of my Force abilities. The only time I ever ran out of Force was when I was chain-healing my companion (who was fighting an Elite that was out of my league).

The build has worked very well so far, but I'm interested to see what happens when I can stack two separate AoE powers (The Force In Balance and Telekinetic Wave) onto a group of foes in rapid succession. However, I'll have to wait until level 32 to find out...

This seems like a good build article in the making for a..oh I dunno... some sort of guild wiki website kinda thing.


Just saying.


ahem.

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EDIT: Build has been replaced with a new hybrid, built around Presence of Mind. This will be posted further down in the thread.

That would be great...but I think we should have some standard builds in the guild wiki before adding an experimental build like this one.

Okay, after 40 levels of experience, and significant research on the boards, I have come up with a hybrid build that works pretty well. The lynchpin of the build is Presence of Mind from the Balance tree. Oddly, PoM is even better enhancing the attacks from Telekinetics than the attacks from Balance.

Here is the description of Presence of Mind:
"When your Telekinetic Throw deals damage, your have a 30% chance to cause your next Force-damaging attack with an activation time to activate instantly and deal 20% more damage."

The "activate instantly" portion is the key - it negates the main disadvantage of Disturbance and Telekinetic Wave. Since Telekinetic Throw is a sustained power with regular ticks of damage, it usually triggers within two casts of the power. You can interrupt Telekinetic Throw as soon as PoM is active by moving slightly, then triggering Disturbance (for single targets) or Telekinetic Wave (for multiple targets). The damage of Telekinetic Wave is significantly higher than Disturbance, so it can be worth it to use TK Wave even on a single target...as long as there's nothing being mezzed nearby. With the 20% damage boost, you can do a lot of damage to an entire area with TK Wave very quickly.

There are a few warnings regarding this build. First, it is built around PvE content, not PvP - I've heard it does a decent job in PvP, I don't have the experience to make the claim myself. Also, it is important to remember that you will draw a LOT of attention from foes when using multiple area attacks in a row. It is highly suggested that you have a competent tank in your group and/or place Force Armor on yourself before you start attacking, and activate Cloud Mind if needed to reduce threat.

Here is the suggested build, and the order in which abilities should be taken. Linchpin abilities are listed in bold text.

Level 10: Will of the Jedi (Rank 1)
Level 11: Will of the Jedi (Rank 2)
Level 12: Empowered Throw (Rank 1)
Level 13: Empowered Throw (Rank 2)
Level 14: Empowered Throw (Rank 3)
Level 15: Pinning Resolve (Rank 1)
Level 16: Upheaval (Rank 1)
Level 17: Upheaval (Rank 2)
Level 18: Critical Kinesis (Rank 1)
Level 19: Critical Kinesis (Rank 2)
Level 20: The Force In Balance
This ability is the first component of the AoE sage build. You can open a fight doing significant damage to 3 separate targets, following up with single-target attacks or closing in to hit foes with Force Wave.

Level 21: Telekinetic Balance
Removing the cooldown on Telekinetic Throw has a big benefit for the AoE sage...finishing off foes. Because TK Throw does high damage over 3 seconds, you can quickly finish off someone with a sliver of health and move to the next target without delay. It also enhances what should be your main single-target ability.

Level 22: Psychic Barrier (Rank 1)
Level 23: Psychic Barrier (Rank 2)
Level 24: Psychic Barrier (Rank 3)
Level 25: Presence of Mind
As mentioned above, this ability is the key of the entire build. Once you have Presence of Mind, your attack powers with long casting times (like Disturbance) actually have a place in your attack chain.

Level 26: Inner Strength (Rank 1)
Level 27: Inner Strength (Rank 2)
Level 28: Inner Strength (Rank 3)
Level 29: Mental Longevity (Rank 1)
Level 30: Mental Longevity (Rank 2)
Note - Cloud Mind is gained at this level, and is very useful. Activate this at the end of your attack chain to reduce the threat you've built up.

Level 31: Mind's Eye
Level 32: Concentration (Rank 1)
Level 33: Concentration (Rank 2)
Level 34: Telekinetic Defense (Rank 1)
Note - Forcequake is gained at this level, which is excellent against standard and weak foes (often negating their attacks entirely)

Level 35: Telekinetic Defense (Rank 2)
Level 36: Telekinetic Wave
Gaining your second AoE, which hits up to 5 targets near the primary target, opens up the potential of a big one-two punch. Plus, with only a 6-second cooldown, you can even activate a third AoE as soon as it recovers. This should always be combined with Presence of Mind for the instant-cast and damage boost.

Level 37: Penetrating Light (Rank 1)
Level 38: Penetrating Light (Rank 2)
Level 39: Penetrating Light (Rank 3)
Level 40: Immutable Force (Rank 1)
Level 41: Immutable Force (Rank 2)
Once you get two ranks of Immutable Force, you may as well take Benevolence off your action bar, as you'll never use it again. With a casting time of 2.4 seconds for Deliverance, you make a passable backup healer when needed. If Deliverance won't do the job quickly enough, use Force Armor instead.

Level 42: Psychic Suffusion (Rank 1)
Level 43: Psychic Suffusion (Rank 2)
This is the culmination of the AoE build, giving a 10% damage bonus with all AoE powers.

Level 44: Force Wake (Rank 1)
Level 45: Force Wake (Rank 2)
While not an essential part of the build, Force Wake enhances your 'reserve' AoE, the point-blank Force Wave. Being able to both push back and immobilize foes with a single attack increases your survivability, and can hold enemies in place long enough for another AoE to be used.

