Hey guys. I need some advice on my rotation - pretty sure my build is fine, but any advice there would be welcome as well.

I'm in full Rakata/black hole, with augments, and on a Nightmare Pilgrim run last night I was averaging only 1200 DPS and I'm told it should be higher.

What's a good rotation for PVE single-target Arsenal DPS?

Hey guys. I need some advice on my rotation - pretty sure my build is fine, but any advice there would be welcome as well.

 

I'm in full Rakata/black hole, with augments, and on a Nightmare Pilgrim run last night I was averaging only 1200 DPS and I'm told it should be higher.

 

What's a good rotation for PVE single-target Arsenal DPS?

open tracerx2 >unload (with or without proc) tracerx1>railshot>HSM>tracer till proc>unload>Railshot>HSM

and so on.

Basically you should be using unload whenever its off cooldown with or without a proc. Throw in rapid shots when your spamming tracer if your heat goes a bit too high.

open tracerx2 >unload (with or without proc) tracerx1>railshot>HSM>tracer till proc>unload>Railshot>HSM

Not sure what the advantage of this rotation is.

I would go with:

Tracer - Tracer - Tracer - Heatseeker - Unload - Tracer - Tracer - Railshot.

Your best attack is a fully stacked heatseeker. You should be looking to get this off right away. Next up would be Unload. If Barrage has procced, it will be high damage. If not, it will be just normal damage but it helps keep heat down since you regen while channeling.

The next best attack is a fully stacked Railshot. So you need to use 2 tracers first to get it fully stacked.

Once you have gone through the initial rotation, its up to you to watch for the attacks to come off cooldown. Your priority should be:

Heatseeker (only with 5 stacks)

Unload (always use right when it procs)

Railshot (only use with 5 stacks. If heat is high, this can be used without 5 stacks since it costs no heat)

In between those, you want to go with Tracer Missile to keep up the stacks, and mix in Rapid Shots to find your ideal heat level. You may have to mix in rapid shots more than I mentioned. Arsenal heat management has changed recently and I havn't tried it since.

Not sure what the advantage of this rotation is.

 

I would go with:

Tracer - Tracer - Tracer - Heatseeker - Unload - Tracer - Tracer - Railshot.

 

Your best attack is a fully stacked heatseeker. You should be looking to get this off right away. Next up would be Unload. If Barrage has procced, it will be high damage. If not, it will be just normal damage but it helps keep heat down since you regen while channeling.

 

The next best attack is a fully stacked Railshot. So you need to use 2 tracers first to get it fully stacked.

 

Once you have gone through the initial rotation, its up to you to watch for the attacks to come off cooldown. Your priority should be:

Heatseeker (only with 5 stacks)

Unload (always use right when it procs)

Railshot (only use with 5 stacks. If heat is high, this can be used without 5 stacks since it costs no heat)

 

In between those, you want to go with Tracer Missile to keep up the stacks, and mix in Rapid Shots to find your ideal heat level. You may have to mix in rapid shots more than I mentioned. Arsenal heat management has changed recently and I havn't tried it since.

That rotation is a bit dated. If you havent even played arsenal since the last major patch dont comment on my rotation. Crits no longer vent heat so your rotation if you hit it fast enough will bring you up to around 50-60 heat which is horrible for an opener. HSM and railshot are not our hardest hitting abilities anymore with the recent changes unload now does more damage even without barrage over the course of the channel. Unload should take priority in almost every case. The only time you want to use HSM is when everything else is on CD.

The reason you want to throw in railshot earlier in your rotation now is because it mitigates some of the heat. and since you only need 2 tracers to get full stacks now theres really no reason not to do this.

the only time you should need to use rapid shots is between tracer spamming in order to push your heat down slightly. However if your doing the rotation correctly heat should not be an issue.

That rotation is a bit dated. If you havent even played arsenal since the last major patch dont comment on my rotation. Crits no longer vent heat so your rotation if you hit it fast enough will bring you up to around 50-60 heat which is horrible for an opener. HSM and railshot are not our hardest hitting abilities anymore with the recent changes unload now does more damage even without barrage over the course of the channel. Unload should take priority in almost every case. The only time you want to use HSM is when everything else is on CD.

