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Blueheart's PvE Sharpshooter Guide 1.0


Fearheart

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Blueheart's PvE Gunslinger Sharpshooter Guide 1.1

 

The purpose of this guide is to help people with the mechanics of the Sharpshooter and to help optimize our role as DPS in Operations.

 

 

Contents

1. Abbreviations

2. Skills/Talent Points

3. Abilities

4. Rotation

5. Stats

6. Gear

7. Consumables

8. Key Bind Tips

9. Gunslinger Boss Tips

10. Final Thoughts

 

 

I. Abbreviations

AoE Area of effect

BiS Best in slot

CD Cooldown

CC Crowd control

DoT Damage over time

DPCT Damage per cast time

DPE Damage per energy

DPS Damage per second

GCD Global cooldown

Ops Operations

s Seconds

 

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II. Skills and Talent Points

 

Sharpshooter

 

Tier Skill Notes

1 Cover Screen Optional

1 Steady Shots Mandatory

1 Sharpshooter Highly Recommended

2 Percussive Shot Recommended

2 Ballistic Dampers Optional

2 Sharp Aim Mandatory

2 Trip Shot Optional

3 Snap Shot Mandatory

3 Diversion Recommended

3 Quick Aim Mandatory

4 Slick Shooter Mandatory

4 Spacer Recommended

4 Burst Volley Not Recommended

4 Foxhole Mandatory

5 Recoil Control Mandatory

5 Trickshot Mandatory

5 Lay Low Recomended

6 Deadeye Mandatory

7 Rapid Fire Mandatory

 

Cover Screen - This defensive skill is activated upon leaving cover. Increases your ranged dodge by 20% for 6s. Can be taken instead of some of the other optional talents.

Steady Shots - Improves the damage by +6% of two of your key abilities.

Sharpshooter - (+3% Accuracy) Being that our offhand pistol has a 57% less chance to hit than our mainhand we will miss a lot. This should help mitigate some of the effects of being a dual weilder.

Percussive Shot - Puts a knockback on your aimed shot when used 10m or closer. I recommend this because if you pull aggro on an add this helps you be able to kite them. (Optional Talent)

Ballistic Dampers - Gives you a 30% damage reduction while in cover (3stacks). When you lose all stacks consider exiting and re-entering cover.

Sharp Aim - Gives +20% Armor Penetration to Aimed Shot. Since Aimed Shot is our biggest hitting ability, this should improve our DPS significantly, depending on the mechanics behind Armor Penetration.

Trip Shot - Reduces the 15s CD of our snare by 3s. Rarely will you use Trip shot, has little use for us in PvE.

Snap Shot - It makes your first Charged burst instant cast after your roll into cover on a 6/s CD. This talent is mandatory to your rotation/priority list.

Diversion - Reduces accuracy by 45% for enemies within the cloud for 9s. Great for those moments your tank is getting hammered by a clustered group of adds. Greatly reduces the dmg intake.

Quick Aim - Charged Burst and Speed shot's critical hits reduce the activation time on Aimed Shot by 1 second. From what i can tell, currently the CD reduction does not stack. Still a mandatory talent.

Slick Shooter - Increases the critical damage on three of your key abilities, and thus your DPS.

Spacer - Not recommended to get this talent.

Burst Volley* - Further testing needed. Charged Burst and Aimed shot are casted, 9% reduction to their cast time. See notes below for more details.

Foxhole - While in cover you gain 1 energy per second (mandatory). Try to stay in cover as much as possible.

Recoil Control - Trickshot is a key ability so reducing the cooldown and energy cost is very important.

Trickshot - Key ability, only usable after a charged burst or aimed shot. (instant cast with a some-what low CD)

Lay Low - (Optional) - CD reduction to your big aoe and hunker down. (I took 1 point in this)

Deadeye - 30% increased crit damage for 3 of your key abilities. (mandatory)

Rapid Fire - Increases your burst on speed shot every 90 seconds (more testing is needed on this). On paper a 90s CD makes this talent look really weak.

 

* Burst Volley (notes): Currently you should not be taking this talent skill as it is a very poor return on dps/talent point.[/b] If you choose to take burst volley here are the facts: Your initial stack of BV(for short) has to be created by an aimed shot. The initial stack can only be created every 30 seconds. After your initial stack you gain stacks by casting charged burst up to a max of 3 stacks. Your stacks will drop off after 6 seconds. A 9% increase to Alicrity is helpful and you will notice your Aimed Shot and Speed Shot going off faster when you have this buff. However I wouldn't adjust your rotation to maintain it as it will throw off your energy management/Maximum DPS rotation.

 

 

Dirty Fighting

 

Tier Skill Notes

1 Black Market Mods Optional

1 No Holds Barred Mandatory

2 Open Wound Optional

2 Mortal Wound Optional

 

Black Market Mods - Increases Alacrity by +4%, to add up to the +9% we should keep stacked. Assuming Alacrity doesn't cap or receive diminishing marginal returns, we should be firing abilities pretty damn fast while in cover.

