Yes I know, hybrid is worthless; but that's what everybody says about DPS Commando's too and I do ok, so haters to the right.

This is just for people who still play the class for fun and want to experiment. Especially people still playing Gunnery and hate being a turret or want to ease towards run and gun Assault trees.

 

Background:

From launch until 1.2 I was a Gunnery Commando like everybody else; since then we've been abused but I stuck with it.

When I tried a full Assault build I loved the freedom of movement and my DPS was great, but it was spread out over all of the enemy team and didn't equal enough actual kills.

Slow burn damage over 15 seconds across 6 enemies looks great on paper but as soon as you die (which happens fast) and your team doesn't make use of the weakened enemies, they just heal themselves back up and your net gain for the team is zero.

 

Why:

I accidentally left my AP cell on one match and was actually able to do a few 1on1 takedowns again which was awesome. I forgot how much benefit a single take down is compared 3-4 "hurt" enemies.

I also noticed that Assault Plastique wasn't really the clincher I wanted; for a top level attack the DPS is still low, it's not area effect (like Sticky Grenade is), it's a 15 sec cool down, and the 3 seconds it takes to go off is sometimes too long.

Lastly even though I could run and gun all the time now, I still had times when I could stop and channel a Full Auto. It made me wish I could stack a couple Grav Rounds again in that quick breather. Instead I'm like a gnat running around the edges annoying with fire but not killing.

 

So I cut out Assault Plastique to try to get Grav round back. I also wanted to go back to AP cell instead of Plasma because even when it procs that plasma burn doesn't hit hard enough for fast enough so I tried to eliminate as many Plasma skills as possible. But I still liked setting people on fire with Incendiary round; it may take 15 seconds but the damage is about the same as the Assault Plastique and its 15 second cool down.

 

Here is the resulting build (Gunnery with insta-fire): (Commando 0/24/17)

It's semi mobile, better survive-ability than pure Assault, VERY ammo friendly, and a bit more "bursty" to kill individuals rather than burn many. Main attacks are HiB and Full Auto, but all hurt immediately rather than across 15 seconds of burning.

The Grav Round itself is 75% the damage of Assault Plastique, so the 2 shots in 3 seconds is usually more than the 1 AP shot on 15 second cool down.

I'm still wary about the way the Armor Piercing for HiB stacks. Target Lock+High Friction Bolts+4 Grav Vortexes would be 76% armor ignored with HiB, plus 24% damage increase. Would Bioware allow a stack like that?

Testing on training dummies seems to say yes. *shrug*

 

Skills:

Rotary Cannon and Cover Fire aren't needed but I like Full-Auto and it's a good closer, plus having the 70% slow can be nice in huttball to slow the ball carrier (or Marauder that used up all his force leaps already).

The 2 points at Heavy Trooper(+2% endurance) can instead be used on Deadly Cannon (+Critical for Full Auto), or Concussive Force (Stockstrike stun). Since we die easily right now I like the endurance.

The only wasted skill is Super Heated Plasma. But It's needed to get High Friction Bolts and another +30% Armor Piercing for your High Impact Bolt (plus ammo payback).

 

Rotation:

Incendiary Round -> Grav Round-> Grav Round ->Sticky Grenade -> High Impact Bolt -> Full Auto.

Insert Hammer shot where needed to keep ammo up or if you need to run. Sticky Grenade can be done earlier, but the 2 Grav Rounds are best back to back so they only take 3 seconds and you're running again.

If you have time for a 3rd Grav Round you can stack 5 vortexes and 5 charged barrels but that last shot isn't as efficient as the first 2. Plus you'll definitely be noticed on your 3rd shot, if you run after the first 2 they're less likely to focus you.

Always open with the IncenRound, the damage is comparable to Assault Plastique it just takes 15 seconds. Plus a burning target gives your HiB +30% Armor Pen.

 

How to play:

-The idea is to be on the run as much as possible. You only need to pause for the 2 Grav rounds, and for the Full Auto if you've got the chance to squeeze it in on the end. Otherwise just run spamming Hammer shot till you get in a good spot to begin another rotation or if SG and HiB come off cooldown. IncenRound burns a while and is high ammo so only use it when you switch targets.

-A single rotation can bring a Marauder down to 25% health and scare them into hitting their Undying Rage. If they didn't they'll definitely notice you by then but if you can use defensive CCs to survive the next 4 seconds you can take them down 1on1. Usually they they choose to stealth away.

-You're still a commando and we're squishy as the game stands right now. You'll still die. But the endurance boosts and the Charged Barrier skill should help a bit.

-If you stack grav rounds and the enemy dies before you can fire the HiB, your Advanced Medical Probe will cast almost instantaneously.

