PVE Level 50 BUILDS:

Lvl 50 PvE Bodyguard RAIDING

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#300rfRMR0cdkqZrcoZb.1

(Credit to Chorusgirl) http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=120269

Lvl 50 PVE/PVP Raiding Alternative

http://"http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#300dfRRRzcdkqZMckZb.1"

(Credit to Ewert) http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=338252

Lvl 50 PvE Bodyguard (New to 50, doing FPs, gaining gear)

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#300rfR0RzfdzqZrcoM.1

Note: The main difference between this and the raiding build is that Alacrity and Cure have been traded for more survivability

Lvl 50 PvE Arsenal RAIDING

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#300McZrIkrordokfzZc.1

(Thanks to Snagulus)

Lvl 50 PvE Hybrid Arsenal Focus (You have most of the healing tools, plus Tracer Missile.)

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#300rfR0RzfdzZMIkboZc.1

Lvl 50 PvE Hybrid Pyro (You absolutely hate Tracer missile, but still want to have some DPS & some heals)

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#300bfRMR0cZMczZfGMbzb.1

Note: To be honest it really needs 1 more point in Prototype Particle Accellorator but you'd have to steal it from Critical Efficiency. So decide if you want better DPS or better heals, but this build is still broken IMO as you can't even afford upgraded arsenal.

PVP Level 50 BUILDS:

Lvl 50 PvP Bodyguard

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#300rfRMRzfdzqZMcoZb.1

(Credit to Ivaed)

Lvl 50 PvP Hybrid

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#300rfRoRzcdzZMIkbR0b.1

(Credit to Werdan) http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=5847

Lvl 50 PvP Pyro

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#300MzZMckZMIrbzGGMs.1

(Credit to tconeal) http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=171953

Lvl 50 PvP Arsenal

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#300bcMZMIkrRrdRzczZ0M.1

LEVELING BUILDS:

PVE Arsenal Leveling Build (Best DPS you can be for your level. Probably fastest leveling build.)

10-12

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#300Z0c.1

13-16

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#300ZMck.1

17-20

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#300ZMIk0o.1

21-22

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#300ZMIk0oM.1

23-25

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#300ZMIkboMz.1

26-30

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#300ZMIkbRMd0z.1

31

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#300ZMIkbRMdoz.1

32-37

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#300ZMIkdRMdRzc.1

38-40

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#300ZMIkdRMdRzfz.1

41-43

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#300ZMIkdRMdRzfzZc.1

44-46

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#3000cZMIkdRMdRzfzZc.1

47-48

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#300McZMIkdRMdRzfzZc.1

49

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#300McZMIkrRMdRzfzZc.1

At 50 Respec to one of the above builds.

PVE Bodyguard Leveling Build (Best healer you can be for your level)

10-16

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#300ZMck.1

17-22

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#300bcoZMck.1

23-24

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#300bfoZMck.1

25-29

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#300bfR0RZMck.1

30-34

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#300rfR0R0cZMck.1

35-37

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#300rfR0Rzs0zZMck.1

38-41

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#300rfR0RzfdzZMck.1

42-47

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#300rfR0RzfdzqZMck.1

48-49

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#300rfR0RzfdzqZMckZb.1

At 50 Respec to one of the above builds.

PVE Bodyguard Hybrid Leveling Build (Focus is healing, but you still have Tracer Missile for DPS)

10-20

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#300ZMIk0o.1

21-22

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#300bZMIk0o.1

23-26

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#300bcoZMIk0o.1

27-28

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#300bfoZMIk0o.1

29-33

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#300bfR0RZMIk0o.1

34-38

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#300dfR0RzcZMIk0o.1

39-41

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#300dfR0Rzf0zZMIk0o.1

42-44

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#300dfR0RzfdzZMIk0o.1

45-46

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#300dfR0RzfdzZMIkbo.1

47-49

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#300dfR0RzfdzZMIkboZc.1

50

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#300rfR0RzfdzZMIkboZc.1

PvP Hybrid Leveling Build

Credit to Werdan http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=5847

I suggest the following path for the first 17 points in Arsenal.

