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Pyro PVE Guide


bbare

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Skill Tree: http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#301hMhZMsZfI0bkGhMM.2

 

*The final skill point can either be allocated to fill steely resolve or burnout. The dps is negligible , and varies on boss to boss, group makeup, and gear. It is personal preference. I choose to put that extra point in steely resolve, because it increases damage in critical burn phases that happen when the boss is over 30% health.

 

BiS Relics: Dread Guard Relic of Boundless Ages and Dread Guard Relic of Dark Radiance.

 

*All DPS, with the possible exception of the Arsenal Merc should use an internal or elemental proc relic

 

*It does matter which armor-mitigating proc relic you choose. The one with internal damage will put out more damage than the one with elemental. It sounds odd, because the powertech uses elemental damage, but the crit chances of each relic are based on the following damage types:

 

Elemental: Force Crit

Internal: Tech Crit

 

For example, if you have 40% tech crit, an internal Dread Guard Relic will crit 40% of the time, but the elemental one will only crit for your base crit chance

 

 

Stat Priority:

 

Aim > Accuracy (enough points to reach ~100% ranged) > critical rating ( 130-250 points) > Power > Surge

 

* This is assuming top-tier gear, and all companion stat bonuses.

 

Set Bonus:

 

A.) 4 piece PvP Eliminator's set with pve mods (It is no longer possible to take purchase Battlemaster gear, so it is impossible for players without the BM set to achieve this bonus without sacrificing stats. The additional stats do outweigh the bonus)

B.) 4 piece PvE combat tech set.

 

*I calculated set bonus A increases rail shot damage by a margin of about 7% with my current gear set up. Rail shot does about 30% of my damage, so you are looking at about a 2% damage increase overall. Its up to you if it is worth the price of 4 crafted/loot armorings.

 

The 6 Sec Rule:

 

The basic rotation of the pyro powertech revolves around the proc "PPA Railshot" This skill will automatically finish the cooldown of railshot and make your railshot cost no heat, and it will reduce heat by 8, as long as you have one of your dots on the target. The ICD of this skill is 6 sec which means there is a 3 sec window from the time you use PPA railshot to the time you can proc it again. The most basic sustained rotation the pyrotech has is the following:

 

Open with incendiary Missile, alternate between flame burst/rocket punch and rapid shots until you get a PPA proc, then:

 

1. PPA Rail shot

2. Flame Burst (Filler)

3. Rapid Shots (Filler)

4. Rocket Punch/Flame Burst (To proc)

5. If PPA procs, restart rotation, if not, go back to 3

 

*Because Rocket punch procs PPA railshot more often, it should be priority over flame burst in step 4.

 

This is an extremely conservative rotation in terms of heat management. In order to maximize dps, your filler abilities will change based on heat. You will fill these 3 sec with the following combination in order of highest to lowest heat.

 

A. Flame Burst, Rapid Shots (Use when heat is over 25)

B. Incendiary Missile Refresh, Rapid shots (Use when in need of IM refresh and heat is 25 or less)

C. Death From Above or Flamethrower (DFA has priority, Use in burst phases when Vent Heat is available, or when heat is 15 or less.

 

*Heat should be maintained under 40, unless vent heat is available. If vent heat is available, it is acceptable to go into the 60-70 range.

 

*Thermal Sensor Override should be used immediately but only with the following priority.

 

1. Incendiary Missile

2. DFA

3. Flamethrower

 

* It is sometimes acceptable to use the skill "Explosive dart" if you are out of range. It has no activation or channel time, meaning you can throw it as your are running into melee range. Use this and rapid shots until you get back into range. Never use DFA or Unload out of melee range, unless the mob is coming in your direction. You are wasting time channeling when you should be getting back into range. Your ideal position should be 10 meters away from the boss, coming into 4 meters any time you need to use rocket punch.

 

Burst Cooldowns:

 

You should use explosive fuel in line with your on-use power relic and power adrenal. However, since the adrenal is on a 3 min cd, unlike EF and your relic, it is acceptable to not wait until the adrenal is off cd to use EF and your relic. In summary, always use your adrenal with your EF and Relic, use EF and Relic on CD (Unless you need to save them for burst phases)

 

In burst phases, it is acceptable to go over the 40 heat rule in the following circumstances:

 

1. You have vent heat available

2. There is a "rest phase" soon.

3. The boss is about to die.

4. Its a wipe, LAST STAND!

 

Aoe Priority

 

1. DFA

2. Flamethrower

3. Explosive Dart

4. PPA Railshot

5. Flame Burst Multiple Targets (Flame Burst applies Dot)

6. Rapid Shots.

 

* The same heat rules apply to Aoe.

