Hello and welcome to the arrogant commando's guide to Gunnery PvP. Before I get into the thick of it, a word or 2 about Gunnery in PvP. In the current game Gunnery is, shall we say, "weaker than my grandfather's bladder" in 1v1 scenarios, so you will most likely want to avoid those. Gunnery in PvP is optimal in Warzones and other group PvP.

Talenting for Gunnery is simple, I run a 5/33/2, which is a standard commando PvE build with 2 points put into the optional talent for increased range on Concussion charge and the Stock Strike Immobilize.

The Role of a gunnery commando is what I would describe as "heavy artillery." Akin to a gun turret, A Gunn Commando will spend most of the time being stationary and killing single targets, then tabbing on to the next one. if left alone a Commando can rip apart even the most tanky characters with relative ease due to the Gravity Vortex armor debuff from Grav Round, which will reduce armor by 15% in 3 shots. In 5 seconds a seemingly unstoppable brick wall can feel the sting of a 10-11k combo from High impact bolt and Demo round, or the 12k sustained damage from an uninterrupted full auto. Like the sniper classes, the commando is better when stationary, and does little damage while mobile (Assault Spec is a much better mobile DPS spec.) Gunnery is extremely susceptible to interrupts and harsh melee harass, so the best option for any Gunn Commando is to find a spot that is easily dfensible, with high ground and few paths to walk.

The Gunn Commando has only one offensive cooldown, which is really more of a utility skill, Tech override, which makes the next ability with a cast time instant. I prefer to use it as a crowd management skill, combining with Concussive shot for an instant ranged sleep to keep those healers from saving my targets, or surviving 2v1 encounters. Another good combo is to combine with Medical probe for a quick battle heal, although the talent charged rounds can provide an instant Advance med probe, which can also be a quick mobile heal.

Defensive cooldowns aren't the strong suit of the Commando either, the main being Reactive shield, which reduces all damage by 25%. While the cooldown is reduced to 1m 30s by talents, it's not so reliable for extended fights. Concussion charge is an AoE knockback with a 50% slow. Being the only AoE knockback in the game, the interruptive power is immense in the right situations, and since you dont need to face a target to knock them back it's extremely efficient in brushing away those pesky Sith for a moment.

Most players will tell you that Assault Spec is the only viable Commando PvP spec, even more will tell you that PvPing as a commando is futile, since few are seen in RWZ. I, however, am hellbent on showing the might of the Commando by using teamplay over class matchups, and winning based on skill, which is why I refuse to respec Assault. Assault Spec's power comes from DoTs and AoE damage, whereas Gunnery has extremely high single target DPS from the natural armor penetration. While Commandos are not optimal in PvP, they're hella fun to play. If you havn't had the chance to watch a Sorc try to bubble their way through a full auto, it's amazing. The sheer power of Gunnery is a spectacle, and although any jedi or sith could 1v1 me into the ground, the second they turn their back will give me the opportunity to tear them a new you-know-what.

Thanks, Goodnight.

Hello and welcome to the arrogant commando's guide to Gunnery PvP. Before I get into the thick of it, a word or 2 about Gunnery in PvP. In the current game Gunnery is, shall we say, "weaker than my grandfather's bladder" in 1v1 scenarios, so you will most likely want to avoid those. Gunnery in PvP is optimal in Warzones and other group PvP.

 

Talenting for Gunnery is simple, I run a 5/33/2, which is a standard commando PvE build with 2 points put into the optional talent for increased range on Concussion charge and the Stock Strike Immobilize.

