This question is for all Commandos that play DPS in PvP and do it well (I've seen you guys play so I know you exist). To the healers and "roll a new character crowd" just move on.

 

What tips do you have for doing well in Warzones? I can place close to the 50%mark in a group but some commandos dominate and I can't figure out how they're doing it.

Any favorite rotations that work in fast paced pvp?

Favorite attacks/combos?

How do you deal with defending yourself?

What builds do you like?

Do you play from the outside supporting or get into the thick of things with everybody else?

Do you gear for more damage or for more protection?

 

Any help to become one of the commandos that defy the odds.

If you want to top charts your best bet is to go Assault spec. Don't use charged bolts, ever, hammer shot procs plasma cell and does basically the same damage, and tab dot everything you can. Use explosive plastique for burst damage with HiB to get quick kills, and now with the changes use sticky bomb and plasma grenade on a melee because they typically will bunch up together. Mortar volley when you can see a clump of red names and use full auto to get HiB procs. Since you aren't using charged bolts you become very mobile and with hammer shot being your main attack,when not dotting, you can always be on the move so you are harder to kill.

 

http://i.imgur.com/GMSiy.jpg here is a decent game i had so you know I'm not pulling your leg.

 

Good luck.

Thanks, much! Tried it out tonight; dominated a Voidstar game where the next highest DPS was half mine (about 500k). The Alderaan game I was only about 75% in DPS rankings but we were crushed and half the team quit while I fought on alone, didn't last long with 6 on 1.

 

Doesn't feel like you're doing that much because you can't burst like some classes. But I think it'd be good on a team where your teammates know to focus fire the nearest wounded enemy. Often times in Voidstar I had three enemies clustered at the door at 50% health and the Jedi are chasing some operative that is leading them away to the downed fighter.

This question is for all Commandos that play DPS in PvP and do it well (I've seen you guys play so I know you exist). To the healers and "roll a new character crowd" just move on.

 

What tips do you have for doing well in Warzones? I can place close to the 50%mark in a group but some commandos dominate and I can't figure out how they're doing it.

Any favorite rotations that work in fast paced pvp?

Favorite attacks/combos?

How do you deal with defending yourself?

What builds do you like?

Do you play from the outside supporting or get into the thick of things with everybody else?

Do you gear for more damage or for more protection?

 

Any help to become one of the commandos that defy the odds.

 

Don't expect to be competitive in RWZs, but you can excel in standards.

 

From a gunnery (3/33/5) perspective:

 

I play gunnery because assault 'feels' too passive (though it is certainly stronger in some situations). Gunnery does take some smart play and a bit of luck to get the big numbers, but it is possible.

 

Your ideal scenario is to do create as much havoc as possible in the 'gaps' between being focused, to maximise those gaps through smart positioning (and 'reading' the warzone) whilst ensuring you are close enough to sustain damage output. There are times you have to move to maintain your position, but you should always be attacking non-cc'd targets whenever possible, even if only with hammer shot, sticky grenade, demo and instant plasmas.

 

I tend to open with a plasma grenade from range (particularly if you can hit a group) - hammer shot once or twice to let your ammo regen slightly, then start your rotations. Grav two or three times til COF proc, full auto, demo, hib. Move if necessary using sticky and hammer to sustain dps and start again. Keep ammo over 2/3rds until you NEED to burn something - then hammer shot while recovering.

 

The biggest mistakes I see gunnery commandos making are:

 

- They stop attacking when they need to regen, or are evaluating threats (at the very LEAST you can grav, hammer and full auto all day long on autopilot while you're looking around - keep pressure on the healers)

 

- They rush headlong into crowds without support, or hang back so far they can't maintain dps.

 

- They don't use LOS when focused at range. A dead commando deals no damage - but don't overdo it and run at the slightest hit.

 

If we're doing screenshots, I like this one, as huttball is difficult to sustain damage on:

 

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/704154/Valor/Huttball600.jpg

 

I tend to play midfield in huttball for zone control on the resets, and defensive play snagging the ball carrier and their support. If you're doing it right you should get good objective points in these matches.

