So I haven't played agent/bounty hunter and was wondering which is better at dps. My choices have come to both advance classes of the bounty hunter and sniper.

Agent, no doubt.

So I haven't played agent/bounty hunter and was wondering which is better at dps. My choices have come to both advance classes of the bounty hunter and sniper.

 

''Durr, depends on your playstyle, durp''

 

No, that's what parsers are for.

 

If you do some searching around Dulfy, you'll see that some classes deal more damage than others.

 

Innovative Ordnance Mercenary is the highest parsing, though Virulence Snipers have also shown some nice numbers. Innovative Ordnance has a very complicated rotation, Virulence is easy. Innovative Ordnance uses fire and 2 pistols, Virulence uses poison and a sniper.

 

Innovative Ordnance Mercenary all the way.

Well, Let's compare between the types of DPS.

 

Ranged DPS: Merc vs Sniper.

 

Merc has 2 DPS Specs, Innovative Ordinance and Arsenal. Both are highly mobile, and can dish out the pain. Arsenal is a very easy spec for new players to get into, and can dish out heavy burst damage with it's Heatseeker Missiles and Blazing Bolts. Innovative Ordinance is a hard spec to play, but is highly rewarding when you are fighting bosses with high HP values and you don't have to swap targets, has heavy DoT damage with it's Incendiary Missile and Serrated Shot, and hits good burst with Mag Shot and Thermal Detonator.

 

Sniper has 3 DPS Specs, Marksmanship, Engineering, and Virulence. All three specs are not quite as mobile as Mercs, as Cover is a big part of their defencive capabilities, which forces them to sit still to gain great defensive buffs such as Entrench, and some skills like Orbital Wet Noodle (Orbital Strike) and Suppressive Freight Train (Suppressive Fire) Marksmanship is by far the easiest of the three specifications to play, has good burst but lower sustained and high target swapping capabilities with the low reliance on DoT attacks. Engineering has a steady rotation, but has lower target swapping ability due to it's reliance on 3 DoT attacks, But what it lacks in target swapping capabilities it does make up for in the highest damage you can possibly do as a Sniper. Virulence has 2 rotations one being not too hard, but the other is the epitomy of damage with the spec, you have 2 DoT's and a hard hitting ability buffed by those DoT's called Cull.

 

IMO, from playing both classes, I prefer Merc, but Snipers can deal more damage if you know what your doing. I like Mercs because of the added mobility over Snipers.

 

Melee DPS: Powertech vs Operative

 

Powertechs have 2 DPS specs, Advanced Prototype and Pyrotech, Have you ever wanted to shank your target with a wrist blade all Assasin's Creed style? Well, this isn't exactly like that, but close. As Advanced Prototype you have access to some of the best burst in the game with Thermal Detonator, Magnetic Blast, and Energy Blast, Retractable Blade will increase your damage with the DoT that it places on your target, and you can easily AOE foes down with Death From Above and Flame Sweep. Do you like to play with fire? Well, if you do... Pyrotech will fufill any pyromaniac's firey dreams. You have abilities that all deal with fire. Flaming Fist, Immolate, Flamethrower, Flame Burst, Scorch, and Incendiary Missile are all at your disposal for your fire based DoT damage needs.

 

Operatives also have 2 DPS Specs, Concealment and Lethality. Do you like to strike from the shadows, and one shot any weak foes? Only to return to the shadows seconds later? Then Concealment is for you. You have access to some of the more powerful and bursty abilities in an Operative's arsenal. Laceration makes up your bread and butter, with Crippling Slice to keep your foes near and dear to you, Veiled Strike to gain the Tactical Advantage, and Volatile Substance to get some explosive damage, along with Backstab combined with Acid Blade for some hard hitting DoT action. Like to take your foes out with some unconventional tactics? Like poisoning your foes and watching them suffer in agony as the poisons eat them from the inside out? Then Lethality Operative is right up your alley. You have some of the most toxic abilities in the game in the form of Corrosive Grenade, Corrosive Assault, Toxic Blast, and Lethal Strike, Corrosive Assault and Shiv are your bread and butter, with Corrosive Dart and Grenade adding up to Corrosive Assault's damage, along with Toxic Blast and Lethal Strike.

 

I prefer Powertechs due to their super useful Hydraulic Overrides and Advanced Prototype's burst damage, but both classes are fairly equal on the DPS department.

 

Ranged DPS in this game is usually king in the current metagame, I main an Arsenal/Innovative Ordinance Mercenary, so there is some bias in this post against snipers, but at the same time, I have 4 Agents/Smugglers, and only 3 Bounty Hunters/Troopers. 2 of my Agents/Smugglers are Sniper/Gunslinger and the other 2 are Operative/Scoundrel. I have 2 Powertechs/Vanguards and 1 Merc/Commando. So, even though I main a Merc, I love my Agents all the same.

And once again, and we keep saying this over and over, there is no "best," and if there ever is you can be sure BW will nerf it after you get used to it. As we have seen recently for Powertech and Lightning Sorcerer, no spec is permanent and as soon as someone complains, the devs will dumb down the spec rather than tell the players to L2P. Powertech lost its unload ability completely and Lightning had its Power Storm cut by half, both high-scoring DPS abilities.

Mercs have higher damage potential, but it's a complex rotation

Snipers do great damage, and it's a good bit easier than merc

 

In the end it comes down to personal preference. HOWEVER I would still recommend Merc or PT because of their versatility, if you ever decide to try out healing (merc) or tanking (PT) it's good to have the option.

And once again, and we keep saying this over and over, there is no "best," and if there ever is you can be sure BW will nerf it after you get used to it. As we have seen recently for Powertech and Lightning Sorcerer, no spec is permanent and as soon as someone complains, the devs will dumb down the spec rather than tell the players to L2P. Powertech lost its unload ability completely and Lightning had its Power Storm cut by half, both high-scoring DPS abilities.

 

The damage decreased is more than half. Bioware did this for 1 easy reason, money, they were getting a lot of complaints about people who were going to cancel their subscription if sorcs weren't nerfed... we were nerfed HARD.

 

I don't know why and how we have these... ''developers'', they try to bring ''balance''. I imagine a BW meeting like this:

 

Hey! how are (insert op class at the moment)?

Dealing 4K in a parse.

Nerf them hard. How about (insert op class at the moment)?

 

Repeat.