Oh great. . . now instead of being largely unnoticed, we get the Look-at-me-I-glow-please-come-kill-me aura.

 

I like subtle visual cues, like the jedi knight's saber flare up whenever they can riposte. Glowy aura is a little over the top for a class that's suppose to be "shadowy" and "subtle."

 

You say this like it's a new thing. It's been like that ever since I started playing Balance.

 

The funny thing is, you're actually really hard to spot. There's no connection between you and your target. When a blaster-wielder shoots someone, you can follow the bolts back to see where it's coming from. Same with lightning and whatnot. Project and TK Throw let them see where it came from.

 

Balance effects don't have anything you throw or any effects connecting you. You wave your hands, they start glowing. They'll spot you eventually, but it's far slower. Since Balance is so rare, I doubt more than one or two people are going to see the Balance effects on themselves, recognize it, and know to look for someone glowing. And if they do, they'll know it's pretty easy for a Balance Shadow to run away.

Zintair, If you need an Inf shadow, I can help you there. I've been Inf 100% of the time leveling and all throughout PVP (WZ's only mind you) up to 55 valor level now as Inf. Small time spent as Kinetic to test out all the hub ub and didn't like it.

I really dont understand why more people don't play balance its a blast and the Dmg is top notch

I really dont understand why more people don't play balance its a blast and the Dmg is top notch

I'm only 1/3 of the week. It's lovely but still it's nice to see some big numbers every once in a while. I still play kinetic too but it's getting more boring every passing day.

Tell me about it I litterally fell asleep playing KC in a wz, I woke up drooling on the keyboard at like 4 in the morning like ***

Tell me about it I litterally fell asleep playing KC in a wz, I woke up drooling on the keyboard at like 4 in the morning like ***

Haha this definitely sounds like kinetic in action.

 

Btw. My highest FiB crit in wz this far has been 4.45k dmg(have better gear atm so it will be higher next time I'm balance) and with infiltration it's 5.3k~. It fills your heart with joy to get couple <5k crits in a row like infiltration usually gets. If someone asks me I say balance is best though but the big numbers!

Edited March 27, 2012 by shagatha

By the way: Anyone else have ended up trying build 3/35/3? Made it up myself 2 days back and loving it. I don't miss upheaval that eats up my potency charges and also it's not guaranteed to get extra rocks even if you go upheaval so you can't trust in it.

 

+ Battle readiness more often(results more damage)

+ Cheaper whirling blow(pve and occasionally in pvp too for example to prevent multiple cappers)

+ Stronger armor penetration(results more damage with right conditions)

+ A bit better slow(noticed it's barely long enough to be very useful)

 

- No more 45% chance to get extra rock when using project. Which eats potency and is only 50% of the damage vs normal rock.

 

On a different note. Build 5/33/3 wich is mentioned in a handbook seems pretty bad. "Applied force" but no "Celerity". That's a bad choice imo and shouldn't be encouraged. Once it's fixed the build starts looking like my 3/35/3. I play all specs so I'm not infiltration specialist but I think this error in a build seems obvious. What do you all think?

 

The 3/35/3 build mentioned there is for PvE. Playing the Infiltration Shadow in raid PVE DPS I never really found the need to use Mind Snap/Force of Will on an improved CD timer. I think the passive damage bonus to two MAJOR rotation abilities DS/CS nets a better outcome. I just see it as... take "Applied Force" for 100% usage or "Celerity" for maybe a boss fight and trash. And with Bioware scaling difficulty based on DPS races I would definitely recommend improved damage at the cost of utility. Not to mention no one int he raid is expecting utility from you.

 

In PvP I would agree with you however. If you have some unique builds for Inf in PvP let me know. Like I said the Infiltration Shadow is going to be the tough one as it seems to be the least played because of it's unfriendly solo nature.