Edited October 1, 2012 by Jherad

Don't use charged bolts, ever, hammer shot procs plasma cell and does basically the same damage, and tab dot everything you can.

 

I'm going to have to disagree with this. It is very important that you use Charged Bolts to proc High Impact Bolt; even without the chance to proc HIB, Charged Bolts would deal more damage than Hammer Shot (provided HS even applied the DoT (which CB also has a lesser chance of applying)).* Similarly, applying DoTs to multiple targets will get you meaningless damage that is easily healed through/prevented by cleansing, and, if you're using Incendiary Round on multiple targets, wreak havoc on your ammo reserve.

 

 

*To clarify, I'm not sure if the Plasma Cell DoT combined with HS deals more damage than CB without the DoT, but it wouldn't really matter even if HS had a 100% chance to apply it, seeing as the DoT would be clipped from firing HS repeatedly, meaning the full damage would not be applied, resulting in much lower overall damage than would be dealt with CB.

Edited October 1, 2012 by Chaoskyx

I'm going to have to disagree with this. It is very important that you use Charged Bolts to proc High Impact Bolt; even without the chance to proc HIB, Charged Bolts would deal more damage than Hammer Shot (provided HS even applied the DoT (which CB also has a lesser chance of applying)).* Similarly, applying DoTs to multiple targets will get you meaningless damage that is easily healed through/prevented by cleansing, and, if you're using Incendiary Round on multiple targets, wreak havoc on your ammo reserve.

 

 

*To clarify, I'm not sure if the Plasma Cell DoT combined with HS deals more damage than CB without the DoT, but it wouldn't really matter even if HS had a 100% chance to apply it, seeing as the DoT would be clipped from firing HS repeatedly, meaning the full damage would not be applied, resulting in much lower overall damage than would be dealt with CB.

 

Yes Hammer shot procs plasma cell, and charged bolts may proc HiB bolt but so does Full Auto so there is no point in standing still and hard casting charged bolts when you can be moving around putting plasma cell dots on targets. Doing this you have also no ammo issues either making it easy for you to incendiary round multiple targets increasing overall dmg. In the end its personal preference i guess.

Edited October 1, 2012 by Sylvane

Yes Hammer shot procs plasma cell, and charged bolts may proc HiB bolt but so does Full Auto so there is no point in standing still and hard casting charged bolts when you can be moving around putting plasma cell dots on targets. Doing this you have also no ammo issues either making it easy for you to incendiary round multiple targets increasing overall dmg. In the end its personal preference i guess.

 

DoTing multiple people gets you good damage in the charts, gets their healers great numbers, and does nothing to help take the objective. Burst helps you take the objective and that means you need to reset HiB as often as possible. THAT means you need to be using Charged Bolts when Full Auto fails to proc it or when FA is off cooldown. Of course I also always make sure to take Muzzle Fluting in the gunnery tree to get the cast down to 1.5 seconds. If you've served time in gunnery standing and casting isn't so bad, and unlike Gunnery you have much more opportunity for "shoot and scoot" type play where you fire off a CB, move, and repeat.

 

In gunnery I find the real trick is finding a good place to setup. You want somewhere that is near some sort of obstruction in case you need to LoS other ranged classes, preferably on a ledge so leapers have to burn their leap getting to you, which lets you immediately send them right the hell back where they came from, far enough away that you might not be noticed, but close enough you can maintain DPS if they're just moving around (around a 20m range works best in my experience, but its obviously very situational).

It does vary depending on how well your team plays together but DoTs are nothing to disregard. Many people don't clear them, or if they do you can put them back on. Yes they're slower drawn out damage and can be healed but any time an enemy spends healing themselves is time they don't spend DPSing you or your team.

