SO the burst specs for each would be:

Marksmanship for Sniper

Lightning for Sorc

Arsenal for Merc

Sniper is arguably the hardest of the three to be really good at. It requires a strong understanding of its cooldowns to know how and when to use each. Learning to move properly is difficult as well. That being said, marksmanship probably has the highest burst potential out of the three

Lightning is average in terms of difficulty. Cooldowns are pretty straightforward and so is the spec itself. With the recent nerf to maul spam, sorcs will probably be in a better place even with the nerf to its own best set bonus. Lightning has great burst and AoE potential.

Arsenal is the easiest spec out of these to play but also the least effective. Innovative Ordinance is a stronger spec for merc but also a lot more difficult as it isn't a cut & dry rotation and requires much more heat management. Arsenal's burst is pretty average at best. Mercs have good defenses early on in a fight but they can be burned through fairly easily in the current meta.

If you're just playing regs, you can have a great time with all three.

Hope this helps some!

Objectively, sorc is the best. But, you should pick one that fits your play style.

Sorc has everything. Burst: good, mobility:best, utility:best, control:best, dcd:best, self & off heals: best

Merc has a lot. Burst: worst, mobility: good, utility: good, control: worst, dcd:good, self & off heals: good

Sniper is the toughest. Burst: best, mobility: worst, utility: worst, control: good, dcd: worst, self & off heals: none

You're likely to be the #1 kill target as a sniper as well because you don't have that many ways to get away. Sorc lacks nothing and is best in class in many things. As a sorc, you have basically two free heals to full with bubble & teleport.

Others lack something.

Objectively, sorc is the best. But, you should pick one that fits your play style.

 

Sorc has everything. Burst: good, mobility:best, utility:best, control:best, dcd:best, self & off heals: best

Merc has a lot. Burst: worst, mobility: good, utility: good, control: worst, dcd:good, self & off heals: good

Sniper is the toughest. Burst: best, mobility: worst, utility: worst, control: good, dcd: worst, self & off heals: none

 

You're likely to be the #1 kill target as a sniper as well because you don't have that many ways to get away. Sorc lacks nothing and is best in class in many things. As a sorc, you have basically two free heals to full with bubble & teleport.

 

Others lack something.

Some of this is wrong. Utility: merc electronet is much, much more valuable than the utility from sorc pull. Dcds: merc ddcs are much better than sorc dcds. They allow mercs to face tank a lot more damage. Lightning sorcs are only able to survive longer than mercs due to kiting. For example, a relatively typical scenario, if merc and sorc are each focused by similarly skilled teams, the merc will die first having taken 1mil+ dmg, and the sorc will die sometime later having taken 700-800k dmg. Self and offheals: sorc and merc are about equal here.

Mobility is a tricky question, because technically snipers have the best mobility, it's just harder to use properly. And again, the utility of diversion and shield can be very valuable. Its dcds also come off cooldown much faster than sorc or merc, even if they're less impactful individually.

Also, both barrier and phase walk are not at all guaranteed to allow you to heal to full. If you get chased to your phase, you might barely have time to get a dark heal or two off. And if they stun you right after barrier, you're not getting much healing from it even with the utility.

Overall, yes, sorc is the best ranged dps right now, but we shouldn't be overstating things too much.

I would rate it

1. MM sniper (pure burst)

2. Arsenal Merc (Burst)

3. Lightning Sorc (burst)

Sorcs has the best mobility and self heals and good LOS . But has the weakest burst.

Arsenal Merc sits in the middle of these. It has good mobility for LOS and self heals. Burst is better, but longer cast times on more abilities.

MM sniper has the largest burst, but more of their abilities have a longer cast time than the other two. And even though they aren’t as mobile or dedicated self heals, they have some good utility choices that give them passive healing and make them damn hard to kill. They also have abilities that help them escape or keep the enemy melee at a distance. Leg shot, run or roll, penetrating rounds can keep most melee off a sniper.

The biggest difference between all 3 is the skill lvl required to play them at a basic lvl. Sorcs are the easiest, then Mercs, then snipers.

But all 3 are just as hard to master and play at the highest lvl due to their in built weaknesses.

If you are only interested in the meta for solo ranked pvp. Then I’m assuming Sorcs are still better of the 3. But if I was in team ranked with enough skill, I would choose a sniper due to it being a stealth meta these days.

If you are playing regs, pick all 3 and lvl 1 of each while double XP is on.

Personally, I would LvL them up in pvp only so you get an alright feel for them by the time you reach lvl 75. Then you can switch back and forth.to stay current on each. This will also make you an overall better player because you’ll get to know how to play with and against all 3.

