HaZmY Posted April 1, 2013 Share Posted April 1, 2013 (edited) Mercenary PVP Guide Patch: 1.7.3 Changelog: 04/04/2013 - added Credits and F.A.Q. It is said that Commando/Mercenary is the weakest PvP class in SWTOR due to it's nearly zero team utility, immobility and not being the best at any role! Well it is partly true, but in good hands this class can be a quite good DPS in PvP and that is what I will try to prove you! My guide is not strict and I am also open to new ideas so if you feel you can add something to it, please don't hesitate and comment, but with good manners please! Also if it helped you, give the credits! Content • 1. Abilities • 2. Skill Tree • 3. Rotation • 4. Stats • 5. Priorities • 6. Strategies • 7. Role • 8. Video Links • 9. Credits • 10. F.A.Q. 1. Abilities Tracer Missile Activation: 2 secs Heat: 16 Cooldown: zero Range: 30 m Launches a missile at the target that deals 670 kinetic damage and applies a heat signature, reducing the armor rating by 4% for 15 seconds. Stacks up to 5 times. Heat signatures leave the target vulnerable to Rail Shot. Heatseeker Missiles Instant Heat: 16 Cooldown: 15s Range: 30 m Fires several missiles that deal 816 kinetic damage. This damage is increased by 5% per heat signature on the target. Rail Shot Instant Heat: 16 Cooldown: 15s Range: 30 m Fires a very powerful shot at the target that deals 1404 - 1591 weapon damage. Only usable against incapacitated targets and targets suffering from periodic damage. Unload Instant Heat: 16 Cooldown: 15s Range: 30 m Unloads your blaster into the target, dealing 587 - 690 weapon damage every second. Weak and standard enemies caught in the blaster fire are stunned for the duration. Fires both blasters if dual wielding. Concussion Missile Activation: 2 secs Heat: 8 Cooldown: 60s Range: 30 m Fires a missile at the target that knocks it out for up to 60 seconds. Non-player, non-standard and non-weak targets regenerate health rapidly while knocked out. Damage to the target causes this effect to end prematurely. Jet Boost Instant Heat: 16 Cooldown: 30s Blasts 5 nearby enemies back and away. Targets hit by this take 462 - 501 elemental damage and have their movement slowed by 50% for 4 seconds. 2. Skill tree Arsenal Skill tree: 3/31/7 http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#3000cZMIkbRMdRkfzZf0b.2 Henu's Skill tree: 7/32/2 http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#300Mc0MZMIkrRrdRzczZb.2 3. Rotation Normal Rotation: Explosive Dart Heatseeker Missiles Tracer Missile Tracer Missile Tracer Missile Heatseeker Missiles Rail Shot Unload Death from Above Against Melee: Explosive Dart Heatseeker Missiles Rocket punch Jet Boost ( will be snared for a short duration ) Unload Tracer Missile Tracer Missile Tracer Missile Heatseeker Missiles Rail Shot "Your basic rotation, while not very complex, can take a bit of time to execute fully. Don’t be afraid to break it up with survivability skills, movement, or reactionary skills as necessary. Use your Power Surge with Tracer Missiles to get them up even faster. Weave in your Rapid Shots to maintain your ammo." Remember to always maintain your Tracer Missiles debuff 4. Stats The primary stat for Mercenary is Aim, you should get all extra of it as you can, since it gives you the best boost! Accuracy is the second most important stat for your character. It reduces your chance to miss, no need to explain that.Your aim is to reach 110%. Above 100% accuracy reduces enemy defenses to dodge or resist your attacks! Then you should max your critical chance. You should know that there is no point adding more crit above 30%! Around 450 you should stop! See Graph below! The same is with Surge Rating, you should add as much as you can! Surge rating is the only stat you can the fastest. It's cap should be around 300 and there you can slow down. See Graph below! To further increase your damage, you will need Tech Power / Power, same as aim but reach crit and surge cap first!! The trickiest stat is Alacrity. It is the most argued stat I think in SWTOR, it reduces your globad cooldowns and cooldowns of your abilities. You should use this as you mind, personally I prefer getting as much as I can to be able to mass Tracer Missile! Though It stacks very slow, so you need a lot of it if you want to be effective ! 5. Priorities Cap Graph: http://mmo-mechanics.com/swtor/forums/attachment.php?aid=295 Stat Graph: http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/2079/statscaling.jpg Aim >= Accuracy > Crit = Surge > Power/Tech Power > Alacrity 6. Strategies( Unfinished ) - Against ranged characters it works really well, you just have to keep doing the rotation with some Death from above or explosive dart maybe and try to close the gap and use some of your CCs. - Against melee classes...well your only chance is to kite them while you stack Heat Signitures and blow them up with Heatseekers really. Activating Energy shield is a must and stacking the Power Barrier also to reduce as much damage as you can. If you are ablo to push them away, use Unload immediately to