I just reached 50 on my Sage yesterday and been doing some PvP, I hardly see any commandos, lots of Vanguard troopers but rarely any commandos.

 

I was wanting to level a commando, are they not really any good at PvP or something? Why so few around.

they are good dps'ers but very gear dependent.

any class can be good just got to put time and effort in..

just my opinion

try being a merc in tracer spec lol

They're alright if they're ignored and can therefore stand around mashing their rotations. Which is basically never, if the other side is even half awake,

 

Vanguards do more damage overall and have more burst, as well as have more mobility, survivability and utility. It's not really surprising people just play those instead.

Edited February 11, 2013 by Bleeters

Pretty much what above poster said. Can burn people very quickly if left alone to ramp up to 5 stacks of the grav round debuff with the procc'd full auto...it just rarely happens, because everyone knows that.

Yes, DPS commandos suck at 50 PvP. Anyone who tells you different is lieing or only play against completely terrible opponents.

 

Assault is better than Gunnery in PvP, but both specs are really easy to limit their damage with an interrupt or stun, are highly immobile, have no immunity to gap closers like force leap or to interrupts and have very little escapability once a melee does get in range. All of these tools are things that other immobile classes, like Gunslingers do have. Some of these issue it appears are going to be addressed in the expansion, but how much is yet to be seen.

 

In lowbie PVP it's alot easier to be effective because you see alot of players who are still learning their class, don't have all their abilities and don't understand how other classes work. Once you get into 50s PVP you see alot less of that and I know of a number of people who if they see a commando on the battlefield that they make a point of killing them at every opportunity because we're easy meat for anyone who knows where their interrupt is and how to use it.

Lets put it this way. In min/maxed gear and using every single defensive/offensive/aoe utility that the class has plus medpacks, stims, warzone adrenals and a tank buddie I can crank out about 450k damage in a pug warzone. I can occasionally solo a FOTM derpsmasher as long as I have all of my abilities and he is too dumb to find his interrupt button. That's about the maximum potential of this class.

 

The issue is not survivability per say, I can make myself VERY annoying to kill, but the fact that you really don't bring anything unique to the table and are very easy to take out of the fight. Even if you aren't dead, you aren't dpsing if you are trying to outlast/outkite/outheal a smasher with a mando fetish.

 

All of this said, if the rumored changed in the expansions do come through, I anticipate this will all change. Our dps was left more or less untouched, but we may be getting significant boosts to our already substantial survival and a slow that also prevent the target from vanishing or leaping while damaging them proportionally to how much they try to move.

I have a 50 Sage if you had to choose would you play a Sage or a Commando, for DPS.

 

I like my sage but feel my dps is low compared to other class BIG NUMBER dps output, someone hits me 1/3 my life is gone, I hit them it trickles away in the 100's to 2k tops.

 

I want to play a ranged class, with fair to good survivability and can do BIG NUMBERS like everyone else.

 

Sage, Commando, maybe gunslinger - which would you choose.

sage(bubble spec healer) > gunslinger(saboteur) > sage (balance) >>>>>>>> merc(dps) Edited February 11, 2013 by Quantemoq

It isn't that dps commandos are no good at pvp, its that gunnery commandos are no good due to low mobility and overreliance on grav round. Assault however is very good in pvp because it has nice mobility, and doesnt rely solely on dots, it has some very nice burst too, with assault plastique and high impact bolt. What really helps is hitting someone with high impact bolt at roughly the same time as assault plastique detonates, its really nice burst that healers wont be prepared for, thus allowing you to kill someone before their healer can do anything, or the target even knows whats going on.

Heres an opening rotation I like to use that almost always results in a kill from full health:

IR -> HiB -> AP -> FA -> (if procd) HiB

Assault however is very good in pvp

 

Assault is *better*, but that doesn't make it "good". Assault still relies on hardcasting Full Auto and Charged Bolts in order to do effective damage. The forced reliance, no matter how you run, on hardcasting abilities just to *proc* your instant casts is what makes Commandos so bad in PvP: no PvPer worth their salt is actually going to let you sit there and get your casts off.

I personally prefer Gunnery in PvP because i think its actually better than Assault. Whilst assault does give alot more mobility, ammo management is a pain in the arse and you will find yourself using hammershot quite alot.

 

Gunnery, however, whilst it does restrict your movement and is very interrupt prone, you have better ammo management, and i personally feel like i do more damage than assault.