No Holds Bar - The +6% critical chance on all our attacks makes this talent a must.

Open Wound - Increases the duration of vital shot by 3 seconds. More testing is needed to see if it should be taken over other talents. Longer duration on our bleed means less energy spent to maintain it during longer fights.

Mortal Wound - has a % chance to cause vital shot ticks to double tick. I don't think vital shot will be a huge percentage of our overall dps so I don't think it will be worth it to take this talent. If I take this I would remove points from Bravado.

 

 

Saboteur

 

Tier Skill Notes

1 Bravado Recommended

1 Streetwise Mandatory

2 Hot Pursuit Not Recommended

2 Underworld Hardships Not Recommended

2 Cool Under Pressure Not Recommended

2 Independant Anarchy Recommended

 

Bravado - Increases your maximum energy by 5/10. More testing needed but I will be taking this. My theory (untested) is that by increasing your maximum energy you are increasing the range at which you can remain in fast energy gain. (IE 60%-100% fast then becomes 60%-110% fast)

Streetwise - Gives you +9% of your primary stat, probably one of the strongest placement of three talent points in the game. Big dps increase.

Hot Pursuit - After exiting cover your next charged burst can be used outside of cover. More testing needed but might be benificial for movement heavy fights.

Underworld hardships - 4% increase to endurance, more of a pvp talent than anything. Not very strong for us in pve.

Cool Under Pressure - a 2min CD heal for 3% of your healthbar seems pretty weak.

Independant Anarchy - Increases all your AOE damage by 5% per point invested. I currently invest two points here. At endgame smuggler AOE is very strong and its very important to aoe kill large groups of adds fast in many boss fights. This helps buff our already strong aoe.

 

Please find my chosen skill selection here. Yours may vary slightly as you will have to put 3-4 points in "Optional" skills.

My Build

Notes to my build:

1. Lay Low allows you to have freighter flyby when you need it. There are a lot of boss fights that have groups of weak adds come out every 45 seconds or so and this allows you do deal with them using flyby more often than not.

2. Burst Volley is near worthless (Aimed shot procs it and so aimed shot will rarely benifit from it, after you reach 3 stacks charged burst no longer refreshes it, so its only benificial to speed shot at a very marginal return for 3 points.)

3. Smuggler AOE is very strong and "Independant Anarchy" just makes it that much stronger.

4. I took spacer to reduce the activation on freighter flyby becuase it takes so long to cast and sometimes the mobs move by the time you are able to get it off. Also a filler instead of "cover screen and burst volley".

5. I took 1 point in leg shot as a filler (more useful than the other points imo). I pull aggro a lot on weak through elite mobs and this allows me to root them more often if I need to kite or keep them from getting to me. (Pulse+root, Dirty Kick>Runaway>Cover>root or aimed shot(pushaway)+root) You can even Kite tank adds very effectively if necessary in a fight.

5. I avoided cover screen becuase an extra 20% change to dodge after exiting cover is not very strong for 2 points.

6. I avoided hot pursuit becuase even if you are able to use it you still have to stand still while casting the "hot pursuit" charged burst. If you are standing still, what is keeping you from casting "Cover in place" and an instant cast charged burst?

 

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III. Abilities

 

Flurry of Bolts

Energy: Free

Range: 35m

Activation time: 1.5s

Cooldown: None

Damage Type: Weapon

Description: Fires a flurry of bolts from your blaster.

- This is what you will use to manage your energy or as a filler. Imagine this as your (manual)auto attack.

 

Charged Burst

Energy: -20

Range: 35m

Activation time: Instant

Cooldown: None

Damage Type: Weapon

Description: Fire three powerful blasts at your target, must be in cover to use.

- You will be using this ability the most. Procs Quick Aim, Burst Volley, and Trickshot.

 

Aimed Shot

Energy: -15

Range: 35m

Activation time: 3 secs

Cooldown: 15 secs

Damage Type: Weapon

Description: Fires a high-powered shot that deals (LvlRankDmgAmnt * 0.329 WeaponDamage * 3.29) weapon damage. Must be in cover to use.

- Our second highest DPS ability and will yeild you your largest hits. Procs Percussive Shot(10m), Burst Volley (initial), and Trickshot. It is also very useful to push off weak through elite enemies that you pull aggro on. (Aimed shot into a leg shot to snare.)

 

Quickdraw

Energy: -15

Range: 35m

Activation time: Instant

Cooldown: 12 secs

Damage Type: Weapon

Description: Attempts to take the target down with a single powerful shot that deals (LvlRankDmgAmnt * 0.27 WeaponDamage * 2.7) weapon damage. Only usable on targets at or below 30% max health.

- Cast this everytime its off of CD when the target is below 30% hp.

