Hey everyone, here are the much anticipated 3.0 Mercenary DPS guides written by Fascinate and Marisi of Harbinger.

• Mercenary: http://dulfy.net/2014/12/22/swtor-3-0-mercenary-dps-guide-by-marisi-and-fascinate/
   
  
• Commando: http://dulfy.net/2014/12/22/swtor-3-0-commando-dps-guide-by-fascinate-and-marisi/
  

Leave a comment here or in the comment section if you have any questions/feedback etc

Why the delay on priming shot? If i remeber right, it gives 5% damage increase

Not sure what you're referring to.

There's nothing about delaying Priming Shot in the guide, and in the parse he uses it on CD.

Why the delay on priming shot? If i remeber right, it gives 5% damage increase

Its a 45sec debuff on the target, it will be up all the time.

If you are talking about the opener i would agree with you. Doesnt make much sense to use Demo before Vortex Bolt.

Personally i start with Vortex Bolt - Super Gas - Grav Round - Demo Round - Electro Net - Boltstorm

Also, why is there no Tech Override + Reserve Powercell + Plasma Grenade?

Its a 45sec debuff on the target, it will be up all the time.

 

If you are talking about the opener i would agree with you. Doesnt make much sense to use Demo before Vortex Bolt.

 

Personally i start with Vortex Bolt - Super Gas - Grav Round - Demo Round - Electro Net - Boltstorm

 

 

Also, why is there no Tech Override + Reserve Powercell + Plasma Grenade?

The reasoning for the opener is, if I delay the usage of hsm in place of priming shot, then the 2nd hsm will be delayed before proccing bb. If priming shot had the same cd as hsm or rail shot, then I would switch them around. Also, fusion missile is pretty much poop for single target dps, tso is better used for channeling with blazing bolts to vent heat over 2 gcds, and power surge I save for any "oopsies" in the rotation and I need the start of the next gcd to proc bb, then I use power surge + tm.

The reasoning for the opener is, if I delay the usage of hsm in place of priming shot, then the 2nd hsm will be delayed before proccing bb.[/Quote]

Yes, but no matter what you do, at some point you have to delay something anyway. There is just no way around it.

Effectively its just a choice about what to delay at which point.

 

If i'm not mistaken, you will have to delay either HiB or a Boltstorm proc the first time HiB comes off cd when you use your opener.

It gets worse further in.

 

A more important point to consider however, is the raid wide effect of Vortex Bolt. You use it on the 3rd or 4th GCD (depends on how accurate your precasting was vs the boss pull and whether or not you have a slight delay for activating super gas). This means at least the first two gcds happens without the raidwide damage bonus on ranged attacks. Sure its not much and irrelevant in HC Content but why waste it?

 

Also, fusion missile is pretty much poop for single target dps, tso is better used for channeling with blazing bolts to vent heat over 2 gcds, and power surge I save for any "oopsies" in the rotation and I need the start of the next gcd to proc bb, then I use power surge + tm. [/Quote] Did they change the damage of Fusion Missile in 3.0?

Yes, but no matter what you do, at some point you have to delay something anyway. There is just no way around it.

Effectively its just a choice about what to delay at which point.

 

If i'm not mistaken, you will have to delay either HiB or a Boltstorm proc the first time HiB comes off cd when you use your opener.

It gets worse further in.

 

A more important point to consider however, is the raid wide effect of Vortex Bolt. You use it on the 3rd or 4th GCD (depends on how accurate your precasting was vs the boss pull and whether or not you have a slight delay for activating super gas). This means at least the first two gcds happens without the raidwide damage bonus on ranged attacks. Sure its not much and irrelevant in HC Content but why waste it?

 

Did they change the damage of Fusion Missile in 3.0?

