What exactly is the difference of all 3 in a nutshell? I've been considering speccing Dirty Fighting...

 

Is there a specific spec that's best for flashpointS?

Sharp shooter: single target burst/sustained

Sabature:aoe

Dirty fighting:dot sustained

Is there a specific spec that's best for flashpointS?

 

The one you enjoy plaing the most!

 

Credit to Zunayson for the comments below.

 

Your sharpshooting is either way OP or way not so good. Against those sages, you will lolburn them down. Against tank juggies, not so much. Single target with good burst, and good sustained. Affected by dodge, shield, and armor, so it's especially bad for tank killing. You get 1 energy per second whilst in cover, extremely good. You have a move that gives you alacrity and 50% more energy per second.

 

Your saboteur is the aoe damage king. This is pretty DoT based as is DF. Most of this build's damage is yellow, and only some of this yellow damage is affected by armor. some of your attacks will indeed miss or be shielded, but I scarcely use them, most people die when my Tech attacks are down. This build has the most survivability, what with more Defense Screens, more powerful Defense Screens, 6% damage reduction in cover, 30 secs. of scrambling field, 6% when you activate Cool Head, 4% endurance. Energy management is a breeze, you get free moves, 5ish energy off multiple main rotational moves, and can chain Cool Head.

 

DF is your dot-based tank killer. Your damage pretty much all of it goes through defense chance, shield, and armor. You are a sustained with some burst. You have to set this burst up, but then can get some pretty nice damage off your nuker. You get 30 seconds off Cool Head, and whenever a DoT criticall hits (Lots of dots going on, so they will crit a lot if you stack crit), you get like 2 energy I think. It adds up. This is best for single target. The AoE isn't horrible, but compared to sab it's pretty bad. energy management is probably the hardest, especially if you have to reapply dots to all targets.

I've been having a breeze while leveling as sharpshooter, but if Saboteur is the AoE king, would that be a better option (not sure, since while it's AoE, it's also DOT-based)? Are both equally good?

I've been having a breeze while leveling as sharpshooter, but if Saboteur is the AoE king, would that be a better option (not sure, since while it's AoE, it's also DOT-based)? Are both equally good?

 

It really depends on what you want to do. Saboteur is great for clearing out adds/trash mobs. So for fights that require a significant amount of AoE, it's really great. Otherwise its damage is fairly lackluster. This makes it a great solo questing spec and useful for particular fights, but for the most part it will lag behind in flashpoints.

 

Sharpshooter is all about burst. Target switching is easy as you just continue where you left off in your rotation (there's a great guide for this at the top of this subforum). AoE is mediocre but the sustained is decent. This is a very simple, easy spec to play with very little energy management issues unless you're really pushing your rotation to the limits like the top parsers do.

 

Dirty Fighting comes into its own only after you get Wounding Shots at level 30. At this point, things get much smoother and more manageable but until you get your 4-piece set bonus, you'll have some difficulties with energy management. This has above average AoE due to Shrap Bomb and all the other tools common to Gunslinger, has passable burst when set up correctly, handles movement better than the other two specs and has good sustained damage.

 

In the end play what you want, but if you're trying to be the best at flashpoints and eventually ops, pick either Dirty Fighting or Sharpshooter. This isn't to say Saboteur can't be made to work, it's just much more difficult and not applicable to every fight.

Ive tried them all and my favorite is Saboteur , but thats me, there all very good when you play them right.

It truely is a question of taste , basically comes down to : single target , aoes or dots

Sharp shooter: single target burst/sustained

Sabature:aoe

Dirty fighting:dot sustained

 

I just don't get how Saboteur is aoe.. none of the talents appear to have any relevance to AOE in any way. I've read ALL of them. Am I missing something?

I just don't get how Saboteur is aoe.. none of the talents appear to have any relevance to AOE in any way. I've read ALL of them. Am I missing something?

 

Plasma Probe, Increased Orbital Strike Damage and Suppressive Fire, and 3 second Fragmentation Grenade. Not to mention a talent that increases Surge % of AoE damage.

 

With 2.10 Changes, Saboteur will be viable in terms of AoE damage in respect to other two AoE cousins (Focus and Tactics)

Edited August 12, 2014 by DieGhostDie

Plasma Probe, Increased Orbital Strike Damage and Suppressive Fire, and 3 second Fragmentation Grenade. Not to mention a talent that increases Surge % of AoE damage.

 

With 2.10 Changes, Saboteur will be viable in terms of AoE damage in respect to other two AoE cousins (Focus and Tactics)

 

Maybe it's because I'm only lvl 41 and I don't have any of those abilities

Maybe it's because I'm only lvl 41 and I don't have any of those abilities

By 41 you have all of those expect for incindary grenade , read your talents some time, it makes you a much better player

By 41 you have all of those expect for incindary grenade , read your talents some time, it makes you a much better player

 

He won't have orbital strike/flyby at 41.