-If you get focused and you know you're going to die, alternate between hitting tab and your Incendiary Round to set as many enemies on fire as you can. It drains ammo but you won't need it where you're going and the burning DPS on the enemies can really add up.

-Remember to use all your AoE attacks like Mortar Volley, Pulse Cannon, Sticky Grenade, and Plasma Grenade when the enemy is in a group. It's not build specific, but our class is best at hitting many people clustered together.

-This is a ranged build, stay as close to 30m from the melee as possible. Keep moving so it seems like your shots are coming from all over. The longer you pause the better chance of being noticed, stick to 2 GravRounds or a Full-Auto then relocate, and repeat.

-If you're not doing any rotation, run and hammer shot. It replenishes ammo with this build! Plus the AP cell actually does ok damage without being a killing attack. Always run and gun.

 

tl;dr: This build is versatile at taking people out using our broke class. You may not top DPS or healing charts but you will be able to play to WZ strategies and influence a team win (slow+kill a ball carrier, interrupt+kill a capture, kill the marauder harassing your healer, etc.) . You're the best at not being noticed till it's too late for your target. And if you do go down you'll leave a target within an inch of their life for your team to finish off.

So, same basic play style as a gunny commando but less burst because you don't have Demo Round.

So, same basic play style as a gunny commando but less burst because you don't have Demo Round.

 

Pretty much this.

 

If you're going to work at firing off a couple of gravs and full auto as your main rotation, then you're (imho) losing out on way too much damage giving up curtain of fire and demo round, just to get incendiary round.

 

But if you're having fun with it, then /shrug.

Pretty much this.

 

If you're going to work at firing off a couple of gravs and full auto as your main rotation, then you're (imho) losing out on way too much damage giving up curtain of fire and demo round, just to get incendiary round.

 

But if you're having fun with it, then /shrug.

 

agreed demo round usally hits harder then incendiary round with all of its ticks. my reads 1.9k damge total while demo hits for 2.3-2.6k pre crit for me not to add the curtain of fire im missing out on. /shrug some people just like to be different.

i think for 3 points, ionic accelerator is going to boost HIB way more than APC

 

if you're dead set on using APC, i think giving up curtain of fire is not a good idea.

 

 

and, as others have said, giving up demo round for 30% armor pen to HIB doesn't really seem worth it to me.

As a big player of Assault I can't even see why you'd want to dump Curtain of Fire and Demo Round for such a trivial attack as Incendiary Round.

 

CoF is free damage on an attack you're going to use anyway, plus it unlocks that attack you were going to use anyway earlier.

 

Demo round is getting buffed by your grav stacks to significantly higher damage levels than IR and it's instant but you've dropped it.

 

IR is best viewed as a buff and gunnery is not what it buffs.

Edited December 28, 2012 by Gyronamics

i think for 3 points, ionic accelerator is going to boost HIB way more than APC

 

if you're dead set on using APC, i think giving up curtain of fire is not a good idea.

 

and, as others have said, giving up demo round for 30% armor pen to HIB doesn't really seem worth it to me.

Ionic Accelerator requires Plasma Cell which is crap. Even on a full Assault build Plasma feels worthless, it's only benefit is to try to to get it to proc something else that actually does damage. AP cell has much more immediate benefit in a high death PvP match. Ever run out of ammo and try to Plasma an enemy to death? You might as well have a rubberband gun.

 

I did hate to give up Curtain of Fire to spec the other tree but the Full Auto isn't the main part of the rotation, mostly a freebie if you have a chance to use it. Channeling that attack is long time stationary and long constant stream of rounds pointing back at you as a juicy target. Relying on it as a main source of DPS you're too stationary again and that's what kills our class. If you're a Turret Commando you're a Dead Commando.

 

As for Demo Round, I think it's not worth the 2900 damage it does. That's 2900 with a 15 second cool-down. Our class usually doesn't live long enough to get 2 shots at it. Meanwhile Incendiary Round is instant; I can light 3 people up in 4.5 seconds and almost double the DPS output. Or instead I can just relocate and drop 2 more Grav Rounds; the 2 Grav Rounds do more damage than the 1 Demo Round not counting their many buffs. Plus even if you subtract the 3 second pause to shoot I have 12 seconds left to relocate again before another Demo Round would even be an option.

 

That's why I like this build is it's versatility. Standing in front of a training dummy a pure Gunnery or pure Assault spec looks better. But trying to pull the same thing in the PvP will get 3 sith leapers on you before you get to your 4th GCD.

 

Being at the bottom of the PvP totem we need to think like guerilla Commandos. Always on the move, always got LoS, by time they realize you're shooting at them you're already gone, never stop longer than 2 Global Cooldowns or you're dead. Do it and you'll live past 4 GCDs and suddenly you're in the game again.

