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Taugrim's Guide to Bounty Hunter Powertech Mechanics and PVP


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Here is my free in-depth Guide to Powertech Mechanics and PVP:

http://taugrim.com/2012/01/04/guide-to-bounty-hunter-powertech-trooper-vanguard-mechanics-and-pvp/

 

Table of Contents

 

  1. Advanced Class Overview and Playstyle
  2. Talent Tree and Stance Overview
  3. Talent Tree and Stance Pairings
  4. Talent Tree Analysis
  5. Heat (Ammo) Mechanics
  6. Damage Mechanics
  7. Defense Mechanics
  8. Crowd Control and Debuff Mechanics
  9. Mobility and CC Counter Mechanics
  10. Global Cooldown Management and Rotation
  11. Recommended Specs
  12. Stats and Gear
  13. Narrated Gameplay Videos
  14. About the Author

 

 

Let me know your feedback / questions, either here or on my blog.

 

I'll be updating it multiple times a week on my blog, and I'll be posting significant content changes here.

 

Look forward to dialoguing with you!

 

P.S. if you want to see Vanguard PVP live, check out my stream with commentary, the schedule is posted there, and I tweet whenever my stream is starting.

Edited by taugrimtaugrim
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What's up Taugrim? Good to see you on the official SWTOR forums. My buddy showed me some of your stuff the other night. I completely changed how I do keybinds because of you. It sucked for awhile, but now that I'm used to it It's improved my gameplay alot.

 

Here's what I have to say about your guide - It is not only the best I have seen for the Powertech/Vanguard ACs, but it is the best I've seen of any AC guide!

 

Love the intelligent breakdown of class mechanics and gameplay, as well as suggestions for PVE vs. PVP.

 

Keep up the good work my friend.

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I disagree with a lot of the things in this guide. For example:

 

Useless skills- Flame Sweep? Great when enemies are attempting to cap an objective, especially if you are specced into it.

 

Unload is good if you are out of options and the enemy is too far away.

 

Flamethrower / Missile Blast are much more useless than these.

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What's up Taugrim? Good to see you on the official SWTOR forums. My buddy showed me some of your stuff the other night. I completely changed how I do keybinds because of you. It sucked for awhile, but now that I'm used to it It's improved my gameplay alot.

 

It definitely takes time to get used to a new keybinding setup, so I'm glad to hear you made it past the re-learning curve and that it's improved your gameplay :)

 

Here's what I have to say about your guide - It is not only the best I have seen for the Powertech/Vanguard ACs, but it is the best I've seen of any AC guide!

 

Love the intelligent breakdown of class mechanics and gameplay, as well as suggestions for PVE vs. PVP.

 

Keep up the good work my friend.

 

Thanks!

 

I still have more content to add to the Guide, some sections to fill in and more narrated videos to crank out.

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Useless skills- Flame Sweep? Great when enemies are attempting to cap an objective, especially if you are specced into it.

 

Use FS as part of your rotation if you want.

 

The thing to keep in mind is that FS is a PBAoE - which is only good if you are right in the center of the group you are trying to stop capping a node.

 

Missile Blast can be used from 30m to prevent opponents from capping by targeting the middle-most opponent.

 

Unload is good if you are out of options and the enemy is too far away.

 

Yes, that is basically what I wrote:

The only use case where this ability makes sense is when you are at long-range from a target who will remain in your field-of-fire for 3 seconds and your Explosive Dart (Sticky Grenade) and Rail Shot (High Impact Bolt) are on cooldown

 

Flamethrower / Missile Blast are much more useless than these.

 

FT is under-rated by a lot of players. It deals very good damage, you can redirect the cone as needed.

 

At first I believed it was underwhelming until I realized its utility and effect.

Edited by taugrimtaugrim
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Fantastic to see you here, I haven't really kept up with your blog since you moved from WoW to Rift. I'll look forward to it once again.

 

I still crank out the kind of content I previously did - the in-depth Guides, the narrated videos, etc.

 

The main difference is I've added livestreaming with commentary and Q&A.

 

I'm new to streaming but already it has been an incredibly powerful format for real-time interaction between players. The Chat Room on my stream has been an awesome resource for information.

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For PVP Max durability you list:

Max durability builds: Expertise > Defense Rating > Crit > Power = Surge > Shield Rating > Accuracy > Alacrity

 

What do you hate about Shield Rating exactly? It's a great stat.

 

There are several reasons why Shield and therefore Shield Rating isn't that useful for PVP.

 

Shield is calculated after Defense. I.e. avoidance is checked first, then mitigation.