slow them down and keep at medium range so Knights or Warriors can't jump on you! If everything fails use Concussion Missile! "Ok, maybe i can give a few hints as root and run instead of facetank. Hide in plain view so to speak, dont be a obvious target." - Nightkin So basically you should always avoid the centre of the battle and try to find a decent place to nuke from! And avoid facetanking melee classes, because they hurt quite a lot ^^ 7. Role( Unfinished ) Being a ranged DPS means you will have to focus down squishy targets from your enemy's team! Priority Targets: Healers>Melee DPS( Sentinel or DPS Assassin or Scoundrel ), to help our melees>Ranged DPS and in the last case the Tank, but only if there's no other target You can change the Melee DPS, Ranged DPS Priority but i prefer helping my mates! Generally about the maps: Attacking :Basically you have to do the killing part, because you can't really tank or stealth ambush their objectives. Help your team with your great damage and stuns! Defending: Here I think mercenaries and commandos are absolutely great. You have CCs and you have plenty of AOE to interrupt and force the enemy not to capture objectives! 8. Video Links http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuJ_CTiOYJ8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlvMsa0T0xE&feature=youtu.be 9. Credits - Nightkin - Henu 10. F.A.Q. I am feeling rather squishy..and I seem to die rather fast.. Should I focus on using more endurance mods..or continue as I am and just use primarily aim mods? - VictoireStar - Continue going on Aim, you will never be tanky enough to hold damage. Your only chance to survive is to be a Monster DPS. Thank you! Edited April 9, 2013 by HaZmY Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HaZmY Posted April 3, 2013 Author Share Posted April 3, 2013 (edited) Guide Updated, still waiting for Bioware to rename the thread to [Guide] Mercenary PVP Guide&Video! Edited April 3, 2013 by HaZmY Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nightkin Posted April 3, 2013 Share Posted April 3, 2013 While i applaud your intent of helping people i do have some critique and even though i will sound rude, its not my intent. Ok here we go.., im afraid that you are not as good as you think you are. 1: Facetanking and clicking is nothing short of horrible 2: trying to spam tracer missile in melee range is horrible 3: burning all your cc on someone with full resolve is horrible. And thats just your two first minutes of the video. Wich is about as much as i could stand. Im sorry buddy but you need alot more training before your guides can be taken seriously. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HaZmY Posted April 3, 2013 Author Share Posted April 3, 2013 (edited) As i said I am a new mercenary and I still can't perform as well as I should be, and I think that's not even a problem because it seems I might be better than the average. I made errors which occur quite often even at good players I think. About the critics..even though it was quite sharp, don't feel offended because I can work on these mistakes, but I think the guide itself is viable and helpful for a lot of people. I've also written that feel free to write or add new things or fix error in the guide and I will edit it and also add your name to it. Writing critics is easy, helping is the real work! P.S.: Judging from your videos, you aren't that better to judge my guide so hard and that's also not an offense. Edited April 3, 2013 by HaZmY Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nightkin Posted April 3, 2013 Share Posted April 3, 2013 (edited) As i said I am a new mercenary and I still can't perform as well as I should be, and I think that's not even a problem because it seems I might be better than the average. About the critics..even though it was quite sharp, don't feel offended because I can work on these mistakes, but I think the guide itself is viable and helpful for a lot of people. I've also written that feel free to write or add new things or fix error in the guide and I will edit it and also add your name to it. Writing critics is easy, helping is the real work! Well now i have to applaud your spirit mate Ok, maybe i can give a few hints as root and run instead of facetank. Hide in plain view so to speak, dont be a obvious target. But all that (and the clicking, that must go) is something you will learn pretty soon. 2.0 is just around the corner right now though and that will change alot of things, the guide as it stands will have to be rewritten for the new tactical options we will have available to us. But the target priorities will prolly remain the same, its the basics of pvp. As i said earlier, i applaud your effort and i didnt mean any offence Edit: Welcome to the merc class, its a painful ride so i hope you are ready for it Edited April 3, 2013 by Nightkin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HaZmY Posted April 3, 2013 Author Share Posted April 3, 2013 I also did not mean to offend you, but I really intend to make this guide good Added your thoughts to Strategies! