I've been Arsenal since launch but decided to try out Pyro last night.

Strictly PvE speaking, I couldn't get much over 1300 dps on the ops training dummy (fully buffed with stim).

Arsenal I can get to ~1550-1600 dps on the dummy.

 

So, is Pyro naturally lower in dps than Arsenal or am I missing a key rotation for Pyro that will up my dps by 2-300?

 

Basic rotation was:

1. always keep incediary missile dot on target

2. always try to keep CGC dot on target

3. use railshot when available and burning is procced on target

4. use thermal detonator when available

5. utilize unload or powershot in order to refresh railshot.

 

there definitely is a lot of management with pyro to make sure all dots are going all the time and try to make sure the target is burning before using rail shot.

 

Am I missing something perchance?

 

thanks in advance.

Unfortunately you aren't missing anything. Merc:Pyro is just that gimped (especially compared to the Powertech version). As far as raw PvE damage output potential, Arsenal is the spec to choose (but even then has it's flaws, primarily lack of mobility). The "trade off" is in mobility... Pyro has better mobility than Arsenal, but less burst and heavy reliance on proc abilities. Many players also find heat more difficult to manage with Pyro.

rotation should go like this

 

Thermal det

Ince Missile

rail shot

unload

rail shot if it procs, if no proc hit power shot

then rail shot again.

then repeat... you can throw in a death from above to let the rail shot CD expire.

 

to manage heat you will need to use your rapid shot more often but with dots and the rail shot crit it does enough damage to burn targets down fast.

 

also make sure to get your power up over 800 as this affects your dot numbers.. I run with close to 900 power and my dots hit for about 500 each tick and 700 to 900 on crits..

 

Pyro can do the burst damage of arsenal you just need to get the rotation down and heat is easier to manage if you use your rapid shot more often..

Actually with the recent buff to Arsenal which correctly applied the 30% crit damage on Unload it's no longer possible for Pyro to match the maximum damage output on a dummy.

 

If the procs were frankly, a lot more friendly to use then matching damage is still on the table but a string of no procs can be very bad for Pyro.

 

In real numbers, you should consider realistic upper DPS for Pyro as ~1700 and Arsenal as ~1800

 

This is all on the dummy ofc. Doing 1500dps in a raid is considerably more realistic but everyone likes a good dummy score.

Edited July 26, 2012 by Gyronamics

I did notice the heat issues initially.

Then I concentrated on only refreshing Incend. Missile just before expiring and using rapid shots to proc the burning dot (if not already burning) before hitting rail shot.

After doing that the heat seemed to be manageable.

 

thanks for the rotation tips.

 

Anyone have a parse with decent dps for pyro?

http://www.torparse.com/a/4965

http://www.torparse.com/a/6109

 

Tweaked my stats a bit since then.

 

Dumped part of the 1049 power I stacked up for more crit.

 

Although the parses don't look like it, they are 1700dps+

 

The reasoning is because two things happen with Pyro which are not shown

 

1) DoTs do 130% damage under 30% health (dummy never reaches that)

2) Pyro doesn't have an armour pen skill so all the kinetic and energy damage it does benefits from a debuff from an arsenal spec/juggernaught/sniper

Edited July 26, 2012 by Gyronamics