This guide has been updated. Please click this link to visit the consolidated and updated thread.

 

2.0 Sharpshooter Guide

Last updated 1st June 2013

 

Introduction

 

In game update 2.0, the Sharpshooter skill tree received a massive overhaul that greatly changed the way it played out, with the new rotation being much more static than the previous dynamic rotation. The improvement to Dirty Fighting and massive potential for Saboteur also saw many gunslingers move away from Sharpshooter to try something new.

 

There are definitely places that the Sharpshooter spec has advantages over Saboteur and Lethality, and these mainly come in the 'on-demand' damage which doesn't require any application of DoTs to set up, as well as its ability to rapidly change targets while experiencing a minimal loss to DPS output.

 

Up until 2.0 I was a Saboteur / Dirty Fighting hybrid gunslinger and had great success and fun running this spec. Come 2.0 the huge loss of DPS experienced when changing targets and adjusting to mechanics, especially in Terror From Beyond and Dread Master Styrak, made Sharpshooter the more appealing spec and I've had a steady improvement over the last few weeks, clearing all of the new content including HM Golden Fury with <The Ex-Hothian Ewok Enclave> on the Dalborra server.

 

I'm writing this guide so I can hopefully educate other gunslingers and give you some ideas on how to put out higher numbers, and also because I'm happy to put myself out there and receive constructive criticism which while, in turn, help me improve my own output.

 

Skill Tree and Gearing

 

 

Overview of Abilities

 

 

Basic Rotation

 

 

Detailed Rotation

 

WARNING: This section goes in to a lot of detail about the Sharpshooter skill tree and I will describe extensively your priorities, situational changes to your rotation and maxing out on DPS output.

 

 

Conclusion

 

If you made it this far, congratulations and thank you for reading my walls of text. Hopefully you learned something new and I've helped you figure out how to increase your DPS output, whether it be by 10 or 500. Feel free to ask questions and offer feedback and suggestions. This is by no means the definitive guide to Sharpshooter, it's just my interpretation of the skill tree and I've written about has worked for me and helped pull big numbers.

Edited July 3, 2013 by SamuelAU

Gunslinger - Sniper

TS: Trickshot - Followthrough

SS: Speed Shot - Series of Shots

XS: XS Freighter Flyby - Orbital Strike

CB: Charged Burst - Snipe

AS: Aimed Shot - Ambush

VS: Vital Shot - Corrosive Dart

FS: Flourish Shot - Shatter Shot

QD: Quickdraw - Takedown

BV: Burst Volley - Sniper Volley

 

Others:

Flurry of Bolts - Rifle Shot

Sabotage Charge - Explosive Probe

Smuggler's Luck - Laze Target

Illegal Mods - Target Acquired

Cool Head - Adrenaline Probe

Surrender - Countermeasures

Hunker Down - Entrench

Scrambling Field - Ballistic Shield

Defense Screen - Shield Probe

Hightail It - Covered Escape

Dodge - Evasion

Edited July 1, 2013 by paowee

I will finish reading the rest of it later but for now I have a question on spec. What do you think of 3/3 Independent Anarchy with 2-pc PVP bonus? Also over at the Sniper forums some people have found that if they use the old battlemaster armorings, it will stack with the 2-pc pvp bonus from the conqueror/partisan gear. This is how it looks from a SS's pov:

 

3/3 Independent Anarchy +15% XS damage

2-pc battlemaster pvp bonus +1 tick of XS

2-pc partisan pvp bonus +1 tick of XS

Total of 5 ticks of XS

 

Also i've never thought of putting VS so high in the priority list. Will try it out when i get the time.

Edited May 17, 2013 by paowee

I am also not sure why to use vital shot? is that to keep the relics proced or does it actually do more damage? I personally thought it was a damage loss but i will give it a try again.

 

Overall though good guide!

