[Patch 1.0-1.1 ARCHIVE] Mercenary | Commando DPS Compendium

[Xyrm]

(12-28-2011 11:47 PM)Poksu Wrote:  but still from my own experiences, double tracer and unload, in that order, keeps you within the safe zone. starting off with unload simply means you start your real "rotation" later. sure it's very heat effective, but its not good dps.

After giving your method a try, it DOES feel better, with one caveat. I still don't think it's a good idea to, by default, always use Unload after two TMs to start, because you still aren't necessarily fixing the problem of no Barrage. Like I said, in a Operation scenario (or FPs with other good players) the armor debuff you get with Heat Signature will already be applied, whether by a sniper instantly, or by a tank very quickly. I feel once you start the rotation, ONLY use Unload with Barrage.

Please don't let my giant walls of text come off as an attack on your playstyle, we are all learning here and I was just trying to think it through. Taking into account that Terminal Velocity also has a 3s ICD (which I totally forgot about) it actually IS best to spread out Tracer Missiles.

(12-29-2011 07:01 PM)Tato23 Wrote:  Also wanted to let you guys know, the pve set bonus, the 2pc is nice.

15% extra crit chance for High impact bolt and grav round/tracer missile.

That alone with raid buffs pushes me up to 50% chance to crit with those 2. I assume this will factor into our ammo/heat regen big time.

Yep, got my first piece last night from the Columi set. In short, this bonus is AMAZING. With mostly level 126 (and some 136, though it's pvp) artifact gear, I sit at about 33.5% crit unbuffed, add in the set bonus and IA/Smuggler buff, and you break 50% easily. This may just be one of those bonuses that have to get nerfed before the next tier, to force people to upgrade, since it is AMAZING.

(12-29-2011 07:01 PM)Tato23 Wrote:  Can't remember the 4pc off the top of my head, I'll post tomorrow with it.

It removes 8 heat from the cost of Rail Shot (making it free). Which makes me think if we can get free damage, maybe it's best to use Rail Shot on cooldown, regardless of Tracer Lock stacks... anyone else have any thoughts? Sometimes I find (essentially when I don't get any barrage procs) that it's easy to have a 5x Tracer Lock when Rail Shot comes off CD, but when I get lot's of Barrage procs it's not uncommon for me to only have 2 or 3.

On a side note, I don't know if any of you have gotten some surge rating, but I put a handful of "Battle" crit/surge enhancements in my gear (from the purple enhancements awarded by Ilum heroic 2+ daily), and was truly impressed with the results. Most shocking to me was how little surge rating was required to raise your crit damage by 1%, I hit 80% bonus damage without much effort. It seems to especially shine in PvP; I've gotten quite a few 4k+ Heatseekers off.