[Archive] Arsenal Mercenary | Gunnery Commando DPS Compendium

[Xyrm]

(11-21-2011 04:49 PM)Morior Wrote:  But in regards to power shot, would it make sense to spam it as execute or as a hard burst in PvP? Sure it's heat per damage cost is low, but maybe 2 of them at the end of a fight? Pure speculation, but I just can't believe such an amazing ability (I spammed it when I was in the beta) would go straight into the garbage after acquiring tracer missile.

It appears that at higher levels are arsenal spec, it has no edge at all over tracer. You WILL use it heavily until level 20, but then it's usefulness wanes.

[Bloodskila]

EDIT: Reread the thread, Power Shot < Tracer Missile is the conclusion.

[GWARRR]

Guys, be aware of this:

(11-21-2011 08:08 AM)Darth GWARRR Wrote:  I ran some #s with the Tracer Missile damage formula, it turns out that the Stat Spam had the base Tracer Missile damage numbers (but that is only half the picture), and that Tracer Missile has a 2.11 Spell/Tech Power bonus, so at level 50, with an approximate 1400+ Aim (I used 1400 for base purposes):

Tracer Missile damage formula:
(LvlRankDmgAmnt * 0.18 + SpellPower * 2.11) - (LvlRankDmgAmnt * 0.24 + SpellPower * 2.11)

STAT_cbt_tech_damage_bonus += STAT_att_agility * 0.2, so 0.20(Aim) gets your damage bonus.

0.20(1400) x 2.11 + 576 (base): 1166.8, which is on average, 200 more damage than Power Shot, which is about what Faction60 says he got. So yeah, Power Shot is officially useless. Kind of a bummer since I like the Power Shot animation...c'est la vie, I'm gonna go update the rotation now.

Power Shot and Tracer Missile both cost 25, with talented costs down to 16. So:

Tracer Missile DPS > Power Shot DPS
Tracer Missile DPHt > Power Shot DPHt
therefore
Tracer Missile DPSPHt > Power Shot DPSPHt

ergo Power Shot is completely and utterly replaced by Tracer Missile once we get it. My first data calculations were missing quite a bit of information.

Can you use Power Shot? Sure, but as we see, it's not as optimal as Tracer Missile.

[Xyrm]

(11-22-2011 04:29 AM)Darth GWARRR Wrote:  Power Shot and Tracer Missile both cost 25, with talented costs down to 16.

And to further push Tracer Missile ahead of power shot, the Terminal Velocity talent only works on Tracer Missile.

[Bloodskila]

Poor old Power Shot. Not so powerful now any more hahaha.

This makes things a lot easier to manage. Good job guys on finding that out. The beta tester did say that it was an old beta build, but not the old old one where Power Shot did way more damage than Tracer.

Excellent stuff.

So now what is the highest costing attack? Depending on it's DPS or DPA (getting that trooper lingo out there haha) it could give us an insight into what we use our free cost shot ability for.

EDIT: Here's a list of the shots in Gwar's rotation and their cost:
Tracer = 16 ht
Rail = 8 ht
Heatseekers = 16 ht
Unload = 16 ht

[Xyrm]

(11-22-2011 07:22 AM)Bloodskila Wrote:  EDIT: Here's a list of the shots in Gwar's rotation and their cost:
Tracer = 16 ht
Rail = 8 ht
Heatseekers = 16 ht
Unload = 16 ht

All of those abilities you listed except Rail shot are affected by Terminal Velocity, but each differently (unload I believe has a chance to proc it 3x, were as Tracer and Heatseekers only have 1). This in turn, is further dependent on your crit percentage (a function of Critical rating, as well as AIM), and talents (while they are no-brainers, things like Hired Muscle).

With these factored in, my guess is that Rail Shot will prove to be the most efficient of all abilities with a 5x stack of Tracer lock (and with a 15s cooldown, this is essentially the only time I can see as valid to use this ability), followed closely by unload (we will want to use it EVERY time Barrage Procs), followed by Heatseeker (same cost as tracer, but hits harder, assuming 5 stacks), and then tracer. I think the only thing really up for debate at this point is whether Unload or Rail shot sits at higher priority, and since barrage can only proc once every 6 seconds that's not a big issue either way (if they are both up, you should probably use rail shot first to get its cooldown ticking, since you have 6 seconds or 4 GCDs to consume Barrage).