 

Speed Shot

Energy: -20

Range: 30m

Activation time: Instant

Cooldown: 15 secs

Damage Type: Weapon

Description: Unleashes a series of shots that deals ((LvlRankDmgAmnt * 0.098 + WeaponDamage * 0.98) * 4) weapon damage over the duration. Must be in cover to use.

- Our highest DPS ability and is the only ability that works with our tier 7 Talent. Has a very high chance of proccing Quick Aim.

 

Trickshot

Energy: -10

Range: 35m

Activation time: Instant

Cooldown: 9 secs

Damage Type: Weapon

Description: Fires a well-controlled follow-up shot at the target that deals (LvlRankDmgAmnt * 0.227 + WeaponDamage * 2.27) weapon damage. Only usable within the 4.5 seconds immediately following an Aimed shot or Charged Burst.

- Our highest DPE Ability and as such is very high on our priority list (see Rotation Section). With talents it becomes a 6s CD and 6 Energy cost.

 

Vital Shot

Energy: -20

Range: 30m

Activation time: Instant

Cooldown: None

Damage Type: Weapon

Description: Fires a shot that causes the target to bleed, dealing (##) internal damage over 15 seconds.

- Always keep this up on the boss but try not to clip it too much as you will waste a lot of energy (Casting it before it drops off).

 

Flourish Shot

Energy: -10

Range: 30m

Activation time: Instant

Cooldown: 5 secs

Damage Type: Weapon

Description: Fires a high-impact shot that deals [?] weapon damage and reduces the target's armor by 20% for 45 seconds.

- Always keep this up on the boss unless you have another class putting up this debuff (Like a JK Guardian).

 

 

XS Freighter Flyby

Energy: -30

Range: 30m

Activation time: 3 secs

Cooldown: 60 secs

Damage Type: Elemental

Description: Calls in support from your crew, dealing ((LvlRankDmgAmnt * 0.177 SpellPower * 1.77) * 3) elemental damage over 9 seconds to all enemies within 8 meters of the targeted area. Standard and weak enemies additionally panic from the flames.

- Definately our Highest AOE damage ability. Try to cast it into a group of weak enemies to get the stun+dot. Be mindful of casting this into a group of strongs as it pulls a lot of threat on all the mobs.

 

 

I will add more abilities as I have time

 

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IV. Rotation

 

Your rotation will heavily depend on different factors such as the mob type your are fighting, how many mobs are you fighting and how much movement there is.

Being that we have a dynamic mechanic (Energy), we use a priority list instead of a rotation and we have to adjust that priority list based on how much energy we have in our pool at that moment. Always try to maintain above 60% energy. In doing so you will regenerate energy at the fastest rate possible. Due to "Foxhole" you will want to be in cover whenever possible to gain the benifit from that talent.

 

Boss Fight

After your opening rotation you will defer to a priority list.

 

Opening Rotation:

1. Have the tank give you a countdown for the pull. Five seconds before the pull prime Smuggler's Luck.

2. As you run in cast Vital shot and Flourish shot.

3. Roll into cover or cast cover in place.

4. (If your tank has good threat) Once behind cover pop your "Energized Attack Adrenal", your relic then cast Charged burst. (autocrit+instant cast)

5. Trick Shot

6. Aimed shot(with the 1s reduction due to the Quick Aim talent skill.)

7. Illegal Mods

8. Speed shot

9. Rapidfire

10. Speed Shot

11. Speed Shot

Note: I use vital shot and smugglers luck before my opener to give the tank time to build threat before I go into my high damage abilities like speed shot and aimed shot. This opener will give you a crazy high burst damage output, as such you might want to pop surrender right after your opener to drop your threat.

2nd Note: I wait to pop illegal mods - my 2set bonus refunds 10 energy when I use illegal mods so I wait until I have used some energy. Also a quick aim procd Aimed shot won't benifit fully from illegal mods, so you really only want to pop it right before your 3x speed shot combo. (3x speed shot burns a lot of energy so the 10 energy you get from your set bonus really helps here.

 

Post Opener Priority List

Being that we use a dynamic mechanic (Energy) you will be using a priority list instead of a rotation and will have to adjust that priority list based on how much energy we have in our pool at that moment. Always try to maintain above 60% energy as you will be regenerating energy at the fastest rate possible at 60%+. Due to "Foxhole" you will want to be in cover whenever possible to gain the benifit from that talent.

 

1. Flourish Debuff *See note(unless provided by someone else)

2. Illegal mods ** See note

3. Quick Draw (when target is below 30% hp)

4. Trick Shot (Trickshot is this high because of its low CD and high DPE)

5. Speed Shot

6. Aimed Shot (w Quick aim proc)

7. Charged Burst (w Smuggler's Luck if no quick aim proc and aimed shot will be off CD in 5 seconds or less)

8. Aimed shot

9. Charged burst

10. Flurry of bolts

* Guardians are the only other AC that provides armor reduction and they have to build their stacks. If speccd for it they will stack 2 every rotation up to 5 for full effect. In other words it takes them around 30 seconds to apply the full armor debuff. Therefore, even if you have a guardian in your group you should be casting flourish shot unless they have the full 5 stacks of their armor reduction up. Anytime there is a gap where your group won't be dpsing the boss flourish shot the boss when you head back in.