As long as the PvP SA relics stack as they currently do, I would recommend this spec (for PvE) instead:

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#700rcrbbRkRrfkzzZkIZb.3

 

You want the self heal from "Cool Under Pressure" to proc/refresh the power surge from the SA relics. I would also recommend taking 3/3 from "Independent Anarchy" and using the 2 piece PvP set bonus to really boost XS Freighter Flyby's damage. You can also stack the PvP set bonus, giving 2 extra ticks by using 2 Conqueror/Partisan Armorings with either 2 War Hero or 2 Battlemaster armorings.

 

I agree that the ~1.5 sec break before Aimed Shot comes off CD is a good time to use Vital Shot, but I don't think it should be that high on the priority list. It's really more of a filler ability - if for example that 1.5 sec window wasn't there, it would not be wise to use VS instead of AS as your priority list would currently suggest. Therefore, if you have enough energy when you reach that 1.5 sec window, go ahead and use VS, otherwise just use Flurry of Bolts.

 

Finally, I could not find any mention of "Smuggler's Luck" in this guide. It's basically a free crit on CB since it doesn't respect the GCD.

Edited May 17, 2013 by greg_biochem

woo thanks for this!

 

high time i stepped out of dirty fighting too lol

I will finish reading the rest of it later but for now I have a question on spec. What do you think of 3/3 Independent Anarchy with 2-pc PVP bonus? Also over at the Sniper forums some people have found that if they use the old battlemaster armorings, it will stack with the 2-pc pvp bonus from the conqueror/partisan gear. This is how it looks from a SS's pov:

 

3/3 Independent Anarchy +15% XS damage

2-pc battlemaster pvp bonus +1 tick of XS

2-pc partisan pvp bonus +1 tick of XS

Total of 5 ticks of XS

 

Also i've never thought of putting VS so high in the priority list. Will try it out when i get the time.

Taking Independent Anarchy and adding 2 ticks of flyby will definitely help your DPS more than the extra tick on VS. I'm not really in a position to stack both 2-pc bonuses since my war hero armorings are the +60 End +57 Cunning type so I'm going to lose a lot of main stat there.

 

Something I'll have to experiment with, thanks for the idea.

I am also not sure why to use vital shot? is that to keep the relics proced or does it actually do more damage? I personally thought it was a damage loss but i will give it a try again.

 

Overall though good guide!

Vital Shot is in no way a damage loss. It takes 1 GCD out of every 10 or so to apply and over the course of the fight hits for (in my case) about 250 DPS. Monumental increase from not using it to keeping it up as much as possible

As long as the PvP SA relics stack as they currently do, I would recommend this spec (for PvE) instead:

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#700rcrbbRkRrfkzzZkIZb.3

 

You want the self heal from "Cool Under Pressure" to proc/refresh the power surge from the SA relics. I would also recommend taking 3/3 from "Independent Anarchy" and using the 2 piece PvP set bonus to really boost XS Freighter Flyby's damage. You can also stack the PvP set bonus, giving 2 extra ticks by using 2 Conqueror/Partisan Armorings with either 2 War Hero or 2 Battlemaster armorings.

 

I agree that the ~1.5 sec break before Aimed Shot comes off CD is a good time to use Vital Shot, but I don't think it should be that high on the priority list. It's really more of a filler ability - if for example that 1.5 sec window wasn't there, it would not be wise to use VS instead of AS as your priority list would currently suggest. Therefore, if you have enough energy when you reach that 1.5 sec window, go ahead and use VS, otherwise just use Flurry of Bolts.

 

Finally, I could not find any mention of "Smuggler's Luck" in this guide. It's basically a free crit on CB since it doesn't respect the GCD.

Yep, that's a better spec if you can stack the PvP armorings, something I should play around with. I'm stacking a SA assault and the power click relic at the moment but I can probably get my hands on a PvP SA relic to play with.

 

The 1.5s window isn't there after you have an XS window but I use VS anyway. The AS buff isn't going to fall off and imo flurry of bolts is a wasted GCD, especially if you prioritise that over your DoT application.