I tried to map a rotation out, to see how it might work in regards to using Rapid Fire fillers, but I realized this was impossible to map due to Barrage and Terminal Velocity. As such, you will just have to be really attentive to your heat, buffs, and the target's debuffs, and follow the priority as best you can.

[Bloodskila]

(11-22-2011 11:32 PM)Xyrm Wrote:  All of those abilities you listed except Rail shot are affected by Terminal Velocity, but each differently (unload I believe has a chance to proc it 3x, were as Tracer and Heatseekers only have 1). This in turn, is further dependent on your crit percentage (a function of Critical rating, as well as AIM), and talents (while they are no-brainers, things like Hired Muscle).

I agree with that, Unload has three damage portions, and if we know average crit rating we can do a tree diagram to show the %age chances of each one critting and thus how much we'll get (on average) back from the ability from the Terminval Velocity talent.

(11-22-2011 11:32 PM)Xyrm Wrote:  With these factored in, my guess is that Rail Shot will prove to be the most efficient of all abilities with a 5x stack of Tracer lock (and with a 15s cooldown, this is essentially the only time I can see as valid to use this ability), followed closely by unload (we will want to use it EVERY time Barrage Procs), followed by Heatseeker (same cost as tracer, but hits harder, assuming 5 stacks), and then tracer. I think the only thing really up for debate at this point is whether Unload or Rail shot sits at higher priority, and since barrage can only proc once every 6 seconds that's not a big issue either way (if they are both up, you should probably use rail shot first to get its cooldown ticking, since you have 6 seconds or 4 GCDs to consume Barrage).

I tried to map a rotation out, to see how it might work in regards to using Rapid Fire fillers, but I realized this was impossible to map due to Barrage and Terminal Velocity. As such, you will just have to be really attentive to your heat, buffs, and the target's debuffs, and follow the priority as best you can.

I agree. I'd say Rail is highest priority for the reason that you've stated here too; get the CD rolling. It's a DPS loss if you delay CDs, so it'll depend on whether Unload's three portions total and channel time is more DPS than a Rail.

Mapping out a rotation is hard, especially since we're dealing with a priority system. Strictly speaking, there is no rotation, it will depend on the situation. More heat needing venting will require more Rapid Shots, and mobile situations will require an entirely new priority system as well.

[Xyrm]

(11-23-2011 03:19 AM)Bloodskila Wrote:  Mapping out a rotation is hard, especially since we're dealing with a priority system. Strictly speaking, there is no rotation, it will depend on the situation. More heat needing venting will require more Rapid Shots, and mobile situations will require an entirely new priority system as well.

So I actually set up some rules for myself based on the experience and information I currently have under my belt. Keep in mind I am NOT saying this is definitely 100% correct, just some of what we know, and gut feeling filling in the gaps. We will need a complex simulation tool with the ability to know enemy armor and exact ability damage to get the correct answer, but here's what I have so far (quoted from my blog, which has a link in my sig). I apologize to all the Gunnery Commandos out there for using only Arsenal Merc terms, but that's what I'm most familiar with.

Quote:[...] Our primary constraint as a Mercenary is heat; we have a cap to how much we can have, and we are punished progressively more heavily as we pass certain breakpoints (every 25 points). Between 0-25 heat, we dissipate heat at the fastest rate; above 75 is our slowest, with a middle breakpoint at 50. As such, the absolute ideal is to sit between 1 and 25 heat, constantly having heat dissipate without reaching 0.