It has better resource management because it has one of the most protracted back-loaded rotations in the game, and because those spec'd to Assault think they can kite like a Vanguard and end up running around exhausting their ammo trying to spam Incendiary Round, which is totally unsustainable. The Assault rotation on a Commando doesn't really work as a true kiting spec. The difference in performance is quite stark. On my Op I'm always wary of Assault Vanguards but have no difficulty pinning down and finishing off an Assault Commando.

Hi guys, im a gunnery commando and yes i do get owned alot in pvp but i do alt of damage and focus helping my teammates kill enimies. I used to try and solo opponents but i die to fast , so i make sure im at max distance and use aoe on targets that bunch up while healing team members that are fighting. I think of myself as support character in a sense that i dont do alot of damage unless i stay still but call assist others and manage the field of battle.

try being a merc in tracer spec lol

 

as a PVPer arsenal spec merc, tracer is not the hit you should worry about, my unload is the huge hitter.

I personally prefer Gunnery in PvP because i think its actually better than Assault. Whilst assault does give alot more mobility, ammo management is a pain in the arse and you will find yourself using hammershot quite alot.

 

Gunnery, however, whilst it does restrict your movement and is very interrupt prone, you have better ammo management, and i personally feel like i do more damage than assault.

 

I agree. The trick is to not rely on grav round. 2 shots will load 4 procs. Don't waste time on the 5th, start running again doing HiB and hammer shot. Pause again to do full auto (very powerful on gunnery), the run again. I Even if they did waste an interrupt on you it's worn off by now.

 

Against most players that will make a big dent in their HP and interrupts don't have an effect since the only attack you made more than once was a second grav round. It also keeps ammo in your prime range and makes you much more mobile than usual.

It has better resource management because it has one of the most protracted back-loaded rotations in the game, and because those spec'd to Assault think they can kite like a Vanguard and end up running around exhausting their ammo trying to spam Incendiary Round, which is totally unsustainable.

 

I don't think it's a good idea to spam incendiary round. I actually don't use it at all. Hammershot has a good chance to proc the burn effect.

 

The Assault rotation on a Commando doesn't really work as a true kiting spec. The difference in performance is quite stark. On my Op I'm always wary of Assault Vanguards but have no difficulty pinning down and finishing off an Assault Commando.

 

I would really like to see you winning against a assault vanguard / pyro with gunnery that you don't catch fighting someone else. He has 2 stuns, pull, short interrupt and one of the best busts in the game. You have a knock back, a stun, instant mez and have to rely on channels.

 

Pyro PT / Assault Vanguard is King of 5-10m.

Pyro Merc / Assault Commando is King of 11 - 30m

Gunnery is dead meat on 0 - 30m in 1:1. If he can front load a burst before the opponent notices him , he can win. But every spec has a huge advantage if it can front load a burst.

 

Don't get me wrong I like gunnery. But after legions of war zones as gunnery I think that pyro / assault is simply better in all aspects.

^ I said on my Op (Concealment Operative).

 

But I also notice the difference on my heal-spec'd Merc. An Assault Vanguard / Pyro Pwrtech has insane burst that (with stuns + interrupts) off-sets my self-heals. But with an Assault Commando / Pyro Merc I at least have the chance to win through attrition. I last much longer, and can eventually wear my opponent down.

Edited February 23, 2013 by klham

Commando assault feels to clunky for me so I run gunnery. Granted, it has some back loaded burst, but a CoF FA is awesome.

I'm at pvp rank 75 and mostly use EWH and some WH gear but have taken long breaks from STOR but each time I play again it's on my Commando, absolutely love it.

 

DPS is good with varying levels of sustained, aoe and burst depending on your build but utility for survival and defensive skills are lacking which makes the class squishy. Also its shared tree with vanguards favours vanguards so Commando's running as Assault spec are not as good as vanguards.

 

I would say, if you like the look and feel of the play style then go for it, pre-50 is a blast and we have 2.0 around the corner and at the end of the day better understanding a class only benefits your pvp play.

Commando assault feels to clunky for me so I run gunnery. Granted, it has some back loaded burst, but a CoF FA is awesome.

 

Agreed.

People bad mouth gunnery saying it's a grav round or tracer spamming tree. No wonder you hate it, you're missing the best attack.

I drop a couple grav rounds to weaken the opponent but then it just all about getting every Full Auto I can.