 

Yeah, I forgot to include Smuggler's Luck but I'll edit it in now. Use it every time it's available.

Edited May 18, 2013 by SamuelAU

Another suggestion,

I would pick up heads up instead of kneecapping. In PVE i feel like the faster run speed helps more than increasing leg shot's capabilities

just my 2c

T.

Another suggestion,

I would pick up heads up instead of kneecapping. In PVE i feel like the faster run speed helps more than increasing leg shot's capabilities

just my 2c

T.

Sorry, I completely overlooked that. Kneecapping and Heads Up are also two interchangeable skill points, it won't make a difference to your output but it's more personal preference. Editing that in now, thanks for picking it up.

I posted over on the sniper forum but ill post here too. I use sab charge as a filler instead of vital shot due to the 15% bonus from my tree as I use the 2 2set pvp bonus. I do not know if this is better or worse as the vital shot will proc the relics more. I personally use the healing thing every 3 seconds for that instead but vital shot might be better. What do you guys think?

For using Freightter Flyby you use this:

 

SS -> TS -> BV -> XS -> SS -> TS.

 

Wouldnt this:

 

SS -> TS -> BV -> SS -> BV -> any instant cast or nothing -> XS -> CB -> CB -> TS

 

Give you more dps since you get in more SS?

For using Freightter Flyby you use this:

 

SS -> TS -> BV -> XS -> SS -> TS.

 

Wouldnt this:

 

SS -> TS -> BV -> SS -> BV -> any instant cast or nothing -> XS -> CB -> CB -> TS

 

Give you more dps since you get in more SS?

I'm going to assume your second BV is meant to be a TS, else your post doesn't make sense.

 

It doesn't actually matter whether you do XS or SS first, but if you want to make the most of the energy regen it's probably better to throw out XS before SS. I get what you're implying, if you do SS before XS you're going to have SS come off cooldown earlier. This is true but, even though AS -> TS is less DPS than SS -> TS you don't want to skip using AS with the reduced cast time, otherwise the CB -> CB -> TS has been a complete waste (CB < AS < SS).

Edited May 22, 2013 by SamuelAU

I'm going to assume your second BV is meant to be a TS, else your post doesn't make sense.

 

It doesn't actually matter whether you do XS or SS first, but if you want to make the most of the energy regen it's probably better to throw out XS before SS. I get what you're implying, if you do SS before XS you're going to have SS come off cooldown earlier. This is true but, even though AS -> TS is less DPS than SS -> TS you don't want to skip using AS with the reduced cast time, otherwise the CB -> CB -> TS has been a complete waste (CB < AS < SS).

 

Fair enough, thanks

1) A game mechanics question that immediately occurred to me when you mentioned to use Illegal Mods/Adrenall/Click Relic right AFTER XS.

 

Is it confirmed that the damage of DoT ticks changes to accomodate power changes that occur AFTER the initial cast is complete? I remember that in WoW DoT tick damage was locked in the moment the DoT was applied. Which was why on occasion it was a good idea to prematurely refresh a DoT in the last second of a power boost trinket's duration. Of course SWTOR can be different here, hence the question.

 

2) In your post on several occasions you use an 'Instant CB'. I am assuming this is a CB made instant by leaving and re-entering cover, using the Snap Shot talent.

 

I am wondering, though, whether this is really worth it. After all CB only has a 1.5 second cast time, so there should be no gain by going from a 1.5s cast to an instant cast followed by waiting 1.5 seconds for the GCD to finish. Unless the target will be dead by the end of those 1.5 seconds.

 

3) Are there situations where it would be worth it to use Aimed Shot with less than two Charged Aim charges? Say in an encounter you had to move, interrupting your rotation. When you are finally back in cover you have one charge of Charged Aim up, Aimed Shot is off CD and Speed Shot has about 3-4 seconds left before it is available again. I am wondering if in this situation using Aimed shot with a slightly loger cast time would be the better choice rather then first using CB.