With this in mind, our abilities have to be prioritized by a combination of DPH and DPS. Why DPS, if we are constrained by heat? As an example, let's say we had two abilities: Ability X costs 0 heat and does 1 damage, and Ability Y costs 10 heat and does 1000 damage. While X is "infinitely" efficient, it's output is so low that it's better to use Y and allow your heat to regenerate. Without getting into the hard numbers right now, we have already done some initial quick math to determine an order based on this:

-Rail Shot (5x Tracer Lock only)
-Unload (To start a fight, or Barrage only)
-Heatseeker Missile (5x Heat Signature only)
-Tracer Missile (unless using this will push heat over your breakpoint)
-Rapid Fire


Rail shot is first simply because with a 5x Tracer Lock stack, it is by far the best damage per heat per second (as it only consumes one GCD). Unload isn't far behind if you use it with barrage, but it requires 2 GCD's worth of channeling to get off (just make sure you start casting it within 3 seconds of it proccing so it is available to proc again). It is also best to start with Unload, because with the 3 second channel, a 16 heat cost, and a dissipation rate of 5 heat/sec to start, it's down to 1 heat at the end of its channel. Your next ability is Tracer Missile following the above rules at the start of a fight, so by the time the Tracer Missile actually goes off, you have attained 0 heat, thus making the first unload essentially free. Heatseeker Missile is next in the priorities because with a 5x Heat Signature stack, it simply hits harder than Tracer Missile (and as an added bonus is instant so you can move while using it or on GCD). Tracer Missile will be your bread and butter; even though it's low in the priority list, you will hit it a LOT. Rapid Fire is to fill in "empty" GCDs where you want to keep your heat below a certain breakpoint.

Now let's discuss this "breakpoint", because it's a loaded topic. In a perfect world, you would never exceed 25 heat, and this would be your breakpoint, but we can think of a few situations were this might not be ideal. For example, let's say you are at 16 heat, and are trying to decide between an Unload with Barrage up already for 3 seconds (2 GCDs) or a Rapid Fire (Rail Shot and Heatseeker are both on a 10+s cd for this example). Unload has a cost of 16 heat, which would put us over the 25 heat breakpoint. However, unload is also very powerful, and has a chance to proc Terminal Velocity, which vents 8 heat for each critical hit (and it hits 3x, I believe). Now we COULD use rapid fire, consume an extra GCD, and get back down to 8-9heat, THEN use unload, and all the while guaranteeing we stay at or below the 25 heat threshold. However, if unload procs Terminal velocity even once, we are in a situation where we actually hit 0 heat, which means we lost free resource regeneration. This is why as a general rule I will follow this set of rules with my heat generation and abilities:

Stay Below 25 heat (by using Rapid Shots) factoring current heat + next ability heat UNLESS:
-Heat Signature/Tracer Lock stacks are going to drop in less than 3 seconds (two GCDs, not enough time to use another ability AND get off a Tracer Missile to refresh) - USE TRACER MISSILE
-Rail Shot is off cooldown and neither of the above are true - USE RAIL SHOT
-Barrage is up and the above is not true - USE UNLOAD
-Heatseeker Missile is off cooldown and neither of the above are true - USE HEATSEEKER MISSILE


This list ensures that I am not wasting procs, keeping my heat venting, and keeping my big damage abilities on cooldown. Since these abilities are more efficient than Tracer Missile, it's OK that our heat venting slows down, as we make that up in DPHPS value as a whole.

[Bloodskila]

Good work.

During a point where we have the potential to hit a break point might be a good time to use our free cost shot ability or vent heat/reload, instead of waiting until we're almost out of resources to try and save it with a crippled regen rate.

As for my on the move priority:

Heatseekers
Rail
Missile Blast
Rapid Shots

Though to be brutally honest, due to the larger cost on Missile Blast, I'd say it's situational. Say you're moving out of a small/medium voidzone. It's easy to reposition to a standstill state to keep pumping out Tracers, so unless heat ~ 0 it might be beneficial to use Rapid Shots to help the strain on our regen. In a situation where we have to avoid multiple voidzones or a more active moving phase and be on the move for a long time, aside from other instants, Missile Blast depending on the heat and the time between the start of the phase to the end. If it's long, then just using Rapids will give lower DPS, if you have time to recover your resources after consecutive instant casts.

[GWARRR]

I just don't see a whole lot of use being attached to Missile Blast. I wouldn't plan for it in a rotation, at the very least. If you're on the move and you have the heat, sure, you may as well, but if you're on the move you probably don't have the heat for it. In the majority of instances I'd rather just end up at 0 heat so that when I do plant and begin my rotation, I'm there wrecking face.

PS. I'm gonna start compiling all this stuff into a Compendium real soon. If something hasn't been mentioned here yet that you think belongs in the Compendium, shoot me a PM. Thanks, all.