Hey folks -

 

Starting to PVP more on my PT. No ranked matches mind you, just regs. Here are my questions:

 

1) I run Pyro. I know the Eliminator set-bonus is BiS for Pyro, but with the devs announcing changes to set-bonuses coming in the near future, should I invest in the Combat Tech just to be safe, or should I just roll with the Eliminator for now?

 

2) I make heavy use of bolster right now, since I'm primarily a PVE player. Only gear that I have that has expertise on them are my two War Hero +110 power relics. My implants are Underworld, my earpiece is Arkanian, and I have all 72 mods, 72 barrel/off-hand armoring, and 69 enhancements. Should I start buying PVP set-bonus items first (i.e. chest, hands, legs, etc) or start with the cheap stuff to quickly add expertise (belt, bracers, implants, etc)?

 

Thanks guys!

Edited October 10, 2013 by ScytheEleven

Ok, Welcome to the world of PvP!

 

First things first, if you dont have 100% Expertiece gear DONT wear ANY PvP Gear. Why? Well Bolster screws you out of expertice at that point. If you dont have PvE Implants and earpiece (Like my marauder) just live with it. Second, http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#301hMbZ0cZfhrrdorfcdz.3 is ideal Pyro Powertech build (just in case you need a referece) and gearing should avoid crit like the plauge. Augment with Aim unless you've hit 3000 Aim (the DR for mainstats) if your at 3000 Aim, augment for Power. And i think that's about it.

Ok, Welcome to the world of PvP!

 

First things first, if you dont have 100% Expertiece gear DONT wear ANY PvP Gear. Why? Well Bolster screws you out of expertice at that point. If you dont have PvE Implants and earpiece (Like my marauder) just live with it. Second, http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#301hMbZ0cZfhrrdorfcdz.3 is ideal Pyro Powertech build (just in case you need a referece) and gearing should avoid crit like the plauge. Augment with Aim unless you've hit 3000 Aim (the DR for mainstats) if your at 3000 Aim, augment for Power. And i think that's about it.

 

Thanks for the tips! I'll just start buying pieces of PVP gear and wait till I get a whole set to throw it on.

 

Should I still invest in the Eliminator, or should I go for Combat Tech?

You may as well go with the eliminator set. If the devs make any changes to the sets, they will most likely do so when they introduce another tier or gear (above Obroan), which will probably be several months from now.

I would use eliminator, and take maybe one piece of combat tech.

 

This way you get the four piece bonus and you only have THREE pieces to replace if the devs mess it up, or you want to go AP later (Ie combat tech chest, elim boots, legs, gauntlets, and helmet)

 

Why? You need the crit bonus on rail shot to be competitive in PVP with pyro tech. They devs aren't likely to break the crit bonus, or change combat tech because Rail shot crit is 100% useless to AP.

 

Also: stacking a little crit isn't bad, some pieces come with it. The problem is that diminishing returns hits crit HARD at about 300 points. That's absolute crap, so most people just leave it out of their build. Power doesn't have a diminishing return at all, and surge doesn't have any DR until around 75%.

I would use eliminator, and take maybe one piece of combat tech.

 

This way you get the four piece bonus and you only have THREE pieces to replace if the devs mess it up, or you want to go AP later (Ie combat tech chest, elim boots, legs, gauntlets, and helmet)

 

Why? You need the crit bonus on rail shot to be competitive in PVP with pyro tech. They devs aren't likely to break the crit bonus, or change combat tech because Rail shot crit is 100% useless to AP.

 

Also: stacking a little crit isn't bad, some pieces come with it. The problem is that diminishing returns hits crit HARD at about 300 points. That's absolute crap, so most people just leave it out of their build. Power doesn't have a diminishing return at all, and surge doesn't have any DR until around 75%.

 

Crit is only in the stat budget for 78's FYI. not PvP gear.

Hey folks -

 

Starting to PVP more on my PT. No ranked matches mind you, just regs. Here are my questions:

 

1) I run Pyro. I know the Eliminator set-bonus is BiS for Pyro, but with the devs announcing changes to set-bonuses coming in the near future, should I invest in the Combat Tech just to be safe, or should I just roll with the Eliminator for now?

 

2) I make heavy use of bolster right now, since I'm primarily a PVE player. Only gear that I have that has expertise on them are my two War Hero +110 power relics. My implants are Underworld, my earpiece is Arkanian, and I have all 72 mods, 72 barrel/off-hand armoring, and 69 enhancements. Should I start buying PVP set-bonus items first (i.e. chest, hands, legs, etc) or start with the cheap stuff to quickly add expertise (belt, bracers, implants, etc)?

 

Thanks guys!

 

1) Use Eliminator.

2) Dear god, go to the GTN and buy some cheap 52-54 blues, and the first chance you get switch your weapons and set bonuses to the PvP ones. There's nothing I hate more than coming into a WZ to see someone in full PvE gear sporting a whopping 1300 expertise who gets globaled by a Merc or Sniper. The cheap level 52-54 blues will give you full expertise (2018 once you lose the WH relics) so you'll be much more tanky and lets be honest, if you mainly PvE you can afford it.