To a certain extent, I chose the lesser of two evils. In a raid scenario, you can open with priming shot if the fight starts right away and fill in the concurrent gcd with a rail shot with 2 stacks, or another tm. The rotation listed emphasizes a parse scenario, hence the precast. Also, they did change fusion missile in 3.0, it costs 20 heat in arsenal and 15 heat in io, but its damage is completely a waste of a gcd on a single target. You can compare the tooltips between tracer and fusion missile in arsenal for example, fusion missile cost 5 more heat than tracer and does less damage.

This pertains to IO:

Why the hard cast Power Shot to proc IPA? You can still get all the abilities in the rotation, including the 3 power shots, and still use Unload to proc Mag. the benefit being increased mobility during sticky situations. With both IPA proced by an instant you can replace any hard casts mid rotation with instants and keep the rotation flowing.

The only reasoning I can think of is the rotation in the guide seems to be more forgiving to mid rotation screw-ups or mechanic interrupts.

Either way, I'd like to hear the reasoning behind it.

The reasoning for the opener is, if I delay the usage of hsm in place of priming shot, then the 2nd hsm will be delayed before proccing bb. If priming shot had the same cd as hsm or rail shot, then I would switch them around. Also, fusion missile is pretty much poop for single target dps, tso is better used for channeling with blazing bolts to vent heat over 2 gcds, and power surge I save for any "oopsies" in the rotation and I need the start of the next gcd to proc bb, then I use power surge + tm.

Well, i'm by no means pro player, but if i remeber right, going PS+SG>TM>HSM>Electronet>BB>power surge x2 + TM x2>RS>BB gets you right at the end of the HSM cooldown AND PS cooldown 1 GCD later. With BB on the move it also gives fully mobile opener. If delay of HSM is even there, it's barely 0.1 second

A few things with the guide, primarily IO:

• Using RS for rapid shots and rail shot which can be confusing.
  
• The openers have Supercharge Gas, but it doesn't specify to use Kolto Shot 10x or spec into Supercharge Reserves.
  
• Fusion Missile should be part of the rotation in place of a Power Shot used as a filler. FM does more damage with itself and its DOT for the same heat. Perhaps on a very long fight (over 8 minutes with no adds) you could use all PS and get one more Supercharge Gas and do more damage. It may be a personal preference, but ignoring it altogether is not fitting for an inclusive guide.
  
• The parse you posted is not typical of the gear you stated. I'll restrain from further comment until you post your actual gear and a parse. You should reconsider putting a typical parse and not your “best” for an instructive guide.
  
• The guide says to keep Speed to Burn on PS but, your general rotation has it on Serrated Shot.
  
• Power Barrels is not listed as a Key Discipline Talent, probably for no mention of Fusion Missile. Flaming Wound is also missing, though it is fairly passive.
  
• The guide says EN and the “other two DOTS”. Innovative Ordnance has six dots. SS, IM, EN, CGC, FM, SB. The last three tick once per second. Also, “...therefore should not be” what?
  
• The guide is lacking in how to best apply AOE. We've got some new abilities with Collateral Damage, Boresights, and Supercharge Burn.
  

A few things with the guide, primarily IO:

• Using RS for rapid shots and rail shot which can be confusing.
  
• The openers have Supercharge Gas, but it doesn't specify to use Kolto Shot 10x or spec into Supercharge Reserves.
  
• Fusion Missile should be part of the rotation in place of a Power Shot used as a filler. FM does more damage with itself and its DOT for the same heat. Perhaps on a very long fight (over 8 minutes with no adds) you could use all PS and get one more Supercharge Gas and do more damage. It may be a personal preference, but ignoring it altogether is not fitting for an inclusive guide.
  
• The parse you posted is not typical of the gear you stated. I'll restrain from further comment until you post your actual gear and a parse. You should reconsider putting a typical parse and not your “best” for an instructive guide.
  
• The guide says to keep Speed to Burn on PS but, your general rotation has it on Serrated Shot.
  
• Power Barrels is not listed as a Key Discipline Talent, probably for no mention of Fusion Missile. Flaming Wound is also missing, though it is fairly passive.
  