 

The reason you want to throw in railshot earlier in your rotation now is because it mitigates some of the heat. and since you only need 2 tracers to get full stacks now theres really no reason not to do this.

 

the only time you should need to use rapid shots is between tracer spamming in order to push your heat down slightly. However if your doing the rotation correctly heat should not be an issue.

What he said. This is the aresenal post 1.3 'rotation' (more of a priority than rotation but it works).

That rotation is a bit dated. If you havent even played arsenal since the last major patch dont comment on my rotation. Crits no longer vent heat so your rotation if you hit it fast enough will bring you up to around 50-60 heat which is horrible for an opener. HSM and railshot are not our hardest hitting abilities anymore with the recent changes unload now does more damage even without barrage over the course of the channel. Unload should take priority in almost every case. The only time you want to use HSM is when everything else is on CD.

 

The reason you want to throw in railshot earlier in your rotation now is because it mitigates some of the heat. and since you only need 2 tracers to get full stacks now theres really no reason not to do this.

 

the only time you should need to use rapid shots is between tracer spamming in order to push your heat down slightly. However if your doing the rotation correctly heat should not be an issue.

I played arsenal plenty post 1.3. And why would you possibly post on the forums and ask someone to not comment? Why dont you just talk to your cat if you dont want a response.

I pay attention to patch notes...I never saw notes saying that Tracers apply 3 stacks for heat seeker. When did that happen? I thought it was only 2 but I must be outdated. Also, why would you do "Tracer - Tracer - Unload - Tracer" to start? Why would you not use 3 tracers and then Unload, for more armor debuff. You start by not even fully debuffing, and then use railshot before HSM?

I played arsenal plenty post 1.3. And why would you possibly post on the forums and ask someone to not comment? Why dont you just talk to your cat if you dont want a response.

Arsenal heat management has changed recently and I havn't tried it since.

You yourself just stated that you havent tried it

I pay attention to patch notes...I never saw notes saying that Tracers apply 3 stacks for heat seeker. When did that happen? I thought it was only 2 but I must be outdated. Also, why would you do "Tracer - Tracer - Unload - Tracer" to start? Why would you not use 3 tracers and then Unload, for more armor debuff. You start by not even fully debuffing, and then use railshot before HSM?

and I never said that tracers apply 3 stacks I was referring to tracer lock. Which I was actually wrong about you need 3 tracers to reach full tracer lock. Still not 5. Your rotation does more damage im not denying that Im only stating that your generating way too much heat up front meaning your going to end up spending alot more time using rapid shots to push it down. I tested it myself on combat dummies if your really still using that rotation your pushing 50 heat. the only way I could see that being viable would be to throw in thermal sensor override.

yes your skill priority is wrong. You tell me what does more damage a fully stacked HSM that MIGHT crit for 5-6k or unload thats guranteed to hit for at least 5k possibly more with lucky crits? Railshot only requires 3 tracers to reach maximum damage now. If your using the 4 piece set bonus (you should be) thats a free hit and helps to mitigate heat. Which is why I recommend using it BEFORE HSM. Ive spent alot of time min/maxing my toon and fine tuning my character and I can pretty much guarantee you that you'll push out more damage if you work unload into your rotation more.

You're right, I wasn't clear on what I was saying. I have played Arsenal since the damage changes went into effect. I have not played since the heat has changed. But since heat is managed more easily now, I don't see how my point changes. I gave a rotation used with the more strict heat system, so it should only perform better now.

I would find that keeping my heat in the lowest regen category was not always the most efficient way to play. For example, and this is a bad example but its easy to make my point:

The first phase against Soa. If I go all-out with no regard to heat, I can remain constant through that whole phase using a vent heat (which refreshes before its needed again). In this case, the "best" rotation is the one that does the most damage, regardless of heat. You can regen the heat as you drop down platforms.

A second example: KP Bounty Hunter duo. I may as well go all-out with everything, and then get carbonized with full heat. This was a standard occurrence back in the KP days.