Edited March 27, 2012 by Zintair

The 3/35/3 build mentioned there is for PvE. Playing the Infiltration Shadow in raid PVE DPS I never really found the need to use Mind Snap/Force of Will on an improved CD timer. I think the passive damage bonus to two MAJOR rotation abilities DS/CS.

You probably meant 5/33/3. Anyhow I do use mind snap A LOT in pve. It's most of the time on cooldown when facing champs to name something. I've only played 3 days with my 3/35/3 build so it's not fully tested to make it one of the common builds but I'll post here if I find something really good.

 

Probably going balance tonight for a few days though.

 

EDIT: Almost forgot. For pvp purposes: If you are serious about infiltration, you are probably using full stalker and with that you get more reach on mind snap and slow. It's using full potential of your gear to have skills for both.

Edited March 27, 2012 by shagatha

You probably meant 5/33/3. Anyhow I do use mind snap A LOT in pve. It's most of the time on cooldown when facing champs to name something. I've only played 3 days with my 3/35/3 build so it's not fully tested to make it one of the common builds but I'll post here if I find something really good.

 

Probably going balance tonight for a few days though.

 

I did thanks..5/33/3 good ole dyslexia strikes again lol. That makes me wonder if I should segregate FP specs from Operation specs. For KC I don't think there's really much tweaking but for Infiltration there seems to be a few potential options, possibly Balance as well.

Well went back to balance and I must admit it.. There's no turning back anymore. I think I'm about to forget infiltration and kinetic totally. Balance is the king(once again).

 

Running with this 0/10/31. Force-cost of twin disciplines is too much for my taste. Not enough bang for the buck.

Edited March 27, 2012 by shagatha

Well went back to balance and I must admit it.. There's no turning back anymore. I think I'm about to forget infiltration and kinetic totally. Balance is the king(once again).

 

Running with this 0/10/31. Force-cost of twin disciplines is too much for my taste. Not enough bang for the buck.

 

How is your survivability with Shadowy Veil?

 

I made a thread on this and I was wondering (specifically for Infiltration) if the armor boost is really beneficial in the grander scheme of things. Especially with even more damage getting shifted to "white" damage come 1.2

How is your survivability with Shadowy Veil?

 

I made a thread on this and I was wondering (specifically for Infiltration) if the armor boost is really beneficial in the grander scheme of things. Especially with even more damage getting shifted to "white" damage come 1.2

Shadowy Veil isn't very useful. I only have it now as a filler because without twin disciplines(expensive projects) force regen boost from out of stealth isn't needed.

 

The reason why it's not useful(not even for an infiltrator) is because +30% armor to a low armor rating isn't very much. I've never noticed difference between shadowy veil or without it. For example my armor rating now with shadowy veil is 3233. Without it would be 2486~. Both are close to no use.. and still too low.

 

Just my opinion.

Edited March 27, 2012 by shagatha

I used the "Wish List" feature of the Ask Mr. Robot Character Builder to try out Shadowy Veil. With full BM gear (rating 140), it raised Damage Reduction from 21.7% to 26.2%, for a total increase of 4.5%.

 

That's a decent amount, but it's not exactly amazing. I'm using it right now, but I think I'm going to drop it for something else.

I really dont understand why more people don't play balance its a blast and the Dmg is top notch

 

This.

 

Since I respecced Balance for PvE I've been having mucho fun learning the ins and outs of proper rotations. If I hit someone in PvP with all three of my DoTs, they die, its just a matter of time. Its a very different play style compared with KC, and vive la differance!

Do we expect crew skills rankings to change based on 1.2 changes?

I believe it was Power that suggested a couple points in Technique Mastery so I run with the following build for Infiltration Shadow.

 

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#6010MZGGMRzhRbtzZf0c.1

 

This is for PvP. If I were doing PvE and had dual spec available I'd slip a couple talent points into Situational Awareness.

 

I'm in mostly BM gear with one or two Champ or Columni pieces and all 3 Rakata ear/implants.

