Bounty Hunter PVP

[faction]

You absolutely should get Med Tech - Even if you don't heal other people, you're going to be healing yourself A LOT. The difference between a 2.5 and 2 second cast heal can't be overstated.

Also Improved Vents is something I see a lot of builds skip, but it's an absolute requirement in my opinion. It turns Vent Heat from something that's just "nice" into practically a full heat reset.

[Gavax]

LvL50 Powertech here - didn't like the look of Mercenary in the beta

Both have distinctly different playstyles as you can see just from people in warzones, can't really comment on the builds/specs that people go for Mercenary, but after trying a number on Powertech I can safely say that the highest overall damage for PvP is Pyrotech by miles.

Hybrid builds don't work either, tried a hybrid build to make Railshot gain all benefits ie. the crit from rocket punch and retractable blade as well as the refresh/cost benefit from rocket punch and flame burst - but to get this you sacrifice like 9% aim, which is easily another 100 aim and you also miss out the critical strike damage bonus from a lot of abilities so its not really worth it.

As far as I can tell there are only (really) 3 viable builds for PvP as powertech (if you aren't planning on going partially DPS for PvE) and all include the top tier ability.

Pyrotech PvP : 8/2/31

Advanced Prototype : 8/31/2

Shieldtech PvP : 32/3/5

The builds here are what I found to be most effect damage-wise from top to bottom. A lot of the damage comes from Rail Shot on all 3 builds, so if and when a proc for Rail Shot occurs you should use it asap before other abils in case it procs it twice. How it scales with better gear will remain to be seen.

[Marathon]

(12-30-2011 05:31 AM)Gavax Wrote:  LvL50 Powertech here - didn't like the look of Mercenary in the beta

Both have distinctly different playstyles as you can see just from people in warzones, can't really comment on the builds/specs that people go for Mercenary, but after trying a number on Powertech I can safely say that the highest overall damage for PvP is Pyrotech by miles.

Hybrid builds don't work either, tried a hybrid build to make Railshot gain all benefits ie. the crit from rocket punch and retractable blade as well as the refresh/cost benefit from rocket punch and flame burst - but to get this you sacrifice like 9% aim, which is easily another 100 aim and you also miss out the critical strike damage bonus from a lot of abilities so its not really worth it.

As far as I can tell there are only (really) 3 viable builds for PvP as powertech (if you aren't planning on going partially DPS for PvE) and all include the top tier ability.

Pyrotech PvP : 8/2/31

Advanced Prototype : 8/31/2

Shieldtech PvP : 32/3/5

The builds here are what I found to be most effect damage-wise from top to bottom. A lot of the damage comes from Rail Shot on all 3 builds, so if and when a proc for Rail Shot occurs you should use it asap before other abils in case it procs it twice. How it scales with better gear will remain to be seen.

Top dmg is all well and good - but means fuck-all in competitive pvp. In your ST build, you didnt take neural overload or jet speed - making you extremely kiteable.

In your AP spec you skipped out on Hitman(shorter cd on interrupt) and Advanced Tools (shorter cd on grapple) - no, no, no. No. NO.

I didnt bother looking at your pyro spec, tbh. The other two threw my head into a crazy spin that had to be rectified with a well-proportioned rum and coke.

The draw to this AC is its utility, which you seem to be completely avoiding.

[GWARRR]

Marathon: I'd turn down the tone a little bit. We're all trying to learn here, so slamming someone else's ideas in such a manner is not constructive. Reason out your choices or ask for clarification as to why they took what.

[Nico]

Seems like Im the only one that plays Pyrotech Mercenary here? How come? The spec is just pure sick. I top damage in every BG. I almost never die because the kiting options as a Pyrotech is retardedly good, the survival is good. Everything is just pure awesome, especially the damage you can do without standing still. Its sick.

Just a heads up, try it. I've totally crushed it today. Allthough I'm almost full epic PvE, 2 pieces is PvP. It was so much more fun than Arsenal aswell. I'd say it has a higher skillcap than Arsenal too. If you use Pyrotech to its maximum potentiall (aka a really good player) you probably will be the beast everyone wants to kill in a WZ.

Then there is the players that probably will try it out and just pure suck with this spec because their skill isnt just great enough and they just want to lol around with Arsenal doing damage and thinking they are awesome. Sorry if I come of as a jerk lol, but its the truth. Try it.

[Gavax]

@Marathon - You seem to be missing on the fact that in the ST the 50% movement speed reduction lasts 2 SECONDS - the fact that casters mainly stand still to cast and never kite comes into play, its called 'metagaming' if you feel more comfortable taking it be my guest, but the fact that the Supercommando set gives a CD reduction on your charge/root ability means if I'm not keyboard turning then I can quite happily root them every 13s quite easily, or use it to get further forward on huttball.

As for the talents lets take a look at them

Neural Overload - Ion Gas Cylinder damage now lowers movement speed of the target by 50% for 2 seconds.

Most notable about why this ability isn't worth it is the 2 seconds, especially on a 15% chance that it procs (other than the 100% from rocket punch) the melee you'll be up and close with you won't need to kite and vice versa, the cover users don't need to kite - the only classes that'll be kiting you primarily are the ranged, of which 'most' spells have cast times so the only thing kiting you is the root from the knockback (if skilled)

Jet Speed - Jet Charge has a 50/100% chance to increase your movement speed by 30% for 4 seconds

They're already rooted for 3, the only reason I can see anyone skilling this is primarily for huttball ball carrying, and even then if their entire team is going to knockback and stun you - is 4 seconds of a slight movement speed increase really going to help all that much? Plus where would you get these 2 points from? Maybe 1 from Shield Vents?