 

The Role of a gunnery commando is what I would describe as "heavy artillery." Akin to a gun turret, A Gunn Commando will spend most of the time being stationary and killing single targets, then tabbing on to the next one. if left alone a Commando can rip apart even the most tanky characters with relative ease due to the Gravity Vortex armor debuff from Grav Round, which will reduce armor by 15% in 3 shots. In 5 seconds a seemingly unstoppable brick wall can feel the sting of a 10-11k combo from High impact bolt and Demo round, or the 12k sustained damage from an uninterrupted full auto. Like the sniper classes, the commando is better when stationary, and does little damage while mobile (Assault Spec is a much better mobile DPS spec.) Gunnery is extremely susceptible to interrupts and harsh melee harass, so the best option for any Gunn Commando is to find a spot that is easily dfensible, with high ground and few paths to walk.

 

The Gunn Commando has only one offensive cooldown, which is really more of a utility skill, Tech override, which makes the next ability with a cast time instant. I prefer to use it as a crowd management skill, combining with Concussive shot for an instant ranged sleep to keep those healers from saving my targets, or surviving 2v1 encounters. Another good combo is to combine with Medical probe for a quick battle heal, although the talent charged rounds can provide an instant Advance med probe, which can also be a quick mobile heal.

 

Defensive cooldowns aren't the strong suit of the Commando either, the main being Reactive shield, which reduces all damage by 25%. While the cooldown is reduced to 1m 30s by talents, it's not so reliable for extended fights. Concussion charge is an AoE knockback with a 50% slow. Being the only AoE knockback in the game, the interruptive power is immense in the right situations, and since you dont need to face a target to knock them back it's extremely efficient in brushing away those pesky Sith for a moment.

 

Most players will tell you that Assault Spec is the only viable Commando PvP spec, even more will tell you that PvPing as a commando is futile, since few are seen in RWZ. I, however, am hellbent on showing the might of the Commando by using teamplay over class matchups, and winning based on skill, which is why I refuse to respec Assault. Assault Spec's power comes from DoTs and AoE damage, whereas Gunnery has extremely high single target DPS from the natural armor penetration. While Commandos are not optimal in PvP, they're hella fun to play. If you havn't had the chance to watch a Sorc try to bubble their way through a full auto, it's amazing. The sheer power of Gunnery is a spectacle, and although any jedi or sith could 1v1 me into the ground, the second they turn their back will give me the opportunity to tear them a new you-know-what.

 

Thanks, Goodnight.

ok some problems here, first grav round decreases armor "rating" [AR] not armor damage reduction and it doesn't stack with armor penetration but multiplies.

that means,

35% armor penetration ignores in fact 35% of the DR. A normal juggernaut tank has 42.6% DR from armor (8000 rating) so it would be reduced to 27.7%.

With 5 stacks of vortex the AR would be reduced by 20% -> (=6400) which is around 37% .

now the armor penetraion from the cylinder would be applied on the 37% damage reduction (not the 42.6%) => 24% damage reduction left.

so the effective difference between 5 grav vortexes and 0 grav vortexes is only 3.7% damage on a full tank .

now another problem. high impact bolt and full auto together make around half of your damage as gunnery commando and they are subject to shielding/absorbtion as well as accuracy.

now with 10% accuracy you already miss 20% of the time against a full tank jugg (30% defense).

then if you hit the tank, ~50% of the time your damage will be reduced by ~50% due to absorption .

one can roughly say that every second non-crit of your full auto gets its damage reduced by 50%. that would reduce your damage of all the non-missing attacks by 14%.

Full auto has 60% armor penetration which basically reduces the 37% (6400 rating) to 14.8%, but lets see how much that actually effects the damage:

say you deal 1000 damage. 200 of it is lost due to defense, another 120 damage is lost due to armor and another 100 damage is lost due to absorption. that leaves you with 580 damage at the end.

now let's take a 0 armorpenetration tech attack without any armor reducing buffs:

1000 initial damge, you would lose no damage due to defense or absorption only due to armor of 42% (8000) that would be 420 damage and would leave you with 580 damage.

so a white attack with 60% armor penetration and 20% armor ration reduction is equivalent to a 0 ap 0 armor debuff tech attack. making a lot of other classes better tank killers then a gunnery comando.