Ironsights x3

Mandalorian Iron Warheads x2

Muzzle Fluting (for Power Shot at first, Tracer later)

Upgraded Arsenal

Stabilizers x3

Tracer Missile

Power Barrier x2

AfterBurners x2

Terminal Velocity x2

I suggest using Combustible Gas Cylinder until level 20 when you get Tracer Missiles which also happens to allow the use of Rail Shot. Switching to HVGC at this point reduces the cost of Rail Shot by 8. You could switch earlier but you'll have less chances to use Rail Shot unless someone you're teamed up with has a low cooldown dot.

 

Here's my suggested leveling path for the remainder 24 points in Bodyguard. Please note that when you see a skill followed by "OR" it's basically a tossup as to which you feel is more needed. Most times the first choice is what I had done in the past. Also, this gude can be used as a starter guide for those looking to be 31 point Bodyguards. My only exception would be to pick up Ironsights x3 first before starting Bodyguard. After Kolto Missile is bought I would get Mandalorian Iron Warheads x2 next.

 

Med Tech x2

Hired Muscle x3

Supercharged Gas (especially if you are going full heals)

OR

Empowered Scans x2

Surgical Precision System x2

Kolto Missle

Kolto Residue x2

Improved Vents x2

Critical Efficiency x3

Heat Damping

OR

Power Shield

Kolto Shell

OR

Proactive Medicine x2

Reactive Armor

PVE Pyro leveling Build

I cannot recommend Pyro until you have 3/3 Prototype Particle Accellorator which requires at least level 27 but you wouldnt have some key skiils from the Aresenal tree, so IMO, level 34 is the earliest that Pyro Leveling makes sense. Note that you also don't really have all your tools until lvl 47 when Arsenal and Bodyguard have theirs around 40.

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#300ZMckZcGMrzh.1

35-39

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#300ZMckZcGMrzGh.1

40-44

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#300ZMckZcGMrzGhMc.1

45-47

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#300ZMckZcGMrzGhMc.1

49-50

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#3000cZMckZcGMrzGhrs.1

Helpful Links:

PVE Bodyguard:

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=120269

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=58702

http://sithwarrior.com/forums/Thread-Mercenary-Commando-PvE-End-Game-Healing-Compendium--740

PVE Combat Medic (mirror, but great guide):

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=181357

Bodyguard Stat weight Calculator:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AvwIIORblfXkdEZJRjY4aWhobFFlQ0k3TDJVOUFMbnc&hl=en_US#gid=0

Arsenal:

http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/1055439-Bounty-Hunter-Merc-dps-guide-%28Arsenal-Spec

http://sithwarrior.com/forums/Thread-Arsenal-Mercenary-Gunnery-Commando-DPS-Compendium

Constructive feedback appreciated.

Discussion of skill tree choices: (More to come)

PVE Bodyguard:

IMO this is the "proper" PVE spec (By Proper, I mean the one BW most likely intended for a PVE healer):

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#300rfRMR0cdkqZrcoZb.1

I think the skills that are not "mandatory" are:

1) Cure mind. So far, there is not much use for this point in PVE.

2) Systems Calibrations. May not be needed depending on your gear.

3) Integrated systems. 2 points for 2%...kind of lackluster.

4) Critical Reaction. May not be needed depending on your gear.

5) Improved Vents. Depending on skill/gear 1 point or even no points may be enough.

Other skills that you could argue to choose:

(especially if you are new to 50, your gear is crappy, and you are having trouble staying live in HM FPs.):

1) Power Shield. Making your heals uninterpretable can be a life saver, especially in PUGs.

2) Protective Field. Same as Power Shield.

3) Powered insulators. I can totally see taking a point out of Cure Mind and a point out of improved vents to put 2 points here.

4) Custom Enviro Suit. Fits in with 1-4.

5) Integrated Cardio. (Custom Enviro Suit is better)

6) Muzzle Fluting - You can/will be doing DPS in PVE. Infernal Council and SOA in EV are obvious examples. (See Ewert's build above and follow the link for more info)

Skills you must have period:

Bodyguard Tree

1) Med tech.