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VictoireStar Posted April 4, 2013 Share Posted April 4, 2013 (edited) Interesting guide! Keep it going Edited April 4, 2013 by VictoireStar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henu Posted April 8, 2013 Share Posted April 8, 2013 Na Rotations are wrong.. open with HSM and sticky grenade, get those 2 on CD and then get your TM's and unload. why. coz HSM is a bigger hitter 4-5k, so then start your TM's, by the time your got the 3 off with 1 unload you have HSM back up and a rail shot waiting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henu Posted April 8, 2013 Share Posted April 8, 2013 And your tree ewww, yuck...Take away from Power Over rides, Gyro vents, advance targeting and USE Improved vents, critical reaction and Jet escape.Why, because with system Calibrations + Critical Reaction you can get 1.3 TM cast and 2.7 unloads.. same amount of damage in a quicker time.Power overrides is only good for Pyro tree, as a merc arsenal you shouldnt even need it.And finally Jet escape lowers your CC breaker by 30's i think its a must for PVP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henu Posted April 8, 2013 Share Posted April 8, 2013 (edited) Yeah IMO not a very good write up at all, i dont think i saw once the use of your Rocket punch, using this Vs Melee is very handy. 2 set bonus; atm using PVE set (TM crit increase) and medic ( 3sec extra shield) is the best way to go. Why; because as an Arsenal merc you dont need a rail shot crit increase from the PVP armor set. 3 at 1 point you talk about Dots, we have no dots. 4 Death from above. does our BEST damage if you see 3 targets together. EG door capping or melee stacked on healers. its not about rotations in PVP. you use what ability you can when you can. PS 2 minutes of you video and i wanted to cry.. you spoke of kiting but you stood in the same spot and hardly moved.. you UI is hard to see your targets cast, hard to interrupt... Edited April 8, 2013 by Henu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HaZmY Posted April 8, 2013 Author Share Posted April 8, 2013 Thank you! I fixed some errors and added your thoughts and skill tree to the guide! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marauder Posted April 8, 2013 Share Posted April 8, 2013 Na Rotations are wrong.. open with HSM and sticky grenade, get those 2 on CD and then get your TM's and unload. why. coz HSM is a bigger hitter 4-5k, so then start your TM's, by the time your got the 3 off with 1 unload you have HSM back up and a rail shot waiting. Sticky grenade? I didnt think mercs had that skill?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Choffware Posted April 8, 2013 Share Posted April 8, 2013 Yeah IMO not a very good write up at all, i dont think i saw once the use of your Rocket punch, using this Vs Melee is very handy. Did you come around on the rocket punch root? You were (as I) very much against it. I've played pyro almost exclusively since so I haven't tested it myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Choffware Posted April 8, 2013 Share Posted April 8, 2013 (edited) And your tree ewww, yuck... Take away from Power Over rides, Gyro vents, advance targeting and USE Improved vents, critical reaction and Jet escape. Why, because with system Calibrations + Critical Reaction you can get 1.3 TM cast and 2.7 unloads.. same amount of damage in a quicker time. Power overrides is only good for Pyro tree, as a merc arsenal you shouldnt even need it. And finally Jet escape lowers your CC breaker by 30's i think its a must for PVP. huh... I thought advance targeting was critical for Arsenal pvp. Last time I played it with just system calibration gave me 1.4 TMs (going on memory) You wouldn't take 30% armor pen over that? Again playing pyro for a long time so these are questions and not statements. Edited April 8, 2013 by Choffware Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henu Posted April 8, 2013 Share Posted April 8, 2013 huh... I thought advance targeting was critical for Arsenal pvp. Last time I played it with just system calibration gave me 1.4 TMs (going on memory) You wouldn't take 30% armor pen over that? Again playing pyro for a long time so these are questions and not statements. Using 1 medic implant got it down tp 1.3 cast.. with out loosing too damage. but might change in 2.0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henu Posted April 8, 2013 Share Posted April 8, 2013 Did you come around on the rocket punch root? You were (as I) very much against it. I've played pyro almost exclusively since so I haven't tested it myself. against it i was for sure but i had to make do, BW wouldnt change it back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henu Posted April 8, 2013 Share Posted April 8, 2013 Sticky grenade? I didnt think mercs had that skill?? lol they have 1 i just cant remember what its called. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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