 

That's where the team play comes in. If there is a giant cluster-f of 6 on 6 the DoT's are awesome slowly bring their group down while you're team focus fires the next weakest in the group. Their healers will be going mad trying to keep up with the massive DPS you're laying down across the board. However situations where your group is in the minority and likely to be wiped before their group does it's much less effective. Anybody that survives will be able to heal while you're respawning.

 

I played a ton of games tonight with the Assault build and I was amazed how well they went. Besides having the highest DPS output of the group the heals and CC's I could still throw made for a very dynamic game. Not at all the squishy barely mobile game that mercs and commandos are have been accused of since 1.2 (although I don't play ranked WZs).

 

Voidstar and Huttball we usually dominated since they seem to endup with the largest dogpile fights. One Huttball we had 4 commandos and the 4 of us were able to melt through the opposition pretty quick, unfortunately we didn't have any classes that could run the ball in ahead of us as we neared the endzone and barely pulled out a win.

 

Alderaan and NC didn't go as well. I still had the DPS high but the team just wasn't there and I'd get overwhelmed because there wasn't as many people to go in and make the "finishing shot" on all the weakened enemies. However one Alderaan game me and a couple Jedi kept running from side turret to side turret and we'd quickly tear them to shreds every time we arrived.

 

I'd really like to run a ranged team with alot of Commandos and Gunslingers (my other favorite PvP) to see how it goes. I really wished I had had a powerful ranged DPS next to me to drop all those enemies in the middle of the huttball arena once they hit the 50% mark. It's so frustrating for them all to suddenly see me and leap before any teammates come to finish them off.

Edited October 2, 2012 by Kerensk

I play Gunnery spec 3/32/6, thats the spec that I fell I have the most survivability

 

-Rotation: 3/2 GR , FAuto , HiB , Demo Round , Sticky Grenade (GR , FAuto , Demo Round)

Depends on the situation but you can also add Stock Strike two times around that rotation.

 

-If GR gets interrupted:

1) for ranged: Full Auto - continue rotation

2)for melee: Full Auto ( Stock Strike / Sticky Grenade ) - continue rotation

 

- Whenever you see you can use HiB use it!!!

 

-Full Auto its very effective to slow your target: ball carrier, the guy healing the ball carrier, the guy hitting your ball carrier, etc etc

 

-If a melee player charges to you, DONT PANIC AND RUN, continue your rotation and try to use your Cryo/CCharge/Reactive Shield/Adrenaline Rush wisely

 

-I use Tech Override+Medical Probe+Rakata Medpac for self healing, but this also depends on the situation, if I see my opponent already used his CC-breaker I can use Tech Override+Concussive Round and heal myself using

Medical Probe multiple times, do some dancing and start the fight again

 

-For groups (defusing the bomb in Voidstar/ trying to cap near the console in Novare Coast) I use:

Reserve Powercell + Plasma Grenade + Mortar Volley + Hail of Bolts

(Be careful, Plasma Grenade will only interrupt the target, not the entire group)

 

-Be smart, be the first one that spots and marks the healer, you have enough skills to kill/disable him

 

I think all the strategic playing and positioning is already said.

Edited November 16, 2012 by RGimeldo

I PVP a fair bit these days.

 

Took a break for a few months but decided it's not that bad.

 

Sometimes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now stuff which sucks in a wz are:

 

Snipers who know their class well enough to not let you close distance. Knock you back, root you, stun you, slow you, you're screwed. Their basic cover totally **** your cast attacks before they even use their defensive CDs and they are totally free to cast on you.

 

Vengeance Juggs, your knockback/stun won't do crap to interrupt their attacks when they leap to you, ofc you can wait out the immunity but by then they're going to push you, leap again.... Not to mention the attacks in between and all their interrupts.

 

Marauders who use all their defensive and CC abilities. You just can't do enough damage to overcome them.

 

Pretty much any kind of Assassin who again, knows their stuff. Their shields can alternately screw one of your damage types and you don't have enough options during that since your casting is basically nil in close combat.