2) Supercharged Gas

3) Empowered Scans

4) Kolto Missile

5) Kolto Residue

6) Critical Efficiency

7) Kolto Shell

8) Proactive medicine

9) Reactive armor

10) Emergency Scan

Arsenal Tree

1) Mandalorian Iron Warheads

2) Iron Sights

Bodyguards and Alacrity

At first this stat was hated, then it was loved under certain conditions to a certain degree. Now it may be even better. It really depends on your style/skill/gear as to how much Alacrity you want. In General Aim>Power>Crit>Alacrity>Surge, but since crit and surge are frequently paired in gear as is power and alacrity, it is not so simple. Also, I have not seen any gear with power and crit. At lower gear levels, I think you will get more mileage out of crit, but done fight the alacrity in the Rakata gear. It will be interesting to see the stats on April's gear.

In the meantime, see this thread for the latest on the Alacrity debate:

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=350197

Bodyguards and Alacrity - Argument for Alacrity

Note: This is coming from a well geared, experienced, skilled player. Your mileage may vary.

You need to move out of Stuff. Replace with the other s-word for the usual name of "red s on the ground". Normal reaction times of people rarely go under 0.2 seconds. My twitch finger reaction times are around 0.21 seconds. Alacrity sucks, you say? Going from 9% haste to 21% gives you almost double the reaction time to land that critical Healing Scan (about 0.2 seconds faster). Sure on a healing test dummy, it doesn't sound that awesome, since you are just spamming your keys on a non-changing target with no interruptions. But this is from game-realism included point of view, so yes, we want alacrity to increase our reaction window massively. Oh and moving out of Stuff? Guess what, that 0.19-0.24 seconds your Healing and Rapid Scans take to finish, that right there again about doubles your time window of getting that heal off instead of having it interrupted due to moving out of Stuff. Movement usually means zero heat usage (unless you pop insta-cast CD), at worst you just canceled a critical heal and sat at 0 heat for a second or two of moving out of Stuff.

 

Healing is all about avoiding deaths. How do deaths happen? Burst damage usually. Again, that haste % right there as mentioned above may double your reaction window on that single target. Now what else do bursts mean? Yep, burst healing required. Controlled burst healing, not random chance! With end-game stats, as shown by the numbers I will post, alacrity is the best heal per time stat. Yes, even using a power adrenal (565 power) is less heal / time than my 419 alacrity. MUCH less, that power gives around 8.7% increase to my Healing Scan and Rapid Scan, whereas my 419 alacrity gives me around 15% increase to my healing output with the same skills. Repeat after me: 419 alacrity = 15% output increase, 565 power = 8.7% output increase. Surge adrenal is near worthless, we are talking of only 3.5% increase here. Crit adrenal around 6%. So dropping my 419 alacrity for ANY of power, surge or critical would mean a massive downgrade of my burst (Heal + Rapid Scan during SCG) healing ability. Oh and by the way, diminishing returns works differently with stats like haste, where static bonuses increase the value of the stat bonus. I have 12.1% haste from alacrity, but that is worth 15% output. Math is funny like that. So yes, we talent all haste talents.

PVE Arsenal:

A quick write-up on the optional talents for Arsenal:

 

**Aside from Core Arsenal talents, and the Mandatory other talents, you get 8 free points to play with. 6 of them must be in Arsenal, and the last 2 can go wherever.

 

Bodyguard

 

Improved Vents: Mandatory. The extra 16 heat allows you to burst a bit harder just before venting, and being upfront, it allows you to get back into your normal rotation faster.

 

Hired Muscle: Mandatory. 6% crit is great in crit-focused tree.

 

Med Tech, Surgical Precision, Empowered Scans: Not recommended. If you're offhealing by design, the hybrid spec is much, much better suited to it. If you're healing in an emergency, usually your base heals will be enough if you could have saved the situation at all. Out of the three, Med Tech is the best.

 

Critical Reaction: Not recommended. Alacrity is currently considered to be a questionable stat for Arsenal. It does give you more damage/time, but it also builds heat faster, and throws off Terminal Velocity procs.

 

Arsenal

 

Integrated Systems: Recommended. The extra healing received(2%) is the main draw, the extra healing done(2%) is a nice bonus.

 

Custom Enviro Suit: Recommended. More healing received(6%), this time with more endurance(2%).