Edited by bbare
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Still can't decide whether I should put 3/3 into Burnout or 3/3 into Steely Resolve.

DPS wise I don't see a big difference (on dummies)...

Any suggestions?

 

The difference is so negligible. If your guild is having problems with burn phases before the boss is in execute range, go with steely resolve. If your guild is having problems near the end of fights, go with Burnout. I think the extra point in Burnout may provide a very slight overall damage increase, but that is going to vary based on the length of the fight, your gear, and group makeup.

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http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=560347

 

Oh*****iiiiiiii...

 

Not a bad guide, but now there are two redundant ones. :(

 

Note: All DPS should also pick up a PVP Boundless Ages relic. In situations where you are unable (or too lazy) to use the on-use Power relic to the CD, you're better off tossing on a PVP relic. Seeing as how PT Pyro is one of the specs it is easiest to be profoundly lazy on, it's in our own best interest to anticipate our own laziness.

Edited by Omophorus
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http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=560347

 

Oh*****iiiiiiii...

 

Not a bad guide, but now there are two redundant ones. :(

 

Note: All DPS should also pick up a PVP Boundless Ages relic. In situations where you are unable (or too lazy) to use the on-use Power relic to the CD, you're better off tossing on a PVP relic. Seeing as how PT Pyro is one of the specs it is easiest to be profoundly lazy on, it's in our own best interest to anticipate our own laziness.

 

It is quite easy to use the relic on CD, especially when you are using it at the same time as your explosive fuel. I bind my EF, relic, and adrenal to the 1, 2, 3 keys and button smash at the same time to pop them all at once. A skilled player doesn't have to use the pvp relic, because of "laziness" It is very easy to pop all of your burst cooldowns all at once in between GCD's.

 

If you are playing the class right, you would expect to see numerous guides that are very similar. In fact, I did borrow some of the hints and strategies from other guides, because I found them very useful for me. My guide is different, because it provides things like aoe damage strategies and situational advice. Its a good thing that many people are coming to the same conclusion with the class, because ambiguity sometimes prevents newer players from learning the class effectively.

Edited by bbare
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http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=560347

 

Oh*****iiiiiiii...

 

Not a bad guide, but now there are two redundant ones. :(

 

Note: All DPS should also pick up a PVP Boundless Ages relic. In situations where you are unable (or too lazy) to use the on-use Power relic to the CD, you're better off tossing on a PVP relic. Seeing as how PT Pyro is one of the specs it is easiest to be profoundly lazy on, it's in our own best interest to anticipate our own laziness.

 

Considering how bursty we are though. you REALLY should make sure to pop all your CDs every 2 minutes - ~1,5 minutes or so into the fight I'm usually a little behind our other DPS in damage done, but then I pop TSO+IM followed by all my CDs and RS/RP/FB spam until the power relic runs out (saving vent heat for this phase makes sure that you don't have to waste boosted attacks on rapid shots and can instead just keep spamming) and suddenly I'm ahead and stay there for the rest of the fight usually.

Personally, I don't like IM though - it just doesn't do enough damage to justify the heat spent on it, so I only use it for the burst phases when TSO makes it free and all the other CDs make sure that it's actually going to do significant damage.

 

Still, I do bring my PVP power relic with me, but I only use it for stuff like HMs and dailies where there's no reason to bother with clicking stuff.

Edited by steave
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It is quite easy to use the relic on CD, especially when you are using it at the same time as your explosive fuel. I bind my EF, relic, and adrenal to the 1, 2, 3 keys and button smash at the same time to pop them all at once. A skilled player doesn't have to use the pvp relic, because of "laziness" It is very easy to pop all of your burst cooldowns all at once in between GCD's.

 

If you are playing the class right, you would expect to see numerous guides that are very similar. In fact, I did borrow some of the hints and strategies from other guides, because I found them very useful for me. My guide is different, because it provides things like aoe damage strategies and situational advice. Its a good thing that many people are coming to the same conclusion with the class, because ambiguity sometimes prevents newer players from learning the class effectively.

 

I only use IM at the very beginning of the fight and in the filler attacks when DFA and Flamethrower are on CD. I sometimes use IM when TSO is off CD, but TSO usually comes off CD when IM is up already.

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The difference is so negligible. If your guild is having problems with burn phases before the boss is in execute range, go with steely resolve. If your guild is having problems near the end of fights, go with Burnout. I think the extra point in Burnout may provide a very slight overall damage increase, but that is going to vary based on the length of the fight, your gear, and group makeup.

