Any thoughts yet about the Kell Dragon gear? Looks to me we still need the same amount of accuracy enhancement for 99.98% or something. What about crit rating? It still shouldnt hurt to get it to 100 IMO.

And what happened to them saying alacrity was not working as intented atm and would be modified? Anyone got a chance to test it yet on the PTS?

Yup just need 5 of each, here's a sneak peak at BiS for when 2.2 hits

BIS 2.2

As far as I know Alacrity is working fine now...it's not a horrible stat, but just not as good as going with 5 acc pieces and 5 surge pieces.

Looked it up, the alacrity issue was actually something they said regarding Knights/Warriors during the Cantina event:

Knights/Warriors: The thought process behind alacrity was that if GDC decreased then the player could not only attack faster to increase dps, but it would also decrease the cool down on rebuilding focus/rage as well since alacrity doesn't recharge "energy" for that class like other classes. They realize it's not working as intended and are working to fix that. [/Quote]

Is there a chance that they remember we have the Cell Charger ability? Dont think so.

Tomorrows patchnotes

•Pre-Game Update 2.0 gear that had the same set bonuses (or affected the same abilities) as Post-2.0 gear no longer stacks the bonus effects. The first set bonus placed on the character will take affect but the second one will not.[/Quote] :(

Noooooo

Tomorrows patchnotes

:(

Noooooo

I don't even know what to say or think, except that I'm very sad about this. What Flying-Brian said...I think it's time we band together and create a new petition thread to bring back old set bonus for new tiers or at least make up for the damage loss somewhere...With how many tracer missiles we use in boss fights this was a significant help for us. sad face x infinity.

Grats on the sticky btw. About time they actually sticked a thread. My old old old thread back around 1.3 had thousands of views but every time we requested a sticky they ignored it haha.

Ty buddy, yeah it's really cool they stickied it, now i don't have to bump it anymore haha. There needed to be an easy access thread for arsenal that doesn't get burried in the other mumbo jumbo, now we got one. Happy face but negated by sad face x infinity from above!

Is there a chance that they remember we have the Cell Charger ability? Dont think so.

Every class, save Inquisitors (to my knowledge) have an ability like that. Bounty Hunters/Troopers have Vent Heat/Cell Charger, Warriors have Enrage (I forget the Knight version), Imperial Agents have Adrenaline Probe. That's still balanced and doesn't necessarily need to be affected by alacrity.

Every class, save Inquisitors (to my knowledge) have an ability like that. Bounty Hunters/Troopers have Vent Heat/Cell Charger, Warriors have Enrage (I forget the Knight version), Imperial Agents have Adrenaline Probe. That's still balanced and doesn't necessarily need to be affected by alacrity.

Cell Charger, as an ability, is unique among the other class' resource skills, in that it gives a flat regen to ammo. The closest thing would be Foxhole for Slingers.

For Mercs the ability is called Terminal Velocity.

It is vastly different from Vent Heat / Recharge Cells, which is an activated ability on a cooldown.

So I went ahead and updated the guide to reflect no more stacking set bonuses...revamped the priority system for a "one size fits most." I also put in a 5 minute parse with the set bonus I chose to switch to, being the old 4pc. I was able to match my best parse with the 2pc/2pc stacking before the "nerf", however I think boss fights will be hit harder than dummy parses.

At some point I may switch over to the new one, but I think I will likely stick with this at least through this tier and probably even through the next tier of gear as it simulates about the same either way even with Kell Dragon gear. However I will be experimenting with both.

First of all. Thank you for this guide. It made me improve hugely over the last 2 months ( I am new to the game and my merc is my first toon).

I am trying to bring my accuracy up as you suggested but there are couple issues. I am not experienced enough to do hardmore ops so I have only access to sm tfb and sv as high end content. I am having trouble to get my gear inline with yours (trying to mirror your Underworld BIS with arcanian) because every single arcanian/black market gear I find has nimble mod instead of agile mod and they do not have adept/initiative enhancement as you suggest but all other stuff with alacrity/critical. am I doing something wrong? should look for other class equipment and rip enhancements from them?