 

Power Barrier: Highly Recommended. A fairly consistent 10% damage reduction.

 

Afterburners: Not Recommended. Really only useful on trash, and even then, really only irritates your tanks and threatens to pull additional enemies if improperly used.

 

Jet Escape: Highly Recommended. Determination is useful on a lot of things, the CD reduction is pretty helpful.

 

Pinning Fire: Not Recommended. Far less useful compared to Afterburners.

 

Pyrotech

 

Advanced Targeting: Mandatory. If you have more than 10% accuracy, change your gear. Talent points are the most efficient way to get accuracy, and you don't really have better options.

 

Systems Calibrations: Not Recommended. See Critical Reaction. **Note** If Alacrity someday becomes less terrible, this talent is better than Critical Reaction.

 

Integrated Cardio Package: Not Recommended. Endurance is decent, but there are better survival talents.

For the PvE Arsenal Build, I would recommend moving the two points from Integrated Cardio Systems to Power Barrier. The 10% damage reduction will be up almost all the time, and is worth much more than 2% Endurance.

Edit: Do we use "Flag" for sticky requests or do we just hope they see it?

Edit: Do we use "Flag" for sticky requests or do we just hope they see it?

I don't think 'Flag'ging this post will be worthwhile since you wouldn't be following the directions stated in the link

Note: This is ONLY to be used to report spam, advertising messages, and problematic (harassment, fighting, or rude) posts.

I would probably abstain from working around the system, my 2 cents. I think the way stickies work normally is by popularity and the ability to aid future players (also as a support).

TempstasSilva

Looking good there, would like to see this stickied. Maybe you can explain sometime how and why each talents are worth getting for each level bracket etc lol. That would be a lot of work.

I don't think 'Flag'ging this post will be worthwhile since you wouldn't be following the directions stated in the link

 

 

I would probably abstain from working around the system, my 2 cents. I think the way stickies work normally is by popularity and the ability to aid future players (also as a support).

True, but I've seen it done that way before fairly often in forums that lack a "Request Sticky" button, as part of the system. The 'report' is used to notify moderators instead of hoping they see it among the volume of other traffic, so they can then make a decision based on the factors you mentioned. Sadly, doesn't seem to be covered anywhere in the forum guidelines, and I have no idea how actively moderated these forums are.

Either way, no rush. Can always try to grab a sticky later if hope fails.

Wow... this is awesome for a noob like me. I'm almost 40 and changed to full arsenal and was looking for a little guidance.

Thanks!

For the PvE Arsenal Build, I would recommend moving the two points from Integrated Cardio Systems to Power Barrier. The 10% damage reduction will be up almost all the time, and is worth much more than 2% Endurance.

 

Edit: Do we use "Flag" for sticky requests or do we just hope they see it?

Thank you for your comment. First, I am a bodyguard and I will admit that I tried Arsenal during leveling and hated tracer missile. So when making the links above, the Arsenal build and PvP builds are probably my weakest ones. I tried to look out to other people who seemed to know what they were doing and "steal" their builds but give them credit and links where appropriate.

For Aresenal, eveything I found was flawed, out of date, or something so I had to do my own build.

The funny thing is that the decision I spent the most time on was the exact one you brought up.

Here was my thinking. This is a RAID environment. Arsenal is a DPS spec so its job is DPS. The question here is not about DPS but survivability. It is your healer's job to keep you alive. So as a healer, would I prefer you to have a constant 10% damage reduction, or a constant 2% health? So if you get hit by 4k, the 10% will knock that to 3.6k saving you 400 health. With decent gear, you are probably at like 15+k health. So 2%=300 health. Also the 300 health is only relevant essentially when you are topped off. the DR is relevant always. But here's what made up my mind. I dont care how much I have to heal you provided I have the resources, and saving me 10% unless everyone in the whole raid had it, does not help me. I only care when you die, and things being equal, I'd rather you had more health to start with. and with gear the 2% is always going to be increasing, where the 10% is flat.

Now as you have caused me to think about this, I think the real question is does it work on all damage types? Because I think a better way of looking at is is if you have 15k health + 2%, then to die, you have to lose 15.3k health i.e. take 15.3k damage. But really if you have a 10% DR on ALL damage, you have to take like 16.6k damage to die. So looking at it that way...you may be totally right.

