I rolled a sniper a long time ago back when I first started this game, but only got to Level 10 and ended up deleting it (Don't remember why, it was a long time ago).

 

I'm just curious as to the play styles of each Sniper spec and would like to hear from people who have played the three specs. I plan on doing a mix of PvE and PvP while leveling to 50, so it would be nice to hear form people who have experienced the different play styles in both areas.

 

What's nice about Marksman/Engineering/Lethality in PvE while leveling? How do the trees compare damage wise? Energy management? Same thing for PvP related areas. Just looking to see some information from people who have experience in the three trees. I'm not really sure what my play style would be as a sniper, hence why I'm trying to get a break down of each. Thanks!

Well, the only PvE I've done on my Sniper really is BH dailly and leveling to 50. The best spec is Marksmanship as you're constantly outputting damage. I tried Engineering for leveling alot from 40-50 as I have field respec, it's a great little spec and mixes it up a little. The AoE is great so you burn through trash mobs really fast, but I'd still say MM is better. Lethality isn't great for leveling as it's based on DoTs, and it's not very effective applying DoTs to everything, though Lethality is great DPS for end-game raids.

 

Marksmanship is also great burst in PvP, alot of people don't use it at 50 PvP as armour mitigates some damage, but personally I still use it most as I get 5k ambush hits nearly all the time (only about half War Hero geared atm). Engineering is pretty good in 1v1s. Lethality is great in PvP aswell for getting max damage, though it's not as bursty as MM. Though, that'll probably change in 2.0 where you get to use takedown at any health most culls

you will get a long response from NoTomorrow no doubt that will explain all of your questions

 

but you're a super op turret class that has a metric sith ton of cc.

 

Lethality is bad until 30, MM also until 30, Eng is decentish a little before 30, I say go up there since it has the best power for LV 20. In 2.0, lethality will be much better, but mostly only in high end talents.

 

Energy management is easiest in Engineering then MM then lethality IMO.

 

The most pvp burstiness as far as 30 sec burn phases go is engy, followed my MM that has very large spikes very often of dps. Lethality has larger spikes with only slightly less frequency, but the overall utility and survivability is worse compared to the other two specs (Example: Dots can break CCs, this will be fixed in 2,0. overall survivability is being helped)

 

Because pvp is based usually around small bursts of fights, whoever can get the most burst power in is best, this is engy imo with its king survivability and dps isnt bad. By the time the next wave comes, your cds are back up.

Edited March 14, 2013 by Zunayson

Yeah, I'm not into the whole FOTM thing. I'll just put that to rest now, haha. Whether or not it is super powerful in PvP or what not is not my main concern. Even though I plan on doing a good balance of PvE and PvP, class mechanics and play style are my main focus. I would just like a thorough understanding of each spec before going into it all. I like information

 

Engineering seems like a pretty interesting spec to get into from what I've read so far. Might look more into that as this progresses.

Edited March 14, 2013 by Kestalas

I never really run low on Energy in MM unless I'm intending to, to get the most out of my Target Acquired. I've not played 2.0, but from the videos I've seen, energy regen is a heck of alot faster so there should be no worries there.

I never really run low on Energy in MM unless I'm intending to, to get the most out of my Target Acquired. I've not played 2.0, but from the videos I've seen, energy regen is a heck of alot faster so there should be no worries there.

 

EDIT: No idea why double post, oh well ;\

Edited March 14, 2013 by Jayshames

There are two possible views to adrenaline probe, which impact your view on energy management.

 

The first is for lack of a better term a oh-crap offensive cooldown.

 

Two possible oh-crap scenario : oh-crap i did a mistake in my rotation and went below 60%, or oh crap I'm gonna die "burst".

 

The second view is a bit similar too the 2nd oh-crap, at the following difference: they will not wait until they could die.

 

Its a very ops-like approach to it. When it sleeps in your bar not on cooldown, its lost energy in that view. It will therefore be used on cooldown, by willingly performing a series of deeply energy negative attacks but for more damage, and then pop the probe. Only reason that they will not do so is if a burn phase approach, and yes in burn phases you should have that thing off CD, and use it regardless of what approach you take.

 

This mean : 1st - all spec have energy negative burst. You have to know it both to avoid it, and also to use it when needed, as contradictive it might be.

 

MM is less cost-heavy than the two other spec, but snipe spam still exist if needed. It also has the longest cooldown on the probe.

 

Regardless of the approach you take, both work. But you remove your safety net with the 2nd, but got fetch every bit of sustained dps you can.

 

 

As far as spec goes, MM has the 2nd sustained damage, but that 2nd is significantly enough below lethality and the lethality/eng hybrid. In solo PvE typical encounter, and on short burst battles its going to however be superior since it has no-setup cost efficient on demand burst. Also have better survivability than leth.