 

Thanks!

So it is pretty much as I expected/ experienced. I'll stick with Burnout 3/3 a bit longer, as it "feels" slightly better...

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Not a bad guide. I just have one lil bone to pick with it. You say during burst or "burn" phases to use abilities such as Flamethrower and Death From Above. The issue i have is both of those abilities on a single target is going to be a dps loss(more so Flamethrower). Unless you have crazy rng and get crits on every tick.

 

Edit: Not you didn't say durning burn phases, but you did say to max your dps.

Edited by wetslampigduex
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Not a bad guide. I just have one lil bone to pick with it. You say during burst or "burn" phases to use abilities such as Flamethrower and Death From Above. The issue i have is both of those abilities on a single target is going to be a dps loss(more so Flamethrower). Unless you have crazy rng and get crits on every tick.

 

Edit: Not you didn't say durning burn phases, but you did say to max your dps.

 

Flamethrower will generally put up less damage than two flame bursts in the "filler" stage. Death From above will put up more damage than two flame bursts in the "filler" stage if you know how to quickly place the ground spell. However, both of those abilities are more heat-efficient, meaning more PPA rail procs, more IM refreshes, and more overall damage. Flamethrower and Death From Above also have less variance, meaning more consistent damage.

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Flamethrower will generally put up less damage than two flame bursts in the "filler" stage. Death From above will put up more damage than two flame bursts in the "filler" stage if you know how to quickly place the ground spell. However, both of those abilities are more heat-efficient, meaning more PPA rail procs, more IM refreshes, and more overall damage. Flamethrower and Death From Above also have less variance, meaning more consistent damage.

 

Ok Flamethrower hits 4 times in 3 seconds from what i can tell by looking at about 10 different logs of mine. In order for Flamethrower to increase your DPS on a single target boss you need 3/4 of the ticks to crit(1687 crit and 950 non crit) to break 2k dps. 2003 dps if 3/4 crit. If only 2 cirt that's a huge drop off to 1758.

 

Death From Above hits 6 times in 3 seconds. From my logs (dfa never hits for the same amount so i took an average see crits anywhere from 1214-1249 so i used 1230 for crits and non crits from 672-690 so i used 680) i can see that in order for DFA to increase your DPS on a single target you need 4 of the 6 (3/4) ticks to crit. Comes out to 2093 dps if 4/6 crit and you can place the circle with no down time.

 

My way of thinking my not be correct maybe there is something i'm missing(please make me aware) but unless your crit chance is 75% i wouldnt use either Flamethrower or Death From Above on any single target boss.

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Couple things for that analysis:

 

do you have armor debuff factored in with dfa?

 

What is your base comparison against?

 

no i didnt factor armor debuffs. I just looked at 10 logs all with the same fight(KP NiM jarg and sorno) because thats the only fight i ever use those abilities on. It's more of a rough estimate than an exact calculation. Just took a rough avg of my Flamethrower crits and non crits and did the same with DFA. From what i could tell like i said before flame thower hits 4 times in 3 secs and DFA hits 6 times in 3 seconds. Then just figured home many ticks would need to be crits in order to bring it to a min of 2k dps over the 3 second channel.

 

I am by no means a theorycrafter. If i'm wrong please help me out. What i did was very basic and wouldn't doubt i'm missing things.

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Was armor debuff present on them? It will affect the damage of dfa.

 

Thing is you need to compare the against either 2x flame burst (includes 1 extra cgc proc, also factor in 25 heat vs 32 heat, OR flame burst + rapid shots. (Not quite 1 extra cgc proc, 16 heat vs 25 heat), rather than just picking an arbitrary DPS number for you (filler) abilities.

 

Remember, this is only what we do when we can't be casting or proccing rail shot.

 

And I'm still a fan of prioritizing IM, then DFA, then FT for fillers. (Flame burst spam for burn phases/cool down use when vent heat is available)

 

 

Also, remember, if you're at 14 or less heat after you get PPA proc, do your filler first and then rail shot, to keep from bottoming out and losing regen. This is something I still need to work on.

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Was armor debuff present on them? It will affect the damage of dfa.

 

Thing is you need to compare the against either 2x flame burst (includes 1 extra cgc proc, also factor in 25 heat vs 32 heat, OR flame burst + rapid shots. (Not quite 1 extra cgc proc, 16 heat vs 25 heat), rather than just picking an arbitrary DPS number for you (filler) abilities.