No difference between the mobility in this spec and the mobility in gunnery. The amount of time standing and firing is the same. You might make up for some of the missing burst damage with the dots but I would still rather have the burst of gunnery...now if only assualt commando carried the same burst as assault vanguard.

As for Demo Round, I think it's not worth the 2900 damage it does. That's 2900 with a 15 second cool-down. Our class usually doesn't live long enough to get 2 shots at it. Meanwhile Incendiary Round is instant; I can light 3 people up in 4.5 seconds and almost double the DPS output.

 

Spamming IR...

 

That's 9 ammo you would burn to fire it 3 times and each one of those targets is now free to do whatever because you don't have the ammo to do anything.

 

It makes numbers but unless you follow it up you are pissing into the wind using ammo for a very drawn out application of damage assuming they don't cleanse or get a heal sometime in that 18s.

 

 

When we get right down to it, your spec is about casting even more than gunnery and you've dumped your hard hitting proc as well as the instant attack for the bit of damage on the side from IR which does not kill people unless you follow it up, which in your case means casting loads because you have no other viable attacks.

There's thinking about mobility, and then there's cutting off your arms and legs so you can travel light. I think you given up waaaay too much.

 

A spec like that isn't going to get you into RWZs, and if you're just doing normals anyway, then I'd recommend playing to your strengths with a full spec rather than hobbling yourself for an unobtainable (with this class) ideal.

 

 

Embrace the pew pew.

Edited December 30, 2012 by Jherad

Ionic Accelerator requires Plasma Cell

yes, thank you, i know how the class works. now that that's out of the way, my point still stands.

 

Ever run out of ammo and try to Plasma an enemy to death? You might as well have a rubberband gun.

no, i haven't ever run out of ammo and only tried to use plasma cell to kill someone. that's just really stupid and not a good analogy anyway because hammershot does a whole heck of a lot more damage in plasma cell than armor-piercing cell Edited December 31, 2012 by oaceen

An Assault Commando can run around with a 30m default attack that does over 1kdps.

 

That's the hammer shot hits, the plasma cell procs and the internal damage proc relic.

Edited January 1, 2013 by Gyronamics

yes, thank you, i know how the class works. now that that's out of the way, my point still stands.

Do you? Did you look at the build? Why on earth would you use plasma on this build, all the buffs are for AP. Subtracting skill points that benefit full auto insurance buff an attack you never use is pointless. If you decide to use ionic acceleratoryou sshould just go with a full assault build. No use tweaking for that one skill here.

Spamming IR...

That's 9 ammo you would burn to fire it 3 times and each one of those targets is now free to do whatever because you don't have the ammo to do anything.

That's exactly why I said in the original post that I usually dump this when I'm focused by multiple leaping jedi. You only have a few seconds to live so just use up the last of your ammo to rack up some DPS (since this build is so ammo friendly I can usually get 4 shots off (or 3 times the DPS that 1 Demo Round would get me). And keeps hurting them for 15 seconds after you die and wait to respawn; Demo Round would have still been on cooldown, and that cooldown continues even after respawn unlike your ammo which is right back at the top for another big attack when the spawn wall goes down.

It makes numbers but unless you follow it up you are pissing into the wind using ammo for a very drawn out application of damage assuming they don't cleanse or get a heal sometime in that 18s.

Funny that you advocate Assault builds and yet you perfectly summed up the Assault build's drawback. It has huge DPS over many targets but the actual 100% kills aren't as common; HiB is weaker than Gunnery and AssPlast is not Aoe, it's just Demo Round with a delay. In assault I can get 4-6 people down to 50% with ease but what's the point without a killer to finish them before they focus me? Assault will dominate the DPS charts but since it's spread out it doesn't contribute to eliminating the enemy if they're smart enough to cleanse and heal once they squish you.

 

So I agree with you 100% the flames are just pissing in the wind if you die before you can make the kill; I said so in the original post (I'm starting to think you didn't actually read it). Still, if you're going to die anyway add more DPS, and maybe your team can follow up with the kill.

 

When we get right down to it, your spec is about casting even more than gunnery and you've dumped your hard hitting proc as well as the instant attack for the bit of damage on the side from IR which does not kill people unless you follow it up, which in your case means casting loads because you have no other viable attacks.

No you're wrong there isn't more casting than Gunnery, it's the same or less.

The whole point is it's flexible for PvP. Its a hybrid spec, you can use your gunnery casting when you are ignored and can spare a few seconds, and then when on the run you can make use of the benefits of the Assault class and burn people while moving. Again, I already said this in the earlier posts.