 

For PvP, again not the same role. Easy to suddenly burst someone with MM, plenty of nice defensive CD to beat off melees, better entrench and orbitals. Its a very good spec.

 

Lethality will do it differently by "planning" a much more significant peak around cull. Once cull hits, the burst is lethal even to tanks, which MM struggle a bit against being lots of powerful ranged-type attacks vs leth tech-based playstyle.

I am not going to comment on PvE as this is not my field if of interest. Paowee and Tibbel are the persons to ask anything PvE related.

 

PvP: well may i suggest you not develop any sort of habits with current 1.7 sniper specs? you will have to relearn from scratch all 3 specs in 2.0, the changes are quite huge. If you are interested in 1.7 sniper I can recommend the sniper pvp guide in my signature.

 

So in short: No sniper specs are mobile. They all have some mobility DPS, some instant cast abilities that can do some damage, but none of them will allow you to hunt down your targets: by this i mean running arround corners and shooting and killing healers, forget about it, we are not good at it, it's a Melee and PT job to do that: i mean fully DPS on the move.

 

What can you expect from the sniper specs in 2.0:

 

MM: Super burst, very fast target switching on non-tanks. You should be able to dispatch most of the non-tank, non-stealth classes very fast with this spec. It's designed in such a way that you will almost always win any DPS race against many who will try to facetank you (sitting in your line of sight). The only non-stealth DPS that has a higher/faster-maturing burst is a Carnage Marauder and PT Pyros. MM has a huge skill ceiling in terms of being able to balance your PvP rotation between DPS abilities and control abilities. You will have tremendous moments of fun with this spec. MM is the king of huttball by a wide margin. I was able to kill 2 sorcs, carrying the huttball 2m away from scorring with MM, something other sniper specs cannot do.

 

Basically the entire MM gameplay revolved arround catching people in your line of sight and punishing them heavily for that. Try it. Even the most diehard engineering fans sometimes roll MM for the pure fricking awesomeness.

 

Engineering: tons of AoE abilities, very good survivability (better than MM except for fighting smashers because Engineering doesnt have access to siege bunker 60% AoE damage reduction). Due to changes in tank shielding, Engineering in 2.0 has lost some ground against tanks. In 1.7 your explosive probe, grenades, interrogation probe ignored the shields, not they will not because they are doing kinetic damage. This leaves Engineering only with Orbital strike and Plasma probe ignoring tanking stats. What's so special about engineering? Well, it can handle zerg better than MM. It is capable to resist harassment and pressure from multie opponents better than MM.

 

Engineering sniper can come to any disputed sidenode on civil war, use its defensive cooldowns and offensive ones and can turn the tide of the entire fight in his team's favor. It's fricking huge. An entrenched engineer with ballistic shield deployed, orbital strike and plasma probe activated, all this while pummiling somebody with explosive probe + Series of Shots combo, you have to experience this yourself to see the beauty of it.

 

Lethality: Primarily anti-tank spec. It excels where other 2 specs fail: at rapidly killing tanks. Due to changes to shield mechanics, other specs that were so good against tanks in 1.7, now lost some ground. Pyrotech thermal detonator is now shieldable, railshot armor penetration is now smaller. Madness vs tanks? Yeat it has some DoTs, but a few abilities suddenly became shieldable now, and it just lacks the burst DPS necesssary to kill a tank before it gets healed. My bet is that Lethality is probably the best anti-tank spec in 2.0.

 

Don't get me wrong, lethality is good against other classes as well, not just tanks but it needs a few general cooldowns set-up time for its big and most important hitter: Cull. Without Cull you are not a killer but just a damage padding class. You need to cull and cull often. Since it's slower reaction time than MM, it leaves it vulnerable against burst DPS specs. Lethality is supposed to have trouble with Carnage, Rage, Pyrotech. These guys if they are opportunistic can whipe you before you will have a chance to respond, MM is better against them.

 

Same can be said about sorcerers but for a different reason: sorcs are a very nimble class and these guys need to be killed ASAP before they friendly pull some huttballer or just force speed their way to a mission objective. And their low armor.. let's just say it's one of the juiciest target for MM, when i spec lethality and get to fight a team of 3 sorcs i feel like I need to switch back to MM.

 

As of current Sniper consensus, all specs seem to be fairly good for Ranked warzones. You will see a lot of top snipers advocating Engineering or Lethality for RWZ in 2.0, but don't discard MM as well. It still depends a lot on your team composition and what your team leader wants your role as a sniper to be. You just need to experiment and find the perfect synergy with your team. try all 3 specs.

One small practical note: I found the reduced cooldown on Flashbang 'nades in Engineering to help A LOT with leveling and class quests. Flashbang the group, waste them one at a time, and by the time you've healed up or moved to your next group, Flashbang is ready to go again.