 

As I wrote in the Guide:

- Shield applies to weapon damage

- Shield does not apply to Kinetic damage

- Shield does not apply to Elemental damage

 

My guess is that Shield does not apply to Energy or Internal damage either.

 

Which basically means that Shield only mitigates a limited number of attack abilities.

 

EDIT (2012/01/19): What I wrote above isn't the full / correct picture. Read this to understand how Defense and Shield work and the implications for PVP:

http://taugrim.com/2012/01/19/understanding-swtors-avoidance-and-mitigation-mechanics-for-tanks-in-pvp/

Edited by taugrimtaugrim
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There are several reasons why Shield and therefore Shield Rating isn't that useful for PVP.

 

Shield is calculated after Defense. I.e. avoidance is checked first, then mitigation.

 

As I wrote in the Guide:

- Shield applies to weapon damage

- Shield does not apply to Kinetic damage

- Shield does not apply to Elemental damage

 

My guess is that Shield does not apply to Energy or Internal damage either.

 

Which basically means that Shield only mitigates a limited number of attack abilities.

 

Weapon damage is either Kinetic or Energy. Pretty sure it applies to both.

 

As to Elemental and Internal, I'm not sure. It makes sense for it not to apply at all to Internal and I can buy that.

 

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a fan of Shields either, I think it's a clunky mechanic that requires a LOT of investment for little returns. I'm just saying that you probably have what it does and does not mitigate incorrect.

 

Edit: I'll find someone in guild to duel to fiddle with this a bit, see what I come up with.

Edited by chainsawsamurai
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Weapon damage is either Kinetic or Energy. Pretty sure it applies to both.

 

As to Elemental and Internal, I'm not sure. It makes sense for it not to apply at all to Internal and I can buy that.

 

Edit: I'll find someone in guild to duel to fiddle with this a bit, see what I come up with.

 

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a fan of Shields either, I think it's a clunky mechanic that requires a LOT of investment for little returns. I'm just saying that you probably have what it does and does not mitigate incorrect.

 

We tested last week in duels and Shield Chance doesn't work vs Kinetic nor Elemental:

http://taugrim.com/2012/01/04/guide-to-bounty-hunter-powertech-trooper-vanguard-mechanics-and-pvp/#comment-6768

 

I was surprised by the results because it makes Shield Chance a weak mechanic in PVP.

 

Let us know the results of your testing.

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We tested last week in duels and Shield Chance doesn't work vs Kinetic nor Elemental:

http://taugrim.com/2012/01/04/guide-to-bounty-hunter-powertech-trooper-vanguard-mechanics-and-pvp/#comment-6768

 

I was surprised by the results because it makes Shield Chance a weak mechanic in PVP.

 

Let us know the results of your testing.

 

Yeah I got an Operative friend, just looking for a place to duel.

 

Will definitely be able to test Internal, Energy, and Kinetic. I'll see if I can find a sorc for Elemental.

 

This doesn't just suck for PvP, it sucks for everything. There is a LOT of other damage going around. Not to mention ST's reliance on what is already a pretty mediocre mechanic.

Edited by chainsawsamurai
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Yeah I got an Operative friend, just looking for a place to duel.

 

Will definitely be able to test Internal, Energy, and Kinetic. I'll see if I can find a sorc for Elemental.

 

This doesn't just suck for PvP, it sucks for everything. There is a LOT of other damage going around. Not to mention ST's reliance on what is already a pretty mediocre mechanic.

 

Well, for PVE tanking, there is probably a fair amount of Shield-able damage, which would make it worth equipping a Shield and taking the associated Chance and Absorption talents.

 

I was surprised that Shield didn't work against Kinetic in our testing. My assumption would have been that the Armor mitigatable damage types would also be Shielded. But that's not the case.

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So, I tried to test the interaction between Guard and Shielding.

 

But I can't. Turns out, you can't actually guard a companion. The effect is there, it just isn't doing anything. I'm not taking any damage and it looks like she's taking the full brunt.

 

Maybe this is just during duels or maybe Guard is just broken on companions. Either way it is pretty stupid.

 

Edit: Clarity.

Edited by chainsawsamurai
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personally i find your specs quite bad.

 

for instance one is called "insta nuker" and doesnt even have thermal detonator. where you can combine a TD explosion with a rail shot to provide the most burst from pretty much ANY class in the game.

 

Also,

 

ur posting Stat priorities.

 

They are not factual at all theyre just your opinion on them. Therefore you should say so.