 

4) Is it worth it to go the Independent Anarchy route and/or use the 2 piece PvP set bonus (extra tick on XS) if I have no access to the old PvP armorings? If yes, which points should be dropped for Independent Anarchy?

 

5) Has anyone tested to go for Alacrity instead of Surge? SS seems like a spec that could benefit from this move.

 

Con: No matter how much Alacrity you stack you won't get more than one Speed Shot and one Aimed Shot every 12 seconds, and with less surge those you get will not hit as hard, so maybe it is not such a good idea.

 

Pro: Surge does have diminishing returns, so maybe it is beneficial to stack just enough Alacrity to be able to pull off the following::

 

SS -> TS -> CB -> CB -> TS -> AS -> TS -> CB -> CB -> TS ->Repeat

 

with SS coming off CD right as that last TS fires, instead of the 0 Alacrity rotation of

 

SS -> TS -> CB -> CB -> TS -> AS -> TS -> <1 gcd worth of filler> -> Repeat

 

Squeezing in that extra TS might tip the scales.

Edited May 22, 2013 by Jurugu

Never use vital shot. Opener should be smuggler's luck, XS Aimed at same time tank is pulling, illegal mod speedshot burst volley trick shot speed shot trick shot instant cast charged burst, charged burst trick shot. Anything less on an opener, and I will leave your dps in the dust. you will be perfect on energy.

Never use vital shot. Opener should be smuggler's luck, XS Aimed at same time tank is pulling, illegal mod speedshot burst volley trick shot speed shot trick shot instant cast charged burst, charged burst trick shot. Anything less on an opener, and I will leave your dps in the dust. you will be perfect on energy.

Until you can justify using that butchered series of abilities which is supposed to resemble a rotation I'm going to ignore your post and assume you didn't read into the reasoning behind my rotation.

1) A game mechanics question that immediately occurred to me when you mentioned to use Illegal Mods/Adrenall/Click Relic right AFTER XS.

 

Is it confirmed that the damage of DoT ticks changes to accomodate power changes that occur AFTER the initial cast is complete? I remember that in WoW DoT tick damage was locked in the moment the DoT was applied. Which was why on occasion it was a good idea to prematurely refresh a DoT in the last second of a power boost trinket's duration. Of course SWTOR can be different here, hence the question.

 

2) In your post on several occasions you use an 'Instant CB'. I am assuming this is a CB made instant by leaving and re-entering cover, using the Snap Shot talent.

 

I am wondering, though, whether this is really worth it. After all CB only has a 1.5 second cast time, so there should be no gain by going from a 1.5s cast to an instant cast followed by waiting 1.5 seconds for the GCD to finish. Unless the target will be dead by the end of those 1.5 seconds.

 

3) Are there situations where it would be worth it to use Aimed Shot with less than two Charged Aim charges? Say in an encounter you had to move, interrupting your rotation. When you are finally back in cover you have one charge of Charged Aim up, Aimed Shot is off CD and Speed Shot has about 3-4 seconds left before it is available again. I am wondering if in this situation using Aimed shot with a slightly loger cast time would be the better choice rather then first using CB.

 

4) Is it worth it to go the Independent Anarchy route and/or use the 2 piece PvP set bonus (extra tick on XS) if I have no access to the old PvP armorings? If yes, which points should be dropped for Independent Anarchy?

 

5) Has anyone tested to go for Alacrity instead of Surge? SS seems like a spec that could benefit from this move.

 

Con: No matter how much Alacrity you stack you won't get more than one Speed Shot and one Aimed Shot every 12 seconds, and with less surge those you get will not hit as hard, so maybe it is not such a good idea.

