I have a couple of scoundrels in my guild who have a difficult time on the 4th boss in EV. They can never down there opponent and we usually have to bring in others to do the 4th boss and then bring them back for SOA. It's really becoming sad at this point. I understand it is a pain because of the lack of back blast due to the straight on nature of the fight.

Any advice I can give them?

What difficulty level? What gear level?

Basically, IC needs an entirely different rotation to other fights because you'll need to be using Quick Shot and obviously can't use BB/Flechette (although if you circle strafe like crazy you might get a few off I generally didn't bother.) Sab, Flyby, Vital, Whip, Sucker... we still have enough solid attacks to beat the 2 minute timer.

Yes we do struggle against the Infernal Council, due to being unable to use our Fletchette Round and Back Blast. We also normally fight one of the Marauders which have the most health, which compounds the issue.

As for tips:

* Start the fight with a stealthed Flechette Round>Shoot First. They do not aggro straight away, which allows you to start the fight on your terms.

* Try and move around a bit, I have been able to fire off a Back Blast or two by strafing around the mob. It's not a guarantee but even a single Back Blast can help.

* Try and avoid using up your energy to do extra dps. Slow and steady wins the race here, believe me, you will do a lot less dps with no energy.

* Most importantly, don't feel stupid that you are the last to finish your fight, this encounter is a direct contrast to our preferred way of fighting. If you get any grief from raid leaders they obviously don't understand your class.

These tips are obviously very Scrapper centric. Having never played a DF spec, I can't comment on whether they perform any better.... (I would assume that they would).

Rather than trying to fight with the mechanics, I think when I did this on my Scoundrel as a Scrapper, I just went into Crouch with my back to a wall and used all my Level 1-10 abilities:

Vital Shot

Charged Burst

Sabotage Charge

Blaster Whip

plus Sucker Punch

You should also be able to pop a Flyby.

I also wonder, if you are really having problems, whether a tank (or both tanks) might assist by taunting his target to facilitate positional attacks after finishing their own. I am pretty sure the debuff is for *damaging* someone else's target, and taunts don't do damage, and anyway a damage/healing debuff on the tank wouldn't prevent the Scoundrel from continuing to fight and eventually finishing off the mob. I haven't tested this, obviously, just thinking out loud. People claim that you can interrupt someone else's target without getting the debuff, so taunting may work the same. Maybe something to try if all else fails.

open always with a flannelette shoot first then forget about BB, just back up to a wall and rain flyby's down on your self. Keep flyby on cool down so use it early to get in the next one quicker

use blaster whip when its up, always

use vital shot when the dot wears off,

only use sucker punch if your 70% energy of higher other wise your better off to spam a couple flurry of bolts.

keep pugnacity up

in between all that pop into crouch to keep sab charge on cooldown

win

you have to switch gears from insane burst action dump guy

to sustained energy for the long fight guy

weave in those flurry of bolts to keep action up and your gravy

Decent dps can kill 2 mobs without problems (even 2x dps mobs in nightmare mode is doable).. So just leave your healer out and get your best dps to kill 2 mobs. Just note that he has to finish one, then start another to avoid the debuff thingy.

anyone else find it kinda sad that the strategy for scoundrels is....

"to sit out the fight and let a real DPS kill 2 targets faster than we can kill 1 ??"

already looking forward to the next patches nerfs on scoundrels

Don't bring a Scoundrel as DPS as PVE content?

They should be taking on an Assassin and healing themselves /shrug

I have a couple of scoundrels in my guild who have a difficult time on the 4th boss in EV. They can never down there opponent and we usually have to bring in others to do the 4th boss and then bring them back for SOA. It's really becoming sad at this point. I understand it is a pain because of the lack of back blast due to the straight on nature of the fight.

You didn't say whether they were playing as DPS or healers. It's rare to find scoundrel dps at this point, so I'm guessing healers. But both are quite doable.

1. DPS: Yes, it's going to be a tougher fight for a scoundrel than any other class with the limitations that are (rather shortsightedly, on the dev's part) put on you in this fight. I remember as a brand new 50 scoundrel I had trouble when I did this fight, although I got through it somehow, after several attempts. Well, it got better. Now I have no trouble, and I frequently finish before a lot of people. Better gear helps, and also better understanding power consumption and effective skill rotation. There are some good guides out there on the Internet. You have to adjust to not having the best skills available.

2. Healer: The key is interrupting the boss. If the scoundrel is constantly healing himself, he will not be putting out enough dps to complete the fight. He should not need to be nearly so much if he gets his interrupts off on time, and a scoundrel can interrupt as well as anyone. Then the fight becomes easier.

As a side note, I'm pretty sure you are not allowed to complete this fight by having a tank taunt the boss. But you don't need to anyway.

Put healers on Assassins, easyest thing to do for them.

As for Scourdel Healer vs Assassin, Im normaly one of the first done. *shrug*

Granted I started doing EV late, I already had full Col gear when doing my first EV.

Keep yourself up with Healing dots, and burn your energy return powers and blast away.

Dont be afraid to use your basic attack power to. I run into so many people that seem to think the only way to cause damage is to use something that burns energy. With 2100 Cunning, you be surpised just how much damage that basic shot does for free!.

why dose everyone assume that if you are a scoundrel in an ops you MUST BE A HEALER??

OP has said the scoundrels having problems are dps

:rak_02:or maybe its just a given that scoundrel DPS is broken and there is no point in playing one, ever

If they are part of your regular group and your tanks have DPS gear, put the tanks on the scoundrel's target and have the scoundrel take out the tanks target. I play as a healer scoundrel, but I have fought all the different classes of the Infernal Council as we pulled under-equipped people through EV. Not going to say it was not difficult, but I have done it.

I stealth use shoot first and then dirty kick. I use this moment to pull them away from the group. Then I put flyby right down on top of me. After that I fight like normal. I don't even try to get behind them as I find it just waste my time as it is extremely difficult. I use pistol whip every time it comes up to keep upper hand always stacked and so I can hit Pugnacity as often as it comes up. When on the Assassin I ether interpret or use defensive screen on their attacks.

The fight is not easy for a scoundrel dps or healer. It does not mean they are bad dps players it is just the fights mechanics take away the scoundrel's most powerful attacks.

I've done this fight may times with a DPS shadow and it is just silly how easy the same fight is for a different class. Of course unlike my scoundrel, my shadow cannot solo CtS.

Make sure they are fully augmented even if it is with blues.

the tanks in the council put a nasty armor break debuff on you, scoundrels don't start out with much armor to begin with so its worth a try but it might not be "easier" like you think

They don't hit very hard. I've done them in HM with my Scoundrel and they were way easier than going again the Assassin, although with a DPS Scoundrel, you are correct, best bet may be moving the healer to the Marauder or Juggernaut and let the Scoundrel DPS handle a Assassin. Just make sure the DPS Scoundrel know they have to use their defensive screen and interrupts (and not at the same time). Personally I find them all easier than the Assassin, but I'm pretty much BH geared in Rakata shells,. Neither that Marauder or Juggernaut hit very hard and I can get through the battle with either of them without wasting any energy on heals.

First time I did EVHM with my shadow in daily gear, they put me on the tank's council member. Was so excited that I finished first and never used a medpac until they told me that I was not on the DPS one, but one for a tank. :