1) Use Eliminator.

2) Dear god, go to the GTN and buy some cheap 52-54 blues, and the first chance you get switch your weapons and set bonuses to the PvP ones. There's nothing I hate more than coming into a WZ to see someone in full PvE gear sporting a whopping 1300 expertise who gets globaled by a Merc or Sniper. The cheap level 52-54 blues will give you full expertise (2018 once you lose the WH relics) so you'll be much more tanky and lets be honest, if you mainly PvE you can afford it.

 

Hey, I went in as an Assault Vanguard (basically pyrotech) in Arkanian PvE gear and got bolstered to 1600 expertise. I then proceeded to hold a turret on Novare Coast against 3 smash marauders and took 2 of them out before I died and reinforcements arrived. And all 3 were in PvP gear.

So since hes going pyro, just be smart with defensive cooldowns and you should be able to do great in defensive situations (e.g. Novare Coast, Ancient Hypergate, the one on Alderaan that I never bothered learning the name of), at least in holding off for reinforcements...

 

Though with arenas you might want expertise. I always die in arenas really quick though so I blame me being bad.

Edited October 11, 2013 by TACeMossie

1) Use Eliminator.

2) Dear god, go to the GTN and buy some cheap 52-54 blues, and the first chance you get switch your weapons and set bonuses to the PvP ones. There's nothing I hate more than coming into a WZ to see someone in full PvE gear sporting a whopping 1300 expertise who gets globaled by a Merc or Sniper. The cheap level 52-54 blues will give you full expertise (2018 once you lose the WH relics) so you'll be much more tanky and lets be honest, if you mainly PvE you can afford it.

 

Hmm...didn't know bolster did that! I thought they fixed it so greens/blues wouldn't give you as much as artifact PVE gear...guess I understood that wrong.

 

Anyway, I actually have about 8 toons, and I had 1,000 wz coms on each from leveling, so I bought all my Eliminator set bonus pieces Only downside is when I start to get the next tier, I'll have to buy them all on my main, but at least it will be easier without me getting lolstomped 24/7 in non-expertise gear!

Edited October 11, 2013 by ScytheEleven

Hey, I went in as an Assault Vanguard (basically pyrotech) in Arkanian PvE gear and got bolstered to 1600 expertise. I then proceeded to hold a turret on Novare Coast against 3 smash marauders and took 2 of them out before I died and reinforcements arrived. And all 3 were in PvP gear.

 

That's not you or the gear being okay. That's them being total trash. O.o Especially as Assault, which is significantly squishier than Tactics. But yeah, Arkanian gets bolstered more than Verpine/72s does. 72s and 75s and I would imagine 78s get hardly anything. You might be at 1600 expertise in 69s but I'm betting he's around 1300 with 72s.

 

The Artifact (lvl 53 purple) crafted gear doesn't get bolstered as much as it used to. But lvl 52-54 blues or whatever still get the full benefit of bolster I think. I haven't had the need to do it myself but I've seen some pretty fresh 55s with capped expertise.

Cool, thanks for the tip!

 

Also, are the unlettered mods BiS for PVP as well? I noticed that all the mods on the gear are the lettered mods (A) but you can buy the unlettered mods (higher secondary stat like power/crit) for 400 WZ coms. Should I look to get these?

 

EDIT: Also, like PVE, should I aim to hit 100% accuracy?

Edited October 11, 2013 by ScytheEleven

Most powertechs don't even stack accuracy for PvP. The only issues you should run into is that tanks and snipers in cover might make you miss on rail shot a bit more, but that's usually acceptable. You might be okay just picking up all the points in the puncture talent. Keep in mind, that most of your attacks are tech attacks, and thus there are less accuracy checks going on in the background.

You want 95% ranged accuracy. And yeah, pick up the high secondary stat (Power) mods.

Cool, thanks for the tip!

 

Also, are the unlettered mods BiS for PVP as well? I noticed that all the mods on the gear are the lettered mods (A) but you can buy the unlettered mods (higher secondary stat like power/crit) for 400 WZ coms. Should I look to get these?

 

EDIT: Also, like PVE, should I aim to hit 100% accuracy?

 

I think accuracy from just implants should be enough. Everything else to power/surge

Though you could get crit to 25% if you want - up to you

 

And yeah, unlettered mods > lettered mods

Edited October 12, 2013 by TACeMossie

You run 94% accu with no accuracy piece. that's enough

Cool, thanks for the tip!

 

Also, are the unlettered mods BiS for PVP as well? I noticed that all the mods on the gear are the lettered mods (A) but you can buy the unlettered mods (higher secondary stat like power/crit) for 400 WZ coms. Should I look to get these?

 

EDIT: Also, like PVE, should I aim to hit 100% accuracy?

 

95% accuracy, anything above that is negated by the base 5% defense chance