** Always Time your illegal mods when your Rapid fire and relic are off of CD. As soon as you speed shot is about to come up in your rotation (I will almost always cast speed shot then aimed shot/trickshot combo then rapidfire into a double speed shot.Pop your Illegal mod combo before that first speedshot into this combo) pop Illegal mods+Speed Shot into Rapid Fire+Speed ShotX2

Vital Shot Note: Currently you will lose dps by putting vital shot into your rotation unless you take Open Wound and Mortal wound (Talent buffs to vital shot) in the Dirty fighting talent tree. However anytime I have to pop out of cover for movement I will always cast a vital shot, or if the boss will be untargetable/out of range for a period of time, get your dot on him right before that happens.

 

 

Area of Effect (AOE)

Wait for your tank to gather up all the targets and get a little bit of threat on them before you go all out in aoe mode. You also want to make sure the tank won't be moving them out of your aoe.

 

1. Sabatoge Charge (If you open with anything more than this you will draw aggro and die very fast)

2. XS Freighter Flyby

3. Thermal Grenade

4. Sweeping Gunfire

5. Thermal Grenade

6. Sweeping Gunfire

Pop Surrender often unless you are confident your tank has good threat on all the targets.

 

 

Movement Phases

The attacks you perform during movement are very conditional (target classification, how many targets, do you have notice before the movement, duration etc.)

 

1. If your target is below 30% hp Quick Draw is always your highest priority.

2. If you have the time and the boss/targets won't be moving toss down a quick XS Frieghter Flyby

3. Vital Shot (keep dot up and reapply right before the movement phase ends unless you are energy starved)

4. Quickly pop into cover and get of an instant Charged Burst.

5. After your instant Charge Bursts Pop off a Trick shot.

6. If you can't do any of the above cast Thermal Grenade.

7. Flurry of Bolts or on rare occassions Quick shot.

 

* Note on Quickshot: For a gunslinger quickshot is one of our worst damage per energy abilities (Scoundrels get an auto buff to Quickshot so the ability is more meant for them.)

** Tip: If your target is a weak mob type a great method of dmg on the go is to thermal grenade them (knockdown) then Headshot.

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V. Stats and Items

 

a) Stats definition

The base stats at the moment are Strength, Aim, Endurance, Cunning, Willpower and Presence.

 

1. Strength is a melee stat (increases melee damage, melee crit, and shield absorption). Essentially useless for us.

2. Aim is the primary stat for Bounty Hunters and Troopers, so not for us.

3. Endurance is a tanking stat (increases health and health regen). Not really useful as we're DPS, but doesn't hurt either.

4. Cunning is our most important stat. Increases damage, critical, healing, chance we'll pick up chicks... wait, I'm getting ahead of myself here. Anyway, stack Cunning.

5. Willpower increases the damage we deal with our Force abilities and their critical chance. In other words, useless.

6. Presence boosts companions' damage and healing. It is nice to have while leveling but we definitely shouldn't actively seek it. Will be of no use in Operations.

 

Primary: Cunning

Secondary: Endurance

Tertiary: Accuracy, Tech Power, Power, Alacrity, Critical Rating and Surge.

 

b) Stat Priority

More testing is still needed (please offer up some discussion on this topic.)

This list is based on my current experience and will give you a good foundation.

These are the stats you want in this order:

 

1. Weapon Damage

Slot in better barrels, the best I have found so far are off of the Illum mission vendors and are purchased with daily commendations. This has the greatest returns on increasing your damage.

2. Cunning

This is a given, but it increases both ranged damage and crit and is our biggest stat.

3. Accuracy until you get 100% hit chance on your main hand

note: Your offhand has a 35% less chance to hit than your mainhand and is currently impossible to hit cap. As your offhand damage is a lot less than mainhand damage don't worry about stacking accuracy past your mainhand cap)

4. Crit up to 35% Self buffed

5. Surge + Crit mixture

6. When surge and crit are not available > Power

7. Alacrity (Avoid this stat if you have a choice)

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VI. Gear

 

There are currently three tiers of raid gear in endgame pve.

 

Tier 1: Tionese

Tier 2: Columi

Tier 3: Rakata

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Tier 1: Tionese (Rating 126)

Purchase this gear with a combination of Tionese crystals and Tionese comendations

a) Tionese commendations drop from normal mode operation bosses, the operation quests, pve dailies/weeklies or hardmode flashpoint quests.

b) Tionese crystals drop from normal mode operation bosses, the operation quests, hardmode flashpoint quests, pve dailies/weeklies or from all the hardmode flashpoint bosses.

 

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Tier 2: Columi (Rating 136)

Purchase this gear with either Columi Commendations or "unassembled" gear token drops.

a) Columi Commendations drop from Hard mode Operation bosses.

b) Columi Unassembled gear tokens drop from normal mode operation bosses.