Last example: Third phase of Soa (when his shield is down). I'm sure I don't need to explain that one.

So I guess we are just answering the question in different ways. There are times when different rotations can be "best".

Actually, depending on your crit, it was easier to manage heat before the change to Terminal Velocity. It used to dump every time you crit, up to once per 6 seconds; now it's auto once every 8 seconds. If you had a high enough crit (say, using Tracer Missiles with your set bonus and a good base crit, you should be over 50% crit chance on those), you'd be dumping heat more often.

Yeah it can be rough now if you dont keep an eye on it.

The OP asks about maximizing DPS in PvE. Of course the post 1.3 rotations posted here are the de-facto to use, especially on single targets. But don't overlook the use of AoE abilities like DFA and Fusion missile. Both will generate a good amount of DPS as it is applying damage across multiple targets, especially FM with it's DoTs. Using Power Surge and Thermal Sensor Override before FM will make it an instant cast with no heat which will maximize your damage while limiting down time. It makes for a good opener too with or w/o multiple targets as it gets the damage ticking away right off the bat. You may want to look into adding those into your rotations when appropriate like with adds. Even throwing Explosive Dart on CD can add to DPS, but at a heat cost.

As noted previously, Unload with or without Barrage should be used in the rotation on CD. Even with the boost to the Barrage proc with 1.2, it is still a random percentage with every cast of TM/PS and I have personally had times where it wouldn't proc even after 3 or more TMs, sometimes even after 4-5x.

Keep in mind this is my opinion only and I haven't crunched any numbers concerning DPS. I know that using the above methods in PvP has given a boost to my overall damage for sure, but not sure how the DPS would figure out..

The OP asks about maximizing DPS in PvE. Of course the post 1.3 rotations posted here are the de-facto to use, especially on single targets. But don't overlook the use of AoE abilities like DFA and Fusion missile. Both will generate a good amount of DPS as it is applying damage across multiple targets, especially FM with it's DoTs. Using Power Surge and Thermal Sensor Override before FM will make it an instant cast with no heat which will maximize your damage while limiting down time. It makes for a good opener too with or w/o multiple targets as it gets the damage ticking away right off the bat. You may want to look into adding those into your rotations when appropriate like with adds. Even throwing Explosive Dart on CD can add to DPS, but at a heat cost.

 

As noted previously, Unload with or without Barrage should be used in the rotation on CD. Even with the boost to the Barrage proc with 1.2, it is still a random percentage with every cast of TM/PS and I have personally had times where it wouldn't proc even after 3 or more TMs, sometimes even after 4-5x.

 

Keep in mind this is my opinion only and I haven't crunched any numbers concerning DPS. I know that using the above methods in PvP has given a boost to my overall damage for sure, but not sure how the DPS would figure out..

I personally would not recommend using arsenal for PvP its just too easy to get shut down

I personally would not recommend using arsenal for PvP its just too easy to get shut down

Arsenal for PvP is a no-no. That is coming from someone who LOVES the spec. You are stuck going Pyro if you want to succeed.

As for PvE- check out my guide if you feel like you have time! I promise you won't be disappointed <3

Well until they allow separate specs for PvE and PvP, I don't really feel like bouncing back and forth. Yes Arsenal sucks for PvP but I can still be competitive as long as my team doesn't completely suck.

I am kind of getting burned out on my Merc right now and have started a Marauder which is level 21 now. I'll probably end up using that alt for end game PvP and use my BH for PvE.

I've already applied the tips from that guide since posting this, as you linked it in my post on the swtor reddit, as well. Thanks!

I'm doing better DPS since posting this and making some changes. I hit 1700 on the Fabricator in Nightmare KP.

I usually go

Fusion Missile(for a D.O.T), Tracer Missile(x3), Heatseeker, Unload then Rail shot. Rinse and repeat

Arsenal for PvP is a no-no. That is coming from someone who LOVES the spec. You are stuck going Pyro if you want to succeed.

 

As for PvE- check out my guide if you feel like you have time! I promise you won't be disappointed <3

I love your guide dude...I wasn't disappointed