 

You keep sticking by the idea of a set rotation to be followed every time and that I'm "swapping one attack for another". You can't play Commando PVP like you're attacking a training dummy and expect to live very long. Playing a commando you're lucky if you can get to step 3 of a rotation before the enemy is on you. This build is optimized with the idea of running after step 3 and continuing the fight as an assault while on the run. As soon as they lose interest or you get some distance you can switch back to gunnery style and finish them off.

 

I also notice you criticize that this isn't viable in Rateds, which means you're playing in a 8 man premade and likely have BiS EWH gear making you "the 1%" of players out there. So this advice isn't for you anyway (and frankly your advice is VERY biased by the support you have from a team and by your gear).

For the other 99% of us that aren't full Elite builds and always have to fight in a random group of strangers life is different. If my critical and surge stat was as high as yours I'd defiantly go with the Demo Round in the off chance I got the crit. But in the non-augmented Recruit/Battlemaster gear I have, this build rules. I can stack buffs to make HiB my heavy hitter since my crit and surge aren't as good as you're used to.

 

Also you're on a team so I can see why you'd go with the full Assault build. Burning down 4 enemies to 50% health is good because your team can coordinate to make use of their weakened state. I'm actually a huge advocate of the Assault build in a team where people can make the killing blow on all the enemies you weakened. But I play PUGs like the majority of players, and if an enemy isn't dead by time I finish them they'll probably just recover because the team is off getting distracted by a tank and his pocket healer.

 

Believe me commando is a completely different beast when you're all alone in Recruit gear (so the fact a poor player like me can use this build to get into the top 3 team medals every time isn't bad).

Edited January 3, 2013 by Kerensk

i just don't think u know of to take being wrong. going hybrid for commando dps makes u give up to much of which ever tree u stack heavy in to do any of good dps. if u want to add a dot into ur skill rotation use plasma nade more.

i just don't think u know of to take being wrong. going hybrid for commando dps makes u give up to much of which ever tree u stack heavy in to do any of good dps. if u want to add a dot into ur skill rotation use plasma nade more.

No. The DoT is integral to the rotation for the 30% buff, Plasma Granade isn't off cooldown in time. Plus it's another stop to cast attack; I'm trying to stay away from those if you haven't noticed.

I do like to throw it in, but only if I'm ignored or there is a juicy cluster to bomb.

 

And it really doesn't give up alot. If you watch where your damage goes it's those common bread and butter attacks that you can crank out, not the rare top tier attacks. PvP is just too fast paced and fluid now for cranking out a long rotation and hoping your big hit gets a critical.

Edited January 3, 2013 by Kerensk

If you decide to use ionic acceleratoryou sshould just go with a full assault build.

 

it's amazing how you simultaneously understand yet don't understand my point at the same time.

Lets just put it on the table and see what exactly you're going to kill me with since obviously your hybrid is better than a pure spec.

 

I mean you must have an attack plan of sorts in your mind when you meet certain classes.

 

Here's a typical skirmishing approach from me:

 

Free plasma nade, assault plastique, hammer shot, HiB, sticky, IR, FA (dont care if it gets interrupted, its a proc), HiB

 

I'll also be trying to get close to you because I really do like to stockstrike plus it enables two utility attacks. Hell, I'm quite likely to jump right on your position when I attack to save time and avoid you escaping.

 

I said you're no better in the casting department than gunnery, tell me, what exactly are you going to do because knowing gunnery as I do I'm holding onto my interrupt, instant concussion round, cryo and knockback for what I just know you're going to do.

 

You want to build buffs with grav round because right at the core of your damage that's what it's all about. You have NO procs so everything besides spamming grav is on a 15s CD.

 

 

If you have people peeling for you, a true gunnery spec is far better.

 

If you don't or you like attacking then assault is less bound to casting.

 

 

You don't have suitable abilities to attack with while full gunnery does more damage AND has the FA snare up more AND has a second instant attack.

Edited January 3, 2013 by Gyronamics

No. The DoT is integral to the rotation for the 30% buff, Plasma Granade isn't off cooldown in time. Plus it's another stop to cast attack; I'm trying to stay away from those if you haven't noticed.

I do like to throw it in, but only if I'm ignored or there is a juicy cluster to bomb.

 

And it really doesn't give up alot. If you watch where your damage goes it's those common bread and butter attacks that you can crank out, not the rare top tier attacks. PvP is just too fast paced and fluid now for cranking out a long rotation and hoping your big hit gets a critical.

btw 1 full rotation i can kill almost any target(even fully spec tanks) with full gunnery time for full rotation round 10sec. hybrid 4 or 5 rotations u barely kill 2 maybe 3 soft targets in 1minute. do the math urs is just to low and ammo ineffective then full specing either gunnery or assualt. plus the 30% buff isn't great of a trade off for what ur missing.