Is it a hard 10% against all damage types?

TempstasSilva

 

Looking good there, would like to see this stickied. Maybe you can explain sometime how and why each talents are worth getting for each level bracket etc lol. That would be a lot of work.

Thanks! Yeah, I was originally just going to do Bodyguard, but then when you analyze the skills, some of them are black and white for raiding and not so much if you just hit 50 and are PUGing Flashpoints. Then there is PvP. So now I am up to 3 specs which is a lot of work. I am not going to all that work for a simple post, and yet without a bodyguard specific forum, no matter how much effort I spend, its not going to be valuable enough to ge a sticky so I have somewhat wasted my time. Then I was like, ok, Ill do all the Mercenary specs and include leveling. Well with the resear etc, that was a lot of work. Now to go back and add analysis for each one? Yeah that would be great but I think think I created a monster. LOL

I created a monster. LOL

created a monster.

a monster

MONSTER

I knowww the feeling lol. It's fun to write and when you have time maybe a paragraph or two a day would suffice. Either way, it's a good starting point for people looking for leveling information.

Thank you for your comment. First, I am a bodyguard and I will admit that I tried Arsenal during leveling and hated tracer missile. So when making the links above, the Arsenal build and PvP builds are probably my weakest ones. I tried to look out to other people who seemed to know what they were doing and "steal" their builds but give them credit and links where appropriate.

 

For Aresenal, eveything I found was flawed, out of date, or something so I had to do my own build.

 

The funny thing is that the decision I spent the most time on was the exact one you brought up.

 

Here was my thinking. This is a RAID environment. Arsenal is a DPS spec so its job is DPS. The question here is not about DPS but survivability. It is your healer's job to keep you alive. So as a healer, would I prefer you to have a constant 10% damage reduction, or a constant 2% health? So if you get hit by 4k, the 10% will knock that to 3.6k saving you 400 health. With decent gear, you are probably at like 15+k health. So 2%=300 health. Also the 300 health is only relevant essentially when you are topped off. the DR is relevant always. But here's what made up my mind. I dont care how much I have to heal you provided I have the resources, and saving me 10% unless everyone in the whole raid had it, does not help me. I only care when you die, and things being equal, I'd rather you had more health to start with. and with gear the 2% is always going to be increasing, where the 10% is flat.

 

Now as you have caused me to think about this, I think the real question is does it work on all damage types? Because I think a better way of looking at is is if you have 15k health + 2%, then to die, you have to lose 15.3k health i.e. take 15.3k damage. But really if you have a 10% DR on ALL damage, you have to take like 16.6k damage to die. So looking at it that way...you may be totally right.

 

Is it a hard 10% against all damage types?

I believe it is 10% against all damage, but either way, that wasn't my line of thinking. It is more of a resource concern, with Time being counted as a resource. The less damage I take, the less time you need to spend healing me, which is more time you can spend healing someone else.

The only fight in this game I've seen really challenge our sorc healer's Force Pool/Time Pool is HM Kaon - Bonus Boss, which includes a serious amount of regular 4-5k group damage. Not enough to ever kill someone outright, but with bots out your healer can quickly become overwhelmed. In that case, 10% less damage taken is considerably more important. Like you were saying, the extra health helps you once, unless miraculously you get topped off, compared to a constant effect.

Edit: The rest of the spec is pretty solid. I'll do a quick write-up on the optional talents for Arsenal PvE in a post shortly.

How effective is Werdan's build if I use it in both PvP & PvE?

Thanks

How effective is Werdan's build if I use it in both PvP & PvE?

Thanks

The only time I'd recommend using the hybrid build in PvE is when you're replacing a healer. Essentially you split your time between healing when needed, and filling the rest of your time with dps.

Nothing in the current tier requires 2.5 healers, and most fights don't even require 2. Its a viable option if your group's dps is a little low, or if you've cleared the place and are looking to speed things up.

I should warn you I doubt the build would be pug-friendly, so it will also depend on who you run with.

It'd probably succeed in any decent HM flash point group too.