Level 46: Psychic Projection (Rank 1)
Level 47: Psychic Projection (Rank 2)
While Weaken Mind isn't as effective for you as a pure Balance Sage, the ability to get a double-speed TK throw on a crit is quite useful, especially against bosses.

Level 48: Telekinetic Effusion (Rank 1)
Level 49: Telekinetic Effusion (Rank 2)
The Force cost of AoE attacks can add up quickly. Since you'll be frequently using TK Wave right after TK Throw (which crits a LOT, especially with Critical Kinesis and Penetrating Light), this makes your build much more efficient on force use. The reduced cooldown on Force Speed is a bonus, allowing you to kite melee foes in conjunction with Force Wave (with the Force Wake ability) and TK Throw.

Level 50: Tidal Force (Rank 1)
This allows both Disturbance and Forcequake to recycle Telekinetic Wave, and provides a second way to negate the activation time for the power.

Final build: 7 Seer / 18 Telekinetics / 16 Balance

Your AoE attack chain at higher levels (36+) should be something like this:
Force Armor (right before combat starts)
Telekinetic Wave (opener)
Forcequake OR The Force In Balance (if fighting mobile foes unaffected by Forcequake's knockdown)
Telekinetic Throw (to trigger Presence of Mind, and take out weakened foes)
Telekinetic Wave or Disturbance (every time Presence of Mind triggers)
Weaken Mind (anywhere in the chain where you have time to trigger it, but remember that this build focuses on hitting multiple foes instead of concentrating on a single target)

Despite the AoE focus, the build also has a decent single-target chain:
Force Armor (right before combat starts)
Mind Crush (opener)
Weaken Mind
Telekinetic Throw (repeat until Presence of Mind triggers)
Disturbance (for energy efficiency) OR Telekinetic Wave (for damage, as long as it won't break mez on nearby foes)

Repeat the last two steps as needed, refreshing Weaken Mind and Mind Crush when they drop (use Presence of Mind to apply Mind Crush instantly)


Variations: If you don't have problems with energy efficiency, or don't have Disturbance in your attack chain, Concentration can be dumped for Disturb Mind, and Telekinetic Effusion can be replaced with either Kinetic Collapse or Containment. The most extreme variation would be to drop everything in the Telekinetic tree after Telekinetic Wave, and invest the points in either Balance (getting Containment, finishing off Pinning Resolve and Upheaval, then adding Force Suppression and Drain Thoughts) or Seer (getting Foresight, Preservation, Rejuvenate, and Conveyance).

AoE Sages can really get the job done in Voidstar. I have a spec that allows me to go between AoE mode and single target DPS mode quickly. In Single target mode I'm looking at 150k - 200k damage (usually with 100k healing thrown in). With AoE mode and opponents crowding at doors, I can top 300k a match in Voidstar.

The real kicker is to just keep forcequaking and then slamming them with telekinetic wave the moment it procs for instant cast. Use your crit improvement ability as well, and expect to see lots of big numbers. I've hit a group of 6 for 3k each all at once, 18k in a single moment is really nice.

I would like to see how the AoE specific spec Sage works in pvp and in-game.

_________________
You're good, but you're no Luke Skywalker - Wedge Antilles
You're good, but you're no Wes Janson - Wes Janson

It would also be very welcome in the Operations dealing with trash with over 100k hit points a piece.

_________________
Captain Zeece / Sgt. Perrian
Order of Sixty Six Webmaster
Guildmaster for The Exiled Lords




Co-host of Geekhead Radio
look me up on Twitter, Google + or Facebook - Clayton Havens

A combination of factors has led me to consider changing my skill tree allocation.

First while my AoE damage is fine, I'm worried that my single-target damage is subpar for Operations. Having a few of the higher-tier abilities may help with this.

Second, I'm not getting enough benefit from my investment in the Telekinetics tree. I hardly ever use Disturbance because Telekinetic Throw does more damage. Even instant-casting Disturbance via Presence of Mind seems subpar in comparison to TK Throw. That makes Tidal Force less attractive. Telekinetic Effusion, my other high level skill in Telekinetics, seems redundant because TK Throw + Psychic Barrier is sufficient to keep my Force level near maximum.

My current thought is to switch from 7/18/16 to 7/13/21. That would give me Force Suppression, which should significantly increase damage with my periodic damage abilities. It also makes Force Lift instant-cast (handy for emergencies) and lets me get the 3rd rank in Upheaval (45% chance of doing +50% damage with Project). Thoughts?

I poked Torun since he is the current Sage dps king... hopefully he can give you some insight once he gets my message.

_________________
Captain Zeece / Sgt. Perrian
Order of Sixty Six Webmaster
Guildmaster for The Exiled Lords




Co-host of Geekhead Radio
look me up on Twitter, Google + or Facebook - Clayton Havens

I think the new 1.2 changes really are trying to get sages to go all the way to the end of their trees to maximize damage/healing.

However, for the AoE sage, it would seem that telekinetic wave is a must, which you can still get and also get Force in Balance (instant area effect). I have seen people planning for 1.2 who will get telekinetics and tidal force as well as the tk throw spam in the balance tree.

To be honest I am now a 0/10/31 build. I went away from tk throw, because while it does do good AoE, I found the mobility you get from Balance really helps out. Also now I just basically can throw down two AoE's, 1 instant which hits really big, and another (forcequake) which is slow and does okay damage over time. I think that Telekinetics tree is the way to go to get bigger damage from AoE, however that kills your mobility.

It really is about the way you play, I've been testing things out, and I'm a much more mobile player because I pvp. I think it's going to be a matter of trial and error to figure out which is best.

_________________
You're good, but you're no Luke Skywalker - Wedge Antilles
You're good, but you're no Wes Janson - Wes Janson