 

Remember, this is only what we do when we can't be casting or proccing rail shot.

 

And I'm still a fan of prioritizing IM, then DFA, then FT for fillers. (Flame burst spam for burn phases/cool down use when vent heat is available)

 

 

Also, remember, if you're at 14 or less heat after you get PPA proc, do your filler first and then rail shot, to keep from bottoming out and losing regen. This is something I still need to work on.

 

AH HA, i see what you are saying now. not sure if i'll have time to figure this out before i get out of work, but tomorrow is another day.

 

Also 100% agree about IM i always keep it up... i get myself into trouble sometimes refreshing it to early cause i see TSO come of CD hit and and then go oh sh*t still got 10 secs left before that dot ticks off sob.

Edited by wetslampigduex
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Was armor debuff present on them? It will affect the damage of dfa.

 

Thing is you need to compare the against either 2x flame burst (includes 1 extra cgc proc, also factor in 25 heat vs 32 heat, OR flame burst + rapid shots. (Not quite 1 extra cgc proc, 16 heat vs 25 heat), rather than just picking an arbitrary DPS number for you (filler) abilities.

 

Remember, this is only what we do when we can't be casting or proccing rail shot.

 

And I'm still a fan of prioritizing IM, then DFA, then FT for fillers. (Flame burst spam for burn phases/cool down use when vent heat is available)

 

 

Also, remember, if you're at 14 or less heat after you get PPA proc, do your filler first and then rail shot, to keep from bottoming out and losing regen. This is something I still need to work on.

 

I struggle with that too. Sometimes I waste about 5 heat in the middle of boss fights, because there is so much going around I need to pay attention too.

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Yeah its better to let IM fall off and use tso on dfa or ft than to reapply early.

 

Even with tso tho, only reapply IM in ppa downtime.

 

Let me clarify what I meant. You should use TSO as soon as it is off cooldown but only on IM, DFA or Flamethrower. The reason why IM should be priority is because it has the highest heat/gcd, 25. IM actually does a considerable amount of damage/heat because it is a dot. However, it is acceptable to use ISO on DFA or Flamethrower if your IM dot does not need to be refreshed, which will be the case a lot of the time.

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Let me clarify what I meant. You should use TSO as soon as it is off cooldown but only on IM, DFA or Flamethrower. The reason why IM should be priority is because it has the highest heat/gcd, 25. IM actually does a considerable amount of damage/heat because it is a dot. However, it is acceptable to use ISO on DFA or Flamethrower if your IM dot does not need to be refreshed, which will be the case a lot of the time.

 

Yea, spot on. Agree 100%

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Tell me this isn't happening, mutual agreement on an internet forum?

 

You can instead focus on the prior disagreement based on misunderstood semantics.

 

Anyway.

 

 

 

How about another relevant topic.

 

Opener. I don't like opening with IM. Lately have been playing around with opening with flame burst instead. Gets the cylinder dot rolling faster. Kinda sucks when it procs ppa tho.

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You can instead focus on the prior disagreement based on misunderstood semantics.

 

Anyway.

 

 

 

How about another relevant topic.

 

Opener. I don't like opening with IM. Lately have been playing around with opening with flame burst instead. Gets the cylinder dot rolling faster. Kinda sucks when it procs ppa tho.

 

I open with IM on bosses for the following reasons:

 

1. It allows you to use rail shot and get the extra damage due to burning target.

2. It won't proc PPA Railshot

3. It gets your IM dot rolling.

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I open with IM on bosses for the following reasons:

 

1. It allows you to use rail shot and get the extra damage due to burning target.

2. It won't proc PPA Railshot

3. It gets your IM dot rolling.

4. With all the cooldowns you're about to pop during your opening burst, that dot is actually gonna hit for really significant damage

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I open with IM on bosses for the following reasons:

 

1. It allows you to use rail shot and get the extra damage due to burning target.

2. It won't proc PPA Railshot

3. It gets your IM dot rolling.

 

1: Flame burst does the same. Moot point.

2: This is a valid point.

3: I'd contend that I'd rather miss 2 ticks of IM DoT (376 per tick on my ship dummy) than miss 2 -3 (3 if you go IM-RS-RP, 2 if you go IM-RS-FB) of the Cylinder DoT (560 on my ship dummy)

 

4: I still pop off IM after my second rail shot, so it's going during my cooldowns.

 

 

Mind you, I'm still just playing around with this, and I haven't been doing Pyro all that long, so I'm not saying that I'm for sure right on this.

Edited by OlosBC
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