 

 

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Tier 3: Rakata (Rating 140)

Purchase this gear with Rakata "unnassembled" gear tokens.

a) Rakata Unassembled gear tokens drop from hard mode operation bosses

Currently the offhand blaster pistol "Ace in the hole" and the main hand blastor pistol "Can't recall the name" are bugged and are shown as 126 rated weapons with mods/stats that are equivelant to Tionese weapons. As I just got my "Ace in the hole" Rakata offhand I hope they realize this bug soon and up the stats on the Rakata Gunslinger weapons to be 140 Rated Rakata equivelant.

I put in a ticket about this bug, but it was closed 60 minutes later with an automated response.

 

 

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There are three gear sets and each has a different 2-set and 4-set gear bonus.

 

1. Enforcer set: Scoundrel Scrapper

2-set bonus: Something to do with Backblast

4-set bonus: +5 total energy

 

2. Field Medic: Scoundrel Sawbones

2-set bonus:

4-set bonus:

 

3. Field Tech: Gunslinger

2-set bonus: Using Illegal mods instantly grants you +10 energy.

4-set bonus: Reduces the cost of Quickdraw by 7 energy.

 

* Belts and bracers do not apply to the set bonus. Cycle through the different belts/bracers for the sets and get the ones with the most cunning. Sometimes it's the field medic set, sometimes enforcer etc...

** Another thing you can do currently: You can swap out the mods in your purple "Set" and still retain the set bonus. This is only recommended if you get a duplicate item (two boots). Soon you will be able to slot out the set bonus into orange gear!

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VII. Consumables

 

Exotech Skill Stim

 

Use: Increases Cunning by 128 and Power by 52 for 120 minutes. Only one stimpack can be active at a time.

 

Energized Attack Adrenal

 

Use: Increases Power by 535 for 15s. (Cooldown: 3 minutes)

 

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VIII. Key Bind Tips

 

How I configured my bars: I orignally didn't like the idea of having a seperate cover bar but as I got my abilities I had to start using it. Why take up space on your regular bar for abilities you can't use? It does take some getting used to and I am constently moving things around to find where I like them better.

 

My main bar is bound like this:

 

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | Ctrl+mouse5 | Mouse5 | E | ` | G |

 

I use this bar for my main abilities. I bind the first 5 keys and the last 5 keys to things I need often and its harder for me to hit 6, 7 so I use those for less used.

 

The bottom center bar is bound like this:

 

R | Shift+R | x | shift+x | z | shift+z | T | Shift+T | Shift+f | Shift+g

 

I use R, X, Z, T for abilities I use often and the shift+key abilities for less often things. The game doesn't seem to respond quickly to modifier keys for some reason.

 

I only put vital shot on my non cover bar as I only cast this while on the move. and all my cover abilities plus a few things I cast from cover on my cover bar.

 

My left bar I have both my relics, adrenile and illegal mods stacked next to each other along with smugglers luck. So when I pop my big burst combo I just click Illegal mods, surge relic, adrenal and smugglers luck while I am still casting with my key bindings. I think I will eventually add a section under my guide for key binding tips, but I hop this helps.

 

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IX. Gunslinger Boss Tips

 

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X. Final Thoughts

 

 

This guide is a work in progress. I hit level 50 on 01/01/12 at 12:05am and have been doing operations and endgame PvE Since. I have downed the Belsavis world boss several times, the two hoth bosses a few times, cleared the first boss in the Hutt Operation, cleared 5/5 Normal mode Eternity Vault and Cleared 4/5 Hardmode Eternity Vault. If you see inaccuracies in this guide, things missing or would like to share your own input please post a reply!

 

Updates:

01/03/12- Updated the rotation section, Trickshot (abilities section), XS Freighter Flyby (abilities section), Speed Shot (abilities section), Aimed shot (abilities section); Also added a revised new optimal build (per my opinion). Also updated the note on Burst Volley under Skills and added a note about vital shot under rotation.

01/09/12- Updated Stat selection, skills section (to reflect my new build), added a key bind tips section.

01/17/12- Updated Rotation (changed illegal mods usage, opener and added a note about flourish shot*important*), updated the gear section.

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Edited by Fearheart
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I posted this on another site reguarding a similar guide. Trying to get some discussion on it...

 

Question: How do you guys manage your Energy regen with respect to the Burst Volley alacrity bonus? I find it difficult to utilize the full 9% bonus for any amount of time without completely draining my Energy bar.

 

With that in mind, do you guys see the potential for Alacrity to be a detriment (for Sharpshooters in particular), as it causes us to burn through our resources more quickly and get to the lower end of our comfortable Energy regen zone. It seems to me that all other stats (and thus talents) that give us more bang for our buck (crit, power, surge) would be far and away superior, as it allows us to continue to fill GCDs without resorting to our basic attack as much....and has the benefit of simplifying our resource management.