Werdan does a plenty good job defending it for PvP, so I'll leave that to him.

A quick write-up on the optional talents for Arsenal:

**Aside from Core Arsenal talents, and the Mandatory other talents, you get 8 free points to play with. 6 of them must be in Arsenal, and the last 2 can go wherever.

Bodyguard

Improved Vents: Mandatory. The extra 16 heat allows you to burst a bit harder just before venting, and being upfront, it allows you to get back into your normal rotation faster.

Hired Muscle: Mandatory. 6% crit is great in crit-focused tree.

Med Tech, Surgical Precision, Empowered Scans: Not recommended. If you're offhealing by design, the hybrid spec is much, much better suited to it. If you're healing in an emergency, usually your base heals will be enough if you could have saved the situation at all. Out of the three, Med Tech is the best.

Critical Reaction: Not recommended. Alacrity is currently considered to be a questionable stat for Arsenal. It does give you more damage/time, but it also builds heat faster, and throws off Terminal Velocity procs.

Arsenal

Integrated Systems: Recommended. The extra healing received(2%) is the main draw, the extra healing done(2%) is a nice bonus.

Custom Enviro Suit: Recommended. More healing received(6%), this time with more endurance(2%).

Power Barrier: Highly Recommended. A fairly consistent 10% damage reduction.

Afterburners: Not Recommended. Really only useful on trash, and even then, really only irritates your tanks and threatens to pull additional enemies if improperly used.

Jet Escape: Highly Recommended. Determination is useful on a lot of things, the CD reduction is pretty helpful.

Pinning Fire: Not Recommended. Far less useful compared to Afterburners.

Pyrotech

Advanced Targeting: Mandatory. If you have more than 10% accuracy, change your gear. Talent points are the most efficient way to get accuracy, and you don't really have better options.

Systems Calibrations: Not Recommended. See Critical Reaction. **Note** If Alacrity someday becomes less terrible, this talent is better than Critical Reaction.

Integrated Cardio Package: Not Recommended. Endurance is decent, but there are better survival talents.

Do you recommend Arsenal or Pyro for Full DPS and levelling, PvE & eventually PvP?

Since a Merc doesn't want a gap closer what does he have for an escape tactic?

Thanks

Do you recommend Arsenal or Pyro for Full DPS and levelling, PvE & eventually PvP?

Since a Merc doesn't want a gap closer what does he have for an escape tactic?

Thanks

Either one will work for leveling. Arsenal has a definite edge in PvE Ops right now, but Pyro is still viable.

Pyro in general has a better time in PvP, but both have ups and downs in that area.

My advice is to try both, play what you like for now, and check back when damage logs/parsing become available. Then people will be able to give you hard facts about which is better, when and why, and exactly how much better.

i feel the pvp hybrid has cylinder conflict unless your playstyle is switching based on circurmstances. i use to switch but now i use csc all the time.

i train light em up (reduce tracer, spam supercharged power shot), target tracking (unload crit), power insulators (direct dmg red 4% +10% from power barrier).

drop terminal velocity (due to conflict), proactive armor(armor in pvp is non exist in pvp) & improved vent (kiting and los dissipate heat)

Do you recommend Arsenal or Pyro for Full DPS and levelling, PvE & eventually PvP?

Since a Merc doesn't want a gap closer what does he have for an escape tactic?

Thanks

arsenal escape tactics are 1.5 knockbacks (one of which has a snare) and two stuns (one of which has an activation). so we pretty much have nothing that is effective on open ground

this is the build i use for pvp and pve. i take damage over everything else because in pve you shouldnt be taking damage and in pvp the defense skills arent enough to save you so imo its better to go all out with your strength

Big thanks to Snagulus for the correction, writeup, and answers to questions.

I agree with all the answers and want to emphasize a couple of things:

Which build does max PVE DPS? Without a combat log/parser, who knows.

Which DPS build is best for PvP? Pyro probably has an edge, but plenty of people do fine with arsenal.

So the real answer is that since both are valid, try them and see which style feels better to you.

@TempestasSilva, I'm not saying your wrong but Werdan says Ironsights is better first why did you pick Mandalorian Iron Warheads so I can make an informed opinion?