As for the Quell and Advanced Tools - obviously I can see the utility of it in certain circumstances Quell more than grapple and could be inclined to change, but as I'm not playing AP I don't need to at the moment

And the rum and coke comment just made you look like a pretentious douche ;D I don't mind constructive criticism or your view on builds, but any arsehole can sit there pretending to be a coolcat and shoot other people down ;D clue up on what metagaming is then maybe, just maybe! you might realise why some shit is overlooked.

[Marathon]

(01-02-2012 04:27 AM)Gavax Wrote:  @Marathon - You seem to be missing on the fact that in the ST the 50% movement speed reduction lasts 2 SECONDS - the fact that casters mainly stand still to cast and never kite comes into play, its called 'metagaming' if you feel more comfortable taking it be my guest, but the fact that the Supercommando set gives a CD reduction on your charge/root ability means if I'm not keyboard turning then I can quite happily root them every 13s quite easily, or use it to get further forward on huttball.

As for the talents lets take a look at them

Neural Overload - Ion Gas Cylinder damage now lowers movement speed of the target by 50% for 2 seconds.

Most notable about why this ability isn't worth it is the 2 seconds, especially on a 15% chance that it procs (other than the 100% from rocket punch) the melee you'll be up and close with you won't need to kite and vice versa, the cover users don't need to kite - the only classes that'll be kiting you primarily are the ranged, of which 'most' spells have cast times so the only thing kiting you is the root from the knockback (if skilled)

I think the issue here is we're talking about different roles. IMO, the ST is best played as a peeler/pusher in the current warzone setups (Alderaan not so much, obv). In 90% of my matches, I spend my time on someone's ass, keeping them in range of my dps teammates or off of a node/goal line. There may be different/better methods to run a ST in a pug - but in a premade (and soon rated) warzone match, my role is control.

Quote:Jet Speed - Jet Charge has a 50/100% chance to increase your movement speed by 30% for 4 seconds

They're already rooted for 3, the only reason I can see anyone skilling this is primarily for huttball ball carrying, and even then if their entire team is going to knockback and stun you - is 4 seconds of a slight movement speed increase really going to help all that much? Plus where would you get these 2 points from? Maybe 1 from Shield Vents?

It's only a one second root from jet charge, iirc. I see this talent primarily as a buff to 'leapfrogging' across the map. Unfortunately, often times im not in grapple range (or its on cd) to grab an enemy on a door, carrying the ball, or eating my healer. With this talent, I can get from point (enemy) A to point (enemy) B significantly faster. And pretty frequently, that extra uumph in my speed has made the difference between protecting a door or stopping a score in hball.

Quote:As for the Quell and Advanced Tools - obviously I can see the utility of it in certain circumstances Quell more than grapple and could be inclined to change, but as I'm not playing AP I don't need to at the moment

Just to support my statement on adv tools - 10 seconds is HUGE. Over a 7 minute match (average for huttball in my experience), thats three extra grapples. Three peels or pullbacks that you didnt have before. Three potential scores you just stopped. Same theory for voidstar and alderaan, though less clutch for alderaan.

[Poksu]

(12-31-2011 01:22 PM)Nico Wrote:  Seems like Im the only one that plays Pyrotech Mercenary here? How come? The spec is just pure sick. I top damage in every BG. I almost never die because the kiting options as a Pyrotech is retardedly good, the survival is good. Everything is just pure awesome, especially the damage you can do without standing still. Its sick.

Just a heads up, try it. I've totally crushed it today. Allthough I'm almost full epic PvE, 2 pieces is PvP. It was so much more fun than Arsenal aswell. I'd say it has a higher skillcap than Arsenal too. If you use Pyrotech to its maximum potentiall (aka a really good player) you probably will be the beast everyone wants to kill in a WZ.

Then there is the players that probably will try it out and just pure suck with this spec because their skill isnt just great enough and they just want to lol around with Arsenal doing damage and thinking they are awesome. Sorry if I come of as a jerk lol, but its the truth. Try it.

could you open up your experiences a bit more? as how is skill involved? Pyrotech doesnt have any more abilities than Arsenal. Just intead of waiting to Unload for proc, you wait for Railshot. The only control you gain is a 50% snare, which most classes can apply for you. and is it a reliable snare? theres only a 16% chance on hit to proc. Also as Pyrotech kinda involves dots, do merc Pyrotechs get any other than Combustible Gas Cylinder and Incendiary Missile? How much better is the Thermal Detonator compared to Expl Dart? The overall dmg seems very weak, as Power Shot is inferior to Tracer Missile by miles, Unload only gets a 9% buff from Pyrotech, as opposed to Arsenals 30% proc. Heatseeker Missiles delivers it's dmg instantly, instead of having to wait for the dot on Incendiary Missile to works it's magic. The dot on Combustible Gas Cylinder has to be huge to compensate. Not to mention the heat venting from crits as Arsenal. If youre not getting hit as Pyrotech, youre relying on proccing those free Railshots. And I know how frustrating a 30% proc chance is (Arsenal Unload)

[Hornedowl]

I am also interested to hear more about pyro mercs in PvP. Some say, that Pyro is much worse, cause it cant do as much burst damage, as an Arsenal. Others say, that their Pyro are overpowered, without any explanations and confirmations. So it would be very useful, to read more about practice playing this spec (both PvP/PvE, preferably 50 lvl).

[Mortycia]

I find it odd that the pvp Eliminator set, ment for Merc dps'ers is loaded with +power and just some crit here and there.

Are we underestimating the stat that is power or should we just remod the gear and swap out some power for crit?

(I'm an Arsenal Mercenary btw.)