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I posted this on another site reguarding a similar guide. Trying to get some discussion on it...

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Me

Question: How do you guys manage your Energy regen with respect to the Burst Volley alacrity bonus? I find it difficult to utilize the full 9% bonus for any amount of time without completely draining my Energy bar.

 

With that in mind, do you guys see the potential for Alacrity to be a detriment (for Sharpshooters in particular), as it causes us to burn through our resources more quickly and get to the lower end of our comfortable Energy regen zone. It seems to me that all other stats (and thus talents) that give us more bang for our buck (crit, power, surge) would be far and away superior, as it allows us to continue to fill GCDs without resorting to our basic attack as much....and has the benefit of simplifying our resource management.

 

Definitely a good point in regard to burst volley. Honestly I'm unsure how beneficial burst volley will be for us, or alacrity in general, but there really isn't too many other good points to take that have a dps benefit to get us to our tier 7 talent.

 

As I level up and flesh out my priority list with my fool toolkit of spells I will test it as best as I can. Currently if burst volley stacks up its great, but I am doing little to maintain it and more focusing on my energy management. If I were wanting to maintain it I would have to throw in more flurrys to keep my regen up.

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I posted this on another site reguarding a similar guide. Trying to get some discussion on it...

 

Thanks for adding to that discussion on our site, I gave my thoughts under your comments.

 

The OP of this thread and I seem to have similar thoughts on the question.

 

Hope it helps

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Here is a thought about Burst Volley, do you think it is intended to be built to 9% for use with Speedshot? It seems like the only ability that would really benefit from it as it is a 3 second channel. All of our other abilities are 1.5 second casts, so alacrity wouldn't effect them. If you use Speed shot with 3 stacks of Burst volley, you'll get the channel time down to 2.73 seconds (without additional alacrity).
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Here is a thought about Burst Volley, do you think it is intended to be built to 9% for use with Speedshot? It seems like the only ability that would really benefit from it as it is a 3 second channel. All of our other abilities are 1.5 second casts, so alacrity wouldn't effect them. If you use Speed shot with 3 stacks of Burst volley, you'll get the channel time down to 2.73 seconds (without additional alacrity).

 

Very good input on alacrity and the sharpshooter. I have a feeling alacrity will have little benifit for us and seems more like a healer stat. Does anyone know if alacrity affects our vital shot dot (speeding up the dot ticks where after a certain amount of alacrity we gain additional tick?) This is how haste works in wow, but not sure the developement on alacrity in swtor.

 

 

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Any sharpshooter out there have any input on Speed Shot? I haven't leveled high enough yet to train/use it.

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Here is a thought about Burst Volley, do you think it is intended to be built to 9% for use with Speedshot? It seems like the only ability that would really benefit from it as it is a 3 second channel. All of our other abilities are 1.5 second casts, so alacrity wouldn't effect them. If you use Speed shot with 3 stacks of Burst volley, you'll get the channel time down to 2.73 seconds (without additional alacrity).

 

Assuming a Quick Aim proc isn't up it will also benefit Aimed shot

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I would like to talk about vital shot dot. Per the stats I see on the tool tip it does less damage then charged burst but it takes the 15 sec to do it. Because of the 1.5 GCD It being instant does not really offer any benefit since Charged burst is a 1.5 sec cast time. I can see why you would use it as other specs since they may be out of cover more. But if we are in cover I don't see any reason to keep the dot up.
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About Vital Shot:

 

Just doing some quick napkin math and using relatively low Crit/Accuracy/Surge/Cunning values, I've found that the only ability Vital Shot beats out on a Damage/Energy basis is Charged Burst, even with the talents in Tier 2 Dirty Fighting.

 

Aimed Shot and Trick Shot are so far and above Vital shot in terms of DPE and DPS that if you are in the need of a Trick Shot or Quick Aim proc, it is likely worth it to just cast a Charged Burst.

 

It seems to me that you really need the higher level dirty fighting talents to make Vital Shot worth keeping up 100% of the time. For Sharpshooters, it is much better to use Vital Shot as you're running into cover or you have to move out of AoE. Use Vital Shot over Quick Shot for sure.

 

Once you have Trick Shot and Speed Shot, you simply have too many things that take presedence. If you aren't in dire need of a proc and you have energy to spare, sure go ahead and use Vital....but I wouldn't call it a high priority at all.

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About Vital Shot:

 

Just doing some quick napkin math and using relatively low Crit/Accuracy/Surge/Cunning values, I've found that the only ability Vital Shot beats out on a Damage/Energy basis is Charged Burst, even with the talents in Tier 2 Dirty Fighting.

 

Aimed Shot and Trick Shot are so far and above Vital shot in terms of DPE and DPS that if you are in the need of a Trick Shot or Quick Aim proc, it is likely worth it to just cast a Charged Burst.