• The guide says EN and the “other two DOTS”. Innovative Ordnance has six dots. SS, IM, EN, CGC, FM, SB. The last four tick once per second. Also, “...therefore should not be” what?
  
• The guide is lacking in how to best apply AOE. We've got some new abilities with Collateral Damage, Boresights, and Supercharge Burn.
  

Couple of things;

IO doesn't use Rail Shot so therefore isn't an issue. Arsenal does, yes, and it will be changed shortly. Rapid Shot in IO will probably be changed also for consistency.

Only sub does 30% FM do more damage than PS but you then would be using MB as a priority filler anyway

The general rotation has STB on the PS in the UL block, not SS

That last paragraph is talking about when you should stop reapplying dots, which you cut out of your short quote. The missing part of the sentence should read 'therefore should not be applied below 25k'. Also CGC ticks once every 2s.

Hey Marisi/Fascinate,

Do you guys mind putting up a text log of a 1 million HP dummy IO parse?

Pretty please

So I can't really wrap my head around this rotation you guys use. For future reference I type my and your general rotation down:

Yours:

Mine:

Now these are my problems with it:

1. It's less mobile. That's obvious, not a big deal, moving on...

2. In your rotation TD is only a filler and it's place is taken by a second mandatory PS. TD is so much stronger that I just can't understand why would you do this? Even with the SCG stack that PS builds it still doesn't compete with TD.

I did some math on the subject, but in absence of the coefficents I had to base it on tooltip damage relative to my gear :/

3. The rotation is too strict with heat and GCDs.

-First example, AoE:

If you'd want to use FM as a filler for adds, you'd have to drop TD for it because you either don't have the GCD for it or the heat or both (depending where you use FM).

In my rotation I have 2 place where I can use FM for adds and all I lose for it is a single PS which, based on my second point, is less of a dps loss than TD.

-Second example, Execute phase:

In your rotation you either replace TD with MB (which is a dps loss) or you use both in which case all your GCDs are tied up and that's heavily heat negative to the point where it's unsustainable without heat management cooldowns. Also you can no way in hell squeez in a FM, which is stonger in execute phase than PS.

EDIT: Forgot to account for the 10 vented heat in case of PS, so FM is only better than PS if you can't get 10 stack of SCG before the end of the fight

In contrast to that, with my rotation you can use both TD and MB and even sustain it for a longer period (not indefinitely though) and even have a leftover GCD to squeez in FM when you have cooldowns up.

So I wonder what your reasons are?

(PS: I used "my rotation" a lot, but in fact it was based on Gyro's PTS rotation, so most credit goes to him )

Couple of things;

 

IO doesn't use Rail Shot so therefore isn't an issue. Arsenal does, yes, and it will be changed shortly. Rapid Shot in IO will probably be changed also for consistency.

That's why I said "primarily IO". Obviously this item only pertains to Arsenal.

Only sub does 30% FM do more damage than PS...

I still disagree based on parses I've seen and the math involved. Even with the old 15% crit set bonus FM still does more total damage per use. But the main point is that you didn't address FM at all in your guide. They made some significant changes to it for 3.0.

The general rotation has STB on the PS in the UL block, not SS

Your general rotation is:

UL - filler - PS - MS - IM - SS - PS - Filler - MS

The first MS procs STB. That is followed by SS which will eat it.

You should have re-ordered it to get STB in the right spot.

Also, they did change fusion missile in 3.0, it costs 20 heat in arsenal and 15 heat in io, but its damage is completely a waste of a gcd on a single target. You can compare the tooltips between tracer and fusion missile in arsenal for example, fusion missile cost 5 more heat than tracer and does less damage.

It depends on crits actually. If the first Grenade Hit crits or if more than ~33% of the dots crit, Plasma Grenade does more damage than Grav Round with no crit. You will always do more damage if you get a crit on Grav.

In a burst phase with a limited time window would precast it to get the dot on target as well. Using it during your normal rotation might be a small damage gain or it might not.