I disagree with sorc mobillity vs merc mobillity

When merc got second charge of Rocket Out, its more mobile than sorc in fights. Sorc Emersion utility is nothing compared to Hydraulics .

I played all 3 classes and I can say that sorc heals are greater than merc ones only on Madness spec, on which it gets additional selfheals from rotation. Keep in mind that all merc dcds heals him, and his Rapid Scan with 5 Tracer Locks heals like Unnatural Perservation.

Now, when it comes to fights

Sorcs wins snipers, and against others it has to break some sweat

It has no good tools against melees, as Arsenal and MM does

Mercs wins other RDPS and some melees

Sniper looses to other RDPS and (with skill) kills all melees quite easly

Sorcs advantages over merc (and only one I find) are damage, precast of Static Barrier and Phase Walk

It's not snipers for sure, otherwise there would be more of them.

There are days when i spam wzs for many hours straight and not see a single sniper/gs. On the other hand It's full to the brink with lightning sorcs and arsenal mercs.

The few times i see snipers, people usually just swarm and vaporise them in 3 seconds. The new burstiness after 6.0 doesn't seem to work well with their squishiness, especially in a stunlock.

Never played a sniper before, maybe it's time to roll one. Seems interesting.

It's not snipers for sure, otherwise there would be more of them.

 

There are days when i spam wzs for many hours straight and not see a single sniper/gs. On the other hand It's full to the brink with lightning sorcs and arsenal mercs.

 

The few times i see snipers, people usually just swarm and vaporise them in 3 seconds. The new burstiness after 6.0 doesn't seem to work well with their squishiness, especially in a stunlock.

Snipers have a higher skill requirement to be played well. That doesn’t mean they aren’t the best burst class because not many can play them well enough.

But I’m also not saying they are the best. I think it comes down to player styles and what you play. If you play solo ranked then I wouldn’t play a sniper. I think the safest bet is a Sorc in solo ranked. But if it’s group ranked I would pick a sniper and if it’s regs you can flip a coin and use all 3.

Maybe you are right about these skill requirements. I used to do Solo Ranked on my merc, and only on him from my all classes. On my merc I had top scores on regs many many times (damage, kills-deaths ratio) in 6.0, with sorc I had it few times and on sniper - only once

I need to add one thing to sniper, they are really tough when played well, mostly because of their stun immune that allwos to outtrade other`s damage. When it comes to group fights I usually try to take spot close to my teammates, to make sure I won`t get globaled. Sniper defences are good, but not good enough for 2+v1 fights

Now, when it comes to fights

Sorcs wins snipers, and against others it has to break some sweat

It has no good tools against melees, as Arsenal and MM does

 

Mercs wins other RDPS and some melees

 

Sniper looses to other RDPS and (with skill) kills all melees quite easly

I would disagree with the “sorcs trump snipers each time” debate; as someone that’s mained a MM sniper since launch I can take on the majority of Lightning sorcs without issue, but it is conditional:

Lightning sorcs shine against MM Sniper when they have nearby LoS to interrupt the Sniper and heal, but any good MM sniper won’t fall for that and will move the fight to an open area with very little/no LoS, after that it becomes a case of negating the Lightning Sorcs burst which is easy when you use your defensives properly.

With LoS lightning sorc does generally trump sniper, but without it (good) sniper trumps Sorc; It’s one of the reasons I normally refuse to duel Sorcs in their strongholds, because they always have an arena filled with LoS which is built heavily to their advantage and heavily to my disadvantage.

I find Mercs to be a bit easier to deal with than Sorcs, so long as you again negate their burst and don’t let them LoS and heal they tend to drop faster (but that’s probably because they don’t have a bubble like Sorc which drags out a fight).

Ofcourse this is all ultimately dependent on the skill levels of the players.

 

I find Mercs to be a bit easier to deal with than Sorcs, so long as you again negate their burst and don’t let them LoS and heal they tend to drop faster (but that’s probably because they don’t have a bubble like Sorc which drags out a fight).

 

Ofcourse this is all ultimately dependent on the skill levels of the players.

I`m quite suprised that you manage to win mercs on open area as sniper

I`m quite suprised that you manage to win mercs on open area as sniper

It's not hard, roll negates all damage/stuns and with Repositioning you can get 3 rolls in rapid succession so it's pretty easy to avoid burst and big damage combined with interrupts, only real problem with Mercs is electronet but dcds make it easy to outlast that and bubble can be negated with suppressive fire.