First of all. Thank you for this guide. It made me improve hugely over the last 2 months ( I am new to the game and my merc is my first toon).

 

I am trying to bring my accuracy up as you suggested but there are couple issues. I am not experienced enough to do hardmore ops so I have only access to sm tfb and sv as high end content. I am having trouble to get my gear inline with yours (trying to mirror your Underworld BIS with arcanian) because every single arcanian/black market gear I find has nimble mod instead of agile mod and they do not have adept/initiative enhancement as you suggest but all other stuff with alacrity/critical. am I doing something wrong? should look for other class equipment and rip enhancements from them?

Heya you're welcome and thank you for bringing this up cuz it's not completely apparent, you have to do some digging to find the right mod/enhancements.

First of all, I should mention that even though all power build is what is reflected on my BiS sheet, it's ok to take a little bit of crit. I'd say if you're under 200 I wouldn't worry about swapping any crit out until your last priority gearing choices. Heck I still have 109 crit and I'm not even going to bother swapping it out unless it's convenient.

That being said, to get agile mods, you can easily spend commendations on black market and verpine gear to get belt/bracers. Also agile mods are found on Ark/UW eliminator Mainhand/offhand/legs/chest gear sets. These pieces also hold the adept enhancements (OH has both adept and initiative options i believe, check the non eliminator ones). For initiative enhancements, it's a bit more annoying, you have to use Bounty Hunter Offhands, inquisitor legs, and warrior boots to get them.

Enhancements are by far the most difficult to "farm" since you can't do it with commendations. Until you can attain them through loot, I recommend either learning the 66 level enhancements from the schematic trainer on your artifice and crafting them or buying them from someone either with mats or outright on the GTN. There may be people on your server that can craft the 69 level initiative/adept enhancements as well if you search.

EDIT: Also, just a side note, there are 10 pieces you can get accuracy or surge from...basically everything except relics/belt/bracers. You should keep 6 pieces with accuracy and 4 pieces with surge until you start getting 72 level gear where you can start evenly splitting them 5 / 5.

Cell Charger, as an ability, is unique among the other class' resource skills, in that it gives a flat regen to ammo. The closest thing would be Foxhole for Slingers.

 

For Mercs the ability is called Terminal Velocity.

 

It is vastly different from Vent Heat / Recharge Cells, which is an activated ability on a cooldown.

You're right, I got confused on the name of the ability. My apologies.

That said, Operatives/Scoundrels have a similar passive that increases their energy regen over that of snipers. It used to be Stim Boost but now it's continuous.

Hey odawgg,

Your current 3024 parse that's posted on page 1 still shows 52% crit to tracer, what's the deal with that??? I thought they no longer stacked?

-knopik

Hey odawgg,

Your current 3024 parse that's posted on page 1 still shows 52% crit to tracer, what's the deal with that??? I thought they no longer stacked?

 

-knopik

Just lucky RNG man, all it is, if 2pc 2pc was still going it would be 55% crit chance and a lucky parse would be over 60%

first of all thanks for making this thread.

i took over some advice on skill tree, stats and rotation.

Critical reaction is now a major help for the heat system together with your advise on when to use heat vent while maxing my dps.

i have a couple of questions to start with

I took your advice on lower critical rating and putting that into power, yet when fightin i feel like im critting less, how does critical rating exactly work for a mercenary?

does tracer lock gives a extra damage bonus towards heatseekers missile?

i usually combine Thermal sensor override with unload while barrage is active to vent heat while damaging, do you have any suggestion on how to use it better?

Thanks for reading!

Tracer Lock increases the damage of Rail Shot, not HSM.

you misunderstood what i ment, i was under the impression that if you use hsm before rail shot while tracer lock is active u would get max damage out of that

first of all thanks for making this thread.

 

i took over some advice on skill tree, stats and rotation.

 

Critical reaction is now a major help for the heat system together with your advise on when to use heat vent while maxing my dps.

 

i have a couple of questions to start with

 

I took your advice on lower critical rating and putting that into power, yet when fightin i feel like im critting less, how does critical rating exactly work for a mercenary?

 

does tracer lock gives a extra damage bonus towards heatseekers missile?