 

It seems to me that you really need the higher level dirty fighting talents to make Vital Shot worth keeping up 100% of the time. For Sharpshooters, it is much better to use Vital Shot as you're running into cover or you have to move out of AoE. Use Vital Shot over Quick Shot for sure.

 

Once you have Trick Shot and Speed Shot, you simply have too many things that take presedence. If you aren't in dire need of a proc and you have energy to spare, sure go ahead and use Vital....but I wouldn't call it a high priority at all.

 

 

That is what i was thinking as well but per my numbers everything beats out vital. So I stopped buying the skill to save credits. I am 35 at this time So I will buy it tonight and check it again.

 

I don't even have it on my cover bar. I do have it on my normal bar as I can see the points for it when out of cover and you have to keep moving and cant plant. ex pvp or a really mobile boss fight. But this was a PVE build so I wanted to pass on my thought

Edited by Legionair
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That is what i was thinking as well but per my numbers everything beats out vital. So I stopped buying the skill to save credits. I am 35 at this time So I will buy it tonight and check it again.

 

I don't even have it on my cover bar. I do have it on my normal bar as I can see the points for it when out of cover and you have to keep moving and cant plant. ex pvp or a really mobile boss fight. But this was a PVE build so I wanted to pass on my thought

 

I was using the base values and formula for a lvl 50 character on Darth Hater's database. If Charged Shot truely beats Vital in game, then the only reason to ever use it is when you're running into a fight and setting up or repositioning.

 

I'm happy about this outcome though. Vital Shot doesn't really jive with anything else in the Sharpshooter tree and I was loathe to put it to use if the numbers came out in it's advantage.

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Great discussion going on here :)

 

 

I am on the fence about vital shot. The sharpshooter tree has no skill points that increase the damage or benifit of the skill vital shot. Let's look at a few things.

 

Vital Shot

1. Energy cost is 20

2. it takes 15 seconds to deal its damage

3. Does not benifit from any Sharpshooter talent points

 

 

Charged Burst

1. Energy cost is 20

2. Deals full damage on hit

3. Benifits from several talents in the sharpshooter tree (Increased dmg + Increased Crit)

4. Is used to proc quick aim, Trick shot, maintain burst volley

5. If you go with the Hot pursuit talent in the saboteur tree, you also get that benifit.

 

--------------------

 

After digging deeper into the trees and what you all have said here, I am going to say if you take Open wound and mortal wound in dirty fighting as part of a hybrid build then put vital shot into your rotation. Otherwise omit it. The only thing worth considerring is usually you want to start your damage lower and ramp up as the tank gains aggro in the beginning of the fight. In this situation I would consider casting 1 vital shot as you run in.

Edited by Fearheart
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good thread! I book marked it!

 

I've been stacking cunning but also adding mods into weapons/armor for Aim...

 

does it not still work? or should I just use all cunning??

 

Only cunning. While aim does help Cunning is 100% better

 

My stats for my sharpshooter are as follows

 

Cunning>Crit rate>surge>endurance

 

At least that is my plan since we get several procs for crits and + to crit talents

 

Here is my thoughts on biuld as well

 

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#700bsrbdRsRxzZrcZh.1

 

The busrt volley I am not sure is all that good. But I have to spend the points to get to higher tiers so. It says 9% increase to alacrity That to me means if I have 100 alacrity I get 109 alacrity and my speed will be adjusted to the stat increase, not skills work 9% faster. So since I don't think Alacrity is all that great since most of my skills will be at 1.5 sec cast the same as GCD I don't see much help. even aim shot should almost always be a 1.5 cast as I have close to a 30% crit rate now at 35 on charged burst and speed shot I expect to have the 1.5 cast time on aim shot most of the time. From my understanding speed shot tickets several times and any tick that crits will proc the aim shot buff

 

Now if alacrity is good this build would change some but not much. Lose saboteurs utility belt for black market mods

Edited by Legionair
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The discussion of DPE got me to thinking about our Regen mechanics in general. It seems to me that our DPS is more closely tied to how much we can do while keeping within a certain regen threshold, which made me re-think Sabotage charge in conjunction with it's supporting talents in the Saboteur tree.

 

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#700bsrbdMRRZbIbbRR.1

 

A build like this would turn Sabo Charge into a an ability that is essentially energy neutral (considering the energy gains you pick up from the contingency charges). You end up picking up all of the talents that buffs Sabo Charge while still grabbing the core mechanics of the Sharpshooter tree (Trickshot, Recoil Control, Quick Aim, Snapshot).

 

It might be interesting to try. Another nice thing about a build like this is that you also get Shock Charge as a 30% snare, something I feel the Sharpshooter tree desperately lacks.

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That to me means if I have 100 alacrity I get 109 alacrity and my speed will be adjusted to the stat increase, not skills work 9% faster.

 

Incorrect. I stacked it with my character screen open and it reported a 9% incease in activation time. You'll also notice that charged burst falls from 1.5 sec to 1.4 sec cast time on your casting bar on your second stack which is what you expect with a 6% decrease in cast time.