 

Pro: Surge does have diminishing returns, so maybe it is beneficial to stack just enough Alacrity to be able to pull off the following::

 

SS -> TS -> CB -> CB -> TS -> AS -> TS -> CB -> CB -> TS ->Repeat

 

with SS coming off CD right as that last TS fires, instead of the 0 Alacrity rotation of

 

SS -> TS -> CB -> CB -> TS -> AS -> TS -> <1 gcd worth of filler> -> Repeat

 

Squeezing in that extra TS might tip the scales.

1) As far as I know abilities like XS Freighter Flyby and DoTs will be influenced by power boosts and party buffs and don't need to be reapplied, at least I haven't seen or read anything to indicate otherwise.

 

2) I've had this question over on the Sniper sub-forum and it's something I'm investigating, will keep you posted.

 

3) I'd say no. If you find yourself in a situation like you described then you would have only needed to move briefly, 1 or 2 seconds at the most. It's better to continue with your normal rotation, picking up with CB -> TS -> AS etc as opposed to casting AS straight away. Mainly due to the damage from TS, also because it's inefficient DPS and if you weren't going to use the TS from double CB then you should have just skipped the first CB and gone straight onto AS, if that makes sense.

 

4) I've also had this question asked. If you can get the 2-piece PvP set bonus it will be better to take independent anarchy for the extra XS Freighter Flyby damage. This will yield an increase of ~100 DPS as opposed to the ~50 DPS increase you get from having the PvE set bonus and the extra DoT tick.

 

If you were going to take Independent Anarchy, I think http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#700dcrbdRkRMfkdzZbIZb.3 would be a good skill tree to go by.

 

If you have the old PvP armorings and can double stack the 2-piece PvP set bonus then your DPS will benefit even more. This unintended bug will probably be changed soon, and it's possible that the next tier of gear will see the main stat lost from going down to PvP armorings from BiS PvE armorings will not make up for the extra damage on XS Freighter Flyby.

 

5) I wouldn't recommend stacking alacrity, and there are a few reasons for this.

 

Firstly, surge isn't hit too hard for DR, and you can still get almost 20% making 71% crit multiplier with 72 enhancements, so you're experiencing a big loss on any crits. Surge is also of extra importance because SS, TS and QD gain +30% crit multiplier from the skill tree, and given SS also gains crit buffs you want to have SS hitting hard when it crits.

 

Secondly, alacrity gets hit hard by DR. You probably won't be able to get above ~7-8% activation speed if you replace all surge for alacrity (don't quote me on that estimate). The extra energy regeneration will be almost negligible (+0.1 per 2%) which won't offset how quickly your energy will plummet down when you're going through your rotation.

 

I'd confirm this but don't have the resources at the moment to swap out all of my surge enhancements for alacrity.

 

Thanks for the questions, hope I helped.

Edited May 23, 2013 by SamuelAU

1) A game mechanics question that immediately occurred to me when you mentioned to use Illegal Mods/Adrenall/Click Relic right AFTER XS.

 

Is it confirmed that the damage of DoT ticks changes to accomodate power changes that occur AFTER the initial cast is complete? I remember that in WoW DoT tick damage was locked in the moment the DoT was applied. Which was why on occasion it was a good idea to prematurely refresh a DoT in the last second of a power boost trinket's duration. Of course SWTOR can be different here, hence the...

 

This is confirmed. Each tick is calculated separately.

 

From what I recall you would need something like 700 alacrity to squeeze another ability into your rotation and would be giving up a lot of your stat budget to accomplish it. Most seem to be favoring power over all else with a return of .23 to bonus damage before any adjustments. There's a good discussion over at mmo-mechanics.com.

Thank you very much for this guide. It's packed with lots of good suggestions that I am very excited to try out.

Only thing though, is your "Skill Tree and Gearing" section seems to be lacking in the whole "gearing" portion. Was there supposed to be more to that that got left out, or if not, do you possibly have any insights into stat allocations for the PVE-centric Sharpshooters out there?

Thank you very much for this guide. It's packed with lots of good suggestions that I am very excited to try out.

