Hi,

 

it may not be the most original question, I know. Yet I spent quite some time searching the net for useable information, but found none, or it was outdated or PvP- or endgame-specific. So now I have to ask you.

 

I've just returned to SW:ToR and started to play a Bounty Hunter, for style and story reasons, being still on Hutta. I'm only on occasionally and will play solo for most of the time, leveling and questing. I don't care about PvP (except those spaceship battles maybe) and raiding at all and I will rarely play group missions/dungeons.

 

So what I need is some kind of survivability/DPS build that allows me to kill mobs fairly quick while being not too squishy. I guess I'll play with Mako as companion for healing. I'd like to be able to do at least most H2+ missions on my own, the more and the easier, the better, so it's survivability over pure DPS in the end.

 

My first guess was Powertech, for that's the tough"tanky" one. Or would a Merc be viable as well? Usually I prefer ranged combat, but Mercenary seems more squishy - but can heal, so I may choose another companion and that may work out well, too.

 

Please help me with your thoughts, because I'm questing towards finishing Hutta and then I'll have to decide

 

Thanks in advance.

Edited June 24, 2014 by Bromlin

The most survivability you will get is by using the tank skill tree (as it will make the most out of using a shield offhand) in conjunction with using Mako to heal, though this is likely to mean levelling will be a bit slower since you wont be able to kill mobs as quickly as a DPS.

 

For guides and skill trees I would recommend dulfy's guides as it has ones for all DPS, Tank and Healing classes, while yes it does assume that you are at a high level and can go all the way up the tree, it will give you an indication as to what abilities are important for you to use (eg as a pyrotech powertech your main ability will be Railshot so any points in to a skill that Buffs railshot is good) and you can extrapolate to a certain extent any rotations that may be useful.

 

The only reason that I am running a Powertech rather than a Merc is simply a choice since I already have leveled it's republic equivalent (Commando).

Edited June 24, 2014 by Jedi_riches

Okay, after some more research I now try a hybrid build made of Pyrotech and Shield skills. Guess this could do the trick. We'll see.

For Powertech leveling I found the shield tech tree to be optimal because I could spend comms on making me take less damage while mako had mediocre gear and still healed me decently ..however using dps spec will be tough when solo questing since your tank companions come after lvl 40 when gear starts to matter (unless u unlock treek). Regardless Blizz, Treek, and Skadge all use aim as a main stat so your tank gear will be for them and since PT can't heal you'll be healthbar racing every fight and then spending time recouperating; with that same gear your a better tank all around and have 3 times the abilities not to mention AI for a tank companion will get on your nerves while healer AI has 1 priority and does the job. Leveling as shield tech was fun for me ..standard mobs became boring since health wasn't an issue with mako, I started aggroing several mobs at a time obliterating 25+ kill quests/bonuses in 1-2 fights = Fast questing if your gear is within 2-3 lvls under your current. Hope this helps

I think the most survivability is from healers, not tanks. Not only they have a endless pool of health, but also mercenaries have CC while powertech just have short stuns. If the character and the companions are correctly geared, both healers and tanks would be able to solo even heroic 4. Heroic 2 are not an issue.