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The discussion of DPE got me to thinking about our Regen mechanics in general. It seems to me that our DPS is more closely tied to how much we can do while keeping within a certain regen threshold, which made me re-think Sabotage charge in conjunction with it's supporting talents in the Saboteur tree.

 

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#700bsrbdMRRZbIbbRR.1

 

A build like this would turn Sabo Charge into a an ability that is essentially energy neutral (considering the energy gains you pick up from the contingency charges). You end up picking up all of the talents that buffs Sabo Charge while still grabbing the core mechanics of the Sharpshooter tree (Trickshot, Recoil Control, Quick Aim, Snapshot).

 

It might be interesting to try. Another nice thing about a build like this is that you also get Shock Charge as a 30% snare, something I feel the Sharpshooter tree desperately lacks.

 

I would like this if our tier 5 did not sound so good. I have not had a chance to use speed shot, get it next level :), but it is sounds like it is our one of highest dps skills. So the ability to for what would be about 11 seconds to get 3 speed shots off sounds really sweet.

 

I am not a real big numbers guy so you may be right about DPE and the charge. But That is another skill as a sharpshooting I just cant find time for in the priority list.

 

Incorrect. I stacked it with my character screen open and it reported a 9% incease in activation time. You'll also notice that charged burst falls from 1.5 sec to 1.4 sec cast time on your casting bar on your second stack which is what you expect with a 6% decrease in cast time.

 

Cool thanks for the info. However, I am still would like to hear why I would care. I mean I am still limited by GCD so I don't see this helping.

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I've had a 50 gunslinger for a couple of days now and I see you have left out speed shot of the rotation. This is your most heavy hitting shot (even though it takes slightly longer to cast) and has a 99,9999% chance to proc the aimed shot buff. Along with rapid fire you can use this spell 3 times in a row, which is incredible damage.

 

Also I see you put it up flurry of bolts in there when you got 70 energy or so. Charged Burst and Aimed Shot won't remove the energy until AFTER the cast, therefore you will regen back some of the energy while you're casting it aswell. Flurry of bolts should be considered depending on what skill you're going to cast.

The most efficient and deadly priority of shots I found while leveling to 50 was this:

 

Always stay above 60 energy

Flourish shot

Illegal mods

Rapid fire

Speed shot

Aimed shot (if quick aim is up)

Trick shot

Quickdraw

Vital shot

Charged burst (with smugglers luck when it's up)

 

Notes:

Cool head should be saved for if you screw up, or if burst is needed. You can use it as a dps cooldown if you're sure you won't screw up, just take your energy low then pop it.

Speed shot does very nice damage and has a long cast time, meaning you regen alot of energy while siply casting it (above 60 energy).

 

Trick shot is the most efficient skill you got, therefore it's that high in the priority even if quickdraw does more damage.

 

I think you have overrated vital shot in your priority list. It does about the same damage as charged burst, but does not trigger trick shot. However it ignores armor, meaing on high armor targets it will do more damage. If your trickshot is about to come off cooldown and you got no vital shot debuff up, it might be better to cast charged burst instead to get off the trickshot faster.

 

I see you also put quickdraw ahead of aimed shot. Aimed shot does about 60% more damage than quickdraw, and has the exact same execute time (if you count the global cooldown in). Due to speed shot, Quick Aim should always be up anyway.

 

As for opener: If I can open with hardcast aimed shot from cover (timing it with the tank pull, or you're the one pulling) your regen would be back to full by the time you cast it and then you can go on with your normal priority.

 

This is all gathered from my personal experience, doing pvp and leveling to 50. I might be wrong on several points, but it worked excellent for me and I don't think the "rotation" the guide provided would've worked as well as this.

 

 

As for your theory on the talent Bravado. I am pretty sure the regen is %, meaning the regen rate with the talent is NOT 60-110, but 66-110. Anyway this is an increase by 4 to our energy pool (you should really not be using anything below that unless you want to pop coolhead or really need that burst) increasing it to 44.

 

XS frighter party is also an insane skill, and should you happen to have lots of energy on a single target boss AND get the anti cover debuff on you, it might be worth just casting that one and waiting out the debuff. It ticks for 1300 damage 3 times. Use it any time you need to aoe anything, combine it with sweeping fire.

 

Last note: on talent trees you say it's not recommended to get spacer. Once you get XS frighter party, you will change your mind.

 

And now the last note :p :

Your cover notes: I VERY RARELY used natural cover system. I keybinded my F to "take cover in place" and not matter where the green men show on the screen you just take cover wherever you are. You can do this behind a rock and it works the exact same way it would've if you pressed normal "cover". You do still get the defensive bonuses as long as you are behind that rock.

Edited by SigDal
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to be fair we did not forget about speed shot he just said he did not not had a chance to try and so yes I agree it should be high up there, but with out trying it he would be writing about a guess. As everything with the game now it is a work in progress :) Thanks for the info good stuff.
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