 

pvp specs for pyro should be either a 7/3/31. 4/6/31 or a variant of 2+X/3+Z/31

 

also like an above poster said. your list of "abilities you shouldnt use" is bad.

 

unload is significant damage as any spec. when knocked into range and with ranged abilities on cooldown, unload[with buffs up] has been known to take off 35-40% of somebodies hp in conjunction with CGC.

 

Degauss is also not a very good talent. To get much use out of it you have to pick up energy rebounder aswell. Also having your major defensive cooldown used as a root break can cause problems. personally when rooted out of range i swap straight to unload, by the time the root is off ive still kept up significant damage and not wasted my CD.

 

Your also posting videos commenting on a class at levels 14 and 20. What is the *********** point of that?

 

after watching the lvl 14 vanguard and hearing "this class doesnt have the burst capabilities of other classes" i turned it off.

 

Have you even played through to 50, got gear and a high valor rank to even support any of this pretty standard information?

 

There is no in depth detail to this guide.

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Your also posting videos commenting on a class at levels 14 and 20. What is the *********** point of that?

 

Have you even played through to 50, got gear and a high valor rank to even support any of this pretty standard information?

 

There is no in depth detail to this guide.

 

If you believe my opinions are not valid because I'm not 50 yet, take a number. I've had comments from people like you in every game I've played when posting my Guides.

 

What I've written in terms of mechanics in my previous Guides have tended to be very accurate at endgame, even if I wasn't at level cap.

 

I'm glad that you feel the Guide has "pretty standard information" and that there is "no in depth detail to this guide".

 

It'd be great if you could post some links where all this information is already documented, I'm sure I and many other people would appreciate seeing it :)

Edited by taugrimtaugrim
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Been through a bunch of Kinetic attacks, I'll be damned Shield is even more useless than I thought it was. Not a single Kinetic or Internal attack has been shielded. I don't need to try Elemental, I'm convinced. Disappointed, but convinced.

 

To make an analogy: Shielding in TOR is like having a Shield in WoW, except it only blocks Auto Attacks and not Mortal Strike.

 

 

 

The reprocussions of this are pretty huge.

 

1. The extra survivability you get from ST is almost entirely based off of the damage reduction and the extra armor granted by Ion Cylinder (Armor of course does nothing at all against Sorcs).

 

2. Classes with a reliance on weapon based attacks are hampered much more than normal in PvP with the current state of the game. There really aren't any that I could see, maybe Snipers? The amount of attacks that it blocks is REALLY pathetic.

 

3. Half of the ST tree doesn't even apply to a large portion of classes in PvP. Armor only applies to Kinetic and Energy, and shielding only applies to a very small handful of attacks.

 

4. Shielding is even worse than I first appraised it, even in PvE. If there were combat logs I'm sure we'd know how bad exactly, but all of the grenades/explosions and other sources of Kinetic or Energy damage entirely bypass your shield.

 

5. If you are still going full ST in PvP, you are gaining approximately nothing from it.

 

6. ST is even stupider than I had first appraised it, we should really demand some changes/fixes.

 

 

 

Other interesting finds:

 

1. The ONLY attacks that Operatives/Smugglers do which are mitigated by shielding are their free attacks and their Overload Shot and Carbine Burst (and smuggler equivalents). A Smug/Op can go through their entire opening rotation without using any of those abilities. This is probably causing a LOT of QQ from "tanks" who aren't tanks and are getting dismantled all the same by Smugs/Ops in PvP.

 

2. Backstab and other positional attacks are not based on the positioning of your body, but rather where your head is looking. This isn't too big of a deal, but was an interesting find none-the-less.

 

3. Shielding does work while Stunned/Incapacitated. Again, it wont stop much, but whatever.

 

4. Watching Mako and Dr Loken punch each other for a half hour is just as hilarious as you'd expect.

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Been through a bunch of Kinetic attacks, I'll be damned Shield is even more useless than I thought it was. Not a single Kinetic or Internal attack has been shielded. I don't need to try Elemental, I'm convinced. Disappointed, but convinced.

 

Yep, you get it now.

 

This is what I meant by saying in the Guide that Shield mechanic is weak.

 

Part of the reason I published my Guide today is I've been seeing a lot of players on the PT and VG forums advocating taking the Shield talents in PVP without realizing you get very little return for those talent points.

 

But I'm not 50 yet, what do I know :D

Edited by taugrimtaugrim
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Well, if you're referring to the Specialist build I made(I'm sorry, I can't call it a parakeet!), I only have it for the CD reset on RP and Heat dissipation.

 

Good to see your posts here though, don't let the haters get to you, which I doubt they will.

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