I would disagree with the “sorcs trump snipers each time” debate; as someone that’s mained a MM sniper since launch I can take on the majority of Lightning sorcs without issue, but it is conditional:

 

Lightning sorcs shine against MM Sniper when they have nearby LoS to interrupt the Sniper and heal, but any good MM sniper won’t fall for that and will move the fight to an open area with very little/no LoS, after that it becomes a case of negating the Lightning Sorcs burst which is easy when you use your defensives properly.

 

With LoS lightning sorc does generally trump sniper, but without it (good) sniper trumps Sorc; It’s one of the reasons I normally refuse to duel Sorcs in their strongholds, because they always have an arena filled with LoS which is built heavily to their advantage and heavily to my disadvantage.

 

I find Mercs to be a bit easier to deal with than Sorcs, so long as you again negate their burst and don’t let them LoS and heal they tend to drop faster (but that’s probably because they don’t have a bubble like Sorc which drags out a fight).

 

Ofcourse this is all ultimately dependent on the skill levels of the players.

Excellent examples of how each class has strengths and weaknesses depending on the situation. It’s why nearly any class is viable in objective pvp because some maps favour certain specs. Even in arena, some favour ranged more than melee or favour certain specs over others.

Literally, the only class you don’t want to be against on an open field with no LOS around is a sniper. Even a mediocre sniper can ruin a good players day in that situation. You can deal with Sorcs and Mercs with no LOS around, but not a sniper.

Personally, I feel there are only two ways to defuse a sniper in those situations. Ones is with another sniper and the second is with a fury mara. I see melee complaining bitterly about snipers and sometimes they are warranted. But so much of it is because most melee don’t use LOS to their own advantage or even know what it is.

It comes down to horses for courses and picking your fights. Something lost on most players in objective pvp these days because they don’t understand tactics or strategy when dealing with other classes. Even arena tactics are devolving out side of the ranked community because people have little understanding of anything but “hulk smash” as they go charging into every situation without thinking.

To be a proficient sniper means you have to think and use your brains and have some good skills. To be an excellent sniper means you have the brains and the better skills to go with it.

You don’t really need to use your brains to be as proficient on a Sorc or even a merc as much as a sniper. Combat skills (button mashing) alone can make you look good on those classes. But add brains to the mix and they are just as deadly as a sniper. Sadly, you rarely see such good Sorcs or Mercs these days as thinking is a lost art form in swtor pvp.

I always thought that merc is open field god, tbh

His great defences is my reason to think so

It's not hard, roll negates all damage/stuns and with Repositioning you can get 3 rolls in rapid succession so it's pretty easy to avoid burst and big damage combined with interrupts, only real problem with Mercs is electronet but dcds make it easy to outlast that and bubble can be negated with suppressive fire.

And let’s not forget that snipers now have “phase walk” as an escape as a last resort.

And let’s not forget that snipers now have “phase walk” as an escape as a last resort.

That would be true if mercs had phase walk.

The sniper's teleport is not a last resort, the same way the sorc one is. A sniper can't heal or anything. And the amount of time to get out of combat in this game is too long, especially if you have dots going. It is more like another form Covered Escape. More likely to be used as a maneuverability, rapid map movement thing and offensively,

not an ''oh sh it '' button.

If you wait for the last second to use it in order to survive a zerg ,when you are at 5-15 % hp or something, the outcome is already pretty much decided 8 times out of 10.

That would be true if mercs had phase walk.

The sniper's teleport is not a last resort, the same way the sorc one is. A sniper can't heal or anything. And the amount of time to get out of combat in this game is too long, especially if you have dots going. It is more like another form Covered Escape. More likely to be used as a maneuverability, rapid map movement thing and offensively,

not an ''oh sh it '' button.

 

If you wait for the last second to use it in order to survive a zerg ,when you are at 5-15 % hp or something, the outcome is already pretty much decided 8 times out of 10.

Aye I mainly use it as a manoeuvrability option but it can come in handy as an escape; if I’m getting focused at mid on Civil War I’ll often pop it then drop down the ledge to one of the side nodes, then when they also drop down to follow me I just hololocate back up.

But in situations where you’re getting focused mad (as snipers often do) and hololocate behind a nearby wall then aye you’re gonna die, isn’t even worth wasting the hololocate and putting it on CD.

Aye I mainly use it as a manoeuvrability option but it can come in handy as an escape; if I’m getting focused at mid on Civil War I’ll often pop it then drop down the ledge to one of the side nodes, then when they also drop down to follow me I just hololocate back up.

 

But in situations where you’re getting focused mad (as snipers often do) and hololocate behind a nearby wall then aye you’re gonna die, isn’t even worth wasting the hololocate and putting it on CD.

I’m talking more of an arena situation. Which comes down to starting alive as long as possible.