Thanks

9% aim is the best start a Merc can have as it boosts ALL damage, crit chance, and tech.

 

Sorry I haven't updated this thread. It's good to see that others have taken the reigns and helped out here. I honestly haven't played my BH much in the last 3-4 weeks due to how badly Ilum, open world PvP, and warzone issues have been handled recently by the dev team. I've since leveled a Marauder to level 50 and stopped playing it as well due to the level 50 bracket being such a mess for fresh 50's. I'm now leveling a Trooper Commando (L42 so far) and having a blast (pun intended) in the lower level brackets. As much as they have in common with each other, Trooper suffers from some animation issues that make playing a BH much better/easier. That said, depending on how the rest of our guild feels about the game in the coming weeks, I may not play as much. While I subbed for 6 months, I can't see myself making alts for the remainder of my time.

 

If high level PvP continues to run the current course, and BW allows server transfers, I might just move to a PvE server until my sub runs out. It's been a pleasure helping you guys out and I wish you all the best of luck. I'll try and pop in from time to time but for the most part I think some of the other veterans here can do just as much good.

 

Peace,

Trace

@TempestasSilva, I'm not saying your wrong but Werdan says Ironsights is better first why did you pick Mandalorian Iron Warheads so I can make an informed opinion?

Thanks

I'm guessing you mean in the Arsenal Leveling section?

Probably just a small oversight, Tempest mentioned not playing very much Arsenal. Ironsights and MIW are both core talents, so you want both, but picking up Ironsights first is technically a bit better for the few levels where you don't have both.

Neither talent is so important that it is absolutely critical that you take one first though. At that low level the differences are tiny.

It's probably the whole first tier for the 7pts. Med Tech makes the most sense.

It seems like it'd work out pretty well. Its more tanky than spending the 3points in Accuracy, but you'll do a little bit less damage.

@TempestasSilva, I'm not saying your wrong but Werdan says Ironsights is better first why did you pick Mandalorian Iron Warheads so I can make an informed opinion?

Thanks

I'm guessing you mean in the Arsenal Leveling section?

 

Probably just a small oversight, Tempest mentioned not playing very much Arsenal. Ironsights and MIW are both core talents, so you want both, but picking up Ironsights first is technically a bit better for the few levels where you don't have both.

 

Neither talent is so important that it is absolutely critical that you take one first though. At that low level the differences are tiny.

Why? Probably because I didnt do the math on it and I am wrong, but my thinking was:

Iron sights is a great skill. But what makes it great is it scales. If you are at 1000 AIM, thats 30, but at 100, thats 3.

How much AIM do you have at level 10? How much of a damage increase is each 1% Aim increase?

MIW increases All missiles and powershot by 3% then 6%. Without doing the math, that seems like a better deal.

In reality, if you leveled to 15 and saved your points vs adding 5 points to either in any order, I doubt you'd notice much of a difference. Your stats and damage are so low that none of the choices makes a huge difference until you get tracer missile.

Why? Probably because I didnt do the math on it and I am wrong, but my thinking was:

Iron sights is a great skill. But what makes it great is it scales. If you are at 1000 AIM, thats 30, but at 100, thats 3.

 

How much AIM do you have at level 10? How much of a damage increase is each 1% Aim increase?

 

MIW increases All missiles and powershot by 3% then 6%. Without doing the math, that seems like a better deal.

 

In reality, if you leveled to 15 and saved your points vs adding 5 points to either in any order, I doubt you'd notice much of a difference. Your stats and damage are so low that none of the choices makes a huge difference until you get tracer missile.

Both talents are scaling, so neither one does a great deal. The 6% on missiles and Power Shot should net you slightly more damage on those abilities, but Aim will give you more damage on all of your abilities, plus a significant amount of Crit rate per point(like ratings, individual points are worth more at lower levels). My reasoning was mostly that since many of the enemies you'd be facing come in small groups, DFA, E-dart, and Flamethrower are a lot more useful more of the time. I don't think I used Power Shot all that often until at least 17-18 when mob health started to increase.

I'm also not really sure how much damage you gain per point of Aim. I have no idea what the Power modifiers are on any of our skills.