So I've pretty much only played DF and have been reading the forums the last couple days been seeing a few threads on the full sab spec. Its caught my attention and really look forward to giving it a shot this weekend. With that in mind I was just wondering what sort of advice you guys would have to give a first time sab player. I'm aware I could read the sticky and get some general information but I'm looking for your experiences in pvp as that's all that interests me. So specific times to use certain skills/ a typical rotation. Some counters/tactics vs specific classes you know pvp stuff anything pvp related would be much appreciated looking forward to trying a new playstyle.

 

Thanks,

 

Fellow GS

 

I'm already level 45 (was level 27 a few posts above) which means I'm at the top of the sab tree and have started getting my 7 points in MM. I have noticed a few melee who like to think they can kill me, and this is where sab comes in handy: We get a ranged stun.

 

Anyone that has your shock charge on them and then gets hit by the first hit of your incendiary grenade (both 30 m range) is immediatly stunned for 2 seconds. I literally start every 1v1 with this. More times than not idiots will break out because they see the fire, leaving you with free roots, a knockback, and a full 4 second dirty kick.

 

The reason this doesn't hurt your DPS is because incendiary grenades damage is front loaded, meaning it does more damage in the first 3 seconds than after. Once this is done begin your rotation. As Sab charge contingency charges refresh your energy after bursting, I like to go smug luck > charged burst > sab charge > speed shot.

 

This gives you back end damage leading into a **** TON of front load damage, which is huge burst, all while keeping energy pretty well maintained.

 

Other than that, the main difference about this build is just to make sure your sab charge is on someone at all times (so you can refresh cooldown on cool head and defense screen) and toss your grenade in the most intelligent places, whether that be on a node or in a group.

 

In voidstar you can litereally have no one but your fire watching the door. I just stay in between the doors, watching one and putting my fire on the other every 18 seconds. It's insanely effective.

So I've pretty much only played DF and have been reading the forums the last couple days been seeing a few threads on the full sab spec. Its caught my attention and really look forward to giving it a shot this weekend. With that in mind I was just wondering what sort of advice you guys would have to give a first time sab player. I'm aware I could read the sticky and get some general information but I'm looking for your experiences in pvp as that's all that interests me. So specific times to use certain skills/ a typical rotation. Some counters/tactics vs specific classes you know pvp stuff anything pvp related would be much appreciated looking forward to trying a new playstyle.

 

Thanks,

 

Fellow GS

 

 

Sab spec in pvp, you are queen/king of defending a node and can provide some great burst damage for offense (not to mention you can be a great distraction for someone to go stealth cap and use your cc wisely)

 

There are several different spec options you have to chose from I can never really settle on one so you will find one of my specs on my website at twitch.tv/doctorwhorrible and another great option below:

 

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#700bcMZrI0bRRrorsZh.1

 

To be honest an argument could be made for or against any talent in the first 2 trees of SS or DF so pick the ones that compliment your play style.

 

In void star when defending try to stay close to the middle by one of the doors in case you need to quickly switch sides. use your incendiary grenade often. If you are defending a door alone, put it on yourself and watch for a stealthy. If your quick he will op out just before he has a chance to hit you, and you can push him away or pop hunker down.

 

In Alderaan, you can use incendiary grenade to interrupt someone capping even when you do not have line of sight, by placing it the the back side of the node. Snipe from up top if your in the middle, watch for people headed your way and pop hunker down as needed. I believe this is similar to playing other specs. If you are defending a node alone, put it on yourself and watch for a stealthy. If your quick he will op out just before he has a chance to hit you, and you can push him away or pop hunker down.

 

In Novare Coast: You will shine in the middle here, find the sweet spot you can run to where you can see everything in the bunker, while running as few steps as possible, pop hunker down immediately and law down your aoes. Watch for people focusing you, cc them, root them, push them, take out healers, interrupt ranged cappers with your free attack unless they are your kill target.

 

In Huttball, mainly the same as other specs as far as stay on high ground, be aware of your surroundings, try to be a good leap target or pass target for offense, try to control mid, keep shock charge on ball carrier, use incendiary grenade to stun over fire (coupled with shock charge), use incendiary grenade to slow either the ball carrier's support or the attackers on your ball carrier.

 

 

General pvping: shock charge + incendiary grenade + sab charge + speed shot is a really good burst tool. use your free quick shots often.

 

Don't act like a turret, reposition yourself often, especially if you take ballistic dampers.

 

I generally only use aimed shot in pvp if I have illegal mods up or I am planning on hitting a cc'd or rooted target, so I have more time to cast. (don't break cc for no reason though). My favorite use of illegal mods is generally to couple it with freighter flyby.

 

You should try to use sab charge every time it is off cool down, it provides a lot of burst damage, but try not to waste it on a target who is really low health, unless they are a high priority target, or it looks like they will get healed and you will need the extra burst to finish them.

 

Thermal grenades are great for stopping a cap, you can even target the player beside your intended target, aka the capper, and it will hit them, this is for when you are out of range, incendiary grenade takes more time to place(you have to click the ground so its an extra second you may not have), or incendiary grenade is on cool down. This is also useful when tab and click targeting fails you as it so often will. Don't forget to use vital shot, speed shot every time its off cool down.

 

Charged burst will be your bread and butter filler for everything else, but watch you don't let you energy get too low. Free quick shots are a great way to continue to dps while regenerating your energy, but you can't always do this because you don't want to stay out of cover long when you are being attacked.