 

Sorcs, Mercs, Healers of any kind, incompetent Powertechs and any of the previous classes who don't know their **** are your targets.

 

Operatives mostly appear as healers. DPS ones are generally they are not an issue, if one tries to solo me I've got a good chance of killing him first. They are dangerous if they turn up when your CD's are used or you're otherwise weak because they can do so much burst on you if not slapped back with a knockback instantly, loaded with grenades and set on fire.

 

The clips are not a balanced view but fun can be had at times.

 

Did yesterdays pvp this morning, lost two games in horribly horribly unbalanced games. Didn't think much of my teammates in those tbh but luck of the draw I say.

 

1) Huttball vs juggs and snipers who knew their stuff and seemed to be grouped up.

 

2) Novare coast vs some very annoying assassins.

 

3) Void vs a 2 powertech+operative healer. Could melt me in seconds when they got me. But I slapped their healer about every time possible and we got through: http://s11.postimage.org/ywoq35knn/Screenshot_2012_11_16_11_54_43_532319.jpg

Edited November 16, 2012 by Gyronamics

I'm a noob at Commando so take this how you will. I recommend checking out Zachariah's videos (he made a post in this thread) I'm on the same server as him and he puts out great numbers consistently. My Commando is only level 21 atm but I'm really liking the feel of it. My main is a dps Vanguard which I love but the mando just feels better to me. I run gunnery so far and will stick with that ( maybe mix in some Combat Medic) I ran Assault on my Vanguard long enough and got tired of it, it's almost too easy if that makes any sense.

for pvp the assault spec is the easy way to go u can try ur hand at gunnery and pick targets setup but alot is up to chance and skill. the assault spec with plasma proc basicly means u should nearly always be burning a target to for max burst pile on all of ur dots(inc round, plasma cell, plasma nade) for 1on1 combat. when ur helping guard or rushing a object, i find it helpfull to hammer shot healers and switch to weaker dps. to max out dps and help the most avoid attacking tank when they are not attacking ur healers.

for the gunnery side i would suggest finding their healers early in the game and focus on them when ever fighting groups are the burst dps is alot better for taking down healers then removeable dots as many of the better healers already know which dots can and can not be removed.

What tips do you have for doing well in Warzones? I can place close to the 50%mark in a group but some commandos dominate and I can't figure out how they're doing it.

Rule #1: accept your role, which is support DPS. You don't really have a lot of on demand burst potential, so you should be avoiding 1vs1 scenarios at all costs. Be sure to save your stun and KB for when they do happen, or you're toast. Otherwise, assist melee by helping them burn down targets.

 

The off-heals of a DPS Commando are sort of a tossup. The big heal costs 4 Ammo, and it's not that great. I will throw someone a heal if I'm at or near a full bar, but that's about it. Sometimes you get lucky with a nice crit that makes it actually helpful, but usually it's just better to assist with damage.

 

How do you deal with defending yourself?

The single best advice any DPS Commando can give you is this: stay small. Don't fight out in the open and make an easy target of yourself. You need to be able to stay near LoS objects and keep at the 25-30m range at all times. If a melee makes it a point to come after you, make them work for it. Ideally, they should be 1/2 dead before they even reach you.

 

What builds do you like?

Assault all the way. Gunnery has no place in PvP in my opinion due to lack of mobility. You need to keep on the move at all times in PvP so that you can keep away from leapers and avoid focus fire.

 

Do you play from the outside supporting or get into the thick of things with everybody else?

Yes, see above. A Commando DPS biggest advantages are range and LoS. Use them. I finish most matches with under 5 deaths and quite a few with 1 or even 0...all while getting top damage, or at least top 3. That's doing your job as a DPS Commando: staying alive, staying out of the fray, and supporting melee. Melee classes have the defensive cooldowns and stuns to be effective in close quarters...you don't. Stay away from it.

 

Do you gear for more damage or for more protection?

100% damage. Commandos can't equip a shield, so it's pointless to stack defense stats.

Edited November 21, 2012 by TheronFett