 

As Infiltration I can definitely tell if a healer is paying attention to me in PvP because if I get jumped by two or more when not ready I die. With a healer usually they do.

Do we expect crew skills rankings to change based on 1.2 changes?

A bit. This is a good link for changes http://www.swtor.com/news/blog/20120320.

 

Made a new char yesterday and she's already artifice(been making biochemists always before).

Added some KC information regarding PvP and playstyles.

Do we expect crew skills rankings to change based on 1.2 changes?

 

Yes, I will be updating the Guide to be prepped for 1.2

I would like to submit this as a better version of the Infl PVE Upheaval spec:

 

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#601MZGMrRzhMrtzZf0c.1

 

You lose stealth level which you barely need in PVE, 10 Force which does nothing of real value and gain 30% armor and can mind snap every 10s which helps a great deal in reducing damage taken.

I would like to submit this as a better version of the Infl PVE Upheaval spec:

 

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#601MZGMrRzhMrtzZf0c.1

 

You lose stealth level which you barely need in PVE, 10 Force which does nothing of real value and gain 30% armor and can mind snap every 10s which helps a great deal in reducing damage taken.

I think that's an improvement and works better in pve. I never pick force+10 anyhow even for pvp. Waste of points.

 

I would however change it to have kinetic field 2/2(-30% aoe damage) instead of shadowy veil 2/2(+30% more armor).

Edited April 1, 2012 by shagatha

I think that's an improvement and works better in pve. I never pick force+10 anyhow even for pvp. Waste of points.

 

I would however change it to have kinetic field 2/2(-30% aoe damage) instead of shadowy veil 2/2(+30% more armor).

 

This is what I'll update as that's actually what I've run. The AoE talent is very good for a lot of boss fights

 

Updated: Upheaval has been updated thanks to both of you!

Edited April 1, 2012 by Zintair

My name is on part of this, so I re-read sometimes. Caught another small error:

 

Priority List (Standard):

 

1. Force in Balance (Even single target, every CD)

2. Spinning Strike (Target at 30% health or less)

3. Mind Crush (Force Strike buff procs and you turn gold)

4. Shadow Strike (Find Weakness, behind target)

5. Sever Force (On a target not currently afflicted, or about to expire)

6. Force Breach (every CD or until DoT expires on boss)

7. Double Strike (bread and butter DPS spam for 2k+ damage totals)

8. Project (If Twin Disciplines is not active or expiring, very Force intensive so limit this)

9. Saber Strike (Conserving Force)

 

 

This is outdated. Since 1.1.2, Breach no longer has a cooldown (for Balance Shadows). Also, "until DoT expires on boss" is kind of an odd way of phrasing it. It almost implies that you should spam it until it expires (which means it never will). I'd recommend replacing that all with "On expiration", or something like that. You want to keep this skill up on the target at all times, but never use it before it expires.

Edited April 2, 2012 by Philosomanic

I'm level 20 Shadow, Infiltration. It seems to me I want to use my tank companion so I can be behind my target. I guess I'm using shadow technique. I try following this guide, but I don't even have abilities mentioned. My guy feels kinda weak. Not sure how to spec, what companion to use, and which technique to be in for leveling solo. I think the biggest problem is at 20 fighting 23 elites and getting resists. More space missions for me I suppose.

I'm level 20 Shadow, Infiltration. It seems to me I want to use my tank companion so I can be behind my target. I guess I'm using shadow technique. I try following this guide, but I don't even have abilities mentioned. My guy feels kinda weak. Not sure how to spec, what companion to use, and which technique to be in for leveling solo. I think the biggest problem is at 20 fighting 23 elites and getting resists. More space missions for me I suppose.

 

This is exactly how I feel. Is waiting 'til I get all the abilities I need the only thing I can do? Because I feel really weak and kinda boring at the moment. (level 20 infiltration )

 

The guide says I should have most of what I need before level 20, but I don't feel that way at all.

Edited April 8, 2012 by Sarrang