 

I don't say much about incendiary grenade because I didn't want to be too repetitive on what was already said earlier in the thread.

 

If you have questions about any of the information or you disagree with it, just let me know. I tried to hit the most important basics of playing a sab gunslinger in pvp.

Thanks been very helpful and will be learning this sab spec this weekened for sure and I am sure I will have more questions that I will throw at ya once i become a little more familiar.

Well after playing the spec for a night Im heading in the right direction and Im loving the opp to have 2 defence screens/cool head for sure. It seems a little weird to me to pop shock charge? or whatever it is to renew the cds, but I guess with it only being on a 30 second cd its not that big of a deal. Also after playing only DF I find that I end up with alot of time when my skills are on cd, now I know you said charged burst/FF would be fillers with thermal gren in there. Would there be anything else possibly a aimed shot if I pop ill mods/relic?

 

Overall though I must say I am enjoying the first night of the build.

 

Thanks for all the help.

Well after playing the spec for a night Im heading in the right direction and Im loving the opp to have 2 defence screens/cool head for sure. It seems a little weird to me to pop shock charge? or whatever it is to renew the cds, but I guess with it only being on a 30 second cd its not that big of a deal. Also after playing only DF I find that I end up with alot of time when my skills are on cd, now I know you said charged burst/FF would be fillers with thermal gren in there. Would there be anything else possibly a aimed shot if I pop ill mods/relic?

 

Overall though I must say I am enjoying the first night of the build.

 

Thanks for all the help.

 

Yeah it's all situational, if you are low on energy just get into cover and pop back out, boom pretty much 4 free quickshot in 6 seconds. That's 4 attacks that are > than your auto attack.

It's strongest feature in PVP is definitely the fact that you can use it to keep groups of enemies off doors in Voidstar, or from capping in another warzone; the same reason why Freighter Flyby and skills like Death From Above are so useful.

 

Not sure death from above is all that usefull now.

Well after playing the spec for a night Im heading in the right direction and Im loving the opp to have 2 defence screens/cool head for sure. It seems a little weird to me to pop shock charge? or whatever it is to renew the cds, but I guess with it only being on a 30 second cd its not that big of a deal. Also after playing only DF I find that I end up with alot of time when my skills are on cd, now I know you said charged burst/FF would be fillers with thermal gren in there. Would there be anything else possibly a aimed shot if I pop ill mods/relic?

 

Overall though I must say I am enjoying the first night of the build.

 

Thanks for all the help.

 

I will use aimed shot with illegal mods sometimes, but I don't tend to use aimed shot very often due to the long cast time. Charged burst and quick shot are definitely my spammers when other abilities are on cooldown. But I don't really just spam them because you have sab charge, shock charge, incendiary grenade, and speed shot that you will be using almost every time they are off cooldown, plus throw in a vital shot every now and then.

Yeah good thing I came back to read and you guys post that cuase I totally have not been using quick shots so when I am low and in cover I will def be doing that now. Thanks for that tidbit, also after playing a little more with the spec Im truely lovely the survivability cant count the number of times Ive been able to pop defense screen twice and keep me up til posse came to back me up. Also pretty sure toda yin a premade made a mara smash his kb by living thanks to 2 defense screen/health pot and some timely heals.

 

Youve made a believer outta me and this spec =)

I am happy to help

So after playing the sab spec all weekend here are some of my thoughts on it. When I first played it lvling up I lasted about 20 mins and then I switched back to DF mostly because I wasn't willing to learn the spec and the rotation. Now after playing it especially in wzs I really can't picture going back to DF or even SS. I mean for solo queing to have that amt of survivabilty its top notch. I am also quite pleased with the burst dmg you're able to put out as well. I know its situational but also noticing pulling more dps( of course so many variables). Can't wait to put in to practice all the tools we have such as the quick shots after leaving cover which I'm still trying to implement.

I started sab spec a few weeks ago.

 

Incendiary grenade is by far my favorite attack as well. I use it religiously in my opener, and, with proper spec it is an unbelievably strong opener.

 

My rotation is pretty simple, but, just yesterday I took a full WH mara out in 4 GCD, so, it can't be underestimated.

 

1. running to target spamming shock charge (pops at 30m)

 

Closing on target (slowed by 30%)

GCD pops

2. Incendiary grenade (2s stun+80% slow) damage ticking

 

closing on target (within a few m now)

 

3. up in my targets grill: sab charge+multisecondaries (5k dmg preloaded)

 

4. speed shot to (7k damage)

 

5. quickdraw finisher (3800 dmg)

 

thats about 18k damage in 10 seconds and since the target often doesn't even know he's a target until after incediary grenade hits and he's stunned for the GCD+80% slowed, you can do basically 15k damage in the next 3 seconds and he's onyl got a window of 1.8 seconds or so to pop UR or he's in reclaim.

 

of course, after that rotation, you got basically F-all damage for another 18 seconds or so.

That is an amazing burst tool that I often use, but you should be able to use charged burst and free quick shot (if you take hot pursuit) in between 18 second bursts.

I love sab, it's my favorite build. I found the spec to truely become strong when I speced 10 points into the sharp shooter tree. The knock back on aimshot added one more tool to completely lock out enemy melee. I love incendiary grenade but have a hard time using it when I can't take advantage of the amazing stun that comes with it. If you find this spec to be missing lob more grenades. I am constantly throwing grenades that are hitting for 2k on multiple targets.