Anyways, i think we can agree on Plasma Grenade being an excellent choice when you face adds.

I still disagree based on parses I've seen and the math involved. Even with the old 15% crit set bonus FM still does more total damage per use. But the main point is that you didn't address FM at all in your guide. They made some significant changes to it for 3.0.

FM has more raw damage, but PS builds SCG stack so FM only worth more than PS in execute phase.

Your general rotation is:

UL - filler - PS - MS - IM - SS - PS - Filler - MS

The first MS procs STB. That is followed by SS which will eat it.

You should have re-ordered it to get STB in the right spot.

Put the Opener in front of it then you'll see that the 2nd MS will proc StB.

I still disagree based on parses I've seen and the math involved. Even with the old 15% crit set bonus FM still does more total damage per use.

I think what leads you to be mistaken is that you're not considering the debuffs applied to the target

Fusion Missile does slightly more raw damage per cast if you look at the tooltip, and the DoT component is Elemental damage so it looks like it should hit harder. However, Power Shot damage is boosted +5% by one of the debuffs you're applying to the target (like all ranged weapon damage) while only the DoT component of FM is boosted +7% by the IM debuff (the up front damage is Tech, not Ranged, so is not eligible for the +5%). That gives Power Shot slightly more damage. On top of that, Power Shot receives +30% Critical Damage and Fusion Missile does not, and Power Shot builds Supercharged Gas charges.

The two advantages Fusion Missile does have is that the DoT is Elemental, and ticks 30% harder when the target is under 30%. Elemental damage however is not as much better as you might think, firstly because all Mercs get some armour penetration from passives, secondly because armour debuffs are common with many classes/specs applying them in a group.

With that said, Fusion Missile is generally not worth using for single target unless the target is under 30%, but still high enough for the DoT to tick in its entirety. It's a very good AoE, though, especially if you can apply IM first (however, I'd suggest casting Explosive Dart before FM, and SS before ED to spread that DoT as well).

Nice guide. I will say i was a bit skeptical when i first looked at the rotation, but then i thought about it further and it started making sense, plus that fact that it was written by Fascinate and Mari. Both of you know what you are talking about.

Your rotation is way different then what i was doing. My rotation looked something like this:

Opener:

TD > EN > IR > SC > MS > SB > Power surge + PS

MS > PS > PS > PS > PS

Rotation:

MS > [AP > IR > PS] > PS

MS > SS > {TSO+UL} > PS

In the rotation i ended up putting a Rapid shots in the first block in place of the first PS. Needed to shuffle AP and IR with that to compensate for heat. The second block is where full auto ended up, but sometimes depending on heat I had to change that up a bit.

I know my rotation isn't perfect but it worked and i was able to use pretty much everything on CD.

Thanks for putting your time into this.

Put the Opener in front of it then you'll see that the 2nd MS will proc StB.

I can see that as well, but for someone learning off of Dulfy''s site, if they try the rotation, it won't work. The author can make a simple adjustment to fix that.

Here are numbers to show how Fusion Missile compares to Power Shot.

Sample parse here:

http://imgur.com/28KwshU

This was done with the Armor Module debuff, no relics, old 2 piece set with +15% crit on PS, no health debuff so no advantage below 30% applied.

Power Shot does 253,302 damage with 86 uses: 2945 damage per use

Fusion Missile does (26,724 + 46,596) damage with 20 uses: 3666 damage per use

With 10 Power Shots, you also get 5 Supercharge Burn ticks for a total of 6094 damage per Supercharge Gas Use.

10 Fusion Missiles: 36,660

10 Power Shots and 1 Supercharge Burn: 35,544

It's close which makes the usage a gamble of personal choice.

I can see that as well, but for someone learning off of Dulfy''s site, if they try the rotation, it won't work. The author can make a simple adjustment to fix that.

If they are too stupid to put the OPENER first and then use the rotation then they are beyond hope and doesn't worth the bother....