 

i usually combine Thermal sensor override with unload while barrage is active to vent heat while damaging, do you have any suggestion on how to use it better?

 

Thanks for reading!

Hello there, glad you stopped by! Ok so your question about crit vs. power. If you're crit is lower, you're going to crit less, that definitely does not take a brain surgeon to figure out, but by taking less crit, you add more power, which means that all of your attacks hit harder and even though you're critting less, those crits will hit harder than they did before. So it's all about finding the right balance between crit and power to maximize your overall average dps. The tool we currently have to try and figure out what that balance is are really just Keren's Simulator which is an awesome tool. From what we've found with that simulator, anywhere from about 0-150/200ish crit produces similar dps, I don't like to take a strong stance on favoring one side of the spectrum or the other since they are so incredibly close to the same that even one little thing that might be off in the simulator could swing it either direction.

As far as the increased damage with HSM, if you read the tooltip in the talent tree for HSM, you'll see that you gain 25% damage when your heat signature is applied to the target. So you're getting tracer lock and heat signatures mixed up. You just need one heat signature on the target to gain the damage boost (along with the armor debuff that goes along with it).

For TSO, many use it with unload and there's nothing wrong wih that, however it won't result in "maximum" dps. For maximum dps, you should use TSO with Fusion Missile either on single target or wait for an AoE situation if it comes early on in the fight.

Hopefully that clears some things up.

you misunderstood what i ment, i was under the impression that if you use hsm before rail shot while tracer lock is active u would get max damage out of that

I'll clarify, then.

Tracer Lock has NO effect on the damage of Heat Seeker Missiles.

I need help. I feel like I am slowly getting my dps up, but my numbers are WAY below yours.

I am in all 69 gear with some 72 thrown in like for belt/bracers.

I am at 99.4% accuracy and the rest is in power/surge.

Comparable parses my average hits are about 1k less than yours and my APM is only at about 26-27.

Currently I dps at around 1800 for a full HM boss fight and can usually get a stable dps line at around 2200.

I think my issue might be movement or something.

Anyways, comparing my writhing horror HM parse to yours was somewhat depressing ...

http://www.torparse.com/a/260315

any advice is appreciated.

note: currently I am using 2 pvp relics. one procs power the other procs the extra damage thing.

I need help. I feel like I am slowly getting my dps up, but my numbers are WAY below yours.

I am in all 69 gear with some 72 thrown in like for belt/bracers.

I am at 99.4% accuracy and the rest is in power/surge.

 

Comparable parses my average hits are about 1k less than yours and my APM is only at about 26-27.

Currently I dps at around 1800 for a full HM boss fight and can usually get a stable dps line at around 2200.

I think my issue might be movement or something.

 

Anyways, comparing my writhing horror HM parse to yours was somewhat depressing ...

http://www.torparse.com/a/260315

 

any advice is appreciated.

 

note: currently I am using 2 pvp relics. one procs power the other procs the extra damage thing.

Hey there, glad to help where I can When I analyze a parse I look at a couple things. First, APMs as you mentioned. your APM is 25 while mine is 32 on Whithering Horror. Thats a very significant difference and will increase with practice. ABC (always be casting) is the key. queuing every ability helps with this, but more importantly it's just reaction time and how quickly you can press buttons lol. Always anticipate a target switch, so you can switch targets during a cast or GCD. basically you don't want any dead time between casts. Also, when APMs are low, usually rapid shot usage is low as well, this means you have a lot of dead time in between casts where heat dissipates and hence, don't need to use rapid shots as much.

The second thing I look at is the usage of Rail Shot and Heat Seeker Missiles. When you compare our parses, you used 9 of each, I used 13 of each and the fight was the same length. That means that you aren't using HSM and Rail Shot immediately when they come off cd. This is very important. Other than when you're AOE'ing the spawns, these are your HIGHEST priority abilities and should be used immediately over TM or UL and you should try to anticipate when you see them about to come off cd by reducing your heat so they can be fired at will.

Start with this and you should see your numbers improving dramatically. If you don't already, spend some time on the dummy trying to ABC and use HSM and RS as close to cd as possible, this will translate to boss fights.