Only thing though, is your "Skill Tree and Gearing" section seems to be lacking in the whole "gearing" portion. Was there supposed to be more to that that got left out, or if not, do you possibly have any insights into stat allocations for the PVE-centric Sharpshooters out there?

Not sure how I missed that out, thanks for picking that up. I'm editing it in now.

 

It's basically the same with all classes, just stack power, accuracy to as close to 100% ranged as possible and then start adding surge. Augmenting main stat is ideal with +9% cunning.

This is confirmed. Each tick is calculated separately.

 

From what I recall you would need something like 700 alacrity to squeeze another ability into your rotation and would be giving up a lot of your stat budget to accomplish it. Most seem to be favoring power over all else with a return of .23 to bonus damage before any adjustments. There's a good discussion over at mmo-mechanics.com.

Thanks for confirming that with numbers, really appreciate it.

Edited May 24, 2013 by SamuelAU

Not sure how I missed that out, thanks for picking that up. I'm editing it in now.

 

 

Thanks for the follow up:)

"[*]Illegal Mods: Only during an XS window after casting XS for the extra armor penetration and to gain a bit of energy back."

 

XS deals elemental damage which allready bypasses armor and thus benefit nothing/nada/nihilo from extra armor penetration.

"[*]Illegal Mods: Only during an XS window after casting XS for the extra armor penetration and to gain a bit of energy back."

 

XS deals elemental damage which allready bypasses armor and thus benefit nothing/nada/nihilo from extra armor penetration.

It's specified to use after you've cast XS Freighter Flyby and there are a few reasons for this.

 

The increased accuracy and armor pen is mainly for all of the attacks you'll use after casting XS, which will be SS, TS, 2 x CB, TS and you may even be able to squeeze in AS. Using this on top of your adrenal and relic, if applicable, gives you some major extra burst.

 

Second reason is casting XS Freighter Flyby instantly drops 30 energy and you're going to fall into moderate energy regen after using SS. Bumping up 15 energy (with PvE 2-piece set bonus) really helps your energy management and allows you to go the entire fight without using flurry of bolts.

It's specified to use after you've cast XS Freighter Flyby and there are a few reasons for this.

 

The increased accuracy and armor pen is mainly for all of the attacks you'll use after casting XS, which will be SS, TS, 2 x CB, TS and you may even be able to squeeze in AS. Using this on top of your adrenal and relic, if applicable, gives you some major extra burst.

 

Second reason is casting XS Freighter Flyby instantly drops 30 energy and you're going to fall into moderate energy regen after using SS. Bumping up 15 energy (with PvE 2-piece set bonus) really helps your energy management and allows you to go the entire fight without using flurry of bolts.

 

I understand, it very much sounded like the armor pen was for XS by the way it was written

I understand, it very much sounded like the armor pen was for XS by the way it was written

I can understand the confusion, I'll reword it now.

From what I recall you would need something like 700 alacrity to squeeze another ability into your rotation and would be giving up a lot of your stat budget to accomplish it.

Did a little bit of math myself. The usual shaprhooter rotation of

 

SS - TS - CB - CB - TS - AS - TS - <filler> - Repeat

 

with two points in Black Market Mods takes 12,35 seconds to execute (assuming the filler is just a single GCD). Getting that down to exactly 12 seconds would be a DPS gain of about 3 percent, and that can be achieved with 214 alacrity. Quite doable. Of course swapping 214 surge for alacrity will in turn lower the damage of each individual shot. So what is better in the end? Only a good simulation can tell for sure.

 

Most seem to be favoring power over all else with a return of .23 to bonus damage before any adjustments. There's a good discussion over at mmo-mechanics.com.

Gunslingers are the minority then with our talent that boosts Cunning by 9%. Combined with the 5% buff from consulars that makes skill augments the clear winner. Unless I misssed something.

Edited May 31, 2013 by Jurugu